Walmart deals

Well, I also made a run to Walmart to use a few coupons that were going to expire, and I knew I could get a couple things cheaper here, like the soymilk my son drinks. Here is the run down:

• Campbells cream soups 1.36 each, IP for $1/2
• Ritz Bits $2, $1 IP
• Tricuits $2, $1 IP
• Sponges 0.84, 0.75/2 MQ
• Tombstone pizza 3.33, $1/2 IP- save UPC for the rebate!
• CA kitchen flatbread melt 2.78, $1 MQ
• Digorno flatbreat melt 2.78, $1.50 IP
• Head and shoulders shampoo trial size 0.97, $1 MQ
• Axe deodorant trial size 0.97, $1 MQ
• Banana boat sunscreen trial size 1.97, $2 IP
• Kool aid 5 packs 0.88, 0.50/2 IP
• Crystal Light packs 1.97, $2/2 IP, and BIGI IP's (got 6, paid for 2)

Overall, I saved $30.44 in coupons here on this trip. Pretty good!

Pierce's highlights this week

I am going to just recap my shopping trip and give you the highlights on some deals found at Pierce's.

• Roma Pizza's 5/$9
• Bagels forever bagels $1.15
• Surefine hashbrowns $1.66 each
• Surefine sugar 4 lb. 1.50
• Old Dutch Tortilla chips BOGO at 3.99
• Sunchef chicken breasts 3lb 4.68
• Surfine baked beans 0.88 for the large cans
• Lettuce 0.78... 3 day sale
• cucumbers 4/$2.00
• Raspberries $2 per container...3 day sale
• white bread or buns 0.68 store coupon in Wednesday's paper
• Old Orchard juice 1.25....3 day sale

You'll notice that many items say "3 day sale" after them. Pierce's has been having these sales almost every weekend where there are additional items on sale. If you can wait to do your shopping until then, you may be pleasantly surprised and find even more sales.

I spent $57.70 out of pocket here, and saved $36.36 in coupons and sales.

A Pig trip is worth the gas this week

Piggly Wiggly has a bunch of BOGO items this week, many of which there are coupons for. You can use 2 coupons when you buy the 2 items, plus they also credit you back the free one! Here's the breakdown...

• 1/2 gallon milk 1.34, BOGO (that is a gallon for 1.34!!!)
• Sour cream 1.39 BOGO, 0.50 MQ
• Carrots 1.69 BOGO
• Betty Crocker Brownies 1.89 BOGO, 0.50 MQ
• McCain potatoes 3.29 BOGO, 0.75 MQ
• Tornado's snack 2.79, Has a "try me free" coupon to send in for full refund. Yes, I will try it for free!

That's all I got. I now realize that the clerk messed up my coupons and gave me too much credit when she manually keyed it in.

My out of pocket total was $7.82 for all this stuff!! And $2.79 I will get back as a rebate as well. My coupons and savings was $27.33! I overheard the clerk talking to the bagger as I was leaving that she couldn't believe I got it so cheap. Ha ha! This will really stretch my weekly budget for me, and I can pick up some other things tomorrow. I still have 2 more stores to shop on Saturday! More then... Have a good one!

Kmart run

Ok, only a couple of these are great deals, but I had to run to Kmart as it is the only place in town I can find the chlorine tabs for our pool. Plus I had a $5 OYNO coupon that I had to use. Yes, I know we all have tons of free Kraft salad dressing (including me), but I think the hubby would DEvorce me if I had let the Hidden Valley coupons expire....which they were about to do. It is his favorite, although he has begrudgingly been using the Kraft stuff. He knew about the coupons, so he has been anxiously awaiting the real stuff!

• Hidden Valley Ranch 2.99, $1.50/2 IP
• coffeemate creamer 2.99, $1 IP
• Cereal 2.50 each, $1 IP
• Chlorine tabs 9.99 Yikes!

My out of pocket was 23.48. Looks like I also got an instant $1 Kellogg's reward for buying 4 boxes. I seriously do not need cereal for a few months now. The pantry is stocked up again! The good news is my 2 cereal eaters are enjoying all the different kinds I've gotten lately, really trying new things! A miracle I tell you!

Walgreen's from Tuesday

I scooped up a couple good deals here.

• Garbage bags 2.99, $1 Walgreen's coupon from pharmacy area
• Colgate toothpaste 2.49, $1 MQ and got $1.50 RR from it making it free
• Sunflower seeds $1 each
• French fried onions on clearance 0.99, $0.50 MQ
• Lucky charms 2.50, 0.55 IP

My out of pocket total was $10.27, and I saved $11.22 with sales/coupons. Plus I got $1.50 RR for my next trip!

Coupon Printing Tips

I want to share a couple frugal ideas that I have learned out in cyberspace that will help you save money while printing coupons.

Print your coupons in black and white. Don't waste your more expensive colored ink on the coupons. If you read you coupons closely, most of them will say 'coupon can be in color or black and white'. The stores will take them either way.

Read your coupon completely. Companies will often post a picture of a more expensive item they sell, but the wording of the coupon is 'off any XXX product'. The wording on the coupon is what the coupon must be used on, not the picture.

Use scrap paper to print your coupons. It doesn't matter what is printed on the other side. I use the paper that my kids have colored on, scrap mail (without any name identifiers), and paper that was going to be recycled at my sister's workplace. As long as the coupon prints clearly, it is good to go.

Any questions? Thanks to Kelly for reminding me to post about this. More deals will be posted hopefully tomorrow from my Walgreen's and Kmart trips early this week. Until then, have a good one!

Week of groceries

And finally, the weekly grocery trip including a few items for a cookout this weekend. I was able to stock up on a few things thanks to the rebate from Unilever for $18 I got on Thursday! I think I did an awesome job on this trip considering I had three boys aged 5 and under with me...what was I thinking? I went $1.12 over budget which is easily accounted for in the 3 bottles of single serve orange juice and kit kat bar for guess who??

• 8 hot dogs 1.25 each, $1/2 MQ
• tortilla chips BOGO
• 3 packs bagels 1.25 each
• Velveeta block 3.74, $1 MQ
• bread
• 4 various kraft cheese 3/4.98, $1/2 IP
• Sausage links 0.99
• baked beans 2/3 (I know they are cheaper at Walmart now)
• sunflower seeds 2.69, $1 MQ
• 3-3lb packs of ground beef 1.98/lb
• 6 Philly cream cheese 0.99, $1/2 IP
• Hot dog buns
• bananas, green beans, watermelon tomatoes etc etc

My total out of pocket was $74.12, with a coupon/ad savings of $55.71. Like I said, when you are with three 'helpers' it was pretty good. How did you do this week? Where/what are the deals you found this week? Let me know so I can share with others!

Thanks to Amy S. for running to Pig for me this week, and Thairn for meticulously figuring out the best deal on charcoal (Kmart)!

Mid week Pierce's run

I needed to use a couple coupons based on the sales running at Pierce's so here is the results.

• Kleenex tissue 1.87, $1 MQ
• Ritz Crackers 2.00, $1 IP
• Wheat thins 3.49, MQ to get free if you buy Ritz
• Cascade dishwasher rinse 3.23, MQ to get free
• Milk 1.49
• Marshmallows 0.99

Total out of pocket $6.60, coupon and sale savings of $17.99.

Walgreen's clearance cont

Yes folks, I found more clearance peanut butter! I was so excited. only 0.87 each. I think I'm good for awhile! Add the 2/$4 q-tips with 0.30 MQ each and I used a $2 RR.

My total was $6.84 which I put on a gift card. So nothing out of pocket, and my savings was $19.30!

Sorry guys...

Sorry I've been way behind in my blogging this week. I have a couple trips that I've been meaning to post, but this week has been so busy. My work days were different this week, I had jury duty and I went on a field trip with the kids. I promise to get caught up this weekend.

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Follow up to Pay It forward

Well folks, here is the follow up to my challenge. To refresh your memory, I was given $10 from Summit Credit Union to "pay forward". I decided to see how far I could stretch it for the Portage Food Pantry. I ended up with $160.64 worth of food and HBA items! I am delivering it this week with the kids.

From June 1-15 people can vote for their favorite and the winner gets $500 and $500 for their favorite charity. I will post a reminder for you if you are interested in voting for me.

It turned out to be very productive challenge as you can tell. I am inspired to continue to pick up things for the food pantry as I am shopping as it was so easy to do!

Pierce's; the impossible happens....

Yes folks, the impossible at Pierce's has finally happened. I have been trying for so very long and today I finally have saved more than I spent!!

• Ritz $2, $1 IP
• Wheat thins 3.49, Buy ritz get wheat thins free MQ
• IGA graham crackers $2.05, store coupon to get for 0.78
• Tortilla chips $3.99, BOGO sale
• Milk 1.49
• 3 Baked beans $1 each
• Parmesan cheese 2.57
• 4 Hunts Ketchup 0.78, 0.20 MQ
• 2 LIpton rice $1 each, $1/2 MQ
• 2 Kraft singles cheese $1.88 ea, $1/2 IP
• Raspberries 2.59
• sugar snap peas $2
• Country crock butter 2.29, 0.45 MQ
• 7 Kraft salad dressing 1.38 ea, 1.50 MQ
• Granny Smith apples 2.99
• lettuce 1.29
• chicken drumsticks 2.50
• 6 lbs hamburger (not shown) 7.10
• Watermelon 0.49/lb
• cantaloupe 2.48

My out of pocket for all of the above was $41.02, but the best part is the ad/coupon savings of $57.60! It is very hard at this store to save a lot of money in coupons, as the prices are often so much higher than other places. But I managed to do it this time. Almost $20 worth of the above was just my paper coupons!

All told today, I saved about $82 today in ads/sales/coupons. That means I got about $152 of food for only 74.89! Awesome.

A Walmart run

After my grocery run to Pierce's I had almost $30 left, so I decided to run to Walmart to use some coupons! Here is the run down:

• 4 Hot dogs $1.50 each; $1/2 MQ and IP
• Velveeta cheese $4.42; $1 IP
• 2 Ronzoni pasta $1.50 ea; $1/2 MQ
• 2 Ritz bits $2; $1 MQ
• Quaker True Delights 2.50, $1 MQ
• 4 Shells/cheese $1.50 ea; $1 IP and $1/2 IP
• 4 Crystal light 1.97 ea; BOGO IP and $1 IP
• 2 Poptarts 1.50 ea; $1/2 MQ
• Marshmallows 1.16, no coupon
• brat buns 1.13, no coupon
• generic plax rinse 2.88, no coupon
• 3 Tuna pouches 0.93, no coupon
• 4 Colgate toothpaste 1.00, 0.75 MQ
• 5 Colgate toothpaste 0.97, $1 MQ
• Soymilk 2.64, no coupon

Subtotal was $58.23, after all the coupons I paid $33.87 out of pocket, savings $24.36 in coupons! That is a savings of 42%. It was worth the time for sure.

How is your shopping trip? What kind of savings have you had today?

Tombstone rebate

Hey all. Just wanted to let everyone know about a rebate that is out there right now. This goes hand in hand with the Kraft coupons that we all printed out this week.

Here's the deal, you purchase Tombstone pizzas and receive a rebate towards a utility bill, up to a $15 credit. I'd love them to pay part of my bill- yeps thank you very much. The best part is that you have until the end of the year to send in the rebate, so there is plenty of time to buy and eat the pizzas (or in my case, eat the pizzas and throw away the UPC so you have to buy more~yep I've done it already!!)

Go here to check out the form. I believe you need only send in the UPC's for this rebate.

Walmart savings- I needed ink!

After printing all those coupons yesterday, I needed ink. I have a new printer and haven't found any great deals on ink yet. Anyone have any ideas? I will probably take to Walgreen's in the future to get them filled.

I am going to show my deals and take the ink out of the equation when figuring totals and savings.

• 4 Kraft BBQ sauce 0.98, $1 IP
• 2 Kraft dressing 1.58, $1.50 MQ from this past Sunday
• 3 Velveeta shells/cheese $1.50, $1/1 IP
• Oscar Mayer hot dogs 1.50, $1/2 IP
• Mini Farfale pasta 1.28, 0.75 IP
• Ritz Bits 2.00, $1 IP
• Dole mandarin oranges 0.86, 0.50 IP
• Dole pineapple 0.72, 0.50 IP
• CapriSun pouches 1.97, $1 MQ

You'll see I also bought some sugar and coffee creamer that I didn't have coupons for but desperately needed. Wish the hubby would have warned me they were low and not waited until empty!

All told the subtotal was $40.70 (minus the ink). After coupons I had to pay $23.63! Almost half in savings! I blame the excess on Dave! I could have done much better! But I love him anyways!

As always, I hope I am inspiring you all to save money and show how you can do it too! I definitely see a trend that I am using a lot of Internet coupons- so happy my computer is up to speed!

Have a great week everyone!

Love my WAGS deals!

Found some good deals today, check it out.

5 Peter Pan peanut butter 0.87 on clearance!! (can you believe that?)

• 2 Cottonelle wipes 1.99 with ad coupon, 0.50 MQ
• 2 Cutter bug spray 2/$2, $2 internet coupon (IP)
• Colgate toothbrush 2.99, $1 IP- got $2 RR which made it FREE
• 2 Dole fruit cups 2/$2, $1 IP

All told I paid $12.90 out of pocket, received $2 Register Rewards and saved a total of $26.60 by using coupons and ads!

Awesome day!

Print Quickly

Hey everyone, before they pull the coupons be sure to head over to coupons.com and print off the tons of Kraft coupons that are available.

Don't forget to hit the 'back' button to print two copies.

Then you can head to the Kraft products website and join as a member. As a member you can print another set of these coupons.

I already used a couple of these coupons this morning on my Walmart run. I'll tell you all about it soon.

Pierce's, the final stop today.

The final of 3 stops today was at Pierce's for the groceries. Let me highlight the good deals for you.

• Port steaks $1.38/lb
• Kellogg's fruit loops and Rice Krispie's $2 each, $1 IP coupon
• Betty Crocker Blueberry muffin mix 1.78, 0.40 MQ
• Tortilla's $1 each
• Bagged lettuce mixes 0.98 ea
• Baby carrots 0.99 ea
• SureFine Baked beans 0.88 each
• Red seedless grapes 0.98/lb
• 4 lb Strawberries 3.98.
• and the rest of our 'normal' purchases

My total spent was $57.18, with ad/coupon savings of $49.66!

Let me recap my 3 stops: total out of pocket between Pierce's, Piggly Wiggly and Target was $115.95. My coupon and sales savings was $143.85.

$259.80 worth of food/items for a total spent of $115.95. I saved over 65%, and I have ton of stuff in the cupboard and pantry! If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is! The best part of all is that these are deals that each of you out there can get! I don't have an special secret coupon sources. I clip the coupons just like you. I search the web for store deals, just like you. I stock up when things are cheap and fill up the freezer, and you can too.

If you have any questions about any of my coupons or deals, leave me a message. I will do my best to answer the questions and share with everyone!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Target, stop #2

Oh Target, how I love you! Target is seriously becoming a favorite place for me to shop. Each time it has been worth the gas and time to go there. Remember that target has their own coupons that you can stack with a MQ. Try to stay with me as a recount the deals...

• 3 Bliss candy bars 0.99, target coupon $1
• 6 Nabisco 100 calorie packs $1.93, target coupon $1
• 4 Teddy Grahams $2, target coupon $1
• 10 Wheat thins $2.04, target coupon $1/2, MQ $1/2
• 2 Quaker chewy granola bars $2.29, 0.75/2 MQ
• 5 Quaker True Delight bars $2.89, target coupon $1, MQ $1
• Centrum kids vitamin $5.94, $1 MQ
• Kraft dressing $1.59, $1.50 MQ
• 1 Kraft Mayo/ 1 Miracle Whip 1.99 ea, $1/2 target coupon, $1 MQ
• 16 Easy Mac cups 0.84 ea, $1/2 target coupon, 1 BIGI MQ, 5 B2G1 MQ
• 3 Kashi waffles 1.99, 2 $1.50 MQ, 1 Free MQ
• 2 Beef steak on clearance (5.19 & 5.81), $2 target coupons

My total spent was $33.46, but the coupon savings here was $79.25!! Tons of savings at Target today!

Piggly 1 of 3 stops today

Luckily I was going to drive right past the Pig in Poynette when out and about this morning so I could pick up these deals.

• Hunts Ketchup 0.99, 0.20 MQ from Saturday's paper!
• eggs 0.79
• Syrup 2/$5, $1/2 MQ
• Bacon 1.99
• Tombstone pizza 3/$10

Total spent was $25.31, total saving of $14.94 with coupons and ads.

Guess what we're having for dinner Wednesday!

I hope everyone has been keeping up on their blogs. If you missed this today, check out hip2save.com to see if the deal is still available.

On the right are the FOUR coupons for a free 2 piece grilled chicken meal with 2 sides and a biscuit that I printed today. Each coupon has a unique code so KFC can make sure it isn't a copy. I also have 2 "one free piece" coupons that were in the paper a week ago. This will make a very yummy dinner for our family of 5 tomorrow night! For all that, I may even spring for a drink or two!

We love to eat out as a family, but our budget does not allow it very often. This is a great way to get a very big meal for nothing! And all my fussy eaters love chicken, so it's a win-win!

Quick Walgreen's run as well...

Well, I had a rain check to use and a Register Reward that was expiring so I decided to make a trip to Walgreen's. I haven't been very impressed with their deals since ending the easy saver coupon/rebate program.

2 Scott tissue-rain check 2/$5, -2 $1 MQ

2 Magic Erasers 2/$5, 0.75 MQ and a BIGI MQ

1 reduced candy 0.40 used as a filler item

Total was $2.72 after coupons and RR. My total savings was $8.43. The beauty is that I put that $2.72 on my gift card from the prescription game. Nothing out of pocket!

What is your opinion of the 'new' Walgreen's programs? They are offering a lot more Register Rewards, but not as many are free. Let me know what you think!

Yet another Kmart run

I HAD to make another Kmart run, the coupons were beckoning me. Here' s the breakdown, keep in mind that coupons will double up to $2, but won't go over the purchase price.

4 box Mini wheats @2.75: 4 $1 coupons (net 0.75 each)
2 Dawn dish soap price matched to Walgreen's @0.99: 2 0.50 MQ (free)
5 Kraft BBQ sauce @1.00: 0.75 MQ (free)
2 Daisy razors @ 3.75: $2 MQ (free)
3 Bounty paper towels @ 2.49: $1 MQ from booklet (0.49 each)
2 Skintimate shave cream $1.89 each: 0.75 MQ (0.39 each)

My out of pocket total for all of the above was $5.90. My coupon savings was $27.54! Worth the trip I'd say. Cereal for 75 cents is a great deal! I wish there were more cereal choices on sale, but I guess I can wait it out!

Pens at Staples

Did you get your free pens?? Staples has these pens on sale for $1, and there is a printable coupon (from coupons.com I think?) for $1 as well. All I had to pay was the 0.06 tax. I don't know about you, but we are always looking for pens in our house! I think the kids hide them from us!

$2.67 at Kmart!

You can do it too folks. Here's how it panned out with the double coupons...

• 4 Kellogg's cereal @2.75 each. 3-$1 MQ and 1 B1G1 MQ
• 2 Kraft BBQ sauce at $1.00 each. 2-0.75 MQ
• 3 Sour cream 1.39 ea. 3-$0.50 MQ

There were lots more deals to be had, how did you do? I got my hands on a few more coupon inserts today, so I'll probably make another trip to Kmart later this week.

Kohl's has great deals!

I got a $10 gift card a couple weeks ago in the mail from Kohl's. It is $10 off a $10 purchase. I think I got it because I gave them my email address last time I was there. I finally had a chance to use the gift card yesterday!

I got two things for the kids. A hooded spring zip up sweatshirt and a pair of shorts! The original price on the sweatshirt alone was $26! I paid $0.63 total for both items. I love clearance racks!

But here is my point, how many offers like this do you get that you just throw away or don't have time to deal with? If you keep your coupons and gift cards with you all the time or in your car, you won't miss out on deals like this. Sure, I'll bet Kohl's is hoping you spend more money in their store. But there were no limitations on the gift card other than it had to be at least a $10 purchase. Don't let these deals pass you by!

Kmart change

Thanks Kristi for calling corporate and getting the scoop straightened out!

New information for everyone....Kmart will again be offering double coupons starting this weekend on Sunday. Their flyer has a misprint that states 'doubling up to 0.75'. The store in Portage will actually be doubling coupons up to $2 in value!!

So, pull out your high value coupons and get ready! See you there.