So this is a super easy deal for anyone to get... so I wanted to share it! :) If you've ever used coupons, you probably know that BIC often puts out $3 off coupons, which is a high dollar coupon. :) Well, one came out last Sunday in the Smart Source insert. And you can always get a 10-count of disposable razors at Wal-Mart for 2.97. So, that makes the razors totally free! (and you actually make 3 cents! ;-)).
And I wanted to share this not only because it's a SUPER easy deal to get (just clip the coupons and take them in), but because the Star Telegram is also running discounts on store newspapers right now. (they've done it for a couple of weeks... I'm not sure how long it will last) But you can save 40% off the sticker price, making a 2-pack of Sunday papers just $3! 1.50 really is a great price for a Sunday paper! (Since it's Saturday, some stores may have even deeper discounts on last week's paper. But you should easily still be able to find some, even if you have to pay $3 for two of them :))
SO... even if you don't have a paper laying around and don't have any of the coupons, you could go out and buy a paper... or 4... or 10.... and even if you ONLY used the BIC coupon and no others (which I wouldn't do... but if you feel the need to do so, feel free to send all your other coupons my way! ;-))..... the savings would still more than pay for itself, since you'd get $3 in free razors for every 1.50 spent :)
I got four, by the way. Just because that's how many papers I've been getting the last couple of weeks :) And it was so easy... I needed to go to the store for baby wipes, so I just picked out the razor coupons, clipped them, and stuck them in my wallet. And now I have 40 razors that cost me nothing! (And actually earned me .12! :)) So that's the razor deal. :)
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Pizza Deal!
So I wanted to share this deal because it made me pretty happy. :) We don't eat frozen pizza a whole lot, but I have definitely been known to whip one out when it's a gymnastics or church night and we're running short on time. (I add a big spinach salad on the side and don't feel so guilty. ;-)). Plus, I figure it can't hurt to have a few of these laying around when the baby comes (if they make it that long; my husband does not have the same reserves I do when it comes to frozen pizza.)
So here's the deal.
Tom Thumb has their DiGiorno pizzas on sale for $5 each. They're regularly 6.99.
There is also a coupon out there for Buy 2, Get 1 Free on these pizzas. You can download them to your Tom Thumb card at Tomthumb.com
So you get 3 and ring them up. $15 for three. But instead of just crediting you $5 (the price of the 1 free pizza), you actually get 6.99 off (so you get credited the ORIGINAL, full price of the pizza... not the sale price you'd actually be paying without the coupon).
So... you actually only pay 8.01 for all three pizzas. (I do not know if it gives you the credit of the full priced pizza if you use a paper coupon, but it does work if you load the coupon onto your tom thumb card :) But either way, you'd still get 3 pizzas for $10 which is a good deal. :)).
AND THEN... you will also get a $2 catalina coupon that will print at the register. (It's $2 off your next purchase, no limits or specific products or anything... just a free $2 next time you shop at Tom thumb :)).
So you're actually spending 6.01 on three pizzas! :) :) :)
I did not discover this on my own. I do have to give full credit to mydallasmommy.com (http://www.mydallasmommy.com/category/tom-thumb)
The $5 price is good for the next 2 days, by the way :) Enjoy your pizza! :)
Melissa
So here's the deal.
Tom Thumb has their DiGiorno pizzas on sale for $5 each. They're regularly 6.99.
There is also a coupon out there for Buy 2, Get 1 Free on these pizzas. You can download them to your Tom Thumb card at Tomthumb.com
So you get 3 and ring them up. $15 for three. But instead of just crediting you $5 (the price of the 1 free pizza), you actually get 6.99 off (so you get credited the ORIGINAL, full price of the pizza... not the sale price you'd actually be paying without the coupon).
So... you actually only pay 8.01 for all three pizzas. (I do not know if it gives you the credit of the full priced pizza if you use a paper coupon, but it does work if you load the coupon onto your tom thumb card :) But either way, you'd still get 3 pizzas for $10 which is a good deal. :)).
AND THEN... you will also get a $2 catalina coupon that will print at the register. (It's $2 off your next purchase, no limits or specific products or anything... just a free $2 next time you shop at Tom thumb :)).
So you're actually spending 6.01 on three pizzas! :) :) :)
I did not discover this on my own. I do have to give full credit to mydallasmommy.com (http://www.mydallasmommy.com/category/tom-thumb)
The $5 price is good for the next 2 days, by the way :) Enjoy your pizza! :)
Melissa
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Over a year since I updated this blog. Shame on me. I've found myself talking with more than one person lately about saving money, couponing, and other related topics. So I thought I'd re-visit this blog and share what *I've* been up to when it comes to those things. And I had no idea it'd been so long since I'd written anything here. :-/
If you're at all interested in saving money, you've probably watched Extreme Couponing on TLC. Let me just say I don't do that. I don't keep a stockpile under my bed and on top of my fire place hearth or even in my pantry. But I will share what I *do* do. I'm no expert. I'm not great. But I feel like what I do is much more "typical" and sensible for the every day person (as opposed to the stockpiler).
1. I do buy things I need every week. I start with what our family needs and go from there. After that's done, I might add in deals that can't be passed up.
2. I do buy some things in bulk when the deal is there and when it makes sense. But the majority of my shopping is not done in bulk.
3. I do shop every week (every Friday usually).
4. I do use coupons.
5. I do keep a binder :O
So last week, I had some coupons that were expiring on Friday. Tom Thumb had sent out this great mailer at the 1st of November. They included: 20% off of frozen products, 20% off meat and produce, 20% off paper products, and 2 coupons for $10 off any purchase of $50 or more :)
I'd already used my $10 off ones as well as the others, but I wanted to stock up on meat just a little... so I decided to use my 20% off meat and my 20% off frozen entrees. PLUS they were having a deal where if you spent $75, you got a $10 coupon (they run this usually once a month I think. Very often :)).
Here's what I ended up with:
A pot roast: 4.50
(It was regularly 9.38. I saved 3.76 with my TT card, and then I got another 1.12 knocked off with my 20% off meat coupon. So 4.50 for an entire pot roast that will be going in my crock pot tomorrow :D)
A Curel Ham 4.50
(Regularly 10.35, saved 2.22 with my card and then 1.63 with my 20% off. But there's also a $2 off coupon out there right now, so I got an extra $2 off :D)
4-5 Pounds of Chicken breasts 11.17
(these were NOT on sale; I just got the 20% off)
93% ground beef (4-5 pounds) 10.60
(it was on sale, so I saved 8.86 with my card and then 2.65 with my coupon)
I also ended up with a huge lasagna that feeds us for many meals for 5.99, eggs for 1.49, Reynolds foil for 1.94, A big pack of individual chips for 4.99, little smokies for 2.40, plus produce that included bananas, apples, bell peppers, celery, an onion, and a huge thing of salad. I got quite a few other things, but I'll stop there.
I wanted to use my $10 coupon then and there... and I actually ended up having to add something from my 2nd transaction just to get myself up to $75. My total for my 1st transaction ended up being 76.10 with tax.
I saved 14.69 in paper coupons, 8.48 in Just for U savings (their new savings plan that helps you save even more on top of your card savings), and then 20.67 in card savings (although I don't give those as *much* credit as the coupon savings just because they are based on the full retail price, which sometimes doesn't even really exist b/c they never actually have things marked up that high :-P). So a total of 43.84 in savings according to my receipt and a 37% savings.
BUT THEN.....
I had another transaction. This one was more fun. ;)
I got a 12 pack of toilet paper for $4
(They were on sale for $5 and I had a $1 off coupon)
and Dove Men's body washes for .50 a piece!!! :D :D
(they were on sale for 2.50 and I had a $2 off coupon for each one. I only had 2, so I only got 2)
I also had one of my loaves of bread in this transaction, as well as a loaf of garlic bread. And I ended up having to grab a nearby box of mac and cheese because I wasn't quite at the $10 I needed to be at.
My total ended up being .94 for all of those things!!!! I used the $10 coupon they'd given me on my 1st transaction, which ended up saving me 98% for the 2nd transaction (I saved 5.00 in paper coupons as well as 7.82 in card savings).
So yeah.... .94 for a 12-pack of toilet paper, 2 Men's body wash (yes, full size!), a loaf of Mrs. Baird's bread, a loaf of garlic bread, and a box of Macaroni and cheese. I was pretty pleased :)
Then I headed to Wal-Mart for 3 more things. I needed some foundation, lip gloss, and some Zantac (my best friend this pregnancy!) My Tom Thumb store down-sized their makeup section awhile back, so I tend to just get makeup items at Wal-Mart. :-P
My total was 18.19 for the 3 items, and I only had 1 coupon... for $5 off Zantac. So my total ended up being 14.07.
So my total bill was 91.11 for all the things I needed that week (again, I didn't list all of them here) and I got us about 2-3 weeks worth of meat for me to cook dinners with. That way, I can leave meat off my list for at LEAST this week and probably even next week, which shaves a good portion of my weekly bill off. :)
And that's my detailed grocery shopping trip for last week :) My budget was $100 so I actually came in under budget (I went back later and picked up some sodas and things we needed to host a get-together on Sunday).
Like I said, not super-complicated... I prepared ahead of time, took advantage of really good deals on things I probably wouldn't have put on my list for another week (particularly the Zantac and the Dove Men's Body wash). And I cut a couple of inserts worth of coupons, as well as printed some off from online. But nothing super crazy.
I enjoy being very scaled down from what you see on TV, but also saving money (and in case you're wondering, yes 99% of the time I do actually spend less on my Tom Thumb items than I would at Wal-Mart. I've shopped TT for enough years to be able to walk into Wal-Mart and go "nope, that's cheaper at TT. Ok... I can get a better deal on that here at Wal mart, etc" And if I feel like I CAN save money at Wal-Mart, I usually go there first and check prices on a few things. Often, I walk out with a small amount of my list but Tom Thumb nearly always has the staples I need for less- like orange juice, bread, eggs, salad, etc. So I DO even it out and get things at WM if they're cheaper :)).
The end. ;)
If you're at all interested in saving money, you've probably watched Extreme Couponing on TLC. Let me just say I don't do that. I don't keep a stockpile under my bed and on top of my fire place hearth or even in my pantry. But I will share what I *do* do. I'm no expert. I'm not great. But I feel like what I do is much more "typical" and sensible for the every day person (as opposed to the stockpiler).
1. I do buy things I need every week. I start with what our family needs and go from there. After that's done, I might add in deals that can't be passed up.
2. I do buy some things in bulk when the deal is there and when it makes sense. But the majority of my shopping is not done in bulk.
3. I do shop every week (every Friday usually).
4. I do use coupons.
5. I do keep a binder :O
So last week, I had some coupons that were expiring on Friday. Tom Thumb had sent out this great mailer at the 1st of November. They included: 20% off of frozen products, 20% off meat and produce, 20% off paper products, and 2 coupons for $10 off any purchase of $50 or more :)
I'd already used my $10 off ones as well as the others, but I wanted to stock up on meat just a little... so I decided to use my 20% off meat and my 20% off frozen entrees. PLUS they were having a deal where if you spent $75, you got a $10 coupon (they run this usually once a month I think. Very often :)).
Here's what I ended up with:
A pot roast: 4.50
(It was regularly 9.38. I saved 3.76 with my TT card, and then I got another 1.12 knocked off with my 20% off meat coupon. So 4.50 for an entire pot roast that will be going in my crock pot tomorrow :D)
A Curel Ham 4.50
(Regularly 10.35, saved 2.22 with my card and then 1.63 with my 20% off. But there's also a $2 off coupon out there right now, so I got an extra $2 off :D)
4-5 Pounds of Chicken breasts 11.17
(these were NOT on sale; I just got the 20% off)
93% ground beef (4-5 pounds) 10.60
(it was on sale, so I saved 8.86 with my card and then 2.65 with my coupon)
I also ended up with a huge lasagna that feeds us for many meals for 5.99, eggs for 1.49, Reynolds foil for 1.94, A big pack of individual chips for 4.99, little smokies for 2.40, plus produce that included bananas, apples, bell peppers, celery, an onion, and a huge thing of salad. I got quite a few other things, but I'll stop there.
I wanted to use my $10 coupon then and there... and I actually ended up having to add something from my 2nd transaction just to get myself up to $75. My total for my 1st transaction ended up being 76.10 with tax.
I saved 14.69 in paper coupons, 8.48 in Just for U savings (their new savings plan that helps you save even more on top of your card savings), and then 20.67 in card savings (although I don't give those as *much* credit as the coupon savings just because they are based on the full retail price, which sometimes doesn't even really exist b/c they never actually have things marked up that high :-P). So a total of 43.84 in savings according to my receipt and a 37% savings.
BUT THEN.....
I had another transaction. This one was more fun. ;)
I got a 12 pack of toilet paper for $4
(They were on sale for $5 and I had a $1 off coupon)
and Dove Men's body washes for .50 a piece!!! :D :D
(they were on sale for 2.50 and I had a $2 off coupon for each one. I only had 2, so I only got 2)
I also had one of my loaves of bread in this transaction, as well as a loaf of garlic bread. And I ended up having to grab a nearby box of mac and cheese because I wasn't quite at the $10 I needed to be at.
My total ended up being .94 for all of those things!!!! I used the $10 coupon they'd given me on my 1st transaction, which ended up saving me 98% for the 2nd transaction (I saved 5.00 in paper coupons as well as 7.82 in card savings).
So yeah.... .94 for a 12-pack of toilet paper, 2 Men's body wash (yes, full size!), a loaf of Mrs. Baird's bread, a loaf of garlic bread, and a box of Macaroni and cheese. I was pretty pleased :)
Then I headed to Wal-Mart for 3 more things. I needed some foundation, lip gloss, and some Zantac (my best friend this pregnancy!) My Tom Thumb store down-sized their makeup section awhile back, so I tend to just get makeup items at Wal-Mart. :-P
My total was 18.19 for the 3 items, and I only had 1 coupon... for $5 off Zantac. So my total ended up being 14.07.
So my total bill was 91.11 for all the things I needed that week (again, I didn't list all of them here) and I got us about 2-3 weeks worth of meat for me to cook dinners with. That way, I can leave meat off my list for at LEAST this week and probably even next week, which shaves a good portion of my weekly bill off. :)
And that's my detailed grocery shopping trip for last week :) My budget was $100 so I actually came in under budget (I went back later and picked up some sodas and things we needed to host a get-together on Sunday).
Like I said, not super-complicated... I prepared ahead of time, took advantage of really good deals on things I probably wouldn't have put on my list for another week (particularly the Zantac and the Dove Men's Body wash). And I cut a couple of inserts worth of coupons, as well as printed some off from online. But nothing super crazy.
I enjoy being very scaled down from what you see on TV, but also saving money (and in case you're wondering, yes 99% of the time I do actually spend less on my Tom Thumb items than I would at Wal-Mart. I've shopped TT for enough years to be able to walk into Wal-Mart and go "nope, that's cheaper at TT. Ok... I can get a better deal on that here at Wal mart, etc" And if I feel like I CAN save money at Wal-Mart, I usually go there first and check prices on a few things. Often, I walk out with a small amount of my list but Tom Thumb nearly always has the staples I need for less- like orange juice, bread, eggs, salad, etc. So I DO even it out and get things at WM if they're cheaper :)).
The end. ;)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Hi there!
So it has been awhile since I blogged. And I genuinely do have a good reason. To say our lives have been crazy lately is, unfortunately, an understatement. So many things have changed. But one thing still remains the same, and that is for us to get from financial survival to financial success.
So… where are we at? We’re taking Financial Peace University starting in September. I’ve heard so many amazing things about this course for so many years, and the stars (or God ;-)) came together this year so that we could finally do it when it came around at our church. Jeremy is making his own schedule, so he was able (at his wife’s insistance) to get almost Wednesday night off so that we could take the course together. So, there’s that. And I’m pumped about it!
We’re paying off debt. We’ve already got 2 debts paid off (our smallest, a la the Dave Ramsey plan) and we’re working on the third; it should be paid off no later or than the end of this year.
Side note***Let me take a second to clarify something here; we are not a huge debt family. By no means have we ever used credit cards recklessly or anything like that. We don’t hardly ever eat out; we go on maybe one trip a year (which we pay cash for), and we don’t have much of a social life at all (a lot of this is due to hubby’s work schedule, but it is what it is). I just want to be clear on that. We got into debt while I was in school and was not able to work as much (or at all, depending on the course load I was taking). In the 4 years since we had Abbie, our pay has decreased and our living expenses (as well as gas costs and the cost of living of course) have increased. It is for those reasons that we carry what debt we do. We’re not perfect, but our debt has never been about simply living outside our means. ;-) And we don’t use credit cards anymore at all. ***
So we’ve got 2 our of our 4 “major” debts paid off (these are the four I would like paid off before we buy a home). In all, we have 6 debts. Including 2 vehicles, they total almost $25,000. Some would call this huge; others would call it nothing. For me, it’s $25,000 more than I’d like to have.
So we’re doing Dave Ramsey… we’re paying off the debt….And… we’re pregnant!! :O
Juuust kidding! I just wanted to see if you were still paying attention. ;-) I love sharing how we’re doing things with other people, but me rambling on about all this gets kinda boring I think.
Two other things I’m doing?
1. Envelope system (I’m going to post on this later; I’d love feedback as to how others do theirs)
2. Couponing (I will also do a separate post on this).
With all of these things (and NO baby on the way! ;-)), I hope that we’ll be at a level of financial success by the end of the year.
So… where are we at? We’re taking Financial Peace University starting in September. I’ve heard so many amazing things about this course for so many years, and the stars (or God ;-)) came together this year so that we could finally do it when it came around at our church. Jeremy is making his own schedule, so he was able (at his wife’s insistance) to get almost Wednesday night off so that we could take the course together. So, there’s that. And I’m pumped about it!
We’re paying off debt. We’ve already got 2 debts paid off (our smallest, a la the Dave Ramsey plan) and we’re working on the third; it should be paid off no later or than the end of this year.
Side note***Let me take a second to clarify something here; we are not a huge debt family. By no means have we ever used credit cards recklessly or anything like that. We don’t hardly ever eat out; we go on maybe one trip a year (which we pay cash for), and we don’t have much of a social life at all (a lot of this is due to hubby’s work schedule, but it is what it is). I just want to be clear on that. We got into debt while I was in school and was not able to work as much (or at all, depending on the course load I was taking). In the 4 years since we had Abbie, our pay has decreased and our living expenses (as well as gas costs and the cost of living of course) have increased. It is for those reasons that we carry what debt we do. We’re not perfect, but our debt has never been about simply living outside our means. ;-) And we don’t use credit cards anymore at all. ***
So we’ve got 2 our of our 4 “major” debts paid off (these are the four I would like paid off before we buy a home). In all, we have 6 debts. Including 2 vehicles, they total almost $25,000. Some would call this huge; others would call it nothing. For me, it’s $25,000 more than I’d like to have.
So we’re doing Dave Ramsey… we’re paying off the debt….And… we’re pregnant!! :O
Juuust kidding! I just wanted to see if you were still paying attention. ;-) I love sharing how we’re doing things with other people, but me rambling on about all this gets kinda boring I think.
Two other things I’m doing?
1. Envelope system (I’m going to post on this later; I’d love feedback as to how others do theirs)
2. Couponing (I will also do a separate post on this).
With all of these things (and NO baby on the way! ;-)), I hope that we’ll be at a level of financial success by the end of the year.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Updates on us
Wow! Nearly a month since I blogged the last time? Yikes! I'm sure all 8 of you have been just biting your nails waiting on another blog from me! HAHA! ;-) No no no... I know many more people read and don't follow and I of course appreciate that. I love anyone who follows or doesn't, but I blog as much for me as anybody else ;-)
So what have we been doing to chase this ever-elusive American Dream of ours?
Well preschool summer camp is in full-swing... which is why you haven't heard from me ;-)
We are also in the midst of the Dave Ramsey plan and I have to say I'm super excited because we're getting ready to pay off our 1st two debts! :D :D :D These are the two that "start it all" so to speak, so I'm super-excited to have them paid off this month so that we can pay off one of our cars and our biggest (and only) credit card. Fun stuff! :) :)
I've also spent less than $30 on groceries the last 2 weeks (thanks to my "stockpiling) so that's fun :)
Other than that, the Garner house is just truckin' away (well if truckin' away means allowing your dishes to pile up, your kitchen floors to house stains of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and your laundry to pile to the ceiling ;-)).
We're getting into the groove of our new schedule (well Abbie and I are; nothing much has changed for Jeremy :)). We're preparing for the one vacation we're going to take this summer (to an awesome lake/tourist area in OK) and of course we're chipping away at our debt :D And I am thoroughly enjoying my newest business venture :D I feel like God has blessed me greatly. And we're chipping away at the American Dream we're chasing! :)
Melissa
So what have we been doing to chase this ever-elusive American Dream of ours?
Well preschool summer camp is in full-swing... which is why you haven't heard from me ;-)
We are also in the midst of the Dave Ramsey plan and I have to say I'm super excited because we're getting ready to pay off our 1st two debts! :D :D :D These are the two that "start it all" so to speak, so I'm super-excited to have them paid off this month so that we can pay off one of our cars and our biggest (and only) credit card. Fun stuff! :) :)
I've also spent less than $30 on groceries the last 2 weeks (thanks to my "stockpiling) so that's fun :)
Other than that, the Garner house is just truckin' away (well if truckin' away means allowing your dishes to pile up, your kitchen floors to house stains of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and your laundry to pile to the ceiling ;-)).
We're getting into the groove of our new schedule (well Abbie and I are; nothing much has changed for Jeremy :)). We're preparing for the one vacation we're going to take this summer (to an awesome lake/tourist area in OK) and of course we're chipping away at our debt :D And I am thoroughly enjoying my newest business venture :D I feel like God has blessed me greatly. And we're chipping away at the American Dream we're chasing! :)
Melissa
Thursday, May 26, 2011
I'm Stockpiling....
Ok, not really. But a little bit. Like I said in one of my last blogs, my goal is to get a good 1-3 months stockpile going so that I'm not making huge (or even BIG) hauls every week. In a house of 4 adults, 1 preschooler, 3 big dogs, and 3 big cats.... that's easy to do unless you plan :)
Originally, my plan wasn't to stockpile for even 1-3 months. But I'm taking couponing in stride and learning what works best for us. :)
So Abbie and I headed out today after naptime. It was just she and I, which is something I rarely do because it's very difficult. But thank God, it was wonderful, as I hoped it would be right after nap time ;-)
Tom Thumb is having a BUNCH of sales right now because of Memorial Day. Usually 90% of my grocery list is found at Kroger and hte other 10% at Tom Thumb. This week, I am pleased to say it was the opposite. :)
I'm going to break down what I got, how much I saved, and also how I use some of these things. I feel that last part is important because I have to admit that I see these women on TV (Extreme Couponing) and I think "Ok, that's great. But who really needs 600 bottles of Sundrop? Or 893 things of cheap noodles? 1200 boxes of sugary cereal?" Everything that comes in my house is probably getting opened within a couple of days, and to me that's important :)
So here's what I got:
* 2 boxes of Special K cereal (mama needs this for breakfast so I stay away from buttery toasts and fattening waffles) ;-)
* 2 boxes of Special K cereal bars (these are low-cal and are great when you're just a little hungry) Plus they're yummy
Ok, so here's what I did: I'd grabbed a Special K coupon booklet while I was wondering around TT last week. Got it home and realized it had over $10 in coupons for things from Splenda to fresh produce to milk. Well, as many of you know, you don't typically get coupons for things like that. So I was all over it! :)
So I used the coupon that said you could get $2 off ANY milk, ANY size if you bought a box of Special K cereal and a box of Special K cereal bars.
Great thing about coupons like this? You can also use coupons on the products you're buying! So it broke down like this:
2 boxes of cereal- 2.99 each (-$1 coupon I had for two) 4.98 for two
2 boxes of cereal bars- 2.79 each (-$2 coupon I had for two) $3.58 for both
I had two of each of these coupons(so 1 cereal and 1 cereal bar box was a pair; I had two pairs). Therefore, I got TWO $2 coupons off milk. So I bought two gallons of milk at 2.38 each... making the milk .38 per gallon! :) :)
They also had Banana Boat Sunscreens on sale for 4.99 each. (origianlly 10.79, but I pray nobody ever pays that for a bottle of sunscreen!) I had 2 coupons for $1 off each... so I got two of them at 3.99 each. And they're SPF 50 and they're the spray kind. :D Usually I only buy Blue Lizard for Abbie, but I know we'll be in and out and in and out this summer with my preschool going and I know I'll have other kids to apply sunscreen to sometimes as well... So I've been wanting some quick and easy spray sunscreen for her. These will be perfect for the 30-45 minutes we're out running around and sometimes playing in the kiddie pool. Plus, I have them on hand and I'm not using up my precious, expensive, uber-small bottle of the other lotions when I have to share with all my preschool kiddos ;-)
We were going to be out of dog food in a few days, so that was on my list as well. They had Kibbles and Bits on sale for 11.99 (originally 14.99), plus I had 1.50 coupon. It was by far the best deal, so I got 4 ;-)
So now we have over 80 lbs of dog food and I don't have to worry about that $15-$30 coming out of my grocery bill each week... at least not for a couple of weeks ;-) That should last us 4-5 weeks.
They also had Ritz crackers on sale; this is a favorite snack of Abbie's. I grabbed 4 big boxes of the whole wheat crackers. They were buy one, get one free and I had $1 coupon. So I got the 4 for 7.58, making them 1.89 a piece. These will easily last us 1-2 months and I'll use them for preschool snacks as well if I need to :)
Next up: Totino's pizzas. Yes, these are the cheapest (and probably the most unhealthy) pizzas you can buy. But boy are they YUMMY! And I'm not gonna lie... I pair them with fresh spinach salad and I don't feel bad about serving the pizzas ;-) They're super easy to make, especially when it's just me and Abbie for dinner. And I'm all about easy! :)
They were $1 each and I had $1/5 coupons. So I got 20 and spent $16.00
I needed dishwashing tablets and they had them on sale for 5.49 each. I had a .50 coupon that doubled, so I got 32 tablets for 4.49 each. I bought 2 and should be good on those for 1-2 months. :)
Some of their other deals included:
Cheez its and Keebler cookies (2 of my favorite indulgences!!) 2/$4
They also had some of their block cheeses on sale for 2/$4- I use these a lot to pair with apples and to shred for salads or to top off dishes that I make :)
Plus LOTS of super coupons! (For those who don't know, Super Coupons can be combined with manufacturer coupons! :):))
I also got some canned fruits for fruit salads and snacks as well as lunch meat, 100% juices for Abbie, some jelly for sandwiches, a few soft drinks, paper towels, canned dog food to go with our dry dog food, lots of dog treats, a large carton of eggs, 2 cartons of orange juice, and 2 packages of fresh salad.
I spent $154.99 and saved $100. Plus, I can knock quite a few things off my list for quite a few weeks. I'm happy :) I'm not tearing down walls for my stockpile quite yet, but I'm happy :)
Melissa
Originally, my plan wasn't to stockpile for even 1-3 months. But I'm taking couponing in stride and learning what works best for us. :)
So Abbie and I headed out today after naptime. It was just she and I, which is something I rarely do because it's very difficult. But thank God, it was wonderful, as I hoped it would be right after nap time ;-)
Tom Thumb is having a BUNCH of sales right now because of Memorial Day. Usually 90% of my grocery list is found at Kroger and hte other 10% at Tom Thumb. This week, I am pleased to say it was the opposite. :)
I'm going to break down what I got, how much I saved, and also how I use some of these things. I feel that last part is important because I have to admit that I see these women on TV (Extreme Couponing) and I think "Ok, that's great. But who really needs 600 bottles of Sundrop? Or 893 things of cheap noodles? 1200 boxes of sugary cereal?" Everything that comes in my house is probably getting opened within a couple of days, and to me that's important :)
So here's what I got:
* 2 boxes of Special K cereal (mama needs this for breakfast so I stay away from buttery toasts and fattening waffles) ;-)
* 2 boxes of Special K cereal bars (these are low-cal and are great when you're just a little hungry) Plus they're yummy
Ok, so here's what I did: I'd grabbed a Special K coupon booklet while I was wondering around TT last week. Got it home and realized it had over $10 in coupons for things from Splenda to fresh produce to milk. Well, as many of you know, you don't typically get coupons for things like that. So I was all over it! :)
So I used the coupon that said you could get $2 off ANY milk, ANY size if you bought a box of Special K cereal and a box of Special K cereal bars.
Great thing about coupons like this? You can also use coupons on the products you're buying! So it broke down like this:
2 boxes of cereal- 2.99 each (-$1 coupon I had for two) 4.98 for two
2 boxes of cereal bars- 2.79 each (-$2 coupon I had for two) $3.58 for both
I had two of each of these coupons(so 1 cereal and 1 cereal bar box was a pair; I had two pairs). Therefore, I got TWO $2 coupons off milk. So I bought two gallons of milk at 2.38 each... making the milk .38 per gallon! :) :)
They also had Banana Boat Sunscreens on sale for 4.99 each. (origianlly 10.79, but I pray nobody ever pays that for a bottle of sunscreen!) I had 2 coupons for $1 off each... so I got two of them at 3.99 each. And they're SPF 50 and they're the spray kind. :D Usually I only buy Blue Lizard for Abbie, but I know we'll be in and out and in and out this summer with my preschool going and I know I'll have other kids to apply sunscreen to sometimes as well... So I've been wanting some quick and easy spray sunscreen for her. These will be perfect for the 30-45 minutes we're out running around and sometimes playing in the kiddie pool. Plus, I have them on hand and I'm not using up my precious, expensive, uber-small bottle of the other lotions when I have to share with all my preschool kiddos ;-)
We were going to be out of dog food in a few days, so that was on my list as well. They had Kibbles and Bits on sale for 11.99 (originally 14.99), plus I had 1.50 coupon. It was by far the best deal, so I got 4 ;-)
So now we have over 80 lbs of dog food and I don't have to worry about that $15-$30 coming out of my grocery bill each week... at least not for a couple of weeks ;-) That should last us 4-5 weeks.
They also had Ritz crackers on sale; this is a favorite snack of Abbie's. I grabbed 4 big boxes of the whole wheat crackers. They were buy one, get one free and I had $1 coupon. So I got the 4 for 7.58, making them 1.89 a piece. These will easily last us 1-2 months and I'll use them for preschool snacks as well if I need to :)
Next up: Totino's pizzas. Yes, these are the cheapest (and probably the most unhealthy) pizzas you can buy. But boy are they YUMMY! And I'm not gonna lie... I pair them with fresh spinach salad and I don't feel bad about serving the pizzas ;-) They're super easy to make, especially when it's just me and Abbie for dinner. And I'm all about easy! :)
They were $1 each and I had $1/5 coupons. So I got 20 and spent $16.00
I needed dishwashing tablets and they had them on sale for 5.49 each. I had a .50 coupon that doubled, so I got 32 tablets for 4.49 each. I bought 2 and should be good on those for 1-2 months. :)
Some of their other deals included:
Cheez its and Keebler cookies (2 of my favorite indulgences!!) 2/$4
They also had some of their block cheeses on sale for 2/$4- I use these a lot to pair with apples and to shred for salads or to top off dishes that I make :)
Plus LOTS of super coupons! (For those who don't know, Super Coupons can be combined with manufacturer coupons! :):))
I also got some canned fruits for fruit salads and snacks as well as lunch meat, 100% juices for Abbie, some jelly for sandwiches, a few soft drinks, paper towels, canned dog food to go with our dry dog food, lots of dog treats, a large carton of eggs, 2 cartons of orange juice, and 2 packages of fresh salad.
I spent $154.99 and saved $100. Plus, I can knock quite a few things off my list for quite a few weeks. I'm happy :) I'm not tearing down walls for my stockpile quite yet, but I'm happy :)
Melissa
Saturday, May 14, 2011
My shopping experiences this week :)
On Thursday, I did my weekly grocery shopping. I needed quite a few things, so I got plenty organized before I went. On my list were things like dog food (our dogs easily go through 20 lbs a week), cat food, orange juice, lunch meat for sandwiches, laundry detergent and softener, trash compactor bags, fresh salad, sodas and more.
A few months ago, this kind of list easily would have run me $100-$150 for the week. And I would have been out of most of it within a week or two. This week, I spent less than $80 on all of it and then some :) I will also say that, although I am not at my $100 monthly grocery bill goal, I will be a lot closer when I have some of these things stocked up. Am I going to stockpile everything because I have 600 coupons? No, and I don't have 600 coupons for anything ;-) But my goal is to get to where I only need to go to the store for fresh things (produce, salad, maybe juice, etc) 2-3 weeks out of the month. And I think when I have built that SMALL stock, that's when my grocery bills will truly dwindle :)
Kroger was my 1st stop. They are having another Mega Event. If you're not familiar with their Mega Events, it's where you buy any 10 participating items (of which there are A LOT throughout the store) and you get $5 off at the register. So .50 off each item. Unfortunately, I didn't have coupons for a lot of their Mega Event items, but that was okay because I needed quite a bit of stuff this week anyway.
From this promo, I got
4 boxes of Eggo waffles (my 4-year-old eats them 24 hours a day!) I want to note here that I had gotten a circular in the mail saying the waffles were .99. When I got to the store, they were 1.79. Turns out, one of my local Kroger's (I have 2 within about 2 miles or less of me) is sending our circulars just for THEIR store. I didn't realize they were doing this and, hence, giving me somewhat misleading info since I haven't been shopping at the one from which I get the circulars. SO... I went up to customer service and the employee was nice enough to tell me they'd match the price in the circular. I was very glad because this way, I wasn't paying an extra .80 per box that I hadn't accounted for. :)
I also got 2 packs of Oscar Mayer lunch meat, of which we go through a lot of. 2.49 each.
I threw in some Capri Suns for Abbie as a treat b/c she enjoys them and I don't hardly ever keep them in the house. 1.66
I also got a bag of fresh salad for 1.99 :)
I got Kraft BBQ sauce because BBQ chicken was on my menu for this week. .50
Then I grabbed the fabric softener. The cashier made somewhat of a mistake, so instead of being 3.49, it was 4.24. But that's okay.
I spent 16.76 and saved 12.43. A 43% savings. I was happy :)
Then I had another transaction. This one was a little hairier so I wanted to seperate it (I also wanted to make sure there was no confusion with my 10 participating promo items).
First on my list was laundry detergent because we were completely OUT! :O I looked at all of their HE detergents and found that Purex was the best deal b/c I had a 3.00 coupon. It was on sale for 7.99 and I got it for 4.99. It will last us probably close to a month b/c it was 150 ounces. :)
I also grabbed some milk they had marked on clearance for 1.09 :) We always need milk. :)
I love Hormel pork tenderloins (because they're SUPER easy and yummy!) They had some of my favorites on sale for 7.99 and I had $1 off coupon. So I got it for 6.99 :)
Then I had a coupon I'd never seen before. It was for $1 ANY fresh beef in the store if I bought one Mrs. Dash spice. Well, I had another .50 coupon off the Ms.Dash spices (which doubled to $1 off). So I used both and got...
The spice for 1.50 (because they were also on sale 2/$5 or 2.50 each)
and the meat for 1.92. :)
I had some good Tostitos coupons, so we headed over that way. I had a coupon for both the salsa and the chips that I bought (making them 2.20 and 1.75 respectively I believe) And then I had ANOTHER coupon that, when I bought those 2 items, I got a free Pepsi Max. So I got that as well.
So...
One big thing of HE laundry detergent, Milk for the week, 2 liter of pepsi, Pork Tenderloin, bag of chips, salsa, Ms. Dash seasoning, and a pound of ground beef.... 21.30
13.51 saved (39%) :)
I made another stop after that, but I won't bore you with that quite yet. :)
Melissa
A few months ago, this kind of list easily would have run me $100-$150 for the week. And I would have been out of most of it within a week or two. This week, I spent less than $80 on all of it and then some :) I will also say that, although I am not at my $100 monthly grocery bill goal, I will be a lot closer when I have some of these things stocked up. Am I going to stockpile everything because I have 600 coupons? No, and I don't have 600 coupons for anything ;-) But my goal is to get to where I only need to go to the store for fresh things (produce, salad, maybe juice, etc) 2-3 weeks out of the month. And I think when I have built that SMALL stock, that's when my grocery bills will truly dwindle :)
Kroger was my 1st stop. They are having another Mega Event. If you're not familiar with their Mega Events, it's where you buy any 10 participating items (of which there are A LOT throughout the store) and you get $5 off at the register. So .50 off each item. Unfortunately, I didn't have coupons for a lot of their Mega Event items, but that was okay because I needed quite a bit of stuff this week anyway.
From this promo, I got
4 boxes of Eggo waffles (my 4-year-old eats them 24 hours a day!) I want to note here that I had gotten a circular in the mail saying the waffles were .99. When I got to the store, they were 1.79. Turns out, one of my local Kroger's (I have 2 within about 2 miles or less of me) is sending our circulars just for THEIR store. I didn't realize they were doing this and, hence, giving me somewhat misleading info since I haven't been shopping at the one from which I get the circulars. SO... I went up to customer service and the employee was nice enough to tell me they'd match the price in the circular. I was very glad because this way, I wasn't paying an extra .80 per box that I hadn't accounted for. :)
I also got 2 packs of Oscar Mayer lunch meat, of which we go through a lot of. 2.49 each.
I threw in some Capri Suns for Abbie as a treat b/c she enjoys them and I don't hardly ever keep them in the house. 1.66
I also got a bag of fresh salad for 1.99 :)
I got Kraft BBQ sauce because BBQ chicken was on my menu for this week. .50
Then I grabbed the fabric softener. The cashier made somewhat of a mistake, so instead of being 3.49, it was 4.24. But that's okay.
I spent 16.76 and saved 12.43. A 43% savings. I was happy :)
Then I had another transaction. This one was a little hairier so I wanted to seperate it (I also wanted to make sure there was no confusion with my 10 participating promo items).
First on my list was laundry detergent because we were completely OUT! :O I looked at all of their HE detergents and found that Purex was the best deal b/c I had a 3.00 coupon. It was on sale for 7.99 and I got it for 4.99. It will last us probably close to a month b/c it was 150 ounces. :)
I also grabbed some milk they had marked on clearance for 1.09 :) We always need milk. :)
I love Hormel pork tenderloins (because they're SUPER easy and yummy!) They had some of my favorites on sale for 7.99 and I had $1 off coupon. So I got it for 6.99 :)
Then I had a coupon I'd never seen before. It was for $1 ANY fresh beef in the store if I bought one Mrs. Dash spice. Well, I had another .50 coupon off the Ms.Dash spices (which doubled to $1 off). So I used both and got...
The spice for 1.50 (because they were also on sale 2/$5 or 2.50 each)
and the meat for 1.92. :)
I had some good Tostitos coupons, so we headed over that way. I had a coupon for both the salsa and the chips that I bought (making them 2.20 and 1.75 respectively I believe) And then I had ANOTHER coupon that, when I bought those 2 items, I got a free Pepsi Max. So I got that as well.
So...
One big thing of HE laundry detergent, Milk for the week, 2 liter of pepsi, Pork Tenderloin, bag of chips, salsa, Ms. Dash seasoning, and a pound of ground beef.... 21.30
13.51 saved (39%) :)
I made another stop after that, but I won't bore you with that quite yet. :)
Melissa
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