michellephilippi.com

Thanks for all the supportive comments last week, girls.  Really nice of y’all.  I don’t typically take offense to things, but you know how sometimes when people say something you feel like they’re speaking right to you?  Yeah.  So anyway.  Moving forward.

I thought I’d start off with some tips today.  For some of you that came late to the party. 
These are just a few tidbits from me, just what I do.

1.  Subscribe to your local newspaper.  If you don’t want or can’t afford a weekly subscription, just subscribe to the Sunday paper.  My newspaper offers a deal specifically for couponers where you get (1) 7-day subscription and (4) Sunday papers for $3 a week.  So you get a total of (5) Sunday papers for $3.  The savings in the Sunday coupons pays for that subscription bunches of times over.
2. Print coupons.  Go to Coupons.com as often as you can.  I am there almost daily because new ones pop up all the time.  Remember to print out (2) each time – just hit your back button a couple of times and it’ll do it.  Additionally, print coupons from several computers.  We have (4) computers in our house so that will get me (8) coupons each time.  And if you can print from work, that’s another (2) coupons!
3. Follow blogs.  There are SAHMs that run coupon blogs.  It’s like a job for them – in addition to all their household and kidlet duties.  But they make money off the blog so when you go to their site, you are supporting them as well.  You’ll find links to coupons, in-store deals, head’s up on upcoming deals, all sorts of good information.  The Krazy Coupon Lady, Hip2Save, I Heart Rite Aid, Wild for Wags, Mojo Savings, and For the Mommas are the ones I hit almost daily.  Sometimes you’ll see repeated information – but better that than missing something.

So Rite Aid has stolen my heart.  Who knew?  The store I was cursing 3-ways to Sunday just a month ago is now the greatest thing ever.  Like ever ever.  Way better than Wags because you can roll the money.  I am still playing with the $10 that I started with when I went on the great toilet paper haul a couple of weeks ago.  If you have a Rite Aid in your market, I would encourage you to get their Sunday ad in your hot little hands and bookmark I Heart Rite Aid.  So I paid $10 for (10) rolls of toilet paper…and then got $10 in +Ups back.  I used those to pay for the next set of (10) and so on and so on and so on.  Because I “spent” over $100, I got a bonus $20 +Up.  So when I was done with the toilet paper caper, I had $30 in +Ups to spend.

With +Ups in-hand, I went last week and scored bunches of TGI Friday’s snacks.  They were 97-cents each and giving you $1 +Up on each.  So again, I paid for the snacks and got the same money right back.  I got a trunk full of these – somewhere in the 80ish range.  And I didn’t get them all from one store – you don’t want to be a shelf-clearer – I went to (5) different Rite Aids throughout the week.  After getting all these, I still had +Ups which I used to get laundry detergent – my brand was on sale for $1.99 which was awesome – and toilet paper – my brand was on sale for $5.99 getting back a $1 +Up.

Light bulbs were free last week too.  Buy a pack for $1.99 and get a $1.99 +Up back.  Limit of 6 – so Rob got 6 and I got 6….because we play by the rules like that 😉

This Sustanex stuff was free too.  No idea what it is.  Need to study it.  I have heard of probiotics before but can’t really say what the heck I need it for.  They were on sale giving you +Ups back, and then I had (2) manufacturer’s coupons that paid the difference.  And the yo-yos were my filler items.  You aren’t allowed to pay the tax with a +Up.  So what you do is you add a cheap little item like a 49-cent yo-yo or a 35-cent Cella chocolate covered cherry to your order so that it gets you over a little and you pay less.  It’s a little mind game you play with the cash register.  It’s the same way at Wags where you have to have more things than you do coupons – so you buy a pencil or whatever is the cheapest little thing so that you can take full advantage of your +Ups (or Register Rewards).

This morning, while you are catching your zzzzs, my son and I will be at Rite Aid at 5am.  They are 24-hour, but before 5am is just not right.  He said he wanted to come with.  And because this week is a hot week, I could use the extra cart.  Of course he’ll take off with the cart, and he’ll ram it in to the back of my feet, or a cereal display, but that’s what mommy and me time is all about – LOL  Free this week at Rite Aid:  Lay’s Stax, Afrin nasal spray, Coricidrin, Stayfree pads; and then super cheap paper plates, peanut butter and Chex Mix.  A HOT WEEK – if you have a Rite Aid in your market, get on it, this is a great week to start!

Oh yeah – another hot score.  This was at Albertsons.  But could have been anywhere.  EAS – the protein drink & protein bar company – had a coupon on their site for free bars and drinks.  I happen to like their protein drinks.  I went to print it out and my little printer window popped up and let me select how many copies.  Hi, I’ll take 35 please.   Here’s a shot of all my stuff being rung up.

And here’s a shot of it all being taken off.  No, that’s not what I paid, this was in mid coupon take-off 😉

And here’s all my free protein bars.  I don’t like them.  The chocolate is offputting.  My husband is going to try one tomorrow.  If he doesn’t like them either, they’ll go to the church food pantry.