Simply Saving

LOVING CVS on Trimble and Fourth Street in Mansfield

2011-09-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

CVS in Mansfield on the corner of Trimble and Fourth Street has got to be a couponer's paradise!

First - the manager is extremely amazing, polite, helpful, and willing to work with you - especially couponers! Almost all of the employees know and follow the coupon policies and the lenience that this particular store provides, and you're not going to walk out of there empty handed if you don't want to - even if the advertised items are not in stock!!

Not all CVS stores will be this nice. This particular store has made it loud and clear that they welcome our business and will do anything to make us happy!

DID YOU KNOW that this store will honor its own coupons for 30 days after they expire?

DID YOU KNOW that this store will accept an expired MQ (up to 30 days) with a raincheck?

DID YOU KNOW that this store will let you SUBSTITUTE an item of the same size/value if the advertised item is not in stock and will still let you use your MQ?!?! AND you'll still get your ECBs?!?!

In addition to CVSs already great policies, this store is going the extra mile. Be sure to stop in and be friendly and kind to them, as they are being EXTREMELY kind to us!!

Free Target beauty bag!

2011-08-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Hip2Save, I found this great freebie you will want to try to grab up!!

http://hip2save.com/2011/08/hot-free-target-beauty-bag-poise-sample.html

Rite-Aid - the "man" trip

2011-08-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

Seemed like we needed a bunch of man stuff all at once, so I knew I could count on Rite Aid to help me out! In order to make the most use of my +UPs, I decided to do three transactions.

Transaction #1

We got a Gillette ProGlide razor on sale for 9.99 (my razor rang up 9.03?) - $4.00 MQ (exp 8/31!)

Paid $5.64 OOP

Received $4 +UP!

Transaction #2:

2 Gillette Body Wash on sale Buy one, get one 50% off (and you get a $1 +UP wyb 2!!)- they rang up 5.29 and 2.64 for me. I had 2 $2 off coupons, and my subtotaly was less than the $4 +UP I was going to use, so I grabbed two packs of Trident gum at $1.00 ea (there is a $1 +UP when you buy two)

I used my $4 +UP and paid 2. 47 OOP and received 2 $1 +Ups!

Transaction #3

It took advantage of the Nivea Body Wash sale and my soon to expire $2 off coupon!

1 Nivea Body Wash for men (mine rang up 4.39)

-$2 MQ (exp 8/31!)

-$1 +UP

= $1.69 OOP and I received a $2 +UP!

Total: Paid $9.80 for all pictured - three men's body wash, a razor, and two packs of gum - AND I still have $3 +UP for future use!!

**on a side note, I did pick up the LAST razor at the Shelby Rite Aid store, so you may want to try another store, or call ahead and see if they put any more out before going. If anyone sees any anywhere, please inform us!

Thanks, and happy saving!!

Rite Aid - free hand sanitizer!

2011-08-23T19:16:00.001-07:00

This week, Rite Aid brand hand sanitizer is on sale for $1, and you receive a $1 +UP with a limit of 3!! You can sweeten the deal by using a Rite Aid Video Values $1 any purchase coupon!

I picked up three, used my Video Values coupon and 2 +UP that I had from last week, so spent 0.07 (tax) OOP and received 3 $1 +UPs!!

Get a raincheck if they are out. Even if you can't get the +UP, the sale price is still very good, and schools always ask for these for donations!

My Meijer trip

2011-08-23T18:38:00.001-07:00

I decided to check out the Meijer catalina on the Box Tops tonight, so I grabbed up some coupons for Ziploc, Progresso soup, and Totinos pizza and headed out.

The goal was to get the 70 bonus box tops, to get as many bonus box tops on packages that I could, and to pay less than what I would get back in the end.

Here's how it went:

4 Totinos pizzas $5 (minus $1/4 coupon found here and $1/4 Meijer Mealbox here)

4 Progresso soup $5 (minus $1/4 coupon from 8/7 GM insert and 2 $1/2 Meijer Mealbox coupons here)

2 Ziploc sandwich bags $4 (minus $1/2 coupon found here and .75/2 MM here)

I attempted to use MM coupons for the pizza, but they did not subtract :(

I paid 8.46 OOP and recieved 70 bonus box tops ($7 value) and a $1 off your next order coupon for Meijer in addition to the 14 box tops on my packages (1.40 value) - making a small profit in the end!

**box tops value count as cash for programs where schools allow students to use the box tops as credit in their personal accounts for expenses such as field trips, like Shelby Middle School's 8th grade Washington DC trip!

Thanks, Bargainstobounty!

Hamburger Helper scenario Meijer

2011-08-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Bonus box top/ hamburger helper scenario:

Buy 11 hamburger helper at Meijer use 2 .75/2 coupons from the newspaper, and one .80/4 coupon from here.

Pay 7.70 and get back 70 bonus box tops ($7 for your DC account if you are an SMS student/parent) AND a $2.00 on your next order coupon for Meijer!

Combine that with the 11 box tops, you have gotten the food for free and put 8.10 into your individual DC account!

Please comment with questions!

Thanks, BargainstoBounty!

Bonus Box Tops at Meijer 8/21-8/27

2011-08-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Bonus box tops and the 10/10 sale always are a win/win situation! For our Shelby Middle School parents, this means putting money in the bank for DC and food on the shelves for weeks or even months!

You can find several printable coupons for the box tops items as well as other items at this link. (Use the control key and click at the same time to open the link in a new window). Many of the coupons are for items included in the 10/10 sale, making this deal even sweeter!

The big news for this post is that if you buy 10 or more box tops items in one transaction, you receive 70 bonus box tops (=$7.00 for your school or your child's individual Washington DC trip if you are a SMS parent!)

I will update later with some sweet scenarios I'm finding online!!

Good week at WAGS and Rite Aid!

2011-08-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

Had to share my bargains from Walgreens and Rite Aid this week!

WAGS had a few things I needed, so I stopped in, coupons in hand, and ready for a bargain!

I had a FREE Herbal Essences coupon that was available online about a month ago, so I used it as my first transaction.

I paid .20 OOP for tax, and received a $1 RR which I used on

trans #2:

Gillette ProGlide Razor 9.99- $4 coupon

2 boxes of envelopes (.69 ea with in ad coupon)

Used my RR from first transaction - paid 7.14 OOP and received $4 RR from the razor,which I used on my last transaction #3:

12 roll Cottonelle $5-$1.oo in store coupon (found in the coupon booklet at the front of the store)

I also had a .75 manufacturer's coupon that I used on the toilet paper.

I picked up 5 boxes of jello to count as items for coupons (they were on sale .20 ea with in-ad coupon) and I picked up one more Herbal Essences product because they were on sale for $3, I had a $1 off coupon, and would receive a $1 RR.

After my coupons and $4 RR from last transaction, I spent $2.79 OOP and received a $1 RR for my next trip!

In all, $10.13 for all pictured - what I would have spent on the razor alone at full retail - plus I still have $1 RR for future purchase in WAGS!!

RITE AID has great deals on Listerine, Carefree, and Playtex this week!

Listerine (select types and kids') is on sale for $3.99. There are plenty of Manufacturer's coupons online for $1 off (and there are some available in inserts, I'm just not sure which ones), and there is also a RiteAid Video Values coupon for $1 off Listerine.

You will pay 1.99 if you use both coupons and receive a $1 +UP (up to two per household) (and your total goes toward the dental $5 +UP on $25 or more purchased!)

Playtex is also on sale for $3.99. There are several $1 coupons available online, and you receive a $1 +UP (up to four per family!)

For this transaction, I used the above mentioned coupons, a $1 video values Rite Aid coupon (you can use this on any purchase and it can be stacked), and two +UPs from a previous transaction, so I paid $2.32 OOP and received $2 +UP for future purchases!!

The carefree pantiliners are on sale for $1.00 this week also. There is a $1 off 2 Rite Aid video values coupon available and if you have any carefree coupons (I had two .50 coupons), you can get these for as low as free!!

Fraudelent coupon alert

2011-04-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hip2Save had this posted earlier. I know I do have this coupon in my stash (well, DID have until I read this). Please look for this coupon in your stash and follow the advice listed on H2S.

The link is here.

Meijer - preview ad available.

2011-04-08T10:20:00.001-07:00

In addition to the Super Saturday Sale at Meijer tomorrow, the Meijer ad preview is now available.

Click here for the ad preview

Check out Coupon Clippin Mama here or on facebook here for the Super Saturday Sale items!

Coupon Clippin Mama is back!

2011-04-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that Coupon Clippin' Mama's blog is back up and running! Ginger is the author and she is from Mansfield. She was the first blog I ever read when I started couponing, and she led me to more blogs, more tips, and more deals than I could ever give her credit for. Now the Mansfield area will be dually covered, and you will have access to even more great finds!

I encourage you to check her out here. Remember when clicking on a link in my blog that you need to either left click or right click when holding the control key in order to open a link in a new window.

Here is link to a great blog she just did on Walgreens. If you still haven't shopped Walgreens, this is good way to start, and I even learned something new from this blog - and I've been shopping WAGS for a few years now - to use my RR FIRST before my coupons...hmmm....never occurred to me before! Thanks, Ginger, for the tip.

You can subscribe to both of our blogs on blogger, and I encourage you to do so, but I will continue with the facebook links as well.

Major deals at Rite Aid - especially if you use Claritin!

2011-04-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to stop in at Rite Aid rather early in order to snag a razor - I've found that if I wait past noon on Sunday, I'm not going to get one on sale :( I was lucky enough to get one today, and i was overall pleased with the whole transation today!

Here's how I spent a total of $6.64 OOP at Rite Aid today and walked away with a razor, bag of candy, 2 packs of Scunci hair ties, a box of Children's Claritin and two bags of Halls cough drops AND $4.99 in left over +UP rewards :

Transaction 1 - Gillette Fusion razor (9.99 on sale - but my receipt shows it as 9.03?)
2 Scunci hair bands (1.99 ea on sale)
bag of candy (not really on sale but per request by Isabelle 3.00)
Used $3 off $15 survey coupon
Used $1 video values coupon
Used $5 Fusion razor found in March Ebony magazine
Used a $2 +UP coupon I had from a previous visit
Paid $5.56 OOP
Received $5 Fusion +UP
Received $1.99 +UP from Scunci
Received $1.99 +UP from Scunci

Transaction 2 : Children's Claritie 20 Ct grape chewable (rang up 15.59)
2 Halls 3.00
Used $3 off $15 purchase
Used $1 Video Values
Used $3 off in ad Claritin coupon
Used $1 off Claritin Video Values coupons
Used $3 off Claritin printable on coupons.com
Used .50 off Halls Video Values coupon
Used $5 +up from last transaction
Used $1.99 +UP from last transaction

Pai $1.08 OOP
Received $2 +UP Claritin reward
Received $1 +UP Halls reward

**I could have made this deal even sweeter had I had more Halls coupons, which are available - both on video values and a MQ from 3/6 - I just never had them somehow.

There is also a $5 allergy reward that will print when you spend $25 in participating product - both of which these are - but I didn't know the Claritin was going to ring up at 15.50 or I may have gotten two boxes! My daugther takes this almost year round! I love to stock up on it!

Let us know how you do at Rite Aid this week!!

Rite Aid - free items plus small moneymaker

2011-03-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Had a great morning pit stop at Rite Aid today!
I was able to score the following items for an OOP cost of $1.87 and I got back $2 + UP !!

I picked up a copy of yesterday's daily newspaper (.40 with my 20% off Rite Rewards discount)
2 Trident gum (Bogo - so $1.29 for both)
1 Diet Coke (free with coupon from Coke rewards)
1 Powerade (free with coupon from Coke rewards)
3 American Greetings cards ($1.59 ea with my discount, (regularly priced 1.99 ea) and then -$4 with in ad coupon and printable coupon)
1 bag goldfish (.79 with my RR discount)
1 pack Scunci hair bands - (2.39 with my RR - regularly 2.99 - the cheapest the Shelby store has) - this generates a $2 +UP reward.

I used the $3 off $15 purchase from survey (found at the bottom of your receipts)
$1 Rite Aid Video Values coupon
$3 Rite Aid American Greetings coupon (found in ad)
$1/2 American Greetings coupon (printable)
Free Coke (-1.11)
Free Powerade (-1.27)

1.87 Total OOP - received $2 + UP!

Starting Sunday, the Scunci bands will be on sale for 1.99 and will generate a 1.99 +UP reward.

Meijer sale 2/27-3/5

2011-02-25T06:06:00.000-08:00

Meijer's sale ad for next week is available for preview on their facebook page!

Looks like next week will be 10/10 get the 11th free! I always love this sale, especially with good coupon match ups!

You can go here to get a coupon for .45 off of Hunt's spaghetti sauce, which will make them .10 next week!

There are so many items on the 10/10 it would take awhile to get together a match up list, so check Bargains to Bounty tonight to see if she has them...she always has a good list made up!

Target trip breakdown

2011-02-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

So how did I get 4 pairs of jeans (these are juniors sizes), 10 Smart Ones, 2 bottles of Up&Up mouthwash, 4 bottles of Up&Up Ibuprophen, 2 boxes of Finish Quantum tabs, and a three pack of Dentyne pure gum for under $15?!

Here is how:
I broke it down in to four transactions because many Target coupons cannot be used more than once in a transaction. For example, I had four $5 off Women's Jeans coupons that I printed yesterday from Target's coupon site. I could only buy one pair per transaction. (*Remember when clicking on links from the blog that you must either right click or left click while holding control in order for the links to open in a new window)

Transaction 1:
One pair of junior jeans (on clearance for 4.98)
One bottle Up&Up Ibuprophen .99
Used Target $5 off Women's Jeans coupon
and Target $1 off Up& Up pain medicine coupon=
0.00 OOP!!!
I paid NOTHING for this transaction!

Transaction 2:
One pair of Junior jeans (priced at $6.24) - $5 Women's Jeans coupon
One bottle Up&Up Ibuprophen - $1 Target Up&Up pain medicine coupon=
$1.32 OOP

Transaction 3:
10 Weight Watcher's Smart Ones (on sale for 1.80 ea - select ones)
1 10 pk Finish Quantum dish tabs (on sale for 2.50)
Up&Up mouthrinse $1.42 (regular price)
Junior Jeans (on clearance 6.24)
Up&Up Ibuprophen (.99)
Used the following coupons:
$5 off 10 Smart ones (Target coupon)
$3/10 Smart ones (printable found here)
$5 off Women's Jeans Target coupon
$1 off Up&Up pain medicine coupon
$1 off Up&Up dental care coupon
$1.50 off Finish Quantum Target printable
$1.00 off Finish Quantum manufacturer's coupon
**the dentyne was actually in my last order, but I got confused when taking the picture.

Paid $11.66 OOP

Transaction 4:
One pair Junior Jeans (on clearance for 4.98)
On bottle Up&Up Ibuprophen (.99)
One bottle Up&Up mouth rinse (1.47)
One 10 ct box Finish Quantum dish tabs (2.50)
3 pack Dentyne Pure gum (missing from picture) (1.79)
I used all of the same coupons for the Ibuprophen, jeans, finish tabs, an mouth rinse, and used a $1.00 off Target printable for the gum and combined it with a .75 MQ to bring my total for my last transaction to:
0.56 OOP!!

**I did not find the Wolfgang Puck soups in the Ontario store, and they were out of the free freezer bags, so if you go looking for those deals, they do not have them at this time.
***Remember if Target is out of an item you are looking for, get a raincheck. Most of the printable coupons are good through March 26th so you can get your bargains later if you can't find them now!

Target shopping trip! Under $15 for everything!

2011-02-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

I stopped in to Target today to see what bargains I could get with all of those awesome new printable coupons that I mentioned yesterday, and I walked out of there with 4 pairs of jeans, 10 Smart Ones, 4 bottles of Ibuprophen, 2 bottles of mouthwash, a multi-pack of Dentyne gum, and 2 Finish Quantum dishwasher tabs for (drum roll...)
$13.52!!

Details will be added soon as to how I did it!

$5 Rite Aid Trip!

2011-02-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

I paid less than $5 for everything pictured today at Rite Aid, and received some +UP rewards!

Here is my breakdown

2 Xtra Laundry Detergent 1.97 ea
2 Dove Hair care on sale 2/$6
2 Playtex tampons on sale 3.99 ea
1 Carefree pantyliner on sale .99
2 Purex complete 3-in-1 sheets 7.99 BOGO
Daily Globe news paper .50

I used the following coupons:
$4/20 Video Values coupons
$2 Winter Rewards Video Values coupon
2 - $1 off Xtra printable (previously available)
2 - $3 off Purex (from Sunday's insert)
2 - $1 off Dove hair care (from 2/13 insert?)
$1 off Dove hair care Video Values coupon
$3 off 2 Playtex products (I believe I got this in the mail)
$1 Carefree coupon (have had for a long time - maybe from AllYou magazine)
I used a $! +UP and a $2 +UP that I had
bringing my total to 4.85 OOP
I recieved $4 +UP!!

Anyone have any great scenarios/trips lately?

Watch Februrary's Video Values before they are gone!

2011-02-21T10:48:00.002-08:00

I just wanted to remind everyone that you need to watch the February Video Values by Saturday! It is a good idea to go through and watch all of the videos because you never know what's going to be on sale next month, and you can use both the past month and current month video values coupons in a purchase!

If you haven't already signed up for all of Rite Aid's amazing ways to save, do the following:
1) sign up for a Wellness + card in the store or online
2) sign up for Rite Aid Video Values here. (left click to open in a new window or hold Ctrl and right click). Be sure to watch ALL of the videos every month. You can print your coupons at any time.
3) check the weekly ad here
4) combine you Rite Aid Video Values coupons with manufacturer's coupons for more savings
5) look for deals where you earn +UP rewards (it's like Rite Aid money that prints at the bottom of your receipt). You use these like cash on future purchases.
6) Take advantage of Single Check Rebates

If anyone has any more tips or comments, please feel free to leave them!

Target Brand Deals

2011-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't subscribe to Money Saving Mom, here is a link to the Target-brand deals post. You will want to print out those Target coupons as soon as you can before they're gone!

Check out Moneys Saving Mom's Target-brand deals here

Cornell's IGA Big Game Bonanza

2011-02-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

There are surprisingly good sales this week at Cornell's. If you aren't wanting to brave the drive to Meijer and run out of cheese or hot dogs, you can bet on a deal this week at Cornell's! You can view the weekly ad here (remember to left click or to hold control and right click to open link in a new window).

The best deals are listed below:
2/$2 Oscar Mayer salami, bologna, or hot dogs (with in-ad coupon)
2/$3 Kraft Singles, shredded cheese, and block cheese (with in-ad coupons)
2/$3 Nabisco crackers (with in-ad coupon)
2/$9 DiGiorno or California pizzas
.98 baby carrots
10/10 avacados
3/10 Kellogg's Special K cereal (there is an in-ad coupon for buy 3 Special K cereal or protein shakes, get a free 24 pack IGA spring water)

**You cannot combine other manufacturer's coupons with in-ad coupons at Cornell's and they are very strict about printable coupons. I never try to use them there because they are so weird about it. HOWEVER, you should be able to use Special K coupons with the in-ad coupon for the water since it is for two different products.

Click here for Cornell's website. Notice there are printable coupons on this site. IGA will accept the coupons with the IGA logo on them, but the last time I checked, they will not accept the other coupons, even though they have them on their site! Does anyone know if this has changed?

Kroger trip

2011-02-01T07:13:00.001-08:00

I hadn't been doing much Krogering the last few months because their prices are generally higher, and the coupons and deals have not been that great. i had to stop in yesterday, though, to snag these deals!

Kroger is having it's Mega event. Purchase 10 qualifying items, and $5 will deduct automatically at the end of your transaction. (To see the ad, go here) - remember to left click or to hold control and right click in order to open in a new window.

4 Ro*Tel diced tomatos .92 ea (-.50 ea mega sale)
3 Hunts diced tomatos .97 ea (-.50 ea mega sale)
3 Honest Tea bottled tea 1.25 ea (-.50 ea mega sale)
2 bags skittles .50 ea
1 Reese's cup .50 (my daughter really wanted to get this for her bubby - had to....

coupons used
Three -.50 Honest Tea (doubled)
Buy 3, get 1 free Ro*tel (deducted .49)
1.00/3 Hunts tomatos
.50/2 skittles (doubled)

OOP 1.35

Rite Aid trip

2011-02-01T07:00:00.001-08:00

I didn't have much on my Rite Aid list this week, but I'm always up for FREE STUFF!
Stayfree on sale this week BOGO!

I had a BOGO for the larger sizes from the 1/9 Smart sourse, and a $1.00 off from another insert - this made the two larger packages free (you will need the $1 off in addition to the BOGO coupons because Rite Aid's price is .99 higher than allowable on the coupons.)

The smaller packages I did the same thing - used BOGO coupons and $1 off.

Colgate Advance is 2.99 with $2 +UP reward this week, and I had a $1 off coupon, making this an initial OOP, but free after the +UP.

$2.18 OOP - received a $2 +UP

Target trip

2011-02-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ventured in to Target to use the $2 off Olay body wash coupons that were about to expire (1/31 ).
I had 5 coupons for $2.00/ea, but the bars were only .97 in the travel section, so they adjusted the coupon down, making the bars free.

I had a $5 off Maalox coupon that was in a recent insert (ex 3/1). Target's regular price for the chewable Maalox is 3.79, so this was free also.

I have several $1.00 off Reach floss coupons, (click the link by right clicking or holding control and left clicking in order to access the link the coupon) but there were only a few flosses, so I grabbed three, each priced a .97, so these were free also.

The Market Pantry soup was not on sale. It was .52/ can, but there is a $1.00 /3 Market Pantry soup Target coupon available at Target's coupon site that I used to make the cost .19/.18 each!

I had a BOGO Reese's Cup coupon (the store would not stack this with their Target BOGO Reese's cup coupon) so I did pay .69 for the two candy bars. I was hoping they would both be free, but they were not about to let that one slide :)

Total OOP $1.25!

Let's Play a little game!

2011-02-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

Guess how much I paid for each of the following transactions? I will post the deal details later!

Transaction #1 - Target. How much did I pay?
3 Reach floss
5 Olay body bars
2 Reese's Cups
3 Market Pantry tomato soups
1 Maalox chewables

Transaction #2 - Rite Aid. How much did I pay?
2 Stayfree pads (36 ct)
2 Stayfree pads (18 ct)
1 Total Advance Whitening paste 5.8 oz

Transaction #3 - Kroger. How much did I pay?
4 cans Ro*Tel tomatos
3 cans Hunts diced tomatos
3 Honest Tea bottled teas
2 bags Skittles
1 Reese's cup

Frustrated with coupon hating cashiers?

2011-02-01T05:37:00.000-08:00

My experiences yesterday reminded me of several things that we have to remember when we choose to lower our shopping bills by using coupons.

1) Not all cashiers are sympathetic to our plight, and some of them are even out to try to prove us wrong, deny our coupons, or give us a hard time. These cashiers are few and far between, but they do exist. There are some in every store. No matter what made them into this coupon hating creature, the best move is to identify them and avoid them. There is always at least one other lane option to avoid them (unless, of course, you are at Rite Aid; then you might just have to memorize the crazy Rite Aid lady's schedule and not return doing those hours :))

2) Not all cashiers know their store's coupon policy. Neither do all the managers. You will usually be right. You have to decide how much of an effort you need to put in for the product you are buying. If it's worth the fight, then go for it.

3) Deal scenarios will not always play out exactly as you read them on a blog - some of the merchandise may be gone already, or a certain cashier will not accept a certain coupon. Be prepared to walk away and try again or be creative and create your own deal scenario. It may not be as good as the one you read online - they rarely are...the blogged scenarios are often the best case scenario deals, and many bloggers have not gone out and actually snagged these deals themselves.

4) You are perfectly within your right to use coupons. You are being a wise consumer. Never feel badly about couponing, and never let a cashier frustrate you to the point of being upset.