Macy's Shopping

Last weekend Tom and I went shopping because he needed some new clothes. We managed to find just about everything he needed, which was great. I, of course, had to peruse the clearance racks at Macy's....and I'm so glad I did! I found 4 long sweaters which are perfect to wear with yoga pants or leggings. I also found a super cute tank top which only cost $3.99 so I couldn't really pass it up! After the 20% discount on top of the clearance prices, it made 3 of the sweaters $7.99 each and one $11.56.

Spent $39.52

Retail $158

Retail Therapy

When my friend came to visit a few weekends ago, the weather was miserable...so we decided to do a little shopping to cheer us up. We went to Banana Republic, which I love, but think most items are a tad overpriced. Fortunately, they were having an extra 40% off all sale items before 1pm. It was a close one considering we finally got through the giant line to the register at 12:55! I would have easily put everything back though if we wouldn't have gotten the extra 40% off, which I felt pretty good about.

I didn't buy much, but I did save a lot! I bought a nice gray shirt for work, a fun flowy sleeveless shirt for summer, and a 2nd pair (but different color) of gray pants for work (I have the same style but in navy blue and I love them!)

Spent $52.18
Retail $144

Weekly Savings: I'm a hero!

I knew it was going to be a good shopping trip when I got in the car to go to CVS and "The Final Countdown" was playing. This song reminds me of my friend Kelly who was a CVS expert long before I was.

Today was a little crazy. I went to CVS, Jewel, and Dom's. I normally wouldn't have gone to Jewel but they had a good cereal and free milk deal going and guess what? Tom goes through AT LEAST 3 gallons of milk a week and eats cereal like it's going out of style. Don't get all excited about the diapers in the CVS picture. 21. That's how many people I know who are currently pregnant or have given birth in the past month. Diapers make great gifts. Enough said. And finally, when the cashier at Dominicks told me my total, the girl in line behind me said "Wow, you're like, my hero!" Without further adieu...

Jewel

Spent $14.19
Saved $20.86
Received 2 coupons for a "Free Gallon of Milk" (on your next visit)

CVS

Spent $26.98
Saved $82.21
Received $10 in ECB's

Dominicks

Spent $16.43
Saved $72.84

Everything combined!

Spent $57.60
Saved $175.38
Received $10 in ECB's from CVS and 2 "Free Gallon of Milk" coupons from Jewel

Good shopping deals today...no pics though :(

We decided to run into Old Navy before our weekly Dominick's trip since they are having an extra 40% off of their clearance items. We got $185 worth of clothing/stuff for $56. I think my favorite deal was a halloween costume for Bailey for $0.74 (Oh I forgot, I did get a pic of this)!

Then I went next door to Bath and Body Works to check out their sale items since I received a gift card for Christmas. I got $74 worth of candles, socks, and hand sanitizer for $23, paid with the gift card, so nothing OOP.

We saved 56% at Dominick's....spending $45 and saving $55. We bought A TON of veggies, some juice, eggs, milk, tea, bread, yogurt, cereal, napkins, and Qtips (we were out).

Not too bad at all but still more than I'd like to spend in a week! Although we don't typically make trips to Old Navy every week either....so if you subtract that from the total I feel a little better.

Publix & Walgreens

Two weeks ago I ran a morning full of errands, right up until the minute I hurt my back. I immediately went home and later went to the ER, and then I spent about a week on the couch and the past week readjusting to work, so I never got around to posting about my deals. The best deal I got was at Walgreens where I bought 2 Vicks Sinex products, used two $4 off coupons, spent $3 out of pocket (including tax) and received $5 in Register Rewards (RR) to be used on my next purchase at Walgreens.

That brings me to today, where at Walgreens I spent $3.44 and saved $21.41 and received $2 in RR to be spent at my next visit. Then I went to Publix and spent $3.26 and saved $12.13. I had some simple miscalculation errors on my part (I guess it shows that I haven't been couponing in 2 weeks?!) or I would have saved even more!

Publix Trip (on the left) Walgreens Trip (on the right)

Spent: $6.70
Saved: $33.54

Groupon

Are you familiar with Groupon? I keep hearing everyone rave about it but haven't really had the opportunity or desire to check it out......until today! The groupon deal (today only) is a $50 gift card to the Gap for only $25. That's 50% off!!!

How it works: Every day Groupon offers different deals for 50-90% off! The catch? Enough people have to purchase the deal for it to work (it's kind of like buying things in bulk). If not enough people purchase it, you will not be charged, and you will not get the deal.

As I mentioned above, today's deal is for the Gap, however a lot of times the deals are city-specific and will be to restaurants, theaters, spas, stores, etc in your hometown.

And remember, as with anything else when it comes to being frugal, only purchase the deals if you were already planning on spending money on that particular item! Good luck!

Rite Aid

I really had not planned to go to Rite Aid today, but you know me, I can't pass up a good deal. I was able to get all of the products pictured below for only $3.72. On top of that, I earned $3 in +Up Rewards (which is like free Rite Aid money) that I can use on my next purchase.

Here is how I did it:
Item (Sale Price) (Coupon) (Rebate) (+Up Reward)
Aussie Shampoo ($2.50) (None) (None) ($1 wyb 2)
Aussie Leave-in Conditioner ($2.50) (Free wyb Aussie shampoo) (None) ($1 wyb 2)
Gillette Deodorant x 2 ($4.50 each) (Two $2 coupons) ($3 rebate wyb 2) ($1 wyb 2)
Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner ($3.50 each) ($2 off 2 coupon) (None) ($1 wyb 2)
Gillette Proglide razor ($9.99) ($4 coupon) ($5 rebate) (None)

Total before any coupons: $33.33 (with tax)
Minus $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon (from website)
Minus Manufacturer coupons $12.50
Total Due: $15.83
Minus $4.11 leftover from RA gift card I received from transferring a prescription
Total Due: $11.72
Rebates I will be getting back: $8
Total out of pocket $3.72!!





wyb = when you buy

Got paid to shop at Rite Aid and Kmart

Yep, that's right. I made $22.28 at Rite Aid and $3 at Kmart. In addition to making $25, I got everything pictured below for free! I technically had a little help becuase I had gift cards for both places from transferring a prescription, but I still would have made money at Rite Aid even without the gift card.

Here is how I did it.
Kmart (above left) happened to be having a Super Double coupon event on health & beauty. (Although this was probably my last trip to Kmart....none of the cashiers knew what they were doing. I had to go to 3 different registers and the manager had to come over twice before they got it right...for 3 measly items...I almost just walked out of there!)
Spent: $4.46 (on gift card)
Rebate: $3 Finesse Rebate (5/16 Smartsource Insert)
Bought:

• Finesse Shampoo $4.99 (minus $2 - doubled $1 coupon)
• Tampax Pearl Tampons $4.69 (minus $4 - doubled $2 coupon)
• Pantene detangler for thick hair $3.50 (minus $3.50 - doubled $2 coupon)

Rite Aid (above right)
Spent: $20.89 (on gift card)
Rebate: $22.28
Bought:

• Gillette Deodorant $4 (I had a $2 coupon for this but I must have lost it in the store as it didn't ring up....I hate when this happens!!) $2 rebate wyb Deodorant & Body Wash
• Gillette body wash $4 (coupon for free body wash with purchase of Gillette Deodorant)
• Gillette Series shave gel $2.99 ($1 coupon) $1 rebate
• Gillette Pro Series cooling lotion $5.99 ($2 coupon) $2 rebate
• Allergy Buster sinus spray $9.99 ($9.99 rebate)
• Renu Sensitive contact solution $7.29 ($4 coupon) $7.29 rebate

Frugal Birthday Success!

Kind of :) My day started off extremely frugally, by 1:00 I had received $110 worth of services/products and only spent $3 out of pocket. Then I went to Target and Banana Republic!

Here is a recap of my frugal day:

• Breakfast @ Panera - I treated myself to a $3 bagel with veggie cream cheese
• Massage - Free with gift card from redeemed credit card points ($100 value)
• Lunch @ Moe's - Free burrito for your birthday!
• Target - 1 pair super cute strappy sandals - $20, 1 pair of Champion running shoes - $13.98, 3 pairs of socks $3.50
• Banana Republic - 1 zip up hooded sweater, 1 super cute short-sleeve shirt, 2 pairs of pants: Total Spent: $76, retail value: $238!
• Vicky's - Undies & lotion: Total spent: $2, retail value: $35
• Dinner & Drinks with a few close friends - Priceless! :)

Frugal Trip to the Mall........without coupons?

I met a friend at the mall on Saturday to check out Ann Taylor Loft and J Crew since we heard they were having some sales. I did a quick online search for coupons before leaving the house but couldn't find anything. I ended up buying something at every store we walked in to.....thankfully we only went to 4! It helped that every store we went into had an additional 20-40% off clearance items! Here is the breakdown.

Express
Spent:$56.65

Retail:$153

1 pair jeans

1 button down short sleeve shirt for work

1 pair cute dressy flip flops

Gap

Spent: $8.70

Retail: $79.50

Long, hooded, cream wraparound sweater

Ann Taylor Loft

Spent: $22.88

Retail: $84.50

1 green T for work

1 pair (super comfy) jeans

J Crew

Spent: $17.43

Retail: $69.99

long-sleeve beige wrap around cardigan

Total: $105.66 (within budget for the week!)

Retail Total: $386.99

Also - I don't need to buy any more jeans or green shirts for at least a year!!