FREEBIES

Welcome to LINK UP Friday! Glad you are back I have a few things to share with you today.

There will NOT be ANY COUPONS in Sundays newspaper. There is no need to go out and get the paper Sunday this week. You can focus more on gathering you list and shopping for the week.

Here are my freebies I received in the mail this week. I am not sure where I signed up for these. I am now keeping track of the free items I sign up for to share with you:

Diaper Coupons and FREE Zyrtec:

My totals for the week are:

Walgreens $4.98

Kroger $10.83      CVS $5.64      Tom Thumb $14.20

 

Kroger diapers $15.00 - $3.00 OYNO  catalina printed

 

Walmart $4.36 - Milk

Sprouts - $11.17 – Produce

Total spent $61.05 Total saved $87.77. I spent $61.05 on $148.82 worth of groceries, diapers and health/beauty care this week almost 59% savings.

I have enjoyed couponing.  However, I feel I am always chasing the best deal. I have a stockpile, but sometimes I wonder if it is enough. Do you feel this way? I am getting low on pasta sauce, but I have not seen any great deals that match up with coupons. I have plenty of pasta and coupons for more. I just need some sauce to go with it. Kroger is finally carrying Garden delights pasta, but it is $1.99 a box right now. I have a coupon for $1.00 off. I hope this goes down soon. I would like to get some more. I also have a coupon for $0.40 for Wacky Mac. It is $1.59 at Kroger. Which would make it $0.75 with the coupon doubled.

We had tacos this week. I love tacos in the summer time with the crunchy shells, fresh veggies and hot meat. There is just something to that combination I just love. I could eat that forever and never get tired of it. I love mexican food. Especially Queso.  Do you have a favorite meal?

Do you love tortillas, but wanting for a sale? Make your own. I will share my recipe for homemade tortillas tomorrow. Check back.

It is Link up FRIDAY again. Please link up below to share how you did this week.

Sprouts and Kroger Shopping

I like to go to Sprouts on Wednesdays. It is double sale day. The sale from last week is still going on and the new sale has started. You can get double deals and if you didn’t stock up enough last week you can get some more at the same price. I wish all stores did this. I find it frustrating to buy something only to see it on sale next week even cheaper. I found cheap spices at Sprouts this week. There is a spot where they have all types of spices around $1.25 per packet. This was an impulse buy, since I needed some coriander.

Here is how I did:

Tom Thumb Shopping

We had a scary night here in the Dallas area last night. The Tornado sirens were going off and we put the kids in the bathroom in the bathtub just to be safe. The first line of storms developed right over us. There was one small break in the major cells and that is what went over our house. Thanks goodness. Little face thought it is was fun to play with the flashlight and be in the bathtub with no water and pillows all around. However, little miss knew what was going on and was a little scared. She had a hard time going to sleep, but I let her sleep with the lights on and told her to get us if she needed us. All ended well.

Tornado Central:

Little face is making progress on potty training today. We have only had one Pullup used this morning and he has gone twice on the potty. Yeah. We can only hope we are moving forward with this. Pullups are eating into the budget and I am hoping he is getting it. Only time will tell.

I decided to go to Tom Thumb yesterday for the Coke deal. I kept debating if I wanted to do this or not. I decided to go ahead and get it. This was the best deal and this will last us for several weeks possibly a month or longer.

TOM THUMB SHOPPING:

Here is how I did:

CVS Shopping

I did a lot of shopping today. Little face was ready to go this morning. I try to leave first thing in the morning when I drop my daughter off for school. Since we are out, we might as well do some shopping. I will post my other trips later this week.

It was a lot of fun. I went to CVS today. I haven’t been going there since I normally spend around $10.00 on items and I wasn’t really building my ECBs like I wanted. So I took a break for a couple of weeks and I am trying to buy things I really need or get things for free and build my ECB’s too. That means stopping when I have ECB’s in hand and not spending those on another transaction. CVS had Listerine and I have been waiting to buy some with an ECB incentive. I am glad they had one this week.

Here is how I did:

Walgreens Shopping

It is raining here again today. While we need the rain, we do not need the hail I am now hearing hit the roof. Praying it stays small as I write this post. Hail is one of the things I am afraid of. Since it can cause a lot of monetary damage to fix everything it smacks. Roof, car, windows I just really don’t like repairing or fixing those things unless it truly needs it.

Little face has been very cute lately. His two new words for the week are shopping and coupons. How cute is that? I love it, but I am not so sure how my husband feels about it. Yes little face is talking nonstop now. Saying everything all the time. This makes it difficult to shop as you will see below.

I normally don’t shop at Walgreens. Here is why. Although they may have awesome Register Rewards incentives they are always gone by the time I get there. I decided to get there at 10:00am Sunday  hoping that would be early enough to get the deals. Again NO. Someone had gone in and cleared the shelves of the razors. So that throws my whole shopping trip off. I couldn’t figure out the deal with the Listerene, so I didn’t get that. Mainly because little face would not stop talking long enough for me to figure it out. And then to realize the coupon I needed was in Sunday’s paper this week. None of the ones I had worked. But I did get a few things I thought were a good deal.

Here is what I got:

CVS Shopping and Kroger Shopping

I went to three stores yesterday early trying to beat the rain. I nearly made it, except I left the Pullups in the cart and didn't realize until I got home. I had to get back in my car and drive all the way back to the store. Thank goodness they were still in the cart where I left them. I was going to be a little ticked if I just paid $15.00 for Pullups and didn't have any to show for it.

I really only needed diapers yesterday but tried to squeeze in two other stores, since they were almost on the same block. First I headed to Kohl's and purchased some much needed shorts. I used a $10.00 off coupon my husband got when he bought a new swimsuit and sandals for a company "Team Building" event he was going to. I paid $6.48 with tax and saved $26.01.

I then headed to CVS to get the Kraft Mayo 2 for $4.00. I purchased

(1) 30oz regular Mayo $2.00

(1) 22oz Miracle whip $2.00

$1/2 Kraft Mayo
$1 ECB

Paid $2.00

This is a great deal, since this will last me probably all year. I like Mayo on my sandwiches and Miracle Whip with Tuna fish. It just tastes better that way. Before I would purchase Mayo at the dollar store for $1.00 for around 12-16oz. I just got four times as much for the same price.

Last I headed to Kroger. I wanted to purchase the Huggies deal where you purchase $15.00 and get $3.00 catalina ONYO. This will help stay within the $50.00 budget for next week. I am taking the $15.00 out of next weeks budget, since I purchased diapers twice this week and this would put me way over.

(2) Huggies Pullups $8.99 - $2/1 Printable Q, $1.50 Blinkie Q found at Tom Thumb
          - Final $7.24 each + $3.00 ONYO coupon

I also got a $2.00 off General Mills catalina for next time too. Also a $3.00 off Centrum Silver printed. I will probably not use that one. I now have $5.00 extra for next weeks shopping. It was worth me getting out on a rainy day. So if you count the free money I received the diapers were $4.74 each. I don't like to count my free money until I spend it.

Happy shopping. Link up on my Friday post below! I would love to see how you did this week.

Walmart Shopping

Good news I found my Walmart receipt. I had stuck it in my purse. So I will post that here now. I knew I did not throw that away.

You may not always see 70 – 80% savings on all my grocery shopping trips. I do try to purchase food my family will eat and at a reduced cost by shopping at the store with the lowest price. I also try not to purchase too many processed foods. I try to stick to purchasing items like frozen veggies, canned items, pasta, drinks and cereal. I do from time to time purchase processed food to be used on an occasional basis or a quick meal rather than hitting the fast food restaurants. Either going out to eat or eating a can of Chef Boyardee are considered treats at my house. Also I would rather give my children sugar than an artificial sweetener made from chemicals. These too are seen as treats in my home. Such as Gogurt or Yogurt is considered dessert and a treat yet is has calcium they need. I see it as better than eating a cookie or a piece of cake that has little nutritional value.

No Picture but here is what I got:

(1) Bread $1.64

(1) Whole Chicken $5.75

(2) Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix $1.42 each – I thought I had a coupon for this, but it expired

(2) Onion Soup Mix $1.12 – I thought I had a coupon for this, but it expired

(1) French’s Fried Onions 6oz $2.78 – $0.75/1 Q French’s Fried Onions SS 04/10/11

            -Final $2.73

(2) Quart International Delight Creamers $2.94 - $1/2 Q Int’l Delight Quarts SS 04/10/11

            -Final $2.44 each

(1) Gallon Milk $2.38

(1) Pull up Pants Walmart brand $8.47 – Forgot Huggies coupon

I purchased some other items at Walmart, but they were not related to food. Total I spent on food items is $31.82 saved $1.75. I should have put the soups back, but I really wanted them. I should have used my coupons earlier before they expired. I use the French’s onions in several of my dishes my husband loves.  The larger size was a better deal than the smaller size. I purchased the larger size and it was the same cost as the Walmart brand I normally buy. I prefer the French’s brand better.

My totals for the week are my Tom Thumb trip of $11.78 and my second trip of $7.42. A total spent of $51.02. Very close to budget this week.

How did you do this week? Link UP below. The 10^th person to link up will win a spot of free advertising for 1 week on my site.

Happy shopping! Link UP!

Walmart Shopping

I have some news to report. While documenting my post I was planning on writing today about cleaning, I must have thrown away my receipt from Walmart. I can tell you I purchased $44+ worth of food not many coupon matchups. If I find it I will post later. My main purpose was to buy a whole chicken to cook this week. I normally buy a whole chicken and roast it in the oven and then debone it to use the meat. I then take the bones and cut up some root vegetables to make a stock. The stock is great for soups, stews, rice and/or beans. I did this once a week in the winter and it would help keep the house warm too. I do not do this as much in the summer. My husband grills outside so it does not heat the house in the summer.


Also Little face is doing quite well. So well in fact he is still not sleeping today and has been up for an hour in his bed as I clean and write this post. Hmm… I hope this is not a sign of things to come.


Now on to what I really wanted to post today. I do not like cleaning, but I love a clean straightened house. If only I was Samantha from Bewitched and I could twinkle my little nose and make everything spick and span clean. The luxury of that would nice. However, in the real world that does not happen. So I am following some advice and taking 10-15 minutes to organize some place that is an eye sore in my home each day. Yesterday was my dining room table. AKA coupon central. I have everything related to coupons there. I have a system I just don’t always stick to it.


Before:

I spent around 15 minutes cleaning and straightening the table. I was so surprised how little time it took and how great it looked after I was done. It has now inspired me to work on other problem areas in my home. My husband will be so thrilled.

After:

Have you had any transformations in your home you would like to share? Any time saving tips? If you have a blog let me know where to find you and I will stop by. I love to read how others are doing. Please follow me to keep up to date with my savings.

Tom Thumb

I have a sick one today. Little face is sick and sleeping in my bed. He was running a low grade fever yesterday. Last night it got pretty high and is still running a fever this morning. So we will not getting out today except for a trip to the doctor’s office. I slept on the couch last night, because I wanted to get up and check on him through the night. My husband is a very light sleeper and had an early flight to catch this morning. So I am drafting this beside a nice large cup of coffee. Sometimes it is nice to put an extra splash of creamer in your coffee on days like this. And sometimes it is nice to go for an extra cup of coffee too!


I ran back to Tom Thumb to get some more Sun Chips, Sierra Mist and Sobe drinks. I think I have decided I am going to keep all my Free drinks and not use them until we have a party. We really don’t drink that many soft drinks. And I won’t feel like I have to go out and buy stuff right before a party. Plus what I will be serving my guests will be FREE.


Question for those who live in the Dallas area: Where can I buy the Garden delights Ronzoni pasta? There was a coupon in the paper this weekend for the garden delights, but no one here carries it. I have gone to three stores and they carry the Healthy Harvest and Smart Taste, but no Garden delight. Please post a comment below if you know where I can get some.


Here is how I did:

Tom Thumb

I have been a little busy with my niece in town. Today I found out my mom and dad are stopping by tomorrow to spend the night on their way home. So I will have a full house tomorrow night. What to serve for dinner? Any suggestions please leave below.


Tom Thumb had a good sale on a lot of the Pepsi products that matched up with the Pepsi Moments mailer sent out. Technically I got almost 5 items for FREE. Tom Thumb is difficult to shop since their sales are on about a four day cycle. You never know what is going to have an in store coupon. That is where you can save the most. Check the in store coupons and go to a coupon match up site like Saving Well Spending Less or Southern Savers. I use both to look up coupons on great deals I find.


I think the Pepsico Moments came out on 05/01/11


Oops I forgot to take a picture.


Here is what I got:

Recipe - Healthy Breakfast Smoothies for Kids

Ice Cream for Breakfast - Healthy Breakfast Smoothies for Kids

Here is a quick and easy breakfast your kids will love. They will think you have gone crazy giving them Ice Cream for breakfast. Little do they know this is a healthy breakfast smoothie for kids, but oh so yummy. I tell them this is ice cream, so they think they are getting a special treat.

First start with yogurt. I like to use greek yogurt, since this has a higher calcium content than regular yogurt. This works great with regular yogurt too. You can use plain or vanilla yogurt. Then the night before freeze the fruit you plan on using. I like to use frozen strawberry puree.

Then I add oatmeal, wheat germ and /or flax seed. If using all three use about 2 table spoons each. If using just one then use about ¼ cup. This may not be to everyone’s taste experiment to see if you like this. My daughter thinks it is cool to add the oatmeal; however my son thinks it is nasty. Then blend with an emulsion blender. If you do not have an emulsion blender then you may need to add some milk to a regular blender and blend. The frozen fruit freezes the yogurt and it tastes like soft serve ice cream. Very delicious. I also make these healthy breakfast smoothies for kids as a treat in the summer time. They think they are getting ice cream, but I know they are getting the nutrition they need.

If you are using berries and plain yogurt you may need to add a teaspoon or two of powdered sugar to cut the tartness of the berries. But it is far less than a scoop of real ice cream. I like to use powered sugar since it is already so fine you don’t have to worry about the little crunchy granules you may get with regular sugar.

I buy all my strawberries in the summer when they are the cheapest. I then take them and put them in my blender and puree them. I place them in freezer bags ½ cup at a time and freeze them flat. I have great strawberry puree all year round for pancakes and waffles. I even use them in my brownie mix instead of milk or water. Very yummy.

Do you have a yummy delicious recipe? Tell me about it or tell us where we can find it on your blog.  Link up here too!

I went to Sprouts and purchased a few items:

0.90 lbs of raisins @ $1.49 lbs - $1.34
2  Voskos Greek Yogurt $2.00 each

Bag credit of $0.05

Total spent $5.29

My totals for the week I spent $55.19 total saved $75.63 for almost 58% savings. I was so close to my $50.00 budget this week. If I would not have gone to Sprouts I would have been within budget. I just couldn’t pass up Greek Yogurt for $2.00 for 16 oz. I just wish I had a coupon to get it cheaper, but I didn’t find any. I looked too!

Link up your weekly deals here. I am still going for 10 links this week. I love to visit blogs that link up to check out your deals for the week. Once I get 25 followers I will open a Facebook page and you can follow me there.

LINK UP!

Kroger Shopping

Since the Mega event will be going on this week at Kroger too. I decided to do my shopping today instead of the normal Wednesday I go. I doubt there will be anything else I need. I still had a lot of the Philadelphia Cooking cream $1.50 Q’s from tear pads. So I purchased more to freeze for future use. This is going to need to go with all the rice and pasta I just purchased for family meals. Does anyone have any good uses or something unusual you have done with these?
I realized also that my Linky tool free sign up is now over. I don’t think I received an email to renew. This will be purchased today. Sorry for the folks who wanted to link up. It should be available shortly.

Here is how I did:

(1) Kroger hot dogs $0.88
(1) Kroger lunch meat $0.69
(4) Kraft w/ Phili Cheese $3.79 BOGO – 4 $1/1 Q’s  Kraft w/ Phili Peelies
            -Final $0.90 each
(1) Haribo Bears $1.00 - $0.30/1 Q Printable Tripled *Steal*
            -Final $0.10
(2) Mom’s Best Cereal $1.49 – Mega event $0.50 off
            -Final $0.99 each
(4) Campbell soups $1.39 – $0.40/4 Campbell’s cooking soups doubled SS 03/06/11 Mega event $0.50
            -Final $0.69
(2) Skinner Pasta $0.88 - Mega event $0.50 off
            -Final $0.38
(9) Philadelphia Cooking Cream $2.69 – 9 $1.50/1 Phili Cooking cream Peelie, Mega event $0.50 off
            -Final $0.69 each
(3) Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt 4 pack $2.19 – 3 $0.40/1 4 pack doubled SS 04/01/11, Mega event $0.50
            -Final $0.89 each 4 pack or $0.22 a cup

I had a total of 27 items purchased today. Nothing was over a dollar. I spent $19.64 and saved $45.73 for a total of 69% savings. This is my best so far. If I had not purchased the meat this would have been over 70%. I was able to price shop Walmart to make sure I was getting the best prices before I shopped at Kroger. I used the Skinner pasta as a filler for the 10 item Mega event. I would rather buy food I can eat for filler than candles I don’t need. I searched for the Garden delight pasta everywhere. They did not have it. I even looked at Walmart before I went to Kroger. No one around here carries it. I will check Tom Thumb if I go there soon.  

I am done shopping for the week. I do have a couple of more posts of things I purchased this weekend at Target and one more very bad Walmart shopping trip to post. This trip actually got me down wondering if couponing was worth it. But after today I feel better.

How did you do this week? What were your deals or steals? Let me know. I love to hear from my readers.

Walmart Shopping

I decided to go to Walmart for a few deals I still needed. I am still not familiar with all the prices on all items at Walmart, Kroger and Tom Thumb. So I am starting to compile a list to see where I can get the most savings. I try to use Couponmom for price comparisons, but not all items are listed and sometimes there is a few cents difference than from what is actually in the store. That can make the difference as to where I purchase the product.

Here is what I purchased:

(3) Mahatma Brown Rice $1.12 – 3 $0.50/1 Q for Mahatma or Watermaid rice RP 05/01/11
            -Final $0.62 each – less than Walmart brand.
(1) Uncle Bens Ready Rice pouch $1.38 – 1 FREE Q in the mail
            -Final FREE
(3) Noxema razors $2.67 – 3 $2/1 Noxema razors RP 05/01/11
            -Final $0.67 each
(3) Speed Stick Deodorant $0.98 – 3 $0.50/1 Speed Stick Deodorant SS 05/01/11
            -Final $0.48 each – This is $2.00 at Kroger. Even Double this is cheaper.

Total spent $5.48 on $15.69 worth of items purchased at Walmart. The rice is way mroe expensive at Kroger even if the coupon was doubled. With the Speed Stick Kroger had it on sale for $2.00, even with the coupon doubled Walmart was cheaper. If you want your own ready made rice, make a large batch of rice it takes the same time to cook one cup as it does to cook 3 cups. I prefer brown rice, but it takes nearly an hour to cook properly. I make a large batch and freeze it in baggies for family portion. It is much quicker to heat up than wait an hour to make some more. I need to include this on my items to freeze list.

Happy Shopping.

Recipes

Items that freeze well

I am making a list of items that freeze well and I will add to this list when someone gives me a new idea or I find something else I can freeze.

Here is a list of items that I have found that freeze well and the best way to thaw them.

1. BREAD. Freeze in the normal bread plastic this will last around a month in the freezer. To thaw simply lay on the counter.

2. Hot Dog and Hamburger buns. Pretty much same as the bread. Freeze in the normal bread plastic this will last around a month in the freezer. To thaw simply lay on the counter.

3. TORTILLAS. Freeze in the plastic it comes in. Thaw a day before you plan on using them. I recently tried this and they were great.

4. WAFFLES and/or PANCAKES. I usually make a double or triple batch. Let them cool on a wire rack individually separated. Once cool freeze. Place in large plastic freezer sealing bags. Pancakes and Waffles are best reheated in the toaster and use the frozen setting if you have a toaster with this option. However, my waffle maker makes the Belgian waffles and they are too big for the toaster. I heat them in the microwave on one side for 1 minute, flip then the other side for 30sec. It depends on your microwave as to how long you need to do this for the center not to still be frozen.

5. Fruit in season. Especially berries and bananas. I have even washed strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and freeze them in the container. For some reason they do not get freezer burn. I also will puree the berries and freeze them as 1/4 cup in baggies and freeze them flat. Then you have berry puree for pancakes, waffles, homemade ice cream and brownies whenever you want. I just cut up the banana into small bite size pieces so it will blend well. This will keep a long time.

6. Broccoli and Cauliflower. I just lightly steam them for a couple of minutes, cut the heads up into bite size pieces. Freeze in a larger Ziploc bag. Enough for a meal for your family. Take out when ready. Sometimes broccoli and cauliflower are even cheaper fresh rather than buying the already frozen and more nutritious. I also make purees out of them. Put them in ¼ cup baggies and add them to meals to sneak in extra veggies on my kids who don’t like them.

7. Squash. I love Acorn and Butternut squash. You can usually get this in season for under a $1.00 a pound. I bake it in the oven for around an hour at 400. Then the inside is soft to scoop out. I will make either a butternut squash soup or just freeze in ¼ cup baggies and use in meals.

8. Rice. I love to make a large batch of Rice. It takes as long to make 1 cup as it does 3. Let the rice cool. I then portion it out to a normal meal and then freeze in a baggie. Lay on the counter to thaw. You can heat in the baggie, but I perfer to take it out and heat in a bowl. I just don't think the plastic is safe for my family.

 Do you have anything you freeze that is not listed? Share your ideas. I would love to hear from you .

Kroger Shopping

Yeah it is link up Friday! Do you have a shopping trip where you saved oodles? Please share your link so we can see how well you did and learn some of your tricks. If you have a link to more than one post you can share more than one if you wish. Let’s see if I can get more than 10 this week. Are you up for the challenge?

I am going to post about a Kroger trip I did on Tuesday. I thought people would like to know my Mega deals this week, so I posted that one early. I had a few more things I wanted to get for my family on the last sale before it was over. I was at 68% nearly the 70% I am striving for one day. I did have to purchase Pullups however, I had a coupon that made them cheaper than at Walmart. We are still working on potty training. He has got the BM’s down, now he just needs to learn that pee goes in the potty too! I have tried to explain to him if it comes out of you, it needs to go in the potty. I don’t think he understood that. I am trying to find humor in all this. I am saving a ton on wipes right now. I am so glad I am not going to have to purchase those anymore.

Here are my results:

(1) Pull ups Boy $9.51 - $2/1  Q Printable
(1) Kandoo wipes $1.39 – $1/1 Q Printable
            -Final $0.39
(4) Listerine Pocket Packs 24 count $1.00 – 4 $1/1 Listerine Pocket Packs SS 4/17
            -FREE each
(2) J & J Floss (REACH floss) $0.99 – 2 $1/1 Q Reach floss SS 4/14
            - FREE +$0.01 Money Maker each
(1) Hairbo Gummy Bears $1.00 - $0.30/1 Q Printable Tripled
            -Final $0.10
(1) Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Grahams $1.00 - $0.35 eQ Kroger
            -Final $0.65
(2) Mom’s Organic Cereal $1.49 – 2 $0.75/1 printable – For the mega event these are $0.99
            -Final $0.75 each
(4) Tony’s Pizza $1.00 – 2 $1/2 Q Tony’s Pizza Frozen Safeway coupon book
            -Final $0.50 each
(2) Kraft 2% cheese slices $1.79 – 2 $1/1 Q Printable still on sale this week STOCK UP!
            -Final $0.79 each

My total spent was $14.29 and my total saved was $29.24 or 68%.

Share your trips this week or share your savings blog with others. I would love to hear from you this week. I enjoy visiting the sites that link up. I like to see ways other people save.

Happy Shopping!

LINK UP below!

Sprouts

It is with pain I am writing to you today. The arthritis is back in my right index finger thanks to the cold snap we had earlier this week. I can barely bend it. I can still type ok only a little pain. I am taking my over the counter medicine I bought at B1G1 and an additional $10.00 off thanks to couponing.

I am trying to decide on some new articles to write. I am full of ideas, but I haven’t actually put anything down in writing yet. So I am getting started on that today right after this post. I have thought of providing some recipes, food storing tips, ways to stretch a box meal and time saving tips as regular posts on days I don’t go shopping. Let me know if there is something you would like more information about or would like to share. If you send me an article you would love to share, I will be sure you receive credit and a link back to your site.

This Wednesday I went shopping at Sprouts for my produce. The prices are so much better than any other chain store and I love to shop there. I have described this as a Whole Foods, but not as large and retail as Whole Foods is. Sprouts is very health food conscious. I really enjoy shopping there. I found some great deals there this week. I even found a new product I had been looking for at Kroger, but there is never anyone to help you at Kroger. Sprouts is small and they are always willing to help you there. I was looking for the So Delicious Coconut Milk. I always see it really cheap at Kroger, but I have yet to find it there. I found out I was looking in the wrong spot the whole time. I was looking in the organic refrigerated section; it is located in the organic aisle with the non refrigerated soy milks. I never thought to look there. Now I know where to find it in Kroger next time. Maybe next time I will get it for FREE! Even better.

Here is how I did at Sprouts this week:

Kroger Shopping

I went shopping today at Kroger for the MEGA event sale. I was so excited pasta was on sale again. My family had not eaten all the pasta from the last mega event when pasta was on sale. I am starting to understand more how Kroger sale cycles work. I started in February with my extreme couponing for normal people. This is the last time I went to Kroger and pasta was on sale click here. So you can see the sales cycles are around 7 to 8 weeks apart. I bought 8 boxes of pasta last time thinking about 1 box a week would be enough. It was more than enough. I am really starting to accumulate a large stockpile of items I can use. I am finding clever ways to store all my items too. My pantry is full, so I had to move on to my cabinets that had a few bare spaces. My husband needs to get busy with the extra shelf I want built in the laundry room.

I went over my budget for this week once again, by $10.00. I had to find some filler items to make the Mega event work. I also went to Sprouts today. I will write about that tomorrow. I am not going to only spend $40.00 next week. I know I can do it.  I am always up for a challenge.

The register would not take two of my coupons for the yogurt, since I had an ecoupon loaded on my Kroger card. However, when I looked at my receipt the ecoupon was used for two, but the other two did not have a coupon. I could have gone to customer service and gotten $1.60 off my bill, but little face was done shopping and so was I. I am planning on using these next week. With Kroger shopping cycles it appears this sale will be going on next week too. I am crossing my fingers. I will just stock up on the things I already have and freeze the yogurt.

Also the bread guy told me the Kroger hotdog buns are going on sale this weekend for 2 for $1.00. I bought two hamburger buns instead.

Finally here is how I did:

FREEBIES

Freebies this week. I did receive a couple of freebies in the mail this week. I posted about the FREE popcorn here. I just received this in the mail this week and I also received my FREE degree deodorant for liking them on Facebook.

Free Deodorant

 Free Popcorn

Here are some blogs where you can get a list of free items:

Blue Grass Savers

Mom's free blog

Sayvings

Sweet Free Stuff

Thanks. Link UP below.

Kroger Shopping

It is LINK UP Friday again. Post your links below.

I was up early this morning to watch the wedding. It was 3 am my time. I got little miss up at around 4:30 when all the royalty started arriving. She was very excited and wanted to pop popcorn and watch the wedding. So that is what we did. She was out after the ring was on the finger. I stayed awake for the whole thing and I am still awake. Needless to say I am exhausted right now.

Tom Thumb Shopping

I went to Tom Thumb to just pick up some of the mega Q items for Q’s that I had to match. Little face likes to drive and always wants to drive my car. Tom Thumb has the carts that look like a car with a steering wheel and with the TV inside. He thinks he is really driving. He has a great time while we shop. I really enjoy shopping too; since he is occupied I can look at other items to see if there are any other deals. However, Tom Thumb usually has very high prices so I just go and get the sale items and leave. 
 

I have been trying to explain to people how I do this and many say they can’t run around to all the stores and get the items. So I am showing them to make a list of the items on sale and only get those items and leave. Depending on the sales you can probably do this in 15- 20 min with no kids. It takes me 30 min, but I am trying to occupy little face’s time. I plan my shopping trip Tuesday nights after I receive my flyer in the mail. Pull my coupons and make my list. I put all the coupons in an envelope with my list and go to the store. The only detour I may do is going through the produce to see if there are any sales.

Tom Thumb sends out the sales flyer on Tuesdays. If you live in the Dallas area, you will get them in your mailbox. This is why Tuesdays are one of my favorite days to get the mail. Usually I get the paper and review the sales and also look at their super Q’s. These are store Q’s and can be combined with a manufacturer Q to make a product even cheaper. This week I paired my Cheez IT store Q with a manufacturer Q to get the price down.

Here is how I did:

Walmart Shopping

I went shopping at Walmart today. It was an ordeal. I could have saved more, but they would not accept my 9 Qs for the Degree deodorant for a $1.00 off each. I was purchasing the trial size and planning on using my overage to go towards my food items. I got the assitant manager and he said the item has to be the item on the picture of the Q. I debated that it did not exclude trial size on the Q I was using. He stated it was not what the manufacturer intended. I was pretty ticked off today. Degree is the only deodorant I can use. I did get some other great deals though. They were out of other products I wanted so I will have to go back. I will try another Walmart store though.

Here are my results: 

Kroger Shopping

I took little miss to school and decided to try to snag some of those boxed Green Giant spinach at Kroger today. This will be my third time to go. If they didn’t have them I was going to get a rain check. We eat spinach all the time. I make spinach dip and I puree it and put it in other food dishes so the kids don’t know they are eating it. I also will make smoothies for my husband and me using spinach and cucumber. If you want to lose weight these shakes are great and you can’t taste the green stuff. They are packed with nutrients and very little calories, but they fill you up.

I also found some coupons for Birds Eye vegetables that I didn’t know I had until I saw it on another blog for a different store. I have decided when I get coupon books from other stores I am going to cut them up and put them in my coupon book. I could have used these last week, but I forgot about them. Instead of 33% off I could have made them 50% off. I am still learning and still making mistakes, but also I am getting better.

Tom Thumb Shopping

It’s LINK UP Friday. Here are my shopping results from Tom Thumb and my totals for the week. You can check out my Kroger trip and CVS trip earlier this week.  I didn’t have many manufacturer Q to match up for Tom Thumb; however, they did have some good sales with store Q’s I took advantage. I am also trying to establish my lowest price to pay for certain items. If you are new to couponing these are things you need to establish. I will be writing about those later next week. Check back for more tips.

Oops I forgot to take a picture.

Here are my results:

Kroger Shopping

I switched out some toys for little face for this trip and it helped wonders. He was so good while I was shopping this time. I even stopped and played a little with him in an aisle I didn't need to go down. We had a good time.

I went shopping at Kroger yesterday to get the last of some deals they had on food items I wanted. I am heading to Tom Thumb to do some more food shopping today. I will post those results tomorrow.

Here is how I did:

CVS Shopping

Apparently little face did not want to go shopping today. So I had to try to make it fun. I brought new toys this time hoping this would help change up the shopping. Needless to say this was a short shopping trip at CVS. I just picked up a few items and we checked out. I could have come out cheaper out of pocket, but I really did not feel like breaking up the transactions. I have more to spend next time I visit.

Here is how I did:

Kroger Shopping

I packed up little face for some Wednesday shopping. We had two stores to hit to get some great deals I was going to try to stay within budget this week. Sad to say again I did not make it by $10.00. I was trying to cut back to $40.00, since I spent so much on diapers last week. When I made the diaper purchase I had enough diapers to last for a month and it was a great deal. Check out my Target trip here.

This week we went to Sprouts and Kroger for our major grocery shopping. Sprouts is a small mostly organic and fresh food store. It is similar to Whole Foods just not as big. The prices on produce are almost as good as Aldi. And I enjoy shopping there better than shopping at Aldi.

Link up is below!

Here is how I did at Sprouts & Kroger:

Tom Thumb Shopping

Just read this log into Cellfire today to receive a coupon for $0.50 - $3.00 off your next Kroger shopping trip before noon Pacific Time. 
 

I went shopping on Tuesday to get a few things at Tom Thumb. Mainly I went to get the Kettle chips since they were on BOGO sale and I had a $1.00 coupon. So far this is my best price for chips. I have noticed with a lot of the blog sites I visit our prices are around $0.20 or so higher than everywhere else. I thought I was going to get them for $1.19 a bag. I get to the store and I start shopping only to realize I didn’t put the Kettle coupons in my envelope. I still had coupons for the Wesson and mustard, so I decided to shop and buy those things. My daughter had a school function that night, so I could come back after that and get those items plus I could pick up another Wesson and Mustard.

Here are my results:

Walmart Shopping

I had a great weekend this weekend with my daughter. We went on a Girl Scout camping trip. We spent Friday and Saturday at camp. It was more like a two night sleep over for the girls. They had fun and little sleep. We walked all over camp. I was so exhausted by the time we got home on Sunday. Whew! I took Monday off. :) I learned so much about Girl Scout traditions I never knew. I can't wait to go again next year.

Our Bunks

Dangerous Little Miss

 

Yeah I almost got a bullseye!

With all that, I have been really busy shopping this week. I have barely had time to write about it. Many great deals I can’t wait to share. I went to Walmart, Tom Thumb, Sprouts and Kroger. I will post all those later. Today I am starting with Walmart.

I have been having problems checking out at Walmart, since the cashiers don’t know about the new coupon policy as of yet. I meant to print it out and bring it with me this time but I forgot. I had a few items that were under the amount of the coupon and she had to go ask her manager about them. I also had to make sure she gave my overages because she was only going to give me the value of the item off. So I am printing a copy of the coupon policy and placing it in my Walmart envelope today. I purchased other non related food items at Walmart so I am just going to list the food items here.

Here is how I did:

Kroger Shopping

Today little face and I headed to Kroger to do the weekly shopping. I have a few staples I needed this week even though I don’t have coupons for them. I brought my coupon file this time to see if I could find any deals not advertised. I always have my phone ready to take pictures of items I might be interested in and compare them to Walmart prices. Some tags have and end date when the sale is going to end. Even though they are not mentioned in any ad, they may be on sale for a while. I have to say looking through my file while shopping is more difficult with little face. I have to concentrate and look for coupons and he gets frustrated I am not paying attention to him. But a song of ABC’s and itsy bitsy spider and that usually calms him down. It is called mommy multi-tasking!

I had quite a few good match ups this week and these were not posted on any website. They corresponded with the awesome Kroger eCoupons also to get an even bigger savings. I did go over my budget of $50.00 this week with my diaper purchase on Monday. Plus I bought a lot of meat this time at the store. So I will need to cut back the next couple of weeks to compensate for my overages.

Here is how I did:

Target Shopping

Monday was Money Making Monday for me. I was so excited. There is a site I visit to surf the web, participate in small surveys and watch short videos to get points. The points vary for each, but I got enough for a $5.00 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks.  You can just sign up and start earning points.

After getting $5.00 Amazon gift card, I headed over to Target to pick up some diapers. I had a $3.00 off Huggies and a $2.50 off Target coupon. I had two of each to combine with a coupon for a $5.00 gift card for buying two boxes of Huggies diapers. So I got $11.00 off Huggies diapers to make them around the same price as Walmart. Plus a $5.00 gift card.

CVS Shopping

Yesterday I needed coffee. The thunderstorms rolled in at 3:00 am in the morning. Which normally would just wake up the average person, but... we purchased a weather radio several years ago that makes a louder beeping noise than an alarm clock when it goes off. You can absolutely forget about going right back to sleep after that. It scares you have to death when you hear that sound and I sit up in bed to hear what it has to say. Fearing the worst, praying for the best. I kept getting up checking outside to see what size hail we were getting. Pea, marble, golf ball, quarter….. it depends on if you are using the money scale or the ball scale. It is not official which one to use.

We had a very busy Sunday needless to say. We went to church, then Brownies after that and a pizza birthday party after that. Even though I was super busy I managed to sneak in some CVS shopping between events. I took little miss with me to show her how I do this CVS shopping thing. She was very excited to see mommy in action. Also I saw two people there trying to decide what kind of toothpaste to by. I decided this is a learning opportunity and showed them if they bought the same brand, but the one over on the other shelf they could get money back through ECB’s and buy something else. And I showed them a few more items they may want to pick up that were on sale also.

Milk was on sale this week at CVS. I am so excited about this since I have a coupon for the brand of milk they sell at CVS. So this makes it as much as it is in the store. I didn’t have a plan, since I was just going in between events. My goal was try to get the milk for free or close to free.

Here is how I did:

Time Saving Tips

We all went to a crawfish boil yesterday. It was benefitting the LSU alumni associations’ scholarship fund. My husband went to LSU, I did not. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather either. It was around 87 and breezy. I loved it. The crawfish were delicious and the kids had a great time. They all fell asleep in the car on the way home and we were pretty tired too.

Freebies

NEW LINK: FREE Sample Orville Redenbacher’s Pop Up Bowl

FREE Sample of Orville Redenbacher’s Pop Up Bowl, go to the Walmart FREE Sample Site to request your FREEBIE!! Allow up to 4 weeks for delivery!  Also, you can print a $1/1 Coupon.