Tag: Shopping Sales

EXTREME SAVINGS 101 is CHECK FOR CLEARANCE

I wanted to start a series of how to save a lot of money without having to clip and sort through hundreds of coupons weekly. Many of us do not have that sort of time and want to buy hundreds of items on sale. The majority of people just want to save money for their own family and maybe help out others when they can.

If you want to learn how to get Extreme Savings without the extreme use of coupons, then this article is for you! I hope I can turn this into a weekly series to help you save the most money you can without spending countless hours sorting, clipping, and shopping. The key to saving a lot of money without lots of time is to become very organized. Otherwise you will waste time flipping through your coupons, trying to remember all the deals, and drive all over town wasting gas and money as well as time. You also have to be flexible and willing to check the clearance racks.

The FIRST RULE of Extreme Savings is to ALWAYS check for Clearance!
It does not matter which store you are in, you must always check clearance racks or aisles. The mall, outlet, grocery, drug, hardware, or box store. I have found AMAZING clearance sales when I least expected it. Many times there isn’t anything worth buying and that’s fine. Those few times you hit a gold mine of savings, you will literally feel like you hit a jackpot!

The picture above is from my recent Walgreens trip. I went in for the Nivea (of course they were out since it was a FREE after coupon item), but then I found this wonderful end cap packed full of clearance goodies. I was thrilled! I spent $7.xx out of pocket (spent most of my money on the toothbrush deal on sale) and almost everything I bought I had a coupon. My son was the one who found many of the great goodies. I have trained him well. 😀

I found Colgate 360 toothbrush marked down to $1.15 and had a $1 off coupon so 15 cents for a toothbrush! Gum Star Wars toothbrush was marked down to 88 cents and had the 75 cent from All You so 13 cents for a TWIN PACK!!! Cortaid was $2.13 and had a $2 off coupon so 13 cents! GE CFL lightbulbs 2pk was marked $2.24 and used the $2/1 coupon so 24 cents for a 2pk!!! Those back scratchers were 4/$1 and I find them at Pier One for a buck! I give those in gift bags I make.

You honestly NEVER know when you will find a great clearance sale. I also use this strategy with department stores. I am on the mailing lists to get the coupons from stores I shop regularly. I have found many great clearance sales that were unadvertised. I don’t go to department stores daily, but many times the stores will advertise a great sale so I check. There are times I’m just shopping for something else, and I just check to see and I luck out! I did that at Walmart last month. They had the boys winter clothes marked $1-$3 on a rack, and the majority was the next size up my son would need for this coming school year and winter. I bought tops for $1 each! I also bought him sweatpants for $1.50! I spent about $20 but I saved over 80% off full price including several pairs of jeans! Even Levis brand (I know it’s a cheaper quality) but for $3 I could care less. He is super hard on his clothes especially his jeans.

We went to Academy for my hubby looking for work boots and came across another great clearance where everything was 90% off or more! I spent about $15 on him and walked out with 3 sweathshirts, and 2 jackets (marked $3 each!!!) and a shirt for $15.24 with tax! He actually uses sweatshirts and jackets at his job year round since he works on a refrigerated dock (he receives trucks a food wholesale company). We used to get amazing deals on old stock awhile back, but not since it merged with another company. Oh well.

You can still save a lot of money without coupons, but the use of coupons make many items FREE or ALMOST FREE! Anyone can do this honestly. Even if you refuse to coupon, then at the very least always check the clearance sections of your stores. Many times I have bought something (that was FREE after coupons) and gave it someone who I knew could or donated it to a shelter or food bank. It’s another way I can help give back on a budget.

I can help more people with $20 and coupons than if I just gave an organization $20. The picture above doesn’t even have everything I bought. I forgot to put in about 3 more items that I got FREE after coupons. The next tip will be soon!

Let me know. Do you check for clearance when you shop?

That picture above shows ALL my CVS trips for the week which was 2. I spent a total of $6.12 on both trips. $2.71 for the first trip for a total of 99% Savings combined!!!

This has got to be one of the BEST CVS Shopping hauls I have ever had! My CVS Shopping Haul for Friday was great! I had it planned perfectly and so many great coupons to use. I even bought an extra item I wasn’t planning when I got the coupons at the CVS red machine! My subtotal after all coupons was only 5 CENTS! Yes 5 CENTS!!! I basically paid tax which was $3.36 so grand total was $3.41 after tax! I was thrilled and I received a $4 ECB back for the Razor. This is how you can get extreme savings without extreme use of coupons or time. It takes a few seconds to scan your CVS card and receive coupons. Since I do matchups I already knew the hot deals. I did find a great savings when I looked at the Gillette Deal for this past week. I am constantly thinking of how to achieve low totals.

I will say I spent $50 on the iTunes gift cards which gave me the $10 ECB. I bought them for Father’s Day presents. One for hubby and the other for my Dad. I would have spent that $50 anyway so why not use it to my advantage and get back something I could use like that $10 ECB! I am going to walk you through my savings. CVS is one of the BEST stores for being able to achieve these super low totals. I honestly love that store!

I bought the following:
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor- $9.99 (which gives you back $4 ECB)
1 Gillette Fusion Shaving Cream- $4.79
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor Cartridges 4pk- $17.79
Subtotal- 32.57
I used the CVS $10/$30 purchase on Gillette shaving products (ALWAYS give the $x off $xx amount coupons first)
1 Buy Cartridge pack and receive Razor free (-9.99)
1 CVS $2 off any Venus or Gillette cartridge
$1/1 MFR Gillette Shaving Cream coupon
Total was $9.58

I needed batteries and had a $3/$10 purchase coupon so I bought the 16pk with 4bns for 20! It was a specially marked package with $10 in CVS brand coupons- $10.49
Used the $3/10 purchase
Total was $7.49

I also bought the $2 on 2 Tressemme Travel Size shampoo for $1.98 on 2 (99 cents each)
FREE plus 2 cents overage
Subtotal is $17.05
$10 ECB
$4 ECB
$3 ECB
Subtotal was 5 cents and $3.36 in tax for a grand total of $3.41 and got back the $4 ECB for the razor!!!

If I hadn’t bought the batteries I would have spent $5.58 plus tax if I had rolled just the $4 ECB. I could have saved the $10 ECB for tomorrow. I wanted to keep my cost as low as possible.

Transaction #2
2 Irish Spring 2/$7- Used (2) $1 coupons from SMP
1 Visine- $5.49- Used $3/1 Visine Eyedrops
1 PureLife Water- $2.88 (coupon from machine)
2 Skinny Water- $2.50 (Used BOGO Free coupon)
2 Ozarka Sparkling Water- $1.98 (Used BOGO Free Coupon)
2 Tresemme Samples- $1.98 (used $2 off 2 coupon)
1 Schick Hydropower razor- $8.99 ($4 coupon)
I also used $10 in ECB’s and a $5/20 coupon
Subatotal was $0.77 cents with tax for a grand total of $2.71! I saved 98% off!!! Between both trips I had 99% SAVINGS!!!!

I went to Walgreens today and found an amazing clearance! The GE Energy Smart Light Bulbs were marked down to $2.24 each and I had two of the $2 off Energy Smart coupons. Each pack of 2 was $0.24 cents after coupon! I basically paid 12 cents a bulb! I also found other amazing deals. I found Gum Star Wars toothbrushes marked down to 88 cents for a twin pack! I had a $0.75/1 GUM Star Wars Toothbrush, exp. 9/30/12 (ALL YOU June ’12) so I paid 13 cents for two!!!

I also found Colgate 360 toothbrush marked down to $1.15 and with the $1 off coupon I found made it 15 cents!!! Seriously 15 cents!

I also found wooden back scratchers for 25 cents each! I bought several of those as they make great fillers in the gift bags I give at Christmas. They are always asking for them.

Here are a few other great deals.

Cortizone Itch Relief Spray- $2.12 with $2 off coupon= 12 cents!
Johnson & Johnson Red Cross Guaze- $1.25 each x2= $2.50- $1.50/2 coupon= $1.00 on two or 50 cents each!
Dove Hair Gel- $1.25 with $0.75 cent coupon= 50 cents!

I also had a couple more deals. I paid a grand total of $5.67 for everything! I saved over $25 but I don’t know what all the retail prices were so I probably saved even more!

I also got back a $2 Register Reward on buying Colgate toothbrushes on sale this week. I found a TMF rebate on the Dickinson’s Witch Hazel new facial products. They are priced $2.99 each until June 30th!

Each Walgreens will have different clearance items but you never know what great deals you will find!

Let me know what you find.

Have you shopped at Totsy? Look at the hot deals you can get!

Totsy offers moms on-the-go and moms-to-be access to brand-specific sales, up to 80% off retail, just for them and the kids, ages 0-7. Top brands for mom, baby, and child. Prenatal care products, baby gear, travel accessories, bedding and bath, children’s clothing, toys, DVDs, and educational materials are just a sampling of a selection that promises only the best in quality and designer brands.

100% eco-friendly: Totsy is the first company in private sales to take on sustainable and socially responsible initiatives in all areas of business. One baby, one tree: With every purchase you make through Totsy, we will plant one tree in the name of your child to help reduce the effects of deforestation. Who says shopping can’t save the world?

I was at Target on Friday and saw these Right Guard Magnetic Total Defense 5 on clearance for 86 cents!

I didn’t have any coupons and they are marked As is which I’m not sure what that means? They looked brand new so not sure. I just wanted to give a you head’s up on the great clearance items I found. If you decide to buy this then use $1/2 Right Guard Total Defense 5 Deodorant or Body Wash printable which would make them $0.72 cents for 2 or $0.36 cents each!!!