Hello??? Is Anyone Still There?

I am very sheepishly and ashamedly returning to this blog after about a six week absence! Life has been so crazy busy, and I have not had much time to do anything! Especially blog! I apologize profusely, and hope to return to blogging a couple times per week. I hope that you have found other great blogs to read while I have been on the QT. Here are a few of my favorites.

www.moneysavingmom.com
www.dealseekingmom.com
www.thethriftymama.com
www.southernsavers.com

I have been couponing and finding some good deals once in a while this last month. I had not shopped at Rite Aid at all in July until yesterday! And yesterday was the last day in the July rebate period! How sad! I have been shopping more at CVS, and Kroger while I am at the lake! CVS has a great monthly special for July. When you buy a Bayer Glucose Meter for 19.99 you will receive 5 ECB. If you don't know what ECB's are, follow one of the above links for a CVS tutorial. I have multiple coupons for these meters that will take off up to 30.00, so the meter itself ended up being free! I then received the 5 ECB's, for a total of 20.00 in ECB's without spending a dime! (The limit on the meter special was 4.) I have been rolling those ECB's on school supplies, which have been free after ECB's every Sunday through Tuesday. It is my goal to not spend any money on school supplies this year!

One deal that I did yesterday at the Kroger in Angola, IN was for Kleenex. Kleenex are on sale for 0.99 WYB 10 mega event items. I purchased 2 boxes of Anti-viral Kleenex and used a 0.50/2 coupon which tripled. So I paid 0.25 per box. I used this coupon several times and ended up buying about 12 boxes of tissues. Imagine my surprise when I received a catalina for 1.00 off my next shopping order courtesy of Kleenex. Not one, but 3 of them. Had I only bought the Anti-viral tissues they would have all been free after coupons and catalinas! I had bought regular Kleenex as well, for school, as the kids usually need to take several boxes!

I did great yesterday at Rite Aid too, getting tons of stuff for about 2.18 out of pocket. The value of the items that I purchased was 56.00, with most of them being on sale and having a partial rebate attached to them. I paid 35.93 OOP and will receive 33.75 in SCR. I rolled my May and June rebate checks to pay for today's purchases!

On a non couponing note, my kids have had a busy baseball and softball seasons, and we spent a week at the lake with really yucky weather! We had a great 4th of July, welcoming our new nephew/cousin Grayson Michael. Our niece/cousin Emersyn is due to arrive any day now! I have been trying to help my sisters out with their existing children while they grow and deliver these new children! It has been such a blessing, and I can't wait to watch these kids grow up together!

So there's a little highlight of what I've been doing. I am going to try hard to blog as much as I can, although when my classes resume in August I fear they will occupy most of my free time. I hope I am wrong though! Hope everyone else has had a great summer too!

CVS Memorial Day Sale!!!

On my way home from the lake, I stopped into CVS for their two day sale. I only had 4 ECB's going in, so I knew I would have to do multiple transactions. I searched the store high and low for the Neutrogena 1 oz sunscreen that would have given me a 6.00 profit, but I could not find any! :( Onward, and upward...

My best find of the day was a clearance cart of overstocked baby stuff for 75% off! I have TWO pregnant sisters, both due this summer. The one clearance cart had 25 oz Enfamil canisters for 6.50! The same type one of my sister's used with her first baby. I rang up most of the baby purchases separately, as I couldn't possibly use my ECB's on something that wouldn't roll!

Here's the baby stuff.

3 Enfamil Lipil 19.50
1 Enfamil Gentlease 7.10
2 A&D Zinc Ointments 3.30
2 2 pks Playskool Sippy Cups (for Aunt Lindsey's house) 3.80

Total 34.20! The cost of one can of formula at Walmart is around 27.00!

Here's my multiple transactions! The cashier was great, but my only complaint is she wouldn't let me use coupons with clearance items. I'd never heard of this before, and I could have gotten some other great deals from the clearance bins!

Transaction #1
Colgate Total 4 oz 2.99
Playtex 18 ct tampons 3.99

Coupons:
1.00 Colgate
1.00 Playtex
4.00 ECB

Total OOP: 1.19
Earned 5 ECB

#2
Aveeno Baby Lotion 1.90
Speed Stick Pro 3.99

Coupons:
5 ECB
I had an Aveeno coupon, but she would not let me use it due to the clearance price.

Total OOP: 0.96
Earned 3.99 ECB

#3
Clearasil Face Wash 3.99

Coupon:
3.99 ECB

Total OOP: 0.00
Earned 3.99 ECB

#4
Men's Speed Stick 3.99

Coupon:
3.99 ECB

Total OOP: 0.00
Earned 3.99 ECB

#5
Revlon Nail Color 3.99

Coupon:
3.99 ECB

Total OOP: 0.00
Earned 3 ECB

The total value of this stuff was 24.84. I paid 2.15 OOP and used 1 ECB! Happy Day!

I Ran for the Purex!

I had plans to go to Bryan today, but the Purex coupon made everything so much nicer! Here's what I did at CVS.

Transaction #1
4 Purex on sale B1G1 Free 13.98
Colgate 360 Toothbrush 3.99
Softsoap Body Wash 5.29 (didn't get the sale price for some reason)
Easter egg Dye 50% off 1.49

Coupons used
2 B1G1 Purex
0.75 Colgate
1.00 Softsoap
5.49 ECB's

Totol OOP 4.88
This is way more than I like to spend OOP, but I guess I forgot how to do my math. Read on, and you can see why I'm not too upset.

ECB's Received
3.99 Colgate
4.99 Softsoap (this one didn't print, so I may not have picked up the right kind)

Transaction #2
Easter Egg Dye (50% off) 1.49
Colgate 360 Toothbrush 3.99
4 Sobe Life Waters B1G1 2.98

Coupons Used:
0.75 Colgate
2 B1G1 Sobe
4.99 ECB from Softsoap (The cashier kindly deducted this because my ECB did not print).

Total OOP:
-0.01!!!
She adjusted the amount to be 0.00, and I was all set!

ECB's Received
3.99 Colgate

This is 50.17 worth of stuff! I paid 4.88 OOP:( Went in with 5.49 ECB's, and came out with 7.98. Free laundry soap doesn't happen often, so stock up if you can!

Free Purex Detergent through Saturday

Here's a deal I can't pass up posting. Coupons.com has a B1G1 Purex printable out for our region. Through Saturday, CVS has Purex on sale B1G1, making them both free! Remember to hit your back button three times and reclip the coupons so you can print them twice!

OH NO! Expiring Register Rewards!

Today I had a 10.00 RR expiring, and another expiring in a couple days. I ran to Bryan quick after plotting out my sinister plan. Hehehehe... I stopped at CVS for Diet Pepsi, and then to Walgreen's to spend my RR.

At CVS I used more ECB's(Extra Care Bucks) than I got back, but that's OK. I got some good sale items anyway.

I bought:
2 Post Trail Mix Cereal B1G1 4.79
Crest Pro Health Enamel 3.49
2 Skippy Peanut Butter B1G1 3.29
3 Diet Pepsi 12 pks 3/11.00

Coupons used:
2 2.00 Post Trail Mix Printable
1.00 Crest expiring 3-31 from P&G
2 0.40 Skippy
B2G1 Diet Pepsi Printable
12.97 ECB's

Total OOP 0.24 on my Gift Card!

ECB's Earned:
3.49 Crest
2.00 Pepsi

Walgreen's was actually fun! I used my expiring Huggie's RR to buy a lot of items that have a monthly rebate attached to them. There is a lot of "couponing" going on here so I will try my best to explain.

I bought:
2 Scrubbing Bubbles Natural Cleaner 2/6.00
Pledge and Multi Surface Pledge 2/7.00
Tums Dual Action 7.99
Right Guard Professional Deodorant 5.99
Walgreen's Headache Relief 2.99
2 Sambucol 12.99 each
3 bags of Easter candy 6.50 total

Coupons used:
2 1.00 Natural Cleaner
3.00 Pledge Aerosol Printable
2.00 Multi Surface Printable
3.00 Tums Printable
2 4.00 Sambucol Printable
1.50 off 3 Hershey's Easter Candy
10.00 Walgreen's coupon in the monthly booklet (took off 20.00)
1.50 Walgreen's Hershey's coupon in the monthly booklet (took off 0.50 per bag)

Will submit for Easy Saver Rebate (Monthly program)
2 1.00 Natural Cleaner
2 1.00 Pledge Products
5.00 Right Guard
2.99 Walgreen's Headache Relief

Register Rewards
Earned 3.00 for the Tums

I'll try to summarize it here. My subtotal was 62.45. After coupons at the register I owed 21.45. I then used 20.00 in RR which took my total OOP to 5.37 with tax. Not bad, not bad, but it gets better. Keep in mind I earned 3.00 RR for the Tums, and I will submit for another 11.99 in the monthly program! Including my extra 10% gift card bonus, that's a profit of 10.81 for the night!

Oh, I almost forgot! I also picked up a mail in rebate peelie for Crest Pro Health! I'll probably send that in too for another 3.25! That means I got reimbursed the cost of the toothpaste from CVS plus another 4.25 for the coupon and rebate! Thanks go out to everybody involved!

Walgreens and CVS

I don't take the time to blog weekly about Walgreens and CVS. Mainly, because I don't have time, and because we don't have them here in town. If you want to shop these stores for their sales, check out a couple of great blogs.

http://www.thethriftymama.com/ and http://www.dealseekingmom.com/ both have weekly sales and deals posted. They also continually update if new deals pop up. They are a great resource for figuring out sales and deals! Some blogs give tutorials on how to work the ECB's and RR's also! Each store is different, and it can get quite confusing (see Walgreens post below!). Use these ladies and their wealth of info!

CVS 3/4/09

Tonight I went to Bryan while the kids were in church, all by myself...again. I wish I had company to go with me. If anyone ever wants to give it a shot, let me know! I went to Walgreens too, but I will post that separately.

Transaction #1
Gillette Fusion Gamer 7.99
SlimQuick Energy 2 pk 4.99
Cascade Liquid 2.99
Act Total Care 3 oz 0.99
CVS Vitamin D 100 ct 2.99
2 Reese's Whipps 1.00

Coupons used:
4.00 Gillette
1.00 Reese's Whipps
1.00 Cascade
13.97 in ECB's

Total OOP: 1.40

ECB's Earned 12.97
4.00 Gillette, 4.99 SlimQuick, 0.99 ACT, 2.99 Vitamin D

Transaction #2 (I had to ask where to find this. That's my only reason for 2 transactions.)
Carnation Instant Breakfast 4.99

Forgot to give my coupon, but oh well.
Paid with 4.99 ECB's from previous transaction.

Total OOP: 0.00 I like seeing three zeros in this category!

ECB's Earned 4.99

Not bad, 1.40 out of pocket for 25.94 worth of items, and only lost one ECB!

CVS Trip 2/16/09

I don't blog much about CVS and Walgreens, but I do get so many good deals there. I went to visit my great-grandma on Monday, and stopped in quick at CVS. Here is how my deals went.

Transaction #1
2 Earrinse 15.98
Used 15.98 in ECB's, so my OOP was ZERO!
Received 15.98 in ECB's.

Transaction #2
2 Colgate Total 2.99 each
Gillette Shampoo 4.99
CVS Chewable Aspirin 1.99
Instant Energy 4.99 (I was desperate, with a line behind me, and these were at the counter!)

Coupons Used:
0.75 Colgate
1.00 Colgate
1.00 Gillette
15.20 in ECB's (I think she adjusted my ECB's down without telling me)
OOP 0.20

Received ECB's for:
Colgate 5.98
Gillette 3.00
Aspirin 1.99
Instant Energy 4.99

Although I didn't need much of this stuff, it was nice to roll my ECB's, as many of them were expiring this week.

Starting Off My Week the RIGHT Way!

Tonight I had to get out of the house, so I went to Bryan all by myself! The kids have been home WAY too long! I went to CVS and Walgreen's, hoping that by going at the beginning of the week the stores wouldn't be out of everything. I had pretty decent luck...

Walgreen's is a little harder to understand. They have a monthly rebate program, weekly sales with in-ad coupons, and a register reward program (RR). I have learned how to combine the three to maximize my savings.

For my first transaction I purchased items that generated RR. I used some of the RR on the second transaction.

4 Boxes Frosted Flakes 4/10.00
4 Flintstone Gummies 4/20.00
7 Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil 20 sq feet 1.69 each

Coupons
4-1.00 Kellogg's
4-1.00 Flintstones
In ad coupon making foil 0.99 each
7-1.00 Reynolds Wrap

Total OOP 23.82 on Gift Card

Received 13.00 in RR
I was in search of a Walgreen's Pharmacy coupon for the Flintstones which would have saved me another 4.00, but to no avail. I thought 6.00 for 4 bottles was a great price anyway, considering we take these vitamins every day. Usually the price of one bottle is 5.99!

Transaction #2

Electrasol 3.49
2 Garnier Fructis Hairspray 2.99
2 Jars of Popcorn (per the husband's request) 2/3.00
6 Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar 4.89
6 Hershey's Special Dark Bar 4.65

Coupons (try to follow me here)
2.50 Electrasol
EasySaver Coupon for Garnier 4.00 (2.00 per bottle)
6 Hershey's B1G1 (took off 4.80)
In-ad coupon for Hershey's 2/1.00 (took off 3.54)
3.00 RR

Total on GC 4.83
Will submit for monthly ESR of 1.50

CVS
I have so many ECB's from the Christmas and Turkey Day sale! I decided to start using some of them up so I don't have to be responsible for so many!

I only did one transaction, and the cashier looked at me like I was CRAZY! She remembered me from the Christmas sale and my many, many, many transactions! Too funny...

2 Colgate Total 2/5.00
Garnier Fructis Hairspray 2.99
Kids Throat Coolers 4.99
Playtex Tampons 7.99

Coupons
2-1.50 Colgate printable
17.97 ECB

Total OOP 0.21
I decided not to use my GC for this one. Helps me to meet the criteria of a checking acct that I have.

Earned 8.99 in ECB's

CVS Christmas Sale

CVS is running another big sale Sunday and Monday of this week only. It is very comparable to the Black Friday Sale they had over Thanksgiving. Last week I took a new prescription over and used a register coupon for a 25.00 gift card with any new or transferred prescription. The prescription cost 5.00. This is what I will use now instead of paying cash! I made time to go over today, and it was very worth my while! Here's the lowdown.

I had 25.98 in ECB's going in today.

Transaction 1

EAS Advantage Protein Bar 1.69, Listerine x5 14.95, Excedrin 3.99, Arm and Hammer Essentials Starter Kit x4 11.96

Coupons

1.00 A & H x4

2.00 Excedrin

25.98 in ECB

Total OOP 0.96 on Gift Card

Earned 32.59 in ECB

Transaction 2

EAS Shake 4pk 7.49, Loreal HIP eyeshadow x2 13.98

Coupons

20.63 in ECB

Total OOP 0.90

Earned 21.47 in ECB

Transaction 3

Zantac 8ct 4.99, Thermacare neck wrap 2.49, Halls Natural 2.59, Rightguard Professional 6.00, Zipfizz 5.99, Sally Hansen Nail polish x2 12.98, Johnson's Buddies Soap 1.19

Coupons

1.00 Zantac
3.00/2 Sally Hansen from CVS Beauty book

25.94 in ECB

5$ off of a 15$ purchase (see below)

I forgot to give her my 1.00 coupon for the Buddy Soap :(

Made it up with 5/15 coupon that printed out on my first transaction!!!

Total OOP 0.60 on Gift Card

Earned 34.04 in ECB

Transaction 4

Qtips 2.50, Johnson's Buddies Soap 1.19

Coupons

1.00 Buddies

2.59 in ECB

Total OOP 0.18 on Gift Card

No ECB earned

The value of this stuff is nearly 93.00, and I walked out of the store with 38.94 in ECB's!!!!!!! Taking into consideration the OOP cost on my gift card, CVS paid me 10.32 to "buy" all of this stuff!!! Love it!

Black Friday Shopping at CVS

Sweetness! Gotta love CVS's Black Friday Sales! I went on Turkey day, and there wasn't a soul in the store! No crowds, a decent cashier all to myself, and only one item on my list was out of stock! I had 15.00 ECB from the battery deal going in, and came out with 13.25. I did six transactions to purchase my merchandise. My only piddly complaint is the cashier adjusted my ECB's down without telling me.

This is over 109.00 worth of stuff! OOP I paid 2.14!!! Can't beat that!

Transaction 1
Contact solution 8.99, Aussie 2.99, Playtex 3.99

Coupons
1.00 Aussie
15.00 ECB adjusted down to 14.97

Total OOP 0.07

Transaction 2
Gatorade 1.49, CG Foundation 7.99, CG powder compact 5.99, Colgate Total 2.99

Coupons
2-1.00 CG
1.00 CVS Colgate
1.00 Colgate
ECB 14.98 adjusted down to 14.46

Total OOP 0.21

Transaction 3
2 Loreal Lip Gloss 13.98, Gatorade 1.49

Coupons
15.47 ECB

Total OOP 0.00!!!

Transaction 4
Crest Pro Health 3.49, Johnson's Lotion 5.69, Schick Trimmer 7.99

Coupons
1.00 Crest
1.00 Johnson's printable here
2.00 Schick printable here
2.00 CVS Beauty Book Blade
13.98 ECB

Total OOP 0.80

Transaction 5
Rightguard Professional 7.99, Aussie 2.99, Garnier Towelettes 5.99

Coupons
1.00 Aussie
15.18 ECB

Total OOP 0.92

Transaction 6
Hershey's Candy Bar 1.00, Crest Pro Health 3.49, Colgate Total 2.99, Sally Hansen 3.79, Maybelline Mineral Foundation 8.99, Gatorade 1.49

Coupons
1.00 Crest
1.00 Colgate
1.00 Sally Hansen
18.75 ECB

Total OOP 0.14

CVS Wednesday

Tonight Nicole and I went to Bryan, without calling a dear, dear, couponing friend and inviting her to come along. I completely regret not calling, and I hope with sincerity that your RR's didn't expire. This mistake will not happen again, I promise!

At CVS, I spent more ECB's than I made, but I got products that we use on a regular basis. Next week I will make up for this, as I already have some money making deals in the works (in my head of course).

2-32 oz Gatorade 2.00

3-32 oz Propel (not all are pictured) 3.00

Always Infinity 4.99

Covergirl Foundation (donation) 5.49

Covergirl Outlast Lipcolor 9.99

Coupons used:

2.00 Always

1.00 off 2 Gatorade (CVS coupon)

Covergirl buy foundation get complimentary face product (-9.99)

1.00 Covergirl

9.96 ECB

1.52 ECB (adjusted down, I am just now seeing this)

Total OOP 0.98

ECB's earned 6.00

Refund 1.07 for Always ECB that didn't print out

5.39 spent including ECB usage. I justify this loss of ECB's as "This is how much the pads would have cost!" I love this lip gloss, and am going to stock up on it as often as I can!

I did a second transaction so I could use my ECB's from the first transaction. I saw that Dove products were on sale, and I had a great 3.00 coupon print out last week from the register for Dove lotion. I applied this on my deal, of which the sole purpose was to get the bar soap.

Dove 6 pack 6.99 (ouch)

Dove Body Lotion 6.99

Coupons used:

1.00 Dove Bar Soap

1.50 Dove Lotion manufacturer coupon

3.00 Dove Lotion CVS coupon

8.29 ECB's

Total OOP 0.38
Earned 3.00 ECB

Spent 5.67 including ECB's. Justified again by "This is less than the Dove soap cost!"

Saturday Shopping

Today, Bailey had a volleyball tourney in Bryan, which her team won! In between games I made Ryan go with me to Walgreens and CVS. He waited patiently in the car, so maybe next time I can get him to venture inside with me.

At CVS, the cashier had set back two boxes of the Always pads for me. I knew they would be out of stock when I went, so when she offered to set them back, I took her up on the offer!

2 - Always Infinity 4.98 each
Addidas Deodorant Raincheck 0.99
Nivea Bodywash Raincheck Free

Coupons Used

1.00 Adidas

9.96 in ECB's

Total 0.07 OOP

Earned 9.96 in ECB!

Walgreens was out of stock of my big money making items, but I did get rainchecks, so I will do these when they are back in stock. I did "buy"

Scrubbing Bubbles Megafoamer Shower Cleaner 3.99

2 Crest Toothpaste 1.99 each

Fantastick 2.50

Windex 2.50

Butterfinger Theater Box Candy (Filler) (long gone...)

Coupons used:

Crest IVC (Walgreens coupon) 1.00 x2

2.00 Scrubbing Bubbles

1.50 Fantastick

2.00 Windex

1.00 off two Crest

5.00 RR

Total 1.38 OOP

Will get back from Walgreens ESR 1.00 Windex, 1.00 Fantastick, and 1.00 Scrubbing bubbles.
So in all, I paid 3.38 for this including my RR useage.

CVS 10/4 and 10/5

Along with Walgreens, we also went to CVS. At CVS I spent 0.63 OOP for 2 Colgate toothpastes, Dawn dish soap, Covergirl Foundation, and Covergirl eyeshadow. I had been promising Bailey some eyeshadow, so that and the foundation are long gone! I couldn't include them in my picture.

Colgate 2/5.00
Dawn 0.99
Covergirl Clean Foundation 5.49
Covergirl Eyeshadow 4pk 5.49

Coupons
0.25 Dawn
1.00 CVS Colgate
.75 Colgate
1.50 Colgate
1.00 Covergirl
B1G1 Covergirl
CVS 3/15
3.98 ECB

Total OOP 0.63
Gained 7.49 ECB
2.88 PROFIT!


Sunday we were in Bryan again to visit family, so I made Kristin take me back to CVS! They were out of stock of several of this weeks deals. While I was there I made the most of it (quickly, per her instructions).

2-Colgate Maxfresh 2.99 each
32 oz Vitamin Water

Coupons
2-1.00 Colgate Maxfresh
5.79 ECB

OOP total 0.66
Gained 6.29 ECB
Total of 0.16 for this!