Maximum Prices Paid for Products

After I started couponing this last January, I noticed that I mentally started developing price points that I would not exceed for certain products.  For example, I use Colgate toothpaste.  During my first coupon deal, I managed to get a tube of toothpaste for free!  I thought that was just one of the most amazing things that I had ever done!  Okay, so now you know that it does not take much to make me happy these days!  :-)  Anyway, little did I know at the time, that getting a free tube of toothpaste was something that I could do quite often.  Since January, I have "purchased" five tubes of toothpaste (none are travel size), and I have paid nothing for them. This week, I will get two more tubes (6 oz) for free.  In fact, I think I will actually be paid $1.00 for each tube to buy them.  Now that is amazing - being paid to buy something for free!  If you are wondering how I will manage this common feat, it is simple.  For example, this coming week (5/1/2011), CVS has Colgate toothpaste on sale (using one's Extra Care card) for $2.77 with a limit of two tubes per person.  For each tube, I will use a $1.00 coupon that I will clip from the May 2011 issue of All You magazine, which is told at Wal-Mart and Amazon.com (I'll do a posting about that magazine in a few days).  That coupon brings the price down to $1.77 per tube.  Since I will have the cashier scan my Extra Care card, I will end up getting back $2.77 in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs).  That brings the price down to $0, and gives me $1.00 of extra buying power at CVS.  When you coupon, you have to re-arrange your thinking when it comes to calculations for free things.  When I purchase these tubes of toothpaste this coming week, I will actually pay $1.77 per tube plus tax, but I will get back the ECB for $2.77, which I can use on a future purchase at CVS.  Of course, by using your Extra Care card without the $1.00 coupon, you can get the toothpaste for free; you just will not get the overage.

With that explanation out of the way, below are just a few products with the maximum prices that I will ultimately pay:

Toothpaste:  $0
Men's body wash: $0 (I donate this to a senior citizen's group)
Manual toothbrush: $0
Dental Floss: $0
Shampoo (full size): $ .50
Conditioner (full size): $ .50
Hair Color: $2.99
Sprite (2 litre bottle): $1.00
Blood glucose monitor: $0 (I donate this to a senior citizen's group)

As I said, these are just a few things.  Gas prices continue to rise, and that will impact the price of products.  Therefore, my maximum prices may have to be adjusted slightly, but not much.  :-)

Gang Cutting of Coupons

I just read an article about "gang cutting", which is a term that I had not heard before today.  Gang cutting occurs when many coupons are stacked and cut out at once.  Many times, people will purchase several copies of the Sunday paper in order to get multiple copies of the coupon inserts.  Some coupons gurus recommend the purchase of a Sunday paper for each member of the family.  Let's say there are five members in your family, so you have five papers that results in five copies of each coupon insert.  To save time in cutting out the coupons, people will separate the pages of the inserts and stack the like pages so that when one cuts out a particular coupon, the person is actually cutting out all copies of that coupon.  That process is considered to be gang cutting.


I have put the link to the article below, but the end result, according to the article, is that gang cutting of coupons that you then use at the store may result in the store not being reimbursed by the manufacturer for the cost of the coupons.  To still be able to use coupons and still have the store be reimbursed, coupons simply have to be cut individually.  Since reading that article, I have gone to some of the websites of coupon gurus.  Needless to say, there is a lot of debate as to whether or not the gang cutting issue is real.  I definitely do not have the answer

For most people, it will not be too much of a problem to cut coupons individually.  It will just take a little longer to get the coupons ready.  Please keep one thing in mind.  The stores where we use coupons are in our neighborhoods.  The people who work there may be our friends, neighbors, or relatives, and they work to make a living just like you and I do.  Thus, if cutting coupons individually instead of gang cutting them means that we are being supportive of the local stores, then do it.  Be generous.

Gang Cutting Article

Know the Comparison Prices!

Today I bought toilet paper.  For those individuals who know me, I know you are laughing right now!  Okay, so I like stockpiling toilet paper!  Hey, at least I have a lot of it, and I am a definite source of entertainment for my friends because of it!  LOL!!

I digress.  :-)  In the past, I would have just driven to Sam's Club and purchased the 36 roll packages of the stuff. That is not always the best way to go, especially if you have a coupon.  I buy Scott bath tissue because I have a septic tank, and that particular kind of toilet paper is septic tank friendly.  With that said, the 36 roll package of Scott bath tissue is currently $21.98 at Sam's, which is $ 0.61 a roll.  At Rite Aid, the price this week for a 12 roll package is $7.99, which amounts to $ 0.66 a roll.  Stopping there, it looks like Sam's has the better price.  By using a manufacturer's $1.00 coupon (which you can find on the Internet), the Rite Aid price drops to $6.99 for those 12 rolls, which makes it $0.58 a roll, a savings of $0.03 cents a roll.  However, by also using a $1.00 Rite Aid Video Value coupon for the Scott bath tissue, the price now goes down to $5.99 for the 12 rolls, making the price per roll about $0.50!  If you want to get down to square feet, the Sam's Club price for 3772.8 square feet is $0.0058/square foot, and the Rite Aid price after the two coupons have been deducted amounts to $0.0047/square foot!  To make the Rite Aid deal even sweeter, the $7.99 price counts toward this week's special of buy $30 dollars of specified products and get back $10 UP, which is the Rite Aid cash equivalent certificate that prints out on the register receipt.

For those who are wondering about the video value coupons, these are coupons that are available on Rite Aid's website.  You watch a video, and after it is over, you have a a very limited time span to key in the given code in order to claim the coupon associated with the video.  If you watch all of the videos in a given series, you get a bonus coupon.

This Week's Purchases (Week of April 10, 2011)

Today, I completed my shopping at CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens.  Below is the complete list of the things that I ended up with.  I thought about separating the items according to store, but decided against it since in the whole scheme of things, it only matters that I saved money.  In front of each item is the quantity that I purchased of that particular item.

1 - Gatorade G-Fit Series

4 - Finish Gelpacs (20 count box)

2 - Finish Jet Dry

2 - Lysol Neutra Air Sanitizing Spray

4 - Air Wick Freshmatic  Ultra Automatic Spray Refill

2 - Wet and Wild Lipstick

2 - Garnier Nutrisse Nourishing Color Creme Hair Color

2 - Garnier Fructis Style Body Boost Volumizing Gel

2 - Old Spice Body Wash

1 - L'oreal Vive Pro Shampoo

1 - L'oreal Vive Pro Conditioner

1 - Essence of Beauty Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer

1 - Visine Original (with bonus of 30% more)

3 - Betty Crocker Cornbread and Muffin Mix

6 - Nestle Butterfinger Eggs

1 - Russell Stover Caramel Egg

The total cost of these items were $94.65 (without sales tax), but I did not pay that much.  Based on rebates, coupons, store rewards cards, and cash-equivalent register certificates, I ended up paying only $28.95 (without sales tax).  That is a savings of 69%!  Granted, it is a far cry from the individuals on the Extreme Couponing show, but I am very happy with the savings that I managed to snag this week.  The one thing that I really need to emphasize is that the 69% savings is based on the sale prices of the items.  If I looked at the regular price, the savings would be so very much greater!

One of the other great things about this week's haul is that I am going to put the two containers of Old Spice Body Wash (which ended up being free) into the donate box that will soon go to the local organization that assists area senior citizens.  Always be generous!

Walgreens - Gotta Luv Free Stuff!

Walgreens was my favorite store this week!  That store had a blood glucose monitor that was $14.99 with a $14.99 mail in rebate in the box.  Added to that, I received a $5.00 register reward for purchasing it!  I was $5.01 ahead!  Colgate toothpaste was on sale for $2.99, and I ended up with a $3.00 register reward!  OK, so that makes $5.01 (less sales tax) that I made just for purchasing those two items!  I did not even need any coupons!   

Okay, so what am I going to do with the items?  The toothpaste is going into my stockpile, and the blood glucose monitor will probably go to a local organization that provides services to seniors citizens.  I am sure there is a senior in the county who needs a monitor.  :-)

As far as my stockpile in concerned, I have decided that I am going to determine the maximum quantity that I will stockpile for each item that I have obtained for free.  After that number is reached, I am going to donate the items.  I always create gift bags for at Christmas and give the bags to social workers to distribute to needy seniors, but the obtaining of free things will enable me to give things to seniors throughout the year.  Always be generous.

Extreme Couponing - The TV Show

Although there have been some Extreme Couponing episodes on recently, last night was the series premiere of TLC's Extreme Couponing.  Although I am definitely one for couponing, the individuals on this show take their couponing mission to - well - the extreme! 

These individuals save tens of thousands of dollars, but they have turned their houses into mini-warehouses.  Am I faulting that?  Absolutely not!  Do I believe in stockpiling?  Yes!  In fact, I tend to be teased by the important people in my life about my stockpiling.  In the case of stockpiling, I firmly believe that you have to go with your comfort level.  With this economy and the strange things that are happening at times, I am thinking that my stockpile is looking a little low, and I need to remedy that situation.  Will I ever become an extreme couponer?  Probably not, even though it gives me a real high to know that I can legally get things for free that I once paid for.

One of the things that I did like about the series is that it shows the power of couponing. I remember my first coupon deal that I did after reading Kathy Spencer's book (see earlier posting).  Colgate Total toothpaste was on sale at Rite Aid.  I also had a coupon from the paper for $1.00 off.  On top of that, I ended up with a $2.00 +UP (For those of you who do not know what that is, it is a printout on the register receipt that can be used in place of cash on your next transaction at Rite Aid.).  As a result of those things, the toothpaste ended up being free, and the $.01 extra ended up being applied to another item that I purchased at the same time.  Since then, I have "purchased" more tubes of Colgate toothpaste for my stockpile, and all of the tubes have ended up being free.  I will never buy another tube of toothpaste!  Since that time, I have managed to get light bulbs, printer paper, snacks, and various other things for free! 

Another thing that I liked about the Extreme Couponing episodes is that some of the individuals share their stash with the less fortunate.  In one of the episodes, a gentleman purchased over 1100 boxes of cereal for a little over $150.  He then gave the cereal to the food bank at his church.  If you can get something for free, and you don't need it, then give it away to a shelter, organization, or to someone you know who will use it.  Be generous.

Couponing - you can do it too!  Just save those coupons and realize that you may not be able to use the coupons immediately, and you have to plan in order to use them efficiently.  If you choose not to coupon, then give your coupons to a friend or relative who does.  Be generous.

Freecycle

There is a saying that one person's trash is another person's treasure.  But there is also that old saying that crap is crap!  Whatever way you look at someone else's stuff, you probably need to know about Freecycle.  According to Freecycle's main page, there are 4933 Freecycle groups with over 8 million people on the e-mailing lists. 

What is Freecycle?  Well, actually, it is a network of groups.  A person decides to start a Freecycle group for a particular geographical location; the groups that I have seen are typically ones that have been started using Yahoo Groups.  People then join that particular group.  A member who has something that he/she wants to give away (yes, give being the operative word) then posts a message to the Freecycle group.  The other members can then contact the giver to make arrangements to obtain the item.  For many things, there is stiff competition, so it is usually first-come-first serve.

The variety of things given away via a Freecycle group is amazing.  Wedding growns, toys, pet supplies, clothes, and musical instruments are just some of the things that I have seen posted.  One thing that you can be sure of is that there is a lot of stuff throughout the country that is not ending up in the trash because of this network, so not only is getting something for free great for the budget, it is great for the environment!