Shot down by Lowe's

So as I thought I had previously mentioned but could not find, Lowe's has been running 2 concurrent promotions. In each one, for every $1000 you spend, you would get a $100 Lowe's Gift Card. One was called Lowe's Kitchen and Bath (run here in Cincinnati) and the other was Lowe's Spring Event (run mostly in places like VA, NC, TN, etc).

With all the work we've been doing at the new house I've been attempting to double dip and use both of these promotions. I entered my receipts in at both websites but it quickly became apparent that they were actually smart enough to check and disallow that. The Kitchen and Bath one was a few weeks ahead of the other one so I focused there. I got up to $7000 in purchases which meant $700 in GCs, but all my receipts on the Spring Event promo were still showing up as "Pending". I called a few times but was not able to get anywhere.

I didn't want to fight too hard until my $700 in GCs arrived in the mail, in case I might somehow lose those. They arrived last week so I gave it one last try. I spoke to someone and she had me fax in my receipts. Just got the call though that they see that they've already been entered in to the Kitchen and Bath promo and are therefore no good.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I guess I'll have to settle for 30% off (20% coupon plus $100 for every $1000) instead of 40%!

New house deck

Sorry - no pictures today. But I did want to make a note about the new deck. We're putting on a new deck and so I went to buy some of the materials. Lowe's is having a promotion where for every $1000 you buy, you get $100 in gift cards. This promotion ends on Saturday so I wanted to make sure I bought all the stuff this week. I'm also going to buy all of our carpet (probably another $2000) this week.

Naturally I also have 20% off coupons that I am combining with this deal, so it's like 30% off. Actually they have a totally separate gift-card promotion similar to the one above so it's like 40% off.

So anyways, I already bought some of the deck stuff last week but I had to buy the rest of it. Lowe's has a little deck design program that spits out all the stuff that you need with quantities and such.

So I went to the checkout lane and put in all the stuff. The subtotal came to like $2330, and I gave them my coupon. The guy was having some problems putting it in. The coupon said that it was good for 20% off up to $2000, so we both agreed that it should be $1930 (20% off $2000 = $1600 plus the extra $330). But he couldn't figure out how to put that into the system.

So he calls over his manager who is not sure what to put in and in fact was getting a little snippy with me. At first he looked like he was going to give it to me for just $1600 which I told him was wrong. Then he snips at me that he can't give me the discount on the extra $330, which I knew and was not trying to have him do.

Anyway he too had problems, so a 3rd person was called over. This guy looks at the coupon and says that it means that it's good for a DISCOUNT of $2000 (I guess up to purchases of $10,000), so he just gives me the 20% on the whole thing, so instead of $1930, it was $1864 - a savings of $66 plus tax!

Gooooo me!

Still looking like an end of May move date; it's getting closer! We've been painting here at the old house trying to get it ready to rent out.

Over at the new house they have put on all the interior doors and all the drywall. We'll be going over on Saturday I think to finish priming and then putting the paint on early next week. Also I believe it's finally been dry enough that my contractor is renting a Bobcat to do the final grading of all the dirt in the backyard (we're sloping it). And the siding should be arriving soon; so that will go up probably next week. Good times for all!

Kroger part 2

Okay - many of you have commented in on my last post, wanting to know if Kroger had indeed gotten the best of me.

OF COURSE NOT!!!!!

In fact, I'm hurt that you could even suggest such a thing. They caved like a master spelunker. It actually wasn't even that hard. I called up to the Kroger 1-800 customer service line. Spoke to a lady there, explained my situation, and she added it to my plus card like that.

We talked for a little while and I thought I would share a few things. I asked if there was indeed a limit on how many of these pharmacy coupons you could use. She said that she thought there was a limit of $60 but that the pharmacist could override that. She said that they typically would override it for good customers, such as myself (her words).

Then she started talking about how they have that limit there because some people would just take advantage of things. She said that there shouldn't be a problem for good, loyal customers such as myself (she said this several times during our conversation).

Then she delivered the money line, which went something like:

"Because you know, some people just use these coupons to get free groceries and that's just not right"

GOOD! TIMES!

She's right - free groceries aren't right - it's better when they pay you! That happened Friday afternoon - got a whole load of stuff and after coupons, and the buy 10 get $5 off promotion and some of those pharmacy rewards, my total came out to -$0.36. It's always funny when they're like "Okay your total is 36 cents" and I have to be like "Uhhhh actually YOU owe ME 36 cents" :-).

Uhhuh Kroger, you want a piece of ME?

Apparently Kroger does not read my blog in which National City caves (Part 1 and Part 2). I go there today for some deals and also go to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy. I had to have them transfer it over from Meijer where Meijer had only let me use one prescription coupon at a time (good for $20 off a future order). Naturally I had another one in hand.

The pharmacist scanned it (though she looked annoyed about it) and I paid and that was that. Except that I did not get a receipt saying that my Rx Rewards had printed, and my balance remained at $15.49 (from the $20 pharmacy coupon I did a few days ago for a different one). I stop and ask about it.

She then starts babbling lies. First off she says that they don't print out a separate receipt. I tell her that I've seen it. She says they changed the system. I tell her I was just here on Wednesday and it did it. Then she tells me that there is a limit of how many you can do per Kroger card. I say I haven't heard anything about that - what's the limit. She makes up "3". And then just walks away.

Ooooooh Kroger you have not heard the last of this one. I will get my $20 out of you. I called the annoyingly named helpline 1-800-KROGERS but they are closed. But I will be on the case Monday baby.

Froot Loops update

So, longtime readers of this blog will remember back on oh, say, April 30, 2005 when I posted a picture of a massive quantity of Froot Loops that I had acquired over the preceding days and weeks.

For those of you too lazy to click through, here is the picture



Anyway I would just like to report that those Froot Loops are now gone.

"But why Dan, those Froot Loops must have been awful stale by now, nearly 3 years later?"

"But of course - but luckily 3 year olds eat stale Froot Loops"

PS - that ketchup is still here, at least some of it. It's still usable though definitely starting to show its age.

Saturday Problems

Wanted to recap my Saturday excursions (last Saturday - the 15th). We had decided to go up to the Y to swim as a family. Afterwards we were going to get some pizza. As part of our move (even though we haven't really moved yet), we got on some mailing list where we're getting all these free coupons from local businesses as they want to get our business.

You know what time it is baby? It's bizness time - ooh!

Oh, sorry, got ahead of myself there. Anyway among these free coupons was a coupon for a free 2-topping medium pizza (2 topping - this is important later) from Mio's pizzeria as well as $5 off any order at Larosa's. So as we are heading home I call and order the pizza from Mio's (pepperoni). I couldn't find my coupon book so we held off on the Larosa's till I could find my coupon book at home. So then we got home and

Problem 1: I left my coupon book at Meijer (where somebody apparently stole it as it still has not been turned in)

So we decided to just go get the Mio's pizza and eat that and something else. So kid #2 and I went to get it. On the way we stopped at Kroger for some 19 cent Toaster Strudels. We were in the van and since I don't drive that regularly I forgot that I can just lock it once we're all outside with the keyless doohickey. So I'm waiting for him to open the door so that I can lock the doors and then get out. He does, I do and then

Problem 2: I shut his hand in the door (and right before his big recorder solo - I keed I keed)v

So I realize I've done this and go to open the door and

Problem 3: I can't open the freakin door because (as I have mentioned) I already have locked the doors

Luckily it didn't take me long to reach around and open it. His fingers weren't broken or even that swollen or scarred. He could move them all but was understandably freaked out. I consoled him for awhile and then we decided we could make it into Kroger.

I know what you're tryinnnnn to say; you're tryin to say it's time for business - it's bizness time - ooh!

Oh sorry - I don't know why that keeps happening to me. Anyway before I continue I should back up and mention that I am very much a creature of habit. I put my keys and wallet and such every morning on my nightstand. And in the morning, when I get ready for work, I take them off the nightstand and put them on. If someone (yes kid #4 I'm looking at you) moves them - I am very likely to just forget them because they're just not in the right place. So my routine when I get out of the car is that I open the door, lock it, and then shut the door and then put my keys in my pocket. But all this hand shutting in door disrupted my routine so my keys were on the van floor (and very much NOT in my pocket), so...

Problem 4: I locked the keys in the van

So I called the Mrs. to come and get me which she did, even though she had to fit 4 people (and 3 should be carseat / booster wearers) in the little car.

Then we headed out to Mio's. Got the pizza and gave the lady the coupon. And....

Problem 5: She was having problems with the register and I thought I was going to get some static about the coupon

But... that one turned out good - apparently because the coupon was for a 2 topping and I only got a 1 topping, I deserved a refund. So in addition to a free pizza, they handed over $1.25. For those of you that know me, I think you'll agree that's classic Dan Miller.

Here they come!

You're looking at my first rebate check. This is one of the "Easy Rebates" that I filled out online the same day I purchased all the stuff (8/29). So we're looking at about a month for the check to get here, so that's not bad.

The other 8 or 9 easy rebates should be coming soon, and within another month or so the other ones should start arriving. It will be like Christmas every day at mail checking time!!!

I'm down to 3 rebates still marked as invalid and another 2 that have not been received yet

Breaking even on the laptop

And we've broken even! All but 2 of my rebates have been received by the rebate folks (the 2 that I just mailed in earlier this week). Of those 56 rebates, 48 of them are in "valid" stages, which from my experience means that the check is definitely in the mail.

Of the 58 rebates, 36 of them (including the 2 printer ones which should be accepted no problem) were immediately accepted as valid. 22 of them were initially marked invalid for various reasons, ranging from stupid to realistic. I have been on an email campaign over the past few days and not once have I even had to explain myself. I just email asking the default question radio button which is

"I checked the status of my rebate and it states that my rebate is invalid. What do I need to do to receive my rebate?"

and in a few hours / days I get an email saying something along the lines of

"Thank you for your rebate inquiry. You are a valued McAfee customer, so we are pleased to inform you that we have updated your record. Your rebate submission is now valid. The rebate check should be mailed in the next 4-6 weeks."

I'm doing them one by one (probably for no good reason, but no need to rock the boat), and I have gotten through 14 of them, meaning only 8 remain invalid (all McAfee). I fully expect all 8 of those to swing to the good in the next few days or so.

So, as I mentioned earlier, the rebate I just got (an upgrade rebate on McAfee VirusScan + for $20.00) put me at $1260 in rebates that are marked as valid. As you may or may not remember, my initial cash outlay was $1,256.49, so I now have officially made money on this deal. Well, I guess I still have to wait for the checks to arrive but I'm not really worried about that.

The 10 rebates (8 invalid and the 2 printer ones not received) are for $375, so my final total should be a profit of $378.51. Then let the eBaying commence!!!

More free laptop

Yes folks it's time for some laptop updates. I have now sent in all 58 rebates (I sent the last 2 in today). Because I mailed them in a few chunks, some of them have made it to the processing center, while some are still being "processed". It's odd in some regards because in some cases, I sent in multiple rebates at the exact same time, and some of them are processed and some are not. I wonder what goes on in the evil realm of "Parago"

So, there were 58 rebates that I have applied for, totalling $1635.00. Some of them I felt like I might not get, due to there only being so many "original" UPCs to go around, but I felt it was worth a 41 cent flier. Here's where I stand, as of now:

• Checks Received: 0 rebates for $0 - this is normal; they usually take awhile.
  
• Validated:30 rebates for $845 - once they are in this state, then it means that the check is in the mail (so to speak).
  
• Rebates not received (processed) yet:14 rebates for $485
  
• Invalid:14 rebates for $405
  

Of the 14 rebates that are marked as invalid:

• 5 for $85 are Missing Confirmation Email - this is complete crap as I bought the stuff in-store not online, so I don't have a confirmation email. But, this is how the rebate companies make money - they deny this, and catch more people that either just take it or forget to fight it. This should get easily overturned when I call to complain
  
• 6 for $170 are Missing UPC (or similar) - I think I should be able to get most of these, if my past experience with rebates is any indication
  
• 3 for $150 are Missing Proof of Upgrade - Should be able to get these too.
  

UPDATE: I emailed one about the Missing Confirmation Email and in 20 minutes or so, lo and behold I get a response saying that because I'm a "loyal and valued customer" they have validated my rebate!! Looks like my theory is right - if you complain, they figure you have the information and so it's not worth their time to fight it out with you.

In which Kroger tries to screw me, part 2

Went to the store last night, and one of the items on the list was cottage cheese. Get back to the dairy section and voila, big sign saying Kroger Sour Cream, Dips, and Cottage Cheese, 16 oz, 4/$5. But there's no cottage cheese in that display. So I go over to the main area where the cottage cheese is, and it's all listed at $1.85.

I ask the friendly neighborhood Kroger employee which is the cottage cheese that's 4/$5, and he has no clue and vaguely points to the 16 oz stuff. So I take that, knowing full well it's going to scan at $1.85. As I take it I sing a little song to myself - "Free, free, free cottage cheeeeese"

Sure enough it does ring up $1.85, and so I head to customer service. I explain things and the CS rep calls back. The person back there must have been looking at the sign near the cottage cheese and says it's marked $1.85, so I offer to take the CS lady back to show her. We walk back and sure enough it's 4/$5.

So we go back to Customer Service and thanks to Kroger's Scan Right guarantee, I get a full refund of $1.85. In other words free, free, freeeeeeee cottage cheese.

Sometimes in the couponing world you just gotta fight for your right (to party). Practice on easy times like this when you're clearly right, so that you build up confidence to fight in more gray areas.

In which Kroger screws me

So I have suspected nefarious deeds of Kroger for quite some time now, but it was only today that I was able to catch them in the act. Unfortunately I did not CATCH them catch them, IYKWIM. I have no proof other than my memory.

If you shop at Kroger (or a Kroger-owned store, which are many), you are familiar with their yellow sale tags. Or I should say "sale" tags, as many of them are things like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, regularly $1.85, this week "on sale" for $1.79!!! (actual tag from this week)

So, these yellow tags have dates on them. So for instance that goldfish "sale" says Price good through 12/31/07 (I think - something like that anyways). I assume that they do that so that they don't have to change the tags every week - they can just leave that one up there. But they don't just leave it up there - I guarantee that when goldfish go on sale in a few weeks for 3/$4 or something, that they'll take down that tag that is supposedly good through 12/31 and put up a new tag for that week.

And when they are lowering the prices, I don't really have a problem with it. But now that we have the backstory, allow me to mention what happened this week.

Starting last week, Kroger started a promotion where if you buy 15 participating products, you get $5 off your order. This has been a pretty good deal, allowing me to stock up on things like tortillas, refried beans, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, and Kleenex, among other things. While I was in the store Tuesday night, I was wandering through the aisles and noticed that Pepperidge Farms frozen products were 50% off and also part of that sale. Garlic bread was on sale for $1.09, and one of the participating products. When I got home, I saw that there were .55/1 coupons around, so I ordered some. Since Kroger will double .55 coupons up to $1, it would make the garlic bread 9 cents each, and buying 15 would get me $5, so it would be a moneymaker. I checked the price and it said "Promotion good till 9/16/07).

So I ordered the coupons. Had the deal only been good last week, I wouldn't have, because since it was already Tuesday and I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the coupons in time. But "PROMOTION GOOD TILL 9/16/07!!!", so away I went. Sure enough, the coupons came last night and I went off to Kroger.

But when I got there, the garlic bread was $1.99. The tag now says Promotion good through 10/31 (or some future date - again I forget what it was exactly). They switched the tag on me!!

Now, it is possible that they could claim a loophole that the PROMOTION itself IS still going on, so the tag last week wasn't a lie, since it said nothing about the price, just the promotion (buy 15 get $5). But I think that this is certainly shady, and possibly illegal. If I had some sort of proof about this (like if I had taken a picture of the price before), I might bring it up to someone. But alas, I do not. And I don't know how I could ever even prove something like this, unless I go taking pictures of tags that MIGHT change. But I definitely will be wary of sale tags that claim to go further than one week out.

Anyone want any garlic bread coupons? Because, to paraphrase the immortal Ned Ryerson, I sure as heck-fire am not paying 65.7 cents for a loaf of garlic bread.

Free Laptop part 2

My co-worker Kerry (not to be confused with my sister Kerry) and I spent some time at lunch today filling out rebates. We got 13 of them done and mailed off, so coupled with the 7 easy rebates I already did, that's 20 down (and 39 more to go)

Free Laptop, Step 1

So today I started getting things going on my free laptop deal.

7 (I think it was 7) of the rebates are Staples easy rebates. Those can just be filled out online, so I got that going.

In talking to some people, I did get one friend of mine that did the deal. He ended up going to the same store I did, and this was his report:

"When all of the rebate receipts printed out, they were like "Oh, geez," and told me about how someone did this the night before right around the same time. I said, "Oh, really" and giggled."

Ha!

What's better than a free laptop?

Why, getting paid to take a laptop of course. Those of you who have followed along my crazy adventures in coupon land know that is my mantra.

So recently while browsing around online, I came across two threads talking about how you could make money buying a laptop.

Visit those threads (especially the first one) for details, but the basic gist is that you purchase a laptop, 2 printers and 14 pieces of software from Staples. Your upfront cost is somewhere around $1250. You then submit 57! mail-in rebates, netting you around $1650 back. So you get all that stuff for free, plus make ~$400 for your trouble.

The reason that it's possible is that most of the software has a few rebates on it, making the software free in and of itself. But it all has ADDITIONAL rebates when you are also purchasing a laptop (or desktop). So Staples this week has a laptop on sale for $449.99, and also has 2 different printers that are free (or close to) when purchasing a laptop. Topping things off, they are running a special where if you buy a new laptop with 3 accessories (software included), then you get 20% off your accessories. It's like the perfect storm of a deal!!

I had found out about this deal this past Saturday night, and have spent some time over the past few days checking things out. I wanted to make sure this was all legit because $1200 is a pretty big upfront investment. Last night I finally got the opportunity to head over to Staples to take the plunge. I first went to the Hyde Park Staples, but the guy there said that the 20% off only applied to a limit of 3 accessories, and printers were not included. This conflicted what I had been told earlier, so I left and went up to the Kenwood store. The manager there was very helpful. He gave me the 20% off on all 14 of my software purchases and the 2 printers. I mean, even without the 20% on everything, it is still a great deal, but that 20% discount adds up to somewhere around $180. I don't know if it made a difference, but this time I first went back to the software and loaded up my cart, so they could see that I was looking to drop a couple hundred bucks. It's funny how the prospect of a huge commission changes some people's attitudes!! :-D

The laptop and 2 of the pieces of software were out of stock, but they were able to call a different store and take care of it then. I chose to just pay for the stuff now and then have them ship it to my house. The details:

Laptop: $449.98
2 printers: $127.96 after 20% discount
14 Software: $607.86 after 20% discount
2 $3 off coupons from empty ink cartridges: -$6.00
Tax: $76.69
Total: $1256.49



Here's a picture of my haul, minus the laptop and the 2 software titles, which should arrive Thursday.

And now... the fun starts. As a postscript, if you're interested in this deal, let me know and I can send you my spreadsheet. As a cautionary note, I would not recommend doing it unless you are VERY comfortable with rebates. This is not a deal for the faint of heart. You WILL have to be very meticulous and anal about filling out your forms, and pay very strict attention to the rebate details. Also, because that's what rebate companies do, many of your rebates will be initially denied, meaning that you WILL have to call them and fight for your rebates. Luckily that process isn't too bad, because from my experience, if you call them up and tell them you sent everything in, they will typically just approve your rebate, probably figuring if you're going to take the time to fight about it, then you probably have all your documentation.

Meijer trip

So Meijer has a deal going on this week where if you buy $15 of participating General Mills products, you get a coupon for $10 off your next shopping order. The $15 is before coupons, so it's really not that difficult to get your bill under $10, qualifying it as a moneymaker.

So I'm there after work this afternoon, and Carolyn and the kiddoes are meeting me there. I got there first and have the cart filled up, but I was waiting to check out in case we had any weekly groceries that we needed. In the cart were 3 orders. Each one had $15 of groceries, 7 $1 off coupons, meaning that I would make $2 on each order.

So I'm waiting out by the entrance for the rest of the fam, and I think "Hey I should go outside and see if they're here yet and see if I can help unload the kids and such." I start to go outside and realize I haven't paid for my groceries yet, so I had to stop.

But then I think, actually, if Meijer were smart, they would just LET me walk out without paying for my groceries. That actually would SAVE them $6! :-D

In any case they soon showed up and I "paid" for my groceries.

Grocery update

It's been awhile since I posted about some grocery adventures. To tell the truth, it's been awhile since I've even DONE much grocery adventuring. I'm not sure if it's just been a dearth of good deals, or just a lack of desire, or if it was my coupon book being stolen, or some combination of the 3, but I've paid full price for some things lately!!!! I know, I know, the horror! And the General Store has been dwindling too as we've eaten a lot of our surplus - it doesn't look quite like this anymore. Though there is definitely that much teriyaki still :-)

Anyways, we went to Meijer this morning, as we typically do. And while this deal was not quite up to Dan Miller standards, it was pretty good for recent activities.

The background: Kraft has a deal at Meijer where if you buy 6 Kraft items, you get a coupon for $4 off your next order. (You can also buy 4 for $2 or 5 for $3 but 6/$4 is the best deal). Additionally, I had picked up a bunch of $1/3 Kraft coupons at Kroger when I was there last.

Also, when I got there, I saw that Meijer was having a 2-day sale where if you bought $25 of stuff you got a $5 coupon off your next order. I figured that this was before coupons as these deals usually are. So naturally I figured to split up my order into $25 increments. I'm really surprised more people don't do that in situations like this. Though I guess it does pay to be able to calculate $25 in your head :-)

I ended up with 5 separate orders, whose totals (before coupons) were $26.01, $25.82, $28.70, $25.28, and $26.52. In addition to $89.27 of in-store savings (sale prices and such), my gross grocery total was $221.60.

So, taking $221.60, we subtract out the $89.27 of in-store savings (big winners were the Kraft Cheese being on sale for $1.67 and Dynamo at B1G2F). Then I got 5 $5 off coupons for next week (though it looks like I will annoyingly have to use them in 5 separate orders), 5 $4 off coupons from Kraft and 1 $1 Fuel reward from buying 4 pop-tarts (the fuel reward sheet says it's supposedly only for the 12-ct, but I've found that certain flavors of the 8-ct - at least blueberry and brown sugar cinnamon will also give you a $1 Fuel Reward). Then there were 3 $3/5 Mueller Pasta coupons (though they only gave me up to the price of the 1/2 price pasta and even that I had to fight for, so $7.50), plus the 10 $1/3 Kraft coupons and a coupon that had spit out for me last week for a free hot pocket ($2.35), and topping it off was a $10 coupon for a transferred prescription that I had used to get some prenatal vitamins, and the net total was $56.48, for a savings of $165.12, or 74.5%.

A few notes - the Kraft was on sale for $1.67 (for 8 oz shredded). After my coupon, the 6/$4 deal, and considering it counts for 10/25 of $5 off (or $2) it makes my price $2 for 6 of them, or 33 cents a bag. A very good deal for shredded. American cheese slices were also on sale, but it was the 24 oz for $2.50, so I only bought 3 of those because we're out.

Also, they have coupons for $10 off any new and transferred prescriptions on the back of their ad this week - I picked up a bunch to use in the upcoming weeks / months. It pays to keep transferring your prescriptions around, and pretty much all the places (Kroger, Meijer and CVS at least) will accept competitor's pharmacy coupons.

Meijer Saturday

Helped somebody move today, and then went to Meijer to pick up a few things. Final totals:

8 Fruit Snacks
32 Froot Loops (11 oz)
1 2-liter Pepsi One (I found a Catalina someone had left behind for a free one)
9 Eckrich Smoked Sausages
6 Eckrich Polish Kielbasa
4 Tyson Chicken Strips
1 Gallon milk

Amount paid: $7.83 (most of that was for the Eckrich - it was B1G2F original price of $3.99 and I had .50/1 coupons (13 of which doubled), so the final price for 15 of them was $5.95

Froot Loops were on sale for 99 cents, and the Catalina deal where if you buy 4 of them you get a coupon for $4 off your next order is still going on. I did some organization of the General Store, so I thought I'd attach a picture of the Froot Loops and the ketchup from last week (final totals 160 bottles). There's just something about stacking things 3 or 4 high that makes you feel like you have a store :-)



Stay tuned later on for a final posting of my totals for April - a little hint though - it was my best month ever.

Good Diaper deal

Bought 6 packages of diapers at CVS today for free. So I got that going for me, which is nice. In other news, the Red Hot Death seem to be going down to utter defeat, which ain't so fun.

Meijer Saturday

Totals for the family morning trip to Meijer:

1 Prescription ($10 co-pay)
2 bottles of kids toothpaste (no coupons grr)
35 bottles of ketchup
28 boxes of fruit snacks
8 boxes of 19.7 oz Froot Loops

Total spent: -$5.01 (overage mostly due to a $20 off gift card for any new prescription)

As I was roaming the aisles, I saw another lady with Froot Loops and ketchup in her cart - I had to restrain myself from giving her the secret couponers handshake

Lunch time shopping

Went out for a lunch time excursion. I bought:

8 packages of diapers (2 each for sizes 3, 4, 5 and 6)
30 bottles of ketchup

Grand total: $13.90

About $100 savings - not bad for an hour or so.

Ketchup experiences

I had a really nice experience at a USCAN at the Tylersville Meijer at lunch today. Then hit the Fields Ertel store on my way home and wooo did I have some problems. I have a lot of gift cards left over from super doubles, so at lunch I just used my GCs to pay and saved my Catalinas. So on my way home I tried to buy 5 ketchups and a $25 GC and use 6 $5 Catalinas. They wouldn't scan so the cashier gets her manager. She comes back (with attitude) and says limit of 2 identical coupons and shoves the other 4 back at me. I say there's a limit of 2 that will double, but no limit. she's like "my manager is right there - she just said so". So I tell her to get the manager. Manager comes over with the same spiel. I couldn't find an ad, which clearly says "Limit of 2 will double; additional coupons redeemable at face value". She calls the store manager, who tells her over the phone to scan them all. mwawhahahahaa

Total on the day:

60 bottles of ketchup
2 packages of diapers
1 dozen eggs

$2.49

Free Ketchup at Meijer

I am going to buy about 200 bottles of ketchup over the next week or two.

Super Double Coupons

Okay - just finished my final trip to Meijer. I decided to get very anal-retentive about the record keeping this time :-D

Here is what I got.

56 Pasta Roni World Flavors
48 Pop Tarts 12 ct
40 Martha White Pizza Crust
26 Chi-Chi Fiesta Dips
23 Purell Hand Sanitizer 1 oz
20 Cheese Nips
20 Mrs. Butterworth syrup
18 Open Pit BBQ Sauce
16 Eggo Waffles 10-ct
15 Suave Conditioner
15 Suave Shampoo
14 Betty Crocker Cookie Mix
12 Huggies Wipes 72-ct
12 Crest Sensitivity Toothpaste
10 Sara Lee Pies
10 Ban Deodorant
9 Dannon Yogurt 4-packs
9 Crest Toothbrush
8 Scotch Tape 3-packs
8 Gum Toothbrush
8 Suave Detangler
8 Super Pretzel
5 Milk Gallon
4 Smuckers Low Sugar Jam
4 Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4 Sargento Cheese
4 White Rain Shampoo
4 Special K with Red Berries
4 Froot Loops
2 Bisquick
2 Crest Extreme Whitening Toothpaste
2 Scotch Tape Magic Tape
2 Kraft Mayonnaise 32 oz
2 Raisin Bran Crunch
1 Fiber Choice
1 Prenatal Vitamins
1 Pillsbury Toaster Strudel
1 Mccain French Fries
1 Colgate Toothbrush


That was $949.07 of groceries (including $7.96 total in tax)

$309.63 in coupons
$283.31 in doublage
$335.18 in store savings (rainchecks!)
$42.00 in Catalinas / Meijer fuel rewards

Final total:

-$21.05!!!!

Yes, negative. I found a good trick where I would always buy a $10 GC (gift card) with each order. That allowed me to get all of my overage. So on a typical trip, I'd buy a $10 GC, but after all my food and coupons were scanned, my total would only be like $8.24. So, out of pocket I probably went about $50 and have about $75 in GCs to use in the future.

Rebate game

Browsing around on some coupon message boards as I frequently do, I came across this link to an article called When to play the rebate game.

Moderately interesting, but what was more interesting was this quote:

According to our resident Shopper.com shopping expert, Dan Miller,

THE PEOPLE MUST HAVE THEIR DAN MILLER!!!