I'm loving Albertsons this week!

This cost me $0.90 (I saved $108.38)

I actually bought a lot more than what you're seeing here- including one box of Quaker Delights Granola Bars, a box of Ritz Crackerfuls, and 19 more bottles of salad dressing that went directly to St. Vincents. Between my mom and I, we took down 10 tubs of oatmeal and 43 bottles of salad dressing just yesterday. There are a ton of benefits to couponing, but being able to donate in large amounts is one of my favorites. Of course, being able to grab a few free things for yourself in the process is also kind of wonderful. Yes, it took us a while to collect all our coupons and go through the lines multiple times but it's certainly not a waste of time.

If you have the coupons and your stores are stocked up on salad dressing, you might consider picking up a few bottles to donate as well. A good number of Albertsons stores have barrels for the food bank somewhere inside- making this a super easy good deed to do.

More shopping: FM & Albies

Fred Meyer: $12.41 spent, $3.50+ saved

I was excited to see grapes for only $.87/lb this week, along with a few other great produce prices, so I figured I do my "real" grocery shopping there. The Ronzoni was free after $1 coupons (found in various magazines about to be tossed at the doctor's office). The Swiss rolls were a treat for the husband (he likes them for lunches) @ $1 each and the donuts are a great motivator for the kiddos to help me clean during the week. The corn was also on sale for only $.25/ear and the bell pepper was $.44. Fun stuff.

Albertsons: $1.60 spent, $38.30 saved

Looks familiar, right? Except that with doublers, this deal is even better! I used two $1 off 2 and one $.55 off 1 (from today's paper) coupons on the salad dressing. I also used the $3 off 5 Quaker items coupon, a $2 survey coupon, and the $5 catalina from my last transaction. I got back another $5 catalina coupon for buying the salad dressing.

If you're just getting into this deal, the best way to start would be:

5 Kraft dressing (Ranch/Italian only) @1.34 each= $6.70
use two $1/2 coupons from the orange "Fall into good things" booklet (in store)
use one $.55 coupon (from today's paper) or one $.35 peelie
use three doubler coupons
pay $1.60-$2.00 and get back a $5 catalina

then, you could buy your Quaker items (using a $3 off 5 items) coupon and pay somewhere between nothing and $2! You could also continue to add in the Kraft dressing to "roll" your catalinas each time and maximize your savings. Hope you're all having fun with doublers today!

Safeway: apple juice & dinner

Spent $19.62, saved $54.40 (73%)

(not pictured: 2 gallons of milk)

After a long day of toddler haircutting and kitchen cleaning I was kind of excited to see that the $5 Friday deal was Turkey Breast. I love turkey and not having to cook it sounded especially appealing. I decided I'd also take advantage of the Motts juice/snack deal going on this week. It is a little silly because neither of my boys drink apple juice (or any juice for that matter) but I love to have it on hand while nursing- so I took advantage of this chance to stock up for myself. My trip breaks down like this:

I bought:

• 12 bottles Motts Apple Juice $2.00 each (used six $2 off 2 bottles coupons from the MDA booklet- check CS) $1 each
• 5 boxes chewy granola bars $2.49 each (FREE as part of the juice promo) FREE
• 3 boxes Rice Krispie Treats $2.49 each (FREE as part of the juice promo) FREE
• 2 gallons milk $1.99 each
• Fresh Express $1
• O Organics Tea $1.19 (used $1 O Organics q) $0.19
• Turkey Breast $5

I used a $3 catalina from last week to help pay. The juice promo didn't work quite right for some reason and only 4 of my participating "snacks" came off on their own so the cashier had to take off the price of the other 4 snacks manually. The limit on the deal is 12, so I'm not sure what the issue was but it's something to keep an eye on just in case you're doing a similar deal.

This is not the best deal on juice I've ever seen, but I'm starting to run out of deal shopping steam so I'm happy with my results. There are a few other deals worth mentioning at Safeway this week, so you may want to swing by Queen Bee Coupons to check them out for yourself.

Albertsons: Quaker Oats & Kraft Dressing

Trans #1: $11.95 spent, $27.95 saved

...plus I got back a $5 catalina

I've really been on an oatmeal kick lately, and actually found myself paying full price for store brand oatmeal last week (crazy, right??). We're still stocked up on the instant oatmeal packets- but those just aren't working for me, so when I saw the Quaker sale this week at Albies I knew I needed to make a trip down. Here's the breakdown:

• 5 tubs Quaker Oatmeal $2.00 each
• 5 bottles Kraft Ranch Dressing $1.34 each
• used $3 off wyb 5 Quaker products coupon (in-ad)
• used five $.35 off Kraft dressing peelies (found attached to bottles in store)
• Paid $11.95 and got back a $5 catalina (for purchasing 5 bottles of Kraft dressing)

I actually got lucky and received a $2 survey coupon at the end of my receipt PLUS we spotted a few of these hot coupon booklets on the way out (Thanks CouponConnectionsNW!). The combination of good luck was too much for me to resist, so I unloaded the cart and ran back in for a quick second transaction. I bought the exact same items at I did the first go-round (this time using two $1 off 2 Kraft dressings from the new coupon booklet and one $.35 peelie), paying only $4.35 out of pocket this time and saving $35.55! Even cooler, I scored another $2 survey coupon- talk about good luck!!

There are quite a few other good deals to be had with the $3 off 5 Quaker items coupon in the ad this week BUT I've heard very reliable rumors of doublers (both from online deal seekers and a lady in the know at one of my local stores) this Sunday. I've got some nice Quaker coupons from the instant oatmeal boxes I purchased this spring that paired with doublers will make for even better deals and possibly even some freebies, so I'll be waiting to do the rest of my shopping until later this week (these prices are good through Tuesday, 8/31).

Note: I really don't need the dressing but since it does work out to be free after the peelies and catalina (or a slight money maker after $1/2 coupons and catalina) I couldn't resist grabbing some for donation purposes. If you're planning on heading to Albies this week, you might want to consider grabbing some to donate yourself.

Rite-Aid: Shopping for cheap diapers!

I spent $6.37 out-of-pocket and saved $33.49

I also got back $6 in +Up rewards to use on my next transaction! That doesn't mean my diapers were free- but they were fairly cheap (and with 1 big boy in pull-ups at night, one in diapers, and another on the way I'm happy to stock up on cheap diapers). These deals are good through Saturday.

Here's what I bought:

• Huggies Pure & Natural: $8.99
• Huggies Little Movers: $8.99
• Huggies Pull-Ups: $8.99
• Pre-coupon total: $26.97

I used these coupons:

• $5 off a $25 purchase (Video Values)
• $2.50 off Huggies Pure & Natural
• $2 off Huggies Pull-ups (Video Values)
• $2 off Huggies Pull-ups
• $2 off any Huggies diapers or Pull-ups (Video Values)
• $2 off any Huggies Little Snugglers
• (For a grand total of $15.50 in coupons)

I paid using $2 in +Up rewards I had earned previously and a $4.99 SCR check I had from July (you can either cash these at your bank or use them like cash at RA). This brought my total down to $6.37 including the almost $2 in tax, which was paid out-of-pocket. I received $6 in +Up Rewards ($2 per pack of diapers) to use on my next transaction.

Note: For those who like to think in terms of net cost, without the additional $6.99 in payment (from the $2 +Up rewards and $4.99 SCR) I would have paid $11.47 out of pocket and still received my $6 back. Without tax that works out to a mere $1.83/pack, including tax it's $2.46/pack (after you figure in the +Up rewards earned).

As always, I recommend For The Mommas for all the hottest RA deals and up-to-date info regarding what is quickly becoming my favorite drug store.

My current sweeps

Based on the amount of clickthroughs on the last post I did about sweeps/instant win games I was playing, it looks like I'm not the only one who enjoys them. Here's the latest batch I've been playing:

Cheerios- Do What you Love: Enter daily for your shot at some amazing grand prizes. Odds you'll win aren't great, but I'm not joking when I say the prizes are worth a shot. Click the different themes across the bottom (ie Sports, Family, etc.) to read about each category's prize and to enter the one you want. You can enter once a day.

Barilla- Pasta Fridays: Enter once a week and you could win a coupon for a free box of Barilla.

Bed Bath and Beyond- Home Sweet Dorm: You can play once daily and there are lots of great grand prizes in addition to one $25 giftcard winner every hour.

Dove- Win your Favorite Things: Spin daily for your chance at 1 of 4 different hair styling tools (your choice). I don't spend tons of time doing my hair, and am fairly reluctant to buy hair styling tools- so this is kind of fun for me.

Honey Nut Cheerios- Non Challenge: Play daily and you could win a years worth of Honey Nut Cheerios (in the form of 12 FREE product coupons). I won this early on!

It Pays to eat Pasta: Enter daily and you could win either a $100 check or the grand prize of "free groceries for a year" ($5200 check).

KMart- Win $20 every 10 minutes: They're giving away $20 to one lucky winner every ten minutes. I haven't won, but I'd say your odds are pretty good with this one. You can play once a day.

Kroger- Summer of Savings: Select your local Kroger chain store (Fred Meyer and QFC in the NW) and then spin the wheel to see if you win a free product. You can play daily until you win a prize. It's on round 3, so you're eligible to win another even if you won a prize earlier on during the first two rounds.

M&M's- Coupon Sweepstakes: You can enter daily, and on September 1st they'll do a drawing to select over 500,000 winners for a FREE M&M's coupon. Not a huge prize, but I'd be happy with a free bag of M&M's.

Office Depot- Go Back Smarter: An instant win game with 50 winners of $100 giftcards daily (and an additional 10 teachers winning $500 giftcards daily). You do need a code, but can have a free code emailed to you daily. I've seen lots of people winning this and I'm sure there's something you could find to spend $100 on at Office Depot.

Play-Doh- You Can Win: Spin the wheel daily for your shot at a $50 giftcard (10 winners a day) or the $5000 grand prize. You'll need a code to play- they can be found on Play-Doh packages or you can use KDN185UV9JN34 (note: you can enter this code 3 times for 3 spins a day).

Quicken Loans- A Million Thanks: You can play this instant win game daily for your shot at a variety of prizes. I was hoping for the $5 Starbucks gc, $10 Amazon gc, or $10 Target GC but won a Xeko trading card game instead that I'm sure my oldest will have fun with.

Safeway- 10% Goes Back to School: Play this instant win game for your shot at a Safeway giftcard. You can also get up to 5 bonus plays a day for reffering friends. There's also a $5000 grand prize.

Sobe- Heads or Tails: You can play daily for a chance at a prize ranging from a "buy ne get one free" printable coupon to an Ipod or a new MacBook. I have yet to win anything besides BOGO and FREE sobe coupons but other people have had great luck with this game.

WhyMilk.com- Unlock Their Potential: I never win anything milk related, but there are some fun kid related prizes in this one. You can play daily- but if you win you won't know what you're getting until it comes in the mail.

Are there any other sweeps/instant win games you're playing? Did you win something from one of the sweeps I posted? I'd love to hear from you!

My Albies trip this morning

I've skipped the last few rounds of doublers at Albertsons, but this week was just too good. I spent $1.54 and saved $111.89 for everything in the picture above! That's 8 boxes of potatoes, 12 boxes of cheerios, 10 boxes of cake mix, 10 tubs of frosting, and 1 butterfinger (so I could use the $2 survey receipt I got early on this am to help pay for the cake mix/frosting deal). You can bet I'll be headed back in for more fun with doublers!

Target Trip

Target: $8.76 spent, $29.52 saved

I don't usually do a ton of Target deals (although I do love shopping there) but there were some things just too good to pass up this week. Toddler hand not included...he was just really excited about the new pillow. Here's what I bought:

• Bath Towel Shelf $13.49 (minus $10 Target coupon) $3.49
• Pillow $2.54 (minus $1 TQ) $1.54
• C9 4pack Women's Socks $5 (minus $5 TQ) FREE
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal $2.50 each (minus $1 TQ and $.75 coupon) $1.50 for 2 boxes
• Notebook $0.15
• Bic Pens $0.99 each (minus $1/2 TQ and $1/2 printable) FREE
• Scotch Tape $0.50 each (minus two $1 off 3 coupons) $1.00 for 6 rolls

I was hoping to get in on some free Post-its as well, but our Target was completely out of the $1 Post-its. Still, I think I did pretty well. All the Target coupons I used today can be printed from the website (I printed the $5 C9 coupons a while back so they might not be available anymore). Both Thrifty NW Mom and Thrifty and Thriving have some great ideas for your Target trip this week, so you may want to check them out as well.

Rite Aid: Diapers, Wipes, and Tide!

Spent $11.23, Saved $29.93

got back $6.50 +UP rewards and $2 SCR

That brings my (after tax) net cost to: $3.73

I didn't exactly need more toothbrushes, styling products, or shampoo/conditioner BUT my mom was sweet enough to do the deal using her Wellness+ card and we swapped goods. So really, I ended up with a toothbrush, 2 packs of diapers, 2 bottles of Tide, and 2 boxes of wipes (all things I like to have on hand). Most of the coupons I used came from the P&G insert we got this past weekend, making it super easy to replicate.

I bought:

• Pampers $8.99
• Pampers Wipes $3.69
• Tide $5.99
• HE Conditioner $2.50
• HE Mousse $2.50
• Oral B Toothbrush (with free sample toothpaste) $2.49
• Pre-coupon total: $26.16

These are the coupons I used:

• $5 off a $25 purchase (Video Values)
• $3 off Pampers (Vocal Point Home mailer)
• Free Pampers Wipes wyb Pampers Diapers (took off the max of $3.50)
• $0.75 off Oral B Advantage Toothbrush
• $1 off Tide
• Free HE Styling Product wyb Shampoo or Conditioner (took off $2.50)
• $1 Wellness+ coupon I earned last week
• A total of $16.75 in coupons

I paid $11.23 ($1.82 of which was tax) and got back $6.50 in +UP Rewards in addition to qualifying for a $2 SCR.

As always, I suggest swinging by For The Mommas for all the latest Rite Aid information- including the latest update to their coupon policy and this week's deals.