Keeping Up With the Kays: Shopping Deals

Showing posts with label Shopping Deals. Show all posts

What You Can Get With Spare Change and Coupons

I am very proud of Elliott. He has done a wonderful job keeping us on a cash budget every week, delivering our allowance each Friday. Most of the time we do well and have some money left at the end. This week however we went a little crazy. Started with a date night, add in babysitter fees, then a picnic on Saturday with lunch from a deli, followed by a Father's Day buffet trip. Yep, we went a little crazy. Although we paid all in cash, it didn't leave as much for groceries and sales as I would have liked (and who's fault is that? Yes, mine!)

After I hit the grocers on Monday to stock up on some stuff I was left with an empty wallet and a looming awesome sale starting today at Smiths. What's a girl to do? Get creative, that's what! Check out what you can get with spare change and coupons:

I took our spare change jar with me to Smiths and cashed it in for $28. At Smiths I spent $12.52, leaving me about $15.00. Then we headed over to Wal-Mart to use some coupons that had been burning a hole in my pocket, spending only $11.13. Sweet! So at this point I still have a $5 left in my wallet (I think I had a couple of bucks to start with). I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself and thinking about how I had to post this on the blog. I loaded the girls up into the van and returned the cart to the corral. And guess what was in the corral, with no one around? A TWENTY DOLLAR BILL! I hesitated a minute but pocketed it; if I hadn't somebody else would have, there was no one around, and it might have blown off (all justifications that ran through my mind). Plus, several months back I lost $20 at Smiths (fell right out of my pocket somewhere) so I called it karma and got into the van a happy camper. So I guess you could say I only spent $3.65 for all of this. I will be saying that.

Grocery shopping SCORE!

All of the above I purchased for $22.55. I posted the full details on my other blog if you care to read how I did it (yes Travis, I know you don't care, but somebody else might).

CVS Deals - 8/10/08

My apologies in advance to my brother Travis, who wonders why I post so many pictures and stories of my good bargains (quick answer - "because I can"), but I get so proud for solving the puzzzle of which coupons to use on what sales to maximize savings. As Elliott put it yesterday, "it's your own personal Sudoku puzzle."

gallon of milk
newspaper
bottle of asparin
Infant Advil
3 bags of Werther's candy
2 bags of M&M's
3 Sprees
5 boxes of hand sanitizing wipes
5 travel boxes of Q-tips
cling wrap
aluminum foil
2 tubes of sunblock
twin pack of Swiffer Wet Jet pad refills
Resolve carpet cleaner
2 packs of Trident gum
2 packages of Similac ready-to-feed formula bottles
new tootbrush for Ava
pacifiers for Lily
Splenda
10 packs of baby wipes
box of crackers
2 rolls of packing tape

Once again, I will spare you the monetary breakdowns, but all of the above items were purchased for $0.00 out of pocket (I think I put under $1 total on a gift card after all of my coupons and Extra Care Bucks) and I came home with over $15 in Extra Care Bucks to use on my next shopping trip. Yeah!

I have decided that my own personal challenge, now that I seem to have gotten the hang of the couponing-thing, is to try and roll items I need into my purchasing scheme using coupon and Extra Care Bucks overages. Elliott was surprised that I could come home with free milk and other necessities for the house (things which were indeed on my shopping list) - all by figuring out how to roll it into the overages. Stay tuned for more excitement!

Final note - all of my really great CVS coupons expired yesterday so I may not see this haul again for awhile. But we can dream, can't we?

CVS Deals - 8/09/08

Well I scored again! I had been itching to get back in the CVS game while I was away and when I got home I did my homework and hit the store hard. I will spare you details as all of the breakdowns for which coupons for which products for this haul hurt my brain a little but here is a list of what I got:

12 boxes of Kleenex
6 packs of Huggies diapers
1 pack of Pampers diapers
2 bags of Chex Mix
4 Cover Girl face products
2 Colgate toothpastes
5 Dawn dish detergent
2 Oral B toothbrushes
1 pack of mechanical pencils
1 pack of Twizzlers (to keep Ava happy during the trip)
1 huge can of Folgers coffee
2 Pert Plus shampoos

I used about $13 on CVS gift cards, received $7 in Extra Care Bucks to use later and will also receive an extra $6 rebate on the Huggies - making this haul *almost* completely FREE! Total out of my pocket after all was said and done - $.29 (cause I didn't feel like putting $.29 on a gift card)!

Shopping Deals - 7/4/08

Oh, I bet you thought nothing was open on the Fourth of July. Well, you are wrong my friends and I scored some GREAT deals today. Take a look at my haul and now I will break it down for you (oh, I get excited just thinking about it again!):

First stop: Target
* Twin pack of freezer quart bags (65 total)
* 3 individual bags of Archer Farms potato chips
* Travel size Clean & Clear face wash
Total before coupons: $6.36
Total after coupons: $1.36

Second stop: Walgreens
Transaction #1
* 3 packs of Walgreens diapers
Total before coupons: $19.39
Total after coupons & rebate card: $0.00 THEN received $5 Register Reward

Transaction #2
* 3 packs of Walgreens diapers
Total before coupons: $19.36
Total after coupons & rebate card: $2.00 THEN received $5 Register Reward

Transaction #3
* 2 packs of Huggies Swim diapers
* 2 bottles of Dawn dishsoap
* Cascade dishwasher detergent
* Coloring book (which held over $20 in Walgreens coupons)
Total before coupons: $22.79
Total after coupons & Register Rewards: $5.12

Third stop: CVS
* CVS travel makeup wipes
* 2 Coppertone baby sunblock sticks
* Eyebrow wax kit
* Nestle' Good Start formula
Total before coupons: $35.61
Total after coupons & formula checks: $0.00 THEN received $16.00 in Extra Care Bucks

GRAND TOTAL SPENT FOR THE DAY: $8.48
BUT MADE $16.00 in EXTRA CARE BUCKS

So in short, I got paid $7.52 today to take all this stuff home. I love days like this!

Walgreens and Smiths deals - 6/21/08

Today was a good - no, a GREAT - shopping day, thanks to coupons and sales.

At Smiths grocery store I got:

* two bags of Lipton Spanish Rice
* one pouch of Ragu pasta sauce
* one jar of Ragu pasta sauce
* package of Farmland bacon

After store sales, manufacturer coupons, and e-coupons my total was $1.46, an 84% savings!

On to Walgreens, where I got:

* two tubs of Huggies baby wipes
* six boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
* two jars of Planters dry-roasted peanuts
* two tubs of Planters cocktail peanuts
* two Rimmel eyeliners

I spent $10.22 after coupons and sales, and then received $7 in Register Rewards back, to be used like cash on my next visit, thus making the trip the equivalent of $3.22, a 91% savings.

Walgreens Deals - 6/13/08

Yesterday, my latest Walgreens shopping trip netted me some pretty good deals:

* Black printer ink cartridge refill
* Color printer ink cartridge refill
* Can of Maxwell House coffee
* Two boxes of Band-Aids

Total after coupons - $7.62. Not the best price ever, but when you consider a new ink cartridge will run you around $20 and a refill $10 or more, I think it is a score.