I think that there is some type of curse when it comes to me shopping at Walgreens. There is a Walgreens near the house, but I usually avoid it in favor of CVS where I have had many less issues when using coupons. With Thanksgiving day quickly approaching and current deals few and far between, I decided that it would be impossible to pass on the $3.00 Vicks Nyquil Sinex money maker there this week which goes like this:
Vicks Dayquil Sinex or Nyquil Sinex, 20 ct – $5.00
Buy 2, Receive $5.00 Register Rewards
**(2) $4.00 off 1 Sinex Product coupon from 10/10 Proctor & Gamble Sunday newspaper coupon insert
Pay: $2.00, Receive $5.00 Register Reward
Final Price: $3.00 Money Maker!
This deal should have allowed me to get almost all the basics I still needed for my $1 Thanksgiving dinner for six challenge if I did it about 5 times, but reality quickly set in when I realized that the coupon needed came from the October 10th Sunday paper. This was a time when I was traveling so I couldn’t collect Sunday newspaper inserts like I usually do. I found I only had four inserts instead of the usual 20 plus inserts. With only 4 coupons, I could only do the deal twice.
Still, two times would give me $6.00 to work with so I decided to give it a try. The first time through all went well with both coupons coming off without a problem, but the register reward machine jammed and I didn’t get the $5.00 coupon for my next purchase I had expected. I had to call the manager over and he issued me a $5.00 Walgreens gift card instead:
The second time through, the exact opposite happened. The register reward printed, but the receipt got mangled as it came out. In the end, I did buy 4 Nyquil Sinex which gave me a $4.14 overage ($2.07 overage with each transaction – an additional $0.93 for each transaction was tax which needed to be paid).
I ended up buying 4 cans of chicken broth, 2 cans of cranberry sauce and 2 cans of green beans:
The total for these came to $3.95 which means I still have $0.19 I can spend at Walgreens in addition to my original $1.00 I haven’t touched yet:
I used 3 Walgreens coupons that came with the weekly advertising insert: Chicken broth for $0.50 each, cranberry sauces for $0.89 each and green beans for $0.59 each. I actually wanted to get canned yams instead of the green beans that were also available for $0.59, but they were sold out. In addition, I used a $1.00 off 4 Swansons chicken broth from the Safeway Thanksgiving coupon book:
This has allowed me to cross off cranberry sauce and veggies off the planned Thanksgiving menu. I also have chicken broth that I can use to help flavor some of the side dishes. That means that I have mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, butter, salt, pepper and the turkey left. i still have my fingers crossed that a free turkey opportunity will arise, but I have decided to put my secret free turkey plan into action beginning this afternoon and see if it works. Please keep your fingers crossed so I don’t have to show up for Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey…
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In the Safeway Thanksgiving coupon book where I think you got the swanson coupon there is also a coupon for the green beans for $1.00 off of 4. I’m curious why you didn’t use it. Also I have different Albertson sales but you might have the same money maker deal if your going this week it might be worth looking into. The McCormick vanilla extract is on sale for $1.99 and the safeway coupon book has $1.50 off one coupon. Buy three and receive a $3.00 catalina. Spend $1.50 get #3.00 = $1.50 moneymaker.
@liz,
I wasn’t planning on getting the green beans – I was going to get yams, but they were sold out so i had to default to green beans (and since I hadn’t planned on getting them, I didn’t have the coupon with me).
I don’t have an Albertsons near me, but I will check at other stores to see if that money maker is working elsewhere. Thanks for the tip.
Jeffrey,
I found this $3 CVS money maker for next week that might help you, if you can get a hold of 8 of these coupons. And you’d have some dog food for the food bank, which I’m sure would be welcome.
http://www.savingmoneyinmissouri.com/cvs-free-to-cheap-deals-1121-1127/
You can get free sea salt at walmart at the moment
.94 Mortons sea salt fine/course
$1 off Mortons sea salt RP 11/14
.06 overage!
I had a $1 off McCain mashed potatoes (frozen)coupon they were $2 on sale and the coupon doubled. So they were free. Maybe you could check the frozen foods section for this deal at your local stores.
Nice work on the deals!
@ Liz: I am so wishing there was an Albertson’s around here! Not only is that a great money maker, Vanilla is regularly so expensive and I go through it sooo fast.
Too bad you don’t live in the midwest, Hy vee has been doing General Mills cereal deals where if you buy 6 boxes you get $10 off automatically and another $6 catalina for your next purchase, I managed to find a coupon for 65 cents off Cinnamon Toast Crunch and found it for only $2.50 a box at one Hy vee, I cleaned them out then took the recite and price matched at other Hy vees.
This made me $4.90 a transaction, using the dozens of computers at school I made several hundred dollars off this deal and used it to stock up on anything from organic fruit to tons of new spices. In the end I was mainly limited by my freezer space!
I’ve become a coupon master and using my school computers I get free food all the time, I donated all the cereal I got (since I won’t eat the stuff) and overall it has reduced my entire budget to only $80 a month for two people. I can’t tell you how much you helped me. Now I can stress less about money and focus on my Biotechnology degree.
@Sehra
I am happy to hear that what you have been learning has helped. I hope that you will add all the food that you are donating to the Penny Experiment totals: http://www.pennyexperiment.com/donation-submission/
In my area, local blood banks are giving away free turkeys if you make an appointment and go in to give blood.
That might be something to look into, if you don’t mind giving blood of course!
~Trish