Rite Aid Run - $53 for $3

After last week's whirlwind, I'm glad it was a slow week!  Now, what to do with 36 packs of gum....? 

Rite Aid - shelf price $52.82

36 packs Trident Vitality gum - $1.29ea, BOGO sale $23.22
2 Scunci 6pk girls' hair bands - $1.97ea (with 10% discount), $3.94
1 Johnson & Johnson cotton swabs - $.99 (raincheck)
2 kitchen tools - $.90ea (with 10% discount), $1.80
Subtotal $29.95, less 18 BOGO Vitality coupons
Total $6.73, received back $4 +UPs ($2ea for Scunci hair bands)
Out of pocket $2.73

As always, you can use a BOGO coupon on a BOGO sale at Rite Aid to get both items for free!  I had more coupons but wound up giving a few to my favorite cashier so she could get some gum as well.

These kitchen tools are new at my Rite Aid.  They're a buck each normal price, $.90 with my 10% discount, and they seem like okay quality so we figured we'd give them a try.  We needed an extra slotted spoon, and I always need more rubber spatulas!


Saturday I made one last run to Walgreens with my mom to get just a little more Almay makeup, and I also had to stop at Rite Aid to spend $17 in expiring +UPs.

At Walgreens (shelf price $53.93) we made a profit of $13.17 on 7 more Almay products.
At Rite Aid (shelf price $78.67) I spent $19.05 on some free after rebate Revlon emery boards, free after coupon/+UPs/rebate Lysol disinfecting wipes, a clearanced teapot shaped like a cupcake, a clearanced humungous 20oz coffee mug, and a clearanced heater marked down to $9.99 from $39.99!  I also finished my raincheck on Desitin ($.99ea) and got a couple packages of cotton swabs on raincheck.


We've got one more trip to the grocery store to take advantage of a couple sales before the end of the month, so I'll post our monthly spending later this week.  As long as we don't totally blow it at Giant Eagle, March is shaping up to be one of our best months of savings so far!!

Dual Drugstore Deals: $666 for a $45 profit!

This is me being exhausted and overwhelmed.

Three stores today to get everything.

First, Rite Aid coffee that my mom found at 2 stores for me.

Shelf price $74.85 for 15
After raincheck, sale & coupon it was $3.
Yes, $3.
Nine were on raincheck for $1.99 with a $2 coupon (adjusted to $1.99)
Six more were on sale this week for $2.50ea with a $2 coupon.

But Walgreens is where the insanity was.  Now I was able to get all my Walgreens done at one store which was stocked to the gills.  It was insane.  My mom and sister, on the other hand, hit 3 or 4 stores today .  Almay makeup is free at the very least, profitable if you have the right coupons.  They both prefer the Almay brand so they went on a big ol' hunt to stock up.

Just my items alone have a shelf price of $591.24

There's no way I can break this down into detailed transactions (I'll show you why in a minute) so here's a rundown of the deals.

Tena pads - $9.99ea with a $10 reward back, I had coupons for $2.50 off each.
Celadrin joint health 60ct is $10 with a $10 reward back.
Method hand soap is $2.99 with a $2 reward back.
I started by buying a Celadrin for $10 and using a $10 reward from last week's Excedrin deal to pay.
Then I got a Tena and a Method for $12.98, used a $2.50 Tena coupon, paid with the $10 reward from Celadrin for a total of $.48, and received another $10 reward back for the Tena and a $2 reward for the Method.
Then I bought another Celadrin with the Tena $10 reward.
Rinse and repeat.

Then there was the Almay.  All Almay is 30% off, and you receive a $5 reward back for each item.  There are also $2 Almay coupons available, and there's a $2 Almay store coupon in the new Spring Beauty book.  Remember, at Walgreens you can use a manufacturer's coupon (from the newspaper) and a store coupon on the same item.
If an item is normally $7.99, it's $5.59 with the 30% off sale.  Use a $2 manufacturer's coupon and a $2 store coupon and your total is $1.59, and you get a $5 reward back.  Even if you run out of manufacturer's coupons (which I did), you still turn profit using just the store coupon.
I got an ungodly amount of makeup.  Depending on the product, I used either the Plackers 90ct flossers ($2 with a $2 reward back) or various candy and one pair of socks as fillers.

In the end, my overall total was $296.96 (paid in RRs) and I received back $345 in rewards for a profit of $48.04.

Remember, at Walgreens you can only get one Register Reward per item per transaction.  All that Almay had to be purchased one individual item at a time.

See?  Those are my receipts from today.  There's no way I'm gonna type all that up into individual transactions, sorry!

We could have kept going.  There was so much Almay it wasn't even funny, but we'd been checking out for quite a bit of time and we'd run out of manufacturer's coupons.  We were only breaking even on the Almay items when you factor in fillers & tax so we just called it a day. 

Our cashier was ecstatic at all the makeup.  They're getting a bonus commission at the beauty counter for each Almay they sell, so in addition to all the shit I got paid to take today, the cashier is taking home an extra $50 or so in commissions just from our haul.

Subtotal $.08.  Hell yeah.

Review: Maybelline Super Stay 24 lip color

I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a makeup wearer.  Not only have I been a tomboy my entire life (seriously, I don't own a single skirt), but I really get annoyed when I spend half an hour getting myself all dolled up only to find creased eye shadow, smudged liner, and lips barren of lipstick within an hour.  Honestly, for my day-to-day existence, makeup just isn't worth it to me.

Lipstick has always been my biggest annoyance.  I love a pretty lip color, but I just don't like eating dinner and finding a red-streaked fork or a pink-ringed glass.  I don't want to eat my makeup.  With that in mind, I've since tended towards various subtle shades of lip gloss that can be easily wiped away and just as easily reapplied.  It's easier that way.

Maybelline asked me to try their new Super Stay 24 lip color and, when I agreed, they sent me several tubes in varying shades.  The literature included promised a lip color that stays in place for 24 hours, and I could only shake my head; I'd never heard of any lipstick that really stayed in place without being all gross.  I'm a trooper, though, so after reading over the materials I pulled out the tube of Everlasting Wine and decided to give this stuff a real workout.

10:30am: Apply lip color carefully.  It's more like a gloss in consistency at first, but dries quickly.  Apply the included lip balm.
10:35am: Notice that my chosen lip color clashes horribly with my red pajamas.  Rather than start my experiment over, decide to live with my fashion faux pas.
10:40am: Start in on a big ol' cup of coffee in a bone-colored mug.  No lip prints left on the mug.
11:45am: Finish third cup of coffee.  Still no lip prints.  A quick check in the mirror shows this stuff has lasted an hour through three cups of coffee with no change in appearance.
12:30pm: Sit down with a tuna salad sandwich on wheat.  Surely bread and tuna salad will smudge this stuff, right?  I eat as messily as possible.
12:45pm: The Maybelline is still in place.  The sandwich didn't make a dent.
3:15pm: Andy gets home from work and gives me a weird look.  "Are...are you wearing lipstick?" he asks.  I make kissy faces at him and, after he returns from racing away in terror at the prospect of lipstick prints, I explain the experiment.  He continues to look at me oddly.
4pm: Eat a handful of potato chips, drink some Diet Coke.  Nearly six hours and it still looks like I've just applied lipstick a moment earlier.  Reapply lip balm.
6:30pm: Finish eating pasta for dinner, plenty of slurping.  The lip color is still unchanged from 10:30am.  Read literature more closely to determine how to remove the cosmetic and discover it calls for an oil-based makeup remover.
6:45pm: I have no makeup remover.  Idly wonder if I'll be wearing permanent lip color, then shrug and drink a mug of milk.  Milk tastes better from a coffee mug, and the Maybelline stays in place.
8:30pm: After running several loads of laundry, take a break for a phone call with Mom.  Tell her about my experiment, and she can't stop laughing at me for wearing lipstick while doing laundry.  Andy continues to look at me oddly.
9pm: Kiss Andy goodnight.  He instinctively wipes at his face to remove the lipstick prints that aren't there.  It's been nearly 12 hours and this stuff really is staying in place through everything.
10:30pm: Mirror check, reapply lip balm.  It looks like I've just freshly applied lipstick.  Acknowledge that I'll probably be wearing this to bed and make a halfhearted plan to go out for makeup remover the next day.
Midnight: Finish showering.  The lip color easily washed off with regular soap & water.  Go to bed suitably impressed.

So, after nearly 14 hours of wear, the Maybelline Super Stay 24 did exactly what it promised to do.  It stayed on through hot drinks, cold drinks, a sandwich, pasta, a kiss (or three), everyday activities, and more than a few curious swipes with my fingers to see how well it stayed in place.  Not only did it stay on, but when I was ready to remove the lip color it washed off without any extra product necessary.

While I won't wear lipstick every day - it's not necessary if I'm just kicking around the house, and it's not sanitary (in my mind) to wear it in the kitchen - I think I'll be wearing it more often than before as long as it's this brand.  Maybelline, you've swayed me with the Super Stay 24 line!







note: I was provided with several tubes of Maybelline Super Stay 24 to facilitate this review.  I received no other compensation.  My opinions are my own.

Green Giant giveaway winner!

I used a random number generator to choose the winner of the Green Giant prize pack - the results are in! 

Congrats to poster #6 - Sandy C.!!

Sandy, drop me an email: angrycheapskate (at) gmail (dot) com with your shipping info and I'll get the prize pack out to you right away.

Walgreens run: $82 for $5

This is the first week in 4 or 5 months that I didn't go to Rite Aid.  I feel a little empty today!  ;) 
My +UPs are good for another week and after the tuna debacle, there wasn't a damn thing on sale that I wanted to get.  Not every sale is great, so I skipped it. 

I did, however, have $18 in Walgreens RRs that expired today, so I had to use 'em or lose 'em.  Though I wasn't particularly excited about the deals at first, things actually wound up working better than I'd thought.

Don't forget - you have until Tuesday to enter the Green Giant giveaway!  I'll pick a winner late in the evening.

not pictured: 3 more Dove ice cream bars, 1 carton Walgreens rainbow sherbet

Walgreens - shelf price $82.13
4 Right Guard body wash/shampoo - $4.99ea, BOGO sale, $9.98
2 Purex Complete Crystals - $4.99ea, $9.98
2 Dial Nutriskin lotion - $4.99ea, $9.98
4 Excedrin PM - $5.99ea, BOGO50%, $17.98
4 Dove ice cream bars - $.50ea, $2 (clearance)
1 carton Walgreens rainbow sherbet $.82 (clearance)
Subtotal $50.74, less two BOGO Right Guard, less two $2 Purex, less two $1 Dial, less four $2.50 Excedrin PM
Total $24.76, received back $20 in RRs ($10 for spending $20 on Excedrin, $2 ea for Purex, $3ea for Dial)
Out of pocket $4.76

Check out the frozen foods case at your Walgreens.  Many random items are clearanced to 75% off which makes for some really nice deals.  My store hadn't tagged anything yet, but I'd not only read about the clearance on other blogs, but my mom had gone a bit earlier and had found her store tagged nicely.  I called her from the store and cross-checked what she'd found clearanced; the only things that matched between our respective stores were the Dove bars and the sherbet.  I price checked a couple items but, being frozen food, I didn't want to be hauling stuff in and out of the cases just for a price check.  I'll head back a little later in the week and see if they've put the clearance tags in their place.  Mom found a ton of stuff and picked me up some Hagen Daas mango sherbet ($1ish) and some Banquet pot pies ($.25ea) for Andy.

Another great deal at Walgreens this week is an in-ad coupon for $20 off the Entertainment Book.  These are $35 normal price here, so $15 after the coupon.  The books contain coupons for all sorts of local businesses as well as national companies like Wendy's, Burger King, car rental companies, hotels, and so on.  At $15, I can use the "buy one large pizza, get one free" coupon at a local pizza shop we love and the book has paid for itself!  These are very much worth the money, especially at the sale price this week.  My store was (gasp!) out of the damned things, of course.  Mom is going to grab me one while she's running some errands later

More free Right Guard wash/shampoo!  My older nephew loves this stuff so those are for him.  The Dial lotion is for my mom; $.99ea after coupon & RR is a great price for these huge bottles, and it's a dang effective lotion that she happens to really like.  The new Purex stuff has been on sale everywhere and I've been hearing good things about it, so I figured I'd pick some up while it's $.99ea after coupon & RR.

And the Excedrin...this is a hit or miss deal.  If you buy $20 worth, you get a $10 reward back.  I have a stack of $2.50 off coupons.  The price on the 24ct bottles seems to vary from $4.79-5.99 from store to store, and in some stores they're included in the "buy one, get one 50% off sale."  At my store it was $5.99 and it was indeed ringing up BOGO50%.  Four of the bottles came to $17.98 ($23.96 before sale), I used $10 in coupons to make them $7.98, and I got the $10 reward back - $2.02 profit.  The prices and the inclusion in the sale may be different at your store, so have a backup plan.  Yes, two of my Excedrin boxes are torn open; I had started to combine them so they take up less space before realizing I hadn't taken a photo yet!

Rite Aid Run - $84 for a $7 profit, plus important update

Yep, a midweek Rite Aid run!  That's unusual for me, but I had two important reasons to go.
The first, and the most important one, was to test the validity of rumors that began swirling around the blogosphere this afternoon.  Word was that the +UPs weren't printing for the tuna and sardines.  I had planned a trip this afternoon regardless as my main store got a delivery in yesterday solely to get more tuna.  Long story short - the tuna & sardine deal is DEAD right now.  I tested with two cans of sardines (the cheaper option) and, indeed, I did not get the +UPs I should have.  Apparently the marketing department has pulled the unlimited monthly +UPs on the food items, including tuna & sardines, without any warning.  
UPDATE: as of 3/10/11, the monthly food +UPs including Bumble Bee tuna & Port Clyde sardines have been "reinstated" through the end of this sale week.  If you want cheap tuna, go get it now, by Saturday 3/12, if you can find any.  My god, what a charlie-foxtrot this is becoming...

The second reason was to take advantage of some clearance items that were discovered in the last few days.  These seem to vary by store, so get a price check to verify.  Many NYC cosmetics are clearanced out to 75% off; this week, NYC cosmetics are giving a $1 +UP per item.  Some items, including various lip glosses, nail polishes, foundations, and mascaras are marked down to $.49-.74 each, making them profitable after +UPs.  In addition, some Sally Hansen nail products are also clearanced 75% to under $1 each, and this week they're giving a $2 +UP for each two purchased.  My store didn't have any Sally Hansen clearanced, but I was able to get a nice assortment of NYC lip glosses!

Rite Aid - shelf price $84.11
6 RA coffee 11oz - $1.99ea, $11.94 (raincheck)
3 Desitin baby butt cream stuff - $.99ea, $2.97 (raincheck)
2 Port Clyde sardines - BOGO50%, $1.93
2 NYC foundation - $.74ea, $1.48
3 NYC gel lip gloss - $.74ea, $2.22
12 NYC stick lip gloss - $.49ea, $5.88
Subtotal $26.24, less six $2 off RA coffee, less three $1 off Desitin
Total $11.24, received back $18 +UPs ($1 ea for NYC, $1 for Port Clyde)

$6.76 profit!!!

Notes:
There were 6 coffees on the delivery my store got.  I have rainchecks for 10 more, and the $2 coupons are good through the end of the month.  I've got my mom looking at the 3 stores near her, so hopefully we can find the rest while the coupons are still good.  With the price of coffee going up and the sales & coupons getting worse, I'll take as much as I can possibly get!
I'm still holding rainchecks for 4 more Desitin and 6 cotton swabs from the Johnson & Johnson deal the other week.  I've got time on those.
That's a whole lot of lip gloss, now that I look at the photo.  I think I'll see if my niece would like some because I won't be able to use it all!

Now, the rant:

GIVEAWAY: Win a Green Giant prize pack

Spring is on the way which makes me happy because with spring comes fresh, tasty produce.  During the winter, though, I'm always disappointed in the non-seasonal veggie offerings; they're expensive, and they don't taste very good.  Rather than rely on subpar produce, once the seasons change I make sure that our freezer is loaded to capacity with frozen veggies, including Green Giant.



I shouldn't need to tell you that everyone ought to be eating their veggies.  They're good for you, and that includes the Green Giant offerings; I just pulled a box of frozen GG spinach out of the freezer and the ingredient list is a refreshing "spinach, water, salt, baking soda."  No weird chemicals or unpronounceable fillers - just veggies all packaged up the way I'd cook them myself.  If you're not a spinach fan, Green Giant has 28 other varieties to suit nearly every taste.


To help welcome spring, I'm giving away a very nice prize pack courtesy of Green Giant.

The winner will receive a coupon for a box of Green Giant frozen veggies along with a large insulated tote bag, a pedometer, a serving spoon and a really nice serving bowl.  You'll probably want to pick up a couple extra packages of veggies to serve in that bowl because it holds enough for an entire family!  All items color-coordinate with the Green Giant name, and to me no color screams spring quite like green.

To enter: leave a comment on this post with your first name & last initial, and let me know what sort of produce you're most looking forward to devouring in the coming seasons!  I'll use a random number generator to select the winning post on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011. 






note: I was provided a Green Giant prize pack as shown above by Green Giant in order to facilitate this review.  My opinions are my own.  A randomly-chosen winner will receive an identical prize pack.  No purchase necessary.

Rite Aid Run - $77 for $2, plus monthly spending

Will a couponer buy anything if it's free? 

I think it's safe to say the answer is an unequivocal "yes."  If it's food and free, I don't care what it is; I'll take it.  Since we're not taxed on food, anything we don't care to eat can go straight to the local food pantry.  It appears my local pantry will be getting a bunch of sardines from me. 

Not pictured: 8 more cans tuna, 8 more tins sardines

Rite Aid - shelf price $77.26
8 Airwick room spray - $1.69ea, BOGO sale, $6.76
4 Thermacare back, 1ct - $3.59ea (with 10% discount), $14.36
16 cans Bumble Bee tuna - $1.49ea, BOGO50%, $17.84
14 tins Port Clyde sardines - $1.29ea, BOGO50%, $13.51
1 Snickers bar - $.79 (10% discount)
1 cupcake serving platter $2.50 (clearance)
Subtotal $55.76, less four BOGO Airwick coupons, less four $3.99 Thermacare store coupons
Total $33.04, received back $30.88 in +UPs ($1 for each tuna & sardine, $.88 for Snickers - LIMIT ONE)
Out of pocket $2.16

How cute is that cupcake platter??  It was on clearance for $2.50; this would have been an overall profitable trip without it, but I couldn't pass it up.

The sardines?  Yeah, this is what I meant by couponers will buy anything if it's free.  These things are on sale buy one, get one half off, which works out to $.965 per tin.  You get back a $1 +UP per tin, making better than free when all is said and done.  I figured Chairman Meow would love some sardines as a treat - cats love fish, right?  Not this cat.  I cut one up on a plate for him and, after sniffing at it, he gave me a look that implied I'd just tried to feed him toxic waste.  He won't touch 'em.
I hope someone at the food pantry likes sardines, because they've got at least 13 tins heading their way.

The tuna is all mine, though.  I love me some tuna salad.  We'll be heading back to Rite Aid later in the week after the next delivery comes to hopefully load up on a bunch more.  At ~$.11 per can ($.07 when balanced with the sardine profit), and with expiration dates late in 2013, I'll get a decent amount.

A few days late (it's been a hectic week), but better late than never - February's monthly spending:

Shelf price $888.99
Total $316.01
Rewards earned $229
Out of pocket $87.01, for a savings of $801.98, or 90%!!

I toned down the shopping a bit in February as we were getting critical on space.  With the extra shelving we got, along with donating some of the existing health & beauty items, I can take advantage of some more stocking up if possible. 

I especially need to add to our food stocks.  The increasing grocery prices really cut in to my savings last month, and coupled with sales and coupons that haven't been as great we spent a lot more on groceries than usual.  I'm in desperate need of a great coffee sale, as well as cheese, canned tomatoes, and sugar.

Tomorrow I'll be posting another giveaway, so check back!

Pillsbury Giveaway Winner!

I used a random number generator to choose the winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off prize pack - the results are in!

Congrats to poster #4 - Kathy G.!!

Kathy, drop me an email: angrycheapskate (at) gmail (dot) com with your shipping info and I'll get the prize pack out to you right away.


In the next couple days I'll have another giveaway - this one on the opposite end of the spectrum with some healthy goodies!