wealthy wednesday {8.5}

Maybe "wealthy" is pushing it a bit, but there aren't many words related to saving money that start with *W* and I'm all about some alliteration. So, I went to Rite Aid on my lunch hour for some serious shopping. Have I mentioned that I love, love, love the Rite Aid in Mooresville and the people there are alway so nice!?!?!? My only Rite Aid complaint is that since they have a monthly rebate system, you have to pay more out of pocket (unlike CVS), but it's cool that you get real money back - not just coupons. If you look below, I paid almost $40 today, but I'll get almost $20 back next month when my check comes...so, I'll stop whining now.

The only thing that went wrong on this trip was that they were out of toothpaste that could've been free (not a huge deal - we have some stockpiled) and I was planning to transfer a prescription to get a $25 gift card, but my insurance changed something and that didn't work out. Oh well! Here is what I did accomplish...

I had the cashier ring up three second transactions. I was able to use two $5 off $25 coupons and if I'd spent a little bit more time and made a trip out to my car for my coupon binder, I probably could've used a third (I was about $7 away from hitting the $25 mark on the last transaction).

MONEYMAKERS:
Zantac 8ct (SCR for purchase price + $3 coupon)
Renu Contact Solution Twin Pack (SCR for purchase price + $2 coupon)

FREEBIES:
6 packages of BIC pens (10 each): sale + coupon ... anyone need to borrow a pen??? :)
GE Lightbulbs (SCR for 100% purchase price)

Summary
Total @ Full Retail = $89.15
Total @ Sale Prices = $65.92
Coupons used = $26.50
Paid Out of Pocket (before taxes) = $39.42
SCRs due = $19.98
Total Saved = $69.71 (78%) <--- that's awesome

Just as a side note...I am on my way to qualifying for a few of the monthly SCRs as well - I'm trying to pay better attention to these because I've missed some good ones in the past by just a few dollars.
1 - I purchased $9.99 in Duracell batteries and there is a $5 rebate on a $15 purchase. It'd be stupid for me not to get $5 more in batteries, for a $5 rebate...basically free. And I think I have more coupons. So, I will be doing that before the end of the month.

2 - I also bought HP black printer ink for a $3 SCR. However, if I buy another one, I'll get $8 and if I buy a total of 3, I will get $15. That makes for a pretty sweet deal so I may see how the budget looks at the end of the month and get some more. It's a good thing to stock up on for all of that coupon printing :)

3 - There is a good Johnson & Johnson rebate. Spend $25, get $5 back (not that great), Spend $50, get $25 back. NOW we're talking! $50 is a lot but looking at the assortment of items, it's brands we buy a lot anyway. And you have a month to do it so you can match up all sorts of sales, coupons and other SCRs :) $14.47 of today's purchases (aveeno + benadryl) should qualify (and I used $5 in coupons on those items).

Wow...this is long post about nothing!