Coupon Madness

My new hobby kept me hopping yesterday.  After reading several couponing blogs and sort of dipping my foot in, I made an all out effort yesterday to get going on this.

I was a little more organized, but still have a ways to go. 

My first stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond where I purchased “Your Baby Can Read” with a 20% off coupon for my granddaughter.  It will be interesting to see if it really works.  In the meantime at 2-1/2 she likes videos and books so this goes right along with her current favorite activities.

Then onto Walgreen’s where a very helpful checker (who also takes advantage of Walgreen’s rewards, reassured me that I was not an “irritating” customer as I warned her I would be.  She also gave me the site she follows:  www.krazycouponlady.com which morphs into http://discountqueens.blogspot.com/.

My personal favorites are http://www.frugallivingnw.com/ and http://nwcouponlady.blogspot.com/ probably because I live in Northern California.

Since my SIL needs shaving supplies in Afghanistan, I picked up the Nivea deal and some Gillette fusion blades (geez I am glad my husband does not shave).  I had no idea how expensive razor blades are.  

 I did a total of 4 transactions at Walgreen’s buying an assortment of stuff, piggybacking the Register Rewards each time.  Total spent $44.85, savings $19.43.  Plus I have another $12.25 in Wags bucks for my next visit. 

Next was CVS where I had a $5.00/$25.00 to start with.    I should have “mapped” it out a little better to maximize my use of Extracare bucks, but with my DH along and not adding purchases as I went along and not sure if they take off manufacturer’s coupons before totalling, I did just 2 transactions.  My first was for Starbucks Via.  I had a $1.00 off coupon and a CVS $1.00 in Extracare bucks.  Remembering you can only use 1 coupon per item and not being sure if Extracare bucks is considered a coupon, I threw a 99 cent bottle of Milk of Magnesia onto the checkout counter making my first transaction $3.05.  My second transaction was for $34.67 with $17.00 in Extracare bucks back. 

I got Listerine packs for free along with a tube of Colgate and bottle of Herbal Essence shampoo for free.  I also found an incredible buy on one of the end clearance aisles:  Secret Clinical Antiperspirant for 99 cents!  This is what YD uses and I know I paid about $8.00 for it in the past.  My receipt is showing I save $8.80 on each package.  I also found Sure men’s deodorant for 99 cents.  DH consented to one.  I got two other deodorants for DH for free from last week’s ad.  I have a couple on hand, so I think he is well fixed for about a year!

Um yeah, forgot to pull that 75 cent coupon off the Truvia.  I had a $1.00 off though already.

After avoiding the checkout line at both drugstores, by the time we got to Safeway, DH was bragging to the checker about “my wife’s new job”.   Notable purchases at Safeway were $5.00 off $15.00 worth of frozen foods (what can I say we love our ice cream) and Almond Accents which were on sale for $2/3.00.  I had a Catalina for $1.50 off 3 and 3-50 cent off coupons making them 50 cents a bag.   I also had a $2.00 off a meat purchase when buying Coors Light.  DH found a package of stew meat marked 50% off to 2.57, making it 57 cents!

Okay it was fun, but by the time dinner was over and dishes were done, my fibromyalgia was so flared up that I had to take 1/2 pain pill and lay on a heating pad for an hour reading my latest Jodi Piccoult novel, checked out from the library, natch! 

Since we only have Rite-Aid in my little town and shopping all at once is difficult physically, I need to plan my outings a little better.  I do not know if DH was a help or a hinderance.  I warned him to not talk to me or tell me to hurry up as this takes time.  He was pretty good about it, but it does take concentration.  I don’t know how women drag kids along while coupon shopping.  My hats off to them!