Prelude to Black Friday Rite-Aid Haul & the Report on 3 Days of Black Friday Hauls

So I had a $5 when you spend $25 coupon for Rite-Aid that expired on Wednesday.

I was lukewarm about using it as I was saving all my Bonus Cash for the Black Friday sales, but then I hit the clearance shelf at my R-A on Tuesday and found a cool mist Vicks Humidifier/Vaporizer for 75% off.  My store must have found this one back in the storage recently because these went on clearance months ago and I never saw one on clearance back then in my store.

With that $7.49 price I only needed to find $17.51 more to use that $5/$25 q.  Here is what I did on Hubs' card.....

1 x Humidifier 75% off=$7.49
3 x Pringles Wavy on clearance .49¢=$1.47
2 x Colgate optic white toothpaste 20% Wellness disc.=$6.38
1 x Oral-B twin pack toothbrush on sale=$6.99
1 x Visine 20% Wellness disc.=$4.79
SubTotal.....$27.12

Coupons Used
1 x $5/$25 R-A Q=$5.00
2 x $3/1 In-Ad R-A Colgate Q=$6.00
1 x $2/1 In-Ad R-A Visine Q=$2.00
Coupon Total....$13.00

$27.12-$13.00=$14.12+.37¢ sales tax=$14.49 paid for with a R-A gift card.
I didn't earn any Bonus Cash on this transaction but that's ok as I am pleased as punch to get that humidifier so cheaply!  Ex-College Boy will love those Pringles and the rest of this transaction(oral care and Visine)go into the toiletries stockpile for later.

I also earned $3 in cash rebates on the Coupons dotcom app($1/3 Pringles Wavy, $2/1 multi-pack of Oral-B toothbrushes)and $3.60 in Ibotta rebates(.10¢ any item, $2 Colgate, $1.50 Visine)so $14.49 spent but $6.60 back in rebates. 

The toothbrushes tracked toward a PandG Spend $30/Get $10 BC Deal too so I spent accordingly to reach $30 to get that BC deal too during the BF sales.

I forgot to use a $1/1 Visine hangtag ManuQ I had so I'll be going back today to do a post coupon and get $1 cash back for it.  After that this transaction will have cost me $6.89.....less than the clearance price of the humidifier.  I'll take it.

As for Rite-Aid Black Friday shopping this year....it was insane!  True there were very few freebies(things that earned you back equivalent funds in Bonus Cash)but instead of a "Spend $40 on stuff in the BF ad/Get $10 back in Bonus Cash" coupon of 2019, there was a "Spend $50 on anything in the store/Get $15 back in Bonus Cash" coupon.  And this was on top of anything that already gave you Bonus Cash in that purchase.
Plus there was a stacking weekly/monthly Deal on the Zim's Max Freeze pain relief.  During the BF sale it was $8 and gave back $7 in BC(limit 2)plus there was a $5 monthly deal on 1(limit 4)so if you bought 2 you paid $16 but you got back $24 in BC(and it tracked toward your spend $50/Get $15 BC too.  The Compeed was a great deal on Thursday(especially if you had the ManuQs-I did not-and there were Ibotta rebates).  Also the almost or free Colgate toothpaste had Ibotta rebates which made them large moneymakers until Ibotta pulled those rebates as well. 

Then me and a bunch of people who are die-hard Rite-Aid fans figured out that there were TWO different Spend $50/Get $15 in BC coupons-one in the weekly ad and one in the Black Friday ad and they had different bar codes so you could use one Q on a transaction of $50 and then use the other one on another transaction. So there was double opportunity to get free BC this year. 8-)))

On Thursday I ran up to Rite-Aid early in the morning to do the Home Despot gift card deal on each card....Spend $100 Get $20 in Bonus Cash.  I do this gift card every BF sale because we spend $$ at HD on house stuff anyway so why not get the deal and have basically free Bonus Cash to play with?

I also did 2 transactions on Thursday, spent at least $50-one on my card and one on Hubs' card and used a $50/Get $15 Coupon on each transaction.

Back again on Friday and/or Saturday after the $20 from the Home Despot gift cards kicked into the accounts and did another transaction on each card, using the BF ad Spend $50/Get $15 Qs.

Here is everything I got on my card during those 3 days of the BF sale.........

I used a total of $121.11 in Bonus Cash for all this.
I earned a total of $104 back in new Bonus Cash, a $5 Catalina for buying the 7th Gen laundry detergent and $8.65 in Ibotta rebates($5 Compeed, $2 Colgate, $1.55 cereal, .10¢ any item).
After all was said and done I was "down" $3.46 for these transactions.

And here is everything purchased with Hubs' card.........

I used a total of $95 in Bonus Cash for all this.
I earned a total of $100 back in new Bonus Cash, a $5 Catalina for buying the 7th Gen laundry detergent and $5.50 in Ibotta rebates($2 on each Listerine item, $3 on each Purex item and a .50¢ Listerine Bonus).
After all was said and done I was "up" $15.50 for these transactions.

I ended up finishing up the Spend $30/Get $10 BC PandG Deal on Hubs' card(the Tide, Pantene and multi pack Oral-B toothbrushes above).   I hit 3 different Rite-Aids over the course of the 3 days in order to finish up/find what I wanted.  I had to go to a bigger store to find the coffee Monster drinks for Ex-CB and to find another set of Conair/Scunci freebies and Baby Ruth candy bars.  My store had very few of these things and started Thursday with no Baby Ruth bars but the bigger store was still loaded with much more on Friday.

On Saturday I went to CVS after debating on whether to go or not during the BF sale there.  I didn't have any ECBs expiring until 12/11 but what the heck. ;-)

We get take-out from Applebee's as it's one of the few restaurants still open here so I did the gift card deal(would spend cash there anyway so why not earn $25 in ECBs to get some stuff?).

I wasn't there to get any gift sets or other giftie deals, I wanted to get the freebies after ECBs and practical stuff for us.

The Colgate, cleansing wipes and CVS Acetaminophen were free after ECBs.
Unfortunately I didn't have that BOGO or B1G2F Babo TP CRT so that cost me $7.99 for both packs after ECBs and BOGO sale but that's ok by me.
The razor was .99¢, the toothbrush was an .81¢ moneymaker, the Joah cosmetic items were $2.98 for both, and the Eucerin was $8.98 for both after all Qs, CRTs and ECBs earned back.  There was also .31¢ off (40% off of one item)but I can't tell which one from my receipt. lol

I rolled $46 in ECBs and earned back $43.19 in new ECBs including a $3 Beauty Buck(plus I have an older $5 ECB left)so I didn't spend my ECBs down at all in the end darn it!  CVS has me in their snare.....argh

I spent $3.85 OOP also on all this(not including the gift card)besides all the Extra Care Buck action.

Then on the way home from CVS I stopped into Dollar General to see what deal I could make up using the $5 off $25 Saturday Q.......

I had a $3/2 Vaseline IPQ and 2 x $2/1 DentaLife dog treats ManQs but otherwise all the other Qs used were DG digital ones.

I spent $5.97(.22¢ was sales tax)OOP for everything, a savings of $26 according to my receipt.  rah.

Not a bad haul to finish off all the Black Friday weekend shopping madness. 8-)

Did you get any good shopping deals during the Black Friday weekend?

Tell us all about it!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the November 27th Edition on Sunday

  Here's what passed to frugal around Chez Sluggy this past week.  Let's get to it!

*  I forgot to mention that I got this the previous week at the Freeosk in Walmart....

A Twinings tea bag. rah.  I generally hit the Freeosk when we go there but 95% of the time it's out of samples.  I got lucky that week. lolz

*  I hit CVS this week to spend ECBs on Saturday and get some freebies.....

After paying for the gift card(and earning $25 ECB)I ended up with $3.87 OOP and I have over $45 in ECBs now.

I hit R-A too........once on the 24th and then over and over again during the 3 day Black Friday sale.  More on that in it's own post later this week.

*  I had a $5 off $25 RA Q I used on Tuesday.  Forgot to use a Q so got this as a "post coupon" on Wednesday......

*  The Coupons dotcom the app had 2 rebates when you bought Jet-Puff marshmallows and another for Cool Whip, one was for $2.50 the other for $2.00.  I bought both items at the restaurant supply store(not sure they'd honor the offer since it wasn't a "grocery" store)and I got the $4.50 in rebates on Thanksgiving day.  Both items combined cost me $2.49 OOP so a nice moneymaker.  The marshmallows are being saved for Wintertime cocoa drinking not for sweet potato casserole since we don't make that dish and if we did we wouldn't put marshmallows on it. ;-)

*  On Tuesday this arrived in the mail....

My CareGiver/Spend $25 Get a $10 prepaid Card.  Of course I didn't actually "spend" $25 since I got everything at Rite-Aid to qualify for this. ;-)

*  I got 2 freebies at Weis this past week.  I had over 500 reward points so I used 400 to get a free family sized Lasagna and then 100 to get a turkey breast at a discounted rate(.49¢ a lb.? I don't remember.).  You earn 1 point for every $ you spend there on groceries and such OR you can do a survey every 7 days and earn 100 points at a pop.  You know me so you know I did 3 surveys in November so 300 of my 500+ points were earned from surveys not spending money.  Score!

BTW-the lasagna was pretty bland so we'll jazz it up when I serve it as a leftover.  The turkey breast went into the freezer for later this Winter.

*  I've been getting very cheap cheese blocks this month at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

They've been running a special if you buy at least 2 packages of Cracker Barrel you get them for $2 a block.  Ibotta has had an offer most of the month for a $1.50 rebate on each Cracker Barrel block(limit 5 offers until it resets).  That makes each block of cheese .50¢ after sale and rebate.

It reset again so I'll run to Weis later today and get 5 more blocks. Now I have to figure out some meals using all this cheese. ;-)

*  My doctor recommended that I get a new BiPAP machine since mine is 7 years old.  Since I've hit my insurance deductible for the year and my DME company wrote it as a purchase and not a rental I got a new machine and the insurance company paid for it in full.  Nothing out of pocket on my end.  This machine goes for over $1800 so I was stoked about that.

*  I found money!

On Nov. 23nd I found a penny in front of the register counter at Rite-Aid.  My friend there, the Assistant Manager said there's a stack of change someone left outside on the ledge of the building under a window.  Went outside and found that .12¢ too!

That made .13¢ for the day/stop.

I hit the jackpot on Nov. 24th at Aldi.  I don't know but maybe everyone was in such a hurry with Thanksgiving shopping that they didn't take their quarters out of the cart slots when they returned their carts.  And these were carts deep in the line of carts(10 carts in or so), not ones left loose at the end or near the line of returned carts for someone to snag without using a quarter.

If last week was the Week of Dimes, this week's theme is the Week of Quarters. ;-)

Then when I went back in to get a refund on the 2 butters I was overcharged for(limit was 6 so no way I bought 8 but the receipt said I paid for 8), I found a dime on the floor while I waited for the Manager to come out and take care of the mistake.

Later that same day I found a nickel at Rite-Aid......

I opened my car door and it was sitting there in the parking lot.

Total Found $ This Week....$1.28
Total Found $ So Far This Year....$52.53

*  We hit the restaurant supply store on the 24th.  They had these cans of Libby brand pumpkin(the size that makes 2 pies)for $2.99.  Not a great price.

So we bought one of these #10 cans of pumpkin instead(between the creamed corn and the pumpkin pie spice blend to the right of the photo).....

For just $1 more($3.99)I got enough pulp to make 4 pumpkin pies and that only used half of the can!  I divided up the rest of the can into two Ziploc baggies and put them into the freezer for Christmas or whenever.

8 pies for $3.99 vs. 2 pies for $2.99 will win in my book every time. 8-)

That's about it from here this week.

Any frugal wins at your house this past week?
Let us know all about them so we can celebrate your wins too!

Sluggy