more bandaids!

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

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

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

"We need charcoal"

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

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

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

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

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

Deals this week...

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

SAFEWAY:

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

ALBERTSONS:

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

QFC:

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

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

Getting my toddler to try new foods

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

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

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

One last Albies run...

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

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

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

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

Albertsons again!

I got all this for $4.17!!

...and saved $53.34 in the process!

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

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

Awesome Albertsons Trip 5/21

$3.11 spent, $50.65 saved!

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

$6.95 spent, $26.95 saved

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

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