I Love Shopping For (Almost) Free

There are these matching shirts that I've been wanting to get for my boys. One says "Big Brother" and the other one says, you guessed it, "Little Brother". The problem is, Carter's doesn't make these specific shirts anymore, so they're really hard to find. Well, the "Little Brother" one is really hard to find. I have found the "Big Brother" one in a few different places online. I did find the "Little Brother" shirt in the newborn size on eBay, but I didn't win it. :( And now it's nowhere to be found.

So one day last week, my parents called and told me about a garage sale that had a lot of baby clothes. I decided to stop by. I know I'm on modified bed rest and shouldn't be going a lot of places, but I was going to go over to my parents' house to use their jacuzzi tub anyway, so I decided to stop by the garage sale on my way. I am SO glad I did because guess what I found? Yep, the "Little Brother" shirt!! Brand spankin' new, it still had the tags on it! And the best part - it was only 50 cents! Although, now I'm a bit worried that it won't ever fit him because I'm told he's going to be huge... oh well. Maybe we just won't button it.

I also found these adorable little shoes for Sequel. Normally, I think baby shoes are a total waste of money. They're unnecessary, and usually only worn a few times (which would probably explain why these shoes look completely unused). In fact, we didn't even have shoes for Isaac until a month or two before he started walking. However, these were just so darn cute that I couldn't help myself. And for 25 cents, I won't be heartbroken if he never wears them.

Then today I realized that I had a coupon from JC Penney for $10 off of a $10 purchase that expires today. I love it when they send me these coupons. I get them about 6 or 7 times a year. Don't ask me how you get them sent to you, I have no idea. I do think that you won't get them if you have a JCP credit card, however. Both J and my mom have JCP credit cards, and the coupons they get are usually $10 off of a $25 purchase. So I guess sending me these awesome coupons is a great way to get me to NOT sign up for a CC. LOL. Anyhoo, my coupon expires today, so naturally, I had  to use it. I found this cute 3-piece pajama set for Isaac on clearance for $10.40. Now, I don't really think that's much of a clearance, but with my $10 coupon, it's a steal! So with tax, I spent a total of 43 cents! Woohoo!

I love it when I can shop and hardly spend any money! :)

My Deal-Hunting Comeback

I am interrupting my week of freezer meal posts because there are a few deals out there this week that you guys need to know about.

First, Target has a deal running right now on their frozen food. All of it. Including every. single. item that is frozen. Buy any seven frozen food items, get a $5 Target gift card. Mix this deal with coupons and the possibilities are endless. Here's what I came up with.

I got all this:
6 Tony's pizzas
8 bags of frozen veggies (most are the steam-in-the-bag kind)
3 chicken pot pies
1 package of heat-and-serve sausage
1 regular size Ben & Jerry's ice cream
2 teensy size Ben & Jerry's ice cream

And I paid a total of {drumroll}... $2.56! (After the gift cards, that is. And I seperated my order into two so I could use them on the second half.)

Here are the coupons I used:
- $1/2 Tony's pizzas (x3)
- $1/4 Market Pantry or Archer Farms frozen vegetables (2x)

That's what's so great about this deal! Even if you don't have any coupons, there's a ton of stuff you could still buy to make this a great deal.


And the second thing I wanted to let you know about is at our local grocery store, Hugo's. They have a sale right now on select Kellogg's cereals - 5 for $10.

I bought five and used the $1/3 various and $1/2 Frosted Flakes found here, and paid $8 for all five boxes, or $1.50 each. That's a great deal for cereal, and we eat a lot of cereal at our house.

So there's my big deal-hunting comeback! I was excited about it, so I had to share.

The Cat Came Back

You know that little ditty, right? "The cat came back, he just couldn't stay away..." I feel like that cat. I just can't seem to stay away from Target. This is probably mostly because I live in an area where my other option is Wal-Mart. But now that I know a little more about these coupon glitches (thanks to Kerry at Totally Target), I feel more confident that I'll be able to either avoid it or catch it at the register and have the cashier fix it.

Anyway, I went to Target last night and found a few really good deals that I wanted to share.

Kraft Cheese 7 or 8 oz Blocks or Shredded, Assorted Varieties $2
I bought 5 bags of shredded cheese = $10
- 2x $1/2 Kraft Shredded or Block Cheese 7 or 8 oz Target Coupon HERE
- $5/5 Kraft Dairy Products Manufacturer Coupon HERE
= $3 for 5 bags of cheese or $0.60 each

*NOTE: You have to watch when your cashier scans the $5/5 MQ because it will most likely ring up at $0.00. Make sure you point it out right away and have them correct it.

Buy Any 5 Select Glade Holiday Air Care Items, Get a $5 Target Gift Card
I bought 10 candles @ $2.99 each = $29.90
- 5x B1G1 Free Glade Jar Candle, any 4 oz Manufacturer Coupon (9-26 SS)
- 2x $1.50/2 Glade Jar Candle, any 4 oz Manufacturer Coupon HERE
- $10 Target Gift Cards
= $1.95 for 10 candles, or about $0.20 each

* NOTE: This deal is effected by the $10 invisible manufacturer coupon gift card glitch so make sure you watch it.

Cautious Target Trip

I say cautious because I don't totally trust Target anymore because of this ongoing coupon computer glitch. But I fould a lot of great deals at Target with sales and coupons and such, so I decided to give it a go. I watched very, very closely when the cashier was scanning them and made sure they all went through correctly.

Here are the fruits of my labor:

I'm not going to write exactly how I got these deals with links like I usually do, simply because I just don't have time. But I will tell you how much each things regular price vs. the price I got it for. If you want details on something, just ask me.

Hungry Man (2) - Reg. $2.94 each, Paid $0.94 each.
Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese (2) - Reg.$2.28 each, Paid $0.53 each.
Curel Hand Repair Lotion (2) - Reg. $4.49 each, Paid $0 (FREE plus $0.02 money maker!).
Quaker Oatmeal 18 pack instant oatmeal - Sale $2.50, Paid $0.50.
Quaker Oatmeal 10 pack instant oatmeal - Sale $2.39, Paid $0.39.
Herbal Essences conditioner - Reg. $2.99, Paid $1.99.
Reach dental floss - Reg. $0.98, Paid $0.00 (FREE!)
Crest toothpaste - Reg. $2.49, Paid $0.49.
LeapFrog Tag Junior books - Reg. $10.99 each, Paid $5.00 each.

I paid $16.29 for all of this, which is great considering that the Tag Junior books alone would normally cost more than that. Without coupons and sales, this would have cost me $52.75. I saved about 70%! Go me!

My favorite deal was the LeapFrog Tag Junior books.

They are on sale this week for $10, plus I used this $5/1 MQ! The Curious George one is for Isaac for Christmas, and the Sesame Street one is for my niece for her birthday. Which brings me to the next thing I want to talk about...

I bought two Tag Junior Book Pals earlier today on Target.com.

These babies are normally $29.99 and for some odd reason, the green ones (not the purple ones, even though they're the same) were on sale for $9.99 + free shipping for a few short hours today. About 10 minutes after I placed my order, they went out of stock. In fact, it's not even on their website anymore. I actually checked my email before posting this to make sure they didn't cancel my order. I'll be keeping the receipt for the books just in case. I'd love Isaac to have one of these, so it's a great, cheap Christmas present! And my nieces birthday was earlier this month, and we haven't bought her a gift yet because we probably won't see her until Thanksgiving. I think this Tag Junior Book Pal plus the Sesame Street book is a great gift!

After I ordered the Tag Junior Book Pals, I went here and signed up for my free Tag Junior book!

Whew! What a day full or good deals! :)

$0.48 Toilet Paper

I hate buying toilet paper. It's expensive and gets used up fast. But it's a necessity, so I buy it anyway. But I don't like it.

So when I found out that I could get a $20 Groupon + free shippin to Soap.com (a website that sells household products) for $10, I jumped at the chance. Things are generally a little more expensive at Soap.com, but getting 50% off plus free shipping more than makes up for that. Here's my order summary:

So that's 30 packs of TP for $0.48! Well, actually $10.48, since I had to buy the Groupon, but still a pretty good deal! Plus I don't have to go out to buy it. They deliver it right to my door for free! I ordered it on Friday evening and will get it on Wednesday.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Groupon, it's a site where you can buy gift certificates (or Groupons) for certain stores, restaurants, salons, etc... in various cities in the US and Canada. This is what their website says about it:

"Groupon negotiates huge discounts on popular local goods, services and cultural events. Then we offer the deals to thousands of subscribers in a free daily email. The deals are activated only when a minimum number of people agree to buy. So our subscribers get a great deal and the business gets a ton of new customers. Win-win."

If you live in a bigger city, you'll have lots to choose from! Usually there are one or two deals per day for each city. However, if you live in a podunk town in a podunk state, you'll still have a few options. Not local options, but occasionally Groupon will have deals for online stores, like Soap.com. It's a pretty awesome deal! You can sign up here.

Free Stuff!

Looky what I got in the mail yesterday!

Back in May or June, the teacher with whom I work (who is also addicted to couponing and free stuff) won a Schick instant win game. She won a gift pack for herself and a friend. She knows I like free stuff too, so she picked me! :) Anyway, it came today. It's a four-pack of disposable razors (really nice ones!) and a Trim Style razor, which is a razor on the top and a battery operated bikini trimmer on the bottom. Sweet! I never treat myself to good razors. I guess now I'll have to shave my legs.

I just love free stuff!

I also love extremely discounted stuff. Like the two FoodSaver Handheld Vacuum Sealing Systems I got in the mail yesterday (what can I say, it was a good mail day!).

I didn't take a picture so I used a stock photo from the website. Anyway, these babies are regularly $19.99 each and I got them for $3.60 each (shipped!) by using a coupon code I found on Hip2Save. I bought one for myself and one for my mom. My parents just happened to be at our house when they were delivered, and my mom told me she didn't want it, so I guess maybe I'll give it to my mother-in-law or someone else. Anyone want a Foodsaver handheld vacuum sealer?

Colossal Clearance!

First of all, I want to offer all you women out there a piece of advice. Don't take your husband shopping if you're just going for a few things. You'll end up with way more than a few things.

I needed to go to Target yesterday to get rid of some of my coupons before they expire, or before the items I wanted went off of price cut. I won't write about all those things because it's all stuff that I've blogged about before, I just picked up some more for the stockpile. But J and I decided to scour the store for clearance. What can I say? We both love a good deal!

We didn't find a whole lot, but the things we did pick up were REALLY on clearance!

You might be thinking, "Why on earth would you need 252 size 1-2 diapers, Rachael?" Well, I don't... right now. Hopefully I will in about a year or so though. For the price, I'll store them in the basement until then! Oh, the price...

Yes, you're seeing this correctly. $10.56 for 252 diapers. Plus I had a $3/1 MQ that I got in a sample from Vocalpoint (it's a site where you can sign up for tons of awesome samples). So I paid $7.56 for 252 diapers. $0.03 per diaper. That's unheard of!

With winter fast approaching, I'm sure we'll be needing these types of things soon. J likes things that dissove into drinks (Alka-Seltzer, Air Borne, etc...), so I thought he might like these as an alternative to nasty liquid medicine. In case you can't see the clearance sticker, here's a close up.

I can't imagine actually paying $10.99 for this. Do people actually pay that much? Evidently not, that's probably why it was on clearance.

We saved 75% on these two items! :)

Days Off = Shopping!

Since Isaac was at daycare for the past two days, and I don't start work until tomorrow, I had a few days to myself! I spent most of it running errands and cleaning, but I did fit some shopping in, of course!

First, I went to Target on Monday morning. Let me tell you that Target is pretty dead at 8am on a Monday morning. I went right after I dropped Isaac off at daycare. It was fabulous! I felt like I was the only one there. I also went to Target today with my mom, and so I am going to lump these two shopping trips together, since yesterday's trip was so small (less than a dollar).

Suave (3 shampoo, 1 conditioner) - $0.14 each, for a total of $0.56

These were on price cut for $0.89 each, and I used four $0.75/1 Target Qs, making them $0.14 each. This is the kind of shampoo that James uses and I use it too from time to time, so I wanted to stock up! I printed two from each of our computers, and James so kindly reminded me today that we have a third computer, which I have completely forgotten about (the laptop he is borrowing from my brother) so I may have to print some more of these. I sort of doubt there will be any left tomorrow though. I bought two of them yesterday and the shelves were full. When I went today, there was hardly any left. That's why I had to get the blue kind instead of the coconut kind we usually get.

Vaseline Aloe Fresh lotion - $0.49

This is my favorite kind of lotion, so when I can get it cheap, I do. It's regularly priced at $2.99. I used a $1/1 manufacturer Q and a $1.50/1 Target Q.

Glade Tough Odor Solutions air freshener spray - $0.99

Glade Tough Odor Solutions carpet refresher - FREE

The spray was $2.99 and the carpet refresher was $1.99. I used two $1/1 Target Qs and one $2/2 MQ (from the 8/22 SS insert) to get both of these for $0.99. I could have gotten two carpet refreshers and paid nothing for both products, but I don't think we'd use two carpet refreshers. I wanted one for the upstairs carpet though. We kind of have a funky smell up there.

Chef Boyardee - FREE

Campbells microwavable cups of soup - FREE

The Chef Boyardee is on price cut for $0.80 each (or something like that), and I used two $1/1 Target Qs to get them both free.

The Campbells soup cups were on price cut for $1.50 each. I used two $1/1 MQs and two $0.50/1 Target Qs to get them both free. Perfect for lunches since I start work again tomorrow.

The rest are incidental finds.

I decided I wanted to make a few lasagnas to throw in the freezer for days when I don't feel like cooking, so I bought some cottage cheese at full price (the store brand, of course. It was $2.49) and some Parmesan/Asiago/Romano cheese in a shaker, which was on sale (reg. $3.54) for $2. I forgot to take pictures of those two things because they were in the fridge when I was taking picture.

We need some spaghetti sauce if I'm going to make lasagnas. This is our favorite kind, and they were on price cut for $1.50 each, plus I used a $0.50/2 Target Q and got them for $1.25 each. I guess that's not bad.

Then, as I was looking through my coupons, I saw a $1/1 coupon I had clipped from some insert for a Taco Bell dinner kit. I just happened to be in the taco aisle, right in front of the Taco Bell dinner kits. I saw that they only cost $1.97, so I used my coupon and got one for $0.97. I like having these on hand so all I need is the meat and cheese, which we usually have anyway.

I wasn't sure if I had enough lasagna noodles, so I decided to get these whole wheat egg noodles. I'll use them for a lasagna casserole, instead of using actual lasagna noodles. It's easier. They were $1.19. And I've been wanting to try tuna salad (for myself, James won't eat that), so I got a pack of Tuna for $0.84 (reg $0.94). My mom said the kind in the package is way better than the kind in the can.

And there you have it. I spent a total of $12.02 on ALL of this stuff! I saved $18.80 for a total savings of 61%!

And I'm not done yet... I also went to CVS yesterday. They have Pepsi products on sale for 4/$10. I jump at the chance to get a 12 pack of pop for $2.50. I usually hate buying pop because it's so expensive! I bought four, and used $3 ECB that I had from a previous purchase. So I got 4/$7, or $1.75 each.

And I'm still not done! I also went to Lane Bryant yesterday to look for some pants. I wanted some khaki Capri's, but I have a really hard time finding pants. I guess I'm shaped funny or something. The only pants that really work for me are their Right Fit line (I'm red), and they don't have any Right Fit Capri's or khakis. But I did find a pair of jeans I liked. And they had a sale, B1G1 50% off on all their jeans, so I decided to get two. The problem is, their jeans are like, $50. Even with B1G1 50% off, that's still $75 for two pairs of jeans! Well I needed them, and when I got to the register, the lady asked if I had any coupons. I mentioned that I have a ton of them, but they're all expired. Much to my surprise, she said "Ok, well I'll just use the complimentary promo code for you then." That promo code saved me about $25! With tax, it came to $57.something. Much better!

Nope, still not done. So when I got home, I looked on the Lane Bryant website thinking maybe they would have some right fit khakis. They didn't but I clicked the link to their sister company, Fashion Bug, and looked around. They happened to have some Capri's in my size, on clearance for $6.49! They weren't Right Fit, but they're made of a more stretchy material, and that's generally what fits me best. I thought for $6.49 I'd take a chance and bought two, khaki and brown. I really hope they fit!

Whew! That was a long one. I sure know how to keep myself busy! I also cleaned the house today!

Well, it's back to school tomorrow. Wish me luck!

CVS - 8/8

I hate Extra Care Bucks. Hate hate hate. I had $10 ECB a while ago from a diaper deal that I did. Then CVS had less than thrilling ads for a couple of weeks, so I didn't shop there for a while. Then I stumbled across this $10 ECB that I forgot I had. I checked the expiration date and guess what? It had expired the day before. Just my luck. So the 6-year-old in me threw a tantrum and I swore to myself that I'd never shop there again because they're nothing but a bunch of big, fat, stupid heads.

Then yesterday, I broke my promise. Oh well, so much for being dramatic.

When I got there and ran my card through the scanner, I got four worthless coupons that I didn't need and one free $1 ECB! Pretty sweet!

Here's what I bought. This lot cost me $5.82 when all was said and done. And I used a gift card that I got when I transferred a prescription to pay, so I paid $0 out of pocket.

And here's the breakdown.

Xtra laundry detergent- $0.99

This stuff is dirt cheap. Even when it's not on sale. I've never used it before but I figured you can't lose for a buck!

Reg. $2.99

Sale $1.99 - $1/1 MQ (6/6 SS) = $0.99

All laundry detergent - $2.75 each

You can never have enough laundry detergent - especially when you have a toddler. So I though I'd stock up. I got the free & clear kind because that's what I use for Isaac's clothes. I bought the x2 detergent. The x3 super concentrated kind was also on sale, but I'll let you in on a little secret - the measurements for one load of the x2 kind, and the measurements for one load of the x3 kind are exactly the same. Sneaky, huh? Good thing we, the consumer, are smarter than the mucky mucks at All. Ha!

Reg. $7.49 each

Sale B1G1 free

$7.49 for two - two $1/1 MQs (here) = $5.49, or $2.75 each.

BIC Soleil razors - $0.17 each

That's right, I said seventeen cents each. This is my favorite deal of the day. I usually use the bottom-of-the-barrel cheapo disposable razors, so I'm excited about these fancy ones! How lame is that?

Reg. $6.69 each

Sale B1G1 50% off

$13.38 (for two) - $3.35 (B1G1 deal) - $6.69 B1G1 free MQ (8/1 SS) - $3/1 MQ (7/11 SS) = $0.34, or $0.17 each.

The bottom of my receipt tells me that I saved $25.53 off of their rediculously overinflated prices! That's 81%!

And not one of these deals required any ECB. I guess CVS has redeemed itself.

Target Escapades - 8/2

Guess what? I went shopping today! Are you surprised? :oP

Seriously though, I really haven't been doing much shopping lately. A few deals here and there, but there hasn't been much to spike my interest lately. Today I got a few good deals, and I thought I'd share.

Ok, I really like these things. Each one dispenses six globs of gel that stick to the side of your toilet and keeps it spic and span. Each glob lasts about a week. We have two toilets, so we go through these fairly quickly. And they're regularly about $4 ($3.94 to be exact), so I don't usually buy them unless I can get a good deal. Well, they were on price cut for $3.49 at Target, and I had a manufacturer coupon for B1G1 (from the 8-1 RP insert), so I got each one for $1.75. I can live with that.

Herbal Essences is my favorite shampoo/conditioner. But, these small bottles are regularly $2.99, yikes! This week they're on sale for $2.50 each, and I pulled a B1G1 manufacturer coupon from Sunday's (8-1) RP insert, so I paid $1.25 each. Yippee!

Only three more weeks until school starts, so I'm going to need some stuff for breakfast/mid-morning snacks. Target has a deal running where if you buy four select Kellogg's products, you get one free. I got two packages of Nutri-Grain bars and three 12-count packages of Pop Tarts. Here's the breakdown:

2 x Nutri-Grain Bars & 3 x Pop Tarts @ $2.39 each = $11.95
-$2.39 (one is free with Target deal)
-$1/2 Target Q for Kelloggs Snack Items (Pop-Tarts or Nutri-Grain Bars 8ct.) from the 8-1 RP
-$1/2 MQ for Pop Tarts HERE
-$1/2 Nutri-Grain Bars HERE
=$6.56 for 2 boxes of Nutri-Grain Bars and 3 big boxes of Pop Tarts, or $1.31 each.

Not bad, but this could be an even better deal if you have two of the Target Q's from Sunday's Red Plum insert. I only had one though. :( Still too good to pass up, since they were all less than half price!

I also bought some Charmin toilet paper (reg. $11.79, on sale for $9.99 - $1/1 Target Q (8-1 RP) and .25/1 MQ (can't remember which insert it's from, but I got it yesterday) = $8.74. I really hate buying toilet paper. It's so dang expensive! Even with coupons!

Also, if you bring in reusable bags to use, you get $.05 off your total per bag. I brought one in today, but for some reason, he took off $.10. For me, this is not really an incentive to bring a reusable bag. I do it more for the environment. Although we use the plastic bags to wrap poopy diapers in, so maybe I should get plastic bags...

So I spent a total of $21.19 and saved $17.71. I saved about 45%. I generally like to aim for a 40-50% savings, so I'm happy with this.

Happy shopping!

Another Good Target Run!

Ok, good is an understatement. More like a great Target run. I totally win.

Here's all the stuff I got:

Total before coupons: $71.92

Total after coupons: $32.40

So with price cuts and coupons, I saved $44.08! That's about 61%!

So I've decided I'm going to start blogging my Target deals a little differently. It's so time consuming to put all the coupon links, so I'm not going to do that anymore. Instead, I'll just link to the post on the Totally Target blog, since that's pretty much the only place I look for my deals. That will save me some time, and you, the reader, will still be able to get the same deals that I did!

Here we go!

I didn't have coupons for all of this stuff. Lets face it, sometimes there just isn't a coupon for what you need. Here's what I didn't have coupons for:

- The french bread loaf. I'm going to use it to make garlic bread for our spaghetti tonight. It was $.99.

- The Sara Lee bread (which is kind of hiding behind the juice in the picture. I kind of ran out of room on the table), but I did save $.10 because it was on price cut.

- The whole wheat Country Hearth bread. But I still saved $1.60! It's normally $3.59, but it was on price cut for $1.99. Since I was going to buy this anyway, I was thrilled to save that much!

- 3 Einstein Bagles @ $.99 each. This was my splurge. Asiago bagles, yum!

That's all folks. Everything else I had a coupon for.

Welch's White Grape Juice - This was on price cut for $3.27. On Totally Target, it says $2.82, so I was disappointed that our store sold it for so much more. But I had the $2 off coupon, and James loves this stuff, so I got it anyway. For $1.27, which still isn't bad. Here's the post.

Fruit2o - They're on price cut for $.89, and you can print a $1/2 coupon. I got four for $.39 each. It's a good alternative to soda, which I should really cut down on. Here's the post.

Ball Park Angus hot dogs - They're $2.44, and I had a $.55/1 coupon (can't remember which mailer I got it out of, sorry), so I paid $1.89. Not great, but not terrible and I wanted some hot dogs for grilling if it ever will stop raining here!

Gulden's Spicey Mustard - James likes this stuff and he's been eating a lot of sandwiches lately. It's regularly $1.59 and I had a $1/1 Target coupon from their home mailer. $.59 is a pretty good price!

Cheerios - Free again. I still had two coupons for a free small box of Cheerios, so I used them up since they expire at the end of the month. We're stocked on Cheerios for a while now, which is a shame because while I was there, I noticed that the bigger boxes of Cheerios had peelie coupons on them for $1/1! Those coupons expire in May of 2011 so they're good for a while (so I peeled a few off to use later, shame on me) and the price for a big box of Cheerio's is $2.55, so that will make it $1.55. That's a sweet deal if you like Cheerios!

Bulls Eye BBQ sauce - Free. I had a free coupon for it that I got in some Kraft grab bag thing that I got a while back.

Gold N Plump Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (38 oz, which is like 2.3something lbs) - Normally this is $9.99, but it was on price cut for $8.99. I had a $1/1 Target coupon (from the home mailer) and a $1/1 manufacturer coupon from the Gold N Plump website. Paid $6.99.

Now for my favorite deals of the day:

The wipes - Free, free, and free. No that's a lie, I actually got paid $.03 each to take these off their hands. They were $1.97 each, and I had three $2/1 manufacturer coupons from the 6-6-10 P&G insert. Yes!

The diapers - They're $8.99. I had a $3 manufacturer's coupon (find one here) and a $1.50/1 Target coupon from the home mailer. So I paid $4.49. I generally try to not pay more than $5 for a Jumbo pack of diapers. This fit the bill nicely!

(You'll find these deals here)

I apologize for the blurry picture. I was in a hurry.

Anyway, I had the Target B1G1 coupon for the Vanish Drop Ins and a B1G1 manufacturer coupon. So I bought one at $2.14, got one free with my Target Q and got the other one free with my MQ. So I got three for $2.14, or $.71 each.

The Fresh Brush deal is pretty awesome. I bought the Toilet Cleaning Gel (which I've tried before and I like it) for $3.94. Then I used a Target Q and a MQ that are both 'buy one Toilet Cleaning Gel, get one Fresh Brush strarter kit or refill free'. So I got one Fresh Brush starter kit ($6.29) free, and one Fresh Brush refill ($3.94) free.

So for everything in the above picture I paid $6.08 (It's a $20.59 value). I'm going to have the cleanest toilet on the block!

And voila! I saved myself $44.

A Few Good Target Deals

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day! I did! Isaac and I spent it out shopping with Grandma (my mom)! One of our stops was Target (are you surprised?). In addition to a cute little swim top for Isaac and a birthday present for my niece, here are a few things I came out with:

We go through a lot of Cheerios at my house. James likes to snack on them. He just eats them by the handful. Who needs milk and a spoon? Isaac loves them too. He scarfs them right down! Like I said, we go through a lot of Cheerios at my house.

So a few weeks ago, when I saw that Pampers Gifts to Grow had "discounted" the amount of points you needed to get a coupon for a free box of Cheerios, I jumped at the opportunity and got six. LOL! So these two boxes were free. And I still have four free coupons left to use before they expire on June 10th. I didn't know they would expire so soon! Oh well, they'll get eaten eventually.

I know, I know. I already have a few of these bottles, but it's not my fault! They just keep putting out coupons making this deal irresistible! Buying the whole thing is cheaper than just buying a refill, so that's what I'm gonna do! Plus, I really like this stuff. It keeps my shower squeaky clean! I paid $.69 for this bottle, regularly priced at $8.69. Here's how:

Print this really awesome $5/1 coupon here.

Print this $3/1 Target coupon here.

(EDIT: Use this manufacturer coupon in addition to those other two to get a FREE refill. This coupon attaches to the refill at the register, so you can still use the $5/1 manufacturer coupon because that one will attach to the starter at the register. Some stores won't let you do this, but mine did. This means you can get a starter bottle and a refill for a total of $.69.)

Voila! There you have $8 off. I cannot imagine paying $8.69 for this product though. It lasts like for like two weeks. Maybe I use too much. Either way, you can't beat $.69. I think I'll go back and get some more.

Dove body wash! This stuff is normally pretty expensive (in my opinion) at $5.49 each. It was on clearance for $4.66 (which isn't much of a clearance, if you ask me). Use this $1/1 Target coupon, and this $1.25/1 manufacturer coupon, and you'll get one for only $2.41. I'm not sure why, but I had four of each of these coupons, so I gave two sets to my mom because she likes this stuff. She was pretty happy about getting this deal too!

This John Frieda shampoo and conditioner is regularly priced at $5.04. I used this Target coupon for $3/2, and used two of these manufacturer coupons for $2.50/1. That means I got these for just $1.04 each. W00T! (Yes, I just said w00t. My computer nerd of a husband is rubbing off on me.)

This Week's CVS Finds

Ok folks, CVS has some pretty good deals this week - some free stuff and even a few money makers!

I went there yesterday and here's what I came out with:

Huggies Jumbo Packs - These are on sale for $8.49, which is an ok deal to begin with, but you also get $2 ECB, making them $6.49. I happen to be fresh out of Huggie's coupons, but if you have one, it can be an even better deal!

Reach Dental Floss
$1.99 regular price - $2 ECB - $1 printable coupon = $1.01 money maker!
Oh, and there is a limit of two on this deal, so of course, I got two.

U Kotex - I got the pads, but you can get tampons with this deal too.
$4.99 - $4.99 ECB - $1 printable coupon = $1 money maker!

Bayer Aspirin - 24 count
$1 - $1 printable coupon = Free!

Crest Pro Health Mouthwash
$3.50 - $3.50 ECB = Free!
I bought one of these, because usually the free stuff has a limit of one. Then when I got out to my car, I looked at my receipt and found that it had a limit of two! So I went back in and brought in my $3.50 ECB from the first one I bought, and used it to buy a second one. Plus I got another $3.50 ECB. Sweet!

All this came to a total of $17.04 including tax, and I got $14.49 in ECB, so all this technically cost me $2.55.

Or, you could say it cost $17.04 including tax, and I used $9.49 in ECB that I had from my last trip. So my total out of pocket expense was $7.55.

Either way, that's a pretty good deal! You can't even get a jumbo pack of diapers for $7.55.

I really love the deals that you can find at CVS, but they sure make you work for it!

Happy shopping!

Got Taco Seasoning?

I'm running out of titles for my Target posts. I guess I'm just not that creative.

Anyway, here are my latest Target finds:

Got taco seasoning? I do. Lots of it. And chili seasoning and guacamole mix. All these Ortega packets are on price cut at Target for $.59. I printed a bunch of these coupons on various computers for $1/2 Ortega products. That makes each packet a whopping $.09 each. I seriously stocked up. I bought like 14 packets. They'll get used.

Have I mentioned how much I love Seventh Generation products? I haven't? Well, I love them. But I only buy them if they're cheap. I especially like the three bottles of disinfecting spray I bought a few weeks ago for $.99 each, plus a $5 mail-in rebate. That's right, I made two bucks on that deal. But I digress...

This is dish soap. It's regular price is $2.69 each. I bought two and used a manufacturer coupon for $2/2 and used two printable Target coupons for $1/1. Yep, I got them for $.69 each. And I love them. Did I mention that?

Ok, so I'm not so sure about these because I've never tried anything like it before, but all four of these bottles cost a total of $2, so I figured "what the heck?"

It's called Fresh Start by Tresemme. It's waterless shampoo. One of the bigger bottles is foam and the other one is an aerosol spray. The two smaller ones are "refreshing spray." They came attached to the bigger bottles as a bonus. I think these will come in handy at the lake.

The bonus packs were on sale for $3.99 each. I had this B1G1 coupon, along with this $2 coupon and I was able to use them both. So I got both packs for $1.99 total!

Update: It looks like the $2 Tresemme coupon is no longer available. Sorry!

I'll probably be going again on Friday because I have the day off and I want more Seventh Generation stuff. I'll see what else I can find then, so check back this weekend!

Thanks for reading!

CVS - Round 2

Ok, so I'm slowly starting to understand the CVS craze. Thanks Sarah! :)
I just want to take a quick second to tell all you CVS shoppers out there that you should scan your card at the little red price check stations at the store every time you go! Yesterday when I went, I scanned my card and two coupons printed out. $1 off any CVS paper product and $1 off any CVS skin care product.
Here's what I bought:

Colgate Pro Clinical - Reg. $4.99
$3.99 sale - $1 MQ (here) - $2 ECB = $0.99
Skintimate Moisturinzing Cream Shave - Reg. $3.99
$3.99 - $1.50/1 MQ (3-28 SS) - $3 ECB = $0.51 money maker! (EDIT: I just realized that this coupon was actually for $1.50/2, but I didn't notice and neither did the cashier, so when the register beeped she just entered it manually. Sweet!)
Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner - Reg. $5.99
$2.99 sale (x2) - $1.50/1 MQ (got this Q in a pack of Pampers) (x2) - $1 ECB (x2) = $0.49 each
Colgate Total - Reg. $3.89
$2.99 sale - $0.75 MQ (here) - $2 ECB = $0.24
CVS Facial Tissue
$1.99 - $1 CVS coupon = $0.99 (I'll admit, when I grabbed these tissues, I thought they were $0.99, so they'd be free after my coupon, but they rang up for $1.99. Oops.)
CVS Cleansing Facial Wipes - 15 count
$2.99 - $1 CVS coupon = $1.99 (I thought these might come in handy for our many upcoming camping trips this summer.)

I used my $10 ECB that I got after my last CVS purchase, and my total came to $5.02! Even I was surprised! And I earned $9 ECB for next time.

A few things I've learned so far about this store.
1) Walk around and look for clearance signs. Sometimes you can find things for up to 75% off.
2) It's very easy to see things that look like good deals, but be careful! CVS prices their products higher than at your average Target or Wal-Mart. Then they have huge sales, but sometimes those prices are still higher or the same as other stores. My advice is to make a list of the things you're going to buy that you know are good deals and stick to it. That might help you avoid buyers remorse when you realize you spent more than you had to.
3) On your first purchase, the ECB don't help to bring down the total. But it will help on subsequent purchases. Once you have some ECB in reserve, you will buy stuff that gives you more ECB while using your current ECB. Ok, that made sense in my head. Hopefully it will make sense in yours too.

I will definitely continue to pick apart the weekly CVS ads, but I'm still not totally sold. I sort of feel like they're trying to trick me with their "sales" and it kinda makes me mad. That's probably silly, but that's how I feel. As a result, I won't buy anything except super deals on things that I know are going to be cheaper at CVS. I don't want to get ripped off.

Another Successful Target Adventure

Well, mostly successful. Unbeknownst to me, it is Canadian spring break this week. Grand Forks is only a hop, skip, and a jump - or an hour car ride - away from the Canadian border, which means on weeks like this, all of our stores become packed with swarms of Canadians, especially since the exchange rate is great for them right now. Also, a lot of people, myself included, don't work today because of Easter. So, Target was packed. While looking for a few items that I wanted, I ended up getting too frustrated and giving up. But that's not to say I didn't get some pretty good deals on the stuff I did find. We bought a lot of stuff, so I won't go through and itemize every single thing, but I will highlight the best deals that I found.

Coke products at our store were on super duper sale for $2.20 each. There was a limit of eight, so we bought eight. I might actually go back tomorrow and get eight more. We can just store it in the basement, and you only find deals like this on Coke once in a blue moon. We also bought some Dr. Pepper, which was on sale for $2.50.

You must be thinking, "Why on Earth would someone with an 8-month-old need games like these?" Well, I don't. I'll probably save them for gifts. But I do plan on keeping Bop It for myself because it looks fun. And I've always loved Connect Four, so I might keep that one too. But regardless, I got all of the above items for a total of (drumroll please!)... $3.00, so who cares what I do with them. They were practically free.

How, you ask? Well, Connect 4x4 and Bop It were both on sale for $14 each. Target has a deal running where you can get the Monopoly card game for free (reg. $5.24) when you buy a game that is priced at $10 or more. Also, I found a bunch of printable coupons from http://www.playsaver.com/, but I just searched for them again and it looks like they are no longer available. I used a printable for $4 off Connect Four and a printable for $5 off Bop It. I also was able to use two $5/1 for ANY Monopoly game, even though it was already free. Then I used two Target printable coupons for $3 off select games (here). Here's the breakdown:

$14+14+5.24+5.24 = $38.48 (total cost of all four games)

$38.48 - $4 - $5 - $5 - $5 - $5.24 - $5.24 - $3 - $3 = $3 total that I paid for all four games.

This deal idea was given to me by the awesome teacher I work with. Thanks Kristi!

Next up, Lysol Healthy Touch system starter kit.

$9.99 - $5 coupon (3-28 SS) - $1 (Target printable coupon) = $3.99

I thought it looked neat, and it seemed like a pretty good deal to me!

Seventh Generation all purpose disinfecting spray -

$2.99 - $1/1 printable coupon - $1/1 printable Target coupon = $0.99

Snuggle fabric softener -

$3.99 - $3/1 coupon (3-28 RP) = $0.99

Betty Crocker potatoes -

$0.99 sale (x2) - $1/2 peelie coupon from box = $0.49 each

Halls cough drops -

$1.19 - $1/1 printable coupon = $0.19

Philadelphia Cream Cheese -

$0.99 (x4) - $0.55/2 printable (x2) = $0.72 each. This is a pretty good deal because they're normally around $2.

While I was shopping for the boring old necessities, James and Isaac ran off to various departments that held James's interest a little better. While in the hardware department, James ran across these... things. Screws and bolts I guess. I guess it's something he was looking for, and we are always needing things like this in our fixer-upper house, so he picked a couple up. I must be rubbing off on him because the first thing he showed me was the clearance sticker. LOL! Good job, hunny!

With all the sales, price cuts, coupons, etc... we saved $112.12! Pretty good. That means we saved 44% on our total bill! It's not half, but it's pretty darn close! Especially since we bought a bunch of stuff for Isaac's easter basket, some Advil, a book for James, and various other things that weren't even on sale/we didn't have coupons for.

I'll call it a success!