Shoppers, CVS & Kmart

Well, the deals were so numerous this week that I had to hit several stores. While I'm still unsure of how we'll factor in the Hickory Farms orders, I'll figure it out somehow, I'm sure.

Anyway, first stop was Shoppers (Friday, January 23rd):

$2.59 Cream of Wheat Cream of Rice ($.75 that tripled = cost $.34)
$2.59 Cream of Wheat Cream of Rice ($.75 that tripled = cost $.34)
$3.00 Pepperidge Farms crackers ($.75 that tripled = cost $.75)
$3.00 Pepperidge Farms crackers ($.75 that tripled = cost $.75)
$2.99 Fiber One granola bar ($.50 that tripled = cost $1.49)
$2.99 Fiber One granola bar ($.50 that tripled = cost $1.49)
$2.99 Fiber One granola bar ($.50 that tripled = cost $1.49)
$2.33 Fruit roll ups
$2.33 Fruit roll ups
$2.33 Fruit roll ups
$2.34 Fruit roll ups (used 2 - $.50/2 that tripled, final cost $1.58 each)
$4.00 Fiber One shredded wheat ($.75 that tripled = cost $1.75)
$2.19 Minute rice premium (had $.50 that tripled = cost $.69)
$2.19 Minute rice brown (had $.50 that tripled = cost $.69)
$2.50 Quaker Oats (had $.60 that tripled = cost $.70)
$2.69 Quaker Fiber chocolate bar (had $.75 that tripled = cost $.44)
$2.69 Quaker Fiber chocolate bar (had $.75 that tripled = cost $.44)
$2.69 Kikkoman soy sauce
$.99 Orange Soda (had $.40 that tripled = cost FREE)
$.88 box frozen spinach
$.88 box frozen spinach
$1.33 bag frozen corn
$1.34 bag frozen corn
$3.75 gallon skim milk
$2.79 18-ct large eggs
$4.08 6 cups of Yoplait yogurt (had $.40 that tripled = cost $2.88, $.48 per cup)

Was charged $36.97 but the cashier forgot to ring through one of the coupons, so the manager told me to come back after 3:00pm today and get $2.25 back, making the trip $34.72 Oop.

Bought 32 items, paid about $1 per item.

CVS (Saturday January 24th):

$2.50 2 bottles of Gatorade
$12.00 4 cases of Pepsi soda
$6.00 2 bags Stacy's Pita Chips
$2.50 Hefty one-zip bags
$2.49 Ziploc sandwich bags
$7.99 Maybelline mineral lipstick
$7.99 Maybelline mineral lipstick
$1.19 CVS brand throat lozenges

- $.55/1 Hefty
- $.55/1 Ziploc
- $1.50/1 Stacy's
- $1.50/1 Stacy's
- $1.19/1 CVS brand (free throat lozenges came from red machine)
- $29.57 Extrabucks

= $9.77 Oop
Received $10 for the Pepsi products and $10 for the Maybelline = $20 Extrabucks back!

Then Kmart (Saturday, January 24th):

Most of the things that I wanted to get were long gone, but I was able to pick up some odds and ends:

$5.49 Therafu
$4.49 Tylenol rapid release
$2.50 Special K chocolate cereal
$2.50 Special K bars
$3.00 Ritz reduced fat crackers
$1.69 Ritz holiday crackers

- $13.50 worth of coupons
= $6.17 Oop

I also have a rebate for the Theraflu, which says up to $5.99 back but will deduct the $2 off coupon (that doubled at Kmart) that attached to it. Hoping I get $3.49 back, but even if I just get what I wound up paying, it will still be free.

And I'm spent... although I do have to stop at Shopper's to get my $2.25... but that was exhausting! I think I'll grab some lunch and then go over. The fiance and I are going to see a string quartet tonight thanks to my parents having other plans and donating their tickets to us. We're big classical music dorks.

Another Shopper's Visit

Since we needed the "boring" stuff (milk, eggs, bread, etc), I went out to Shopper's again about an hour ago. I spent significantly less than my Thursday trip and bought less too.

The loot:

$1.00 1 box brown sugar
$2.59 100% wheat bread
$3.49 Eating Right veggie chips
$3.49 Eating Right veggie chips
$.89 Thai Kitchen instant noodles
$4.00 4 Sobe Life waters
$2.25 Simple Asian teryaki noodle side dish
$3.50 Hillshire Farms turkey
$3.50 Hillshire Farms turkey
$3.50 Hillshire Farms turkey
$1.69 dozen large eggs
$3.99 gallon skim milk

- $1/1 Eating Right that doubled
- $1/1 Eating Right that doubled
- $.50 Thai Kitchen that tripled
- $.50 Simply Asian that tripled
- $.40/1 Sobe Life water that tripled
- $.40/1 Sobe Life water that tripled
- $.40/1 Sobe Life water that tripled
- $.40/1 Sobe Life water that tripled
- $1/1 Hillshire Farms that doubled (on packaging)
- $1/1 Hillshire Farms that doubled (")
- $1/1 Hillshire Farms that doubled (")
- $.55/1 bread that doubled
- $.50 coupon from buying yeast last shopping trip

= $14.73 Oop

"You saved a grand total of $19.40, that is a savings of 57%"

Shoppers Trip

I need to leave soon, but I am just ecstatic over my Shopper's Food Warehouse grocery trip. I bought a lot of stuff, some that we needed desperately, some that was free or very very cheap after coupons. There were some items that I didn't have coupons for but I got overage for some things that I wasn't expecting, so without further adieu.

I spent $42.34 for all of the above items!

I saved a grand total of $66.95 or 61%!

I bought 46 items so everything came out to less than $1 an item!

This included:

100 ct box generic Sweet n Low
1 box Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa
2 packages warm delights minis
2 bags Cheerios snack mix
2 boxes fruit by the foot
2 boxes Fiber One toaster pastries
1 jar Betty Crocker frosting
2 boxes Success Rice
1 box Kelloggs Chocolate pieces special K
1 "string" rapid rise yeast
1 bottle Kraft Olive Oil Greek dressing
1 box chicken broth
1 box Celestial Seasoning tea
4 boxes Barilla Piccolini pasta
4 pouches Starkist tuna creations
3 bottles Sobe life water
1 can Mazola no stick cooking spray
1 bag Tysons chicken nuggets
2 boxes Hillshire farms turkey breast
1 package Smithfield cooked boneless pork chops
1 roll kosher salami
1.25lb Smithfield pork sirloin chops
1 red bell pepper
2 Dell Monte fruit cups
2 boxes flat bread
1 package findlandia swiss cheese
1 large bag Green Giant vegetable medley
1 can Reddi-wip
1 package yo-plus yogurt
1 container Lysol wipes

I am way over budget this week but completely ok with it (ya think?) and will be writing up another post on Saturday discussing the budget and how I budget that works for us.

Triple/Double Coupons!

Shoppers is once again running a triple up to $.50 coupon and double up to and including $1.00 coupon promotion again running from Thursday, November 20th (tomorrow) to Wednesday, November 26th! I am very excited about this since I missed the last major double/triple days due to the bronchitis.

"Limit 4 coupons for identical items to ensure sufficient supply of products for all our customers. if the value of the truple or double coupon exceeds the retail price of the item, you will receive the item FREE. Coupons stating "not subject to doubling" or "do not double" will not be eligible for tripling or doubling" but as stated in many blogs if the scu begins with a #5, then it will probably double/triple anyway.

Happy Shopping!

Shoppers & CVS

Yesterday after picking up my dry cleaning, I decided to go to CVS since I really hadn't been able to do as much shopping this week as I like generally due to the back and medication associated with the back. I get tired easily and get in pain easily (thanks to the accident, I am now the proud [?] owner of a herniated disk and strained back and neck), so my outings have been minimal besides my required 40 hours a week at work.

Yesterday, however, I knew I couldn't pass up the Nature's Bounty deal, so I headed over. The cashier I had actually volunteered after barely getting to the counter that he could split up the transaction if I wanted, but I told him it was fine and I had it all under control. He was even impressed when he saw my $.01 total!

I purchased:

$1.00 4 Sobe Lifewaters
$1.00 1 Gatorade
$6.99 Nature's Bounty Vitamin D 1000mg
$0.00 Nature's Bounty Vitamin D 1000mg (buy 1 get 1 free)

- $1/2 Sobe
- $1/2 Sobe
- $2/1 Nature's Bounty
- $1/1 Nature's Bounty
- $4.98 Extrabucks
- $1.00 Extrabucks
- $1.00 Extrabucks

= $.01 Oop!
And I received $5 total in Extrabucks back from the Sobe deal and the Nature's Bounty deal!
My boyfriend takes Vitamin D daily, so this should have been covered for quite a while!

Today I went Shoppers since they are running a triple $.50 coupon and double $1.00 coupon till Sunday and since I have the day off I wanted to miss the rush.

I bought (a lot! At first the register was at over $115 but my ending total was only $55, that's over $50 in coupons! Amazing)

$3.99 1-24 pack of Sierra Mist
$3.99 1-24 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper
(these each had $1 off coupons that doubled, so each box wound up being only $1.99! Look out for these - they are in the front of the store, limit 2)
$7.17 3 Betty Crocker Warm Delights minis (I had 3 $.50 that tripled so it wound up costing $2.67 for all 3)
$9.36 4 Betty Crocker fruit roll ups (I had 2 $.50/2 that tripled so it wound up costing $6.36 for 4 or $1.59 a box)
$2.89 Juicy Juice Harvest (1 $1 off that doubled, cost $.89!)
$2.89 Juicy Juice Harvest (1 $1 off that doubled, cost $.89!)
$5.56 2 12-count box of Pop Tarts (had a $1/2 that doubled - cost me $1.78 a box!)
$2.50 Progress chicken stock (had $1 that doubled, cost $.50!)
$3.00 Kraft LiveActive peanut butter bars (had a $1/1 that doubled, cost $1!)
$1.59 Domino Sugar 2lb (had a $.50 that tripled, cost $.09!)
$5.56 4 cans of Carnation Evaporated milk (I had 2 $.50/2 that tripled, cost $2.56 for 4 or $.64 per can!)
$2.89 Swanson Chicken Broth (had a $1 that doubled, cost $.89!)
$8.67 3 boxes Campbells v8 soup (had 3-$1 off coupons that double, cost $.89 each!)
$3.75 Barbara Puffins Original Cereal (the bf loves this and I haven't bought it since we moved in together - it's a treat, I had a $1 off coupon that doubled, so the cereal cost me $1.75)
$1.67 Ronzini spaghetti (had a $1 off that doubled, cost FREE!)
$6.87 Starkist tuna creations (had 3 $1 off couples that doubled, final cost $.87 for 3!)
$5.01 Starkist tubs (I had 3 $1 off coupons, final cost, FREE!)
$2.50 Equal packets (I had a $1 off, that doubled, final cost $.50!)
$12.98 2 packs of frozen cooked breaded chicken products (I had 2 $1 off coupons that doubled, final price $8.98 for both!)
$5.67 3 Green Giant steam fresh broccoli and cheese (had 3-$1 off coupons that doubled, final price FREE!)
$7.18 2 Pillsbury Savorings (used 2 $1 off coupons that doubled, final price $3.18 for both!)
$2.89 Dole frozen strawberries (used 1-$1off coupon that doubled, final price $.89!)
$6.68 2 pints Ben & Jerry's ice cream (had 1 $1/2 coupons that doubled, final price $4.68 for both)
$2.79 Dannon Activia (had $1 off coupon that doubled, final price $.79!)
$4.00 2 Yoplus yogurt packs (had 2 $1-off coupons that doubled, final price FREE!)
$2.99 Land O Lakes large brown eggs (had a $.50/1 couple that tripled, final price $1.49)
$5.99 Vita Smoked Salmon (my favorite) had a $1/1 coupon that doubled, final price $3.99

$55.28 Oop
"You saved a grand total of $79.62". I used 41 coupons which was technically over the limit, but the manager pushed it through for me anyway. I purchased 48 items! And spent on average $1.15 per item! Not too shabby. Way over budget this week, but am stockpiled for quite some time.

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
AUG 10 - AUG 16	$118.24
AUG 17 - AUG 23	$48.11
AUG 23 - AUG 30	$40.78
AUG 31 - SEP 6	$57.87
SEP 7 - SEP 13	$57.39
SEP 14 - SEP 20	$71.10
SEP 21 - SEP 27	$1.83
SEP 28 - OCT 4	$49.18
OCT 5 - OCT 11	$13.88
OCT 12 - OCT 18	$75.08
OCT 19 - OCT 25	?
OCT 26 - NOV 1	?

Bloom - A Near Disaster

Ladies and gentlemen, do not go to Bloom for these triple coupon days, or if you do, bring as many people as you can with you so you can do several transactions and not run into the issues that I did.

I perused the store and found quite a few things that made the triple coupons worth it and when I got to the cashier, I mentioned that I understood that the triple coupons had a limit of 5 and if I could do 2 separate transactions. She said sure, so I handed her five coupons with some items and grouped the 2nd transaction on the belt which she proceeded to scan anyway! "Oh", she said, "it won't be a problem". I really shouldn't have believed her because once she hit the 5 limit, the coupons scanned but did not triple, so she calls her manager over. The manager said, "you can only use 5 coupons" and I replied, "I know. When I asked if I could do 2 separate transactions she said yes but then she scanned them all". "Oh" said the manager, "you'll have to void the transaction and do it again".

So at this point a line had formed behind me and I was apologetic to the other customers but at this point was pretty annoyed at both the cashier and her manager. So they void the purchase, group the items/coupons as I had done previously and started scanning away. The first transaction goes fairly smoothly, the 2nd however is another story. The coupons failed to triple. The manager tried enter them manually but then accidentally charged me the couple tripled amount and then would take it away - 5 times. At this point I had been standing at the register for a good 15 minutes. Just so you can get a feel, I only purchased 19 items.

Then the manager walks away for a few minutes and returns with her manager who is able to ring the other coupons through and have them triple.

Exasperated, I leave the store. Even though I got a good deal, I would not recommend going today or tomorrow unless you physically (with multiple people) do separate transactions so not to run into this issue.

Anyway, this is what I got:

Transaction #1:
2 Welch Squeezables jams (strawberry & grape)
2 boxes Chex Mix chocolate bars
1 box Hot Pocket Panini
1 box Nature Valley variety granola bars
1 gallon skim milk

Total after coupons: $9.88
(your savings: $11.25)

Transaction #2:
4 boxes of various shaped Bloom pasta (on sale .89 a box)
2 big bags of bloom frozen vegetables
1 Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce
2 Ortega taco mixes
1 package Land Lakes deli shaved turkey meat
2 cans select harvest campbells soup

Total after coupons: $7.32
(your savings: $12.67)

Total: $17.20

Running tally for this week: $57.39/$50 $7.39 over budget, but worth it, mostly