Bagel Bites coupon

Thank you to Rachal for sending me this link!

Go here to print a coupon for $1 off any Bagel Bites snack. Be sure to press your back browser to print it a second time.

Butterball Turkey goodies

The good people at Butterball turkey have coupons available on their website that you can access here.

You can choose $0.75 off a package of ground turkey or
Free quarter-pound of deli cheese (up to $1.00 value) with the purchase of 1 lb. of Butterball® Deli Meats.

Be sure to use the back butter to try and print two coupons per computer.

Good luck!

It's almost the end of month....

Here is a friendly reminder for you.

Take some time this week to sort through your coupon organizer. Pull out the coupons that are expired or going to expire at the end of this month.

When I do this I put the coupons into a baggie that I carry in my bag until the end of the month. That way if I see something on sale before 10/31 I still have those coupons with me to use. At the end of the month I can toss the coupons.

Plus, when you do this you may find a coupon for something you need to buy; regardless of whether or not it is on sale. Now you still have time to use the coupon, instead of finding it in a couple weeks and being mad about it.

Win Win!!

Valley Granola Nut Clusters.

General Mills recently sent me 10 coupons for their new product Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters. The manufacturer coupons are $1.60 off one bag and expire 2/28/2010. I have not priced this item yet in stores but I did try the sample that was sent to me. It's exactly as the name states, a granola and nut cluster. I was wondering if you would post this information for your readers as I would like to share the coupons I have available. All I ask is that your readers email me to let me know they would like a coupon, and they should send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and I will provide the coupon. Emails can be sent to me at rschmidt@gmail.com.

UPDATE: the email address should read: rschmidt004@gmail.com
If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thanks!


Thanks so much for sharing Rachael!

Extra coupon inserts

Exciting news if you are in need of coupons....

Hi,
I have about 10 extra inserts from this weekend besides the normal 10 I bring home and share with neighbors. Would you like any of them? And could you please post if anyone would like some? They can e-mail if they want any.
Thanks
Rachal


Rachal can be reached by email at babyjacob34@yahoo.com

Thanks Rachal!!

No coupons this weekend

Yes folks, there will be no coupon inserts this weekend because of the holiday.

Take the time to clean out your expired coupons and catch up on your clipping and filing!

Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

Coupons

Hi all. I'd like to remind you to check out last week's post here . Quite a few of you have posted coupons you have there. I am hoping some of you can 'hook up' and get the coupons you need!

Have a great day!

Coupons for yummy sausage

Remember the Farmland sausage that is on sale this week at Pierce's? Thanks to my mom for telling me, you can log into their website here and sign up and they will send you a whole bunch of coupons. I got some in the mail the other day, and they don't expire until 2011!

Go to the "promotions" tab to find the page to register.

Welcome new readers!

Hi everyone! If you saw me in the newspaper today...Welcome! I am just your average mom trying to save a few bucks on groceries that I have to buy anyways. Stop back and browse around. I try to include tips and sale alerts for stores that are local to Portage. If you ever have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave me a comment on this website.

I have received a couple questions already today that I would like to address.

1. Where do you get your coupons? I get the weekend newspapers for the bulk of my coupons. My neighbor, a friend and my dad also save their inserts for me too. I also print coupons online. Look to the section on this site that lists the websites I follow. That is where I find most of the links to print coupons online. I also just started getting the "All You" magazine which contains many coupons in each issue.

2. Can you use more than one coupon per item? Typically no, you can only use one coupon per item purchased. There are a couple exceptions to the rule. If the store has their own "in store" coupon, you can usually 'stack' it with a manufacture coupon to maximize savings. For example: if you buy Ritz crackers at Pierce's and use a $1 manufacture coupon (MQ), plus you have a 25 cent Pierce's coupon from a previous visit to the store you can use them both.

That is all the questions I've had so far and I hope I've answered them for you. I am open to suggestions to make this a website/blog for all to use and benefit from. If you have any ideas, or would like a certain area covered, let me know and I'll do my best! I will warn you that there will be typos and mistakes, after all I am human and a busy human at that.

Welcome aboard!

Holy coupons! My shopping experience this week.

I did my grocery shopping early this week on Friday. I had a doctor's appointment out of town and the road took me past a couple other stores where I ran in to check the sales. I'm glad I did because I found a couple deals on meat/poultry. What I don't have is a final picture of my purchases. I got home at lunchtime greeted by all three kids and husband (off work for the day) hungry and rummaging through the packages.

I decided since I don't have a picture, I would instead list my purchases and photograph my (very full) freezer and pantry instead to give you an idea of what I've got on hand.

Pick 'n Save: Ground beef 1.99 per lb (I bought 6 lbs to divide up in the freezer), oatmeal bars. Total 14.50. Savings: $0.65.

Piggly Wiggly: Chicken Breasts 0.99 per lb (again, bought 6 lbs), spaghetti noodles, blueberries and Grands Biscuits (0.99 each, got 8 because you can freeze them!), and tuna helper.
Total $22.17. Savings $12.38

Pierce's: 20 Totinos pizza rolls(10/$10), bagels, 2 steamers veggies (0.98), pizza, milk, 3 pizzas (3/$9.99), 4 brownies (2/$4), koolaid, 6 cookie mixes (1.66 ea), 2 frosting (1.50),2 BOGO Pop Secret popcorn, grape tomatoes, 3 mashed potato mixes (0.98), spagehettio's, coffee mate, eggs, bread.
Total $77.37. Savings $62.94!

Once again, I'm over budget but I'll live. We really cleaned up this week. I had coupons for most items I bought, and even the cashier was impressed! My total oop was $114.04, total for coupons and sales was $75.97. That is a savings of 40% for me this week! Wow. I love it! It really impresses upon me how much I have overspent on groceries for years, and makes me sick. But now I am more knowledgeable, and working to get it right.

I am linking to moneysavingmom.com with this, go there and see how lots of other women save on their groceries as well!

Now for the pictures.

Here is my basement freezer. It is pretty well loaded up right now. Lots of steamers bags, bread, pizza rolls, chicken, brats and the like.

I like this upright freezer vs a chest freezer because it is easy to see everything with just one glance! Plus, it holds enough food but doesn't let me get too overloaded! This plus our fridge freezer upstairs has been more than enough for our family of 5. Once the boys are all teenagers, I may feel differently.....







Here is the 'food' side of my hallway pantry. Doesn't it look very neat? I just spent some time the other day expanding up because my stock pile just keeps growing.

One of the major benefits that I have found in using coupons and shopping the sales is that I get so much more than I used to! I never had a back up stash of food.

Imagine the calmness I feel when I run out of peanut butter, and I have 4 more jars in the cupboard! I don't have to run out and get more, overpaying because it isn't on sale. I have so much more peace having this pantry stocked. Plus, I'm spending a lot less on groceries than I used to as well.




This is the 'non-food' side of my hallway pantry/closet. As you can see, I have tons of stuff stockpiled here as well. Kleenex, paper towels, shampoo, toothpaste (? 8 tubes), lotion, dish soap (this doesn't include the 9 packages of dishwasher tabs either, they are in a different place!).

There is also cleaning products, air fresheners, razors, and tons of batteries. The coupons on these items are often plentiful, as well as the sales.

Occasionally I get frustrated that I'm not saving enough on groceries because of the coupon policies of my local stores. But I need to remember, when I get these non-food items free or cheap, it frees up more money to buy the food we need. Savings is savings, so appreciate it wherever it comes!

That is all for today. Sorry it took so long to update the blog. I will be back later in the week to share my weekly Walgreen's trip.

And for those that don't know.....NO COUPON INSERTS THIS WEEK. Bummer.

A low key kind of day....

Not too much new today, so I'll tackle coupons again. I told you to clip them all, now you need to organize them! I have a 4 x 6 photo album that is about 20 pages that I currently use. Disclaimer: this isn't going to work for me much longer; it won't stay closed with all the coupons. But it has worked great so far for me.

I separate the coupons in half by food and non-food, then I divided them into categories. Whatever works for you is what you should use. An example of my food categories are cereal, breakfast items, refrigerated bread/rolls, dairy, snack items, desserts, drinks, spices, and so on. Do the same with your non-food items.

I find it helpful to cut out each coupon and handle it several times so it is easier for me to remember what coupons I have. Luckily, this comes easy for me. Many bloggers recommend having a price list so you know what price is a 'deal'. Fortunately my brain has tons of room for this non essential information and I am able to recall it quite easily.

Beyond that, go through sale flyer's and try to match up the sale to the coupons!

Tomorrow is my Walgreen's shopping trip for the week, so check back for updates.

"Sick, sick, sick" or "Getting started"!

It's been a couple weeks since I started and posted on my blog. The entire family has been sick with the flu and bronchitis. We are on the road to wellness, and now it's time to get back on track with the saving.

I have been clipping coupons and trying to save money for 2 months now (seems like longer!). I think it is absolutely amazing that we seem to have more food, more toiletries and most importantly more MONEY left over in our monthly budget. I also have an amazing collection of coupons too!

I have been helping a couple of my co-workers get started, so why not do it on my blog? First things first, clip your coupons and organize them in some way. I used a plain envelope initially. Find ways to get more coupons, from relatives, neighbors and friends. Clip all the coupons. Next time we will start working those grocery ads to plan our shopping!

You can do it, don't give up. I saved $54 at Walmart in coupons over the weekend, and $21 at Pierces. If I can do it, you can too!

The no double woes

I love where I live but.....I live in the land where no one doubles coupons. I have only two grocery store options, one being Wal Mart the other is a local company. Our local store also does not accept internet coupons. All this makes couponing and saving money a challenge. Luckily we do have a Walgreen's which helps me find some deals. To make matters worse, my computer is so old, I can not load the coupon printer software to print the online coupons! I rely on my mother or sister to do that. (I email them a list of coupons I'd like and they see what they can find).

Nonetheless, I do manage to find some deals, and here is one that will help me out. KMart is having double coupon days up to and including $2 value in the southcentral Wisconsin area. Check out the KMart web page to see if your local store is participating.

Welcome

I wasn't going to do this, but here I am; bloggin:) Welcome. Please bear with me as I figure out this technological stuff, and share my family's journal to become debt free. We have just begun our "Debt Reduction Plan 2009" to get our finances in gear and pay down those debts.

Along the way, I will share my newly acquired couponing journeys, and hopefully find some good deals to share. Feel free to leave me comments along the way! Enjoy the ride.