Giving Away Coupons

I was working third shift at my grocery store, hanging price tags, when I noticed some coupons on top of a few items that were not put there by employees. I recalled thinking how nice that was of someone to give away their coupons that they knew they weren't going to use. That thought came back to me as I was about to throw away expired coupons and I remembered that the military can use expired coupons six months past their date. So...why not just send it to them, as well as the non-expired coupons that I have no interest in? Someone out there will want them. When I fill up the envelope as much as I can, I'm going to send it off. Still not sure where exactly to send it, but I'm sure something will pop up on the Internet. Often times, too, I'll take a weekly flyer and keep it at my checkstand so that if I see a customer with an item, but no coupon, I'll cut it out for them from the flyer to make sure they're saving as much as possible. Geez, I hope people don't find that annoying.

If anyone's interested, I post some URL's about where you can send your coupons too.

Night.

Tom Thumb Trip 12/4

She shoots, she scores! And the crowd goes wild.....

Okay, so maybe it was just me. I was begging for high fives at the grocery store when our total came up. Today, I saved the most percentage-wise than I have for any other grocery trip. Almost everything we got was already on sale. Then, most of those items had a J4U store coupon, and half of those I had manufacturer coupons to stack on top. We bought items like: $24.52 worth of meat, 2 Nature Valley granola bars, tin foil, eggs, shredded cheese, two boxes of dry pasta, clamshell of lettuce, two tomatoes, two pouches of Betty Crocker cookies, Bisquick pancake mix, 3 boxes of Lucky Charms, 2 boxes of Reese's Puffs, 2 bags of Doritos, taco hot sauce, taco kit, 2 bags of Green Giant Steamers, eggnog, Marie Callendar dinner, and 2 packages of Smithfield bacon, and some soda.

For all of that, the initial cost was $128.43. With the rewards card, J4U, and paper coupons, it was brought down to $59.43. I saved a total of 54%!

Thing is, we should have saved even more than that. My fiance accidentally got the wrong tin foil. It wasn't his fault, so I don't blame him, but it still bugs me that we spent over two times as much on tin foil than I planned on. I uploaded a $2.99 deal from J4U for a particular Reynolds foil, and I also had a 55 cent off paper coupon to make it $2.45. The one he got was a whopping $6.69, which is completely outrageous anyways. We did get a little over a dollar off on it though, so it came out to $5.44. Ugh, can't win them all. Also, after looking through the receipt to make sure everything came off, I realized that one of the coupons wasn't scanned for the Bisquick, which would have made it only 67 cents. So bummer on that. The receipt is a little confusing too because according to that piece of paper I got a little over four dollars off from the meat department, yet the 50% off coupon doesn't show with the item, nor does the price reflect it. Another grievance of mine is that we obviously spent well over $75 worth of items, yet we didn't get the $10 off coupon for our next shopping trip. It's possible that maybe we were disqualified for w/e reason because of the dairy items, but I could have sworn we were set to get one. Oh well, I would never create drama over something as minuscule as that. The bill would have been even lower if my fiance didn't deviate from the list like he ALWAYS does. I even went over it last night with him and he said the list sounds good. I said, "We're sticking to it" and he said "Ok". lol

If everything went as planned, our bill should have been under $50, which is great that we were able to just about reach that because I'm hoping to only spend $200 per month for the two of us when we're finally footing the bill. Saving money takes quite a bit of time, but it gets easier and easier and it's totally worth it.

Kohl's Trip

I went to Kohl's yesterday with no particular direction in mind. I went Black Friday shopping and received $15 in Kohl's Cash. I was probably there for an hour before I decided what I wanted to buy. In the end, I got another Christmas gift for my fiance. It's a nice long-sleeved thermal shirt since he's such a wuss when it comes to the cold :D (jk, sort of). The sign said it would cost $15.99 on sale, but when I checked out it was only $13.99. Yay! I guess when you use Kohl's Cash, they don't tax the item, which I thought was really weird. I never knew that! I also expected that since the price of the item was less than the value of the KC, that I'd lose what was left. That's not the way it works after all. The customer service representative wrote down my balance and gave me back the paper gift card. I also gave them my e-mail address for a $5 printable coupon, but I was happy to find that they gave me a $10 coupon instead. I'm going to use the rest of the Kohl's Cash and coupons by next week, but I'm waiting to see if they'll put out a paper coupon in their ads first. We'll see.

CVS Haul 11/30

Hey, people. Today was another CVS shopping trip and here's what I bought:

(2) Gillette Custom 3 disposable razors $7.99 each = $15.98 for both
(2) Always Infinity pads (on sale) 2/$7
(2) Aussie products (on sale) 2/$7

Earlier this week when I scouted a store to get familiar with the P&G items that were part of the ECB deal, I picked up a couple of manufacturer coupons in-store for Aussie. They worked for ANY Aussie product and it took off a dollar for each item (which I thought was a pretty good deal), and used them for today's transaction. Other coupons I used were a $2.50/2 P&G coupon from last week's paper, as well as a B0G0 Gillette disposable razor free.

My total before coupons and ECB's was $29.98. My paper coupons totaled to a value of $12.49. I've heard that some cashiers will scan the B0G0 in such a way that'll give you the maximum value rather than the true price of the item, which will give you overage...just FYI in case the register takes off more than you were expecting, don't be alarmed. Anyways, then my total was $17.49. During Black Friday, I was able to get a lot of free items that also gave me ECB's in return; so I had $14.15 in ECB's to spend rather than the typical $10. Once I surrendered my ECB's, the total became $3.34 + tax.

So I saved 89.76% and received a $10 ECB. Some people would say I actually made about $6 because of the ECB, but if I'm not actually making money, then I'm not going to say I actually saved over 100%.

The bottom of the receipt said I needed two more cents to unlock the ECB deal, even though it printed. I don't know if it's possible to purchase another P&G item to make it over $30 and get another 10 ECB. I'm going to try either tonight or tomorrow by buying a $0.99 Dawn Renewal with a $0.75 off paper coupon, which makes it 24 cents. If it doesn't work, then I might buy some more Always Infinity pads and the women's disposable razors since I have another B0G0 free coupon.

Also, for anyone who plans to buy the Always Inifity pads, be aware that there are coupons inside of the box. There are two coupons for Always Infinity pads and tampons, and also a coupon for Secret deodorant. People have also noted that even though the CVS ad says the P&G deal is limited to one per card per household, that they've been able to get the same deal an additional time.

ETA: I went back and bought a Dawn Renewal that was on sale for 99 cents. I used a 75 cent off coupon, and with tax, I only spent 26 cents. It did not print out another 10 ECB. I wasn't expecting it, but that would have been pretty cool!

CVS Trip 11/24/12

So I'd say today's trip to the store was overall successful. I paid out-of-pocket, but I saved more than what I spent. So here's what I literally got for free:

2 packages of CVS flossers $2.00 each
2 packs of GUM toothbrushes $2.50 each
1.25 L Coca Cola $0.99

The tag in the store said that the Coke would give me reward points on it, but it didn't print out, which kind of stinks; however, I'm not going to make a big deal over a dollar coupon. I got rewards for the flossers and the toothbrushes for the same amount I "paid" for them. In addition, I bought a pack of AA batteries (which I also got rewards back on for the price paid), as well as $1.50 rewards back for some candy that I got. I probably would have saved myself a few dollars if I had combined the buy 2 get 1 free coupon with a .50/2 dove chocolate bar since they're both Mars, but the woman who works there strictly questions coupons. I knew beforehand that the coupons were good, but I didn't want to hold up a line. Not that I blame her for looking at each coupon carefully. There's a lot of fraud out there and she's just doing her job well and thoroughly.

Here are the coupons I used:

Buy 2 Get 1 Free Milky Way brand candy bar
.50/2 Dove
$10 ECB

Total OOP: $6.38

Total ECB's received from today's transactions: $14.15

So some may say that I actually made $7.77. I don't quite see it that way since I still had to use my own money to pay for some of my purchases, but I can understand why a lot of couponers + CVS'ers would feel that way. Despite difference of opinion, I still got a great deal.

Tom Thumb Trip 11/13/12

We always do all of our food shopping at the local Tom Thumb, which also so happens to be the one at which I work. There weren't a lot of super fantastic deals, but we still managed okay. I didn't reach the mark I wanted to, but I still saved about 44%. The total cost was $71.86 and we saved $56.75. We might have reached the percentage goal had it not been for my fiance buying things that were not on the list--which I happen to think that if he's going to continue to deviate from the list I spend HOURS creating that benefits us and his mom to the utmost, then maybe he should take part in creating it.

For the first time though, we did get overage. There was a sale I didn't know about for the Bird's Eye Steam Fresh for buy 2 get 1 free ($2.50 each). I had three coupons that'd double up to a dollar, so I essentially got two for free and 50 cents overage. I'm still really hoping to hit that 50% savings mark next time. I guess we'll see.

CVS Trips

My very first CVS shopping trip with a rewards card occurred last week. I was trying to get the deal where you buy $30 of P&G products and you get $10 ECB (extra care bucks). Herbal Essence was on sale, but I did not have any coupons. I was kind of disappointed about that, but it was the second to last day before the deal expired and the shelves were almost cleared out. So unfortunately I was stuck getting 5 bottles of conditioner and just one shampoo. In addition, I snagged a pink toothbrush for my fiance, toothpaste, dish soap, and CG makeup--all of which I had coupons. I saved about $20, but I spent $27 out of pocket. I was really unsatisfied with my first trip considering how much I see other people saving. However, it was my very *first* haul after all, and I still saved nearly half, which is a good deal in the long run. At least I got my $10 ECB.

My second trip I had a list of two transactions that I wanted to perform. If you bought two John Frieda products, you'd get $5 ECB's back; and another deal was to buy $25 in Schick products and get $10 ECB's. There was also another deal that I was really looking forward to. It didn't have any ECB, but that was okay. It was the Dry Idea deodorant. They had it going for BOGO free. It was a little over four dollars. I had a $3/2 coupon and there were some $1/1 off coupons on the Internet. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the dollar off coupons because they reached their limit of downloads. I could have gotten it for totally free so I was pissed, but you win some, you lose some. So anyways, I get to the store and there are two packages of Schick razors, but no cartridges. So obviously I couldn't get either of them because I needed both at the same time for the coupons to work. As for the deodorant, someone kindly left one behind, which meant I couldn't get that either. The only thing there were the John Frieda products. I got two travel size canisters since the ad did not exclude them from getting an ECB. I checked out with the two items I had and when all was said and done, I did NOT get the ECB that I believe I should have. I didn't bring this to anyone's attention at the moment because this is all still new to me and I thought maybe if I went online I could check to see if it went through. I do not want to be known as *that* customer. You know the type I'm talking about. So when I couldn't find a single clue about how many ECB's I had online, I wrote an e-mail to CVS customer service and told them the situation. They were supposed to respond within two business days. I sent it on Sunday night. Still have not received any word yet. I'll give them a few more days before I bug them again.

It was about 2:50 AM this morning, and I was pondering about going to CVS. There'd be less people and I figured this is the time that they're stocking items. I was really hesitant though because every single day that I've been checking to see if the items have been restocked, the shelves are still empty. About ten minutes later, I just said "fuck it" and put my coat on and left. When I got there, lo and behold, two ladies were stocking right in the aisle where everything I wanted was. There were a bunch of Schick razors, but no cartridges. Again. I wanted to pull my hair out. But then two seconds passed by and logic checked in. I asked the nearest associate if they had any shipments of the cartridges. She kindly looked through a box that was laying on the floor. There wasn't one in there. Then another associate (who I believe is actually the manager) came over and tried to help by looking elsewhere. Thankfully, she found one! I was a happy camper and got the Schick items. Then I headed over for the deodorant. There was only one Dry Idea left. Ugh. Again. There was a near-empty bin with deodorant, and it luckily had a couple of the deodorants I needed. So, you know, yay! I got what I wanted. I definitely think I'm going to shop during the wee hours from now on. Now I'm going to list how the transaction went:

Schick cartridge coupon: $6/1

Buy a Schick cartridge, get the razor free: $12.99 value

Dry Idea coupon: $3/2 (man, I really wish I had those $1/1 coupons)

ECB's used: $10

OOP expense: Just a little over $3. 

You guys, I saved over 90% for all of that. How cool, right? Oh, and I got $10 ECB's to roll over. So I guess you could say I actually made about six dollars and some odd change. 

I'm beat. Goodnight everyone.

FYI: The deal is still going, so go get your coupons and jump in on this great deal.