CVS 6-29 thru 7-5

Not much is a really good deal, considering they don't have the mascara, but the Right Guard is still a good one.

Buy one RightGuard deoderant for 6.99. Use the $1 coupon from the May 18th Smart Source (SS 5-18) and get $5 ECBs.

That means that you will pay $5.99 for a stick of deoderant and CVS will pay you $5 after you buy it. Deo for 99 cents. Not bad.

If you have ECBs from a previous transaction (like I did) you can pay with them and end up paying just pennies out of pocket for the deoderant.

That's how we play the CVS game.

For all the deals at CVS this week click HERE.

New to GGG

If you are new to the Greenville Grocery Geeks site let me explain a little about how it works.

We will keep you updated with a few deals here and there but the real value of this site is the sidebar. Look over there to the right and you will see all kinds of links.

These sites will tell you exactly what is on sale at which store when and where you can get the coupon to use for that same product. We will let you know if the particular deals mentioned work or don't work in local stores.

The same goes for CVS. Centsible Sawyer and I Heart CVS will tell you the best weekly and monthly deals and we will let you know when they don't work here in Greenville because they don't have the stuff in stock if they are all working here in town.

We also have monthly meetings to share coupons and money saving advice as well as collect expired coupons to donate to military families and extra CVS products to donate to charities as well. (Right now we are collecting toiletries to go to Ninos de Mexico.) It helps to hear how other women are doing with their battles against food costs.

So...what should you do now?

1. Keep reading the blog and check the blogs listed at the right pretty often.
2. Buy a paper every Sunday and keep the ad flyers.
3. Label the ad flyers by date and clip the coupons listed on the blogs. (There is no need to clip all of them...just wait until you need one. They are easier to find if they are all in the flyers.)

That's about it. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment on this blog at anytime and we will e-mail you with an answer...or post it on the blog.

Happy couponing!

Surprise, Surprise

Two surprises (not the good kind) for you.

Surprise #1: The Thomas the Tank Engine coupon from Toys R Us does not work. Bummer!

Surprise #2: CVS does not carry the Physicians Formula mascara that pays you $1 to take it after coupons and ECBs. Why am I not surprised?

Coupon Club Meeting

Don't forget our meeting tomorrow night at 6 at Gina's house.

Bring your coupons to share, expired coupons, CVS extras to donate to Ninos or swap and your best deals of the month.

Hope to see you there.

Crystal

Freebies

Gina found lots of good freebies at this site.

http://www.kraftvendpromo.com/

Check it out!

CVS Deals 6-22 thru 6-28

Click here for an easy to read and understand description of this week's CVS deals.

She also includes some printable coupons. I couldn't get the Soy Joy one to work. Let me know if it works for you. Just leave a comment below.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Here is a great deal sent to me by Missy D.:

Free Thomas the train (you can choose any up to $12.99 value) from TRU. Print
coupon online & take to any Toys R Us. Valid 6/19 - 7/5. You can print one
per child. Even if your kids don't play with Thomas & you will be heading
that way, a great freebie to use at Christmas, Angel Tree, shoeboxes, etc.!

Just click HERE to print it.

Vocalpoint

Check out this info from Freebies4Mom about Vocalpoint.

They send you free samples and coupons in the mail.

I signed up. It's worth a try.

Tava Deal

I have never heard of Tava, or tasted it for that matter, but for$0.48 for a 4 pack I'll try anything.

Apparently it is a calorie free fruit drink.

Go here to print your $1.50/1 coupon. (You'll have to listen to their annoying music, but it's worth it.)

Especially since I was able to refresh and print the coupon 4 times!!

The are regularly $1.98 for a 4 pack at Wal-Mart.

Grocery Gathering

Be sure to go to BeCentsAble and click on The Grocery Gathering.

There are a lot of new deals in the Wal-Mart section.

Handy Tip: Keep BeCentsAble open in two tabs. Every time you go to print a printable coupon you navigate away from the site. If you have it open in another tab you can just scoot back over there after you're done printing the coupons.

Free Cereal

There are 3 different Malt-O-Meal coupons here for $1 off.

Many stores (Wal-Mart, CVS, Target) carry the small boxes and bags of Malt-O-Meal cereals for $1 anyway.

You can print each coupon twice.

SIX FREE BOXES OF CEREAL!!!!

Problems at CVS

Problem #1: Keeping items in stock.

CVS is already out of the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrushes and it is only Monday!!

This is getting to be a habit with them. I bought the last two SmartRinse mouthwashes on June 1st and they still do not have any in stock. That is 15 days and they still haven't restocked them. When you complain about these things they will tell you that they restock the shelves on Thursdays...however obviously a couple of Thursdays have come and gone since then and they still haven't restocked the mouthwash.

What you can do about it:

• Complain to the store manager. The squeeky wheel gets the grease.
• Ask for a rain check. (If you are getting a rain check for an item that is only on sale or generating ECBs for that specific week you will have to buy the "invisible" items and then they will give you a raincheck that says you already paid. You bring that raincheck in later when the item is in stock and get your items.)
• Complain to CVS national offices. Sometimes your receipt will have a toll free number you can call to take a poll. You can tell them exactly how you feel and what you couldn't find, etc.

Problem #2: Having the wrong size for the sale price.

Today I went to buy the Alavert. The 6.99 sale price and $5 ECBs were for the 12 or 15 count boxes. CVS didn't have anything smaller than 18 count. I asked the manager (Lori, now I know her name) and she said that the 18 count boxes were bonus packs (originally marked 12 ct. but boosted to 18) and would count for the sale price and the ECBs. She was right. It all worked when I checked out.

What you can do about it:

• Always ask the manager. Those Alaverts were not marked in any way shape or form. They didn't say they were on sale for 6.99 or that they gave ECBs...but they did.
• Know your sale flyer. Keep it with you at all times in order to show clerks and manager they exact items and sizes.

I hope this helps you all.

Coupon Club Meeting!!

The next meeting of the coupon club will be:

Wednesday, June 25th

6 pm

Gina Kester's House

610 LaDue

Hope to see you all there.

Don't forget to bring:

1. expired coupons

2. coupons to share

3. details (verbal is fine) of your best deal of the month

4. extra products to send to Ninos de Mexico with Crystal

Toothbrush Deals at CVS

This week's Smart Source insert has a BOGO coupon for the same Oral B Cross Action Toothbrushes that are giving ECB's at CVS.



They are $5.99 each and produce $3 in ECBs. With the BOGO coupon they are free.



There is also a coupon in the June P&G insert for these toothbrushes, so it pays to do the deal twice. (The limit is 5.)

Alavert CVS Deal

Go here to print off a $4/1 Alavert coupon.

(I've read that you can hit back and refresh and print two of them but that didn't work on my computer. Instead I entered Brian's info the second time and it printed another one.)

Alavert is giving $5 ECB's at CVS this week when you purchase two at $6.99.

If you use two $4/1 coupons you will be spending 5.98 and earning $5.

$0.98 cents for 2 allergy meds is quite a deal!

Free 2B Frugal

Check out these two posts from Free2BFrugal for a Freebie Frenzy!!!

Click here and here.

Cat Haters??

Hey, to any of you grocery geeks out there that don't have kitties in your homes I would love to have your coupons.

Purina One Healthful Life Cat Food: June 8th Red Plum insert.
Meow Mix Free Sample Bowl: May 18th Red Plum insert.

Also....If you don't have a dog I'd love to have your Purina One coupons. You can get them by reigstering at the Purina One site. They come in the mail.

Thanks a bunch!!

Target Deals

I scored big at Target last night.





I got all of this stuff FOR FREE!!!!

Most of my coupons were printables, but a few did come from the inserts.

If you are headed that way this weekend it would be worth checking it out. You can find all the deals at BeCentsable in the Target section of the Grocery Gathering.

More Savings on Laundry

Check out this post to find out how to make your own dryer sheets.

They reportedly control static cling and soften the clothes...for really, really cheap!!

Gerber Coupons

Go here for some printable Gerber coupons.

I don't use any of this stuff anymore so I'll give the coupons away at our next meeting.

Tips From Liz

1.)The Huggies Rebate has been extended until June 15th so take advantage of it while Huggies are on sale at CVS this week.

2.)For those who like mulitgrain pancakes but not the higher mix prices, here is a great recipe to make a dry mix yourself at home.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=522813

I made a double batch of the dry mix last night, and then made up some pancakes this morning. Both my husband and 23 month old asked for more! We ate them with applesauce and honey or syrup.

Here are the wet ingredients to prepare:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=521442

Substitutions and additives: I didn't have wheat bran so I just used 1/8 cup extra wheat germ and 1/8 cup soy flour per batch. I also used regular wheat germ (not toasted) since it's what I had on hand. When preparing I used regular milk, not buttermilk (again, what I had on hand) and I added a good shake of cinnamon and nutmeg for added flavor. They were good, fluffy, and textured, yet not gritty.

For those who live here, the health food store in Highland has great prices on all these grains.

3.)Finally, save the gas money and eat at home :-) We tried a great new chicken recipe on the grill last night, I mean like something you would get at Chilli's!

We marinaded the 2 Large chicken breasts (for about 6 hours) in:1/4 cup of lime juice, 3 -4 cloves of garlic pressed, 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. Chilli powder, 2 tsp. cumin.

Before grilling we butterflied the breasts (cut to make thin and even) then we place them on a very hot grill, but lowered the heat after initial searing. Cooked just a few minutes on each side, until internal temp reached 170 degrees (don't over cook it, use a thermometer, this is the key to great chicken!).

Take off the grill, let sit a few minutes, then slice up for salad, nachos, wraps, or cover with salsa and eat whole. They were excellent!!!

South Beach Living

Here is another freebie that Gina found.

Go to www.kraftfoods.com and sign up to get a coupon for a free sample of South Beach Living snack packs....up to $8.99 value!!!

I don't know the exact link but I think you'll be able to find it.

Orajel Deal

Gina says.....

"If you go to www.Orajel.com you
can print out a rebate form for $1.50 & if you fill out a survey, they will
send coupons to you in the mail.

Combining these probably means free product!

Also...it's not just baby stuff; I'm interested in the sore throat strips
for kids."

$3 off of $15

If you haven't seen it yet there is a new $3 off of $15 coupon out there for CVS.

Money Saving Mom explains how to get it.

Here is the link.

Where to Find the Deals

Thanks to Beth W. for this link.

Go to "A Call to Higher Places" for a tutorial on how to find the deals for the week.

Crystal's CVS Deals 6-1 thru 6-7

I had to use up the last of my $5/$15 coupons today so I did every deal I could. My nice checker (who goes to my church, but I don't know his name) let me do 4 transactions!! Here they are.Transaction #1

2 Dawn Dishwashing Liquid $2.00
2 Brut Deoderant $6.58
3 Mini Brut Deoderant $9.57
- $0.50 Dawn coupons
-$5/$15 coupon
Paid $9.98 ECBs.
Paid OOP $3.10.
Earned $4 ECBs.

Transaction #2

3 Pantene Hair Products $10

2 Listerene Smart Rinse $6.98

-$3.00 Pantene coupons

-$2.00 Listerene coupons

-$5/$15 coupon

Paid $5 ECBs.

Paid OOP $2.05.

Earned $9.98 ECBs.

Transaction #3

2 Oral B Cross Action 2 packs $13.98

2 CVS Bandages 3.98

2 CoverGirl products BOGO $7.99

-$2.00 Oral B coupons

-$2.00 Cover Girl coupons

-$5/$15 coupon

Paid $5 ECBs.

Paid OOP $2.12.

Earned $17.96 ECBs.

Transaction #4

3 Pampers Jumbo Packs $23.97

-$2.00 Pampers coupon

-$5/$15 coupon

Paid $16.97 ECBs.

Paid OOP $0.14.

Earned $5 ECBs.

Final Totals:

Total Cost of Items (before coupons): $90.76

Total ECBs Spent: $36.95

Total OOP Spent: $7.41

Total ECBs Earned: $36.94

(I actually used some of my ECBs from earlier transactions to pay for some of my later transactions so I actually only have $22.75 of my ECBs left. Still good.)

Crystal's CVS Deals 5-25 thru 5-31

I had to use some of my $5/$15 coupons because they expire Sunday so I did all of the deals that I could even though I lost a few ECBs.

Here is what I got.

Here is the breakdown.

Transaction #1

2 Excedrin Migraine $2.98

1 Playskool Diapers $10.99

-$5/$15 coupon

-$2 off Execdrin coupon

-$2 off Excedrin coupon

Paid with $4.97 in ECBs.

Paid oop (out of pocket) $0.04

Transaction #2

3 Ellin Lavar hair products $15.00

-$5/$15 coupon

-$5 Ellin Lavar coupon

Paid $5 ECBs.

Earned $6 ECBs.

Transaction #3

1 Playskool Diapers $10.99

1 Viactiv Glide $8.99

-$4.00 Viactiv coupon

-$5/$15 coupon

Paid with $10 ECBs.

Paid oop $1.07.

Earned $8 ECBs.

Transaction #4:

1 travel mug $7.99

(otherwise known as the teacher gift I forgot about until the very last minute)

Paid $7.99 ECBs.

Final Totals:

Total cost of products: $57.94 (before coupons)

Total ECBs used: $27.96

Total ECBs earned: $14.00

Total OOP spent: $1.11

Just a Note

Money Saving Mom is reporting that Chex Mix is on sale for $1.00 at CVS this week.

It is not on sale at our CVS here in Greenville as of Sun. June 1.

But go to MSM and print the coupons anyway...just in case it goes on sale later.