Friday, June 17, 2011

97% Savings & All About Rain Checks!

From my house to:
Publix 7.4 miles or about 20 minutes
BiLo 5.1 miles or about 15 minutes
Walmart 1.1 miles or about 4 minutes
CVS 3.6 miles or about 10 minutes
RiteAid 5.9 miles or about 17 minutes
Walgreens 1.9 miles or about 5 minutes
A lot of people talk about the price of gas when you talk about coupons and going to the different stores. Since I do visit about 5-6 different stores weekly, I want to give you an idea of how close they are to my home. Also, I carpool with my mom pretty much every time we go to the store, so it also saves on the little bit of gas we do use. And on top of that, generally speaking, most of these stores are close together for me. In other words, I'm not driving one way to get to one store and turning around and driving a totally different direction to go to another!  Not everyone is this lucky though, and if you are not as close to the store as I am, you may need to pick only one to two stores to visit per week or pick one day a week to do ALL your shopping. I know I have a good friend of mine that lives about 30 minutes from any of the *hot* stores to shop at in our area so it is very unreasonable for her to go shopping more than once a week. And with that, comes the inevitable possibility that you will miss an item being on sale. And to be honest, with all the hype on coupons here lately, I've even been a little frustrated with not being able to find certain items in stock.

Which brings us to RAIN CHECKS! What is a rain check, you ask? A rain check is particularly useful when you get to a store to only find out that the item or items you came to purchase are no longer in stock. It is a voucher which will allow you to purchase the item at the advertised price after the store has restocked it. Here's a few tips and tricks:
1. Know your ad...Have a copy and try to have an idea of where your item is and what kind of sale/deal you are wanting for the rain check.
2. Rainchecks are for grocery stores AND drugstores! Don't limit yourself! The drugstores will give you the sale price PLUS the deal they are running like ECB.
3. Some rain checks expire, BUT some do not! Make sure you pay close attention to the stores that don't have expiration dates on their rain checks. A great tip is to get a rain check on items like produce at those stores that don't have expiration dates. Then, when you need something out of season, you can still get it at the sale price!
4. Another great tip is to remember that if one flavor is out of something, you can still get a rain check for it even if there are other flavors there! For example, the yummy Jala Bars I blogged about here were on sale at a great price, but when I went back, the blueberry ones were out of stock. I got a rain check for 10!

 * Hope this helps you, and remember, don't leave empty handed! Once you get used to them, it is second nature!*
First, like usual is CVS. I did some great shopping there this week!
2 John Frieda Full Repair Conditioners
2 Soft Scrub Total
2 Soft Scrub with Bleach
1 Cetaphil Facial Cleanser
2 OFF! Clip-on Starter Kits
2 OFF! Clip-on Refills
1 Zyrtec 5 ct
1 Bayer Advanced Aspirin
2 boxes of Skinny Cow Bars
Subtotals 96.25-Savings 95.61=0.64 TOOP



And of course, here is RiteAid...another small week!
1 Bayer Advanced Aspirin
1 Compound W Liquid
1 Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Color
Subtotal 21.97-Savings 17.00=4.97 TOOP-1.99 Mail in Rebate (Bayer)= 2.98 TOOP





Walgreens was a pretty decent week though!
3 Schick Hydro Shave Cream
2 Tone Body Washes
1 Finesse Shampoo
1 Finesse Conditioner
1 Blistex for Men
1 Colgate 360 Toothbrush
4 Laffy Taffy (fillers)

Subtotal 37.01-Savings 33.06=3.95 TOOP-2.99 Mail in Rebate (Finesse)= 0.96 TOOP


DRUGSTORE TOTALS FOR 6/12: 
Subtotal 155.23-Savings 145.67= 9.56 TOOP-4.98 Rebates= 4.58 TOOP
93% Before Rebates or 97% After Rebates!

Since I had a few things I wanted to get before my coupons expired, I also went to Walmart...
2 Nautica Cologne (clearance 7.00 each)
5 Dial Travel Size Body Washes (0.97 each)
1 Bic Mark-It pens 24 count (12.44)
Subtotal 30.32-Coupons 22.00=7.32 TOOP
Savings of 73%! Here's a breakdown:
(4) 2.00 off Dial from (RP 6/12)
(2) 5.00 off Nautica Cologne (printable)
(1) 5.00 off BIC Mark-It 24 ct (printable)
So, I used the overages from the dial to help pay for the other items, bringing my TOOP down!

And lastly, I made a quick trip back to Publix as well to grab a few items...
5 Think Thin Protein Bars 
2 Tomatoes
1/2 lb grapes
2 Bayer Advanced Aspirin
2 Skinny Cow singles
Subtotal 21.90-Savings 18.26=3.64 TOOP
Savings of 83%!
*Quick Note* I was planning to also use my $2.00 off Publix produce coupon from the Stocking Spree signup, but come to find out, the coupon was not valid until 6/16. Oh well!


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6 comments:

  1. Where are you located? I know a lot of people have trouble with different areas. Will you be willing to let us know your next trip and what you have planned? I would like to try and match your trip and get into the system of how it works.

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  2. Hi! I'm in Lexington, SC, where are you? This weekend (Sunday) I'm planning to do my regular CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens trip. I do my grocery shopping usually on Wednesdays (Publix/BiLo). I usually only shop Walmart occasionally. If you let me know what stores you are interested in I would be happy to help you get started. :)

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  3. Hi Lisa. Where did you find the $5 printables for the Nautica cologne. Also, Great Blog! Much thanks

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  4. I do a similar thing when I go to CVS, Walgreens, and Kroger. I try to do them around the same time and then it's one trip and they are near each other. I went to CVS on 6-13 and Kroger on 6-14. Have a great week! ~Lisa

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  5. Hi, Deut...I got the Nautica printables earlier this month (I think around the 2nd) on coupons.com...They were redeemable if I remember right ONLY at Walmart. And thanks! :)

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  6. Lisa, I know a lot of people don't like the idea of going to multiple stores, but I say that when you are traveling to one, try to hit as many on the way there and back as possible! :) I'm taking a look at your trips now! I love reading other peoples finds!

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