CVS Savings $17.11 saved- Paid $0.80 tax!

Made a quick run to CVS to use a $1 off panteen CRT that printed from the magical coupon printing machine.

Bought:
1 Skintimate $3.49
1 Panteen conditioner $2.99
1 Panteen Shampoo $2.99
1 Stride gum $0.99
1 Dawn dish soap $0.96

Coupons:
$0.50 stride gum
$2.00 skintimate
$3.00 off 2 panteen
$1.00 off panteen crt
$4.92 ECBS

Paid:
$0.80 (all tax)

Got back $6.99 in ECBs ($1.00 was from my green bag tag)

Help Me, I Can't Stop Shopping at WalMart

If you've been reading for a while you probably already know that I have a love/hate relationship with WalMart. Love the prices and deals, hate their general business practices. But with deals this good, it's hard not to go:

Bought:
3 Hungry hungry hippo games @ $4.00 each
1 fabric softener $3.97
1 snuggle sheets $3.47
2 Monopoloy deal card games @ $3.00 each
5 Cans of mighty dog @ $0.57 each
2 Kiss nail art stickers $1.87 each
3 Clean and clear face wash travel size $0.97 each
1 Rimmel facial bronzer $4.28
1 Taco bell salsa $1.54
1 Bag of Starbucks coffee $7.48

Subtotal= $51.16!

Coupons:
1, Rimmel product for free from All You
1, $1.00 off taco bell salsa from All You
1, $1.50 off starbucks
3, $1.00 off clean and clear
2, $2.00 off kiss nail printable
1, $3/5 mighty dog
2, $5.00 off monopoly printables
2, $3.00 off All from this week's paper
3, $4.00 off hungry hippos printable from hasboro

Paid $6.22 ($2.75 of which was sales tax). I was really happy with this Walmart run because basically I got everything above for less then one package of starbucks coffee. And, thanks to another blogger I recently learned that you can take your empty bag off starbucks coffee into any starbucks for a free Tall coffee, who knew? And I've been throwing them away this whole time!

My apologies for all the terrible photos lately. I keep trying to take them at night and cannot figure out a good setting on my camera.

Mailbox Monday, a Little Late

Yesterday was a good mailbox Monday. I always look forward to seeing what samples and rebates will arrive in the mail after the weekend. Here’s what arrived:

1 Physician’s formula rebate (from the bamboo compact) $6.95

1 Heineken $5.00 rebate (this is a no beer purchase required rebate, search NBPR on e-bay to find a ton of these) They’ve really been a great moneymaker for me because I submit receipts on groceries that I have to buy anyway.

1 check from taking surveys for opinion outpost, yes survey sites do really pay! $20.80

1 $25.00 check from my credit card company. I think people who tell you never to use your credit card are nuts. I think of my credit cards as cash. I use them to buy what I need and what I would have bought with cash. Then I pay them off in full at the end of the month. I get rewards on one card and cash back on another. It’s like an interest free 30 day loan that makes me money. If you're an overspender I understand why you'd want to use cash, but most couponers are pretty disciplined, so why not get paid to shop with you credit card?

1 Package of puffs tissues and a bunch of coupons from vocal point

1 Package of Wrigley’s react 5 gum

This month’s Car and Driver for E (we get about 5 subscriptions to various mags for free, keep an eye out for these offers because they come and go fast!)

50 City Saver business cards for when I’m at the store and someone says “wow, how’d you do that?” Only $1.00 for these cute little cards, thanks to a Hip2Save deal posted last week.

How’d you do this Mailbox Monday?

I heart Target! $66.65 Saved!

Here's why:

1st Transaction:
2 Seventh Generation cleaners $2.99 each
1 Bop it game
1 Monopoly deal card game $5.24 (rings up free with promo)

Coupons:
2, $1.00 off seventh generation target
1, $2.00 off 2 seventh generation manf.
1, $3.00 off Bop it Target
1, $5.00 off Monopoly


Paid:
3.50! Which I paid with a gift card ($0.52 was sales tax on $14.98), Plus I'll buy one more cleaner and submit for the $5.00 seventh Generation rebate. I'm trying to switch to all organic cleaning products, so I'm thrilled about this deal.

Transaction 2:
3 Tide travel size at $.97 each
1 Cotton Tee-shirt on clearance for $6.30 (love these little t's)
1 Physician's formula Bronzer $8.99
1 Physician's formula Compact with brush $5.99
4 Purina benefuls dog food at $1.27 each
1 Bop it game $14
1 Monopoly deal card game $5.24

Coupons:
4, $3.00 off Benefuls (yea for overage!)
1, $3.00 off Bop it Target
1, $5.00 off Monopoly
1, bogo physician's formular
2, $4.00 off physician's formula peelies
3, $1.00 off tide

Paid:
$2.47 ($1.19 of total was tax on 33.97). Plus I might submit for the $5.99 rebate on the compact. I'm not sure yet as the coupon attached to the item and I'm not sure if they'll refund $5.99 or $1.99.

Total paid on both transactions $5.97! Total Saved $66.65!

$50 worth of Product at CVS= $3.10 moneymaker

The OOP on this transaction could have been much better if I had been paying more attention to the math, but I was trying to be quick, so here's what I got:

Bought:
4 packages of stayfree pads (24ct)
1 Olay body lotion $8.99
3 clean and clean astringents at $5.49 each
2 oral b toothbrushes at $2.99 each

Coupons:
1, $2.00 off olay cvs crt
1, $4.00 off $20 skincare purchase cvs crt
1, bogo oral b $2.99
1, $1.00 off oral b tooth brush (expires today!)
1, $1.00 off stayfree (metro ny didn't get a stayfree coupon)
2, bogo stayfree

and $19.99 in ECBS

Paid:
$5.89 out of pocket ($1.05 was sales tax). I was overcharged by a dollar, but it was the manager so I didn't want to raise a fuss, since in the past she hasn't been very agreeable, I'm hoping this will put us on better terms. I also could have bought another item worth a quarter and used another $5.00 ecb, ugg.

Plus, I got back $15.00 in ECBS and I'll send in for the olay rebate and get back $8.99, so really a money maker of $3.10.

Who Said You Can't Coupon Shop at the Mall?

Here's proof that you can go to the mall and "shop" and not spend anything. Sunday E and I headed to the local mall to pick up a free pair of cotton undies and a free piece of Godiva Chocolate.

The Godiva is for being part of the Godiva Rewards club (just scan your card, similar to a cvs/grocery card) and pick a free piece from the case each month!

The undies were part of a VS mailing. I do have a VS credit card from years ago that I no longer use, but I'm pretty sure this mailing was because I'm a member of their "Pink club". When I think about it now, I could shoot myself in the foot for all the expensive underwear I use to buy. $10 bucks a pair, no more! I'll stick to my cotton freebies!

Amount spent OOP $ZERO!

$28.92 spent, $96.32 worth of Groceries!

People who say you should shop around for the best grocery deals are definitely right. We recently found that our local A&P (the smaller of the two in our area) has excellent markdowns on meat and baked goods on Sunday afternoon/evening. Last week I got a whole organic chicken for $7.00! This week I got a pound and a half of individually packaged chicken breast for $4.00, a huge Focaccia bread with roasted veggies for $2.00, a package of fried chicken for E's lunch $2.00 and a 12 pack of jumbo glazed donuts for $1.50.

After A&P we headed to ShopRite to get...
Free:
Heinz mustard and brown mustard
4 free boxes of Ronzonni pasta
3 free packages of Carolina rice
1 package of free Halls cough drops

Super Cheap:
4 packages of Sargento cheese ($0.49 a piece)
2 Tropicanna OJ ($0.75 each) using a bogo coupon and a $1.00 coupon
and 3, 7lb bags of Worlds best cat litter $6.99 each (used 3, $5.00 coupons) Not shown in photo

Plus:
Strawberries $1.99
Tangelos
Bananas
Asparagus $1.99 a pound
hazel nuts ($3.49 ouch!)

Total of both trips was $28.92, not too bad since I got meat and cheese and juice that all would have been pricey without discounts/coupons. Without coupons I would have spent $96.32, can you imagine spending $100 bucks for groceries for two people?

Disregard the shih tzu in the photo thinking "If I go in for the kill real quick, mom won't notice I'm eating her dinner".