more bandaids!

Look what I found at Target today! We needed diapers and one of those silicone brush things for grilling, and I can't seem to make a Target run without taking a look around. The first aid bag ($4.99) was free with the purchase of 3 Johnson&Johnson First Aid Products. 20 packs of Hello Kitty Bandaids were $1.89 each, and the Gauze Pads were $1.57. For a pre-coupon total of $10.34. After the $4.99 autodeduct, I used 3 $1 off any Johnson&Johnson First Aid coupons (expiring tomorrow) bringing my total to $2.35.

I know I didn't really need any more bandaids, and yes I only have boys, but Trent loves Hello Kitty and I have no plans to introduce him to SpongeBob (the only other character bandaid they had). I'm really excited to swap out the sandwich baggie full of Infant Tylenol, baindaids, neosporin, and diaper rash cream in my diaper bag for this little bag!

They also had all the value sized items being clearanced out, most were at 15% off but some were more. I was able to snag a giant box of Pampers sized 1 for $20.28, or about $0.14 a diaper. I'm still trying to figure diaper prices, but it seemed like a bargain to me...

"We need charcoal"

The husband loves to tease me about coupons, but occasionally he'll let me know when he's run out of something and ask if there are any deals for it. He grilled last night, and afterwards he mentioned that he was running low on charcoal so I could add it to the list. I was excited because I've had a few coupons I've been planning to use the next time we needed charcoal, so here's what we did at Albertsons:

2 bags Chocolate Chip cookies...$5.00
18lb. bag Kingsford...$6.99 (usually $9.99)
Box of yogos ("toddler candy")... $1.50
Lawry's Garlic Salt... $1.00
KC Masterpiece... $2.69
2.6 lbs. Pork Ribs...$7.86
Brown TShirt... $1

and I used:
Free KC Masterpiece wyb Kingsford... took off $2.69
$6 off Pork wyb Kingsford and KC Masterpiece

So, I paid about $18bucks for all those items- $8.85 of it for Charcoal, ribs, and BBQ sauce! I didn't really need the cookies, but they're perfect chocolate chip cookies and I cannot seem to master a batch myself. It's fun to splurge once in a while. I also have a $2 mail in rebate form I can send in for buying Kingsford Charcoal and KC Masterpiece... bringing the total for ribs, charcoal, and sauce down to $6.85!!!

You can find the $6 off Pork When you buy Kingsford and one other participating product coupon by clicking here=. It doesn't expire until 12/31, so you've got plenty of time to use it. Unlimited prints too!

Deals this week...

So far there doesn't seem to be much in the way of great deals for the week, which tends to happen the week I do the bulk of our shopping. Here are a few deals that might be decent:

SAFEWAY:

• 80% ground beef is $1.47/lb
• 10/$1 Large Hass Avocados & Large Cantaloupe
• $1.99 when you buy Doritos (11.75-14.5oz) AND 2 Pepsi (20oz.)
• $2.99 when you buy Safeway Sliced Bacon (12-16 oz) AND Lucerene Large Eggs (12ct)
• $3.99 when you buy Strawberries (16oz) and Angel Food Cake... wonder if a free strawberry coupon can be used in combination with this?
• $2.99 when you buy Windex (26-32.5 oz) and Thirsty Paper Towel (1 roll)... I'm sure I saw coupons for both these items recently

ALBERTSONS:

• $1.79 Shoppers Value Milk, 1 gallon
• 2/$5 Albertsons Chocolate Chip Cookies (a yummy splurge?)
• Buy 1 Kraft Mac&Cheese 5 pack @$5.69, get another one free plus 2 Capri Sun Sunrise (look for the peelie on mac&cheese). You might also be able to use a $2off Chips Ahoy when you buy any Capri Sun coupon (these are being spotted at Safeways)

QFC:

• $1.49 QFC Eggs, AA 18 ct.
• Malt-O-Meal cereal (select varieties) 3 for $6 after an instant $3off

See? Not much out there this week. I may just buy the things we need for this week and wait and see what else pops up.

Getting my toddler to try new foods

Trent, my two year old, has always been a great eater. Seriously, broccoli is one of his favorite foods and on a grumpy morning he can be coaxed into a better mood with half a Flinstone. When presented with offers of marshmallows and other such "goodies" he responds with "garbage. yucky. trash?" I wish I could take full credit for this, but I think a lot of it comes from his resistance to new foods. Sure, it works out great when someone is offering him gummy candies, but doesn't work so great when I'm trying a new recipe or want him to try fruits or veggies he doesn't usually get.

The solution? Having him help me in the kitchen! I know, it doesn't sound like much of a solution for a toddler refusing to try new things- but it works for us! I'm still trying to figure out how to handle 2 kids, so I do a lot of dinner prep in the afternoon. Including Trent does slow me down some, but it gives us a fun and educational activity. Not only that, but taking the time to chop our veggies during the day provides us with a variety of snacking options. His job is usually to separate the veggies into their own bowls, but we both munch while we're working. I always try to include something he likes, but he'll eat anything we're working with. He actually even tried green onions the other day when I was helping my mom prepare some snacks for her church class (he really did not like them, but we still had to stop him from trying a second handful)! I don't know if it's the lack of pressure to try something new, an attempt to copy me, or pure curiosity but I love that he's getting excited about new foods. The best part is that come dinner time, he's happy and knows that he likes all the food on his plate!

You can visit Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family to see what works for other people!

One last Albies run...

...and I only spent $1.49 this time!

I was out of $1 coupons for the BBQ Sauce, so I used 6 $0.75 off coupons (2 of which doubled) so they were all free. I also used a Free French Bread coupon I found attached to the bottom of one of my receipts from earlier this week, I had to call and do a quick survey to get the code. They Graham Crackers were priced at $2.49 instead of $3.00, so all the smores items came to $1.49 this time around (after the instant discount, the coupon, and the doubler). My savings for this trip added up to $25.71.

Just in case you're wondering, we won't really be eating all of the smores. My toddler loves graham crackers and they're so much cheaper this way. So far, we've given away 2 sets of smores to people we know and are looking to unload some of the marshmallows to anyone who'll take 'em. I think we'll keep one bag for ourselves to make some smores with. I'm sure I'll be able to find a use for all the Hershey's though!

...and that brings my grand totals for the week at Albertsons to $21.36 spent and $190.96 saved! I could have done better if I had split my first trip into separate transactions, but this is all still a learning experience and I'm feeling pretty great about all my deals.

Albertsons again!

I got all this for $4.17!!

...and saved $53.34 in the process!

phew! 3 days of Albertsons in a row, working out deals for myself and my mom is a lot of work! Of course, we had to go back for free cheese, free bbq sauce, free ritz chips, and better than free wheat thins. I did pay for the Saltines ($0.99) and the smores items. I used the candy bars to absorb some overage from the Wheat Thins, they were on sale 2/$1 and I used 2 "buy 1 get 1 free" coupons I found in the candy aisle.

Here's another coupon good for $1 off any 1 Kraft Naturals Cheese. Use a doubler with this for FREE cheese!

Awesome Albertsons Trip 5/21

$3.11 spent, $50.65 saved!

Not that I would've paid over fifty bucks for all the items in the picture! I was thrilled to get it all for slightly over three dollars...and the best part is that YOU can do it too!! You can find the coupons for almost everything above on Coupons.com. Of course, you have to separate things (I did 3 transactions for the items pictured above) to make the best of your coupons and doublers. The BBQ sauce was free without doubles. The Triscuits and Wheat Thins generated overage after coupon and doublers which helped cut down the cost of the smores items. The Saltines worked out to $0.99 each after coupons and doublers, and both the cheese and peanuts were free after coupons and doublers. You can find the cheese coupon here.

$6.95 spent, $26.95 saved

It may not be the best deal on Coke ever, but it's good enough that I'm thinking of doing it again! I used five $1 coupons from MyCokeRewards, and three doublers from the Albies ad. They had a stack of coupons at the Coke display with $1off any 2 Coke multi packs, which wouldn't be as awesome of a deal, but with two of those and two doublers you could cut your price down to $10 for 5 boxes (an average of $2 a box). An even better idea would be to throw in a 6th box, use one more coupon and one more doubler, to get those six boxes for $11.50 (for an average of $1.91 a box).

And just a quick note, you can get FREE Bar-S hotdogs after coupons and doublers. You'll find the $1 off 2 packages coupon you need over at coupons.com. Albertson's has them on sale for $0.99 each so when you use a doubler, they both become free. I've never tried this brand, but for free maybe you'll want to.

$1 flipflops @ Old Navy

Saturday, May 23rd, is the day for $1 flip flops at Old Navy. I missed out last year, but could definitely use a few more pairs. Check it out if you're looking for sandals for the summer!

Albertsons (doublers!)

My mom volunteered to provide snacks for one of her church class meetings, so we were looking for cheap snack foods. When I got the Albertson's flyer in the mail yesterday and saw all the sales on Kraft products, I thought we just might need to make a run there. Here's what we bought:

$5.64 spent, $34.31 saved!

Honey Maid Graham Crackers $2.99
Chinet Plates $2.50
3 Wheat Thins $1.47
Hershey's 6 pack $3.00
La Victoria Salsa $1.00
Kraft Naturals Shredded Cheese $2.00
Cracker Barrel Sharp White Cheddar $2.50
Marshmallows $1.00
Mascara $1.99

-$3.00 instant off for buying graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows
-$1.00 when you buy smores stuff tearpad on display
-$1.00 Wheat thins printable (x3)
-$3.99 free Cracker Barrel cheese coupon (Kraft instant win game)
-$1.00 Kraft cheese
-$1.01 for half off clearanced makeup
-$3 doublers in Albertson's ad

Woohoo! Super cheap smores for me, mascara for my mom, and lots of snacky foods for the church!

$4.55 spent, $17.01 saved!

She did the same smores deal I did, using the tearpad coupon and a doubler, it works out to be $2.00 for the lot of it. The big boxes Johnson&Johnsons first aid were $0.99 each after a $1 coupon and a doubler, and the small box was $0.46 after $1 coupon. She had to get a raincheck on the small boxes, because this was the last one. What a great shopping trip!

You can find the Wheat Thins coupons (along with Triscuit, Ritz, and HoneyMaid coupons) over at coupons.com. Remember that you can print each one twice. Our Albertsons also had copies of their ads available at the Customer Service desk up front, so check there if you're looking for the doublers. All of these deals are good through Tuesday.

Get some free hotdogs (today only)

*this offer is no longer available!* Kraft is giving away coupons for a free package of Oscar Mayer Beef Franks today only. Sign up here for your coupon. The site says it'll take 4-6 weeks to get to you. It's not the brand we usually buy, but for free...why not try it?

Walgreens

Cheap Bandaids!

Trent is getting to be that age where I'm sure I'm going to start needing to have Bandaids on hand...you know, all the time. Walgreens currently has Bandaids on sale 2/$5, with a RR promotion that you get $4RR when you spend $10 on Bandaids and/or Neosporin (on sale for $5). I did 4 boxes of Bandaids @ $2.50 each, and used 4 $1off coupons from a few weeks ago. My total came to $6.86 but I got back $4RR for next time. I should go back this weeks to do the Neosporin. I'll probably buy something else producing RR with what I have now to cut down on my out-of-pocket expense, because I can't use the Bandaid/Neosporin RR on more of the same products.

Even without coupons, the bandaids would be $10 with a $4RR, making your net cost $6 for 4 boxes (or $1.50 a box). Seems like a decent price, especially if you need Bandaids and can find the 80count assorted.

If you head to Walgreens today or tomorrow, May 20th or 21st, you may want to print this $5off a purchase of $25 or more. Buying the Bandaids/Neosporin would get you almost halfway to the $25.

Grocery Shopping...

Safeway 43.98 spent, 53.72 saved!

yep...less than $45 for:

• 10 boxes assorted cereals
• 2 cans pineapple chunks
• 1 can tuna
• 1 lb. of strawberries
• 1 large tub of Country Crock
• 1 large box instant rice
• Oyster Sauce
• Lo Mein noodles
• 1 box penne
• 1 box manicotti
• 1 dozen eggs
• pork (just enough to try a new recipe)
• 8 lbs. ground beef
• 2 lb. bananas
• 1/2 lb. zucchini
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 and 1/2 lb. red potatoes
• 1/2 lb. broccoli
• a handful of celery sticks
• and a small scoop of cashews (for the pork)

That's a savings of 55% on almost everything I'll need for the next two weeks, or until we need to run back for milk and bread. We got 10 boxes of cereal, taking advantage of the mix and match (save $5 instantly) promo and a veriety of Kelloggs coupons. Altogether they cost about $8, an awesome bargain considering the husband eats at least 2 bowls of cereal a day! I may actually go back and buy some more before the deal is over. We also used one of those free strawberries coupons. You can find a variety of Kelloggs coupons on their website by clicking here. The coupons are a bit of a hassle as they each print on separate pages and have full page ads (what an ink waster!) so it's really only worth it if you or someone you know likes that kind of cereal. Like always, you can print each coupon twice- just remember that you have to buy 5 participating cereal to get the $5 instant off!

Swagbucks

I've been hooked on Swagbucks for a few months now after seeing a post on the Thrifty board at DiaperSwappers. All the ladies on the board seemed thrilled with the site, so I decided to check it out. If you are not a Swaggernaut yet, you should be! Swagbucks is a search site, powered by Google and Yahoo, where you can win points for searching. You can then redeem your points for AWESOME prizes, and it's entirely free. I've received Starbucks giftcards before, but usually redeem my points for Amazon giftcards. I've only been searching since mid-February, but have over $30 in Amazon giftcards already! I haven't spent them yet, and might actually wait until it's time for holiday shopping. I referred my mom, and although she doesn't search nearly as often, she's having a blast with the site. She recently got herself a movie (using Amazon giftcards) and a Swagbucks t-shirt... we took a video of my toddler with the shirt for her to submit to the site (she'll get points for that!), but thought I'd share it here as well...

...there you have it! Even my son thinks Swagbucks is "Nice"

Interested in checking out this great site for yourself? Check out their Frequently Asked Questions Page here. Ready to sign up? You can click the link below and sign up! I'm not going to lie, I will get points for referring you (they match up to the first 100 points you win) but the site really is worth your time. Once you sign up, you'll get your own referral link to pass along to anyone/everyone you know.

Thrifty Romance

Between our (almost!) 2 year old and the 2 month old, the husband and I don't have a lot of time or money for romantic alone time. Inspired by the Pocket-Change Date Night Ideas post I recently read, and knowing just how much we could use a special "date night" once in a while even if we don't leave the house... I began thinking of ideas for something special the husband and I could do together without spending a fortune.

And here is our official "Cheap Date Night #1"
1 lb. Strawberries... free from Safeway with a coupon from here
Baker's Dipping Chocolate... bought at Walgreens on clearance for $0.45 a few months ago
and a Redbox Movie... free
Total cost= $0.45!

looks yummy!!

Redbox was giving out free movie codes every Monday, but this was the last week for that. There are still some free codes available and they'll continue to put out at least one a month for the rest of the summer. Otherwise, it's only $1 per day to rent a movie (you get til 9pm the next night).

Target

Target is looking pretty good this week, they seem to have lots of freebies and cheap items. I went earlier this week for a super quick trip (Ryan needed a new outfit) so I didn't plan ahead. I think I may need to head over to take advantage of some of these deals:

• Chex Mix- there's a Target printable for $1 off and $0.99 bags in the checkout lanes= FREE
• Hershey's Bliss Bars- are also $0.99 in the checkout lanes with a $1 Target printable= FREE
• Small Glade Soy Candles- $5.79 each, with $5 giftcard when you buy 2. Using $4 coupons from last week, you'd make money buying these!
• Nabisco Snack Sacks- $1.52, use the $1 target printable and pay only $0.52

If you have a Super Target you can use the $1 apples coupon and get them free if you buy the $0.99/lb apples. Free produce is awesome, and I wish I could take advantage of that deal! You can find most of the printables on Targets website, or you can use a generator and print multiples of the ones you want (it saves paper!). There's a good one right here.

FYI, Target's official policy allows the use of both one manufacturer coupon and one Target coupon for one item. Target coupons are marked so you can only use one of each kind in each transaction, although nothing is stopping you from doing more than one transaction a day. They DO NOT allow overage and should adjust the coupon down to the price of the item, per their official policy. Some cashiers don't care and will push it through, others will insist that you can't use the coupon at all. If you're nervous about doing the deals, simply email Target for a copy of their policy and take it along with you.

More Safeway Runs...

Thank goodness the Live Well promo is over, it was a blast but I'm exhausted! I've got a couple more pictures of runs I did last week, this first one cost about $9 out of pocket with $19 in catalinas. The second picture cost me about $3 and gave me another $10 catalina. There were two other trips, one was just magic erasers (10 boxes for $4) and the other was more hot dogs, magic erasers and dog food.

this was around $9

and this was only $3 something!

I may be going back this week to take advantage of the FREE 1lb. Fresh Strawberry coupon they have available on their website (link here! It's on the second or third page, and you can print it twice) and to buy some ice cream (check your ads for the deal listing). There were coupons for some of the participating items in an insert a couple of weeks ago, and I have a stack of catalinas for $1.00-$1.50 of Haagan Dazs from buying the Starbucks ice creams.