Shaws and Target Shopping 2/8/12

I had a pretty successful trip today to Shaws and Target, so I thought I would break it down for you all.

First of all, I believe it giving credit where credit is due, So I didn't think of the first shopping trip that I had this morning on my own, it came from the website www.howtoshopforfree.net on the website, Kathy, the owner, broke down this deal:

Shaws has BOGO (Buy One Get One) Yoplait Greek Parfait

So you buy 4: $5.56

The other 4: $0

You use the coupons from SS (Smart Source) 2/5 for $1/2, you use 4 of them (Nick goes through our Condo's paper recycling and often gets a few inserts).

So: $5.56 - $4.00 = $1.56 OOP cost. A $2 Catalina will print to go towards your next purchase (technically making it free). When I got mine, it said $1. So I just went to Customer services to get it fixed.

I used the $2.00 Catalina to purchase produce in the reduced cost section at Shaws. I purchased 2 Green Peppers and a package of $.99 cent Celery. Both looked perfectly fine. And peppers freeze REALLY well. Just chop them up and put them in a freezer bag. Makes them perfect for taking out and throwing in a recipe. I also purchased a small loaf of french bread for our dinner tonight which cost $2.84.

Total cost OOP for Shaws was $4.40 (Cost before coupons/ store clearance/ sales was $16.01

Target was next: I got 4 packages of Market Pantry (Target brand) Mac and Cheese. I had 2 coupons I printed off the Target website for $1/1. I forgot that Target doesn't give overage (like Walmart does), so I paid for 2 $1.34 for both.

I had coupons for free Wheat Thins from www.mycokerewards.com so I got those.

I purchased 2 Up & Up brand baby food pouches (had .25cent Q's from Target) $.64 each.

I got 4 Happy Baby brand baby food pouches $1 each (had 1 Q for $1/4) $3.00 for all

Purchased 4 packages of Dannon Activia Yogurts and used 4 $1/1 Man. Q's and 2 $2/2 Target Q's, making each pack $.19 cents each.

I bought 2 travel sized Aquafresh Toothpaste, there were no size restrictions so I got the $.99 cent travel sized and used my $1/1 Man. Q's

Total Cost before Coupons/ Store Sales: $22.61

OOP Cost $6.28

Making my daily savings 76%

I got $44 dollars worth of groceries for about $10!

Don't forget at Target you can use Store Q's and Man. Q's on a single item as long as neither prohibits it! :)

Happy Saving!

Staples and Shaws!

Free Saturday Shopping (almost all free)

First stop was at Shaw's Supermarket where we purchased

9 Travel size Nabisco products (normal cost $1.50/1 store sale $1.00/1)

1 Paring-Pro Knife (worth $5)

Coupons used included 1 $3/3 Nabisco coupon, and 2 $2/3 Nabisco coupons (from 1/8/12 insert)

Paring knife was free with in-store demonstration!

Price before sales and coupons was $18.41 (including knife)

After coupons and store sales OOP $2.00

90% Savings!!

Also a trip to Staples:

Purchased was

1 Bic Mark It Permanent Markers (Cost before store sale $4.79, sale $1.00)

1 Staples Xeno ballpoint pens (Cost before store sale $4.17, sale $2.00)

2 packages of Bic Clic Stic (Cost before store sale $3.79, sale $.50)

Coupons Used

2 $1 Bic Coupons (1/8/12 insert)

$2 Staples Rewards

Price before sales and coupons was $16.54

After coupons and store sales OOP $0.00!!

100% Savings!!

Happy New Year!

Let me start by saying, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I'm so sorry for not blogging lately. I would keep forgetting, and than when I remember, something comes up! Landon had pneumonia/ bronchitis last week, making it near impossible to do anything!

I decided that throughout the year this year, I was going to keep a shopping journal to keep track of what I buy and what I save. Perhaps this year so far, my proudest moment was finding clearance diapers (and helping a neighbor with 5 kids too, get in on the deal!). This last week, Stop and Shop had Santa Diapers on clearance for 50% off at $4.99. Normal cost is $9.99. With $2 coupons, the cost was $2.99. It got even sweeter on Friday, January 6th, when the diapers went to 75% off at $2.99. With $2 coupons, we got 5 packages for $.50 each, meaning we got them 95% off! Got $50.00 worth of diapers for $2.50! I will try to be better at keeping track of deals and posting (not on just baby stuff obviously) so that people can be just as successful!

For example, recently www.coupons.com had Reach floss $1.00 of one, I think the deal is still available. That means free floss at Target or Walmart. Also, not to be offensive to everyone, but this is a fact of life, there is a coupon for $3.00 off K Y Jelly, The small size is under $3.00 so you can get overage to apply to other purchases. I usually send Nick to Walmart on his way home from work since he basically goes by it. Sometimes I'll buy items because I have coupons that will give me overage :).

First SUCCESS story with Rite Aid

Okay, so Rite Aid is kind of like CVS, because they have the program where you can earn +Up rewards with certain purchases, etc. But, typically I find CVS to be a bit more user friendly, but when I saw how I could stock up on GREAT products before flu season, I couldn't resist! I enlisted the help of a fellow blogger for this success story, and although I had a few changes... I did pretty well!

There were TONS of +Up rewards to be had. I did 3 transactions:

First Transaction:

2 Carefree Pantiliners $2/2 ($1 off Rite aid coupon and 2 $.50 MF) = FREE

Preparation H Totable Wipes $3 (got 3 +Up rewards)

Cloraseptic Spray $3.99 (3 +Up Rewards)

Bayer Asprin $2.99 (2 +Up Rewards)

Comtrex $3.99 (3 +Ups Rewards)

Total OOP $10.54

got $11 back in +UP Rewards

Second Transaction:

Blistex Lip Ointment $1.49 (1.49 +UP Rewards)

Burt's Bees Thorat Drops $1.49 ( 1.49 +Up Rewards)

NeilMed Nasa Mist Spray $5.00 (5 + Up Rewards)

Cepacol Sore Throat Lozenges $2.50 (2.5 +Up Rewards)

Used $11 + UP Rewards from Transaction #1

Total OOP $2.64

got $10.48 in +UP Rewards

Third Transaction:

Hylands Natural Cough and Cold Medicine $5.99 (5 +Up Rewards)

Zabees Natural Child Cough Syrup $5.99 ($5.99 back from online Rite Aid Rebate)

Emergen-C Immune Shots $3.49 ($3.49 back from online Rite Aid Rebate)

Used $10.48 in +Up Rewards from Transaction #2

Total OOP $5.30

got $5.00 in +Up Rewards

Total Full Price cost before coupons/ discounts $68.18

Total Cost OOP $18.48

$5 +Up Rewards from 3rd Transaction

After Rebates $9.48 is Total Cost for everything!!!!

I just realized, they made a mistake and with the first transaction, they forgot to scan 3 +Up rewards into my second Transaction, so they owe me 3 +UPS Rewards! Should have paid $6.48 for everything :).

I think we're good for the flu season, and paid very little OOP!

One of my FAVORITE CVS trips (Love CVS!!)

So, I looked at some of the sales this week, and we had a couple rainchecks, coupons and ECB's (Extra Bucks) towards CVS to use, so I was there at midnight (I know, crazy, BUT WORTH IT!). The total cost of everything before sales was: $33.85 (crazy, right?! Yeah.. that's CVS)... But, we had a raincheck on the Zyrtec for $5.99 with a $5.00 MC and $1 ECB = Free, plus $5.99 back in ECB's. Hershey Bliss, $5.99 = Free with ECB's (from Zyrtec) and got $5.99 back in ECB's. Bounty on sale for $5.99 had a $5.00 coupon towards Bounty and ECB = FREE! Tampax on sale for $3.99, used Coupons and ECB's = FREE with $2.00 back on ECB's. Pepto Bismol on sale for $4.99, used ECB's, paid. .46 out of pocket and received $2.00 in ECB's. So, I saved a total of $33.39 SAVINGS of 99% and only paid $.52 out of pocket, and Received $10 back in ECB's towards my next trip. LOVE IT!!

MADE MONEY AT CVS!!!!!!!!

Actually got PAID to shop today, and ultimately ended up saving 100% and made money too! First completely successful trip where paid little out of pocket and got more ECB's at CVS! And WE USE EVERYTHING I bought!! AWESOME! Spent $38.88 and spent $4.69 out of pocket (after coupons and ECB's) and got $6.00 ECB's back! YEAH!!!!!!!

First of all, we had $2.00 in ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) at CVS from a prior purchase. We had 3 coupons for $1.00 off Ivory Soap, 2 coupons for $5 off John Frieda Products, $1 off any Nabisco package, and 2 $1.00 off Honest Tea.

This week CVS has John Frieda hair products on sale for $5, normally $7.89 each. Got BOTH free after coupons and there was also a promotion where you get 3 ECB's for every $10.00 spent! Final Cost: FREE + $3.00 ECB's!

Ivory Bar Soap is normally $1.99 each. They were on sale $.99 each and I had 3 coupons for $1.00 off. Final Cost: Free + $.03 back!

Honest Tea is normally $1.88 each. Sale was 5/$5. We had the $2 ECB's from previous purchase, and 2 $1.00 of 1 Honest Tea. If you buy 5, you get $1 ECB Back. Final Cost: FREE!

Milk was on Sale and we had a coupon to get $1 off any Nabisco package, so we got the cookies!

Technically spent $38.88, Spent $4.69 out of pocket and received $6 ECB's! SAVED 100% and actually made $1.31 to shop!

I'm excited to share a NEW website!

So, a few days ago, on the news, I heard about a woman who lives in our area named Kathy Spencer. She's an extreme "couponer" in my area. She has a website, www.howtoshopforfree.net which gives some helpful advice. Through it, she had a website listed, www.couponnetwork.com. Coupon Network is AMAZING! Some of the coupons show you how you can earn money back after a purchase! For example, we bought 4 boxes of Post Pebbles (were on sale at Shaws for $2 each) and we got $3 back for our next purchase! It's free to join and you can list your "favorite" store which will show you what deals on groceries are in your area! So, we had a plan to get a good deal at Shaws today!

Knowing about this new website, Coupon Network, is where we started our savings today. We knew that Post Pebbles cereal was on sale this week, 2/ $4, and if you bought 4, you'd get $3 back. Therefore, we bought $8 worth of the cereal with one transaction. After the transaction, there was $3 towards our next purchase. There was a deal for 3/ $6 Sun Chips. We had 3 coupons for $2 off any two Sun Chips. We bought 6 Sun Chips which would have been $12, but with the coupons, it ended up being $6. We also had 5 FREE Sierra Mist with any Sun Chips purchase coupons. The Sun Chips and Sierra Mist coupons were from the Frito Lay newspaper inserts from the newspaper 2 weeks ago. We had a coupon for FREE Uncle Bens Ready Rice. A coupon for 2 FREE jars of Beechnut babyfood and $1 off 6 Beechnut babyfood jars (on sale 55 cents each). FREE Beechnut baby cereal coupon, so got Oatmeal Cereal. FREE Suave professionals coupon. Grand total would have been $60. We paid $14 TOTAL! We Savings 77%! Not bad!! In case you're wondering, our free coupons usually come from Facebook promotions and signing up for certain programs, etc.

Also, I recently started something called SWAGBUCKS. If you join, you do searches (like you would anyways), fill out surveys, do tasks, etc. You earn swagbucks, which you can use to buy neat things, or get prizes, etc. I joined about a month ago and have already earned $15 worth of Amazon.com gift cards. Just sayin!

Yesterday, Nick went to CVS and got pain medication, Tylenol Precise heat pads and Carefree pantiliners FOR FREE! We had a $5 coupon for Tylenol Precise and it was on clearance for around $2. You can use the overage for other purchases, plus we had a CVS coupon for $3 towards ANY pain medication! Savings 100%!!