I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Archive for the ‘saving money’ Category

I have to thank Punny Money for this one. Nick wrote a humorous piece about shopping at CVS and credited My Good Cents with inspiring his shopping frenzy. In the piece, he mentioned a $5 off Energizer batteries coupon on the CVS site. I strolled over to My Good Cents and found the battery coupon and printed it out. What I love about CVS coupons is that they have a code on them the cashier can enter instead of scanning them, so no one can complain about my printer’s print quality.

CVS had Energizer batteries on sale for $5.29, and they also had Starbucks coffee on sale for $6.99 (which my grandfather wants for Christmas). I also printed the free tissues coupon from the same post and I already had a $2 off a $10 purchase coupon from in the store itself. My CVS was out of the tissues, but I picked up the batteries and coffee and headed to the exit. My batteries also had a $1 off instant coupon stuck to them.

I wasn’t sure if I really could stack the coupons (I had heard you could use both a manufacturer’s coupon like was stuck to the package and a store coupon like I printed out at the same time but I’d never tried it) but I was was going to find out. I had the cashier scan my CVS card, then the coffee and batteries, and then my $2 off a $10 purchase coupon, the $5 off CVS coupon for the batteries, and the $1 manufacturer’s coupon. All went through without a hitch, and my total was $5.01. If you count the $2 off coupon as being for the coffee, with tax the coffee itself should have cost me $5.40.

So after tax I got paid $0.39 to buy 4 D batteries. Which was applied to my coffee purchase. And I also got a $4 off a $20 purchase coupon on my receipt!

I love CVS.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

On Saturday I went to CVS to again try to find that Nova Max monitor that is free with coupon and gives the $20 back in extra care bucks. I again did not find it and I think that promotion ended Saturday so oh well. No $20 in free CVS money for me.

So the CVS deal I did take advantage of won’t help my readers, because it also ended Saturday, but I was really proud of myself for figuring it out. CVS had 16 packs of AA or AAA Energizer batteries for $8.99 with card, and a promotion that if you bought $20 worth of Energizer batteries, you got $10 in extra care bucks back. Well, the problem was, $8.99 x 2 is $17.98, and all the other Energizer batteries were way overpriced, so I’d have to get 3 16 packs to get the extra care bucks back. So $26.97 up front for 48 batteries, with $10 in extra care bucks back that’s like paying $16.97 for 48 batteries or a tad over $0.35 per battery. Not a bad deal, but at Aldi I get 8 (store brand) batteries for $2.29, so I am only paying about $0.29 a battery there. And I don’t like counting extra care bucks as savings in my current purchase, I like to count those savings when I make a future purchase (can’t count it twice after all). $26.97 for 48 batteries would be just too much to pay, for me.

But. The CVS brand batteries were also on sale. $5.99 per 10 pack of AA or AAA (normal price) but they were buy one, get one free. So $5.99 for 20 batteries, or just under $0.30 per battery. But it gets better. Some of the packages of batteries were not 10 packs, but 12 packs because they had “2 bonus batteries free” inside. I found 4 of the 12 packs (which I confirmed with the cashier were also part of the Buy One Get One Free deal) which brought the total cost to $11.98 for 48 batteries or just under $0.25 per battery. So a total savings over the Aldi price for store brand batteries of $1.92 for the volume I bought.

That might not seem like a huge deal but every $1.92 counts and for me it was very exciting. I am asking for rechargeable batteries for Christmas so hopefully these are the last batteries I have to buy for a LONG time.

And to make this deal even better, I used a coupon for $2 off a $10 purchase that was available right in the store next to the pharmacy counter, and $2 in extra care bucks I already had from buying toothpaste last week, so my total cost before tax was $7.98 for 48 batteries or a bit under $0.17 per battery. I know not everyone would have the extra care bucks left from a previous purchase, but the other $2 coupon was just there for the taking in my CVS. That brings my total savings over buying the batteries at Aldi to $5.92, which might seem a bit more substantial.

And I picked up another $2 off coupon to use in the future.

I am starting to really like CVS. I didn’t see any specials this week I was really excited about but there’s always next week. I am patient.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

(And some notes about CVS at the end )

I have a Target problem. The problem is - I love Target. More than love, I adore Target. I’m really generally not a huge shopper, so I don’t know why, but Target… I love. And I never leave with just what I went in for.

So, since we started budgeting and seriously paying down debt this summer, I just haven’t gone to Target. At all. I can’t remember the last time I actually set foot inside a Target store. Which is a big accomplishment for me, since one of the big selling points of our house to me when we bought it is that it is less than a mile from a Target store.

But tonight, I went to Target. There is a bookcase I have wanted for months for my son’s room. I had a $10 gift card I earned through My Points, and the bookcase was on sale this week, so I would only pay a few dollars for it. And I wanted to use my two $5 coupons for medicine as well (although I could use those anywhere). So I made a plan. Because for me to deal with Target, I need a plan.

My son’s parent-teacher conference was last night. So last night, I left half an hour early for the conference with two goals in mind - go to CVS and go to Target. Since I was on a tight schedule, there was no time to dilly dally through Target looking at the sale items and clearance racks. I went in, I got the medicine (that with the coupon was free) and I got the bookcase, and off I went. The cashier complained about the internet coupons (it seems any store I go to here they complain about them, bah) but she took them and I used my gift card and now I have free motrin and benedryl and also a bookcase I need to assemble for only a few dollars out of pocket. And nothing else from Target! Hurrah!

So the key for me to be able to go to Target is to have an appointment right after. But now that I’ve used my gift card, I don’t have any more reasons to go to Target at all. For now.

As I said at the beginning, I also went to CVS. I am still trying to get that Nova Max monitor that is free with the coupon and gives you $20 in extra care bucks. Well, I went to two CVS stores tonight (one is near my house, one is near my son’s school) and both of them were sold out. I did however get a two-pack of colgate toothpaste with a $1.50 coupon (from the same booklet the Nova Max $50 coupon is in) for $4.23 including tax (so $2.12 per tube which is less than I can get it anywhere I normally shop) and I got $2 in extra care bucks back to use on a future purchase. So I am starting to get the hang of the whole CVS shopping thing. If only I could find that Nova Max monitor…

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I have two great bargain successes from today to share, my CVS shopping trip and my Kroger loss leader trip.

I was finally inspired to join the CVS Extra Care program and start trying to get things for free or close to. The post I linked to this morning from Kacie at Sense to Save got me off my behind to investigate the CVS Extra Care Bucks program. I have been meaning to try out a drugstore savings card program for a while but I have been both lazy and nervous about it. I don’t want to start spending money on things I wouldn’t normally buy just because it is cheap. But on the other hand, I’d be happy to buy a better brand of shampoo than the generic Aldi brand and spend less on it.

But when I read Kacie’s post this morning, it outlined EXACTLY how to get involved in the CVS program, how to save money using it, and an example of how to get some extra care bucks for free. And one of the specials this week was Brita water filters, which we use and we are completely out of. In fact I tried to buy some at Walmart when I was shopping but couldn’t find them. So I decided it was fate and went to CVS.

Kacie had talked about a special deal at CVS where you can use a coupon (provided in the store) and get a blood glucose monitor for free AND get $20 in extra care bucks back. So that is what I tried to do. I printed out a coupon for $2 off at $10 purchase also from that post, and then off to CVS I went. I went in, asked the cashier how to sign up for the program, filled out a really easy application and instantly got my little savings card. I went to the pharmacy section of the store and rather easily found the glucose monitor coupon. But, my store was out of the actual monitor. They said all of my city is out of them and everyone has been asking for them, and they hope to get some in this week. So, foiled. But, I still got the water filters, since they were on sale for $14.99 for 3 (a better price than I had seen anywhere else here) and generated $5 in extra care bucks. And I could use my $2 off a $10 purchase to save more. And it all went well - I bought the filters and spent $13.77 total (including tax) and got a $5 coupon. I put the filters in my car, went back in, and bought 2 packages of baby wipes that were on sale for 2/$5.99 and used my coupon. That price is bad even on sale, I get the same wipes 6/$9.99 at Walmart, but with my coupon I only paid $1.05 (tax included) for the two packs, and I didn’t have to spend the gas to drive to Walmart. I needed the wipes today since we are almost out.

I have the coupon to get the glucose monitor free and will be checking to see if it comes in so I can get my $20 in extra care bucks. Hopefully it does. But even without that I was very happy with how I did. I will also be printing out a $4 off a $20 purchase coupon from registering my extra care card online and using that as well with the new extra care bucks to get $24 of free stuff. If it works out. But even if it doesn’t I saved a lot of money there today compared to what I would have spent elsewhere for the same things (that I needed to buy).

On to Kroger. Kroger’s loss leader (meaning, the BIG thing on their flyer that they are selling at a loss to get you to come in and buy other stuff) this week was hormone and antibiotic free boneless chicken breasts they were selling for $1.87/lb. Well, that is a super deal in my eyes. I can’t even get regular frozen bags of chicken that cheap, and I try as much as possible to get meat for my family with the least amount of chemicals. So - off I went. And I bought $13.69 of chicken that I parceled out into 15 meal portions that I froze for future use. Yay! I have healthy happy chicken for the next month to two months now, for a LOT less than I usually pay. The best part is my receipt from Kroger says I saved more ($17.71) than I spent ($13.69).

I am really excited about my bargain skills today. And I again cannot thank Kacie enough for finally motivating me to investigate the CVS program. I also have a Walgreens near my house so I may branch out to there too.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I admit it. I lack something in my genetic makeup that reminds me to turn off the lights when I leave the room. I mean, that is the only explanation for it, right? Any reasonable person would turn off the light when they leave the room.

I’m not the only one though. My spouse leaves the TV on in every room he visits that has one “just in case” he’ll be back to see it again. That drives me crazy. The TV, I notice. I feel like I am always turning off the upstairs TV just to find the downstairs one playing to no audience. And he’s teaching my son to turn it on by example. My son will turn on the TV as he walks by and just keep on walking. Nice. Argh.

But back to me and my turning off the light failure. I’ve found CFLs make me inclined to turn off the lights even less for some reason. Maybe because they use less energy. Maybe because I heard somewhere that CFLs should be on for at least 15 minutes and I often do not need a light on that long. I don’t know, but I find the closet light in the master bedroom on all the time and I know it was me. Or my spouse. But mostly me.

I was reading on Brip Blap a few weeks ago about using a rubber band on your wrist to dissuade negative thoughts and habits. Maybe I should wear a rubber band on my wrist but I’d forget to snap myself when I left a light on because I don’t even notice myself doing it.

So is there a cure? Constant vigilance? Maybe I can be reprogrammed? Hope? I’d really like to reduce our usage and electric bill even more, but I don’t even notice it until I come back to the room I left and find the light already on….

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!