Tag: Coupons

TMR Frugal Living Tip #25

August 21, 2008 coupons, Frugal Living Tips, saving money

Today’s thrifty tip is to call companies of products you either love or had an issue. I have a few favorite items, and I do call the company every few months to rave about the product or pass on some suggestions. I always ask to be placed on a mailing list or about coupons. Most will just give you some coupons just for calling. Some won’t give anything but that is a small percentage. If you do have a complaint, then just be courteous but let them know your disappoint. Some companies will ask to have it mailed back if it’s a defect. So don’t throw it out just yet. I always get either a refund check or a free item coupon when this occurs. This is another great way to get great coupons for the things you use anyway.

My Freebies for the Week

August 19, 2008 coupons, CVS, rebates, Rite-Aid, saving money, shopping sales, walgreens

I went yesterday to do my weekly big 3 shopping. Yep each week I hit Rite-Aid, Walgreens, and CVS to get the weekly deals.

First Stop- Rite-Aid:
1 Crest Whitening w/ Scope [$3.19] -75 cent coupon

Total- $2.65 w/ tax
I’m getting $3.19 back with rebate so free and made a 54 cent profit!

Second Stop- Walgreens:
Cheerios [$1.99] -$1 coupon (printable)
Pert Plus [$3.79] -$2 coupon

Total- $3.00 w/ tax
I’m getting $3.79 back from Walgreens FAR so I made a $2.00 profit. If you have that TMF rebate you can get even more. I already did one.

Final Stop- CVS:
2 Glade Air Fresheners [$1.76] -88 cents BOGO coupon
2 Puff Tissues [$1.76] -50 cent coupons (2x 25cent)
4 Crest Whitening Toothpaste [$7.96] -$4 ECB & -$2 coupons (2x $1)
Dove SkinVitalizer [$9.99] -$3 ECB & -$3.50 coupon
6 L’Oreal Vive Shampoo [$20] -$9.99 x3 BOGO coupons -$6 coupons (6x $1)
Colossal Express Mascara [$4.99] -$2 ECB -$1 coupon
Infusium Family Size Shampoo [$5.99] -$3 coupon
2 Intuition Razors [$7.98 ($3.99 raincheck)] -$6 coupons ($3x 2)

Total- $14.65 w/ tax
I also had a $5/30 CVS receipt coupon I used. None of the items were free but they were very cheap after coupons and ECB’s. I used all my ECB’s this trip since I wanted the lowest out of pocket cost.

Today’s Shopping Trip

August 15, 2008 Christmas, coupons, CVS, Personal Finance, rebates, Rite-Aid, saving money, shopping sales, Wal-Mart, walgreens

On today’s shopping trip, I went to several stores to pick up all the deals for this week. I first went to Rite-Aid and bought the Garnier Shine and had a $1 off coupon. So total was $3.25 and I am getting back $3.99 with rebate.

Then I went to Walgreens and bought the Airwick Flameless Candle and Glade Scent Candle. I paid $6.46 with tax and I’m getting back $4 in rebates so total is $2.46 for both items. That was 99 cents each. I also bought 3 Glade refill candles for $2.45 after rebate and coupon. They had 2 of them on clearance for $1 and I got one free with that coupon. I like to give the Trio candles as presents to the lady that delivers my mail and such.

I went to CVS and got the following:
2 Trident gum
2 Colgate Total toothpaste
4 Herbal Essence Shampoos (they have one that I can’t get anywhere else)
2 Bic Soleil Razors
1 Schick Intuition Razor (have rain check from last sale)

I used $15.74 in coupons and 9.79 in ECB’s so grand total was $6.42! I spent $16.13 total on everything and I’m getting $7.99 back in rebates for a grand grand total of $8.14 for all of it! The razors are going to be part of those Christmas gift bags. I also had to do some Wal-Mart shopping and bought 5 Skintimate Shaving creams that were $1.47 each and after $1 coupons I got them for $2.54 with tax. Those will also go in the gift bags. I missed that sale when they were $1.74 each and I think that was Walgreens. I don’t know how I missed it, but this is still good. My nieces love the smaller ones to use when they sleep at a friend’s house. I had another wonderful shopping trip and saved so much.

TMR Frugal Living Tip #19

August 13, 2008 coupons, Frugal Living Tips, saving money, shopping sales

Today’s thrifty tip is to use hair conditioner instead of shaving cream. Personally I don’t like doing this, but I will if I’m in a pinch. I really prefer to use shaving cream. I never pay more than $1 a can. I usually get them free or for 50 cents after sale and coupon. I also don’t use hair conditioner. I mainly buy the shampoo that already has it or is a very thick one like the L’Oreal Vive.

Rite-Aid Rebates

August 12, 2008 coupons, rebates, Rite-Aid, saving money, shopping sales, walgreens

I must say that I love doing the Rite-Aid rebates. My only real disappointment is that my store rarely has the advertised items in stock so I can’t always get the free items. I did get my check for July today and I requested it the last week of July. It was shipped on the 4th of this month so that is very fast processing. I wished Walgreens would implement an online rebate redemption system like RA. My check was for $29.32! I spent $32.xx this past week on the great FAR items. I have $27.95 pending already for the month. I saved an extra $12 in coupons. I got a free can of Old Spice shaving cream since the razors had a peelie. That was a nice freebie I wasn’t expecting.

Thanks to 1stopmom for letting me know that I can now enter my receipts online to Walgreens. I knew there were testing this, in select areas, but no clue it was open for everyone. I was able to put in one yesterday and saved it. I will report back when I’m ready to fully submit it. Thanks again my readers. You guys rock!

Buying for Charity

August 7, 2008 coupons, CVS, Frugal Living Tips, saving money, shopping sales

I know I’ve posted before about how I give away some of the great deals I find to charity. But I came across a great blog called Coupon Cravings. She had this great giveaway about how much could you buy at CVS for just $5 for charity. I wanted to post about it earlier, but I was kinda busy so it ended before I could.

I think this is an awesome idea so it inspired me today. I already had plans to get the Pert Plus shampoo and Sure deodorant that is B1G1F this week. I bought 18 bottles of Pert Plus and 6 Sure and my grand total was a -.63! I had to buy a candy to get my total over 0, and it was a whopping 20 cents! I have NEVER done that well before. I normally have a $1 or right around a dollar total or higher. I was psyched! I promise I didn’t clear the shelves and left plenty for other shoppers so please no nasty comments. This was $85 worth of items before sale prices for FREE! I didn’t post this to brag, but to show that a lot of good can be done getting these great deals. If I gave the shelter $20 then that money wouldn’t go very far. Instead I can take that same $20 and buy $100 or more of items to give to them.

TMR Frugal Living Tip #5

July 17, 2008 coupons, Frugal Living Tips, rebates, saving money

Today’s TMR tip is to clip coupons. I know some people don’t have time or might not use that particular brand. If you really want to save on brands that you already use, then you should start clipping. Even organic coupons are more readily available than in the past. I admit I don’t use a lot of coupons for food, but where I really save is on our health/beauty items and OTC meds.

Another tip is to print your coupons online. There are several great websites you can use like coupons.com, RedPlum, Smartsource, and Coupon Network. You can find them on the blog at the top under Coupons. I also like to use online coupon finders like coupons by answers.com for more great coupons and deals online. This all helps me to save more money.