We've gone nuts

CVS 11/14/11

Skippy peanut butter 1.67 each
Nature Valley sweet & salty bars $2.50 each
Jet Dry $2.99
Cashews $5.79- buy 1 get 1 free. 
Crunchy Nut cereal $2.50
Gillette Fusion travel size shave creme $2.37
$35.24 total

Coupons:
-$2 Gillette shave creme
-$.75 Jet Dry
-$.50 sweet & salty bars
-$.50 sweet & salty bars
-$2 crunchy nut cereal magic cvs coupon machine coupon (yay!)

$29.49 total after coupons.

I earned $2 in ecb for the shaving cream PLUS a $10 AMEX gift card for buying $30 in certain items.  Personally, I used $12 in extra care bucks as well to pay for the purchase- so my out of pocket was much lower.  Still though- $19.49 for all that?  Good deal I think.  (I'm putting some of the cashews aside for my father in law to go with his christmas gift- he's going to LOVE them!)

Cheap broth- it's that time of year

Sales run in cycles.  This season?  Traditional holiday cooking & baking ingredients.  Stock up on sweetened condensed milk, stuffing and..............broth.

Kroger:
Swanson chicken or beef broth $.99 per can.
Buy 10 cans, save $5.00.  Makes it $.49 per can.
Use 2 $.50/5 cans coupon from 11/6 Smart Source- which double- takes off $2.
Paid $2.90 for 10 cans of broth. 

I wish I could have found some stinking papers last weekend- I luckily was given two inserts from a friend- but that is all the coupons I have.  I would most certainly have taken another 10 cans of this stuff for my cabinet. 

Shopping 11/6/11

Walgreens:  $4

$6- 6 Smart Water liters $1 each
$1- 3 Betty Crocker cornbread mix $.33 each (with in ad coupon)
$1- 2 clabber girl baking powder $.50 each (with in ad coupon)
$6- Mars minis 2/$6
-$.50 clabber girl baking powder mq
-$.50 clabber girl baking powder mq
-$1.50 any mars minis mq
-$1.50 any mars minis mq
$10 total (used register rewards to pay)
Received back 2 $2 register rewards for smart waters (get $2 wyb 3- rang up in separate transactions in order to get to register rewards), and $2 wyb 2 mars minis.  $6 total in register rewards received back.


CVS: $3.58

$2.99 Arm and Hammer laundry soap
$2.97- 3 soft soap at $.99 each
$2.97- 3 american greeting cards $.99 each
$1.90- 2 skittles at $.95 each (found them with the 75% off halloween candy- probably just a fluke at my store?)
-$.75 soft soap mq
-$.75 soft soap mq
-$.75 soft soap mq
-$1 any 2 skittles mq
$7.58 total (used extra care bucks to pay)
Received back $3 extra care bucks wyb any 3 american greeting cards and $1 extra care bucks wyb arm and hammer laundry soap.  Received $4 extra care bucks back total.

(PS  I got a rain check for the sale on Jif peant butter- buy 2/$5 and get $3 ECB- makes it $1 a jar!  But of course they were out)

Meijer this week

This week at Meijer, there are just a couple sweet deals that drew me in:

Pillsbury Pie Crust $2- buy 4 get a free gallon of milk
(-$.50/2 mq- which doubles to $1)
Pillsbury Sweet Moments (in the cookie dough case) $2- buy 4 get a free gallon of milk
(-$1 mq)
International Coffee Creamer 16oz
(-$.55 mq which rounded up to $.99- FREE)

So- you buy 4 pie crust and use 2 coupons- you pay $6 out of pocket for 4 boxes of pie crust and a gallon of milk.
Or- you buy 4 Sweet Moments and use 4 coupons- you pay $4 out of pocket for 4 packets of sweet treats and a gallon of milk.

See?  SWEET!

Frugal Findings

I am the room mom for Emily's class.  That is a lot of pressure.  This group of 22 7year olds had been counting down the days to their room party- and I was the only one they were going to tar and feather should it have ended badly.

In years past- room moms have collected $10 from each family for the two annual room party expenses.  I find this to be excessive.  $220 for 2 room parties?  Sometimes they buy a gift for the teacher at Christmas too, but still- really?

This year I decided to just front the whole thing and skip the parent drama.  I knew I could do it inexpensively- and I did.  Here is how it played out:

Games- we played a relay race of pass the apple.  First round they used only their elbows.  Second round they used their chins.  We timed the two rows and let them have a second run to try and improve their time.  Total Cost- $1 (2 apples)

Craft- Scarecrow treat bags.  I used paper lunch sacks ($.88), colored paper ($1) and 'splurged' on google eyes ($2.25).  I precut out all the pieces and the kids glued on their own.  Yellow strips for straw hair, a hat with a colored band, a nose, a mouth, a bowtie and two self sticky google eyes.  Total Cost- $4.13

Snack- Ice Cream Sundaes.  Gallon of ice cream ($4), three squirt bottles of toppings- strawberry, chocolate & carmel ($3 with coupons), Sprinkles ($0- I had them), Whipped Cream ($.89), Marshmallow Topping ($1.39) and cherries ($2.39), Bowls ($1), Napkins ($.50), Spoons ($1).  Total Cost-$14.17.

Take home treats- to fill their treat bags they made.  Halloween pencils ($1.76- 22 @ .08 each), 3 musketeers bars miniature ($.50 with coupon), suckers ($1.29), small hershey bars ($1 with coupon), hershey kisses ($1 with coupon), fruit roll up ($1 with coupons- used 2 boxes @ $.50 each), nestle crunch mini bar ($.50 with coupon), gum ($1), fuzzy sticker pom pom creature guys ($2).  Total Cost- $10.05.

Total Room Party Cost- $28.35.  It could have been even cheaper had I limited some of the toppings.  But I still feel it was a success.  The kids had fun, felt like they hit the jackpot with their treat bags they made and the cost was super low!

Crazy Busy

Sometimes, it comes in so handy that I happen to have an extra or two of most everything we use in our home.  Because some weeks become so crazy busy that you simply CAN"T get out to a store.  The past week or so has been like that for me.

Last week- basically the only thing I managed to take advantage of was a Walmart deal:

I ordered this basket of P&G product for $9.99- but it was on sale for $9 (not sure why) with FREE shipping (I received it the NEXT day).  It comes with a free subscription to Allure magazine.  Or, if you prefer, you can submit for a rebate for $9.99.  Completely free- and shipped to me!  They also included a sample of the Febreeze lantern cover things.

This week I did manage to drag my sorry self out to the store though.

CVS-

2 Folgers Coffee $3.50, used $1 mq, $2.50 per can 4 Pantene Shampoos $3.49, used $3 off 2 mq's (counted toward giftcard deal)
2 Bounty Paper Towels 8 packs $5.99, used 1 $1 mq and 1 $.25 mq (counted toward giftcard deal)
2 Covergirl eye shadow $5.99, 2nd for $1.99 (1/2 off), used $8 mq (counted toward gift card deal)
6 Skinny cow candy bars $1.19, b2g1 free.  Used b1g1 mq's- bought 1 got 2 free.

Paid $27.80- received back a $10 shell gas station gift card.  Not the best trip ever, but we were out of paper towels anyway.  And the coffee was just a great deal.

I must say though, I am disappointed that I have already used up all my $8 covergirl coupons.  This week, with this promotion, had I saved them up I could have bought tons of blush and eye shadows all for free PLUS got free $10 gas cards.  Truly a money maker- but I only had one left. Oh well.

Walgreens-
Major strike out.  The only thing they had that I thought I'd buy was the Ricola dual action cough drops ($2 get $2 register reward) which I would have used my b1g1 q on and gotten 2 for free- but of course I waited until yesterday and they were gone.  Oh well- not a big deal.

I have no less than 6 weeks of coupons stacked on my kitchen counter to cut and file.  Then I am going to get back on my serious business couponing horse- I mean it!

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!