CVS & School Supplies

Great day of shopping today, folks!  Before church this morning, I headed over to CVS to catch some good deals.  I've been skipping the drug store shopping lately because I simply wasn't needing anything!  Today, however, the deals were good and worth the trip!

Here's what I picked up:

I paid $12.39 out of pocket over two separate transactions.  First, I purchased the Renu contact solution (for my mom) and the Kotex.  The Renu was on sale (w/Extra Care card) for $7.99 and the Kotex was $3.49.  I had a coupon for $2 off the Renu (from the 6/12 Smart Source insert) and a $1 off Kotex coupon (printable from Southern Savers coupon database).  I also had $2 ECB from a previous visit, so my total after coupons, ECB and sales tax was $7.21, and I received $6 ECB for buying the Renu and $2 ECB for buying the Kotex.  I also received $1 ECB for using my green bag tag for the 8th time*, for a total of $9 back! 
*You earn $1 ECB every 4th time you use a reusable bag when making any purchase at CVS...you can only scan the tag once per day, though, so if you try to scan it multiple times -- like when making multiple transactions -- it won't let you.

Next, I purchased the Schick Hydro 3 razor, the Edge shave gel, 2 bottles of Skintimate Shave Cream, 1 bottle of Skintimate Shave Gel, and the box of Playtex tampons.  The deal here was that you would receive $10 ECB if you purchased $20 worth of these products.  The razor was on sale for $7.99 and I had a $4 off coupon from the 6/12 Smart Source coupon insert.  The shave gels (Edge & Skintimate) were each $2.19.  I had printable coupons (available, once again, from the Southern Savers coupon database)...$0.55 off Edge shave gel, (2) $1.50 off Skintimate shave cream, and $0.75 off Skintimate shave gel.  The Playtex tampons were $5.49 and I had a $1 off printable coupon.  Before coupons, I met the $20 minimum by reaching a total cost of $22.24 (before tax).  (I could have left off one of the shave gels, but oh well.)  After coupons, however, and of course using the $9 worth of ECB I received after transaction #1, I paid only $5.18!  I also got the $10 ECB, of course, so its kinda like they paid ME to take this stuff out of the store.  Nice!

After church, I headed over to Staples and Office Depot for some school supply savings.  Staples has their penny deals going on, so I've been going the past couple of Sundays to get some sweet deals.  Today they had 2-pocket folders for a penny.  The limit was 10, but with my school ID I was able to get 25!  You have to spend $5 minimum before you are eligible for the penny item of the week, so I also picked up two boxes of Kleenex (on Andrew's Kindergarten supply list) for $2.99, Sharpies for 50 cents (25 cents each), Wite-Out for 50 cents (25 cents each), 24 cap erasers for 20 cents (12-packs for 10 cents each), and two pencil cases for 50 cents (25 cents each). My grand total?  $6.36!

Over at Office Depot, they didn't have the stock to offer teachers more than the preset limit of penny and sale items, so my purchase there was small, but a really good deal.  For $2.71 I walked away with 20 glue sticks (5 packs of 4 glue sticks at 50 cents each) and 3 pencil sharpeners (the penny item of the day).  You may wonder why I am buying supplies, but seriously...SO MANY of my students come to school with NOTHING.  Its worth paying a little bit here and there, and getting such good deals, to avoid the repetitive discussion about why no one has their supplies.  The teachers out there will know what I mean. :)

So anyway, that's it for today...Hope you all got out there and got in on the good deals to be had!

Back from a break!

Whew!  Quite a lot going on around here lately...Chris and I celebrated nine years of marriage on June 22, Hannah turned three years old on June 28th, then the kids went to Nashville for a few days to hang out with my parents while Chris & I took a short trip to Jacksonville, Florida!  I had never been there and always wanted to visit that area (especially St. Augustine), so we were really excited.  Kitty B (our oldest furbaby) got very sick, however, so we had to make that trip short.  (If you're interested, you can read more about it here.)

Anyway, we are finally all back home and working on getting back into our routine...and that includes couponing!  Woot! :)  I headed out to Rite-Aid and CVS on Sunday morning (before we got on the road to go pick up the kiddos) and had a pretty good day at the drugstores, if I do say so myself!

My first stop was CVS.  They are continuing their gas card promotion, meaning they have various items featured weekly, and if you buy $30 worth (before coupons) you get a free $10 gas card!  I haven't realyl worked this deal before now because the items were nothing we really needed/wanted.  This week, however, it was toilet paper, paper towels, and feminine products...items we were actually starting to run out of and needed!  Here's what I picked up:

8 rolls of Basic Bounty paper towels ($5.99 w/card)
16 rolls of Charmin toilet paper ($9.99 w/card)
2 bottles of Dawn dish soap ($0.99 each w/card)
1 box of Always pantiliners ($2.99 w/card)
1 box of Always maxi pads ($2.99 w/card)
2 bottles of Pantene 2-in-1 shampoo (2 for $6.97 w/card)
Cost before sales tax, coupons or ECB's: $30.73
Coupons used: $1 off Always pantiliners, $0.50 off Always pads, $3 off 2 Pantene products, $0.25 off Dawn, $0.25 off Charmin, $1 off Basic Bounty paper towels
ECB used: $3 from a previous visit
Grand total after coupons, ECB's and sales tax: $23.86
Since I spent $30 on select items before coupons, I received my FREE $10 gas card and $3 ECB for my next visit! (The $3 was part of a quarterly incentive they give, not because I purchased any specific items.)  There were also some pretty awesome coupons attached to my receipt that will be matched with some manufacturer coupons to make a pretty sweet deal on other items!  More on that SOON!)

So, after my CVS trip, I headed down to Rite Aid.  I love Rite Aid. :)  I spent just a little more than $10 over three transactions!

Transaction #1:
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide razor ($9.97 w/card)
Used $4 off coupon, and $3.69 in +UP rewards
Grand total: $2.98
Got back $5 +UP rewards for buying the razor
*Both Chris and my dad love these razors, so I look for sales on them and catch them when I can.  I ended up giving this one to my dad since I had one in our cabinet at home for Chris. :)

Transaction #2:

Pampers Easy Ups Jumbo Pack ($8.97 w/card)
Used $1.50 off coupon and $5 +UP rewards from 1st transaction
Grand total: $3.10
Got back $2 +UP rewards for buying the Easy Ups

Transaction #3:

2 bottles of John Frieda Full Repair Hair Serum (B1G1 50% off at $9.99)
Used 2 coupons ($5 off each) and $2 +UP rewards
Grand total: $4.03
Received $5 +UP rewards for buying the John Frieda products!

So, my total at Rite Aid was $10.11 and I got back $5 for my next visit.  Not too bad, if I do say so myself! 

I hear there's a pretty sweet ad from Target this week, so as soon as I get the details and coupon matchups I will pass along that info!  Stay tuned! :)

Couponing in the Real World

I know there's a lot of drama around TLC's show "Extreme Couponing" and Lord knows I cannot even count the number of times I've been asked if I am one of those crazy hoarders that calls themselves "couponers."  I am NOT an "extreme couponer" if by "extreme" you mean someone like the crazies on TLC.  I am, however, a realistic couponer, and I save quite a bit of money by using coupons.

Most of the excuses I get from other people for not using coupons basically boil down to these two:

1.) "I just don't have the time."  (My response:  I guess you haven't been broke enough, because if you were saving 50-70% of each grocery bill I bet you would make the time!)

2.) "We don't eat processed food, and that's what most of the coupons are for, so they are irrelevant for my life."  (My response:  That's great that you are committed to healthy eating habits!  Why not save money on the other items you use -- shampoo, body wash, deodorant, etc -- so it doesn't hurt as much financially to buy all-organic meat/produce/dairy? Oh, and YES you can catch organic items on sale!!)

So, when I saw this article, written by Jenny from Southern Savers, I just had to share.  Please, whether you are new to couponing, curious (or confused) about how to get started*, or just flat-out anti-coupons, check this out and see what you think.  I'd love to chat about it, perhaps have a friendly debate (for those of you who are anti-couponing) and share how coupons have fit into our lives instead of becoming our lives.

*For those who are confused, please check out the other tabs at the top of the page to read about how we organize ourselves, how to read those crazy abbreviations and grocery store ads, etc.  Any questions?  Let me know!!