...and a Rite Aid trip!

My money-making Johnson&Johnson trip!

With baby #3 on the way any day now, I had every intention of making my short Albies run this morning the very last of my couponing trips for a while. Then, I got wind of a great moneymaking deal on Johnson and Johnson products at Rite Aid. This was the only thing I had wanted to stock up on and had not seen an awesome deal on...plus it was at a store near my house?! It was just too much for me to resist. Here's how I did it:

• I purchased 8 Johnson and Johnson products (they must be 15oz- other than that all "flavors" of bubble bath, wash, shampoo, and lotion are reportedly working) at $3.99 each
• used a $5 off a $25 purchase RA coupon
• used a $1 Johnson&Johnson Video Values coupon
• used a variety of printable Johnson&Johnson coupons (each equal to $1 off per product, so these took off a total of $8 for me)
• This brought my total down to $19.81 after taxes (I had $3 in +Up rewards at home, but I forgot them)
• I got back one $10 +Up reward for buying over $30 worth of J&J products and eight $2 +Up rewards for a grand total of $26 +Up rewards!

That's more than $6 in profit after taxes on something we use daily, talk about a hard to resist deal! There are a couple of things you'll want to keep in mind if this deal interests you:

• You can only get one $10 +Up reward for buying $30 worth of J&J products so you won't be able to do this more than once per Wellness card.
• If you've been a super awesome RA shopper and already have the 20% discount, your J&J items will ring up slightly less. You can buy a ninth product to get you up over the $30 point or chose another participating item.
• The limit on J&J $2 +Up rewards appears to be 8, so buying 9 will not net you another $2
• Hurry! The word on this deal is getting out now- plus, it's a popular product and easily done with printable coupons. If you have specific items in mind, you probably won't want to wait as the store could run out. My store was well stocked this morning but it only takes a few couponers to put a dent in the store's stock when we're each buying 8 products.

Hope this helps someone out there! For more hot RA deals you'll want to check out For The Mommas (my favorite RA deal blogger).

Albertsons doublers today!

Spent $3.80, Saved $55.58

(and got back a $1 catalina)

I split my things into two transactions so I could make the most of the doublers that came out today. Here's what I bought (using mostly printable coupons):

Transaction #1:

• 10 boxes Green Giant Veggies $1 each
• 2 bottles Hershey's Syrup $2 each
• $5 came off instantly for the Boxtops Promo (buy 10 items)
• used two $1 off 3 GG Veggie printables and one $.60 off 3 printable
• used $1 off 2 Hershey's Syrup (from 8/22)
• and I used three doublers to bring my total down to $2.40

Transaction #2 (in which I realized they didn't have quite a few of the things I wanted and had to improvise):

• 4 boxes Green Giant Veggies $1 each
• 4 rolls of Grands $1.50 each
• 2 bags Chex Mix
• minus $5 for buying 10 participating Boxtop Promo items
• used $.60/3 GG veggies printable
• used two $1/2 Grands printables
• used $1/2 Chex Mix printable
• and three doublers
• This brought my total down to $1.40 and I got back a $1 catalina

Stock up on cheese

There's a great new catalina on Kraft Cheese products running almost everywhere at the moment, and that means a great chance for you to stockpile some cheese. Here are the details of the catalina:

Buy any 5 Kraft Cheese or Dairy products (6oz+) between 7/19-8/15, get $5 OYNO

Participating items:
Kraft Singles
Kraft Parmesan Cheese
Kraft Natural Cheese Chunks, Shredded, Crumbles (5oz+), Sticks and Cubes
Kraft String ums
Kraft Cracker Cuts
Kraft Deli Deluxe Cheese slices
Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Velveeta Cheese product
Cracker Barrel Cheese (5oz+)
Cheez Whiz
Breakstone's Sour Cream (16oz+)
Breakstones Cottage cheese (16oz+)
Knudsen sour cream (16oz+)
Knudsen cottage cheese (16oz+)

This deal is currently available at Fred Meyer, Albertsons, QFC, and Safeway. Most stores are also starting to get in blinkies with coupons for $1 off 2 bags. Obviously, you'll save more with the coupons, but even without them you're still getting a great deal. Wondering where to buy your cheese? Here are the two best places to take advantage of this hot deal at the moment:

Fred Meyer (through Sat 7/24)
Kraft Cheese is currently on sale for $1.50/bag

Buying 5 @ $1.50 will cost you $7.50
You'll get back a $5 catalina, making your net cost only $2.50 ($0.50/bag)
*With the blinkie coupons, your net cost will be $0.50 for all 5 bags (or $0.10/bag)

QFC (through Tues 7/20)
Kraft Cheese is currently $1.75/bag (or $1.25/bag as part of the Mega Promo)

Buying 5 @ $1.75 will cost you $8.75
You'll get back a $5 cat, making your net cost only $3.75 ($0.75/bag)
*with two $1/2 coupons, your net cost will be only $1.75 ($0.35/bag)

However, done as part of the mega promo my scenario looks like this:
Buy 6 @ $1.25 = $7.50
Buy 4 Gatorade @ $0.49 = $1.96
use 3 $1/2 coupons (takes off $3)
Pay $6.46 and get a $5 catalina
*I've been rolling my $5 catalina, so I only pay the net cost of $1.46 each time

I also switch it up on occasion, doing this:
6 Kraft Cheese @ $1.25 = $7.50 (minus 3 $1/2 coupons)
3 Ben & Jerry's @ $1.75 = $5.25 (minus $1.50/3 catalina coupon- it prints after you buy the B&J's)
1 Gatorade @ $0.49 = $0.49
Pay $8.74 and get back a $5 catalina from Kraft and a $2 catalina from Ben&Jerry's
*Rolling the $7 in catalinas allows me to only pay the net cost of $1.74 each time

The current prices of cheese at both Safeway and Albertsons would not make this deal worth the trip, however that could change as the new sales will kick in at both stores tomorrow.

Fred Meyer: FREE Purex

Fred Meyer: $4.32 spent, $4 earned!

This week, you can find a coupon in the ad that makes Purex only $1.99 a bottle (limit 2) but when you buy 2 bottles, you'll also earn a $4 catalina good on your next purchase! I paid $4.32 for 2 bottles this morning, including $0.34 in tax. You can roll this catalina, but be prepared to
include something worth at least $0.02 as a filler (single carrots or other small amount of veggies or fruit work great). Just be sure to only purchase the 50oz bottles as the 20% more variety (60oz) don't seem to be producing the $4 catalina.

You might also wait on this, because I've heard rumors this weeks Red Plum will contain a Purex BOGO coupon- and that would make this one sweet moneymaking deal. Of course, that's just a rumor as of now. This deal is good through Saturday. Thanks SD!!

Albertsons this week: Great deal on Arrowhead

Albertsons is not tempting me much this week (thank goodness!) but Jane over at All Together Beautiful has found some good deals for you all, including one HOT deal on bottled water! If Arrowhead water at $0.09/bottle sounds good to you, then you'll want to read the two different scenarios she has featured on her page. The other deal I like is Campbell's Chunky soup, Christy at the Bargain Jargon is featuring it as her Food Storage Item of the Week- and at $0.49/can I'd have to agree!

Of course, if you're making the trip, you'll probably want to read about all the other coupon matchups at Albies this week and some ideas for the GM promo as well. Jane does such a great job of compiling these deals each week.

Thanks Jane and Christy!!

Fred Meyers: Hunts Pasta Sauce $0.45 each!

Stockpiling is an awesome way to save money- and this is certainly a deal you might want to consider stocking up on this week! Kim over at Puget Sound Prudence has all of the details you need to get Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce for only $0.45 each (using printable coupons!). Even better, she'll tell you how to use ecoupons to get your first three cans for $0.31 each!!

Thanks Kim!!