Kroger used to be my absolute favorite grocery store until I met Publix......now they rival each other, yes, but I don't say "I'm going here because they have better sales this week..." No, I say, "I'm going here for this and there for that." Locally, they are right beside each other, so no wasted gas!
Kroger has a loyalty card program. If you do not have one, go to the front desk and get one! They will send you special coupons, you can get discounted gas, and this is the only way to get their sale prices!
Their rules about gas: No matter what, Kroger Plus Card members will get .03/gallon discount when they scan their card.
For every $100 of groceries, items you purchase within a month, you get .10/gallon discount.
For every $50 in gift cards purchased (and they have A TON!), you get .10/gallon
For every 2 prescriptions purchased, you get .10/gallon
Kroger has also teamed up with Shell and now you can use your card at the Shell stations and get a discount as well!
One of the things I love about Kroger is their markdowns they do every morning usually between 7 and 9. They go through and markdown the produce, meat, bread, and dairy for things that are going out of date soon. This has been a major blessing for us as we have gotten ground beef for .99/lb, bananas for .19/lb, bread for .49/loaf, and milk for 1.50/gallon before! Granted, these things do expire SOON, but I live in a house with 4 guys! We freeze the meat, eat/freeze bananas (bananas frozen are WONDERFUL for banana bread!), eat/freeze the bread, and go through a gallon of milk in less than 2 days.
Kroger has their 10/$10 sales that they do frequently, and while some things are a great price, you do have to be careful to not get excited "just because it's on sale" (yes, I have to deal with my husband on this ;-) ). One important thing about this type of sale: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY 10 TO GET EACH ITEM FOR $1! You can buy just one and it will still charge you the same price.
They also have their "Mega Events" that they have begun doing more frequently. Thy currently have a frozen mega event going on to where if you buy 10 items off of their special list (there is usually a wide assortment of items available for the sale), you will get $5 off of your order. That is essentially that each item will be .50 cheaper. This discount comes off automatically at the register at the end of your checkout. Make sure you have the required number of items or it will not give you the discount! You can do this as many times in each transaction as you want, just as long as you have it in multiples of the number. For example, this week is buy 10 get $5 off. If I bought 50 items, I would get $25 off of my order, but if I bought 58 items, I would still only get $25 off since I haven't hit the next mark yet.
****BOGO coupons are AMAZING for this type of sale!! An example recently:
Herbal essence was in the list of Buy 4, Get $4 off
You could buy:
(2) Herbal Essence shampoos @2.99 ------5.98
(2) Herbal Essence stylers @2.99 -----------5.98
Total = 11.96
Minus $4 mega even sale = 7.96
Use (2) Buy 1 shampoo/cond get 1 styler free coupons from 12/26/10 PG
These would both take off 2.99 each (not the discounted price!) - 5.98
Total would be $1.98 + tax for 2 Herbal Essence shampoos and 2 stylers!!
OR JUST .50 each!!
Kroger also has catalina deals where if you buy a certain number of items, you get a certain amount back on your next order (OYNO). These do not run with the sales weeks nor do they advertise them in their paper. Usually they have tags hanging under the items. There is also a master list over at Southern Savers where she keeps record of it all. You do not have to wait until the next trip to use these (yes, I have forgotten about them before!!! lol). You can just divide your items into 2 transactions and use them on your 2nd. One major thing about catalinas is if it says:
Buy 3, get $1.50 oyno
Buy 4, get $2.50 oyno
Buy 5(+), get $3.50 oyno
You will not get $7 for buying 10! If you wanted 10, it would be best to split your order into 2 separate transactions.
Kroger also has eCoupons you can load at their site, Shurtcuts, and Cellfire. A lot of stores will not let you use both an eCoupon and a paper coupon, but last time I checked, our local store would let you. It something they are having to slowly transition in their system, and from what I understand, they will all eventually only take one or the other. These coupons take 2-24 hours to load onto your card, so when you're browsing the coupons, if you think you will use it, save it to your card! Your card can hold MANY coupons!
Kroger, like Publix, doubles MQs up to .50. However, there is one difference. While at Publix, they will always double the same amount no matter how much the item costs, Kroger will not. I tried it on McCormick seasonings for .89. I used a .50/1 MQ and it doubled .39. It will make the item free, but you will not get overage at Kroger. Still great though!
Showing posts with label starting out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label starting out. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Amazon
I'm taking a break from stores, and doing a rundown on an online site - a lot of you have probably been there before, but there are "inside secrets" that can make your shopping MUCH more enjoyable and cheaper!!
First and foremost, ALWAYS CHECK AMAZON before you make a purchase if it's not toooo ugent! I have saved over 50% just by buying from Amazon on almost anything I have bought. I mentioned before the clippers I bought for $25 versus $71 in store. I have also scored diapers - Luvs size 4, 180 count - for $7.50 versus about $35 for Wal-Mart brand of the same amount and size. You just have to wait, watch, and jump on it!
Amazon has a thing called Prime Membership where you can score FREE 2 Day Shipping on any order that is Prime Eligible - most of them are. This cost $79/year, but if you are going to buy a lot, it is WELL WORTH IT!! Shipping can be from about $3-$10 (rough estimate) PER ITEM, not per order.
I have not had to do this yet, because there is also a thing called Amazon Mom that will give you 3 months of Prime membership for FREE!! NO strings attached. At the end of the 3 months, they will send you an email giving you the option to renew it, but if you choose not to, it will AUTOMATICALLY cancel your membership.
For every $25 of baby products you purchase in one order (before coupons or gift cards), you will automatically extend your Amazon Mom membership by 1 month for free :-) I have done this 3 times now on 3 different boxes of diapers ($35 before everything), so now I am up to 6 months. You can do this for up to one year of free membership!
The Subscribe and Save option is also a VERY helpful tool when it comes to saving money. You can choose to have your subscription to an item come every 1 - 6 months. This saves you an extra 15% off of the item. HOWEVER, you DO NOT have to keep the Subscribe and Save membership after placing your order. Amazon even tells you this on their help page. You just have to make sure you cancel it before it renews. I always choose 6 months then when the item is delivered 2 days later, I go in and cancel it. Yes, it can be done multiple times on the same item also.
There are really neat coupons out there for Amazon, usually found in pregnancy or parent magazines. The most popular one is 20% off any diaper item. I have also seen $10 off items from the Baby store. The Great thing is: You can combine these!!!
I'll give you another Amazon deal I've gotten:
Buy (1) box 180 size 4 Luvs diapers on sale for $35 (normally $38.99) ---------automatically renews Amazon Mom membership for 1 month because order PRICE is above $25
Used Amazon Mom discount for 15% off -$5.25
Used Subscribe and Save option for 15% -$5.25
Used 20% off Amazon code -$7.00
Used $10 Baby code -$10
Total $7.50 shipped to my door in two days!!!
***You can also use gift card balances earned from Swagbucks (as I mentioned in this post) to pay for it - this was right around Christmas so my balance was nonexistent ;-)
So, now you can see why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Amazon!
First and foremost, ALWAYS CHECK AMAZON before you make a purchase if it's not toooo ugent! I have saved over 50% just by buying from Amazon on almost anything I have bought. I mentioned before the clippers I bought for $25 versus $71 in store. I have also scored diapers - Luvs size 4, 180 count - for $7.50 versus about $35 for Wal-Mart brand of the same amount and size. You just have to wait, watch, and jump on it!
Amazon has a thing called Prime Membership where you can score FREE 2 Day Shipping on any order that is Prime Eligible - most of them are. This cost $79/year, but if you are going to buy a lot, it is WELL WORTH IT!! Shipping can be from about $3-$10 (rough estimate) PER ITEM, not per order.
I have not had to do this yet, because there is also a thing called Amazon Mom that will give you 3 months of Prime membership for FREE!! NO strings attached. At the end of the 3 months, they will send you an email giving you the option to renew it, but if you choose not to, it will AUTOMATICALLY cancel your membership.
For every $25 of baby products you purchase in one order (before coupons or gift cards), you will automatically extend your Amazon Mom membership by 1 month for free :-) I have done this 3 times now on 3 different boxes of diapers ($35 before everything), so now I am up to 6 months. You can do this for up to one year of free membership!
The Subscribe and Save option is also a VERY helpful tool when it comes to saving money. You can choose to have your subscription to an item come every 1 - 6 months. This saves you an extra 15% off of the item. HOWEVER, you DO NOT have to keep the Subscribe and Save membership after placing your order. Amazon even tells you this on their help page. You just have to make sure you cancel it before it renews. I always choose 6 months then when the item is delivered 2 days later, I go in and cancel it. Yes, it can be done multiple times on the same item also.
There are really neat coupons out there for Amazon, usually found in pregnancy or parent magazines. The most popular one is 20% off any diaper item. I have also seen $10 off items from the Baby store. The Great thing is: You can combine these!!!
I'll give you another Amazon deal I've gotten:
Buy (1) box 180 size 4 Luvs diapers on sale for $35 (normally $38.99) ---------automatically renews Amazon Mom membership for 1 month because order PRICE is above $25
Used Amazon Mom discount for 15% off -$5.25
Used Subscribe and Save option for 15% -$5.25
Used 20% off Amazon code -$7.00
Used $10 Baby code -$10
Total $7.50 shipped to my door in two days!!!
***You can also use gift card balances earned from Swagbucks (as I mentioned in this post) to pay for it - this was right around Christmas so my balance was nonexistent ;-)
So, now you can see why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Amazon!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Publix
Ok, honestly, when I first went into Publix, my thought was this: "This is a rich, snobby person's store!" Fast forward about a year when someone actually explained to me how to shop at Publix, and now it rivals Kroger for my FAVORITE grocery store!!
Publix is wonderful. That's all I have to say! No, not really, but they are WONDERFUL! Their Customer Service is fantastic! I've even written into corporate for an extremely POSITIVE experience with a CSM - that's a first for me! Which, by the way, you should do. Employees will have a greater motivation to do nice and wonderful things for you when they know you appreciate it and especially when someone higher up gives them a pat on the back for a job well done!
Publix has a few rules, but they're rules I actually LIKE to follow! ;-)
1. Publix's big sales are BOGOs. They circle through a lot of top quality products and put them BOGO. In our local area, BOGOs are really 50% off (shhh don't tell them I told you so!). I know in FL the BOGOs are like they are at the drug stores (Buy one full price get one free).
2. You can stack a MQ with a Publix Q. No restrictions!
3. Publix doubles Qs up to .50 - EVEN IF THE ITEM IS LESS THAN THE AMOUNT DOUBLED!!
4. Publix accepts competitors Qs....Our local one only accepts Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, and Food Depot, but there are ones who will accept Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, etc. One exception: If it is a x/x.xx of anything, they will not honor it. It has to be for a specific product.
5. Our Publix allows overage - when your coupon amount exceeds the amount of the item :-)
6. Coupon overage can be applied to tax.
7. When Publix doubles a coupon, their half takes off of the taxed amount. The same thing with store coupons.
8. Publix sales run from Wednesday - Tuesday locally.....some stores run Thursday - Wednesday.
I'll give some examples of Publix shopping trips and why they are SOOO amazing!
On this one, I did not know what was happening!:
Bought (2) Dove Deodorants on sale BOGO $2.49 = $2.49
Used (1) $3/2 Dove Coupon = -$3.00
After tax, my total came to -.33! The manager came over and GAVE ME .33 out of the register! How awesome is that?? Yes, they do get compensated for it, because they send that $3 MQ in and get $3 plus .08 handling fee for it :-)
Therefore, we can all thoroughly conclude that Mindy LOVES PUBLIX!!!!! You just have to work the sales, coupons, and policies all together :-)
Publix is wonderful. That's all I have to say! No, not really, but they are WONDERFUL! Their Customer Service is fantastic! I've even written into corporate for an extremely POSITIVE experience with a CSM - that's a first for me! Which, by the way, you should do. Employees will have a greater motivation to do nice and wonderful things for you when they know you appreciate it and especially when someone higher up gives them a pat on the back for a job well done!
Publix has a few rules, but they're rules I actually LIKE to follow! ;-)
1. Publix's big sales are BOGOs. They circle through a lot of top quality products and put them BOGO. In our local area, BOGOs are really 50% off (shhh don't tell them I told you so!). I know in FL the BOGOs are like they are at the drug stores (Buy one full price get one free).
2. You can stack a MQ with a Publix Q. No restrictions!
3. Publix doubles Qs up to .50 - EVEN IF THE ITEM IS LESS THAN THE AMOUNT DOUBLED!!
4. Publix accepts competitors Qs....Our local one only accepts Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, and Food Depot, but there are ones who will accept Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, etc. One exception: If it is a x/x.xx of anything, they will not honor it. It has to be for a specific product.
5. Our Publix allows overage - when your coupon amount exceeds the amount of the item :-)
6. Coupon overage can be applied to tax.
7. When Publix doubles a coupon, their half takes off of the taxed amount. The same thing with store coupons.
8. Publix sales run from Wednesday - Tuesday locally.....some stores run Thursday - Wednesday.
I'll give some examples of Publix shopping trips and why they are SOOO amazing!
Bought:
10 Yakisoba noodles .79 = $7.90
1 Gallon milk 2.99 - $2.99
Total = $10.89
I used (10) .50/1 Yakisoba noddle MQs - they doubled to $1/1 which gave me overage of .21/1
My total after tax was $1.07 - less than if I had gone in to buy the milk alone which I desperately needed!
Before I have bough canned cat food on sale 3/$1 so the first rings up as .34 then .33
Buy 2 = .67
Use one BOGO MQ
They put it in as .33, so it automatically doubles up to .66
Total is .01 plus tax!
Right after Christmas I went in and bought 8 Clorox wipes 35 count @ 2/$4 (normally like $3ish) = $16
I used (4) Publix Store Coupons $2/2 (minus $8)
I also stacked with that 6 $1/1 (some from inserts, some IPs) (minus $6)
I also used (2) .75/1 IP (minus $1.50)
Total = .50 plus tax for 8 Clorox wipes cans!!! I have 3 little boys so VERY handy!On this one, I did not know what was happening!:
Bought (2) Dove Deodorants on sale BOGO $2.49 = $2.49
Used (1) $3/2 Dove Coupon = -$3.00
After tax, my total came to -.33! The manager came over and GAVE ME .33 out of the register! How awesome is that?? Yes, they do get compensated for it, because they send that $3 MQ in and get $3 plus .08 handling fee for it :-)
Therefore, we can all thoroughly conclude that Mindy LOVES PUBLIX!!!!! You just have to work the sales, coupons, and policies all together :-)
Do The Rite Thing! (Rite Aid)
I'm not as familiar with Rite Aid, as I just don't make it over there that much! The system that has been in place for a while is a Single Rebate Check, where you send all of your receipts for qualifying products in and they send you a single check at the end of the month (think EB but in a check form, all at once, and to be used anywhere).
They still do this, but +UP Rewards are taking over....they're transitioning, I guess? I don't think there's been an official statement of this, but you know how it is! They started making CDs, so slowly the tapes left the stores (I do remember this in MY lifetime lol).
To do SCR (Single Check Rebates), first you must sign up online here, then you can browse the current SCR for the month here!
The SCR limit is usually 1, but look at the sales paper and online to see if it's more - there are limits of 2 sometimes, up to 5!
One really good thing about Rite Aid is that they have an online coupon policy you can print out here to take with you to the store (as not ALL cashiers and managers are extremely knowledgeable about certain things). They cannot argue with corporate :-)
+UP Rewards work basically like EB at CVS. You have to have a loyalty card. The limit to every +UP Reward is 1 per item. They just came out with this (at least locally) within the past year.
When you make a purchase using a +UP Reward, you must have your subtotal before tax up to the same amount of the +UP Reward. The same as Walgreens with the RR. CVS will actually adjust the EB down if it is within a few cents of your total.
They still do this, but +UP Rewards are taking over....they're transitioning, I guess? I don't think there's been an official statement of this, but you know how it is! They started making CDs, so slowly the tapes left the stores (I do remember this in MY lifetime lol).
To do SCR (Single Check Rebates), first you must sign up online here, then you can browse the current SCR for the month here!
The SCR limit is usually 1, but look at the sales paper and online to see if it's more - there are limits of 2 sometimes, up to 5!
One really good thing about Rite Aid is that they have an online coupon policy you can print out here to take with you to the store (as not ALL cashiers and managers are extremely knowledgeable about certain things). They cannot argue with corporate :-)
+UP Rewards work basically like EB at CVS. You have to have a loyalty card. The limit to every +UP Reward is 1 per item. They just came out with this (at least locally) within the past year.
When you make a purchase using a +UP Reward, you must have your subtotal before tax up to the same amount of the +UP Reward. The same as Walgreens with the RR. CVS will actually adjust the EB down if it is within a few cents of your total.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Shopping the Greens (Walgreens)
You can get good deals at Walgreens, but they are far from my favorite drug store. They are different from CVS in many ways. Our local Walgreens is usually not in stock for sale items very well, and there's just more "picky rules" to follow. But, as I said before, you can get some good deals, but if you're going to do a really good sale there, you need to go first thing in the morning (they open at 8 locally) on Sunday!
Walgreens does not have a loyalty card.
Walgreens has Register Rewards that print out if you buy the required items on a Catalina machine - sometimes other coupons print out of here also.
You CAN stack a Walgreens Coupon with a MQ.
You can only use as many coupons as items you are buying - while you can stack, you still have to have a 1:1 ratio on coupons:items in your transaction.
A Register Reward counts as a manufacturer coupon and counts towards your total coupons used, so if you have a $1, a $3, and a $5 RR and want to buy a $9 item, you will need to buy 2 "filler" items also to be able to do so.
Filler items are small, clearance or just anything cheap in the store to get your coupon:item ratio correct. Yes, you may spend an extra .50, but it enables you to use a greater value coupon and still get what you need.
Walgreens' RR expire 2 weeks after printing.
If you want to get 2 of the same item and still want to get the RR, you MUST do 2 separate transactions! If you buy 2, only 1 RR will print. Remember, they do not have a loyalty card, so this is their way to monitor the amount you purchase of sale items. They do have tests running on a loyalty card in 3 states that I know of.
To do a BOGO deal, you MUST purchase 2 items. The first will ring up as the full price and the 2nd as $0.00.
You can use 2 MQs on BOGOs.
If you get a rain check from Walgreens, you can still get the sale price, but they will not do the RR deal for you after it has ended.
If you cannot think of anything else to use your RR on, remember: they do sell milk and other food :-)
A deal I have been trying to do (but they have been out of stock all 6 times I have been in there so far!) is to "make money" by buying Sinex (which with how my sinuses are is definitely something I can use!)
You can buy 4 Vick's Sinex on sale @ $5 each = $20
Use (4) $4/1 Sinex MQ 12/26/10 PG ($16) = $4
Pay $4 + tax
Get back a $10 RR for buying $20 worth of Vick's products
So there are good deals to be had at Walgreens and different stores are different ways, but I just have a hard time catching it at our local stores.
Walgreens does not have a loyalty card.
Walgreens has Register Rewards that print out if you buy the required items on a Catalina machine - sometimes other coupons print out of here also.
You CAN stack a Walgreens Coupon with a MQ.
You can only use as many coupons as items you are buying - while you can stack, you still have to have a 1:1 ratio on coupons:items in your transaction.
A Register Reward counts as a manufacturer coupon and counts towards your total coupons used, so if you have a $1, a $3, and a $5 RR and want to buy a $9 item, you will need to buy 2 "filler" items also to be able to do so.
Filler items are small, clearance or just anything cheap in the store to get your coupon:item ratio correct. Yes, you may spend an extra .50, but it enables you to use a greater value coupon and still get what you need.
Walgreens' RR expire 2 weeks after printing.
If you want to get 2 of the same item and still want to get the RR, you MUST do 2 separate transactions! If you buy 2, only 1 RR will print. Remember, they do not have a loyalty card, so this is their way to monitor the amount you purchase of sale items. They do have tests running on a loyalty card in 3 states that I know of.
To do a BOGO deal, you MUST purchase 2 items. The first will ring up as the full price and the 2nd as $0.00.
You can use 2 MQs on BOGOs.
If you get a rain check from Walgreens, you can still get the sale price, but they will not do the RR deal for you after it has ended.
If you cannot think of anything else to use your RR on, remember: they do sell milk and other food :-)
A deal I have been trying to do (but they have been out of stock all 6 times I have been in there so far!) is to "make money" by buying Sinex (which with how my sinuses are is definitely something I can use!)
You can buy 4 Vick's Sinex on sale @ $5 each = $20
Use (4) $4/1 Sinex MQ 12/26/10 PG ($16) = $4
Pay $4 + tax
Get back a $10 RR for buying $20 worth of Vick's products
So there are good deals to be had at Walgreens and different stores are different ways, but I just have a hard time catching it at our local stores.
CVS'ing
CVS is my favorite drug store, so that is where I am going to start :-)
At CVS, you will want to MAKE SURE you go to their cash register if you have not already and apply for an Extra Care card. Then, go to CVS.com and register your card with an email address and they will automatically email you a $4/20 coupon!!!
You cannot get any of their sale prices or EBs without this card! VERY IMPORTANT!
*There is a limit of one card per household, so spouses, children cannot make multiple cards*
I am going to give you an example of 3 recent transactions I did at CVS to help you understand why I LOVE this store!
Great, you can do that at ANY store you may say.....well, you can do THAT, but, CVS had a sale that week. If you bought $20 of Excedrin products, you got $10 EB back. EVEN if you only pay $1.49, you still get your $10 EB back!!! The total they base it on is BEFORE Qs.
See, the company gets the money back from the manufacturer when they send in the Qs, the manufacturer has gotten you to try their product, and they hope you will come back for more, and you have gotten a very cheap (free or better!) product, so everyone has won!
So, on that trip, I "made" 8.51 in profit! I love it when a store pays me to shop! :-)
AND STILL HAVE $4 EB for later!! So, essentially, I spent $1.92 for it all!
This will not happen EVERY week, but CVS has great sales a lot of the time, and you can almost always find something!
ALWAYS scan your Extra Care Card at the "Magic Coupon Machine" to see what coupons you get!
If they are out of a sale item, ask for a raincheck! They will make one for you and include the EB part of the sale with it!
They have "Green Bag Tags" you can buy that are located next to their reusable bags. BUY ONE and keep it on your Reusable bag. It can be scanned once each day you make a trip there and after 4 trips you automatically get $1 EB!
To get the BOGO price, you MUST buy 2 items. The first will ring up full price while the 2nd rings up as $0.00.
You can use 2 MQs on BOGO items. You can also use a BOGO Q on a BOGO sale item and get BOTH FOR FREE!! I have done this with Kodak photo books, Cover Girl lipstick and Sobe drinks in the past. I have an email from corporate stating this that I will have to pull out and post. Locally, I have only done this at the Greenwood St CVS and not tried the Sawmill, so I know the Greenwood knows the rules.
At CVS, you will want to MAKE SURE you go to their cash register if you have not already and apply for an Extra Care card. Then, go to CVS.com and register your card with an email address and they will automatically email you a $4/20 coupon!!!
You cannot get any of their sale prices or EBs without this card! VERY IMPORTANT!
*There is a limit of one card per household, so spouses, children cannot make multiple cards*
I am going to give you an example of 3 recent transactions I did at CVS to help you understand why I LOVE this store!
Bought 4 Excedrins 3 of them at $5.29 each, 1 of them at $4.99.
Total = 20.86
Used (3) FREE coupons requested from coupons.com max. 5.99 - took off $15.87.
Used (1) 3.50/1 Q requested from coupons.com
Total = 1.49
Great, you can do that at ANY store you may say.....well, you can do THAT, but, CVS had a sale that week. If you bought $20 of Excedrin products, you got $10 EB back. EVEN if you only pay $1.49, you still get your $10 EB back!!! The total they base it on is BEFORE Qs.
See, the company gets the money back from the manufacturer when they send in the Qs, the manufacturer has gotten you to try their product, and they hope you will come back for more, and you have gotten a very cheap (free or better!) product, so everyone has won!
So, on that trip, I "made" 8.51 in profit! I love it when a store pays me to shop! :-)
Another transaction I was able to do was this:
32 load liquid Wisk detergent was on sale for $5 each (normally $8.xx there). If you bought $25 of certain products (Wisk included), you would get $10 back in EB. They also had a MQ in 1/2/11 paper (it was regional and we did NOT get it here) for 2/1 Wisk. I was able to order 5 from The Coupon Clippers.
I bought (5) Wisk @ $5 = $25
Used $4/20 CVS Q from the "Magic Coupon Machine" = $21
Used (5) $2/1 Wisk MQ ($10 total) = $11
Used $10 EB from Excedrin deal = $1 + tax
Then, I got back $10 EB for purchasing $25 worth!
So, for $1 + tax + the $1.25 I paid for the Qs (.25 each), I got 5 detergents!!!
I decided to use the $10 EB then and get some stuff we needed instead of saving it for the next sale. I bought:
1 Gillette Fusion Razor (had a rain check - they never expire and they have this sale about once a month!) for $9.99
1 CVS Thermometer on sale for $5
5 Dawn Detergents with Olay hand renewal .94 each (used rain check)
1 CVS Aluminum Foil for $1.99 (normally 3.99 but CVS brand was BOG1 50% off)
Total was $21.68
Used: $3/10 from the "Magic Coupon Machine"
$4/1 Razor MQ
(5) .50/1 Dawn MQ
$10 EB from Wisk
Total = 2.18 + tax
And, I got back $4 EB from the Gillette Rain Check So, for $5.92 + tax I was able to get:
4 boxes of Excedrin
5 Wisk detergents
1 Gillete Fusion Proglide Razor
5 Dawn Detergents
1 Thermometer
75 Sq Ft of CVS Aluminum Foil
This will not happen EVERY week, but CVS has great sales a lot of the time, and you can almost always find something!
A few more notes:
CVS is awesome because they let you stack MQ with SQs!
ALWAYS scan your Extra Care Card at the "Magic Coupon Machine" to see what coupons you get!
If they are out of a sale item, ask for a raincheck! They will make one for you and include the EB part of the sale with it!
They have "Green Bag Tags" you can buy that are located next to their reusable bags. BUY ONE and keep it on your Reusable bag. It can be scanned once each day you make a trip there and after 4 trips you automatically get $1 EB!
To get the BOGO price, you MUST buy 2 items. The first will ring up full price while the 2nd rings up as $0.00.
You can use 2 MQs on BOGO items. You can also use a BOGO Q on a BOGO sale item and get BOTH FOR FREE!! I have done this with Kodak photo books, Cover Girl lipstick and Sobe drinks in the past. I have an email from corporate stating this that I will have to pull out and post. Locally, I have only done this at the Greenwood St CVS and not tried the Sawmill, so I know the Greenwood knows the rules.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Basics of Couponing
I will probably forget something here, but just bear with me! I'll add to it as it comes to memory :)
There are several different TYPES of coupons. The ones that everyone knows about and thinks of instantly when thinking of coupons are called inserts. They are the ones that are in the coupon inserts you get on Sundays (in some towns this days differs). For local people, it always pays to wait until Sunday and get the Columbus paper and not the LaGrange weekend paper because LaGrange only carries one type of insert....Columbus carries 4!
There are 4 different "brands" of inserts. You have Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP), Proctor and Gamble (PG), and General Mills (GM). Some weeks you get only 1 insert, some weeks up to 5! It just varies and there are previews out there to help you know which weeks you really need to be interested in!
I personally buy between 2-4 copies a week, but I also use Hot Coupon World (HCW) www.hotcouponworld(dot)com to get trades for the coupons I know my family can really use and stockpile on.
Another type of coupon is internet printable ones (IP). You have to have a printer to do this of course. There are several sites to get coupons from.
www.coupons(dot)com
www.redplum(dot)com
www.smartsource(dot)com
Then of course you get the special offers through companies on their Facebook site or company sites when they are offered.
Another type is called Blinkies. I remember these from when I was a kid :-) When you are walking through the store and you see the little machine on an isle with a little red light blinking with little cute coupons in them, that is a blinkie :-) It will typically be beside the product that it is for.
Another type is called Home Mailers. You get these either when a company sends something out to your community or when you request coupons or samples from various companies.
Another type is called catalinas. Kroger and Walgreens are the only ones in my area that I know of that have the catalina machines. They are a little machine that print out various coupons based on what you buy when your receipt prints. A lot of times Kroger will run a "Buy X amount of items, get $X.XX for on your next shopping trip". Wonderful coupons and that comes out of the catalina machines.
There are also Store Coupons which are specific for a certain store. Publix is big on this as they even have flyers in the front of their store LOADED with store coupons. Walgreens usually has coupons in their weekly sales paper, and of course the various rewards programs for each store (CVS -Extra Bucks, Walgreens - Register Rewards, Rite Aid - +Up Rewards).
I need to get my camera up and running soon so I can take pictures of all of the different types and post them :-)
Those are the main ones that I can think of right now. I know it is probably kinda confusing but it will all come together the more you read and learn :-).
There are several different TYPES of coupons. The ones that everyone knows about and thinks of instantly when thinking of coupons are called inserts. They are the ones that are in the coupon inserts you get on Sundays (in some towns this days differs). For local people, it always pays to wait until Sunday and get the Columbus paper and not the LaGrange weekend paper because LaGrange only carries one type of insert....Columbus carries 4!
There are 4 different "brands" of inserts. You have Smart Source (SS), Red Plum (RP), Proctor and Gamble (PG), and General Mills (GM). Some weeks you get only 1 insert, some weeks up to 5! It just varies and there are previews out there to help you know which weeks you really need to be interested in!
I personally buy between 2-4 copies a week, but I also use Hot Coupon World (HCW) www.hotcouponworld(dot)com to get trades for the coupons I know my family can really use and stockpile on.
Another type of coupon is internet printable ones (IP). You have to have a printer to do this of course. There are several sites to get coupons from.
www.coupons(dot)com
www.redplum(dot)com
www.smartsource(dot)com
Then of course you get the special offers through companies on their Facebook site or company sites when they are offered.
Another type is called Blinkies. I remember these from when I was a kid :-) When you are walking through the store and you see the little machine on an isle with a little red light blinking with little cute coupons in them, that is a blinkie :-) It will typically be beside the product that it is for.
Another type is called Home Mailers. You get these either when a company sends something out to your community or when you request coupons or samples from various companies.
Another type is called catalinas. Kroger and Walgreens are the only ones in my area that I know of that have the catalina machines. They are a little machine that print out various coupons based on what you buy when your receipt prints. A lot of times Kroger will run a "Buy X amount of items, get $X.XX for on your next shopping trip". Wonderful coupons and that comes out of the catalina machines.
There are also Store Coupons which are specific for a certain store. Publix is big on this as they even have flyers in the front of their store LOADED with store coupons. Walgreens usually has coupons in their weekly sales paper, and of course the various rewards programs for each store (CVS -Extra Bucks, Walgreens - Register Rewards, Rite Aid - +Up Rewards).
I need to get my camera up and running soon so I can take pictures of all of the different types and post them :-)
Those are the main ones that I can think of right now. I know it is probably kinda confusing but it will all come together the more you read and learn :-).
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