Target Brag: Easter Clearance and MORE!

I Saved About $60 Today at Target. 

What Could You Do With An Extra $60 a Week? 

$240 A Month? 

You Can Coupon. If You Do, You Can Get Some Deals Like I Did Today!

I got some great deals at Target today. I am going to spare you all the random details on my receipt and highlight the really good deals for you today.  And, Yes. Today I started Easter shopping for next year. Don't Tell my kids or in-laws! :)

*Disclaimer:  It is Target's official policy to Value Down a coupon if it exceeds the in-store value. For example, when I used a $2 off ANY Head and Shoulders coupon to buy the 97c travel size, the policy is for the cashier to value the coupon down to 97c off instead of taking $2 off.  Today, you will see in many cases,the computer took my coupons without beeping.. and took them for the full face value of the coupon amount. This hardly ever happens. AND I did tell the clerk that I had items that would need the coupons valued down on. She just scanned them and they all went through. So, instead of free, I got some nice overage today.  I did it on the up and up with integrity, so Cool! ALWAYS tell the clerks about these types of coupon issues upfront. IF they choose to take the coupon at full face value after that and not Value Down the coupon, then yippee for you. You did what you were supposed to do and if the computer didn't beep on the coupon, there really isnt a way to Value Down the coupon, anyway.  

I was prepared for a long check out as we went line by line to Value Down my coupons... lots were expiring, so I hurried and used them for travel sized freebies.  **overage refers to the amount I basically got paid to own something.

Here's what I snagged:

• Tide Single Load Detergent: 97c, used $1 off Any Manuf Coupon (P&G rebate book) = 3c overage!
• Wonka Exceptionals Eggs Candy: On Clearance for $1.99, used $1 Manuf Q= 99c
• 8 Boxes of Skittles Blenders Candies (movie theater size):  On Clearance for 49c ea.  Used 2 $1 off 2 Skittles Blenders Target Q, and 2 manuf coupons for 50c off 2 = $1 for 8 boxes, or 12.5c ea box
• Pringles: 2 cans at $1.57 ea, used a $1 off 2 Manuf Q= $1.07 ea
• 1 L Sparkling Ozarka Water: 69c ea, used a BOGO Manuf Q =  34.5 c ea
• Kraft Bunny Marshmallows: On Clearance 50% off = 59c
• Bagel Bites: $2.49- $1 Manuf Q = $1.49
• Nivea Body Wash: $3.04 - $3 Manuf Q = 4 c!
• Old Spice Deodorant: 97 c - $1 off ANY Manuf Q (P&G Brand Rebate book) = 3c overage!
• Olay Bar of Soap:  97c - $2 off ANY Olay Manuf Q (P&G Brand Rebate Book) = $1.03 overage!!
• Secret Deodorant: 97c- $1 off ANY Manuf Q (P&G rebate book)= 3c overage!
• Oral B Cavity Defense Toothbrush:  $1.59 - $1 off ANY Manual Oral B Toothbrush Manuf Q (P&G) = 59c
• Head and Shoulders: 97c - $2 off ANY Manuf Q (P&G Rebate book) = $1.03 overage!
• Herbal Essence Shampoo:  97c- $1 off ANY Manuf Q (P&G Rebate Book) = 3c overage!
• Band Aids (Hello Kitty): 97c - 50c Manuf Q = 47c
• Band Aids (Hello Kitty): 97c ea, bought 2, used a $2 off 2 Manuf Q= 6c overage to own both!
• Hello Kitty Band Aid (97c) and Travel Listerine ($1.47) : $2.43 for both, used a $2 off 2 Manuf Q = 43c for both, or about 22c each!
• Fur Real Friend Mini for Easter (clearanced to $3.49) and a Single Chocolate Peep (Clearanced to 49c): $3.98.  I used a Manuf Q for $2 off Fur Real Easter Friend WYB ANY chocolate Peep = $1.98 for both.  (really good, since the original cost on the Fur Real Friend was around $7!!)

I got a lot of good products and things I needed on the cheap today.  And, yes, I really did need that many Hello Kitty bandaids! We had about 3 Band Aids in the house prior to this.. now we have 40! Whew.

Here is the breakdown:


Total Pre Tax Out of Pocket Expense:  $7.52
Number of Coupons Used:  20
Items Bought:  30
Coupons Total Value:  $24.19
Pre Coupon, Pre Clearance, Original Value of All Items When Bought at Regular Full Price:  $45.01

Total Savings Today On The Items Above: About 83% or  $37.49 off Original In-Store Cost. 

*I did not list everything I bought, or all of my coupons.  This is my "highlight reel".  I actually saved about $60 with coupons this trip, and only spent $76.56, pre tax, on this trip.  That means I saved about 44% off my total today with coupons!  (I saved even more than that off original in-store costs, bc much of what I bought was on sale today)

**AND! Notice many of these deals were done without needing stackable coupons.  

My Less Than $1.50 Brag for the Week

This Week, I Got Many Items Less Than $1.50 or FREE. Some Items I Even Got Paid to Own.

In lieu of a large item by item description of my weekly trip to Target, I decided to make this post about items I got for less than $1.50, Free, or even got Paid To Own.  Sometimes, it is hard to see why it is worth it to clip coupons or deal seek. It can be tedious at times.  But, items like the ones listed below are why I do this.  Last year, I saved my family more than $4000 working one deal at a time.

Here's what I did this week: 

In the mail so far, this week, I received FREE: Being Girl Tampax/Always sample pack, Secret Flawless Berry scented deodorant, a FREE Parents Magazine with a $10 off Any Baby Item Amazon.com coupon, and the week is still going on...

At Target, I got the following deals (after coupons, etc. Not going to break it down this week..)

•   Huggies Travel Wipes for the diaper bag, 47c
• Huggies Travel Wipes for the diaper bag, 72c
• Finish QUANTUM Dishwasher Tabs, 10ct (reg $5), FREE
• Shout Wipes(we use these all the time), 7c
• Tide 1 load Detergent, 12c
• Tide 1 load Detergent, 12c
• Planters Peanuts, 3oz, 24c
• Colgate, 6 oz, 44c
• Travel Size Herbal Essence Conditioner, Got Paid 3 c to own!
• Kraft Shredded Cheese, $1.29
• Kraft Shredded Cheese, $1.29
• Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs, $1.50
• Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs, $1.50
• Kraft Deli Sliced Cheese, $1.30

Rite Aid was pretty wonderful this week. The prices below reflect the +Up Rewards added back into the original cost.

• Colgate Sensitive, got Paid 50 c to own!
• Colgate Toothpaste with FREE Toothbrush, got Paid $1 to own!
• Gain Apple Tango Dish Detergent, Reg. Size, got Paid 13 c to own!
• Gain Apple Tango Dish Detergent, Reg. Size, got Paid 13 c to own!
• Gain Original Dish Detergent, Reg. Size, got Paid 13 c to own!

CVS deals were pretty nice too. Again, the prices below reflect the Extra Bucks added back in as reimbursement.

•  Listerine Total Care Mouthwash, Full Size, FREE

• Colgate Toothpaste, FREE
• Colgate Toothpaste, FREE

I do this weekly deals brag just to show you that you can do this! The deals this week were pretty straightforward.  The Gain moneymakers were using a $1 off coupon.. I got paid to own these instantly since they were only 87c on sale, and the computer took the full $1 off coupon amount without beeping. 

It takes a little time and effort.. but not having to pay for toothpaste, dish soap, dishwasher detergent, etc?? Totally worth it!

2 Drug Stores, 45 Minutes, And Getting Paid to Own Things I Need

This Week, I Broke Tradition 

and Went to 2 Drug Stores: 

Rite Aid and CVS 

Usually, I go to one drug store a week.  Usually, that store is CVS. This week, I went to both CVS and Rite Aid.  I am trying to work some good Rite Aid deals so I can use Register Rewards to pay for a really amazing deal I have in the works.  That will come later.. but for now, here is a summary of my trips:

RITE AID: 

As per the cicular, Rite Aid has 87 c Gain Dish Soap this week, and they have select Colgate Toothpastes on sale. These toothpastes are on sale for $3.50 this week (down from the regular $4.99). ALSO, you get a $3.50 +Up Reward to use on a future transaction with each participating Colgate you buy, limit 2.

This is my transaction:

Gain Dish Soap    .87

Gain Dish Soap    .87

Gain Dish Soap    .87

Colgate Sensitive  3.50

Colgate w/ Bonus Free Tooth Brush  3.50

• Then, I used 3 Gain coupons, valued at $1 each.  (From the P&G brands rebate coupon book I submitted for a few months ago). The computer TOOK OFF THE WHOLE AMOUNT! It didn't beep to let the clerk know to value the coupon down to 87c.  Therefore, I got PAID 13c each dish soap to take it out of the store.

• I also had  a coupon for $1 off the Colagate, and 50c off the other Colgate.  Since I received $7 in +Up Rewards for buying these items, it is like I got PAID $1.50 to take these out the store.  

Summary:  I spent $5.11 out of pocket, after coupons and tax. I got $7 in Rewards to use like "cash" on my next trip to Rite Aid.  
*Ok, so WHY did I not ROLL the transactions? Why did I not buy one toothpaste, then turn around and use that $3.50 to pay for the next toothpaste? I could have done that. The thing is, you have to have $3.50 in the transaction to get the full$3.50 value.  AND, I wanted to use all my coupons. IF I had bought one toothpaste, and gotten a $3.50 UP Reward back, I could have used it to buy the other toothpaste. However, the dish soaps took off more than they were priced with the coupons. So, that would have left just the toothpaste on the transaction. The toothpaste was $3.50, but I used at least a 50 c coupon. Which made the transaction, had I done it that way, go below the $3.50 pre tax amount. I still could have used the +Up Reward, but I would have lost the extra value on it. They don't give cash back or another Reward when you use one for less than face value amount. I chose to use my coupons and get paid to own the toothpaste, rather than not use the coupons, use the +Up Reward and come out even.

CVS:

I needed some Pull Ups and Diapers. As per the circular, CVS has Huggies Pull Ups or Diapers, Jumbo packs, on sale for 2/$17.98, with $4 EB back.  (Target usually has these on sale every week for $8.99, so the CVS deal is a good one!)  I decided, IF I had to spend the $17.98 anyway, I might as well spend the same amount of money and come home with a lot more product/value by browsing the circular and working some of the other EB deals. Then, I would roll 4 transactions to get the best values for the least out of pocket cash. I went to the store at 8:20PM on a Tuesday, when it isn't busy and the cashiers are chatty. They don't mind doing 4 transactions back to back for you when it is slow! :)

1. In Transaction 1, I bought some clearance heart lollies for the girls for 50c. AND, I bought the Listerine Total Care Mouthwash from the circular. You Pay $3.99, You get $2 EB back. Also, I had a $2 off Listerine coupon (printed from Coupons.com a while back).  So, it was like I got the Listerine FREE!  Spent$2.79 OOP, after tax and coupons, got $2 EB.
2. Colgate Total Advanced Toothpaste was Buy 1 at $3.79, get $3.79 in EB.  I used the $2 EB from Transaction 1.  Again, this was like FREE, or even getting paid to own as I spent $2.06 OOP, and got $3.79 EB back. 
3. Worked the Colgate Deal one more time, as the limit was 2.  I bought one at $3.79. I used the EB from the previous deal, $3.79 EB. My total was .27 c for tax.  I got $3.79 EB back. So, again, FREE toothpaste. 
4. The transaction I came to actually "do".  I bought one package of Jumbo Pull Ups, one package of Overnights diapers (both Huggies).  These were $8.99 each. Also, I had two $2 off coupons for these.  So, they were $6.99 each after coupon. THEN, I used the $3.79 EB from the last Colgate deal to pay for them.  My total came out to $11.45 for both "diapers", post tax and coupons, or  $5.72 each pack!  Pretty nice! AND, I got $4 in EB back!

Total Summary:  
I spent a total out of pocket amount of  $22.35 at both stores.  I have $11 worth of rewards to spend next week.  I saved $33.86 in in-store deals and coupons combined. It took me about 15 minutes to decide which deals to work at the drugstores and which coupons to pull out to work them.  IF you did not have any coupons and worked these deals you could have rolled the Rite Aid savings into each other. AND, once you work a deal or two like these "Rewards back" deals, you will always have some Rewards in your wallet to keep for the next week's deals. The goal is to always have some to work with so that your original money spent working the first deal keeps getting rolled forward into more savings and value with less out of pocket expense.  


**I want to note that I needed the Pull Ups and Diapers. To buy both at normal Target cost, sans coupons, it would have been about $18.   My CVS total was $16.57 for EVERYTHING! AND, I have $4 EB to use next week.

 

  

Why You Should ALWAYS Scan Your Extra-Care Card at the Kiosk in CVS

Scan your Extra-Care Card at the In-Store Coupon Kiosk at CVS

If You Get the Listerine Coupon, You Have a Potential Money-Maker Deal!

Couponing to Disney just posted a really great scenario! Apparently, some folks are getting a very valuable coupon for Listerine when they scan their Extra-Care card at the in-store coupon kiosk. You should ALWAYS scan your card as the first thing you do as soon as you walk into a CVS Pharmacy Store.  

In this case, Listerine Mouthwash is on sale with an Extra Buck deal attached. When you stack two of your manufacturer's coupons with the kiosk coupon, you pay about 98 cents and get a couple of EB's back! That is a Money Maker!! 

Go HERE for all the deal details and Couponing to Disney's strategic coupon scenario. 

Thanks, Kristin!  

Hmmm.. I am getting kinda low on mouthwash. I only have one bottle of it left in my personal "store".  And, I did notice some good toothpaste, etc deals. I think I will head to CVS for sure this week! I will keep you all posted on the deals that I work, as I work them so that you will know how to do them too!