You may recall that back in July, I transferred a $7 prescription to Rite Aid and earned a $25 gift card. I’ve talked a lot about prescription coupons, and how you can sometimes use them to help offset your RX cost or even make a profit. I had one refill left on the Naproxen prescription for my knee problems, so I decided to check out the trading forums on Hot Coupon World and see if I could find a prescription transfer coupon for another local store. (I wrote about trading coupons in-depth recently – click here to read my article if you missed it!) I posted what I was looking for in the forum, and that same afternoon I heard from another member who had a coupon good for a $30 gift card with a transferred prescription at Safeway. I traded $6.44 in PayPal handling fees for the coupon, and received it in the mail a few days later.
Once I received the coupon, I refilled my prescription at Safeway for $12.39 – and received a $30 Safeway gift card! Not only did this essentially pay for my prescription, but I also earned a significant profit: After factoring in the cost of my prescription plus the amount I spent in handling fees for the coupon, I’m still $11.17 ahead! This is a great example of why it’s worth shopping around when you have a prescription to fill. Although Safeway charges almost double what Rite Aid does to fill this same prescription, having an coupon meant that I actually earned a profit by filling my RX there!
We didn’t need much from the store this week – just a few supplies to supplement what we had on hand. I stopped by Safeway on Tuesday and picked up oatmeal, 2 bags of cheese, bananas, a bell pepper, and a yellow squash for $15.49 – click here for the receipt. Jai also made a quick trip to a local mini mart one morning when we ran out of coffee, and picked up a few things for $12.
I got a great online deal on printer paper and trash bags through Shoplet. Last year, Shoplet had a promotion where bloggers who added their button would receive a gift card. I added their badge and received a $40 voucher, which I had been saving until a good use came up for it. We had just run out of printing paper, so I took advantage of a sale on Shoplet for a 20 lb box of paper for $34.99; and since I was down to my last few trash bags from my last trip to Dollar Tree, I used the remainder of my coupon towards a 500 count package of trash bags. After my coupon, the final total for both of these items shipped was $12.94. I’m very pleased, since both of these purchases will keep us stocked up for a long time – the last 20 lb box of printing paper we bought lasted about 2 years, so I’ll be able to print lots and lots of coupons before we need to restock!
I haven’t been to the grocery store much over the last few weeks. We’ve been working overtime and are just wrapping up some major construction projects, so it’s been pretty hectic around here. August seems to be the busiest month of the year for me!
I’ve made two trips to Safeway recently:
The total for the groceries pictured above came to $55.97. I had to return the eggs because it turned out that they were a part of the recent recall…which I only discovered after we had eaten some of them. Luckily, we didn’t get sick!
Phew! What a busy week this has been! There’s a lot going on right now between work and a big remodeling project, but it’s been a great few days. I’m sad that I had to cancel my planned trip to BlogHer ’10 this weekend, but I knew there was just no way that I’d have time with my jammed schedule this month.
On Monday, I ran to Fred Meyer & Safeway to pick up a few things. Here’s my trip to Fred Meyer:
Total spent: $17.23
Total before coupons: $23.79 View receipt
Got:
1 gallon of milk – price: $1.99 2 packages of chicken drumsticks – priced at $5.34 and $5.06, respectively; final price for both: $10.40 5-lb bag of flour – price: $1.99 1 box of no-bake Jell-o cheesecake – for a birthday dinner – price: $2.85 1 carton of Sabra Artichoke & Spinach Hummus - regularly $2.99, used one free product coupon that I got through writing a post on Contest Corner – final price: Free! 3 tubs of Yoplait Greek Yogurt – I had several free coupons for this that I’ve been wanting to use for months, and I finally found the product at Fred Meyer! Regularly $1.19 each, used two coupons that I got through MyBlogSpark and one coupon that I got through the Pssst… Network. Final price: Free!
– I decided that I should get two boxes, since I wanted to make sure we had plenty; apparently, Safeway sells it for $2.99, so I paid .14 cents more for this one! Half gallon of half & half – price: $3.99 1 cantaloupe – price: $2.00 8 ears of corn – price: .25 cents each, $2.00 for all eight.
So on Tuesday night, I hosted a fun family birthday dinner. I forgot to take pictures of the main course – I often get so preoccupied when I have company that I forget to snap photos of what I made! – but I cooked both packages of chicken drumsticks, the 8 ears of corn on the cob, made a loaf of bread, and the no-bake cheesecake (This was a big hit at Jai’s birthday party, and it’s less expensive and time consuming than making it from scratch!). There was a lot of food – we had a houseful of people, and this is just some of what was left over the next day:
We’ve been eating BBQ chicken and corn all week. Yummy!
On Wednesday, I headed to Rite Aid & Safeway to pick up some groceries and refill a prescription. I refilled my prescription for $7.69, and subsequently made a gift card profit that I used to buy $51.88 worth of groceries for $7.09:
I mentioned recently that I’ve been having some knee troubles. My doctor has me on a high dose of Naproxen – which is prescription strength Aleve – to help reduce the pain and swelling. I had originally filled the prescription at the pharmacy in the hospital, and since it was time to refill it, I printed this coupon on Rite Aid’s website good for a free $25 Rite Aid gift card when you transfer a prescription. I’ve talked about these sort of deals before – the last time was when I made a profit filling a prescription at Walgreens. If your prescription is affordable, it can be very worthwhile to transfer your RX to a new pharmacy so that you can take advantage of such offers; the most important thing is to make sure you check the price first, as prices can vary greatly from pharmacy to pharmacy. The cost to refill my Naproxen came to $7.69 – and I got a $25 Rite Aid gift card back for transferring the prescription, earning me a profit of $17.31! Click here to view my receipt.
Gift card in hand, I proceeded to pick up some groceries and household items. Since I knew I would be using a $25 gift card, I made sure beforehand to print off a coupon from RedPlum for $5 off your purchase of $25 or more. This way, I was able to buy $30 in groceries, use the coupon to bring it down to $25, then put the rest on my gift card!
Total spent: Zero out of pocket, put $24.98 on my gift card. And I got $4 in +UP Rewards back towards my next purchase!
Total before coupons: $31.98 View receipt
Got:
1 gallon of milk - price: $2.69 1 toilet brush & caddy – my free toilet brush from last year’s Target adventure broke, so it was time for a new one! Price: $8.49 4 pints of half & half – $1.29 each, final price: $5.16 1 shower cap – got this to use with a deep conditioning hair treatment to keep my hair healthy since I’m bleaching it! – price: $2.19 1 pair of rubber gloves – needed a new pair – price: $1.97 1 dozen eggs – price: $1.49 12 oz bag of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee – on sale for $6.99, used a $1/1 coupon from the 6/27 Red Plum newspaper insert, bringing the price down to $5.99; and I also received $1 in +UP Rewards back. 1 bottle of Colgate toothpaste – on sale for $3.00, used a $1/1 coupon from the 7/11 Smart Source newspaper insert to bring the price down to $2.00; and I received $3.00 in +UP Rewards back, making it free plus $1 profit!
You may be wondering what +UP Rewards are. This is essentially Rite Aid’s version of a catalina – when you purchase certain items, a reward prints out at the bottom of your receipt that can be used like cash towards your next purchase. Click here to read Deal Seeking Mom’s post for more info on this new program.
Since I had $4 in +UP Rewards, I took my purchases out to the car and went back in to do one more transaction:
Total spent: .75 cents out of pocket, and used the last .02 cents on my gift card
Total before coupons: $4.77 View receipt
1lb tub of oatmeal – price: $1.99 1 bottle of garlic salt – my new favorite thing to put on food! Price: .79 cents 1 bottle of chicken bouillon cubes – this container is full of bouillon cubes, and its .99 cent price tag made it a MUCH better deal than what I’ve bought at Safeway previously! 6-pack of Top Ramen – price: $1.00
I then used my $4 in +UP Rewards from the last transaction to bring my total down to .77 cents. I used the last .02 cents that remained on my gift card, and then paid .75 cents in cash.
Afterwards, I stopped by Safeway to pick up a few last supplies:
Total spent: $6.34
Total before coupons: $15.13 View receipt
Got:
1 Digiorno Deep Dish Pizza - originally $2.50, used one free coupon that I got through Facebook – final price: Free 2.26 lbs bananas – price: $1.56 1 cantaloupe – price: $2.00 4 ears of corn – price: $1.00 10 lbs of potatoes – price: $1.78 1 package of Chavrie Goat Cheese – regularly $6.29, used one free coupon from a recent offer – final price: Free
So I got $51.88 worth of groceries for $7.09 and one refilled prescription for $7.69, making my final expenditure for both groceries and RX $14.78.
I stopped by Safeway yesterday to pick up a few things:
Forgive the ugly picture, my tablecloth was in the wash!
Total spent: $38.81
Total before coupons: $49.14 View receipt
Got:
1 box of Born Blonde hair bleach – I needed this so that I can change my hair color! Price: $10.99 .5 lbs of organic, fair trade Millstone coffee – on sale for $9.19 per pound, used one $1.50/1 coupon from the 07/11 Red Plum newspaper insert, which doubled; final price: $2.60. 2 lbs of brown rice - price: $2.99 1 package of Lay’s Kettle Cooked Potato Chips – regularly $2.99, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to $1.77; this stacked with a $1.00/1 coupon from the June issue of All You magazine, which also doubled; final price: .27 cents. 1 box of bullion cubes – price: $1.50 1 package of tortillas – price: $1.99 1 package of toilet paper – regularly $6.49, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to $4.88. That’s a decent price for this area, so I thought I’d stock up. 1 dozen eggs – price: $1.69 3 bags of frozen spinach – on sale 3 for $4.00 1 lb of butter – regularly $2.99, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to $1.99. One 4-pack of Yoplait Yo Plus – on sale for $2.29, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to $1.79; this also stacked with a .50/1 coupon from the 07/11 Smart Source newspaper insert, which doubled; final price: .79 cents. One 4-pack of Yoplait Delights – on sale for $2.29, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to $1.79; this also stacked with a .50/1 coupon from the 07/11 Smart Source newspaper insert, which doubled; final price: .79 cents. 1.83 lbs of bananas – price: $1.26 2.12 lbs of grapes – price: $2.08 1 head of red leaf lettuce – price: .99 cents
.62 lbs of Millstone coffee - regularly $5.57, used one $1 coupon good on any half pound or more of Millstone coffee, which I found in the aisle next to the product a while ago. The coupon also doubled, making my final cost $4.07. 1 gallon of milk - price: $1.99. 2 pack of Olay makeup removers - it was cheaper to buy these in a bundled pack than individually, so I went ahead and stocked up. Price: $11.99. Package of chicken breasts – originally $2.61, on clearance for 30% off – final price: $1.84. (This actually rang up .02 cents higher than marked – I don’t know why, but it wasn’t worth my time to go back over two cents!) Another package of chicken breasts – originally $2.55, on clearance for 30% off – final price: $1.77. 1 Sunday paper - I didn’t get a chance to buy a paper on Sunday, but I noticed there were still some left on the newsstand on my way out, so I stopped and went back through the checkout to buy one! Price: $2.50.
I also made a quick run today to get a 2-lb bag of cheese and half gallon of half & half for $7.98. I forgot to take a picture, but you can view the receipt here.
This brings our running Grocery Challenge total for Week 4 to $17.65. (As per Grocery Challenge rules, only food purchases are counted towards the contest total – not toiletries or the cost for coupons.)
5-lb bag of sugar – price: $2.99 1 jar of mayonnaise – price: $1.99 1 head of red leaf lettuce – price: $1.69 1 head of iceberg lettuce – price: .78 cents
This brings our grand total for Week 3 to $23. Our allotment for the Grocery Challenge is $25 per person per week, a total of $50 maximum for our two-person household.
I normally buy different coffee, but we only had $4.80 left in our Grocery Challenge budget since we ate out earlier in the week, so I just went for the cheapest of the cheap. I may prefer my special Millstone blends, but I will drink any coffee just so long as I have it! Plus, we still have a little of the “Good” coffee left, so I’ll just mix that in with this store brand stuff until Week 3 starts on Sunday!
This brings our running total for Week 2 to $48.34.
1 packet of gravy mix – price: .69 cents. I was surprised at how expensive gravy was at Safeway. The last time I bought gravy was at Costco, and I got a huge container for about $5. I know I could make my own, but I opted for convenience this time! 1 can of of tomato sauce – originally .50 cents, marked on clearance for 50% off – making the final price .25 cents. 1 dozen eggs – price: $1.69 1 quart of half & half – price: $3.99 1 gallon of milk – price: $2.39 4.58 lbs bananas – price: $3.16 1.61 lbs of oranges – price: $1.59 1 package of celery – price: $1.69 2 ears of corn – price: .80 cents 1.26 lbs of apples - price: $1.88 1 2-lb bag of carrots – originally priced at $1.59, used one .50/1 coupon that I got from writing to the company. Final price: $1.09.
I had a pretty funny experience while I was in Safeway. The can of clearance tomato sauce that I bought had the original price marked as .75 cents, but rang up as .50 cents – .25 cents cheaper than I was expecting. I went over to customer service and explained it to them, and they said that it was fine, but that they appreciated my honesty. Well, I got out to my car and started to unload the groceries, and saw 3 cases of beer sitting underneath my bags. Obviously, I didn’t buy any beer on this trip! I went back into the store and showed the checker what had happened – the lady in front of me was buying a lot of beer, and apparently forgot to take 3 cases of it; so the person bagging my groceries assumed it was mine. What was funny about this was that no one could believe that someone would actually bring back 3 cases of “free” beer – everyone’s jaw dropped, including the lady at customer service who I had just spoken to!
This trip brings my total for Week 2 to $45.20. $27.45 of this was spent on groceries, while the remainder went to dining out.
– price: $2.19
