Great Deal on Cereal at Albies this week

Need to stock up on cereal? Don't have any coupons? You can still get a good deal at Albertsons this week on cereal. Select Post cereals are on sale this week. Here's how it works.

Select Post cereals (watch the tags at the store to make sure you are choosing participating items ... pictured in the ad are Raisin Bran, Fruity Pebbles, Honey-Comb, Shredded Wheat, Honey Bunches of Oats, Grape Nuts, Trail Mix Crunch, Post Selects) are on sale for $2.07. There is a Post promo this week where if you buy 2 you save $1 instantly at check out. This isn't a $1 coupon that prints out after you pay but $1 that comes off your total automatically for every 2 boxes of cereal you buy. This basically takes $.50 off of each box bringing the cost down to $1.57 each. Not great BUT there is also a catalina deal working along with this. A catalina is a coupon that prints out after you make your purchase, like a Walgreens RR. In this case, if you buy 3 you get a $2 catalina coupon good for $2 off OYNSO (On Your Next Shopping Order), buy 4 and you get $3 OYNSO, buy 5 or more and you get $5 OYNSO. This means if you buy 5 cereals you will get $2 off instantly plus a $5 catalina good ONYSO. This makes the cereal without coupons about $.67 each. And the best thing is that you can roll the catalinas. This means you could pay $8.35 + tax OOP (out of pocket) for your first 5 boxes and then use your $5 catalina to bring your OOP down on your next 5 boxes and so on. Just be sure to seperate them out into seperate transactions if you are planning on doing more then 5 boxes so you can get more catalinas.

Now if you do get the paper or have any Post coupons then you can get an even better deal. There were $1/2 Post coupons in both the 3/1 and the 3/29 SmartSource inserts. Use 2 of these coupons in each transaction of 5 cereals and you can get your cost per box down to as low as $.27 per box!

Good Job Kathleen

Just wanted to say "Great Job" to my sister Kathleen who just did her first Wags run. She took 3 of her kids with her and they each did 3 transactions and ended up with 12 free shave gels and 12 free chapsticks and a huge stack of RRs to spend. It was a good first trip for her and a good way to start to learn the system. She called me from the store to make sure she knew what she was doing and she did great!

*And no Ed, it's not stealing! It's being frugal and smart with your money and buying at the right times! Smart Aleck! :)

March Monthly Totals

I have been keeping track of how much money I spend on groceries, toiletries, health & beauty products and cleaning supplies. I have never been really good about keeping track before, I just always tried to be frugal. I went into my Microsoft Money program where I keep my spending information and ran some reports to try to see how much money we used to spend on these areas. The data isn't super accurate but I figured we used to spend on average around $600-$700 per month on these products which included a little bit of stocking up but not much. As I have been learning how to live more frugally and save money I have been much better about tracking these things. I am now keeping a spreadsheet of all these types of purchases, how much I have spent and how much I have saved. My totals for this month are as follows:

Spent $364.73* on a total of $1,811 in products. Not bad! It's like getting $1,500 in free products in one month. No wonder my storage areas are starting to run out of open space! My goal for April is to be well under the $300 mark. This month was higher then I would like to normally fall mostly because I am doing some mega stocking up. I think from now on out I will be doing less stocking up since I am so well stocked in many areas. I am putting these numbers here on my blog to help keep me accountable and to help me stick to my goals.

* I went back in and figured how much of this was pure "groceries" and it worked out to be about $230. Pretty good for a family of 5!

This Weeks Wags Deals

I got some great deals at Wags this morning. It's so nice to have found a store that is coupon friendly and has nice checkers. Here are the deals I got today:

4 Mentos Gums 2/$2

Used four $1 coupons

FREE!

2 Glade Soy Candles for $5.99 each

Used two $4/1 coupons

And the Wags ESR $2/1 coupon (took off $4 total)

FREE!

2 Reynolds Foil $.89 with in ad coupon

Used two $1/1 coupons

FREE with overage!

2 Halls Cough Drops $1.39 with in ad coupon

Used two $.75 coupons

Final cost $.64 each

2 Cokes and 1 Hershey Bar for the price of 1 Coke

Used B1G1 Free Coke Coupon

1 Dawn Dish Detergent $.99 with in ad coupon

Used $.50 coupon from Home Made Simple booklet

Final cost $.49

4 Red Baron Pizzas 2/$5

Used two $1/2 coupons

Final cost $2 per pizza

1 Chapstick (100% Natural) $1.99

Got $2RR

FREE!

2 Quaker Chewy Granola Bars 2/$5

Used $1/2 coupon

Got $2RR

Final cost $1 each

2 Quaker Life Cereals 2/$5
Used two $1/1 coupon
Got $2RR
Final cost $.50 each

2 Edge Shave Gels $2.99

Got $3RR

FREE!

3 Skintimate Shave Gels $2.49

Got $3RR

Free with overage!

Note: You can't do a Skintimate and an Edge shave gel in the same transaction and get both $3RRs. The computer can't tell the difference between them because they are both from SC Johnson. So make sure you only do one of these per transaction.

4 Softsoap Body Wash $3.99

Used $.75/1 coupon

Got a coupon for a free Softsoap Body Wash**

**But the best thing about this is this deal is rolling. This means that you can buy the first one and get a coupon from it and turn around and use that coupon on another one and so on and so on. So I was able to buy 4 of these for less than the price of 1 and I still have a free coupon left over for another one. Now please note, this worked fine for me this morning but it doesn't take long for Wags to figure out when these things are rolling and fix the "glitch" in their system. So it may not work for much longer. And it depends on the store. The store by me will not give you the new coupon if you use a coupon on it. (That's why I don't like to go there!) Without the rolling you are getting 2 for the price of 1 which you will have to decide whether it's a deal worth doing for you.

Save your Receipts

Why is it a good idea to save your receipts? Here is a perfect example of why?

There is a promo running right now along with Disney's new movie "Bolt". Here are the details:

Buy "BOLT" on DVD at Target for $15.99 (Target has the best price right now)

Use this $5/1 DVD Version Printable Coupon

Get a $4.00 Rebate from Ronzoni HERE (All you have to do is buy any of these brands Ronzoni, Smart Taste, San Giorgio, Creamette, American Beauty, Prince or Skinner to get the $4 Rebate).

= $6.99

OR

Buy "BOLT" on Blu-ray at Target for $26.99

Use this $10/1 Blu-ray Version Printable Coupon
Use the same $4.00 Rebate from Ronzoni HERE

= $12.99

Now why do I say save your receipts? Well I bought a bunch of American Beauty Pasta a couple weeks ago at Smiths when they had it on sale so I have already bought what I needed to buy to get this $4 rebate. Now I can just buy the movie and get an additional $4 off on top of the $5 off coupon.

Or there is an even better deal if you buy both "BOLT" and "Lilo & Stitch" on DVD from Target. Here's the deal:

Buy "BOLT" for $15.99 and "Lilo & Stitch" for $15.99 = $31.98

Use this $5/1 DVD Version Printable Coupon

Plus you get an automatic $10 discount from Target

= $16.98 OOP
Use the same $4.00 Rebate from Ronzoni HERE

= $12.98 for both movies!

(Thanks to GoodOrFreeDeals for this inf0)

Thomas Nelson Review - His Name is Jesus

His Name is Jesus: The Promise of God's Love Fulfilled by Max Lucado

When I received this book I couldn't help but he impressed by how beautiful of a book it is. This hardbound book is full of beautiful, breathe-taking, landscape pictures. It makes you think of God's creation right from the start. This book isn't one that I would read as a novel but one that I would read in snippets, a great coffee table book. There are many short segments where Lucado talks about different miracles that Christ preformed and delves into his observations of Christ’s personality. He shows Christ not only as a God among men but shows the human side of Christ and helps you see how loving and in touch with humanity he really was. It helps you see Christ as someone you can relate too, not just someone to praise, someone who struggled through trials, not just someone who lived life without temptation. We know that Christ suffered all things for us because he loves us but this makes you feel how much be loves you. It is very well written, with poems, Lucado’s thoughts, scripture and beautiful art. This would make a wonderful gift. Something to think about with both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up.

Super Target Deals

I wanted to try out Target's $5 Dinner idea that I saw on MomsByHeart. It gives you a receipe, shopping list and coupons to feed your family a complete dinner for $5. The boys and I made a trip into Super Target this afternoon to try it out. We were able to get a package of Sutter & Dodge Round Steak with a $2 off coupon for $2.79 and six mini loaves (sandwich size) for free. They are $.99 and I printed out six $1 Target coupons. I also got 6 cans of Market Pantry Soup's Beef Broth for $.22 each ($.47 each with three $.50/2 coupons). All these coupons are available on THIS link. I already have quite a few Green Giant veges like they suggested in the meal plan. I only need 2 cans of the soup for this recipe so I will be able to make these French Dip sandwiches for my family for $3.23.

I also got some other great steals there today:

2 Schick Intuition for $6.99 each

Get a $5 Target Gift Card when you purchase 2

Bought two for a total of $13.98

Used two $4 coupons from the 3/22SS

Paid $5.98 and got a $5 Gift Card

Final cost $.98/2, just $.49 each!

2 Gillette Body Wash (8.4 fl oz) for $2 each

Used two $2 coupon from the 3/1PG

Final cost FREE!

2 Johnson's body care travel size lotions for $.99 each

Used two $1 coupons from the 2/22RP

Final cost FREE!

2 Pledge Furniture Polish for $3.50 each

Used two $3/1 IP coupon

And two $1/1 Target coupon

Final cost FREE plus $1 moneymaker!

14 boxes of Pop Secret Popcorn for $2.29 each

Used fourteen $1/1 Target coupons

And three $1/2 MFC coupons

And four $50/2 MFC coupons

Final cost 14 boxes for $13. Less then $1 each. Good thing because we were out of popcorn and we go through a lot of it!

2 Mott's Applesauce 6 packs for $1.69 each

Used two $1 Target coupons

And two $.55 MFC coupon

Final cost ONLY .$14 per pack!

That along with the 6 Artisan Mini Loaves, Sutton & Dodge Steak and the 6 cans of Beef Broth only cost me $22.30 PLUS I got a $5 Target Gift Card. Now if only I had brought my brain along with me I would've used the $10 Target Gift Card I already had and forgot about and I would've had an even lower OOP. Oh well, next time! :)

Todays Trips and Diaper Stash

I think I will probably change my weekly Walgreens run from Monday to Tuesday morning. The checker I have been going to on Monday's is great but the lady there on Wednesday's is fantastic. She showed me her own huge coupon binder, wants people to know there are deals out there to be had and makes sure that everything rings up correctly. She is FANTASTIC!

Here is my morning Wags haul:

I got 6 Colgate Total toothpastes (made $.50 on each), 2 Glade Sense & Spray (made $1 on these), 1 Axe Shampoo (free after Rebate), 1 Pledge Multi Surface Spray for $.50 (on sale for $3.50, used $2 coupon and will get back a $1 rebate) and 4 big bags of Huggies wipes and 7 bags of Huggies diapers. All this cost me $30.60 and I saved $74.97!

This is a shot of Kyle's closet to show how this one diaper deal worked out for me. Now for some details. As many of you know those great IP Huggies coupons paired with the Wags RR deal a couple weeks ago caused quite a stir. It was nearly impossible to find the diapers in stock since the deal was so good, they were literally flying off the shelves. I myself was only able to find them in stock at Wags once that week and they were limiting it to 3 packs per customer. So I was able to snag three packs that way but to get the rest of these I had to get creative with price matching at Walmart (see THIS post) and rain checks. Now these things may or may not work for you, it really just depends on who you talk to and if you get lucky. I was able to get Walmart to price match the deal with the RR and was able to go in there twice in the week to score lots of super cheap diapers. I also asked at each Wags I went to for rainchecks and was able to get two sets of rainchecks. This morning I used one of my sets of rainchecks. They were very generous and gave me 3/$15 on the diapers and 5/$15 on the wipes which actually ended up being cheaper then the RR deal. So this morning I got 4 packs of wipes and 7 more packs of diapers using that raincheck and all the rest of my random Huggies coupons. As you can see by the picture above, I probably won't have to buy diapers again for Kyle for ... well ... probably forever!

Afterwards I ran over to Albies real quick because we were out of yogurt and they have a three day double coupon thing (ending today) where they will double up to $1 on four coupons. I had four Dannon coupons. These packs were on sale 2/$4 and so with four $1/1 coupons doubled I got all these for free. I just had to pay $.12 tax. Can't beat that!

Huge Mail Day

My three year old loves to go out and get the mail. Today he tried but it was way too much for him. Here's what I got:

Two $10 Blockbuster gift cards, one $10 Target gift card, one $30 Staples gift card and I just need to call and cancel those memberships I signed up for. I also have a $20 Lowes gift card coming. Check out THIS hip2save link to find out more about these.

Free sample of BC Warm Delights. Sign up here.

Home Made Simple Coupon booklet. Sign up here.

$15.98 Rite Aid rebate check from last months purchases. This can be spent at the store or deposited in the bank.

$5.99 rebate check from Sure Max w/ $2.50/1 Sure Max coupon and a $1/1 Pert Plus coupon
$2.79 rebate check from Sure w/ $1/1 Sure coupon and a $1/1 Pert Plus coupon

Check out THIS link for the rebate forms for these items. I didn't even realize there was a TRY ME FREE for Sure for Men so I will have to keep an eye out for that. You can do all these rebates. When you go to the store just keep your eye out for these products with a TRY ME FREE sticker on them. Then attach the sticker to the rebate form and send them off. They will send you back a check for the purchase amount plus coupons. Just remember that you have to send these off seperately so if you come across more then one of these on the same shopping trip to purchase them in seperate transactions because you need to send the original receipt off for each.

And a free box of Children's Claritan from BzzAgent along with 8 flyers and eight $3/1 coupons to pass along to others. For more info on BzzAgent check out THIS hip2save post.

So cool! I love when Eric needs help bringing in the mail!

Walgreens Brand Diapers

If you weren't able to get enough diapers on Wags last diaper deal or just want to stock up on more then check out THIS post from Hip2Save. 12 packs of diapers delivered for $45. Not bad.

Upcoming Albies Cereal Deal

Looks like Albertson's has a great Kelloggs cereal promo this coming week (starting Wednesday). Buy 10 participating products save $10 instantly. So dig out your Kelloggs cereal coupons and check the grocery smarts planner tomorrow for details. Looks like you should be able so get certain cereals from $.50 - $1 per box depending on variety and your coupons.

Great Walgreens Trip

I just got back from a great Walgreens trip. I love the store I go to every Monday morning. The lady checker is so nice and so is the manager.

Here's what I did:

Listerine / Reach Promotion - Buy 3 participating Listerine or Reach products, 3 for $9=$6RR

I got 3 Reach toothbrushes which are normally $3 each but I found them on sale for $.75 each!
Total $2.25
Used one $1/1 coupon and one $1.50/2 coupon
Made $.25 right off and on top of that I got back a $6RR
I did this twice in two separate transactions.
Final cost 6 toothbrushes for FREE and made a PROFIT of $12.50 for buying these!

I also bought 3 Listerine Mouthwashes for $9 total
Used two $2 IP coupons and one $2 coupon from the 2/8RP (Note: These coupons said they were for Listerine Total Care mouthwash but they worked just fine on the regular kind that was in the promotion)
Paid $3 and I got back a $6RR
Final cost 3 Listerine's for FREE and made a PROFIT of $3 on these!

1 Sambocol Cold & Flu medicine for $11.99
I used the Walgreens $10 EasySaver coupon and the the $4 IP coupon
Final cost FREE and made a PROFIT of $2 on these!

5 Colgate Total Toothpastes for $3.49 each
I used the Walgreens $2.50 EasySaver coupon
Plus I used the $1.50 PDF coupon I have saved on my computer
Final cost 5 toothpastes for FREE and made a PROFIT of $2.50 on these!

I bought two Crest Healthy Radiance packages which were on clearance for $5.59
(includes toothpaste and whitestrips)
I used two $5 Crest Whitestrips coupons from the 3/1PG
Should've cost $.59 each but it was even better ... they rang up as $2.79 each (not $5.59)
So I actually made a profit of $4.42 on the two of them!

2 bags of SweeTarts Jelly Beans for $2.09 each
I used the $1/2 EasySaver coupon and the $1/2 IP coupon
Final cost $2 total.

I bought two 4 packs of Energizer AA rechargeble batteries for $7.99 each.
I will get back a $10 rebate on these so these only cost me $5.98 for the two of them but all my other moneymakers more then paid for these.

In the end I paid $9.36 OOP and got back $18 in Register Rewards and will get $10 back in rebates!

Final Total for all of this ... $18.64 PROFIT.

It's like they are thanking me for shopping there! :)

Johnson's Soap Buddies

I know a lot of you love the Soap Buddies for your kids. I am about to get our last one out of my stash and so I was on the lookout for more coupons so I could replenish my stock. Deal Seeking Mom has four different coupons on THIS POST that you can print out twice each per computer. I was very happy to find this! Thanks DSM!

The Ever Elusive Wags Diapers

Have you had a hard time finding the Huggies diapers in stock? I sure have. Every store I have talked to says that they will restock and are cleaned out in 10 minutes! We are a crazy bunch of couponers aren't we?!

Well I have a couple suggestions for you to try. Keep in mind, stores vary and checkers vary but if you keep these things in mind you may get lucky and get to take advantage of these great deals that are hard to catch!

Ask for a rain check: I have collected rain checks for diapers and wipes from two different Wags this week as I have been out searching for diapers. The nice thing is that they gave me a rain check for the price with the RR figured in so I will still get the great price, not just the advertised price and I can do it on my time (so long as I keep in mind that my coupons will expire) rather then worrying about having to find some in stock this week which I have decided is impossible! Now again, keep in mind that stores and checkers and even managers vary. I got a rain check on Monday at one store from a really cool checker while my friend Rebecca was there at the same store just a short time after me and talked to the manager who was really cool but told her he just couldn't issue her a rain check. He had no idea that the great $5/1 and $3/1 coupons were out there and wasn't prepared for us at all! Don't worry Rebecca, we'll go together next week and use my rain checks on both of our purchases. :)

Call ahead: I have 5 Wags within a reasonable distance from my house but I really don't want to haul my kids and go to all of them searching for diapers. So calling ahead and asking if they have the item you are looking for in stock helps. You can also find out when they are getting a truck in with more of the product so you will know when to call back and check again if they are out at the time.

Price Match: Now this you will certainly want to make some phone calls on. Credit for this new piece of info goes to my sister-in-law Alisa (AGAIN, man she's smart). As you probably know, Walmart will price match. Alisa heard from her boss that her bosses sister (who is a huge couponer) that her Walmart will price match and factor in the RR amount as well. Could this be true? Well if you ask the first three stores I called then NO. They said they will match the printed price in the ad but won't factor in the 40% off that you get for the RR ($10 off of $25 = 40%). So I tried calling one more store as my last ditch effort to see if any Walmart in my area would do this and ... LUCKY ME! I talked to a really nice manager who said they should have no trouble doing that. So I went in hoping that I wouldn't run into any resistance. And I didn't! I just told the checker before he rang up my things that I had approval from the particular manager for the $6 price on the diapers and the $3.60 price on the wipes. And he just gave it to me without any trouble or questions or double checking. And I have never had a problem with Walmart using internet printable coupons and this time was no different. He didn't bat an eye at my stack of coupons. Yeah! In the end I ended up getting 9 packs of diapers and 3 three packs of wipes for $21 (the regular cost of 2 packs of diapers). Yeah! Plus I had a $50 Walmart gift card that we got when my husband bought my cell phone for me for Christmas so I used that so it really cost me nothing OOP!

The only down side was they had only 3 packs of Natural Fit diapers which were size 5 (I was looking for size 3 and 4) which I am not sure Kyle will ever get into (skinny bum!) But I picked them up anyway and I will take them back later and exchange them for the size I need. No big deal! On the upside they did have lots of the Gentle Care care (size preemie, newborn, 1 & 2) so I was able to get 6 packs of diapers (2 Newborn and 4 size one) for my cousin who is about to have a baby! Yeah! The other good thing that I found was they do have a Natural Care type of wipes so I was able to get three of those for $.60/each. I could've gotten more but I really wanted to save some of my coupons in the hopes of using them on diapers, not just wipes.

Then it gets even better, sort of. So I still had six $3/1 coupons and six $5/1 coupons which I really would like to use on diapers for Kyle. So I decided since I was out I would swing by the Wags on my way home which I had called earlier in the week that said they were getting a truck in on Thursday. I thought it was worth a try to see if I could get lucky and find the Huggies shelves stocked. No such luck. The guy said they got a truck in this morning and they were cleaned out in 10 minutes! Crazy women! :) But I figured it couldn't hurt to ask for a rain check even though I have one from another store. So I asked and the guy gave me a rain check for the diapers at $6 each. So I will go back in the next couple weeks (when they are stocked again) and hopefully I will be able to use the rest of my coupons and get a great deal on the size diapers I need. Yeah!

Hope this info was helpful. Sometimes it is worth it to look for work arounds when you can't get the deal you wanted at the time it's advertised if it's something you really want to take advantage of!

Thomas Nelson Review - Read & Share DVD Bible

A few weeks ago I signed up to become a book/DVD reviewer with Thomas Nelson Publishing Company. You can read that post HERE.

I received my first selection very quickly. I choose to review the Read & Share DVD Bible Volume 1. This is about a 60 minute DVD with 13 segments, highlighting 13 best loved stories from the Bible. Each segment is about 3 minutes long. The segments include 1) "The Beginning" which explains the creation. 2) "Adam and Eve" which shows Eve being tempted by a snake and Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden. 3) "The Flood" which shows Noah building the Ark, collecting the animals, the flood and then land and the rainbow. 4) "Abram" which shows Abram and Sarah being brought to the promised land through the birth of baby Isaac. 5) "Isaac and Rebekah" which shows the servant being sent for a wife for Issac and bringing Rebekah back with him. 6) "Jacob and Esau" shows the twins being born and the selling of the birthright. 7) "Rachel" shows Jacob working for Rachel, being tricked to marry Leah and then working longer to marry Rachel as well. 8) "Home Again" which shows Jacob bringing his family back home with him and reuniting with his brother Esau. 9) "John the Baptist" shows the circumstances surrounding John's miraculous birth and him baptizing Jesus. 10) "Jesus is Born" shows the angel coming to Mary through the birth of Jesus. 11) "Jesus Tempted by Satan" shows the temptations Jesus faced from Satan. 12) "Jesus Loves Children" shows Jesus healing children and performing the miracle of the loaves and fishes. And 13) "One Lost Sheep" shows the story of the Prodigal Son.

I chose this DVD because I thought it might be a good Sunday video for my kids to watch. We sat down one evening after we received it and we all watched it together. I thought it was a good little video without any major doctrinal issues. I am reviewing this from an LDS perspective and that was very important to me. There were a couple things that were a little off in my opinion, like angels having wings and Jacob actually "wrestling" with God before he went out to meet Esau, his estranged brother. But other then those few things I think that it was well done to help young children understand the basics of these gospel stories. My 6 year old and 3 year old boys sat and watched the whole thing very calmly without jumping around or being wild which is a feet in itself so that alone tells me that it was well done to teach children and to keep their attention.

Huggies Diaper Coupon

The Huggies Diaper Coupons have been reset so you can print them out 2 more times!

This morning I was reading about this on AFrugalFriend and she pointed out the fact that the new diaper coupons that had been reset now say "Gentle Care Diapers" instead of "Gentle Care Product". I guess they figured out that people could use them to get wipes for practically nothing. Just keep that in mind when you figure out your plan for next week so that if you want wipes you know which coupons to use for that and which ones you need to use for diapers.

Walgreens Rumors

Sounds like the rumors are true. We have heard for a little while now that Walgreens may be getting rid of their ESR Program. Check out this Hip2Save post for what little details we have.

Walgreens just got SO MUCH EASIER!

** Albertsons no longer accepts competitors coupons so this great news didn't last long. Oh well!

I will admit it, as much as I think Walgreens can be a great place for stocking up on household and beauty items it can be really hard to figure out the whole system, especially with all the rules about the RRs. I love getting them but you always have to make sure that you use them before they expire, don't try to spend them on the same item you earned them from (chaining), don't use them if you already have as many MFC coupons as you have items, etc. The rules can be tough to negotiate. Well I learned something that will make this so much easier. Giving credit where credit is due, my sweet sister-in-law Alisa is the one who figured this out. She remembered thinking that she had read somewhere that Albertsons would accept RRs. So she tried it out at her favorite Albertsons and it worked. I wanted to try it out myself before I posted about it. So this morning I went to Albertsons to get a couple good sale items and a couple things that we needed. My total came to about $16 after my regular coupons. Then I asked the checker if they took the RRs and she said YES! I gave her five $2RRs and one $3.50RR and ended up paying $2something OOP for my items. This is such wonderful news because now I have six less RR coupons that I have to plan out how to use. I would rather spend a little more OOP (or on my giftcard) at Walgreens and start using my RRs on my groceries at Albertsons because it is just so much easier. I had wondered about this when I first started doing this because if you look at the RRs it basically is just a MFC coupon from whichever company makes the item you earned the RR on (Colgate, Vaseline, Unilever, etc). Just because it says "Reedemable at Walgreens" doesn't mean you HAVE TO redeem it at Walgreens. I am going to ask when I go to other stores to find out if there are other stores that will take them as well. If anyone tries this and finds another store who will honor these please let me know.

Now, getting items at Wags that I can make money on and get RRs, even if I don't need them and end up donating them somewhere, is even more appealing to me if they will end up paying for my regular groceries.

Alisa - YOU ARE A GENIUS! :)

Changing Your Thinking

I have noticed that since I started down this whole frugal path that my way of thinking has really changed. Now anyone that knows me knows that I am really low maintenance. I hate spending money. I hate the mall. I just don't spend much money, especially on myself. My husband tells me to please go out and spend money on myself (seriously!) and I still don't do it. For HIS birthday he bought ME new gym shoes because the ones I had were like 10 years old and grass stained from mowing the lawn. So I have always tried to be frugal but I have found that this way of doing things is completely different then just picking the lowest price item at the grocery store or trying to make do with what you have. This is really about planning and patience. I have found that there are so many things out there (not just food and toiletries) that you can get for cheap, free or even make a profit on. I find that now when I want or even need something new my first thought is "I can wait, something will come along for that soon enough." Like, I need new sunglasses. The cheap ones that I have still work but my boys think things like that are toys and they have stretched and bent them out of shape and really need to be replaced if I want them to stay on my face. But instead of going out and getting another cheap pair I am just waiting until I can find a deal on them, or a deal where I can get a certain $ amount with some online code or something like that. I get frustrated with my husband when he gets a snack at the gas station or stops at the grocery store on the way home and gets something (and PAYS FULL PRICE FOR IT). I keep having to remind him "If you want something, just tell me and I will get it for you for FREE!"

And as you can see from my last post. Just getting things for free isn't the final goal. Now I want MONEYMAKERS!

Still Waiting

Have you ever had that perfect Walgreens trip where you had a big list of stuff you wanted, were all planned out, got there and they had everything that you were looking for and didn't give you any trouble about any of your coupons and you made money and everything was right in the world? Nah, me neither. :(

Arrival: I was so frustrated with the Walgreens closest to my house today. They don't have the nicest staff when it comes to getting deals and using coupons. First, they wouldn't let me use the Dove and the Reach coupons that I printed off their website because they said they aren't for our region. Lame! So I didn't get those items. (But I think I will try this new Dove Deal later this month since you don't need the in-ad coupon.) They also didn't have the Glade Lasting Impressions which I really wanted (what can I say, I have a husband and three little boys, I need these things!) And I got the Walgreens Pharmacy Coupon Booklet which Hip2Save blogged about (thanks!) which is a great way to score great deals on Wags diapers. Got that, but no diapers coupon in it. I swear I think other regions have way more deals available then we do. And to top it off, my GiftCard hadn't had my rebates from last month loaded onto it yet which I was hoping had been done.

Checkout: I got four of the Glade Sense & Spray's and the checker seemed to think I was pointing a gun at him for trying to buy a whopping FOUR of them. He called a manager over to approve it! Then, they wouldn't give me the full $9.99 value off for my B1G1Free coupon because they said that I was already getting them for $5.99 each because of their Easy Saver $4/1 coupon. And the RR didn't print out for the Vaseline lotion I got so I will have to call the Catalina company and have them mail one to me. So basically I left there frustrated (just ask my 3 year old).

B1G1Free Coupon Issues: I think the way to avoid this problem with the B1G1Free coupons is to always give them that coupon first. Then they can look it up on the receipt to see how much they rang up for (in this case the $9.99), write that on the coupon and then the other ones just scan in without any trouble and they don't have to think about how much money we are not spending (or making) on that particular item. I mean I guess I really can't complain. I still got four Glade Sense & Sprays, three Sambocol Cold Medicines, one Nivea Lip Care and one Vaseline Lotion for about $2 but I would like it better if I could say that I made a profit (what a SNOB I am!)

Feeling Better: But my feelings toward Wals did get a little better later this afternoon when I met my mother-in-law and her sister at a different Wags just a little further away (where I really do like the staff). I had told them I would take them and teach them how it works and help them figure it out. BTW - I went earlier in the day for myself just so that I could know exactly which things worked and didn't and so that I wouldn't have a big list of my own to focus on and could just help them ... just incase you thought that I was such a Wags freak that I do nothing else besides go to Walgreens. :)

I have said it before but I think that the trickiest thing about Wags is just the inconsistency of the staff. Some checkers are great and say that seeing this is why they go home and cut their own coupons while others look at you like you are trying to rob them of their first born child!

I did pick up a couple things on my second trip to Wags and it could classify as the perfect trip if my mood wasn't already tainted.

I got:
2 Glade Lasting Impressions and they took all my coupons - made $2 on each one
1 Sambocol Cold Medicine - made $2 on this
1 Colgate Toothpaste which I bought for $3.29 and got back a $3.50RR - moneymaker
1 Vaseline Lotion to get my tab out of the negative numbers and got back a $2RR on this one

So OOP was $4.47 and I got back $5.50 in RR. PROFIT of $1.03!

Maybe next week I will get the big perfect trip. :)

In the end I made $0.09 Profit between both trips.
(4 Glade Sense & Spray and 2 Glade Lasting Impressions, 2 Colgate Toothpastes, 2 Vaseline Lotions, 4 Sambocol Cold & Flu and 1 Nivea Lip Care)
I know, I know ... stop complaining! :)

Freebies of the Day

I will update this as I find more freebies but here are some great ones I wanted to point out:

Get Gillette Face and Body wash for free at Target and Walmart.
These are priced at $2 now.
Use your coupon for $2/1 from 3/1 P&G insert and get them free.
(thanks to CommonSenseWithMoney)

Free Dove Soap + MoneyMaker (thanks to Hip2Save)
Buy 8 Dove Single Bars Soaps for $1.59
Use the $.99 in ad coupon**
(will take off .60 for each bar of soap purchased!)
Pay $7.92 + tax out of pocket
Get back a $10 Register Reward
Final cost FREE, plus a $2+ Moneymaker!

Reach Toothbrush .99 with in-ad coupon **
Use $1 coupon from the 2/8RP
Final cost FREE!

** Ads vary by area and my ad doesn't have these 2 coupons in it. But if you go to www.Walgreens.com and look at the Weekly Ad and put in the zip code 28546 and go to page 9 you will see both those coupons. Click on the coupon and click on view larger image and you can print them out!

**UPDATE! The store I went to wouldn't take the Dove and Reach coupons I printed out online. Let me know if anyone else can get them to take them. Good Luck!

Questions and Answer

Kelly asked some good questions in her comment on today's Wags post. I thought I'd post the answers for anyone because they are questions we all ask when we first start doing this and don't know the lingo yet.

What are these items:
Easy Saver Catalog - Wags puts a new one out every month. You can get it at the store or look at it on their website. It has coupons and tells you which items they have rebates on. Every month they have some items that are free after rebate and some items that just have a certain amount as a rebate.

RP - Red Plum and SS - Smart Source. Those are the names of the coupon inserts you get in the Sunday paper. About once a month they have a P&G (Proctor and Gamble) one as well. This just helps you identify which week that particular coupon is in so you can find it easier.

PDF coupon - Some coupons are actual PDF files that you can save to your computer. I have a few that I can send you if you'd like, just let me know. My favorite one is a $1.50/1 coupon for Colgate Total which doesn't expire until 12/31/10 and since they are PDF files you can print out as many as you like. This is why I never pay for toothpaste and always make a profit on it. I just keep a few in my coupon binder and get a few when I feel like it. I have more then I need so I have started a box for my mother in law.

And when you do a RR, do you have to do a separate transaction for each RR or can you combine them into one transaction? You can only do one per item but you can combine as many items that have RRs in one transactions as you want. For example. This week their are RRs on Vaseline Lotion ($2) and Colgate Toothpaste ($3.49). If you do two lotions in the same trans you will only get the $2RR once. But you can do one Colgate and one lotion and get both the $2RR and the $3.49RR. When I went to Wags this morning I did three transactions and put one lotion in each one so I was able to get the $2RR three times. Make sense?

The best place to go to answer is on www.hip2save.com and read through her Walgreens #1, Walgreens #2 and Walgreens Q&A (you can find these in the right hand column. She explains it really well and makes it so much easier to understand. Once you get it figured out it's not hard at all, just gotta know the rules! :)

And for more on lingo, IAmFrugal has a good post on this.

Walgreens Trip 3/02

Something that I have learned about Walgreens is that you can be totally organized when you go in there but they don't always have what you are looking for so you have to be flexible and adjust your plan. I have also learned that some of the things that the blogs tell you will be on sale or will have a RR don't because they do vary slightly by area. So it's a good idea to take what the bloggers say and then compare it to your Sunday ad and go with the deals that are advertised in your ad.

This morning I was hoping for a few items to give me a total money making trip but they didn't have them. But that's okay. I still got all this ...

... for only $6 (which means I really just had to pay the sales tax). Plus I get a Easter Plush since I bought $10 worth of Easter M&Ms so that will be nice for Kyle's first Easter basket!

Here's the breakdown of how I did (Check out THIS post from Hip2Save for Internet Printable coupons):

3 Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion $2.61 (25% off this week)
$2RR back
Used $1.50/1 coupon from Sunday paper
FREE plus $.89 moneymaker on each one!

3 Colgate Total Toothpaste $3.49
Used $2.50/1 Coupon from EasySaver Catalog (You only need to use 1, it will take it off for all 3 even though the coupon says Limit 1)
Used $1.50/1 PDF coupon (they would only let me use 2 of these since they were already free)
FREE plus $.01 moneymaker on each one!

2 Glade Lasting Impressions $9.99 (Total $19.98)
Used $4/1 Coupon from EasySaver Catalog (this will take off $4 for each one)
Used one B1G1Free internet coupon
Used $4 coupon from 2/8SS (or IP from same Hip2Save post) on the one I wasn't getting for free
FREE plus $2 moneymaker on each one!

Wal-Zyr 24 hr allergy relief $3.99
FREE after rebate

Carmex Moisture Plus Lip Care $2.99
$2RR
Final cost $.99.

4 Campbells Soup 3/$3 with in ad coupon (You don't have to buy in increments of three to get the coupon price)
Used two $1/2 IP Coupons
Final cost $.50 each.

4 bags of Easter M&Ms
On sale for 2/$5
Buy $10 worth and get a FREE M&Ms Easter Plush by mail
Used $1/2 Coupon from EasySaver Catalog
Used two $1/2 coupons from 3/1 RP
Final cost 4 bags and one Easter Plush for $6.
NOTE: Different types of M&Ms ring up differently. The Peanut Butter and the Almond ones rang up at 2/$6 instead of $2/5 like the other types so I did end up paying $1 extra on this deal so keep that in mind if you care.

3 Sambocol Cold & Flu Medicine $11.99
Used $10/1 coupon from Easy Saver Catalog
Used $4/1 PDF coupon
FREE plus $2.01 moneymaker on each one!

I also got 2 Pure Silk Shaving Creams because on my last transaction (I did 3) the total came out to be a negative $2 which you can't do so I grabbed two of those which were on sale for $1.29 each which was a great price and in essence free anyways since I just needed to get out of the negative amounts.

Total Savings = $97.96!!

Sharing What I Know ...

... Which isn't necessarily a ton. I have had a few people ask me to help them learn how to save money through coupons so I will attempt to put down a few pointers here to get you started.

1) If nothing else, use the Grocerysmart printable grocery planner which I have a link to in the right hand column. In this you can choose your grocery store and look up the best deals they have running at the time. So for example if you are heading to Macey's and you want to know what great deals they have going on you can bring up the planner, choose Macey's as your store and then click on the gray START button in the top right hand corner. Then click on the red star in the top left column that says Stock Up Sale. Then click on the SHRINK button. This will show you only the 4 and 5 star deals they are running at the time. You can then look through that to see what things you might want to stock up on while they are at a great price. You could do this for a few stores to and decide to make your weekly trip to whichever store has the best deals that week. This is an easy way to cut your grocery bill without cutting coupons.

- A few things of Note: Macey's and Rite Aid don't take internet coupons. Smiths, Albertsons and Walgreens do. I am not sure about Reams because I haven't been there. Alisa, do you know?

2) There are even better deals to be had (like free, almost free and money making items) if you use coupons or cash back promotions. I get two copies of the Sunday paper so that I have two sets of coupons. There are also tons of internet printable coupons out there that you can get for free. At the beginning of the month they post a bunch of new coupons on www.coupons.com so go there today and print out any coupons that you think you MIGHT use. You can print each coupon twice per computer but there is also a national limit so if you wait too long the good ones will be gone.

3) Shopping at drugstores like Walgreens and Rite Aid are a GREAT way to get beauty items, cleaning supplies, even grocery items for almost nothing and sometimes less then nothing. Each week I check out the posts for the latest Walgreens deals, copy it into a word document and then go through it to see what I would like to get and what I have coupons for. Then when I go to the store I have a list of the specific things that I want to look for and am better organized rather then just wandering all over the store with a pile of coupons not knowing for sure what I want to do. But that was me when I first started doing this and it did seem very overwhelming so if you feel that way know that it just takes going a couple times before you start to get the hang of how it works and don't feel so confused or frustrated.

I am not going to even begin to explain how these stores work because there are already super experienced deal finding diva's out there who have done a great job of it so I will just link you to them. I would highly recommend reading these posts and learning how to shop there. Walgreens #1, Walgreens #2, Walgreens Q&A and RiteAid. Thanks so much to Hip2Save for this info. She is the BEST. Which brings me to my last pointer.

4) Follow Hip2Save! She is FANTASTIC! She will tell you all the good deals, finds all the freebies that are out there for you. And she is super helpful and always willing to answer questions. I have her blog as well as a few of my other favorites on my blog so you can just see who's posted something new and keep up on the great deals and freebies out there. I would take some time looking through her site and seeing what good deals are out there. I also really like IAmFrugal for Alberstons deals. I don't think Hip2Save has an Albertson's by her because she doesn't blog about their deals. But they do great promos so they are worth watching for.

Here are some of the latest deals that I have seen out there that I told Chris and Janeen I would let them know about. Again, most of these I found on Hip2Save so I will link you back to her.

Free Snore Kit
Walgreens Weekly Deals
Free Gorilla Glue
Great Huggies Coupons and Upcoming Wags Deal
Free Renuzit Air Freshner at Target - I did this one and made money on it!
Free Cotton Panty From Express
$5 Flip Flops at Victoria Secret
Various In-Store Coupons for your next Mall Trip

Restaurant Deals including free Chocolate Fondue for Two at the Melting Pot
- Thanks to CommonSenseWithMoney for this one.

Free Aveda Men's Shampoo
Free Origins Night Health Bedtime Face Cream
- Thanks to DealSeekingMom for these ones.

There are so many great deals out there to be had and really no reason to need to spend a lot of money!