Saturday Savings - Free Stuff!

Who says nothing is free anymore? I'm swimming in free stuff this week!

See all those bottles of new Emergen-C energy drinks? There are 48 bottles there as well as a big stack of BOGO coupons. Know what a paid for those? NADA! I came home Wednesday night to find those at the door. A few weeks ago I saw online that Emergen-C was looking to give away these "kits" in order to promote their new product, so I signed up hoping to be picked to participate. If you see me in the next couple of weeks it's likely I'll hand you a bottle!


See those 3 bottles of mustard, bottle of salad dressing, bottle of Vitamin Water and 2 bottles of Mentos Gum? Want to guess what I paid for all of those? If you're catching on with the theme here you would have said "Nada!". That's right, all of that was FREE! How, you ask? Well, Walgreen's had the Mentos gum on sale 2/$2. I had two $1 off coupons. Hen House had mustard on sale for .99. I had 3 .50 off coupons, which Hen House doubled. Not only did I get the mustard free, but I had .03 in overages. Hen House also had Kaft dressing on sale for $1.48 and I had a $1.50 off coupon, so it was free plus another .02 in overages! The Vitamin Water was on sale all over the place for $1 a bottle and there was a $1 of coupon in last Sunday's paper.

So all this stuff I bought at CVS. Want to guess what I paid for it? Nope, it wasn't free BUT it was pretty darn close! Regular retail for those 6 items was $39.18. Are you ready for this? I paid a whopping $3.20. 91% off!! How you ask? Well, to be fair I had a coupon for a free Jumbo pack of Pampers (perk of being a triplet mom is Pamper's will send you a one time package of coupons). But the Schick Intuition refills were on sale BOGO, plus I had a $4 off coupon. The Excedrin was on a great sale, plus I had a $1 off coupon. On top of all that I scanned my card at the new ECB kiosk in CVS and out popped $1 ECB (my winter spending reward) and a $5 off $25 or more coupon. Sweet!


And last, but certainly not least, is this mound of stuff... All of that cost $70.11. Here's what that included...

Whole Milk - 3 gallons
Skim Milk - 1 gallon
Fish Sticks
Granny Smith Apples - 3 pounds
Ground Turkey - 2 pounds
Tomato Sauce - 2 cans (8oz)
Tomato Paste
Diced Tomatoes - 3 cans
Pinto Beans - 2.5 pound bag
Bananas - 2.6 pounds
Elbow Macaroni - 2 pound box
Canola Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Raisins
Bread Crumbs
Eggs - 2 dozen
Mustard - 3 bottles
Kraft Dressing - 1 bottle
Wheat Thins Artisan Crackers - 2 boxes
Frozen Veggies - 7 bags
Mentos Gum - 2 bottles
Charmin TP
Orange Juice - 2 half gallons
Pretzels - 2 bags
Pop Tarts - 2 boxes
Grape Nuts Cereal - 2 boxes
Bread
Cream of Tarter
Vitamin Water - 1 bottle
Oscar Meyer Bacon
Bounty Paper Towels
Strawberries - 2 one pound containers
Sweet Potatoes - 3 pounds
Parchment Paper

Whew! That's a lot of stuff! I have to say, I impressed even myself this weekend. So besides the bargains already listed above in the "free" category, here are the best deals this week.

The deals: Wheat Thin Artisan crackers normally sell for $3.56 a box at Hen House. This week they were on sale for $1.58 a box and I had a BOGO coupon, making them only .79 a box which is 78% off. Hen House also had Eggland's Best eggs on sale for $1.49 (normally $2.46) but after they doubled my .35 off coupon I only paid .80 for the dozen, which is 67% off. Strawberries at HyVee are $1.18 a pound this week, which is 61% off. The Robert's OJ is .99 a half gallon, which is 62% off the regular price of $2.58. The Pop Tarts were only .98 a box when I stacked a manufacturers coupon with a Hy-Vee coupon.

(Below totals include my insane CVS deals)

Total before sales, coupons and tax: $167.56
Total after sales and coupons: $67.23 - 60% off!

For those that are new to Three Times the Giggles, Saturday Savings is my weekly post chronicling my savvy shopping. Our family grocery budget (all food, paper products, toiletries and cleaning supplies - diapers are separate) is $310 a month. I utilize The Grocery Game and love sites like MoneySavingMom.com and FrugalFreebiesandDeals.com