Hot Hot Hot Neutrogena Rebates

You know I love the rebates. Just found this one for $10 back from Neutrogena when you spend $30 on their "facial moisturizers and/or facial treatments" between now and July 4th. And it doesn't say "Void in Maine." Rite Aid also has a rebate going on that includes Neutrogena Skin Care--spend $25 and get a $10 Rite Aid gift card, or spend $50 and get a $25 gift card. My brain is too excited to do the math but you could get some great deals by combining these two rebates. In addition there are coupons at Neutrogena AND coupons on some Neutrogena products in this week's Rite Aid flyer-- the Rite Aid coupons can be stacked with the Neutrogena coupons, as well as that sweet little $5 off $20 from watchin' your Rite Aid Video Values. The hubster uses a lot of Neutrogena products so we'll be stockin' up.

Trashy

The other day at Rite Aid I noticed a little sign announcing the City of Portland trash bags would be going up in price from $7.5o for a roll to $10. If my math isn't failing me, this is a 33% increase, right? I believe this will be effective July 1st. In anticipation of shrewd shoppers hoardin' up on the $7.50 rolls, stores are limiting purchases to 2 rolls per transaction. So you might keep this in mind on your next several shopping trips. To make your dirty dollars go further, you might use the ever-fancy $5 off $20 from watching Rite Aid Video Values, or the recent $5 off $50 that Hannaford emailed out last week.

This is also a reminder to me to get back to composting, which though I never seem to use the compost for everything, it still makes me feel productive, and cuts down on our disposable trash, which cuts down on the $ we spend on trash bags. Just sayin'.

Walgreens coupon alert

Haven't tried Walgreens yet, despite several drive-bys... but I happened to notice in this Sunday's paper, that in the front of the Walgreens ad was a $3 off your $10 purchase, valid only at the new Forest Ave. store. Driving by I also noticed they have those yummy blue diamond almonds on sale for buy one, get one... I'm going in! Anyone else checked it out yet?

There are also some good Rite Aid deals this week. There's a $25 rebate when you buy $50 of Johnson & Johnson products (includes Neutrogena, which my hubby uses, Band-aids, etc.). The $50 is before coupons. I am seriously smitten with Rite Aid, and I will do a more in-depth post (love letter) on its best qualities soon. But yeah, I'm still going to have to have at least a brief fling with Walgreens. Just to see if I'm missing anything.

Rite Aid update

So I went back to Rite Aid for another round of nuts and found out that they do indeed have a Rite Aid rewards card and it's not just for seniors. Did y'all know about this? Pretty cool-- now if I can just remember to make my Rite Aid runs on Tuesdays, I'll be in good shape! And I have to say I've had excellent luck with the Rite Aid folk being very coupon friendly. I always feel slightly guilty when I head in there with my giant stack o' coupons, but I've had the best luck so far. So if you're a Rite Aid fancier and you don't already have a rewards card, ask for one-- it'll earn you an extra 10% off every Tuesday, and a plump 20% off on the first Tuesday of each month.

Nuts for Rite Aid

A Walgreens is opening not too far from my house this Thursday, but I'm feeling pretty smitten with Rite Aid. This week they have buy one, get one free Blue Diamond almonds, which I'll use for making almond butter. I combined the b1g1 sale with some Blue Diamond coupons I garnered from trading, and a $3 off $15 that I got via email because I've been participating in Rite Aid's Single Check Rebate program. And here's where things got a little dicey. The cashier offered to enroll me in a program where I could get an additional 20% off my purchase since it was the first Tuesday of the month-- anytime I used this card on the first Tuesday I'd get 20% off. And every other Tuesday I'd get 10% off. How could I have not known about this program before? And how lucky was I to have inadvertantly wandered in to do my Rite Aid bidding on the month's first Tuesday?

Well, when I got home I discovered why I hadn't heard of the program before. Because it's for senior citizens, that's why. Now, I haven't had a decent night's sleep in over a year, but do I look 55? Really? In full disclosure, I happen to know the cashier personally, and let's just say the Blue Diamond almonds were not the only nuts in the store. I suspect she was trying to do me a favor, but at what cost? Should I wheel back in on the first Tuesday of next month in my motorized cart and try and purchase some discounted Benevia (why are there always so many Rite Aid Video Value coupons for those?), and some denture cream? Sheesh.

So I now feel less than stellar about this deal, but still-- just over $10 for four packages of almonds, 1 Burts Bees lip balm that I grabbed as a filler, and a pack of City of Portland trash bags... which themselves are usually $7.50. It's hard not to feel a little satisfied.

Frugal F&*!up

Welcome back to the Frugal F&*!up!

This week, a triumvirate of events collided to sabotage my budget:

1. I went for the gold. I got my Rite Aid total up to $100 (counted before coupons-- will give you the actual totals later) so I could get the $35 Visa card back before the promotion ends this weekend.

2. That temptress, cheap laundry detergent, lured me in like the saucy vixen she is. While still cheap, I ended up with seven bottles, which put me out just over $14.

3. My son's first birthday party. While we're keeping it pretty chill, yo, the event inevitably adds extras to the grocery list.

Now, probably a normal person would say "okay, so you're going to be over budget this week. Relax, you have the money and it's not the end of the world."

However, I am not a normal person. I vascillate wildly between perfectionism and complete slackerdom. I struggle to live within the murky grey and stay away from the black and white, extreme, all or nothing thinking. Much like when I used to go from diet to diet, swearing to be all pure and then the next thing I know I wake up next to a credit card slip from Pizza Hut and find frosting smeared on my eyebrow.

So I'm obsessing over my Frutal F-up. I feel like the principal found out and he's coming to take me to his office for a paddling. (When I was in elementary school, our principal actually was allowed, for a time, to paddle kids! Shocking, no?) My husband, who does not necessarily view frugality as a positive thing (which could be a whole blog in and of itself-- Cheapskate and Not-so-much Mate? In fact, in the early days of our relationship, I kept finding pennies outside on the driveway. I finally mentioned it to him. Turns out he was THROWING THEM AWAY. That was thisclose to being a dealbreaker!) told me to lighten up. Actually, he said "you need to loosen up the hold on your Scrooge Purse."

I think he might be on to something. So I'm going to toss the proverbial pizza box in the recycling bin, scrub the frosting off my eyebrow, and enjoy the fact that our sweet little boy is turning one. I'll start the frugal thing again on Monday.

Rite on

Had a good trip to Rite Aid today. Here's what I got:

3 boxes of Ziplocs at $1.99 each(usually 3.99)
1 package of Purevia sweetener at $3.69
1 big box of Pampers baby dry diapers at $19.99

Total before coupons was $30.something

Here's what I used for coupons:
$1.50 off any 2 Ziplocs
$5 off $25 at Rite Aid from Coupons.com
$2 off Pampers coupon from newspaper
$2 off Purevia

That took $10.50 off my total, and then I used my Holiday gift of savings $20 gift certificate for the rest. Out of pocket = 0.

And, the 19.99 for the Pampers goes towards the Going for the Gold Proctor and Gamble promotion that I mentioned a few days ago http://portlandpennypincher.blogspot.com/2010/01/cheapish-diapers.html
Oh, and I should get a $5 SC Johnson rebate for the Ziplocs thanks to this little lady http://www.scjohnson.com/files/Rebate_Form.pdf here.

And, the cashier was coupon-friendly. Swoon.

Cheapish diapers

So have I mentioned my recent found love of Rite Aid? I can't go into all the details right now, as I just have time to type while the little one drains me of milk. But this is a cool deal--

https://riteaid.rebateplus.com/images/DirectoryImages/period551/RA_Book551_551.pdf

Basically if you buy $100 worth of Proctor and Gamble products between 1-17 and 2-13-10, you get a $35 Visa card back. Proctor and Gamble happen to manufacture Pampers as well as lots of other useful stuff. And my understanding is that this $100 is before coupons. So click here:

http://www.redplum.com/ (I think it's on page 2)

and you should find a handy little $5 off your $25 purchase at Rite Aid. Combine this with Pampers coupons (or whatever else Proctor and Gambley things your heart or home desires) and you should be able to get a pretty good deal. I'll let you know how it goes for us.