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!!!!