Free 4 Me: I Went Shopping!

I did a little shopping today! <evil grin>

And by a little shopping, I mean I bought 10 boxes of cereal. My name is Tracy, and I'm a Kashi-Go-Lean-Crunch-aholic!

First stop: CVS

Transaction #1

Preparation H Wipes (10 ct) - $3.99
2 Mars Chocolate Singles- 2 for $1
-$2/1 Preparation H coupon
-$3 ECB (leftover from last week)
Pay: $.02
Get: $3.99, $1 ECB = $4.99 

The Prep H will be donated. This is a perfect example of a product we don't need/use but I buy anyway because it's actually a money maker with the coupon! There were a number of choices for the Mars candy bars. The hubs wanted to try Snickers Peanut Butter so we got two of those. I downed one when my sugar got low while out shopping and the second melted in the insane heat! It's in the freezer chillin' out (I crack myself up!) which is why it's not pictured. (In my opinion, there was no need to mess with Snickers perfection!)

Transaction #2

Buy 4 Hershey’s Pieces or Drops 8-10.5 oz. 2 for $5
Subtotal = $10 

- two $2/2 coupons from the 5/1 SS
Pay $6 - $4.99 ECB (from Transaction #1) = $1.01
Get back $3 ECB

I was just about to type "I'm not sure what I'll do with all this chocolate"... then I realized how stupid that sounds. I'll eat it, that's what I'll do... and maybe an entire bag in one sitting. Don't judge! 

I actually only paid $.01 for this transaction. You can see, hiding in the middle of all that Kashi, a Green Bag Tag (it looks like a leaf). If you are a new CVS shopper be sure to get a Green Bag Tag! They only cost $.99 and sometimes the red CVS coupon machine gives out $.99 coupons for them, making it free. You put the tag on any reusable grocery bag and they will scan it every time you use it for your purchases. After 4 scans your receipt will print out a $1 ECB. Well, I got one of these ECB on transaction #1 so I was able to use it on this purchase and pay just a penny. A penny! For all that chocolate! I feel like a winner!

(FYI, You can only scan your tag once a day. For example, I scanned it on my first purchase and got 1 credit towards my 4 but didn't get credit for using it on my second transaction.)

Transaction #3

 7 boxes of Kashi Go Lean Crunch @ $3= $21

Paid: $21

What?!? No coupons?!? I know! So unlike me. Here's the deal, CVS has a promotion this week which gives you a $10 gas station gift card for purchasing $30 worth of specific products. Kashi is one of these products and we all know how much I love my morning bowl of Go Lean Crunch. 

The regular retail price for a box of my cereal is $4.99. The sale brought it down to $3, but if you factor in the $10 gift card, the final price for each box is only $2. Lord knows I'll use that gas gift card, so it's not like I'm buying something to get a reward I don't need. The problem is that my store only had 7 boxes and I needed 10 to complete the deal. Fortunately my CVS card keeps track of my weekly purchases for me and it's not necessary to buy all items in one transaction in order to qualify for a reward. 

This led me to Stop #2 and Stop #6. Two more CVS stores in search for more Kashi. I found two boxes at Stop #2 and my final & 10th box at Stop #6. My last transaction printed out a coupon at the bottom of my receipt for a $10 gas station gift card, but there were only 3 choices: BP, Shell and Exxon. Since we don't really have any of these stations in my area, the manager at my store gave me a $10 gift card to CVS instead. Score! Fingers crossed for good ECB sales next week!

Stop #3: Kohls

I received an email this week from Kohl's with a Memorial Day Weekend offer: $5 off a $5 or more purchase plus 15% off the entire purchase. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but there wasn't really anything I needed from Kohl's. I mean, I always want stuff from Kohl's but I didn't need anything so I didn't want to end up paying money out of pocket just to get $5 off. I ended up buying a couple cards that I need for an upcoming graduation and a friend's wedding next weekend. Free stuff that we needed: Awesome!

Stop #4: Target

I bought quite a few things at Target, but only got one great deal on Banana Boat products. I purchased these items first in a separate transactions so I could use the gift card on the rest of the items I bought.

Banana Boat Aloe AfterSun Lotion $4.99 

Banana Boat Sport Lip Balm $1.97
Buy 2 Sun Care Products, Receive $5.00 Target Gift Card
- $1.00/1 Banana Boat Sun Care Item (excludes Lip Balm) from SS 5/22
Pay $5.96, Receive $5.00 Target Gift Card

Total: $.96 for both items

My husband asked me if I had a sunburn and I said, "Not yet, but I intend to at some point this summer." It's inevitable so this time I'm going to be prepared!

I also got a free tub of Cottonelle Fresh Wipes, courtesy of Get Fresh with a Friend.

Stop #5: Weis grocery store

I didn't get a ton of great deals this week at the grocery store, but I did use a free coupon for Breve Creme coffee creamer courtesy of Vocalpoint. (Stayed tuned for a post on Vocalpoint soon!)

That's what I bought today! Some free stuff, some awesome deals... just another day in the life of The 2010s Housewife! 

Did you get anything free this week?