If only it were always this easy...

Rite Aid is a moneymaking machine this week! Seriously, I wonder how the registers are holding up after having that surgery to convert them all to ATMs. And I didn't even have the best possible coupons for matching up- the madness! Of course, I did have my favorite cashiers at each store.

Also, these are really low OOP scenarios even if you don't have any UP+ bucks yet. And, if you have an FSA debit card w/ moola on it, they'll actually be 0.00 OOP!

As an added bonus, if you haven't done the skincare rebate yet, you could seriously go buy Garnier face washes all over town and turn a profit on that deal this week.

Store 1:
$6.99 Garnier Nutripure cleanser
$9.99 Dulcolax
$10.00 Zegrid
-$5/25 RA Q
-$5 Garnier RA Q
-$1 Garnier MQ (from inserts)
-$5 Dulcolax MQ (from All you)
-$3 Zegrid RA Q
-$4 Zegrid MQ (from inserts)
-$2 UP+ rewards
=$1.28 + tax on my FSA debit (as both Zegrid and Dulcolax count for FSA)
Now, had I been a good couponer and watched the RA video for the $2 Garnier coupon, I could have tried to use that too (but YMMV as you're already using the $5 RA Q on it) and gotten the same OOP w/o using an UP+ reward. I also could have tried buying two and using two $5 RA Q's to get the $3 UP+, but my brain wasn't quite there yet.
Got back $7 UP+ for Zegrid, will get back $9.99 SCR for Dulcolax, and the Garnier counts toward the skincare rebate I finished up with these transactions.

Store 2:
$6.99 Garnier clenser
$10.49 Neutrogena sunscreen
$3.99 Pantene hairspray
$5.99 Motrin PM 20 ct
-$5/25 RA Q
-$5 RA Garnier Q
-$2 RA Neutrogena suncare Q
-$2 Pantene MQ (Parade insert)
-$3 RA Motrin Q
-$1 Motrin MQ
-$7 UP+ rewards from Store 1
=$2.26 + tax on my FSA debit (b/c OOP was less than the Motrin PM price)
Got back $2 UP+ for Pantene, $2 UP+ for Motrin PM, and have now finished the skincare rebate.
If you don't want the Neutrogena, $8.03 of anything else would get you to the $25 mark, but for me it pushed me over the edge for the skincare rebate, and it is my fav-orite sunscreen.

Fruit Bars

I had a $5 RR expiring yesterday that I'd gotten from buying the Gillette razor. Sadly that was the only RR producing item that caught my eye at all, so I had to just burn it, but I did so on yumminess! WAGS has the Dreyer fruit bars on sale this week for $2.50, so I bought 2 boxes and paid $0.00 OOP! This is a pretty decent price for these, and they are just what I need when I come inside on a hot day!

As for today, I stopped by RA and spent all of my $30 in UP+ rewards from buying all that John Frieda.
Trans 1:
$7.99 Oral B Cross Action Power toothbrush
$7.29 Renu Sensitive
$2.49 Crest 3D Vivid White
$8.99 Neutrogena Sunscreen
-$5/25 Q
-$3 Oral B Q
-$2 Renu Q
-$0.75 Crest Q
-$10 UP+ bucks
=6.01 + tax, paid $8.62 OOP
Got $2 UP+ for Crest, and will get $7.29 SCR for Renu, $4 SCR for Oral B, and begin earning the suncare gift card (yes, I'm a late starter on that deal)

Trans 2:
3*$8.99 Neutrogena Sunscreen
-$5/25 Q
-$20 UP+ bucks
=$1.97 + tax, paid $4.11

I now have $35.96 towards the $50 of qualifying items for the sun/skin care GC deal, which will give me a $25 (hopefully $30 since I'm using my UP+ card) RA GC for buying this stuff. There have been better deals in the past to get to this $50 mark (and is another good one next week), but my skin gets along with neutrogena sunscreen best, and this makes it a great price overall for my sunscreen.

John to the Frieda!

I LOVE this shampoo, and love it even more when I'm paid to buy it! FYI the conditioners with the combs attatched DO work for the rewards, and my cashier told me they are great combs.



3 seperate transactions here, but all identical:

4 John Frieda Root Awakening shampoo/conditioner
-$5/20 Rite Aid Q
-4* $3 JF Qs
=$3.00 subtotal + $1.46 tax = $4.46 OOP
Got back $10 Up+ rewards on each transaction, for a total profit of $16.62.

I also stopped by and picked up some papers on the way home, because silly annathy forgot to get them while at Rite Aid. CVS was out, so I ended up buying them at Pavillions (safeway) which has raised their price to $2 a paper, learned that I won't be buying them there anymore.

Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to buy with that $30 in UP+ rewards... time to start looking at previews!

My favorite Produce place

Is a little store called Sprouts. They're a chain found in Cali, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas. I find that the produce there is cheaper than the big Kroger/Ralph's or Safeway/Vons stores, and it is usually better too. Sorry there is no pic today, all this was in the fridge way before I thought about that.

Yesterday on my way home I picked up:
2 6 oz containers raspberries, $1.50 ea
1 6 oz container blueberries, $1.50 ea
1 eggplant, $1.69 ea
4 Nectarines, $0.49/lb
1 bunch asparagus, $1.99/lb
3 roma tomatoes, $0.99/lb
4 avocados, $0.77 ea
For a grand total of $12.46 for my produce this week.

For a comparison, the big stores are advertising avocados for $1.25 ea and blueberries for $2.99 per container this week. Ouch!

Yum... I love summer and all the wonderful fresh fruit and veggies that go with it.

John Frieda & Singer

Just a quick trip to WAGS today. It pains me a little bit inside to pay for shampoo, but I really love John Frieda's root awakening stuff! Plus, I have had no luck finding cheap neutrogena or the survey in the gillette, so I needed to burn RR's on something!



$15 for 3 JF Shampoo (the first two rang up as 5.99, third as 3.02)
$1.00 clearanced Singer iron-on patches
$0.20 clearanced knee-highs
-3*$2/1 JF coupons (I'm out of the $3/1 ones)
-$5 RR
-$4 RR
=$1.20 + tax = $2.62 OOP, and got back $5 RR for the JF

So the JF shampoo I love, the knee-highs were just the cheapest filler I could find, and the Singer patches are for my around-the-house jeans, which I wear until they are so shamefully tattered that it would make your eyes hurt. I can't help it that jeans get softer as they age. Or that newer styles always seem to be all ripped up. Call me old fashioned, but I like my pants to be INTACT when I buy them.

FYI for you kids who actually sew (you'll notice the patches I bought were iron-on), there were a number of Singer brand things in the clearance section of my store for $1- needle multi-packs, oversized safety pins, things of that nature... so keep an eye out for some good fillers!

A little bit of everything

A picture! I still haven't found the cord for my camera, but guess what? My PHONE has a camera, and it can email them to me. Success!

This is yesterday's loot. Of course, I forgot to print out the $5/20 rite aid coupon, so I only bought the moneymakers at RA. Also, I had to put the "SWAGGER" body wash in front of our pirate wine holder. It's just the right thing to do.

Ride Aid 1:
$3.50 Old Spice
$3.50 Old Spice
$7.99 Blink Tears
-$3.50 BOGO OS Q
-$2 Blink Q
=$9.49 + tax, put $8.77 (the Blink) on my FSA debit, and $2.18 on a RA GC. No OOP!
Got $4 Up+ bucks back, and will get $7.99 SCR back

Rite Aid 2:
$3.50 Old Spice
$3.50 Old Spice
-$4.79 BOGO OS Q (cashier put in shelf price)
=2.21 + tax, put $2.89 on GC, and got $4 Up+ bucks back

WAGS:
$5.00 John Frieda (30% more bottles don't work for the RR per frugalsuz)
$5.00 John Frieda
$5.00 John Frieda
$9.99 Gillette ProGlide
$0.39 WAGS starlight mints (filler)
-3*$3.00 JF Q's
-$4 Gillette Q
-$10 RR from Neutrogena bars
=$2.38 + tax, paid $4.71 OOP
Got $5 RR for JF, and $5 RR for Gillette

CVS:
$2.50 Dove Dark Chocolate bag
$2.50 Dove Dark Chocolate bag
-$4.99 EB
=$0.01! Paid with one shiney penny from my purse. I'd been toying with retiring this card, and this was my last EB on it, so they lured me back with a $5/$15 that printed on this receipt. Also, I don't know if my green tags are transferrable to a new card, and I have 3 of them, so probably no card retiring for me.

And now, for today's loot!




A moneymakin' day! That $5/15 at CVS was burnin' a hole in my pocket, plus I remembered the $5/20 Rite Aid Q!

CVS:
$8.99 Venus razor- not a great deal, but with the $5/15 I couldn't pass it up. Love these!
$3.99 Rolaids
$3.99 Rolaids
-$5/15 CVS CRT
-$2 Venus Q
-$4/2 Rolaids Q
=$5.97 + tax, paid $7.02 OOP. My reciept notes that 7.02 was FSA eligible because of the Rolaids, so if I'd been thinking I'd have paid with my FSA debit. Oh well.
Got back $4 EBs for Rolaids, $4 EBs for Venus, and I came up on my next $1 EB for my green bag tags.

Rite Aid 1:
$3.50 OS Body Wash
$3.50 OS Body Wash
$9.99 Gillette ProGlide
$4.99 JF Shampoo (I did go for the 30% more bottle here)
-$3.50 BOGO OS Q
-$4 Gillette Q
-$3 JF Q
-$4 Up+ bucks from yesterday
-$5/20 RA Q
=2.48 + tax, paid 3.97 OOP
Got $4 Up+ bucks back, and will get $5.00 SCR for Razor and $1 SCR for JF

Rite Aid 2:
$3.50 OS Body Wash
$3.50 OS Body Wash
$0.99 Act II popcorn
-$3.50 BOGO OS Q
-$4 Up+ bucks from yesterday
=0.49 + tax, paid $1.10 OOP
Got $4 Up+ bucks back, and will now- hopefully- qualify for $5 RA GC SCR for buying $25 of qualifying P&G Products.

If you're still with me, thanks so much for reading! I know I've been a touch (cough, cough, understatement) out of it lately with all the family stuff, work, and my whole camera-cord issue. Plus, this is really long today.

Thanks agin guys!
Annathy

Frozen Dinners, yum!

Okay, not exactly yum! but they are good enough for lunch when I don't feel like making anything myself. This has basically been it for me this week since I can't find my 4/18 insert, which seems to have all the Q's for the sales this week. Oops.

Target:
7*$1.89 Smart Ones Frozen Meal
3*$2.25 Smart Ones Frozen Meal
$2.39 Aluminum Foil (needed it)
-$4.00/10 Smart Ones Manf. Q
-$0.05 Bag discount
+$0.20 tax on foil
=$18.52 OOP, and got back a $5 Target GC for buying the Smart Ones.

I'm not sure which ones were $2.25, but the ad did say some varieties were still that price, so I'll need to note the shelf better in the future- I'm not that picky on which ones I get. Still, with the coupon and gift card I paid just over $1 per meal, which in my area is a great price on these.

Also, the manf. coupon was a peelie from a Smart Ones I bought at Target awhile ago, so your Target may still have the peelies on them, especially if they don't do a lot of turnover on those items. I do not remember exactly when I got it, but I don't feel like it could have been too long ago.

Happy Hounding!
Annathy