Typical

I thought I would share these hilarious pictures I took last night.

Every week or so we (Lisa and I) wait out traffic at Uno's, which usually involves one of us having a beast of a day so we get nachos...but since we've started couponing we swap coupons.

But since we are there quite a bit they don't care what we do Each of us comes armed with a resueable bag, coupons, scissors and notepads. I bring the sale papers, since I get the grocery papers on Wednesday) and we make our shopping list.

It sure makes waiting out the horrific traffic that much better.

Walgreens

I am not a fan of Walgreens (Wags) on the coupon boards for short..but every now and then they have a sale that I have to pick up a few things. Last night was just that sale.

We needed paper towels to add to our stockpile so I took two trips yesterday. Total spent on all this during my trips approx $7 so maybe I don't hate Wags that much.

I did have a little tip I wanted to share. Give your coupons to the cashier in order or else you will run into issues. I did when I bought one 6-pack of paper towels.

I handed the cashier my Walgreens coupon for $1 off and then my manuf coupon for $1.50 off paper towels. BIG mistake. Because it turned into a disaster. Always hand the cashier your manuf coupons first, store coupons second.

Let's just say a manager got called because the cashier was being a...well..I'm too polite to type it here. And I just smiled the whole time because I knew I was right.

End of story.

A trip to Target

Ever have one of those days when you just want to wander around a store to clear your head? I had one of those so I went to Target. I still ended up using coupons despite the fog in my head. Total spent $13.49. Total saved $28.68. I could have done better but my head wasn't in the game and I'm still waiting for my coupon holder!

Here's how I saved:
Glade candles each $2.99 = used a one free candle coupon and $1 off coupon
Lipton soup $1 off when you buy 2 (total cost $1.48)
Sun Crystals = FREE! I found 2, $3 peelies at the store
Clean and Clear face wash = $1 off coupon (total cost $3.04)
Revlon nail cippers (missing from the picture) = FREE! Used a $2 off Revlon coupon and the price was $1.57 so I made money on this
Allegra = $7.14, used $5 manuf coupon. Each box was $2.14
Kotex = $1 off Target coupon, $1 manuf coupon which ended up costing $.60
Knorr rice = $.50 off when you buy 2 Target coupon (total cost $1.54)
Target nail polish remover $.49 after using $.50 off coupon

The best part..I got about 8 coupons for Target items, including a $2 off Target coupon for Allegra, pair that with the other $5 off coupon I have, next time I go to Target, this will be FREE!

I like shopping for FREE stuff!

Why can't there be a Rite-Aid on every corner?

Let me count the ways of why I love Rite-Aid.

Is it the $3 off survey at the bottom of my receipt? Is it that they offer promo videos that give me in-store coupons that I can stack with MFG coupons? Is it their hassle free "ups" program? It is the amazing deals that I get each week? The answer is YES to all the above.

I have gotten more from Rite-Aid in the last few weeks, than I ever got from Walgreens...and their not too friendly RR program. One might go so far to say that I am a Rite-Aid Groupie.

Last night, with coupons I hand (and a few surprise items, that of course, I had coupons for) ... I was able to score:

3 Boxes of Tampons
2 hairsprays
2 mousse

1 bronzer
2 big bags of M&Ms
1 Veet
2 bags of halls
2 Reeses Cups
1 Tums

Wanna guess what I paid?

Well, my total was $65.73, I had $45.26 in coupons, $14.22 by using my Rite-Aid card = $6.25 total out of pocket. Oh yeah, and I got $1 in "ups" and another survey for $3 off.

The second thing I hate paying for is...

 ..toilet paper. I don't get why it's so expensive but that's besides the point. One of the things I learned in Kathy Spencer's class was to start small and challenge yourself so I decided to challenge myself this week to figure out how to get toilet paper for free.

I paid $1.46 for 24 rolls of toilet paper, a box of tissue, easter candy and paper plates. I went to Rite Aid earlier in the week and earned $10 in +UP rewards. After sitting down with the paper last night I figured how how I was going to do it. It took me a little thinking outside the box but I was determined. Here's how.

In case you didn't know Rite Aid has VV (Video Values) where you create an account, watch videos and earn coupons. I watched all the clean home videos and got a $2 off a $10 purchase on home cleaning items that were on sale this week  for $7.99 (aka the Scott toilet paper) and I also earned $2 off the purchase of 2 Dixie paper products, $.50 off the purchase of 2 Cadbury Creme Eggs and $.50 off two Resses peanut butter eggs. In addition to all these coupons I did a survey at the bottom of my receipt and got a $3 off a $15 purchase. Easy..right? Here's how it broke down.

2 Scott Tissues, on sale for 7.99 each
2 Dixie plates, on sale buy one get one free
2 Resses/Cadbury 2 for $1 on sale
1 box Puffs $.99

Coupons broke down as follows:

• Used 2, $1 off Scott Manufacturers Coupons
• $2 off $10 purchase VV coupon (this was specific items, included was the toilet paper so I had to buy 2 to make it over $10)
• $2 off 2 Dixie Plates VV coupon (I did buy 2 plates, the store was running a special buy one get one so this qualified)
• 2, $.50 off when you buy two candy coupons (one for Resses and Cadbury Creme Eggs)
• $3 off your next $15 purchase survey coupon
• 1, $.50 off Puffs coupon
• $10 +UP rewards from my purchase earlier in the week

The end result I got my toilet paper free and only paid $1.46  for all this. And...I got to make someone a cute little Easter basket for under $2 (I bought the holder for $1 at AC Moore on my way home) so he was very happy. Cha-Ching!

A Rockin' Week

I admit it, I went to CVS quite a few times this week. In fact, I'm a little ashamed to say it...but I stocked up on quite a few things and picked up stuff for my mom. This was from the two trips I took yesterday. Yes I went twice. Once quickly before work and the second trip was to find something I saw on clearance that I had a coupon for. I figured that if I the store didn't have it, I didn't lose anything because I was driving by the store on my way home.

Total spent out of pocket $5.85
Total saved $97.56

Here's how I did it:

• Floss 5/$5 printed 2, $1 off coupons when you buy one = FREE!
• Tape on clearance for $1.37 used 2, $1 off coupons = $.37 each
• Kotex wasn't on sale but was $1.57 each, the third one was on clearance for $.75 used 3 $1 off coupons = $.89 total 
• Physician's Fomula makeup was 40% off, used a $5 off any Physician's Formula coupon on each making each item less than $2 (mom will love the little package she's getting of makeup!)
• Maybelline buy one get on 50% off, had a CVS coupon for $2 off when you buy any eyeliner and shadow and then a $3 off when you buy any 2 Maybelline products

I used all my ExtraBucks on these I had the following $3, $1.99 and $5. When the cashier rang up my purchases he said, "Man, I need to hire you to shop for me."

So I think I did pretty good.

Learning Rite Aid

Lisa mentioned in an earlier post she is learning about the benefits of Rite Aid while couponing. I've decided to try it as well. My first shopping trip went well. I got these cleaning supplies and two boxes of cereal (yes, added MORE to my cereal stockpile) for approx. $30 and earned $10 in UP rewards. I actually feel like I made money because at the bottom of my receipt I had a $3 off your next $15 purchase for taking a survey. I messed up my first order and didn't have enough supplies for my UP reward so I went back and bought more things to meet the $30 and got another survey.

The best part, I had a coupon for EVERYTHING. Just by using the coupons I saved $15.

The way I look at it is I made $16 and got one heck of a deal on the cleaning supplies!

And I know, I need to clean off my kitchen table, I just shoved it all to the side to take the picture!