Thursday, March 31, 2011

Rite Aid

Stopped in at my local Rite Aid on the way to picking my kid up from school this evening.

While I was shopping at RA yesterday, a nice lady asked me if I needed any of the Stayfree BOGO coupons. I hadn't gotten any, so heck yeah, that was great. She gave me four of them.
I had $1.00 coupons from this past weekends inserts at home, so was able to get those and do the deal today.
They are on sale for $2.49 each, and you get $1.49 +UP wyb 2 (what a weird sale).
$2.49 - $1.00 coupon
$2.49 - $2.49 BOGO
= $1.49; get $1.49 +UP = Free

I found $1.29 greeting cards at this store (they prolly had them at other stores and I just didn't look for them). After my 20% disc. they were $1.03 each.
$1.03 x 3 = 3.09
- $3/3 in-ad q
- $1/3 pdf mq
= +.91 overage/3
(I got 12 cards, so $3.64 overage altogether)

The loafa bread was clearanced to .79 each, and I got another Nesquik: $2.55 w/ 20% disc.
Used a $3/$15 survery coupon.

$4.00 +UPs Spent
-.55 + 1.34 tax = .79 oop
$5.96 +UPs Earned
= $1.17 profit

Then I did a Biore/John Frieda deal (aka Skin & Hair deal): Buy $20, get $10 +UPs.
This is a monthly deal, keeps a tab so you don't have to buy all at once, or any extra amounts count towards future purchases. No known limit.

The deal I was copying had prices listed at about $1.00 cheaper than my store, so I figured it if I used my 20% disc, or 10% disc.
The 20% disc brought the total under $20; at the time I didn't realize it was counting. I'm not sure if I would do better or not better using the 20% disc since it counts, I'd have to do some cyphering and check that out.
$7.64 Biore Strips (10% disc)
$7.64 Biore Cleanser
$6.56 JF Full Repair Root Stuff
-2.00 Biore tearpad
-7.64 Biore Cleanser wyb Strips (insert?)
-2.00 JF Full Repair Styler (insert?)
-$3/$15
= $7.20

$7.00 +UPs Spent
.20 + 1.32 tax = $1.52 oop
$10.00 +UPs Earned
= $1.48 profit

Walmart

Who can guess what happened?

There was several coupons expiring today, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to bother going to try to use them.  My youngest son was like, Go for it, it's free stuff, it'n it.
I said, eh, I still have to pay tax on the stuff.
He asked what kind of stuff was it, and I said just like toothpaste, floss, travel size shampoo. He said well what if we want to go on a trip and need some travel size shampoo? (Since he and I both have waist-length hair and would use a whole little bottle of shampoo each by ourselves, I'd have to carry a suitcase full of nothing but little travel sized bottles of shampoo to have enough, that's what.)

In the end, I decided to go because of the $4.00 Sinex/Free Puffs coupons. Someone had posted that they had gotten Nyquil/Dayquil Sinex at their WM for $4.12, so .12 after coupon and free Puffs.
Turned out, the Nyquil/Dayquil Sinex was $5.64 at my store, so it wasn't worth it to me to pay $1.64 because I already have a pretty large stockpile of Nyquil/Dayquil and kleenex.

They only had (2) of the Pert, and (12) of the Sensodyne, and I took along (10) floss coupons.

I had a $1.00 Rav-O-Vac battery coupon for Alkaline or Hearing Aid batteries. Someone posted they'd found .97 batteries, and these HD batteries were the only ones I found for .97. The first five numbers of the UPC codes matched, so I got one to try it out.
I still don't know if it was a match because after starting and stopping and voiding the transaction and starting over again, when she scanned the coupon it said no matching item. I asked if it was the wrong thing, willing to give them up if they weren't a match, but then she scanned the Sensodyne coupon and it said the same thing, and I know those were a match, so I don't know what she did. Eventually the CSM came along and just entered them manually.

To back up some, the store has the Old-New coupon policies posted at every register, the 03/02 version, before they changed it again 3/16.  I just conversationally asked the cashier if they accepted Walgreens Register Rewards and she had no idea what I was talking about. No surprise; she's probably never even heard of Walgreens.
I let the subject drop, and certainly wasn't trying to use one, not even the $5 off Hershey product one, so the rest of the Transaction *should* have gone without a hassle.

Without a hassle - HA! - was I dreaming or what??

First coupon she scanned was a Pert. Register asked "Valid Coupon Amt?" Cashier got a look on her face like it had told her to strip butt naked and do the Hula or something.  Then she asked, did you get shampoo? and starts digging through the bag.
Then she decides she has to call a CSM and make sure it's allright.
CSM comes over and looks and says Yeah, push yes. So I'm thinking, okay good, this is going to be easy.

Then we get to the Sensodyne. Same thing. She calls the CSM back over.
Now the CSM looks at the coupons, looks at the toothpaste, takes the Reach coupons, and calls on her mic for someone to call her at Register 7 (two registers away from where we are - obviously so I can't hear her convo).
In the meantime, me and the cashier are just standing there and she starts chatting about how a woman had come with the Gain coupons and got the dryer sheets and they had to pay her in the end, and another woman had the Gain coupons and got the dryer sheets and some Gain with Crystals (she meant Purex) and a bunch of other stuff and only paid .88.
I'm standing here thinking, ok, so obviously they're not seeing anything new, and knows about overage and all...why the hell are they giving me such a hassle and run around??

Eventually the CSM comes back and says her Manager says the Pert coupons are okay, but as far as the Reach and Sensodyne, the coupon says "One per Purchase", so we have to ring them all up separately.
I tried to explain that one per purchase meant one per item, but she wasn't having it; her Manager, who is an Assistant Store Manager told her that meant they have to be rung up separately.

That was when the cashier started trying to check me out again and the coupons kept saying wrong bar code, or no matching item. The CSM had to come back again and help.
That first transaction, they gave me back .85.  I was pretty sure it was wrong, and sure enough they had entered one too many coupons.
It's not that I didn't want to be honest and tell them what happened, but I was afraid to at that point. That would involve returns, voids, I don't know what all more kinds of crap and trouble.
Besides, they'll still get reimbursed for the coupon. I know at least one person has bought Reach floss without having used a coupon.

After the first transaction, the cashier ties the handles of the bag together and tries to hand it to me. I said, you can probably put it all in the same bag. She said no, it's just easier for me to keep it all separate, and I was like, you're going to give me 12 bags??  (With a Floss and a travel size toothpaste in each.)
At that point the CSM took over and did the other 11 transactions.

Because of the original .85 mistake, this ended up with me making .02 cents.
Not freekin worth it!

When I got home I told my kid, next time I ask him if I should go to Walmart, he better say NO!

BTW, at least half of all those receipts came out with a Survey request on them. They're gonna be sorry they caused me to get so many chances to complain.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Walgreens

Today has been a grey, drizzly, yucky kind of day, which I don't mind when I can stay home, but I needed to make a run to Publix so figured I'd get in some other shops while I was out to make it worth the gas.
But, boy, I really wasn't feeling it.

I was trying to do this candy deal, buy $10, get $5 off Hershey product Catalina. My $1/3 insert coupons kept beeping, the Asst.Manager just wasn't going to take them period, even though they were clearly for the right items, so she went and got the Store Manager. She scanned them and they worked with no problem. But I screwed it up trying to use the $3.00 off Hershey purchase I got from buying Twizzlers a few weeks ago. She said all I needed was one more item (which wasn't true) so I got a bag of the Suggestive Sale nuts. It still beeped, but she just entered it as a MQ.
So it ended up like $10.79, minus $2.00 MQ, minus $3.00 Hershey RR, minus $5.00 RR; get $5.00 Hershey RR.
I think it cost me $3.79 plus tax after coupons and RR. I'm not sure, this one twists up my feeble mind.

Anyway, I can take the $5.00 off Hershey product to Walmart and buy a candy bar and get overage with the rest.
Pretty sure the deal wasn't worth it.

At the next store I tried buing the 6 bags of candy and a small bag of Cadbury mini eggs, hoping to trick the MQs and RR into working. One of the MQs still beeped, even before the $3.00 RR. She just typed it in as an MQ, and the $3.00 scanned without problem. So I don't know what the problem was.

Biore deal:
$7.49 Strips
$7.99 Cleanser
-7.99 get free Cleanser wyb Strips
-2.00 Biore Tearpad q
= $5.49; get $5.00 RR wyb 2
Final cost $0.49

2/$6 Colgate
-1.00 D&Y Mag x 2
Get $4.00 RR wyb 2
= Free after RR

$1.99 Biotene Gum
$ .99 Biotene Gum BOGO50% sale
-1.50 D&Y mag x 2
= Free

.69 Foil filler
.79 Nuts filler

Found Pistacios clearance for .49 each, bought 9 or 10 bags. My kid likes them.

The 2nd store had the signs for Buy Milk, get Oreos free signs up so I tried it. Cookies didn't come off so she called the Manager and he said it would only take $1.00 off the 16oz. package. I asked which ones I needed to get to be free, so she went and looked at the sign and came back and took off the price of the cookies.  I had a $1.00 cookies and milk peelie q I found at Publix last week, so I paid $2.29 + .10 tax for cookies and milk (which I still think is kindly expensive. It ought not cost more than that without sale/coupon).

Totals
$38.00 RRs Spent

$2.70 + 3.14 tax = $5.84 oop
$23.00 RR's Earned
= $20.84 cost (ouch!!)

$78.13 Savings

Publix

Waited 'til the last day of the sale hoping to be able to score some Kibbles 'n' Bits Rainchecks, but just my luck, they were fully stocked.

$2.75 Gortons BOGO
- .50 dbld to $1.00
= 1.75

$.79 Yakisoba x 9
- .50 dbld to $1.00 x 9
= +1.89 overage

$1.99 BOGO Ben's Ready Rice w/ Raincheck x 5 (10 units)
-1.00 mq x 10
= +.05 overage

Total
-.19 + .44 tax = .25 from gift card

Rite Aid

Ugh, I'm kinda off my game at Rite Aid this week, just not feeling it or something.

The BIG deal is free American Greetings Cards. There are plenty of .99 cards for many Holidays and Events, you don't have to get only Easter cards, and they are free with the $3.00/3 in-ad coupon. I stocked up on B'day cards for the rest of the year (maybe the rest of my life, as bad as I am at actually sending cards, lol).

Also there is a $1.00/3 .pdf mq here you can stack with the in-ad q, but it states Excludes .99 or less cards.
Beside the gift wrapping paper rack there are little 3x3 inch size gift-wrap cards, priced from .89 to 1.29, the majority of them being 1.19.
If you get 3 of those at $1.19 and use the $3/3 in-ad and $1/3 pdf, you might can get .43 overage.

Johnson Skincare BOGO50%, get $5 wyb 3 items deal:
(4) Neutrogena Single Transparent facial bars Reg price 2.99
= $8.98
(2) Neutrogena Lip Moisturizers reg price 3.29
= $4.93
Total $13.91
*I grouped this with a Free Greetings cards w/ overage deal to take my total over $15.00 so I could use a $3/$15 survey coupon.
Pay $10.91; get (2) $5.00 +UPs
(I got (6) cards, so .43 overage times (2), this deal ended up costing me .05 plus tax)

Garnier/Maybelline BOGO50%, get $5 wyb $15 deal:
(4) Some kind of lipgloss reg. price $5.69  (Sensational?)
= $17.06
- (4) $2/1 any Maybelline Lip 2/6 RP
- $3/$15 Survey coupon
Pay $6.06; get $5.00 +UP
*I got (6) cards with this deal also so it ended up costing me .20 plus tax)

Revlon deal (Limit 1) Buy $10, get $4
*Did this deal yesterday and tried to copy a scenario someone had posted using overage from buying .99 cards w/ 20% discount and so my MQ beeped and they wouldn't take them, so my Revlon deal ended up costing me like $3.xx after the $3/$15 coupon.
I didn'try this deal again.

Old Spice Deo/Body Wash; get $2.00 +UP wyb 2 (Limit 2 per card)
$2.50 Deo x 2
$3.99 (w/ 20% disc) BW x 2
- 1.00/2 OS 2/27 P&G
- 3.99 BW free wyb Deo x 2
= $4.00; get $4.00 +UP
*The coupon limit is up to $3.99, I didn't want to risk getting busted on it and having to pay $2.00 on something I didn't really need so I only used my cards with the 20% disc to do the deal twice.

In the midst of three transactions, the Store Manager asks me about do I only carry the coupons I know I'll need for the sale, which I said yeah mostly. He said he had some of the Gillette BW on clearance...Turns out I was carrying those coupons because I had seen someone else mention that. He had seven bottles behind the counter so I said I'd buy them all if he was looking to get rid of them.
I stupidly didn't consult my notes to be reminded that they were giving the $2.00 +UPs per (2), so I bought all seven at once, used (7) $2.00/1 PG 2/27 and a $3/$15 coupon. My ending total was .43 plus tax.
But had I bought (4) and (3) using other cards, I could have ended up profiting $2.57 and saved a $3/$15 coupon.  Blah.

I did a Carefree deal because I had a $1.00 coupon from a magazine expiring tomorrow:
$5.00/2; Get $2.00 +UP
-1.00 mq from magazine
- .50 mq from 3/27 RP
= 1.50, or .75 each after +UP

The Toe Warmers were clearanced .24 at the store I visited yesterday so I bought them all, about $4.00 worth, to put in the Care packages I sometimes send to my anysoldier.com peeps.

Today I found the Spic'n'Span disposable gloves for .25 so I bought all those, too, about $3.00 worth. We use alot of disp. gloves around here.
Not me, I'm not scared of gettting my hands dirty, but I guess it's habit from Johnny's job(s), or else he has a clean-hand fetish, I don't know, but he won't hardly do anything messy around here without wearing gloves. (Sissy boy)

Totals:
$33.00 +UPs Spent
$1.41 + 5.59 tax = $7.00 oop
$29.00 +UPs Earned
= $11.00 cost

$71.80 Wellness Savings
$120.46 Coupon Savings
= $192.26 Total Savings

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

CVS

Had ECBs expiring today so stopped by some CVS's on the way to my youngun's soccer game tonight. It's late so I left the stuff in the car, so no picture yet but I wanted to share the deal w/ya's.

Transaction 1:
Physician's Formula Cosmetics, buy ANY ONE and get $7.00 ECB (Limit 1)
Buy $5.99 concealor
- $5.00 pdf
= .99 + tax.

Transaction 2:
Physician's Formula Jumbo lash Mascara $9.99, get $7.00 ECB (Limit 1)
*The mascara pictured in the ad is not the mascara that is giving the ECB. The correct one is the bigger one that looks like a long green leaf. However I found out if I got the one pictured in the ad I showed them I was supposed to get the ECB and they printed it manually.
Also buy Colgate MaxFresh $2.99, get $2.00 ECB.
- 5.00 pdf
- 7.00 ECB from first order
= .98 + tax

In the end you will have spent  $1.97 + tax cash, and end up with $9.00 ECB, making a profit of approx. $7.03 before tax.


I used what ECBs I had to do the deals, but it was so little out of pocket I had several to spend, so I did the Coke/Dr.P deal; Buy 3/$10, get $2 ECB.

One of the deals I did Skintimate instead of Colgate. Same cost, just a little more oop up front, but I had ECBs to spend.
Figures, after I did these deals yesterday, there was a $1.00 Colgate Maxfresh in the ad-papers in my mailbox today.

Since it was so little oop, and such good profit, I did the deal w/ all four of my cards. I only keep two Rolling normally, so I'll spend off the ECBs on the spare cards on something we want or need.

Totals (4 cards)
$46.86 ECBs Spent
$9.92 + 5.97 tax = $15.89 oop
$68.50 ECBs Earned
= $5.75 Profit

Saved $98.00

Friday, March 25, 2011

Rite Aid

I had about $120.00 in weekly and Winter Rewards +UPs to roll/spend this week. The Doctor's Nightguard was $19.99, and get a $15.00 +UP. There's a $5.00 IP coupon, making it free after +UP, and you can use a $3/$15 survey coupon to make it a moneymaker.
I read there's a Limit of 1 per card.

I got some Blink, $7.99 with $7.99 SCR. I had some $4.00 peelies, so they are mm's.

The Nutri-Nail stuff is on sale BOGO, and there is a BOGO Nutri-Nail up to $8.00 coupon, making both free.

The Reach floss was free after $1.00 coupon from the SS dispenser thing hanging right in front of them.

Apparently Reach toothbrushes are counting for the Heart Healthy reward. I bought them using BOGO and $1.00 MQs; earned $2.00 +UP each.
Along with some $5.49 BOGO Vitamin Ds which I used $3.00 RA IPs.
I bought over $30.00 the first shop, but didn't get the $10 +UP, and no running total on my receipt, so I thought it must not have worked.
I was making a profit on the Reach anyway, so I bought somemore at the next store, and out came the $10 +UP.
Having no idea what was counting or not, how close I was to the $50 mark, I went ahead and bought the (1) TB and (2) vitamins at the next store, all they had, figuring maybe I could go to my local store tomorrow and buy TBs two at a time until I hit $50 and got the other $10 +UP.
Surprise! I got it this time.

One store had the $4.79 Veet wax strips. Used $3.00 in-ad and $3.00 IP for some overage which I used to help pay for the Fritos and loafa breads, which were clearanced to .79 each.
Fritos were 2/$5, get a $1 +UP, so $2.00 each.

The Yoo-Hoos were clearance to .79 each at another store, and the bright orange tshirt was clearanced at .50, but my discount made it .45 cents.
The cereals and mac'n'cheese were clearanced to .25 each, but I only bought them because I needed cheap fillers to be able to use another $1.00 +UP.

The Barber scissors were clearanced for $2.49.
The Pepto was $5.49 (I think), used a $2.00 in-ad q, and applied a $3/$15 survey coupon to it (bought it with free stuff), to make it just cents.

Also bought milk and Nesquick, and Sweet Sue canned chicken and refried beans on sale $10/10.

ETA Totals:
$130.88 +UPs Spent
$2.25 + 16.70 tax = $18.95 oop
$128.00 +UPs Earned
$31.96 SCR
= $10.13 profit

Total Savings $528.45

Walgreens

I had several $10 RRs from the Excedrin deal last week (or week before?) to roll; I hoped to be able to use them on the Tena's w/ a $2.50 IP for a money maker. It being a rather large amount RR, I didn't figure on so many people running to buy them all up. I was planning to visit three stores, so planned on being able to get at least a couple here and there. Nope, found one at one store, and another one (hidden) at another store.

Two of the stores had a boatload of the Plackers, so I think a truck had come in recently, and they probably kept the Tena squirreled away in the back because they were mm's. These stores seem to have Managers/Employees that think you're ripping them off when you use Q's on a FARR deal.

Oh well. I found some $10 Vitamins to roll over even.

I didn't have the Almay MQs, so that wasn't as great of a deal to me. I didn't have many smaller denomination RRs to be able to use, so I turned over a fairly high amount of cash into RR's for a relatively little bit of profit. (If WM was still taking RR's I would have bought these all day.)

The saltines were a filler when I needed to spend some amount to get me up $14.00 worth of RR's I was spending, but in the end I was still off my count by .08 friggin cents, so I had to add one of those stupy caramels they keep by the registers for that purpose.
I hate those things, but the cashier said she loved them so I gave it to her. I didn't want to give up my receipt so she said I should open it and hand it to her and she ate it right there. (Not sure how I ended up with the wrapper back, lol.)

In the end I managed to make a profit. Surprised me, I was pretty sure I was barely if at all breaking even and after taxes was probably taking a loss.
(But still not really happy that I turned almost $25 cash into RRs. I hardly ever buy anything at Wags that I acutally need.)
(Back to whining that I can't use RR's at a grocery store or WM.)

Totals:
$70.00 RRs Spent
$20.93 + 4.01 tax = $24.94 oop
$106.00 RRs Earned
= $11.06 profit

$149.58 Sale/Coupon Savings

Food Lion

The Tidy Cats litter is/has been on sale for 2/$12, or $6.00 each. This week, thru Tuesday, it is also on BOGO, so they are ringing up $3.00 each.
With the $1.50 q from 1/30 RP, makes them $1.50 each.

The Magic Blue Machine has been giving coupons for FREE items.
I didn't get anything when I scanned my most used card, but my spare card got a Free Food Lion Apple Juice.

I did one more deal with the Food Lion sodas, buy (10) at .33, get $2.50 OYNO. (I would have done more but there weren't enough. I think someone else found my deal.)
Then I got (10) cans of Potted sandwich meat at .39 each. For some reason it gave me back a $2.75 instead of a $2.50 OYNO. Never did figure that one out, and sure as heck didn't complain about it.

Apparently Friday morning is meat-mark-down day, this is the second Friday I went in and found alot of meats marked down. I got around another $20.00 worth (including the London Broil  *Mr. Firehouse Chef* wanted). 
It was 2 weeks ago I bought the other $20.00 worth, so it's working out to about $10.00 a week for meat. (We haven't eaten all the meat from the other week, either, so really it's less.) Not free like I used to get from getting so good overage at Publix, but meat at less than $2.00 a day, pretty close.

I had (2) $2.50 OYNOs when I went in, and used one to buy the Sodas and Potted meat, after which I had a $2.50 and a $2.75 OYNO. 
I didn't plan on going back to FL before the Brand Deal ended the 29th, and didn't know if they'd have a good sale next week...Anyway I didn't want to have to worry about having to get them spent before they expired (I already have too many expiration dates in my feeble little brain) so I went ahead and used them to buy some cube steak.  The cube steak wasn't on mark-down, but they had $2.50 and $2.76 packages so it was easier to spend them on something I knew I wanted right then.

Total:
$40.01 + 2.86 tax = $42.87 oop
(Seems like alot, but it should be a couple weeks of meals w/ meat, and I shouldn't have to buy litter for the rest of the year.)
$93.59 Sale/Coupon Savings

Publix

Kroger

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

CVS

Found .75/2 hangtags on the Powerades; there were also $1.00/3 tearpads on the fridge door.
Using the .75/2, I bought 16 bottles at $1.00 each:
$16.00 - 6.00 q's = $10.00; get $5.00 ECB = $5.00, or about .31 each

If you used the $1/3 q, buy 15 bottles at $1.00 each:
$15.00 - 5.00 q's = $10.00; get $5.00 ECB = $5.00, or about .33 each

Physicians Formula deals:
Store #1
$3.59 (Reg. 5.99) Green Concealer
$5.99 (Reg. 9.99) Mascara
$5.99 (Reg. 9.99) Mascara
= $15.57
-5.00 pdf q x 3
= .57 cost

Store #2
(Apparently the stuff I bought wasn't priced right, and rang up higher than I was expecting)
$5.27 eyeshadow (thought was regular 7.99, and should have rang up $4.79)
$5.27 eyeshadow
$5.99 mascara (reg. 9.99)
= $16.53 (shoulda been $15.57)
-5.00 pdf x 3
= $1.53 cost

$6.99 Allegra - 2.00 IP (found $2.00 tearpad in pharmacy) = 4.99; got $6.99 ECB = $2.00 MM

$1.00 Reach Floss - 1.00 IP = Free

$2.49/2.37 Crest w/ Scope
(I was in a hurry shopping and trying to think of a hundred things at one time and forgot the coupon wasn't for this size, saw the coupon in my coupon-envie and used it without thinking. It didn't beep.)
- .75 PG 2/27 = $1.74/1.62
(ECB didn't print at first store, told the girl I should have gotten an ECB for the Crest. She said oh yeah, those have been messed up, and printed me the one from the weekly ad, the $2.50 one, except it spit out a $3.00 one. I did tell her it wasn't the same deal, but she shrugged and said that's okay.)
Got $3.00/2.00 CB
Total $1.26 profit/.38 profit

*I didn't do the larger Crest deal because it was only free after coupon/ECB and I didn't want to pay tax on the stuff when I already have a huge stockpile of TP.
I did the free after coupon Reach floss because I had some IPs expiring soon. I considered I could get .03 overage each using them at Walmart, but that's not even worth walking into the store for.

Totals:
$32.99 ECBs Spent
2.45 + 4.27 tax = $6.72 oop
$28.98 ECBs Earned
= $10.73 cost

Total Savings $133.96

Playing the CVS Game 3

This week CVS has 5-ct package of Allegra Allergy Tabs for $6.99, get $6.99 ECB Limit 1



Go here to print $2.00 off coupon. (*There is a $4.00 coupon, but it for larger tab-count size.)
*There are reports of a $2.00 off tearpad coupon in the stores also (if someone hasn't already ripped them all off to sell on ebay).

If you still have your $5.99 from the Revitalens deal on Feb 21st, you can buy the Allegra at $4.99 w/ coupon, plus a $1.00 item.
You'll get $6.99 ECB back.

Other deals:
$18.99 Cobroxin Homo Oral Spray for Chronic Pain 1oz. get $18.99 ECB
*This is alot of cash to turn over into ECBs if you don't already have alot of ECBs to spend. Even if you do have a good many ECBs, you'll end up with one $18.99 ECB that'll have to be spent all at once later. Sometimes hard to do at CVS lately.
On the other hand, it's made from Cobra Venom, and who doesn't want a bottle of (albeit watered-down) Cobra Venom??
The only reason I'd buy this was if I got a $5/$15 CRT at the end of my receipt from my first transaction, making it a $5 mm.

$2.50 ECB wyb Crest/Oral-B Rinse, Clinical Gum TP, Glide Floss at $3.49 Limit 2
(See ad for actual item and sizes)
Coupons from 2/27 P&G make some items free after ECB.

*Possible hidden deal (some reported working, others not. If there's a sign you can have them manual print the ECB.)
Crest Whitening w/ Scope 2.7oz $2.37, get $2.00 ECB: Cost $0.37 after ECB
(P&G q's only for 4oz + size)

Physicians Formula Cosmetics are 40%
A few items are free or almost free with the $5.00 pdf coupon

Also some Colgate, Listerine, Pocketpaks, TBs and Floss on sale 5/$5, or $1.00 each
(see ad for actual products/sizes)
Free after some coupons from 10/10, 1/9, or tearpads and printables.

Spend $15, get $5 ECB on Coke, Powerade, Fuze, Smartwater, some other drinks and some other snacks.
Vitamin Water on sale 3/$3, or $1.00 each
If you have the .75/1 tearpad coupon, buy 15 bottles, pay $3.75 after coupon, get $5.00 ECB.
(You don't have to buy 15 bottles all at one time, CVS keeps a running tally on your receipt.)

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Walmart

We can call this *The Cruelest Prank Evah played on Couponers*.  What a freeking disaster.
I can't believe I actually, naively believed that someone with some Sense worked at Walmart...Duh! If they really had any sense, I guess they wouldn't be working at Walmart, huh.

For the past two weeks I have been fighting this fight, trying to get the Stores trained when Corp. wouldn't, but today whooped my ass. I already figured I was pretty well done anyway.

As I walked into the store, I saw copies of the New coupon policy taped to the registers, so I stopped at an unbusy SCO cashier and asked her if she knew if they were accepting the Walgreens as one per Purchase or Item, or one per Transaction.  She read it and said, one per purchase, per item.
So I go do my shopping, and then when I go to checkout, even before unpacking the cart, I asked the cashier if she was aware of the New coupon policy and accepting the Register Rewards.  She went off to ask the CSM, who said yes, they did. *IF they scan, they do*.  They scanned, but asked something about it being a food item coupon, she just pressed yes or enter or whatever, and it went through.

Wouldn't have been no problem from there, I'da been long gone, except for a colossally Stupid mistake on my part - forgetting the $50.00 coupon per transaction limit. It wanted a CSM approval, but instead of approving it, the same CSM that said yes they do take them, now starts going through them, scrutinizing, wanting to know what I bought with what. Her theory was that it didn't work because to be able to use a $10.00 RR, I had to buy ONE item that cost $10.00 or more.
For one thing I don't even have to do that at Walgreens - I can go in Wags and buy 10 $1.00 items and use 1 $10.00 RR, but for another, WM's policy says you can use Overage to pay for other items. As long as I have more items than coupons, I'm good.

She ends up suspending the whole transaction and we have to go off to another register and call someone else to come.
Another CSM comes, and she says "They're say they're only redeemable at Walgreens". So right there I already know that one doesn't know what she's even talking about. 
They say, "Well the only problem is, it says *Instore purchase*". I said yes, as opposed to Online purchase. That isn't saying it can ONLY be used InWalgreenStore.

That one calls, I assume, the Manager office, and they tell her no, they can only be used at Walgreens.

So I go outside and call 1-800-Wal-Mart and speak to a CS rep and tell her what has happened. She asked for my number and said the Manager would call me. I said but I'm here now. So she told me to go back to CS and she would have the highest level of Management come meet me.

I waited over half an hour and finally the SM comes, and says Home Office told him NOT to take them. That they didn't realize I was trying to use a *Cents off* Walgreens coupon.  I said I'm not using a *Cents off* coupon...Anyway, I thought there was a whole bunch of miscommunication between me and them, and him and them. I showed him my copy of the New coupon policy that clearly showed they accepted the Catalina coupons on No Specific Item, unlike the Specific Item Price Comparison coupons.

Eventually he said he would allow it, because I had been standing there so long. Basically he was allowing it to do me a favor, rather than admitting I was right, which ticked me off.

Only to come home and find out I was NOT right.  Effin' stupid dammed Walmart changed the freekin' policy on Wednesday to show that they don't accept the Register Rewards afterall.

I am just seriously at a loss. I know I'm naive, but I was sooo hopeful someone up there had realized that RR's are reimbursable MQ's, and had saw the potential for earnings if they could lure all of us coupon users in to the stores. It was clear by the picture in the original new coupon policy that they KNEW there were Catalina coupons for No Specific Item, or else they would have pictured an example Specific Item, like they did in the MQs and Competitor coupon.
The intent was there, at first, for them to accept RR/OYNO Catalinas, and they know it.  So why did they back up?

Bad enough they made a new coupon policy and didn't even bother to inform the stores, making a real bitch on the couponers to try to train them into taking them, then they go and pull this kind of crap?!
All I can think is for some only-God-must-know reason, they did it on purpose. I can't imagine what purpose, unless someone up there despises coupon-users to the point they want to make good and damn sure one of us never, ever darkens their doors again. But why?? Coupons are money. Walmart loves money.

I am just finding it really, really hard to accept that it could have been merely a *mistake*, simply someone's stupidity.
I don't know why, though...everytime I think I've seen the lowest levels of stupidity someone could reach, I end up surprised when come to find out, they can get even stupider.

Oh well, it was *fun* while it lasted. NOT.
But I did get alot of good stuff for my RR's that I wouldn't've been able to get at Wags.

Rite Aid


$4.99 - 20% = $3.99
-2.00 in-ad Q
-2.00 MQ
Got $1.00 +UP
-.03 + .72 tax = .69 oop
= $2.31 profit after +UPs

Walgreens

Another couple Wags shops. Didn't do too good. Forgot to take off for my sodas one time; a coupon missed getting scanned one time. I just didn't bother/feel like going back in to say anything about it. It'll all even out in the wash along the way somewhere/sometime.

Kroger

Just some free pasta.
Spent .50 in tax.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Walgreens

Excellent news! (for me). I learned the SM of one of my fav Wags stores was moved to the Wags-I-Hated-Most-Evah!
This was the store that only allowed One coupon per type, per transaction. So for instance I needed to buy at least four boxes of the Excedrin for the $20.00 deal, they would have only allowed me to use One of the $2.50 MQs, even though I was buying four items.  They said their Vendors told them they were taking too many coupons and were going to quit paying them. I told Mr. G that and he made a face like, 'What? That's crazy'.

My kid had a soccer game in the area tonight, so I stopped in to check it out, and sure enough, no problems. Well, just a tiny thing. I bought a Body Wash and a Deodorant and wrote $4.49, the price of the BW, on the BOGO coupon and the girl said she couldn't give me that much, it had to be the least expensive item. I asked why, and she didn't have an answer. I pointed out that the coupon allowed up to $4.49, so they would get reimbursed for it, so what was the issue?  She said okay, but you can only do one.  Yeah, I only got one; the others were $2.99 and/or $3.99.

Bad news is, they didn't have any of the little $1.59 size Excedrin boxes. I gambled on it working on $19.96, and lost. No RR :-(
I didn't have time to return them. Oh well.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Rite Aid

Ran to my local Rite Aid to spend my Chloroseptic insert q's that were expiring today.
$3.99
-1.00 MQ
Get $3.00 +UP
= FREE

I also used a $1.00 and a $2.00 off your next purchase Video Values q's.

Loafa bread was marked down to .79 cents.

Used $15.00 +UPs
$0.73 + 1.49 tax = $2.22 oop
Got $18.00 +UPs
= $0.78 profit

In other news, I ddin't make it to Wags yesterday to spend my expired RRs, so I'm out $20.00.
My fault...I knew there was the good possibility I'd have trouble with using them at Walmart...I should have just bought stuff while I was at Wags.

As far as Walmart, I wrote a complaint, and another Ass-Manager from the store called me up today.  Said she'd read my email, but she needed to me to go over it with her again. So I started telling her what happened, and she cut me off to ask me where I had gotten this new coupon policy. I told her Walmart.com.
So I continued the story, but then when I got to the part about the RR's, I said it sounded like she didn't know anything about the new coupon policy either (she'd asked me where I got it..why would she ask that if she already had it?). She said no, no, she knew it, she had it right there.

Long story short, she said they had just gotten the new policy yesterday, a copy was posted at all the registers, and the way she was reading it, there should have been no reason I shouldn't have been able to use them.
So far so good, until we get to the Purchase vs. Transaction issue.
She also insisted that a Purchase *was* your total transaction.

I asked her if she had ever seen a manufacturer's coupon like that comes out of the Sunday paper...Oh of course, they get hundreds of those a day. I said, almost every one of those say Limit One Per Purchase; so you're telling me, if I come in and buy a couple things of shampoo or toothpaste, I have to do all separate transactions to be able to use the coupons?
She stammered something about having to "monitor that...making sure they followed the terms" blah blah blah, I don't know.

She put me on hold for awhile and came back and said she'd asked her boss, the Store Manager (whom she had already told me wouldn't be in 'till Thursday morning), and that was also her understanding: A Purchase is your whole Transaction.

So I've got a call in to the Market Manager.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Walmart


Shot down at Walmart. 

I had $20.00 worth of RR's expiring today; I looked around at Wags, but didn't see anything I wanted to blow $20 on, when I could (possibly) get meat and stuff at Walmart.

Before even starting checking out I asked the cashier if she had seen the new coupon policy. She hadn't, so I showed it to her, pointing out where they allow overage, give money back, and accept catalina coupons.
She said she didn't know how the overage coupons would work, but that they had "always" accepted the Manufacturer's coupons from Walgreens and Kroger.

I explained to her the overage coupons would ask if it was valid coupon amount, and she just had to hit yes or enter or whatever, so that worked okay.

Then she scanned the $5 RR and it said something like no matching item and printed out a journal thing. I think she scanned the wrong bar code, though.
She scanned it again and it asked something to the effect of if it was a Food item, or something.

So she calls over the CSM, who says they can't take Walgreens coupons.  I break out the new coupon policy and explain to her that yes, they can.
She read it and everything was okay except for the fact it said "Redeemable at Walgreens". The example picture didn't show the coupon saying "Redeemable at" anywhere.

So she calls for a Manager, it was an Assistant Store Manager, who couldn't be bothered to come out there, and called on the phone. Of course she says no they don't accept Walgreens coupons. I had to insist that she come up there so she could see the new policy for herself.
Before even letting me explain why I was in there trying to use *Walgreens coupons*, she tells me, "We've NEVER accepted these coupons".  I said, not before now, but now there's a new coupon policy saying that you do.

She looked at it, read it, read it some more, and finally comes up with, "I don't see anything about stores on here."  What? I don't have a clue what she was talking about.
Maybe I'm just stupid, but nothing she was saying made any sense to me. She pointed to the example that said they don't take print-at-home coupons for free items; but said "We don't take coupons for free items". I said, um, I'm not using a coupon for a free item.

Then she points back up to the top examples and tries to tell me blah blah blah about manufacturer coupons that have a specific item pictured. I said yes, but you see the Catalina picture doesn't have a specific item pictured, that's because they are good on any item, other than what's listed in the exclusions.
I got aggrivated and told her she was just making stuff up; she denied it, but I said she didn't even know there even was a new coupon policy.

So then she decided I could use one of the RR's. She pointed to the line that says "One coupon per item". I said, I have several items. She said, it says One coupon per item, that means I can only use one of those coupons.  I said but I have alot of items, more items than coupons even. She said, it's a dollar amount off your next purchase coupon, so you can only use one coupon *of that type*.
Since she was pointing to the policy "One coupon per item", and I clearly had alot more items than coupons, I think she might have been one of those people that thinks one coupon per item means per item type. Like if you buy 5 identical bottles of shampoo, you can still only use 1 coupon. The five shampoos are the same item to these people apparently.
Or else, when she said..."off your next purchase"...she doesn't know the difference between *purchase* and *transaction*. 

I tried to explain it, but she cut me off and said that's what she'd do. Period. I said well that's not what I'll do, forget it, you lost the sale, which I'll be sure to let your Manager know about tomorrow.  Her response was "Well." (shrug) and she turned and left.

So now I got $20 worth of expired RR's and no hope in hell of being able to use them at Walmart even if they call and beg to come back (lolhahalol), so I have to make an extra trip I wasn't planning to make tomorrow to my good Wags stores where I can use 1 day expired coupons without a big hassle.
Just hoping I find enough Exedrin to be able to roll them, or else I'm back to blowing $20 on....?

I was already mad my car drank so much gas today. I did so good last week; put in $35 on Monday, and went until this morning without needing more. That included shopping on Monday, a trip of John taking his Dad to the doctor, several trips to the high school and back, a marathon shopping trip - probably over 100 miles - on Friday, and another 50-60 mile shopping trip yesterday.
This morning I put in $20, which put me at half a tank. My mom's house is a little over 30 miles, but I went maybe 5 miles out of the way to go by Food Lion. The Kroger, Walgreens, and Walmart were pretty much on my way to and from her house.
Just that little bit trip and I'm down to just a quarter tank tonight.

I'm pretty sure that problem was that I was loaded to the gills on the way down there. I poked along, but it still used alot of gas.
Then on the way home, for one thing I was p-o'ed when I left Walmart, and also this stupid time change, I hate it.  Yesterday when I slept in a little bit, I got up and it was still morning and we had the rest of the day to do stuff.  This morning I slept in and the day was half freeking gone when I got up.
When  I stay out shopping kind of late, it used to still be only like six or seven o'clock when I got home, still a few hours before bedtime. Tonight it was freekin after eight o'clock when I left Walmart.  I just wanted to get on home; didn't have time to piddle-diddle along.
Now to top it off I have to make another shopping trip I didn't plan to make tomorrow.

Food Lion


Got my Sodas without any trouble today. The same Manager was there, but I don't know if she didn't see me, or pretended not to.

I only got 40 at first, in case they did try to say something, I could argue the sale allows up to 40.
I bought them in increments of 10, so I could roll the $2.50 cat.

.33 x 10 = $3.30 - 2.50 OYNO = $0.80, or .08 per can

Then one time the boy forgot to scan my card, so no $2.50 cat.
I paid cash and went to the CS counter to rectify the situation. Usually they would just have given me $2.50 cash.
For some reason this lady wrote me a raincheck, saying to give me $2.50 off my next purchase.

Yeah right, I could see that happening, so I said I was going to use it right now, while she was still in the store. So I got 10 more sodas, and sure enough she had to come instruct the girl about the raincheck-coupon.

I got my real cat. after that order, which I much prefer.

(I also got several more envvies of McCormick spice stuff. Gave it to Mom, too. Have a picture but I accidently deleted it and am too lazy to go back and find it again.)

Total:
9.00 + .58 tax = $9.58 oop
24.33 Coupon Savings

Walgreens


Found some more Easy Fries at .32 each. Luckily I took some freezer stuff to Mom's, and had just enough room for these.

The Right Guard Body Wash and Deos are BOGO this week; used a BOGO coupon to get both free. Or better. I figured it would charge $4.49 for all the BW's, and make the lesser product, the Deos, free. BUt as the register was taking off I thought I saw 3.99, so maybe 2 BWs were free, and 2 Deos. At any rate, I had written $4.49 on all the coupons and that's what she gave me.

The Exedrin deal was weird, I still don't know why it did what it did.
The only deal I saw was Buy $20, get $10 RR.
I bought (3) at $4.99, and (1) at $5.49, total $20.46.
Used (4) $2.50/1 coupons, so my final total should have been $10.46.

For some reason, it gave me 50% off of (1) of the $4.99 boxes. So I paid $2.50 less.
It still gave me the $10.00 RR, though.

I'm so confused.

Kroger



I was planning to have a great week at Kroger.
With the mega-sale, I get .51 each overage on the Garden Delight Pasta with $1/1 (insert?), and .26 each overage on Vitamin water with Tearpad q.

I was going to use that overage to pay the .49 price on some Kraft items like the Philly Cooking Cream cheese (after 1.50 coupon), and Capri Sun and Nabisco crackers (after $1/1 q from booklet from top of Maxwell House coffee cans).

Had it worked out right, my order should have been free, and then I expected to get a $5.00 OYNO wyb $20.00 Kraft items, as reported on Southern Savers.

I didn't get the OYNO at the first store, didn't know why. I asked about it at the CS desk (don't know why I bothered, they have no idea). But she thought I was talking about the Mega deal and just handed me $5.00 out of the register.

At the next store I thought, okay, well, maybe it was because they were on sale for $1.99 and I only got 10, which is $19.90. Or, possibly, because the stuff is new, maybe it's really not included.
So next time I got Capri Sun and Nabisco crackers. Total was $22.40 (before the instant savings came off, but the register wouldn't associate that), still no cat.

So after that I got 10 Garden Delight and used the overage to get Gatorade free.
Also got a bunch of just free Smart Taste and Harvest Healthy pasta with $1/2 (?insert) coupons.

(The Philly things are pic'd separate because I left them with my Mom when I stopped by her house.)

ETA: Finally looked up the Kraft catalina items for myself (shoulda did it to start with). The Philly cooking creams are NOT included, and only certain of the crackers like Ritz, Triscut, and something else I can't remember are included. Oh well.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Walmart

Johnay wanted to go look for a chain saw chain, and I wanted to visit some other Wags stores and Walmart, so I went along with him.

The cashier didn't give me any trouble about the overage on the coupons, but said they couldn't take the RR from Walgreens.
I broke out the new Policy and pointed it out and she scanned it, mumbling something about they don't tell them about stuff.
I offered to give it to her but she said nah. Pretty much I got the idea she just really didn't care one way or another.

But then my total comes up alot more than I was expecting. People were behind me and I knew the cashier couldn't be able to help, so I paid and went off to the side to see what had happened...
Dummy me, forgot to get out (5) Reach floss coupons. Gah.

So I had to go to CS and explained I forgot to use them. She looked and counted items and coupons and looked at the coupons and the receipt. Finally she said she'd be right back and went to the CSM podium, where she and a couple of other people discussed something for at least 5 minutes.
She came back and said, First of all, they say Limit 1 per purchase. I said yeah, and I purchased five items.

Then it was well that the floss cost .97 and the coupons were $1.00. I said according to your new coupon policy, you give overage now.
She said yeah that's why a Manager has to come anyway.
Waited another 5 or so minutes until a Manager came out.

Something was said about the new coupon policy and she was like yes well we don't actually give money back, what we do is...
I brought my copon policy out and pointed to where it said "Change may be given or..." I said I was trying to apply to my other items, but I forgot them, so now I fall under the Change can be given rule.
So then she told the girl to give it to me.

I also pointed out where they take RR's and Catalinas now. She said no, what they do is price match competitors coupons. So I pointed out the drawing where it says about matching the competitor coupon price for a specific item, and then pointed out where the Catalina coupon just has $2.00, and no specific item. I showed her a real RR and a Catalina.

As I was leaving I heard her saying something to the CS girl about needing to get everyone to read (something) and have them sign it. I'm guessing she was talking about the new coupon policy. Hopefully anyway.

So far it's going along not too badly. :Knock on wood:

Rite Aid

Same deals as before.

I screwed up, though, not paying attention to my Heart Healthy +UP. It said right on it that it was the 2nd $10 from spending $50, so of course I didn't get another today. So the dumb vitamins ended up costing me $1.76. Blah.

Walgreens

No Fruity Pebs, but found a bunch of the frozen clearance. Seventeen (17) boxes of my kids' favorite Easy Fries, YaY!

Apparently I didn't have any Pot Pie q's afterall, only the fruit pies. Which didn't matter because I hadn't planned on buying anymore pot pies anyway, but then after the Easy Fries and pizza singles I was close enough to use a $10 RR, so got somemore pot pies to take the amount on up.
Still left alot; I wanted them all, but my freezers were already packed as it was. I don't know how I got this stuff in there.

(I told Johnny, now watch, Kroger or someone will have a big Frozen Foods deal. LOL)

At the other store I found the little .99 Dial lotion. I got (21) and used (10) $2.00 coupons, making it .79 plus tax. With tax it was $2.25 oop. Holy cow...I didn't want to pay $2.25 for lotions I won't even use.
I still have alot of the coupons left, but they're just going to have to expire. I don't want to spend that kind of $$.

I found a bunch of the Baby booklets, they were on a shelf in the baby dept. I didn't take them all, but there was alot, so I grabbed a handfull.
If anyone wants a couple of them, just email me your snail-mail.

These are Wags q's that they just throw away, so remember to keep the coupon sheets attached and just have them scan it, and not tear it out. Then you can keep using them until they expire. They are good until 12/31/11, so a looooong time.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Rite Aid

New deals:

If you haven't done or finished the Heart Healthy $10 wyb $30/$50 deal, all the Nature Made Vitamin D counts. They are on sale BOGO50%, and get $5 +UP wyb $20.00. The cheapest I found was $4.99, then there was some $6.49 chewable, then some $9.99.
I used a $1.00 MQ, and the $3.00 Rite Aid IP q,  and a $3/$15.
First deal ended up free, then I got the $5 +UP.
Next deal I had to pay like $3.xx, got the $5+UP, and a $10 wyb $30 +UP.
Should be somewhere near $50 now, too, so going to try for the other $10 tomorrow.

L'oreal stuff is on sale for $6.99, excluding the True Naturale makeup. Well the True Naturale is ringing up $6.99 anyway. Use the $5.25 in-ad q, and a $2 or $3 MQ for free/great deal makeup. I bought the Blush and Foundation.
It looks like it rings up full price, or price after 10% or 20% discount, but if you look under the Subtotal where it says Savings or something like that, usually where the BOGO savings shows, then you should see  it takes off like $8.xx. Or you can make up some excuse to get the cashier to print out the receipt and you should be able to see on it if it's ringing up $6.99.
But the cashier sees a higher price on the register when they start looking at coupon amounts.

My $3.00 any face product coupons beeped item not found, but they were pushed thru without any problemo.

They had some $2.69/$2.99 Crest, reg price so 20% disc on mine, used $1.50 in-ad q and .75 mq from PG (I think?) = cheap/free/overage.

Reach floss is still apparently $1.00. Free after $1.00 10/10 RP.

Lots of NYC makeup 75% off, each one gives $1.00 +UP. Must be originally priced $1.99 or more.

Found very little Jessie's Girl and Sally Hanson nail polish.

Found a PF Mineral Wear Loose Powder on clearance. Has Special Value sticker in right corner. Someone else posted it rang up $5something...since all the other prices had been matching up I didn't think about asking for a price check, so of course it rang up cheaper, $4.76.
Used both the $5 IP and $3 in-ad q.

The boy said he couldm't take the $5 coupon because it was more than the cost of the item. I said just enter it for $4.76, and not use the ad coupon.
Nope, can't do that; you can't change the value of coupons, that's fraud.
I told him to go get his copy of the coupon policy..he said he could...I said please do. He said he wasn't trying to be mean or anything, but... I said I'm not either, but I've been doing this a long time, I know the policy.
Finally I had to use my "Mother" voice and told him to go get the policy, so he said okay, and called the Shift Supervisor up there. lol.

He told her I had a $5 coupon, but the makeup only rang up $4.76. She said, so put in $4.76....like, what's the problem duh?

Poor guy got so confounded, he did it, apologizing to me, then went ahead and scanned the $3 in-ad coupon anyway.

That was my first transaction; after that he didn't bother with printing out the receipt to check prices and just scanned all my coupons without anymore problem.

Finisihed off my BOGO Reese's coupons.
Couldn't believe I actually found Sardines in stock. I guess people quit buying when they cut off the +UPs for a day.  I got all mine.

Walmart


(Will work on this more later, in the meantime if you need to locate a coupon try a database like at Southern Savers or IheartPublix or HotCouponWorld)

$0.97 Purex 3-in-1 2ct. Travel size
-3.00 (insert?)
= $2.03 overage

$0.97 Pert Plus travel size
-1.00 (insert?)
= .03 overage

$0.97 Sensodyne Enamelsomething travel size
-1.00 (insert?)
= .03 overage

$0.97 Reach floss
-1.00 10/10 RP or leaflet from coupon dispenser at RA
= .03 overage

I ended up over $14.00 worth of overage. I had been going to buy meat, but then I didn't need to. I thought about buying a gift card, but, I don't know, wanted to spend it on something. So I got some lettuce and beer, then finally shrimp and bacon. Yum.

Got into a young guy's line. He was gooood-looooookin, too. (Cougar growl)
He scanned my beer, and didn't ask for my ID. Waahhhhhh!! (Having worked at WM previously, I know the official policy for not asking for ID is if the person *looks* older than 40.) Wahhhhhhhh!

I wasn't really expecting any trouble from him, but oddly enough, when he gave it anyway, it was because he inisted the coupon said I had to buy "the cleaners", too, in addition to the 3-in-1 sheets.  I pointed to where it said "or" twice, but he said he'd get somebody.

So the CSM comes and looks at the coupon and I point out where it says "or". He pulls the Purex out and asks how much they were and then said they couldn't take the coupon because it was more than the price of the item.  He wasn't going to take it at all, not even wanting to adjust them down.
I didn't even say a word, just pulled out the copy of the New Coupon Policy and held it up and pointed to where I wanted him to read.

He read it; Hmm'd like he was actually interested in the new overage rule himself. Asked me where I had gotten it, I told him, and also pointed out the fact that they'll be accepting Catalina coupons from like Walgreens, too. His expression was like, Wow. Not, what the heck is a Catalina or a Walgreens?

Anyway, he told the boy to put the coupons through, no more problem.
I let him keep the copy of the policy...I printed five of them, and will keep printing and sharing until hopefully they catch on.

Food Lion

Food Lion is having a couple good sales, one is a Big Deal, which is twin-sister to Kroger's mega-deal: By 10 get $5 Instant Savings, Buy 20 get $10, Buy 30 get $15. Comes off at checkout.

The other is a Private Brand sale, but anywhere from (4) to (40) Food Lion brand items and get $1.00 to $10.00 Catalina back after checking out.

The Dentastix is on sale for $2.50 each, and is part of the Big Deal, so I bought 10 (at a time) at $25.00, got $5.00 instant savings, used $2.00 MQ from (insert?). Free after Big Deal and Coupons.
For the last deal I only had (8) coupons, so I had to grab a couple other items to get to 10. I didn't really pay attention to any of the other stuff I wasn't interested in, but the 2-ltr Pepsi's were $1.00, so .50 after Big Deal, I guess.

For the Private Brand deal, I got (10) cans of soda at .33 each, total $3.30, got $2.50 cat back.
Then I bought (10) Food Lion waters at .27 each, but the Cat didn't print, so I got those refunded.
I went to buy some more Soda and a Manager person comes back there and tells me they're going to have to limit the amount of sodas I'm buying because - I crap you not - she says, "You're buying ten soda at .33, and getting $10.00 back". 

Of course then she was embarrassed and probably - if not, she should have - felt like a total idiot when I pointed out I was not getting back $10.00 for buying 10 soda, and stuck to her guns.
I could have bought 40 cans of potted meat, or vienna sausage, or cat food, but they limit me to 10 soda.
Can they even do that, I wonder?

I didn't argue it because I knew I was headed to another - way better - store anyway and figured I'd get all I wanted there. But then they didn't have any, so she screwed me. Idiotic hag.

Otherwise, they have Propel water on sale 2/$1.00, and I had $1.00/2 coupons from (insert?), so they were free.

The McCormick's chili and spagetti envelopes were free after .55 (doubled to .99) coupons from the Publix Healthy Beginnings booklet.

Started with a $3.00 OYNO cat from Kroger.



I hit a meat mark-down just right. I had planned to get overage at Walmart to buy meat, but in the end I just couldn't pass these up.  I tried; I rolled off and shopped for some other stuff, but then I ended up back in the meat dept and other people were already buying the stuff I'd thought about buying, so I gave up and just started grabbing everything I wanted that looked like a good price. Aimed for about $20 worth, but it came up to $18.xx including tax, so I missed a little bit. Oh well, that's okay - we're gonna grill out steaks tomorrow. Yum!

Total:
$18.29 + 6.63 tax = $24.92 oop
$309.65 Sale/Coupon Savings

Publix

Ask, and ye shall receive.
Sometimes I'll say, "I wish there would be a deal on...", and voila', there'll be a deal. Pretty cool.

So I was down to my last bottle of ketchup...

They are BOGO at $1.65, or .82 each. I had .35/1 coupons I cut out from the insides of the Banquet meal boxes I got at Kroger during the Mega-sale, which doubled to .70, making the ketchups .12 each.

So then I got Yakisoba for .21 overage each. Had a little more overage than I thought the tax might be, and I needed pizza crust mix anyway, so that worked out nicely.

Trans #1 spent .17
Trans #2 spent .18

Less than half a dollar for 21 bottles of ketchup! YaY!

Walgreens

Was only able to find (4) of the Fruity Pebbles. Cost $3.xx, got back $3.00 RR and $3.00 Catalina.
Supposedly the Cat prints until 3/20, not sure if the RR is this week only, or a montly deal. They are listed on a sheet of paper titled March Madness or something like that, as 5/$5 deals.
Other stores didn't have any FP, but had a good sale on frozen stuff. The Easy Fries and Banquet potpies were .32 each, an the Red Baron pizza singles were .97 cents.
I think I have coupons for the potpies, but not with me and I wasn't going to pass them up to try to go back and get them later with a coupon. They wouldn't be there.

Kroger

On sale for 2/$1.00, or .50 each.
Use $1.50/3 from 3/6 RP to make free.

0.00 + .05 tax = .05 oop
0.00 + .06 tax = .06 oop

Thursday, March 10, 2011

New Walmart Coupon Policy

OMGahhhhhh! Supa-Stah!

I don't generally pay much attention to Walmart deals; usually the one or two freebie-after-coupon item(s) we can get there isn't worth the hassle of even getting out and going in.
But two things came up this week to make me look.

One, I still have a *stack* of the $2.00 off Dial Nutriskin Lotion q's. I read sometime back that WM has these for $1.97. I was hanging onto them in case of a drug store deal, but no deal, and they are expiring in two days, so it's down to use 'em or lose 'em.
So if I gotta go anyway, might as well see if there are any other good deals to be had while I'm there, right.

and Two, I saw a comment (that I didn't pay much attention to at the time) and then Lacy WhatstheDill-io posted about WM now allowing coupon Overage.

Personally I haven't had a whole lot of trouble with getting overage at WM in the past, but there was always the uncertainty: Will I get the overage? No overage? Coupon rejected altogether?
It was aggrivating to find something to soak up overage, knowing it would cost me cash if the overage didn't fly. Always *IF*. I don't like *IF*, I like to know the ending before I even start.

So I'm thinking, this is pretty cool. Now I know fer-shur I'm going to get the overage. These $2 Dial coupons just became a whole less a hassle than I was dreading.

So I go to the WM site to print off the New Walmart Coupon Policy, and come to find out, allowing overage isn't even the half of it!

Not only will they allow the overage to pay for other items, they will give you money back!

And best of all (to me) they are accepting Catalinas printed from competitors registers - Can you say Register Rewards!?
Was I just not boo-hoo'ing a couple days ago wanting to be able to spend my RR's at a grocery store where I can get meat and produce!?

Now I can not only get meat and produce, but clothes, garden stuff, toys, tools, small appliances, towels, shoes, etc etc!

This is so great, I feel like I won the freekin lottery!

Publix used to accept RR's - and should since they are redeemable MQ's - I'm thinking when they get wind that WM is taking them, they might start back taking them, too.
I'm excited to be able to spend them at WM, but Publix has alot of good deals with the BOGO sales that I'd love to be able to use an RR to make even better deals.

I keep thinking about the Rite Aid SM that informed me that getting overage with MQ's was Fraud.
I told her it certainly was not, or Publix wouldn't allow it.
In the past, we couponer's have influenced RA's coupon policy alot; it may be when they hear WM is allowing overage - to the point of giving change even - we may also get a change in the "adjusting down" law there, too!

Target might/should even jump on the overage boat.

The new WM policy says they also accept Competitor's coupons, but it has to be a specific item and a specific price, which sounds more like Price-matching to me.
At the bottom it says they don't accept competitor's coupons for dollars/cents off, so no, they don't really accept Competitor's coupons.

Who cares! I am tickled with the overage and Catalina acceptance!

To put a cherry on top, I read where a few days ago, a Food Lion rep posted on their Facebook site that you *could* stack a store q with an mq on an item.
The post has apparently since been removed, not sure why, but it said that you could and that they were in the process of revising the policy and notifying the stores of it.

I'm going to send a follow-up note inquiring about it, and I hope lots of other people do too, so even if it was a mistaken post, maybe they will realize it's something they need to do.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Rite Aid

Stopped into my peeny-azz little RA store on the way to Boy-o's soccer game. No Almay, no Physician's Formula, no Jessie's Girl, no 1-ct Thermacare.
They did have (2) tuna and (2) sardines. Woohoo, big time.
Found a loafa bread marked down to .79 cents.

Grabbed a couple SCR stuff to be able to use a $3/$15, but between the cost of the SCRs, the bread, tuna and candy, I reckon I would have done as well without buying the SCR stuff to be able to use a $3/$15.
And I didn't even get another Survey to replace it, and my Wellness points backed up 2 points yesterday, and aren't adding any today, either.

Yesterday I bought Comtrex because it was the cheapest SCR item, and I probably shoulda bought another (the last one) today, but someone posted that the Keri rang up cheaper with the 20% (it didn't for me), otherwise the Cruex was sort of a challenge. Or novelty. or something. funny.

I didn't know what Cruex was. All I could see in the ad was the Male symbol on the bottle, which was kinda interesting. I asked the cashier if she knew what Cruex was,she didn't. She looked at the ad and decided it was foot stuff and sent me back to the foot stuff section, where I had already been.

Yesterday I was shopping from my list, before actually looking at the ad, and I was like, oh yay, Desenex, gonna get some medicated dandruff shampoo.
I was telling Johnay about it - it's Denorex, not Desenex - and he was like, I thought that was diaper rash stuff? lol

Anyway I knew it wasn't foot stuff. So I had to call out to the car and get him to google Cruex to find out what it was, so I would know where to look for it in the store.
Turned out it was Jock Itch spray, lololol.

In the end, the trans cost me $1.24. I guess that's not too bad for some tuna sandwiches and trout bait (Johnay makes trout bait out of sardines).

$16.00 +UPs Spent
$0.23 + 1.01 tax = $1.24 oop
$4.00 +UPs Rec'd
$12.00 SCR
= $1.24 cost

Savings $27.58

Monday, March 7, 2011

Rite Aid

I'm still under fuel protest, but I had to carry the maw-in-law to the doctor today, so I did some shops while I was out anyway.

I don't think I did as well as I could have, utilizing the $3/$15 coupons I had. Instead of using them on the stuff I was already getting free/profit, I used them on the SCR item. I made profit on the SCR item, but could have made the whole $3.00 profit using it on the free/profit items. If I had needed the SCR item, it would have been a good deal, but I didn't.
Oh well, I guess I can say I turned some +UP over to cash.

I got about (8) more receipts to do the surveys to get more $3/$15. Next time I will only get SCR item if I can't find enough free/profit stuff to get up to $15.00.
(Someone posted at SD about the "new" survey limit was 6...I need to check to see what they meant by that.)

There were also some items like the Nature Bounty and Osteo Bi-flex et.al. that has Video Values coupons I didn't take the time to get/print that would have made me mo'money. Ima slacker :-(

All three stores I visited today had this Jessie's Girl nail polish on clearance for .74 each. It's the bottles that are retangle, with retangle lids, so the whole thing is retangle. They have other JG nail polish with the same names, but different UPC and the bottles are different. They are kind of retangle, but the lid is thinner and sticks up more.
Anyway if you buy (2) you pay $1.48 and then get $2.00 +UP back, for .52 profit/2.
I ended up with (64) of the little suckers; I believe my total profit was $16.64.
List of de colores:
Jessie’s Girl Nail Polishes
Baby Cakes -6 85509 80123 7
Blackout-6 85509 80128 2
BlueMoon-6 85509 80131 2
Cherry-6 85509 XXXXX X
Confetti-6 85509 XXXXX X
Garnet-6 85509 80130 5
Gun Medal-6 85509 XXXXX X
Magenta -6 85509 80107 7
Midori-6 85509 80129 9
North Star-6 85509 80133 6
Opal Glitter -6 85509 80101 5
Tropical-6 85509 80127 5

(Updated & corrected)
Apparently these NYC nail polish and lipshine also work, but I haven't tried them myself:
NYC Nail Polish 49¢ receive $1 +Up
208B Little Italy
214B Bryant Park
218B 5th Ave, UPC 0 74170 33654 2, a glittery dark orange-red
238B Broadway, UPC 0 74170 34214 7, a glittery dark purple-red
and
NYC Lipshine clearance $0.49 receive $1+Up
538A Pink Sand 0 74170 24983 5
548B Petal Pink
549A Dusty Rose 0 74170 21017 0
551A Clear & Shiny 0 74170 15212 8
553A Au Naturel 0 74170 15214 2
554A Sungold Pink 0 74170 15215 9
555B Iced Orchid 0 74170 17561 5
556B Sheer Ruby
557B Sheer Raspberry
601A Strawberry
602B Watermelon

Other deals I got:
$1.87 Almay eye shadow clearance x 2
-$3.00/2 tearpad
Got $2.00 +UP wyb 2
= $1.26 profit

$7.16 (w/ 20% discount; reg $8.95) Physician's Formula Mineral Wear makeup
-3.00 in-ad q
-5.00 pdf (Someone said they signed up here http://mypfbeauty.com/ and got the $5.00 coupon. Luckily I saved it earlier, so if anyone needs it emailed, hit me up.)
= +.84 overage (as opposed to profit; have to have other items to soak up this overage if your store don't adjust down)

$6.79 Ester-C BOGO
-3.00 3/06 RP x 2
= $0.79; Got $2.00 +UP/2
= $1.21 profit/2

$4.99 or $5.25 Nature Bounty Vit D BOGO
-2.00 3/06 RP x 2
= $.99 or 1.25; Got $2.00 +UP/2
= $1.01 or .75 profit/2

$1.29 Sardines
$0.64 BOGO50% Sardines
= $1.93; Got $1.00 +UP each = $2.00 +UP
= $.07 profit/2

$15.99 Osteo-Biflex BOGO
- 7.00 1/23 RP (expires tomorrow, the 8th) x 2
= $1.99; Got $2.00 +UP
= .01 profit/2

$3.99 1-ct Thermacare (I maybe got this cheaper w/ 20% disc. Have to check my receipts)
-3.99 in-ad q
=Free
(This is advertised in the paper as free after coupon, but oddly all the stores I visited today had plenty in stock. Like no one was buying them. Weird!)

$1.49 Bumble Bee Tuna
$0.74 BOGO 50%
= $2.23; Got $1.00 +UP each = $2.00 +UP
= .23/2 cost
(This is supposed to be better deal next week with a $5 +UP wyb $15 sale and $1.00 monthly +UP each. I'll probably buy it again next week if I can find any in stock, but with the Phy Formula overage it was worth it to me to buy this week.)

$6.24 Dove cream oil ultra rich velvet beauty bar 8 pack 50% clearance
(Someone said only the white bars were on clearance, not the red package, but I had it price checked and it was)

-2.00 in-ad Q
-1.00 IP q
= $3.24; Got $3.00 +UP
(Someone also said they received a $3.00 and a $2.00 +UP, but I only got the $3.00. Still good deal)
= $0.24 cost

$2.39 Rite-Aid Single Blade disp. razors 12/15 pack (with 20% disc. Reg $2.99)
-2.00 in-ad q
= $0.39 cost

$4.99 Comtrex
(Comtrex Product $1.50 (5/31/11) SS 2/13/2011)
(I didn't get that Q)
-$3/$15
= $1.99
Get $4.00 SCR (limit 1! My fam has 6 accnts; don't try this with only 1 account)
= $1.01 profit

$1.59 BOGO King Size candy
-1.29 BOGO Drops candy wyb Bar 1/30 SS
 = .30/2 cost

$0.88 Snickers
Get 0.88 +UP
= Free (Limit 1)

Totals:
$95.00 +UPs Spent
-5.19 + 11.18 tax= $5.99 from gift card and oop
$109.88 +UPs Rec'd
$20.00 SCR
= $28.89 profit

Savings $495.49