Thursday is my regular grocery shopping day because I drop Delaney off at preschool and shop while she's there. I had a very small list this week surprisingly. I hit up Aldis first. Then I went to Woodman's. Woodman's unfortunately doesn't have a sale ad that they send out each week. I am looking forward to the fall when all three kids are in school the full day and I can take a little bit more time in Woodman's to find some really good deals.
As I was leaving the produce section, I saw a display of 24oz. Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce on sale - 2 for $3.00. I wished I had a coupon for it to get an even better deal, but that was an amazing deal, so I grabbed two.
I went through the self-checkout and as I was scanning out my Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce rang up as $2.79. I thought that I would scan the second one in case I needed to get two for the deal, but that rang up at $2.79, too. I finished checking out and then went to the customer service and asked them to check the price. They did a price check and sure enough, it was supposed to be 2 for $3, so they actually refunded money to me. I got Two dollars and sixty-something cents back, so it was almost free!
Good stuff!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saving Tuesday
Today was my coupon shopping day. I only hit up 2 stores today. I got some really, REALLY good deals!
First I went to Walgreens. They had Splenda on sale. I usually don't buy Splenda, because it's just too expensive for me, but they had it on sale for 2.99 for a 3.8oz. box and I had three $3 off coupons, so I picked up 3 boxes. Not only did I get these free because of the coupons, but they also had a Catalina deal where if you bought 3 packages of Splenda, you got $4 back. So I actually made money off this deal. When the cashier first rang up my purchase, the last coupon wouldn't go through, and she said it was because the coupon was for more than the sale price. I had looked up the coupon policy because I had this issue last week with another item, and I learned that their policy is to reduce the coupon amount, so she called her manager, who confirmed that, and they reduced the coupon and it went through.
I also picked up some Stayfree Maxi Pads. They were free as we.. I bought a package for $2.99 and got $2.99 back in Register Rewards, and I had a $1 off coupon, so I made $1 on them.
Walgreens also had Butterfinger candybars for $0.39 each, limit 6. I bought them. They are hiding in the back of the freezer for a reward for the kids when they do something great.
I also had a $2 off coupon for the purchase of 2 Nivea lip care products, so I bought 2. They were $2.99 each, so I had to spend $4 after coupons. But I did have $6 in Register Returns from last week. I also had to get Cotton Balls, and those were $1.49 - not good, but not bad.
Finally, they had Nexcare Bandages on sale for $2.99 and there is a rebate for $2.99. I didn't have a coupon for them, but they are still free - just the cost of a stamp.
My total at Walgreens was $8.04 and I received $7 in Catalina Coupons/Register Rewards for next week. My receipt said that I saved $31.17, and that didn't even include the $7 in Catalina's that I got, plus the $2.99 rebate I will get. Wow!
After that I headed to Jewel. Green beans were on sale for 99¢ a pound. I know I could probably get a better deal in the summer, but for early spring, it was a pretty good price. I got 2lb. I know we will eat them!
They had a mix & match where if you buy 10 of certain items, you get $5 back in instant savings. So, I bought:
Then I bought 4 boxes of Edy's Fruit Bars. They were on sale for $3 each, and you get a $4 catalina for use next time. I should have looked for coupons. I didn't have any with me, but that's an average of $2 a box. Not bad!
They also had Cool Whip 8oz. tubs on sale for $0.99. I didn't have any coupons, but they had the flavored kinds on sale, too, so I decided to get some. I also had to get some Vienna bread.
My total at Jewel was $31.27. I had $37.28 in preferred savings, $5 in coupon savings, and I also had an additional $2 off any purchase of $25 or more coupon. So I saved $44.28. My total savings was almost 59%. Nice!
Loving this!
First I went to Walgreens. They had Splenda on sale. I usually don't buy Splenda, because it's just too expensive for me, but they had it on sale for 2.99 for a 3.8oz. box and I had three $3 off coupons, so I picked up 3 boxes. Not only did I get these free because of the coupons, but they also had a Catalina deal where if you bought 3 packages of Splenda, you got $4 back. So I actually made money off this deal. When the cashier first rang up my purchase, the last coupon wouldn't go through, and she said it was because the coupon was for more than the sale price. I had looked up the coupon policy because I had this issue last week with another item, and I learned that their policy is to reduce the coupon amount, so she called her manager, who confirmed that, and they reduced the coupon and it went through.
I also picked up some Stayfree Maxi Pads. They were free as we.. I bought a package for $2.99 and got $2.99 back in Register Rewards, and I had a $1 off coupon, so I made $1 on them.
Walgreens also had Butterfinger candybars for $0.39 each, limit 6. I bought them. They are hiding in the back of the freezer for a reward for the kids when they do something great.
I also had a $2 off coupon for the purchase of 2 Nivea lip care products, so I bought 2. They were $2.99 each, so I had to spend $4 after coupons. But I did have $6 in Register Returns from last week. I also had to get Cotton Balls, and those were $1.49 - not good, but not bad.
Finally, they had Nexcare Bandages on sale for $2.99 and there is a rebate for $2.99. I didn't have a coupon for them, but they are still free - just the cost of a stamp.
My total at Walgreens was $8.04 and I received $7 in Catalina Coupons/Register Rewards for next week. My receipt said that I saved $31.17, and that didn't even include the $7 in Catalina's that I got, plus the $2.99 rebate I will get. Wow!
After that I headed to Jewel. Green beans were on sale for 99¢ a pound. I know I could probably get a better deal in the summer, but for early spring, it was a pretty good price. I got 2lb. I know we will eat them!
They had a mix & match where if you buy 10 of certain items, you get $5 back in instant savings. So, I bought:
- 2 quart sized bottles of International Delight Coffee Creamer - originally $4.69 - 1.70 (preferred savings) = $2.99. $2.49 each after buying 10 of the mix & match. Plus $1 off 2 coupon, so $1.99 each after coupons & discounts.
- 2 - 22oz. bottles of Kraft Mayo -originally $6.29 - $3.80 (preferred savings) = $2.49. $1.99 each after buying 10 of the mix & match. Plus $1 off 2 coupon, so $1.49 each after coupons & discounts.
- 3 boxes of Nabisco Wheat Thin Stix - originally 2.99 - $.70 (preferred savings) = $2.29. $1.79 each after buying 10 of the mix & match. Plus I had 3 - $1 off coupons of Nabisco Wheat Thin Stix, so $0.79 each after coupons & discounts.
- 3 cans of Jewel Canned corn - We definitely use canned corn for recipes occasionally. $0.99 - $0.10 (preferred savings) = $0.89. $0.39 each after buying 10 of the mix & match.
Then I bought 4 boxes of Edy's Fruit Bars. They were on sale for $3 each, and you get a $4 catalina for use next time. I should have looked for coupons. I didn't have any with me, but that's an average of $2 a box. Not bad!
They also had Cool Whip 8oz. tubs on sale for $0.99. I didn't have any coupons, but they had the flavored kinds on sale, too, so I decided to get some. I also had to get some Vienna bread.
My total at Jewel was $31.27. I had $37.28 in preferred savings, $5 in coupon savings, and I also had an additional $2 off any purchase of $25 or more coupon. So I saved $44.28. My total savings was almost 59%. Nice!
Loving this!
Menu Monday
Okay, it's Tuesday. But I'm going to post my menu for this week:
Sunday - We had Easter Dinner at my sister's house. It was yummy! Ham, twice baked potatoes, peas with pancetta & shallots, dinner rolls, salad and ice cream cake. We really didn't have anything for dinner when we got home - we just snacked a little.
Monday - we were supposed to have friends over for dinner, but one of their children came down with something and was sick so we ended up heating up leftover spaghetti and meatballs that we had from when we visited another friend on Friday. Delish! We had garlic bread, beans with bacon & onions and salad - I chopped up 3 hard boiled eggs from our easter egg coloring and added it to the salad, and everyone ate it.
Tuesday - Today we are having what we were supposed to have yesterday: Pollo El Paso - it's grilled chicken served on a bed of southwestern vegetables. We are serving it with Vienna bread.
Wednesday - Chipped Beef on toast (Thin sliced beef in a white sauce over toast - otherwise known as SOS "Stuff" on a Shingle, or whatever you want to call it). This is being served with fruit and salad.
Thursday - Chicken Fajitas, rice & beans and veggies
Friday - Meatloaf (we got this from the Angel Food Box, so it's already prepared), potatoes & veggies
Saturday - Jambalaya (we got this from the Angel Food Box), with smoked sausage (also from the Angel Food Box), and we will serve this with bread.
There you have it.
Sunday - We had Easter Dinner at my sister's house. It was yummy! Ham, twice baked potatoes, peas with pancetta & shallots, dinner rolls, salad and ice cream cake. We really didn't have anything for dinner when we got home - we just snacked a little.
Monday - we were supposed to have friends over for dinner, but one of their children came down with something and was sick so we ended up heating up leftover spaghetti and meatballs that we had from when we visited another friend on Friday. Delish! We had garlic bread, beans with bacon & onions and salad - I chopped up 3 hard boiled eggs from our easter egg coloring and added it to the salad, and everyone ate it.
Tuesday - Today we are having what we were supposed to have yesterday: Pollo El Paso - it's grilled chicken served on a bed of southwestern vegetables. We are serving it with Vienna bread.
Wednesday - Chipped Beef on toast (Thin sliced beef in a white sauce over toast - otherwise known as SOS "Stuff" on a Shingle, or whatever you want to call it). This is being served with fruit and salad.
Thursday - Chicken Fajitas, rice & beans and veggies
Friday - Meatloaf (we got this from the Angel Food Box, so it's already prepared), potatoes & veggies
Saturday - Jambalaya (we got this from the Angel Food Box), with smoked sausage (also from the Angel Food Box), and we will serve this with bread.
There you have it.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Menus & Cost Cutting
Wow. It's been almost a month since I've posted last. I did a seminar at the Women's Retreat earlier in the month on cutting costs and getting good deals. It took a lot of time to put it together and I put a lot of my regular mom stuff on hold while I worked on it, so it feels like last week was spent doing mostly catchup.
In addition to that, I figured that if I gave a seminar on cutting costs and getting good deals, I should try to be more diligent in doing this. I had gotten a flyer that said I could get the Sunday Chicago Tribune for 50 cents a week, and I knew I could use at LEAST 50 cents in coupons a week to make it worth my while. So, I ordered the paper, and then I went to the supercouponing.com site and started looking for deals that I could get with my coupons.
So, now I'm trying to be really diligent about saving money. I don't want to spend lots of time doing this, but I do realize that in the beginning, I'm going to have to put some time in to get myself organized. I'm sure after I've done it for a month or two things will start to flow more smoothly.
So, on Sunday, I got the paper and got all my coupons and put them in a folder. Then I started looking through some of the ads - but I didn't spend a lot of time, because I knew that I could get the best deals late Sunday night to early Monday morning if I just waited for the blog author to post the weekly deals. Monday I spent the day doing my cleaning and tried to do some organizing, and got started figuring out the deals that I wanted to get. I wrote out what I wanted by each store, and if there were coupons (which there were), I clipped those ones or printed them, and put them together. I grabbed some scrap paper that we have had laying around and I folded it around the coupons for that store and then I wrote the name of the store. Although I stayed up way too late working on it, I was organized and ready to go in the morning.
Tuesday morning, I dropped Delaney off at Preschool and then I headed to my first store. Dominick's was the furthest out, so I decided to start there. I went in and started doing my shopping, looking for the things that were on my list. I was able to get all of them except one. I ended up saving about 50%. I spent $28.60 and saved $27.81. Not a bad way to start. My biggest problem is that I hardly ever shop at Dominick's, so I don't know the layout, and I think I spent most of my time looking around for the items that were on my list. I need to get a store layout, or write one up, and then it will make my shopping time go much more quickly.
Next I stopped at Sam's Club. I didn't initially plan to stop there, but I wanted to see the price on Pork Loin. I like to get the 8lb. pork loins and cut them up in 2lb. sections for pork roasts or slice them into boneless pork chops, which is much less expensive than regular boneless pork chops. But I wanted to see if it was under $2.00 a pound, and it wasn't, so I kept going. I ended up picking up some frozen chicken breasts, green beans and strawberries. Even though I didn't get "savings" there, I still paid a really good price for everything - and the strawberries were AMAZING!
Next stop was Target. I didn't get everything that was on my list there. There were coupons for $3.00 off Nivea Body Wash and Nivea Body Wash for Men, and the store price was only about $3.04, but the shelf was empty. Guess everyone else had gone to cash in on the same deal. I did come across Diet Coke and Fresca for $2.50 per 12-pack and stocked up. Those prices don't come along very often anymore. But I ended up spending a lot more at Target than I intended (who does walk out of Target with only what was on their list??? LOL) I ended up getting birthday presents for my niece who turns 3 on Sunday and some stuff to help me organize. Oh, and I HAD to pick up the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD. It was $5 off, so that was a good deal!
Then it was off to Jewel. Jewel also had Diet Coke on sale for $2.50 a 12-pack if you bought them in quantities of 4. So, $10 for the equivalent of 2 cases. Again, I didn't know the layout of this store very well, so I felt like I spent most of my time walking around trying to find the items on my list. I will end up getting that figured out. I did find the ham, and I had a $9 off coupon if you end up spending $20 - easy peasy! LOL. I found a 6lb. ham that was only $10.67, so after the coupon, it was $1.67. Bonus! Then I came across an endcap that had Dr. Pepper on sale for 4 for $10. Same deal as the Diet Coke! Total awesomeness! Of course I had to get that. I LOVE my Dr. Pepper. I limit myself to one or two a week, so two cases worth can last me almost 6 months or longer! I ended up saving 48% in that store.
And I finally hit Walgreens. There was one item I wasn't able to find, and another item was on sale for $3.99 and I had a coupon for $4.00, but it wouldn't go through because the coupon value was greater than the item amount. I will have to see what else I can do. Maybe I'll go to Walmart where they price-match and end up getting something else. I did get some really good savings. I got $6 in register receipts which I can use next time. I ended up saving 57% there! Sweet!
So I'm getting started. Now I have to work on a Freezer Inventory, Pantry Inventory, try to do my menu planning based on what is on sale, and get my store layouts. I also want to get a running price list. I usually shop at Aldi, because they have the cheapest prices, but Woodman's has prices that are great compared to Jewel, so I need to get my price lists put together, because if sale prices at Jewel and Dominick's are more expensive with coupons, I'll want to use those coupons at Woodman's instead. But Woodman's doesn't advertise much of their prices, so it's hard to know when they are having sales, and most of their sales don't even make it into their sale ads. But I'll figure it out. If I can save 40-50% on my groceries and paper products, it will totally help pay for the gas hikes we've been dealing with. So, I'm going to put in the effort over the next month or two to get it worked out and hopefully by time school starts in the fall, I'll have it all worked out and it will be a breeze and take hardly any time at all.
In addition to that, I figured that if I gave a seminar on cutting costs and getting good deals, I should try to be more diligent in doing this. I had gotten a flyer that said I could get the Sunday Chicago Tribune for 50 cents a week, and I knew I could use at LEAST 50 cents in coupons a week to make it worth my while. So, I ordered the paper, and then I went to the supercouponing.com site and started looking for deals that I could get with my coupons.
So, now I'm trying to be really diligent about saving money. I don't want to spend lots of time doing this, but I do realize that in the beginning, I'm going to have to put some time in to get myself organized. I'm sure after I've done it for a month or two things will start to flow more smoothly.
So, on Sunday, I got the paper and got all my coupons and put them in a folder. Then I started looking through some of the ads - but I didn't spend a lot of time, because I knew that I could get the best deals late Sunday night to early Monday morning if I just waited for the blog author to post the weekly deals. Monday I spent the day doing my cleaning and tried to do some organizing, and got started figuring out the deals that I wanted to get. I wrote out what I wanted by each store, and if there were coupons (which there were), I clipped those ones or printed them, and put them together. I grabbed some scrap paper that we have had laying around and I folded it around the coupons for that store and then I wrote the name of the store. Although I stayed up way too late working on it, I was organized and ready to go in the morning.
Tuesday morning, I dropped Delaney off at Preschool and then I headed to my first store. Dominick's was the furthest out, so I decided to start there. I went in and started doing my shopping, looking for the things that were on my list. I was able to get all of them except one. I ended up saving about 50%. I spent $28.60 and saved $27.81. Not a bad way to start. My biggest problem is that I hardly ever shop at Dominick's, so I don't know the layout, and I think I spent most of my time looking around for the items that were on my list. I need to get a store layout, or write one up, and then it will make my shopping time go much more quickly.
Next I stopped at Sam's Club. I didn't initially plan to stop there, but I wanted to see the price on Pork Loin. I like to get the 8lb. pork loins and cut them up in 2lb. sections for pork roasts or slice them into boneless pork chops, which is much less expensive than regular boneless pork chops. But I wanted to see if it was under $2.00 a pound, and it wasn't, so I kept going. I ended up picking up some frozen chicken breasts, green beans and strawberries. Even though I didn't get "savings" there, I still paid a really good price for everything - and the strawberries were AMAZING!
Next stop was Target. I didn't get everything that was on my list there. There were coupons for $3.00 off Nivea Body Wash and Nivea Body Wash for Men, and the store price was only about $3.04, but the shelf was empty. Guess everyone else had gone to cash in on the same deal. I did come across Diet Coke and Fresca for $2.50 per 12-pack and stocked up. Those prices don't come along very often anymore. But I ended up spending a lot more at Target than I intended (who does walk out of Target with only what was on their list??? LOL) I ended up getting birthday presents for my niece who turns 3 on Sunday and some stuff to help me organize. Oh, and I HAD to pick up the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD. It was $5 off, so that was a good deal!
Then it was off to Jewel. Jewel also had Diet Coke on sale for $2.50 a 12-pack if you bought them in quantities of 4. So, $10 for the equivalent of 2 cases. Again, I didn't know the layout of this store very well, so I felt like I spent most of my time walking around trying to find the items on my list. I will end up getting that figured out. I did find the ham, and I had a $9 off coupon if you end up spending $20 - easy peasy! LOL. I found a 6lb. ham that was only $10.67, so after the coupon, it was $1.67. Bonus! Then I came across an endcap that had Dr. Pepper on sale for 4 for $10. Same deal as the Diet Coke! Total awesomeness! Of course I had to get that. I LOVE my Dr. Pepper. I limit myself to one or two a week, so two cases worth can last me almost 6 months or longer! I ended up saving 48% in that store.
And I finally hit Walgreens. There was one item I wasn't able to find, and another item was on sale for $3.99 and I had a coupon for $4.00, but it wouldn't go through because the coupon value was greater than the item amount.
So I'm getting started. Now I have to work on a Freezer Inventory, Pantry Inventory, try to do my menu planning based on what is on sale, and get my store layouts. I also want to get a running price list. I usually shop at Aldi, because they have the cheapest prices, but Woodman's has prices that are great compared to Jewel, so I need to get my price lists put together, because if sale prices at Jewel and Dominick's are more expensive with coupons, I'll want to use those coupons at Woodman's instead. But Woodman's doesn't advertise much of their prices, so it's hard to know when they are having sales, and most of their sales don't even make it into their sale ads. But I'll figure it out. If I can save 40-50% on my groceries and paper products, it will totally help pay for the gas hikes we've been dealing with. So, I'm going to put in the effort over the next month or two to get it worked out and hopefully by time school starts in the fall, I'll have it all worked out and it will be a breeze and take hardly any time at all.
Getting Organized
So, I'm working on doing better with saving money on my groceries and household items... I have a post about it, but it might come before or after this one.
Yesterday I spent some time going shopping at different stores to stockpile a few things. I now need to get organized by getting a freezer inventory and pantry inventory together. I also want to get a running price list of Aldi's and Woodman's so I have an approximate value of the items that I normally purchase so that if I see sale prices, I don't run off and buy them because they look like a good deal without looking at the prices at Aldi's and Woodman's.
So, yesterday when I was shopping, I had my coupons wrapped in a piece of paper by store, and that helped me be organized, but when I pulled them out, it was hard to handle them and keep track of them. So, when I came home I was looking into different options. I looked online and tried to find something, but nothing really fit what I was looking for.
I went into my Microsoft Word and looked at some of the document templates. They had templates for money holder envelopes, so I found one I liked and I opened it and printed it, and I knew right away that it wasn't going to be big enough. So, I went about modifying the envelope on the document until it was a size that I felt would work. Then I also modified it to have a tab so I could cut a slit on the bottom flap and have the tab inserted into the slit so it would stay together.
I also labeled each envelope so I could make sure I have the ones for each particular store in the appropriate envelope. I also printed it on card stock so it would hold up a little bit. I might eventually need to look into getting it laminated, but for now, I'll do it the way it is.
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| Printed out, but not yet cut out. |
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| Cut out, folded and assembled |
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| All 5 of them |
 | ||
| I can't get this to turn, but this is the envelope opened with my coupons inside. When I oopsed on the first one, I just turned the paper over and printed on the other side, so you see the original envelope on the inside. |
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