Thursday, July 23, 2009

AMP deal

Well, I was really reluctant to try it for some reason. Maybe because we don't even drink it... But also the coupons I wanted to use have the words "CVS" on them, although they were manufacturer's coupons. THANKFULLY, I asked the cashier before checking out if I was able to use them, explaining they were manufacturer coupons, not CVS coupons. She was very nice and said "As long as they scan, I'll take them." SO YAY!! I was pumped. You never know what kind of cashier you'll get--reasonable/friendly or mean/irrational. I like the 1st set the best. :)

So, here's what I got:

5 Sobe Life Waters $0.99, minus 5 $0.50 coupon, doubled. Free, plus an additiona $0.50 off my order for the "Buy 10, get $5 off" deal. So a total of minus $2.50 for those 5 Sobes.
5 Vitamin waters $1.00, minus 4 (she missed one, but I appreciated her kindness and let it go) $0.50 coupons, doubled. Paid $1 for 5, plus got $2.50 off with the deal.
10 AMP energy drinks $1.69, minus 6 $0.40 off coupons, doubled. Minus $5 off for buying 10. $7.10 total for all 10.
2 bags of Dole lettuce. $0.98 each, minus $1.50/2 coupon. $0.46.
4-5 pounds of cherries. Yum. $0.99 a pound. Total about $4.50.

Total around $8.00 plus tax. Paid $9.03? I think. Receive a catalina for a $10 gift card for buying the AMP drinks!! yay! I was also worried about doing this deal and then not getting the catalina. I hate when that happens. But it did, no problem.

All the drinks, didn't really need. My husband will drink the Sobe and Vitamin waters, though. Needed the salad and love the cherries, so I thought it was worth it. I was going to try and get my total lower, but I love cherries and you can't beat $0.99 a pound! I've paid up to $3.49 a pound for them past years (sadly).

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you found some great deals this week.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Let's Go Krogering...

I hit up Kroger today during "naptime." And when I say "naptime" it's not just my son. My hubby always encourages me to go run some errands during naptime. Why? So he can join in on the nap!! :) Yes, there's more productive things he could be doing, but I get out of the house, so I don't complain. Usually, at least.

Anyhoo, I went to Kroger. I had an evnelope full of coupons to use for the Mega Sale--"Buy 10 participating items, get $5 off your order." I had some coupons I printed at my house and last night I was able to print some off at my parents house, so I was set. I did pretty good. I chickened out on doing the Amp energy drink deal. I may change my mind, but 1) we don't drink them and 2) the only coupons I have for them say CVS on them. They are manufacturer's coupons, but sometimes I get a lot of slack because they say CVS on them and I hate fighting with them about it. Ugg. We'll see, if I get the gumption to "just do it." I also have several Vitamin Water and Sobe Life Water coupons from CVS that would make them free, but again, is the hassle worth it. Kind of. Especially, cause I'd like the gift card.

Here's what I got:


**2 bags of Purina Dog Chow $4.99, minus 2 $3.50 off coupons. $1.49 each, plus the extra $0.50 off from promotion--really $0.99 each.
**4 sticks of Speed Stick deodorant $1.50 each. Minus 4 $1.50 off coupons. Free. Plus an extra $0.50 will come off because of promotion.
**1 bag of Chex Mix, minus $0.50 coupon doubled. I think it came out to be $0.49? I was supposed to get an e-coupon for Chex Mix taken off, but I couldn't find one. uurrr.
**2 Sobe Life waters $0.99, minus $0.50 coupon, doubled. Free. Plus the extra $0.50 x 2.
**1 Vitamin water $1.00, minus $0.50 coupon, doubled. Free. Plus the extra $0.50 off.
**1 Digorno (sp?) flatbread melt $.319, minus FREE coupon. Free.
**1 box of Hefty trashbags, on close out $3.21, minus $0.55 coupon, didn't double. $2.66.

I had $5 taken off my order for buying the 10 participating items (everything but the flatbread and trashbags were participating items.)

Total before tax: $1.64
Tax: $1.45
Gramd Total: $3.09

Items I really needed: Dog food, trashbags. Totally worth the $3, even though I didn't need the deodorant at all. Sometimes, in crazy coupon lady land, you buy things you don't need, to get the other things for free. :) But if you are reading this, you probably know that.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Verizon Wireless---you stink! Ppppppppppp!

Last month we decided to switch to Verizon wireless. Many of our friends and family have Verizon, so we made the switch. We were happy to find a plan that cost about the same as our old T-Mobile bill and I thought we were all set. When the bill came, instead of $60, it was $140!!! What??? I was so mad. After talking to several representatives, with no help, then contacting them through their website, they are basically saying "We're really sorry that no one told you about the fees, BUT we can't do anything abou it." You know, sorry just isn't good enough. I would understand if there were start up fees, BUT as the consumer, I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT UP FRONT!!!! There's no excuse these days for hidden fees from a company as big as Verizon Wireless.

So I let them know that I would make sure to spread the word about the horrible customer service and total lack of communication with their new clients. Ugg. I'm so mad. We were with T-Mobile for 7 years and never had this kind of problem. They were even extra willing to delete charges that we received once because of a miscommunication. Change isn't always good, I guess. Arrrrr.

I did it! A pretty good Huggies deal.

I wasn't quite sure about the Rite Aid Huggies deal, but I think I did alright. Last week, I had a baby shower to go to and I wanted to get a pack of Pampers Swaddlers (awww) for the mommy-to-be & baby, cause I love them--they are so soft. I had a $5/$25 purchase coupon, so I went ahead and bought a Mega pack of Huggies @ $17.99. I came to realize they would be on sale for $14.99 this week (ugg) but I had two gift cards that still had money on them, so I ended up only paying $6.64 for both packs of diapers. Plus I will get $2 each back from Single Check rebates and the $17.99 went towards the "Buy $50 of Kimberly Clark products, get a $25 gift card."

So today was the last day to get more Mega packs for $14.99, so we went in and it went very smoothly. I got:

**2 Mega packs of size 5 Huggies, $14.99 each. Plus I had a $3 off coupon and a $1.50 off coupon to use! :)
**2 boxes of 200 count Kleenex. On sale BOGO. $2.49 total, plus a $0.50/2 coupon.

I used another $5 off a $25 order coupon, plus my other coupons and got my total down to $24.74 after tax and everything.

So in total I spent $31.38 for 3 mega packs of Huggies for me, 1 baby shower gift pack of Pampers and 2 large boxes of Kleenex. PLUS I will receive $4 in rebates and a $25 gift card.

$31.38, Plus $29 BACK! is a pretty great deal! I only come out about $2 in the hole for all those diapers! Yay! I'm glad I went ahead and did it. Hopefully there will be more great diaper deals in the future and I can stretch out my $25 gift card for awhile. :)

Ok, hope that made sense. It's late and I'm tired, but I wanted to jot my thoughts down. Happy Shopping!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

OUT OF THE LOOP! What's wrong with me??

Oh my. I haven't posted my deals in a month! I can't believe that. I do believe it, cause I keep thinking about it, but I just haven't gotten around to it. We had birthday party planning and celebrating going on, so that took some of my time up. We were out of town last weekend, so that was fun. But here I am and I'm going to at least share in words my most recent deal at CVS.

I received a $10 off a $50 purchase out of the coupon machine, so I NEEDED :) to use it. I could have done a little more with it, but I had a $2 off Huggies coupon, plus a $1.50 manufacturer's coupon, and they were on sale, so I encorporated a pack of diapers into my deal. Here's what I got:

**3 Kodak Photo books $7.99 each, no coupons. Received $7.99 each back in ECBs.
**3 Tylenol Muscle Ache. $3.99. Paid $3.99, got back $3 ECBs each. (My printer has been acting up, so I wasn't able to print off the $1 off coupons. :( Sad. But it's up and running again.)
**2 packs of Kotex products 2/$6, used 2 $1.50 coupons. Paid $3, got back 2 ECBs.
**1 bar of Ambi soap. $1.99, used $2 off CRT for any Ambi product. Free.
**1 pack of Huggies. $8.99. Used $2 off CRT, $1.50 off coupon. $5.49.
**1 Honey Nut Cheerios cup $1.00, used $1 off coupon. Free.
**a couple snack fillers to bring up my total (I had a $20 ECB and a $15.98 ECB, so I had to add a couple things to get it up that high.)

Used my $10/$50 coupons, plus other coupons. Paid with my $35.98 in ECBs and some change (I think $0.71 off my gift card--that's still going after almost 7 months of use!!) Received about $35 in ECBs back!!! A loss of $1 ECB, but a gain of a pack of diapers! Good trade off. :)

Plus 3 Photo books that are AWESOME gifts!! I'm so glad the limit was 5 and not just 1. I got really lucky when making these, cause the cashier was giving me a little bit of a hard time saying "limit 1 per household." And I told her that I had previously gotten 2 and my limit wasn't reached. I told her about the cardboard sign that people had seen that says Limit 5. She reached over to the photo counter, picked up the exact sign I was talking about and it said Limit 5! That was a relief, cause I hate when they treat you like you are being bad. :P

Well, that's it for now. I will try and be better about my deals. I think I'm going to do the Rite Aid "Buy $50 of Kimberly Clark stuff, get a $25 gift card." It seems like a good deal, if I can work it out. Happy Shopping!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Back to Kmart

I shouldn't have gone back, but I did. I found some of the Glade candle tins last time I was there. They were marked $3.49 and inside was a $1.50 off coupon. So doubled, it would have been $3 off AND Glade was part of the Buy More, Save More deal. So I thought if I got 4 of those and 2 packs of diapers, I would have about $35 to get the $7 off coupon. I also got a new $1 Cheerios coupon in my e-mail, so I was hoping to get more Cheerios. All in all, the trip was fine, except one of my $1.50 coupons got skipped. Ugg. I hate that. You would think with the --10 COUPON LIMIT-- it wouldn't be that hard to scan 10 coupons correctly. Then if I go in and try and fix it, I'm a "pain" and it takes forever to get fixed. So I lost out on the $3. Here's what I got...

** 2 packs of Huggies diapers $10.49 each, minus 2 $1.50 coupons, doubled. $7.49 each.
** 1 pack of Huggies wipes $2.89, minus $1 coupon doubled. $0.89.
** 2 boxes of Cheerios $2 each, minus 2 $1 coupons, doubled. Free.
** 4 Glade tin candles, rang up $3.29 each, minus 3 (should have been 4) $1.50 coupons, doubled. Would have been $0.29 each, but paid full price for one. So $4.16 for 4. ($1.04 each--going to use as gifts--they are cute, so I guess $1 for a small gift is alright.)
** 1 pack of Diet Coke. $4! minus $1 coupon, doubled. $2.00.

Total was around $47.00, I think.
Used my $14 off coupon I got last trip.
Minus all other coupons ($23 worth)
New total was around $9. (should have been $6, like I had calculated in my head--I should have stopped right there and asked him to recheck my coupons, but there was a long line and only 2 check-out lanes open, so I sucked it up.)
Received a $7 off my next order coupon, like I planned.

WEIRDNESS: Both times I was at Kmart this week (Trotwood) my $$ off coupon didn't print at the coupon machine at the lane I checked out in. It printed on the machine NEXT to the lane I checked out in. ?? Totally doesn't make sense. And both times, I had to say "I should have gotten a coupon from the machine" and they went "next-door" and got them for me. Weirdness.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Old Navy

Oh Old Navy. You booger.


Well, Old Navy has been having weekly internet coupon days for several weeks now, maybe months. I've been trying to get the coupons for the last three weeks. The thing is, you may know what day the coupons will load, but you have no idea WHEN on that day they will load. And all the good coupons (And I mean GOOD--there's a $75 off a $100 purchase coupon!) go really fast, of course. So you basically have to stay close by the computer if you can. I found a chat room where a bunch of people hang out and wait for the coupons. It helps the time go by and it's fun to chat with strangers about whatever is on someone's mind. I have no idea who they are, but they feel like friends. :)


Well, week 1 of me trying, the coupon was supposed to load on a Sunday. So we hung out in the chat room starting around midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing happened until midnight the next day! When it actually loaded, I couldn't get my computer to load the page, so I sat there for 10 minutes trying to figure it out, and missed all the good coupons. :P

So Week 2, I thought, well now I'm a pro, I can do this. Again, it was a Sunday, so we started watching around midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. WELL, they didn't load until MONDAY AT 8AM!!! Oh, I was mad. I stayed up til about 3am, laid by the computer til 5am in a half-sleep, but I couldn't stay up any longer and went to bed. When I got up and Cooper and I came downstairs, coincidentally, it was 8am, and again and I came right in time for the load. BUT again, my computer wouldn't cooperate and I didn't figure it out until about 15 minutes late. Too late. Nothing for me.

So this past week, Thursday was the day. Again, we started watching and waiting around midnight Wed/Thursday morning. I think I went to bed around 2am, the first night. I thought I'd be up longer, but I couldn't stay awake. I also had a feeling it wouldn't load the first night. So I wasn't as crazy about it this time, but I kept the computer on all day on Thursday and sat & chatted when I had some time. So evening came, we were having a good time, chatting about kids, Jon & Kate Plus 8, movies, etc. Midnight passed, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be long. For some reason I thought 1am would be it. Well, it turned out to be 1am! Wow! But, of course, something else went wrong with my lovely dial-up computer and I missed the good coupons. I seriously thought I knew what to do this time, but it got me again. HOWEVER, someone in the chat room offered her $50 off a $100 purchase coupon to someone, cause she wouldn't be able to use it. Of course, I said I'd love it and she actually picked ME to have it!!! It was wonderful. I felt very blessed. Especially since I hadn't gotten the chance to actually get one for myself because of the stupid computer. So she forwarded the coupon to me and VOILA I was ready to hit Old Navy! I got the coupon on Thursday night/Friday morning at 1am, and I was at Old Navy shopping on Friday by 4pm! I was excited! Ok, long story short, here's what I was able to get:


** 1 pair of comfy black pants (workout/lounge type pants) $19.50 on sale for 50% off. $9.75.
** 1 lightweight sweater/jacket, regular price $19.50, but was on clearance for $8.99. BUT I just looked at the receipt and it is not on the receipt. I guess it was free. oops.
** 2 "Perfect Tanks" $8.50 each, on sale for 2/$15. 2/$15.
** 2 Stretch Tanks $10.50 regular priced, on sale for $6 each. $12 total.
** 1 "Flutter Sleeve" shirt $14.50. Paid $14.50.
** 1 "Braided Tank" $12.50, on sale for $10.
** 1 "Crochet Keyhole" tank $14.50, on sale for $10.
** 2 "Smock Hensley" short sleeve shirts $15 each.

Total Before Sales: $148.50
Total After Sales: $101.25
Used $50 off a $100 purchase coupon!!!
New Total: $51.25 plus tax. Nice.
With tax it was almost $55, but well worth it. I actually sold some of my Creative Memories stuff on craigslist a week or so ago, and I told myself if I could get a good Old Navy coupon, I would use some of it to get some clothes. So, yay me! I'm very excited. Wearing the same 4-5 shirts constantly was getting old. I probably have more around here that I could wear, but I seemed to have gotten in a rut with the same old clothes.

I really wanted some new jeans, but just didn't find any worth buying at Old Navy. I like the dark denim and the wide leg jeans and those are hard to find. I found some at Avenue that I liked AND they had a deal that if you bring in an old pair of jeans, they would give you $5 off a new pair. PLUS a lot of their jeans were $20 or less this week, so I went home, washed my old cruddy jeans and exchanged them for the new pair. AND The Avenue sent out an email coupon for $1 Tank Tops (limit 2) so I snatched those up as well.

So after a couple dinners out and all my new clothes, I think I spent my craigslist cash wisely. It's always good to leave the bank account alone and buy some things you've been wanting with extra cash. I will probably keep trying to get the coveted $75 off coupon (and if, miracle of all miracles, I get it, I'll use it to buy someone else other than me clothes--oops).