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!

Walgreens......I HEART Them!!

With the exception of Sunday, I've been in a Walgreens' store everyday for the last 8 days! Human behavior masters say that it takes 30 days of repetitious behavior to form a habit. I don't know about that! I think habits can be developed in fewer repetitions then 30! Try...6 or 7 times, for me.

In the past, I've been pretty dedicated to Rite Aid with their Up Reward program. I love rolling the savings into the next week and seeing how much money I can save by layering the coupons on top of my Up Rewards as well. I've come home with some mega deals. For example, Stayfree Maxi pads were last week's hottest commodity . I got six 48ct packages for less than $1.50 for all of them. Yep! That's 288 pads for less than 1/2 a cent. Ok. They'll keep, for all of you wondering--or they will go to the local women's shelter for a FULL PRICE tax deduction. Ahh..........I LOVE the law of reciprocity! It pays to be generous. Anywhoo--I digress.

So I've been fairly monogamous with Rite Aid because the Walgreen's advertising gimmickry made it seem some limited and harder to work a great deal. And I was running into so many things that I wanted at Rite Aid that have become limited to so many per household and store card. I mean--Really! How many Rite Aid cards can a girl have? I've limited myself to 4. Ok. Maybe 5. But I'm OUT of phone numbers I can use! I'm having a difficult time keeping track of which card was the one used with the "limited" items. So I started looking at the competition for an easier game. What I noticed in the Walgreen's ad was that there were no exclusive limits...but rather, a limit of "per transaction". That's a whole 'nother way of thinking--and shopping! I know I can do multiple transactions...I'm a patient woman when it comes to not paying full price--and if I layer the Register Rewards in my knowledgeable way--with a fantastic coupon...I can save a truckload of money and still go home with a truckload of goods.

So I gave it a whirl last week with some of the back to school items and toothpaste. [I'm in accumulation-mode for items that we need for building hygiene kits]. What started out as just a few items turned kind of crazy by Saturday. Revlon had their nail polish on sale for $3.99, producing a $3 Register Reward per transaction. I added the $2 store coupon and the $1 manufacturer's coupon...and I ended up getting more in Register Rewards then I paid for the lone bottle. My OCD kicked in, and I ended up with 30 bottles of nail polish and $90 in Register Rewards. [The endorphins are going cerebral and zingy just thinking about it :] So how could I not buy them. Many thanks to the patient checkers. I've yet to have a bad experience with a single employee! That's really something to be said, as well. (By the way, Ashley's getting a heck of a Spa birthday party...and her friends are getting 3-4 bottles of polish each...because I'm cool like that!)

So I started using the Register Rewards first thing Monday morning on the items that also generated more of them. I bought an ungodly amount of Keebler cookies (remember, Register Rewards+coupons=free and a new $5 Register Reward), some really expensive Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste for 50cents (normally $5.49), which also generated another $4 Register Reward, Dial Body Wash (no coupon) but generated $3 Register Reward, Keri Body Lotion for zilch (generated a $5 Register Reward), and so on. I know that every week is NOT like this one. But I bought over 20 tubes of deodorant, 30 tubes of toothpaste, 20 bottles of lotion, 30 packages of cookies, tons of toilet paper, countless oddball school supplies, scotch tape, plastic cutlery, dental floss, Dove soap, and more!

On this Saturday, I'm loading up on the Revlon sale--again. It's 40% off--with a $3 Register Reward for each $10 purchase. I'm going to use the $2 store coupon plus $1/1 manufacturer's coupons in conjunction with a previous Register Reward. I anticipate that each transaction of $10 will quickly come down to no more then $1-2 per transaction, tops...and I'll get a $3 Register Reward each time. Ten transactions should do me and get me off to a great start for the following week's ads. The Register Rewards that I have right now don't expire till September 6th. So I may hold on to a lot of them to use for the ad after next, instead of the upcoming one. And if all else fails to spark my interest to stock up on--I won't let them go to waste. It might be time to replenish the birthday wrap and cards or stock up on Halloween candy early. Ooh. No worries. I'll spend it and it will be for a some great cause or another ;)

Register Rewards

You know I'm talking about Walgreens when I say that I love Register Rewards.... And if you're frugally minded, you know that you'll have to pay special attention to the deals going on there because you can get your personal care or household stuff for free if you are patient and make a little effort from week to week.

Some of the deals that I noticed this week are truly tremendous. If you have rug rats in need of diapers...Proctor and Gamble (the manufacturer's of Pampers) is doing a Save $5 on $25 purchases. Diapers are $8.99 a package and the monster package of wipes is $6.99. You'd have to buy 2 diapers and 1 of the wipes to make the $25. So if I had a kid in diapers and saw this for the deal it could be, I'd do something like this: Buy 2 packages of diapers and the monster wipes; use 2 $2.00 off coupons (one for each of the diapers) and a $1 off for the wipes. Then--there are coupons for additional free wipes when you buy the packages of diapers. It's for a container of wipes that is 72ct or less for every package of diapers you purchase. So this transaction would be $20 before the register rewards for 2 packages of diapers, 1 large pack wipes, and 2 smaller containers of wipes. Then you get the $5 back at the conclusion of the transaction. So for $15...you get $30-35 worth of baby lovin'. *For all of the coupons needed, I went to http://www.ebay.com/ and put "coupons pampers" and "coupons pampers wipes" on the search bar. I always use "buy it now" also. I had to scroll down through all the sellers and eliminate all the "Target" coupons, but there are lots of manufacturer's coupons available for the goods. Almost wish I had a baby right now.

There are some other great deals right now as well that could really help that Pampers purchase out or take even more off your future "earnings"--hehehe. There's a great deal on Playtex tampons. They are $2/8 with a $3 register reward, making them $2/$5. But if you hurry and order the coupons that save $2.50/2 (they expire 8/8/10), you have a great deal. For the visually-challenged, like myself--free Complete multi-care contact solution is always a good thing; of Alive multi-vitamins, or Crayola crayons. If you were to buy the 3 high-dollar register rewards items in the first transaction, you could apply it to a second transaction of Pampers (if you are so inclined that way)--for tremendous savings, but you have to remember to use "filler" items because you are only allowed the number of coupons per items and no more. So be prepared with a handful of cheap gum to match with your transactions. Awesome Rewards=Awesome Deals. There are lots of other deals, but these had me lifting my eyebrows. For more match-ups, check out http://www.walgreens.com/ for your own viewing pleasure.

*Just remember that if you are only doing the pampers deals, the register will NOT generate a second $5 if you use the $5 register reward from the first transaction on the next pampers tranny. You have to "stagger" the transactions in order to keep the register rewards printing. So buy the contact solution in one transaction, then the pampers deal...alternating however many times you want to get the items you need. On the last transaction, you will go home with the last register reward $$ to start the savings for next week.