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.

LINK UP! The first person to link up will receive one free week of advertising on my site. Just send me your button so I can place it on my site.

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.

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.