blah! Don’t see anything special here, but stopped in for the free Orbit gum (that BOGO printable, remember?). Four packs of Orbit for .19 – got back a $1 ecb for using the green bag tag. Don’t forget that the tag is generic and can be used with any other cards you may or may not have in your possession.
I give up on CVS. When I asked about the complete lack of Maalox on the shelf, the shift manager told me that it had all been recalled…so drove up the street to Wags…
Four transactions here, the Kelloggs and pill glide were 3 and the Maalox the other. Each transaction was for at least ten dollars, to use the $3/$10 store grand opening coupon in the weekly ad (still on display). Cereal deal was $4.76 OOP each and got back $7 in RRs. Maalox was 1 @ $6.99 and 4 @ $5.99, less five $5/1 coupons and $3 Wags coupon to get down to $3.44 OOP, got back $10. That was sweet.
A reminder to all that the big Sinex push starts once again on Sunday. The newest Wags on Naperville in Wheaton had tons of the Sinex Nyquil on display, but none of the Dayquil ones. Using both the $4 coupons and the $3 store coupon will leave you with slightly over a buck OOP and get back $10 RR. sweet. Mgr welcomes couponers and plans to place a large order for the Sinex. Now, whether or not the warehouse ships is another matter entirely…
The Finish and Air Wick were in the back of the store on end caps; none on the shelf in their regular space, so I was about to leave the store – pissed! Make sure you ask someone if you don’t see what you need.
The items in the picture are two identical transactions: 1 Finish, 3 Air Wick Freshmatic, used a $5 ecb, a .50 CVS coupon from the magic coupon machine, 1 $2.25 Finish coupon and 3 $4 Air Wick coupons. OOP was $2.74 and got back $10 in ecbs. They were out of Maalox, so I’ll wait until later on in the week or hit another CVS.
Ran four transactions, combined in this picture: 4 Special K’s; 3 cartons of eggs; 4 Go! Kids vitamins; 4 Sinex. You can imagine the madhouse as it was the Grand Opening celebration. I used a rain check and $16 in Sinex coupons, 2 Kellogg’s Special K BOGO coupons; 3 of the $3/10 wags coupons; $18.50 in RRs. Got back $30 in RRs. Since there were no mfr coupons for either the eggs or vitamins, I was able to use those items as “fillers” so I could pay down my OOP. Actual OOP was $8.29, but since one of the $3/10 coupons wasn’t entered, I’ll stop by later in the week with my receipt and get back my $3 and tax. Normally you can’t return to Wags with a coupon after the fact, but since this is a Wags coupon available on the display, it was obviously an error on their part, so see no problems ahead.
I’ll admit it, I slacked off today. Too cold for human-types. Forced myself out to CVS only because I had so many ecbs expiring and they seem to be coming down on accepting expired ones – no sense in taking a chance. Originally planning to roll them into some Olay stuff to submit for more rebates, but decided to hell with it: bought batteries.
I know I could have broken the transaction into six (from 3), to get the extra $5 ecb on each battery transaction, but my ecbs were all $26 (from the Oral B deal), so sometimes you have to say wtf. And I did. Not pictured is the three additional bottles of Sienna Mist and 10 bottles of Extra laundry detergent. The laundry detergent was purchased with a bunch of little ($2 and $3) ecbs that I wanted to dump; a friend bought it all right out of my trunk. Each battery transaction came to about $2.72 after coupons and ecb (high tax). Got $15 back in ecbs.
Today was a slow day for shopping, a nice day for gabbing: my delivery of the desktop aquarium giveaway turned into 2 1/2 hours of couponspeak. We met at a 24 hr. Dominicks Starbucks cafe area. A very nice change of pace. Afterward we strolled up to customer service to ask about any orphan Thanksgiving Day coupon booklets. Score! The lady opened a fresh carton of books and handed us each 2 of them, so even though the holiday is over, ask at CS if you don’t see any books. You’ve got nothing to lose but your dignity (but then you knew that going in)…
I stopped at CVS to pick up the Sierra Mist and Bliss bars. Remember, I called over there last night to confirm that 1) they were on sale as part of the 2/$1 sale and 2) they had plenty in stock. Well, I hunt all over and can’t seem to locate any Bliss bars. I ask the cashier, who points to the Dove bars…ah, no, those aren’t Bliss. He says “Aren’t they the same?” Well, bucky, if you want to give ’em to me for the sale price and take my coupon, I’ll bite. Sadly, no. If anyone has seen these Bliss bars recently in their CVS and can ask if they are on sale, please comment. I’m not that desperate for chocolate (hello, Snickers) that I’m going to drive or call the various CVS stores. I’ll return tomorrow to pick up the batteries, Olay, etc., but today, just wanted OUT!
Better luck at Jewel. My coupons came in today (five days, what’re they doing? going back to pony express?), so sorted all my receipts, stapled the appropriate coupons and headed out to pick up some more HC mixers and Eagle milk. I had read on CW that certain varieties of the Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta were on sale for 10/$10 . Well, the 10/03 S insert just happens to have a $1/1 Garden Delight pasta. woot! woot! Note that the rotini is not part of the sale, although they are all together on the shelf.
So my OOP for 14 boxes of pasta, 7 HC mixers and 3 Eagle milk? Just under 5 bucks, but remember that I still have to return with the $1.65 in Eagle coupons when I get them. So actually less than $3.50.
Apparently the marketing people feel that since I live about a mile from the newest store, there’s no need to put ads in my Trib. Odd way to conduct business – must be graduates of the Dominicks School of Marketing. I should point out, though, that my experiences with this newest store have been nothing less than pleasant. they must be setting me up…
I picked up the ad from the library (!) and have not yet made the trip, but I’ve looked it over very carefully, so here’s my recommendations if you’re in need of some chocolate persuasion…my, doesn’t that sound dirty?
CVS has an entire page devoted to chocolate deals; BOGOs, cheap, etc. The Hershey Bliss Bars are part of the 2/$1 promotion (I called), so clip the .55/1 coupon from 9/26 S and go to town. There are a number of other bars and bags that might be part of the deal, so my suggestion is to just take the whole 12/5 S insert and a pair of scissors. Clip what you’d like. The Duracell batteries are also on an ecb deal: spend $15, get $5 ecb back. Ad says limit 1, but it’s at least 2; it also triggers at $4.95. I’ll probably get a few of each type, since my mac mouse and keyboard are the black hole for batteries. Sierra Mist is on sale for .99, limit 6. Use the $1 coupon from the Dominicks Thanksgiving books. Sobe is BOGO once again. Let’s hope the mailman brings us our current coupons before this deal ends. I’d suggest checking your local CVS near the end of the week to see if they might be out and you could get a rain check. Since I’m in the unlucky position of having to burn through a bunch of ecbs this week, I’ll probably pick up the buy 2 Olay Expensivo Lino products, get $12 ecbs. I can use them towards the Olay $20 rebate, so it’s not like I’m gonna lose my cash.
Flying trips and posts here, trying to get as much done as possible before any potential storms hit…
C
VS first for the magic coupon machine, where I hit the jackpot three times! Since they were out of the sadlyexpired Planters, they substituted the three cans of almonds you see here ( 2012 dates – I checked).
Then off to Wendy’s for a double order of the free fries for the PITA. If I could only figure out a way to transfer my fat…..but I digress. Next stop Wags for the Reach dental floss, 
’cause I’m a fool for floss. Got the eight shown and a $5 Wags store cat for going over $25 (yes, I know they changed the program overnight, but mgr gave me one anyway. Must be my pleasing personality – not).
I’ve kind of forgotten about the magic coupon machine spitting out those $2.50 coupons for the Planters nuts, especially since all the bags are expired! Seriously, what is wrong with this company? They paid huge fines to the state of New York for selling expired products and now? Well, today’s haul was two bags on two cards: one expired in September and one in October… I’ve seen bags marked August! Even I know that you can’t keep nuts too long before they turn rancid, although this has not yet happened and my nuts are fine (and yes, I luv the way that sounds).
Took the PITA with me (against my better judgment), so the fact that I scored any deals at all is news worthy…
Stopped off first at Wags, since the PF Chang was on sale 2/$14 (!) with a $4 rr. Used the $2/1 mfr coupon from 9/12 rp (exp. 12/05) and paid with a bunch of rrs (used the scented candy cane pens for filler). Total: $13.45 OOP and got back $16 in rrs.
Then off to CVS, where I read on MUM that the magic coupon machine was spitting out $2.50/1 Planters almonds, which are, coincidentally, on sale for 2/$5.00! Pulled into the parking lot of the newest CVS (Ogden & Naper Blvd) and was amazed at how full it was. Well, good for you, I thought… then I opened the door. Wall to wall pre-teen girls and boys – at least 100! Loud, nasty music (OK, shoot me, I’m old). Turns out that B96 was set up and was having drawings for, among other things, Justin Bieber tickets. Well, the PITA was majorly pissed that I didn’t want to stay (hourly drawings and you have to be present) and needed an attitude adjustment – swelling should go down by school tomorrow). OOP was 0
Target for the few things I had coupons ON ME for. So this means I’ll head on over there for all the gift card stuff tomorrow morning without the PITA!!! woot! woot!! The Hungry Hippo traveling games are not in the regular game section, but in a special stocking stuffers section along the back wall in the “D” section. Target OOP was $1.66 (don’t forget to claim the .05 credit for every bag you bring and use).
One of the things I wanted to pick up was the Ponds cleansing cloths for the $5 gc. I took a picture of the endcap where the Vaseline and Ponds were located, since you’ll never find these with regular items! That would make it too easy. These deals involve stacking Target and mfr coupons, so it’s a .62 MM on each set of 2. I’ll pick up a bunch tomorrow morning and post the exact coupons.
Sorry I’ve been out of touch. Earlier today I stopped at CVS to use up an expiring ecb. Ended up with the stuff in the picture for $7. I use the shampoos for liquid soap, so the cheaper the better (hey, you can’t convince me that there’s a difference between SoftSoap and cheap shampoo!). and the candy bars? well, let’s just say I had a coupon and leave it at that…
Then I ran into Wags to get that $3/15 RR that’s been printing out for everyone. Pick out the cheapest items you can find (scented votive candles for 6/$1), ring each one separately and you get an RR for each. Picked out 3, went to the register and said “Ring them up separately.” He reached under the counter and handed me three of the RRs which had been discarded! Sweet! I still took the candles though in one transaction (no RR), just cause they smelt so purty.
The cool rubber boots I got at Sears a couple of weeks ago turned out to be too large for the intended recipient, so trundled off to Oak Brook to exchange them, stopping at Wags along the way to check for….well, you know what (and the answer is nada, nothing, zip, zero, zilch).
Tomorrow is hit all the Wags in an easterly direction Day. Wish me luck.
If I have time, I’ll drop by Target for some free (slight MM) Ponds towelettes and Vaseline lotion. You combine the Target coupon (from their site) with the $1.50 coupon for Vaseline lotion from 11/14 R (Unilever insert) and get a $5 gift card. Make sure you grab the bonus lotion (31.8 oz). The Ponds towelettes is the bonus 40 ct size using the Target coupon (from their site) and here and here. I read this yesterday on Totally Target and give her much thanks for same (also credit in the coupons).
Obviously I haven’t had time to work the above deal, but there’s no reason why it won’t work. Don’t look for it in the ad; it’s an unadvertised gift card.
Been out most of the afternoon/evening at a strategic planning meeting for the next three years for a consolidated school district for special needs kids. Very long, very interesting, very nice food. what more can i say?