My Meijer Deals This Week - Maximizing My mPerks

I haven't really been deal shopping for a couple weeks as I've been stocked up on all our essentials and nothing's really grabbed my attention lately. I suppose the itch to find a deal grabbed me on Sunday though as I was perusing through the ads. CVS had the Jergens lotion my older daughter has been using. It has a bit of a self tanner in it and the girls recently got in a fight over it after the older kid found her younger sister using "her" lotion. So, it was off the CVS where if you spent $20+ on the Jergens products this week, you'd get a $5 ECB and I had $2 coupons for the lotion.

The lotion was $10.99 each and I got a tube for each kid; used my coupons and got my $5 ECB. Not the greatest deal but, hey, I thought I was being a nice mom. Well, imagine my disappointment when I showed the kids the lotion and was informed I "bought the wrong one." Boo. Apparently they use the Jergens Natural Glow "+Firming" that "reduces the appearance of cellulite in as little as 7 days" and is for "medium to tan skin tones." Apparently the ones I got didn't have the "firming" and was for lighter skin tones. Seriously? Can I poke them in the eye with my finger?

Today I decided to return the lotion. I considered exchanging it for the "right" one as I had already received my ECB. Then I perused the new Meijer ad. They had a similar deal but it was "Buy $20+ Jergens and get $5 off instantly." So, same deal but a bit more appealing to me for other reasons...

I had a Meijer personal mPerks reward that was expiring today. My deal was that if you spent $400 over 28 days, you'd get a $9 off coupon loaded to your account. I had until today to spend $45.xx more dollars to get to $400. Originally I was just going to let this one expire and start over tomorrow on accumulating another $400. Not a huge deal for me as I really don't spend that much on groceries anyway. The beauty of the mPerks rewards is that the dollar amount you have to spend is the shelf price of the item. It doesn't count any instant reward or coupon that you may use at checkout. So, in reality, I usually end up only spending about half of the required amount out of pocket. If I bought the Jergens at Meijer it would put me about halfway to $45. Plus, their new ad started today and there were a couple deals I had been eyeballing... and, there were two more mPerks personal rewards that showed up in my account - buy $20+ lotions (and other similar personal care stuff) from Jergens and some other brands, get a $3 off coupon, and buy $10+ Finish, Lysol, and a couple other brands, get a $3 off coupon. You can double dip on the mPerks rewards - meaning what you spend for the specific branded products like Jergens will also count towards your overall spending reward. So, it was off to Meijer to spend $45.

Just as I was leaving the house, it occurred to me that Meijer's prices on health and beauty aids are usually lower than CVS. There was a good chance the lotion I wanted would be less than $10.99 and, if so, I'd have to get another Jergens product to get me over $20. I grabbed some regular lotion coupons to take with me too.

Good thing I did! The Jergens at Meijer was $8.99. I grabbed another lotion that was $3.39. That put my total at $21.37... and I would get $5 off instantly, plus I had two $2 coupons for the Natural Glow and a $1 coupon for the other bottle of Jergens lotion... which would be $11.37 out of pocket, plus I'd get another $3 off coupon. If I hadn't bought the extra lotion I would have paid $17.98 - 2($2)=$13.98 for just the two Natural Glows and not received another $3 off coupon.

To round out my spending...

There's a Buy 6, Get $6 off instantly deal this week. Included are Finish Max in 1 dishwasher tabs for $3.39 (shelf price) and Lysol wipes $1.89 (shelf price). I got 4 Finish and 2 Lysol, got the $6 off, then used 4 ($1 Finish coupons) and 1 ($0.50/2 Lysol coupon).

Innovasian Cuisine frozen rice is on sale for $2.50. I had coupons for $2 off a box. It's a convenience item for me. $0.50 for a box of frozen rice, can't beat that! Got 4 boxes.

Needed a bag of carrots ($1.39) and some hummus ($2.50).

Total:
 $52.60
-   5.00 instant savings Jergens
-   6.00 instant Buy 6 savings
  41.60
-17.50 coupons
  24.10
+  1.94 tax
$26.04

Yup. Never pay full price!

$26.04 for everything in the photo

Earned digital mPerks coupons for $9, $3, and $3 off my next purchase. These can be used together so now I have another $15 to spend at Meijer. Plus, I found out that the Buy $10 on Finish, Lysol, etc. is a reloadable reward, meaning you can do it over again, and the register gave me credit for $17.34 in Finish and Lysol products today so when I checked my account, they had already credited me another $7.34 towards the $10 I needed to spend to get another $3 off coupon.

My original shopping plan had been to do my Meijer shopping tomorrow because there is a 2-day sale Friday and Saturday and you get 5% off groceries and 15% off general merchandise if you use your Meijer credit card. I got a better deal by buying some of my items today and getting my $9 reward.

I'll probably go back tomorrow to buy 2 more Lysol. My out of pocket cost would be $1.28 - 5%, and I'd get another $3 reward. Plus Maxwell House coffee is on sale for $1.99 (as part of the Buy 6 sale) and I have $1 coupons, Swanson's chicken and beef stock are $0.50 a can (and I need some), and I can pick up meat, milk, and veggies, get 5% off, and maximize using my $15 credit. Everything I spend tomorrow will count towards my new $400 overall spending reward. I'll pay off what I put on my Meijer card online as soon as I get home.

As for the Jergens I bought at CVS... I returned them. I tried to give my $5 ECB back too and the manager told me to keep it. :)