Deal Day!

Saved 72.6% Retail Price: 61.68 / My Price: 16.90

What this picture doesn't show is that on top of only spending 16.90, I earned 16.94 in ECB or UpRewards

Quick rundown of savings:
Rite Aid: 4 pk GE light bulbs, regularly priced 3.99 each.  On sale for 1.99 each.  Earn 1.99 in UpRewards (basically a gift card) for each one purchased - limit of 6.  I bought 6 - 4pks, used $11 in previously earned UpRewards and paid $1.  Took home 11.94 in UpRewards to use on my next shopping trip!  That's what we call rolling the savings over!

CVS: Transaction #1 - Crest Pro Health mouthwash, regularly priced 5.79.  On sale for 3.99.  Earn 3.99 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB).  Paid 4.23 in cash, earned 3.99 in ECB. 
Transaction #2 - 5 - Coke 12pks, regularly priced 5.69 each.  On sale for 5 for $15 or $3 a piece. Used 3.99 in ECB's from first purchase to bring my total down to 11.67.  Paid 11.67 and  earned $5 in ECB for purchase next week.

Now here's the story behind the shopping trip this morning:
Had a bit of an embarrassing moment this morning - it all ended in good deals, but still - I feel I must share.  I woke up this morning a little panicked because we fell asleep last night with the electric blanket still on.  Blanket was WARM, but everything was fine.  After that moment of panic, I was up.  After establishing that the house/bed was not on fire, my mind quickly went to what deals I didn't want to miss today.  My list was short, but I knew there would be limited items.  The last few weekends I've gotten there late in the day on Sunday or later in the week and have missed some great deals because of my tardiness - today that was going to change!

So I head out from the house at about 8:10, drive 15-20 minutes up the road to Middletown where Rite Aid and CVS are both located (2 birds, 1 stone).  Notice how empty the rite aid parking lot is and think to myself... oh yeah, we live in Pennsyltucky - I bet they are closed for church or something.  I drive by the front doors, scope out that it does open at 9 and decide to head to CVS and do my shopping there first.  On my way to CVS I think to myself - CVS will be open because it's a national chain - catering to those even outside of Pennsyltucky.  Drive up to the CVS and come to an empty lot... same thing - 9am.  Ugh!  Now I'm in Middletown, no where to go and 25 minutes to kill.  So I stop at the sketchy 7-11 and pick up a paper.  I would have bought the Lancaster one, but since I had crossed over into Dauphin county, I guess they were only selling the Patriot.... I was a bit disappointed.  Pay the guy $2 and move on.  So I'm in my car trying to decide where to go for the last 20 minutes.  Decide it's back to the Rite Aid parking lot to wait and read the paper - completely ignoring the fact that I have a perfectly good Sunday paper with ads and coupons sitting at home (Lancaster version).

So the store manager that is opening up is eyeing me sitting in the parking lot.  She probably thinks I'm casing the joint because I'm in my lovely wool hat that I shop in every Sunday morning, black work out pants and a much too big sweatshirt - yep, I look classy.  Eye drops did not make it in my eyes this morning - so I look high to say the least.  We play the staring game for about 15 minutes and at 9am, I get out of car to go in.  My clock said 9am.... hers must of said 8:59, because she waited.  At this point I think to myself, "self, you've reached a new low... you're in pennsyltucky - dressed like a pennsyltuckian - all for some free light bulbs?  I mean really, really???"

Anyway, she opens the door and I get in - First customer in the door... beating down the crowd behind me.  Okay, nope - no crowd.  That crowd was still probably at church or in bed, but still - I felt the NEED to be there (For anyone that knows our comedy show/early ticket moment from St. Louis 4 years ago... this experience should sound familiar).  I get my 6 packs of light bulbs for $1 and move on down the road to CVS.  CVS is a much less traumatic event - mouthwash and 5 - 12pks. usually don't put up much of a fight.

Here's the best part... remember that Patriot Newspaper I bought from the sketchy 7-11?  It was LOADED with different coupons compared to what the Lancaster paper had to offer today.  One that I'm very excited about is $4 off the dog food that we use for Bentley.  It's on sale for $5 off this week at pet smart + the $4 off coupon means BIG Savings!  Already the trip to the 7-11 has paid off, and there were a ton more coupons.  Going through this paper when I got home, I thought about all the other great coupons I might have missed.  I read online about the deals coming out in the circulars, and more often than not, the Lancaster paper doesn't have them all (this week was a perfect example).  I've been using online printable coupons, but I think it might be time to upgrade to a weekend subscription of the Patriot.  Currently, I'm only subscribing to 1 Lancaster paper.  The thought of cutting coupons from 4-6 inserts a week makes me cringe, but for the right deal, I might be able to handle 2.  The Patriot has a free 2 week subscription on their website, so as of an hour ago - I'm signed up for that.  I'll report back on whether or not the extra investment is worth it - I'm thinking it's going to be!

Last week was a good cooking week - I'm in the process of creating my weekly menu now.  Will update after my trip to the store later this afternoon (I'm banking on it being a slow afternoon/evening at the store because of the football games... I love not caring about that!).