Winter is coming…and we need that meat!

OK, so we don’t need the meat.  And it’s the end of July.  But that’s my favorite, much repeated line from that show Alaska, the Last Frontier.  No matter what season it is, or what the story line is..someone says that line.  If I were in college still, that would be a fantastic drinking game.  But alas..I’m not and the last time I had alcohol a Bush was in the White House.  But it IS time to build up the couponing stockpile.

It’s been just about a year since I started teaching myself extreme couponing and after an all out shopping frenzy last summer, I had us pretty well stocked for the winter.  As a matter of fact, I over-did on a lot of items I misjudged our use of.  And it really was a blessing not to have to schlep to the grocery store every other night or so to pick up toilet paper, or hamburger, or whatever we were out of.  It spoiled me.  So this last week, I started to get serious about it again so we can have another nice, shelf-filled winter.

Target, as always, was my starting point last week with lots of goodies to satisfy my hoarder tendencies lead off with.  This deal was actually about two weeks ago and ran thru the 12th of the month.  Head and Shoulders shampoo was on sale, buy 3 get a $5 gift card.  They were almost $5 in our store, but Target’s online price was $2.48 and I took 6 right to the customer service desk to price match the lowest price.  I used a $5/2 MQ for every 3 and received a $5 gc each time making them free.  I did the deal twice that week netting 12 free bottles and $10 in gift cards…free!

On the 18th, I stocked up at Target again..this time on my Coffee Mate creamers.  Anytime I can get these for under a dollar, I grab as many as I can.  I drink a lot lot lot of coffee and this is my go-to brand.  On sale for $1.99, used a $1/1 MQ making them each 99 cents.  I did this 12 times during the week.  They go right into the freezer in the garage and are ever so lovely.

I was running low on Downy Unstopables, (this is there spelling, not mine) which I am totally addicted to.  I use them in the laundry, in the ashtray of my car, in my Scentsy warmers in the house..smells soooo good and I got them for super cheap that week.  Target had been having a Tide Oxi sale and for whatever reasons, the shelves were never restocked after the first day of the sale.  I had 10 coupons b1g1 coupons from Tide for it and they expired in 2 days.  Since I was never going to get to use them on that sale, our store manager said I could substitute another Proctor and Gamble item that was on sale that week and I used one of my Tide Oxi b1g1 free coupons on 3 of the large bottles of the Unstopables.  They were on sale for $9.79 and I used 2 $2/1 mq’s on the Downy as well as a Cartwheel discount.  My b1g1 coupon took off the full $12.99 value of the Tide Oxi and the deal generated a $10 gift card as well.  Cha-ching!  About $2 for all 3 after gift card.  AND Proctor and Gamble has a $10 rebate when you spend $30 that I submitted!  Woohoo!

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Then last week I hit Shaw’s for 4 free bottles of Suave shampoo..on sale for $1 and I used 4 50 cent off MQ’s that doubled.  I also got 8 half gallons of Turkey Hill iced tea and lemonade for 50 cents each.  These also freeze well.  They were on sale for $1 and I used 8 (2 different days that week..remember, Shaw’s will only double 4 “like” coupons in a shopping trip) 50 cents off 1 MQ’s.  Hood ice cream and ice cream treats were $1.99 as part of their 3 day sale and I used 2 $1/2 coupons making 4 half gallons that I bought $1.49 each.  I really liked that deal.  Mmmmm….ice cream.

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Then I hit Walgreens on Sunday for their Tide deal.  Buy 4 bottles of Tide on sale for $4.99 and one bottle of Dawn dish soap for .99.  Use 4 $2/1 MQ’s for Tide and one .25/1 for the Dawn.  When you spend $20 on the Tide, you get 5,000 Balance Reward points to use on your next purchase, which is $5, and the Dawn is free as part of the deal!  After your coupons and Reward points, less than $2 a bottle for the Tide.  I will do this 2 more times this week before the sale ends for a total of 12 Tides and 3 free Dawn!

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Also at Wags this week, eggs are 99 cents and there is a 50 cent credit on Checkout 51, making them 49 cents for a dozen!  I love egg salad in the summer and Mark will eat eggs every day of the week, so this is a great price to get 4 or 5 cartons.

Now..again at Walgreens, the Butterball turkey bacon is on sale for 99 cents and with a 75 cent MQ I got 4 of them for 24 cents each.  Now normally I would be rejoicing about anything with the word “bacon” in it at 24 cents.  Bacon croutons, bacon bits, bacon gum..I love bacon.  But this…this abomination of thing I love so dearly…suffice it to say that I’m glad I only bought 4 instead of going crazy.  Imagine a brown piece of construction paper cut into a bacon sized strip.  Now drop that paper into a fry pan and fry it.  Same thing.  Now if I were told by my doctor that I could never have bacon again and this stuff was my only choice?  Not even then.   Word.  True story,  I made it for breakfast Monday morning and when I went in to wake up Mad, she said, “What’s that disgusting smell?”.  That’s the end of our foray outside of the bacon norm.

Finally back to Target on Monday.  Secret deodorants buy 3 at $3.79, get a $5 gift card.  Used 1 $4/3 MQ from the 7/6 P&G insert and that took it down to $7.37.  After gift card, it was like paying $2.37 for all 3, or 79 cents each!  And I love the new Outlast..stink-free for 48 hours!  I did this deal 3 separate times to get 9 total.

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I shuffled over to the men’s anti-stink aisle and scored big on Old Spice deodorant.  Buy 3 at $2.69 each, get a $5 gift card.  Total was $8.07, I used 3 $1/1 MQ’s, which left me at $5.07.  After getting my $5 gc it’s like paying 7 cents for all 3.  I will do this many more times this week.

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Then on to razors!  Because no one likes lumberjack legs on a woman.  Or maybe you do..but you guys are so weird, nothing surprises me at this point.  Bic Soleil Bella razors, 3 pack.  Buy 4 Bic Soleil Bella Razors, 3 ct $4.99, regular price.  I had to have them price matched because they were ringing up $6.29 in our store.  Buy Three Get One Free through 9/7.  I used 3 $3/1 MQ’s and 1 $1/1 Target q and used 1 $1/1 Target Mobile Coupon taking it down to $3.97 for all 4 or about 33 cents per razor.  

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Phew!  That’s it little chickens!  It’s been a busy couple of weeks and it’s just going to keep getting better!  I need TP, paper towels, canned goods..so much shopping ahead of us!  I see many iced coffees, pee breaks and coupons in my future!  Remember, all 80’s all the time, lots of laughs and lots of money to be saved!  Ready?

 

Allyson Sorenson

About Allyson Sorenson

Bangor mom. BDN blogger. Volvo lover. Coffee drinker.