xmas2010

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

50 Free Holiday Cards for Bloggers - and affordable ones for non-bloggers too!

It's getting to be that time of year again. Time to prepare for Thanksgiving and the amazing shopping day after, time to stock your closet with wonderful gifts for your family and time to get those holiday cards ready. It's been several years since we had a formal portrait done with cards. Way too pricey and way too unpredictable results. Instead we take our own photos in a relaxed family session, pick the creme de la creme for our Christmas photo and and order a set of cards from Shutterfly.

Shutterfly, has hundreds of beautiful Christmas photo cards for us to choose from.

The Christmas cards offered by Shutterfly are remarkably affordable.

Shutterfly has so many options that I am ALWAYS able to choose something that is just perfect in theme.

My personal favorite this year is Make the Mantel - one of their pricier options at $1.34 per card when you buy a minimum of 46 but it is a fold-over card option. The design is festive, simple and classy. Their flat photo cards are gorgeous too and start out at a mere .30 per card.

You can also find very reasonably priced holiday address labels to use for mailing these beautiful cards!

What are your favorites

Thrifty Thursday!

I'm one happy camper on this Thursday thanks to Target's annual toy clearance (or as some folks put it, Christmas in July). My closest store has its toys already very picked over- people started buying them at a measly 30% off and there's not much left over. So I headed over to the Southpoint location in Durham and made some great finds. They were running behind on the markdowns. Myself and another savvy shopper had inquired on when they would be marking stuff down to 75%. The associate told us tomorrow and to come back in the afternoon...and then kindly offered to markdown the items in our carts. It was a pleasant and unexpected act of kindness!

I found a Little People toy set for a little under $6 and some other great little presents for the kiddos. I think we'll give the Little People set to Stella for her upcoming birthday. I wound up spending about $40 or so for three big bags of toys...and I picked up 10 bags of Chex Mix for .40 each after some $1.10/1 tearpad q's I recently traded for.

I also stopped by Cheesecake Factory to pick up my $1.50 slice of cheesecake thanks to a Facebook promotion and got another unexpected surprise- the receipt included a phone number to call to take a short survey and get a $10 giftcard! Score!

Kroger brag & HT & Target News!

First to the HT news- they will be having triples or super doubles this coming week (7/28) so get those high value q's ready!

Kroger is having the second and last week of a Mega event this week and there are a lot of great deals to be had. Click here for SouthernSavers' match-ups. I fared very well yesterday night and bought all of the following for $1.71. Not too shabby if I do say so myself...

20 VitaminWater Zero bottles (used .50/1 tearpad q's I won in an auction on hcw)
2 two liter bottles of Sunkist
3 cartons of Breyers Ice Cream (used .50/1 tearpad q's)
5 Kraft Easy Mac single serve containers

That's $48.07 worth of stuff for less than two bucks. How did I do that without using any q's for the Sunkist and the Easy Mac? Because I earned overage on the VitaminWater zero q's. They ring in at $1.25 (allowing the q's to fully double) but after the $5 deduction per 10 items and coupons, it's as if I made a quarter on each bottle.

There's a Kraft catalina deal going on right now that makes the Mega Event an even better deal- read all about here.

Target has its annual July toy clearance going on right now. I'm going to check it out today but last I checked last week my nearby store had items at 50% off. I hold out for the 75% and 90% clearance items to stockpile as birthday and Christmas gifts.

$2 Tank Tops at Old Navy - this Sat 6/12

Check with your local store to verify they are participating in this great deal! Despite my somewhat matronly arms, I love me some tank tops in the hot Carolina summer so you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there bright and early to get some tank tops. These run out quickly so get there when your store opens!

Dinner on the Cheap

Here's another quick, easy & inexpensive meal we had last night- one of my hubby's favorites...

Baked Chicken with a spinach & blueberry salad, sweet peas and wild rice. Here's the breakdown on cost:

Pack of 3 split chicken breasts: $2.02 (on sale for 88 cents/lb at Harris Teeter this week)
Uncle Ben's Wild Rice: FREE thanks to mega sale paired with q at Kroger during a past mega deal
Fresh Spinach: FREE thanks to a free Kroger q won in an auction on www.hcw.com
Fresh Blueberries: about a $1 (used about a 1/3 of a container purchased for $2.50 on sale)
Sweet Peas: about 40 cents after sale price and q at Harris Teeter a week or so (Birds Eye frozen Steamers)

This made for a dinner for 4 for $3.42.

The chicken is super easy to make. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a pan with cooking spray, place the chicken breasts in the pan, season with salt, pepper (we use white pepper), onion powder, garlic powder, lemon pepper seasoning and parsley flakes. We then spray these with a low fat butter spray, but you can also put slices of real butter on top if you're not counting calories.

Pop the chicken in the oven and let cook for 45 - 50 minutes. Comes out very juicy and tasty!

On Hiatus

As you can probably tell, I've been on a bit of a hiatus when it comes to posting deals and match-ups. I'll get back to it when I can but life is pretty busy right now.

I missed out on the majority of HT's Super Doubles week this week, but did manage to snag some great deals on the tail end- including free Hershey's Extra Dark chocolate bars (a sweet and healthy treat, in moderation of course).

Hope everyone is having a great start to their summer!

Free Ice Cream for Mother's Day at Coldstone Creamery

Certain Triangle area stores will be having free "like it" sizes of their Signature Creation Strawberry Cheesecake for all Moms on Mothers Day. All Coldstone Creamery's should be hosting some type of Mothers Day event- check your nearby store to see if they're participating in the free ice cream for Moms deal.

Personally, I think Dads will get the better deal in June. They'll get a free "like it" size of Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. Yum!

An Open Letter to Manufacturers...& Triples News!

Dear food and household item manufacturers:

Yes, you've discovered coupons as a marketing tool. And for that, us savvy shoppers thank you wholeheartedly. But, please please please enough with the coupons that require a purchase of multiple items. We've become quite good at math and those of us fortunate enough to live in areas with stores that double (and sometimes even triple!) coupons, well these types of coupons don't make for much of a bargain at all.

I'm talking to you Kellogg's with your new penchant for $1.25 off 3 of your popular cereal items! These coupons sit in my filing cabinet gathering dust- no one wants to trade for these and seldom smart shoppers actually use these coupons. Where I once would buy dozens of boxes of PopTarts to stockpile over the course of a month or so, I now only only buy one or two during that same time frame. Why oh why did you decide to switch from your 55 cents off one to these and why do you think I would buy three at a time to save roughly 41 cents on each when I used to be able to save $1.10 off each thanks to coupon doubling ($1.65 during a triples event)???

On to a brighter topic, and since we've mentioned triples in this last sentence...Harris Teeter will be having triples again this coming week! Break out those binders and get ready! I'll post a link to match-ups as we get closer.

April Showers

Finally, we got some rain to wash away all the pollen that has had our eyes itching and noses sneezing for the past week!

I haven't posted in a bit because (a) there really haven't been too many rave-worthy deals thus far in April and (b) I've been busy bonding with and training our new Boxer puppy, Lily. She's so sweet- I just have to share a pic...

She weighs a little over 7 pounds now and is so cute and tiny. It's hard to believe she'll likely weigh over 60 when she's all grown up. We think she's going to be a big girl judging by the size of her paws. The kids are smitten!

I've been out and about gathering up free Mighty Dog cans thanks to well-timed sales and the recent $3/5 insert q's that are out. Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowe's Foods currently have these on sale for 10 for $6- making these free after coupon! The Harris Teeter sale is a long term VIC special that should last through June. I haven't even had to start using the FREE coupons that were in the same insert yet!

We're feeding her primarily Puppy Chow and mixing it up with wet Mighty Dog cans once a day as a treat. She really likes the Mighty Dog and seems to tolerate it well, so that's been a relief.

What good sale finds have you lucked upon in April?

March Stockpile Challenge

Now that March is finally winding down, I can report the end results of the stockpile challenge I joined. I am quite pleased with the results! Here is a breakdown of this month's spending...

Stamps & purchased coupons
Total spent: $17.71

Extra papers purchased through N&O delivery
Total spent: $27.00

CVS & Miscellaneous Store Spending (EarthFare, Kohl's)
Total spent: $25.36
Total saved: $141.03

Rite Aid Spending
Total spent: $10.44
Total saved: $22.00

Walgreen's Spending
Total spent: $20.86
Total saved: $35.94

Harris Teeter Spending
Total spent: $72.14
Total saved: $658.33 (thank you triples!)

Food Lion Spending
Total spent: $42.66
Total saved: $91.26

Kroger Spending
Total spent: $75.20
Total saved: $485.92 (thanks to mega event!)

Lowe's Foods Spending
Total spent: $63.39
Total saved: $151.57

Target Spending
Total spent: $70.35
Total saved: $51.33

All totaled, our grocery & household expenses were $380.40 for over $2000 worth of groceries and household items. We spent an additional $44.71 in newspapers, stamps and coupon clipping services fees bringing total month expenses to $425.11.

We received $135 in rebates throughout the month and another $40 in a cash gift. Deducting these amounts from total spend, our actual out-of-pocket expenses turned out to be $250.11!

$250.11 is nearly $100 less than what I originally planned on spending this month so I am one happy camper.

Spicy Savings!

We are about to be overcome by all things spice in our home thanks to a great catalina deal going on now that is perfectly synergized with Harris Teeter triples week and a Lowe's Food special on McCormick grinders! This will only work as a moneymaker if you're one of the lucky folks who live in regions that received a .75/1 coupon in your Sunday inserts- and you purchased multiple copies.

The way I've worked it is to buy 3 spices at a time priced $2.25 and under at Harris Teeter or the sale grinders ringing up at $1.50 each at Lowe's Foods. Use a .75/1 insert coupon for each spice purchased. When you do so, you'll wind up just paying tax on your items AND getting a $2.50 off your next order Catalina printed out at the register.

One helpful tip before checking out: Always make sure the Catalina machine at your register is working! Don't be embarrassed to ask the cashier and/or lean over to see if there's any blinking or red lights up- this is a clear sign that things are amiss.

Harris Teeter Triples - Day 1

Alright, braved HT first thing in the morning and here's the rundown. I split my purchase into 3 separate transactions to make the most of the McCormick Catalina deal that's going on right now.

Transaction #1:

3 McCormick parsley flakes - FREE after .75/1 insert q's
2 boxes of Barilla Piccolini pasta - FREE after .50/1 insert q's

Total spent: .07
Total saved $7.77
Received $2.50 OYNO Catalina

Transaction #2:

2 bottles of Newman's Own Organic Low Fat Asian Dressing - FREE after .75/1 tearpad q's
1 bottle of Coke Zero (20 oz) - FREE after tearpad q
3 McCormick chili powders - FREE after .75/1 insert q's
2 boxes of Barilla Piccolini pasta - FREE after .50/1 insert q's

Total spent: .14
Total saved: $18.14
Received $2.50 OYNO Catalina

Transaction #3:

2 bottles of Newman's Own Organic Low Fat Asian Dressing - FREE after .75/1 tearpad q's
3 McCormick Cinnamons - FREE after .75/1 insert q's
2 boxes of Barilla Piccolini pasta - FREE after .50/1 insert q's

Total spent: .10
Total saved: $16.65
Received $2.50 OYNO Catalina

In total, I spent 31 cents on $42.69 worth of groceries AND have $7.50 to spend during my next go rounds at Harris Teeter. Sweet!

Have you made a trip to the HT yet for triples? What were your finds?

Kroger Mega Madness!

Kroger Mega sales can be quite the godsend when it comes to stockpiling and this March Madness event has been no exception! I've lucked into some great .50/1 Coke Zero coupons which have made for moneymaking 2 liters and I made a smart trade for a bunch of B10G5 Powerade coupons so looks like our garage will be filled up with our favorite beverages!

In a trip last night, I filled my cart with the following items:

15 bottles of Powerade Zero - used B10G5 to take $4.95 off the order
9 two liter bottles of Coke Zero - used .50/1 tearpad q's to make them each 30 cent mm's!
8 bottles of Shamrock Farms Rockin Refuel protein drinks - used .50/1 to make them freebies
12 Snickers bars - used .50/2 insert q's to make them freebies

The Mega Event takes $4 off your order for every 8 qualifying event items (the powerades and cokes were qualifying items).

Total spent: 43 cents!
Total saved: $57.67

With a triples event looming on the horizon from Harris Teeter, can we get any more spoiled here???

Harris Teeter Triples week of 3/24- confirmed!

Get those binders ready folks because Harris Teeter will be having a triples event next week! Details on sales fliers aren't typically posted to couponers boards until Tuesday morning of each week but you can still get prepared. My two favorite couponers boards have already started discussion threads on your best bets for freebies and cheapies. You can check out A Full Cup's discussion here or Hot Coupon World's thread here.

So far, I'm most excited about the free Shamrock Farms Rockin Refuel milk drinks. I've kept these coupons handy in the hopes for triples.

I'm sure more helpful match-ups will be posted throughout the weekend!

1 lb of Strawberries for $1 @ Target

I'm not sure if this is nationwide or not, but at my nearby Super Target they have 1 lb of strawberries for $1- which is a ridiculously great deal! Call before making the trip. My store was out when I made a morning trip. I called in the early afternoon and they had just gotten another truck in an hour before I made the call. I ran back out and there were only about a dozen left so they are going fast!

Free Kellogg's Cereals at Harris Teeter- TODAY 3/10 ONLY

Two great deals are going on right now for Kellogg's cereals and they will only work today (one started today, the other ends today). You'll need .70/1 Kellogg's blinkies that you can find at Food Lion and Kroger (these will begin with 5 so they'll double). These blinkies are for Corn Pops, Apple Jacks and Froot Loops only. Buy 5 boxes (mix and match) of the 12.5 ounce versions of these and you'll end up with a 5 cent moneymaker!

How it works:

You buy 5 boxes at $3.19 each ($15.95 total for all 5)
Use 5 .70/1 blinkies to get $7 off your order
Get $5.00 off your total order for buying 5 boxes

You'll then pay $3.95 out of pocket (not including tax) and get a $4 Off Your Next Order Catalina!

KMart Super Doubles Week of 4/04

I don't think I've shopped KMart in years but may make the trip for this...

They will doubling coupons up to $2 the week of 4/04 so mark your calendars. It's been confirmed that all North Carolina stores will be participating (if you're in another state, email customer service at Kmart.com to confirm participation and what the rules are- they vary by region).

North Carolina rules are as follows:

- They will double up to five coupons per customer per day
- No store loyalty card is required (some states require you participate in their loyalty card program and they use this also to presumably police the 5 per day rule- I've read that each member of your household can have a card assigned to them though)

I'm not sure how NC stores will enforce the 5 per day rule and I'm also not sure how worth the trip will be for a 5 coupon limit. Heck, I'm not even sure what my nearby KMart carries- I may need to check it out to see what grocery items they have.

If you have a bevy of $2 coupons, this could be worth the trip as you'll get $4 off per coupon. This should make for several potential freebies and great cheapies for pet lovers on their food of choice.

Do you plan on making a trip for this event?

March Stockpile Challenge - Week 1

I've joined a "live off your stockpile" challenge on HCW for March. The challenge is to use as much out of your stockpile and spend as little out of pocket as possible. After thinking about it more and seeing our February spending (which was a little over $400), I decided to up our goal spend from $200 to $350. I felt this was a more realistic goal.

Our first week has gone very well overall!

Total spent: $82.13
Total saved: $191.68 or 70%

Thanks to rules of the challenge allowing for deducting rebates & cash gifts in our total, our actual out-of-pocket spend was $29.28. I think that's a great start!

Here's a breakdown:

Kohl's
Total before sales and coupons: $40.00
Total spent: $0
Total saved: $40.00 or 100%

Thanks to an act of kindness by a faraway relative, we have two cute new outfits for Stellie to sport in the spring.

Walgreen's
Total before sales and coupons: $37.33
Total spent: $1.39
Total saved: $35.94 or 96%

Free Purex deal was wonderful! I'd go back out for more but it was such a hassle the first time, I think I'll just count myself lucky and leave it at this.

Harris Teeter
Total before sales and coupons: $17.27
Total spent: $2.08
Total saved $15.19 or 88%

Used lots of FREE coupons I had received in recent train envies.

Food Lion
Total before sales and coupons: $5.54
Total spent: $1.50
Total saved: 73%

Tried to score 6 free candies with B1G1 tearpads I had lucked into but it didn't work. Cashier rung these in at the half price they wound up ringing up for due to their B1G1 sale.

Kroger
Total before sales and coupons: $59.71
Total spent: $23.56
Total saved: $36.15 or 61%

Lots of produce and fresh fruit, as well as some drumsticks for tonight's dinner.

Lowe's Foods
Total before sales and coupons: $44.83
Total spent: $9.50
Total saved: $35.33 or 79%

Still stocking up on free Trident Layers after coupons.

Super Target
Total before sales and coupons: $69.13
Total spent: $44.10
Total saved: $25.03 or 36%

Maybe I need to steer clear of Target. Tried for some freebies but couldn't find lots of the corresponding items. I stuck with what we needed- Clif Bars (no coupons for these unfortunately) and various other grocery/household items.

The Kindness of Others

I believe in Karma...and likewise, I also am a firm believer in Coupon Karma. I've often come into good fortune shortly after practicing random acts of kindness- whether it be on a coupon shoppers board like HCW by offering up a RAOK envelope of coupons, passing along some goodies to others in grocery stores or dropping off food donations at a food bank.

When I have my coupon binder with me while shopping, I'll frequently hand out a coupon to another shopper who I see has one of my coupon items. Or I'll give a cashier who seems pleased by a deal I find an extra or two of the coupon that makes a good freebie or cheapie that they could use later to get the same great deal. Over the past couple of weeks, I've done this quite frequently- most recently handing out the last several of my $2 off 1 yokids coupons to other Target shoppers looking at kids yogurts.

Later that day, my mother-in-law passed along two $10 Kohl's cash certificates she had received from one of her sisters while in Colorado. I like to think coupon Karma had something to do with this...I turned the two cash certificates into this:

Two cute spring outfits for Stella! Neither cost a penny after the Kohl's certificates. We have lots of hand-me-downs for her from her big sisters but none smaller than a 3T so I knew we'd need to be spending money on spring clothes that would fit her and soon. Well, hopefully soon- I am so ready for Spring!

What a wonderful way to start the week. Be generous and you'll be surprised by the acts of generosity that will come back your way!

Free Purex @ Walgreen's - YMMV!

Discovered this *HOT* unadvertised deal on an HCW thread and wanted to share. There is a month-long unadvertised B1G1 deal on Purex Liquid Laundry Detergents. If you have any of the B1G1 insert q's, these will mean free Purex at your nearby Walgreen's. Keep in mind these q's expire on 3/06 so you only have a few days to get this deal!

YMMV means "Your Mileage May Vary." Some Walgreen's may not accept B1G1 coupons on
B1G1 sales or you may just run into a difficult cashier. Always ask to speak to a manager if you have an issue with coupon redemption. If the manager refuses to accept the coupon, you can simply have them void out the transaction and leave. You can then try your luck elsewhere or just give up on the deal depending on your level of patience and tenacity.

I went to my closest Wags this morning and should have just turned around when I saw that the cashier was someone who has routinely had issues with my coupons (especially when I'm buying freebies after coupons) but I figured I'd give it a try anyway. The manager on duty seemed completely confused by the entire idea and was about to call in to another manager there when I waved my white flag and left. I decided to try my luck at another location and had absolutely zero difficulty with the transaction- no questions, no attitude whatsoever.

I wound up paying $1.39 total for six 50 ounce jugs of Purex Free & Clear- enough for 192 loads of laundry!

The Art of the Stockpile

The key to maximizing your savings is to STOCKPILE. What does this mean exactly? It means when you spot an item on sale at its rock bottom price, you buy enough to last your family 6 weeks or more if it's a non-perishable item with an expiration date way out there. Why 6 weeks? Because this is typically the sales cycle at most stores for most items.

Here is a video tour of our garage stockpiling system for snacks, drinks, sauces and canned fruits. My husband bought several shelving units on sale at various hardware stores over the past year to allow us more space to store- and to do so in a somewhat organized fashion.

If you have the money to invest or can find a good cheap used freezer, I highly recommend this as well. We have a large freezer in our garage in which we store frozen veggies, pizzas, meals and meats. I try to buy about 20 lbs of our most used meats (boneless/skinless chicken, very lean ground beef) when they're at their rock-bottom prices, remove them from their store containers and use a Ziploc pump & seal to remove air from Ziploc bags and then freeze so they'll keep well.

We have other items stored in our limited kitchen cupboard space and my handy husband also installed two rows of shelves above our washer/dryer upstairs to store laundry & household cleaning items, as well as separate bins filled with shampoos, shaving creams, toothpastes and the like.

I periodically take a walk around our garage storage and remove items which my family hasn't used/liked. If they're approaching expiration, I throw them out. If they have expiration dates more than a few months away, I separate these and put them in boxes to take to a food bank.

Stockpiling will help you save lots of money! I'm making it a personal goal to live off our stockpile as much as we can in March and spend as little out of pocket as possible. I'm shooting for $200 or less to spend next month- a lofty goal, but one I think within reach. We'll just have to stretch our dollars as much as possible.

Good Deal Alert- Huggies Wipes @ CVS

I've only shopped at CVS a couple of times since the new year- I get too frustrated with their paltry stock and having to keep tabs on rainchecks and ECBs. Plus, I don't think they've had any really great FAECB (that's Free After Easy Care Bucks for newbies) deals thus far this year. But I had to make an early morning run today thanks to this deal.

Huggies Wipes refill packs are ringing in at $2.50 each. These typically retail between $7.99 and $8.99 a pack. Since our little one has another six months to go or so before potty training, we need as many cheap diapers and wipes as we can get. Also, some posters on A Full Cup have reported receiving a $2 off CVS store coupon for wipes and a $3 off diaper coupons when scanning their card on the in-store scanner. The diaper coupon will come in handy when their boxes go on sale this coming week!

Unfortunately, I did not have the same luck at the price scanner as these posters but I still did pretty well. Using some rare home mailer coupons I had on hand and the one ECB I had for $3.50, I paid a little over $14 for 9 refill packs saving a total of $57 on these.

If you have a little one or know someone who has a little one, go out and get these while they last! Judging from my luck last time when Walgreens had a great wipes sale, these will be flying out the door.

HT Day 6

Super Doubles excitement is winding down but still managing to find some great deals to pair with coupons. Thank heavens for coupon trading and RAOK's to extend the bliss. Here's today's haul:

4 boxes of 9 ct Bagel Bites - $1/1 IPs (split order into 2 transactions so I could use all 4 q's)
4 boxes of Oreo Cakesters - $1/1 IPs
1 box of Ziploc quart bags - $1/1 tearpad
3 small pouches of salmon - $1/1 wt's
1 bottle of Deer Park Spring Water - no q
Turkey Fillets - $1 off meat wt
Tropicana 50 - $1 off HT catalina (started with 9 so no double!)
1 4 pk Breyers Inspirations yogurt - FREE HT Catalina

Used my last $1 off $5 grocery purchase winetag. *Sigh* The turkey fillets wound up being free- they were marked down from nearly $6 to $1.79 for quick sale and my $1 off meat winetag doubled!

Total OOP: 70 cents
Total VIC & Q Savings: $42.87 or 98% savings

The teenaged boy cashier was quite impressed.

Harris Teeter SD Day 3

Here's the rundown on today's trip. Think I did pretty good and even got some sirloin for dinner and fresh fruit too!

2 Kashi GoLean bars - $1/1 Target peelies
1 bag of Rold Gold Pretzels- $1/1 tearpad
9 cans of Dole Pineapple- $1/3 insert q's
4 boxes of Keebler Wheatables - $1.50/1 tearpad q's
1 Dawn Foaming Wash - $1.50/1 home mailer
1 Kool Aid Fun Fizz - $1/1 tearpad
1 Dove Cool Moisture Travel Size Body Wash - $1/1 homemailer
2 Sure for Men Deodorant - $1.50/1 insert q's
2.5 lbs sirloin filet reduced for quick sale - $1 off beef WT
Bunch of Organic Bananas - $2 off organic produce wt
1 pint of blueberries - $1 off produce wyb Earth Grains bread
1 Earth Grains Thin Buns - .75/1 IP
1 Healthy Choice Frozen Meal - $1/1 not sure where this came from- got it in a train envie

I also used a $1 off $5 purchase WT on this order.

Total OOP: $6.18
Total VIC & Q savings: $61.29

And I think I'm just about done with SD shopping. Will get some odds and ends over the next few days- hopefully some more 50 cent Oreo Cakesters if I can make some more quick trades for these IPs!"

Update on Yesterday's HT Post

Thanks to the recommendations of some HCW posters, I returned to the same HT I shopped at yesterday morning last night and received a $4.22 refund for the two missed coupons. Manager scanned two $1 coupons which doubled when processing refund and I somehow got tax added to that to bring total of refund to $4.22! This meant I actually spent $1.41 for yesterday's haul of $55.75 worth of groceries- much better!

Manager was very nice. I did not get any attitude or questioning at all which was quite refreshing.

This was after I had made another yummy dinner on the cheap so it was a great end to a busy day. We love Qdoba burritos so I tried my hand at making burritos for the first time with some ingredients bought for next to nothing...

Mission Burrito sized flour tortillas - free at HT after coupon 2 weeks ago

Can of HT black beans - I can't even remember what I paid for these they've been sitting in our cupboard so long but I'm guessing it was a buck or less

Wholly Salsa - free at HT after coupons during a super doubles event a while back (I froze these to stay fresh)

Sargento Mexican Cheese - 49 cents at HT after coupon 2 weeks ago - used half a bag so I'm tabbing this at 25 cents

Maruchan long grain white rice - Free at HT after coupon

Smart Balance Reduced Fat Sour Cream - Free at HT after coupon

1.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast - $1.25 or so after coupon at Kroger during a chicken sale using a winetag

Old El Paso reduced sodium taco seasoning - Free after coupon at Kroger mega event

Assuming the black beans were $1, the total cost of this meal for 6 was $2.50. That's less than 42 cents a person! And the kids loved it so that was a big plus. I warmed the tortillas by placing them on a plate separated by damp paper towels and microwaving for a minute - they weren't quite as soft & warm as Qdoba's but they still were pretty yummy.

Super Doubles Day 2

Today I dared to brave the store with all 4 kids in tow- which made it hard to keep an eye on the register while cashing out...which translated into 2 missed q's as I learned when taking a close look at the receipt after we got home. Ugh!

Here's what I bought:

1 Hershey Dark chocolate bar - $1/1 insert q
9 cans of Dole pineapple -$1/3 insert q's
1 box of Double Stuff Oreo cakester - $1/1 IP
2 Lance cheese cracker packs -$1/1 IPs
1 2liter of Sunkist Grape soda - no q for this
1 lb of Perdue ground chicken - $1/1 insert q
1 pack of bakery take & bake rolls - $1/1 WT
1 El Monterey beef & bean burrito - $1/1 tp
2 Bagel Bites 9 ct - $1/1 IPs
2 Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls - 95 cent/1 IPs
2 Buitoni Angel Hair pastas - $1/1 IP
1 qt 8th Continent Vanilla Soymilk - $1.50/1 IP

I also used another $1 off $5 purchase winetag this go round.

Total OOP: $5.63 (should have been $1.63 if all q's had been scanned)
Total VIC & Q Savings: $50.12

I suspect some of my IPs may have stuck together which led to missed q's. Oh well- life happens, right?

HT Super Doubles Day 1

I had to literally roll out of the bed at the crack of dawn to get my HT first stop done. All our kiddos are tracked out from school so I decided to make the trip before hubby left for work. This way I wouldn't subject them to my pacing the aisles trying to figure out what to buy out of my list of potential freebies and cheapies. Here's what I wound up with:

4 boxes of Keebler Wheatables Nut Crisps
6 Sure for Men deodorants
2 Glade Apple Cinnamon warmers
2 Soft Scrub Cleansers
1 box of Oreo Cakesters
2 rolls of Seventh Generation paper towels (my eco-friendly mom friend Daisy will be proud!)
1 box of Kellogg's Smart Start cereal
1 bar of Hershey's Extra Dark (yummmmmmmmmmmm)
1 box off Kleenex

Coupons used:
$1 off minimum $5 purchase winetag (surprisingly this went through & DOUBLED without need for mgr override)
4 - $1.50/1 Wheatables tearpads
6 - $1.50/1 Sure for Men insert q's
2- $1.50/1 Glade insert q's
2- $1.50/1 Softscrub IP's
1- $1/1 Oreo Cakester IP
2- $1/1 Seventh Generation IP's
1- $1/1 Kellogg's IP
1- $1/1 Hershey's insert q
1- $1/1 Kimberly Clark product homemailer q (rec'd after emailing compliment)

Total before coupons & VIC Savings: $62.90
Total after coupons & VIC Savings: $0.89 - yes, that's right...89 cents!
That's nearly 99% savings.

This was a great trip and all but I'm not sure if I'll be making many more this week...unless of course the Wheatables are a hit in our house. Most of the blockbuster deals for items we'll actually use are those requiring an IP for highest savings- and we can only print 2 of each.

Have you stopped at HT yet to take advantage of Super Doubles? If so, what did you buy?

HT Super Doubles start tomorrow!

Another fun-filled week of super doubles is coming- so get those high value q's ready!

Jenny at SouthernSavers has a great match-up lists posted here. She'll likely have another list posted with ad specific match-ups. Keep in mind prices vary by region so what shows up as a freebie on the list may turn out to be a cheapie in your area.

I'm gearing up for this and will post my daily brags. Happy shopping everyone!

Great day at Kroger!

Kroger is having a Daytona 500 mega-type event this week and next in which you get $3.00 off your order when you buy 10 participating items. I made my first stop today and made out like the proverbial bandit. I got all the items pictured for $2.34...and I'll be submitting this receipt for a $5.00 Smirnoff No Beer Purchase Required Pizza Rebate- meaning it's as if I got paid $2.66 to take these out of the store!

Here's a run-down of the items I purchased and coupons used...

22 Gatorade G2 sports drink - .50/1 insert q's
15 cans of Chef Boyardee - .35/3 insert q's
6 Healthy Choice Frozen Meals - $1/2 ConAgra home mailer q's
1 Smuckers Uncrustable - FREE home mailer q
2 packages of Golden Oreo Double Stuff - FREE facebook q's
2 packages of Golden Oreo Cakesters - FREE wyb Oreo tearpad q's
3 Kroger Frozen Pizzas - $2/1 pizza tearpad q's courtesy of Coors
1 large jar of Kroger Peanut Butter
1 multipack of Jello Dulce De Leche pudding - .50/1 insert q
1 pint of fresh blueberries - $2 off produce winetag coupon
2 1/2 lbs of red grapes - $2 off produce winetag coupon
1 bunch of bananas - $1 off produce Kroger coupon

I also used a $15 rewards certificate I earned for shopping last quarter.

Total spent: $2.34
Coupon savings: $41.60
Kroger Plus Savings: $47.46
Total Savings: $99.67 or 98%

I think this was my best Kroger trip ever! Have you stopped at Kroger for the Daytona event? What did you buy?

January Spending

I was hoping to do a weekly tally of spending & saving but alas, life got in the way! We'll shoot for a monthly tab though I may very well switch back to weekly totaling with a month's summary each month.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to record our grocery & household item spending just to see how (hopefully) well we were doing. We had made a budget late last year and I guesstimated that we spend about $300-$400 per month on grocery & household items.

Tracking our spending closely this month, I was on target but too close to the $400 mark for my taste. I'd like to think we'll do better in February but my hopes aren't too high as our meat supply is getting low and will need replenishing sometime this month.

Thanks to Super Doubles and Mega events this month, we have a very well stocked supply of lunchtime snacks and drinks, as well as convenience lunches for Jon & I when needed & various other odds n ends. Here's the rundown...

Spent $399.23
Saved $1797.26
82% Savings!

Our grocery store spends were typically in the 90% savings range. The inclusion of Target really impacted the overall percentage- we spent about $92 there this month with an overall savings of 12%. This included diapers and my protein shakes which add up rather quickly.

I'm also keeping track of my rebate savings. I love me some No Beer Purchased Require rebates and they really do add up!

We've received $80.96 in rebate checks this month for such rebates (along with the Baby Einstein refund program I blogged about in a previous month) and I submitted rebate forms for an additional $96 in various rebate programs that we're still waiting to receive. If you subtract them for our total spending, this would decrease the total spend to $222.27. Woohoo!

Dinner on the Cheap...

We've been snowed in here in Central Carolina but found it safe enough to make a trip to Kroger today. There's a great mega event going on now through this coming Saturday that makes multiple trips worthwhile- check out www.southernsavers.com for some great match-ups!

I'm fixing dinner right now for all 6 of us...

Baked chicken with wild rice & steamed asparagus

I used a $1 off produce winetag for some split chicken breast on sale @ Kroger today bringing total cost for 3 breasts down to $1.24

The wild rice is some Uncle Ben's we got for free AC during a previous Kroger mega event

The asparagus was on sale for $2.99/lb at Kroger this week also.

Total cost for a yummy chicken dinner: $4.23 - that's just 70 cents per person!

We went out to celebrate my husband's birthday at Rudino's earlier today with his folks. One of our girls ordered pasta for lunch and this meal itself cost $4.00! I joked that I probably could have bought 25 boxes of pasta for that price!

Free Keebler 100 Calorie Right Bites cookies @ Lowe's Foods

This deal has only 3 more days left and supplies may be limited at your store, but it was too good not to share. Use your Lowe's 3 week coupon to get each box for $1.49- this came in Lowe's fliers a few weeks back or you can ask cashier if they have one you can use on hand. Then use .75/1 manufacturer's insert coupon and voila- free cookies! I am always on the lookout for free or dirt cheap lunchbox snacks for our school-aged children. Stella loves the Pecan Sandies and chewy chocolate chippers too!

We've also continued to stock up on free G2's at Kroger. You should see our garage! I need to start taking and posting pics of our stockpile.

Speaking of Kroger, they have another mega event starting tomorrow - one of the deals is a small moneymaker after coupon. Quaker Quakes will be 49 cents each after the Mega promo $5.00 off when you buy 10- use .75/1 manufacturer's q's and make 25 cents each bag. I stocked up on these when they were free after coupon at Harris Teeter last week and they are yummy. My personal favorite is the Vanilla Creme Brulee flavor. Delish!

More Grocery Store Freebies!

I had a kid-free shopping experience earlier this morning and found some great finds to use with some new coupons from this morning's inserts...

Harris Teeter:

FREE Hershey's Extra Dark bars w/ $1/1 q from today's inserts
FREE Wolfgang Puck's Organic Soup w/ $1/1 q from today's inserts
FREE Mission Tortillas w/ .75/1 q from today's inserts

Kroger:

FREE Gatorade G2 bottles with .50/1 q from today's inserts

We go through sports drinks like crazy in our home so this was a welcome surprise! If you can find any of these q's on a coupon clipping site, grab them quick! They are going fast.

Office Max Freebies!

If you're like me and do a lot of internet coupon printing and trading of q's, you'll love this deal! Office Max Reward Members will get back the money they spend on these items this week- you have to buy the exact items specified. They are:

Sharpie Fine Point Black Permanent Markers, 12 pk.
Ascend Recycled Peel-to-Seal No. 10 Envelopes, 50 ct
Boise X-9 Paper, 10 Ream Case

They are pictured on the front page of the Office Max ad this week. I love the Rewards program! The Rewards I earned last year helped me to get a Garmin Nuvi for DIRT CHEAP on Black Friday. It is a great program.

Day 3 - Super Doubles

I didn't have as great a third day as I thought I would but still did pretty well! I received an E-Vic Alert this morning indicating that Special K bars were .99 each- which would make the Special K deal a potential $5 moneymaker when you buy 4. E-VICs typically indicate a limit (usually one!) but since the E-VIC alert did not say "limit 1," I hoped it would work on all 4 during a transaction. Unfortunately, it was a no go and only 1 of the 4 bars I picked up this morning totaled .99- the rest were the normal $2 each. Oh well!

Here's what I got:

4 boxes of Special K bars (pickings were slim this morning so I was left w/ Vanilla flavor)
3 boxes of Kahiki Chicken Tempura
3 boxes of Gorton's Popcorn Shrimp
1 box of Bagel Bites, 9 ct.
2 pouches of Bumblebee Salmon (used two $1/1 seafood WTs)
1 box of Bayer Children's Aspirin
1 Campbell's V8 Sweet Red Bell Pepper Soup
1 jar of Nutella Spread

Total spent: $3.25
Total saved: $52.17 or 94%

Day 2 of Super Doubles - NOTHING out of pocket!

Sometimes things work out strangely well at HT and today was one of those days where the stars (and the register) aligned in just the right way to allow for me to spend absolute no money whatsoever on this haul (yes, you read that way...no $$ at all- not even a penny!):

1 box of Kahiki Egg Rolls
1 small pack of Chinet Napkins
12 boxes of Special K bars
8 Oikos single serve greek yogurts
2 boxes of Kahiki Chicken Tempura
1 small box of Wholly Guacamole

I split my order into three separate transactions - each one showed an overage of .33 but the cashier zeroed it out and I walked out of the store with about $72 worth of stuff without paying a cent. It's not every day you wind up with 100% savings at a grocery store!

I mistakenly thought the Kahiki products were $1 AC- therefore enough to eat up the overage from the Special K deal and leave me with just paying tax.

This is NOT a typical situation at HT- I've had an actual overage happen only once before at another HT and was told I'd need to pick something else out in the store to make up for it. So this is a YMMV.

Super Doubles Brag - Day 1

I did my first Super Doubles trip this week braving the cold in the wee small hours of the morning. Here's what I got:

3 boxes of Campbell's V8 Sweet Red Pepper Soup (this stuff is super yummy!)
3 boxes of Finish Electrasol Tabs
2 boxes of Special K Original Cereal
10 boxes of Special K cereal bars
3 Marie Callendar's Homestyle Creations Meals
2 bars of Toblerone dark chocolate
2 boxes of OreIda Easy Fries
1 Endust Free furniture polish
1 Dawn Direct Foaming Detergent
3 Oikos Single Serve Greek Yogurts

Total before coupons & VIC savings: $102.22
Total after coupons & VIC savings: $5.49
Savings of $96.73 or nearly 95% savings

I split this up into three separate transactions to maximize savings thanks to the Special K promotion. In this promo, you get $5 off your order when you buy 4 Special K products. I used a total of 20 coupons that doubled per Harris Teeter's rules and 3 coupons that did not double (the Electrasol $2.50/1).

Have you stopped by HT yet? How did you fare?

Super Doubles @ HT starting tomorrow...

It's been a loooooooong time since a special couponing event has happened at HT and finally one will be rolling our way again beginning tomorrow. Super Doubles Week kicks the New Year off with a bang- and the big stash of q's in this past week's inserts provide a welcome boost to the potential freebies to be had. You should see how skinny my binder became at the end of 2009 thanks to all the expired coupons- it looked positively pitiful!

Jenny at Southern Savers has an excellent match-up list posted already - click here for all the delightful match-ups.

My personal faves are the Special K bars and Oikos greek yogurts. I plan on breaking up my visits into several small transactions to take the most advantage of the Special K deal (get $5 off your order when you purchase 4 Special K items in your transaction- with the $1/2 q that came out in this past week's insert, that makes for $1 moneymaker). I picked up 22 copies of the Sunday paper this weekend- all for a little under $6 thanks to saved up Register Rewards and Walgreen's low price on the paper.