No coupons to clip this weekend!

The secret to being an effective couponer is organization.  And man, have I been a mess.

I hadn't clipped or organized coupons since the beginning of JULY!  Some couponers roll like this.  They just keep track of them by date and can quickly pull the insert when they find a sale they want to shop and clip out what they need for that one trip.  Me?  I like to go ahead and trim all products we do/might use and organize them in my binder.  Then when I'm shopping and find a product/sale I like I have the coupons with me. 

Except I hadn't been doing that. 

I know I have paid more for lots of things that we needed because I didn't have my coupons clipped. 

So yesterday I spent a few hours and I got it done.  I clipped and organized probably 30 coupon inserts (4 from each week).  And then I cleaned out all of the expireds from my binder.

And now I am ready to roll.

Even better?  There are NO coupon inserts this weekend.  So for a whole week more I will be completely caught up. 

DOUBLE CVS Quarterly Bucks!

I just read over at The Krazy Coupon Lady that you can go here and register to get double the quarterly extra care bucks at CVS back for the last quarter of the year!  Typically, I don't get a huge quarterly reward back because it excludes extra care buck deals (and lets face it- as a couponer those make up a lot of my purchases!).  But it has been as much as $8-$10 before, and you can't go wrong there!

I just went and registered my card- you should too!

CVS 8/27/12

$8.29 Venus razor -$4 mq (7/29 p&g), -$2 cvs magic coupon machine q and got back $5 extra care bucks (MONEY MAKER!)
$27.96 Biore Cleanser ($6.99 X 4)
$27.96 Biore nose strips ($6.99 X 4)
-$27.96 mq's- 4 b1nose strip g1 cleanser free (8/12 SS)
$3.96 Dawn Dish Soap (4 @ $.99 each- not in picture)
-$2:  4 $.50 mq's (7/29 p&g)
Earned 2 $10 Shell Gas Cards wyb $30 in product for certain items X 2 (Biore & Dawn qualified)
$3.98 2 Stayfree @ $1.99 each
-$4: 2 $2 Stayfree mq's (8/26 ss or rp)
-$4/$20 purchase magic coupon machine q

Total before coupons- $72.15
Total after coupons $28.21.  I used $19 in extra care bucks from last week so I spent about $10 out of pocket and I got back 2 $10 gas cards and a $5 EB for the razor.  PLUS- since I have the beauty club added to my extra care card (it's free- you should do this, just ask the cashier to add it) I have qualified for $74 in my club account on beauty spending- which means I'll get a $5 EB in the next few days (earn $5 for every $50 you spend on beauty items...including shampoos, soaps and razors).

CVS 8/23

$5 2 cheerios 2/$5
$6.49 Revlon lipgloss
$6.49 Revlon lipgloss
$6.49 Revlon lipgloss
$6.49 Crest prohealth mouthwash
$5.79 Crest prohealth mouthwash

$36.75 total before coupons

-$1/2 cheerios mq
-$1 any cheerios cvs magic coupon machine (printed last week)
-$1 revlon mq
-$1 revlon mq
-$1 revlon mq
-$3 revlon cvs magic coupon machine
-$3 revlon cvs magic coupon machine
-$3 revlon cvs magic coupon machine
-$2  Crest prohealth cvs magic coupon machine
-$5 buy 1 big crest prohealth get 1 small crest prohealth free ($5 maximum)
-$10 extra care bucks
-$2 extra care bucks
-$1 extra care bucks
-$1.93 left on a giftcard from a previous promotion
 $2.98 total paid out of pocket
I received back 3 $4 EB for the revlon lipgloss ($12), $5 EB for the crest mouth wash (when you buy $10) and $2 EB wyb 2 cheerios.  That is $19 total!
If I would have had no cvs extra care bucks, my total would have been $17.91, which is still less than the EBs I received back!

What could have made this deal even sweeter would be if I had printed the 25% off coupon that CVS emailed me- it would have deducted another $3.07 from the mouthwash (because they were regular shelf price- the coupon won't deduct anything from sale prices).  As it is, I paid $.28 for both bottles, where I could have had it be a money maker.  Oh well. 

I received a $4 off $20 CVS q in my email, so I need to make sure I head back and put it to good use!  But it's good through Sunday, so I will probably wait until then.

Saving Money on Gift Cards

Live local?  Have a Marsh Supermarket?  Listen up.

Last week and this week- Marsh is running a promotion where if you buy $50 in participating gift cards, you get a $10 My Marsh Money certificate.  In the ad it shows Kohls, Aeropostale, Red Lobster and JC Penney.  I asked at customer service and she said any of them.  I bought $50 in Shell gas cards, and it didn't print.  So perhaps it really is just the ones in the ad.

But still!!!  If you have a little extra cash now, you could prebuy your gift cards to do Christmas shopping and save $10 for every $50 you buy in groceries!  Keep in mind, you need to ring each $50 up seperately in order to earn the $10- but no big deal, right?

I also bought $50 in Kohls because I have some shopping to do this week.  PLUS- I went to Kohls.com and registered my email address and they emailed me a $10 off $10 purchase certificate for signing up AND a 15% off my next purchase coupon.....and they can be used together.  So I'm going to be able to make that $50 stretch really far!

Dan and I don't have hundreds to sink into gift cards, so that $100 is really about it for me.  But it is worth considereing- after all free food is free food, right?

A coupon worth printing

Right now you can head over to the Toys R Us facebook page and print this coupon for $5 off a purchase- no minimum purchase required.  There are some exclusions of certain brands- but it seems like a great time to pick up a few stocking stuffers!  (I printed 3 copies!)

Shopping 8/6/12

CVS:
$4.19 Stayfree
$4.19 Stayfree
-$3 wyb 2 stayfree CVS magic coupon machine q
-$2 stayfree mq
-$2 stayfree mq
I was glad to buy these for $.70 per package.  A few weeks back when the mq came out, cvs and walgreens had them for $2 a package, but they were long gone and I failed to get a rain check.  So getting the cvs coupon at least made a good way to use them and get some inexpensive 'necessities'.
$4  2 nature valley protein bars @ $2 each
$6 3 Fiber One bars at $2 each
-$1  2 nature valley protein bars mq's @ $.50 each
-$1.80  3 fiber one mq's @ $.60 each
$18.38 before coupons
$8.58 after coupons
Got back $3 extra care buck wyb $10 in cereal bars.  That made the cereal bars $.84 a box- which is a great deal in my opinion.  These are too nice for lunch boxes and for a quick snack thats easy to grab!

I'm going to go back and try the $30 in p&g items earn $10 EB.  There is a new $5 rebate when you buy $25 in p&g items, so I think I can work something great out.

Walgreens:
This week I transferred a prescription over to walgreens.  They are running a promotion that when you do, they give you a $25 giftcard.  We have various prescriptions for asthma and allergies, plus I take a couple daily drugs- so I honestly thing I'm going to just transfer them all.  At $25 a pop, I'd say it's worth it!

$12  2 Lanacane sprays @ $6 each
$6.72  2 Glade sprays at $3.36 each
$3  2 W Perfection tampons at $1.50 each
$10 Renew Life 3 day diet cleanse
$3 2 chex snack mix @ $1.50 each (not in picture)

-$3 glade spray mq
-$3 glade spray mq
-$.50 chex mix mq
-$.50 chex mix mq

$34.72 before coupons
$27.72 after coupons
-$25 gift card
$2.72 paid
Earned a total of $28 in register rewards.  2 $6 for lanacane spray, 2 $1 for glade sprays, 2 $1.50 for tampons, 1 $10 for renew life, $1 wyb 2 chex mix.  Keep in mind, for the items I earned 2 register rewards on, I did 2 different transactions.

Great shopping week at Walgreens in my opinion.  Even if I would have paid cash- I would have earned more register rewards than I paid!

K-mart Birthday Club?

If you have kids- you MIGHT want to register them for the new K-mart birthday club.

It says that you will be emailed a $5 certificate around their birthday.  Which sounds like a deal to me. I don't shop at K-mart very often since they aren't close to me (about 1/2 hour away) but with their double $1 coupons each week (I think there is a limit of 5 with a $25 purchase?) and now a potential $5 per kid?  I might start going there- at least around the kids birthdays!

An awesome Olay deal

I just can't seem to find the energy to hit the sales this week.  At least until I saw this opportunity and then off to CVS I went!

$23.96= 4 Oil of Olay body wash at $5.99 each
$14.96= 4 facial clothes at $3.74 each
$38.92 total

-$23.96- Used 4 buy 1 olay cleanser get 1 body wash free mq's (7/29 p&g coupon insert)
-$3 cvs coupon machine coupon $3 off $15 Olay products
-$3 cvs coupon machine coupon $3 off $15 beauty products

$8.96 paid.  Got back $5 Extra Care Buck wyb $25 in Olay products.

PLUS I am sending away for a $10 Rebate on $30 Olay products.

Which made this a $6 money maker!!!! 

Not to mention that I earned the full $38.92 credit toward my CVS Beauty Club Rewards (get a bonus $5 EB wyb $50 in beauty and personal care items).  If you haven't added this to your extra care card yet, it's as simple as just asking the cashier to add it on there.  You'll be surprised at how quickly you rack up that $50- usually for next to nothing if you coupon regularly!