Smart Shoppers Unite!

xmas2010

2010-12-02T08:38:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-11-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-06T12:49:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-10T08:34:00.001-08:00

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

2010-03-09T08:57:00.001-08:00

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

2010-03-06T04:19:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-03-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T05:21:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-22T13:55:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-16T06:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-31T17:38:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-31T14:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

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.

P&G deal at Harris Teeter this week

2009-12-30T08:37:00.001-08:00

Harris Teeter has a good P&G deal going on this week that you may want to take advantage of by tomorrow (12/31/09) as all 11/29 P&G insert q's will expire on that date. When you buy $25 worth of qualifying items, you'll get a mail-in-certificate for a $10 prepaid VISA card. This $25 total is blissfully BEFORE coupons. You can work out many scenarios where you'll only be out of pocket about $15 or so. Here's the deal I worked out:

1 Gillette Body Wash
2 Herbal Essences Shampoos
1 Oral-B toothbrush
3 Crest with Scope 6 oz. toothpastes
1 Pantene Shampoo
1 Olay Body Wash
1 Olay Body Lotion

I used P&G insert q's for all but the Pantene- I used a $2/1 Vocalpoint Mailer I had received a while ago for the Pantene. I also used a $5 Walgreens Register Reward as my HT accepts these as competitor coupons (yay!).

Total before coupons & VIC discounts: $46.04
Total after coupons & VIC discounts : $11.21
Savings: $34.83 or 75%

Figuring in the $10 prepaid VISA card I'll later receive, it's like I paid $1.21 for these items. Can I get a holla???

Mad Moneymaker at Walgreen's this Month!

2009-12-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

If you have any $30/1 Bayer Contour/Breeze meter q's lying around, now through the end of January would be an excellent time to use them! Walgreen's has a monthlong deal going on where you can make $13 in Register Rewards when you buy one Bayer Contour and one Bayer Breeze meter in the same transaction!

You get a $5 Register Reward for the Contour Purchase, a $5 Register Reward for the Breeze purchase and another $3 Register Reward for buying 2 Bayer items in the same transaction. Here in NC, you'll likely pay about $2.30 in taxes for the meters. If, like our family, no one in yours has diabetes, you can then donate these to a local charity that takes them.

One tip: a poster on a forum has indicated that the Contour boxes that come with a package of A1C strips with them will not count toward this deal so only pick out a Contour that comes by itself!

Brags...

2009-12-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

Lucked into a very good deal at SuperTarget recently- they put their 93% lean ground beef patties on temporary price cut for a day this past week. One pound (4 patties) were marked down to $2.19 to get them off the shelves. With the $2 off beef Yellowtail wt's, I ended up getting several packs for 19 cents each!

Last night, I made cheeseburgers, brown & wild rice, sweet peas and steamed asparagus for dinner feeding four for a total cost of about $2.25- the brown & wild rice was a freebie at Kroger after coupon, the sweet peas were a freebie after coupon from HT, the ground beef was 19 cents and the asparagus was $1.99 this week at Super Target. It's amazing what you can make with so little if you time your purchases right with sales & coupons and STOCKPILE.

Some good deals to be found this week- you can get all the match-ups from www.southernsavers.com and see Lowe's Foods list on www.hotcouponworld.com. My personal favorites are FREE Sobe Lifewaters at HT if you have any .50/1 tearpad/hangtag q's, cheap Breyer's Ice Cream with an insert q at Harris Teeter, All Laundry Detergent for 99 cents after insert coupon at Food Lion and a great potential moneymaker with McCormick spices at Lowe's. There's not much going on at Kroger this week unfortunately..hopefull they're be another great mega event after the holidays.

You can find prime rib roast on sale just about everywhere this week for $6.99/lb. I picked up a 4 lb roast at Harris Teeter for just over $11 after using a $3 off winetag coupon, a $5 Walgreen's Register Reward, a $5/40 store coupon (I did buy other items in this transaction to qualify) and submission of a $4 Mail-in-Rebate for prime rib that I've been holding on to for just the right time. Considering this roast would normally cost over $40, this is a bargain. I'm just hoping I can cook it right!

Great day at Kroger!

2009-12-04T11:07:00.001-08:00

Haven't posted a trip report in a while, but this one was definitely post (and brag) worthy...

Bought:
3 dozen Egglands Best eggs
5 bottles of Powerade Zero
3 1.75 qts of Breyer's Ice Cream
2 packs of chicken nuggets for the kiddos
6 Healthy Choice Frozen meals

Used:
$3 off $15 frozen foods Kroger Catalina
B1G1 eggs printable
3- .75/1 Breyer's insert qs
6- $2/1 Healthy choice ip's
5 FREE powerades earned from Coke Rewards program

Paid a grand total of $2.95- a savings of 95%!

Made other stops to Lowe's & Harris Teeter today that are less brag-worthy but good for our family - stocked up on gallons of water & apple sauce at HT and boneless/skinless chicken at Lowe's.

Be on the lookout for winetags at all grocers this weekend- particularly those from Yellowtail wines. They currently have $2 off beef and $2 off cheese winetags out.

Tales from Black Friday & Weekly Round-up!

2009-12-02T10:48:00.000-08:00

I didn't do a drugstore deals this past week because in my humble opinion there really wasn't much to write about unfortunately.

Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving together and both Jon & I experienced the horror/wonder/craziness of a Black Friday morning spent shopping! We went to bed around 11 on Thanksgiving night after I combed through deals to find those worth waking up early for- I wound up tossing & turning & strategizing til before I knew it our alarm was sounding off at 2:30 am. Why so early? Because I thought I could get our kiddos a free Lego Rock Band game if I made it to Old Navy by their opening time of 3 AM.

Of course, when I got there I discovered they only had 20 of these available and you had to be the first 20 in line (identified by a wristband they gave out). I still wound up spending $20 on some cute shirts for the girls and then off I went to SuperTarget for the TV hubby and I had been eyeing - a nifty 32" HDTV number and a Casio keyboard for the kiddos. When I got there, there were about 20 or so folks ahead of me in line. It was chilly so I was thanking my lucky stars Jon handed me a knit cap before leaving. I chatted up with the woman in front of me and the woman behind me who had come with her Dad. Both were there primarily for the TV- the woman ahead of me had been told by a cashier the day before Thanksgiving that they would have 44 of these in stock. Given the number of folks ahead of us, we felt confident we would all get what we came for!

This was before the line ahead of us grew from about 20 to what seemed like 50...even though there were grocery carts strategically placed in front of the store, people came ahead of us joining other folks they knew in line. Suddenly, odds weren't looking so good. When a security guard handed out maps at 4:30, we huddled together and strategized about the best route to take to get to the TVs which were located, oddly enough, in the menswear section. As the clock ticked ever closer to 5 am opening, I began jumping up and down to keep warm, another woman pretended to be warming up boxer style while another man in line started loudly humming the theme to Chariots of Fire. It was all quite comical.

Throwing all shame to the wind, I went in a full-out sprint as soon as I got inside the store. I left very happy - successfully getting all 5 items I came in for. While I was waiting in line in the wee small hours of the morning, Jon was buying a few other items off our wishlist online. When I got back home, he then went out to do shopping at Office Max, Lowe's, Home Depot and Ace. He was particularly thrilled with a cute playtent he found for Stella and quickly assembled it and began playing with her in it that morning.

My proudest find of Black Friday: a Garmin Nuvi GPS for $37 after a $25 off $75 discount card and using my $27 worth of Office Max rewards. How'd you do on Black Friday? Did you brave the crowds?

And now on to Weekly grocery deals...

Food Lion

Food Lion is having a three day sale on Huggies that will be a great deal after coupons. You can also score a 3 lb. box of Clementines (yum!) for $2.49 after store coupon. Read all about it here on southernsavers' match-ups page.

Harris Teeter

Alas, no super doubles or triples yet again! But still some good finds on boneless/skinless chicken, berries, water and bread (Nature's Pride is 24 cents a loaf after internet q!). If you're an E-Vic member, you may also score a free box of brown rice (check your registered VIC email for details). Read all about the deals here on southernsavers' match-ups page.

Kroger

Big deal this week is a one day sale TOMORROW that means 50% off on Kellogg's cereal, bars, Keebler or Sunshine cookies or crackers and Kashi cereal. With coupons this can mean BIG savings on these items. If you still have any $2/1 Healthy Choice printables from their website, you can get these frozen meals for free or 20 cents each depending on your region. Other freebies include Tony's Pizza, Annie's pasta & cheese and Pillsbury crescent rolls. Click here for all the juicy details on southernsavers' match-ups page.

Lowe's Foods

More cheap boneless/skinless chicken breast to be had here- $1.49/lb! You can also get 80% ground beef for this price - not lean enough for our taste, but still a great deal if you're not picky about the fat percentages of your beef. Various other deals to be had- including dirt cheap Kellogg's Rice Krispies if you have the internet coupon from there site. Click here for HCW's match-ups thread. I haven't yet figured out who has the truly better deal on chicken between HT and Lowe's- HT is offering B1G2 free on the chicken. I'll try to determine this and post later.

On another couponing note, there are PLENTY of us hardcore couponers out there as I was reminded this morning when trying to print a B1G1 egg coupon from www.thegoodeggproject.org. These ran out QUICK.

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday! I'm already thinking New Years resolutions- one of mine will be to strictly track spending and saving throughout all of 2010!

Scenes from a Mall

2009-11-24T06:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our requisite thriftiness, I don't think I've set foot in a shopping mall in well over a year. Armed with a handy dandy e-mail coupon from New York & Company and a need for better fitting jeans (I've become quite the droopy drawered lady since rediscovering running!), off I went to the nearest mall. It didn't take too long for me to remember exactly what I loved and loathed about the mall shopping experience.

Loves:

Bright shiny things!
Overflowing holiday decor!
The aroma of freshly baked goodies from vendors such as Cinnabon etc.!
The promise of change via new clothing, goodies and things things things- oh the lure of rampant consumerism gone amuk!

Loathes:

The annoying nail product kiosk vendor ladies with their coy smiles and all too shiny hair
The large price tags
The rampant consumerism gone amuk

I had complete amnesia over the tactics of desperate seasonal vendors and thus instinctively turned back to the aforementioned annoying nail product kiosk vendor lady when she asked, "Can I ask you a question?" after I had clearly made the not interested hand waving gesture when she first tried to make direct eye contact. When a polite person hears the "can I ask you a question" question posed, they think the individual asking needs help of some sort...directions perhaps or the time. But, of course, the nail product saleslady did not need directions or the time or any other sort of help other than that of buying her product. The question was ... "do you keep your nails natural?"

I just shook my head and kept walking. Off I was to get my new jeans. The nail lady did not need to know that I kept my nails natural. When you keep your nails truly natural, you don't need to spend $20 or $30 on a nail product. Ugh.

After arriving at New York & Co, I was shell-shocked at the price tags. I hadn't shopped there in awhile. The last visits were several years ago- I had lost over 80 pounds and, giddy at the promise of normal sized clothing, I went a little clothes shopping crazy. Over the course of several shopping trips, I spent a total amount that would bring my current self to a fainting spell followed by hyperventilation.

Thankfully, they had a Buy One Get One Half off deal on jeans that made the amount, coupled with my coupon, much easier to swallow but still a treat given the amount we normally spend on thrift store, rock bottom clearance & garage sale clothing store prices. Given my shrinking size and the difficulty in finding really good looking/good fitting jeans on clearance and thrift store racks, hubby and I decided the treat was well deserved and well needed.

I picked two pairs of jeans out, brought them to the register and was immediately asked about opening a store credit card. When I said "no thank you," I then received a big spiel about how I'd get an additional 20% off. I politely declined again. After the total came up, the cashier then asked me if I'd like to donate to St. Jude's. I said "no thank you" and he then asked "not even a dollar?" Is it just me or does this strike anyone else as over-the-top rude? Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. We donate lots of food and clothing to local charities. We also donate to various causes when friends participate in athletic events on a charity's behalf.

I don't think I'll be doing any mall shopping for awhile.

Down and Out

2009-11-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

Our littlest has the flu so I'm out of commission as far as posting deal match-ups. Not too much to be excited about this week. Rumor has it there may be a super doubles or triples coming up after Thanksgiving. We shall see!

Black Friday deals look very promising! Thus far, we'll be heading to OfficeMax, Target and perhaps Walmart in the wee morning hours. Check out www.blackfridayinfo.net for all the details!

I'm Still Saving...yeah yeah yeah!

2009-11-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's a lame reference to an Elton John song, but I felt it apropos seeing as I haven't posted in a week. I've been on a short temp contracting assignment (ah, the exciting world of document review!) and now we're gearing up for a long weekend visiting friends in VA so I won't be up and posting until Monday...at the earliest!

I did fairly well at triples this past week and have made some great trades on www.hotcouponworld.com. The impending holidays have also resulted in some really wonderful winetags, tearpads and coupon booklets in stores. Always keep your eyes open for these while you're out and about shopping!

I've recently found some $1/2 Stove Top coupons as winetags, some $1/1 orange juice coupons on winetags and some wonderful ones for meat- a $2 off ham coupon on Smoking Loon wines and a $3 off chicken, beef or seafood on Ruffino wines. The $3 off meat coupon has turned into some free sirloin steak thanks to store markdowns.

Over the past few weeks, I've also run into some other forum members from HCW and savvydollar- it's always fun to put a face to a screen name!

I'll be back next week with some trip reports and store deal match-ups, I promise. I'll probably post about Black Friday deals as well. Don't know about you all, but I'm pretty excited after seeing sneak peeks of ads.

Happy Shopping All!

Harris Teeter triples

2009-11-04T18:48:00.001-08:00

Harris Teeter is having a triples coupon week! Truth be told, I'm not super excited about this-- there's just too few insert q's out there to make really great stockpiling opportunities. But there are still a good number of freebies and cheapies so don't be too discouraged. My first trip was this morning and I picked up some free Tic Tac Chills, Smart Balance microwave popcorn, Dole Mandarin Oranges, Powerade IONS and some cheap marinara sauce, Gerber cookies, Jello puddings and some 100 calorie Cappucino packs.

For Southern Savers match-ups, click here and here. Happy shopping!

Belated Friday Finals

2009-11-02T07:08:00.001-08:00

My husband and I ran a half-marathon on Saturday so I'd like to think that is a good excuse for being late on Friday Finals. 8-) Normally, I'd post a store-by-store breakdown but this week I'll just report my incredible savings at Kroger thanks to their Mega Event (which continues through this week!).

Last week, I spent a total of $47.37 on $434.60 worth of groceries at Kroger. We are incredibly well-stocked on Uncle Ben's rice, Betty Crocker fruit snacks for kid's lunches, deli meats and Propel waters. Also picked up fruits and veggies, several packages of turkey cutlets, other meats and other grocery items. I also have several boxes of pancake mix to donate to our nearest food bank.

In my most impressive stop, I spent $3.36 out of pocket for $110.43 worth of groceries - and came out with catalinas worth $6.50 off my next order! The woman behind me practically had to pick her jaw up off the floor when she saw how much I saved.

Grocery Store Deals - Week of 10/28

2009-10-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Harris Teeter is messing with us couponers minds! They were running a super doubles or triples event once a month and now nothing in a month. Oh well...Kroger is taking up the slack with this week with some incredible deals during the Mega 10 event. The normally silent weekly deals sticky on www.southernsavers.com (I swear I hear the sound of cricket everytime I click on it) has become abuzz. Here are links to deal lists/match-ups (click on the store name to pull up match-ups):

Kroger

Great finds to be had- find a coupon friendly Kroger and go nuts! There's some good coupon deals and Catalinas. My personal faves this week are Propels (moneymaker with .50/1 hangtag q's), Betty Crocker fruit snacks (get a $3.50 OYNO catalina when you buy 5 or more), Krusteaz pancake mix (17 cents after .50/1 insert q and get a $1 OYNO catalina for each 2 you buy) and free Uncle Ben's rice pouches after .50/1 insert q (plus you'll get a $1 OYNO catalina for each 6 you buy).

Harris Teeter

Not too much to report at HT this week. Good E-Vic special on Capri Suns and electronic coupon offer for Blue Bunny frozen novelty can be turned into a $1 moneymaker if you have the $2/1 coupon that appeared in some 8/02 Smart Source inserts.

Lowe's Foods

One word: blah.

Food Lion

Two words: double blah.

Coke Zero double points at Coke Rewards

2009-10-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow you can earn double points at www.mycokerewards.com for your Coke Zero codes. We loooove this stuff so I'll be sure to input as many codes as I can to earn double points! We usually redeem these for FREE powerade coupons.

Baby Einstein Refund!

2009-10-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my father-in-law, I learned of a Baby Einstein refund program as part of a class action suit against Disney. Apparently, they shouldn't have marketed these as "educational." File this under "duh!"

You can return up to 4 Baby Einstein videos per household and receive a $15 refund for each. You could also opt to exchange your product or get a 25% off coupon for a future purchase. Read all about it here.

Burnout...

2009-10-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Alright coupon shoppers. I know I haven't posted grocery store deals or drugstore deals this past week and there's a good reason why- I'm suffering from coupon shopping burnout. Does this mean I've put a temporary stop on coupon/sale shopping? With our big family and their voracious appetite for all things fresh? Heck no. It just means I haven't had the energy to post deal match-ups or even little links to deal match-ups.

In my defense, there's not too much to post out there this week. Drugstore deals are rather blah and there's not too many loss leaders at the grocers this week. The one bright spot has been Kroger's Mega Event that began yesterday. I shopped there this morning and did very well. For local readers, I've decided to forego shopping at the Hwy 64 store altogether. They are just not very coupon friendly and it's difficult to really make the most of a buy 10 event when you're limited to using only 2 coupons per like item. Even more so, when they spend far too many minutes scrutinizing the few coupons you're able to use.

At the more coupon friendly High House location, I purchased the following items:

2 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Shapes
3 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot
Large bunch of bananas
2 -1/2 gallons of skim milk (this worked out to be slightly cheaper than buying a gallon)
2 Lean Cuisine meals
5 bottles of Propel
2 bags of Chex Mix (one chocolate, one cheddar)
1 four pack of Activia yogurt
4 six packs of Dannon Danimals yogurt smoothies
9 pouches of Uncle Ben's wild rice
1 Febreze Noticeables Starter Pack
1 four pack of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Cooking & Baking sticks

Total Value of Items Purchased: $87.52
Less Coupon & Sale Savings: -$77.51
Total Out of Pocket: $10.01

That's nearly a 90% savings! I also received a $3.50 OYNO Catalina for buying 5 or more BC Fruit Snacks and a $1.00 OYNO Catalina from Uncle Ben's.

Our kids go through fruit snacks for school lunches like crazy so I plan on rolling the $3.50 Catalinas to buy more boxes to stockpile.

Great Day at CVS!

2009-10-21T07:04:00.001-07:00

I normally don't post trip reports but I had such a good trip to CVS this morning, I just had to share!

Here's what I got:

2 Two liters of Sunkist Soda
1 Fun Size Bag of Baby Ruth
1 Fun Size Bag of Nestle Crunch
1 Fun Size Bag of Snickers
1 Fun Size Bag of Reese's Fastbreak Bars
1 Fun Size Bag of Kit Kats
1 Fun Size Bag of Milky Way
1 Fun Size Bag of Hershey's Bars
1 Fun Size Bag of Payday
1 Glade Fragrance Collection Reed Diffuser - Currants & Acai Scent

Total spent out of pocket: $1.98
Earned $11.99 in ECBS

Used the following coupons and ECBS:
$5/$25 Flu Shot Quiz coupon
2 - B3 Bags of Candy, get 1 2 Liter Sunkist FREE (found these as hangtags on Sunkist products at Food Lion)
2 - $2/1 Nestle Candy printable
1- $1/2 Mars products insert q
1- B3G1 Hershey insert q
1- $3.50/1 Glade printable
$12 ECB

Super Glade scented oil candle deal @ Target!

2009-10-20T14:18:00.001-07:00

I just had to share this fabulous deal going on right now at Target:

Glade Holiday scented oil candles are on sale for $2.50 each. When you buy 5, you will also get a $5 Target Gift Card. There are some coupons out there that make this a spectacular moneymaker- even more so when you separate your purchases to qualify for the SC Johnson rebate that's out here (buy 3 SC Johnson products, get a $5 rebate- you can do this 3 times per household). NOTE: You cannot use the gift card issued during your transaction on that particular transaction. You'll have to hold it for your next transaction.

There are a few coupons out there for the scented oil candle holders. There are $1.50/1 that were found within candle tins earlier in the year. There's also a $1.50/1 coupon that appeared in the latest Good Housekeeping issue (Paula Deen is on the cover). There's also a $2/2 coupon within the Holiday tins themselves (please only remove these from candles you are buying!!!). I lucked into several $2/1 coupons I found in an SC Johnson product booklet that was in Lowe's Foods a month or so ago.

There's also a couple of FREE coupons out there for refills wyb the scented oil candle holders. You can find these right now as blinkies at Kroger, Publix, Food Lion. The SC Johnson booklet I found at Lowe's also included a coupon for a free refill wyb 2 refill packs. This is how I broke down the deal to get the absolute most bang for the buck...

Bought:

2 Scented Oil Candle Holders @ $2.50 each
3 Refill packs @ $2.50 each
Subtotal: $12.50

Used:
2- $2/1 candle holder coupons from SC Johnson Booklet (-$4)
2- B1G1 blinkies found at Kroger (-$5)
1- B2G1 coupon from SC Johnson booklet (-$2.50)
Total OOP (not including tax): $1.00
Received a $5 Target Gift Card
Can file for an additional $5 SC Johnson Rebate

This made this transaction a $9 moneymaker. I repeated it twice and will have made a total of $27 in Target gift cards and manufacturer rebates when all is said and done...and I have a whole lot of Apple Cinnamon candles to show for it!

Another perk on this deal... you'll qualify for a free holiday music download from Glade with any Holiday item purchased (credit goes to petergabrielfan of HCW for finding this add'l freebie!). Click here to get your download!

Drugstore Deals - week of 10/18

2009-10-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

Another great week to be had at Rite Aid! Not much new at Walgreens, but CVS has a good moneymaker on Glade (especially if you have the coveted $3.50 printable that was out there)! Here are this week's highlights:

CVS

Great moneymaker on the Glade Reed Diffuser or 4-10 oz. Candle. You can also get $5 ECB when you buy $20 worth of Halloween candy- use insert coupons to get the absolute best deal & stock up on your Halloween treats. Click here for all of SouthernSaver's match-ups.

Rite Aid

Could it get any better at Rite Aid? Group up some deals in groups of $25 and use the $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon that's out there to maximize your money making potential. I plan on first buying the Zantac, Blink eye drops and Little Allergies Allergen blocker, using best available coupons making this transaction a $17 moneymaker after Single Check Rebates. You can also group other freebate items together into a $25 purchase and still make $5! Click here for all of SouthernSaver's match-ups.

Walgreen's

October Register Rewards freebies continue. You can also get free Bic disposable razors after Register Rewards & coupons. Click here for all of SouthernSaver's match-ups and scenario ideas.

Happy shopping!

Grocery Store deals - week of 10/14/09

2009-10-15T07:37:00.001-07:00

Altogether a pretty ho-hum week at the grocery stores. Here's a store-by-store breakdown for y'all...

Food Lion

If it weren't for their wonderful blinkies and tearpads, I don't think I'd set foot in Food Lion much at all. I'm not spotting any super deals...though someone did find Huggies on clearance for $3.49 at their neighborhood Food Lion (using a $3 Q, the pack was 49 cents!). Click here for Southern Savers match-ups.

Harris Teeter

A few great deals at HT this week...including FREE Birds Eye Steamfresh frozen veggies after doubled 50 cent insert coupon. If you have any Snuggies $3/1 coupons and $2/1 All couponsleft, you could also get free Blue Sparkle or Free & Clear fabric softener sheets and All 50 oz. for $1.20 after coupon- great deals on laundry essentials! Eggs are 97 cents a dozen too. Normally, I post a link to Southern Savers match-ups but since I worked so hard on a list at the Hot Coupon World forum I'm going to include a link to that - click here for my match-ups.

Kroger

Frozen mega deals continue through this week. There's also some good deals to be had on Pillsbury products. You can also score some free Tabasco sauce and Bumblebee tuna. Click here for Southern Saver's matchups.

Lowe's Foods

Some good deals to be had with McCormick products. Other than that, I'm not seeing much else at Lowe's this week. Click here for HCW match-ups.

That's all folks! Have a great week.

Drugstore Deals - Week of 10/11

2009-10-10T19:08:00.001-07:00

Whoowhee, it's a crazy good week at Rite Aid this week! I'm even listing my planned scenario for an over $10 moneymaker. Here are this week's highlights from the big 3:

CVS

Nothing much going on at CVS this week. Freebies (after ECBs) are a carving tool and a nylon treat bag for Halloween. They'll also have Brach's Candy Corn on sale for 44 cents a bag through Tuesday. For all the details, click here for Southern Saver's match-ups.

Rite Aid

Even though I've already earned my $20 Gift of Savings, I will most definitely be making a Rite Aid run this week. There will be 13 freebies to be had after Single Check Rebates (5 of these will actually be moneymakers!) including lots of cold remedies just in time for cold & flu season. Click here for Southern Saver's match-ups. My grand plan will include purchases of the following:

Comtrex 20 count
Children's Throat Cooler 6 ct.
Simply Saline Mist 3 oz.
Simply Saline Children's Nasal Mist 1.5 oz.
Chloraseptic Allergen Block Gel, 20 ct.

Total before coupons: $25.95 (will give $5 off $25 Rite Aid coupon to cashier first)
Total after coupons: $12.95 - $13.95 depending upon which Comtrex coupon I can find in store

I'll receive $25.95 back in Single Check Rebates making this a $12 - $13 moneymaker. Sweet!

Walgreen's

Month long Register Reward deals continue on and there are some new deals to be had- most notably $8 in Register Rewards when you buy 8 participating Unilever products (including Skippy peanut butter & Ragu spaghetti sauce). Click here for all the details on Southern Saver's match-ups.

Singing Rebate's Praises

2009-10-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Rebates are a couponer's best friend! My efforts at collecting receipts, filling out forms and mailing these in are beginning to pay off...this week we received $103 in rebate checks! Yes, it's a hassle but one that doesn't require too much time & effort.

You can really rack up the savings by timing your rebate qualifying purchases just right- buy these at their rock bottom prices with coupons and you'll more than likely make money on the deal. You'll find that it's pretty fulfilling to learn you've actually been PAID to get stuff your family needs.

If you happen upon a rebate form, take it! Keep note of all your forms. If you have a coupon binder, put a full page sleeve in with rebate form and any coupons you have on hand for qualifying items- this will be handy reminder to you to keep checking prices as you shop to see if it's a good time to buy. Be sure to put a sticky note on the page with the expiration date of offer (this is when you'll have to make your purchases by).

You can find these online, within Sunday paper inserts, on winetags and as hangtags or peelies (these will typically say "Try Me Free!"). All it will take is a few minutes of your time to fill in your name and address and a quick march to your mailbox.

Grocery Deals - week of 10/07

2009-10-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

No Super Doubles or triples this week, but still some good freebies and cheapies to be had! Here's a quick store by store breakdown...

Food Lion

Big deal at Food Lion this week is All Laundry Detergent (32 load) for an amazing 74 cents after coupon...that is, if you were one of the folks lucky enough to get the $2/1 coupon in this past Sunday's paper. I was...but traded away mine away before learning of this deal. 8-( Yes, feel free to play the world's tiniest violin for me. Click here for all the details on Food Lion deals this week. I will likely be there holding back the tears as I pass the cleaning aisle while peelie & blinkie hunting.

Harris Teeter

You can get free Ideal Sweetener, Tony's frozen pizzas and Knorr Rice Sides after VIC savings and coupon. If you're an E-Vic Member (which if you're not, I highly recommend joining for specials such as these), you can get a dozen large eggs for 39 cents and a twin pack of Weight Watchers ice cream treats for 89 cents.

Other good deals after VIC savings and coupons: 49 cent 8 ct Lance Crackers, 35 cent Nestle Ready to Bake Cookie packs, 42 cent boxes of New York frozen Texas Toast and 99 cent multipacks of Activia. There's also some good meat deals. For all the details, click here for Southern Savers match-ups.

Lowe's Foods

Lowe's Foods kicks off its new member loyalty program, Fresh Rewards, this week. Jury's still out on this one, but I'm interested to hear readers' thoughts on this program. You can score some free Tennessee Pride gravy & Barilla pasta after coupons. You can also buy some cheap Wonder Bread (18 cents) and Duke's Mayo (39 cents). Read all about the deals here on hcw's Lowe's match-up thread.

Kroger

Kroger has a frozen foods Mega Event (buy 10, get $5 off your next order). Not so sure I'll be trying to get 10 items at once as their coupon rules really make it difficult to get the most bang for your buck. Kroger also has free Tenneseee Pride sausage gravy after coupon, Bumble Bee Tuna and Tabasco Sauce. Not too much else going on at Kroger this week. Click here for Southern Saver's complete list of deal match-ups.

Lowe's Foods Greenpoints Ends Today!

2009-10-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

I would have missed this had Sue Stock not mentioned it in her N&O blog...Lowe's Foods is ending their Greenpoints program today! So if you have any Greenpoints accrued, get to your nearest Lowe's to redeem them tonight. I just got back from spending my Greenpoints to get a free gallon of milk. I also picked up some Oikos Greek yogurt for free thanks to $1/1 insert coupons found in this Sunday's paper (it was in 9/27 SmartSource for most other regions) and used a $3 Catalina I earned from McCormick purchases to also get some blueberries for 99 cents AC.

Oikos sale ends today so if you want some free Greek yogurt (I can't yet attest to the taste of Oikos but I love Trader Joe's greek yogurt), get over to Lowe's ASAP.

Drugstore Deals - week of 10/03

2009-10-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy busy here so I haven't been posting as much as I typically do- my apologies- we have a lot of personal stuff going on right now and it's potentially likely to keep us occupied (& stressed!) for the next several weeks...if not longer. I didn't have opportunity to post our Friday Finals. I haven't done a good job in keeping receipts this past week and our spending was up due to my stocking up on lean ground beef & chicken drumsticks from Food Lion. Oh well- we can't all be perfect, can we? Without further ado, here's a brief store-by-store breakdown of deals.

CVS

CVS has a $5 Moneymaker again with the Bayer Breeze ECB deal coupled with old insert coupons. You can also pick up some free Revlon nail color, a variety of bar soaps and, of course, free toothpaste (Colgate Total Advanced, to be precise). Read all about these deals and others here on the SouthernSavers match-up page.

Rite Aid

You can score some free Super PoliGrip powder and Act II Popcorn balls (not exactly a perfect combo, I know). There's also a $1 moneymaker to be had with Scalpicin Anti-Itch Medicated Wipes. Rite Aid is also offering a $10 off $25 rebate for certain Johnson & Johnson products. Click here for more details on these and other deals at Rite Aid this week thanks to Southern Savers' match-ups.

Walgreen's

There are lots of month long freebies thanks to Register Rewards that mirror that of last week's listings. I plan on using up all my Halls Refresh coupons to earn a stash of $1 Register Rewards that I hope I'll be able to use during a Harris Teeter Super Doubles promotion should they have one prior to the expiration date on these. Click here for details on Southern Saver's match-ups.

Why I love Harris Teeter...

2009-09-30T11:11:00.001-07:00

Harris Teeter doesn't get much love on certain coupon shoppers' message boards as their everyday prices tend to exceed that of other grocers' everyday prices...but I still shop there frequently. Why? Because it's generally much cleaner than other stores, the staff is typically friendlier (they even know my baby girl's name!), they're definitely more coupon friendly than other stores and I really love their triples and super doubles promotions. Rumor had it that there would be a super doubles this week but alas, no. And I still went there today because even though their everyday prices tend to be higher, their specials ROCK and even more so with coupons.

Even without super doubles, I did very well. I picked up 6 boxes of Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn (my .40/1 q's expire today), 2 NY Strip Streaks, some Angus Sirloin tips, 6 cans of Campbell's Chunky Soup (these are free with .75/1 peelies!) and a Palermo's Thin Crust frozen pizza for $6.05. Yes, that's right- $6.05! I had two $1/1 beef winetags that expire today and $5 worth of Walgreen's Register Rewards and a $1/1 Palermos coupon too. Coupons and VIC savings totaled $39.41. That's over 85% savings.

Lessons learned- you don't need super doubles or triples to save big at HT and you need to keep tabs of your coupon expiration dates. If I hadn't made a quick run-through of my coupons this past weekend, I wouldn't have remembered that the Orvilles would expire and I would have lost out on super cheap popcorn (67 cents a box after B1G1 sale and coupon). Jon and I love our popcorn! I think it even tastes better when I pay less money for it. 8-)

Sharing the Wealth

2009-09-29T09:34:00.001-07:00

Today I made my first official charitable donation of food and household items! After you've been couponing awhile, you find yourself with quite a stockpile of stuff. And yes, with a family of 6 we probably could actually use all I've been able to find for free or on the cheap...but it would take awhile- and as I've learned during a year of hardcore couponing, there are always more freebies & cheapies on the way. So, I took a big empty box from our garage and stuffed it with over 50 pounds of food (including pasta, rices, peanut butter and lots of Warm Delights), deodorants, toothpaste, unopened cans of infant formula and bottles of Lysol Toilet Bowl cleaner and brought it with a happy heart to Western Wake Ministries in downtown Apex.

If you have an envy-worthy stockpile or even if you're just beginning, I urge you to gather up some of your couponing goodies and donate them to a nearby shelter or charity. There are so many folks in need right now. Normally, when coupon shopping I try to stick with only items I know our family will need or want. After speaking with the Ministries' volunteer, I plan on also picking up other kinds of items for the specific purpose of donating when I can find them for free.

As always, happy shoping all...and happy giving too.

Drugstore Deals - week of 9/26

2009-09-26T18:37:00.001-07:00

Some good deals at the drugstore this weekend! Rite Aid is a little slow but will have lots of freebies coming up over the next 2 weeks. Walgreens has lots of freebies after Register Rewards but as previously indicated, the rules of coupon redemption are usually more hassle than these are worth. But I likely will stop by for a few of their deals and earn some RR to redeem at Harris Teeter during the upcoming super doubles. Here's a quick store-by-store breakdown of the week's highlights...

Rite Aid
You can get free Nivea Lip Balm, Crest with Scope, Gillette Fusion Power Razor, Dentyne Gum (if you have some B1G1 blinkies and your RA accepts B1G1 q's on B1G1 sale items), Profoot Symposium Pain Relieving Gel, Oral B Advantage and Renpure Shampoo. The Renpure, Oral B and Profoot are all small moneymakers if you have the coupons necessary to make it work. You can find out all the details by clicking here for Southern Savers' match-ups. I'll also be trying to use a soon to expire B1G1 IP for Sobe Lifewater to get 2 for free.

CVS
Unfortunately, I am forced to stop at CVS this week to roll soon to expire ECBs. There are a couple of freebies to be had - namely, the Vaseline Sheer Infusion Body Lotion and Fruitopia or Viologie shampoo/conditioner. You can also get $10 ECB when you buy $25 worth of Proctor & Gamble products. The best way to make this deal work for the least amount of money is by buying Tide Stain Release or Bounce Dryer Bar with larger value coupons. You can find out all the details by clicking here for Southern Savers' match-ups.

Walgreen's
Walgreen's has 10 available freebies this week thanks to the Register Rewards program and coupons! Freebies include Vaseline Sheer Infusion Body Lotion, Emergen-C Booster, Oral B Advantage 1-2-3 Toothbrush, Chapstick Fresh Effects, Robitussin DM to Go, Dentek Floss, Halls Refresh Sugar Free lozenges, Trident gum, Herbal Essences and Gillette Fusions Razors. You can find out all the details by clicking here for Southern Savers' match-ups.

Happy shopping all!

Friday Finals - 9/26

2009-09-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to HT's triples promotions & Rite Aid's Huggies deal, this week was a PHENOMENAL week for saving in our household! All told, I wound up paying $35.67 out of pocket for $476.63 worth of groceries and household items...and I'll be getting $27.99 out of that back in Rite Aid Single Check Rebates and a Kellogg's Special K jeans rebate promotion. When you subtract the rebates I'm anticipating from the total out of pocket, it's as if we've saved a jaw-dropping 98%!

Here is a store-by-store breakdown:

Harris Teeter
Total before sales and coupons: $383.78
Total spent: $13.24
Total saved: $366.05 or 95%

Oh, triple coupon weeks...how do I love thee? Let me count the 366 ways! I need to get pics up of our growing stockpile because it is truly amazing. We're all set for soups and frozen veggies for the winter thanks to this triples go-round. I am awestruck at how much we got for so little- the GM & GG deals were the icing on the cake this week at HT.

Kroger
Total before sales and coupons: $19.57
Total spent: $13.24
Total saved: $6.33 or 32%

Kroger is our go to store for cheap cottage cheese and produce specials. Since winetags have been mysteriously elusive for the past few weeks (oh how I miss them!), I was stuck paying full price on most items bought at Kroger- still less money than I would have paid elsewhere for same stuff, so I'm happy.

Lowe's Foods
Total before sales and coupons: $15.76
Total spent: $1.11
Total saved: $14.65 or 95%

One of the few Lowe's stops I make are for rock bottom deals such as the Special K one going on this week. I bought 2 boxes of Special K cereal and three boxes of bars for $1.11 and promptly mailed out the jeans vouchers on each to earn a $10 jeans rebate. I've heard the rebate check is good for anything though! Can you say moneymaker? Love it!

Rite Aid
Total before sales and coupons: $52.57
Total spent: $20.57 (zero out of pocket thanks to a gift card)
Saved: $32 or 60%

Took advantage of Huggies diapers & wipes SCR deal, as well as the Proantinox moneymaker. Should get my September rebate check in the mail in the next couple of weeks. These are processed quickly. I love the SCR program!

Target
Total before sales and coupons: $3.56
Total spent: $3.56
Saved $0

Our Z bar coupons we had on hand expired and hubby needed them so I paid full price. Shame on me, I know. Anyone have any Clif coupons they're willing to spare or trade??

Whole Foods
Total before sales and coupons: $1.39
Total spent: 3 cents (sales tax)
Total saved: $1.39 or 100%

I rarely make stops to Whole Foods due to their regular high prices but did so this week thanks to a free Yo Baby meal coupon and the promise of an October coupon flier featuring a free gallon of milk and free carving pumpkin coupon good for separate weeks (thanks go to Jenny @ SouthernSavers for the fabulous tip!). You'll need to buy something to get this coupon flier...at least at the Cary location. They don't have these up front to pick up. A cashier will put one in your bag after ringing up your order.

All in all, this was a blockbuster week for us. How did you fare?

Yummy! Free ice cream!

2009-09-23T11:42:00.001-07:00

Cold Stone Creamery will be hosting an "ice cream social"to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation tomorrow night from 5-8 p.m. Make a donation (any donation!) during this time and receive a free 3 oz. Jack's Creation Sundae. This sounds yummy! It's made with sweet cream ice cream, brownies, caramel and rainbow sprinkles.

We're lucky enough to have a Cold Stone just a short drive away. I'm doing a happy dance just thinking about this!

Special K Moneymaker @ Lowe's Foods

2009-09-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Since I was out and about to donate kid's clothes to Goodwill, I decided to make a quick stop to Lowe's and see if I could make a good moneymaker out of the Special K deal that's going on right now. And I did! Using three .75/1 tearpad q's I had on hand for Special K bars and two $1/1 internet q's for Special K Cereal, I wound up paying $1.11 for 3 boxes of bars and 2 boxes of cereal. I made sure to pick out boxes which had the jeans tokens on- after mailing all 5 of these in for Kellogg's jean rebate, I'll be getting a $10 check turning this deal into a $8.89 moneymaker!

I love the cereal so this was already a sweet deal even without the rebate. Here's links to printables that might make this a good moneymaker for you too!

$1/1 Cereal coupon - http://bricks.coupons.com/bstart.asp?o=58292&c=SK&p=xKeWZihO

You can find .75/1 Special K cereal bar coupons on www.coupons.com. These were still available as of this blog entry.

The rebate form can be found inside boxes marked with the special jean token that you'll need to send in for the rebate.

Grocery Deals - week of 9/23

2009-09-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

Phew! I am wiped out from HT's Triples. Not sure how much shopping I'll get out to do this coming week as we're pretty well stocked on just about everything...excepting Lean Ground beef which hasn't been on sale for what seems like forever! Having said that, if I do venture out it will likely be due to one of the following deals...

Food Lion

Not much going on at FL this week. There is a really great deal on Smart Balance butter blends sticks. They're B1G1 and paired up with the $1.50 coupon from 9/13's Red Plum, you can get these for 14 cents each. For all the details on FL's deals this week, click here for SouthernSaver's match-ups.

Harris Teeter

Great E-Vic special this week on 5 lb. bags of White Potatoes (limit 1 per customer)- pair this up with their B1G1 London Broil or Top Round Roast and you've got the makings of a great Crock Pot dinner. Sorrento String Cheeses are also B1G1 and with the $1.00/1 insert coupon or peelies, you can get these for $1.50 a pack (note: I don't see these listed on SouthernSavers, but they were on my weekly specials email from HT). For all the details on HT's deals this week, click here for SouthernSaver's match-ups.

The big news from HT this week is that they'll be hosting a Super Doubles week this coming week!! So get those $1 and $1.50 coupons ready...I already know of a great deal involving Catalinas on McCormick spices so keep your $1 q's handy!

Kroger

Mega Event continues through this week. This would be a good time and place to buy items for the Nabisco Rebate if you have the form and are looking to make the most of it! Also, a great week to buy some cheap Lysol cleaners if you need to stock up as they are on sale for 1/2 off. Combine sale prices with .50/1 coupons from 8/23 and 9/13's SmartSource inserts and you can get toilet bowl cleaner for 29 cents and household cleaner for 59 cents each. Gala apples are also on sale for 99 cents/lb. Get all the details on Kroger's sale by clicking here for Southern Savers match-ups.

Lowe's Foods

Lowe's is running a Special K deal this week where you'll get $5 off at register when you buy 5 Special K products. Combine this with any coupons you have on Special K and a $10 jeans rebate offer and you have the makings of a potential moneymaker. Gala apples are also on sale at Lowe's for 99 cents/lb. Milk is $1.99/gallon and I think you can get some free Sun Crystals Sweetener after sale price and coupon. Lowe's is also running a McCormick Catalina deal, but you may be better off holding onto these for HT's upcoming Super Doubles. For all the deals on Lowe's Foods weekly specials, click here for HCW's list.

Happy Shopping everyone!

Bragging Rights

2009-09-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not one to brag, but I've done so well today I couldn't resist sharing. Thanks to stocked up $3 GM Cats, the balance remaining on a Rite Aid gift card and coupons, I wound up spending just under $2 out of pocket for the following at Rite Aid and Harris Teeter:

2 Jumbo Packs of Huggies Pure & Natural diapers
12 cans of Campbell's Chunky Soup (6 regular, 6 healthy request kind)
1 pack of Pepperidge Farm sandwich buns
6 boxes of Green Giant frozen veggies
1 small bottle of Trop50 oj
2 bottles of Shamrock Farms Rocket Refuel chocolate milk
1 Breyers Yo-Crunch multi-pack
1 large top round sirloin steak (nearly 1 1/2 lbs)

I am now qualified for the $10 Huggies rebate (purchased another pack yesterday) and am very close to earning my $20 additional Rite Aid gift check for the Gift of Savings promotion and I have yet another $3 GM CAT to use for another shopping trip at HT.

Can I get a virtual high five from someone?

Drugstore Deals - week of 9/20

2009-09-19T18:39:00.001-07:00

Snoozer of a week at the drugstores (in my humble opinion) with the notable exception of Rite Aid. If you're in the market for diapers (or know anyone who is!), this is a great week to visit Rite Aid. Check out all the details & scenarios on Southern Savers by clicking here- I'll be there taking advantage of the Huggies deals. Gotta love free diapers!

Walgreen's has 2 moneymaker deals this week on Roots of Nature hair care products and Thermacare heat wrap single packs. You can also get some cheap Tylenol Adult Cold/Sinus medicine (just in time for flu season). Click here for all the details.

There's not much exciting at CVS. Thankfully, I don't have any ECBs set to expire this week so I'm holding off until the next to make a CVS stop. There is one potential moneymaker with Aquafresh Iso Actives if you have the two coupons necessary to make it work. Click here for all the details from SouthernSavers.

Friday Finals 9/18

2009-09-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

It's a late edition of Friday Finals! Here's the week's spending & saving round-up...

Harris Teeter

Spent $23.52
Saved $313.28

Lots of great triples finds! Greatest deals involved the General Mills, Old El Paso and Green Giant promos. We are well stocked on frozen veggies and will continue to beef up supply over the next several days. Other good finds: you can get two Propels for free if you have the .50/1 coupons as they're B1G1 at $1.39. You can also get two containers of Hillshire Farms deli meat for $1 with .55/1 coupons - they're running a special where you'll get $3 off the pair when you buy 2.

Lowe's Foods

Spent $6.15
Saved $16.78

Made one quick trip for the B2G3 free Old Orchard juice and B1G1 Thomas' bagels. I had actually hoped to spend less but unfortunately my .50/1 hangtag coupons did not double for the juice. Still a great bargain though!

Rite Aid

Spent $0 thanks to use of a gift card
Saved $15.00 in coupons

Picked up 10 Johnson & Johnson baby washes. I'll get a $15 Single Check rebate and have $29.90 spent towards earning a Gift of Savings gift card.

Walgreen's

Spent $0 thanks to use of a gift card
Saved $15.97 in coupons

Picked up 18 copies of last Sunday's paper, a Murine ear drop medicine and a couple of True North nut snacks (later used Register Rewards earned on these purchase at Harris Teeter).

Target

Spent $19.34
Saved $49.33

Stocked up on more Healthy Choice meals (4 cents each after coupon!), bagels, puffs, Fiber One bars and free string cheeses (thanks to a Target printable).

Kroger

Spent $50.84
Saved $61.92

Bought even more Healthy Choice meals (20 cents after coupon), 10 capri suns and assorted groceries, fruit & veggies. Will also use capri sun purchase towards a $20 Nabisco rebate.

Grand Totals:

Spent a total of $99.89 (Yay! Under $100!)
Saved a total of $472.28 in sale prices & coupons
Saved an additional $25.25 by using gift cards

Total savings: 83%

Weekly Grocery Deals

2009-09-18T07:09:00.001-07:00

I've been too wrapped up in keeping a very close eye on my walking toddler...and taking advantage of Harris Teeter Triples so I'm quite late for a weekly grocery deals post but here it is...

Not too terribly much going on at other local grocers. Food Lion has some really good deals on meat right now. For all the details, click here.

Lowe's has cheap bacon eggs and some decent Buy 2, get 3 Free deals. For an hcw round-up, click here.

Kroger has the mega deal going on through Saturday. I'm going to make a stop to take advantage of the Juicy Juice deal with some soon-to-expire coupons I traded for on Hot Coupon World. For all the details on this mega event, click here.

And, as posted earlier this week, HT is the queen bee for my shopping this week thanks to some amazing Triples deals. Keep scrolling down on the blog for my big Harris Teeter entry.

I stopped by this morning and did quite well- though I'm scratching my head a bit over it as something must have caused overage somewhere. I expected to be two to three dollars out of pocket and wound up paying less than a buck. Here's what I got:

1 Del Monte can of Apricot Halves (FREE after home mailer coupon)
1 Del Monte can of Mixed Fruit (FREE after home mailer coupon)
1 Powerade 32 oz (FREE thanks to EVic special)
4 Campbell's Chunky soups (.14 each after peelie coupon)
3 boxes of Barilla Mini Penne (FREE after insert coupon)
5 boxes of Green Giant frozen veggies (.45 for all after insert & IPs)
3 bottles of Shamrock milk rocket refuel (FREE after insert coupons)
3 Blue Bunny personals ice cream (FREE after home mailer coupon)
1 bunch of bananas

Total spent: 66 cents
Total saved: $37.24 and received a $3 catalina off my next order

I loooove this Green Giant deal!

Rocking the Triples

2009-09-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to 2 very kind folks, I had three VIC cards to kickstart triples this morning. They let me borrow theirs for the day and I put all to very good use thanks to the General Mills promo going on right now (buy 15 selected items, get $5 off your order), the Green Giant deal (buy 5, get a $3.00 coupon for your next shopping order) and the Old El Paso deal (buy 3, get a $1 off your next beef or chicken purchase). Here's the rundown (with pics for those who enjoy visuals)...

Trip 1 (my card):

3 rolls of Viva paper towels
3 Betty Crocker Warm Delights
2 boxes of Chex Mix Bars
1 box of Fiber One toaster pastries
1 box of Kashi Honey Sunshine Cereal
4 packets of Old El Paso reduced sodium taco seasoning
1 can of Campbell's Chunky Soup
3 boxes of Barilla Piccolini mini Penne
5 boxes of Green Giant Steamfresh veggies
1 six pack of Jello Dulce De Leche pudding (this stuff is HEAVENLY!)
1 Lunchable ham & cheese

Total spent: 54 cents
VIC & coupon savings: $54.57
Also received a $3 OYNO coupon - did not get my $1 Old El Paso Catalina. I will call store to see how to handle this...if you have any suggestions based on your own personal experience please feel free to share in the comments section!

Trip 2 (friend's card):

2 boxes of Chex Mix bars
3 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks
4 packets of Old El Paso reduced sodium taco seasoning
1 box of Uncle Ben's wild rice
3 boxes of Barilla Piccolini mini Penne
1 Marie Callendar's frozen meal
5 boxes of Green Giant steamfresh veggies
1 multipack of Yoplait Delights
2 multipacks of Gum Kids' crayola toothbrushes
3 bottles of Shamrock Farms no sugar added chocolate milk
1 turkey & american Lunchable

Total spent: $2.86
VIC & coupon savings: 52.46
Also received $3.00 OYNO coupon and $1 off your next beef or chicken purchase coupon

Trip 3 (family member's card):

1 box of Wanchai Ferry kung pao chicken dinner kit

1 box of Betty Crocker fruit snacks

3 Betty Crocker warm delights

2 bottles of Wishbone dressing

4 packets of Old El Paso reduced sodium taco seasoning

3 cans of Campbell's chunky soup

3 boxes of Barilla Piccolini mini penne

2 plus pounds of red seedless grapes

1 box of Kashi frozen turkey fiesta sandwiches

1 Marie Callendar's frozen meal

5 boxes of Green Giant steamfresh veggies

1 small bottle of Tropicana orange juice

1 multipack of Yoplait Delights

1 bottle of Shamrock Farms No Sugar Added Chocolate Milk

Spent: $1.07

VIC & Coupon Savings: $65.18

Received a $3.00 off your next order coupon and $1 off your next beef & chicken purchase. Will also use receipt to file for a $2 rebate from Wishbone dressing!

All in all, it was a great day to shop at Harris Teeter! I spent $4.47, saved $172.27, earned $11 in Catalinas and will earn another $2 in mail-in-rebates.

Hot new Luvs coupon...

2009-09-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

From the kind folks at HCW:

Luvs Diapers will have a link on their site starting at 12am EST on Tuesday, 9/15 to sign up for a free $5 off coupon for Luvs diapers. These will likely go FAST so be sure to get yours as soon as you can! The coupon will be fulfilled to those who sign up via postal mail.

Per the ladies at HCW, it's part of Luvs campaign about "Taking a Stand" and in the case with the coupon, it's taking a stand against high prices at the store. So if you use diapers, know someone who does, or just need a really great coupon to swap, get in on this tomorrow and get signed up fast at Luvs.com.

Harris Teeter Triples Deals!

2009-09-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Triples are coming on Wednesday and boy oh boy there are some AMAZING deals to be had! Jenny at Southern Savers has posted two separate lists- for the list of the weekly ad deals, click here; for the list of non-sale items that turn out to be freebies/near freebies thanks to triples, click here.

Southern Savers also has a handy new tool on the site where you can click on the items you'll be purchasing and create a shopping list from there. It's quite nifty!

I'll likely be spending a good chunk of tomorrow clipping and getting things ready. I already have several baseball card sheets filled with goodies. I lucked into some .75/1 Campbell's Chunky soup coupons at Kroger that I'll use during triples to get cans of Chunky Soup for a dime. Score!

Drugstore Deals - Week of 9/13

2009-09-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

I am pooped from an 8 mile run and a Railhawks game with the family so excuse me for the brevity.

Not too much to be said for this week's drugstore deals- Walgreens is your best bet of the three IMHO- there are 3 freebies/potential moneymakers after Register Rewards.

Here's the deal-y-o on Walgreens:

$6 RR wyb Murine Ear Drop Kit at $6 Free after RR

$3 RR wyb True North Nut Crisps or Clusters 4.5-5.5oz at $3 Free after RR (moneymaker if you have the following coupons!):
-$1 off True North 100% Natural Nut Snack, Any, SS 2/08
-$1.50 off any bag of TrueNorth “Making Triathlon Cool Again”booklet at Publix-$1 off True North Brand Nut Snacks, printable

$5 RR wyb (2) Triaminic Allergy, Sinus or Cold Relief $5 ea
-$1.50 off Triaminic Thin Strips, printable (IE) or printable (FF) or here
-$2 off Triaminic (store coupon) “Healthy Savings” booklet (look for it inside the store)

I'll be making an early morning trip tomorrow to take advantage of these as well as pick up multiple copies of this Sunday's jam packed newspaper (5 inserts in all!)

CVS has free Dyna Pep Energy Micro Shot 2 packs after ECB (limit 2). You'll spend $4.99 on each and get that back on ECBs. Nothing else really stands out to me.

No big news for Rite Aid this week- the diaper deal I spoke of last week is actually for the week of the 20th so hold on to your Rite Aid video values and manufacturer coupons until then.

For all the details, check out http://www.southernsavers.com/ and click on the tabs for each drugstore.

Friday Finals!

2009-09-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

In line with Southern Saver's Friday Finals weekly edition, I'm going to be putting up my totals for the week (running Saturday through Friday). Here's the grand total for this past week:

Total Value of Items Purchased: $541.54
Total Amount Spent: $149.63
Total Amount Saved: $391.91

Percentage Saved: 72%

I'd like to strive for spending less than $100 per week (perhaps a lofty goal for a family of 6), but since Coke Zero was on sale & I had coupons we wound up stocking up on it which bumped our total spent up.

Here's a store by store breakdown:

Target:

Spent $5.88
Saved $3.89
Gotta have our EAS shakes!

Walgreens:
Spent $5.20
Saved $47.16
Took advantage of Scrubbing Bubbles shower kit, Garnier & Glade Register Rewards deal and used balance remaining on a gift card.

Rite Aid:
Spent $0 thanks to a gift card!
Saved $13 in coupons and will get another $13.49 back in SCRs.
Bought some shoe inserts for Jon and Pampers for the bambino.

CVS:

Spent $10.58
Saved $61.33
Lots of Schick razors and Scope Outlasts- would have spent less if my grand plans had worked out the way I intended...either my math stinked and/or the coupons didn't work out the way I planned. Grr.

Harris Teeter:
Spent $54.79
Saved $131.68
Coke Zero-palooza! We have over 30 twelve packs on hand now. Took advantage of Walgreens Register Rewards to bring totals down during Coke purchases. Also bought produce and milk throughout the week.

Kroger:
Spent $59.89
Saved $36.37
Bought some super cheap Healthy Choice meals thanks to $2 printables, various produce items, cottage cheese and about 13 lbs or so of boneless skinless chicken breast.

Lowes Foods:
Spent $13.29
Saved $98.48
Used remaining Jello coupons before expiration and stocked up on Softsoap body wash & Lawry's marinades.

Mambo Sprouts coupon booklets are out!

2009-09-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

September Back to School Savings Booklets are out! What this means is if you've already registered on their site, you should be getting one in the mail or you can find them at nearby retailers. Booklets should include more than $25* in savings (*coupon offers vary depending on the region) with a variety of natural and organic coupons from manufacturers such as Seventh Generation™, Clif Kid™, Pirate's Booty®, RiceSelect™ , Lundberg®, Ian's® and many more!

Jon and I love the Clif Kid Z Bars. His fave is Chocolate Chip while I prefer Peanut Butter.

Click here for a sneak preview of the new booklet! If you haven't received your copy in the mail, please locate a store near you to pick one up or visit their FAQs page.

And the winner of the changing pad giveaway is...

2009-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

(drumroll please) Lucky #7- lazy1608!

Please email me your name, mailing address, email and phone number as soon as you can and your prize will be shipped to you from CSNBaby. You can email me at petrinak72@yahoo.com.

Thanks everyone who entered!!

Triples coming up next week!

2009-09-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

I heard through the grapevine that Harris Teeter will again be offering up a triple coupon event this coming week (9/16) so get your 50 & 75 cent coupons ready...and if you're lucky enough to have them, your 85 cent Viva coupons too!

There may also be up to FIVE inserts in this coming Sunday's paper. If you haven't already started buying multiple copies, this week would be the time to start. Click here for SouthernSaver's sneak peek at the contents. There should be lots of goodies for triples as well as the next super doubles event.

Hopefully someone will get their hands on the ad ahead of time!

2009-09-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Grocery Deals - week of 9/09

No huge standouts this week with the exception of some very good produce deals @ Harris Teeter.

Here's a store by store Triangle lineup:

Food Lion

Food Lion is running a special where you'll earn a $20 NFLShop.com gift certificate when you buy $25 worth of Proctor & Gamble products. Your best bet is to stick with sale items on their line-up- these are the Bounty Basic paper towels, Charmin, Dawn and Prilosec.

Red grapes are on sale for 99 cents/lb. And you can also get Edy's ice cream for a cool $1.69 when you use the $1 off coupon from 8/23 Red Plum insert.

You can read all SouthernSaver's details and match-ups here.

Kroger

Same as last week with notable addition of a hot $2/1 printable Healthy Choice frozen meal coupon you can get at http://www.healthychoice.com/. With this coupon and sale price, you'll be paying 20 cents for a decent lunch. Jon loves these for work and I am currently trying to trade up a storm for these on HCW...so if you're able to print these out and don't plan on using these, please please please send me an email at petrinak72@yahoo.com. Let's make a trade!

I also noticed that Gala apples are on sale for 99 cents/lb. Sweet deal for some crisp yummy apples!

Click here for all SouthernSaver match-ups.

Lowe's Foods

No standouts. But a poster on HCW did note TWO great finds for coupon booklets at her NC Lowe's- a Tailgate Like a Pro booklet and an SC Johnson booklet. Be on the lookout for these as they have some GREAT coupons (especially for super doubles and triples!!).

For the HCW match-up thread, click here.

Harris Teeter

No super doubles or triples this week, but some great whole foods deals- most impressively, a gallon of milk for $1.97!

Broccoli crowns are on sale for 1.79/lb, bell peppers are $1.50/each and raspberry and blueberry boxes are 4 for $6.

E-Vic of the week is a 99 cent box of HT cereal. You can also get Martha White muffin mixes (these are really scrumptious and easy to make) for only 4 cents a box when you use the .55/2 coupon in 8/09 RedPlum insert. Spray N Wash and Glass Plus will both be free after coupons and UPromise savings.

You can find all SouthernSaver's match-ups here.

Free Sandwich at Chick-Fil-A

2009-09-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today only, go into any Chick-Fil-A sporting your favorite team gear (whether it be NFL, NHL or your kid's soccer team!) and get a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich. Stella approved of this deal - see the thumbs up! I think she really liked her sandwich.

Be prepared for a long line but they'll get you out fairly quickly. Happy Labor Day all!

Free Softsoap Body Wash at Lowe's Foods!

2009-09-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to pass a quick freebie to you Lowe's Shoppers- all Softsoap body washes are currently on sale for 2/$3 (even the new Serum kinds!). Pair the sale price up with the .75/1 coupon that appeared in last Sunday's SmartSource and it's free thanks to coupon doubling!

Drugstore Deals - Week of 9/05

2009-09-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is not a particularly noteworthy week for drugstore freebies & moneymakers but there are a few things I'll be taking advantage of... here's the scoop drugstore by drugstore!

Rite Aid

I'll be skipping out on a Rite Aid trip this week as there is nothing, in my humble opinion, worth stopping by for- but I'll definitely be there next week when they have a Huggies sale & Single Check Rebate offer. I'll be picking up 3 Huggies Pure & Natural Packs for $13 out of pocket and then filing for a $10 SCR- making each pack a mind-blowing $1 each. You can read all the details about this deal & others from this coming week here at southernsavers.

CVS

I'll only be doing one deal at CVS this coming week- and that is for FREE multi-packs of Schick razors after ECBs and a $3/1 coupon from 8/16's SmartSource insert. Click here for summaries of all the other deals available at CVS this coming week.

Walgreen's

There are a couple of really good deals to be had at Walgreen's- namely, a FREE Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Cleaner kit (after Register Rewards and a $7 printable), yet more free Glade candles (these will make great teacher's gifts!) after Register Rewards and $2 printables and another free Glade Sense & Spray to add to our growing collection after Register Rewards and the $4/1 insert coupon. If you have $2/1 Starbucks ice cream coupons on hand, you can also get yourself some free Starbucks ice cream! You can read all the details on these and other deals @ Walgreen's this week here.

One thing I've been delighted to recently discover is that you can use your Walgreen's Register Rewards at Harris Teeter!

That's about it for drugstore deals this week! Hope y'all find my lists helpful. Many thanks & kudos go out to Jenny @ Southern Savers for spotting and sharing these deals.

Uber-fashionable Changing Pad Giveaway!

2009-09-04T16:18:00.001-07:00

The folks over at CSNBABY have generously offered to giveaway one of their Pronto! changing pads (retail value: $29.99) to one of our blog readers! You can check out the changing pads in all 6 gorgeous colors here. My personal favorite is the Uptown Stripe pictured at left. So very chic!

You can check out all their wares at http://www.csnbaby.com/. They sell beautiful nursery furniture, decor and other baby gear/accessory items.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this thread! The winner will be randomly chosen from those who have commented on Friday, September 11. Comment with which color you'd choose if you're the winner as well which item(s) you have for baby that you absolutely could not live without. For me, it's my carrier hands down!

Best of luck to all of you!

Organizing Your Coupons

2009-09-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

There are probably nearly just as many ways to organize coupons as there are hardcore coupon shoppers out there. The key is to experiment a bit until you find a way that works best for you and your household! After a year of coupon shopping, I've finally come up with a system that works well for me. I can't guarantee that it will work for you, but I will share in the hopes that it might help some of you who are just starting out or those who've been doing it a while and haven't yet felt like they found a good working system. Here's a little video I made illustrating my current system:

I highly recommend the use of a zippered binder for you to carry coupons to store. Some folks will use giant boxes (no I'm not kidding!) and cart these around while shopping - and this will allow for some really awesome deals when you spot stuff that's unadvertised or clearance deals but for me, personally, that is too much of a chore. I'd rather have stuff planned out ahead of time and have my coupons ready for use then lugging an oversized box around and then hunting around in it for minutes on end when shopping. Shopping with kids in tow is difficult enough as it is...especially when one is strapped to your chest while you're shopping.

My carry to store binder has a section where I can pop in receipts and copies of submitted rebate forms/receipts, a zippered section on the interior where I can put coupons that won't fit into the standard baseball card sized insert, a pair of scissors and a handheld calculator (because like the old Talking Barbie of my youth, I suck at math!). In the front of the 3 hole punched section, I have pockets for rebates which I have not yet qualified for so I can pop the receipts in when I purchase qualifying items, 3 pages of baseball card inserts for good winetags and FREE coupons that I can use wherever and then sections for each store I shop at (CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Harris Teeter, Lowe's Foods, Kroger, Food Lion, Target and Misc). My CVS section also includes all 3 of my CVS ExtraCare cards and their corresponding coupons/ECBs.

At home, I have a file system for inserts and All You Magazine coupons. These are placed in file folders labelled with date of insert/magazine- inserts are also filed by type of insert (RedPlum, Smart Source or Proctor & Gamble). When Sundays roll around, I'll tear apart each of my inserts (I typically have 10-12 on hand) and separate them based on pages so that each like page will be filed with each like page. This makes it easier to clip many of the same when needed for shopping or trades.

I used to clip every single coupon from every single insert and then file them in an oversized baseball card collector book by category (ie bread, personal hygiene, snacks etc). This just got to be too much work. You'll learn as you go that there are many coupons in the inserts that you'll never use or need. Why bother clipping if you're not going to actually use these? I switched to filing the entire insert pages unclipped and it's saved me a lot of time and hassle.

Each day, I typically get A LOT of non-insert items from trades, coupon trains (these are fun things you can join as a trader on http://www.hotcouponworld.com/) writing manufacturers for coupons or collecting blinkies/peelies/tearpads from stores. I have a separate expandable file for these that are separated alphabetically by brand name. This makes it easy to just pop them into after I receive these and also easy to recover when trading or getting ready to shop.

You can do a search on the internet for methods of organization and find hundreds of ways to do so. You'll also find that you'll usually want to tweak a method once you adopt one. Don't throw your hands up in frustration if something's not working for you- change systems or tweak the one that you have until you find something that works well for you!

Handy Dandy CVS ECBs

2009-09-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

It looks like a couple of consecutive blah weeks at CVS so I decided to burn through some of the nearly $80 worth of ECBs I've accumulated on various household needs. I ended up getting the following stuff for just over $5 out of pocket:

Jumbo pack of CVS brand toilet paper (24 rolls)
2- 100 ct. bottles of prenatal vitamins (no, I'm not preggers again- just still nursing!)
2- 30 ct packs of Probiotic Acidopholus tabs
1- toddler toothbrush & toothpaste
2 marble composition notebooks

I got more bang for the buck by separating purchase into 3 transactions and using one $5/$25 q and two $2/$10 vitamin autofill coupons. And I earned another $2 ECB by using a raincheck for the marble composition notebooks.

Grocery Deals - week of 9/02

2009-09-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this yesterday and make this a weekly Wednesday feature, but Stella's been a bit of a fuss-budget as of late. My apologies! Lots of Labor Day themed specials on meat, paper plates & plastic cups can be found at practically every store. Here are my picks for this week's best deals at Triangle area grocery stores.

Food Lion

Sadly, FL has discontinued their Guiding Stars FLIP (a store specific internet printable) that would allow you to get free or nearly free produce, eggs and other healthy stuff. This was a $1.00 coupon that could be used on any "healthy" item in the store- paired with specials and carefully measured produce, you could get some really wonderful deals on whole foods. I'm hoping they'll bring it back.

I'm not a big FL shopper since they don't double q's but I do stop by on occasion for really good deals.

This week, they'll have free or nearly free Mt. Olive Sweet Relish if you have 50 cent coupons handy from 7/19 or 8/16 insert. If you haven't exhausted your supply of Glade Fragrance collection coupons you can get free or cheap candles since they're on sale B1G1. With the $3 printable or the $3 All You coupon, you can get these for free. If you have $2 insert coupons, you'll pay $1 for each.

Harris Teeter

There's a rumor swirling on HCW right now that HT will alternate between super doubles and triples every other week until the end of year. I don't know about you, but I find this prospect both exciting and exhausting. Guess we'll find out soon. In the interim, they have some good freebies and cheapies this week with their typical doubling of q's.

My personal faves? Sorrento string cheese can be bought for a mere 33 cents each pack when you use the $1 coupon from 8/23 Smart Source. Coke 12 packs are also on sale for a rock bottom 4/$10 ($2.50 each). There's a limit of 8. I've traded for a bunch of $1/2 q's so I'll be stocking up on our beloved Coke Zero for $2 each 12 pack.

You can also get Reynolds Recycled 35 ft aluminum foil for 14 cents with the 75 cent coupon found in 8/16 Smart Source insert.

Both Smithfield Bacon and French's worcestershire sauce will be free with printables (click on each item to find and print!).

Kroger

No big deals going on at Kroger this week- will buy a couple more packs of the Kroger Comforts diapers for our little munchkin but nothing else really stood out for me this week.

Lowe's

Lowe's has an instasave special (sign up on their website) where you can get a 4 lb. bag of sugar for 99 cents (limit 2).

Other standouts this week include Lawry's marinades for 54 cents with 50 cent insert coupon, Kellogg's cereals (selected kids flavors) for 65 cents a box with $2/2 insert coupon, A1 Marinade for FREE with $2/1 insert coupon.

Please feel free to post comments if you spot other good deals at any of these stores, Super Walmart or Super Target!

New Printables Out Today!

2009-09-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

Both http://www.coupons.com/ and http://www.smartsource.com/ have been restocked! Check out each - certain coupons will appear on both sites. Be sure to print out the 2 copies you're allowed for the ones you want.

The Green Giant .50/1 will likely go fast (if they're even still there!) so be sure to get your 4 copies of these (2 from coupons and 2 from smartsource).

Why I Coupon Shop...

2009-08-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

The answer is right in this picture! I coupon shop to help us save $$$ so I can continue to stay home and care for this adorable munchkin. Yes, it takes time & energy to find the best deals but it's totally worth the effort. I've cut our grocery and household items charges in half (at least!) and we actually have more stuff we considered luxuries than we did when I started coupon shopping (free candles & lotions & cleansers!).

I'll be back out to take advantage of Walgreens deals shortly but wanted to write a quick blog about my post-library Kroger trip. I did pretty well- bought a gallon of milk, 7 Healthy Choice meals, six Kroger 30 minute Sesame Ginger marinades (these are yummy with chicken and on sale for $1 each this week), 2 Shamrock Farms rocket refuels milk, a jumbo pack of Kroger comforts diapers, chicken bouillon, a 2 liter of Sunkist for the girlies, 2 Purex Naturals laundry detergents (75 cents each thanks to sale price coupled with $1.50/$5 Kroger bonus coupon and 2 doubled 50 cent manufacturer IPs) and a pack of Kroger Reduced Sugar Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal (super yummy brekkie) for a little over $30.

The diapers in particular were a very good deal. The pack was on sale for $6.99 and there's a $3 internet coupon out there bringing the cost down to a very cool $3.99 - you can print the internt coupon from here, just click on Kroger in the itemized selections to find it. Since you can print this twice, I was going to get two packs while there, but could only use one. So I had them put back the other back and will get it during another trip. We'll need to go back for the Coke deal that's going on once I get all my $1 Coke coupons that I recently traded for in my mailbox.

15% off at Walgreens - TODAY ONLY!

2009-08-31T05:01:00.000-07:00

Check out the Walgreen's website today. You can print out a discount card good today, August 31st, only for 15% off (20% off Walgreen's products!). Go to www.walgreens.com to get your discount card. Use it for register rewards items along with manufacturer coupons for even bigger savings!

Drugstore Deals week of 8/29

2009-08-29T18:40:00.001-07:00

If you're one of the lucky folks who got a $4 off Natural Instincts coupon in your 8/02 P&G Saver insert, this is a great week for you! Both CVS and Rite Aid are offering specials which turn out to be moneymakers with use of this coupon (see links to each store's sections on Southern Savers below). Alas, us here in Raleigh did not get this valuable coupon and will be missing out- no moneymaking hair dye for me. I was thinking of trying to make a quick trade for it then realized this would be impossible as the coupons expire on Monday. *Big frown*

Oh well, there are still other moneymakers to be had...

The highlights:

CVS

$3-$4 moneymaker with the purchase of Glade Scented Reed Diffuser 1.6 ounce or Soy Candle 4.9-10 ounce (limit 1 per card). I'll be using the $3 off coupon found in August's All You as I don't have the larger $4 coupon that was found in 5/31 SmartSource Insert. Item rings up at $6.99 and you'll get $6.99 back in ECBs.

$5 moneymaker with the purchase of the Bayer Contour Monitor (limit 2 per card). You can get these for free with the use of insert coupons for $20-$30 that are out there as these are on sale for $14.99 this week so you'll spend nothing but tax and get $5 back in ECBs.

As always, you can increase your savings/moneymaking potential by using an autofill coupon ($4/20) or a CRT for $5/$25 if you have these handy.

For all the deals (including the hair color one mentioned above), click here to be redirected to the CVS weekly deals section on Southern Savers.

Rite Aid

Stim-U-Dent Mint Flavor 100 ct will be free after $1.49 SCR. I'm not even sure what these are but if they're gum or mints, I'll be picking one up.

Get a $10 Rite Aid gift card when you buy $30 in P&G Products (the Clairol Natural Instincts would qualify and when you use the $4 coupon and the $5/$25 Rite Aid printable that's out there, you'll be making $$ on this deal!).

Since I don't have the $4 Clairol coupon, I'm going to take advantage of this deal by buying Cover Girl products. Jenny lays out a great scenario involving foundation and face products. Click here for all the details and other Rite Aid deals this week.

Walgreens

There are lots of freebies to be had at Walgreens this week thanks to Register Rewards program. Freebies include Rembrandt toothpaste, Reach products, Carefree pantiliners, men's razors and toothbrushes- since we're pretty well stocked on dental hygiene products etc., I'm probably not going to take advantage of any of these. Rather, I'll just stock up on cheap newspapers while I'm there. I think I'm still harboring major resentment against Walgreens over their failure to keep Huggies wipes in stock this past week.

You can find all the details on deals here if you're up for shopping at Walgreens.

Happy shopping all!

Couponing 101- Lesson One

2009-08-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Picture me doing my best Jack Nicholson from Batman impression as I repeat a question often posed by cashiers or those behind me in the checkout lane when shopping as of late..."where does she get such wonderful coupons????"

The answer? Most in my binder come from a couponers bread and butter- that of the Sunday paper inserts. I buy multiple copies of inserts- typically 10-12 each week. Our local Walgreens sell these at 50 cents less than other stores and I've learned that some Dollar Trees will even sell them for $1! Some folks opt to "dumpster dive" for additional newspaper inserts. I am not one of those folks (but no judgments to those of you who are!) Do not bother to scoop up multiple inserts on holiday weekends as you'll find that there are no inserts to be found in a holiday weekend paper.

After couponing for awhile and frequenting various message boards, I've learned that different regions get different coupons- not only for different type of products, but the coupon's face value can even vary from region to region and paper to paper. When super doubles are around, you'll be hoping for $1 and $1.50 coupons for your staple items; when it's triples, you'll be wishing for 50 cent and 75 cent coupon for maximum savings. So how do you get the most bang for your buck? You can hope to get lucky from your paper's inserts...or you can do what I do- trade coupons to get those for the products you need in the most desirable face values!

Trading coupons can be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. There are many sites for which you can trade coupons. There are also sites out there for "clipping services" where you can pay for certain coupons. I don't pay for coupons. Well, that is not entirely true- there are sometimes that I will make a paypal gift as part of a trade- but I don't use clipping services at all. I trade quite frequently on http://www.hotcouponworld.com/. How it typically works is you'll try to work out a trade where it's a dollar for dollar type of exchange- or as close to it as you can come (ie, if you're looking for 10- $1/1 oreo cakester coupons, your trade offer would likely be for $10 worth of coupons). You can also trade with paypal as currency like I mentioned above or for forever stamps- generally these types of trades will work out as 10 cents on the dollar for coupon value (so if you have a trade for $20 worth of coupons, you'd either trade with $2 of a paypal gift or about 5 forever stamps).

I also get coupons online. Typically, you can only print out two internet coupons from your computer/IP address for a specific item. I've grown to use these more and more. I've read that many stores are encounter lots of coupon fraud- so some merchants will not accept these entirely. I haven't yet run across a store that doesn't accept these and I really really hope I won't.

I've recently discovered another great source for coupons at Walmart. It's a magazine that is only sold there entitled "All You." I've started purchasing multiple copies and will likely continue to do so. There are some great coupons you can find in this magazine!

There are other ways of getting coupons- blinkies (those found on the beeping red coupon dispensers along a store's aisles), peelies (those found stuck to the products themselves), hangtags (those found in a hangtag on the neck of a product) and winetags (one of my personal faves as previously discussed in the blog). I'm not a big fan of the blinkie or peelie q's because many of these will not double or triple. You can tell if a coupon will automatically double or triple by looking at the barcode on the coupon- if it starts with a 5, it should double/triple, it it starts with a 9, it will not double/triple.

You can also email manufacturers of products you love and request coupons! I'm going to be doing more and more of this as several of our fave products do not typically have coupons issued in Sunday inserts or magazines.

If any of you have any other tips for hunting coupons, feel free to share!!!

There should be lots of drugstore goodies to be had this coming weekend- I will try to post what I feel to be the best finds tomorrow.

Our next couponing lesson will be ORGANIZING- a trouble spot for most of us who have accumulated an obscene amount of coupons....stay tuned!

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Round 3

2009-08-28T19:11:00.001-07:00

Great trip to HT this evening! Landed alot of free lunch school supply items. Thanks to a Stella Artois NBPR seafood purchase rebate, this one will be a moneymaker once rebate is filed & received. Yay for rebates!

Here's the booty:

3 Starbucks mocha frappucinos (29 cents each after coupon)
1 Snyders Pretzel pretzel sandwich multi-pack ($1 after coupon)
3 Nabisco Oreo Mini Cakester 100 calorie multi-packs (FREE after coupons)
1 small can of Underwood Chicken spread (FREE after coupon)
1 Arnold Thins Whole Wheat sandwich bread (99 cents after coupon)
6 pouches of Bumblebee Salmon (FREE after coupons- had 2 different types of seafood WTs)
1/4 lb of honey ham (FREE after coupon)
1 Myoplex protein bar (FREE after coupon)
1 Axe Dual shampoo (FREE after coupon)
1 HT Nonfat Cottage Cheese (full price @ $2.67- wish I had a cheese WT for this!)
2 Lance sandwich snacks multipacks (FREE after coupon)
1 large bottle of parsley flakes (FREE after coupon)
1 Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar 100 calorie multipacks (FREE after coupon)

Total OOP: $5.64-- and I received another Catalina for a free multipack of Breyers Inspirations yogurt!

VIC & Q savings: 60.36

I'll be submitting a $10 MIR for a $20 seafood purchase (the pouches of salmon).

Harris Teeter, Super Doubles Round 2

2009-08-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

There really aren't enough great coupon/sales match-ups to warrant daily trips to HT, in my humble opinion. Today was not a banner savings day by any means but I did get stuff we needed at reasonable prices. Here's the booty:

1 32 oz. bottle of Ocean Spray Cranenergy (used $1 q to make it 99 cents)
1 20 oz. Coke Zero (free thanks to a Coke rewards q)
3 pouches of BumbleBee salmon (free thanks to $1 off seafood winetag q's)
1/2 lb of Turkey (free thanks to $1 off deli meat winetag q's)
1/2 lb of Honey Ham (split in 2 orders of 1/4 lb - 50 cents thanks to 2- $1 off deli meat winetags)
4 lbs of bananas (alas, no coupon!)
2 Bloom Plants (free thanks to 2- $2 off flowers winetag)
1 California Pizza Kitchen pizza ($3.69 thanks to $1 IP)
1 Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan cheese ($1.99 thanks to $1 tearpad q)
1 multipack of YoPlus yogurt (free thanks to $1 IP)
2 multipacks of Sargento string cheese ($5 for both thanks to $1/2 tearpad q)
2 multipacks of Thomas' bagels (no qs for these- rang up at $3.99 as B1G1 price)

Total OOP: $19.32

VIC & Q savings: $42.09

Not bad at all but not one of my recordbook trips, that is for sure!

Our contest has a winner!

2009-08-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Congrats go out to TampaGal (another HCW board member)! She has chosen the coupon binder as her prize.

Thanks to everyone for entering!

There is such a thing as a free lunch!

2009-08-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm not a frequent shopper of Whole Foods (or as it's been not so lovingly dubbed "Whole Paycheck") but these freebies made it worth the trip after hubby and I hit the gym for some speedwork on the treadmill- Whole Foods was a short hop away from our gym.

You can get coupons for a free bouquet or a free rotisserie chicken (based on text on face of coupon, I don't think you can use both coupons in one transaction- so hubby and I split up with me picking out the flowers, him picking out a chicken).

Sorry for you Yanks- these coupons are valid only in GA, SC, NC, AL & TN. For free flower coupon, click here. For your free rotisserie chicken, click here. These coupons are good until September 15! The chicken made a most welcome post-run lunch, paired with some fresh grapes, pineapple and buttered whole grain bread.

HT Super Doubles Round 1

2009-08-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure if it was worth waking up for, but off I went to Harris Teeter bright and early this morning for the first day of Super Doubles. Here is what I bought:

2 Starbucks Mocha Frappucinos
2 Fruit 20 Waters
1 multipack of Dannon YoPlus Yogurt
1 Dawn Foam Dish Detergent
1 Dawn Hand Renewal Dish Detergent
2 four packs of Dole Mandarin Oranges
2 multipacks of Dannon Dan-o-nino
3 Clearasil Tinted Acne Cream
2 packs of Borden Fat Free American Cheese
3 packets of Bumblebee Salmon

Total OOP: 53 cents and I got a Catalina for a free multipack of Breyers Inspiration yogurt!

VIC & Coupons Savings: 56.06

Sweet!

Today's Shopping

2009-08-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been running around quite a bit today thanks to Stella's one year appointment this morning (poor thing had four shots!!!) and my 6 month dental appt this afternoon. In the midst of all the running around, I did manage to get some shopping done and took advantage of the CVS Glade Sense & Spray deal (as well as score some free Reese's PB cups thanks to this Sunday's 55/1 coupon).

Unfortunately for me, I did not have an ECB lower than $10, so I was out of pocket $3.49 for the 6 Glade Sense & Sprays and 8 Reeses PB cups but I did get $9 back in ECBs so it was still a good trip.

I tried to get some more baby wipes from Walgreens but struck out at two different stores. My mood brightened after following up these fruitless stops with a quick run to Harris Teeter for free Shamrock milk- I picked up 10 bottles of their Rocket Refuel (which is essentially like a chocolate protein drink) for the mind blowing total of 10 cents. A penny each! I'm going to add these to my wishlist for trades on HCW for sure.