Drugstore shopping week 1/26/20

I apologise for the lack of posts. I spent a few days in bed with a cold. Finally made it to the drugstores yesterday, since I had to attend a meeting in the morning.

CVS

2 x Gillette Razors 21.58

1 x Revlon face makeup $12.79

Less Gillette q (4.00)

Less Gillette DQ (4.00)

Less Revlon CRT (5.00)

Less Revlon q (5.00)
Less 4/20 (4.00)

Less EBs (11.00)

Tax 1.82

OOP $3.19

Earned $12 EBs ($8 Gillette, $4 Revlon). I also received $6 Beauty EB that my last trip qualified for and a 6/30. 

Easy peasy. I was in & out of CVS in less than 5 minutes. 

WAGS

I had 2 really nice scenarios planned to use that $5 bonus WYS $20 q that I found in my cart last week. Silly me should know by now that WAGs is always a crapshoot. Ugh, I'm just a sucker for punishment...lol

Trans 1

3 x Tide Simply $8.97

1 x Almay lip 7.99

1 x Revlon face makeup 10.99

1 x R Stover candy 0.39

Less Almay q (2.00)

Less Revlon q (5.00)

Less BR points (20.00)

Tax 1.68

OOP $3.02

Earned $3 RR (Tide) and my $10 Revlon RR never printed. Ugh!!! I don't know how WAGs works, because it's been reported that Revlon RRs print for some and not for others. The manager got called over and immediately told me that she'll add $10 points to my account. No problemo - except, I was gonna use the $10 RR for my 2nd transaction cause I won't get bonus if I pay with points. This was a different store from my regular store and it was so easy to get my $10 points. The manager didn't take a long time to peruse the ad and receipt. I might have to go back to that store, because they also stock Almay (no longer available at my stores). Only thing is this store is 3 miles from my house. Oh the horror...lol. I have all drugstores right on my doorstep, so driving 3 miles is far for me.

Trans 2

3 x Crest t/p $8.97

3 x Colgate t/p 8.97

1 x 96 oz Snuggle softener 6.99

2 x R Stover candy 0.78

Less Crest DQ (5.00)

Less RR from Trans 1 (3.00)

Tax 1.50

OOP $17.21

Earned $5 BR points, $5 Crest RR, $4 Colgate RR

WTF WAGS. My $5 Colgate DQ didn't deduct. See, my plan was to use the $10 RR and Colgate q so my OOP is $2.21. Ugh. Got home and saw that the q was once again gone. I know that there was a $5 Colgate q, cause someone mentioned that her dq didn't deduct. Turns out she purchased 2 Colgate instead of 3. Except, my Q is MIA again. Now I know that WAGS DQs always expire on Saturdays, so I don't know what's going on. Grrr, I should just have used $10 points to pay and forget about the bonus. And then they had the nerve to give me another $5 WYS $20 RR. Nuh uh, no way! I'm not falling for that again...lol

BUT 

Once I was home, I read that WAGS has free online shipping thru Saturday. So I checked some deals and saw that WAGS does indeed sell my favorite moisturiser, but it's only available online. The best part - it's part of the B2G1F sale this week. 

Trans 3

3 x Loreal moisturiser B2G1F $16.58

3 x Vaseline lip balm B2G1F 3.98

2 x Garnier shampoo 5.98

Less Loreal DQ (2.00)

Less Vaseline DQ (1.32)

Less Garnier DQ (4.00)

Less BR points (20.00)

Tax 1.59

OOP $0.81

Earned $5 Beauty reward and $0.80 from Rakuten. Whoo-hoo!

It's crazy that my moisturiser has 2 different prices. They're both the same size but the one without dispenser costs $3.70 less. Of course I bought the cheaper one....lol So now I'm one happy mama!

On another note, I received my $20 RA visa gc earlier this week. Now I have to figure out how to roll that into the new Get $20 WYS $50 deal next week, cause I have no BC. I do have a 8/40  and other mailer qs though.

I'm done with drugstore shopping for the week. I feel like I got hit by a truck my body's so sore. So back to bed when I get back from running errands.

Have a great weekend everyone!

WAGS Round 2. A much better trip

I ventured out to WAGS again yesterday, because the next 2 weeks' ads don't look good and I had $12 RRs that expires in that time frame. I also learned that the $7 bonus WYS $25 DQ can be used multiple time. Yay!

Trans 1

2 x Revlon lip stain $19.98
2 x Russell Stover candy 1.38
Less BOGO Revlon q (9.99)
Less Russell Stover DQ (0.60)
Less BR points (10.00)
Tax 1.20
OOP $1.97

Earned $10 RR Revlon and $5 BR Beauty points

I know that BR points will sometimes cover part of sales tax, but after Thursdays fiasco, I wasn't taking any chances. That's why I grabbed the candy, to ensure that I could use $10 in points. After all, I had $86 on my account. Got to use up them points :)

Trans 2

6 x Softsoap b/w $23.94
2 x Loreal shampoo/conditioner 8.00
Less Loreal q (4.00) This is the q I forgot to take to CVS yesterday
Less Loreal IVC (2.00)
Less yesterday's earned RRs (12.00)
Less RR from Trans 1 (10.00)
Tax 1.92
OOP $5.86

Earned $27 BR points ($15 Softsoap, $5 WYS $20, $7 WYS $25 on beauty).

Total Spent (Cash + Rewards) $44.83
Total Earned : $42

I started out with $86 in points and now have a balance of $108!! Oy vey. I hope another good sale comes along soon. I'd like to stock up on some household items (detergent & we are low on paper products)

Now THIS is how I like to shop. Softsoap is one of our favorite b/w brands, so I was very happy to stock up.

I should've known it was gonna be a good trip, cause when I walked into the store I found a $5 WYS $20 RR in the first shopping cart I grabbed. I already had one from thursday, so I'm saving that one just in case a good scenario pops up next week (so much for not going shopping the next 2 weeks...lol)

I really thought that I was out of BOGOF Revlon qs. I've found 2 this week that made me jump for joy. After doing the math, I realised that this is the last 2. I had 5 inserts (bought 7 papers the first Sunday of the year) that had the Revlon qs. I used 2 at RA and one at CVS. So yeah, the extra 2 is not by some miracle....lmao. I don't know what I was thinking....lol.

I still have $5 Revlon face qs and WAGs has the Revlon deal next week again. So I might do 2 transactions to use up some points. Then combine the RRs with the Bonus $5 points RR. I'll have to check the ad again.

WALMART

If anyone needs to stock up on t/p, try the Cottonelle deal. This deal works at several different stores, but I happened to shop at Walmart.

1 x Cottonelle t/p $6.48
Less $1 q (SS 1/5) (1.00)
OOP $5.48

Earn 2500 points Fetch ($2.50)
Earn $1 Ibotta
Total cost after rewards = $1.98

The Fetch is a limit of 3, but you can only redeem one t/p per receipt. There's also a 500 point bonus if you buy the Cottonelle wipes too. I think it's around $2.48-2.70. Use 50c q and earn $1 Ibotta and 50c Fetch (500 point bonus for buying both t/p and wipes). So that's around $0.48-0.70 for the wipes

On another note, my car is fixed. When I asked DH if there's gas in the other vehicle that I like to use (DH loves to drive until the gas gauge is on E. He knows it drives me nuts), he told me that my car is fixed. He bought an alternator on Thursday night and replaced the bad one. Yay!! But when I was ready to go out, I saw my car on the hoist minus it's 2 front wheels. He told me that he was gonna replace the exhaust or something else (I can't even remember...lol). The one good thing about something going wrong with my car, is that DH will check everything else and then replace whatever parts he feels is not up to standard. Not that there's anything seriously wrong with it, but he likes to keep our vehicles in tip top shape. So I just grabbed another set of keys and off I went to go do some damage at the stores.

Now I need to plan for next week's deals. My grocery shopping is already done, so it's just drugstore deals.

The 'I need a drink' drugstore shopping edition

Well today was just a total cluster. I hate days like this, cause I like things to go smoothly. My mistake was starting my trip at WAGS. I know better than to start at that store, but I had tons of places to go to and didn't want to have to backtrack especially for WAGS.

Trans 1

2 x Revlon Lip stain $19.98
2 x Loreal shampoo/conditioner 8.00
1 x Scunci elastics 0.99 (clearance) I used this as a filler so I could use my RRs
Less BOGOF Revlon q (9.99)
Less Loreal IVC (2.00)
Less 2 RRs (8.00)
Tax 1.74
OOP $10.72

Earned $10 Revlon RR + $12 points ($5 WYS $20, $7 WYS $25 on Beauty) + $4 Points (see below)

Total Spent (Rewards + cash) $18.72
Total Earned : $26

Hold it!! I knew that total was wrong and I even pointed out to the cashier that my digital Loreal q didn't deduct, but she was clueless. I couldn't get wifi at WAGS to show the q on my phone. Grrrrrr!!!

Got home and CS added $4 points to my account. Not what I wanted, cause I have tons of points. I just don't wanna spend my own money. Can y'all see how WAGS keep sucking the money out of my pocket?

Trans 2

4 x Softsoap b/w 15.96
1 x Gillette razors 6.99
1 x Snuggle softener 4.99
Less Softsoap DQ (0.75)
Less BR points (20.00)
Tax 1.68
OOP $8.87

Earned $2 RR Gillette + $10 BR points (Softsoap)

Total Spent (Cash + Rewards) $28.87
Total Earned $12

Once again I had a sense of humor failure. I knew that I had $3 Gillette & $2 Snuggle DQs. But of course I couldn't view it thanks to no wifi.

When I checked my account when I got home, I noticed that I hadn't clipped the Gillette q. Oh boy!! This is what happens when I make shopping lists at 5am, before coffee. Note to self : First coffee, then shopping....lol  The Snuggle q was just poof, gone. This is the 2nd time this has happened. I can't even ask for points back, because there's no way to prove that I had the q. Next time I'm taking screen shots of every DQ I plan to use.

CVS

Whoo-hoo. Another $3 Beauty EB printed at the red machine. The other one was still on my account too, so I decided to just go ahead and use it.

4 x Loreal shampoo/conditioner $16.00
2 x Garnier treatment $5.98
2 x Maybelline brow pencils B1G50% off $7.49
1 x Covergirl lipstick 8.79
1 x Covergirl mascara 6.79
Less Covergirl q (2.00)
Less Covergirl app q (1.50)
Less Maybelline q (1.00)
Less Maybelline CRT (3.00)
Less Garnier q (3.00)
Less Loreal DQ (3.00)
Less EBs (23.00)
Tax 2.25
OOP $10.79

Earned $21 EB ($5 Loreal, $5 Maybelline, $7 Covergirl, $4 Garnier)

Total Spent (Cash + Rewards) $33.79
Total Earned : $21

Ugh, this was totally my fault. I forgot to clip the Loreal Man Q and take it to the store with me. Stupid, stupid!!

I also purchased a $50 Kohls gc. I redeemed for $25 Walmart gc throught Ibotta and will get another $25 Walmart from Swagbucks (Swagbucks currently has a Team Challenge and I know that comes with a 100sb bonus - my team is in 1st place. So I'm waiting on the swagup to redeem another gc. This should cost me 21000 points, because of the monthly $25 gc discount (cost 22000 points, instead of 25000)

So the Walmart gcs goes towards Sams groceries and I'll take $50 out of the grocery budget to pay for the Kohls gc. I earned $10 EB on the gc, so I'll add $10 to my Christmas jar. I love free money...lol

So I get a discounted $25 Swagbucks gc and made an extra $10 by purchasing the Kohls one. I don't know if this will make sense to anyone...lol


Then I dropped off the drugstore groceries at home and headed out to run my other errands. Less than 2 miles from  home, I noticed all dashboard gauges on zero. What?! Have aliens invaded my car? I'm driving on a busy road, so I turned into a subdivision and barely made it into a parking spot before my car shut down. So I call DH and told him what happened. Thankfully he was still home, cause he was on his way out too. He gets there with his computer & jumper cables and declares that its my darn alternator again. He replaced the alternator last year. I've been joking with him that it's a sign that I need a new car. My car is almost 20 years old and I've had it for 10 years. I think it might be time for a new vehicle. So my car went into the shop when we got home (a perk about being married to a mechanic...lol). I could've taken one of our other vehicles to go back out, but the day has been so crappy that I just decided to stay home. I grabbed some Sams pizza from the freezer to make myself feel better....lol

RA UPDATE

I headed back to RA last Friday to complete the $20 visa gc deal.  I bought 2 Almay eyeshadows and was pleasantly surprised when one rang up at $1.82. It wasn't even marked. So I got my 10% Silver discount on the other eyeshadow too.

1 x Almay $6.56
1 x Almay 1.82
Less 2 Almay qs (4.00)
Tax 0.50
OOP $4.88

I spent a total of $11.71 OOP + 6.23 BC = $17.94 and earned a $20 Visa gc. So a small MM to me. Whoo hoo!

2020 Christmas & Black Friday Shopping

I know it's only January, but as some of you know I start Christmas shopping & saving for the next year the minute I have my Christmas shopping done (which is usually end November/early December). My main reason for doing this is that I'm super busy with work during 4th quarter and I also don't have to worry about spending a load of cash during the holidays. The other (equally main reason) is because you find far better deals throughout the year.

In early December Soma sent me a $25 off anything q. I don't know why, because I rarely shop there. I waited for a free shipping day and found slipper socks on sale for $5. So I got 5 pairs for free.

A few weeks ago, I found a beautiful gift clearanced to $5.98 (original price $55). I get a 5% discount & free shipping at this store and Rakuten had 10% cash back. Whoo-hoo! So after all discounts, the gift came to $5.44. I loved it so much when it arrived, but unfortunately it was sold out. Then a week later, I saw the same item back in stock (this rarely happens) so I grabbed another one. Price after all discounts and rewards $6.03. I so wish that I could mention the item or post pics, but some family members & friends read my blog.

I also picked up a clearance gift for DS at Walmart. Paid $3.18

So that's $14.65 OOP for 8 gifts so far.

My gift card status is as follows:

Kohls $52.81
Target $50
Gap $4.58

The Target gc was part of the gcs I purchased at 10% off in December. DS wanted a new video game for Christmas. Shortly after I purchased the discounted gcs, Target had a deal for buy 2 select games earn $50 gc. So I purchased 3 games, paid $91.21 with discounted gcs and earned $50 gc and earned 1% Rakuten. Then I sold one of the games for $20 and DS ended up getting 2 games instead. Win-win!

3 x games $91.21
Less 10% discount on gcs (9.12) I bought these at 10% off
Less $50 gc back on 2 games (50.00)
Less Rakuten (0.89)
Less Game sold (20.00)
Total cost to me : $11.20

I still have other Target gcs, but I'm saving them to use for deals that earn new gcs.

I want to try a different strategy for saving gcs for Christmas/BF. I'm gonna give it a few months to see if it works, before mentioning my plan (I know I mentioned one, but I have another different strategy that might work better for me). If it fails, I'll just revert to my old ways.

My goal is to once again save $500 for Kohls BF shopping. Last year we didn't need much. My plan was to just buy our athletic shoes for the year, Pyrex storage and my favorite perfume. Then we decided to adopt a child for Christmas and I ended up spending that full $500 gcs. Yikes! I'm a planner and wasn't prepared for this, but thankfully I had gcs to help offset the cost of Christmas gifts. My birthday is just before Thanksgiving, so I also had lots of birthday rewards to score some free items to gift. I might have gone a little overboard, but it's all for a good cause. So $500 is my goal again. We'll stick to our regular purchases, since we don't need much.

I feel like I'm in good shape thus far. I have enough points to cash out on several sites, but I'm holding out for bigger gc amounts. I know I should get a good Rakuten check next month.

Does anyone else plan and save up for Christmas or use any other strategies to help lower their OOP? Please feel free to share.

This week's drugstore shopping

Yesterday I hit up all 3 drugstores. I started off with my favorite store. CVS of course :)

CVS

2 x Garnier conditioner 7.00
2 x Crest t/p 6.00
2 x Revlon eyeliner 24.98
1 x Ghirardelli chocolates 1.32
Less 6/30 (6.00)
Less Garnier q (3.00)
Less Garnier app q (0.50)
Less Crest dq (1.00)
Less Crest app q (0.50)
Less Revlon BOGOF q (12.49)
Less EBs (9.00)
Tax 1.88
OOP $8.69

Earned $17 EB ($8 Revlon, $4 Crest, $5 Garnier)

Total spent EBS + cash = $17.69
Total earned  = $17.00

I had another $3 Beauty EB that I didn't use, because I didn't know if the hair color counts towards beauty. I didn't want to return the hair color and end up using the q. Yeah I'm honest like that.

The Ghirardelli was Christmas clearance at 75% off. I'm surprised my store isn't at 90% off yet, cause I read that other CVS stores hit 90% on Sunday.

I also returned the 2 hair colors and received $3.44 EB and $6.87 cash. So I now have a total of $20.44 in EBS (excluding the $3 Beauty reward). A $4/20 also printed, so I'll save that to use with my CRTs next week. I need to check the ad to see if my CRTs can be applied to any good deals next week.

WAGS

2 x Loreal cleanser B1G50% off $10.48
2 x Crest t/p 5.98
2 x Colgate t/p 5.98
1 x Tide 4.99
1 x Kaopectate 7.49
1 x Rolaids 5.99
Less Loreal IVC (4.00)
Less Loreal q (2.00)
Less Loreal dq (2.00)
Less Crest dq (1.00)
Less Tide dq (2.00)
Less Kaopectate IVC (2.00)
Less RRs (10.00)
Tax 2.45
OOP $20.36

Earned $8 RRs ($4 Crest, $4 Colgate) and $5 Bonus points for spending $25.

Earned $3 courtesy BR points

Earned $4.20 Ibotta ($2 Rolaids, $2 Kaopectate, 20c any item)

$#%$(*&!@ WAGS!! How on earth is my total so high? I had a 20% off $35 dq which didn't deduct. So I pointed it out to the shift manager. He said that I can pay for the transaction and he'll add some points to my account in a 2nd transaction.

So he gave me a courtesy $3 points. WTH? I'm supposed to get $7.50 back. Now I wasn't mad at the shift manager. He's really nice and employees can't see why your DQs didn't apply or deduct. So I figured I'll contact CS when I got home.

When I got home and studied my receipt, I saw that my $4 Rolaids DQ didn't deduct either. I also know that I had a $1 Crest q, but that was missing too. as in poof, gone! Ugh!! Why do I bother with WAGS?

So I contacted CS and they added $4 BR for the Rolaids. They told me that my qualifying purchases only comes to $34.91. WTH?! Turns out the Kaopectate q was an IVC (even though it was digital) and that brought my total to $34.91. Had I done this transaction at CVS, they would've honored the q, because you don't have to spend exactly $35 at CVS (another reason why I love that store. Their rewards are so easy to use). At this point I was ready to just return the darn items, but I'm not gonna waste my time making a special trip and going through more aggravation for $4.50. Note to self. Stay far away from WAGS % off WYS $X amount qs. Too much OOP and too much aggravation.

Total Spent (RRs + Cash) $30.36
Total Earned (RR, BR, Ibotta) $24.20

So not a train smash after all. I just hate having to spend so much OOP. My biggest reason for shopping the drugstores, is to roll rewards so I don't have to spend much of my own money.

Moving on

RA

1 x Dunkin Donuts coffee $6.99
2 x Almay eyeshadow B1G50% 10.93
1 x Revlon eyeshadow 9.99
1 x Revlon eyeshadow 50% off 4.99
1 x Revlon eyeshadow 8.49
1 x Revlon eyeshadow 50% off 4.24
Less 8/40 (8.00)
Less DD mailer q (4.00)
Less 2 Almay qs (4.00)
Less Revlon BOGOF q (9.99)
Less Revlon BOGOF q (8.49)
Less BC rewards (6.23)
Tax 1.91
OOP $6.83

I swear WAGS messed with my head, cause I kept thinking I needed to spend $40 to earn the $20 Visa reward card. I didn't have an ad with me, cause I already had my shopping trip planned out, so I only needed my shopping list. Duh...lol I need to spend another $4.37. I'll go back and buy more Almay later this week. No problemo :)

Ugh, I know that I saw $14.xx BC in my account on Sunday. I can't even remember if I did 2 transactions before Christmas to use up BC or not. So I lost another $8 and the year has just started (this was my first RA trip for the year)...... BUT

To my surprise, the register deducted the full value of the Revlon BOGOF qs. I thought it would deduct the lower amount and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't. So that saved me an extra $9.23, which makes me feel a little better about the missing BC....lol. I sure wish I had more of those Revlon qs.

I love RA's mailer qs, cause I usually get a high value DD coffee q (my favorite coffee). I now have a decent coffee stockpile, thanks to RA. I also received a 5/50 CAT yesterday.

I spent a total of $57.93 OOP at the drugstores for the YTD!!! This is not my usual way to shop there. I need to rein in WAGS. That's where most of my cash is going. It's not like I don't have rewards to use. I have $72 in points + RRs.

So the drugstores were good, except for WAGS. I could've done without the hassle, but such is life in couponing land.

WAGS, CVS & Meijer tripping

I finally made it to the drugstores today. Here's what I got

WAGS

2 x Bic Razors B1G50% off 2nd $10.18
2 x Simple wipes 11.98
1 x All detergent 2.99
1 x All pods 2.99
2 x Loreal shampoo/conditioner 8.00
2 x Clearance kids christmas socks 1.18
Less 2 x Bic qs (8.00)
Less Simple DQ (3.00)
Less All q (1.00)
Less All pods q (2.00)
Less Loreal DQ (4.00)
Less Loreal IVC (2.00)
Less 2 RRs (9.00)
Tax 2.24
OOP $10.56

Earned 16000 ($16) BR points ($5 WYS $20, $6 WYS $30, $3 Bic, $2 Simple)
Earned $2.75 Ibotta (2.50 Simple, 25c any item)
Earned $2.00 CK51 (Simple)

Total RRs & Cash spent = $19.56
Total earned : $20.75
So a small MM of $1.19

CVS

2 x Revlon eyeshadow $17.58
1 x All detergent 2.99
1 x All pods 2.99
1 x Colgate t/p 3.50
2 x Covergirl mascara 13.58
1 x Loreal cleanser 7.99
2 x Nice & Easy color 15.00
Less BOGOF Revlon q (8.79)
Less Revlon CRT (4.00)
Less All q (1.00)
Less All pods q (2.00)
Less Colgate DQ (1.00)
Less Colgate CRT (2.50)
Less 2 Covergirl qs (6.00)
Less 2 Covergirl app qs (3.00)
Less Loreal DQ (2.00)
Less Loreal CRT (3.00)
Less Nice & Easy DQ (5.00)
Less EBs (10.50)
Tax 3.52
OOP $18.36

Earned 9 EBS ($5 Covergirl, $4 Revlon)

What the heck?! I couldn't believe my total, but knew that I needed to sit down & study my receipt when I get home. Turns out that my Nice & Easy app qs didn't deduct. I had a 30% off and another $ off q. Ugh, the Nice & Easy is going back. I only bought it, because it would've been super cheap after all qs. Well, the return should bring my total down by $10.60 or $15.90. Not sure if I'll get refunded for the q, because it was a DQ, but $15.90 would be nice...lol

I also received a $6/30, that's good for the next week.

We really needed the detergent, because we are running low. I mainly have pods and fragrance free detergent. I don't like using pods, but at the price was good.

I'm also low on cleanser & moisturiser and since I had the Loreal CRT, I figured I'd just get a tube at CVS. It counts towards beauty rewards anyway.

MEIJER

Meijer has a great sale this week Spend $15 on Loreal/Garnier, save $5 instantly. This sale couldn't have come at a better time, because I'm on my last bottle of moisturiser and cleanser. The downside is that Loreal only allows one q per day...What on earth? They're sure making it hard on consumers

Trans 1

2 x Loreal cleanser $12.98
2 x Garnier shampoo 6.18
Less instant discount (5.00)
Less 2 x Loreal DQs (4.00)
Less Garnier q (3.00)
Tax 0.85
OOP $8.01

I was only gonna buy one shampoo ($3.09) to get to the $15 total. Then I figured I might as well buy 2 and use my $3/2 q. I'd only be paying an extra 9c for the 2nd bottle. I'm surprised both Loreal DQs deducted, but I'm not complaining :)

Trans 2

1 x Loreal moisturiser $11.49
2 x Garnier shampoo 7.39
2 x Bic Razors 9.98
Less instant discount (5.00)
Less Loreal dq (2.00)
Less Garnier q (4.00)
Less 2 x Bic qs (8.00)
Tax 1.43
OOP $11.29

I'm glad I read the fine print on the Bic qs this morning, cause I realised it expires on Saturday 1/11. Yikes. This is why I'm just buying cheap razors wherever I can find them.

I'm pretty sure the moisturiser is around $10 or less at Target. I'm happy with how this turned out though, because I got 4 extra items for a little less than what my moisturiser normally costs. I need to make another trip to do this deal again.

I bought 7 papers on Sunday. I usually buy 10 papers on the first Sunday of the year, because its the biggest coupon insert weekend of the year. However, my papers didn't have all the inserts. Our main paper had 2 RMN and 1 SS. The other paper only had 2 SS. Ugh. I bought 5 of the main and 2 of the other one. Thankfully the SS inserts in my main paper had all the good Revlon, Almay & Bic qs. Phew!...lol I paid $20 for 7 papers. The smaller one cost 50c less.

For those who think that coupons aren't worth it and are a waste of time, just look at how much I saved on coupons alone (that doesn't even include the sale price).

I used a whopping $79.29 in coupons today. That doesn't include the instant discount and drugstore rewards. If I include that, then I saved a total of $106.79!! That already more than covered the cost of my newspapers. Ha & some think coupons are a waste of time. Yes, it takes time to plan your trip & clip coupons, but just think of how many hours you have to work to make that kind of money. If you don't wait for a good sale, you'd be paying even more than that too. So keep clipping my friends & save all those extra $$$$

Total OOP : $48.22
Less Clairol return ($10.60)
Earned : $4.75 (Ibotta & CK51)
Total cost to me $32.87
Total retail value : $160.13 (excluding Clairol)
Total coupons used : $79.29

WAGS rewards & couponing tutorial

As we all know, WAGS is a total pita. Their cashiers are also well known for making up couponing/rewards rules as they go along. However, they run some really good sales every week. I thought I'd share how their couponing/rewards deals work, so others can join in on the fun too.

BALANCE REWARDS POINTS

1. You earn 1% balance rewards on all purchases. From time to time, you might get offers for 10x everyday points. You also get 10x everyday points for the entire month of  your birthday.

2. You CAN use points when earning a RR (Register Reward).

3. You CAN use points when a deal requires you to purchase X amount of items.
Eg. buy 2 Bic Razors, earn 3000 points. It's only when you have to purchase a certain NUMBER of items to earn Bonus points, that you can pay with points.

4. You DON'T earn points when a deal requires you to spend a certain amount. Eg. Spend $20 on Schick, earn 5000 points.

5. IVC (Instant value coupons) found in the monthly booklet, will lower the amount needed to earn a reward. These are store coupons, and they don't count towards your total needed to reach your threshold amount.

Eg Spend $25 on Schick, earn 5000 points. If you use a $2 off Schick coupon from the monthly booklet, it will lower your total purchase amount by $2.

or

Earn 5000 bonus points when you spend $25.

You won't earn bonus rewards points if you use points to pay.

5. When you have a bonus points offer like the 5000 WYS $25, you don't have to use it. I know that cashiers normally push for it, because the register displays it on the screen. However, if you don't want to spend too much OOP, just skip the deal and pay with your points. There will always be more bonus points offers.

6. Sometimes balance rewards points will cover part of your tax. I don't know that amount that it cuts off at, but I've noticed that it paid for part of my sales tax on several occasions

REGISTER REWARDS

7.  You won't earn a new RR if you roll it into the same deal.
Eg. You purchase Crest and earn a RR. If you use the RR to pay for another Crest deal, then new RR won't print. So be sure to use your RRs on different deals.

It's always best to save RRs for the Spend X amount deals where you cannot use points to pay.

COUPONS

8. The number of coupons/RRs must match or be less than the number of items you purchase.
If you're purchasing 8 items, you can have no more than 8 coupons. Except in the case of IVCs (these are store coupons and can be stacked with manufacturer coupons. You can use one store q & 1 man q per item).

So if you purchase 8 items, you can use up to 8 IVC + 8 Man Qs.

9. IVCs will deduct from all qualifying purchases. You only need to have it scanned once.
If you purchase 3 Revlon mascara and have a $2 Revlon mascara IVC, the register will automatically deduct $6 once the IVC is scanned.

10. WAGS digital coupons are mainly manufacturer qs and can only be used once. Only the bonus points qs are store qs. Occasionally, you'll be able to clip an IVC to your account too.

I hope this helps anyone who is interested in shopping at WAGS.

Please feel free to ask any questions. I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Happy shopping everyone!

First shopping trip of the year

I cashed out RA and CVS rewards just before Christmas. I didn't want to have to worry about rnning to the store after the holidays, nor did I want to let them expire (expired 12/27). I just wanted to relax and not think about shopping.

I really haven't done any after Christmas shopping this year, because we didn't need anything. I just picked up 2 bags of Starbucks Peppermint Mocha coffee at Walmart on Monday. They were 50% off, so $3.50 each.

Walgreens

They have a spend $25 get $5 RR in the ad this week. I still have a large amount of points, so I figured I'd just go use some up. Besides, I have a digital q (good next week) for 6000 bonus points WYS $30. I can't earn reward if  I pay with points, but I can use RRs to reduce my OOP (I know, WAGS is complicated...lol)

3 x Pantene $11.97
2 x Colgate t/p $5.98
3 x Crest t/p $8.97
Less Pantene DQ (5.00)
Less Crest DQ (1.00)
Less BR points (20.00)
Tax 1.62
OOP $2.54

Earned $19 RRs ($5 WYS $25, $5 Pantene, $5 Crest, $4 Colgate). I also received a $5 bonus WYS $20. I might use this instead of the $6 WYS $30, because the deals aren't that great next week.

So I spent down $20 and earned $19 rewards. Earned 25c Ibotta and submitted my receipt to Fetch.

I also stopped at Dollar Tree to pick up 2 calendars & some body wash for DS. My guys love Old Spice & I read that DT had the full size bottles in store. Of course this is hit & miss, but I'm hitting different DT (there are loads around here) and stocking up whenever I find them. At that price (retails for $4-6, depending on store), it's way cheaper than the drugstores, because I'm not spending down a lot of points/rewards. OOP $6.30

So my total oop for the year to date is $8.84. Not bad for over $50 (retail cost) worth of products.

Now I can roll my RRs into next week's bonus deals.

My 2020 Goals

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

This year I have some big financial goals that I'd like to reach, so I'm going all in.

1. Coupon more

While I've been doing couponing last year, I was a bit of a slacker most times. This year I'd like to try to reduce our grocery budget. So, I'd like to go hard at couponing again.

The same goes for the drugstores. I need to go all out shopping the drugstores. I also have to make sure that absolutely NO rewards expire. That is like throwing away money when I allow that to happen. I'm upset with myself for losing so many rewards. So I will make a weekly trip to hit all 3 drugstores on the same day. Thankfully they're all close to each other, so I don't have to drive out of my way.

2. Save more

I've read about the $2020 savings challenge on another blog not too long ago. It works the same as the 52 week challenge, except your total savings for the year will be $2020. In order to achieve that, you have to save $38.85 per week. This number is doable for me. So on Friday, my challenge officially begins. I love savings challenges. I like all the little ways that you can earn and/or save money. To some, it might seem like little bits. But to me, all those little bits add up to big amounts. So please feel free to join me.


3. Work & earn more

I definitely need to up my game. This year I want to try my best to work 40-45 hours per week. Not an easy task for a reseller, because you have to deal with kids, household, grocery shopping etc. I just want to set aside dedicated hours for work. I'm just keeping my eye on those big goals and my nose to the grindstone.

4. Plant a bigger produce garden

I didn't plant much last year, but we totally enjoyed eating our own food. DH & I agreed that our own produce tasted way better than store bought (even though we have a great produce market). DH already added a smaller raised bed section for me. I think he needs to clear another patch in the backyard, so I can plant even more veggies. This will also help us save money on our grocery bill.


5. Try to reduce food waste

I will admit that I struggle in this area, especially when life happens. You get too busy or something crops up, so things end up expiring or going bad. No more of that. I need to keep better track of what's in our fridge and use it up, before buying more.

6. Pay for Christmas with gift cards again. 

I didn't earn as much gcs last year, as I did in the past. This is mainly due to Swagbucks and Mypoints being slow. Despite that, I still earned over $1000 from point earning sites & grocery apps. So back to earning as much as I can again.

I do have another plan for utilizing my gcs. I want to redeem part of my gcs for Walmart/Sams (I don't cash out to Paypal, because my Paypal is used for business. Besides, you get  a monthly discount on gcs on Swagbucks, Paypal excluded). So I'll use those gcs to buy groceries and just take the cash equivalent from our grocery budget. Then I'll use the cash to buy discounted gcs (for stores that we frequent) throughout the year. The drugstores often have those deals.That should put some extra cash into our pockets.

So that's my goals for this year. Now to making sure that I achieve all those goals...lol