Monday, September 27, 2010

Rite Aid Deal 9/26/10

My hope had been to end up getting everything free by using the "transfer a prescription and get a $25 gift card" coupon found in the 9/26 sale ad.  The bad news is, I didn't need any refills this week... the good news is that the coupon is good till 10/9.  Since I couldn't use those coupons, I decided to go ahead and get the items I needed since they were on sale.  In order to get the maximum savings, I broke my purchases into two transactions.

Transaction 1
Two boxes of Mucinex Maximum Strength.  Regular Price $22.99.  On sale 2/$40 (plus $10+UP).
I used a 1.50 Mucinex coupon (available via Rite  Aid Video Values)
Plus $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon (available when you register for the Wellness+ Rewards Program)

= Total spent pre-tax $33.50

Transaction 2
8pk of Dove Soap (on sale for 7.99 plus $1+UP)
2 Chocolate Marshmallow Pumpkins (.89/each)
2 Reese cup candy bars (2/$1.00)

I used my $10+UP rewards earned in Transaction 1. 
= Total Spent (OOP) pre-tax $.73 + Received $1+UP coupon for next purchase.


Next time I will do a better job of finding a filler item that is actually something we need.  This time I just grabbed the candy as fillers. I originally just had the 2 Reese candybars and 1 marshmallow pumpkin, but I was .16 short of the $10 I needed to spend.  I'm learning as I go.

Total Spent: $34.23
Total Saved: $23.50

Free Antibiotics at Publix

I just learned this today. Evidently, Publix has free prescriptions; up to a 14 day supply of many generic prescriptions. I learned this from my ophthalmologist, after she gave me a prescription.

Here's the list from Publix of their free antibiotics:

  • Amoxicillin
  • Ampicillin
  • Cephalexin (capsules and suspension only)
  • Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim (SMZ-TMP)
  • Ciprofloxacin (excluding Ciprofloxacin XR)
  • Penicillin VK
  • Doxycycline Hyclate (capsules only)
  • Erythromycin Stearate and Ethylsuccinate

What is Money Saving Mode?

So my hubby and I have decided we want to cut our expenses. We've been really bad about just buying whatever we want (or feel we need) with no thought to "best price" or saving money in any way. Without thinking about it we were spending probably 3x as much as we really needed to on things like groceries, health & beauty items, dining out & even prescriptions.

Once we decided we were going to make a budget and stick to it, I started making an effort to look at what was on sale before we went to get groceries. The first trip to the grocery store after we started this, we went to Publix and took advantage of their BOGO offers. Between BOGOs and other sale items, we spent about $70 but saved about $25. Our second trip, we did the same but this time went to Kroger, again purchasing things that we would use/need but only if they were on sale (I also used coupons on both trips). This time we spent about $45 but saved about $25. Each time the bulk of the savings was just sale savings, not coupons. Coupons accounted for about $5 savings each trip.

We were both really liking how this was working out and decided to put a little more effort into it. I began to search the internet for printable coupons, as well as to watch the sales online. I'm still pretty new at this process and this blog will be about my journey. It will be about the deals I find and take advantage of, the freebies, the coupons, the sales. We are a married couple, but we don't have kids, so you won't find any savings on kids items. I've vowed to only buy things we actually will use, whereas some avid couponers/ deal shoppers will buy things they don't need as they feel that in the end it's worthwhile in order to get the extra savings. In our house, spending $5 on things we don't need is just a waste of $5 and results in a houseful of stuff we don't need. On the other hand, if I can spend $35 this week, to avoid spending $60 next week, I'll do it in a heartbeat. So that's the story I'm going to tell.