Saturday, July 17, 2010

Walgreens, CVS and Kroger...OH MY!

OH BOY did I have fun today!!

After a marathon week, I took a marathon drive to my alma mater to drop my firstborn off at soccer camp last night and drove all the way back home.
Needless to say, I slept in this morning.

While I was drinking my coffee, I realized that today was my last chance to get those Suave deoderants for $.65 each I promised myself.

Dangit, I decided to let the laundry go and make a plan.
1st Stop Walgreens:
I have to tell you; I was a little nervous about Walgreens...when I walked in the door, I halfway expected BonQuiQui to be waiting on me waving toothbrushes in my face :(
But...
She wasn't there.
WHEW!


$60.17 worth of products for $23.37 and $8 of RR in my pocket :)

Tee Hee Hee!

Walgreens had some incredible deals on school supplies this week...so incredible that several of the little items I wanted as fillers were sold out.  Next week promises to have more though...so I'm already scheming.

Despite this incredible haul...I did have a couple of hiccups.

Because it was Saturday, the Walgreens staff was already changing the price tags to show next week's sale prices.
It was a little confusing.
And, I was more than a little nervous that I would have difficulty at the register.
Thankfully, the sale prices from last week were still current in the registers so my extra stress was for nothing in that case...

BUT...

$5 of my RR were supposed to come from the ProGlide razor.
The catalina machine did not print out my RR.
There were 6 people in line behind me.
Why is that always the way it is??

Anyhoo, the nice lady at the register became a little stressed...1st she tried to convince me that my RR probably didn't print out bc I had also used a manufacturer's coupon for the razor.
I calmly replied that it shouldn't make any difference and that I had carefully counted out the number of items compared to the number of "coupons" I was using.
She then said she would have to call the manager while I tried to recover from Dejavu.

The manager sent someone else to the front.
The someone else the manager sent to the front then called the manager to the front.
The manager, a very intelligent nice young woman who had just returned from vacation, tried to return the razor and re-ring it to see if the RR would print.
It didn't work.
Then, she simply "returned" the razor again somehow and gave me the $5 IN CASH + $.35 in tax the register automatically figured.

Awwwwwwwwwww.....

Then, she gave me a copy of next week sales paper, a day early...

AWWWWWWWWWWWW....

Walgreens is redeemed :)


Next top, CVS:

This purchase was a little more OOP...
$118.00 worth of products for $62.85...

BUT...(here's the best part)...$31.00 in ECB for next time :):)

I have not been lucky enough yet nor brave enough yet to roll my ECB's and get back in line so there's not so much OOP...guess I need that to be my next goal.
I don't mind it so much though bc next time, I'll get more FREE.

Tee Hee Hee!



Speaking of FREE...that's exactly what this little baby was...
Both my oldest daughters wear contacts...
$7.99 and $7.99 ECB = FREE :)

Whoo Hoo!!

The sales staff at CVS had already changed of lot of sales tags as well though, and it was so confusing that I will not go back again on Saturday if I can help it.  I even messed up on my Suave ECB because the price on the tag was different than last week's sale.  :(

I'm an English major, remember, so it doesn't take much to confuse me with numbers.


Then, on to Kroger:


All of these babies were on Kroger's Mega Summer Sale this week. 
Those Gatorades were $.49 each!!!!
For every 10 of these particular items, I also received $5 right back off of my total.

 


These items were regular Kroger sales with my doubled coupons.
I heart Kroger.
My total won't mean much because I spent my regular grocery $ for the week today as well, but for whatever it's worth, I purchased the items in the 2 pictures above + 10 other items = $131.25 but I only paid $73.28.

Have I mentioned that I heart Kroger?


My last stop of the day was Office Depot.
I wanted to look at a desk, but I'd also heard about these two products:



The stapler was $13.99 and the markers were $7.99 for a total of $23.52 after tax.
The greatest thing about both of these items, however, is that both items include a rebate for the total cost of each!

Tee Hee Hee!!!

2 more FREEBIES!!!

The greatest part of this day though was that my middle daughter helped me get organized this morning, has joined in the search for hard to find coupons, and wanted to shop WITH me today.
We really had a fun time and she was really impressed with the bargains we found!
She and I have a difficult time finding things that we like to do together; if couponing and hunting sales becomes something for us to do together, the amount of time we spend, the amount of clipping, etc. will be more than worth it.

:):)
What a GREAT day!!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

CVS is still my favorite...but I'm gonna give Walgreens another chance...

I was very upset with Walgreens...

And maybe not so much Walgreens...
 But the lack of understanding of simple concepts of the young people I ran into that day. 
That will have to be a blog for another day because I just don't have the strength tonight. 

I've been working all week on a report culminating three years of grant work.
The report was 2 weeks late already, and it was just past time to put everything aside and get it done...

Along with teaching my classes, face to face and online, taking care of my family, going away last weekend for a schmoozing weekend with the trustees of our school, getting a stomach virus and finally finishing that dang report, it was nice today to come home a little early, take a nap, take a swim with my youngest and clip my coupons :)


I really missed my "little" binder.

My middle child really got into clipping coupons...I will certainly be taking advantage of her enthusiasm... as long as it lasts.

I'm still sticking with my goal of only buying things I would normally buy...that way even if I don't get the greatest deal, I'm still doing well and saving a little money in the process.

These are the items I scored from CVS and Walgreens my first trip (before I got so upset about Walgreens)...


I did not pay full price for any of these items...I don't have specific numbers for you because of the Walgreens showdown a few days later, but I can tell you that I skipped to my car.


My dream is to stockpile toilet paper...as you can see this package of paper towels and toilet paper didn't even make it to the pantry.  Oy!




My happiest day ever, however, was the day I scored these items for FREE!
No, not from Walgreens!
CVS!!!!!!
CVS is not as picky about how you use your ECB's as Walgreens is about how you use your RR's.
Between coupons, sales, and ECB's from previous purchases, my OOP was nada.

How do you like my coupon lingo?  Don't I sound professional??

I am going to Walgreens either tomorrow or Saturday.
I have my eye on some Suave deoderants...with my coupons and RR's they should only cost me .65 each.
I will have my deoderant for .65 cents!
Just watch me.
;)