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During the month of October 2006, I brought $200+ worth of free items into my home PLUS I had other savings that I took advantage of. Now, you are wondering how I do this. Well, I shop at Walgreens and buy the items in their Easy Saver monthly catalog that are free after rebate. I can have the check mailed to me or I can even earn an additional 10% if I let the money rebate go onto a gift card. CVS has a program called Extra Care Bucks. I purchase items that give me coupons to use in the store. These coupons are available 48 hours after my purchase. Rite-Aid also has a Single Check rebate program. I like their program because it is all handled online. Unlike Walgreens, I don't have to mail my rebate request in. Here are the items that I picked up:
~ FREE AFTER REBATE ~
CVS
Fructis hair gel $3.99
V05 hair spray $3.77
Samy shampoo $5.97
Act mouthwash $4.77
Oral-B Battery-powered toothbrush $5.97 (hoping to get my son to brush more!)
4 pk BIC disposable razors $5.00
Kotex $3.97
Dove conditioner $3.99
Colgate toothpaste $2.77 (+ .75 coupon)
Purell hand sanitizer $3.00
Playtex $4.97 (+2.50 coupon)
Pantene shampoo/conditioner $3.97
$10 worth of Benefiber or Maalox
$20 worth of Vitamins
"Over the Hedge" DVD paid for with $20 gift card that I received for filling a prescription at the CVS pharmacy
Rite-Aid
Colgate toothbrush $2.49
cleansing cloths $3.99
Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold $3.99
Children's Tylenol Cold $5.00 (+ $1.00 coupon)
Ice Taps $3.99
Cough Supress $2.99
Sniffles & Sneezes $4.99
Rolaids Soft Chews $2.99 (+ $1.00 coupon)
Kashi cereal $1.99
Oral-B Toothbrush $2.79
Sinus cleansing kit $7.99
Walgreens
cold lozenges $4.99
no-cold meds $5.99
Mylanta $7.99
Oral-B toothbrush $4.49
Activ-On Muscle analgesic $9.99
Fructis Shampoo $6.99
Playtex $5.99
Make-up $14.99
Total FREE - over $200!!
~ NEARLY FREE AFTER REBATE ~
Rite-Aid
Airwick - about .50 after rebates/coupon
Electrasol - $.99 after rebate
Lysol $.99 after rebate
Walgreens
TheraFlu $.99 after $3.00 store coupon
~ NOT FREE, BUT GOOD DEALS ~
Rite-Aid
makeup $6.50 after $10 rebate
Walgreens
-Glade candles and plug-ins - $6 for 8 items after $10 rebate and $4.00 in coupons (I buy the candles and melt them in my candle warmer!)
-automatic shower cleaner kit $7.99 after $10 rebate and $5 coupon for hard-to-keep-clean shower downstairs
I shared my savings on my blog and someone left the following comment: "Boy, that almost seems like a job! How do you keep up with all this?"
Well, the short answer is that I consider saving money to be one of my most important jobs in my home. It's definitely up there in the Top 5 focuses each week. I look at it this way, if I spend 30-60 minutes each week planning my shopping lists and cutting coupons and such and then I save $50-100 (which is very normal for me), then my hourly pay has just become $50-200/HOUR!! There is NO job in the world outside my home that is going to earn me that much money. I do not count the time it takes me to do this shopping because I'd be shopping anyway each week to provide the food and such needed for my family. However, if I did count the time, my hourly pay would only drop by half and $25-100/hour is still nothing I could earn outside the home.
I also make NO special trips to save this money. I am already in town 2-4 days weekly and all of the stores are right there together on one strip of road. I pass ALL of them as I travel back and forth to my home, so there is no extra expenditure of my time. Well, that's the short answer ... I have been doing this for almost 13 years since the day we brought my daughter home from the hospital and I became a SAHM, so it's just 2nd nature to me now. It does take time to save $$, but not as much time that it would take away from my husband -AND- our family if he had to get a 2nd job to pay for these items if I wasn't willing to work to buy them at rock bottom prices or get them for FREE or nearly free!
It is my hope that you will find something useful here on my site!
I currently enjoy the privilege of being able to stay at home
to homeschool my children and I am always striving to be
the best caretaker for my precious family.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."
~ Philippians 4:13 ~
Website owned and all Content Copyrighted by Kris Price.
All Rights Reserved. © 2006.
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