Savings - 98% at Target

One of the things on my list to do before I'm 41 is to do an Extreme Couponing trip.  I believe I crossed that off the list last week.  I decided to see how much I could get for under $10.  I got out all the coupons that I knew could get me free stuff at Target and things for 90% off.  Basically it was a big math problem.

I had a $5/$30 in groceries coupon and $5/$15 in hair care.  Plus I always bring my own bags and use my Red Card for 5% off.  And finally, I had $5 gift cards from before to cover those items that hubby put on the list but I didn't have any coupons for.  One thing I didn't have was mobile coupons which would've helped me save more.

After an hour of shopping, I made my way to the registers and chose a cashier whom I had worked with before and was coupon friendly.  The subtotal was about $102 and then I handed her a huge stack of coupons...

$3.18 including tax

Then I went home, submitting my receipt to checkout51 (4 pics long) and got back $1.75.

Then a couple days later I found 2 coupons worth $2 total that I forgot to give the cashier.

So it should've been $1.18 plus $1.75 cash back = $ .57 moneymaker!

What did I get?  I got - greeting cards, hair spray, canned cat and dog food, Honest juice, fresh berries, hamburger, yogurt, rice milk, cheeses and more.  Most of it is stuff we'll use, the rest is to donate.

And now I'm sort of back to being burnt out on couponing.  On the plus side, we have enough stuff stocked up that I don't have to go shopping for awhile.

Mail Call!

Today I got a few fun things in the mail:

1. My Ace Rewards key fobs to help me save there and to get a Birthday deal.
2. Family Circle magazine or which I paid nothing for, and there's a little packet of coupons inside.
3. $10 Target gift card from ebates!  I wasn't expecting this at all, maybe I missed seeing the offer.  But I'll take it!  And I'll add it to my stash of discounts and freebies that I'm saving up to use on my birthday.  Sign up for ebates here and see if you can get one too!

Just Running Errands

The fruits (veggies?) of my labor

I told my husband that I was dropping off stuff at the food shelf and then running a couple errands.  Two stores, two hours and some amazing deals later, I returned home with a bounty of things, spent less than $25 OOP and still have $20 in gift cards from Target, earned over $5 in BR at Walgreens plus have $4.50 in RR.  Plus, I have $17 in rebates to submit.  A money maker morning!

Here's how it went down:

Stop #1 - Buffalo Food Shelf

78% Savings - Good Enough?

I spent a bit of time planning a trip to Target today.  I think it's best for me to go later in the week, after all the deals are known a little more and the unadvertised sales are more known.  I had originally planned on $42 sale for about $10.  But I ended up with 3 transactions, $144.51 in total for $31.13, 78% savings.

And how do I feel about this shopping trip?  I spent too much and blew my budget and some for next week. But shouldn't I be happy that I saved 78%?  Yes and no.

I did a good job in saving lots of money, but I spent over 3 times what I had planned.  However, I hadn't updated my spreadsheet the last couple of days, just added on a few more deals.  So maybe I didn't have the right totals.  I also want to spend less then $10 per store per week, which this one went way past.  I guess I'll have to chalk this one up to experience.

There were a few things that I got that weren't on my list, too such as pickles, garbage bags and paper towels.  Here's the rundown on what I got with the amounts after coupons and deals:

• 2 boxes of Wheat things $1.50 ea
• 2 Schick Skintimate shave gel $ .85 ea
• 9 Schick Quatro razors 3 pack -$.01 each
• 4 Colgate mouthwashes $ .25 ea
• 2 Almay eye make up removers -$ .53 ea
• 2 Up & Up kitchen trash bags 50 pack $ 2.14 ea
• 2 rolls Up & Up paper towles $ .50 ea
• MP Bagels $ .84 ea
• Glad trash bags $1.14
• Up & Up paper plates $.58 ea
• 6 boxes Honey Bunches greek yogurt cereal $1.49 ea
• 2 boxes Hersheys Cookies & Cream Cereal $1.89 ea
• Received 2 - $5 gift cards for the cereals
• 2 jars Vlassic garden pickles $1.91 ea
• Cambell's Go Soup -$.30
• 2 Starbucks iced coffees $ .50 ea
• 2 packs Stoneyfield greek yogurts $2.59 ea
• MP pasta sauce & box of noodles $.66 ea
• MP chunk cheeses $2 ea

The funny part was my last transaction.  Because you can only use 4 like coupons in a transaction, I had to split my Schick razors into 3.  The cashier forgot to give me my bag credits on the 2nd transaction, so she applied it to the last one.  I quickly grabbed a candy bar because Target isn't supposed to give overage.  My total came to $ .01 and she gave me the penny!  She said she's never seen that before.  Neither have I, at Target.

Well, I am pretty tired now and it's time to put the rest of this stuff away.  Hopefully there won't be as many deals next week so I can take a break.

$5.00

I just did a Walgreens, Cub and Target circuit and was amazed at the really great deals this week.  So here's a list of things you can get at each store for around $5.00.

Cub

• 10 ears of corn - $1
• 2 pounds Everyday Essential butter $3
• 2 boxes of Ronzonii pasta $ .88 each, apply $1/2 (SS 6/2) = $ .76

= $4.76

Walgreens

• Select Glade scented products 3/$3, apply 3 - $1 coupons (from coupons.com) = free
• 2 Betty crocker cookie mixes for $3.00, use coupons.com $ .75/2 = 2.25
• 2 - 14oz bottles of Walgreens peroxide = 1.32
• Walgreens first aid bag = free with peroxide
• Scrubbing Bubbles toilet cleaner starter kit 2/$6, apply $4.00 from their facebook page = $2

= $5.57

Target

• 3 - Colgate 8.4oz mouth washes $2.99, but 2, get 1 free = 5.98, apply 3 - $2.00 Colgate coupon from coupons.com = free
• Benadryl Itch stick $2.39, apply $2.00 coupon from SS 6/9 = $ .39
• Mott's Tot Juice $ 1.99, apply $1.00 coupon from SS 6/9 - $ .99
• Silk Almond Milk $3.00, apply $1.00 Target.com, $1.00 coupons.com coupon = $1.00
• 2 - Keebler Fudge Shop cookies $1.99 each, apply $1/2 coupons.com coupon and Target Carthweel 5% deal = $2.78

= 5.16

Cartwheeling for M&M's

I tried out the new Target Cartwheel program for the first time yesterday.  It worked flawlessly!  The best deal I got with it was for M&M's.  Here's how it went down:

1 bag Peanut Butter M&M's - $3.19
1 bag regular M&M's - $3.19
1 bag Pretzel M&M's - $3.19
1 bag mini M&M's - $2.99

= $12.96 (yikes!)

Coupons:
2 - $1.50/2 Target printable coupons
2 - $1.50/2 Manufacturer coupons

= $6.56

Target Cartwheel 10% discount (taken after Target coupons) $1.96

= $4.60 for 4 bags of M&M's or $1.15 each

If you don't mind the mini M&M's, you could get them for about $1 each.

The only way it could've gone better would've been a sale on the M&M's.  If they go on sale next week, you better believe I'm going back for more.

BREAKING NEWS IN THE COUPON WORLD!

Breaking news in the coupon world!  (Bet you never thought you'd hear that phrase from me) - Target has a new savings program called Cartwheel.  It says it's beta, so you can get in on the ground floor.  You can save an additional discount on top of Target prices, coupons and manufacture coupons.  It looks like they have % off deals right now which may not look like a lot but can save a bit in the end.

Here's an example of a possible savings (haven't gotten down all the rules yet so may not all work):
1 pack of strawberries - price match Cub's $1.88 price
$1 Target mobile coupon on fresh fruit
= $ .88
Target Cartwheel - 5% off fresh berries
= $.84
Bring your own bag and get $ .05 credit at checkout
= $ .79 for a package of strawberries!

I'm not sure yet if you can get the 5% off before other discounts or after, yet.  If you can get it before, then the strawberries would be $ .74.  And most discounts are for at least 10%, so you can save a lot more than this scenario - PLUS add a manufacturer coupon and you could get overage.  I'll be looking into this more and see what limitations and all that are in this program.

Off to the food shelf with 33 boxes of Bounce and 12 - packs of Bic 4-pack razors!

Update: You start with only 10 spots, so don't add stuff just to add.  You can earn more discounts to open up more savings spots.  Read the help section here.

Target Ad Misprint - In Your Favor!

Target Sale Controversy in the Coupon World!  So, if you're following any extreme couponers, you probably saw their excitement leading up to this Sunday's Target add - for the deal that says buy any 1 select multi-pack of Colgate or Crest Toothpaste of Orab-B toothbrushes, get a $5 gift card.  Well, it was a misprint - it was supposed to be buy "any 3" not "any 1."

Target is honoring the printed add deal - if you ask, at certain stores.  I had to go check it out myself before reporting it, but the Buffalo store was no problem.  I brought my add to the service counter, and the lady made a quick walkie call and said to tell the cashier that so-and-so approved the deal for me.

Why is this such a big deal?  I got a 2-pack of Colgate Ultra White toothpaste for $ .24 after gift card discount.  Here's the break down:

2-pack of Colgate Ultra White toothpaste:  $5.99
$ .75 coupon
Total: $5.24
PLUS received a $5 gift card

I split this into 2 transactions - so my next transaction, I bought a few other things and after using coupons and my gift card, it cost me $1.63.

Basically got $56 in merchandise for only $7.05 which includes a lot of Bounce dryer sheets.

Oh - and they were out of the 5-count Zyrtec, so couldn't use my overage, which would've taken my total down another $1.64.

Target Score 4/29

Tonight I found out that I could get overage at Target - to apply to other items.  My bill was over $49 and it came down to only $7.72.  I was aiming for less than $5 but my husband was with and I couldn't control everything that went into the cart i.e. hot dogs.

Here's how it went down:

• 6 boxes of Bounce for $ .48 (would have been free but they were $ .09 more in that town than in my town)
• 2 tubes of Jergens lotion $1 both after coupon
• 2 containers of deli meat $3.66 for both after sales and coupon (a little high on this one but we needed it)
• 4 - 5 count Zyrtect packages - MONEY MAKER!  They sold for $5.59, coupon was for $6, so total was -$1.64
• and a package of Ball Park franks which doubled my total bill.  He didn't have a coupon, but I love him anyway.

Free Bounce at Target

With the coupon in yesterday's P&G insert and one from Smart Source (SS) 4/14, you can get Bounce dryer sheets for free at Target.  Here's how you do it:

1. Buy the smaller boxes of Bounce that cost $1.97 and get 3.
2. Use the P&G $3 MR coupon off WYB 3 Tide, Gain or Bounce
3. Use the SS 4/14 Target coupon, $3 off WYB 3 Tide, Gain or Bounce

= 3 free boxes of Bounce

I should be able to do this deal about 8 times, which is 24 boxes free.  Since Target only allows 4 like coupons per transaction, I'll need to split it into 2 separate orders.  This will give me some more things to donate to our local food shelf the next time I go.

Target Shopping Trip 4/26/2013

This is my 3rd trip to Target this week, I'm a little obsessed with getting flip-flops for only $ .50!  Here's what I got today:

• Champion activewear women's t-shirt $6 with $3 coupon = $3
• Champion activewear men's t-shirt $6.99 with $3 coupon = $3.99
• Flip flops $2.50 with $2 coupon = $ .50
• Campbells skillet sauces $2.29 with $1 Target coupon and $1 M coupon = $.29
• 10 Yoplait yogurts for $5 with $1 coupon off 10 = $4 or $.40 each
• 2 Reach dental flosses $.90 each, $1/2 coupon = $ .80 both or $.40 ea
• Garnier Hydro shampoo $2.99, $1 Target coupon, $1 M coupon = $.99
• Brought in 2 bags = $ .10 off my order

Total: $13.72 after $20.92 in savings