Thursday, January 8, 2009

Zero balance and getting paid to shop




Tuesday evening, I made a quick run to Walgreens to return the Free Redbox movie we got on Monday. We were low on dog food too, so I grabbed some and a few more items. I got 2 cartons of Ben & Jerry ice cream- free after the $3 printable coupons, 1 Garnier-free after $1 coupon and walgreens coupon-they were out of pretty much all the free garnier except this one. I also found 4 more of the Loreal makeup that is clearanced and b1g1 free. I used 4-$3 coupons on these and had $4.82 overage to use-so I grabbed 7 cans of dog food. I did the math in my head quickly and figured that would be enough to cover it. I was actually amazed when I got to the register and realized how perfect my total was-it came to zero! Of course, I still had to pay tax, but before tax, it was a zero balance!




Yesterday, I did a little bit of shopping. Safeway has a great deal on milk this week-$1.59 a gallon, limit 2. I plan on going a few times and stocking up on milk. It freezes well, so I'll put some in the freezer at that price. I also got some buns for sloppy joes for dinner and two small cups of yogurt. I saw a post on Jane4girls blog about making yogurt in the crockpot and I decided we'd try it out too. I had followed the crockpot for a year blog, but somehow missed the yogurt post. So I grabbed the two small yogurt cups for $.40 each while I was at Safeway getting the milk. (Those are the only 2 ingredients needed.) I spent $1.89 on a gift card and $5.39 oop.

I also stopped at Walgreens to see if they had any more of the Loreal or Garnier. I got one more Garnier gel, 4 of the Sally Hansen nail clippers (made $.21 for each 2), and 4 packs of Ramen-since the kids wanted some for lunch the next day. My total was $.57 before tax and $1.14 after tax.

Last stop was the Commissary. I had 21 of the new KY coupon from this past Sunday. That gave me $24.36 in overage to shop with. I took into account about $3 for the surcharge. (The commissary does not charge tax-but charges a 5% surcharge on everything.) I got 3 lbs of apples, 2 lbs of bananas, 3 pork roasts- @ 6.5 lbs total, 1 pack of snack crackers, 2 packs of seasoning for the sloppy joes, 6 more cans of dog food (I forgot my coupons for the bagged dog food at home!), 1 lb frozen strawberries-to go with the yogurt, 4 lbs of rice,1 pack of always liners, and 1 box of little debbie donuts. (The commissary is the only place I can find this flavor of the donuts and I love these.) I actually used a calculator to keep track of my total, but when I checked out, somehow I was off and they owed me $1.11 after all my coupons. Now some cashiers at the commissary won't hand you cash back out of the register, so I usually just grab a candy bar or something close if I'm under and don't make a big deal out of it. But this cashier did hand me the money back-so I got paid for shopping there! I turned around and handed my $1.11 to the bagger for the tip. I know- it's not a big tip, but I had 3 bags total and I carried them out myself. So I walked out without spending a penny-even for the tip! (If you don't shop at the commissary-the baggers only work for tips so you have to tip them.) :)


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