Brag of the Week: my Sprouts organic run

I haven't done a Brag of the Week in a lonnnnggg time, mostly because a) Pesach shopping (i.e. spending $350 on a week's worth of food) is nothing to brag about and b) we've been eating off our stockpile, which was growing a little unmanageably large before Pesach, and so I was doing very little non-Pesach shopping of late.

But this week, there were some specials at Sprouts that were too good to pass up, so off I went.  I'm especially proud of my Seventh Generation 20 oz. dishwashing liquid for $0.40 and my Muir Glen Organic 14.5 oz, cans of Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes for $0.15.  Not everything on this run was bought with a coupon, which is why the savings was a little less than 60%.  Sometimes, you just need bananas, you know?

So, before you scroll down, just take a look at the picture and take a guess at how much I spent. Almost everything I bought was organic.  Besides, the brag value, it's actually helpful for me to dissect my purchase this way; it makes me much more aware of what I'm buying and spending.

Now here's the breakdown.  Starting prices per item are in blue, coupons are in red, final prices are in green.  There isn't a single coupon or discount listed here that I didn't post about, so any reader could have shopped the same way and saved the same proportional amount. No magic discounts here.  I spent about 12 minutes planning this shopping trip in advance.

• Cascadian Farm Organic 13 oz. cereal (2):  $3.00 - $0.60 - $0.50 - $1.00 = $0.90 x 2 or $1.80
• Food Should Taste Good 5.5 oz. (2):  $2.00 - $0.60 - $0.75 = $0.65 x 2 or $1.30
• Diamond Nut-Thins (2): $2.49 - $.50 - $0.37 = $1.62 x 2 = $3.23
• Sprouts frozen dark cherries (2):  $2.99 - $1.50 (this 50% off coupon) = $1.49 x 2 or $2.98
• Sprout 5 oz. chunk light tuna (1): $1.49 - $0.50 = $0.99
• Beefsteak tomatoes: $0.88/lb. $1.94
• Almond Dream (1):  $1.99 - $2.00 = free
• Bananas: $0.59/lb. (I know, expensive, but we needed them) $0.72
• Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted diced/crushed tomatoes 14.5 oz. can (6): $1.50 -$0.60 - $0.75 = $0.15 x 6 or $0.90
• Shiratake noodles (my husband loves these): $1.59 x 3 = $4.77
• Daiya vegan cheese (2):  $3.49 x 2 = $6.98 (on sale, usually over $5.00 at Whole Foods)
• Seventh Generation dish soap, 20 oz. (4): $3.79 - $1.90 - $1.50 = $0.39 x 4 = $1.58

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS:  $63.01

TOTAL OOP:  $27.19

Saved about 57%

And that's my brag, folks.

Got brag?  I love posting guest brags, so send it on down, so I can have a look and share it with the rest of the class.

Brag of the Week

Check out my haul from Target.  I decided to take full advantage of the $10 gift card for $50 purchase promotion.  My husband and I each were able to print out 2 of those gift card vouchers, so this is actually the product of four shopping trips.  The total before any coupons were applied (sans tax) was $227.68.

Let's play The Price is Right!  So, can you guess how much I spent, out of pocket (sans tax)?  Don't guess anything crazy, like $10, because I'm not one of those insane extreme couponers.  My two shopping goals, when I use coupons, are always 1) save at least 25% and 2) never buy anything we don't need.  Every single thing on this table is something that we need (except for the little Coca-Cola bear in the center, which was free with the soda).

We did get $40 in Target gift cards as a bonus, but don't include those in your total.  I'll give you a hint:  it's between $75 and $150.   Email me, comment here, post on Facebook, I don't care.  The four people who come closest without going over get a free product coupon for Dry Idea (I've got two of those) or a free product coupon for any Wholly Salsa product (I've got two of those). Make sure you get me your email address, so I have a way of contacting you if you win, and make sure you can provide me with a U.S.A. address to which I can send the coupon.

Guess!

Brag of the Week: my early March Whole Foods run

The new Whole Foods store coupons came out today, so I figured I would go and do a quick Whole Foods run.  I bought:

• 6 six-packs of Zevia soda @ $3.50 each.
• 3 Vitaminwater Zeroes at $1.33 each
• 4 bags of Shiritake tofu noodles (my husband really likes these) @ $1.69 ea.
• 1 16 oz. box of Organic Girl 50/50 mix (half spinach/half spring mix) @ $6.99
• 2 Clif Mojo bars@$0.89
• 1 pack of Method lavender scented all-surface wipes @ $2.47

TOTAL:  $43.00.  My total out-of-pocket (exclusive of tax) was $7.50.  You can look at my receipt here (click twice to zoom).

All of the Rocky Mountain Whole Foods markets allow stacking of one manufacturer's coupon with one store coupon.  The Whole Foods that I happen to go to also allows overages.

I had $35.50 in coupons:

• 6 $3/1 Zevia  + 6 $1/1 Zevia Whole Foods coupon.  Since this basically was six sets of $4 coupons for a $3.50 product, this turned each of those pricey Zevia six packs into a $0.50 money maker.
• 3 $0.50 Vitaminwater Whole Foods coupons
• 1 Organic Girl free product coupon
• 1 $1/2 Clif Mojo Whole Foods coupon from January
• 1 $1/1 Method coupon from the Smart Source Sunday coupon insert of 1/8/12 and 1 $1/1 Method Whole Foods coupon.

So my savings was 83%.  And that's a brag.

Got brag?  Please send me a picture of your shopping trip and a scan of the receipt, and I'll happily post it.

Brag of the Week: $3.05

Here's today's haul:

• from King Soopers (Denver's Kroger affiliate store), 6 rolls of Bounty, a 4-pack of Angel Soft, and two boxes of whole grain Barilla pasta.  All these items are included in the current 10-items-for-$10 sale, so they were $1 each.  I had four $1 coupons for the Bounty, and then two more $0.55 Bounty coupons which doubled up to a dollar, so the six rolls of Bounty were free.  I had a $0.45 coupon for the Angel Soft that doubled to $0.90, so that cost me $0.10.  For the pasta, I had a $1 for 2 boxes coupon, so I basically got one free. My total on the King Soopers run:  $1.10.  The King Soopers receipt is here.
• from Target,  I purchased five name-brand toys for a song.  I got 2 Kreo Transformers Optimus Prime figures for $8.79 each with two $8 coupons, 1 Hungry Hippos Travel Set for $6.09 with a $5 coupon, and 2 Transformer Bots Playskool Heroes for $7.69 each with two $8 coupons (a small moneymaker). I printed the high-value toy coupons from here.  We don't have kids, but I'll be donating the toys to my synagogue's children's learning program.  I saved $37 and paid $1.95 (sans tax) for all five toys.  The Target receipt is here.

My grand total for the haul was $3.05.  Tax (oh, how I hate tax) brought it up to $6.62.

After I checked out at Target, I was feeling all full of myself and supersmart for saving so much money today.  Yeah. And then it took me twenty minutes of wandering around the parking lot to remember where I parked my car.

Got brag?  Send it on down.  I'll need either a scan of your receipt or a picture of what you bought, preferably both, in order to be able to post it.  I love it when I save money but I really love it when you save money.

Brag of the Week: lots of free and better-than-free beverages

This week's brag is on my Target beverage run.  Here's what I bought:

• 6 2-liter bottles of Fresca @ $1.25 = $7.50
• 4 2-liter bottles of Coke Zero @ $1.25 = $5.00
• 3 20 oz. bottles of Diet Coke @ $1.59 = $4.77
• 2 1-liter bottles of Arrowhead sparkling water @ $0.69 = $1.38
• 3 lbs. of apples = $3.34

Total:  $21.99
I paid $3.10 (sans tax)Check out my receipt over here.

Here's how I did it:

• Target has an unadvertised sale on 2-liter Coke products: buy-4-get-an-additional-1-free.  I bought 10 of these so I got 2 free without a coupon.  -$2.50
• I had two Target coupons for buy-4-get-1-additional-free (still available) on 2-liter Coke products, so that gave me another 2 for free.  -$2.50
• I had four of these $0.99 Coke Zero coupons (still available).  -$3.96
• I had three $1/2 Fresca "hanger" coupons.  -$3.00
• I had two $1/1 Arrowhead coupons.  The Target store in Denver actually allows for overages on coupons, so even though the Arrowhead was on sale for $0.69, they gave me the full $1.00 off for each coupon.  So I actually "made" $0.62 off these coupons.  -$2.00
• I had three free product coupons for the 20 oz. Diet Cokes that I routinely get from MyCokeRewards.  They were expiring at the end of the year, so I had to use them. -$4.77

So my coupons reduced my total by $18.73 to $3.26, which is slightly less than the cost of the apples that I bought.  The apples were the only thing on my shopping list that I did not have a coupon for.  I bought them because 1) er, we were running low on apples 2) I knew my coupons would be more than the cost of the beverages that I bought, so I needed an item to absorb the overage.  My Target RedCard reduced the $3.26 by 5% down to $3.10.  Ta da:  I saved 86% off my total bill.  That's a brag.

Why do I post these brags?  Well, 1) because I'm a little conceited, I guess, but mostly because 2) there is almost nothing that I did on this shopping trip that I didn't first post on DailyCheapskate.  I post these brags to show you that you can get the exact same deals that I do, and do just as well on your shopping trips.

Got brag?  Please send me a picture of your haul and/or a scan of your receipt and I'll be happy to post it.

Brag of the Week

I won't lie to you; it took me about an hour to put this deal together, which is usually the total amount of time that I spend on my couponing for the entire week, but those darn $10 gift card for a $50 purchase coupons at Target are just way too tempting, so I planned this shopping trip carefully.  So here it is, the result of today's Target shopping trip split into two ring-ups.

I rang up a total of $100.21, and spent $30.97 out of pocket (all sans tax).  I received $30 in Target gift cards, so my total expenditure for $100 worth of stuff from Target was $0.97.

How did I do it?

• First, the $30 in gift card deals.  I broke this shopping trip up into two ring-ups so that I could cash in on two of the buy-$50-get-$10 gift card deals.
• Then, Target is offering a $5 gift card if you buy two L'Oreal hair colors for $8.49 each. Because of the L'Oreal Gold Rewards program, I had a coupon for one free L'Oreal hair color and a $1 Target coupon and and $2 manufacturer's coupon for the other. $8.49 is a ridiculously high price for Preference by L'Oreal (I can usually get it on sale at Walmart for around $5-$6), and I would have never bought it at this price if not for the gift card deal and the free coupon.
• Target was also running an identical deal on Bounce dryer bars:  buy 2 dryer bars for $8.49 each and get a $5 gift card.  Once again, I had a free coupon because the free bar that I received from Vocalpoint broke apart in my dryer, so I called P&G and they very kindly replaced it. I also had a $2 Vocalpoint coupon for the other bar. (Update:  I just discovered this $5 mail-in rebate on Bounce dryer bars, which officially makes this shopping trip a money-maker.)
• The Denver Target allows for overages, so I was able to use the full value of the two $3/1 Panko breadcrumbs coupon here, even though the product only cost $1.97.  Same thing for the Maybelline lip gloss that I bought:  the product cost $2.99, but the cashier allowed me to use two $2 coupons.  Same thing with the Arrowhead sparkling water: I had a $1 coupon but the product cost $0.69.  So in effect, I made a little money off of these coupons.
• I had free product coupons for two Suave deodorants, the Twix bar, and the Pacific soup, and high value coupons for most of the other items, including four $2 Kashi coupons that I redeemed on Recyclebank.  I would have liked to take advantage of the Fresca deal that I mentioned here, but I only had one Target B4G1 coupon, so I just bought six for $2.  

All in all, one of my better shopping trips.  It took me over an hour to shop and I was tired, so I didn't want to go for a third round, but I might go back tomorrow for one more go at the $10/$50 gift card, since I've got a bunch of MyCokeReward coupons for free Diet Coke that will help me get to $50.

Besides the fact that I am proud of my frugality (hence the "brag"), I share the details of these shopping trips because I want you to realize that by following DailyCheapskate, you can put together the same deals and do just as well.  The only thing I love as much as saving money is knowing that I've helped you save money too.  It's an ego thing.

Got brag?  Send me a picture of your shopping trip or a scan of the receipt and I'll be happy to share it here.

Brag of the Week

Since my car is getting serviced tomorrow, and I had expiring coupons tonight, I figured I'd do a little shopping run.  The stash pictured in this photo was the result of my dashing around to a bunch of different stores for the last two hours.  How much do you think I spent?

First I went to Target. I had the coupon for a free $10 gift card when you spend $50, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to use some of the free product coupons that will be expiring at the end the year to inflate the total up to $50.  I had four free coupons for Purex Crystals ($4.50 each). I used two of the free 20 oz. Diet Coke coupons that we rountinely get from MyCokeRewards, along with two of the MCR Powerade coupons.  The panko breadcrumbs (hands-down the best breadcrumbs on Planet Earth) were BOGO , and the Duncan Hines pareve carrot cake mix was free. The Smuckers sugar-free raspberry preserves are going to go into my next Rhodes guest-post recipe: sufganiyot made with Rhodes dough.  My pre-coupon total was $54.  After redeeming my coupons, I ended spending almost $21 at Target, but I got the $10 gift card, so my net amount spent there was $11.

Those four 2-liter Diet Cokes in the back of the picture were from my brief stop at Family Dollar.  They were marked $1.25, but I got them for $0.75 each with the coupon I told you about here.  Total for the four bottles, $3.20 with tax.

For some reason, my little Victoria's Secret bag (over on the left) came out red in the photo. It is, of course, pink.  I hope you were also able to score some free lingerie tonight.  Lots of stores (like the one in Denver) ran out of the promotional item, so they let customers just pick out any that they wanted from one of the sale tables. The one I got for free would have cost $9.50.

Since I was at the mall anyway for the Victoria's Secret promo, I snagged a free sample of Visionnaire (pictured over on the left) from the Lancome counter at Macy's.  You can still get this high-end free sample...just click on the the Lancome Visionnaire banner image over on the right side of this blog (you may have to scroll down) ----->

Finally, I stopped very briefly at King Soopers to gas up the car and to make sure I got my free Toblerone bar before they ran out. I felt bad running my American Express card for a $0.03 charge, but I didn't have any cash on me.  I'm saving the Toblerone for when I need a little chocolate pick-me-up (in other words, any minute now).

Tonight's haul cost me $14.23 for about $70 worth of stuff.  It took a little more running around than I'm used to, but I think we did ok.  Brag over.

Got brag?  Let me know about it, send me a scan of your receipt or a picture of your haul (or both) and I'll happily post it!

Brag of the Week: free sunglasses that retail for $100

I'm sure you know that we bloggers can post wonderful links to freebies, replete with exclamation points (Free! High-value!)  but if the deal doesn't work out, well, it just doesn't work out. And sometimes, deals and freebies don't go the way we intend them to go. But every so often, a deal works out beautifully.

Last week I posted about a free Revlon sunglasses giveaway at Sears Optical (no longer available). Sears has an optical store across the street from Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, so I figured, why not, and I went in, coupon in hand, expecting to get a junky twenty-dollar pair of sunglasses from last year's styles. Turned out the coupon was good for their "bottom-line sunglass selection" each of which currently sold for $99.99!  I selected my pair from a group of very modern, in-style frames, and I went home with an ubercute pair of designer sunglasses worth a hundred bucks.  (Click on the image above to see the full-sized receipt.) Yup, sometimes these deals work out very well, indeed.

Got brag?  Let me know and I'll post it!

Brag of the Week: 16 Schick Xtreme razors plus $20 in Itunes gift cards for $0.66 (plus tax)

This was a very nice deal.  King Soopers, which is Denver's Kroger affiliate store, is currently running a promotion where they have a variety of Schick razors on sale for BOGO (buy-one-get-one-free), including the Schick Xtreme for women 4-pack.  These 4-packs were pricey, $6.33 each.  I bought four of these 4-packs and used the two coupons that I had printed back here (no longer available) for $6 off 2 Schick disposable razors.  So the deal went like this:

• 4-pack Schick Xtreme $6.33 minus $6/2 coupon =  $0.33
• 4-pack Schick Xtreme $6.33 but free because of BOGO
• 4-pack Schick Xtreme $6.33 minus $6/2 coupon = $0.33
• 4-pack Schick Xtreme $6.33 but free because of BOGO

Grand total, excluding tax, $0.66.  With tax., $1.64.  I paid more in taxes than I did for the merchandise.  I really hate taxes.

But wait, there's more.  :)

Each of the packages contained a coupon for a code to be redeemed at Schicktunes.com.  When you redeem two coupon codes, you get a free $10 Itunes e-gift card.  I had four of them, so I got $20 in Itunes e-gift cards, which is the maximum that you can redeem per household anyway.  (I split my purchase up into two (two 4-packs in each purchase) because I wasn't sure if I'd have to mail away the receipts to get the Itunes gift cards, and I wasn't sure if it was limited to one card per person, and then I'd need to send for one under my husband's name. Turned out the redemption was online, so it wasn't necessary.)

So I got 16 razors for $0.66 (plus $0.98 tax) and $20 in free Itunes e-gift cards.  This was a productive shopping trip.  I almost didn't bother with the sale, because I am swimming in free razors from the last King Soopers razor sale, but now I am set for the year. And that's my brag. 

Got brag?  Send me the details and the receipt and I'll post it.

Brag of the Week: life is good when you actually make money off a shopping trip

It's so nice when stores actually pay you to shop.

My husband and I are in Omaha for the Sukkot holiday (Joshua has some work-stuff here). Denver is our home and we love it, but Omaha has two great things that Denver does not: CVS and Trader Joe's. I'm going to do my Trader Joe's run next week, but today, I had a rather stellar session at CVS.

Full disclosure: I shopped at a brand new CVS store that had put some really nice store coupons in our Omaha mailbox this weekend, which was part of the reason I was able to do so well with this shopping run. But the real reason, I was able to do well because CVS is running a gift card promotion this week:  purchase $30 worth of certain items, and you will receive a $10 gift card in return.

So, after all was said and done, the grand pre-coupon, pre-tax total  for all the items you see above was $33.93:

• 6 boxes of Puffs @ $1.50,
• 1 box of Kleenex with lotion @ $2.37
• 4 two-liter Diet Cokes @ $1.50 , 
• 1 CVS brand Maxis @ $2.99,  
• 1 trial-size Irish Spring deodorant @ $0.99, 
• 2 bottles of Advil 50-count @ $6.29 
• 2 bottles of Advil 25-count, @ $0.00 (bonus bottles) 

I applied these coupons:

• 3 $1 coupons off any Coke product (from  Recyclebank; sadly, no longer available) 
• 2 $0.25 coupons off 3 boxes of Puffs (P&G insert from 10/2/11)
• 2 $1 coupon off any Advil
• Free CVS store product coupons for CVS Maxis ($3), Irish Spring ($0.99), Kleenex with lotion ($2.37) and one bottle of Diet Coke ($1.50).

This particular CVS store had also given me a coupon for $5 off $15 and a funny voucher that asked me to introduce myself to the pharmacy staff and rewarded me with a $5 CVS gift card (that could be used immediately).  Also, the Advils were on sale...buy one, get one half off ($3.15) I also had a $0.50 Extra Care Buck from a prior purchase.  Coupon, ECB, and discount value total:  $27.00

My total out-of-pocket (pre-tax) was $6.92 + $1.20 tax =$8.12. My receipt is here.


BUT, I also got my $10 CVS gift card,  so I actually ended up making $1.88 off the deal.  Now that's a nice haul.

Brag of the Week #2: 78% off at PetSmart

As I've explained in earlier posts, my target price for high-end dog food is about $1 per lb.  In this shopping trip, I managed to pay only about half of that, so I'm a happy, er, puppy.  It's very easy to save money on high quality pet food, because it can be stockpiled so easily and doesn't go bad. The trick is to strike and buy when the opportunity arises, long before you run out of food.

My original total for this haul was $32.78 excluding tax.  I ended up paying $7.19 plus $2.25 in tax (78% savings). This shopping trip was a success mostly because of this deal:

• I purchased two 5.5 lb. bags of Ultramix adult dog food for $13.99 each = $27.98.
  I used this PetSmart store BOGO coupon for the one bag and  this $5 manufacturer's coupon for the other.  I have never had a problem stacking store and manufacturer's coups at PetSmart.  They have truly wonderful cashiers.
  Total price for the two 5.5 lb. bags: $8.99
• I also had 2 of these Cesar Canine Bistro buy-two-get-one free coupons.  I bought six at $0.80 cents each, and saved $1.60 with the 2 coups.
  Total price: $3.20 
• Additionally, I had a $5 off $25 coupon reward that you receive for reaching a threshold (I think it's $100) on your PetPerks account.  I actually gave that to the cashier first, before any other coupons reduced my total.

Got brag?  Please, I love love love to post DailyCheapskate readers' frugal successes. Send it to me here.

Brag of the Week #1: half off at Whole Foods

I had a very nice run at Whole Foods last night.  Except for produce, Joshua and I generally don't go out of our way to buy organic food. The cost of keeping kosher is expensive enough without complicating it with other pricey special food types, and while I do think organic fruits and vegetables taste better, I don't discern a difference in say, organic vs. non-organic granola bars. My impetus to shop at Whole Foods tonight was that last month's Whole Foods coupons will be expiring at the end of August, and since Colorado Whole Foods stores allow stacking of store coupons with manufacturer's coupons, I saw some real bargains to be had.  Before last month's coupons disappeared from the Whole Food website, I printed them out on a pdf (they allow that) and Whole Foods still had the old coupon magazines all over the store.  (If you would like to duplicate any of these deals and need any of last month's WF coupons, just give me a shout and I will email the pdf to you.  Since they're no longer on the WF site, I don't feel comfortable posting the pdf.)

Tonight's bill rang up to $36.03 (excluding tax). After I handed over my $17.35 in coupons, I ended up paying $18.68 plus $0.23 tax.  Saving 48% on an all-organic, all-kosher shopping run is no small feat.  Here's what I bought and here's how I did it:

• Kashi Go Lean vanilla cereal priced at $3.69.
  I used the $1.50 coupon that came with the Kashi free sample granola bar.  If I'd had two of those, I would have purchased two boxes and stacked them with the last month's WF $1/2 coupon.
  Total cost:  $2.19 (saved 40%).  This is actually about twice as much as I'm used to spending on cereal, but I took a splurge.
• 4 boxes of Nature's path 5 count granola bars, on sale for $3.00 each=$12.00.
  I used 2 of this month's Whole Foods $1.50/2 coupon here and 3 of the $1/1 coupons that I got from the Mambo Sprouts Rocky Mountain tour.
  Total cost $6 or $1.50 per box (half price).
  
• Organic Valley half and half, 16 oz. on sale for $1.99.
  I used the current Whole Foods coupon for $1/1 and the $0.75/1 coupon here.
  Total cost $0.25 (saved 87%). 
• 2 Organic Batter Blasters pancake and waffle batter at $4.39 each=$8.78.
  I used the deal I posted here:  last month's Whole Foods $3.00/2 coupon stacked with two $1.00/1 coupons.
  Total cost: $3.78 for 2 or $1.89 each (saved 57%).
  Since this was such an awesome buy (my cashier high-fived me on this one), and these coupons are reprintable, I will probably go back and get some more.
• SanJ gluten-free organic teriyaki sauce $3.39.  Great on salmon.
  I used the last month's Whole Foods $0.55/1 coupon and the $0.55 Mambo Sprouts coupon from here.
  Total cost: $2.29 (saved 32%).
• Earth Balance dairy-free buttery spread $3.39.  This is a really good-tasting pareve spread with healthier ingredients than regular margarine.
  I used the $1 coupon that I found in the King Sooper's free Optimum Wellness magazine.
  Total cost:  $2.29 (saved 29%).
• Late July organic gluten-free sea-salt chips $2.79.
  I used the $1.00 Mambo Sprouts coupon from here.
  Total cost $1.79 (saved 36%).

I want to add that it took 12 minutes to do these matchups before I set out on my shopping trip. Everything I bought is stuff we will use, except for the half and half, which I'm actually going to try freezing for later.

Brag of the Week

Click on the image above, and then click again, to see my readable full receipt.

I had a pretty good buy at King Sooper's (Denver's Kroger-owned store) last night: I paid $4.84 (excluding taxes) on a $36.22 purchase, or just 13%. How did I do it?  If you're interested, here's the breakdown.

• -$10.00 I took advantage of King Sooper's buy-10-get-$5 (b-10-g-$5) sale. I bought 20 items, and each of them qualified for the sale. Mind you, they were 20 items that we needed and would use, and I didn't just buy them to get the bonus $10 at the end.
• -$2.00 I used two of the Honest Tea $1 coupons. The Honest Tea cost $1 per bottle after the b-10-g-$5 sale, so I got a free product.
• -$3.00 I had one $0.75 coupon and two $0.50 coupons for Colgate toothpaste, and since King Soopers doubles coupons up to $1, I got an extra $1.25 off. The toothpastes were $1 after the b-10-g-$5 sale, so I got 3 free products.
•  -$2.00 I had two $1 coupons for Reach toothbrushes, which were $1 each after the b-10-g-$5 sale, so I got two free products.
• -$1.00 I used a digital Cellfire coupon for Milkbones dog treats. Funny, I also had a paper coupon, but King Soopers wouldn't let me use it, as it appears that you can no longer stack digital manufacturer's coupons with paper manufacturer's coupon. The dog treats were $2.00 after the b-10-g-$5 sale, so I got a half-price product.
• -$2.50 I had a coupon for $2.50 off one Reach toothbrush and one Reach Access flosser. The toothbrush and flosser were each $1 after the b-10-g-$5 sale, so I actually got two free products and made $0.50 off of this coupon and was able to apply it toward another product. 
• -$1.00 I had a coupon for $1 off Lady Speedstick, which cost $1.50 after the b-10-g-$5 sale, so I got a full-size deodorant for $0.50. 
• -$9.88 The remaining discounts were all from the items being on sale. It was nice to get all those Vitamin Waters for $0.50 each.

That wraps up my brag. How about you?  Got brag?  Tell me what it is so I can post it too.

Brag of the Week #2 (Guest Brag)

Eric S. of Aurora, Colorado was inspired by the other Guest Brag that I posted last night, and decided to submit one of his own. He took full advantage of the propane deal I posted here.  He writes:

Dear Cheapskate,

I just want to thank you for your excellent post about the propane savings.  My wife and I had a barbecue last week and we used up our propane tank.  Today, I took it in to Home Depot for a swap.  The price for a propane swap is $17.82 plus $0.06 tax, or $17.88.  That is what I would have paid if I hadn't read your blog.   I would have paid it and not thought twice about it, because that's what I pay every year, and the price is the same everywhere.

But I DID read your blog, and so on Friday, when I was in the Post Office, I asked for a few change of address kits, like you told me to.  I took the Lowe's 10% off coupon out of one kit.  I also downloaded the $3 Amerigas coupon, like you told me to in the propane post.  Look at my receipt.  I paid $13.10 for a $17.88 propane swap.  But I'm not done. Today, I filled out the rebate form and will expect to get another $5 back from my purchase, bringing my price on that propane swap down to $8.10.  I showed my wife and told her she better start reading your blog too, because that was just too easy.  I'm going to take the ten bucks I saved on the propane and buy my wife lunch, so she'll realize the rewards of being a Cheapskate.  Thank you for your most excellent blog.

Most Sincerely Yours,

Eric S.
Aurora, CO

Eric S., you seriously made my day.  You saved 65% on your propane swapout with virtually no effort, but more importantly, you bought your wife lunch with the savings (Joshua, are you reading this?).  That's a stupendous brag.  You're my hero.

Brag of the Week (Guest Brag)

I know I haven't done the Brag of the Week in a long while, and I really need to get back to it, since you've told me it's one of your favorite Cheapskate features.  I do love a good brag, and it's especially satisfying when Cheapskate readers send them in, so here's Rifky from Brooklyn's brag (click on the receipt pictured above):  she bought five 2-liter bottles of soda and a 33-count box of Huggie Pullups at CVS.  After the sale prices and her coupons, she spent a grand total of $12.43 (less than the cost of just the Pullups) and got a coupon back for $10 off her next $50 purchase, which I'm sure she is already figuring out how to put to good use.

Go Rifky!  I'm so jealous.  Alas, no CVS here in Colorado.  :( 

Brag of the Week

The Brag is back!  I started this "Brag of the Week" feature earlier this year, but because Passover kind of threw my shopping for a loop, I haven't been posting any brags, guest or otherwise, for several weeks now.  Here's my latest shopping trip to King Soopers (Denver's Kroger chain store).  I bought $32.52 worth of groceries for $8.37, a 74% savings!

I took advantage of Kroger's current promotion where you get $5 back when you buy 10 participating items and use your shopper's loyalty card. I looked over the list of the participating items, picked out the ones that were kosher, that we could use immediately or stockpile.  We had coupons and/or digital coupons for every item I bought.  There were also two items, Mahatma Saffron Rice and Softsoap that were on sale for $1 each.  I had $0.50 coupons for each, and since Kroger stores double coupons that are less than $1, these items were free.  I also had a coupon for a free jar of Coffeemate ($4.19) that was expiring that day, so I used it.  I couldn't resist the freebie, but we'll donate that, since we use almond or coconut milk as a coffee whitener (much healthier).

Got brag?  Let me know and if it's a good one, I'll happily post it.

Brag of the Week #2 (Guest Brag)

Our second brag this week comes from Devorah in Spring Valley, NY, who got a whopping 842 4x6 glossy prints from Snapfish for $82.13, shipped.  That works out to less than ten cents a print.  Devorah did a little comparison shopping, and Costco, which had the next best offer with a 100 free prints coupon, came to $96.46, so she saved $14.33 over that offer.  Devorah used a Snapfish promo code (REVEAL3) which knocked 1/3 off her price and clicked through an Ebates link first to snag an additional 6.5% in cash back, bringing her grand total on this 842 print order down to $76.79.  See, that's a brag.

Got brag?  Share, and I'll post it.

Brag of the Week #1 (Guest Brag)

We have two guest brags this week.  The first one is from Selena, whose brag is really more about finding an amazing sale, rather than a great discount. She bought two suits for her husband at Macy's, originally priced at $425 and $550, but in one of Macy's crazy sales, were put on sale for $49.99.  And further, like all good Cheapskates, she used a coupon (20%) to bring the price down to an unbelievable $40/suit.  And mind you, these are very nice suits.  Yeah, that's a brag.

Got brag?  Impress me and I'll post it.

Brag of the Week

This week's brag was at King Soopers (Denver's Kroger affiliate store chain).   This is, I must say, a rather spectacular brag, even for me, and it was made possible mostly due to the wonder of digital coupons.

• Because I was able to stack 1) digital coupons that were loaded on to my King Soopers loyalty card, 2) store coupons, and 3) manufacturer's coupons, I basically hit the Trifecta of couponing:  triple stacking.
• King Soopers also doubles all coupons up to a dollar.  Couponing tip:  save all your low value (under a dollar) coupons for supermarkets that double.
• Because of the coupon combos that I had, I got quite a number of free items, like three tubes of Colgate toothpaste, Schick Hydro 5 razor, Physician's Formula eyeliner, and Pedigree dog food. 
• I scored a free $10 eight-pack of Bounty from King Sooper's Deal of the Day on Monday.
• I had a $3 off $3 coupon from a previous King Soopers Daytona 500 promotion.
• I had a $5 off $5 coupon from entering the Pillsbury Bake-Off

Bottom line? My bill (excluding tax) came to $145.48.  I paid $39.38 (including tax).  I basically saved 77% off my total bill.  Yeah, that's a brag.

Got brag?  Impress me and I'll happily post it. The only thing I like as much as saving money is watching other people save money.

Brag of the Week #2 (Guest Brag)

I know it's not Wednesday, when I usually post weekly brags, but Sompo1126 was at it again.  The discounts and coupons he used are well-known, but when your net total on a 192 pack of Huggies diapers order is a big fat goose egg, the results are, well, satisfying. Sompo1126 used a coupon found in Baby Talk, a free magazine distributed by Babies 'R Us, the 10% off Amazon Baby discount, two 20& off Amazon Diapers coupons in the February and March issues of Parenting, and the 30% Subscribe & Save discount.  No tax, free shipping, And just for grins, Sompo1126 was in Babies 'R Us today and the same diaper pack he got for free was going for $42.00.  Great work, Sompo1126!

Got brag?  Drop me a line.