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Gymboree’s Back to School sale

August 4, 2008 by

I admit it….I’m hooked on Gymboree. That might seem a bit like an oxymoron since I also claim to love bargains. I know where you’re coming from. I visit a lot of mom-related message boards and for years, I’ve seen the posts about Gymboree, but I basically ignored them because I thought it was way too expensive. Then, when a regular store and an outlet store opened within minutes of my house, I decided to check it out, and I was hooked….it has become an addiction.

Here’s my secret ~ I only buy stuff when it’s on sale, dirt cheap, and then the next year, I sell it! Gymboree clothing has great resale value and because I bought it so inexpensively to begin with, I pretty much get back what I paid for it (and in a few cases, I’ve made more).

Anyway – they are having their Back to School sale right now, which means that their stuff is heavily discounted (up to 60% on brand new lines depending on what you buy).

Items that are normally priced $24.50-44.50 are $20.

Items that are normally priced $19.50-22.50 are $15.

Items that are normally priced $12.50-16.50 are $10.

Socks are 6 pairs for $10.

Currently, they are also offering an additional 20% off of all of their clearance merchandise.

There is a coupon for 20% off your entire purchase in this month’s edition of Parenting magazine.

Combine the sales and the 20% off coupon (I also get an additional 5% because I have a Gymboree Visa), and you can get some really cute kids’ clothes (that also holds up really well) for really cheap!

I forgot to add that these prices are for the regular store, not the outlet. You can’t use coupons at the outlet, either.

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Shopping at CVS just got better!

August 4, 2008 by

CVS sometimes release coupons that can be used to get a $ off when you spend a certain amount. These coupons used to be a LOT more common, but unfortunately, people were abusing them, so they are pretty rare now. When they do come out, CVS fans like to celebrate because it means we can save even more (and sometimes make money, too!).

There is an online version of this magazine, and on page 30, there is a coupon for $2 off a $10 purchase at CVS. Here’s the link:
http://www.richmondparents.com/rpm%20pdfs/RICPA072208.1-32web.pdf

If you’re just getting started and wanted to earn Extra Care bucks for the least amount out of pocket, here are a few scenarios:

Scenario #1: (if you don’t have yesterday’s paper)
Print up the coupons for 2 Colgate toothpaste here:
http://www.colgate.com/app/ColgateTotal/US/EN/SpecialOffers.cvsp

Print up the coupon for Advil here:
http://www.wyeth.com/specialoffers?rid=/wyeth_html/home/user_group_landing/for_pc/coupons.html

Print your $2/10 from the link above.

Buy 2 Colgate toothpaste (check the ad to make sure you are buying the right ones) and 1 Children’s Advil (the monthly deal also works on the infant drops). You will spend $5.77, but get $9.79 back in ECBs.

Scenario #2: (if you have at least one copy of yesterday’s paper)
Buy 2 Cover Girl face products (they range in price for $5.79-9.99….the more expensive, the better because you want to get to your $10 total!….also remember you want both products to be the same price basically or they will deduct the cheaper once twice)

Buy 2 Colgate toothpastes (use the links above to print coupons)

Buy 1 Oral B toothbrush (use the $1 off coupon from yesterday’s paper)

You will spend $2.47, but you will get back $5.50 in ECBs

Scenario #3: (also if you have at least 1 copy of yesterday’s paper)
Buy a Gillette Fusion razor (remember to check for the gift packs with the shave gel!)

Buy a small item (in couponing lingo, we refer to these as “fillers”) like a candy bar to get you over the $10 total

Use your $2/10 CVS coupon and your $4 Gillette coupon from yesterday’s paper. Spend $4.49 and get $3 back. (This isn’t the best deal but if you need a razor, it’s an inexpensive way to do it)

Here are a few other deals I missed in my first post:

*Kleenex are BOGO free this week. If you buy 6 boxes and use 2 of the .50/3 coupons that were in yesterday’s paper, you end up getting them for about .60/box.

*Pert Plus shampoo is BOGO free this week. There were $2 off coupons in yesterday’s paper. CVS will let you use two coupons (one for each item) when you are doing a BOGO free offer, so if you use buy 2 bottles of shampoo and use two of the $2 coupons, you get free shampoo.

*Sure deodorant is BOGO free and there was a BOGO free coupon a few week’s ago. If you have this coupon, you get the deodorant free.

There was also a mail in rebate form in yesterday’s paper for $5 on school supplies when you buy $5 in Pert/Sure products, so if you buy the deodorant/Shampoo and then $5 in school supplies (there are lots of good deals on school supplies this week including several BOGO offers), you could potentially get free shampoo, deodorant, and school supplies. The Bic White out is BOGO, so you could print out 2 coupons for .50/1 which would make it pretty cheap:
http://print.coupons.com/Couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13388&nid=20&zid=ns28

*Chex Mix is 2/$3. There is a printable coupon (see below) for $1/1, so you can get Chex mix for .50.
http://www.chex.com/Snacks/fantasyfootball/

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Target anyone??

August 4, 2008 by

In case you didn’t know, Target has printable store coupons on their website. These CAN be combined with manufacturer’s coupons which makes for some fabulous discounts (in case you haven’t figure it out yet, I love Target!) I pretty much got all of Jacob’s baby food and diapers for a year free by stocking up when Target had awesome store coupons out. We’ve also gotten dirt cheap peanut butter, granola bars, cereal, lunchmeat, and cheese with these coupons. You get the idea.

Anyway ~ you can find them on their site by scrolling down to the bottom of the page on Target.com and then clicking on “Super Target Coupons + Specials.” You can also print them using “coupon generators” on Afullcup.com and Hotcouponworld.com I like this method because you can print multiple coupons at one time.

These are the printable store coupons that are currently available:

Expiring 8/16/08:
Archer Farms chips – $1/2
Archer Farms croissants, 4-ct, Bakery Dept. – $0.50/1
Archer Farms deli meat, 1 lb or more – $1/1
Archer Farms ice cream – $1/1
Cheez-It crackers – $1/1
Chex Mix snack mix, 6 oz or larger – $0.50/1
Hot or Lean Pockets – $1/1
Ocean Spray Cranenergy energy juice drink – $1/1
Ore-Ida frozen products – $1/2
Pepperidge Farm bread (Natural or Whole Grain) – $0.50/1
Quaker Simple Harvest bars – $0.50/1

Expiring 8/30/08:
Archer Farms coffee, 12-oz. – $1/1
Archer Farms cookies – $1/2
Archer Farms muffins, 4- or 6-ct., Bakery Dept. – $0.50/1
Archer Farms oven roasted chicken, Deli Dept. – $1/1
Bowl Appetit boxed meal – $1/1
Campbell’s microwavable soup: Soup at Hand cup or Red and White bowl – $0.50/1
Canada Dry, Dr Pepper, Sunkist, 7-Up or A & W, 12-pack – $1/1
Mountain Dew or Diet Mountain Dew, 12-pack – $1/1
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, 6.6 oz bag – $0.50/1
Pringles King Cans – $0.50/2
Propel water, 6-pack – $0.40/1

Expires 10/4/08:
Iams Premium Protection dog or cat food, 6-lb or larger – $5/1
Softsoap SPA Radiant body wash, 18 oz – $1/1

Expires 2/18/09:
Partyware, $3 off a $15 purchase

This week’s deals:

*Sobe Life water or Aquafina Alive – 10/$10 – receive a $5 gift card when you buy 10
(There are .50/1 coupons for the Sobe Life water and BOGO coupons for the Sobe Life water and even if you don’t have coupons and you like the water, it’s not a bad deal)

*Buy two Gillette Fusion Power Phenom or Venus Embrace razor or refill cartridges and get a $5 gift card
(There was a $4/1 coupon for the Fusion in today’s paper and a $2 off coupon for the Embrace….if you have two coupons, you could buy 2 Fusions ($8 each), use the 2 $4 off coupons, so you’d pay $8 and get a $5 gift card back…)

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Walgreens deals (this week, week of 8/3, and week of 8/10)

August 1, 2008 by

I’m not a HUGE Walgreens fan. I don’t really like the layout of the stores and their deals, usually, just aren’t as good as CVS. They have two different “rewards” type programs. One is the “Register Rewards” which is a coupon that prints out of the catalina machine that can be used like cash toward your next purchase. These are considered manufacturer’s coupons, though, which can present a challenge. For example, if you are buying Claritin you have a manufacturer’s coupon for Claritin, you would have to buy another item also to use your Register Reward (RR) because you can only use one manufacturer’s coupon per item. The other issue is that some Walgreens stores are limiting redemption to one Register Reward per transaction.

The other “rewards” program they have is the EasySaver Rebate program. At the front of the store, there are EasySaver catalogs which contain store coupons (which can be combined with manufacturer’s coupons) that you can use throughout the month. There are also specific rebate offers. They have an online rebate redemption program now which makes it pretty easy to submit your receipts and receive payment. You can choose payment by check or on a Walgreens gift card (if you choose the gift card, they add a 10% bonus).

Having said that, every now and then, Walgreens has some deals that are too good to pass up.

This week (through 8/2):
Trident gum is BOGO free – if you have the BOGO free coupons from the newspaper, you get free gum

The Walgreens TUFS trash bags are on sale BOGO ($4.99 is the sale price) this week. There is a Walgreens rebate for $5 WYB 2, so if you get 2, you can make .01. Be sure to check the Easysaver catalog to make sure you’re buying the right sizes. (In case you’re wondering about quality, we use these and they work great!)

Next week (8/3-8/9): there are other deals, but these are the ones that I found most appealing…to view the full listing and ad scans, click here:

http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/walgreens/137241-preview-walgreens-aug-3-aug-9-ad-scans-enclosed-post-11-a.html

Kellogg’s Cereal 4/$10 get $5 in RR = 4/$5
Participating Products:
12-20oz Raisin Bran, Smart Start, Fruit Loops, Corn Pops, Special K or Frosted Flakes
6 or 8 packs Nutri-Grain bars
6 pack Special K Bars,Sandies Pecan Shortbread
Keebler Club Crackers 16oz

Kellogg’s Snacks 5/$10 get $5 in RR = 5/$5
Participating Products:
8 pack Poptarts
9oz Cheez-It crackers
8 pack Rice Krispie Treats
Keebler Fudge Shoppe Fudge Stripe Cookies 11.5oz

*There will be several Kellogg’s coupons in the Sunday paper this week to help lower your expenses! There will also be a $10 Mail in Rebate when you purchase 10 Kellogg’s products. I read on one of the websites I like to visit that you have to purchase all 10 products in one transaction to do this rebate.

**The cereal and snacks are two separate promotions, so you should be able to earn a $5 RR for each set. If you do this deal again, don’t use the RR to pay for the same promotion or your new RR will not print (for example, don’t use your RR from the snacks to buy more snacks…use it to buy cereal). There are some good scenarios on the link to Hot Coupon World that I posted above to show you how to use your coupons to get the Mail in Rebate with the least out of pocket expenses.

FREE GLADE FABRIC AND AIR ODOR ELIMINATOR (this is pretty much like Febreze) – it is on sale for $2.99 this week. There is a Walgreens coupon for $1.50/1 in the Easysaver catalog and then you can print a coupon for $1.50/1 here:
http://www.cleanhomejournal.com/offers/200807-glade/?sid=coupon&cid=pfe200807c&RID=110956704

If you have any 35 mm rolls of film sitting around waiting to be developed, you can also get them developed for free on Wednesday, 8/6 (the coupon will be in the ad)

Week of 8/10-8/16:

Here’s the link to the ad scans on Hot Coupon World:
http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/walgreens/142747-preview-walgreens-aug-10-aug-16-ad-scans-enclosed.html

Band-Aid Ultra~$3 RR WYB 2
There were $1/1 coupons in the inserts on 6/29. These band aids are about $2.99, so if you buy two of them and use two $1 off coupons, you will pay $3.98 and get a $3 RR back.
**People are reporting that this deal is working already, so it is probably a month long deal.

All laundry detergent will be on sale 2/$8. There are coupons for .50/1 and $1/1, so if you have two of them, you can get 2 things of detergent for $7 and you will get a $2 RR.
*People are reporting that this deal is working already, so it is probably a month long deal.

Always/Tampax products – 2/$6, receive a $1 RR when you buy 2

Crest toothpaste (once you start figuring out the drug store deals, you will be SWIMMING in toothpaste!) – it will be on sale 2/$5. There will be coupons in this week’s paper for .75/1. There is also a Walgreens rebate for $5 when you buy four. So, if you use 4 coupons and do the rebate, you end up paying $2 for 4 tubes of toothpaste. (There is still PLENTY of time to order your coupons through a coupon clipping service or ebay to do this deal!)

Campbell’s condensed soups – there is a Walgreens coupon making them 5/$4 (this is cheaper than you can get them at the grocery store by about .29/each)

Lysol toilet bowl cleaner – buy 1 @ $2.79, get one free. Lysol is my favorite toilet bowl cleaner, and I love to stock up when they have these sales! (don’t forget to use your manufacturer’s coupons…Walgreens will only let you use one manufacturer’s coupon on a BOGO because the second item rings up free, but it’s still a good deal to get two things of toilet cleaner for $2.29)

Bic pens – 2/$1 – there are printable coupons on Coupons.com for $1/2 and there will be coupons in this week’s paper as well for $1/2, so you can get free pens!

Bic Soleil razors – on sale for $5.99 – there is a coupon in the EasySaver catalog for $2 off and there is a printable $2 off coupon at the link below, so they are $1.99/each:
www.feelthesoleil.com
There is also a $3 off coupon in today’s paper, so if you have that it is .99/each!

Kleenex – there is an in-ad coupon for .89/each (limit 3). If you use the .50/3 coupon that was in last week’s paper, this is a good deal.

Glade Plug ins are on sale for $4.99. There was a $4 off coupon in last week’s paper and there is a $2 rebate from Walgreens, so you may $.99 if you buy these and do the rebate.

Axe products – on sale for $3.99/each – buy 3, get 1 movie ticket; buy 4, get 2 movie tickets

Aquafresh – BOGO ($2.19 for two) – there was a .75 coupon in the inserts recently

Scotch tape – on sale 2/$1

Disney dinnerware – $1 each

Disney cups – $2.99

MONTH LONG DEAL ~ CHEAP MOVIE TICKETS!!!

There is a promotion going on right now where you buy 4 Axe products, and you get a code for 2 free movie tickets. You can buy 4 Axe travel size body washes ($1.59 each) and the catalina coupon prints out. So, you get 2 movie tickets for $6.36. To check on locations, visit this link:
www.emoviecash.com/locator

It looks like this deal is “dead” for now. Walgreens should be offering a promotion on full size bottles ($3.99/each) next week (buy 4, get 2 free movie tickets).

SCRUBBING BUBBLES ACTION SCRUBBER – MAKE MONEY

In the paper a few weeks ago, there was a mail in rebate form for the Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber. It is also part of the Walgreens monthly rebates. So, if you do this, you will make money ($4.25) buying it.

Here’s how it works:
There is a printable coupon for $2.75/1 at ScrubbingBubbles.com

It retails for $5.49. Use the $2.75 coupon, then submit the Walgreens monthly rebate and the Mail in Rebate form. You will get $5.49 for the mail in rebate and $1.50 for the Walgreen’s rebate (make sure you enter this online before you send in the receipt for the mail in rebate form). Subtract out the $2.74 you paid for it initially and you still walk away with $4.25.

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Sneak preview – ideas for CVS week of 8/3

August 1, 2008 by

If you know me very well, you know that I’ve become very fond of CVS. If you’re not familiar with their Extra Care Bucks program, you earn Extra Care Bucks (ECB for short) which basically acts like cash to be used on your next purchase when you purchase specific items. You need and Extra Care card (it fits on your key ring just like the grocery store frequent shopper cards). You can request one online at CVS.com or you can sign up in the store.

The Extra Care Bucks print off on the bottom of your receipt (along with coupons that can be used in the store). For a long time, we didn’t realize what they were and would just throw our receipts away! I haven’t spent any “real” money at CVS in a long time because I’ve been using my ECBs (about $100 worth) over and over again since December.

There are weekly deals (listed in the weekly ad) as well as monthly deals. Here are some “deals” that you can take advantage of during this upcoming week:

*Crest toothpaste (a variety of flavors) or Oral B toothbrushes – they will be $2.49 and you will get an ECB for $1.50. There will be $1 off coupons for the toothbrushes in Sunday’s paper and $.50-.75 off coupons for the toothpaste in Sunday’s paper. You can do this up to 5 times.

*Colgate toothpaste (MaxFresh, which we have grown to love, or Total Advanced) – it will be on sale for $2.99 and you earn a $2 ECB for each one you purchase. You can do this deal twice. There were $1 off coupons for the Total Advanced in last week’s paper and there are printable coupons here for $1.50 off:
http://www.colgate.com/app/ColgateTotal/US/EN/SpecialOffers.cvsp

*Children’s Advil – this is a monthly deal. It is on sale for $5.79 and you earn a $5.79 ECB (so it’s “free” after the ECB). You can do this deal twice. There is a printable coupon for $1/1 here:
http://www.wyeth.com/specialoffers?rid=/wyeth_html/home/user_group_landing/for_pc/coupons.html

*Venus Embrace, Vibrance, Breeze or Fusion razor – it will be on sale for 9.99 and you will earn 3.00 ECB. There will be a $2 off coupon for the Embrace/Vibrance/Breeze and a $4 off coupon for the Fusion in Sunday’s paper.
(This isn’t the greatest deal, but if you need a razor and you’re getting started, it’s not a bad deal. The Fusion is obviously a better deal than the Embrace/Vibrance/Breeze…the Fusion is Jason’s favorite razor)
An added tip – usually when these razors are on sale, there are gift packs with a travel size shave gel and moisturizer that also ring up at the sale price. Scan them at the scanner first, but if they ring up at $9.99, they are part of the deal and you will get the ECBs. I always get these when I do these deals so I get free shave gel, too!

*Pantene – it will be on sale 3/$10 and you earn a $2 ECB when you buy 3. There will be coupons for $1/2 in Sunday’s paper. Again, not the greatest deal, but if you need shampoo and like Pantene, it would be like getting it 3/$7.

*CoverGirl make up will buy one, get one free for foundation, powder, blush, and concealer. There will be a coupon for a free face product when you buy foundation in Sunday’s paper, so if you get a foundation and a face product (powder, blush, foundation, concealer, etc.) and use this coupon, everything will be FREE!
If you’re going to do this deal, make sure you buy two products that are comparable in price. The cheapest one always comes off as a part of the store’s “BOGO” deal and then when they deduct the “free” for the coupon, they will always take of the less expensive one, too, so you end up paying the difference.

If you are not wanting to spend very much out of pocket to start earning ExtraCare Bucks, you can transfer a prescription and get a free gift card. They have a coupon in this week’s ad for a $30 gift card when you do this. They will also honor competitor’s coupons (Kroger/Walgreens/Target).

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