Thursday, April 30, 2009

April Monthly Totals

So LAST MONTH I posted my monthly spending and savings totals as a way to be accountable for what I spent and to show how much money you can save with a little planning ahead and being frugal. I was determined to spend less in April then I did in March. Well, since I am making myself accountable I have to admit, I didn't do it. I spent more this month then last month. I am still in stockpiling mode and am not only stockpiling for my own family but I am having so much fun stockpiling for my siblings and my dad. But I still scored some amazing deals. Here are my totals:

I spent $464.63 and got $2,226.04 in groceries, household, health and beauty and baby items! That's over $1,700 in savings!!

Next month I will have to set a goal to get my OOP down which for me really just means passing up on some great deals which I have to admit is kind of hard for me to do. :)

Monday, April 27, 2009

I LOVE Walgreens!

$21 OOP, $40 in new RRs left - PROFIT of $19 on these products!!


6 Nivea $4.99 each
Used $1 off internet coupon for each
Plus got back a $5RR on each one
MONEYMAKER!

8 Got2B Hair Styling Products 2/$10
Used $2 off internet coupon for each
Plus got back a $5RR for each 2
Final cost $.50 each
**And 5 of them were the bonus packs with the extra travel sized one attached!

1 Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner $13.99
Used $7/1 internet coupon
Got back a $3RR
Final cost $3.99

1 Ecotrin Aspirin $2
Used $2.25 internet coupon
Got back a $2RR
MONEYMAKER!

2 Schick Quattro for Women $8.99
Used two $4 coupons from the 3/22SS or 4/19RP
Got back a $3RR
Final cost $1.99 each!

1 Neosporin $4 and 2 Band-Aids $3 each
Buy $10 in these products get back a $4RR
Used 2 $1 Band-Aid coupons from the 2/8, 3/15 or 4/26SS
Used 1 $1 Neosporin coupon from the 2/8, 3/15 or 4/26SS
Get back a $4RR
Final cost $1 each!

8 Listerine mouthwash 2/$8
Use 6 $2 internet coupons and two $2 coupond from the 2/8RP
Got back a $4RR on each set of 2
Final cost FREE!

I was able to use up all my previous RRs that were expiring this week and make a profit on these items. My savings for today was $185.64!!

A lot of these items are for my siblings who are all coming into town today. Can't wait to see you all!

** You can find coupon links and matchups at Hip2Save's weekly post HERE.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Walgreens Deals 4/26 - 5/2

Keep your eyes on Hip2Save. She is on fire already with next weeks upcoming RR deals. (LOVE her!)

Check out Hip2Save's Weekly Walgreens Post HERE

NEW: Free Exotrin Aspirin - Moneymaker!



Cheap Tombstone pizza with rebate on your utility bill (Great filler item)

I will update this post with more great deals as she posts them or just keep checking Hip2Save's site.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Albertsons - 4/22

CORRECTION: You can use the movie tickets to go see any show. You have to go to a star trek website to redeem it but you print it out and it's good for any movie.

Albies has tons of promos running at the same time this week which can make things seem a little confusing but it really isn't too bad. Here is what they have going on:

Kraft/General Mills Promo: Buy $10 in participating products, save $4 instantly. This one is GREAT! And the best thing about this is you don't have to seperate your items out into groups of $10. I got $70 worth of participating items and it took off $4 seven times. You can also combine this promo with other promos, the register knows what it's doing.

ConAgra Promo: Spend $25 or more in participating products and get $10 back to spend on your next shopping trip. This one you will want to seperate out into batches of $25 if you have more then one transaction. I did two batches, one was just combined in with my Kraft/GM stuff, the other I seperated out.

Kellogg's Movie Ticket Promo: Purchase 10 participating items and get 2 FREE movie tickets up to $24 value. Not sure on this one since I only did 1 batch of 10 but I would ask the checker if you need to seperate these out into batches of 10 if you have more then one batch.

Kashi Promo: Save $3 instantly when you spend $15 on participating products. I didn't do this one although I might later in the week. My cart was already full and my baby was crying. :(

Without taking advantage of these promos and using coupons this would've cost me $250.05! Instead I only spent $63.77 PLUS I got back $13 in catalinas to use on my next shopping trip as well as two free movie tickets.

My advice on this one would be to go to the Grocery Smart Printable Planner and shrink the list to show you the 4 & 5 star deals of the week and use that to plan off of. Just make sure you plan your Kraft/GM items in groups of $10, your ConAgra items in groups of $25, your Kelloggs items in groups of 10 items and your Kashi items in groups of $15. It seems overwhelming but since you don't have to seperate out the Kraft/GM and the Kashi (and maybe the Kelloggs, let me know if you find out) then it's not so bad. You just need to plan ahead and you can save so much money!

Wags on Earth Day

Today is Earth day so you can go HERE and print out a coupon for 15% off your purchase (good today only) as well as get a free green tote. I got all this, and my new tote, for $11.52.

Angel Soft TP 12 packs are 2/$6 each with in ad coupon this week. There is also an IP coupon HERE that you can print out to make them even cheaper.


Cheap Snapple - this wasn't quite this cheap at my store but it was a great filler so I could use up some of my RRs.

Skintimate and the Chapstick are still RRs this week. My store only had two Skintimates and no chapstick but I hope to get some more throughout the week.

HERE is Hip2Save's weekly link with more deals and coupon links.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Register Rewards

What is a RR? Good question? This is a picture of a Walgreens Register Rewards coupon or RR.

At other stores (like Albertsons or Smiths) these types of coupons are sometimes called Catalinas. When I first started doing this I couldn't figure out what salad dressing had to do with any of this. :) Catalina is a company that companies contract with to promote their products. So they will often offer a catalina or Register Reward for buying their promotional item. These print out along with your receipt.

Each week Walgreens will have certain items that when purchased will generate a RR. Each week the expert bloggers (see the links on the right of my page) will post the weekly deals for various stores. My favorite frugal blog is http://www.hip2save.com/. She is amazing! HERE is her post for this weeks deals. She will also add more posts throughout the week as she finds more deals. You can go to her site at http://www.hip2save.com/ and then on the right hand column under "Store Specific Coupons & Info" scroll down and click on the Walgreens link. This will bring you up all the Walgreens links she has posted. I like to keep a word document on my computer called Walgreens.doc where I cut and paste in the weekly deals and any new deals that I see that I want to look for. Then when I am ready to go to the store I know what to look for. She also has a link to Walgreens Q&A and Walgreens #1 and Walgreens #2. I would highly recommend reading these posts. You will learn a ton!

Now back to RRs. On hip2save's post for this week you will see a section called Register Reward Deals and underneath you will see things that should trigger a RR coupon. Some of these deals you will see advertised in their weekly ad but some of these are unadvertised and that's why checking the blogs are a good idea. I don't put all them on my blog, I just direct you to look at the really great blogs that have all that info on them.

If you are new to this I would suggest starting small. Here is an example of what I did today that might be a little easier to follow.

Today I bought 6 of the Skintimate NEW Cream Shave product and 6 Chapstick 100% Natural or True Shimmer Lip Balm.

I did 6 seperate transactions, each with 1 Skintimate and 1 Chapstick in them. When you are buying an item that has a RR, if you buy more then one of these items in a transaction then you will only get one RR. So if you were to buy these 6 Skintimates in the same transaction you would only get one $3RR where if you were to buy these 6 Skintimates, split up in six transaction you will get back six $3RRs totaling $18.

I had A LOT of RRs from last week and I wanted to use some of them up so I bought one Skintimate for $2.99 and one Chapstick for $1.99 in each transaction. My total came to $4.98 + tax. I used one $3.50RR on each coupon which made my OOP for each transaction $1.82. PLUS I got back a $3RR for the Skintimate and a $2RR for the chapstick for each one. So I spent $1.82 and got back $5 in Register Rewards.

And sometimes you can get things even better then free through RRs. For example, this week Wags has Colgate Max White or Max Fresh Toothbrush for $3.29 with a $3.50RR. There is also a $1 coupon that you can print out from here (click on sign up now, you can print each coupon twice per computer) or use the .75 coupon from the 3/29 Smart Source newspaper insert. So in this case you would buy the toothbrush for $3.29 minus the $1 coupon so you pay $2.29 but get back $3.50 in RRs. You just made a profit on buying this toothbrush!

Now you can of course start small. Do a couple transactions, get some RRs and then next week go back in and use those RRs to buy other items that have RRs. My sister in MT calls me every Monday and says "Okay, what do I buy at Wags this week?" I tell her what to get and she takes her stack of RRs and uses those to buy new items. RRs expire 2 weeks after they are issued so you will want to keep that in mind and make sure to use them before they expire.

There are some rules like you can't use a Skintimate RR on a Skintimate product. If you do, the new RR won't print out. You can read on the RR what company issued it. (Those Walgreens posts I mentioned on hip2save's website are great at explaining this and the other rules.)

This may sound like too much to figure out or too much hassle and it may feel like that your first few trips in but IT WILL GET EASIER. Now I can get in and out, even with a big list pretty quickly and it is VERY VERY worth it. I love that we can "shop" out of our own bathroom closet and food storage room. I am so stocked up on many things that I got for very cheap, free or even better then free, things we used to pay full price for because we had run out of and needed it right then. Not anymore for the most part!

Questions?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Wonderful Wags

This is my morning haul from Wags today. I did this in multiple transactions of course but here is the break down of what I got.

There is a Unilever Register Reward deal this week. Buy select Caress, Vaseline, Ponds, Lever 2000, Sunsilk or Dove-Buy 4=$2RR Buy 6=$6RR.

Here are the Unilever items I got, broken out into 6 items per transaction:

31 Dove single bar soaps for $1.39 each
11 Degree travel sized deodorants for $.99 each
(*You can mix and match these items in your trans, just make sure you have them in batches of 6)
I got back a $6 Register Reward for each (total of seven of them)
The soaps worked out to be $.39 each
The deodorants were free after the RR and I even used two $.75/1 coupons that made them even better then free.

4 Chapstick 100 % Naturals or True Shimmer Lip Balm for $1.99 each
I got back a $2 Register Reward for each
Final cost FREE!

3 Crest Toothpastes
I had two coupons for free ones from the Bayer deal (see hip2save's post)
I bought one extra one that was on sale for $2 and used a $1/1 coupon so that cost me $1.
Last week I used another of my free coupons from Bayer so for the month I have now bought 4 Crest toothpastes which cost me $1 total and I will get back a $5 rebate at the end of the month.

6 Colgate Max White or Max Fresh Toothbrush for $3.29 each
I used five $1/1 IP and one $.75/1 coupon from the 3/29SS
And I got back a $3.50 RR for each one.
Final cost after coupons and rebate FREE + Moneymaker!

4 One a Day Multi-Vitamin Drink Mix (2 ct) for $1.49 each
Here is how Hip2Save says to do it:
Purchase 3 One A Day Multi-Vitamin Drink Mix (2 ct) $1.49 each
Total=$4.47
Use the $4/2 coupon from the 3/22SS
Pay .47 + tax
Get back a $1.49 EasySaver Rebate
Final cost FREE + a $1 profit!
**The reason you'll only use one $4/2 coupon is to keep the register from beeping. If you just purchase 2 your total wouldn't cover the $4 coupon and so the register would beep.
I was able to buy 4 and use two $4/2 coupons because my checker is great and pushed it through. This made them way better then free for me. :)

3 Fiber Choice 10 ct Tablets for $2.49 each
I got back a $2.50RR for each one.
Final cost FREE!

2 Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner buy one at $2.79 get one free
I used two .75 coupons from the 3/15SS
Final cost ONLY .75 each!

2 Lysol Sanitizing Wipes buy one at $3.49 get one free
I used two $1 coupons from the 3/15SS
Final cost ONLY .75 each!
*There is also a $3 Lysol Rebate available when your purchase 3 Lysol products.

In the end I spent $59.15 OOP and got back $72 in Register Rewards. This means I made a profit of $12.85 on $112.45 worth of products!!


FYI:
THe 18pk Scunci Elastics have a $2RR that prints out on them. Some of the blogs listed them as priced at $2 but at the store I went to today they were $3.49 so it wasn't a deal worth doing for me. Be sure to check the cost.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Thomas Nelson Book Review - In the Footsteps of Paul

In the Footsteps of Paul: Experience the Journey that Changed the World. This book is by Ken Duncan, a world renowned photographer who traveled the paths of the Apostle Paul and photographed the scenery, artwork, architecture and people of the areas. Like, "His Name is Jesus", I couldn't help but be impressed by how beautiful this book is. This hardbound book is full of beautiful pictures taken in areas of the world where Paul lived and preached. Ken Duncan adds commentary and scriptures to the pictures to tell you about the picture and how it relates to the life of Paul. The book begins in Tarsus, where Paul was born and goes through his conversion, from Saul to Paul and on through his ministry and to his eventual death in Rome, where it is believed that he was beheaded. The photography in this book is amazing! It makes you want to plan a trip to these areas of the world and experience them for yourself. I think this book is wonderful and it was really neat to be able to follow along in the footsteps of Paul and understand his life better. I believe that with this book, Ken Duncan was trying to give everyone the experience he had and I think he accomplished that.

Albertsons Free Meat Promo TAKE 2

So I was a little bit frustrated last Wednesday morning with my Albies experience but I felt I should post again in all fairness to say that once I knew the rules of this weeks promo it went much smoother after that. I was able to go back and do three more transactions throughout the week and stock up on free chicken and hamburger, A1 marinades, Skippy PB's, Taco Shells and a few others things. It really is pretty easy if you just plan out your $25 worth of participating items (keeping in mind to have some back up filler items on your list incase they don't have enough of what you are looking for) and then get $10 worth of meat to go with each transaction. I was even able to take my new friend (the best Wags checker in the valley) to Albies on Friday and help her figure it out. That was fun! So don't be too intimidated by this promo, it is much easier if you just break it down.

Colgate $1.50 Coupon No Longer Valid

HERE is a link to the retraction. I appreciate the explanation as to why this coupon is being retracted. This coupon will no longer be accepted.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Albies Free Meat Promo

Okay so to be honest, this morning at Albies was a bit of a fiasco for me. It was definitely one of those, "If only I had known before ..." mornings. Here are some things that I learned that might help you as you plan your Albies shopping trip for this week:

1) To get the free meat you DO need to seperate out your transactions in batches of $25 of qualifying products. You will then get $10 in free meat per transaction.

2) You have to get the meat. Sometimes on these promos the computer will just automatically take off the amount in free product, even if you don't get the product but that didn't work today. You have to get the meat, any kind of meat will work. I just got a $8-$9 pack of chicken to ring up with each transaction and I ended up getting $10 off on each transaction which makes the meat a little better then free.

3) Albies new IP coupon policy is that they will only accept 2 IP coupons per transaction per item. So if you wanted to stock up on something that you have lots of IPs for you can't buy more then 2 of them in the same trans. So space them out between your transactions.

Remember, Unilever has a free turkey or ham (up to $20) promo going on right now where if you buy $40 in Unilever products (which are also included in this Albies promo) they will send you a rebate for up to $20 for your turkey or ham. So if you like, buy your turkey or ham in one of these $25 promotions, you will get $10 off from Albies and can then send off for the up to $20 rebate from Unilever so it's like getting it free more then once. And you don't have to have $40 in Unilever products on one receipt, they can be on multiple receipts.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

20 Boxes of Cereal for $1.52 TOTAL!

Okay so I posted HERE about the Albies Post cereal deal this week. Well I found a way to make it even better. Here are the details:

UPDATE: If you get an uncooperative checker like my friend Rebecca did that won't let you use the $5 catalina right away don't worry. It's lame but the math works out the same you just spend more OOP today and have those catalinas to spend on your next trip in.

There is a $2/1 IP coupon for Trail Mix Crunch which you can print out HERE. The coupon is a little slow to print out but it's worth it. Now you know you can usually print all IP coupons twice but for some reason this one let me print it out 3 times per computer so I ended up with six of these coupons. So here is the breakdown of what I did:


1st Transaction:
1 Raisin Bran
2 Honey Bunches of Oats
2 Trail Mix Crunch
Each cereal costs $2.07 so the total is $10.35
Used two $2/1 coupons for the Trail Mix Crunch
Used one $1/2 coupon for the other cereals
After coupons = $5.35
Get $1 off instantly for each 2 boxes you buy so that takes off another $2 which puts you at $3.35
On this first order after tax my OOP was $3.60
(It's a good idea to use more coupons of your first order so you have a lower OOP on that first one)
Got back a $5 Catalina good for $5 off my next order

2nd Transaction:
2 Raisin Bran
2 Honey Bunches of Oats
1 Trail Mix Crunch
$10.35
Used one $2/1 coupons for the Trail Mix Crunch
Got $2 off instantly
Used the $5 catalina from the last order
After coupons and catalina my OOP was = $1.60
Got back a $5 Catalina good for $5 off my next order

3rd Transaction:
2 Raisin Bran
2 Post Selects
1 Trail Mix Crunch
$10.35
Used one $2/1 coupons for the Trail Mix Crunch
Got $2 off instantly
Used the $5 catalina from the last order
After coupons and catalina my OOP was = $1.60
Got back a $5 Catalina good for $5 off my next order

4th Transaction:
1 Raisin Bran
2 Post Selects
2 Trail Mix Crunch
$10.35
Used two $2/1 coupons for the Trail Mix Crunch
Got $2 off instantly
Used the $5 catalina from the last order
After coupons and catalina my OOP would've been negative which I can't do so I threw in a pack of tortillas which we needed anyway to get me out of the red.
After coupons and catalina my OOP was = $3.71 but that is only because the tortillas were $3.99
Got back a $5 Catalina good for $5 off my next order

Now if I had stopped at this point my total price for just the cereal was $6.52 plus I still had a $5 catalina which made these 20 boxes of cereal $1.52.

I did go ahead and do one more transaction to use the left over $5 catalina. Albies has a Free Eggs promo going on right now. I bought 2 Tropicana Pure Premium OJs with an in-store coupon making them 2/$6 plus I had two $1/1 coupons (you can print those HERE) which made them $2 each plus since I bought 2 I got a free dozen eggs.

So in the end, 20 boxes of cereal, 2 OJs, a 16 pack of tortillas and a dozen eggs cost me a total of $10!!

Now if I had known that there was going to be a Catalina on the Post cereal I wouldn't have used my other two $1/2 coupons that I used on Monday (ggrrr!) because we were running out of Raisin Bran. With those I would've actually made money on all that cereal. But that's okay. I can't complain. :)

*Note: I would print out as many of the Trail Mix Crunch coupons that you can and make sure that you put one of those in each transaction. That $2/1 coupon basically pays for that cereal and makes it like you are getting 5 for the price of 4, plus the $2 off instantly, plus the $5 catalina. You can't beat that!

BTW - With each transaction where I bought a Trail Mix Crunch along with the Catalina a $1.50/2 coupon for Trail Mix crunch printed out which you could use right away if you wanted to.