Some Deals & Freebies 01/21/12

**Neosporin Coupons (http://www.neosporinessentials.com/coupons.php)

I've never tried this product, but I definitely will with these offers! My eczema's been pretty controlled lately, but in my experience it never hurts to have one more thing in your toolbox to combat this annoying skin condition.

$3.00 off any Neosporin Essentials Product (excludes trial sizes)

$5.00 off any Neosporin Essentials Trial Pack

*QuickTip: Coupons expire 30 days from print date.*

**Enter to Win: L'Occitane Lavande Gift Set (via WomanFreebies.com)

 http://www.workingmother.com/giveaways/win-loccitane-lavender-gift-set

Quick form submit at workingmother.com; you don't even have to subscribe to their newsletter.

**Victoria's Secret (via happymoneysaver.com)

Free Beauty Rush Lip Gloss W/ Any Purchase!

It prints legit, but haven't tried it in the store yet, if you get a chance to before I do, let me know how it goes! Expires 02/02/12

**Free P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wrap

Quick account sign-up for Warrior Rewards. 

When you view your Rewards on the website, this message appears:

"You have no rewards at this time.

Please note, the Free Lettuce Wrap Reward will not show in your account until you’ve swiped your card (or given your server your phone number) once on or after January 9, 2012."

**Huggies Pull-Ups Printables 

Head over to the Pull-Ups website (www.pull-ups.com), set up an account if you don't already have one, and you get one printable per month.  

(When I tried to get the coupon today, it said it was temporarily unavailable...I'm assuming they only have a certain amount they give out every month?)

 

 

 

A Coupla Deals 4 U :)

This one, via Jennifer Kerr on my Wall (Facebook):

Here is a great FREE product, head over to brawnys facebook page and like them, get a 1.00 off coupon, fred meyers has brawny individual on sale for 1.00 = FREE :) Winning!!!

 And this one is AMAZING...ends on 01/23 (via WomenFreebies.com)
Create an account on papercoterie.com and you get a $30 credit on your account (use code: FREEGIFT2012), plus an entry into a $150 gift card sweepstakes. I just ordered a personalized growth chart for my son's room for $9.07! <3 it!

That's all for now...I would love to hear from you if you try either of these deals :)

Couponing Trip FAIL! :(

Like I said in my "Welcome!" post, I typically don't do huge couponing trips. One reason for this is the size of my family (2), another reason is because even my mini-trips can confuse me, as you will see here...


**Walgreens Trip 01/17/2012**

Here's how I planned it out...

Transaction #1: South Beach Diet Meal Bars (5 count) & ThermaCare Trial Size
--Current Sale Prices (01/15-01/21/2012)
--South Beach Bars: $5.99, earn $5.99 in Register Rewards (RR) = FREE!
--ThermaCare Trial Size (Neck, Wrist & Shoulder or Menstrual): $2.49, earn $2.49 RR = FREE!
----> Estimated Register Total (including tax): $9.18, $8.48 in earned RR

Transaction #2: 2 packs Schick Quattro for Women Disposable Razors (Sensitive Skin, 3 pk)
--Current Sale Price: $8.99, earn $3 in RR = $5.99 each (about $2 per razor; pretty decent I think)
--My coupons: 2 of $2/1 Schick Disposable Razors (excludes 2 pk)
----> Estimated Register Total (including tax): $15.14, $3 in earned RR

Transaction #3: Walgreen's Gummies, Extra Gum, Nabisco Crackers
*Side Note: I was specifically after gummies because I'm planning on making Drunk Gummies this weekend ;) All of the bagged store brand candy is on sale though**

--Current Sale Prices (01/15-01/21/2012)
--Walgreen's Candy (3-9.5 oz bag, any variety): $0.49 each with in-ad coupon, limit 3 per coupon
--Extra Gum (15 stick packs): 2/$1 with in-ad coupon, limit 6 per coupon
--Nabisco Crackers (6-16 oz. boxes): 2/$4 with in-store coupon ($2.99 each), no limits

--My Coupons:
1 Walgreen's Candy in-ad, 1 Extra Gum in-ad, 1 Nabisco $3/3
 ---->Estimated Register Total (3 bags of candy, 6 packs of gum, 6 crackers): $14.59
----> Out of pocket: $14.59 - $14.48RR = $0.11

Sounds REALLY amazing, right?
I thought so!!!




Alas, here's how it went down, in reality...

(Insert a mommy who got maybe 2 hours of sleep the previous night and had to be at work at 8:30 a.m. Also, I took my son with me on this trip, which I rarely ever do when I go on my couponing trips...even when he's being the best kid ever, he's distracting to me at the store.)

So, I grabbed all of my items off the shelf and just threw them in the cart, no order. This is very much unlike me; I usually try to put them together in terms of transaction order. It just helps to combat the scatter-brainedness.

I got to the check-out, and totally went blank on which items belonged to which transaction. This was especially awesome, considering that I was reading off my list that was written the previous night, in my non-sleep mode. I'll spare you the long and painful story, but just know that it resulted in a lot of voided transactions, a lot more out of pocket than I had expected, embarrassment because I was totally looking like a J.A., and no crackers. Guess what the first thing my son asked for when we got home...



At any rate, this is what I ended up with (plus 6 packs of Extra gum that apparently missed their photo shoot) for $18.18 out of pocket, plus I used $6 in Register Rewards earned from the razor purchases. On the upside, I do still have my $2.49 RR :)
I'm still sad that I didn't get my South Beach Diet bars or the crackers, but I know the first place I'm going when the roads out here clear up!

Questions and comments welcome :)

Albertson's Mini-Trip: 16 cents out-of-pocket!

Went to Albertson's on Gage today because they were the only ones that still had any of the Ken's salad dressing that I was looking forward to getting for free with my $1/1 plus Albertson's Twice The Value coupons (a.k.a. doublers). Not only did I score my free salad dressings, but look at what I got for just 16 cents!!!

Don't believe me? Here's proof:

The Ken's salad dressings aren't on this receipt because they were my first transaction, which ended up totaling -8 cents! Too bad Albertson's doesn't allow overages on their doublers :(

*THE HOW-TO*

Transaction #1: 3 Ken's salad dressings
--Current sale: 2/$4, or $2 each with your Preferred card
--$1/1 Ken's dressings (SmartSource 01/08/12): 3 total
--Albertson's Twice the Value (a.k.a. doublers): 3 total
----> Register Total: -$0.08 (wish I would have taken a picture to show you!)

Transaction #2: 2 Wholly Guacamole (1 Spicy, 1 Classic) & 2 Hall's Cough Drops
--Wholly Guacamole current price: $3.49 (aiee! SPENDY!)
--Hall's Cough Drops current sale: 2/$4
--$1/1 Wholly Guacamole printable (after you "like" on Facebook): 2 total
--$1/2 Hall's printable (I don't remember where I got it from; I think it was coupons.com): 1 total
--Albertson's doublers: 3 total
--$5 Reward from earning 5,000 points: 1 total
----> Subtotal (before tax): -$0.02; Tax: $0.18; Register Total: $0.16




There you have it! Happy Shopping!

Welcome!

So, I'm fairly new to this whole couponing thing. In fact, I used to be one of those people that would occasionally make the comment, "If you want a stockpile, why don't you just go to Costco?!" in the checkout line, behind all of the "Crazy Couponers", and JUST loud enough for them to hear me... ;)

Now, I'm one of those "Crazy Couponers", and I wouldn't have it any other way! I just started last November and have already been able to save enough with my little couponing trips to make a down payment on my amazing, brand-spanking-new townhouse where my 2-year-old and I now live. Needless to say, I TOTALLY see the value in buying tons of Sunday papers and spending the time it takes to get those great deals. 

Since it's just my son and I, we don't have a need for huge stockpiles, plus I am on a fairly small income. I started this blog to share with you the tips I've learned from way more experienced couponers (happymoneysaver.com and savvygirlliving.com, to name drop a couple), plus some things that I think are helpful for scatter-brained single moms, or any scatter-brained singles for that matter!

Please keep in mind that I'm not the greatest couponer or blogger ever, but I do like saving money and helping others...so I thought, "Why not help others save money?"

Enjoy!