DEAL ALERT- $10 Rebate Card

Valid tomorrow 12/30 through 1/5 at HARRIS TEETER

P&G GO FOR THE GOLD--PURCHASE $25 OR MORE IN 1 TRANSACTIONS & RECEIVE A FREE $10 VISA PREPAID CARD BY MAIL (SEE AD DETAILS)

***Note***--Prices are VIC Prices at HT without P&G brandSaver Coupons--

Tide Liquid Detergent (100 oz.) $11.99/each
Tide Stain Release (34 count) $10.99/each
Downy Liquid Fabric Softener (52-60 load) $4.49/each
Bounce Dryer Sheets (80 count) $3.69/each
Bounce Dryer Bar (2 month) $3.79/each
Bounty Napkins (180-200 count) $2.99/each
Bounty Paper Towels (8 roll) $6.99/each
Charmin Toliet Tissue (6 Mega or 12 Big Roll) $6.99
Cascade Liquid Dishwasher Detergent (75 oz.) or Cascade Action Pacs (20 count) $3.99/each
Dawn Dish Detergent (19-24 oz.) $1.99/each
Dawn Hand Care (19 oz.) $1.99/each
IAMS Dry Dog Food (17.5 lb.) $16.88/each
Pringles (5.71-6.42 oz.) 3/$5.00
Pampers Diapers (Big Pack) $19.99/each
Pampers Wipes (3X Refill) $5.49/each
Luvs Diapers (Jumbo Pack) $5.99/each
Duracell Batteries (8 count AA/AAA) 2/$10.00
Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner (12.6 oz.) 2/$7.00
Herbal Essences Shampoo & Conditioner (12 oz.) $2.49/each
Secret Flawless Deodorant (2.6 oz.) $3.99/each
Nice N Easy (1 Application) $5.99/each
Olay Regenerist (50 ml.) $15.99/each
Olay Body Wash (12 oz.) $3.99/each
Gillette Fusion Razor (1 count) $7.99/each
Gillette Body Wash (12 oz.) $2.99/each
Old Spice Ever Clear Deodorant (2.6 oz.) 2/$7.00
Prilosec OTC (42 count) $24.99/each
Vick DayQuil or NyQuil (6 oz.) $3.99/each
Always Infinity (16 count) 2/$10.00
Glide Floss (50 m.) $2.99/each
Crest Paste (6 oz.) $2.50/each
Oral-B Advantage Toothbrush (1 count) $2.49/each
Crest White Strips Advanced Seal (14 count) $34.99/each
Crest Rinse (1 liter) $4.99/each
Always or Tampax Selected Varieties 2/$10.00

Offer valid 12/30/09 to 01/05/10. Mail-in offer. Official form will print via checkout printer at the end of qualified transaction.

Original cash register receipt showing retailer must be obtained from the same participating store. Purchase MUST BE MADE IN ONE (1) TRANSACTION. Limit One (1) per household. See mail-in offer for complete details.

***** spend $25 BEFORE coupons! That means you can combine with coupons (last Sunday's insert was a P&G w/ coupons you can use) to lower your OOP cost!*****

Where do I get my coupons?

Another FAQ I get is, where do I get my coupons? I've decided to reveal my sources for those who may want to start doing the deals with me!

1) Newspaper inserts - I currently live in an apartment building where all the mailboxes are together. The post-person puts inserts in our local paper, and since many people just throw them away or leave them lying around our mailbox common area, I pick them up.
2) Hotcouponworld.com - I cannot say enough good things about HCW. Not only do they often have ads posted in advance, when new ads come out, the lovely moderator teams posts match-ups (sale prices with current coupons available to use for bigger savings). There is also a trading forum where you can trade coupons you need for other coupons, stamps, small handling fees, giftcards, or anything as long as the trade is acceptable to both parties. Nine times out of ten, I check here for the coupons I need first. I highly recommend everyone check it out if you haven't already.
3) lorihas3kids.com - She is a coupon clipping service. For a small handling fee (and no shipping charge) you can order coupons from her. She is a good place to get some of the coupons you may not see in your area. For example, most of the coupons we get here in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) are $1 off 2 (b/c most stores double up to $0.99, manufacturers send $1/2 Q's to get around this). Most of those coupons also come in $0.50/1 in certain areas, so Lori is a good place to get those. Remember, any coupon under $0.99 doubles at most stores here including Giant, Shoppers, and Harris Teeter).
4) Thecouponclippers.com - Just like Lori, but you pay shipping.

Now would be a great time to start using coupons to save money!

So, how do I get started at CVS?

Yesterday at church, at least 5 people mentioned to me that they'd been following my blog. You'd never know since no one comments (I've adjusted the settings to make it easier), but apparently I have several loyal readers.

The top question I've been asked is how to get started at CVS, so I'm going to answer that question starting next week, just in time for my 2010 budget challenge. Here is what is going to happen:

-I have set aside $20 to spend as an investment, and then I will never spend any more money out-of-pocket at CVS (other than tax, which is always less than $1)
-I will post my weekly CVS trips as well as exactly what deals and coupons I use so you (if you choose) can duplicate everything I do.
-After the $20, I will use *only* coupons and ECB to pay for items purchased at CVS.
-The $20 will most likely NOT all be spent at once, but I will keep a running tally so you know I haven't spent over $20.

It is my hope that you guys can follow along with me and start to see the savings add up!

CVS 12/28

This week was not a great week for CVS, plus, I did not have coupons for two items I bought, but I will still post because there are a few important tips I can add to those trying to learn CVS.

Remember, I had 14ECB from last week to use for this transaction.

$3 for 3 2-Liter Cokes (w/ 1ECB)
$8.99 for 1 Gillette Fusion Razor w/ shave gel bonus pack (w/ 4ECB)
$2.99 for 1 Colgate toothpaste (w/ 2ECB)
-$4 coupon for Gillette fusion
Total: $10.98 plus tax so the total SHOULD have been $11.72 get 7ECB)

I paid, grabbed my receipt, and headed for the car. Before I left the parking lot, I checked my receipt, which I should have done in the store, but I did not. I noticed that I'd paid $9.99 for the Gillette razor and NO ECB for that had printed.

I went back to CVS, showed the lady the ad and my receipt, and she said I purchased the wrong item. I then showed her that the razor pack I picked up was marking as $8.99 w/ 4ECB on the actual item, and she investigated.

Apparently, the item on the shelf was marked wrong, but they decided to let me have it, and they printed off $5ECB ($1 overpaid plus 4ECB) for my trouble. If they had maintained that I bought the wrong item, I would have processed a return and exchanged the item.

Total overall was $4.72 (4ECB, I paid $0.72 tax).

Two important lessons here:

1) CHECK YOUR RECEIPT- Know what the sale prices are and know how many ECB you should get back
2) GO BACK IF THERE IS A MISTAKE- If you purchased the wrong item, ask for a refund or an exchange.

Happy shopping, all!

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas. We went to my friend Jessica D's place for brunch. This woman is a godsend! The food was fabulous and Jess is such a sweetheart! She is due with her first baby (a girl!) in February, so how she cooked such great food for the six of us is a mystery to me! Lunch was at my friend Jessica C's place with all our other friends. It was great to just have a laid back time with my friends. We also stopped by and had dinner with the in-laws.

Today I did some after-Christmas shopping. I picked up a lot of yarn at Michael's and then hit Joann's Fabrics for some sewing pins and a tape measure. I then took my daughter to see my sister, which was nice.

I know it's late, but Merry Christmas everyone!

St. Ives Body Wash- $0.99 at Giant

I went to Giant this morning, which is usually my routine as I like to get a donut sometimes and look for coupons lying around the store. I noticed they have St. Ives body wash on sale for $1.99, and since I have $1 coupons that expire the end of this month, I decided to put them to good use. Needless to say, I purchased 14 bottles of body wash. They will make a perfect addition to some of my holiday gift baskets this year! :)

Rocked CVS today!

I usually make a weekly trip to CVS on Sunday, but this week I was delayed due to snow, so I didn't get a chance to go until this morning. Here is the breakdown of how I did:

Listerine $3.99, Nivea body wash, $5.99, Crest $2.88, $12 Glade (1 Lasting Impressions $6, 1 candle holder $3, 1 refill pack $3), and 4 trial size Schick razors ($1.29 each). Total was $31.52 with tax.

$31.52
-$5/$30 coupon (check those emails from CVS! They are not all junk!)
-$4 ECBs (from last week)
-$2 Nivea printable (coupons.com)
-$1 Listerine coupon
-$1 crest coupon
-4 ($1) on any Schick coupons
-$3 lasting impressions coupon
-$2 candle holder coupon
-$3 (free refill pack wyb holder) coupon
TOTAL OOP (out-of-pocket): $6.52, got $14 ECB

Yes, that's right. I only paid $6.52 and I have $14 ECB to use on my next trip.

Totals:

Spent- $6.52
Saved- $39 ($25 plus $14 ECB) which is a savings of 84%!

A Wonderful Charity-Kitten Angels

I want to take a minute to share about a wonderful charity I have been sending coupons to. My friend Arie lives in NY and along with a small group of volunteers and foster families, has been running a charity called Kitten Angels. They rescue cats and kittens and take in strays. They are currently supporting several animals in foster homes as well as at least two cats with special needs- one that is blind, and another that was rescued after serving as bait to train pit bulls for dog fighting.

About two months ago I'd heard that their main donor had stopped donating food to her charity and her and the other volunteers had taken on the cost of buying all the supplies for Kitten Angels.

Here are some pictures of the kitties they have and their stories from Arie. Please be warned that some of these might make you cry.



Babies - These are some of the newest additions who are adoptable. They were given names, but I can't tell them apart. LOL.



Boots - he's our jail house cat! He was found (and taken excellent care of) by an inmate until he could get into our program. He is THE most lovable cat from an unfortunate situation.



Cloud - is an adult cat who holds a special place in my heart. We got a call from the police department that there was a pit bull fight going on in a terrace of 4 apartment buildings. (Here in NY, it's common to have 4 buildings all against each other forming a + shape. The the center of the + is a empty lot, usually called a terrace... if that makes any sense). Apparently, there was a pit bull fight ring set up in the terrace, and they were using kittens as bait to train the pit bulls. Cloud was one of those kittens. We rescued her and rushed her to an emergency vet, where they actually had to construct artificial bowels and a rectum for her, and piece her back together. (I didn't see this thank heavens, but she was literally in pieces I'm told.) After months of intensive care, she was deemed healthy, but unadoptable because of her fear of movements, dogs, and loud noise. She will probably never be adopted, but she is one of our forever kittens. We'll keep her with us always and give her the best life we can.



Feather - he was a happy, healthy kitten who found a home the day after he became available!



Mr.Sunshine - Feather's brother. Another happy, healthy kitten. He and Feather went to the same home on the same day!



Snuggles - is my BABY! She is an adult cat who has special needs. She was a stray cat, who was hit by a car. The accident was so fierce that it detached her retinas, rendering her totally blind. She is SO happy, and SO loving, and just wants to snuggle and cuddle and be held. We're still looking for her forever home, but she is currently in foster care with a long time foster family who is taking care of her.



Tucker - He's an abandoned stray kitten that we took in recently. We had to bottle feed him because he wasn't even old enough for wet food yet."


I am happy to report they were able to buy all the cat food they needed for their kitties for just $44 this month! But they can definitely use any other coupons we can send. Many people throw their cat food coupons away, but please, just take a minute to think of these cute faces. All it takes is a few minutes to clip coupons and a $0.44 stamp to send them. If anyone has any coupons to donate, please let me know!

Keep up the good work Arie!

$4.71

Have an idea of what I bought yesterday for $4.71?

No, it wasn't Starbucks coffee, though that is about what my favorite drinks costs.

Here's the rundown:

I had a $2RR that expired yesterday. Since we're low on cash and I didn't see anything I really need to roll my RR, I bought some milk (on sale for $2.99) so with tax I got that for $1.06.

The I hit Shoppers Food Warehouse (they are doubling coupons up to $0.99 this week!!)

Bread- $1.00
4 Yakisoba soups (FREE after doubled $0.50 coupon!)
1 Tasbasco sauce ($0.69 after doubled $0.50 coupon!)
2 Nestle Nesquik ($0.49 after doubled $0.50 coupon!)
1 16 oz Daisy sour cream ($79. after doubled $0.60 coupon!)
Spent $3.65 with tax.

I could have done better if the sour cream, tabasco sauce, and Nesquik were on sale, but I'm pretty pleased with myself for what I got for only $4.71 oop.

Let's Say Thanks

Xerox is doing something awesome!

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving overseas. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.

Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Deal Alert!

Hallmark has a coupon out for $5 off your purchase. Click here to get it (I was able to print two)!

Rooting for Laura!

My friend Laura (check out her blog here) has decided that if she can commit to a budget through the rest of December, she is going to join me for my $2500 in 2010 grocery challenge! Awesome!

Be nice!

Just wanted to post this.

Today, I was going downstairs on my lunch break to take my bags and stuff to my van, and the maintenance man, Tom, happened to be coming through the door at the same time, and he stopped and held it open for me and said "I'm glad I was here to help you. You've been so nice to me." And I replied "Thank you, but why wouldn't I be nice to you?" and then he said "You'd be surprised how people treat you b/c you are working in maintenance, but you've always been so kind that I'm glad to be associated with someone like you."

I thought that was one of the nicest things anyone could have said about me. I don't even remember being particularly nice to Tom. In fact, Tom is relatively new to the building, and I've only seen him a handful of times, though I did make it a point to learn his name and thank him when he comes to fix things in our office.

This is just another example that you never know the effect you may have on someone, so it really pays to be nice all the time.

Two FANTASTIC deals I did recently!

I feel I should address the non-believers for a moment. Anyone who uses coupons has heard someone say "I just don't think they save you much money." One of my friends recently told me that she didn't see how the Sunday paper coupons could help her. I thought I'd post two deals I recently did using coupons from the Sunday paper- no non-inserts of any kind, just easily accessible Sunday paper coupons.

1) Grocery Store (*)

9 Lives cat food was on sale $4.99 Buy One Get One Free (BOGO). The week before, the Sunday paper had $0.75/1 coupons and this particular store usually doubles coupons up to $0.99 but this week was one of those rare triples weeks, so coupons up to $0.99 were tripled.

2 Bags of cat food- Normally $9.98 full price.
Start: $9.98
- $4.99 (BOGO deal)
- $0.75 coupon
- $1.50 (tripled)
- $0.75 coupon
- $1.50 (tripled)
Total: $0.49 plus tax for TWO 3lb bags of cat food! (I ended up with 18 bags over the course of that week).

*Please note some stores will not let you use two coupons on BOGO items so check your store's coupon policy. The store I did this deal in general does not, however, my transaction was cleared by a manager before I did it.

CVS

3 Gillette Deodorant and 3 Gillette Body Wash- Normally $31.44 full price (deo is $5.49 and body wash is $4.99). I used two coupons from the Sunday paper on this deal- One was "Buy any Gillette deoderant, get any Gillette body wash free", and the other was $1/1 any Gillette deoderant (Using coupons this way is perfectly legal since the first coupon saved on the body wash and the second saved on the deodorant. If the second coupon had been for body wash, I could not have used it since you can't use two different manufacturer coupons on the same item).

Start: $31.44
-$4.99 (bogo q)
-$4.99 (bogo q)
-$4.99 (bogo q)
-$1 (q)
-$1 (q)
-$1 (q)
Total: $13.47

BUT, I had $13 in ECB, so I actually only paid $0.47 plus tax AND since my total exceeded $25, CVS was doing a promo (buy $25 get $10 ECB) I received $10 ECB back.

Just wanted to do a quick demo to show that coupons CAN save you money.

Stockpiling!

My last blog mentioned that my budget for 2010 would be $2500, and I've been going back and forth thinking about if that should include stockpiling or not. *For those (few, hehe) not familiar with stockpiling, it's basically buying in bulk when you find a GREAT deal such as $0.49 cat food, $0.39 razors or FREE shampoo).*

Anyway, I thought about it, and that budget should allow for some decent stockpiling, especially for Health & Beauty (HBA) items. I'm on a great roll with my CVS Extra Care Bucks (ECB), and with just an initial $20 investment, I've been able to roll my ECBs over the last month to include Glade, various shampoos including Dove, more razors, and most recently I rolled ECB's AND BOGO Gillette coupons into the Buy $25 get $10 ECB deal (though I did have to spend $0.69 oop, which is not bad for a $25 purchase!

I've been trying to get into Walgreens (WAGs) deals so I can roll Register Rewards (RRs), but with different stores making up their own rules on how customers can use their RRs, it doesn't seem worth it. The most common made-up rule I've heard is that you can only use one RR per TRANSACTION, which is ridiculous, and FALSE according to how their RR program works, but I hear more and more people saying their WAGs managers are now making up this rule. In my experience, however, when a cashier says this to me, and I tell them I'm fine with doing a separate transaction for all my items so I can use all my RRs... this rule is amended, but be aware of this if you are a regular WAGs shopper.

I already prefer CVS b/c at WAGs you can't use a coupon and an RR on the same item, a restriction that CVS does not have. Who wants to always have to worry about fillers? Not me. I am okay with shopping there when they have free shampoo. Most recently they did $2.99 Herbal Essences and $2.99 Aussie (both had $1/1 coupons out), where if you purchased them, you got $2 RR, which made them free. A redeeming quality about WAGs is that they do not have a rewards card, therefore their deals have no limits, unlike CVS, though, in order to do multiples of the same deal (and get multiple RR), you have to do different transactions which can be frustrating and time consuming, and the occasional cashier/manager will not let you do that. Definitely not for the "get-in-and-get-out" kind of shoppers.

Anyway, to sum up, I'm okay with the $2500 to include all my food, baby, pet, HBA, needs for the year, as well as to allow for stockpiling. I hope you guys follow me, as I will be posting all about it here!

Julie's 2010 Grocery Challenge!

Okay, so I've been following Vicky's blog where she's spent ONLY $1200 for the ENTIRE year of 2009! It's very inspiring (see "Vicky's Grocery Challenge" on My BLog List). I'm thinking of doing something similar for 2010. I've learned SO much this last year of couponing and I want to put it to good use in 2010 to hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls and craziness that occurred this year.

I have to have a reasonable budget for myself, DH, DD, and two cats to include all of our food and personal item needs. I've done some thinking about it, and since this is my first "year" I want to give myself a little leg room, so I've come up with a budget.


2010 Budget: $2500!

This works out to be approximately $208/month or $48/week to include all food, baby stuff, personal items (like shampoo and toilet paper), and stuff for our two cats.

Anyone want to join me for this challenge?

Coupon Preview!

Some GREAT coupons coming out this week! Check out:

http://www.thecouponclippers.com/coupons/calendar.php

Click on Smart Source or Valassis to preview what might be coming out this week.

Personally, I am excited about: Target diaper coupons, Birdseye Steamfresh coupons, and ALL detergent!

DEAL ALERT- FREE EGGS

Hurry!

Go to GoodEggProject.org, click on "Take the Pledge" on the bottom right- fill out the info and print your coupon for BOGO EGGS! First 10,000 only!

Cheap Enfamil at Target!

For those of you who have spent time collecting Enfamil Printable coupons and formula checks, it pays off at Target this week!

Enfamil 32 oz Ready Feed can just $5.49 (regular $6.59)
Enfamil 16 4oz packs of powder just $9.72 (regular $10.78)

The deal:

Buy one of each, use two $5 formula checks and 1 $5 Enfamil coupon (the pre-packaged packs of powder do count for the coupon).

$9.72 + $5.49= $15.21 - $10 checks - $5 coupons = $0.21 plus tax!

Harris Teeter: No Super Doubles in Sight

Well, the rumors proved false, as rumors often do. No super doubles at Harris Teeter so far and none for their upcoming ad. Click here for a sneak peak at their ad for 12/2- 12/9. The only thing of note I saw was that Purex detergent is Buy One Get One Free. There have been several coupons out for it, so combine for a good deal.