The Drugstore Game

Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS all had programs that can allow you to get items cheap or free after a rebate, or coupon good for your next purchase.

CVS uses a membership card, like a grocery store's loyalty card, that you can scan at the kiosk near the door in most stores, and that will print out Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) on some items. ECBs can be used like cash on any item in the store, and which expire after a month. For example, maybe this week the deal is on Colgate Total, which costs $3 per tube, and gives you $3 back in ECBs. There's a limit of two per card. You can spent $6, buy two tubes, and have $6 in ECBs to use on whatever next week's deal is. Or, you can spend $3, get $3 back in ECBs, and then spend those ECBs on another tube, and have $3 to spend next week. If you can find a coupon (printable, or from an insert) for that toothpaste, you could, say, spend $2 after coupon, and get $3 back. If you get the Green Bag Tag (it's a leaf shaped card, I put mine on my key chain), and scan it every time you use a reusable bag, you'll get $1 in ECBs for every four visits.

Walgreens uses Register Rewards, which are similar, but the rules are more restrictive. You don't need to use a membership card, but the RRs expire after two weeks, and are treated as manufacturer's coupons. So, if you're making a purchase, and want to use a RR and a manufacturer's coupon, you need to have at least two items. If you buy an item that generates a RR, and use it to purchase a second item, you won't get a second RR.

Rite Aid uses . . . damned if I know. They don't have any around here.

The idea of the Drugstore game is to use your ECBs or RRs on items that generate more ECBs or RRs, rather than on general merchandise. So, buy your toothpaste this week, use the ECB or RR on some shaving cream next week, maybe there's nothing worth buying the next week, so you skip it, but then the next week, you buy some obscure brand of tampons because the thing's about to expire, and you don't want to waste it. Just keep going on that way, choosing the free or super-cheap item of the week. You can donate anything you don't like. Blogs like iheartcvs.com and iheartwags.com will give you lists of current and upcoming deals. Pretty easy, and you'll end up with a lot of toothpaste, even if you only frequent one store.

Cheap List, Phoenix-Based

I wrote this up for a recently fired friend, and am putting it up here for anyone who might find it useful. Every time we lose someone else there it's like friggin' Watership Down.

Anyway . . .

Go get a GMail or Yahoo or similar account just for this stuff before you do anything.

http://moneysavingmom.com/ - lots of info on sales, drugstore fun, and general cheapness. This is where so much of my toothpaste comes from. Y

http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/ - similar, but Tucson based

http://www.5dollardinners.com/ - some good inspiration

http://weelicious.com/ - ditto, but with more agave nectar. That ingredient pisses me off, for some reason.

http://startsampling.com/ - sign up with a spam account, receive tampons and fibre supplements in the mail.

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/In-Stores-Now-free-samples.aspx - Same idea. Don't mine the Walmart-ness. This is being done by the manufacturers.

http://www.kraftfirsttaste.com/default.aspx - Okay, it's not health food, but if you check the offers stuff, you'll often get coupons for free products.

http://www.vocalpoint.com/ - More stuff in the mail. Kashi coupons should make anyone at least moderately happy.

http://www.mambosprouts.com/sign-up.php - coupons for natural stuff.

http://www.getpaidsurveys.com/lightspeed/ - see if the link here works. My favorite by far, since it rewards pretty well, and you can get Amazon cards with it.

Look into Swag Bucks if you get bored. Not as fast, and I installed it on IE, so Firefox stays nice and clean. Run searches a couple times a day, eventually get $5 from Amazon.

https://www.mypoints.com - get points for clicking links in emails, or shopping through certain sites. I probably have a referral link somewhere, but haven't done much with this recently.

http://www.alpinevalleybread.com/ - go to the store on Friday (before 2:30), take $10 and a giant Ikea bag, come back with a ton of cheap, good bread. A lot of the labels are covered over, so you may need to guess, but your chances of scratching off the label when you get home and finding that you paid 50 cents for organic bread are pretty high.

http://www.freshandeasy.com/ - sign up for their mailing list, get coupons for $5 off $25 or $10 off $50 from time to time (they're nice about letting you do two transactions to use two coupons), get cheap organic stuff and markdowns. And get the banana gelato!

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/ and http://www.thesimpledollar.com/ - forgot these two.

Jam FTW!

About a year ago, I ordered a case of mangoes from the co-op. Milo was just getting into solid foods then, so most of the mangoes got pureed and/or frozen, and that was that. A week or two ago, I ordered another case of mangoes, organic this time, since they'd worked out so well last time. Apparently, Milo's no longer digging the mangoes, so I gave a few to a friend, and was left with twenty-some little yellow mangoes going soft in their box on the counter. Not so cool. I ended up peeling and dicing them all today, with a veggie peeler, which I've found to be the most efficient way, and froze four cups of them. The rest were turned into mango jam, which was really quite good.

Mango's got a very nice flavor by itself, but in baked things, it tends to end up tasting sweet, rather than like itself, so the jam was a nice alternative to muffins or bread. Will definitely make this one again. And yes, its was very easy. Just throw mango chunks, sugar, and a bit of lemon or lime juice in a pot, stir for about twenty minutes, and make sure there's some toast ready to go, and you've got a nice little snack.

Shopping List, 2/14

Aww, Valentine's Day! Not that it means much now, since I'm too old for Batman cards and cutting hearts out of construction paper, but it pretty well guarantees cheap candy over the next week or two. We might manage a geocache tomorrow, too, and I'm long overdue for wandering around in the desert with a GPS and bag of trinkets.

So, on to the shopping list, as written by me, for me, since I've got a memory like a sieve, and not even an especially cute sieve. More like a dollar store one. Tomorrow should have three stops, including the bank.

Fry's

Purex Laundry Detergent, as explained here.

Lots of Chunky soup, since the husband likes it, and it's fairly cheap. There are some printables here, which should bring them down to $0.50-$0.70 each, which is cool.

Sliced cheese is $1 each, but the fridge is in its death throes, so will wait to see if we can get that fixed first.

CVS

Lots of good stuff here. I'm looking at (as stolen from the link above):

Crest Pro Health Enamel Shield Toothpaste (4-4.2 oz) or Rinse (14.8 oz), $3.50
Earn $3.50 Extra Bucks (Limit 2)
$0.75/1 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel – 1-17-10 P&G
$0.75/1 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel – 2-7-10 P&G
Final Price after Extra Bucks: FREE + $0.75 overage

Aussie Shampoo, Conditioner, or Styler, $2.99
Earn $2 Extra Bucks (Limit 1)
$1/1 Aussie Products – 2-14-10 RP
Final Price after Extra Bucks: FREE

Spend $12 on Select Glade Products, Get $4 Extra Bucks (Limit 3)
Glade Sense & Spray, Fragrance Collection Candle or Diffuser, or Plug in Lasting Impressions, $6
$3/1 Sense & Spray Starter Kit – 1-24-10 SS
$3/2 Fragrance Collection Products – 2-7-10 SS
$3/2 Fragrance Collection Products printable
$3/1 Glade Candles or Diffusers – 2-7-10 SS

Glade Plugins Scented Oil Refill, Sense & Spray Refill, Essentials Oil Candle 4 oz., Scented Oil refills 3 ct., $3
$2/2 Sense & Spray Refills – 1-24-10 SS

Soft Scrub Cleanser, $2
$0.50/1 Soft Scrub – 1-10-10 RP
$1.50/1 Printable
Final Price: as low as $0.50/each

I'm hoping to find a way to use my $2/3 Glade, umm, those more high-end candles I can't remember the name of.

Also, I have a $2 Soft Scrub coupon from Recycle Bank. There seriously is a lot more stuff at the link, so if you happen to stumble by here, click on it already.

My Halloween Candy

It's . . . gone. All of it, except one little package of Sour Skittles that Milo managed to hide. I'm shocked.

Earlier this year, the husband and I had debated whether the bad economy and real estate market (meaning we're surrounded by empty houses) would mean we'd see next to no kids, because it wouldn't be worth the effort of going out, or a ton, since all you'd need would be a homemade costume. I guessed the latter would be true, but it didn't seem to be a commonly held opinion. So, I stocked up on various non-Nestle chocolate bars, and wee containers of Play-Doh, and then got nervous the day of Halloween, and bought some more stuff.

Last night, I put Milo in a Clash onesie, spiked his hair, and carved a pumpkin under his supervision. I managed a passable cat face, which I stuck over some tea lights next to the drive way. I figure that any lit-up pumpkin, no matter how crappy, is basically an 'Open' sign for trick-or-treaters. We went inside, rolled the Play-Doh containers around for a bit, and waited for kids for about an hour, with no bites. At about 6:40, he started looking tired, and decided to do something awful to his diaper at the same time a dad showed up with a small dinosaur and cowboy. I gave them a good handful of candy each, changed Milo, and gave him a nurse. On my mother's recommendation, I taped a sign over the doorbell, and put out a little bowl of candy, with instructions to take 3, since not many other houses were giving out candy.

I refilled the little bowl from a bigger bowl every ten minutes or so, and ended up meeting someone at the door every time, from parents with toddlers, to school-aged kids, to a couple of shy teenage boys, with no costumes. At 7:38, I went to check on the last bowlful of candy, and it was completely empty.

So, it looks like I was right about Halloween being popular when people are broke, and I liked the small-bowl-outside system, and would use it again. Next year, I'll get more candy, and make sure someone's aroun to take Milo out, or refill the bowl, since he'll be two then.

Cheap Online Thrills

Being, in this case, things to send away for, or make a wee bit of money with. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to get rich clicking emails, and anyone who tells you otherwise has something to sell you, but there's still some fun to be had.

StartSampling

Sign up, choose some samples, and you'll be awash in odd magazine subscriptions and fiber supplements in no time. There are more useful samples, too, like little tubes of toothpaste, and shower gel. This is a great way to never have to buy travel-sized items again.

Walmart

Yes, really. Same idea as StartSampling, run by start sampling, actually, but the selection varies, and sometimes it's possible to order the same item from both sites. When a sample page says the item is only available in stores, it means that if you want to purchase it, you need to go to a physical store, not Walmart.com, but you can still order the sample.

Vocalpoint

I really like this one. Sign up, receive the occasional survey email, and get neat stuff in the mail, including coupons for free products, and high-value coupons for stuff like Kelloggs cereals, and Kashi (which Kelloggs owns, shockingly enough). The little organizer I'm planning on sticking coupons in came in a FluMist promotion from Vocalpoint.

GMail/Yahoo/Hotmail

Yes, I know that free email accounts are just so 1998, and you already have one. Get another one anyway, and use it for signing up for offers from manufacturers. You don't need this stuff cluttering up your personal inbox, and it's nice having it all in one spot. I'd recommend one that lets you filter messags into various folders.

MyPoints

Prime example of why you need a free email account for this stuff. Sign up, click advertising emails, and get 5 or so points each. You can get points for buying from various online shops, but I suck at remembering to do this. Anyway, the email points add up fast enough, and you can redeem them for Amazon gift cards and the like. And then find out your husband spent said gift card on a garage door remote control. But anyway . . . .

BzzAgent

Sign up, get sent products and coupons, tell people about the stuff, repeat -- and get MyPoints points for it. You do need to submit reports on what you said, and how people reacted, but it's not hard, and it's extremely friendly. Also, getting a box of makeup or candles in the mail in the middle of a derpressing week is a lot of fun.

Coupon Basics For The Harried

This one's mostly for a coworker who works full time, has a little baby, AND goes to school. If she wasn't such a sweet person, I'd suspect she was some sort of sophisticated animatronic.

Part of the reason I stopped using coupons a few years ago was because organizing and keeping track of them was a huge pain, and trying to prepare for grocery shopping could take longer than the actual shopping. No good. When I got back into couponing, I tried doing the same thing; clipping and filing coupons, and again I ended up with expired ones I'd meant to use, and hadn't, and ones that just seemed to disappear. And it still took too damn long, and required too much mental work.

Newspaper Inserts

So, now I don't clip coupons. I staple each insert down the side, sort of like a pamphlet, Sharpie the date on the front page, and stick them in a plastic three-drawer chest that was probably meant to hold scrapbooking supplies. The Red Plum and Smart Source inserts each get a drawer, and the third is for miscellaneous ones, like the ones Procter and Gamble puts out, and printed coupons. The drawers give me space to rifle through the inserts and coupons, but you could use something else if you wanted, like a plastic envelope. That would take up less space.

I follow other blogs that list deals and coupon matches, so when one says I need a coupon from the RP 8/3, I can find that insert, and find the coupon. I've been clipping each store's coupons together with clothes pins, but I just got a neat little organizer from Vocalpoint that I think would work well, since it has four sections, and I usually go to three or four stores per trip.

In case you wondering, I haven't traded or ordered coupons for years, but if you know there's a certain coupon you'll want a lot of, you might want to look into it. I buy two papers per week, since a lot of deals involve buying multiples of the same product, but if I were to find a cheap subscription, I might buy three. Two is enough, though, and works well for me.

Printables

When someone links to a printable coupon, I'll print it, then press back until I can print it again, or get a notice saying I've printed it too many times. Most coupons can be printed twice. If the link goes to a site like coupons.com, I'll also see what else looks useful there, and print those off. Most printable campaigns have a limited number of prints overall, so if you see something you like, print it now. It may stop being available soon. I use black ink on fairly good paper that Milo got into, and sort of mangled. Cheap paper would work, too. If a coupon takes up a third of a page, save the rest, and use it for the same campaign, or coupons.com, which prints three coupons to a page. For an unfamiliar site, use a new sheet, since you don't know where the coupon will print, and using a partial sheet might mean it gets cut off.

Electronic Coupons

I do use electronic coupons that get linked to store loyalty cards, but since I'm forgetful, I tend to put all the ones I can on my card, just in case I happen to have an unexpected need for crescent rolls or dog treats. I really need to get better at checking for these.

Other Sources For Coupons

Product samples often come with coupons, and you can find other ones in dispensers in stores (blinkies), stuck to products (peelies), or in some product packages. Help yourself to the blinkies, take one or two peelies, to save for a sale (but don't clear out all of them, that's just rude), and check inside of cereal boxes when you get them home, to see if there's a coupon you could use now.

What Coupons To Toss

I save coupons for just about everything, since some deals involve items I wouldn't have otherwise purchased. If buying an item you don't need means you save money on items you do need, do it, and give the unwanted item away. Between friends, food banks, and Freecycle, there are takers for pretty well anything. I'm trying to avoid Nestle items, which is sort of difficult, since they own so much, but I do throw out Gerber coupons, and formula ones. This is a matter of principal; it's certainly not something everyone does, or needs to. Also, I throw out pages in inserts that have offers for personalized checks on one side, and mail-order shoes on the other. It's not like saving them does most people any good.

Also, go through your coupons every once in awhile to look for expired ones.