CVS Trip Jan 31st

Many people wonder how to make CVS work. It IS daunting at first but so worth figuring out! They have the best customer service  and they GIVE you money to spend in their store! How great is that? Yes, their regular prices are very high but when you work it out, you can usually pay only tax or a few dollars at most. It does take some time to build up some ECBs but not TOO long:) ECBs are the free money CVS gives you to use in their store to buy items where you earn more ECBs. The trick is to always get something which gives you ECBs back.
Here's how my trip went today to work a few scenarios for you:
I had quite a few ECBs to start this time. 5 were from taking a quiz where they "paid" me $5 in ECBs. How cool is that? CVS also regularly sends out emails with $/$$ coupons too. I also had a $5/30 for this trip.
Transaction #1
1 colgate max toothpaste- 2.99
2 Dove men's body wash- 5.49x2- 10.98
1 newspaper-1
 Use
1/1 colgate
2- 1.25/1 men's dove
10 ECBs
subtotal: 1.47
total: 2.33
 I had a $1.50 ECB I could of had adjusted down to 1.47 for this but there was suddenly a HUGE line and I hadn't thought it out with the paper, so just paid that.
Earned: 2 ECBs for the colgate and 10.98 for the Dove!

#2
3 12 pack coke- 3/$11
2 Fabreeze carpet sprays- $4.49x2- 8.98
1 tide- 10.96
1 dove chocolate bar- .50

Use
-5/30
BOGO Fabreeze-4.49
.50 fabreeze
-1 tide
free Dove bar (cvs q from magic scanner) -.50
10.98 ECB from above transaction and a 9 ECB I had adjusted down to 8.97.
Subtotal: .00
Tax: 2.31
Earned: 10 ECB for P&G deal
Still have the 2 from the colgate and the 1.50 from before.

Thur night trips

I had to shop Thur night before the big snow storm hit today! I went to Food Lion for the first- and last- time for the 60% store closing sale. The shelved were nearly bare by the time I made it there. Found a few things, not sure if it was a good deal or not?

Publix rocked though. Sad to see the Green Advantage expire today- wanted to make one last trip but alas, trapped at home.
OOP: 6.57 (mostly tax)
Saved: 77.56
After the last trip with my bad math, I wanted to make sure I bought enough:) And this was even at the not- so- coupon -friendly Nipper's Corner store. I had to make sure to have more items than coupons as they will not override at this store for that. Nor do they take many competitors but I had only Manuf. and Publix store to use anyway.

Kroger mega sale:
OOP: 29.15
Saved: 50.66
Got back: $3 off catalina for next time for meat
So-so. There are a few q's missing. My tomato one isn't on there nor did one cellfire come off. This also includes Soy yogurt which is part of my Whole Foods/TJ budget.

Publix Trip Jan 26th

I think this is the first time my bill has gone negative! And I had $6 more in coupons to use that he gave  back to me so my final total (with tax) wouldn't go negative. I am a little bummed at my mental math skills for not calculating my overage well enough to know I could have gotten $6 of stuff we needed for tax only. My only defense is I had my 5 yr old with me who kept interrupting my calculations. And I forgot my easier to use calculator ( I do have one on my cell phone but it's a pain).

OOP: $1.63
Savings: $59.13

I got 5 silk soymilk 1/2 gallons, apple slices, apples, bananas, bread, and soft scrub gel!

They are def. enforcing the only 6 deals per item rule thought at MF. I heard them talking about it.

Kroger List

Brandy at I Prefer Publix is working on a Kroger list for our region. Check her site later on to check it out. Some great deals the next few weeks with the Mega sale.

Update on my earlier post: We did NOT get the Kraft catalina promotion here. So don't hope for it!

Kroger disappointment

I ran out to Kroger for a quick trip today for the Kraft Cheese catalina deal. It's on sale this week as part of the mega sale- so $1.49 a bag/bar when  you buy 10 participating items. I read on SSavers that today is the last day for the catalina promotion where if you buy 5 participating Kraft products, you get a $5 catalina off your next order!! Sounded like a great deal, esp. when paired with the $1/2 Kraft cheese coupons.
So I bought 6 cheeses- 4 bars and 2 shreds and 4 Sobe lifewater  to get up to 10 Mega deal items. Used 3 1/2 q's BUT my catalina didn't print. So? Did I buy something not participating or is it not in Nashville? Not at that store? Who knows? Not me. Anyone have it work here?
 The cheese is also $1. 49 here after mega discount, not .99 like on S.Savers list.

Kroger Score!

Gotta love it when you find a great, unexpected deal. I went to the Nippers Corner Kroger this evening (yes, an exciting Sat night for me!) planning on picking up a few Laura's Lean 1 lb beef chubs for 2.99-$1 q. and always hoping to find some on manager's special. INSTEAD, I found my FAVORITE gr. meat- gr. turkey breast for .99 for the package!!! Regular price: $4.69 at Kroger. Around $7 at Publix. I picked up 6 of these for less than the cost of 1 at Publix!!
As for overage, only got $1 over for the pillsbury cinnamon rolls but overage is hard to come by at Kroger, but still did well with manager's specials!

Coupon Class!

I am partnering with Brandy from I prefer Publix blog and extreme couponer extraordinaire to bring our first couponing class to the South Nashville area. It will be on Sat, Feb 27th from 2-4pm at Christ Church on Old Hickory Blvd. It's about 7 min. off of I-65 AND I-24 so convenient for people coming from many directions.
RSVP to me here or my email or with Brandy through her site- see my link on the left!

We will also be covering all the changes to the local Publix couponing policies as well as specifics to couponing and the stores in the Mid- TN region!

Cost is $10 at the door.

Hope you can come!

Publix Ad 1/20- 1/26

The sneak peak is up at I heart Publix and the full ad will be up on Southern Savers tonight or tomorrow am. Looks like a good week! I hope to be able to report back;  I've been very busy working on the yearbook for my son's Elementary school.
I haven't made it to CVS yet for the week either. Not too much exciting there, but I do want to do the Pepsi deal.

Tip from a Reader!

The Food Lion on Nolensville Rd is closing this month. Starting tomorrow through the 30th, everything will be on sale. I live fairly close to here but have never been in- looks a little scary. But if you're willing to brave it, might be some good deals in there!

Publix Ad 1/13-1/19

Jenny will have this weeks Publix ad up at Southern Savers by tomorrow morning. If you want a Sneak Peek, check out I heart Publix. There look to be some good deals this week- unlike last week.
There are some changes happening at the Maryland Farms Publix in terms of their couponing policies. Will update when I know more!

Super Doubles

Sadly, Kroger is not competing with HT and offering super doubles this time. Kroger seems to be changing a lot of things around.  I hardly ever go there now as it is, and will be going less and less as they aren't being very competitive it seems.
As for HT, they are always difficult to shop at with many coupon rules, but I will try it for a few items- next week, when they are restocked. I go to the Brentwood HT off of Franklin Rd. May have to try out the new Franklin one sometime when I'm down there!

Store Ad dates for Nashville area

In case anyone needs to know, here are when the sales start for our local stores:

Grocery:
Publix- Wed
Harris Teeter- Wed
Food Lion- Wed
Kroger= Sunday

Drug:
CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid- Sunday

On Wednesdays now, Publix also has a penny item. One item- usually a Publix brand item- that you can get ONE of for .1 when you spend $10- and that's before coupons.

CVS has papers for $1 with your CVS card. Kroger was selling them for .99 but they are back to full price now:( I hope everyone stocked up yesterday- tons of coupons. I hope to get a few more today yet, if I can find them.

Publix Trip Jan.2

Had a good trip to Publix (Maryland Farms for the Nashvillians)  today to start off the New Year! I had several things I had run out of over Dec.- too much other shopping to keep up on everything so I had to come up with some overage to cover some of it anyway. The cashier also got confused with which coupons she had scanned and which she hadn't. Upon looking it over, I found she had missed one .40 which would have doubled to .80 but she did two .55 cent ones twice so I figure it all evens out more or less!

Spent: $21.00
Saved: $102.47

Not too bad for me, considering I had to get coffee for my husband (totally out and boy was he grumpy without it today!:), some meat, and some produce. We're almost out of Advil too and I was able to get that for free plus $1.40 MM on two 50 ct. bottles.

Coupon Clean Up

With all the new coupons coming out this week- 5 inserts supposedly on Jan 3rd- and new printables, I was running out of space in my file cabinet for coupon inserts. I went through all of the August inserts (oldest that I had) and was able to recycle them all. There are no unexpired coupons in August inserts from the Tennessean, in case anyone is wondering!

New Year Start!

It seems fitting that I start my blog and my journey to saving even more and, hopefully, making more in 2010 on New Year's Day. It's a little weird as I know that no one is going to be reading this yet, but I am thinking of it as a journal. I used to journal ALL the time, so here goes again!

GOALS:
1. Figure out how to make this work! I want to make the blog look better, and have useful posts. There are already TONS of blogs/websites that post the store lists, so I see no need to do that too. I DO want to meet with others in the area who want to learn to save using coupons and the blogs.

2. Learn along with you! There is always someone saving more out there. I do what I can, try to learn more to save more, but in the end, it's really what works for each individual. Not everyone can get every deal! We all spend more for something than we could have from time to time!:)

3. Continue with my commitment to eating natural and healthy foods. I set my budget higher (for now, anyway) to accommodate my dairy intolerance and to buy foods free of nitrates, partially hydrogenated oils and High Fructose Corn syrup. This means I do shop at Whole Foods for a few items (soy yogurt!!!!) and Trader Joe's. I figure if I can save on everything else, we can afford the healthy foods! I still shop mostly at Publix, CVS and Kroger.

4. Grow this blog and Custom Couponing! Save even more in 2010!!