Walgreens was good to me last night. When you’re good to mama, mama is good to you. Sorry, I thought I would sprinkle my blog with a little Broadway pizzaz.

Here’s what I did in 2 transactions to maximize my savings (you’ve got to be bold to be a coupon lady):

2 Boxes of Rice Crisipies 2/$5.00

1 Schick Hydro Razor $7.99

Purina One 60 oz Dog Food $1.99

Airwick Mini $4.99

Used:

-$1/2 Boxes of Rice Crispies

-$5/1 Hydro Razor

-Free bag of dog food coupon

-$4/1 Airwick mini

Total: $7.98 (before tax) Got back $4 in Register Rewards

2nd Transaction:

2 Pampers Jumbo Packs

2 Pampers Wipes

Plus 2 filler items: Peanut M&Ms for my loyal co-shopper, Josiah.

Used:

-$3/1 Pampers (from a mailer), $1.50/1 Pampers

-2 Free wipes when you purchase any Pampers diapers

-$4 in Register Rewards from first transaction

Total: $10.48 before tax! Got $3 in Register Rewards back

If I had walked into Walgreens to purchase all of this without coupons & sales, my total would have been: $59.52!!!

Instead I paid $18.46 and got back $3!

Couponing is very, very worth it.

Here’s another bit of pizzaz, Broadway style!

(well, not really, I think this was in England, but still… it’s Ewan McGregor and Jane Krakowski!)

A few good scores this week while shopping:

At Vons on Saturday, I stocked up on meat. I got  $50 worth of meat for $17.21!!

I got 3 free boxes of Crystal Light at Target with my Vocal Point coupons. They were on price cut for $1.97, the coupons were $2/1

2 Gallons of milk at CVS using ECBs & Real California Milk Coupons for $1.48

Frozen Veggies at Henry’s from Cascadian Farms for .50¢ each with coupons.

Healthy Choice Frozen Meals for .95¢ each at Target!

Armor All Tire Shine & Clean Wipes at Target for .49¢ each! They are normally $5.00 each.

Johnson’s & Johnson’s Baby oil for .33¢ at Target

I even hit up the Kmart doubler event at my local store. I’m not a big fan of Kmart, they seem to be rather mamby pamby with their coupon policies and their employees are not terribly informed about events and policies. I braved my store and walked out with free Advil PM, Gilette Body wash for .49¢ each and Secret Deodorant for .79¢. The cashier that helped me was very sweet, but knew nothing of the event until she talked to a manager. I can’t say so much for the gathering of other employees at the customer service desk… I just can’t stand professionalism. They were standing around chatting about personal things that weren’t appropriate for work. I went online to fill out a survey from my receipt and let Kmart know, and their customer service actually called and apologized for the experience I had! That shocked me! I’m really glad they did, it gives me more confidence in the corporation.

Oh- tomorrow the kids and I are hitting up Chick-fil-A for their cow appreciation day. If you dress like a cow, you get a free meal! If you “accessorize” with cow items, you get a free entree. If you need a little help, they have a “cow kit” online for you to print out. Have fun!

My husband got my blog back up. He’s a computer magician & through the miracle of internet/Tron, I have my blog back. I did have a little “in the mean time” blog at Wordpress.

To celebrate my return from whence I came (it’s from Arrested Development), I thought I would post a little shopping trip I did last night at Target.

I had a $20 gift card and wanted to see how far I could stretch it. Here’s what I did:

That’s $43.00 worth of groceries that I got for $19.53 ($16.95 before tax).  These are all items that we need or will need in the future. Here’s what I paid for everything

-Johnson & Johnson baby lotion for .54¢

-Aveeno Baby lotion for $2.47

-Women’s One a Day vitamins for .99¢

-Palmolive Pure & Clear Dish Soap for .74¢

-Satin Gel Shaving Gel for .44¢

-Ziploc storage containers for $1.02/each

-Revlon Emery boards for $1.19 (I realized she didn’t take the other coupon to make it .19 cents. I’ll take these back I think.)

-Seventh Generation Cleaner for .99¢

-Starbucks Via Readybrew for $1.50

-Meow Mix for $1.94

-BIC Pens for .02¢

-Tidy Cats for .77¢

-Light bulbs (I grabbed the wrong ones, they should been free, but they rang up for $1.99)

- Cat Treats for .33¢/each

-Reynolds Foil for $1.75

-Mustard pack for .97¢

Mae needed clothes for warmer weather. Her cute shorts and dresses from last year were not going to cut it. I had a $5 off a purchase of $30 or more Circo or Cherokee kid’s clothes at Target. I also was going to get a $5 gift card from Target for buying a Windex cleaner. All of the Circo Girl’s clothes were marked down. I got $4 items on sale for $3. Cha-ching!

I picked up the following:

3 tank tops

3 skirts

3 shorts

1 onsie

Total without sale and coupons:

$40.00

With sales, coupon and gift card:

$20.00!

Woot!

She is stocked up for the summer. The kid’s clothing coupon was on Target.com in the Kid’s Spring Savings. I used another one earlier in the week for their Easter outfits. The Windex outdoor window cleaner deal was as follows:
coupon from the SS this past weekend: $5 gift card when you buy a Windex outdoor cleaner. I also found a coupon for $2.50/1 Windex cleaner. I opened the box today and there were 3 coupons inside for $2.50/1 Windex cleaner. WOOHOO!

When I got to the car with all the clothes, she held onto them like a stuffed animal. I think Mae is a shopper…

This is by far my best purchase. I left the store on a high and hit the gym! Well, first I called my Jedi Master of Coupons, Nichole and told her what just went down. Here’s what went down:

I did two transactions like a good crazy coupon lady would.

#1:

John Frieda Shampoo (on clearance): $3.49 used $3/1 John Frieda product= .49¢

John Frieda Conditioner (on clearance): $3.49 used $3/1 John Frieda product= .49¢

They didn’t have any other clearance items, so I got the Root Awakening:

Root Awakening by John Frieda: $5.00 used $3/1 John Frieda product= $2.00

Root Awakening by John Frieda: $5.00 used $3/1 John Frieda product= $2.00

I also used 2 Rite Aid coupons: $3/$15 & $1/1 John Frieda Root Awakening (a Video Values coupon)

These products usually retail for $6.99 each.

My total before tax:

.98¢

after tax:

$2.20- tax was more than my purchase! Thanks California!

If I had not used coupons & sales, the total would have been:

$27.96 + tax

Transaction #2:

2 Biore Strips: On sale for $5.00 each (usually $6.99)= $10.00

2  Biore cleansers: On sale for $5.00 each (usually $6.99), I used the coupon from the SS (I think!) for Buy 1 Biore Strip and Get 1 Cleanser Free.=FREE

8 Cover Girl Foundations: On sale BOGO FREE ($6.99 each), I used 4 BOGO FREE coupons from the 2/7 P&G= FREE

I used 2 Rite Aid coupons: $5/$25 purchase & $1/1 Biore Product (a video values coupon)

My total before tax:

$4.00

After tax:

$7.76

If I had not used coupons & sales:

$88.00+ tax

I will also be getting a few Single Check Rebates from Rite Aid for these transactions:

$5.00 for the John Frieda

$5.00 for the Biore

My total savings tonight before my rebates:

$110.98!!!

After I get my SCRs:

$120.98!!

That would be my entire transaction for free!!!

Let me know if you have any questions about where or how I got my coupons. This is not a secret that I want to keep!! I had two gals at Target (including an employee) ask me how I saved money!  I want to help you out. Let me know!!

Oh man. I’m done. We’re supposed to be leaving for Mammoth in the morning, but I had to do some shopping today. I hit up Rite Aid, Target, Vons and Albertsons. Here’s a few of my favorite deals:

Rite Aid:

-5 Free Packs of Kotex Panty Liners on sale for .99¢, I had five $1.00/1 any Kotex product. Those will be donated to church for the Manna Ministry.

-BOGO 1/2 Almay Eye Make Up Remover:  $5.50 & $2.75, had 2 $2/1 any Almay product. I submitted for my Single Check Rebate of $5.00, so that’s going to be a .75¢ money maker!

-BOGO FREE Skittles, I put them away for Easter Baskets.

Target

-Seventh Generation Anti-Bacterial Wipes: $2.99

Target coupon: $1.00/1, Manufacturer’s coupon: $1.00/1= .99¢!!

-Reveal Light Bulbs: on sale $2.00 (down from $2.64)

Target Coupon: 2 $1.50/1, Manufacturer’s Coupon $1.00/2= 2 packs for FREE!

-Excedrin: on Sale for $2.54, Coupon for $2.00/1= .54¢!!

-Starburst: BOGO FREE COUPON= .64 for 2 Starburst, these too have gone into the Easter basket stash.

I also got Free travel sized Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo & 2 Travel sized Right Guard Deodorant. These will also be donated to Manna Ministry.

I also scored an Easter goodie for Siah Man: a whole Clone Trooper costume for $4.98!

Albertsons:

I had the best cashier! He saw the transaction I was making for the Catalina coupon and asked if I wanted to do two transactions! Woohoo! He told me he liked to see people save money & if someone does all the work to clip coupons and save that the least he can do is help out at the check out stand. MY KIND OF CASHIER! Now if they were all like that!

I got 6 boxes of Fruit Snacks for $1.00 each used (3)  .50¢/2 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks = $4.50 + a $3.50 catalina coupon!! 6 boxes of Fruit Roll ups usually would go for about $14.50 at Albertsons…

I had some awesome savings on my second purchase:

-Kraft All natural cheese, on sale for $1.79 (down from $4.89- question: who would pay that much for a thing of shredded cheese???), they had blinkie coupons $1.50/2, so I got 4 packs and used 2 coupons= $4.16, less than the price of one package normally!

-Swiffer Sweepers were on sale for $10.99, I had a Buy one Sweeper, get one refill for free coupon from The Home Made Simple Coupon booklet. The refills themselves are usually $10.49 and I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a back up Swiffer (or a house warming or wedding gift!) and got both for $10.99

-Purex 3-n-1 was on sale for $4.99, I used a BOGO FREE. So I got 2 for $4.99, you normally pay $7.49 for 1.

Vons

Vons has a frozen foods deal going on right now, buy $25.00 worth of participating products and get a $10.00 catalina coupon on your next purchase.

I did two purchases, and got $20.00 worth of catalinas. Nothing too spectacular here, but my freezer is so full that I couldn’t put anything else in it!

I think that’s about it, but I did want to go over what I got for free today:

-5 Kotex Liners: $5.00

-1 Pack of Skittles: .50¢

-1 Johnson’s Baby shampoo: $1.00

-2 Right guard deodorants: $2.00

-2 4-packs of Reveal lightbulbs: $5.28

-1 Pack of Starburst: .64¢

-Purex 3-n-1: $7.49

-Swiffer Refills: $10.49

That’s $29.18 that I didn’t pay for!!

Well, now I’m off to finish packing and preparing for this fun weekend in Mammoth.

Ready for what I paid out of pocket for all of this goodness??

$8.76!!

Here’s the breakdown:

CVS:

-2 Gallons of Whole Milk: $2.59/each, used $4.00 I had in ECBs=  $1.18

I got three HIGH VALUE Catalina coupons:

-$5 off a purchase of $15 or more (it expires tomorrow, which is kinda lame, but we’ll see if I use it)

-$2.00 off any Huggies Baby Wipe Tub or Refill

-$4.oo off Huggies Box Diapers

The total at CVS should have been:

$5.59

Target:

-7th Generation Dish Washing Liquid: $2.49, used Free coupon c/o Recylcebank= FREE

-Gilette Men’s Bodywash: $1.99/each, used $4/2 Gilette Men’s Body wash or Deodorant= 6 FREE BODY WASH, 2 FREE CLINICAL STRENGTH DEODORANT!

-Right Guard Travel Size Deodorant: .99¢/each. Used $2.00/2 coupon=FREE

- Iams Premium Cat food: $7.99, used $5.00 off any size Iams Premium coupon: $2.99

-Apple Juice: $3.74 (Price Cut for Target Brand Apple Juice)

-Kashi Cereal: $4.99, used FREE coupon from Freecycle= FREE

-Teddy Grahms: $2.00 each. Used Target Coupon for $1.00/2 and a Manufacturer’s coupon for $2.00/2= $1.00!

I also had a gift card with $2.01 on it (we bought drinks and popcorn when we started shopping).

So…the total at Target could have been:

$44.56!!

So, for both trips it should have cost me:

$50.15!!!

When we got done at Target, Josiah gave me a thumbs up and said “Good Shopping today, Mom!” It made me smile pretty big. I had to text Nichole and let her know what he did and she texted back part of Proverbs 31: “Her children will rise up and call her blessed!” That made me smile, too.

We are out of juice! I know, a stock piling, coupon crazy mom should not be out of anything, much less JUICE!

I remembered that I have a $5 gift card for Target and I’ll use that for juice. Here’s my other shopping items:

-Right Guard Deodorant- $2/2 coupon= Free Travel sizes!

I’ll be donating these to a shelter or to church. We are up to our eyeballs in Axe deodorant from a Walgreens promotion where if you bought 5 Axe products, you got 2 free movie tickets! They were also on sale and I had lots of Register Rewards… I ended up paying $3.50/5 + the tickets. That’s less than one Axe deodorant usually is. Sorry, that was a little walk down savings memory lane… back to today.

-Kashi Cereal: Free box of any Kashi Cereal thanks to Recyclebank!

-Seventh Generation: Free Natural Dish Liquid thanks to Recyclebank!!

-Juice: I’ve heard that the Gerber baby juice is on sale and so is the Archer Farms. I’ll let you know.

This looks like it’s going to be a tax only shopping trip. It’s easier to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s when all I’m paying for a trip to Target is Tax!!

I thought I would do a little post on Birthday savings.

My Dad’s 50th Birthday is this month (my parents are babies in my opinion). Everything I’ve gotten for him has been fantastically on sale or cheap. That doesn’t mean that I love him less. What it actually means is that I’ve put more time and thought into gifts for my family this year than ever before. The more you save on a gift, the more generous you can be. Here’s the run down:

- One photo mousepad: FREE (from Artscow.com, I would HIGHLY recommend becoming a fan of them on Facebook. I’ve received some super cute stuff for FREE from them.)

-One Gillette Razor (GILLETTE- THE BEST A MAN CAN GET! Sorry, that snappy little number always pops into my head when I see Gillette)  On sale for $8.99, I had a $4.00/1 coupon. If you bought the razor at CVS, you got $4.00 ECBs. So, technically I paid .99¢ for a $10.00 razor.

-Gillette Deodorant: I got a double pack for the same price that a single was. It was on sale for $8.99 and I had a coupon that if you bought any type of Gillette deodorant you got a free Gillette body wash.

- I went to Walgreens where they had an in-ad coupon for Gilette Shaving cream, it was normally $4.89. The in-ad coupon made it $1.99, but I had a manufacturer’s coupon for $1.00 off! .99¢ Baby!

That makes my Dad’s birthday present a total of: $10.97!!  For all of this it normally would be around $50.00.

** I also got him a Restaurant.com gift card to his favorite place in Bannining, Grandma’s Kitchen. It was $2 for a $25 gift card.**

See these cute little Veggie Tales toothbrushes? Well, I scored 2 of them for 99¢ each at Walgreens today. Not only do they have my favorite guy, Larry on them but they also play some awesome Veggie Tales tunes for 2 minutes so kids know how long to brush their teeth! I was already excited for my deal, then I saw how much they normally retail for: $2.48! Woohoo! My kids were thrilled and so was I! Maybe the song should go “Oh where is my toothbrush!?” instead…

UPDATE: I went back to Walgreens with my Register Rewards from earlier today (I had $14.00 worth) and bought some, um, necessities for our trip this weekend & for “Fillers” (at Walgreens your number of coupons can’t exceed number of items being purchased, so you use cheap “filler items”) I got 3 more Veggie Tales Toothbrushes.