I haven't been posting here at all. I started up over on blogger because that's where most of the other couponing moms that I read are located.

So... for the whole handful of you that are reading this... would you like me to copy and paste the posts over here, or do you just wanna hop over there to read them?

http://mamaonabudget.blogspot.com

I was going through our local paper today and saw the RiteAid ad. They had some FAR (Free After Rebate) items that were ending today, as well as some that went the whole month. So I figured I'd try my luck there. Just before leaving home, Frugal Heart posted a link to a $1 off Rice Krispies with Strawberries coupon, so I printed that out and took it along as well.

As I walked into Rite Aid, I was greeted by an end cap of Kellogg's cereals on sale for $1.99... including the Rice Krispies with Strawberries! Then upon closer inspection, there was also a rebate coupon on the front of the box for a $3.99 rebate check by mail! Are you following this?

Cereal - $1.99
Minus $1 coupon - $.99
Then add on the $3.99 rebate - I JUST MADE $3!!!!

And the best part? It's limit TWO per household! So I printed out a second coupon using IE and I'll head back to Rite Aid while I'm out for Grocery Outlet's restocked shelves tomorrow =)

Other Rite Aid rebates today:
Old Spice 3 count disposable razors - $3.99 - $3.99 rebate - FREE
Gillette Fusion Power Razor - regularly $11.99 - on sale for $9.00 - $4.00 Sunday coupon - $5.00 rebate - FREE
(mine also came with a trial size can of shave gel - bonus!)
Revlon Nail Enamel (Kiss Me Coral was my choice) - $2.99 - $2.99 rebate - FREE

So... OOP (Out Of Pocket) today I spent $12.97
Rebates coming back to me - $15.97!!!!

Then a quick jump over to Walgreens to check on the FARs that were out of stock last week. The vacuum bags were still out of stock, but the Walgreens brand water filters were in stock! So...
Water filter - $6.99 - $6.99 rebate - FREE

I used one of my register rewards from the cereal purchase the other day, and then $1.99 of the $5 cash they gave me when the third reward didn't print. So I didn't even have to touch any money that wasn't already dedicated to Walgreens.
Rebate coming back to me - $7.69 (additional 10% for adding it to my Walgreens gift card)

I made $3.70 today =)

running total of Walgreens Easy Saver Rebates coming to me this month - $32.71... hoping to add at least $17.58 to that.

Less of a fiasco than Walgreens was my trip to Wal-Mart today. I saw a coupon in the paper yesterday (I get Sunday's paper on Saturday night to plan that week's shopping - since many times we shop on Sunday) for Pert Plus (or Secret) and a school supply rebate. There were 2 Pert (and 2 Secret - I don't use that) coupons attached to this rebate form. $2 off any bottle that was regular size (I don't remember the ounces off hand) or more and $3 off any bottle that was the bigger size or more. The rebate form was a $5 rebate on school supplies when you bough $5 in Pert or Secret products. Sooooo....



Geof's shampoo of choice is Pert's Happy Medium, so it wasn't even like I bought something we wouldn't use just for the sale. (This is a great time sale-wise for us to stock up on it... the free-after-rebate bottle last week from Walgreens, this deal, and I still have a Safeway coupon from last weekend making a bottle $1.99.) The small bottle was $3.12 (-$2 = $1.12), and the larger bottle was $4.34 (-$3 - $1.34). Then it was off to the school supply aisle where Wal-Mart was having my favorite ever sale... Crayola Crayons!!!! The other prices were great, too. Here's how the things in the picture broke down:
$.22 - crayons
$.22 - crayons
$.88 - markers
$.27 - ruler
$.27 - ruler
$.22 - glue sticks
$.22 - glue sticks
$.22 - glue
$.50 - composition book
$.88 - colored pencils
$.88 - colored pencils
$.57 - pencil box
Total - $5.35

Okay - so take out a ruler to bring it closer to $5. Or I could shift around with some of the other cheap school supplies I purchased (I bought 2 more boxes of crayons and 2 spiral bound notebooks - those were $.05 each - to keep in the car for each of the kids. I figured I could justify spending $.27 each to keep them entertained while we wait for doctors or restaurant food or whatever. I also bought some construction paper and a K-1st writing tablet for practicing hand writing for Robert this coming year.


( Plus some mini-fun )

I got all this stuff FREE. Okay, well, it comes out to free. Walgreens is running a sale where you buy certain groupings of things (4 cereals for $10, 4 bars for $10, 5 snacks/cookies for $10) and you get a $5 register reward for your purchase. This Sunday's paper had a special coupon section from Kelloggs - full of coupons for $1 off 2 of certain products. Then if you buy 10 Kelloggs products, you can send in your receipt for a $10 rebate.

Now, as seems to be my luck with Walgreens, we had trouble with getting the register rewards to print out. SO I went through this whole thing with the manager of returning my order, buying it again (because he wouldn't believe me when I said that I should just return two of those groups and buy them each separately), and still having difficulty with only getting 1 more register reward... so he gave me $5 cash. But here's the breakdown...

2 Fruit Loops @ $2.50 each
2 Special K @ $2.50 each

2 Nutragrain bars @ $2.50 each
2 Special K bars @ $2.50 each

2 Rice Krispy treats @ $2 each
2 Pop Tarts @ $2 each
2 Fudge Stripe cookies @ $2 each
(this is one product more than needed for the register reward)
Total: $32.00

I had a $1 off coupon for each set above - or $7 in coupons

Total: $25.00

If they would have been purchased in these groups as three separate orders, I wouldn't have had to have the manager involved. But it all worked out for me to get 3, $5 register rewards
Total: $10.00

Mail in rebate for $10 off 10 Kelloggs products
Total: FREE!!!!

I'll have to come back later and talk about the other great deal I got - set up the stuff to take a picture and everything before I post.

(They also have coupons for some school supplies for $.09 each. I got 2 packs of pencils, 2 packs of black pens and 2 packs of highlighters for $.56. They had a donation box there for Lincoln City schools, so I threw half of those purchases in there. Still, coming home with 10 pencils, 10 pens and 6 highlighters for $.56 is still a great deal!)

VERY IMPORTANT EDIT!!!!! If you decide to do this, you'll have to go through and do the same fight that I did. Buy everything together on ONE receipt and then get the manager involved if your register rewards don't print. One of the caveats of the $10 refund from Kelloggs is that all the products have to be purchased on ONE receipt!

I goofed this one pretty badly by shopping on the 3rd when the rebate didn't start until the 5th. The word is that the good people of Kellogg's have pushed the start of this rebate period back to the 2nd. I'm awaiting an answer to my emailed inquiry to confirm - but I'm pretty sure it's true!

I know you wanna be like me...

So here's your chance.

Tomorrow only, THIS COUPON can be used at Walgreens for $5 off any $20 purchase (total after coupons and before tax). I'm planning to go and buy the things in this month's rebate catalog that are free after rebate but that you have to pay cash for upfront. Those things are listed in their SUPER SAVER CATALOG (pages 19 & 22) - though I'll probably skip the makeup. I'm pretty sure I have another coupon for Pert, too.

My total tomorrow (before additional Pert coupon - I'll edit if I find it) will be $29.25-$35.24, depending on the olive shampoo ingredients. After Walgreen's coupon, it will be $24.25-$30.24. At the end of this rebate period, assuming that I don't add anything else to the rebate, I will be adding $32.18-$38.76 to my Walgreen's gift card (10% bonus for getting it put on their gift card rather than a check back)

I'm sure it sounds confusing. Long and short of it is that I'll be getting a bunch of stuff for free and an additional $8+ to spend next month... doing the same thing. This keep building until we need to use that money for something else, like toilet paper or a prescription. And this should be the last month that I'll be paying out of pocket as I'll have my gift card money from past months to pay for the following month's purchases.

EDIT - I found a $1 off coupon for Pert. So that's $1 less out of pocket and more on my rebate! http://www.pertplus.com/coupon/ if you're wanting to do the same deal.

( What I ended up getting that trip )

This was just Thursday. Not the best I've ever done, but still pretty good.

( Safeway )

Geof LOVES Pibb. We can only get it if we drive to Newport (or Salem, but that's an even longer trip), and Fred Meyer, the store that carries it, hardly ever has it on sale. We've been collecting the mycokerewards points for a long time now - never find anything worth spending them on, really. But the had an offer for spend 100 points and they'll send you a coupon for a free 12 pack of Coke products. Including Pibb. I ordered 2 (they were one per customer per visit - so it worked out well that we were both going down there). The day we had our trip planned to go to Newport, I also got the Fred Meyer coupons in the mail. There were a few really good ones in there, so we brought those along.

( Fred Meyer )

The today, I was reading in poor_skills. If you're trying to live frugally, don't mind skimming a fast-moving community for advice that fits you and are looking to save money - you really need to join there. Someone posted that Walgreens brand of disposable diapers are pretty good and they had them on sale for $5.99 (normally$8.99 each). There's a coupon book you can pick up in the front of the store with a "Save $5 on two" that includes these diapers. There's also a coupon flier available at the pharmacy that had a coupon for $2 off one. Plus, if you buy three packages of the Walgreens diapers, you get an instant coupon for $5 off your next shopping trip.

Yeah, like I'm gonna pass THAT one up!

( It gets better... )

Tomorrow, Geof is getting a PS3. I (not sure if seriously or jokingly) stared at him long and hard today - I told him I was trying to remember what he looks like. He said that I don't have to worry about that.

We'll see.

I am really proud of him, though. He has always gotten the newest Sony game system the day it is released. Pre-orders or waits in line. The PS3 has been out for over a year now. Sure, he has wanted one, but it just hasn't been practical to get one. Honestly, it's not practical now. BUT - he's getting it for free. We have a Sears Mastercard. It's our only credit card. We use it for everything. We get a point per dollar we spend (and occasionally they offer double points for groceries or gas or whatever). We pay it off each month and basically use it to collect the points. We've gotten gift certificates for Sears in the past that have gone toward our air purifier (think ionic breeze), waffle maker and steam cleaner. The last one, we got Sears gift certificates and used them to get new tires on the wagon (ended up spending about $15 for 4 new, good tires). So we decided over a year ago that the only way we could even begin to justify him getting the PS3 would be for him to either win it (like he did his brother's PS2) or to save up our points and use it toward that.

So Saturday, in the mail, was his $500 gift card to K-Mart (there are a ton of different places that you can choose for the rewards - as well as merchandise and travel). The PS3 is $499... and there's no sales tax in Oregon. So, as long as it is in stock, we'll be coming home from Salem tomorrow (after his Winkel) with a PS3. The up-side for me is that it's a blu-ray player, too... so I'll get to see a few movies (there's some mail in offer for 5 free movies). And he'll be happy.

But I already told him that I'm claiming the next gift certificate (it usually takes about 1.5-2 years to get the points saved up for what we want to use). Currently, I'm dreaming of a halo - or maybe an embroidery machine... but I've got a few years until then =)

I can now die a happy woman. Since the stress of mom's house is likely to kill me, this is a good thing. Why, you ask?

I saved 54% of my total bill in club and coupon savings at Safeway tonight. And it should be a little more since I see they didn't charge me the sale price on one item ($1 more off).

Since 50% was my goal, I guess I can stop trying =)