Wonderin?

Are you wondering what I'm buying this week?  No pictures I'm afraid- too busy,stressed,tired to bother to take any.  I know- looser.

Walgreens:
Kelloggs cereals 3/$7- I had a couple different coupons.  Not the best sale in the universe, but we were out of cereal so I grabbed a few boxes so that my kids will stop their complaining.
W ultrathin pads $2, get $2 register reward
Hefty ziplocks b1g1, $1 off 2 manu q's- makes them about $1.09 per box!
Halloween plastic cups 8/$1- I'm using these for an upcoming room party

CVS:
Folgers coffee $3.49, $1 manu q's
Wisk laundry soap $4.99, $2 manu q's from Sunday's paper.  PLUS when you spend $30 on certain items you get a $10 gift card.  So if I buy 6 just of detergent, and use 6 coupons, I will pay $18 and get a $10 giftcard back.  That's just over $1 per just for laundry detergent.  There are lots of items included though- batteries, diapers, dishsoap.  It's  a good time to see what coupons you have for items you use.

Staples:
Duracell 16 packs of AA or AAA batteries $9.99 with 100% rewards.  I bought a pack of both and will get 100% back in a couple months. 

Meijer:
Meijer has had a pretty nifty sale this week that ends today.  Things I found interesting were the 10/10 with the 11th free stuff- I always love to match coupons up for this.  Kleenex, sierra mist 2 liters, tostinos pizza rolls, grands biscuits.  Plus- their Sea Pack frozen seafood is on sale for $4.99.  I bought 1 popcorn shrimp $4.99 and 1 fish balls $4.99 and used $1 manu q and $5 manu q wyb shrimp.  Made it $4 for both packages!  My total at Meijer was over $100 and I paid just over $40 out of pocket.  GREAT shopping trip in my opinion.

I am hoping for a good Kroger sale next week though.  I've got a $5 off a $50 purchase coupon from my entertainment book I need to use and we are getting LOW on a few items in our home, Ketchup included.  As you can imagine, that is like an EMERGENCY in a home with three kids!

THOSE people

My sister in law, at a recent family dinner, said "You people are going to ruin it for the rest of us who just want to save a few dollars".  And instantly I felt hurt.

YOU people?  How am I going to ruin anything?  Is she assuming that I am a product grabbing, shelf clearing, hoarder?  Just because I carry a binder and carefully map out my weekly shopping strategy does NOT mean I am doing a single thing wrong.  In fact, I think I am doing it right.  I am stretching the money that the Lord provides for us as far as I can make it go.  My husband works hard to earn that money.  And I have trimmed the amount we spend weekly on groceries by over 50%.  How is that wrong?

For the record- let me share my couponing strategy:

I purchase 4-6 newspapers per week so that I will have multiple copies of each coupon.  I PURCHASE these extra papers from the newspaper company.  That is good for them.  And me.  See?

I then sort through those inserts and clip out any coupon for a product or item my family might use.  I don't clip out coupons for things we would never use.  Certain things we are brand loyal (secret deodorant, free from dyes laundry soap, dove soap), other things we simply use and don't care what brand it is (toothpaste, canned tomatoes, monthly necessity items, toilet paper, spaghetti sauce, butter). 

Then I put them into my binder- sorted by area (dairy, canned goods, cereal, etc).  And that's that.

When I shop, I tend to look through my binder first to see if I have a coupon for an item I 'need'.  You know, milk, meats, veggies, fruits, dairy items.  Then I use my coupons for those items.  If not- then I buy them anyway, depending on who has them at least on sale.  And if it's a good sale on an item (chicken breasts, ground beef, yogurt, etc.) then I may buy a couple of extra packages.   That is my regular shopping for our families necessities.  I have to do this about once every two weeks.  Except the milk.  I buy that all the freakin' time it seems like.

Because I 'coupon'- there are rarely any other items that we 'need'.  I try and stock up a little when I find an item on sale matched with a coupon that is at a price that I consider to be really good.  For instance, if I normally pay $1 for chef boyardee pasta (which is a staple in our house for the kids- they love it) and it is on sale for $.75 per can.  And I have a coupon for $.50 off per 4 that doubles to $1- that makes it $.50 per can, 1/2 price.  That to me would be worth buying 12 cans.  There are times it come even lower, perhaps I would buy 16-20 then.  As long as there is plenty of the product on the shelf for others that is.

Very frequently, I am able to pick up our personal care items for free.  Items like razors, body wash, shampoo, monthly womanly items, tooth paste, tooth brushes, make up.  I will do this, even if we have a few of each in my cabinet.  Because building a 'stockpile' is a slow process that you do by purchasing 2 of an item that is free when you can.  Not 50.  'That' coupon show has folks believing that we all shop like that.  But 'we' all don't.  That is why I don't have a TV show and they do.

Other items that are typically matched up with sales and coupons for GREAT deals are pastas, pasta sauces, meal helpers, taco items, cereals, oatmeal, baking mixes, marinades, dipping sauces, snack bars, fruit snacks and breading type mixes (bisquick, pancakes, etc.).  When these items are on sale and I have a good coupon, I will typically buy as many as I have a coupon for.  Which is almost always a maximum of 6, 7 if my mom has given me her coupon inserts.  Then I have plenty of that item to serve to my family for the next 2 months or so and I can trim it right out of my grocery budget.

See?  Buy extra when it's on sale- save money- have plenty to provide for my family.  Have plenty to share with the food bank.   And other family members.  THIS is how couponing works for me.

And I love it.  It is a hobby that I truly enjoy- hunting down a fun deal each week.  If couponing for you takes up too much time to seem worthwhile, then don't do it.  It is most definately not for everyone, that is for sure.

But for me- it works.  And I even enjoy sharing what I purchase here on this blog. 

When I grocery shop, inevitably someone will ask me if I am 'one of THOSE extreme couponers'.  I almost always answer that I am just a mom trying to save some money.

My 10/9 shopping trip

CVS:   $.29

 $6.93        7 2liters of Pepsi product at $.99 (there is a limit of 5, I had to ring 2 up by themselves)
$10            4 bags of M&M's at $2.50 each
$7.98         2 covergirl eye shaddws at $3.99 each
$2.97         3 American Greeting cards at $.99 each
$27.89 total

Coupons:
-$1 mq wyb 2 sierra mist
-$1 mq wyb 2 sierra mist
-$.55 mq pepsi zero
-$.55 mq pepsi zero
-$1.50 mq wyb 2 M&M's
-$1.50 mq wyb 2 M&M's (if you still have your pretzel m&m coupons for $1 off per bag- this would be a good week to use them)
-$1.50 cvs magic coupon machine coupons- 3 @ $.50 each that printed last week
-$8 mq wyb 2 covergirl face products
-$3 cvs magic coupon machine coupons- save $3 off cosmetics (printed yesterday, yay!)
-$1 mq wyb 2 cheez it's
-$1 mq wyb 2 cheese it's
$7.29 Total, received back $3 CVS buck wyb 3 american greeting cards, $3 CVS buck wyb $10 in m&m/mars products, $1 CVS buck wyb 4 cheese it's/keebler cookies.  (I rolled extra care bucks from last week into my transaction too, so my out of pocket was just a couple dollars.  I will save this weeks extra care bucks to roll into next week.)


Walgreens:  FREE

I did three transactions to buy all six.  These are on sale for $.99 and you receive a $1 reward wyb 2.  I used the $1 wyb 2 Halls mq from mid september.  I paid $1.06, got $1 reward back.  So I guess technically they are $.03 per bag because of tax.  But I know when sore throats come creeping through our house this time, I will be SOOOO glad to have some of these tucked away in the cabinet!

Unadvertised Walgreens Register Rewards

There are two unadvertised sales that started this week- one on Thursday and one on Friday.  The only way I knew about them was from reading other blogs (wildforwags).

The Nature Valley deal is this- buy 3 get a certain reward, buy 4 get a certain reward, and buy 5 get a $3 reward (through 10/31).  This week- through today- they are also on sale 2/$4.  Here is how it panned out:

$12- 6 boxes of nature valley bars (if you only buy 5- the fifth one rings up for $3.99, you have to buy in incriments of two)
-$3 Walgreens october coupon booklet save $1wyb2 boxes
-$.75 Manufacturer Q wyb 2 of the regular kind
-$2  Manufacturer Q wyb 1 of the salty/nuty bars (used 4 $.50 q's)
$6.25 Paid- and received a $3 register reward back.  It's like paying $.50 per box.


Cottonelle Deal:  Buy 2 of the Ultra (purple package) 12 roll packages and get a $3 register reward back (through 10/30).  Here's how this deal looks:
$10- 2 packs at $5 each
-$2 Walgreens october coupon booklet save $1 wyb 1
-$.75 Manufacturer Q
-$.75 Manufacturer Q
$6.50 Paid.  Received back $3 Register Reward.  It's like paying $1.75 per package.  Or if you still have your $1 off 1 package coupons (I had used all mine) it makes them just $1.50!

I must admit, I stopped at Walgreens yesterday to buy these items.  They were completely out of the regular cottonelle in the blue package.  Every pack, gone.  So I bought the Ultra, not sure if it would work on the sale and I was pleasantly surprised that it did.  Later last night I was reading a blog, and they said that this deal ONLY works on the Ultra.  Yay for me!

Fabulously Frugal Fruit Snacks!

Starting today at Marsh, when you buy 4 betty crocker fruit snacks on sale for $1.99, you save an instant $4 on your order.  At my store, the only ones on sale for $1.99 were the Fruit Roll Ups, Fruit By The Foot and Gushers- like are pictured in the ad.  I'm not sure if the actual snacks are included as well.

Here's what my purchase looked like:

$23.88- 12 boxes of various fruit roll ups, gushers and fruit by the foot
-$12 (3 $4 instant savings)
-$6 (6 manufacturer coupons save $.50 wyb 2, which each doubled to $1)
$5.88 total......which is $.49 per box!

Some of the fruit roll ups were smaller sized and had 18 in each box!  These will be perfect for classroom donations and trick or treaters!

Easy Breezy Beautiful........and FREE!

I can not believe sometimes how much FREE makeup I am able to purchase.  And truly most of the time it comes out to be a money MAKER if there is a register reward or if I'm at CVS.  Remember- at CVS, enroll in the beauty rewards club (which is free and added to your CVS card) and for every $50 you spend on beauty products- shampoo and such included- you earn an EXTRA $5 CVS Buck.  You'll be surprised at how quickly it racks up and then BAM! you get a surprise extra $5 reward!

Last Sunday's paper- the Proctor and Gamble insert- had a $8 off any two face Covergirl products.  It includes powder, foundation, concealer, eyeshadow and blush.  There are eye shadows that are only $3 and change people. 

Today at CVS I noticed that this blush was buy 1 get 1 50% off.  That made the first one $5.29 and the second one $2.64.   $7.93 for both.  I used the $8 coupon- whamo!  Free blush.  Plus the cost of the items counts towards my next $50 beauty reward, PLUS (this just keeps getting better and better) Covergirl products are included in the latest Proctor and Gamble $10 Mail In Rebate (click for the form) when you spend $50. 

Boy am I sure glad I bought 8 newspapers last week.  I'm sure I can hit that $50 mark with that many coupons- turning this into not only free make up for a MONEY MAKER!!!!

No excuses for looking bad while couponing now!

CVS 10/2/11

Dove Shampoo or Conditioner- $3 each + spend $15 get $5 Extra Care Bucks
Schick Hydro 3 or 5 razor $8.29 + earn $3 Extra Care Bucks wyb 1

$18 6 dove hair items @ $3 each
$8.29 schick hydro 3 razor
$26.29 total

Coupons:
-$3 b1g1 dove hair item mq 10/2 red plum
-$3 b1g1 dove hair item mq 10/2 red plum
-$3 b1g1 dove hair item mq 10/2 red plum
-$5 schick hydro razor printed from the internet two weeks ago- no longer available
$12.29 total (I also used a few extra bucks from last week to bring my total down more)

Received back $5 ecb from shampoo + $3 ecb from razor.  It's like I paid just $4.29 for all that.

I also thought I got a good deal on the pepsi co sale this week- but I'm still not sure:
$4-4 lipton iced teas $1 each
$6- 2 cheetos at $3 each
$6- 2 fritos at $3 each
$16 total
-$1 wyb 3 lipton mq pepsi q's 10/2
-$1 wyb 2 cheetos/fritos mq pepsi q's 10/2
-$1 wyb 2 cheetos/fritos mq pepsi q's 10/2
Plus used q from same circular for free Pepsi Max wyb 2 cheetos
$13 total- earned $5 ECB wyb $15 in items
Somehow I had it as a better deal in my head.  Oh well.  Still great coupons!

Wowzers!

You can imagine my excitement when I realized that there were SIX coupon inserts in my paper this weekend!!!!

I bought 8 papers- these are some super great coupons and I CAN'T WAIT to get to clippin to see what's in there.  Total gems I see so far...............$8/2 covergirl face products in the P&G insert (lots of options well under $4 at target- more free make up!) and B1G1 free Dove shampoo/conditioner coupon in the Red Plum.

And I bet there are tons of others!