Making Life a Little Less Expensive Every Week

Making Life a Little Less Expensive Every Week

Here in Orange County California we benefit from fierce competition in the grocery industry. Not only do they compete with each other (Albertsons, Ralphs, Stater Brothers, and Vons) they compete with various small market chains (Henry's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, and a host of independent markets. In addition both Target and Walmart carry a limited, but well priced, selection of grocery staples. With so many choices it is easy to simply pick a store and hope you don't burn through your budget halfway through shopping. But, with a little effort and a little more driving, you can dramatically trim your grocery expenses. You can put the savings towards the ridiculous cost of housing.


Coupons

Making a Coupon Stockpile

The quickest source of coupons is the sunday paper. Each week there are anywhere from one to three coupon circulars (P&G Brandsaver, Red Plum, and Smart Source). The Sunday paper(Register or Times) costs $1.50.But they both also issue a weekend edition of their paper, which is remarkably similar, for 75 cents. I buy one of each (Register and Times) for a total cost of $1.50. This give two sets of coupons, which some weeks works out fantastically and some weeks not so good. But each paper has a diferent selection of ads (these vary from paper to paper and even from week to week).

Be sure to physically check the paper for coupon circulars since store-bought papers do not always get the same coupons as a home-delivered paper. The delivered paper may have three circulars this week but the one in the store could have one, two, three, or even zero coupons. So just be sure to check before you buy.

Alternately you can order subscriptions online. Though the Times wants $2.50 a week to deliver the Sunday paper. But a quick google search will often turn up deals or promo codes for a dollar a week. Recently in LA the Times was offering a year of Sundays for 19 cents a week.

CVS

 

CVS/pharmacy 10 week drugstore study

Week 1: 8/15/10 to 8/21/10

CVS had some good deals this week. Some of them were not particularly useful to me. The crest toothpaste deal is quite good if you have coupons. But I used my two at Ralphs which gave me a raincheck a few weeks ago. But with a coupon from the P&G Brandsaver (I hope you got two papers that week like I did) you would get the tube for $2.99 with $2.50 extra bucks. If you use the extra bucks this makes the toothpaste essentially cost .49 plus tax (on 2.99). What's more their is a limit of two so you would get two tubes for $5.98 plus tax or use the extra bucks from the first one to buy the second one. So $2.99 plus tax for the first one then $2.99-2.50=.49 for the second one which gets you another 2.50 in extra bucks Total cash outlay would be 3.48 (2.99+.49) plus tax and you end with 2.50 in extra bucks. So each tube costs $1.74 but averages 48 cents if you use your extra bucks.

The Kellogg's cereal deal is ok to. With a $1 of three coupon (these pop up all the time) you get three boxes for $9 and $5 extra bucks. This averages $1.34 a box. A dollar is a better price but if you need cereal today this is an ok deal.

Another deal that looked like it would work out well was the Revlon ad. With the purchase of two qualifying Revlon products you get $8 extra bucks. The stores ad in print claims prices start at $7.49. So two is $14.98 minus two $1 coupons equals $12.98 with $8 extra bucks back or $2.49 each. Yet when my wife looked at the Revlon section at our local store the cheapest product was $7.99 and it didn't qualify for the deal. She’ll try another store today but as of right now this deal seems duplicitous, and possibly verging on downright misrepresentation. Revlon also has a similar deal but with $5 rewards dollars.

Anyway as to what I got. For a total cash outlay of $8.97 I got one bottle Head and Shoulders ( 14.2 fl oz.), one Purex 3 in 1 Laundry sheets (20 ct.), two bottles of Dawn (10.3 fl oz.), 4 Right Aid Deodorants (2.6 oz), and $4 extra bucks ($2 for the head and shoulders and $2 for the Purex)

The prices break down as so:

Quantity Product Store Price Coupon Value End Price Retail Price
2 Dawn Soap .97 .25 x2=.50 1.44 for two 1.99
1 H & S 4.99 1.00 3.99 $2 eb 5.99
1 Purex 5.99 3.00 2.99 $2 eb 7.99
2 Right Aid Deodorant 4.49 Bogo 3.00 1.49 for two 8.98
2 Right Aid Deodorant 4.49 Bogo 3.00 1.49 for two 8.98
  CVS $4 off $20 coupon -4.00      
subtotal   17.90 10.50 7.40 35.92
Subtotal $7.40
Tax $1.57
Total $8.97

Nine bucks for eight products with a retail cost of $35.92 plus tax or an average of $1.13 an item. In addition I got a total of $4 eb that are good for one month. This turns the effective average price of each item to 62 cents. While I probably could have gotten a better deal $8.97 is about 75% off of the retail price and includes the applicable taxes. Adjusting for ebs to an effective price of 4.97 is about 85% off of retail and also includes applicable taxes.

All of the coupons came out of the paper within the last three weeks. The Right Aid coupons were for $3.00 off of two. Since I only really bought two the cashier should have only taken one coupon. But after a lecture, that included a don’t try it again, she took both which does dramatically effect the final price. Of course if she decided not to take both I was prepared to put two of them back.

The problem of course, as you’ll hear me harp on about endlessly, is that you have to use the extra bucks to get the most value. They only adjust the total price by about ten percent but next week the cash outlay at CVS will be four dollars less due to them. Two or four dollars a week can dramatically alter the end numbers over a long period of time.

So the tally for week 1 is:

Cash Outlay: $8.97
Value of Coupons: $10.50 CVS (4)
Extra Bucks Earned: $4
Extra Bucks Used: $0
Extra Bucks Left: $4
Retail Cost: $35.92
Items Purchased: 8

So the tally to date is:

Total Cash Outlay: $8.97
Total Value of Coupons: $10.50
Total Extra Bucks Earned: $4
Total Extra Bucks Used: $0
Total Extra Bucks Left: $4
Total Retail Cost: $35.92
Total Items Purchased: 8

Week 2: 8/22/10 to 8/28/10

I didn’t do as well this week, largely due to the shelves being empty. I know better than to wait but I didn’t go on Sunday and by Tuesday the best deals were cleaned out.

The breakdown is as follows.

Quantity Product Store Price Coupon Value End Price Retail Price
2 Covergirl Lipstain $14.00 $1.00 13.00 6 eb 17.98
2 Crest Glide Floss $7.98   7.98  5 eb 8.98
  CVS $4 off $20 Coupon -4.00      
  $4 eb from last week -4.00      
subtotal   $21.98 $1.00 $11.98 $26.96
Subtotal $11.98
Tax $1.83
Total $13.81

 

About fourteen bucks for four things with a retail cost of $26.96 and $11 ebs. The extra bucks from last week did not dramatically alter the total. However the $11 eb from this week will put a huge dent in next weeks purchase. I saved about 50% off of retail. It is not as good as last week which was about 75% but I simply didn’t have coupons for this stuff, and last week were some real powerhouse coupons.

So the tally for week 2 is:

Cash Outlay: $13.81
Value of Coupons: $1.00 CVS (4)
Extra Bucks Earned: $11
Extra Bucks Used: $4
Extra Bucks Left: $11
Retail Cost: $26.96
Items Purchased: 4

So the tally to date is:

Total Cash Outlay: $22.78
Total Value of Coupons: $11.50 CVS (8)
Total Extra Bucks Earned: $15
Total Extra Bucks Used: $4
Total Extra Bucks Left: $11
Total Retail Cost: $62.88
Total Items Purchased 12

 

Week 3: 8/29/10 to 9/4/10

This week their were some fantastic deals at CVS. It was also one of those weeks where I did two transactions. This is something you will want to consider every so often. It involves ordering the items you want to buy into more than one transaction so that you can use a combination of reward dollars and x off y coupons to maximize savings.

I got ten items for less than $9 and have $12.50 eb left over. I should have used one of the left over ebs to further lower the total but I did not since it would have deviated from my list and I don’t think on the spot particularly well.

I went on Sunday this time since last week I missed the best deals by waiting till Tuesday.

The breakdown is as follows:

1st Transaction

Quantity Product Store Price Coupon Value End Price Retail Price
1 Venus Razor $9.79 $2.00 $7.79 5 eb 10.99
1 Philips Headphones $6.99   $6.99  6.99 eb 9.99
1 Oral B Floss $3.97   $3.97 2.50 eb $4.49
  CVS $4 off $20 -4.00      
  CVS ebs -11.00      
Subtotal   $20.75 $2.00 $3.75 14.99 eb $25.47
Subtotal 3.75
Tax 1.47
Total 5.22

2nd Transaction

Quantity Product Store Price Coupon Value End Price Retail Price
4 Oral B Toothbrushes $11.96 2x BOGO $5.98 5.00 eb $11.96
2 Axe Body Wash $10.00 BOGO $5.00 $11.58
1 Oral B Floss $3.97   $3.97 2.50 eb $4.49
  CVS $4 off $20 Coupon -4.00      
  eb from first transaction -9.49      
subtotal   $25.93 $10.98 $1.46 7.50 eb $28.03
Subtotal $1.46
Tax $1.92
Total $3.38

Total from Both Transactions: $8.60 I paid almost as much in taxes ($3.39) as I paid for ($5.21) the stuff. While the government thinks it deserves the taxes (they don’t) It is kind of funny how the taxes are almost as much as the cost of the junk (That is about 65%)

But for $8.60 I got 10 items and I still have $12.50 ebs (out of $21.99 total). This is about 70% off of retail including taxes and about 80% off without taxes. All of these are things we routinely use. Toothbrushes, floss, and soap don’t go bad. My son has an iTouch so why not get the headphones (they were free after ebs).

              So the tally for week 3 is:

              Cash Outlay: 8.60
              Value of Coupons: $10.98CVS (8)
              Extra Bucks Earned: $21.99
              Extra Bucks Used: $20.49
              Extra Bucks Left: $12.50
              Retail Cost: $28.03
              Items Purchased: 10

              So the tally to date is:

              Total Cash Outlay: $31.38
              Total Value of Coupons: $22.48 CVS (16)
              Total Extra Bucks Earned: $36.99
              Total Extra Bucks Used: $24.49
              Total Extra Bucks Left: $12.50
              Total Retail Cost: $90.91
              Total Items Purchased: 22

              I am much happier with how this week turned out than last. All of that aside the deals are averaging 60% off including all taxes.

              Week 4: 9/5/10 to 9/11/10

              Being Labor day and all the ad was mediocre at best. People are going to buy stuff for the holiday no matter what so why incentivize them. There were a few good deals although only a couple were useful to us. I got two Wisk detergents (32 loads). They were a BOGO so both cost $8.49. This is where the CVS’s coupon policy beats its competitors hands down. They let you use a coupon for the product you buy and a coupon for the product they give you free. So I used two $3.00 off 1 coupons from the paper recently. This took six bucks off making it $2.49 for two (or $1.25 each). That right there was a good buy.

              But my wife got a couple of cosmetics. These were $6.99 each with two $1.00 off 1 coupons or $12.98 for two with $5.00 ebs. I used $10.00 of the ebs from last week so the end price with tax was $2.09 (the tax was three times the end price of the stuff).

              Without tax the stuff was about $0.12 each and with tax it was about $0.52 each.

              Quantity Product Store Price Coupon Value End Price Retail Price
              2 Wisk $8.49 BOGO $3.00 x2 $2.49 $16.98
              2 Revlon Eye Shadow $13.98 $1.00 x2 $12.98, $5 ebs $13.98
                CVS $4 off $20 Coupon -4.00      
                Extra Bucks -10.00      
              subtotal   $8.47 $8.00 $0.47 $30.96
              Subtotal $0.47
              Tax $1.62
              Total $2.09

               

              So the tally for week 4 is:

              Cash Outlay: $2.09
              Value of Coupons: $8.00, CVS (20)
              Extra Bucks Earned: $5.00
              Extra Bucks Used: $10.00
              Extra Bucks Left: $7.50
              Retail Cost: $30.96
              Items Purchased: 4

              So the tally to date is:

              Total Cash Outlay: $33.47
              Total Value of Coupons: $30.48 CVS (20)
              Total Extra Bucks Earned: $41.99
              Total Extra Bucks Used: $34.49
              Total Extra Bucks Left: $7.50
              Total Retail Cost: $121.87
              Total Items Purchased: 26

              With the ebs from last week I really cut down the cash outlay this week. The $7.50 ebs left will dent next week but I imagine I have to put out more cash. Adjusting the totals for this week put everything at around 70% off of retail.

              This is not as good as the women supper shoppers I see, some of whom routinely get 80% off, but it is way better than retail and sale prices.

               

              Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)