1st Trip of 3 to CVS is a Moneymaker!

OK, I got this down this week!

First I got out my blog tips, my calculator, my coupons, and lots of scratch paper and worked out some scenarios for CVS this week. I plan 3 trips, which will be easy because its my week for the carpool this week and there are two CVS stores near school.

I started with only .99 ECB from last week, and a $5/$25 CVS coupon. The first thing I did when I got there was scan my card and I got a bonanza of coupons! I received a $1 Quilted Northern 12 pk coupon, which is on sale for $5.99. I think I'll work it into my next trip. I got a $2 off any hand or body lotion which I worked into today's trip. I also got a $4/$20 coupon, which I will save for trip #2 as well. In all, I got about 7 coupons, but I probably won't use the rest.

Here's what I got:

3  Nivea Body Wash at 3/$15
2  Quaker Instant Oatmeal at 2/$5
2 Right Guard Total Defense at $2.49 ea
1 CVS Advance Healing Lotion for .99

I used:

$5/$25 CVS coupon

$4/2 Nivea coupon

$2/1 Nivea coupon

(2) $1 Quaker coupons

$3/2 Right Guard coupon

.99 ECB

I paid $8.46 OOP and got back $11 in ECBs and another $4/$20 coupon!

Here's the breakdown on the ECBs:

Buy 2 Quaker Instant Oatmeal get $2 ECB
Buy $15 in Nivea or Eucerin products get $5 ECBs
Buy one Right Guard or Dry Idea get $2 ECBs limit 3

I can't wait to use my ECBs and coupons tomorrow! Stay tuned...

Before I rushed home to watch the Bear vs. Cowboys, I ran across the street to Vons for their amazing chicken sale. I bought 10 pounds of split chicken breasts at .97/lb, and got a couple more packages of raspberries for $1.99 each.

I multitasked through the first half of the game by marinating and vacuum sealing the chicken for the freezer and making rice pudding for The Alien with leftover rice from last night's dinner. I tried a great chicken recipe I found at MoneySavingMom.  I made more with half of my new chicken and put it in the freezer. Here it is:

Put 5 or 6 split breasts in a freezer bag  with a whole garlic clove.
Mix together 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup honey and pour over the chicken.
Squeeze all air out of the bag and freeze (I use a vacuum sealer)

When you are ready to cook the dish, simply thaw it overnight in the frig then pour the whole thing into your crockpot. Cook on high 4 hours. Delicious with rice and stir-fried veggies. I think next time I'll dump a bag of frozen veggies or even some fresh broccoli or whatever's on sale right in the crockpot during the last hour or so.

The other half I basically made up a Mediterranean marinade for grilling and froze it.

So, stay tuned...tomorrow is trip #2 to CVS and I'm going to rock Wags, too!

Wow! I've got a lot to learn!

It's posts like this that make me feel like a failure! LOL...not really, but I'm gonna learn from this gal!

Wild for Wags

Vons Trip--my percentage is climbing!

I have had a hard time getting my savings much above 50% on grocery store purchases. But today I saved 58%. My drugstore savings are anywhere from 65%-100% but you can't buy meat and produce at Walgreens and CVS!  A few of my grocery store trips were even as low as 38% and I was feeling bummed about it, but since getting back to school and routine, I've been spending more time on my grocery planning.
One thing I noticed today was that there were a lot of GRUMPS at the store! Even the cashier confirmed that she had a lot of crabby people go through her line today. One woman was so rude to me! There was plenty of room for her cart to pass me, but she curtly said, "Would you share the aisle and move over?" I pleasantly said, "Sure, excuse me." She gave me a snotty "Thank you," and I replied my "Your welcome," as cheerfully as possible. A little while later I saw her be mean to a young mom with a little one in tow. I saw she was visibly shaken, so I assured her that she was polite enough and that lady must have been having a bad day. Then there was the man at the deli insisting the workers drop everything for him because he had to get to work! Oh my.

Today's best deals were FREE Campbell's soups (including broth for cooking). I used eCoupons from Shortcut$.com combined with printable coupons from Campbell's Facebook page. The soups were on sale for $1 each, and my eCoupons were $1.50 off 3 (2 coupons, one for "cooking soups" and one for any condensed soup except chicken noodle, tomato or "cooking"), and my two printables were the same. So I got 6 cans for free!  Another promo going on now is that with any 5 you get 100 bonus points from Labels for Education, so our school got a little something too (and I cut the labels off the cans for the school).

Split chicken breasts and huge t-bone steaks (each one enough for 2 people!) were on sale CHEAP. There were some great produce prices on seedless grapes (any color .88/lb) 5 lb sacks of potatoes for .88, strawberries at 1.50, raspberries at 1.99, gala apples for .59/lb, tomatoes for .99/lb and corn for .33/ear. 

I also picked up cheap orange juice ($2/64 oz), butter ($2.49) and Arm & Hammer laundry detergent ( only $1.49 after coupons!) Last week the store was sold out of Safeway 100% whole wheat bread, which was on an ad coupon deal for only $1.19. I had my coupon stamped at the store, and was able to use it today. I can't get bread that cheap at the outlet store, and it's even 100% whole wheat!

Finally, Rosarita beans of every variety are on sale for $1/can this week. I couldn't find a coupon, so I wasn't going to get any, but they have a promo going on now that when you buy 2 cans you get a free package of Mission tortillas. I threw them in the freezer to make quesadillas one of these days with some of the cheese I have stockpiled in there.

So I guess I did alright. I put the chicken breasts in a vacuum bag with marinade and I'll throw them in the crockpot in the morning. I have a day filled with chores and errands, and my daughter's boyfriend will be over for dinner, so now I'll have something to serve for dinner with minimal effort.

My lists for Wags and CVS are all made out for next week. I spent a long time this morning pouring over the blogs and printing and clipping coupons. I'm sure I'll tweak them a bit as more info comes out on the blogs. I'm going to try to pay more attention to the deal scenarios on a few of the blogs, such as Wild for Wags and Chief Family Officer to limit my OOP expense. I KNOW I can do better. I haven't got the hang of buying things I don't need in order to save bigger and get more of what I do need for free, but I'm determined to learn and make the Drugstore Game work overtime for me!

:-)

Wags and CVS

I gotta say that planning my shopping list, finding the cheapest and free deals, and signing up for all kinds of freebies has helped keep my focus off my recent troubles! It's actually a fun hobby!

Today, while we waited for The Alien's car to be serviced, he and I walked to Wags. I scored big, with two transactions. First I bought a 6.8 oz bottle of Impruv lotion, regularly priced at $9.99, on sale for $4.99. I used a $2.00 coupon and got $4 RR back! I made a dollar!  My second transaction was for 4 boxes of Ziploc bags, 3 boxes of Splenda, and a box of Playtex Sport Tampons. I used manufacturer coupons for all items, Wags coupons for the Splenda and tampons, $4 in RRs and the bags were on sale. I basically got the tampons for free, the Splenda for 1.99 a box, and the Ziplocs for $1.25 each for 120 bags. My total OOP was $13. Just the lotion and one box of Ziplocs would have cost more than that! Oh, and I actually bought the Splenda for a friend, who paid me back the $6, so I actually only spent $7 of my own cash.

Later on I went to CVS where I spent a bit more money. However, I got some deals. Treklet likes Spaghetti Tacos (Thanks iCarly) which I indulge her in once in a while. Spaghettios were on sale and I had coupons, so I paid just .75 a can for 4 cans.  Skintimate Shaving Gel was $3.99 minus a .75 coupon, and I got $3 ECB back, so I paid just .24. The big splurge was on Maybelline Falsies Mascara. I tried some on a sale a few weeks ago and liked it, and my daughter wanted some, too. I had 3 coupons for $1 off, and $6 ECBs to spend, so I bought 3 of them at $7.49 each. I also had a 20% off entire order coupon. I got $3 ECBs back after paying $15.58 (minus my ECBs), making the mascaras $5.19 each. My total OOP for this trip was $22.30 (yikes!) but I got $6 ECBs back and a pile of coupons.

I will try to make another CVS run soon. The store I went to was out of the Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies that are on sale for $1. I have 2 coupons for $1 off, and I want free cookies! Candy corn is also free with ECBs, and I have a cute Thanksgiving turkey craft I want to make with it.

It must be Hormel week!

I got some great deals at Vons last night. I'm actually dividing my shopping into two visits, because I have two different Vons ads, each with a Vons Coupon for Hormel Black Label Bacon for $3.99 with minimum $10 purchase, limit four. So if I make two trips I can get eight pounds total. I also have eight $1/1 manufacturer coupons! Bacon is at a premium right now, with the regular price at around $7.99/lb. so this is a steal!


I also got boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the meat case for $1.97/lb. I'll pick up another tray today. I plan to cook them up on the grill, slice, and freeze them so I will have it on hand for recipes and salads.


A few other great deals included large jars of Ragu for .50 each, baby carrots for $1.00/lb, and Del Monte veggies for .79.

Today's trip is going to include some cheap bread, yogurt and more bacon!

Captain Kirk Loves Me

I had a horrible week and to cheer me up my friend April in Las Vegas sent me a present! What a surprise to see Captain Kirk in my mailbox today!

He's "The Trouble With Tribbles" Kirk from Amazon.com. He is fully poseable, comes with his command chair and a bag full of little tribbles. Pressing buttons on the chair results in Kirk's voice saying several lines from the show, including the prologue, and sound effects.

I have such wonderful Tweeps! I love Captain Kirk, and he loves. me.

Last Week's Best Deals

Last weeks best deals:

First stop CVS. I got a Schick Hydro Razor, Hydro shaving cream and 2 bags of Lifesavers hard candies for the birthday party goodie buckets for $3.38 OOP with $6 in ECBs to spend next time! I made money there! I should mention that I had $5 ECB from the day before, when I bought Excedrin Menstrual Relief for $6.99, minus a $1 coupon, for a net cost of .99.

Next up, Walgreens. The helpful clerk let me do two transactions, in order to maximize my RRs.
I ended up paying $7.72 OOP for 2 boxes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, 2 cans Lindsay Olives, 3 6-oz bags of Purina One Dog Food, an 8 oz pkg of cream cheese, and a large bottle of
St. Ives Body Wash with $2 RR returned to me, for a net cost of$5.72. My dogs will get 3 meals each for free!

Then I headed over to Michaels where I used a 40% off coupon to buy a birthday present for Treklet's friend. I paid $9.40 for a Bead Pets Kit, which makes 10 bead pets, and a color-your-own 2011 kid's calendar.