Walgreen's and Walmart

Nothing really grabbed my attention for the Easy saver rebates, besides the candles again. I rounded up my coupons and here's what I got:

Trip #1

I spent $11.11 OOP, earned $3 RR, and will get $6 in rebates

saved $37.93

Trip #2

I spent $11.74 OOP. earned $3 RR, and will get back $6 in rebates

saved $36.23

I couldn't figure out why one was more expensive than the other until I got home. On the first trip, I used $20 in coupons, $5 RR and on the second I used $22 in coupons, $5 RR. (only had 1 coupon for $2 off the candle holder) Store #2 charged me $2.12 in tax and store #1 only $0.75. Needless to say, I won't use store #2 again(it's on the "better" side of town, store 1 is close to my house) So to sum up, I bought $97.01 worth of stuff for only $22.85 plus $18 back(so I guess technically only $4.85)

Walmart

Since I started couponing, my Walmart trips are very rare. I am trying to stick to my weekly schedule to minimize gas expenses so I wasn't too surprised last night when Thing 2 said "Oh mom, I forgot, we are out of dog food" Thanks son. SO me and Baby girl had to go to Walmart to pick up some food for them. I was reading Money Saving Mom last night and there was a deal listed about the Old Spice travel size body washes. I knew I had 4 $2 off coupons so I picked up 8 of the body washes(free after coupons), plus 3 of the Gillette Shave Gel($.42 each after coupons), 2 bags of Malt O meal cereal(free after coupons), Ronzini Whole wheat Penne and Rotini($1 for 2 boxes after coupon), and my Reynolds Handy Vac for $6.98(minus $2 coupon and then get a $5 rebate)

Has anyone used their Handy Vac? I have 2 more coupons that I might go redeem later to give as gifts. My MIL and her friend goes fishing a lot and they freeze a lot of what they catch. If anyone has any insight on them, please let me know