More Stockpiling Fun from Sunday

So, in my post yesterday I wrote about my Saturday shopping trip to Target where I saved over $70 with clearance, sale, and coupons.

On Sunday I ventured out once again and headed to Walgreens and Walmart. Walgreens is hit and miss for me. Sometimes when there are "free" items people get there really early and clear the shelves and there's nothing for me by the time I get there. Sunday that wasn't the case and I was pretty excited.

Walgreens is also a little tricky when it comes to getting good deals. They do something called "Register Rewards"...you buy something or multiple somethings and after you've paid the bill a little printer next to the register prints out "rewards" for dollars off your next order. Sunday I ended up earning $21 in Register Rewards.

The "savings" part can be misleading though if you're buying things you don't need...because those Register Rewards still cost you money. You don't get to take them and spend them anywhere else. They are used as credit on your next purchase at Walgreens. So while I "saved" $21, technically Walgreens still gets their $21. I just get to use my money to buy more stuff at their store.

I was able to get two "free" Hyland Kids Nightime Cough Medicine...$4.99 out of pocket and $4.99 back in Register Rewards. (And by the way,  you have to do split your orders if you to get more than one deal...only one RR per order). This is something that we will end up using so the $5 I spent out of pocket I get to use "again" to purchase something else that I need later.

I also got four big bags of M&Ms for $3.00...buy four for ten dollars, I used two $1/1 coupons, and got a $5 register rewards back, which I used on my next order.

Then I got Herbal Essences Shampoo and Styler for $1 a piece after coupons and register rewards. I actually prefer to get my shampoos free but I'm okay paying $1 a piece. Especially when regular price is $4.99.

All told, at Walgreens I ended up saving $21.12 and getting back $21 in RR. I have $9 more RR to use this week and will go use them to get stuff for Marshal's birthday party.

On to Walmart...only now I was getting a little tired. It's sometimes exhausting to make sure you get all the price matches and coupons lined up.

But I found small bags of Skittles on sale for $0.50 and I had two coupons for $1/2 so I got them for free. Free is my favorite!!!

I used $18.55 in coupons and used price matching to save an additional $21.00 for a total savings of $39.55.

So for the whole weekend I saved more than $150.00. My out of pocket at Target, Walgreens, and Walmart was around $260 (I was buying things that weren't on sale and I didn't have coupons for like hair rollers, a birthday gift for Marshal, etc...things we needed). Percentage wise I saved around 37%. Considering I probably spent $50 on items that weren't on sale or had coupons I think 37% is decent.

Was it worth the effort? Depends. If we had an infant I probably wouldn't be doing much couponing except for diapers. Putting my lists together took a couple of hours spread out over a couple of days after Marshal had gone to bed. The shopping itself took around 4 hours spread over two days. For me, that was alone time away from home.

Definitely worth it.