Friday’s shopping trip – $162.56 worth of merchandise for .28 cents!

I started at Walgreens:

Total spent: .10 cents out of pocket, put $16.78 on my rebate gift card. But I will get back $19.99 in rebates, plus a 10% bonus for loading them onto a gift card – for a total of $21.98 in rebates. And, I got an $8 Register Reward catalina back!
Total before coupons: $73.59
View receipt – My total after the gift card was actually .11 cents, but the cashier picked a penny out of the “take-a-penny” dish and said, “Here! I’ve got a penny, just give me a dime!”. That was nice of her!

Got:

3 boxes of Benefiber mix – on sale for $7.99, used three $2/1 coupons from the 10/19 Smart Source newspaper inserts, stacked with a $5/1 coupon from the EasySaver rebate booklet. This brought the total to $2.97 for three boxes, and I earned the $8 Register Reward for purchasing them!
1 package of 10 disposable gloves
1 bottle of Pert Plus – on sale for $3.49, used a $2/1 coupon from the 10/19 Smart Source newspaper inserts, stacked with a $2.50/1 coupon from the EasySaver booklet. Free plus $1.01 in overage!
1 bottle of L’oreal moisturizer – $19.99, used a $1/1 coupon from the 8/3 Red Plum newspaper inserts. And I will get back a $21.98 rebate for this purchase!
10 bars of Lindt chocolate – On sale for $2.29, and I used five .75/1 coupons and five “Buy One, Get One Free” coupons from the 10/5 inserts. Stacked with a $1 coupon from the EasySaver catalog, this resulted in .46 cents of overage for every 2 bars purchased.
5 Halloween bags

I also used a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $20 or more, which is valid only during the 24th and 25th. Heading to Walgreens today? Print one here!

Then I went through the line once more to spend my Register Reward:

Total spent: .18 cents
Total before coupons: $8.18
View receipt

Got:

1 gallon of milk
1 package of TP – There were several coupons that I could have used on this, but it didn’t occur to me at the time.
1 roll of foil
1 peanut butter cup

Then I headed to Fred Meyer:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $4.98 on the gift card I got for my birthday. And I got back $8 in catalinas!
Total before coupons: $12.76
View receipt

Got:

2 Glade Scented Oil Plug-Ins – used one “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts
1 Glade Gel Plug-In – I found a catalina on the shelf for a free gel plug-in!
1 trial sized Zantac – on sale for .99 cents, used a $1 off any size Zantac coupon from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts. Free plus a cent overage!

Fred Meyer is running the Glade catalina deal as well, so I thought it would be a good investment to do the deal there a few times. Fred Meyer is a great place to spend catalinas because their prices are much lower than Safeway. Of course, Fred Meyer is also a 30 minute drive from me and they do not double coupons, so I factor all that in when determining where to get the best deal.

Then I went back through the line to roll my $8 in catalinas:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .47 on my birthday gift card
Total before coupons: $14.46
View receipt

Got:

2 Glade Warmers – once again, I used one “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts
1 box of band-aids
1 package of Kotex – used one $1/1 coupon from the 10/12 Smart Source newspaper inserts

I then used my $8 in catalinas to bring the total down to .47 cents, and got another $8 in catalinas back!

Then I made one last trip through the line, to use up my catalinas:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .29 cents on my birthday gift card
Total before coupons: $47.29
View receipt

Got:

1 package of Kotex – used one $1/1 coupon from the 10/12 Smart Source newspaper inserts
A 5 pound bag of flour
A pound of onions
.41 pounds of mushrooms
A pound of tomatoes
An 8 ounce bag of cheese
38 Brut deodorants – on sale for $1, used thirty eight $1/1 coupons that I found in the store!

I then used my $8 in catalinas to bring the total down to .29 cents!

So while I was shopping, I noticed a lot of coupons hanging on the shelf for various products. One was for $1 off any size Brut deodorant or antiperspirant – and it was hanging right next to some Brut deodorant that was on sale for $1! The cashier was amazed, and so were the people in line behind me. I explained where to find the coupons – I made sure to leave product and coupons on the shelf for other customers – and the lady behind me actually got out of line and went to get some deodorant for herself!

Now, you’re probably thinking that this is excessive – why on earth would I buy 38 deodorants? How could I possibly use that much deodorant? The reason I got that many is because most of it is not for us. My aunt is involved with a local food bank, and told me a few days ago that they have a big need right now for personal products, like deodorant and toothpaste. So I put a few deodorants aside for my boyfriend, and will be taking the rest to the food bank. I hate clutter, and there is a place and purpose for everything that I purchase – even if it doesn’t always seem that way!

My final trip was to Rite Aid, to get some potting soil:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $6.28 on a gift card. I have yet to find coupons for potting soil, so this was the full price!
View receipt

Got: 2 bags of potting soil

I didn’t get a picture of the bags before using them, so here’s a snapshot of my planter. I want to start growing some of my own produce, and this is apparently the week to plant garlic, so that’s what I did. I thought this was a good investment towards next year’s food budget!

And in case you’re wondering how I got the gift card, I received it several months ago for filling a prescription at Rite Aid.