I was finally able to limp out of the house for the first time last Thursday and do a little shopping!
I had grand plans to use my $25 prescription gift card from Walgreens to stock up on some grocery items that I needed – I was up there to see the podiatrist anyway, so it would have worked out perfectly. But we had to scrap that because it was starting to snow and get icy, and we wanted to get back before it got too bad. The coast doesn’t usually get a lot of snow, so this is a little unusual for us.

I figured I could just do some deals at Safeway instead, since that’s close to home. But we were in a hurry to get there, since the weather was getting progressively worse and we wanted to finish shopping before it got really bad. As a result, I didn’t have time to work out any great coupon deals, and I ended up spending more in one trip that I have in a long time. Here’s the breakdown:

Rite Aid:

Total spent: $9.99 – no coupons, sadly. But this does apply towards my “Gift of Savings” rebate.
View receipt

Got:

1 box of hair bleach – time to touch up my roots!

Safeway:

Total spent: $33.42
Total before coupons: $41.16
View receipt

Got:

1 package of tortillas
1 bag of cheese
1 carton of egg nog – I was feeling festive!
A six-pack of yoghurt – used a free yoghurt coupon that I won in a giveaway from Laura Williams’ Musings
A four-pack of yoghurt smoothies – on sale for $2.50, had a .75 cent manager markdown because of its 12/22 sell-by date. I needed lots of yoghurt because I was starting antibiotics, and this helps settle your stomach when you’re taking them.
1 tub of petroleum jelly – this is a must have when you’re bleaching your hair; It protects your hairline from irritation.
1 package of cotton swabs
1 package of Always pads – Regular price $6.29, stacked a $3 off Always catalina that I had received previously with a $1/1 e-coupon. This was my first attempt using e-coupons, and on my receipt it showed up as “Club Card” savings, without any special notation that it was an e-coupon.
1 package of first aid tape
1.43 pounds of broccoli
1 bunch of green onions
.59 pounds of yellow onion
1 Avocado
1 head of garlic
1.09 pounds of tomatoes
A 10 pound bag of potatoes

This one trip cost as much as my entire budget for the months of September and October combined!! Ugh. But I think it’s important to realize that it’s OK to pay more during those times when it’s just not feasible to bargain shop. I may be Super Coupon Girl, but when I’m limping through ice and snow in a soggy slipper – since I still can’t get my foot into a shoe – even I throw up my hands. I also wanted to make sure that we were well-stocked on produce and so forth, since I wasn’t sure how bad the weather was going to get. But because I save so much on the majority of my trips and have a stockpile to help me, it doesn’t break the bank to have an expensive month because of uncontrollable circumstances.

So what’s the weather like where you guys live? Have you been hit by a snowstorm yet? We normally don’t get much in the way of snow here, so this past week has been a bit unusual. I’ve never seen a snowman on the beach before:

I’m still limping around too much to go shopping, but here’s a trip from earlier last week when I was more mobile:

Total spent: $6.68
Total before coupons: $10.31
View receipt

Got:

.43 pounds of organic, fair trade coffee
1 bottle of Coffee Mate – on sale for $2.50, used a $1/1 printable, which doubled. Coffee Mate has extra $1/1 coupons that you can print as part of their promotion for the holiday flavors – so if you’ve hit your print limit on the others, check the new one out!
1 bag of Fresh Gourmet crispy onion salad toppings – on sale for $2.79, used a .55/1 printable, which doubled.
.24 pounds of green beans – used a peelie coupon good for .55 cents off green beans with the purchase of Fresh Gourmet salad toppings. The green beans were only .72 cents, and the coupon doubled, resulting in .33 cents of overage.

Next stop, Rite Aid –

Total spent: $4.84 – but I will get back $2 in rebates.
Total before coupons: $9.59
View receipt

Got:

1 package of Kotex – on sale for $3.59, used a .75/1 coupon that I received in the mail.
1 tube of Maybelline lipstick – on sale for $6, used a $4/1 coupon from the 12/7 Red Plum newspaper inserts. And I will get a $2 rebate back, making it free! See, at least I didn’t miss all the free lipstick deals last week!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to walk around normally in the next few days. In the meantime, Jai has been picking up groceries as needed, so the budget for December will reflect that accordingly.

Safeway:

Total spent: .97 cents
Total before coupons: $38.50

View receipt #1
View receipt #2
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View receipt #5
View receipt #6
View receipt #7

Got:

24 boxes of Ronzoni pasta – on sale for $1.50, used 24 $1/1 coupons from the 10/5 Smart Source newspaper inserts. Free after coupon and doubles!
1 bottle of Coffee Mate – on sale for $2.50, used a $1/1 printable coupon – making the final price .97 cents after coupon, doubles, and bag credit.

I’ve been hanging onto my Ronzoni coupons, waiting for it to go back on sale. So if any of my readers who shop at Safeway still have these coupons, go get your free pasta!

Rite Aid:

Total spent: $5.00. But I will get back a $5 rebate, making it free!

View receipt

Got:

1 surge protector

For some reason, the surge protector was ringing up $16, even though it was supposed to be on sale for $5. The cashier manually overrode the price, and I asked if that would affect the rebate. She said no, because I did get the correct product for the rebate, so I should still receive the $5 rebate as advertised. But if I have any problems, I can always take it back.
They were all out of the headphones that were free after rebate this week, but I got a rain check for it which will allow me to get them for free once they restock.

Also, Rite Aid is running a promotion called “The Gift of Savings”, where you can receive gift certificates for making purchases at Rite Aid through December 24. Check out this page on I Heart Rite Aid for the full scoop!

I’m pretty well stocked on food at the moment, so my first trip for the month was just a quick run to Safeway yesterday to get some milk & creamer:

Total Spent: $3.31
Total before coupons: $13.06
View receipt

Got:

1 gallon of milk
1 16 ounce bottle of Coffee Mate – On sale for $2.50, used a .75/1 catalina that I received the last time I bought Coffee-Mate at Safeway.
3 trial-sized packets of Airborne – on sale for $2.19, used three $2/1 coupons from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts. Free plus .31 cents overage each after doubles.
1 Zone bar – on sale for $1, and I used a $1 off coupon from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts. But I feel really bad – when I was checking through my inserts just now, I realized that this coupon expired on October 31st!!! I didn’t even think to check the expiration date!! No one else noticed either, so my coupon was scanned and doubled by another .50 cents. I’m sorry, Safeway!
1 Always pad – free with club card!

This was a pretty expensive trip, by my standards. I haven’t seen any unmissable deals so far this week. The “Home For The Holidays” promo is interesting, but I wasn’t wowed by any of the products listed in the ad. The good news is, there are a ton of participating products tagged all through the store. Safeway often has a “master list” of participating products for these store-sponsored catalina promos, and if you inquire at the customer service desk and they have it available, I guess sometimes they will make a copy for you. I’m going to look into this the next time I’m in there, or if another blogger gets the list and posts it, I will be sure to pass on the link. Once we know what all of the participating items are, it will be easier to identify any good deals.

I wouldn’t have even needed to buy the milk, except that the last gallon of milk I bought went bad sooner than I thought. I read the expiration date wrong in the store, and I thought it was good until next week…but no. I had to throw away about a third of a gallon. I really need to be careful when I buy milk at Walgreens – half the time the milk at my store is already expired when it’s on the shelf!

The deal with the Always pads is worth noting. Safeway has started offering free samples with your club card – there was a display of these in the feminine hygiene section. You can have one free sample per club card, or pay a small amount without a club card. The only problem was that instead of ringing up free, it came up .25 cents; but customer service quickly fixed this for me. They refunded me the quarter that I overpaid and marked the return on the original receipt, but I did not a get a receipt for the refund itself.

Next, I had to make a quick stop at Rite Aid. Forgive the terrible photo:

Total spent: $2.42 – no coupons, alas!
View receipt

Got 1 package of first aid gauze bandage

Not much I could do about this one. I needed first aid gauze for an owie, and had no gauze coupons, so I just got the cheapest one I could find.

Here’s my big Rite Aid trip from Sunday:

Total spent: $133.21. But you can pick your jaw up from the floor – because I’m getting $140.21 back in rebates!
Total before coupons: $140.21
View receipt – I had to fold the receipt in half to fit it all in. I also blacked out my debit card number.

This was the “Free After Rebate” bonanza that I mentioned! I was in Rite Aid right when they opened to snag all the deals. And I got a ton of stuff:

1 bottle of Nighttime Theraflu
1 bottle of Sambucol immune system booster stuff
1 bottle of Buckley’s cough syrup
1 box of Sucrets throat soothing icy pops
Another brand of throat soothing icy pops – these may be aimed at kids, but I think they sound like a great idea for adults, too!
1 jar of Mentholatum rub
1 bottle of Little Colds cough syrup
1 bottle of Triaminic nightime cough syrup – all this cold medicine couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve almost finished this bottle off already! I know it’s kids medicine, but it’s the same ingredients as adult cough syrup – you just have to double the dose. And it tastes better. 😉
1 bottle of Children’s Advil
1 bottle of Chloraseptic Throat Numbing Spray
1 bag of Bee M.D. cough drops
1 bottle of 4 Way Nasal Decongestant
1 Neti Pot – this has got to be the strangest coupon item I’ve gotten yet. This is a tea pot – for your nose. I guess you stick it in your nose and it flushes your sinuses with saline?
1 box of Ayr saline stuff
1 Simply Saline kit
1 pediatric saline kit
1 bottle of Simply Saline allergy & sinus relief
1 bottle of Simply Saline cold formula
1 box of Breathe Again
1 box of Comtrex cold medicine
1 box of Zucol cold medicine
1 box of Sniffles ‘n Sneezes For Kids
1 box of Orajel cold sore treatment
1 tube of Novitra cold sore treatment
1 tube of Nexcare cold sore treatment
1 tube of Lizard Lips balm
1 tube of shimmery Chapstick
1 tube of LypSyl lip balm
1 2-pack of SoftLips lip balm

In addition to all of these items being free after rebate, I also used some coupons to result in a profit. A friend sent me a coupon that she found for $5 off a $25 or higher purchase at Rite Aid (Thanks, Cathy!), so used that, and also two $1 off “peelie” coupons that I found attached to two of the saline products in the store. I don’t have a personal need for some of this stuff – I’ve never used saline solution or had cold sores before – but I can give it to others, and everybody wins!

You may also notice that I don’t count money spent on rebate items as part of my budget. Why is this? The way I see it, when I buy normal items that I need for my household, that is money that is spent and gone. But money that is paid for rebate items is not gone – I get it right back, plus the products and often a cash profit as well. I see rebates as simply an investment of my money, not an expense.

This Rite Aid trip was a perfect example of this. I paid $133.21, but I’m getting $140.21 back – when was the last time you got $7 interest for keeping your money in the bank for a month? Not to mention that I have $140 worth of merchandise as well! And in case you’re wondering how often these rebates actually come back, this rebate has already been processed and is ready to be claimed. Here’s a screen capture from my status page on the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate website:

I could request my rebates right away, but I’m going to wait until the end of this month’s rebate period – you can’t claim rebates at Rite Aid more than once per period, and I’m sure there will be other rebates deals that I’ll want to do this month, so I will wait and claim them all at once.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that rebate items are paid for using the “mad money” part of my budget, so to speak. That’s the wiggle room in my budget after factoring in all bills, expenses, savings, and so on. After all, it would be counter-productive to invest money in rebates if it took away from another area in my budget.

After all the fun at Rite Aid, I stopped by Safeway to pick up the Sunday newspaper:

Total spent: .29 cents
Total before coupons: $14.08
View receipt – I paid in exact change, but the cashier accidentally punched in “$29.00” instead of .29 cents, in case anyone was wondering about that!

Got:

2 Glade plug-ins – used one “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon from the 9/28 newspaper inserts
1 Sunday Newspaper

For this transaction, I just rolled two of the $4 catalinas that I had from the last time I did this Glade deal, and used them to pay for the Plug-in and newspaper. I then got two more $4 catalinas back!