Friday, April 4, 2008

Publix 4.4.2008

Went in today in order to use a BLOOM $10/$35 coupon since my store takes competitors coupons.

I picked up:

22 boxes of pizza rolls
2 boxes of MiniWheats
4 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch
1 bag of Fast Fixin Chicken Nuggets
8 boxes of Pop-Tarts
3 cans of spray on Degree deodorant

Total was 49.42

Used:

$10/$35 competitor coupon (-10.00)
22 of the .40 coupons for the pizza rolls (-8.80)
THE ABOVE COUPONS DOUBLED (-8.80)
2 of the .70/1 MiniWheats coupons (-1.40)
2 of the Target coupons for the GM Cereals $1/2 (-2.00)
1 of the $4 on 4 GM Cereals peelie (-4.00)
8 of the .50/1 PopTart splitz coupons (-4.00)
THE ABOVE COUPONS DOUBLED (-4.00)
3 of the $1/1 Degree Deodorant coupons (-3.00)

MY TOTAL: 3.42
That is a savings of just over 93%!!!

Savings (including sales price savings): 95.23
If you include the sales prices and advertised deals, the savings is: 96.4%!


Plus, I had a coupon for the Fast Fixin' nuggets, but I forgot about it! Still, not too shabby, right!?

CVS 4.2.2008

I went in to do the EOB deal but due to the amount of ECBs that I had, I did not want to lose any, so I did buy some things just to get my full ECB amount.

I got 3 sponges, 3 nail brushes, 2 massagers, 1 small bath poof-ie, 3 gift bags, 6 facial loofahs, 2 bags of chips, 2 tubes of toothpaste, and 2 Lady Speed Stick deodorant bars.

For all of that I paid (out of pocket) a total of 5.44.

It was a way to get out of the house, so I don't feel all that bad about it. I would not have had to pay that much if I would have had any of the $/$$ coupons, but unfortunately, there are none that I know of at the moment.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Food Lion 3.26.2008

Food Lions in my area (Upstate, SC) brought back the triple coupon promotion this week, thank goodness! I missed out last time since I had the flu and only made it in to do one transaction. Well, the wonderful girl that I wish was there all of the time was there and I did 3 different transactions. I am listing each transaction out and I will post the picture of everything together later on.

TRANSACTION #1

4 Boxes of Kellogg's Froot Loops (3.25/2*4=$6.50)
2 Boxes of Kellogg's Apple Jacks (3.25/2*2=$3.25)
1 Box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes (2.89/2*1=$1.44)
9 Boxes of Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes ($1*9=$9)
1 Roll of Bounty Basic Paper Towels ($1)
2 Bottles of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (2.41*2=4.82)

TOTAL: 26.01

Coupons Used:

THESE ALL TRIPLED AND THE FINAL AMOUNT OFF IS IN PARENTHESES
9 of the .35/1 Betty Crocker Potatoes (-9.45 they tripled to be more than the item amount since the original price is more than the sale price. I did not know they would do that so YIPPEE!!)
1 of the .25/1 Bounty Paper Towel Roll (-.75)

The following were the rest of the coupons that I used that did NOT triple.

2 of the FREE BOTTLE of Frank's Red Hot Sauce Coupons because I needed a filler! (-4.82)
2 of the $1/1 Kellogg's Cereal that the cashier had to remove from box peelies on the Apple Jacks (-2.00)


FINAL PRICE: 8.99 PLUS! A $10 Catalina printed out for me getting the 7 cereals!


TRANSACTION #2

4 Green Giant Niblets Corn in Butter Sauce Frozen Boxed Veggies (4.00)
8 Rolls of Bounty Basic Paper Towels (8.00)
4.27 lb. package of hHamburger meat (7.22)
3.59 lb. package of hamburger meat (6.06)

TOTAL: 25.28 plus .24 non food tax 25.52

COUPONS USED:

THESE ALL TRIPLED AND THE FINAL AMOUNT OFF IS IN PARENTHESES

8 of the .25/1 Bounty Paper Towel Roll (-6.00)
2 of the .50/2 Green Giant Veggies (-3.00)

The following were the rest of the coupons that I used that did NOT triple.

$10 OYNO Catalina that printed out in my first transaction (-10.00)


FINAL TOTAL: 6.52

TRANSACTION #3

1 Can of Nestle Good Start Supreme with DHA and ARA powder (13.19)
3 Rolls of Bounty Basic Paper Towels (3.00)
14 Boxes of Green Giant Frozen Veggies--various types (14.00)

TOTAL WAS: 30.19 + .09 non-food tax= 30.28

THESE ALL TRIPLED AND THE FINAL AMOUNT OFF IS IN PARENTHESES
7 of the .50/2 Green Giant Frozen Veggies (-10.50)
3 of the .25/1 Bounty Paper Towel Roll (-2.25)

The following were the rest of the coupons that I used that did NOT triple.

$3 FLIP for Good Start Powder
$11 Retailer Check for Good Start Powder

FINAL TOTAL: 3.53

Bi-Lo 3.26.2008

I went in and purchased 9 different transactions today.

There were 8 transactions exactly like this:

10 packages of Bumble Bee Tuna each @ .88

Total: 8.80 (no food tax in my state)

Coupons used:

10 of the .55/1 Bumble Bee Tuna Pouch Q's (-5.50)
THE ABOVE COUPONS DOUBLED UP TO THE VALUE OF THE ITEM (-3.30)

TOTAL: 0.00

So that was 80 pouches of tuna for free!



My last transaction was:

2 of the 24 packs of Aquafina 16.9 oz. bottles (8.99 BOGO--ended up ringing at 8.98 for two though.)
2 pouches of Bumble Bee Tuna (last 2 coupons that I had!)

Total: 10.74

Coupons used:

2 of the .55/1 Bumble Bee pouch coupons (-1.10)
THE ABOVE COUPONS DOUBLED TO THE AMOUNT OF THE ITEM (-.66)

TOTAL WAS: $8.98

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bi-Lo 3.25.2008

Last minute effort to get to Bi-Lo when I came across my .55/1 Allens SteamSupreme Veggies coupon. They are on sale for 2.19/2, which is a BOGO sale. When you take the .55/1 coupon and double it, they are free!

I got ten bags (6 corn, 4 peas) for a total of 0.00 since we don't have food tax in South Carolina!

Publix 3.25.2008

Went to Publix after picking my daughter up from preschool and here is what I got:

2 boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats (Strawberry)
2 boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats (Original)
33 Cans (different types) Chef Boyardee canned pastas (I asked if I could get this amount before getting them due to quantity restrictions. Luckily, I was told yes!)
1 Magazine
1 Bag of Doritos for my daughter since she behaved well and I needed fillers for the competitor's coupon!
1 3 Musketeers Mint Bar (not pictured--hubby ate it too quickly!)
1 Bottle of Publix Salad Dressing (it was the penny item)

TOTAL: 37.43

Coupons Used:

$10 off of any $35 purchase at Bloom (my store takes competitor coupons) (-10.00)
PENNY COUPON (-1.98)
4 of the .70/1 Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats manufacturer coupons(-2.80)
11 of the .35/3 Chef Boyardee canned pasta manufacturer coupons (-3.85)
THE ABOVE COUPONS WERE DOUBLED (-3.85)

After those, my total ended up being, 14.95.

As if that was not a great purchase on its own, there is a current offer in a booklet in the front of the Publix that I went to for a $10 GIFT CHECK towards Pharmacy/HBA items at the store you purchase qualifying products at. The Mini-Wheats are a qualifying product. So, if you count that 10 gift check, I spend 4.95 after all of this!!!

Bi-Lo 3.22.2008

Went in for a quick trip to Bi-Lo since we needed milk and bread again. I purchased the following:

2 gallons of milk
2 loaves of Sara Lee bread
6 cans of Popeye Spinach
4 boxes of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil
2 Rice-A-Roni Boxes
10 Bumble Bee 3 ounce tuna pouches

Total: $38.77

Coupons used:

$2 on milk when you buy Sara Lee bread (-2.00)
$2 on milk when you buy Sara Lee bread (-2.00)
6 of the .25/1 Popeye Spinach (-1.50)
THE ABOVE COUPONS WERE DOUBLED (-1.50)
4 of the .55/1 Reynolds Wrap (-2.20)
THE ABOVE COUPONS WERE DOUBLED (-2.20)
2 of the .50/1 Nature's Way Rice-A-Roni (-1.00)
THE ABOVE COUPONS WERE DOUBLED (-1.00)
10 of the .55/1 Bumble Bee pouch coupons (-5.50)
THE ABOVE COUPONS WERE DOUBLED-only to amount of purchase (-3.30)

TOTAL AFTER COUPONS $16.57!


Don't Under-estimate Flattery!

I just want to let you guys know that you can NEVER be too bold or brazen when it comes to e-mailing companies! I send e-mails to multiple companies (Ziploc, Skintamate, Starkist, Pinnacle Foods, Kashi) to compliment their products and all of those listed there sent coupons for free products! Kashi sent me mulitple FREE items coupons (one for each product that I complimented) as did Pinnacle Foods (Vlassic, HungryMan, Log Cabin, and more!).

I plan to save these coupons to use at the next triples that Ingles has! That way, I bump up my total for tripling and get free items after the coupons are taken off!! It is a win-win situation. Free stuff for me and the companies pay the stores. Gotta love that!

Ingles 3.24.2008

I was looking at the Ingles ad and noticed that Scotties tissues (which I go through tissues like CRAZY with all of the seasonal allergies that my family has!) were on sale. I went in and got the following (please ignore the junk that was on the table when I took the picture!):

5.48 pounds of 80/20 ground beef
12 boxes of Scotties tissue
1 box of Hefty trash bags

My total was: 24.60

Coupons Used:
4 of the .50/3 Scotties tissue coupons that doubled (-4.00)
1 FREE Hefty Product up to 6.00 that I got for e-mailing the company and telling them how much I loved their products. (-6.00)

My total after coupons was: 14.60

MY COUPON BINDER

I was asked to post some pics of my binder. So, I am including those. However, I plan to get another one soon. I had a 3 inch one, but I had so many in it that it warped and I had to start using a double sided one. It works, but still... I want them all in one side. It makes it easier!

I use dividers, that at the current moment really need to be replaced as they are all falling out from over-use! LOL. But, they were free. Who can really complain!?!




Here is just one section of my notebook....

CVS Purchases on 3.21.2008

I had a lot of CRTs that were expiring on Easter Day (3.23.2008) and I knew that I would simply not have the time to get the things on them any other day, so I went in and got the following (sorry, no pic here--put it away too quickly for my own good!):

1 CVS Toothbrush
1 Tube of Aquafresh Advanced 5.6 oz Toothpaste
1 Bottle of Excedrin Back and Body
1 12 MEGA ROLL pack of Scott Extra Soft Tissue

TOTAL: 16.77

Coupons Used:

1 $5/$15 CVS Printable Coupon (-5.00)
1 CRT for a FREE CVS TOOTHBRUSH (-1.50)
1 CRT for 2.00/1 Aquafresh Advanced, etc Tooth paste (-2.00)
1 Manufacturer Coupon for Aquafresh Advanced (-1.00)
1 CRT for Excedrin (-2.00)
1 Manufacturer Coupon for Excedrin (-2.00)
1 Manufacturer Coupon for Extra Soft Scott Tissue (-1.00)
1 ECB for 2.99 (-2.99)

The total after all of the coupons was .24! I know, I know, I did not get any extra bucks back, but all of that is stuff that we will use and I did not want the coupons to go to waste! Plus, I needed to get out of the house for awhile after the church egg hunt and Easter Bunny 'Basket Meeting' with my mom (you all get my drift)!

So, I saved right at 74%!

Monday, March 17, 2008

March 17th 2008

My CVS purchases from today. Let me start by saying that for those of you who don't like your CVS employees, I feel so sorry for you. I don't feel welcomed by all of them, but there is one in particular (I hope she sees this too!) whom I love with a passion. She does not make me feel like I am doing anything wrong or stealing like other folks at other stores do! I did mulitple transactions but here is everything:



5 Lady Speed Stick 24/7 Deodorants
1 Viva Roll Multi-Pack
4 Flintstone Complete Vitamins
1 Lypsyl Ointment
1 Maybelline SuperStay Lip Gloss
5 Be Gentle Single Serve Cleansers
1 Crayola Carry-All (we wanted to give this as a birthday gift and I needed a filler to bump up my pre-coupon price)
2 Jelly Beans
2 Plastic Egg Packs of 12
2 Russell Stover Private Reserve Bags
1 Clean and Clear Foaming Facial Cleanser
1 Clean and Clear Astringent
2 Clean and Clear Soft In Shower Facial
1 Nail Clipper (needed a close by filler--plus I needed new clippers anyhow)
2 Scott Tissue Extra Soft 12 pack Mega Roll
3 Dove Cool Moisture Shampoos
3 Dove Cool Moisture Conditioners
1 Dove Frizz Control Shampoo
1 Dove Frizz Control Conditioner

THE FOLLOWING IS FOR ALL TRANSACTIONS ADDED TOGETHER!

MY TOTAL AFTER SALES AND BEFORE ALL COUPONS: $133.76

CVS COUPONS USED (this includes ECBs) ($98.84)

MANUFACTURER COUPONS USED: ($31.54)

TOTAL OOP: $3.41 plus $1.77 tax

I figured it up and I paid (TOTAL) oop: 5.18

Friday, March 14, 2008

Food Stockpile

Here are the promised pictures of my food stockpile. In the past few days, I have added a lot to the cupboards, but you can get the drift from these. Happy looking!

Pasta Sauces, that we use for EVERYTHING! I mean EVERYTHING! Breakfast pizzas, pastas, etc... Then there are bottles of oil, fruit snacks, and mayo.


My Hamburger/Tuna Helper boxes, Old El Paso taco kits, pickles, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce and noodles.


HoneyMaid smore crackers, Hungry Jack pancake mixes, Kool-Aid/Country Time drink mixes.


My wonderful collection of grits.


There are syrups that are for my snowcone machine's shaved ice in the summer, Uncle Ben's rices, Deluxe mac-n-cheese and Velveeta shells and cheese.


Juicy Juice and cereals. I could never accumulate enough of these!


The spectacular collection of Kool-Aid! Surprisingly, it was bought because my husband loves it and so do the kids. We go through, on average, at least two packages a day. The packs are normally pretty high when factored into my budget for groceries. But, Ingles put them on sale for 8 packs for $1.00 instead of the normal 4 packs for $1. So, I loaded up as I had some coupons that I needed to double and Ingles limits the amount of coupons that you can double (3 per $10 that you spend).


Some cans of tuna that I got on sale in the 4 packs when Publix had them BOGO. The bread crumbs, which you can NEVER have enough of! Then my cream of ------ soups! I use these all of the time for casseroles and such!


These are my straws that we go through like water! And, then the wonderful (trust me, this is just a small part!) tuna that I have in the cabinets. So far, I have purchased over 180 packages of the pouches and I paid ZERO out of pocket. This is thanks to the coupons doubling and my wonderful state of South Carolina having NO TAX on food!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

HBA/MISC. STOCKPILE PHOTOGRAPHS

For those of you who are interested, I thought that I would post pictures of my stockpile. I know that I always love looking at other people's stockpile photos. Today, I am just doing the whole HBA/Laundry/Bathroom stuff. I will add my other bathroom photos (that's where all of my shampoo and handsoap are) and kitchen cabinets another day. Maybe tomorrow if I have the energy!


My Stockpile of travel sized items that are necessary for maintaining health! I have the front full of packets of DayQuil and Advil. The Tylenol bottles are two deep.


Stockpile of travel size (there is one regular size that I have since moved)deodorants, shampoos, lotions, shaving gel, etc...


There are some toothpastes that are regular sized, but the rest of the stuff is travel sized. There are the small Charmin rolls that I got for free when they were on clearance at CVS for .25 and I had a .25/1 Q. The Kleenex packages came from a HUGE box of them (72 small sized ones per box) that Costco had for 7 bucks or so and then a 3 off of one COSTCO q that I happened to get in the mail!


Shelf above laundry machines... body Washes/Spray On Sunscreens/Off Skintastic!


Shelf above laundry machines... Shampoos and Body Washes and you can see part of the DAWN.


Febreze refill up front, TONS of bar soaps behind that, Huggies baby disposable washcloths, J&J Buddies Soap, CleanTeam Shampoos/Body Washes (running low, aren't I?!)


This is more from my shelf above my laundry machines. I have approx. 10 wipe containers, 7 bottles of small & mighty, 2 containers of Surf powder, 2 BIG containers of ALL.


My Spray & Wash Stockpile. This one is HARD to keep full considering I average at least a bottle a week. My hubby works with ink!


My Clorox (only part of it), Q-Tips, and trash bag stockpile.


Toilet tissue. They are 3 tall and about 10 deep. Only the front ones are the Kids ones.


Baby wipes galore! The green Huggies packages are 2 deep, the white ones are only one deep, but behind those are 4 packages of the PLAYSKOOL wipes. Behind those are 12 boxes of Huggies baby wipes. There are also 12 boxes of Kleenex. Gotta have those on hand to send to school and preschool.


Under the main bathroom sink. 4 packages of Kotex, 2 packages of Tampax, 4 bottles of Vaseline, baby washes and one bottle of detangler that is used daily!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Food Lion 3.11.2008




My husband and I went in together today twice and did multiple transactions. I am so glad that they had these deals as we have a mother in our preschool that is having another baby and they are not very well off, and I really wanted to help! The reason that I have multiple q's is that the other preschool mom's printed them out for me to use since I am the shopper! Just wanted to make sure I added why I had more than one.

Altogether (these were purchased in seperate transactions) this is what I got:


1 can of powder Nestle Good Start w/ DHA & ARA
6 Packs of the 2-pack Gerber Baby Food
3 Packs of the travel Food Lion wipes
2 Gerber Sippy Cups
2 Packs of Refill Valves for the cups
1 Dr. Pepper 2 liter
1 Coca-Cola 2 liter

I used:

$11 Retailer Check for the formula
$3/1 Nestle Good Start Power FLIP
6 of the $1/1 Baby Food
3 of the $1.50/1 FL Baby Wipes or Diapers FLIP
2 of the $2/1 Gerber Accessory FLIP (for the cups)
2 of the $1/1 Gerber Manufacturer Q for a spill proof cup
2 of the $2/1 Gerber Accessory FLIP (for the valves)


All together, the total after everything was: $2.55 (That means for everything but the sodas, it was only .77!)

Walgreens 3.11.2008



Here is the stuff that I got at Walgreens today. My total for all of this was 28.00 and I had a $2/1 q for the Oust. That was the extent of my regular coupons, but I did finally get to use more than one RR! So, I used 6 of my ($4) RRs to pay for this. and then $2 OOP. I will be making 18.99 plus 10% back on the rebate! So, I paid 26 bucks including the RRs and I will get back $20.89! Not too shabby!! Especially considering that I did not have any coupons for any of the other things!

SATURDAY, MARCH 8th

I went to Walgreens to do the RR deals after speaking to a nice cashier on the phone to make sure that they were working at the store..... FINALLY!






My total of all transactions together was: 93.99 (99.63 after the tax.)

My coupons:

2 of the B2G1 Free HE Manufacturer Q=(6.66)
6 of the $2/1 Olay Body Wash Manufacturer Q=(12)
6 of the $1/1 Zest Body Wash Manufacturer Q=(6)
6 of the $1/1 Old Spice Body Wash Manufacturer Q= (6)
1 of the $4/1 Fusion Razor Manufacturer Q=(4)

THIS MADE MY TOTAL 64.97! Not bad for all of that, but not great.... UNTIL YOU FACTOR IN ALL OF MY RRs!!! I got back 13 $4 RRs. That totals 52.00. I also got back one $5 RR for the razor! TOTAL: 57.00 back in RRs.
Since I used the RRs to buy things that I was going to buy anyway, my total ended up being 7.97 for all of that!! That is right at 80% savings!

Let's Play Catch Up, Shall We?

I have done NOTHING but shop since Saturday, March 8th! I have tons of stuff and I have saved TONS of money! See future posts titled with the date and store!

Monday, March 3, 2008

My GREAT Shopping Trip!

On Saturday, March 1st I went shopping! I headed off to my local Bi-Lo after the manager (who is amazingly wonderful!!) called to let me know that the items that I needed were in. I purchased the following:

150 of the 3 ounce pouches of Bumble Bee Tuna
11 Boxes of Lipton Tea Bags (small 16 count)
30 Bottles of Fuze Slenderize Beverages

Total BEFORE savings: 173.55
We have NO FOOD TAX here in South Carolina so there is no tax
My store doubles coupons up to .60 off. They only go to the amount of the item though.

I used the following q's:

150 of the .55/1 Bumble Bee Pouch Q's
11 of the .60/1 Lipton Product Q's
30 of the .50/1 Fuse Slenderize Q's

TOTAL AFTER SAVINGS........... PREPARE YOURSELF!!

0.00!!!!!

I did not get to take a picture of these things since I got the Fuze for my mom. She has diabetes and these drinks only have 1 gram of sugar per serving, so they are really great for her!!

Inspriration!!


I was totally inspired by someone else's blog that they are using to keep up with their grocery budget! I only wish that I would have started that earlier in the year!! I am so often saying that I wish that I had a way to keep up with my prices and since my house is one complete and utter disaster, reciepts never last! I plan on putting what I can find time to in order to keep up with mine. She is much more active than I in terms of shopping. So, check out her blog at the link below and lemme know what you think!


http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/