Black Friday Shopping

After looking over all of the sales flyers for Black Friday, I decided that the only stores that I was going to go to on Friday were CVS and Walgreens. Both stores have good deals on things that I already need, and I don't have that much Christmas shopping left so, it seemed like the logical choice.

First, I went to Walgreens. I did 4 different transactions to use Register Rewards to reduce my total out of pocket.

Here is everything that I bought.

Transaction No. 1:
Venus Embrace $9.49 - $4 MQ
Total: $6.34
Paid with Gift Card
Earned $6 RR

Transaction No. 2:
2 Bounty Basics @ $.89 each (weekly ad coupon)
2 Kleenex @ $.89 each (weekly ad coupon)
3 Tylenol Cold $4.99 each - $4.50 MQ
1 Schick Quattro Midnight $3.99 - $3 Easy Saver Coupon
2 M&M Premiums 2/$8 - $1 ESQ - $2 MQ
Used $6 RR from previous transaction
Total: $16.45
Paid with Gift Card
Earned $5 RR

Transaction No. 3:
1 Venus Embrace $9.49 - $4 MQ
1 Trident Xtra Care Gum $1.49 (needed 2 items because I was using 2 coupons)
Used $5 RR from previous transaction
Total: $2.90
Paid partially with Gift Card and $1.03 OOP
Earned $6 RR

Transaction No. 4:
2 Lil Webkinz $6.99 BOGO
Used $6 RR from previous transaction
Total: $.99 + tax
Paid $1.62 OOP

Total cash out of my pocket $2.65.
The gift card I used was from rebates which is now empty, but I'll work some more deals later to refill it. Plus I have a coupon for $3 off my next magazine purchase.


CVS

Part of my decision to go to CVS is all of the free after ECBs deals. The other was a coupon I received in the mail for $5 off $10 for a new store that opened, which helped to start rolling ECBs.

Transaction No. 1:

2 Aussie Products $2.99 each - $2 MQ

1 Bic Soleil $5.99 - $3 MQ

1 Schick Quattro Trimmer $7.99 - $2 MQ

- $5 mailer

Total: 9.31

ECBs received: $5.98, $5.99, $6.00

Transaction No. 2:

1 Right Guard Professional Strength $7.99 - $1 MQ

1 Complete Multi-Purpose solution $8.99 - $2 MQ

1 Crest Pro-Health $3.49 - $.75

1 Lypsyl

- $5.98 ECB

- $5.99 ECB

- $6.00 ECB

Total OOP: $2.23

ECBs received: $7.00, $8.99, $3.49, $1.00

Transaction No. 3:

1 Right Guard $7.99 - $1 MQ

2 Softlips $3.99 each - $1 MQ

1 CVS Acid Reducer $3.69

4 Crystal Light @ $.50 each

- $3.49 ECB

- $7.00 ECB

- $8.99 ECB

Total OOP: $.30

ECBs received: $7.00, $2.00

Transaction No. 4:

1 Right Guard $7.99 - $1 MQ

2 Motrin $6.99 each - $2 MQ

- $1.00 ECB

- $2.00 ECB

- $7.00 ECB

Total OOP: $10.05

ECBs received: $7.00, $5.00

Transaction No. 5:

1 Bic Soleil $5.99 - $3 MQ

1 Crest Pro-Health $3.49

- $7.00 ECB

Total OOP: $.70

ECBs received: $5.99, $3.49

ECBs left for future transactions: $5.00, $5.99, $3.49

CRTs received: Save $2 on Playskool Cottony Cloths Baby Wipes (160 or 240 ct), $3 off In Store 6x8 Photo Books - Make it in minutes

In total I spent $25.24 and still have $14.48 in ECBs to spend at CVS and added stuff to my stockpile, got things I needed and a couple of Christmas presents. I probably could have planned better to have less OOP, but I think I did well at Walgreens using RRs and a gift card. Besides $.99 for two Lil Webkinz is as close to free as you can get.

Bonus Christmas Shopping

I read a lot about ways to "save" money while shopping. One of the places I get ideas from is Imommies.com. One of her posts was about a site called Ebates.

I usually do my online shopping through MyPoints (you get points for shopping which you can redeem for gift cards) or Upromise (you get money posted to your account to use for your child(ren) for college), but with Ebates you can choose to get cash back for purchases. The downfall is that they only pay out quarterly.

Ebates gives you up to 26% Cash Back every time you shop online. You can shop at over 1000 stores including Barnes & Noble.com, Gap, Target, Buy.com and Expedia. Plus you get additional savings with exclusive coupons, free shipping offers, and limited-time sales! (If you sign up with Ebates through this link: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=i%2FYPnC15PNVZYl0803Zkmw%3D%3D, we'll each get a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase!)

I made my first purchase last week using Ebates and have received a credit of $11.50 in my account. I think I've found my new favorite place to start me online shopping.

Target Shopping Trip

This week's sales flyer had the Scrubbing Bubbles shower spayer on sale for $14.99. The ones my store had were a bonus back that included a "caddy" or shelf to put shampoo, etc.

I had still had the IP coupons from a few weeks ago for $10.00 off and they expired today, so my cost was $4.99. I bought two.

I need paper towels and since they don't go on sale very often, I bought 2 rolls of the Bounty Basics ($.99 minus $.29 MQ) for $.75. I bought two of these also.

The last thing I bought was Pictureka (a board game). It was on sale this week for $15.00, minus the $5.00 Target coupon = $10.00.

Total OOP: $25.13 including tax
Total savings in coupons: $25.50

I had yet another "difficult" check out. I had to have the "one per purchase" discussion with the cashier. The best part was that none of my coupons beeped and none of them had to be pushed through.

CVS Trip

Here's the deal I have worked for today.
This is how it worked out...
Coke 12 pk. 4/$12
- 2 BOGO coupons from Mycokerewards.com (The coupons had to be manually entered)
4/$6 - Done
Earn 3 ECB Earned 3 ECB

Dawn $.99 x 2
- 2 $.25 MQ
1.48 - Done

Crest Pro-Health Whitening $3.49 - Didn't have any on the shelf
- 1 $1 MQ
$2.49
Earn $3.49 (money maker)

Kellogg's Cereal 2/$5
- 2 $1 IP
2/$3 - Done

Went during lunch and was hungry so I bought some Pringles. $1.99

Total OOP: $12.97 - 1.69 ECB = $11.28 Actual OOP: 11.47
Earn 6.49 ECB - Earned 3 ECB

CRTs (Cash Register Tape coupons) that printed were:

Save $2.50 on any Pain Reliever Purchase of $10 or more

Save $1.00 on any (3) Kleenex

Save $2.00 on your next Gillette purchase of $10 or more

$2.00 off Pediacare Gentle Vapors Plug & Nightlight

These all expire on 11/21/08 and can be matched up with manufacturer coupons for extra savings.

Problems with Target

I called Target's Guest Relations number listed on the e-mail I got from them for my inquiry last week about their coupon policy. They were no help at all. Basically I was told that they (corporate) work with the individual stores in interpreting their coupon policy. What!! That is so frustrating.

Every time I've gone recently I get a different story about exactly what their policy is. First I was told that I couldn't get anything for free unless the coupon said "free" on it. Then I was told that they cannot adjust the manufacturer coupon but they could adjust Target coupons, and I could only get the Lipton tea that was pictured on the coupon.

Why are they making it so difficult to use coupons?!

I tried explaining to the woman in corporate that I just want to know exactly what the coupon policy is. She told me that the e-mail I got was everything that I needed. Well apparently not, since I showed that to the cashier while I was in the store and it didn't make a difference.

My target is not a Super Target, so there are a lot of "deals" that I cannot get, but when I find something that I actually use and can get it's very frustating to not be able to get it.

The person from corporate told me that I could make an appointment with the Executive Team Leader on duty today to discuss it with her. I may try to call her later, but right now I'm so angry I might yell at the poor girl and she wasn't even there on Saturday.

Shopping Saturday

I did some power shopping today. I hit Target, Walgreen's (2 of them) and Walmart.

TARGET

Target ended up being an experience again. I tried using the $1 Target coupons on the Lipton To Go 4 pack located at the check outs priced at $.99 and again tried to get the trial size Bausch & Lomb ReNu Multiplus Solution. Long story short... the store manager was called and said that Target's policy was that Target coupons could be adjusted down, but manufacturer coupons could not and I could use the Target Lipton coupon on the Lipton To Go because it was not what was pictured on the coupon. I tried calling the customer service number while I was in line but apparently it is only open Monday - Friday! I have every intention of calling them on Monday to complain and get absolute clarity about the coupon policy since I get a different story every time!

I did have a pretty good trip otherwise, I did the advertised 10/$10 Vitamin Water/Smart Water to get a $5 gift card and got sandwich size Ziploc baggies (25 pack) for $.50 each. I had a bunch of Target coupons that I received in the mail to use with manufacturer coupons to get cheap pet food and toilet paper and there were some Glade Scented Oil Candles priced at $2.50. I have $2.00 coupons, which made them $.50 each.

I ended up spending $69.xx (the receipt shows: YOU SAVED 48.XX, I'm not sure what all is included in that amount) and earned a $5.00 gift card.

I also got a flu shot while I was there. They gave me a gift pack with a travel size tissue, bottle of vitamin C, hand sanitizer, a sample of Theraflu attached to a $2 coupon and a list of the generic prescription drugs that you can get for $4 a month.

WALGREEN'S

I pretty much had sworn off of doing any shopping at Walgreen's after the "incident" I had with them about their prescription plan, but I am almost out of paper towels and wanted to use the coupons I had for Bounty and they had Arm & Hammer laundry detergent at an awesome price, $2.99 a bottle. I figured since I was there, I would get some things on the rebate list to build up the gift card I had. Besides, you can never have enough smelly stuff and cleaning supplies, right!

The Arm & Hammer was a limit of one. I wanted to get at least 2 bottles because I was able to print out two $1 coupons making them $.99 each. I prefer to use the A&H detergent if I can get if at a good price because I like the smell and feel that it gets our clothes cleaner. So, I decided to go to another store.

Between the two different stores that I went to, I ended up spending approximately $125.00. The amount I saved using coupons, advertised savings and WAG coupons was about $86.00. I estimate the amount I'm going to get back in rebates at $21.00 plus 10 %. I would have done better, but I realized as I was getting my coupons together for the second store that I had put a number of my coupons that I was supposed to use for the first store, in the wrong place in my binder, so I bought them again at the second store.

UPDATE: My rebate will be $24.20.

WAL-MART

I went to Wal-mart looking for Glen Muir canned tomatoes, but apparently they don't carry them any more. While I was there, I picked up a few things that we needed, all of which I had coupons for, of course!

I should also note that I have both kids with me for this marathon, so my nerves were pretty shot and after all that shopping, I'm pretty exhausted!

Frugal cooking

I was inspired by MoneySavingMom's post about eating beans for a week - almost (View post here).

Beans are a good source of protein and are filling. In New Orleans people have been eating Red Beans and Rice every Monday for as long as they can remember. Beans are also very versatile, you can use them as a base for a soup or stew, they can be a side dish or the main ingredient for your meal.

I'm trying to be more frugal and waste less by reusing things we already have and throwing away less food since that's pretty much just throwing money away, so I bought 3 different bags of dried beans (split peas, 16 bean soup mix and pinto beans) to see how many uses I could get. I decided to start with the pinto beans. I soaked them over night and cooked them in my slow cooker with some garlic and an onion and cooked them all day.

I used 1/2 of the beans and made refried beans (loosely based on this recipe), combined with left over taco meat, rice, cheese, tomato and tortillas for a Mexican bake. MEAL #1.

For the next meal, I used the other 1/2 of the beans and made a chili. I cooked some ground turkey, added pinto beans, cumin, chili powder and canned tomatoes. Served it was rice. MEAL #2.

For the last meal, I made flour tortillas, filled them with the left over chili and cheddar cheese, melted some Velveeta and salsa to pour over them, baked it for about 20 minutes, MEAL #3 - Enchiladas.

Not bad for one bag of pinto beans!

I have come up with some other creative meals with leftovers. One of them is Chicken Fried Rice. I found an easy recipe and have been making this for a couple of months. It's a good way to use the extra rice from a previous meal, stretch a package of chicken and incorporate vegetables into one meal.

I start by chopping an onion and carrots and cooking them in a large skillet with little olive oil until the onions are clear. Next I add chicken cut into cubes, some pepper and cook until no longer pink inside. Then I add the rice and some soy sauce and cook until most of the soy sauce is absorbed. Make a hole in the middle of the pan and cook 2 eggs. Stir to incorporate the eggs throughout the pan, add some frozen peas, cook until peas are warm. From start to finish, this meal takes about 20 to 25 minutes to make.