Today at CVS

I was pleasantly surprised to find all the free after ECB items except for one still in stock at CVS today. I had only $2 in ECBs going into the week but I think my transactions worked out well.

Transaction 1:

Purchases:
Halls Naturals Cough Drops @ $2.59
Excedrin Express Gels 20ct. @ $3.99 *
2 Crest Prohealth Toothpastes 4.2 oz @ $5.98
Total: $12.56

Coupons & ECBs Used:
$.50 off Halls Cough Drops
$2.00 off Excedrin Express
2 $1 off Crest Toothpaste
$2.00 ECBs from previous visit

Total OOP: $6.06 plus tax
Total ECBs Earned: $10.58 ($2.59 for Halls, $3.99 for Excedrin, $4 for Crest)

* There was a rebate form for Excedrin Express Gels 20 ct. in the 10/19 Sunday insert. I will get a $3.99 rebate check which, after subtracting out my postage, will give me an additional $3.57 in overage and bring my OOP costs for the transaction to $2.49.

Transaction 2:

Purchases:
4 Coke 12 Packs @ $14.67
Coke 2 Liter @$1.25
3 Arm & Hammer Essentials Cleaner & Degreaser @ $8.97
Total: $24.89

Coupons & ECBs Used:
2 Buy One Coke 12 Pack Get One Free from Coke Rewards
3 $1 off Arm & Hammer Essentials from Sunday insert & internet printables
$10.58 ECBs from Transaction 1

Total OOP: $3.97 plus tax
Total ECBs Earned: $13.97 ($5 for $15 Coke purchase, $8.97 for Arm & Hammer)

This week I spent a total of $10.03 out of pocket (or only $6.46 after I get my Excedrin rebate) and I have $13.97 in ECBs for next time.

I may hit another CVS tonight when I go grocery shopping to see if they have the Benefiber freebie that was out of stock this morning. I am also looking to stock up on Advil Cold & Sinus since it is a December Monthly ECB deal ($2 ECBs per purchase, limit 3). CVS also emailed a coupon to me today for a free roll of tape or bag of pretzels which expires 12/25.

I haven't been CVSing for a long time. It feels good to be back!

CVS Freebies Today & Tomorrow Only

There are lots of free after ECBs items at CVS today and tomorrow only. I haven't been playing the drugstore game much since October. The deals haven't been that great and I have been busy. Also, my toothpaste stockpile is huge. But I am going to try to hit the store tomorrow because there are just too many freebies to pass up. Hopefully they aren't all sold out of the free stuff!

Check out all the great CVS deals over at Deal Seeking Mom.

For a great illustration on how to play the game with this week's freebies, visit Chief Family Officer.

McCormick Spice Deal at Giant

During a quick stop for Butter Flavored Crisco today, I noticed that Giant is running a promotion through the end of December on McCormick products. They had little signs posted around the McCormick spice section highlighting the deal. The deal is buy $15 of McCormick spices, extracts, and seasonings and get $5 off instantly at checkout.

I had purchased ground cloves and allspice at Super Fresh earlier in the week and I was astounded at the prices. $9.39 for the cloves and $4.99 for the allspice! Those two items were a third of my grocery bill for the week. And to make matters worse, I didn't have any coupons for them. Anyway, I picked up the same spices at Giant today for $7.99 and $3.99 AND I got a big bottle of cinnamon ($4.49) for free with the $5 off promotion. I will return my Super Fresh spices when I go shopping on Monday.

Also, Green Giant boxed veggies and Valley Fresh Steamers (no sauce variety) are on sale at Giant this week for $1. There are lots of coupons for $1 off 1 Valley Fresh Steamers and $.50 off 2 Giant boxed veggies out there from recent inserts and there are a few internet printables (coupon 1 and coupon 2 thanks, Dana) as well. You can score some free Valley Fresh Steamers and boxed veggies for $.50 each.

Visit Frugal in Virginia for all of this week's Giant deals.

Lands' End Free Shipping Till 12/21

Lands' End is offering free shipping through 12/21 with the promotion code FAST and pin 00007895.

No minimum purchase is required. Shipments arrive in 2-3 business days to most addresses and the offer cannot be combined with other promotional offers.

Happy Shopping!

Super Fresh Deals 12/19-12/25

It is not a great week for coupon match ups at Super Fresh but there are some decent prices on meats and seafood for holiday entertaining.

See the full Super Fresh Ad here.

Remember Super Fresh doubles coupons up to $.99 in value. Look for the the December Easy Solutions coupon booklet in store. The coupons in it expire on 12/25 and can be stacked (used along with) manufacturer coupons.

All the coupons listed below are from Sunday circulars unless otherwise noted.


This week's deals:

America's Choice Spiral Sliced Ham $.98 per pound with a $40 purchase (Limit 1)

Shady Brook Farms Fresh Whole Turkey $.98 per pound

Clementines 5lbs $3.99 (Limit 1)

Cooked Shrimp Half Price

Coke 12 pack Buy One Get One $5.29 ($2.65 each)

Arnold Whole Grain Bread $1.99
Easy Solutions Store Coupon Deal: Free Arnold Soft Natural Bread with Arnold Bread Purchase

Nabisco Snack or Ritz Crackers $1.99

Cracker Barrel Cheese $2.50

80% Lean Ground Beef or America's Choice Hot or Sweet Sausage $1.98 per pound

Kellers Butter 1 lb. $1.98

Birds Eye Frozen Boxed Veggies in Sauce $.68
Coupon Deal: $1 off 4 Birds Eye Veggies = $1.72 for 4 ($.43 each)

Campbell's Select Soup $1.50
Coupon Deal: $.50 off 2 Campbell's Select Soups = $2 for 2 ($1 each)

Ronzoni Pasta $.79

Campbell's Cream Soup $.75
Coupon Deal: $.35 off 4 Campbell's Cooking Soup = $2.30 for 4 ($.575 each)

Ragu Pasta Sauce $1.67
Coupon Deal: $1 off 3 Ragu Sauces = $4 for 3 ($1.33 each)

Pepsi 2 liters $1.00

Keebler Town House or Club Crackers $2.50
Coupon Deal: $1.00 off 2 Keebler Crackers = $4 for 2 ($2 each)

Kraft Cheese Bars or Shredded $2.50

Free Shipping Day- December 18th

Just in case you still have some last minute online holiday shopping to do, tomorrow is Free Shipping Day! Over 200 online merchants are offering free shipping deals tomorrow with delivery in time for Christmas. Go to freeshippingday.com for a complete list of merchants.

Each merchant has their own terms for what orders or items qualify for free shipping. For example:
- Crate and Barrel: Free shipping on orders over $100
- Discovery Channel Store: Free shipping on DVD sets
- EBgames & GameStop: Free 2 day shipping on orders over $39.99
- Kohls: Free shipping on orders over $75
- Kmart: Free shipping on orders over $49
- JC Penny: Free shipping on orders of $25 or more
- Nordstrom: Free shipping on orders of $100 or more
- The Body Shop: Free shipping on orders over $50

I didn't check out the deals at all the merchants, but the only ones I spotted that are offering free shipping on all orders were Endless.com, Shoes.com and ShoeMall.com. Check out the terms for each merchant and you might save a few bucks and have guaranteed delivery by December 24th.

Super Fresh December Easy Solutions Booklet

Super Fresh publishes an in store coupon booklet called Easy Solutions. It has store coupons and some manufacturer's coupons as well as recipes. I usually find it at the checkout counter or at the sale ad flyer stand. It isn't always available, so you may have to look around the store for a couple of trips before you come across one.

The great thing about the store coupons from Easy Solutions is that you can use them along with manufacturer's coupons on the same item. For instance, Heluva Good Cheese bars are on sale this week for $2.50 There was a $1 off 2 Heluva Good Cheese bars or dips coupon in yesterday's paper. There was also a $.50 off 1 Heluva Good Cheese bar store coupon in Easy Solutions. So I got 2 cheese bars for $3.50 by using both of the coupons. (I couldn't use 2 identical Easy Solutions cheese coupons even though I had 2 items because they are limited to one per customer. Also, the store coupons do not double.)

Usually the Easy Solutions booklet is available for viewing on the Super Fresh website, but they haven't updated it for awhile. I don't think you can print out the coupons from the website and use them at the store because they don't accept internet printable coupons.

Some other good coupons from the latest issue include:
-$.50 off Borden Cheese Singles (on sale this week for $3.99)
-Free loaf of Arnold Soft Natural Bread when you purchase an Arnold item.
-Free America's Choice Graham Cracker Pie Crust when you purchase $5 in selected baking products.
-$.40 off Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (on sale this week)
-$.30 off Tropicana OJ (on sale for $2.50 this week)
-$.50 off Reddi Whip (on sale for $2 this week)

The coupons in the December issue all expire December 25th.