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.

Wagging for Walgreens

Today, my dog and I went shopping at Walgreens.  He had to stay in the car, but he was sure to sniff my coupons and nose my bags when I came out.  Finally, a beautiful day and a score of a haul at Wags, I mean Walgreens.  (The pic above was taken last summer, but the view was the same.)

All I needed was Tylenol but you know that I had to get other stuff to get them for a good price.  I took

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.

How To Feed A Dog

I used to go to Sam's Club and buy their big bags of Iams dog food, it was the best price around.  Since they don't take coupons, I ignored them and eventually threw them away.  Besides, I was getting it for under $1 a pound of food.

Tonight, I bought my dog some food at Walmart.  But first, I had to buy some other stuff:

• 6 Almay Eye Make-up Remover, 16 count $1.17 ea.
• 1 tub of guacamole $3.98 (okay, I didn't have to buy it, but it's so tasty and free)
• 16 pound bag of Iams dog food $17.97 (if you're doing the math, this is over $1 a pound)

= $28.79

Coupons applied:

• 6 - $4.00 off any Almay cosmetic product
• $4.00 Guac
• $1 off Iams

= $1.50
Tax was $1.71 so the overage helped pay for some of it.

That's how I feed my dog.

Walgreens Balance Rewards Redemption Time

It took me about 6 weeks to accumulate 40,000 Balance Rewards at Walgreens which is worth $50.00.  I did redeem some points during that time too, but I did save the bulk of it up for a big shopping trip.  For the last few weeks, I combed through the ad to see if there were enough sale items that I wanted to get for this trip, and it finally came together during their 2-day Memorial Day sale which ended yesterday.  I had a few guidelines:

1. Because Walgreens regular prices are higher than Cub, I would not get anything at full price to maximize my savings
2. I would not get anything that earned Balance Rewards, since I can't earn BR when I redeem them

I got out a spreadsheet and calculated the costs including coupon savings, to a total around $51.00.  I also had a couple store gift cards to use which would make anything over $50 at no out of pocket cost.

At the store, I noticed only 1 familiar face and realized that most of the regular Monday staff were probably taking a much deserved break.  I sure hoped the cashier I got would be coupon friendly or this wouldn't work.  There were also a few items that were not in stock or were not priced like I thought they should be, that I passed on.  I opted for a few other items instead to get my totals back up.

I finally got everything and went up to the registers - but first I needed to do a price check.  The Off! spray wasn't marked on the shelves, but they were in the ad and in the picture of the ad.  So I asked the cashier, an elderly man to price check before I started my large transaction.  If the spray wasn't the right price, I'd end up paying $8.00 too much and it wouldn't be a deal.  Another cashier came along, the cosmetic lady and helped me out.  Turns out, the spray should've been on sale but it wasn't.  I brought it to the store's attention.  Yep, I'm becoming that kind of customer.

I checked out at the cosmetic counter, which is always my first choice!  She told me that she's glad she checked me out, because the other man wasn't very good with coupons and it would stress him out.  We had a win-win situation!  Yes, it does help to get the right cashier.  The cosmetics counter is so much nicer because they usually know more about coupons and deals and there is rarely a line forming behind me.  

Everything worked perfectly, and my total was $54.86 with tax.  I redeemed 40,000 points for $50.00, then used a gift card balance for the rest = TOTALLY FREE!

Here's what I got:

• 2 - Samy Fat hair sprays - b1g1 1/2 off
• 3 - bags of chips $1.99 ea
• Indiana popcorn $1.99
• 3 - 24 pack water $1.99 ea
• Bread $.99
• Lipton stix black tea lemon, clearance for $ .94 (filler item)
• 2 - All 28 load detergent $3.49ea
• Steakhouse jerky, clearance $1.19 (filler)
• 2 - Kellogs fruit crisps $2.50 ea
• 3 - Triscuits $2.99 ea
• Oral B toothbrush $2.99
• Heinz ketchup $3.79 (wasn't on sale but I needed it and had a coupon)
• 2 - Nice! lunchmeats 2/$3
• 2 - Off! Deep Woods spray $4.99ea
• 2 - Simply lemonade 59oz $1.99 ea

Balance Rewards savings: $31.87

Store coupons: $5.98

Store savings: $6.45

MQ's: $11.75

= $109.03 worth of groceries

Plus, I received $2 in RR from the Oral B brush and still have 4,050 BR points left

I love my Wags!

Rolling Toothpaste at Walgreens

When I was at Wags on Sunday to use my $10 off $35 coupon, I found I had gotten the wrong toothpaste.  We fixed it at the register (my cosmetic counter cashier rocks) and continued on.  Then I went home and I stayed awake thinking about the possibilities of rolling toothpaste.

I didn't think both these deals were advertised in the flyer, but they are so similar that I probably overlooked them.  Here's what they are:

1. Crest Pro Health toothpaste 6 oz $3.49 each, buy 2, get 3,000 BR
2. Crest Pro Health clinical toothpaste 4oz 2/$7.00, receive $5.00 RR

They are basically the same price, except one is 2 oz smaller.  However, with the $1/1 Crest coupon from the 4/28 SS, they come out to the same price: FREE.  I didn't see any of the couponers that I follow mention this deal, so I wasn't sure if I was missing something.  But when I went and double checked it online, it looked like it should work.  So I popped into my Wags today and tried it out to see if I could do it.

Just a note - I had a $5.00 RR from Sunday and if you want to try this, you'll need at least 4,000 BR to start, OR skip Transaction #3.

Transaction #1

4 - Crest Pro Health 6oz @$3.49 each = $13.96

4 - $1/1 Crest coupons = $9.96

I used the $5.00 RR from Monday's toothpaste deal

Received 6000 BR

= $7.92OOP with tax  (yikes, this thing better work or I screwed up my budget for the week)

Transaction #2

2 - Crest Pro-health clinical toothpaste $7.00

2 - $1/1 coupons

= $5.00

Redeemed 5,000 points for $5 off

Received $5.00 RR

= $ .48 (whew, it's working!)

Transaction #3 

2 - Crest Pro-health clinical toothpaste $7.00

2 - $1/1 coupons

= $5.00

Redeemed 5,000 points for $5 off

Received $5.00 RR

= $ .48 

Transaction #4 

2 - Crest Pro Health 6oz @$3.49 each = $6.98

2 - $1/1 Crest coupons = $4.98

2 - Skinny cow candies $.50

Used bogo coupon = $.25

I used the $5.00 RR from previous deal

Received 3000 BR

= $.56

In summary I got:

• 6 boxes Crest Pro-Health 6oz paste
• 4 boxes Crest Pro-Health clinical 4oz paste
• 2 skinny cow candies
• 1 - $5.00 RR left
• 1 - bogo Vidal Sasson Catalina

All for $9.44 

And if I had planned it better without just walking in and flying by SOP I could've just gotten 2 boxes in the first transaction and had only about $5.00 OOP.  And, I should have gotten 2 more of the 6oz Pro-Health at the end to bring my BR back up to better than it was.  But I can always stop by tomorrow.  I have 1 more $1/1 coupon and a $.50/1 to use and can pay for it with the $5 RR.  I'll update this list when I do it since it's connected with the same deals.

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.

I Just Needed Bread...

You know when you go into a store and just need 1 thing, and come out with a whole bunch more stuff?  Usually when this happens, I end up spending a lot more than I had planned on.  But not today.  Today I spent nothing out of pocket at Walgreens.

First, I transferred a prescription.  With an online coupon, I received a $25 store gift card.

Then, I started shopping for free stuff.

• Sally Hansen nail colors B1G1 1/2 price.  I had 4 - $4 coupons, making them all free
• 2 - Oral B toothbrushes on sale for $3.49 each, applied 2 - $1 coupons for $2.49 each PLUS earned 3,000 BR points (worth at least $3, see note below on this one)
• 4 - Starbucks frappucinos, on sale for 4/$5, applied 2 - $1/2 coupons = 4/$3
• Wondering how this adds up to free?  Keep reading...
• Calagel first aid, itch lotion $6.79, applied $1 coupon PLUS received $5 coupon for next shopping trip = $ .79
• 1 dozen eggs $ .99
• Loaf of bread $ .89
• Used $1.50 RR coupon from previous transaction
• Used $4.00 RR coupon from previous transaction

= $2.03
Applied gift card
= $0.00

This would have been great without the gift card too, I saved 98% or $48.75 (including card discounts) and would have been happy to pay only $2.03.  But free is better.

To top it all off, I received 2 more store coupons and disounts:

• $5 off my next store purchase (mentioned above from Calagel cream)
• $10 off purchase of $35 or more valid Friday-Monday
• PLUS 3,000 BR points which brings my total to over 40,000 which means $50 credit on most everything
• Side note: I didn't initially get my 3,000 points at the register, I called Walgreens to check this out.  Looks like I can't earn points when using my "store credit/gift card."  But they were nice and gave them to me anyway.
• And, I have $22.95 still on my gift card

= $87.95 in store credit!
Pretty good deal for just needing to get bread.

Looks like I'll be shopping there again on Sunday!

3 Weeks

Just 3 weeks ago I started upping my coupon game.  I'd always been happy saving about 25% off my groceries, sometimes as high as 50%.  But after seeing how extreme couponing works I was intrigued to try.

I'm not an extreme couponer yet, though I've had some EC moments . Like the time I paid for $1.68 for $12.68 in stuff and the cashier said my total with a question mark.  Or the time I had to wait fifteen minutes in Walmart for a manager because they owed me $7.70 after buying toiletries, yogurt and fresh fruit.

I've had some flops, too.  It took a few tries to get the hang of Walgreens Balance Rewards and Register Rewards programs.  I'm still on that learning curve.  But just today, I popped in, bought 3 Hallmark greeting cards, used a coupon and paid $1.17 and received 1,000 points (worth at least $1).

My flops are when my discount is less than 60% when I was counting on at least 75%.  Or when I didn't understand the coupon policies and had to take some things off my order.  Or when I got home and realized my coupons didn't ring right and I paid too much.  When I mess up or get frustrated because I didn't reach my 75% or free goal, I try to remember that it's only been 3 weeks.  This is all part of the game.

I've been on coupon adrenaline the last few weeks and have even dreamed of couponing in my sleep.  It's time to scale back and allow couponing to become part of my life, not BE my life.  I'm going to slowly lessen the number of couponers that I follow on facebook and scale back on my online printing.  And oh yeah, not run to the store every day to get the "hot deals."

This week I wore my $ .50 flip flops and my new Champion $3 T-shirt and $ .50 earrings.  I then cooked dinner with a $ .29 spice packet and followed up dinner with ice cream that was less than half price.

This week I saw that we were running low on toilet paper and had no need to rush to the store and pay full price for the next package.  There are 3 more packages in my pantry that I got on sale or for free.

This week, my stockpile of shampoo and lotions got to be so big that I had to transfer them to stronger shelving downstairs.  We now have enough for the next 6 months to a year.  They were all mostly under $1 or free.

And best of all, my new coupon holder came today.  It's a Vera Bradley.  I can now coupon in style.

Off to make my list so I can hit Target in the morning and stockpile more Zyrtec and toothpaste, all for free.

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.

Walgreens Shopping Trip 4/26/2013

I did 2 transactions at Walgreens today to make sure that I got all my BR points and could use the RR right away.

#1

• 2 boxes of band aids $1.99ea, $.75 coupon = $3.23 PLUS 3000 BR points
• Planters peanut butter $2.99, $1 coupon = $1.99 PLUS $3 RR

$5.49 after saving $8.25, plus received $3 in BR and $3 in RR

#2

• 2 packs Twizzlers $1.99 ea PLUS 1000 BR
• 2 packages Neosporin $3.99 each, $2 coupon off each PLUS 3000 BR points
• 3 boxes GM cereal 3/$7, $.85, $.85 and $.75 coupons

Redeemed $3 RR

Total: $9.41 after $24.02 off

Plus - have enough BR points for $20 off next order

Plus - can get a $5 rebate off of Neosporin and Band-Aid products

I think I'm finally rolling at Walgreens!

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

Menards Trip 4/26/2013

I'm just jumping in here to start this off with some shopping deals.  Just went to the Buffalo Menards and got some great deals, my total was $3.59.  Here's what I got:

Palmolive dish soap on sale for $.99 and had a $.75 coupon, so I got 3 for $ .24 each
Curad bandages on sale for $ .59, had a $ .50 coupon = $ .09
Fiber One Bars on sale for $1.99 each, coupon for $ .60 off = 1.39 each

Cost: $7.24
After coupons: $3.59
Savings of 50.4%

I had no idea there were such deals to be had at Menards!