THE MARCH 2011 GROCERY CHALLENGE THREAD

[leanna]

Mar 25, 2011 18:43:45 GMT -5 suziq38 said:

I wish I had another Wags somewhat even close, but I think the next nearest one is a half hour drive away.
I just find their attitude hypocritical. They love me when I'm plunking down $300 at the pharmacy. They hate me when I'm paying with a coupon. Sheesh!
Sorry, I am just going nuts today about Wags! I need to take a chill pill.

Leanna,
I would tell that manager that the next time you see him or her.
Mentioning how much you spend at their pharmacy may change their attitude a bit.

Yeah, you are right. I have already said this to the Assistant Manager. But, if I have a problem again, I'm going to have a chat with the overall Manager. I think he is the uptight one, so I need to address it straight to him. I need to remind him that I can switch my prescriptions at any time to Safeway, Albertson's or Rite Aid - all are within a few blocks of Walgreens.

Thanks for helping me remember what to focus on!

[leanna]

QUESTION FOR MY FELLOW FRUGALISTA'S:

My Walgreens (test market area) has the Skintimate Shaving Gel RR deal coming up this Sunday (miracle of miracle's.)

So here's my question:

I currently have 4 bottles of shaving cream. The Skintimate deal is 2/$4 less $2 RR less (2) .55 coupons. This would end up being .90 for 2 bottles, or .45 per bottle.

I've gone into super coupon mode since January, and what I'm wondering is if .45 a bottle is a GREAT deal or if it's just a "regular" good deal. My gut says it's just an ordinary deal, so I might as well wait until I can get some free or until I have less shaving cream in the house.

But I may just have gotten used to getting too many items for free. Maybe I am being too unreasonable or cheap and .45 is a stock up price.

Can all you guru's advise?

I to your collective wisdom.

[dancinmama]

APRIL FREE AFTER SCR AT RITE AID

Hopefully something more will show up before the end of April, but just looking at the April SCR Booklet, here's what I think will be free after SCR for the month:

4/3 SCR
$9.99 Tena
$1.99 Polygrip

4/10 SCR
$7.99 Complete Saline Solution


Rite Aid 4/3 Scenario:
9.99 (1) Tena
1.99 (1) Polygrip
6.00 (1) Neil Med
1.00 (1) Scunci
18.98
1.76 Sales Tax
20.74
- 3.00 $3/15 OR $2/10 and $1VV
-15.00 UPs (Dr. Nightguard)
- 2.50 Tena
.24 OOP  $11.98 SCR (Tena & Polygrip) / $6UP (Neil Med) / $1UP (Scunci)

Then take the $6UP (Neil Med) and $1UP from the Scunci and roll them into the Complete on 4/10.

EDIT: Okay, now that I'm looking at it more carefully, it looks like the $2/$10 Beauty Bonus VV Q might only be good the beauty products featured in the various videos. Can anyone confirm/deny?

[murphath]

Leanna:
If you could use one of your RA VV q's for $1 non prescription, or if you have a $1 UP, you'd get them for "free":
2/$4.00 - $1.10 man q's= $2.90 - $1 VV q or $1 UP = $1.90. The $2 UP in return would make this pretty much an even deal (except for tax, of course).

The Home 6:
It always takes some out of pocket (OOP) on your first foray into hounding. Now that you have some EB's to work with, you want to buy products with those EB's that will generate more EB's (called "rolling"). If you like Physicians Formula makeup, for example, CVS will be giving a $7 EB for their products beginning Sunday. Many of the products have $2 or $3 off q's on them as well.
In addition, if you register your email address with CVS (they'll ask for your CVS card number, too), they'll send you a $4 EB (can't remember if it's $4 off $20).
It seems that the stores take turns giving us great returns in their paper money (EB's, RR's, UP's). Rite Aid was going gangbusters for awhile but I think they may be getting stricter. CVS was off my radar for awhile, but now have been having a few good deals as well. Like most here, I do not like WAGS but will go if there's a good deal, or it's on my way somewhere.

Have fun hounding!

[murphath]

Dancinmama:
Glad you had a great time. I didn't have the heart to tell you yesterday that the museums are free the third Wednesday of each month! Maybe you can take advantage of that next trip--be sure to doublecheck, though, because they've been known to shake up which day in the month is free.

[AJ CouponGG]

Leanna-
Do you often see free shavegl in you area? I usually pay .25 to .15/each when my grocery puts it on sale nd my qs double. If I had RR's about to expire I would go for it, but I also am in OH so my rockbottom price is probably different than yours. HTH. ;D

[dancinmama]

Mar 25, 2011 19:13:35 GMT -5 leanna said:

QUESTION FOR MY FELLOW FRUGALISTA'S:

My Walgreens (test market area) has the Skintimate Shaving Gel RR deal coming up this Sunday (miracle of miracle's.)

So here's my question:

I currently have 4 bottles of shaving cream. The Skintimate deal is 2/$4 less $2 RR less (2) .55 coupons. This would end up being .90 for 2 bottles, or .45 per bottle.

I've gone into super coupon mode since January, and what I'm wondering is if .45 a bottle is a GREAT deal or if it's just a "regular" good deal. My gut says it's just an ordinary deal, so I might as well wait until I can get some free or until I have less shaving cream in the house.

But I may just have gotten used to getting too many items for free. Maybe I am being too unreasonable or cheap and .45 is a stock up price.

Can all you guru's advise?

I to your collective wisdom.

leanna: The only FREE shaving cream deal that I have seen recently is when there were peelies on the Schick Hydro (buy a razor get the shaving cream free). I have free shaving cream in my stockpile, but it has been a VERY, VERY long time since I have seen a deal to get it for free. IF you will eventually use the shave cream, it might not be a bad deal depending on how fast you will use what you already have.

But just watch, no sooner will you buy it and a freebie deal will come along and then you'll be bummed that you took dancinmama's advice.

[dancinmama]

Mar 25, 2011 20:00:16 GMT -5 murphath said:

Dancinmama:
Glad you had a great time. I didn't have the heart to tell you yesterday that the museums are free the third Wednesday of each month! Maybe you can take advantage of that next trip--be sure to doublecheck, though, because they've been known to shake up which day in the month is free.

murphath: Thanks for the tip. How do you check for sure? Is there a place on the internet?

It's okay cuz DH had vacation and needed to do something fun. It was an expensive day, but worth every penny just to get DH out of the house and away from his computer. He took his blackberry which kept buzzing; I told him to turn if OFF!!

$59.00 Admission to the museum
16.50 Lunch at the museum
14.00 Parking
46.00 Dinner out
30.00 Gasoline

But we haven't done anything like that - no pro sporting events or concerts in a long time, so it was a long time in coming.

Does that apply to the SF zoo too? How about the SF aquarium? If you could send me an email or PM with as much as you know and which websites to check out, I'd really appreciate it.

I need to get DH out and away from his computer as much as possible. Seriously, all he does is sleep and work. I mean he takes "breaks" here and there, but there is not a day that goes by that he is not at his computer on weeknights and the weekends. The only way he gets a break is to LEAVE THE HOUSE!!

[dancinmama]

Mar 25, 2011 19:58:01 GMT -5 murphath said:

Leanna:
If you could use one of your RA VV q's for $1 non prescription, or if you have a $1 UP, you'd get them for "free":
2/$4.00 - $1.10 man q's= $2.90 - $1 VV q or $1 UP = $1.90. The $2 UP in return would make this pretty much an even deal (except for tax, of course).

murphath: Even better!! I don't plan to do the deal myself, but is there a limit? Those who have a lot of MCs could roll the $2UPs and do a rinse and repeat to build a stockpile (stock permitting).

[leanna]

Mar 25, 2011 19:58:01 GMT -5 murphath said:

Leanna:
If you could use one of your RA VV q's for $1 non prescription, or if you have a $1 UP, you'd get them for "free":
2/$4.00 - $1.10 man q's= $2.90 - $1 VV q or $1 UP = $1.90. The $2 UP in return would make this pretty much an even deal (except for tax, of course).

Well, I don't think Wags is going to take my RA VV Q
Then Wags would actually have something legitimate to yell at me about!

[jdnstl]

picghaw - received your envie today!!! THANKS so much!!!!

[leanna]

AJ CouponGG
Leanna-
Do you often see free shavegl in you area? I usually pay .25 to .15/each when my grocery puts it on sale nd my qs double. If I had RR's about to expire I would go for it, but I also am in OH so my rockbottom price is probably different than yours. HTH. ;D

Hmmm...I think the last time I got free shaving gel was when the eos was free at Wags. That was awhile ago. Thanks for the price reference - that does help - I'm in a higher COLA than you, so my prices are higher. So .45 a can is probably not too shabby!

Mar 25, 2011 20:03:39 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Mar 25, 2011 19:13:35 GMT -5 leanna said:

leanna: The only FREE shaving cream deal that I have seen recently is when there were peelies on the Schick Hydro (buy a razor get the shaving cream free). I have free shaving cream in my stockpile, but it has been a VERY, VERY long time since I have seen a deal to get it for free. IF you will eventually use the shave cream, it might not be a bad deal depending on how fast you will use what you already have.

But just watch, no sooner will you buy it and a freebie deal will come along and then you'll be bummed that you took dancinmama's advice.

Yeah, we didn't get that Schick Hydro peelie here - I don't know what's up with the lack of peelie's here in the Portland, OR area!!! I DO use shaving cream pretty quickly.

LOL - you crack me up! Don't worry - if I do decide to go ahead and buy it I promise I won't blame you!!! I wouldn't want us to get into a:

[dancinmama]

[quote author=leanna board=wir thread=3975 post=214756 time=1301103614

Yeah, we didn't get that Schick Hydro peelie here - I don't know what's up with the lack of peelie's here in the Portland, OR area!!! I DO use shaving cream pretty quickly.

LOL - you crack me up! Don't worry - if I do decide to go ahead and buy it I promise I won't blame you!!! I wouldn't want us to get into a: [/quote]

leanna: No way!! I'm a er, not a er.

[murphath]

leanna: Oh dear, I really am losing my mind! Sorry.

[murphath]

Dancin:
Just google san francisco museums free day and you'll see some links. One is for a bunch of museums. There is a separate link for the Calif. Academy of Sciences museum--looks like it's still the 3rd Wed. of the month.

I know what you mean about the cost. We usually pack a lunch, do the museum thing, and then splurge for dinner. Of course, I usually have purchased one of those gift certificates from restaurant dot com (especially when you can get them for $2 for $25 worth of food). Groupon for SFO has some good restaurant deals sometimes as well.

[leanna]

Mar 25, 2011 20:58:23 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

[quote author=leanna board=wir thread=3975 post=214756 time=1301103614

Yeah, we didn't get that Schick Hydro peelie here - I don't know what's up with the lack of peelie's here in the Portland, OR area!!! I DO use shaving cream pretty quickly.

LOL - you crack me up! Don't worry - if I do decide to go ahead and buy it I promise I won't blame you!!! I wouldn't want us to get into a:

leanna: No way!! I'm a er, not a er. [/quote]

Hee hee that's funny!

[leanna]

Mar 25, 2011 21:00:49 GMT -5 murphath said:

leanna: Oh dear, I really am losing my mind! Sorry.

LOL - It is A-ok! We couponers sometimes get a little crazed with all our deals, don't we?

It actually gave me a good laugh thinking about what the lady at Wags would do if I handed her a RA VV coupon.

[herekittykitty]

Ohsitter: thanks for the q's!!

[debinwa]

Mar 25, 2011 10:33:10 GMT -5 @bobbysgirl said:

To all Newbies: When you get a couple minutes off from hounding, check out the link on my blog for a free Kindle book. I downloaded the ap into my computer to read the book. The Simple Dollar, by Trent Hamm. www.angiesfrugalhouse.blogspot.com

I'm off to read now. There can always be something new to learn, even for us oldbies! LOL

bobbysgirl: Thank you for the link to the book. I have had the Kindle app on my laptop for some time and I have downloaded many free books this way.

[debinwa]

Mar 25, 2011 15:34:47 GMT -5 leanna said:

RITE AID DEAL ALERT


Nutra Nail is BOGO through this Saturday 3/26/11.
Here is a BOGO coupon:

www.nutranail.com/coupon-nn-bogo.pdf

leanna: Thank you for this coupon! And since it's good for quite a while, don't forget to save it to your computer. It could be useful later too.

[The Home 6]

Thanks, suziq and murphath! I went to WAGS yesterday as well, I won't bore you all with the transactions...but the lady was really nice and told me that, "well, you need to divide it up into a couple different transactions so you get all the register rewards." I was buying a lot of Suave product, because when you buy $10, you get $3 in RR. I made a note of her name, so I can look for her the next time I'm shopping there, and put in a comment card about what a helpful employee she is!

[p8nt]

I am really bummed - There doesn't appear to be a lot out there at CVS and Wags next week. I have a lot of Q's expiring on 3/31/11 so hopefully there will be a bunch of good ones to add to my stockpile in this weekend's papers.

[marvholly]

Suzi
The Ranchers Reserve meat is from the Feb coupons purchases. I froze a BUNCH of chuck, NY strips and this porterhouse.

Pubbler
I have a CVS on my corner but the mgr gave me SOOO much hassle about deals & coupons when he took over (Osco conversion) that I seldom shop there. Go to one 3 miles away but on my main travel/shopping route. Now, I have gotten him & his staff trained but I still prefer to travel. The “taste” lingers.

NONE of the 3 WAGS in my town are coupon friendly and they all are constantly OOS if you do not go at opening on Sun. I go to the one near my fav fruit market or on the way to see my Dad if he is at his apt or in rehab.

[dogmom]

I haven't seen much at CVS (no Rite Aid) to peak my interest, so, instead, I went out of my way and went to Dominick's (Safeway) instead of Jewel (Albertsons) this week. Last week at Jewel, even after shopping their ad I had to go to Meijer to get additional things on my list at their regular prices that I just could not justify a small purchase on from Jewel...YES, their card prices were that BAD. I was pleased with Dominick's Just 4 U buys and, they were coupon friendly... If I continue to shop there, I have to get used to the way purchases show on their screen. Discounts don't show up until the end. I just about had a heart attack while checking out. But, I got items that we use, spent $53.25, got a full week's plus worth of meat, produce and extras, and saved according to the receipt 54%. Also picked up additional $1.00 off produce purchase of $5.00 coupons that are good through August, and of course an extra frozen foods coupon book.
I have $3.00 RR that I have to use this week at Wags that I think I'll use for the Colgate RR deal. (Use two $1.50 coupons from this week's inserts and the RR will roll to $4.00 RR). In clearance yesterday I saw aluminum foil as a filler.

[suziq38]

I've gone into super coupon mode since January, and what I'm wondering is if .45 a bottle is a GREAT deal or if it's just a "regular" good deal. My gut says it's just an ordinary deal, so I might as well wait until I can get some free or until I have less shaving cream in the house.
But I may just have gotten used to getting too many items for free. Maybe I am being too unreasonable or cheap and .45 is a stock up price.
Can all you guru's advise?
I [image] to your collective wisdom.

Leanna,
It is totally "UP" to you, LOL.
If Rite Aid has the same deal, LOL.
If you have a video reward, plus the coupon, PLUS the UPS to make it FREE, I would buy it.
Since you have 4 and the deal is at WAGS, it just depends on how much you want it as part of your stockpile. Like the others have said, it is rare that it is on sale.
I personally don't need it, because I use body wash to shave my legs if I run out of Skintimate. For me, I would wait, but everyone is different.

[suziq38]

Mar 25, 2011 20:15:28 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Mar 25, 2011 20:00:16 GMT -5 murphath said:

Dancinmama:
Glad you had a great time. I didn't have the heart to tell you yesterday that the museums are free the third Wednesday of each month! Maybe you can take advantage of that next trip--be sure to doublecheck, though, because they've been known to shake up which day in the month is free.

murphath: Thanks for the tip. How do you check for sure? Is there a place on the internet?

It's okay cuz DH had vacation and needed to do something fun. It was an expensive day, but worth every penny just to get DH out of the house and away from his computer. He took his blackberry which kept buzzing; I told him to turn if OFF!!

$59.00 Admission to the museum
16.50 Lunch at the museum
14.00 Parking
46.00 Dinner out
30.00 Gasoline

But we haven't done anything like that - no pro sporting events or concerts in a long time, so it was a long time in coming.

Does that apply to the SF zoo too? How about the SF aquarium? If you could send me an email or PM with as much as you know and which websites to check out, I'd really appreciate it.

I need to get DH out and away from his computer as much as possible. Seriously, all he does is sleep and work. I mean he takes "breaks" here and there, but there is not a day that goes by that he is not at his computer on weeknights and the weekends. The only way he gets a break is to LEAVE THE HOUSE!!

Dancinmama,
I think that is great.
DH love to do things together, even if it costs some real cash sometimes.
If you have it saved, go for it.
Why?
You are so frugal 99% of the time.

[suziq38]

APRIL FREE AFTER SCR AT RITE AIDHopefully something more will show up before the end of April, but just looking at the April SCR Booklet, here's what I think will be free after SCR for the month:
Dancinmama,
Is there anything for me to buy this week to "roll" my UPs besides the Trident??
I bought 14 Trident for free with 7 BOGO coupons yesterday.

Thanks

[family legacy]

Question:

I now have 3 $5 RR from Almay from Wags. Can I redeem all 3 of these in a single purchase of $15 or more or will only 1 be accepted at a time?

[leanna]

UPDATE on the Nutra Nail deal at Rite Aid

I just read today on another site that Rite Aid doesn't accept internet coupons for over $5. I wasn't aware of that when I made my 2 runs at the Nutra Nail.

I don't know if this is one of those hard and fast rules at Rite Aid or if it's one of those YMMV. I had no problems at either of my RA's with this deal, but just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

My apologies for any problems if you took my tip and ran with it.

[leanna]

Mar 23, 2011 8:05:27 GMT -5 AJ CouponGG said:

My DH and I for the past few years have done about $900/yr on hba and groceries. We noticed the way the sale cycle works every other month tends to be a stockup on something kind of month. So I start with 100 in Jan, the Feb is 50, March is 100 etc you get the idea. At the beginning of the year I put $900 in an account and often times there are leftovers thanks to cvs, riteaid, walgreens deals for so many items free. We have been slowly working down my massive stockpile preparing for next yrs move to a different state. Rebates help too! We do consider beer and wine in their own budget, but thanks to frugalsuz for inspiration I do more beer rebates.....we got $47.50 back in beer rebates just this week. We live in a beer purchase required state.

This is seriously amazing and impressive!

I'm curious whether you and your husband are pretty flexible about just about everything you eat? My husband and I have some "must have's" and while I do use coupons and sales on those items, they do make a difference in the budget.