Cereal mayhem
February 22, 2012
So last year there was a Kellogg’s cereal rebate – $10 wyb 10 select Kellogg’s cereals. You could send in up to 5 rebates. It ended at the end of the year, and I had bought enough for a 3rd rebate but missed the cutoff mail in date. Bummer! A few weeks later, I threw the UPCs in my recycle.
A few days later, I saw a posting on a blog about a NEW rebate. It was basically the exact same one, just a different expiration date and some of the cereal choices were different. Luckily, I hadn’t yet taken the recycle out and was able to fish out that envelope with the UPCs and send it in at the beginning of February. Yay! Some of that cereal had been specifically bought for that rebate and I would have wasted money. This new rebate expires 3/31/12 and so far I had sent in for only 1 of the 5. Good Kellogg’s coupons are scarce to come by so I was just biding my time for the right sale and promo and coupon combination to come along. I don’t need ANY cereal, so any I would buy would be for donation to coworkers so I wanted to make sure that if I did any more rebates, it would be make it so that the cereal was free (or a moneymaker).
This weekend there were 2 great printables that came out and I managed to snag: A $5/5 ANY Kellogg’s cereals and a $4/4 of select size and varieties of Kellogg’s (select varieties are those in the rebate yay!). Now to match with a great sale.
At Fred Meyer this week selected Kellogg’s cereals are 50% off! This includes Raisin Bran, one of the rebate varieties. Sadly, the size of Raisin Bran does not match the $4/4 coupon so I will be holding onto those. I’m hopeful for an even better sale to use those on! Many of the boxes of Raisin Bran were marked as having $5 in coupons inside of them. One of the coupons inside is $1 off ANY eggs wyb ANY 2 Kellogg’s cereals. Here’s what I did:
(10) Raisin Bran 25.5oz – $1.99ea (all have the coupons inside!)
(4) Dozen store brand eggs – (2) $1.19, (2) $1.49 (they only had 2 of the cheaper medium eggs and I didn’t feel like splitting the transaction and coming back another day)
used (2) $5/5 Kellogg’s printables
used (2) $1 off eggs wyb 3 Kellogg’s (yes I popped 2 of the boxes open – opened at the bottom, they were not inside the cereal bag itself)
used (2) $1 off eggs wyb 2 Kellogg’s (these came in boxes of Fiber Plus in a similar packet - Great Days - several months ago and I’ve been holding them for the next good Kellogg’s sale – exp 3/31)
Paid: $11.26
I will submit for the Kellogg’s rebate here: $10 Kellogg’s Gas Rewards Card rebate - only the Raisin Bran is currently eligible from the FM sale this week
After rebate I will have paid $1.26 for 10 boxes of cereal and 4 dozen eggs. Awesome!!! (Now I have nearly 8 dozen eggs in the fridge – eek! I’m finishing up the 4 dozen that I bought at Fred Meyer for super cheap using overage from Snapware a month or so ago. And I REALLY wish I hadn’t bought 2 dozen at FM about 3 weeks ago for $1.33/doz. That’s a fairly lousy price and i don’t know what I was thinking. These 4 are 0.32/ea!!! Thankfully eggs stay good for a lonnngg time and I will have to make a point of eating them more. HB eggs for snacks and in salads!)
I also stopped in again at the local Petrosa’s grocery
Spent $3.80
(4) Bananas – 0.27
Huge bunch of broccoli crowns – $0.91
(2) Zucchini – $1.63
80z package mushrooms – 0.99
I love this store!!
Winter Rewards at Rite Aid: My Journey
February 22, 2012
So Rite Aid does a lot of promos. In January they did a “resolutions rewards” where when you spent $100 in participating products, you earned a $20 UPR. There are dozens of products on the list. I didn’t really try for it and only made about $50. I probably could have gotten it without any or much out of pocket (OOP) cost if I had tried from the beginning, but it wasn’t worth it by the time I was really aware of it at the end of the month.
Surprise surpise, they did it again in February! A new list of products but the same deal….spend $100, get a $2o UPR. This time around, I looked through the deals with an eye towards getting this UPR. But I didn’t want to break my previous rule about only buying items that are entirely free, a moneymaker, or something I will actually use and need that is still not much OOP.
We’re 3 weeks into the 4 week promo and I already have earned $93 towards my $100! See the rundown:
Here’s my tally so far. Prices are after tax, and after all UPR & SCR earned.
Week 1:
(2) Stayfree – 0.43MM
(1) Abreva – 8.76
OOP: 8.83 (I didn’t have any previous ups to apply)
Leftover: (2) $2 UPR, (1) $2 SCR
Total to winter reward: $20
Week 2:
(4) Thermacare + (1) Optic White – $13.33 MM (after Pfizer rebate)
(4) Snickers eggs – $1MM
(2) Haribo gummy raspberries – $1.16
(1) Pot-of-gold – $0.99 (The winter reward says Valentine’s candy are excluded but judging by my total, this must have been included in the winter reward!)
OOP: $15.97 (used $4 UPR from week one)
Leftover: (2) $4 UPR, (1) 1.75 UPR, (1) $10 UPR, (1) $2 UPR, submit $10 UPR for Pfizer
Total to winter reward: $54
Week 3:
(4) Colgate toothpaste + (5) Colgate toothbrushes – $4.04 MM
OOP: $12.21 (used $2, $10, and $1.75 UPR from week two. I need to call customer service about getting my 2 $4 UPR from the thermacare)
Leftover: (4) $3.50 UPR, (4) $1.50 UPR, (1) $10 UPR.
Total to winter reward: $80
Total OOP so far: $37.01
Total actual cost after UPR/rebates: $7.89 moneymaker!
Initially the $3.50 UPR x 4 from the toothpaste didn’t print on my receipt, so had them returned and bought them over again. Weirdly, it counted them twice for the winter rewards total. I figured when you returned something with your card, it would subtract it from the total, but not so far. It might do so the next time I’m at the store though, sometimes it takes a bit to process. I’m not going to work too hard to correct it, as I have had issues every single week with UPR not printing. I have to call customer service about 3 different weeks of shopping to have UPR credited to me that are missing. So far, I am NOT impressed by the new load2card feature where the UPR are supposedly loaded automatically….there’s been nothing but errors so far.
I need to call about:
1.29 Johnson & Johnson promo – missing $5 UPR wyb $25
2.12 Thermacare – missing (2) $4 UPR wyb 2
2.19 Colgate – missing (3) $3.50 UPR from toothpaste, (2) $1.50 UPR from toothbrushes, and (1) $10 UPR wyb $25
So annoying!
The good news? I only have $7 (or possibly $20) left to spend to get my $20 UPR for the winter rewards!! Which means that I will definitely EARN at LEAST $8 from this promo. (that’s with spending the money to reach $100 without using a single coupon or getting a single UPR from those items) It is extremely possible that I will reach the $100 mark by buying freebies or moneymakers next week and will therefore EARN $28+ for this month, just from items on this promo!! Can you say free clearance holiday candy??
I LOVE RITE AID! (just not their computer tracking)
Discovering new stores
February 21, 2012
I have a few stores that I shop at weekly, more that I shop at once or twice a month, and a few that I shop at on occasion depending on the sales.
Weekly: Albertson’s, Rite Aid (almost ALWAYS these two)
Weekly-Biweekly: Safeway, Top Foods
Once or Twice Monthly: Fred Meyer, QFC
Occasionally: Walgreen’s, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods
Now I have another store to add to the occasional or once/twice monthly group: Petrosa’s. Petrosas’s is a little family neighborhood grocery store that is 2 blocks from my house. I have stopped in a couple of times for produce when they have some amazing deal listed on their marquee. This week they had cauliflower for $1.29 each! I love when cauliflower is sold by the head instead of by the pound because it is almost always cheaper. Usually the best price I find in the store per lb is $0.80, often not better than $0.99/lb which comes out to each head being around $2.50. So nearly half off the best price! I definitely wanted to stop in. It’s always good to surf the edges of stores for clearance and unmarked sales on produce, dairy, and meats. Here’s what I found:
Only $5.78!
(1) 8oz crimini mushrooms – $0.99 on clearance
(1) Zoi greek honey yogurt – $0.69 on clearance
How to best spend $0.66
February 17, 2012
Couponing has been going very very well lately. I suck at taking the pictures and suck even worse at posting them here. So here is a VERY quick glance at my shopping from last week. I stopped at 3 stores: twice to Albertson’s, once to Fred Meyer and Rite Aid. Here’s what I got:
Albertson’s
$12.55
3 yogurt w/ granola
2 Trop50 lemonade
2 albertson’s lemonade
3 parmesan cheese
3 Secret deodorant
18 pouches Starkist tuna
2 wedges Brie
No picture, I spent $6.50 and got:
~1.5# organic pears
~2# asparagus
MADE $13.39!
1 Optic White toothpaste
1 Pot of Gold box of chocolate
1 Brainstrong kid’s vitamins
2 Haribo gummy raspberries
4 Snickers eggs candy
The Year of Me
February 17, 2012
Well as the winter continues both my mood and couponing has picked back up again. I also started back on the South Beach diet in early January and joined a gym. I’m trying to make a more concerted effort to socialize. This is my year to go a little easier in the work-so-much department and maybe finally get a bit of a life! (I’ll let you know how THAT works out 
Let’s do a little rewind to January and take a look at my “resolutions” for 2011 and my new (very not formalized in any way except for what I do right now here) resolutions for 2012:
2011
1. Stick to SB diet, Phase 2 for at least 3 months, then if ok, Phase 3 indefinitely – well I think I stuck to P2 pretty well for about 2 months. Then some slip-sliding and cheating before I just gave up SB as a formal eating plan. I did better in general through the rest of the year with eating a bit more veggies (not enough) and more whole grains (but a lot of white rice/pasta again) but portion control got a little excessive. And candy. Always candy. One of my biggest issues is snacking on weekends and not planning out meals, just winging it.
2. Outside of SB, new drinking rules: no drinking between work shifts during workweek, only drinking when in a good mood, no more than 2 glasses of wine or one mixed drink when home alone, ok to drink more if with friends - yeah….this went well for awhile. Then I started going out for breakfast with one of my coworkers on her Friday (after my 2nd of 3 shifts) and would usually have 1-2 mimosas. And I found more and more reasons to have drinks at home. Now my tolerance level is ramped up to an entire bottle of wine or 4-5 mixed drinks in an evening. NOT GOOD. In general what I have found works best is to just not buy bottles of wine or hard liquor at all. If I really want a drink, I buy 1-2 mini bottles so that I cannot overindulge at home.
3. Exercise! Stick with it! SB exercises EOD-q3days, yoga 2x weekly, walking/intervals EOD-q3days, ice-skating 2-4x monthly, dancing 1-2x monthly. - uhhhh. yeah. I never really started doing any of this. Occasional SB strethes. I did find a squar dance group at the end of the year and went a couple of times.
4. Get Pets At Home up and running. While income is majorly variable depending on level of busyness/employee numbers, aim for my income to be minimum $500/mo ($700-$3400 gross income depending on if I’m taking the jobs vs. employees)(35hr/mo-170hr/mo) – PAH is doing ok. It is very variable and I decided in November that I did not want to work on growing it at this point in time. It is providing me a very acceptable level of supplemental income with a very manageable and minimal time outlay on my part. Basically, in a good position for my financial needs and time commitment desires for just myself. Moving forward is going to require a much larger management time and effort towards promotion and finding/managing employee(s). I am in general tired of working so hard (I’ve been working 50+ hours/week for 2+ years now in addition to my VECCS application process) and just need a break before progressing with PAH. Making this decision was a HUGE mental stressor relieved and I definitely think it was the right decision.s
5. Get accepted to take VECCS exam (March), study daily SOMETHING, take test at VECCS (Sept), pass and get VTS (ECC) in November! - I did it! I passed! I am now a LVT, VTS (ECC) Woot woot!!
6. Date! - ohhh hahahaa! There was this one guy. He was a huge letdown as nothing remotely romantic happened on our “dates” Oh well. I was pretty busy most of the summer pretending to study for my boards so I didn’t put myself out there at ALL.
So what is on the agenda for 2012? Let’s see!
1. Continue with south beach again. Maintain on phase 2 for 2-3 months, then ease to a phase 3 and really commit to making this a permanent lifestyle change. I’ve found several new recipes which are phase one friendly, giving me a much wider recipe base to work with so its been even easier this time around. I think committing to this lifestyle may be a bit of a continual cyclical thing for me in some ways.
2. Exercise! Seriously. My back/hip pain last year just got to a really annoying level. My cardio, core and hand strength and flexibility is at an all-time low. I’m entirely sick of it. I finally bit the bullet and joined a gym. I obviously need that level of mental coercion and financial commitment. I also signed up with a trainer for accountability though we’ll see how that part works out. Plan: Go to the gym at least 3 times/wk (aim for 4 eventually). Do yoga 1-2 times/wk. Go square dancing 2-4 times/month. When it’s warm, walk the dog on my days off. Go ice skating 1-2 times/month.
3. Drinking. Continue with the resolutions from last year: no drinking between work shifts during workweek, only drinking when in a good mood, no more than 2 glasses of wine or mixed drinks when home alone, ok to drink more if with friends.
4. Socialize! Date a bit, hang out with friends, make efforts to go out with coworkers and develop new friendships.
Ok, not going to go too crazy this year. I want to just be a physically and mentally more healthy person. 2012 is the year of ME!
Scratch and dent sale at Top Foods!
January 5, 2012
Well it was a good morning at Top Foods! I went in to get some dog food and produce and found MORE produce and then wandered across 5 carts full of scratch and dent markdowns!! After scoring a TON of canned goods and assorted other items there, I discovered that the Iams dog food I was planning to get was part of a P&G special buy $25, get $5 off instantly. As the dog food was 18.99, I only had to find $6.01 more to get the $5 off – essentially making whatever I bought of that $6 only actual cost of $1! After unloading my cart FULL of goodies, I was cringing to see what the final total would be. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was just under $50! So awesome considering I only used a couple of coupons. 
$49 and change!
Here’s is the rundown of what I got:
2 lbs baby carrots
3 pears
3 heads cauliflower
~2 lbs broccoli
1 lb of garlic cloves
1 leaf lettuce
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans carrots
6 cans peas
11 cans green beans
1 can black olives
1.5 lb pack raisins
5-pack applesauce
1 package marshmallows
1 lb powdered sugar
1 6 lb bag Goodlife cat food
17 lb bag Iams dog food
1 crest toothpaste
1 Pantene hairspray
What’s even better is that I decided to go back on the South Beach diet next week so that is lots of veggies, beans, lean meats, whole grain carbs, no sugars. I had almost no fresh veggies and was getting low on canned veggies so this was perfect timing!
Most exciting:
$0.50 big can of kidney beans for chili
1lb of garlic heads for $1.79!
Cat food for $5.49 (0.92/lb – I try to get the best brand I can for under $1/lb)
The P&G promo! If I just bought the dog food it went like this:
Iams dog food 17# – $18.99
- $4/1 Top Food super saver coupon (from Sunday flyer)
- $3/1 Iams mailer coupon (I had this for awhile, think it was from some freebie)
Final Price: $11.99
But! With the P&G get $5 off instantly wyb $25 promo it went like this:
Iams dog food 17# – $18.99
- $4/1 Top Food super saver coupon (from Sunday flyer)
- $3/1 Iams mailer coupon (I had this for awhile, think it was from some freebie)
Crest toothpaste – $2.99
- $0.75/1 Top Food super saver coupon (from Sunday flyer)
Pantene hairspray – $3.49
- $1/1 Top Food super saver coupon (from Sunday flyer)
- $5 P&G promo wyb $25
For a total of: $11.72!! (0.69/lb) I actually SAVED $0.27 by adding in the Pantene & Crest! If I had looked at this more closely before leaving the house and had clipped the coupons from the P&G last sunday, I would have had another $1.50 off Pantene and $0.75 off Crest for a final total of $9.47. I was at the store after work and already had all the other stuff though so I decided to sacrifice that 2.25.
I am SOOO happy with this shop. I almost never do huge shops like this since starting couponing since I’m doing a little here and there every week and I do a lot of little transactions at Albertson’s during doublers week. But considering that 90% of this was veggies…..WOW! It just goes to show you that watching for sales and clearance can be just as (or more) powerful than the coupons themselves. And mmmmm the homemade chicken rice soup on the stove smells sooooo good.
Happy hunting,
~Lissa
Rite Aid redeems itself
October 11, 2011
Well couponing has been all over the place! It’s hot, it’s cold, random new promotions….this is definitely a constantly evolving landscape!
I have been couponing, just not posting. There was a crazy doubler weekend a month ago where I was up at 3:30a extracting the doublers as soon as my paper arrived and going to 2 different stores before 6am because I had to be at the airport by 6:30am. A bag of nonperishables sat in the trunk of my car for 5 days while I was in Tennessee.
My name is Melissa, and I am a coupon-aholic. But I have 4 pounds of Skittles so all is well
Anyways, it has been quiet the last couple of months at Rite Aid. Here and there will be a good deal, but nothing huge. I was worried that the great deals might be gone for good. But the last couple of weeks has been awesome! Note:
Rite Aid 10/6/11 - $1.39!
(2) Profoot heel cream – $3.99
(1) Profoot insoles – $3.99
-(3) $1/1 coupons (2 were hangtags on the creams!)
-(3) $3 SCRs
= free!
(1) Scope mouthwash – $4 (incl travel size + 3 coupons)
-$1.50/1 coupon
-$2.50 UPR
= free!
(4) Knee-hi pantyhose – $0.40ea (w/ 20%disc!)
-(4) $1/1 UPR (didn’t print so have to call customer service)
= $2.24 moneymaker! ($0.56ea)
(8) Covergirl makeup – BOGO50% ~$37
-(4) $8/2 coupons
-$10 UPR
= ~$1.78 moneymaker
(5) Aveeno hair care – $5.99
(1) Aveeno lotion – $3.49
-(4) $2/1 coupon
-(1) $3/2 coupon
-(1) $2 off VV coupon
-(2) $10 UPR
=$3.13 (0.52ea)
So great! I am going to be making a bunch of different themed gift baskets so a lot of this will go into those. The Covergirl makeup also came with 8 codes for free Taylor Swift merchandise. I got an Ipad skin and 2 keychains.
And then for this week:
Rite Aid 10/10/11 - I made $5.70!!
So this week there were TONS of free items after UPR. Unfortunately, in Washington we have to pay sales tax on the pre-coupon amount so many things which are “free” actually have some (or a lot) of cost to them. This is especially true in promotions where you buy a larger amount of product in order to get a large UPR. For example, last week’s Covergirl promo was buy $30, get a $10 UPR. While coupons took off much of that $30, there was still $3.51 of tax! It adds up quickly. Many of the freebies were cough drops/cold meds which I still have a large stock of, so I passed on them. I DID get these however:
(4) John Frieda Hair Care – $5.00ea
(4) $2/1 John Frieda Product,
Pay: $13.90 (12 w/o tax), get (2) $5 UPR
Final Price: $3.90 (0.98ea)
(1) Preparation H Totables Wipes – $3.00
use $2/1 Preparation H Product printable
Pay: $1.29 ($1), get $3 +Up, limit 1
Final Price: $1.71 MM
(1) Zarbee’s All-Natural Children’s Cough Syrup 4 oz – $5.99
Pay: $6.56 (5.99), Submit for $5.99 SCR
Final Price: $0.57
(4) Rite Aid Hand Sanitizer 8 oz – $1.00
Pay: $4.38 (4), Receive $1 +Up Reward, limit 4
Final Price: $0.38 ($0.10ea)
(4) CoverGirl Cosmetics BOGO 50% off (~$16)
use (2) $8/2 CoverGirl Face Product
Pay: ~$1.25 in tax, submit for $10 MIR wyb $50 P&G beauty rebate
Final Price (incl last week’s CG): $10MM!
(1) Bayer 81 mg Aspirin Tablets, 32-36 ct $2.99
*$1/1 Bayer Aspirin coupon from 9/11 Red Plum
+ use $1/1 Bayer Aspirin Product (SavingStar.com)
Pay: $2.27, get $2 UPR + $1 SavingStar
Final Price: $0.72MM!
(2) Snack Size KitKats or Reese’s – 2/$4
use $2/2 tearpad coupon
use $1/2 KitKat or Reese’s VV coupon
Pay: $1.38, get $1 UPR wyb 2 = $0.38
This was definitely great couple of weeks! Plus I just ordered a pair of Dansko shoes for work @ 60% off for $48. I’ll be reimbursed through work, but that still gives me $50 to play with to get other scrubs with. Yay!
My 1st Paycheck
August 6, 2011
I have some exciting news!!!
I just paid myself my first paycheck!!!!!! EEEEEEEeeeeEEEE!!!
lol, I know, you’d think I’d never worked a day in my life. But this is the first check I have made out to myself from my own business. Yes, it’s officially been open for nearly a year (October 1st, 2010 if anyone wants to know). And yes, I had already “turned a profit”…..since there is almost no overhead, so I could have been paying myself before now. But since I did not fund this business with any capital, I wanted to make sure there was a little bit in the bank account to help get things set up more in a few months. July was the 1st month that I calculated the gross income and then made out a check for the 75% that I had determined so long ago would be my percentage when working a job personally.
So on August 3rd, I deposited my 1st paycheck for $600!! (gross: $800) I am (obviously) very excited about this and would be no matter the amount. But the fact that it is a fairly signifanct amount? I am THRILLED!! It was about mid-way through July when I looked at the schedule for the month, as well as some preplanned jobs for August that I realized how much I was bringing in. That’s when I determined that hey, this seems to be rolling right along now – maybe I am in a good position to start actually paying myself! And so here I am. From this point forward I do not plan to “baby” the business, but to partake of it as a success – even at this small scale level. At the end of each month I will total the income, figure my standard share, and write myself a check. As for growth, in the next few months (after VECCS in September), I intend to:
- Solidify the underlying business structure
- Network to find potential contract employees
- Develop a marketing strategy
- Market and promote the business to new clinics & increase referrals in my current ones
My current monthly household budget requires me to make an extra $600-800/mo. (Without counting any PAH income) Which is 3-5 relief shifts, depending on day vs. night, overtime vs. outside clinics, length of shift.
As it stands now, that $600 paycheck I just paid myself is equivalent to 2 overtime graveyard shifts or 3 overtime day/swing shifts! Plus, I am on track currently for August to receive a paycheck from PAH of $450 even if no more clients appear before the end of the month. And I have already scheduled $500 worth of overtime relief shifts, plus 2 days of on-call that if called I am called in, will result in a minimum of $100 each, up to $200 each. So I am well situated for August, and in September I am not currently scheduling any extra shifts!
I am just so happy that the business is going well, despite the little efforts I have made to grow it. I have several returning clients and that is the best recommendation of all.
Tips for mindful couponing (and quite a busy week!)
August 2, 2011
So I did a lot of couponing this weekend. It was a doubler weekend at Albertson’s and I stopped in 3 times. Plus one trip to Safeway, one to Top Foods, one to QFC, a HUGE trip to Rite Aid, and a trip to Walgreen’s. This is a VERY NON-typical week for me! I nearly always have at least one trip to Rite Aid & Albertson’s, 2-3 trips to Albertsons on doubler weeks, and here and there to the others, with rarely going to Walgreen’s or QFC. And yet, somehow this week there were amazing deals at each and every one! It’s funny because I had just taken a huge amount of groceries/toiletries into work which were snatched up quickly by the coworkers. And in just one week I’ve made huge progress in rebuilding my surplus pile! At least I’m putting those newspaper subscriptions to good use!
Something that I have commented briefly on in the past is that I don’t want to get so wrapped up in the “deal” that I lose sight of what I am buying and exactly how much money I am spending. If I have 20 tubes of toothpaste in my surplus pile, I can skip some deals. And if it is an item that I won’t be personally using, even if it’s a good deal, if it costs me money, that’s still money that I am throwing away. Also, I am trying to make a more conscious effort to eat healthier. Yes, I love chips. And candy. And various junkfoods. And yes there are plenty of good deals on those. But I don’t want to be eating large amounts of those type of foods, so I am learning to pass up those deals also. There really are great deals out there for healthy foods! If I ever had time (hahahhaaha) I think I would put together a couponing blog focusing only on healthy lifestyle couponing.
Ok well I want to show you what I got! The total for ALL the stores is $13.85!!!! I wish I had a picture of everything but here’s the list:
Albertson's #1 $3
Albertson's #2 & 3 $3.17
QFC $1.59
Rite Aid $9.50 moneymaker!
Ok so here’s the purchase list:
Albertson’s – $6.17
(10) Atheno’s greek yogurt
(4) Snackwells cereal bars
(5) TicTacs
(1) bag Twizzlers
(1) Franz WW bread
(1) Franz WW english muffins
(1) Franz WW mini bagels
(1) Driscoll’s raspberries
(1) Friskies canned cat food
(3) bags Kraft 2% mozzarella shredded cheese
Except for candy, all quite healthy items, including meal stuff
Safeway – $8.02 (not pictured)
(1) 20lb Tidy Cats scoop litter
(5) Fiber Plus cereal
I actually needed to get cat litter, and the cereal was 0.49ea and will make an excellent healthy snack item. Plus each box came with $5 worth of coupons, including $1 off fruit wyb 2 boxes any Kellogg’s cereal – doesn’t expire til March 2012 so will definitely happen upon more cereal deals before then! So really it’s like I made 0.51 on each box once I redeem the free fruit!
QFC – $1.59
(8) Beggin Strips
(5) bags frozen brussel sprouts
This was an incredible deal, one of those too-good-to-be-true! I have to break it down for you:
Transaction #1
Buy 8 Beggin Strips at $4.19ea = subtotal of $33.52
Store sales promotion is BOGO = -16.76
Sales tax now calculated = new subtotal of $18.35
Use 4 BOGO insert coupons from SS 5/8 = $1.59
Pay $1.59, receive $5 catalina (wyb $30 worth of Purina products)
Transaction #2
Buy 5 bags Kroger frozen veggies – $1ea
Use $5 catalina from transaction #1
Pay: nothing!!
The Beggin strips will go to work to keep patients very happy (I saved a couple of bags for Emmy). And I actually love oven-roasted brussel sprouts and they are never included in the $1 sales that Albertsons and Safeway have! So I am very excited by this one!
Top Foods – $2.10 (not pictured)
(2) 2lb bags of whole carrots
(3) yellow onions
Great cooking/snacking essentials at rock bottom prices!
Walgreen’s – $4.60 (not pictured)
(2) 12pk Cottonelle TP
(1) Crayola washable markers
(3) Folders (filler- 0.11ea)
Less than $2ea for the TP, donated the school supplies.
Rite Aid – $8.83 MM!
#1 – J&J deal ($10 UP wyb $30)
(4) Bengay – 4.94ea
(4) Stayfree – 3.99 BOGO50%
(2) Folder/Envelopes – 0.29ea (fillers)
= $31.73 (34.74 w/ tax)
-(4) $3/1 Bengay from 7/31 RP
-(4) $2/1 Bengay in-ad
-(2) BOGO Stayfree (-3.99ea) from SS 6/26
Paid: $6.76, get $10 UPR
#2 – Oral care deal ($5 UP wyb $25)
(4) Crest 1L mouthwash - 5ea
(1) Oral B battery toothbrush – 5.99
=$25.99 (28.46 w/ tax)
-(4) $2/1 Crest from PG 7/31
-(1) $3/1 Oral B from PG 7/31
use $10 UPR from #1
use $3/$15 survey coupon (NLA)
Paid: $4.46, get $5 UPR, submit $10 SCR (Crest), $2.99 SCR (Oral B)
#3 – P&G deal ($10 UP wyb $30)
(8) Gillette body wash – 3.98ea
=31.84 (34.86 w/ tax)
-(4) BOGO from 6/5 PG
-(4) $2/1 Gillette body wash from 7/31 PG
use $5 UPR from #2
use $3/$15 survey coupon (NLA)
Paid: $2.94, get $10 UPR
Total OOP: $14.16
Leftover: $10 UP, $12.99 in SCR
Final Trip Price: $8.83 profit!!
Freebies and Rebates
July 29, 2011
So I finally at least sorted the pile of mail on my table. Whenever I bring in the mail I immediately throw away obvious junkmail and open obviously important stuff. Otherwise I’ve been lazy and throwing it on the table to open later. I think I have about 2 months of it in there. Sorted through today and separated all my rebate checks and sample freebies that have come in!
I’m not a huge freebie/sample so I don’t get all of them that are out there, though I’m trying to do more of it. Here’s what was in the pile from the last couple of weeks:
Freebie sampler pack of U by Kotex + coupons
Free sample of Carefree liner + coupon
Free sample of Miralax
Free sample of Garnier shampoo/conditioner
Free sample of Aveeno (lotion?)
Free sampler of Taster’s Choice
I also got in some rebate checks for Rite Aid SCRs, Snapple, and one I can’t remember what it was from. Yay!
