Walgreens Friday

As you know today was $5 off $20 at Walgreens. I decided to use this to get my Easy Saver Rebates for the month and use my Register Rewards that is about to expire. Unfortunately I had to go to the Walgreens that I don't like (the closest one) and the the one that tends to be the worst stocked. The didn't have all of the Easy Saver Rebates that I wanted.

Here's what I got:3 bags of trail mix (yummy): $2.69 each
coupon for $.99 each bag = $3.00

Calcium Creamies: $5.99 (FREE after rebate)

Water Filter Replacement $6.99 (FREE after rebate)

Pilot pens (the only kind of pens Dan will use) on sale for: $2.99

Super Glue (we need some): $1.99

Multi-Vitamin things: BOGOF $4.99 (FREE after rebate)

The total (before coupon, after sale price (before sale price $38)) came to $31.02
used coupon for $.99 for each bag of trail mix = $25.92
used $5 off $20 coupon = $20.92
used $5.50 Register Rewards = $15.42
gift card (only .54) = $14.88

The total OOP I paid was $14.88 HOWEVER, I will be getting $17.97 back in rebates so I made $3.09 profit.
Also, I got a $1 off MFC for buying 3 trail mixes. I get $1 off anything (it's not a RR coupon) my next shopping trip. I didn't know I'd get that so it was nice.

I had some difficulty with the manager, again--the same difficult manager. She has some serious problems with us getting a good deal (this is the same one I told you about that wouldn't let Dan have the free cookies when they didn't offer them to him like they were supposed to--if you remember what I'm talking about, Tim.)

A non-manager worker rang me up. She rang in my trail mix coupon and the $5 off $20. Then she said that she didn't know if I could use the $5/$20 coupon with my RR so she called the manager. The manager said she didn't think so, so I asked her where it said that I couldn't use both of them. I was asking sincerely because I didn't want to do it if it wasn't allowed but nothing stated that I couldn't. I asked if they could try ringing the coupon up and see if it allowed it. She said no. She kept saying, "We can't take two of the same coupon." I was totally confused because they don't even look the same, they weren't the same thing. When I asked how they were the same, she wouldn't answer with anything other than a huff. I tried explaining that the coupons were different but she kept acting like I was trying to use two RR. She read both slips of paper (the two coupons) for a long time and was very huffy. I whispered to Dan so the manger could hear me, "I guess were going to have to start going to the other Walgreens where they are nicer. They are always difficult here." Oh the death glare she gave me (which I expected) to which I acted as though I had said nothing. She then rang in the coupon like she was going to prove to me it wouldn't work and it worked. She got really upset then. She then stood there and watched our every move while we paid the employee. The manager let out a slight noise like "you've got to be kidding" when I pulled out my gift card to pay for part of it (all .54 on the gift card). Being mature like I am, I gave her a smug smile when we left and she just kept watching us like we were about to pull a quick one on her.

I might sound childish but $5.50 more off is a big deal especially since there wasn't a reason I couldn't use it other than her not wanting me to. We already avoid that store but now we'll really make sure to. If the $5/$20 hadn't been today I would've gone to another one this weekend to get my rebate purchases.

Anyway, that's what I got. Too bad most of the free rebate stuff this month is pretty useless but it's free!!

Safeway for Frex

I'm not sure if you saw this or if this would work for the Safeway in your area (not sure what area this one is for), but I thought I'd share just in case it was helpful for you!

Coupon Cravings: Safeway

:-)

CVS June 29-July 5

For everyone, except Becca (who I'm sure is in the process of building her own CVS), here is the preview for this coming week at CVS:

http://www.couponcravings.com/2008/06/cvs-weekly-preview-629-75.html

Walgreens

Tim,
I assume you saw the deal
at Walgreens for tomorrow, $5 off $20.
Do you plan on getting stuff? I think I'll use it to get all the free stuff for the month (monthly rebates). Does a RR thing count as a Walgreens coupon or a MFC? I guess my total will probably be enough above $20 that even with my RR coupon it won't drop it below $20. When the RR coupon says that the total needs to be $20 after coupons do they just mean after Walgreens coupons?

CVS Listing for 6/22 - 6/28

Here is a link to a list of stuff you can get at CVS for this current week. The other website I had been using decided to stop blogging (sniff sniff), but they have found a replacement. So, here it is:

Mommy Snacks

Coupons

I saw these links on my friend's site and thought I'd share here too!

Booklet by mail of over $31 in savings (P&G coupons, I think)
- I just ordered mine. It says it'll be here in 6-8 weeks.

Luv's Coupon By Mail

PB & J

FRED MEYER
There haven't been that many great grocery deals the last couple of weeks but I was happy with this one. It wasn't AMAZING but still good.
I had store coupons (from the weekly ad) for 4/$5 on Kroger peanut butter, jelly or Country Oven bread. We only eat Country Oven bread, it's been on sale ever since we moved here otherwise we wouldn't get it because it's normally about $2.75.

Prices before coupons:
PB: $2.89 x 4 = $11.56
Jelly: $2.60 = $10.40
Bread: $2.75 = $11

Total = $32.96
Total out of pocket: $15
(Each item was $1.25.)

We eat a lot of pb & j sandwiches so now were stocked up for a little while.

CVS Today

To begin, I must apologize. I really think it's no fair at all for Becca to not have a CVS around her. Maybe you can start posting pretend transactions at your pretend CVS, Frex...

Here's what we did today:

QUICK STATS:
Total Purchases: $179.07
Card Savings: $47.29
Total w/Card Savings: $131.78

Total Cash Spent: $9.58
Total Coupons: $41.96
Total Extra Care Bucks used: $81.90
Total Extra Care Bucks earned: $64.98


Deal: Buy $20 worth of Charmin TP, Bounty Basic Paper towels, and/or Duracell batteries, earn $10 back in Extra Care Bucks (ECB). Limit one per card.

TRANSACTION #1: TS
Two packs of Bounty Basic Paper towels, 8 rolls, 5.49 each = $10.98
Two packs of Charmin Ultrasound toilet paper, 12 rolls, 5.99 each = 11.98
Donated $1 to some cause that they were asking for donations on... = $1.00
Total: $23.96
------
COUPONS
(2) $0.25 off Basic Bounty = $0.50 off
(2) $0.25 off Charmin toilet paper = $0.50 off
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
Total = $5off
-----
New Total: $18.96
-----
Pay with $16.98 ECB
Pay $2.06 in cash
-----
Earned $10 in ECB

Monthly CVS Deal: These specific toothbrushes are $6.99 per 2pk, earn $6.99 back. Limit 2 per card.

Transaction #2: TS
(2) 2 packs of Oral-B toothbrushes at 6.99 each = $13.98
Total $13.98
----
Coupons:
none
----
Total: $13.98
----
Pay with $10 ecb
Pay 4.31 in cash
----
Earn $13.98 in ecb


Weekly deal (ended 6/21): Buy one Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Refill at $5.99, get $3 ecb back. Limit 5 per card.

Transaction #3: TS
Two Oral-B Cross Action Pwr Refills at $5.99 each = $11.98
Soy Joy Bar = $1
Total = $12.98
----
Coupons:
(1) Buy-one-get-one-free (B1G1 Free) Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Refill 5.99 = $5.99 off
Total off = $5.99
----
New total: $6.99
----
Pay with $6.98 ecb
Pay $0.01 in cash
----
Earn $6 in ecb



Weekly deal (ended 6/21): Buy one Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Toothbrush or Refill at $5.99, get $3 ecb back. Limit 5 per card.

(Note: You'll probably notice I have six items, instead of the limited five. What that means is that I receive $3 ecb back on five of the items and not on the sixth one. But since it was a B1G1 free with the coupons I had, the sixth item was free.)

Transaction #4: TDC
4 Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Refills at $5.99 each = $23.96
2 Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Toothbrushes at $5.99 each = $11.98
Total = $35.94
----
Coupons:
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
(2) Buy-one-get-one-free (B1G1 Free) Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Refill 5.99 = $11.98 off
(1) Buy-one-get-one-free (B1G1 Free) Oral-B CrossAction Pwr Toothbrush 5.99 = $5.99 off
Total off = $21.97
----
New total: $13.97
----
Pay with $13.98 ecb
Pay ZERO in cash
----
Earn $15 in ecb



(same deal here and below as listed under the first photo)

Transaction #5: TDC
4 packs of Bounty Basic Paper towels, 8 rolls, 5.49 each = $21.96
Total: $21.96
------
COUPONS
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
Total = $4off
-----
New Total: $17.96
-----
Pay with $15.00 ECB
Pay $3.20 in cash ($0.24 tax)
-----
Earned $10 in ECB




TRANSACTION #6: TBC
4 packs of Charmin Ultrasound toilet paper, 12 rolls, 5.99 each = 23.96
(if you notice there are more than four packs, it's because they ran out of the 12 pack and gave me smaller packages to equal the same as the larger ones)
Total: $23.96
------
COUPONS
(4) $0.25 off Charmin toilet paper = $1.00 off
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
Total = $5off
-----
New Total: $18.96
-----
Pay with $18.96 ECB
Pay ZERO in cash
-----
Earned $10 in ECB

Clean Teeth

I finally got my Walgreens card in the mail a few days ago for my rebates from the previous month. It didn't have much on it since I didn't buy much but it was enough to get some free toothbrushes. (As I mentioned to you) Walgreens had a sale on their Oral-B power toothbrush. The sale was for $5.50 and then you get $5.50 in register rewards. I used my gift card so the whole purchase was $0 OUT OF POCKET and now I have $5.50 on my next purchase.


I won't be to doing so many deals for awhile. I'll still be doing them of course but I'm going to be extra selective right now.

Timmy's CVS trips today

I try to do my CVS shopping early on Monday. I ended up leaving all the kids with Siouxsie and leaving at 2pm. So much for leaving early! I did a total of three transactions at two stores. They were already low on a lot of it. It's kind of annoying. Too bad they don't stock better.

Also, I should mention that I was low on ECB this time! One card had no ECB left (from spending them on the diapers) and another card was rather low on them. I spent more actual money than I will have to for quite a while. I was able to get a nice amount of ECB built up after all of this that I should be able to continue re-using.

QUICK STATS:
Total Purchases: $78.88
Card Savings: $12 off
Total w/Card Savings: 66.88

Total Cash Spent: $ 26.08
Total Coupons: $27.98
Total Extra Care Bucks used: $13.97
Total Extra Care Bucks earned: $49.94


TRANSACTION #1: TS (top of photo)
2 Almay Mascara, $6.99 each, earn $5 in ECB = $13.98
2 Listerine Kid Rinses, $3.49 each, earn $3.49 ecb = $6.98
Total: $20.96
------
COUPONS
(2) $1 off Almay coupons = $2 off
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
Total = $6 off
-----
New Total: $14.96
-----
Pay with $6.99 ECB (that's all I had in ECB)
Pay $8.05 in cash
-----
Earned $16.98 in ECB


TRANSACTION #2: TBC (middle of photo)
4 Oral-B Cross Action Power, $5.99 each, earn $3 in ECB = $23.96
ALS donation (this was a donation the store was doing...I felt compelled to donate) = $1
Total: $24.96
------
COUPONS
(2) Buy-One-Get-One Free coupons from the 6/15 Smart Source = $11.98 off
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
Total = $15.98 off
-----
New Total: $8.98
-----
Pay with $6.98 ecb
Pay $2.08 in cash
-----
Earned $12 in ECB


TRANSACTION #3: TDC (bottom of photo)
2 Listerine Smart Rinse for Kids, $3.49 each, earn $3.49 in ECB = $6.98
2 Oral B Cross Action Manual toothbrushes 2 packs, $6.99 each, earn $6.99 ECB = $13.98
Total: $20.96
------
COUPONS
(2) $1 off Listerine(print 2) = $2 off
(1) $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
Total = $6.00 off
-----
New Total: $14.96
-----
This card had no ECB
Pay $15.95 in cash
-----
Earned $20.96 in ECB

Leslie & Tim's CVS Trip

When I was at Leslie's, we decided to go to CVS to do some quick shopping. I hadn't been able to do any shopping at home, and the deals for last week were going to be over before I got home, so we went.

QUICK STATS (for Leslie):
Total Purchases: $35.14
Total Cash Spent: $2.15
Total Coupons: $8 (as well as a CVS sale of Buy 1 Get 1 Free...taking another 8.99 off)
Total ECB used: $10
Total ECB earned: $9.98



For the first transaction, the makeup had two sales going on it apparently: current week & the next week. She was supposed to get $3 in ECB per eye shadow. But this store was starting next week's sales a day early. They no longer showed the current week's sales on display in front of the makeup. It was very confusing to figure it out because we didn't know what to expect. We asked someone and they said both sales apply but apparently not. With the make up, it ended up doing the next week's sales and giving no ECB back. Oh well, it was still a good deal!

TRANSACTION #1 (top part of photo) - this is the same transaction I did too:
CVS Bandages, 1.99 each (earn 1.99 in ECB) = $1.99
Revlon Mineral Eye Shadow, 8.99 each (was supposed to be 6.99 with $3 in ECB) = $17.98
Total: $19.97
------
COUPONS
(2) $2 Revlon Make up = $4 off
Store Sale - Buy One Make-up, Get one Free = $8.99 off
(1) $3 off $15 = $3 off
Total: $15.99 off
-----
New Total: $3.98
-----
Leslie pay with $3.00 ECB - Terri pay with $4 ECB
Leslie pay $0.98 in cash - Terri pay zero
-----
Both earned $1.99 in ECB


TRANSACTION #2 (Bottom part of photo - only Leslie did this):
Gillette Fusion Razor, 9.99 each, earn $4 in ECB = $9.99
CVS Bandages, 1.99 each, earn 1.99 in ECB = $1.99
CVS Cotton Swabs (500 counts), $3.19 each, earn $2 in ECB = $3.19
Total: $15.17
------
COUPONS
(1) $3 off $15 purchase = $3 off
(1) $4 off Razor = $4 off
Total: $7 off
-----
New Total: $8.17
-----
Pay with $7 ECB
Pay $1.17 in cash
-----
Earned $7.99 in ECB

Walgreens

Due to Becca's previous post, I looked through my coupons to find some coupons for foil. I had four $1 off coupons with the purchase of two foils (so $0.50 off each). It's not quite as good of a deal as Becca's, but it was still a good deal! Since I had four of them, I could buy eight foils.

I had the Walgreen's coupon, making the foil $0.89 each and then $0.50 off of each of them after that, making it $0.39 each.

Total Out-of-pocket: $3.12 (plus whatever tax is)

Ani's Purchases at CVS

Yesterday we went shopping at CVS again. It was a new week with new deals for Ani to practice some of her shopping skills on. She left today, so I don't have her actual receipts, but I remember pretty well how much everything cost...

QUICK STATS:
Total Purchases: $35.22 (or close to it)
Total Cash Spent: just over $1
Total Coupons: $12 off
Total Extra Care Bucks used: $15.98 (?)
Total Extra Care Bucks earned: $13.99 (?)


TRANSACTION #1
York Mints (used as a filler): $0.79
4 Nivea Men Shave Gel, 2.59 each, (earn $5 ecb for each $10 spent) = $10.36
Revlon Color Stay Mineral Eyeshadow, 6.99 each (earn $3 ecb) = $6.99
Total: $18.14
------
COUPONS
(2) $1 Nivea Coupons = $2 off
(2) $2 Nivea Coupons = $4 off
(1) $3 off $15 = $3 off
(1) $2 Revlon Color Stay = $2 off
Total: $11 off
-----
New Total: $7.14 (or so)
-----
Pay with $6.98 ECB
Pay $0.93 in cash (i don't have the receipt, so I might be a little off)
-----
Earned $8 in ECB

This one was a little frustrating. When we first went up to pay for it, the cashier lady could only get one of the Nivea coupons to work. We canceled the transaction, thinking maybe if we grabbed some other Nivea products, it would work better. So, we grabbed some face wash for $2.59. We went back and she still couldn't get the coupons to work. I showed her that the coupon does match the purchase we are getting and asked her if there was any way to make the coupons work. She did it in a split second...which then made us wonder why she didn't do that the first time around! It would've saved a bit of time and made the people who were in line behind us be less annoyed. She wasn't a very friendly cashier.

Then after all the coupons were given and everything, she told us that the total was over $13. It should've been more like $7. After some questions, we found out that the face wash that we had grabbed was actually $6 each, not $2.59 like it said on the shelf. They had the face wash all in a line under a tag saying it was $2.59 instead of $6. We told her that (just in case they wanted to fix it) and she didn't care. She didn't seem at all surprised or like it made any difference to her...which then made us wonder if they had done it on purpose!

So, anyway, we asked her to undo the face washes while Ani ran and got more of the $2.59 shaving gel. She manually put the coupons through again (which she really should have because they very clearly are the right coupons), and finally we were at the right price. Ani paid with her ECB and the girl said that they owed us $0.63 so Ani needed to grab a candy bar to bring the total to a positive number. It made me wonder how new this girl was because Ani can choose to loose that $0.63 if she wanted to (they won't pay you money back if you use an ECB), and I told Ani that and the girl said something that seemed like she was disagreeing with me about that...but I KNOW I am right and she is wrong. You can choose to loose any money you want with the ECB...and sometimes it's worth it if it's just a few cents or something. That way you don't end up paying money.

So, Ani grabbed the little candy thing for $0.79, so $0.16 over what she needed, which means that Ani should have to pay $0.16 now. The girl said that Ani owed her $0.93. How in the world?!! That makes no sense. It should've been maybe $0.16?!! I know it's only $0.93, but it was $0.93 that she shouldn't have been paying. I still don't understand what happened since I forgot to look at the receipt. I suppose it's completely possible that the candy was also mislabeled and it really cost $2 or something instead of $0.79 like it says it was. We're a little suspicious they were purposefully mislabeling their items.

Anyway, I think I was a lot more annoyed than Ani that she had to pay almost $1 for all of that. She should've paid nothing, or just over $0.10. Plus, the cashier girl was being a dork and making things much more difficult than she needed to. I still don't get that. She was all fine and ready to not let our coupons work when she obviously very easily could make them work and it took a split second longer. I'm not sure what her point in being a dork about it was! That's probably why the $0.93 was especially annoying too - the whole thing was annoying!



We decided to go to another CVS because we didn't like this one (the one we didn't like was the McDermott store). Who knew what might have happened with another transaction at this store!!

Anyway, here's the breakdown:

1 Fusion Power Razor, $9.99 each, earn $4 ecb = $9.99
Double Paper, no ECB = $3.00
CVS Bandaids, 1.99 each, earn 1.99 ecb = $1.99
Trident (filler), maybe $1.00? (she needed to bring the total to over $15) = $1.00
Total: $15.98
------
COUPONS
(1) $4 razor = $4 off
(1) $3 off $15 coupon = $3 off
= $7 off
------
New total: $8.98
------
Paid with $9 ECB
Paid less than $0.10 in cash (maybe?! by this point me and the screaming baby were in the van)
-----
Earned $5.99 in ECB


Ani put together her transactions before we left to go shopping. I figured if she could put some of her brain power into it, she would be able to understand the concept much better and be able to continue to do it when she went back home. I checked over what she had written out, helped with a couple things, and then that's when we went shopping. After the transactions, it seemed like she had a MUCH better understanding of it and will hopefully be able to continue her CVS shopping!! She thought it was way fun (minus the silly cashier).

The End

Weekend

Sunday we went and got most of our shopping done for a bit. We got lots of food! We spent $48 on food which is a great deal considering that before sales and coupons it cost just over $100!! We got about a 50% savings! We also got some non food items such as some of the following:

ABOVE: Walgreens is having a very good deal on their 20 foot foil. You need a coupon from their ad to get the foil for .89 and then a MFC for .55 off. So you get it for about .34 each! So it's a really really good price. I had three coupons so I got three costing a total of $1.02 oop....which is less than what one would cost at regular price!!

We were out of paper towel and they were on sale at Fred Meyer and then I had a couple coupons. They were .60 each after sale/coupon, total $1.20.

Above: I got three Ajax dish soaps for a total of $1.50. So they were each $.50 with sale/coupon at Albertsons.

Also at Walgreens I got three boxes of haircolor for $2 each (normally each $9.99). They had a super deal on batteries, BOGO (Buy 1 get 1). Their 16 pk was on sale for $8.99 and then you get one free. So 32 batteries for a total of $8.99. I sure like Walgreens!!

CVS Today

Today we went shopping at CVS. Tyler and the kids came along. It was really nice having Tyler there to watch the kids while I focused more on the shopping. Poor TS has been teething and is so whiny! But he loves to get out of the house and do stuff...and to whine and try to grab everything he can. I will be so glad when he is done with this bout of teething, and we have our happy boy back!

Anyway, to the shopping...

QUICK STATS (for all transactions below)
Total Purchases: $48.52
Total Out-of-pocket: $4.70
Total Coupons Used: $23.00
Total ECB used: $20.96
Total ECB earned: $23.98



TRANSACTION #1 (TBC)
*Dawn Dish Soap on sale for $1 (was $1.59) x 6 = $6.00
*Gillette Fusion Power Razor on sale for $9.99 (was $11.99) = $9.99
*Bag of Funyuns (not shown because they were eaten!) = $0.99

Total: $16.98
-----
COUPONS:

• (6) $0.25 Dawn coupons = $1.50 off
• (1) $4.00 Gillette Fusion = $4.00 off
• $3 off $15 purchase = $3 off

Total: $8.50 off
-----
New Total: $8.48
-----
PAID:
$7.98 in ECB
$0.50 in cash
-----
Earned $7 in ECB



TRANSACTION #2 (TS)
* CVS Cotton Swabs $3.19 x2 = $6.38
* CVS Bandages on sale for $1.99 (was $2.29) x 2 = $3.98

Total: $10.36
-----
COUPONS:
$3 off $10 CVS items
Total: $3 off
-----
New Total: $7.36
-----
PAID:
$5 ECB
$2.36 in cash
-----
EARNED $7.98 in ECB



TRANSACTION #3 (TS)
*Dawn Dish Soap on sale for $1 (usually $1.59) x 6 = $6.00
*Gillette Fusion Power Razor on sale for $9.99 (usually $11.99) = $9.99
* CVS Cotton Swabs $3.19 = $3.19
* Chex Mix on sale one for $1 (usually $1.99 each) x 2 = $2.00

Total: $21.18
-----
COUPONS

• (6) $0.25 Dawn Coupons = $1.50 off
• $4 off $20 purchase = $4 off
• (1) $4 off Gillette Fusion Razor = $4 off
• (2) $1 off Chex Mix = $2 off

Total: $11.50 off
-----
New Total: $9.68 + $0.14 tax = $9.82
-----
PAID
$7.98 ECB
$1.84 cash
-----
Earned $9 in ECB

Dollar General Rebates

Thought this might be interesting to look into. Looks like the Dollar General is now doing rebates:
http://dollargeneral.com/Promotions/Pages/RebateBook.aspx

Target Diaper Deal

- 9 packages of diapers ($8.99 each, usually they are 9.99 each) = $80.91
- 9 packages of wetwipes ($5.99 each) = $53.91
= Total: 134.82
----
Used (9) $5 off coupon for a purchase of diapers and wetwipes = $45 off
Used (9) $5 Gift Card coupon for a purchase of diaper and wetwipes = $45 off
Used (3) $2 manufacturer coupons for a purchase of two pampers products = $6 off
(I only had three of the manufacturer coupons, otherwise I would've used more)
= $96 off
----
New Total: $41.97 in cash
(This was after tax was included, so if you try doing the math exactly based off of what I wrote, that might be why it's a little off!)



Here's the basic breakdown so you can see what you're getting:

With the $5 Gift card/$5 off coupon/$2 manufacturer coupon = $12 off
= 8.99 (diapers) + 5.99 wetwipes = $14.98
= $2.98 plus tax, you pay in cash

With the $5 Gift card/$5 off coupon/NO manufacturer coupon = $10 off
= 8.99 (diapers) + 5.99 wetwipes = $14.98
= $4.98 plus tax, you pay in cash


Some things to know if you try this:

When I went to Target to do this, I tested it on one transaction first to make sure it would work. I had one pack of diapers and one pack of wetwipes. I gave them my two Target coupons and one manufacturer coupon. The $5 gift card one wouldn't ring up correctly and give me a $5 gift card. The cashier called for help, and they came. The lady looked over the coupons and tried some things, and she still couldn't get it to work to give me a gift card. So, instead, she gave it to me as a $5 off coupon that applied immediately to the transaction I was doing (which was better!).

So, if you go to Target and it doesn't work to give you the gift card, they can manually enter it as a $5 off coupon. If this is the case, then you can buy all your diapers and wetwipes in one transaction and give them all your coupons at once and be done with it.

If it DOES give you a $5 gift card, then you will need to do your transactions separately. What I mean by this is:
- Grab a pack of diapers and a pack of wetwipes. Give them your $5 Gift card coupon, $5 off a pack of diapers/a pack of wetwipes, and your $2 off two pampers products coupon (so a total of three coupons).
- They will run the transaction, run the coupons, and give you a $5 gift card. You will have to pay for the first transaction in cash, without being able to use the gift card.

Then with the second (and remaining transactions - all done separately), you will do the same thing. Give a pack of diapers and a pack of wetwipes, the $5 Gift Card Coupon, the $5 off coupon, and the $2 manufacturer coupon. Use your $5 off gift card from the previous transaction to pay for the current transaction. You'll receive another $5 gift card during this transaction, which you will then use on your next transaction. Make sense?

I was glad when they turned the $5 gift card into a $5 off coupon. It made it so I could do it all in one transaction and not several. If you do several, you can do them all in a row. If the store is super busy, I would be considerate and only do 3-4 transactions or so, and then move to the end of the line and let people go in front of you.

Oh, and to answer the obvious question that one might have (same one I had!), the reason that it works to use two Target coupons is because you are using it on TWO items. Generally the rule is one Target coupon and one manufacturer coupon per item. So, since you are buying a pack of diapers and a pack of wetwipes, each Target coupon can be assigned to each item (so to speak) and it will work. There is a chance that you might pick a cashier that will give you a hard time and not do it. If that's the case, grab your stuff and find another one or go to a different store. The fact that a person above the cashier saw what was going on and even said "You're doing everything right" in response to my coupon usage, I feel confident it's right. But it doesn't mean that the cashiers will know this! It's amazing how much they don't understand about coupons.

CVS & Walgreens for Tim the Ninja

WALGREEN's

On our shopping trip, we stopped by Walgreen's and I bought lots of stuff I totally DON'T need. Why would I do that, you ask? What? You didn't ask that? Well, I'll tell you anyway. I bought the things that are listed in the June Easy Saver Catalog as free after rebate. Basically if I buy this, I turn in the rebate info, and I get all my money back, plus 10% if I get it on a gift card (which I did). I do this so that I can have a gift card to use to buy other purchases from Walgreen's. Hopefully that'll mean I won't be spending much money there very often.

Besides, who doesn't need these things? I would tell you what they are, but I'm ninja-unsure of what they are...


CVS
After all the awesome diaper deals at CVS, my ECB have mostly been wiped out. So, I'm trying to rebuild. Here's what I bought a couple days ago:

----
Smart Rinse - 3.49 x 2 = $6.98
(earn $3.49 in ECB for each)
CVS Bandaids - 1.99 x 2 = $3.98
(earn 1.99 in ECB for each)
CVS Cotton Swabs - $3.19 x 2 = $6.38
(earn 2.00 in ECB for each)
TOTAL: $17.34
----
Coupons:
$3 off $15 purchase = $3 off
$3 off $10 CVS products = $3 off (get these from the machine in the store when you scan your card)
= $6 off
----
New total: $11.34
----
Used $5 ECB
New total = $6.34 (paid in cash)
Earned $14.96 in ECB

Now that I have some ECB again, I most likely won't have to spend much cash again at all.

Ani Coupon Shops!!

Okay, so it's not really that exciting because Ani has no idea what she is doing exactly. Well, maybe she has a little bit of an idea. Mainly she did whatever I told her to do! I'm hoping the concept is making it's way in... Hopefully we'll go again while she's here, and this time she will get to do the brain work to see if it'll help it seep in a little more.

CVS didn't really have super good deals this week, at least I don't think so. You may wonder why she bought the things she bought. The real answer is - mostly TO EARN ECB!!


PURCHASED
Bandaids - $1.99
Smart Rinse - $3.49 x 2 = $6.98 ($1 off coupon here, she didn't have it though)
Toothbrushes - $6.99
TOTAL: $15.96
---
Used $3 off $15 coupon
---
New TOTAL: approx $13.30 (after tax - paid cash)
---
Earned $15.96 in ECB
- So she earned more back than she paid out.
---


Basic idea with shopping at CVS is to only buy their deals, try to combine it with coupons when you can, use a $3 off $15 or $4 off $20 (or whatever CVS gives you) coupon, and buy things that give you ECB back.

So, when we go shopping again, the idea is for Ani to buy $15.96 worth of stuff, and have the stuff she buys give her that much back in ECB. If she uses her coupons right, she might only pay $10 in ECB and receive $16 back in ECB. So, while she might be buying some strange things that normally she would never buy, hopefully from now on she won't be paying much of anything with real money, and she will be receiving more ECB than she spends.

Toilet Paper

ALBERTSONS
If you need toilet paper or want to stock up some, I suggest going to Albertsons. Their Angel Soft 12 rolls or 6 double rolls is 3/$7. You have to buy 3 to get it at $7. If you don't get three you end up paying 6.29 per package! I also had 2 coupons for .50 off so I paid $6 for 18 double rolls of toilet paper!
Thai Kitchen Rice Noddle Bowls are $1 each right now, normally about $2.36 here.
Biscuits: $ .50
Bubbles: $ .34
Total just under $11 (70% savings)

WALGREENS
Ibuprofen 500 tablets on sale for $8.99 (normally $13.99).
Shaving cream on sale for $2.
Total: $13
Walgreens coupons for $1 off each shaving cream
Used $5 in register rewards
Total out of pocket: $5.99 (70% savings)

Coupon Card

Yesterday I went to Target and for the first time, QFC. QFC is owned by Kroger. Here's what I got for about $8 off the full price of about $35 (approx a 77% savings).

Target:
First I went to Target and got some toothpaste. I had target coupons and MFCs to use.
I got $2.50 off for each toothpaste and the toothpaste were $2.94 before coupons so they were $.44 each.
If interested, the MFC are from this last weeks newspaper, I think. It's for $1.50 off any Colgate Total Advanced toothpaste.
Then you can get the target coupons here, A FULL CUP. I got the 6 oz size, it was the cheapest I could find.
The total I paid out of pocket at Target was: $1.76

QFC:
I really wish when I first started clipping coupons that I would've done like I do now and have bought 4 or more newspapers. Had I done that at the beginning, I could've gotten 4 (or however many coupons I had) free ranch. As is, I had one coupon and only got one free one which is better than nothing. The coupon was for $2 off Ken's Ranch and it was on sale for $2. Now when the Cutler's come to visit again, we'll ranch if they request it. :-)

Anyway, many places have a new thing where you can go online and put coupons on your store card. I did just that and got a pretty good deal!
Feminine products were buy one get one free (BOGO) using my QFC card. I also had a coupon.
The batteries were $3 off using my card and I had a coupon.
The ranch, as I mentioned, was free.
It normally would've cost about $27.
Total out of pocket: $6.50-ish

Timmy's Shopping Trip: CVS, Target, Walgreens

I've been a bit more scatterbrained this week and not as focused as usual on the deals or on making good lists for when I'm at the store! I need to get more sleep...

Anyway, here's what I got today. Oh, another CVS card came in the mail yesterday. I must've somehow accidentally ordered it when I was online once? I have no idea. It came under Tyler's name. So, I was able to use it to go and get another set of diapers.

CVS


ORIGINAL PRICE: $40.03 (this is what it would cost with no sale/coupons)


AFTER SALE/COUPONS:
Diapers: 7.99 each X 3 = 23.97
Wetwipes: Just realized I wasn't charged for them! I'll be fixing that tomorrow.
Carefree: $0.88 x 4 = $3.52
Total: $27.49

Used coupons:
- $3 off $15 purchase (CVS coupon) = $3 off
- (2) $1 coupons for pads (buy two for $1 0ff) = $2 off
- (2) $1.50 coupons for two packs of diapers = $3 off
- (1) $2 coupon for diaper/wetwipes (buy two pamper products get $2 off) = $2
Total Coupons: $10 off

New total: $17.49 plus $1.73 tax = 19.22 paid in cash
Earned $5 in ECB = (which made it like it was $14.22 for all of it)



TARGET
TRANSACTION #1
Deal - buy two razors, get $10 gift card.

2 razors = $18.88
(2) $2 MFcoupons = $4 off
(2) $2 Target coupons = $4 off
= $8 off in coupons

= $10.95 in cash

Received $10 gift card



TS really needs something better than he has for church. They don't make very churchy stuff for little boys! This is all I could really find. Plus it's cute (at least I think so!).

TRANSACTION #2
2 shirts @ $5.99 each = 12.97 (with tax)
- Used $10 gift card from previous transaction
= $2.97 in cash



WALGREENS

Gillette Fusion Shaving Cream - 3/$10 = $3.33 each = $20
Used (6) $1.50 coupons = $9 off
= $11.91 after tax, paid in cash
Earned $5 in Register Rewards

Yesterday

I went to Target and Walgreens yesterday. Target went fine, Walgreens didn't go quite as I had wanted. Here's what I got for a total of $5.37:

TARGET

2 Butt Paste (we need a different name for it, Bum Ointment)
2 Bandaids
2 Men's Degree deodorant
each one was $.99 = $4.96
had one coupon for $1 off each item = $.6 overage

2 Johnsons baby shampoo .89 each
one coupon for $1 off each item = $.22 overage

Pampers wipes on sale for $1.99 each
coupons for $2 off 2 (bascially making one of them free)

Total paid at Target: $1.70


Walgreens

As I said, didn't go how I wanted. I wanted to start working on my register rewards so I planned to get some items that would allow me to do that. I figured out the way that I could get the most for the cheapest. Instead of the deodorant that I got, I wanted to get some body wash that would put me at just over $20 (the amount I had to spend to get the register rewards). They were out of the body wash so I had to get the deodorant and it came out to being a few dollars more, not a lot but every bit counts! So here's what I got:

2 Gillette Power Fusion Razors on sale for $9 each
one coupon ea for $4 off = $5 per razor which = $10 total for the razors
2 Gillette deodorants on sale for $3.33
$1 off with coupon = $2.33 for one and 3.34 for the other which equals $5.67 for both

Total due=$15.67
Gift card for $7 of it = $8.67
$5 back in register rewards making the total $3.67

Target

Did you see the Target deals HERE? I think I am going to try the razor one to get a gift card. It would make getting two razors cost under $0.50. Nice thing is that there is no limit to the number of razors you can buy! Well, I guess the limit would be the number of coupons that you have for it.

Today at CVS

It is really quite tragic that not everyone has the chance to shop at CVS. It's actually a horribly over-priced store, but if you shop right, you get the BEST deals there. Luckily there are other great deals at other stores too, so it almost doesn't matter where you live, you'll have some good deals somewhere, as Frex has shown.

Today at CVS, it was rather tragic. I actually had to use real money. They have been having great diaper deals. But the bad thing with diaper deals is that it doesn't give much money back. Most of the time when I buy something from CVS, I make sure I buy something that gives me equal to or more money back then I spend (and I always make sure to buy it with my ECB). So, if I have $10 in ECB, I make sure to buy something close to that price and make sure it will give me around $10 ECB back. Diapers are different. You can spend about $20 in ECB and only get $5 back in ECB. The deals are so good, though, that it's worth the loss of ECB! Anyway, there's my explanation on why I had to use real money. I'd used all my ECB on diapers last week and didn't have much left...


TRANSACTION #1:
Bought 7 packages of Batteries on sale at $2.99 each (normally $4.79 each) = $20.93
- Used $4 off $20 purchase = $4 off
- Used (4) $1 MFcoupons = $4 off
- Used (3) $0.75 MFcoupons = $2.25 off
= $10.68 + $0.88 tax = $11.56 total (paid in cash)
- Received $10 in ECB




TRANSACTION #2:
Bought 2 packages of diapers on sale at $7.99 each (normally $11.49 each) = $15.98
Bought 2 tubs of wetwipes on sale for $2.99 each (normally $3.49 each) = $5.98
Total for the purchase pre-coupons = $21.96
- Used (2) $1.50 coupons = $3 off
- Used (1) $2.00 coupon = $1 off
= $16.96 total + 1.07 tax = $18.03
- Used $10 ECB from previous purchase
= $8.03 remaining, which I paid in cash
- Earned $5 in ECB




TRANSACTION #3:
Bought 2 packages of diapers on sale at $7.99 each (normally $11.49 each) = $15.98
Bought 2 tubs of wetwipes on sale for $2.99 each (normally $3.49 each) = $5.98
Total for the purchase pre-coupons = $21.96
- Used $4 off $20 coupon = $4 off
- Used (2) $1.50 coupons = $3 off
- Used (1) $2.00 coupon = $2 off
= $12.96 + 1.07 = $14.03
- Used $5 ECB
= $9.03 paid in cash
- Earned $5 in ECB

~Teresa

Printer!

Now that I finally have a printer (yay!) I can start getting out there and getting better deals since I can now print off coupons!!

On Friday, when Walgreens had their $10 off $30, here's what I got.

Hair color: $9.99
6 Notebooks: $.50 each
Quattro Razr (It was in a box but we took it out before I got a picture): $9.49
Razor refills: $10.49
Total before coupons: about $34

Used $27.94 in coupons
Used just under $7 on walgreen gift card
Total Out of Pocket: $0

At Target I got:

Butt Paste ointment: $.99
used $1.00 off coupon for each total price was $.3 overage

Huggies Supreme Wet Wipes
on sale, used coupon for $1 off, total price about $1

Soft Soap Body Wash
on sale, used $.75 off coupon, total price $1
Total out of pocket: $2

If you have a printer, you can get the deal on the free baby ointment. Just go here,
scroll through the pages until you find the coupons for butt paste and print off several coupons. For the ointment to be free, you need to go the the section of Target with the travel-size stuff. They come in a bundle of three packets of ointment.

In coupon world, my deals about aren't that great but it's a start! Until I have more gift cards and Register Rewards saved up, it's a bit difficult to get the really amazing deals. Hopefully that will be taken care of this week though.

CVS Ninja Diapers

Total out-of-pocket for all of this was $1.00.

I went shopping with Christine today because she was going to several grocery stores, and I wanted to see what she does there. I didn't get many good deals or much food from those stores (didn't have the necessary coupons!). We also stopped by CVS because Christine needed to grab a few things. While there, she discovered the Pampers Size 2 diapers were 50% off. I had seen this at a different CVS I was at, but I didn't have my coupons then...but this time I did!

I did two transactions.

Transaction #1
- 3 packages of Pampers @ $5.75 each = $17.25
- Minus three coupons of $1.50 each (thanks Siouxsie!!) = $4.50 off
- Minus CVS coupon of $5 off a $15 purchase
My total was $7.75 for three packages of diapers
= $0.00 out-of-pocket
(I used my Extra Care Bucks to pay for this and didn't pay for anything out-of-pocket)

Transaction #2
- 2 packages of Pampers @ $5.75 each = $11.50
I needed the total to reach over $15 so I could use the $5 off $15 coupon, so I bought something to do that, aka a filler.
- Bought Hot Pockets for freakin $3.99 (expensive!), but it filled the space I needed.
- I was supposed to get that little pack of wipes for free, but the cashier couldn't get the code to work. It was an email I'd received from CVS with a free item for me to go buy. So, I told him not to worry about it. I meant that to mean, I don't want to buy it, but when I got home, I realized I bought it and he charged me for it. I paid about $1.70 for 20 stupid wipes! Not that it's a huge deal since I still only paid $1 out of pocket total, but I would've preferred to have paid nothing.
- My total pre-coupons was $17.19 or so.
- Used $3 worth of pampers coupons
- Used $5 off $15 coupons
= Total was $9.19 (it was something like this, I can't remember exactly how much the wipes were).
- Used Extra Card bucks to pay for most of it.
= $1 out-of-pocket

Pretty nifty. I can see why people like coupon shopping. Frexy, I am so sorry you dont' have a CVS!! It's really like a game to see what free stuff you can get. The only bad thing with the above transactions is that they didn't give me any Extra Care Bucks back. I actually used my ECB and they are gone (thought I have some left, just not a lot). That means when I go shopping again, I'll have to probably pay for stuff with real money. Of course, I'll only buy stuff that gives me ECB back...then I'll have them again to reuse over and over again! Hopefully I'll be able to buy stuff that gives me more ECB than I spend...hehe...

Walgreens

Total out-of-pocket was $1.55.



Here's what i got today. I did it in 3 transactions. Today was a
special day because if you buy $30 worth of stuff, you get $10 off of
it.

Transaction #1:
- Bought a One Touch Ultra Mini for $20
- Bought $10 worth of groceries: 2 milks, carton of eggs, 1 deodorant
for $11.15
Total = $31.15
Used Coupons:
- Minus $20 for the One Touch Ultra Mini
- Minus $10 for the $10 off $30 purchase coupon
Total Coupons used $30
= $0.52 that I paid cash

Transaction #2
- Bought a One Touch Ultra Mini for $20
- Bought $10 worth of groceries: 3 packages of yogurt (4 yogurts
each) and a lunchable = $10.85
Total = $30.85
Used Coupons:
- Minus $20 for the One Touch Ultra Mini
- Minus $10 for the $10 off $30 coupon
Total Coupons used: $30
= $0.03 that I paid cash

Transaction #3
- Bought 2 Quattro Razor Trimmers @ $11.99 each = $23.98
- Bought 6 Quatrro Razors @ $9.49 each = 56.94
Total = $80.92
Used Coupons:
- May Easy Saver Coupon for $3 off each razor = $24 off
- June Easy Saver Coupon for $4 off each razor = $32 off
- Used 8 manufacturer coupons for the razors from the newspaper = $24 off
Total Coupons = $80
= $1 that I paid in cash after tax of $0.08 was added

So, for everything, I paid $1.55....hehe...

If I had more of the Ultra Mini coupons, I could've done this and gotten $10 of free groceries per coupon that I had, but I had only bought one newspaper back then, and it only had two Ultra Mini Coupons in it. Christine had bought four newspapers and was able to get $80 worth of free groceries! Good for her, oh well for me. This is why it's important to buy several newspapers (at least four). For the razors, I had bought four newspapers, and each newspaper had two coupons each, giving me eight coupons total for the razors.

:-) Terri

Coupon Shopping is Ninja-Awesome

I am learning the ways of couponing. There is a ton of stuff online that gives you the info you need to shop. I also have a handy friend I sometimes ask questions to if I want a quick explanation. I've never taken photos of the stuff I've bought (I might have about twice as much as the photos show?). It's actually REALLY fun! It's like a game where you have to figure out where all the pieces go. While learning, you start off small (plus, you don't have all the coupons built up yet!):

WALMART: About $0.66 - everything was free, except for the blue bag of wipes (which was $0.66).

Total Out-of-pocket $1.59

KROGER: They have a nifty thing where you can download coupons onto your store card (other stores do this as well, you can look online and find the ones in your area). You can also use paper coupons. So the two types of coupons together give you really good deals if you have both for the same item.

This totaled $24.63 (approximately $3 per item) and I paid $1.59 for it.


WHY I WISH FREX HAD CVS...

Total out-of-pocket $0.00

CVS Yesterday:
- 3 Allergy Relief (we don't use these, but they gave us extra $3 than we had before, so I bought them)
- Deodorant: Tyler is allergic to antiperspirant, so I'll be giving them to the elders.

I paid zero cash for all of this. I just used ECB (extra care bucks, aka, store money I had previously earned and keep reusing) and then was given all the extra care bucks back, PLUS $3 more.

Total out-of-pocket:
Kroger (safesoap): $3.79
CVS (everything else): $1.95

KROGER Today:
See the the Safeguard Soap on the right hand side? I got 20 bars for $3.79. That was the most expensive thing out of everything I bought today.


CVS Today (the rest of the stuff in the above photo):
This was my bestest shopping trip so far.
- Six packages of diapers
- 3 Allergy Relief things
- 3 Excedrines (they were free - as in, I didn't even have to use ECB to pay for them)
- 3 toothpastes, earned $2 additional ECB
- 2 Tums Quik Paks, earned $4.50 additional ECB
- 3 deodorants for the Elders
- 1 thing of Rolaids
- 1 "6" birthday candle

I paid a whole $1.95 in cash for all of that (used my ECB to pay for the rest).
I still have $23 in ECB to use for future stuff.

The idea is to buy stuff that while you use your ECB to buy them, those items you buy give you ECB back. Ideally you make as much as you use to pay for it. So, if I use a $15 ECB to buy something, my goal is to earn $15 back in ECB. It does limit what I can buy, and sometimes I buy stuff I normally wouldn't because they give me money back or because it's free (and it's hard not to buy something that is free!). But there are monthly deals, as well as weekly deals that give ECB back, so it's nice that the items rotate. So, we "buy" what is a good deal per week. Also, it's especially fun to make more ECB than you spend. I did that today quite a bit (the use of coupons helps a lot). Since the diapers didn't give much ECB back, it helped that I was able to earn extra ECB prior to it, so in the end, i didn't really loose too many ECB.

Frexy, I really wish you had a CVS. I keep wanting to talk to you about CVS, but I restrain myself! Maybe you can start a petition to get one in your area;-)

We've bought a lot of toothpaste, toothbrushes, makeup, razors...and I'm sure other stuff that I can't think of at the moment. They are good stocking up items.

Just wanted to share!