Mailbox Surprises: Target Beauty Bag

I received this little gift from Target yesterday in the mail. I had submitted for it months ago when I first started being a "extreme couponer" All the other bloggers had reported receiving theirs so I assumed I was SOL. Before whenever I used to try and get those little beauty giveaways I would always be the last to know and miss out. Now I'm connected to the freebie matrix I've had ALOT more success.

The best part about this freebie is the bag. Its a nice quality lined little cosmetics bag and came at the perfect time as I was hunting around for something to put my eye pencils and mascaras in. Problem solved! The coupon booklet was disappointing. Not because the coupons weren't goo but because they expire in 2 weeks. Sadness :( . The samples were a 5pk of Ponds Cleansing Wipes. Always useful. A sample of John Frieda's Full Repair Shampoo and Conditioner. Probably more excited about the attached coupon though it's actually printed on an empty foil packet. I know the cashier I present that one to will be like Huh? There are also samples of Tressemme and Garnier and a sample of L'Oreal's Youth Code. Have wanted to try there creams but they don't have the super coupon deals like Olay does.

All in all a nice little mailbox surprise.

Got a dirty mouth? Clean it up!

Now when I first started using coupons one of my goals was to find a good deal on whitening strips for your teeth. I had first started to use them when they came out several years ago and the price was reasonable but then they started to add more claims and features I started buying them less and less as the price when up and up. I  think a set of white strips costs now between $35-50. Even with a $10 coupon that is pricey especially since I don't do the full course but just use one here and there to just lift the surface stains off. I've heard there are trial packs of the white strips but I've never seen them.

The night before I found this deal I had had a coupon dream about finding a killer deal on Crest White Strips. So you can imagine my delight at discovering that the Krazy Coupon Lady had posted a deal to get a 7 day supply of white strips for free. The deal was that you signed up as a new customer of SaveMore.com and they gave you a $10 credit. Then under the daily deals was a deal from Smile Bright for a 7 day supply of white strips for $7 ( normally $29 ). Use your $10 credit and they were free. If its free it's me.

Now this deal wasn't without it's hassles. I received my order on 11/1/11 but the order was originally placed on 9/9/11 so 8 weeks for the product to arrive and I had to contact Smile Bright several times and eventually had to contact SaveMore to ensure I got my order. Based on that alone I would not reorder. Also the strips come in very plain unmarked packaging. I'm sure they will work just the same maybe better but if you love fancy packaging this may not be the deal for you.

BOGO's and Coupons and +Up's OH MY!

My favorite type of couponing are the more subtle deals. The ones that require combing this sale and that coupon and getting that incentive or rebate. The type of bargain hunting the average person can't or won't do.

The weekly sale at Rite Aid starts on Friday in Southern California and often the big coupon matchup sites don't have their drugstore matches up until late Saturday but I wanted to shop today so I had to make my own deals. The early start usually gives me a chance to use coupons that expire before Sunday which is a nice perk

 This week select Gillette and Old Spice Bodywashes, sprays and deodorants are on sale BOGO50% which for those of you not familiar with the slang means Buy One at full price Get One 50% off. There is also another promotion which is spend $50 on select P&G products get $15 +UP's back. I had some $2/1 Gillette Bodywash, $2/1 Gillette Deodorant, $2/1 Old Spice Body Spray and $1/1 Any Old Spice Product coupons that expire 10/31. So I wanted to put them to good use.

Now Rite Aid has a coupon policy that only lets you use 4 like coupons per transaction and the register will actually beep at the cashier when they try to scan more than 4 so you can't be sneaky and try and sneak an extra coupon or two through. Now my cashiers at my local Rite Aid know this and will ask you if you want to do multiple transactions which is why I like that location. I don't actually ever DO multiple transactions but it' nice to have the option. I had preplanned my trip to only use 4 of each coupon as the P&G coupons have wording on them that limits them to 4 like coupons per shopping trip and I like to honor that where possible.

I bought 4 Gillette Body Washes, 4 Gillette Deodorants, 4 Old Spice Body Sprays and 2 Old Spice Body Washes. I had $2/1 coupons for everything except the Old Spice Body Wash which I used the $1/1 ANY Old Spice product coupons on. All of them were $4.99 regular retail which makes the math really easy. The regular retail price was $69.86. With the BOGO50% the precoupon/tax total was $52.36 which was enough to trigger the spend $50 get $15 deal. After coupons the total was $26.36. I used a $15 +UP from last week. Paid $11.36 + tax in cash and got a $15 +UP to replace the one I spent.

An 84% savings over regular retail price. Now of course the bargain doesn't stop there. Each bodywash came with a free mini deodorant. These travel sized deodorants normally sell for about $1 at Target so thats another $6 in retail value. If I had done separate transactions and not gotten the Old Spice Body Wash and gotten another 2 of the products I had $2/1 coupons for I would have gotten change from a $10 bill.

I'm happy with the deal I got though 20 items for $12 thats 60c each which is my buy price for premium body wash and deodorant. Besides I'm an Old Spice girl. Don Coupon will be smelling good for a good while to come.

Even Squirrels Love Coupons!

Filmed this little guy outside my apartment. I was being frugal and licking the last remains of the peanut butter from the jar. Then through the corner of my eye I see this squirrel barreling down the driveway making a beeline for my door. He stood outside sniffing. I put the jar outside to see what would happen.

The Skippy Peanut Butter was naturally purchased with a coupon I think I paid about 50c for the jar. Secret Squirrel appreciated and approved of my purchase! Maybe he'd like to try the Planters next time.

Tell me a story...

I'm a sucker for a good story. A color story that is.

To quote Mary Lisa Gavenas 

"A story. That's what women get when they come to the beauty counter. A parable that takes strange, scary styles and explains them as something any women can own and wear. A diversion, an amusement, a distraction from woes and worries. A fantasy, a fable, a romance with a role for them to play"

With couponing to get the best deals on makeup you have to buy multiples of single items. Blushes or lipsticks or eye shadows. To get the whole story, the whole package will cost you a whole lot more. But let's face it we crave the story. We can't look like the model and live the fantasy like but you can wear the lipstick.

I wanted to see if I COULD buy the whole story and see how much I would save. I KNEW I wouldn't get it down to free but I could keep the OOP down and with using drugstore rewards maybe not pay any cash out of pocket.

Color stories are usually consisted of a few lipsticks a light one, a dark one and a crazy one and warm and cool eye shadows and sometimes matching blushes and eyeliners/mascaras. I'm normally inspired by the eye shadows and that's usually what I buy assuming I can match it up with a lipstick when I get home. I used to end up with eye shadows and no lipstick and no blush or only lip glosses.

 I was originally inspired by the L'Oreal Project Runway Fanciful Fowls collection and in particular the Watchful Owl color way. Color stories don't tend to stay on the store floor very long. Stock is limited so despite this collection being heavily advertised in all the Rite-Aid flyer's this month it was no where to be found in store.

I had seen it in store at CVS but Rite Aid had the far better deal this week with all L'Oreal being Buy One Get One 50% off PLUS $15 +UP rewards when you spend $50 before coupons. I DID end up buying two color collections. The "Color of Hope" collection. This collection is produced every year in support of ovarian cancer and L'Oreal donates $1 for each item purchased from the collection. The collection itself consisted only of eyeshadow palettes and lipsticks. I got the warm palette "Nostalgic Beauty" and the cool palette "Sentimental Splendor" and two lipsticks "Faithful" and Courageous" I chose what I thought were complementary blushes and a grey and brown eyeliners which I think are more wearable than black.

For coupons I had several $1/1 any L'Oreal Cosmetic, $1/1 any L'Oreal Eyeshadow and $2/1 any Blush. I also had a Rite Aid Video Values Coupon for $2/1  Color Riche Lipstick. With all the coupons and +UP I had from last weeks deals I paid $22.83 with taxes and got $15 +UP back. Not bad for 2 "stories"

Just dab a quarter sized amount on.

A quarter sized checkout that is as in 25c.

I really like taking good care of my skin and Sephora has traditionally been my first stop for my skin care needs but when you think about it Sephora's whole concept is to have a drug store like feel where you can browse or shop without the sales people getting in the way. Or it used to be. I remember the first Sephora's so nice and clean, it was fun to sample and play but now they have too many makeup artists annoying you and the displays are alway s empty and grotty dirty that it doesn't really make me want to buy. That and my coach wallet has a hole in it.

So as part of my savings adventure it makes sense to see how far my skin dollars can go. I have been buying my Retin-A from Mexico for years so I'm not stranger to skin care adventure.

Everything you see was purchased for 23c + tax cash OOP. I DID use some ECB/+UP/ so if you were to recreate these hauls without any ECB or +UP's banked up You might pay $15 for over $100 worth of skin care products. In addition to only paying 25c out of pocket I received back $10+UP from Rite Aid $10 ECB from CVS and $10 CVS Beauty Bucks.

The first transaction at CVS I did I picked up the Lumene Anti-Puffiness Roll-on Eye Serum. It was on clearance for $2.10 and I used a $4 off Lumene coupon. The coupon should have been adjusted down but was not and the overage applied to the rest of my transaction.

The second transaction at CVS was the Lumene deal. Spend $20 get $5ECB I bought the Lumene Radiant Touch Toner and the Arctic Touch Deep Cleaning Peat Mask. Both were $11.79 each and I used a $4/1 coupon on each.

The third transaction was at Rite Aid. The sale was buy one get one 50% and then also buy $30 get $10+UP. Then you could submit for the $10 Olay rebate  as well. I used the $3/1 any Regenerist Moisturizer or Cleanser coupons. This was the transaction that was 23c OOP. The other two came out a zero balance.

 If you just wanted to buy moisturizer you could use the $10/2 coupon thats for the more expensive moisturizer only. It would be $35 for 2 of the moisturizers -$10/2  plus submit for the rebate and get the $10 +UPs so $5 for 2 expensive moisturizers.

For a money maker you could buy 6 of the $7.99 cleansers and use 6 of the $3/1 coupons and receive the +UPs and the rebate for a $3MM. You'd have to do two transaction because of the P&G limit and Rite Aid's own limit 4 of each kind of coupon.

My last transaction was a MM transaction and a zero balance before taxes even without ECB. I have two CVS cards so I was able to get the Lumene deal twice. These little pots were $3.99 each and I had a $4/1 coupons. Now the coupon DID say they were not to be used on trial products but I researched and it seemed this company makes an even smaller pot that is the trial size and that others had not had any problems using thing coupon on this item. So due diligence done and my CVS had no problem with them and if they had I wouldn't have fought them on it.

So my total was -.05 before taxes plus I received $5 ECB making it a $5MM. It also triggered me over for another $5 Beauty ECB.

Not bad for a budding frugalista.

The Green Bag Tag

In my haste I forgot to mention the third reason I love CVS: The Green Bag Tag.

The way it works is pretty simple. You buy one for  $1. They are available at the checkout counter where the CVS giftcards are usually kept. The cashier will scan it every time you make a purchase and decline a plastic bag. You can either use your own bag : reusable, recycled plastic, paper etc type doesn't matter OR just hand carry your items out. For ever 4 scans you will receive $1 ECB so 25c a transaction.

Fine print: You can only get the credit once per card per day. Picking up prescriptions count which is good since they come in their own bag. If you a shopping with a friend you can both use the same green bag tag as they are not tied to a particular card.

I keep mine on my keychain so I never forget it.