Rite Aid - I finally got some toothbrushes!

For the past 9 weeks I have been buying so much toothpaste, and just waiting for the toothbrushes to come up free!  This week I got my wish at Rite Aid.

Oral B toothbrushes are on sale for 2.99.  I used a $1 coupon from the Rite Aid Oral Health Coupon Book (thanks Wendy for passing these books along!), and a $.50 coupon from the Sunday paper.  I spent only $1.49 on each one, and got back the full sale price, $2.99, in rewards for each one as well.  I had to use 2 cards because there is a limit of 2 on this deal, which also applies to Crest toothpaste:)

Next I bought the cosmetics - one blush and one nail file set.  Rite Aid is offering the same promotion again this week.  Buy one Revlon cosmetic get one half price, and when you spend $10 you get back $4 in rewards.  The blush cost $9.79, and the files are $1.25, but I got it half price, so $.62.  I then used the last $5 one Revlon face product in my arsenal (thanks to Meira for that one!).  I paid $5.41, and got back the $4 reward.

My next deal was the Stayfree and OB.  These are on sale 2 for $4.  I had one final $2 off Stayfree coupon (thanks to Tracie for that one!), and I printed a $1/1 OB coupon online.  I spent only $1 for both, and got back a $1 reward.

My favorite deal this week was the Nivea.  I bought these on 2 separate cards as well because of how I needed to use my rewards.  The lotion retails for $10.49, and when you spend $10 you get back $5.  I bought one and used a $3 coupon, so it was $7.49 to get back $5.  When I rang this item up on the second card, it was discounted to $8.39.  I figured out that I get a discount on all full price items because of how many points I have earned shopping at Rite Aid.  So while this was good news, I didn't qualify for the $5 reward, which made the deal not as sweet!  After I talked to the manager, I ended up returning the lotion and buying it back along with another Nivea hand cream.  All Nivea products are also buy on get one half price this week, so I bought a $5.99 hand cream for an extra $2.98.  All together I spent $8.37 for both items and got my $5 in rewards.

I definitely learned the hard way that it always pays to add up your totals before you get to the register so you can tell if something is off, and to check for rewards before you leave the register as well.  I can't tell you how many times I walked away from the store only to realize that a coupon didn't scan, or I didn't get the rewards I was expecting.

So, all told, I used a bunch of rewards that were expiring this week ($22), and I paid out of pocket $9.10 for all of this including the $1 I made buying the Enfagrow from the last post), and I made back $26.96 in rewards.  It's shaping up to be a good week!

More FREE Similac & Enfagrow

CVS has a great promotion on baby stuff this week. When you spend $30 on brands like Enfamil and Huggies you get $10 back. I also scanned my card at the coupon machine and got a $10 off $50 purchase coupon. I combined the promotion and coupon:
Bought 2 Enfamil tubs for my daughter, $24 each (usually $33).
Bought 2 clearance similac ready to feed, $3.14 each. These brought my total up over $50 so that I could use my coupon.
Used my $10 off coupon and earned $10 in rewards. I am applying the $10 off to the similac purchase making them both free. I hope I can find more at other locations!

I was lucky enough to find 3 more copies of the Enfagrow coupon in my file at school!  Rite Aid is still selling these at the reduced price of $3.49, and the coupon is for $5/1.  I bought four, so the total was just under $14, but I used all 3 coupons, which means I saved $15.  This extra dollar came off my other purchases at Rite Aid.

I always thought it was so crazy when the shoppers on Extreme Couponing would get formula items for free because they are so expensive!  But now I see it is possible:)

CVS razors, rinse, and gloss:)

After finding more Similac formula on clearance I was feeling ready to shop for non-baby items!  Here is what I got this week at CVS:

The CVS coupon machine is printing out a $4 off $12 cosmetics purchase this week.  I decided to buy 2 Maybelline lip gloss at $7.29 each.  I used the $4 off and 2 $1/1 coupons as well, so I saved $6 and earned back $3.

I bought the Gillette Fusion razor at full price, $11.49.  I used a $4 off coupon, making it only $7.49, and got back $5 in rewards.  The $4 off coupon expires this week, so I was glad to use it!

Last, I bought a Colgate Optic White mouth rinse.  It was on sale for $4.99, and I had a CVS coupon for $1.50/1 and a manufacturer coupon for $1/1.  I paid $2.49 and got back $2 in rewards.

I also used $18 in previous rewards.  Before tax my total was $.56, and after tax it was $3.28.  I also earned back $10 in rewards.  That was fun!

Week 9 Summary

Here is the haul from week 9.  I am super excited to have so much baby formula to donate, and even more excited that I didn't pay a penny for any of it!  The totals for the week are:

WEEK 9 RETAIL: $283.65 (a new record!!)
WEEK 9 AFTER TAX: $2.17 - after the big overage from the Similac purchase!  But even better, this will come out of Lamoine's cash donation, so for CFCLA the total spent this week is $0.

TOTAL RETAIL: $1,545.74
TOTAL BEFORE TAX: $68.02
TOTAL AFTER TAX: $121.19

The total after tax has actually gone down this week, thanks to not having any actual out of pocket (with Lamoine's donation) plus the moneymaker on Similac.  How great is that?

So thankful to everyone who has donated coupons and products to help Upward Bound House! Wendy's formula donation, Tracie and Meira's coupons, and of course Lamoine.  I have already started Week 10 shopping, and it is looking good!

Free After Rebate Groceries!

In the Sunday paper a few weeks ago there was a rebate form for a big selection of groceries from Safeway/Vons.  I stopped in today and picked up the non perishable stuff on the list.  After I submit the form, I will get a check back for the full pre-tax amount, and because all of the items are food there is no additional tax to pay out of pocket.  Wonderful:)

I also got the applesauce pouch at Ralphs the other day at a free sample table.  I was carrying it around in my purse for a moment when one of my kids needed a snack when I realized that it was free, and I should donate it!

I MADE $7.04 to buy Baby Formula!

Those Similac checks sure did come in handy!  I found these ready to feed infant formula bottles on clearance for only $3.24 (don't expire until April 2013!).  I used a $5 check on each one, so I actually made a total of $7.04 to buy these.  I made sure to add other items to my order so that the extra amount could come off of those items, and then I will just put the $7.04 back into the pot toward CFCLA items.  Because these manufacturer checks are actually processed like a check payment, the amount can be applied toward other items.

Another HUGE thank you to Meira and your friend for this amazing donation.  Now let's see what great stuff I can get using that $7.04:)

Baby Formula Donation

A HUGE thank you to Meira for this donation of baby formula samples from her friend.  These retail for over $16 each.  I am so excited to have these to donate!!

Also in the sample box from Similac were 4 $5 checks good on any Similac product.  I just happened to see Similac on clearance at CVS, so I am hoping to get some more free formula with these.

Thank you!!

Only $.10 Before Tax:)

Check out this awesome deal at CVS!
My last shopping trip I got a 25% off coupon. At CVS, these are only good on full price items, which make them tricky to use. Here is how I used mine, plus $7 in rewards, to get the below for only $.10.

The Colgate was on sale for $2.99, and I used 2 $1 off coupons, so they were $1.99 each.  I also got $2 back for each one.

The Wet n Wild nail polish was free - my last coupon from this batch!  It is priced at $.99 and the coupon is $1 off.

The razors were full price - $8.49.  I used a $3 off coupon and the 25% off coupon, so this only cost $3.12, and earned me a $3 reward.

All together I spent $.10 plus tax, used a $7 reward, and earned back $7 in rewards.

$2.54 at Rite Aid!

With my cash donation from Lamoine I was looking at some items this week that I don't normally buy, like face cleansers and moisturizers.  It is common to get rewards for these items, but you do usually have to spend a bit more out of pocket.  With a ton of rewards to use up this week, and a bit of good luck at the register, I got all this for only $2.54 out of pocket and made over $12 in rewards.  Here is how it worked out:

The razor was on sale for $8.99.  I had a $4 off coupon, so it was $4.99 and I earned a $2 reward.

The Almay make up remover sticks (very cool - I wanted to keep these!!) were on sale for $4.95.  I used a $2 in flyer coupon, and a $2 manufacturer coupon, so they were only $.95.

The baby products are normally $6 each, but were on sale for $3 each.  I had 2 $1.50 coupons, so I paid $3 total and got back $1 in rewards.

The Revlon face powder was $8.99, and the promotion was buy one Revlon cosmetic get one half price, which made the lipstick only $3.74.  I used a $5 coupon for the powder and a $2 Rite Aid Video coupon for the lipstick.  I also got a $4 reward.

The Poligrip was free with coupon.  I love coupons for free stuff.

The Biore was generating a $5 reward when you buy 2 items, and I had a buy one strips get one cleanser for free.  The strips are $7.99, and the cleanser was $7.49.  The coupon was only up to $7, but my cashier rang it up at $7.49, so I actually had a little overage which I will explain later...

The Garnier was on sale buy one get one half price.  They are $8.49, so the second was only $4.24.  I had $2 coupons as well.  Garnier was generating a $5 reward when you spend $15, so I also bought some hair color for myself (they are the same price, $8.49 and the second one half price, and I had $4 coupons).  I bought enough product to earn $10 in rewards.

For the Biore and Garnier I used $17 in rewards.  Because the cashier rang through my Biore coupon at $7.49 instead of $7, I was actually under o my before tax spending by $.28 (rewards can not be used to pay for tax).  This came off of my hair color purchase, so I have adjusted the totals to have this come off of CFCLA purchases instead.

So this bit of luck plus the $3 in overage from the Enfagrow purchase (see my last post) resulted in all of this for only $2.54 after tax.  I earned $22 in rewards total, but some of those were earned because of my own purchases.  Still, they will all go toward CFCLA.

A huge thank you to Tracie for your coupon donation - a lot of the coupons from this deal were yours!!

CVS Deal - Less Than $5!

I was so happy to see some great deals this week with rewards. Here is what I got for less than $5 today:

Colgate was on sale for $2.99. I bought 2 and used 2 $1 off coupons, so they were $1.99 each. They also generated $2 rewards each.

The Physicians Formula lip gloss was $9.99. I used a $1 off coupon, so paid $8.99, and got back $7 in rewards (because I spent $10 - CVS rounds up).

I also bought 5 Dawn dish soap on sale for $.97. I used 4 $.75 off coupons and one $.50 off coupon. This was in order to spend enough so that I could use rewards -you can't use rewards on tax, so the retail needs to be exactly what you have to spend:) I also got a total of 8 more Wet & Wild nailpoish, which is only $.99, so free with the $1 coupon. All together my total was $1.31 before tax, and $4.70 after tax. This will also come out of Lamoine's cash donation so no cost to CFCLA!!

A nice cashier = Moneymaker on Enfagrow!

I was so excited to see online printable coupons for Enfagrow this week.  Rite Aid still has these on sale for $3.49, and I printed 2 $5 coupons.  It seems that every Rite Aid I go to only has 2 of these in the whole store - not one has any in the back for me:)

My plan was to buy 3 (for $10.47) and use both $5 coupons.  But, with only 2 in stock I figured they would adjust the coupon amount and I would still get 2 free.  I told the cashier that the coupon amount exceeded the item amount, but he smiled and said "don't worry about it"!!  He put them both through for the full amount.  So, I actually made 3 dollars to buy these!!

I was buying other items for myself (soda), so I will just add the $3 back into the cash amount from Lamoine to cover some expenses from another Rite Aid shopping trip.

If anyone out there could print these for me I would be so happy!  Here is the link:

http://enfamiloffers.com/coupons/enfagrow_071912_efb15mo.html?cm_mmc=eEFB-_-routine-_-toddler-_-main

The mailing address is:
Coupons for Causes LA
9477 Gloaming Dr
Beverly Hills CA 90210

Free stuff is the best, especially when there is no tax to pay:)

Rolling Rewards!

Last week I used $8 in rewards at Walgreens to buy 8 shampoos and conditioners.  I paid only the tax, and earned back my $8 in rewards.  This week, I was able to do it again!

I had 4 $2 rewards.  Blistex Moisture Melt was on sale for $2, and generating a $2 reward.  So I bought each one separately, and paid only $.18 tax each, and earned back the full $8 in rewards.  I hope there will be another deal next week to continue rolling these over:)

This was my first purchase with the $40 donation from Lamoine.  So, I have used $.72 of the cash so far!  I will show you everything I was able to get for the full $40 once I have reached that amount.

4 Weeks of Shopping to Drop Off!!

Check out what we were able to do in the past 4 weeks!

26 shampoo and conditer items
6 hair color products
19 cosmetic items
9 shaving care items
10 eye care items
4 deodorants
3 body wash/lotion items
12 dental health items
13 feminine care items
2 diapers
6 formula items
3 cleaning supplies
16 office/school supplies
1 slow cooker
27 grocery items
4 baby clothes

So the big question is...what did all this cost?

The retail value of all of this is $756.27.

After sales, coupons, and rebates, and of course paying for sales tax, I spent $88.64 (before tax only $54.42).  I am so excited to drop all of this off this week!!!

Week 8 Summary:)

Week 8 was pretty good!  We had a bunch of free items where I only paid tax, and got some great deals on normally expensive items, like diapers and cosmetics.  Check out our totals:

WEEK 8 RETAIL: $137.65
WEEK 8 BEFORE TAX: $9.85
WEEK 8 AFTER TAX: $16.62

TOTAL TO DATE RETAIL: $1222.09
TOTAL TO DATE BEFORE TAX: $69.29
TOTAL TO DATE AFTER TAX: $128.23

Cash Donation for CFCLA!!

I was so excited to get this cash contribution for Coupons for Causes LA!  Thank you so much Lamoine:)

I will be working hard to put together a shopping list tonight, and we will see how far this awesome donation can go! I have already seen some great deals for this coming week. Stay tuned!!

Free After Rebate Lip Gloss at CVS!

I printed a rebate form for this Carmex Lip Moisture on the CVS website.  You always have to check with rebates and "free" coupons, because they will have a maximum value.  This product was priced at $3.49 at my CVS, but the rebate was for up to $2.99. If you remember my last CVS deal, I was able to use an extra $2 in peelie coupons, so I used a $5 reward but only spent about $4.50. The other $.50 went toward this rebate to make the item free. I wanted to keep it for myself but a free item was too good to pass up for my weekly totals!

My $10 Vons coupon

Here is what I bought with my second $10 Vons coupon. I earned this coupon just for spending $75 on groceries that I needed anyway!

I decided to buy diapers because it is so hard to get these for free. This pack was on sale for $9.49. If you purchased 2 you got another $2 off, so I bought a pack for myself too to get the discount for CFCLA. I also used a $3 off coupon that I got in the mail from Pampers. The total was $4.49.

The Kotex were on sale for $4.49, and again if you bought 2 you got $2 off. I also had 2 $1/1 coupons. So these were $2.49 each. I was so excited to come in under the $10. The remainder that came off the purchase of my other items can for toward paying the tax!

8 Suave - only paid the tax!!

Earlier this week at Walgreens I stocked up on Cottonelle flushable wipes and got back 4 $2 rewards for my purchase.  I was looking for a great way to use these rewards and stay within the coupon policy, and I found this perfect deal on Suave hair products!

Suave shampoo and conditioner were on sale for $1 each and printing a $2 reward when you buy 2.  At Walgreens you need to do separate transactions to earn multiple rewards on the same product, but they don't have limits like the other pharmacy stores do.  So, I did 4 transactions of 2 products, and used my prior rewards.

2 Suave hair products cost $2, I used a $2 reward and just paid tax ($.09 a bottle), and earned $2 back.  So I got 8 bottles for $.72, and earned back $8 in rewards (the same amount I started with!).

Amazing coupon donation!

I was so excited to get this package of coupons in the mail today!  A HUGE thank you to Tracie for taking the time to mail these to CFCLA:)  I am looking forward to doing a shop next week using all these great coupons, and I will post the results!

More FREE Enfagrow!

Remember my post about the coupon donation from Pia? I ventured out today to see if I could find more Enfagrow on sale for half price at Rite Aid. Pia's donation included 3 $5 checks good on any Enfagrow product. 

The store I went to had 2 4 packs for $3.49 each. I used Pia's coupon and a $2 reward (which was price adjusted to $1.98) and both were free. Check out my receipt - I didn't even have to pay tax! I hope I can find stores with some more stock to use the other 2 before the sale ends:)

Revlon Cosmetics Deal at Rite Aid!

Can you believe I got all this for only $.32!?!

Check out how this great deal came together.  I needed 4 copies of the newspaper coupons for these items, and if I had more copies I could have actually done this whole deal a second time.  The details:

Revlon face and lip cosmetics were on sale this week buy one get one half price.  I also had $5 off coupons for any face item.  I chose this blush, which retails for $9.79, and got the second one for $4.89.  After my 2 $5 coupons my total was $4.68.  I did this scenario twice.

I then added 4 Wet N Wild nail polish to my order.  These are $.99, and on sale buy one get half price as well.  I had 4 coupons for $1, which I expected they would price adjust because 2 items were only $.49.  Usually when the value of the coupon is more than the value of the product the register will beep and the cashier will manually enter a reduced amount.  But these coupons all went through, so I actually made $1.04 in overage.  This deducted $.52 from each pair of blush, making each pair only $4.16.  I then used $4 in rewards for each set, so my subtotal before tax was $.16 each pair!

Best part - I made $8 in rewards!  When you spend $10 on Revlon (before coupons!) you earn a $4 reward.  I spent over $20 before coupons, so I got 2.  These replaced the rewards I used for the purchase perfectly:)  Hooray!

Nice surprise at CVS:)

I always shop with a plan so I know how much I will be spending and earning.  Today I got a nice surprise at checkout! I bought:

2 Right Guard body wash, on sale for $3 each, and used a $2/2 coupon. They were $4, and produced a $2 reward.

2 Colgate toothpaste were $2 each. I used 2 $.75 coupons, so I paid $2.50 and made $2 in rewards for buying 2.

The nail polish was $.99, and I used $1/1 coupons so they were free.

The surprise was that the body wash had peelie coupons for $1 off. I asked my cashier if I could use them with the other coupon I had, and he said he would do one. The register accepted it so he did the other one too. I know some stores have let me use peelies with other coupons, but I will have to figure out the policy for that. Still it saved me $2, so I only had to use my $5 reward (my total was $4.50, but I was buying another item so it went through.

The other item was a lip gloss with a CVS rebate. I'll post about that deal later:)

Free from the CVS Coupon Machine!

I always scan my CVS cards at the coupon machine. You never know what goodies you might get! Today I got a coupon for a free Salma Hyek Nuance hair product. I got this color safe conditioner to go with all the hair color from last week!

Steal on New Lysol Cleaning Spray!

After combining store coupons, manufacturer coupons, rebate and rewards, I scored a great deal on these cleaning products.

The spray was on sale at Rite Aid for $2.79. I printed a Rite Aid video coupon from the web site for $3/2, and 2 $1/1 coupons from Facebook.  That brought the cost of the spray down to only $.29 each!

I also bought the wipes. Lysol has a rebate offer on wipes ( up to $3) when you also buy 2 other Lysol products. They cost $3.50, so I paid $.50 for them. My total was $1.08, and I earned a $1 reward for each spray. Good deal!!

My coupon stash:)

This is my tower of coupons!  It is a little overwhelming sometimes, but as long as I stay organized it's all good!!

Free Enfamil Enfagrow Toddler Drinks!

I got a coupon donation from Meira today for Enfagrow products. One coupon was for $7 off toddler drinks, which usually retail at Rite Aid for $6.99. I was excited to grab a free 4 pack, but when I got to the store they had them on sale for $3.49 each! I got 2 packs completely free. I am so excited to donate these! Meira also donated a coupon for the powder. Thank you!!

Meal vouchers and coupon donation!

A huge thank you to Pia for the awesome coupon donation!  Included with her coupons were meal vouchers for El Pollo Loco for $17 in meals, plus a 2 and an 8 piece meal.  I am so excited to donate these!  I imagine a few families will really enjoy a meal out or not cooking:)  Pia also donated some formula coupons that I will try to put to good use this week.

I am passing along from Pia some awesome baby coupons that have expired to our military families, who are able to use coupons up to 6 months after expiration.  Thank you!

Week 7 - we hit $1,000 retail this week!

I can't believe we are already at $1,000 retail after only 7 weeks of shopping!  This was my biggest week yet, with a retail value of $233.60!!  There were lots of freebies, but still paid a lot of tax.  Our total out of pocket is over $100 so far, so we might hit the $300 limit I set for this year before we get to the Holidays!  I will have to watch my out of pocket closely over the next few weeks:)

TOTAL RETAIL - $233.60
TOTAL BEFORE TAX - $ $10.47
TOTAL AFTER TAX - $21.03

TOTAL RETAIL AFTER 7 WEEKS OF SHOPPING: $1,083.71
TOTAL BEFORE TAX: $56.12
TOTAL AFTER TAX: $108.01

Free Groceries from Vons!

Last week Vons was running my favorite promotion - spend $75 and get a $10 coupon.  I needed a ton of groceries because we had been on vacation, so I actually split my order into 2 transactions and was able to get 2 $10 coupons.  I used the first one that same day, and saved the other for this week.

I scored some almost free baby food, and lots of good back to school snacks.  Here is how I got all this for under $10:

The Gerber baby food was on clearance for $.64 each.  I bought 2 ($1.28) and used one $.50/2 coupon and one $.75/2 coupon, so I spent $.03 (no tax on food!!).  The cashier gave me a hard time about stacking these 2 coupons (one store and one manufacturer) so I will have to check the policy before I try it again:)

The Gerber yogurt melts were $2.29, and I used a $1 store coupon and $1 manufacturer coupon, so they were $.29.

The 6 boxes of fruit snacks were on sale for $.99 each (regularly $4.19).  I also used 3 $.75/2 coupons, so they were only $.62 each.

Granola bars were on sale for $1.99.  I bought 4 boxes (I forgot one in the picture) and used 4 $.50/1 coupons, so they were $1.49 each.

The Cheerios were on sale for $1.99, and I used a $.75 coupon, so they were $1.24.

All together I spent $9.84 for all this food, and used my $10 coupon so it was all free!

Kids Book Donation:)

A big thank-you to Zoe and Derik for donating all of these kids books for Upward Bound House!  These will help kids really feel at home:)

Free Nivea Lotion plus more at Rite Aid!

I popped back into Rite Aid today to get 2 more Samy Fat hair colors. These are free - $9.99 retail minus a $5 flyer coupon and $5 manufacturer coupon. But I got a nice surprise - one box rang up at only $8.99, so I got a $1 overage. This came in handy to pay for my Nivea lotion.
The Nivea cost $5.99. I used a $3 off coupon from the flyer and a $2 coupon from coupons.com to make this only $.99. With my overage it was free, without using any rewards!
I also picked up another set of Revlon beauty tools. I bought the file for $1.99 and got the clippers for half price, which was $.72. Total cost was $2.71, and I earned $3 in rewards for buying 2 Revlon beauty tools. Rite Aid deals from this week were amazing - they will be hard to beat next week ;)

Big Moneymaker on Almay Cosmetics!

This awesome deal combined all available coupon tactics - manufacturer coupons, store coupons, rebates and rewards. This is the only thing better than free:)

Almay has a new concealer that is priced at $8.99. This week at Rite Aid it was buy one get one half price. The retail total was $13.48. I used one Rite Aid video values coupon ( available on the web site) for $3 off,  plus 2 newspaper coupons for $2 off each. I also used $4 in rewards from last week, so I got $11 off total. I paid $1.38 before tax. Rite Aid's rebate program is also offering a $2 rebate for each item ( limit 3). And, finally, I got another $4 reward to replace the one I used!

The extra money I get back from the rebates can go toward the total out of pocket expenses. I always pay tax, even on free items, so deals like this help a lot!

Baby Formula Donation - over $40 retail!

Coupons for Causes LA is recording our first product donation - thanks Wendy!

Wendy donated these two tubs of Similac baby formula that she was given as samples from her doctor.  They are brand new and don't expire until 2013, and they retail for over $40.  So excited to pass these along to Upward Bound house next week.

$.99 Razors & $.37 Shave Gel Plus $10 in Rewards!

It's nice when the weekly deals work well together:)  I was able to get 2 Schick Hydro 3 razors and one Gillette Fusion Shave Gel for only $2.35 before tax.  Here is how it worked:

The razors are priced at $9.99.  I bought 2 and used 2 $4 off coupons, which made them $5.99 each.  I then used my $10 reward from the John Frieda deal last week, so they were only $.99 each.  I also earned $4 in rewards for each one, so $8 more to spend next week.

The shave gel is priced at $2.37.  I did not have any coupons but I used a $2 reward from last week's Finesse shampoo deal, making it only $.37.  It also generated $2 more in rewards.

So I have $10 from this deal plus another $5 left over from last week.  This purchase put CFCLA over the $100 mark for out of pocket expenses, and we are getting really close to $1,000 in product.  I hope to hit that marker in the next couple weeks:)

Free Goodnites at CVS!

I love getting diapers for free! This deal worked out because I got $5 in rewards from CVS as a beauty club member. Every time I spend $50 (before coupons!!) on beauty products I get $5 back in rewards. These print out from the CVS coupon machine.
Goodnites were on sale this week for $8.97 (normally $13.59). I was able to print 2 coupons on the CVS web site. One was a $2 off CVS coupon and the other was a $2 off manufacturer coupon. I was able to use both, plus my $5 in rewards to get these totally free!

$3.50 at Rite Aid plus huge rewards!

Starting this week Rite Aid has made a big change to their coupon policy.  Before shoppers were able to earn rewards for a purchase and then immediately use those rewards on another item in the next transaction. Now, shoppers have to wait to use their rewards until the following day.  So what I purchased was all done in 2 single transactions on 2 cards.  If you remember I had a ton of rewards from the great deals last week (especially the money maker on Crest mouthwash!).  Here is what I bought today:

The ReNu contact lens solution was $8.99.  I used a $2 coupon and paid $6.99, and earned $7 in rewards.

The Prell were on sale for $2.99, and I used $1 off coupons.  They came to $1.99 and I got $2 in rewards for each one.

The Similasan eye drops were on a huge discount -normally $10.49 they were on sale for $3.99.  I did not have a coupon but they each generated a $3 reward.

The Argan Oil product was on sale for $4.99.  I did not have a coupon but I got $3 back in rewards.

The Revlon beauty tools were buy one get one half price.  I got the clippers for $2.19, and the file was half price, so $.99.  I spent $3.18 and got back $3 in rewards (they were sold out of some of the cheaper tools that would have made this promotion even better!  The cheapest files are only $1.25)

The Carefree was also buy one get one half price.  They cost $1.59, so the second was $.79.  I used 2 $.50 coupons, so I spent $1.38 and got back $2 in rewards.

The Poligrip - what can I say?  I used 4 coupons for a free tube of the stuff, and for every 2 I bought I got $2 in rewards.  I couldn't pass up $4 in rewards!

All together I spent $25 in rewards from my last trip, and paid $3.50 out of pocket before tax!

So how many rewards did I walk away with?  $29!  I have been couponing for a long time, but even to me that is crazy:)

Better than Free Hair Color at Rite Aid:)

Hair color is not something I typically find for free, but this week at Rite Aid I have scored 3!
Samy Fat foam hair color is priced at $9.99, and there are 2 coupons.  First is the in ad coupon from the flyer for $5 off, and second is a printed coupon from the brand web site, also for $5 off.

Oddly enough, one of the colors I chose rang up at only $8.99.  So I actually got $1 off my other purchase on this receipt (pop chips!).  Rite Aid is one of the few stores that allows overage from coupons to be applied to another item.  I got paid to take this stuff home!!  I am going to try and pick up more before the sale ends on Thursday.

Week 6 totals: )

Week 6 had a higher out of pocket than most weeks, but I was able to score a huge amount of store rewards.  It is always great when you leave the store with more in rewards than you paid for the items!!  I ended up with lots of school supplies, some great hair care, and 5 free packs of Stayfree that I forgot to include in the picture:)  Here is the breakdown for the week and the running total:

WEEK 6 RETAIL - $181.01
WEEK 6 BEFORE TAX - $27.98
WEEK 6 AFTER TAX - $38.04

TOTAL RETAIL AFTER 6 WEEKS OF SHOPPING - $860.10
TOTAL SPENT BEFORE TAX - $45.02
TOTAL SPENT AFTER TAX - $87.40

Look out for next week when I will have $46 in rewards to spend in store.  My out of pocket should more than make up for the bigger numbers this week!

John Frieda almost free at CVS:)

It is not uncommon to get coupons for John Frieda products, but I have never seen a deal like this one where I scored 3 products for under $2, and made $10 in CVS Extra Care Bucks.  Here is how it worked out:

John Frieda Full Repair shampoo and conditioner were on sale for $4.99 each.  The hair color was full price, $13.99.  I had a coupon to save $10 when you buy all three items.  I also used $12 in ECB from my deals earlier this week, so my total was $1.99 before tax.  Spending over $20 on John Frieda also generated a $10 ECB, so this was a great way to roll my rewards into more future savings!

I also had 3 coupons for free Good N Natural bars, so I picked up those today as well.

Today was the last day of this sale cycle, so I ventured out with baby in tow to 2 CVS stores to make sure I didn't miss this deal.  It feels good to be able to donate products that I know will help women feel good about themselves!

$.12! Back to School Steals at Staples!

I am loving all these great back to school deals at Staples!!  This week had another promotion where you can spend $5 and get select items for only 1 cent.  I chose to buy 2 items that will qualify for a full value refund - photo paper and note tabs.  I can submit an Easy Rebate for both items and get my full purchase price (minus tax) back by check.  Those items allowed me to qualify for the 1 cent items, with a maximum of 4 each.  I scored pencils, pencil boxes, and cap erasers for only $.12!!