A good coupon day...

$6.75 saved at Rite-Aid - $3 on mouthwash, $.75 on toilet paper and $3 rebate

Total Spent: $12.72

$6.58 saved at Duane Reade - $4.58 on shampoo (Pantene on sale 2/$7 and coupon or $1 off 2 expiring today), $2 on razors. Plus 25 bonus points in addition to the 15 earned on purchases.

Total Spent: 13.22

All stuff I needed and on sale/with coupons. Of course I'm headed out to dinner so today won't be a total win financially, but better than nothing :)

That said, hate Rite Aid's rebates. I don't like the store and the rebate is such that it can only be used in store rather than Walgreens where you have the choice of cash or store credit, which comes with 10% bonus. My local Rite Aid is skeevy, skimpy stock and generally out of the way, but I had to go there to use the $3 rebate.

Good month cash wise, more to come on that in the next post once some pending transactions clear. 

A good money day...

Money-wise, today was a good mail day...

For all the bad things you hear about rebates, whether they're legit, whether you'll get what's promised, I got my monthly Walgreen's rebate pretty quickly. Mom actually told me she got hers a few days ago and I was bummed and wondering where mine was. And it arrived today $16.50 on the Walgreen's gift card (including the bonus of $1.50 for having it on the gift card as opposed to cash). Still a good deal in that I regularly shop at Walgreen's.

and for a few more dollars, I was reimbursed for the recent root canal.  Better yet, it took only one phone call to my insurance and it was for exactly what I expected it to be - down to the penny. Sweet. Only question is whether I'm using it to pay off the bill on my credit card (now transferred to 2.9 for life), use it on the higher 4.9 for life as a part of my overall snowball or use it for the next two months student loan payments. I'm thinking the 4.9 since it fits with the overall strategy and lets me re-allocate tomorrow's paycheck to student loan and the payment due on the 2.9.

Deal at CVS!

Not quite as good as profit-making rebates, although I do need to take a rebate check to the ATM later, I got a good deal at CVS today. On their weekly circular, Colgate MaxFresh with mouthwash beads was on sale for 2.99 and then you received two Extrabucks. Well I had two Extrabucks from a previous deal so I got the tube for .99 plus tax, or $1.07 and then when I printed off my receipt I got $2 more in extrabucks and then a further $3 off $15. Sweet. Came out ahead in this one.

Got the Scrubbing Bubbles rebate back. That was pretty quick given the antiquated process. I think I'm going to put the rebate into my Cancun fund since I've already paid off the credit card that I charged it to.  That and my recent lottery scratch-off winnings although I'm hesitant about depositing cash in an ATM.

Adventures in Wal-Mart

Yes, Walmart is evil. Moving on, it's also relatively cheap and good value, especially for the mall's proximity to Manhattan (12 min from Port Authority via the Lincoln Tunnel). I try to get there every four - six weeks to stock up on necessities and get more value for my coupons because the prices are far cheaper than other options.

I saved $27.09 on coupons alone!

Last night, I sat down with my coupon holder and pulled out those that expired 9/30 or 10/15. It also allowed me to purge all of those that expired 9/15. As I made my shopping list based on my tacked up "finished and need to buy" list as well as my coupons, I put them all in an envelope. I really need a second coupon holder because having them unsorted in the envelope was a little annoying.

As I walked through the aisles I came across some things I didn't need/were too big to buy/wouldn't keep on the trip back/etc. and had fun paying those coupons forward. In some cases I simply left them on the shelf near the product. In others I handed them to shoppers who were looking at those items. Karma up significantly.

I'm also very proud of myself. I didn't reach into my other coupon holder for impulse buys that "I think I have a coupon for." If I didn't need it and/or the coupon is good for another month, it can wait.

Biggest expenditures:

14.94 (2) - two tops, and I did have these on my shopping list, my fall wardrobe is a bit lacking.

11.97 - Lactaid, it's one of those things where I just can't buy generic. The generic don't work as well and don't take care of the problem

7.94 (2) - hair dye, but then I had a $5 off 2 coupon so really it was $5.54 apiece and that's a good price for L'Oreal Feria and much cheaper than having my hair done

5.52 (2) - bodywash. Like my usual bodywash, it's not cheap but I love how it makes my skin look and feel. I wish the days I wasn't a soap snob.

Most of what I bought was grocery stuff - I have lots now so that I can avoid the expensive stores here except for perishables, and I think I can cook around a lot of that. I'm happy with my total. I'm also happy with some non-expenditures, namely shoes that I found out were $29. Nope, I don't pay $29 for shoes at Wal-mart. If I want cheap shoes, it's $15 at Payless or for better ones,  $40 at DSW.

Also raincheck for Act for $2.99 since it's usually almost double and Walgreens was out. Need to submit the $15 in rebates from last month. Overall, been a good month. 

Rebates

Sad to see that Hooray for Freebates will be slowing up, I liked that blog for tips and things I didn't realize you could do -- like a profit when you use a coupon with a rebate form. I'm still learning how to use rebates but at times I think they take more work than you get in return.

That said, my fiscal and physical diet start back up this week. Been good on the former, made lunch 2/3 days and didn't pay for dinner last night or tonight. Schedule has been a bit zooey tough so I haven't made it to the gym.

Walgreen's ad had such promise this week but neither the local one nor the big one at Astor Place had half of the best deals (i.e. PB and jelly 3/$5, Rice Krispies 20 oz 3/$7) so I'm not coming out ahead. There's a third one I could try but bus travel north of the frozen zone has been a royal PITA. So we'll see.

That said, I think I'm going to Wal-Mart this weekend. Got some things I need to buy -- and some coupons that expire 9/30 for some items on my shopping list. Let's just hope I can avoid the challenge of buying more than I intend. 

Also as I touched on here, I found a 2.9% for the life of the BT option. I think I'm going to pursue it for what's on the SPG AMEX.

Low-cost weekend

woohoo! Minimal expenditures due to free food at a block party, leftovers that will provide lunch for the week (have events Tues, Weds and drinks with friends on Thurs) and lots of coupons. I need to go through my folder and find out which expire on the 30th so I can plan a Wal-mart run, if needed. Even with the $6 bus fare (RT to Secaucus) the prices there are so much better that it doesn't make sense not to go. It's similar to Gimme Five Bucks Costco trips. I'm somewhat glad that my shopping is limited by cloth carry bags -- schlepping bags back from Port Authority (or the budget busting cab) is not my ideal form of weight training, and I don't have room for a ton of stuff.

I got some wonderful coupons though. Also found a new-to-me rebate blog that I hope to put to good use because as I mentioned, I find rebates to be a pain.

Rebates

Walgreens tally sheet (PDF) is out for the September rebates. Doesn't actually look like much I need although the $5 on 2 bottles of Pantene isn't bad. The Energizer rechargeable Double As isn't a bad deal, but I don't need two packs. Just need one set to replace the ones that lost their get up and go.

I love that Walgreens allows you to do it all online. So much simpler. I like the bonus on the gift card but I understand why that's not always a good deal. To me though, it's the same as Duane Reade Dollar Rewards or CVS Extracare--if you're going to be shopping there anyway, might as well take the bonus. On the note of drugstore shopping, the one generic I haven't been able to find-an equivalent of Act Restoring. I used to use knock-off Listerine without any problems, but my dentist recommended I switch to Act and they seem to have fewer knock-offs.

I just did the Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber rebate, makes me love Walgreens on-line one even more as this one was the mother of old fashioned rebates. Send the completed coupon (no copies accepted), original store receipt and UPC code. Eek.

But I guess if they were easy, they wouldn't be profitable for the companies