Friday's quick trip

to Albertson's. They are running a sale where you get and extra $8 off the already "sale" price when you buy 8 of the participating items. Just so happens that alot of the items also have coupons at Coupons.com and Betty Crocker.com. I snagged $44.oo worth of groceries for $14.50. Still stocking up on snacks for our move and the first weeks in Wa.

The yogurt drinks were a first for us. Hailey doesn't eat as much as the other kids did, she's always too busy to eat, so I've got to get as much in her as I can when I can. So, I got the idea sneak these drinkable yogurts in her bottles to up the calorie/vitamin count. So far, she's doing well with them.

Blessings!

Another Wag's deal....almost free toothpaste!

I was going to add this deal to my Wag's list last night but the Aquafresh site wasn't working properly so I couldn't see if there were coupons or not.

Aquafresh deal:
Ad coupon for B1G1 free
2 for $2.19
2 $.75/1 coupons from here
Final price: 2 for $.69 or $.35 each!

Blessings!

Walgreen's deals for 8/10-8/16

I'm a little slow getting these up. We're scrambling trying to get an apartment and pack/sell things so we can be out of here by the 26th. Good times!
Another WAGS Diaper deal:
B1G1 50% off
2 packages for $11.98
Easy Saver coupon $5/2
Pharmacy book coupon $2/pk (takes $2 off each)
$2.98 for 2 jumbo packs

Physicians Formula deal:
Physicians Formula 40% off
Use $6/1 $5/1 $3/1 coupons
found at the cosmetics counters.

Covergirl deal:
Cover Girl Eye Cosmetics B1G1 free
2 $1/1 mfg coupons from 8/10 insert
Cheap!

Neutrogena cosmetics deal:
B1G1 50% off
$1/1 coupons from here Also, if you spend $30,
you get a $10 RR!

Nice 'n Easy deal:
On sale B1G1 50% off
B1G1 Free coupon from 8/03 insert
2 for 1/2 the price of 1!

Bic Soleil deal:
Sale $5.99
Easy Saver Coupon $2
$2 off 1 mfg coupon from 8/10 insert
Final Price: $1.99

Oxy deal:
Buy 1 for $4.99 get 1 free
2 $1/1 mfg coupons from 8/10
Final price: 2/$2.99

Lysol toilet bowl deal:
Buy 1 for $2.79 get 1 free
2 $.50/1 mfg coupons from here
Final price: 2/$1.79

Hershey's Bliss deal:
On sale for 2/$6
Get 4 bags for $12
Easy saver coupon for $2 off 2
Easy saver rebate of $5.00 when you buy $10 of hershey's
Print 2 $1 off 1 here and another 2 here
Free plus $1 overage with coupons and rebates!

Bic Pens deal:
On sale 2/$1.00
Use $1 off 2 Bic Stationary Products from 8/03 or print somehere


Blessings!

KMart deals for 8/10-8/16

Kmart Deals this I see this week.
Bic pens 2/$1, buy 4 for $2, use 2 $1/2 MFG coupons from last week's newspaper insert to get them free!
Covergirl Aquacurrent, Trublend, or mascara B1G1 FREE. Buy 1 Trublend loose mineral powder and 1 Trublend blush, use 1 B1G1 Free MFG coupon from recent insert to get them both free! There were also some $1 off any Covergirl product MFG coupons in today's insert to to use on other products or on more of the products on the B1G1 sale.
Blessings!

Walgreens

This was the Walgreen's run from this weekend.

$112 for $45.65

I don't need to buy toiletries, cleaning supplies, cereals, or snacks for at least 2-3 months now:)
Blessings!

The great diaper/grocery run

I never got to post pics because I lost my camera but this is the great diaper/grocery run from the weekend before last.

I spent $125 of my $225 budget.

And I got 7 months worth of diapers....woot-double-woot-double-woot-woot-wooh!

(a family friend used to say that...)

This was my best deal, I think. These packages were $.05 each on an instore clearance. Kids toothbrushes that suction cup to the counter. These are going in the Christmas closet for stockings:)

Super great deal update

So, my grocery store was out of the cereals that were on sale that I also had the MFG coupons for. So, I didn't get to do the super great deal of the year today. I still did ok, though. I ended up with 5 boxes of cereal, didn't have MFG coupons for them so they ended up $5, and 5 boxes of Cheezits for $7.50. With my $10 rebate, they are still a really good deal, just not the deal I was hoping to do today. Oh well, can't win them all right?Blessings!
Just HOW much cereal do you really need anyway? ::snort::

The Walgreens Game

As you all know, Walgreens is a store that I now frequent for the super great deals!


Ever want to know how to do it?


Here are my tips for playing "The Walgreens Game" so you can begin to take advantage of the great deals too!


First off, Walgreen's has their regular weekly sale ad - usually not super great prices but the coupons in
there can be used in addition to any MFG coupons you may have for additional savings.


Walgreens also has a monthly "rebate booklet" that contains all the rebates for the month, PLUS money-saving coupons
in it, which can be used in addition to MFG coupons. The booklet is called the Easy Saver Catalog.
These catalogs are located on the rack with the weekly ads in your store. Grab a few, you might need them!


The ES Catalog has rebate listings for items purchased at Walgreens. This means, there are opportunities for you to
purchase a product and get $X back just for buying that item! You simply save your receipts for the qualifying purchase and
submit the rebates online to get your money back! And, if you request the money to be loaded on a Walgreens Card instead
of them sedning you a check, you'll get a 10% bonus just for doing that!


An example this month from the ES Catalog is Pert Plus Shampoo. My store has it for sale for $3.79. I used a $2.00 MFG coupon
on it making it $1.79. There is a rebate available in the ES Catalog for up to $4.29. They'll refund me the $3.79, the
original price (+10% on my card) making it an overage of $2.38! Basically, I "made" $2.38 for buying the shampoo:)


Here's REALLY GOOD tip that I came across this last week. As soon as you get home from your shopping trip, go online
and enter the receipt codes on your rebate eligible purchases. Don't click "submit". (You may have other purchases
that you want to make when a new ad comes out that month, and you can only submit rebates once per month.)
At the end of the month they will automatically process your rebates. By doing this you don't have to worry about
forgetting to submit them or losing your receipt. I just lost a rebate from last month because I went to enter it
on the 3rd and they had to be submitted by the 2nd. Argh! Don't make my same mistake.


Walgreens also does something called Register Rewards (RR). These are MFG coupons that print out with your store
receipt, when you buy certain products. The can be used just like cash on your next order.


An example right now is the Kellogg's promotion that if you purchase 4 boxes of Smart Start for $10, you get a $5 RR - so very cheap cereal!
You can use these RR's on your next purchase. The only catch with these is you can't "roll" the RR's, meaning, you cannot pay with a RR on
more cereal and get another RR for it. You CAN, however, pay with a RR from a different promotion (i.e., Poptarts, Clean & Clear)
and get another RR. Register Rewards are considered MFG coupons in the register's software. It is also setup to not accept a greater
number or MFG coupons than there are items in your order. If you run into this problem, simply throw a couple of really cheap items
on there to "up" your number of items.

~~~~~~~~~~Edit~~~~~~~~~~~`

Submit your coupons to the cashier in this order:

MFG coupons, including RR's

BOGO MFG coupons

Easy Saver coupons

Store coupons

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enjoy your shopping trips at Walgreens!

Blessings!

Walgreen's trip on Sunday

I hit 3 Walgreen's stores on Sunday night. I do multiple stores because there are 3 within 10 mins of me and I do mulitiple transactions and people get annoyed waiting behind you:)Anyways, here's the breakdown of what I did. I'll post other possible deals in the next post.

#1) 4 Kellogg's Smart Start Cereals Total: $10.00Used: 2 $1/2 couponsPaid: $8.00Get back: $5 register rewardNet cost: $3 or $.75 each!

#2) 4 Kellogg's Stawberry Rice Crispie Cereals
Total: $10.00
Used: 2 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $8.00
Get back: $5 register reward
Net cost: $3 or $.75 each!

#3) 5 Kellogg's Poptarts
Total: $10.00
Used: 2 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $8.00
Get back: $5 register reward
Net cost: $3 or $.60 each!

#4) 5 Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies
Total: $10.00
Used: 2 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $8.00
Get back: $5 register reward
Net cost: $3 or $.60 each!

#5) 5 Kellogg's Rice Crispie Treats 4 Kellogg's Special K Cereals
Total: $20.00
Used: 4 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $16.00
Got back: 2 $5 register rewards
Net cost: $6 or $.66 each!

#6) 3 Colgate toothpastes on sale $2.99 each1 Irish Spring bodywash on sale $3.992 Lady Speedsticks on sale $1.992 Irish Spring 3 packs on sale $1.993 caramels for $1(I'll explain this below)
Total: $23.33
Used: $5.35 in coupons and $15.00 register rewardsPaid: $2.98 oopGot back: $10 register rewardNet cost: $7.98

#7) 2 Glade candles on sale $1.99 each1 Windex wipes on sale $2.501 Windex multisurface cleaner on sale $2.502 Dawn dishsoaps on sale $.99 each1 Pert Plus shampoo $3.792 Scrubbing Bubbles cleaners on sale 2/$52 Colorsilk Haircolorings on sale 2/$52 Rightguard deodorants on sale B1G1 free at $3.291 Caramel for $.34 (again, I'll explain below)Total: $32.27Used: $11.00 in coupons and $20.00 in register rewardsPaid: $1.27 oopRebates claimed: $6.60Net cost: $14.67

So, my total out-of-pocket for this run, money I debited from our checking account was $52.25, for $112 worth of stuff. ANDI still have $5 in register rewards left and I'm expecting $6.60 in rebates.

The reason I bought the caramels is because everything I bought, I used a mf coupon on. The register is set to not accept a greater number of coupons than the number of items in your order and the register rewards are mf coupons. So, if you run into this situation, add a couple of really cheap items to "up" your number of items.

Get your coupons!

Walgreen's has a pretty good ad this week from what I can see so far. I haven't actually figured out any deals yet but if you can get your hands on some Sunday papers today or at least the coupons from them you should get some great deals! I'll let you know some deals in the next couple of days but get those coupons!
P.s. A free place to pick some coupons up sometimes is the recycling bins that you might have around town. Our grocery store has them on the side of their building and I scored some from there yesterday:) Most people just throw theirs out!

This week's SUPER deal

EDIT:Before you go out and buy all the cereal like I just told you, STOP! The $10 rebate is good on receipts dated after 8/05 which is Tuesday. So don't do this deal till Tuesday! Then, make your $5 buying 10 boxes of cereal!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Kroger store, Smith's is running a "buy 10 items get $5 off" sale. And, Michael bought me 2 Sunday papers today (I needed the extra to pack with) and the first Sunday of the month has all the great coupons come out. So, today we're heading out to do the cereal deal that I did last weekend where you get 10 boxes of Kellogg's cereal for $10. EXCEPT, that I also have $5 in manufacturer's coupons to use, making them 10 boxes for $5! AND, there is a rebate form in the paper that if you buy 10 products you get a $10 rebate in the mail! So, I'm going out today to "make" $5 buying 10 boxes of cereal. Cool huh? I guess that $5 will pay for my gas:)

2 good deals for Wednesday!

Crystal has a really good deal going on today on her ebooks. You can get them all today in one package for only $5.95! I bought a package about 2 months ago for $7.95 and it didn't include all of her books. The ones I did get were encouraging and were what got me going on all this budgeting/couponing thing. She also has some on household management, starting a home business, etc...go check them out!

Also, today only you can get any slice of cheescake at the Cheescake Factory for only $1.50 since it's their 30th anniversary. Go enjoy one for me! I'd go but I'm dieting.... Blessings!

My money saving adventure...

So, I've been reading Master Your Money by Ron Blue. I have seen the light! After being in bondage to debt ever since before we were married, we are ready to change our ways!!!

This started about 4 weeks ago actually. I decided I had to reign in our eating out and start cooking most meals. Seems pretty simple but I'd created some bad habits and I'm ashamed to admit that I've contributed $1000's to our debt load by just this alone.
Not only have I been cooking. I have been shopping BELOW my grocery budget the last two paydays and have actually been able to stock up on a couple of things as well.

Let me share this last payday's shopping spree with you a little. I'm not doing specific numbers this week, just ballpark figures, next time I'll share specifics...

This is my fully stocked pantry with 3 months worth of cereal as well as 3 months worth of shampoo and 1 whole month of diapers. I usually bought diapers every 2 weeks.

Regular refridgerator stuff but I was able to get hubby a few sodas that I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise...

I bought 3 packages of chicken, 1 pkg ground turkey and 3 extra gallons of milk since they were on sale.

Normal household stuff and travel sized toiletries for Michael.

Ok, so my normal grocery/household budget is $250 every 2 weeks. I challenged myself to lower it to $200. Last payday I went over, so this weekend I gave myself $225 to spend, here's how I did.

I spent $45 of it last weekend at Walgreen's buying this stuff...3 months worth of shampoo, 1 month of diapers and wipes, 1 month of toothpaste, and makeup and haircoloring for me which I never would have bought if I hadn't saved money elsewhere.

I then spent around $150 on the stuff above pictured above. All this totalling roughly $195. And, I still have $30 to spend if I need it:)

My BEST deals this payday are:

Staples was running their back to school sale last week and I got these school supplies for a whopping $2.44 after tax!

These travel size shampoos I got for FREE! I had a coupon for $3 off of 2, any size Head and Shoulders. Walmart sells their travel size ones for $.97 so I actually "made" $.09 on the deal!

It does take a bit of time to plot and plan this all out but considering I've cost us literally thousands of dollars eating out and I'm saving so much money, I'm looking at it as my part time job. It's taking me about 5 hours or so per payday. I'm sure I'll get faster after I get the hang of it.

Are there any tricks or secrets you have that you want to share? I'm hoping to teach other's that aren't doing so already, how to feed their family on take care of their household by saving as much money as possible!

Next time I'll start sharing my tips I've learned so far and more specifics:)

Blessings!