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?