Walgreens free photo collages: now live

Walgreens is offering their 8x10 photo collage for FREE again.  I got one about a month ago and it's really very nice.  Pair it with a cute frame for a great holiday gift!

This time around, you can get TWO for free with the two coupon codes available!

Just go to the Walgreens site, register a free account if you don't have one already, and upload your photos.
Create your collage and choose in-store pickup.  When you check out, use coupon code THANKSGIVING or BFCOLLAGE to bring your total to my favorite number: $0.00!  When you choose store pickup there's no shipping charged so you'll only have to worry about any applicable sales tax.  I wasn't charged tax last time, but be prepared to pay a few cents just in case.

You may have to place two separate orders to be able to use both codes. 

Tiny Prints - on the free Thanksgiving cards deal

Last week I posted about a giveaway TinyPrints.com was running on their line of Thanksgiving cards.  There's good news and there's bad news.

The good news: my first order arrived this morning.  These cards are GORGEOUS.  I'm absolutely stunned that they sent these completely free with no strings attached.  The card quality is as good as, if not better than, the cards you buy in the store; better yet, even at regular pricing this is a better deal than Hallmark.  Since the cards can be completely customized with photos, names, and your own words - AND mailed directly to the recipient for the cost of a stamp - with just a few clicks, the value involved blows store-bought out of the water.  A Hallmark is, what, $2 in the store?  You've got a limited choice of images, a limited choice of sentiments, and you have to address and mail the thing yourself.  For the same price or less, TinyPrints.com takes care of the mailing in addition to printing the exact card you want with your images and your words.  Their site is bookmarked and I'll be using them to send birthday and other greeting cards from here on out.

The bad news: people see "FREE" and they go apeshit.  TinyPrints.com posted a blog entry yesterday explaining how their generous offer went horribly wrong.

First, it was disheartening to find out how many customers took advantage of the offer in an abusive way. It wasn’t even close to the majority of our customers, but enough people abused the offer to really sour the spirit of what we were trying to do. In just one of several disappointing examples, we had someone try to order 20,000 free Thanksgiving cards with the intent of reselling them.

 Uggggh.  Twenty thousand cards.  TWENTY THOUSAND.  That's $40,000+ worth of product that some jackwagon expected TinyPrints to eat just so they could turn around and sell the cards to put money in their own pocket.  Being a small business owner myself, I understand the need to get the best deal possible when considering business expenses.  That isn't getting a good deal for your business.  Trying to order 20,000 promotional greeting cards for resale is stealing from another small business' pocket to put money in yours.  It makes me sick.

I trust that you, my dear readers, were human enough to only order a reasonable number of cards last week.  My rant isn't directed at you. 

If you took advantage of TinyPrint's promotion and are pleased with the quality of the cards, consider using them the next time you have a birthday card to send.
If you didn't, I'm giving them a ringing endorsement that these cards are well worth spending actual money on.  Give 'em a shot.

To contact the company:
TinyPrints.com
Like them on Facebook
(877) 300-9256

Drugstore deals: My plans for Black Friday

I broke out the Excel spreadsheet to figure this out.  I am such a nerd.

Yup, getting up early on Thanksgiving morning to go couponing.  My rational mind is slightly horrified, but my cheapskate Id is frothing at the mouth.  The ads call it "Black Friday" but, as mentioned, I'm going on Thursday with a shred of hope that hordes of other crazy people will be too busy Thanksgiving-ing to be out couponing at the drugstores.

Long breakdown under the cut:

Grocery trip - $68 for $24

It's two days before Thanksgiving.  I can't believe I went to the freakin' grocery store.  It was a MADHOUSE!! 

My excuse is that I got my hands on some more Swiss Miss coupons and we needed ground beef.  Tomorrow is the last day of the sale on the cocoa and I have cooking & baking to do for Thanksgiving all day, so it was tonight or miss out on the free cocoa.

Not pictured: 1 gallon milk, 1 20oz Diet PepsiMax

1 box Triscuits - $2
1 gallon milk - $2.58
8.66lbs 92% lean ground beef - $17.24 (raincheck for $1.99lb)
5 Diet Coke - $5
1 Diet PepsiMax - $.99
12 boxes Swiss Miss cocoa - $12
Subtotal $39.81
Less $1 off Triscuits, $1 off four Coke products, $.50 off PepsiMax (doubled), six $.50 off 2 cocoa (doubled), $1 mystery eOffer
Total $29.81, received back two $3 OYNO (one for each 6 cocoas)
Out of pocket: $23.81, shelf price $68.01

I have no idea why an extra $1 came off my total.  It's listed on the receipt as $1 eOffer; eOffers are bonus savings loaded on Giant Eagle's loyalty card.  Nothing I purchased today was eligible for any of the available eOffers and those are always listed by item name on your receipt (i.e. $4 eOffer Sinex).  I mean, I'll take the extra buck, I just don't know why I got it.  Maybe it's from my complaint about the crappy cashier and poor stock at the other store?

Considering the regular price on just the beef is over $30, I'd have to call this trip a huge success.

Dual Drugstore Deals: $150 for $5.50

Another raincheck.
*sigh*
At this rate, my mom is going to get a raincheck for Christmas.

In spite of that, all went very well today - even better than I'd planned thanks to another impromptu, off the cuff deal.  This time the deal was at Rite Aid and I can cross some more presents off my list.

CVS
4 Playtex Gentle Glide - $21.76 (they only had one of the $5.29 type on the shelf, so three of them were $5.49)
Subtotal $21.76
Less $4 off $20 purchase, less two $2 off, less two $1 off
Total $11.76, received back $10 ECB for $20 in Playtex purchases, $1 ECB for Green Bag Tag
Out of pocket $.76!!

For whatever reason, the $10 ECB didn't print when my receipt printed.  If there's one store you want this sort of thing to happen, it's CVS.  They can manually print it out for you in just a few seconds and they shouldn't give you any trouble over it.  When I only got the $1 tag ECB and nothing else, I showed the cashier the ad in the circular, she glanced quickly at my receipt to verify that I had really purchased $20 worth, and with no hassle typed a few keys on the register and handed over the $10 that printed with a smile and an apology.
$.76 for four boxes of Playtex.  That is so worth an extra 30 seconds at the checkout.

Rite Aid
I went in to the store ahead of Andy while he finished his cigarette in the car.  He found me in the undisclosed item aisle staring morosely at the shelf.  Empty.  The sale tag was there, all bright yellow and taunting.  I checked to make sure they didn't have any in the back, and continued on with my trip.
After loading up on the Planters nuts - tons and tons of those available! - I wanted to glance at two more potential deals.  If you buy $10 in Burt's Bees items, you receive a $2 +UP back.  I wanted to get some of this as a gift, but the coupons out there aren't great.  We decided to go ahead and get it anyway since it was still a decent price after +UP and, y'know, it's a gift and we don't have to get everything for free.  I added an $8 lotion and a $3 lip balm (!!) to the basket.
I then went in search of photo frames.  They were advertised as "starting at $6.99" and you receive a $3 +UP for each one purchased.  With the free photo collage I got from Walgreens a few weeks ago, and another free one coming up on Thursday, I wanted to get a frame or two to go with the prints if the price was right.  Boy was the price right!  Most of the 8x10 frames were in the $10-15 range, but tucked in the corner was not only a $5.99 frame, but also three frames marked at $3.  Each had the $3 +UP tag under them, meaning all four frames were $2.99 total after +UP!  Between the frames and the Burt's Bees items, my total was over $25 meaning I could use an additional $5 coupon to bring the prices on everything even lower.

Transaction 1
3 8x10 photo frames - $9
1 8x10 photo frame - $5.99
1 Burt's Bees lotion - $7.99
1 Burt's Bees lip balm - $2.99
Subtotal $25.97
Less $5 off $25 purchase, less $1 off lotion
Total $19.97, received back $14 +UPs (four $3 frames, one $2 Burt's)
Out of pocket $5.97

Transactions 2 & 3
7 Planters nuts (various) - $27.93
Less $5 off $25, less seven $1 off
Total $15.93 each, $31.86 for both, received back $33 in +UPs (fourteen $2 Planters, one $5 Planters bonus)

$1.14 profit!!

Shelf price $129.33
Total $51.83
Rewards earned $47
Out of pocket $4.83

Fourteen cans of nuts (including 3 cashews, YUM!), four photo frames, and some very fancy Burt's Bees items for under $5.  Wow.  Wow.

I also got a raincheck for the undisclosed item.  My favorite cashier rang us out today and when I asked for the raincheck she offered to call some other stores to see if they had any.  I thanked her and said that I'd rather spend my money at THIS store.  Coupons or not, the more sales the store gets, the more hours the employees get and the better the store does overall.  They treat me very well and in return I'll pour my coupons into their sales totals.  She gave me the raincheck and the heads up that more are coming on the truck Wednesday.  We shall see if I can score this item then.  ;)

And now the totals for the day

Shelf price $151.09
Total $63.59
Rewards earned $58
Out of pocket $5.59, a savings of $145.50 or 93%!!!

Sunday Gameplan for 11/21

I know we've all heard of Black Friday.  Did you know drugstores do it too?  I was shocked when I discovered that.  I've never gone out shopping the day after Thanksgiving once - not ever!

I won't this year, either.
But I will be going out on Thanksgiving.  Before dinner, I promise.  While all the other crazy people go to Best Buy or Target or wherever they go, I'll be snug at home having already taken my deals at Walgreens.  And Rite Aid.  And CVS.  I may have some sort of mental condition.


(image hat-tip xkcd)

Anyway, there are two sales to worry about at each store this week.  Sunday I'll only be worrying about CVS and Rite Aid; Walgreens doesn't have anything great that I particularly want until Thursday.  I actually was going to skip CVS as well, but I did find one pretty great deal and since it's on the way to Rite Aid, it's totally worth a stop.

CVS
4 Playtex Gentle Glide - $5.29ea
Subtotal $21.16
Less two $2/1 coupons, less two $1/1 coupons, less $4 off $20 purchase
Total $11.16, receive back $10 ECB (spend $20 on any Schick, Edge, Skintimate, Playtex products)
$1.16 for four boxes of Playtex.  That's a damn good deal!

Then, on to Rite Aid
For my first trick, I will attempt to locate a very expensive item, use coupons, and receive a rebate to make this expensive item FREE.  Since my effort to locate a different, but similar, undisclosed expensive item last week did not pan out, I'm going to see if I can find a (better) substitute at Rite Aid.  Please have it in stock, Rite Aid.  I want to get my mom a nice Christmas present.

Then I'll get a little nutty.
7 Planters NUTrition - $3.99ea
Subtotal $27.93
Less seven $1/1 coupons, less $5 off $25 purchase
Total $15.93, receive back seven $2 +UPs and a one time $5 bonus +UP for spending $25 on Planters

Repeat the above transaction once more exactly as above, but I'll "only" get $14 in +UP back.
For 14 cans of nuts - many are Christmas gifts for my Grandpa (it's what he asked for!!) - I'll turn a profit of $1.14.  The total will be $31.86 (paid in +UPs), and I'll get $33 in +UPs back.  Nice.

Grocery trip - $150 for $14

The good thing about buying stuff in mass quantities is that you can pretty easily skip a week at the grocery store if you want, which is exactly what I did last week.  I just didn't feel like going and none of the sales were quite good enough to entice me in. 

But Thanksgiving is nearly here and I needed some things to make my requested Thanksgiving dishes, so off we went tonight.  A Friday night at the grocery store.  We are so living on the edge.

Not pictured: 5 bottles Diet Coke, 2 gallons milk, 1 large disposable roasting pan.  Sorry for the terrible photo quality. 

So tonight's trip was mostly geared towards what I'll need for Thanksgiving as well as a few items for my sister & aunt's birthday party this weekend.  We also took advantage of some good sales and splurged on a couple bottles of wine.  ;)

I FINALLY FOUND MY RICE IN STOCK!!  Good lord, I've been looking for weeks!  Fortunately it was still on sale for $1 and I carried those $.50 coupons with me everywhere just in case.   Yay free rice!

In total we've got 5 2 liters of Diet Coke, the roasting pan, 2 loaves of bread, 6lbs rice*, 2lbs sausage, a big ol' pork roast (about $5 after coupon), 6lbs apples, 3lbs onions, a bag of cranberries, 2 dozen eggs, 2 cartons sour cream, cupcake baking papers, a bottle of peppermint extract, 4lbs powdered sugar, 1 bag chocolate chips, 2 bags shredded cheese, pomegranate lemonade, 8 bottles Bailey's coffee creamer ($.50ea after coupon!), 2 boxes Triscuits, 2 boxes Wheat Thins, a box of graham crackers, 3 boxes popcorn*, 6 boxes Swiss Miss cocoa*, and my ever-present Diet PepsiMax*

Shelf price: $150.32
Total: $20.17
Earned rewards: $6
Out of pocket: $14.17

We used a $30 gift card that Andy got as part of his Thanksgiving bonus at work.  I wasn't sure if that counted in the "savings" column, but he rightly pointed out that since it wasn't money out of our bank account, it's just like a coupon.  LOL

The Swiss Miss is on sale for $1ea and I used $.50 off two coupons to bring them to $.50ea.  For buying 6, we got a $3 OYNO back, making those items free!  I'd wanted to get 12, but there were exactly six boxes of the sale kind in the store.  *sigh*  We'll try again this weekend to see if we can find the rest.
The popcorn is on sale buy one get one, or $1.79ea.  I had $.50 coupons which doubled, making them $.79ea or $2.37 total.  For buying three, we got ANOTHER $3 OYNO back, making those a $.63 moneymaker.

So now we're all set for the big feast on Thursday.  I'll be bringing my cornbread & sausage stuffing (hence the purchased bread - I'm lazy and don't want to bake bread on top of everything else!), an apple bread pudding (more bread), a ridiculous amount of mashed potatoes, a cake, and Andy is making a spicy pomegranate-cranberry dipping sauce.
Sunday we're having a little birthday shindig for my sister and aunt.  I shall be making two types of cupcakes for the birthday girls to go with snacks and ice cream.  I love family get-togethers!!