Weekly & Month Summary (February 16th - 28th)

Sunday, February 22 Safeway: $11.50
Sunday, February 22 Giant: $24.87
Tuesday, February 24 Target: $00.00
Friday, February 27 CVS: $00.58
Saturday, February 28 Safeway: $42.50

Total: $79.45 $29.45 over budget but only because I had to hit Safeway today due to the $10 off $50 coupon expiring - sometimes they give you till Sunday. Ah well.

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
SEP 28 - OCT 4	$49.18
OCT 5 - OCT 11	$13.88
OCT 12 - OCT 18	$75.08
OCT 19 - OCT 25	$10.04
OCT 26 - NOV 1	$43.58
NOV 2 - NOV 8	$42.00
NOV 9 - NOV 15	$20.94
NOV 16 - NOV 22	$80.16
NOV 23 - NOV 29	$16.39
NOV 30 - DEC 6	$25.49
DEC 7 - DEC 13	$24.32
DEC 14 - DEC 20	$117.75
DEC 21 - DEC 27	$2.26
DEC 28 - JAN 3	$36.81
JAN 4 - JAN 10	$42.83
JAN 11 - JAN 17	$14.60
JAN 18 - JAN 24	$55.84
JAN 25 - JAN 31	$8.29
FEB 1 - FEB 7	$82.26
FEB 8 - FEB 14	$42.24
FEB 15 - FEB 21	$0.00
FEB 22 - FEB 28	$79.45
MAR 1 - MAR 7	$?
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$?
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$?
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$?
MAR 23 - APR 4	$?

Monthly summary:

FEB 1 - FEB 7 $82.26
FEB 8 - FEB 14 $42.24
FEB 15 - FEB 21 $0.00
FEB 22 - FEB 28 $79.45

= $203.95 only $3.95 over budget, not too bad considering last month I was around 20 under I think? Either way, tomorrow is another month!

CVS & Safeway

I have officially started at my new job (which is at the location we live so I have no commute - this is amazing in the DC area so I'm quite pleased!). Frugal wise, it has eliminated $110 on my car insurance bill (per 6 months) and cut down dramatically on my gas usage.

Yesterday, I popped by the CVS near us for some milk and today I was finally able to hit the Safeway deal. For someone that has had no time to prepare, I think I did pretty well but you be the judge.

CVS February 27 Friday:

$8.99 Schick razor
$3.59 gallon skim milk

- $2.00/1 Schick
- $10.00 Extrabucks

= $.58 Oop (paid cash)
received $4 back for the Schick deal.

Safeway:
February 28th Saturday (today)

On my list was lunch meat (generally pricey but I somehow got a deal), little oven-ready meals for the fiance when I'm not home, bread and the chill out promotion. I also needed to spend $50 pre-coupons to take advantage of the $10 off coupon.

I bought:

$0.00 1 liter Diet Mountain Dew (free after coupon)
$2.61 3 bottles at $.87 a bottle of Safeway brand orange creme seltzer (I've become addicted - this is bad)
$.99 Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats cereal (after coupon)
$1.69 Dr Pepper (which was free after coupon sent to us - in fact it took $1.99 off which gave me $.30 overage!)

$4.00 Green Giant meals for 1 to go (I had a $.50 that doubled making it $3.00)
$2.79 Green Giant steamfresh bags (had $.50 that doubled making it $1.79)
$2.79 Green Giant steamfresh bags (had $.50 that doubled making it $1.79)
$3.50 Kelloggs Special K waffles (had $.75 that doubled making it $2.00)
$1.77 Eggo Chocolate Chip waffles
$1.99 Totinos pizza rolls (had $.35 that doubled making it $1.29)
$1.99 Totinos pizza rolls (had $.35 that doubled making it $1.29)
$4.00 2 bags frozen corn
$4.00 2 bags frozen peas
(spent $26.83 before coupons on frozen foods - didn't have my calculator with me so I'm impressed!)

$.99 Lucerne sweet cream butter (after coupon)
$6.00 8 jars of Yoplait (had $1/8)

$7.98 2 large bags of Tysons chicken nuggets (special sale today and tomorrow)

$21.00 6 packages of Oscar Meyer shaved deli meat (on sale for 2/$7 - found blinkies $1/2 - used 3 and then there is a buy 5 save $5 at checkout so I spent $13 on all 6 or a little over $2 a package - not bad!)

$1.09 loaf ovenjoy wheat bread

- $10/$50

= $42.50 out of pocket
total savings $61.15 or 59%!

And if that weren't enough, I received the $10 towards a future frozen food purchase from the promotion! Not sure if this can be rolled into another round of the chill-out promotion but I can certainly use it either way!

Over budget this week and possibly for the month but I'll write up a budget summary post in a little bit.

Target Unadvertised Deals

Well, after some of you fellow bloggers started making posts about the Target $5 gift card deal, I figured it was regional, it wasn't in my ad, but I went to Target today to see it is on the shelves! So for all of you doubting the buy 5 get $5 Kelloggs deal, check your store first (especially when you are planning on going anyway like I was).

Anyway, I bought:

$5.56 2 bags of Florida Natural organic gummies (on markdown)
$1.88 GM fruit roll ups
$3.00 2 boxes of Market Pantry fruit snacks
$2.88 clearance pencil cup for our kitchen

$5.58 2 boxes of Special K bars
$2.00 1 box Rice Krispy Treats
$5.08 2 boxes 12 ct Pop Tarts
= $12.66
- $1/2 Special K bar coupon
= $11.66 ($2.33 per before giftcard)

Total: $25.15 using my giftcard so nothing Oop and received $5 Target giftcard back from promotion.

Safeway & Giant

Both Safeway and Giant have some particularly good sales going on, some of the decent ones at each are:

Giant

• $1.77lb chuck roast boneless - this is a great deal and I'm definitely going to be making at least 1 pot roast in the near future
• 3lb/$1 bananas - didn't pick up any during this trip but I might later this week when I have more energy
• $1 Giant Brand frozen vegetables in the smaller 16oz packages - I restocked our peas
• $1.99/lb Giant brand unsalted or salted butter - great stock up price!
• Also look for "Great Value" bathroom and general cleaners on clearance - it looks like they are repackaging or discontinuing these and they are all 33% off which beats any name brand cleaner even with a coupon!

Safeway

• $.99 Safeway Brand apple juice limit 4
• $.79 Gatorade - we go through a lot of this and $.79 is a great price to stock up on it

Now, my shopping trips. What's interesting about these trips is that the store brands were so good that I did not use any coupons. Yet, I still managed to save quite a bit over regular store prices.

Safeway:
$1.74 2 bottles of SF orange cream seltzer (on sale for $.87 cents a piece)
$2.97 3 bottles of Safeway brand apple juice
$2.50 1 lb bag of Utz pretzels
$3.95 5 bottles of lemon-lime Gatorade

= $11.50 Oop (even without coupons I saved 45%!)

Giant:
$1.99 Giant salted butter
$1.99 Giant unsalted butter
$1.00 1 bag frozen brussel sprouts
$2.00 2 bags frozen peas
$1.69 Great Value bathroom cleanser
$1.33 Great Value general lemon cleanser (both 32oz sprays)
$1.50 Giant brand long-grain rice
$1.50 Giant brand long-grain rice

The rice was interesting. Generally speaking, some people think that buying the largest quantity will net you the most savings. Not true. The Giant brand rice in the small 2 lb bag was only 75 cents per pound, while some of the larger bags of rice were upwards of $1 per pound. The only cheaper bag of rice was upwards of 20 lbs and only saved 5 cents per pound. Not worth it.

$7.12 1 chuck roast several pounds at $1.77/lb
$4.59 1 chuck roast a couple pounds at $1.77/lb

I'll probably go back to Giant sometime this week for another roast and some bananas but otherwise am well stocked!

= $24.87 Oop (saved over 50%, $25.60!)

Weekly Summary (February 15th - 21st)

Monday, February 16th CVS: $0.00
Thursday, February 19th CVS: $0.00

Total: $0.00

Hooray for Extra Bucks and gift cards. The fiance just received another one for $30 for CVS today so I didn't feel terribly guilty about using one for this week (and it still has a little over $3 on it, nearly enough for another gallon of milk!).

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
SEP 28 - OCT 4	$49.18
OCT 5 - OCT 11	$13.88
OCT 12 - OCT 18	$75.08
OCT 19 - OCT 25	$10.04
OCT 26 - NOV 1	$43.58
NOV 2 - NOV 8	$42.00
NOV 9 - NOV 15	$20.94
NOV 16 - NOV 22	$80.16
NOV 23 - NOV 29	$16.39
NOV 30 - DEC 6	$25.49
DEC 7 - DEC 13	$24.32
DEC 14 - DEC 20	$117.75
DEC 21 - DEC 27	$2.26
DEC 28 - JAN 3	$36.81
JAN 4 - JAN 10	$42.83
JAN 11 - JAN 17	$14.60
JAN 18 - JAN 24	$55.84
JAN 25 - JAN 31	$8.29
FEB 1 - FEB 7	$82.26
FEB 8 - FEB 14	$42.24
FEB 15 - FEB 21	$0.00
FEB 22 - FEB 28	$?

CVS

I stopped off Thursday night for some milk and to get another Insta Energy shot (which was free after Extrabucks - they had increased the limit to 2)

I bought:

$3.59 1 gallon skim milk
$4.99 1 Insta Energy

Put the $8.58 on a CVS giftcard so nothing out of pocket and I received $4.99 in Extrabucks back from the Insta Energy deal.

I am slightly frustrated with Walgreens though. The one close by has been out of the creme lip gloss for the entire week! The lady working in the beauty area was extremely apologetic and gave me a rain check for them to be 2/$9.99 (the sale price). Hopefully they will restock before the end of February? I hope!

Otherwise, I think we may end this week at $0.00 out of pocket. I'm planning on going grocery shopping tomorrow morning but yet again, we don't need much. I am going to restock our meat department (err freezer) though.

CVS

Before I talk about my trip, I'd like to thank Money Making Mom and I <3 CVS for finding this great deal (and posting about it!). If you buy 2 of the Neutrogena facial soaps (each only $2.99) you receive $10 back in Extrabucks - that's a profit of $4.00! Obviously this isn't advertised and I'd be quick to go pick this deal up before CVS figures it out!

Anyway, a $5 off $30 coupon spit out from the wonderful red coupon machine of awesomeness so this is what I bought.

$8.94 6 bags of Hersheys V-day chocolate (50% off)
$.89 1 package Hallmark wrapping paper (50% off)
$.99 2 liter Diet Coke
$2.99 Colgate Advanced
$2.99 Colgate Advanced
$4.99 9 pack Charmin Ultra
$4.99 9 pack Charmin Ultra
$3.00 4 boxes of Kleenex tissues (buy 1 get 1 for 1 cents)
$2.99 Neutrogena soap
$2.99 Neutrogena soap
$1.69 20oz Nestea

- $5/$30 CVS coupon
- $1/4 Kleex
- $1/1 Colgate
- $1/1 Colgate
- $1/2 Charmin
- $1.69 free Nestea with purchase of any Coke
- $2.99 Extrabucks
- $4.99 Extrabucks
- $15.98 Extrabucks

= $3.74, which I paid with a giftcard so $0.00 OOP.

I also received the following Extrabucks:
$10 for the Neutrogena
$5.98 for the Colgate
= $15.98 in Extrabucks!

Weekly Summary (February 8th -14th)

Weekly Summary:

Thursday, February 12th Shoppers: $8.29
Saturday, February 14th Safeway: $33.95

Total: $42.24 OOP - you know how I said this week was going to be less? I fibbed. It's this coming week. I'm surprised I didn't even hit CVS once last week - deals were not worth it. This week I'm going to pick up the free Colgate and some clearance Valentine's Day candy but nothing much else. Maybe a gallon of milk?

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
SEP 28 - OCT 4	$49.18
OCT 5 - OCT 11	$13.88
OCT 12 - OCT 18	$75.08
OCT 19 - OCT 25	$10.04
OCT 26 - NOV 1	$43.58
NOV 2 - NOV 8	$42.00
NOV 9 - NOV 15	$20.94
NOV 16 - NOV 22	$80.16
NOV 23 - NOV 29	$16.39
NOV 30 - DEC 6	$25.49
DEC 7 - DEC 13	$24.32
DEC 14 - DEC 20	$117.75
DEC 21 - DEC 27	$2.26
DEC 28 - JAN 3	$36.81
JAN 4 - JAN 10	$42.83
JAN 11 - JAN 17	$14.60
JAN 18 - JAN 24	$55.84
JAN 25 - JAN 31	$8.29
FEB 1 - FEB 7	$82.26
FEB 8 - FEB 14	$42.24
FEB 15 - FEB 21	$?
FEB 22 - FEB 28	$?

Safeway & Happy Valentine's Day

Even though the wonderful fiance had roses delivered to our apartment this morning, we are technically celebrating the holiday tomorrow (we are going out for a fancy dinner at this fantastic restaurant - something we don't do often but enjoy when we do and this particular restaurant is one of our absolute favorites). I figured tonight was the perfect time to go food shopping, and it was, the Safeway I went to (that is usually packed) was nearly empty! It was such a delightful shopping trip and I got some wonderful deals.

There are tons of "Super Coupons" out and while I matched up some with manufacturer coupons, I didn't feel up to searching through my book to match up the rest. It didn't matter because the deals were so good. About 1/2 of them end tomorrow and 1/2 started in the last day or so and last through the President Day week. Definitely check your papers and/or storefronts for copies.

I purchased:
1 box Betty Crocker brownie mix (super coupon making it $.69)
4 bottles of Safeway flavored seltzer water (super coupon making them $.49 each)
5 lb bag of sugar (super coupon making it $1.69)
1 bottle of apple juice (for my fiance - he exclaimed I was the best fiance ever when I told him - usually I buy reduced sugar juices and this is just for him - he's silly btw)
1 bottle Wesson vegetable oil (super coupon making it $2.50 - I used a $.50/1 that doubled making it $1.50!)
4 boxes of Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats (super coupon made them $6 for all 4 or $1.50 a piece!)
2 packages of 50 count cupcake liners - not on sale but needed and helped get to the $10 requirement to get the deals
1 large bottle of honey (on sale and needed but not a super coupon)
1 bag mission tortilla (super coupon making it $.99)
2 dozen eggs - each 1 dozen - these are on sale for $.99 limit 2 which is a great deal. I'm glad I waited
1 loaf of Arnold bread (super coupon made this $1.69 - I used a manu for $1/1 from this month's All You making it $.69!)
3 boxes of Hillshire Farms various lunchmeats (super coupon made these 3/$8 or $2.67 a box)

The total was $33.95 for all 23 items. Not too shabby. And now I won't have to buy Frosted Mini Wheats for awhile. Whew!

Shoppers

Well the only thing we've really needed this week was milk, which I grabbed tonight, though I was not happy to be out (the wind is fierce). Anyway, the Wednesday paper brought new circulars, one of them being Shopper's, which featured a buy 3 Malt-o-Meal cereals, get a free milk coupon! So I did that deal tonight.

I got:

$3.29 Malt o Meal "Frosted Mini Wheats" they call them Mini Spooners
$2.50 Malt o Meal Frosted Flakes
$2.50 Malt o Meal Frosted Flakes
$3.49 gallon skim milk

- $3.49 milk coupon (up to $4 and doesn't exclude any brands)

= $8.29 Oop

Great deal!

Weekly Summary (February 1st-7th) & Frugal Weddings

Well, I was so wrapped up in wedding stuff (we sent out invites out on Monday - DIYed the fancy paper and ribbon on Sunday/Monday morning).

But first, I'm going to discuss how my frugal nature dressed up the very inexpensive wedding invites I ordered from Wedding Paper Divas. It came out to about $2 per invite/envelope and response card/envelope, which unfortunately is very cheap when it comes to invites. I bought $23 worth of fancy paper and ribbon to make them look much more expensive and we've already received compliments (the added pieces added a mere 30 cents per invite). Very worth it but it's left me a little (ok, a lot) exhausted.

So weekly update?

Monday, February 2nd Safeway: $47.89
Thursday, February 5th CVS: $17.15
Saturday, February 7th Safeway: $17.22

Total: 82.26 ($32.26 over, though this week will be significantly less)

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
SEP 28 - OCT 4	$49.18
OCT 5 - OCT 11	$13.88
OCT 12 - OCT 18	$75.08
OCT 19 - OCT 25	$10.04
OCT 26 - NOV 1	$43.58
NOV 2 - NOV 8	$42.00
NOV 9 - NOV 15	$20.94
NOV 16 - NOV 22	$80.16
NOV 23 - NOV 29	$16.39
NOV 30 - DEC 6	$25.49
DEC 7 - DEC 13	$24.32
DEC 14 - DEC 20	$117.75
DEC 21 - DEC 27	$2.26
DEC 28 - JAN 3	$36.81
JAN 4 - JAN 10	$42.83
JAN 11 - JAN 17	$14.60
JAN 18 - JAN 24	$55.84
JAN 25 - JAN 31	$8.29
FEB 1 - FEB 7	$82.26
FEB 8 - FEB 14	$?
FEB 15 - FEB 21	$?
FEB 22 - FEB 28	$?

Pink for Valentine's Day! =)

CVS & Safeway

I wanted to do some of the February monthly deals before they were all sold out. I have a tendency of forgetting about them till the end of the month and then they are all gone. Anyway.

CVS Thursday, February 5th:

$7.99 Earrinse
$7.99 Earrinse (free after extrabucks - limit 2)
$2.49 Excredrin 10 count
$4.99 6-hour energy (Free after extrabucks - limit 1)
$1.69 Diet Coke
$1.69 Nestea (there are coupons for a free nestea with purchase of a coke near the coolers and there's also a monthly deal $1 back with the purchase of 3 Diet Cokes - so you'll get 6 drinks for $4.07 after extrabucks)

- $1.69 Nestea
- $1/1 Excedrin
- $3.00 extrabucks
- $4.00 extrabucks

= $17.15 Oop

Received: $15.98 from the earrinse + $4.99 for the extreme energy and $2.49 for the excedrin = $23.46 back.

Deals this week are pretty slim so I'll be skipping CVS this week, I think.

Today I hit Safeway while filling a prescription and getting a $30 giftcard for filling at Safeway for the very first time!

There are a few nice deals this week, and I picked up:

$1.15 liter seltzer water
$2.00 2 bags cheetos (on sale for $1)
$2.00 2 bags fritos (on sale for $1)
$3.00 3 boxes Kelloggs fruit snacks (on sale for $1)
$1.00 1 box lucerne cream cheese (on sale)
$1.99 1/2 gallon skim milk (wanted to pick up a full gallon but they were all out!)
$1.00 loaf wheat bread (on sale)
$5.01 almost 3 pounds of skinless boneless chicken breast (on sale $1.69 a lb)

= $17.22 Oop

Over budget this week (I haven't calculated but I can tell, but we're pretty stocked up so we should be good aside from some eggs this week).

Safeway

Safeway is running some great promotions Sunday though I believe Tuesday (tomorrow!) - some of the coupons are good for a longer time, but the good deals will be gone soon. There is also a coupon for $10 off $50 which I was able to utilize (be sure to have the cashier scan this first before the manu coupons). Even though Safeway doesn't double coupons over $.50, I was able to snag some great deals - some of the highlights for super-coupons included Cheezits for $.88 (limit 2), Kleenex 2/$2 (limit 2) and Motts Apple Juice for $.99!

Anyway, I bought:

1 Motts Apple Juice
1 box Kashi Cereal Bar (used my free coupon to increase my bill before coupons)
1 box Kashi strawberry cereal (")
1 bottle Kraft barbecue sauce
1 bottle Seltzer water
2 cans of Safeway brand corn (on sale $.69 each)
2 cans of Safeway brand diced tomatoes (on sale $1.00 each)
2 boxes Cheez It crackers
1 bag Quaker rice cakes
2 boxes 12 count Pop Tarts
2 boxes 18oz Frosted Mini Wheats
2 lb bags Utz pretzels
3 bottles Propel strawberry water
1 bottle KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce
3 bottles Snapple flavored water
2 boxes Kleenex
10 cups of Yoplait yogurt (on sale)
1 loaf wheat bread
1.97 lb yellow onions
2.38 lbs pacific rose apples
1 strawberry fruit twist (free after coupon)
1 strawberry fruit strip (free after coupon)

= $47.89 Oop

I bought 46 items and had 50% total savings ($47.20). Not too shabby for Safeway. Came out to about a dollar per item.

Budget Summary (January 25th- January 31st) + Monthly

Summary for this week:

Monday, January 26th CVS: $7.42
Thursday, January 29th Target: $0.00
Saturday, January 31st CVS: $.87

Total: $8.29

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
SEP 28 - OCT 4	$49.18
OCT 5 - OCT 11	$13.88
OCT 12 - OCT 18	$75.08
OCT 19 - OCT 25	$10.04
OCT 26 - NOV 1	$43.58
NOV 2 - NOV 8	$42.00
NOV 9 - NOV 15	$20.94
NOV 16 - NOV 22	$80.16
NOV 23 - NOV 29	$16.39
NOV 30 - DEC 6	$25.49
DEC 7 - DEC 13	$24.32
DEC 14 - DEC 20	$117.75
DEC 21 - DEC 27	$2.26
DEC 28 - JAN 3	$36.81
JAN 4 - JAN 10	$42.83
JAN 11 - JAN 17	$14.60
JAN 18 - JAN 24	$55.84
JAN 25 - JAN 31	$8.29

January Budget Summary
JAN 04 - JAN 10: $42.83
JAN 11 - JAN 17: $14.60
JAN 18 - JAN 24: $55.84
JAN 25 - JAN 31: $08.29

Total: $121.56

+ Hickory Farms order #1: $30.63
+ Hickory Farms order #2: $25.74

= $177.93 $22.07 UNDER budget even with the Hickory Farms orders factored in. Yay!

CVS

Busy weekend! I had completely forgotten it was Superbowl weekend, in retrospect I should have gone food shopping Sunday morning instead of today, but the fiance and I had a pretty fun Superbowl. We went over to a friend's house and first went out to lunch and then they made handmade pizza for dinner. It was delicious and I was able to nab the recipe before we left.

Eitherway, let me write up my Saturday CVS shopping trip, a weekly summary and then my Safeway trip today.

CVS (January 31st)

$7.99 Venus Embrace sister razor
$8.99 Excedrin PM large count plus 20 ct box attached
$3.89 gallon skim milk

- $2/1 Excedrin
- $4/1 Venus
- $14 Extra Bucks

= $.87 Oop