Stubber Budgeting

Well... Hello!

2009-10-17T17:19:00.002-04:00

I haven't been posting for a few weeks. Reason being, I have mono (for the 2nd time in my adult life) and have had a hard enough time getting through my work day (and grad school at night) to blog about deals. Today I went full-on food shopping for the first time in weeks mainly because my husband is about to start a low-iodine diet which means we are going to be eating a lot more fresh home-made foods and he won't be able to eat some of the major things he usually does. I literally used 3 coupons total and spent way more than I usually do ($60!). But that's ok. I'm letting myself not worry too much about saving money/blogging because I deserve the break. I'll probably start up again closer to the holidays. And because we've been dramatically under-budget probably for 4 or 5 months now, I know in the end it'll all even out.

Hope everyone is well in the money-saving blog world.

Various Shopping Trips

2009-09-28T18:53:00.002-04:00

(9/22) As predicted I went to Giant for some bread and milk:

$2.99 gallon skim
$1.79 loaf of bread

= $4.78 OOP

And then on Sunday (9/27) I hit CVS to do the only real attractive deal this week and then Safeway for some items

CVS:
$7.99 1 bottle Vaseline Sheer (Infusion?) lotion

- $5.00 EB (received for doing a survey on CVS.com - just did one today that rewarded me with $15 EB!)
- $1.50/1 Vaseline
- $1 EB

= $.67 and received $7.99 back for the lotion (ps, it's tiny for the price)

And then Safeway:
10 bottles of Gatorade
5 bottles of Propel (free with the purchase of the 10 Gatorade)
2.23 lbs gala apples ($1/lb)
18 ct eggs (super coupon .99!)

= $16.50 OOP

Target, Safeway & Harris Teeter

2009-09-20T16:47:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I've been going a little crazy ever since we moved, got settled and I realized I had a bit more storage space (well all but our freezer, of course it's smaller than the one at the apartment, guh!). That coupled with the great deals lately, I couldn't really pass up stocking up our pantry.

Today I hit 3 places: Target, Safeway & Harris Teeter. I'll probably be a bit over budget this week because we will ultimately need milk, I am fresh out of Extrabucks (in fact I used expired ones today to buy some fun stuff for myself - thankfully the cashier pushed them through) and I haven't been to CVS in awhile - it's not across the street anymore. Annnyway.

Safeway:
2 boxes of Capri Sun sunrise
8 boxes of Kleenex tissues

- $1/4 kleenex
- $1/4 kleenex
- $2.50 free capri sun
- $2.50 free capri sun

= $10.72 OOP (saved 65%)

Target:
2 boxes of Swisher wet wipes (on sale for $3.50 each - less than Target brand!)
2 boxes of target brand dry wipes $3.84 each
8 boxes of 12 count Pop Tarts (at $2 a box I could not pass this up, this is the cheapest I have ever seen them!)

- $1/2 pop tarts
- $1/2 pop tarts
- $1/2 pop tarts

= $28.56 OOP (since I haven't been grocery shopping nearly as much, I still have a bit till I redeem points for a target gift card, thanks to Capital One)

And finally, Harris Teeter (2 more days of triple coupons!). They wound up restocking quite a bit of what wasn't on the shelves on Friday, although even their distributing center is completely out of the Breyers yogurt.

2 boxes of instant cream of wheat maple brown sugar (Mmmm)
2 box of Fiber One apple cinnamon muffins
2 boxes of Archway farms homestyle cookies (raspberry and sugar)
4 Reeses crunch bars
3 single serve Yakisoba japanese noodles (all free after coupons)
2 bottles of Spray 'n Wash
1 box of Barilla piccolini pasta
2 bags of Poppycock snacks
1 box Luigi italian ice
2 boxes of Green Giant frozen veggies (on sale $.99 a box - great deal!)
1 yocrunch yogurt
4 tubs of Hillshire Farms hearty turkey breast (if you buy 2 you save $4 which makes it $2 a tub!)

= $24.63 OOP (total was a bit over $65 pre-coupons)

Budget Summaries

2009-09-20T11:16:00.002-04:00

Wow, I have been really bad keeping track of this stuff and of course it's a big pain to go back and get all the information for nearly 2 months rather than update it weekly. Oops.

August
AUG 2 - AUG 8 $31.76
AUG 9 - AUG 15 $16.66
AUG 16 - AUG 22 $36.60
AUG 23 - AUG 29 $57.30
= $142.22/$200 = $57.78 under budget

August 4th Safeway $31.76
August 9th Giant $10.98
August 9th CVS $5.68
August 16th Giant $2.39
August 17th Safeway $34.21
August 23rd Safeway $33.92
August 23rd Giant
August 23rd Rite Aid $3.50
August 23rd Rite Aid $10.50
August 29th Giant $2.99
August 30th Safeway $27.50

September 4th Giant $3.49
September 8th CVS $1
September 15 Target $13
September 18th Harris Teeter $18.99
Safeway 18th Safeway $15.51

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$19.34
MAY 31 - JUNE 6	$64.06
JUNE 7 - JUNE 13	$26.82
JUNE 14 - JUNE 20	$27.33
JUNE 21 - JUNE 27	$30.69
JUNE 28 - JULY 4	$40.41
JULY 5 - JULY 11	$68.54
JULY 12 - JULY 18	$60.88
JULY 19 - JULY 25	$30.99
JULY 26 - AUG 1	$10.11
AUG 2 - AUG 8	$31.76
AUG 9 - AUG 15	$16.66
AUG 16 - AUG 22	$36.60
AUG 23 - AUG 29	$57.30
AUG 30 - SEP 5	$30.99
SEP 6 - SEP 12	$14.60
SEP 13 - SEP 19	$47.50
SEP 20 - SEP 26	$?
SEP 27 - OCT 3	$?

Harris Teeter & Safeway

2009-09-20T10:05:00.004-04:00

Friday night (the 18th) I had the grand idea of going food shopping after I got home from work so I wouldn't have to deal with Saturday crowds. It wasn't the best idea I ever had - mostly because they were doing work on one of the major roads around here so it took a bit longer than expected.

Harris Teeter (till the 22nd) is running their triple coupon promotion (up to 99 cents). And Safeway has an excellent deal on Nature Valley granola bars and various other breakfast stuff. If you buy 4 boxes, you get $4 off (so instead of 4/$10, they are 4/$6)... and if that weren't enough, you get a free box of Capri Sun coupon for use on your next grocery order! With coupons, this deal is awesome and as far as I can see, there's no limit! Usually Safeway makes this deal into a limit 1 coupon, so I was thrilled to see it wasn't. And of course DH needed fruit rolls ups/fruit snacks and he never says no to the sweet 'n salty nature valley peanut bars.

Safeway:
4 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars (peanut)
4 boxes of fruit roll ups
2 boxes of Nature Valley dark chocolate nut bars (for moi)
2 bags of Nature Valley nut clusters
4 boxes of Kleenex expression (on sale buy 4 get each for $1.50 plus had a $1/4 coupon)
1 12-pack roll of Charmin' Ultra Soft (super coupon)

= $21.51 OOP

Well one of the coupons didn't spit out so I went to customer service. Today I'm going back to get my 2 boxes of Capri Sun and do the Kleenex deal again since a coupon spit out for $1/4. I didn't realize it till after I left that the CS person accidentally gave me cash for 2 more rounds of the 4/4 - she mentioned that since the coupon says value up to $2.99, she would just give me $3. Fine by me. But she actually gave me $6. I was a good 20 minutes away before I realized this or else I would have gone back to give her the $3 dollars. Anyway, so that means my out of pocket was technically $21.51-$6.00 = $15.51 OOP

Harris Teeter was pretty successful although they had already sold out of the new Breyers yogurt, can someone say mint chocolate chip yogurt Mmmmm Mmmm Mmmm? I really want to try that stuff!!!!! But not full price. Maybe they will have restocked Monday.

I got a large amount of stuff:

2 boxes of Betty Crocker warm delights
2 boxes of Chex Mix bars
2 bags of Cheerios snack mix
2 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks
2 bottles of Newmans Own salad dressing
1 bottle of Newmans Own tomato sauce
1 bag of Alexia snacks (free after the buy 1 get 1 free coupon promo I had sent in)
2 packs of Yo Plus yogurt
1 pack of Yo Crunch yogurt
1 bottle of Kikkoman teryaki
2 packs Reeses peanut butter cups

Total? $18.99 OOP!

total before coupons was $47.23!

We need lunch meat and pop tarts (Target has the big box for $2 each!!!) so I'll be going out today for some things. I am happy to report that our kitchen is almost unpacked and at least from one side of the room looks decent... though there are still several boxes sitting on the other side.

CVS for Newbies

2009-09-19T10:42:00.003-04:00

I'm a member of a board called "poor skills". I wouldn't call myself poor but I'm not rich either (hahah Fiddler on the Roof). Anyway, someone posted about whether you could actually save money shopping at CVS. After reading a bunch of comments saying no and it wasn't worth it (gosh, no wonder they are poor!). I posted this and thought it was helpful for those that don't know about the program.

Wow, reading these responses kind of makes me understand why there are so many people scrimping these days.

Yes, you can actually make money from CVS using their Extrabucks program, BUT it takes a bit of work and you can't be picky about the products that you use. Here's what you have to do.

a) Buy products that are "free" after extrabucks (not every week btw).
This means that you do pay for the product first. And then they gave you a coupon for the price that you paid. Combine this with coupons and remember to use the extrabucks and you walk away spending very little or with CVS paying you for the products that you bought. Once you have this coupon, you 'roll' it into another purchase. So for example:

Assume you start off with no Extrabucks:
buy 1 Revlon foundation for $9.99
use $1 off Revlon product
pay $8.99 plus tax
get $9.99 bucks back in Extrabucks

then the next week, there's a sale on... say tampons - Buy 1 at $4.99 get $4.99 in Extrabucks

buy tampons for $4.99
(ok, so here's a problem - they don't give you money if you spend less than the amount of the Extrabucks so you either need to buy something else, or pay cash)... What I generally do, is buy other things that we need, say milk which doesn't go on sale around here to eat up the other Extrabucks
And let's say there's also another on Halloween candy - coming soon! Where if you pay a bag of candy corn for .99 you get $.99 in Extrabucks, limit 2

So...
buy tampons for $4.99
buy milk for $3.50 (yeah, I hate Maryland too)
buy candy corn for $.99
buy candy corn for $.99

Let's say you also have a $.50 cent coupon for the tampons (and I've seen $1 too)

you total comes out to $9.47 excluding tax

Oh no! Still less than $9.99! You must buy something low value - generally the stores will have a 75% off bin, or 50% off bin or other "specials" going on with low values. Last week it was 15 cent CVS band aids. Hey! I need bandaids! So you pick up 5 packages of bandiads: $.75

Now your total is $10.22 excluding tax
you 'pay' with $9.99 in Extrabucks
you total is now around 50 cents

You get $1.98 in Extrabucks from the candy corn and $4.99 Extrabucks for the tampons

You now have $6.97 to roll for the next week.

In essence, that $9.99 foundation has also bought milk, tampons, bandaids and candy corn and whatever you buy next week.

It takes a bit of planning, you can't be picky, and until you get the hang of it, you may have to bring a calculator on shopping trips, but it is well worth it. I have not paid for feminine items in over a year. I have not paid for shampoo, conditioner, or deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, you name it.

Target

2009-09-15T12:38:00.002-04:00

We are all moved into our new house! Well, all of our stuff is there. I wouldn't exactly called us "moved in".

There are boxes all over the place and we've had to buy a lot of things (like a microwave, a desk for me) and of course eventually furniture for our living room.

Yesterday after work, I drove to Target to buy said microwave, some milk, bread and lunch meat... without coupons. I know! My coupon organizer is still packed.

I bought:
2 packages shaved turky breast
1 loaf of bread
1 gallon of milk
and a little pack of frog gummies for DH

= $13.00 OOP (had a $50 giftcard from capital one of course and some leftover on another one so I paid very little for the $59.99 microwave)

I'm hoping we get some important things unpacked tonight so we can start eating more than cereal for dinner and I can stop buying lunch at work everyday.

CVS & AHHHH!

2009-09-11T13:11:00.004-04:00

No, there is no store in the DC/Metro area called AHHHH! - that just shows how stressed out I've been lately**. We move into our new house tomorrow so our life has been a bit hectic to say the least.

I did go to CVS on Tuesday to buy some milk (had some Extrabucks that were expiring). I spent under $1 - but I'll just leave it as $1 for budgeting purposes. I bought milk, a pack of starbursts for DH, gatorade (for move) and some band aids. They had boxes of CVS bandaids marked down to 15 cents! I bought 2 because this would be things we would need to move so I couldn't really stock up per say.

I few weeks ago, one of the websites that I frequent for deals had a special in which you could order $10 worth of food from Schwann's for free. I jumped at the opportunity to get some easy pre-prepped food for tonight's and tomorrow's meal (no fancy plates or cooking-related gear required). I wound up getting some turkey pot pies. DH is very very excited about the pot pies and even wanted to eat them earlier in the week but I reminded him that it was for the nights that we didn't have pots or pans available. I'm hoping they are tasty (they sure are big!).

Since we'll shortly own our own home (in fact, DH is at closing right now!), Stubber Budgeting will include more budget-friendly home improvement posts. I'm hoping my background in Architecture and my love for painting and power tools will come to good use and my skills aren't too rusty. I did survive unfurnished apartments in college by making things for a few years. I can't wait to make our house ours.

**(I am also dealing with a super awful head cold)

Yard Sale Day!

2009-09-05T14:18:00.005-04:00

The yard sale went surprisingly well. We were able to unload most of the free after coupon items (or made money after coupons) that I had accumulated from different drugstore, namely CVS and Rite Aid. The things that went the fastest, the $1 a tube toothpaste! I have made it a point recently after acquiring quite the stockpile to only stock up if I could make money off the item. So, most of the items were things that I had bought where the store paid me to take it home and then some random yard-sale goer bought it to take it away from me!

Anyway, the clothing that didn't sell is on it's way to Goodwill. My husband and I were so exhausted and hungry that we stopped at a local restaurant on the way back (since the servings are huge it will serve as dinner as well).

We set up shop at approximately 8:30am though we advertised the yard sale starting at 9am we got a few early birds around 9:45am. We would up closing up shop about an hour early since we had mostly run out of things and we were exhausted.

We started the day with $30 in singles, $20 in quarters and $10 in five dollar bills...

We didn't even crack open the second roll of quarters:
$10

We ended the day with the following amounts:
$140 in 20s
$35 in 5s
$19 in 1s
$12.75 in quarters

= $216.75 - $60 = $156.75

My husband and I have decided to use this money towards our movers since they usually require cash anyway. He'll go cash in the small bills towards larger ones.

Milk & Yardsale Prep

2009-09-04T08:25:00.002-04:00

My husbad and I drove a mere 6 miles away where my parents have agreed to host our yard sale to hang up signs and post fliers in the local Giant. We don't have a yard... yet. =)

While we were there, we decided to stop for milk since we were running low. Holy !#$%^! Milk at my parent's Giant was $3.49 a gallon! That's 50 cents more than we pay, as I mentioned, 6 miles west of them!

I also posted on Craiglist yesterday evening, which I plan to do again today and tomorrow morning.

I hope we get a good turn out!

Random Budget Tracking Stuff & Safeway Trip

2009-08-30T15:48:00.003-04:00

I haven't blogged about some shopping trips since I've been a bit MIA.

Giant August 23rd, 2009: $6.39
Rite Aid August 23rd, 2009: $3.50
Rite Aid August 25th, 2009: $10.00
Giant August 29th, 2009: $2.99

The Rite Aid trips were for Frosted Mini Wheats. They ran a promotion if you spent $15 in select Kelloggs products, you get a $5 coupon towards those products in the mail and since we eat lots of Frosted Mini Wheats around here, it was worth it even at the $2.50 a box price.

Anyway, today I went to Safeway and did the currently running, buy 5 save $5 promotion. There are a ton more products included than in the ads. The ads only show maybe 6 different cereals. It's more like 30. So don't be put off if your family doesn't like the few cereals that look like they are on sale, there are others.

I bought 15 cereals. I know you are asking yourself why would I do such a crazy thing knowing we are moving in 2 weeks? My husband said the same thing when I came in the apartment after unloading the car. He was not happy to say the least.

Well, I needed to buy cereals in quantities of 5. If I was going to buy 5, I might as well buy 10 and do the Kelloggs rebate that was in the Sunday paper a couple weeks ago. And then of course, when I was in the aisle, I realized that to buy the cereal I wanted, it would be 12 and I might as well make it to 15. So there you go. Yes, it was a bit excessive and yes, my husband and I will be moving cereal into our new home after closing, but for the price I saved, it was worth it. Plus, I had a $5 off $50 coupon (which I didn't even get to - thankfully my cashier was super nice and passed it through even though my total before coupons was only $48.55).

So, I bought:
15 boxes of cereal (various brands, mostly Kelloggs though)
2 packs of Hunt pudding fat free (a staple in my lunch bag!)
1 box Special K bliss bars
1 box aluminum foil
3 bottles of Gatorade
1 loaf of wheat bread
5 lb sack of white potatoes
3.32 lbs of braeburn apples
2.52 lbs of nectarines
1 tube Burts Bees lip balm (free after coupon expires 8/31)

Spent: $27.50 OOP

Total Savings: $66.29 or 71%!

Milk

2009-08-30T12:52:00.003-04:00

On my way home I was struck by the distinct change in milk prices over the last year or so and especially how different stores have been changing their price of milk significantly recently. For instance, when we first moved to the area, I almost solely bought my milk at CVS which generally ranged from $2.99 - $3.39 mostly because I had more Extrabucks than I knew what to do with and it was a convenient stop.

Along the way, I realized that milk was cheaper at places like Giant and significantly so, and they ran a milk promotion (no longer btw). Milk at Giant a week or so ago was $2.39 (worth the extra trip considering both stores were less than a mile away). Now I see that milk at Safeway and Giant are both the same price ($2.99) and Giant is no longer running the promotion so no longer worth the extra trip!

Now there are other reasons to buy CVS or Giant milk. Giant and CVS milk both come with a twist off cap and a sturdier bottle while the Safeway milk has a suction like top which seems more prone to leaking and what seems like a thinner bottle (to me anyway). But is this worth the extra trip? Maybe. Maybe not.

I think in the future I'll be keeping tabs on this. Of course, I am in the DC/Metro area so milk may be more or less (I'm guessing less) where you are - few people that actually read this blog. =)

Next up, my Safeway trip and how my husband seriously accosted me when I came home with 15 more boxes of cereal when we are moving in 2 weeks, stay tuned!

Um... Hello!

2009-08-23T13:58:00.002-04:00

I have been really bad with updating this thing. I started a new job recently that has taken most of the energy out of me and if that weren't enough, my back has started bothering me again (and here I thought my herniated disc had repaired itself). So, just my day to day activities have left me pretty exhausted. I'm not going to do a full account of each shopping trip, but I'm just going to note the trips and the money I spent.

August 16, 2009 Giant: $2.39
August 17, 2009 Safeway: $34.21 (saved 48%)
August 23, 2009 Safeway: $33.92 (saved 63%)

So far have been under budget each week. We're trying to eat from the pantry as much as we can given our up-coming move.

We are also having a yard sale September 5th. I will posting tips and if you have any suggestions, please advise! We are trying to get rid of some stuff and make some extra cash before our big move to our new house! So excited about that but a little stressed over moving.

Giant & CVS

2009-08-09T13:49:00.004-04:00

We needed bread, milk and turkey breast (DH takes this for lunch nearly everyday) and CVS has a 3-day sale again which includes a Revlon mousse foundation FREE after Extrabucks (I actually made $1 from it because of the $1 off Revlon coupon in the 7/19 Smart Source). Milk these days seems to always be cheaper at Giant (especially including the special buy 4 get 1 gallon free promotion). My Giant has gallons for $2.39.

Anyway, CVS:
$9.99 Revlon mousse foundation
$.50 pack of skittles (for DH)
$.50 pack of skittles (for DH)

I wasn't able to complete the candy promotion from a week or so ago, but they've rolled over my balance from the last time to this weeks promotion. I bought the skittles as a test but DH can think it was just me being my sweet self. =)

- $1/1 Revlon
- $1.00 Extrabucks
- $1.98 Extrabucks
- $2.00 Extrabucks

= $5.68 OOP
Received $9.99 Extra Bucks back and a free coupon for CVS brand 4pack AA batteries.

And Giant:
$2.39 gallon skim milk
$3.59 Stroehmann wheat bread
$0.00 Stroehmann wheat bread (BOGO free)
$2.50 Healthy Ones turkey breast
$2.50 Healthy Ones turkey breast

= $10.98 OOP

I probably have coupons for the turkey breast somewhere but I didn't really plan this trip and only remembered that we were nearly out of turkey breast when I got to the store. Either way, I wanted to grab it while I was out since we have evening plans (and knowing DH, he'll probably tell me we're out of turkey breast after he finishes the very last pack -- ahh men).

Safeway

2009-08-08T14:46:00.003-04:00

I went to Safeway August 4th according to my receipt. Things have been a tiny crazy in the Stubber household. For one I have a new job, and two, we just got approved for a mortgage, put an offer in a house and were accepted. Assuming things go well with the inspection in just a short month or so we'll be first time home buyers! Thanks to our low grocery budget, we have plenty for a down-payment/closing costs and the house is nearly perfect and is something that we will be able to grow into (4 bedrooms, 2 full, 2 half baths).

I'm not going to go into the details of my Safeway trip, but I spent $31.76 OOP and received a $2 CAT.

We'll be eating from the pantry/freezer as much as possible over the next month or so. And for the first week in awhile I never made a CVS run! Imagine that.

Weekly & Month Summary (July 26th- August 1st)

2009-08-02T21:42:00.002-04:00

Monday, July 27, 2009 CVS: $1.93
Monday, July 27, 2009 Harris Teeter: $5.05
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 CVS: $1.27
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Harris Teeter: $.48
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 CVS: .38
Saturday, August 1, 2009 Giant: $1.00

I also stopped by Target and bought a bunch of stuff, but I used yet another gift card thanks to capital one so it was nothing out of pocket. I also stopped by Giant for bread and pretzels yesterday, but since I had a $4 CAT, I only spent $1.

Weekly total? $10.11! And lots of food was bought.

JULY 5 - JULY 11: $68.54
JULY 12 - JULY 18: $60.88
JULY 19 - JULY 25: $30.99
JULY 26 - AUG 1: $10.11

And monthly? $170.52 $29.48 under budget

DAYS	MONEY SPENT
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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$19.34
MAY 31 - JUNE 6	$64.06
JUNE 7 - JUNE 13	$26.82
JUNE 14 - JUNE 20	$27.33
JUNE 21 - JUNE 27	$30.69
JUNE 28 - JULY 4	$40.41
JULY 5 - JULY 11	$68.54
JULY 12 - JULY 18	$60.88
JULY 19 - JULY 25	$30.99
JULY 26 - AUG 1	$10.11

Decluttering

2009-08-02T19:51:00.002-04:00

Well, it looks like we'll be moving soon, so we've been trying to declutter, and I'm going to be trying to eat from our pantry as well.

Today we took 2 big boxes full of clothing, shoes, old silverware and books to Goodwill. Not only do my husband and I feel good about ourselves, but we got a receipt which we'll include when we do our taxes in 2010. We've also been intending to do this since we moved in a year ago - oops! At least this push to move has abated our procrastination, at least a little.

More Harris Teeter & More CVS

2009-07-28T23:06:00.003-04:00

Before a doctor's appt, I went over to the other side of town to hit the swanky Harris Teeter (it's kind of inside an apartment complex and it has an upstairs with a sandwich shop and a Starbucks). Well, as I predicted, they still had many of the items free after coupon in stock!

I also was able to print some Kashi coupons and do the CVS deal (and get milk).

at Harris Teeter:
$2.99 Dawn dish detergent
$6.90 2 boxes of Kashi waffles
$2.59 Fiber 1 strawberry yogurt

- $3/1 Kashi
- $3/1 Kashi ($1.50 that doubled - my last 2!)
- $2/1 Fiber 1
- $2.99/1 Dawn

= $.48 OOP!

CVS #1
$.67 Starbursts
$3.34 Kashi Go Lean crunch
$3.33 Kashi Autumn thingies
$1.00 Nivea lipbalm (75% off)

- $.67 free Starbursts
- $1.50/1 Kashi
- $1.98 Extrabucks
- $2.97 Extrabucks

= $1.27 OOP

CVS #2
$3.34 Kashi Autumn thingies
$3.39 gallon skim milk

- $1.50/1 Kashi
- $.89 Extrabucks
- $1.98 Extrabucks
- $1.98 Extrabucks

= .38 OOP
And received $5 back in Extrabucks. Hooray more cheap cereal!

CVS & Harris Teeter

2009-07-27T18:45:00.003-04:00

One day left for the Harris Teeter doubled coupon promotion! It ends tomorrow. I was able to get there today to do a few of the deals I missed the last time although they were still sold out of some of the things I was intending to get. I have a feeling they will restock after tomorrow.

I also hit CVS for some of the Extra Buck deals this week. I will return for the candy deal (buy $15 and get $5 EB) and the Kashi deal (buy $10 and get $5 EB) once I print out and clip some more coupons.

Anyway, not super exciting but my trips:

CVS:
$1.89 CVS brand tampons
$.99 Pilot pens
$.99 Pilot pens
$.99 composition book
$.99 composition book
$.99 stapler (we actually needed one!)
$.99 stapler
$.99 binder clips
$.99 binder clips

- $.99 Extrabucks
- $1.98 Extrabucks
- $5.00 Extrabucks

= $1.93 OOP

Received $9.81 in Extrabucks (everything was free after extrabucks excluding tax).

Harris Teeter:
$2.89 Alexia snacks
$2.89 Alexia snacks
$2.89 Alexia snacks
$3.19 Noni Biscotti
$3.19 Noni Biscotti

- $2/1 Alexia
- $2/1 Alexia
- $2/1 Alexia
- $2/1 Noni
- $2/1 Noni
= $5.05 OOP!

I'll also be submitting one of my Harris Teeter receipts to get a free Alexia snack that came attached to a couple of the manu coupons.

PS: Currently our "chip and other salty snacks" pile has doubled in height thanks to Harris Teeter and Safeway! I'm sure my husband will manage to eat them all, but for now, it's a bit impressive given that we have continued to stay within our budget.

Harris Teeter

2009-07-24T19:37:00.003-04:00

Two posts in 1 day, woohoo! First of all, the pot roast I made turned out fantastic! I highly recommend the recipe. The Crock Pot Lady knows her stuff (but who ever rejected that idea?).

Anyway, after my trip to Safeway, I went to Harris Teeter.

They are currently running a double coupon promotion up to $1.98! Amazing. Unfortunately, lots of things were already picked clean but I'm going to try to hit another one tomorrow possibly. The good thing for me was that you can only use 20 coupons a day anyway so I wouldn't have been able to snag every deal I wanted even if there were items on the shelf.

What I got:
1 vanilla frappacino
2 bottles fruit 2-0
2 boxes hershey 100 calorie packs
1 bag Alexia onion sticks
1 Hormel Complete meal
1 can of Lysol Neutra Air
1 bag of Grande tortilla chips
2 bags of Terra chips
3 boxes of Kashi waffles
1 Old Spice deodorant
1 4-pack Activia light
1 4-pack Yoplus
1 bag of chicken jerky

Grand total?

**
***
**

$8.72 OOP!!!!!!!!

How amazing is that? After the $1.50 that doubled, the Kashi waffles were $.09 each!

Safeway

2009-07-24T13:53:00.003-04:00

So I had a pretty successful shopping trip today, except for the fact that I completely forgot about the $5 off $50 coupon I had. Oh well, still saved 57% and I used a gift card for the majority of it since I still plan on heading to Harris Teeter for their double coupon promotion in a bit.

Since our freezer is absolutely full of what DH calls "the freezer chicken" (chicken that I've bought on sale and then boiled and chopped into meal sized little baggies) and shredded cheese, I decided to do a roast (it's in the crockpot now) from back when chuck roast was $1.99/lb. I still have another one in the freezer but they take up so much space so I'm trying to free up some space so I can buy some Kashi waffles (the $1.50/1 coupons from Vocal Point will double and we'll be getting ourselves some free waffles among other things - kind of glad I waited to use them too).

Anyway, I needed a bit of produce for the recipe (and I had a $3 off $10 produce coupon) so this shopping trip consisted of lots of fresh stuff, and tons of fruit. Yay for fresh cherries - even though they are so pricey!

Anyway, on to the bargains?

$.59 Sierra Mist
$.59 Dt Sierra Mist
$.59 Dt Mountain Dew (on sale limit 4)
$.99 Motts apple juice (with super coupon)
$3.00 2 packages of fruit roll ups
$3.00 2 boxes of Nature Valey granola bars (super coupon 4/$6)
$4.50 3 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios (sale 2/$3 limit 6)
$3.00 2 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch
$2.29 Worchester sauce
$3.98 2 packs of Dole pinneaple cups (1 was $1.49 with super coupon)
$1.88 Ritz crackers
$2.69 red wine vinegar
$.99 Francesco tomato sauce (with super coupon)
$.99 18-ct eggs (w/super coupon)
$1.49 Lucerne cream cheese
$1.49 Lucerne butter (w/super coupon)
$0.00 Greek yogurt (had free coupon)
$1.49 Thomas English muffins (w/super coupon)
$4.68 2.34 lbs of cherries (at $1.99 lb)
$1.24 1 red bell pepper
$1.49 cantaloupe
$1.73 1.73lb yellow onions
$1.99 5 lbs of potatoes
$2.00 8 oz sliced mushrooms
$2.00 2 bags of Fresh Express lettuce mixes
$1.49 1lb strawberries

- bunch of coupons

= $58.89
- $30 GC
= $14.57 OOP

Target, CVS & Shoppers

2009-07-23T15:24:00.004-04:00

Went to Target and CVS today (in fact I'm about to go back out since I forgot the freaking milk, ugh!).

Target:
$1.50 x3 Fruit Snacks

= $0.00 OOP (paid with GC)

CVS:
$1.62 Aleve Cold and Sinus (75% off!)
$1.62 Aleve Cold and Sinus (75% off!)
$1.62 Aleve Cold and Sinus (75% off!)
$2.47 Clorox Anywhere (25% off)
$.99 CVS Reinventing beauty magazine

- $5.00 Extrabucks

= $3.32 OOP

Shoppers:
$2.39 gallon skim milk
$1.99 Nature's Own bread

= $4.38 OOP

Shopping This Week (CVS, Safeway & Giant)

2009-07-18T12:21:00.004-04:00

Things have been getting a little crazy around here recently. 1, I'm now unemployed and looking for work again which is not so great - thankfully hubbie is still gainfully employed. The good news is that we have plenty of gift cards so hopefully one of my 2 leads will pull through. Not that anyone reads this, but anyone looking for a smart and driven HR person getting her Master's (who knows how to budget, too!)?

Anyhow, usually what happens is that I shop on Sunday and that's it for the week, well with our milk intake increasing, this has now increased to a couple times a week which means I am bad and spend more money. Now granted, I would have spent the money anyway at some other point, but starting tomorrow I'm going to be penny pinching a lot more. Of course, I'll also have more time to cook food and we won't be eating nearly as much prepackaged stuff (thankfully, we have quite a bit of cereal and hopefully I'll be picking up some Kashi waffles whenever they go on sale with my $1.50/1 coupons from Vocal Point).

Ok, that was long-winded.

Here's what I bought at CVS this past Sunday, the 12th:

$3.34 Special K red berries
$3.33 Special K red berries
$5.00 Special K protein bars
$5.00 Special K protein bars (DH eats these like regular granola bars - wish I had his metabolism!)
$.99 pens
$.99 pens
$.99 pens
$.99 glue
$.99 glue
$.99 ruler
$.99 ruler
$.99 college notebook
$.99 college notebook (these are for me for school but I'm going to donate the other school supplies to a local charity once I find one!)

- $2/2 Special K
- $2/2 Special K
-$5.00 Extrabucks

= $17.02 OOP
Received $13.82 in Extrabucks

Earlier this week, I tried making these. They were a complete flop. Don't make them! They didn't stick together even though I added an extra egg after the batter seemed crumbly but they all fell apart in the pan, so I just dumped the rest of the batter in the pan and sauteed it all. I can't imagine it was particularly healthy but DH liked it. Anyway, the next day, I had the brilliant idea of adding a package of spinach to it to make it at least semi-healthy so I had DH go to Safeway and get 2 packages of frozen spinach, $2.78 OOP. I wound up baking it all with the spinach mixed in and that lasted us till last night when I finally had the rest of the leftovers for dinner (I made DH something new cause he was sick of it!).

Then today I went to Giant because we needed milk desparately and I had several coupons for Giant ($5 off $40 and $7 off). Here's what I got:

$2.39 gallon skim milk
$4.50 6 yoplaits
$3.00 Edys strawberry fruit bars
$3.00 Edys strawberry fruit bars
$3.00 Hagaan Daz ice cream bars
$3.00 Hagaan Daz ice cream bars
$.99 marshmallows
$.99 marshmallows
$5.00 Angel Soft 12 pack
$5.00 Angel Soft 12 pack
$3.00 3 bottles Gatorade
$2.00 Ocean Spray juice
$1.00 apple sauce on reduced
$2.50 canola oil spray
$4.00 4 1-serve easy mac
$.89 liter seltzer
$.89 liter seltzer
$2.50 pound Utz pretzals
$5.00 2 packages Giant turkey breast
$8.47 several pounds of boneless skinless turkey breast
$1.65 3.51 lbs of bananas

-$.80/6 yoplait
-$1/2 Edys
- $1/2 Haagan Daz
- $1/1 Angel Soft
- $1/1 Angel Soft
- $1/1 Ocean Spray
- $1/1 Easy MAC (b1g1)
- $1/1 Easy MAC (b1g1)
- $5/$40
-$7.00

= $43.86 OOP
And I received $4.00 off my next shopping trip for buying the Edys.

Weekly Summary (July 5th - July 11th)

2009-07-12T16:11:00.003-04:00

Since I've actually been food shopping more often than not recently, I'm starting this up again (though I've always been keeping track).

Monday, July 6, 2009 CVS: $2.14
Monday, July 6, 2009 Safeway: $24.34
Saturday, July 11, 2009 Giant: $17.80
Saturday, July 11, 2009 Safeway: $24.26

Total: $68.54

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$19.34
MAY 31 - JUNE 6	$64.06
JUNE 7 - JUNE 13	$26.82
JUNE 14 - JUNE 20	$27.33
JUNE 21 - JUNE 27	$30.69
JUNE 28 - JULY 4	$40.41
JULY 5 - JULY 11	$68.54
JULY 12 - JULY 18	$60.88
JULY 19 - JULY 25	$30.99
JULY 26 - AUG 1	$

Giant & Safeway

2009-07-12T15:54:00.002-04:00

I hit Giant and Safeway yesterday since it was the first Saturday in quite awhile that I was not working or was otherwise occupied.

First was Giant:

They are running a special in which you spend $20 worth of certain Coke (and possibly Pepsi) products and you receive a CAT for $7 off your next shopping purchase. I had collected quite a few $1 off coupons for Nestea products so that's mainly what I bought (and some ginger ale for my husband)

$4.99 Nestea 12-pack (16.9 oz bottles)
$4.99 Nestea 12-pack (")
$4.99 Nestea 12-pack (")
$2.75 Ginger Ale 6-pack (16 oz bottles)
$2.75 Gingle Ale 6-pack (")
$2.99 Kashi Go Lean waffles

- $2.99 Kashi Go Lean waffle freebie
- $1/1 Nestea
- $1/1 Nestea
- $1/1 Nestea

= $17.80 OOP (and received $7 for my next shopping trip)

And then Safeway. I was trying to hit $50 total pre-coupons (had a $5 off $50), which for me meant buying some staple items, brown sugar, mozzarella, apples, feminine products etc. However, even with that, I was shy about $10! My husband commented that I must be the only person alive who purposefully goes in trying to spend more money and still comes out under. He volunteered to come with me next time so I could buy him some candy. Dork.

Eitherway, here's what I bought:

$1.99 2lb Domino brown sugar
$.88 Powerade Zero
$.88 Powerade Zero
$.99 Cocoa Krispies (on special limit 1 boo!)
$2.89 Fritos
$2.89 Fritos
$0.00 Fritos
$0.00 Fritos (buy 2 get 2 free)
$1.15 liter Seltzer water
$.79 Bettie Crocker brownie mix (after super coupon limit 1)
$.88 Velveeta shells (after super coupon limit 1)
$.99 18-ct eggs (after super coupon)
$4.99 3 pounds of mozzerella (reg $7.49) in block (I just shredded this and put it in the freezer)
$3.49 1 gallon skim milk
$.99 Little Debbie nutty bars (after super coupon limit 1)
$1.09 loaf wheat bread
$3.00 Hormel natural turkey breast
$3.26 3.29lb of braeburn apples ($.99 a lb)
$5.69 Always infinity pads

- $.55/1 Hormel
- $4.50 milk deal CAT
- $.75/2 Powerade
- $6.49 Free Always coupon

= $24.25 OOP

In retrospect, I should have held off on the Kashi and Always coupon (though I have another Always) till I went and used my $5 off $40 Giant coupon. Ah well though. Still got lots of stuff and I saved 60% at Safeway, not too bad!

CVS & Safeway

2009-07-06T15:00:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, my husband and I had a "date day" which meant on my first day off in quite some time, I didn't do chores. We went to see a movie in the afternoon and then headed to a restaurant that I had a restaurant.com GC/coupon for. We had a really lovely meal for just around $25 including tax and tip (would have been $43 w/o tip with no coupon - $10 of the $25 was the tip). I wouldn't say it was a most frugal date... to date, but it was fun.

Anyway, today I've been doing laundry and went to CVS and Safeway to do some of the deals (and redeem my raincheck from the 2/$3 Lays deal that ended the 4th.

at CVS (slightly dissapointing since I was hoping to grab the Post granola cereal but they were all out):

$6.67 2 boxes of Cocoa Pebbles
$3.33 1 box of Honey Bunches of Oats
$.99 Dentburst
$1.29 Tums
$.89 CVS pantyliners

- $11 in Extrabucks

= $2.14 OOP
Received $5 from the Post deal and $.89 from the pantyliners.

Then Safeway:
$2.99 Nabisco 12-pack 100 calories packs (w/super coupon)
$1.99 Quaker Life cereal (w/super coupon)
$1.49 Dole pineapple bits (w/super coupon)
$1.99 Dole pineapple bits
$3.99 Tostitos multi-grain
$0.00 Tostitos snack size
$1.15 seltzer water
$2.00 box cheerios
$4.00 2 boxes cocoa puffs
$1.69 Diet Sierra Mist
$2.49 gallon skim milk (w/super coupon)
$3.00 2 bags of Lays potato chips

- $.75/2 Dole
- $1/3 GM cereal

= $24.34 OOP
I had used a coupon for free bottle of Pepsi with the purchase of 3 Lays or Tostitos products, but because my rain check was entered manually, the system didn't recognize the Lays... had to go to customer service to get the $1.69 back in cash, so really $22.65 OOP.

I received a coupon for a free gallon of milk up to $4.50 - thinking of going back tomorrow to do that deal again (buy 3 GM cereals get a coupon for free milk). Guess we don't have to worry about buying milk for the next few weeks.

Shoppers & Safeway

2009-07-04T19:49:00.003-04:00

I went back to Shoppers to redeem my rain check from when Kelloggs cereal (and specifically Frosted Mini Wheats - my husband's favorite) were on sale. Well when I went through the checkout line, my cashier didn't even look at my raincheck so she charged me the wrong amount and I had to go to customer service.

The guy at the counter did not want to hear my explanation and told me he knew what he was doing and to let him do it without explaining. Well I think he messed up, cause looking at my receipts here's what happened:

Original transaction:
$12.00 3 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats (should have been $9)
- $3/1 coupon
- $1/1 coupon

= $8.00

Then he proceeded to credit me $12.00 (he objected when I tried explaining it was incorrect).

And then he charged me the correct $6.00.

So.... 8 - 12 + 6 = $2.00

Yeah, I definitely accidentally paid $2.00 OOP for all 3 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats. At least I tried to explain what actually happened to the CS cashier, but he heard nothing of it so I don't feel as guilty.

Anyway, then Safeway:
1 box Ritz crackers
1 box Wheat Thins
1 jar Hellmans mayo
5 boxes 12-pack Coke sodas
1 package Kraft american cheese 2%
10 jars of Yoplait
1 loaf of wheat bread
3 packages Hillshire Farms turkey breast

- a bunch of coupons (sorry lazy and tired here!)

= $28.52 OOP
(saved $45.26 or 62%!)

July 1st trip

2009-07-04T19:47:00.003-04:00

Went to Giant on Wednesday. I've had a crazy week. My boss went on vacation so that means I got to work pretty much every day this past week. I'm surprised I was even able to do the Giant run on Wednesday after a full day. Didn't get much and in a bit I'll post about my lovely barely any people in the store 4th of July trips!

$2.39 gallon skim milk
$2.50 wheat bread
$5.00 2 bags of Snyders pretzals

= $9.89 OOP

Somewhat Successful Shopping

2009-06-24T15:07:00.004-04:00

The plan was to go to Safeway to do the cereal deal (buy 5 save $5) and then Shoppers to get eggs and the Frosted Mini Wheats that are on sale through today. Well, I managed to get stuff I wanted at Safeway but I had to get a rain check at Shoppers. Ah well, they will still honor the $3 off coupon and my coupons don't expire till July so I should be fine. And of course I went to Giant yesterday for the $5 off $15 fresh meat sale, though I had to get help from the cashier. Either way, here's the bounty that I've picked up the last 2 days.

Giant:

$7.43 several pounds of boneless chicken breast (post sale price - scanned coupon prior to bonus card)
$1.99 loaf of wheat bread
$2.39 gallon skim milk
$3.00 6 bottles of Sobe (on sale for buy 1 get 1 free so $.50 each)
$4.29 Sabra hummus
$0.00 Sabra hummus (on buy 1 get 1 free)

- $5.00
= $14.29 OOP
Total savings? $22.66

Then Safeway:
$2.49 Kashi crackers
$9.95 5 boxes of Pop Tarts
$5.98 2 boxes of Special K chocolate
$2.49 Cocoa Krispies
$2.79 Special K Bliss bars
$6.99 Quilted Northern 12 pack ($5.99 after super coupon)

- $5/5
- $5/5
- $1/2 Pop Tarts
- $2/2 special k cereal and bliss bars
- $1/1 Cocoa Krispies
- $1/1 Special K
- $1/1 Kashi crackers

= $14.05 OOP
total savings $25.16 or 65%!

And then very little at Shoppers (other than my raincheck)

$1.60 2 powerades
$2.19 18 ct large eggs

- $1.50/2 powerade ($.75 that doubled final cost 5 cents each!)
= $2.35 OOP

It is super hot outside so hopefully these will be the last shopping trips for a little bit.

Just Milk

2009-06-20T11:44:00.006-04:00

As I predicted in my post a few days ago, this week has been the week of no grocery shopping, well other than milk. I went to CVS on Wednesday to get a gallon at $3.29. Very exciting, I know. I'm hoping to get to Shoppers for their latest cereal deal before it's over but between work, grad school and allergies, I haven't been up to much more than the above.

Going to update the chart and hopefully will have more to talk about this coming week.

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$19.34
MAY 31 - JUNE 6	$64.06
JUNE 7 - JUNE 13	$26.82
JUNE 14 - JUNE 20	$27.33
JUNE 21 - JUNE 27	$30.69
JUNE 28 - JULY 4	$40.41
JULY 5 - JULY 11	$
JULY 12 - JULY 18	$
JULY 19 - JULY 25	$
JULY 26 - AUG 1	$

CVS

2009-06-14T19:40:00.002-04:00

I stopped by CVS today to do some of the weekly deals.

I bought:

$3.00 2 bottles of Xtra Clothing Detergent
$10.50 3 packages of Bliss Milk Chocolate
$2.49 L'oreal Bare Mineral Eye Shadow (clearance)
$2.37 L'oreal Glam Shine lipgloss (clearance)
$3.99 Revlon Beyond Natural lipgloss (clearance)
$2.64 3 bags of Gold Emblem soft peppermints
$3.00 large bag Twix minis
$4.40 5 boxes of Puffs tissues (on sale $.88 each)
$3.79 Excedrin tension headache
$2.99 Crest Pro-Health mouthwash
$6.99 Purex 3in1 dryer sheets

- $2/1 L'oreal
- $2/1 L'oreal
- $2/1 Revlon CRT
- $1/1 Revlon
- $.75 Crest
- $2/1 Purex
- $1/1 Excedrin
- $1/1 Bliss
- $1/1 Bliss
- $1/1 Bliss

- $3.99 Extrabucks
- $4.00 Extrabucks
- $2.00 Extrabucks

= $24.04 OOP

Received $5 EB from the candy, $2 EB from the Purex, $2 EB from the Excedrin, $2 EB for the Crest = $11 EB

Shopping This Week

2009-06-12T19:46:00.004-04:00

So behind in the blogging world. Thanks to something resembling a sinus infection and a general thought that grass pollen is evil (my grad school class also started and my husband recently got me addicted to Harry Potter). It appears I am super allergic.

Anyway, Sunday my husband and I went to Shoppers for the coke + Hillshire Farm deal (buy 4 12-packs for $12 get 2 packages of Hillshire Farms deli meat free).

We also got milk and eggs (and a couple other items) and paid $17.03.

Then on Wednesday (the 10th) I stumbled across 50% off Glad trash bags at Giant and we needed bread too. I bought 80 trash bags and a loaf of bread and paid $6.79.

And then yesterday my husband (bless his heart - I was near passed out on the couch) bought milk for $3.00 at Safeway.

Tomorrow there is a Hot Dog Event at work and the husband is going to a conference (thankfully in state) from Sunday-Wednesday so we won't be needing lots of groceries this coming week.

Safeway & Old Navy

2009-06-02T16:58:00.002-04:00

Usually I don't mention clothes shopping on here because it's not part of our $200/month grocery budget, but I thought this was too good not to mention. I had a gift card for Old Navy so I went there today for their $15 skirt and dress deal. I only recommend this if you need dresses or skirts, of course many of the dresses usually go for $29.50 so $15 is 50% off. Plus, check www.oldnavyweekly.com for coupons (this only works on regular or sale price items, not clearance). So today, I bought 3 dresses for $12.50 each because I had a 15% off your entire purchase coupon! The pickings were pretty slim and it's only Tuesday so I'd get over there before the sale ends on the 6th. I also think this is a good deal if you buy the dresses that go for $29.50 or so. It's not that great of a deal if the dress was originally $17.

Then I went to Safeway for more bread and various other things. We are nearly almost out of bread because I made egg salad over the weekend and my husband has been eating it for dinner almost every night (you'd think he'd get tired of it, but no - if only I could convince him to put some tomatoes or other vegetable on his sandwhich...). Either way, there were a bunch of Super Coupons in the paper which I took advantage of.

I bought:

1 bottle Motts apple juice (this and the Keebler cookies are $2.99 together, no coupon required till... today)
1 box Cocoa Puffs cereal
2 boxes Lucky Charms cereal
1 box Honey Nut Cheerios cereal
4 boxes Nature Valley granola bars
5 boxes Kraft MAC n Cheese
2 bottles Safeway orange creme seltzer
1 bag Keebler cookies
1 box Cheezits crackers
2 cans of tomato paste
1 loaf of wheat bread

= $21.19 OOP

"You saved $28.50 or 58%"
Besides the Super Coupons, I only used 2 regular coupons, $.75/2 Nature Valley that doubled and $1/3 General Mills cereal. Both were 4/$6 with Super Coupons. Not too shabby.

Shoppers Trip

2009-05-31T13:21:00.002-04:00

My husband has been wonderful due to my back issues. As I've mentioned, he hates grocery shopping, especially when there's lots of people which is very usual on Sundays. Either way, we devised a plan where he would be able to help me but not set foot in the store. He dropped me off, I called when I got to the line, and he picked me up and helped me carry all the heavy stuff from cart to car and from car to apartment. He's wonderful.

Anyway, as I mentioned previously, usually I get a much high percent off for my shopping trips, today I was at 50%. This was primarily due to buying some things that I didn't have coupons for but that we needed. Still not bad considering I bought quite a few items.

I bought:

$2.79 Juicy Juice apple juice (the new kind in the green cardboard boxes) ($.79 after doubled coupon)
$2.79 Juicy Juice apple juice (the new kind in the green cardboard boxes) ($.79 after doubled coupon)
$4.00 2 packages of 8-box Juicy Juice apple juice ($1 each after $1/2 that doubled)
$1.00 applesauce (no coupon)
$8.00 4 boxes of Kleenex tissues ($6.00 after $1/4 that doubled)
$7.50 3 boxes of Kelloggs 12ct pop tarts (no coupon but went towards the $5/$20 Kelloggs in store coupon)
$2.50 18oz Frosted Mini Wheats ($.50 after $1/2 that doubled)
$2.50 18oz Frosted Mini Wheats ($.50 after $1/2 that doubled)
$2.50 18oz Frosted Mini Wheats ($.50 after $1/2 that doubled)
$2.50 18oz Frosted Mini Wheats ($.50 after $1/2 that doubled)
$2.50 18oz Frosted Mini Wheats ($.50 after $1/2 that doubled)
$1.58 2 packages of Ortega taco mix (FREE plus $.42 overage after $1/2 that doubled)
$1.89 loaf wheat bread (no coupon)
$3.59 V-8 Fusion Light ($1.59 after $1/1 that doubled)
$3.59 V-8 Fusion Light ($1.59 after $1/1 that doubled)
$3.50 Puffins cereal ($1.50 after $1/1 that doubled)
$4.00 2 bags of 1lb Snyders pretzals (no coupon)
$10.00 3 packages of Hillshire Farms hearty (no coupon)
$2.69 gallon skim milk (no coupon)
$3.50 Trop50 orange juice ($1.50 after $1/1 that doubled)
$2.09 No Nonsense pantyhose ($.09 after $1/1 that doubled)
$3.00 Turkey Hill ice cream ($1.00 after $1/1 that doubled)
$2.29 Kraft Bagelfuls ($.29 after $1/1 that doubled)
$2.29 Kraft Bagelfuls ($.29 after $1/1 that doubled)
$2.29 Kelloggs waffles ($.79 after $.75 that doubled)

- $5/$20

= $42.87 OOP

I saved $42.50 or 50%
Bought 36 items so paid approx $1.20 per item, not too shabby.

Weekly & Month Summary (May 24th - May 30th)

2009-05-31T13:05:00.004-04:00

How I did this past week.

Sunday, May 24, 2009 CVS: $2.54
Sunday, May 24, 2009 Safeway: $16.30
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 CVS: $.50 (didn't post but it was under $.50 for milk after EB)

Weekly amount spent: $19.34

And for the month of May (which went by very very quickly btw):
MAY 3 - MAY 9 $13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16 $8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23 $37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30 $19.34

= $78.79 (way way way under budget)

I decided not to go to Target this week to do the pop tart deal since I had no coupons and Target is not exactly around the corner, but I did go to Shoppers today which I will write about shortly. Although, I didn't get the greatest percent off (usually for double coupon promotions I manage to get 60-80% off - today it was 50%), I did buy a lot of needed items without coupons so we are well stocked for the things we need and use. Heading to Giant sometime this week for eggs, but otherwise, we won't need anything.

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$19.34
MAY 31 - JUNE 6	$64.06
JUNE 7 - JUNE 13	$26.82
JUNE 14 - JUNE 20	$27.33
JUNE 21 - JUNE 27	$?

Memorial Day Shopping CVS & Safeway

2009-05-24T16:41:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow my husband and I are going to a friend's house for a barbecue and I am making pasta salad. Thanks to stocking up at various sales, the only things I needed to buy were some fresh veggies, but of course I wound up doing the CVS deals and well as picked up some more things we needed at Safeway. On Tuesday I'll be heading to Target to do the new Pop Tart (and other products) deal (buy 5 get a $5 GC).

Anyway, first stop was CVS. I bought:

I'm likely going back sometime in the next 2 days because they have a bunch of makeup and skincare 50-75% off, including my favorite lipgloss (I hope they aren't discontinuing that - I hate that!) but I was able to hold off till I had my coupons with me, so I'm hoping they aren't all gone!

Anyway...

$2.99 Colgate Advanced
$3.99 18 ct Playtex tampons
$2.29 Hello Kitty Band Aids
$2.29 BandAid band aids
$3.99 Clearasil facewash
$1.99 2 bottles of Gatorade (buy 1 get 1 free)

- $1/1 Band Aid
- $1/1 Band Aid
- $1/1 Band Aid CRT
- $2/1 any Clearasil
- $1/1 Playtex
- $1/1 Colgate
- $3 Extrabucks
- $5 Extrabucks

= $2.54 OOP

And I received: $3 Playtex, $4 Band Aid, $2 Colgate and $3.99 Clearasil = $12.99 in Extrabucks!

Then stopped at Safeway where I bought:

$2.50 box of Pop Tarts
$1.99 Capri Sun Sunrise ($.99 after $1/1 coupon)
$1.99 Capri Sun Sunrise ($.99 after $1/1 coupon)
$1.99 Capri Sun Sunrise ($.99 after $1/1 coupon)
$.88 1 bottle Vitamin Water 10 (FREE plus $.22 overage after $1/1 coupon)
$.88 1 bottle Vitamin Water 10 (FREE plus $.22 overage after $1/1 coupon)
$.88 1 bottle Vitamin Water 10 (FREE plus $.22 overage after $1/1 coupon)
$5.00 10 jars of Yoplait yogurt (had 2 $.40 that doubled, paid $3.40 for 10)
$1.61 1 large orange pepper
$.99 1 cucumber
$5.03 a little over 2 lbs of on vine tomatoes

= $16.30 OOP
(saved $16.07 or 50%)

Weekly Summary (May 17 - May 23rd)

2009-05-24T16:37:00.001-04:00

How I did this past week.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Giant: $3.78
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 CVS: $4.72
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 Safeway: $29.44

Weekly amount spent: $37.94

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$37.94
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$?

Safeway

2009-05-19T18:52:00.004-04:00

Well, I added the $8.50 I spent in "groceries" to my Weekly Summary from last week, because well, when you spend under $10 I don't think a weekly summary would be all that interesting and due to my general lack of posting, it's still on the main page!

Either way, I finally got to Safeway today because we were out of bread, milk and lunch meat. This household really doesn't function all too well with at least some bread and some turkey breast. Even though I wasn't fully completely up to it, I went to Safeway, only armed with 2 coupons, which is very unusual for me. The resulted transaction was a lot better than it could have been. There are decent sales this week (there is currently a buy 5 save $5 sale going on for many cereal and other related items).

Anyway, I bought:

10 boxes of fruit roll ups (after the buy 5 save $5 these were only $1 each which is very good)
1 bottle of vitamin water 10 (free plus, I got $.22 overage after my $1 coupon got taken off - though it beeped)
2 12-ct boxes of pop tarts (not a very good deal at $2.99 a piece but we were running low)
1 package Kraft cheese ($.99 after super coupon)
1 gallon of skim milk (reg. price of $3.49)
1 loaf of Peppridge Farms cinnamon raisin bread (on sale for $1.99)
1 loaf of wheat bread (on sale for $1.09)
3 packages (3 lbs) of Butchers turkey breast (on sale for $1.99 each!)

= $29.44 OOP
I saved $34.32 or 54% even without coupons.

Giant & CVS

2009-05-13T22:07:00.005-04:00

Today I had to go to Giant anyway to fill a few prescriptions but we also needed milk and bread, hence the trips.

I bought:

at Giant-
$2.50 Peppridge Farms bread
$1.20 2 bottles of seltzer

= $3.78 OOP

And CVS-
$7.99 Neutrogena moisture shine lipstick
$6.99 Nivea body wash
$9.99 Nivea bronzer
$3.39 1 gallon skim milk
$2.79 Suave body wash
$1.75 12 pack Tums

- $9.99 free bronzer (the SA took off the wrong product, the coupon was for the free body wash)
- $1.75 free Tums 12 pack CRT
- $3/2 body washes CRT
- $3/1 Neutrogena lip CRT
- $10.99 in Extrabucks

= $4.72 OOP
Received $5 for the Nivea and $3 for the Neutrogena = $8 Extrabucks - the Nivea deal is still active so it's clearly not limit 1 - I may go back to use the 2nd coupon that gives you a free body wash with purchase of one of the new products.

Weekly Summary

2009-05-13T21:55:00.007-04:00

How I did this past week.

Thursday, May 7, 2009 CVS: $.42
Thursday, May 7, 2009 Walgreens: $7.21
Thursday, May 7, 2009 Walmart: $3.39
Friday, May 8, 2009 Safeway: $1.99

Weekly amount spent: $13.01

In other news, I finally got to my doctor today and he's recommended a chiropractor to help with my back. Hopefully that will fix things, which has recently been the main reason for my lack of grocery shopping. It's hard to carry heavy items, it's hard to get out in and out of my car.

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74
MAY 3 - MAY 9	$13.01
MAY 10 - MAY 16	$8.50
MAY 17 - MAY 23	$?
MAY 24 - MAY 30	$?

Milk How Very Exciting!

2009-05-08T21:22:00.001-04:00

Of course, the minute I get home from my expedition, the husband e-mails me to tell me we need milk. So I stopped by Safeway, redeemed 2 CATS to bring my gallon milk down to $1.99. Not too bad and I was not in the mood to drive any farther distance to get a better deal.

Safeway Thursday May 7th

1 gallon skim milk
- $.75 CAT
- $.75 CAT
= $1.99 OOP

CVS Walgreens and Walmart

2009-05-07T16:03:00.003-04:00

Lucky me? I have been pretty sick this week. Sleeping or otherwise not up for shopping, but I was starting to get cabin fever and went out today to do some of the deals.

I started at CVS:

$.89 Powerade (for me since I was dehydrated)
$5.88 9 pack Charmin' Ultra
$2.99 Colgate Max Fresh toothpaste
$.62 pack of gum (the extrabucks put me in the negative so I had to grab something quick)

- $1/1 Colgate
- $4.00 Extrabucks
- $4.99 Extrabucks

= $.42 OOP
Received $2 back from Colgate and $1 back from the Charmin' = $3 EB

Then Walgreens:
$1.39 Propel water
$5.00 2 bottles of Pert Plus Medium
$1.82 huge box of tampons 75% off

- $1.39 Propel
= $7.21 OOP
(received $2 back in Register Rewards for the Pert Plus)

And then Walmart:

$6.00 2 24oz boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats
$6.47 1 Rimmel mascara

- $6.47 free Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara from All You Magazine
- $3.00 (from buy 1 get 1 free Frosted Mini Wheats Vocal Point Coupon)

= $3.39 OOP

Weekly & Month Summary (April 26th - May 2nd)

2009-05-07T15:54:00.002-04:00

How I did this past week.

Friday, May 1, 2009 Shoppers: $6.17
Saturday, May 2, 2009 Safeway: $10.57

Weekly amount spent: $16.74

Monthly amount:

APR 5 - APR 11: $50.94
APR 12 - APR 18: $1.09
APR 19 - APR 25: $64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2: $16.74

$132.94 $67.06 under budget! Mostly due to wedding craziness and my back issues, but we've had plenty of food and have been eating fairly well so no worries (I am now thanking myself for stocking up during the Safeway Chill Out at home promotion)

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$16.74

Safeway

2009-05-02T15:15:00.003-04:00

The plan this weekend was to do the promotion again over at Safeway. Unfortunately, I've been feeling less than spectacular. Thanks to an accident in October 08 I have been left with a herniated disc that has not repaired itself like every single doctor I spoke to said it would. Thankfully, I have the best husband ever and he carted me over to Safeway, carried all the heavy stuff and has basically been treating me like a princess for the past, oh month. Don't worry, dear reader(?) I am heading to the doctor post-haste to get this sorted out, hopefully.

Anyway, my husband does not enjoy grocery shopping. He generally dislikes every type of shopping other than one that involves books and/or video games (both is a bonus). But he was very patient with me this trip and to thank him for taking the time to basically be my assistant/maid, I made it quick. So no promotion of adding calculating $3o worth of feel good items and matching coupons. We did a rather quick trip to just get some of what we consider essentials that we were running low on:

We bought:
$6.98 2 boxes of Post trail mix cereal (had 2- $1 off coupons and received $1.50 of CATS for the purchase)
$5.99 Diet Coke 12 pack
$5.99 Fresca 12 pack
$0.00 Fanta 12 pack
$0.00 Ginger Ale 12 pack
$0.00 Dasani water 12 pack
(promotion is buy 2 Coke 12 packs get 2 free and a free Dasani 12 pack free - good deal!)
$4.00 4 bags of various Snyder pretzals (on sale $1 a piece - these are the small ones but still over 50% off - usual retail is $2.49)

- $10 Feel Good Promotion CAT
- $.75 Post trail mix CAT
- $1/1 Post
- $1/1 Post

= $10.57 OOP
Not too shabby (saved 78% or $37.18).

Shoppers

2009-05-02T12:31:00.002-04:00

I stopped by Shoppers yesterday to grab bread and milk (don't forget milk is $1.99 - 2 per transaction - they say per shopper but since there's no bonus card unless you get the same checkout person twice no one will know).

I got (5/1):
$1.99 1 gallon skim milk
$3.69 1 loaf Peppridge Farms (used $.40 coupon that tripled - final cost $2.49)
$1.69 1 loaf wheat bread

total cost? $6.17 OOP

I'll probably be stopping by Safeway today since they have the pretzals my husband takes for work for $1 a bag but otherwise we don't need anything really.

Weekly Summary Weekly Summary (April 19th - April 25th)

2009-04-30T12:46:00.002-04:00

How I did last week. Oops.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Safeway: $34.62
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Shoppers: $2.00
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Shoppers: $27.55

Weekly amount spent: $64.17

Not too shabby. Someone remind me to go to Shoppers/Safeway again this week. Safeway I still need to deal with customer service (can you tell I'm putting this off??) to get my 2nd $10 CAT and we definitely need milk at Shoppers. CVS "deals" didn't seem to great this week so I'm hoping May brings better ones.

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$64.17
APR 26 - MAY 2	$?

Shoppers... is it Ground Hog day?

2009-04-30T12:43:00.003-04:00

Shoppers is once again this week running a triple up to $.50 and double up to and including $1.00 coupon promotion!

Hooray! Sorry for my lack of posting. I have been quite busy with work (until yesterday I hadn't had a day off since my wedding reception which we all know isn't quite the vacation one gets on a true day off) so look for a weekly summary for last week hopefully before the week is out!

And milk this week at Shoppers is.... $1.99 per gallon! Kind of glad I didn't buy milk last week like I was planning to. Definitely heading there to get milk nearly 1/2 priced! Yay!

Shoppers

2009-04-24T17:08:00.003-04:00

Shoppers is running its double $1 and triple $.50 coupon promotion for a 2nd week in a row for select MD/DC/VA stores! Yes! Not that I actually need anymore groceries at this point, but I'll probably go back again just for fun. They also have milk on sale for $2.39 so I'll be visiting them again at the very least for the milk.

I suppose this is all because of the economy, and quite frankly, I'm not complaining! I feel very blessed that both of us are as of now gainfully employed and can afford to stock up our kitchen and not have to worry about such important things like being able to eat well if one of us were to lose a job (let's hope that doesn't happen!).

And of course, Safeway is still running its' promotion till May 5th. Plenty of time for all of us to stock up on mostly healthy food (did anyone else notice that there was plenty of junk food on the list as well?!) for April and May.

And it's finally starting to feel like spring outside too!

Safeway & Shoppers

2009-04-22T14:25:00.001-04:00

**edit I just realized after reading another post, that you can do multiple promotions in one transaction so I should have gotten another $10 CAT. I'm going to head back to Safeway sometime this week to go to the CS and try to get the extra $10 I should have gotten**

After I left work yesterday, I went to both Safeway and Shoppers in one trip! When I came home with my several bags of groceries, the husband said that I overdid it, of course when I told him how much the groceries cost and that we wouldn't need to buy anything other than skim milk, bread and other perishables for the next few weeks, he was pretty impressed. I spent $64.17 total and got lots of stuff, including cleaning supplies!

My first stop was Safeway. I bought (items in green are part of the Living Well Feeling Great promotion):

1-12 pack Lipton Diet bottled green tea
1 18oz box Cheerios
1 box Kashi Heart Cereal
1 bag Kraft 2% singles
1 bottle Kraft free dressing
1 box Smart Balance 50/50 butter
1 jar Smart Balance peanut butter
1 bag Bertolli dinner for 2
1 package jello sugar free pudding
1 box Reynolds earth wrap foil (will mail in for free rebate)
1 bottle Dove body wash
2 bottles Green works cleanser
1 box 100 calorie packs
1 box Post Cereal trail mix (also a $.75 CAT will print when you buy 1)
2 jars Skippy peanut butter
2 bags Ronzoni Bistro (BOGO plus had BOGO coupon so free)
1 can Muer Glen tomatoes
1 bottle Clorox 2 33oz
1 box Kashi frozen entrees

- many coupons
- $5/$50 I was mailed
- $10 off frozen foods from chill out promotion
- $1.50 CAT from buying Starbucks

= $34.62 OOP
Received $10 CAT from the promotion and $.75 CAT from Post cereal promotion.
Total Savings, $69.44 or 67%!

And then Shoppers. I was so busy with reception related stuff that I wasn't able to get to Shoppers for the triple/double promotion until yesterday but it will be my only stop since we have plenty of food.

First I redeemed my rain check for the Post Raisin Bran.
I bought 4 boxes and paid $2 OOP!

Then I actually went shopping, I bought:
2 boxes of Betty Crocker warm delights minis
1 jar Betty Crocker frosting
1 box Success brown rice
1 bottle Newman's Own balsamic vinaigrette
1 container Lawsons' seasoned salt
4 boxes of Pop Tarts
6 cans of Dole diced fruit
2 boxes Oreo Fun Stixx
1 bottle Natural Source cleanser
1 bag Thomas English muffins
1 jar McCormick curry powder
1 box Puffins cereal
2 packages Mission tortillas
1 package Snyder pretzal sandwhich single serve packs
1 package Snyder multigrain chip single serve packs
2 small boxes Equal
1 bag Snyder tortilla chips
1 bag Tuna Creations
2 bags Snyder veggie chips
1 box Cascadian Farm cereal

= $27.55 OOP

33 items so about $.83 an item! Saved 65% or $50.79!

There was an older couple in front of me that spent $225 on their groceries. I can't even imagine. They used no coupons and I got a very "soccer mom" vibe from the mom - not that it's a bad thing but I imagine they probably do that every week. Even if they are feeding a family of say, 4 or 5 (the average family size in this area), that's nearly 4x what my husband and I spend. It's pretty amazing how much you can save with couponing and no matter how rich I were to ever get (knock on wood!), I don't think I would ever stop. The less you spend on groceries, cleaning supplies and simple things like toilet paper, the more you can spend on fun things and the more you can save. It's not only for people scrimping for money, it can really be beneficial for everyone with minimal costs and time once you get the hang of it.

Is anyone else simply amazed at what others spend on groceries?

Is It Really Over?

2009-04-19T19:03:00.004-04:00

It's amazing what a wedding reception can do to a week of blogging, or rather the lack of blogging! I was able to get to CVS this week and the husband picked up some bread, but otherwise, I was either making something, making lists of things yet to be done or worrying about last minute stuff. Thankfully, we have plenty of food in the house and didn't need to worry about things other than bread or milk, but I figured that a shopping trip would help calm me down so I hit CVS on Friday morning and the husband went and bought bread Friday evening since I was in no state to do so. I think between reception nerves and the weird weather fluctuations, my body said "No!" and I spent the entire day (except for the super short CVS trip) on the couch.

Anyway, mostly fun stuff was bought (except for the milk/paper towels):
$2.50 Nivea lipbalm
$7.99 Venus Embrace razor
$3.99 Colgate toothpaste
$4.99 Softsoap body wash/scrub
$7.79 Neutrogena mineral sheers blush
$7.79 Neutrogena mineral sheers blush
$3.39 gallon skim milk
$6.99 Skin Effect foaming cleanser
$7.49 Viva paper towels

- $1/1 Nivea
- $1/1 Colgate
- $1/1 Softsoap
- $3/$15 Neutrogena CRT
- $3/2 Neutrogena
- $3/1 Venus CRT
- $4/$20 CVS Beauty Coupon (was e-mailed)
- $5.00 Skin Effect CRT
- $10.00 Extra Bucks

= ~~$23.40 OOP~~ but really nothing thanks to a gift card!
And I received $2 for the Viva, $3.99 for the Colgate, $4.99 for the Softsoap, $4.00 for the Venus or $14.98 in Extrabucks. Not too shabby.

I also used a gift card so it wasn't really anything out of pocket. =)

Then the husband went to Safeway and bought (drum roll please):
$1.09 1 loaf bread

$1.09 OOP

We went out to dinner Friday, had a "dress rehearsal" dinner Saturday and of course the wedding reception meal earlier today. Plenty of food and plenty of leftover cake! Tiramisu, lemon curd and cream and chocolate mint cake for the win!

As far as blogging goes, I am not going to be posting a weekly summary since it would be so boring. Oh gee, $1.09! How exciting! But I've of course put it in my table for tracking purchases. Just think, I could spend $98 this week (not that I would, we have so much food) and still be under budget!

However, I am going to Safeway tomorrow to do a round of the new promotion out. I am slowly working through coupon matching set ups, plus I need to remember to roll the $10 from the Chill Out promotion. I also want to hit Shoppers to redeem my rain check. And I have to go to the MVA to get my license changed to my new name!

Weekly Summary (April 4th - April 11th)

2009-04-12T14:17:00.004-04:00

How I did this week:

Sunday, April 5, 2009 CVS: $8.93
Sunday, April 5, 2009 Shoppers: $12.46
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 Safeway: $25.55
Thursday, April 9, 2009 Target: $0.00
Saturday, April 11, 2009 Safeway: $4.00

= $50.94 OOP for the week $.94 over budget not a huge deal for me obviously

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$50.94
APR 12 - APR 18	$1.09
APR 19 - APR 25	$?
APR 26 - MAY 2	$?

Safeway (I think?)

2009-04-12T14:15:00.001-04:00

The husband went to pick up milk yesterday. His first stop at CVS was less than successful, the milk was bad and he had to return it (considering it was disgusting outside this was most unfortunate) but I think he eventually went to Safeway. We'll say $4 for budgeting purchases?

$4.00 OOP

Target

2009-04-09T19:13:00.002-04:00

Nothing very exciting. I stopped by Target after work to do a return and pick up more fruit snacks for the husband (yep, still weird).

I got 2 boxes of Market Pantry fruit snacks, "paid $3.04" and used a gift card from Capital One (of course) so nothing out of pocket.

Safeway

2009-04-07T20:24:00.003-04:00

I had to run to Safeway to get bread and take advantage of the Super Coupons that were expiring and/or starting today.

I bought:
1 box Natures Valley value pack granola bars
2 bottles of orange cream seltzer
1 box of Life cereal
1 bag of Oreo cookies
1 box of whole wheat Ritz crackers
1 bag of Starbucks coffee (when you buy this you get a CAT for $1.50 off your next purchase!)
1 18-ct Lucerne eggs
1 lb Lucerne butter
1 loaf of Nature's Pride bread
1 box of Seapak frozen salmon with butter sauce

= $25.55 OOP

Even without any coupons (other than the super) I saved 51% or $27.

Shoppers & CVS

2009-04-05T13:38:00.005-04:00

Shoppers is running a promotion with Post cereal that would have been wonderful had they actually had the cereal in stock. I was promised that I would be able to use the current promotion(s) when they get some more. We'll see how that goes.

The current Post deal is:
They are on sale for $2.00 each. The 3/29 insert had a $1.00/2 coupon, which will double, plus you can use the $1.00/2 from the front of the Shoppers ad - I don't think this doubles -. There is also a Catalina running: buy 3, get $2.00; buy 4, get $3.00, and buy 5 and get $5.00 back.

I have no idea when the Catalina promo ends, but I'm hoping that they'll honor my coupons, doubles and the Catalina the next time I can get there. Hopefully.

Anyway, first I went to CVS where I bought:
$7.00 Cover Girl mascara
$13.00 Cover Girl foundation
$4.99 Revlon Simply Matte eyeshadow
$0.00 Revlon Simply Matte eyeshadow (BOGO)
$.99 Puffs tissues
$.99 Puffs tissues

- $2/1 CAT for Revlon
- $2/1 Revlon
- $1/1 Revlon
- $4/1 Cover Girl foundation
- $1/1 Cover Girl mascara
- $2 Extrabucks
- $4 Extrabucks
- $3 Extrabucks

= $8.93 OOP

And received $10 for the Cover Girl deal. The Revlon products turned out free:
spent $4.99 (for 2 eyeshadows that are on sale buy 1 get 1 free - I believe the limit is 6 products total)
- $2
- $2
- $1
= -$.01 I guess technically, I made a cent?

And then Shoppers. I bought:
$3.79 1 Cream of Wheat ($1.79 after doubled coupon)
$1.79 1 box of Truvia sweetener (on markdown)
$2.19 1 box Success brown rice ($.19 after doubled coupon)
$2.50 Nestle truffles ($.50 after doubled coupon)
$1.89 Quaker popcorn cakes (FREE plus $.11 overage!)
$2.29 Starkist Tuna Creation ($.29 after doubled Vocal Point coupon)
$2.29 Starkist Tuna Creation ($.29 after doubled Vocal Point coupon)
$2.29 Starkist Tuna Creation ($.29 after doubled Vocal Point coupon)
$2.29 Starkist Tuna Creation ($.29 after doubled Vocal Point coupon)
$3.00 Gatorade G2 powder ($1 after doubled coupon)
$4.79 Finish Electrosol detergent tabs ($2.79 after doubled coupon)
$3.49 Del Monte large grapefruit fruit cup ($1.49 after doubled coupon)
$2.79 Dannon Activia ($.79 after doubled coupon)
$2.50 Dannon La Creme ($.50 after doubled coupon)

= $12.46 OOP
"You saved a grand total of $27.63 or 70%!"
14 items - so under $1 per item!

So not too bad, but I really wish I would have been able to do the Post deal. I accidentally picked up the Kelloggs version and was back and forth between the cereal aisle and my very annoyed cashier before I gave up.

Weekly & Month Summary (March 23rd - April 4th)

2009-04-05T13:20:00.000-04:00

How I did this week:

Monday, March 30, 2009 Giant: $10.64
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Safeway: $29.13
Saturday, April 4, 2009 CVS: $.19

= $39.96 OOP for the week

And for March?

MAR 1 - MAR 7: $53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14: $5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21: $44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28: $17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4: $39.96

= $161.20 $38.80 under budget even with the extra week!

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$39.96
APR 5 - APR 11	$?
APR 12 - APR 18	$?
APR 19 - APR 25	$?
APR 26 - MAY 2	$?

CVS

2009-04-04T10:42:00.002-04:00

Last night we needed milk again so I went to CVS. I got my Extrabucks for the quarter ($4! Whee!) and a couple of other coupons from the red machine, but I was good and only bought milk. There are some good deals in the circulars this week, plus 3 coupon inserts! I might go buy another paper!

Friday, April 3rd:

$3.19 1 gallon skim milk

- $3.00 Extrabucks

= $.19 OOP

As of right now, at least in my area, CVS has the cheapest milk, which is amazing and convenient since I can just use Extra Bucks to pay for it.

Oh, there are also Safeway Super Coupons in tomorrow's paper - some of which aren't that great, but some that I will definitely use!

Amazon Food Deals

2009-04-03T10:23:00.003-04:00

Most of the time I don't participate in these deals from Amazon.

a) We often stock up during grocery sales and get items cheaper.
and
b) We are only 2 people so does it make sense to buy 24 boxes of any one thing at a time? Usually, my answer is no.

Nonetheless, sometimes taking advantage of Amazon Grocery is good. Case in point. If you don't want to pay tax on items that are taxable, you can buy them through Amazon Grocery and pay no tax or shipping. If you live far away from a grocery store, having items delivered to your door, albeit a little more expensive can be cheaper in the long run.

Anyway, Amazon is currently running a few grocery deals right now:

Save $25 when you spend $69 or more on any combination of eligible grocery products, including Stacy's, Quaker, and more sold by Amazon.com. Use the following promotional code when you check out: ALLPEPSI. LINK with more info
Save 25% when you purchase select Zoe's Food products sold by Amazon.com. Enter code ZOEF4444 at checkout. Plus, save an additional 15% when you combine this instant rebate with your Subscribe & Save order--bringing the total savings to 40%. LINK with more info
And a bunch of others.

We've done bulk ordering from Amazon twice and found that things are shipped well and quickly. It doesn't always work for us, but it might work for you.

Day Old Bread

2009-04-01T21:26:00.003-04:00

I purposefully bought some day old bread (challah) the other day to mix with the several day old french bread we had leftover from the wedding to make some bread pudding. My husband informed me that he also never finished the apples I bought him so I made 2 types. Apple bread pudding and regular.

See the fruits of my labor. Heehee.

Just another way to use things up before they go bad.

Safeway Finally!

2009-03-31T20:46:00.005-04:00

I did it! I got to Safeway today, albeit late. I didn't do all the deals I had read about because I hadn't taken notes and my brain is not that big. Anyway, I finally went tonight after perusing through my coupons.

Did pretty well even with the small amount of time I took to prepare (about an hour total).

I bought:

$9.00 3 boxes of Fiber One Bars
$2.00 Fat free Kraft ranch
$2.61 3 bottles orange creme seltzer
$1.25 Hunts diced tomatoes
$1.25 Hunt diced tomatoes
$5.00 2 boxes Quaker fiber oatmeal
$6.00 3 boxes crystal light
$1.25 1 bottle gatorade
$5.00 4 bottles Fuze
$2.50 Wet Ones
$3.00 1 box Kelloggs Special K waffles
$13.93 7 boxes Totinos pizza rolls
$5.00 2 boxes Lean pockets
$4.99 1 Breyers ice cream
$1.25 1 bag Halls Naturals
$6.00 2 packages hormel natural turkey breast

- tons of coupons (including $10 off from the buy 10 save $5x2 - and a $10 off coupon from the chill out)

= $29.13 OOP
Total # of items: 35
Total Savings: 70% or $67.73! Woo!

And I received another $10 off for frozen food from the Chill Out promotion which is good through 4/28/09.

Giant

2009-03-30T20:41:00.004-04:00

I swear I will get to Safeway tomorrow before the promotion is over. It is good through the 31st right? I at least hope so!

Anyway, today was jam packed. The husband (woah that's weird!) and I went to open a bank account to save up for a honeymoon (and deposit some of the gifts we've gotten so far), I had some chores to do, including buying a few sports bras now that I'm exercising daily thanks to my new Wii Fit (wedding gift from my DH) - which I love by the way, money well spent even if it wasn't mine! I did however stop at Giant to grab bread, day's old bread for some bread pudding - anyone have any amazing recipes to share? and the Kashi cereal bars. I was hoping to use the Vocal Point coupons at Target but of course everything but the cereal bars was on sale. I have no idea if they are part of the promotion at Safeway but I didn't want to risk it since they expire tomorrow and I don't want to go to 2 grocery stores after work!

Anyway, here's what I bought:

$2.99 1 box Kashi cereal bar
$2.99 1 box Kashi cereal bar
$2.99 1 box Kashi cereal bar
$2.99 1 box Kashi cereal bar
$2.99 1 box Kashi cereal bar
$2.79 1 loaf day old challah for bread pudding
$2.89 1 loaf wheat bread

- $2/1
- $2/1
- $2/1
- $2/1
- $2/1

= $10.64 OOP

Thank you Vocal Point! Cereal bars came to $.99 each per box.

Weekly Summary (March 22nd - MAR 28th)

2009-03-30T20:35:00.002-04:00

Not very much going on this past week. We went mostly out with various family to celebrate the nuptials, though I did hit up CVS twice:

Sunday, March 22, 2009 CVS: $2.49
Saturday, March 28, 2009 CVS: $15.32

Total: $17.81

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$17.81
MAR 23 - APR 4	$?

CVS & Wedding!

2009-03-29T19:34:00.006-04:00

Well today my ~~fiance~~ husband and I tied the knot. This is the first of major wedding events as the reception with the 90 or so people is in April (the ceremony itself today was very low-key and the attendance was 8 plus a photographer and Rabbi).

But this entry is not about my wedding, though I was quite frugal with my bouquet. I went early this morning to the neighborhood Giant and purchased a dozen cream roses and about 10 red tulips and some baby's breath. Total cost $28.60 = total time to put pretty wedding bouquet together? 15 minutes.

I wrapped the bottom with leftover ribbon from the invitations and the ribbon that is going to be wrapped around the tiers of the wedding cake.

Anyway, I went to CVS Saturday afternoon:
(3/28/09)
$9.99 Neutrogena foundation
$7.99 Neutrogena lip soother
$8.49 Playtex tampons
$10.99 Dr Sch. shoes inserts
$5.49 CVS brand foot spray
$3.19 1 gallon skim milk

- $3/1 Neutrogena foundations CRT
- $5/$10 Dr. Sch. for women purchase
- $1/1 Neutrogena lip soother
- $1/1 Playtex tampon

- $15 Extrabucks
- $3.49 Extrabucks
- $2.99 Extrabucks

= $15.32 OOP
Received back $2 from Playtex and $6 from Neutrogena

PS Tomorrow I am finally going food shopping! I'm at least doing the Chill Out promotion at Safeway and maybe the buy 10, save $5 a few times depending on what we need. I already have a kitchen full of food and cake! We've had 2 so far and we haven't even had the reception yet!

CVS

2009-03-24T21:46:00.002-04:00

I'm back to being a busy bee - I didn't make it very well known on the internet, but I resigned from my very high stress 50 hour job (not including the 2 hour a day commute!) in December and just recently started working again. Granted, I'm only supposed to be working 30 hours per week (full time), but I can pick up hours at other "sister" communities (I also have no commute which is wonderful and frugal to boot). I have also taken on another part-time job, though it won't start till April. Between the full-time job and wedding planning, I have been lacking in time for both food shopping and keeping up this blog. Sorry! Tomorrow I am off and in between lots of other chores, I'll be looking through the ads, food shopping (including doing the last round of the Chill Out promotion at Safeway) and hopefully cleaning the kitchen!

Anyway, I made it to CVS before working 12-5 on Sunday to pick up the freebie this week and I think I'm going to go back tomorrow for some tampons (very exciting, I know).

$3.49 Crest Pro Health mouth wash
- $1.00/1 Crest
= $2.49 OOP

Received $3.49 back for the Crest deal.

Weekly Summary (March 15 - March 21st)

2009-03-24T21:32:00.003-04:00

Very late! I know. Wedding is this coming Sunday so I've been quite busy, though I did manage to make a CVS trip on Sunday which I will be posting shortly. I also plan on doing the last round of the Chill Out promotion tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Sunday, March 15, 2009 CVS: $4.16
Sunday, March 15, 2009 Safeway: $24.31
Sunday, March 15, 2009 Shoppers: $14.39
Friday, March 20, 2009 Safeway: $1.49

Total: $44.35

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$44.35
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$?
MAR 23 - APR 4	$?

Safeway Milk Trip & CVS

2009-03-22T10:22:00.006-04:00

As expected, we ran out of milk Friday (3/20/09), and my $2 CAT from the Post promotion also expired. Unfortunately, I was in no condition to go out and the fiance (soon to be hubbie - T-7 days away!) made me stay on the couch while he went.

He bought:

$3.49 1 gallon skim milk
- $2.00
= $1.49 OOP

And, for those of you who don't know through either I <3 CVS or A Full Cup, CVS is going to be sending coupons and new extra care cards for those of us that have had the card for over 5 years. I think I got mine in 2002 so I should be expecting some amount of bounty (or at least I hope so)! I'm excited.

CVS Safeway & Shoppers, Oh My!

2009-03-15T18:06:00.004-04:00

Ok, the title is a tiny bit on the cheesy side, but given the deals this weekend, I could not pass up going to my 3 favorite stores (especially after I verified that our Shopper's was honoring the double $1 and free cereal promotion).

I made 2 separate trips due to perishables and made out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

CVS:
$.42 Kashi Go Lean bar on clearance (they only had 4 so I bought all of them)
$.42 Kashi Go Lean bar
$.42 Kashi Go Lean bar
$.42 Kashi Go Lean bar
$.88 Gold Emblem candy
$.88 Gold Emblem candy (had $1/2 coupon from red machine)
$2.99 Colgate Max with strips (or sparkles!)

- $1/2 GE candy
- $1.50/1 Colgate from All You

I was hoping to use Extra Bucks to pay for the whole transaction but there was a line so I didn't have a chance to grab filler. Ah well.

= $4.16 OOP
Received $2.99 back in Extra Bucks for the Colgate deal.

Then Safeway:

There are a bunch of promotions going on right now and I was stupid and forgot my CAT from the Post cereal (since it ends in 5 days, oops). I guess I'll be going to Safeway this week for milk which we are sure to run out of mid-week. Anyway, I'm holding off on using the other CAT to roll for the frozen food promotion which I plan to do once more before the month is out, but to be serious, we have no freezer space. Tonight we're having some freezer food to hopefully make some room!

Anyway, I bought:
$1.00 Kraft Mac&Cheese (super coupon made it $.49)
$1.74 Safeway orange cream seltzer
$2.50 Quaker granola bars (super coupon made it $.99)
$5.00 2- 1lb bags of Utz pretzal wheels
$4.55 250 count Sweet n Low
$1.99 Peter Pan Reduced Fat PB (super coupon made it $.99)
$2.99 Lucerne 18 ct eggs (super coupon made them $.97)
$2.99 Lucerne string cheese (super coupon made them $1.99)
$1.79 Stroemann wheat bread (super coupon made it $1.49)
$7.00 2 packages oscar meyer turkey breast (had $1/2 blinkie)

= $24.31 OOP
(saved $16.52 or 41%!)

And then Shoppers. Thanks to the Safeway "chill out" promotion and being well stocked on most things, I only got a couple things. Either free things or things we use anyway that were very cheap after the promotion.

I bought:

2 bags of Betty Crocker potatoes (free after coupon)
1 box Reeses Peanut Butter puffs - my guilty pleasure ($1 after coupon)
1 box Quaker simply harvest granola bars ($1.28 after coupon)
1 small bottle cascade (free after vocal point coupon - $3.75)
1 24 oz box Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats (free after Washington Post coupon!)
2 boxes Kellogg Pop Tarts ($2 for both after coupon)
2 packets fajita seasonings (free after coupon)
3 boxes Campbell V8 soups ($1.39 each after coupon)
$.50 2 mini "day old" pumpkin pies (sell by date of tomorrow)
1 4-pack Activia ($.79 after coupon)
8 cups Yoplait yogurt ($3.44 after coupon)

= $14.39 OOP
("You saved $26.75 or 65%!")
25 items.

Weekly Summary (March 8 - March 14th)

2009-03-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

Sunday, March 8, 2009 CVS: $4.69
Sunday, March 8, 2009 Target: $0.00
Friday, March 13 2009 CVS: $1.19

Total: $5.88

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$5.88
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$?
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$?
MAR 23 - APR 4	$?

CVS

2009-03-13T21:46:00.002-04:00

Yes, CVS is my favorite store. Have a problem with it? I didn't think so. Kidding.

Hoping to get to the grocery store on Saturday to do some of the great deals at Safeway and Shoppers (though I should call to make sure my store is participating in the doubling coupon promotion).

Anyway, we needed milk (shocker I'm sure).

I bought:
$4.00 Maybelline mascara duo
$3.19 gallon skim milk

- $1.00/1 Maybelline mascara
- $5.00 Extra Bucks

= $1.19 OOP

CVS & Target

2009-03-08T18:37:00.002-04:00

I am in training in VA all this coming week so my intention today was to get everything we could possibly need for the week plus do the deals I wanted to at CVS given my schedule. After sitting in DC traffic for an hour or more (let's hope not though) the last thing anyone wants to do is try to maneuver through a busy parking lot!

Anyway, first I hit CVS and then Target, but first a story.

We've been getting the Washington Post daily since we moved into our apartment back last August and we were able to get a really good deal on it through a website that our apartment complex (and my company now) partners up with. It allowed us to get the paper for $1.80 a week (in stores the Sunday section is $1.50 alone). Unfortunately, their computer system has been incredibly wonky and it never renewed our subscription even though I requested it and got the confirmation e-mail saying otherwise. Well obviously the Post stopped sending us the paper which is the only way I found out and since there were computer errors on their end, they weren't able to fix it for me, I had to call the Post myself... this morning... it was what you would call unpleasant. See, either my CS rep had no idea that they partner with a company or he wasn't very bright because he kept on repeating that they no longer had the promotion. This is true. They never had the promotion and I did not start getting the paper through them in the first place he also mispronounced my name sveral times after i had already correct him which just drives me batty. After holding my ground on the phone and asking to talk to his supervisor, they finally relented and gave me the lower price that was still up on the site I ordered their paper from in the first place! Let's hope I don't deal with this again in 28 weeks!!!

Ok, so CVS. I did the Maybelline deal as well as picked up True North products that were 50% off that I scouted out the other day/with the $1/1 coupons from one of the inserts they were only $.75 a piece!

I bought:
$8.00 Maybelline Dream Matte pressed powder in ivory
$12.00 2 tubes of Maybelline Collosal mascara
$1.75 True North honey peanuts
$1.75 True North honey peanuts
$1.50 Washington Post Sunday

- $1/1 Maybelline mascara
- $1/1 Maybelline mascara
- $2/1 Maybelline foundation
- $1/1 True North
- $1/1 True North

- $0.99 Extrabucks
- $0.99 Extrabucks
- $5.98 Extrabucks
- $4.99 Extrabucks
- $1.00 Extrabucks

- $1.03 left on giftcard
= $4.69 OOP

Received $10 back for the Maybelline deal.

Next Target. Apparently the Kelloggs promotion for buy $5 get $5 gift card is good through March 16th! I'm slightly annoyed at Target for not advertising it here in their circulars but at least that means that they still have stock.

Anyway, I bought:
$6.00 4 boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks (on sale $1.50 per box)
$2.58 2 24oz bottles of chocolate syrup
$8.89 chocolate protein powder for the fiance (he's quite thin and we're trying to get him to gain some weight the healthy way - this explains the chocolate syrup too I'm going to start making him chocolate peanut butter banana shakes)
-------
$2.00 1 box of Kelloggs rice krispy treats
$5.08 2 boxes of Kelloggs nutrigrain bars
$5.08 2 boxes of Kelloggs pop tarts
- $1/2 nutrigrain
- $1/2 pop tarts

+ $5 gift card!
-----

And then stuff that isn't part of the grocery budget:

The fiance requested some socks: $12.70
I found him some undies that were 75% off: $5.25
And I bought some tights for myself (including Assets - usually $15 that I got for $3.75!): $7.13
And a Revlon Makeup Eraser 'pen' that I found on clearance: $.75 after my $1/1 coupon

I wound up spending $12.48 but the fiance is paying me back for his socks (the undies are a gift - aren't I generous?!) so really nothing OOP.

Weekly Summary (March 1 - March 7th)

2009-03-08T18:33:00.003-04:00

Sunday, March 1st CVS: $0.00
Friday, March 6th Safeway: $53.14
Friday, March 6th CVS: $0.06

Total: $53.20

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	$53.20
MAR 8 - MAR 14	$?
MAR 15 - MAR 21	$?
MAR 22 - MAR 28	$?
MAR 23 - APR 4	$?

Small CVS Run

2009-03-08T18:28:00.003-04:00

Friday evening I went to CVS for a quick run for milk. I also picked up the ACT mouthwash after realizing that they had increased the limit to 2 for Extra Bucks.

I bought:

$.29 Essence of Beauty lipgloss on sale chocolate (just for fun)
$.29 Essence of Beauty lipgloss on sale strawberry (just for fun)
$.29 Essence of Beauty lipgloss on sale vanilla (just for fun)
$.99 Act mouthwash mini
$3.19 gallon skim milk (yay for CVS lowering their milk prices!)

- $4.99 Extra Bucks

= $.06 OOP

And received $.99 back in Extra Bucks from the ACT deal.

CVS & Safeway

2009-03-06T15:25:00.006-05:00

There have been some amazing deals out there this week. It seems like Safeway has become my staple haven. I actually went to CVS earlier in the week but I've been so busy that I have been bad and haven't blogged about it. So without further adieu, my Sunday CVS trip and today's Safeway trip.

I was hoping to pick up the free after Extra bucks Instant Breakfast but my CVS was out by Sunday afternoon (we also received a pretty hard hitting snow storm Monday - 7 1/4 inches! so stores were packed - very typical in MD).

Here's what I picked up:

March 1st CVS (Sunday):
$.10 2 clearances marshmallow V-day candy (on 90% off)
$4.99 Slimquick energy drink
$.99 Act mini mouthwash

- $4.00 Extra bucks
= $2.08 but paid with a gift card so nothing OOP

Received the following in Extra bucks:
$4.99 for the Slimquick
$.99 for the Act
= $5.98 in Extra bucks

And then today Safeway. There are some excellent Super Coupon/manu matchups. The Chill Out promotion is still going on and there are a couple extra promotions going on. Plus, if you have received a 2009 Entertainment Books, there are 4-$5 off $50 coupons in it for varying months for the year, one of which I used today. This is great for weeks that Safeway doesn't put out its' own coupons. Well sufficed to say, we now have a very full freezer. I'm hoping tonight's dinner uses up the last of some chicken nuggets so we don't get attacked with frozen goods when we open the door. Anyway, my purchases:

$4.99 24 pack Diet Coke (after super coupon)
$.87 Safeway flavored seltzer
$.87 Safeway flavored selzter
$2.31 3 bottles Snapple water
$6.99 Chock Full of Nuts (4.99 after Super Coupon, had $.75 manu that doubled making it $3.49)

$1.79 Safeway Quick Oats 18oz ($.99 after super coupon)
$1.00 Pillsbury cake mix ($.79 after super coupon)
$2.50 Utz potato chips ($1.88 after super coupon)
$3.00 Oreo cookies ($1.29 after super coupon)
$2.00 2 cans of Dole reduced salt petite tomatos (had $1/2 coupon making them both $1.00)
$1.99 Classico tomato sauce ($1.27 after super coupon)
$.88 Knorr side dish
$2.50 1 package Dole pinneaple bits ($1.49 after super coupon)

$2.49 Post Raisin Bran
$2.49 Post Raisin Bran
$2.99 Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats
$2.99 Post Honey Bunches of Oats chocolate
$2.99 Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats mini bites chocolate
= $13.95
- $1/1 Kelloggs
- $1/2 Post
- $1.50 Bunches (print out from register)
- $.70 any Kelloggs
- $.70 any Kelloggs doubled
- $5.00 buy 5 save $5
= $4.05 for all 5 boxes (!) and I received $2 back for buying 2 Raisin Bran!

$3.49 Simply Orange orange juice with calcium ($1.99 after super coupon, had $1/1, making it only $.99!)
$4.20 6 cans of Yoplait yogurt (had $.40/6 that doubled)

$3.49 1 box Morningside "chiken" nuggets
$3.49 1 box Morningside veggie burgers
$3.49 1 bag Morningside "meat" crumbles
$3.49 1 bag Morningside "meat" crumbles
$2.50 Lean pockets ($.75/1 that doubled making it $1)
$1.99 Totinos pizza rolls ($.35/1 that doubled making it $1.29)
$1.99 Totinos pizza rolls ($.35/1 that doubled making it $1.29)
$1.99 Totinos pizza rolls ($.35/1 that doubled making it $1.29)
$1.77 Eggos waffles
$5.99 Digiorno pizza (super coupon made it $3.97)
= $30.19 of frozen goods (wasn't sure if the super coupon would ruin my total hence the overage)

$5.99 1 box Seapak Tilapia (doesn't count towards chill out promotion - $4.99 after super coupon - had $.75 that doubled making it $3.49)

$1.89 loaf of wheat bread
$3.00 Budding turkey breast ($1.99 after super coupon)
$1.54 1.54 lb sweet onions
$2.99 3lb gala apples

- $5/$50 Entertainment Book
- $10 Chill Out coupon

= $53.14 Oop

Received $10 Chill Out coupon and $2 from Raisin Bran

Saved 64% or $94.67!!!!

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

2009-02-28T19:51:00.005-05:00

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

2009-02-28T19:21:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-24T16:26:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-22T16:54:00.004-05:00

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)

2009-02-22T16:48:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-21T15:42:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-16T12:58:00.003-05:00

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)

2009-02-15T11:56:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-14T20:58:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-12T18:29:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-11T21:53:00.007-05:00

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

2009-02-07T16:46:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-02T21:03:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-02T20:52:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-02T20:48:00.002-05:00

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

Target

2009-01-29T19:33:00.002-05:00

Kashi cereal/granola bars are on sale at Target this week for $2.75. If you are a vocal point member, like me, you have several $2/1 coupons, making them $.75 a box. Not bad, although I was hoping to get them for free at Kmart but my Kmart didn't carry them.

Anyway, I purchased:

$8.25 3 boxes Kashi cereal bars
$5.64 3 boxes of fruit roll ups (on sale $1.88 a box)

I also bought a dress and top on clearance ($13.72 together but clothes aren't a part of the grocery budget)

- $2/1
- $2/1
- $2/1

Total came to $22.43, but I used my Target gift card, so I paid nothing out of pocket. I have $61.20 left on this gift card and will soon have enough points from my credit card saved up for another Target $50 gift card. Not too shabby.

My Favorite Sites To Earn Money

2009-01-28T18:14:00.004-05:00

I often come across sites that will pay you for taking surveys, looking through e-mails, etc and of course, there are the regular old standby's like Ebay and Etsy (if you're crafty).

Some of my favorites:

www.surveyspot.com - I generally only take the surveys that offer money incentives, otherwise all are you can do is try to win one of the grand prizes they offer (generally money) but I've never been lucky with sweepstakes sort of things, so I generally pass on surveys that only let you enter the sweepstakes. This gets sent in check form or you can donate to a charity.
www.youdata.com - I actually just signed up for this one after reading about it over at Tiara Saves and I've already made $3.41 - though it won't be deposited into my paypal account for a week or a few days, I believe. Not sure how it works exactly, but I'm willing to give it a chance.
Ebates. Now you do have to buy stuff to get the percent back (and they only pay once a quarter, but so far it's been worth it. No fees and free cash back on things that I was going to buy anyway. The options for payment includes paypal or a check.
Blingo is another search engine that randomly gives out prizes. I only use Blingo and even the money/gifts are randomly selected, I've won 8 times in the past few years.
Swag Bucks. This is similar to Blingo but has other options to earn enough points for the prizes and you are almost guarenteed something unlike Blingo where you have to get lucky. I usually alternate.

Transfer Rx = get $

2009-01-27T15:14:00.005-05:00

Nothing fills me with more glee than getting gift certificates from transferring prescriptions from one pharmacy to another (or dropping off new ones). The fiance and I have amassed a collection of around $300 worth of gift certificates in the past 6 months. Due to the economy and my current lack of employment, this fills our minds at ease. If need be, even if both of us were unemployed (which thankfully isn't the case) we could eat and have enough basics for 3 months without worry). I usually keep one or two gift cards in my purse for low balances, especially for drugstore purchases.

However, there are some rules for doing this. Some states don't even allow gift cards to be given with prescriptions, thankfully, Maryland isn't one of them. But some of the other general rules are:

1. Limits for using them:

Rite Aid used to only let you use 1 coupon every 6 months - to my knowledge they have since changed their policy.
Safeway only allows you to use 1 coupon every 3 months - though I think maybe our pharmacy just made this up since it isn't on the coupons - check your local pharmacy.
Giant won't let you use a coupon if they recognize you from another time. Basically, there's no policy but the Giants I've frequented don't like giving you free money. Thankfully, there are several Giants close to our apartment so we just alternate.

2. What they can be used for:

Most drugstores won't let you use their giftcards to pay for more medication (although I've seen some people go into Giant and use giftcards at the pharmacy - double check before you go).
Most drugstore and supermarkets will not let you use their gift cards to purchase more gift cards (especially ones for other stores).
There may be other stipulations, when in doubt, check the coupon or ask customer service.

3. Limit on transfers: In this situation I only know of 1 stipulation - though I'm not sure if it's only with this one particular pharmacy or not. The last time I was at Rite Aid, the pharmacist said that controlled substances could only be transferred 1 time. I haven't done the necessary research to conclude whether this was true or not but just wanted to forewarn others.

Otherwise, transferring or filling something you are definitely going to use to get you some free grocery money is certainly helpful and frugal!

CVS

2009-01-26T16:16:00.003-05:00

I wanted to get to CVS before the Sunday/Monday deals ended today and we need tissues. The fiance has so willingly complied to try the CVS brand but isn't sure he'll like them (he is particular about paper products as you can tell).

Anyway, I got:

$1.25 Gatorade
$.50 CVS tissues (on sale yesterday/today only)
$.50 CVS tissues
$1.99 Pert Plus (on sale this week)
$6.99 Maxwell House coffee (large size, on sale from $12.49 - basically 1/2 off)
$8.99 Schick Intuition razor

- $1/1 Pert Plus
- $2/1 Schick razor
- $10.00 Extrabucks

= $7.42 Oop

Received $4.00 back from the Schick. Just an FYI, those that did the Pepsi deal last week, it has... respawned this week so you can do the deal again! Not sure we need the Pepsi, but I might stock up on Gatorade.

Also, the Gilette razor that's on sale doesn't get to stores till the 30th! That's this Friday and a day before the sale ends. Silly CVS.

Budget Summary (January 18th- January 24th)

2009-01-24T17:10:00.003-05:00

Summary for this week (excluding Hickory Farms orders):
Sunday, January 18th CVS: $1.18
Sunday, January 18th Kmart: $4.00
Friday, January 23rd Shoppers: $34.72
Saturday, January 24th CVS: $9.77
Saturday, January 24th Kmart: $6.17

Total: $55.84 OOP just slightly over budget by $5.84

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	$?

Shoppers, CVS & Kmart

2009-01-24T14:44:00.002-05:00

Well, the deals were so numerous this week that I had to hit several stores. While I'm still unsure of how we'll factor in the Hickory Farms orders, I'll figure it out somehow, I'm sure.

Anyway, first stop was Shoppers (Friday, January 23rd):

$2.59 Cream of Wheat Cream of Rice ($.75 that tripled = cost $.34)
$2.59 Cream of Wheat Cream of Rice ($.75 that tripled = cost $.34)
$3.00 Pepperidge Farms crackers ($.75 that tripled = cost $.75)
$3.00 Pepperidge Farms crackers ($.75 that tripled = cost $.75)
$2.99 Fiber One granola bar ($.50 that tripled = cost $1.49)
$2.99 Fiber One granola bar ($.50 that tripled = cost $1.49)
$2.99 Fiber One granola bar ($.50 that tripled = cost $1.49)
$2.33 Fruit roll ups
$2.33 Fruit roll ups
$2.33 Fruit roll ups
$2.34 Fruit roll ups (used 2 - $.50/2 that tripled, final cost $1.58 each)
$4.00 Fiber One shredded wheat ($.75 that tripled = cost $1.75)
$2.19 Minute rice premium (had $.50 that tripled = cost $.69)
$2.19 Minute rice brown (had $.50 that tripled = cost $.69)
$2.50 Quaker Oats (had $.60 that tripled = cost $.70)
$2.69 Quaker Fiber chocolate bar (had $.75 that tripled = cost $.44)
$2.69 Quaker Fiber chocolate bar (had $.75 that tripled = cost $.44)
$2.69 Kikkoman soy sauce
$.99 Orange Soda (had $.40 that tripled = cost FREE)
$.88 box frozen spinach
$.88 box frozen spinach
$1.33 bag frozen corn
$1.34 bag frozen corn
$3.75 gallon skim milk
$2.79 18-ct large eggs
$4.08 6 cups of Yoplait yogurt (had $.40 that tripled = cost $2.88, $.48 per cup)

Was charged $36.97 but the cashier forgot to ring through one of the coupons, so the manager told me to come back after 3:00pm today and get $2.25 back, making the trip $34.72 Oop.

Bought 32 items, paid about $1 per item.

CVS (Saturday January 24th):

$2.50 2 bottles of Gatorade
$12.00 4 cases of Pepsi soda
$6.00 2 bags Stacy's Pita Chips
$2.50 Hefty one-zip bags
$2.49 Ziploc sandwich bags
$7.99 Maybelline mineral lipstick
$7.99 Maybelline mineral lipstick
$1.19 CVS brand throat lozenges

- $.55/1 Hefty
- $.55/1 Ziploc
- $1.50/1 Stacy's
- $1.50/1 Stacy's
- $1.19/1 CVS brand (free throat lozenges came from red machine)
- $29.57 Extrabucks

= $9.77 Oop
Received $10 for the Pepsi products and $10 for the Maybelline = $20 Extrabucks back!

Then Kmart (Saturday, January 24th):

Most of the things that I wanted to get were long gone, but I was able to pick up some odds and ends:

$5.49 Therafu
$4.49 Tylenol rapid release
$2.50 Special K chocolate cereal
$2.50 Special K bars
$3.00 Ritz reduced fat crackers
$1.69 Ritz holiday crackers

- $13.50 worth of coupons
= $6.17 Oop

I also have a rebate for the Theraflu, which says up to $5.99 back but will deduct the $2 off coupon (that doubled at Kmart) that attached to it. Hoping I get $3.49 back, but even if I just get what I wound up paying, it will still be free.

And I'm spent... although I do have to stop at Shopper's to get my $2.25... but that was exhausting! I think I'll grab some lunch and then go over. The fiance and I are going to see a string quartet tonight thanks to my parents having other plans and donating their tickets to us. We're big classical music dorks.

Target Raises Prices

2009-01-23T22:04:00.003-05:00

I remember when I was so excited to go to Target to get fruit roll ups since normal price they were $1.97. Unfortunately, they are no longer under $2, the last Target I went to had them for $2.19. While the 22 cent increase doesn't seem severe, that's still 11% (I'm not sure if this is just locally or by store - I will check another Target to be sure). I don't know how many other items are affected but I'd personally keep an eye out for rising shelf prices at places that are your "go to" for when items aren't on sale and in fact, I recommend to always check the price, especially for items you buy weekly.

I wound up buying more fruit roll ups today at Shoppers. I will post the whole trip shortly.

At Shopper's they are 3/$7 = $2.33 a piece. I bought 4 ($9.32) and used 2 $.50/2 coupons that tripled (-$3.00), after coupons cost me $6.32/4 = $1.58 a box.

Cuisinart + Cheap Cheese = $$ Saved

2009-01-23T16:20:00.002-05:00

I'm planning on making this recipe that I found on Money Saving Mom.

My fiance and I received a very nice Cuisinart from my parents as a housewarming gift a couple months ago but I've been nervous to use it because it seems so complex. So many blades and attachments! Either way, I finally decided that today would be the day because I had cheese to shred to make my dinner.

I shredded a 8oz block of Big Barn Cheddar from my Hickory Farms order, rough price, $1.50.

Just referencing prices from Giant for the same cheese:
Giant Brand 8oz shredded bag = $3.00
Sargento 8oz shredded bag = $3.69
Kraft 8oz shredded bag = $3.99
Nature's Promise 6oz shredded bag = $3.69 (would be $4.92 for 8oz if existed)

Saved? Anywhere from $1.50-$3.42!

Hickory Farms II

2009-01-22T18:11:00.005-05:00

I mentioned previously that I had put in another order after discovering that they had gone to 85% off some products. So, we basically have a lot of cheese and sausage. The fiance isn't complaining because he got a sausage, pea and egg omelet tonight for dinner and was super impressed when I said that this order cost me even less than the last one.

The items from Order #2 are:
1 Warm & Hearty Welcome Gift Box
1 Family & Friends Gift Box
1 Ham Smokehouse Collection Gift Box
1 Reduced Sugar Vanilla Torte (this freezes and will be dessert the next time my parents are over)

This amounted to the following items:
cheese
4oz Three Cheese & Onion Wedge
4oz Creamy Swiss Blend
4oz Creamy Swiss Blend
4oz Big Barn Cheddar
4oz Big Barn Cheddar
4oz Big Barn Cheddar
~~8oz Big Barn Cheddar~~ shredded, eaten
12oz Jalapeno & Cheddar Blend (fiance's g-ma sent him this last year and it is amazing in macncheese - it's like an adult version)
12oz Smoked Cheddar Blend
4oz Smoked Bacon & Cheddar Blend
6oz Cheddar Cheese Ball
= 66oz of cheese = 4.125 lbs

meat
12oz Beef Summer Sausage
12oz Beef Summer Sausage
10oz Ham Summer Sausage
10oz Beef & Pork Summer Sausage
7oz Beef Summer Sausage
7oz Ham Summer Sausage
= 58oz of sausage = 3.625 lbs

spreads/mustard/crackers, etc.
3oz sweet hot mustard
2.25oz sweet hot mustard
2.25oz sweet hot mustard
2.25oz american dijon mustard
= 9.75oz of mustard

2-1.3oz packages of golden toasted crackers

4oz mini melt away mints (pastel colored)

And some of those little strawberry candies. I don't know how many because my fiance quickly stole them away from me to eat, I presume (or hide).

I spent $25.74 including tax and shipping and will be receiving 4% back (roughly $1.00).
25 items, roughly $1 per item.

Still curious about any mixes you guys can think of. I know I am already going to mix the jalapeno one with one of the other lighter cheese (maybe one of the cheddars) since it is very very hot - they aren't joking around with that one!

Hickory Farms & Ebates

2009-01-19T12:19:00.004-05:00

Hickory Farms is having a great sale. A week or so ago most of their holiday sets were 75% off, this week many of them are 85% off and since shipping is calculated by the cost, not by weight, the shipping is even cheaper this week (it's pretty pricey to begin with so be forewarned). However, thanks to a special coupon offer: use SIZZLE or CLIPPER in the special coupon offer box, you will receive an additional 15% off and if you go through Ebates you'll get an additional 4% back from the purchase!

I'm not sure whether to include this in my weekly or monthly budget but I've made 2 separate orders. One last week that just arrived today and one this week which should be shipped soon. Some of the items are going towards birthday or holiday gifts this year, some of the items are things I know we will use (at least a couple of the sausages are going to be used for the south american dish I make fairly often), I plan to grate some of the cheese to freeze and use for other dishes - not sure which. Either way, either we or someone close to us will be using all of the items.

The items from Order #1 are:
1 Warm & Hearty Welcome Gift Box
1 Summer Sausage and Cheese Gift Box
1 The Sausage & Cheese Slicer Gift Board

This amounted to the following items:
cheese
6oz Smoked Gouda
7oz Edam
8oz Cheddar
7oz Sharp Cheddar
7oz Mission Jack Blend (I already know this I'm shredding for Mexican dishes)
4oz Swiss
7oz Havarti
4oz Three Cheese & Onion Wedge
6.5oz Apple Pie Cheddar

meat
3-12oz Beef Summer Sausage (36oz!)
~~7oz Beef Summer Sausage~~ 1/2 eaten
7oz Ham Summer Sausage

spreads/mustard
2- 3oz jars sweet hot mustard

We also got a cutting board with cheese/sausage slicer but it seems a little wonky - will try to fix because I was hoping to gift that to my dad for father's day this year.

And some of those little strawberry candies. I don't know how many because my fiance quickly stole them away from me to eat, I presume (or hide).

I spent $30.63 including tax and shipping and will be receiving 4% back (roughly $1.20).

I would like to know from you, fellow bloggers, which cheese above would be good to shred and freeze? Would you combine any of it? What are some dishes you like including the above ingredients?

Just to break down this first Hickory Farms purchase.
56.50 oz of cheese = roughly 3.5 lbs
50.00 oz of sausage = roughly 3.11 lbs
1 cutting board
2 jars of mustard

Knowing how much cheese costs around here, I doubt I could get it for any cheaper at the local grocer, even on sale, so I'm pleased.

Kmart & CVS

2009-01-18T20:52:00.003-05:00

My fiance and I were in a location with what appeared to be an empty CVS this morning so I was able to pick up the free after extrabuck deal from CVS.

$3.79 CVS brand allergy med
$3.79 CVS brand allergy med

- $5.00 Extrbucks
- a dollar and change left on a giftcard

= $1.18 Oop
Received $7.58 back in Extra Bucks.

And then we stopped at Kmart since they are running a double coupon promotion this week in our area and I wanted to get in before the crazy people did. The intent was to stock up on Kashi bars (since I have $2 off coupons that would double) but unfortunately our Kmart only had Kashi granola bars. Even though we weren't able to get exactly what I went in to get, we still walked out with some good stuff.

$4.19 Maybelline foundation (Maybelline is 40% off) attached was a $2 off coupon that doubled, making the foundation $.19
$2.50 Special K chocolate
$2.50 Special K chocolate
$1.00 Sunkist regular (attached to the bottle there was a $1/2 couple that doubled making these free)
$1.00 Sunkist diet (")

- $1/1 Sunkist
- $1/1 Sunkist doubled
- $2/1 Maybelline
- $2/1 Maybelline doubled
- $1/2 Special K
- $1/2 Special K doubled

= $4.00 Oop including tax (from the $.19 Maybelline)

I'm going back tomorrow since on the Special K there were more coupons and the chocolate flavor is my favorite and maybe more Sunkist too. We'll see.

Budget Summary (January 11th- January 17th)

2009-01-18T20:42:00.002-05:00

Summary for this week:

January 11th Walgreen: $9.72 (will receive $10.98 on GC)
January 14th Giant: $4.88
January 16th CVS: $0.00
January 17th CVS: $0.00

$14.60 Oop

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	$?
JAN 25 - JAN 31	$?