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A few weeks ago I started seriously getting back into couponing
Kris and a bunch of other ladies at frugalmomsrock.com have been helping me. I also have a good friend, Jenni, who has gone straight up NUTS over couponing lately. Between all these smart ladies, I've gotten back into the habit and tonight I hit CVS
I got
1 dawn dish soap (-.50 cou)
2 oral B tooth brushes (-$1 off 2 cou)
1 colgate total advantage (-$1 cou)
1 bayer (-$1 cou)
1 fusion razor (-$4 cou)
1 kids advil (-$1 cou)
2 Sure deodorant ( $-1 cou - two of em)
I saved $23.90 between coupons and sales
I spent $5 ECBs , paid $15.19 OOP (out of pocket), and got $13.79 back in EBCs
EBCs are free money you can spend at CVS so if you subtract my EBCs from my OOP it's like i paid $1.40 for all that stuff I needed!!
Awesome!!!!!!! I've been reading over there on the frugalmoms board... I'm trying to learn and get on board! I wish you or Kris lived closer so I could take you with me and show me how it's really done I'm a visual kind of gal
I'm the same as Erica, I need a personal shopper! I think I do ok at the grocery store with my coupons, but I definitely haven't gotten into all the stockpiling and such....I need to!
Wal-Mart (where I usually shop b/c I can pick up everything in one trip), KMart, IGA, Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, Oscos
As far as food goes.... we're open to just about anything. We buy a lot of hamburger and chicken for our meals. We go through a lot of milk.
We buy pampers diapers & wipes, and though I prefer name brands for shampoo/conditioners/soap... I've been buying Wal-Mart's brand lately because we simply can't afford a $12 bottle of Shampoo & a $12 bottle of Conditioner at this time.
Wal-Mart (where I usually shop b/c I can pick up everything in one trip), KMart, IGA, Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, Oscos
As far as food goes.... we're open to just about anything. We buy a lot of hamburger and chicken for our meals. We go through a lot of milk.
We buy pampers diapers & wipes, and though I prefer name brands for shampoo/conditioners/soap... I've been buying Wal-Mart's brand lately because we simply can't afford a $12 bottle of Shampoo & a $12 bottle of Conditioner at this time.[/b]
I won't pay anything for shampoo/conditioner, etc! The only toiletry I can't manage to get for free are tampons and the safe to swallow toothpaste for Nathan! Can you either post or PM me your zip code, that way I know I look at the right sale ads-I will see if I can look at them online.
One thing that is helpful to try and get a stockpile going is to be creative with your meals for a little while-eat what you have on hand and try to only buy sale items (your money goes farther that way!) and then it starts to build! Then you have more variety to choose from what you already have on hand. Do you have an extra freezer or just the portion of your fridge?
I have multiples of all of the coupons I mentioned. If you want them, let me know-I can mail them out tomorrow and you could get them in time to use them by Saturday. I could also help figure out what order to buy things in to end up paying the least real money.
Pert Plus is also free after rebate this month at Walgreens, so you could buy it for 3.79-4.29ish use the $2 coupon and get the full price back (thus making $2 plus getting the shampoo!!!) or you could get 2 of them (they may or may not let you use 2 $2 coupons), get full price back for 1, and get the $5 worth of school supplies to do the other rebate
Sarah-CVS and Walgreens deals are all the same (well almost all of the time)
The zip codes help me see your grocery ads online.
Kris, our Oscos has some groceries, I do believe. I haven't been in there in a couple of years... even though it is literally a mile from my house, but it's new and I think I remember them having a freezer section and aisles of food.
I just have to get in on this thread. You are all so lucky to have Kris in your PR. She's one of our smartest shoppers on FrugalMomsRock. For those of you who are interested in shopping at CVS, here is my guide. It's a little long, but I hope you can muddle through.
Shopping Successfully at CVS:
Your goal as a CVS shopper is to spend as little OOP (out of pocket) as possible while rolling ECB's. ECB's are the rewards given by the ExtraCare Program and its card. You can get a card online at CVS.com or by filling out a form at any CVS store. If you do it in-store, you get the card immediately and you can start using it right away. You will need an ExtraCare card to get the advertised sale prices and the ECB deals in the weekly/monthly flyers. Keep your receipts! Your ECB's print out at the bottom and you need to actually hand them to the cashier on the subsequent transaction(s) to use them. Also, make sure to use your card for each transaction, regardless of whether you are getting sale or ECB items. This is because....
--You earn ECB's on every purchase. The year is divided into quarterly spending periods. You earn 2% back on purchases, beginning with $25. This means that you need to spend at least $25 OOP to earn any ECB's. You'll get 50 cents for each $25 increment you spend each quarter. The quarters end around the 15th of the appropriate month and the ECB's will print beginning on the 1st of the following month. If your store has a card scanner/price checker, you can print them on that without buying anything. But if not, you'll need to buy something to get them to print on your receipt. This 2% cashback is a double-edged sword: While it may be nice to get a tidy sum in ECB's every couple of months, it means that you're spending much more OOP than you should. If you play the game right and spend very little OOP each time, you'll be lucky to even get quarterly spending. So you either save the money first and get nothing. Or spend the money first and get some back.
The other way to earn ECB's is to do the deals in the weekly/monthly flyers. Each ad will specify an amount of money you need to spend or number of items you need to buy to earn ECB's. There will also be a limit per household (which is actually per card at the moment & you can have more than one card at a time). You can choose to buy the appropriate amount at once or break it up into smaller transactions. Your progress towards your reward will be shown on your receipt. It will also show when you've reached the limit on a deal.
One thing to consider when doing a deal with a higher limit is the number of times you do that deal per transaction. For example, you want to do a Crest toothpaste deal where you buy one and you get back $2 in ECB's. The limit is 5 and you want to do all five together. The $10 in ECB's would print out together on a single ECB. But buying them individually would produce smaller ECB's. It's up to you which you'd prefer. Keep in mind that you will not receive any cash back for not using the entire amount of an ECB. You can get it adjusted down a few cents if you'd like just to give you a $0 OOP transaction, but don't go down too far. You don't want to lose money in the process.
There are monthly deals listed in a booklet each month. These are good all month long and usually have higher limits. There are also a couple freebies which are items that are FREE after ECB's-- meaning that you pay the purchase price up front, but you get it right back in the form of an ECB. Use coupons with these items whenever possible. That way you actually get back more than what you paid. We call them moneymakers. There's nothing better than being paid to take something home. Sometimes you will see a monthly deal that's listed in a weekly ad also during that month. Be aware that the limit imposed as the monthly deal still applies. The monthly deals (especially the FREE ones) are very helpful in rolling your ECB's. Which brings me to...
-- Rolling ECB's. Rolling ECB's means to use ECB's to purchase more items which earn ECB's. This keeps your OOP down and always gives you ECB's to work with. Once you build up a good base of ECB's, you can roll them basically forever. The best way to roll them is to cash in on the FREE items so you get as much back as possible for the ones you spent. There are some people who buy anything just to roll their ECB's (guilty! ). It's up to you if you want to end up with things you won't use. There's always someone who will be happy to have the things you get for free. Your family can go "shopping" at your house.
I get loads of free pictures from CVS!! I love them! I last developed over 150 pictures. By the time I got all my free pictures plus the ECB's I paid like $2 for over 150 pictures! That is 1 hour processing too!
Ok so I just signed up for my CVS extra care card online---hopefully it gets here soon I wasn't thinking and should have just did it in the store. Oh well...I am on my way to saving money.
I'm thinking this will be a good hobby for me--plus I will save money!!
I've been checking out the CVS ad --I was doing really well at cutting coupons--but towards the end of my pregnany I got really lax and now all my coupons are expired so I have to bulid my stash back up!!
I did the Kellogs deal this weekend. There was also kellogs coupons in the newspaper. The cereal was 4/$10. I had two $1/2 for Raisen Bran and Smart Start. I used both of those b/c I bought two of each. So that brought me to 4/$8. Then you add the $5 in RR. I got 4 boxes of Kellogs cereal for $3. That is 75 cents a box!! If you have those coupons you can't beat it!!
one hand typing, please forgive errors...
I used to pay for a site that showed me the sales on all local stores and showed which coupon to use with the sale. i am sure some of u heard of it...anywho i found a freeeeeee site that does the same thing- couponmom.org. i save on average $100 a month with coupons, but i am seeing now that i am buying things just because they are on sale and i have a coupon too. dh always asks if i have a coupon for somthing vefore he puts in the cart - i love my coupon organizer. off to check out the site u posted, thanks.
I'm a visual kind of gal 
- i love my coupon organizer. off to check out the site u posted, thanks.
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