What can you do with a $10 bill?

Here are a few of my recent adventures, and some of my best to date. I did the following at Kroger, CVS, and Kroger again. I would like to show you what is possible with a mere $10.

Kroger (5/4/13)

We went in only to look at the dog food and see if we wanted to duplicate the deal I had done earlier in the week. We also wanted some cilantro since I forgot it on my first run of the week (doh!)--We did not do the dog food deal again, because...and I am still awaiting a reply from Kroger...the prices at this particular store were NOT THE SAME as the prices at the other store I had gone too. I did not, and still don't, understand how/why prices would vary so much in the same region (Williamson Road area vs. Valley View area...) Anyway, we were still lucky to have gone at that time since we found some amazing deals on a few items. Photo #1 includes a few items from CVS (the same day) but I will breakdown those items below the Kroger rundown.

2 Freschetta Pizzas, sale for 3.99, reg. 6.99 each

2 Green Giant Veggie Chips, sale 1.00, reg. 2.99 each

6 Kraft Rosemary/Garlic Freshtakes, closeout .75, reg. 2.99 each!

2 Kraft Shredded cheeses, sale 2.50, reg, 4.29 each (yuck)

3 Green Giant boxed veggies, sale 1.00, reg. 2.09 each

1 Green Giant canned veggies, sale 1.00, reg. 1.49 each

1 bunch of cilantro, .69 for the bunch (reg. price?)

1 pack of Kroger hot dog buns, sale 1.00, reg. 1.49

2 Haribo gold bears, sale 1.00, reg. 1.09 each

I broke all of this down into the following transactions with the following coupons (I'll explain why I needed more than 1 transaction)--

Transaction #1:

2 Freschetta pizzas (used a $1.50 off 2 coupon, from my Kroger mailer)-made these 3.25 each

2 Green Giant chips (used 2 $0.50 off 1 coupons from coupons.com, which doubled to make these free)

2 Kraft Freshtakes

2 Kraft Cheeses (I used 2 $1.50 off the purchase of BOTH a Freshtake and a bag of Shreds, this was a peelie on the pack of Shreds)--this made my Freshtakes FREE, and made the bags of cheese 1.75 each

3 Green Giant boxes (used a $0.60 off three, made these 0.80 each)

1 can of Green Giant veggies, no coupon

1 bunch of cilantro

1 pack of Kroger buns (used a Kroger coupon from my mailer for 0.40 off any Kroger buns, made these 0.60 for the pack)

2 Haribo bears (used 2 $0.30 coupons from coupons.com, which doubled to make these 0.40 per bag)

Our pre-card, pre-coupon price was $46.64 (without tax)

Our total, after scanning Kroger card and all coupons came down to: $15.47 with tax

We received a $3 catalina for the Freschetta, a $2 catalina for the Green Giant veggies, and a $2 catalina for the Kraft items AND $1 off two Freshtakes coupon. We paid $15.47 and got $7 back for Kroger next time. I had no idea the Kraft would give a catalina, that is why I did more than one transaction. Since there were more Freshtakes on closeout for .75 each, I decided to buy 4 more to do the deal again.

Transaction #2:

4 Kraft Freshtakes, .75 each on closeout (reg. 2.99)

I used 2 $1 off 2 catalina coupons (1 from the 1st transaction, and 1 printed as soon as I scanned the first Freshtake in the 2nd order, so I used both of course!)

Pre-card total: $11.96 (excluding tax)

After card and coupon total: $1.07 (tax included) AND received another $2 catalina

So, for all of the above Kroger items, we paid a net of $7.54 ($16.54- the $9 worth of catalinas for next time)

The few items pictured from CVS are:

2 snickers bars, on sale for .99 each, reg. 1.19 each

2 Oral B replacement brush heads, on sale for 5.99 each, reg. 9.99 each

1 bottle of Advil Migraine, closeout for 5.61, was 7.99

I did two transactions since I had coupons that matched both Andrew's card and my own.

Trans. 1 (Andrew's card)- Advil Migraine 5.61

Used a CVS coupon for $2 off any $5 sleep aid or pain reliever purchase

also used a CVS coupon for $2 off any healthcare purchase

AND a manufacturer coupon for $1 off any Advil migraine product (from coupons.com)

We paid .61 (pre-coupon price was $5.61)

Trans. 2 (my card)- 2 snickers and 2 Oral B brush heads (pre-card price was 22.36, pre-coupon price was 13.96--without tax)

I used the following coupons: 1 CVS coupon for 2.50 off any $12 toothbrush, toothpaste, or mouthwash purchase, 1 CVS coupon for a FREE candy bar (Mars or Hershey's), 2 manufacturer coupons for $3 off any Oral B brush heads 2 or 3 ct (from P&G brandsaver 4/28), and 1 BOGO free coupon for a snickers bar with purchase of a peanut butter snickers bar (this made both candy bars free, plus I got .10 overage because the BOGO coupon had a max value of 1.10)--I also used a $4 Extra Bucks reward from a few weeks ago.

Our price paid was $0.17, and we received a $6 Extra Bucks reward for buying the Oral B

For everything above, we paid $8.42 (for $88.95 worth of product--so, a 90% savings)

The next picture is from Kroger later that night. It's a small brag. but I am proud of seeing the 100% savings on my receipt :)

We went to a different Kroger for this one (yeah, we have 4 all about the same distance from us, yay!) and were able to do all one transaction. After this trip, I would recommend anyone using coupons at a self checkout be sure and WATCH the cashier physically scan the coupons because he only scanned half of mine before putting them all in the drawer. He started helping another customer before finishing scanning mine, and I guess he assumed he had scanned them all. I am glad I keep a watchful eye, because the coupons he 'skipped' were worth $5...Just reminding you that if you are couponing, be observant when they take and scan the coupons because sometimes, the cashiers get busy and may not realize what it going on right away.

Here is what we did:

4 Covergirl eyeshadow singles, reg. price 2.55 (on a promotion, see below)

2 Beneful Medleys canned 3 pack, reg. price 2.09, on sale for 1.25 each

1 Clif bar, reg. price 1.00

4 Colgate toothpastes, on sale for 1.00 each, reg. price 1.89 each

1 Chiquita whole pineapple, on sale for .99 each, reg. 3.99!

3 jalapenos, were .14 for all 3, not sure what actual price/lb was...

Our pre-card total was: $27.07 (excluding tax), and after card total was: $14.83 (exc. tax)--our after coupon total was -0.17, and our tax was .64 so we paid a total of $0.47!

We used the following coupons:

4 $2 off any Covergirl Lashblast or eyeshadow (from P&G brandsaver, 4/28)--these were on a Kroger special buy 4 cosmetics, save $4 so I received an overage of .45 per eyeshadow purchased (a total of 1.80 in overage!)

1 $2 off 2 Beneful Medleys dog food, so this made each 3 pack only 0.25!

4 $0.50 off ANY Colgate toothpaste (this was from a Smartsource in April...but exp. 5/11 but the coupon had no specific type/flavor restrictions, just had to be over 4oz, so these doubled to $1 each, making all the toothpaste free)

1 catalina coupon for a FREE clif bar, any flavor

We paid $0.47 for $27.07 worth of products (the receipt said a savings of 100%, likely because our subtotal was negative)

This last picture is from CVS yesterday (5/6/13) and I planned this deal out beforehand. It could not have gone more smoothly and I love when a trip comes out exactly as I have planned, nearly to the penny :)

I had some good CVS that needed to be used, so I sat down for a bit and figured out a deal to combine with my manufacturer coupons and current sales that CVS is running. This was not an Extra Bucks deal and I paid truly out of pocket, without any CVS money. 

I bought 4 Physicians Formula eyeliner 3 packs (sale price of 6.29 each, reg. 12.29 each) and I bought 1 bottle of Got2B Curl Gel Spray at 3.99 (reg. price of 7.29)

The regular price total of the above was: $56.45 (excluding tax)

My CVS card took me down to $29.15 (again, excluding tax)

I then used the following coupons:

1 CVS coupon for $5 off any $25 cosmetics purchase

1 CVS coupon for $3 off any Physicians Formula cosmetic item

2 Manufacturer BOGO free Physicians Formula eyeliner or kohl pencil peelie coupons, up to 9.76, from former Physicians Formula products (my CVS does take off the max value)

1 $2 off any 1 Got2B styling item (from Redplum 5/5)

After all coupons, I paid a total of $1.09 out of pocket for $56.45 worth of makeup :) considering my tax was $1.45, I am pleased with this :) AND, the pre-coupon amount put me over the $50 I needed for my Beauty Bucks rewards at CVS (if you're unfamiliar with this, check out CVS,com--I highly recommend joining, it's free!, because for every $50 spent, you get $5 back, and like all other CVS promotions, that total simply has to be met BEFORE coupons haha)

So, this past week I got all of the above (over $175 worth!) for a mere $9.98. That is a savings of 94.5%, woooo!