I stopped into Walgreens and Rainbow last night where I spent just $30.98 out of pocket for everything pictured above. Plus I have $8.25 in store credit coupons for my next grocery order at Rainbow.
At full retail value I would have paid $147 for everything pictured which makes my $30.98 a 79% savings! Let me tell you everything I bought and summarize how I did it.
Walgreens
I bought:
2 Dental Floss. My husband will find these in his Christmas stocking since he is an avid flosser.
2 Headbands
2 Quilted Northern (9 double roll package)
2 Garlic Salt. I picked these up to be sure I had as many items as coupons for the transactions in which I bought the Quilted Northern (I had a coupon for the Quilted Northern, plus a Register Reward which means I needed at least two items in my order)
Walgreens was empty, which was great for me, because I checked out in cosmetics and actually had her ring my products on 6 separate receipts (if there would have been someone behind me I would have just done two, but she was willing and the store was dead).
I did two sets of this: 1) Dentek dental floss, 2) Headband, 3) Quilted Northern and Garlic Salt. That allowed me to use the Register Rewards I earned from one transaction to pay for the next, minimizing what I spent out of pocket.
The dental floss and headbands are virtually the same price, so I may go back later this week and use the $1 Register Reward I left the store with to buy another dental floss (I told you we are flossing addicts around here – even my toddler flosses!), then a headband, then a dental floss, then a headband (you get the idea) using the Register Rewards from one to pay for the next. I’d spend $1 plus tax out of pocket to pick up 2 more sets. I think I’ll donate the headbands to charity.
If you’re new to shopping at Walgreens and confused by what I’m talking about, then read the Walgreens shopping list and this primer on how to save money at Walgreens.
Rainbow
I bought:
4 Gallons of Milk
4.6 lb Bone-in Chicken Breasts. I boiled them for broth tonight and made a huge pot of chicken with rice soup. I’ll put half in the freezer for a quick dinner.
2 Yoplait Yogurt Cups
6 Boxes of Cereal, including what has to be the world’s largest box of Honey Nut Cheerios that retails for $5.69
1 Cream of Tarter
3 Rhodes Warm-N-Serve Rolls, including a package of sweet rolls I’m going to use for brunch on Christmas morning
2 Brown Gravy Mixes. We routinely eat mashed potatoes, meatballs and brown gravy as a quick dinner. I have about 5 lb of homemade meatballs frozen in meal-sized portions along with serving-sized portions of mashed potatoes that I can defrost and eat. We choose this over eating out on this kind of nights.
1 Personal-Sized Watermelon. Splurge. This is a huge treat for my daughter who loves watermelon. One of my orders was at risk of going negative [Rainbow would owe me money] so I decided to buy enough produce to keep it positive [where I would have to pay something for my groceries].
2 lb Apples. More produce to keep my total in the positive
1 Kiwi Fruit. More produce to keep my total in the positive
1 Garlic Clove. More produce to keep my total in the positive
1 lb Cheese. Splurge. I can’t tell you the last time I paid $3/lb for cheese. Since I needed items to fill my order I decided to get my husband this treat.
2 International Delights Coffee Creamers. These don’t expire until May 2010, if left unopened, so even though we don’t use them I figure we’ll have them with Christmas or even Easter! Brunch when family comes over.
3 Fiber One Multi-packs of Yogurt
3 Cascade Dishwasher Detergent. We are not brand loyal on much of anything, including dishwasher detergent, but Cascade is my favorite and if I can afford it in my budget I pick it up.
2 La Choy Teriyaki Sauce. Teriyaki sauce was on my “must buy” list because we had run out, so I was thrilled to get these for $0.25 each.
1 Beech Nut Baby Food
I bought my groceries in four transactions. I bought my first one, dropped it at the car and then went back in and picked up my other three. I bought many of the deals I mentioned on the Rainbow shopping list so I’ll just take a minute to mention the other ways I saved money.
Transaction #1
6 Boxes of Cereal. I had five, count ‘em five, “Try me free” coupons for General Mills cereals including one allowing for any box up to $6 and 4 others that required a kid’s cereal. I used those five plus a $1/1 Total coupon. The cereals ended up costing me $1.15 after those coupons, plus it took $10 off my grocery order, making me $8.85 in the negative
On top of that $8.85 in the negative I had a “$5 off your next grocery order” coupon, making me $13.35 in the negative. I’ll tell you how I got it. I returned some products from a few weeks back that I bought as props for a TV segment. The bottom of the receipt had this “$5 off your next grocery order” coupon on it. I hadn’t used it because I knew I was returning the products and that didn’t seem right to me.
The gal at the Customer Service counter noticed the coupon on the bottom and asked me to take it. I explained that I wasn’t comfortable using it when I returned the products that generated it, then pointed out that it was expired on top of it. She insisted and instructed me to tell the cashier that she said it was okay to use because it was just a few days past its expiration.
Now you understand why I needed to buy almost $13 in produce and cheese to be sure my order would stay positive.
Everything else I bought in this order was from the shopping list including Rhodes rolls, Scotties, chicken breasts (to help keep me in the positive), coffee creamers, cream of tarter and Fiber One yogurt multi-packs.
I spent $3.75 and saved $69.87 on this transaction. Due to two mistakes with how the new inexperienced cashier rang my order I was shorted $2, so this should have been $1.75! I didn’t get an adjustment because the Customer Service person was on break and I needed to buy the rest of my stuff and get home
Transaction #2
I did the Procter & Gamble deal buying 3 Cascades and 1 Pampers. I used three $1/1 Cascade coupons from recent Home Made Simple coupon books and a $2/1 Pampers.
I intended to use my free milk coupon (which really takes $3.25 off your next order that contains milk) on this order, but got to chatting with the cashier and forgot!
I bought a few other things from the Rainbow shopping list including La Choy Teriyaki Sauce, Beech Nut baby food and another Fiber One multi-pack (using the $1/1 coupon he didn’t take in transaction #1).
Spent $17.12 and saved $21.27, but forgot to use my $3.25 off milk and earned a “$5 off your next grocery order” coupon with the P&G deal
Transaction #3
3 Milks. I used the “$5 off your next grocery order” coupon from the P&G deal. I just noticed though, that only two milks were at $1.88 and the third was $2.59. Neither the ad nor the sign in the store specified a quantity limit for the $1.88 price. I’ll have to inquire when I stop in there tomorrow to do the P&G deal one more to stock up on a few more diapers.
I spent $1.35 and saved $6.42. After the third milk gets adjusted this will become spent $0.64, saved $7.13.
Transaction #4
2 Yoplait yogurt cups. I noticed that I had purchases $19.18 in Yoplait yogurt and that if I bought 2 yogurt cups for a buck that I’d earn another “$5 off your next grocery order” coupon on my Roundy’s card. I left my cart full of groceries under the cashier’s watchful eye and ran back to get my two yogurt cups for this fourth transaction.
I spent $1.00 and saved $0.50.
Your turn: What have you learned this week about coupon shopping that will make a difference for you in weeks to come?
Yesterday I commented on the Rainbow shopping list that I’d include pictures of my receipts and haven’t done that. This post is long enough without them. If you want to see them I will gladly email them to you if you contact me.
About Carrie Rocha
Hmm, definitely to use coupons cereal shopping. I always buy generic bagged cereals, and never thought the “buy X amount of cereal, get X free” deals were very good. But this week, I decided to go for the GM deal at Rainbow this week. Boy, was I surprised! With doubled coupons and the $10 discount, I paid $3.80 for 6 boxes of cereal.
About the International Delight creamers, you don’t have to just use them in coffee. You can add them to hot cocoa, in certain teas (like chai or black tea), and even in recipes. For example, you could substitute some of the liquid in brownies and/or cakes with some creamer, and you have a delightful treat. :)
Sadly, I’m actually *glad* to know that sometimes you forget something or get distracted while chatting with the cashier. I don’t feel so bad about doing it, then!
Thought you’d like to know, I sent my husband last night. The closers at the Apple Valley Rainbow who know me well gave him a hard time because he didn’t do as well as I do, and told him to tell me to come back next week. Plus, I have to go back and do damage control – he bought the wrong Pantenes (wrong flavors, and some shampoos instead of conditioners – I’m could care less about my shampoo but my hair HAS to have Pantene for conditioner or it’s unmanageable), he bought a 24-oz Daisy sour cream that was NOT on sale, and he paid $1.89 for a 1/2 gallon of milk. (That’s what I always see at Kwik Trip, he says. Um, no, the 1/2 gallon bags at Kwik Trip are 87 cents these days, the $1.89 is for a full gallon in a standard plastic jug, honey!) He’s so silly. But you know what? I was feeling too rotten to go out, and he wanted soda, so he went. I gotta give him credit for that.
I sent my husband to Rainbow with my coupons (and strict instructions) for one of my two transactions.
He picked up 6 box of cereals, 2 of which has the movie codes for FREE movie ticket
3 bananas
1 box of hot pockets (he didnt think he’d make $25, he was wrong
2 CC butters
All ofr $10, plus he go the 3.25 off milk coupon
I was nervous he’d mess it up, had he not spent an extra 2.50 on the hot pockets, it’d been even cheaper. Not bad though for his first trip.
Oh I laugh at how we shutter to send our hubbies on the errands (no offense to our male counterparts.) My bigger issue is when I haul everyone with me… too many helpers including dh “spoils the pot” iykwim…..
Carrie – my store had a correction on the milk about the limit of 2, so I’m curious to see if they will adjust for you. There were signs on the milk doors. I appreciate you showing your trip as I wondered how close we were in strategy. I can see some areas to improve on for myself and also have comfort in knowing that I’m not that far off. I do know that the cereal days really impact the bottom line the most. Suppose we ought to give GM a big thanks for those deals and for the amount of coupons they generate. They really do take care of us in that respect. I think we will see a cereal deal again between now and Christmas, but we’ll see…
I’m glad you have luck at your Walgreens. My WAGS (the 2 of the 3 in town I visit) are typically out of stock on many items so I don’t race to get there for items. I want the floss as well, but don’t want to waste my time being disappointed, so I typically shy away from them. BTW – I almost always check out at the cosmetics counter. They have coupons that they will share and I believe they are on commission (per an article I read) so you get friendly CS.
Love your site!!! Just wanted to share,,,,,,,went to Walgreens and spent 7.73…saved 42.20 w/ store coupons!!!! Love Walgfreens!!!!!
There was definitely a sign at my rainbow saying it was “limit 2″ on the milk for $1.88 — but as I recall it may have actually been a hand-written to the signs.
Has anyone ever tried stacking the cereal deal and buying 12 boxes in one transacation? Do you get $10 off each set and could you get 2 milk coupons? Will it work?
Thanks
I spent $80 for $140 worth of stuff at Rainbow this week, done in three transactions. It would have been much lower except I’m about to go into labor and didn’t know when I’d get to go shopping again so I bought a bunch of stuff we are out of or nearly out of even though it wasn’t on sale. And I needed to quench a couple of cravings ;) Nothing at the otehr stores called to me enough to make more than one trip.
What I learned this week is to go to Rainbow at 7pm Wed. WOW, I was practically the only one in the store so I could take my time at the register, watching that everything rang up right instead of feeling like I needed to get bagging right away to keep the line moving.
And I stopped before leaving the store to check my reciepts one last time (they were right). I got burned to the tune of about $12 at Cub a few weeks ago by not watching that coupons rang up correctly and I never got around to going back to get it fixed. So receipt checking is high on my list of things to remember.
I love it when you break out your shopping trips for us Carrie! It’s so inspiring.
Ohmygoodness! These posts are so funny to read because I can relate so much! It’s nice to know there are other “crazy’s” out there at Rainbow feeling the same way I do about feeling rushed in line or bummed that they messed up a coupon and you payed an extra dollar…hahaha. Power up coupon sisters (and apparently brothers)!
You’re awesome! I’m wondering if you ever feel self-conscious doing multiple transactions, etc. I always feel self-conscious going through the line more than once. It’s worth is though! I got so many things free at Rainbow this week that I even impressed myself! :) Thanks for all your great ideas!
I find it amusing that you don’t want to send your husbands because you don’t trust them to get the best deals. I don’t want to send my wife for the same reasons! She’d do fine if I gave her a list and everything worked out as planned, but I normally have to do at least a small amount of winging it each week (item is gone, keeping mental track of my $25 limit, splitting my order into two groups, etc) and I don’t think she’d be able to do that. Especially with our nine month old in tow. She’s a bit of an impulse buyer as well, so she’d inevitably come home with a box of some snack purchased at full price. But I love my wife immensely anyway!
I’ve started stopping on my way into work at 7:15 or so when the place is still empty. I don’t know about the rest of your local Rainbows, but the one is Eden Prairie is nuts at 4:30 on my way home and they rarely have more than a few registers open. One of these days I’m going to talk to a manager and let him know that his lines would go faster if they’d open up more lanes rather than having kids (poorly) bag our groceries for us.
I actually stopped by Rainbow on my way home Wednesday to get one more Yo+ and one Yoplait cup to reach my $20 need to get the $5 off. Spent $1.11 on those two items in order to save $5 next time. Those are the things that really make me feel good. Overall I spent about $15 on about $63 worth of groceries. Plus I’ll save $8.25 on my next visit.
Carrie,
Do you have a good recipe for that Chicken/rice soup? I’ve been looking for one. Thanks for the post! It’s nice to see the deals other people get.
Carrie,
Where did you get the Try Me Free coupons?
I got the Honey Nut Cheerios sample awhile ago that came with some General Mills coupons, but I did not see any Try Me Free coupons.
Carrie – which coupon did you use for the quilted northern at Walgreens? I cannot find one that does not say “12 pack” or “double roll.” The one on sale with RR is a 9 pack single roll.
Here’s my take this week. I spent $35 and saved $93! Gotta love the cereal deals!
http://momforhim.blogspot.com/2009/12/weekly-groceries-for-2-weeks.html
You did great! But my question is what meals are you going to feed your family? Do you eat meat and frozen veggies every night? Seems like every week I get great deals but its the odds and end that round out the weekly meals that kill me.
I am new to coupon clipping, and was just wondering, does Rainbow still offer the $5 off your next order coupons at the end of your receipt?