CVS Clearance Splurge! 6/8/2010

So I ran in to get another ProGlide Razor and some more detangler and found a ton of great clearance! So of course, I splurged my extracare bucks and picked it up!

I got:

~6 transfomers Promo Snickers @ 0.09 each
~3 Single Pair L'Eggs Knee Highs@ 0.09 each
~1 box of L'Eggs Ankle Highs @0.64
~17 boxes of Bayer Crystals(4 Count) @ 0.29 each
~2 boxes of L'Oreal Hairdye @0.99 each
~1 ProGlide Fusion Razor @9.97
~2 bottles John Freida Detangler @5.00 each
~1 Wii Steering Wheel Accessory @ 0.50
~4 bags of Penny Candy(in the gold and clear bags, cute stuff!) @0.20 each

Total Out Of Pocket: 2.57(tax was 2.34 of that)
ECBs spent: 17.00
ECBS earned: 8.00

The Knee Highs and Ankle Highs are for my mom, she wears these EVERYDAY and they are $ when you wear holes and runs in them almost weekly. She's active and hardworking and I am most happy to be able to take her something to help! I *thought* the Bayer was something my uncle could take since his surgery but I guess I remembered it backwards, but that's okay, I know I can find others to help by giving them away or donating them to the ministries.

Target BooBoo 6/7/2010

Well I bought swimmers...and now I regret it, apparently they would have been MUCH cheaper at Rite Aid....*sigh* guess I am going back tomorrow! I am debating whether it's worth returning these...

~1 bonus pack Huggies Swimmers
~2 Nivea Men's Shave Gels
~2 Eggos(in my freezer, not in my picture)
~1 pack of Ruffies Trash Bags
~10 Arm and Hammer Travel toothpastes
~2 Kotex Liners

Total out of pocket: 11.74
Coupons Saved: 22.90

Oh Holy Up+ Rewards!!!!

I went to Rite Aid tonight and made out like a bandit, thank you Up+ rewards!!!

~8 Old Spice Body Washes
~8 Full Size Old Spice Deodorants
~1 Trial Size Old Spice Deodorant(attached to a full size one, woo!)
~4 Old Size Body Sprays
~4 Gillette Body Washes
~4 Double pack Gillette Deodorant Deodorants
~3 Keychain Rite Aid Sunscreens
~1 20oz Diet Dew
~1 pack Extra Gum
~2 Got2B Smooth Operator Products

Total OOP before all coupons and sales: 169.02
After coupons and sales: 4.92!!!!!
AND I have a $4.00 UP+ reward to use, so it's actually like spending a whopping 0.92!

**$20 of the savings was them adjusting down the double packs of deodorant, apparently they are not part of the 2/8.00 sale BUT they had a tag and it was correctly labeled, so they adjusted them for me, I have a GREAT Rite Aid that cares very much about their customers!**

Our *I Love* Harris Teeter Trip! 6/7

My kids and I took a trip today with our best friend and her boys to do a little shopping(can you tell that's a hobby of mine?) and we went to Harris Teeter to take advantage of some awesome deals! They had an great meal deal that was buy 2 Digiorno Pizzas and get a thing of ice cream, garlic bread, coke 2 liter, and TGI Friday's appetizer for FREE! We did this and the buy $20 of lysol products and get $5 off deal as well. So in total we got(all prices in () are BEFORE sales or coupons!):

~2 Digiorno Pizzas(13.58)
~2 Lysol Kitchen Cleaners(6.78)
~2 Lysol Toilet Cleaners(5.78)
~1 Lysol Toilet Cling(3.29)
~4 cans of Lysol Wipes(13.96)
~9 boxes of Frosted Flakes(28.71)
~1 Coke 2-liter(1.79)
~2 bottles of L'Oreal Everpure Shampoo(Markdown @ 3.00 from 6.99! so 6.00/2)
~1 pack OB Mixed Pack of Tampons(Markdown to 1.53 from 4.49!)
~1 box Eggo Waffles(2.45)
~1 TGI Friday Onion Rings(3.79)
~1 loaf Harris Teeter Garlic Bread(2.49)
~1 Gifford Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream(4.25--also not pictured because it was dessert!)
~3 Danimals 6-packs of smoothies
~1 Carton of Tropicana Orange Juice(3.39)*not in picure, apparently this bag which also had the filters got left at the register, so I have to pick these up tonight!*
~1 pack of Pur Pitcher Water Filters(Markdown to 3.00 from ?.??..these are about $14 at wal-mart)*see above*

Total out of pocket BEFORE coupons and sales: 137.21 + 2.54 in tax=139.75
Total After Harris Teeter sales price and before coupons: 63.17(cut the bill OVER HALF!)
After Coupons: 32.67, which WITH tax equals out to about 0.99 an item!

Shopping with the Whole Family! 6/5/2010

So normally when I go to several places in one trip, my husband keeps our little ones at home and I go, just because of the stress of getting them in and out at so many places. Last night my kids wanted to go so badly that I caved and said "come on!", but to my surprise they were WONDERFUL! Because they were so awesome, they got a treat out of the Target snackbar, which is a splurge!

So we got:

FOOD LION:

~7 Vitamin Waters
~1 Steakhouse Bread(Son loves this!)
~1 gallon milk

Total Out of Pocket: 8.84
Coupons Saved: 1.00
MVP Savings: 7.41
*I actually spent 1.00 more than the above as we bought another Children's Miracle Network donation balloon, I think their organization is wonderful and I purchase one of every fund raiser item they have at our local Food Lion*


TARGET:

~2 Lean Cuisine Meals(1.97*2=3.94)
~26 Arm and Hammer Travel TPs(0.97*26=25.22)
~2 Kleenex Handtowels(2.99*2=5.98)
~1 Crayola 8CT Crayons(0.79)
~2 John Freida Detanglers(5.04*2=10.08)
~2 Armor All products(2.49*2=5.98)
~2 packs BIC pens(0.99*2=1.98)
~1 Black Ink Cartridge(13.09 BEFORE taxes alone)
~3 Scotch Fur Fighters(markdown to 2.48!)
~1 Finish Quantum Starter Kit(5.00 TPC)

Total BEFORE Coupons: 83.66
Tax: 5.16(of the 83.66)
Total After Coupons: 13.37



CVS:

Transactions 1:
~2 johnson's baby oils(1.32 each)

Total Out Of Pocket: 0.84
Coupons Savings: 2.00
CVS Savings: 7.94!!
No ECB back

Transaction 2:
~1 ban deo

Total Out Of Pocket: 0.23
Coupon Savings: 1.00
CVS savings: cannot read that line, blurred...but I think's it's 0.50 off this week
$2 ECB in, $2 ECB back

Transaction 3: (using the 5/15 that printed the first time!)
~2 packs Huggies
~2 packs Reese Cups
~3 Caramels

Total Out of Pocket: 1.29(BUT 1.21 on a money card from a VERY botched transaction earlier this week, it was basically I think $2 ECBs on there to say sorry?) so 0.08 out of pocket!!!
Coupons saved: 6.00
CVS Savings: 31.98
No ECB in, no ECB out

*this was a beautiful transaction because I mentioned to the manager on duty that those were 75% off everywhere else and asked why they weren't there and he said if I wanted them for 75% off to grab them and he'd be most happy to mark them down for me....YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY for awesome managers!!!!!!!!!!!!*


RITE AID:

~1 20oz Mtn Dew(had overage to eat up, 1.59)
~1 Clearasil Daily Face Wash(5.29)
~2 Colgate Toothpastes(markdown to 0.99 each)
~1 Ben Gay(5.49)
~1 Veet Shave Gel(6.49)
~1 Got2B Smoothing Lotion(6.49)
~2 Physician's Formula Makeups(11.00/2)

Total Out of Pocket: 1.09(paid on a previously earned RA giftcard)
Tax: 2.52(got overage, YAY!)

Rite Aid Savings: 4.75
Coupon Savings: 39.00-WOO!


DOLLAR GENERAL:

~1 pack Kiss Artificial Nails

Total Out of Pocket: 0.16
Coupon Savings: 2.00

Freebies for Today! 6/3/2010

Click each link and follow the instruction on those pages to grab one of each of these freebies for yourself today!



Starbucks VIA read brew



Purina One SmartBlend *You can choose dog or cat sample here*



Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper and Cottonelle Moist Wipes
*They've offered this before and an entire roll of toilet paper came along with a travel size pack of the moist wipes*



Playtex Gentle Glide
*these almost always come with $1.00/1 coupons!*



Zantac




Sharklove is offering an awesome free sticker to anyone who requests one. I love their message, I am a big fan of sharks and I fully believe this site is on the right track with the respect we should give these animals. If you'd like more information on their cause or to request a free sticker, check them out HERE

How Do You Do It? Couponing-Part 2

Now how I started seriously couponing at home.....I decided to go whole hog into this and bought about 8 papers for the first 3-4 months I couponed, which I have to say was WAY too much at once! I wanted in on the deals and I wanted in on them fast and I got it and it was almost so much to handle that I turned away. Thanks to many kind cashiers and new found friends at the above sites I was able to pear it down to 1-3 papers a week until I got the hang of it.

One of my first decisions was to move from an accordion coupon sorted(which has several pockets in one plastic holder with tabs at the top of each and usually has a bungee type string to close it off). It was very convenient in that it fit in my purse very easily but when I got to the store, if I needed a coupon I didn't have out already it took tons of time finding it in all my coupons.

From there I went to the binder method. At first I couldn't see the point in paying money for one of those binders with zippers. I simply used an old hardback one I had from way back in high school. I added some 9-count Baseball Collector's Card holders, a few index pages to separate them and went about my business. After having my coupons fall out again and again and again, I finally saw the light and bought my first Mead 5-Star Case-It Binder. My first binder was a fluke and fell apart within two weeks causing me to return it and search for a better option.

I finally settled on:










I bought it from Amazon.com HERE and splurged about $25 on it, shipping and all.
It was WELL WORTH IT! I've had this binder for months now with no problems from it whatsoever! I've added another pack of 9-Count Baseball Card holders into it to accommodate my growing coupon amounts and this binder has been tossed, jumped on(remember my kids? LOL) and just generally beat on and it looks just as good as it did when I got it! The two pencil pouch type separators(red and gray in the above pictures) came with the binder, as did the carrying strap(VERY useful!), I added the blue pouch for pre-planned trips(0.10 at CVS on clearance).

Just remember what works for each person is incredibly different. There are lots of ways to tote your coupons around and this is just what happens to work best for me.

~Part 3 Tomorrow~