A Well-Padded Deal........

So I've been sitting here looking at the ads and I always save Rite-Aid and Walgreens till last. I was so pleased with my purchases at Rite-Aid last week, I was giddy--waiting to see what the deal of the week would be. It looks like they have recycled the buy $100 worth of the items that are designated with a blue label that says "Buy and Save"--and receive a $20 Up Reward. I've love those. If you stagger your purchases, not only are you getting the Up Rewards on your items, but you can also apply coupons. When you reach the $100 mark (the total before coupon usage), an additional Up Reward of $20 prints out on your receipt. Staggering deals if you have a mind for it.

So here's the savvy shopper's dilemma. Both stores have Stayfree feminine care products on sale. The price at Walgreen's is $1.99 for the 14-24 pack of Stayfree Maxi pads. The same pads are $2.99 at Rite-Aid...but they are marked with the blue "Buy and Save" and get credited towards the $100 Up Reward total for the $20 back.

Oh the choices! I was on www.ebay.com looking at coupons and found two different ways to field this deal. There's coupons for "Buy One, Get One Free"--[making the 2 packages at Walgreen's $2.99 and 2 packages at Rite-Aid $1.99]. Or...they have $1 off per package coupons--[making the pads 99cents at Walgreens' and $1.99 at Rite-Aid]. But it all comes back to the extra Up Reward, huh? Ok...I'll get the Buy One, Get One Free coupons to use at Rite-Aid--because I don't have to pay for half as many of the pads to accrue the Up Reward kick back. I guess I just settled my own dilemma. It's just a numbers game that we volley around to see who has the better price when the deal's done.

Steal of a Deal

Through January 22nd, Rite Aid has been running a promotional deal where if you buy any of the products marked with a blue "Buy and Save" dot, totally $100 (before coupon discounts taken), you get a $20 Up-Reward. An Up-Reward is like the Catalina coupons...it prints out on the bottom of the register tape and is like CASH towards anything on your next purchase. If you jockey your purchases around and accrue the Up-Rewards first, you can pay for subsequent transactions with the rewards, rather than money.

That's what I did a couple of nights ago. I was looking for birthday invitations at one store and didn't see anything I liked. I remembered that I had already received my Rite-Aid Up-Reward for all the household cleaners and mouthwashes I had purchased at a discount the week before. So it was like having a $20 bill burning a hole in my pocket. The invitations I found were only $4--leaving $16 of the Up-Reward to still use.

So I wandered down the school supply aisle, as I was looking for supplies for preschool, and came across several things that also regenerated new Up-Rewards. The best were on the sticker labels and paper clips. They were $2.49 each, but generated a $2 Up-reward each. Working the numbers...that means I'd only have to pay the "difference" of 49cents. [The Up-Rewards are like "paying it forward"--you pay the whole amount now, and then the store returns the Up-Reward portion for each item to you on the receipt, to be used on future purchases.]

I methodically worked out how to pay for everything with the littlest cash out of pocket. I bought all the office supplies first, making sure to watch the total as to not go too far over $20. I paid for that with my $20 Up-Reward. The Grand Total on that transaction: 6 cents. On the bottom of that receipt was almost another $20 in new Up-Rewards. We had several dear families bring us dinner in the last couple of weeks with Nathan's surgery and recent home care. I didn't want to send the dishes back without a token of appreciation, so I bought five of my favorite chocolates--Ferrero Rochers at $4.99 each. After the Up-Rewards were taken off the last total, I only paid $2.11 (basically--sales' tax). So all the goodies on the table only cost me $2.17 out of pocket (OOP)!!

It's amazing what a little forethought and strategy can accomplish in your shopping adventures. Mass purchasing doesn't have to cost a lot. Knowing the store programs and using them to your advantage means HUGE savings. Tip for new users: Up-Rewards do not mean you can't use coupons on the items. The best combination of savings is to put the coupon on the lowest priced items, generate a Catalina-style return to use on future purchases, and combine the two savings options! Pennies on the dollar, if not free, is always the BEST price in town!!

My purchases here would have easily totaled $46 before tax. I felt pretty good about only paying $2.17 for everything that night. That's a 95% savings! The particular Up-Reward program that just earned me $20, ends today--but there are on-going programs just like the one I used, going on at stores all the time. Rite-Aid and Walgreens are both awesome stores to get Health and Beauty aid needs, household cleaners, and OTC medicines and supplies. I'll never pay cash for most of these products again!

Whoot Whoot!!

This coming week Albertsons' has Campbells' Great for Cooking soups (Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom) on sale for 59cents a can! That's a great price to begin with, but on I found coupons on http://www.ebay.com/ for Save $1/4. Now that makes a GREAT price of 34cents a can. Albertsons' hasn't had a double coupon fest in a couple of weeks and I might be reaching by thinking that we are about due for one. So, although I ordered my coupons tonight and they should be getting here on Friday or Saturday, I'm going to hold on to them to see if there are the doublers. If I were to buy 12 cans per transaction, with coupons and store doublers, each can would only be 9cents!! I think that is something to Whoot about!!

There's also a Kraft cheese sale going on this next week at the big A. Philadelphia cream cheese is 99cents an 8oz block and the Kraft shredded cheeses are $2. Not a stellar deal, but I got coupons for Save $1 when you buy 1 cream cheese and 1 package of Kraft shredded cheese. And hoping for the doublers the first of next week, that would make both cheese products $1 with coupon. That would make them stock-up worthy, in my book.

Here's a tip for Holiday shopping: many of the stores discontinue their Christmas packaged products immediately with 50% or more off deals starting right before Christmas or at latest, the day after. I'm talking about things like Hershey Kisses and novelty foods. Many of these products have coupons available for them, like the Save $1/2 Hershey products. A lot of those coupons are available for free at sites like http://www.coupons.com/, as well. Typical expiration dates are 12/31/10. If you were to set some of those coupons aside for when the products are clearanced, you would have a tremendous deal on your hands with some products. And things like the candy, stuffing, packaged sets, etc...are good for months and months after Christmas. So don't let the Christmas packaging fool you. A Hershey's Kiss in red and green wrappers is still a Hershey's Kiss without it's wrapper on ;)

Extreme Couponing Coming to TLC in December

Set the DVRs for 12/29 at 8pm on TLC for Extreme Couponing.

I'm not surprised that this kind of program is coming to TV...since ever morbid and perverse aspect of life has a reality show to its' name. But this is a show with BENEFITS!! Not only do you see the crazy state of the extreme coupon shopper in their frenzy, but you get to glean techniques and skills that you can use to benefit yourself and family.


http://press.discovery.com/us/tlc/programs/extreme-couponing/

I think what impresses me most is that most of these shoppers are fairly new to couponing...like 3-4 years new. Economic times have caused the vast majority of people to review their expenses and see where they can cut corners to reduce costs. Food is the second highest expense in the budget, following the mortgage/rent. And generally, it's one of the only expenses that is "discretionary"--whatever we choose it to be. That means that it fluctuates on our mood, the cost of foods we are drawn to, or if we have less money to work with. For the credit-saturated culture that we live in, most of the residual expenses on groceries get diverted to a credit card when liquid funds are not available in the bank.



I've been "bargain shopping" for over 16 years, "coupon shopping" for the last 10 years, and "extreme couponing" for the last 6 years. I used to be the novelty customer at the stores I shopped locally. Now I'm just one of masses that are trying to get the most for my buck. I see women who are far more organized and methodical than I am with 6" binders full of coupons and lists of game plan options for the products on sale. I see some who shop using coupons for single quantities and those who shop for case lots. Everyone plans their strategy according to what they can store, expiration dates, and what they use. But the bottom line for all the couponers is: they do it to save money. Because coupons are the only time that you will see a cost realization that is reduced and paid for with money you did not have to make yourself! The coupons are acting as "cash" to pay for products that you would normally have to pay for yourself. That means the money you could have spent stays in the bank rather than going into the grocers' tills. Think about that. How much money do you spend on food? How much money could you save? If you put the numbers on paper...it's surprising how much you will pay yourself if you create a game plan for you and your family. Good luck and happy shopping.

Check it Out!

'Tis the holiday season and everyone is looking for a great deal. Gift cards are very popular and I like to receive them...hint, hint. But if you are trying to decide which ones to get/give, I think that it's always best to lean towards the ones that pay you back. For example, Red Robin has a deal going for when you buy a $25 gift card, you get a $5 card to use between January and February.

What I've done in the past is buy the gift card before we eat and pay for the meal with the gift card on the same day--with the perk of a gift card to use in the new year.

I know that many of the restaurants are doing this and it's a great way to kill two birds with one stone...and enjoy the gift of giving, especially when it comes back to you. I guess this would be the perfect example of a "piggyback" deal.

Veteran's Day Spectacular

Ok. I'm on the road. Rhode Island to be exact. But I couldn't help but throw these tidbits out there for those who've been in Military service--currently or in the past. Tomorrow is the day you need to take your sweetie to lunch because so many of the local restaurants are offering free meals for Veteran's with ID--Applebee's and Chili's. Outback Steakhouse is offering a free bloomin' onion and drink, free donuts at Krispy Kreme's, and free subs at Subway too!!

My mom is a Veteran--Air Force. We are on the road and you know--I know where we are going to eat tomorrow. Thank goodness there are Subways in every airport :)

Super Stock-Up Items at Albertsons

It's not very often that I promote a generic brand item to stock up on. But starting tomorrow at Albertsons', they have their store brand cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups on sale for 29 cents when you buy them in increments of 10. You pay $2.90 and you have 10 cans of cooking soups on hand. The other tremendous deal is on the store brand chicken and beef broths. Same situation--buy 10 and they are 25 cents a piece...you pay $2.50 for 10. I don't know about you, but holiday cooking is just around the corner and it seems like you need broth and cream soups for every recipe. And being that these are canned products, the expiry dates are going to be well in 2012, 2013. So stocking up on these kinds of staples is SMART shopping!!

Most of the brand name items in the "Buy 10 items, Save $5" promo have coupons to match. These kinds of sales are fabulous ways to start building a reserve. And being that we just had double coupons in this week's ad, most likely there won't be any for next week...so think about which items are a great deal with available coupons. Our family loves the Betty Crocker potatoes that are on sale for 79 cents a box when purchased in any combination 10 of the advertised items. There are coupons for save $1 on 2 items. That makes them 29 cents a box. That's a hot deal and it wouldn't take very much money to see the exponential results in your pantry.

Another great find is the Dole Pineapple that's on sale for 75 cents a can (in the combination of 10). I just ordered coupons from http://www.ebay.com/ that saves $1 on 3 cans. That makes each can 42 cents each. That's a huge improvement over $1.25 a can. Four or five cases of fruit that will last quite awhile will run me about the same as if I had bought 20 cans at regular price. Shopper with coupons is like having my own personal sale as my disposal.