I'll be gone

...for most of the weekend!

an ethics question

I recently posted about milk coupons you could find on coupons.com using another zip code. One of my commenter's, Carrie, posed a great question about the ethics of using another zip code to access the coupon. I hope she doesn't mind, but I thought I'd respond in post form rather than in my comments. Here's the question:

"I've got one question on this milk coupon.. and would like you to think about it. Is it ethical to print the other zip codes just so we can get the coupon? If they had wanted us to have it in our area, they would have given it. I think they limit it to certain zip codes in a way to limit the number of coupons they allow to go out. Not sure, but thats my thought, so if we publish the zip, then it goes cross country and who knows how many stores will accept them... and maybe not be paid for them since they weren't for their area. Just a thought."

I thought about this before posting the coupon originally, and I gave it quite a bit of thought again last night. Generally speaking, I use my regular zipcode when printing coupons because if there are deals specifically geared towards where I live then I want to see them. I don't know the reasoning behind making coupons available only in certain zipcodes, but I don't believe it's to limit the number of coupons going out. In the past, coupons.com has put restrictions on the number of coupons going out (that's why really hot coupons go so quickly...I'm thinking specifically of the $3 and $5 huggies coupons in March). Other times they make it clear coupons are to be used only in some places (example: those neat dairy coupons redeemable in Utah and Idaho only earlier this month). The wording on this coupon is that it's good everywhere except Alaska and Hawaii, so I feel confident the stores will be reimbursed as long as the other criteria is met ($100 grocery purchase for free milk, and purchase of milk for free half gallon chocolate). Of course, now I'm really curious as to the reason behind making some coupons available only in some zip codes. I think I may contact the website and find out for myself!

Know anyone named Dave??

If you do know someone named Dave (or David, or Davey) let them know about this deal! On Sunday, August 30th is celebrating their 15th anniversary by giving anyone with the same name a free entree (up to $14- good on dine-in and to-go orders). If Dave is your middle name, you still get half off! Check out all the details here and then spread the word to any Daves you may know. I almost wish my name was Dave, that bbq pork is delicious!

milk coupons!

These are just too good not to post, if you go to coupons.com you can find two milk coupons. One if good for FREE gallon white milk (up to $4) when you spend $100, and the other is good for a free half gallon of chocolate milk (up to $3.75) when you buy 1 gallon regular milk. Use zip code 63090 if they don't show up for you. These coupons are valid everywhere except Alaska and Hawaii.

just a little note

...to let you know the postings may be scare for a little bit. I'm sorry but I'll get back to you all as soon as I can. In the meantime, if you visit my profile, you can check out all the other blogs I enjoy reading. Check them out!

Old Navy

I just got back from Old Navy, had to use that $75 off $100 coupon I got on Thursday, and they've got all kinds of stuff on sale. They're running a 50% off all clearance items through Wednesday, and there's tons of things on clearance! At our store, the men's and baby sections look like they have been pretty well picked through. It's not just clothes on clearance either, they've got balls, books, and a variety of other things marked down. You may want to check this out soon (plus, they've got air conditioning- great for those who are melting in this heat!). They've also got a buy one, get one 50% off sale on most tops. We did really well with our coupon! We spent $28.94 and got:

• 2 toddler polos (3t and 4t) (.52 each)
• brown pants 3t (2.36)
• jean shorts 2t (.92)
• a cute beach towel (2.62)
• 3 tank tops for me (2.46 each for lace, 1.67 for plain)
• 1 long sleeved shirt for me (2.85)
• 2 polos for the husband (3.83 each)
• matching swim trunks for the boys next year (.65 each)
• a red & white ball (.46)
• one cute tank top for the cousin's toddler girl (.85)

My Albies doublers trip

Spent $11.93, saved $54.12

I did 3 transactions, and used doublers in each one. Thanks to Krazy Koupon Lady for the matchup that paired yesterday's $1 off 2 candybars with the current Albies sale (use a doubler with that coupon to get 4 candybars for free with a bit of overage!).

Transaction one: 2 bottles syrup and 3 wet ones. I used 3- $1 wet ones printable coupons, and the $3 instant off made my total $2. We're brand loyal to this syrup so it was perfect!

Transaction two: 2 boxes instant oatmeal, pack of stir-fry beef, and one $.37 zucchini. $1 came off for "produce" (because I bought 2 boxes of quaker instant oatmeal). I also had 2 $1 peelies for the oatmeal and a $1 meat coupon. After the doublers, I paid $1.72 for all this.

Transaction three: four 12 packs coke, 4 candy bars, and 5 pints of Breyers. I had a raincheck for the ice cream and my $4 off 5 catalina. I also used 2 $1 off coke coupons (no longer available) and a $1 off 2 mars candy bars. After doublers, I paid $8.21. ($1.59/coke, a fairly good price)

If you're looks for more coupon & doublers matchups, check out http://alltogetherbeautiful.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-found-3-twice-value-coupons-in-middle.html or KrazyCouponLady's scenario post.

A few things to keep an eye out for...

Albertson's doublers- you'll find a set of 3 in section A of the Seattle Times tomorrow. If you want more than 1 set of doublers- buy extra papers, ask your friends/neighbors, or keep an eye out for discarded papers in public places. The ones in the actual paper like this are never available in-store. I'm going to look through the ad and see what's good this week.

*sorry! It appears as though Honey Nut Cheerios are not included, so the deal I had posted earlier is no good!

If you're headed to Safeway, swing by the refrigerated fruit section. Chiquita bites are currently on sale for Buy one, get one free AND there are Buy one, get one free peelies attached to some containers. Use that coupon to make two containers free!

Walgreens July 26th-August 1st

This is not an exhaustive list, just a few of the deals I thought looked good. There's still not much going on at Walgreens, but I'm tempted to use up the rest of my Frappucino coupons. Next week should be better!

Starbucks Frappucinos- 4/$5 with in ad coupon
pair it with the $1 insert coupon to pay $0.25 each

Chef Boyardee canned pastas- sale 4/$5 or $1.25 each
use this $1 printable to pay $.25 a can

Conair Gel Grips Hair Dryer- sale $14.99, with $10 register rewards*

Mars candy Bars- $0.49 with in-ad coupon
look for a $1 off 2 coupon in some papers this Sunday to make these free

Scotch Bubble Mailers, $.39 with in-ad coupon
Look for a $.50 off coupon in some papers tomorrow, use it to buy two for $.28

*Register Rewards, for those who are new to "wagging", are Walgreens catalina coupons- good for your next purchase. If you wanted to buy the hair dryer this week- you could purchase that separately in one transaction, followed by $10+ worth of merchandise in a second transaction (almost anything you wanted). They do expire two weeks from the date that you receive them, so you might also wait to see what other deals are coming up next week. Just remember that they are manufacturer coupons, and Walgreens will not allow you to use more manufacturer coupons than you have items. Got questions? Ask them in my comments or email me, and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.

My shopping today: Albertsons & Target

Total spent $23.49, total saved $23.50

not pictured: 2 gallons of milk and a tub of yogurt

We hit Target this morning, hoping to find some good deals on clearanced toys but they didn't have much of anything we wanted. Quite a few toys had been marked down to 50% and I;ve heard they should be hitting 75% soon. Most baby things were only marked down to 30% off. We found some "big boy" briefs on clearance in the baby section ($3.00 a pack, characters my son likes, and the last two they had!). The Snapple was on sale for $4.99 with a $1 coupon attached and a mail-in-rebate for the full cost. We paid with a gift card, so no out-of-pocket there.

Albertsons was sort of on the way home, and since I've been loving their sales and coupons, I thought I'd do my regular shopping there. It's nothing really impressive (my savings weren't even 50%) but I was buying mostly produce and things I had no coupons for. See all those pinto beans? I found a new recipe for crockpot refried beans that sounds amazing...I can't wait to try it later this week!

Running total spent for the week: $40.06. The husband had to make a run to the store last night for a loaf of bread, broccoli, and cauliflower that cost about $5.

Albies today: a quick stop for Dr. Pepper (and it might be over?)

I went today to take advantage of the Dr. Pepper deal, and managed to buy all this (plus 2 other 20oz bottles and more clearance pasta sauce @ $1/jar- orig. 5.99 and 6.19!) for $16.60...and I have another $10 catalina for my next order! My savings show as being $85.03 for these three transactions.
That's 12- 12packs. The husband should have enough Dr. Pepper to last him for quite some time. Ready for some bad news? Some Albertsons stores are reporting that this deal (the Buy 2 get 2 free part) is a pricing error and the deal is apparently no longer running in Utah. If you want to do this deal, you may want to head out tonight to give it a shot.

Running total for the week: $16.60 spent

Thursday = Old Navy Weekly

Today is Thursday, and that means the Old Navy Weekly site will be reloaded with coupons sometime. We never know when it'll happen, so you may want to keep your eyes peeled (of course, the last two weeks it happens minutes after I go out). The best news is that the "$75 off a $100 purchase" coupon is returning this week!! Both that and the "$50 off a $100 purchase" coupons go really quickly. The $75 coupon is an awesome way to get some cheap new clothes!

If you decide to spend some time hunting for coupons today, or are looking for more information, my two favorite blogs with ON (old navy) chats are: The Thrifty Mama and Thrifty Northwest Mom. If you swing over to either of these sites to chat you can ask any questions you may have. They both have rules, but so long as you follow these three- you'll be fine in either chat: keep the chat "family friendly", do not post after the bell rings (it means the site is about to load) unless you are posting a coupon location, and no begging for coupons.

free $10 to Christopher Banks

This is a nice freebie if you or someone you know likes to shop at Christopher Banks (or CJ Banks)- you can find both in our mall. You can print this page and use it in-store to save $10 on anything. It even works for clearance items, some of which are marked down to $9.99 or lower.

It's a great way to get some free/cheap clothes! You can print this coupon as many times as you'd like. The store should not/will not let you use the $10 coupon more than once in a visit. You can bring a friend though and each of you can use one, or you could stop by a few times. The coupon is good until August 16th.

This week's spending in review

I spent a little bit more then I usually would in week 2 (we get paid every 2 weeks) but a lot of it was stockpiling stuff. I think we're set on ice cream for months and have a decent amount of toilet paper. You can click the picture to get to the original post of each deal if you want the details. I spent a grand total of $36.88 for all of this (with $17 worth of giftcards and catalinas to start off next week):

PLUS: 30 more cans of AMP, 2 gallons milk, 2lbs grapes, bananas, a head of broccoli, Draino, another 5 pints Breyers, and 4 more pints Ben & Jerry's. All in all, I'd consider this a pretty awesome week's worth of shopping. I did a bad job of tracking my savings this week, but I am sure it is over the $350 mark.

I'm behind on my menu planning for next week, so I need to make some time to take inventory of what I have on hand tomorrow. I'll probably use my $10 giftcard to QFC for basic staples because it's close and there doesn't seem to be too much going on there this week. I really want to get in on the Dr. Pepper deal at Albies, so I'll use my catalinas to cut my out-of-pocket expense there. I'm hoping to do most of my menu from the stockpile, maybe we'll get some better sales next week.

Albertsons: Practically free Dr. Pepper

This deal is so awesome, it's almost impossible to believe. I don't like Dr. Pepper, but the husband does...I just wish I had seen this deal before I went to Albertsons tonight!!! Thanks to Karrie over at Fistful of Coupons for the heads up!

Buy 4 Dr. Pepper 12 packs @ $5.29 = 21.16 (+ tax)
After the buy two, get two free discount, you'll pay $10.58 (+tax)

Plus you qualify for the Dr. Pepper/Kelloggs promo, so you'll get a $10 catalina good for your next order! You can use this to buy another 4 12 packs of Dr. Pepper if you'd like and pay only the $0.58 (+tax) for every transaction. That's some CHEAP soda! This deal has been confirmed on both regular and diet, in all flavor varieties.

Please note: some stores have Dr. Pepper for a lower price...if you're paying less than $5 per 12 pack, you will need to add a 2 liter or 20oz soda to get your pre-discount total up and over that $20 marker.

My free tp brag!

I got all this for $0.72 cents

I'm not going to go into crazy detail, because I posted the info about this yesterday. I did this all in one transaction (the $3 discount comes off for every $10 you spend) to make things easier on myself. The gloves were all gone, so I bought a pack of wetones (find a $1 coupon on their website) to get me up to $30. The perfect10 was on clearance for $5 but rang up as $1 and I still got to use a $5 coupon on it. WOOHOO! The overage cut into my taxes, which is fine by me! My savings show up as being about $67.

If you live in the area, the Brem. store had 3 boxes left (all blonde) in a cart in the frozen food aisle. I tucked coupons into those boxes, so if you're headed there you may want to check it out. I can't guarantee they'll ring up at $1, but even if they don't give you overage...they'll be free.

Weekly total spent: $36.88. Look for my spending re-cap tomorrow morning!

Albertsons: free/cheap toilet paper and paper towels 7/22-7/28

I've been looking for a good toilet paper deal, because we're almost out...and this is it!

Right now, you can use this $2 coupon (print it twice) and three $1 off playtex coupons (from the paper a couple of weeks ago) to do this. Buy 2 single rolls Sparkle, 2 packs (4 roll) Angel Soft, and 3 (10 count) playtex disposable gloves. Total will be $10, but $3 should come off automatically. After your two $2 printed coupons and your three $1 coupons- your total will come to ZERO (maybe tax?).

Don't have the $1 Playtex glove coupon? That's okay. If you can access a second computer and print 1 more of those $2 coupons, you can buy 3 Angel Soft and 3 individual rolls Sparkle paper towels and pay only $1.50. Not shabby for 12 double rolls of toilet paper! And if you can't use another computer? Pick something you'll use, or buy any 3 items from the $1 section and pay only $2.10 for your 2 packs TP, 2 rolls paper towels, and 3 misc items. Still not a bad deal!

My store had piles of the TP and paper towels today, I'm hoping to get there in time to score some for myself tomorrow!

Albies run: ice cream, salad dressing, and bbq sauce

Guess how much I paid...

...did you guess? I spent $7.85! I also got $7 in catalinas for my next purchase!

So really, it's more like $0.85 net cost for all the items pictured above (if you like to think like that). $4 in catalinas came from the 8 BBQ sauces I purchase, the other $2 was from purchasing 4 of the Ben & Jerry's in one transaction. I saved $85.63, but I'd like to think I'd never spend that much on the items pictured above. The husband should be in ice cream heaven, since most of the Ben&Jerrys is for him. I could have cut my out-of-pocket expense by using the catalinas from my first transaction, but since I had 4 transactions in a row (with one of my favorite cashiers), I just paid cash and let him give me all the receipts and catalinas at the end of the transaction.

It also means my weekly spending is up to $31.16 at the moment. I do still have $10 for QFC and I'm up to $6 at Albertsons. The husband is out getting milk and bread right now, so my total will go up...but then we're all set for the rest of the week.

Want to go to a baseball game for cheap?

Thrifty NW Mom has the details on a ridiculously cool deal to go see the Tacoma Rainiers for cheap...as long as you're willing to go on one of three available dates. We're talking $44 bucks for 4 tickets, 4 baseball caps, 4 slices of pizza during the game, AND 2 Little Ceaser's pizzas with 2 crazy breads for free after the game. There's more to the deal than just that, so check out the post here.

Last day for free AMP and Breyers

Tomorrow is a new week, so if you were hoping to take advantage of the free amp at QFC or any of the freebies at Albertsons (including Kraft BBQ sauce, Breyers, and Pasta Salad) today is the day to go. If they don't have what you're looking for, get a raincheck!!

I'm going to head to Albertsons tonight to use up the last of my coupons for this promo and probably pick up some more Ben & Jerry's (you really can't beat $0.50 a pint- I'm using $1 off 1 coupons and doublers to get that price).

My weekly spending is up to about $23.31 currently. I did the amp deal 2 more times, purchased about $5 worth of produce, and bought some draino for the tub ($5) that had clogged.

Ecoupons

I've posted about these sites before, but thought I'd give you a quick reminder since they've made a few changes. Ecoupons are coupons you can find online, and load onto your loyalty card at stores like Safeway and QFC (Kroger). They come off automatically. Upromise is one, that works differently. Instead of getting a discount on the item you purchase, the amount is put into a college savings fund for your kid(s). I have no experience with that site. The ones I do use are:

Cellfire

• Works for Safeway and QFC
• They also have special offers for local stores, and coupons you can have sent to your cellphone for things like rent one get one free movie rentals at Hollywood video.
• The number you enter does not need to be a cellphone number if you only plan to use the grocery coupons

Shortcuts

• Works at Safeway and QFC
• No phone number required, this site is simply linked to your loyalty card
• Offers some of the same coupons as Cellfire

P&G eSAVER

• I believe this one only works at QFC, but it may have been updated to include Safeway (I cannot remember my password for the life of me...will update as soon as I can log in)
• Does not offer the same coupons as Shortcuts and Cellfire, but has some great brands

Bringing Hope to the Table

• Works for QFC only
• Has unique coupons

These coupons are all very easy to use, and the sites are updated frequently with new offers. For the sites compatible with multiple stores, you can only load each coupon onto your card once...so choose the store you do most of your shopping at. Some sites take longer for the coupon to become active on your card than others, so it's a good idea to load the coupons 24 hours in advance just to be sure. You'll also need the number located on the back of your shoppers card to sign up, so find that card before you start signing up!

Deals around town 7/22-7/28

Here are a few of the deals around town I like for this next week. I'll come back and edit once I get ahold of the ads tomorrow (I've only seen Safeway, Walgreens, and Albertsons so far). It doesn't look like a great shopping week to me, so I probably won't do too much.


Albertson's (see the ad here) -no doubles in the ad

• Free milk, bread, and eggs instantly (up to $4) when you buy 4 participating GM cereals (on sale 4 for $10).
• $0.98/lb Cherries, Tomatoes on the vine, and plums (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only)
• Get a $10 catalina good on your next order when you buy $20 worth of participating Dr. Pepper & Kelloggs products.
• There's a new Mix and Match promo- completely new items, with a spend $10 (before coupons) get $3 off instantly.
• Check out KrazyCouponLady's matchup with a great Keebler cookie scenario!

Safeway

• 80% lean ground beef $1.49/lb
• $0.79/lb whole chicken
• $1 each yellow & red bell peppers
• $0.97/lb cherries
• Mix and Match promo- buy 5 items, save $5 instantly
• $1/lb zucchini, yellow squash, and walla walla onions
• Looks like great prices on fruit and veggies. Maybe something good will come of the mix and match deal...I'll keep you posted!

Walgreens (new to Wags? Read a great 101 post here)

• lots of cheap back-to-school goodies. My kids are too little for this, but now seems to be the time to buy your school supplies.
• Mentos gum, sale $0.99 with in-ad coupon. Use the $1 coupon from 6/21 inserts to make it free
• Pilot G2 Gel pens (2pk) on sale $1, with $1 in Register Rewards.
• Note: this doesn't look worth the trip to me. We should have some better weeks coming soon (hopefully!)

RiteAid

I don't usually shop RiteAid, but there are quite a few deals going on this week. MoneySavingMom has an awesome post with tons of deals and scenarios, you can check it out here. I know it was their policy not to accept printed coupons that did not come from their site, but have heard they changed that rule. Depending on the store, they may or may not want to accept printed coupons so keep that in mind.

The winner of the coupon giveaway is...

The winner of the free Skintimate coupon (and other random coupon goodies) is Amber! I'll be emailing you shortly. Thank you to all of you who entered, I wish I had more of these to giveaway!!

P.S. It's Monday so if you're looking for a free mocha, McDonalds is the place to go. Most of the local ones should be participating- I saw a sign up at one the other day and the three in town are all owned by the same people.

A couple of QFC trips

We were having a couple of people over last night, and I wanted something quick and easy that wouldn't generate a lot of heat when cooked, so we went to get some microwavable veggies ($3.49- eep!). Used my GC from doing the AMP deal before, and the cantaloupe was on sale, so my total was $5.47 for this:
I also went to Albertsons to buy 4 more pints of Breyers (free) and some Ben & Jerry's for the husband ($3.00 for 2 pints after coupons and doublers). Today, I grabbed 10 more cans of AMP and 2 papers for a total of $3.86. I have a $10 GC for my next QFC trip, but I may do the AMP deal one or two more times before I cash the card out by buying groceries we actually need.

That brings my total weekly spending to $13.31. While you're here, don't forget to enter my little coupon giveaway!

Free at Albertsons (for those who are couponless)

There are quite a few freebies at Albertsons this week (up until Tuesday) and since almost everyone loves free groceries...I thought I'd give you a gentle reminder right now. This is written for those of you who may be new to coupons, or don't know what you're doing. Here's what you can get for free (and how to do it- you'll need one of their Preferred Savings cards).

• Kraft BBQ sauce- currently on sale at $1 apiece and part of the Epic Savings promo. For every 2 bottles you buy, you'll get back a $1 catalina good on your next purchase. Buy 10 bottles, pay $5 out of pocket and you'll receive $5 in catalinas making all your BBQ sauce free!
• Kraft Pasta Salad- not quite as easy, this one may take a little luck. The boxes are on sale at $1 and also part of the Epic promo, so when you buy 10 an instant $5 will come off your total. If you can find 5 boxes with "$1 off 2 boxes" coupons attached, they will be free. If you can only find 3, you can use two doublers (find them in the weekly ad, available at Customer Service) to make them all free. Don't like pasta salad? use just the pasta part for anything you want! Please note: you can mix and match any of the Epic Promo deals. Only able to find one peelie for Pasta Salad? Use that and a doubler to buy 4 boxes and grab 6 bottles BBQ Sauce. You'll have to pay $3 but you'll get that $3 back...making this whole transaction FREE!
• Breyer's Ice Cream (pint sizes)- print two "$1 off 2" coupon here before you head to the store. Get those double coupons. Pick up 4 pints on sale for $1 each. Pay nothing, and you'll get a "$4 off 5" coupon you can use (no doublers needed) to buy another 5 pints for $1 total.
• Honey Nut Cheerios (17 oz)- $1.99 as part of the Epic Promo. You can print a $1 coupon here, and use a doubler with it to make it free. Note: it does say "Do Not Double" but in most parts of Washington, it doesn't matter to the store. You can print this twice and mix the two of these with 8 BBQ sauce bottles to make the most of this freebie.
• Nature Valley Nut Clusters- $1.99 as part of the Epic Promo. Find a $1 coupon here, print it twice, when used with a doubler it's free! Mix them with 8 BBQ sauces or 8 boxes Pasta Salad (provided you have 4 peelies) to make the best of this deal. There's another coupon available here, this one can also be printed twice!

Remember, if something is part of the Epic Promo you'll need to have 10 participating items to make it work. Otherwise, after the coupon and doubler- you'll pay $0.50 per item (that would have been free otherwise). Also, you can only use 2 doublers per transaction, but most stores will let you do three in a row with no problem (as long as the lines aren't crazy). If you feel funny doing this (and some people do) you can leave the store after each transaction and put your groceries in the car. You can use the $1 catalinas you earn buying the BBQ sauce to pay for more BBQ sauce and will still get those $1 catalinas back. Still unsure about what to do? here's a sample scenario:

Transaction #1

buy 8 BBQ sauce and 2 boxes Cheerios. Use two of the cheerios printable coupons and two doublers. You'll pay $4 and get back 4 $1 catalinas.

Transaction #2

buy 8 more BBQ sauce and 2 bags Nut Clusters. Use the two nut cluster coupons, two doublers, and the $4 in catalinas from your last transaction. Pay nothing (except maybe tax?) and get back 4 $1 catalinas.

Transaction #3

buy 4 pints of Breyer's and any other groceries you might need. Use your two Breyer's coupons and two doublers. If buying other groceries, you can pay with the $4 in catalinas you have. If not- your total should be nothing (except tax?).

If you purchased nothing else, you'll go home with: 16 bottles BBQ Sauce, 2 boxes of cereal, 2 bags Nut Clusters, 4 pints of ice cream, and $4 to use the next time you shop at Albertsons. You'll have spent $4 and maybe small amounts of tax. Yes, it's a lot of BBQ sauce- you can either give some away or learn new recipes to use it up. I'm sure you'll figure something out!

Friday Freebies Reminders

There are quite a few free things you can request online, and I just wanted to remind everyone!

• Sign up for a free coupon for Venom Energy Drink. Read my details about it here.


• Read here to find out how to get a coupon good for a free pint of Starbucks ice cream (facebook users).


• Go here and sign up for a coupon good for one free Mars candy bar. You can request up to 4 per household!

and don't forget to enter my coupon giveaway while you're at it! It could mean more freebies for you!

Thrifty milk

We ran out of milk tonight, and in a house full of cereal/milk addicts, that's no good. So I made a very quick Albertson's run, 2 transactions but nothing fancy...unless you count free ice cream as fancy! While I was there I remembered that I needed eggs too, so...

$0.98 spent, $45.40 saved!

I used $2 in catalinas to pay, one in each transaction. The first transaction (milk, eggs, pasta salad, 4 ice creams, and eggs) cost $0.98. The second was free after my catalina.

Jane over at AllTogetherBeautiful has all the ice cream details. I did what she has outlined as #2 and then used the $4 off 5 Breyers catalina to purchase the second set. I'm going to do this a few more times, because who doesn't need free ice cream??

running total spent this week: $0.98

Double Naptime Special: pics of the kiddos

Yes, they're both napping...AT THE SAME TIME! I'm thrilled!! So, I'm taking a couple of minutes to post some pictures of the boys (not of them napping) for your enjoyment. Littlest one is 4.5 months and loves his gym:

this was the best we got for 4th of July together cuteness (shirts were both on clearance last month at Fred Meyers, and not too matchy!):

and this is my favorite of the 4th of July together pics because it cracks me up:

We took this one of the Oldest when we went to Port Gamble for a picnic a couple weeks ago. He was having a blast running around and naming everything he saw:

Hope you enjoyed a little peek at the boys. I'm off for now to enjoy some naptime freedom!

Week's spending in review..

This is the first week I've really kept track of my grocery spending. There are 4 of us: 1 baby who doesn't actually eat anything, 1 toddler who eats everything (at the moment), my husband and I. The grand total for spending comes in at $42.91 for:

...and...

...and...

including another 2 gallons of milk, 5 newspapers, and a few items that never made it into pictures. I also gained a $10 gift card good at QFC and have $5 in catalinas left for Albertsons. I did most of our real grocery shopping this past week, but will probably have to make it out for: more free AMP @ QFC, milk, produce, toilet paper, and maybe another Albies run or two (I'd hate to not use up those doublers!). The total savings for this week? Somewhere along the lines of $260 bucks. I love coupons!

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my spending for the week. It's a huge improvement over the "hopefully less than $130" budget for 2 weeks I'd been working with previously. I do have to wait to see how this next week goes before I make any final judgements, but it looks good!

PSSST...While you're here, don't forget to enter my little coupon giveaway! It ends Monday.

New background and layout!

I thought it was about time I update the blog, I hope this a little bit more friendly on the eyes. I stumbled upon Cori's Scrap-e-blog last night and loved all her adorable free backgrounds! She also makes headers for a small fee...I'd love to get one, I'm just not sure what I want on it yet. Let me know what you think of the new look and maybe pop on over to her blog and see what she's got. She does have a donate button, so if you pick up one of her free backgrounds, you may want to consider making a donation.

Free Skintimate Coupon Giveaway!

I recently contacted the makers of Skintimate to let them know how much I love the new cream shave, my legs have seriously never felt more smooth! I feel like I'm pampering myself when I run a hot bath and shave my legs (how silly does that sound?!). And those ridiculously smooth legs make me feel a little bit more "woman" and less "mommy". In response to my email, SC Johnson generously sent me a coupon good for a free Skintimate Shave product worth up to $4 and I want to share it with one of you! I'll throw in a few extra coupons for fun, including some of those $1 beef coupons for Albertsons if you'd like (just let me know).

To enter, just leave a comment sharing one way you treat yourself and an email address. This giveaway will end Monday the 20th, so leave your comment before then. Good luck!!

My QFC/Albertsons run today...

I spent $14.90 and have a $10 giftcard

...for all of this (and a few other things! saved about $88 bucks today!)

Not pictured is the Frappucino I drank, 4 boxes of Pasta salad, and another bag of granola clusters that my sister and son munched on while shopping today. I used a few catalinas at Albies to pay for the bread. My store is one of 4 in Washington competing against 4 in Oregon for bread sales so they were giving free garlic spread...I LOVE the one cashier there (she always has coupons for us and lets us know about deals we might've missed) so I bought a loaf. I saved $38.76 between my coupons and the sales.

At QFC, I purchased some $0.88 hamburger buns that I needed and did the AMP deal I told you about earlier today two times. There is tax, so I paid $0.85 for the second set of 10 but I have a $10 gift card so it works out pretty great at less than 9 cents a can! They didn't have tons of AMP, but said they'd be getting in more tomorrow. I also finally found the $1 off 2 Haas avocado coupons and some other goodies.

This bumps my weekly total up to: $42.91 but it is unlikely we'll do more shopping until tomorrow, so I'm going to call it $43 for the week. I'm feeling pretty great about that. Next week should be cheaper, since I did the bulk of my shopping this week.

Great Deal on AMP energy drinks

Right now QFC (and most/all? Kroger stores- so Fred Meyer should be included) have a $10 catalina for a gift card when you buy any 10 AMP energy drinks. QFC currently has AMP on sale for $1.50 with an instant $5 off when you buy 10, making them $1 each. Buy 10, pay $10 and then get a catalina good to buy a $10 gift card. You can then use the gift card to purchase more AMP if you want. I'm definitely going to be doing this deal, hopefully a couple of times, and then plan to use the gift card to buy milk or something (because we need it). I haven't see a lot of deals that net you free energy drinks!

I got a few steaks...

$1.13 out of pocket, $49.63 saved

There was also a twix candybar and another box of mac&cheese in there, guess the toddler snatched it? Anyways, this is what I did today in two transactions, using 5 doublers each time. I am really loving the $1 beef coupon for getting cheap steak! I did use $2 in catalinas to help cut down my out of pocket cost, but the mac&cheese got me another $1 catalina towards my next purchase.

I wanted more of the honey nut cheerios but they were out of the size I wanted! I found a few neat coupons while walking the store today, and got some awesome coupons for the Easy Mac cups from my husband's cousin who was doing her shopping too! (Thank you!!)

Current total spent this week: $28.01

Free Mocha Monday at McDonalds

Thought I'd share this one, since everyone seems to be blogging about it... Every Monday through August 3rd, you can visit McDonalds and get a free 8oz mocha (or 7oz iced mocha). There's a limit of 1 per person and not all stores are participating, but that might just be because not all McDonalds stores have the coffee items. It might be a good idea to call ahead just in case. You can find out more details here, not that there are really any more details.

I plan to skip this freebie only because I think their coffee is terrible. I haven't tried the mochas and they might not be so bad (it's hard to screw up chocolate and coffee) but I did try an iced coffee there once... it was so bad I threw it out after a couple of sips.

Keeping Track- a challenge for myself

I've been doing a lot of shopping lately, but with all these great deals at Albertsons, it's been hard to skip. I do want to take a closer look at my grocery spending and see what my average has been, so I can re-evaluate how I'm doing. Since I started couponing, I've put together a great stockpile and my pricepoints (the amount I'm willing to pay for any one item) has dropped. Take cereal, for example, I started out thinking $1 a box was a great deal but now I know that I can do better than that.

I've never been a weekly budget type of person but since we get paid every 2 weeks I'm going to use that. Thursday was payday, so that will be the start of my week. So far, I've spent $11.88 on groceries and about $15 on milk & newspapers (eep!) and some salad dressing coupons. Between the toddler's love of dipping and all the tuna, we've been going through ranch dressing really quickly. I do plan to do some more shopping this week to pick up free honey nut cheerios and to use some of those $1 off beef coupons I found. I am interested to see where I end up, spending-wise!

Coupon for free energy drink

Like energy drinks? Then maybe you'll like this freebie, a coupon for a free can of Venom Energy from the people who make Dr. Pepper. Click here and fill out your info to get your coupon.

I've heard mixed things about this drink, mostly that it tastes kind of like cough syrup. I'm not big on energy drinks but I signed up anyways so the husband could try it.

My Albertson's Trip

$11.88 spent, $116.74 saved!

...and I have another $10 in cats for my next trip!

This is my regular shopping trip (see the veggies? and the tortillas? I needed them!) and two Albies runs I had planned for the week, split into two transactions. I had a raincheck for 30 pouches of tuna, and I figured this was the week would be the one to use it because you also get a six-pack of mini chip bags free for every 3 tuna pouches! I did do really great with this trip, even though I forgot to use another $2.75 in coupons (silly me!). I'm going back for some free Honey Nut Cheerios and other goodies later this week*, so I'll just use those coupons another time. Woohoo for a fun shopping trip!

*Honey Nut Cheerios are $1.99 as part of the mix and match promo, you can print $1 off 1 and $1 off 2 coupons on the same page. If you combine those with doublers, they're free. The wording on the coupon is "Do not doubler or triple" but most Washington stores ignore that wording on coupons. Even without doing the mix and match, they end up being $0.49 each after coupon and double...not bad!

Contacting companies and another free coupon!

Freebie first, okay? Gardein, a company that make "vegetable protein" (read: fake meat) is offering free item coupons! Click here to request yours, you can also claim a $1 printable coupon. I love freebies like this, my sister is a vegan and it's nice to have food on hand that she can eat (you know, beyond veggies, refried beans, and oreos). edit: free coupons are all gone!

I recently purchased a product and was disappointed with the quality (ranch dressing that tasted like mayo- yuck!). I used to just let things like that go, but thought maybe I'd take a minute to let the company know. They responded rather quickly to let me know they were sending a coupon for a free product, and hoped I'd give them another try. Before I began using coupons, I'd never have done something like that! I've heard of other bloggers "balancing things out" after making a complaint by contacting a company to compliment a product they like. It sounded like a nice idea, so I wrote in about the new Skintimate cream shave (I love, love, love that stuff!). Today, I got a thank-you email from them with the promise of another free coupon! Neither one of these emails took me more than a couple minutes to write, and it was exciting to hear back from both companies so quickly. Writting a company to compliment/complain is a great idea and something I will do more of in the future.

Albertsons Deals 7/8-7/14

You can see the full ad in pdf form here, in case you don't already have it in-hand. There are 2 doublers this week on the back page. There were a few deals I like, and a few more freebies for this week.

Things that are free after coupon and a doubler!:

• Starbucks Double Shot $2 ($1 coupon from a couple weeks ago)
• Nescafe Taster's Choice- individual packet boxes $1 ($0.50 coupon at everydayeating.com)
• AirWick Aerosol $1 ($1 off 2 coupon on their site)

"Epic Savings" Deals (must buy 10 participating items, prices are after discount):

• Capri sun $1.50
• Kraft BBQ Sauce $0.49 (use $0.50 coupon to make it free)
• Planter's Trail Mix $0.99 (use $1/2 tearpad and doubler to make it free)
• Kraft Salad Dressing $1.49 (use $1 coupons to make this $0.49 or free/btf* with doubler)
• Kraft Mac&Cheese $0.50 (see how I did that last week here)
• Kraft EasyMac cups $0.50 ($0.55 off 2 or BOGO free makes these free/btf*)
• Edwards Single Pie $1.49 (or $0.49 each when you buy 2 and use the $1 off 2 coupon with a doubler)
• Kraft Pasta Salad $0.50 (there are still $1 off 2 peelies out there)

*btf=better than free. This may work depending on what value your cashier puts in for the doubler. The dressing is free with coupon and doubler even without doing it as part of the Epic Deal. The EasyMac BOGO coupon could make them both free if they enter in $1 as the price.

Albertsons: tuna and freebies!

I found tuna (and got ahold of doublers!!)

$17.02 spent, $91.09 saved (...and i earned $9 in catalinas!)

I did 2 transactions, one with just the milk and cereal (find $1 cereal coupons at coupons.com) that cost $2.98. Transaction 2 had 45 pouches of tuna, 5 cans beans, salad dressing, and buns. I was super excited to find tons of tuna in-store, but didn't use all my coupons since I do have a raincheck I can use later... plus, it's been so hard to find I didn't want to clear the shelves for anyone else searching today. Still, it was an exciting trip!!

Another coupon for a freebie! *expired?

edit: I heard in a couple of places that this deal is no longer available, hope you were all able to get in on time!

If you have DirecTV, you can flip to channel 115 and push a button on your remote to claim a coupon for a free box of Lipton Tea. If not? You can call 1-888-435-3639, and leave your name and address. I called and the recording said it should arrive in 4-6 weeks. This is a nice freebie, because we go through quite a bit of this tea when it's cooler.

Get your Home Made Simple Booklet

You don't want to miss out on this coupon book, it's packed with all kinds of great coupons for cleaning products and always seems to have a coupon for a free bottle of Cascade Rinse Agent (for your dishwasher). Click here to sign up. It usually takes 6-8 weeks to get to you.

Albies (peanut butter and mac&cheese)

$6.69 spent, $65.63 saved (and $5 for next time!)

I didn't get a paper yesterday, and it seems that it was the only way to get the doublers for this weekend, so my trip was not quite as exciting as I had hoped. I did want to get some Mac & Cheese for the church, plus I had some good pb coupons (thanks to Jane @ All Together Beautiful for the heads up on free bread coupons!) to use this week.

The Mac&Cheese deal is awesome! You can find Buy 3 get 1 Free coupons here (how well you do with these depends on how they enter the value- either $1 or $0.50) and there's a catalina deal as well tight now! You'll get $1 for 4 boxes, $1.50 for 5 boxes, and $2 for 6 or more boxes. You only get 1 catalina for each transaction, so keep that in mind when creating your plan.

Free Movie Monday!

It's the first Monday of the month, and that means a free movie rental courtesy of Redbox! Today's code is 4J7LF6. To see what movies are available or to find a location near you, visit redbox.com.

It doesn't look like there's anything new that I want to see, so maybe we'll rent something random. We don't mind picking something completely random (or that we might not like so much) when it's free!

Free Starbucks Ice Cream!

Have a facebook account? Starbucks is giving away 20,000 coupons every day through July 19th for a free pint of Ice Cream! Just sign into your facebook account and click here to send a coupon to a friend (or yourself). That translates to 800 coupons every hour and it re-loads on the hour, so if you don't get one right away, just pop back during the next hour!

The Carmel Macchiato flavor is my favorite, it's amazing! I've heard good things about the Mocha Java Chip as well, for free you may as well give it a try! Note: you can only request 1 free pint, and only 1 will be sent per household (so if you have your friends send you one, make sure it goes to their address!).

Walgreens and free bread

spent $14.89 on a gift card

... for all this and 6 more boxes of Capri Sun!!

That's a savings of $38.96 (not including the bread)!

The bread in the picture was free, using a "free bread" coupon everyone here got in the mail Tuesday for the Orowheat bakery. I did one transaction at Wags with 6 capri sun and 4 chips ahoy, and used 4 coupons to pay $14.47. I got back a $5 RR that I used on my next transaction. 4 pork and beans, 8 cans pringles, and one pack (clearanced for $0.50) pens. Used the store coupon for beans along with a $1 off 4 coupon, and 4 $1 off 2 pringles coupon, plus the RR to make my total $0.46. The guy double checked the receipt to make sure everything was right like he wasn't sure my total should be so low! I wanted olives too, but all the black ones were gone so I'll just check back later this week.

For more Walgreen's deals, check over at MoneySavingMom.

If you want cheap canned black/jarred green olives, go here: http://www.lindsayolives.com/ and sign up to print a coupon. They're on sale for $0.99 at Walgreens with store coupon, so you can use the printable to get 2 for $0.98 instead!!

A peek at my stockpile

We live in an older house, it doesn't have much in the way of closets and storage, but it does have a laundry/"mud room" that we've turned into out pantry-type area. I thought it'd be fun to share what my "stockpile" looks like. This is just the food stuff (although we keep some of it in the house since this room has no insulation)...

That's canned goods and pasta stuff. Below it is another shelf with lots of oatmeal, peanut butter, bbq sauce and some salad dressing. I have more salad dressing in the house. Below that one is a shelf with juice, water, and 2-liters of soda.

...that's what you see if you look over by the backdoor, our freezer is just to the left. The bottom shelves have soda, capri sun, lemonade mix, water bottles, Cheerios, and some cookies...

...then you'll see a ton of crackers (saltines are hidden in back), some cereal and granola bars. I have a ton of quakes and goldfish, and some hefty bags and aluminum foil...

...on the top shelf is cereal and some more cookies. Above that is pasta salad, taco shells, and tortilla chips. Just to the left is where I keep diapers, I'm down to one box for the toddler (then he's back to cloth) and a few more packs for the little one (then he'll go to cloth as well, I didn't have tiny cloth diapers).

There you have it! I do have a stockpile of hygiene items, probably enough of everything for almost a year or so, stashed in the bathroom. I also have a very small stash of cleaning supplies stockpiled, but it's certainly nothing to brag about. My stockpile is low on some things at the moment... I really don't feel right keeping a stockpile on hand unless I go through it once in a while and take some things out to donate. It looks like I probably could have taken a few more things out, maybe I should make some time today to re-organize.

Do you have a stockpile? What does it look like?

Sign up for Kraft coupons

MoneySavingMom posted a link today that takes you to a page to sign up for a free calender and coupons! It looks like $15 worth of coupons and 2 $20 rebates. I signed up and you should too... Visit Nabisco World and create an account to do so.