New Catalina Machines at Target.

Divas, have any of you been noticing the new Catalina coupon machines at Target??? Over the past few weeks I have been getting coupons print out at every check out. Some of them include $5 off $50 Toy purchase, $3 off softsoap emblems, $.75 off Wonka gummies, $5 off any $75 purchase, and a $5 off $25 Transformer, Star wars, Gi Joe toy purchase.

And these are Target coupons! On them it states that Target accepts one manufacture and one Target coupon per item. These new coupons are much easier to read and spot then the ones printing at the end of your receipt. I think it's pretty Swa-eet!

Target's Low Price Promise

Target wrote me back (that was fast!). It looks like I won't be getting my gift card. That is fine with me since it was in their policy, which they sent me. I suggest you print this out and bring it with you if you are trying to price match since my Target didn't have a copy at their customer service desk. Here it is:

Low Price Promise:

- Advertised prices from any qualifying competitor with a
store in your market/area will be matched
- Guest must bring in local competitor’s entire current
ad.
- The advertised price must be valid at the competitor
the
day the price match is requested.
- Single item price points.
- Match prices on identical items only.

Some price matching exclusions include:

Online retail promotions or products advertised on
 another company's
web or mobile sites, even those advertising
in-store prices.
Competitor's free product, bundled offers,
or special purchases
Gift cards and coupon offers
Sales tax promotions
Limited time or quantity items
Damaged product or opened packaging
Clearance or closeout items
Mail in offers
Product services (warranties, assembly, etc.)
Going-out-of-business liquidations
Special financing
Used or previously owned items
Display merchandise
Pricing or typographical errors
Club or loyalty programs
Mobile coupons
Target Portrait Studio, Optical, and Clinic offers

Target gift card drama

I had an experience at Target today that I would like you to weigh in on. I would like to know if you think I am right and if I should get my gift card. Sorry this is kind of long, but I would appreciate your thoughts. I will let you know what Target tells me. This is what I wrote to them tonight:

Today I bought the Bissell ProHeat 2x Upright Deep Cleaner at the Target in Cedar Park, TX. At Best Buy it is being sold for $169.99. I bought it at Target because of the free $25 gift card with purchase. I know Target price matches, but at customer service they told me I had to choose between the price match and the gift card. If the gift card is supposed to be FREE with purchase, shouldn’t I get it even if I price match?

I explained that I thought the gift card was free with purchase. I asked to see the price match policy, but they didn’t have it nor did they know what it said about gift cards and price matching. We read the gift card policy and it said nothing excluding price matches. They called over the manager working, Dave. He also didn’t have any copy of the price match policy and told me to call guest services or go online. I found it very disturbing that not only the people working at customer service but also the manager did not know their own price matching policy nor have a copy to refer to. I don’t like that I have to contact corporate in order to have my questions about price matching answered. I think customer service and the manager should both know their policy and have a copy to show customers. Dave said that I should contact guest services and he hopes that you would give me my $25 gift card, but that he could not if I wanted to price match.

Once again my main concern is if the gift card is supposed to be free with purchase, shouldn’t I get it even if I price match?

Please send me my $25 gift card that was advertised free with purchase in your weekly ad this week. Please inform your employees better with the policies regarding price matching. This would make purchasing items at Target so much easier. Also please send me a copy of your price matching policy so that I may show Target employees when I am trying to price match.

*********

Okay me again. So if you read that novel, what do you think? I think if that is a policy of theirs that they won't combine price matches with free gift cards with purchase, then they should SAY THAT in their ad and in their policy. If it doesn't say that, then I think I should get my $25 gift card!

Shame, Shame on You, Walgreens

Just thought I'd share this because
a) it made me feel a tiny bit better about dumb Walgreens
b)I hope it helps you feel empowered to stick up for yourself. (not that I think you don't because you are much stronger women than I)
c) Because it feels good to rally the troops ;-)
I hope it sounds good and 'smart'...

"Hello, I was just in your Store on Discovery in Cedar Park. I am very displeased with my experience there. I used coupons and do so weekly. I have become familiar with your policies and I take time to plan my shopping as to do them accordingly. One of you managers, Lewis I believe, was kind enough to answer my questions and try to work with me BUT to be honest he was unknowledgeable. I felt he was making rules up as he went along. I was attempting to purchase many items, most of them with coupons except a few. In addition I was using one Register Reward for $2 that expired TODAY! I attempted to take his instructions and do what he suggested in order to use this Register Reward. When it did not work, he came up with another reason as to why I needed to purchase even more additional items in order to use it. He reasoning did not make sense and as a knowledgeable coupon and Register Reward user I tried to explain why it was nonsense. And also therefore why should I trust his suggestions and judgement for additional purchases. I have worked with this manager before on a similar situation and he did resolve the situation after it was obvious his suggestions did not work. I feel that he complicates my shopping experience and makes it hard to shop with Walgreens. I am not sure I will be returning any time soon. I am contemplating returning my purchase in full from today. I am cordial to your employees out of respect. Please train them on your policies, especially those on Register Rewards as to deserve my respect and business. I'd appreciate my money back for the $2 register Reward. Mary Walker"

**UPDATE**
Josh, a manager at the Store, called me yesterday. We talked a little about what happened and right away he wanted to give me a gift card for my troubles. Which is great but I did feel a little brushed under the rug so I told him I appreciated it but did push him further to talk with Lewis, the Manger I dealt with on Monday. I went and picked up the gift card today, which ended up being $10. I was friendly and made small talk with Josh and the other cashier. I didn't bring up the incident again because I don't want to beat the dead horse and quite frankly I don't think anything will change. Having a 'talk' with a manger isn't going to change the fact that they are guessing most of the time when it comes to RR's. For any real progress I think the company needs to make RR's less complicated. Maybe more like the system for ECBs at CVS. I don't know if I really feel a win or a defeat here. Just that it is what it is. That's the way things are and as Couponers we'll just have to decide if it's worth the trouble and stress of having experiences like this one once in a while. I may not go to that store in the future for a while, though as I left I did have the thought that if Walgreens treated all their customers the way I was treated today I'd shop there all the time.

OOP $3.06 Saved $31.58

2 Boost kids $7.99 each

BOGO MQ printable

$5/1 MQ printable

2 Kashi Go Lean cereals $2.69 and $2.75

2 $3/1 MQ from mailer

2 Neosporin Lip $3.34 each

2 $3/1 MQ printable

Details for all coupons are on Hip2save.com

That's $24.99 in coupons. My receipt says saved $31.58...Target receipts confuse me because sometimes the saved amount on the bottom is more than the coupons used and other times it's less. Also, wanted to tell y'all who live in my same area, I like the Target by the mall better! they have way less beaping on coupons! A lot of the time the coupons will adjust price on their own. Good for the stress level but sad for overage.

$10 Snow White Coupons

I have some extra $10 Snow White Coupons if anyone needs them. They exp 10/10 so let me know ASAP!!

$4 Walgs trip last week

I am not doing a lot of serious couponing these days, but I did go to Target and spent $75, saved $27 on grocery items, and I made this small Walgreens trip for milk. For the price of 2 gallons of milk, I got 3gal, 3 deoderants and 2 packs of razors!

Coupons...again!

Don't be scared! Ask for coupons if you want them! I am getting more than one paper this week for a couple that I really want, but I will probably trash the rest. PLEASE email me if you want some. I will mail them to you at my expense!


In return, I will take any toothpaste, toothbrush coupons you don't want.
alisavasquez@yahoo.com

Coupons

Please let me know if there are any coupons you want. I have A LOT~ and I keep throwing them away. Email me your address!

alisavasquez@yahoo.com

My BIG shopping trip at Target

Well our second trip to a different Target took forever but it also was very productive. I got 17 boxes of cereal, 4 packages of baby wipes, and 5 travel size bowls of cereal all for 6.38!!

This is the email I got in response to my problems from the first Target trip:

If you have any questions about a specific coupon or experience using a coupon at Target, we want to help! Please give our Guest Relations team a call at (800) 440-0680. We'll do the best we can to help you as quickly as possible. For your call, please provide a team member with the following reference number: 1-427591481.

In the meantime, I'd like to share with you some information about our coupon policy.

When accepting coupons, we use the following guidelines: - We accept two kinds of coupons: Target-issued and manufacturer-issued.

-We'll accept one Target coupon and one manufacturer coupon for the same item, unless either coupon prohibits it.-

We can't give cash back if the face value of a coupon is greater than the purchase value of the item; in this case, we're able to adjust the value of the coupon to equal the price of the item.

- We can't accept coupons from other retailers, or coupons for products not carried in our stores.

- All valid coupons should be presented to the cashier while you're checking out. Also, the team member attitude you described isn't part of our guest service philosophy. We expect our team members to help you in a professional manner. Hearing your comments is very important to us, and I’ve shared them with the Port Arthur Target Store Leadership team for further review. Thanks for writing. Give us a call if there's anything else we can do to help.

Sincerely,

Glenn

Target Guest Relations

www.target.com[THREAD ID:1-72JWX4]

Has anyone tried to do the cereal deal at Target yet? The price match for 1.99 and use manufacture coupons with the Target coupons?

$20 Walgs GC

Centsible Savings is having an awesome giveaway of a $20 Walgreens Gift Card. THey made it so Easy to enter too! I'd love to get my hands on this gift card and head out to coupon shop at Walgreens!

$20 TAG Reader System

Apparently in some states, the Tag Reader is on clearance at Target. I have not been able to find them in the Austin stores or Beaumont stores I looked at.

But, according to Hip2Save, there is another possible option at ToysRUs! I am going today to check the Bmt one, and Mary--if you have a chance, can you check Lakeline??

Click here for info! The best part about these scenarios is that you do not have to have the coupon printer installed for either coupon, and they are PDFs, so can be printed out as many times as you like!

Aldo Shoes

Aldo Shoes has tons of shoes and sandals on clearance on their website.
LOVE those shoes, but they are normally so pricey!

Use promo code VIPOFFER to get free shipping.

Total Money Makeover

Having trouble making ends meet, AND pay off your debt (including your mortgage)? I discovered Dave Ramsey and have been so inspired by his plan that I wanted to share it with all of you. Go here and check out his sight! He also has a show on Fox News every night at 7pm.

***I just placed an order, and he is really serious about this debt free thing! You can only pay with debit card or electronic check. NO credit cards! There is a FREE dvd "How to Get out of debt" that I ordered. I will let you all know how it is...or if you are in my area, I would LOVE to pass it around and share the "wealth". (It is free, though, so you may wanna just order it!) :)

Udder Covers

My friend received this in an email and forwarded it to me. Shipping is $8.95. I made one of these myself and it cost me about $6, so I consider this a good deal.

You can get ANY of our covers for free ~ you just pay the S&H! We know that you support breastfeeding -so if you're not currently nursing, they make great baby shower and Holiday gifts. The promo code is "backorder1".


Go to www.uddercovers.com , click on "Shop Now" where it will then display all the nursing covers we offer as well as other products and sets. Select the product you would like and you will automatically be directed to the center of the page where you can enter in the promo code! This backorder promotion will give you a $32.00 discount off your total order no matter what you put in your cart! This promotion code is valid once per transaction so order as many times as you would like. Let all your friends know too!

Kid 2 Kid

Kid 2 Kid is overstocked. They have 6 racks of clearance clothes. All clearance is buy 10 get 10 FREE.
They have everything from newborn up to kids size 7 or 8. Boys and Girls. Lots of stuff. I even saw a few new items from Gymboree that were originally $19 for 25% off the Kid 2 Kid price of $6!

(They are not buying any more clothes this week.)

oh also at the checkout at Kid2Kid they had coupons for 30% your entire purchase at Gymboree, which would come in handy if you are shopping tax free this weekend. I was also in Gymboree today and they have tons of stuff 50% off and are also doing Gymbucks right now.

Found this link while blog surfing. It is actually on numerous frugal/coupon blogs. I thought it was a good resource for coupons! It's called The Coupon Loop.

ELF

Did everyone see the deal on ELF makeup posted here on hip2save?

I have ordered from them before and liked most of their stuff. I want to take advantage of this deal, but don't want to order 27 items (or so) to get the free shipping with orders over $20.
Anyone want to go in on this with me?

Tax Free Weekend

Sales Tax Holiday
August 21 - 23, 2009

It's coming up!!

Look here for full details and lists of what's tax free and what is NOT!

Listerine Smart Rinse and Agent(It turns your teeth blue where you need to brush! Avery thinks it's so cool!) mouthwashes can be found on clearance for $1.42-$2.95 at CVS right now. Use the BOGO and $1/1 coupons for a pretty awesome deal! I just got these two for $.42!! These mouthwashes are usually over $5 a piece! It's hit or miss though...I've been to three different CVS's this week and all of them had them priced differently. One not on clearance at all! Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Call Me C-R-A-Z-Y Day 3

Today was another success.

Breakfast: Mini-cakes I made last nite (kids were thrilled!)

Lunch: Frozen chicken bites/ pineapple

Dinner: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy (which I made myself from the grease from the chicken!!), and peaches

Fruit that we have had this week is from a can or jar. No fresh fruit. :( That is definitely something I will have to budget in at least every other week! We LOVE our fresh fruit!

Entertainment: Invited friends over for fun in the pool in the backyard.

Budget spent: $0
Budget left: $18.10

Win a $20 CVS Gift Card!!

Centsible Savings is having a month of giveaways and this week it's a $20 Gift Card!!

Good Luck!

Call me C-R-A-Z-Y Part 2b

Wow!! This is challenging!

Entertainment tonight: Family went to neighborhood pool (FREE!)

Walgreens trip:

Huggies Wipes 64ct: .79 ---$2.79 (used $2 coupon from Walgs flyer found in-store)

*****THIS IS A MUST FOR EVERY MOTHER!! PICK UP A STACK OF THOSE COUPON BOOKLETS AND EVERYTIME YOU GO IN, PICK UP A BOX!!!******

Rice Krispies 2 boxes: have to check on this. I thought they were on sale for 2/$5, then I had (2) $1 off coupons, so they should have been 2/$3, then $2 in RR. But, they rang up 2/$8. :(

Milk 2 gal 2.99ea

Kraft single Easy Mac: 4/.50ea. Used (2) $1/2 manu. coupons stacked with Walgs flyer coupon $1/4.

Chips Ahoy: Sale 2/$5. Used .75/2 manu stacked with Walgs coupon $1/1. Unfortunately, it didn't work, so the mgr just changed the price of 1, but it still should have been $1 less. :(

2 dozen eggs: sale .99ea

Flinstones Vitamins: $6.99 used $1 manu coupon + $2 Walgs coupon from flyer

Also, Mentos gum, and marshmallows!

Total: $6.90 (should have been about half that because of Rice Krispies and Chips Ahoy mess-up)

Saved:$35.54

Budget used: $6.90

Budget left: $18.10

***FYI: The flyer at the front of the stores seems to be confusing everyone. On the front of the coupons, it is pretty clear it is a Walgreens coupon, which means it can be stacked. However, on the back, in very small print it says it is a manufacture coupon for Walgreens. I have checked other blogs, and some people have no problem with them going thru, while others have said they beeped and the mgr will not do it. My mgr seems to think they are Walgs coupons, but I think I will contact corporate and find out. So, just know if you are stacking them, they may or may not work.

Target clearance deals

I was at Target today and I tried to write down as many clearance items that had coupons as I could in the time I had. In case any of you are interested.

Betty Crocker Warm delites $1.16
Coupon: $.50/1

C and H sugar $1.57
Coupon: $.65/2

Specality Pace $2.41 (I saw some the next day for even cheaper...$1.4something)
Coupon: $1/1

Hamburger helper $1.06
Coupon:$.75/3

Zatarains $1.37
Coupon: $.75/2

Knorr Sides $.88
Coupon: $1/3

Febreze $1.77
Coupon: BOGO and $.50/1

The frangrance collect soy candles $2.88
Coupon: $3/2

Kotex in trail section $.97
Coupon $1/1
(does NOT exclude trail size)

Bagel-ful $1.32
No coupon I know about.

Paster Strudel $1.37
I know there is a coupon but can not find it...anybody know?

Laura told me about a bottle of Crisco oil on clearance as well. Coupon: $.55/1
Snag it for under a buck!!

Happy shopping!

**update: I just found a coupons to SAVE $.60 ON TWO when you buy any TWO Old El Paso® products on the Betty Crocker website. I remember seeing many of these products on clearance. The taco seasoning packets would probably be the cheapest deal.

Also a lot of the coupons mentioned can be printed from Smart Source online