Weekly Price Check

People who do not coupon tend to think that Walmart is the cheapest place to shop, no matter what. So I thought I would do some price comparisons. Hopefully this will make you rethink that a little bit! Don't get me wrong, there are times when you can score GREAT deals and even freebies at Walmart, but generally speaking...you can almost always find better deals at your local supermarket/grocery store with their in-store promotions and sales. In order to give you a more accurate price comparison, I will compare purchasing name brand items by matching sales and coupons vs. purchasing store brand (where applicable) at Walmart, as people tend to think nothing is better priced than Great Value brand! (all comparisons are between same size items unless specifically noted) To see last week's "Price Check," click HERE.

This week I decided to highlight some freebies and money-makers. Even Great Value brand can't beat FREE, nor will it ever PAY us to buy it! It amazes me to think back on all of the amazing things I have gotten for FREE or been paid to buy...here is a list of things off the top of my head that I have gotten for free (and many times even been PAID to buy) over the last year:

: Toothpaste : Toothbrushes : Floss : Lotion : Body Wash : Razors : Lip Care products : Make-up : Planters nuts : Pasta : Hair Care products : Nut Clusters : Relish : Mustard : Salad Dressing : Candy : Eye Drops : Cereal : BBQ Sauce : Popcorn : Milk : Eggs : Produce : Q-tips : Cough Drops : Face Wash : Deodorant : Coffee Creamer : Crackers : Cookies : Hamburger : Chicken : Juice Boxes : Air Fresheners : and the list goes on and on...

Seriously. I've gotten all of the above and so much more for FREE. Now, granted, some of the above things are only free SOMEtimes, yet a lot of the above you can get for FREE on a pretty regular basis. So, with that said, on to the comparisons. This week is a pretty abridged version as I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to prepare for a weekend getaway to Vegas with my hubby (NO KIDS!). Needless to say, I've been pretty stressed out trying to make sure I have all of the loose ends tied up (You'd think I was going away for a month and not just two days. Lol).

Walmart - Denture Adhesive Cream (smallest size they had was 2.4oz, at least that I saw) - $2.98

Walgreens - Poligrip (.75oz, so much smaller) - $2.00, but you get back a $2 RR, so it's essentially FREE, but WAIT! Use the $1/1 (RP 1/3) and make $1 by purchasing this!

 

Walmart - Blistex (they do not have any kind of store brand lip care product, so I used the cheapest one they had available) - $.92

Walgreens - Vitamin Water Lip Care - $1.99, but get a $2 RR back after purchase, so FREE! I got 4 of these last week, so I saved $3.68.

Walmart - Suave for Men (No Equate brand, so again just used the cheapest similar product I could find) - $1.93

Walgreens - Dove Men's Body Wash - $5.99, but get a $6RR after purchase, so FREE. BUT, then use the $1.50 IP that's available or the $1.25/1 from RP 1/31 to make this a $1.25-$1.50 money-maker! I bought 5 of these this week, so not only did I save $9.65, I MADE $7.25 by buying them!

These are not actually free this week, but $.99 is still pretty darn good! Plus, I have gotten these for free many, many times in the past. They are $8.94 at Walmart, minus the $4/1 coupon (PG 2/7) makes them $4.94.

Walgreens - $8.99, plus get back a $4RR, making them $4.99. Use the same $4/1 coupon and they are just $.99! Pretty awesome. I absolutely love these razors, even though they are for men. They're what I use all of the time. Add in the fact that they're frequently free and it can't get much better! :)

 

Walmart - Whole Wheat thin spaghetti (or regular thin spaghetti) - $1.00

Albertsons - Ronzoni Smart Taste or Healthy Harvest thin spaghetti - $1.00. Use the $1/2 HERE, plus a doubler (which doubles the coupon amount) and they are FREE.

  

I also noticed that the Great Value brand diapers went down to $5.88 from $6.67 (check out my last diaper comparison HERE.) 

That's a pretty decent price for diapers in general. HOWEVER, when you compare it to the fact that we are getting HUGGIES brand diapers for just $2.99 this week...that seems WAY too expensive! :) (Find out how you can get Huggies for $2.99 at Walgreens HERE.) 

What it comes down to is this:

Great Value brand, size 4, 31ct = $.19/diaper

Huggies brand, size 4, 31ct = $.10/diaper

That's a $.09 savings per diaper or $2.89 savings for the whole pack! I bought 8 packages of Huggies diapers this week for $23.92 (I didn't even really pay this much out-of-pocket because I used previous register rewards to pay for most of that amount). The same eight packs of store brand would have cost me $47.04. I saved $23.12!

Are you ready to start learning how to save your family a ton of money by matching coupons with sales? YOU can do it, too...I PROMISE! Click HERE to get started! How do I get so many coupons?? Read all about why I get multiple newspaper subscriptions HERE.

Weekly Price Check

People who do not coupon tend to think that Walmart is the cheapest place to shop, no matter what. So I thought I would do some price comparisons. Hopefully this will make you rethink that a little bit! Don't get me wrong, there are times when you can score GREAT deals and even freebies at Walmart, but generally speaking...you can almost always find better deals at your local supermarket/grocery store with their in-store promotions and sales. Here are some examples of products that we are getting at a great price by matching sales with coupons: (to see last week's "Price Check" click HERE) In order to give you a more accurate price comparison, I will compare purchasing name brand items by matching sales and coupons vs. purchasing store brand (where applicable) at Walmart. (all comparisons are between same size items unless specifically noted)

I thought for this week, what better way to show you than highlighting items from the AWESOME Quaker Sale that was going on last week at Albertsons?

Great Value brand syrup: $1.78. No coupons available.

 

Aunt Jemima syrup - $2.94 There were $1/2 Aunt Jemima pancake mix or syrup coupons available on Ebay. Last week at Albertsons as part of the Quaker promo, these were only $1.40 when you buy 5 participating items! (Already $.38 cheaper than the GV brand) You could purchase six for $9 (one would be full individual price for $2 for not purchasing in an increment of five), use three $1/2 coupons and three double coupons that were available to get all six for $3 or $.50 each. The same five GV brand syrups would cost you $10.68. You save $7.68 over purchasing the store brand. The same name brand syrups with the same coupons would cost you $14.64.

Great Value quick oats - $1.84. No coupons available.

 

 Quaker quick oats - $3.12. There were various coupons available for this, but some we wound up not being able to use because they were believed to be fraudulent, so I will just use the example of the $3/5 coupons that were available, as that is what I used. The Quaker quick oats were on sale for $1.40 each when you bought five (already $.44 cheaper than the GV brand without additional coupons). If you used the $3/5, you would pay just $.80 per can or $4 for five. The same five GV brand would have cost you $9.20. The same name brand with the same coupon would have cost you $12.60! You would save $5.20 for every 5 you bought at Albertsons over purchasing GV brand.

Great Value pancake mix - $1.57. No coupons available.

 

Aunt Jemima pancake mix - $2.34. There was a $1/2 coupon available that our area didn't get, but that could be found on eBay. If you bought this item at Albertsons in increments of five, it was only $1.00! That's already $.57 cheaper than the GV brand! (do you see a pattern here?) If you were to buy 6 boxes for $6.60 (one would be full individual price of $1.60), you could use three $1/2 coupons, plus three double coupons that were available to pay just $.60 for all six items or $.10/ea. The same five GV boxes would cost you $9.42. You save $8.82 over purchasing the store brand. The same six boxes of name brand using the same coupons at Walmart would cost you $11.04. 

Great Value instant oatmeal - $1.68. No coupons available.

Quaker instant oatmeal - $2.54. Once again as part of the promo, when you buy in increments of five, these were $1! Already $.68 cheaper than the GV brand. Again, various coupons available, but I used the $1/2 coupons I got in the boxes of the oatmeal I bought at the last Quaker sale. If you bought six boxes, used three $1/2 coupons, and 3 double coupons, you would pay just $.60 for all six boxes, or $.10 each! The same six boxes of GV brand would cost you $10.08. You save $9.48 over purchasing the store brand. The same six boxes of Quaker oatmeal with the same coupons would cost you $12.24 at Walmart.

Walmart does not carry the same size boxes as Albertsons on all of the cereals, so I decided to make it easy and just do a price/ounce comparison.

 

Walmart - Quaker Oatmeal Squares 24oz - $3.22 (equals $.13/oz) Use $3/5 coupons found on ebay to make it $.11/oz.

Albertsons - Quaker Oatmeal Squares 16oz - $1.00 (equals $.06/oz)

Use $3/5 coupons found on ebay to get these for $.40/box (80 ounces total), making it $.03/oz. You save $.08/ounce purchasing at Albertsons over Walmart.

Walmart - Cap'n Crunch (all varieties equaled roughly the same) 15oz - $2.00 (equals $.13/oz) Use $3/5 coupons found on Ebay to make it $.09/oz.

Malt-o-Meal bagged "Berry Colossal Crunch" 22.5oz - $2.56 (equals $.11/oz)

Albertsons - Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries 15oz - $1.00 (equals $.07/oz) Use $3/5 coupons to make it $.03/oz. You save $.06-$.08 per ounce purchasing at Albertsons over Walmart.

Walmart - Quaker Life cereal 21oz - $2.88 (equals $.14/oz) Use $3/5 coupon making it $.11/oz)

Albertsons - Quaker Life cereal 15oz - $1.00 (equals $.07/oz) Use $3/5 coupon making it $.03/ounce. You save $.08/oz purchasing at Albertsons over Walmart.

So, all that "per ounce" talk is just jibber jabber to some of you. To put it in perspective, each box, regardless of size cost $.40 at Albies. If you were to buy 15 boxes of varying Cap'n Crunch, you would only pay $6.00 for all FIFTEEN boxes! At Walmart, you would pay around $21.00. You save about $15.00 shopping at Albertsons and matching the sale with a coupon.

Alright, saved the best for last! 

 Great Value chewy granola bars (18 ct) - $3.00 (equals $.17/bar)

Quaker chewy granola bars (10 ct.) - $2.26. The only 10ct boxes I could find in the GV brand were for the 90 calorie bars, so I used the bigger box with 18 bars. So, we will use the price comparison per bar. The 10ct bars were on sale for $1 at Albies when you purchase five (equals $.10/bar...already $.07/bar cheaper than Walmart)  I will use my own personal example for this one, since I'm pretty proud of the money I saved. (First, you have to understand that my husband INSISTS on these whether they are on sale or not, so I have been having to purchase them at FULL-PRICE for weeks now! I was ready to STOCK-UP!) I bought $.55/1 coupons off of eBay and purchased 35 boxes. I did them in transactions of five, so as to use three double coupons with each set. So...all-in-all I paid a whopping $4.20 for THIRTY FIVE boxes of granola bars!!! 35 boxes equals 350 bars. $4.20 divided by 350 equals $.01/bar! That's $.16/bar less than the STORE BRAND. Ok, so the same 350 bars at Walmart would have cost me $58.33! I saved $54.13 over purchasing the store brand. The same 350 Quaker bars at Walmart with the same coupons, would have cost me $59.85. 

If you planned really well, you could actually wind up scoring FREE bars by using a different coupon combination, but I was satisfied enough with $4.20 for 35 boxes of granola bars. :) 

Recap: Some of the amounts you save may not seem to be that significant, but when you add all those amounts up, it becomes HUGE savings. If you were to buy just the above listed items in the specified quantities, you would save $100.31 on your grocery bill by purchasing NAME BRAND items at Albertsons and matching sales with coupons over purchasing the same quantity of STORE BRAND items at Walmart. 

Wow...what a great sale! I'm now stocked up on granola bars, a few of my family's favorite cereals, pancake mix, syrup, and oatmeal. I won't have to buy them again until they're at a price I CHOOSE and am happy to pay. :) Time for a rest. Good thing this week's Albertsons sale isn't too exciting...

Are you ready to start learning how to save your family a ton of money by matching coupons with sales? YOU can do it, too...I PROMISE! Click HERE to get started.! How do I get so many coupons?? Read all about why I get multiple newspaper subscriptions HERE.

Alrighty, I have decided to definitely make this a weekly post because I really do just enjoy seeing the true difference in what I'm saving my family. People tend to think that Walmart is the cheapest place to shop, no matter what. Hopefully this will make you rethink that a little bit! Don't get me wrong, there are times when you can score GREAT deals and even freebies at Walmart, but generally speaking...you can almost always find better deals at your local supermarket/grocery store with their in-store promotions and sales. Here are some examples of products that we are getting at a great price by matching sales with coupons: (to see last week's "Price Check" click HERE)

Ken's Salad Dressing - $2.24 at Walmart. Use the $1/1 from the inserts to make it $1.24. At Albertsons last week this dressing was on sale for $1.99 (already cheaper than Walmart) and by using the same $1/1 coupon, plus a doubler that was available, we got them FREE! Yup. FREE. I "bought" six bottles of various kinds for FREE! The same six bottles at Walmart would have cost me $7.44. I saved $7.44 or 100%!

Halls Cough Drops - $1.56 at Walmart. Use the $.50/1 from the inserts to make them $1.06. Last week Albertsons had them on sale for $1.00 (already $.56 cheaper than Walmart). Use the same $.50/1 coupon and a doubler to get them for FREE. Yup. FREE. :) I "bought" six packages for FREE, saving $6.36 over what the same six would have cost me at Walmart. I saved $6.36 or 100%!

For this week's Albertsons matchups, click HERE.

Pepsi product 12pks - $3.50 at Walmart. This week at Walgreens they are part of a promo where when you spend $20, you get a $10RR back, essentially giving you a 50% discount! There are other items you can buy. The 12pks were already on sale for $3.00 ($.50 cheaper than Walmart) but when I bought them as part of the promo, I essentially got them for $1.50/ea! NO COUPONS NEEDED. Just a better price. I bought 5 (I will probably be going back for more if they have any left, as my husband drinks these like water.) for $7.50. The same 5 at Walmart would have cost me $17.50. I saved $10.00 or 57%! And that's without coupons!

DayQuil/NyQuil liquid - on rollback for $4.94 at Walmart. Use the $2/1 coupon from the inserts to get them for $2.94. Not bad! (Also, use the "FREE Puffs with purchase of any two Vick's products) However, at Walgreens this week they are part of a promo where when you spend $20 in participating DayQuil and NyQuil products, you get a $10RR back. Again, that is essentially a 50% discount before any coupons! The participating DayQuil/NyQuil products (the liquid was included, as was other varieties, such as capsules, etc) were on sale for $5.00 (a penny more than at Walmart). When you factor in the $10RR, which is like a 50% savings, that makes them basically $2.50 (already $.49 cheaper than Walmart) Use the same $2/1 coupon to get these for only $.50! Yes. $.50 for a medicine that normally costs $4.94 at Walmart. (And you can see in the photo that even the Equate brand liquid (that looks to be smaller in size) is still $4.00, and you can't use coupons on it, so you're saving $3.50 by getting the name brand at Wags. Crazy, huh?) So, I bought eight of varying DayQuil/NyQuil products for $4.00 (the same as ONE of the store brand), plus got four FREE Puffs tissues (which I would have gotten at Walmart, too). The same eight at Walmart would have cost me $23.52.  I saved $19.52 or 83% on the cost of the medicine, and got four FREE Puffs tissues which saved me another $3.98 or 100%! And now I have enough of this medicine to (hopefully) get my husband and I through the rest of the year until it goes on sale again next winter! (It doesn't expire until 2012)

Jergen's lotion - on rollback for $5. Use the $3/2 coupon from the inserts to get them for $3.50/ea when you buy two. At Walgreens this week they are part of a promotion where when you buy two bottles, you get a $5 RR back. They are on sale for 2/$12 or $6.00/ea (a dollar more than Walmart), however, when you factor in the $5 RR, it is like getting them 2/$7 or $3.50 ea. Now, use the same $3/2 coupon and that makes them $2.00 ea! Now, generally, you can get lotion MUCH cheaper than this and this is NOT a stock-up price. I have tons of lotion I got for FREE or dirt cheap ($.25) in my closet, but my husband has tried every kind I bring home and he just prefers this lotion. So, I am HAPPY to stock-up at $2.00 per bottle compared to the $5 I usually pay, especially because in the almost-year I've been couponing, I've NEVER seen this lotion go on this good of a sale. That said, I have bought 10 bottles so far (and plan to get more) for $20. The same 10 bottles at Walmart would have cost me $35 with rollback and coupon! I saved $15 or 43%!

For the current Walgreens matchups, click HERE.

Alright, so on just the above listed items I saved my family $58.32 by matching sales with coupons over what I would have paid just shopping at Walmart (even with the same coupons)!

How do I get all of those coupons?? Read all about why I get multiple newspaper subscriptions HERE. Are you ready to start learning how to save your family a ton of money by matching coupons with sales? YOU can do it, too...I PROMISE! Click HERE to get started.