How I Plan My Shopping Trips and Some Tips

I just got back from a CVS run and got a great deal on diapers. And it got me thinking that some of you would probably find it helpful if I outlined a little just how I plan my trips to maximize my savings.

The first thing I do when planning my shopping trip is to go to For the Mommas and look at her deal post. I then jot down the items I want to get and the coupons she has listed. I also always skim through the comments because often other readers will leave helpful information about deals and help me save even more.

If I see an item that I thought maybe there was a coupon for that I don't see listed I go to Hot Coupon World and check their coupon database just to double check. Sometimes a coupon will show up there that Shannon at For the Mommas missed.

Today I was trying to figure out if I should do the Pampers diaper deal. It was pretty good but I wanted to make sure that in the next couple of weeks there wouldn't be a better one, so I checked out the next couple of week's ads over at iheartcvs and discovered that although Pampers will be on sale again in a couple of weeks, this is still a better deal. And so, based on that, I decided to go ahead with the Pampers diaper deal I was planning to do.

Once I get my coupons all together, I head to CVS. Once I'm there I always scan my Extra Care card at the little CVS coupon machine that is inside the front door. If you don't know where the machine is in your CVS, please ask someone! You'll get lots of extra savings from the coupons that it prints out!

This is the deal I did this week. By combining manufacturer coupons, CVS coupons and the Spend $30 get a $10 gift card promotion I was able to get diapers for $4.33/pack plus I also got a package of wipes free AND I will get a coupon for a FREE package of Pampers diapers as part of CVS' buy 6 jumbo packs of diapers get the 7th free promotion. Now while $4.33 isn't the absolute best price for a pack of diapers, in my mind at least, it's still good. And the fact that I will get another pack free since this brought my total buy amount to 6 packs and since I also essentially got a package of wipes free, I felt like this was a pretty great deal.

Okay, are you confused yet? Let me try to lay it out more clearly and see if it can make more sense.
Here's what I bought:

3 packages Pampers diapers @ $9.50 ea. ($28.50 total)
1 Puffs tissues @ $0.99
- (needed this to reach a total of $29.40 at which point I qualified for the spend $30 on specific products get a $10 gift card promotion)
1 Pampers wipes @ $2.49
- (this was not included in the buy $30 get a $10 gift card promotion)

Total: $31.98

Here are the coupons I used:

$2.00/2 Pampers diapers coupon
$1.00/1 Pampers diapers coupon
$1.00/1 Pampers wipes coupon
$4.00 off when you buy both diapers and wipes
- (CVS coupon from the coupon machine I mentioned above)
- I was not planning to buy the wipes but since I got the CVS coupon I realized that buying them would actually save me MORE money since I could combine the Pampers manufacturer's coupons with this CVS store coupon. So not only did I essentially get the wipes free, it also saved me some more off my diapers purchase.)

Total after coupons: $23.98

I then qualified for a $10 CVS gift card since I had spent $30 on qualified items. Deduct that from the $23.98 and it's like paying $13.98 for all of the above items.

I hope that you could follow all of that and learn something from it. Basically I wanted to give you some of the resources that I use and help you see how combining various coupons with promotions can really maximize your savings. Here's a recap of what I posted above:
* Check out For the Momma's coupon match-ups- I've found her to be the most thorough and the easiest to follow.
* Read the comments on coupon match-up posts. They often are a wealth of information and can help you save even more!
* You can look at future ads at iheartcvs (there is also and iheartriteaid and iheartwags- for Walgreens).
* If there's a product you want to buy that you don't have a coupon for, check Hot Coupon World's database to see if you can find one.
* Combine store and manufacturer coupons as much as possible to save even more.
* Watch for promotions such as the Buy $30 get a $10 gift card and see if you can use them to get items you need to save even more. Remember though, if you DON'T need the items, you really are not saving anything buy spending money to get a $10 gift card!

Do you have any questions about how this works? Any other resources or tips for saving when you shop? Please feel free to leave a comment! I love when you do! :)

Black Friday Store Ads

Are you one of those people who LOVES to do the whole Black Friday shopping thing? Then you'll want to head over to A Full Cup and check out all the ad scans they have and get a head start on your planning!

New Coupons + Two Freebies at Weis

There are quite a few new coupons available. Here's a list of some of them:

Red Plum
Save $0.35 On Any 1 Jar Any Size Glass Jar of Francesco Rinaldi ToBe™ Healthy Pasta Sauce with Omega 3
$0.50 OFF any ONE (1) all® Laundry Detergent (28 Load or Larger) al comprar UN (1) detergente para ropa all® (28 cargas o más)
SAVE $1.00 on BC® 18ct. or larger For your tough pain.
SAVE $0.50 Off any ONE Renuzit® Pearl Scents® Air Freshener
$1.00 Off ONE 18oz or 9oz Renuzit® Crystal Elements® Refill


Saving Star
Buy 1 Weis 5 Star Nuts or Nut Mixes, Save $1.00. Expires 11/26/2011. One time use only. (Only at Weis Markets)
Buy 2 Weis Quality Spices or Extract, Save $1.00. Expires 11/26/2011. One time use only. (Only at Weis Markets)
Buy 1 Weis Quality Graham Pie Crust, Save $1.00. Expires 11/26/2011. One time use only. (Only at Weis Markets)
Buy 1 Weis Quality or Full Circle Olive Oil, Save $1.00. Expires 11/26/2011. One time use only. (Only at Weis Markets)

This week you can get the following deals at Weis:
* Weis Graham Pie Crust $1.79
- $1/1 Facebook coupon
Out of Pocket: $0.79
- $1/1 Saving Star coupon (make sure you activate it!)
Final Cost: FREE + $0.21 moneymaker!!

* 3 Pack Strip of Fleischmann's Yeast $1.29
- $0.40 printable coupon (doubles to $0.80) or $0.40 coupon in 10/2 and 11/6 SmartSource newspaper inserts
Out of Pocket: $0.49
- Get a $0.50 catalina coupon at the register to use on your next purchase
(you could buy this and then use the $0.50 catalina towards your pie crust purchase)
Final Cost: FREE!

Thanks Frugal Lancaster!

Home Depot Newsletter

Sign up to receive emails about special offers, coupons, and promotions from The Home Depot.

Ruffies Trash Bags: $1.12 at Walmart

Red Plum recently added a couple of new coupons and one off them is a $0.50/1 Ruffies trash bags. The 20 ct. tall kitchen Ruffies trash bags are regularly priced at $1.62 at Walmart. Use the coupon to get them for only $1.12.

To find the coupon you may have to use zip code 77477.

The Children's Place: FREE Shipping + 20% Off (8/29 Only!)

I was excited to see this sale. While I love finding clothes at yard sales, sometimes I simply don't have time to go and sometimes, well, it's just easier to buy brand new clothes online at really good prices. :)

Anyway, The Children's Place is offering FREE shipping on all orders today, 8/29, and if you use coupon code Y6E2011 at checkout, you can get an additional 20% off- even on clearance items! Plus if you shop through Ebates, you can earn an additional 2.5% cash back. No, it's not a lot, but it does add up!

A few things I found (some of these are under clearance and some are just mixed in with the regular sections):

$3.99 shipped


$2.39 shipped


$3.99 shipped

$0.79 shipped

Also, this time of year, you can often find great clearance deals at The Children's Place stores as well, so if you get the chance you might want to stop by. It's a great time to stock up for next year!

JCPenney: Sign Up for Email Offers

Have you signed up to receive JCPenney emails yet? If not, you really should as they send out some great offers from time to time. I find that signing up for store coupons is one of the easiest ways to save on purchases that are otherwise hard to save on.

Giant: Free Hallmark Cards + Making the Most of the Catalinas

I just got back from a fun little shopping trip at Giant where I used a moneymaker to get some other items I wanted for almost free. Let me explain. Giant is running this deal this week:

Buy 3 Hallmark Greeting Cards get a $5 catalina* (read the comments on Shannon's blog!)
- plus you get 10% off each greeting card when you use your Bonus Card**

So, here's what I did.

Transaction 1:
3 Hallmark $0.99 cards (rang up $0.89 each with 10% off)
Paid: $2.83 with tax
Got: $5 catalina coupon to use on my next order

Transaction 2:
3 Hallmark $0.99 cards (rang up $0.89 each with 10% off)
Lays chips $3.19
- $1 Lays chips coupon (from newspaper insert)
- $5 catalina from trans. 1
Paid: $0.02
Got: $5 catalina coupon to use on my next order

Transaction 3:
3 Hallmark $0.99 cards (rang up $0.89 each with 10% off)
Herr's chips $3.00
Heinz vinegar $1.29
- $1 Herr's coupon (from newspaper insert)
- $0.50 Heinz printable (doubled to $1)
- $5 catalina from trans. 2
Paid: $0.12
Got: $5 catalina coupon to use on my next order

If I really just needed cards desperately and did lots of shopping at Giant I could just keep buying cards and save the $5 catalinas for another week since they don't expire until 5/28. However, I usually don't spend that much out of pocket at Giant and since I don't desperately need greeting cards I decided to keep rolling this deal and get some other things almost free that I was wanting to get anyway- and I'll still get gobs of greeting cards, I just won't be paying for them, if you follow what I'm saying. Oh and this is where self checkout comes in handy! It makes it easy to do multiple transactions and you don't have people waiting behind you getting all antsy.

I plan to go back and do this deal some more later on in the week. It's a great way to get things for free. In fact, you could get approximately $2.17 in produce and buy it with the 3 Hallmark $0.99 cards, use one of your $5 catalinas to pay for it, and you'd get free produce plus 3 free cards!

I'm guessing you are getting the picture. Be creative and use these kinds of deals to get more groceries for your cupboard for free!

Oh, and if you are heading to Giant anyway, check out all the sale match-ups here.

* A catalina is a coupon that prints out at the register when you buy certain items. You can't use the catalina coupon on the transaction that produced it, but you can use it immediately on another transaction.
** What's a Bonus card? It's Giant's store card that you need to get the sale prices.

Famous Footwear: 30% Off Coupon

Yay! I'm excited! There is a coupon for Famous Footwear to save 30% off your entire purchase until 5/1/11. And the 30% off should even be good on sale items.

If you want, you can use it online by putting FRIENDS30 in the coupon code field. If you do shop online don't forget about shopping through Ebates to get 9% cash back. Or you can get 11% cash back through Shopathome.

Are you wondering why I'm excited about this coupon? Famous Footwear carries the kid's brand Buster Brown shoes and we have really liked those for Logan. He is in dire need of some bigger shoes and a pair of sandals and I was really hoping I'd be able to find a good deal since shoes can be so expensive.

Taste of Home $5 Cookbooks + 5% Cash Back

If you have weddings this summer or just want to stock up on a gift item, you might be interested in Taste of Home's current $5 cookbook sale. Hurry if you are interested because the good cookbooks always sell out fast!

And if you shop through Ebates you can earn 5% cash back. And in addition, if you click on the "Coupons" tab and look for the store name Shop Taste of Home there is a coupon expiring 4/26 that is good for $1 per item shipping. You may have to first go through the link for Taste of Home that I listed above and add the items you want to your cart and then do the Ebates deal. It seems if you just go through the coupon for Ebates it is hard to find the $5 cook books.

Hobby Lobby: 40% Off Coupon

Use this coupon to save 40% off any regular priced item at Hobby Lobby. Coupon expires 4/16/11.

Thanks Saving with Shellie!

JoAnn Fabrics: 40% Off Coupon

Use this coupon to save 40% off any regular priced item at JoAnn Fabrics. Coupon expires 4/23/11.

Thanks For the Mommas!

Michael's: 40% Off Coupon

Use this coupon to save 40% off any regular priced item at Michael's. Coupon expires 4/9/11.

Thanks Saving with Shellie!

Lowe's: $10/$50 Coupon

Here's a great coupon if you are doing any home improvement project- save $10 off a $50 purchase at Lowe's.

Thanks Common Sense with Money!

Bath & Body Works: Free Country Chic Lotion

Use this coupon to get a free 2 oz. Country Chic lotion at Bath & Body Works, no purchase necessary. Coupon is only valid Fri. 3/25 and Sat. 3/26.

If you are headed to the mall, don't forget about the JCPenney coupon!

Thanks For the Mommas!

JCPenney: $10 off $25 Purchase Coupon

Here's a great coupon for JCPenney. Save $10 off a $25 purchase at JCPenney on Fri. 3/25 and Sat. 3/26. Coupon is also valid online.

To use at JCP.com, simple enter coupon code SALEDAZE at checkout. You can also get 3% cash back when you shop JCPenney through Ebates.

Thanks For the Mommas!

Michael's: 40% Off Coupon

Here's a coupon for 40% off any one regular priced item at Michael's. Coupon expires 3/26.

Thanks Saving with Shellie!

Staples: Free-after-rebate Paper

You can get free paper at Staples this week- and we all know how much paper we can go through printing coupons! Here's the deal:

Buy 1 HP Multipurpose Paper at $5.99
- Get a $4.99 Staples Easy Rebate (Limit 2)
- Use 1/1 HP ColorLok Technology Paper printable coupon (under Office Supplies)
FREE after coupon and rebate (you may need to pay tax)

Staples Easy Rebates are just that- easy. You can submit your information online and then choose to get your rebate via Paypal or check. I've been very satisfied when I have used it.

BJ's: Free 60 Day Membership

Have you been wanting to try BJ's? If so, now is the time to do it because they are offering a free 60 day trial membership. Membership must be activated by 7/5/11.

Thanks For the Mommas!

Hobby Lobby: 40% Off Coupon

Use this coupon to save 40% off any one regular priced item at Hobby Lobby. Coupon expires 3/19/11.

Thanks Saving with Shellie!