Great day at Walgreens!

Walgreens used to be hit or miss as far as deals, and those they did have were sometimes clunky and difficult to understand, but they've been fine-tuning their system and it's become increasingly lucrative. Combining their store coupons with manufacturer coupons and their Register Rewards deals is a great way to get things for very cheap, if not free. Their monthly rebates are also a great way to save money - I get mine on a gift card so that I can use that to pay for OOP expenses and not have to use cash.

The important Walgreens points:

• Instant Value coupons (IVCs) are found in the weekly ad - they're only good for that week.
• EasySaver coupons (ESQs) are from the smaller books found in front of the ad display - these are good monthly.
• Rebates are also listed in the EasySaver book - often there's at least two items that are free after rebate (FAR).
• Register Rewards (RRs) are coupons to use on your next order that are generated when you buy certain items according to each week's ad. They print from the machine next to where the receipt prints. You can only use one per transaction, however.
• You can't have more coupons than items you're buying - sometimes you end up with 2 q's for one item because you're using an ESQ and a manufacturer q, or you use a RR and wind up not having an item to match that q with. So count your q's before you go to the register - if you have 8 q's and 7 items, grab a small filler. I usually buy the individual Crystal Light mix-ins for .59 - certainly not a bargain, but I drink them and since I save so much with q's it's not that big a deal.

I've hit Walgreens four times since Sunday (three of those times were today!). I had a bunch of RRs from a deal a couple weeks ago, so Sunday I went and bought 8 boxes of gallon-size Hefty bags, which are B1G1F with the IVC in this week's ad. After 4 0.55/1 coupons, my total was 10.96 plus tax, and I used a $10 RR. You can do the math from there :)

Today I decided to get serious about burning up some more of those RRs. I did three transactions and came home with the following items (plus the 6-pack of Ensure I got for my mom) for only $2.10 OOP, and that's only because I forgot to use my gift card to pay for the first transaction - it should have been $0 OOP.

Transaction #1:

Hefty bags 4x3.29 = 13.16
Ensure 1x6.99 = 6.99
Total before q's = 20.15

Hefty IVC B1G1 2x3.29 = 6.58
Hefty man q 2x0.55 = 1.10
Ensure 1x3.00 = 3.00 (I also have a mail-in-rebate for the full price, so I'll make 3.00 on this deal!)
RR 1x10.00 = 10.00

Total after q's = 2.10 (includes tax)

Transaction #2 (done twice):

Almay makeup is B1G1F, so there is no price for the second Almay product. I bought the Almay one coat mascara, which is FAR this month so I'll get back 6.49 twice for that.

Celestial seasonings tea 2x1.50 = 3.00
Schick Quattro disposables 2X5.99 = 11.98
Almay eye makeup 1x7.99 = 7.99
Almay mascara B1G1F
Filler 1x0.59 = 0.59
Total before q's = 23.56

Celestial seasonings ESQ ($2/2) 1x2.00 = 2.00
Celestial seasonings man q 2x1.00= 2.00
Schick ESQ 2x3.00 = 6.00
Schick B1G1F man q 1x5.99 = 5.99
Almay 1x2.00 = 2.00
RR 1x5.00 = 5.00

Total after q's = $2.72 with tax, put on a gift card. Notice that the tea and razors were free after q's!

Coming tomorrow - Hilander Mega Saver preview!

CVS - Week of November 2

I was in desperate need of diapers (that's one thing I haven't focused on building up in my stash yet) and Pampers are on sale this week at CVS (2/$20 with $5 ECB) so I bit it and ran over Monday night. I had a $5/$30 q to use, so I had to add on some extras. The Crest ProHealth whitening 4.2 oz is a free monthly deal - buy one for 3.49 get 3.49 ECBs back. The limit for this appears to be 4, so you can do it 4 times. Ice cubes gum is a weekly deal - buy 10 get $5 ECB - so I threw that in too. And the Huggies swimmers - I walked in and spotted them immediately, marked down to 0.89! I had coupons that I'd left at home, but knew that the diapers wouldn't last that long, so I just bought them - you really can't beat that price!

Here's my scenario:

Pampers 2x10.00 = 20.00

Crest 2x3.49 = 6.98

Ice cubes 10x1.00 = 10.00

Lil Swimmers 3x0.89 = 2.87

Total before q's = 39.85

Q's:
Pampers 2x1.50 = 3.00

Crest 2x1.00 = 2.00

Ice cubes 4x1.00 = 4.00

CVS 5/30 1x5.00 = 5.00

Total after q's = 25.85

Pay with ECBs - 15.00

Total OOP = 10.85 + tax

Receive $16.98 back in ECBs

So I got more ECBs back than I spent, which is my goal every time! My OOP total is more than I'd usually spend OOP but we needed diapers, and I can sell the swim diapers next spring so it was definitely worth it!

Bargain Christmas Shopping

Bath & Body Works is turning out to be a great place for getting some early Christmas shopping done on the cheap. There's an IP out for a free Scentport starter kit with any purchase (x11/23/08). I've been buying the cheapest item I can find in the store to go with these - a $1.50 votive candle. Total OOP is $1.61 - not bad for a little gift set!

However, when you make any purchase, you receive a coupon book that has a coupon for a free item up to $13 with a $10 purchase. I took the gift set idea a step further and used that q to buy, first, some extra votives and a set of tealights (all in the same scent as the Scentport), with a free pair of slipper socks (super soft and adorable, with nonskid bottoms). The second time I did this deal, I bought the socks with some candle holders. Combined with the free tea from my Walgreens and Target deals, these items will make great hostess or teacher gifts!

Total OOP for everything in the below pictures: $25.58.

Halloween Fun

This year was the year Amelia finally understood what Halloween was all about. She picked her own costume, willingly told everyone "Trick or Treat", and was thrilled with each piece of candy added to her bucket. Halloween lasted nearly a week for her this year, starting with the RMG Halloween party on Sunday the 25th.

All week she talked about how she said "Trick or treat" and "thank you" and got candy in her purple bucket. So she was rarin' to go on Friday when it was time to really trick-or-treat. We met up with a group of friends and set out with our three pirates.

Amelia was a bit intimidated at first by all the people in "scary masks" but once she figured out all the candy that was to be had she got over that. She loved wearing her costume and said all the pirate things we taught her to say - "arrrrrgh mateys", "shiver me timbers", and "walk the plank!" And especially for Aunt E - "There's a bounty on me head!"

So now, just like the fair, Halloween is over (however, the candy does remain). Amelia's not ready to wait another year though - she keeps asking for "more Halloween fun!"

Target deals

I made a couple Target runs over the weekend and found some great clearance deals, as well as some overage using coupons. (Please ignore the laundry in the background, I assure you it's clean and just waiting to be put away.)

Mitchum deoderant: 2x1.99 = 3.98
Ziploc bags 9x0.85 = 7.65
Extra gum 10x0.48 = 4.80
Lipton tea 4x1.09 = 4.36
Glade Scented oil refills 4x2.50 = 10.00
Total before q's = 30.79

Q's:
Mitchum Target q 2x0.50 = 1.00
Mitchum man q 2x1.00 = 2.00
Ziploc IP 1x0.75 = 0.75
Ziploc man q $1/2 4x1.00 = 4.00
Extra B1G1F 5X.48 = 2.40
Lipton Target q 4x1.00 = 4.00
Lipton man q 4x0.60 = 2.40 (overage!)
Glade B1G1F 2x2.50 = 5.00
Total q's = 21.55

Total OOP after q's = 9.24 + tax

Through December 15, holiday Glade products marked 2.50 are generating $5.00 gift cards, so I also got a $5 GC back as well.

Just in case, here's a quick guide to some of the abbreviations I'll be using when discussing my coupon usage:

q - coupon
man q - manufacturer coupon
IP - internet printable
B1G1F/BOGO - buy one get one free

Bargainz!

Recently I've had several people say they'd "love to know how I do it!" Save so much money on our grocery bill, that is. I've been couponing since the spring thanks to my cousin's wife Daisy, who gave me the tutorial I needed to wrap my head around how it all works. With working full-time, organizing the meetup group, having a two-year-old and organizing all my deals every week (practically a part-time job on its own) I just don't have the time I'd like to pull something together. I also think it helps to see some concrete examples, so I'm going to start chronicling my bargain finds here so that anyone who wants to can follow along.

There are two keys to doing this successfully: First, you must not be a loyal brand snob. Preferring a brand over generic isn't problem - I get brand-name items for significantly less than the generic all the time - but if you want to use one specific brand you'll have to plan ahead very carefully and keep your eye out for a sale on that item. Secondly, you must get your hot little hands on every coupon imaginable. It might not be a product you'll even use, but if it's free why not "buy" it? This means buying a lot of newspapers every week (and for you locals, skip the RRStar, their coupons are basically worthless. Buy the Tribune - it's more expensive but I've gotten it at Walgreens for $2.00 lately.) and saving the entire coupon inserts. It also means keeping your eye out for coupons you can print off the internet, special offers to sign up for to get coupons mailed to you, and watching out for coupon brochures, blinkie machines and tearpads in every store you go in, even the gas station. You can also buy coupons (which seems counterintuitive but it's not always - I'll get into this later) from coupon websites or ebay.

Today I hit CVS after work. CVS has an Extra Care cards that's essential if you're going to do any bargains there - one of those tags that goes on your keychain. Have the cashier scan your EC card no matter how little you're spending because it can add up - you'll earn $1 back for every 2 prescriptions you fill, as well as 2% back on your quarterly purchases. For me I've never gotten more than $1 back because my out-of-pocket (OOP) is so low, but every little bit counts as you'll see.

With the EC card, you can also earn Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) back on certain items every week, as advertised in the flier in your Sunday paper. The ECBs print out on your receipt and you can use them on your next transaction. I took advantage of several of these deals today:

My total OOP for this transaction was $1.22. Here's how I did it:

Bic razors 2x3.99 = 4.98

SoyJoy bars 4x1.00 = 4.00

Robitussin 2x8.00 = 16.00

Halls 2x1.50 = 3.00

Hand sanitizing spray 1x1.00 = 1.00

Total before coupons: 28.98+tax (came to 32.xx)

Coupons:

Bic 2x2.00 = 4.00

SoyJoy 2x1.00 = 2.00

Robitussin 2x3.00 = 6.00
Halls 2x.50 = 1.00

CVS $5/30 purchase 1x5.00 = 5.00

Total coupons = 18.00

32.xx - 18.00 = 14.xx

I paid with $13 in ECBs that I had from previous transactions, and after that my subtotal was .98 + .24 tax = 1.22. I also got $10 ECB back from the Robitussin/Halls/hand spray, and $4 back from the SoyJoy. Had I been paying a bit more attention, I would have noticed the razors I picked up were slightly different than the ones in the ad that were giving $4 ECBs per purchase, so I should have had $8 more in ECBs, but when I was getting all that for $1.22 I didn't feel that justified in complaining - it was my mistake, after all.

Earlier in the week I had gone to CVS to use some $1/1 Quaker oatmeal coupons I'd printed off the internet from bricks.coupons.com. Sometimes you can print more than one coupon from this site by hitting "back" then refreshing the page, depending on what the site has set the limit at. As it turned out, the limit for this one was 10, so I had more than enough coupons for what I wanted to do.

Quaker oatmeal was on sale for 2.50 a box, buy $20 worth and get $5 ECBs. I grabbed 8 boxes with Amelia's help, took them up to the register and walked out paying $2.10 OOP for all 8 boxes.

I also stopped at Hilander (our version of Kroger) on my way home tonight - I had some .50/1 Purex coupons expiring tomorrow and it was on sale for $1.99. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was 4 or 5 tables with a "Markdown Mania" sign in front of them. Couponer's heaven! I checked out what was there and ended up getting a bag of dog food (marked 2.99) and a Durex 2-pack (0.79), both of which I had $2.00/1 coupons for. Hilander also has a member card, so make sure you sign up for one of those too. They also double coupons up to .55. Here's my complete transaction:

Goodlife Puppy Food 1x2.99 = 2.99
Durex 1x0.79 = .79
Purex 3x1.99 = 5.97
Franks RedHot Sauce 1x1.25 = 1.25
Nailsaver sponges 2X1.00 = 2.00
Total = 13.00+tax

Coupons
Goodlife 1x2.00 = 2.00
Durex 1x2.00 = 2.00 (I got overage here)
Purex 3x(2x.50) = 3.00
Franks 1x(2x.55) = 1.10
Sponges 2x(2x.50) = 2.00
Total coupons = 10.10

Total OOP was 2.62, a great total for all these items!

I'll post in the next couple days with some of my favorite websites that I use as resources to help me out. I've gotten good at coming up with my own scenarios, but why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?

Just a vent

Many times, I think it would be better if my husband would just sit on his sorry ass rather than try to "help".

Today is one of those days.