7 things that you should never pay more than $1.00 for

Do you pay more than $1.00 for common household items like toothbrushes, body wash or bandages? If you are like most people, you probably do! I have noticed several items that regularly have coupons and also go on sale at the drug stores regularly. Some of these items even have very low every day prices at stores like Wal-Mart or Target. I was showing my sister some of the stuff that I had recently bought with coupons and she noted that they was all name-brand items. Using coupons combined with sales (and sometimes without sales!) nearly always get a better price than a store brand or cheaper version of the product. I have found that a lot of the times store brand items work just fine (things like plastic cutlery, etc.) but most of the time bath and body products just don't measure up. Here are a few items that you should NEVER pay full price for, in fact, you should be able to regularly find these items for under $1.00!

Oral Care
Never, ever, EVER pay for toothbrushes! You can get these for free* at the drugstores almost every week. There are almost always coupons for toothbrushes that can be combined with sales for a free item. For instance last week I purchased a Colgate 360 toothbrush. Retail price was $4.99 (which is ridiculous if you ask me) but it came with a $4.00 Register Reward. I also had a coupon from All You magazine for a $1.00 off. So I paid $3.99 plus tax for the toothbrush (I used Register Rewards from my last trip) and got $4.00 back! Toothpaste and floss have similar deals. You can regularly find deals for toothpaste and floss for no more than $.25 or $.50.
*"free" after Register Rewards, Extra Bucks, Gift cards, etc. You may have to pay a little bit out of pocket initially but you will get the money back to spend later.

Hair Care
You could pay $1.00 for cheap shampoo or you could pay $1.00 (or less!) for the "good" brands like Pantene, Herbal Essences, Garnier, etc. These can be a little trickier, I am currently stocked up on Garnier coupons (my husbands favorite brand) waiting for a good sale. You may have to wait for a few weeks to find a sale on your favorite brand but if you aren't picky there are great sales on these items every week. There are always new newspaper and printable coupons for hair care. Target clearance is also a GREAT place to find very low prices on your favorites brands that can be combined with coupons. A couple of months ago there was a deal on Finesse sulfate free shampoo, after a coupon and a mail in rebate it was absolutely FREE!


Deodorant
Like hair care, there are always coupons floating around out there for deodorant. There is currently a $1.00 off Degree coupon for premium deodorant that has no size restriction. These can be redeemed at Target where the trial size premium deodorant is only $.97! There was also recently a deal where Mitchum deodorant was free and last week at Walgreens full-size Degree deodorant was only $.75.

Body Wash
Just like with hair care, there are usually coupons for body wash, soap, and lotion and plenty of good sales to be combined with. The most important thing is to try to leave your brand loyalty behind because your coupons may expire while you are waiting for a good sale on your favorite products. If you see a good sale on a brand that you like where the final price is under $1.00, stock up!

Pantyliners
Never pay full price for any feminine hygiene product! There are coupons for these products almost every week in the newspaper and they also run regularly online. Carefree pantyliners can often be bought for less than $.25 for a small package and currently U by Kotex has a $1 off any product coupon that can be used on the smallest package of liners for a final price of only $.24 at Wal-Mart.

Bandages
Nexcare, Curad, and Bandaid brands have all recently had coupons for their products. I was able to score a bunch of plain Nexcare bandages for FREE at Wal-Mart and also some Shrek bandages for only $.74.


Trial size items
Sometimes coupons do not have a size restriction (meaning it will NOT say "excludes trial sizes") and that means you are free to use it on a trial size. Regardless of what a rude cashier might tell you. I've had lots and lots of issues with this at Wal-Mart, one cashier acted like I was stealing the money straight out of her pocket. I can assure you that the manufactures know what they are doing and if they didn't want you to use it on a trial size they would put it on the coupon! I'm not an expert but I think that the manufactures want you to try the product even if they lose money, because they know that coupons will not be available forever and if you like the product you will buy it again even if it isn't free. This is also why there are often high value coupons for products (especially new products) which make the products free. Some of the trial size items that I have gotten for free or very cheap: Dove hairspray, Degree deodorant, Tide singles detergent, Cascade dishwasher tabs. I recommend using these coupons at Target over Wal-Mart, I have also never had a problem at Walgreens trying to use a coupon that didn't have a size restriction.

So as you can see there is no need to spend a lot of money on every day necessities. If you can't wait for a good sale, use a coupon and buy one of what you need and then save the rest of your coupons for a sale. Like I mentioned before, there are sometimes very high value coupons that do make other products free. Some of the most recent coupons like this were for Bengay, Zyrtec and Tylenol Precise. If you see these coupons, print the maximum that you can (usually 2 per computer) and stock up, but please try not to clear any shelves! Even if it is for a product that you will not use, you can always give it away to someone who will.

Posted in: Coupons,CVS,Saving Money,Target,Walgreens,Walmart