Kroger Shopping, Tom Thumb Shopping

I went shopping on Tuesday this week. Tom Thumb had the better deals this week. It was similar to a mega event at Kroger. I purchased quite a few things and even more was on sale at the store. If they do that again, I may have to shop and make a list first and go back and purchase items with coupon matchups. I haven’t been doing as well at Kroger lately. They are changing the prices on a lot of items. This may be due to the Walmart opening across the street. I have heard they are going to be taking away the double and triple coupons. This has not happened in my area yet. I hope they keep it, since I will shop at Kroger for a coupon under $0.50, since I know it will be doubled.

Here is how I did:

(1) ½ Gallon Milk $1.79

(3) Wheat thins snack sticks $2.00 – 3 $1/1 Q

            -Final $1.00 each

(1) Pull ups $8.99 - $2/1 Huggies Home Mailer

            -Final $6.99

(2) Mission Tortillas $1.69 – Sale $1.00

            -Final $1.00 each

(4) Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta $1.00 each – 2 $1/2 Q printable

            -Final $0.50 each

(4) Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Pasta $1.00 each – 2 $1/2 Q printable

            -Final $0.50 each

(2) Snuggle Fabric Softner $2.99 – 2 $1/1 Snuggle softner printable

            -Final $1.99 each

(12) Yoplait Yogurt cups $0.50 – 2 $0.40/6 doubled Yoplait cups

            -Final $0.37 each

I spent $27.07 and saved $28.32 on $55.39 retail on groceries this week. 

I couldn’t wait another day to get an additional $1.00 off for the Pull-ups. We were completely out. They are finally carrying the Garden delight pasta, but it was not on sale this time. So I skipped it in hopes it will be available next time. The coupon expires in September. I might have said this last week, but Yoplait is my favorite yogurt. I will buy a bunch when it is on sale.

Here is how I did at Tom Thumb:

(2) Betty Crocker Cake Mix $0.89 each

(8) Chef Boyardee Whole Wheat pasta $0.75 each

(6) Hunts Snack pack pudding $0.69

(2) Cheez –It Colby $1.99 – 2 $0.70/1 Q Colby Cheez – it Printable

            -Final $1.29

 (2) Classico Pasta Sauce $2.99 BOGO - $1/1 Classico Peelie

            -Final $0.99 each

(10) Fuze drinks $0.75 – 5 $1/2 Fuze drinks Q

            -Final $0.29 each
(4) International delight Creamer quart $2.79 - 2 $1/2 Int'l delight quart Q's
           -Final $2.29
(1) Q-Tips $2.49 - $0.30/1 Q-tips Tripled
           -Final $1.59

(2) Cortaid $3.99 - 2 $3/1 Cortaid Q
         -Final $0.99 each
(1) Carl Buddig $2.99 - $1/1 Carl Buddig 12-14 oz Pritable
         - Final $1.99
(1) Odwalla Juice $1.49 - 1 $0.35 Odwalla Juice Q tripled
         -Final $0.44

I spent $34.92 and saved $50.44 on $85.36 retail. I plan on freezing the pudding and sticking plastic spoons in the top. This makes instant popsicles.  There is a coupon in All You magazine for the Whole Wheat Chef; however I didn’t bring it because whole wheat is usually not considered in the sale. This just makes me want to go to the binder system more. I want all my coupons with me when I shop.

My neighbor and I are talking about getting together and putting ours in a binder. Plus I may be able to give her coupons I will not use and she can help me too.

How did you do this week? Link up and share your shopping trips. LINK UP!

Thoughts for Thursday

It is with sadness I write today. I have lost my dog of 11 years to tumors throughout his body. We decided to end his suffering today. I am not one who gets really attached to animals, but this little guy really touched my heart. I still remember the day we picked him out at the shelter. At first he seemed a little boring, until you got him out of the kennel. Then he was a ball of energy. Super hyper and great. He was an Australian Sheppard mix. We love and miss you Scotty.

Before I found out about Scotty’s condition yesterday I was cleaning house. My little one is absolutely terrified of the vacuum cleaner. I usually try to get him out of the house when I vacuum. I got a wonderful idea from a fellow bloggers post. Have them paint the fence with water. This was great. They had a cup and got two paintbrushes and painted the fence with water. You don’t have to worry about any clean up and they can get it all over themselves and it dries. As it dried they painted over it again. Who do you think enjoyed it more? The 9 year old. She was discovering all new painting techniques. I nearly couldn’t get her back in the house. The two year old had a great time too.

 I also wanted to share with you a few sites I visit to make some extra money. You will not become a millionaire, but a few dollars here and there helps with the budget. I use Swagbucks to earn points that can be used to purchase online gift cards. I like to earn the Amazon gift card and use it to purchase coffee at Amazon. If you sign up you will get 80 bucks for signing up. You can take daily polls for 1 buck and visit the survey page. You can also win bucks by using their site to search for things. There are many other ways to earn bucks for things. Stop by and check them out.

I also use is Inbox Dollars. You will receive emails in your inbox. Then you can click on the surveys or emails and receive money in your account. You can then request a check and have it sent to your house. This is very easy to do. You will receive $5.00 for signing up with them.

I usually visit these sites daily to get the incentives. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Tips for Tuesday

With many of us couponing or trying to save money we need to stretch those box meals a little further. For me a simple box meal just doesn’t feed all five of us.  I like to have leftovers for little face and me for lunch the next day. It is easier to decide what we will eat and I don’t have to make a big meal just for two people.

I would like to share with you a few ideas I have for adding flavor to boxed meals without adding sodium. The sodium content of these is amazingly high. I try not to feed these to my family very often, but they are better than buying fast food for five of us. I will do it in a pinch.

The best thing to add to any meal is an onion. I can purchase these for $0.49 lbs. So I am only adding $0.49 extra cost to my meal. I usually use ½ or 1 onion chopped and sautéed . This adds not only lots of flavor but around a ½ to 1 pound of food to the meal. The kids don’t even know it is in there, since most boxed meals have onion powder. Adding onion ramps up the flavor and increases the vegetables for the meal.

I also like to add carrots, especially to higher sodium meals. This will help decrease the salty taste in a meal. I will add around 1 or 2 peeled and either shredded, pureed or chopped finely. This is around ¼ to a ½ cup of carrots. What a sneaky way to enter extra veggies into the kids meals and they don’t even know. I like to add carrots to Sloppy Joes too. We just need a little more to make it stretch to feed all of us.

Corn is the next best thing to add to a meal. I find it goes well especially with Mexican dishes. I try to buy frozen when I can. Otherwise just open a can and pour it in. I like the cream style corn with the Asian Rice a Roni. Use the water from the can for the water to add to the dish. This will add just a little more flavor than just regular water. I will also save the water from the corn and use this for soups later.

Try adding peas to a meal. If you or your kids don’t like the taste of peas try pureeing them and add that to the meal. You won’t see them or taste them either. I like to add peas to fried rice and canned soups.

Beans can be added for extra protein to any dish. I like black beans for Mexican dishes. Sometimes I will add both corn and black beans to stretch a meal.

Try adding a little of two or three of the above mentioned vegetables to each meal to see what you can come up with and not change the taste too much. This is a fun experiment to try with your family. Try other vegetables you like to see what other combinations you can come up with. Look at the box and see what dehydrated veggies are already in there and add the real thing. This is a great way to stretch a meal for just a few pennies per meal.

Do you normally add anything to a box meal? What are your favorite recipes to add veggies to? What Veggies do you add?

*Photos provided courtesy of Wikipedia

Money Saving Monday

I went to my high school reunion this weekend. We all had a lot of fun catching up on memories and what has happened the last 20 years. I lived in a very small town growing up. Most of my classmates and I had gone to school with each other since kindergarten. Some people had stayed and some had moved away. Other still had moved away and came back. I wish it could have been longer. It would not have been possible without facebook. We planned the entire event on facebook. It was also exciting to find out people are reading my blog.

Today I am going to share with you some ideas I have seen or remembered over the years on saving money with some very simply and small steps. I wish I could quote where I got them, but I just can’t remember.

You pay for 10oz of something you might as well get all 10oz out, right.

For ketchup and mustard try to always store the bottle on its head. To get the last few drops out of the bottle use a little vinegar and swoosh it around. Since both are made of vinegar this will give a little more flavor. If you don’t want to use the rest for fear it may have a stronger vinegar taste, pour the rest into a new bottle of ketchup or mustard.  This will also work for Tabasco sauce or any other vinegar based product. If you don’t know, read the label.

Shampoo, conditioner and body wash store them on the lids. This will ensure the product is all at the top and ready to be used.  Once you cannot get any more out try to swish a little water in the bottle and get the remaining product out.

When using liquid laundry detergent and fabric softner wash the cup out under the running water from the washing machine. This will ensure a clean cup every time and get all the soap out for a load. Once you have used all the soap run the container under the water from the washing machine to get all the last bit of soap or softner out and dump in the washer.

 

Lastly toothpaste. There is a reason they say squeeze from the bottom. Yes if you actually do this you will get the most out of the tube of toothpaste. Flatten out the tube of toothpaste, use the edge of your toothbrush to push the remaining toothpaste to the top. Then fold up the end of the toothpaste so it will all squeeze out to the top. I am always amazed at how much toothpaste is still in there.

Does anyone else have any other ideas? Leave a comment below to share with others.

Kroger Shopping, Tom Thumb Shopping, Walmart Shopping

I did a lot of shopping this week with two kids in tow. I had Little Miss and Little Face with me. Little Miss hates shopping. I was interested to see how this was going to turn out. With my surprise, she did great. She wanted to push the cart most of the time. This allowed me to look and concentrate a little more to see if there were any other deals out there and price compare a few items.

I finally hit the 70% saved mark on one of my receipts. There were not a lot of items purchased, but I even had an impulse buy on tortillas with no coupon and still saved 70%. Here is a list of my weekly finals with all the stores I have visited.

You can find my Drugstore CVS post here.

1^st Trip to Kroger 06/07/11

(2) Pineapples $1.00 each - $1.25/2 Del Monte Pineapples

            -Final $0.38 each

(2) International Delight creamers Pint $1.50 each – 2 $0.55/1 Pint Creamers

            -Final $0.95 each

(4) Pert shampoo trial size $1.00 each – 4 $1/1 Pert any size shampoo

            -Final FREE

(4) Mission Tortillas $1.00 on Sale from $1.69

            -Final $1.00 each

I spent $6.65 and saved $16.07 on $22.72 worth of groceries. I saved 70% yeah I finally hit that mark. I am so excited. It may not have been many items. I am still excited since one was an impulse buy.

My Walmart will not let me use the pert $1.00 off on trial sizes. If it is a money maker coupon, it has to be what is on the picture of the coupon or it has to be written on the coupon. They are very sticky there. I would rather get it free than not at all. I usually donate these.

Walmart Trip

(.52) lbs Bananas @0.39 lbs - $0.66

(1) GV Parmesan cheese $2.62

(1) Huggies Pull Ups $8.97 - $1.50/1 blinkie coupon

            -Final $7.47

I spent $10.75 and only saved $1.50. The bananas were an impulse buy since this was such a great price. I should have gotten more to freeze for breads and smoothies. Oh well there is always next week.

Tom Thumb Trip

Tom Thumb has the 8 Mix and Match sale. With Tom Thumb the amount off depends on the product purchased. This is like a Kroger mega event you get $0.50 off of 8 qualifying items.

(2) Chef Boyardee beefaroni $1.25 – $0.50 off

            -Final $0.75 each

(2) Marsh Mallows $1.69 - $0.90 off

            -Final $0.79

(4) Gogurt $2.19 each – 2 $0.75/2 Gogurt, $1.00 off sale

            -Final $1.32 each

I spent $8.34 and saved $8.30 on $16.64 worth of food retail. I may go back next week, since I walked around the store and I found other items I need that I knew I had coupons for. The Chef was an impulse buy and I had to rearrange some items I was planning on getting. I am glad, since we were nearly out of Chef and my daughter loves to eat it.

Kroger Trip #2

(1) Kroger apple juice $1.77

(2) Wheat thins Snack Sticks – 2 $1/1 Q

            -Final $1.00 each

(12) cups Yoplait Yogurt $0.50 each – 2 $0.40/6 Yoplait yogurt doubled

            -Final $0.36 each

(3) Rosarita refried beans $0.98 each - $0.50/3 beans

            -Final $.64 each

(2) V8 Fruit Fusion Juice $2.49 – $1/2 V8 Fruit Juice

            -Final $1.99 each

(1) Ortega Salsa $2.69 - $1/1 Ortega product catalina

            -Final $1.69

(4) Ragu Pasta Sauce $1.85 – 4 $0.50/1 Ragu Pasta sauce doubled

            -Final $0.85

(1) Edge Shave Cream $2.39 - $0.55/1 Edge or Skintamate Shave Cream

            -Final $1.84

(2) Dole Mandarin Oranges $1.34 - $0.50/2 Dole Mandarin Oranges

            -Final $0.84 each

(4) Franks Red Hot Sauce $1.00 – 4 $0.50/1 Any Franks red hot sauce Doubled

            -Final FREE

(1) Ocean spray Sparkling Juice $3.99

I have been buying 3 cans of Rosarita beans for the past few weeks until my coupon expires tomorrow. I was hoping for a sale, but missed the one at Tom Thumb. I thought it was a good deal since it doubled I would be getting one for Free. I also purchased the Oranges since the coupon would double at Kroger. Kroger has the best price on the oranges right now. I did not read my eCoupon from Kroger carefully on the Ocean spray Juice. It was FREE as a B1G1 deal however all it said on my phone was FREE ocean spray juice. Once you click on the coupon it states that it is B1G1 Free. Otherwise I would not have gotten the juice. I could have taken it back. I was still mainly within my budget.

I am running out of time and will try  to post the coupon match ups at a later time.

Did you score any great deals this week? Share your shopping results with others. Link UP!

CVS Shopping

We have had a fun start to summer so far. We have gone  swimming in the pool in the afternoon. Since my husband’s laptop died on Friday, he decided to work from home on Monday. It was fun having him there another day. He was multitasking with work and things that needed to get done around the house.

I did a little shopping at CVS on Sunday. I decided to pick up the battery toothbrushes on sale. My daughter really wanted another one, since hers broke several months ago. When I got to the store they were all sold out. I was bummed. I saw the manager I think he recognized me, since I come in there a lot. He said they were cleaned out at midnight on Sunday. Then he said I could go to another CVS way across town to get one. I then asked when would they get another shipment in. He mentioned Wednesday. I said I would come back then. I told him how I wanted to get one for my daughter and he scanned the code on the rack and said he might have one in the back. He went to get one and then asked me if I wanted another. I said I could give one to my step son. I think he had a lot more in the back and they only put so much out for the Sunday rush. I will have to keep that in mind for next week.

My big goal with CVS is to get things we really need and grow my ECB’s. I could have had less OOP, but I really would like my ECB’s to grow for things I want, but may not need. I try to spend no more than $5.00 a week at CVS. This week I purchased milk at CVS cheaper than I can get it at the store. Milk is already in my budget.

So here is how I did this week:

 

Transaction #1: Sunday

(1) Milk $3.19

(1) Pulsar Tooth Brush $6.00

Coupon $3.00 – PG 06/05/11

Used $3.00 ECB – Previous week

Used $1.00 ECB –Previous week

OOP $2.19

Received $1.00 ECB - Milk

Received $3.00 ECB - Toothbrush

Transaction #2:

(1) Pulsar Tooth Brush $6.00

Coupon $3.00 – PG 06/05/11

Used $3.00 ECB – Previous week

OOP $0.00

Received $3.00 ECB

Transaction #3: Wednesday

(1) Milk $3.19

Used $1.00 ECB –Previous Sunday Transaction

OOP $2.19

Received $1.00 ECB - Milk

Transaction #4

(1) Lamisil Cream $9.99

Coupon $3/1

Used $3.00 ECB – Previous Transaction

Used $1.00 ECB –Previous Transaction

OOP $2.99

Received $5.00 ECB

In total I spent $7.37 and have $5.00 ECB’s for next week. With my next transaction I will get a $1.00 ECB for my bag tag. I have the Zyrtec Coupon for free Zyrtec next week. If they have it in stock to get $5.99 in ECB FREE. This will be a complete money maker. If all goes right I will have $11.99 in ECB next week stocked up. It has taken much restraint to get here. I hope to keep up the savings and keep it rolling. Let’s see how high I can make it go. I heard one person had $100.00 in ECBs. I would like to be able to go in and do all my shopping in one transaction and walk away with the same amount or more in ECBs.

Finals Friday will be tomorrow to share your deals for the week. Come back to link UP!

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.

Money Saving Monday

Some of you may be wondering where I get all my information and matchups for my shopping. I am going to highlight a few of my favorite blogs I love to visit each week to see the deals and the coupon matchup they provide. Please stop by these ladies blogs and visit. I hope you will enjoy their articles as much as I do.

One of my favorite sites is Living Well Spending Less. Ruth Soukup takes you on her journey through life with her two little girls and how she uses coupons and saves over 70% each time she visits the store. She also posts recipes, DIY crafts and other entertaining articles. Visit her blog to get more ideas and ways to coupon. I saw Ruth's video and she really got me hooked on saving.

Ruth also has a sister blog she manages with store sales and matchups listed each week called Saving Well Spending Less. She also has a coupon database where you can search for a particular item to see if you can find a coupon for it. SWSL is the fastest database I use.

Simply CVS is the best site for CVS deals and matchups. You can visit Cheryl’s wonderful site to find anything and everything about CVS. She has scenarios for only $5.00 and $10.00 out of pocket every week. She provides a sneak peak to the ad before it comes out. Unadvertised deals and scenarios can be found here. I use this site before I go to CVS. I have gotten a lot of FREE items by visiting her site.

Bluegrass Savers is where I visit for one of my Kroger matchups. Debi usually has a great deals and unadvertised deals. She also has other stores such as Walmart, Target and more with coupon matchups. She also posts where to get free items daily. So check back often.

I also visit Southern Savers for deal matchups at Kroger, Walmart and other stores. Jenny has a wealth of knowledge and love to share it with her readers. This site also has a coupon database to research items to match with sales. I use several because different coupons print in different areas and may be in one database and not the other.

One of my favorite sites to visit is The Grocery Cart Challenge site. Gayle Bryant has a family of 6 and feeds her family on a buget of $60.00 a week without coupons. She had recipes for laundry detergent, fabric softner, , and she also posts a bunch of yummy recipes to feed a hungry family of 6. Please stop by her blog for inspiration on saving money.




I hope you will visit these sites and enjoy reading them as much as I do. I usually visit these daily or at least a couple of times during the week.

I just need 3 more followers to reach 25. I will then create a Facebook page for you to follow and get the latest updates on my savings and adventures. Can't wait for you to join.

Do you have any favorite matchup sites to share? Leave a comment below so I can see how you are doing.

Sprouts, Kroger, Tom Thumb Shopping

I am so excited for my daughter she received 4 out of 5 medals on Wednesday at the academic awards ceremony. She did very well from where she started this year. Way to go Little Miss. I am so proud of her.

There was just not much at Kroger or Tom Thumb this week. I think I have twenty pounds of hot dogs. We now have enough for all summer. I know that sounds like a lot, but I know we are going to be feeding more than our own kids this summer and at $0.50 for a pound of hot dog meat is awesome. I also scored some buns for $0.89 each. This is the cheapest I have ever seen hot dog and hamburger buns.  Of course I stocked up.

Here is how I did for the week:

Tom Thumb

(2) Hamburger buns $0.89 – In store coupon

(7) Hot Dogs buns $0.89 – In store coupon

(2) Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $0.98 - $1/2 Oscar Mayer hot dogs SS 05/15/11

            -Final $0.49 each

(2) Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $0.98 - $0.75/1 Printable FB – No longer available

            -Final $0.24 each

I spent $9.47 and saved $16.42. Total retail price for all food purchased at Tom Thumb $25.89.

Sprouts

 

(0.89)lbs Coconut Almond Granola @ $2.49 lbs

            -Final $2.22

(0.88)lbs Rolled Oats @ $0.99 lbs

            -Final $0.87

(0.94)lbs Pitted Prunes @ $2.49 lbs

            -Final $2.34

(0.69)lbs Roma Tomatoes @$0.69 lbs

            -Final $0.46

(1) lbs Carrots $0.89

(1) Celery $1.29

I spent $8.02 on produce I received a $0.05 bag credit for brining my own bag to shop at Sprouts. If you have a farmers market it is also good to stock up on veggies there. The later you go the more the people are willing to bargain with you. They really don’t want to take anything home and you can get better deals.

Kroger – Stock up Sale

(2) Gallons Milk $2.39

(1) Dozen eggs $1.00

(1) Herdez Salsa $2.09

(2) Bags Sunchips $2.75 - $1/2 Kroger eQ

            -Final $2.25

(4) Hormel Chili $1.29 – 2 $0.55/2 Hormel Chili SS 05/08/11

            -Final $1.02 each

(3) Rosarita Refried Beans $0.98 - $0.50/3 Rosarita beans SS 05/01/11

            -Final $0.65

(2) International Delight Creamer $1.50 – 2 $0.55/1 SS 04/10/11

            -Final $0.95 each

Used a $2.00 OYNO coupon at check out

I spent $17.12 and saved $17.60. Total retail Price for all food purchased at Kroger $34.72. I also get fuel rewards at Kroger to get gas $0.10 cheaper when I use my rewards. This is a great way to save money on food and gas.

Thanks for stopping by. Did you have a great week? How did you do? Share your saving so others can see how you did. If you don't have a blog leave a comment with your savings.

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Money Saving Tips

Other money saving ideas. We are all trying to save a few cents here and a few cents there.  Here are a couple of gas saving ideas I have come up with. Does your grocery store give gas rewards for fuel? Kroger gives rewards for spending $100.00 before coupons you can earn a $0.10 reward off fuel. I will fill up my car when I am at Kroger doing my weekly shopping. I try to plan my trips to every store each week to have the least amount of gas used.

I was very excited when a Walmart opened right across the street from Kroger. Now I have CVS, Kroger and Walmart within a couple of blocks from one another. I can make them all in one day now. The Walmart I used to go to was a lot closer to me, but this will save me on gas going all in one day since I am going to be out that way anyway.

Instead of speeding up to the next light and having to stop, do not put your foot on the gas pedal all the way. Coast a while before you get to the stop light. You will be amazed this saves almost a gallon of gas or more each week.

When you see the 40 mph sign, that does not mean you need to max your car out from 0-40 in 4 seconds. Try gradually getting to that speed. You may see you barely get up to that speed then you are coasting to the next light and have to stop again.

Clean out your car. Why pay for extra gas toting trash around. The more your car weighs the more gas you are going to need to use to keep it going. This is a small savings, but it does help.

Lastly make sure your tires are properly inflated. Especially since the summer temperatures are hitting us now make sure you tires have the correct amount of air. This can be a big savings over time.

Here are some sites that can help you with gas savings:

Simply CVS – Deals for $10.00 free gas card

True car

Do you plan your trips to save gas? Do you have any other tips or ideas to save on gas? Share your ideas here. Remember tomorrow will be Link up Friday. Don't forget to come by and Link UP!

Kid Post

Wow! I am still tired from this weekend. A second cup of coffee would have been nice, but I had some shopping to do. I prepared my list last night. Unfortunately there were not many good sales, but there were a few items I needed to go along with some dishes I wanted to make.

I am hoping little face will go to bed soon. He has been in his bed/room for an hour now and no sleep. Sleep is not only for him, but for me to have some rest too. I am waking him up early to go to an awards ceremony for the older kids at school this afternoon. We have standard tests here in Texas and they both got Commendable Performances for their scores.

This is a huge accomplishment for my daughter to receive such high marks without any assistance. We had her tested this year, and she has dyslexia. I don’t know if any of you have a child with any disability, but it is hard to hear. To know your child is not only different, but the difference has a name. It now makes so much sense with all her troubles she is having in school It was a relief to hear that she can get help she needs. I was unsure if I should blog about it and announce it to the world. I have gotten more comfortable enough to write about it. Please comment if you have a child with a learning disability or know of any good blogs or sites to visit. I have been checking a few out on my own. I want to do my best to help her, since we have struggled so much in the past.

This is basically how her little brain sees words. She know all the letters in a word. She just has difficulty remembering what order they go in.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

I will post my shopping trips tomorrow, since this post went into something I had not planned on writing about. I am tired today and need to get ready to head to school in a few minutes.

Walmart Shopping

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. I know we sure did. We had lots of fun in the pool with the kids on Sunday and Monday. We were so tired we needed to get back to a normal week so we could rest.

I did get to do some shopping I wanted to do, since my husband was going to be at home to watch the kids. I went to both Walmart and Tom Thumb for the awesome hot dog deals both had. I even snuck in a quick Kroger trip on Sunday. I will not need to purchase any more hot dogs for the summer. We are stocked. I won’t have to worry about the kids inviting anyone over for swim parties either. I should have enough to feed an army. I just hope they don’t get too tired of hot dogs. I will try to reserve these only for parties and special holiday occasions. The fourth of July is a little over month away. I am sure more sales will be happening then to stock up on more party supplies for the summer.

My Walmart is getting very picky on the coupons. She would not let me checkout all at one time. I had to break every set of coupons into separate transactions so no two coupons were in the same pile. Every week it is something new there. I really didn’t feel like arguing with her, but just helped her group everything and group the coupons according to each transaction. I made sure each one rang, since little face was not along for this trip. I will be listing this as one trip not each individual transaction.

 

Here is how I did:

(1) lb bag Black Beans $1.00

(10) Bar S hot dogs $1.00 – 3 $1/2 Q  Not sure when the Q came out, 2 $1/2 Printable

            -Final $0.50 each

(1) Best Maid Baby Dill Pickles $1.78 - $0.55/1 Q Best Maid or Del Dixie pickles RP 5/22/11

            -Final $1.23

(1) Best Maid Hamburger Pickles $1.78 - $0.55/1 Q Best Maid or Del Dixie pickles RP 5/22/11

            -Final $1.23

(4) Ivory Bar Soap $0.97 - $1/1 Ivory Bar Soap Q P&G 05/01/11

            -Final FREE + $0.03 money Maker Each

(3) Speed Stick Deodorant $0.97 – 3 $0.75/1 Q Speed Stick Deodorant SS 05/22/11

            -Final $0.22 each

(2) Mahatma Brown Rice $1.12 – 2 $0.75/1 Q Printable

            -Final $0.37 each

Altogether I spent $10.17 and saved $14.60 at Walmart. Instead of purchasing black beans by the can I make my own with the chicken stock I make from the whole chicken I bake. I then freeze them flat in bags. They taste better than the can. One bag makes around 4 bags worth of beans. I love pickles and this should be enough pickles for the year, but I might pick up a couple more jars before the coupon expires. That will definitely last me the whole year.

I don't buy things just to buy things. I do like to purchase things I like with a coupon. Some items I can purchase enough to last me an entire year. Like the pickles. I don't like to purchase things that will expire before I get the chance to use them. Chips expire quickly  That is just wasteful. I make sure I will be able to use the item before the expiration date.