Shopping trip 09/14/09

Finally did a little shopping yesterday! Went to 3 stores (Walmart, Tops & Walgreens) but I'm combining everything in one picture. Here's what I got!

(6) AirWick I-Motions - $1 each! ($5 at Walmart w/$4 coupons = $1 each!)
(2) Oral-B Pulse toothbrushes $2.50 each ($5 each with BOGO Q's)
(9) Cans of Alpo dog food = 60¢ ea
(6) Bottles of Snapple - 19¢ ea (had $1 Q's)
(10) Macaroni Grill dinner kits - $2.84 ea (had $1 Q's)
(2) Guilt-Free dog treats - $1 each (had BOGO Q's)
(7) Degree deodorants - FREE (97¢ - $1 Q)
(3) Glade Soy candles - FREE (FREE Q's)
(1) Dog harness - $4.50 Clearanced
(1) Dog leash - $2.50 Clearanced
(5) Boxes Roca Buttercrunch thins - 75¢ clearanced at Walgreens
(1) Raspberry M&M's - $2.19 clearanced at Wags

My Tops bill was $34 before coupons and my total OOP was $8.97! (This is just for the Tops items I purchased)

Overall, I think I did pretty good!

$78 in free groceries from Walmart today!

I went to Walmart this morning and got $78 in free groceries!

(14) Dawn 24oz detergents - 75¢ ea
(10) A1 Sauce - 43¢ ea
(6) O-Cel-O sponges 2pk - 46¢ ea
(2) Mighty Dog canned food - FREE
(3) Degree trial size deodorants - FREE
(6) Men's SURE deodorant - 62¢ ea
(6) Ben & Jerry's single serve ice cream - 50¢ ea
(2) M&M ice creams - $2.50 ea
(1) Brownies - $1.98
(2) Nesquik - 84¢ ea
(1) Egg Beaters - $1.53
(3) Can't believe it's not butter - 75¢ ea
(3) Promise spread - $1.09 ea
(4) Mac & Cheese - 38¢ ea
(1) Purina dog food - $8.97
(2) Better than ears dog treats - $1.48 ea
(1) bit-o-luv dog treats - $2.50

Before coupons - $134.13

Out-of-pocket - $55.94

Savings = $78.19!

My new record: 43 Free Papers & what I do with them

I now make 2 trips to my local gas stations. I found out two of them throw out their unsold Sunday papers during the overnight shift and I was told I have to get there by 4am if I want the papers before they throw them out. So, now I make a trip to two of the gas stations at 1am in the morning (yeah I know, when I should be sleeping!) and then I get up at 5:45am to hit the others at 6am when they open before they throw theirs away. This morning I scored a total of 43 free papers! That is a new record for me. Lately I've been getting about 20 papers every Sunday but today I got 43! And there are 2 coupon inserts in every paper this week so that's 86 coupon inserts I'll be cutting within the next few days. Woot!

For those of you wondering what do I do with all these coupons?? Let me recap:

I do use some of the coupons for myself for products I use. However, I only use about 10% of the coupons I get for myself. If I have coupons and get items for free or nearly free, I'll buy them and give them away to friends & family if they can use them. Some of the items I will buy and stockpile as gifts throughout the year (like the $10 AirWick Fresh Matics I got for 85¢ last week) I also buy a lot of items and send them in care packages to the troops.

The troops is what REALLY motivates me to use coupons. In fact, I've started a blog just for that! It's called Coupons For The Troops. Last week I made about 6 trips to Walgreens to stock up on their free or almost-free stuff and it's all for the troops. I got shampoos, deodorants, toothpastes, mouthwashes, etc. It's all going to the troops. In many cases I was even able to combine coupons with their "Free" offers!

And at the end of the day I'm still left with stacks upon stacks of coupons that I did not use. So what do I do with them? The other day I started a new site where I'm selling those coupons and the proceeds go towards the postage to send these packages to the troops. It costs $11.95 to ship a care package to the troops so every coupon sale helps! The site where I'm selling these unused coupons is Coupons For the Troops. For every $11.95 I make in coupon sales, I'll be sending another care package to a soldier through anysoldier.com. Oh, and to make it clear I'm not actually selling the COUPONS themselves. I'm selling my time it takes to collect, clip, sort, package and ship the coupons to the buyers. I have to add that disclaimer in there for legal reasons.

Last week I even received an email from a soldier thanking me for the care package I sent him! It was a very touching email and he explained his living conditions and let me tell you - getting an email from a soldier telling me how much they loved the care package just made me want to send even more. I wish I could afford to send out care packages daily because I would! If that doesn't motivate you to send them care packages from home, I don't know what will!

Free mouthwash & body wash at Walgreens

I decided to venture to another Walgreens today which is one I hadn't visited yet. Ever. And it's the closest one around, who knew! Anyways, didn't get too much but decided to take advantage of the free Nivea Bodywash & Rembrandt Mouthwash! They were $10.98 out-of-pocket but I got back $11 in Register Rewards (RR's) towards anything on my next trip so essentially they were free! Was going to get the free Bayer also but they said they never got any in. I have to say out of the 3 Walgreens I've visited recently this was the nicest one out of all of them. The people were much nicer than I've dealt with in visits to a couple other Wag's I've visited.

I also found a new Rite Aid which I never knew existed that is right down the road from this Walgreens! Note to self :)

$143 worth of free groceries from Tops

I went to Tops this morning (a chain grocery store here in Upstate NY) and I did GREAT!

I had these coupons for Marcal paper products for a couple of months but couldn't find anyone who carried these products and the coupons expired this month. I was afraid I was going to have to thrown them away (didn't want to do that) and Tops just started carrying these this week and had a big sale on them! So I scored big time on them! I had coupons for FREE paper towels, toilet paper and tissues, and many $1 coupons on the multi packs.

And if anyone is wondering what I do with all this stuff - some is for me, some I donate to a Hospice House for the terminally ill in my town, and I also send care packages to the troops through www.anysoldier.com.

Here's what I got in paper products:

4 Single rolls of paper towels = FREE
4 boxes of Tissues = FREE
(3) 8 pk rolls paper towels = $4 ea
(9) 12 pk rolls toilet paper = $4 ea
(3) packages of Napkins = $1




Here's what else I got at Tops:

10 Electrasol dish tabs = 79¢ ea! (had ten $2.50 coupons!)
Uncle Bens rice = 50¢ ea
Carefree pads = on clearance rack for $1.50, had Q for $1/2 = $1 ea
Brut deodorant = 70¢
Ken's dressing spray = $1
Hefty bags - had 20¢ peelie on it & 55¢ coupon (both doubled!) = 69¢
Betty Crocker potatoes = $1
Purex = $2
Capri Sun juices = $1.25 ea
Welches juices = had BOGO coupons & $1.50 coupons, pd $1.59 & $1.35 ea
Mighty Dog 12pk = $4.99
Arm & Hammer Essentials = $1 ea
Better than Ears dog treats = $1.29
Keebler cookies = $1 ea

My total bill was $241.75 before coupons - and I ended up paying just $98 after coupons!

How to organize coupons with a 3-ring binder

When I first started couponing I was just using one of those accordian style wallet sized coupon holders. After a while I upgrated to a basic 3-ring 1" binder. I have recently upgraded to a 2" trapper-keeper style binder.

And I have to say, I LOVE my new coupon binder! I purchased it at Walmart in the stationary department for around $15. There is a small zippered compartment on the outside which I keep my little calculator in.

Inside on the left inside cover there are 3 accordian style pockets which I keep my current week's store circulars in. There is also a zippered mesh pocket which I keep a notepad in, a pen, and a coupon cutter. The coupon cutter makes it SO much easier and faster to cut out last-minute coupons from store circulars while you're in the store.

This binder came with 3 plastic folders which have little pockets in the front. I use one for my catalinas and other coupons such as Register Rewards. This way they are right in front and I won't forget to use them. The second one I use for my rebates, and the third one I use for my Rainchecks.

I purchased a few packs of divider tabs which are rewritable. There were 5/pk and I bought 4 packs. I also bought some baseball card holders to keep my coupons in. You can find them at Walmart, usually near the checkouts where the collector cards are located.

I set up my coupons in 4 major categories, and 20 categories all together.

The major categories are: Health & Beauty, Pets, Food, Non-Food

In each of those categories I have tabs for these sub-categories:

Health & Beauty: Medicine, Razors, Teeth Products, Personal, Deodorants, Hair Care, Soaps, Makeup & Lotions.

Pet Products: (no subcategories)

Food: Boxed/Canned Goods, Beverages, Snacks/Candy, Cereal, Baking Products, Dairy, Frozen

Non-Food: Paper Goods & Bags, Cleaning Products, Laundry, Dish Detergents

Some people prefer their categories to be in alphabetical order, or some other order, but I prefer to have them set up in the order I shop the store I visit the most: my Super Walmart!

No coupon inserts 4/12 - Easter Sunday

If you are reading this blog then you are probably as addicted to couponing as I am. And I don't know about you, but I'm going through coupon withdrawal this week! There are usually no coupon inserts in Sunday papers when it is a holiday weekend. Hence, the reason I'm going through withdrawals!

I did get one Sunday paper (a local paper, not the big city paper) just so I could go through the local ads like Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS and the local grocery stores. I didn't see any great deals for this week, so it looks like other than running to the local grocery store I'll pretty much stay out of the stores as far as couponing goes.

I do want to mention that I've learned about a great money-saving magazine called "All You". It's put out by Walmart and that's the only place it's available. In April's issue there are over $51 worth of coupons in it, including a coupon for a FREE tube of mascara, valued at up to $6.47. That more than makes up for the cost of the magazine! I hear there's over $60 worth of coupons in the May issue that comes out in a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes open for it!

$44 worth of FREE STUFF from Walgreens

I went to Walgreens yesterday and received $44.32 worth of merchandise for $5.85 out of pocket. And there were rebates on some of those items, which brings my grand total to $2.85!

Here's what I purchased:

3 Oust sanitizers = $2.99 - $2.00 Coupon - $1.00 rebate (x3) = (-)1¢ ea
2 Duracell 4pk batteries = $4.99 - $2 Walgreen coupon - $1 coupon = $1.99 ea
Intuition cartridges = Clearance price $2.89 - $2.00 coupon = 89¢
Schick Quattro razors = $6.99 - $2 Walgreen coupon - $4 coupon = 99¢
2 Speedstick deodorants = 70¢ Clearance price (x2) - $1 coupon = 20¢ ea
Orange mints = 25¢ clearance price
-$3.50 RR (Register Rewards) coupon from last trip Savings

Today's out-of-pocket = $5.85
After rebates = $2.85
Savings: $44.32

Week of 4/5 - $88 worth of free groceries from Walmart!

So this week is almost over but I wanted to show you some examples of some of the HOT deals we got this week on grocery items at Walmart. Now, we shop at several different stores and get deals at all of them but since there's a Walmart practically everywhere now, I'll show you some examples of great deals we got this week. (The above photo also includes free or next-to-free groceries we received from other stores)

(8) Kraft Salad Dressing = 8¢ each
(12) Palmolive dish detergent = 50¢ ea.
(21) Suave shampoos & cond. = 40¢ ea.
(10) Speed Stick Deodorant = 50¢ ea.
(10) Suave Deodorants = 50¢ ea.
(5) Colgate toothpaste = FREE
(10) Toothbrushes = 50¢ ea.
(5) Halls cough drops = 32¢ ea.
(5) Quaker Rice snacks = 68¢ ea.
(2) Oust Air Fresheners = 50¢ ea.

That is $121.32 worth of groceries that I paid $32.64 for! That is $88.68 worth of groceries I received for free.

Are you wondering how? Ok, I'll spill, since this is what this site is about! Sharing secrects to help YOU save money on your grocery bills! Keep in mind I purchase several Sunday papers every Sunday so I'm able to get many of the same coupons.

• Kraft Dressing was on Rollback pricing for $1.58 each. In last Sunday's paper there were coupons for $1.50 off of one. That made the dressing 8¢ each!
• Palmolive Detergents were priced at 99¢ each. I had coupons for $1 off of any 2. That made them 50¢ each.
• Suave shampoos & cond. were priced at 97¢ each. I had coupons for $1.75 off any 3. That made them 40¢ each.
• Speed Stick Deodorant - if you look at them on the shelf you'll see most are priced at $2.49 or a similar price. However, if you look very closely at each and every shelf tag you'll notice there are usually 1 or 2 scents that are discontinued or marked down to $1. I had coupons for $1 off any 2. This made them 50¢ ea.
• Suave Deodorants just like the Speed Stick Deodorants above - I found the ones marked down to $1, and with my $1 off any 2 coupons it made them 50¢ ea.
• Colgate Toothpaste The coupons said "$1 off any Colgate Toothpaste" and did not say you had to purchase a certain size. Walmart has the 4oz tubes marked at $1. With the $1 coupon that made them FREE!
• Colgate Toothbrushes were marked at $1 each. Coupons were for $1 off any 2 which made them 50¢ ea.
• Halls cough drops were priced at $1.32 per bag. Coupon was for $1 off any bag. This made them 32¢ ea.
• Quaker Rice snacks were priced at $1.68 each. Coupon was for $1 off 1. This made them 68¢ ea.
• Oust Air Fresheners were priced at 99¢. Coupon was for "buy one get one free". This made them 50¢ ea.

Not bad for the cost of a few Sunday papers huh?