OUR THRIFTY DAY – SPENT $25.72 AND SAVED $212.27 – 90% SAVINGS!

We had a whirlwind of a day – three hours of running errands and shopping with four kids, a hubby…while expecting!  Now we typically only shop at one grocery store each week (or whenever we shop for groceries which may be every other week!), but today there were a number of places we went to score some awesome deals!

* Please note the following scenarios (including deals, gift cards, Max Perks, etc) are available to everyone – just follow our links to see how we got these in prior weeks to prepare for this amazing shopping day!!  Leave a comment to let us know how you were able to maximize on some of these as well!!

Stop #1: Toys R Us – 81% Savings!

The first place we stopped at was Toys R Us – Why? Well, remember the FREE $5 Babies R Us gift cards for becoming a Facebook fan?! Well, they expired today and we had not used them yet.  If they were for Babies R Us, why did we go to Toys R Us?  Well, for a couple of reasons: 1) The closest Babies R Us was about 30 minutes away; 2) A Babies R Us gift card can be used at Toys R Us and vice versa.  We could have purchased anything at Toys R Us, but I thought we would use it to load up on baby wipes to go with all of our awesome deeply discounted diapers we have been loading up on!

Here is what we bought:

• 1 Pampers Club Size box of baby wipes priced at $14.99. Then used $2/1 in ad coupon = $12.99. Then used $1/1 Pampers wipes coupon = final is $11.99.



• 5 6-packs of Wateroos (like Smart Water for kids) on clearance for .98.  These are normally $3.98 a pack and as I was walking up front to check out they caught my eye.  You will note in the picture that one pack is missing three as the kids wanted them in the car for the rest of the day’s Thrifty Shopping 😉 = final is $4.90

Summary: Our total was $34.89. After including the $15 discount on the water plus the 2 coupons for the Pampers = $16.89. We then used 2 $5 gift cards (as we each became a Fan on Facebook!) – $10 = final is $6.89!!! Saved 81%!

Stop #2: Rite Aid – $11 OVERAGE

The second stop was at Rite Aid as there were a few things we needed to pick up there. It had actually been a while since we had shopped at Rite Aid!

Here’s what we bought:

• 1 Jumbo pack Huggies Diapers sale for $8.99. Then used FREE Huggies coupon = FREE. Then submitted for $3.00 SCR = final is $3.00 OVERAGE!
• 1 Suave Professionals sale for $2. Then used $2/1 = final is FREE!
• 2 Nivea Lip Therapy (they were on sale for BOGO the last time I was at Rite Aid, they were out and so I got a raincheck for BOGO) sale for $2.39 = $4.78. Then used BOGO rain check – $2.39. Then used BOGO Nivea coupon RP = final is BOTH for FREE (the BOGO coupon and the BOGO sale cancel each other out!).
• 2 MiraLAX sale for $17 (after 20% OTC discount) = $34. Then used 2 $4/1 SS 2/7 – $8.00 = $26. Then submitted for the $9.00 SCR = final is $17 for 2 or $8.50 each!
  

Summary: Our total was $49.77 AFTER the sale prices. We then used $23.77 in manufacturer’s coupons = $26.00. We then had 2 Rite Aid coupons, one for $5/$20 purchase from the Video Values = $21.00. Then used our $20 Gift Of Savings voucher = final is $1.00!!! BUT WAIT!!! We submitted our receipt online for our SCR’s, which total $12 = After the SCR’s this transaction will be an $11 OVERAGE!!! Whoohoo!!!

Stop #3: Office Max – Ink at 97% off!

Well, we have been out of ink for a week in our main printer!  Thankfully we have two printers as I am not sure how I would survive without my printable coupons and printable shopping lists! Anyway, our reliable printer has been out of ink for a week, so we needed ink badly.  We are Office Max Max Perks rewards members (it’s FREE, information HERE!) and so I knew I had  $29 to spend. PLUS, I had received a coupon in the mail as a Max Perks members for $10 off a $50 purchase.  Finally, I had a gift card of $15 from a previous in-store promotion (actually, from before Christmas!).  So with all of that, we are already talking a great deal on ink!  But…. the deals do not stop there! They also had an in-store extra Max Perks bonus where you would receive $20 in rewards to spend on a future shopping trip!

So this is how this trip went down with the above ways to save!

• 1 black ink $31.99
• 1 Magenta ink $14.99
• 1 Yellow ink $14.99
• 1 Cayan ink $14.99
• Total was: $76.96
• Then used $10/$50 purchase = $66.96
• Then used $29 from Max Perks rewards = $37.96
• Then used $15 gift card = $22.96!!!
• PLUS received $20 back on my Max Perks rewards card for a future purchase! = final is $2.96 for 4 inks!!!!! Whoa! 97% Savings and these inks did not even start out on sale!!
  

PLUS ….. When we got to the store to pick out the ink specific for our printer, there are these NEW packages that are longer and includes more ink to print 2.5 x’s MORE than the regular ink cartridges.  The difference in price was only about 40% higher to get 2.5 times more printing done!  On-line printables …… you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Stop #4: Smiths/Kroger – Saved 65%

Whew! Are you getting tired yet? Well, the kids were troopers! But I must admit that I was getting tired. This was way more shopping than we usually do in one day, but we badly needed a few things (like ink and using our $10 in Babies R Us before we lost it!).  So we did need to hit the grocery store…and hit it we did!! We had an awesome trip there too! For both of us, I’ll just send you to the summary of this amazing shopping trip to see what we bought!  We saved 65%!!!! Check out the details and get the full scoop!

The Whole Day’s Summary

We bought $237.99 (includes some sale prices even!) for only $25.72 when it was all said and done!!! Our out of pocket was $57.72 that we actually spent today, but we received $11 in Single Check Rebates from Rite Aid and $20 in Max Perks rewards = $31 back = final is $25.72! Saved a total of 90% (after some sale prices!)!!! Although we had to stop by four stores, I think it was more than worth it!!! What do you think???