Target Trip Today (alliteration ftw!)

I've had some ups and downs with couponing this week. I had printed a coupon from the Off! site for a BOGO Power Pad Lamp - paired with the $3 off manufacturer's coupon from a recent insert, I knew a great deal was to be had at Harris Teeter, since they had the Power Pad Lamps on sale for 7.99. With all the coupons I would have gotten 2 for under five bucks, an awesome deal. I had to bribe my daughter to go with me buy buying her a Starbuck's drink. (How evil is it to have a Starbuck's inside my favorite grocery store??) Took the lamps and one thing of french onion dip (50 cents after double coupon!) up to the self-checkout. *beep, beep* Please hand all coupons to self-checkout cashier. She looks at the internet coupon, looks at it again, and finally tells me she can't take it. They are no longer accepting any internet coupons for free or buy-one-get-one free items. I was devastated. I really hate everyone who have ruined internet coupons for the rest of us.

So, I was reading Money Saving Mom and there were some Target deals posted and it reminded me that I wanted to hit the Target, also. I was going to try my Power Pad deal there, I figured they would have a low price and there were some other deals. Also, I had received an ad stating that a Rite Aid near was having a Grand Opening sale, despite being open for months? But they had free Tylenol, so I was there.

Rite Aid first - I got my two boxes of free Tylenol and thought I'd look around a bit. I ended up with two boxes of 24 count Tylenol, two rolls of Bounty Basic paper towels, an Airwick Mini starter kit and a Fujifilm one use camera, all for $9.73. Not bad.

Target next - my list when I went in had 4 items... Scotch Fur Fighter kit (I can NOT recommend these highly enough! They work), Off! Power Pad Lamps, Archer Farms chips, and Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce. I then went to www.afullcup.com just to check out their Target coupons and printed out some coupons that seemed promising.

Well, needless to say, I bought a TON of stuff. Some deals were just ok, some weren't great but I needed it, and some were amazing.

However, I DID have a run in with the cashier that I will be calling Target Corporate about. I asked for the manager and he said, "I AM the manager," at which point I started getting frustrated and telling him his own store's coupon code and that we could certainly call Target Corporate if that's what he wanted. I am getting seriously annoyed with Target. He refused to accept one of my legitimate coupons, also, for which I will be calling corporate on him.

CVS Trip 2 on Friday

So, I made my second trip to CVS today and it was much better in terms of OOP money! I took my daughter which made me LOSE some ECBs, but hopefully taught her some couponing and gave her a treat! Two transactions again.

Transaction #1
Duracell 8pk AA, $5.29
Bounty Basic, $5.49
Charmin Ultrasoft x2, $5.99
Bic Pencils (for my daughter!), $4.49
Plastic Poker Cards (for at the pool), $6.49
Subtotal = $33.74

Used
$5/30 Email
$3/15 CRT
$.25 Charmin
$.25 Bounty
$2 ECB
$10 ECB
$12 ECB

OOP $1.57 and earned $10 ECB

At this point the assistant manager seemed amused, because I had to send my daughter back for the cards as a filler to use my $5/30 coupon (I had thought it was $5/25!)

Transaction #2
2 Nature's Bounty Glucosamine 60 Count, B1G1 Free, $12.49 (My joints need some help...)
Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream (filler again!) $4.79
Subtotal= $17.28

Used
$2 off Nature's Bounty
$2 off Nature's Bounty
$3/15 CRT
$10 ECB

OOP $0.38!!!

But here's the kicker. I had hardly ANY cash ($0.07), so I was going to put the $0.38 on my debit card. The assistant manager laughed and said don't bother, it was on him!! So, I gave him my $0.07 and told him this would definitely be my new favorite CVS in town right now! How awesome was that?

So, taking my daughter had me spend $15.77 I wouldn't have... but it was fun to get her out of the house, since she is a surly teenager and we actually laughed a lot and ate the pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the car on the way home (not all of it)! And I've rarely had $32 ECBs at once, so I didn't mind blowing them. It's so easy to build them back up!

In summary, $51.06 (sale price) in merchandise for $1.64 OOP!! More like $77 in stockpile-able stuff! And I do still have $8 in ECBs left to build back up!

I do love CVS!

CVS Trip 1 on Thursday

So, yesterday I did the Soy Joy bars deal, as you can see from the above post. I also couldn't pass up two money makers, the toothpaste and the cotton balls. I got some Aussie Conditioner and some Gold Bond lotion and a little container filler item.

There was a problem with my first transaction, because apparently the apple flavored Soy Joy bars are not ringing up as $1 each and not providing ECBs, so I made the cashier refund them and bought two strawberry flavored ones.

Transaction Breakdown
#1 (How it should have been)
16 Soy Joy Bars at 1.00 each
-$3/15 CRT
= 13 bucks
Used
$2 ECB
$3 ECB
$6.99 ECB

Paid 1.62 OOP and got 16 ECBs!

Transaction #2
1 Aussie Moist Conditioner, $2.99
2 Colgate Total Advanced, $2.99 each
4 Soy Joy bars, $1 each
1 CVS Cotton Balls, $1.69
1 Package Mini-containers, $1.50
1 Gold Bond Ultimate, 1 oz, $.99
Subtotal = $17.15
Used
$1 off any hand or body lotion CRT
$1.50 (2) off Colgate
$3/$15 CRT
$2 CVS Skincare Coupon
$4 ECB

OOP 4.46
Received $2 ECB, $4 ECB, $4 ECB

So, in total, about 35 dollars worth of merchandise for $6 or so OOP. And I had a total of $32 ECBs in hand (a $10 one left over previously). I messed up a bit on the second transaction by NOT paying attention to what denomination ECBs I had - I had a $4 ECB and a $10 ECB. My subtotal after all the coupons was $8-something. I didn't want to take the loss from the $10 ECB and there were enough people behind me in line that I felt flustered to go grab a $2 filler, so I just used the $4 ECB and paid more OOP.

I was disappointed that the CVS did not have the Charmin for the deal, so I guess I will be going back for that.

*Insert Witty Title Here*

Well, I am venturing into another type of blogging now, the semi-professional style. Up to now I have flirted with a weight loss blog, which had three total posts (two of which were tests) and a personal blog on livejournal where I whine about my life.

I have decided now to join the ranks of frugal bloggers because I often want to link to stuff, share deals, etc. and I didn't have an appropriate forum for doing so. A few mouseclicks later, this appeared. It is highly likely that the template and looks of it will change, but for now, a generic style works for me.

So, what will I blog about? Anything to do with thriftiness and frugality. This might be coupons, deals, sales... but it might also include home cooking and gardening. Or sewing. Anything that contributes to my overall contentedness without stretching my wallet.

I look forward to seeing more of you.