So I have to admit I took Abbie to the grocery store at 9 o'clock tonight (in her pajamas, nonetheless). But before you accuse me of being an extreme couponer, let me just say... I got 5 salad dressings for under $3 (AND they gave me a $3 off coupon! So you could say I made money ;-))
Tom Thumb was having a sale that I'd forgotten about when I was out earlier and they had Kraft salad dressings on sale for .99. That's a great deal to begin with! But I also had $1 off two. So I got them for .50 each. They also had some of their generic brand ranch dressings for .99 so I grabbed one of those, too.
So for 2.95, I got 5 bottles of dressing. That should stock me up for get-togethers and everything Abbie dips in ranch for at least a month or two. So I'm happy! :)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Now that's what I call a Saturday night!
I did it again today. I watched "Extreme Couponing". I don't think I've watched an episode of this series since it aired and NOT ended up at the grocery store that same day. :-P And although I swore I wasn't going today, I of course was inspired to look over some of this week's deals (again!) while watching. And when I did, I realized I had some coupons that expired today. And being that they were able to be stacked on top of store deals, I couldn't let them go to waste ;-)
So I spent about 20 minutes prepping and off we went. Here's what I got:
Kroger is having a deal where if you bring in or transfer a new prescription, you get a $25 gift card. Well, I just so happened to have a prescription I needed filled this week anyway. So I brought it in, made sure I'd get the GC, and went shopping.
They're ALSO having a 10/$10 deal this week. If I had to bet, I'd say you probably don't have to have 10 of the items to actually get them for $1. But with so many coupons and things, I wasn't going to take chances. So I went ahead and made sure I got ten :) I got:
* 2 Del Monte fruit cups $1 each ($2 total) These were SUPPOSED to be 2 tubes of toothpaste for which I had coupons, but Kroger was out of both :(
* 1 Softsoap. I had a .35 coupon that Kroger tripled, so I actually MADE .05 off this purchase! :D :D :D
* 4 packs of cinnamon rolls ($1 each and I had ecoupon for .40 off two)... total price: 1.60 (NOTE: KROGER DOES NOT DOUBLE E-COUPONS. I'M NOT SURE WHY,BUT THEY DON'T)
* 2 packs of Pillsbury biscuits: $2 minus the .40 cent coupon I had. Total price: 1.10
* Tampax pearl tampons (only b/c I noticed they were on sale and I had a $2 coupon :D) price: 2.36
* Cat food
* Dog food
* Chicken breasts
* Yogurts
* 2 1/2 gallons of Orange Juice
* 20 lbs of cat litter
* and lunch meat
Total amount spent: 8.02
Total savings: 42.20
Now that's what I call a wild Saturday night! LOL
So I spent about 20 minutes prepping and off we went. Here's what I got:
Kroger is having a deal where if you bring in or transfer a new prescription, you get a $25 gift card. Well, I just so happened to have a prescription I needed filled this week anyway. So I brought it in, made sure I'd get the GC, and went shopping.
They're ALSO having a 10/$10 deal this week. If I had to bet, I'd say you probably don't have to have 10 of the items to actually get them for $1. But with so many coupons and things, I wasn't going to take chances. So I went ahead and made sure I got ten :) I got:
* 2 Del Monte fruit cups $1 each ($2 total) These were SUPPOSED to be 2 tubes of toothpaste for which I had coupons, but Kroger was out of both :(
* 1 Softsoap. I had a .35 coupon that Kroger tripled, so I actually MADE .05 off this purchase! :D :D :D
* 4 packs of cinnamon rolls ($1 each and I had ecoupon for .40 off two)... total price: 1.60 (NOTE: KROGER DOES NOT DOUBLE E-COUPONS. I'M NOT SURE WHY,BUT THEY DON'T)
* 2 packs of Pillsbury biscuits: $2 minus the .40 cent coupon I had. Total price: 1.10
* Tampax pearl tampons (only b/c I noticed they were on sale and I had a $2 coupon :D) price: 2.36
* Cat food
* Dog food
* Chicken breasts
* Yogurts
* 2 1/2 gallons of Orange Juice
* 20 lbs of cat litter
* and lunch meat
Total amount spent: 8.02
Total savings: 42.20
Now that's what I call a wild Saturday night! LOL
Thursday, April 21, 2011
My Savings For Today
I went to the grocery store today. I knew I wasn't going to save 99% but I did want to use some of my coupons. We have been getting low on a few things here in the house :) Here's what I got:
2 loaves of Bread ($1 each)- Tom Thumb had these on sale- no coupon- I don't know why I didn't get more. I'll be going back and stocking up and freezing it for the rest of May :)
2 packages of Johnsonville Breakfast Sausage Links- 3.43 for both of them (Regular price- 4.49 each)
TT had a Super Coupon sale where you could get them for $2.49. I had 2 coupons- one for $1 and one for .55... So I saved 1.55 off both and got one for 1.49 and one for 1.94.
2 Whole Pineapples- .99 each (Tom Thumb had them on sale for 2.99, but .99 just for today)
2 packages of salad- baby spinach/spring mix- Buy one, Get One Free. I paid 3.49 for both. 1.75 for one and 1.74 for the other :)
Chinet Plates- 72 pack- Regularly 5.49... I got them for 2.44. I combined a Super Coupon (2.50 off retail price) with a .55 coupon I had... for a total of 3.05 savings and a price of 2.44 :)
Shampoo and Conditioner... 3.58 for both. Again, I combined a sale (TT had some Suave shampoos that work great on Abbie's hair on sale for 2.29 each) with a coupon. My coupon was for .50 so I only paid 1.79 for each :D :D :D
Orange juice... 3.99 (Regularly 5.49... but keep in mind it could very well be 3.99 at Wal Mart. But I wouldn't know b/c I don't shop at WM ;-))
3 Birdseye Vegetables... 1.25 each (With TT's Super Coupons) I had an extra $1 off these, too, but it had expired 3 days ago :( :( Either way, good deal
Total saved: 29.45
Total spent: 22.16
Yes, it's 22% of my grocery budget for May (IF I'm counting this for May! ;-)). But I'm not entirely expecting to make my goal quite yet... seeing as how I have to build my stock of coupons.
And on that note, I will say I also spent $5 for 2 Sunday papers (and 8 coupon inserts :)) I'm about to finish clipping them and organizing them :D
Have a great day!
Melissa
2 loaves of Bread ($1 each)- Tom Thumb had these on sale- no coupon- I don't know why I didn't get more. I'll be going back and stocking up and freezing it for the rest of May :)
2 packages of Johnsonville Breakfast Sausage Links- 3.43 for both of them (Regular price- 4.49 each)
TT had a Super Coupon sale where you could get them for $2.49. I had 2 coupons- one for $1 and one for .55... So I saved 1.55 off both and got one for 1.49 and one for 1.94.
2 Whole Pineapples- .99 each (Tom Thumb had them on sale for 2.99, but .99 just for today)
2 packages of salad- baby spinach/spring mix- Buy one, Get One Free. I paid 3.49 for both. 1.75 for one and 1.74 for the other :)
Chinet Plates- 72 pack- Regularly 5.49... I got them for 2.44. I combined a Super Coupon (2.50 off retail price) with a .55 coupon I had... for a total of 3.05 savings and a price of 2.44 :)
Shampoo and Conditioner... 3.58 for both. Again, I combined a sale (TT had some Suave shampoos that work great on Abbie's hair on sale for 2.29 each) with a coupon. My coupon was for .50 so I only paid 1.79 for each :D :D :D
Orange juice... 3.99 (Regularly 5.49... but keep in mind it could very well be 3.99 at Wal Mart. But I wouldn't know b/c I don't shop at WM ;-))
3 Birdseye Vegetables... 1.25 each (With TT's Super Coupons) I had an extra $1 off these, too, but it had expired 3 days ago :( :( Either way, good deal
Total saved: 29.45
Total spent: 22.16
Yes, it's 22% of my grocery budget for May (IF I'm counting this for May! ;-)). But I'm not entirely expecting to make my goal quite yet... seeing as how I have to build my stock of coupons.
And on that note, I will say I also spent $5 for 2 Sunday papers (and 8 coupon inserts :)) I'm about to finish clipping them and organizing them :D
Have a great day!
Melissa
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Adventures in Couponing: Part Two
I posted a few days ago that I was finally going to get my couponing booty in gear! My goal is to help us get out of debt by cutting our grocery bill by about 75%-90% a month. Yeah, it's a lofty goal. But I'm all about setting huge goals ;-)
I'm happy to say that those piles of coupons have now been organized into a binder. My very first binder. Let me tell you... I never, ever thought I'd be one of THOSE women. The women who take BINDERS into the grocery store.
But I've realized it's pointless for me to spend the time cutting the coupons or looking for the deals if I can't find the coupons when I get to the store because they're so unorganized. So now I'm THAT woman! And I don't care! I love being organized, so it's perfect for me anyway ;-)
My husband was nice enough to go out yesterday and grab me the baseball card pages I've been needing and so I've been busy organizing my coupons ever since. As a teacher/student, I have plenty of binders laying around. So that was no issue :)
For those of you who have never used the baseball card pages, there are defintely some drawbacks. 90% of the coupons have to be folded over or trimmed. It's no biggie, just a little more time consuming. :)
But for now, it defintely works. I have organized mine by category (just as I already had when they were simply laid out on the table). They're also arranged alphabetically for the most part (but not perfectly ;-))
So it may go something like this:
Body care (deoderants and things)
Cat products
Cleaning products
Cooking products
and so on....
Here are a few pictures :)
I'm happy to say that those piles of coupons have now been organized into a binder. My very first binder. Let me tell you... I never, ever thought I'd be one of THOSE women. The women who take BINDERS into the grocery store.
But I've realized it's pointless for me to spend the time cutting the coupons or looking for the deals if I can't find the coupons when I get to the store because they're so unorganized. So now I'm THAT woman! And I don't care! I love being organized, so it's perfect for me anyway ;-)
My husband was nice enough to go out yesterday and grab me the baseball card pages I've been needing and so I've been busy organizing my coupons ever since. As a teacher/student, I have plenty of binders laying around. So that was no issue :)
For those of you who have never used the baseball card pages, there are defintely some drawbacks. 90% of the coupons have to be folded over or trimmed. It's no biggie, just a little more time consuming. :)
But for now, it defintely works. I have organized mine by category (just as I already had when they were simply laid out on the table). They're also arranged alphabetically for the most part (but not perfectly ;-))
So it may go something like this:
Body care (deoderants and things)
Cat products
Cleaning products
Cooking products
and so on....
Here are a few pictures :)
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Adventures in Couponing
So I've neglected this blog for awhile. Not because I've wanted to, but because things, as usual, have been all-out crazy in my house. I'm combining my loves in life: being my own boss and teaching children. And I'm opening an in-home preschool (to which I have ANOTHER blog dedicated! ;-))
But in the midst of all of this, I have also re-organized our financial goals (If you saw how much it cost to start a preschool, you'd understand why my new business venture and saving money go hand-in-hand :)).
The fact is tha we have about $10,000 in debt to knock out (give or take :-P) And as I've talked about before, I'd like to knock that debt out, as well as have a savings fund, down payment, and emergency fund before we buy a house.
So goal #1... Knock out the debt! I will open my preschool this summer and I also have a Mary Kay business... but if you JUST count my husband's income, we're spending about as much as we're earning right now. Not good.
So one way I'm going to make cuts so that we can roll more into debt payoff is by cutting our grocery bill.
I currently shop for 4 adults, 1 child, and 6 large animals. :-P I easily spend $100 a week in groceries, totaling anywhere from $400-$600 or more a month in groceries.
My goal? To get that down to $100 a month. You heard me right. $100 a month. Are you going to see me on Extreme Couponing? Not likely. But there are so many resources available these days to save money on... and this is one area of our budget where I CAN save money (as opposed to bills or gas or the tolls my husband pays to drive to and from work every day :-P). So I think it's a great place to start.
Here's how I'm starting:
I have a couple weeks worth of coupons saved. So I started cutting. All of them. Not just the ones I thought I'd use. The only exceptions were things I know I will NEVER use (think denture products and things like that) and cosmetics and skincare. Everything else is fair game.
So I cut. And I made piles. Each pile was a category. Like:
Frozen Foods
Body Care
Hair Care
Veggies
Kid Products
Cleaning Products
Medicines
Fruit
Laundry Products
Cooking
Oral Care
Razors
and so on....
Then when I was done cutting, I "labeled" each pile with the category.
When these (and this week's) are all organized, I plan on going out and getting baseball sleeves to organize them in. I feel like it's too much trouble to try and dig through them in a filing system; plus, I often miss some and then the time I put into make sure I had them before I left is wasted :-P
Here is where we're at so far:
But in the midst of all of this, I have also re-organized our financial goals (If you saw how much it cost to start a preschool, you'd understand why my new business venture and saving money go hand-in-hand :)).
The fact is tha we have about $10,000 in debt to knock out (give or take :-P) And as I've talked about before, I'd like to knock that debt out, as well as have a savings fund, down payment, and emergency fund before we buy a house.
So goal #1... Knock out the debt! I will open my preschool this summer and I also have a Mary Kay business... but if you JUST count my husband's income, we're spending about as much as we're earning right now. Not good.
So one way I'm going to make cuts so that we can roll more into debt payoff is by cutting our grocery bill.
I currently shop for 4 adults, 1 child, and 6 large animals. :-P I easily spend $100 a week in groceries, totaling anywhere from $400-$600 or more a month in groceries.
My goal? To get that down to $100 a month. You heard me right. $100 a month. Are you going to see me on Extreme Couponing? Not likely. But there are so many resources available these days to save money on... and this is one area of our budget where I CAN save money (as opposed to bills or gas or the tolls my husband pays to drive to and from work every day :-P). So I think it's a great place to start.
Here's how I'm starting:
I have a couple weeks worth of coupons saved. So I started cutting. All of them. Not just the ones I thought I'd use. The only exceptions were things I know I will NEVER use (think denture products and things like that) and cosmetics and skincare. Everything else is fair game.
So I cut. And I made piles. Each pile was a category. Like:
Frozen Foods
Body Care
Hair Care
Veggies
Kid Products
Cleaning Products
Medicines
Fruit
Laundry Products
Cooking
Oral Care
Razors
and so on....
Then when I was done cutting, I "labeled" each pile with the category.
When these (and this week's) are all organized, I plan on going out and getting baseball sleeves to organize them in. I feel like it's too much trouble to try and dig through them in a filing system; plus, I often miss some and then the time I put into make sure I had them before I left is wasted :-P
Here is where we're at so far:
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