THE FEBRUARY 2011 GROCERY CHALLENGE THREAD

[carolinagirl]

redwagon, I clipped and will mail tomorrow the cat food Qs you need.

[redwagon]

You guys are all the best!! I'm the first to admit I spoil the kitties so every little bit of help counts!!

[mizbear]

HOUND ALERT:
Those of you who use NATURE MADE vitamins: They are B1G1F at multiple stores right now and there is a $5 rebate with $30 post coupon purchase out right now. CVS is also popping $5 off $15 Nature Made thingies out of the red box. (Needless to say I am stocking up)

And I made a major hound today- I needed to upgrade my phone today. DM was being nasty about it as we share an account- but I pay my half of the bill. I went to go upgrade my phone and got a phone for $15 with a $50 rebate!! Still has manufacturer's warranty. Someone decided they didn't like it within the 14 days. My gain!

[nickyleey]

WAGS DEAL ALERT:

Just saw this on dealseekingmom

Neuragen PN Pain Relief Topical Solution, $14.99
Get $10 RRs
$10/1 Neuragen PN or Neuragen Gel, exp. 1/31/11 (RP 12-05-10)
$10/1 Neuragen PM or Neuragen Gel (Diabetes & You, Winter)
$5.01 money maker after coupons and RRs!

I have an $8RR I got from the Blink deal this week so I'm gonna roll it into that and get the arnicare too. Add a cheap filler (probably the valentines tumbler). Pay 99 cents + filler cost + tax OOP get back $15.99 in RR's. I would get the icy hot instead of the arnicare but my stores don't even carry it! How WAGs can get away with advertising something they don't even carry - I have no idea!

[misspt]

Well, I made $50 at RA tonite between the heart healthy rebate and the winter rewards rebate. Thanks ladies, for all the scenarios! Particularly mawmaw, constanz, and dancin, I really appreciate the time y'all took to post your deals! I received a $5 off Afrin MC cat from WAGs tonite when I purchased the fusion razor, I used it for overage at RA, so y'all might want to watch the catalina coupons at WAGs.

[misspt]

freesalsa: I can print those coupons, but I can't scan and send til I get to work tomorrow. Would that work for you?

[misspt]

mercee and saveinla: Thanks so much for the coupons, I received them today!!!

[mercee]

Jan 31, 2011 21:29:23 GMT -5 misspt said:

mercee and saveinla: Thanks so much for the coupons, I received them today!!!

You're most welcome!

I'm finding it hard to help out w/ sending coupons - my flyers don't seem to have a lot of the ones that people are looking for (or even the ones I'm looking for!!!)

[rubyslippers]

For those of you who love Edy's icecream and your Rite Aid is out of them, get a raincheck for next week. My favorite cashier told me they'd be $.63 next week using a raincheck as part of the buy $15.00 get $5.00 UPs plus $2.00 UPs for each ice cream. I got a raincheck for 6 of them and I also got one for the Lays Stax.

[mommy2twoal]

Jan 31, 2011 13:56:51 GMT -5 herekittykitty said:

Mommyof2AL, carolinagirl, and (I think) frugalnurse: thanks for the q's!!

Your're welcome. Thank you also.

[saveinla]

Jan 31, 2011 21:29:23 GMT -5 misspt said:

mercee and saveinla: Thanks so much for the coupons, I received them today!!!

misspt,
You are welcome.

[dancinmama]

I ended up having to take the Rocket Man to the vet to get "fixed" today and since I passed right by my Rite Aid, I popped in to do a couple of transactions.

I got two boxes of the Hartz Doggie Biscuits (that's all I had coupons for) and Colgate toothpaste. I paid using $16UPs and $1.14 OOP and got another $16UPs back plus a bonus $10 Heart Healthy UP. I also swapped $10 in UPs for some Lays Stax and got my UPs back and added $10 to my Winter Savings total.

Tomorrow I have to pick Rocket Man back up. Do you think I'll be going back to RA? Hmmm.....

[dancinmama]

Jan 31, 2011 21:31:23 GMT -5 mercee said:

Jan 31, 2011 21:29:23 GMT -5 misspt said:

mercee and saveinla: Thanks so much for the coupons, I received them today!!!

You're most welcome!

I'm finding it hard to help out w/ sending coupons - my flyers don't seem to have a lot of the ones that people are looking for (or even the ones I'm looking for!!!)

mercee: Some people live in what we call the LOCC (Land of Crappy Coupons). They get inserts every week, but when the denominations vary regionally, they always seem to get the lower denomination and/or they don't get a lot of the coupons listed in the previews.

Don't forget that if you need a coupon to post a HOUND ALERT for it here. Not all of us have all (3) drug chains available so even though a coupon seems really hot because of a current or upcoming deal, just remember that not everyone will be able to do the deal even if they have the Qs.

[debinwa]

Jan 31, 2011 13:55:37 GMT -5 frugalsuz said:

Jan 31, 2011 13:44:09 GMT -5 @mawmawandlovingit said:

Hidden Deal at RA:

For those of you with doggies, the Hartz Crunch-n-Clean treats are on sale for $2.99 and producing a $1 up from Hartz and a $1 up for pet treats. Here is what you could do for a MM

2.99
-$2/1 Q 1/9 SS
.99 oop and get back 2 - $ 1ups for a $1.01 MM

I bought the Savory "all size" kind.

Just did this deal myself. ;D Just a head's up - don't buy the medium size box. Those are reported to not produce the UP's. My store only had the one variety, but just something to be careful of.

I bought three boxes of these at RA. They had two of the all-sizes savory flavors that are giving two $1 Ups, and one box of the medium dog size new meatier flavor that are only giving one $1 Up. I had two $2 coupons. Paid $2.99 x 3 = 8.98, less $4 coupons = 4.98 and got back $5 in Ups. Works for me. Found two more coupons, so I am hoping I can find three more this week.

[mercee]

Jan 31, 2011 22:10:07 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

mercee: Some people live in what we call the LOCC (Land of Crappy Coupons). They get inserts every week, but when the denominations vary regionally, they always seem to get the lower denomination and/or they don't get a lot of the coupons listed in the previews.

Don't forget that if you need a coupon to post a HOUND ALERT for it here. Not all of us have all (3) drug chains available so even though a coupon seems really hot because of a current or upcoming deal, just remember that not everyone will be able to do the deal even if they have the Qs.

I think this would be me. haha LOCC Or land of the massive amounts of snow today / tomorrow.

Once I get better at this hounding & planning my deals in advance, I'll be asking for coupons.

[jax]

Hi all - really basic question here. New to all this and haven't started hounding yet.

While I am rockin the CVS, coupons and sales at my grocery store for items I need, I do have a Walgreens nearby. When I look at the weekly fliers, I just don't see anything I need.

However, it seems that a lot of you will hound just to get buyer's rewards (or whatever you call them!) to eventually use for things you do need. Is the idea here to hound well enough that you are paying for little to nothing in order to collect rewards?

Hope that makes sense!

[mawmawandlovingit]

DEAL ALERT!!! Huggies diapers .52c overage at RA with this scenerio:

$8.99 Huggies Little Movers or Little Snugglers
$4.99 K-Y Warming Gel 2 oz (i think)
$2.50 K-Y Warming Gel (BOGO1/2)
$16.48 Subtotal

-$2.00 Less any purchase VV
-$2.00 Less Huggies VV
-$2.00 Less Huggies MQ There are printables on coupons.com today
-$6.00 Less 2 $3/1K-Y MQ There are tons of printables out there
$4.48 OOP

Get back $5 for purchasing 2 K-Y products for total overage of .52c

The K-Y gives $3.51 in overage so there are tons of ways to get free items using these products in your transactions. HTH

[mandyms]

Hound alert!

If you go to Coffee-mates FB page on Friday at 9am PST, they are giving out coupons for a free bottle. Act quickly, they are giving them to the first 100,000 people. Don't know if I'll get mine b/c I am at work, if it requires the coupon printer, I am SOL

[momof2]

Morning all! For the Heart Healthy UPs, do I have to reach the $50 mark in one transaction to get the $20 UP or does it keep track if I buy a few things over a few transactions?

[mawmawandlovingit]

Feb 1, 2011 8:07:24 GMT -5 @mawmawandlovingit said:

DEAL ALERT!!! Huggies diapers .52c overage at RA with this scenerio:

$8.99 Huggies Little Movers or Little Snugglers
$4.99 K-Y Warming Gel 2 oz (i think)
$2.50 K-Y Warming Gel (BOGO1/2)
$16.48 Subtotal

-$2.00 Less any purchase VV
-$2.00 Less Huggies VV
-$2.00 Less Huggies MQ There are printables on coupons.com today
-$6.00 Less 2 $3/1K-Y MQ There are tons of printables out there
$4.48 OOP

Get back $5 for purchasing 2 K-Y products for total overage of .52c

The K-Y gives $3.51 in overage so there are tons of ways to get free items using these products in your transactions. HTH

If you have the $4/20 VV this could be an even better deal for a $2.52 overage. I see lots of free diapers for DD ;D

[constanz22]

Feb 1, 2011 8:02:05 GMT -5 @jax said:

Hi all - really basic question here. New to all this and haven't started hounding yet.

While I am rockin the CVS, coupons and sales at my grocery store for items I need, I do have a Walgreens nearby. When I look at the weekly fliers, I just don't see anything I need.

However, it seems that a lot of you will hound just to get buyer's rewards (or whatever you call them!) to eventually use for things you do need. Is the idea here to hound well enough that you are paying for little to nothing in order to collect rewards?

Hope that makes sense!

Yes, that makes sense!
If you haven't started with Wags yet, just wait and be patient. Several times a year, there will be a really great deal when you can jump in and get started without paying much, if any, OOP. Watch for their items that are free after RR (register reward) AND that there is a good coupon out for. Some deals we have gotten have been Natrol vitamins, $3 with a $3 RR and there was a $3 MC, so, most of us paid nothing OOP and got a bunch of $3 RR's to use later. They also had a similar deal on Ecotrin. If you don't use these products, you can always donate them. Then, you can use your RR's and "roll" them into other products in the next 2 weeks that are giving RR's or just "burn" them on products your family uses and needs. You can usually see the ads for 1-2 weeks ahead on i heart wags, so, you can do your planning for how to use those RR's. I would NOT pay very much OOP just to get an RR and get started unless it was something that you use/need anyway. Just be patient...make sure you read here daily. There will be another great deal.

[constanz22]

Feb 1, 2011 8:14:00 GMT -5 momof2 said:

Morning all! For the Heart Healthy UPs, do I have to reach the $50 mark in one transaction to get the $20 UP or does it keep track if I buy a few things over a few transactions?

It will keep track and you can do it in multiple transactions, but it isn't anywhere on your receipt what you have spent and still need, so, you will need to add it up yourself to kind of figure that out. When I did the deal, I ended up about $1 short because of my 20% discount and a couple things rang up less that I expected. I just bought one more Colgate at the next store and got my second $10 Up.

[mawmawandlovingit]

Hound Alert: If anyone happened to watch the Huggies $2/1 RA VV that was available in January and you will not be using them, I would love a few extra. If you could scan and e-mail them that would be awesome. Please PM me if you can help. TIA

[jax]

Aaaahhhhhh...... You sneaky, sneaky gits! ;D

I've been paying close attention to the grocery challenge and I kept thinking, "...but I don't NEED 5 bottles of vitamins!"

It all comes together now.

Feb 1, 2011 8:31:22 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Feb 1, 2011 8:02:05 GMT -5 @jax said:

Hi all - really basic question here. New to all this and haven't started hounding yet.

While I am rockin the CVS, coupons and sales at my grocery store for items I need, I do have a Walgreens nearby. When I look at the weekly fliers, I just don't see anything I need.

However, it seems that a lot of you will hound just to get buyer's rewards (or whatever you call them!) to eventually use for things you do need. Is the idea here to hound well enough that you are paying for little to nothing in order to collect rewards?

Hope that makes sense!

Yes, that makes sense!
If you haven't started with Wags yet, just wait and be patient. Several times a year, there will be a really great deal when you can jump in and get started without paying much, if any, OOP. Watch for their items that are free after RR (register reward) AND that there is a good coupon out for. Some deals we have gotten have been Natrol vitamins, $3 with a $3 RR and there was a $3 MC, so, most of us paid nothing OOP and got a bunch of $3 RR's to use later. They also had a similar deal on Ecotrin. If you don't use these products, you can always donate them. Then, you can use your RR's and "roll" them into other products in the next 2 weeks that are giving RR's or just "burn" them on products your family uses and needs. You can usually see the ads for 1-2 weeks ahead on i heart wags, so, you can do your planning for how to use those RR's. I would NOT pay very much OOP just to get an RR and get started unless it was something that you use/need anyway. Just be patient...make sure you read here daily. There will be another great deal.

[WholeLottaNothin]

Hi I am new to this thread, though I have been lurking for a couple of months. I live in Upstate NY and it seems I don't have a lot of the same stores that some of you have. I work about a block or so from a CVS so I think I will start there and see how I do.

To those needing huggies coupons, I am pregnant and people keep giving me some so I will gladly mail them to whoever might want them. They are the ones that come in the paper, not ones you get at a store, if that makes sense. A lady at work keeps giving them to me so just let me know

[constanz22]

nuttin Welcome! I'm only about an hour away from you, if I remember correctly. What stores do you have? I do really well at all of the drug stores (CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid) but we don't get many grocery store deals...nothing like other parts of the country. Once in awhile I can get a really great deal at the grocery stores, but they are few and far between! You must have a Rite Aid...there are a ton around here. They really have THE BEST deals right now. You can get a ton of free stuff there! Let me know if there's anything I can help you out with, ok?

[suziq38]

Jan 31, 2011 13:35:06 GMT -5 hopetoberich said:

Just found a $2/1 color in p&g 1/29. heading out the door now......back to RA

Hopetoberich,
I bought the Perfect 10 for $2.99 with the $3.00 PG MQ.

Thanks for the tip!

[suziq38]

Feb 1, 2011 8:55:36 GMT -5 WholeLottaNothin said:

Hi I am new to this thread, though I have been lurking for a couple of months. I live in Upstate NY and it seems I don't have a lot of the same stores that some of you have. I work about a block or so from a CVS so I think I will start there and see how I do.

To those needing huggies coupons, I am pregnant and people keep giving me some so I will gladly mail them to whoever might want them. They are the ones that come in the paper, not ones you get at a store, if that makes sense. A lady at work keeps giving them to me so just let me know

Welcme nuttin!
Many of us don't have the same grocery stores, but we do have a lot of the drug stores in common. Do you have Rite aid (RA), CVS, or Walgreens (WAGS)?
I think that Frugalsuz lives on the east coast.
Check out her blog in addition to our site. Her site is "Hounding with Frugalsuz."

[suziq38]

Yesterday at VON's (Safeway) I really had the worst cashier.
I decided to buy the Rancher's Reserve meat and found a package that was $2.29.
I submitted the $2.00 coupon and she refused to honor it.
She kept saying that "I just can't do that. The package has to be for $10.00."
I asked her where on the coupon it said that it had to be for a $10.00 package.
She looked and looked on the coupon, BOTH sides of it and she couldn't find it.
Then she pulled out the coupon booklet and looked on the page where the coupon appeared.
She still couldn't find it.
I finally told here that it wasn't there.
I told her that if she made up the rule about a $10.00 package, why not say that it was for a $20.00 package, or a $30.00 package???
I felt a MAJOR "BS ALERT" coming on.

The truth was she didn't want to sell me that package of meat for 29 cents.
She finally saw it my way when I told her that The coupon is the coupon, and I had complied with its conditions and rules.
I bought Ranchers Reserve meat, so I should get a credit of $2.00.

[suziq38]

Speaking of meats:
When does the Safeway(Von's) coupon expire for the meat???
I plan on buying up as much meat as possible and freezing the sections of meat.

First, I pull out the meat and save the description sticker.
Then, I wrap it with Saran wrap or something similar and put the sticker on top of the wrap.
I then put the meat with the Saran wrap in a Ziplock sandwich bag.
After that, I put that bag into another one, and pray for no freezer burn.

I am going to stockpile meats that are going to cost between 29 cents and $1.00 each.
Rancher's Reserve (a decent cut of beef) no less, LOL.