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Friday, March 12, 2010

"Where in the world do you get all your coupons?"

I have heard this question so many times, so I figured if I am trying to help people start saving with coupons then this is definitely a question that must be answered. :)

Most of my coupons come from the Sunday newspaper. I bought the San Angelo newspaper for awhile, and I realized that I just wasn't getting coupons that so many of my friends from other states/cities seemed to be getting. I started getting the San Antonio newspaper, and it has seriously changed couponing for me. If you live in a smaller city, I would suggest buying a newspaper from a larger city. These can be found at gas stations, grocery stores, and other various places throughout town. These larger newspapers are more expensive (the San Antonio paper costs $3), but I ALWAYS make this money back many times over. There are three different types of inserts that come in the Sunday paper...SmartSource, RedPlum, and Proctor and Gamble. You don't get all of these inserts every week. In a typical week you get anywhere from two to three different inserts.

Another wonderful place to find coupons is on the internet. There are several sites that are devoted solely to coupons. Some of my favorite spots online to find coupons are:
www.coupons.com
www.smartsource.com
www.redplum.com
www.target.com (this website has both Target coupons and manufacturer's coupons)
Each of these online sites lets you print two of each coupon. They also change out their coupons periodically, so it is always a good idea to check these sites often.

If I know that I am going to buy a specific product, and I do not have a coupon for it, I will often go to the company's website and see if I can find a coupon there. You would be surprised at the amount of websites that have coupons right there for the taking.

There are often coupons right at the stores as well. HEB is known for their yellow coupons placed right on the aisles in their stores. You can also find coupons placed on store shelves at Target, Wal-Mart, Albertsons, etc. Just open your eyes and start looking for them. Once you start searching, you'll be amazed at how many you'll find.

Albertsons Shopping Trip

I ran to Albertsons to pick up some of the deals that I posted about yesterday. I bought everything shown below and spent...
$9.37. I used all of the coupons that I mentioned in my earlier post. I was able to get the Betty Crocker boxed potatoes for $0.20 a box, the frozen vegetables for $0.45 a bag, and the various Pillsbury breads for between $0.00 and $0.60 a tube. You can do it too!!!

Great Walgreens Deal!

I found an amazing deal at Walgreens and thought that I should share it with all of you. I bought everything pictured below. The total came to $17.54, but after in store sales and coupons, I paid...



$0.06...that is not a typo...six cents!! I'll walk you through exactly how I was able to do this, so if you have the right coupons, you can do it too!!
2 Gillette Fusion shave gels (2.5 oz...this was not considered trial size) $1.99 each
2 Gillette Body Washes (12 oz) $4.99 each
4 Vicks cough drops 2/$1.79
Shave gels total came to $3.98 minus 2 $1 off coupons found in the Proctor and Gamble insert from the newspaper. After coupons $1.98
Body wash total came to $9.98 minus 2 coupons for buy 1 shave gel, get body wash free found in the Proctor and Gamble insert from the newspaper.
After coupons $0.00
Vicks cough drops $3.58 minus 2 $1.50 coupons good for any Vicks products from the Proctor and Gamble insert from the newspaper. After coupons $0.58.
An additional $2.50 was taken off because this week Walgreens is running a sale where if you buy a Gillette body wash, you get the second one 50% off.
After all coupons and Walgreens promotions, the total came to $0.06.
Look through your coupons and see if you might have the ones I mentioned above. Some of these coupons came from last week, but there are also some from previous week.
Good luck!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

An Upcoming CVS Deal?

I am writing about this hoping that it comes to our area. Sometimes the CVS deals that I read about are conveniently left out of our local ad, but 90% of the time we get the deals that I read about. I thought I should pass along this information because sometimes these coupons reach their print limits quickly when a good sale comes along.

Starting Sunday at CVS there is supposed to be the following deal:
Buy $15 worth of Degree and Dove deodorant and earn a $5 ECB. These deodorants are supposed to be priced at $2.50. In order to reach $15 you'd need to buy 6 deodorants. At
www.dontfretthesweat.com you can print numerous deodorant coupons. There are several for $3 off 2 Degree and Dove deodorant coupons. You are able to print two off of each coupon.

IF we get this deal (IF...I'm hoping...I love free or close to free), you could do the following:

Buy 6 deodorants ($15.00) minus 3 $3 off 2 coupons, pay $6 and receive $5 in ECBs. Once you factor in the ECBs, you'd be spending around $0.16 for each deodorant.

I'm thinking this is going to be a good time to stock up on deodorant or maybe buy some to donate. I'd go ahead and print out these coupons if you are interested, but please don't go to CVS and try to do this deal until you first check our local ad.

If you are new to CVS shopping, remember that you need an Extra Care Card in order to get these deals...just ask the cashier about it and you can get a card very easily (and it's free!!)

Target Deals

There are several different Target deals that are going on now. Some of these deals expire on Saturday (March 13), so if you are interested in these deals, you might want to run out to the store soon.

1. Buy 5 participating Keebler cookies and receive a $5 Target gift card.
-These cookies are priced anywhere from $1.62 to $2.99.
There were a couple different coupons for these cookies in the newspaper...$0.50 off any 2 Keebler cookies, and $0.50 off any 1 Keebler Cheesecake Middles cookies.

If you bought 5 of the Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies, used 2 $0.50 off 2 coupons, you would end up paying $7.10. You would also receive a $5 gift card. After factoring in the gift card, it would be like paying $0.42 each.
If you are starting out with no coupons, you would pay $8.10 and still receive a $5 gift card. After factoring in the gift card, you will be paying $0.62 each.

Note...you may not use your $5 gift card to pay for the first purchase, but if you wanted to buy the 5 cookies a second time, you could use the $5 gift card from your first purchase to pay for the second set of cookies...so your total would be $8.10-$5 gift card=$3.10 PLUS you will be given another $5 gift card. After the second transaction, you would be making money on the cookies. :)

If you want to lower your grocery budget, it is important to stock up on items when they are on sale. That way you can wait and never have to buy items at full price again.

2. Buy 5 participating Kellogg's snack items and receive a $5 Target gift card.
-These items are priced between $2.00 and $2.50. They include Nutri Grain Bars, Special K Fruit Crisps, Special K Granola Bars, Pop-Tarts, along with several other crackers and snack items. The participating products will be listed on hang tags from the store shelves.

Like the above cookie deal, you cannot pay for your initial transaction using the first $5 gift card, but you can go through and do the deal a second time and use that first $5 gift card to get your total down.

There was a coupon for $1 off 2 Nutri Grain Bars in the newspaper, and there is also a $1 off 2 coupon on http://www.target.com/. This is a manufacturer's coupon, so the two cannot be used together.
There have also been coupons for Pop-Tarts, and Special K Fruit Crisp bars in the newspapers the last couple of weeks.

3. Buy 3 General Mills cereals and receive a 4th box free.
-These cereals are priced between $2.54 and $3.89. There are several different coupons for General Mills cereals on http://www.coupons.com/ and in the newspaper. (make sure the coupons are for General Mills and not for Kelloggs!)

If you buy 4 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (priced at $2.54) and use 2 $1 off 2 coupons (from the newspaper) your total would come to $5.62 (or around $1.40 per box).

4. Buy 3 Pillsbury Toaster Strudels and receive the 4th box free.
-These are priced at $1.89. There have been coupons for $0.35 off in the newspaper, and also $0.55 off 2 coupons available at http://www.coupons.com/.

If you buy 4 boxes, and use 2 $0.55 off 2 coupons, your total would come to $4.57 (or around $1.14 a box).

5. Crest Toothpaste for kids
-These are price cut to $1.49
use the $1 coupon found at http://www.target.com/ AND the $0.75 manufacturer's coupon good for any Crest toothpaste (found in last Sunday's newspaper).
Final cost will be FREE!! If you do not have the coupon from the newspaper, your cost would be $0.49, which is still a great deal on toothpaste.

6. Reach dental floss
-Price is $0.97
use the $1 coupon found in last Sunday's paper.
Final cost will be FREE!

7. Johnson's Buddy Bars Soap
-Price is $0.97
use the $1 coupon found in the newspaper, or on http://www.coupons.com/ (the coupon doesn't specifically say for buddy bars...states that it is for any Johnson's baby products...these soaps are considered a baby product, so you may use it)
Final cost will be FREE!

8. GE Reveal 4 pack lightbulbs.
-Price is $2.12
use $1.50 coupon from http://www.target.com/ AND the $1 coupon from the newspaper
Final cost will be FREE! If you do not have the coupon from the newspaper, final cost will be $0.62.

9. BandAids
-Price is $1.74
use $1.00 coupon from http://www.target.com/ and you will pay $0.74. If you happen to have the coupon for $3 off when you purchase Neosporin and Bandaids (found in newspaper), you could buy BandAids for $1.74 and Neosporin for $3.98...use the $3 coupon AND the $1 Target coupon, pay $1.72 for both products (or $0.86 each).

10. Del Monte Fruit Chiller cups
-Price is $1.89
use $1.00 coupon from http://www.coupons.com/ and your final cost will be $0.89.

11. Connect 4 Electronic Handheld Game (found in toy section)
-price is $4.98 (it was hanging on a tag that said $9.99, but when scanned at the price check machine, it rings up at $4.98)
use the $3 off Hasbro games coupon from http://www.target.com/ AND the $4 Connect 4 coupon from http://www.playsaver.com/.
Final Cost: FREE!

12. Battleship Electronic Handheld Game (found in toy section)
-price is $4.98 (again, it was hanging on a tag that said $9.99, but after price checking, it said $4.98)
-use the $3 off Hasbro games coupon from www.target.com, and your final cost will be $1.98


13. Monopoly card game
-price is $5.24
use the $5 Monopoly coupon from www.playsaver.com, and your final cost will be $0.24. (This will not work with the coupon that states it is for electronic Monopoly...only the coupon that states it is for any Monopoly game).

Hope you are able to go and get yourself some good deals. If you plan on doing the deals that will give you a gift card, it might be best for you to break up your order into two different transactions. Your first transaction would be those items that would get you a gift card, and then in your second transaction you would be able to use the gift cards you just earned so you will spend less out of pocket. Most cashiers are very friendly at our local Target and will have no problem doing that for you.

Good luck!!

Another Albertsons Deal

I found another great deal at Albertsons!! Betty Crocker boxed potatoes...Scalloped and Au Gratin potatoes are also on sale for $1 this week. At www.coupons.com there is a coupon for $0.40 off of these. There is also an additional $0.40 off coupon at www.smartsource.com. Each of these sites will allow you to print these coupons off twice. After this coupon is doubled, your final price will be $0.20 a box. This is a great stock up price!!

Good Albertsons Deals March 10-March 16

This week there are a few good deals at our local Albertsons. Their ad states that they will be doubling coupons up to and including $0.50 and tripling them up to and including $0.39. I will just be posting about the best deals that I see here, so if you are going to Albertsons, you might want to check out the ad yourself and see if anything jumps out at you.

Allen's Steam Supreme Frozen Vegetables are on sale for 10 for $10 (remember that with a 10 for $10 sale you can buy any amount and each one will ring up for $1...you do NOT have to buy exactly 10)
-In the paper this past Sunday was a coupon for $0.55 off this product. Final price after coupon will be $0.45 each. If you have several coupons for this product, it would be a good idea to stock up on these because this is a price that we don't see very often.

Kellogg's Cinnabon bars are on sale for $1.00 a box. In order to get this price you have to buy 2 boxes and use the coupon for $1 off 2 that is taped to the boxes. The last time I priced these at Target and Wal-Mart they were between $2.50 and $3.00 a box, so this price is again a very good price.

Various Pillsbury breads (the ones in the refrigerated section in tubes) are also priced at $1.00. This is an amazing price...most of these are priced close to $2 at Wal-Mart. There are several coupons that you can use to get cheap or possibly free bread.

$0.35 off 1 Pillsbury pizza crust (this was in the newspaper)...after this coupon is tripled you will get this product for free.

$0.40 off 2 Pillsbury Italian Breads...this includes any Loaves, Breadsticks, Dinner Rolls, and Pizza crust. This coupon was in the newspaper and can also be found at www.coupons.com. After this coupon is doubled, final price will be $0.60 each.

$0.30 off 2 Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits. Again this coupon was found in the newspaper and is also available at www.coupons.com. After this coupon is tripled, final price will be $0.55 each.

$0.50 off 2 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. This coupon is found at www.coupons.com . The crescent rolls on sale for $1 at Albertsons are the small 5 count package. After doubling this coupon, final price is $0.50 each.

$0.40 off 2 Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. This coupon was found in the newspaper and is also available at www.coupons.com. Again, this will be the small 5 count package. After doubling this coupon, your final price will be $0.60 each.

Always Save Apple Juice (64 oz.) is on sale for $1.

These are the best deals that I see at Albertsons for this week. I don't shop there every week, but with the various deals that I listed above, I'll definitely be taking at least one trip there this week. Remember that if you are stocking up on products, ALWAYS check expiration dates.

Good luck finding deals!!