Friday Finals 12-2-11

I am taking part of a Blog Share Exchange were we all feature one article on our site each day about Christmas until Dec. 25th. Please stop by and visit these awesome blogs. Each has a thought or craft idea for Christmas. I will be featured next Friday. I can't wait to share my craft with you and all my new readers.


Please take a moment and vote for me at Top Mommy Blogs. One click = One Vote. I would love to try to get five votes today. Thanks in advance for voting for me. 


Stop by these wonderful blogs to see how they shop. Here are the clickiest views from last week:


Saving A Bundle
The Intentional Momma
Coupon Story

I seemed to do a lot of shopping for not really needing anything. Goes to show you should NEVER shop while you are hungry. I will usually grab one or two free cookies or snacks they have out to help curb my appetite while I am there.

I took one big picture of everything I got instead of individual pics of each store. I will update throughout the day a breakdown of each store. So stop back by.


Kroger


2 French Style breads $0.50 each Manger Special
2 Kroger Tortilla Chips $1.00 each
1 Carnation Dried Milk $2.00 - $0.50/1 Carnation Dry Milk RP 09/25/11
1 Whole Wheat Bakery Bread $1.00 Manager Special
2 Whole Wheat Tortilla $1.50 each - I love these whole wheat tortillas
2 Nutrigrain Bread Whole Wheat BOGO $4.09
     -Final $2.05 each


I spent $12.59 and saved $4.59. I mainly purchased discounted manger's special bread and tortillas, so my savings is much greater, but it is not listed on the receipt. I have been going lately and they have not had as much bread in the discount area. I was surprised. That is probably why I bought so much. Most Kroger purchases are on the right hand side of the picture.


Sprouts 


.48 lbs Cherry Vanilla Granola @ $1.99lb
     -Final $0.96
.80 lbs Dried Cranberries @ 2.99lb 
     -Final $2.39
1.28 lbs Whole Wheat Flour @0.69lb
     -Final $0.88
1 Package Rosemary - $1.25
1 Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat Pancake Mix $3.00 - $1/1 Arrowhead Mills product Printable
     -Final $2.00
1 Arrowhead Mills MultiGrain Pancake Mix $3.00 - $1/1 Arrowhead Mills Product Printable
     -Final $2.00
4 Packages Black berries @ $0.69 each
1 Celery Stalk $0.89
5 Hass Avocado @ $0.69 each
2.67 lbs Zucchini @ $0.77 each
3.81 lbs Tomatoes @ 0.69 lb
2.61 lbs Sweet Potatoes @ $0.69 lb
3.28 lbs Yellow Onions @ $0.49 lb


I spent $24.68 and saved $2.00. I purchased a lot of fruits and veggies. I plan on making some soups and freeze them this weekend. I might have the crock pot and the stove going all weekend. The cold has set in here in Texas. I like to cook and bake to keep the house warm. I make multigrain pancakes and I mix different pancake mixes together to provide higher protein pancakes so the kids don't have a carb crash at school after eating the pancakes. I am making sun dried tomatoes in the dehydrator this weekend. YUM!


Tom Thumb
1 Hershey Cocoa Powder $1.54 (Manager Special) Nothing wrong with package
2 Birds Eye Steamfresh Veggies $2 each - $0.50/2 doubled SS 11/13/11
     -Final $1.50 each
1 Sea Pack Fish Sticks $4.99 - $2/1 WYB Birds eye Veggies Store Coupon
     -Final $2.99
2 Grands Biscuits $0.99 each - $0.30/2 tripled GM 11/13/11, $0.99 Price Store Q
     -Final $0.54 each
1 Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh meat $2.49 - $2.49 Store Q


I spent $11.10 and saved $13.46 on Groceries. I even picked up some Cocoa on Managers Special. I didn't see any thing wrong with the cocoa. I inspected it and Exp is in 2013. I plan on making some homemade cocoa for gifts this year.


Walmart


1 Pull Ups Huggies $9.47 - $2/1 Walmart 11/06/11
     -Final $6.47
1 Benadryl Cream $3.88 - $2/1 Any Benadryl Product RP 06/19/11
     -Final $1.88


I spent $10.17 and saved $4.00. I purchased diapers on this visit. This will soon be my last purchase of diapers we are ALMOST there. Little face has #2 down and will tell me when he needs to go. We are working on #1. He always goes when I sit on the potty, but he just doesn't tell me when he needs to go. Someday soon he will make the connection. I just know it! Any words of encouragement are greatly appreciate here.


I spent $58.54 Under Budget!


So how did you do this week? I can't wait to see what others have purchased this week. Be sure to come back to visit someone else's shopping trip to see if you can learn something new too!

Friday Finals - Times 2

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! We sure did. I did not do any grocery shopping this week, but I would love to hear how you did this week. I am also posting an additional link to see how you guys did shopping on Black Friday. 


Macy's had a great coupon for $10 off $25. I love the create your own sale coupons, since you can combine those with any other items already on sale. I even buy my coffee when I get these coupons.



First is GROCERY LINK UP:






BLACK FRIDAY LINK UP:

Money Saving Monday - Stockpiling

I wanted to write about stockpiling today, since we are in another season where it is good to stockpile items. If you have noticed all the baking supplies in the stores have gone on sale. It is baking season and it is time to stockpile on all your baking supplies. Each season has different items you want to stockpile.

Here are a few items that are on sale right now at most stores and have great coupons to match:

Yeast

Sugar

Canned Soup

French Fried Onions

Corn Starch

Flour

Chocolate chips

The time you want to stockpile and item is when it is FREE or 70% off retail price. I will be making a list and publish it soon of what I found to be my rock bottom or stockpile price for an item. I started my extreme couponing hobby in Feb. of this year and I have now seen all four seasons and I am more familiar when to stockpile an item and when to wait. I used coupons before, but I would only clip the ones I was going to use and when I went to the store the next time I would buy that item. I shopped at Walmart so the prices didn’t change. Or so I thought. Walmart does change their pricing and they do have sales on items. Especially this time of year. Walmart will change prices about once a month or once a quarter depending on the season and the item.

At first this is difficult creating a stockpile. You need to manage having enough food for your family to eat each week and create a stockpile. You may wind up spending more in the first month, but once you acquire a lot of coupons and a lot of variety of items and learn the sales cycles, you will be a pro in no time. If I can learn how to do this, so can you. After the second and third month you should start to see a significant savings in your grocery budget. You will find your list of items you need will decrease, and you spend more money on less expensive items. Saving you money all around.

In order to stockpile you will need a large number of coupons to combine them with the sales. The more coupons you have the easier it is to match up with the items on sale. The general rule of thumb is to purchase as many papers as there are members in your family. I purchase 4 papers and clip the coupons from those in order to match them with the sales when they come along. I print additional coupons on items I really think my family will eat. But normally four papers will do it for us. I can then purchase four of the sale item and create my stockpile when that item is at its rockbottom price and this will be enough to last me through the next time this item will go on sale. You don’t need to clear a shelf of an item. That item will go on sale again and it will have a coupon to match.

I am now at a point where I have a great variety of food to where I can buy at the rockbottom price and still have enough to eat. This takes around four to six months before you have a wide variety of food in order to do this. Stockpiling takes time. If you are like me trying to stockpile and are on a very strict budget it is difficult to accomplish both, but I like a challenge.

Here is what my stockpile looks like.

My pantry

Canned and Baking goods

Boxed items, cereal, breakfast items, Boxes meals, Pasta

My laundry room shelf with juice, Paper towels, a few other items

A shelf in my closet with my bathroom items

Friday Finals 11/11/11 Kroger Mega Event

To all veterans, including my dad, THANK YOU for my freedom. Happy Veterans Day on this 11/11/11. I have heard there are a lot of marriages and other celebrations going on this landmark day. Do you have anything fun planned?

I have had sick kids all week this week. The little got the stomach bug too. AUGH! So for two days I have been cooped up in the house and have not done much shopping this week. But I plan on going out this weekend and getting a few more things from other stores. I will list them here next week.

Be sure to check out these ladies posts. They had awesome savings last week and were the top three clickiest:

Frugal Stepmom

Couponing Away Debt

Weekly Grocery Shopping

Kroger Mega Event

MEI = Mega Event Item -$0.50 off each item listed

1 Kroger Cheese - $1.99

3.69 lb Bananas @ $0.39 lb - $1.44

6 Aunt Annies Mac and Cheese $1.19 – MEI, $0.75/1 Printable Coupon Facebook

            -Final $0.56 average each

2 International Delight Creamer $2.49 – MEI

            -Final $1.99 each

4 4lbs Bags of Domino Sugar $2.49 – MEI, 4 $0.50/1 Domino Sugar RP 10/16/11

            -Final $1.49 each

1 Idaho Potatoes $1.00 – FREE All You Magazine Oct.

            -Final FREE – I love FREE

16 Campbells Condensed Soup $1.00 – MEI, 4 $0.40/4 Campbells Coupons SS 10/09/11

            -Final $0.40 each

8 Ricola Cough Drops $1.49 – MEI, 4 B1G1 Ricola Cough Drops 10/02/11, 4 $0.75/1 Ricola Cough Drops

            -Final $0.12 each

1 Hillshire Farms lunch Meat $3.49 – MEI, $0.35/1 Lunch Meat RP 10/16/11

            -Final $2.64

2 Hormel Turkey Pepperoni $2.50 – MEI

            -Final $2.00 – Printable coupon now available. PRINT NOW!

Altogether I spent $33.19 and saved $49.64 on $82.83 worth of retail grocery products. I know I don’t need 8 bags of Ricola Cough Drops, but I would like to give this as a gift along with some soup (I am picking more up next week) for friends who might be sick. There are several of us moms whose husbands travel from time to time and no matter what someone gets sick when the husband is gone. I can run this by quickly and cheer them up a bit.

CVS – FREE this week

Nov. 5^th

1 Shick Quatro Razor refill $8.99

1 Milk $3.99

Used:

$5.00 ECB

$1.00 ECB

$5.00/1 Shick Quatro Razor or refill Printable

OOP

$1.98

Recieved:

$4.00 ECBs 

I spend $1.98 and saved $11.00 on 12.98 worth of retail items at CVS this trip. I didn’t realize milk went up to $3.99. Ouch! This is really good milk and I had $5.00 ECBs that were expiring so I combined it with an extra $1.00 to get the price of Milk down.

Nov. 7

1 Illy Coffee Drink $2.00

2 Hydro 5 Razors $10.49 each

Used:

$2.00 ECB

$1.00 ECB

$4.00 ECB

$3.50 ECB

$2.49 took off - FREE Illy coffee drink printed Nov. 5^th.

2 $5.00/1 Shick Hydro razor

Received:

$10.00 ECB for Razors

$1.00 ECB for Bag Tag

I paid $0.00 for $22.98 worth of retail products at CVS this week. I LOVE FREE!


Sprouts - Farmers Market

.49 lb Peanuts - $0.98
1 lb Raisins - $1.49 - Great price on Raisins
1 Yogurt - $2.00
1 Pk Cinnamon $1.25
1 Broccoli - $1.05
1 Bell Pepper - $0.49
3 Lemons - $1.00
3 Limes - $0.50
1.74 lbs Onions - $0.85


Bag credit -$0.10


Total $9.51 on fresh produce and dairy.

All together I spent $44.68 and saved $83.72 on $128.40 worth of items this week. I think I have my groove back. I had 65% savings overall savings for this week. Unlike some couponers, I do buy fresh produce nearly every week. Fresh is better than canned or frozen. I usually budget around $10.00 for Sprouts.

How did you do this week? Link up your awesome savings below. I can't wait to see how you did this week. It is great to see how others shop to learn how to save.

Friday Finals 10-28-11

Wow what a night. First my daughter had a soccer game after the cold front blew in while it was raining. The sign of a true athlete will play in the freezing rain. The sign of true love is the parents who sit there and cheer them on.  It was very cold and it took me a long time to warm up. Then to come home and stay up late to watch the Rangers loose last night makes for a very slow day today. Lots of caffeine has been consumed to write this post. Since I normally prepare my shopping post on Thursday evenings, I just didn’t have time last night. I will post what I spent and how much I saved. Then maybe later tonight I can update this post.

I still would like to see how everyone else did this week, so LINK UP below! Here are the entries with the most links:

Saved by the SALE

Grocery Shop for FREE

Weekly Grocery Shopping

Frugal Stepmom

Walmart

I spend $31.27 and saved $17.10 plus more, since I did several price matches, on $48.37 retail.

Sprouts

$2.28 on fresh produce

Tom Thumb

I spent $12.43 and saved $22.80 on $34.72 worth of retail.

CVS

I spend around $10.00 Saved $6.00 on $16.00 retail at CVS.

I spent around $56.00 and saved $45.90 on $101.90 retail.

How did your shopping trip go this week? Link UP below

Friday Finals 10/21/11

Wowee wow wow! I have such exciting news to share today. First, I am a guest blogger at Grocery Cart Challenge. I am very excited and honored to be chosen. I came across Gayle’s site and notice she was feeding a family of six with $60.00 a week. I knew I could do this too! A few years back I was trying to feed a family of three on $30.00 a week. It was difficult, but I was able to do it. The most important thing I learned was how to cook from very few ingredients and make great meals.

The second piece of exciting new I have to share is I was accepted to the Top Mommy Blogs. In order to vote for my blog and check out other exciting blogs just click the brown button located on the left or the link provided. I just received the email last night. It would be very exciting to get at least one vote.

Now on to shopping! I didn’t stick to my budget very well this week. I was kind of winging it again. I didn’t have a great plan. We were out of some items I have been searching for the past couple of weeks and needed to purchase this week. I was able to get cheese and oil on sale, but purchasing both was a bit expensive. My husband and I were dying for some wings since it has been cold and it is football season. So I splurged for wings. I have been looking for weeks and just couldn’t find any on sale. In case you were wondering, yes, they were so delicious. Still cheaper than going out and buying wings at a restaurant.

I went to Kroger twice without much savings.

Kroger 10/16/11

2 Capri sun Juice $1.29 each – I need to buy juice for my daughters soccer game

4 Kettle Chips $2.50 each – 4 $1/1 Kettle Chips RP 09/25/11

            -Final $1.50 each

1 Kroger Tortilla chips $1.00

1 Pilgrims Wings $10.49 – Shelf price said $8.19 $2/1 Pilgrims Pride Chicken

            -Final $8.49 – Should have been $6.19

2 Mission Tortillas $1.00

1 Zapps Chips $2.19 – Splurge item for my hubby

I spent $22.47 and saved $11.14 on $33.61 worth of retail. I had two major splurge items this trip the wings and the Zapps chips. This change in weather has gotten me a little off my game. I am still looking for cheap snacks for soccer. If anyone know of any great sales, please share in the comments.

Kroger 10/18/10

2 Gallons Milk $2.49

2 lbs Cheese $6.99 – Best price I have found. Cheaper than Wal-Mart

4 Progresso Soups $1.25 - $1/4 Progresso Soup Coupon GM 09/11/11

            -Final $1.00 each

1 Huggies Slip on Diapers $9.85 - $2/1 Blinkie in Store Slip on Diapers

            -Final $7.85

2 Bertolli Olive Oil B1G1 store deal $10.49 I was nearly out of oil

            -Final $5.24 each

3 Kroger Sweet Corn $0.88 each – I had an eQ for $0.60/3 that did not scan. Not Happy

            -Final $0.88 each

1 Kroger Oatmeal $1.39 on sale – Daughter wanted Oatmeal for the cooler weather.

4 Dr. Pepper 10 $1.00 each – 4 FREE coupons for Dr. Pepper 10 SS 10/09/11

            -Final FREE

I spent $40.39 and saved $24.44 on $64.83 retail. Milk went up again $0.10 a gallon. I have to say I loved it when milk was a $1.00 a gallon. I would buy four gallons a week and we would drink it all. Now I have to ration it a little at the house. I need to make sure little Face gets his share every day.

Sprouts

4.18 lbs Gala Apples @ $0.69/lbs - $2.88

3.88 lbs Golden Delicious @ $0.69/lbs. - $2.68

3.47 lbs Onions @ $0.49/lbs - $1.70

Bag Credit -$0.10

I spent $7.16 and saved $0.10 on $7.26 worth of produce. I plan on making homemade applesauce and maybe some apple butter today. I have seen these on others sites and I am itching to try it. If I do, I will share on Wednesday. I didn't take a picture.

Overall I spent $70.02 and saved $35.68 on $105.70 worth of retail food and diapers. Not the best, but there were not very many good deals this week.  I needed to buy cheese and there have not been very good sales for the past couple of months and very few coupons. I had two splurge items that really put me over this week. But these will last a while for us. I can make it stretch.

If you are just starting out I am posting a series on how to coupon every Monday. You can read my first article here and my second post here. Looking to print coupons you can go to Coupons.com.

How did you do this week? Please share your shopping trips below with the linky. If you don't have a blog please share your shopping trips in the comments area. You can share more than one trip; however, I do ask to keep the trips current. The best way to learn to save money is to share so others can learn from you experience.

Tips for Tuesday

I have a bunch of coupons. Now what?  You are so excited you want to rush out to the store and buy everything you now have a coupon for. However, that will not save you very much money and you will be extremely frustrated. In order to save using coupons you need to have a lot of coupons and you also need to create a stockpile. You cannot do this over night. This will take some time.

Pick the Store Where You Want to Shop

You should decide which store you would like to shop by looking at the weekly flyers sent to you in the mail. I receive mine on Tuesdays for sales starting on Wednesday. Stores like WalMart might have the best everyday pricing available; however, stores like Kroger and Tom Thumb, in the Dallas area, will have several items at a DEEP discount sale, a better than WalMart price. The real secret is to buy at the below WalMart price and to purchase a lot of an item to last you until the next sale.

Now look through the flyer you have received from the store. Is there anything in there you have coupons for? Is that a really good price for the item? If not keep looking try to find at least three to four items you have coupons for, on sale and you want to eat.

Find a Match Up Site

Check out coupon Match-Up websites to help you in your search. I usually use Saving Well Spending Less or Southern Savers. Southern Savers indicates which is a great stock up price by a little acorn. This is great for beginners. Saving Well Spending Less will let you know if there is a great match up or deal idea for items. These have the items listed with the matching coupons and where to find the coupons.  You can make your list of three to four items and print it from the website with the corresponding coupons.

Print Your List and Gather Your Coupons.

Simple Steps:

1. Find the store you would like to shop.

2. Go to a Matchup Site check prices and coupons.

3. Print your list and gather your coupons

4. Go shopping and start saving

It is important to start small to see how much you can save on your shopping order with the sale and coupons. If you go while you are doing your normal shopping trips you won’t see the big savings and may get more discouraged. I know when I saw my first 60% savings receipt I was really excited.

You will need to buy at the lowest price and purchase enough to last you until the next sale. This is known as stockpiling. You may also need to make trips to several different stores in order to get the best deals possible.  Another option is to price match at WalMart, but many stores have deals that are unadvertised where you can still get great deals by shopping around the store. I will talk about price matching WalMart in a later post.

I would say it was a comfortable three months before I was able to create a stockpile and have enough food in order to create any meal I wanted from my stockpile. This is something that will take time to create and mold into your family’s eating habits. If you are concerned about stockpiling and how to store your food I will be posting more on that in the next couple of weeks.

If you missed the first part in my series, go my How to Start Couponing series to start from the beginning.


You can continue on in this series by reading: 

3. Step Three to saving BIG on your Grocery Bill


4.  Step Four Drug Store Shopping - CVS

Let me know if you have any questions. Have fun shopping and let me know how you do!

Money saving Monday - Extreme Couponing

Good news… My neighbor CC, who lives right behind me, was out shopping at Wal-mart and a lady noticed her binder and how organized her coupons were. She asked CC if she would mind doing a class showing how she coupons and gave CC her card. She works for a women’s advocacy place. Where they try to teach women how to get back on their feet after a tragedy or who need assistance. My neighbor said she would call her back after she talked to me. I was so excited she told me about it and gave me the opportunity to do this with her. I have wanted to teach a class. So I am going to be expanding my Couponing 101 series and featuring this on my Monday segment Money Saving Monday. I will be writing most of the copy and she will help with graphics and the Power Point. She is much better than I am. If you don’t want to miss the posts, be sure to join via GFC or LIKE Pounds4Pennies on Facebook to receive all the latest updates.  I post more items on these sites than my blog.

Couponing 101

How can I save 60% or more on my shopping trips? I will show you all the basics to learn how to start extreme couponing, where to get free coupons, how to organize coupons and how to stockpile by using coupons. Each store has a sales cycle that runs anywhere from a 6 to 8 week cycle for an item. Then the item will be at a rock bottom price. This is when you want to purchase the item and combine it with a coupon to get the most food for your dollars. 

How and where do you get coupons?

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 multiple sets of coupons. Also Parade Magazine is in the paper and has coupons in there from time to time. And check through the paper. I have found coupons on the back of some of the sections in an ad. A good rule of thumb is to buy as many sets of papers as you have in your family.  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. All You magazine has many coupons in the magazine. It usually over $50.00 in coupons. This usually pays for itself each time I purchase this magazine. It is well worth it.

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. I have to say I have never done this, but I have heard you can try.

4. Grocery stores or convenience stores have blinkie coupons. Blinkies are the little smart source machines in the Grocery store that blinks at you to take a coupon. Now that you are looking for them, you will be surprised at how many you will see. Again rule of thumb would be to get 4 or so, but don’t take them all. Leave some for the next person. You probably aren’t going to use them all anyway.

5. Coupon fairies leave coupons by products that they are not going to purchase or they do not want. You may get lucky and find some coupons there. I always leave formula coupons by formula for people with babies.

6. Products have peelies that can be peeled off to use at a later date. These are usually higher in value than other coupons. Also be sure to look to see if there are any peelies on the product you are going to purchase or if there are coupons included inside the product.

7. 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. I recommend getting a cheap laser printer. Some time the printed coupons 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 use another computer to print more coupons.

8. 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.

9. If you have a favorite product visit their website 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.

10. 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, even for meat products.

Bottom line More Coupons = More Savings

Ok now I have tons of coupons what do I do with them?

How to organize your coupons?

I don’t have the best answer for you, but I can tell you what I do to organize all my coupons. I started with the Clip and go system, then I transitioned to the Binder System. I use the binder method to organize my coupons. I like knowing all my coupons are always at my finger tips whenever I go to the store. This is more time consuming than the other methods I will show you, but you can ensure you will always have your coupons with you.

The CLIP and go System

This 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 feel 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 baseball 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
• Categorized by products ie (healthcare, cereal, dairy...)

However your brain works to categorize things is the best way for you. There is nothing set in stone here. You customize this to the way you are going to remember how to find the coupon when you need it in a moments notice. 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.

Ok now you know where to get coupons and how to start organizing them. Take some time and figure out what your plan of action is going to be to acquire coupons and what method you are going to use. Go out and purchase the items you need to get organized and set up your system. This will make it easier as you get more coupons you can file them right away and be done with them.

Leave me a comment on how this goes for you or if you have any questions. I will do my best to help.

Happy Couponing!

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?