Coupons are the New BLACK!

This week was full of couponing joy for me! After a couple weeks off from Walgreens, I found that my rebate gift card had been recharged so I eagerly scurried there to get some rebate items! Here’s what I got:

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I got all this lovely merchandise using the following coupons:
Windex B1G1 FREE and 40 cents off any Windex
Oust B1G1 FREE and $2 off any Oust
$1 off any Garnier styler
$.75 off any Colgate toothpaste

I paid $9.02 including tax and I will get back $12.10 in rebates! Oot Oot!

Speaking of rebates, I did the happy dance this week when I got my Sambucol rebate in the mail! I bought it at CVS in January for $12.99 Using ECBs of course), got 10 ECBs, and now a money order (which I thought was weird) for $12.99. Oot Oot AGAIN!

At Kroger, where I went tag-team grocery shopping with my friend Luanne, I got all these wonderful groceries for $31.54!

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My total came up to 56-something before my coupons! YAY for COUPONS! The six boxes Honey Bunches of Oats and the Propel were FREE and the Cheerios were only 50 cents a box. The Uncle Ben’s rice was 9 cents a box! After I paid, the cashier was most impressed and asked my for tips on how to coupon. I told her go to Money Saving Mom, of course!

Finally, my favorite as always, CVS. Once agan I went to CVS many times this week! I gots lotsa stuff I needed and didn’t pay REAL MONEY for, including cat food, paper towels, and milk! I also got a bunch of coupon boxes for the girls in my MOPS group – all for practically nothing out of pocket! Here is one of the transactions I did:

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I used the CVS 5/15 coupon- and bonus! – the cashier scanned the CVS BRAND 2/10 coupon they have in a pamphlet at the pharmacy. I guess she was just feeling generous or something cause nothing I bought was CVS brand! I also used a 75 cents off/2 coupon for the chicken broth (which was B1G1 free), a 75 cents off Colgate coupon, a $3 off peelie coupon for the Schick razor, and a B1G1 Free coupon and a $1/2 coupon for the Dove. I used 2 ECBs and paid 67 cents cash and got back 2.99 ECBs for the Colgate and 2 ECBs for the Dove! PLUS there was a rebate form for the razor in last Sunday’s inserts so I will get $7.99 CASH BACK for that!! I love paying with ECBS and getting CASH back! Can I get a “what what?”

Allright, I am pooped, after Em’s & my IKEA adventure, which Em will post about Monday…we survived but that is all I’ll reveal! For more Super Savings Saturday coupon fun, head over to Money Saving Mom!

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WFMW: Buddy System Grocery Shopping

I just returned from a fabulous, bargain-filled, coupon-high-inducing grocery trip! And you know what made it even better? My BFF Luanne was with me doing her grocery shopping too! This was the second time we’ve done this and we have decided we need to do it as often as possible. It is sooo fun to take a buddy shopping with you! We got in much-needed girl time, shared our coupons, and made gagging noises at the young couple that was practically making out in every aisle we wanted to be in. Shopping with a girlfriend is truly the way to go! So get your best pal and your coupons together and get that shopping trip out of the way. After all, you need someone to giggle like an idiot with you when you get when you get 12 free boxes of cereal!! Otherwise people might look at you funny!

Grocery shopping with a friend works for me! For more great Works For Me Wednesday tips, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

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I Heart CVS More than EVER!

Welcome to Super Savings Saturday, live from BLIZZARDLAND, USA! This is what I saw out my front door this morning, MARCH 8th:

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Thank goodness I got to CVS about 487 times this week BEFORE the blizzard hit! This was a fabulous money-makin’ week at CVS. I went there many, many, many, MANY times. TOO many!! But I started the week out with about 40 ECBs and I ended it with almost 100 ECBs! Yeee-haaaa! And of course I “bought” a lot of great stuff! I won’t show you every transaction because there is a ridiculous amount of them, but here are a couple of my favorites:

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***Disclaimer for Emily and Jill: the Glade Scented Oil Candles in this picture were purchases to be used as giveaway at the coupon class I am helping to facilitate at my MOPS group. SO THERE!***

If you can’t see, there are five 12-packs of Mountain Dew (one is Diet), two Glade Scented Oil Candles, (yeah baby! You get ECBs for them ALL MONTH!!), 1 Venus Embrace razor (LOVE these!), two Oral B toothbrushes, four LypSyl lip balms (also LOVE these!), one small & 1 large Tresemme hairspray (I am still working that deal!), and one Kit Kat, for a filler. I got all this stuff in three separate transactions! I used the CVS $5/$15 purchase coupon on each transaction. I also used:
Mountain Dew coupon, buy four 12-packs, get one free Diet
Glade SOC B1G Free coupon (and yes I do have so many more of these to use!)
$4 off Venus Embrace coupon
$2 Venus Embrace CVS coupon
$2 off Tresemme CVS coupon (used twice in different transactions)
$2 off of two Oral B toothbrush coupons

I paid $5.86 out of pocket for all this and used 19 ECB. I got back $31.94 in ECB! $9.98 for the toothbrushes which were free after ECB (and are ALL MONTH! Limit is 2.), $11.97 for the LypSyl (also free after ECB all month), $4 for the candles, and $6 for the Embrace razor! The Tresemme counted towards a 5 ECB that I got later in the week when I bought one more hairspray! YAY!

Ok, now here is my sermonette on why YOU SHOULD START CVSing if you can!! Last Saturday my BFF Luanne, who has two teenage daughters, and her family were over at my house. I went upstairs and got three cans of hairspray for them because I had waaaaay more than I can use and Lu and her girls use alot of it on their FABULOUS hair. When I came down with the hairspray, Luanne’s hubby Daniel (aka DSto) said, “Uh…did you know we were out of hairspray?” I just laughed. I had no idea! “No I didn’t,” I said, “but God did!” “Yeah, I was supposed to get some at the store but I forgot!” he confessed. So, my CVSing saved Daniel and also saved the girls’ hairstyles. SHEW! Seriously, with CVSing you can provide for your own family and give to others. It is awesome! A few cans of hairspray may not seem like a big deal, but it is when you need it and you don’t have to make a special trip out to get it or PAY REAL MONEY FOR IT! Here is another picture I wanted to share, of things we needed this week for our household but bought at CVS with ECBs instead of real money. They weren’t on sale or on ECB deals, we just NEEDED them.

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This includes 1 gallon of milk (I actually bought 2.5 gallons this week at CVS – I buy all my milk there with ECBs!), 1 bottle of Drano (can you say bathroom sink clogged during 4-year-old’s birthday party? I can!), a bottle of prune juice (I wil not go there), and all the plates, napkins, cups, & a tablecloth for Emily’s baby shower (which we’ve had to postpone thanks to this darn MARCH BLIZZARD we’ve got going on here! GRR!) I also got Swiffer wet refills, which WERE on ECB, that I really needed, and 4 bottles of Tide laundry detergent, which were on sale! All of this was paid for with ECBs and a dollar or two OOP on each transaction. Woo hoo! Had I used real, actual dollars on this stuff it would have been a very over-budget week!

Allright, enough preaching about CVS, I also got a great deal at Kroger this week, I’ll keep this short since I’ve rambled, but here it is:

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We didn’t need much this week thanks to my earlier stockpiling trips so I just went in for a few things. All this wonderful stuff cost me a GRAND TOTAL of $10.93!!! Can you believe that?? My total before coupons was $28.57! The three boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats, Propel, Saltines, and Suave deodorant were all FREE-99 with coupons. The Toaster Strudel were part of a promotion, if you bought three you got a coupon for $2 off your next order. They were $1.99 and I had three 50-cent-off coupons, which Kroger doubled. So I paid $2.97, got 3 Toaster Strudel and my $2 off coupon, and then went back and bought the other stuff!! The Propel and Saltines were free because of Kroger coupons that had printed last time I was there. I used the self-checkout and the person before me didn’t take their coupons so I got a whole bunch! Now I will always look at the self-checkouts when I go in!!

Allright I hope I have inspired you to go get your COUPON ON! For more Super Savings Saturday inspiration check out Money Saving Mom!

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