CVS Memorial Day Savings

Once I got the kids fed yesterday, I headed out the door for CVS. I wanted to get to CVS and to Publix before their lunchtime feeding. I was successful. Here is my CVS loot...



2 twelve packs of TP, 1 mouthwash, 1 facewash, 1 box of tampons, 1 tube of toothpaste, 2 boxes of bandaids, 1 nail polish, 18 razors, 2 dishsoaps, 2 face scrubs, 4 Sobe waters, (and a rain check for two deodorants)...

Out of Pocket Total....6 dollars and 7 cents!!!
Retail Value: $$70.13
% Savings: 91%

Here's how I did it...

Transaction One:
Mouthwash 2.99
TP 5.49 with a $1/1 coupon
TP 5.49 with a $1/1 coupon
Bandaids 2.99 with a $1/1 coupon
Bandaids 2.99 with a $1/1 coupon
SOBE Waters - BOGO @ 1.59 with a BOGO coupon - free
9 2-packs of Razors .99 each - used 3 $2/1 coupons (should have been able to use a 4th $2/1 coupon - but I wasn't...)
St. Ive's scrub 1.49 with a $1.50/1 coupon (2)

Used a $4/$20 coupon from a previous CVS receipt
Used $10 in Extra Bucks from the coke deal a few weeks ago
OOP expense: 5.89
Received: 4 Extra Bucks

Transaction Two:
Clearasil Face Wash 3.99

Used: 4 EB's from transaction 1
OOP expense: Zero
Received: 3.99 in Extra Bucks

Transaction Three:
Tampons 3.99
Dish soap .99

Used: $1/1 coupon on tampons and 3.99 EB's from transaction 2
OOP expense: 6 cents
Received: 2.99 in Extra Bucks

Transaction Four:
Nail Polish 3.99

Used: $1/1 coupon and 2.99 in EB's from Transaction 3
OOP expense: 7 cents
Received: 3.00 in Extra Bucks

Transaction Five:
Dish Soap .99
Toothpaste 2.99

Used: $1/1 coupon on toothpaste and 3.00 in EB's from Transaction 4
OOP expense: 5 cents
Received: 2.00 in Extra Bucks

Quite a Publix Trip - 5.25

I was pretty proud of my trip to Publix yesterday. I was able to stock up on some things that my husband and I will really enjoy using. We also took a walk last night to rent a movie from the Red Box in the front of our Walmart Neighborhood Market, so I suggested that we quickly walk through the store as well. Since I've gotten serious about grocery shopping, I haven't been in Walmart. I wanted to price compare a few things now that I have a better idea about what things cost. My Publix costs beat all the Walmart prices!



So what is in the picture??

3 boxes of cereal, 2 boxes of frozen coconut shrimp, 4 bottles of Cranberry Juice, 6 Individual CPK Pizzas, 4 ears of sweet corn, 4 bottles of Italian dressing, 6 bottles of BBQ Sauce, a Gallon of milk, 6 jars of Spaghetti Sauce, 8 boxes of brownies, 4 jars of A1, 2 bottles of syrup, 2 14lb packages of cat litter, baby cereal, baby food, 2 packages of hot dogs, 2 pears, 2 bananas, 2 containers of cream cheese, pork spare ribs, 1 block of cream cheese, 1 box of italian dressing mix, 1 bag of pita bread, 1 bag of sugar, 6 frozen breakfast entrees, 1 jar of applesauce, 1 can of soup, 2 loaves of garlic bread, 2 cans of green beans

So what is not in the above picture?



6 8-packs of soda, and two rain checks for pasta and pizza that will be very cheap when they come back in stock.

Total retail value of this shopping trip: 229.46
Total paid: 80.47
Savings: 66%

Also, to make this deal even sweeter, I found two Publix gift cards before I left that I had completely forgotten about. One had 10 dollars on it and one had 23.24 on it. That brought my out of pocket total down to $47.23. That's a LOT of food for 47 dollars :)

If you are interested in finding out more about these deals or coupons, I've included my lists below. The links for printable coupons are active in this document. Also, you can check out the Publix deals on the blogs on my right sidebar (or email me).

Publix Trip 5.25

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Shopping List 5.25

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Illustrations & Maps Health & Lifestyle art sale

Cereal and Soda

Yup, I've become a southerner. I say "soda" now. Today I was able to go to Kmart and redeem the rain check on cereal that I got last week. General Mills cereal was 4 for $6 (limit 4---I possibly could have gotten the rain check for more boxes because the manager seemed willing, but I decided that since the original offer was only for four boxes, that's all I should get out of the rain check deal). I was able to get 2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 box of Cheerios, and 1 box of Lucky Charms.

Total before coupons: $6
Total after coupons: $3.45
Per box: 87 cents!

(Not bad considering that the price before the sale was roughly four dollars a box...78% savings on "top of the line" cereal)

I also picked up some 8-packs of pepsi products for 1.50/pack. This is the cheapest I've seen it since Pepsi went to the 8-packs in Florida. Anything under 25 cents a can is good, but these are around 19 cents a can. I may be going back for more. The only catch is that one of your 8-packs needs to be a pack of Diet Pepsi, but with my parents coming soon and some people down the street who may buy the diet off of me, this is a great deal for me. (Having soda is a non-negotiable in my house (ehhem, my husband's house)...I can't completely cut it out of the budget, so I might as well get it for as cheap as possible.)

What I'm making with my deals...

Here is this week's meal plan, based on yesterday's Publix stock up trip.

Monday: Poppyseed Chicken, Sweet Corn (5.16 - included lunch for Tuesday)
Tuesday: Brats, Potato Salad, Sweet Corn (2.92)
Wednesday: Frozen Pizza (or possibly $5 pizza from Howie's) (2.25)
Thursday: Fish, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Veggies (3.38 - probably will include leftover potatoes)
Friday: Brats, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies (3.20)
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner (3.60??)

Publix Trip 5.18

Today was a BIG stock up shopping trip for me to Publix. Curt was home with the kids, so I was able to look for everything I wanted, find my coupons, ask questions, fill two carts with groceries, and get them all in the car (even with the rain). I spent $92 and saved $151 - 62% savings!

My savings summary is below. Also, further down the page you'll find a document that details what coupons I used on each deal. The links for printable coupons are active.


Publix Trip 5.18

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Shopping List 5.13

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Non-fiction Health & Lifestyle marketing free

What I'm making with my deals...

Some people have asked if the food that I'm finding coupons for is actually food that we eat. I could go into a long winded answer of this question now, but instead I decided to post my meal plan based on last week's Publix trip.

Last Friday night: Cookout at friend's house. Took the steaks and the cheesy potatoes ($9.36)
Saturday: Dinner at a friend's house
Sunday: Curt made me chicken broccoli alfredo that we ate for two meals (he did the shopping, not sure of the total)
Monday: Tilapia, Veggies, Pasta ($3.47 - includes one meal of leftovers)
Tuesday: Curt has a dinner meeting and I'm eating at a friend's house
Wednesday: We'll probably do $5 pizza night at Hungry Howie's
Thursday: Ranch Chicken, Veggies, Frozen French Fries ($3.89 - should include at least one meal of leftovers)
Friday: Hosting a dinner for church - I'm responsible for cheesy potatoes and salad
Saturday: Shrimp, Veggies, Rice ($4.25 - may or may not include leftovers)

Publix Shopping Trip - 5.8.09

Not Amazing Deals, but necessities none the less:
Two Blocks of Cheese - 4.00
Sour Cream - 0.89
Steaks for Grilling - 4.93
2 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup - 0.85 each
1 Bag of Frozen Hashbrowns - 2.69 (yummy cheesy potatoes....)
2 Boxes of Light Bulbs - 1.39 each
2 Boxes of Pasta Roni - 1.59 each

Coupon and Sale Combination Deals:
4 Boxes of Green Giant Frozen Vegetables - 0.70 each
2 Boxes of Green Giant Frozen Vegetables - 0.50 each
2 Boxes of Electrasol Dishwasher Tablets - 3.39 each
2 Boxes of Back to Nature Cookies - .99 each
2 Bottles of Glass Plus Cleaner - .24 each
2 Boxes of Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal - 1.75 each
2 Boxes of Corn Pops - .99 each
2 Boxes of Apple Jacks - .99 each
2 Boxes of Cheerios - 1.44 each
Glad Trash Bags - 2.99
Frozen Shrimp and Frozen Tilapia - 2.75 each
Publix Ice Cream - 1.50
2 Boxes of Organic Granola Bars - .99 each
2 Boxes of Duncan Hines Premium Dark Fudge Brownies - 1.30 each
2 Boxes of Graham Crackers - 2.00 each (wouldn't let me use my Target coupons as was the plan)
2 Bottles of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing - .85 each
2 Bottles of Juicy Juice - 1.75 each (no coupon)
Arm and Hammer Laundry Detergent - 2.99
20 Jars of Earth's Best Organic Baby Food - .39 each
2 Containers of Keebler Cookies - 1.49 each
Boneless Chicken Breasts - 2.96

Total Before Sales and Coupons - 188.78
Total Paid - 83.04

Total Saved - 105.74
Percentage Saved - 56%

Great Kraft Coupons

There are some really great Kraft coupons available to print right now. You can get two sets from here and two sets from here. You will need to register at Kraft's website - now is the perfect time to create a "junk" or "deals" email address to use for sites like this.

My Second Trip to Target 5/6

Yup. I went back to Target. I couldn't resist. My kids were cranky, I was going to be home alone all night, and I figured a trip out of the house to save money and get more yummy snacks would do us all good. I won't break it down into individual transactions this time, but there were three separate ones. Here it goes...

Dark Chocolate Bar - .99 with $1/1 Target coupon (free)
3 Nabisco Kraft Mac n Cheese Crackers - 1.02 with 3 $1/1 Target coupons (.02 each)
3 Individual Size Chex Mix - .99 with 3 $1/1 Target coupons (free)
3 Quaker True Delight Granola Bars - Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond - 2.89 with 3 $1/1 manufacture's coupons and 3 $1/1 Target coupons (.89 each)
3.36 lbs of Apples (7 apples) - .99/pound with 3 $1/1pound Target coupons (.42 total)
2 bags of Chocolate - 2.99 with 2 $1/1 Target coupons and 2 $1/1 manufacture's coupons (.99 each)
3 Individual Bags of Quaker Chocolate Granola Bites - 1.00 with 3 $1/1 Target coupons (free)
Gallon of 2% milk - 2.89 (no coupon, we just needed this)
2 Glade Candles - 5.79 with 2 $4/1 manufacture's coupons and a $5.00 Bonus GiftCard from Target (free, with 1.42 in overage)
2 Boxes of Always Infinity Pads - 8.99 with 2 $4/1 manufacture's coupons and a $5.00 Bonus GiftCard from Target (2.49 each)

Total Out of Pocket Expense: $19.99
Plus: Still have a $5 Gift Card to spend at Target (I'm sure I can find a use for that!)


In Summary:
2 Bags of Chocolate, 1 Chocolate Bar, 3 Boxes of Crackers, 3 Boxes of Granola Bars, 3 Bags of Chex Mix, 3 Small bags of Granola Bites, 2 Large Boxes of Pads, 2 Candles, 7 Apples, 1 Gallon of Milk, AND a 5 dollar gift card
Retail Value: $67.81
Total Spent: $19.99
Amount Saved: 70%




Some Lessons Learned Today:
- Having toys for the kids to play with in the cart is a big plus!
- Having small transactions and knowing the number of coupons that should show up on your receipt is helpful. (The receipts are REALLY confusing and it will be hard to see if all your coupons really came off the bill if you don't know how many should be on there.)
- If I had split up the pads and the candles into two separate transactions, then I could have used one of my $5.00 gift cards to buy the other items. This would have lowered my out of pocket expense by five dollars. I can still spend the five dollars later, but it would have been nice to spend less today and not have to worry about it in the future.

My First Coupon Trip to Target 5/6

Today was my first attempt at hitting the Target deals. I forgot a couple of manufacture's coupons from this week paper, so I wasn't able to cash in on the gift card deals. Also, I was thinking that Target had a different style of double kids' carts, so I didn't bring the stroller. There is no way that the twins are big enough for the double carts that Target offers, so Micah rode up front in a regular cart and Mackenna rode in the back in her carseat. No room for groceries - I had to purchase a reusable shopping bag and carry my purchases around the store as I went. I made three different transactions...Here are the results:

Transaction One:
Dark Chocolate Bar - .99 with $1/1 Target coupon (free)
Nabisco Kraft Mac n Cheese Crackers - 1.02 with $1/1 Target coupon (.02)
Individual Size Chex Mix - .99 with $1/1 Target coupon (free)
Quaker True Delight Granola Bars - Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond - 2.89 with $1/1 manufacture's coupon and $1/1 Target coupon (.89)
1.41 lbs of Apples (3) - 1.40 with $1/1 Target coupon (.40)
Kashi Frozen Waffles 6 count - 2 at 1.99 with 2 $1.50/1 manufacture's coupon (.49 each)
Stonyfield Farms Yogurt - 3.34
Suave Body Wash - 1.50
Reusable Bag - .99 - because of the shopping cart scenario
(The last three items were "necessity" purchases, not based on sales or coupons)

Total Saved - 10.05
Total Spent - 8.12

Transaction Two:
Another Dark Chocolate Bar - (free)
Another Mac n Cheese Crackers - (.02)
Another Chex Mix - (free)
Individual Size Quaker Bites - 1.00 with $1/1 Target coupon (free)
Another True Delight Granola Bars - (.89)
2 more apples - (.02)

Total Saved - 7.70
Total Spent - 0.91

Transaction Three:
Another Dark Chocolate Bar - (free)
Another Mac n Cheese Crackers - (.02)
Another Chex Mix - (free)
Another True Delight Granola Bars - (.89)

Total Saved - 4.98
Total Spent - 0.91

Grand Totals for the Day...
3 Chocolate Bars, 3 Boxes of Cheese Crackers, 3 Individual Bags of Chex Mix, 3 Boxes of Premium Granola Bars, 2 Boxes of Healthy Waffles, 5 Apples, Large Container of Organic Yogurt, Bodywash, Reusable Shopping Bag
Total Retail Value: $33.12
Total Spent: $9.94
Amount Saved: 70%




(I apologize for the boring details...I'm just so excited)

CVS Deals this week...

This is my first venture into playing the CVS game. I was so excited that I had to come home and start the blog that I've been thinking about. I will hopefully add links to all the blogs that helped me find these deals later.

On Sunday:
Purchased: 2 Colgate Max Fresh Toothpastes (with free toothbrushes) - 2.99 each
Used: 2 $1 off 1 Coupons
Out of Pocket (OOP) Expense: 4.40 (with tax)
Extra Care Bucks (ECB) Earned: 4.00
(It's like I only spent .40)
And an additional 2.00 ECB coupon printed out on the receipt from my Winter Purchases

Purchased: 1 Lifesaver Gummy Candies - 2.00
Used: 2.00 ECB from previous purchase
OOP Expense: 0
(This was our treat for walking to CVS on a Sunday afternoon...)

On Tuesday:
Purchased: 2 Boxes of Frosted Flakes - 3.34 each, 1 Box of Frosted Mini Wheats - 3.33, and 3 Dry Idea Deodorants - 1.25 each
Used: 3 $1 off coupons on the cereal, 3 $2 off coupons on the deodorant (don't really know why this went through...didn't mean for it to), and 4.00 ECB from Sunday's Purchase
OOP Expense: 76 cents (with tax)
ECB Earned: 5.00
And a $4 off $20 coupon printed on the bottom of my receipt
(I made 24 cents profit on this transaction!)

I plan on going back to CVS this week to get the Coke promotion. I'm still working on how to best work this one. I'll update when I do. I know the $4/$20 coupon will help!

(Weekly total:
2 toothpastes
2 toothbrushes
3 deodorants
3 boxes of cereal
1 bag of candy

OOP Expense: 5.16)



Update: I did go buy coke tonight. I didn't work the deal as well as I should have. I got flustered and did my math wrong and ended up buying a 12-pack of soda that I didn't need to buy in order to get the deal. Lesson learned. Here is what I got...
5 12-packs of Cherry Coke and 1 12-pack of Fanta - Total of 24 dollars (you only needed to spend 20 dollars to get the 10 ECBs)
I used a $4/$20 CVS Coupon and 5 ECBs - I paid $16.05 and got 10 ECBs back.

Not the greatest deal, or one that I'm most proud of...but it still worked out to just over 15 cents per can - better than we usually do. And yes, soda is a necessity around this house. Might as well save a little than save nothing.