My trip to Rite Aid

I saved almost $20 during my shopping trip this week, so let's break it down:

Maybelline Define-a-Brow pencil in Dark Blonde 

retail: $6.69, on sale for 40% off: $4.01 

minus $1 tear-pad coupon

total: $3.01

Maybelline Super Stay Concealer in Light

retail: $7.49, on sale for 40% off: $4.55

minus $1 tear-pad coupon

total: $3.55

Infusium 23 Moisture Replenisher Conditioner (16 oz)

retail: $7.69, on sale for $3.99

minus $2 Infusium coupon

total: $1.99

Borghese Nail Lacquer in Purple Confetti

retail: $8.00

minus 10% off everyday, non-sale purchases using my Wellness+ Card 

(you get this discount when you hit the "Silver" level): $7.20

minus $1 tear-pad coupon from the Borghese Scintillare display

total: $6.20

Not pictured: two boxes of Keebler Flipside Crackers (Mr. G loves these)

retail: $4.49 each

on sale this week: 2/$5 with $1 back in +UP Rewards

total: $4

Grand total BEFORE sales, discounts and coupons: $38.85

My final price: $20.55

Here's exactly how I did it:

For the Maybelline products, I used two $1 tear-pad coupons from the Fashion Week Fall 2010 display, one for each product (when Rite Aid has a 40% off sale on Maybelline, I ALWAYS stock up on my essentials from this line, which include eyebrow pencil and concealer). I know I sound like a broken record, but save your makeup coupons to use during sales--it totally pays off!

NOTE: I completely forgot that there is a $2 Video Values coupon for Maybelline available this month, which you can COMBINE with a manufacturer's coupon (like the $1 tear-pad coupons I used). This would bring your cost down to around $1 for one item! Do not forget to print out this coupon if you're headed to Rite Aid this week for Maybelline!

For the Infusium conditioner, I used the $2 Infusium coupon that was in this month's All You Magazine (I'm telling you, if you don't subscribe to this magazine yet, you really, really should--they have the best beauty coupons!)

For the Borghese polish, I used the $1 tear-pad coupon from the display, which I showed you here, plus I recieve 10% off everyday non-sale item purchases at Rite Aid since I'm at the "Silver" level in the Wellness+ program.

For the Keebler crackers, the sale this week is 2/$5, plus $1 back in +UP Rewards, which brings my total down to $4 for 2 boxes (Mr. G is very happy about this, I assure you).

And finally, since my subtotal before coupons for this purchase was $25.55, I was able to use the $5/$25 coupon from the Video Values site, which brought my grand total down to just $20.55.

The Borghese nail polish was more expensive that I would normally pay for a drugstore polish (but hey, it's limited edition and will not be around forever) and it really brought my overall total up higher than I would have liked it to be, I'm still very happy that I did save almost $20 just by combining sales and coupons. Not bad!

Of course I'll swatch Purple Confetti and show it to you this week (so excited about this color!) but in the meantime, have you taken advantage of any of the sales going on this week? I always LOVE hearing about how you've saved money at the drugstores, so please share your shopping trips with us in the comments. It's great inspiration!

PS: Don't forget that over at Walgreens, Sinful Colors polishes are on sale this week for 99 cents (no coupon required this time--yay!) and also I've heard from several readers that Wet n Wild Wild Shine polishes are on sale for just 79 cents each (regular price: 99 cents).  I know that some locations only have select shades on sale for 79 cents, but the Wags website has ALL shades on sale, so be sure to check your local stores to see what you can find.