Rebate Apps - Is It Worth It?

 

How much did I pay for everything in the photo?

This is an exercise I do with myself every now and then - mostly because it's weirdly fun for me but also to make sure I'm not wasting my money...

I've said this lots of times before but I'll say it again. You don't save money by getting deals on things you don't use. I generally don't buy stuff I don't need or use, UNLESS I get paid to take it out of the store or I have fake store money I need to roll as it's use it or lose it at that point.

Admittedly, this was mostly a snack food run, however, there's some real food in there too and free snacks free up real money for real food.

This weekend Ibotta (IB) presented me with two enticing bonus opportunities.

I had a Weekend Warrior Bonus of $5.00 for completing 15 offers between Thursday 10/12/23 and Sunday 10/15/23, and I had an overlapping Spooking Savings Bonus of $5.00 for completing 17 offers between Thursday 10/12/23 and Tuesday 10/17/23. What that meant was that if I completed 17 offers by Sunday I would get both bonuses; $10 total. I thought that might be worth a look. Here's how it panned out.

Thursday 10/12/23

KROGER #1

Crunch Master Avocado Toast 1.49, IB 0.75 back on each

- Crunch Master is included in the Mega Deal this week where you get $2 off each item when you buy 3 participating items. Sale price if you buy it by itself is 3.49.

Finish Ultimate Dish Pods 28 ct 9.99 + tax, IB 6.00

- This is also a Mega sale item.

(3) Classico pasta sauces @ 1.49 each, IB gave back 0.55 on each, plus a 1.00 bonus for buying 3

TOTAL paid: 16.65

IB rebates: 9.40

Received credit for 3 offers as multiples of the same offer on one receipt only count as one offer.

*I should note that with this transaction, as well as many of the other transaction listed, I purchased other items but I am only listing the rebate items I purchased.

KROGER #2

(1) Keebler Sandies 1.49

(4) Keebler E.L. Fudge @ 1.49 each

IB was suppose to give me 1.25 for the Sandies but it also picked up two of the E.L. Fudge too and gave me back 3.75 total.

I got the E. L. Fudge because Swagbucks (SB) was giving back 1.50 on every (2) E. L. Fudge so I got back 3.00 from Swagbucks.

TOTAL paid: 7.45

IB rebates: 3.75

SB rebates: 3.00

Received credit for 1 IB offer.

TARGET

I had an "any receipt" offer on IB for 0.20 so I scanned a Target receipt from the previous day and received credit for another offer. You can scan receipts up to 7 days old on IB.

I have now completed 5 IB offers.

Friday 10/13/23

KROGER

(3) Crunch Master Avocado Toast @ 1.49 each, IB 0.75 x 3

I really like the Crunch Master crackers so I pick them up every time there is a deal on them. I had a Catalina coupon print for $2 off 3 when I purchased the Crunch Master the previous day so I used it on this transaction. I then had another coupon print for $3 off 4 Crunch Master after I paid. IB offers usually reset in 24 hours if they are going to reset. The Crunch Master reset so I was happy. I was really hoping the Finish Ultimate would reset too but it did not.

TOTAL paid after coupon: 2.47

IB rebates: 2.25

Received credit for 1 IB offer.

WALGREENS

(2) Kinder Joy Eggs on sale 2 for $4 + tax

IB gave back 0.50 on each.

SB gave back 4.00 for 2.

TOTAL paid: 4.28

IB rebate: 1.00

SB rebate: 4.00

Received credit for 1 IB offer.

WALMART

(2) Nissin Chow Mein Noodles @ 1.42 each

IB gave back 0.50 when you buy 2.

(2) Nissin Cup Noodles @ 1/12 each

IB gave back 0.50 when you buy 2.

TOTAL paid: 5.08

IB rebate: 1.00

Received credit for 2 IB offers.

MEIJER

(3) Purina Beggin Strips dog treats @ 3.69 each + tax

IB gave back 1.00 on each.

Shopmium app gave back 6.99 when you buy 3.

SB gave back 6.99 when you buy 3.

Good Measure almond butter & blueberry bars 4.99

Shopmium gave back 6.00. I wanted to try these and since I was getting paid to buy it, I bought them!

TOTAL paid: 16.68

IB rebate: 3.00

Shopmium rebate: 12.99

SB rebate: 6.99

Received credit for 1 IB offer.

I am now up to 10 IB offers.

Saturday 10/14/23

KROGER #1

(3) Crunch Master Avocado Toast @ 1.49

(1) Crunch Master Multi-Seed @ 1.49

YUP! The Crunch Master offer rest again and I was back with my $3 off 4 coupon. Unfortunately there were only 3 bags of the Avocado flavor left on the shelf - because if there had been 4, then this transaction would have ended up being free. The Multi-Seed flavor though was giving back 0.50 a bag and I got credit for another offer this way so it worked out. And, another coupon for $3 off 4 Crunch Master printed out.

TOTAL paid after coupon: 2.96

IB rebate: 2.75

Received credit for 2 IB offers.

KROGER #2

(2) Two Good Smoothies @ 1.50 each

IB gave back 1.50 when you buy 2.

Kroger Cash Back (KCB) gave back 1.50 when you buy 2.

(5) Lala Fruit & Crema Desserts @ 1.79 each

IB gave back 1.00 on each

KCB gave back 1.00 on each

TOTAL paid: 11.95

IB rebate: 6.50

KCB: 6.50

Received credit for 2 IB offers.

MEIJER

Stouffers Broccoli Cheddar Pasta Bake  4.99, IB 2.00

(2) Magnum 3ct ice cream bars @ 5.49 each, IB 1.00 each

Fetch gave me 2000 points (2.00) for 2 boxes of the Magnum bars

- I had a Meijer digital coupon for Buy One Get One Free for the Magnum bars

0.10 IB credit for "any frozen meal"

TOTAL paid after coupon: 10.48

IB rebate: 4.10

Fetch rebate: 2.00

Received credit for 3 IB offers.

YAY! Got my 17 offers done so another $10 from IB.

SUMMARY

Total out of pocket: 78.00

IB rebates: 43.95

SB rebates: 13.99

Shopmium rebates: 12.99

Fetch rebate: 2.00

KCB rebate: 6.50

TOTAL AFTER REBATES: -1.43

So there you have it. I GOT PAID $1.43 to take all this out of the store.

If I had ONLY used the Ibotta app, I would have paid $34.05 for all 37 items, or an average of 0.92 an item. There's not a single item in the photo that costs less than a dollar. 

Yes, I ran to Kroger 3 days in a row as well as a bunch of other stores. However, I had other errands to run the last couple days so everything was on my way and all my stores are literally right next to each other on the same strip of road so I didn't run all over town to do this. In other words, it works for me. Plus, I enjoy doing this when I'm in the mood to do this. When I'm not in the mood... well I have plenty of stuff stockpiled so I don't have to leave the house! It's a win - win in my book.

All of these rebate apps have several redemption options, but I stick with cash or cash equivalents.

My Ibotta rebates get cashed out straight into my bank account.

My Swagbucks rebates get cashed out for $25 VISA gift cards and SB gives you a 13% discount once a month, meaning you only need $21.75 for a $25 gift card.

Shopmium goes straight to PayPal which then goes straight into my bank account.

Fetch gets cashed out for Kroger or Target gift cards.

Kroger Cash Back gets cashed out to PayPal which then goes straight into my bank account.

ALWAYS cash out as soon as you meet the minimum cash out threshold because it's not really your money until it's REALLY your money.

Hope you enjoyed shopping with me this weekend! 

Day of All Trades

It was an all trades kind of day for me today...

1. Physical Therapy Appointment

I almost canceled. The therapist I had been going to in August isn't a runner so he handed me off to someone who is and scheduled me for a gait assessment. I showed up for it 2 weeks ago and found out they had sent me to the wrong office so they had to reschedule it and I haven't seen anyone in 2 weeks. And, in those two weeks, I decided to stop running. So... I almost canceled. However, I got so busy I forgot to cancel. I had to leave the house at 7:30 am for my appointment in Bloomington (grumble, grumble) and decided I was going to tell the therapist today that I was going to cancel my other future appointments.

The appointment went like one of those runs that you don't feel like doing, but in the end you're really glad you did. My new therapist had me run outside while she videotaped me. We then went inside and went over the tape, frame by frame. She taped me from the front, back, and both sides and was able to point out my weak areas... something my other therapist hadn't been able to do as well. She figured out that my hip flexors are tight so I use my lower back to extend my back leg. I also hold my arms out too far to the side so I have too much rotation with my upper body. I got three more exercises to do at home and, basically, got excited about running again.

Looks like I'll be keeping my appointment next week.

2. Shopping

I raced back up to Greenwood and hit the Meijer store. They have a mPerks coupon for today and tomorrow where you get $5 instantly off a $50 total purchase. I stacked this with some other deals and coupons to make the most of it. Bought...

8 cans of Maxwell House coffee
$2.99 each but you get $8 off instantly when you buy 8.

(2) 45-count boxes Hefty tall kitchen trash bags.
$6.99 each but you get $2 off instantly when you buy 2 plus I had (2) $1.25 off coupons.

Bought 22 items in their 10 for $10, get the 11th item free deal:
6 bags of Chex Mix
4 bags of Bugles
1 package of bologna
(2) 4-ct packs of Hawaiian rolls
1 loaf of wheat bread
1 can of white beans
2 rolls of cinnamon rolls
2 packages of mushrooms
1 bottle of orange juice
2 packages of Lunchmakers
Used (5) $0.50 off 2 coupons for the Chex Mix and Bugles and one $1 off 2 coupon for the cinnamon rolls

I thought I needed $2.10 more to get to $50 so I threw in a box of fruit roll-ups that my daughter had requested that were $2.19. I don't know what the register was counting towards the $50 threshold though because it subtracted my $5 while I was scanning my last few $1 items. In any case, I can't complain.

Total after instant savings and coupons was $39.98 for all this...

Mostly I wanted the coffee and trash bags. The snacks were a nice bonus as the kids constantly need bags of snacks to bring to school. The Chex Mix and Bugles normally run $2.19 a bag and I got it for $0.75 this week.

3. Work

I raced back down to Martinsville and worked today... for 3 hours.
One of my co-workers had a funeral to attend and there was no one to cover her 12 hour shift. In Emergency Medicine you can't just NOT have someone at work. You can't close the office. Someone HAS to be there. We ended up having 4 people split the shift to cover it as there was no one person that could cover all 12 hours due to everyone having other obligations but SOMEONE had to be there.

I worked from 1 pm to 4 pm. There were 3 patients in the whole department at 1 pm. It took all of 30 minutes for the whole department to fill up. That's what happens when I work. Crap magnet indeed. By 4 pm the whole place was still full plus there was a waiting room full of people. I handed everything off to the next doc at 4 and ran out the door. Sorry?!

4. Mom Taxi

I raced back home again so I could feed my older daughter and get her back to the school by 5 pm. She cheered at the home football game tonight. Game started at 7 pm. I had every intention of going but my husband is still out of town (I've been single parenting it all week) and my other daughter wasn't too sure she wanted to go to the game.

I laid down on the couch for a minute... and fell asleep. Like deep deep sleep...
Woke up at 7.
G - "Are we going to the game?"
Me - "Do you want to go?" (as I'm perfectly comfortable right now)
G - "How 'bout we go out to eat instead."
We went out to eat instead. Got home and watched the last half of the game online. I love that it's webcasted. Went and picked up my older daughter when it was over. She was ravenous again so we went and got more food.

5. Me Time?

Well, it's 11:20 pm now and I suppose #1 and #2 count as "me time." I'd like to crochet but I have to get up at 7 am tomorrow to go to work again. Maybe tomorrow...

P.S. I just found out that my younger daughter ate the entire box of fruit roll ups while I was asleep!

My Day Off... CVS shopping and more

I have worked 6 out of the last 7 days. Today is my day off. I need a mental health day...

6 am. Alarm goes off. I'm thankful I didn't have to get up at 4:30 am.
7 am. Kids are off to school.

I should really clean the bathroom...

Oops. I fell asleep.

8 am. Drink some coffee and do some catching up on the internet. Facebook and emails.
Must... get...off...

First load of laundry goes in.

Balance my checkbook and pay all my bills. Make sure all the money is in all the right places for the month. Last month when I did this, I discovered I got shorted 36 hours on my last paycheck. That's a freakin' lot of money! It's a pain making sure everything is where it should be but I'm glad I did it.

Next load of laundry goes in.

I should really clean the bathroom...

12 pm. Where did my morning go? Back on the internet while eating lunch. Check all my deal sites and decide that there's nothing great next week so I might as well do my shopping this week.

Empty the dishwasher. Fill the dishwasher... and I'm off to CVS.

Here's my CVS shopping summary for the week. I didn't buy all this today. The first two transactions were Monday and Tuesday. I started the week with a $10 CVS Cash Card (like a gift card).

1. Bought one bottle of Complete contact lens solution (for the kids).
    Sale price$ 7.99 - $2 CVS coupon - $1 manufacturer's coupon = $4.99
    Paid with my Cash Card and got a $3 Extra Care Buck (ECB)

2. Bought 2 gallons of milk at $2.99 each
    Paid with the $3 ECB, rest with the Cash Card, got a $2 ECB

3. Bought 4 bags of Lancaster caramels at $3.00 each
                 3 6-packs of snack size Reese's cups at $0.99 each
                 1 18-pack of Scott toilet paper at $6.99
   Used 4 $1 Lancaster coupons, $1 Scott coupon, $2 ECB and balance of my Cash Card
   Paid $15.03 and got a $3 ECB

4. Bought 3 18-packs of Scott toilet paper at $6.99 each
                 2 10-oz bottles of Palmolive dish soap at $0.99 each
    Used 3 $1 Scott coupons, 2 $0.50 Palmolive coupons, and the $3 ECB
    Paid $17.56 and got a $10 Cash Card

So...

$32.59 for everything in the picture + I got a $10 Cash Card

I like the Cash Card deals because the Cash Card is just like a gift card and doesn't expire, unlike the ECBs that expire in one month.

2 pm. Back home. Gotta take a picture. The kids think I'm weird when I do this. OK, so it probably is but hey, all the peeps on my coupon forum do it too. We call it "stockpile porn." It's fun to look at everyone's deals. Plus, this blog is like my diary and I like to see what I've paid for for stuff.

Now to go hide the candy from the children with the hollow legs... they will eat a pack a night if I leave it out in plain sight!

So now an interesting factoid about the Lancaster caramels...
I eat them on my long runs. They are not packed full of electrolytes but they have calories, carbs, and fat. Each one has 27 calories, 4.25 g of carbs, and a gram of fat. I can eat 5 of them after an hour of running for 135 calories, 21.25 g of carbs and 5 g of fat... and they're tasty!

I really should clean the bathroom...
Instead, I pick up my crochet and doze off.

3:15 pm. Kid #1 is home. She's ravenous and I have to cook some food.
4:15 pm. Pick up kid #2. Take her to the mall as she has no warm clothes to wear to school.
6 pm. Done at the mall. Now at the post office picking up a package for my husband.

Finish the laundry and make dinner for me and kid #2.

7:30 pm. Kid #1 went back to school while we were at the mall. Now I have to go pick her back up.

8 pm. Clean the kitchen and make my grocery list for tomorrow.

9 pm. Back online. Where did the time go? I would really like to kick back and crochet some more.

Plus... I really should clean the bathroom...
  

Stocking Up

Couponing. It's all about keeping up with the deals. It's a time sensitive endeavor and I've been so busy lately that I've just been living off the stockpile... which is nice to do, as long as you have a stockpile.

I realized this weekend that I was bringing up my last 6-pack of paper towels from the basement. Wake up time! Time to get a little more serious about finding the deals or, God forbid, I might have to pay full price for something!

So here are my deals so far this week...

A year supply of laundry detergent... $12.24

 

 

My husband claims that Arm and Hammer liquid laundry detergent is the only detergent that won't break him out (he's the sensitive kind) so that's the only kind I buy. It used to be, back when everybody doubled coupons, the detergent would go on sale for $2 and there would be a $0.50 coupon out that doubled so I paid $1 a bottle. Those days are long gone...

 

Most stores have the Arm and Hammer on sale for $2.99 this week. There is a coupon that came out on Sunday (also online) for $2 off 2 bottles. Meijer also had a promo this week where you got $5 off instantly for a $20+ laundry detergent purchase. Plus, I have an offer in my mPerks account where I can earn $6 if I spend $35 on laundry detergent, paper, or cleaning products.

 

So, 8 bottles of detergent. 75oz each, good for 50 loads, that's a year supply and more in my house.

8 X $2.99 = $23.92

                    - $5 instant savings = $18.92 + tax = $20.24

                                                                                 - 4($2off 2 coupons) = $12.24

 

That comes to $1.53 a bottle. Not $1 but I don't think I'll ever see that price again so this was a stock up price for me. The full rip retail price for this detergent at Meijer is $4.99 a bottle.

 

The mPerks offer is a running total and they count the price before coupons so I got credit for a $24 purchase. When I spend $11 more in that category I will get a $6 coupon good for my next purchase on anything in the store.

On to Walgreens for my next deal...
Through Tuesday, there was an offer for 5000 bonus Balance Rewards points if you made a $25 purchase in a single transaction. That's $25 before coupons (yeah!) I stacked that offer with some sales:
1. (2) 6-packs of Scott paper towels
    2 for $9, earn 2000 Balance Rewards points for purchase when you buy 2
    I used (2) $0.75 off coupons
2. (2) Brookside chocolate bags
    2 for $6, earn 1000 Balance Rewards points for purchase when you buy 2
     I used (2) $1 off coupons
3. (3) Colgate Enamel Health toothpastes
    $3.49 each, earn 3000 Balance Rewards points for purchase when you buy 3
     I used (3) $2 off coupons

So, total before coupons... $25.47, got my 5000 Balance Rewards points.
Total after coupons: $15.97 + 1.78 tax = $17.75
Earned 11000 total Balance Rewards points for my purchase.
1000 points = $1, so I essentially earned $11 in fake Walgreens money to use on my next purchase.

The good thing about Balance Rewards points is that they don't expire so it's essentially like having a gift card. The bad thing about Balance Rewards points is that you can only use them in $5, $10, $20, $35 and $50 increments. You also get a better deal when you spend a larger dollar value as 5000 points is $5 and 10000 points is $10, but then it goes 18000 points for $20, 30000 for $35, and 40000 points for $50. The other bad thing about Balance Rewards points is that you cannot earn Balance Reward points on items that you buy with Balance Rewards points... so if I had used points I had previously earned on this transaction, I would not have earned any points. Not all store items will get you points so you just spend points on things that don't earn points.

Paid $17.75. Earned $11 in Balance Rewards points.

 

 

The new grocery ad comes out tomorrow. Meijer is having a deal on Friday and Saturday where you get $5 off instantly on a $50+ purchase so I'll probably do a Meijer trip on Friday morning.

 

CVS is running another gift card deal this week so I'll probably stock up on some more paper products there this week. I'll post an update after those trips.

 

Anyone else got a deal this week?

It's Baaack!! CVS Diet Coke Deal

Confession: I did not do a trail run this morning. It started pouring rain overnight and it was still spitting rain when my alarm went off at 6 am. I didn't feel like doing a mud run so I rolled over in bed and listened to the raindrops instead.

What I did do was get some CVS shopping in.

So here's the down and dirty for those that do not have coupons and want a great deal. All you need is a CVS ExtraCare card.

Coke products are part of the "Buy $30, Get a $10 Gas Card" deal this week.
Coke product 12-packs are on sale 4 for $12 this week, only if you buy them 4 at a time.
Buy 4 for $12 + tax and you will get $20 credit towards the $30 needed for the gas card deal.
So...

1. Buy 4 Coke 12-packs. Get a $20 gas card credit.
2. Go to another CVS. Buy 4 Coke 12-packs. Earn a $10 gas card and get a $10 credit rolled over for your next gas card.
3. Go to a 3rd CVS. Buy 4 Coke 12-packs. Get another $10 gas card.

End result: You own 12 12-packs of Coke products. You paid $36 + tax. You have $20 in gas cards.

Rumor has it the gas card deal is a June monthly deal with a limit of 6 gas cards.

Of course I had to make it more complicated...

There is another June monthly deal at CVS on Ban (deodorant) products. It's "Buy 2 Ban products, get a $4 ExtraCare Buck (ECB)." Last weekend there were insert coupons for $2 off the Ban cooling cloths. The cooling clothes are $3.59 at CVS. So, buy 2 for 7.18, use 2 coupons, pay 3.18, get a $4 ECB. So essentially you are getting free cooling cloths and making a small profit in fake CVS money.

Initially, I wasn't going to do this because I don't buy things that I don't use. Then, I figured out these would be great to have in my car to wipe down with after my runs when I'm out at the state park or at a race. I had 4 coupons so I did the deal twice and ended up with 2 $4 ECBs plus my 4 packs of cooling cloths.

free cooling cloths

 

The monthly limit on this deal is 6. I only did it twice because I only buy 4 newspapers a week. Plus, as soon as this deal came out last week, all the couponers pretty much cleared the shelf at CVS. Even if I got more coupons this month, there is no product left on the shelf... I know, I checked this morning!

 

So here was my plan...

I had 2 $4 ECBs. I also had 2 $3 off $15 CVS coupons.

 

Store #1: Buy 4 Diet Coke 12 packs ($12). I needed to spend $3 more to use the $3 off $15 coupon. I figured I was up to $12 all ready and the $3 would just be free money. I looked for more Ban but the shelves were still empty so I threw in a 3-pack of Orbit gum.

 



Used the $4 ECB and $3 off $15 coupon, paid $8.84.

What was interesting was what printed at the bottom of my receipt.

I was expecting a $20 gas card credit. Instead, I got a $29 credit. All I could figure was that the Coke was getting a bigger than $20 credit. I ran back inside and bought a bottle of Ajax for $0.99. This was part of the deal too and CVS deals will payout at 98% (meaning you only need to spend 98% of the amount you are suppose to attain - so I just needed $29.40 total for a gas card).

So Ajax got credited and I got my $10 gas card. Now I'm thinking "Holy crap! This is a better deal than I thought. I just spent $9.90 total for 4 12-packs, a 3 pack of gum, a bottle of Ajax, and got a $10 gas card!"

 

So now this is where I got into a little trouble. I deviated from my original plan of just buying Diet Cokes because I thought I was going to end up with a crazy deal...

 

Had I just done Diet Coke 12 packs and just used my 2 $4 ECBs, I would have ended up with 12 12-packs for $28 and $20 in gas cards. But noooo...

 

Store #2: I did figure out in the parking lot that the Orbit was counting towards the gas card deal too so that was part of why my credit was $29 for my first transaction. Still, that meant I got $26 for the Diet Cokes... Well, I did the exact same products again and used the same two coupons again but just did it in one transaction.

 



Except this time, I didn't get the same amount credited like I did at the first CVS and ended up $6.02 short.

Well crap! I guess that's what I get for being greedy. Now I had to spend another $6 for my next gas card. I was still going to end up spending less than $28 for 2 gas cards but I wasn't getting all my Coke products either because I just needed $6 more and I didn't want to spend $12.

Store #3. Bought an 18-pack of Scott toilet paper that was part of the deal for $6.99 minus a $0.75 coupon.

...and got my second $10 gas card.

So, spent $26.53 for all this...

 

                                                                               ...and got 2 $10 gas cards.

 

 

Yup. This is why I coupon. I love to play the game.

 

Could I do some more deals this week? Sure. The gas card limit for the month is 6. Will I? Probably not. I'm set on Diet Cokes for awhile. All my 12-packs expire in August. Diet soft drinks don't keep very well past their expiration dates - they start going flat. There should be some Labor Day deals by then. I am not a reseller. I just buy what I think my family will consume so I think I'm good for now!

 

Have you found any good deals this week?

 

P.S. OK. I have to share another story that I read on one of my coupon forums...

 

Last month, CVS had a monthly deal that involved buying bars of Neutrogena soap and earning ECBs. I didn't do the deal so I don't know all the details but, essentially, it was kinda like the Ban deal this month - use coupons and get the Neutrogena free plus make a profit in ECBs. I think the "profit" was a buck or two. Of course all the bars of Neutrogena soap sold out the first week. Well, some woman got caught bringing in her own bars of Neutrogena soap and rebuying them! OMG! Are you kidding me?

 

G'night now!

 

***UPDATE*** I found out where the extra $6 credit from my first transaction came from. Last week there was a gas card deal that I didn't do but Lancaster caramels were included in the deal. I purchased 2 bags because I had coupons and got them for $0.50 a bag... but they gave me a $6 gas card credit... which carried over to this week because the gas card deal is a June monthly deal. 

NOT a Morning Person

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm NOT A MORNING PERSON!

I set my alarm for 4:20 am today with every intention of getting up so I could go run with the group that runs at 5am at my fitness center. I figured if I did that, I could get my 10 miles in before I had to get the kids to school. NOT!

Alarm went off. I shut it off and rolled over... and that's all she wrote. I got up in time to take G to school at 8:45 am.

Next on the agenda was getting rid of some of J's unwanted clothing.

All of this went to Goodwill this morning

 

Then it was off to Meijer for a little shopping.

 

First transaction - I used this Catalina (the machine next to the register that spits out coupons) coupon to get a $50 Meijer gift card.

 

$50 gift card for $45 - it's like $5 free money

 

I then used the gift card I had just purchased to buy everything else.

 

Second transaction - Oscar Mayer has a deal going on where if you buy 5 packages of lunch meat, a Catalina coupon will print for $4 off your next purchase. Meijer has some of the Oscar Mayer lunch meat on sale for $1 this week. Ziplock has a deal going on where if you buy 4 Ziplock products a Catalina coupon will print for $2 off your next purchase. Meijer has their own promotion going on this week where the register will automatically deduct $2 when you buy 3 Ziplock products. I also had coupons for $1 off 2 Ziplock products.

 

I bought 5 packages of Oscar Mayer Cotti Salami and 4 boxes of quart size Ziplock bags. Paid $11.55 and got these two coupons...

 





Third transaction - 6 count boxes of Kashi granola bars are on sale this week, buy 3 boxes, get 1 box free. The advertised price was 3 for $9, however I found that my favorite ones were actually clearance priced at $2.30 I also had coupons for $2 off 3 boxes. The clearance boxes would not automatically give me the 4th box free at the register but the cashier did an override since both their print ad and their shelf tag said "buy 3 get 1 free." I got 8 boxes. Also picked up 4 lbs of ground chuck at $2.59 a pound and used a Catalina coupon for $1.50 off a $10 meat purchase. Plus, there is an mPerks promo for this weekend (that started today) where members get 5% off grocery purchases and I picked this transaction to use the 5% off. Paid $11.19 for this transaction.

$22.74 for everything pictured (regular price was $60.32)

Ended up with:
4 boxes of 30-count quart size Ziplock bags
5 packages of Oscar Mayer Cotti Salami
8 boxes of 6-count Kashi bars
4 lbs ground chuck

I really like the Kashi bars. I recognize everything on their ingredient list. The Dark Chocolate Coconut bars have 4g protein, 21g carbs and 120 calories per bar. The Dark Mocha Almond ones have 6g protein, 21g carbs and 130 calories per bar. They're handy to have around when I feel like chewing my arm off.

So I said I would run 10 miles. Now I had to run 10 miles. Of course the kids came home. Afternoon turned to evening... I ended up hamster tracking it at the fitness center at 7:30 in the evening. The first two laps were sheer terror - my right foot was killing me, I didn't feel like running, I was afraid I would bail... but it got better by mile 2 and I started to feel really good. By mile 7 and 8 though my brain was telling me it might be OK to just go home. I've put in a decent amount of miles, why not? No no NO! I stuck it out and did all 10.

Tomorrow's a "rest" day. Actually I'm working all day then meeting friends for dinner. Hopefully I'll get to bed at a decent hour so I can rest up for my crazy triple header race day on Saturday!

What are your weekend plans?

Rant Update and More Shopping

First off, it was hotter than Hades today!

Last night, my 9 pm run was wonderful. I felt like I could do 10 miles but had to come home to put the kids in bed and clean up from dinner so I only ran 3. I'm a night owl. Plus, my sleep was all screwed up because I got home at 3:30 am yesterday then only slept 4 hours. I didn't truly feel awake until about 6 pm... then I couldn't go to sleep so I was up til 2 am.

I had a conference call for work today from 7:30 am to 9 am so I didn't get out the door to run until 10 am. My intent was to run 10 miles. No go. I did a very UGLY 5 miles. I didn't even run all of it. Somewhere after 3.5 miles I had two bouts where I just felt the need to walk for no particular reason except my legs hurt, I was HOT, I wanted to lay down, etc. I think it was about 80 degrees when I got done but you could wring all my clothes out. It was just miserable.

So... 5 mile run today.
Now it's pouring rain. I'm going to try 10 again tomorrow.

Before my run, the store manager from CVS called me. She apologized profusely about that cashier's behavior last night and told me I was totally right. She also pulled the transaction numbers that I was concerned about and verified that no additional charges were on my credit card. Looks like the cashier tried to re-ring the transaction 3 more times, maybe in an attempt to figure out how to ring the gas card, and voided all of them.

Well, it was back to CVS today for some more shopping...

I am a Diet Coke addict. I also won't pay more than $2.50 a 12-pack for Diet Coke. Usually I stock up when it goes on sale around whatever holiday is next. This time, the Diet Coke supply didn't make it to Memorial Day. We ran out about a week ago. I thought I could hold out til this weekend but I started getting the shakes and broke down and paid $1 at Meijer yesterday for a 2 L bottle. I know. Pathetic.

So today I discover on my coupon forums that the Diet Coke 12-packs that CVS has on sale this week that are part of the "Buy $30" gas card deal are giving you credit for $5 a 12-pack (which is how much it is this week if you buy one) but if you buy 4 at a time, it only costs $12. So, essentially, you are getting an $8 "free" credit for every 4 12-packs.

The limit is 3 gas cards. The amounts carry over, meaning, yesterday when I bought my items, I got credit for $35.94. That means I had $5.94 carry over and I needed to spend $24.06 for my next gas card. I ran out to CVS this afternoon and got another package of paper towels and 4 12-packs of Diet Coke. That should have put me over $30. Well, I got $20 credit for the Diet Cokes as planned but somehow the $5.94 that should have carried over from last night disappeared altogether so I was still about $5 short. It looks like the whole deal on my ExtraCare Card reset... meaning I could do the deal 3 more times if I wanted to...

So now "think" I told myself... get 4 more 12-packs, that gets me another gas card and $15.49 will carry over. Then get 4 more 12-packs for $12 but that gets credited for $20 so I'll get another gas card...

Back out the gas cards and I paid $45.53 for all this

I ended up with 12 12-packs of Diet Coke, 4 6-roll packs of paper towels, 2 18-roll packs of toilet paper, and a gallon of milk for $75.53 and received $30 in gas cards.

I could potentially earn one more gas card since the deal "reset" on my ExtraCare Card but I'm probably set for now.

Next stop was Menards. They have 5-pack brats on sale for $1.99. This is a great price by itself. I had a $5.88 Menards rebate check so I got 3 packages and paid $0.09.

Final stop was Walgreens to try out some "new" things. They have Velveeta Cheesy Skillets for $1.99. Buy one and get a $2 Register Rewards (RR) i.e. fake Walgreens money. I bought one and used $1 worth of Balance Rewards points (Walgreens rewards program) so I paid $0.99 and got $2 in fake money. Then, I bought 2 bags of Lancaster caramels and a package of Ramen noodles. The noodles were a "filler" - I had a $1.50 coupon for each bag of caramels and I wanted to use the $2 RR but at Walgreens your item count has to match your coupon count so I needed a cheap third item or "filler." The caramels were $3 each; buy 2, get 500 Balance Rewards points. Ramen noodles were $0.39. Total for second transaction was $1.88.

$2.87 for $8.38 worth of food plus 500 BR points

 

The kids had to try the "new" food as soon as they got home. The Lancaster caramels are really good. The Velveeta Cheesy Skillet was bleh.

 

Finally, I got rid of 34 books... that were left over from, ahem, college...

 



My husband majored in English and I minored in it so we had doubles of a lot of books since we both took classes together... back in the late '80's! They all went bye-bye today.

Come back and see me tomorrow as I run, purge, and shop some more!

Rant

 

This is one of my favorite images. It pretty much sums up my mood tonight.

I went to CVS to do a simple deal - buy $30 worth of advertised products, get a $10 gas card. Pretty simple. I bought $31.45 worth of product and used $3.75 worth of coupons so I paid $27.70 (pre-tax) and a $10 gas card coupon printed.

Then... this cashier that I've never seen before tore the coupon off the bottom of my receipt and told me I couldn't have it because I used coupons for my transaction. Ummm... I've been a CVS shopper forever. I have never had someone tell me I couldn't have one of their advertised deals because I used coupons on the deal. In fact, if the total to trigger a deal is post-coupon, the register won't print the coupon. I told the cashier she was wrong and that the $10 gas card coupon was mine because it printed on my receipt and no one at CVS has ever taken (torn!) something off my receipt and kept it. I figured if something had changed with their policy, she would call a manager over to back her up. Instead, she started futzing around the register... re-rang some of my items, wanted my credit card back for a return (??? I think), then did some more futzing around, and finally handed me a gas card. Then, she tells me that when she rang my order, the register told her to keep my coupon. ??? So the register prints a coupon and then flashes an alert to the cashier to keep the coupon it just printed? I called BS on that!

I left with all my items and the gas card like I'd planned. The more I thought about it though, the more concerned I got about what had just transpired. I was positive that that cashier was just making stuff up. Plus, why did she have to re-ring my order? All she had to do was scan the gas card coupon that had printed on my original receipt that she still had in her hand. I was worried she had re-rang my transaction at a higher price. I finally called the store and talked with the manager. The manager agreed and told me that that should not have happened. She was going to look at the transactions and try to figure out what the cashier did. So I guess I better now... but WTF! Why do people act like that? I am sick and tired of cashiers that don't understand how coupons work and make up stuff on the fly.

OK, rant over.

I got 3 miles in at 9 pm tonight.
Threw all my old newspapers and 3 months worth of expired coupon inserts in the recycle bin.
Hoping I have time for a longer run tomorrow.

A Target Quickie

I've been so busy running lately that I've fallen behind on some of my couponing. I'm catching up this week! Here's a quick and easy Target deal I did yesterday to pick up a few pantry and freezer staples. It's certainly not health food but it's handy to have something for the ravenous kids who seem to have hollow legs.

So, two easy deals...

1. Market Pantry pasta sauce is on sale for $1 a jar this week. There is a printable Target coupon on the Target webpage HERE for $1.50 off 3 jars. So, get 3 jars for $1.50.

2. California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizzas are on sale for $5.00 each. Target is running a deal this week where if you buy 2, you get a free box of Outshine bars. You can use both a Target coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on the same item. There is a Target coupon for $2 off 2 California Pizza Kitchen pizzas on their webpage HERE. There is a manufacturer's coupon for $1.50 off at the California Pizza Kitchen webpage HERE. You can print 2 coupons per computer. So, buy 2 pizzas and 1 box of Outshine bars for $10.00. Use the Target coupon and 2 manufacturer's coupons for $5 off.

3. I brought my own reusable bag for another $0.05 off.

$6.45 for everything pictured

 

I'll probably do this deal a couple more times this week. If you're not familiar with the concept of stockpiling, you can read my prior post here. The most difficult thing about couponing is that it is a very fluid time sensitive endeavor. You have to keep up with the deals. If I would have purchased everything pictured last week without coupons, I would have paid $18.84. I saved 66% this week by getting the items on sale with a promo and a coupon stack ("stack" meaning you are using 2 coupons legally on the same item.)

 

That's all for now. I'm off to run some trails today!



Deals for the New Year

You can tell it's January. Everyone's on a diet and working out... or at least that's what all the manufacturers think. This past weekend's paper was loaded with 5 coupon inserts and a boatload of diet food deals. While I'm not on a diet, I am a Diet Coke addict. Plus, I'm always looking for a deal on protein drinks to drink after my long runs since I simply cannot eat in that "golden hour" after my run. So this is what I found...

CVS DEALS

 

Slimfast 4 pack protein meal shakes are on sale 2/$10.00

If you spend $15, you get $5 in  Extra Care Bucks

If you spend $30, you get $12 in Extra Care Bucks

 

Each shake has 190 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 25 grams of carbs.

 

The recommended protein intake after a workout is generally between 10-20 grams of protein, plus carbs in a 1:4 ratio. So if you take in 10 grams of protein, take in 40 grams of carbs. I don't pay that much attention to the carbs since I've never met a carb I didn't like. It's the protein I have problems with.

 

There were coupons in the Sunday paper for Slimfast, Buy a 4 pack protein meal shake, get another Slimfast product of equal or lesser value for free. There is a limit of 2 identical coupons per transaction for this coupon. I buy 4 weekend papers every week so I had 4 of them. There are also printables at www.redplum.com for $5 off 2 Slimfast products. You can print this coupon twice per computer.

 

I decided to do the spend $30, get $12 deal. I also had $6 in Extra Care Bucks to use. I used 3 coupons from the paper in two transactions. I ended up paying $9 out of pocket, got 6 4-packs of Slimfast, and got a $12 Extra Care Buck.

 

If you do this with just the available coupons, you will pay $15 out of pocket, get 6 4-packs of Slimfast, and end up with a $12 Extra Care Buck to use on your next purchase.

 

Next up was the Diet Coke deal. My "buy" price on Diet Coke is $2.50 a 12-pack. CVS had 12 packs 3 for $10. However, if you spent $30, you get a $10 Extra Care Buck. You can only buy 6 12-packs at a time so again I had to due multiple transactions. I also had 3 free 12-pack coupons that I got from www.mycokerewards.com from their Wednesday deal last month and for some reason the register would only let me use one free coupon per transaction.

 

So...

 

Transaction #1

3 12-packs    10.00

free coupon   -3.33

                       6.67 + 0.47 tax = 7.14

 

Transaction #2

1 12-pack   3.34 - free coupon + tax = 0.23

 

Transaction #3

5 12-packs             16.67

free coupon             -3.33

Extra Care Buck   -12.00

                                 1.34 + 1.17 tax = 2.51

 

Total for 9 12-packs of Diet Coke: 9.88, plus I got another $10 Extra Care Buck to use in the future.

 

If you did this without the free coupons and just rolled the Extra Care Buck, it would be $18 + tax for 9 12-packs and you would get the $10 Extra Care Buck - so still a pretty good deal.

 

Paid $18.88 total; got a $10 Extra Care Buck (ECB) for future use

 

Price with just available coupons would be $33+tax and you'd have a $10 ECB.

Still a pretty good deal.

 

 

 

 

WALGREENS DEAL

 

I used the $5 off 2 Slimfast printables at Walgreens. They have Slimfast snack bar boxes on sale for $2.99. So 0.98 + tax for 2 boxes!

 



 

 

There are 6 bars to a box. Each bar is 100 calories. The Peanut Butter Crunch time tastes just like a Butterfinger. I haven't tried the Chocolate Mint yet. I just got them for a cheap snack. They were pretty much free for me cause I also used all the Balance Rewards points that I had racked up the week before Thanksgiving to pay for the balance.

 

Anyone else find some good deals this week?

 

 



Week 3 Wrap Up + I Got My Nibblebox!

So Week 3 of Derby Training was OK. Not spectacular, but I made it through the New Year's holiday without missing any runs. Didn't get any cross-training done though and I totally bombed my pace run yesterday.

I suppose it's better to crap out on a run now and learn from it now than later on in the program. Over the summer I learned my lesson about eating correctly before a run (in case you missed it, gory details HERE). Yesterday, I learned that sleep matters too...

So here's how the week went...

Sunday - rest (worked til 1:15 am Monday morning)
Monday - 3 miles (ran in the morning, went back to work until midnight)
Tuesday - 6 miles (it's New Year's Eve, stayed up til 3 am)
Wednesday - 3 miles (got up late, stayed up til midnight)
Thursday - rest (got up at 4:30 am to work, then stayed up til 3:30 am because I've been staying
                          up late all week)
Friday - 6 miles, suppose to run marathon pace. I did 8:35, 8:45, 8:55, then just died on the track and 
                            had to stop before jogging the last 3 miles.
Saturday - 8 miles

Week 3 Total: 26 miles

The way my training program works is that you build mileage for 2 weeks then have a "easy" week every third week. This was suppose to be my "easy" week since my long run was only 8 miles.

I felt horrid after my run yesterday. I did realize later though that I had stayed up for 23 hours the day before because of my night owl tendencies. I went to bed at 10 pm last night and felt well rested this morning.

SO... note to self - get enough sleep!!!

The only thing that made me feel better after my failed pace run was that...

MY NIBBLEBOX ARRIVED!!

 

So a couple weeks ago, on one of my late night internet sessions, I was checking my email and found an offer from graze.com. Graze is a company that will send you a box of four healthy portioned snacks (the nibblebox) every 2-4 weeks (you choose) for $6. The offer I got was for the first box free. No commitment. You can cancel the subscription any time. One of my goals this year is to try and snack healthier. Graze has a plethora (like 91) of healthy snacks. Once you sign up, you can rate the snacks so if there is something you absolutely don't want to try, you can put it in the "trash" and they won't send it. Otherwise, they will pick 4 things for you every time they send a box. Foodie that I am, I wanted to try them all! Plus, I'm thinking, "Six bucks!" How many times have I blown six bucks on stupid stuff? Sounds like a deal to me. So I signed up and awaited my box.

 

 

So this is what my snacks look like out of the box. I put a Larabar and a Clif Bar next to them so you could see the portion size. They sent me...

 

Trail Mix: hazelnuts, peanuts, cranberries and jumbo raisins

Pomodoro Rustichella: cheese croutons, tomato baugettes, and tomato and herb almonds

Raspberry & Coconut Muffin: raspberries, cranberries, amaretti drops and almond slices

Summer Berry Flapjack: rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry infused cranberries

 

Their website lists the calorie count for each of their snacks. I can't wait to try them! They are going to be my post-run snacks next week.

 

Graze also provided me with some "friend codes" to share. You need an invitation or friend code to sign up. If anyone is interested, they are: HAEWON39B, HAEWON39E, HAEWON39P.

 

Supposedly, each "friend code" is limited to 4 uses but they keep sending me codes so I suspect they might be unlimited. If you sign up with a code, you will get your first and fifth box free (kinda makes me feel like they jipped me out of a box!) and they will give me a $1 off my next box.

 

Now, off to hide my snacks from the kiddos!

 

Has anyone else tried a subscription snack service?





Life of a Working Couponing Mom

It's been a busy weekend! There are two main drugstores I shop - CVS and Walgreens. Both have their own reward systems. I shop them in spurts depending on what's on sale. Both stores broke early Black Friday ads this Sunday, meaning they released most of their Black Friday deals in this Sunday's ads. Good for me because I'm working on Black Friday. Not so good for the Black Friday shoppers because there probably won't be any product left by the time the second sale ad breaks on Thursday.

So here's how it works...

CVS has Extra Care Bucks or ECBs. Fake CVS money. You can earn ECBs by buying certain things. They print at the bottom of your register receipt after buying said item. ECBs expire 30 days after you get them. You have to have CVS's ExtraCard to earn and use your ECBs and they are tied to your card, meaning you can't use the ECBs that you find in the parking lot or the ones your friend gives you. There is a limit on how many times a sale item can give you an ECB. Most of the time it's just one, but sometimes it's more. You can also scan your ExtraCare card at their card reader/price checker when you enter the store and it will spit out CVS coupons. You can use both a CVS coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on the same item.

Walgreens is a bit more complicated (in my opinion). Their reward system is called Balance Rewards (BR). You can earn BR points by buying certain items that are on sale that week. Once you earn a certain number of points, you can use them to pay for your purchases. 1000 BR points equals $1.00. You cannot earn BR points if you use BR points in that transaction. Your BR account is kind of like a gift card account since your points do not expire. You need to sign up for a Balance Rewards card to take advantage of their sale prices and rewards. They also have something called Register Rewards (RR). Some of their sale items will spit out a coupon with your receipt called a Register Reward. The RR is for a dollar amount that is good for a future Walgreens purchase - so it's fake Walgreens money. You do not need a card to get RRs. Only one RR will print per transaction for a specific item but there is no limit to how many times you can get the RR. If you use a RR to pay for an item, you cannot earn a RR on that same item.The RRs expire 14 days after printing. I don't like the RRs as much because 14 days is not a lot of time to "roll" the RR into another deal. Sometimes there just isn't anything to buy at Walgreens the next 2 weeks after you earn the RR so you just end up spending it on a full price item.

Both CVS and Walgreens have a bunch of items this week that are "free" after either ECBs or RRs - meaning you pay X but will get an ECB or RR for that same amount when you check out. Both stores have also been known the last few years to run a boat load of "free" item sales on Black Friday then have crappy sale ads for weeks afterwards so it's hard to roll the ECBs or RRs into other deals and people just get stuck with them. That being said, I can see the upcoming ads for the next several weeks on most of the deal sites so I can plan out what to do with my ECBs or RRs.

So enough background. Here's my last couple days...

Saturday
My day off. My younger daughter G and I spent Friday night at my in-laws house in Columbus so we could go to a Christmas Art Show Open House in the morning. One of my mother-in-law's  friends is an artist that was selling paintings at this Open House. There were glass artists there too. I like art glass. G likes art in general. The Open House was from 10 am to 4 pm. G had Nutcracker rehearsal from 3-6 pm in the afternoon so we decided to go at 10 am when they opened.

Got up. Checked my email and coupon sites while G got ready. I found out that there are specially marked Eggo waffle boxes at Target where you buy 4, enter the KFR (Kellogg's Family Rewards) code inside the box on the KFR site, and you get a $5 Target gift card. Eggos were on sale for $2 that week - meaning I had to buy them Saturday for the sale price. Also realized the Quaker Warm and Crunchy Granola boxes go off sale that night too. They were on sale for $2.50 (normally $3.99). There is a Target coupon for $1 and a manufacturer's coupon for $1, so only $0.50 a box after coupon stack.

Went to the Art Show. Drove an hour back to Greenwood. Hit CVS on the way home and bought 4 newspapers ($5.00). I always get 4 copies of the weekend Daily Journal on Saturday. The Daily Journal doesn't come out on Sunday so all the Sunday ads and coupons are in the Saturday paper, plus the coupons are better and it's less expensive than the Indy Star.

Ran home long enough for G to change clothes and grab food, then it's back in the car to drive to an hour to Carmel for Nutcracker rehearsal. Today was parent observation - the one open studio rehearsal the parents get to see - so I was obligated to sit and watch the 3 hour rehearsal.

6 pm (umm... where did my day go?) Done with rehearsal. Another hour back to Greenwood. We ran through Target on the way home. I found the specially marked Eggo boxes and got 4.

Home. Fed everyone. Went to the KFR site and entered my codes and boom, $5 Target gift card in my email. Kids devoured an entire box of Eggos. I decided this was a pretty good deal.

Kellogg's Family Rewards is another rewards point site. You enter codes from the inside of Kellogg's products. The codes give you points. You redeem the points for stuff. I think you have to redeem an exorbitant number of points for their stuff but, a couple times a year, they have "sales" on their point items and then it's a deal. I always redeem my points for high value coupons.

I searched my coupon database for Eggo coupons. There are no printable or regular insert coupons out at this time. There are, however, Eggo coupons that I can redeem points for at the KFR site. I redeemed 1000 points for a $1.50 coupon. I can print 2 copies.

9 pm. My older daughter needs driven to a friend's house. I drive her over and hit Target again. This time I get 4 Eggo boxes and use two $1.50 coupons. So $5 for 4 boxes. I also remember to get the Quaker. Had to do 2 transactions, used my own bag both times so got another $0.05 off each time.

End result. 8 boxes of Eggos, 2 boxes of Quaker Warm and Crunchy Granola. Spent $13.90. Got $10 in Target gift cards.

Sunday
I'm scheduled to work 6:30 am - 3:00 pm. I have an hour drive each way.

Up at 4:30. Left the house 15 minutes early so I could hit the 24 hour Walgreens that is on my way to work. I am starting Walgreens this week with nothing to roll. So basically starting with just the coupons I have.

Walgreens: Got Swisse vitamins - $10, used a $5 coupon. Gelusil antacid tablets - $3, used $2 coupon. Paid $6.91, Got $10 RR for Swisse and $3 RR for Gelusil.

Worked from 6:30 am to 4:00 pm. We were busy so I ended up staying an hour over. I had to pick up G in Carmel from Nutcracker rehearsal at 6pm. Hit Walgreens again on my way North.

Walgreens: Got another Gelusil ($3, used $2 coupon), Tums Freshers ($4.50), 2 Grape Nuts cereal ($1.99 each, used 2 $1.00 coupons), 2 Glad Cling Wrap ($2 each, used 2 $1.00 coupons), Reeses PB cup ($0.59). Used the $10 RR from the morning to pay plus $0.92, Got $3 RR for Gelusil and $4.50 RR for Tums.

I had to buy the Reese's as a "filler". Your pre-tax total has to be greater than the amount of the RR you want to use. Without the $0.59 Reese's, my total was only $9.48. The Reese's pushed it to $10.07. The rest of what I paid was for tax.

Hit the CVS that was on my way too. I am starting CVS this week with $1 ECB. Got 2 Sparkle paper towels ($1 each, used buy one get one free coupon), Colgate toothpaste ($3.00, used $2.50 CVS coupon and $0.50 manufacturer's coupon), theater box Whoppers ($1.00), Orbit gum ($0.99), 2 Starbucks Double Shot Espresso cans ($1.50 each).

Paid $5.41. Got $3 ECB for Starbucks, $2 ECB for Sparkle, $1 ECB for Whoppers, and $0.99 ECB for Orbit.

Got G in time. Came home. Fed everyone and passed out.

Monday
Scheduled to work 6:30 am - 3 pm again. Up at 4:30. Left 15 minutes early again to hit Walgreens.

Walgreens: Got Swisse vitamins ($10, used $5 coupon) and candy $0.29. Used $4.50 RR from Tums purchase, paid $1.51, got $10 RR for Swisse.

I had to buy the candy as another filler. At Walgreens your coupon count has to match your item count. I had a $5 manufacturer's coupon for the Swisse and wanted to use a $4.50 RR. The RR reward counts as a coupon so, without the candy, I would have 2 coupons but only 1 item so the register will not accept the second coupon. The candy was the cheapest thing I could find.

Worked from 6:30 to 4 pm. Busy again. Hit Walgreens on the way home.

Walgreens: Got Max Freeze muscle rub ($7, used $2 coupon), Tums Freshers ($4.50), and a Reese's PB cup ($0.59). Used $10 RR from the morning, paid $0.94, got $5 RR for Max Freeze, $4.50 RR for Tums.

G had dance practice at her local studio at 5:15 pm so drove up to my house, she hopped in, and we drove to the studio. G had a duet rehearsal that just lasted an hour so I dropped her off and did some more shopping.

Walgreens: Swisse vitamins ($10, used $5 coupon) and candy $0.29. Used $5 RR from Max Freeze, paid $1.01, got $10 RR for Swisse.

CVS: box of Kraft Mac and Cheese ($0.99), pack of 5 Gum ($1.00). Used $0.99 ECB and $1.00 ECB, paid $0.07 for tax.

Picked up G. Went home. Fed everyone and passed out again.

Tuesday (today, at least when I started writing this!)
It's my day off. Time to wrap up these deals.

"Slept in" until 6:30 am. Drove J to school. Checked my email and my deal sites. KFR sent me a birthday email yesterday. Got a code for 100 bonus points and a $20 Shutterfly credit. Also read on a deal site that KFR is giving double points for your codes on Black Friday and then having a "sale" from December 2-8. I'll hang onto my birthday code til Friday and see if it will double. Also found out that My Coke Rewards (MCR), another rewards point site I frequent, is having double points from now til 11/28. I enter my coke codes I've been saving. I always hold onto them until they have a double points event. I am a Diet Coke addict.

8:45 am. Drive G to school then go to Walgreens.

I need to start converting my RRs to BR points because I'm done buying the stuff I want this week. Walgreens has a deal this week where you can earn 10,000 BR points for buying 2 Nexxus hair products. 10,000 BR points equals $10. I have $5 Nexxus coupons. Conversion problem solved!

Walgreens: 2 Nexxus conditioners ($9.99 each, used 2 $5.00 coupons) and candy $0.29. Used $10 RR, paid $1.69, got 10,000 BR points.

CVS: 2 GUM toothbrush twin packs ($2.00 each) and 20ct CVS pantiliners ($0.99). Used $3 ECB, $1 ECB, and $0.99 ECB, paid $0.35 tax, got $4 ECB for toothbrushes and $0.99 ECB for pantiliners.

Home again. Clean. Eat. Make dinner reservations for Shula's for tonight through OpenTable.com. Open Table gives me points for making dining reservations and I can redeem points for dining credits ($ to use) at any Open Table restaurant. Plan the rest of my day. One more trip out to get everything done.

I need to drop off my recycling, go to the post office and the bank. Luckily there is a Walgreens and CVS on almost every corner where I live. I basically drove a big square to run my errands and there was a Walgreens and CVS on 3 of the 4 corners of my square. So...

Walgreens: Swisse vitamins ($10, use $5 coupon) and candy $0.29. Used $4.50 RR, paid $1.51, got $10 RR.

CVS: Kraft Mac and Cheese ($0.99), GUM toothbrush 2 pack ($2), 2 bags York peppermint patties ($3.99 each, on sale for buy one get one free, used $2.50 off 2 CVS coupon and $1.10 off 2 manufacturer's coupon). Used $2 ECB and $0.99 ECB, paid $0.81, got $2 ECB and $0.99 ECB

Walgreens: 3 boxes Grape Nuts ($1.99 each, used 3 $1.00 coupons), 2 Nexxus (9.99 each, used 2 $5.00 coupons) and 2 candies ($0.29 each). Used $10 RR and $3 RR. Paid $1.97, got 10,000 BR points.

CVS: 2 bags York peppermint patties. Used same coupons as above. Paid $0.67.

DONE with my deals this week!

Here's my summary:

Walgreens: Total paid out of pocket $16.46, got all this stuff - some of the candy got eaten already - still have $3 RR and earned 20,000 BR points worth $20 - $22. 1000 BR points = $1 but you can cash in 18,000 BR points for $20

CVS: Total paid out of pocket $7.31, got all this stuff - kids already snagged the 2 Starbucks, Orbit gum, and the toothpaste - still have a $4 ECB, $2 ECB, and $0.99 ECB. I'm not too worried about hanging onto the ECBs since I have a month to spend them.

My husband and I had a fabulous dinner at Shula's tonight!

My dinner - Caesar's salad, Filet Oscar (a filet mignon topped with lump crab, asparagus, and hollandaise sauce), roasted corn, sparkling water, MacMurray Ranch Russian River chardonnay, key lime pie. Pretty much had to roll me home. They even gave me this but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to eat whatever's inside!