Monday, January 31, 2011

Rite Aid


Final Totals:
$138.97 +UPs Used
$5.58 + 13.57 tax = $19.15 oop
($158.12)
$145.00 +UPs Rec'd
= $13.12

Total Savings $494.86

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Walgreens

Ug.

Here's the basics: This week, Walgreens has:
Natrol Melatonin $3.00, Get $3.00 RR
$2.00 Any Natrol Product 10/10 RP

Buy Natrol, using $2.00 MQ, spend $1.00 + tax, get $3.00 RR

Then, this week/month, they also have:
Arnicare Pain Relief Gel for $5.99, Get $5.99 (6.00) RR.
$2.00 Arnicare Gel 2.6oz (.pdf file, save! you can print multiple times)

Buy Arnicare, using $2.00 MQ, spend $3.99 + tax, get $6.00 RR

If you have the Natrol coupons, you can buy the Natrol and get the $3.00 RR, then use the $3.00 RR on the Arnicare to lower your OOP expense.
If you do this,  you have to buy a "filler" item because RRs are MQs and you have to have the same amount (number of) items as you do MQs. (The filler does not have to cost as much as the RR is for.)

The cheapest thing I could find today was the Valentines gift bags priced at 8/$1 or .13 each with in-ad coupon (Wags coupons doesn't count against item count).
So my transactions looked like:

Natrol $3.00
-2.00 MQ
= 1.00 + tax
Rec'd $3.00 RR ($2.00 profit before tax)

Arnicare $5.99
Gift bag $0.29
-2.00 MQ
-3.00 RR
-0.16 Wags in-ad q
= $1.12 + tax
Rec'd $6.00 RR ($1.88 profit before tax)

I did alot of transaction between (3) stores, keeping a running total of what I actually made in profit after tax. When I made enough profit, I spent it on the Soap and Advil.

Advil $4.99, get $5 RR wyb 2
used $2.00 coupons
Paid $5.98, got $5.00 RR = .98/2
(*need filler to use $6.00 RR)

Caress/Dove soap 3/$18, get $6.00 RR (be careful to keep Unilever and Arnicare RR's separate*)

*You cannot "roll" RR's on the same item; if you get s $3.00 Natrol RR and use it to buy another Natrol, you won't get another RR back. Same with Arnicare.

$104.00 RRs Used
$20.88 + 5.52 tax = $26.40 oop
$149.00 RRs Rec'd
Final Total $18.60 Profit
Total savings $343.35

Rite Aid

There is a Limit of (1) $5 +UP wyb $15 worth of participating items, so you will only get the $5 +UP once per card.
Even without the $5 +UP, though, there are still some good deals to be had. The Lay's Stax, Jerky, and Chex Mix are producing $1.00 +UPs as a monthly deal:
- The Lays Stax chips are $1.00 each, and you get a $1.00 +UP, so those are free after +UP even without the $5/$15 deal.
- Oberto Jerky is $2.50. Some bags have $1.00 MQ peelie, and there is a .50 Video Values coupon. Get $1.00 +UP, makes free after +UP.
- Chex Mix is $1.50, use .50 Video Values coupon, get $1.00 +UP, makes it free after +UP.
- The Edy's ice cream 1.5 quart is 2.99, get $2.00 +UP, so .99 each after +UP.

Dixie Plates are part of the $5/$15 deal, but it seems the Ultra ones might not be included. At the first store I bought regular plates (they didn't carry Ultra) and the $5 +UP printed fine. At the other store I bought Ultra, and no $5 +UP. Manager gave me a $5.00 gift card, though. YMMV.
Dixie items are BOGO, the plates are $3.99.
Used $3/2 Dixie Ultra video values coupon = .99/2 after coupon ($3.99 counts towards $15 deal)

Deal *does not* keep running total, must buy $15 worth all at once.

$19.99 Neurogen Pain relief gel (this is found in the pain section near the Thermacare patches at every store I went in today. There was some located with the diabetes stuff, but it was the wrong thing.)
Get $19.99 SCR. Free after SCR, if you need to change +UPs or a Gift of Savings into cash.
Used $10.00 MQ from Walgreens Diabetes & You booklet located in pharmacy of store.
= $10.00 profit after SCR

The Perfect 10 hair color is on 75% clearance at some stores; makes them $2.99 each. There is a $3.00 off coupon in one of this week's RP, making them free.

Coracidin/Afrin are both $4.99 and count towards Heart Healthy Reward (Buy $30, get $10/Buy $50 get $20)(Limit 1 Per Card)
Both are giving $4.00 +UP rewards, making them .99 each after +UP.
Even without any coupons, if you bought (11) of these, you would make $9.11 profit after Heart Healthy reward. $4.99 x 11 = $54.89; Get $44.00 +UPs for items and $20.00 +UPs for HH Reward.

Heart Healthy reward keeps running total, so you *do not* have to buy (11) all in one transaction.

There are or were both Afrin and Coricidin $2.00 IP and both $2.00 Video Values coupons, makes this deal even sweeter!!

$2.99 Colgate Total Toothpaste; Get $2.00 +UP = .99 after +UP
Also counts towards Heart Healthy, so mix and match with above.

There's a $1.00 MQ in the same Walgreens magazine as the Neurogen, makes the Colgate free after +UP.

Sundown Vitamins are BOGO and count towards $20/$100 Winter Reward.
I printed $1.00 Sundown Video Value coupons from (2) different Vv accounts, and used (2) $1.00 peelies for total of $4.00 off.
The Vitamin D are approx. $3.49, giving you a little of the overage we're not supposed to talk about. But my Dad eats Vit B Complex, and they were $4.49, so I got 2/.49 for him, rather than more Vit D's we'll never use.

On the same note, he asked me to keep an eye out for any deals on the CQ10 vitamins, which are also BOGO this week.
I didn't make it out last week to get the good Buy $30, get $16 +UP deal (wouldn't have mattered anyway, they never stock more than (2) of any bottle at a time near as I can tell).
I only found (3) bottles of the 30mg priced at $13.49 or $12.99 between (4) stores (one of them sold me one at half price).
Used $5.00 MQ; paid $1.49-1.74 each.

There are still a few more deals I haven't even gotten to do yet like AMO Complete $7.99, free after SCR and maybe Gillette Razor, and I didn't even try to look at makeup today.

Final Totals:
$72.98 +UPs Used
$80.00 GoS Used
$2.87 + 13.68 tax = $16.55 from gift card
($169.53)
$134.00 +UPs Rec'd
$119.94 SCR
= $84.41 Profit

Total Savings $669.27

Publix

Boy, the Tidy Cats BOGO just ain't as fun without the $2.00 peelies they always usta have.
Oh well, I had a couple of $1.00 IPs, so they were $2.74 each. Still a good price for Tidy Cats. (I'm not picky about much, but since I'm the one having to clean the litterbox, I am picky about cat litter. TC in the jugs are the only ones that seem to work good for us. Not even the TC in the bags are that great IMO.)

Finished off my New York Frozen item blinkies stocking up on more Dippin' Stix at .64 each after sale/coupon.

Found some of the .99 Aleve (apparently others caught onto this deal); used $1.25 blinkie for .26 overage each.

Had to finish off my Mahatama Rice coupons that are expiring tomorrow 1/31; they were .89, coupon doubled 1.00, .11 overage each.

Total $8.53 + .84 tax = $9.37 from Gift Card
(a $5/$25 from Rite Aid would have made it $4.37. I shore do miss those $5/$25's)
Savings $37.78

Kroger - Cheap Bread


Loafa bread .49
Jumbo Sesame Seed buns .59

$3.14 + .06 tax = $3.20 oop
Savings $3.36

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Rite Aid

Had some +UPs expiring today I needed to use or roll. Didn't have much on my list this week, and didn't expect to find any of that anyway, but I figured I'd get milk and bread if nothing else (forgot to get bread, though).

Was kinda hoping to find the bottles of Nature Made CQ10 vitamins, but no such luck. I probably shouldve asked for a Raincheck, but gah, none of my RA managers have a clue, and I could see trying to explain the price after my 20% discount and $16.00 +UP for spending $30.00.  Cogs and springs and smoke likely would have sprouted out of the guys' head.

Unbelieveably they had 6 boxes of light bulbs. None I'll probably ever use - 75 and 100 watt - but they served to roll my +UPs.
Paid $1.99 each, Rec'd $1.99 each.

The Cetaphil bars were $4.79 regular, on sale for $1.00 off. I had a couple of $2.00 off coupons from some recent magazines, Martha Stewart and Family Circle I believe. (If you aren't getting the free magazine subscriptions, you miss out on free coupons!)
Paid $1.79 each after coupon; Rec'd $2.00 +UP each.

Milk was $2.63 each w/ 20% disc.

Used $21.00 +UPs
$0.04 + 1.54 tax = $1.58 oop
Rec'd $15.94 +UPs
Final Total: $6.64 cost

Total Savings $40.39

Publix


:Sigh:
Other weekends when I'm *not* looking for the Dollar-paper sellers on the street corner, there they are, looking at me driving by, all sad-eyed because I'm not buying most of their papers anymore.

But today, when I *want* to buy papers, are they anywhere to be seen? Nooooooo.

So I got into a Publix I usually have a pretty good time shopping at. I knew they had stopped taking the $5/$25 Rite Aid q, but couldn't remember if they accepted Walgreens Register Rewards or not, so I stopped by the CS to ask and she said yeah, they could take those.

I was looking for the Dippin' Sticks, they are 50% off this week, making them $1.64. I had .50 blinkie Q's found at Food Lion awhile back while doubled to $1.00, making them .64 each box.
In the main freezer case they only had the cheese ones, which we don't like, but luckily they had these four boxes out in the end-of-the-aisle freezer case. I apparently didn't pay close enough attention to the sale tag, other than the price, which said they were $1.13 on sale. 'Cool,' I thought, 'Even better. They are cheaper than the cheese ones.' Wrong.
Oh well, still worth it to me, me and Ryan eat the heck out of these things.

I wanted to use one of my $10.00 RRs to buy up some meat. We haven't had any meat in awhile and I was feeling the need to, I don't know, bite someone.
lol, j/k (I have been reading vampire books lately, lol)
I got a 3lb pack of gb at $2.69lb. for $8.07, and then they have Half-fresh picnic pork roast on sale this week for, I think it was $1.49lb.  I got about a 3lb-er for $4.87 and had the Butcher cut it in half for me to make two roasts.

The rice and Yakisoba I got for overage.
Total should have been .05 + tax, but of course I misfigured the Dippin Stix, so it was a little more.

Then the cashier informed me they weren't allowed to take the RRs, and the CS girl said she could and they argued back and forth and the cashier convinced the CS girl it was a no, so she changed her story and said that I had showed her a coupon for Listerine. I pulled out my other RRs, one of which was "Thank you from Listerine". She said she could take that one, but not the other one. I asked Why? and got a spiel about they can only take coupons for specific items. I pointed out the wording on both RRs that says ...Off Your Next Purchase, Thank You From...
I put the RR away and was just going to let it go, but at the last minute she decided to accept it since she'd told me I could use them, but in the future...blah blah blah.

Just kinda crazy to me they won't accept RR's, which are MQs they could submit and get reimbursed for, but they will take Target Q's, Rite Aid, and Walgreens IVC, which they lose money on.

Oh well. The store four miles down the road accepts RRs. I hate that store and refuse to give that Manager any of my business until it comes down to something like this. I'd pop $10 RRs in there all day long if I could, knowing he's probably stupid enough to throw them in the trash. They haven't quite made me mad enough to drive back down there EVERYDAY to spend my $10 RRs in there yet.

Final Total 2.09
Tax .44

= $2.53 from Gift Card
Saved $42.65

Thursday, January 27, 2011

S'update

S'up, playas.

Well, I'm still slacking on the shopping - hard to shop when I won't leave the house - but we've made some progress around the crib lately.
The furnace went ahead and went out, so J was finally forced to fix it after I spent a day and a night here without heat because I said I'd rather freeze than call those moronic repair idiots back out here again.

Hauled a load of this and that to the women and children's charity bins for donation.

A project I wanted to tackle was to do some organizing of my stockpiles. The whole piling up bags of stuff in the laundryroom and diningroom floors really just wasn't doing it for me anymore.
The challenge was, I didn't want to spend any money on organization.
I wanted some shelving in my diningroom, but didn't want to buy anymore shelves or shelving stuff. I thought, as much CRAP as I have around here, there had got to be something I can rig up. You may or may not know we live in an old, 1930's era farmhouse, which we've been renovating every since we've moved in. I found some old wooden window shutters stacked up on the front porch that I knew would make good shelves, I just had to find something as support/dividers. First I used closed, but empty Priorty Postal mail boxes standing on their sides. Bad idea. Not as strong as they seem at first. (They do, however, make good bins for things like Tuna or muffin or cat treat packages, or a bunch of salt/pepper grinders, or bowls of Meow Mix cat food).
Anyway, I ended up using 4-pack boxes of Benevia and Celcius drinks I had stacked in my stairwell. They are working out pretty good so far!

Another project I'm picking back up on is trying to scale my book collection down. Waaayyyyy down. That project is two-fold; it's not just about scaling the size of my ridiculous book collection down, but feeding my addiction for less cost. If I can't trade for the books I want, I *will* pay more to get a book I need.
I listed about 50 more books on my  Paperbackswap.com account, hoping to get some (alot!) requests so I can earn some more (alot!) credits. Instead of posting books, I have been reading them, so I used up most all my credits and now I can only get one more book until I earn some more credits :-(  Not good when you've just started reading a series that has at least 9, I think, maybe more, books, and I'm only at number 3.
I've had alot of books listed for a long time that's never been requested, so I plan to take those off and take a load to the UBS sometime next week and trade them in and see if I can find anything I'm looking for there.
I still have a TON of books to list on PBS, but they are piling up waiting for someone to request them, so I've got to start rolling them on and moving them out.

My last project is the hardest one of all, and I don't see me making a whole lot of progress on. We have an enclosed upstairs front porch that I have been using as a storage room, but I want to clean out and open back up. The stuff in this room isn't stuff like out in the carport storage room: camping/sporting stuff, pool accessories, car parts, tools, etc. This is MY stuff. My craft things, Coke, Pez, and Beanie Baby collections, some of the kids old toys, alot of stuff that belonged to my Grandmothers...in other words, stuff I'm going to have a real hard, if not impossible time parting with. But since I have no basement or usable attic space, there's no where to put the stuff.
This is one of those rooms I go in and have NO idea where to start, so I turn around and walk back out.
Today, today I decided I would start at one end of the room.
I got a corner cleaned out. Which was great, until I turned around and saw I had only moved the stuff to the other corner!

Anyway, I came across a tub of movie posters. A few years ago we still had a hometown video rental store, and they would give these posters away when they put up new ones. I collected a good many of them, with the idea of hanging them in the den/play room. But I didn't ever hang them, and now the kids are grown and I plan to turn the den into more of a library, so movie posters on the wall isn't really my decorating taste anymore.
But NO WAY I can just throw these thing out! At worst I can list them on freecycle and unload them, which would probably be easiest and quickest and probably what I should do. But I got to thinking, man, I bet I could frame these and sell them on Etsy or something. Probably alot of people would still love to have one of these old movie posters to decorate their den or home theater room.
(I know they aren't *old* as in antique, but a movie ages at a much faster rate than most things.)
I probably have about 40-50 of these posters. I don't know what all titles there are, but I remember there's The Aviator, Mickey Blue Eyes, Million Dollar Baby, Cloverfield...eh, my memory shut off there.

What do you think? Market for these, or no?


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Walgreens

All but two of my RRs were expiring today...and the other two tomorrow, so I knew I had drag my fanny outta here and get me to Wags.

*This was only the third time I've left the house since Jan 9th, and the other two times was only to take or pick my kid up from school last week, when I couldn't talk someone else into doing it. The snow/ice storm just shut me down. We got over 4 inches of snow, and then it sleeted a layer on top of that. The sleet semi-melted then re-froze into a sheet of ice. You could literally step off my back porch and go ice skating down my back yard!
School was closed all week, and I loved, loved, loved not having to get up early or having to go anywhere. I took the whole week off and just laid around, read and napped and cooked, whatever.
I didn't want it to end!

By this time I didn't have alot of time to research all the deals, so I just skimmed through and picked out whatever looked good to be able to roll the RRs. I was planning to spend off at least half of them, but milk cost way too much, over $4.00, when I knew I could get it for under $3.00 at Rite Aid, so I couldn't bring myself to buy it, even if I was using drug store money.
I ended up finding alot of the FARR items in stock, so just rolling didn't require as much effort as trying to figure out something to buy.
I'd planned to buy stuff we need....but we don't need nothing. (Well, except meat, and Wags don't have that.)

$70.50 RRs Used
$2.38 + 3.15 tax = $5.53 oop
$66.50 RRs Rec'd
Final Total $9.53 cost (wow, that totally sux)
Total savings $262.36

(I only have $55.50 RRs in my envelope, so apparently I lost or didn't make it home with one of the $10.00 ones. Sux even worse!)

Rite-Aid

My Rite Aid +UPs were good through next week, but I figured while I was out anyway I'd go in and see if I could find anything of the deals left.

So I put together my list of what to look for, deals and stuff maybe on clearance, and head out.
Get to store and look in my RA coupon envelope and NO LIST!
I called out to the car for my hubby to bring my Walgreens envelope inside, thinking I must have stuck it in it, but nope, it wasn't in it, either.
(Back at home, it's not on my desk or in the floor or anywhere else that I can find, either, so who knows where it went??)

Bad thing is, I skim the deals and copy and paste anything that sounds interesting to look for in the store. I don't pay alot of attention to it at home, so when I get to the store with no list, I'm pretty much shopping without a clue.
Since I really didn't expect to find any of the more popular deals in stock, I was hoping to find some more on-the-down-low deals.
But what were those? :Shrug:

I remembered the TGIF were free after +UPs...or thought I remembered, I was worried when I found several packages in stock at a couple of the stores.
The RA TP was signed Limit 1, I guess it was one of each, but I only got a couple packages of the TP. Wasn't worth the worry if the +UPs were going to print or not.
Found a couple of the Pilot pens packages.

Otherwise, I needed some Nesquick...I had planned to go to my Publix that accepts Wags RRs and get a larger size, but I need ground beef from Publix, and I had +UPs to spend, so I just got one.
The Hershey syrup was $1.99 after 20% disc, and I got $1.00 +UP, so only .99 after +UPs. Not a bad price.
Coffee is/was on sale for $1.99 again, so free after RA printable.
And I needed milk and bread.

Yes, they're predicting another snow and/or ice event for Monday; no, that didn't have anything to do with me buying three milks and two breads. We just use alot of milk and bread, whether it's snowing out, or 99*.

I also went ahead and spent $50.00 of +UPs for a $25.00 Sears gift card and a $25.00 Lowe's gift card. I had alot of +UPs and could use the money for other things.

Used $77.00 +UPs
$1.13 + .94 tax = $2.07 oop
Rec'd $14.00 +UPs
$25.00 Sears gift card, $25.00 Lowe's Gift card
Final Total: $15.07 cost

Total Savings $120.64

K-Mart

My ol' man needed some socks (bought him some at Christmas and instead of trying on a pair to see if they fit, he goes and tears the package open and throws them all in the laundry - leading me to assume they are fine, fit, and he likes them...Wrong!) Anyway, I had gotten the $25 Sears gift card at Rite Aid, so we went to K-Mart to get some socks.

He also wanted some thick, woolen socks so we ended up in the Hunting dept. where they had some things on clearance. He found a couple pair of the socks he wanted, and a pair of neoprine gloves he's been wanting for work.

Me, I found cinnamon scented pine cones and twigs. Ugh. I live in Georgia, and I'm buying pinecones and twigs? Seriously??
I swore I wasn't going to buy any more junk (that I didn't need to buy to be a MM or roll drug store money) to bring into this house even if was 90% off.
But I am a slave to cinnamon scented, and they were only .59 cents.
I didn't even take them out of the package, and just sat them on top of the heat vent. Mmmmm. Smells soooo good.

I also bought a set of 3 Wilton Christmas cutters for .39, but didn't make it home with them. Oh well, not worth going back so far for. Maybe I'll see if my son that lives down there will go by and see if they put them behind the counter.

I shop KMart so rarely, I don't know anything about the Loyalty card they gave me, but I just get it scanned before I shop like they told me to.
So I handed it to the guy and he asks if I had just gotten it (there was a girl at the front door trying to give them to people), I said no, I've had it a long time.
So he asks do I want to use my points on it. I'm like, what points? Use 'em how?
He scanned it said I had .82 on it and did I want to use it. Sure, I say.
But looking at my receipt I don't see .82 taken off anywhere, and it says my point balance is 1,256, which I only earned like 426 points tonight, so apparently the 800+ points that was on there is still on there.

Then register binged and a screen lit up saying I had won a prize.
At the end of my receipt I had gotten a coupon for a free 20oz. Coke.
Pretty cool, I guess.

Total $26.56 + 1.86 tax = $28.42
- $25.00 Gift card
= $3.42 oop

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Walgreens

Believe it or not, I went in Walgreens today with the intentions of spending, spending, spending RRs. I ended up with a good many RRs last week and I don't want to lose control of them again. I figured if I spend at least my profit, and roll the rest, I should be able to manage them better.

I don't have the exact figures yet, but I know I spent a $5.00 RR plus a little bit cash....like .68 cents or something?...and got a $5.00 RR back. Now had I been *trying* to do that, it wouldn't have worked out in a million years!

I knew I wanted eggs, on sale for .99, and Wags bleach also .99, and some of those 40th Anniversary UNO cards also .99. I also wanted the 2-ltr. Wags sodas, my kids love Wags Refreshing Cola and Root Beer, but the only ones they had were Lemon-Lime and Grape. Since I have a Food Lion brand Sprite and a Grape Soda, plus a Fanta Grape in the fridge, that I've had forever and are probably not even any good anymore, those were *the* two flavors I wasn't about to buy anymore of.

But then I had "Check out Reach" written on my notes, and I did, and with my BOGO Q, and $2.00 tearpad Q, and the $2.00 IVC Q, there was overage, and really, how can you pass up on overage? That's like flushing money!

And then I passed the Loreal and saw all the orange stickers and remembered Brandy's post about the lip gloss or lip stick. I found lipstick for $2.79 each and got (6) for a total of $16.74 (You have to buy $15.00 or more). I used (3) $5.00/2 q's from last weeks paper, and after *alot* of discussion about whether lip stick was a face product, I paid $1.74, and got a $5.00 RR back.

ETA:
$6.50 RRs Used
$1.02 + .69 tax = $1.71 oop
$10.00 RRs Rec'd
Final Total $1.79 profit
Total savings $176.09

R1te A1d


The Twinlab Fuel drinks are still on BOGO sale at $1.99 and $1.89, and gives $2.00 +UP wyb (2). Last week I was getting an extra $2.00 +UP, not sure if that's still in effect this week or not. I was happy with getting them free after +UP to start working on my points for 2011.

Totals:$234.00 +UPs Spent
$ 20.00 Gift of Savings
$3.40 + 17.86 tax = $21.26 oop
= $275.26
$238.00 +UPs Earned
$ 27.00 Gift Card
$ 15.98 SCR
= $5.72 profit

Total Saved $970.58

C\/S

Got up and out early, early this morning wanting to get around and get back home before the big Winter Storm hit. I wasn't expecting Finish to be in stock anywhere, even at 8:00am, but I wasn't sure when I'd be able to make it out later this week to get rainchecks so I wanted to go ahead and get them while I was out.

I did find one store that had plenty in stock, but it was one that usually gives me trouble about using beeping coupons or expired ECBs or just anything they can seems like. I tried anyway, because all they can do is say no and you move on, right, but amazingly she didn't say a word and just entered my $4/$20 coupon.
One other store had two in stock, which I went ahead and got. I figured .75 each after coupon isn't a bad price for them anyway, and who knows, maybe later in the week I'll stumble across 5 more. Haha. Fat chance.

I also wanted to do the Pepsi deal while I had $/$$ coupons.

I think the first time I used a $4/$20, making them $6.00, or $1.00 each, after ECBs.
The last two deals I also bought 2/$5 tater chips and used a $5/$25, making my chips free, and the Pepsi's like $1.67/1.66 after ECB.

Most of you, well I reckon none of you, know that a CVS Pepsi deal was my first coupon shop venture right about 2 years ago. I don't remember how much the Pepsi's were, almost seems like the same price, but I remember the chips were 2/$4 back then because I had a $4/$20 coupon which I figured made my chips free with the good deal I got on the Pepsi's.

Two years ago I spent cash. This time I spent ECBs that needed spending anyway.

Also did the Gas-X deal twice. Found out the third time I had been getting the wrong Gas-X for use with the coupon I had. I didn't see anything other than what they had, that I got. Oh well.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

R1te A1d

Very late in the week deal found, only at GNC store:
$1.89/$1.99 Twinlab Single Energy drinks BOGO
Get $2.00 +UP/2
(Don't know why, but it gave me $2.00 +UP each. Four of them are exp dated 1/22, the other four are exp dated 2/21.)

Found some clearanced L'oreal, got $5 +UP wyb $15.

Otherwise, in the SS insert I got from last week's (1/02) local free paper, I had a $1.00/1 Kleenex coupon! Crazy!  Kleenex were .99 this week.

Used $17.00 +UPs
$1.61 + 7.02 tax = $8.63 oop
Rec'd $45.00 +UPs
SCR $6.00
Final Total: $25.37 profit

Total Savings $276.92

Walgreens

So, um, since I had gotten my Finish coupons, I returned to Walgreens to look for some of them. Didn't expect to find more Acai stuff.  The four boxes I got at one Wags, the other I found (8). The cashier said she needed to get herself some, so I gave her mine. I only wanted the $3.01 overage anyway.

$70.00 RRs Used
$11.10 + 9.53 tax = $20.63 oop
$100.00 RRs Rec'd
Final Total +9.37 profit
Total savings $311.08

Publ1x

Wow, totally not a great shopping day at Publix. Wasn't a jar of PP Pnut Butter to be seen.  Oh well, still cheap PB after .50 (doubled) coupon, if I can get some rainchecks tomorrow. I didn't get any today because I figured I'd venture back out before Thursday and check again, and then get rainchecks if they still didn't have any...although I'm not sure why I didn't get some today anyway, and then more later....Anyway, I didn't realize the weather reports were as bad they are. Sounds like I may not get out after tomorrow for several days, or a week.

$3.69 ($1.85/1.84) Club Minis Crackers BOGO
$ .22 Ramen Noodle soup
-1.00/2 Nabisco crackers blinkie
-2.00 off soup or chili wyb Clun Minis from Keebler Rebate booklet at Christmas
= $0.91

$2.85 Curly's BBQ pork BOGO price
(no coupon)

$0.99 Aleve 6ct. x 5
-1.25 blinkie q x 5
= +1.30 overage

$0.99 Schick 2ct razor
-2.00 (insert?) q
= +1.01 overage

$0.79 Yakisoba x 8
-  .50 (doubled) 1/02 SS x 8
= +1.68 overage

Rather than going into the negative to eat up some tax, my last .50 coupon only doubled to .77 rather than $1.00, giving me a 0.00 subtotal.
+ .70 tax = .70 from gift card
Saved $25.54

The next store I visited had the Ronzoni GD Pasta, but no Club Minis crackers.

$1.09 Aleve 6ct.
-1.25 blinkie q
= +.16 overage

$0.79 Yakisoba x 5
- .50 (doubled) 1/02 SS x 5
= +1.05 overage

$1.79 Ronzoni GD BOGO x 5 (10 total)
-1.00 tearpad q x 10
= +1.05 overage

$.63 Jiffy Pizza crust mix x 2
$.63 banananas

-0.16 + .28 tax = $0.12 from gift card
(The last coupon was $1.00, so maybe that's the trick to eating into the tax, make sure you don't have a doubler last.)
Saved $21.37

Final total $0.82 from gift card
Savings $46.91

Food Lion

$3.19 Breakstone's 24oz. Cottage Cheese
- .55 (doubled to $1.10) 1/02 (RP?SS?)
=$2.09

$1.50 PP PNut Butter x 2
- .50 (doubled to $1.00) 1/02 SS
-1.00 Publix q 12/5 SS
= +.50 overage x 2
(YMMV, most stores won't allow stacking anymore)

$.99 Hershey's BOGO sale
-.99 Reese's/Hershey's BOGO 12/12 SS
= FREE

$1.00 Bestlife Buttery Spread
-1.00 1/02 SS
= Free
Got .50 Country Crock Catalina; will make for more free butter later.

Total $1.05 + .23 tax = $1.28 oop
Saved $16.63

C\/S

I stopped at one C\/$ hoping to finish my Excederin deal. Good thing I did, because the other store I shopped at later had none.

After $2.50 coupon, the Excederin was $2.49. I had a $2.99 ECB I needed to spend, and went looking for something for .50 cents. I don't know how, just some crazy fluke piece of luck I ended up with a couple of L'oreal makeups on clearance for $2.75 each. Used $5.00/2 MQ, leaving .50 cents.
$0.00 Subtotal
.73 tax
= $0.73 oop
Rec'd $10.00 ECB

Yesterday's Trans #2 with the Exederin cost me $4.10, plus the .73 from today = $4.83. So after $10.00 ECB, this turned into a $5.17 profit.
Today You Saved $27.57

Before heading home I stopped in another C\/$, intending to spend ECBs to buy milk even if there were no deals to be had. I have GOT to quit just hanging on to ECBs and RRs and +UPs because I hate spending them without getting some back!  That's how I end up with too many, and they expire, and I get all mad and everything.

Anyway, amazingly enough, they had a bunch of Reach Total Care Floss in stock.
$3.00 x 7 = $21.00
-2.00 MQ x 7 = $14.00
-$4/$20 CVS IP
-$3.00 ECB
= $0.00 + $1.19 tax = $1.19 oop

Rec'd $10.00 ECB = $5.81 profit
Saved $27.93

Then, I got found a couple of Revlon nail files at $2.99 and paired them with the milk to get my total over $15.00:
$2.99 Revlon x 2
$3.79 Milk x 3
-$3/$15 CVS IP
-$14.00 ECB
= .35 + .64 tax = $0.99 oop

Rec'd $7.00 ECB for Revlon = $7.99 Cost
Saved $5.97

Grand Total = $2.99 profit

Friday, January 7, 2011

C\/S

Trans #1:
$3.00 x 4 Reach Toothbrushes
$3.00 x 3 Reach Flosses
= $21.00
-$3/$15 CVS IP
-3.00 x 2 BOGO RP 10/10
-2.00 x 2 Reach TB Tearpad Q's
-2.00 x 3 Reach Floss RP 10/10
-1.00 ECB
= $1.00 + 1.02 tax = $2.02 oop

Rec'd $10.00 ECBs ($5 wyb $10)
Final Total $6.98 profit
Today You Saved $36.93 (Savings, Coupons, and ECB used)

Trans #2:
$4.99 x 3 Excedrin (Needed 4 but they only had 3, have to find another tomorrow, or get RC)
$3.29 x 2 Revlon emery boards
= $21.55
-$4/$20 CVS IP
-2.50 x 3 Excedrin PM 12/05 SS
-9.00 ECB
= $1.05 + 1.05 tax = $2.10 oop

Rec'd $7.00 ECB Revlon (wyb 2)
Final Total $4.10 cost
Today You Saved $22.30

Trans #3: (Had the big idea to get a bunch of free makeup, not taking into account for some reason all the tax I'd end up paying on it. Would be a GREAT deal if I actually wore makeup.)
$3.12 x 2 HIP LS ASHM (Sorry, I don't even know what I bought)
$3.12 x 2 HIP LS REST
$3.12 x 2 HIP LS TENA
$2.09 HIP SHD ASVT
$2.09 x 3 HIP SHD FLSH
$2.09 x 2 HIP SHD ROAR
$2.09 x 5 HP SH D DEVI
$2.09 x 2 HP SH D FORG
$3.25 FEELNTBL RUST
$3.25 x 4 FEELNTCO NATL
$1.37 REVLN LUX ILM GOLD??? (Really? Coupon didn't beep? Whaa?)
$2.74 TUMTCH SNBG
$1.49 Lemon Straw cookies (filler)
$0.38 Xmas candy (filler)
= $68.12
-$5/$25
-2.00 x 14 11/14 RP
-5.00/2 x 7 11/14 RP
= $0.12 + 3.72 tax = $3.84 oop
Today You Saved $272.86

Grand Total $0.96 oop
$332.09 Savings

Walgreens

Argh, I've been sucked back in at Walgreens. I totally didn't want to. I went in the store with the intentions of finding nothing in stock today so I could say oh, well, I tried, too bad.

Three (3) Transactions:
$10.99 Acai Berry x 2 BOGO Sale
$ 8.99 Children's Occissillium
- 2.00 Natrol 10/10 RP x 2
- 5.00 & 5.00 IVC from January Wags book (only need 1 coupon, it takes off for 2)
- 2.00 Occcissilum RP 1/24/10 (yes, last year)
= $3.98 + .76 tax = $4.74 oop x 3

Rec'd $9.00 RR for Oscilliominimum x 3

Final Total $4.26 profit x 3 = $12.78 profit
plus (3) Free Breathe Right Strips catalinas

R1te A1d

Welllll shoooooot. Apparently good old Rite Aid killed the stationary +UPs deal, halfway into the second week of the thing! Since I sat and listened to Video Values for a couple of hours last night and didn't read the message board, I didn't know this today. Why do they do this crap?!?!

$10.00 +UPs Spent
-.01 + 1.13 tax = $1.12 oop
$2.00 +UPs Rec'd (Should have been $12.00!!!)
Final Total $9.12 cost!!! (Should have been .88 profit!)

I sent an email to CS, so hopefully they will mail me my $10.00 +UPs.
It's just really, really ticking me off that they do this garbage. Yeah, the wrong tags were printed - LAST WEEK! How hard could it be to *Send a Memo* telling Store Managers to yank those tags and print correct ones. One days work at most. Instead, they go almost two weeks, then kill the deal? Grrrrr!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

C\/S

YaY! New C\/S $/$$ Coupons

Now if they just still have anything I wanted this week in stock.

*For my new readers; these usually beep 'Not for Card". Alot of times, even ones you get in email yourself will beep the same thing, for no reason. Some stores gladly take them anyway, others are hateful about it. YMMV

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

F00d L10n

Deal for Everyone:
$1.99 Excedrin PM (all Excedrin included, but coupons are for PM)
-2.50 Excedrin PM 12/05 (SS?RP?) or Tearpad found at Rite Aid currently
= +.51 overage No Beep (YMMV, Not responsible for hateful cashiers)
*I bought (10) and used the overage to buy (2) packages of ground beef.

$0.99 Hershey's Candybars BOGO
-0.99 Reese's and any Hershey's BOGO MQ 12/12 SS
= Free/2
*Although the coupon says Hershey's or Kit Kat or ANY Hershey's candy bar, the coupons beeped on me when I bought like Almond Joy, Zero, 100 Grand, pretty much anything but Hershey bar or Kit Kat or Reese's. They overrode it, but it was a PITA at first.

Other deal:
$1.00 Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate
Buy 3, Get Reddi Whip Free
-2.00 IP Redplum (No longer available)
- .50 IP
= .50/3 for most
*At Metro Atl stores, my .50 Reddi Whip coupon doubled, and I used a $1.00 Reddi Whip wyb Swiss Miss Publix Q from the 12/12 SS, so mine came up to be $1.00 overage.

Metro Atl Store only deal:
$1.67 Pringles
-.50 Kroger MQ someone left laying on the shelf; doubled to $1.00
= .67

$0.99 Martha White muffin mix x 3
- .55/2 RP 11/07; doubled to $1.10
- .99 "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" Publix coupon from Yellow Flyer
= .88, or .29 each

$0.59 Martha White Corn Muffin mixes
-.55/2 RP 11/07; doubled to $1.10
= .08, or .04 each

$0.99 Texas Toast Croutons; Price matched to Publix Yellow Flyer ad
-.55 SS 11/14; doubled to .99
= Free

I had some trouble on the first transaction with a new cashier: some of the coupons didn't scan but she'd push a button. which I thought was putting the coupons through but was apparently only Clear. Coupons didn't deduct but she kept them anyway. Ended up $3.99 not applied. Got $2.99 back at CS desk, but she told me the reason the Reddi Whip didn't work was because it was already free, so she gave me the coupon back.
I didn't believe that was true, so I *accidently* forgot to take it out of my coupon stack on the next round and it scanned just fine. Apparently it was the Kroger coupon that hadn't worked in the first trans?
My $2.00 Swiss Miss coupons beeped because they were for more than the price of the item, but since my BOGO candy bar q's had been beeping for apparently no reason, they put the Swiss Miss through without any problem.

Trans #1:
$4.16 + .42 tax = $4.58 - 2.99 refund = $1.59 oop
Savings $26.13
Trans #2:
-.07 + .26 tax = $0.19 oop
Savings $18.72
Trans #3:
$0.01 + .28 tax = $0.29 oop
Savings $19.82
Trans #4:
-.07 + .26 tax = $0.19 oop
Savings $18.72
Trans #5:
$0.03 + 1.70 tax = $1.73 oop
Savings $60.55

Total $1.07 + 2.92 tax = $3.99 oop
Total $143.94 savings

R1te A1d



Not a big week for me at RA this week, I didn't have alot of the coupons for some of the deals, and to limit me even further I'm breaking in another card that only has a 10% disc on it.
My RA's have nothing cheaper than $2.99 on the Darice, but they hadn't restocked anyway. Also no rulers, erasers, pencils, or folders.

$6.79 Ester-C Gummies
$0.00 Ester-C Gummies BOGO
-2.00 RP 12/05 x 2
Get $2.00 +UP
= .79

$4.99 Gas-X
-4.00 SS 12/12
Get $2.00 SCR
= +1.01 profit after SCR

$2.06 (w/ 10% disc) .28z Visine at register
-2.00 in-ad Q
Get $1.00 +UP
= .94 profit

$2.06 (w/ 10% disc) Pilot pens x 14
Get $2.00 +UP/2 x 7
= .84

$1.99 Wet Ones
-1.00 IP
Get $1.00 +UP
= +.01 profit each

$.50 Spic and Span disp. gloves (the $1.00 Spic & Span items are 50% off)
-1.00/2 IP Any Spic & Span Products
= FREE
*Coupon beeped for No Matching Item but the item clearly says Spic 'n' Span so they put it through.

$1.00/2 Butterfinger
-1.00/2 tearpad found at Kroger months ago
= Free

Otherwise, I indulged a little bit....and it's all Kelly's fault :-)
It started with Peppermint Almond bark....and .25 candy canes...and went downhill from there.
j/k lol

I did buy the .25 canes to try the recipe, then I saw the ($1.99) gift wrap was like .50, and who could pass that up?
Then I found some battery-operated Tiny Lights for my little Silver tree you might have seen at my other blog, they were only $.99 on sale. Can't beat that. I think I should have bought two, though!
The tree skirt was $1.24, I'm not sure it's big enough for my tree, but I have a smaller, five-foot-fakey I sometimes put up so it maybe go with it.
I liked the shiny, sparkly glass ornaments and figured out they were only $2.49 on sale, so I got two boxes of those.  The star tree topper was $1.99. I used to have one like it, but don't know what happened to it. I liked it better than the one I have now, so I got another one.
I got the one lighted Village building when I saw it was a fire station - 'cuz, you know, we're a firefighter family - it was only $3.74.  Then I got the Church one because it was pretty and my hubby's into the religion thing, so I knew he'd like it. It was only $4.49.
The cookie jars were only $2.49, I almost bought all those to give as gifts next year, but decided against it. I got myself the gingerbread house I thought would look nice on my Sweetheart cabinet next year.

The Christmas stuff totalled up to $20.96, so I spent one of my Gift-of-Savings certificates on that, making it pretty much free except for .96, since I didn't really spend anything to get the GoS to start with.

Which left a remainder of $37.56 + 3.74 tax
Used $40.00 +UPs
-2.45 + 3.74 tax = $1.29 oop
Rec'd $35.00 +UPs
SCR $2.00
Final Total: $4.29 cost

Wellness+ Savings 82.26
Coupon Savings $77.00
Total Savings $159.26

*Only gave me $15.83 towards my Resolution Reward. Which is about the $15.00 MQs I used, and I don't know where the .83 came from. I don't understand their tallying. I did pretty much the same thing last week, buying all the Darice, School stuff, and pens, and used all +UPs to pay and hit the $100 mark in (3) shops. Shrug.

Publ1x

A fairly weak shop on the last day of the sale; they only had (4) Quaker Oats left, I did get a raincheck for (6) more later on, and there were no Gatorade blinkies, and maybe some other stuff, I can't remember.

I had $1.00 off coupons for Febreeze Noticeables and Set & Refresh; they were on sale for $2.50, and planned to get a $3.50 Mail-in-Rebate. But I didn't bother to actually look at the MIR first, so now I see it's only for Noticables. Oh well.

Green Giant Frozen veggies 10/$10
.50/1 Green Giant Frozen
= Free

Quaker Oats BOGO $2.55
-1.00/1 RP 1/02
-1/00 TQ
 = +.72 overage each

Aleve trial size $1.09
-1.25 MQ
= +.16 overage each

With my overage I bought:
Publix Chili seasoning .49
Soft Taco Shells $1.69

Final Total -.18
Tax .76
= $.58 from Gift Card
Saved $25.39

Monday, January 3, 2011

R1te A1d Coupons

I've had a bit of the case of the Don't-Wannas today...as in, don't wanna go shopping out in the cold.  I am going to be ticked at myself later because I let $18.00 worth of CV$ coupons go to waste by not going today :-(

However, I justify that because the closest CV$ to me is about 25 miles, and the next closest to that one is another 10 or so. Probably not $18 worth of gas, but still, long ways to go just for some toothbrushes and Excedrin's I don't even need.

Spend $10 Get $5 ECB wyb these Listerine, Rembrandt or Reach products: Limit 2
Reach Total Care toothbrush 1-2pk, or floss $3
Reach Total Care + Whitening Toothbrush B1G1F up to $4.99 (4/30/11) V 10/10/2010
reach total care toothbrush $2/1 that i found on a tearpad
$2/1 Reach Total Care Plus Whitening Dental Floss - 10-10-10 RP, exp 4-30-11

Buy 8 TBs, use (4) BOGO q's and (4) $2.00 off Tearpad q's
Pay $4.00; Get $10.00 = $6.00 MM
or
Buy 7 floss, use (7) $2.00 insert q's
Pay $7.00; Get $10.00 = $3.00 MM

Spend $20 Get $10 ECB wyb any Excedrin Products Limit 1
Excedrin PM Product, 20 ct+ $2.50 (6/1/11) SS 12/5/2010
Buy 4 at $5.00 each - $2.50 MQ x 4
Pay $10.00; Get $10.00 ECBs = Free after ECBs

Get $7 ECB wyb any (2) Revlon Cosmetics or Beauty Tools Limit 1
Look for smoothing board, nail clips, files, etc priced around $2.99-3.49 = mm or free

(I have 2 cards, and planned to split the deals into circa $25 and $20 deals, and use a $5/$25 and a $4/$20 on each. For a total of $18.00 extra.)

On the other hand, still ticked because had I gotten together my R1te A1d, Publ1x, and F00d L10n deals earlier, doing more shops would have made a trip worth it.

Especially F00d L10n: They currently have Excedrin on sale for $1.99. There is a $2.50 MQ in the 12/5 (SS?RP?), and also I found a tearpad for $2.50 off Excedrin PM 20ct. or more at R1te A1d. 
One poster reported they were able to get the overage, and buying 10 at a time gave $5.10 overage, which she used to buy meat and milk. I seriously need to buy some meat, so this would be great.

Oh well. The day wasn't a complete waste. I did get through sorting out some more of my old/expired coupons/inserts, got a start on filing the misc. ones (peelies, tearpads, magazine, etc), and got some chores done around the house, too.

Anyway. Did you all get your new MyR1teA1d pdf coupons?
There is a new $2.00 off the coffee, which is on sale for $1.99 until (I forgot when), for free coffee.
MyR1teA1d.com Q's

Still....$18.00 wasted, Waaaaahhhhh!

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

1-1-11

I'm still messing around with the new blog (apparently having ADD problems). For the moment I'm just uploading my pics over there, and copying and pasting them here, so I can keep posting at this blog.
Eventually I guess I'll make the move. Or maybe not. Who knows these things? (What movie was that line from?)

PBP: Happy New Year!