Recommended reading for beginners

Here is a series of blog posts that clearly details several of the key things that I do when I am bargain hunting. I stumbled on it today, and it is easier to link to it than come up with my own novel saying many of these same things.

CVS doesn't want to make money.

That is the only thing I can figure. I mean, I get so many things there for so little that there can't be any profit. Today was the kicker. Remember how I transferred my $3 prescription to Walgreens and got a $25 gift card on Friday. Well, today CVS called. I thought maybe they were going to bust me for bargain hunting. It turned out that they were "distressed" to find out that I had transferred a prescription to Walgreens. They wanted to transfer it back to CVS and give me another $30 gift card for returning it to CVS. It's a $3-$4 prescription!!! Why are they so obsessed with it? I suppose any prescription regardless of value must trigger this type of response. Crazy. Why don't they just hand out cash at the door?

Mini Bargain Run

After being in the hospital and in the house for the past 10 days, we had a ton of errands to run today. We were all over town. While we were out I ran into CVS and Walgreens and did a couple of small deals...CVS:
bought 10 medium sized (11oz-14oz) bags of M&M's at B1G1 free (3.29 each)
bought 4 12pks of Mt Dew for $3 each
Used 1 $4/20 printable
Used 1 $14.97 ECB

Spent: around $10 received $18 in new ECB's (15 for M&M's, 3 for Mt Dew) Walgreens:
I heard that if you buy 4 of the Suave or Rave products that were B1G1 50% off, a Register Reward for $6 would print. I also heard it could be rolled. So, first I got the shampoo and conditioners (the 4 bottles on the right). The total was $7.xx, and it gave me a $6 RR. Good deal. Then I tried to get the 4 things on the left. My total after using the RR was $1.xx But, apparently they were not all B1G1 50% off, because it didn't spit out my new $6 RR. I was going to do it a couple more times, but wasn't feeling in the mood. So, I let it slide. I also transferred a prescription to Walgreens and had a Catalina that printed out for me a couple of weeks ago for a $25 Walgreens gift card with a transferred prescription. So, I got my prescription which cost $3.33, and got a $25 gift card for free. Can't beat that. It softened the blow of my Suave deal gone wrong. LOL

***Update: looks like the rolling Register Reward was fixed today so that it doesn't roll anymore. I guess I was one day too late in finally getting out and working this deal. :)

Wellness 360

Since I'm spending so much time hanging out in bed with a newborn, I signed up for Wellness 360 today. I heard that they are doing triple points right now. I sent an invite to the 2 contributing bloggers here, in case they are interested. I've just been clicking around on the site a little and my $ balance is going up, up, up. This site is somehow tied to CVS, but I'm not sure exactly what the connection is. Maybe it's run by CVS. If anyone else would like an invite, email me at peapodpink@gmail.com and I'll send one right out to you. You could go straight through the main portal, or you could get a referral email from me (which will get me extra points).

*I've never seen any "get-paid-to" type of site that generated $ this quickly. Especially not a reputable one tied to a major corporation.

Free Cheese

Can you tell I'm stuck in my room today? I'm trying to keep the baby from catching the kids cough/cold.

Free Kraft singles for the first 1000 respondents. Today only. I just got in.

Kroger/Stimulus Check

What does Kroger have to do with your stimulus check? Read here. It sounds like you don't need to use your actual stimulus check. I think I will probably at least do the $300, just because it will get me an extra $30 worth of groceries free, and I spend that much at Kroger in a month anyway.

$10 off of $25 purchase Lowe's

Coupon for $10 off a $25 purchase at Lowe's. They email it to you immediately.

Bargain Break

I'm off to have a baby tomorrow morning. See you when I get back on my feet.

Kroger this week

The new Kroger ad starts today. I didn't even have time to look for coupons or try to match anything up, nor read any of my bargain message boards to tell me what to buy. I'm too pregnant and tired. But, the sales are so good, I had to at least mention a few things.

There are tons of items on a promo where it deducts $5 off of your total when you buy 10 items. The limit is 3 deals...so 30 items per transaction. If I get motivated later in the week (and don't go into labor) and find some matching coupons, I may stop back in for a few more. This brings the final price on the following items (which are the ones of interest to me personally) to...
Breyers Ice Cream: $2.00!!! (I bought 8)
Goldfish Crackers: .50 (I bought 5)
Cheetos: $1 (I bought 1)
Kraft shredded cheese: $1.50 (I bought 2)
Dole Fruit Bowls: $1.50 (I bought 4)
Classico Pasta Sauce: $1.50 (I bought 6)
Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes: $1 (I bought 2)
Keebler Fudge Shoppe Cookies: $1 (I bought 2)

That blew out my 30 items. There are many other good deals though including Peter Pan Peanut Butter for $1 (but I am already stocked up from when I got them free)

Also, I got 6 packages of boneless, skinless, chicken. It is on the B1G1 free sale. I try to buy a lot when that sale runs (usually every 4-6 weeks)