Jill White, VA
This is a part of my haul from a marathon day of shopping. In the end, I stopped at three CVS stores, two Rugged Wearhouse stores and three Toys R Us stores, as well as a Linens N Things and Subway. I used a half a tank of gas, but the savings were well worth the time and gas! CVS was having great clearance sales, and by combining coupons from the Sunday paper and the $2/$10 coupon (from the booklets at the pharmacy) I was able to get haircolor, shampoo, shave gel, deodorant, and more for free. The shelf prices were often still marked 50% off or less, when the items were ringing up 75% off or more. Some stores are faster about updating their signs than others, so sometimes the price in the computer was lower than on the shelf. One store even gave me overage, which I used to buy the Renuzit air outlet (with a coupon and TMF offer). I also picked up some toothpaste that was on sale BIGIF and in specially parked double packs with a free trial size attached. After coupons, they were less than .20 for a full and trial size toothpaste. I also got a few Oust products free with the coupons from the newspaper. I hit the jackpot at ToysRUs’s 90% off sale. I got my Thomas the Train loving nephew’’s Christmas and birthday gifts all taken care of, as well as a ton of rechargeable batteries. The batteries go well with my free battery charger from Amazon.com, that was deeply discounted (and found in Michele’’s updates!) then paid for with a gift certificate I earned from a Vividence survey and combined with a free after rebate item to get free shipping. Since I used a gift certificate for the entire purchase, I made a profit after the rebate. I was just running out of the batteries I purchased at 90% off from Target two Christmases ago, so this was a timely and very welcome deal. I also got some Playstation games and accessories, some educational computer software, even greeting cards and baby bedding, and lots more. I put much of it away before I thought to snap a picture. I got enough baby shower and kid's gifts to last at least a couple of years, plus paper to wrap them in. I pointed out some good deals to others who were shopping, and am afraid I created a couple of ““scanning monsters””. One grandfather was still scanning everything in sight as I checked out. Thanks to all of the people who posted their TRU finds, It truly was a seek and find mission and I wouldn’t have found ½½ of the things I did without my list printed from RMC. I wish all stores had price scanners! My next stop was Subway, for a free sub (with filled stamp card) with drink purchase, and my only full price purchase of the day- three chocolate chip cookies for $1. I didn’’t need them, but they’’re soooo good. Our local Subways are still participating in the stamps program, and put out B1GIF coupons almost weekly in the local shopping circular. If you’’re somewhat disorganized like me- they’’re happy to combine multiple cards as long as you have enough stamps, I used three cards for my free sub that day. Then off to shop more.. If you haven’’t shopped at a Rugged Wearhouse store, I’’d highly recommend it. They sell overstock and seconds/damaged items and carry lots of popular brand names. If you have a teenager- they have Abercrombie, American Eagle, Express etc. for a fraction of retail. They almost always have a clearance rack with items that are $1 or less. The racks are often outside or right near the front or the store, and have red tags, or are sometimes just thrown in boxes up front. Some of these items have rips or other problems (very often there are slices in clothing from where a box was opened clumsily with a box cutter), so check closely if there’’s only one of an item on the rack- but if there are multiples, they are often just trying to clear out space and the items are perfectly good. On this day, I found cute aprons for $1 each, new dishtowels for 50 cents each, picture frames for 50 cents each and jewelry ranging from .25 to $1- some sterling silver with original prices of up to $19. I also got a pair of J Crew jeans for $2 and a purse for $1 and socks for 50 cents. Their stores are mostly in the Southeast (and Delaware), their website is Ruggedwearhouse.com if you’’d like to see if there’’s a store near you. At Linen’’s N Things, I purchased a Tide Buzz stain remover on sale for $9.99 and free after rebate (printed online), plus used a $5/$15 coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond (my local Linens N Things accepts their own or competitors coupons, expired or not). They also had a 75% off table, so with the coupon, I got an additional $20 (retail) worth of candles and gifts for that $5. At the end of the day, I had tired feet, a full belly, an overflowing gift closet, and a happy wallet. I love shopping ahead - it saves so much money, time and stress, and generally allows me to buy more thoughtful gifts- instead of just grabbing something at the last minute. Thanks again to everyone who posts their finds!