Wags Freebies & more

Hi everyone

I apologise for my lack of posts, but I currently have a lot on my plate. I just wanted to share this week's Wags freebies, so some of you can take advantage of the deals too. Prices are just shocking everywhere! I hit up a bunch of stores today and was shocked by how prices have increased since my last visit. I'm back in stocking up mode. At least, I think so. I'm a little on the fence about stocking up. We've used quite a bit of pantry items and I need to replenish select non perishables. I'm considering just paying for things now, before the prices increase yet again.  I'd rather spend the money now, than wait until I need the item and pay a fortune for it. I call it my 'long term savings'...lol. On the other hand, we're still in decent shape so I'm not sure if I should add anything or not. There's been chatter about shortages again and I will admit that I've seen shortages on select items at the grocery store. What to do.

On to Wags: 

Trans 1

3 x Oral b t/b $12.00

2 x Olay wipes 10.00

Less Oral b DQ (6.00)

Less Olay DQ (8.00)

Tax 1.32

OOP $9.32

Earned $9 ($4 Oral b, $5 WYS $20)

Trans 2

2 x Garnier shampoo $7.00

2 x Colgate t/p 5.98

2 x Colgate t/p 7.98

Less Garnier DQ (3.00)

Less Colgate DQ (3.00)

Less WC rewards (10.00)

Tax 1.26

OOP $6.22

Earned $11 ($4 Garnier, $3 Colgate, $4 Colgate) + $4 Colgate (see below). Total earned $15.

You already know things didn't work out as expected, right...lol. I'm not sure if the Oral b/Crest deal was pulled, but it's been reported that it prints 2 RRs ($4 & $5), which would make it a nice MM. I tried 2 different types of toothbrushes (one on each account, but only received $4 RR) I guess it's a dead deal by now.  It was worth a try though.

In the 2nd transaction, only one of my Colgate DQs deducted. I contacted CS when I got home and they added $4 WC to my account. 

Trans 3 (DH account)

3 x Oral b t/b $12.00

2 x Olay wipes 10.00

2 x Colgate t/p 5.98

Less Oral b DQ (6.00)

Less Olay DQ (8.00)

Less Colgate DQ (3.00)

Less WC (10.00)

Tax 1.68

OOP : $2.66

Earned $7 ($4 Oral b, $3 Colgate)

Trans 4 (DH account)

2 x Garnier $7.00

2 x Colgate t/p 7.98

Less Garnier DQ(3.00)

Less Colgate DQ (4.00)

Less WC (5.00)

Tax 0.90

OOP $3.88

Earned $8 ($4 Garnier, $4 Colgate)

DH didn't have any booster, so I switched things up to use some WC. He also didn't have much WC, so I could only use $5 on the 4th transaction. 

Colgate (2 different deals) & Garnier are all FREE after rewards this week. 

Olay wipes are $1.00 each after DQ (Q expires Saturday)

Oral b/Crest are $3/3 after rewards

I might get more Garnier & Colgate, because I have a Garnier paper Q and my Colgate DQ (the one that didn't deduct) is still available online. 

So how did I do overall?

Number of items purchased : 22

OOP : $22.08

Retail value : $105.78

Coupons used : $44.00 (all digitals)

Rewards used : $25.00

Rewards earned : $39.00

I count my rewards when I spend it (it just makes better sense), but if you look at the numbers you'll see that I earned an extra $14 rewards (spent $25, earned $39). That makes up for that $22 OOP. If you figure in the sales tax (I hate sales tax. Why can't we just switch to VAT?) of $5.16, you'll see that I basically paid $2.92 for 22 items. 

Wags gave me 2 new boosters $9 WYS $40, $10 WYS $50. I might be able to double dip if the deals & DQs are good next week. I have a bunch of RRs to combine with that deal (can't pay with WC), so I might be able to figure something out. Although only 2 of the RRs are Man Qs. This complicates things. 

In other news. Does anyone calculate unit cost? This is something I've always done and I'm so glad I did. We are out of soda and I've been keeping an eye out for a decent sale. I saw that Target has a soda sale this week, but their price was still too high for me. So I did what I do best - compared prices online. I'm so glad I did, because I saw that Meijer has 24pks for $7.49 this week. Hooray! I have a $1.25 mailer Q, which would make it $6.24 for me. When I got to Meijer, I noticed that the soda is part of the Spend 5 save $5 sale, so it was actually $6.49 for a 24 pk. I bought 2 cases. One cost me $5.24 after Q. That's the lowest price I've seen in a very long time, so it made sense to just buy 2. I also added some Kraft salad dressing to get me to 5 items, because guess who ran out of dressing - gasp! It's so weird for me to run out of things, because I usually keep track of things.  I always make sure that we have everything we need in stock. 

Then I went to Sams and saw that a 36ct soda is $12.49!!!! Holy cannoli! Who pays that price? I just paid $11.73 for 48 cans. Not everything is cheaper at the warehouse clubs. But people just grab things without blinking. 2 Weeks ago, they had 2 x 18ct eggs for $10.xx. I kid you not! I saw people just placing eggs into their carts, without being shocked by the price. This didn't make sense to me, because I was at Walmart prior to that and a dozen eggs was $2.22. Scratching my head at this weird math. I know that not everyone can crunch numbers or spot the difference in price, but pull out your smartphone and use that calculator to do the math. You'll be surprised to learn how much stores are ripping us off. Just think of how much money some people are throwing away by just paying those high prices. 

I also needed some gravy at Meijer. Heinz is my preferred brand and has been really hard to come by the past 2 years. So I decided to stock up a bit, cause I use it for meat pies. As I was grabbing the gravy, I noticed the Value size jars (18 oz) for $2.39. The regular 12 oz size, was $1.99. I needed no 2nd invitation to pick up the larger jars instead. I'm getting an extra 50% for just 40c more! It's not my preferred flavor, but I can work with it.  

The one thing I love, is that Sams produce lasts for a long time in the fridge - especially their strawberries and mushrooms. I stocked up on strawberries when Kroger had it on sale 2 weeks ago. Sad to say, they didn't all stay super fresh, so I've been cutting away the bad pieces and using the leftovers in smoothies. The Sams strawberries last more than 3 weeks in the fridge. I do line my produce drawers with paper towel, so that helps prolong the life of produce. I learned about wrapping select produce in p/t to prolong it's lifespan, but I didn't want to play the guessing game of what's wrapped in the towels, so I decided to just line the drawers with p/t instead and it works!  (I've been doing it for years)

The other thing I love about Sams produce is that most of it is prepackaged, so everybody and their mother don't get to touch the food. That works great for this germaphobe. I wash all food items before use, including meat. I'm extremely picky about what goes into my body. The Sams prices are also much lower that Costco. I learned that the hard way last week. I was at Costco for a few things and figured I'd skip Sams and just buy some salad fixings at Costco. Big mistake. Every single item was at least $1 more than Sams prices. 

Look at these tomatoes from Sams. They cost $4.xx for 3 lbs.  I normally pay that much for about 4 tomatoes at the grocery store. No thanks. Sams works for me for select items. I've been making fresh pico every week and it is so good! I knew that my Sams membership was expiring, but I didn't know that it was already expired, so today was a bit pricier than usual. The downside is, my Costco membership is expiring soon too. I'm not mad at Sams. Their membership is $15 less than Costco's and their prices are much lower. However, I can sometimes find good deals at Costco, that's not at Sams, like my D Donuts coffee I stocked up on at Costco last year. 

Aldi is another store that's not the cheapest. I saw 10 oz Down Unstopables for $7.49 at Aldi. I paid $15.49 for 37.5 oz at Sams. I've noticed that their Lacroix is expensive too. Yes, I comparison shop. Funny thing is that I used to hate it when my mother did that. Us kids hated going to shopping with her, because she'd drag us to different grocery stores (at the shopping mall) to get the lowest prices. But that's not the worst part. She'd stop and talk to half the people on the way (I mentioned before that I'm from a well known family, so we couldn't just ignore anyone out in public), while we were loaded down with grocery bags. I don't do that to my guys. I make my list, get in my car, then hit a bunch of stores. Easy peasy. Well, I have to say that my mother was a savvy shopper, despite the internet not existing back then. I learned a lot from her. 

So there you have it folks. Save wherever you can. I buy the bulk of our HBA at the drugstores, because it costs so much less. This allows us to spend a little more on food items.