Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Quick trip down Pharmacy Way...

CVS
$14.99 1 Contour Glucose monitor
3.99 packing tape (gotta send some pckages out tomorrow--but we didn't have any tape!
.69 filler
-14.99 insert q
- 3 $3/$10 cvs email q
-------
-$1 ECB

.48 OOP

RECEIVED $5 ECB
$10/50 crt q !!

WAGS
2.494x Coffeemate Creamer BOGO
0
2.49 Coffeemate Creamer BOGO
0
.99 DeMet's truffles
.99
.99
.99
3.19 Gallon Milk
1.5 Dozen Lg Eggs
----
-2.49 Free Coffeemate q (received for comment about new flavors)
-2.49 Free Coffeemate q (received for comment about new flavors)
-1.50 DeMets insert q
-1.50 DeMets insert q
----
5.46
-$5 RR from Last week
---.$.32 on Gift Card
OOP $0.00

Randalls--aka: know your store's coupon policies.

I'm very happy with the location of the area grocery stores: HEB is within walking distance and always has reasonable everyday prices. Target and Walmart are about 6 miles away--close enough for the infrequent trips we make there. And finally there's the Randalls about 4 miles away--the perfect distance for a store that really only has good advertised deals--and hardly any reasonable everyday prices.

Well today I took advantage of one of Randalls' weekly sales.

I walked away with:
7 boxes of cereal, [2.88 plus save $5 wyb 5]
3 boxes of PopTarts (12ct) [2.55 plus save $5 wyb 5]
4 Large Oranges $.99/lb
1 lb Grapes $1/lb
2 travel-sized Tide $.89
1 12oz Tropicana $1.49
1 strip Fleischman Yeast $1.50 [receive $.50 oyno for each one purchased)
1 x Fresh Express Green Salad $1

q's used:
3x $1/1 kelloggs IP
4x $1/1 Kelloggs insert q's
1x $.55/1 pop tart q
1x .30/1 (tripled) tropicana q
1x $.45 Fleischman q (doubled)
2x $1/1 any Tide [$.22 overage]
4x$1/produce wyb 2 select Kelloggs cereal

OOP 10.00

Moral of the story:
Know the coupon policies of your local store to take full advantage of all savings. Any double/triple coupon possibilites? Price matching? Internet Printable coupons accepted?
I knew that Randalls will double 2 qs up to $.50, and triple 1 q up to $.39.
I knew that they will take IP's--but only if printed clearly in color.
I knew that if the register doesn't beep they allow overage on q's.
I knew that Randalls offers Catalina deals when you buy certain items. Ex: if you purchased any Fleishman yeast until the end of the year, you will receive a coupon for $.50 off of your next order. Coupled with the coupon [that doubled] the yeast was only $.10!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Nice mail day :)

Received:
$8 Just for men Touch of Gray rebate
$8 American Consumer Opionion survey compensation
$5 Sears facebook giftcard
$1.99 Excedrin rebate
Farmland Q's :)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Great WAGs Trip

  • 4x32 loads of arm & hammer 2xconcentrate detergent for .99 each (after 4xIP and in-ad circular q. )
Print 2 per computer, though this IP is email connected, so you need to use a new email address for each computer that you print from)

NOT ONLY THAT, you'll get a $5 coupon good on your next order, when you buy 4 so you'll make money!!! Deal ends Saturday.

  • I also picked up scotch tape that is free after monthly rebate--I had a $1/2 insert q so I"ll make money on that too :)

  • Free reynolds wrap foil after in-ad q and mq.
  • I won't pay for men's deoderent anymore, but I am still brand loyal to Mitchum products for myself :) I picked up one for .99 after IP and in-ad q.
  • Other not free but we needed them and they were almost free after hitting the $5/$25 mark: mead envelopes $.39, wags cough drops $.39, wags cotton swabs $1.99 (all with in-ad q)
Used $16 in RR and put $3.45 on wags gift card :) --RR's are coupons that spit out from the catalina machine from buying amounts of particular products. THe gift card is funded from free money when I buy the monthly rebate items, use q's plus the 10% bonus for putting the funds back on a wags gift card !!)

OUT OF POCKET: $0

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Deals 12-21-2008

This is a big week at CVS--can roll our ECB's from Thanksgiving!!

Limit's on all the frees are high, and there are a few that I'm not interested in persuing--unless I need them for a $10/$50 coupon. However, at this time I don't have any of those crt's.

Deals Spreadsheet 12-21-2008

Deals 12/14/2008

Spreadsheet of deals 12/14/2008

Deals for the week of 12/7/2008

Here is a link to my deals spreadsheet for the week. This is how I plan for the upcoming deals, and make a game plan before I head out to the store. I try to calculate any out of pocket expenses ahead of time, so I can minimize hassle in the store, and maximize savings.

I keep a spreadsheet for each week as deals appear--this way I don't waste time searching for deals that I may have read about weeks before, and I can prepare for upcoming sales by trading for q's, sorting my own stash, or arranging a special order for a particular deal (so that I wouldn't clear the shelves for other customers) I have yet to plan far enough in advance to ever do a special order--but I want to be prepared for the possibility if the right deal comes along (free TP or something ;) )

Each store has a tab in the spreadsheet, then I print it out and take it with me when I shop. I usually leave it open on the desktop for DH while I'm out shopping--in case the quantity or price differs from my plan--he can change my spreadsheet data more quickly than I can pen/paper it!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

A Free Shirt!

Thanks to Moms by Heart for this deal!

Visit Christopher & Banks and choose a shirt for under $10 HERE.

Use the promotional code 81015
Checkout. Continue past the Credit card info--you don't need to enter one.

You'll get a free shirt and free shipping - no payment required!

Friday, September 5, 2008

OOPS*

Steal of the day: 5lbs/$5 fresh (because they were out of the frozen) Catfish Nuggets Raincheck at HEB.

The Plan: a trip to CVS and Wags manana manana...might stop by Randalls to pickup 32oz cheese ($5.99) and money's from a Q that didn't triple...

Received:
2 free Cheerios Q's
Free Jumbo HEB Diapers Cat
Scott Extra Soft TP sample (full roll)
Free coffee @ Mc Donalds
Free Breadsticks @ Little Caesars

*that's oops! and not Out-0f-pockets in case you were confused. It's been a few days...just been busy busy!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Saturday Shopping Deals

The WAGS Plan:

Scott TP x 2 $14
Stamps 8.4
fly swatter .39
-scott IP - 1
-Scott IP - 1
-------
subtotal 20.79
$5/$20 - 5
-------
TOTAL 15.79+tax
RECEIVE $3RR for TP

alternate plans--organix shampoo tmf, All Detergent$3rr wyb 2,

The Old Navy Plan

DH is still losing/maintaining on Atkins, so we may pick up some $12 jeans at Old Navy's Denim Sale for incentive/reward :)

EDIT: The lines were so so long at Old Navy, we peeked in but couldn't justify the wait. I wasn't able to get to WAGS before the DD was over, so no go on the above plan--oh well...just not enough hours in the day sometimes.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A kind word goes a long way

Whenever I have a particularly good (or bad) experience with a product, I let the manufacturer know. If I have had a problem, someone else has probably also had the problem and didn't take the time to let them know--so my comment bears a lot of weight. When I really find a product that I like, then I let the manufacturer know that I want this product to stay around and that I would really appreciate any coupons they could pass along--so I can buy more!

There may be a small price of increased "junk mail" and "spam," but I find sorting through a few extra envelopes worth the numerous free products and $x/x coupons that I have received because of these comments.

Today I used a $1/1 any Farmland product Q on a $2.99/lb package of Bacon--I received an entire page of $1/1 and $.55/1 Q's--that is a dollar that I would have spent had I not let Farmland know how much (and how frequently) we enjoy their foods.

RECEIVED:
$40 WalMart GC AutoVantage

Monday, August 18, 2008

Free School Supplies

No kids in school yet, but that doesn't mean that we don't use pen and paper products! Today we picked up Office Depot's FAR Sharpie Black Marker 5 pk deal. The package had an extra Blue Sharpie too! It is one per household, NOT one per person as is advertised.

I will be sending off the Sure/Pert $5 school supplies rebate tomorrow along with the CVS receipt cataloging the purchase. The pert was free after the CVS BOGO sale coupled with $2/1 Q's, and I used a $1/2 Bic IP for to pick up 2 packages of mechanical pencils. Karl prefers those to traditional pencils, and uses them a lot for his Warhams sketching.

Interwebs

ATT U-Verse in now in our area, and after a saleslady came a-knocking, I did some online and phone research before we decided anything.

In the end we switched from Road Runner Lite to ATT U-Verse Pro with:
-3xfaster internet (only a $5 increase from TW)
-$150 cash back
-Free cable for one month*

They also waived the $95 installation fee and bundled our wireless onto the same bill for convenience. I am so excited to have faster internet. Not that ours is dial-up slow, but it takes a long time to upload video and pictures.

We may need to use the $150 to purchase a new printer--ours made some awful noises yesterday. I just hope it lasts long enough to use up the new ink cartridges that I JUST replaced!!!

*I know, I know, with no TV in the house the free cable is wasted on us, but you can pay me to NOT watch TV any day!!


RECEIVED
$4.49 Excedrin Rebate
$20 AutoVantage Rebate

Thursday, August 14, 2008

August 15, 2008

WAGS

The plan:

4 8xBic 8pk pens
7.86 4xScott extra soft TP 4pk
2 Eggs
14.99 1xUltra mini monitor
-----
28.85 sub total
2.215125 plus tax

-4Bic $1/2 bic stationery products (3IPs, 1 insert q)
-4Scott $1/1 extra soft TP IP
-20Ultra mini insert q
3.07Grand Total
use WAG Rebate GC
OOP $0



Received

$2.99 TMF Yogurt Melts Rebate
$3 Pinecone survey
$3 Pinecone survey
$2.99 Sure BOGO rebate
$132 salary over budget
----
$140.98 extra funds

ACTUAL
-EDIT 8/15/08
8 pkg bic pens
2 eggs .99 ea
used 4 Bic IP's
oop: $1.98*Doh! I forgot that I had a WAG GC :( Gotta keep my thinking cap on! The WAG by our house didn't carry the Extra Soft, but the one down the road does! I'll pick it up when we're out and about.