So, note to self and any others who may listen in to my ravings, remember to check you coupons expiration dates and see what you can still use for a good deal before they expire. Oh, I also tried to do a good deed for others. If I found I item that was too expensive for my taste even with the coupon, I left it for others who may not be as picky as I am. (Yeah, like I'm willing to pay $2.50 for shampoo any more!)
Oh, BTW, out of those coupon items, the retail would have been 23.22. After the coupons, the total was 8.16 making my savings 65%. Not bad especially considering the fact that none of the items were on sale!
I didn't see any Easy Saver Rebate books for May, so maybe they really are phasing that out. I also forgot to get the Rembrandt toothpaste that is also free after register rewards.
Went to CVS next. My retail was $108.49 and after sales, coupons and ECB $38.43. I received $22 in Extra Care Bucks making my final 16.43.
Some of my best deals were:
They also offered a couple of deals that I took them up on. Buy $15 of certain cleaning products and receive $5 in ECB and buy $20 in certain medications/first aid products and get $10 back. I actually had to fight for this one. I was checking my receipt before I left and I hadn't received it. The cashier made me take everything out that should have earned me the ECB and she totaled it up and printed me up my $10 ECB. I didn't have to fight in a mean way after all, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I did a really good job on this though. I actually purchased a little over $20 but after coupons, my total was 16.87. Then they gave me that $10 ECB meaning that I paid 6.87 for over $20 worth of products.
It's official!!! I received this directly from Walgreens. Make sure to get your coupon at http://www.walgreens.com/dmi/onlineoffers/default.html?ec=hn1016rs_getcoupon .
Also, notice you need to check out at photo or cosmetics registers only.
On to Price Chopper. Retail was 42.67. After sales and coupons my OOP was 17.81 making my savings 58%.
That was $3 in free pasta. I think I could afford buying on of the Ragu's for 1.25 to save $3.I was nice to actually score some "real" food although saving money on things like granola bars, yogurt, shampoo, etc is VERY nice. Mike isn't that surprised anymore unless I save less than 50%...what pressure!
OK, time for wonderful Walgreens. I hope the new program they come up with will work as well as this current one. My retail was 21.44 and after coupons & turning in RR's, my final price was 4.75. BUT I didn't pay that. I had a Wags gift card from my Easy Saver Rebates which means I paid nothing. But that wasn't enough, no, they also gave me $2 more in RR's which means Wags paid me $2 to take over $20 worth of merchandise!
I still need to go to CVS again to see if they have Pert & Raisin Bran back in stock. Here's a helpful hint. If you want food items that are on sale at CVS or Wags, go as early in the week as you can because they don't always have a lot of each food item nor do they always restock those items.
Then we went to Walmart. Micki took things in her own hands and started writing down prices of her choosing, so it wasn't that helpful to me, but still educational and fun for her. Oh, you wanted to know what I did with coupons, huh? Well first, let me explain that Walmart can be a little challenging because the prices are different in different areas, so while I might gain some things from the list on Becentsable.net, I may not get some of the items since the price may be more here and not worth it.
At Walmart, I purchased 25.73 and ended up paying 7.51. That's a 71% savings. What was also cool was that the man behind me was VERY impressed with what he saw me do and asked me for imformation and websites so he can share it with his wife.
Finally ran back to Walgreens for those Speed Stick deoderants that I saw on sale for $1 each. I a coupons from 3/29 SS for .75/2 which means I got those for around .62 each. Aldi's deoderant is 1.89 each which means what I bought today was 67% cheaper than Aldi's. I also picked up one of the Colgate toothpastes that give you 3.50 RR back. So, my total retail was 7.49 and it ended up being 5.99 after coupons. I turned in $5.00 worth of Register Rewards making my final price .99, but wait remember they were going to give me 3.50 for that toothpast I purchased which means Walgreens ended up paying me 2.51 to get deoderant and toothpaste!
One of the things that I have learned is that you can't used RR to purchase the same thing and get more register rewards. For instance, I had a 3.50 Register Rewards that I received from my toothpaste purchase last time. I couldn't use it this time if I wanted to receive the RR for the toothpaste this time.
I don't think I'll be doing any shopping tomorrow, so my next opportunity will be Monday after we get the papers on Sunday.
I needed to get some prescriptions refilled. I had a coupon for a $10 gift card at Kmart for a new transfer script that was in the paper last Sunday 4/5. I filled one of the prescriptions that I don't need that frequently and got my $10 gift card. I used it in part to purchase some Quaker granola bars that were on clearance for 1.49 so I scored those for free.
When I left Kmart, I went Price Chopper to get the rest of my prescriptions and pick up a few things, of course. I purchased 6.17 worth of items for 2.28 which makes a 63% savings.
I plan to go back to Price Chopper, hopefully tomorrow. There was a shopping cart half full of deodorant on clearance for 2.00 each. I'm checking out my coupons after I get off here! Mike & I will never have stinky armpits again...I know, too much information. :-)
This Friday, April 10th, Babies R Us will be having a sale on some of the Earth's Best Organic baby products.
But if you go to http://www.earthsbest.com/promos/promos.php?cat=coupon to sign up at Earth's Best, you can get a $1/10 coupon and print it 3 times. That would mean you can get the jarred food for .40 or .90 each, and it's a great organic brand.
Ok, on to CVS. Good thing for me that they are right across the street from each other! My retail total at CVS was 61.96. After sales and coupons my total was 27.98. I gave them 15.48 in Extra Bucks I paid 12.50 which was an 80% savings.
So, that was my follow up shopping. Tomorrow the grocery ads come out, so hopefully that will give me some more oportunities.
Well, those are my highlights from Wags for this evening. I'm going back for more shaving cream and toothpaste and maybe some more toilet paper. I'm also going to check out their B1G1 Nature Made vitamins. I'm also going to head back to CVS for B1G1 free makeup. I'll get it free because I'll pay for it with my Extra Bucks.
Bought a few other things as well, but the above items were the best ones.
I actually saved quite a bit a HyVee using their coupons from their sales add. I only had 3 other coupons besides those. I purchased 17.52 retail and paid 8.37 after sales and coupons. That makes my savings 52%.
Hyvee also has C&H sugar on sale for 1.48. I had a .3o Q from 3/15 RP which was going to make my price 1.18. (They were out when I went, so I got a rain check.) Aldi's sugar is 1.54. I will be getting a 23% savings over Aldi.
So, yes, you can save money over Aldi. Not all the time, not all items. But, if you stock up when you get the deals, then you can save more money over time.
So, here ends this days couponing saga.
