Is It Centsible?

Walgreens Money Maker!

2009-04-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

So, I went to Walgreens today because there were so many awesome deals. I don't get to go that often, so I stopped by 3 different stores today. I purchased the Breeze 2 meters with a coupon that made them free, I then got a $5 register reward for them, awesome! I then used that to buy the Nivea Body Wash, with a coupon also, and got back another $5 register reward. All in all, here's the breakdown.

Before Coupons: $158.51
What I spent: (OOP) $4.83

And I got back $15 in register rewards to use later...I made $11.17 on this deal!

I still have some more coupons to use, but this is just the start of my week, and now I'll see what other deals I can roll my register rewards into.

Walgreen $1.44 OOP!

2009-04-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

I've been alternating between the shaving cream and toothpaste and have gotten quite a bit. The toothpaste has a $o.75 coupon which makes it a money maker in my eyes, so that's why I keep getting it and I've been able to stock up on shaving cream, yay!

Before Coupons: $24.74
Less Coupons/Sales: $23.30
OOP: $1.44

And, I still have a $3 register reward to use next week.

Walgreens $3.90 OOP

2009-03-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

So, I stopped in at Walgreens today because they had their dish soap on sale and we tend to go through alot of this stuff...I'm kind of a dish soap snob in that I like the tiny containers, but I don't want to pay full price for them, so if I can get them for less than a $1.00, I will do it and stockpile. As I was checking out I noticed they had their Mentos Gum on sale for 2 for $2 and I had coupons for $1 off, so I snagged those completely free!

Price before coupons/savings: $25.33
Less coupons: $21.43
Out of Pocket: $3.90!!!! Yay!!!!

Target $4.89 OOP

2009-03-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Target for razors because the deal was even better than Walgreens and I had more coupons to use. I also had a gift card to Target, so that made this deal even sweeter.

I bought 6 razors for $19.89 on my gift card, but then they gave me $15 back in gift cards and so I ended up spending $4.89 off my original gift card for all of this. I think I saved around $46.20!! Now my razor pile is stocked up.

Walgreens $5.94 OOP!

2009-03-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to Walgreens because they called to apologize that they had gotten the coupon policy wrong. They wanted to give me a free razor for my inconvenience. I was just happy to learn that I can use both an Easy Saver Coupon and a Manufacturer Coupon. So, I got a few more things while I was there.

My Bill before my savings: $44.12
My Savings: $38.18
Out of Pocket: $5.94

Walgreens

2009-03-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

So, I was excited to go to Walgreen's and get super cheap razors today, but unfortunately that didn't happen! The cashier told me that the Easy Saver coupon is a manufacturer's coupon, so I couldn't combine that with my own manufacturer coupon. This apparently, is totally new, I'm not sure if all Walgreen's are participating, but it's highly disappointing, that's ok though, someone else will get my business. :)

So, what I ended up getting were the dishsoap and gum, I paid $.16 out of pocket! That's a first for me, I used my coupons and a $2.50 register reward. Total, I saved about $12. I'm getting better at the couponing thing. :)

Costco

2009-03-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

We use Costco alot to help us save money. We have an American Express card with them and get 5% back on our gas purchases. Over the year, that ends up paying for our membership fee! We also get cash back on other purchases, but the gas one is the biggie. One thing I really enjoy is the savings on generic prescriptions at their pharmacy. With our insurance, generics at Costco are FREE! That's a word I love to hear, especially when those copays can really add up. We try to always get generics and so the only time we pay is for our daughter's seizure medicine (which doesn't come in a generic). I've been keeping a Costco log of their every day prices in a little journal, then when I go to the store, I see if their sale is better than Costco every day on things we commonly use. That's been super helpful. I also keep routine diaper prices in their and other things we see alot...my brain just can't remember everything without writing it down. And I take my little journal with me and I can always refer back to that to see if something is a great deal.

Walgreens Try #2

2009-03-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

So, I'm new to this whole couponing adventure, but I'm excited. My husband tells me not to go overboard, but I fear that's already happened. He couldn't understand why I was buying hair color I wouldn't use just because the coupon allowed for overage which lessened my entire bill. :) He'll appreciate this all in a few months when I get the swing of things. So, today was a major diaper shopping adventure. Here's how it ended out:

Total Cost of Items before Coupons: $168.32
Less Coupons/Sales: $121.25
Out of Pocket (OOP): $47.07

Plus I have $21 in Register Rewards to use next time, but I'll count that towards my next week's adventure. :) Not bad for round #2 and I continue to learn, I didn't need quite so many filler items and other stuff, so my bill should have been a few dollars less, but next time!

Albertsons

2009-03-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did my first big couponing adventure at Albertsons. And I did great! I got all the stuff in the picture for $59.05. My bill would have been $$153.38 if I didn't use my preferred card and coupons. The gal bagging my groceries told me I was a great shopper! Woohoo! And I have another $10 of my next purchase to use next week!

My First Walgreens Try

2009-03-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've attempted my first Walgreens coupon saving adventure. I ended up going twice because I found extra coupons at home, so overall, this is what I got...and this is how it will end up:

Total Cost of Items: $138.11 (Before coupons, rebates)
Coupons: $65.87
Rebates: $36.26

So, my Out Of Pocket (OOP) will be $35.98 for all my goodies...not bad considering they would have been $138.11 if I didn't have any coupons/rebates. Not bad for my first attempt!

How Do You Curb Spending?

2009-02-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

This is something I struggle with alot. We have a budget and we try very hard to stick with it, but inevitably it doesn't happen. I'm always shocked to read about people who can spend only $40/week on groceries for their family of 4, that blows my mind!

A few months ago Brad got all excited reading a Dave Ramsey book, The Total Money Makeover, and wanted me to get onboard with that. We still owe money on my student loan from college and he wanted to work on paying that off. I wasn't too keen on the whole idea and kind of (ok, really) fought against it, I didn't see how we could curb our spending anymore than what we already do...it's been really tight for us since I'm no longer working. But, I told him I would read the book and somewhere after finishing it and agreeing to be onboard, I started surfing the web on ways to curb our spending...that's when I came across Money Saving Mom Blog and was blown away to see how much money people were saving on their groceries! I want to do that! Now granted, they go to grocery stores that allow for double coupons and we don't have any of those here, and they use CVS alot and we're going to get one of those soon...I still thought that we could do better in groceries. We probably spend over $100/week on groceries (includes toiletries and pet supplies), but I know we can do better than that. So, I've started collecting my coupons and looking for sales AND trying not to buy anything processed, but to make it from scratch (which is healthier anyway!) So, I will keep you posted on how we do. I'm pretty sure we can get our bill down to $300/month if I try, maybe even less...but it makes me excited to think that we do have some leeway in our budget and that maybe we can pay off the rest of my student loan before Christmas 2009!

So, how do you curb your spending? What works for you?

Box Tops for Education

2009-02-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

Can I just put a plug in for Box Tops for Education. What a great way to put more money in our schools! You can donate to any school, just pick one and collect box tops for them. Every penny counts and if enough of us do it, then it could add up to quite a bit. And the beauty of it is that there are no restrictions on how a school can use it. Don't want to collect them? Give them to me and I will hang on to them and donate them to a local school.

La Bonita Tortillas

2009-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

I don't know about your family, but we love tortillas. Recently, I've been appalled at the price of tortillas at the grocery store. Now, I normally buy Mission tortillas because that's just what I've always bought, but the other day I decided to try a different brand just because they were so much cheaper. So I bought some La Bonita Tortillas. They were just as yummy and I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I looked at where they were made...Bakersfield, CA! Hey, I live in lovely Bakersfield! So that sealed the deal for me, we'll be buying La Bonita because I want to support local businesses and they were a really good deal. If you want to check out their website, it is here! Neat, huh?!

Free Jack In The Box Tacos!

2009-02-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

This coming Tuesday, February 24th, you can get free Jack In The Box Tacos. Print out the coupon HERE!

Swag Bucks

2009-02-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

I found a new search engine called Swag Bucks that lets you earn "Swag Bucks" that can be traded in for prizes. Normally I think that things like this are too much hassle for what they are worth, but this site seems pretty tame so far. One thing that got me really excited was the fact that after you earn 45 Swag Bucks, you can get a $5 Amazon Gift Card. I shop at Amazon all the time because I find they have the best deals for diapers and so for me I thought, woohoo! There are other popular gift cards for Target, Itunes, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, etc...but you need more than 45 Swag Bucks to earn that gift card. So, how does it work? Instead of searching for things on Google, you search on their engine and you'll randonmly get Swag Bucks for your searches. I usually go there once a day and do a couple of searches and get 1 Swag Buck. You can get more than 1 Swag Buck, but those are harder to come by...needless to say, I got 4 Swag Bucks on one of my searches today and I was very excited! Do I like the search engine better than Google? No, Google is definitely better, even though Swag Bucks claims that they can compete...by I usually just try Swag Bucks first and if I can't find what I'm looking for I will Google it. I'm just looking forward to cashing in my bucks for an Amazon Gift Card! Anyway, it's free to sign up, you might want to check it out!

Swag Bucks