SHE SHOPS, SHE SAVES!

Target Deal 2/14-2/20

2009-07-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

I have not posted on this blog FOREVER! Thankfully, barely anyone reads it, so it works out. However, I'm going to try and resurrect it, as I need some inspiration to keep couponing. So, to start, let's go with this deal at Target.

Buy 3 Venus Razors @ $6.99 each
Buy 1 Fusion Razor @ $6.99
Buy 3 Olay total effects body wash @ $5.49 each
Total before coupons: $44.43 before tax
- 3 $2/1 Venus qs 2/7PG
- 1 $4/1 Fusion q 2/7PG
- 3 Buy 1 Venus, Get 1 Olay Body Wash FREE 2/7PG
- 1 $2/1 Venus Target Mobile Q (if you get their mobile coupons)
Total after coupons: $15.96
BUT, you get back 3 $5 gift cards! 2 for buying 4 razors (1 $5 gift card per 2 razors), and 1 for buying 3 Olay body washes. It's like paying only .96 for 4 razors and three full size body washes!
BUT it gets even better!! Submit this Olay rebate (for buying 3 Olay products, and get $15 back!
This makes this a $14+ MONEYMAKER! If you have these coupons, get on this NOW!

Out Searching for Apartments

2009-07-05T11:02:00.001-07:00

I won't be updated today or tomorrow. Instead Adam and I will be out searching for our new apartment down in Olympia. We're probably moving the end of this month, so we have to find something soon.

If anyone has tips on finding the perfect apartment, let me know in the comments. Wish us luck!

Deal on Huggies Diapers, Week of 7/12 - 7/18

2009-07-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

If you have a child in diapers and have a Walgreens near you, you might be interested in this deal. The week of 7/12 - 7/18, Walgreens is having a sale on Jumbo pack Huggies diapers and training pants. They are $10 each, and when you spend $20, you receive a $5 Register Reward (if you don't know what these are, read this post (ignore part about Easy Saver and Rebates, these don't exist anymore) and this post from Hip 2 Save). So here is the deal:

Buy 2 Jumbo packs of Huggies diapers @ $10 each
Use 2 $3/1 Huggies manf. coupons from Huggies home mailer
Spend $14 out of pocket (OOP) and receive $5 RR

If you factor the RR into the total price paid, then you are really only spending $9 for 2 jumbo packs, which seems to be a good deal.

If you have any questions about the Register Reward program (it is confusing), let me know. I will gladly help out with any questions you may have.

Free Coupon Booklet with Over $30 in Savings

2009-07-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

A great coupon booklet is available right now! The Home made Simple booklet contains coupons for Swiffer, Febreze, Dawn, Cascade, and Mr. Clean. These are good high value coupons too, and go great with sales. It even containes a coupon for a free bottle of Cascade rinse aid!

This is a great way to build up your coupon stash. Just go over here, fill in your info, and it will be mailed to you. Enjoy!

Earn Gift Cards and Prizes by Using a Search Engine

2009-07-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone here searches the internet. Well, did you know you can get points (that are redeemable for prizes, gift cards, and money) for doing this? If not, you will definitely want to check this out.

Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards you with Swagbucks when you use their engine. Swagbucks are then redeemable for prizes, gift cards, and now even cash! All you have to do is sign up and search with their engine. You don't win points every time you search, but I usually will win within the first 5 searches I make. I have never won more than once a day. I'm not sure if this is because I don't search that often, or if it is part of their system.

I use my Swagbucks for gift cards right now. 45 Swagbucks buys me a $5 Amazon gift card. This may not seem like much, but if you earn 1 point a day for something you already do, you can earn $5 in a month and a half. Also, although you usually only earn 1 Swagbuck, some days you get lucky and earn 2, 5, or even 10 Swagbucks. This can make the process of earning gift cards go much faster.

So far, I have earned 90 Swagbucks in about 3 months. I didn't search every day either, since I would get busy and not get on my computer. It is hands down the easiest way to earn money in my opinion, since I don't have to do anything extra to get it.

Ready to sign up? Simply click here and fill out the form. Use the code CASHISKING (case-sensitive), which will give you 2 Swagbucks to start. You will also get 3 Swagbucks just for signing up. That means you'll have 5 to start! Only 40 more until you get your Amazon gift card. So start searching and get earning those Swagbucks!

Word of Mouth Programs

2009-07-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I love getting things free. I also love testing products and letting friends and family know what I thought. So when I learned about word of mouth programs, I knew I needed to get on board! I currently am registered at two word of mouth companies (VocalPoint and BzzAgent) and love them both.

Word of mouth companies basically have a bunch of consumers test products and review them. They rely on the consumers testing the products to, by "word of mouth", tell friends and family about their experience with the product. It's a simple way to market a product, but it's extremely effective.

Both of these programs are free to sign up for. VocalPoint has been a great resource for coupons. I was sent coupons for Kashi waffles one day. I received 1 coupon for a free box, and 5 $1.50/1 coupons to give to friends. I ended up loving the waffles, and told family and friends this. See? Easy marketing for the companies, and free stuff for the consumers! Win win! I have also received a Bounce Dryer Bar from VocalPoint. I got it before it was even on the market, and all I was asked to do was give a review.

I have not received anything from BzzAgent yet, but I'm in a campaign right now, so I should receive some Aveeno Shampoo soon.

Both of these companies are reputable and will not send you spam or add you to mass mailing lists. They just want to send you free stuff and have you review it. Simple as that.

Want to sign up?

Any questions, let me know in the comments.

Free Samples!

2009-07-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorite things is getting free samples in the mail. It's so exciting for me to open the mailbox and find freebies and coupons instead of bills. The best place I have found so far to snag free samples is a part of Walmart.com. You simply sign up and in about 4 weeks, the sample arrives.

Here are the current samples offered by Walmart.com.

I will also list other samples I come across, but be sure to check that site often to see if any new samples are available.

New Coupons on Coupons.com!

2009-07-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Every month, coupons.com resets and adds new coupons to their site. They do this throughout the month as well, but the most seem to be added on the 1st of the month. Here are some coupons that I think could be great:

$1.25/1 DiGiorno Crispy Flatbread Pizza
$1/1 Special K Crackers
$1.50/1 Wanchai Ferry Frozen Dinner
And many more!

You can check coupons.com out for yourself by clicking the icon on the right-hand side of this blog. Make sure to input your zipcode at the top of the coupons.com site. If you can't see the ones listed above, use zipcode 98229.

A couple things to remember about coupons.com:

There is a limit on the number of each coupon released. If you see a coupon you want, make sure to print it right away as it may be gone later, especially if it is a high-value coupon.
You can print each coupon twice. To do this, simply hit the back button on your browser after the first coupon has printed. (If a pop-up comes up when you do that, that says something about needed to resend the information, make sure to hit resend).
Occasionally, coupons.com will "reset" individual coupons, so that even if you have printed 2 already, you will be able to print 2 more. Check back often so that you don't miss out.

If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them. Just let me know in the comments.

Common Couponing Myths (and why they are just myths)

2009-06-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm guessing some of you may have some pre-conceived notions about how couponing is a waste of time, too much work, and can't give savings on fresh produce and meat. I know I did when I first started. Mainly I didn't want to coupon because I didn't want to put a lot of work in just so I could use a few .25 off and .45 coupons and save $5 on a $100 bill. However, once my fiance Adam and I were both unemployed, I needed to find a way to cut costs. Thankfully, my mom had just gotten into couponing and shared her knowledge, and it stuck. I realized there was a lot to learn about couponing, and that all the things I thought I knew about it were not really true at all.

Let's take a look at some myths people have about couponing, and why they don't hold much truth.

1. Couponing takes too much time.

This is somewhat correct. Couponing does take time, especially when you are starting. You will have to buy Sunday papers, organize the coupons in a system that works for you, print coupons online, make lists for the store and stick to them, and shop when things are on sale, not just when it's convenient. However, I don't believe it takes "too much time". The first few weeks will take some time to get things organized and to learn about coupons, but once you have the basics down, the time needed drops significantly.

When I first started, I probably spent 2 - 3 hours each Sunday clipping coupons out of inserts and organizing them and around 6 hours a week at the stores. I also spent a lot of time on Hot Coupon World (HCW) and on blogs of other couponers. Now I spend about 3 hours a week at stores on average, and on Sundays, I take about 5 minutes pulling out the inserts from the newspaper and writing the dates on them. I don't clip coupons anymore until I need them, which saves me a bunch of time.

2. Couponing isn't worth it because you don't save that much money.

This one could not be farther from the truth. The fact is, since I started couponing, I have cut my grocery and household bills in more than half! You will save a good amount of money IF you use coupons in the right way. This means you shouldn't be:

Buying things you will never use just because they are a "great deal". If you buy unnecessary things on top of what you really need, you probably won't see many savings.
Buying items just because you have a coupon for them. Without a sale to combine with the coupon, your savings won't be nearly as high. Also, like I said above, if they are not items you will use, it's generally not worth your time to buy them.*
Buying items without a sale. In line with the point above, combining coupons with sales is the best way to save a large amount. If you don't wait for a sale, you are missing out on a lot of savings

Basically, as long as you're patient enough to wait for a sale to combine your coupon with, you'll see a major decrease in your grocery bill.

*Sometimes it is worth it to buy things you do not need. Here's an example: Say Easy Mac cups are on sale for .50 each, and when you buy 10, you get a $4 on your next order (OYNO) coupon. You have 5 $1/2 coupons, making the Easy Mac free. However, even though you get it all for free, you will still get your $4 OYNO coupon, basically PAYING you $4 to buy the Easy Mac. So even if you won't use the Easy Mac, it's worth buying, since it pays you $4 to buy it, and that $4 can be used to buy something you do need.

3. Cashiers and other customers will hate you for using coupons.

Although you may run into a few difficult cashiers who scrutinize your coupons and make you feel like you're doing something illegal or wrong, most cashiers are indifferent to couponers. It makes no difference to them that you have coupons for all your items. To them, it's just another thing to scan. Some cashiers even get excited for you when they see how much you have saved. I have a cashier at Walgreens who is always happy to ring up my multiple transactions and always wants to know where I get certain coupons. I make sure to give her some coupons when I go in, because she's so nice to deal with. If you do end up with a bad cashier, just remember their face and name, and avoid them in the future.

As far as other customers go, I have never seen anyone get angry at couponers. I'm sure if you were doing a transaction with 300 items and 300 coupons, some might get annoyed, but that's not because of the coupons only. If I have a large transaction, I generally split it up, take each order out to the car after I've paid, then go back in to do another transaction. This way, nobody behind me has to wait for a long time.

4. Store brand is always cheaper than the name brand equivelant, even when it has a coupon for it

Sure this can be true...if you don't combine the coupon with a store sale. Couponing is all about waiting for a great sale, combining this with coupons, and stocking up on products. I don't mean that you need to buy 100 cans of spaghetti sauce, but if you have 10 coupons and you think you'll use 10 cans within a few months, buy 10. That way, instead of running to the store in a few weeks and buying it at a regular price, you can just grab it from your pantry knowing you paid a rock bottom price for it. As long as you are waiting for a sale and using your coupons with that, then the store brand really shouldn't be a better price.

5. You can only get sugar cereals and over processed food with coupons.

Well, there are a lot of coupons for that sort of thing, but it isn't all that there is. I have coupons for organic sugar, flour, organic butter, peanut butter, nuts, fresh fruit, olive oil, apple sauce, cheese, eggs, and more. That isn't anything I consider "over processed". There are always going to be coupons for snack foods and treats. If you don't want them, ignore those and find the ones you do need.

Even if you can't find coupons for any food items you want (and that would be extremely hard to do), there are tons of coupons for household things. I haven't paid more than .33 for a bottle of shampoo or conditioner in over 3 months (and John Frieda Root Awakening was the one that cost .33, the rest were free). I got paid .08 to buy Degree deodorant at Target a month ago. St. Ives body wash paid me $1.50 to take it out of the store! So trust me when I say you can get a lot more than snacks with coupons.

In the end, the people who believe these things are usually the ones who have never shopped with coupons. We eat extremely well, even though we are paying 50 - 60% less on groceries than we used to. Do you know of more myths that should be discussed? Have a question? Leave a comment and I'll help you out.

Resources for Couponers

2009-06-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

There are so many blogs, websites, and forums out there on couponing that you could spend weeks browsing them all. If you are like most people, you don't have that kind of time. That's why I'm here. Here is a list of sites that I have found useful in my couponing adventure:

Albertsons Deal Match-ups:

Frugal Living NW (Oregon and S. Washington)

Mommies with Cents

Cub Foods Match-ups:

Happy Homemaker Cindy

Jewel-Osco Match-ups:

Mashup Mom

Meijer Match-ups:

A Lot of Savings

My Price Savings

National Chain Store Match-ups:

It's Hip 2 Save

**She covers CVS, Rite-Aid, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart, plus MORE!**

Coupon Database (by far, the greatest resource you will have in couponing, at least in my opinion)

Couponing Forums:

Hot Coupon World Forums -- HUGE active forums include all grocery, drugstore, and department store deals, plus office supplies, online deals, freebies, coupon trading, and so much more

Organic Grocery Deals -- Forums discussing organic food deals, sister site of Hot Coupon World

Tips/Help/Suggestions for the New Couponer:

Getting Started - Hot Coupon World Forum -- Dedicated to helping people learn how to coupon

Couponing Tips from It's Hip 2 Save -- Great pointers on how to avoid common mistakes made by newbie couponers

Organizing Coupons

Frugal Living NW's Organizer

Hot Coupon World Forum on Organizing Uncut Coupons

Hip 2 Save's Coupon Organizer

Coupon Clipping Service -- Sometimes if you need multiples of a specific coupon, a clipping service is much cheaper than buying multiple papers

The Coupon Clippers

Printable Coupons -- always check the product's website to see if the manufacturer offers a coupon there

Coupons.com

SmartSource.com

RedPlum.com

Did I miss your store? Do you have a resource you want to share? How about a question for me? Let me know in the comments and I will help you out!

Meijer Deals

2009-06-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

Melissa at My Price Savings does great Meijer match-ups each week, including links to printable coupons. I will try my best to post deals as well, but if I don't, check her out.

Deals at Meijer

2009-06-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Go to meijer.com to view the weekly ad

June 28th - July 4th deals:

Bush's Grillin' Beans on sale 2/$3
Buy 2 and use $1/2 printable here
Pay $1 per can
Be on the lookout for $1/1 blinkies found in some stores

Bi-color sweet corn on the husk .19 each!

1lb container of strawberries $1.25 each!

June 25th - July 1st deals:

Kellogg's cereal on sale for $1.99 each
Use $1/1 mq from 6-7-09 RP
.99 each after coupon

Ball Park Frank on sale $1.25 each
Buy 2 for a total of $2.50
Use $1/2 mq from 6-7-09 RP or 6/28-09 RP
Pay $1.50, .75 each

Kool-Aid packets on sale 20 for $2
Free 5pk box of Kraft macaroni and cheese wyb 20

Deal Idea:
Buy 20 packets of Kool-Aid
Buy 2 packages of sugar, at or around $2 each
Buy 1 5pk box Kraft macaroni and cheese
Use TWO $2 off sugar wyb 10 packets Kool-Aid 6-21-09 SS
TOTAL:
$2+ (final price depends on how much over $2 each bag of sugar was) for 20 packets Kool-Aid, 2 bags sugar, and 5pk box of Kraft macaroni and cheese
Assuming you find sugar close to $2 a bag, this is a great deal!

Dannon Activia yogurt 4pk cups or drinks on sale 2/$4
Use $1/1 mq from 5-10-09 SS
Pay $1 each after coupon

Those are the deals that look good to me. Be aware I do not have a Meijer store around me, so I am not going in and doing these deals. I'm simply browsing the ad and doing coupon match-ups for things that look like a good deal to me.

Do you see a great deal that I missed? Want to know if your favorite snack is on a good enough sale to stock up on? Leave me a comment and I'll let you know! I'll do my best to find you the deal you need.

I'm done with class!

2009-06-26T21:22:00.001-07:00

And that means I'll be back here posting the deals once again! Here's the deals I'm doing this week:

Target:

Purchase a Gillette Fusion manual razor and Gillette body wash, recieve $5 Target gift card

Gillette razor @ $7.99

Gillette body wash @ $3.49

- $4/1 Gillette Fusion razor mq 6-7-09 PG

- $1/1 Gillette body wash mq 6-7-09 PG

- $5 GC from previous deal

Pay $1.48 + tax OOP, recieve $5 GC

I may also buy a Swiffer WetJet starter kit @ $16.99

- $5/1 mq Home Made Simple mailer (get your booklet here)

- $2/1 Target q 6-21-09 RP

- $5 GC from razor deal above

Pay $4.99 + tax

Albertsons:

Albie's has a mix & match sale (buy 10 included items, get $5 off instantly) going on through Tuesday. I'm not sure I'll be doing it, because there is not much I need that is included. However, I did work out a possible scenario if I do decide to take part.

3 Kelloggs cereal @ $1.99 each

2 Kashi TLC bars @ $2.99 each

1 Coffee Mate creamer @ $2.99

2 Dannon Activia packs @ $1.99 each

2 Simply Lemonade drinks @ $1.69 each

TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS: $22.30

- $5 mix & match savings

- 3 $1/1 Kelloggs cereal mqs 6-7-09 RP

- 2 $1.50/1 Kashi printables found here

- $1/1 Coffee-Mate printable found here

- 2 $1/1 Dannon mqs 5-10-09 SS

- 3 $1/1 Albies doubles found in Sunday paper insert

Pay $5.30 + tax (only .53 an item!)

If I don't do this, I still will be getting 6 Kelloggs cereals (3 per transaction), which will be free after coupons and doubles.

Albertsons 6/17 - 6/23

2009-06-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

The preview ad is up at HCW. Here's what looks good to me:

Kelloggs Cereal $1.99 wyb 3
$1/1 mq in 6/7 RP
.99 each after coupon

Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta $1.25
$1/1 mq in 4/5 SS or
.50/1 blinkie q
.25 - .75 depending on your coupon

Buy 4, get $4 Ice Cream Deal
Best I can see:
Buy 4 EskimoPie boxes @ $2.50 each
Use 4 $1/1 mq from 5/31 SS
Pay $6, get $4 OYNO

All of these deals would be even more awesome if we get doublers. They are not in the ad on Tuesday, but maybe we will see them in the Sunday paper. A girl can dream, can't she? There are probably many deals I missed, but seeing as we are vegan, I don't look at anything non-vegan (translate: just about nothing). Let me know if you see any deals worth mentioning!

Walgreens Shopping

2009-06-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Walgreens today to pick up a few deals (check out HCW if you need deal ideas). Here's what I bought:

1st Transaction:

3 Right Guard Deodorants @ $2.99 each
St Ives Body Wash @ $2.99
Sterilite Tote @ $1.29 (filler)
Purex 3 in 1 Laundry Solution @ $6.99
- $6 Wags Coupon for Deo.
- $3 Right Guard Deo. MQ's
- $2 Purex MQ
- $1.50 St Ives MQ
- $3 RR from Claritin
TOTAL: $5.95 on GC, got back $2 RR for Purex and $3 RR for St Ives

2nd Transaction:

3 John Freida Root Awakening Conditioners @ $5 each
3 Silicon Braclets at .10 each (fillers)
- $9 Root Awakening MQ's
- $3 RR from St Ives
- $2 RR from Purex
TOTAL: $2.60 on GC, got back $5 RR from John Freida

All in all, I'm happy with what I purchased. We didn't need the Purex but I wanted to try it. I'm really wishing I had more St Ives coupons. I only have one more, and I'd like to get 4 or 5 bottles. Anyone else find any great deals?

Apparently, I don't kill every plant I touch

2009-06-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

I've never been good with plants. I always water too much or too little, and they never get enough sun, and I don't use fertilizer...You get the picture. So imagine my suprise when the herbs I got from my parents, and the tomato plant I bought, all grew! There is even a little green tomato!

When Adam and I move to Olympia, we hope to find a place that has a patio or balcony. If we get one, I'll be trying to do a square foot garden. My hope is to eventually grow as much as we can. Both of us love the idea of living off our land and not being dependant on grocery stores for our food. Obviously we would need a lot of land to grow all these fruit, veggies, and nuts, but it is an eventual goal of ours.

Freezing Fruit

2009-06-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

I found this article today on how to freeze many types of fruit. I'm super excited about this, as it seems all the fruit I buy goes bad before we eat it. This time when I buy fruit, I will leave a little out, and freeze the rest. This way, we can still have fresh fruit, and we won't have so much that it will go bad and need to be thrown out.

I finally wrote a meal plan...sort of

2009-06-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

So I've been wanting to write a weekly meal plan for a while now. I've never been on to plan meals, but after I started couponing, it seemed like it would be a wise thing to do. However, I never seemed to get around to it. So today, I found the time to start. This is really basic, and probably not very awesome, but I finally wrote one, and thought I would post it.

Tonight: Burritos

Thursday: Left-overs for Adam, 5 course meal for me (my friend is finishing culinary arts school and her final is to do a full meal, so sweet deal for me)

Friday: Boca Burgers and Corn on the Cob

Saturday: Spaghetti, Broccoli and French Bread

Sunday: Pad Thai

Here's my shopping list:

Corn on the Cob (2)
Apples (4)
Broccoli (1lb)
French Bread (1 loaf)
Half Dozen Eggs
Tofu
Hamburger Buns

The rest I already have. My hope is that I can stick to this meal plan, since we are really trying to save money. $30 a week is the goal for groceries. I have no idea how I will make that work, but you better believe I'm going to try. I mean, I didn't think I could spend less than $300 a month on groceries, and right now, I spend just about $175 a month. I heart coupons!

Did I ever mention how much I love Albertsons?

2009-06-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well, in case you didn't know, I love them a lot. Especially when they have deals like they have had this week. Let me explain in case you didn't know about it.

There is a Kraft promotion at Albertsons (ending today). You buy $10 worth of groceries that are included, and you save $3 instantly. The $10 is BEFORE manuf. coupons, and before doubles. And last month Kraft released a bunch of awesome coupons. See how exciting this is?!

Needless to say, I've been to Albertsons a lot. I've done 5 transactions so far, and will do a final 2 today. Here's what I have bought so far:

Premium Saltines
2 Smart Balance Margerines
Kraft Bagelfuls
2 McCormick Grill Mates
2 Boxes Ritz Crackers
2 Boxes Wheat Thins
Kraft BBQ Sauce
2 Wacky Mac Pastas
2 Newspapers
2 CPK Flatbread Melts
4 Boxes Boca Burgers
Quaker True Delights Granola Bars
Welches Grape Juice
2 Canisters Crystal Light
6 Pack of Double Roll Angel Soft TP
2 Maxwell House Coffee Containers
2 Bags Seattles Best Coffee

And, my total OOP...Drum Roll please....

$17.22!

Are you amazed? I am! Plus, this is all stuff we will use/eat. It averages out to only .57 an item!!! And for my total savings now....$97.09! For a savings of 85%! Oh, I wish this promotion went on forever!

On top of those already amazing savings, I will be getting a $2.50 rebate check for the CPK flatbread melt. I might also be able to get a rebate on one of the Seattle's Best coffee. And I noticed one cashier missed one of the double coupons. So assuming I get both rebates, my OOP will be less than $10 for all that food! Woo Hoo!

Giveaway on $5 Dinners!

2009-05-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

One of the awesome blogs that I follow is 5 Dollar Dinners. Erin is the author and she comes up with all these awesome dinners...for $5 and under! It's a great site and I'm always using it to try and make my meals frugal and healthy as well.

She regularly has giveaways, but this time I couldn't resist entering. She is giving away two prizes this week. The first is 3 packages of pasta and olive oil, and the second is 3 high quality spices. These would both make for some great meals!

Want to enter for yourself? Check out the post here.

Just want to visit the site and explore? Head on over here.

Enjoy, and good luck!

Nursing School

2009-05-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

My life has become busy again! I started my NAC program last week, and will be in it until mid-June. It consists of 2 weeks of 6 hour classes on Tuesday and Thursday, then 2 weeks of clinical studies which are 3 days a week, 8.5 hours each. Plus there is a 7 hour HIV course and a 4 hour CPR/First Aid Course. And there is a final as well. So for the rest of this month and most of next month, I will not be couponing as much as I would like to. This way I can focus on studying and preparing for my classes.

I will mention whatever deals I do find though. Also, if Adam and I ever get our act together :), we'll come up with a meal plan, and I'll post that here as well. In the mean time, I'll try to post on here about school, life, and possibly start looking into frugal wedding ideas (we arn't getting married for almost 2 years from now, but it's too exciting not to plan a little).

Free Shape Magazine 2 Year Subscription

2009-05-22T19:26:00.001-07:00

Normally these free magazine subscriptions seem fishy, but according to Hip2Save, this one works great, so I ordered today. I can't wait to get it! If you want a subscription as well, head over here and fill out the quick survey. Then wait 8 to 10 weeks, and with any luck, it will be sitting in the mailbox for you!

Albertsons run

2009-05-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

So I'm loving the doubles at Albertsons. Sure, you can only use 3 per trip, but it's so FUN! Okay, so I'm being slightly sarcastic, but it really is enjoyable to get things for free instead of $1. Today Adam and I headed over together so we could use a total of 6 double coupons.

We bought some great stuff, and I'm not going to list it all because I'm tired and hot and feeling lazy. But...I spent $60 in my transaction and saved $40. Not the greatest trip, but we bought what we needed, and everything we bought was on sale. So I can't complain.

For Adam's transaction, I gave him:

2 Lawry's marinades, $1 each
2 Planters trail mixes, $1.50 each
2 Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauces, $1 each

After coupons and doubles, he only paid $1! and saved $17.xx! I was proud :)

So we bought a bunch of food and saved some good money. All in all, a productive trip. Now we're sitting at home playing video games. Our friend came over and is making us all some stir fry (we bought pizza yesterday for all of us, so he made stir fry tonight as payment). We'll just be gaming tonight, which should be fun!

Okay, I Admit, I Suck at Updating This Thing!

2009-05-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Alright, I haven't posted anything since the Safeway promo ended. That was like, 2 weeks ago. I failed. I know. I apologize. :) On the bright side, I'm back now. I'm going to do a quick post to catch you up, since if I detailed everything, we'd both be here for hours. And we don't want that, err, at least I don't. So here's what's been happening:

Went from omnivores to herbivores. That's right folks, we're vegan (mostly) now.
Our food expenses have risen slightly since becoming vegan (not so many coupons for vegan items unfortunately).
They haven't risen too much though, and we're still saving way more on food then we used to.
Adam's unemployment checks are now $70 more each week than they used to be. We're saving this new $70/week for when the unemployment runs out. It's great!
I do not have TB.
I didn't think I had TB, just to be clear on the last point. I just needed to get tested to prove I was negative for my CNA program.
I start my CNA program on Tuesday. I'm super excited, but also nervous since I want to do really well. Plus, it will be a huge change from no school or work, to going to school 7 hours a day.
I discovered an awesome pizza dough recipe on Epicurious. It's to die for. Try it!
Our kitties got a bath today. They get baths often since they stink. They hate us for it.
Albertsons did not get doubles in our area. It ruined my shopping trip today.
But they have doubles this coming week, all week long! I can't freakin' wait!
I'm a procrastinator and need to get my student loans figured out this week. Don't let me forget.
Adam and I played Team Fortress 2 (yes, I'm a video game nerd) last night until 2am. It was awesome. And we won. Of course. :)
We went and saw Star Trek. Wasn't worth it.
Here's hoping Terminator is worth it. We see that this coming Sunday.
I hate PMS and cramps. They make me miserable.

Ok, I think that's a good update for now. If I forgot something, I'll add it later. And I'll update soon with coupon stuff. Soon. Maybe. Don't hold me to it.

Safeway LWFG Deals

2009-05-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

The Living Well, Feeling Great promo at Safeway is officially over. From what I've read on HCW, there is a lot of relief for most people. I guess some did like 20 transactions! I managed to get in 3 transactions (I know, hardly any!) but I thought they were decent. I'm too lazy to grab my receipts right now, but here is what I remember:

5 Finish dish detergent tabs (20 ct)

5 8pk Gatorade

1 All Small and Mighty detergent

1 6pk Bright Green paper towels

4 S & W canned beans

1 4lb bag Iams cat food

Some random fresh produce

5 packs of gravy mix

and some other things I don't remember at this moment.

We spent about $50, but I saved over 60% in each transaction, so I don't think it was too bad for everything we purchased. I wish we had a Safeway closer to us so that we could have made a few more trips, but there will be more sales, so I think I'll have to do without.

Haggen Deals 5/6 - 5/12

2009-05-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the deals I saw from the flyer.

Yoplait Yogurt .39 each (first 6) with in-store coupon, combine with .40/6 from 4/19 SS. Total price is $1.94 for 6 cups of yogurt
Kashi Products all 33% off. There are a huge variety of Kashi coupons out there. Here is one for $1.50 off Go Lean frozen waffles. Once I see the actual prices, I'll let you know about other good deals.
Old Orchard Healthy Balance fruit juice $2 each. Multiple magazines appear to have .50/1 or $1/1 coupons, making this a decent price for some good juice.
Riceworks rice chips are $1.99 each. Combine this sale with the B1G1 from the 4/19 RP to get 2 bags for $1.99!

Those are the deals that stood out to me. There may be more, but I'm new to the writing up deals myself, so hopefully this is decent!

Target Trip

2009-05-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

This trip ended up costing me more than I was planning to spend, but I still think I got some great deals. Here's the list:

(2) Glade Gel Plugins @ $1.79 each
Cascade Rinse Aid @ $3.14
All Small and Mighty Detergent @ $4.54
AAA Batteries @ $4.99
Reynolds Recycled Foil @ $2.99
(2) Pounce Cat treats @ $1.36 each
(2) Purina Kitten Chow bags @ $3.89 each
Purina Tidy Cats Litter @ $7.44
(2) 3 Wick Glade Soy Candles @ $8.79 each

I had coupons for everything but the batteries and the Reynolds wrap, but the Reynolds will be reimbursed by the rebate for it. I paid $7.71 on a GC from a previous deal, and $23.97 OOP. I received a $5 GC back for the candles. All in all, not bad for what I got, especially when my plan didn't work as planned, since they didn't have the small soy candles that made this deal a MM.

Rolling at Walgreens

2009-05-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

I think I am officially done this week at Wags. I'm not at a point where I can stockpile a huge amount, and honestly, I'm not sure I'd want 100 body washes sitting in my closet. However, I did want a few, so here is what I ended up with:

(4) Nivea Body Washes @ $4.99 each before coupon

(4) Rembrandt Toothpastes @ $5.99 each

(4) Ecotrin @ $2.00 each

Walgreens Ibuprofin (filler) @ $1.19

Royal Pudding (filler) @ .39

Advil (filler) @ $1.09

(2) Ramen Noodles (filler) @ .29 each

Walgreens Migrane Pain Med (filler) @ $1.29

(2) Iams canned cat food (filler) @ .51 each

Bayer Quick Dissolve Crystals @ $2.49 before coupon

(2) Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent @ $3.49 each

Total OOP: $18.54 on a Wags GC that I got for transferring my Rx to them! So really, this was all free! I still have $6.46 left on the GC for the next rolling adventure!

My OOP would have been about $6 less had I not had an issue at a Wags I rarely go to. I had two transactions, and when I went to use the RR from my first transaction on my second, she rudely explained to me that "that coupon is for your next visit, not your next transaction!". Funny, since the RR states " x.xx off your next shopping order" and the Wags ad itself, when showing RR deals, states "Register Reward good on next purchase". Needless to say, I won't be going back there. I didn't want to argue either since there was a line, and I prefer to avoid confrontation. I can see the cashier being upset if I was rolling my RRs for like 5 transactions in a row, but I was doing TWO!

Anyway, enough about that. I still have $8.50 in RRs to use in the coming weeks, though I can't say I'm too excited about the coming deals. I'm just excited to have body wash again, since I was so close to being out!

I Won a Giveaway!

2009-04-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, I entered a few blog giveaways, thinking that I probably wouldn't win, but that if I was browsing their blog already, I might enter just for fun. This morning, it SO paid off! Coupon Saving Family offered up a Macaroni Grill Gift Basket set including a box of Macaroni Grill, a colander, a spoon, and a cheese grater to three lucky commenters. Amazingly, I was one of the three! I'm so excited to win this as it's a really neat gift set, and we could use everything included. Check out Coupon Saving Family for great tips on how to save money! She posts great coupon matchups for Walgreens as well!

Since I won, I feel like I should pay it forward. So, in honor of winning, I think I will do a giveaway of my own. It will probably be coupons, and it will probably be in a month or so, hopefully when I have more traffic through the site, so someone can actually win! So make sure to check back soon if you want a chance to win some great coupons (I promise that they will definitely be worthwhile)!

Walgreens Deals 4-26 Through 5-2

2009-04-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to shopping at Walgreens this coming week. There are a bunch of great deals, and they are on things I need. There are a few deals I can't take part in thanks to not having the right coupons, but I made some decent plans without them. Here's my plan of action:

Transaction #1

Nivea Body Wash, on sale $4.99

(2) Ecotrin, on sale $2 each

- $1 Nivea MQ

- $2.25 Ecotrin MQ

- $2RR from Chapstick

$4.04 oop, receive $5 RR from Nivea, $2 RR from Ecotrin

Transaction #2

Rembrandt Toothpaste, on sale $5.99

Filler, at or above $1.01

- $5 RR from Nivea

- $2 RR from Ecotrin

.56 or above oop, receive $6 RR from Rembrandt

Transaction #3

Nivea Body Wash, on sale $4.99

Ecotrin, on sale $2

Filler, at or above .01

- $1 Nivea MQ

- $6 RR from Rembrandt

.56 or above oop, receive $5 RR from Nivea and $2 RR from Ecotrin

ROLL, ROLL, ROLL!!!

I have 10 Nivea coupons total, but probably will only get 5 bottles, since I don't want to wipe out my store. I'm really excited about the bodywash, since I'm almost out! Do you have a scenario that you are using next week? Need more ideas? Leave me a comment!

Spending-to-Date

2009-04-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

So I think I may have lost a receipt or two, but I decided to post spending to date, since I figured at most it would be off by like $30, so that's not too bad (at least in my opinion). So I pulled out the receipts, added everything up, and was...well, amazed. Last month we spent around $400 on household goods and groceries and dining out. Granted, we bought more food, but I still felt our spending was much too high for a household of 2 humans and 2 troublesome furballs. This month, with only a week left in it, we have spent a grand total of $176.98!!! I'm so happy with that amount! I feel like we finally have some room to move in our budget now that grocery spending can be cut back without sacrifices.

I also went through my rebate offers and giftcards. I have a total of $19.49 + 10% Wags bonus coming back from Wags on a giftcard. I also still have $7.71 left on my Target GC, $12.xx on my Fred Meyer GC, and a brand spankin' new $25 GC from Wags for transferring my prescription! Free money?! I think so! I also need to bring my rebate check for $5.99 into the bank and get that money back into my account (this came from a Samy TMF rebate).

Honestly, I'm feeling great about our spending here. I hope to keep getting better as I go!

I haven't blogged in a while...

2009-04-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

So between feeling lazy, getting a bit sick, and traveling to see Adam and I's families for a week, I haven't been around much lately. I'm back now though, and ready to provide more tips, tricks, and ideas for how to save money. I need to watch how I'm spending too, since without this blog, I have a hard time keeping track of everything I buy!

Since it would be difficult for me to list all the things I have bought over the past 2 and a half weeks, and because I lost a few receipts :(, I'm basically going to start fresh and just highlight what I've done while I was away. Here it goes!

Safeway:

My mom and I made 2 trips to Safeway while I was there. I don't have all the details, but the first one we didn't spend much over $30, and got back a $10 Living Well Cat, as well as some $16 worth of Bertolli Cats, for purchasing the pouches of sauce. The second trip was even better. I bought 8 pouches of Bertolli, 3 Crystal Light canisters, and 2 California Pizza Kitchens flatbread melts. After coupons and the Cats from our last trip, I paid $5 oop, and received $18 in Cats. Plus, the flatbread melts triggered a survey Cat, and once I finished that online, they sent me a $5 GC!

Walmart:

Since my mom and I were on a shopping rampage, we decided to hit up Walmart to see if we could snag any sweet deals. We both loaded stuff up into the cart, getting excited with every deal we found. We both made out well in the end, saving bunches of money. Our cashier was AWESOME! Not only was she excited on our deals, she made sure to double check she had scanned all the coupons. She was so amazed at how much we saved. For example, my total before coupons was $50. After the coupons went through, it dropped to just under $15! Not a bad trip for what I got!

Those were the most memorable trips that I can think of. I will from now on post daily again. Hopefully. Hold me to it!

It begins with "T"

2009-04-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently, there is an alphabet post going around, where the blogger gets a letter and has to name ten things beginning with said letter that they like. When I read about it over at The Boyd Team blog, I had to get myself a letter! Thankfully, the Boyd Team gave me one. So here it is, ladies and gents! Ten things I love beginning with the letter "T"!

10. Tea

I love tea, be it iced or scalding hot. It's something I drink on a regular basis. In fact, before my fiance and I started dating, we would sit for hours at his house and just go through pots and pots of chamomile tea. It brings back fond memories every time I drink it.

9. Trees

Trees have a beauty about them that is too difficult to describe. I'm not talking about trees landscaped into manicured lawns on a multi-million dollar lot. I'm speaking about our natural forests. I love to go walking and just take the sights in. Sometimes when I get too caught up in life, I take a glance outside. It's relaxing to me and helps me get my mind back on track.

8. Travel

One of my fondest memories is traveling with my family to Australia when I was in 8th grade. We spent a month exploring the land, meeting with friends of my parents, and enjoying the time spent together. I feel lucky that my parents gave me the chance to travel at a young age, and have enjoyed all the trips we have taken. Recently, I haven't been able to travel hardly anywhere because both the fiance and I are currently unemployed. However, we are looking into getting married in Ireland, so in about two years, maybe we'll end up traveling again.

7. Tangerines

I don't have much to say about these, other than I love them! Juicy, succulent, filled with nutrients...Yup, tangerines are the fruit of choice for me (and mandarins, but they don't start with "t").

6. Trails

I love the excitement of finding a new trail to explore. Like I stated in #8, we don't have much money for travel, so we opt for what is close by. Luckily for us, we live in an area full of adventures waiting right outside the door. Adam and I are suckers for hiking. We love to explore, we love to be outdoors, and it's a workout sometimes (which is always a plus!).

5. Thai Food

I swear, if we break our food budget anywhere, it's here. We are addicted to Thai food. Yes, we've cut back, but we still eat at our favorite place at least once a month, sometimes more. We can't help it. We tried to not eat there. Honest. It didn't work out.

4. Tickling

Adam hates me tickling him. He won't let me do it because it annoys him or something. I think he just doesn't like laughing uncontrollably and rolling up into a ball. I love to tickle him just to see him get all pretend grumpy. It might be one of my guilty pleasures. :)

3. Thriftiness

Obviously this one was going to be on the list. This IS a coupon blog, after all. But in all seriousness, I love being thrifty and frugal. I'm addicted to finding deals (I probably check hotcouponworld oh, I don't know, 40 times a day) and I adore the look cashiers get when your total drops from $45 to $3 in a matter of minutes. I love that I have received $80 in the past 3 months for simply transferring my prescription around. I love being able to buy everything we need and more even when we live on a very tight budget. I love knowing that the money I save with coupons can help pay my debt and help save for our first house or our wedding.

2. Three

This is a weird one, but hey, I like the number, alright?It's my lucky number and it's the month Adam and I got engaged in. There's not much to say about this one, but it's a number I hold close to my heart.

1. Trust

I think having trust is just about the most important thing out there. Without it, how could we survive. We depend on our trust for others more than we think. It's a sacred thing. I've trusted people in the past, and they have betrayed me. I still am emotionally scarred from having my trust broken, but everyday I work at moving on. Luckily, Adam is the most patient and supporting person I know, and helps me work through things. When we first began dating, I had a hard time trusting him at all. Now there's never a problem thanks to his patience and my ability to move forward. I love him so fully for never giving up on me. All in all, you can't have much of anything without trust.

No inserts in tomorrow's papers

2009-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

It's Easter tomorrow, and that means there will be no inserts in tomorrow's paper. Fortunately, they will be back next Sunday, with some great coupons! So enjoy the clipping break and have a great Easter!

Photo by Craftzine.com

Go Organic for Earth Day Coupon Booklet

2009-04-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

There are not a lot of organic coupons out from what I have seen. However, right now you can snag a coupon book with coupons from great organic companies like Seventh Generation and Organic Valley. Just head on over here and type in your zipcode to see if there is a store near you participating (you can only find these coupon books in store it seems). Unfortunately, my area doesn't seem to have any stores carrying the books. Better luck to you guys!

Want more coupons? Email the manufacturer!

2009-04-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

Out of a product and stuck without coupons? Or maybe you buy a brand that never puts coupons in the insert. Either way, try emailing the manufacturer. You might be surprised! I emailed Royal Canin cat food yesterday, telling them that my cats loved their food, but that it was hard for us to afford. I asked if they could maybe send me a coupon. Today, I got a response saying that they would be more than happy to send me a coupon, plus information on their rewards program! I honestly wasn't expecting anything, especially within a day!

So, if you want coupons, it definitely pays to ask! The worst they can say is no!

I love cheap razors!

2009-04-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

Stopped at Target again to buy one more Gillette razor and shave gel, since I had one set of coupons left.

We bought:

Gillette Fusion power razor @ $7.99 - $2/1 mq
Gillette shave gel @ $1.79 - $1/1 mq

The purchase went on my giftcard that I got for doing this deal yesterday so OOP was 0.00! Plus, I still have a little left on my giftcard from yesterday, and a new $5 one! I'll save these until the next GC deal, and roll these into them.

Albertsons to Finish of the Day of Shopping!

2009-04-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

By the time I went to Albertsons, I felt like I had been out all day. Now, it was a nice 70 degrees out today, but if you know me, you know that's on the edge of being too hot. So, I was hot, and tired of driving, and just wanted to get in and out. Luckily, it was a smooth trip and I was smiling about it on the way out. Here's why:

Darigold 1% milk @ $2.69 - $2.69 free milk cat
(2) Quaker rice snack bags @ $1.99 each - (2) $1/1 mq and (2) Albie's doublers
Scott Extra Soft TP @ $2.35 - $1/1 mq and Albie's doubler
Total OOP: .36, over 96% savings!

I know it was a small purchase, but to see that total, and the look on the cashier's face, well, it made it all worth it. Never would I ever have thought I could get any of that for so cheap! Ah, living cheap has never felt so sweet.

Target deals

2009-04-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

This week, there is a pretty awesome deal on the Gillette Fusion Power razor. If you buy the razor plus Gillette shave gel, you receive a $5 GC. Granted, it isn't as great as some deals I've seen, but it's still pretty cheap, so I bought two. Here's my transactions:

Gillette Fusion Power razor @ $7.99 - $2/1 mq
Gillette Shave gel @ $1.89 - $1/1 mq
Total OOP: $7.29, put $2.34 on GC from previous deal, and $4.95 on debit, and received a $5 GC

Hormel pepperoni @ $2.49
Gillette Fusion Power razor @ $7.99 - $2/1 mq
Gillette shave gel @ $1.89 - $1/1 mq
Total OOP: $9.78 (my cashier accidentally put the $5 from this transaction onto my giftcard from last transaction, so I was not able to use my $5 GC from the last order to help pay here)

All in all, it wasn't too bad of a trip. I'll go back either tomorrow or sometime this week and buy one more razor and shave gel since I still have one more set of coupons. Then DF will be nice and stocked up for a bit, which he is quite happy about :)

Walgreens Run

2009-04-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with coupons? I just started a little over a month ago and even though I love the excitement of saving 80% on my groceries, I get so tired of feeling like I'm always searching for deals and running from store to store. I'm sure part of it is the fact that I'm new to it, and havn't found my routine yet. Still, sometimes I feel like all I do is clip coupons and shop!

Anyway, I made a trip out today to grab some deals before the stores sold out. Here's the Walgreens run:

(2) Visine A eye drops @ $3.99 each - (2) $3/1 mq
Total OOP: $2.66, received $3 RR

(2) Glade candles @ $3.49 each (they were marked $2.99, didn't catch how much I was charged until now) - $1.50/2 mq
(2) Oust Air Sanitizer @ $2.99 each - (2) $1/1 mq
Ramen noodles @ .29 (filler)
Used $3 RR from Visine, total OOP: $5.85 (get $4 back in rebates)

(2) Glade Lasting Impressions @ $5.99 each - (2) $4/1 mq
(3) One a Day Vitamin drink mix @ $1.49 each - $4/2 mq
Total OOP: $5.85 (get $5.49 back in rebates)

My total OOP for Walgreens today: $14.36 (after rebates, $4.87). Without the rebates included, I saved 75%! Including the rebates, and I saved an amazing 92%!!! I love getting great deals on stuff we will actually use. We have kittens, so anything that makes the house smell nice is worth it in my book!

All Small and Mighty Laundry Detergent $2 Coupon! Get it NOW!

2009-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hurry and grab this coupon up now! Until 11pm EST tonight, All laundry detergent is offering a great high value coupon to print off their site. Usually laundry detergent coupons are .45 off, so $2 is amazing! Go here to grab it, and remember to hit your browser back button to print two. Then just wait for a great sale to get laundry detergent super cheap!

Albertsons Trip

2009-04-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Went to Albie's today to pick up a few deals and a few things we needed. Here's what we got:

Cascade Rinse Aid @ $3.99

(3) Kelloggs cereals @ $1.99 each

Mission Tortillas @ $2.99

Mission Tortillas @ $3.49

(3) Vitamin Waters @ $1.00 each

(2) Gatorade Propels @ .79 each

Wild Harvest Organic eggs @ $2.99

Albertsons Sour Cream @ $1.49

Kashi Vegetable bread pocket @ $3.59

Always Infinity pads @ $5.79

- MQ for free Always pads ($5.79)

- MQ for free Kashi meal ($3.59)

- MQ for free Cascade Rinse Aid ($3.99)

- (3) $1/1 Kelloggs from 4-5 RP

- (3) $1 Albie's doubles

- (3) $1/1 Vitamin Water from 4-5 SS

Total OOP: $11.16

Total saved: $40.32

Not a bad trip. I'll be going back tomorrow to get my free milk (from the Kelloggs deal), as well as some free pasta. Yay for great deals!

LoveSac Giveaway on Mommies With Cents!!!

2009-04-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

Check this out! It ends tonight so sign up NOW!

Mommies With Cents is having a huge giveaway right now. If you head over here, you can enter for your own chance to win.

What is a LoveSac? It's a giant bean bag, only super high quality! They are a unique take on furniture and look to be super comfy. They have great reviews and sell for upwards of $600! Mommies with Cents reviewed the bags and really enjoyed them.

So check it out now and enter for your chance to win one!

Free cereal AND milk at Albertsons!

2009-04-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

For those of us with doubles, we can get 3 boxes of Kelloggs cereal free, and a cat for free milk! Here's how you can do it:

Buy 3 boxes Kellogg cereal, on sale @ $1.99 each

Use 3 $1/1 mq from 4-5 RP

Use 3 doubles

Pay nothing but tax, and get a cat for free milk!

You could also do this, but buy 5 cereals instead, pay $2.xx OOP and receive 2 milk cats! I just want it to be free because I'm trying to limit my budget a lot this month. Try this out and let me know how it works!

My Walgreens Plan

2009-04-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here's my plan for this week at Walgreens.

Transaction #1

(2) Visine AC @ $3.99 each

- (2) $3/1 Visine MQ from 3-15 RP

OOP: $1.98 + tax, and get $3 RR

Transaction #2

(2) Glade Jar Candles @ $2.99 each

(2) Oust Air Sanitizer @ $2.99 each

Small filler .15

- (2) $2 MQ for Oust 3-29 SS

- $1.50/2 MQ for Glade 3-15 SS

-$3 RR from Visine

OOP: $3.61 + tax, and get $4 back in rebates ($1 each)

Transaction #3

(2) Glade Lasting Impressions Kit @ $5.99 each

- (2) $4 MQ for Glade 3-29 SS

OOP: $3.98 + tax, and get $4 back in rebates ($2 each)

With rebates, the last two transactions are free or small MM. The first one, if you consider the RR, makes me $1.01! That's some good shopping there! Any ideas for doing this better, or have your own plans? Let me know in the comments.

Where to find free samples

2009-04-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

In my post a few days ago, I told you about the free samples and coupons I had received in my mailbox. I love opening the mailbox and getting a treat or surprise!

How do I get these? Here's a few of the ways:

Walmart provides so many free samples! If you go over here, you can view some of the available ones right now (and they get new ones often). Right now some highlights are a Gain laundry detergent sample, Jergens Natural Glow sample, and Kotex pads sample. Remember too, that almost all free samples come with some pretty high value coupons.
HCW is a great resource for, well, everything! It is my go to site for deals. They have a freebies forum too, and you can generally find many great samples and frees here!
Manufacturers give out samples too! Kashi sent me a free food coupon as I mentioned a few days ago, and if you go here, you can sign up for a free sample of Always pads. I just go to websites of products I like, or would like to try, and see if they offer a sample, or printable coupons. You can also google for it.
Hip2Save's blog is an awesome resource for freebies, plus anything else coupon related. She posts many free samples that she finds, as well as great buys off Amazon and other retailers.

There's where I find most of my free samples and coupons. Where do you find yours?

FREE Custom Hallmark Card

2009-04-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

I love getting freebies just as much as the next person, if not more! So I was super excited to see that you can make your own personalized Hallmark paper card and have it mailed, all for free!

Head on over here and get started. There are a bunch of cards to choose from. Once you have selected a card and personalized it to your delight, register as a user (it takes about 30 seconds), and enter TRIAL into the code box in the payment screen. It's that simple! No credit card information required!

I sent one to Adam even though he lives with me, mostly to test it out, and because I love cards! It worked great and made it here in 3 days!

Test it out for yourselves and tell me in the comments how it worked for you!

Yesterdays Walgreens Trip

2009-04-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

Went to Walgreens yesterday to get my free foil, cough drops, and pizzas before the new sale started. I brought Adam too since we were running around doing errands. He's so great about putting up with my couponing deals, even though sometimes he doesn't understand it at all! To get to the point though, he ended up finding a few more things he needed, so we spent a little more than planned. :)

Here's what we bought:

(2) Nature's Finest Vitamins on BOGO sale, $11.99 each

(4) Red Baron Pizza, on sale $2.50 each

(2) Walgreens Ice Creams, on sale $2.50 each

Reynolds foil wrap 20 ft., $1.69

Halls cough drops, $1.99

(4) Mouth drops, .15 each (realized at the counter, didn't need fillers anymore because of the extras we bought)

- .80 Wags Q for foil

- .60 Wags Q for Halls

- (2) $1/2 Red Baron MQ

- $1 Reynolds foil MQ

- $1 Halls MQ

- $3 RR

Total OOP: $24.13

Freebies and coupons!

2009-04-03T15:14:00.001-07:00

Today, after getting NO mail at all for 4 days, I had a stuffed mailbox full of it! Along with the usual bills and credit offers, I got 3 coupon offers I had signed up for! Yay, free stuff! Here's the loot:

Home Made Simple coupon booklet. This one contains over $30 in savings from Cascade, Dawn, Febreeze, Mr. Clean, and Swiffer. You can snag your own booklet here.
Free entree from Kashi. I don't believe this offer is still available, but if you signed up when it was and still have not received your coupon, you can track it here.
Free sample and coupons from Tampax and Always. In addition to receiving 3 tampons, 1 pad, 2 pantiliners, and 1 wipe, I also got some great high-value coupons. $1 off any size box Tampax Pearl, $1.50 off any size Tampax Compak Pearl, and a coupon for a FREE Always Infinity 18-count box of pads! Sign up here.

I love free samples, I can't wait for more to show up!

Walgreens Trip

2009-04-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

Finally made it out to do some shopping at Wags this week. I had everything planned out but unfortunatly, nothing ever goes as planned! I ended up not buying the softsoap since it was not rolling anymore. Here are my transactions:

#1
(2) Quaker Chewy granola bars @ $2.50 each
(1) Breath drops (filler) @ .15
- .75/2 MQ for granola bars
- $3 RR from Tums last week
Total OOP: $1.41, received $2 RR

#2
(1) Edge shave gel @ $2.99
- $2 RR from last transaction
Total OOP: $1.24, received $3 RR

#3
(1) Chapstick Naturals @ $1.99
The BA told me I couldn't use the shave gel RR on this, as others had this week and it hadn't worked. I was skeptical of this, but didn't want to push my luck, so just did this transaction alone.
Total OOP: $2.16, received $2 RR

#4
(2) Coke Zero @ $1.40 each
(2) Reese's cups, free with Coke purchase
(1) Carmex lip balm (last minute filler) @ $1.59 (ouch!)
- BOGO Coke Q
- $2 RR from Chapstick
Total OOP: $1.26

I still have my $3 RR from the shave gel, and will save that to go with the Visine drops next week (buy 2 for $1.98 total AC and get $3 RR back). Or I might use it to complete one more transaction this week. We'll see. :)

Albertsons Run

2009-03-31T08:48:00.000-07:00

Made a quick trip yesterday to Albie's to stock up on some cereal. Not that we were low on it or anything, but I couldn't pass up this deal! In fact, I'm almost tempted to go back and get more...But Adam would probably think I was insane :) What can I say? Rock bottom pricing is when you gotta get it!!!

First transaction:

(3) Post Shredded Wheat @ $2.07/box

Post Raisen Bran @ $2.07/box

Post Just Bunches @ $2.07/box

Freschetta pizza @ $6.29

-(2) $1/2 sale on Post cereal

-(2) $1/2 MQ on Post cereal

-$2.30 Albie's Q on Freschetta pizza

-$1/1 MQ on Freschetta pizza

Total OOP: $9.34 Total saved: $22.00 (71%)

Received $5 cat for purchasing 5 Post cereals

Second transaction:

(4) Post Selects @ $2.07/box

Post Just Bunches @ $2.07/box

-(2) $1/2 sale on Post cereal

-(2) $1/2 MQ on Post cereal

- $5 cat received after last transaction

Total OOP: $3.35 Total saved: $21.10 (86%)

Received another $5 cat! Yay!

I could have sweetened this deal further by purchasing the Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal in each transaction to replace the Just Bunches, which I used no coupon on. The Trail Mix Crunch has a $2/1 Q at the Post site, and you can print 2 of these coupons from each computer. If I would have had this Q and used this cereal in my last transaction rather than the Just Bunches, I would have only paid $1.35 OOP and STILL received my $5 cat! What a deal!

Deals at Wags

2009-03-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

I haven't been out shopping much lately (trying to keep the budget down and all) but I will be heading out today to Wags and Albies. Here's the plan for Wags:

1st:
Softsoap Body Wash $2.99 (1)
2 Life cereal $4 (1)
Filler .15
$3 RR (1)
$4.71 OOP

2nd:
Softsoap body wash FREE
Shave gel $2.49
- $2 Quaker RR
.49 + tax OOP

3nd:
Chapstick $1.99
2 Coke, 2 candy bars $1.49 (1)
-$3 RR (1)
.48 + tax OOP

4th:
Shave gel $2.49
- $2 chapstick RR
.49 + tax OOP

5th:
Foil -.11 (2)
2 Febreeze $2.50 (1)
Halls cough drops .39 (2)
2 Mentos FREE (2)
3 Vitamin drink .47 (1)
2 Red Baron Pizza $4 (1)
4 Filler .60
-$3 Shave gel RR
$4.85 + tax OOP

So there's that plan. I was going to roll the Softsoap a few times, but alas, I was too late. The deal is now dead :(. Before this morning, you were able to buy one Softsoap body wash at $2.99, and it would print a coupon for a free body wash. Then using that, it would print another one! So you could literally get 20 body washes for $3! Like I said though, deal is not working anymore. So, 2 body washes is all we get!

Bertolli Sauce Pouches at Safeway

2009-03-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

Sounds like I missed out on making my pasta sauce an even better deal! Apparently now, for every 2 Bertolli sauce pouches you purchase at Safeway, you get back a $2 catalina. Currently these sauce pouches are part of the "Buy 10 items, get $5 off instantly" promo. Plus, at most stores, they have a blinkie right next to them for $1/1. So after the promo discount and the coupon, they are .50 each. Buy 10 for a total of $5 and get $10 worth of cats back! It's like a $5 MM! So sad I missed this! You can read more about it here.

Goals for April

2009-03-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

After seeing how we did this month, I'm looking forward to doing even better in April. Here are some ways I plan to save even more:

Buy less "convenience" food.

This month will the Chill out at Home promo at Safeway, we bought a lot of yummy food for the freezer, and it wasn't a half bad deal. However, I want to try and make more of our food from scratch. Before couponing, I would make gourmet meals and purchase expensive items at full price. Even though I make excellent meals and everyone loved them, it's something I must learn to do without the $20/lb cheese and $30 bottle of olive oil. I can't spend $60 on a single meal anymore! (Yes, I did do that!). So, I will try to make meals based on what is on sale, and try to keep it simple.

Stockpile good deals.

From now on, if something is one sale and I have coupons making it super cheap or free, I'll buy as many as I have coupons for. In fact, if it's a super deal, I'll buy more newspapers just to get more coupons. It just doesn't make sense not to stockpile things if you know you will use them, and if they stay good for a long time. Now, I'm not ready to go full blown with this and make my back room into a store, but I do want to buy enough to be able to live off of it for about 3-4 months. By the time I run out or am close to it, chances are the sales will have cycled through and I'll be able to get a good deal once again.

Help me think of more ways to save! Leave me an idea in the comments section.

This month's spendings and savings

2009-03-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know the month isn't done yet, but thanks to HCW, I know what next weeks ads are already and know I won't be out shopping again this month (unless it's fresh produce and I'll edit this to add that if necessary). Also, I have no more storage space! We don't have a pantry, so we use one of our large kitchen cabinets to hold our food. Currently, we have food on the counter because we can't cram any more into the cabinet. The freezer is overflowing and I had to de-thaw a few things just so I could get all the food we bought in. So...I decided to total all my receipts and see how we did.

Our food total for the month (includes our grocery purchases as well as eating out): $307.05.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed to see how high it got. I was aiming to be under $200, and it didn't work out that way. However, we probably wont need to buy anything for the next few weeks, so hopefully next month's oop for food will be much less. Plus, we have so much stockpiled now that the savings should continue for a few months. Before this month, I didn't coupon and hardly watched sales, so we didn't have much food on hand and thus bought many things full price. Now I shudder at that idea :). So, seeing as we used to spend a little over $400 in this food category, we still saved money, and we got a ton more food than we used to! I'm calling this a win! I know that next month we'll do even better!

Our household expenses for the month (including health and beauty, regular household items, newspapers for coupons, and cat food. Does not include purchases like buying a coffee maker or a video game, as those come out of a separate category): $154.38

Because the cats had fleas this month, we had to purchase medicine and flea sprays, which significantly increased the amount we spent here. If you subtract the cost of the Advantage and the flea spray, the total becomes $94.35! That's great for what we got! Here's an overview of some of the items snagged at great prices, sometimes free!:

(6) Goodlife Recipe cat food 3lb bags @ .99 each!
(2) Schick razors @ $3.37 a piece, plus got a $5 GC!
Listerine, reach toothbrush and reach floss for $6.77 oop, but received a $6 RR (like getting all that for just .77!!)
(3) Regular size Dove deodorants and (5) trial size Dove deodorants, reg size @$1.71 each and trial size @ .99 each, plus got RR's!
(2) Arm and Hammer 50oz. laundry detergent bottles @ only $2.35 each!
.49 Gillette body wash!
(4) Garnier hair care produces, all FREE!
and a bunch more, but I don't want to bore you!

So total spent this month is $461.43. Not great, not bad, but like I said earlier, we'll save a lot next month and in the months following, so in the end, stockpilling this month should help keep expenses super low next month. I'm okay with that.

$523.10 is what we saved according to the receipts. That means we saved about 54%. If we would have bought all this full price we would have spent nearly $1000 this month! Ouch! So all in all, we spent about $100 less this month total from what we used to spend, and we got at least double the amount of items we used to buy. Now how's that for savings?

So that wraps up this month's budget, and although we spent more than I had wanted to, we still spent less than we used to, and we got a bunch more! I guess that settles it: I'm addicted to couponing and doubt I'll ever stop!

Safeway deals

2009-03-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Adam and I headed up to Safeway today to do one last run of the Chill out at Home promo (details here) as well as get in on the Megasaver event (in my list, I'll abbreviate items included to "MS item"). We piled so much into our cart! Here's what we got:

(4) Pasta Roni's $1 each after coupon (MS item)
(4) Kraft Dressing .50 each after coupon (MS item)
(7) Bertolli Sauce pouches $1 each after coupon (MS item)
(2) Hormel Chili Masters $2 each after coupon (MS item)
Wishbone salad dressing $2.14 after coupon
Wishbone Bountiful salad dressing $1.89 after coupon
Kens salad dressing $2.19 after coupon
Maxwell House coffee $6.99
Crisco spray $3.00
Tidy Cat litter 20lb $3.49 after coupon
(2) Promise SuperShots $2 each after coupon (MS item)
(4) Kashi frozen entrees .99 after coupon
(2) Kashi pizzas $1.99 after coupon
(2) Marie Callender pot pies $2.79 each after coupon
Marie Callender frozen meal $2.79 after coupon
(2) Marie Callender Al Dente pasta dishes $2.30 after coupon
(2) New York Pizzaria Dip n' sticks $1.75 each after coupon
(2) Michael Angelo Lasagna Family meals $3.50 each after coupon
(2) Freschetta pizzas $4.49 each after coupon
Safeway french toast bread $2
(2) Oroweat breads $1.99 each after coupon
(3) Del Monte Natural fruit cups $1.25 each (MS item)

The Megasaver took off $10 additional at the end ($5 for every 10 participating items purchased) and we got a $10 cat for the frozen food promo.

Total OOP: $80.69

Yes, it's more money than I generally like to spend, but we are stocked up for a while and likely won't need to grocery shop for like a month (other than fresh produce). Also, on this amount of food, we would have spent over $200 before I started couponing. We wouldn't have watched the sales and never used coupons. So knowing that the savings indicated on the receipt showed how much I have saved by watching sales and couponing has really encouraged me. 2 months ago I wouldn't have blinked an eye seeing my grocery bill total $200. Now if an item does't have a coupon, I rarely buy it! What a change! We saved $125.83 (61%), and $49.74 of that was in coupons alone!!! We felt pretty good about it and are happy with what we got.

With the $10 cat, we purchased two additional pizzas and two half gallons of Safeway ice cream. Total OOP for that was $9.96.

It was a rather expensive day, but we got a ton of stuff and now I don't feel like I have to rush out for ever single deal!

Kmart Doubles...and Disappoints

2009-03-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today, I decided to grab my coupons and brave a new store: Kmart. After seeing the AMAZING Kmart post by Hip 2 Save, I was inspired. So armed with my coupons, I headed in and loaded my handbasket with things that would be cheap or free.

Upon getting to the cash register, I noticed that some of my coupons were not doubling the way I expected them to. Some worked great, like the Gillette, which was only .49 after they doubled the $2 MQ. However, anything that was a Q for an amount off multiple items did not work. For instance, I bought the Glade scented oil candle refills, on sale 2 for $5. I had a coupon for $2/2, and from reading other posts, Kmart would double this and make each refill only .50! However, mine only doubled this to .50, meaning I paid $1.25 each.

From what I understand after posting my issue, and having others respond, is that due to my Kmart not having a touch screen register, they cannot "connect" the coupon to both items it applies to. Therefore, since they only double up to the item price, it just doubles to the price of one item, not two. So, this left me a little disappointed, since I couldn't get away with some of the amazing deals. However, I still got a few. Here's the list:

Rubbermaid container, clearanced to $3.50 - $1 coupon doubled = $1.50
(2) Soft Scrub Pads, $2.79 each - (2) $1.50 coupon doubled = FREE
(2) Gillette body washes, $4.49 each - (2) $2 coupons doubled = .49 each
(2) Ziplock containers pack of 5, $2.50 each - $1.50/2 coupon doubled (to $1) = $1.50 each
EAS Myoplex bar, $1.99 - $1 coupon doubled = FREE
Nature's Source cleaner, $2.50 - $1 coupon doubled = .50
(2) Glade candles, $2.50 each - $1.50/2 coupon doubled (to $1) = $1.50 each
(4) Glade scented oil candle refills, $2.50 each - (2) $2/2 coupons doubled (to .50 each) = $1.25 each

Total OOP: $15.44

I may return the scented oil refills because they just were not as good of a deal as they would have been at a different Kmart.

Bath and Body Works High Value Coupon!

2009-03-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

I opened my inbox today and Bath and Body Works has released yet another high value coupon! This one entitles you to a free Signature Collection Body Care item (up to $12 value!) when you make a $10 or more purchase! Check out the link here (thanks to Hip 2 Save).

Lately there have been a lot of these coupons. Check out Hip 2 Save's post to see even more coupons!

You can also sign up for Bath and Body Works email list (sign up on bottom right of the page) to get coupons delievered right to your inbox so you never miss a deal!

Target, Albie's, and Wags

2009-03-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

So I went on a little shopping spree today (with coupons, of course!). Here's what I got:

Target:

(I first returned the VGA cable we bought yesterday, so $16.26 for that came back to me)

Schick Quattro razor, on sale for $6.99
Schick Intuition razor, on sale for $6.99
(2) Goodlife Recipe cat food 3lb bags, $3.99 each

I did two separate transactions, razors then cat food. The razors each had a coupon for $4 off from the 3/22 SS, so I paid $6.74 for both of them, and got a free $5 Target GC back. I used the $5 GC to pay for the cat food, which after the 2 $3 MQ, came to $2.66.

Target total OOP: $6.74 total saved: $27.15 (including $5 GC)

Albies:

(2) Rice Krispy Treats, 8ct., on sale $2.50 each
(2) Tropicana Trop50 orange juice cartons, on sale $2.50 each

I had a $1/2 MQ for the Rice Krispy treats, and doubled that to get them at $1.50 each. Not a great deal, but I really wanted something yummy to snack on at home. I had two $1/1 for the OJ, and doubled both to get the OJ for .50 each!

Albies total OOP: $4 total saved: $10.96

Wags:

(2) Starbucks chocolate, on sale $5 each
(2) Wags mint mouth drops, on clearance .15 each (fillers that I ended up not needing)
(3) Stride gum packs, $1.29 each

I used the ESC coupon for $6/2 on the Starbucks chocolate, plus a $1/1 MQ for them. I also used the 7 day ad coupon for the Stride gum to get it at .79 each, then used a MQ (3/22 SS) that was $2/3.

Wags total OOP: $3.70 total saved: $11.20

So for today, I spent a total of $14.44, and saved $37.31. That's a savings of 72% (If I did my math right). All in all, not a bad day. I still have $2.34 on the Target GC as well. That's all for now!

Shopping today

2009-03-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

DF and I went out today to do a quick bit of shopping. We stopped at Haggens first because I needed a newspaper and they had a good deal on progresso vegetable classic soup (.50 each after IP!) Adam was craving chili too, so we picked up a big can, plus two chili mixes, two cans kidney beans, and ground beef. Ended up buying more than expected, and (sadly) without coupons on some. But seeing as DF is the one bringing in money, as well as putting up with my coupon addiction :), he can have whatever he wants :). But ANYWAY, I went to pay and didn't hand over my coupon fast enough (crazy fast cashier), so she ended up giving me the cash for it. I was happy with that, as it was mostly my fault for not handing it over in time.

Haggens trip: $20.73 oop

We then headed over to Target so that I could grab some more bags of the Goodlife Recipe cat food (.99 each after coupon for a 3lb. bag). We also picked up a VGA cable for the TV, but ended up not needing it, so that will be returned tomorrow. Also picked up a coffee maker. We had a small one (4 cup) but it never was enough, especially when people came over. So we spotted a 12 cup programmable one on clearance for $11, and decided that was a good enough deal for us.

Target trip: $31.22 oop but returning cable, so final oop will be $14.97.

Tomorrow I plan on heading to Target, Albie's, Wags, and possibly Safeway. We'll see if I make it everywhere! My plan is to get out of here around 8 or 9am, so that I can be done with the bulk of it by 11am or so. I'll detail all my finds tomorrow once I get home!

Awesome Target Deal!

2009-03-21T20:55:00.001-07:00

So I bought the early Sunday paper today and was browsing the coupons and ads. I had been planning on buying a Schick razor at wags because it would come out to .99 for a razor (quite the deal in itself). But as I went through the Target ad, I noticed that if you buy 2 Schick razors (quatro or intuition, or cartridges), you get a $5 GC. The razors are both on sale for $6.99, so after the $4 coupons that came out in the 3/22 SS, you will pay $5.98 oop, and receive a $5 Target GC. .49 per razor!! Not bad at all! I will definitely be taking advantage of this offer!

Spring Clean

2009-03-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

The house is pretty again!

No, not really, but it is more organized and somewhat prettier. I was in a cleaning mood yesterday so I did some basic stuff and cleaned up our "cat" room. It was really unorganized in there, plus the carpet was covered with litter and cat food. Silly messy kittens. Anyway, I pulled everything out of the room, vacuumed the carpet, reorganized the closet, cleaned out some drawers, sorted and threw out stuff we didn't need, and made a goodwill pile. Then I put all the stuff back in the room that I had pulled out, but more fit in the closet now, so the room is more open now. I felt satisfied!

I also did the dishes, organized the media area, reorganized the cabinets in the kitchen, and semi-cleaned the bathroom. All in all, things look nicer now around here. Except the kitchen. That just got destroyed instantly since I made soup last night at the request of Adam and a friend of ours that brought over meat. Somehow the kitchen just disappeared under all the cutting boards and dirty dishes. So, even though my cleaning mood has flown away, I think I shall rescrub everything in there and hope it stays nice for longer than an hour :)

Anyway, I may make a few shopping trips today, and if I do, I'll keep you posted on the deals I find.

So haven't posted in a few...

2009-03-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been up to much lately and didn't have much to blog about, so hence, no new posts. But I thought I'd put up a few ideas on how to earn free money and gift cards today. So here it goes!

Prescription Transfer Coupons: You can often find these in the store's weekly ad. Walgreens and Rite-Aid seem to have them most often, but I've found them for Safeway and Target as well. All you have to do is transfer a prescription to the pharmacy, and bring the coupon. Then you get a free gift card, usually between $10- $30. This is a great way to get free gift cards that takes hardly anytime. One word of caution. If you take multiple prescriptions and have them spread out through multiple pharmacies, the phamacists may not be able to tell you about certain drug interactions. If you don't talk to your phamacist or doctor about the interactions, you could encounter some problems. So, I'd recommend keeping your prescriptions in one pharmacy unless you make sure to ask the pharmacist about your other medications.
SwagBucks.com: This site "pays" you swagbucks for using their search engine, commenting on blogs, referring friends, and more. It's easy to sign up and free. Go here for more information or to sign up. Also, if you'd be so kind, please use my referral link to sign yourself up. It will give me swagbucks if you win, so it would be greatly appreciated!

There are many other ways to earn gift cards and prizes, but these are the only two I have tried so far. Check out Hip 2 Save's post here on how to earn a $25 Target GC just for signing up for an offer, than cancelling before they charge you.

Target Deals

2009-03-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Target today as well. I was looking for a few things, but didn't have coupons for many things that were on sale. I looked at binders too, to organize my coupons, but didn't find any I liked. So stuck with my mailing envies for now :) I did however buy something though!

The Goodlife Recipe cat food had a temporary price adjustment down to $3.99. AND, because of the awesome $3/1 coupons from the 3/8 inserts (I think), I was able to get 2 3lb. bags of cat food for just $2.66 oop. The kitties should be happy about this! I was smarter this time and put the food up were they couldn't get at it. I made the silly mistake of leaving a bag of Iams unopened on the floor. Needless to say, they opened it for me :)

Albersons Deals...

2009-03-16T19:27:00.001-07:00

Decided I better go out and use my double coupons today, so hit up my good old Albie's for some deals. Here's what I got:

(2) Arm & Hammer laundry detergents, 50oz. $6.69 BOGO, then used my $1 IP and a double. Snagged each of these bottles for only $2.35 each! Not too bad in my opinion.
(2) Wheat Thins Artisan Cheese crackers, on sale 2/$5, and with the BOGO coupon from 3/15 inserts, these are only $1.25 a box! These look so yummy!
Cinnamon Sugar McCormick Grinder, on sale for $2, and with the $1 coupon in the 3/15 inserts, plus the double, this is FREE!
(3) Birds Eye Steamfresh Vegetables, on sale for $1 a bag. Used the $1/3 coupon from 3/8 insert (I think), plus a double, to get them for only .33 a bag!

All in all, spent $8.50 oop. I'm always amazed that before I got into couponing, I would have spent $8.50 just to buy one laundry detergent. Amazing the money you save...

Olive Juice Bags Giveaway!!!

2009-03-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Have a blog? Want to win a super cute bag? Olive Juice Bags has the contest for you! I found out about this from another blog (duh!) and it was too good to pass up. These bags are eco-friendly, made in the us, and many are unique due to limited quantity of fabric.

You can check out their website here

Or, if you want details on the contest and how you can win, go right over here

Good luck to all those that enter! If you own one of their bags, let me know in the comments how it is! They look amazing!

Albie's Deal...

2009-03-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Just thought of something I saw at Albie's in this past week. Not sure if the deal is still going on, I'll check today and let you know. BUT...If it is, I still don't know the name of the product, so bear with me...I'm still new to the deal shopping thing :)

Anyway, in the household/shampoo/make-up isle, I found this new brand of shampoo and conditioner. They were all natural and were in both tan and pink bottles, depending on type. They were bogo, at 6.99 a bottle, and had hangtags for trying them free. So after rebate, 2 free bottles of shampoo or conditioner. I didn't do this deal because we have a good amount of shampoo and we don't have the oop money to spend on this right now. But I will try to get the name and if the promo is still on so that someone else might take advantage of it.

Once again waking in the afternoon

2009-03-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

So here I am, getting up at noon again. This sleep schedule needs to change, otherwise I'll never be productive again!

Well, today probably won't be too active. Went and saw Watchmen last night and loved it. It was done really well. My only complaint was the movie theater chairs, which were uncomfortable and hard. Not exactly great for an almost 3 hour long movie. :)

Anyway, I think I'll make a trip to Albie's and Target today. The double coupons for albies have made me super excited as I try and pick out the best deals for my money. So far the Quaker Delight bars are a good deal after $1 q and double, only .50 a box! And if I'm lucky enough to find peelies on my sun chips, I think I may be able to snag them for as little as a $1. Not too bad, and we love sun chips. I figure I'll just browse around, see if I can't come up with any other deals.

At Target I might do the Quaker deal (buy 5, get $5 gc) but not sure yet. I also may do the Wheat Thins artisan cheese crackers there (using the bogo coupon from 3/15 insert). Maybe I'll skip Target today.

Walgreens shopping trip

2009-03-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Went to Walgreens tonight to scout out clearance deals as well as try out the dove RR deal. There is so much on clearance there! Unfortunately, most of the clearance items at the wags I went to were sold out. So, I stuck with just my regular deals tonight, and maybe I'll check out our other Walgreens tomorrow. So, here's what I got:

First transaction:

1 Listerine Mouthwash, 500mL, $2 after $3/3 coupon from today's ad
1 Reach Ultraclean toothbrush, $2 after $3/3 coupon from today's ad
1 Reach Ultraclean Floss, $2 after $3/3 coupon from today's ad

Total out of pocket (oop): $6.77 and I got a $6 RR back!

Second transaction;

3 Dove Beauty Bars, .99 each since I had a raincheck from when they were on sale
1 Dove Cream Oil bodywash, $2.99 after 25% wags savings and $1.50 IP coupon
2 Dove Original deodorants, $1.71 each after 25% wags savings and $1.50/2 coupon from todays ad

After using my $6 RR from the Listerine/Reach deal, my total oop was only $4.43! On top of that, I got an additional $6 RR for the Dove! Not too bad at all!

Well that's it for the now, Adam and I are heading out to see Watchmen tonight...Should be fun and a nice break from doing nothing but hang out in the house!

The Sunday Coupons!

2009-03-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Woke up way late today thanks to being on a really weird sleep schedule (without jobs, it's hard to stay on anything normal). So instead of going on a hike or picnic, we decided to stay in for the day, aside from a trip to the mall. My fiance picked up a video game he really liked ($17.99 used!!!). We also stopped at Target and picked up some latex gloves for cleaning (.99) and a pitcher for juice ($3.99) since we didn't have one. Lastly, picked up 2 newspapers for the lovely coupons this week ($4).

After clipping all my coupons and organizing them (I currently use envelopes to organize, but think I really need a binder), I decided to start working out some deals. Here's a few of my plans:

Albertsons:

Arm and Hammer Laundy Detergent is BOGO, at $7.49 for one. I have a IPQ (I think from smartsource) for a $1 off, and a Albie's double coupon, so my total should be $5.49 for two, or just $2.75 each! (50 ounce container). Not as good as some deals I have read about, but not too bad for us.

Target

Wheat Thins Artisan Cheese crackers are on sale 2/$5. Use the BOGO from the ads today, and get them for just $1.25 a box!
Rice Krispy treats have a $1 off 2 coupon that came out in today's ad. Use this plus 2 of the .50/1 Target printables to get a great deal (hopefully!).

Walgreens

Trident Xtra Care gum is on sale for a $1. Using the .75/1 coupon from 3/8 inserts and get it for .25! Not too bad for some yummy gum.
Revlon make up is BOGO, and with the $1 coupon, there might be some good deals.
Select Dove products are 25% off and you get RR's for buying. I plan on buying deodorant (8 to be specific) and with the $1.50 off 2 coupons, and the $8 RR coming back to me, it should be a pretty good deal. Might also buy some bar soap singles, as they count for the RR deal, and I have a raincheck for .99ea from when they were on sale at wags.
I might do the listerine/reach deal as well. With the $3 off 3 and the 6RR if you buy 3, it wouldn't be a half bad deal.
I'm also going to check out the clearance stuff. Never hurts to look and I heard that they have a lot of freezer items on clearance, among other things.

Well, that's my outline of what I'm doing. I'll post more once I buy the stuff and let you know how I did and what worked.

Since it's the middle of the month...

2009-03-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

I decided I didn't really want to type up everything I had bought so far this month, since it would take quite some time. Instead, I will explain my budget and how I'm doing this month. In the future, I'll detail my shopping trips, take pictures of what I bought, and help you score the same or a similar deal!

So, this month I'm aiming at spending $150 on food and $100 on household and cat supplies. Next month I'll lower the household budget to $50, but this month allowed for extra spending to build a small stockpile.

How am I doing? Well, so far I have spend $92 on groceries, and $66 on household. I am not including the flea treatment into the household since I had some extra savings that I used towards it. I'll probably try and hit up Safeway once more this month (The Chill out at Home promo is on, and freezer food tends to be what we eat more often then not).

Seeing as it is quite late, and I'm tired of typing, I'm going to wrap this up. I'll be heading out tomorrow to pick up a few Sunday papers, and I'll make sure to update with some deal ideas and the such. Goodnight!

Oh the joy of fleas!

2009-03-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

After noticing little bumps all over us, and seeing the cats scratch themselves crazy, we decided that we had a flea infestation on our hands! Just when I was thinking that I would have some extra money this month to put towards credit debt! :( Oh well.

So needless to say, we made a trip out to PetSmart. Having tried the OTC brands before and having no luck, we had to shell out $52.30 for 4 applications of Advantage! It's shocking how much that costs! I tried to buy it on Amazon last night, but for some reason it didn't accept my credit card (I think it's due to Chase switching things around at WaMu) so I had to pay the full retail price. We also bought:

BioSpot Flea Spray for carpets $19.99
Science Diet Indoor Kitten food $12.99

Luckily I had a coupon for $5 off the food, but still my oop today was $82! Not exactly what I would call ideal, but couldn't do much else.

After all this though, I do have a few tips for those of you who may be in a similar situation (it is flea season after all):

I've heard that if you add a TBSP of vegetable oil to the cats water, it will increase the oil in their skin, and thus make it a less comfortable place for fleas. I have not tried it out, but it makes sense.
If you need to buy flea treatment for your pets, don't use the OTC stuff like Hartz and others. For one, they hardly ever work, and two, it seems many pets have reactions to the medicine, sometimes fatal. Instead, buy the more expensive kind that comes from your vet. Yes, it's more money out of pocket, but it is effective.
For treating your house, remember fleas love furry places and things. Use a powder or spray treatment for the carpets. Remember for the carpets to vacuum before treatment, and empty the bag or container immediately after. Also vacuum the morning after treating.
Save some money and shop online. If you can wait for a few days, it did seem to be cheaper online. Amazon has it here for only $49.99 for 6 applications and free shipping. A much better deal, and you save the gas money!

Well that's all for now. With any luck, we will be flea-free soon!

A Simple Intro

2009-03-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

My name is Sara, I am 20 years old, and live in Washington with my lovely fiance Adam and our two crazy and adorable kittens, Reven and Alma. We are like most families, and struggling to make ends meet when money is always tight.

I only recently started couponing. My mom introduced me and it started an addiction that only grows by the day! Before couponing, we would spend at least $300 a month on food and dining out alone, and that's just for two people! We were living in a life of luxuries until we both found ourselves jobless thanks to the economy. Suddenly, we realized our lifestyle was no longer realistic and decided to change. Now we aim to spend $150 a month on food, and $50 a month on household and cat supplies! With the money we save, we will create a emergency savings fund and pay off student loans and a credit card.

I created this blog in hopes that it would inspire those who read it. I know that there are tons of couponing and frugal living websites, but I hope I can make mine unique and fun to read.

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I enjoy writing it.