Deals of the week!

This has been one of our best weeks since we started hyper-couponing about 8 months ago! We finally made it to Staples on the last day of their free 'backpack' special and were delighted to find some very nice selections. Choosing one was quite difficult, but we did narrow it down to two. Then our shopping pal volunteered to put one in his cart so we could have both! The black one was half price and the tie-dye 25% off. We also used a 20% off coupon for the black one, which brought it down to $23.99... and we're getting a $29.99 rebate on it! CHA-CHING!


We also bought several other items, using Staples Rewards, that offered a rebate. So we now have a total - including cash back, Staples Rewards, and gift cards - of around $87.50 coming. Add to that a $10 Publix gift card from the Publix/ConAgra offer, $10 from Aveeno, and $4.96 from the lunch tote we got at Target. Can't wait for these to start rolling in!

Another AbFab deal was at Publix. We did this one three times. Each time, using five $1/2 coupons and the $5/10 ConAgra products Q, 10 bottles of Hunt's Ketchup (BOGO) gave us an overage of $1.25 toward other items! Twice, we opted for the Sabra Hummus (can't stop eating that stuff!) that was on sale and paid exactly $1.75, the cost of one ketchup, for everything! And at the end of the month, each use of our credit union ATM card has earned us 15¢. That came to over $40 this month! CHA-CHING!


Last, but certainly not least, for the final of several Friends and Family deals at Walgreens, we used a $25 Walgreens 'check' from a prescription transfer. Missing from the picture below are 6 more Big Rolls and 8 gallons of distilled water. We bought the 2 vitamins - which our insurance/wellness account paid for! - earlier in the day. Each one cost $7.50 and returned a $10 RR! CHA-CHING! We used the RR from one, along with a couple other RR's we had on hand, to pay for the Complete, one of the razors, and three Huggies wipes. (Almost forgot, we used a $4 coupon on each of the razors and combined store and MC's on the Huggies). The other $10 RR went to Publix for a few last minute deals on the final day of their sale.

Our final deal at Walgreens filled a cart and cost us exactly 13¢! Remember, we get 15¢ for using the ATM card, so we actually made a 2¢ profit! CHA-CHING!

OOP between Publix and Walgreens: $3.63.
RR's in our wallet right now: $23! CHA-CHING!!!!!
Oh, and we found that the cashier made some mistakes, so they owe us 75¢.

Also, we didn't even get a chance to post our CVS deals, which gave us a chance to roll some ECB's with a mere pittance, mostly tax, OOP. This is WAY working for us! :)

Who'da thunk, a year ago, we'd actually be buying more and paying less?! One of the very best things about this new lifestyle is 'buying' so many things we don't need. We've been able to donate quite a few items to the local 'children's home'. They tell us it's a blessing, but we truly believe we are blessed even more. We always leave their office with huge smiles and singing hearts!

OO! OO! Edit: Almost forgot the 2 Alive! coupons, making the vitamins $6.50 each; with a $10 RR per, those 2 alone netted us a $7 profit! CHA -CHING!

God bless your budget!

Duke's dandy drugstore deals!

The Duke made a last-minute run to CVS and Walgreens this afternoon and scored better than planned.

At Walgreens, he picked up one Re-nu contact solution ($7.49) and two Butterfingers (50¢ each) as fillers (coz he had 3 coupons). He used one $2 Re-nu coupon, two $2 RR's and an old Wags gc that had $1.69 left on it. Total OOP was $1.40 and he got a $7.50 RR. Plus, we get 15¢ back for every purchase using our bank's ATM card!

Next, at CVS... we decided to hold on to our ECB's till the new sale starts tomorrow. We started out with one CVS coupon for a free Dove bar or $2 off a larger amount and one free gift (choice of one 20-pk antibacterial wipes or shave cream ) coupon. The only other items on our list were 2 PowerBars @ 99¢, each of which gave us a 99¢ ECB. The Duke grabbed the shave cream ($1.49), 2 PowerBars ($1.98) and a Dove bar (89¢). The register took $2 off for the Dove and $1.79 for the shave cream, leaving a total of 57¢ and 10¢ tax. So, 67¢ OOP and we saved $3.79. AND we got $1.98 in ECB's. That, along with a $1 ECB for his 4th green bag tag* scan and the 15¢ ATM rebate, gives us a $2.46 profit!


Honestly, 6 months ago, we would have taken very little stock in the notion of saving money at CVS or Walgreens. But we're sitting here now with $46 in ECBs, a fistful of CVS coupons and a cupboard chock full of toiletries and paper products, most of which were dirt cheap if not free. The hardest part of the whole process is planning the best strategy to roll the ECB's/RR's. For beginners who might find that a challenge, just go back to our blog list (lower right) and you'll quickly find someone who has already posted some suggested scenarios. Go for it! Just think, once you're paying pennies on the dollar for all your toiletries, you'll have so much more in your budget for those pricey organics! 8-]

God bless your budget!

*'CVS/pharmacy will donate 5 cents to World Wildlife Fund for every Green Bag Tag™ sold between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.'

$10 Neutrogena rebate

This might go nicely with this month's Neutrogena deal at Walgreens. Buy 3 skincare products, at 25% off, and get a $10 register reward!

God bless your budget!

CVS 1, Wags 0

Our Walgreens excursion this evening was a bust. Apparently, there was a mix-up concerning the L'Oreal hair colour coupon. We left empty-handed. Next stop, CVS. This turned out rather well. On scanning our CVS card, we received a coupon for a free Dove bar or $2 off a laydown bag. We opted for the single bar, on sale at 2/$1. We also found Suave body wash for $2.79. Normally, we'd have passed on that price, but there were 2 bottles with 50% extra and we had some ECB's we needed to use. What a nice surprise when the register took off the whole $2 for the Dove bar! Our grand total, including tax, was 50¢! We ARE amused! 8-]

Starting up is hard to do

We started this blog with such good intentions. But it's cold! We're talking C O L D! We live in FL. It's never supposed to be this cold this long. To be honest, we just haven't felt much like shopping. We did do 6 or 7 Chips Ahoy deals at Walgreens and used some of those RR's for newspapers, tp and milk. And we sent Little Lord Parsimony to Publix for a few end-of-sale eatables. We had planned on making the rounds today, but it got to be mid-afternoon and we thought about how long it would take... dusk would surely descend upon us before we got home. We are ill-prepared for freezing temperatures at sunset. Tomorrow is another day. If we can get an earlier start, we should be able to catch up a bit.

In the meantime, we've been putting together our coupon binder. This is going to make things so much easier for us. We've been juggling envelopes and trying to keep track of which coupons we're actually using each trip. We already had most of our needs on hand and we found the best price on the rest on eBay. We're just waiting on one final element to complete the system. Then we'll post pictures.

God bless your budget!
Have a JESUS-filled day! ^i^

Shopping for fun and profit

We started this blog to keep track of our savings. It seems the easiest way for someone of our scatter-brained personality type. (*;*) If someone else happens to be inspired to coupon or learns something helpful, well that's just gravy.

Tonight, we just had to post about our first big Walgreens deal. We know this is small potatoes to most Wags vets, but it was quite exhilarating for us.

We started out with a list and one $3 RR (Register Reward). We had a plan to do two transactions. For the first transaction, we bought:
1 Stayfree 16-pk Ultra Thin Pads - $1.99
1 Conair hairbrush -$2
1Neutrogena Men's Skin Care - $4.99
1 Just For Men Touch of Grey - $6.99
1 - Renu .. Solution, twin pack - $9.99

The total, before tax, was $25.96. This kicked out a $5 RR (offered for purchase of $25 or more). Then we handed over our coupons. $1/Stayfree, $2/Neutrogena, $2/Touch of Grey, and $2/Renu. Oh, and our $3 RR, which brought the (sub)total to $15.96. Hang on, it gets better. Now the register kicked out a $2 RR for the Stayfree, a $2 RR for the brush, a $5 RR for the Neutrogena, a $7 RR for the Touch of Grey, and a $10 RR for the Renu. At this point, we're $15.96 OOP (out of pocket), BUT we have $31 in RR's to use on other Walgreens purchases.




Next, we bought:
2 Olay body washes - $4.79 each
2 Olay body lotions - $9.99 each
Total (before tax) - $29.53
Another $5 RR ($25 purchase) pops out

We used two Buy any body wash, get body lotion free coupons. The key word there is ANY. We opted, of course, for the least expensive. Now the (sub)total is $9.58. We handed over a $7 and a $2 RR and paid OOP, $2.65.


OK, so now we have a rebate form for the Touch of Grey. That'll give us back $6.99. And there's an Olay body lotion rebate that may or may not be accepted since we didn't actually PAY for the lotions. If acceptable, that'll be another $19.98 back. If you're still following, this'll knock your socks off. Factoring in our OOP, the RR's we got back and the rebates, we'll be realizing a $33.54 profit! ($13.56 if the Olay is ineligible). Not too shabby, either way, eh? Even if we threw everything we just bought in the trash, we'd be ahead.

We can hardly wait for the next sale at Walgreens. What a rush! 8-} But now the adrenaline is wearing off and there'll be a free BOB (Breakfast on a Bun) with our name on it at WhataBurger in the morning. Tomorrow, we'll try to catch up on some Publix savings. Sleep sweet, y'all!

Get out there and SAVE!