Publix Purchases 7/21/11

Not a huge shopping trip this week. But I did get some fun things! lol

I spent $17.76 and I saved $30.39

My purchases this week were:

• 2 boxes 100 calorie packs $1.10 each
• 2 packs of Yoplait Trix yogurt 90 cents each! (Tye was excited for these because there were "Cars" on the yogurt packages.)
  
• 4 boxes Quaker Granola Bars 98 cents each!!
  
• 2 packs of Paper Mate Pens I MADE 50 cents each!!!!!!!!
  
• 2 bottles of Publix syrup $1.99 each
• 2 boxes Honey Maid Graham crackers $1.55 each
• 2 boxes Quaker Oatmeal Dinosaur Eggs $1.75 each (I have been waiting for this deal forever, now it isn't the best deal, BUT Dinosaur Eggs are Kevin's absolute favorite oatmeal. He almost cried when I told him that they must not make it any more because they didn't carry it at Walmart. When I started shopping at Publix I saw they carried it and have been waiting for a deal on them so I could get it. So I was glad it happened now and I am going to give him his very own box for his birthday--among other things of course! lol The other box he and Tye can share as Tye shares his love for Dinosaur Eggs! lol)
  

So there you have it. Not the best of deals, but at least it is some deals. And I always love the deals when I make money! :-) And yes it is LEGAL (even though the cashier tried to give me a hard time with two of my coupons saying I couldn't use the same coupon in the same transaction, I told him it wasn't that you couldn't use it in the same transaction, you had to just buy multiples of the same product, which I did...I bought 2 of the pens, therefore I could use 2 coupons--one for each pack I bought! UGH!).

Publix Shopping Trip 7/14/11

I got some great deals this week and some okay deals. :-)

I spent $43.04 and saved $73.20!

Here are my finds for this week:

• 12 cans of Chef Boyardee Pasta 75 cents each!!! They even have whole grain ones now! Tye LOVES these for lunch and even a snack after school.
• 4 boxes of Ritz Bits crackers 99 cents each!!!
• 2 bottles of Kraft BBQ Light 83 cents each
• 2 bottles of Hershey's Strawberry syrup 70 cents each!!
• 2 packs of Fiber One Yogurt 90 cents each!
• 2 bags of MilkBone Chewy Dog Snacks 85 cents each!
• 2 pkgs of Sharpie markets 50 cents each!!!
• 2 pairs of Scotch Scissors FREE!!!
• 2 pkgs of Paper Mate pens I MADE 50 cents on each!!!!! Okay I know you are asking how...They were 2 of $1, but I had a $1 off 1 coupon from Target. So I would have paid $1 for them both (or 50 cents each), but I had the $1 on each of them coupon so I made 50 cents just by buying them!!!! :-) Should have bought more! lol
• 2 pkgs Lean Pockets $1.66 each
• 1 bag of Hot Pocket snackers 67 cents!
  
• 2 bags Yoplait Smoothies 60 cents each!
  
• 2 containers President Feta Cheese $1.10 each!
  
• 2 pkgs Hillshire Farm Lunch meat $2.95 each
  
• 2 mangos 89 cents each
• 2 bags of carrots 1.29 each
• 1 bag brown rice (we are almost out! gotta start looking for deals on this one! lol) $1.89
• 1 container vanilla yogurt $2.09 We had yogurt parfaits at the RS meeting this week and they were sooooo yummy I decided I wanted to buy the yogurt so we could make them for at home for a healthy treat!
• $10 Publix Gift Card FREE!!!!

Love when I can buy several things for less than $1 each and I REALLY love it when I can buy things for free or even MAKE money on them! OH YEAH! :-)

Publix Buys 7/7/11

I got some really good deals today! WOOHOO!!! And as you can see I had my helper again! lol

I spent $40.35 and saved $74.41!!!

Here is what I bought today:

• 4 bags of hashbrowns (this was a rain check I redeemed) $1.99 each
• 2 bags of Spinach $2.00 each
• 1 pkg baby portabella mushrooms $1.50
  
• 6 bags of Jumbone dog snacks 80 cents each!!!
• 4 pkgs Yoplait YoPlus 64 cents each!!! This was an AWESOME deal!!!! You can barely get regular cups of yogart for 64 cents each!!! I get 4 of them for 64 cents! And it's the good for you kind!
• 2 containers of Emerald Peanuts $1.04 each
• 1 tube of Abreva $10.99!!!! Okay this is like the best deal ever! Even though it is still way high, the regular price at Publix is $16.99, but just two weeks ago when I was on vacation in KS, a girl there bought it for $23.99!!! Yeah I got it for less than half that price!
• 10 Welch's Fruit and Yogurt snacks 87 cents each!!
  
• 2 Ocean Spray Juices $1.23 each
• $10 Publix Gift Card FREE!!!!

I have not used any of my gift cards yet because I am saving them to use on some of the stuff we get catered from Publix for our Christmas Party (Cuban sandwiches anyone?! hehehe) I love that my food storage is getting full and I am spending less or the same amount as I was before. It will be nice when my stockpile is up so that I can really just shop for the rock bottom prices. I have decided to keep track of the lowest price I get things at so that I can compare and see if it really is a good deal or just an okay deal and if I have a stockpile then I can hold out a bit longer. :-)

CVS Purchase 07/07/11

Spent $21.91 and saved $42.34 plus $2 ECB!!!

What I bought today:

• 3 Gold Emblem Spring Water 24 pks $2.44 each
• 4 Cascade Powder $1.99 each
• 2 Milk $3.39 each
• 2 Head and Shoulders $2.24 each PLUS $1 in ECB each
• 2 Always pads $2.49 each

Pretty good prices but not rock bottom prices. Some of these were things that were necessary right away and the water was a really good deal considering we are entering hurricane season and need to stock up. :-) I had $6 in ECB that I used towards my purchase too.

Publix Purchases 06/30/11

This was a GREAT day at the market! hehehe :-)

I paid $56.82 and I saved $86.08

So here is what I have--first off let me tell you about the card in the front. I was able to get another $50 gas card for $40 because I spent at least $25! WOOHOO Soooooo right off the bat that takes off $40 of the price above, so for the actual groceries I only spent $16.82!!!!

• 2 tubs of cool whip 84 cents each
• 8 Oscar Mayer Cracker Combos FREE!!! (they were $1 each and then I had a coupon for $1 off!)
• 2 tubs Breakstone Sour cream. The Zesty Blends was only 50 cents! The regular sour cream was $1.50 (no real sale there, but I needed some more sour cream!)
• 3 bags Goldfish...the Color goldfish was $1, the 2 Flavor Blasts were 45 cents each (I had a coupon for flavor blasts from the package, but DS really wanted the color ones, so I figured for $1 it was okay! lol)
• 2 boxes Crackerfuls $1 each
• 2 boxes Arm and Hammer Fabric Softner Sheets $1.99 each for 144 count!
• 2 boxes Philly Swirl Frozen Treats $1.50 each (these are only 45 calories each, so a great dessert for me when I am craving something sweet!)
• 4 boxes Aunt Jemima Waffles, 3 of them were only 8 cents each!! 1 was $1.08 (I couldn't get a 4th coupon to print for some reason...so I guess really they were all 33 cents each. lol)
• 2 bottles French's Yellow Mustard 63 cents each
• 2 bottles A-1 Steak Sauce I made 2.5 cents each!!!!
  
• 6 bottles Kraft Salad Dressing 3 cents each!!!!!

This was a great shopping trip!!! I got tons of stuff and several of the items were ones I was out of or almost out of and needed desperately! So it worked out great and I got it for super cheap!!

Publix Purchases 6/16/11

Tye was my helper in this shopping trip so he had to be part of the picture he said! lol I went to a different Publix this time so I could use my Target coupons! lol

I spent $27.42 and saved $73.71.

The purchases were as follows:

• 2 tombstone pizzas $2.35 each (I bought them so that Kevin and Tye could have them for one of the meals while I was gone to my scrapbook retreat) not the best deal but still fiarly good since regular price is $4.69 each.
  
• 2 bottles Resolve Spray N Wash 75 cents each! (and they were the 30 oz bottle because it was a promo with 30% more for free! WOOHOO!)
• 2 Old El Paso Enchilada Dinner Kit $1.35 each!!
  
• 4 containers of Crystal Light 75 cents each!!
• 2 pkgs Oscar Mayer Lunch Meats $2.10 each for the 16 oz combo packs
• 2 Fiber One Yogurt 4 pack $1.40 each (these are about 15 cents more expensive at this Publix than they are at the one I normally go to, so that kindof stinks, I will have to be more conscience of that in the future).
• 4 boxes of Magnum Ice Cream Bars 50 cents each OMGosh these are the BEST ice cream bars, just ask my sisters!!! We had these when we went to Europe on vacation in 2002. Every time we stopped to get gas we got two things...the Magnum ice cream bars and salt and vinegar pringles! ROFL! The caramel ones are the best, but the others are really good too! They were 2 for $5 and then I had a target coupon for $1 off and a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off each so I got them for 50 cents each!! WOOHOO!
  
• Now here is my 2nd favorite deal of the week...4 bottles Old Spice Body Wash and 4 sticks of Old Spice Deodorant. 50 cents each!!! Here's how I got the deal. The price was 2 for $6. Proctor and Gamble had a whole flyer of Target coupons on 5/1/11 in the newspaper. There were two coupons in there, one for $1 off Old Spice deodorant and one for $1 off Old Spice Body Wash. So these were considered Target coupons. THEN I had a manufacturer coupon for Buy 1 Old Spice Deodorant and get 1 Old Spice Body Wash free. So total price for all 8 items on sale were $24. BUT I had the buy one get one free so it made it basically half the price only $12. Now I was able to use a $1 off coupon on every single one of the items...so $8 off in manufacturer's coupons. Which leaves me $4 for 8 items, so 50 cents a piece!!! WOOHOO!!!! And those body washes are HUGE! They are 18 oz each.

I am very pleased with this purchase and I didn't even have a $5 off $50 purchase coupon either. Or a free gift card or anything. So while the total price seems kindof hefty the majority of the deals were pretty darn good! :-)

CVS Rain Check Redemptions 6/16/11

This week when I looked the CVS ad I didn't see anything I couldn't live without or needed really at all. So I wasn't going to go at all, but then I was going to be fairly near a CVS so I decided to go ahead and redeem my rain checks from last week.

I spent $4.07 and I saved $16.93 and I got $6 in Extra Care Bucks!

• 3 Ivory soap 3 pk FREE!!!
• 2 Pulsar toothbrushes $4 each, BUT I got $3 Extra Care Bucks back for each...so it kindof made them $1 each
• Plus I had the $1.98 Extra Care Bucks from last week's purchase AND the $3 Extra Care Bucks from the week before.
  

CVS Shopping 6/9/11

Why oh why do I continue to go back to the same CVS?! lol Here are my two issues with today. First of all, they didn't have two of the items that were on sale, all out, but the REAL problem was the worker! He is really kindof a jerk! He was giving me a hard time about writing a rain check and told me I needed to come on Sundays if I wanted the deals. I told him I wasn't coming on Sundays and told him that I know they get a shipment in on Wednesdays so I come first thing Thursday morning to get them. And I asked him what the big deal was in writing the rain check. He just mumbled on and the lady behind me in the line was looking at me in a way that I could tell she totally thought he was being rude. When we both got outside she actually told me she thought he was crazy and rude about it. If it wasn't that it was easiest to go there after I go to Publix on Thursday mornings I would go some place else! I may figure out a way to do it anyway. UGH!

Soooo with all that said here is my purchase for this week.

I spent $4.98 and saved $2.37 plus I got $1.98 in Extra Care Bucks

I bought 3 bottles of water for hurricane season (I probably should have bought more, but didn't do it). $1.00 each

2 bottles of Excedrin PM (8 ct) for 99 cents each and then I got 99 cents in Extra Care Bucks (kindof like getting it for FREE) lol But I will use the Extra Care bucks for another trip.

And they scanned my green bag tag, I have 2 uses so far, need 2 more to get my $1 Extra Care Bucks for free.

Publix Again 6/9/11

I hate it when my bags are not very full and the resulting picture looks like this and I still spent almost $20. Probably should have avoided most of it since some of it was not that great of deal...but again use it and so therefore bought it.

I spent $19.79 and I saved $28.28.

Here is what I got this week:

• 1 gallon of milk $1.79 (if you bought the brownies or cake mix and frosting you got $2 off the milk)
• 1 box brownie mix 99 cents
• 1 tub of frosting $1.10
• 2 bottles Olive Oil $2.00 each normally $5.99 each!
• 4 jars Peter Pan Peanut Butter (this time I bought all jars of this whipped version...I have never tried it before but it is 1/3 less sugar and it has less fat than the reduced fat version! ROFL! So we will see how it tastes! lol) 49 cents each!!!!!
  
• 1 pkg Publix reduced fat blue cheese and 1 pkg Publix reduced fat feta (we use these a lot in dishes so they were needed, but at least a decent price) $2.00 each
• 4 boxes Keebler Crackers $1.50 each
  

I hadn't bought $50 dollars worth so I wasn't able to use the free $10 Publix gift card again. :-( Sad! lol Oh well hopefully next time. I didn't make any "mistakes" this week, but some of my deals weren't as great as they could have been.

Publix Shopping Adventure 6/2/11

I spent a bit today, but I also saved a bit too. So it works out pretty good. Somethings I had to buy because we needed them this week and so they weren't on sale at all, other things I bought because they were on sale, but maybe not the greatest sale because again, we needed them. So here were the results:

I spent $47. 67 and I saved $70.87 plus I got a FREE $10 Publix Gift Card!

Here are the details:

• 6 boxes of Fiber One Cereal (YAY because I take this every day to work, it makes it easy and since I don't like it with milk I eat it like a snack, but for breakfast! lol) These are normally like $3.79 a box if you buy them at Walmart, I bought them for only $1.30 each!
• 2 boxes Ritz, Hint of Salt, and 2 boxes Ritz Bits $1.00 each!!
  
• 4 boxes Fruit Snacks Here's another mess up...I guess that one of the boxes was not part of the sale, even though there was a tag in front of it...so instead of getting 4 for B1G1 I ended up paying full price for 2 of them and then the other two were $1.05 each UGH! I swear am I ever going to go one week without messing something up?! lol Can't go back and fix it now either because DS has already eaten several of them! lol
  
• 2 boxes Rozini Garden Delight I MADE 11 CENTS on this purchase!
• 4 pkgs Rozini Healthy Harvest (since this is what I usually use) 45 cents each!
• 2 jars Nutella $2.00 each
• 2 jars Peter Pan Peanut Butter $2.16 each
  
• 1 container of marshmallow fluff $2.79 (0ne of those have to haves for DS class for their "reading camp out")
• 1 box graham crackers $2.99 (another one of those have to haves for the "reading camp out")
• 2 boxes Taco Bell Home Originals Dinner kits $1.35 each
• 2 of the 4 packs of YoPlus yogurt $1 each
  
• 2 loaves of bread $1.19 each (have to haves, we were almost out and since DS takes a PB and honey sandwich to school every day we had to get it! lol)
• 2 boxes of Glad zipper bags $2.00 each
• 2 packages Hebrew National Hot Dogs $2.50 each
• $10 Publix Gift Card FREE!!!

Not too bad. Especially for so many had to have items and the one mess up. UGH! I swear! lol I really love saving all this money! I am spending slightly less than I used to going shopping every other week at Walmart (even using coupons...just not in the right way! lol) and I am stocking my pantry up and mostly with stuff we use. We have tried a few new things I wouldn't have bought because they used to be "too expensive" for me. But heck if I only pay $1.00 for a box of something that normally costs $3 just to try it, no big deal! Or many times I can pay even less than that! :-)

CVS Trip 6/2/11

This week I bought 2 bags of York pieces (this are soooo yummy!) and 1 bag of the Hershey's cookies and cream drops and 1 bag of the Almond Joy pieces. They were 2 for $5 but I had a $2 off 2 coupon and I had a $1 ECB. So it made them $1.25 each. OH and I got $3 ECB for buying them too! lol I forgot about that!! lol I also got my $10 gas card that I actually earned last week.

I paid $5.70 and I saved $22.46 plus the $3 ECB for next time!

CVS 5/28/11

Well I forgot to take a picture of this...but here is the info.

I spent $31.17 and I saved $29.34 plus I got $1 Extra Care Bucks PLUS, I got a coupon for a FREE $10 Gas Card!

• 4 bags of the large size M&Ms. $1.75 per bag!!
• 3 bags of Tostitos $2.50 each
• 3 bags of Doritos $2.50 each
• 1 gallon of milk $3.69 (plus an extra care buck)
• 4 2liters of Coke soda 99 cents each
• 1 green bag tag FREE (when you scan your tag 4 times you get $1 FREE extra care bucks!)
  
• 6 bars of Hershey's $1.19 for all six...which made them 20 cents each!

Here's how the Hershey's deal worked...they were on sale, buy 2 get 1 free. Then I had a coupon for buy one get one free. So I bought 6, used 3 coupons, so got 3 of them free, but I had already gotten 2 of them free because of the buy 2 get 1 free, so I ended up in essence buying 1 and getting 5 free!!! What a cool deal! Now I have them so we can make s'mores!

Not too shabby! :-) The chips really cost the most. But it was the best deal I had found and we really needed some tortilla chips. lol And by buying the chips and the hershey's bars, I got a $10 gas gift card for FREE!!! (Well a coupon for one, it was too busy and there was a line 4 deep so I decided I would get the gas card next week.)

Publix Blunder 05/26/11

Yes as always, something! lol I accidentally got my ad weeks mixed up. So I was going to buy M & M's that were buy 1 get 1 free. Problem was, that was last week's sale. UGH! So here I pay $4.73 PER BAG for them and I bought 4 bags!! OOOPS! lol I ended up going to the front and getting a refund. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb! lol

So here is what my final price was $25.28 and I saved $32.53.

Here are the details:

• 2 cartons of Bryers Ice Cream $2.25 each (this got messed up because when I got to the checkout I found out with the new coupon policy the Publix I typically go to doesn't take Target coupons...which would have taken an additional 75 cents off each one--so now I know and may start going to the other Publix, at least if I have several Target coupons to use.)
• 2 bottles Kraft Salad Dressing 85 cents each. (This one got messed up too because of the Target issue...would have been 35 cents each)
• 1 package hamburger buns (needed them for Memorial day) 99 cents
• 1 bag Pedigree dog food $10.99 for a 17 lb bag!
• 2 tubs of Cool Whip 74 cents each!
• 4 jars Ragu (rain check) $1.03 each!
• 4 packs Fiber One yogurt $1 each
• 2 containers of Breakstone Sour Cream $1.50 each

That's all. Not too bad after the M&Ms blunder. lol Especially since I wasn't able to use the Target coupons too, otherwise it would have been even less. Oh well, still $25 isn't too bad.

CVS Purchase 5/26/11

I am still learning, I need to try not to be so brand loyal some times and realize when it's maybe not quite as good of a deal as I could buy it for.

Spent $6.27 and saved $7.79

Here's this week's story. I usually use Arm and Hammer and so on the coupon website I use it said that the prices would be $4.69 (I didn't write this part down when I went shopping and that would have been helpful in me making a better decision) and then it was a BOGO, so it would make it $2.35 each, also there was supposed to be either a $3 off 2 or a $1 off 2, unfortunately I only had the $1 off one. When I purchased them it ended up being $6.79 so that's $3.45 each and only $1 off that making them each $2.35...which should have been the sale price. On top of that they were selling Purex for $1.98 each and there was a $1 off 1 coupon, so it would have made it only 98 cents. Yeah big difference between $2.35 each and 98 cents each! UGH! Oh well, live and keep learning. lol

Publix Deals 5/19/11

Today I had a pretty good trip! Here we go! There was a mess up so I will explain that later.

I spent $29.83 and saved $54.61

Here is what I bought today:

• 4 bottles Kraft BBQ sauce (and I was able to buy the LIGHT version! woohoo!) 67 cents each
• 4 boxes Rozini pasta 8.9 cents each!!!! OH YEAH!!
• 4 bags Dentastix and 2 bags Jumbones FREE!!!!
• 1 bag Idaho Potatoes $1.99 (if I bought the sour cream I got $1 off the potatoes and since I needed sour cream I bought the potatoes too)
• 1 container Breakstone Sour Cream $1.99
• 4 Peter Pan Peanut Butter $2.19 each
• 1 bag low salt tortilla chips (we had made salsa and I needed chips! lol) $2.29

These next two were from previous BOGO rain checks I cashed in.

• 4 BIC razors I MADE $1.02 by buying these!!!!!
• 2 boxes of Playtex Tampons 90 cents each!!!

And finally another $10 gift card....FREE!!! So this is the part that goes with the mess up. I had the coupon that if you spent $50 you got a $10 gift card for free. Well, the cashier set it aside and forgot to take it off. So when I realized it, she had already rang me out but had not started on the next person, so she just took $10 out of her till and gave it to me. So REALLY...

I spent $19.83 and saved $64.61!!!!!!

CVS BEST SHOPPING TRIP SO FAR!! 5/19/11

Seriously this was a GREAT deal, it was so great, I am going to tell you the whole transaction! lol

I spent $1.25 and I saved $20.96!! I saved 94%!!!

So here is the whole scenario:

It actually took me two days to process the whole transaction, but I didn't completely go out of my way to do it.

Wednesday night I had to take a disposable camera in that Kevin had taken to the father/son campout to get the pictures "developed" I actually just had them put on CD. Anyway, while I was there I ran my CVS card at the coupon kiosk and got a $2 off Hershey's Drops or Reese's Pieces.

Thursday morning I went back and scanned my card again and got the same coupon. Then I purchased 2 bags of the reese's pieces (now of course I don't need these, BUT we are having a Memorial Day Celebration on Tuesday after Memorial Day and our department is in charge of the Ice Cream sundae bar. So I said I would bring these! PERFECT!). Okay so back to the scenario...they were on sale for 2/$6. So I used two of the $2 off CVS coupons and then I had another manufacturer's coupon for $2 off 2. So another $1 off each. Making them FREE!!!

Part two...4 sticks of Sure Deoderant. These were buy one get one free. Well the sticks that were the real money deal were $2.99, but they were out...and if you have read my blog at least one week you know that they are ALWAYS out and it takes them FOREVER to get it back in. Well the larger size (at least I think they are the larger size) was only 20 cents more...so for 2 only 10 cents more each. To me that was TOTALLY worth it than trying to get my rain check cashed in!! lol Sooooo with that said, it made them $1.60 each. THEN I had a $1.00 coupon off, so it made them each 60 cents...BUT I was not done yet. I also had that $2.00 in Extra Care Bucks that I got last week when I bought the milk. So I used that...making them 10 cents each!

Unfortunately I had to pay tax which was 87 cents, for a total of $1.25! lol OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

Walmart Price Match AND Coupons! 5/13/11

After not being able to get the Carefree pantyliners at CVS I decided to see if Walmart would price match them. And also that more I realized I was COMPLETELY out of deoderant (I swear I had another one under the cupboard but NOPE--UGH!). So I was going to have them price match that also.

I spent $12.56, not sure how much I saved exactly.

The details:

• 6 packs of Carefree pantyliners---are you ready for this---FREE!!!! Remember I was going to price match it with CVS? Well Walmart's regular price was 94 cents and the coupon was for $1 off or Free if less than $1, so I didn't have to use the price match.



• However I DID use the price match on the Mitchum deoderant. I believe the regular price was $2.97 (or $2.74, not sure which one it was) and then the price match was to make them $1.99 each. But I had a $1 off coupon so I paid 99 cents each!



• 5 packages of Jennio-O ground turkey $1.98 per roll (the cheapest place I have ever found it is at walmart, and this is the regular price)

So that's it...I guess I saved around $9.60 if the deoderant was $2.97 (about $9.20 if it was $2.74 originally). Pretty good considering I got meat in there which rarely has coupons! :-)

CVS ECB 5/13/11

Why oh why do I keep wasting my time?! I think I need to give up on ever getting those dang Lysol Freshmatic Air Fresheners! lol They only had 2 I NEEDED 3 to make the deal and get the extra care bucks. Plus they didn't have any Carefree pantyliners. But they did have milk sort of on sale. Let me explain the milk was $3.19 a fairly decent price for around here right now anyway. Then I got $1 back per gallon of milk (limit 2) in Extra Care Bucks, that I can use on my next purchase. So I can either think of it as getting the milk for $2.19 a gallon or I can think of it next week and use it towards whatever I buy so it will cost less. So we will see what I end up buying next week that I can use it on. (If they have anything! ROFL!)

Paid $6.38 and saved $1.20 PLUS I got the $2 in Extra Care Bucks.

More coupon questions answered

So if you are wondering if I buy stuff I need or if I just buy stuff that is on sale, here is my answer! I do both! I buy stuff I need, and I typically only buy stuff I actually use (or at least want to try!) and stock up on it so I have enough until it goes on sale again the next time. Like I bought a ton of pasta sauce because we use it a lot and I bought a ton of salsa for the same reason. Today, I ran out of deoderant and thought I had some under the cabinet, but couldn't find it, so I searched who had it on sale (CVS) and what coupon I could use to go with it. But CVS didn't have it so I ended up at Walmart and asked them to price match it, which they do now openly (they used to do it before, but the cashiers used to roll their eyes about it and kindof give you a hard time, now they almost welcome it with the new commercials and I have done it twice and the cashiers just looked at the kind and size and price and rang it up no problem at all), and then I used the coupon. So the deoderant, which was a kind I haven't tried, so I only got 1 for me and 1 for DH to try, ended up being only 99 cents each, compared to the regular walmart price of $2.74 or $2.97, I can't remember for sure.

Things like my produce I still get at the farmers market, unless they are on sale for a good price at the grocery store. Meat, I either get at Sams Club (for the bulk price) or at Albertsons (with the buy one get two free deals) and my ground turkey I get at Walmart because they have the cheapest price for the Jennie-O ground turkey (I try to use a coupon for that if I can too, they don't come out very often, but do sometimes). Milk and eggs, it kindof depends, usually I get it at Sams because it is the cheapest, however I noticed today that CVS had milk for $3.19, a typical price I think, BUT I got $1 Extra Care Bucks, to use next time I buy something at CVS (so it ends up kindof being a $1 off coupon) or I can think of it as paying $2.19 per gallon and not include it in the purchase I actually use it with. lol Are you thoroughly confused now?! :-)

Let me know if you have any other questions, I am glad to answer them! :-) I am still learning so if I don't know maybe we can learn together. :-)

Publix Shopping Trip 5/12/11

Another pretty decent trip, but not my best one. lol :-) Some of the purchases were really great deals and some were just so so.

I spent $41.50 and I saved $88.94 plus a FREE $10 Publix Gift Card!!!! WOOT WOOT!

So here we go:

• 4 bottles of Welch's Grape Juice $1. 02 each


• 2 packages of 4 cans of Bumble Bee Tuna $2.00 each


• 4 bottles of Hunt's ketchup 78 cents each


• 2 bottles Hidden Valley dressing 73 cents each


• 2 bottles Wishbone dressing $1.02 each


• 4 bags Kraft Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese 30 cents each!!!!


• 2 jars Vlasic Stackers 70 cents each


• 2 bags Back to Nature Granola 90 cents each


• 2 bags Pup-Peroni Dog Snacks $1.80 each


• 3 Swanson Broth $1.26 each


• 8 cans Campbell's soup 93 cents each (I wish I had more coupons I would have bought even more! lol We use cream of chicken and cream of celery soup a lot in casseroles and crockpot meals! lol)


• 2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent rolls $1.42 each (except when I got home I only ended up with one, so I went back and got the other one...not sure what happened)


• 2 packages of Swiss cheese $2.00 each


• 2 packages of Chips Ahoy $1.50 each (I had to take some cookies to Tye's class for lunch)


• 2 bottles MIO water flavor stuff $1.79 each


• Not pictured is my $10 Publix gift card that I got for FREE for spending over $50!

Thanks for looking!

CVS Bargains 5/5/11

Well I FINALLY got to cash in 1 rain check at CVS, but not the other. And I wasn't able to get all 3 of the ones I wanted of the rain check because they only had 2, but I took what I could get.

Today I spent $6.31 and saved $11.73!

Here is the breakdown:

• 2 Puffs Plus with Lotion (always need these when you have a BAD cold! lol) 99 cents each


• 5 Dawn dish soap 74 cents each!!


• 2 tubes Aquafresh for Kids FREE! They cost $1 and I had a coupon for $1 off!

Pretty good trip!

Publix Deals 5/5/11

I got sucked in a little today...lol...let me show you what I mean!

I spent $95.13 and I saved $81.94.

First let me tell you about one thing you don't see and one you only kindof see...The item you don't see is the gas card I bought. Publix had a coupon where if you spent $25 at Publix and bought a $50 gas card, you got it for only $40. So of the $95 above $40 of it was for a gas card. The thing in the picture you only kindof see is the dog food. I bought 2 bags of it, after using my $2 off coupon, for $10.99 each. Not too shabby for the huge 17.5 lb bag of dog food! So if I take both of those things off the actual grocery price was really only about $33. Anyway, I still think I did fairly well!


Here are the rest of the details:

• 2 bags of yoplait smoothie mix 60 cents each!


• 3 bags baby carrots $1.29 each


• 1 bottle vinegar (I was out and use it a lot in recipes) $1.09


• 6 boxes Crystal Light on the Go mix 17 cents each!


• 1 jar Kraft Mayo (olive oil one) $1.70


• 1 jar Miracle Whip $1.70


• 4 cans diced tomatoes 69 cents each


• 1 container Kraft Philadephia Cooking Creme (I really wanted to try this!) 50 cents!


• 5 boxes Eggo Waffles $1 each


• 3 Pantene Conditioners and 1 Shampoo I believe these were $1.50 each (I can't remember which coupons I ended up using on this! lol)


• 1 Digiorno Pizza and Wings $4.25


• 1 California Pizza Kitchen Pizza and Appetizer $4.25

The last two are really what got me sucked in as they were not on my list, but I had seen the sale and then I notice on the freezer door was a blinkie (those red coupon dispensers) with a coupon for $1.25 off. So I gave into the coupon pressure! lol Oh well, it is nice to have something quick in the freezer if we need it. :-) And at $4.25 it is cheaper than going out to eat! (Even if we ate BOTH of them in one meal! lol)

Publix Items 5/4/11

We needed to get some flowers for Miss Paugh for teacher appreciation day on Thursday. I also decided to take a chance in hopes that they had some of the light Ragu come in and I could get them on sale without using the rain check. Maybe I could use the rain check in a couple of weeks after I have used what I have. I also really needed some cream cheese. So I headed to Publix. Since it wasn't an actually savings shopping trip the savings were huge. BUT here it is anyway.

Spent $11.52 and saved $5.30.

The Ragu was $1.325 each.
The cream cheese was 97 cents each.
The flowers were $4.00--but they sure were pretty and I got to enjoy them and we gave Miss Paugh one for teacher appreciation (just one rose, I kept the rest! lol The whole class was supposed to bring one flower, so the vase should have been full! lol)

So that's it. Not that great, but still a savings.

CVS Shopping Trip 4/28/11

Yes, I tried again to get my rain checks filled and yes again, I failed to succeed! lol But I did get some other things.

I spent $7.52 and saved $7.31

I only got two things today:

• 6 boxes of Kleenex for 88 cents each (saved $1.11 per box)
• 2 bag M&Ms because Tye was with me and begged to get them and since he had been good with all the shopping and they looked good I gave in! lol 88 cents each also lol

That's it. HOPING some day I can cash in my rain checks.

Non-Coupon Walmart Trip 4/28/11

Okay how sad is this? I spent almost the same amount for the stuff I bought at Walmart as I did on the stuff I bought at Publix but I only got 7 things there, and I got 44 items at Publix!! lol Mind you this was not a couponing trip, but still goes to show how much you can save when you do couponing the right way.

I spent $24.54 and I saved 88 cents. lol

So here is what I bought...no savings the price is what it is except for 1 item.

• 1 box Luna bars $4.50
  
• 1 box Cliff bars $5.00 (saved 88 cents because they price matched what Target had it on sale for)
• 1 Ham and swiss sub $4.98 we were meeting some friends for a play date and lunch and I said I would provide it.
• 1 Turkey sub $4.98
• 2 containers of sour cream $1.42 (which was 56 cents cheaper than Publix)
• 1 clipboard $1.44, this was so I can make the altered clipboard for Tye's teacher for Teacher Appreciation week

So yeah, no savings, nothing spectacular and just a trip to get things I needed and knew they were cheaper than at Publix.

Publix Deals 4/28/11

This week was a GREAT week for shopping!!!

I spent $30.73 and saved $90.83 (a 75% savings!)

Tye decided he wanted to be in the picture this week! lol He was a big helper for me this week.

So here is my list:

• 6 Ragu pasta sauce (1 meat flavored, 2 alfredo sauce, 3 Light Tomato & Basil) $1.32 each
• 4 Pace Salsa $1.27 each
• 6 packages Bic Razors...here's the deal!!! I actually MADE 25 cents on each one!!! So I made a total of $1.25 just for buying these! lol WHAT A DEAL!
• 6 containers Voskos Greek Yogurt....FREE...yep they were $1 each and I have a coupon for $1 off!!!
• 2 Yo Plus packages (4 yogurts in each pack) for FREE!! I used the rain check and then I had two coupons for $1 off each.
• 6 boxes of Crackerfuls--another GREAT deal, I MADE 10.5 cents on each one!!! So I made 63 cents on this deal!!! OH YEAH!
• 4 boxes of Fiber Plus Cereal and 2 boxes of Fiber Plus bars...I am not exactly sure of the price on these...I think it ended up being $2.89 a box for the cereal and then I got the bars for free. So this wasn't one of the best deals, but it worked out okay.
• 2 packages of tortillas...I needed them and they were on sale...$1.09 per package
• 2 loaves white bread...not on sale $1.09 each
• 2 loaves Natures Own whole Wheat bread $1.43 each
• 5 lb bag of potatoes $2.99
• 1 tub margarine $2.69 (no savings there)
  

So I had several items that I got for free and some that I even MADE money on!!! Soooo dang cool!!! It is definitely my best shopping trip so far. I did miss out on a few things and had to get some rain checks. But for me this really is working! And my family is loving it! lol

CVS two weeks in a row

No pictures on this because there has been no purchases. Last week I went to CVS with the hopes of purchasing 3 Airwick Freshmatic starter kits and one Lysol Neutra Air. It was a great deal! The original price would have been $20.50. Then I could use 3 $4 off coupons on the Freshmatics and then $1.50 off the Neutra Air. That would leave $7.00 for me to pay out of pocket for it...however, by spending the $20 I would get $10 Extra Care Bucks. Soooo with that being said, I would basically MAKE $3 for the transaction. Problem was there were NO Airwick Freshmatics. UGH! So I did the raincheck, which was fine, not a big deal. We chatted with the manager for a bit about the whole couponing thing. He was really nice. He told me he would have another order come in on Wednesday.

Fast forward to this week (Thursday). I went in after going to Publix hoping I could fill my rain check quickly AND get some Aquafresh kids that was on sale for $1 and I had a $1 off coupon, making the purchase FREE! AND I could get the reusable bags for $1 and get $1 in Extra Care Bucks, making them FREE! When I went to the Airwick Freshmatic isle, they only had 2, which still could not fulfill my rain check, remember I needed 3! UGH! Then I went to check on the Aquafresh, none again. Soooo, I couldn't fill my rain check that I already had, AND I had to get a rain check for the Aquafresh. I couldn't see the reusable bags so I didn't even want to deal with it. It was a pain in the butt! I think I spent almost as much time at CVS as I did at Publix and got a whole cart full of stuff PLUS I got 2 rain checks.

With that being said, I will fill my rain checks hopefully next week and then I don't think I will go back to CVS. It is not worth it if I can't ever get the sale stuff and I have to spend time getting a rain check that I can't fill for two weeks. Just a huge waste of time having to keep going back and back and back.

Publix Shopping 04/21/11

Another pretty good trip, except that I had to get some rain checks and they were on the things that were the FABULOUS deals! lol So I will have to share them next week when I get them with my rain checks! lol

For today's shopping trip,

I spent $25.90 and saved $49.13!

My deals are as follows:

• Again I had to buy something I didn't have a coupon for which made it the most expensive thing I bought...A bag of hashbrowns for dinner...with a pricetag of $2.99.


• I bought 2 Yo-Plus again and guess what??? I FOUND the coupon I couldn't find last week! I actually checked a different website and they had a different link for the coupon, clicked on it and it worked like a charm! Price tag per 4 pack FREE!!!! I actually had 4 coupons but they didn't have any strawberry so I decided to just wait and get them next week.


• 4 Chobani Yogarts again, but I didn't have any coupons for those, so they were $1 each.


• 2 bags Alexia Artisan breads (Focaccia and Biscuits--last week I got French and Chibatta 70 cents each again!


• 2 boxes Special K cereal bars $1.50 each


• 6 boxes Pop Tarts $1.01 per box


• 6 bags Pedigree Good Bites $1 each


• 2 boxes Wheat Thin Stix 75 cents each!


• 4 cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup 92.5 cents each

I also had a coupon for $5.00 off my purchase of $30 or more. So that brought it down to the $25.90! I was going to get another item too, but they were out so I had to get a rain check--again I will let you know the deal on it next week cause it's a good one! lol

How I get so many coupons

Okay I have been asked how I get so many coupons. First of all I have 4 subscriptions to the Tampa Tribune (50 cents a week per paper...so $2 a week total--obviously I save way more than that per week). Plus I get my MIL's leftover coupons, which quite often tend to be almost everything. And then if there is something I think I really will want I snag a couple of pages from the coupons in the newspaper that gets delivered to work. I am one of only 2 people there at 5:30 in the morning so I usually get first dibs! lol However, I think I am going to subscribe to the St. Pete Times, as I can get a subscription for 30 cents a week. That will basically give me 6 sets of coupons each week.

This is the tub I use to keep all my coupons in. I have the entire coupon book filed by date. So in most folders there is a Red Plum and a Smart Source (well 5 of each right now lol). Some times there are two different Smart Source or Red Plum. There are also Publix and Proctor and Gamble. There are also Parade magazines if there is a coupon in it. That's pretty much all the newspaper stuff.

Then, like I said in my first post, I use the local coupon website called TrueCouponing.com. They have all the local stores and their ads for the week and then they match up the coupons for you. I go through the list and see what I want/need and then it tells me where to get the coupon, it could be either in my stash of coupons or it could be a printable coupon. So tonight when I worked on my list, I found $1.50 off Nabisco Crackerfuls in one of my sets of coupons. I also saw that online there was a coupon for $1.00 off Wheat Thins Crunch Stix, so I went and printed that out. Some of the websites you have to actually sign up for the newsletter and some are directly coupon printing sites. Here is my crazy work station, PLEASE don't look at the junk papers! lol I also have the desktop computer on because several sites will only let you print out 2 coupons per computer. Luckily, the ports on the desktop are on the front so it is easy to change which computer the printer is hooked up to! lol DH wants to get a new computer and I told him that was fine, but he could not get rid of this computer so I can print 6 coupons if I need to! lol

The other places I get coupons are actually on products, for instance the first week when I bought toothpaste, I chose a different "flavor" just because it said there were $10 worth of coupons inside! Also, there are little "blinkies"...the red coupon dispensers in the store. One lady said she takes her kids with her and they each have to come back with at least 3 of those coupons each before they can leave the store. I try to only take what I would actually use. lol Now wishing I would have been more diligent about it last week though so I could get some cheese this week for only 66 cents a bag. I will see if there are any left, but my guess is they are gone. Darn!

Let me know if you have any other questions! It makes me so excited to do this and share, which is the philosophy of TrueCouponing. :-) I am super excited about my grocery store trip tomorrow....here is a sneak peek...I will get at least 4 products for FREE!!! YEP you read that right! The coupon is the same amount as the item is being sold for this week! And I THINK I will MAKE MONEY on one of the items! I will show and tell tomorrow or Friday. :-)

Publix Adventure 4/15/11

This week's Publix shopping trip was much smaller, but the savings were just as great! I try not to be one of those crazy hoarding people just because I can get a great deal. I want to be one of those that buy things we actually use and then stock up on it when I can. I had gotten some grief from a co-worker about buying 6 tubes of toothpaste last week. I originally felt bad about it, but then I realized that I typically buy 5-6 tubes of toothpaste at a time when I buy them at Sams Club (which is usually where I buy them) so this is no different other than I got it for MUCH cheaper!!! And I won't buy toothpaste again until probably next year when I need more. :-)

Sooooo here is this week's deal.

I spent $20.76 and I saved $48.38!

What I bought:

• 2 bags of spinach (I think this is the most I paid for any one product this week because I had no coupon and they were not on sale, but I NEEDED spinach! lol) $1.49/bag


• 5 cans of Campbell's soup 94 cents each (I should have bought 1 more can and used another coupon it was 30 cents off 3, but again I am still learning some of the lingo with this BOGO and the 5 for $5 stuff! lol)


• 4 Choibani greek yogart 70 cents each


• 2 of the 4pks of YoPlus yogart $1 each (I could not get the coupon to print...it said I already had, but I would not have printed it as I have NEVER bought YoPlus before in my whole life!! lol Otherwise, it would have been FREE!! Dang coupon site! lol)


• 2 boxes of Special K cereal 89.5 cents each!!


• 4 boxes of Quaker Chewy Granola bars (25% less sugar) $1.02 per box


• 2 bags Alexia Artisan Bread 70 cents each!

This was part of last week's stuff that I had to get rain checks for:

• 6 boxes Kellogs Mini Wheats Touch of Fruit get this one....66 cents per box!!!! OH YEAH!


• 2 bags Beggin Strips 69.5 cents each AND two FREE pkgs of Busy Bones!! (which one had a coupon for an additional $1 off that the cashier wouldn't let me use, even though I THINK I really could have, but I figured, I won't cause any issues, I don't want to be one of THOSE people and hold it for a future sale!)

In the end I am loving this and I am spending about the same amount of money right now, but my food storage area is getting filled up! :-) My freezer is just about as full as it can get, need to eat up some of the things we really don't eat as much (like corn, I have probably 6 bags of it! lol)that I have had in there (plus I made 15 containers of strawberry jam to give away for Christmas, so that takes up a bit of space.) Too bad I don't have any room to buy another freezer, I need one right about now! lol Just gonna have to eat some of that corn! lol Until next week! :-)

And yes for the most part I am planning on only going to one-two stores a week (this week I actually went to 5, but one was walmart for the basics that I have not found a sale for yet, one was to Aldi's because they had some great sales on produce and you know produce is rarely on sale nor do you get a coupon for it! lol I went to Publix and Albertsons, of course, as you know. And then I stopped at CVS, but they were out of the great sale, so I have to wait until the items come in for my rain check. I will post that one when I get it because it is going to be basically walking out of the store with my stuff AND cash in my pocket! woohoo!) Until next time! :-)

Albertson's Shopping Trip 4/11/11

No picture this time. I didn't buy that much, but there were a few things I needed from there especially at the price I got it for. Not such a savings.

Total price paid $38.36 and saved $49.76.

• 2 Peanut butter (we were out, but this was the best deal I could find) $2.50 each


• 2 Always (16 count) $2.00 each


• 3 Whole chickens 69 cents a pound


• 3 London Broils BOG2Free!!!! Total price for 3 of them was $18.97 (We have a great recipe and it tasted sooooo good! You can find it here...we also followed one of the comments and added 3 Tbsp of lemon juice.)

Again, nothing special.

Publix Shopping Trip 4/7/11

So here is my very first couponing adventure! I prepared for about 2 hours the night before and then headed off to Publix Tursday morning with my friend Janette in tow! lol We had a great time helping each other out! lol

I spent $60.72 and I saved $86.75! And I got a $10 Publix gift card to use at another time!

Here are the details...the great bargains I will give specifics on!

• 4 packs of Angel Soft toilet paper (12 double rolls) $4.50 each pack


• 2 loaves of white bread (DS tears through a loaf like nobody's business! lol) 89 cents each


• 2 packs of Pita bread 64.5 cents each


• 5 tubes of toothpaste...these ended up being $0.35 a tube!!!! YEP! Plus two of the tubes had additional coupons on it that I will be able to use later! MORE SAVINGS!


• 10 boxes of pasta (now here is where I messed up a little, but fixed it at a later date...They were buy one get one free...I accidentally grabbed the wrong size of elbow maccaroni (3 of them)...so instead of getting them for $1.17 BOGO I paid $2.89 for each one! YIKES! Plus I messed up one of my other BOGO because I was planning on matching it with a different kind of pasta. I did remedy it later, by taking them back and getting the correct size and got $7.50 back). Plus I had a coupon for $1.00 off two. So once I remedied the situation I paid 8.5 cents per box!!!! OH YEAH!


• 8 pks of Juicy Juice (the 8 individual boxes pack) $1.13 each


• 2 boxes of Cascadian Farm Cereal $1.50 each


• 4 boxes of Post Great Grains Select $1.00 each!


• 1 pkg Land of Frost Ham $2.49


• 4 bottles of Sue Bee Honey $1.95 each

Plus I had to get rain checks for two of the items I wanted as they were out. :-)

My start

Several weeks ago our church had a huge Readiness Fair to help people learn how to prepare for disasters and make sure you know how to do do things. They had all sorts of mini classes/presentations. They had booths, with lots of great food mostly from dried items (like apple crisp from dried apples), ideas on gardening, cooking, job help, etc. Anyway, one of the classes was on couponing. The two ladies presenting the class showed basically how to do couponing. However, at the end they gave away a basket of stuff (there were at least 10-15 items in the basket) for the person who guessed closest to the price they paid for the items in it. The closest guess was $1.26, the actual price....3 cents!!!! Are you kidding me?!?! Okay, I was sold, but not really sure where to start. Luckily my friend Amanda was also interesting in something like that so she signed up for a class at a local church called True Couponing. She sent it out to several people and only Janette and I said we would go with her. It was a great class, I got sucked in a little, but it was worth it! lol I bought a tote which included 6 weeks worth of coupons (4 sets of coupons each week...so a total of 24 papers worth of coupons). And I signed up to get the newspaper on Sundays for 50 cents a week. I know I can save more than that per week easy! Soooooo here I go!!!!