We got 5 bottles Gain dish soap, 6 Renuzit pop up air fresheners, 3 tubes Crest toothpaste, 6 boxes General Mills cereal, and 1 20oz Diet Pepsi (I was thirsty!).
Everything but the cereal was done in one transaction. We received $5 back in +UPs (Rite Aid reward dollars) which we used to pay for part of the cereal.
Rite Aid trip:
Shelf price: $52.60
Cash paid: $18.18
Remaining rebates: $2
True out of pocket cost: $16.18 for a savings of 69.24%
We get a $2 rebate for buying the cereal, which is an odd thing to get a rebate on but I'll take it!
(yes, this was a bit of a change from my original plan at Walgreens, but this worked out to a better deal overall.)
Next we hit the grocery store.
Now folks, I'm not exaggerating here. We each had a cart. We were pushing two big grocery carts around the store and we LOADED THEM THE HELL UP. Poor Andy, who was Cart Number One, was in serious danger of losing items from his overflowing buggy. Seriously. I rolled some OYNOs so each cart was a separate transaction, but everything wouldn't have fit in a single cart regardless. When we finally headed home, the entire trunk of the car and the entire back seat of the car were both packed full of bags.
This was monstrous.
It was so monstrous I couldn't fit everything in the photo.
Not pictured or partially pictured: 17 cans diced tomato, 4.5lbs ground beef, 2 gallons milk, 1 carton sour cream, onions, Romaine lettuce, 5 bottles Diet Pepsi, 6 packages Ziploc storage containers, 16 bags frozen veggies, 20lb bag of cat food.
In the grocery category we've got 15 boxes pasta*, 8 boxes cereal, 4 bags Pepperidge Farm cookies, 8 packages Pillsbury Sweet Moments*, 2 cartons Greek yogurt*, 1 bottle Sierra Mist*, 1 package Tic Tacs*, 3 pouches tuna*, 1 package taco seasoning*, 2 enchilada sauces, 2 boxes taco shells, 6 boxes pizza rolls, 5 4-packs of yogurt parfaits, 1 bottle ketchup, 3.5lb bag Iams cat food
In the health & beauty category we've got 8 boxes sinus medicine ($.50ea!), 11 tubes toothpaste*, 6 sticks deodorant*, 2 boxes Playtex*, 1 bottle Advil*, 1 bottle Tide stain treatment ($.99!), 5 bottles Gain dish soap*, 6 Renuzit air fresheners ($.33ea), 1 bottle conditioner*
*Free after sales & coupons
And, honestly, I'm pretty sure I've forgotten some of it.
Grocery trip:
Shelf price: $320.07
Cash paid: $98.59
Remaining OYNOs: $3
True out of pocket cost: $95.59, for a savings of 70.14%
The sinus medicine was a pretty incredible deal. They're normally $6.19 per box, but were on sale for $5ea. I had coupons for $4 off of each one, plus an additional $4 bonus savings on all 8, making them $.50 each. These are Vicks brand, not some no-name knockoff. That's a good enough deal, but wait! To make it even sweeter, for each two purchased you receive a $4 OYNO for health and beauty.
(note: most OYNOs are for pretty much anything in the store except alcohol, cigarettes, etc. Some promotions, including this one, give OYNOs that can only be used towards health & beauty such as feminine care, hair care, over the counter medications, and so on.)
So, not only did it cost $4 for all 8 boxes of sinus medicine, but we received $16 back to use on our next health & beauty purchase. I had the Vicks rung up in the first transaction, and in the 2nd transaction I used that $16 to buy the two boxes of Playtex($9), the 6 deodorants($6), and the bottle of conditioner($1) - making all those items free!
Another fun deal was the Pillsbury Sweet Moments. These are little bite-size brownie things - they looked good, but there was no way I could justify spending $3 per package for them. Well, this week they were on sale 4 for $10. If you purchased 4 and a gallon of milk, you got $3.50 off. I had a bunch of $1 off coupons, plus a couple more $1 bonus coupons loaded onto my store's loyalty card. So for one grouping it was $12.50 for the milk & brownies, less $4 in regular coupons, less $2 in bonus coupon, less $3.50 instant discount, bringing the total to $3 for four packages of brownies & a gallon of milk. We buy the milk at $2.50-3.00 every week no matter what, so for $.50-free more we got a bunch of brownie bites. We split that up into both transactions, getting 2 milks and 8 packages of brownies for $6.
The frozen veggies are going to kill me...or at least my freezer space. 8 for $8 on Birdseye Steamfresh veggies this week, and for each 8 you get a $3 OYNO back. $5 for 8 bags of veg is good, but I had additional coupons - four $1 off 3 and one $1 off 2. $16 less $6 in OYNOs less $5 in coupons = $5 total for 16 bags. I'm making a big chicken & veggie lasagna for my grandparents' birthday dinner this weekend to use some of them up!
Pasta was on sale for $1 per box. I had ten $.50 off coupons and five $.55 off coupons, both of which doubled. $15 in pasta less $15.50 in coupons....they paid me to take 15lbs of pasta out of the store.
The Ziploc storage containers were another good find. For months now, I've been saying that I want to get rid of our old plastic storage containers; half are missing the lids, some are warped, some are stained with tomato sauce...I just wanted new ones. Well, the multipacks went on sale this week for $2.50, and I had six $.75 off coupons plus a couple additional $.50 off bonus coupons loaded onto my loyalty card. They came out to under a buck each - 20 containers total for less than $6, and now I get to toss the old crappy storage containers!
They were out of the $.99 laundry detergent I'd wanted to get. Normally I'd get a raincheck, but it's not a brand we prefer so I let it go. If another sale comes up before the coupons expire I'll try again, but I'm not sweatin' it.
I got so much free toothpaste the last two weeks we won't need to worry about it for -literally!- 2 or 3 years. Any further free toothpaste finds will be donated to a local woman's shelter.
We're good on deodorant for a year now. I'll keep watching for more freebies to bring us up to 2 years' worth, then donate any other freebies like with the toothpaste.
Now, drumroll please....
Total for the sale week 10/7-10/13And that's it. We're done for the week.
Shelf price: $372.67
Out of pocket cost: $112.77, for a savings of $259.90, or 70%
I keep saying I don't need to buy much next week but meat, milk & produce and they keep having these amazing sales. Maybe next week it'll be true....
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