8 lb Fresh Fruit for about $1.50 @ Target

Mrs. Deals pointed out this deal to me at Target (also seen on Money Saving Mom ). For anyone who thinks that couponing only works for cereal and toilet paper, take a look at this (sorry for the poor quality camera phone pic - it's my only option right now!)

You can print off Target Web Coupons for $0.50 off Bananas (1 lb or more) and $1 off Apples (1 lb or more). If you are really lucky, you're local Super Target will have Apples on sale for 0.99 / lb, which would make it possible to get them free.

At my Target, the small Granny Smith apples were priced at $1.29 / lb, so with the coupon, they were only $0.29 for a pound of apples. Lucky for me, 3 of these little guys came out to exactly a pound. Literally, 2 of my receipts say "1.00 LBS" one was 1.02 and one was .99, but my cashier still happily took the coupon.

Bananas worked out pretty good, although it was a lot harder to hit the 1 lb mark dead on. I split up 2 bunches of six into my four transactions, and found that 3 bananas would weigh anywhere from 1.1 to 1.15 lbs, and 2 bananas rang up as only .68 lb. To my surprise, the cashier let that one fly too, so even though the 2 bananas only cost 38 cents, she still took off the whole $0.50 coupon (the overage came off of the 32 cents I should have paid for the apples) and I ended up having a total of only 20 cents for that transaction!

The total of all 4 transactions was:

.43 + .20 + .50 + .40 = $1.53

Total Haul:

• 4.01 lbs of Small Granny Smith Apples (12 apples)
• 4.20 lbs of Bananas (2 bunches = 12 bananas)

I hesitate to say "OOP" though, because I used a target gift card (one of many we received as wedding gifts), so as far as our weekly budget goes this was a completely free shopping trip.

I can't wait to try whatever Mrs. Deals makes with those apples... yum!

- Mister Deals

Rainy Day Blog

It's been quite rainy here lately and by the looks of this weather map, we're not out of the woods yet:

I did get a little wet when I went out coupon hunting this morning, and I blame the weather for why I could only find a few extra inserts this week - apparently people don't go to Starbucks to read the Sunday paper when it's pouring outside!

Other than that, this was a pretty good week, and I did some nice rolling at Walgreens:

Transaction 1:

(8) Jiffy Peanut Butter on sale 2/$4 = $16 (+get $10 RR)
Used:

• (4) $0.75/2 coupons = $3 off total

OOP = $13

and received $10 RR for buying 8 Jiffy's

Transaction 2:

(1) 10 pack of #2 Pencils = 19 cents

(1) Gum Toothbrush = $3.49 (+3.50 RR)

(1) Walgreen's Children's Activity Book = 99 cents

(1) Vitamin Shampoo = $3.99 (+4 RR)

(4) Crest Expressions Toothpaste 4/$10 = $10 (+$5 RR)

Tax = 1.03

Used:

• (4) $0.75/1 coupons = $3 off total
• $10 RR from Transaction 1

OOP = 6.69

and received a total of $12.50 RR

Transaction 3 (a repeat of transaction 1 plus some fillers)

(8) Jiffy Peanut Butter on sale 2/$4 = $16 (+get $10 RR)
(4) 10 pack of #2 Pencils 19 cents each = $0.76

Used:

• (4) $0.75/2 coupons = $3 off total
• $12.50 RR

OOP = $1.30

and received $10 RR (again!) for buying 8 Jiffy's

Walgreen's Total OOP for the week = $20.99

Plus, we have a $10 RR to use this week!

The only other shopping I did this week was a very small trip to Copps:

(1) bunch of bananas $0.49/lb = 1.24

(2) Quaker Quick Oats on sale $1.28 ea = 2.56

OOP = $3.80

Total OOP for the Week = 24.79

(plus we have 1 remaining $10 RR)

We were hoping to stay more under budget, like $20 instead of $25, because we know we need to stock up on some kitchen basics, but it didn't happen this week. Last week, we did stay under $20, so that extra $5 savings will be used this coming week to give us a $30 budget. Mrs. Deals is already working on some deals to see just how far she can make that go... until then, stay dry! :)

- Mister Deals

Less than $5 = More Great Target Savings

Target is quickly becoming my favorite place to shop. Especially now that I have been going there for a few weeks, I feel like I know the store - I can find items easily, and when I can't I can always find a friendly "Target Team Member" to help me out. This makes my shopping trips quick and easy - like today. My fiancee helped me put these deals together last night, and today after work I just popped in, grabbed all the items, and only checked out once - I separated my items on the belt and asked them to bag it together but ring it up separately. The cashier was happy to do so, and it saved me a lot of time from having to wait in line again, or worse - go and reshop to get the items for the second transaction.

Here's the breakdown:
Transaction 1

• (1) Kraft Salad Dressing -$0.11
        sale price 1.89 minus (2) stacked $1/1 coupons
  
• (1) Kashi Waffles $0.29
        sale price $1.79 minus (1) $1.50/1 coupon
  
• (1) Degree Deodorant $0.47
        sale price 1.97 minus (1) $1.50/1 coupon
  
• (2) A1 Steak Sauce $0.99 each
        regular price 2.99 minus (2) $2/1 coupons
  

Total = $2.63 + tax (a whopping 3 cents)

OOP = $0.00 ! (thanks to the Target gift card I got last time)

Transaction 2

• (1) Kraft Miracle Whip $0.14
        regular price 2.14 minus (2) stacked $1/1 coupons
  
• (1) Degree Deodorant $0.47
        sale price 1.97 minus (1) $1.50/1 coupon
  
• (2) A1 Steak Sauce $0.99 each
        regular price 2.99 minus (2) $2/1 coupon
  

Total = $1.59 + tax

OOP = $0.00 *used gift card again :)


So, for less than $5 I'd say I did pretty good. The deodorants will get donated, possibly to our service men & women overseas, or to the usual food pantry. The A1, dressing, and Miracle Whip will be used for our bachelor/bachelorette party. And the waffles? Those are breakfast! My fiancee and I just love them - not sure what we'll do when they aren't 29 cents any more. I guess it will be time to invest in a waffle iron :)

- Mister Deals

Free Chocolate

Hershey's is running a promotion where you can register for free chocolate.  The limit is one per person/per Friday and throughout the promotion there is a limit of four coupons for a household.  

https://secure.realchocolate.com/default.aspx?ar=1

So head to this link and fill out your form fast (you have a five minute limit for filling it out).

Also, I would recommend bookmarking this site so you can come back to it easily next Friday!

-Mister Deals

Walgreens 5/17-5/23

So this week I started fresh without any built up Register Rewards, but came out with some pretty good deals.  

I didn't have a very clear cut plan with my rolls this week, mostly due to running into missing items from my planned rolls and an unexpected coupon for $5 off of a $25 purchase becoming available.  Since I needed to have a high out of pocket for this transaction, I grabbed a few empty ink cartridges and took those in for refills.  Luckily I had also gotten back my first gift card from the Easy Saver program, which allowed me to pay a little less out of pocket. 

In the end I had a fairly high out of pocket of: $37.99.  

However my Register Rewards total for future use is: $13.50

So the final cost is: $24.49

And my personal final cost is $18.49 (after subtracting $6 for things I bought for the in-laws)

Considering I was paying $20 for the ink refills alone, I think I did pretty good. 

My take-away:

(5) Edge Shaving Gels (1 missing from photo, hey I needed to shave and it was handy) ($1.99 - .75 cent coupon, got back $1 RR)

(2) Mitchum Deodorants ($1.99 with in-ad coupon) 

(1) Dry Idea Clinical Strength ($5.99 -$2.00 coupon, got back $5 RR)

(4) Right Guard Clinical Strength ($5.99 - .75 coupon, got back $5 RR)

(6) Colgate Visible White Toothpaste ($4.50 - $1.00 coupon, got back $4.50 RR)

(1) Pencil (filler) ($0.10)

(1) Bayer Quick Release (2.49 - $1.50/1 coupon)

(2) Black ink refills ($20)

(5) Ramen Noodles ($0.29 cents each)

(1) Red Candle ($0.49 cents)

(1) Crackers ($0.59 cents)

(8) Kraft Mac & Cheese) ($0.52 cents each after in-ad coupon & B3G1F coupon)

(2) Aveeno Lotions + (1) Aveeno Suncare ($6.82 after using 3 $2/1 coupons)

(1) Aveeno Travel Kit (FREE)

How far can $50 go?

This week there was a great sale on Kelloggs cereal, and I thought it would be a great chance to use up the various $1/1 Kelloggs coupons I had. We had a lot of coupons, so my fiancee and I decided we would go all out. We set a budget of $50, and worked out a series of 8 transactions. We couldn't believe our eyes at the results:

That's what 54 boxes of cereal look like.

Most of the cereals were on sale 4/$10, some were on clearance for only $1.89. With doubled $1/1 coupons, and some $1.50/1 coupons (Mini Wheats on box coupon), plus $5 off next purchase for every $20 of qualifying items (Kellogs Cereals (52), Huggies (2), Hellmanns Mayo (2)), resulted in final costs of $0.25 - $0.50 per box.

On top of the cereal we also got:

(16) Smuckers Toppings (10 Free, and 6 for $0.50 each)
(6) Colgate Toothpaste ($0.11 Money Maker: 89 cents - $1 coupon)
(2) Cascade Rinse (Free after coupon)
(2) Hellmanns Mayonaise ($2 after $1 off coupon)
(2) Ritz Crackers ($1.75)
(2) Wheat Thins (Free w/ purchase of Ritz)
(2) Huggies Bath Products ($1.50 with $1 off coupon)

Not Pictured:
(12) Steamfresh Frozen Vegetables ($1 each, plus $1/3 coupon)
(1) Bagelfuls ($2.19 plus $1 coupon)
(1) 3 lb bag Fuji Apples (99 cents w/ rain check)
(1) bunch Bananas ($0.49 / lb)
(2) Digiorno Flatbread Melts ($3.19 each, plus $1.50/1 coupon)
(2) gallons Milk ($2.69)

and:

The coke was on sale 4/$8.88, we picked them up for my soon-to-be in-laws, as well as a few other items (the Hellmanns and half of the Smuckers).

Our total out of pocket was = $49.76
The items for my in-laws = $25

Our Personal Total = $24.76

In case you are wondering how 2 people could ever eat this much cereal, or where we could even store it, we actually are only keeping 10 boxes of cereal for ourselves. We are giving the other 44 to a local food pantry, along with the Huggies baby products and the 6 toothpastes. It amazes me that giving to others can come from such a low final cost, with time being the real investment in taking advantage of these deals.

I know a lot of other couponers out there are very giving, and I would like to hear other ways that you are giving in your community. Please share your stories by leaving a comment below, so I can gain inspiration from your ideas.

- Mister Deals

Diapers and WalMart

So, this week I left my camera with my fiancee, thus I also left with her the pictures of last weekends deals.  

So, here is a delayed post about deals we got at Walmart:

(12) Boxes of Mini-Wheats ($.50 each after on-box coupon & Walmart's $2 sale)

(4) Kraft BBQ Sauces (FREE after $1/1 coupons)

(3) Kraft Dressings ($0.09-$0.59 after $1/1 or $1.50/1 coupons) 

(1) Dole Pineapple Canned Fruit ($0.22 after coupon)

Total cost: $7.69

After Walmart we stopped quick at the local Walgreens to pick up some diapers, which were on a B1G1F(buy one get one free) sale.  Using a Walgreens coupon, we picked up both packs for $4.00 total.  These are going straight to donation, but it felt like something worth picking up at such a low price.  

Overall the deals went by very quick, we knew what we were looking for and were in and out of stores fairly quickly.

Till next time,

-Mister Deals

Amazing Target Savings!! (5/14)

25 Items for less than $4!!

After work today, I stopped at Target and did 4 transactions. This was probably my favorite trip to Target yet, for several reasons, but the highlight was meeting a fellow Couponer! We were both in the Salad Dressing aisle, checking out the deals on the Kraft Dressing and Mayo. She was very friendly. We chatted about the deals we were getting, and ran into each other several times while we were shopping. During one of our meetings, I mentioned how I was having trouble finding the Wheat Thins Toasted Chips, so she gave me 2 of her coupons (a clipped BOGO & a Target printable coupon) so I could get 2 boxes of regular Wheat Thins on a great deal. What a kind gesture!

Each of my transactions were pretty similar, all together I got:
(8) Kraft Salad Dressing
(6) Kraft Mayonaise
(4) Nabisco 100 Cal Chocolate Pretzels
(4) Hershey Bliss Bar
(2) Wheat Thins
(1) Kashi Waffles

The out of pocket costs were:
Transaction 1: $2.94
Transaction 2: $0.99
Transaction 3: $0.02
Transaction 4: $0.00

Total out of pocket = $3.95

I used a combination of coupons on almost every item, making most of them free, the items I actually paid a little for were the Kashi Waffles and Wheat Thins (both on transaction 1).

Copps 5/13 Double Days!

My Copps trip this week really did not turn out as planned... but it was awesome!
As you can see, I didn't get any cereal. It turned out that I didn't have enough coupons for the cereals that were actually on the 4/$10 deal. So, I scrapped that plan, and just got some free BBQ Sauce and Kraft Dressing in the morning. Later, my fiancee and I came up with 2 new transactions for Wednesday night. Here are the results...

Items Purchased:

(13) Kraft BBQ Sauce (Free, plus some were -$0.16)
(13) Kraft Salad Dressing (Free)
(11) Creamette Pasta ($1 each)
(2) Dreamfields Low Carb Pasta (-$1.51)
(2) Edy's Ice Cream (2/$5)
(2) Windex Antibacterial Sprays (-$0.80 each after M.I.R.)
(4) V-8 Tomato Juice ($0.80 each)
2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast ($3.69)
(1) Strawberries ($1.50)
(2) Dawn Dish Soap (Small size $0.25 each)

This was the total haul from all 3 transactions (including my morning trip on the way to work, which is when we discovered the secret money making flavor of Kraft BBQ Sauce.

My totals were:

Transaction One was: $0.00!! (was briefly Negative 16 cents)

Transaction Two was: $15.19

Transaction Three was: $8.45

The great thing about these deals are the extremely low out of pocket when I take into account $10 of the cost are items for my soon-to-be mother-in-law (I'll deliver her groceries to her this weekend) which makes my out of pocket $13.64.

Tomorrow I will be sending in two mail-in-rebates for the Windex, which will be a savings of $6.58.

When this is accounted for my final cost is: $7.06!!

The coupons I used are as follows: (Doubled Coupons marked with *)

*(2) $0.40 Windex
*(4) $1 V-8 Tomato Juice
*(2) $1 Dreamfields Pasta
*(2) $0.50 Dawn Dish Soap
(13) $1 Kraft BBQ Sauce
(13) $1 Kraft Salad Dressing
(2) $2 Catalina Coupon (from Kraft)

Kraft BBQ Sauce-For an even lower price!

I had some awesome transactions yesterday at Copps (I didn't get any cereal, but came up with something new), but I will post more about that later.

I just wanted to give a heads up that at Copps (any maybe elsewhere, can't confirm) a new flavor of Kraft BBQ Sauce is ringing up at .84 cents! This is much lower than the $1 sale price advertised and it might be on a special promotional deal elsewhere too.

The flavor to look out for is: Teriyaki Sesame Ginger, it'll have a "New Flavor" tab around the top.

If you have the 75 cent coupon from the 5/3 insert, this could be a perfect use. But, if you print the $1 off coupons from kraft.com, it makes it Free or possibly a $0.16 Money Maker!

The way I discovered this was during a small checkout at Copps yesterday morning, my total rang up as -$0.16 (yes, NEGATIVE 16 cents). The cashier didn't know what to do, so she called over a manager to take care of it. She changed my last $1 coupon to only take $0.84 off, so I ended up with a total of $0.00, and I literally paid nothing out of pocket for the 8 items (BBQ sauce and dressing) I was buying. When I told my fiancee about it, she was able to figure out which item it was that gave me the extra discount, so when I did the rest of my transactions, I got as many of them as possible, and because I was buying other items, I did not lose the overage this time.

I recommend checking out Target or Walmart to get this BBQ sauce with your coupons, as the Copps deal may have already ended.

If you don't have the $1 printable coupons, check out this post from Money Saving Mom.

Hope this helps!

Mr. Deals

Copps Wednesday Double-Day Deal Plan

It's that time of the week again.  The grocery store I shop at, Copps, has double coupon day every Wednesday, so naturally I only shop there on Wednesdays (except for the occasional gallon milk on a Sunday morning).  If you are not a Copps shopper, let me explain their rules for double day:

• You have to ring up at least $25 (before coupons, tax, etc)
• Only your first 5 coupons are doubled
• They only double coupons up to $1, and only up to the full amount of the item.

Now that you know that, here are the deals I have planned out for tomorrow

Transcation 1

(8) General Mills Cereals (on sale for $2.50)

+ 8 GM Cereal coupons (5 of them will double) for a total of $11.25 in coupon savings

+ plus you get a $4 off next order coupon when you buy 8

(3) Kraft BBQ Sauce (on sale for $1, free after $1 printable coupon from KraftFoods.com) 

(2) Kraft Salad Dressing (on sale for $1, free after $1 printable coupon from KraftFoods.com)

OOP = ~$9 + tax

Receive = $4 off next check out

Final Cost = $5 + tax

Transaction 2

(2) Post TrailMix Crunch Cereals (on sale for $2.25)

+ $2 off 1 internet printable from SS

+ Doubled $1 off 1 clipped from previous sunday paper

= only 50 cents plus tax for 2 boxes of cereal!!

(10) Creamette Pasta (on sale $1 each)

(2) Kraft BBQ Sauce (on sale for $1, free after $1 printable coupon from KraftFoods.com) 

(3) Kraft Salad Dressing (on sale for $1, free after $1 printable coupon from KraftFoods.com) 

(1) Windex Antibacterial Spray 

+ free with MIB rebate from 5/10 SS

+ $0.80 money maker with doubled 40 cents off 1 coupon in same ad (5/10 SS)

(2) Dawn Dishsoap (on sale for $1, plus 2x $0.50/1 from P&G "Home Made Simple" booklet)

Total: $13.49 + tax

Use $4 from first transaction, now

OOP = $9.49 + tax

Mail in Rebate = $3.29

Final Cost = $6.20 + tax

Transaction 3

(1) Gallon of Milk

(1) Strawberries (on sale $1.50 per carton)

(1) 3 lb bag of Apples ($0.99 with coupon clipped from this week's Copps ad)

(1) bunch of Bananas

(2) Edy's Ice Cream (on sale 2/$5)

(1) 2 lbs boneless, skinless Chicken Breast (on sale $1.89/lb)

(2) Dreamfields Low Carb Pasta (BOGO plus doubled $1 off internet printable coupon)

(1) Windex Antibacterial Spray 

+ free with MIB rebate from 5/10 SS

+ $0.80 money maker with doubled 40 cents off 1 coupon in same ad (5/10 SS)

I am leaving this last transaction open ended, as I may or may not work in a few more items:

• more Kraft BBQ Sauce & Salad Dressing (Free with printable coupons)
• 4 Sally Hansen Nail Polish - I want to get these for my fiancee (because I have a bunch of $1 off coupons from the K-mart Spring Savings booklets), but I will have to see if they are a good deal or not when I get to the store.

My plan is to do the first 2 transactions in the morning before work (I'm glad Copps opens at 6am!) and then do the 3rd one on my way home.  I'll be sure to update my blog tomorrow night so you know how things turned out :)

- Mister Deals

At Target: 35 items for under $9 OOP!!

Today I took a break from work and headed over to Target.  I completed 4 transactions and got a bunch of great deals.  Pictured below is most of my loot; however, I accidentally left a few bags at work (I took in a few bags which contained yogurt & forgot them  several hours later when I headed home).  

My 35 items purchased:

(6) Easy Macs (Free)

(3) Bliss Bars (Free)

(2) Planters Nuts ($3 each)

(2) Quaker Bars (50 cents each)

(7) Kraft BBQ Sauce (.24 each)

(3) Chex Mix (Free)

(2) Fiber One Cereals (Part of Promotion)

(2) Fiber One Mocha Bars (Part of Promotion)

(1) Fiber One Toaster Pastry (Part of Promotion)

(7) Fiber One Yogurt 4-pack (Part of Promotion)

I started with a $5 gift card from the previous Special K promotion and ended with money still on another gift card.

Coupons I used (LONG LIST):

(3) Buy One Get One Free for Easy Mac (Manufacturer) 

(3) $1/2 Easy Mac (Target Coupon)

(3) $1 off Bliss Candy (Target Coupon)

(2) $1 off Planter's Nuts (Target Coupon)

(2) $1 off Quaker Products (Target Coupon)

(1) $1 off True Delight Bars (Manufacturer) 

(1) $1 off Omega Three Bars (Manufacturer)

(7) 75 cents off Kraft BBQ Sauce (Manufacturer from 5/3 SS)

(3) $1 off Chex Mix (Target Coupon)

(2) 75 cents off Fiber One Cereal (Manufacturer)

(2) $1.35 off Fiber One Mocha Bar (Manufacturer)

(1) 50 cents off Fiber One Toaster Pastry (Manufacturer)

(1) 50 cents off Fiber One 4-pack Yogurt (Manufacturer)

(3) $1 off Fiber One 4-pack Yogurt (Manufacturer)

(2) Buy One Get One Free Fiber One 4-pack Yogurt (Off of Fiber One Cereal's box) ($2.28 value)

Total Value of Coupons Tendered:  $35.68

With store sales, total savings:  $45.79

Paid with 3 $5 gift cards (one from Special K promotion, 2 from Fiber One promotion) and $8.94 out of pocket. (If I would have been a little more organized, I could have used up one more $5 gift card and had $3.94 out of pocket).  

If you consider the 3 new $5 gift cards as savings the true savings value is:  $60.79.

Most of this out of pocket reflects the cost of the two planter's products ($6), which I bought one for my use and one for my future father-in-law.  I'd call this a pretty sweet deal!

I also did my weekly grocery store trip tonight (double night) where I had planned on getting yogurt, but after realizing the great deal on the Fiber One products I ended up cutting that one off my list.  You can't beat the price of free!

My Walgreens Deals May 3rd, 2009

After gathering all of my coupons this morning, and checking out some of the coupon blogs, my fiancée and I planned out some deals for the week, and then I headed off to Walgreens.

So far I have done 3 transactions, and I am planning on doing 1 or 2 more.

Transaction 1
(5) Febreze Noticeables Starter Kits ($6)
(20) Assorted ConAgra Products ($0.50)
(2) Pert Plus Shampoo ($2.50)

Coupons Used:
(5) $4 off Febreeze Noticeables Kits (From today's P&G)
(2) $1 off Pert Plus (Internet Coupon)
$7.50 Register Rewards remaining from last week

Out of Pocket = $17.43

Received:
$11 RR
$1 off 4 Hunt's Tomato Sauce
$0.75 off 3 Pork & Beans


Transaction 2
(1) Right Guard Deodorant
(20) Assorted ConAgra Products ($0.50)

Used:
(1) $0.75 off 3 cans Pork and Beans
(1) $1 off 4 Hunts Tomato Sauce
(1) $1 off Right Guard Deodorant
$8 RR from Transaction 1

Out of Pocket = $2.40

Received:
$5 RR (plus $3 still remaining from trans 1 = $8 RR)
$1 off 4 Pork & Beans
$1 off 4 Hunts Tomato Sauce


Transaction 3
(10) Mr Clean Magic Erasers ($2.50)
(2) Listerine Total Care Mouthwash ($4.50)
(5) Assorted ConAgra canned goods ($0.50)

Used:
(5) Buy 1 Get 1 Free Mr Clean Magic Erasers
(2) $2 off Listerine
$8 RR

Out of Pocket = $13.87

Received:
$10.50 RR
$1 off 4 Pork & Beans
$0.75 off 2 Hunts Tomato Sauce


Total out of pocket for all 3 transactions = $33.70
Remaining RR = $10.50

Final Cost = $23.20

$23.20 / $129.20

Total Savings = 82 %



Total Haul:
(10) Mr Clean Magic Erasers
(5) Febreze Noticeables Starter Kits
(2) Pert Plus Shampoo
(2) Listerine Total Care Mouthwash
(1) Right Guard Deodorant
(25) Hunts Tomato Sauce (ConAgra)
(12) Pork & Beans (ConAgra)
(8) Butterball Chicken Broth (ConAgra)

One more note: I figured out that with the remaining coupons I have for Hunt's Tomato Sauce and the Pork & Beans, I can go back for 20 more cans, pay $6 in RR and only 28 cents out of pocket (including tax!). My soon-to-be Mother-in-law said she could use some Chicken Broth, so for the 6 cans unclaimed by coupons, I know what I'll be getting ;)

Sunday Morning - Stock up on Coupons!

I have a new Sunday Morning routine: Coupon Hunting

I started off the day at Metcalf's Sentry Foods - a grocery store that will give you a free Sunday paper when you spend $5 or more. I needed a gallon of milk, so after that I just had to find another item for about $2. I now had my first paper, which meant my first 3 coupon inserts for this week: Red Plum, Smart Source, and Proctor & Gamble.

Next, I stopped at as many coffee shops and diners I could find.


You can't be shy - several times I interrupted people who were reading their newspapers to politely ask if they were planning to keep the coupon inserts. For the most part, the people I ran into were happy to hand over all of the ads, which they viewed as "junk." If only they knew ;) But, 2 guys did surprise me. They were sitting on the curb outside of a Perkins, and each had a Sunday Paper. I asked them if they were "Coupon Clippers," and they both answered that indeed it was the only reason they bought the paper!

In total, I managed to find:
8 P&G
7 SmartSource
4 RedPlum

Now, it's time to plan some deals!

Quick Target Trip

Today my fiancée had her Wedding dress fitting appointment. I drove her there, but of course I could not go in with her, so I popped next door to Target to pick up a few deals I had heard about.

I got:
(3) Special K cereals
(2) Special K cereal bars
(2) Kashi Waffles
(2) V8 Fusions
(1) Dry Idea Deodorant

I had printed coupons for everything except the cereal bars, but they were on sale and helped me to get the $5 Target gift card (free with 5 Special K items).

Out of Pocket = $12.72
Target Gift Card = $5

Final Cost = $7.72


While paying only $7.72 is a good deal, it could have been even sweeter if I had a few more Special K coupons.

But, I wanted to share this because it's an example of just how quick and easy it can be to save a lot money with a few coupons. I printed the coupons online, and only spent about 15 minutes in the store grabbing these items and checking out.

If you are not a coupon user yet, don't be intimidated. True, you can spend a lot time surfing for the best deals and clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, and you will be able to save a lot more, but that's not necessary - especially if you are just getting your feet wet.

By just printing a few coupons per week for items you are going to buy anyway you will start to see the savings add up. And, if you're anything like me, you will get hooked and soon be seeking out all of the can't miss deals week after week!

-Mister Deals

Rollin' at Walgreens - a first timer

This past week was an exciting and new experience for me: I went "Rolling" at Walgreens for the first time. If you don't know what Rolling is, I recommend checking out www.moneysavingmom.com or any of the other great coupon blogs around the net. It's basically a way to buy a lot of items for almost no money by splitting your purchase into a bunch of small transactions, and "rolling" the rewards you get from one to pay for the next.


Here are the results from my week of rolling:

I alternated between these 2 transactions:
Transaction 1
2 Ecotrin Aspirin ($2)
1 Rembrandt Toothpaste or Mouthwash ($6)
2 Cheap Fillers (ie Ramen Noodles or random clearance items)

Out of Pocket cost = $1.51 per transaction

Transaction 2
1 Nivea Body Wash ($5)
1 Bayer QuickRealease ($2.50)
2 Fillers (Ramen Noodles or Wrapping Paper)

Out of Pocket cost = $0.47 - $0.71 per transaction

On top of the 2 basic transactions, I also got 2 Ink Cartridge Refills which each came with a $7.50 EasySaver Rebate, and a bunch of "filler" items not pictured.

Total Haul:

(2) Ink Refills ($10)
(13) Nivea Body Wash ($5) **regular price $6.49**
(1) Rembrandt Mouthwash ($6) **regular price $7.49**
(12) Rembrandt Toothpastes ($6)**regular price $7.49**
(13) Bayer Quick Release ($2.50)
(30) Ramen Noodles (Great for a quick guy lunch) (4/$1)
(2) Hallmark Gift Tissues (.39 cents) **regular price .99 cents**
(16) Low Dose Ecotrin (45 count) ($2) **regular price $3.49**
(4) Extra Strength Ecotrin (75 count) ($2.19)**regular price $8.49**
(17) Hallmark Gift Wraps (.39 cents) **regular price .99 cents**
(3) Breath Mint drops (.15 cents) **regular price .50 cents**
(1) Hannah Montana Bubble Gum Kit (.25 cents) **regular price $1.29**
(1) Yogurt Raisins ($1)
(1) Deodorant clearanced (25 cents!)
(2) Highlighters (.15 cents) **regular price .50 cents**

Total Cost before coupons and rebates: $253.42

Full Retail Price at Walgreens: $355.39

Actual Total Out Of Pocket = $43.40
Remaining Registry Rewards = $7.50
Rebates for 2 Ink Refills = $16.50 ($15 + 10% bonus on gift card)

Final Cost = $19.40

$19.40/$355.39

Total savings: 94.5%

I think I can be proud of this for a first week of rolling!

On a side note, I don't have plans to keep all of these goodies to myself. We will be passing on some of these items to my fiancées family and while I do plan on keeping a few of each (especially the ramen!) the rest will be passed on to a local food bank who are always in need of toiletries.

Also, it's worth mentioning that I visited 6 separate stores throughout the week to get all of these. At 5 out of the 6 stores, I had great experiences with helpful staff, a few even encouraged me to roll a few more times! The only bad experience was at the second store when an employee interrupted my cashier mid-transaction, and told me not to "try that again" at her store. Needless to say, I won't be returning to that location again.