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Archive for April, 2012

March free stuff

April 2nd, 2012 at 09:33 pm

Month # of items Value of items
Jan 105 310.10
Feb 108 448.23
Mar 106 179.53

Total 319 927.88

I got a fair number of free items in March, but they weren't worth as much as the 2 previous months. Here's what I got...

1 $10 Walgreens gift card 10.00
2 $5 Amazon gift cards 10.00
4 4 oz tubes Colgate toothpaste 12.00
4 4 oz cans Geisha mushrooms 2.36
1 Burt's Bees daily moisturizer sample 0.50
2 Life Choice cereal bars 1.56
1 Vaseline lotion .3 oz 0.97
1 Arm and Hammer 60 ct laundry tabs 7.94
4 ct Sundown fish oil capsules 1.00
2 Metamucil samples 0.99
1 Crest oral rinse 1.22 oz 1.00
1 Redbox movie 1.20
2 4 oz tubes Colgate toothoaste 6.00
2 2 oz ReNu contact lens solution 2.94
2 doz Walmart eggs 1.76
1 Palmer's cocoa butter for men sample 1.00
4 2.6 oz Right Guard + 2 oz body wash 8.98
1 large symphony bar 1.50
1 lancome 7-day sample Genifique youth 3.00
2 6 packs Zevia soda 7.00
1 letter opener 1.00
1 jar opener 1.00
1 magnet clip 1.00
1 pack of Simple facial wipes 5.49
1 3 pack Dentyne 2.00
2 Mederma scar cream for kids 4.00
1 Sample Simple laundry detergent 1.00
1 Reviat Lens contact solution 1.00
1 free pen 0.50
1 Simple face cleaner sample 1.00
1 2 ct Nordic Naturals omega 3 pills 1.00
1 Tums freshers sample 1.00
1 Purex sample 1.00
8 mars easter bunnies 4.00
2 Reach floss 2.00
2 Emergen-C samples 1.00
1 pack Stride gum 1.29
4 22 ct Carefree 3.76
1 10 ct Breathe Right 4.82
1 $5 Target gift card 5.00
1 bunch celery 1.09
1 free month Hulu plus 7.99
4 Mars easter bunnies 2.00
2 Suave conditioner 1.96
3 Starkist tuna 7.77
3 22 ct Carefree 2.92
2 Nivea lip balm 1.98
1 Revitalens contact lens solution sample 1.00
1 Oatmeal squares sample 1.00
2 $5 Safeway OYNO coupons 10.00
1 Gevalia coffee sample 1.00
4 days Starz network 2.50
4 Snickers peanut bars 8.76
1 Garnier Fructis shampoo sample 1.00
1 Fekkai shampoo and conditioner sample 1.00
3 4 oz tubes Colgate toothpaste 3.00

I got several more free items today as well as .90/gal savings on gas. I had .90 cents off Safeway gas from last month. They tripled my gas points. So I spent $300 in groceries and gift cards and got 9 gas points. I spent $2.86/gal and filled up my tank and 2 5 gallon cans for just over $60.

I pruned my coupon organizer and saw I had 2 more Colgate toothpaste coupons that will expire this month so went to King Soopers and got 2 more free to donate.

At Walgreens I got 3 Milky Way bunnies for free with coupon and gave them to my mom.

At Walgreens I also did several deals that have multiple layers. Kelloggs frequently has overlapping deals. Right now they have a rebate buy 10 boxes of cereal and get a $10 gas card back.

Walgreens has Rice Krispies on sale buy 2/$5 get $2 RR back.

I had coupons for $1/2 boxes of cereal and get a free large bag of M&Ms when you buy 2 Rice Krispies. They had 2 kinds of M&Ms, one kind had 10% more in the bags, so of course I got those.

So I did 4 transactions and need to do one more later this week to qualify for the $10 gas card.

5.00 - 2 boxes Rice Krispies
3.59 - 1 bag with 10% extra M&Ms
----
8.59
-1.00 - $1/2 Rice Krispie coupon
-3.59 - M&M coupon
-----
4.00 paid
-2.00 - RR to use on my next order
-2.00 - gas card rebate
-----
FREE eventually

All the cereal will be donated. The M&Ms go to my nieces.

I finished reading my book Viel of Night by Linda Howard. Romance - very good.

A year of coupons

April 1st, 2012 at 08:55 pm

ytd = April 1 2011 - March 31, 2012
Coupon total ytd = 2,269.18
RX total = 476.32
Discounted Gift Cards = 227.12
Total = 2,972.62

I started tracking my coupon use last April 1st. I also started tracking the gift cards I got for transferring prescriptions and the amount of money I saved from buying discounted gift cards. I ended up saving just under $3000 for the year. It was an interesting experiment, but I won't continue to track these items.

One of my goals this year is to average my food budget at $200/month. So far I hadn't done so well and was way over the first 2 months of the year. This month I spent $101.49, so that should help bring the average more in line.

My networth for the first quarter increased by almost 3%. That's pretty good.

I finished reading the library book The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel. Historical fiction - very good.