My savings for April 18th

[frugal_gal]

It all started with my organizing my flyers and coupons once I had made a list of what I needed that I could actually get on sale this week and use coupons if I has them for those items. My goal was to get everything in 1 stop going to RCSS and WM which are both in the same shopping plaza. I was planning on getting a few items at RCSS that were on sale there and take advantage of the no tax event and then PM the rest at WM while I was picking up a few other items there.

In my planning I didn't take into account that the WM might not carry certain items (for example they carry Dawn dishsoap and Dove Go Fresh bar soap but not the 325mL bottle or 2x90g packages). That's okay though b/c I can pick up the Dawn this week on my way from work at the SDM and I was able to p/u the Dove bars at the Rexall on my way back home from running my errand yesterday.

I learned a few things yesterday:
1. Don't assume the store will refuse all your printed manufacturer internet coupons even if you were told that was the case when you made an inquiry by phone about the store's coupon policy.
Although I had called CS at RCSS and was told they didn't accept printed coupons, I decided to stop at the CS desk before going in to shop to verify with the CSManager/supervisor if they'd accept the printed internet manufacturer coupons I had. I was pleasantly surprised when both supervisors who responded to the CS cashier's page told me the store would honor my coupons (they mentioned the fraudulant Maple Leaf coupons and their need to be more vigilent; if I had high value items, they'd make calls to confirm their validity and accept them if confirmed valid). I had nothing to lose and in fact it turns out I made hugh savings by taking an extra 5 minutes or so to ask a simple question all the while being patient and polite about it!
2. Take advantage of PM, it may save you some time from running around but beware that the store you go to may not carry all the items you want to PM. In my case, it didn't really matter as I ended up being able to stop at Rexall/Pharma Plus on the way home to pick up the Dove bars (2x90g pks) at $1.99 and use my $1 coupons...saved $2 on each pack pre-tax given the regular Rexall price is $2.99 and I had $1 coupons. And this week, I'll be able to take advantage of the sales at SDM on my way from work; so not going out of my way to get all I had planned but couldn't get at WM.
3. Beware of regular pricing of items not only for SCOP but unannounced and unexpected price increases. I was all set to make use of B1G1 free coupons and $3 coupons on SB gel toilet cleaner at WM; the regular price since I started looking at the product after joining SC has been $3.47 and to my surprise the price went up to $4.27 sometime in the last few days!? I was planning on using 5 B1G1 coupons and 5 $3 coupons to get 10 boxes but halfway through putting the items in my cart I had a closer look at the price on the shelf and was stunned to see the price hike. I quickly replaced the items on the shelf as even with my coupons the new price resulted in more than I really wanted to spend/had budgetted to spend for this product.

So on to my savings:
WM: paid $10.70 instead of $45.48 saving $34.78
RCSS: paid $13.95 instead of $60.83 (don't recall the regular price of items I picked up, all on sale of course) saving at least $46.88
Rexall: paid $7.48 instead of $20.27 saving $12.79
Food Basic: chicken and fruit/veggies all on sale paid $17.81 saving probably close to half price on my expected bill.

Not including the spending/savings at FB, I spent $32.13 instead of at least $126.58 saving well over $95 so far this week!!!

[Cheapnik]

What an excellent point on internet coupons. I have been chicken to use them (I don't consider save.ca internet as I am not printing them) and up to this point I have not. From now on I will take your cue and ask before doing my shop if they are acceptable. Thanks so much for that point.

[Patty Smyth]

Walmart is notorious for upping their prices unannounced. Rollbacks only last a few weeks sometimes. I went last week to pick up something and noticed an item my dad wanted but didn't pick it up that day. Was back there a few days later and the price had gone from $1.97 back up to $2.97. You always have to be on alert!!

[seapotato]

woohoo, great job! i'm still iffy about using coupons at my WM, they always give me grief!

[makeupartist]

I noticed that about Walmart also, they have 'rolled up' on quite a few things we normally buy. Busy Bones, Scrubbing Bubbles, Dove, strange. Supply and demand perhaps? MIL seems to think WE are the reason for the rollup on Busy Bones, lol. We picked up about 50 of them over time for her when they were still $2.97 with the $3.00 Save.ca coupon.

[frugal_gal]

Not sure what is up with the 'roll up ' prices!! I guess I might have noticed before but this was just a hugh jump and I guess I had really been paying close attention redeeming a few coupons on that particular item in the past few weeks. Interestingly though the item was never marked as a 'roll back' price, introductory price or sale price at anytime that I am aware of. I guess this is how WM can have their 'roll back' prices on some items or how they can round down to the nearest dollar on some items to make it easier for customers to know how much they will be spending (I read that somewhere this weekend; WM will be using prices such as $2.00 rather than $2.49 for example on and in making those changes on some items will end up rounding down rather than up...so watch out, I am ready to bet, now, that some prices will as a result go up quite significantly on some other items!!).

[Sanrio]

Thanks for sharing what you learned. Great shop too.