Walgreens Fun with Register Rewards on 1/30/11

Walgreens had a couple items great items with  Register Rewards. Blink Moisturizing Eye Drops and Icy Hot No Mess Vapor Gel. The eyedrops were free after Register Rewards. The Icy Hot was marked at $3.99 with a RR of $3.00 and I had a manufacturer's coupon for $1.00 off one box.


Total spent on this transaction was $1.17, which includes $11.00 in RR to spend
I still have $28.23 to spend for the year.
I received products worth $ 15.78 in this transaction.
YTD savings is $282.92

Money Maker at Rite Aid Tonight!

The above order of the pictures is way skewed; not sure what is up with that, as this isn't the order I took them in. Tonight I excitedly headed off to the car and down to Rite Aid for this money maker to help plump up the coffers of my $30 annual budget.

I bought two Afrin sprays, 1 Coricidin and two Colgate Total toothpaste and used a fistful of coupons that I am too tired to remember let alone list at this point. They are there on the receipt if you really feel the need to know:)
My Total was $17.29 and got back $26 in UP rewards. Now hold on for a few minutes while I grab the calculator and attempt mental math greatness; actually I believe it is more like basic subtraction.;)
I am back...Woohoo, $8.71 smackers to add back into the annual budget.


Total spent on this transaction $17.29
I still have $29.40 to spend for the year.
I received products worth $28.35
YTD savings is $267.14

CVS Skippy Haul- 9 jars for a buck!!!!!!

CVS had a great deal; buy $15 worth of certain products and get back Extra Care bucks worth $5. Skippy peanut butter was on sale 3 jars for $5. I bought 9 jars after checking to make sure there was plenty for other shoppers available.

I had some wonderful $1 off a jar of Skippy coupons. I used 9 coupons and paid $6 in cash and got back a $5 Extra Care Bucks coupon.

Total spent on this transaction was $6 cash and I received $5 ECB, so I am going to say I spent $1 out of pocket. Each jar was .11 cents. Woohoo! Peanut butter to share with everyone in my family. I see lots of pb&j in all our futures. I hope we have milk...
I still have $20.69 to spend for the year.
I received products worth $33.21
YTD savings is $238.79

Walgreens Haul on 1/30/11

Can you tell that even the rain didn't keep me from the good deals this week? If you look at my receipt you will notice the effect of rain drops on a receipt clenched in hand while heroically dodging raindrops on the way back to my car!
In Walgreens store ad this week, there were several  free after RR ( Register Rewards) items:
-Melatonin TR
-Blink Lubricating Eye Drops
-Arnicare Pain Relief Gel
Each item was free after tax.

I also had a rebate form for Pediasure or Pediasure Sidekicks for the price paid.


Total spent was $1.57 in tax for the above transaction
I still have  $21.69 left to spend for the year.
I received products worth $45.84 in this transaction.
YTD savings is $205.58

Rite Aid Made Good on the Tissue and Tp!

On January 20, I wrote about my frustration with Rite Aid and how I had seen in  their store ad tissue and tp at a GREAT price; pay $1 and get $1 for each and there was none to be found in the store for over a week. I had just about given up and went into Rite Aid this a.m. and low and behold, a ray of sunlight shone down from heaven onto the shelf where my free tp and tissue was awaiting my eager shopping cart! Well, not really...but I was happy to get it :)
Total spent was .50 cents in tax for this transaction
I have $23.26 left to spend for the year
I received products worth $11.94 in this transaction
YTD savings is $159.74

Light Bulbs at Rite Aid for .19 cents

I apologize for forgetting to get close up photos of the receipts. Doh! Anyway, I went to Rite Aid this a.m. and unlike a previous post, I had success! Yippee Doodle! The light bulbs were on sale for $1.99 and got a UP reward for $1.99 back. I paid .19 cents each for tax  and kept rolling those UPs, it was FUN! Six boxes of light bulbs for $1.14. Of course I made sure there were many boxes on the shelves before doing this and checked to see if there was a limit. Cashier told me six boxes.

Total spent on these transactions was $1.14
I have $ 23.76 left to spend for the year.
I received products worth $11.94 in this transaction
YTD savings is $147.80

Chex Mix Score on January 23rd

Looks like a lotta Chex Mix doesn't it? There are eighteen bags. I went to two Walgreens stores and I checked with both to be sure there was plenty on hand before taking this much in six separate transactions. In each group I bought three bags at a time. The mix was on sale three bags for $3.99. I used a store coupon for 99 cents off on two and two dollar off manufacturer's  coupons for a couple transactions. The other transactions I used three dollar off manufacturer's coupons on the rest. I paid a dollar on each set and got back $1.50 Register Reward for each, so a profit of .50 cents times six is $3.00 profit! WOOOHOOO!

Total spent on these transactions-I paid a dollar per bag, but got back the RR for 1.50! Made $3.00, total spent for the year is now $5.10 I got back Register Rewards for a total of $ 9.00
I actually ended up making money on these transactions.

I have $ 24.90 to spend for the year.
I received products worth $49.56
YTD savings is $135.86

Frustration at RiteAid!

I have been to RiteAid four times in five days and what do I have to show for it? Zip, nada, zilch!
I had hoped to have a great transaction to show you and am disappointed to say the least. RiteAid came out with a great price on toilet paper and tissue. Basically it would have ended up with me paying just the tax, as there was an UP reward for the price of the item.
I went to the store the day the ad came out. Nothing. I went back to the store the next day...nothing. I asked a manager when more of the product would arrive and he said the next night at 5:30 p.m. I was there at 5:30, but the paper goods were not. In fact the shipment had been "delayed" when I asked about it. At least at this point I was smart enough to get rain checks for both items. The next day, I went to a nearby store and thought I would check in. The shelves were still empty. Four trips to RiteAid and four times no advertised products.:(  This has happened to me in the past and in fact was the reason I stopped shopping at RA. I will give it a try a bit longer, after all, I do have those rain checks. Still I find it sad that a store doesn't stock enough of a product that they advertise in their flier.

Money made today! Woohoo!

Went to Walgreens and purchased two items that were free after register rewards. However, it gets better, as I had two dollar off coupons. Yippee doodle, I actually made some money on this transaction!

Total spent for the year: $8.10; on this transaction it was basically free with an overage of .78 cents and got back RR for $12.50
I still have $21.90 to spend for the year
I received products worth $ 23.28
YTD savings is: $86.30

Good ole Catholic guilt set in

I was thinking about the postage on the rebate form and what my husband said, hereafter he shall be known as Dh. D standing for dear, H standing for husband. On occasion I think the D may stand for damn. We will see...
I decided he was right and that I should subtract postage from my total. Doh! I hate when he is right! Anyway 44 cents is now coming off my total to spend for the year, after mailing in the Kellogg's rebate form. That Catholic guilt can get me every time!

Here are my adjusted totals for the previous post on 1-12-11:
Total spent for the year is $8.88
I now have $21.12 left to spend for the year
I still  received  products worth $9.09
YTD is still $61.02

Safeway 1/12/11

Apparently I am a glutton for punishment, as I actually have a third post to make today. EEK! I went to Safeway and scored on some breakfast food. I found a coupon for a free gallon of milk. I was checking out a couple online sources and found that there was a rebate on the new Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antidioxidants cereals. Sure I am game and I'll have my husband try it first anyway. I also perused the store circular and found that always Pantiliners were on sale and I have a coupon. Woo hoo! I was excited to go to the store and show off my new found coupon wizardry, so I picked up my three items and off to the self check out I went. The store was rather quiet and a really nice and friendly checker was manning the self check out registers. I sidled up to the register nearest to her to try my hand at this wondergul couponing event, wanting a witness to my money saving savvy.

The Kellogg's cereal was regularly priced at $4.49 a box and on sale for $ 2.50. I received a $1.99 savings thanks to using Safeway's Club card. Next up was the milk which rang in at $3.29. My coupon was too faded, so I had to ask the checker to enter it. Always Pantiliners were regularly priced at $1.29 and on sale for .99 cents. Thanks to the handy dandy red store card, I had now saved .30 cents off those suckers.Score! Yes! I handed over $2.39 for my score of a gallon of free milk, a box of free cereal and my .49 cent pantiliners.
Checker smiled at me and made no comment. No bells and whistles went off slot machine style to wow the other shoppers by  my coupon prowess. Methinks said checker might have seen more stupendous couponing feats or perhaps needed a cup of coffee.

There is also a cool rebate form from Kellogg's for trying their product.

So here is the scoop on this transaction:
Total spent for the year is $8.44
Have $21.56 left to spend, plus I will get the $2.50 back from the cereal rebate*, **
I have received products worth $9.09 in this transaction,
YTD savings is $61.02
*note husband  helpfully pointed out that I should subtract the cost of the postage from my total when sending in the rebate form.
** note-who cares what husband said, I think my brain will explode if I have to remember to subtract the postage from the rebate form let alone how much said postage stamp is even worth now that it is one of those handy dandy forever stamps.

Walgreens on 1/12/11

I went to Walgreens this a.m. I bought the Bayer Low Dose aspirin that was on sale 2 for $3, Reach Dental floss on sale for $3.99 and a box of Kleenex on sale $1.49.
On the aspirin I used a coupon for $1.50 off one box. ( I bought two boxes) I thought I had an additional $1.50 off coupon, but it turned out to be only good on boxes of 200 count tablets. Darn it! I told you that I was a coupon idiot and there is the proof! I did have two coupons for the floss, one for $1.00 off and one for $2.00 off. Can't remember which was the store coupon. Doh! See, I told you; a coupon idiot! I had a store coupon to pay $1.09 for a box of Kleenex which was 40 cents off the sale and a manufacturer's coupon for...Oh I really have no clue at this point, I am so confused. Arrrgghhhh! This whole freakin' coupon business is harder than I thought. You can figure the rest out if you want. I have had it!

Anyway, here is my darn receipt and here are the totals for the year.
Total spent for the year is $6.05
Have $23.95 left to spend.
I have received products worth $ 11.65 in this transaction
YTD savings is $51.93

January 12th Rite Aid

I went to Rite Aid and bought the Blink Tears Lubricating eye drops they have in their circular for $7.99. There is a Single Check Rebate available for this product which pays back $7.99.

Total spent for the year is $4.38
Have $25.62 left to spend
I have received products worth $10.49 in this transaction and will get back $7.99 in a store rebate
YTD total savings is $41.95

Pantene Conditioner, Colgate Toothpaste and Oatmeal

Pantene Conditioner, Colgate Toothpaste and oatmeal. Rather a weird combination, but great deals this week.
Quaker oatmeal was priced 2 for $3.00 with a Walgreens store coupon. I had an additional $1.00 off any size Quaker oatmeal. I bought one and paid .50 cents! Score!

My other great deal was on Pantene 12.6 oz. conditioner. It was on sale $2 for $7, get back $2 in RR for next purchase. I had one coupon to save $3.00 on the purchase of 2 conditioner. Ultimately I paid $1 for each.

Colgate toothpaste I had two $1.00 off coupons for and the toothpaste was BOGOF.



I spent $4.84 and got $2 RR, so total out of pocket is $2.84 which included $1.36 tax

Total spent for the year is $3.60
Have $26.40 left to spend for the year
I have received products worth $18.97 ( including the 2RR) in this transaction
YTD- total:  savings $31.46

Finesse Conditioner at Walgreens

Went to Walgreens this morning and bought the Finesse Clean and Simple Conditioner on sale for $1.99.
It has a peelie sticker on it that says "try me free." By mailing in the rebate form with the cash register receipt I can get back the price paid not including the tax of .19 cents.

My total for the year to spend is now $29.24
I have received $12.48 worth of free stuff and spent a total of $.76 cents.
Hoping  for some awesome deals this week!

Looking for the deals...

Saving money takes time. I spent about an hour total yesterday looking for the best deals of the week. I went through the grocery store fliers for the main three local chains; Raley's, Safeway and Lucky's. I looked at the store fliers for Walgreens and RiteAid.  I sorted through all the coupons I have so far; which include coupons my parents didn't want from their Sunday paper, a long stream of coupons I received yesterday from Walgreens along with my receipt, various coupons I found in magazines I receive. Kind of a pitiful coupon stash at this point and none of mine matched up with anything that was a great deal or loss leader at the stores. I could have gotten a homeopathic flu medicine at Walgreen's and used a printable coupon I found and actually have made $2 on the deal, but it felt wrong to me. I don't use homeopathic medicines and I really don't want to buy products that I don't intend to use myself or pass along to my parents. I had high hopes for dashing out to a multitude of stores with a fistful of coupons and watching the cashier dance with delight and high five me at the miniscule total I paid.
Not yet anyway...stay posted I am a woman with a mission!

My extremely high tech and organized coupon system

Thought I would post a picture of my high tech and extremely organized coupon system.

First Walgreens run of the year

 I went to Walgreen's this morning and am happy to report that  I am off to a start on my quest to see how much stockpiling I can do with a $30 budget.
I bought the Salonpas Arthritis Pain patch for $5.99. Paid 9.75% sales tax of .58 for a total of $6.57.
I received a $6 Register Rewards slip back. This means I have spent .57 cents and have left
$29.43 for the year.
Here is how much I saved for the year $8.49