Keeping Costs Lower Where You Can

I was out already this morning to run two errands.
First to Weis(PMITA)Markets........

6 x Dinty Moore stew on sale $1.87 ea.=$11.22
2 x Whack Biscuits on sale $1=$2.00
1 x Smart Balance spread on sale=$2.50
1 x Bakery rolls 50% off=$1.64
4 x StarKist tuna on sale .77¢=$3.08
SubTotal.......$20.44

Coupons Used
3 x $1/2 Dinty Moore ManuQ=$3.00
1 x $1/2 Pillsbury fridge goods IPQ=$1.00
1 x .75¢/1 Smart Balance IPQ(doubled to $1)=$1.00
2 x $1/2 StarKist IPQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.......$7.00

$20.44-$7=$13.44 OOP
$32.35 in reg. retail so I saved 50.45% on this order.

I also have a $1/2 Pillsbury biscuits Rebate clipped on my SavingStar account so I'll be getting $1 back there too, making this $12.44 OOP.
(I am up to $21.00 in rebates on SavingStar and it's only January!)

The canned stew will go into College Boy's emergency food stash and the tuna may be headed for the food bank.  Rolls, biscuits and spread are for us.

While I was at Weis I dropped off a rx to transfer.
Since we have a $3K deductible at the beginning of each new year for our medical insurance I have 2 different scripts for my high cost prescription.  Same medicine but different delivery system means the Usual and Customary for one if $355+ and the other same drug/diff. brand/system's Usual and Customary price is $250+.
So when we have to pay the full U&C before we satisfy the deductible and are then only charged the co-pay price of $45, I have the lower U&C cost drug refilled.

So I transferred this lower cost drug rx to Weis' pharmacy today.......

Yes, that's $251.69 for 1 rx refill!  But it could have been $350+!
At least I also earned 60 gas points for this purchase.
I am trying to look at this as the glass is half full here...... lolz

But why transfer the rx to Weis?
Well, this week when you have them transfer or fill a new rx you can get a $20 Weis gift card(as well as all those gas points).
So that's what I did and got.......

Hey, I figure I have to pay the same price for this medicine no matter where I have it filled so why not have it filled at Weis this week and get $20 of free groceries?  ;-)
Rite-Aid only gives me a piddly 25 Wellness points per rx so I get more of a perk at Weis even if it's just gas points.

Just working the system to keep my food spending costs down for 2016.

Then I went up to Rite-Aid for this stuff........

2 x Charmin TP on sale=$13.88
6 x Coke 12 packs on sale 3/$11=$22.00
2 x Cover Girl eye shadow BOGO50%=$5.08
2 x Cover Girl plumpify mascara BOGO50%=$14.98
1 x Centrum Vitamints on sale=$6.99
SubTotal.......$62.93

Coupons Used
2 x $1/1 Charmin IPQ=$2.00
6 x MyCokeRewards Free Q=$22.00
1 x $2/2 Cover Girl eye or lip ManuQ=$2.00
2 x $3/1 CG Plumpify mascara ManuQ=$6.00
1 x $4/1 Vitamints IPQ=$4.00
2 x $3 OYNO CatalinaQ(from Friday's trip)=$6.00
Coupon Total......$42.00

Except a $4 Load2Card for Vitamints also came off that I had forgotten about and the cashier didn't notice(nor did I until I was in the car)so he manually forced the paper Vitamints Q through and I got an extra $4 off my order.

If you also clipped the $4 Vitamints Rebate on SavingStar you can make the vitamin purchase a $1.01 moneymaker after Q and Rebate(unfortunately I didn't clip that one a couple of weeks ago before they ran out of offers).

$62.93-$46.00=$16.93 + .48¢ tax=$17.41 OOP.
I used $17.41 in Plenti points to pay so no cash spent.
I earned $32.00 in new Plenti points for the order..........

$10 in Plenti points for spending over $30 on P&G items
$10 in Plenti points for #1 Bonus spending over $30.
$10 in Plenti points for #2 Bonus spending over $30($62.93 total spent before Qs).
$2 in Plenti points for buying 6 packs of Coke items($1 per 3 packs x 2).

$32 in new points, spent $17.41 in old points which makes this a $14.59 moneymaker on this card.  8-)))

So I spent $13.44 cash and got $32.35 in reg. retail of groceries, $20 in free potential groceries, $97.67 in reg. retail of toiletries, drinks and paper goods and $14.59 in more new points than I spent down.  The rx refill is a wash as I had to have that filled somewhere anyway but the .60¢ additional off my next gas fill-up is a nice little bonus.

But that $251.69 spent for meds still hurts......lolz

Have you ever moved prescriptions to gain perks like free gift cards or rebates?
I did this 2 times last year at Weis for $40 in free gift cards there and I also moved rxs to Kmart's pharmacy last Spring for $60 in free gift cards there and also earned $10 in free stuff after having my 5th refill purchased there.  That's $110 in free gift cards just for filling prescriptions that have to be filled anyway.  Why not get something else I can use as a bonus, right?

Sluggy