Thrifty Valentine's Day Gifts!

What do you do with all your filler items that you accumulate when you are doing a hundred small transactions per month at your local Walgreen's and Rite Aid? Like 100 Nestle Crunch bars? You make Valentine's Day hand-outs for the kids!

True Story!! Actually--the Nestle Crunch bars went on sale with a weekly in-store coupon and that were usuable in combination with another coupon from a month-long ad booklet. So between the coupons, they were 25 cents, of which I paid pennies for because they were acting as filler items on my transactions that I used register rewards as my form of payment. There was a method to the mass-purchasing madness....

Because I saw a great idea for making homemade candy bar wrapper labels by copying a picture of a child holding a sign indicating the purpose of the gift.

(Thank you, pinterest...for inspiring the frugal, crafty-side of my mothering experience!)

I took a 33 cent piece of white poster board and painted the token message and took a picture of each of my kids. The madness had a very basic formula that went like this: 100 almost free candy bars+100 classmates+4 digital pictures of kids (made into 50 copies)=100 VeRy CuTe Valentine's Day treats!

The most time consuming part of the whole gig was waiting for the printer to shoot out the copies.

We put two 4x6 prints on each copy and cut them into a 5 1/2"x 5 1/2" square. They fit around the candy bar perfectly and were secured with a piece of scotch tape.

No fussing about filling out the cards this year. No remembering names or finding the list that the teacher sent home. Easy, Peasy, right? It took us about 20 minutes to assemble the slew chocolate bars. I was very pleased with the results...and will be looking out for another great filler deal to make next year's hand-outs with!

[Just a side note, or in this case, a "bottom" note: this is not a "thrifty" project if you don't get your candy for a great deal or have access to a color copier. If this were done at regular retail with the chocolate bar costing 69 cents, the color copy at 39 cents, tape, and sales' tax...each hand-out would cost just over $1 each. That makes a $3 box of cheesy Valentine's seem like a screaming deal. So-check the cost variable first, before you are soaked a lot of cash for something you thought would cute on the cheap!]

Deals of the Day...

Deals tend to run in highs and lows. Some weeks are like bumper crops of retail greatness and other weeks are just plain drought-worthy. But I'm a firm believer in plugging along. But it does seem somewhat out of my routine not to be heading to my favorite drug store every morning this week--while just last week, I became personally acquainted with at least 20 "beauty advisers" in my extreme shopping escapades in the greater Spokane area. I'm taking a well-deserved break from the big W--until, maybe, tomorrow...

Case in point--you know it's a "great deal" when the man of the house isn't complaining about how long I'm gone or that it's the sixth store in one day or that I've been to Walgreen's six days in a row. Last week I stocked up on costly razors for pennies on the dollar, loads of toothpaste and toothbrushes, granola bars, Kettle chips (yum!), OxyClean tablets, maxi pads, and Carmex body lotions...just to name a few. After using the 12 cent Halloween cups as my "filler item" on every transactions--let's just say, I have enough cups for half of the kids that go to our local elementary. (CrAzY!! I know...but it was the cheapest item in the store last week to use for the blessed little transactions that needed just one more item to let me use all of the coupons in conjunction with the register rewards as well). After accumulating the stockpiles I planned for, and then some--I still had over $60 in Register Rewards that don't expire till 10/15.

Most weeks work great when you can just roll the previous register rewards onto the next week's deals. But this week is kind of dry. I usually like to place my register rewards on items so that it will also generate a new reward and still be able to use a manufacturer's coupon. There aren't a lot of those kind of deals going on at the big W this week...so I'm going to hold back a few to use on the next week's ad. That's the beauty of the register reward--while they have a shelf-life--it's usually a couple of weeks that you can cross them over onto new and different ads.
I did stock up on Act II popcorn tonight while I was waiting for one of my kidlets' dance lessons to get over. The individual packages are on an in-store coupon for 4 for $1. I purchased 36--using $8-worth of register rewards--and only had to chip in $1 for the difference!! Since there is no sales' tax on food items in our state--it was a clean transaction with only one greenback being handed over. That was worth it too! Most boxes of popcorn go for $2-3 a box, with only 3-4 bags per box. Register rewards paid the bulk of the price and left me paying around 2.5 cents per package. For that price...let them eat popcorn--instead of cake, right?

It's only the beginning of October, but now is the time to start watching for deals on Halloween candy. Walgreen's has their Mars candy bags on sale 2/$5 with a $1 off coupon in their monthly coupon booklet. Most of the coupons from that book expire on 10/22--so consumer, beware, lest you miss the chance to buy the candy on sale with multiple coupons allowed! If you can get your hands on some of the manufacturer's coupons that are in circulation, you are allowed to use a store coupon with a manufacturer's coupon--and combining those towards the sale price, you can get the bags as low as $1 each! That's tremendous, especially if you get as many trick-or-treaters as we do!!

One other great deal I noticed that doesn't have a register reward--but may just be too good to pass up--is the deal on Cover Girl Cosmetics at the big W. They are on sale for Buy 1, Get one 50% off. Not too shabby, as sales go. But there was the most amazing coupon in the Sunday paper that will have this one flying off the shelves. The coupon was Save $8/2 on Cover Girl face products. Uh. Yep. That's noteworthy because a pressed powder is around $5.99. The second one would be $3...add the coupon and you are paying 50 cents a piece (plus sales' tax). I love that kind of deal ;) I just may have to use a couple of my register rewards to make up the difference and call this one the "extreme deal of the day"!!

Remember to look at everything as a potential deal to be made. Just because it's not set up the way you thought would be best or most savings--maybe a strategically placed coupon will make it a better deal in the long run. You never know what's out there. The best shopping is done on-line (comparing ads with available coupons) or with the newspaper before you even get to the store. Have fun--and happy shopping!

Waiting for Monday......

As a general rule, I don't shop on Sundays. No oxes in the mire, no emergencies, no casualties...no need to speed down to Walgreens. But Monday is tomorrow and I'm heading there first thing...because I have deals to make. I ordered my dishwasher tablet coupons last week for the ad that broke today. They are on sale for $3.99 with a $1.50 Register Reward. I got $1/1 coupons. And while not necessarily free, they are going to be a great price once I apply the register rewards from last week. I'm sitting on $28 in register rewards to start my deals tomorrow--and I can't wait!!

All the deals haven't quite gelled in my head about what combinations I should buy them in to maximize the savings. But one of the deals I'm pleased about is the Suave shampoo sale. It's on sale for 2/$6 with a $2 Register Reward. I have coupons for Buy One, Get One Free. What's nifty about Walgreen's--they apply the price of the highest item as the price they put in the coupon box. Since both items are the same price in this deal, it will be $3 taken from the total. So I will pay $3+tax for two 32 ounce bottles of product and then get a $2 register reward. Since I am getting TWO bottles (one for free), I am able to use a register reward from last week without having to use a "filler" item in the transaction. That's awesome! So I'm thinking that since I have $5 register rewards to use, I'll buy the dishwasher tablets and two bottles of Suave together, put the coupons on the transaction, and then apply the register rewards. That should bring the total down substantially...

Transaction 1:

Finish Dishwasher Tablets--$3.99

Suave Shampoos (32 oz)----$6.00/2

Total---------------------------$9.99

Minus coupons---------------$1+$3

New Total---------------------$5.99+tax

Register Reward----------- -$5.00

Grand Total-------------------99cents+tax

Savings-------------------------90%

Bonus------------------------$3.50 in Register Rewards to use on the next transaction

I've planned my combination of items I'm going to purchase around the register rewards that items produce and if there is a coupon available for them. I've been shopping for a lot of personal care items so that my family can assemble hygiene kits for the local shelters. We've been fortunate to find amazing deals on deodorant lately, so that will be another item that we can add to the kit.

Transaction 2:

Mitchum Deodorant---------$2.99

Carmex Healing Lotions----2/$10

Total---------------------------$12.99

Coupons-----------------------$3 ($1/1 for Mitchum and 2 printables for Carmex)

New Total---------------------$9.99

Filler items--------------------75 cents--3 cans of tomato sauce @ 25 cents each

I'm going to need 3 of them because I want to use the two register rewards from the last transaction, plus a $5 one that I earned on M&Ms last week. Remember to choose the cheapest item available, if possible.

Total---------------------------$10.74+tax

Register Rewards----------- - 8.50

Grand Total-------------------$2.24+tax

Bonus: $2 Mitchum Register Reward + $5 Carmex Register Reward=$7 RR

If you are doing multiple transactions for the same item, you will have to alternate every other transaction if you plan on using the Register Rewards to buy the additional items, because if you use a Carmex Register Reward to buy more Carmex lotions, a new Register Reward will not print. You can avoid this situation by having your transactions planned ahead of time to assure that you are generating new rewards, as well as being able to use the ones that you already have.

Filler items...necessary little transaction makers! Last week was brilliant because Pentex highlighters were on sale for 9 cents each. Almost every transaction I did had a highlighter thrown in to keep the ratio between items and coupons/register rewards. Register Rewards aren't technically coupons, but the register sees them that way. So if you have 3 bottles of soap, you have to have 3 coupons or register rewards, in any combination--and no more, or you will need a filler. And the amount of the coupons and register rewards cannot super cede the amount of the transactions before sales' tax. For example, if you total is $3.20 with tax and you have the cashier a register reward for $3--it probably won't work because only $2.96 of the total is hard pricing and the rest is tax.... The way around this is to add a cheap filler. They have 25 cents candies near the front registers--or look for usable fillers from the add, like the highlighter scenario I did last week.

Remember that even though an item may be deemed as "free" by applying a coupon/register reward to the balance...you are still on the hook to pay the sales' tax for the item as if you had paid sales' price in full. An item for $2.99 that you have $2.99 in coupons/rewards for...will still have a balance at the end of the transaction of whatever your state's sale tax is for the $2.99 price. In Washington state, more specifically Spokane County, I pay 8.7% sales' tax. So I would have a remaining amount of 26 cents to pay. But paying the governor is still better then paying full price...sales' price, or even half price.

Savings in the Fine Print....

Sometimes I have privvy to some delicious scuttle-butt. This one is going to pay off BiG TiMe if you like Revlon Cosmetic products. Next week, Walgreens has all their Revlon products on sale for 40% off. You also receive a Register Rewards of $3 for every $10 purchased. Most of the super coupon shoppers are aware that there is a $1 off one Revlon Cosmetics coupons. But this is setting up to be a beautiful deal, because there is an In-Store coupon for $2 off ONE product available as well.

A little birdie told me about next week's sale and to make sure that I use my coupons from the store and manufacturer's as well. But what she didn't tell was about the Register Rewards. And spending $10 in make-up won't be hard, since that's the total before coupons. That tidbit came from the fine print in the sales' ad. So make sure that you are reading the microscopic paragraphs under the pictures of the goods. There might be some additional penny-pinching strategies that can be plotted in the game of savings.

For newer thrifty shoppers--the Register Rewards act like cash towards anything on the next sales' transaction. There is one caveat: if you use the Register Reward from an item to buy/pay for the exact same item--another Register Reward will NOT print. You make sure that you are using the Register Reward on something else; preferrably an item that will print another Register Reward.

This is one of those extreme savings moments when you can "layer" your coupons; ie. use more than one coupon per item in a transaction--starting with the store coupon, the manufacturer's coupon, and then the Register Rewards from a previous sale. But you have to remember that at Walgreens you cannot have more coupons/register rewards than you actually have products. Thus--this requires the "Filler" items to be used as well. And there are some great and inexpensive filler items from the in-store coupons in the ad, like 10 count Papermate pens, packs of erasers and pencil sharpeners for 29-39 cents; mini composition notebooks for 15 cents; and numerous other items for under $1.

Additional savings can be found when you use your Register Rewards and coupons in conjunction on items that generate another Register Reward. You roll your savings from sale to sale and keep the cost low on the products that you would buy anyways!