Let FREEdom Ring

 I've been a member of Shop Your Way rewards through Kmart - and Sears, although I forget Sears is part of it most of them time - for a few years. But I shop(ped) at Kmart so rarely, I didn't pay much attention to the ads and emails.

Until I realized they were giving me Free "Surprise" Money, and I was just basically throwing it away, letting it expire. After I realized that, I started paying a lot closer attention.
It's easy to go online and place an order, then pick the stuff up when I'm out and about next time.

Anyway, this week I got a "Surprise" 10,000 points, which is the equivalent of $10.00, to be spent at Sears.
(Some of the "Surprise" money has stipulations like 4,000 surprise points off $20 worth of clothing or some such.)
This one, though, the only stipulation was it was to be spent at Sears.

I could have went online and ordered something and picked it up later, but I needed to go up there anyway, so I just went by Sears while I was in town.

Didn't know what I was going to buy, looked around a bit, then came across these boots.
On sale for $9.99.
Are you kidding me?? Boot love.
FREE boot love, even better.
Didn't even have to pay tax. Walked out with an absolutely 100% FREE pair of brand new boots.

Lowe's sent a coupon in the mail for a free 8oz. sample jar of Valspar paint. It's actually larger than it looks.
I got this lovely - blue'ish color...can't remember the exact name of it - with visions of Pinterest Pallet wood projects dancing in my head.

Sam's Club sent a coupon to get a Free $5.00 Gift Card.
I could have gotten some marked down Christmas doo-dads, or a box of cookies or something for Free, but I decided to put it towards something we use the heck out of and I buy a lot of - Sugar.
25 pound bags of sugar cost $10.19 at Sam's (that's like 40¢ a pound, like $2.00 a 5lb bag, cheaper than Walmarts).
After $5.00 Gift Card, I paid $5.19 + 20¢ tax (like 22¢ pound)

We are Sam's Club members only because of a fantastic Groupon deal last March (which was offered again around Thanksgiving) where (if I remember rightly) we paid the $45.00 membership, but then got a $20.00 or $25.00 Gift Card back, plus like $15.00 worth of Free Food coupons - cookies, pizza, rotisserie chicken, can't remember what else.
Anyway it was like $5.00 membership after the Gift Card and Free Food, but they've sent a couple of coupons for a free $5.00 Gift Card so our membership has been better than free.

CVS

My CVS totals are kinda skewed this week because I still had some ECBs from back at Black Friday that I had to spend. In fact, they had expired 3 days ago.
Most of my stores will take expired ECBs within the week, but sometimes you run into the odd cashier or manager that is in a bad mood, is just plain hateful, or is absolutely positive that expired means expired.
I should have went last week, for more reasons than just my ECBs expiring. As they say, you snooze you lose, and I lost out on a lot of great Clearance deals.

Even though $50.00 of the ECBs I had was FREE money (Get $50 ECB when you put $150 on Paypal/My Vanilla debit card deal), I still don't like just wasting it paying full price for things, or buying junk.
I like to get more for my money, even if it's Free money.

The items in the picture below were all Clearanced items, and I had coupons for most of them, making them even cheaper.

The Just The Basics hair Conditioner was on clearance for 62¢ each. I didn't have any coupons but that was too good of a price to pass up huge bottles of conditioner.

Also, the Allegra allergy tablets were on sale 50% off, so the box of 12 tablets was $5.74. I had read, though, that someone had found them at their store for 75% off, so I just bought one box today and will check back later to see if they get any cheaper. I hope so, these are the only allergy pills I can take that don't knock me out.

The LA Looks hair gel is clearanced at 99¢, and I had 75¢ coupons from the 10-27 SS and IP, making them 24¢ each.

Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer Radiance clearance price $1.24 and I used a $1.50 IP.

Several of the Clairol hair colors are on clearance as low as $2.62. I found a Dark Auburn color for my Ma and used a $2.00 coupon from the 11-24 RP. I believe there's new (even better) coupons in the 12-29 PG (which I didn't get, boo).

The Neutrogena Wave Sonic...I think it's a face cleaner, I'm not real sure, but the others on the message boards said it was a great deal, and I'm a sucker for a great deal, haha.
The Wave Sonic was clearance priced $4.69, and I had $3.00 IP, and the Wave Refills were clearance priced $1.87 and I had $2.00 IP.
All total I paid $1.56 for the Wave and 30 refill pads.

Some of the Aveeno shampoo was on clearance, but I only found 3 bottles out of 4 stores. The Nourish + Volumize was $1.94, and the Dry Shampoo $2.24 each.  I had (2) coupons for $1.00/1 (11-03 SS), and some coupons for $2/2 (11-03 SS), but since I couldn't find 2 at the same time, I couldn't use those, and I ended up buying one of shampoos not using a coupon at all.
All together I paid $4.42.
Despite being clearance items, they counted towards the Buy 3, get $10 ECB deal this week, so after I bought the 3rd one, I got an ECB for $10.00, which makes this deal a $5.58 money maker.

With  the money maker, all the items pictured above end up costing me $5.34 total.

Regular deals:

This week you get $3.00 ECB for buying Colgate multipack toothpaste or toothbrushes. The 4 pack travel size packs count towards this deal. They were $3.29 at my store (prices vary) so after ECB they only cost 29¢ each.

I looked in my medicene cabinet the other day for a bottle of Robitussin cough syrup (my son has/had a terrible chest cold and cough this week) but it wasn't there. I thought I had some, so I don't know what happened to it.
Oh well, luckily CVS had a sale on it this week.
$4.95, minus $1.00 (12-08 RP or IP)
Pay $7.90 (for 2) and get $3.00 ECB back wyb 2
Makes them $2.45 each

Advil Congestion is the same deal: $4.95 each, get $3.00 wyb 2
- $2.00 IP
Pay $5.90 (for 2) get back $3.00 ECB wyb 2
Makes them $1.45 each

This is a spend $20, get $5 ECB or spend $30, get $10 ECB deal.
(2) Tide $5.94 each - $3/2 (12-01 or 12-29 PG)
(1) Charmin 20 ct. $9.99 - 25¢ (12-01 or 12-29 PG)
(1) Bounty 12 ct. $9.99 - 25¢ (12-01 or 12-29 PG)
(2) Dawn 99¢ each - 50¢ IP
Pay $29.34, get $10.00 ECB
Total cost $19.34 for all

When I scanned my CVS card at the Red Coupon/Price Checker machine, I got a CVS coupon for $3 off $10 (toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash...can't remember the exact wording).
There is also a deal this week where you get $5.00 ECB why $10.00 worth of Listerine, Reach, and/or Rembrandt items.
Listerine at my store was $5.49 each
- $2.00 off Listerine IP
- 3.00 CVS coupon
Pay $3.98, get $5.00 ECB
Makes it Free plus $1.02 money maker.

I also got a $4.00 off $10.00 (razor, shaving cream...I forget the wording) CVS coupon from the red machine.
The deal this week is, buy a Gillette Razor, get $2.00 ECB
There are many different male and female razors, and coupons available to go with them.
I had a $3.00 off Gillette Fusion Proglide from the 12-15 RP. Looks like there's also the same coupon in the 12-29 PG, and one for Venus in the 12-15 RP.
The cheapest Fusion Proglide at my store was $9.99
- $3.00 (12-15 RP)
- $4.00 CVS coupon
Pay $2.99, get $2.00 ECB
Makes it 99¢

A $1.00 off the Extra laundry detergent is printing from the red machine this week. These detergents are $2.49, or $1.49 after CVS coupon.

I had a Raincheck for this deal from some time back...I'm not too good about using rainchecks, I usually forget about them, but happened to see this one in my CVS coupon envelope.
The Raincheck price was $5.99 each, get $3.00 ECB wyb 2.
- $1.00 tearpad coupons x 2
Pay $9.98, get $3.00 ECB
Makes it $6.98, or 29¢ per cup of coffee.

Then there was this. I didn't really need a Lunch Crock pot, but others on the message boards said it was a great deal, and we already know what a sucker I am like that. Le sigh.
Anyway it was $4.99, regular $19.99.

The Christmas Trivia cards were 75¢, I needed to spend 60¢ on something to be able to use (not lose) my ECBs. I'll stick this in someone's stocking next year.

So all the regular deals, raincheck, and the Crock pot and trivia cards come to a final cost of $43.39.

Added to the Clearance item cost of $5.34, the Grand Total cost of everything I bought today is $48.73.

But since I earned $50.00 Free ECBs for doing the debit card deal back at Thanksgiving, this was all actually FREEEEEEE.

CVS

The best way to be able to make the most of your money is by "rolling" your drug store Rewards from week to week.

But sometimes you end up in a situation where it's "use or lose" your Rewards. Since Rewards = Money, you don't want to just throw your money in the trashcan, so it's best to spend them on something, anything, but the best thing to do is spend it on items you would otherwise be buying anyway. For instance, toilet paper. When all else fails, I buy toilet paper.

As usual, when looking at the weekly ad, I first look for anything that is going to earn me back more than I spend, no matter what the item is, if I need it or not.

In this case, it was Breathe Right strips. They are on sale for $3.99, get $3.00 ECB (Extra Care Bucks) back.
There was a tearpad of $1.00 off coupons hanging all around this item, which would make them free after ECB, but I had a $1.50 coupon from the 10/13 RP (Red Plum) newspaper insert, so I paid $2.49 and got back $3.00, earning 51¢. (That might not seem like much, but little bits do add up in this game.)

I had a total of $59.93 ECBs to spend.
$9.93 of that was actual cash that I had spent during the Black Friday Freebies day, so I wanted to see if I could at least get that back.

The Breathe Right Strips earned $3.00 back, and also Hershey's Miniatures, and (3) General Mills cereals. So I did earn $9.00 in ECB's back when I was done.

The Hershey's Miniatures are on sale 2/$6.00, with $3.00 back, so that's already down to $1.50 a bag, great price if you're buying candy anyway.
I had IP (internet printable) coupons for $1.10/2, but there was also a Blinkie coupon box with $1.00/2 coupons hanging right there, which made them $1.00 each.
So sad for limit of 1, I would have stocked my freezer with a year's worth of Reese's miniatures. We love those things!

Select General Mills cereals are 3/$9, get $3.00 ECBs, making them $2.00 a box. Meh. I also had IP and newspaper insert coupons for $1/2 and 50¢ off 1 box of Honey Nut Cheerios, which brought them down to $1.50 a box.  These go for over $3.00 to $4.00 each regularly, even at the grocery stores.

The other $50.00 was the free $50.00 ECB for buying a $150.00 Paypal gift card (except by the time I got there they were substituting Paypal with MyVanilla Visa cards).
I paid $4.95 for the MyVanilla activation, and it costs 50¢ per transaction (but I only make 1 transaction, turning $149.50 over onto Walmart and other gift cards) so basically I earned $44.55 free and clear from this deal.

But I didn't want to just blow it all willy-nilly just because it was "free" money, so I looked for sales on other items that I would be buying anyway. Spending this "free" money on items I would be buying anyway saves me from having to spend other money on the things.

Kellogg's cereals are on sale for $1.99, and I had $1/2 coupons, making the large box of Corn Flakes $1.49 each.

Kotex items are on sale Buy 1 Get 1 50% off, so I bought a box for $6.99, got the other for $3.49.

CVS Batteries are on sale Buy 1 Get 1 Free. While I have a ton of AA and AAA batteries (and if I'm not mistaken, Staples and/or Office Depot may be in the process of doing the Christmas time free battery promotion right now. I have so many of those batteries already, I just haven't paid attention), we needed "C" and "D" batteries.
(I bought both, hubby took the "C"s to work with him.)

The small little bag of Lindt truffles are 74¢. There's only 3 in the package, and maybe not the best deal ever, but hubby likes them, doesn't need them, and they'll make a good stocking stuffer.

Dorito chips are 2/$5.00. Still a bit steep for my liking, but I bought these as a treat for the boys because they love them.

Total before coupons/ECBS = $66.44
Total after coupons/ECBS = 41¢ + 82¢ tax = $2.23 (which I paid with an old CVS gift card I have been carry around for.ever and wasn't even sure it had any money on it)

The Math:
$66.44 - $44.55 free money/ECBs - $9.00 ECBs I earned back = $12.89 these items actually cost me.

Walgreens

I've gotten so sorry about blogging even when I do make it shopping, I don't remember what I've been buying at Walgreens the past few times I went.

All I really recall is that I had $21.00 in RRs (Register Rewards) before Black Friday, and $24.00 in RR's after Black Friday.

I didn't go again after Black Friday, and my RRs were set to expire yesterday, 12/12 so it really was a "use it or lose it" situation. (My local) Wags are unforgiving. (Unlike my sister's Wags in Florida, who are nice, and cool, and helpful and friendly.)

Unfortunately I couldn't find anything to "roll" my RR's this week, and anyway with the Holidays and all I'm afraid I'll get busy or out of town and forget and end up letting my RRs expire, so I decided to go on ahead and cash out.
Hopefully I'll pick back up after the first of the year. Or I may be concentrating more on keeping my tail out of stores altogether after all the Christmas spending.

Walgreens has General Mills cereals on sale for $1.88 this week - not a bad price in of itself - I had $1/2 coupons, making them $1.38 each.

Angelsoft and Quilted Northern are on sale for $3.99/9 rolls, minus a 50¢ coupon in the Walgreens December booklet. The picture shows Angelsoft, but the print includes Quilted Northern also.
I had 45¢ off newspaper insert coupons, so these were $3.04 each after coupons.

*Not pictured, I forgot I also bought 2 boxes of Bisquick on sale this week 2/$3.00, and used 60¢ off IP coupons on each, making them 90¢ each. They are smaller boxes, but still worth less than a dollar.

Otherwise I bought several on sale candy items for stocking stuffers. I'm going to be buying them anyway, might as well buy them on sale, using money I need to spend anyhow.

Total before coupons/RRs = $26.34
Total after coupons/RRs = 48¢ + 1.23 = $1.71 cash

Darth Tater at Amazon

Oh my goodness, how cute is this! And only $5.50 (at the time of this posting) I had to order a couple for my Star Wars fans for Christmas!

Playskool Mr. Potato Head Star Wars: Darth Tater Toy

CVS 11/27

So I went into CVS not for most of this. After letting nearly $10.00 ECBs expire back in the Spring, I decided I was going to stop turning Cash into ECBs.

Yet I was suckered in by all the FREE FREE FREE I was seeing. (Also, I wasn't actually expecting to find anything left in stock at this point, so I got excited about seeing all the stuff there, too.)(They did have more of the Free after ECB items in stock, but these were the items we'll really use. The other stuff, not so much.)

Most (maybe all) of the sales on these things ended today so I won't write out all the prices; except for the Hershey Kisses, they were all Free after ECB, and the only coupon I had was for $1.00 on the Advil.

The Kisses were $3.99 BOGO and I used $1.00/1 MQ IP, and $2.50/2 CVS IP, for a final cost of 49¢ for both bags.

So I guess, before taxes, I made a 51¢ profit on these items.

I also did the Paypal deal, except instead of Paypal today they were substituting the "My Vanilla" Visa pre-paid card.
Same deal, add $150 to the card, they charge a $3.95 activation fee, then I got $50.00 ECB.
That would be a $46.05 profit! (I did the deal 3 times, altogether.)

Final Total $139.68 profit (before tax)

*I still have a wad of ECBs I have to roll/turn over/spend within the next month, so I hope I'm not as slacking as I have been lately. Yeep.

Walgreens 11/27 + Free 8x10 Photo

Wags is having some awesome Free Photo deals lately. A couple of weeks ago it was a free 8x10 Collage, a couple days ago is was 50 Free 4x6 Prints. Currently they are offering Free 8x10 with code TURKEY8X10.

 Code is valid through 11/30, so I'll get order my free 8x10 after we take our annual family Christmas card photo at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

I was going today to pick up my 50 Free Prints from the other day, so I thought I'd check the ad and see if they had anything I wanted/needed while I was going anyway.

Eggs at 99¢ !
We eat eggs like they are going out of style. 99¢ is about as cheap as they ever get around here. I try to stock up when they're on sale, I wish I could stock up months worth, but I fear them going bad. I probably need to look into freezing them, but I've had a lot of things I've read could be frozen, and didn't come out too good later. I'd rather not waste them.

The Scope Mouthwash was (may still be this week) $3.00, and I had a $1.50 coupon from the November P&G insert, so I paid $1.50, and got a $2.00 RR, making a 50¢ profit.

The Tums were (are still this week) $4.50, and I had a $1.00 off MQ from (an) insert. I paid $3.50 and got a $4.50 RR, so I made $1.00 profit on each.

The Glad wrap was $2/4 with in-ad coupon, and I had IP coupons for $1.00 off each, so I paid $1.00 each for 200sq. ft.

The Royal Danke cookie tin was on sale for $1.99, regularly over $4.00.
I don't usually buy these or have any sentimental leanings towards them or think it's an especially great deal for me...I fell sucker to others in the Coupon sites going on so much about these. Obviously I'm out of deal-shopping practice, spending money on things I don't really want or need just because others do.

I bought the Glad wrap and Royal Danke cookies in the same order and wanted to pay with a Tums ($4.50) RR. Those items total was only $3.99 after Glad coupons, so I needed a 51¢ filler item.
My son wanted a package of Chewy Chip Ahoys and they were on sale for 99¢ so I got him a package of them.

Total Profit on Tums/Scope = $7.50
Total Cost of eggs/Glad/Cookies = $10.92
Final Total $3.42
(Not including tax)

I used the RR from the Scope and a couple of the Tums to buy the eggs, cookies, and Glad wrap, but I still have (5) $4.50 RR's left.

Tomorrow's Black Friday sale has several FARR offerings (some even with profit with coupons)(my printer is broke so I'm not able to print coupons right now), but I think I'm just going to roll mine into some Free (after RR) Shampoo, which is something we can always use, a couple of items I have insert coupons for (= profit), and some Theater candy for stocking stuffing.

Publix 11/27/13

Well, humbug.
I missed out on a much better Publix shop last week because I p-diddled around and couldn't get my act in gear. By the time I got around to getting ready to go (last day of the sale) several of the coupons had expired, including the excellent and rare anymore $10 off $50 purchase, and my printer kicked the bucket.

So, this is what I ended up being able to get.

Total Spent $3.12
Total Saved $53.51

$2.79 BOGO Duncan Hines Decadent Cake/Brownie mix ($1.40 each)
-$1.00 PQ All the Trimmings booklet or Printable (each)
= .79/2 or 40¢ each

$2.45 BOGO International Delight Coffee Creamer ($1.23 each)
- .65 MQ (each) from All the Trimmings booklet or Printable
- .75 TQ (each) (Target competitor)
= +35¢ overage/2

$1.27 BOGO Carnation Evaporated Milk (64¢ each)
-.50/2 (doubled) MQ IP
= .27/2 or 14¢ each

$3.99 BOGO Sabra Hummus ($1.99 each)
-$1.00 MQ IP x 2
-$1.00 PQ All the Trimmings
= Free/2

$2.65 BOGO Wishbone Salad Dressing ($1.33 each)
-.50 (doubled) MQ IP x 2
-1.00 PQ The Best Meals Happen at Home, emailed IPs
= +$1.35 overage

$2.19 Helluva Good Dip
-.50 (doubled) MQ IP
-1.00 PQ Happy Thanksgiving Advantage Flyer in store
= 19¢ each

$2.99 French's French Fried Onions
- .50 (doubled) MQ (newspaper insert)
= $1.99
(I needed these to make a green bean casserole for tomorrow's big dinner. This price was cheaper than the store brand, other wise I wouldn't have used the coupon and would have bought the store brand.)

I meant to buy Publix Sweet Cream Butter on sale for $2.99 BOGO ($1.49 each) but somehow overlooked it on my messy, handwritten shopping list.
Am I the only one that can't seem to hand-write anymore, after so long of typing/copying/pasting/printing?

Publix 11/15 and Kroger Price Match at Walmart

Today I got all this - including a turkey - for less than $20.00.

Publix Cost $17.90
Saved $113.51

Visit I Heart Publix for Ad and Coupon Matchups.

Kroger is having a Buy 10 get $5.00 off Mega sale this week...These mega sales used to be awesome, until they stopped doubling coupons. Blech.

But they have Kraft jet-puffed marshmallows for 69¢, which even without a coupon is a great price. Knowing I'm going to be making a few Rice Krispy Treats for the Holidays, it would not be smart of me to wait until next month and have to pay full price ($1.00 +) for marshmellers when I could get them for 69¢ now.

I visited a Kroger earlier in the week, with no luck finding the 10oz bags of regular marshmallows. Not even an empty spot.
I came home and checked the internet again, to make sure I was looking for the right item. I was.
Another day, checked another store. Nope. Another day, another store. Still nope.
Checked another store today and nope, so I went to the Customer Service desk to try to get them to check a computer or call a central office or something, anything, to find out where I get some freeking marshmallows.
Manager took my name and is going to have "his person" check on it and call me.

Meantime, I went to Walmart and got them to price match it for me.
Walmart is generally really difficult to deal with around here and I would have preferred to have not tried price matching since I didn't have a printed ad to prove the sale price, but the mega sale ends tomorrow so I was desperate and had to try.
Luckily I didn't have any trouble. This time.

Bargain Shopping

I'm house/cat sitting (not really sitting, I go check on the house and feed the cats once a day) again this week, so while I'm on the road anyway, I've been doing some coupon/deal shopping.

JCPenney had sent out flyers in the mail with a $10 off $10 purchase coupon - which means you can get something that costs $10.00 for Free (excluding tax).
There was also a $10 off $25 purchase coupon, but it had expired before I got down there, and anyway I usually don't use those kind of coupons too much, I usually just use the *Free* coupon, but I think I'm going to have to start paying more attention to the other coupons, too. I could have used it on this order, and still have gotten another $10 worth free.

I don't really know why but whenever I get a coupon that makes items free at JCPenney or Kohls, I generally always look at the Men's Department Clearance racks. Not women's, or housewares, or shoes, or.... Just men's. And this time was no different.

My son had just mentioned the other day wanting to go to the Mall to look for some jeans (at which I freaked out because he has more jeans than the rest of us combined, and they are in good condition and was cheap at Goodwill, and if he wanted more jeans, why not shop at Goodwill, where he could get like 5 or 6 pair of jeans for the price of 1 at the Mall?).  Anyway, he said all the jeans he has are light (blue) and he wants dark ones.

So I ran across these dark blue Arizona jeans in his size, marked down from $35.00 to $14.00. Even though my coupon was only $10.00 off, I was willing to pay the $4.00 for them.
I don't know why, but instead of going and checking out right then, for some reason I started wandering around like I was lost. Because I wasn't looking for anything else, so I don't know....
At any rate, I happened to walk by a Check the Price machine, and for no particular reason I checked the price. I didn't have reason to believe it wasn't the correct price, but turned out the scanned at $7.97 instead of $14.00.

So then I needed to find something for a couple dollars more in order to bring the total up to $10 (or more) to be able to use my coupon.
Same son has been saying he needed a new wallet, and they had this Levi's one marked down from $28 to $15, but when I price checked it it rang up $7.97 also.
In case it didn't ring up as cheaply as I wanted, I was also carrying the underwear in my husband's size to see if they rang up cheaper than $15 (marked down from $26).  Well they also rang up $7.97, which was just toooo good of a price to pass up on these drawers.

My total, including tax, was $24.something, so after the $10 off coupon, I got all this for less than $15.00.
I'll be wrapping them up for Christmas prezzies.

I also visited the Goodwill, still looking for Christmas sweaters and...whatever else I was looking for.

Same son (again) along the same time he mentioned wanting new (dark) jeans, had mentioned wanting to look for...I can't remember exactly how he said it, but it wasn't "zip up hooded jacket".  Last year (or maybe the year before) I had gotten some $10 off $10 Kohl's coupons and he went with me shopping one day and we ended up getting him a couple of zip-up hooded jackets for free or cheap. He loaned his Grannie one in the nursing home and it got gone, and I don't know what happened to the other one. No telling, he probably gave it to someone else.

Anyway I found this practically brand new zip-up hooded jacket at Goodwill for $5.95. These go for around $20 I think, so good price.

Still not having a lot of luck finding Christmas Sweaters. There were long-sleeve turtleneck shirts, and sweatshirts, but not Sweaters.  I managed to find a Sweater-vest I think my son's fiance' can wear with a red shirt underneath.

I found a red men's sweater - half price - that I thought I could just decorate up for Christmas myself.

I have a long-sleeve t-shirt my nephew gave me last year that I love wearing, and wanted to be able to find some more. Other than it, and my collection of hoodies, I only have 2 other long-sleeve shirts. They are allright, but just not as comfortable as the t-shirt shirt.

I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I found the blue sweater.... What first caught my attention was how soft it was. And then I saw it had a Red tag.  The half-price color of the day was Red. Sweet.
I don't know if it's my size but for half price, it's soft enough I can use it for some projects I saw on Pinterest like making mittens or  toboggans out of sweaters, or the one I really like, making a blanket from sweaters.

After that, I quit looking at every shirt on the rack, and started looking for Red tags. I found me another sweater, three shirts, and two skirts, all half price, or about $2.47 each.

Publix
Spent $43.51 including tax.
Saved $139.86

Publix 10/9 - 10/15 (or 10/10 - 10/16)

(*My Publix doubles coupons up to 50¢, and accepts Target competitor coupons.)

Select Kellogg's Cereals are on sale for 50% off this week, which makes several of them a good buy price even without coupons.
Corn Pops big box was $1.88
- 50¢ printable (No longer available?)
= 88¢ each

Wishbone Salad Dressing BOGO $2.65
- $1.00/1 Publix coupon printed from Best Meals Happen at Home email (Expire 10/10)
= 33¢ each

Campbell's Go Soup 2/$5
- 2.00/2 Publix Coupon printed from Best Meals Happen at Home email (Exp 10/10)
= 50¢ each

Quaker Instant Oatmeal BOGO $2.98
- 1.00 Publix Digital coupon*
- 1/2 Target coupon
= approx. $1.00 a box, which is Stock up price for me.

*According to the website, the Quaker Instant Oatmeal digital coupon wasn't taken off my order, but is Expired as of yesterday. Ummm, I shopped yesterday.
It does show that it took off a $2.00 Jose Ole coupon I didn't know I had on there. Also, I used Jose Ole paper coupons, so here's a hint, give the cashier all your coupons first and wait to put your phone number into the machine last before you pay.
I don't see on my receipt where another $2.00 was taken off for the Jose Ole.
Argh, I so don't like digital coupons.

The rest of the items should still have current coupons available for printing, mostly at Coupons.com.
If you are signed up at Swagbucks, or do sign up if you aren't already, and print your coupons.com coupons from there, you'll earn 10 points for every coupon you redeem, which can be used towards earning Gift Cards or Paypal cash.

*I have to go for now, I'll finish this later...in the meantime, visit I Heart Publix or Southern Savers to see this week's deals and coupon matchups.

Final Total $14.67 + tax = $15.95
Saved $71.12

Publix: Part 2

I came up with a few more coupons for last week's Publix sale, but rather than make a special trip, I waited until Wednesday when (1) store in my (general) area starts the new weeks' sale. Every other store starts the new week sale on Thursday, so if I want/need to shop two weeks' sale at a time, I can go on Wednesday.

The Lucky Charms were BOGO $3.39
- .50 MQ (doubled)
= 70¢

V-8 juice was 2/$5.00
-$1.00 Publix printable rom Publix.com x 4
-$1/2 MQ x 2
= $1.00 each

Lindt candy bar $2.00
- $2.00 mq
= Free

Nature Made Vitamelts BOGO $7.99
- $2.00 Target q
- $2.00 mq
= Free

Total $5.38 + tax = $6.15
Saved $33.39 (Ridiculous!!!)

Publix

Had to go to town (to Walgreens, to pick up my free 25 photo prints) so I decided to go by Publix while I was out.

My total cost for all of this was $12.57.
I saved $36.78.

(My Publix stores double up to 50¢ coupons.)(And accepts Target competitor coupons.)

Free:
Carefree Pantiliners, 20 ct, 10/$10
-$0.50/1 Carefree Product
= Free

Liberte' Yogurt $10/10
- .50/1 cup Liberte' yogurt (zip 33133)
= Free

El Monterey Single Burritos $1.00
- $1.00 El Monterey All Natural Burritos/Chimis (zip 93907)
= Free

Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers, 4 ct, 2/$4
-$1/1 Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers
-$1/1 Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers 4 pk Target Coupon (exp. 11/2)
= Free

Clif Mofo Bars 99¢
- $1.00 Clif Mojo or Dipped Bars
= Free

Deals: 
Ajax Dishwashing liquid 99¢
- .25/1 Ajax Dishwashing Liquid
= 49¢ each

Progresso Soup BOGO $1.97
-$0.50/2 CANS any flavor Progresso Soups
= 49¢ each

General Mills Cereals BOGO $3.39
- .50/1 Lucky Charms
= 70¢ each

Sara Lee Desserts 50% off
- $1.00/1 (? Coupon no longer available?)
Pound cakes are reg. $3.99, and $1.99 50% off
= 99¢ each

Keurig K-Cups or Hot Coffee: Newman’s Own, Barista Prima, Green Mountain, Swiss Miss, Donut House, or Newman’s Own 10 oz bag, $6.99
$2/1 Barista Prima K-Cups
$4.99, or 42¢ per cup of coffee

Other:
Bananas 69¢ lb is higher than other stores but not enough to justify making a special trip to another store.

Visit I Heart Publix or Southern Savers for more deals and coupon matchups, and to preview the upcoming ad.

Walgreens - Post Cereal

I don't love paying more than $1.00 a box for cereal, but considering the price of cereal these days I've had to bump up my expectations a bit.

This week, Walgreens has some Post and Quaker brand cereals on sale for $1.76 (with Rewards Card). In addition to Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles, I remember Captain Crunch, Life, and Honey Bunches of Oats.

These cereals regularly run from $3.99 to over $4.00 a box, so even without a coupon that's a really, really good price.

With the $1.00/2 Post Cereals and Treats Printable coupon, I paid $1.26 per box.

I bought (4) boxes to start with, and got back a $2.00/5 catalina coupon. So I bought (5) more boxes, paying $1.36 per box.

Kindle Fire HD 8.9"

Mom has been wanting to get one of the new, larger screen Kindle Fires. This one is a nice price at $229.00, considering we paid $199 for the non-HD, 7" original Kindle Fire.

The catch is you get ads and special offers on the lock screen, and some small text ad in the lower corner of the home screen. Many of the apps we use, game apps, have advertising so we're used to it, and they don't interfere with reading or watching movies. So not a bad deal.

Otherwise it's $244.00 if you want to opt out of the ads. Which is still a nice price. I'm not sure if they'll get any cheaper closer to Christmas.

Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 16 GB - Includes Special Offers

Singer Sewing Machine Good Price

SINGER 7258 Stylist Award-Winning 100-Stitch Computerized Free-Arm Sewing Machine with Instructional DVD and More $124.99 + Free Shipping Save 58%

Minecraft Lego

$34.95 + Free Shipping   LEGO Minecraft The Nether 21106

$34.99 + 8.28 Shipping. LEGO Minecraft The Village 21105

Publix 9/18 & 9/19

I got a little job checking on a friend's house and Kitties a couple days this week, so I figured since I was passing a Publix anyway, might as well see if they had anything I needed/wanted this week.
My job happened to be on Wednesday and Thursday, so I was able to hit both days of the sales this week.

(Last week 9/12 - 9/18)
McCormick Gourmet Spices, Assorted Prices
- $2.00 Gourmet Spice MQ here (Zip 33033, may have reached limit)
- $1.50/2 Publix store in Advantage Flyer
= $1.08 (my cost)

$1.00 Pillsbury Crescents and Sweet Rolls
- 1.00/2 Crescent Rolls MQ here x 2
- 1.00/2 Sweet Rolls MQ here
- 2.00/3 Publix store coupon booklet "Make Your Home Italian Tonight"
= +1.00/6

$3.99 BOGO ($1.99) Welch's Grape Juice
- 2.00 MQ here (Upload photo and Share)
= +.01 each

$2.99 Yucatan Guacamole 8oz. (Regular price)
- 3.00 MQ Here (May have reached limit)
= +.01

$2.29 BOGO ($1.15) Buitoni noodles
- 1.00 MQ here
- 1.00 Publix store coupon booklet "Make Your Home Italian Tonight"
= +1.71 each

40¢ Beech-nut Baby Food
- 1.00/3 Beech-nut Products MQ here
= 07¢ each
(I don't have babies, but at that price I usually pick some up for donating to the local Food Pantry)

$4.50 BOGO ($2.25) Mayfield Ice Cream
No coupons, but I've been paying $2.97 at Walmart for ice cream, so this is a good price for me to buy some ice cream.

79¢ Publix Cola. I usually pay 69¢ at Aldi, but I was already at Publix and I used overage to buy it anyway.

Total $8.33 + 1.04 tax = $9.37 Saved $47.24
Basically I paid for the ice cream and got everything else Free.

(Current Week, 9/19 - 9/25)

$3.19 Vivarin
- 2.00 MQ here
- 5.00/2 Publix store coupon Health & Beauty flyer
= +2.62 overage/2

$3.79 Sundown Folic Acid Vitamins
- 1.00 MQ here
- 3.00 Publix coupon Health & Beauty flyer
= +.21 each

$2.99 BOGO ($1.50) Frank's Red Hot Thick Sauce
- .40 MQ here (Ga store, doubles)

= .70 each

$3.19 ($1.60) BOGO Old El Paso Dinner Kit
- .50 MQ here (Ga store, doubles)
= .60 each

$1.83 BOGO (92¢) Duncan Hines Cake Mix
- .35 MQ here (Ga store, doubles)
= .22 each

$2.00 Butterball lunch meat
- 1.00 MQ here
= 1.00

79¢ Publix Cola
83¢ Bananas
$1.29 BOGO Green Giant Mixed Veggies
No coupons, paid with Overage

Total -.18 + 2.22 tax = $2.04 Saved $52.55

These are just the few deals I got, that I wanted, or with the coupons I was able to get easily. There are a lot more deals, you can see for yourself at Southern Savers or I Heart Publix.

Walgreens

Glade Sense & Spray air fresheners $4.99,
- $3.00 coupon from here
Pay $1.99, get $2.00 RR
- FREE

Kellogg's cereals $1.67
- $1.00 off coupon here
= 67¢ a box.

I had said I wasn't going to buy Halloween candy until at least October 1st, but it'd be dumb to stick to waiting and have to pay full price, when I could get a much better deal buying it now.

Mars, Nestle, Wonka 2/$5.00.
- $1.50/3 Mars printable coupon here
- $1.00 off Mars store coupon in Walgreens September coupon booklet
= $1.00 each

These are regularly $3.79 at Walgreens, and about $2.88 at Walmart, so $1.00 a bag is a great price if you're planning to buy candy anyway, which I was.

I needed 2 fillers to be able to use my RR's and I found nail clippers on clearance for 17¢.

All this cost me only $7.68 plus tax. (Regular price before sale and coupons $49.48)

Kroger (6/23-6-29)

This week (and next) Kroger is having a Buy 10, get $5.00 off Mega Sale. (Here in the South the sale started yesterday, June 23rd. I believe it starts Wednesday in other Regions, so check your Region.)

I find the majority of my shopping lists from I Heart Kroger and Southern Savers. Check out those sites for the complete shopping ad with coupon matchups.

Kraft BBQ Sauce is on sale at my store 10/$10, or $1.00 each. Apparently at some stores, or in some other Region these are included in the Mega Sale, which makes them 50¢.
- $1.00/2 IP coupon*
= 50¢ or Free if included in Mega Sale

*If you don't have a Swagbucks account, be sure and sign up. You get points when you redeem your coupons and can cash them in for gift cards or paypal cash.

Countrytime and Koolaid Powdered Drink mix are 99¢ Mega Sale price
- $1.00/2 IP coupon
= 49¢ each

Some Big G cereals are $1.99 Mega Sale price
- .50/1 Cinnamon Toast Crunch IP coupon (My store doubles up to 50¢ coupons) = 99¢ each
- .60/1 Trix IP coupon = $1.39 each
- $1.00/2 Big G Cereals IP Coupon = $1.49 each (Lucky Charms)

*I missed out on some more savings because the digital/card/online savings things are aggrivating for me to use. I need to work on that and quit spending more than I have to, though.
50¢ Cinnamon Toast Crunch Savingstar
50¢ Trix Savingstar
Unlike Kroger or Cellfire, you can use coupons and get the Savingstar deposit also.
There were also some Kroger and Cellfire ecoupons I could have used if I'd wanted to buy more boxes.

Totino's Pizzas are 79¢ Mega Sale price
- $1.00/3 IP Coupon (Facebook) = 46¢ each

I had a brain-toot and was thinking the Kraft BBQ sauce was part of the Mega Sale, which it wasn't at my store, so I ended up 4 items short and had to run find something quick.
About the cheapest Mega Sale items they had were 99¢ and the Green Giant Steamers seemed to be the best buy for my money.

Breyers is $2.49 Mega Sale Price, and Popsicles are 10/$10, or $1.00 each.
There's a Catalina Deal for buying (4) participating items and getting a $2.00 off your next order coupon back.

The larger size Popsicles were marked, but the 8-10 count weren't, so I thought maybe they weren't included. But then the Breyers weren't marked either. These little photo ads rarely list everything that's included, and sometimes the smaller sizes are.
So I took the gamble and bought the smaller sized Popsicles...and did not get the $2.00 catalina.

These Beech-nut Fruities drinks? smoothies? are regular price $1.00 each
- $1.00 Beech-nut Stage 4 item IP coupon
- .50 Beech-nut Stage 4 item IP coupon (My store doubles up to 50¢ coupons)
= Free

I don't have babies or little kids but I can get these free and give them to people I know that do have little kids or even donate them to the local food bank who I know would really appreciate getting them.

Clorox Bleach is $1.49 Mega Sale price
- .50 IP coupon (Give a Review)
(My store doubles up to 50¢ coupons)
= .49¢ each

The Comet 2x cleanser is $1.39 regular price
- .50 IP Coupon (My store doubles up to 50¢ coupons)
= 39¢*

*These had a Try-Me-Free rebate sticker on top of the bottle so I can submit my receipt(s) and get the full purchase price back, making it $1.00 profit on each.
Limit one rebate per household. If you have more than one address, buy in separate transactions or get a Rebate receipt printed.

The Southeast Regions 4-day Sale started yesterday, Sunday June 23rd and goes through Wednesday the 26th (odd, it usually starts Wednesday).
Bounty Durabrand paper towels single roll are 10/$10, or $1.00 each
- .25 mq from the 5-12 PG coupon insert (My store doubles up to 50¢ coupons)
= 50¢ each

Cost before Mega/Sale and Coupons: $108.72 
Total spent $33.08 + 1.73 tax

Saved $75.64, or about 70% savings