Rockin' the Rite Aid

This week is a fine one for Rite Aid. I honestly haven't been there in months and months (OK, except the one in NJ that was going out of business and everything was 75% off!!). But the ad this week looked so good I couldm't pass it by. My store didn't have everything, as usual, but I still had a good trip.
Today I got these 25 items for $2. 38 out of pocket. Oh yeah, and I'm expecting a single check rebate for another $6.00 in the mail. Woohoo!
Thanks to the BOGO coupons in the 5/17 RP (which I had 10 of) and the Rite Aid BOGO sale, I got 20 free candybars. Yes its just what I need now I'm sure. But my primary class is going to love me. :) And doesn't homemade Twix ice cream sound scrumptous?
To plan your own trip to Rite Aid, check out a summary of deals on Faithful Provisions. And remember to print and use the $5 off a $25 purchase coupon too!

shoppin' for a cause

Next Saturday is the national mail carier's food drive, Stamping Out Hunger, so I thought that was a good reason to go get some cheap food at the Shoppers double/triple coupon sale (* Note that not all Shoppers stores are participating; I went to White Flint). OK, so we'll probably keep 80% of what we bought, but I do have some other recent purchases to send along to the food banks. (BLEH- do not waste your money on the Rozoni Bistro "ready to eat" pasta packs! I couldn't have imagined they could be so gross! I got them free and I still won't eat another one.)
So here's the run down: I got about $50 of food for $13! That included $4 of produce & milk (no coupons for those).
6 cans of beans
8 cans diced tomatoes
5 cups of tuna/salmon (ready to eat- this is great convenience food for Calista now)
2 Activia yogurt 4-packs
1 Dan-Active 4 pk
2 bags froz broccoli
1 cookie mix
3 small cans pineapple
3 boxes pasta
1 tub land o lakes
roma tomatoes
cilantro
1 gal milk
ohhh yeahhh.

TGIF - Free Meal at Fridays!

I didn't think it could be for real, but it is! TGI Fridays is circulating a coupon for B1G1 entree. We went out last Saturday and enjoyed a meal of steak, ribs, and shrimp for 3 adults for $20. Sure its the epitome of a chain restaurant, but there's something for everyone on the huge menu. And the price- free is good!!
The coupon is not valid on Valentines Day but otherwise you can print it and go as many times as you like before March. If the website doesn't work for you I can email you the pdf.
Hurray for Fridays!

latest and greatest.. er leastest

You probably wouldn't understand... but it was hard. We were gone for 7 days to Utah. There are many great things about Utah. Glorious mountains covered with snow, courteous salespeople who understand about customer service, and really wide streets (good for drivers, bad for stormwater).
BUT they are missing something very important. They have Rite Aid and Walgreens but... NO CVS. What's this girl to do? Well, I relaxed and enjoyed things that don't cost money.

Then we came back home and we've got Shoppers luring me in with triple coupons, and CVS running their usual deals, and I'm off to shop again. Here's the results!

I picked up $40 of groceries for $10.

For me, one of the highlights is that I can use my coupon for 50 cents off the Washington Post and it triples, making the paper free. That equals more coupons (for free)! This week (1/25) the coupons include another glucose meter coupon. This comes into play at CVS.

We got at CVS:
7 Stacy's pita chips @ 3.00 each
-1.50 off coupon x 7
received $10 ECB

2 Energizer 8x batteries @ 6.00 each
-2.00 coupon peelies x 2
received $4 ECB

1 Onetouch Glucose meter @ 19.99
-$20 coupon

1 Physician's Formula mineral mascara @ $1.99 (75% off clearance)
--------------------
Then we used
$10 off a $50 purchase (magic coupon machine special!)
$6 ECB
$3 ECB

for a total of $1.49 out of pocket
and received
$14 ECB

which made it a net profit of $3.51 for us to take home these items!

The couponing tactic to note here is that even though I do not need another glucose meter (I was down to 2!) they can be used as "fillers" to help you take advantage of a $ off $ coupon. When I first saw a 10 off 50 coupon I choked, thinking I would never let myself spend $50 at CVS. Lucky for me and you, the $50 total required is before coupons. So pick up two $20 glucose meters, ten dollars of whatever you need, take off $40 in coupons, plus the 10 off 50, and voila! You go home with 10 dollars worth of what you need, and two glucose meters you may or may not need. If any of you could use a meter, let me know!

Menu Plan Monday: Jan 25- 31

Sunday: Chicken & Dumplings ala crockpot
Monday: Ham and au gratin potatoes (courtesy of shopper triples- on again now!)
Tuesday: Cheesy Broccoli shells from Real Simple magazine 10/08
Wednesday: 7- layer dip and Spanish rice
Thursday: Salad
Friday: Omelets
Saturday: Bean Burgers

You can tell (well, I can anyways) when I do my meal planning in front of the computer or not. Last night was a not. Its good for me to do it this way sometimes because it forces me to think about what's in the fridge and cupboards, rather than getting excited about a colorful picture I found online, and going out to buy more groceries in order to make the meal.
We're glad to be home again!

Get a plan QUICK and get to CVS!

CVS has 37 free items for sale (sounds like a misnomer, but that's how it goes) today and tomorrow ONLY (free meaning after extracare bucks). Wahoo! I'm getting out there early tomorrow, and hopefully I can snag at least 17 of the 37 items. Believe it or not, I will resists buying somethings I do not need- like the Icelandic joint relief, for example.
Use your manufacturer's coupons to make money off the sale, after your extra care bucks. How so? Say you want to buy the Listerine for $2.99, which gives you back $2.99 in ECB. Bring in your Listerine manu coupon for $.75 off (from rp 10/5/08), and you'll only pay $2.24 out of pocket (plus tax in some states), and you still get the 2.99 in ECB. This means you are 75 cents richer in ECB to spend next time you go to CVS. You turn the manu coupons into ECB that you can spend on anything.
I'll be rolling over my ECB from Thanksgiving... I couldn't post that trip because it has some presents in it that should not be spoiled!
P.S. After viewing the physical CVS ad I noticed that the # items didn't look like 37 at all. I think that number is based on buying the "limit" for each item (up to 5 on somethings).

Where do you get all those coupons?

I've been hearing this question more and more lately, so I thought I'd put the answer in writing. Alas, I was trumped by Gina (aka mommymakingmoney). For an idea of the variety of places to get your coupons, see her post here. For me, I only troll the internet for coupons when I am given a link to it by another blogger, to meet a specific item that's on sale. I don't have time to just look around for coupons for fun.
I am a fan of the old fashioned Sunday newspaper coupon inserts. We have a home delivery subscription to the Washington Post, but my strategy lies in buying extra papers from a drugstore or grocery store, like CVS or Giant. At CVS, I can use a $/$$ coupon to save a percentage of the cost of the paper. Sometimes at sleepy CVS locations you can still buy the Sunday paper the following Thursday. At Giant, I can use the 50 cents off a Sunday paper coupon that's been in the mail for the last month (and we've stockpiled dozens of from our neighbors), which doubles to make the paper just 50 cents.
Even if I do pay the $1.50 for the paper, I do it when I know there are several inserts so its worth it.
BTW, if keeping your Sabbath day leads you to avoid buying the Sunday paper, watch for early Sunday editions on Saturday, or late editions on Monday. They usually have the inserts too.
OH, I almost forgot to add that friends and neighbors can be a great resource for coupons. Just ask! If you are really ambitious you could set up a coupon exchange, too.
Where do you get your coupons??

Kmart, falls apart

I don't have insider information about kmart's future, but I know they certainly didn't get any profits from me this week!
This trip wouldn't made for a better contest I think. You've all been too kind in your confidence about my abilities to get a deal on the jeans giveaway guessing... (hint hint- go HIGHER!!). I got away with paying less than 10% of retail on this trip, thanks to K-Mart's double coupons this week. Rang up to $56.xx, I paid $5.xx! Before you head out to Kmart, check your local ad to see if your store is participating because aparently only certain areas are doing it. This was the first time our store has done it. We'll see if they do it again after the damage done by me and other slickdealers.

My first giveaway- Aeropostale Jeans!

UPDATE:
I think I need to give ya'll a little clue, its only fair. **My total before coupons was $180.00. ** Carry on in the guessing, and pass along the link to friends who might fit the jeans! They need a new home!

What do jeans and triple coupons have to do with each other? I'm sure you can think of several connections... but for now, the jeans are my first freebie up for grabs to the person who guesses the grand total (in dollars) cost of our Shoppers shopping trip last week, after coupons.
Here's a glimpse of the purchases:
What you don't see in the picture are the refrigerated items (3 4packs of yogurt, sour cream, 2 blocks of cheese) frozen items (7 bags of frozen fruit, 8 bags frozen veggies, and roll dough), and 4 Washington Post newspapers (for coupons, of course!). So be sure to account for those. Feel free to ask questions about what you can't see in the picture, except for prices. ;)

And here are the jeans:

What?! You expected them to be new, or something? Sorry, I have no sponsorships here, so these are coming from my home to yours. They are Aeropostale "Haley" skinny flares, size 9/10 short, low-rise, stretchy and broken in, but actually fall down my hips too often so I am done with them. I'll even ship them to you if you're not in the DC metro area. SO comment away- the deadline for the giveaway is December 5th at midnight.

Shopping in a recession

What would you do with 24 cents? This is why I HEART CVS! I handed over my quarter and got all this, and a penny in return! This is a great week for free stuff at CVS, after ECB (ExtraCare Bucks). If you aren't familiar with my coupon clipping, cheap drugstore buying antics, or want to know how, check out cvs for newbies. If you are so unfortunate as to live where there are no CVS stores, you might find solace in iheartriteaid.com (Rite Aid), or iheartwags.com (Walgreens).