Jun 26, 2012

Shopping Success

Today I went to CVS to take advantage of their diaper deal this week! CVS is offering $10 is ECB's when you purchase $30 in baby items. There is a wide variety of items available - from diapers, wipes, treats, etc. I needed diapers, so here is what I did: 

Transaction #1
Bought 3 packages of Huggies Diapers - on sale for $10 each = $30.00
Used 3 $2.00 coupons from the Sunday paper
Used $5.00 off of a $20.00 purchase (got it from the Magic Coupon Machine when I walked in)
Used $10.00 of CVS Gift Cards (gotten with Viggle Points)
Paid $9.00 + tax
Got Back $10 in ECB's

Transaction #2
Bought 1 package of Huggies Swimmer Diapers - $9.99
Bought 1 package of Pampers Wipes - $3.69
Bought 1 Schick Shave Gel - $4.39
Used 1 Pampers Wipes Coupon - $.75
Used 1 Schick Shave Gel Coupon - $.75
Used 1 CVS coupon for $2/1 Schick Shave Gel (got it from Magic Coupon Machine)
Used the $10 ECB's from the previous purchase
Paid $4.57 + tax 

For a total of $13.57 OOP, I felt pretty good! Note that even without the $10 in CVS gift cards, 
it still would have been a good deal.


You don't always have to buy a lot of stuff to have great success at the grocery store! I hit Harris Teeter one last time to take advantage of the last day of Super Doubles. Here's what I got: 

Propel Water - 6 pack - on sale for $3.00
Used $1.00 coupon that doubled = $1.00

Wisk Detergent - $6.99
Used $2.00 coupon that doubled = $2.99

*Tom's of Main Toothpaste - on sale for $3.00
Used $1.00 coupon that doubled = $1.00

Tom's of Main Deodorant - on sale for $3.00
Used $1.00 coupon that doubled = $1.00

DeerPark Water - 6 pack .5 liters - on sale for $1.00
Bought 2 and used $1.00/2 coupon that doubled = Free

Total Amount: $5.99 + tax for all of the above!

*As a general rule, I never pay for toothpaste. But this is really good quality toothpaste that is usually $4.69/tube and having a coupon for it is rare. So, I was willing to splurge a little! :-)

Updates

Lot 18 
This is still one of my favorite deal sites - because it features wine and chocolate; two of my absolute favorite things! They used to have a sign-up bonus that only benefited the person doing the referring, but they've changed it! Now when you sign-up for a free account through this link, you'll get a $10 credit to apply to your first order! Once you've signed up for an account, you can refer your friends and you'll get a $25 credit when they place their first order!This will add up fast and should equal some free or really cheap wine!

Another cool thing they're doing is giving credit when you place orders over $100! 
Here's how it works: 
For every $100 in orders you submit, 
get $10 towards a future purchase (up to $50 credit)!!!
 
Here's a possible deal scenario:  
2006 White Oak Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Half Case - $116.94

Minus Sign-up Bonus of $10 = $106.94 (plus tax)

Shipping = free (because more than 4 bottles) 

Minus $10 credit you'll get for your next order!
Total net cost = $96.94 for 6 bottles shipped to your door or $16.15/bottle for wine that normally retails for $33/bottle + shipping

 Idea: We're going to the beach next week and I'm thinking this would be a great thing to have delivered to the condo! The last thing I want to do when I'm on vacation is grocery/supply shop! I'll have it delivered to our destination and I'll instantly have wine when I arrive! :-) And not just any wine that I happen to be able to find in the local grocery store - but really good wine at a fantastic price!!!  

A Few More Goodies: 

Plum District: use promotional code summer20 to save 20% off any deal 

(except Plum Steals)!!!  

Last day of Harris Teeter Extra-Super Double Coupons!!!

 

Jun 22, 2012

Fun Shopping Trip

I went to Harris Teeter today, not to really do any "coupon shopping" - but just to get some necessities. Here are a few things I was pleasantly surprised at:

Fig Newtons on sale B1G1 - only $2.27 each
Added bonus: buy any Fig Newton, get $1.50 off any fruit purchase

12 oz Raspberries on sale B1Gi - only $3.99
Used $1.50 off coupon from the Fig Newton package - and it doubled!!! 
So I only paid $.99 for 12 oz. Raspberries - which is an amazing deal!!!

Klondike Bars - eVic Special for only $1.77
Since these are normally $4.49/pack and so incredibly bad for you - I never allow myself this treat. But when I saw that they now have mint-chocolate-chip . . . and I could get them for $1.77 . . . 
I could not resist! 

Deer Park Water - 6 pack of .5 liter bottles - on sale for $1.00
Buy 2 packs and use the $1.00/2 coupon. During super doubles - it doubles to $2.00 off and that makes both packs of water FREE!!!

 And not at Harris Teeter . . .
I'm getting ready to go on a trip for the 4th of July. With as much stuff as I have to pack for a nearly 2-year old (besides myself) - diapers and wipes are not what I really want to be filling my suit-case with. So, I checked out diapers.com and this is what I found: 
Case of Pampers Diapers (192) for $47.99
$10 off coupon code OHBABY10D
$5 off coupon code (used my pampers gifts to grow rewards points)
Added Travel pack of 7th Generation Wipes for $1.99 to bring total up to over $49 so I'd qualify for free shipping
Grand total: $34.18 
(for the equivalent of 5.3 packs of diapers and a travel pack of wipes - delivered straight to our condo) 

I haven't actually placed the order yet, so I'm going to see if I can apply one more $5 code! 
If so - that would make this deal go from great to awesome! 

If you're new to diapers.com - use code Lisa2848 to get $10 off your 1st purchase! 

At Plum District: 
Use code TAKE30 to get 30% off of any deal through Sunday, June 24th!
 

Jun 21, 2012

Keepin' it Fresh

So one of my biggest questions from people is: how do you keep yourself motivated to keep doing the "coupon thing". A lot of people get off to an enthusiastic start and fizzle after a few months. But this is not surprising - because it really is a discipline. So don't worry, you're in good company! Here are a few of my thoughts on what you can do to avoid it, or snap out of it: 

1) Take a little break when you need it! Don't be afraid to let some deals go by without taking advantage of them. Just because you skip of week (or three) of clipping Sunday paper inserts, or haven't looked at coupons.com in a while, doesn't mean you ought to throw in the towel. Don't worry about "getting caught up". Get your kids to go through your coupon binder and do a little detective work: ask them to go on a hunt for expired coupons and take them all out (and don't worry if they miss a few or take too many - it's worth it not to have to do the whole thing yourself)! Don't try to clip all the coupons that you missed - that will just be an overwhelming task that you'll dread. Just start where you are and gradually re-fill your binder!

2) If you do want to try to clip the missed coupons, call a fellow coupon girl friend and see if she wants to come over for a sip and clip! Have a glass of wine and visit while you clip coupons. Make it fun - not a chore! 

3) Take a relaxed approach. Don't run yourself ragged driving all over town every week trying to get to all the stores. Maybe go to Target once a week, and pick the drug store with the best deals for you - and go to only that one. But don't try to do Wal-mart, Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, and 4 different grocery stores every week. You're just asking to burn-out! 

4) Help a coupon newbie! Sometimes helping explain how it all works to someone who is new to it will give you inspiration, remind you of things that you've forgotten, and help ignite a fire! 

5) Take a look at your savings and that should be enough to get you smiling! I needed this boost just recently, so I went digging for "pick me ups". Here's what I found:
  • I just cashed in 9,000 Viggle points for a second $5 CVS gift card! Love that they have this reward! I have been off the "CVS circuit" for a little bit and have no ECB's - but now that I have 2 CVS gift cards from Viggle, I can go in and start the cycle again with no out of pocket expense! Love it! 
  • I've been a very lax Shopkick user - rarely ever remembering to use it. But I just noticed that I have enough "kicks" to cash in and get a $5 Target gift card! Awesome reward considering I've done pretty much nothing to get it! 
  • I've been piling up my Swagbucks and finally cashed them in for amazon credit! I was able to order Egyptian Cotton Towel sets - 4 of each: Bath, Hand, and Wash Towels - and they're shipping for free! All for absolutely zero cost to me because I saved up all my amazon cash! So incredibly excited to get nice, new towels!!!

Jun 19, 2012

Super Doubles Start Tomorrow (better than ever)

Hello Charlotte Shoppers!!! Harris Teeter is giving you some pretty good reasons to shop at their stores for the next week! Super Double Coupons starts tomorrow and for the 1st time ever - they are doubling coupons up to $2.00 in face value; that means you'll get $4 off at the register with those coupons!!!! Of course, there aren't a lot of $2 coupons - but there are some! So this is the time to pull out all of those $1, $1.50, and $2 coupons and put them to ultimate good use! Stock up on the things you love, so you don't have to pay full price when your supply runs out!!!!


If you want to make it easy on yourself and see all the deal match-ups in easy to print lists - visit www.southernsavers.com and click on the Harris Teeter link. There are three different lists - so very comprehensive! 

Jun 14, 2012

A Few Updates

Harris Teeter is going to be running Super Doubles starting next Wednesday (June 20th)!!! So start gathering up your coupons and check southernsavers.com for her lists! Thanks to mom$ense (check her out on facebook!!!) for the heads up!!!

Southpark Coupon Clippers is meeting this Sunday at Earthfare at 2:30pm! This is a great week to come to stock-up on those coupons for Super Doubles! Just bring your un-clipped, un-wanted coupons and your scissors and enjoy the fun of swapping!




Jun 11, 2012

Plum District Turns 2!!!

PD is celebrating its 2 year anniversary! In honor of this event, you can use the discount code PDBDAY for 20% off of any deal! If you haven't signed up for a free account yet, please consider using my referral link here! There are some great deals up right now!

New Side Bar Item: Gas Alert

As I drive about the city teaching my piano lessons, I always keep my eye out for cheap gas. So I've added the new Gas Alert on the side bar to let you know where to find the cheapest gas around! Always check here first before you head to the pump!



Jun 7, 2012

Good Stuff!

Sorry it's been so long since the last post! Here are a few goodies:

Cheap Gas Alert!!! I travel all over Charlotte: Dilworth, Southpark, Cotswold, Plaza Midwood, Arboretum, Promenade, Ballantyne, Waxhaw, Carmel Commons, Matthews! The cheapest price for gas that I've found is on the corner of Providence and Old Providence at the Exxon station! It's been $3.47/gallon for over a week now. So if you're going to be in that area - definitely plan a fill-up! Not sure it's worth the extra stop? Maybe not if you have to go out of your way. But, if you buy gas at the average price in Charlotte ($3.56/gallon) instead - you'll pay $1.53 more for the same product and an average of $79.56 more per year (based on a 17 gallon tank - and one fill-up per week for 52 weeks).

Don't pay much attention to gas prices? Don't think it makes that much difference? Three months ago the average price of gas in Charlotte was somewhere around $3.89/gallon. That's a difference of $.42/gallon - which makes the fill-up of my car $7.14 less each time. That comes out to a difference of $28.56/month and $371.28/year - just with the difference of $.42/gallon! That's a savings I really appreciate! :-)

Lesson learned? Little difference make a huge impact! What could you do with an extra $371 this year? I certainly have some ideas . . .

Harris Teeter has Eggland's Cage Free Eggs on sale for $2.50/dozen (large). These are normally $3.99. I just sorted through my coupon binder (long over-due) and found tons of $.35 coupons for cage free or organic eggs. We all know that Harris Teeter will double that coupon - so you can get the eggs for only $1.80/dozen. That's a steal of a deal for these eggs!

Target has two deals that I'm particularly interested in.
Selected Pampers Value-Pack Diapers (normally $29.99) and Big-Pack Diapers (normally $19.79) are on clearance for 15% off. While that's not a huge discount, there are some coupons that you could stack:
Big-Pack Diaper Box (app 90 diapers or equivalent to 3 jumbo packs) @ 15% off = $16.82
Use Target $1.00 Coupon (came in the paper a while back)
Use $2.50 Manufacturer Coupon (I have lots of these and am not sure where I got them - only good on boxes)
Pay $13.32 or $4.44/pack

For those not interested in diapers. . .

Get a free $5 gift card when you buy any two Gillette items listed: Gillette Fusion ProGlide manual razor, cartridges, Venus razors and cartridges.
Buy Gillete Fusion ProGlide Razor for $9.79
Buy 4-count Gillette Fusion ProGlide manual cartridges for $16.99
Use Buy One Gillette Fusion 4-count or larger cartridge, get ONE Gillette Fusion Razor Free Manufacturer coupon (came in last Sunday's P&G Insert in the paper)
Pay $16.79
Get back $5 gift card
Pay the equivalent of $11.79 for a razor and 4 cartridges (regular cost would be $26.78 - so this is nearly 60% off!!!)

UPDATE: Just got back from Target and here's the latest:
Razors: Make sure you pick up only the manual razors, the gift card doesn't work with the power ones. My total after you factor in the gift card and my 5% savings by using my Redcard, was only $12.92!
Diapers: The size of the "big packs" is the rough equivalent of 2 jumbo packs. They are not packaged in boxes, so you can't use a "box" coupon on it. The Value-Packs have 132 diapers (for size 3) and were marked down to $25.48 (after the 15% discount). After the two coupons I had, the price was $21.98, or the equivalent to $6/jumbo-pack. Not a phenomenal price, but definitely better than I've been able to do recently.