I LOVE Free!

These are the things I got free this month from Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS and Kroger! There are 2 Bayar Meters (to donate), 5 boxes of cereal, 3 packages of toilet paper, and 2 mouthwashes. And who says coupons aren't worth it?

I forgot to add these freebies. Two butters on sale at Kroger last week for $1 each, used 2 $1 coupons. Five single load Tides from Wal-Mart at 97 cents each. I used five $1 coupons reduced to 97 cents. I only paid 7 cents each for tax. Not bad at all!

Coupons + CVS = :)

I went to CVS tonight just because I had coupons! Me---with coupons? Imagine that! LOL I had just printed 4 $5 coupons from Nature's Bounty vitamins' "Healthy Rewards" site. I'd found codes on a fellow bloggers site to print the coupons. A $5 coupon cost five hundred points, BUT you can hit the back button and print more for no additional points.

At CVS, I purchased everything you see above for a whopping $1.70!! And I didn't even have to use ECBs to get my total that low. Here's a run down of the deal:

(1) B12 vitamins $8.49
(1) B2 vitamins $8.49
(2) D Vitamins $9.98
(1) Tampax 40ct. $3.49 CLEARANCE
(1) Tampax 20ct. $3.89
(1) Colgate7.6oz $3.99 RAINCHECK
_____________________________
Before discounts and coupon Total = $40.61 w/tax

The vitamins were BOGO, plus I had a $5 Q for each. That alone took $33.48 off my bill. I also had a $1 Q for the Colgate. Then I had a Q for free 20ct. Tampax with the purchase of a 40ct. ($3.89). That made a total of $24.89 just in coupons! I just realized that my subtotal after all of this was NEGATIVE 4 cents! With tax my OOP=$1.70!! AMAZING!!! I'm going back tomorrow! I still have 2 more $5 Q for vitamins. :) I love being able to add more things to my stockpile. BTW...I'm working on more stockpile pictures!

Speaking of picture: CVS has prints for only 9 CENTS each until Saturday!!! This is for the one hour service not the ones that print from the machine. You can upload your pictures at the store or online. At this late date, I'd do it at cvsphoto.com....use the promo code: 9cents There's no limit to how many you can print!

2010

Happy 2010! I'm looking forward to a great year. I started counting calories again. I'm hoping to lose at least 30 pounds this year. I've been busy with work, so no time to post all my deals. I've had a little drama with the WAGS I shop at, but I've been able to get some good deals. I took a Big Lots ad to Wal-Mart to comp All the other day. I bought (6) 32 load bottles for $1 each after the $2.50 ad and a $3 off 2 coupon. I'll have to post new pictures of my stockpiles soon. Now back to writing reports for work!

CVS Gift Card Giveaway!

$10 CVS Gift Card Giveaway!

lbmoore is giving away a $10 CVS gift card...stop by her blog to find out how to enter: http://kittytigerskitchen.blogspot.com/



Here is just a glimpse of the stuff I've gotten for nearly nothing at CVS in the past year and a half!

Pictured above is only part of my feminine neccessities stockpile.

Here are deodorants and medicines as well as trial size lotions that I've acquired.

Why I Stockpile and Use Coupons

Now that this blog is linked to my facebook page and not just to the ladies at The Grocery Challenge, I feel that I should explain why and how I stockpile. I know that it looks and sounds a bit strange to those who do not shop the same way.


I really don't remember the first time I used coupons. I never remember my mom or dad using a coupon or stockpiling anything. I must have been started during college. I know my dorm had a table by the front door where you could leave or pick up coupons that were clipped out of the Sunday papers. I would look through them once a week or so to see what I could use. Then I got a subscription to the Sunday paper from Louisville (still has the best coupons around!). I also remember going to both Kroger and SuperWal-Mart for my grocery shopping. Kroger would double my coupons up to 50 cents, and at the time, they would take expired coupons.

When I started working summers at Wal-Mart, after my freshmen year in college, I started a mini stockpile I guess you could call it. I worked 25+ hours per week in the summer and only 15 hours at my work study during the school year. Therefore, I bought enough toiletries to last for entire the school year. That way I could use my employee discount PLUS coupons. I was then able to use my income during the school year for food and gasoline.

I continued using coupons and sales ads ever since then. However, the major stockpiling and going to CVS started a year ago this past February after I discovered the helpful ladies at The Grocery Challenge. I wish I'd started shopping at CVS years ago! There so many things that you can buy and get the whole amount back in Extra Care Bucks (CVS store credit type coupons).

You may have noticed two tickers at the top of my blog page. I have never kept track of how much I'd save with coupons, Extra Care Bucks, or Walgreen's Register Rewards. I thought I would keep track of it on here. I'm trying to see how long it takes to save $1,000 in coupons and $1.000 in ECBS and RRs. I've only been keep track for 15 days and already saved nearly $100! And I haven't speant a whole lot either. Here's a good story I found on MSN about saving money buying food inexpensively: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/the-dollar-food-pantry.aspx
Ok, now you know a little about HOW I do it. So WHY do I do it? Well, to be honest, some of it is because it's a challenge. I like to see how much I can get for so little. But the major part is because my paychecks are so erractic. During March and April my paychecks from school (at assistant pay, NOT teacher pay), were only for seven days each because of a two week long spring break. Ten day checks are pretty good, I can make that work. But four 7 day checks in a row was tough! Because of my HBA and food stockpile (haven't showed a picture of that yet) I could use those tiny checks to pay the bills and not worry about having food for me and the furbabies. All I really had to buy was perishables, dry cat food and Diet Cokes. I can never have enough dry cat food and Diet Cokes stockpiled!

Another reason why I stockpile is to help friends and family who need it. A month or so ago a family member and his three kids moved and were starting over. I could not help with money, but I could help with HBA products! Below is a picture of things I gathered up from my stockpile. I probably spent less than $5 on all of that!

My Stockpile Closet

I've been seriously working on my stockpile for about 16 months. During this time, I've stored the stuff wherever it would fit.....some of it in the walk-in closet, some in the hall closet, some in a dresser. It was hard to find anything or know how much I had of each item. Well, a couple weeks ago I had an idea. There's a closet in the basement that....well to be honest, was just full of junk. A perfect place to store my stockpile!

In the first picture you can get an idea of how deep the closet is.


The box on the top shelf is full of toilet paper. Plus, there's seven 4 packs on top of the box. I probably got about ten packages of Angel Soft clearanced at 40 cents from WAGS, I was getting worried because the box was getting low on the free Cottonelle that I had from Kroger. I will show better pictures of the second shelf in a different post.


Here's my pet supply and cleaning shelf. I do most cleaning because of the pets, so I thought they should go together. All pet food is stored in the kitchen.


The fourth shelf has laundry supplies, Pledge, dish soap, and toilet bowl cleaning wands (remember those coupons??). There's a bin of Lysol wipes on the floor. The Tidy Cats box if filled to the top with aerosol air fresheners.


Pictures of the upstair's stockpile will be posted at a later time.

Happy Easter!

Yes, I know that Easter is still a few days away, but I won't be near a computer then. DBF and I are visiting his family in Kentucky this weekend. They live near Lexington so it'll be about a four hour drive each way. We'll celebrate his niece's 2nd b-day while we are there. We all (his parents, sister, niece and the two of us)will spend Saturday at the Cincinatti zoo. I was already looking foward to spending the weekend with them, but even more now that I know about the zoo! I haven't been to the zoo since a field trip to the Nashville zoo when I was student teaching in 1998! Expect to see LOTS of pictures next week!!

I am almost finished with my "Integrating Technology" class! It's been very interesting which is good since I just found out that I will have to pay full price ($758!) for it. My dad received a purple heart when he was in the military so I qualified for a remission of fees. However, I would have to be seeking a degree. No thanks, I already have a bachelor's and a Masters. All I want to do is keep my Kentucky Teaching Certification! The crazy thing is, this is the paper I got from the university to tell me I'd have to change to degree-seeking status was the first contact that they've made. They never even sent me a letter telling me that I was enrolled! I had to call the Friday before classes started! Oh well, I hate to spend the money, but THANK GOD I have the money put away already to pay for it. It just means that I won't be able to pay off the $400 or so that I owe on my student loans from 11 years ago.

I've had some good deals at the stores lately. I've gone to Walgreens the past two Sundays. I loved getting the Softsoap for only tax! I got three on Sunday night. Then I gave the last Q to DBF (since he works near WAGS and I live 30 miles away) to get some more. Too bad the stores caught on and stop the multiple Qs from printing. DBF said he tried to get four in different transaction during his lunch and the new Q didn't print. Four for the price of one (I used $1 Q on the first one) isn't bad at all!

This past Sunday, I did the Colgate, Skintimate (again!), and Chapstick deals (couldn't find this on 3/29!). I have $6.50 in RRs. Need to check if there is a WAGS near DBF's parents. I already looked up CVS and found one about 30 minutes away from their farm. We will be driving right by it on our way home Sunday so I can get more FREE Softsoap----I love this stuff!

Another great deal was the Pepsi at Target last week. I had just gotten my Pepsi/Frito Lay Qs the day before. I also found the Gillette shampoo/body wash on sale for $2 (I had $2 Qs!). For 5 12packs of Diet Pepsi and 3 of the bodywash I spend a grand total of $6.12!! Plus I got a $5 giftcard to Target! DBF and I saw this kid (12 or 13) loading a cart down with Mountain Dew. It was a funny sight, but I know that if it had been a Coke sale, I would have bought 2 carts worth of Diet Coke!

I got a $15/75 CRT from CVS this week, but I didn't have the right Q from P&G to make it work. If I had Tide/Swifter Qs and could find my Intuition Qs I might have been able to do it.

Oh, I did make a quick $60 the other day! On January 2nd I had to get a script for strep and of course the stupid computers were on the blink so my insurance wouldn't go through. My insurance is throught Wal-Mart and I was filling the script at Wal-Mart-----how hard is that??? Anyway, I paid full price so I could take my meds and go to bed....all $64.xx of it! I never got anything back from it so I went back the the pharmacy and asked. Remember if you don't ask the answer is always NO! That reminds me, I need to check if CVS will take my insurance so I can get some of those $25 gift cards next time I need meds. Too bad I can't get the furbabies meds there----one of them is always needing something!

Well, that's an update of what's going on. I was going to post pictures of my deals, but I'm just too tired! Have a Happy Easter and Happy Passoever!

More Stockpile!

Several of my fellow hounds from the Grocery Challenge sent me coupons Whiska's cat treats ($1 off 2 packages). The coupons used to be $1 off of one which made them a moneymaker at Wal-Mart since they are $1.07 and I get 11 cents off each due to my discount. I was thankful to get the coupons but wasn't sure I'd find a great sale to use them on. Thanks to someone else's blog, I discovered that Whiska's cat treats were part of Kroger's Mega Deal last week. They were 99 cents each and if you bought 10 you saved $5! With 10 cats to feed I need all the cat food deals I can find! I thought the limit was three deals per customer so I had my accomplice (aka DBF)) take twenty of the treats to pay for them separately. I wnet first and bought 30 treats and 3 of the J&J Buddies. I used 15 $1/2 Whiska Q and $3 off 3 J&J items. My total was $5.90. I thought it was a little high, and discovered that only $10 came off for the Mega Deal instead of %15. The cashier then told me that it was a limit of two mega deals per transaction for that week. OOPS! I didn't read the fine print. Oh well, $5.90 is not bad for 30 bags of treats and 3 Buddies. That was still a savings of 91%! The 20 cat treats that I had DBF purchase came up to only $0.99. The receipt says a saving of 100%!

Ginger's Stockpile

Ginger doesn't look too happy in the picture, but she LOVES her Purina One canned food. I love getting it for the best price. In February, I got 20 cans of Purina One for FREE....actually with my 10% Wal-Mart discount I made $2.66!
The dry food (68 pounds!) cost $46.00 instead of $60 due to my discount and two
$4 coupons from Purina. Oh, and look at all those Good Bite treats she has! I got 26 coupons off ebay that made them FREE. The Qs cost about $26, but once again I got my discount so the 26 bags only cost about $16 or 64 cents a bag. She should be set for about six months!

My Stockpile!

It's not as large or elaborate as some photos I've seen on Hot Coupon World, but it's mine! I've always had an "extra" or a "spare", but I've only started on my stockpile a year ago after joining the Grocery Challenge forum.


Here is my stash of various household cleaning products. There's about 12 small bottles of Dawn, 3 packs of the free toilet bowl scrubbers, plus Pledge and other items. The Arm and Hammer cleaners are on top of the detergent bin.



It's so nice to have a stockpile of Tide! I got each bottle for around $4-$5 at CVS over the past year. Four 50oz bottles may not be much for some, but with only me in the house one bottle will last about 3 months.



Look what I got with the Lysol deal I posted about a couple weeks ago! I now have a total of 30 canisters each containing 35 Lysol disinfecting wipes. Oops, that's not counting the 3 canisters already opened! I use them in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. Thanks to lbmoore and ProudMommy for sending me coupons to help with this! I won't have to buy anymore for years. I'll probably donate some to the school I work at also.



See what a .50 Cottonelle + Kroger equals? I have 13 four packs of Cottonelle single rolls pictured. Plus I had just opened a new pack to put in the bathroom. I even gave three or four packages away at Christmas is giftbaskets for my two brothers.



My stockpile is not very organized right now. DBF told me he thinks he'll end up having to build some shelves in my basement to hold it all. Sounds like a plan to me!

Great Deals This Month!

I love Kroger! I wish there was one by me again like there was when I was little. However, there is one about 6 miles from DBF's so the past couple dates include a trip to Kroger!

On the 18th, I got 44 items for an OOP = $37.52! My receipt says I saved $28.70 with manufacture's coupons, but that includes $15 off from the Mega Deal. Bonus coupons were $5.77. Kroger Plus savings were $24.80 for a total savings of $59.27
(62%)!
Here's what I got:



4 pk of Reduced fat Kraft cheese
2 64oz. Tropicana OJ
8 cans Campbell Chunky soup
16 cans of Purina One can dog food (reg. price for all $23.20!)
3 4pks of Cottonelle
1 25oz. Palmolive
1 kroger English muffins
3 boxes Nature Valley granola bars
2 small boxes Kleenex
3 boxes Quaker oatmeal
1 medium size Downy

I had a coupon for everything except the 16 cans of Purina One and the English muffins.



Then I went back on Friday and saved another 70%!

6 Green Giant Steamers (50 cent Q for each)
2 Kraft cheese (75 cent Q for each)
1 Quaker oatmeal ($1 Q)
11 cans Purina One
5 can Campbell Chunky soup
____________________________
MFG Q = $15.50 (including $10 Mega deal savings)
Bonus Q = $3.00
Kroger Plus savings = $16.61
Total savings (70%) = $35.11
Total OOP = $15.62 that's cheaper than the regular price for the 11 cans of dog food!

My annual savings at Kroger's is already $98.69!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

I celebrated Christmas with my family and DBF last night.

Here's a picture of DBF and me from last night. It's not a GREAT picture, but it's our first picture together.














I will post better ones when we get back from his parents next week!


My presents from CVS hounding went over well. My older nieces liked their (FREE!) bags of make-up and Bic Soliel razors. My SIL loved the basket of (nearly FREE!) HBA and cleaning supp;ies. Too bad I forgot to take pictures of them! She, DB2, and their younget 5 kids just moved into a different house so it turned out to be a great gift. DB2 didn't seem too crazy about it, but he never does. DB1 appreciate his basket of supplies though. He's on a fixed income so it will be very helpful to him. I will have to make that a yearly gift and just vary the container that I put it in. Maybe next year it can be in a Rubbermaid tote or something. I've already got two toothpastes to start my new "gift stockpile" My sister got a weather alert radio from me. DBF and I will exchange gifts at his parents' farm on Christmas day.

I love FREE!

In these days of rising prices, it's great to find a good price on anything. However, my favorite price of all is FREE! Before going onto the the MSN money messageboard (specifically the Grocery Challenge thread), I rarely if EVER got anything free. Now, however, that is changing. In the past week I have gotten at least 8 items for free! I actually MADE 50 cents on each of the Colgate toothpaste by using a $1.50 coupon and getting $2.00 ECBS back.





Here's how I got so much for FREE!

Loreal facial cleanser 5.99 at CVS - $1.00 Q = $4.99 and got 5.99 ECBs back
Dawn HandRenewal on hidden sale at CVS (thanks to GC for telling me!) 99 cents - $1.00 Q
Colgate Toothpaste 2 at $2.99 at CVS - $1.50 Q each = $1.49 and get 2.00 ECBs
Cover Girl lipstick on BOGO sale at CVS AND I had a BOGO Q so I got $19.98 for FREE!
Cottonelle TP 4 single roll pack (2 packs) 99 cents each at Kroger - 2 50 cents Qs that double = FREE!

Most of this will be for my personal use (stockpile), but the toothpaste and toilet paper will be used for HBA Christmas baskets for friends and family.

CVS Deals

Yesterday, I went to CVS to get the July deals. Frugalsuz had mentioned the CVS make-up removers being free after ECBs so I had to find out if I could get them at my store.

Here's what I got:


2 22pk CVS pantyliners = $1.98
2 Sure 2.6 deordorant = $5.98
1 CVS exfoliant face wipe = $3.49
1 Revlon ponytail holder = $5.99
1 Revlon hairclip = $5.99
____________________________________

Qs I used:

$4 off $20
$1 off each Sure deo (I also have a BOGO mail-in rebate to send in)
$3 off skincare
$11 ECBs

Total OOP = $3.81
Amount saved = $20
ECBs earned = $12.97



When I got to the car, I realized that I had a regular CVS make-up remover wipes in my bag that the cashier forgot to ring up. So I go back in to pay for it (and get 2.99 more ECBS.

1 CVS make-up remover = $2.99
used 1.98 ECBs
Total OOP = $1.08
Earned 2.99 ECBs

Next transaction:

3 CVS 15 ct. make-up removal wipes = $8.97
used $8 ECBS
Total OOP = $1.04
Earned 8.97 ECBs

Sunday's cherry-picking.......

I had some good cherry picking trips Sunday!

First, Wal-Mart:

1 18 lb bag Purina One dry dog food (Reg. $19.24) Comp= $16.99 - $2 Q
1 pk Depends for my mom (REg. 12.99) Comp= 10.99 - $2 Q
2 14.2 oz Head and Shoulders shampoo (Reg. 4.46 each) Comp=$3 Each BOGO Q
2 13.x oz H&S conditioners (Reg. 4.46 each) Comp= $3 each BOGO Q
2 Pledge multi-surface wipes 25 pks (reg. $4.48?) Comp= 2/$7 - 75cent Q
2 Pledge aerosols $3.72 each (didn't comp bc w/ my discount no comp=
less $) - BOGO for each multi-surface wipe pack.
_____________________________________________________
Before Q's my bill was $58.xx, after Qs OOP= $39.xx!

Next stop--CVS!


1 Revlon mineral foundation = 13.99 - 2Q
1 Revlon lipstick = 7.99= BOGO free - $2Q and 3CVS Q
4 2 liter Diet Cokes Bogo free = 4/$3.38
2 twin pack Lysol disenfecting wipes $3.49 each - 2 75 cent Q
2 Almay mascara = 6.99 each - 2 $1Q
1 Olay spf 30 = 14.99 - 1Q
1 Olay daily facials = 5.99 - 1Q
------------------------------------------------------
used 2 4/20, 1 5/30, 24.99 ECBs

Total OOP = $11.10 and that included $1 to ALS!
got 20 ECBs back!


Now I have enough pledge, Head and Shoulders, mascara and lysol wipes to last quite awhile! I love my stockpile!

Ok, I'll Admit it, I Have an Addiction...........

to CVS! I LOVE that place. I wish I'd discovered it years ago instead of just 4 short months ago.


I did a silly wabbit thing today! I went to CVS without my Qs! I'd been so worried about taking my car to the repair shop all day that I forgot to grab the Q organizer this morning. Oh well, I only bought one thing that I had a Q for anyway and that was Mom's ensure (purchased seperately w/ her checkbook). Luckily, I carry all my ECBs in my purse--this time in my cell case, but still in the purse. I was excited to scan my card on the little red machine and got 2 $4 off $20 Qs, $1 off any hand or body lotion and $3 off Revlon! Here's how I did w/ purchases:

4 12pk Diet Coke 4/11
1 smart rinse 3.49
1 oral b double pk toofbrush 6.99
1 cvs bandages 1.99
-----------------------
$23.47 before 7% taxes

used 4/20 and 18.47 ECBs

OOP= $1.07!!! and got 15.47 back in ECBs!

Yikes, that's almost as good as $40 of Revlon + 3 Dawn for $1.66 and 20 in ECBs (I think that was Mother's Day).

I'll have to go back on Friday (payday) to try to do the GM cereal sale. They were about out today anyway.

According to my last reciept from CVS, I've saved (since Feb. when I started shopping there)...........$757.33! That's not counting the $31.63 I saved today.........$788.96 all together. WOW! Because of CVS (and the GC hounds)I know have a big stockpile of things....such as 10 boxes of haircolor, 4 or more deodorants, numerous toothbrushes, bandaids....and about 12 jars of Ragu!

My Stockpile.....

Before joining the GC messageboard, I never really thought of it as a stockpile. I just thought of it as "extras" that I happened to find on sale. As you can see I have an addiction to Bath and Body Works and just HBA sections in general! I like to try new shampoos, conditioners and body washes, so I have a variety of everything, most that have been paritally used then abandoned for something new. I knew I had a lot, didn't realize how much! I'm going to try to use up a lot of half empty bottles before I open any new ones. I want to say I'll stop buying anymore, but CVS has ECBs for Pantene and Sunsilk, plus I have coupons!! All the haircolor is a neccessity due to finding my first gray hair at the young age of 21! Thanks so GC, specifically Dhunny I believe, I got them all for 1/2 price with BOGO coupons. Since I just realized that I have a stockpile, I'm working on getting it organized. Right now it's in the bathroom, and basement. Oh, I didn't take a picture of the 3 kinds of Dove shampoo and conditioner and one type of Pantene that my mother uses (she keeps that in the kitchen!). I am going to have to find a new system to get it organized so I'll know what I have and what I need, but it won't be accessible to outsiders who like to help themselves to my "store".