Here Is What 10$ Got Me At CVS!

Okay couponers, if you haven't gone to CVS yet this week...PLEASE DO! I got a whole bunch of things and only spent 10$ and some change. How did I do it?! I used coupons and ECB's sillys!

Here's what I got:

6 Lady Speed Sticks (That you saw in an earlier post)
4 Irish Spring body washes for Ayyub
6 jars of Ragu pasta sauce
and 1 Cadbury Creme Egg (Because they are so YUMMY!)

The Speed Sticks are running a ECB deal where you buy 12$ worth of product and you receive a 6$ ECB.
They were on sale for 1.99$ each
Use 3 B1G1 Free coupons from the 1-29 SS (SmartSource)
Pay 6$ + tax and receive a 6$ ECB making them esentially FREE!

The Irish Springs were running the same deal. Buy 12$ worth of product and receive a 6$ ECB.
They were on sale for 3$ each
Use 4 1$/1 coupons from the 1-29 SS
Pay 8$ and receive a 6$ ECB

I rolled my ECB from the first purchase into the second so my OOP (out of pocket) total was 2$ + tax

The Ragu pasta sauces were running a ECB deal where you buy 10$ worth of product you receive a
3$ ECB
They were on sale for 1.66$ each or 3/5$
Use 3 1$/2 coupons from the 1-29 RP (RedPlum)
Pay 7$ + tax and receive a 3$ ECB

I rolled my ECB from the second purchase into my third so my OOP total was 1+ tax

I also bought a Cadbury creme egg in this transaction because they have a ECB deal where you buy 1 at .87cents and you receive a .87cents ECB

My total oop for ALL of this was 10$ + tax and I still have 3.87$ worth of ECB's left. REALLY I only paid about 6$ + tax for all of this stuff!

Head over to CVS and get these deals!
Happy couponing!

FREE Lady Speed Stick at CVS!

Okay couponers so here's a deal that I want you all to do this week at CVS. I want you to buy 6 Lady Speed Sticks or regular Speed Sticks (you can mix and match) and I want you to get them all for FREE.

Speed Stick is on sale this week for 1.99$. If you buy 12.00$ worth of Speed Stick products you get back 6.00$ in ECB's (Extra Care Bucks). WELL, we had a great coupon in this Sunday's SS that was a Buy One Get One Free Speed Stick. Use 3 of these coupons and you'll end up paying 6.98$ BUT you'll recieve a 6.00$ ECB so you'll only end up paying .98cents which is the sales tax making these FREE. The limit on this ECB is 2 per card so you could do this deal twice if you had 6 coupons...you would just have to do them in 2 different transactions. Also, you wouldn't be able to roll your ECB...If you did, another one WOULD NOT print.

This is one of those items that you'll never have to pay for again! I literally have about 20 of these in my stockpile!

Happy couponing!

Reader Response...How Do You Organize Your Coupons?

Okay, so I want to EVENTUALLY want to make a post on how I organize my coupons with uploaded pics. I have a specific way that I keep everything neat and tidy only right now...not so neat and tidy! I will upload some pics once I get everything under control. I have A LOT of coupons and this overhaul could take some serious time.

So I want to ask all of you how you organize your coupons. Are you a fan of the coupon binder? Do you use binders or any other sort of filing system? Maybe you like using envelopes or a coupon tote bag. Also, are you full of "organized clutter" or do you keep everything meticulous and organized neatly?

Even more ShopRite matchups!

Okay guys so here's a new link to an even extended list of matchups. Matchups!

Register Star VS. Times Union....Times Union!!

Yay! So okay, I used to just buy the Register Star every week and I was so disappointed because they only ever had ONE SS…no RP or no P&G. This led me to purchase some inserts from eBay. This worked but it was time consuming. Now I know I’m not the first person to discover this but if you buy the Times Union, you get all THREE inserts!!!!! I do not know ANYTHING about papers and I am totally clueless so I thought that our little area of Columbia County only had the Register Star. I am so happy! I learned something new today and I am very excited. What makes it even better is that its .25cents cheaper and you get so much more. This week there is over 287$ worth of coupons! So go out and buy your Times Union NOT Register Star. Be sure to buy AT LEAST two. I buy 4 because you want to have multiples of the same coupon. I will be posting a good deal at CVS this week that gets you 6 FREE deodorants and the coupon is in THIS week SS. Make sure you stock up couponers!

It's My Favorite Time Of The Week...ShopRite Ad Matchups!

Here is a link to the ShopRite ad matchups this week courtesy of www.livingrichwithcoupons.com

Here are the deals I will be doing this week:

Bananas

Grapes

Barilla Pasta

Fiber One cereal

Chi-Chi’s tortillas

Chi-Chi’s salsa

Old El Paso taco seasoning

Ken’s Marinade

General Mills milk and cereal bars

Friendship sour cream

Pillsbury Grand Biscuits

Digiorno Pizza

Farm Rich snacks

Gorton’s Seafood 50% off

Totino’s Pizza Rolls

And also remember that Perdue poultry is 40% off this week

Does anyone see a trend with the Hispanic food this week?! LOVE IT! This is what I mean when I posted my blog about planning your meals for the week. Taco night and quesadilla night! Oh, and pizza night too!

I will post any ADDITIONAL deals I find right here in this post throughout the week so make sure to tune in and check back with me throughout the week.

I also wanted to remind everyone that if you ever have a COMMENT, QUESTION, or a REQUEST please feel free to say so below.

Walgreens Makeup Haul

So this morning I went to Walgreens (Wags) because I had to pick up some more face makeup. I had run out of my liquid foundation as well as my powder foundation. I use Maybelline NY foundation and it can get pretty pricey! I also had to pick up some hairspray because I had run out of that as well. Well as you can guess, I do not pay full price for my makeup. This is a luxury and because it’s a WANT not a NEED I only buy it when I can get it for a ridiculously low price. Let me tell you how I got 22$ worth of product for only 4.67$.

I had a RegisterReward (RR) that I had gotten a while back. A RR is sort of like “Walgreens money”. You get these when you buy participating products that run the special that week. RR do expire so make sure you check the expiration date! I knew I was planning on using it for makeup so I checked the expiration date and today was my last day to use it. I also had a 5$ Walgreens coupon that I received for buying a certain amount of makeup the week before. This printed because that as well was a part of the special. So I knew I had 9$ in Walgreens money to use for my foundations. Maybelline often runs a special of BUY 1 GET 1 50% OFF. My liquid foundation was priced at 10.99$ (YIKES!) and my powder foundation was priced at 9.49$ (UGH!). I looked in my stash of coupons and I found two 2$ off any Maybelline face product from the 12-4-12 RP so I was excited because that was another 4$ off. Altogether I had 13$ in coupons. Yay! I found some really nice hairspray on CLEARANCE for only 1$ so I grabbed that and headed to the counter. My transaction looks like this:

Hairspray- 1.00$

Maybelline liquid foundation- 10.99$

Maybelline powder foundation- 9.49$-50%=4.75$

Total= 16.74$ (SO not what I wanted to be paying)

Here comes the fun part!

Take off 13$ and add the sales tax.

Total out of pocket (oop) = 4.67$

I saved a grand total of 18.74$


Also, buy purchasing 2 Maybelline face products I recieved a coupon for a free clutch! I just entered the confirmation code as well as my address and they will be sending my FREE pink clutch in 2-4 weeks.

The Sale Cycles...

Okay guys! So I talk a lot about “shopping the sales” but here is a list to show you what USUALLY goes on sale for every month. The thing about sale cycles is that they rotate about every three months. This means you want to be stocked up on something for about 3 months at a time. Now this list I got from www.thekrazycouponlady.com and I suggest that you print it and keep it with all of your couponing things.

Happy couponing!

 January:

National Oatmeal Month: Quaker

Diet Foods including: Healthy Choice, South Beach, Lean Cuisine, Special K, Kashi, Smart Start, 100 Calorie Packs

Super Bowl Sunday:  Pepsi, Coke, chips, dips, cheese, sandwich items, crackers, snacks, wings

Seasonal Produce: oranges, pears, grapefruits, tangerines, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, kale, kiwis, avocados, cabbage, spinach

Clearance:  Christmas decorations, toys, wrapping papers                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Winter Health:  cold medicines and vitamins

 February:

National Canned Food Month:  canned fruits and vegetables; meats:  tuna, chicken, salmon; pie fillings

National Hot Breakfast Month:  Malt O Meal, oatmeal, Eggo Waffles, syrup

Valentines:  chocolate, Hershey’s, KY Lubricant, etc

Chinese New Year: soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, noodles

Seasonal Produce:  artichokes, asparagus, raspberries, potatoes, strawberries, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, kale, kiwis, avocados, spinach

March:

Frozen Food Month: frozen meals, TGI Fridays, Contessa, Foster Farms chicken, Eggo, Sara Lee, Healthy Choice, DiGiorno, Freschetta, Breyers, Dreyers, Marie Callendars

Seasonal Produce: artichokes, asparagus, avocados, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, fennel, kale, leeks, lemons, limes, mushrooms, onions, oranges, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, strawberries, tangerines

 April:

Easter:  ham; eggs; some baking supplies:  sugar, spices, baking mixes, chocolate chips

Earth Day: organic foods, Energy Saver

Seasonal Produce: artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, grapefruits, avocados, mushrooms, onions, peas, rhubarb

Clearance:  after Easter sales are the time to stock up on decorating, baskets, etc for the next year.

May:

Memorial Day: BBQ sauce, ketchup, condiments, charcoal, salad dressing, potato chips, dips

Paper Products:  plates, utensils

Cinco de Mayo:  salsa, tortillas

Seasonal Produce: artichokes; asparagus; avocados; green beans; beets; blackberries; carrots; sweet Vidalia onions; peas: edible-podded peas,  English Shelling peas; new potatoes; raspberries; strawberries

Outdoor: insect repellant, sunscreen

June:

National Dairy Month:  eggs, milk (free milk Catalina, wyb cereal), ice cream, cheese, butter, yogurt, Cool Whip, in-store dairy coupons or booklets

End of June is Fourth of July Sales: hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ sauce, ketchup, condiments, charcoal, salad dressing, potato chips, dips

Seasonal Produce: apricots, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, grapes, honeydews, nectarines, peaches, potatoes, raspberries, red onions, summer squash, strawberries, sweet Vidalia onions, tomatoes, watermelons

July:

National Ice Cream Month

More 4th of July BBQ Sales:  hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ sauce, ketchup, condiments, charcoal, salad dressing, potato chips, dips

End of July, Back to School Sales begin:  crayons, pencils, folders, binders

Seasonal Produce: Asian pears, Bartlett pears, green beans, blueberries, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, figs, garlic, grapes, nectarines, red onions, Valencia oranges, peaches, sweet bell peppers, plums, potatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, watermelon

August:

Back to school supplies: erasers, pens, crayons, paper, binders, backpacks, notebooks, markers, note cards

School lunch items: pudding cups, lunch meat, single serve juices, lunchables

Disinfectants:  Clorox and Lysol wipes & sprays

Seasonal Produce: Avocados, beans, berries, cherries, corn on the cob, cucumbers, eggplants, figs, seedless grapes, melons, onions, peaches, pears (Bartlett), peppers (sweet bell), plums, summer squash, tomatillos, and tomatoes

Clearance:  insect repellent, sunscreen, charcoal, swim suits, gardening supplies and seeds, fans, camping gear

September:

Back to School Sales through Labor Day:  pens, pencils, paper (filler & printing), backpacks, erasers, folders, binders, dividers

Labor Day Sales: restaurants deals, movie theater perks (free popcorn, soda, concession candy), shoe & apparel store weekend passes

Diabetes awareness:  glucose meters, Glucerna cereal, diabetic care– socks, test strips, sugar free products, vitamins, weight scales

Seasonal Produce: apples, artichokes, beans, cucumbers, eggplant, grapes, onions, pears (Asian & Bartlett), peppers (bell and chili), squash, tomatillo, tomatoes

Clearance: camping gear, gardening supplies, bug spray, fans & air conditioners, BBQ supplies– grills, charcoal, lighters

October:

Halloween: candy, costumes & accessories

Baking sales (mid-October to late December): canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, baking chips, pie crust (mix and ready-made frozen)

National Seafood Month: fish, shrimp, lobster, crab

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: promotions & deals featuring participating “pink” products

Adopt a Shelter-Dog Month: wet & dry dog food, dog toys & chews

Seasonal Produce: apples, artichokes, arugula, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, chard, cranberries, parsnip, pears, pomegranates, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, winter squash, turnips, yams

November:

Baking goods: nuts, chocolate chips, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, coconut, cake & brownie mixes, Chex cereal (for homemade Chex mix)

Canned foods: soup, broth, vegetables & fruits, spaghetti sauce

Holiday staples: turkey, canned pureed pumpkin, stuffing mix, boxed potatoes, gravy mixes, ready-to-bake rolls, frozen pies, cranberry sauce, gelatin, marshmallows

Seasonal Produce: apples, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, cranberries, kiwis, lemons, oranges, pears (Anjou & Comice), potatoes, pumpkin, squash, yams

Halloween Clearance: The best time to stock up on things for the next year: door decorations, spider webs, candy bowls, yard & outdoor props, plates, cups, napkins & tablecloths, window clings, pumpkin carving kits, streamers, confetti, string lights, Halloween candy-alternatives to stretch next year’s candy bowl supply. Also party favors like: spider rings, erasers, plastic fangs, pencils, bookmarks, stickers, and bouncy balls.

Costumes: Generic items like witch hats, gloves, tiaras/ crowns, play swords, pet costumes, capes & cloaks, fangs, and fairy wings are best, especially when you have children whose preferences change year to year.

Black Friday/ Cyber Monday: Deep savings on doorbusters and advertised items ranging from clothing and toys to electronics and appliances. Research sales, make a list, and stick to it for the best results.

 Seasonal clearance: rakes, outdoor furniture, bikes

December:

Holiday Dinner:  egg nog, deli platters, instant potatoes, gravy mixes, Rhodes rolls, frozen pies, cranberry sauce, Jello, marshmallows

Baking: flour, sugar, butter, cream, cake mixes, brownie mixes, muffin mixes, breads, pie crusts, marshmallows, whipped cream

Canned foods: soup, broth, condensed milk, vegetables, fruits, spaghetti sauce

Clearance:  Buy all your Thanksgiving decorations, extra table settings, and turkey carving products now once they’re at least 50% off.

Planning Your Meals For The Week.

Shopping the sales is a no brainer. Doing this will save you TONS at the grocery store. Shopping the sales is simply this; every week when the new sale circular comes out, (the large newspaper looking thing with pictures and sale prices on it) you plan your grocery list around what is on sale. This means a couple of things, however…

When really get into couponing you have to let go of any BRAND LOYALTY you might have. We never got to have any brand loyalty because before we started couponing we were limited to only buying what was generic because at that point, it was cheaper. Welcome to the world of NEVER having to buy anything generic ever again! If you were like me, letting go of any brand loyalty was easy. For some people, this may prove a little more difficult. If you are in love with a particular brand of yogurt that you eat all the time it may be hard to try other things. Let me put it in perspective, however. If you are a family with a tight budget who NEEDS to coupon than letting go of brand loyalty might be tricky but it is well worth it in the end. If your brand of yogurt is relatively expensive then we have a problem. Why are you compromising your food budget for yogurt? Don’t break the bank! Shop the sales! If Chobani yogurt is on sale for 1.00$ this week and you have a .40cent off coupon that will double to .80cents off, that means yogurt cups for .20cents. I bet that .20cents is a lot cheaper than the yogurt cups you USED to get every week that are priced over .60cents a cup.

I am NOT saying that you need to ditch your brands. I am simply asking you to step outside the box. One week, your brand might go on sale and then you can stock up to your heart’s desire. Now if your brand is something that never produces any coupon, then we have a little problem. My philosophy is this simple. I am not going to break my budget, even a few dollars for MY brand of yogurt. Now this is just how I coupon and sometimes it means that I have to get a little daring and try other things. Usually the results are fantastic! I usually love new things that I try and guess what; I am buying them for next to nothing so it feels really good switching over.

Something that I really wanted to go over for you readers is how to utilize shopping the sales to plan your dinners for the week. This sounds simple but honestly it’s something that many people forget or do not know how to do. This is going to save you so much more time and money. No more running to the supermarket after work to buy what you need for that night’s dinner because you’ll get everything you need in only 1 trip! What I like to do is sit down with my sale circular and go over the match ups for that week to plan our dinners for the next week. If I see that Tyson chicken is going to be 50% off that week making it around 1.99LB then we are having chicken for that week! Usually you will see a trend. If pastas are on sale then usually sauce, garlic bread and Italian cheese are on sale as well. This means that many Italian dishes can be prepared. Next week at ShopRite, tortillas as well as taco seasoning and salsa are going to be on sale. That means that I will plan on having a quesadilla night, a nacho night and a taco night! I’m excited about that!

Couponing...The Basics.

So there are 3 different coupon inserts that you can find in your local Sunday paper:

                SmartSource (SS)

                RedPlum (RP)

                P&G (Proctor and Gamble)

You will not necessarily get all 3 in the paper every week. Also, these inserts are regional so inserts that one city’s paper might have, another might not have. You can go to www.sundaycouponpreview.com to see what inserts will be in the paper for that week. If you live in a region like me, you usually never get the RP and the P&G. I will tell you that the P&G is a VERY good insert to have. For these, I usually purchase them from eBay. I just type in P&G as well that week’s date and choose the free shipping option. You can purchase 5 inserts for around 5 dollars.

You want to make sure that you have more than 1 insert. Let’s say Apple and Eve juice goes on sale for 1.99$ that week from a grocery store that will double any coupon up to .99cents. You have a coupon from the 1-22-12 SS that is .75cents off of any 1 Apple and Eve product. If you take that coupon to a grocery store that will DOUBLE any coupon up to .99cents (that means that they will double any value coupon up to .99cents. If you have a .50cent coupon it will double to 1.00$. If you have a .75cent coupon it will double to 1.50$. If you have 1.00$ coupon it will STAY 1.00$) then that coupon now becomes 1.50$ off making the juice .49cents a piece. Great deal right! Well if you only have one of those coupons than you’re not really maximizing your full savings potential. If you have 4 of those coupons (and I use the number 4 because most stores will only allow you to use 4 LIKE coupons in 1 transaction) then you would be getting 4 bottles of juice for .49cents a piece. I’m not saying that you need to hurry up and drink 4 bottles of juice because you just scored them for a ridiculously low price. Buying more than 1 of something helps you to create something called a STOCKPILE. A stockpile is simply a stock of things that you need that you keep on hand for weeks where those things will not be on sale. If juice is going on sale one week than the chance of it going on sale the next week or even the week after is slim. You just got juice at a rock bottom price but once you run out what do you do?! You turn to your STOCKPILE where you have about 4-8 bottles so you don’t have to pay full price. Doesn’t this sound nice?

There are also coupons called IP’s or Internet Printouts. These are coupons that you print from the internet. Places like www.SmartSource.com  as well as www.Coupons.com have a large selection of coupons to choose from. I only print the IP’s that I know I will use because just printing random coupons is going to waste your ink and that is going to waste your money. This kind of defeats the purpose. When I check the MATCH UPS for a particular week (match ups are just matching what’s on sale with coupons so you can get maximize savings) I print only the coupons that are matched up with something on sale. I go to www.livingrichwithcoupons.com for my ShopRite match ups because I LOVE LOVE LOVE ShopRite! I will be posting my match ups here on my blog every week for you guys so you have even easier access to them. Something to remember about IP’s is that they usually can only be printed TWICE. If you print from www.SmartSource.com then they usually can only be printed ONCE. This is per computer not printer. So if you only have one computer in your house then you can only print around one or two. If you have two computers in your house, lucky you, than you can print around 2 or 4.

You can also find STORE coupons. These are obviously coupons that the STORE, not the MANUFACTURER, puts out. (All of the coupons above have been MANUFACTURER coupons.) These are usually found in coupon booklets at the front of the store or in the weekly circulars. Walgreens, for example, puts out a coupon booklet every month and they are located right in the front of store by the carts and baskets. ShopRite, for example, sometimes has these things called super coupons that are located in their circular. These are the circulars that you receive in your paper, not the ones that you can find at the front of the store. Sometimes they both have the coupons in them but usually just the circular that you receive in the paper that you buy. The cool thing about store coupons is that you can COMBINE them with a manufacturer coupon. Combine coupons for maximum savings!! Let’s say you have a manufacturer coupon for .50cents off of Crest toothpaste. Normally the store sells these for 1.99$ but you have a store coupon that makes them only 1.00$. The store is going to scan your store coupon to drop the price of the toothpaste then they are going to scan your manufacturer coupon that will double to 1.00$ off making this item FREE. Pretty cool, huh?

Remember that not all coupons double. Coupons have bar codes at the bottom. If you look at the bar code all the way to your left and it starts with a 5 then it doubles. If it starts with a 9 then it doesn’t. Usually the coupons that start with a 9 have a DO NOT DOUBLE printed at the top. They may also have a DND9 (do not double 9) at the top. Sometimes (newer coupons are printing like this) you have no left hand barcode and no 5 or 9. As long as it does not say DO NOT DOUBLE or DND9 then it should double. Now I say SHOULD, not WILL. I say this because sometimes coupons have glitches. Make sure that when you are using coupons you are watching the cashier very carefully as they scan them.

My Step By Step Process Before I Hit The Store!

This is MY personal step by step process that I use when I coupon. Please remember that this is my way and feel free to adapt this to fit your couponing needs. One you get the hang of this you may find a better system. Go for it! There is no right or wrong when it comes to couponing. Everyone’s a winner when you save $$$!

1.       SHOP THE SALES

Please, please, PLEASE do not spend another day aimlessly wandering the grocery aisles at Wal-Mart with a list that you haphazardly threw together 5 minutes before leaving the house. Pick a favorite grocery store, mine is ShopRite, and get you a sale circular for that week. The sale cycle with most grocery stores is Sunday- Saturday. Use these, love these, these are going to become your BESTFRIENDS! Sometimes we even get COUPONS in these sale circulars! FREE COUPONS, can you believe it! Plan your weekly meals around what is on sale for that week. I usually jot down certain things that catch my eye for the week. These things usually include any sales on juices, deli meat, produce, crackers, and diapers. These are things that are STAPLES in our household. Once I know what is on sale, I start to do a little homework….

2.       COMBINE THE SALE PRICE WITH A COUPON FOR MAXIMUM SAVINGS

Sounds too good to be true? It isn’t! Once I have a rough list of things that catch my eye from the circular, I start to do a little research. I always go to the same two sites. Livingrichwithcoupons.com and Thekrazycouponlady.com these are MY go to sites, you may have completely different ones that you like better and that’s great!

Once on Livingrichwithcoupons.com I go to their ShopRite weekly matchup’s page. Something magical then happens….THEY DO ALL THE WORK FOR ME! I just scroll down their list and all the sale items that have a coupon are listed for me. They even put a little green check mark next to the items that are rock bottom prices. If the coupon is from an insert, they give you the name and date of the insert. If the coupon is an IP or internet printout coupon they give you the direct link so you can print it right out. Simple! Easy! Fast! It’s like couponing by numbers. No work needed!

3.       I PROCEED TO CLIP, PRINT AND ORGANIZE MY COUPONS

This is the fun part! I look through my inserts and find the coupons that I want to use. I print out all of the coupons from the internet I want to use. I make a list and I double check my coupons before leaving the house. Usually I just paperclip them along with my list and hit the store! Next thing I know I am saving lots of money. I try to aim for a 50-75% savings every time. This is MY personal goal. Even saving 5 bucks is a good start!

This One's For You...

Hey guys, this one's for you! This blog has been created to help all you "coupon clueless" (and I mean this in a nice way) learn just what it takes to start saving some serious money at the grocery store. For any of you who do coupon, I hope you find this blog informative as well. It will provide you with easy match ups as well as some new and exciting tips and tricks. I hope you love this blog and you share it with all of your friends. If there is anything in particular that you would like me to blog about just leave me a comment below. I look forward to teaching you all how to save $$$! Couponing has seriously changed my life and I hope that I can help you to change yours as well.