Target, Thursday 9/30/10

I made a quick trip to Target because I thought that the Hebrew National Hot Dogs might be on clearance as reported by others, however, they were $3.99 retail so I wasn't able to use the $1/1 Hebrew National Q's that my good friend Lisa provided to me over 2 months ago (I've been trying to find a deal to use these on Lisa)!

Here's the deal:

MONEYMAKERS
1 Revlon Beauty Tool Nail Clippers $2.24 ea.
- $2/1 Mobile Phone Target Q go here to load
- $1/1 Target printable Q
- $1/1 Revlon Beauty Tool Q printable (also on Target website)
= FREE + $1.76 overage
1 Tums $1.92 ea.
- $1/1 Manufacturer printable Q
- $1/1 Mobile Phone Target Q go here to load
- $1/1 Target printable Q
= FREE + $1.00 overage

4 Reach Floss $.97 cents ea.
- $1.50/2 Target Listerine/Reach Q (printable)
- $1/1 Reach Q RP 1/03, 3/07, 5/16 or printable
= FREE + $1.56 overage for two

STOCKPILE

10 Kraft Cheese $2 ea.

- $5/5 Kraft Cheese Q printable

= $1.00 ea.

1 Kraft Cheese $2 ea.

- $.75/1 Kraft Cheese Q printable (not sure if it is available any longer)

- $1.25 ea.

10 Market Pantry Eggs $1 ea.

- B1G1 Egg Coupon printable (no longer available)

- $.50 cents ea.

4 Benadryl Itch Relief Sticks $2.29 ea.

- $4/2 Benadryl printable (no longer available)

= $.29 cents ea.

2 Merona Dresses $5.00 (clearance price)

- $3/1 Target printable (not sure if it is availabe anymore)

- $2.00 ea.

1 Market Pantry frozen vegetables $.97 ea.

- $1/1 Mobile Phone Target Q go here to load

= FREE

THINGS THAT I NEEDED

6 Bananas $.19 cents ea.

- no coupons

= $.19 cents ea.

TOTAL: $69.88

TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $21.92

SAVINGS: 70%

NOTE: The cashier had to adjust the Benadryl $4/2 Q and the $5/5 Kraft Q because the register input them incorrectly. Just make sure you watch the coupons being scanned. The coupons are easy to see because you can watch the screen as the cashier inputs them.

NOTE: The $1/1 Mobile Tums coupon did not work (didn't notice until I got home). I may look into it when I return or just ignore it. LOL.

NOTE: YMMV on the overage.

Rite-Aid, Tues. 9/28/10, Wed. 9/29/10, Fri. 10/1/10

Rite-Aid is rapidly becoming a favorite store for me in the land of no doubles. There are several Rite-Aids close by (we only had one back in Nashville)! I managed to do three separate transactions. One of these will qualify for the Beauty for all ages rebate ($10 rebate).

TOTAL: $207.25

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET AFTER COUPONS AND REBATES: $14.83

SAVINGS: 93%

GENERATED $26 in UP REWARDS

NOTE: For the newbies in my area......Final balance is $14.83 but since I generated $26 in UP rewards then I actually made $11.17. This means that Rite-Aid paid me $11.17 to take these items. I will roll the $11.17 into my Rite-Aid transaction next week.

NOTE: Just noticed that 3 of my Oral-b/Crest UP Rewards didn't print. I'll call customer service tomorrow to find out if they can send them to me. That means that I should have received $6 more UP Rewards. If they will not give me the rewards then I will return the toothbrushes on my next visit. Follow-up: I called customer service and they indicated that there is a limit of 2 on the toothbrushes but that the toothpaste was unlimited. They are going to send me one more $2 UP Reward in the mail.

NOTE: For the newbies.....my total is so high because I have two RoC Skincare items in this shop and they are expensive (about $20 each). French skincare.....oooh-la-la!

NOTE: I went to three different Rite-Aids to do these shops. This may seem excessive to many of you newbies who don't feel as though you have time to stop three times. Let me assure you that each shop took less than 10 minutes. I did two of the shops while Jason and I and the kids were coming home from an evening out together; I just happened to spot a Rite-Aid while we were either driving to our destination or coming home. We keep games and fun stuff in the car for everyone (including Jason) so that they don't mind if I stop every now and then when we encounter a store that has some good deals that week. I didn't actually plan to stop three times. My hubby doesn't mind because he knows that I will be quick about getting in and out and it enables him to have some free time to read or listen to an audio book or play a game with the kids (it's important to establish a pattern of "non-lingering" if you want to earn the trust of your spouse on this issue). This system works for me but it may not work for everyone. You will have to find time in your schedule to fit in your shops. There are some weeks that I have time and other weeks when I don't have time. The key is being able to "let go" of the ability to obtain the "free stuff" when I don't have time. I believe that this is a skill and it takes time to cultivate this skill of "letting go." LOL.

If you want to see the details of the shop then please leave a post. I haven't heard from anyone so I'm not sure if any of you are shopping at Rite-Aid. Gracias.

Rite-Aid - Wednesday, 9/8/10

This post will examine how to search for a deal when you find a high dollar value coupon in your inserts. I saw the $3/1 Purex coupon three weeks ago when I was in Nashville (took a little trip to the recycle bin and stocked up on inserts while I was in town). I just knew that I would be able to find a good deal with this coupon if I held onto it. I was really hoping for free Purex 3-in-1 sheets. Thankfully I found some.

You won't be able to do this deal unless you got a raincheck from Rite-Aid last week on the Purex 3-in-1 sheets (sorry, just posting as an example of how to spot a good deal). I was reading my circular for Rite-Aid and saw that the Purex sheets were on sale for B1G1 last week. I went out to Rite-Aid's website and started searching through the video values sections to see what other items I could get for "free" or "free with overage." I had read on a few websites that there was a $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon. I grabbed it. I had also read on "I Prefer Publix" about the Boudreaux's Butt paste deal so I searched for the video values Q and grabbed it. I went to Rite Aid last week looking for both the sheets and the butt paste and they were out of both so I picked up rainchecks.

I combined all of the above to score my deal. Sometimes you have to think outside the box to make a deal work. You have to go looking for a deal instead of having it handed to you on a blog. Some of my best deals come from my experience as a couponer by searching for things on my own. I encourage you to do the same as it will make you a better couponer.

**As an encouragement......you often times become a better couponer by having a deal fail or by working a deal really hard but then having it turn out completely different than you thought it would because you forgot a coupon or you didn't understand the way the deal worked. So, don't get discouraged when things don't work out. Just remember that you are gaining experience and that experience will come in handy one day.

Here's the deal:

4 Purex 3-in-1 sheets $8.99 (B1G1 price of $4.50 ea)
- $3/1 Q from 8/15 RP
= $1.50 ea.
1 Boudreaux's Butt Paste $9.99 (sale price of $3.99 ea)
- $3/1 Video Values Q
- $2/1 Q from 4/11 SS
= FREE + $1.00 overage
1 Boudreaux's Butt Paste $9.99 (sale price of $3.99 ea)
- $3/1 Video Values Q
- $1/1 peelie on package (doesn't expire until 12/2013)
= FREE

$5/25 Rite Aid Q

TOTAL: $55.94
TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $1.36
SAVINGS: 98%

NOTE: I still have a raincheck for 8 more of the Purex 3-in-1 sheets (they only had 4 on the shelf and my raincheck was for 12). The cashier just crossed out the 12 and wrote in 8 and then signed it. Hopefully I won't have any trouble with this in the future but I did take her name down in case I needed to reference it with the manager when I come in to get the rest of them.

NOTE: Does anyone know if you can use two Rite Aid Video value Q's for the same product in one transaction? The second Boudreaux's butt paste Rite Aid video values Q beeped and she put it through because I told her that I had spoken with the manager about using two of the Q's when he wrote me the raincheck. Do I need to do two separate transactions when using a video values Q for an item. When I printed the Q from my computer I just printed two copies since it gave me the option on my printer to do that. Do the Q's have separate identifier numbers on them. If you know the answer to this question please post it here (Brandy maybe)?