This week at Ralphs (9/1/10 to 9/7/10) they will give you some toothpaste for the tax. Colgate (select varieties) is on sale for $1.00 with club card. Combine this with the coupon from the paper (two weeks ago I think) for $0.75 and you get it free. The coupon is doubled to a total of $1.00.
Another great deal is the Colgate toothbrush for $1.00with club card. If you use the coupon from the same paper for $0.40 off it will double to $0.80 and the brush will cosy $0.20 plus tax.
Lastly Captain Crunch cereal is on sale. for $2.00 with club card. Using the coupon from Sunday for $0.50 you get it for $1.00. If you like Captain Crunch tat is a good price (I don’t but my wife does so you can be sure were buying some).
If you took my advice and started getting two papers a week you’ll have two of each coupon. That two toothpastes for the tax, two brushes for $0.40 plus tax, and two cereals for $2.00. Six things for under three bucks.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Rite Aid is Giving Away Dish Soap
This week (8/27/10 to 9/2/10) Rite Aid is giving away Gain dish soap if you have the coupon from Sunday’s paper. The coupon is for $1.00 off which combined with the wellness card deal makes it free.
Idon’t know if you will like it enough to buy some after you finish you free jug but you can wash dishes for a while for around $.08 (tax).
Rite Aid’s ad runs from Friday to Thursday so you’ve got to run in soon.
Idon’t know if you will like it enough to buy some after you finish you free jug but you can wash dishes for a while for around $.08 (tax).
Rite Aid’s ad runs from Friday to Thursday so you’ve got to run in soon.
Super Cheap Newspapers
Today is the last day to order the OC Register for $.02. This really is a fantastic deal. For two cents you get a years worth of coupons delivered to your door. I doubt we’ll a see this good an offer again. Click on the link and get yourself a subscription.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saving at CVS
CVS is an excellent place to bargain shop. This may seem paradoxical since drugstores are perceived as one of the more expensive places to shop. However with a sound strategy you can save big.
There is one problem with shopping at CVS though. The weekly ad offers super deals with extra buck reward dollars. This, basically, is when they give you a coupon for $x off of your next purchase for buying a specific product. The rewards can range from $1 to $10 on the purchase of a single product or multiples of the same product, to some combination of several products. If you meet the requirement a coupon will print at the bottom of your receipt.
To encourage people to shop at CVS they generally offer 1 super deal a week. Usually you get ebs equal to the purchase price making the product effectively free. On other items you can use coupons to slash the sale price and with the resulting ebs the price is close to, and sometimes is, free.
Of course this is an marketing scheme to get people in the door. The company does not really want to give stuff away for free they want you spending money. So to combat this they have limited quantities and tend not to restock the shelves until the following Sunday.
So to get the best deal you can you need to shop early in the sale period, which runs Sunday to Saturday. Sunday is preferable. This week I went to CVS on Tuesday and the shelves were cleaned out. They were giving away eye drops, or rather had given away eye drops since they were all gone. They also were selling these Glade smelly things for five bucks each. A coupon just out of the last weeks paper turned that into $2.00. And if you bought two you got $3 ebs. So they were effectively $0.50 each. But they were gone.
I actually went to two stores, which I don’t like to do. I also knew looking at the ad Sunday that I should go right away but I didn’t. So I did not get particularly good deals this week.
The deal I had planned to get went like this and is much better than the deal I actually got. The above two products you get to $17.99 then add a crest floss on sale for $3.29. This gets you to 21.48. You use a $4 off 20 CVS Coupon, two $3.00 Glade coupons, a $1.00 internet eye drop coupon. That gets you $11 off plus my $4 ebs from last week. So for about $7.50 plus tax you get five things and 7.99 eb (eye drops), 3 eb (Glade), and 2.50 eb (floss). This gives $13.49 in ebs and five products for about $9 with tax.
So the lesson here is: Get your lazy ass out of bed and shop early on Sunday to get the super deals. You’ll keep more money in your pocket if you do.
There is one problem with shopping at CVS though. The weekly ad offers super deals with extra buck reward dollars. This, basically, is when they give you a coupon for $x off of your next purchase for buying a specific product. The rewards can range from $1 to $10 on the purchase of a single product or multiples of the same product, to some combination of several products. If you meet the requirement a coupon will print at the bottom of your receipt.
To encourage people to shop at CVS they generally offer 1 super deal a week. Usually you get ebs equal to the purchase price making the product effectively free. On other items you can use coupons to slash the sale price and with the resulting ebs the price is close to, and sometimes is, free.
Of course this is an marketing scheme to get people in the door. The company does not really want to give stuff away for free they want you spending money. So to combat this they have limited quantities and tend not to restock the shelves until the following Sunday.
So to get the best deal you can you need to shop early in the sale period, which runs Sunday to Saturday. Sunday is preferable. This week I went to CVS on Tuesday and the shelves were cleaned out. They were giving away eye drops, or rather had given away eye drops since they were all gone. They also were selling these Glade smelly things for five bucks each. A coupon just out of the last weeks paper turned that into $2.00. And if you bought two you got $3 ebs. So they were effectively $0.50 each. But they were gone.
I actually went to two stores, which I don’t like to do. I also knew looking at the ad Sunday that I should go right away but I didn’t. So I did not get particularly good deals this week.
The deal I had planned to get went like this and is much better than the deal I actually got. The above two products you get to $17.99 then add a crest floss on sale for $3.29. This gets you to 21.48. You use a $4 off 20 CVS Coupon, two $3.00 Glade coupons, a $1.00 internet eye drop coupon. That gets you $11 off plus my $4 ebs from last week. So for about $7.50 plus tax you get five things and 7.99 eb (eye drops), 3 eb (Glade), and 2.50 eb (floss). This gives $13.49 in ebs and five products for about $9 with tax.
So the lesson here is: Get your lazy ass out of bed and shop early on Sunday to get the super deals. You’ll keep more money in your pocket if you do.
Drug Stores Week 2
There were some ok deals this week. By and large I don’t think I did very well though. CVS’s shelves were bare so that limited the savings potential. For around $22 I got ten items which is around $2 each. That is not nearly so good as week 1. I didn’t have the coupons to really slash down on prices. But I got 11 ebs and 3 +up reward dollars. So if you adjust the price for this it was essentially $8.25. My original plan for CVS would have had numbers very similar to this but I’d end up with more things and more ebs.
Still it beats paying full price, or even sale price. Check out the individual stores pages for a detailed breakdown. I was going to have a picture but half the stuff has disappeared. The baby wandered off with the two flosses and two lipsticks and I now only have one of each.
The breakdown is as follows.
So the two week tally is:
Right now that puts the purchases at about 60% off of retail. Without tax it is closer to 65% off of retail. But with tax at 8.75% the numbers add up quick. Especially when they are taxing at the stores price on the item not. The tax total is $5.27
Still it beats paying full price, or even sale price. Check out the individual stores pages for a detailed breakdown. I was going to have a picture but half the stuff has disappeared. The baby wandered off with the two flosses and two lipsticks and I now only have one of each.
The breakdown is as follows.
| Store | Cash Outlay | Reward $ | Retail Cost |
| CVS | $13.81 | $11 | $26.96 |
| Rite Aid | $2.44 | $3 | $9.98 |
| Walgreens | $6.00 | $0 | $13.96 |
| Total | $22.25 | $14 | $50.90 |
So the two week tally is:
| Store | Cash Outlay | Reward $ | Retail Cost |
| CVS | $22.78 | $15 | $35.92 |
| Rite Aid | $15.73 | $6 | $26.00 |
| Walgreens | $10.43 | $0 | $6.93 |
| Total | $48.95 | $21 | $119.75 |
Right now that puts the purchases at about 60% off of retail. Without tax it is closer to 65% off of retail. But with tax at 8.75% the numbers add up quick. Especially when they are taxing at the stores price on the item not. The tax total is $5.27
Friday, August 27, 2010
Free Salad Dressing at Albertsons
Through Tuesday (8/31/10) Albertsons is selling Ken’s Steak House Salad Dressing (selected varieties, 16 oz.) for $1.00 with club card. This is already a pretty good deal since this stuff sells for around $4.00. But by combining the club card deal with the coupon from the paper a few weeks ago ($1.00 off 1 16 oz. dressing) you get it for free. Literally since it is a food product and thus not taxable.
I had two coupons, since I get two papers, so I got two of these guys for the gas it took to drive there.
Now I know what you are thinking. Since you do not eat salad, like most Americans, what is the point even if it is free. Salad dressings, certain types at least, make excellent marinades. So even if you don't eat salads you can probably find a use for it. As brands go Kens is pretty good and this is a good deal even without a coupon. But if you have one, or two, you might run in on your way home and grab one for free.
I had two coupons, since I get two papers, so I got two of these guys for the gas it took to drive there.
Now I know what you are thinking. Since you do not eat salad, like most Americans, what is the point even if it is free. Salad dressings, certain types at least, make excellent marinades. So even if you don't eat salads you can probably find a use for it. As brands go Kens is pretty good and this is a good deal even without a coupon. But if you have one, or two, you might run in on your way home and grab one for free.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Perils of Careless Shopping
The problem with bargain hunting is that there is always a better deal somewhere out there. When I plan my grocery list, based on a tiny budget, I gather the ads, which come in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. These ads are for the next sale period which in Orange County runs from Wednesday to Tuesday.
By comparing the four five ads (Albertsons, Ralphs, Stater Brothers, Vons, and Henrys) I can see who has the same products on sale and where I should buy them. I generally end up at Vons and Ralphs for groceries and Henrys for produce. This is not to say that Albertsons and Stater Brothers do not have good sales. They do, but they do not double coupons. A coupon when doubled will usually trump a slightly lower club card price.
This week however I failed to carefully check the ads. It is unusual for me, I know, especially after a year of doing this. But it happens.
As you saw a few days ago I got a super deal at Ralphs this week. But Vons had a deal to trump the Ralphs deal. he Nature Valley bars which I got at Ralphs for $1.99 were on sale at Vons for $1.49. In addition at Ralphs to get the sale price you had to buy 8 products from the list. At Vons the deal was buy four qualifying items and get the deal.
Now four boxes would cost $5.96. With four coupons, which I still had even after using the five at Ralphs, the price of four boxes was $1.96 or $.49 a box. I paid $.99 at Ralphs just an hour earlier. Now you can argue since I used my reward voucher I got a better deal at Ralphs since it did not cost any actual money whereas at Vons I had to pay. You can also argue that $6.91 for nine boxes of granola bars is still a good deal.
The deal is even better when you consider I got a General Mills coupon for $3.50 from Ralphs for five boxes and another voucher for $2.50 from Vons. This is six dollars in vouchers for seven dollars in good or an effective $.09 a box. Since I will use both vouchers within a week it is still an excellent deal.
But every week each store has an ad. They are often distractingly similar. With prices within 10% of each other. This is why I make lists and use the margins for notations to remind me of similar deals at the other stores. That way when staring mindlessly at the product in the store I can carefully evaluate whether I really want to buy it.
My point is that bargain shopping is a mind numbing and often tedious chore. Women I talk to seem to actually like the challenge, and some even call it thrill. What I like is having a little extra money in the bank every week so I don’t sit up at night with a cold sweat from the fear of being destitute.
By comparing the four five ads (Albertsons, Ralphs, Stater Brothers, Vons, and Henrys) I can see who has the same products on sale and where I should buy them. I generally end up at Vons and Ralphs for groceries and Henrys for produce. This is not to say that Albertsons and Stater Brothers do not have good sales. They do, but they do not double coupons. A coupon when doubled will usually trump a slightly lower club card price.
This week however I failed to carefully check the ads. It is unusual for me, I know, especially after a year of doing this. But it happens.
As you saw a few days ago I got a super deal at Ralphs this week. But Vons had a deal to trump the Ralphs deal. he Nature Valley bars which I got at Ralphs for $1.99 were on sale at Vons for $1.49. In addition at Ralphs to get the sale price you had to buy 8 products from the list. At Vons the deal was buy four qualifying items and get the deal.
Now four boxes would cost $5.96. With four coupons, which I still had even after using the five at Ralphs, the price of four boxes was $1.96 or $.49 a box. I paid $.99 at Ralphs just an hour earlier. Now you can argue since I used my reward voucher I got a better deal at Ralphs since it did not cost any actual money whereas at Vons I had to pay. You can also argue that $6.91 for nine boxes of granola bars is still a good deal.
The deal is even better when you consider I got a General Mills coupon for $3.50 from Ralphs for five boxes and another voucher for $2.50 from Vons. This is six dollars in vouchers for seven dollars in good or an effective $.09 a box. Since I will use both vouchers within a week it is still an excellent deal.
But every week each store has an ad. They are often distractingly similar. With prices within 10% of each other. This is why I make lists and use the margins for notations to remind me of similar deals at the other stores. That way when staring mindlessly at the product in the store I can carefully evaluate whether I really want to buy it.
My point is that bargain shopping is a mind numbing and often tedious chore. Women I talk to seem to actually like the challenge, and some even call it thrill. What I like is having a little extra money in the bank every week so I don’t sit up at night with a cold sweat from the fear of being destitute.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
As Seen on TV: A Bunch of Crap for Free
I swear this week stores are throwing stuff at me. CVS sold me a bunch of stuff for over 80% off list price yesterday. Then I go into Ralphs and it was like the cashier said, “Help yourself Lindlo.” This was on top of the retarded deals I got later at Vons.
Essentially it is one of those, “as seen on TV” kind of days. I bought at retail about $115 in merchandise. With club card, buy 8 discounts, and coupons the bill shrunk to about $23 . That is about 80% off of the list price of the stuff. But because we take full advantage of the Ralphs reward program I used my reward dollars, earned from last quarter, that came in the mail last week to pay the bill and ended up with a gift card
with a balance of almost $12.
We’ve all seen the clips on the news where a savvy woman shopper turns her grocery bill of $150 into less than $10 with supper shopping skills. Yet, naturally, you and I are skeptical when we see such ridiculous claims. I mean who gets 90% off of the total bills. More realistically you can get 50% off of your grocery bills, and you can can do this week in and week out all year. But every so often the club card lines up with your coupon stockpile and and it seems like the store is just throwing stuff at you. This week at Ralphs (8/17/10) was one of those weeks where everything just lined up.
I purchased 26 items at a total listed retail cost of $115.26. Ralphs Card discounts and coupons turned that into $23.67. I used my Ralphs Rewards voucher which came in the mail around the tenth of the month. The voucher was for $35 which after paying the bill the balance was transferred to a gift card in the amount of $11.33 for future purchases. In addition General Mills was running a Catalina deal this week which got me $3.50 towards a future purchase. So I have $14.88 towards next week’s bill plus all this crap. Lastly I used my double points coupon which was included in with my rewards vouchers to earn 270 bonus points which translates to $2 towards my next voucher due out in October. This almost seems retarded since I didn’t spend a single penny of actual money.
Anyway the deal breaks down like this:
5 Nature Valley Granola Bars. They were $1.99 with the buy 8 deal. I had various coupons ( .50 and .75) that allowed me use five total each doubled to $1.00 off. End cost $4.95. Three were normally $3.49 each and two were $3.99 each. These earned a General Mills voucher for $3.50 off of my next purchase at Ralphs. So essentially these cost $1.45.
2 Capri Sun 10 pack drinks. They were $1.49 with the buy 8 deal each and I had a coupon for $1.00 off of two that came with my reward voucher. So these were $1.98 for two or two for the price of one at Walmart’s price (which is always under $2.00)
2 Kotex Pads. They were $3.49 each with the buy 8 deal. I had a coupon for $2.00 off of two pads. So they were $4.98 total. This is an ok price.
7 PowerAde 32 oz drinks. These were $.39 with the buy 8 deal. I bought seven to get to sixteen total items on the buy 8 deal (this deal works in increments of eight any other number, even seven, does not get the discount. Thus the nine others equals eight at the deal and one at the club price. But that is ok since my boys like this stuff. They prefer Gatorade but they will drink PowerAde. These were added to the stockpile and with the Gatorades already there we should be able to make it to the next $.49 Gatorade deal without having paid regular price in between.
2 Juicy Juice 8 pack juice boxes. They were $1.97 each. I had a coupon for $1.00 off of two so they came out to $2.96. These are normally $2.87 each.
2 Dial 2 pack bar soaps. These were $1.00 with club and I had two coupons for $.35 off. These doubled to $.70 each so it was $.60 for four bars of soap.
2 Speed stick deodorants. These were on sale for $.88 each and I had two coupons for $1.00 off. These were free. However, Ralphs limits the value of a coupon to the price of the item. So I only got $.88 off per coupon. At CVS the remaining $.12 per coupon would have been applied towards the total bill. But they were free so hey.
2 Crest Toothpastes. I had a raincheck for these from when they were $.99 on club but the shelves were empty. By the time I used the raincheck I had two coupons for $.50 off of a tub. These were doubled to $.99 off so these were also free.
2 Purex laundry detergents 50 fl oz. These bad boys were $1.99 each on club and I had two coupons for $.35 off which doubled to $.70 off. They cost $2.60 for both. This is a comparable deal to the Walmart price on the jumbo jug of Xtra and it saved a trip to walmart to buy detergent.
So there you have it. All of this stuff cost around $22. But mostly these items go into the stockpile. The detergent will sit there till it is needed. The toothpaste, soap, deodorant, and pads all go into the pile which is big enough for now that I can hunt for super deals for a couple months. The drink boxes and granola make excellent snacks and lunch box stuffers for the boys and I would prefer they eat granola bars than candy.
Essentially it is one of those, “as seen on TV” kind of days. I bought at retail about $115 in merchandise. With club card, buy 8 discounts, and coupons the bill shrunk to about $23 . That is about 80% off of the list price of the stuff. But because we take full advantage of the Ralphs reward program I used my reward dollars, earned from last quarter, that came in the mail last week to pay the bill and ended up with a gift card
with a balance of almost $12.
We’ve all seen the clips on the news where a savvy woman shopper turns her grocery bill of $150 into less than $10 with supper shopping skills. Yet, naturally, you and I are skeptical when we see such ridiculous claims. I mean who gets 90% off of the total bills. More realistically you can get 50% off of your grocery bills, and you can can do this week in and week out all year. But every so often the club card lines up with your coupon stockpile and and it seems like the store is just throwing stuff at you. This week at Ralphs (8/17/10) was one of those weeks where everything just lined up.
I purchased 26 items at a total listed retail cost of $115.26. Ralphs Card discounts and coupons turned that into $23.67. I used my Ralphs Rewards voucher which came in the mail around the tenth of the month. The voucher was for $35 which after paying the bill the balance was transferred to a gift card in the amount of $11.33 for future purchases. In addition General Mills was running a Catalina deal this week which got me $3.50 towards a future purchase. So I have $14.88 towards next week’s bill plus all this crap. Lastly I used my double points coupon which was included in with my rewards vouchers to earn 270 bonus points which translates to $2 towards my next voucher due out in October. This almost seems retarded since I didn’t spend a single penny of actual money.
Anyway the deal breaks down like this:
5 Nature Valley Granola Bars. They were $1.99 with the buy 8 deal. I had various coupons ( .50 and .75) that allowed me use five total each doubled to $1.00 off. End cost $4.95. Three were normally $3.49 each and two were $3.99 each. These earned a General Mills voucher for $3.50 off of my next purchase at Ralphs. So essentially these cost $1.45.
2 Capri Sun 10 pack drinks. They were $1.49 with the buy 8 deal each and I had a coupon for $1.00 off of two that came with my reward voucher. So these were $1.98 for two or two for the price of one at Walmart’s price (which is always under $2.00)
2 Kotex Pads. They were $3.49 each with the buy 8 deal. I had a coupon for $2.00 off of two pads. So they were $4.98 total. This is an ok price.
7 PowerAde 32 oz drinks. These were $.39 with the buy 8 deal. I bought seven to get to sixteen total items on the buy 8 deal (this deal works in increments of eight any other number, even seven, does not get the discount. Thus the nine others equals eight at the deal and one at the club price. But that is ok since my boys like this stuff. They prefer Gatorade but they will drink PowerAde. These were added to the stockpile and with the Gatorades already there we should be able to make it to the next $.49 Gatorade deal without having paid regular price in between.
2 Juicy Juice 8 pack juice boxes. They were $1.97 each. I had a coupon for $1.00 off of two so they came out to $2.96. These are normally $2.87 each.
2 Dial 2 pack bar soaps. These were $1.00 with club and I had two coupons for $.35 off. These doubled to $.70 each so it was $.60 for four bars of soap.
2 Speed stick deodorants. These were on sale for $.88 each and I had two coupons for $1.00 off. These were free. However, Ralphs limits the value of a coupon to the price of the item. So I only got $.88 off per coupon. At CVS the remaining $.12 per coupon would have been applied towards the total bill. But they were free so hey.
2 Crest Toothpastes. I had a raincheck for these from when they were $.99 on club but the shelves were empty. By the time I used the raincheck I had two coupons for $.50 off of a tub. These were doubled to $.99 off so these were also free.
2 Purex laundry detergents 50 fl oz. These bad boys were $1.99 each on club and I had two coupons for $.35 off which doubled to $.70 off. They cost $2.60 for both. This is a comparable deal to the Walmart price on the jumbo jug of Xtra and it saved a trip to walmart to buy detergent.
So there you have it. All of this stuff cost around $22. But mostly these items go into the stockpile. The detergent will sit there till it is needed. The toothpaste, soap, deodorant, and pads all go into the pile which is big enough for now that I can hunt for super deals for a couple months. The drink boxes and granola make excellent snacks and lunch box stuffers for the boys and I would prefer they eat granola bars than candy.
Drug Stores Week One
All This Junk For Under $9I got some pretty decent deals at the drug stores this week. The picture above show my haul at CVS for just under nine dollars. In all I got 21 items from three stores for $26.69. I got $4 eb and $3 +up. This effectively turns the cost into $19.69 for 21 items or 94 cents each item.
The breakdown is as follows.
| Store | Cash Outlay | Reward $ | Retail Cost |
| CVS | $8.97 | $4 | $35.92 |
| Rite Aid | $13.29 | $3 | $26.00 |
| Walgreens | $4.43 | $0 | $6.93 |
| Total | $26.69 | $7 | $68.85 |
In all this is about a 60% savings without adjusting for the reward dollars. Adjusting for reward dollars it is around a 70% discount. Each stores page, just click the name tab near the top of the page, has a detailed analysis of the purchase and costs. Of the three CVS is the clear winner. After adjusting for ebs the eight items pictured above cost a ridiculous 62 cents each and represent about 85% off of retail price.
But as I will continue to stress this deal requires planning and a coupon stockpile (This week the coupons were all amazingly from the last three weeks or so. Often a deal like this will require a substantial coupon stockpile created from purchases of at least two papers a week for a minimum two month period)
Even more unusually I did not have to stand in line more than once. Anybody can get deals like this, and better, with some effort. Below is a picture of all the crap I got for around $27. As you can see I opened the paper towels and used them on the way home. Of course wait till you see how I made out at Ralphs on Tuesday too.
Friday, August 20, 2010
General Mills Catalina
General Mills is running a Catalina reward though 9/5/10. You get various amounts for buying various products. I got $3.50 for buying 5 boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars at Ralphs. Later at Vons I got $2.50 for buying 4 boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars at Vons. I also got $2.00 for buying 4 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks.
The fruit snacks cost $1.94 after coupons and club so General Mills gave $.06 for buying their products.
The Granola bars at Ralphs cost $4.96 with coupons and club which adjusted for the voucher cost $1.46.
The Granola Bars at Vons cost $1.96 with coupons and club which means I earned $.54 for getting them off the shelf and watching the cashier ring them up.
The blog Minnesota Coupon Adventure talks about the deal and has links to coupons. Depending on the sales for Nature Valley granola bars and Betty Crocker fruit snacks next week this could get you a good deal or even a great one.
The fruit snacks cost $1.94 after coupons and club so General Mills gave $.06 for buying their products.
The Granola bars at Ralphs cost $4.96 with coupons and club which adjusted for the voucher cost $1.46.
The Granola Bars at Vons cost $1.96 with coupons and club which means I earned $.54 for getting them off the shelf and watching the cashier ring them up.
The blog Minnesota Coupon Adventure talks about the deal and has links to coupons. Depending on the sales for Nature Valley granola bars and Betty Crocker fruit snacks next week this could get you a good deal or even a great one.
Drug Store Deals-Ten Week Study
So I am going to conduct a ten week study of drug store deals at the three major chains (CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens). This is an attempt to track the supposed super deals people claim to get at big chain drugstores. Now I, personally, have gotten some stellar deals at these three stores over the past six months or so. But this is a concerted effort to get deals while limiting the total cash outlay.
Generally I have gotten some pretty good deals at drugstores over the past year and I am getting much better deals than I was nine months ago. But this is a study specifically to track and analyze deals and cycles both for myself and to demonstrate that anyone, with effort, can stretch their money at the major chains.
Each store will get its own individual page, so check the tabs at the top of the main page for a corresponding link. The page will contain a weekly review of the items purchased, how much they cost, the total actual cash outlay, and weekly a running total of retail cost, savings, reward dollars used and unused, and the total cash outlay to date. There will also be a short explanation of each stores rewards program and an explanation of how they work.
This is intended as a ten week project. But I may extend it to twelve weeks (since that is essentially a quarter and would give a potential guesstimate of a years possible savings. Depending on feedback, and success, I may also decide simply to track through the end of the year (about twenty weeks)
There will be a quick overview on the main page each week summarizing which store was the best bet for the week both for me personally and overall.
A few words about the project. You should be, as I would, skeptical since this is tailored to my family (me, my wife, three kids, and a dog). Individually my plan is unlikely to be right for the population in general, though some deals will translate to everyone (toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc.) The other concern is what I like to call “savings inflation.” This is where, especially when you see these studies as news caps on morning news programs, the products purchased are chosen to maximize the appearance of savings (through reward dollars, rebates, store sales, and coupons). You see numbers like $114.27 retail for 19.22. This is misleading since the total cash outlay could be anywhere from $19.22 to $114.27. Twenty bucks for a hundred bucks of retail priced products is a great deal. But a hundred bucks for a hundred twenty in retail with seventy-five in reward dollars doesn’t look so pretty. Look for my discussion of reward dollars, their uses, and risks which will be posted around the end of the month.
These are simple examples but my point is the breakdown becomes the most important aspect of the study not how much I paid, how many reward dollars I got back, or the retail price of the goods. Individually they teach us little but collectively there is a lot to be learned about shopping at drugstores. My goal is to get as much useful stuff as possibly while trying to minimize how much actual cash I spend.
Thus I’ve established a few ground rules.
Generally I have gotten some pretty good deals at drugstores over the past year and I am getting much better deals than I was nine months ago. But this is a study specifically to track and analyze deals and cycles both for myself and to demonstrate that anyone, with effort, can stretch their money at the major chains.
Each store will get its own individual page, so check the tabs at the top of the main page for a corresponding link. The page will contain a weekly review of the items purchased, how much they cost, the total actual cash outlay, and weekly a running total of retail cost, savings, reward dollars used and unused, and the total cash outlay to date. There will also be a short explanation of each stores rewards program and an explanation of how they work.
This is intended as a ten week project. But I may extend it to twelve weeks (since that is essentially a quarter and would give a potential guesstimate of a years possible savings. Depending on feedback, and success, I may also decide simply to track through the end of the year (about twenty weeks)
There will be a quick overview on the main page each week summarizing which store was the best bet for the week both for me personally and overall.
A few words about the project. You should be, as I would, skeptical since this is tailored to my family (me, my wife, three kids, and a dog). Individually my plan is unlikely to be right for the population in general, though some deals will translate to everyone (toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc.) The other concern is what I like to call “savings inflation.” This is where, especially when you see these studies as news caps on morning news programs, the products purchased are chosen to maximize the appearance of savings (through reward dollars, rebates, store sales, and coupons). You see numbers like $114.27 retail for 19.22. This is misleading since the total cash outlay could be anywhere from $19.22 to $114.27. Twenty bucks for a hundred bucks of retail priced products is a great deal. But a hundred bucks for a hundred twenty in retail with seventy-five in reward dollars doesn’t look so pretty. Look for my discussion of reward dollars, their uses, and risks which will be posted around the end of the month.
These are simple examples but my point is the breakdown becomes the most important aspect of the study not how much I paid, how many reward dollars I got back, or the retail price of the goods. Individually they teach us little but collectively there is a lot to be learned about shopping at drugstores. My goal is to get as much useful stuff as possibly while trying to minimize how much actual cash I spend.
Thus I’ve established a few ground rules.
- The products must be purchased from the pool of $250 I have specifically set aside for this project.
- I can spend up to $25 a week with one exception.
- At the end of the period the unspent amount of the cash allowance will be deposited in my ING account (so the less cash I spend the better)
- No savings inflation
- I can only purchase products that appear useful to my situation ( so no contact lens solution for me even though CVS often offers rewards dollars to make it cost essentially only the tax)
- I Will not buy something just because the rewards program makes it essentially free (so no photo lab stuff even though CVS often uses reward dollars to get you to try them out)
- I Will not buy products, regardless of the deal, if it exceeds my personal stockpile rules (which generally is about six months of a specific product but at five of us we use a lot of stuff in six months)
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