Shopping with Hello Coupons (My Walmart Trip)

I stocked up on baby food and got everything below for $15.72.

My goal was to stay under $10 and it would have worked out too. Here's how it went down.

1 Bounty 8 roll pack $9.48

Use 1 Free 8 roll coupon from P&G

Final price = FREE

1 Entenmann's butter loaf cake $2.98

Use 1 $1/1 coupon from contacting the company

Final Price = $1.98

1 Entenmann's cookies $ 2.38

Use 1 $1/1 coupon from contacting the company

Final Price = $1.38

2 Pampers baby wipes $1.97 ea

Use 2 $1/1 coupon (P&G coupon packets from diaper boxes)

Final Price = $0.97 ea

1 Tide travel pack $0.97

Use 1 $1/1 coupon (P&G coupon packets from diaper boxes)

Final Price = $0.03 overage

1 Avery sticky notes pack $2.88

Use 1 $2/1 coupon (from facebook)

Final Price = $0.88

3 Suave Pro Keratin Infusions Shampoo/Conditioner $2.74 ea

Use 3 FREE product coupons (from facebook, I used my mom and grandma's too)

Final Price = FREE

1 Johnson's baby wash $4.97

Use coupon for up to $5 off from contacting the company

Final Price = FREE (coupon was adjusted down)

1 Aveeno face scrub $8.97

Use coupon for up to $10 off from contacting the company (this was from a complaint about my old face wash clogging up)

Final Price = FREE

7 Beech-Nut Steamies Double pack $1.98

Use 7 coupons for FREE Stage 4 product 

Final Price = FREE

1 Beech-Nut Cheddar Puffs $1.27

Use 1 coupon for FREE Stage 4 product

Final Price = FREE

1 Beech-Nut Strawberry Nibbles $2.54

Use 1 coupon for FREE Stage 4 product

Final Price = FREE

4 Kotex Liners $.94 ea

Use 4 $1/1 Natural Balance Coupons

Final Price = FREE

1 Revlon Eyelash curler $2.49

1 Revlon Emory boards (not pictured) $1.89

Use 1 $5/2 coupon (3/18 SS)

Final Price = FREE

Now if I had stopped there, my goal of staying under $10 would have been reached with a total of $6.15. My mom remembered last minute that she needed drano and it breaks my heart to have to say we paid full price for it. 

1 Drano Crystals $5.97

Also bought some potatoes to make mashed for my little one (and some for us adults too). Who doesn't like mashed potatoes?!

1 Potatos 5lb bag $2.48

Total (including tax of $1.12) $15.72

Even when you go in with a plan, things change and you just kind of have to go with the flow. Still it breaks my heart, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And I don't want to leave my mom with a clogged drain.

*Note: After ringing up all my items and coupons, the system froze. Apparently, Walmart has a "new" policy where we can not use more than $40 of coupons in a single transaction. A manager was needed to override the error

P & G Coupons & Samples

Look what I found in my mailbox today! The P & G samples and coupons I mentioned here. Cheered me right up. Have you received yours yet?

*For some reason I got to packets so that's why you see double of everything (except for the dawn only one box had that but the box was broken so I'm guessing it fell out). Made me almost jump up and down.

New P&G Coupons and Samples

The new Proctor and Gamble coupons and samples are available again. You just need to log into your account and you should be able to choose from several different coupons. I can see Gain, Dawn, Pampers, Olay and more right now.

I think you can only pick one sample and one coupon per household and this offer changes quarterly. The trick to the P&G freebies is that these do tend to go really fast. So the more popular offers may run out and you will no longer see them as available when you log in.

(Thanks, MFA!)

New Kellogg's Coupon

Head over for this NEW $1/2 Kellogg’s Cereals coupon! Click on the "Help" link to get the coupon mailed to you.

(Thanks Shopping Tips And Tricks!)

Cottonelle Printable Coupons

Walmart is offering the following Cottonelle Printable Coupons:

$1.50 Off a 24-pack of Cottonelle Clean Care Toilet Paper Coupon

$.75 Off a 12-pack of Cottonelle Clean Care Toilet Paper Coupon

You’ll see the links for them in the right sidebar under “Get Coupon” if they are still available.

(Thanks, Coupon Geek!)

TWO *HOT* Paper Towel Coupons Available

There's TWO NEW paper towel coupons you'll want to print (use ZIP 14580):

• $1/1 Brawny Paper Towel (8pk or larger)


• $1/1 Sparkle Paper Towel (6pk or larger)

These are manufacturer's coupons, so don't worry about the Walmart mention.

(Thanks, Coupon Clippin' Daddy!)

Coupon Catch-Up

Here's a list of coupons available to print. Make sure to print yours now before they run out.

• $.75/1 Land O Lakes Butter Coupon
• $1.00/1 Sally Hansen Crackle Nail Polish
• $1/1 Ghirardelli Holiday Chocolate
• $0.75/1 Cottonelle 12 Pack
• $1.50/1 Cottonelle 24 Pack
• $1.00/2International Delight® pints or quarts
• $0.75/1 International Delight® pint or quart
• $5.00/1 any Large Powder 22+ oz purchase of Gentlease, A.R. or ProSobee
• $1.00/1 Johnsonville Italian Sausage

Mailbox Mondays!

The thing that makes Mondays bearable. My mailbox and all the goodies inside. Here are todays treasures.

• Kleenex Cool Touch tissues sample
• Dreft coupon
• Kinerase sample & coupon
• John Frieda shampoo & conditioner plus coupon (NLA)
• Carefree sample & coupon
• Playtex sample & coupon
• Proctor & Gamble coupon booklet
• Tide coupons
• Proctor & Gamble brand sampler coupons & samples
• Kotex Sample (Costco members)
• Go Red For Woman Red Dress Pin

Children's Place Coupons

Buy More Save More at Children's Place. Click here to print your coupon to shop in stores. 

• Take 25% off your purchase of $50.00+ purchase
• Take 20% off your $40.00 purchase
• Take 15% off any purchase

Click through Ebates or ShopAtHome to earn cash back for your purchases made online.

Coupons In My Mailbox: Softlips

I contacted Softlips to let them know how much I liked their lip balm. Just as I hoped, they sent me coupons. 3 of them. One FREE softlips product coupon, one $1.50/1 Oxy Acne solutions product and one $2.00/1 Rohto eye drops.

The free Softlips will make it's way into my CVS Black Friday plans for a moneymaker.

Contact Softlips here.
What's in your mailbox today?

Dove, Degree & Suave Coupons = FREE/Cheap deodorant

Head over to facebook and choose one of the following coupons to print.

You are allowed to choose only one.

• $1 off Degree Girl Deodorant
• $1 off Dove Deodorant or Body Mist
• $1 off Degree for Men
• $.75/1 Suave Deodorant

These always go fast. Hurry to print yours now.

These can make for free/cheap deodorant if your Target or Walmart carries the travel size for $.97. I printed the $1 off Dove Deodorant or Body Mist and plan to pick up a free one at Target. The coupon has no size restrictions.

Free $10 Gift Card with $75 Purchase at Toys R Us

Toys R Us has some great coupons out right now. Coupons are good until 11/23/11. Perfect start to holiday shopping.

There's a coupon for a free $10 gift card when you spend $75 on toys.

Shopping online? Go through ShopAtHome.com or Ebates.com for 1% back.

How-to of the week: Successfully stacking coupons at CVS.

Remember those Pampers coupons I told you about? The ones I got for writing them about how great they are. The coupon is for $10 off any pack of diapers $15 or more. Here they are put to use. 

CVS has the pampers box on sale until 11/12 for $19.99 with $4 ECB. I headed over with coupon in hand. Last week the coupon center was nice to me spitting out a $3 off $15 baby products. The coupons from the coupon center are considered CVS coupons and can be stacked with a manufacturer coupon. Good thing I hung on to that baby instead of blowing it on other things. 

Here's the scenario:
Buy Pampers box for $19.99
Use $3 off $15 Baby Products coupon
Use $10 Pampers coupon

I paid $6.99 and received $4 ECB making my total oop (out-of-pocket) $2.99. That's like paying $.03 per diaper which is an awesome deal. 

You could also use a $4 off $20 coupon you get by signing up for ExtraCare emails (first timers only). Make sure you add something else to your card as the diapers are only $19.99. I saw packs of candy for $.88. Some locations also have small candies at the register for five cents each. 

Let me know what good deals you've gotten this week. 

Beech-Nut Baby Food Special Offers

Get a free starter kit when you sign up for the Beech-Nut monthly enewsletter here. I already received mine in the mail. It includes coupons for one free box of cereal and two free jars of baby food. There is also a rewards program form which you can fill out after purchasing 2 boxes of cereal or 40 jars of baby food to receive extra coupons. 

A coupon's full potential

So you've been emailing companies for a while. After receiving your free item coupons you probably want to rush out to the store and use it right away. While there's nothing wrong with this method it's not utilizing the coupon to it's full potential. Want to know how I use them? Read on...

Let's say I have a free item coupon for any Neutrogena product up to $10. It could easily make for a moneymaker deal at CVS. I would wait until a deal came along such as CVS offering a $3 ECB when you buy $10 worth of Neutrogena products. Use that free coupon to get your free product and still get the $3 ECB. Cha-ching. $3 moneymaker.

Another way to use free item coupons are to stack them with store coupons. Very often, CVS sends out emails with $4 off $20 purchase. It's $20 before coupons so my $10 neutrogena free item would get me halfway there. If I had other free items coupon I can use them at the right time to get the most bang for my buck.

I hope this gives you a better insight of how to utilize coupons to its fullest potential.

Read my post about how to get these coupons here.

hello coupons... and couponers!

Do you like free products? Me too. One way to get coupons for free items is to email the company. There are two popular ways to go about this. Email the company and either compliment them or ask directly for coupons. Many companies appreciate the feedback that you give them on specific products. 

When contacting the companies, it is important that you be honest with your feedback while still being polite. It won't get you very far if you tell them that you hate their products. 

I contacted Huggies when I had a pack of diapers that were defective. 

"I purchased 2 bags of your little snugglers jumbo pack diapers last week. I no longer have the bag but I just want to say that I am very disappointed in these diapers. Several in this pack are missing the tabs to secure the diapers so I could not use them. I purchased them at CVS. I have been a long time user of Huggies and have never had a problem. I am hoping this is a one time scenario. I love your diapers."

This really did happen to me and I am in no way advising you to begin emailing companies with complaints when it didn't really happen. Huggies responded by sending me a coupon for a free jumbo pack and two $1 off coupons for any product no size limit. If you run into any problems don't be shy. Many of these companies would rather you let them know and give them a chance to make it right than for you to badmouth them to your friends and family.

You could also let them know that you love their products. I contacted Scotch-Brite about their heavy duty scrub sponges.

"I was recently introduced to your heavy duty scrub  sponge. I don't know how I've gone this long with other brands. You guys are amazing. The sponge doesn't break apart after a week of use like other brands. I can't believe it took me this long to find you. Thanks."

I received an email with the promise of a "complimentary package" so I'll let you know the good news.

Emailing companies can sometimes get you incredible coupons and sometimes will get you nothing at all. I have gotten a several coupons for free items  just by sending them emails with compliments. I have also gotten nothing but emails thanking me for my feedback. In some cases not even an email. 

Go ahead, give it a go. Remember to be honest and specific about what you like or dislike. Simply saying "I love your products, please send me coupons" won't get you very far. Be sure to include your mailing address with your message if there is no place to enter it. They won't know where to send you coupons otherwise.

Stay tuned for our next post about when to use the free coupons you receive.