Monday, January 17, 2011

Shopping for free, well close enough for me!

So I stopped by CVS, Walgreens, back to Walgreens, back to CVS then to Rite Aid but they close at 8 on Saturday nights, Target and then Walmart.

I'll start off with the highlights...

Friday CVS:  57 cents OOP  I got 2 L'OREAL nail polish, a pink and a quick dry, Mitchum deordorant and Sally foot cream. My feet have been super dry!  Normally I wouldn't buy things that do not generate ECBs but I needed deordorant and I had a coupon.

Friday Walgreens:  Didn't go as well as planned but bought some Biore unexpectedly but received $5 in RR.  So I stopped by quickly with the kiddos and grabbed a Lysol Healthy Touch soap dispenser.  I had $3 MC and they were giving back $7 in RR.  Final cost $1.99.  I also grabbed some EOS shave gel, my absolute favorite, $2.99 with $2 RR.  I rolled $7 in RR on to my second transaction Biore pore strips and Biore Steam activated cleanser which was on clearance.  I had $3 in MC and $7 in RR and got back $5RR.  So I paid a couple bucks out of pocket and got back $5RR.  Money maker.

Saturday Walgreens:  I grabbed another Lysol Healthy Touch and used $5 RR and $2 RR and I had another $3 MC.  I had to grab 2 filler items so Nexxus was BOGO 1/2 off so I grabbed 2 Nexxus Smoother Serums off the clearance shelf.  I had coupons for other items on the shelf but since I wanted to spend the less I could OOP, I went with the Nexxus.  $2.79 and then 1/2 off $1.40.  Spent $7.46 OOP, got back $7 in RR.  Almost a money maker.  The cashier looked pretty surprised.

Saturday CVS:  The red coupon machine has been printing out 50 cent coupons for Dove bars.  Here I am thinking that they are for chocolate.  My sister informed me that they were actually for soap and that single Dove bars were on sale for 99 cents.  That was my original Friday trip to CVS was for.  However, the 99 cent price was not advertised on the shelf and there weren't any bars of soap to check.  SO on Saturday, I went to grab Physician's Formula blusher in Pink Glow b/c it was 75% off so $2.50 and I had a $3 off coupon.  So this CVS had bars of DOV soap and I grab three and actually scan them and sure enough 99 cents.  So I paid 49 cents a bar using the 3 50 cent CVS coupons.  The cashier said I did a great job.

Saturday Target:  Spent $40 OOP saved $46 in coupons.  The cashier was impressed.
Highlights...
3 Reach Floss 97 cents had 3 $1/1 coupons:  Free
Halle Berry perfume $7.48 had $5/1 coupon:  $2.48 for $20 perfume (small bottle)
2 Scrubbing Bubbles Daily Shower Power Sprayer Cleaners  clearance $5.94 had 2 $5/1 coupons
Vasoline Intensive Lotion $2.99 had $1/1 Target and $1/1 MC  99 cents
Lubriderm Lotion clearance $4.48 had $1.50/1 coupon $2.98 okay deal
Halls 30 ct cherry and honey lemon $1.19  2 50 cent/1 Target coupons and 2 $1/1 MC  Better than free, overage
3 Kashi go lean crisp berry cereals on sale $2.99 had $1.50/3 Target and 2 $1/1 MC so $1.82 a box after coupons and sale
Glad Force Flex trash bags with Febreeze $7.49 had 2 $1/1 Target coupons and 2 $3/1 MC $3.49 for each, not bad.
Shout $1.26 50 cent Target coupon, 55 cent MC coupon  26 cents
Ken's salad dressing $1.79 had 2 50 cent/1 Target coupons and $1/2 MC coupon, so 79 cents a piece

I also grabbed some random things of the clearance shelf Nescafe I had a coupon for, some Dunan Hines frosting and cupcake papers for upcoming birthday and Valentine's day baking, and a Wonka chocolate bar, also shoes and Mr. Clean cleanser on clearance which I had a coupon for.



So to break it down looking at the picture, after coupons and RR's and ECB's here is a list:
All the free items...
3 Reach Floss
2 packs of Halls
Mitchum deordorant
Physicians Formula Pink Glow
2 L'OREAL Nail polishes
Sally Hansen Foot Cream

Items under a $1
2 Scrubbing Bubbles Power Sprayers 94 cents each
2 Nexxus Sleek Finish 15 cents ea.
Vasoline Intensive Rescue 99 cents
EOS Shaving Gel 99 cents
Lysol Fabric Mist 54 cents
3 Dove Soap Bars 49 cents ea.
Lysol Healthy Touch Soap Dispenser 16 cents

Items under $2
1 Lysol Healthy Touch Soap dispenser $1.99
3 Kashi Cereals $1.82 ea.
Mr. Clean Multi-purpose Spray $1.36
Biore Steam Activated Cleanser $1.50
Biore Pore Strips $1.50

Item under $3
Halle Berry Perfume $2.48

Item under $4
Lubriderm Lotion $3.38

Normally I would have skipped the above two items but the $5 perfume coupon was burning a hole in my pocket and we are really flying through the lotion this winter season and Lubriderm for $3.38 is a pretty good price.  Not free but roughly 50% off retail.

So OOP for the above items $23.37 not including tax.  One Lysol Healthy Touch cost $11.99 and one Scrubbing Bubbles Power Sprayer was on clearance for $5.94, Clearance!  So that is the power of couponing folks!

Not a bad end to the week.

This week I'm focused on cheap/free toothpaste, cheap oatmeal and cheap John Frieda and Pantene shampoo.  I've also been looking at buying coupons on ebay.  I'll have to send some to my sister because I don't need 20 of any one item!  But I am planning on getting stocked up on the above items for at least a year.  Toilet paper, paper towels and laundry detergent are too bulky to move.  Well oatmeal might be a bit bulky...  I need to slow down on the cleaning products as well.  They can't be packed up, ran into that problem on the move from VA to NY. 

Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. EXCELLENT! I need to go to Target. I see that you purchased similar items to me and it seems that Target has some great store coupons. Funny- cashiers keep complimenting me too. Or, if they are the type to get annoyed at couponers, they at least seem to tolerate me a bit more when they see the final price and/or hand me over a bevy of ECBs or RRs.

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