A few things.......

Went shopping today and did really well! I used Hip2Save's lists for CVS & Walgreens and here's what I got:

CVS

---2 12-pk Pepsi
---5 Stacy's Pita chips - used 4 mfg $1 coupons from inserts and 1 $1 coupon from CVS's Reinventing
Beauty magazine along with 4 CVS coupons I printed from http://www.cvs.com/!
---2 M&M's - used $1/2 mfg coupon from inserts
---1 Essence of Beauty body butter on clearance for $3.00 - used $2 CVS coupon from the Reinventing Beauty mag
---3 individual Coke's & 3 Extra gum - used 3 $1 mfg coupons picked up at Wags and 3 $.50 CVS coupons for the Coke. I should have done this last week when you got $1 back but I never made it there oh well.

I used $2.50 in ecb's - paid $21.69 OOP and got back $12.00 in ecb's!

Walgreens

4 Kraft Mac 'n Cheese - used Wags ad coupon & 1 Buy 3 Get 1 free coupon
2 Welchs grape jelly - used 2 $.55 mfg coupons
3 Maybelline mascaras - $3.47 each - used 3 $1 mfg. coupons and got back $3 RR
1 Revlon Double Twist mascara -- look for bonus packages that have two mascara's in them! Usually the bonus packs do not work for an RR but I decided to try it and it worked!!! So, I got 2 mascara's for free after the $5 Revlon coupon which I will use to get some other make up on sale - Jewel had a ton on clearance so I'm gonna check them out first! :-) - used $2 mfg coupon - free after the $5 Revlon coupon. By the way, the coupon is in the 12/13SS, not RP!
2 Neosporin lip health products - used 2- $3 IP mfg coupons - got $3RR - MM!
2 Wet Ones wipes - used 2- $1.50 IP mfg coupons - got $1RR - free!
2 Lindsay Olives - used 1 IP coupon and 1 Wags coupon from the Diabetes and You booklet
1 Soft soap clearance soap - filler to use an RR
Used $2.50 RR - paid $21.99 OOP and got $12 in RR's back!

Dominick's

I ran into Dominick's and bought 2 Pillsbury Toaster Strudel - Cream Cheese & Strawberry - $1.59 each. (This is the only one at this price for some reason!) - $3.18 total
*** go to http://www.cellfire.com/ and http://www.shortcuts.com/ and load your electronic coupons on your Dominick's card. It will take off $.55 for each Cellfire and Shortcuts. Use 2 coupons from the following link: http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?tqnm=zaojbmm33167178&bt=vi&o=58542&ci=1&c=GM&p=cPprsOnQ and you will pay $.08 for both of them! The tag said 2/$5 but those did ring up at $1.59. Thanks to Mashup Mom for this deal!
I also got some bananas - $1.23, coleslaw mix -$1.69 and a 2lb. bag of carrots - $2.50 and used 2 - $1 off produce from a Oscar Mayer coupon booklet that I found over by the packaged lunch meat!
My OOP was $3.67 for all of it!

Then I stopped at the Super Target in Streamwood to check out their clearance - they have less at 75% than our store but still some good stuff - I got Alex a pair of dress pants and 2 pj pants for under $20! It's all hit or miss but worth checking out.

One thing I really want to mention is that I stopped at these stores on my way home from church and the tax rate for these stores in Hoffman Estates is 10%!!!! Wow! Here in South Elgin it's only 7.75% so it's just something to think about - I figured I lost some of my savings and my OOP would have been less at a lower tax rate. It's just something I never really thought about before and thought I would mention it.

Happy Shopping!