Frugality the Walgreens way

I had a really great trip to Walgreens this week. It involved stockpiling Buzzkill's and HotMommy's favorite cereals, getting dish washing soap practically free, and getting much needed concealer better than BOGO.

Here's how it went:
Kellogg's Special K Strawberry 2 boxes @ $2.50 (my fav)
Coupon for $1 off when you buy 2 box of any Special K cereals
Raisin Bran 2 boxes @ $2.50 (Buzzkill's fav)
Register Reward of $3 earned by buying 4 boxes of cereals

Electrosol Dishwashing pods 20 count 2 boxes @ $3.49
2 Coupons for $2.50 off 20 count boxes
Walgreens Easysaver rebate of $1.50 earned this month

L'Oreal Concealers BOGO - bought 2 for $8.99
Coupon for $3 off any L'Oreal foundation, concealer, powder or blush

So, after coupons my subtotal was $16.97 plus $0.66 tax for a total of $17.63. On top of that I earned a total of $4.50 in RR and Easysaver rebates. That's a total savings of $33.49.

Thanks Walgreens!

Want to see more Drugstore Savings? Visit the "Cent"sible Sawyer's Drugstore Divas!

Admission

I know I coveted it. I begged for it. I blogged for it.

And I finally got it.

But I don't entirely like it. The Couponizer.

I love the money I save using coupons. It takes work, but as a stay-at-home-mom, I consider it part of my job to make the most of the one income we have. So, coupons. It's not for everyone, but I've grown to love the process. But not the disorganization that happened because I dove into the deep end. Total immersion into the coupon culture.

I've search all over YouTube, frugal blogs, coupon blogs, etc. for a coupon sorting system that would work for me. The Couponizer seemed to be the be all, end all, and I was eager to try it.

But here's why it sucks for me. I hate to cut coupons. The Couponizer needs you to cut all the coupons you file in it.

I use The Grocery Game to stockpile food deals and I like how it allows me to cut only the coupons I use. But I also need a way to quickly and easily sort through and keep track of all the other coupons I use at CVS and Walgreens.

I've decided to start my own system. When the Smart Source(SS), Red Plum(RP), and Procter & Gamble(PG) come in the Sunday paper, I'm entering all the coupons into an Access database. I'll be able to search it by publication date, source packet(SS,RP,PG), product type, expiration date, product name, quantity of coupons, etc. The time spent entering these once a week will be an hour at most.

Then all the coupon packets will get put into an accordion file(uncut) by source packet and then by packet date. When I need I coupon, I can search the database, pull the correct source packet, cut the coupon, return the source packet to the file, and go shop. No cutting a million little squares, no scissor blisters.

Never fear about The Couponizer being wasted though. All those random coupons that I get in the mail with samples, the blinkys from the grocery store aisles, and the ones I pull from magazines will get sorted in it. These loose coupons will also be entered into the database, but their "source" will list TC(The Couponizer).

It's taken some work, but I think I'm one my way to a system that's finally going to work for me. Yay!

Soaking Saturday

Man, the rain has just poured buckets today! I had to do my Walgreens, Kroger, and Target deal runs this morning in the rain, but afterward I just settled into the sofa with discounted Coke Zero to watch SEC games. I literally dreamed about the Auburn game last night - that I was watching it, cheering, and teaching the Punkinhead about the game. I'm so glad fall is here. It's always my favorite season.

I'm on a "saving money" push for the next week or so to try to only buy Punkinhead's milk at the grocery store in the next week and really use the great bargains I've stockpiled in the freezer and the pantry. Let's call it Eat Your Freezer Week!

To that end, we did the ol' comfort food meal of spaghetti and meat sauce. I think I could serve this to Buzzkill EVERY night and he'd be in heaven.

So, I racked up at Walgreens today. I spent $50.65 out of pocket for merchandise that would have cost me $200.30 at full price. Plus I have the monthly Easysaver rebate items that will give me $25.76 back at the end of the month. So, really I got $200.30 worth of items for $24.89!!!!!!

I had one last 50 cent coupon for a 4 pack of Cottonelle toilet paper to use at Kroger today. It was $1.21, so with Kroger double coupons, I paid 21 cents. I'm going to miss my little stockpile of Cottonelle coupons.....

Target was good. I did some diaper and bottle scenarios to get 2 $5.00 gift cards. I also took advantage of some of this week's baby-themed sales for some baby shower gifts. It wasn't a money-maker day a Target, but some good, solid deals I'm content with. According to Penny Pinching Parent I got LUVS for 6 cents below standard per diaper cost. I don't think I'm going to be really satisfied with diaper costs again after last month's Walgreens 10 cent per diaper bargain. They've ruined me for standard, run-of-the-mill sales.