My Wild CVS trip

I went to CVS today, not expecting to get much... but I would up with a lot of great deals!

Transaction #1

2 covergirl lipgloss - $5.99 each (use B1G1 CG in today's paper as well as $1 off CG products)
4 Suave body washes- $2 each (had 2 B1G1 coupons from a previous paper)
1 twin pack "Off "bug spray- $2.25 (on clearance plus I had a 75 cents off coupon)

Used 2/10 CVS coupon

Paid $1 and some change out of pocket, sorry I don't have my reciept with me!
(plus $5.99 and $2.99 ECB)

Got back $5.99 (lipgloss) and $2.00 (for Suave) ECB

THEN- our cashier told us that summer stuff was on 75% off clearance! Whoah, I had to check it out!

I got:
1 Christmas gift- Princess tent for $4.99 (down from $20)
1 Christmas gift- remote control cars for $3.75 (down from $14.99)
Dora gardening gloves for my daughter- 75 cents
gardening tools for my daughter- $1.00
Huggies little swimmers diapers- 75 cents for 1 pack and $1.25 for the other (on clearance for $2.25 and I had 2 different coupons to add to it)

So I broke out my ECBs and used them to buy some great and cheap deals!

Check out your CVS for Summer Markdowns!

Target = Snackage!

Target has a great deal this week on snacks: Rice Krispie treats, keebler cookies, cheez-its and pop-tarts (12ct.). These items are on sale for 4 for $9. Not a great, great deal. But here is the catch- if you buy 4 of those snacks at once, you get a FREE $5 Target gift card back at the register. So it's like getting 4 namebrand snacks for $4. Also, it gets even better. Recently Kellogs had an insert with coupons for rice krispie treats, cheez-its and pop-tarts. I have a $1 off 2 pop tarts and $1 off of 2 rice krispie treats. If you use these you are paying $2 for 4 boxes of snacks! AND IT GETS EVEN BETTER! KELLOG'S HAS A REBATE GOING WERE IF YOU BUY 10 KELLOGS ITEMS IN ONE TRANSACTION, SEND IN THE RECIEPT AND 10 UPC'S, YOU GET $10.00 BACK!

HERE IS WHAT I DID:


Trans.#1

2 boxes of rice krispie treats
4 boxes of cheez-its
4 boxes of pop-tarts
2 packs of keebler cookies

Total- $28 and some change
Use these coupons: $1.00 of 2 rice krispie treats, 2/ $1.00 off of 2 pop tarts and 1/ $1.00 off of 2 keebler cookies. PLUS target has an e-coupon (go to www.afullcup.com for this coupon) for 50 cents off of a box of pop-tarts. You can print as many of these as you want. I used 2 of these coupons (i couldn't find my other ones, I left them at home!)

Total before coupons- $27.11
Total after coupons- $22.11

Get back $15 Target Gift Card to use on next transaction
Plus I have a $10 mail in rebate

I MADE $5 OFF OF THIS DEAL!

Go soon though b/c the add says "quantities limited and no rainchecks."

5 Pepsi 12 packs for less than the price of 1

My CVS deal for today was only one transaction. It was a crazy day, but I made it out to work one deal. Here is what I got:

5- 12 packs of Pepsi products (4/$12)
5- Sobe Life Waters (all free)
1 - Kotex liners (free, plus $1.00 overage)
1- Fizz Energy packets ($5.99)
1- CVS brand hand soap (free, plus $1.20 overage)

Coupons:
1. 3/15 CVS total purchase (e-mailed to me... sign up for their e-mails if you haven't already. They send you a coupon almost every 2 weeks)
2. Kotex coupon $1.00, printable
3. Pepsi coupon (buy 4 12, packs- get 1 free)
4. Used 5 Sobe coupons (buy a 12 pack of Pepsi and get a FREE sobe) * note, this coupon can typically be printed only twice per computer.
5. $2 CVS beauty coupon (no longer available)
6. Used $11 ECB

Total before coupons - approx. $30 (give or take a few cents)
Paid out of pocket- $6.40

Got back approx.$13 ECB.

Therefore I got about $30 worth of products at CVS today for about $4.40!

That's the price of 1 of the 12 packs!

Woohoo! My husband loves me, I got him Mt. Dew ;<)

Thanks to Moneysavingmom.com for helping me figure out these great deals!

Brilliant Spontaniety

Today a friend and I took our kids to the park for a picnic. It was a moment of spontaneity. The kids played, we ate, we chased the kids around the park and it was a relaxing, fun time. As I was sitting relaxing, I realized that although I like our neighborhood, It would be great to live somewhere with a nicer park within walking distance.

That- however is the wrong way to look at it. Instead I sat there with Katie and we talked about what I could do to change the park so that I and our kids could enjoy it more. My list looked like this: add mulch to the play area, clean the equipment (especially the obscene pictures and profane language so the kids don't ask- "What's that, mommy?"), and a park bench for the mommy's and daddy's, trim the trees and generally weed/clean up the area.

Often times when I have a good idea, I just sit on it and nothing gets done. My friend Katie told me, today- go home and just get contact info and then tomorrow go from there. So today I wrote a comment (on the website) for someone to contact me about the park. It looked somewhat like this:

Living within walking distance of a park is wonderful and our daughter loves to spend time there. We even celebrated her 2nd birthday at the park. As a parent, I am concerned about the condition of Oak Grove Park.
I am not writing to complain, but writing to see what I can do to make the park better. The toddler play area (near the tennis courts) is my main concern. This play area is perfect for toddlers and I would love to see it kept up. Adding mulch to the play area, having the play equipment cleaned (i.e.removal of profanities and inappropriate drawings), adding a bench and trimming the trees around the area would help drastically.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make this happen. Some ideas I had are: Organize a neighborhood park cleaning day and finding sponsorship. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!

If you have any great ideas or would like to help see this get done, please post a comment or contact me.

Here's to making a safer, more enjoyable park for our kids to play!

Pillsbury Kroger Deal

*****
Update:
The coupon works, but the crescent rolls and sweet rolls are the small packs: 4 crescent rolls and 5 sweet rolls per pack. The pizza dough is a great deal, as it is absolutely free! Also, the coupons that said "do not double" on them, automatically doubled at Kroger. It may depend on your cashier, b/c I had had cashiers before who have adjusted the coupon b/c it said "do not double."
*****

Starting tomorrow, August 7th, Pillsbury crescent rolls, biscuits, pizza dough and sweet rolls are on sale at Kroger in a 10 for $10 special. At my Kroger, you do not have to buy 10 items to get them for $1 a piece. To sweeten the deal: there are several sites that have coupons for the pillsbury items on sale: smartsource and pillsbury are two.

If you are able to print out these coupons ranging from 35 cents on 1 crescent roll or sweet roll (if your Kroger doubles, it will be 30 cents a piece) to $1.00 for 1 pizza dough (this should be FREE!), you can get some great deal... especially if your Kroger will double the coupon.

Even though dough boy was happy. See him dance! :<)

I am going to do the deal tomorrow, check back for how it went!


Happy saving!

Walgreens Free items

This month at Walgreens, there are several excellent rebate options. Plus, Walgreens has started doing rebates online, so you don't have to mail in your reciepts etc. anymore. Still not as good as CVS, but getting better!

Free items:
2 BioInfusions Organic shampoo/conditioner or styling product
1 Walgreens brand pitcher filter (works on brita also)
4 pack walgreens soft light light bulbs
2 Living Solutions vacuum storage bag
1 Pert Plus shampoo + conditioner- coupon for $1 off
Jane Pure mineral foundation or powder

Pick up an Easysaver catalog at your Walgreens and get your free monthly items.

Children's Advil for Free at CVS

This month at CVS, Childrens and Infant's Advil is free. PLUS if you can get a $1 off coupon, making it a $1 money maker. If you are new to CVS here is how it works:
1. Get a CVS card (you can get this at the register when you check out, absolutely free!)
2. Pick up 1 Children's Advil or Infant's Advil
3. Purchase at register. Give cashier your CVS card plus the $1 off coupon you printed. You should be able to print 2 coupons per computer.
4. You will pay the cashier for the advil, $4.ish w/ coupon
5. You will get back an ECB on your reciept good for $5.79 (cost of the Advil) at CVS. (an ECB is like a coupon or gift card that prints and you use it on your next visit)

My CVS is allowing 2 advils per CVS card. So here is what you do: you buy 1 children's advil, get ECB's back and then use those ECBs to buy your next children's advil w/ a coupon (so you don't pay any more out of pocket), but you will get another $5.79 to print. Here is a small catch, the 2nd time you do a transaction, if you are going to use your $5.79 ECB AND $1 off coupon- you need to get a "filler". Meaning- you need to buy something to counteract your $1 off coupon. So, a pop or a couple of candybars. Those items will be "free" b/c you are using your $5.79 ECB and getting $5.79 back.

It sounds complicated, but really isn't. I have gotten my 2 Children's advils with coupons with no problem! If any of you(family and friends) have a CVS near you, but don't have children to get the medicine for and are willing- we would love to stock up (if you get two... buy 1 infants and 1 children's, one for each girl).

This deal is good all month! Yeah, CVS!

Even my husband was proud....

Today was a great shopping day. My incredible husband stayed home with the girls while they napped so I could go on a 1 1/2 hr. shopping trip. I printed coupons last night, researched blogs, outlined my trips, clipped coupons this morning and bought the Chicago Tribune... I was ready!

I made it to 3 different stores: Kroger, Walgreens and (of course!) CVS. I spent a total of $10.27 out of pocket at ALL 3 STORES. Here is was $10.27 bought me:



Walgreens:
Glade Fabric and Air spray
Glade Fabric and Air spray
Cherry Coke Zero (not pictured)

Spent:$1.96 Saved $8.00

Kroger

4 Betty Crocker Cookie mixes
4 Betty Crocker tubs of Frosting
1 3 pack Irish spring soap
1 box of Cheez-its (no coupon for these... but my husband loves them and they were a part of the Mega 10 deal)

Spent: $6.43 Saved $17.67


CVS

Colgate Total toothpaste (online coupon)
Infant Advil (1.00 off online coupon- get $5.79 ECB back)
2 covergirl, trueblend foundations (on sale B1G1, coupon for B1G1 in today's paper = FREE!)
1 covergirl, trueblend powder (same as above)
1 covergirl, trueblend concealer (same as above)
2 pert plus (on sale B1G1, had $3.00 in coupons from today's paper)
1 2 pack extreme energy 6-hour shots (I don't promote these, but they were $4.99, w/ $4.99 ECB back)

Spent: $4.67 (minus $2.79 ECB gained, spent $1.88) Saved: $52.74
(I used a $9.99 ECB, but got back $12.78 in ECBs... if you are new to CVSing, check out moneysavingmom.com, you can learn all the ins and outs of CVS!
Overall:
Total spent: $10.27 Total Saved: $78.41


A new coupon secret, buy the Chicago Tribune. It has 3 xs the coupons as the Herald and Review. Seriously, if you have not gotten it today- go to Walgreens (the only place I know of that carries it in town), and buy one for $2.50. Go crazy- buy 2! Then you can use your pert plus coupons (2-$2.00 coupons) and covergirl (b1 g1) at CVS and immediately get your money back b/c you will get all of your stuff for FREE!