Cyber Monday

I missed Black Friday....as in, I wasn't home, not that I *missed* it... so I got to shop Cyber Monday from the comfort of my warm, dry house. (It's a chilly, rainy, grey, nasty kind of day around here.)

So I figured I'd buy the boys a PS3 this year, for lack of any better ideas. I know exactly nothing about these things, so had to research.
Long story short, I still don't know much about them, but hopefully I got a fair deal on what I got.

Checked Slickdeals Hot Deals first, and saw a Black Friday deal at Amazon was still in effect, it was a 160GB console with (2) games and (1) Blu-Ray movie PLUS a $25.00 video game credit, for $299.

Since I had already been checking Walmart, Kmart, Target, etc, this was the best deal I had seen so far.

But then I wondered if 160GB was enough space, and I knew they wouldn't really care for either of the games or the movie included.

So I saw this 320GB console Move starter bundle for $399.00.  The Move for the PS3, if I understand correctly, makes it interactive like a Wii.  It comes with a Sports Championships game which includes games like Gladiator Duel, Archery, ping pong, volleyball, disc golf, and Bocce.

The Sports Champions Bundle by itself cost $99.99, so I figured if I paid $299 for a 160GB console, and another $100 for the Move bundle, that's $400, so if I'm going to spend that anyway, might as well go ahead and get the 320GB one. 
Yeah I didn't get the (2) games, the Blu-Ray movie, or the $25 video game credit, but only the $25 credit would have been any good, the games and movies would just have pretty much been a waste.

The MOVE Champions Pack was on sale for $19.99....Dang, now that I'm thinking about it, I think I should have gotten (2) sets, so they can duel and ping pong each other?

Also pre-ordered a Battle Rifle for shooting games, which would be for Ryan. He wants to be a Sniper (or assassin, which ever he can get into, lol).
Just need to find a game to go with it.

Also had to order an extra game Controller and a Blu-Ray remote (that's how they sell these bundles cheaper, they don't include anything, then charge out the nose for the accessories you have to have or your system won't work!).

Tired to order an extra MOVE motion controller, but they appear to be out of stock everywhere. Maybe like when he had to wait to get Wii accessories after Christmas, whatever year that was those came out.
 

I'm Baaack!

I'm home. Not happy to be back  :-( 
Had a great time! It's still like June in Key West and Mexico. I loved it!
(Did NOT love the constant harrassment from the locales wanting us to come into their shops to buy stuff. It was like Used-Car-Saleman-Hell!)

We thought toothpaste was expensive in America?? It was $35.00 in Mexico!!

LOL, just kidding. That's in pesos; it's the equivalent of about $2.80 in the Estados Unidos.

Got unpacked and have been doing laundry all day, scanning photos and trying to work a little on my travel blog. 
Looked a little bit at some of the sales for this week, but didn't see anything really exciting. Or maybe I just can't concentrate on it yet.
Got to get my rear in gear or Christmas will sneak up on me fast!

Happy Thanksgiving!

And with that, I bid you adieu.

Er, I mean, adios.

I will see you in about a week, IF....
1) I don't die of food poisoning/salmonella/e-coli
2) don't fall overboard
3) we don't get hi-jacked by pirates
4) we don't get kidnapped by Mexican drug lord
5) ship don't burn up/break down/sink/hit an iceberg
6) anything else that *people who've never even been on a cruise* can dream up will happen to us.

Hope you all have a great week, a great Thanksgiving, and great shopping!

Rite Aid

The plan was to visit several different Rite Aid stores (like 6 or 7) and do a couple shops at each and be able to roll all those +UPs I had expiring today.

I didn't even get out of town good before John calls me up, "When you gonna be home? I was gonna change your oil today."

I bought what I could find between two stores; lipsticks, Thermacare, Right Guard, Herbal Essence, Nyquil, Summer's Eve products.

Otherwise I just had to spend them. The Christmas wrapping paper and the cards were both buy 1 get 2 free; the paper was $1.99 and the cards $4.99, so I grabbed a few of those.
Got some black dress socks for the boys to wear on the cruise (wish I'd thought about during the free No Nonsense sale a couple months ago).
I think the Pringles were .80 each after my 20% discount.
The Charmin was $4.99, with a $1.00 +UP back. I had another $4 to spend, so I put one Pringles back and got TP.
Got son #2 a car-lighter-plug-to-USB kit thing for charging his gizmos.
And one $25.00 Lowe's gift card.

No idea what I spent/earned, but that's okay, I still have some to start me again week after next, that's all that matters.

I picked up the brochure about the Gift of Savings going on Now thru Dec. (20th?)(26th?): Spend $100 and get a $25 ($20?) gift card. 
I did this six times last year (counting the one my MIL threw away because *she didn't know what it was*).
It's a great moneymaker!

CVS

Just mostly blowing ECBs to get something instead of throwing them in the trash.

$0.09 Halloween Candy clearance
$0.19 Halloween Pumkin/Cauldron clearance
$0.99 Rasinettes
$0.99 Gummy Bears (Manager Upsell, bought to make cashier happy)
$12/3 Pepsi
$4.99 Turbi-Twist Towel; Buy 2 Get 1 Free
$4.99 Godiva Truffles; Used $1.00 off CRT from Big Red Machine
$4/2 Kelloggs, Get $1.00 ECB
$23.00 OralB Precision Clean things; Used $10.00 coupon, got $13.00 ECB
$2.99 Aussie Hair stuff; used .50 coupon, got $2.00 ECB

Lost way more ECBs than I earned back, but that's okay, I still have some to start me off again later.

Y'all have fun shopping the Thanksgiving Sale, I heard it was going to be a Biggie, something like 60 faecb (free-after-ecb) items.  W-o-W, I'm almost glad I'm going to be gone for that. (If it's true.)

.50 Cent Clothing Sale

Today was the .50 clothing sale at the Thrift Store, so I went to find me some new(to me) duds.  Mostly I needed some jeans, and was lucky to find four pair.
Found my oldest son a shirt and a pair of jeans, and my youngest son a Cozumel t-shirt just in time for him to wear next week.
Total w/ books + Tax: $12.48

The Thrift Store and Kroger were the only places I made it to, before I got called back home again :-(

Kroger

Spent $9.something, got $3.00 OYNO = $6.something.

Today

Hola, amigos y amigas!

I'm practicing the pitiful little amount of Spanish I know because this time next week I'll be in....well, Key West, but the next day we'll be in México hermoso, soleado (sorry, I had to cheat and use a translator for that one).

I've been trying to get ready for our trip...my (almost) whole familia is going, and *I* am the trip planner. Meaning, *I* am the one to make sure everyone is entertained in the ports.
In Key West, we're going to see Ernest Hemingways' 6-toed cats, have our pictures taken at Southernmost Point, and try frozen-chocolate-covered-key-lime-pie-on-a-stick.

In Cozumel, I had planned for us to spend the day touring some Mayan ruins and some time on the beach, swimming in the clear, beautiful caribbean waters. Sooooo niiiiice.
Anyway, my co-travelers changed their minds and decided they didn't want to do that afterall, so now we're basically back to wandering around the town looking at the tourist shops. Blah. BTDT.

Point being, I've had all that on my mind, (among other stuff this past week), and not my coupon shopping so much lately. So thanks for bearing with me, and hopefully - if judging from past experience - I generally snap back into it after taking a break like this.

In other news, today is my Birthday and me and Johnny's 21st wedding Anniversary.

He got a new Scope for his huntin rifle, and I/we got (4) tickets to Cirque Dreams: Holidaze.


Not to be confused with Cirque du Soleil, which I would love to see one day, but the show coming to Atlanta is called Ovo, and is about bugs/insects. Thaaaaat didn't sound too interesting to me.

On the other hand, I love, love, love, love, love Christmas Productions. I've even seen the Atlanta Ballet perform The Nutcracker, and I could care less about ballet usually.
So this Cirque Dreams: Holidaze looked just perfect. I'm excited to see it!

He also gave me a $30.00 Walmart gift card, bu it wasn't actually a prezzie; he'd gotten it as a bonus in his paycheck from the Dr's office. Instead of a turkey, I guess (thank goodness! I just gave away a turkey last week that had been in my freezer for over a year!).
He said I should buy me something I want, but I don't know that I want anything that I'm willing to spend $30.00 on anymore - even a free $30.00! - haha!

I think I'll search up one of the Walmart Deals blogs and see how much I can get cheap using coupons.
Usually I wouldn't coupon shop at WM unless the coupon made the item free, or possibly a couple of cents...nothing like .45 or .67 or .98, though.  But with a free $30 gift card, then I guess I could.

Publix

$2.00 EAS bars x 10
-3.00/2 PQ from Family Style Mag x 5
-2.00 Free Bar IP x 10
= $15.00 overage

$3.00 Double Bundle newspapers x 5
= $15.00

$3.99 Vitamins x 8
-6.00/2 PQ Green Flyer x 4
-3.00/2 IP x 4
= $4.08 overage

$0.60 Yakisoba x 2
- .50 (doubled) x 2
= $.80 overage

$4.69 Nesquik

$1.81 + 3.32 = $5.13* from gift card
Saved $76.28

*Total actually should have been -.19 plus tax, but I told the girl three times it would need Manager Override and she just would not listen to me, and kept trying to scan it and scan it. So I finally said, nevermind, I'll just pay and take it to the Customer Service desk. So I went and got $2.00 cash back, so my actual oop was $3.13; all tax.
But I am good with paying three-bucks for 10 papers, Nesquik, and all those Vitamins my Dad requested.

Kroger

Thanks to my poor, sick son for coming downstairs to babysit his Granny while I got out of here for a little while tonight.  (Sorry for the sqeenched-up looking picture, I had to try to use the top of my little freezer...my livingroom is currently infested with MIL.)

I only wanted one thing when I went to Kroger tonight....well, really two things...Crunchberries cereal, and GD pasta overage to pay for it.

Nope, you don't see any Crunchberries cereal.

They had plenty of GD pasta. Turned out, I didn't know it, all the Ronzoni pasta was on Mega sale this time, so I could have gotten different, but didn't bring my other Rz coupons. Oh well.
I got 30 boxes of pasta for an overage of $6.30.
Then I got 15 cans Chunky soup at a cost, after coupons, of $7.35.
So my 15 cans of soup end up costing $1.05.
I'm good with that.
(The Temptations cat treats were free after coupons, just needed five to reach my ten-count total with the fifteen cans of soup.)

Also got 10 quarts of Lactaid, using $2.00 blinkie coupons, so they ended up costing $1.60 altogether.

That's $2.65 total.
But I had $12.00 worth of OYNO cat coupons expiring today I needed to use (I thought about just keeping them and seeing if I could finagle them through tomorrow to buy newspapers, but then I figured, if something comes up tomorrow like it has nearly every other day this week and I don't get to go anywhere and $12.00 grocery money went to waste, I would go absolutely bazonkers!)

So with the rest of the OYNO money I bought bacon, (3) Big K colas, (2) pkgs. ground beef, and a pizza crust mix.
That's it.
I totally don't feel like I got my money's worth.

To make it even worse - this is the reason I don't like doing big shops with lots of coupns - the guy missed a coupon.
Apparently the only thing to do in a small town on Saturday night is to go Krogering. The place was packed, he was hurrying. I wasn't about to stand there and hold up the line trying to get him recount over 50 coupons for a dollar.
Instead of $1.73, my total was $2.73.  And then tax was even more than that, like $2.77.
So on top of already not feeling like I got my $12.00 coupons worth, I had to pay $5.05 in cash, too.

I woulda been happy getting the bacon, colas, ground beef and pizza crust mix for five bucks if I was still in possession of about $10.00 of my $12.00 cats.

Rite Aid

I was really surprised to be able to find deals at RA tonight. Figured I'd be lucky to come out with like 5 boxes hair color, but that'd be it.
Didn't expect to find any Nivea, much less three, nor any Compleats, or toothpaste, or toothbrushes...Did no one else shop this week, either?
I'd say I don't know what I did to deserve the good luck, but I do know: I've been a freakin saint for the past couple days.

Trans #1:Used $7.00 +UPs
Spent $0.41 + 1.52 tax = $1.93 oop
Rec'd $15.98 +UPs
Final Total $7.05 Profit

Trans #2:
Used $1.00 +UPs
Spent -0.06 + 1.89 tax = $1.83 oop
Rec'd $10.00 +UPs
Final Total $7.17 Profit

Grand Total $14.22 Profit

Chat Post

Paige: What coupons are they, the $2.00 off Any Beneful package? Kroger has the little bowls of Beneful wet food for like $1.99. 

Seda: I know we are really lucky to get doubles at some of the stores I shop. I didn't realize until I started coupon shopping that stores everywhere didn't do it.
What kind of grocery stores are there in Utah?
PS, I remembered we own some land in Utah, somewhere. Iron County, I think.

3gakids1521: I'll be glad to help you with the Food Lion thing best as I can.

First off I'll refer you to the weusecoupons.com message board site, Food Lion forum.
Of all the message board sites, I find this one to be the most helpful for the Food Lion shopping. The WUC ladies post the ads (early when they can) and pick out the best deals and post useful and helpful info.
They don't get doubles or matching prices, though, so I have to try to figure out that on my own.

1. Double coupons with a value of up to .60 cents.
That means like a .25 q will double to .50, a .50 q will double to 1.00, a .60 q will double to 1.20....but a .75 q will still only be worth .75 cents.

There is an exception to this rule, as I found out. Like Kroger, the coupon will only double to Shelf Price. For instance I had picked up alot of .55 off Bumblee Tuna pouches blinkies, thinking they'd double to 1.10 and get me some overage. Nope. They doubled to .99 cents.

You do still get full double if an item is on sale for a lesser price, but the Shelf Price was more than the value. For instance, the Ronzoni pasta was on sale for BOGO $1.39. I had .55 coupons that I thought would only double to .79 each, but they did double to $1.10, because the shelf price of the pasta is $1.39.

2. They accept Competitors coupons.
At my stores, this is Kroger, Publix, and Ingles. No drug store, and not even Super Target.  Your store may accept different ones, so you just have to ask.

My stores don't allow you to use "stack" a competitor coupon with a manufacturer coupon.

They don't even allow you to stack a Food Lion store coupon with a manufacturer coupon.

Your store(s) may not be as stupid as mine, though, so ask.

3. Match Competitor's Prices.
If Kroger, Publix, or Ingles (whatever your store considers a competitor) has a sale price on an item you'd prefer to buy at Food Lion, take the sale ad along and they'll match the price.

This works out nice if you have a .55 or .60 coupon that won't double at Publix or Kroger, but will at Food Lion.

Other than the Bumblebee Tuna packs, I haven't been able to put together any kind of list of stuff at regular price that you can get cheap or free using .55 or .60 doubled coupons. 

Just ask any other questions you have.

Food Lion

If you need this stuff, it's on sale for some pretty good prices this week at Food Lion.

The Pillsbury Flour is on sale for $1.50 each.

The Crisco Oil is $1.99, and there was a .55 off coupon in this past Sunday's 11/07 RP, which makes it $1.44.
(My store doubles, so they were .89 for me)

The Banquet Fruit pies are .79 each, and there's a .35/1 coupon in the 10/24 SS
These DO work with the Buy 5, Get $2.00 of Instantly promo.
$0.79 x 5 = $3.95 - $2.00 promo - .35/1 x 5 mqs = $0.20/5 pies
(The .35/1 doubled at my store, which gave me $1.55 overage per 5 pies)

(I used my overage to pay for my Flour and Oil.)

The Banquet Pot Pies are also reported to work for the deal, I didn't get any today, though. The only coupon I know of for those is a .60/6 out of one of the old Banquet meal boxes.
(Price w/o coupon) $.79 x 5 = $3.95 - $2.00 promo = $1.95/5, or .39 each (Good price!)
(W/ coupon) $.79 x 6 = $4.74 - $2.00 promo - .60 mq = $2.14, or  $0.36 each
(At doubling stores $0.79 x 6 = $4.74 - $2.00 promo - $1.54 mq = $0.26 each)

On the refridgerator of the case at one of the stores I shopped this morning there was a sign that read about the Buy 5, Get $2.00 instantly Promo, saying the deal goes on through 11/16, and that participating items (among others) included All Banquet Products.
Well, the Banquet Brown 'n' Serve sausage patties DID NOT count.

Butterfingers are BOGO .99; I used $1.00/2 Tearpad coupons found weeks or months ago at Kroger.

The 5ct. cans of Piilsbury cinnamon rolls were on sale $5/5, and I had .35/1 mqs from the 9/12 GM insert. Those doubled to .70, making the rolls .30 each. I wasn't sure if they were counting towards the Buy 6, Get $3.00 OYNO cat deal, but I figured they were so cheap after coupon, it didn't matter if I got the cat or not.
But I did get it, YaY!!

Even if you don't get double coupons, this deal is pretty good:
$1.00 x 6 = $6.00 - .35 x 6 mqs = $3.90 oop; Get $3.00 OYNO = $0.90/6, or $0.15 each!!

Final Total $5.17 oop; Rec'd $3.00 OYNO = $2.17 cost

Half Off Depot and stuff

I shopped alot last week, and knew I was skidding real quick towards burnout. So on Friday I figured I'd go ahead and do myself on in, had an all day shopping marathon, and then swore to not even so much as look at next week's sales until sometime next week. If I missed a great deal by not jumping up early Sunday morning, oh well!

Yesterday morning was one of those rare Saturday mornings when the ol' man didn't have to be at one of his jobs, or Ryan didn't have some fire dept. training or function, or Kevin didn't have a sports event...You couldn't have pried me out of my nice, warm bed had the house been burning down around me, lol.
I turned the tv on Boomerang channel and listened to old cartoons like Pixie & Dixie, the Hair Bears, Scooby-Doo, etc. as I snooooozed the morning away.

Eventually I got hungry and got up and started cooking breakfast. I made the biscuts and gravy; Johnny came in and fixed the eggs and grits. After I ate I went back to bed for a nap, while he cleaned his huntin rifle.
Later he carried the newspapers off to the recycle bin, and I cleaned up the kitchen and cleaned out kitty's litter box. Then went back to bed for another nap, while he cleaned the microwave.
Later he cooked chili and cornbread for supper, and I washed his work uniforms.

While I was eating dinner, I checked my email, and then my blog, which led to reading message boards, and at 7:00 pm last night I decided I wanted to go to CVS and make one more Rite Aid run for the week. And since it was across the street, go to Kroger to see if they had any GD pasta to make some free other stuff.

Johnny's on duty at the fire station today, so I had to wake up to kiss him off. Nice it wasn't a pain getting him up this morning since we got to sleep an hour later. Ahhh, I love Fall-back time.
I slept in and then I got up and started working on cleaning up from last night's chili dinner. Have to let a sinkfull soak before I can wash them, then do another sinkfull.
I also paid the bills today. Yuck chore, I hate that one. But it's nice that I can pay all but one online, so not a bunch of writing checks, addressing envelopes, stamping, mailing...or else running around here and there to pay them, like the *good ol' days*.

Checked my email, and got a notice from Half Off Depot.com that the big deal today is a 30-lap Nascar experience. Regular price $349.00; on sale for $159.00.

When we vacationed in Charlotte, NC a couple years ago, John and Ryan did a Nascar experience thing there they were able to ride as a passenger in a racecar, going around the track at a pretty good clip.  They LOVED it.
But Ryan has always wanted to actually DRIVE a racecar. His Dad never had time, and we never had the kind of money, to have been able to get him into all the go-cart and dirt-track racing. (He tried some race car driving on his own, on the wrong road around here, which is why he now has a titanium cage around the vertibrae in his neck that he broke when he rolled his Mustang.)
The Richard Petty Driving Experience starts at like $450 for 8 laps (their 30-lap program costs over $1200.00!!!!), so needless to say, he didn't get to do that either.

At any rate, this Be A Stock Car Driver thing looks interesting; it's 30 laps, and they give you a free, personalized race suit, training, lunch, and 30-laps on the racetrack at the location (Gresham Motorsports Track in Jefferson, GA. Don't know where that is, but we'll find it!)

It's also a competition, and if you do good, you'll be invited back for another session. The next (4) sessions cost $349, so I'm pretty sure most everyone will do good enough to be invited back, haha.
But then supposedly if you make it all the way through to the semi-finals and finals, those are free, and you could possibly a win a full season of racing in a 2012 Nascar series.

Yeah...for $159.00, I think we'll be happy with a free racing suit and 30 laps.
It starts sometime next February, so I bought it for Ryan for a Christmas present.

The Half Off Depot site has several different cities where businesses offers half-off tickets for awhile.
Around the Atlanta/N.Ga area there was all kinds of half-off tickets for corn mazes, pumpkin patches, haunted houses and such around Halloween. I'm hoping for some good discounts on Christmas events. Lots of discount restaurant vouchers, attractions, shows, sporting events, vacations, massages, fitness, etc.
So check it out and see if there's any areas near you, or somewhere you might be going in the future. You might be able to find some good discounts.

CVS

Went to finish up last week's deal/get a head start on next week's deals...

Last weeks, I only found the Pulsar toothbrushes. Couldn't find any Cold Buster cough syrup, and forgot to print the Didget glucose meter coupon AGAIN.

Found four more Robistussin-to-go at $.99; free after IP.

Next weeks deals I got:
$0.99 Gain Dishwash liquid - $1.00 ?insert? = Free
$1.00 Wheat Thins - $1.00 Facebook IP = Free
$14.99 Freestyle Meters - $10.00 ?insert? and get $5.00 ECB* = Free
*I read that the limit was really 2, but it only gave me the ECB for one. The boy gave me the other ECB. My receipt still doesn't say Limit Reached, so I guess the limit is more than 2?

$2.50 Neutra Air spray
Buy $15, get $5.00 ECB
-1.50 ?insert? x 6
Pay $6.00; Get $5.00 ECB = $1.00/6

Rite Aid

Another Olay/Secret deal, using the overage to buy the kitty litter. More free gum.

Another coffee deal grouped with Olay/Secret. More free gum.

Kroger

$0.93 + 1.56 tax = $2.49 oop

Food Lion

Deals:
Buy 5, Get $2.00 off instantly:
I got:
$1.00 x 6 Banquet Meals
-2.00 Promo
- .60 from Banquet Meal Box - doubled to $1.20
= $2.80/6, or $.47 each

$1.00 x 6 Manwich Sauce
-2.00 Promo
-1.00/3 x 2 Food You Like for Less FL booklet
= $2.00/6, or .33 each

$1.00 x 5 ChefBoyRDee
-2.00 Promo
-1.00/3 Blinkie found at Publix
-1.00/2 from Banquet Meal Box
= $1.00/5, or .20 each

3-day Sale:
$1.00 Crest
- .50 PG 10/31 - doubled to $1.00
= FREE

Other:
$1.99 Crisco Oil
- .55 RP 11/07 - double to $1.10
= $0.89 each

$1.00 x 6 Pillsbury Grands
- .40/3 x 2 GM insert ?9/12? - doubled to .80
= $4.40
Get $3.00 OYNO wyb 6
= $1.40/6

Kroger

Awesomeness Mega Sale! The Garden Delight, where I could get it, paid for everything else. When I couldn't get it, those $3.00 cats from the McCormick deal last week did.

Publix

Finisihed off the Rubbermaid coupons. Got cookies at one store; other store was out. Free/cheap produce with Target coupon. Intuition razors 2/.99 (paid for with EAS overage).

Rite Aid

(I'm tired...will try to work on totals this weekend)

Mostly same deals as all week, except the gum. I found BOGO Extra gum tearpad coupons buried up in my stash, which was pretty darn lucky....usually I find the coupons after the sale is over with!

I blew $12.99 +UPs on some clearanced Vitamin E for my Dad.

The Dracula costume was 50% off, so $9.99. I bought it with a $25 Lowe's gift card, so since I got the full $25 value of the gift card, I say that the $5/$25 applied to the costume, so I got it for $4.99.

Walgreens

Small Wags shop to roll/spend a couple of $8.00RR before the expired tomorrow.

$10/2 Nyquil Sinex
-4.00 x 2 PG ?10/10?
Pay $2.00
Get $5.00 RR

$7/2 Herbal Essence Shampoo
-2.00 x 2 PG ?10/31?
Pay $3.00
Get $2.00 RR

$.59 Domino Brown Sugar
-.50/2
Pay .62/2

$0.50 each Chicken Noodle soup

$10/4 large size box Chocolate covered cherries
Get $5.00 RR

$0.99 clearanced Halloween candy junk
$0.12 clearanced Halloween bag (I thought it should have been $0.02 at 75% off)

Pretty big loss in RRs this week, but at least I got stuff for them, unlike the RRs I let expire last week and wasn't able to use.

Rite Aid

I'm not sure I can even explain this deal today.

First off, I have so many +UPs I needed to start doing something with them, but I didn't want a bunch of useless junk, so I decided to try to get a $25 Sears gift card.  Some stores will let you, some won't.  (+UP says No Prepaid cards...isn't that Phone cards? Or those PrePaid Visa?...nothing about Gift cards.)

Then I got a couple of coffee and Splenda and Summer's Eve.

My total was more than $25, but less than $30, and I was wanting to spend $30 +UPs. So I saw the Fritos were $2/5 and get $1.00 +UP...I needed Fritos anyway and $2.00 is what I usually pay, I think.

Anyway then I was still somehow $1.25 under $30.00!  So I said ok, I'll get a Coke. With my 20% disc, it should be just about that much.
But then I saw a coupon on the fridge door, get $1.00 off a 20oz. and a Reese's PBC. Reese's are 2/.88, or .44 this week, so it the Coke and Reese's only came up to  .63 after coupon. So I grabbed another Reese's, and was still under so I grabbed something called a Cow's Tail. (No idea)

Was I smarter than a doorstop, I'd have thought to get another Coke, and 2 Cokes and 2 Reese's minus two $1.00 coupons would have been $1.26.

*The cashier rejected my 11/30 $5/$25 coupon, saying that was the one they were told they couldn't accept anymore.  So I handed her a 12/31 one, and she said she couldn't accept that one, either. I questioned it so she called the Manager up.
He said he'd gotten an email about someone had duplicated the coupons so they were told not accept them anymore. I told him I knew about that, it happened last week (or week before last?), but that they'd isolated the fraudulent ones, and had started accepting the legitimate ones again.
No, he says, they got an email telling them not to accept ANY $5/$25 coupons, but he thought he could accept my 12/31 one because I got it in the mail.  (Huh?)
I asked him was this a recent thing, because I had just shopped at RA yesterday and heard nothing about it. He just nodded and said yes, but didn't say how recent.
I came home and read the message boards, and no one else is reporting that RA has as of last night or this morning completely stopped taking $5/$25's. So I'm thinking he (1) misuderstood the email, and (2) is way behind.

Here's my problem, he's my brother-in-law's first cousin (what? all southerners are related ya know, lol). Anyway, I'm afraid if I call CS to try and get him updated that he'll get in trouble. Or feel like I got him in trouble. Or implied he was a liar because I didn't believe what he said.

So, I guess, my only resort is to not shop that store anymore until someone else can get them straightened out about it.  :-(

She didn't have any problem with me buying the gift card, I just forgot to get it out of my purse for the picture.

Todays totals:
-$30.00 +UPs
$.79 + .38 tax = $1.17 oop
Rec'd $2.00 +UP Coffee, $2.00 Splenda, $1.00 Fritos
and $25.00 Sears Gift Card
Final Total $1.17 cost

Publix

The Shick Quattro and Intuition are on BOGO sale, at $8.99. Use (2) $4.00 off coupons and pay .99/2 razors.

The Country Crock was BOGO $1.89; I used (2) .40/1 IP (doubled to .80) and (2) .50/1 Target IPs and got .71 overage.

CoffeeMate was free after $1.00 IP Facebook, and $.50 off Food Lion coupon.
There's also a $1.50 coupon HERE if you haven't already printed it.

The Hefty Foil pans are .99 and I used a $1.00/2 printable that is apparently no longer available, to make them .49 each. (Or free after $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon that only this store takes around here.)

The bacon was on sale for $2.99, I bought with overage.

Otherwise:
Lactaid quart .19 after blinkie q
Produce Free after Target q
Krusteaz .10/.09 after $1.00 insert q
Rubbermaid Varying prices after 40% off sale, $1.00 insert q and $1.00 green flyer PQ.
Yakisoba and EAS bars for overage.

(I visited 3 different stores)
Trans #1:  $.08 +  2.31 tax = $2.39 from gift card
Saved $76.25
Trans #2:  -.44 + 1.57 tax = $1.13 from gift card
Saved $70.58
Trans #3: -.34 + 3.37 tax = $3.48 from gift card
Saved $108.64

Total $7.00
Saved $255.47

Publix

HEADS UP! With Christmas coming, I know y'all are gonna want in on this deal, but if your sale starts tomorrow (Thursday) you're only going to have TWO days to hit it!
Rubbermaid Food or Beverage Containers are on sale this week for 40% off
Most items I bought were regular priced $3.19; so $1.91 after 40% off
Used $1.00 from Green Advantage Flyer EXPIRES FRIDAY NOV 5TH!
Used $1.00 from 10/03 SS
or $1.00 IP
= $0.09 overage

The tiny containers were reg. price $3.39, so after sale and coupons were $0.03 each.

$2.19 BOGO Krusteaz Cookie Mix
-1.00 10/10 SS
=$0.10/.09 each

$1.50 Coffee Mate
-1.50 IP
= FREE

$0.60 Yakisoba
-0.50 (doubled) ?insert?
+2.00 overage on (5)

$1.69 Lettuce
-1.00 Produce Target IP
= $0.69

$0.49 x 2 Chili seasoning

Final Total $0.08 + 1.84 tax = $1.92 from gift card

(Velveeta and Orville Redenbacher last week's deals)
+$5/$25 RA q
+4.00 overage on Yakisoba
+1.10 overage on Mahatma rice

$2.19 Lactaid quart
-2.00 blinkie q
= $0.19

$1.00 Olivio Spreadable Butter (See Yellow Flyer)
-1.00 IP
= FREE

$0.69 a pound Bananas
-1.00 Target Produce purchase IP
= FREE

$1.00 David Sunflower Seeds
-1.00 Target Produce purchase IP
= FREE

$2.00 Ranch Celery and Carrot Dip (in the produce refrigerator w/ the carrots and celery)
-1.00 Blinkie hanging right near them
-1.00 Target Produce purchase IP
= FREE

$1.00 Croutons

$0.47 + .71 tax = $1.18 from gift card

Grand total for all: $3.10

Target

Holy cow, who turned me loose in the Target! All I went looking for was some clearanced socks.

The plastic water bottles was on clearance for only $0.48 each. They are pretty light and not bulky, I thought they might be good to have on our trip in a couple of weeks.

I had been thinking recently that I wanted some of those magazine storage things to be able to put my coupons in so they would take up less space, but gosh I hate buying storage solutions. I always think, with a little inginuity, one can create/make their own storage solutions.
But, so far, I hadn't been able to come up with any good ideas, and I didn't figure I'd find a better deal than these, clearanced at $1.50 each.

The Emergency PC game was clearanced to $2.48, that'll make a nice Christmas present for Ryan, my middle son, whose a volunteer firefighter.

The Pez I'm still kinda mad about. They were clearanced to $0.49 each and I thought I couldn't pass them up, but I had said a long time ago I wasn't going to collect any more Pez. I already have like (2) big Rubbermaid tubs full of them packed away in the storage room. I don't want anymore!!

Total Spent $18.36 + 1.21 tax = $19.57 (ow! ow! ow! OW!)

CVS

Small CVS shop; they were out of Contour meters, and I didn't have the Didge meter (figured it'd be a PITA trying to use a $25 IP that you know is going to beep...any q over $10 beeps for Manager approval, but alot of them like to make up other reasons for it).

The $3.00 10/31 PG q's beeped on my Pulsar's. She said they weren't included (in the ANY Battery Powered Toothbrush coupon), but she'd give it to me anyway. Mighty white of her.

The Cold Buster is another one of those hidden deals, this week only: $8.99, get $8.99 ECB.

The Big Red Machine gave me a $1.00 off CVS Brand Oral Care. They had some toothbrushes for .99, and a travel pack travel-toothbrush/flosser thing for $1.29. I got a toothbrush travel carry thing. It was $1.19, but I figured I could upgrade from carrying our toothbrushes in ziplock baggies when we travel....then I wondered why? there's nothing wrong with ziplock baggies as toothbrush carriers. Oh well, I sure didn't need another toothbrush.

Used $10.00 ECBs

$2.16 + 1.27 tax = $3.43 oop
Rec'd $4.00 ECB Oral-B, $8.99 ECB Cold Buster
Final Total $0.44 COST (sorry, my math skills stink)

Rite Aid

Trans #1:
They had some coffee left!
$2.99 Coffee x 5
$2.63 Summer's Eve x 2 (w/ 20% disc)
$1.49 Mentos BOGO sale x 4
-$5/$25
-2.00 +UPs
-$2/1 Summer's Eve RA IP x 2
-$2/2 Summer's Eve IP
-1.00 Mentos 10/03 SS x 8

=$0.17 + .65 tax = $.82 oop
Rec'd $5.00 +UP coffee
Final Total $2.18 profit

Trans #2:
$7.79 Olay BW
$3.89 Olay BW BOGO50% sale
$6.29 Olay BW
$3.14 Olay BW BOGO50% sale
$1.03 Travel Size Secret x 4 (w/ 20% disc)
$2.39 Angel Soft TP BOGO sale
$5.83 Mandelay (w/ 20% disc)
-$5/$25
-5.00 off Olay wyb Secret 10/31 PG x 4
-2.00 Olay BW RA Flu Booklet x 4

=$0.45 + 1.99 tax = $2.44 oop

Total for the day: $0.26 cost

Swagbucks

I only needed 6 more swagbucks for another free $5.00 Amazon Gift Card, so just for the heck of it I typed "Six Swagbucks" in the search field, and it gave me 10 swagbucks!! W00t!

I'm buying the next delicious installment of the Nauti Boys series books. Yum yum!

Why this is so great to me is because, these books are like my drug addiction. I would go to the bookstore and pay full price for these books, then moan and groan about it, wish I hadn't done it...but next time I'm right back out there doing it again.

They were always available to buy used, even $7.17 is still about half-price, but nooo, it wasn't worth it to me to wait. Had to have them RIGHT NOW.

But free, now that's a different story.

I remember (sort of) when I first learned about Swagbucks. I don't remember whose Blog I was reading, but she had told how she'd saved her Swagbucks up and then bought a new set of bedcovers and curtains and such and gave her bedroom a re-decorating for free!

I thought that sounded pretty dang cool!  My homepage was Google anwyay....I'm too lazy to type URLs in so I just type in the name of whatever site I'm looking for and let it find it for me....I could do the same thing with Swagbucks search instead. So I signed up and made Swagbucks my homepage, then carried on as usual. Nothing changed.

I started racking up points and free $5.00 Amazon gift cards. I was saving them up, I guess for a new bedroom make-over, but eventually it occured to me, I don't care much about a bedroom re-do, but I could be getting my *fix* for free. 
I think it occured to me because I was wanting another book, but hadn't had the chance to drive out to a Borders or Barnes&Nobles. I didn't want to have to wait for one to come in the mail if I ordered it from online, but then again, I had already been waiting until I made a tri to the bookstore, so what was another few days?

And then when I placed my order, and the final total was NOTHING, oh man, that was fantastic.

So now I wait, and save, and the end gratification is way sweet.

What else is neat to me is all three of my sons use Swagbucks, too. I didn't tell them they should; I was just talking about it in reference to me, another deal thing I do, like the coupon shopping. But then I guess my middle son thought that sounded pretty darn cool, too, and he went and signed up. Then his older brother signed up, and recently the youngest one jumped on the bandwagon.
My husband even asked several days ago about "What's that site y'all go to you earn all those free Amazon gift cards?", lol.

There's alot more prizes beside Amazon gift cards. Once I got a $10 Starbucks gift card to give as a gift. But otherwise, I dunno, the Amazon cards just seem like the best deal for the points/money to me. There are other gift cards you can get for less points, but Amazon has everything. I love books, so that's what I buy, but my middle son has gotten an Army canteen and a tshirt and a knife and some other things I can't recall at the moment from Amazon.