Friday Finals

It is starting to feel like Fall here in Texas. Thank goodness. I am tired of the heat. We have had the house open for two days now. It feels great. Hopefully this will cut down on the electric bill to help pay for Aug. Whew that bill was a high one.

Yeah it is Friday Finals time again. It is time to share your savings with everyone else. Let’s see how we did this week and see who got some of the best deals.

With the Kroger Mega event going on and no doubling and tripling, I still managed to get some awesome deals this week. I even had some great eCoupons too! However, I have not won a single thing on the game Kroger is playing on line. Bummer. I normally win something. I have been playing every day and different times of the day to try to win. Still nothing. Now on to shopping.

Kroger 09/20/11:

MEI= Mega Event Item -$0.50 off the price

1 Birdseye Frozen Veg $1.49 – MEI, $1/1 Birds Eye WYB Van de Kamps Fish Product Printable NLA

            -Final FREE

1 Van de Kamps Fish Sticks $6.19 - $2/1 Kroger eCoupon

            -Final $4.19

5 Velveeta Cups $1.00 – MEI, $1/5 Velveeta Cups Tear Pad in store a long time ago

            -Final $0.30 each

4 Marzetti Salad Dressing $2.49 – 4 $2/1 Marzetti Salad Dressing RP 09/11/11

            -Final $0.49 each

4 Carnation Evaporated Milk $1.29 – MEI, 2 $0.50/2 Printable

            -Final $0.54 each

2 Nestle La Lechera sweetened condensed Milk $1.49 – MEI

            -Final $0.99 each

2 Fruitables Juice Boxes $2.99 – MEI, $1/1 SS 09/18/11

            -Final $1.49 each

1 Tape $0.69

2 Ozarka Water $1.09 – MEI

            -Final $0.59 each

3 Kroger canned Tuna $0.69 - $0.40/2 Kroger eCoupon

            -Final $0.56 each (I should have bought just two)

2 Driscoll Raspberries $1.25

            -Final $1.25 each

4 Libby’s Corn $0.80 - $1/4 RP 08/28/11 – ($0.75 at Walmart)

            -Final $0.55 each

1 Loaf Bread $1.00 – Discount area

I spent $24.19 and saved $41.95 on $66.14 retail. I am going back next week to grab some more savings on items that normally don’t go on sale. Such as the sweetened condensed Milk, Fruitables I have more coupons and maybe some more salad dressing.

Sprouts had an AWESOME sale on Bulk items this week. It was 25% across the board on all bulk items. There are some things that just don’t go on sale except for this sale. I decided to splurge a little and stock up on some baking staples I wanted for muffins and snacks and not have to buy the retail versions. I could buy just what I wanted and it was on sale. They also have this great section with spices in bags they sell for $1.25 per bag. Each bag is about what you get in a bottle. Sometimes way more and sometimes a little less, but the prices are way better. I get these and open them up and place them in my bottles for storage. It is a great deal.

Sprouts 09/18/11 - No PIC available

BULK ITEMS – 25% off every price listed

0.48 lbs Chocolate chips @ $2.99/lb - $1.44

0.85 lbs Whole Wheat Pastry Flour @ $0.67/lb - $0.57

0.50 lbs Wheat Bran @ $0.52/lb - $0.26 WOW! You cannot pay that price at the store

0.05 lbs Cardamom @$53.88/lb - $2.69 – to make Indian dishes

0.53 lbs Sunflower seeds @ $2.02/lb - $1.07

0.55 lbs Oat Bran @  $1.12 - $0.62

1.05 lbs Multi Grain Pancake mix @ $2.09/lb - $2.19

0.90 lbs Chili Peanuts @ $1.87/lb - $1.68

0.49 lbs Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) @ $4.49/lb - $2.20

GROCERY items

1 Curry Powder - $1.25

1 Ginger - $1.25

1 Tumeric - $1.25

PRODUCE

1 lb baby Carrots $0.99 – Snacking for my husband at work

2 lbs Carrots $1.49 – For cooking

1 Celery $0.88

2.82 lbs Zucchini @ $0.88/lb - $2.48

2.60 lbs Onions @ $0.49/lb - $1.27

1 carton Grape Tomatoes $2.50 – dehydrated these for sun dried tomatoes

2.20 lbs Red Grapes @ $0.77lb - $1.69

0.78 lbs Roma Tomatoes @ $0.88/lb - $0.69

I spent $28.46 at Sprouts. I saved more than if I would have purchased these at a retail chain. I probably saved around half. I can’t wait for the next bulk sale!

CVS –

I can’t find my receipt for CVS. This is close to what I spent.

1 Scott Paper Towels $5.99

2 Bengay Cream $5.49 each - rain check

Used:

$1.00 ECB

$1/1 Scott RP 09/11/11

2 $5/1 Bengay Cream SS 09/11/11

Paid around $4.97 and saved $12.00 on $16.97 worth of retail product.

I also went to Kroger before the Mega sale for a few essentials:

2 Gallons milk $2.39 each

1 Pack K-cups discounted $3.99

2 Loaves Bread $1.00 each

1 Sunscreen discounted $2.00 exp 2013 Awesome deal!

I paid $12.94 and saved more than receipt showed since most items had a manager special tag.

This week I spent $70.56 and saved $53.95 plus more since some items were on sale and I didn’t have time to do all the math on each item. I also picked up a lot of great deals not reflected in my receipts as savings.

How did you do this week? What were your great finds? Please share with others below and LINK UP your savings.

Friday Finals

I made one last stop at Kroger on Tuesday before the big no more double and triple coupons. I have to say that I am really disappointed in this decision by Kroger. I wish they would have limited it to either one or two can be doubled at a time rather than removing the entire program. The other really big piece that has been taken away is you can no longer use a coupon on a free item such as a B1G1 deal. This was very helpful for vitamins. I found some really good deals on children’s and adult vitamins.

Kroger has been putting some very high value coupons on the eCoupons site. You may want to go and check them out, if you are going to still shop at Kroger.

With all that said I did pretty well in my shopping this week. Here is the breakdown by store:

Walmart 09/09/11

(1) Huggies Flushable Moist wipes $1.64 - $1/1

            -Final $0.64

(1) Speed stick Deodorant $0.97 - $0.75/1 Catalina

            -Final $0.22

(4) Cascade 3 count Paks $0.97 – 4 $1/1 Any Cascade P&G

            -Final FREE +$0.03 Money Maker

(1) Lamasil Foot Spray $5.97 - $3/1 Any Lamasil Product

            -Final $2.97

I paid $3.71 and saved $8.75 on $12.46 retail worth of products. The Lamasil is a great deal.

CVS 09/11/11

(1) Fruit Newtons $2.50

(1) Irish Spring $2.99

(2) Herbal Essence $2.99 each

(1) Huggies Pull Up $8.99

(1) CVS Allergy 5 count

USED:

$2.50 – FREE Fruit Newton print from Kiosk

$5/25 – Coupon loaded onto card

2 $1/1 Herbal Essence Conditioners

$1.50/1 Huggies Diapers

$1 ECB

$1 ECB

$3 ECB

$7 ECB

I paid $2.72 for all the products listed above and saved $23 on $25.72 items retail.

RECEIVED:

$2 ECB – Irish Spring

$3.69 ECB – Allergy Medicine

$2.00 ECB – Herbal Essence

$1 ECB – Huggies

I had a great time shopping at CVS. I went in only to pick up my papers this Sunday. I decided to go to the Kiosk to print out my coupons to see what it was printing this week. To my surprise my $5/$25 was good until Tuesday and I got FREE Fruit Newtons. I thought the $5/$25 had expired. I was so glad I brought my binder with me. I really scored today at CVS.

Walmart 09/13/11

(1) GV Soy Sauce $1.64

(1) Nutella $3.18 - $1/1 Nutella Printable

            -Final $2.18

(4) Planters Peanut butter $1.98 - $.75/1 Planters Peanut Butter

            -Final $1.23 each

(1) Benadryl Stick $2.28 - $2/1 Benedryl product Peelie

            -Final $0.28

(1) Whonu Cookies $2.78 - $1/1 Whonu cookies

            -Final $1.78

(1) Peter Pan Peanut Butter $1.49 – Price Matched to Albertsons $0.50/1 All You

            -Final $0.99

(4) Velveeta Nacho Skillet $0.99 each – Price Matched to Albertsons, $1/1 Velveeta

            -Final FREE

I spent $11.75 and saved $11.50 on $23.25 at Walmart. This is the first time I have tried the price match. It went really smooth. Albertson’s has better prices than Tom Thumb and Kroger. So I may be doing more Walmart price match shopping soon. I needed Soy Sauce and the coupon I had for Kikkoman did not make this cheaper than the Walmart brand.

Last Double and Triple Coupons at Kroger 09/13/11

(2) Yoplait 2 lbs $2.69 each – 2 $0.50 doubled

            -Final $1.69 each

(1) Ronzoni Pasta Garden Delight $1.00 - $1/1 Garden Delight Morning star Booklet

            -Final FREE

(4) Pilsbury Cinnamon Rolls 5 count $1.00 – 4 $0.30/1 Tripled

            -Final $0.10 each

(4) Huggies Baby Wipes $1.99 each – 4 $0.50/1 Doubled

            -Final $0.99 each

(2) Disney Vitamins $6.99 B1G1 - $2/1 Disney Vitamins Printable

            -Final $2.50 each

(6) Pilsbury Crescent Rolls 4 pack $1.00 – 3 $0.40 each doubled

            -Final $0.60 each

(2) Fliechmans Yeast $1.59 each – 2 $0.40/1 doubled Printable

            -Final $0.79 each

(2) Chef Boyardee $1.00 each  - $0.50/2 doubled ALL YOU

            -Final $0.50 each

(2) Land of Frost Lunch Meat $2.50 each - $0.55/1

            -Final $1.95 each

(1) Jennie –O Turkey Bacon $2.50

(2) Frenchs Onions $2.07 - $0.50/1 Any French’s Onions

            -Final $1.07 – Walmart is a better deal

(1) Pull up Baby Wipes dispenser $2.79 - $2/1 Huggies coupon Mailed

            -Final $0.79

(1) Welchs jelly $1.99 - $0.35 tripled Welchs Jelly

            -Final $0.94

(1) Minute Maid Juice $3.50 - $1/1 Coupon Printable

            -Final $2.50 Cheaper at Walmart

(5) Hunts Snack pack Pudding $1.00 – 1 $0.50/2 doubled All You, 1 $0.45/3 doubled

            -Final $0.62 each average

I spent $35.01 and saved $46.42 on $81.43 worth of retail groceries at my final double and triple coupon shop. It was later that I realized I used the Land of Frost coupons incorrectly. The coupon states it is for the Premium 1 lb size. I didn’t know this until I got home and I was going to tell a friend about it. I pulled my coupon and it was for the incorrect item. I try to use my coupons responsibly and do not intentionally try to use fraud. This was an error on my part. Sometime I just get excited to see I have a match for something I don’t always read exactly what the coupon says.

At Sprouts I spent $5.04 and used one coupon for eggs $0.55. If I have some time I will post this later tonight.

This week I spent $58.23 and saved $90.22 on $147.90 retail. How did you do this week? What are your thoughts on Kroger changing their coupon policy so drastically?

Friday Finals

If you would like the chance to enter to win $5,200 in free groceries for a year click here and enter your information for a chance to win. I don’t know about you, but that would help me tremendously.

I also heard the dreaded news that as of 09/14/11 Kroger will no longer be doubling and tripling coupons. Most of the coupons I use are not doubled, but I know there will be a few products I will no longer purchase if they do not lower the price on these items. Plus I love getting things for free, this may not happen as frequently as it did before.

I went shopping at Kroger on 09/02/11 since I won $0.50 off on Cellfire for logging in and going to their site on Thursday. The coupon had to be used before the end of the weekend. We were going out of town last weekend and I wanted this trip to count towards this weeks totals. I didn't take a pic, but they pictured in my finals at the end.

(4) Mom’s Cereals $1.50 each

(1) Watch battery $1.59

(1) Loaf of bread Discount Rack $1.00

(3) Minute Maid Frozen treats $1.00 - $.50/1 coupon doubled RP 07/24/11

            -Final FREE

I spent $8.18 and saved $10.83 on $19.01 worth of products retail. I thought I had a coupon for the watch battery, but it had expired. I realized this right before I handed it to the cashier. I could have paid only $0.59, since I had a $1/1 coupon. There were only 3 Minute Maids left and I had four coupons. I did take them all. I usually never buy more than four of an item. It doesn’t fit my budget and four will usually make us through to the next sale.

 CVS 09/06/11

(1) Milkyway Bar $1.19

(1) Carefree Pantyliners 20 count

(2) Huggies Pull ups $7.99 each

(1) Physicians Formula Powder $13.99

USED:

$0.50/1 Carefree SS 08/21/11

2 $1.50/1 Huggies diapers SS 08/14/11

$1/1 Physicians formula SS 06/12/11

$0.79 for Free Milky way CVS Coupon printed

$6.00 ECBs

$2.00 ECBs

Received

$7.00 ECBs for Physician formula

$1.00 ECB for Carefree liners

$1.00 ECB bag tag

I spent $18.87 and saved $13.29 on $32.16 worth of merchandise. I really shouldn’t have purchased the Physicians formula, but I really like this makeup. I was a small splurge for me. This one purchase was over my toiletries limit for the week. I usually allow $5.00 for healthcare and beauty needs.

I went back to Kroger for a few items this week 09/08/11

2.09lbs Black Grapes @ 1/lbs - $2.09

(2) Gallons Milk $2.39

(2) Pepperoni $1.79 marked down

(1) Sour Cream $1.25

(2) Minute Maid Juice Boxes $3.50 - 2 $1/1 Minute Maid Juice boxes Printable

            -Final $2.50

(6) Yoplait Yogurts $0.60 - $0.40/6 doubled Yoplait Single Cup Yogurt Printable

            -Final $0.47 each

(2) Pilsbury Cinnamon Rolls 5 count $1.00 - $0.50/2 doubled Printable

            -Final $0.50 each

(2) Pilbury Grands Biscuits 5 count $1.00 - $0.30/2 tripled Printable

            -Final $0.55

I spent $21.60 and saved $12.27 on $33.87 worth of groceries. My actual savings is higher since the pepperoni was much higher. I just listed the discounted price.

I went to Sprouts since they had great deals on bulk items this week 09/08/11

BULK BIN:

0.92 lbs Granola @ $1.99/lb - $1.83

0.91 lbs Rolled Oats @ $0.69/lb - $0.63

0.90 lbs Raisins @ $1.49/lb – $1.34

0.83 lbs Sunflower seeds @ $1.99/lb - $1.65

(2) Eggs dozen $1.50 each - $0.55/2 dozen eggs Facebook Coupon

            -Final $1.23 each

I spent $7.90 and saved $0.55 plus more. The bulk bin items do not list their regular price. I am saving anywhere from $0.40 - $0.50 on each item.

I went Freebie shopping at Target today 09/09/11 this made me feel a little better.

(4) Degree Deodorants $0.97 - $1/1 Degree Deodorant RP 08/28/11

            -Final FREE

(2) Simply Orange $0.73 – $1/1 Simply Orange Coupon Printable NLA

           -Final FREE

(2) Simply Lemonade $0.73 - $1/1 Simply Lemonage Coupon Printable NLA

          -Final FREE

So I spent $0.00 and saved $8.00 on $6.92 retail worth of product.The Simply Orange was marked $1.02 on the shelf, however it rang up at $0.73 each. She took my coupon with the overage. So I made more money than I thought because she pushed the coupon through. I purchased some shorts and shoes for my daughter not pictured. The extra went towards that purchase. I was close to budget this week and I didn’t want to go over.

This week I spent $56.55 and saved $44.94. Not the best savings, but it is still savings.

How did you do this week? LINK UP below to share your saving and help others on their way to saving as well.

          

Couponing 101

I have my first success story. I have been working with my neighbor to help her save money. They both work and have two small children. At the end of last year she had unexpected gall bladder surgery. Even with healthcare there were still out of pocket expenses they needed to pay which put a strain on their budget. I was telling her about the extreme couponing show and how I started using coupons. Then shop the sales at stores and match them with coupons. She doesn’t have time to make several trips to each store so she brings in the ads with her to Walmart to price match and does all of her shopping there with her coupons. It may take her a little longer to check out, but it is worth it. She is so excited to be saving money.

Now she gets the sales papers on Tuesday and goes through them to pick the items she wants and then finds coupons to match up with the sales. The entire kitchen table is hers on Tuesday nights so she can plan. She makes out her list and what stores have the sales. She is organized when she checksout so she does not miss anything. Normally she will go shopping on Saturday or Sunday with her coupons and ads in hand ready to save.

Everyone can save money you just need to know how. Here is my Couponing 101 guide:

Why Pay Full Price?

Do you always pay full price for your clothes? Or do you normally hit the sales rack? Then why pay full price for food? You can shop and get twice as much for half the cost. Every week the grocery stores put items on sale just like the department stores. Look for the weekly flyers you get in the mail and probably toss out as soon as you get them. See if there are any items you use on a regular basis. If there is an item on sale and it is a good price instead of purchasing just one of the item why not purchase as many as you would need for a 3 to 4 month supply. Now see if you have any coupons that match those items to get a further discount. As you shop you will learn the sales cycles for the stores.

Most of you wonder how do you have time to shop all those stores in one day? I can normally do all my shopping in about an 1 hour and 1/2 with little face in tow. I usually hit three stores. He is such a trooper. You can do it too. I have been teaching a friend of mine who has a full time job and two kids how to do this. You will have a list of items you want to purchase and your coupons. And those are the only things you buy that day. This makes the trip to the store very quick.

Coupon$ = Printed Money

Try taking a look at those sale items. Are there any items that are buy one get one free? What if you had a coupon to go along with that deal? Since you are now getting a better deal why not stock up and buy four, six or eight of that item? This would be cheaper than the store brand. That would last you until the next time that item goes on sale. Some stores even allow you to use a coupon on the free item. But check your stores coupon rules before you try this. Kroger allows it, but Tom Thumb does not in the Dallas area. Stores also reguallary change their coupon policies so check back often to see if things change. Kroger will double coupons up to $0.50 and triple up to $0.35 in the Dallas area for three like coupons. Tom Thumb will do the same except for only one like coupon. You may need to check out three or four times at Tom Thumb in order to get the best deals.

How Can I Get The Most For My Dollars?

Most products are on a quarterly cycle or bimonthly for sales and so coupons will print close to those sale to increase a company's sale for a particular item. Also another reason an item may have a great sale is the packaging has been redesigned and need to clear all the old product off the shelf so the new packages will fit. A product may not be moving and instead of throwing away all that food they will reduce the price to get it to move. On non food items this is great to stock up, however, beware on perishable items. Check the date to see if it is going to expire before you will have a chance to use it or if it is already expired. I have gotten a few items for free only to discover they were past their expiration date. If this should happen to you can call the company and they will likely send you a coupon for a Free item.

How do you get coupons to buy something?

1. Ask your friends if they are going to use their coupons in their Sunday paper. If not ask if you can have theirs.

2. Purchase 2-6 papers. So you can have muliple sets of coupons. Why so many? If there is a good sale on a product you will want to buy as much of that product as you can to have enough to last you until next time that item goes on sale.

3. Places of business. Check with your local coffee shop, auto care center or dr. office to see if you can have the coupons from the Sunday papers they receive.

4. There are several sites you can print coupons from and some even reward you for printing and using a coupon from their site. I use quite a few printable coupons every week. Sometimes they are a higher dollar value than the ones in the papers. Go to SwagBucks and signup. You will get rewards for using coupons. Coupons.com, SmartSource.com, Red Plum.com and Target are other great resources for coupons. You can normally print these coupons twice. You will need to go to another computer to print more coupons.

5. Facebook is a great resource for coupons. Many times if you like the page of a particular item you can then get a printable coupon from them. Please note they will then want access to your friends and your information. After you like them and print your coupon go in and remove that program from your apps to prevent them from gathering your information and your friends information.

6. If you have a favorite product visit their site to see if they have coupons available to print. Check back once a quarter to see if they will refill the coupon prints. At the start of a quarter they will usually reset the coupons for you to print.

7. Call or write the company and tell them how much you enjoy their product. Sometimes they will send you coupons to get the item for free. I know several people who do this and get free items for even meat products.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am working on improving this page.

How To Organize Your Coupons?

Now you have a ton of coupons, how do you organize them? There are several theories as to which is the best method. I will explain several to you.

The CLIP and go System

The filing system is one of the easiest to get started. Take your inserts from the paper and put them in a hanging file folder. Label the folder with the date of the inserts. This is easy and I fell this is the best way to get started so you don't feel so overwhelmed at first. You just pull the insert from the folder and go to the coupon you want and clip it.

Baseball Card Binder System

The second way is the Baseball card holder/Binder system. Purchase basball card plastic holders and place them in a large binder. You will need at least a three inch binder or bigger and a lot of baseball card holder pages. Cut coupons you would most likely use. File them in baseball card holders. I have seen several different methods used for this.

·         Alphabetically by product name

·         Grocery aisle

·         Catagorized by products ie (healthcare, cereal, dairy...)

There are several options on how to then file with baseball holders. One way is to put all like product coupons in one envelope. Then you can organize them by expiration date. With the one expiring earliest on top. Therefore you can use that one first. Or you can just put each like coupon in a pocket. This just depends on how much time and energy you will have to devote to this.

Combination system

Clip the coupons you are most likely going to use and file them according to the baseball card/binder system and organize them. Then the left over coupons you can file in the clip and go system for deals you may still want to get on items you may not normally buy, but you may need later. This is great for seasonal items. I like to wait until a good sale to stock up on.