Target

I.Hate.Target.

Rite Aid

It's kind of a long story...doubt anyone is interested...but the ending is that I went to Rite Aid and asked at the Pharmacy, what I needed to do if the Doctor called a Prescription to Walmart and I wanted it transferred to Rite Aid. She said they'd just call Walmart and tell them. Ok.

While they filled the script, I did another Cetrizine deal. They were out of the Lysol, and the Bumble Bee tuna isn't on BOGO like I thought it was for some reason. So since I was going to another Rite Aid later, I just did another Nivea deal. This Cetrizine deal will have to go another account.

$17.99 Cetrizine
$ 0.00 Cetrizine BOGO
$ 2.99 Nivea Lip
= $20.98

-5.00/20.00
-5.00 Cetrizine
-5.00 Cetrizine

Total $5.98 + 1.12 tax = $7.10 from Gift Card
SCR#38 $2.00 Nivea Lip
SCR#552 $17.99/50.00

Then I went back to the pharmacy to get the prescription and pulled out a $25.00 for Transferred Prescription coupon that was in this (past) weeks' paper.
The other one had a comment about it having never been filled at Walmart, so technically it wasn't a transfer, but that the cashier could try it and see if it scanned. It scanned.
The script cost $10.00 with our insurance co-pay, so I made a $15.00 Profit! Yay!

I was hoping to finish my Cetrizine deals at the next Rite Aid I went to, they are a really good, easy to get along with place and I can do multi-transactions there. But, they, too, were out of the Lysol things and the tuna still wasn't BOGO and I didn't have any other fillers ready. So I just bought a bottle of syrup.

$17.99 Cetrizine
$ 0.00 Cetrizine BOGO
$ 1.99 AJ Syrup
= $19.98

-5.00/20.00
-5.00 Cetrizine
-5.00 Cetrizine

Total $4.98 + .27 tax = $5.25 from Gift Card
SCR#552 $17.99/50.00

SCR#552 Qualified $25.00 Gift Card
1) $4.34 (Not counting $2.00 Nivea SCR)
2) $1.34
3) $5.25
Total $10.93 oop including tax = $14.07 profit on Cetrizine deal

Kroger

I was trying to finish off the last of my Healthy Bread coupons that expire today, but they only had one loaf. Blah.

I got 2 bowls of Promise, and did NOT get a $2.00 OYNO.

Does anyone know what the deal for this one is??

Value of items $2.95
Total -.04 + .07 tax = .03 oop

This is the K that usually adjusts my coupons down, so I didn't bother looking for a filler item for the .04 cents overage on the butter.

I went to self-check, like I usually do, because I can take my time and make sure everything is going right...and the boy scans my coupons and hits total...and it's a Grand Total of 3 Cents.
The Voice says "Please select your method of payment...". I said, "Well I believe I'll pay that in cold, hard cash, Lady." LOLOL

Publix

According to *my* figurings, it was supposed to be $0.23 + tax after coupons.
Turned out to be $1.81 + tax after coupons. It appears he scanned them all. Still don't know where it went wrong. Oh well.

Total Spent $1.81 + 5.25 tax (ouch!!) = $7.06 from Gift Card
Saved $101.06

I bought 2 boxes of Success Rice in a separate transaction to have the receipt in case I'm ever able to buy the PatF DVD from stupid Target.

Total Spent $0.78 + .05 tax = $0.85 from Gift Card
Saved $2.00

Rite Aid

Transaction 1:
$17.99 Cetrizine
$00.00 Cetrizine BOGO
$ 2.99 Nivea Lip
= $20.98

-5.00/20.00
-5.00 Cetrizine RA q
-5.00 Cetrizine RA q

Total $5.98 + .36 tax = $6.34 from Gift Card
SCR#38 $2.00 Nivea Lip
SCR#552 $17.99/50.00

Transaction #2:
$17.99 Cetrizine
$00.00 Cetrizine BOGO
$ 4.99 Cetaphil Soap
= $22.98

-5.00/20.00
-5.00 Cetrizine RA q
-5.00 Cetrizine RA q
-2.00 Cetaphil in-ad q
-5.00 Cetaphil IP q

Total $0.98 + .36 tax = $1.34 from Gift Card
SCR#552 $17.99/50.00

The Store That Roars

$6.00/10 Mighty Dog
-3.00/5 SS 3/28
-3.00/5 SS 3/28
= Free/10

$2.99 Snuggle
-3.00 RP 3/28 or SS?
= +.01 (x 4)

$1.00 Uncle Bens
-1.00 MQ
= Free

$1.67 ($4.49 before MVP)
$1.66 ($4.48 before MVP)

$2.09 Beef Cube Steaks
-2.00 Ground Beef wyb (2) Taco Bell Tearpad q
= .09

Value of Items: $52.80
Spent: $2.38 + 2.33 tax = $4.71 oop
Rec'd $2.00 OYNO = $2.71 Final Total

$6.00/10 Mighty Dog
-3.00/5 SS 3/28
- .75 BOGO MQ (?insert)
= +.15 overage

$2.99 Snuggle
-3.00 RP 3/28 or SS?
= +.01

$1.67 ($4.49 before MVP)
$1.66 ($4.48 before MVP)

$2.55 Beef Cube Steaks
-2.00 Ground Beef wyb (2) Taco Bell Tearpad q
= .55

Value of Items: $20.23
Spent: $1.72 + .64 tax = $2.36 oop
Rec'd $2.00 OYNO = $0.36 Final Total

Waggies

Ran into Walgreens for a couple quick transactions.

Transaction #1:
$10.00 Dulcolax
- 4.00 IP Q
$ 0.79 Root Beers x 3
- 1.20 Wags in-ad q

- 7.00 Saline RR

= $0.17 + .74 tax = $0.91 oop
Rec'd $10.00 RR = $2.09 Profit

Transaction #2:
$7.00 Simply Saline
- 1.00 MQ
$4.00 Dove Hairspray
- 1.50 Peelie q
$2.00 Dentek Floss
(ran out of q's)

-10.00 Dulcolax RR

= $0.50 + .91 tax = $1.41 oop
Rec'd $7.00 Saline, $4.00 Dove, $2.00 Dentek RR = $1.59 Profit

Kroger

Trip 1: Had to take my kid to the doctor this morning, and did some shops while I was up there. I had intended to blow the rest of whatever Kroger coupons I had there, but then for some reason I can't remember I decided I was going to do another shop later, so I only spent half my coupons.

I played the Hoopty game before we left this morning, and won that big jug of coffee for freeeeeeeee!
The Snickers and Bread was also free with coupons.
The Prevecid and Nature Bounty vitamins scored me overage.

I screwed up on the butter...I had read a comment that I thought had said the I Can't Believe it's Not Butter was on sale for .98 and giving $2.00 OYNOs. So of course I didn't get any OYNO, and came home and looked again and it was the Promise spread. Bah.

I was buying the Post cereal at Food Lion's BOGO sale this week, paying like $1.04 after coupons....then Kroger's $4/4 sale turned out to be better, making them $1.00 a box after coupon.
I was fully prepared to pay $1.00 a box, too.

$0.98 ICBINB
- .75 Blinkie q
= .23 x 2 = .46

$1.03 CoffeeMate Sticks
-1.00 (.50 MQ doubled)
= .03

$8.69 Maxwell House Coffee
-8.69 March Hoops game prize
= Free

$10.00 Sugar Bear cereal x 4
- 4.00/4 Kroger Sale
- 2.00/3 MQ 2/28 ??
= 4.00, or 1.00 each

$0.99 Healthy Life Bread
- .99 (.50 MQ doubled)
= Free

$0.50 Snickers
-1.00/2 (.50 MQ doubled)
= Free

$10.99 Prevecid
- 6.00 Kroger e-q
- 6.00 MQ
= +1.01 overage

$3.75 Nature Bounty Magnesium Vits
0.00 BOGO Vits
-3.00 IP Q
-3.00 IP Q
= +2.25 overage

Value of Items $42.37
Spent $1.22 + 1.37 tax = $2.59 oop
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Trip 2:
At home I counted my boxes of Prevecid and saw that I still had one more to go, so I found which card hadn't had the Kroger coupon loaded, and loaded it, and headed out, intending to finish off the last of my coupons today.

Got there and realized I had neglected to get a paper coupon for the Prevecid. Argh!

Turned out it worked out alright anyway because I needed gas, and had decided to buy it last so I could see how many points I had on my card. But I wasn't going to use my card to buy the Prevecid, and turned out this shop gave me the (2) points I needed to get $0.10 off my gas. Soooo.

I got the right butter this time. The post I read said she'd bought (4) and got (2) $2.00 OYNO. I couldn't decide whether to try (2) or (4), so figured I better go with what was proven, only it wasn't, I only got (1) $2.00 OYNO.
I probably could have gone to the CS desk and asked to do a return/rebuy and get another one, but it was late and busy, and I had got it for free anyway, so I just went on.

$0.98 Promise Spread
-1.00 Blinkie q
= +.01 x 4 = .04 overage

$10.00 Sugar Bear cereal x 4
- 4.00/4 Kroger Sale
- 2.00/3 MQ 2/28 ??
= 4.00, or 1.00 each

$0.50 Snickers
-1.00/2 (.50 MQ doubled)
= Free

$3.75 Nature Bounty Magnesium Vits
0.00 BOGO Vits
-3.00 IP Q
-3.00 IP Q
= +2.25 overage

Value of Items $19.66
Spent $1.66 + .59 tax = $2.25 oop
Got $2.00 OYNO = $0.25 Final !!!

Walgreens

I'm pooped so I'll make details later. The only thing you really need to know is the coupon "Get Free Bottled Water wyb Any Size Dulcolax; Up to $2.00" from the 3/07 SS works without problem on the water, even if you use a coupon on the Dulcolax.
It does beep, but it's asking for the cashier to enter the price of the water.
Look for Gallon size jugs; they had yuck water for 2/$2, Deer Park smaller than gallon size $1.79, and the American something-something, whatever I got with the blue handle Spring Water for $1.99.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Ok...I started working on my Walgreens plans late, Saturday night, and I was tired, and knew I needed to get some sleep if I was going to be at Wags early Sunday morning, so I pretty much shopped with the RRs I already had. I'm sure I could have done alot better with a little more effort.
I started with $29.00 RRs.

Value of Items: $174.59
RRs Spent: $95.00
Cash Spent: $6.83 + 10.32 tax = $17.15 oop
RRs Earned: $117.00
Final Total: $4.85 Profit

I spent $11.00 RRs at Publix, and have $40.00 RRs remaining.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~$10.00 Dulcolax
$ 1.99 Water
$ 2.00 Dentek Floss
$ 4.00 Dove Hairspray
$ 7.00 Simply Saline
$ 1.99 Hall's
$ 1.99 Hall's
$ .79 Wags Root Beer x 4
= $32.13

-4.00 Dulcolax IP MQ
-1.99 Water wyb Dulcolax 3/07 SS
-1.50 Dove Hair Care peelie or 3/28 RP
-1.00 Simply Saline MQ (several inserts)
-1.00 Hall's 3/28 SS
-1.99 BOGO Hall's Tearpad
-2.00 Hall's Wags in-ad q
-1.20 Wags soda in-ad q
= 17.45

Used $16.00 RRs
Earned $23.00 RRs

Publix

Transaction 1:
Spent -.02 + .89 tax = $0.87 from Gift Card
Saved $33.86

Transaction 2:
Spent .55 + .52 tax = $1.07 from Gift Card
Saved $29.39

I wasn't intending to do large Publix shops today, mainly I went in the first one to buy newspapers because I could use RRs there.

I tried spending several Bayer aspirin and Aleve coupons that are up for expiration 3/31, but was informed I could only use (1) green flyer coupon per customer now.
This is the store where I had the trouble using the Knox coupon and realized the store had a new manager, and suspected the man was the old manager at another Publix I've driven past without stopping for the past several months because of him.

Today I found out I was right. An Assistant Manager was bagging, and I told him the other Publix stores interpret the coupons as one deal PER COUPON per customer. He nodded and said he knew, but that's what "he" said. I said, "he" used to be the manager at New Georgia, didn't he? and he said yes. I was like, I knew it. I haven't shopped there in close to a year because of him.

So on my way to Food Lion I stopped in this other Publix that I used to drive right on past every time. At the CS desk I told the girl, I heard ya'll got a new store manager, and wondered if y'all got a new coupon policy.

Get this - this store used to only accept Kroger, Ingles, and (1) Food Lion per customer per day.
Now they take all those, plus Target, Walgreens, and Rite Aid, including the $5/$20 or $5/$25 coupon.

I was right on the verge of deciding this may be my new, main store to shop again, when I asked her about the flyer coupons, and she said they take (1). I'm not sure if they also limit the Food Lion and Target q's to (1). I asked if they limited them, and she said they are counted as store coupons, so I can only use it OR a Publix q, not both. So I took that as I can use more than one, as long as I have the same number items, and not stacked with a Publix q.
So I guess I won't be doing any deals involving multiple flyer coupons there, but I'm really happy to have a Publix taking so many different competitor coupons now. At my other Publix I have to use Food Lions at one store, and Target at another store, and Walgreens at another store.

After I checked out and my total was $1.07, the cashier was complimenting my savings, and thanked me and told me to come back. I said, oh I will - now. She thought I was talking about my savings, but I said, now that you have a new store manager. She was like oh yeah. This is one is alot different from the other one. Her tone indicated that this one was better.

Food Lion

I got the right TB dinners this time, they rang up $4.49 and 4.48 before the card scanned....still only $1.00 OYNO.

Can't complain, however...my oop was only .18 cents, and then got the $1.00 OYNO.
I didn't get another $3/$25 cat, though, so it wouldn't be as good a deal next time if I did it again, since I can't figure out how to get the $3.00 OYNO.

(It actually ended up being .63 oop because I had to buy a candy bar to donate to the local Little League.)

$4.49 Taco Bell dinner kit
$4.48 Taco Bell dinner kit
$4.39 Snuggle x 3
$1.55 Uncle Ben's rice x 2
$2.87 Ground Chuck
= $28.11

*The Taco Bell dinner kits are on sale 3/$5
*The Snuggle is on sale for $2.99
*Uncle Ben's Rice on sale for $1.00 each
*Ground Chuck on sale for 1.77lb; mine was $2.11 MVP price

-3.00/25.00 Catalina
-1.00 Uncle Ben's Rice MQ x 2
-3.00 Snuggle MQ 3/28 RP x 3
-2.00 Ground Beef wyb (2) Taco Bell kits Tearpad
-1.00 Catalina Taco Bell

Total -.60 + .78 = $0.18 + .45 candybar donation for Little League = .63 oop

Rite Aid

Transaction 1:
$2.99 Desitin x 3
$8.99 Ester-C
$7.99 Knox Powders
$5.49 FG sunglasses clearance
$5.49 FG sunglasses clearance
$5.99 Folgers
$0.49 Ramen Noodles
= $43.41

-5.00/20.00
-3.00/3 J&J Baby IP MQ
-1.00 J&J in-ad Q x 3
-1.00 J&J RA Vv x 3
-7.99 Knox BOGO Sale
-6.00 Knox MQ
-5.00 Ester-C MQ
-5.00 Foster Grant RA Vv
-5.00 Foster Grant RA Vv

Total $0.42 + 1.39 tax = $1.81 oop
$8.97 towards J&J Rebate

Transaction 2:
$9.99 FG Reading Glasses x 4
$2.99 Desitin & Baby Bath x 2
$1.29 Pork&Beans x 2
$1.00 Pretzel rods
$1.00 Trash bags x 2
$1.00 Creole Seasoning
= $55.51

-5.00/20.00
-9.99 FG Reading glasses BOGO sale x 2
-5.00 FG RA Vv x 4
-1.00 J&J IP MQ x 3
-1.00 J&J in-ad q x 3
-1.00 J&J RA Vv x 3
-1.29 Pork&beans BOGO sale

Total $0.24 + 1.92 tax = $2.16 oop
$8.97 towards J&J Rebate

Food Lion

This week Food Lion has Post cereals on BOGO sale...$3.41 at my local store. A couple weeks ago Publix had Post cereal on BOGO sale and I got an assortment of Golden Crisps, Honeycomb, and Pebbles. Well, we went thru the Golden Crisps in like, a day. Not really a day, but pretty quick. We love those things.
I usually wouldn't pay so much for cereal, but I guess I will these.
I used $2.00/3 MQ from the 2/28 SS (I think), making them $1.04 per box (I think).

The Food Lion Simply Living cereal was Free...Food Lion added it to my card when I texted the word to the number.

The Taco Bell deal I messed up on. It's a catalina deal where you get OYNO money based on the purchase price. I can't remember the exactly amounts, but for $8.00 or more, you get a $3.00 OYNO.
The Taco Bell dinner kits are on sale 3/$5, but if you get two of the kits that are priced like $4.49 or 3/$13.47 regular price....and don't scan your Food Lion card until after your items are rung up...then you should be able to make the $8.00 mark.

Welllll, I had a box of 12 soft shells and a box of 12 hard shells dinner kits in my buggy, then I rounded a corner and on the end cap was dinner kits with 6 hard and 6 soft shells plus the Kool-aid packets. No price, but surely they would be $4.00+ before the sale, right? Wrong!
They rung up $2.99 before BBUY sale. Dagnabit!

I did get a $1.00 OYNO catalina, so at least I know the deal works at my store, and next time I can get the right things.

IF you can work the deal right, the first purchase should look like:
$4.48 dinner kit
$4.48 dinner kit
-5.64 Taco Bell BBUY
= $3.32 + tax (.09 in GA) = $3.41
Get $3.00 OYNO catalina

Next time, $3.41 - 3.00 OYNO = $0.41
Rinse and repeat.

The cashier gave me a $2.00 off Ground Beef wyb (2) Taco Bell dinner kits coupon. Pretty stupid to have it at the register, when I'm checking out, with no ground beef.

Value of Items $32.78
Spent $7.53 + .47 tax = $8.00 oop
Rec'd $1.00 OYNO = $7.00 oop

I also received a $3.00 OYNO $25.00 catalina. Using that will involve trying to get the cashier to scan my coupons before they scan my card, something I haven't been very lucky at doing. I dig in my purse to stall for time, but they will wait on me to find it before scanning my coupons most of the time. Not sure why, it doesn't make any difference at that point.

Walgreens Next Week

I guess Walgreens got tired of not having much business the past few weeks. Looks like they're going all out to get us back in next week. Get your list/coupons ready and get there as early Sunday morning as you can. I actually know of a 24 hour Wags....hmmm....
Copied this off a message board...note the last deal starts Wednesday, there's apparently a mid-week sale starting Wednesday:

Get $2 RR wyb Dentek Roll Comfort Clean Floss 55YD Assorted ($2 RR): FREE After Register Reward
DenTek Floss Pick or Floss (priced $2+) $1 (3/31/10) SS 1/17/10

$7 RR Simply Saline Allergy 4.25oz ($7): FREE After Register Reward
Simply Saline Nasal $1 (5/31/10) SS 1/24/10
Simply Saline Nasal Product $1 (12/31/12) SS 11/15/09
Simply Saline Nasal Product, any $1 (12/31/12) SS 10/18/09

$3 RR Participating Walgreens One Daily Formula: FREE After Register Reward
Walgreens One Daily Mens Formula Lycopene Tablets 100ct
Walgreens One Daily Womens Formula Tablets 100ct

$10 RR wyb Dulcolax Balance 14 Day 8.3oz ($10) : FREE After Register Reward
Bottled Water Free up to $2 wyb any Dulcolax Balance (6/30/10) SS 3/7/10
$4 off any Dulcolax Balance printable [dulcolaxusa.com] (requires registration)
Dulcolax $3 (4/30/10) SS 12/13/09
Dulcolax Balance $2 (6/30/10) SS 1/24/10

$4 RR wyb participating Dove Hair Care products ($4) : FREE After Register Reward
Dove Shampoos & Conditioners 12oz
Dove Hair Styling & Treatment products 7 – 9.25oz
Dove Hair Care -- Shampoo, Conditioner, Styling $2 exp. 6/19/10 http://dovedimensions.com/ <--must register to print
Dove Hair Care Daily Treatment Conditioner $1.50 RP 3-28-10
Dove Hair Care Products - ETS - $2.50 RP 3-28-10

Airwick I Motion Kit Lav .71oz 50%OFF SP-$3.99 : Free after Coupon
Air Wick Freshmatic Ultra i-Motion Starter Kit $5 (4/18/10) SS 3/7/10

Airwick Freshmatic Mini Kit Fresh Waters .8oz 50%OF SP-$3.99 : Free after Coupon
Air Wick Freshmatic Compact i-Motion Starter Kit $4 (4/18/10) SS 3/7/10

$5 RR Just for Men 2IN1 Shampoo/Conditioner 8oz ($4.99) : FREE After Register Reward, start from 3/31
$2 off any Just For Men Shampoo-In Haircolor Register before print- [justformenselect.com] - Not sure if this coupon will work or not.

Publix

New Week

Value of Items $91.67
Total $0.00 + 3.79 tax = $3.79 from Gift Card


$3.99 BOGO Chocolate Cheerios
-$1.00 PQ SS 3/07 x 2
-$ .50 (doubled) MQ SS 2/21 x 2
= +.01/2

$1.70 Bob Evans Mashed Taters
-1.00 PQ (?from where?)
- .35 (doubled) (?what insert?)
= Free

$0.64 Birdseye boxed Spinach x 3
- .50 (doubled) MQ
= +.36 overage x 3

$1.19 Birdseye Steamfresh CotC x 2
-1.00/2 Yellow Flyer PQ
- .50 (doubled) MQ x 2
= +.62 overage

$4.93 BOGO Hellman's
$ .50 Buddig Sliced Beef deli sandwich meat
-1.00 PQ IP x 2
-2.00 Deli Meat wyb (2) Hellman's MQ from IGA sale paper a couple weeks ago
= $1.43

$2.00 Strawberries (No Cool-whip peelies)
$1.89 Sara Lee Poundcake 50% sale
-1.75 Yellow Flyer PQ wyb both
-1.00 Sara Lee MQ
= $1.14

$3.00/2 Arm & Hammer TP
-2.50/2 SS 3/21
= .25 each

$1.67/1.66 Cheese ($3/5 sale)
$1.25 Publix Bread x 2
-(2) Bogo Blinkies
-(1) $2/2 Blinkie
-(2) Free Publix Bread wyb ?cheese? MQ (?insert?)
= $1.33

$1.90 Wesson Canola Oil
-1.00 ConAgra booklet
= .90

$2.85 Curly's BBQ
-1.00 Blinkie
= 1.85

Old Week

Value of Items $93.06
Total $0.41 + 4.88 tax = $5.29 from Gift Card

Rite Aid

Transaction 1:
$2.99 J&J Baby Wash & Desitin x 5
-1.00 RA Vv q x 5
-1.00 in-ad q x 5
-1.00 MQ x 5
= +.01 x 5
SCR $14.95 towards J&J Rebate

$0.50 Dark Reeses x 2
-0.55 MQ 3/14? SS or RP
= +.05 x 2

$1.50 Robin Eggs x 2
$2.79 Krazy Glue

Value of Items: $21.74
Total $0.64 + 1.01 tax = $1.65 oop

Transaction 2: I only had a couple of J&J MQs left, so needed some other items to get my total up to $20.00...they only had one box of Ester-C and one box of Knox, so I was going to get one of each, until I checked my envelope and discovered I had NO Ester-C coupons with me! Argggh.
I asked for another box of Knox but they said they didn't have any, but would sell me the one box for 50% off. Which was nice because I had a $6.00 coupon that gave me $2.00 overage, but not a hugh help getting me up to $20.00. Luckily I had one last Benevia BOGO Raincheck I used.

Then I visited the clearance section and found (5) John Freida Frizz-Ease stuff I might be able to get a SCR for (if not, I didn't spend much on them), so with those, the Benevia, and a pack of diapers, I was able to break it up into (2) over $20.00 orders.
I spent my coupon overage on Easter candy...even though my kids are so old I still make them a little basket of candy.

$3.24 John Frieda Frizz-Ease Shampoo, Conditioner, Styler x 5
-2.00 John Frieda MQs ?insert?
-1.00 RA Vv q's
= .24 x 5
SCR $5.00 maybe

$2.99 J&J Baby Wash, Desitin x 2
-1.00 in-ad q x 2
-1.00 RA Vv q x 2
-1.00 MQ x 2
= +.01 x 2
SCR $5.98 towards J&J Rebate

$4.00 worth of Easter Candy

-$5/$20 RA Vv q

Value of Items $26.18
Total $0.18 + 1.11 tax = $1.29 oop

Transaction 3: I went to the counter and asked for a price check on one of the bags of candy, and the AM checked it with the price-gun thing, and said it was $2.99. But it rang up on sale for $1.99, so I went into the negative. I was going to buy something else, but the cashier said she'd put my last $5.00 Benevia coupon in for $4.99, and the tax was covered and my final total ended up being naught. That was pretty cool, with the good cashier.

$8.99 Huggies
-2.00 RA Vv q
-2.00 IP q
= $4.99
SCR $1.00

$8.99 Benevia x 2
-8.99 BOGO Raincheck
-2.00 RA Vv x 2
-5.00 MQ IP
= +5.01

$7.99 Knox Nutri-nail powders
-4.00 discount for BOGO sale
= 3.99

$6.24 Easter candy

Value of items: $41.20
Total: -$0.78 + .78 tax = $0.00 oop

Value of Items Total $89.12
Total Spent $.04 + 2.90 = $2.94 oop
SCR $5.00 John Frieda maybe; $1.00 Huggies
Final Total $3.06 Profit maybe

Target

$1.77 Bandaids x 2
-1.00 TQ x 2
-1.00 MQ x 2
= Free w/ overage

$2.49 GE Reveal bulbs
-1.50 TQ
-1.00 MQ
= .01 overage

$0.82 Up&Up Flushable Wipes Clearance
-0.75 peelies found on the Up&Up Baby wash and lotion and such like that
= $0.07 each

$1.00 animal cookies in case of overage

Total $0.74 + .22 tax = $0.96 from Gift Card

Kroger

Deals (Non-Mega-Sale)
$1.00 Reese's King Size
$1.49 20oz. Coke
-1.00 Reese's March into Savings Game Winner
-1.00 wyb King Size Reese's and 20oz. Coke Tearpad mq
= .49

$0.99 Healthy Life Bread
-0.99 (.50 doubled) 1/03 SS
= Free

$1.00 Pure Bar
-1.00 IP q
= Free

$0.50 Snickers Bars x 2
-1.00/2 (.50 doubled) 2/21 RP
= Free

$1.03 Coffee Mate x 2
-1.00 (.50 doubled) 2/07 RP ?
-1.03 BOGO Catalina
= .03/2

$0.77 Suave Lavender flavor clearance
-1.00 (.50 doubled) 3/14 SS
= +.23

$10.99 Prevacid
- 6.00 MQ Parade March 2010
- 6.00 Kroger e-coupon
= +1.01 overage

Deals (Mega-Sale)
$1.99 Wesson Canola Oil
-1.00 Conagra Booklet
= .99

$0.49 BumbleBee Tuna x 6
-1.00/2 SS 2/21
= +.01 each

$1.00 Scotch Foam Squares Stickup things
-1.00 (.50 doubled) Printables/mpp's
= Free

$0.50 Scotch-Brite Sponges
-1.00/2 Printables/mpp's
= Free

$0.99 Kraft Shredded Cheese x 4
-2.00/2 Blinkie
-BOGO Blinkie
= .47/4
(I was experimenting w/ the BOGO q to see if it took off the original retail price of $3.49, or the sale price $1.49...it was the sale price)

$1.29 Lunchables
-1.00 3/21 SS
= .29

Other
$0.49 Wheat Bread Manager's Special
$0.49 Hot Dog Buns Manager's Special
$0.79 5lb. potatoes Manager's Special
$0.69 onion
$0.52 bananas
$1.08 cabbage
$2.29 boneless chicken tenders

Value before coupons $64.79
Total $4.82 + 1.68 tax = $6.50 oop

Food Lion

$4.29 24pk Food Lion Water
$0.99 Home 360 Moist Towelettes
= $5.28
-$2.00/$5.00 Home 360 FLip
-$1.00 Food Lion Water FLip
-$1.79 MVP Water Sale

$1.00 Uncle Ben's Rice x 2
-1.00 Uncle Ben's x 2 2/21 RP

Total $0.55 + .12 tax = $0.67 oop

Rite Aid

$8.99 Huggies
-2.00 IP Q
-2.00 RA Vv Q
= 4.99
$1.00 SCR = 3.99 (sell for $5.00)

$2.99 J&J Baby Lotion x 2
-1.00 MQ insert x 2
-1.00 in-ad Q x 2
-1.00 RA Vv Q x 2
= +.01 x 2
$5.98 towards J&J Rebate

$3.88 Planters NUT-trition x 2
$1.49 Diet Coke x 2
-1.50 in-ad Q x 2
-2.00 wyb Planters NUTtrition and Diet Coke x 2
-1.49 BOGO Diet Coke RA Vv
= $2.25

$0.50 Reese's x 2
- .55 MQ 3/14 SS x 2
= +.10 overage

-$5/$20

Value of Items $26.71
Spent $2.12 + 1.05 tax = $3.17oop
SCR $1.00 Huggies

CVS

There are (4) double packs of papers pictured here, but I actually only bought one of them at CVS w/ ECBs. The rest I bought at Walgreens w/ cash. This is because I missed the Dollar Paper Sellers, and the next CVS I stopped at only had one bundle pack. So since my regular Wags still rings up the paper at $2.50, rather than the $3.00 it says, I hoped this other Wags would, too. They actually rang up $2.38, so even better.

My first CVS shop went well. I got:
$3.99 Crest Pro-Health Rinse
-2.00 P&G 2/07
Get $2.00 ECB
= +.01

$3.99 Colgate
-1.00 IP MQ colgate.com
Get $3.99 ECB
= +1.00

$8.97 Pampers
-2.00 RP 3/14
Get $3.00 ECB
= 3.97; will sell on CL for about $5.00

$3.79 Stayfree
$3.79 Stayfree
-3.79 BOGO MQ
-1.00 IP MQ
Get $4.00 ECB
= +1.21

$4.99 Airwick
-4.00 SS 2/07
= .99

$1.49 CVS Toddler Wipes
-2.00 Skincare Q RIB
= +.52

$0.99 Almonds
-1.00 CVS RIB Q
= +.01

- $5/$30

Value of Items $32.00
ECBs Used $10.00
Cash Spent $.46 + 1.30 tax = $1.76 oop
ECBs Earned $12.99
Total $1.23 Profit

The next CVS shop I messed up. I had the Pampers on my mind; the limit being 2, or 3, but I was buying one at a time....For some reason it didn't occur to me that I couldn't keep buying Crest and Colgate on the same card. Duhhhh!

I had written down what I was buying as I went, noting what ECBs I should be getting...well then I found the Ban deodorants non-advertised clearance for $1.75. They get a $2.00 ECB this week, but I didn't write it down for some reason. So when I got my receipt and scanned over it, I only noticed the $3.99 Colgate ECB missing. I said that I should have gotten it, and the Store Manager printed me out one manually. Later on I was looking again, and noticed the $2.00 one I thought had been for the Crest was really for the Ban, and it dawned on me why I hadn't gotten the Crest or Colgate ECBs, because I had already done my limit on those in the first shop.

$3.99 Crest Pro-Health Rinse
-2.00 P&G 2/07
(No ECBs)
= 1.99

$3.99 Colgate
-1.00 IP MQ colgate.com
Got $4.00 ECB prtined manually
= +1.01

$8.97 Pampers
-2.00 RP 3/14
Get $3.00 ECB
= 3.97; will sell on CL for about $5.00

$1.75 Ban Powder Fresh Deo
- .75 MQ
Get $2.00 ECB
= +1.00

$1.49 CVS Toddler Wipes
-2.00 Skincare Q RIB
= +.52

$0.99 Almonds
-1.00 CVS RIB Q
= +.01

$2.49 Thermacare 1ct. (Raincheck)
x 5 = $12.45
- 1.00 IP q x 5
Got $2.49 ECB (printed 3.00) x 5
= +7.55

- $5/$30

Value of Items $36.63
ECBs Used $17.50
Cash Spent $1.38 + 1.69 tax = $3.07 oop
ECBs Earned $24.00
Total $3.43 Profit

Then I did two more Ban transactions at the same store, different cards. Rumor was the Ban limit is (2), but I didn't want to risk it. I can confirm it's at least (2).

$1.75 Powder Fresh Ban Solid
- .75 MQ
Get $2.00 ECB
= +$1.00 profit (actually it was only +.90 after .10 tax)

Target

Because I was there anyway, I stopped in at Target.

I couldn't find an Airwick deal.

This Target did have the Buy (2) Get (1) Free Ore-Ida deal, and they were priced $2.44 and $2.50 each. I got (6) bags and used (4) $1.50 blinkie coupons. I don't know if I could have used (6) coupons, and probably wouldn't have tried it anyway because I have a bad enough time shopping at Target as it is.

Which is the reason I didn't do the Gillette 0.5oz Clinical deodorant and free body wash deal. The deodorants were located in the Travel/Trial ection at this store, so if I had needed to argue it, and they went and looked, I'd have been SOL.

I did find (3) Kid's Crest priced $1.49 each...used $1.00 Target coupon and $0.50 MQ from one of the inserts.

The bandaids were $1.77 per box...used $1.00 Target coupon and $1.00 Bandaid MQ from one of the inserts.
These and my Princess and the Frog DVD qualify for a $5.00 MIR. Apparently I need Disney Band-Aids for the rebate. Oh well, these were free w/overage anyway.

Lightbulbs were $2.14 each...used $1.50 Target coupon and $1.00 MQ from insert.

I bought the bottled Coke for $1.00 in the Dollar Spot because it has Final Four 2010 printed on the bottle and I sort of have a collection of Event Bottled Cokes....okay I have a large collection of Event Bottled Cokes, but I didn't mean to start collecting them, and am trying to stop collecting. Failed at that today.

I'm tired tonight but if anyone needs links/dates to any of the coupons, holla.

Value of items $28.17
Spent $4.36 from Target Gift Card

Rite Aid

In addition to bad math skills, my eyesight is going, too. When I was sent this deal, I didn't see the little minus sign indicating the total was a negative amount. Sooo, when my total including tax went into the negative, it refused my last $2/3 coupon. Blah. I coulda got another $1.00 worth of something.

$1.99 Candy x 6
$4.99 Visine x 2
= $21.92

-$5/$20 Vv q
-$2/3 Candy MQ x 2
-$2/3 Candy in-ad q x 2
-$2.00 Visine MQ x 2
-$3.00 Visine in-ad q x 2

Total $0.92 + .71 tax = $1.63 oop
$9.98 towards J&J SCR for Visine

CVS

Had some last ECBs to roll/spend for this week, and was finally able to get those shops done today.

The first CVS I went into didn't have the DVD I was looking for...I asked for a raincheck and the Shift Supervisor told me, "We probably won't get anymore in". Are you kidding me??

$4.29 Old Spice deo
$4.99 Old Spice BW
$0.99 Choc Covered Almonds
$3.49 Fruitopia (What happened to $2.50?)
$2.50 Viogolive
$1.49 CVS Toddler Flushable Wipes
$1.29 CVS Paper towels
$1.59 20oz. Coke
$1.59 20oz. Fanta
$5.99 Vitamins x 2 BOGO Sale
$4.99 Vitamins x 2 BOGO Sale
$4.99 Vitamins x 2 BOGO Sale
$8.99 Bud Light (Whoa, Sale! The sign on these said $11.49)
$10.00/3 Cokes
= $73.15

-5.00/30.00 CVSQ
-4.29 Old Spice BOGO MQ
-4.99 Old Spice BOGO MQ
-5.00 Vitamins x 2 IP MQ
-3.00 Vitamins x 4 IP MQ
-1.00 Paper Towels CRT
-2.00 Fruitopia RIB CVSQ
-2.00 Viogolive RIB CVSQ
-1.00 Almonds Product RIB CVSQ
-2.00 Skincare RIB CVSQ

-15.00 ECBs

Total -1.10 + 2.06 tax = .96 oop

Found the movie at another CVS across town, a brand spanking new CVS just opened. The little baggie with the CVS products and coupons was a free Grand Opening gift. Nice!

$19.99 DVD
$ 2.50 Viologie
$ 2.49 Fruitopia (I saw it ring up $3.49 this time and said it was supposed to be $2.50, and rather than price modifying he put in a $1.00 CVS coupon)
$ 4.99 Old Spice BW
$ 4.29 Old Spice deo
$ 1.50 Raisinets (filler)
= $35.77

-5.00/30.00
-4.99 Old Spice BOGO MQ
-4.29 Old Spice BOGO MQ
-2.00 Viologie CVSQ
-2.00 Fruitopia CVSQ

-18.00 ECBs

Total -0.52 + 1.08 tax = $.56 oop
ECBs Earned $3.00

BTW, although I love those low oop's, it was just bad math skills and accident that they got that low, lol.

CVS

Good thru Sunday

CVS

(Not pictured: CVS Single-Roll Paper Towels, 6-Roll Scott Paper Towels, Toddler Wipes, Almonds Candy, Old Spice Deodorant, Old Spice Body Wash)

I had to take my MIL to the Dr. this am...as I was leaving I remembered I would be passing a CVS, so I grabbed my shopping bag which I carry all my CVS envelopes/cards/coupons in.
I had a plan, depending on whether they had the Princess and the Frog DVD or not. If so, I was going to burn ECBs buying it. If not, I was going to burn ECBs on some other stuff.
So I go in, and head for the Red Machine to scan my cards for more Paper Towel CRTs and whatever else they might give me...and there's no CVS envelopes in my bag!!! Suddenly I remembered they were still laying on my desk where I left them when I was working on my blog last night.

Well just by some of that dumb luck I get every once in awhile, one of my CVS cards had apparently fallen out or was left out of it's envelope and was in the bag. So I scanned it and got my Paper Towels and toothbrushes CRTs.
I didn't have any ECBs, but I still had all my coupons, most of which was free or overage stuff. I got Old Spice, Toddler Wipes, Almonds candy, and Vitamins.
With the $5/$20 coupon, I was over $11.00 overage, so I went to buy another thing of beer....only to find out this CVS doesn't sell beer. So I got another jug of milk, some sandwich bags, and a 6-pack roll of Scott paper towels that was on sale for $4.99.
When my son and his GF came up last week to shop at my house, they forgot paper towels, and I forgot to get any this morning, so I just 'bought' them some with my overage. Ended up giving him the Almonds candy, wipes, and Old Spice, too, lol.

Value of Items $59.96
ECBs Used $0.00
Cash Spent $0.71 + 2.09 tax = $2.80
ECBs Earned $0.00
Total $2.80 oop

CVS

So I decided to try this tax-math-thing. I did my shopping like usual, where I write down the regular price, minus the coupon value, and total. Then I add all three columns, and come up with my totals. By my usual cypherings, my total was .13 plus tax.

Then I added the price of the items, and subtracted the amount of CVS coupons. Then I figured the 7% tax for non-food items, and 3% for the food items, then subtracted the amount of my ECBs from that amount, and then my manufacturer coupons. It said I still owed $20.01.
So obviously I did something wrong.

At any rate, the subtotal was .22 rather than .13, plus the $2.00 it cost me because I picked up the wrong Lint Rollers, plus $3.20 tax. I had originally figured the tax at $3.91, so I don't know if I figured wrong - which is entirely likely - or if some of the tax was reduced by my giving ECBs first.

Transaction 1:
Value of Items $88.37
ECBs Spent $15.00
Cash $2.22 + 3.20 tax = $5.42 oop
ECBs Earned $3.00
Total $17.42 cost

After the first transaction, I remembered I had forgotten to ask for a raincheck for the Degree deodorants, so I went back in.
This is another thing I always forget, when CVS has a deal where you have to buy a certain amount to get an ECB, you can buy those items at different stores, in different transactions, and they add up.
Anyway, an Associate asked if they were out, and was there anything they could substitute in place of, to make it right for me. Since I only had coupons for Degree Mens and Girls, and they don't carry Girl, I said I was specifically looking for Men's. So we went back there and there was 4 of the Men's, but I needed 6. So the very nice lady broke open one of the 2-packs to let me buy as singles, as she explained to the cashier, however the cashier still rang it up as a double pack at $5.00. Another one rang up at $2.40, don't know why.
It didn't matter, though, because they knew I was doing the Buy $15 and get $5 deal, so they manually printed the $5.00 ECB.

Transaction 2:
$2.50 x 3 Degree Deos
$2.40 Degree Deo
$5.00 Degree 2-pk deo
-3.00/2 x 3 IP qs

-5.00/20.00

Total $0.90 + .69 tax = $1.59 oop
Got $5.00 ECB = $3.41 profit
(and there was only $7.50 counted towards this deal on my card limit)

Different store, different card;
Transaction 3:
Value of Items $88.45
ECBs Spent $7.00 (apparently he missed scanning the $2.00 one and only took off $5.00)
Cash $2.47 + 3.79 tax = $6.26 oop
ECBs Earned $10.00
Total $3.26 cost

Different Store, back to first card:
Transaction 4:
Value of Items $51.92
ECBs Spent $0.00
Cash $2.70 + 1.84 tax = $4.54 oop
ECBs Earned $5.00
Total +$0.46 profit

This last store used to be one of my, if not the favorite CVS store to shop at. They usually have most everything I'm looking for in stock, and I have done up to three transactions using three cards without any trouble at all.
This time I had a butthole ol' Shift Supervisor checking me out. First thing, my $5/$20 beeped. She said Hold on a minute, and went towards the back, left me standing there a good while. The other cashier checked out three people in the time I stood there.
When she came back she folded it and handed it me and said It's not taking this one.
Then she got the Old Spice coupons and said in a real hateful tone, the deodorant is two-fifty, not no four-something. I said the Degree deodorant is $2.50, the Old Spice is $4.29.
About that time the Store Manager walks up and she hands him the $5/$20 coupon and he reads it, and points out where it says "If this coupon doesn't scan, enter this code" whatever, so they try that, and it still doesn't work, so then she says well what about these, and gives him the Old Spice coupons. He says I can't use them, I have to buy one to get one free. I just shrugged and said that I've been using them fine at other stores. I said well just take those off, then.

At this point I'm still in a "whatever" mood, you know, win some, lose some, but then after I pay and am putting my stuff back into envelopes, that Shift Supervisor calls the other two cashiers over and says "I got to tell y'all something. If those coupons like that five-dollar off don't scan, we can't take 'em".
It wasn't just that she told them that, but it was the tone she was using, which I CLEARLY recognized from not 5 minutes before when she was talking to one of the other cashiers about some man that comes in and asks to use the bathroom and steals their toilet paper, and that I was still standing right there.
So I popped off with, "Whereas other, BETTER CVS Stores WILL accept THEIR OWN coupons, so I will be taking my business to THOSE stores!"
And that Shift Supervisor just had to finish it off with a snotty "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Ma'am."

Some of the Details: (in no certain order)
$2.50 Degree Deos x 6
-3.00/2 x 3 IP q's
= $6.00
Get $5.00 ECB wyb $15.00
= $1.00/6, or approx .17 each

$6.00 Glade Sense & Spray
$4.00 Glade Scented Oil Plugin refill
$1.49 Glade Plugin warmer
-3.00 Sense & Spray IP
-1.49 Free Plugin wyb Refill MQ 2/28 SS
-3.00 CRT from Red Machine
Get $4.00 ECB wyb $10
= FREE

$2.99 Herbal Essence hair stuff
$2.99 Herbal Essence hair stuff
-1.00 MQ 3/14 SS?RP?
-2.99 BOGO 2/07 PG
Get $1.00 ECB
= $0.99 for both

$5.99 Vitamins BOGO Sale
$4.99 Vitamins BOGO Sale
Limit 6 per transaction
They way I bought mine, to preserve my $5.00 q's, I got (2) $5.99 bottles, and (4) $4.99 bottles, and used (2) $5.00 q's and (4) $3.00 q's. That gave me a total of $6.03 overage, which I used to buy $5.99 6-pack beer.

$1.29 CVS single roll paper towels
-1.00 CRT from Red Machine
= .29

$2.50 Fruitopia or Viogolvie Shampoo or Conditioner
-2.00 RIB magazine Q
= .50

Also when I scanned one of my cards at the Red Machine I got a BOGO Fruitopia CRT, and it let me use it and the $2.00 RIB in the same transaction, so I got both for .50 cents.

$2.50 Essence of Beauty Portables 12-ct. wedges
$2.50 Essence of Beauty Portables 12-ct. wedges
-2.00 RIB q (Can only use 1 per trans.)
Get 2.00 wyb (2) EoB Portables
= $1.00

$1.49 CVS Toddler Flushable Wipes
-2.00 Skincare RIB q
= +.52

$0.99 Almonds
-1.00 RIB q
= +.01

$1.34/$1.33 Izze Drinks (3/$4 sale)
- .75 IP q
= $.59/.58

All the rest of the stuff I believe I bought with overage or ECBs that were expiring and I just needed to spend.

Walgreens

I don't recommend others do this...but last week's break, I guess, was worth the risk to me of losing my expired RRs if they refused them today. Luckily my regular Wags is such a Fantastic store, I don't have much trouble out of them accepting my slightly expired RRs.

I had about $17.00 RRs that expired last week, and the rest expired today, so I had to unload/roll them all.
I went armed with several deal ideas, many of which didn't work out for one reason or another.
I did what I could, got a couple double-packs newspapers, my youngest son some Easy Fries, and then blew the rest on stuff for ME.

I admit it, I have been wanting a Snuggie :-% I've just been waiting for them to go on clearance. Well today I found the Snuggie for Kids, which is the size I really need anyway, orange-tagged for $11.49. So not much on sale, but I had the RRs to spend, and risked not being able to get on later if/when they got any cheaper.

I also wanted some of those battery-operated flickering candle lights, so I finally broke down and bought a package of those.
I saw a neat idea recently where a lady had remodified an old camping or railroad lantern and put one of these flickering candles in it and used it as decoration in her house. How cool!

Weekly Deals:
$4.99 Excedrin
$1.00 Excedrin
- .75 x 2 MQ
-4.00 Wags Q March book
= $0.49

*I should have gotten overage on this deal, because supposedly this week Excedrin 20-24 ct. is on sale BOGO. The bad thing about it is, there were no tags up, so I asked the cashier if they would ring up BOGO, or 2/$5.99. She took it and price-checked it and came back and said it was ringing up $4.99, so would be BOGO.
It wasn't. And probably you'll end up getting a cashier who pulls the old "well it isn't pictured in the sale paper" excuse, even though it doesn't specify certain Excedrins other than size, so be aware if you do that deal.

$3.99 Colgate Total 5.8oz
Again, no tags were up, I ended up getting the regularly priced $3.99 4oz one, so had to do a return/rebuy and get the right one.
-1.00 MQ 3/07 SS
= 2.99
Get $4.00 RR = $1.01 Profit

.89 Reeses Dark
.70 Reeses Dark
-.61 in-ad Q
-.55 x 2 MQ 3/14 SS (Yes I cut out coupons from papers I was buying in the same trans, lol)
= .06 Overage each

$0.99 x 2 Easy Fries
-1.50/2 IP Q
= .48/2

Monthly Deals:
$3.00 x 4 Oral-B 3D White Toothbrush
-3.00 x 2 BOGO MQ 3/07 PG
- .75 x 2 MQ 2/07 or 2/21 PG
= $4.50
Get $3.00 RR
= $1.50, or .38 each

$1.29 x 6 Kleenex
-2.40 in-ad Q
- .55/3 x 2 Blinkie Q
= $4.24
Get $3.00 RR
= $1.24/6, or .20 each

The Cheeseburgers were clearanced for .32 each so I got those when I needed cheap fillers that wasn't more candy. The boys already ate half of them when I got home with them...said they "Weren't bad".

Totals:
Transactions: 6
Value of Items: $98.17
RRs Spent: $54.00
Cash: $5.25 + 6.07 tax = $11.32
RRs Earned: $32.00
Final Total: $33.32 Cost

Usually I'd be pitching a temper trantrum over that large of a cost, but I have $29.00 RRs, a good stake for next weeks' game, I think. I want to start trying to keep my RRs amounts down to a more managable level, which means I'm going to have to learn to start spending more of them even without reward/profit.

That cash amount is higher than I like, though. I guess with the Snuggie, newspapers, candle lights and Easy Fries I maybe got my money's worth. I don't care much about the rest of it.

CVS

I have ECBs expiring this week, not until like Thursday-Friday...I mainly went CVS shopping today to spend a couple of the $/$$ coupons that expire today. I hate that I don't go and use those while I have the chance, it's like throwing away free money.

I did 2 shops today. They went fairly smoothly, except I mis-added on the 2nd order and it went into the negative.
I learned something, though. I usually always give my ECBs last, because if I mis-added, I could either change the denomination of ECB I was spending, or it could be adjusted down a few cents. I was always afraid if I gave ECBs first, and it hit negative, it would refuse my last coupon. I found out today it won't. It accepted the coupon and went into the negative.

Luckily the cashier wasn't one to freek out and we re-checked to make sure she didn't double scan a coupon, she didn't, so I got a candybar. I don't remember what the original negative amount was, but it was still .30something in the neg after one, so I had to get another one.

I see by my receipt the total is still in the negative, and then there's some tax, and I ended up owing .44 oop. Doesn't look like very much tax for what all I got. I wonder if giving the ECBs before the MQs lessened the tax?
I remember Brandy told me if I used them first, they could pay for the tax...I think?...I'm not smart enough to figure out how much tax is going to be, so I don't try to give more ECBs than stuff I'm buying to try to pay for the tax, too.
Apparently I'm not smart enough to figure out any of it.

Transaction #1:
$2.99 Herbal Essence
$2.99 Herbal Essence
-1.00 HE 3/14 SS
-2.99 HE BOGO 2/07 PG
Get $1.00 ECB
= $.99/2

$2.50 x 4 Hershey Candy
-2.00/3 3/14 SS
Get $3.00 ECB
= $5.00

$1.50 x 7 Hershey King Size
-1.00 x 7 MQ expired today
= $3.50
Get $3.00 ECB
= .50/7

$5.99 x 2 Nature Bounty
-5.99 BOGO Sale
-5.00 x 2 IP Q
= +4.01 Overage

$0.99 Gold Emblem Almonds
-1.00 RIB CVS Almond Product Q
= +0.01

$1.49 CVS Flushable Toddler Wipes
-2.00 RIB CVS Skincare Q
= +0.51

$1.29 CVS paper towels
-1.00 CVS coupon from the Red Machine
= .29

Used $5/$30

Value of Items: $42.23
ECBs Spent: $4.00
Cash Spent: $.25 + 1.26 tax = $1.51
ECBs Earnt: $7.00
Final Total: +$1.49 Profit

Transaction #2:
$2.99 Herbal Essence
$2.99 Herbal Essence
-1.00 HE 3/14 SS
-2.99 HE BOGO 2/07 PG
Get $1.00 ECB
= $.99/2

$2.50 x 4 Hershey Candy
-2.00/3 3/14 SS
Get $3.00 ECB
= $5.00

$5.99 x 2 Nature Bounty
-5.99 BOGO Sale
-5.00 x 2 IP Q
= +4.01 Overage

$0.99 Gold Emblem Almonds
-1.00 RIB CVS Almond Product Q
= +0.01

$1.49 CVS Flushable Toddler Wipes
-2.00 RIB CVS Skincare Q
= +0.51

1.00 Jar of Peaches (Supposed to have been my filler to get me up to my amount of ECBs I was spending.)
.50 Three Musketeers
.50 Peanut MnMs

Used $4/$20

Value of Items: $32.44
ECBs Spent: $4.00
Cash Spent: -.54 + .98 tax = .44
ECBs Earnt: $4.00
Final Total: $0.44 oop

Total both:
Value of Items: $74.67
ECBs Spent: $8.00
Cash Spent: -0.29 + 2.24 tax = $1.95
ECBs Earnt: $11.00
Final Total: $1.05 Profit

Rite Aid

Well I decided I needed to get out shopping today. I needed milk and bread, and wanted to try a double shop at CVS again like I did last week. I worked through the day looking for CVS and Kroger deals, and then at the last minute got together some Rite Aid deals copied from Brandy's blog and Southern Savers.
Turned out the Rite Aid shops were the only ones that turned out any good.
With my luck, though, I may find out later I didn't even get the right stuff for the SCRs.

Transaction 1: Found the John Freida Frizz Ease on clearance for $3.24 each. I looked at the ad and the rebate book, but couldn't never tell for sure if the spray stuff was included, or only shampoo. I thought I interpreted it mean Any John Frieda Frizz Ease hair stuff, but who knows.

With the overage from my coupons, I bought the milk, bread, tp, and candy. The tp was $1.00 more than I thought because they were working on putting on next week's signs and it didn't occur to me to look for the date. It was ok, though, because the candy was .50 less than I was expecting.

$3.24 x 5 John Frieda
$2.99 Milk
$1.50 Bread
$1.50 Candy
$3.99 toilet paper
= $26.18

-5.00/20.00 RA Vv q
-3.00 x 5 John Frieda MQs 3/07 SS
-1.00 x 5 RA Vv q JF Frizz-ease

Total: $1.18 + 1.24 tax = $2.42 oop
SCR #41 KAO Brands $5.00 = $2.58 profit
(Dang, I love it when they pay me to buy milk, bread, candy, and tp!!)

ETA: Here is the SCR for the John Frieda; it does say just John Frieda hair care products.
The SCR is good through 3/27, so still time to look for more of these on the clearance racks. I used all my $3.00 q's, but I think there are some $2.00 ones that might work, too.

March 2010
Rebate #41
Valid from 02/28/10 to 03/27/10
$5.00 Rebate
KAO Brands

Purchase Fifteen Dollars ($15.00) Worth of Any Variety:
• Jergens Natural Glow or Moisturizers, Biore Facial Care Products, Ban Antiperspirant Deodorant, John Frieda Hair Care Products or Curel Moisturizers
Offer valid 02/26/10 - 03/25/10 in select California stores and 02/28/10 - 03/27/10 in all other stores.
LIMIT THREE (3) $5.00 REBATES

**I wonder if I might get an additional $3.24 SCR from this one...I don't even know what the stuff in the tube was...shampoo or what?
March 2010
Rebate #4
Valid from 02/28/10 to 03/27/10
up to $6.99 Rebate
Frizz Ease

Purchase One (1) of Any Variety:
• Styling Item AND
Purchase One (1) of Any Variety:
• Shampoo or Conditioner and
receive back by mail the purchase price of the Shampoo or Conditioner
Both items must be purchased to qualify towards rebate
*Purchase Price Will Be Refunded (up to $6.99). Sales tax excluded.
Offer valid 02/26/10 - 03/25/10 in select California stores and 02/28/10 - 03/27/10 in all other stores.
LIMIT ONE (1) REBATE

Transaction 2:
$5.00 Biore Strips and Cleansers x 4
= $20.00

-5.00/20.00 RA Vv q
-5.00 x 2 BOGO MQ 3/07 SS

Total $1.00 + 1.05 tax = $2.05
SCR #41 KAO Brands $5.00 = $2.95 Profit

Transaction #3: I went to another store for the next two trans. Both these stores have histories of giving me trouble, so two trans was pushing it, I felt like, so no way I was going to try more.

The Store Manager was at this store tonight, she was the one I'd spoke to a few weeks ago when her cashiers were only going to accept one of each coupon. She had told me then she was going to send me a Gift Card, and I told not to worry about it, all I wanted was to be able to shop at the store without being treated like a crook. She insisted, but didn't get around to sending it, no biggie.
Tonight I introduced myself, and wanted to tell her how much better it has been shopping there since we talked. She asked had I gotten the gift card, and I said no, but that's okay, that's not what I was looking for. She said she believed it was still sitting on her desk in the back, and insisted on giving me a $10 gift card right there. So that was nice.

She also had to price adjust some things that didn't ring up right, maybe because they are a "Short Ad" store? I dunno. I hope it's not because I got the wrong stuff, and won't end up qualifying for my SCRs.

$9.99 Pampers (rang up $11.99)
$9.99 Metamucil (rang up $13.99)
$2.74 Oral-B TB
$2.74 Oral-B TB
$4.99 Nyquil
= $30.45

-5.00/20.00 RA Vv q
-2.00 Pampers MQ
-3.00 Metamucil MQ
- .75 Oral-B MQ
-2.74 Oral-B BOGO MQ
-1.50 Nyquil MQ

-10.00 Gift Card (had been going to use $10 GoS)
-5.00 Gift of Savings

Total $0.46 + 1.43 tax = $1.89
SCR #13 Metamucil $5.00; #39 Oral-B Toothbrush $1.00; #19 Nyquil $2.00; #18 $10.00 RA GC wyb $30.00 P&G Products = $11.11 Profit

Transaction #4: another Biore deal
$5.00 Biore Strips and Cleansers x 4
= $20.00

-5.00/20.00 RA Vv q
-5.00 x 2 BOGO MQ 3/07 SS

Total $1.00 + 1.05 tax = $2.05
SCR #41 KAO Brands $5.00 = $2.95 Profit

Total Value All Items: $96.63
Total Spent: $8.64 + 4.77 tax = $13.41
Total SCR/Gift Card: $33.00
Final Total: $19.59 Profit

Kroger

My Kroger shop stunk. Why did I think the Nature Bounty were on BOGO until 3/27? Well, they ain't. Since it's Saturday night and they were already pulling down price tags to put up the new ones for tomorrow, I thought they were still on BOGO this week :-(

Oh well, I'll take the vitamins back for a refund later.

The California Kitchen Pizza was free, I won it in the March to Savings game. Price came right off with no problem.

The CoffeeMate Sticks are $1.03 at Kroger right now, so when you use the .50 MQ from whatever insert it was, it's only $0.03, and then I got a BOGO Catalina, so next time I will get 2 for $0.03.
If it's the same as Food Lion, the next Catalina I get after that will be a B2GO, so I will get 3 for $0.06.
I actually have a couple of those catalina coupons from Food Lion, but stupid Kroger won't take them, even though they are Manufacturer coupons, stupid Kroger says they are Competitor coupons. Dumb Kroger.

The 14-day Prevacid costs $10.99. I loaded a $10.00 ecoupon from Kroger.com, and used a $10.00 MQ from the Parade magazine insert. Got $1.01 overage on that.

The Fruit Shapes were $1.79 each, and I had (2) $.50 (doubled to 1.00) MQs. I also had .50/2 Shortcuts and Cellfire q's loaded, but they didn't come off. I don't think that's because I used paper q's, because I used a paper q with the Prevacid and that ecoupon came off fine. But otherwise I don't know why neither one wouldn't have come off.

I did get my $3.50 OYNO Catalina surprise-surpise-glory-hallelujah!

Value of Items $46.91
Total Spent $11.44 + 2.44 tax = $13.88 oop
(I plan to get $19.48 + tax back for the Vitamins)(They may laugh me out the door)

CVS

CVS was an even bigger disaster than Kroger. I still don't really know what happened, and am afraid to look. It's probably something really stupid, and then I'll be mad that I wasn't able to correct it while in progress.

Mainly I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. I copied ideas from message board posts, but never actually looked at pictures of the sales ad to see what I was looking for or to verify.

The big deal I was going tonight for was to "double-dip" the Gillette deal.
Last week you got $4.00 for buying Gillette Fusion, Venus Embrace, Breeze, or Divine.
This week you get $3.00 wyb Gillette Cartridges.
So I bought those, and used a $4.00 off cartridges coupon from out of the disposables package, the Get Free Razor wyb Cartridges coupon, and also Free Body Wash wyb Shave Prep.

I got the Razor and the Body Wash free, but I only got the $4.00 ECB from last week, and not the $3.00 ECB from this week.

Now that I see it was the cartridges that didn't give the ECBs, and not the razor, I may be able to take my receipt in and ask for my ECBs.

And then otherwise I bought the Gillette disposable razors expecting a $3.00 ECB, and turned out it was only $2.00 ECB.

The Nivea was last weeks deal; $2.99 - Get $2.99 ECB. I used a $1.00 Any Nivea for $1.00 overage.

Also planned to get a couple Oral B toothbrushes, but they were OOS.

I got (2) bottles of Nature Bounty Vit C t $5.99 each, and used (2) $5.00 IP q's with no Beep.

Got a $1.00 off CVS Paper Towels from scanning my card at the red machine. CVS single roll paper towels are $1.29, so they were only .29, which I was .04 cents short of the total of ECBs I was spending, so instead of losing .04 cents, I paid .25 for a roll of paper towels.

Used a $5/$40 coupon. It beeped, but she put it through with no problem.

Value of Items $52.22
ECBs Spent $8.00
Cash Spent $0.25 + 2.82 = $3.07 oop
ECBs Earnt $8.99
Total $2.08 cost

I had also carried some of the other $/$$ coupons ($5/$30 and $4/$20), and was going to do the deal on the other two cards, but after the first one didn't work right, I just went home.

But I should have stayed and investigated it, and I BET I could have gotten that $3.00 ECB manually printed, and I could have gotten all the above free, three times, plus made a little profit. Boohoo.

Week 10

Well it's Friday of Week 10, and I haven't gone shopping one day this week. This little episode seems to be lasting longer than I expected.

I'm down to one jug of milk and half a loaf of bread, and still no urge to go shopping. My husband paid for a head of lettuce yesterday - at Walmart. Argh...

Earlier this week the weather turned off very nice, temps reaching up into the 60's and even low 70's. These are the kind of days we like to get outside and work around the yard and house.

J repaired a window sill under one of my son's bedroom windows that had rotted away, and I replanted my pumpkin plants.

I originally planted 9 seeds a couple weeks ago, and several sprouted, but then all but two didn't make any more progress. Don't know what happened with them. 
I transplanted the two that did turn into plants into larger pots, and planted 9 more seeds to sprout.

Tuesday was also nice, but J had to work so I had to take his Dad to get eye surgery.

Wednesday the weather turned off bad; flooding rains and lightning and thunder all day. Too nasty to get out. Not that that would have stopped me if I had wanted to get out...but I didn't.

We worked that day on replacing the ceiling in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Or, we did until my son called a little bit after leaving school to say his car was broke down. So J had to go get him and the car. 

Yesterday's weather was also grey, dreary, off and on rainy. The boys spent the day replacing the waterpump in R's car.  I worked on sweeping up and bagging blown-insulation out of the upstairs bedroom floor that had fell out when J pulled the old ceiling down, to put back into the attic.

We live in an old 1930's farmhouse, that was remodeled into an upstairs/downstairs duplex with a garage addition, and the upstairs porch enclosed in the 1970's.  We've been working on it since we moved in about 11 years ago. My hubby calls it The Money Pit.



We haven't really put that much money into it, though. Not compared to the houses on the remodeling shows on tv.  When J works two jobs, he don't have time to work much on it (and I refuse to pay 3 times the price hiring someone to do what we can do)...plus when he works two jobs we spend more on travel than the house.  I always preferred to take the kids and have adventures and family togetherness, than  work on a house all the time.  The house would always be there later to work on, when they are grown and living their own lives. Or it wouldn't, who cares.  I'm not especially sentimentally attached to this place.

Anyway, when J doesn't work two jobs, like he hasn't for about the past year, we don't really have the extra money to put into it.  Here lately we've been buying like 2 sheets of sheetrock every two weeks and putting it up. 

He's at work again today, and it's another rainy, nasty day.  This morning they were predicting thunderstorms, some possibly severe, but they died down as they came across the Georgia line from Alabama. We got like 2 thunders.  Tell you the truth, I was kindly disappointed it wasn't a little more exciting than that.  I'm sure I'll be regretting saying that in a couple more weeks, when it gets more into tornado season, but I do like a good thunderstorm every so often, when they aren't severe, or risk of tornadoes.

I did try looking for some shopping deals a little bit yesterday. I saw someone posted that Food Lion has Betty Crocker cake mix on sale for 10/$10, or $1.00 each.  There are .50 MQs in I think it was the 2/07 GM paper, and then there's a FLip this week for $1.00/2 BC cake mixes, so that's 2 boxes cake mix free.

But I already have like 25 boxes of cake mix and frosting, not to mention the other probably 25 or better boxes that I carried to one of my Mom's houses to store in her cabinets. So that wouldn't be worth the drive to FL for me.

They also have Kellogg's cereal on sale 3/$5.00. If you have the .70/1 Blinkie coupon, and there's a $1.00/2 FLip, it's only like .46 per box.
I have plenty of cereal at this point, too.

I did get somewhat excited to see new CVS Generic and Item coupons.  They are good until Sunday, so maybe I can get my act back together for tomorrow or the next day. Maybe tomorrow evening, I can do both week's CVS sales again, and go to Kroger and use Nature Bounty overage to get milk and bread.

If you're interested in the CVS coupons, read this post.  Be sure to read it, not just print and go, and then wonder what happened if you run into trouble.

Gillette - Walgreens

Turns out the Gillette deal may be better at Walgreens than at CVS this week:

$8.98 = 2 Gillette deos @ $4.49 each YMMV
$9.98 = 2 Gillette BW @ $4.99 each YMMV
______
$18.96
(4.00) = $4/2 Gillette deos/BW ....if the 2/21 P&G coupon works!
(9.98) = 2 free Gillette BW from the B1 deo, G1 BW free coupons (previous P&G insert)
(2.25) = 50% off Gillette deo (B1G150% sale)
(2.50) = 50% off Gillette BW (B1G150% sale)
_____
$0.23 = final OOP

CVS

First stop, CVS, where I was totally off my game, but made out by some kind of dumb luck...

First transaction: I still had $12.00 ECBs to roll, and had already done this weeks deals, so I used some rainchecks I had, and tried to do the Buy $10.00 CVS Premium Facial Care Products, Get $3.00 ECB deal.

The Thermacare worked out fine, but the cashier didn't ring up the Crest at the $3.50 sale price. I still made .22 profit, so I didn't lose much, but it should have been a $4.00 profit, so that would've hurt....except the boy accidently handed me back my raincheck with my ECBs. I just stuck the ECBs, receipt, and all in the envelope, not thinking a thing about it.
So I get another chance :-)

The Premium Face Care deal didn't work out. I knew from reports on the 'net that the Acne cream worked, but I didn't want three tubes of Acne cream. So I went over to the Premium Facial Care section on the wall and shopped for some CVS knock-off Pond's cream and some kind of makeup removers, maybe also Pond's knockoffs?
So I didn't get the ECB, and my receipt showed I had only spent $3.99 towards the deal. I explained to the cashier what I was trying to do, showed him the ad, told him I got the stuff from the Premium Facial Care section, and didn't know why it didn't work. He didn't either. Maybe something I got didn't qualify for the deal? (Ya think?) So I asked if he could find out what I needed to get, or could I just get the ECB, or just return the stuff....He quickly said he'd give me the ECB, he had no problem with that.

I like Easy Boys, lol.  He also let me use my expired $5/$20 and my expired ECBs with no trouble. Why they can't just all be agreeable like that??

Value of Items: $35.19
ECBs Spent: $12.00
Cash Spent: $6.19 + 1.06 tax = $7.25 (high oop because I paid too much for the Crest Rinse)
ECBs Earned: $25.00
Final Total: +$5.75 profit

Later I stopped in at a different store to do transaction #2. I had $6.00 to roll, figured that would be ordeal enough, didn't try to use the $5/$20.
The Schick razor was $4.99 after coupon, and I got a $1.00 jar of fruit pieces. I also got free w/ RIB coupons Almonds product and CVS skincare, which actually gave me .02 overage, so I came up $0.03 under my $6.00 ECB. I asked the lady to put it in for $5.97; she wanted me to spend .33 on a caramel candy I didn't want. Finally got a manager out there to "see if they could do that". Gahhhh!

Value of Items: $12.97
ECBs Spent: $6.00
Cash Spent: $.00 + .64 tax = $0.64 oop
ECBs Earned: $3.00
Final Total: $3.64 cost

~*~

And after all that, I still had $12.00 more ECBs to roll.
I still also had to visit another Rite Aid, and the stores I wanted to go to was in the other direction past my house. So I brought my milk home, and had some lunch, and decided to look at next week's CVS sale. Because the CVS I was planning to go to starts the new sale sometime Saturday afternoon/evening. Figured I might as well kill two birds while I was having to go anyway.

Once I got there, other than the Thermacare and Post cereal, I ended up not even doing the rest of last weeks' deals. I had already did the Zantac on this card, which was the only other thing I wanted. The Schick and Colgate and Mennen deodorant all still cost some even after coupons and ECBs, and I didn't really need them, now that I had other stuff to spend my ECBs on.

(Next Week's sales)
$4.00 Oral-B Advantage Toothbrush (limit 2)
- .75 MQ 2/07 or 2/21 P&G
= $3.25
Get $4.00 ECB = $.75 profit

$3.99 Gillette Deodorant (and others) (limit 2)
-4.00/2 MQ 2/21 P&G
-Buy 1 Deodorant, Get 1 Body Wash Free MQ 2/07 or 3/07 P&G
-Buy 1 Deodorant, Get 1 Body Wash Free MQ 2/07 or 3/07 P&G
= $3.98
Get $1.00 ECB each = $1.98 cost for 2 deodorants and 2 body wash

$2.50 Kellogg's Cereal/$5.00 ECB wyb 4/$10 (limit 1)
- .70/1 Blinkie MQ x 4
= $7.20
Get $5.00 ECB = $2.70 for 4 boxes cereal, or .55 each

$0.97 Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
-1.00 MQ "Home Made Simple" Refresh Your Nest booklet
= +$0.03

The Stayfree Pads is a Monthly ECB deal. It's not advertised in the sale paper, and there wasn't any tags on the shelf at my store. I asked the boy cashier and he said, we'd just have to try it and see. We tried and my ECBs came out without any problem. I got exactly what was written on the post I got the info from..."Stayfree Pads Regular 24 ct."...so if any others work or not, I don't know.
$3.69 Stayfree (limit 4)
-2.00/2 MQ found in a magazine ?
-3.69 BOGO MQ RP 1/03 x 2
= $5.38
Get $2.00 ECB each = $2.62 profit on 4 pkgs.

Value of Items: $77.49
ECBs Spent: $35.00
Cash Spent: $0.38 + 4.40 tax = $4.78 oop
ECBs Earned: $28.00
Final Total: $11.78 cost (Woulda been a little better but he wouldn't let me use the $5/$20 either, boooo)