$126.37—–Merchandise total after tax
$92.34—–Coupons and Store Rewards used in this transaction
$34.03—–Total Paid
73.1% Savings
Here is a summary of my shopping trip today. I hope this will help shed some light on how you can use coupons and store rewards to stock up on not only sale items, but also non-coupon items. The store rewards that I use in the following transactions are ones that I earned previously. You cannot use store rewards that you just earned on the same transaction. I have also calculated the percent savings for each of the transactions to give you a more accurate picture of how much savings you can realistically expect. This savings is based off of the sale price, not the retail value. The percentage would be greater if it were calculated off of the actual retail value. Please let me know if you have any questions about how to use coupons, when, where, why, etc.
CVS: This is the store that I end up with the most amount of store rewards at so I normally have an excess of rewards to use. For this trip I used $8 Extra Bucks that I earned previously and ended up receiving $6 Extra Bucks at the end of the transaction. If you are trying to get the Extra Bucks on the Colgate toothbrushes make sure you have the circular with you because it appears that it is not printing out automatically.
2 Colgate Extra Clean Multipack Manual Toothbrushes (3 pk.)—–$2.99 each
- Buy 1, Receive $2 Extra Bucks, Limit 2
- These were located in the travel section.
- The Extra Bucks did not print for some reason so the cashier had to manually print a $4 Extra Bucks since I bought two of them.
2 Oral-B Indicator Toothbrushes—–$1.99 each
- Buy 1, Receive $1 Extra Buck, Limit 2
- Used (1) $2/1 Oral-B Pulsar, CrossAction, Advantage, or any 2 Indicator or Cavity Defense manual toothbrushes (PG 7/3/2011)
6 Papermate Writebros Pens (10 pk.)—–$0.50 each
- I bought 3 packs of red and 3 packs of blue.
$12.96—–Merchandise total before coupons and tax
$0.85——Tax
$2.00—-Coupons used in this transaction
$8.00—-Extra Bucks used in this transaction
$3.81——Total Paid
77.2%—–Percent Savings
Rite Aid: This transaction is an example of what to do when you have store rewards that are going to expire and there aren’t any amazing deals. It is rare to find coupons for beverages that my fiance likes so whenever we have an excess of rewards that are going to expire we use them on drinks and newspapers. Don’t ever let your store rewards expire. Letting them expire is just like throwing away money and I don’t know anyone who likes to throw cash in the garbage.
1 Mountain Dew 12 pack, 1 Wild Cherry Pepsi 12 pack, and 1 Pepsi 12 pack—–3 for $10.98
- Buy 3, Receive $3 +Up Rewards
2 YooHoo 3 pack—–$1 each
1 Dozen Eggs—–$1.79
2 U by Kotex Lightdays Pantiliners—–$1.00 each
4 Plain Dealer Sunday Papers—–$2.00 each
$24.77—–Merchandise total before coupons and tax
$1.16——-Tax
$2.00—-Coupons used in this transaction
$22.00—+Up Rewards used in this transaction
$1.93——-Total Paid
96.9%——Percent Savings
Target: This is one of my favorite stores to shop at because there is such a large amount of quality clearance merchandise. Before shopping here, I go through the Target coupons online and print any of the ones that I think I may use. I have gone to Target before without printing coupons and I was kicking myself because there were so many things on clearance that would have been a better deal if I had had the coupons with me.
1 pair Men’s Levi Jeans—–$13.98 (Clearance Price)
1 pair Men’s Levi Jeans—–$9.98 (Clearance Price)
4 Dove Men+Care Deodorant Bonus Packs (1 full size and 1 travel size)—–$3.38 (Clearance Price)
- Used (4) $2/1 Dove Men+Care Deodorant or antiperspirant (RP 6/26/2011) and $2/2 Dove Men+Care Deodorant or Antiperspirant (Target.com)
2 Head & Shoulders Clinical Strength—–$6.79
- Used (1) $2.25/1 Head & Shoulders Clinical Strength (Target Catalina), (1) $1/1 Head & Shoulders product (P & G Product Insert), and (1) Buy 1 Head & Shoulders Shampoo or Conditioner, Get 1 Head & Shoulders Shampoo or Conditioner Free (PG 7/3/2011)
2 Scotch Magic Tape Bonus Size—–$0.50
- I found this product in the Back to School Section. Instead of the tape dispenser being clear it comes in different colors.
- Used $0.50/1 –Scotch Magic Tape Item, Target Coupon – (target.com)
$52.06—–Merchandise total before coupons and tax
$2.67——-Tax
$29.04—–Coupons used in this transaction
$0.05——-Discount for using a reusable bag
$25.64——Total Paid
55.9%——-Percent Savings
Walgreens: The Register Reward for the Schick Razors did not print out during this shopping trip so the manager had to be called over to print another one. Instead of printing a Register Reward he ended up giving us $4.26 cash back. I don’t understand how this worked, but it ended up putting more money back in our pocket. 
2 Schick Disposable Razors Xtreme 3 (4pk)—–$5.99
- Buy 1, Receive $2 Register Rewards, Limit 1
- Used (1) $3/1 Schick Xtreme 3 Disposable Razor Pack (Facebook.com) and (1) Buy 1 Schick Disposable Razor Package, Get 1 free (excludes 2 count) (SS 6/26/2011)
3 Expo Washable Markers—–$5.99
- Used $3/1 Expo Washable Dry Erase Markers, 6pack (Walgreens July Book)
- The above coupon will apply to however many qualifying items you bought whether 3 or 30.
$29.95—–Merchandise total before coupons and tax
$1.95——-Tax
$17.99—–Coupons used in this transaction
$7.00——Register Rewards used in this transaction
$4.26——Cash given back by manager due to Register Rewards not printing
$2.65——-Total paid
97.7%——-Percent Savings
