Coupon for Starburst or Skittles

Go here to print a coupon for $0.50 off 2 packs of Skittles or Starburst Candy. This should easily get us some inexpensive (possibly free) candy.

Hopefully Albertsons will put this candy on sale before the coupon expires, and when the coupon doubles we might be able to get two packages of candy for FREE.

Thanks Coupon Katarina!

Week's Grocery Budget

How did you guys do this week with your grocery shopping? I didn't do a whole lot of stocking up (minus the Quaker Oatmeal and BestLife Butter), but I was still able to stay below my weekly goal.

This week:

Walgreens
Spent: $4.93 Saved:$157.88

HEB:
Spent: $1.65 Saved: $26.37

Albertsons:
Spent: $10.65 Saved: $57.01 (Should be more than this, but I can't find one of my receipts with additional savings.)

CVS:
Spent: $2.15 Saved: $16.80

Sam's: (Ran out of milk and ran there for convenience)
Spent: $5.32 Saved: $0.00

Total Spent this week: $24.70

Total Saved this Week: $258.06

I was able to save close to 90% this week...thanks in a large part to the overage I was able to get at HEB for my produce and the crazy marked up prices at Walgreens. :)

How did you guys do this week? Are you starting to notice a difference in your grocery budget?

Albertsons Trip (January 21)

I went to Albertsons to see if the Quaker Catalina Deal was on here in San Angelo. I purchased everything below in 3 different transactions. I spent



$10.65

Transaction #1:

5 Quaker Oatmeal $2.00
-used 5 coupons for $1.00 off (found in 1/2 RedPlum insert)
Final Price: $5.00

1 Tropicana Orange Juice $2.99
Final Price: FREE wyb 5 Quaker products

5 BestLife Butter $0.99
-used 5 coupons for $1.00 off BestLife (found in 1/2 SmartSource insert and here)
Final Price: FREE
(NOTE...the cashier had to manually enter each of these coupons)

1 BestLife Butter Spray $0.99
-used 1 coupon for $1.00 off BestLife (found in 1/2 SmartSource insert and here)
Final Price: FREE

-minus $0.10 for using reuseable bags

Final Price: $4.90...and I received a $3.00 Catalina Coupon
(Saved $33.68 in Transaction #1)

Transaction #2

5 Quaker Oatmeal $2.00
-used 5 coupons for $1.00 off Quaker oatmeal (found in 1/2 RedPlum insert)
Final Price: $5.00

1 Tropicana Orange Juice $2.99
Final Price: FREE wyb 5 Quaker products

1 Dawn Detergent $1.00
-used coupon for $0.50 off Dawn (home mailer) (doubled)
Final Price: FREE

-minus $3.00 Catalina coupon from transaction #1
-minus $0.25 for using reuseable bags (the cashier gave me credit for 5 bags...including ones that would be used in transaction #3)

Final Price: $1.75...and I received a $3.00 Catalina Coupon.
(saved $23.33 in Transaction #2)

Transaction #3:

6 Albertsons Cream of Mushroom Soup
Final Price: $2.00

2 Wonder Bread $1.00
Final Price: $2.00

2 Bolthouse Baby Carrots (1 lb. bags) $1.00
Final Price: $2.00

1 Fresh Express Bagged Salad $1.00
Final Price: $1.00

Minus $3.00 Catalina coupon from transaction #2.

Final Price: $4.00
(I lost my receipt so I'm not sure how much I saved in this transaction)

HEB Trip (January 21)

Below is a picture of my latest trip to HEB. I was so excited to find that the Maalox coupons gave me overage to help lower the price of produce!! I bought everything pictured below and spent...



$1.65, and I saved $26.37!!

I bought:

3 Maalox Tabs $2.97
-used 3 coupons for $5.00 off Maalox (found in 1/9 SmartSource insert)
Final Price: FREE (plus $6.09 in overage)

1 Maalox Tabs $3.98
-used 1 coupon for $5.00 off Maalox (found in 1/9 SmartSource insert)
Final Price: FREE (plus $1.02 in overage)

4 Vicks Cough Drops $0.99
-used 4 coupons for $1.00 off any Vicks Product (found in 12/26 Proctor and Gamble insert)
Final Price: FREE (plus $0.04 in overage)

5 lbs. of Russet Potatoes on sale for $1.77

2 Yellow Onions $1.31

2 Green Bell Peppers $1.28

2 1/2 pounds of Bananas $0.95

1 lb. of Strawberries $2.00

Fresh Express Salad Kit (Quick Sale) $0.99
-used coupon for $0.50 off Fresh Express Salad Kit (peelie coupon on a bag of salad I purchased a few weeks ago)
Final Price: $0.49

Final Price: $1.65 AND saved $26.37

YEA for overage!!

Unexpected Overage at HEB

Did you guys get the coupon for $5.00 off any Maalox that was in the 1/9 SmartSource insert?

I went to HEB this afternoon to pick up some produce, and I decided to check the price of Maalox while I was there. I found bottles of Maalox priced as low as $2.97. Now, we don't usually use Maalox in my household, but I thought that I'd go ahead and pick up a few bottles to put in our donation box...I mean, you can't beat FREE.

Well, evidently you can beat FREE because when I went to check out, each Maalox coupon took off the full $5.00! Some of you might live in cities where overage is no big deal, but in San Angelo I NEVER go in a store expecting overage. Occasionally I'll get a few cents overage here and there...but this was $2.00 in overage for each coupon!!

If you have any of these $5.00 coupons you might consider heading to HEB and picking up some BETTER than FREE Maalox...I used my overage to help lower the cost of some produce that we needed. The coupon doesn't expire until March, so you have some time to use it.

(Maalox was priced at $2.97, $3.96, $4.38...and I'm sure there were some other prices as well.)

Quaker Catalina Deal is ON

Just wanted to let you guys know that I made a run to Albertsons this afternoon, and the Quaker Catalina deal that I mentioned earlier is ON! That means that we can get a really great deal on Quaker products and orange juice this week!

The fine print on the catalina states:

Buy 2 Quaker Products, get $1.00 off your next shopping trip
Buy 4, get $2.00 off your next shopping trip
Buy 5 or more, get $3.00 off your next shopping trip

At Albertsons if you buy 5 Quaker products you get free Tropicana orange juice...normally priced well over $3.00 so this is a GREAT deal!

You can mix and match a large assortment of different Quaker cereals, oatmeals, grits, granola bars, etc.

The best deal that I could come up with using coupons is:

Buy 5 Quaker Oatmeal (can be instant or old fashioned oats) $2.00 each
-use 5 coupons for $1.00 off Quaker Oatmeal (found in 1/2 RedPlum insert)
Get FREE orange juice for buying 5 products
Final Price: $5.00 AND receive a $3.00 Catalina Coupon for your next purchase.

These catalina coupons do roll, so if you wanted to do another transaction with 5 Quaker products, you could pay with your first $3.00 Catalina and another $3.00 Catalina will print out.

The Albertsons on College Hills had a large display at the front of the store, but also had a large stock of the sale products on the cereal aisle.

Hope you guys are able to find some GREAT deals!!

I always love to get catalina coupons because I use them to pay for milk/produce/bread...things that I have a hard time finding good deals on.

Friday Means Mega Swagbucks!!

It has been quite a while since I've posted anything about Swagbucks, but I thought that since it is the beginning of a new year that now would be a PERFECT time to remind you. For those of you who are already signed up remember that on Friday's they award even more Swagbucks, so don't forget to search through their engine today. For those of you who haven't signed up yet, I'd really encourage you to do so!! You'll be able to earn points that you can cash in for prizes. Last year was my first year to do Swagbucks, and throughout the year I earned more than $200.00 in Amazon gift cards. I used the gift cards to help with Christmas shopping. I'm excited about seeing how many I can earn this year. With very little effort, anyone should be able to earn enough points for one $5.00 Amazon gift card per month...doesn't sound like much, but over the year that's $60.00 that could be used for Christmas presents...you could easily knock several gifts off your Christmas list for FREE!!

So for those of you who are already a part of Swagbucks start searching!! Let me know if you win any big amounts today!! And for those of you who have not joined Swagbucks yet, it is completely free and so easy!! Just sign up for Swagbucks (it's a search engine...like google, yahoo, ask.com, etc). You have a chance to win Swagbucks for every search you do. You don't have to go search for specific things. The easiest way to use it, is to load the Swagbucks toolbar on your homepage. Instead of typing in a web address that you want to go to, just type it into the Swagbucks search box...you'll still go right where you would be going anyway...but you will be given chances to win Swagbucks!!

If you are interested in signing up, just go here or click on the banner below to get started. Like I said it is completely FREE and you'll receive 30 Swagbucks just for signing up!!

I know this might sound confusing, so if you have any questions about Swagbucks or how to get started leave a comment below and I'll do my best to answer them!

Walgreens Trip (January 20)

I went for my weekly Walgreens trip today. I started off this trip with a $10.00 register reward from doing the Vicks deal last week, and a $3.50 Register Reward from doing the Nature Valley deal a couple of weeks ago. I bought everything pictured below and spent...



$4.93, and saved $157.88! (No one in their right mind would spend $150.00 on what is pictured above...that is insane! It goes to show that stores really do mark up their prices, and if you don't shop the sales you will be WAY over paying!) I left the store with $17.00 in Register Rewards.

I did this trip in several different transactions so that I'd be able to roll my Register Rewards from deal to deal. My out of pocket should have been a little lower, but I was shopping with a wonderful 3 year old helper who had me a little distracted. :)

Since it is the end of the week, I won't break down my exact transactions. I will list the coupons that I used and what products generated Register Rewards.

Joint Juice on sale for $10.00
(There's a coupon for $1.00 off Joint Juice.(found here)I didn't find this coupon until after I got home from Walgreens though.)
-generated $10.00 Register Reward

Full Fast Appetite Control on sale for $10.00
-generated $10.00 Register Reward

Thermacare $2.50
-used coupon for $1.00 off (found here)
-generated $2.50 Register Reward

2 Pantene Hairspray on sale for $3.50 each
-used coupon for $3.00 off 2 Pantene products (found in 12/26 Proctor and Gamble insert)
-generated $2.00 Register Reward when you buy 2 Pantene products

Gillette Fusion ProGlide Razors $9.99
-used coupon for $4.00 off Gillette Fusion (found in 12/26 Proctor and Gamble insert)
-generated $5.00 Register Reward

Breathe Right Strips $5.99
-used 3 coupons for FREE Breathe Right (I received these as a catalina coupon from Walgreens earlier this month)

Extra Gum
-used in ad coupon to pay $0.50 (used as filler item)

Snickers candy bar (Not pictured...I just may have eaten it while waiting in a long line of cars to pick my boys up from school. :)
-used in ad coupon to pay $0.49 (used as filler item)

Christmas Pencil on sale for $0.09 (used as filler item)

Walgreens receipts calculate savings based on regular prices...not on sale prices. I guess that is why the savings adds up to over $150.00. I have to say that anyone who would spend that amount on what I bought today has got WAY to much extra cash! :)

Target Trip (January 20)

I made a Target run today to pick up some FREE cat treats. I found several other great deals while I was there. I purchased everything below, and spent...



$16.40. I saved $63.92.

2 pair of Champion Shoes on sale for $7.48 each (regularly priced $29.99 each) My husband desperately needed some new tennis shoes. I was thrilled to find 2 pair for this price!!
Final Price: $14.96

1 4 pack of GE Reveal light bulbs $2.69
-used coupon for $1.00 off GE Reveal light bulbs (found in 1/9 SmartSource insert)
-AND used Target coupon for $1.50 off GE Reveal light bulbs (found here)
Final Price: $0.19

1 Garnier Cleanser $4.04
-used coupon for $2.00 off Garnier Cleanser or Moisturizer (found in 12/5 RedPlum insert)
-AND used Target coupon for $2.00 off Garnier Skin Care (found here)
Final Price: $0.04

4 Hartz Crunch 'n Clean Cat Treats $1.49
-used 4 coupons for $1.50 off (found in 1/9 SmartSource insert)
Final Price: 4 for FREE (plus $0.04 in overage)

4 Tide Travel Size Detergent $0.97
-used 4 coupons for $1.00 off Tide (found in 12/26 Proctor and Gamble insert)
Final Price: 4 for FREE (plus $0.12 in overage)

Up Liners $0.87
-used Target coupon for $0.75 off (found here)
Final Price: $0.12

Tax: $1.25

Final Price: $16.40

(The sales tax is for the shoes, so if I hadn't purchased the shoes my total would have been $0.19 for everything else!)

Have I ever mentioned that I love Target? :)

Kraft Coupon

There's a coupon available here for $1.00 off any one package of Kraft 2% singles.

This seems like a pretty high value coupon for Kraft cheese. Most of the coupons I see are for $1.00 off two.

We are down to our last few slices of cheese, so I'll definitely be printing this one off and taking it on my next shopping trip!

Thanks My Frugal Adventures!

Garnier Nustrioniste $0.04 at Target

I made a quick trip to Target today to pick up some FREE cat treats. Of course Target always lures me in for one thing and I end up buying more than was on my list...ALWAYS good deals though!

Garnier Nutrioniste Skin Renew The Brusher Gel-Cleanser $4.49 (The shelf price listed was $4.49, but when I checked the price it said $4.04)
-used man. coupon for $2.00 off Garnier Cleanser or Moisturizer (found in 12/5 RedPlum insert)
-AND used Target coupon for $2.00 off Garnier Skin Care (found here)
Final Price: $0.04

Coupon for Horizon Organic Product

Go here to print a coupon for $1.00 off any one Horizon Organic Product.

Horizon Organic Products can get a little pricey, but I know that I've seen individual milk cartons on sale for around $1.00. Hopefully we'll be able to get some FREE products with this coupon!

Coupon for Bestlife Buttery Spread or Spray (FREE at Albertsons!!)

Albertsons has Bestlife buttery spread or spray priced at $0.99 this week. There was a coupon for $1.00 off Bestlife in the 1/2 SmartSource insert, but I also found a printable coupon!!!

Go here to print a coupon for $1.00 off Bestlife.

Your cashier will need to adjust the coupon value down to $0.99 in order for you to get this for free since Albertsons will not allow overage.

For those of you who live in San Angelo, I shop at the Albertsons on College Hills and have never had a problem with them adjusting coupon values for me.

Target--Inexpensive (Possibly FREE) Lightbulbs

We should be able to get a GREAT deal on light bulbs at Target right now.

-use coupon for $1.00 off any GE Reveal Light Bulbs (found in 1/9 SmartSource insert)
-AND use Target coupon for $1.50 off GE Reveal Light Bulbs (found here) (To find this coupon quickly go to the Household category)

I'm not sure what light bulbs are priced at, but I'm guessing we should find a 4 pack for between $2.50 and $3.00. (It's been a while since I've purchased light bulbs, so I might be way off.)

I'm thinking with this coupon stack we should get a GREAT deal!

Even More Great Coupons

There are several great high value coupons available here. You'll need to register with the site in order to print coupons.

Some of my favorite coupons that are available are:

-$1.00 off any Reach Floss (This means FREE floss at Wal-Mart and Target any day of the week, and FREE floss at CVS and Walgreens when they run their sales.)

-$2.00 off 2 Reach Toothbrushes (Again, FREE toothbrushes if you wait for the right sale. Walgreens puts them on sale for $1.00 or less quite regularly.)

-$0.50 off any Carefree product (Carefree pantiliners are usually priced under $1.00 for the small packages.)

-$1.50 off any 2 Johnson and Johnson Red Cross products (Target has travel size first aid kits for $0.97...perfect for keeping in a car, purse, diaper bag. Less than $0.25 each after coupon.)

There are many other coupons available as well!

Thanks Hip 2 Save!

Earthbound Farm Organic Coupon

It can be difficult to find coupons for organic products, but Earthbound Farm is offering a coupon for $1.00 off their products. You'll need to go here and take a short quiz. If you score 100% they'll mail you a coupon.

(Just a heads up...the first time I took the quiz I didn't score high enough to get the coupon. I went back and read through the information and was able to score 100% easily. It took about 5 minutes of my time.)

It seems like Wal-Mart sells Earthbound Organic Carrots for under $1.00, so FREE after coupon.

Thanks Frugal Follies!

Thoughts on Extreme Couponing

Did any of you watch the show on TLC about Extreme Couponers? I watched it a couple of weeks ago, and I meant to write a post about it earlier, but I'm just now getting around to it.

The show followed 4 different couponers around and showed them getting carts and carts full of groceries for very little out of pocket. I'm talking 40 cans of spaghetti sauce, 40 boxes of spaghetti, hundreds of things of deodorant (I still don't know what you call deodorant...a tube, a stick, a can? If you know please fill me in. :), hundreds of toothbrushes, and 1000 boxes of cereal. Yes...EXTREME!

The show also showed you some of the stockpiles these people had in their homes. If you've been reading this blog any amount of time, you know that I strongly advocate having a stockpile...that is the number one way that you will lower your grocery budget. If you find items FREE or at rock bottom prices then by all means stock up. I think my idea of stocking up is VERY different from the people featured on the show. When I saw the stockpiles featured on the show, I was dumbfounded...and I have to say quite disturbed.

Two of the featured couponers had an ABSURD amount of items...rooms in their houses were overrun with stuff...entire basements were dedicated to their stockpile...boxes and boxes of deodorant, toothbrushes, feminine products, and shelves and shelves of pasta, canned soups/vegetables, salad dressing, cereal, etc.

I am all about stockpiling, but I am also all about using your stockpile to bless others. Does any one family really need 150 things of deodorant, 100 toothbrushes, 100 bottles of salad dressing, 150 candy bars, etc?

As you learn more about shopping with coupons and find GREAT sales that will allow you to get items for FREE, I really encourage you to do more than just grow your own stockpile. Think outside your family and look for ways to bless others.

Okay, that's my little rant about the show. If you watched the show I'd love to hear your thoughts. Did their stockpiles shock you? Did the show motivate you to want to save more money? What are your thoughts on how big a stockpile one family needs?

Albertsons--Possible Quaker Catalina Deal

I am hesitant to post this because I am not 100% sure if it is a deal that will be available in San Angelo, but thought I'd let you know about it.

In certain areas of the country there is a new Quaker Catalina Deal that is set to start on January 21 (This Friday). The fine print on this catalina promo is:

Buy 2 Quaker Products, get $1.00 off your next shopping trip
Buy 4, get $2.00 off your next shopping trip
Buy 5 or more, get $3.00 off your next shopping trip

Like I said before I am not sure if this is a regional catalina deal, or a nation wide deal.

Albertsons has a Quaker Promotion going on this week...buy 5 select Quaker products for $10.00 and receive a FREE Tropicana Orange Juice. I was planning on doing this deal since I eat instant oatmeal almost every morning.

The deal will look like this:

5 Quaker Instant Oatmeal
-use 5 coupons for $1.00 off Quaker Oatmeal (found in 1/2 RedPlum insert)
Final Price: Pay $5.00 for 5 boxes of oatmeal and a carton of orange juice.

If the Quaker catalina deal is going on at our Albertsons, I'll then receive a $3.00 Catalina Coupon for purchasing 5 Quaker products.

Please keep in mind that I am not 100% sure this deal will be going on in San Angelo, but I wanted to give you a heads up so that you can hold off on using some of your Quaker Coupons until Friday.

I will head to Albertsons on Friday after my MOPS group and let you know if the Catalina deal is on. I sure hope so, because we haven't had many good deals over the next few weeks, and I am needing to replenish my stockpile. :)

Finally Some Stock Up Prices at Albertsons!

It seems like the last few weeks have been extremely slow at the grocery stores. I looked over the Albertsons ad very quickly and found several good deals.

Best Life Buttery Spread or Spray $0.99
-use coupon for $1.00 off Best Life (found in 1/2 SmartSource insert)
Final Price: FREE
(Your cashier should be able to manually enter this coupon if it will not scan...he/she will need to adjust the price down to $0.99 since Albertsons will not allow overage.)

Honeysuckle 85% Lean Ground Turkey $1.00
This is a DEFINITE stock up price!! Albertsons usually runs this sale about 4 times a year, so if your family eats ground turkey I suggest stocking up on enough to get you through at least 3 months. This is usually priced between $2.50 and $3.00.

Campbell's Spaghettios $1.00
-use coupon for $0.40 off 2 Spaghettios (found in 12/12 SmartSource insert) (will be doubled)
Final Price: $1.20 for 2 (or $0.60 each)

Hunt's Canned Tomatoes $1.00
-use coupon for $0.75 off 3 (found in 1/9 SmartSource insert)
Final Price: $2.25 for 3 (or $0.75 each)

Toaster Strudels $2.00
-use coupon for $0.50 off 2 (found here) (will be doubled)
Final Price: $3.00 for 2 (or $1.50 each)

Dawn Detergent $1.00
-use coupon for $0.20 off Dawn (found in 12/26 Proctor and Gamble insert) (will be tripled)
Final Price: $0.40

Albertsons Canned Soup (Chicken Noodle, Tomato, Cream of Mushrooms or Cream of Chicken) 3 for $1.00
-In my opinion this is GREAT deal using no coupons. If you weren't able to stock up on Cream of Chicken/Cream of Mushroom soup before Christmas then I would definitely take advantage of this price. Keep in mind that canned soups usually have a very long shelf life.

Soft Soap Hand Soap $1.00
-use coupon for $0.35 off Soft Soap (found in 1/2 SmartSource insert) (will triple)
Final Price: FREE

Quaker Deal Buy 5 participating Quaker products for $10.00 and receive a Tropicana Orange Juice for FREE
Best Deal that I can come up with:
-Buy 5 Quaker Oatmeal (Instant or Old Fashioned Oats)
-use 5 coupons for $1.00 off Quaker Oatmeal (found in 1/2 RedPlum insert)
Final Price: $5.00 for 5 boxes of oatmeal and a carton of orange juice.

Fresh Express Garden Salad $1.00

Baby Carrots (1 lb.) $1.00

Blue Bell Ice Cream (pint $1.00)