The undisclosed item was, indeed, not in stock. Worse yet, my particular store doesn't even carry said item so a raincheck would be useless. I spoke with the store manager about it and he said they can't even order them in. What I'll do is check with some other area stores to see which ones, if any, carry said item and I'll try to get it elsewhere.
CVS wasn't a wash, though. I abandoned my carefully laid out plan and winged it due to a couple surprises and wound up with a fantastic deal off the cuff.
Let's begin.
CVS
6 Skippy peanut butter $10
1 Herbal Essence conditioner $2.99
7 Diet Pepsi $6.93
1 package 6 mega roll Scott paper towels $4.99
1 bag Godiva truffles $4.99
Subtotal $29.90
Total after coupons $13.40, received $9 ECBs ($3 Skippy, $2 HE, $4 Xmas book)
OOP $4.40
Shelf price: $47.32
Total: $13.40
Rewards earned: $9
Out of pocket: $4.40 for a savings of $42.92 or 91%!!
Look at the bottom of the loot stack photo - you'll see a CVS catalog with "100s of gifts under $10" on the cover. There were stacks of these in the rack with the sales circulars in store as well as a stack at each register. Inside each catalog is a store coupon to receive a $4 ECB when you spend $20. You should grab one catalog for each CVS card you have. If you only have one card, it will probably be worth it to have your spouse (or child, or dog) sign up for a new one so you can use that $4/$20 on each card.
I got a $5 off $25 coupon from CVS in my email this morning (good for today only!) which I was very excited about because it would work perfectly with the trip I had planned. Due to the undisclosed item being unavailable at my store, everything was thrown off. I had $12.99 worth of stuff in my bag - the Skippy and the conditioner. Andy and I pondered over the sale circular back by the clearance section, trying to figure out if we could make something work. After a minute, he said "Ummmm," and pointed behind us; Pepsi 2 liters on sale for $.99ea. The lightbulb flickered on. We buy the stuff anyway - if we got 7 of them and a small filler, we could use the $4 ECB back coupon. And since that would bring our total to about $20, we could find a $5 item, use the $5 off $25 coupon and get that for free. Right on the front of the circular was the Scott paper towels on sale for $4.99. We were down to our last two rolls so they were desperately needed. I went to find the towels, Andy grabbed a cart and loaded it with 7 Diet Pepsis, and I suggested we find some cheap candy to make up the $.09 to get us up to $25.
"If we're gonna get candy let's get the good stuff," Andy insisted. The coupon kiosk (aka the Magic Coupon Machine) had spit out a $1 off coupon for Godiva truffles. Those were on sale for $4.99 and that's what he wanted to get as our filler. If we'd gone with a single cheap candy bar our out of pocket on this would have been under a buck, but what can ya do? $4.40 for 6 jars of Skippy, a bottle of conditioner, 7 bottles of soda, a big pack of paper towels, and a bag of fancy chocolate is alright by me!
Walgreens - exactly as planned yesterday.
Transaction 1
2 bottles Nyquil $10
1 bottle Gain $.89
2 BC powder $3.98
2 packages paper plates $1.78 (filler)
Subtotal $16.65
Total after coupons $10.65, received $5 RR back
Transaction 2
2 bottles Nyquil $10
1 package paper plates $.89
Subtotal $10.89
Total after coupons $7.89, received $5 RR back
Shelf price: $41.50And finally the big, insane trip to Rite Aid!
Total: $18.54
Earned rewards: $10
Out of pocket: $8.54
Transaction 1
5 Thermacare $24.95
1 Blistex $1.50
2 plastic tumblers w/autumn leaves $.30 (clearance)
2 General Mills cereal $4
Subtotal $30.75
Total after coupons $8.75, received back $12 +UP ($10 Thermacare, $1 cereal, $1 Blistex)
Transaction 2
8 Herbal Essence shampoos/conditioners $23.92
2 Samy conditioning treatment $10.58 (raincheck item)
2 boxes General Mills cereal $4
Subtotal $38.50
Total after coupons & raincheck $16.20, received back $19 +UP ($1 cereal, two $1 SAMY, eight $2 HE)
Transaction 3
8 Herbal Essence shampoos/conditioners $23.92
2 boxes General Mills cereal $4
Subtotal $27.92
Total after coupons $16.92, received back $17 +UP ($1 cereal, eight $2 HE)
Shelf price: $148.10Yes, thank you for paying me six bucks to take $150 worth of stuff out of the store, Rite Aid!
Total: $41.87
Rewards earned: $48
$6.13 profit!!
I had absolutely zero trouble finding everything I needed. There was so much Herbal Essence on the shelf I barely made a dent buying 16 bottles and didn't even need to look at the Aussie.
When I hit the Thermacare section, at first I was bummed to only see one of the neck/back kind; before getting to the store it had seemed that those were the only kind that would be on sale for $4.99ea. As I looked at the other types, though, I saw that a whole mess of them were at the correct price point to make this deal work and there were TONS of the back type on the shelf.
I'd been holding on to the Samy raincheck for a few weeks now, and today there were two of the kind I liked on the shelf. My raincheck is for four, but they just issued me a new one for the remaining two. I'm not sure what the hell the store manager (who was running the register) did when she checked me out for these, but holy crap. The raincheck is for buy one get one free at $5.29. The Samy products I chose were on sale for $4.29ea. She rang them up, took off $5.29 for the raincheck amount, and I wound up paying $3.29 for the pair (with two $2 off coupons) so I got $.72 overage - AND a $1 +UP for each. They paid me $2.72 to take 'em!
I wish I'd grabbed more of the clearance tableware. I had no idea they were marked down to 90% off! The tumbler cups were only $.15ea and they're really nice quality! There were bowls and other stuff too. I should've bought 'em all up. I may have to go back later this week and get what's left...
The Blistex is an oddity this week. It's advertised 2 for $3 and get a $1 +UP when you buy two. I read on another blog that someone had bought one and received a $1 +UP. $.50 is a marginally passable price for this, but I didn't particularly need any. When paying for my first transaction in +UPs, I was $.75 over and needed to either pay $4.25 cash or find a quick filler to make up the difference to use the $5 +UP. There was Blistex at the register so I grabbed one. Sure enough, I got the $1 +UP for it!
LATE EDIT: Blistex is no longer producing $1 +UP per tube, it's been changed to the advertised $1 for two tubes
And now the totals for the day:
Shelf price: $236.92
Total: $73.81
Rewards earned: $67
Out of pocket: $6.81 for a savings of $230.11 or 97%!!
Holy crap, I didn't figure I'd do quite that well today!
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