My first trip of 2013! I would say it was a good one. This is also a lesson on FREE product coupons. When you get them, don’t run out and use them, hang onto them so you can turn that FREE product into a money maker. I had a coupon for 1 FREE Head and Shoulders, so when this P&G deal came around, I was super excited! lol

I did 4 transactions and started with the following:

(1) FREE product coupon for Head & Shoulders

(1) $1 ECB

(2) $2 ECB

(1) $8 ECB

Transaction 1: 

(2) Aveeno products $4.99 each

- $5 ECB’s from last week

Get Back: $6 ECB

Final Price: $4.98

Transaction 2: 

(2) Crest Mouth Wash $5.49 ea

(2) Scope Mouth Wash $4.79 ea

- (2) $0.50/1 Scope Mouthwash, 750 mL 12/30/2012 P&G Insert (exp 01/31/2013)

- (2) $1.50/1 Crest Rinse, 458 mL 12/30/2012 P&G Insert (exp 01/31/2013)

- $8 ECB from last week

- $6 ECB from Transaction 1

Got Back: (2) $5 ECB’s

Final Price: $2.56

Transaction 3: 

(2) Crest Mouth Wash $5.49 ea

(2) Scope Mouth Wash $4.79 ea

- (2) $0.50/1 Scope Mouthwash, 750 mL 12/30/2012 P&G Insert (exp 01/31/2013)

- (2) $1.50/1 Crest Rinse, 458 mL 12/30/2012 P&G Insert (exp 01/31/2013)

- $5 ECB Transaction 2

- $5 ECB from Transaction 2

Got Back: (2) $5 ECB’s

Final Price: $6.56

Transaction 4:

(4) Tide Laundry detergents $5.94

(2) Dawn Dish Soap $.99

(1) Head & Shoulders Shampoo $5

- (4) $1.50/1 Tide Detergent, excludes PODS 12/30/2012 P&G Insert (exp 01/31/2013)

- (2) $0.25/1 Dawn 12/30/2012 P&G Insert (exp 01/31/2013)

- FREE Product coupon from Head & Shoulders

- $5 ECB from Transaction 3

- $5 ECB from Transaction 3

Got Back: $10 ECB

Final Price: $9.24

Total OPP: $23.33 for $102 worth of products with $10 ECB’s left for next week!

Todays trip to CVS was a pretty good one. Despite having a cold and fever, I am happy with my purchase!

This is a lesson on how to save without coupons *GASP*! LOL

I have been sick all week, so clipping was not a priority on my list this week, I would have been lucky if I could even lift a pair of scissors. My total before sales and ECB’s would have been $71.64. OOP: $1.13

Here is how I got it:

First, I must say that I love Jingit and my little debit card filled with FREE money..lol. I was able to spend my Jingit Dollars and snag the CVS Gift Card Deal (Buy $25 GC get a FREE $5 GC), which cost me nothing out of pocket!

Transaction 1:

2 packs of Huggies Pull Ups – $12.49 ea (On Sale 2/$20)

1 pack of Huggies Wipes – $7.99 (On Sale $6)

CVS Promotion: Buy $25 worth of Huggies products get $10 ECB’s Back

1 Wet & Wild Summer Nail Polish Bucket – $9.99

CVS Promotion: Buy 1 Wet & Wild Summer Nail Polish Bucket get $4 ECB’s Back

Total: $35.99 

- (2) $2 Pull Up Coupons from my Pull Ups Party that was hosted by House Party.

- $2.50 ECB that printed from the Magic Coupon Machine

- $10 CVS Cash Card from a previous week

- $19.49 off of my CVS GC!

OOP: FREE

Got Back $10 ECB From Huggies and $4 ECB From Wet & Wild

Transaction 2: 

(2) Men’s Degree Deodorants – $3.59 ea (On Sale 2/$5)

(3) Boxes of cereal – $4.29 ea (On Sale 3/$9)

CVS Promotion: Buy 3 boxes of General Mills get $4 ECB’s back

(1) U by Kotex – $5.29 (On Sale $3.99)

CVS Promotion: Buy 1 U by Kotex get $3 ECB’s back

(1) CVS Nail Polish remover – $1.87

(1) CVS Cotton Balls – $1.87

Total: $21.73 

- (1) CVS Coupon for $1.50 off any deodorant from the MCM

- (1) $10 ECB from transaction 1

- (1) $4 ECB from transaction 1

- (1) 30% off coupon I received in my email

- (1) FREE $5 CVS GC

OOP: $1.13

Got Back: (1) $3 ECB from Kotex & (1) $4 ECB cereal!

This week I used very little coupons but I had to be flexible with being sick. It just goes to show you that even without clipping coupons, if you use gift card deals and roll your credits (i.e. ECB’s, RR’s and other online resources)  you can still save.

My shopping trip to CVS today has a lesson attached to it. Learn to be flexible when couponing. Sometimes things don’t always go your way, like today. My main goal was to score the All deal. I am running low in my stockpile, and it is the ONLY brand I use. Luckily that had a few bottles left. I had also planned on snagging some Rembrandt Toothpaste. Do you see any Rembrandt? They were SOLD out! This caused me to have to reevaluate my tip. Since most of the items that I had coupons for that were part of the Buy $30, get $10 ECB’s deal were sold out, I opted for some cheap items that I use anyway!

Here is a breakdown of my CVS Trip:

All Items were included in the Buy $30 get $10 ECB’s

Buy (6) All Laundry Detergent – 2 for $8

Buy (5) Smart Waters – 5 for $5

Buy (1) CVS Ultra Thin Maxi Pads – $2.99

- (6) $1/1 All Laundry Detergent, exp. 2/12/12 (RP 01/01/12)

Total Before Coupons and CVS Card Scan: $59.08

OOP: $25.49 and Got Back $10 ECB’s

With ECB’s it was a 74% Savings!

Not to bad for having to re plan my entire Shopping trip! But hey, I need the All..lol

Let me start off by saying, I generally love Walmart… just not my local Walmart. I usually drive 20 minutes to the next town over, the Walmart there is cleaner, and the employees are ten times nicer.

My mistake was going to my local store, I figured because I was driving right by there that I would just stop in and grab the things on my list and go… Boy was I wrong!

Surprisingly, they had everything on my list, which is a shock! So I grabbed my items and headed to the checkout.

Some items I bought, or WAS going to buy were the following:

(4) 2.0 oz KY Jelly, which would give me overage with THIS coupon

(4) Reach Flosses, which would be free with THIS coupon

(4) packs of Dulcolax, with would give me overage with THIS coupon

All coupons scanned no problem, then my cashier starts rummaging through my bags looking at the items then looking at the coupons, grabbed the items and coupons and said he needed to check something and left.

He came back with a manager, and a rude one at that! She stated that the coupons I had could not be used because they didn’t match the pictures on the coupon… um WHAT? I politely pointed out that the coupon stated that it could be used on ANY product of that brand. She start yelling at me stating that people that use coupons were just scamming the system and that my coupons had to be fake because they were more than the product price. I am not a confrontational person and avoid it when at all possible, but I could physically feel my blood pressure rising. I told her that she can keep her items (in not so friendly words) and left with my coupons in hand, which she didn’t want to give back to me.

I read every single coupon I use and always insure I am using them correctly, it just really upsets me when people who don’t like coupons or understand them have the nerve to acuse someone of “scamming” because they use them.

Have you had an experience like this? How did you handle it? Needless to say, I will continue to drive the extra 20 minutes to my favorite Walmart. No matter how bad the service is, I can’t pass up some of their deals.

  I have a love/hate relationship with Walmart, one day I can go there and have such a hard time and get dirty looks for using coupons, then there are days like to today where I was lucky enough to get the nicest CSM to help out.

Here is what I bought:

24 Schick Disposable razors

6 Listerine Total Care Zeros (1 not pictured, it was miss placed in another bag)

Total before Coupons: $57.60

Total Paid: -$22.38!

(not all money pictured.. was hungry and bought lunch..LOL)

I was PAID $22.38 today for shopping.. Today was definitely a LOVE day for Walmart!

How I did it:

I repeated this transaction 6 times

(the listerine coupon stated 1 per person, so instead of dealing with the beep, I just did separate transactions to make it easier)

Buy (4) Schick Disposable Razors $1.97 ea

Buy (1) Listerine Total Care Zero (travel size) $1.72 ea

- (2) $6/2 Schick Disposable Razors Printable (no longer available)

- (1) $2/1 Any Listerine Total Care Zero

Total: $9.60

After Coupons: -$3.73

Took a quick trip to Walmart.. Oh course they had no Scrubby Bubbles ANYWHERE.. Go figure. But I was able to score some pretty awesome deals.

Cost before Coupons: $67.84

OOP: $21.47 ($5.67 was Tax..agh)

What I bought:

(12) 64ct Huggies Baby Wipes

(4) Travel Size Old Spice Body Washes

(8) Cover Girl Eye Shadows

(8) Lipton 100% Natural Ice Teas -1 not pictured.. I was thirsty