Category: Shopping/Saving

Today is Sunday so that means a Rite Aid run!

I did three separate transactions so that I could roll my UP rewards through each one.   Here’s my haul-

• (2) Stayfree maxi pads – reg. $3.99, on sale for $2.50 = $5.00
• TOTAL= $5.00, after coupons I paid $1.30 and received $2 in UP rewards

• (4) Kellogg Special K cereal – $4.79 per box (sale buy one get one free) = $9.58
• (2) Quaker granola bars – reg. $3.79, on sale for $2.50 = $5.00
• TOTAL = $14.58, after coupons and UP rewards paid $3.96 and received $6 in UP rewards

• Britta filters – reg. $21.99, on sale for $14.99
• (2) newspapers – $1.35 = $2.70
• TOTAL = $17.69, after coupons and UP rewards paid $10.59 and will be getting a check from RA for $3.00

All said and done I think I did pretty well.  We needed Britta filters and I was happy to get them for under $10 bucks and we needed granola bars.  Dave and I bring our lunches to work each and everyday, that means I’m always on the look out for good prices on lunch stuff.  A $1.50 for a box of Quaker granola bars is a good price (the off brand granola bars run $1.99 in comparison).  There are a lot of really good deals at RA this week, with lots of free items; however, after a while you learn what works best for your family and can focus in on those deals.

Although it may seem like forever since I’ve done a Rite Aid run, it hasn’t, I just haven’t been posting some of my trips.  I know you’ve been wondering… now what has she gotten at the drug store lately?  So here was my trip this morning-

• Huggies diapers – reg. $19.99, on sale for $17.99
• Two Nivea Happy lotions – $7.99 each, $15.98 total
• Three Sunday Newspapers – $1.35 each, $4.05 total
• Aquafresh toothpaste – $3.99, on sale for $2.50
• TOTAL = $40.52
• After coupons, UP rewards, and rain checks I paid $9.02 and got back $2 in UP rewards to use for later.

This wasn’t a great transaction, I somehow managed to lose a $2 coupon between home and the store, but I had $8 in UP rewards that I had to use before they expired and I needed diapers.  So overall, not great, but I’ve certainly done worse.

I ran to Rite Aid today and here’s what I snagged –

Transaction 1

• Nivea Men’s bodywash – $3.99 x 2 = $7.98
• Sally Hansen face bleach = $5.49
• Right Guard deodorant = $2.99
• Lady Speed stick deodorant = $1.99
• Crest toothpaste = $2.99
• TOTAL = $21.44
• After coupons I paid $8.25 (with tax) and received $4.99 back in UP rewards –> so, $3.26 for the items below.  Not bad considering I needed one item… can you guess which item?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transaction 2

• HerbaShine hair color – $5.99 x 2 = $11.98
• Herbal Essence shampoo – $3.99
• TOTAL = $15.97
• After coupons I paid $4.97 and received $5 in UP rewards, so I actually got all three items for free.

Well I did a trip to the RA this morning.  Mr. Dave and Ajax stayed home and ate bacon.  I did two transactions –

Transaction #1 –

• 6 bags of Hershey’s chocolate (yea Halloween!) – Sale 2/$5 – $15
• 1 package of Scott TP – $7.49
• 1 Cold Buster Warming Syrup – $6.69
• 1 Natural Honey Bee Cough Drops – $2.49
• 1 Halloween card (for my nana) – .99
• Total = $32.66; after coupons paid = $22.60 (with tax) and received $7 in UP rewards.
• I will also be getting a check from RA in the amount of $9.18

Transaction # 2 –

• 1 Simply Saline Solution – $3.99
• 1 Chestal Child Cough syrup – $4.99
• 1 Oscillococcinum Flu syrup – $4.99
• 1 Thermacare back – $2.99
• 1 Blink Tear – $7.99
• Total = $24.95; after coupons and UP rewards (from 1st transaction) I paid = $7.09 (with tax).
• I will be getting a check from RA in the amount of $24.95.  Yes, that is correct.   All of these items were FREE.  By using coupons I made money with this deal.

All said and done, taking into account what I paid out of pocket, my coupons, the UP rewards and anticipated rebate checks from RA – I made $4.44 with these two transactions.  Not a ton, but heck, I’m not complaining.

These were the items that I purchased that were completely free.  No coupon necessary.  So if you want any of these items (and there were more, I just didn’t opt to buy them), swing by RA and pick them up and RA will mail you a check!

Today was Sunday and that meant a trip to Rite Aid.  My shopping plan was a bit haphazard.   I had $14.50 in UP rewards to spend that were set to expire this week, but my printer died last week so I was a little limited in my deal scenarios.  Here’s what I ended up with –

FIRST TRANSACTION:

• 1 Jumbo pack of Pampers – $11.99, on sale for $9.99
• 2 Olay Complete moisturizers – $8.99, sale BOGO 50%, so $13.50 for two
• 1 Crest 3D toothpaste – $3.79, on sale for $2.99
• TOTAL = $26.48, after coupons paid $7.25 (plus tax), received $4 in UP rewards

SECOND TRANSACTION:

• 2 Sunday newspapers – $3.00
• 2 candybars – $1.00 (I needed this)
• Total – $4.00, used UP rewards from above, paid zero out of pocket.

So, I guess all said and done, paid $3.25 for the above items.  Not bad considering I would have paid $3.00 for two newspapers anyways and Ajax needed diapers.

So I finally made a trip to Rite Aid.  I had a great plan going in, but of course things don’t always work out.  It ends up that the store is out of a particular item that you had factored into your scenario, so you have to find a substitute.  Oh well.  The cashier laughed at me and said I’m usually more prepared! lol.

Two transactions-

Purchased:

• Crest 3D toothpaste – $2.99
• Salonpas Pain Relief – $5.49
• Thermacare Back Relief – $6.29
• Hylands Calms – $3.99
• (2) Garnier Face wash – $9.43
• TOTAL = $28.19
• After Coupons, paid = $12.44
• Got back $6 from Garnier (should have only been $3, but got $6 instead, not complaining)
• Will get a check from the store in the amount of = $10.49
• In total made – $4 bucks! You know, I was just looking over my receipt and realized I purchased the wrong product for the back relief, it should have been $3.49, but I accidentally bought the 2 count product.  [sigh]

Purchased –

• Cottonelle TP – $6.49
• Huggies diapers – $8.99
• Tone body wash – $2.99
• Coldcalm child med – $7.99
• Back Aid – $3.49
• Stopain – $6.99
• TOTAL = $37.35
• After coupons, paid = $27.44
• Got back $2 from the diapers
• Will get a check from the store in the amount of $20.47.  So I didn’t make any money with this deal, but it turned out that I paid less than $5 for all the above.  Again, in my head I had these great scenarios, but at the store they just all kind of fell to the wayside… oh well, lol.

I remember this commercial when I was a kid… not the whole thing, but the jingle at the end, something about- “let’s go Krogering!”  (Kroger is a grocery store).   So anyways, I went Krogering today and wanted to share the deal I got.

I purchased –

4 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

2 Gallons of Milk

8 boxes of Crayola crayons (24 pack)

In total $16.00.  However, after coupons and sales, I paid $9.45 out of pocket and got back $8.  So for all that above, $1.45.  One gallon of milk alone cost $1.99 (on sale, normally $2.49).  So Kroger paid me to take all that stuff off its hands.  Life is tough. lol.

Tonight after Ajax went to bed I noticed that my savings blogs were gloating over their prizes from Target.   Apparently Target was having a toy mega sale (75% off).  Well, I couldn’t let that such a thing pass me by, so I headed out to the store.

I ended up snagging quite a few toys – specifically, $180 worth of toys for only $44! So I saved roughly 75%.  I picked up a few Christmas and birthday gifts, yea!

A while back, you may remember I gave you my thoughts on coupons and savings.  Well I’ve put a bit more thought into the subject and again, humor me, would like to share my ideas about this whole coupon lifestyle.

1. Although I have come to realize that since jumping on the coupon wagon it has become quite a part of my life and therefore my family’s life, it’s ok to fall off the wagon.  I’ve been so busy this summer that I hadn’t touched my coupon binder in weeks.  When I finally pulled it out last night I realized that I had $13 in catalinas (basically free money) that had expired, but ya know what?  It’s going to be ok.  I beat myself up a bit and then moved on.

2. Use every last drop of that shampoo.  This sounds silly, but as a woman I am prone to advertisements and commercial peer pressure, for example no matter what product I am using, as soon as I’m browsing the hair product aisle and a new flashy bottle catches my eye, well out with the old, in with the new (no matter how much of the old was still in the bottle).  I am proud to report that I have been using all of one item before moving onto another and you know what?  That bottle of shampoo really does last long!

3.  Even if you don’t use coupons, money-saving blogs are a great resource for great finds!  For example, I’ve been wanting a professional ceramic flat iron for years, however, the $250 price tag has always made me gag.  Fast-forward a bit to a more savvy shopper and what do you know, I found my dream iron on sale at Amazon for $30, normally $250 (Mr. Dave has already ordered it for me for my birthday).  Well, actually I didn’t find my iron, a saving blogger did and passed the word along. Yea!

So, yep there’s some of my coupon thoughts for the evening.   You may or may not find this useful, either way let me know.

I also wanted to report that our garden is getting a little out of control.  We’re definitely getting a lot of veggies from it, but it’s getting pretty crowded.  Our zucchini plant is huge and taking over some of our tomatoes, our cucumbers are stretching into squash territory, and one tomato plant seems to really be some sort of crazy bush that keeps toppling over no matter how much string I use to prop it up (remember how I said I didn’t need those silly cages?).

Well it is of course Sunday and that means my shopping day.  I got up early this morning and left before Ajax got up and hit up – Meijer, Rite Aid and Kroger.  I’m a maniac!  I didn’t snap a picture of my Meijer trip, but I spent $43 and saved $50 (this is more than I had planned on spending, but I’ll be in D.C. next week for a conference and wanted to make sure there were quick dinners/snacks in the house for Dave, Dara and Ajax).

Rite Aid –

Purchased – 4 packs of Stayfree (buy one get one free), 4 John Frida hair care products (4 for $20), 1 pack of Pampers (clearance price – $5.99) – in total $34.   After coupons I paid $8.67 and received $10 toward my next purchase.  So I made $1.33.  This would have been a bigger money maker had I not bought the Pampers, but ya know – gotta have ’em!

Purchased – 1 family pack of Luv ($15.99), Coppertone suncare ($8.99), Natural Instinct hair dye ($7.99), Crest toothpaste ($2.99).  My total was $35.96.  I used the $10 from above and coupons and paid $10.82.  I got $8 back and Rite Aid will mail me a check for$4.99…. so I made $2.17 with this transaction.

Kroger –

Purchased – 2 Gillette body washes (buy one get one free), Batman bandaids (awesome… and on clearance for $1.59), and Nexcare medical tape ($1.04).  In total $11.61, after sales/coupons I paid $1.12.  Since I took back bottles from our BBQ ($9.70), I actually paid nothing out of pocket and got money back.  Cool.