I crossed a line.

I just bought coupons.  Do you hear me?  I BOUGHT coupons.  I spent $4 plus shipping at a site where a woman (?) charges for her time to clip & sort.  I bought a bunch of whole inserts and a few single coupons.  It felt a little dirty.  And a little saucy and dangerous.  I'll let you know how it works out.

This is why I go to Rite Aid a lot.

I was heading grocery shopping, and my youngest needed Pull Ups to sleep in.  They're normally around $11 a pack.  Now I could have gotten them at the grocery store and paid full price.  I could have just bought them at Rite Aid and used my +UP Rewards that I have saved up.  But with a little more work, I got all this:

I paid with $19 in +UP Rewards and .65 in cash, and got $18 back in +UP Rewards.  So if you count +UP Rewards as cash, I spent $1.65 for Easy Ups, 4 bodywashes, 1 deodorant, 1 computer mouse, 1 toothbrush and 1 box of cold medicine.  How much of this stuff will I keep?  Well, the Easy Ups... the mouse will get donated to Charlie's school, I'll put aside the bodywash and toothpaste for my brother, and the deodorant (and any other bodywash plus most of what I got earlier in the week) will be donated to either the town food pantry or the homeless shelter.  

If you have the time,  you can work out your shopping trip so that you get your needed item cheaply, plus a bunch of extras to pass along to those who need it.  It feels good!  And it's a little addictive, too!

Rite Aid trip 12/26

Today, my friends, I did it right, and I rocked it.  I had 3 transactions, and ended up walking away paying $5.63 in cash and pocketing a $10 +UP Reward after I rolled my other rewards.



Here's what I did:

Transaction #1
2 Gillette Fusion Proglide Power Razors, regularly $12.99, on sale $9.97
- 2x $4 off MC
2 Flexamin bottles, reg. $14.99, on sale B1G1 free
- $5 off MC

-$5/$25 coupon
- $16 in rolled +UP Rewards
----------------------
.99 OOP
earned $12 in +UP Rewards

Transaction #2
1 Dawn Handcare 9.5 oz.  reg. 1.99, on sale .99
-$1 off MC
4x Gillette Deodorants, reg. 4.99, on sale 4.00
-1 b1g1 free MC
-2x $2/1 MC
1 Gillette Clinical Strength deodorant, reg. 9.99, on sale 7.99
- $3 MC
- $3 RC
1 Crest Proshield Whitening, reg. 4.49
-$1 RC
-$.75 MC
1 Old Spice Deodorant, reg. 5.49
1 Old Spice Bodywash, reg. 4.79, on sale 4.00

- FREE WYB Old Spice Deodorant MC

-$5/$25 coupon
- $12 +UP Rewards from transaction #1
----------------------
1.06 OOP
earned $12 in +UP Rewards

Transaction #3
7x Nivea Lip Balms, reg. 2.99, sale 2 each (one of these is filler to get to $20)
-2x $2/2 MC
-b1g1 free MC
1 Nivea Bodywash, women's, reg. 5.99, sale 3.99
-$1 MC
1 Nivea Bodywash, men's, ref. 5.49, sale 3.99
-$1 MC
Advil 50 ct.. 5.99, with WR discount 5.39 (filler we needed at home)
-$1 MC

-$5/$25 coupon
- $12 +UP Rewards from Transaction #2
------------------------
$3.37 OOP
earned $10 +UP Rewards

A really fun chat with Amazon.com customer service.

First, I explain the issue. 

Me:I paid for overnight shipping, via FedEx, and the package didn't arrive. I called FedEx and they said it never left the local sorting location and it'll hopefully arrive tomorrow. Is there anything I can do about the fact that I paid for overnight and it didn't arrive?

Nishant :Hello, my name Nishant. I'll be happy to help you.

Me:Hi Nishant :)

Nishant :You will receive it by tomorrow. Really?  BY tomorrow?  Will FedEx show up at 11:59 tonight?

Me:I will receive it tomorrow, but it was supposed to be delivered today.

Nishant :I'm so sorry about this. I will issue a $10 promo as a delay to you.

Me:okay... You'll issue what as a what to me now?

Nishant :Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me:So, just to be clear... will I receive a $10 Amazon credit?

Nishant :Yes.

Me:Will this credit appear to me when I log into my account?  I used to do online tech support for AOL, so I know it can be repetitive... but if someone's offering me a $10 credit I'd really like to know how to access it!  I was trying to help Nishant along by just guessing what the heck he or she was talking about.

Nishant :That's a promo. It will apply for future order.

Me:So the next time I order something $10 will magically appear? At this point I'm giggling and reading the conversation aloud to my husband.

Nishant :Not magically, automatically. You have to click on the apply promo option.

Me:And where will I see this apply promo option? Come on Nishant, bring your A game!

Nishant :While placing the order under payment option.

Me:OK, so there is no code or anything that I will need to use when placing an order? Please, Nishant, just give me a code.  Or SOMETHING.  I'm a bit wary of the promo delay fairy.

Nishant :Not at all.

I will send you a email confirmation as well.

Me:Thank you very much, I appreciate that.

Nishant :Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me:Nope, that's it. Thank you.

Nishant :Thanks for visiting Amazon.com. We hope to see you again soon!

Happy Holiday to you and your family in advance.  Snort.

This is why I like spreadsheets.

I have a google doc spreadsheet that totals up my grocery spending and savings each week.  I like to see all the numbers laid out in front of me- the instant gratification of putting away the groceries and then inputting my totals in the spreadsheet is the kind of thing I live for.

I went shopping to prepare for Christmas dinner today.  We're only having 8 people total, but we'll be serving Christmas breakfast AND dinner since everyone will be staying here the night before.  I went shopping today with specific items in mind, things that aren't a normal purchase for me (sprigs of fresh thyme?  a 16 oz. package of breakfast sausage?!?) so I spent a little over $100, which is way over my normal total.

It felt good to enter that into my handy-dandy spreadsheet and find that I still saved 32% on this oddball trip.  In fact, I've only been keeping this spreadsheet for 2 months now, but I've already saved a total of $363 on groceries!  What a good feeling, to see exactly what my efforts have done for us, and that's groceries alone.

I should start a separate spreadsheet for drugstores- that one would probably blow my mind!

quick morning Rite Aid run

I went back at 8 am when the store opened, coupons in hand, to try to snag a couple more of the 50% off Clearasil items.  Unfortunately they were all sold already!  I left my cut out coupons on the shelf, and hopefully they'll help someone else.

I also hit up the As Seen on TV section to try to get the buy $30 of items/get $10 back deal.  the fun thing about this deal is that everything is either 4.99, 9.99, 14.99, etc- making it close to impossible to pay only $30.

I ended up with a Children's Snuggie (14.99 -$2 VV coupon), a Micro Touch groomer ($9.99 -$1 VV coupon) and a pack of Cami Secrets (which I guess also have a $1 off VV coupon but I didn't have it).  I combined these with a $3 off $20 VV coupon, a $1 off VV coupon, and my $20 GoS reward.  I paid $8.28 in cash and received $10 +UP rewards.

I had $6 more in +UP Rewards I could have used, but once I hit the register I forgot that I had $10 +UP coming to me, so I opted to hold on to them as a safety net.  That was dumb!  Oh well.

THAT was easy... a simple Rite Aid moneymaker.

This week at Rite Aid (12/19-12/25) you earn $2 +UP rewards every time you buy a Clearasil facial care item.  There's are 2 Rite Aid Clearasil ads in the flyer: one for $2 off any Clearasil Facial Care item, and other for $5 off any Clearasil overnight facial care item.

I walked into Rite Aid tonight and saw this:


Clearasil Overnight, normally $10.49, marked down to $5.24.  With the $5 off in-flyer coupon, this item becomes an almost $1.50 moneymaker.  Combine that Rite Aid coupon with a printable $2 off Clearasil coupon here or here, and it's a $2 moneymaker.

(The Clearasil Gel Cleanser shown at 50% off would also be a moneymaker when combined with the $2 off Rite Aid coupon and the $2 off printable).

Hope this works for you too!

Yankee Candle at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

I brought the Buy 2 Get 2 Free Yankee Candle coupon to Bed, Bath & Beyond today.  It's only valid on large jar or tumbler candles, which are normally $24.99.  The bad news is I couldn't combine the coupon with a BB&B 20% off mailer, but the good news is there was some mysterious 25% off promo code that came off the order.  I'm not sure exactly now, or where, or why, but I'm not complaining!  3 of the candles ended up ringing in at 11.66 and the 4th candle rang in at 8.75, for a pre-tax total of $46.46 or  $10.93 each plus tax- a GREAT price for a 22 oz. Yankee candle.

today I owned Rite Aid.

My last couple of Rite Aid trips have been fails, but today, my friends, I had a win.  A BIG win.  You see, my local store had plennnty of $1.49 b1g1 free get $2 +UP back tape left.  Also, the peeps in my town who cleared out the cheap EcoTools products on Sunday clearly missed some poofs that were located further down the aisle and priced $1.99, b1g1 50% off, and oh yeah buy any 2 EcoTools and get $5 +UP back.  Do you see where I'm going with this??

Transaction #1

1 box Q-tips, $3.29 (we needed them and I had a coupon but apparently it was a Target store coupon and so it didn't work and I really don't even care!)

2 EcoTools bath poofs, total $2.98

6 rolls Rite Aid invisible tape, total $4.47

-------------------

subtotal $10.74 + .36 tax, paid with $5 rolled +UP rewards, final price $6.10 OOP

earned $11 in +UP Rewards

Transaction #2

1 EcoTools Bath Glove, $2.99

1 EcoTools Poof (only one left), .99

6 rolls Rite Aid invisible tape, total $4.47

-----------------

subtotal $8.45, paid with $8 rolled +UP rewards, final price .45 OOP

earned $11 in +UP Rewards

final totals: spent $6.55 OOP, and I have $13 of +UP Rewards to roll forward!

Looking at it another way, Rite Aid paid me $2.45 to take 12 rolls of tape, 4 bath tools, and a box of Q-tips off their hands.

also... we had 2 parties in the last 4 days.

Mia turned 3 and we had an open house for all of our lovely church family.  6 kids at the birthday, I have no idea how many at the church party, but both parties were a lot of fun and I had a good time making most of the food!

The Christmas party...


I baked alll yesterday morning and made most of the items on the table... gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, blondies, cheese straws, pita chips, hummus, guacamole, and there was also brie en croute that isn't pictured.

The birthday party was a make-your-own pizza party so I made dough in the bread machine and the kids put together their individual pizzas.

and the "cake" was really a sugar cookie topped with Nutella, yellow candy melts for cheese, and then gummi bears, marshmallows, and sprinkles for toppings.

budget wise I did well for the birthday party, mostly because our theme wasn't typical "birthday" so the supplies we needed were cheaper.  I had all the ingredients for the dough and I didn't need too many extras.  Kids got water or juice to drink.  We did order a couple pizzas for the grown ups but that was a luxury!

The Christmas party cost a good deal more, but I think it was worth it!

decent Rite Aid trip... but I messed up again.

I was planning to head to RA at some point today, but when Charlie woke up with a fever and a bark-y cough I decided to go out at 8 to grab her some cough drops & cough syrup.

There are lots of quirky deals running right now where the price of the item you buy is cheaper than the +UP rewards you earn, so I was hoping to grab some of these. I got 2 small packs of Revlon nail files for 1.47 each and then used the $3 off any Revlon nail care RA printable. I got 2 packs of RA tape that were b1g1 free, so I paid $1.49 and earned $2 in +UP rewards (you get $1 in reward for each package of tape you buy). I added gum filler to get to the $25 level for the $5 off myriteaid.com coupon to work.

Unfortunately, I messed up on the AirWick deal and ended up buying $9 worth of product instead of $10, so I didn't get the $5 +UP reward that would have earned me. Darn it!!

Anyway... here's my final total. I really think I'll head back later to roll my +UPs for more tape, you can't ever have enough in the house and they had PLENTY left.

1 kids' natural cough syrup

2 bags Halls cough drops

1 pack Orbit Mist

2 packs Revlon Expert nail files

1 Airwick Warmer

4 Airwick Oil Refills

2 RiteAid gift tape rolls

---------------------------

retail price after sales was right around $25, I paid $13.49 after coupons and got $5 in +UP rewards to roll. Not bad since the cough syrup was $7 (not on sale) and I was in need of some more air fresheners for the bathrooms!

How to fail at Rite Aid shopping.

1. Forget that your local Rite Aid takes two days to get the sale hang tags on the shelves.

2. Decide that you were somehow wrong after all, and the Pull Ups you needed aren't actually on sale.

3. Gather 2 packs of Pull Ups and one Kit Kat bar as filler to hit $25, so you can use your $5/$25 coupon.

4. When you get to the register, and it turns out you were right all along and the Pull Ups AND the Kit Kat bar are on sale, making your total under $25, freeze like a deer in headlights.

5. Don't bother asking the cashier to close out the sale so you can re-group. You could have gone back, grabbed another pack of Pull Ups, and dumped the Kit Kat filler, but you didn't.

6. Use all of your rolled +UP Rewards in a desperate effort to make the scenario come out better for you.

7. Spend $16 for 2 packs of Pull-Ups and a candy bar you don't need, when you MEANT to have spent $17 for 3 packs of Pull Ups.

8. Cry.

Pfft.

I was poking around various blogs and links today and I came across this article: Can a family eat on $100 a week? Now, without even reading past the headline I knew that the answer is yes, of course so (something that would have shocked me 3 months ago). My past 4 weeks of grocery shopping have ranged from $71 to $94, and even adding a milk run (2/$5 at Stop & Shop) we're under $100 weekly.

But as I read the article, it sure seemed like the author was turning up her nose on frugality. With a family of two adults and two children (one of which is a toddler) she normally spends $250 a week on groceries. Her $100 budget doesn't include cleaning supplies or paper goods because "there's no room". Really? She claims that she had a hard time providing her family with healthful meals on $100, and she complains that if she wanted a dessert, she had to make it herself. Poor baby!

In the end she decides that while she can do it, she doesn't want to do it again. She sent more than ever the next week to make up for the deprivation she suffered in that one week.

Well... it's nice that you have a choice! It's nice that you can choose whether or not to save the money. If I had that choice, I don't know that I'd do all of this work either. It's NOT easy to shop sales, combine coupons, stockpile, and plan meals based on what's on hand first. But for us, it's so amazingly worth it. Our grocery savings have started to spill over into other categories- Tom needed a new coat and some other items, so we headed to Sears and combined a 50% off sale with a coupon and a gift card and ended up with a wool pea coat, a nice scarf, and a dress hat for $9 out of our pocket. All of the girls' Christmas presents this year (except for the American Girl Treat Seat and Bitty Baby sleeper) were on deep discount- to the point that I still have money to spend on Mia and I have no clue what else to get her.

Do I feel deprived? Not 99% of the time- only when I'm wiped out and I just don't want to cook dinner but I know I can't push that meal off one more day or my ingredients will go bad. But when I look at the bank account and we're not in the red, and all the bills are paid, that deprivation goes away fast.

Rite Aid Gift of Savings update

I'm up to a $10 gift card already! My total spent (according to Rite Aid) is around $56 so far. Once i hit $100.01 I get a $20 gift card, and you can bet I'll be cashing that baby in immediately. And extra $20 to roll towards freebies and cheapo things, like $1 cereal or Goldfish crackers? How could I turn that down?

5 items you shouldn't be paying for

Couponing can be complicated and sometimes messy- but it doesn't HAVE to be. If you're looking for a way to jump in to the fray, consider that the following items can almost always be "bought" at Walgreens, Rite Aid, or CVS for free. These stores allow you to combine coupons with store sales and cash back rewards, which can stack up to no cost for you! Here are the top 5 items that I can almost always snag for free with just a store card, one copy of the Sunday paper, and internet access to printable coupons.

1. Toothpaste and toothbrushes

2. Shampoo and conditioner

3. Dish detergent

4. Cold medicine and cough drops

5. Candy

LOTS of shopping today.

I had 2.5 hours to hit 5 stores, in 2 different towns, while my youngest was in preschool. It was birthday shopping, Christmas shopping, and some random drug store buys. Here's the breakdown...

#1 CVS

Bought 4 Zhu Zhu Pets, 3 of which were free. Paid with ECBs. Total retail $39.52, $0 out of pocket.

#2 Rite Aid

Not gonna type it all out, but did 2 transactions.

First, Goldfish, Airborne, Thermacare Wraps. Retail $23.97, paid $16.30 and earned +UP rewards.

Then candy and some other stuff. Retail $22.99, paid .49, got +UP rewards.

I went home with $5 in +UP rewards to roll.

#3 AC Moore

Got supplies for Mia's birthday party and used one 50% off coupon. Retail $57.69, paid $34.43.

#4 American Girl Store

Paid a lot of money and got no discounts :| That place.

#5 Target

Had to exchange a pair of pants I got for Charlie that had the wrong size on the label, used some board game coupons, picked up a few stocking stuffers. Ended up spending $17 on 2 board games and a few other little things.

I got home and put the girls' gifts on the spreadsheet I've been keeping. It helps me to track online orders and know how much I've spent on each girl. Anyway, I figured I was about done, but turns out I still have a good amount of money left to buy things for each girl. I'm very surprised!

So how did I do?

Stop & Shop went fairly well. I walked in and went "woah, they have a Dunkin' Donuts in here... I might never leave!" but I quickly realized that the caffeine affected the shoppers, and not in a good way. It might have been me shopping in the afternoon instead of my normal morning trip, but I had a lot of rude people cut me off or shove by me, or stand in front of the milk while chatting on their cell phone, not even moving when I tried to reach around. I ended up spending $84 and saving $36. I needed to spend around $85 for my catalina to work, so I was buying more stuff than I normally would, but it's getting to the point that I can't IMAGINE spending $150 (my weekly grocery budget) in one trip. I used to spend over $200 in a trip... what the HECK was I buying?!?

I've been keeping a savings spreadsheet since mid-October. At this point I've spent $698 on groceries and saved $312. I average a savings of around 30% per trip with my coupons. It's not great, it's not anywhere hear as good as the pros do, but as a normal mom who only gets 1 newspaper a week, I am VERY happy with it.

I was putting Rice Krispies in my cart today and I knew I was going to pay $1 a box, and I found myself mumbling "that's because I'm AWESOME." Then I realized I said it out loud, and I laughed, which made me look even crazier, but so what! $1 for Rice Krispies! GO ME!

Menu Plan Monday!

I don't normally shop at Stop & Shop, but I will this week. See, last week I headed there to pick up 2 gallons of milk (they have a 2/$5 promotion going on and once you buy 6 you get a free gallon) and when I went through the self checkout I realized someone else had left a $5.50 oyno catalina at the machine. I really can't turn that down, and along with dollar doublers this week, it just seems like a good plan. I've never done a full shopping in the S&S near us, but it's HUGE and fancy and I hope I won't get lost!

ANYWAY. Time for Menu Plan Monday! In mostly no particular order:

Monday: turkey grinders (that's subs, or hoagies, for all of you non New Englanders)

Tuesday: salisbury steak (rolled from last week)

Wednesday: taco salad/nachos

Thursday: mac & cheese

Friday: Pizzeria Mia (my 2 year old's 3rd birthday party!)

Saturday: pasta & meatballs

Sunday: chicken fried steak, gravy & potatoes (cube steaks are 2.99/lb this week)

Wow... lots of red meat this week. Luckily most of these are made with ground beef- everything but the chicken fried steaks- and what we have is actually half beef, half ground turkey. So there's SOME poultry in there...

CVS haul 12/4

My husband mentioned this morning that he could use some more shaving gel. Really, he should realize by now that comments like this send me into a drugstore tizzy, since I suddenly have a "real" reason to play the Rite Aid or CVS game. Today, it was CVS. Here's my results:

(sorry for the crappy cell phone picture!)

Transaction #1

Gillette Fusion Shave Gel, 4.79

-$2 coupon (P&G)

Gillette Fusion Razor Cartridges, 15.49

-$2 coupon (P&G)

G-Series Sensitive Shave Gel, x2= 6.00

- 2 $1 coupons (P&G)

-$4 off $20 or more CVS coupon

---------------

$26.28 retail total, - $10 in coupons= $16.28

paid most of it with ECBs rolled from my last trip

TOTAL OOP: 2.91

earned a $4/$20 purchase coupon, and $10 ECB

Transaction #2

Charmin Ultrastrong, x4= 21.32

- 2x $1 off 2 coupons (P&G)

Huggies Pull-Ups 13.49

- $2 off coupon (pullups.com)

-$3 off $15 or more CVS coupon

-$4 off $20 or more CVS coupon (I didn't realize you could use these together- I was distracted and hadn't noticed I handed him 2 but it worked!)

--------------

$34.81 retail total, -$11 coupons= 23.81 OOP

earned $5 ECB

GRAND TOTAL: $26.72 OOP (saved $61.09), earned $15 ECB

My plan was to use the $10 ECB from transaction #1 to help pay for #2, but the $10 ECB didn't print out. I wasn't sure if I hadn't purchased enough in Gillette products to earn the ECB, so after I did transaction #2 I stepped aside and grabbed a flyer to try to figure it out. One of the cashiers saw me and asked to scan my receipt- THEN the $10 ECB printed. So I still got it, but transaction #2 doesn't look quite as impressive as I'd hoped!

But again, considering that we needed all of these items, and the Pull Ups weren't on any particular sale, I'm very happy with this haul!

Gift of Savings

Are you curious about how your Gift of Savings dollars will be added up? Here's the detail from my latest Rite Aid trip, where I spent .15 for a bunch of stuff. This is the detail that shows on the GoS site about my transaction.

12/02/10 WELLNESS PLUS COUPON $5.00 1 ($5.00)

12/02/10 $5 OFF $25 NONPERSCRIPTION 1 ($5.00)

12/02/10 MERCHANDISE TAXABL 1 ($1.00)

12/02/10 WELLNESS PLUS COUPON $2.00 2 ($4.00)

12/02/10 RA MIGRAINE CAPLETS 50CT $4.94

12/02/10 Command Dsgnr Med Hoo 2 $8.44

12/02/10 DOUBLEMINT BIG E 60PC1 $2.50

12/02/10 Foam 3D Jewelry Box Kit 2 $4.48

12/02/10 ELMERS SCHGLUE STKS 2PK $1.79

12/02/10 Ra Invis Tape 2 $1.00

Doing the math here, that's $23.15 purchased, and then $15 in coupons, meaning they gave me credit for $8.15 worth of product towards GoS. As I said, I paid .15 for this transaction (the gum was filler!) so I'm not quite sure exactly what they're not taking off... but it's interesting to look at, isn't it?

menu planning... Wednesday.

Yeah it's not Monday. Sorry!

Wednesday- Rebekah's pork chops

Thursday- chicken stew with biscuits

Friday- Salisbury Steaks

Saturday- Christi's Wild Rice Soup

Sunday- chili w/ cornbread

Monday- chicken parm