Here's your chance to get some traffic

We don't have CVS around here. Usually, I just skip the CVS entries on the blogs I read, so I really don't know who posts deals there at all.

Rebekah, one of my friends, is looking for info about getting into the deals at CVS. I'm WAY behind on my bloglines subscriptions... the only three I've seen so far are:

Money Saving Mom (CVS primers ONE and TWO)
Frugal Heart (this week's deals ONE and TWO)
The Centsible $awyer (this week's deals and CVS Superstars with lots of links to other CVSers)

and there are CVS forums over at HCW

Do you know of others? Have a link? Are you listed above and want a different (or additional) link listed? Leave me a comment! As I get more comments in, I'll update this list above. Rebekah, I'll still post more as I find them - I just don't want to keep you waiting forever... go out there and harvest some deals!

Cheap Pizza

Wags is SO my dominant store - can you tell?

This week they have Red Baron pizzas on sale $5/2 (limit 4). Red Baron currently has a promotion where you enter codes from specially marked boxes to try to win Wii systems and games/accessories. If you don't have a code, you can go to redbaronpromotions.com and get a free code sent to your inbox once a day.

What does this have to do with the sale?

If you DON'T win a Wii prize, you get a coupon for $1 off a pizza - and I was able to print mine twice. You can only sign up one email address per person, but my hubby is signed up, too (though we had issues with the code they sent him today). That's 4, $1/1 coupons in a day if that works out - and 4 pizzas at $1.50 each!

I picked up my first 2 today. I can't have it (have I mentioned before that I have celiac disease and can't do gluten?), but my kids and hubby can - and do they ever love pizza. And since Red Baron is their brand of choice, this is a great stock-up week for us.

And the employees thought they saw me a lot before! Mwahahahaha!!!!

EDIT - Nevermind - even though I entered my codes today, I was told that the print limit has been reached. Bummer. Well, at least I got two cheap pizzas out of the deal - and I'll get two more if we ever get my husband's code to work.

Restaurant.com

We recently tried buying some gift certificates here on the same kind of sale they're running right now. It turned out to be a really good deal!

Right now at Restaurant.com, you can get you certificates at 80% OFF using the code TREATS when you check out. That's a $25 certificate for $2! ($25 certificates are usually for $25 off $35 or more, not including alcohol.) These big sales make their site a bit slow, so make sure to bring your patience with you!

I'm off to see if I can find a treat for our family! Don't forget to shop through Ebates for 15% of your purchase price right back in your wallet at Restaurant.com!

Coupon Organization

Since I started getting seriously into couponing, I took up the binder method. It's great if I keep up with it - but I haven't had the time to do that.

So I'm going to give the box method a try. I got the general layout from Money Saving Mom - the box (a small crate) from Goodwill, and the envelopes from Grocery Outlet. I know we have some 3x5 cards around here already. So it is my hope that I'll have my coupons re-organized by this coming Sunday - preferably before our next trip to WinCo on Thursday. At least I'm all caught up on clipping (well, I still have this Sunday's to go...)

Rite Aid Sunday and Wags Monday

Only one thing at RA this week (so far - we don't get the ads until Tuesday, and I don't like trying to page through them online). We got one of the coupons for the Digital TV converter boxes from the government (dtv2009.gov). We currently have digital cable, but we aren't sure that we'll be able to keep it, so I figured better safe than sorry. RA has had the boxes for months, but they were always still $20 after the coupon/card for them. Last week, though, they were selling them for $40 - or $0 after the card. So, that's when I got ours. Geof's going to call the company tomorrow, though, because according to the box it should have a universal remote in it and it has the other kind of remote (dedicated?) instead.

In talking to my lovely SM at Wags today, I revised my shopping trip and took full advantage of the RRs I had (and received).

1
Grape Pedialyte $4.50
Citrus Pedialyte $4.50
York Mints $.99
Sunbeam Cuddle-Up Throw $34.99
$44.98
-$10 RR
-$5 RR
-$5 RR
-$4.50 RR
Total $20.48 (off the gift card)
Received $5 RR for throw and $2 RR for Pedialyte, and throw has a $5 MIR

2
5 Cases Dr. Pepper $11.00
Bottle deposits $3.00
$14
-$5 RR
-$2 RR
Total $7 (off the gift card)
Will receive the $3 in deposits back

5 12-packs of Dr. Pepper for $4. That's less than $.07 a can! And it will tide G over until a good sale on Coke at Safeway... =)

It pays to get to know your managers

I don't have time for a full details post, so I'll fill that in at a later date. But I talked with my favorite manager tonight at my Wags about the "new" RR restrictions and found out that the cashiers were wrong yesterday. You can use as many RR as you have - as long as you have at least that many items. RRs count as a manufacturer's coupon - not a gift card. Walgreens policy is that you can't have more coupons than items. For instance, I had $24.50 in RRs that I wanted to use toward something for me (I was thinking the foot warmer, but went with the Sunbeam throw). I couldn't use all 4 RRs on ONE item - so I bought the throw, 2 Pedialites and a tin of mints (4 items) and used all 4 with no problem. If I would have had a coupon for the mints, I would have needed one more item (4 RR + 1 Q = 5Qs... need 5 items). My SM (store manager) is really, really helpful and she kindly went right to the cashier and explained the policy to him again before I had to check out... and everything went smoothly!

My $5/$20 deals

Okay. While I've been in a mad search for my Zout receipt (I can't believe I lost the one receipt from that day that I actually NEED), I figured I had better do my deals post now before I forget (and upload my ESRs to Wags immediately!).

Nutra Air Kit $5.99
Mushrooms $1.29
Mushrooms $1.29
Mushrooms $1.29
Mushrooms $1.29
L'Oreal Pro Calcium $19.99
Oral B Cross Action Tooth Brush $4.49
$35.63
-$4.00 Nutra Air
-$2.00 L'Oreal
-$5.00 RR
-$1.00 Oral B
-$3.16 Wags Mushroom Q
-$5/$20 Q
$15.47
Received $4.50 RR and $25.29 110% ESR

Christmas Wrap $1.99
Christmas Wrap $1.01
Christmas Wrap $1.50
Christmas Wrap $1.50
5.2 oz caramels $.49
5.2 oz caramels $.49
380 500 Q-Tip bonus pack $2.00
Play doctor kit $6.99
Play kitchen kit (mixer) $6.99
Play kitchen kit (toaster) $0.00 (their $6.99 toys are B2G1)
Princess Tea Set $9.99
$32.95
-$2.04 Wags Wrapping Paper Q (brought each down to $.99)
-$.30 Q-Tips Q
-$10.00 RR
-$5/$20 Q
$15.61

I know I've said before that I don't like to double claim my savings - saying "it's like I paid" and then tell you "but since I used my gift card and RR I didn't pay anything OOP." My bold totals above are what came off the gift cards (So, I really DIDN'T pay anything OOP!) But, I have to do the money out/money back report at least with this deal...

Money Out $31.08
Money Back $29.79

That's only $1.29 that I didn't recoup!

(And in the interest of transparency, the toaster is going back. It doesn't finish it's little timer without having to force it - and I'm SO not going to deal with "Mama... fix it!" over and over for the next few years. I think I'll replace it with the play tool belt... or the knock off My Little Ponies since they both really like my two from growing up.)

So it really was a good trip - even with my disappointing news from earlier. I'm now really debating whether I want to still get the foot warmer and sunbeam throw this week (they were going to by freebie birthday/Christmas gifts for me from my husband... yes, I was going to buy them, but he was on board). I really think I'd use the foot warmer a lot. Even right now, I'm sitting here at the computer and my feet are numb from cold (G and I are totally different when it comes to nighttime temperature - I've got the electric blanket on my side of the bed, he's sleeping next to the open window!). The throw was meant to replace mine that is already over 10 years old. I don't know.

What I'm actually kicking myself on... the digital frame. I've wanted one of those for 3 years now. They were $69.99 - $10 RR - $5/20 - $22 ESR (110%) would have brought it down to $32. Granted, though, I can't really afford to be springing for that right now - even with the gift card - so it was smart to skip it. But still...

So bummed

I got some good deals today - especially for Christmas for the kids. But my Wags is no longer allowing more than one register reward per transaction. I'm really upset - I know I've mentioned that money is tight around here right now, and I had been saving them for a couple things that are coming up on sale this week. So now I have $10, $5, $5, and $4.50 - and I can't use them all together (or even the 2 $10s that I had before today - I was going to use 2 $5s together when I found out) for the one $19.99 and the $35 items I wanted to this week. I know that I can (and will) use the $10 one - as it will be expiring on the 29th. But after these are done, I don't think I'll be chasing the RR anymore.

I do think I'll be calling corporate on this new rule. I understand if the coupons say that you can't use them in combination with another. But the ones I have do not say that - and they advertise that they're "the same as cash" and "it's like getting it for $X" - but it's not if they aren't going to honor them. Either that, or I'll just be splitting up my orders into much smaller groupings from now on to use it up... and make more work for the cashier and hold up the lines. It's just ridiculous!

My Wags Scenarios

Okay - tomorrow is another $5/$20 (YAY!!! Not $25!!!) at Wags. Qs are available on Wags site, but also any site with coupons.com coupons (personally, I'd encourage you to get your coupon HERE as HCW provides me with many of my great deals and sneak peaks!)

These are mine, and they're scenarios that I'm doing mostly on my own (the only assistance was in learning that the Oral B RR deal is still going on). If I have a nice cashier, I may up the mushrooms in each order to all 4 possible for the coupon as we used our last cans yesterday.

I have to get back to my paying-work, so please forgive me for not putting my coupons on here and where they're from this week. The prices I list are the prices after coupon - I can explain tomorrow if people want to know more... and will for sure with my receipts.

Scenarios:
1
Age Perfect $17.99
Oral B $4.49
Neutra Air $1.99
3 cans mushrooms $1.50

$25.97-$5RR-$5Q=$15.97
Receive: $26.96 ESR + $4.50 RR

2 (FIND Q-TIP Q)
Tea Set $9.99
3 toys $13.98
St. Ives $2.99 (If Q)
Q-tips (if 1=$2)
Halloween balloons (if 1=$1.50)
1 can mushrooms $.50

$30.96-$10RR-$5Q=$15.96
Receive: $5.00 RR

The beef gets a bit pricier

Okay - if you haven't done the deal yet, you'll notice that your code from Geico rewards now says $25 off $100 or more. So that's not worth it.

If you did it yesterday, you most likely got an email saying something like this:

Dear MRS LASTNAME

Thank you for shopping at Omaha Steaks! We appreciate your business and
are confident you will be delighted with your order.

We do show when placing this order, a special offer for a free item was
combined with the $25 reward card. As stated in all promotions for free
items, offers cannot be combined. Your order will ship without the free
item.

So, still 2.25 pounds of beef for $1.98 - which is still a decent deal ($.88/lb). But not as thrilling as last night's deal. Today has been a bit of a downer for me on deals in general - lots of stores changing policies or raising prices even more than before around here. So this shouldn't surprise me... but it did.

I will say, from reading back in the blogs I learned of this yesterday, it appears that Omaha Steaks changed their rules multiple times after this program started. Again, it doesn't surprise me, as I know of only one person who was really pleased with OS - most had complaints about the company. My only dealings with them was in regards to a second-hand gift certificate I was given by the family I nannied for. They were rude and unhelpful - and I ended up letting that $50 go rather than dealing with them again. Now I know why.

I've got a deal a brewin'!

Every now and then, Safeway has their 12 pack Coke products buy 2 get 3 free. That's the sale that we wait for.

MyCokeRewards.com currently has BOGO coupons for 12 packs for 200 points. You cash out your points, it sends you to a bricks link, you print your coupon. Yes, that's right, a bricks.com link - the ones where you can hit the backspace and print it a second time. I've done this deal 3 times today - so spent 600 points and have 6 coupons.

Here's my scenario:
Buy 2
Get 3 from Safeway
use 2 BOGO coupons to get two more free...
and those two count as being purchased... so I get 3 more free from Safeway!

So for the cost of 2 12-packs, we'll leave with 10 of them! Repeat this 3 times that week and be stocked up with Coke for about 2.5-3 months or more for the price of 6!

How do you get the points? Inside the box of Coke - where you tear open the fridge packs - there's a code that you can type in to mycokerewards.com. Enter your codes and keep building your points value. I also get extra codes by checking the box bins at Safeway when I go to return my cans. Many people just throw them out - I usually leave with at least 3 codes (30 points) - I once came home with over 100 points!

Really great deal on GOOD beef!

I'm in the middle of doing this right now - so I can't vouch that it will work yet. But it appears to be working for a lot of other people in frugal blog land, so I'm posting it here now for you. If you want to try - go for it! I will also add that the comment to the blog from whence this came said it is not available in Ohio. But - that's doesn't mean you Ohioans can't try if you want to!

These steps are taken from Catherine Wheels post about the deal- I thank her very much!

1) Go to this link to sign up for the Geico website. You do NOT have to have Geico, you do NOT have to switch any of your insurance. It just gives you a username for their website, and they will email you within an hour or so with a link to a gift card code. Check your spam folder if you don't get the email after two hours or so. The gift card number is really long, so double check when you write it down.

2) Go to this link and type in your email address. They will send you an email confirmation right away, and there is a link within the email to start shopping. After you get your gift card code from step one, use that link to order the hamburgers (described below) and it will automatically give you 12 free 4 ounce burgers. The 12 free won't show up in your cart until you check out, so don't panic.

3)When you get your gift card code and go to the link through the step two link, you'll be at the Omaha Steaks website. In the left hand sidebar, click on the link for "burgers/brats" etc. Scroll down until you see the option for "eight 5 ounce steak burgers" for 12.99. Add that to your cart, then checkout. (Note: apparently the $12.99 option doesn't work for everyone, if you get through the next step and it doesn't work, go back and get the $14.99 option. It will cost you $2 more out of pocket, but you'll get that much more meat.)

4) At checkout, you enter your address etc and you should see the 12.99 burgers, plus the 12 free burgers you got from doing step 2 above. At the point where they ask for payment, you'll see that they add in about $13 for shipping - don't worry, your gift card code will cover that.Before you enter your credit card (or paypal - one of the payment options is "pay by paypal" if that is easier for you), enter your gift card code and hit "apply" or whatever the button says next to that.That should take your total down to roughly $1.98. Then enter your actual payment method and you will only be charged $1.98 (it may be a few cents more or less depending on your address, it was $1.98 for me)

5)Complete the transaction. In a few days you'll be getting a cooler shipment of 5.5 pounds of Steak burgers, which works out to ONLY 36 CENTS A POUND!

That is a GREAT deal for ground beef. They will come as hamburgers, but you can brown them like regular hamburger to use in other recipes. It's not organic beef, but should be high quality.

I can't tell you for sure how long it took to get the code to my inbox since I just got back to the computer now after being away from it for about 11 hours. But it came, I placed my order exactly as she said to do, and I'm getting 12 4 oz burgers and 8 5 oz burgers shipped to my door for a total of $1.98.

I didn't have to sign up for any automatic shipment of burgers ever month or switch my car insurance - it was just a one-time thing and I'm done. And I'm getting 88 ounces (5.5 pounds) of beef for $1.98 - or $.36 a pound!

Go! Try it! And let me know if it works for you!

Tip from others who have tried it. When you get the email with the $25 gift card code, you have to be logged in to the geico site in order to redeem it. I didn't realize this as my geico window was still open from this afternoon, so I had no problems. If you go to place your order and all you're seeing is a $10 off $50 purchase, just make sure you're logged in and try again.

and there are more reports that it's not working in Ohio... sorry

I've been busy at the computer

But I haven't had a lot of time for "fun stuff" this week. Sorry you've been neglected =)

I took advantage of the $5/$25 coupon Saturday at Walgreens. I can't really list all of what was purchased since some will be Christmas gifts for family. But, the gift that (so far) I think will be the biggest hit of the year... and the next 4 years... for my FIL was on clearance from $15 down to $3.74! So I picked up 4 of those (I had already gotten one earlier in the week and then kicked myself for not picking up the rest - glad they still had some). They had exactly TWO Blues Clues nighttime glow in the dark Handy Dandy Notebooks with a clock face and write-on-wipe-off pages, also on clearance for $2.49 each. I got 4 Bonnie Bell Lip Smacker sticks and 2 of the tubes (the ones my friend, Meli, would call lip thur-APP-y) - they were all 40% off and I had a handful of BOGO coupons for Lip Smackers and Bonnie Bell products. They'll make great stocking stuffers, too! I bought 2 Lindt dark chocolate with orange bars that came out to free plus a tiny overage after coupons. And, fearing that I wouldn't quite make it to $25 (I was right - it was something like $24.78 after coupons), I picked up two 3-packs of these little rubber bracelets that you're supposed to put the croc-charms in. Only, my kids are two small for the charms (also on clearance) - but the bracelets will go in the dress-up box as well. I ended up spending just over $20 after the coupon - and I'll post details when I have it in front of me.

In other shopping news...

2 bottles of Arbor Mist - on sale at Bi-Mart for $3.49 each. I have a MIR for $4 off 2 from their website a couple months ago. It ends at the end of this month - but it has already been pulled from their site. Those will end up being about $1.50 each!

I found a clay baker at Goodwill for $7.99. I have already passed on it a couple times and I have been wanting to one since reading THIS post. That, coupled with chickens on sale at Fred Meyer this week for $.79/pound... I decided to go for it.

Walgreens again. Oh my beautiful Walgreens! They have Pert on sale this week for $3.49 - I think I mentioned that before. Their coupon for $2.50 off, coupled with my coupons for $1/1 (and one $2/1) left me with 7 more bottles of Pert... and $1.07 in my pocket for buying it! I added in a Triaminic ($4.99 - $2/1 q), a Theraflu ($4.99 - $1/1) and an 80 ct Excedrin express gels ($4.99 - $2/1) to the order. The Theraflu has a MIR for purchase price (though some at HCW are saying the fine print says they deduct your coupon from it.) And purchasing those last 3 together earned me an $8 RR. Second order was a 20 ct Excedrin express gels (also a full MIR - maybe minus coupon... but I didn't use the coupon on this one) and 2 6-packs of Joint Juice. I've heard great things about Joint Juice... and they were BOGO with the first one on sale for $.50 off regular price... and I had 2 $1/1 coupons. So between the Excedrin and the 2 things of Joint Juice, the total came out to $8.98 - minus my $8 RR was $.98 - and I have a a MIR for the Excedrin which will put money back in my pocket.

Apples were a REALLY good price at Grocery Outlet this week. I found out when I was there it was because some of the apples in bags were rotting, but I was careful to choose bags that were good. Only, when I got home, I noticed that one of my 3# bags wasn't as full as the other - so they had been removing rotting apples from the bags and selling them for the same price ($1.99/3lbs). Whatever - I know it's a gamble buying produce at my store. But, that "6 pounds" of apples made 4.5 pints of apple sauce - which I canned for the first time this week! So I went back and carefully looked through the 5 remaining bags of apples yesterday - got 3 of those ($5.97) and 2 5lb bags of WAY better looking apples for $5 each ($10). For just under $16, I have enough apples to fill the rest of the canning jars with apple sauce - and have warm applesauce with dinner! Plus, I'm borrowing canning equipment from a friend... but found the ones I was given and had forgotten about while cleaning out the garage. So I can do this at any time now! I plan to pick up a bunch of acorn squash and pumpkins and can those, too!

Because of all this canning goodness, I actually had to expand our pantry out in our garage! This is SUCH a blessing to us! In the midst of everything else we have going on, I know for a fact that my family can eat - and eat healthfully - should our unemployment situation continue on... or should the power go out for too long. One of these days I'll have to do a post with a photo of our pantry. You can see how stockpiling on frequently used items when they're on sale works for us and helps keep our grocery spending WAY down.

Final great deal of the week. Rite Aid had SoyJoy bars on sale $5/10 ($.50/1). I have grown to really like them - even though soy, for the most part, still scares the bugeezus out of me. I miss granola bars, though, and I like having something that I can safely grab when we're on a long car trip. I had a few coupons for them - one B2GO and two $2/10. The cheapest I've been able to find this has been $.96 at Walmart, so I went and got myself 23 SoyJoy bars for $7 - or about $.30 each!

For those who shop at Whole Foods

We don't have one near us, but I do love them...

$5 off $25 coupon

Free Pert at Wags Next Week!

According to next week's ad (thanks irishlass Hot Coupon World!)

Pert Plus will be on sale for $3.49. There's a $2.50 IVC (Instant Value Coupon) in the front of the October rebate book. And there's a $1.00 coupon here (don't forget to hit the back button to print your coupon a second time). I will for sure be picking up a few of these to add to our stockpile. It's what Geof uses - so I'll get it whenever it's free!

Just remember, there's a coupons/items rule at Walgreens. You're using 2 coupons on one item this way - so make sure you pick up two things that don't need coupons to keep your totals even - check the clearance section and the candy aisle for cheap fillers!

Free Sausage - and it's Gluten Free, too!

I just saw a commercial for Bistro Naturals on Food Network. They advertise as being gluten free. They also advertise a buy one get one free coupon at their website.

Just thought I'd put that out here for anyone who might be interested.

Bringing home baby?

Well, you can have a chance to do just that with Baby So Real - brought to you by The "Cent"sible Sawyer and Irwin Toys.

Go here to enter for your chance to win this adorable baby doll!

Starting out the new week

This week's biggest deal for me personally will be the buy 3 Dimetap and get $10 RR. Dimetap are $3.99 on sale this week - and you can print as many $2/1 coupons as your little heart desires here. Basic math makes this $5.97 out of pocket and $10 back or a $4.03 profit one each set of three. I plan to do this a couple times and save the RR for another deal in a couple weeks.

I did pick up the Arm & Hammer laundry detergent. On sale for $2.99, $1/1 here and $1 ESR - bringing it down to $.99 for a bottle of detergent. I've heard some good things about this stuff - maybe this will be what finally cures our cloth diaper woes!

I had a little snafu with insurance about one of my prescriptions, so I know I'll be back at Walgreens tomorrow. But here was today's summary:

Arm & Hammer $2.99
Dimetap $3.99
Dimetap $3.99
Dimetap $3.99
-$1
-$2
-$2
-$2

Total $7.96
Received $10 RR and $1.10 ESR (110%)

Everything was in stock!!!!

Everything was there, and one of the products (the Pediatric Sinus Rinse) had an additional $1.00 off NOW coupon on it! There was a $1.50 rebate coupon attached to my Sucrets, but it's good well into 2009 and I have a $2.00 rebate on that one for now. So, I'll hang on to that one. Also, the BOGO on the throat coolers was only up to $2.50 and mine were $2.99. But, seriously, $.49 for a second box - I'm FINE with that!

This was such a great deal because not only will things come back FAR, but the out of pocket up front was so much lower because most of them were on sale, too. I don't usually do the regular price/sale price listing, but for this deal I really want to. If nothing else, just another reminder of how God has blessed us in a time when money is tight. And I'm thankful.

*Sucrets Herbal Berry $4.49/$2.99
*Chapstick Nat Lip Btr $2.99
Theraflu Warming Cough and Cold $6.29/$3.99
Lizard Lips $1.99/$.99
Triaminic Daytime Cough and Cold strips $6.99/$3.99
NeilMed Neti Pot w/ 50 Pkts $14.99/$10.99
Sinus Rinse Pedi Kit $7.99/$4.99
Soft Lips Pomegranate $3.99/$2.99
Little Colds Cough $5.99/$3.99
LypSyl $2.99/$1.99
Throat Cooler Grape $3.99/$2.99
Throat Cooler Strawberry $3.99/$2.99
Hyland's Sniffles and Sneezes Kids $6.49/$3.99
Simply Saline Baby $5.99/$3.99
Simply Saline Sinus Kit $9.99/$6.99
Bee MD Honey Lemon Cough Drops $2.99/$2.49
Children's Advil Blue Raspberry $6.99/$3.99
Excedrin Extra Strength Express Gels $4.69/$3.99

Coupons (links here):
-$2.50 (throat cooler BOGO)
-$1.00 Sinus Rinse Pediatric
-$2.00 Excedrin
-$2.00 Triaminic
-$3.00 Neti Pot
-$1.00 Theraflu
-$1.00 Children's Advil

Totals:
Regular $103.82
Sale $71.32
After coupons/gift card (OOP) $48.82

Single Check Rebate -$71.32
Additional MIRs (-$7.99)

FINAL -$30.49

Between the Robitussin deal from Walgreens last month and this AWESOME deal from RA, we are set to tackle whatever this winter throws at us! Plus, I left there today with all those things above and an additional $30.49 soon to be in my pocket! What a great way to start the day!

My second home

Since I'm submitting this for a weekly wind-up, here's the links to all of my Walgreens trips for the week:
MamaOnABudget: I'm on a Walgreens HIGH!
MamaOnABudget: This is becoming my go-to store

I went back to Walgreens today and had the price corrected on the toilet gels (they were, in fact, $.50 less than what they rang up - giving me $1 back). I've never returned an ESR item (or two) before, so I'm not sure how that's going to work... since it had already been approved. I think I'll just enter the new receipt with the two of them on there for the correct price and hope that covers my bases. Otherwise - I'll just give them a call.

Also got the Halloween candy with the sale, coupon and ESR mentioned in the last post.

I really do have a great Walgreens!

Time to ready the medicine cabinets!

Rite Aid has 30 different products for cold and flu season FREE AFTER REBATE this week! If free isn't good enough for you, I've also found some additional coupons that I'll be using at my RA tomorrow. Many were from this post by Money Saving Mom, but a few I hunted out on my own (as you'll see in the comment section of her post).

I admit it - I'm not in RA often enough yet to know the layout of the store, so I made the decision to go there this week simply to case out where the items for this sale are located. I even made notes in my rebate booklet =) So I've got my "map" drawn up, and I'm heading there as soon as they open tomorrow (8 AM) to get my products for this rebate. I'm doubly excited that my $10 RA gift card arrived this week - so that will be even less out of pocket!

Here's my list:
NeilMed Nasalflo Neti Pot--$10.99
There's a $3/1 printable here
Free plus $3 overage

NeilMed Sinus Rinse Starter--$4.99
There's a $3/1 printable MIR here
(This MIR only needs a copy of the receipt - so I can keep it with the other purchases)
Free plus $3 overage

Simply Saline Sinus Kit--$6.99
Free after rebate

Children's Advil 4 oz. Liquid--$3.99
There's a $1/1 printable here
Free plus $1 overage

Theraflu 8.3 oz.--$3.99
There's a $1/1 printable here
Free plus $1 overage

Excedrin Express Gels 20-ct.--$3.99
There's a $2/1 printable here
Free plus $2 overage

Triaminic Strips 14-ct.
There's a $2/1 coupon here
Free plus $2 overage

Simply Saline Baby 1.5 oz.--$3.99
Free after rebate

Children's Throat Cooler Pops 6-ct--$2.99
BOGO coupon here
TWO Free after rebate

Little Colds/Noses 1.7 oz. mist or 1 oz. liquid--$3.99
Free after rebate

Hyland's 125-ct. or 4 oz. liquid--$3.99
Free after rebate

Bee MD Drops 21-ct.--$2.49
Free after rebate

Softlips 1 or 2 pk.--$2.99
Free after rebate

Lizard Lips--$0.99
Free after rebate

Lypsyl 1-ct.--$1.99
Free after rebate

Separate Transaction
Sucrets 18-ct.--$2.99
Additional $2 MIR here
Free plus $2 overage

Separate Transaction
Chapstick True Shimmer--$1.99
MIR in this Sunday's (10/12) Red Plum insert - free up to $2.99
Free after rebate x2!!!

This is becoming my go-to store

I really didn't feel like leaving the house today. It may not seem that way from this blog, but I really do not like to go shopping. I'm a homebody - I'd rather be home with my family and taking care of things here than out and about... especially E-V-E-R-Y day. But that last post... I knew I had to get there today or tomorrow to get the rest of the things on the list for the rebate while they were on sale. So, my incredibly awesome husband offered to get whatever I needed at Walgreens if I made him a list.

And he did good!

Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Cleaner Kit $19.99
Shout Wipes $2.50
Gator Bite mints $.99 (they weren't on the list, but I cut him some slack =) )
Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Brush Max Kit $3.99
Windex $2.50
Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Gel $4.49 (this should have been $3.99 - and it was wrong last time, too...)
Subtotal: $34.46

Coupons
-$1.50 Shout product
-$2.00 Toilet Gels
-$2.00 Toilet Brush Max
-$2.00 Windex
-$10.00 Automatic Shower Cleaner

Total: $16.96
(110% ESRs for $16.50)

If I can get that toilet gels thing corrected (the ad says they're on sale - I thought the tag in the store did as well), we'll make $.04 on this deal. But even without, we did really, really well.

(Edit - I did get it price corrected on 10/11, so we were paid $.04 to shop there today!)

I tried to find the coupon I had for Halloween candy before G left, but I didn't until he was already gone. So I will be heading out one more time tomorrow. Hershey's funsize candies are part of the big sale this week that will break down like this for us:
Sale - $10/4
ESR (110%) - $4/4(.40)
2 coupons for $1/2
$1 ($.90) each bag!

We're in a new area for Halloween this year (actually, we weren't even here for Halloween last year as we were out of town for a funeral). So we have NO idea if we'll get a lot of kids or not. There are a ton of vacation rentals around us, so I have a feeling that it will be a slow area here in favor of the year-round homes on the east side of town. But I don't want to be caught empty treat-bowled =)

So ONE more post tomorrow. Then, I'm pretty sure, I'll even be able to send in my ESR after that (though I may just wait until the end of the month... just in case).

Making ESR #27 a little sweeter

Money Saving Mom has a new link to some coupons from Right @ Home with great deals on the SC Johnson products in ESR #27, as well as a coupon making the Automatic Shower Cleaner free after coupon and ESR #29 this week!

Yup - I'll be heading back to Walgreens to finish off 27 with some shout wipes and either the scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner spray or Windex. And I haven't heard much good about the automatic shower cleaner... but maybe this will be my chance to try it and give my own review! Either that or it would make a nice addition to a basket of other cleaning products to give to a friend or child as a new-home present or for a college apartment!

How 'bout some cake?

A diaper cake, that is!

Home Ec 101 is doing a giveaway for a diaper cake! Pop over here and enter for a chance to enter for the giveaway. Contest ends midnight (Central) tomorrow!

Rite Aid Game Plan

There really isn't anything I want or need at Rite Aid this week. I may look for my rainchecked toothpaste for last week's rebate. But I still plan to make a trip this week - even though I missed my regular Tuesday trip.

Why?

Next week is the big 4 pages of (mostly RA brand) cold and flu prevention and treatment FAR Single Check Rebates! I need to sit down with my rebate book and my RA brand coupons (you can get them, too, for registering on their website!) and plan my attack. As I've said before, Tuesday is my Rite Aid day usually. But I also know that many times they're out of the one-week-only deals by Tuesday. Yes, you can call or fax in your info and they'll fix it, but I'd like to not have to go through that extra step. So... I think I'm going to go on Sunday. It's crazy - insane actually. But I think if I go this week with my list of what I'm looking for and make myself a map of which aisles I need to go to for each product, I could be in and out of there very quickly.

So, that's my plan. Are you planning to hit Rite Aid as well? What are you looking for?

I'm on a Walgreens HIGH!

I really didn't think there was going to be much to do at Walgreens this week.

Boy was I wrong!

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I usually go on Tuesdays as that's the day they're restocking the shelves at my store. So I spend my internet time Sunday and Monday looking at scenarios and sales and coupon matches posted in my "frugal living" blogroll and at Hot Coupon World, clipping my own coupons and organizing my binder (though I'll be trying the box method for a bit), and then hunting down specific web coupons that will be helpful and/or needed to make the deals work for me. I took my notes, printed some coupons before I left, and then set off to work!

Things just kept falling into place. The best was the Glade offer with $1 ESR on up to 10 Glade products. I printed out two coupons for BOGO glad warmers - the original slide the little waxy gel tab into the "fenced" frame plug-in. I really didn't think I'd need them, but I took them with... just in case. Well, they were part of that deal (ESR 28) - on sale for $1.99 each, $1 ESR on each, AND each packet had a peelie for $1/1 refil for them. The refils were ALSO on the $1.99 sale with $1 ESR - so the coupons on those made them free! So 4 warmers with one scent pack and 4 3-pack refils for free - or, really, $.01 overage on each!

The other great one was the Crest deal. Certain types of Crest toothpaste were on sale for $1.99. There is an IVC in the ESR catalog for $1/1 Crest toothpastes (6.4 oz). I had 3 coupons from recent Proctor and Gamble inserts (2 from the papers I bought, one that they sent to me for filling in a form online) for $1/1 any Crest paste 4.2 oz or larger. My store had exactly three that came with an additional trial size toothpaste and single use of floss, so I got those three for free (again, actually $.01 overage each). If that wasn't great enough, each box with the samples had 4 awesome coupons in it as well - that don't expire until July 2010!

Here's the whole order. I'll put in what the coupons were as I remember them, but unfortunately they only list them as "manufacturer's coupon" which doesn't do much for my memory =)

Stocking stuffer for Geof that was supposed to ring up as $.25 - but rang up as $2.00
(that'll be going back - sorry, dear)
Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom wipes $2.50
Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom wipes $2.50
Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom wipes $2.50
Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom wipes $2.50
Thai Kitchen Pad Thai $1.98
Thai Kitchen Pad Thai $1.98
Thai Kitchen Pad Thai -$.98 (they were $1.98 each or $3/3)
Glade Wisp Flameless Candle $5.99
Glade Wisp Flameless Candle $5.99
Glade Plug-In Warmer $1.99
Glade Plug-In Warmer $1.99
Glade Plug-In Warmer $1.99
Glade Plug-In Warmer $1.99
Glade Plug-In Refill $1.99
Glade Plug-In Refill $1.99
Glade Plug-In Refill $1.99
Glade Plug-In Refill $1.99
Glade Wisp Refil $3.49
Glade French Vanilla Candle $1.99
Chemistry Conditioner $7.99
Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation $7.49
Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Gel $4.49 (Price corrected to $3.99 10/11)
Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Brush $3.99
Glade Scented Oil Candle Holder $3.99
Crest 6.4 oz Toothpaste $1.99
Crest 6.4 oz Toothpaste $1.99
Crest 6.4 oz Toothpaste $1.99
Subtotal $82.30

Coupons:
-$1.00 Crest 6.4 oz IVC
-$1.00 Crest 6.4 oz IVC
-$1.00 Crest 6.4 oz IVC
-$1.00 Crest mfg
-$1.00 Crest mfg
-$1.00 Crest mfg
-$2.50 BOGO Scrubbing Bubbles Wipes
-$2.50 BOGO Scrubbing Bubbles Wipes
-$1.99 BOGO Glade Plug-In Warmer
-$1.99 BOGO Glade Plug-In Warmer
-$5.99 BOGO Glade Wisp Flameless Candle
-$1.00 Glade Candle
-$1.00 Glade Plug-In Refill
-$1.00 Glade Plug-In Refill
-$1.00 Glade Plug-In Refill
-$1.00 Glade Plug-In Refill
-$1.00 Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Brush
-$2.00 Glade Scented Oil Candle Holder
-$1.00 Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Gel
-$1.00 Glade Wisp Flameless Candle Refill
-$.50 Thai Kitchen
-$.50 Thai Kitchen
-$10.00 RR
-$4.50 RR
-$4.00 RR
Coupons total -$50.47

Total Due $31.33
Gift Card -$26.13
OOP $5.20!

BUT!!!

$3.00 RR for the Glade Flameless Candle purchase
$37.93 in ESRs (110%)

I spent $31.33 and got $40.93 back! Since I had the $2.00 mistake price corrected down to $.25, I'll have actually been paid $11.35 to take home 4 full bags of cleaning supplies, health and beauty supplies and some instant gluten-free foods! Do you understand the high now?!?!

Have you heard about Ebates?

I recently learned about Ebates from another blogger. You can sign up for Ebates by clicking on these links and filling out the form on their site. When you sign up for Ebates and make your first purchase, you get an additional $5 bonus in your account. By signing up through one of the Ebates links on this post, you are also helping me by adding $5 to my account when you make your first purchase. You get a certain percentage of your purchase back (anywhere from 1-25%, based on the retailer)! There is no fee to join, and it's really a simple concept.

Say for instance you're looking for a new book for your nephew for his birthday:
1) You go to Ebates
2) Select your favorite online book seller from the list of available stores
3) Continue to make your online purchase as you normally would.

It's that simple. Within a day or two, you'll receive an email from Ebates saying that your account has been credited $X.XX for your purchase at [for instance] Barnes and Noble. When you accumulate $5.01 in your account, not counting sign up and referral bonuses, they send you a Big Fat Check. Or you can choose to have the money sent to paypal - or sent to your friend or favorite charity.

It's a great way to make a little extra money doing the things you do every day - without any extra effort other than a few clicks of the mouse. I've used Ebates for my first purchase already... what are you waiting for?

Holy Cow! It really happened!!!!

Remember a few weeks back when I said I was super excited about something, but didn't want to post until it was in my hands?

Here it is!

On August 3rd, we purchased a laser printer/scanner/copier/fax machine from Staples. My husband had been looking into a laser printer for awhile, and with some new work that he had been doing, his copying needs were going to be going through the roof. In the long run, the laser would save us more money over the ink replacements every few weeks. Plus, I'm still handing a lot of legal stuff from when my mom died a year ago, and our access to a fax machine ended when my husband left his last job. Purchasing a fax has been something we were looking into ever since I took over as my mom's power of attorney from a few states away in April of 2007, and, again, purchasing the machine would be worth it in the long run with trips to pay-by-page fax services costing gas and outrageous fees to send and receive.

So we saw that Staples had the Samsung SCX-4725FN on sale. Regular price was $279.98 - it was selling for $199.98 (after $80.00 instant rebate). It was one of the few brands and models available anywhere close that was compatible with Linux - it just made sense. We decided to take the leap of faith and go for it.

Of course, 2 weeks later the deal changed at Staples. They were selling it for regular price ($279.98), but there was an Easy Rebate for a $140.00 Visa Debit Card. The $60 difference was worth it to us, and Staples has a 14 day price match - so we made the trip back down to Staples to do their price match guarantee.

I think someone returning their item to pay more really confused the computer. I have the receipt in front of me, showing that we paid $199.98 and that we were return price matching it for $279.98. The computer processed it, spit out our new receipt for the exchange, spit out the Easy Rebate form for the gift card. But on the exchange receipt, it gave us a subtotal and total of $0.00 owed. I didn't realize it until I got home and started entering the information into their system for the rebate. The associate and the manager on duty were the ones who rang it up, everything is entered correctly - the computer just didn't get why someone would want to pay more for an item they paid less for.

Anyway, I processed the rebate, figured the system would see what happened and we'd be out the rebate. I'd check in every so often. It was stuck on "validating" for the longest time. Then, last week it switched over to "validating complete." Saturday night I checked it again - "Rebate sent."

Today, in our mail, we received a gift card for $140.00! We can use it anywhere Visa Debit cards are accepted (except ATMs) - so we'll be using it to pay our utility bills. Since I don't like to double post how sales went (Ex: Look, I got $15 in RR, so it was like paying $2 instead of $17... then the next post being "I got $15 in free merchandise because of my RR"), you can choose to look at it one of two ways:

We spent $199.98 on a workhorse of a printer and got a gift card for $140.

OR

WE GOT A GREAT LASER PRINTER FOR $59.98 BRAND NEW!!!!!

Kickin' it at Walgreens!

I hit up Walgreens on their $5/$20 offer twice today. Because I'm there at least once a week - usually twice - I'm starting to get to know the people who work there and they're starting to get to know me as well. There's only one there that seems, well, exhausted when she sees me coming. So I just try and smile and make small talk and let her get back to work. If nothing else, I want to make sure that they realize I appreciate them being there and that I only do fair and real deals. I don't want to scam anyone in the process - just get what I can to care for my family for as little out of pocket as possible.

Anyway -

Order 1
Huggies Natural Fit diapers $9.99
Huggies Natural Fit diapers $9.99
Huggies Unscented wipes $3.99
Subtotal $23.97
Coupons:
-$.50 on Huggies wipes
-$1.50 on Huggies diapers
-$1.50 on Huggies diapers
Subtotal $20.47
-$5.00 $5/$20+ coupon
Total $15.47 (gift card) and received $5.00 RR for $20 or more in Huggies products

I realize with this one that there was some divine intervention and a misunderstanding on my part - the latter of which I just caught now. So I won't be trying to do this again and I ask you to please not try and do the same thing.
Order 2
5 Softsoap body washes @$3.49 each $17.45
Fusion razor system $8.99
Oral B manual toothbrush $4.49
Subtotal $30.93
Coupons:
-$1.00 Softsoap nutraoil body wash (limit one per household)
-$4.00 Fusion Razor from Sunday paper
-$.75 Oral B toothbrush from Sunday paper
-$5.00 $1/1 Softsoap bodywash IVC in the October ESR booklet
Subtotal $20.18
-$5.00 $5/$20+ coupon
Subtotal $15.18
Here's where I made the mistake. I didn't realize that the RR were marked as manufacturer's coupons. So I should have used $15.18 off my gift card. I will make sure not to use those with these deals again because they are supposed to be $5 off $20 AFTER ALL COUPONS. The divine intervention came in when the girl accidentally scanned it twice. I even pointed it out to her - that my total should have been $10.18 - not $5.18 - but she said that the computer scanned it wrong and not to worry about it. So...
Total $5.18!!!

PLUS!!!!

$10.00 RR for buying 5 Softsoap products
$4.50 RR for buying the Oral B toothbrush
$4.00 RR for buying the Fusion razor.

I am FLOORED! Plus, these are very much going to come in handy in the next week because I have to do a test that requires some prep with over the counter medications. So this $18.50 will cover the cost of these OTCs, plus one other free after rebate item that I plan to purchase. And I still have over $26 on my gift card!

It's baaaaack

Walgreens is having another $5/$20+ this weekend. Friday and Saturday, use this coupon to get the things you want or need at Walgreens!

A great link!

Surprising Things You Can Get For Free... Or Almost

List of free things including:
business cards
expert computer help
Spanish lessons
business classes
credit reports
wi-fi hotspots
time-management organization
silver jewelry
online checking account
cookbooks
sheet music
radio service
gently used stuff
photo organization
spam filter
directory assistance
family calendar