Trying Out Kmart's Coupon Policy

I'm new to couponing, so I have been trying out all different types of stores. Recently I saw an ad for Kmart saying that they will match manufacturer coupons up to $1. I was so excited when I saw this because I haven't found any store that has this kind of policy. After my experience, I will probably never go to Kmart again.

Here's the deal with Kmart's coupon policy:

• You must spend $25 (before coupons) on GROCERY and DRUGSTORE items before your coupons will double
• I thought it was $25 throughout the store and had to embarrassingly cancel my order as I went to fetch more food 
• They will only double 5 coupons
• They will only double up to $1 per coupon

Here's my deal:

At first, spending $25 didn't seem too bad, since it is the price before coupons. However, if you think about it, K-mart is only giving you $5 off your purchase. In order to take advantage of their offer, you have to walk in there every time and spend 15 bucks. For a deal hunter, this isn't easy to come to terms with. Let's say you had coupons for every item you bought. Yes, you could get you total knocked down quite a bit, but my other gripe about this store is that everything is so EXPENSIVE! Walmart and even my local grocery store doesn't have prices that high. I can use the same coupon at one of those places and get a way better deal simply because it costs less elsewhere. Plus, in my opinion, its a dumpy store.

In the end, I did get a few good deals, but I still ended up paying $20 in food and drugstore items because of their restrictions. 

Here's what I scored:

• Downy Infusions one of my better deals. It was on sale for 5.49 (not sure of the price at most places). I had a $1 off P&G coupon (12/30) and Kmart double it. Final price was 3.49
• Snackwells 100 Calorie Pack was the other awesome deal of the trip. Got a rare $1 off coupon from their facebook page: here. They were $2.50, but with my coupon and Kmart's match, they came out to 50 cents!
• Crest 3D White was on sale for $3.50. My 50 cent P&G coupon doubled to $1, making it $2.50
• Planters Peanuts were on sale for 2/$7 (although I saw them at CVS today for 2/$6). Found a $1 coupon on Coupons.com plus Kmart's match. Final price was $2.50 each.
• Special K Pastry Crisps were supposed to be 3/$8. I figured if I bought one, it would be 2.66, but I guess it doesn't work like that at Kmart since my receipt says $3.29. My coupon from Kelloggsfamilyrewards.com was for 70 cents off. With the double, they were $1.89. Oh well
• Snickers Mini's were found all alone on a random clearance shelf for 90 cents. Pretty good find

Now, after all these items, I didn't reach $25. I returned to groceries to grab more. 

• The Lay's chips were on sale as BOGO free. Without this deal, they would have been some pretty pricey chips! They came out to $2.14 each. Would I have gotten them if I didn't have to reach $25? No.
• 7-up and Dr. Pepper were on sale for $1 each. That price is hard to find so I'm not upset about it.
• SmartSense Tortilla Chips were free for members (and you have to be a member to double coupons) as long as you spent $25.

Found some pretty awesome deals while walking around the store; However, they were not grocery items, which threw me off the first time I went to the register. 

• Joe Boxer Thermals only $4
• Out-of-Packaged Underwear were on 50% clearance of an already cheap price. They ended up being $1.33 each. And after a good washin', that comes out to a good deal.

Yes, I did get some epic deals, like the Downy and Snackwells. But everything else, I could have found at another store with a sale and paid the same price without those coupons being doubled. All in all, it is a learning experience and only experience is the best teacher. I'm sure I did not shop as efficiently as I could have and there are people out there that can knock down that $15 you are obligated to spend to $5. I have just learned that Kmart isn't the place for me.

Big Savings Today!

Just got home from a long day of shopping, but boy did I get some good deals!

Let's start with CVS. I traveled to two separate locations to get all these deals.

• Free Clear Scalp and Hair Therapy (Trial Size). Find the coupon here
• Head and Shoulders Green Apple Conditioner was on 50% off Clearance for 2.99. I used my P&G coupon clipped from the paper on 12/30 for $2 off of 2. Final price was $2 Each.
• Dial NutriSkin for Dry Skin was on Clearance for $1.74. The first CVS I went to was sold out, the next one only had 2 left so hurry fast for this deal! With the coupon from Coupons.com for $1.50 off, this lotion came out to only 24 cents!!!
• Always Infinity Pads were on sale for $3.99 (orig. price is 5.49). I used my P&G coupon (12/30) for $1 off, so final price was $2.99
• Two Travel size Aleve (total of 12 ct.) ended up being an 86 cent money maker! To find this coupon, look for the tear pad coupon near the vitamins. It is $4 off of 2 Alka-Setlzer Plus, Bayer Asprin, Aleve, One-A-Day, Citracal, Flinstones Multivitamins, Philips, or TruBiotics Products and there is no size restriction.  Here's what it looks like:

• Garnier Fructis Style PureClean Cream was on clearance for $1.14. With the $1 off coupon from Coupons.com, it was only 14 cents!
• Pantene Classic Care Conditioner was on Clearance for $1.24. The Classic Care Shampoo was only on sale for $3.50, but I was able to use my P&G coupon (12/30) for $3 off of two. After the coupon,  the price for both was $1.74 (or 84 cents each!). Pretty Awesome for a $5 shampoo.

My next stop for savings was at Petsmart

• Won 2 coupons from an instant win game by Freshstep. (Sorry, the sweepstakes ended 12/30).  The coupons for free treats up to $4, so picked up some tasty and healthy treats for my kitty cats for free.
• 20 lb Tidy Cats Litter was on sale for 7.99. I used my $5 Holiday Bucks (which I received from buying the 35lb litter before Christmas), so the total was $2.99. Petsmart had some awesome deals during December.

Can't forget my savings at Meijer today. Got a Free gallon of milk! If you live near a Meijer, go to their website and sign up for mperks. Type in the code FREEMILK and get your milk by 1/19. No coupon necessary, just your phone number. I was also given a coupon for $2 off my purchase. I used mperks for the first time today and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's nice that you don't need to print or clip anything, but I was unsure of the details on a coupon and ended up not qualifying for it. I'll have to go back to exchange it for the right product. I may only take advantage of this program once in awhile.

Overall, it was a great haul. If you purchased P&G products from 10/14/12 - 12/31/12, don't forget about this mail-in rebate offer:

www.olay.com/en-US/Images/offers/Rebate%20Form.pdf

If you spent $50 before coupons, send in your receipts and UPC codes for a $15 rebate. I wish I knew about this offer before. I unfortunately won't be able to use it :( You have until 1/31 to send it in!

My total for my excursion today was only $11.24 and I got tons of stuff. This is my biggest savings since I've started couponing so I'm really excited about it! See you in a few days!

My Most Recent Savings

Here are a couple of deals I've gotten over the last few days.

• Free box of Sunbelt Bakery Bars (found this coupon in a newspaper a month back)
• Kashi Cereal for only $1 at Target! On top of the current sale, print out the coupon from Target.com and the coupon from Coupons.com. Awesome price
• Peanut M&M's 75 cents each with the coupon for Target.com. The Holiday Clearance is now marked down to 70%. However, I think all candy is marked down to $1.49, regardless of the original price. Still a terrific savings; it was originally $6 for both. And they are my favorite :)

My total for all these items was $2.60. Happy Couponing!

Can't Beat This DiGiorno's Deal at Target

Went back to Target today for another great deal. Coupons.com has a coupon for Buy 2 Get 1 Free DiGiorno's coupon...a high value coupon worth up to $7.01 :)  Along with this coupon, Target has an awesome sale this week where the pizzas are 2 for $10 and you get a free 6 count of Edy's Fruit Bars! I also picked up some chili and used my Target coupon for 55 cents off. 3 pizzas, free dessert, and cans of chili all for $10.50? Not too shabby!
I got a whole bunch of P&G coupons in the paper today. Can't wait to blog about my savings!

Awesome Holiday Savings at Target!

I was so excited about my savings today that it encouraged me to finally start my first post! I anticipated all holiday candy to have a decent markdown by this date. I was planning for it, so I made sure I printed out all the $1 off candy coupons from coupons.com and Target.com. Here's what I snagged:

• Holiday Sour Patch Kids were marked down to $1.29. With my $1 off one coupon, they came out to 29 cents!
• Dove Promises (originally 3.69) were only $1.89 each. I had a Target coupon for $1.50 off of two and a Mars Manufacture coupon for $1.00 off two. In the end, they were 59 cents each!! ($1.18 for both)
• M&M's had two coupons also. The bags were on sale for $1.49 (orig. $2.99). I had a target coupon for $1.50 off of two bags and the same Mars Manufacture coupon that I used for the Dove candies, $1.00 off of two. They ended up being 24 cents! (48 cents for both bags). Love it.
• Juicy Juice Fruitfuls I rushed to Target tonight to get this sale that is ending today. Target has these Juicy Juice boxes for Buy 2 Get 1 Free. I printed two coupons from here for $1.00 off each. With the sale, one package was free and with my two coupons, all three packages were only 2.98...basically the price of one. (That's 99 cents each!)

My initial total was around $13.50, but my coupons brought it down to $5.49. My total savings were $18.79. Awesome deals, so glad I waited until the holiday items went on clearance.