Week 99er

Have you tried the new Magnum ice cream bars? We did last Sunday night - we were driving home from my boyfriend's office and decided we wanted something sweet. Now I knew I had a coupon for them at home, but I wasn't going to drive out of the way to pick it up, I figured it was only a 50¢/1 coupon and not worth burning the extra gas. So we stopped at the local 7-11 and grabbed one of them. I should say when we went in I wanted a Snicker's Ice cream bar. We both ended up with a Magnum ice cream bar and let's just say it was delicious.

Tonight my boyfriend decided he wanted something sweet again - I suggested the Magnum bars again and went out to get them. I grabbed my coupons on the way out (they are actually $1/1!) and went happily out the door. But on the way to 7-11 I figured I'd swing in Kroger, which is on the way, and see how much they were. 

So this week we didn't do as much shopping as we have in the past few. Well that's what we told ourselves heading out :) We only had two stops - Target and Meijers. But somehow we took just as long as we do when we marathon shop and we almost had as many bags. So since we only had a couple stops I did the math separately and broke them in separate transactions. 

First: Target

2 Lipton teas (I used a BOGO printable coupon I got offline)
2 Nivea Body Washes (stacked the coupon from the 6/5 insert and a printable Target coupon)
2 Nexcare bandages (stacked the $1/2 coupon from the 6/5 insert and  a printable Target coupon)

Total OOP $2.04
Total MSRP: $16.92

Total Savings of 88% :) 

Then we moved onto Meijers - our biggest stop. Meijers has a 10/$10 with 11th item free sale right now. For the first time couponing I cleared a shelf - not completely, but of the only one flavor. Hamburger Helper has recently announced they wont be doing gluten free meals anymore - I cashed in the rest of my 75¢/3 coupons with their 10/10 11th free deal to snag as many as I could. It's a good quick meal on occasion. 

The list included:
27 boxes of Hamburger Helper (all gluten free)
2 boxes of Special K
6 bags of combos
6 zone bars
4 Nesquick packages
4 method body wash (on clearance)
1 carefree liner 
1 Pert 2 in 1 hair wash (on clearance) + Coupon! :)
2 McQueen body poofs (on clearance)
2 Pom Wonderfuls
2 Honest Teas
10 bottles of Vitamin water
6 boxes of Danimals yogurt pops 
2 Country Crocks
and 2 loafs of Udi's gluten free bread.

Total OOP $60.67
Total MSRP $140.36

total Savings of 57%
A pretty good trip, even if the savings wasn't as good. But really that's more than half off so it was still good! 
 

It's a good thing we had a short list of places to go to - as we were leaving Meijers my phone rang - my boyfriend had (another) tire that was about ready to blow on his car.  We rushed home and put the cold stuff away and I had to get through downtown Detroit (twice) to go pick up my boyfriend from work and get him to class on time. 

As much of a pain as this started out to be, we got up super early and picked up his car and drove it to get new tires. We had to go back when Costco opened to get them to start working on his car. Since I was now his chauffeur, I made him do some shopping with me while we waited for his car to get fixed. 
  

Now my boyfriend might laugh at me sometimes for our couponing trips, my stockpile or the random things that end up in our house because of it - but today he was glad to go in the stores with me. The air conditioning was the main attraction for him - at 6 am when we got up it was almost 80 degrees already. 

Last night while working on Facebook a fan, Lindsey mentioned her Register Rewards from Walgreens. This got me thinking about the stack I acquired last week. After last week's shopping trip I ended up with $17 RR, $10 +UP rewards, and $2 ECB - but I neglected to look at their expiration dates.  When I went back upstairs I checked the dates on all of the rewards - all were for next week sometime. However the RR expire while I'll be out of town next week. My boyfriend suggested taking them with in case we needed drinks or something on our trip- but I didn't want to risk not getting what I wanted. 

So when we left today, I suggested to my boyfriend an alternative for my rewards - a new fan. We have a few around the house, most a few years old. Last year when we went searching for a new one they were all sold out. 

While we waited for the call that the tires were done we ran into Walgreens. I snagged an awesome deal on a fan and cashed in my rain check from last week on deodorant. I had to get a lot of bit of candy for each of the RR for that coupon ratio! 

Walgreen's transaction:
4 degree deodorants
1 16 inch oscillating fan
1 Sobe Water
4 bags of Walgreens gummi worms (2 regular and 2 sour)
2 bags of Walgreens red ropes
1 bag of M&M
1 twix 

Total OOP $4.40 - $1 RR = $3.40
Total MSRP = $57.71

Total Savings 95%
One more trip out to Rite Aid to finally snag those free Seattle's best coffees! I haven't tried them yet, but look forward to it tomorrow morning on my way to the consult. But I sure love the $0.00 total!  

An interesting side note - I wasn't too sure on Kroger's coupon policy, but went with a couple in hand to try to snag some deals. When I came home and researched the local policies I found it online. The policy is pretty standard in Michigan, and they double up coupons that are 50¢ and under. 

But while I was looking it up I came upon the Michigan Coupon Club- I'm going to do a little more looking into this and will get back with more info soon :).

Happy shopping! 

Today was our weekly shopping trip. We were ready early, had one extra stop this week (Walmart - neither of us really enjoy shopping there) and somehow - just somehow we still got back later! 

Take a look at the haul in the back of Jamie's car. It actually continues into the back seat, we had quite the shopping day. After 9 hours of continuous shopping (with a break of course for lunch) we called it quits. We had quite the entertaining day and found some great deals out there. 

My haul today includes: 

• 12 packages of Always Pads
  
• 6 packages of Stayfree pads
  
• 6 Wishbone Dressings
  
• 12 Kraft Dressings
  
• 6 Tabasco Sauces
  
• 1 Corn Starch
  
• 2 Baking Powders
  
• 4 Right Guard Body washes (finally found more!)
  
• 2 Colgate toothbrushes
  
• 1 Colgate ProClincal White
  
• 2 Renpure Shampoo
  
• 2 Renpure Conditioners
  
• 2 Ecotrin
  
• 4 Advil PM 
  
• 1 Glass cleaner & One Lens cleaning cloth *Free at Walmart! 
  
• 1 Pepto Bismo
  
• 8 Johnson & Johnson first aid kits to go
  
• 5 Full size Men's Degree Deodorant
  
• 2 travel size Men's Degree Deodorant
  
• 3 Full size Women's Deodorant
  
• 4 travel size degree deodorant
  
• 2 BC Fast Pain Relieft
  
• 2 Goody's Pain Relief
  
• 4 Old Spice Body Wash
  
• 6 Travel Q-tip packages
  
• 1 Wilkenson Swords Razors 4 pack
  
• 4 Tide detergents
  
• 1 Travel Tide Detergent
  
• 2 Snuggles Fabric Softeners 
  
• 3 Jello Pudding 6 packs (On Sale at Meijers 2/5 - 3rd is free but not a published ad!
  
• 3 Meijers Cream Cheese
  
• 2 Jello Temptations.. I can't wait to try these
  

Total OOP 166.37 - 2 ECB - 17 RR - 9.98 +UP Rewards = 137.39 
Total MSRP = 381.19

Total Savings of 64%! 

Not my best shopping/savings by far, but a lot of great deals along the way. And we get to try some great new products this week! 


Also came home to a box with 10 golf balls in it! Also I recently got an allure cosmetic bag and an Atkins starter kit with book, coupons and bars to try. 

What is the best deal you've found this week? Let me know!

Happy Shopping! 

It's Sunday morning -why am I up so early? Actually I've been up for over three hours, I was convinced I would actually go out and get a couple things before they were all snatched up. Let's just say it didn't work that way! 

My main goal was to hit Walgreen's at 8 am when they opened. Why? Right Guard body wash, I still have a rain check for the BOGO sale from earlier this month, and the ad preview showed the deodorant going on sale BOGO this week. The BOGO coupon expires on Tuesday I wanted to make sure I got the deal I set out to get. When you actually get the ad today you will see that the body wash is back on sale BOGO as well. How often do products go on a buy one get one sale twice in the same month as a bogo coupon? Not very often I'm betting. 

I decided last night in my sleepiness that I was going to try this - get up at 7:45, be to the store by 8, pick up breakfast and come back home. Instead my body woke me up at 6 am. I don't know if this is going to be a routine for my new hobby/habit/obsession. But I liken the feeling to that of Black Friday - Get to the store, get the goods and get out. I love Black Friday shopping, and can't wait to go out and snag those deals - but I digress. 

Despite being exhausted (I still am), by 6:30 I couldn't fall back asleep so I just gave in. Pulled my hair back, tossed on some clothes and kissed by boyfriend on the forehead promising to bring him food on my return. But it's 6:30 am?! None of the 6 close Walgreen's opens until 8 - what the heck am I going to do? I'll see if I can cash in my rain check at Meijers! 

Oh Meijers, you 24 hour haven of all the crazy shoppers, and some of the weirdest employees I know. I like shopping at Meijers, but encounter some of the strangest people every time I go - this time wasn't any different. Some random man singing in the parking lot, people stocking up for their holiday bbq and on their booze at 7 am. I remember (not so) fondly working at Meijers at 17 years old and working until 4 am - that is when the real characters show up. I know I could easily get some of the best deals as the clock rolled over Midnight - they actually honor both weeks deals for the first couple hours - but I was too tired to deal with it. 

My raincheck is for 12 Sweet Baby Ray's products, 6 Dips and 6 Marinades, not a giant haul by any means but I have the coupons and the rain check and I want my products. I could have cashed in the dip portion this morning if I wanted all the same flavor. I can get 6 - can I please have a little variety? I didn't think it was too much to ask. But as you can in the picture above- the shelves are still empty. The marinades are still on sale this week $2.49 instead of $2.79, not a huge deal, but with the $1/1 coupon still a pretty good savings. My hope is that by Tuesday when Jamie and I head out again they have refilled their shelves. The coupon doesn't expire for a while so I can wait if I have to, even knowing I'm not the only one with a rain check. 

I left Meijer's with only a couple things, a new mini-expandable file for my store to store envelopes and a clear pencil pouch to put in my new binder. I switched over to the giant one yesterday - two internal binders that go together and lock. The only downside is there aren't any pockets. I will post pictures soon when I get everything worked out. 

Since Meijers is on the far end of the area I figured I'd hope to the Walgreen's near there just to see if by chance it opened earlier than other locations. It's only 7:15 am.. Apparently I shop faster when everyone else in town is sleeping. No luck. So I drove down towards my favorite one, my favorite cashier is on vacation, but I figured I'd still check them out first. 

Knowing there would be a lot of time left over I stopped at 7-11 and grabbed a drink and a paper. Yes, there no coupon inserts today. However the ads for the stores are in there, Michael's ad is still in there with their coupons and there was a 20% off BB&B coupon in there. In case you didn't know BB&B accepts their coupons after they've expired, indefinitely - I have a bag stuffed with them just in case I need anything from there ... ever. 

I know paper sales are down over all, and I at least hope that couponers are starting to boost sales a bit. Despite the lack of coupons today- maybe pick one up anyhow. Monroe on a Budget has a great reason you should! I was glad I had the paper, I could read a few articles, read the comics, go through the store advertisements while I waited, and waited for the store to open. 

Previously, I had ordered 8 bottles of this body wash now almost 2 weeks ago, and ordered some of the toothpaste I have a rain check on last week -surely the 4 trucks who have come in since then has delivered them? Apparently not. Since the body wash is back on sale BOGO I didn't even bring up the rain check - they only had 3 bottles of which I grabbed 2. I did cash in some of my extra coupons for some of the BOGO deodorant. In the past when I did this deal, and when my favorite cashier is there - BOGO sale + BOGO coupon = free + tax. The manager at the location informed the cashier that the coupon value was only 1/2 of one product. Still a savings of 75% on the products, but frustrating. I didn't want to throw a fight at 7:58 so I just said "OK" and dealt with it - it is a store by store/manager by manager decision, and I didn't have their coupon policy in my hand. 

On the way home I stopped at two other locations, hoping they'd have body wash in so I could finish my coupons off before they expire. No one did. I would think they would order more knowing their upcoming sales? One final attempt on Tuesday while I'm out shopping or I'll cash it in on deodorant... I wonder if they have scentless so I can use it? 

Now as it's going on 10 am, I'm organzing my new expandi-file and will be working on those lists for Tuesday. The household is quiet and sleepy today, he stayed up too late and I got up too early. It looks like it will be a beautiful day though, and I might actually get a few things done. 

One final note - the people buying bbq stuff this morning must live in my neighborhood. I got home at 8:30 this morning to the smell of someone grilling burgers.. I think they're trying to kill me it smells so good! 

The sun is finally shining here - weeks of rain, and storms.. it was wearing thin on all of us. I actually saw some of the city workers doing boring tests in some yards to see how high the water table is... it's pretty bad. My plants love it- and some some are thriving better than they have in past years. Last week on the news they mentioned we're already at 2/3 our yearly rain level! A bit ridiculous but I guess that's how it goes. 

I decided to take advantage of the good weather. I mowed the lawn this morning, and have been stuck working at my desk on updating websites for a while. I love some of the sites I do, but the updates today were patients lost to cancer - it's emotionally draining even if you don't know them. So I needed out of the house. I needed to go see the sun! 

The first part of the trip was out to my UPS box to see what I had in it - not much really, I did have an envelope with the Austrailian Dream arthritic cream samples in it, I suspect those will be going to my grandparents. In the home mail box was the Degree sample and coupons which was a nice surprise! Other than that, no checks, no bills nothing interesting to report. 

I did want to note that I have decided I should probably start using my camera, not just my cell phone. You will probably thank me later :). It is a very nice camera I saved up for, for quite a while. So  the images will be a better quality and a lot less shaky. I will just have to make sure I have super clean counters for the shots ;). 

I figured part of my trip should be stopping to see if the stores had restocked any of the "must have" items I had coupons in my envelope for. Meijer's shelves are still gutted for Sweet Baby Ray's Marinade and Dip, so I ended up getting a rain check (more on that below). They did have a few jars of Salsa, so I did end up getting those. But they are also still out of Sweet Potato Fries! As well as some other key items. 

I did hear on one of the pages that Walmart had Nexcare bandages on sale, and with the coupon from 5/1 it would be a good deal. I stopped by to check it out. I must admit here that I hate shopping at Walmart. The one near us has bad customer service, and is a very stressful shopping experience. But I figured I'd give it a shot. 

Some styles of NexCare bandages are "rolled back" from $1.50 to $1.00. The coupon from 5/1 is $1/2, so they end up being only 50¢ a box. They only had a handful of boxes available, I think 3 total. But then I saw the same product next to it marked $2.36. Same box, same product, same SKU. I grabbed some of them and hoped they were just labeled wrong. I watched as the Cashier scanned them all and each rang up for $1.00. She didn't give me grief for using coupons like I had seen in the past. 

I did end up having to hit Pep Boys for head lights ($30!! ouch! But still less than a ticket) and then stopped at Kroger and had to dig to find one bag of Sweet Potato Fries.. I know, I could wait - but I wanted them as the side with today's dinner. I did have the Free Bag coupon from Ore Ida, so I wanted to give them a try. They are on sale at Kroger this week for $2.99 instead of $4.19, if we end up liking them I may go back and use my $1/1 coupons from 5/22 on a couple more bags. But I have to try them first!

Today's shopping trip -
Total OOP $3.36
Total MSRP $19.17

Total Savings 84%! 

Yes this was a very successful shopping trip.. but I still haven't gotten everything I wanted. I still have outstanding rain checks for Rightguard Body wash, for Colgate ProClinical White and now for the Sweet Baby Ray's dips and marinades. 

I'm not afraid to ask for rain checks, and actually at Meijers the guy was lucky that's all I asked for (I ended up waiting 15 minutes for him to adjust my coupons on UScan because he was too busy socializing). He however did adjust it so I can get the amount I want, and did add on there the BBQ Sauce at the deal price - however without coupons I wont be getting it. 

Rain checks are like money- almost more powerful than Coupons. They extend the life of the weekly deal and allow you to take advantage of the "must have" deal after the fact. I have ordered the body wash so I can get the amount I want - and it should be in later this week, or early next week. I will make sure I get all the items before my coupons expire. 

I make sure to keep all of the rain checks in the "free" category of my binder. The items are not necessarily Free, however, the deals make them darn close! 

I'm off to enjoy a bit more of this fantastic weather, because I doubt it will last long! 

I made my call to MARVIN today - my last call. That's right, I am officially a Week 99er. My last deposit will be made tomorrow and is for only one week's worth of benefits. I have a temporary consulting gig starting this week for one day a week, so I'm not that worried (yet). I'll be honest - it sucks, but it's the reality of the market.  
 

While we were out filling the back of an SUV this was delivered. It's a full case of Similac - shipped.. all for free! Since Coupon Baby is a bit too old for these and we have yet to make the addition to our little family, I will be donating these to a local shelter for their use.  Other than some PetCo coupons, there was nothing good in my mail today - although I didn't make it to the UPS box, so I will find out tomorrow what exactly came. 

I left this morning with my friend and the baby with the goal of spending $100 or less, hands full of envelopes of coupons and lists.. crazy lists. 

This is what I ended up with: 

• 10 Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs
  
• 6 Ball Park Franks
  
• 3 Johnsonville Brats
  
• 2 Sargento Sliced Cheese
  
• 10 Eckerich Sausage
  
• 4 Glade Air Affects
  
• 2 Febreeze Air Sprays
  
• 8 Ajax Dish Soap
  
• 4 Ajax Powder Cleaner
  
• 2 Scrunci Hair Ties (actually BOGO sets, so 4 sets for the price of 2)
  
• 9 Purina One Beyond Cat Foods 
  
• 1 Scrubbing Bubble Foaming Cleaner
  
• 3 Bottles of Purex Detergent
  
• 2 Dove Men's Deodorants
  
• 6 Suave Deodorants
  
• 10 Suave Body Wash
  
• 1 CVS Green Tag (scan your card at the Kiosk for a coupon to make it free!)
  
• 3 Bayer Low Dose
  
• 2 Garnier Fructis hair products
  
• 4 Candy Pieces
  
• 6 Jars of Ragu
  
• 6 bags of Combos
  
• 4 Peanut M&M's
  
• 8 Dole Canned Mandarin Oranges
  

Total OOP $91.50 - $3.00 CVS ECB = $88.50
Total MSRP $326.77 

Total savings of 73%! 

Check out images of the haul below - every item was purchased with coupons, with the exception of the M&M's which were purchased for the sake of the Walgreen's Coupon Ratio.  
 

So what were the best deals we found? 

CVS: 

Suave Body Wash
On sale for $2 each 
Receive $3.00 ECB if you spend $10 in products
Use your BOGO Suave Body Wash Coupon from your 5/22 Paper. I think it was in Unilever insert. 

I got 10 bottles - or $20.00 worth of body wash. When the cashier scanned the BOGO coupon the computer took off the retail value of the body wash so $3.00 x 5 products. 

Total $5.00 - $3.00 ECB = $2.00 or 20¢ each! Amazing deal! 

Also while at CVS can your card at the Red Kiosk. You can keep scanning it until it says "no more coupons for today" Right now it is spitting out a coupon for a FREE Green tag- which you bring in with you and get scanned when you bring in your own bag. Every 4 times you do this you get $1 ECB! Free money and we know we'll be shopping there anyhow! 

Walgreen's: 

Ajax Cleaners 
Walgreen's has in store coupons for Ajax dish soap for 89¢ and Ajax powder cleaner for 99¢ and BOGO! 

Pair these coupons with the $1.00/1 Any Ajax coupon from last weeks insert. If you do this for the Powder Cleaner you get 2 products free. For the Dish soap you get 1 free! 

Scrunci Hair Ties
On sale for $2.00 - and you get a $2.00 RR with purchase. 

Look through the ones still on the rack - there are some BOGO packs- so you get 2 packages for free :) 

Oscar Mayar Hot Dogs
$2.99 BOGO deal. 
Use your $1/2 coupons 
Final cost is $1.99/2 or about $1 each. Not as good as the Ball Park deal below, but still a good deal! 

Meijers:
OK- you've seen my meat haul.. so let's start there

Johnsonville Brats 

On sale for 3/$5 (regularly $3.99 each) 
Use your $1/2 coupon. They break down to just over $1.16 each or 29% of their regular cost! 

Ball Park Hot Dogs
On sale for 98¢ 
Use your 55¢/1 OR $1/2 coupon - get them for around 50¢ a package

Sweet Baby Ray's Dip or Marinade (sold out near us already!)
On sale 5/$5 
Use your $1/1 coupon from Sunday's paper 
FREE

Chichi's Salsa (Sold out near us already!)
On Sale for 99¢
Use your 50¢/1 coupon which will double
FREE

Knorr Rice Sides
On Sale 5/$5
Use your 50¢/2 coupon- Meijers Doubles it to $1.00 
Purchase in sets of 2 :)
Final Cost 50¢ each 

Doll Mandarin Oranges 
On Sale 5/$5 
Use your 50¢/2 Coupon from Sunday - Meijers Doubles it up to $1.00
Purchased in sets of 2
Final cost 50¢ each

Purina One Beyond Cat Food
Cost $2.79
Use the $2/1 coupon from last Sunday insert
Final cost 79¢! 

We looked for a similar deal for dog food - but I think the Cats win in this situation! My girls will be happy since their food was getting low as well. 

I will be making another trip out to Meijers to try to take advantage of the Sweet Baby Rays and Salsa deals - I'm going to wait a day or so until everything gets (hopefully restocked). But otherwise, we got everything on our lists! 

And with a $6.77 lunch at Arby's, I stayed on budget, and snagged some fantastic deals!

How did you do? What good deals have you found?

As I'm getting more into couponing and figuring this out- I'm finding I'm doing a bit better and getting everything worked out before I go. I estimate that I spend about 10 hours doing this a week- with clipping organizing and shopping. Which is definitely worth it with the savings we're seeing. I can't believe the deals you can find out there combining coupons and in store deals.. 

The best deal I found this week was at Walgreens. They currently have Gillette Body wash 3/$10 and you get $3.00 in Register Rewards. I combined this with 3 $2/1 coupons for the body wash which brings the price down to $4.00 for 3 body washes. You can also combine this with the Buy One Gillette Body Wash Get one Gillette Deodorant Free. So 3 Body Wash and 3 Deodorant for $4! And when you subtract the $3 RR it's only $1 for all of it! Talk about a great deal and a great way to stock up! 

This week's haul includes 5 Planters Nut-rition, 2 bags Rold Gold, 5 body wash, 8 deodorants, 3 pantiliners, 5 BBQ sauces, 4 full size tooth pastes, 6 tooth brushes, 5 travel toothpastes, 3 boxes bandages, 1 gauze packet, 1 box Cortaid, 1 Benadryl Spray, 4 laundry detergents, 2 Ore-Ida Crisp boxes, 6 magic tapes, 2 Air Wicks Lasting Impressions kits, and a few bits of candy for that coupon ratio. 

Total out of pocket $58.82 - $13.00 Walgreens Rewards - $4.00 (remaining) Rite Aid +UP Rewards = $41.82. The MSRP is $248.93 for a total savings of 84%! It was quite the haul and a trunk full! 

I also wanted to note that the purchase of the first aid items qualified me for $5.00 +UP Rewards at Rite Aid- as well as provided me with the items needed to send in for a Free First Aid Kit being sent to me! 

After I finally got everything put away and my errands done I checked the mail box and found these waiting for me. GoodNites diapers for my nephew and Texas Pete Hot Sauce, which also has coupons and recipes (triple win!)

I think there are a couple more items I will have to go out for later this week, but this is the a pretty good haul and start to the week.  What have you found out there this week? Any good deals to share?