Menu plan

I meant to get this up yesterday, so I'm a day late, but here's our menu plan for the week:

Monday: hamburger meat with pork 'n' beans served with veggies
Tuesday: Creamy Zucchini with farfalle (I'm playing with this recipe)
Wednesday: Taco night
Thursday: something with a hashbrown casserole
Friday: Smoked salmon fettucini
Saturday: Beef Stew in the crockpot
Sunday: Chicken Lo Mein

I'm really drawing a blank, need to start looking for some new recipes and dusting off those ones good for fall. If this weather continues into next week I'd love to do some chicken pot pie soup and a giant pot of Albondigas.

Got Halls refresh coupons?

I know a lot of us saw the Halls Refresh coupons in the inserts last Sunday with a blurb about getting the free at Fred Meyers. Free is awesome, but it's not your only choice this week. Halls Refresh are on sale at Walgreens this week for $1 as well, but you'll get $1 of Register Rewards in return! The downside is that you'll have to buy them one at a time, but if you're doing any of the other deals this week (see MoneySavingMom's matchup- there are tons of deals) it'd be so easy to add one on. (P.S. if you go today or tomorrow, you can also use a $5 off $25 coupon, but that $25 has to be after all coupons).

If free is good enough for you, keep your eyes peeled at Fred Meyers for buy one get one free tearpads and double your freebies! I'm planning to head there anyways this week so I'll probably use my coupons there.

Just in case you were wondering exactly what these things are (like I was), they are in fact a sugar free candy designed to make your mouth water. So, not cough drops but good for dry mouth, I suppose.

free hashbrowns & cheap juice: Albies

$5.37 spent, $34.54 saved!

My mom and I headed to Albies this afternoon to see what deals we could find and because we both needed chocolate syrup and that coupon was about to expire! We got all the items pictured above in 4 transactions (we did 2 each). Here's how we did this:

Transactions 1 & 2:

• 3 Reser's fresh hashbrowns, on sale $2.00 each
• used three $1 any Reser's product tearpads (found at Fred Meyers)
• used three doublers to make them FREE!

Transaction 3:

• 3 Juicy Juice packs, on sale $2 each
• used three $0.75 coupons
• used three doublers
• paid $1.50, got back a $1 catalina for purchasing 3

Transaction 4:

• 2 bottles Hershey's Syrup $2.69 each
• 2 cups Campbells Soup at hand $1 each
• Reser's Tortillas $2.69
• Peat Pots clearanced to $0.74
• used $1 off 2 Hershey's coupon
• used $1 off 2 Campbells SAH coupon
• used $1 off any Reser's product coupon
• used three doublers and the $1 catalina from transaction 3
• paid $3.87

All in all, this was a pretty neat trip, I got a few things I really needed and found a fun freebie. I also found the Buy 1 Get 1 Free Dentyne blinkies which will be good at Fred Meyers this week (in the coffee aisle if you're looking).

A little bit of shopping yesterday

Albertsons: $4.24 spent, $15.57 saved

The soups were all free after $1 off 2 coupons and doublers. The chicken was on sale at $.77/lb and cost $3.25 (awesome!) and I used a coupon from Sunday's paper to get the eggs for $0.99. I've never tried the soup at hand stuff, but it looks like something I can easily eat while preparing food and feeding the baby, so it'll be neat to try.

Grocery Outlet: $1.99 spent, $11.54 saved

I did a survey recently that got me a $5 off anything at Grocery Outlet, so I figured we'd better head over and see what I could get there for $5. The zucchini was huge and marked 2/$1 (a great price on the huge ones I grabbed!). There were 4 juice boxes (4/$1), we don't usually buy juice for the toddler but we'd been running around all day so it was a special treat. As we were looking around for something else, the husband spotted smoked salmon for $4.99 and had to have it. The prices there were okay, not as great as you can do with coupons but better than most stores. I'll probably be back to check them out sometime when we've got more time to browse.

...and I lucked out at the thrift store and found two of those can things (you know, the kind in the store they use to dispense cans?) for $.45 each. What a lucky find! My stockpiled canned goods were starting to get a bit out of hand.

Milk and cookies: my really fun Albies trip!

We go through a lot of milk around here, on average we'll use about 2-3 gallons a week so I was really excited about this deal! I was inspired by AThriftyMom's combination earlier this week of milk and cookies, so I set out to do the same, and here it is:

$0.54 spent, $50.80 saved!

Hostess donettes $0.79 (my impulse purchase filler)
5 gallons milk $9.95
10 packages Keebler cookies $25.00

• -$10 instant savings for buying 10 keebler cookies
• -$10 from five $2 off milk when you buy 2 pkg. Keebler cookies (Kelloggs's Fuel for School book)
• -$4 from four $1 Keebler IP's
• -$2.20 from four $0.55 Keebler IP's (prints with the $1 one above)
• -$1 on two Keebler cookies (old insert coupon)
• -$3 doublers
• - $5 catalina from last week's soups
  

If you're looking for a more simple version for yourself and either have the Kelloggs Fuel for School coupon booklet, or can find it in-store, here you go:

Buy 2 packages Keebler cookies and one gallon of milk. Use two $1 IP coupons, one $2 milk coupon, and 2 doublers. You'll pay only $1 which is still less than you'd pay for a gallon of milk anywhere! *note: I'm getting an error message from the link at the moment, so it may or may still not work- I printed mine just two days ago though, I hope it's just my computer being silly!

New Redbox code

Another free movie code from Redbox- just in time for the weekend! You can use: 9HB6MP22 to rent any movie for free as long as you remember to return it by 9pm the next day. I'm not sure when this code will expire, so I'm planning to use it tonight. What will you be renting?

Other codes, good for one-time use: BREAKROOM, DVDONME, DVDATWAG (at Walgreens locations only)

Zucchini: my tasty toddler-friendly recipe

I've had a few questions about this before, so I thought I'd share my super toddler friendly zucchini recipe with you all. I found this recipe over a year ago and loved it even though I've never been a big fan of zucchini (my vegan sister who also never liked this veggie loves it too!). The best part is how easy it is to make!

• Pre-heat the oven to 400*F
• Cut off the tips of your zucchini, and then cut it in half lengthwise. I also like to split into two or three shorter sections so it cooks and cools faster.
• Place them insides up on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle garlic powder, pepper, salt (I barely use any salt), and thyme over your zucchini.
• Bake for 20 minutes if you like it a little bit firm. We like ours squishy and a little bit brown on top so we leave them in for 40 minutes or so. If you aren't sure- my mom who loves zucchini likes hers firm and those of us who never really liked this veggie like it softer. You could also pull it out and try it after 20 minutes to see what you think, it's easy to cook it more if you change your mind. Let cool and enjoy!

That's it! It makes a great snack or side dish and can be served warm or cold. Yumm-o!

Milk & trash bags: Safeway trip

$8.86 spent, $25.75 saved (76%)

This was a good Safeway trip! I bought 2 gallons of milk ($1.99 each), 2 boxes of trash bags ($7.99 each, with a buy one get one free sale), and more nut clusters. I used two $1.60 coupons and two $1 coupons. Somehow the Nature Valley granola bar (I think?) e-coupons I had loaded came off for these and between that and my 10% discount- the overage was enough to cover all but $0.18 of my milk. I was surprised, but it was a nice surprise!

I also stopped by Target for diapers (we like cloth, but we use disposables for nighttime) and used a $5 coupon Luvs sent me to get a jumbo pack for $3.13. Not as great as the Huggies deal going on at Rite Aif this week but I'm a little bit too disorganized at the moment to tackle that one (It'd be nice to get in on it later this week though!).

More soup at Albertson's!

I know, I already bought quite a bit of soup!! Except that I was trying to get all my coupons in order and I realized that I had coupons for the Campbell's Chunky soup. The husband loves this stuff for lunch and the price seemed decent:

$5 out of pocket, $28.48 saved

The soup was on sale for $1.25 each, and I bought 12 cans to get my total up to $15 for the promo. I used three $.50 off 4 coupons, three doublers, a $2 receipt coupon, and the $5 catalina I had earned from the soup earlier this week. I got my $5 catalina back. It'll be nice to have this soup on hand for fall (once we get some cooler weather!)

Free Downy wrinkle releaser

Got wrinkly clothes? Submit a photo here (of something that is either meant to be wrinkly or not) and Downy will send you a coupon good for a FREE 3oz bottle of Wrinkle Releaser. Sounds like a neat freebie, thanks MoneySavingMom!

The neccesities shopping trip: Safway & QFC

I mentioned before that we've been eating a lot of stockpile food...but we needed a few things today so while we were out running around (looking for a spare Wii microphone so we could try the harmonies on Beatles Rockband- but no luck today!) I put together a menu plan, and hit Safeway. I got a new Safeway card pre-loaded with a 10% discount for 30 days because a local store is having a grand-reopening, so I registered that and bought this:

$13.64 spent, $20.04 saved (59%)

Which is not bad considering the big block of Tillamook is $5.99 itself. I used four $1.60 coupons on the NV Nut Clusters (for $.40 overage) and my discount took off $2.68. I also grabbed coffee filters, 2 papers, and a loaf of bread at QFC for about $6. Now I just need to plan a trip to the new Safeway to use all those fancy free item coupons they sent me!

groceries this morning: Walgreens and Albies!

$2.39 spent, $9 saved

(2 gallons milk, not pictured)

Walgreens was a combination we need milk, I have RR about to expire, and I don't need anything else from there this week. I used my $5 RR and $0.96 to buy 2 gallons of milk and the peanuts pictured above. At Albies, the carrots were free after WH coupon and doubler. I used two $.50 and two doublers to get the cans of Del Monte corn for $.29 each (they were marked down). The zucchini was $.86 and a treat for the toddler for helping us clean house today (yes, zucchini makes a good treat!). I spent $1.43 after everything at Albies, but I got another $2 receipt survey so that was nice!

You might wonder what we've been eating lately. I've been doing a lot of meals from the stockpile this week and we've had quite a few meals at other people's houses (it's been a very busy week). We did eat lunch out yesterday, bourbon chicken at the mall is always yummy! It was kind of thrifty too, because at the Cajun Grill for only $.99 more you can get double meat for your meal and it ends up being enough to feed all of us.

Lots of soup: my Albies Run today

$6.68 spent, $44.60 saved

...and I got a $5 catalina in return!!

I did 2 transactions this morning. In the first, I bought 30 cans of soup (tomato and chicken noodle) and almost 2lbs of grapes. I paid $6.68 after using a variety of $1 off 2 cooking soup printables, $.40 of 2 insert coupons, and a set of doublers. I got back a $5 catalina (for having spent $15 before coupons on Campbells products). The second transaction was the 4 boxes of Wheat thins for $10 before any discounts. The promo took off $3, I used four $1 Wheat Thins printables, and three doublers to get them all for free. This will make for some easy lunches this fall!

My J&J run at Rite-Aid

I had been wanting to get out and do this deal, but haven't made it out much this week. I did manage to get out for a bit today and bought my 5 items for $11.24... but I'll get back $10 in rebates, making this:

$1.24 (after I get the rebate, of course!)

That's a savings of $22.50! I'm pretty happy about this, because we use a lot of J&J products. I have plenty of baby wash, but the lotion will be really nice. Also, it might sound silly, but I love the bedtime bath for myself. It smells so nice and it works like a charm (on me that is. I tried it when toddler was a baby and it just made him angry.). I'll be entering this receipt into the Gift of Savings dealie as well, which makes it a little bit extra sweet!

Want to do this deal and don't have enough $1 coupons? I spotted $1 peelies on some products (mostly the leave-in conditioner) at my store today, but left them there since I had enough coupons to get what I wanted. You might want to hurry though.

Old Navy Weekly Thursday and some updates on us

Sorry about the lack of posts. We had some family up and visiting to show off their new baby (he's super adorable and sweet) followed by two days of teething craziness from our 6 month old (complete with fever). In between all that we got some not-so-good news about my grandma (who could use some prayers, if you're so inclined). The baby is finally feeling better today, so I hope to get some posts going...or at least direct you to some good deals!

In the meantime, it's Thursday and that means hanging out near the computer and waiting for ONW to update with some coupons. ThirftyNWMom had to shut down her chat, and we're all headed over here to wait for the site update. There's still a limit of 200 so head over early, you don't want to miss out. Good luck to everyone!

No to-do list for me today, I've got almost nothing done around the house in the last couple of days, so I'm trying to do a bit of everything. No need to try to motivate myself away from the computer today!!

$5 Luvs coupon tomorrow!

Starting tomorrow morning, Luvs will have the chance to sign up for $5 coupons on their website! This is a great high-value coupon that will probably go pretty quickly. To save time tomorrow, you may want to pop over and register on their site today. Thanks Luvs!

*edit* When you fill in your information, there's a blue checkbox on the upper right hand part of the screen. Makes sure you click to sign up for the $5 coupon- it looks like they'll be mailing them out.

We've used a lot of Luv's diapers, because they do work well and are cheap. I was recently also very pleasantly surprised at the great level of customer service they provide. I contacted them to let them know I was slightly disappointed that the size 5's didn't seem to be absorbent enough overnight (we always use 'sposies for bedtime) for my toddler but that the next size up looked way too big. I also told them that with 2 boys in diapers, I love the value I get when buying their brand. The sent me a really nice letter mentioning details on how to tell when to size up, letting me know about their no-leak guarantee money back offer, and a promise that I'd be getting coupons in the mail. When I got the envelope from them, I was shocked to see $30 of coupons from them- yes $30 in coupons! I certainly love Luvs!!





p.s. the random baby generator makes some scary babies! Look at the cute one I got after about 7 tries!

$10 coupon for Juniors at Sears

EDIT: Sears is no longer accepting this printable coupon. You can still find a $10 off $10 or more coupon inside the October issue of Seventeen, which may or may not be worth buying to you for the coupon (depending on the cost).

This is an awesome coupon if you have kids who shop in the Junior section (mine are too little!) or if you shop there yourself. You can find this coupon in this month's issue of Seventeen magazine, but it's also available in printable form. Click here to get a $10 coupon good on any purchase (no minimum purchase amount) valid starting tomorrow (9/15). That should make for some free or very cheap clothing! It seems as though Sears has posted coupons like this in the past and pulled them after a while, so it's best to take advantage of this coupon quickly. Thanks Freebies 4 Mom!

A couple of freebies

Free $10 in Schwans food delivered to your door. This is not a new freebie, but it's still going on and I thought it was worth a mention. The first 50,000 to sign up at their free food page can get up to $10 of free food with free delivery. This is only open to people who have not ordered from them in the past 14 weeks and you must be on a part of their regular delivery route. If this is something you're interested in click here and see if you're eligible! The only downside I can see to this is that they'll probably periodically contact you to see if you want to order something else plus if you're not usually home during the day scheduling a free delivery might be a hassle. The food is good though, especially the ice cream (we had a neighbor who used to order practically everything from them). I just put in my order for a 2lb bag of cheese tortelli, can't wait to try it!

Nestle is offering a free Holiday recipe book, with what looks like a lot of yummy recipes. You have the option to download the recipes or have the book mailed to you. Just swing by verybestbaking.com to get signed up!

Get your scissors ready!

We've got a possible 5 inserts in the paper tomorrow!! Of course, 2 are Red Plum- which means you might not find them in the Seattle Times. Of course, the Seattle paper always has better Smart Source inserts- so you might benefit by buying a variety of papers tomorrow. I'm going to get one of each to look through and then decide. It's a good week to buy multiple inserts!

It also looks like a good week for some shopping. We'll be getting doublers for Albertsons tomorrow (good through Tuesday) and there are doublers coming in Wednesday's ad too- along with a great Campbell's/Pepperidge Farm promo! Add in all the neat Rite Aid and Walgreens deals (I'll try to get some posted tomorrow) and it's going to be a busy week!

Drugstore Deals 9/13-9/19

There are some great bargains to be found this week at both Walgreens and RiteAid! It's going to be a busy shopping week, with a ton of fun and useful freebies. Here are some of my favorite deals:


RiteAid:

• Free AirWick Freshmatic, WetOnes, and Suave
• Gift of Savings starts (save all your RA receipts!)
• There's a great way to get Johnson and Johnson products for FREE. For the Mommas has all the details here, just keep in mind that not all Rite Aids like printable coupons.
• Click here for a great coupon matchup courtesy of For the Mommas

Walgreens:

• Free Neosporin (must have Wags Activity book coupon)
• Free Listerine after coupon and RR
• Free True North Snacks after RR
• Free Ear Drop kit after RR
• to find the details on how to get these things for free, check out A Thrifty Mom's matchup

ONWeekly Thursday

It's Thursday, and I'm hanging out at ThrftyNWMom's chat plus keeping an eye on the ONWeekly page. Feel free to whistle at me (typing maygan will make my computer whistle at me) if you pop over there too! Last Thursday at my house was a disaster of epic proportions in a special toddler-inspired way...in other words I got nothing done, but a few spots of the house got some extra special love in the form of scrub downs. My to-do list today includes:

• Yoga with the toddler (to calm him and stretch my back)
• serious workout time 45 minutes of ddr on a too-high level
• washing a couple loads of laundry
• unloading, loading, and running the dishwasher
• finding something to make with the mysterious "probably just like summersquash" squash
• making up my menu for next week (I've been winging it this week)
• finding a good recipe for poppyseed muffins (not lemony! or anything with frosting!) think i found a good one!
• a walk to the Post Office to pick up one of those flat-rate shipping boxes. postponed until tomorrow!
• and maybe trying to find info on that chiropractor (or someone!) who has a special thing for people on our insurance plan. My back has been killing me (in the form of constant dull pain) for over a week now and I think I need to do something about it.

Free lunch at Sazerac in Seattle

This Thursday and Friday, Sazerac (outside of Hotel Monaco- on the corner of Spring and 4th) will be giving out free lunches! From 11:30-1:30 you can pick up a free brown bag lunch including a pulled pork sandwich, a bag of Tim's chips, and a bottle of Dry soda. This is to promote their new Grab-n-Go lunches which will be on sale for $8 apiece in the future. You can read the Seattle Times article and facebook page to verify. Sounds like a great freebie if you're in town!

I imagine the lines will be long, so if you're interested, it's probably a good idea to get there early.

90% off at Restaurant.com- in honor of 9/9/09!

Restaurant.com frequently does sales on their certificates, but I've never seen 90% off before! It's a 99 hour thing, in honor of today's date- so now is a great time to try them out! $25 certificates cost only $1- what's not to love about that. Just be sure to use code: NINETY when checking out to get your discount.

Of course, there is a bit of fine print so be sure to read that as well. A lot of the $25 certificates require purchases of $35 or $50 (excluding alcohol and taxes) to be used, and some places even add an 18% gratuity based on the pre-discount amount. Still, if you are planning on eating out sometime soon, it's a great way to save a few bucks.

Pork & Charcoal: or what I forgot at Albies yesterday

I was so excited about the brownies, I forgot I had wanted to buy more charcoal since we were nearly out and it was on sale. So, while I was out (getting Season 5 of the Office) I made at quick stop at Albertsons. This is what I bought:

$13.41 spent, $31.80 saved

The 18lb. bags of Kingsford charcoal are on sale for $6.49 a bag. I used two Free KC Masterpiece wyb Charcoal coupons (found taped to the bags of charcoal) and two $6 off pork when you buy charcoal and KC Masterpiece printables (currently not available). The cashier was confused about the "one per purchase" versus "one per transaction and made me split them up, which was silly but okay. I used a $2 receipt coupon to pay, but got another one from my second transaction today. I usually don't cook with pork, but for free- the roasts make awesome pulled pork in the crockpot.

Swagbucks- a search & win site: Thrifty Tip Tuesday

I know there are a variety of moneymaking search sites out there. I use Swagbucks and I honestly love it. I've been using it since April of this year, semi-frequently, and have redeemed $50 in amazon giftcards in addition to two $5 Starbucks girtcards (they only carry $10 ones now). They also have a variety of other prizes. I do have a couple of referrals and that helps me rack up the points faster- when someone signs up using your referral, you win whatever swagbucks they win, up to their first 100.

The search engine is powered by Google and Yahoo, although it does contain some extra ads. Generally speaking, Swagbucks works well but I tend to skip straight to google when searching for something really specific or when I'm in a hurry. Sometimes I only use swagbucks to get me to the sites I visit daily. Honestly, if you're not online often and don't generally use search engines, then it's probably not for you. I love having a bit of extra money for Amazon, and I'm not doing anything I don't do anyways. The have recently re-done the homepage, and graphically it's much more fancy then it used to be so I'm not sure how well it'll work if you have a slower computer. Still, it's worth checking out especially if you use search engines).

Right now, I'm saving those amazon giftcards to help cut the costs of Christmas presents. I've done most of my shopping for the kids (I scored big time with book and toy clearance finds after Christmas last year) but we still have a few people on our list. You could do the same if you signed up now! If you download the toolbar, you'll get a special code each day this month worth an extra swagbuck (that's 22 extra swagbucks! Almost halfway to a $5 amazon gc).

Do you use swagbucks or another similar site? Let me know!

(I feel like I should add a disclaimer. If you click the graphic above and sign up under me, I will be earning points from you. You get nothing extra either way, but if you're uncomfortable signing up under someone, you can simply visit swagbucks.com and sign up on your own. I see none of your information, with the exception of your first name, last initial, and how many points you've earned.)

Albertsons preview 9/9-9/15

A big thank you to adawn and Superbob for the sneak peeks this week. Here's the weekly ad and the preview of doublers this weekend. Of course, I'll probably be waiting until Sunday or later to do my coupon shopping- but it's nice to be able to plan. Here's what I see so far:

• Rice Krispies are $1.88, use the $1 vocalpoint coupons and a doubler to get it free
• Wild Harvest organic eggs are $2.99, after $1 WH printable and doubler it's $0.99 (quite a few other WH items are $2 and under usually)
• Almond accents $2.99, use $1 tearpad coupon and doubler to make these $0.99
• Ken's Dressing $2, use the $2 coupon and doubler= free
• Palmolive $1.50, use a $ printable (not available to all zip codes) and doubler to get it free
• M&M ice cream bars $3.49, use $1 insert coupon and doubler to make them $1.49
• Quaker chewy granola bars are 3/$5. buy 6, using three $1 off 2 printables (need 2 computers) and 3 doublers to get 6 boxes for $4. That's $0.67/box.
• You can find Jane at AllTogetherBeautiful's list here.

It's a great week if you like Kashi! You'll save $4 instantly when you buy 4 select items in one transaction. The participating items I see with their pre-discount prices (and their coupons) include:

• Kashi Heart to Heart Cereals 12.4oz, $3 each (various $1 peelies)
• Kashi Go Lean Cereals 14.1-17.5oz, $3 each (various $1 peelies)
• Kashi TLC Bars, $2.75 ($1.50 off any TLC snack when you buy 1 GoLean Crunch) ($1 off any 2 TLC Chewy granola bars)
• Kashi Organic Promise cereal, $3.50 each
• Kashi Cookies or Crackers, $3 each

So, if you bought 1 Go Lean Crunch cereal and 3 snack bars (2 being the chewy granola type) your total would be $11.25-$4 instant gets you to $7.25. Use one $1 peelie, one $1.50 snack wyb GoLean Crunch, your $1/2, plus 2 doublers- you'd pay $1.75. (and since you can print each coupon twice, you could do this transaction 2 times). If you could find 4 cereals with $1 peelies attached, you'd pay only $1 after using three doublers. That's a good price if you like Kashi!

Brownies everywhere! My fun Albies trip today...

$15.39 spent, $46.29 saved

I actually needed the milk and broccoli (plus oven cleaner for the husband- who is not actually using it to clean the oven). The brownies were on sale for $1 each, as were the Brussels sprouts- and they were both part of a spend $20, get a $5 catalina this week. So, I bought 16 boxes of brownie mix and 4 boxes of Brussels sprouts in butter sauce (they're a little bit more buttery than I usually like, but fast, easy, and so yummy!). I used eight $1 off 2 coupons for the brownies (found taped to the boxes) and two $.50 off 2 green giant boxed veggies printable coupons. (Making each box of brownie mix $0.25 and each box of brussel sprouts $0.55). I also bought 2 bags of Oreos and used the coupon from the ad. I paid using a $5 catalina from a while ago. I should have received a $5 catalina, but it didn't print for some reason and the lines were so long, I thought I'd just leave and call the catalina company about it.

Redbox movie code

You can rent a free movie today at any Redbox location using the code: T46T3Q7

The code is good today only (before 9pm) and the movie must be returned before 9pm tomorrow night, or you'll be charged $1. I love free movies, just wish I had gotten the code while I was out earlier! To see what's available, or to find a redbox near you, visit their website.

Drugstore Deals 9/6-9/12

This is not a complete listing of deals, but a few of the finds I think may be worth mentioning. I love the looks of the Satrbucks deal at Walgreens this week, and plan on heading there for some cheap coffee!

Rite-Aid

• Lysol Nuetra Air, sale 2/$5 with a $1 SCR on 2. Use two $1.50 coupons from 7/12 inserts to get them for $1 each.
• Dawn (small bottle) is $0.74 after a $.25 coupon from 8/30 P&G (or $0.49 after the $.50 coupon in Home Made Simple booklet)
• Magic Eraser is $0.99 after $1 coupon from 8/30 P&G
• MoneySavingMom has even more matchups with a few links to $5 off a $25 purchase coupons here.
• AThriftyMom has a ton of matchups on cleaning products over here.
• SCR= Single Check Rebate. This is Riteaid's very user-friendly rebate program, you enter your receipts online and request your check at the end of the month. The check can then be deposited, cashed, or used like cash at Rite Aid.

Walgreens

• Buy $15 worth of starbucks products, get $5 RR. Buy $10 worth, get $2 RR. Ice Cream is $3, 4 packs frappucinos are $5, and bags of coffee are $7. If you have five $2 ice cream coupons, they'd be free. I plan to do 3 frappucinos and use $2 coupons to pay $4 after RR.
• Scrubbing Bubbles Shower cleaner, $9.99 with $3RR. Use the $5 printable to make it $1.99. (coupon link does not appear to work, but the deal is still good if you were able to print the coupon earlier)
• Carefree pantyliners, $1.99 with $2RR
• For more freebies (including a scenario for free Starbucks Ice Cream) check out MoneySavingMom's post.

Free formula?

We're not the formula using type here, but this deal is too good not to pass along to those who might. The Krazy Coupon Lady is hearing reports of free formula at some Walgreens stores. Interested? Read about it here.

No coupons this weekend!

There will be no coupon inserts this weekend because it is a holiday weekend. I'm going to try to find the time I would usually spend clipping to try to get all my coupons organized.

Friday freebies: Mars chocolate and Amazon mp3

The Mars Real Chocolate Relief has been a great ongoing freebie! If you haven't done so yet, go sign up for your coupon for a free chocolate bar from Mars here. There's a limit of 4 per household for the giveaway period. yummy!

In addition to that, Amazon is giving away one free download (valued at $1.29) to everyone in celebration of their twitter reaching 1 million followers. The place, and instructions, can be found here. What a fun freebie!

Another Old Navy Thursday...

It's Thursday once again, and I'm headed over to the chat at ThriftyNWMom to keep up with all the Old Navy updates today! (the chat doesn't appear to be working at the moment, but I'm sure that's just a glitch!) There are no $75 coupons this week, but there will be the $65 off a $100 purchase and those are still nice coupons to have. I'm going to try to be around for most of the day, but my uncle just arrived in town so we may run out and show him a little bit of couponing. I'm also going to post my to-do list here to keep me motivated, since it's so easy to get sucked into the ON madness and not get anything done:

• Make and freeze baby food: carrots, squash, and green beans
• Unload dishwasher and get kitchen cleaned up
• Clear off the pool table
• Find a nicer way to store Trent's dipes (the cardboard box under the table looks silly)
• Wash and sort through the next size up clothing for Ryan
• Get the husbands work laundry washed
• Get coupons organized and week's shopping planned
• Update the calender for the month of September
• Make counting book with Trent
• Brownies!
• clean the couch

Grocery Deals around town 9/2-9/8

This is in no way a complete list, rather a quick list of the deals I like. I'm having one of those days, and will try to get links up to other sites with more matchups when I get a chance!!

Albertsons:

• Oreos are $2.50, paired with the $2 off 2 coupon in the ad, that's $1.50 each (look for save $1 on milk wyb oreos peelies to save even more!)
• Kingsford is $6.49, pair it with the $6 off pork printable for a good deal
• Lifesavers are still $1 each, some with $1 coupons inside= free (after you buy 1)
• Whole seedless watermelon $.25/lb
• plus, there are some neat catalina promos going on...will try to post details on those when I get a chance!

Safeway:

• There's a nice $5 off any $20 purchase of meat (we'll be getting some good steak with this- likely the ribeye at $4.99/lb)
• $1 large haas avocados
• Kraft Singles are $0.99 with in-ad coupon
• 80% lean ground beef $1.49/lb

I'm a freebie addict- my second Albies run today!

$4.57 spent, $34.02 saved

I did two transactions, one with 2 spray Lysols and the Wild Harvest Lamb that cost $0.92 cents after all coupons and doublers. I goofed up the second transaction because I had one $3 coupon I thought was still good but it had expired in July (oops! I honestly thought that 7 was a 9- yikes!) so my total was $3.65 instead of $0.65 but that's okay. I used a $5 catalina to pay and had coupons for everything else...it was still a good transaction (especially since I was craving chocolate and the grand total was LESS than the watermelon by itself). Albertsons, I think I'm in love with you!

Free undies & another Albies trip!

We started out with VS to get free panties today. Luckily, we asked about the free panties with pink purchase- and it turns out that works with a lollipop purchase! So, 2 regular panties from the back (reg. price $8.50 each), one pair from the Pink Collection (should be the "lace thong" but anything valued at $7.50 should work...it did for me!), and a yummy looking lollipop for $1.50 total. Amazing!! Receipt is below for proof that it works, but is a bit blurry...sorry.

Since we were in town already, it was hard to resist one more trip to Albies. Here's what I purchased in 2 transactions today:

Spent $0.76, saved $25.32 (or 97%)

The cookies are for the husband who wanted them Sunday (at $3.99!!), they were down to $2.50 so I used my $2 survey coupon to help pay for those. Everything else was free, but I did have to pay $0.26 in tax on the Lysol wipes. This was a nice simple run, I'm hoping to fit more in later today.

a few free samples!

I'm listing a few of the current free samples for you all. It's a great way to try something new, adds some fun to checking your mail, and they sometimes come with great coupons!

Always Flexi-Style Liner

Bare Naked granola bar or cereal sample

Beachnut babyfood starter kit (coupons)

Honey Nut Cheerios

Kashi Cereal Sample

Kotex Ultrathin Overnight Pads

Total Blueberry Pomegranate Cereal

Pampers Potty Training Kit

Walmart Samples: Fancy Feast Appetizers, EmergenC Multi Vitamin, NoDoz, Tenna, Free Hallmark Card, and a Nicorette starter kit.

And don't forget to pick up your free undies at VS today! Know of anything I missed? Leave a comment below!

Stockpiling- Thrifty Tip Tuesday

I'm going to be honest with you, when I first started seriously couponing and got peeks at some peoples stockpiles- I thought they were nuts. Really, who needs that much stuff? Of course, as I got more and more into it and realized how much I was getting for free or close to free, it began to make sense. Why not buy extras when they're priced this low and then not have to buy them at a higher price?

Of course, there are some obstacles...like finding enough room for all your extras, it takes a while to establish a decent stockpile of items without going over budget, and it can be hard to tell what price really is *rock bottom* when you first get started. The benefits are wonderful though. I don't have to run to the store when we realize we just ran out of something, I can skip a week of shopping and eat from the stockpile, we've got added variety to the menu, and I've cut my spending like crazy! Another bonus to the stockpile is the ability to gift it. One of my sister's friends recently had a baby and we were able to throw together a nice box of food to take over for her. You could do the same with a family you know going through a rough time or someone who needs just a bit of help. It's neat to see how excited people can be for something as simple as that.

Now that you know why I stockpile, here are a few tips to get you started:

• Focus on the free at first- starting out your stockpile with extra freebies will allow you to stay within budget while expanding your pantry
• Don't buy more that you can store- getting 50 free somethings is great, but not if you don't have anywhere to put it.
• Keep an eye out for deals on things you use all the time or things you wish you could afford to have all the time- I recently bought 10 bottles of vegetable oil because I love baking and was tired of searching for deals and paying full price all the time.
• Don't be shy- Remember all that free pasta salad? I had a conversation with a lady in front of piles of boxes, she was super excited to see it on sale for $1 a box because it was her favorite food. I politely told her they'd be free if she'd buy 2 or 10 boxes instead of just one. She was not interested because it was just her and she'd look silly. Thing is, the cashier doesn't know how many people you're feeding. If you feel really ridiculous, you could always make a comment about the amazing price and your excitement to donate it.
• Don't buy it just because it's free- if you don't like it, won't use it, or can't donate it then you don't have to buy it. You don't even need to buy it to donate it (I just like to when I can). It's really easy to go overboard with free and cheap things, so try to keep yourself in check.
• Not sure how much to buy? Be sure to look at expiration dates, and try to imagine how much of that item your family will use/consume before that date is up. Keep in mind that sales cycle through (on an 8 week basis generally) and you'll probably have an opportunity to get more in that time.

That's it for today's Thrifty Tip Tuesday- if you have any questions about stockpiling (or anything else) feel free to comment or email me at maybefrugal(at)hotmail(dot)com.