Shopping One Friday Morning

It was a beautiful morning in Nebraska. One mom and her five children decided to head to the stores. First it was Sam's Club. They climbed on top of the cans of tomato sauce. Ran into other people's cards. They hid behind posts. The lack of free samples gave her nothing to bribe her children with. Luckily, she had a few powdered donuts that had been leftovers at the previous day's MOPS meeting. "If you're good in Hy-Vee, a donut for each of you!" While this mom was digging through her coupons in the yogurt aisle, the kids were poking the eggs. While she was trying to figure out which pop was on sale, they almost knocked over a display of wine. She didn't even make it to frozen foods, instead deciding to check out and be done with it. While she piled the items on the belt, the kids rearranged the candy. Finally, she had enough, "Sit down with your backs on the wall and your hands on your knees." She had been hoping to fit one more store into their morning, but alas it would not be. Amazingly, the man bagging the groceries complimented the behavior of these naughty children of hers. As she paid her bill, she sighed, at least she had gotten some good deals!

HyVee does have some good deals this week. These are the ones I took advantage of. I'm so frazzled that I can't even tell you if these are weekend sale items, or they will be going through Tuesday. If you plan to hit the store on Saturday, you should get these same prices. My total for this transaction was $21.37. I had around 12 dollars in savings from coupons alone! How awesome is that?

4 Dr Pepper 12 packs 4/$10 w/coupon from circular

2 Russet Potatoes $1.18 for 5 lb 

2 Betty Crocker Potatoes 5/$5 used $1/2 MQ from Con Agra booklet

1 Wesson Canola Oil reduced to $2.99 used $1 off MQ from Con Agra booklet

1 Nestle Chocolate Chips at $1.69 with circular coupon also used $.75 coupon (from Nestle Baking Club?)

1 Yoplait Yogurt FREE w/MyBlogSpark coupon

1 Philidelphia Cream Cheese Minis FREE w/First Taste mailer

1 Bunch Celery $.58

1 C&H Sugar $1.88 w/circular coupon used $.50 MQ from online (not sure where I printed this)

2 Blue Bonnet Margarine $.77 each

2 Betty Crocker frosting tubs $.89 each used $1/2 MQ from Con Agra booklet

I hope I have a chance to get to Super Saver this afternoon. It might have to wait until Greg gets home, so we don't have a repeat of our frustrating morning! They have 4 pounds of strawberries for $4.98. Add that to the bananas and blueberries I picked up at Sam's and we'll be enjoying some cheap smoothies. I love spring! Any other good deals this weekend? Let me know!

We Have a Winner

Thanks all for entering the Yoplait giveaway. I got my free yogurt at the grocery store this morning, and wish that I could be the one to eat it. Alas, I got a cherry cobbler for Greg. We'll see how he likes it. The winner of the My Blog Spark Yoplait giveaway is comment number 6- Mrs Rohlf. Congratulations! Once I confirm your address, your package will be on it's way. Don't forget, you can get a coupon for Yoplait yogurt here.

Kashi Krazy

I love Kashi products. The cereal, the crackers, everything. What I love even more is how often they have coupons out! Recently, Vocalpoint sent four coupons- one free product and three $1.50 off coupons. Plus, they had $1.50 off coupons available on their website.

Well, this was the week to use those coupons. Target has Kashi snacks on sale for $2.59. Buy four and get a fifth box free. Here's what I did to score five boxes of crackers for less than two bucks. I bought five boxes. Used free product coupon and for $1.50 off coupon. Plus Target took off $2.59 for their promotion.
5 boxes @ 2.59 = $12.95
4 $1.50 coupons -$6.00
2 free products - $5.18
Total spent = $1.77

And I haven't even been to the grocery store yet this week. I'm looking forward to the Post and Old Orchard sales at Super Saver this week. Get coupons for Post here and for Old Orchard here for a great deal. Have you scored a great deal this week?

Vocal Point

Have you signed up for Vocal Point, yet? Well, why not? Go sign up right now! Today in my mailbox I received a free sample of Kashi cereal, plus coupons. One free box and three $1.50 off coupons. I also got a coupon for free Oreo Cakesters and one for $1.00 off. I love that Vocal Point offers free samples and/or full size free products. Simply sign up for the product's promotion and wait for your mail to come. After you've tried the product, log in to your account and tell them what you thought. That's it! An easy way to get free products and some great high value coupons. Have you signed up, yet?

Deals of the Week

I love good deals. I love reading about them. I love seeing them. I love getting them! I am now following 33 blogs in my reader, most of them pertaining to deal-hunting. How does a person keep track of all the great deals at all the stores? It's easier than you might think.

I use a Word document. The name of the store is like a "heading" and I use a larger and bolder font. When I sit down to sift through the blogs, I simply open up my document and copy and paste the deals I'm interested in over. I'm afraid to admit that I actually do this several times a day. I only go shopping once or twice a week, though. When it's time to hit the stores, I open up my document (cleverly called "deals") and figure out which stores I'm going to hit. I print the printable coupons, pull out my from-the-paper coupons paper clip them to my shopping list and off we go! How do you keep track of all your deals? Leave a comment, I'm still learning how to keep track of it all!

One downside to doing it this way is that there are often printable coupons that I miss because it hits the print limit before I get to it. When I started my coupon madness, I printed way too many and ended up with lots of wasted paper. I'm sure there's a middle ground to printing coupons that I'll actually use without missing out, I just need to find it.

Another issue that has come up is that many of the blogs are not in my area, so a store may have different regular prices. Then I get to the store and the item isn't as cheap as I thought it was. So, I have to stand there and decide if it's something I still want.

Here is part of my trip to Wal-Mart this week. I did buy a few other things, too. My total for these deals was right around $10. I used $22 in coupons. How cool is that? Many of these coupons are still available, so print some for yourself and hit the store!

2 Digiorno 200 calorie pizzas reg. $2.50 each, paid $1.00 total

used 1 Free and $1.50/1 coupons from Kraft First Taste

6 boxes of Sunbelt bars reg. $2.00 each, paid $1.00 each

BOGO printable coupon from manufacturer

4 StarKist tuna pouches reg $.98 paid .$94

used BOGO mailer from Vocal Point and 2 $1/1 printable from Vocal Point (realized later I could have bought 3, used all coupons and they would have been free, oh well)

2 Reach dental floss reg $.97 had .06 overage

used 2 Reach $1.00 MQ's from 1/3 paper

2 Johnson and Johnson soap buddies reg $.97 had .06 overage

used 2 J&J $1.00 MQ's from 1/3 paper

Johnson & Johnson sterile gauze reg $1.56 paid $.56

used J&J $1.00 MQ from 1/3 paper

Johnson and Johnson band-aids reg $1.77 paid $.77

used J&J $1.00 MQ from 1/3 paper

Aquafresh Extreme Clean trial size reg $.97 paid 0

used free offer coupon (not sure where this came from)

Dove deoderant reg $2.47 paid $.47

used $2.00 printable

And I probably should have added the great deal on Coffee-Mate creamer at Walgreens that I did last night. BOGO at $2.49. Use two $1.00 printable coupons and get them both for $.49.

Whole Grain Goodness (and my first giveaway!)

Recently, General Mills announced that they are switching to whole grains for their line of breakfast. I'm so excited! We have been making the transition to whole grains for a couple of years. Bread was easy, pasta's a bit harder!

A couple of years ago, I was reading about sugar and children. It turns out, that our bodies treat white flours almost exactly like sugar! We have energy right away, but it doesn't last. Whole grains take longer for the body to break down, providing a source of energy for a longer period of time. My children are pretty active, and I have one who becomes incapable of sitting still for even thirty seconds after just one piece of candy. Cutting our sugars and white flours has been an adjustment, but I can totally see the difference in him when we are consistent with this. Read about the health benefits of eating breakfast cereal here.

So, back to the cereal... I received four free boxes of cereal from General Mills via My Blog Spark. I picked up two this week, and I'm glad to have a quick, easy, nutritious option for my children's breakfast. If you visit this link, you'll be able to get $1 off a box of General Mills cereal. I'd like to offer the other two boxes of free cereal to one reader. Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment with your favorite General Mills cereal, and e-mail contact.

2. Become a follower or subscriber and leave another comment. [How to become a follower: click the link on the right of the blog that says "follower" to follow using blogger. Click the link that says "subscribe to posts" to choose another reader.]

The winner will be drawn on Monday, January 11th and contacted via e-mail. Good luck!

Update: A winner has been chosen! View this page to see who won!

Free Finds

Signing up for free samples really helps stretch my budget. Whether I'm using these things for myself, gifts, Operation Christmas Child boxes, or stocking stuffers, it's money that's staying in my pocket! Free stuff can be found on many company's websites and you are just a couple of clicks away from a mailbox full of goodies.

I must admit that getting free stuff is pretty addictive. I've spent more time on the computer in the last couple of days than I'd like to admit. Here are my free finds:

Lipton Green Tea (free sample)

Gavalia Coffee (I did the 3 boxes of coffee for $3 offer)

Kohl's ($5 for newsletter signup)

Vista Print (bunches of free samples, including 140 return address labels, 100 postcards, and more for shipping costs)

Beauty Herbal Spa (free candle)

Crest w/Scope (free sample)

Taste of Home (cookbooks for $5 each)

In the mail today, I received my free sample of Dunkin Donuts coffee. they have this offer up again, if you missed out last time around. I also received a Kashi granola bar. Kashi has become my new favorite! I don't see any samples on their site right now, but will be coming my eye on them!

Usually these will be sample sizes, but there are a few places where you can sign up to receive full-szied free items, too! My favorite two are Vocalpoint and Kraft First Taste. I've been a member with each of these companies for a few months and have been very pleased with the free product offers. And they usually come with high dollar coupons, too!

Have you found any free samples or other great deals? Let me know! I'm always on the lookout!

Dining Out for Less

I love eating out. Mostly I love the not having to cook part. But I really dislike how expensive it can get. Especially with four kids. I'm sitting there calculating our bill and how much it would have cost me to prepare the same meal at home. Kind of ruins the enjoyment. Here are a few tips for eating out for less that we have been utilizing to help our budget. And it usually keeps me focused on having a good time with friends and family!

1. Sign up for birthday clubs, VIP clubs, etc. Most places offer something for your birthday- an appetizer, dessert, or even a full entree! They may even send you other coupons to use throughout the year. The coupons are usually good from the week before your birthday to the week after. The only hard part is deciding which one(s) to use!

2. Get a dining club card or coupon book. Here in Lincoln, the POGO card is our favorite. It has a variety of restaurants offering free items with a purchase. Buying this card benefits a local organization, too. I saw a copy of the Entertainment Book at Menard's last week, and have heard that at many stores they are on sale.

3. Use a store punch card. These are most often found at coffee shops or ice cream places. Although some others have a card that offers a discount on your food purchases. If you tend to choose the same restaurant over and over again, this is a great option.

4. Kids eat free night. There are a lot of places that offer a free kids meal with an adult purchase on certain nights of the week. I do recommend calling your location, even if the website says "free meal." Recently, we visited a restaurant for kids' night and they didn't get a free meal, just a balloon. Highly disappointing.

5. Try restaurants.com I first looked at this site a couple of years ago and there weren't any restaurants in Lincoln participating. Now there are quite a few. You can purchase $25 gift cards for only $10. I finally took advantage of this last month when I had a coupon code and bought a 1-year dinner of the month club for just $24. Yes, that's right, we'll get a $25 gift card each month that I paid just $2 for! Plus, we got a $50 certificate just for signing up! You do need to watch the fine print as some places have minimum purchase amounts. We may even use some of these over the course of the year as gifts.

6. Sign up to be a mystery shopper. This is by far my favorite way to eat out for less. It feels like I'm spending someone else's money! Check out last week's post for a list of some of the companies I've had good experience with.

That's what helps me save money on eating out. Check out Works for me Wednesday for other tips across a variety of topics. What tips do you have for dining out for less?

How Cheap Can You Be?

I've recently entered the world of couponing. A few weeks ago I posted about my first "deal trip" and I thought it was amazing. Last week I had another trip, that I thought was pretty great, too. But this is absolutely amazing! She feeds a family of six for $4 a week! The principles that she uses are the same ones that I've started applying. Maybe I'll get there, too! If only we had the room to store all of our deals...

I love the chicksdigdeals website. Here in Nebraska, they compile a list of all the coupons in the Sunday paper and match them each week with store sales. I started visiting their site last spring, just for the convenience of checking all the store ads in one location. Now I'm hooked on couponing!

You may notice that there's a link on their site to get the Lincoln paper- Sun and Wed for $1/week. That's a great way to get coupons and the store flyers, especially if you decide to do some price matching. Here are some other website for coupon printing that I've found. So far, I've been able to get all of my deals solely from online and in-store coupons.

coupons.com

coupons.smartsource.com

redplum.com

coolsavings.com

afullcup.com

valpak.com

couponcabin.com

pgeverydaysolutions.com

Most grocery stores have a few coupons on their websites. And of course, check out the manufacturer websites for coupons, as well. Some people find it helpful to set up another e-mail account just for all their coupons and newsletters.

What's the best way to get a great deal? Match a coupon with a store sale. Even better is to put a store coupon on top of that! And if another store has that prouduct on sale, price match! For example, last week the Keebler cookies were on sale 2/$4 at one store. But I had a $1 off 2 store coupon at another store. Plus a manufacturer's coupon for $1.50 off 2. So, if I took my ad to that second store and used both my coupons I could get two packages of Keebler cookies for $1.50. It turns out that the second store had dropped their in-store price to match the competitor, so I didn't need to price match, but I was going to!

And because I can't contain myself any longer, here's the picture from my trip last week. I spent $6.80 on all the food you see in the photo! 2 boxes Kashi cereal, 2 boxes of whole wheat pasta, 2 packages Keebler cookies, 6 jars of Ragu sauce, 1 box Fiber one pastries, and 2 pounds of bananas. I used somewhere around $13 in coupons. I think I need to start framing my receipts!

My goal for the month of November is to buy only deals. That may not work perfectly- I'm out of potatoes, but I'm going to try!

What kinds of deals can you find? How cheap can you be?

Good Deal vs Great Deal

Last week, we had one of the ladies from the "Chicks Dig Deals" blog speak at our MOPS group. It was great to hear from a "couponing" mom who's been doing it for awhile. Being good stewards of the money the Lord has given us is a great motivation for getting the best deals. It's kind of fun, too! I've been following their blog for several months. It was nice to see where the best deals on different products was at, so I could choose which store to shop at each week. But I think it's time to go ahead and start the process of clipping coupons and not just getting a good deal, but getting a great deal.

This week, for the first time, I took the plunge and went to the store with the express purpose of getting some deals. Last night I spent some time going through each store's ad (made vastly easier by the fact that the "Chicks" had already done so!) to figure out which store had the best deals on the things that I wanted to buy and had coupons for.

So, here's my haul!

1 Betty Crocker potatoes pouch (Reg .99, Sale .69, -.40 MQ)

2 pkgs Keebler chocolate chip cookies (Reg 3.89 each, Sale 2/$4, -1.50 MQ)

9 pack of Charmin big rolls (Reg 5.75, Sale 4.39, -1.00 MQ)

4.3 lbs Braeburn apples (Reg 7.69, Sale 2.92, -.30 sticky coupon)

16 oz Bird's Eye frozen broccoli (Reg 1.99, Sale .77, -.35 MQ)

2 Coffee-Mate flavored creamers (Reg 2.58 each, Sale 2/$3, -1.50 MQ)

My total was $11.03

My savings from sales $13.61

My savings from coupons $5.05

My total savings was $18.66

I thought I was getting great deals before, but this is amazing! Granted, the cookies and the creamer wouldn't have been on my list without them being such a great deal. But come on, they were a great deal! Actually, that reminds me of one of the points she made last week. "The goal is not to "save" money. The goal is to spend less." (I think I'm going to write this on my coupon folder!) If I'm spending money on items I wouldn't have bought because I'm "saving" money, it's not helpful to me or my budget. Some things are nice to have on hand, though, and it's okay to spend the money on instant mashed potatoes for that night that I don't want to cook because then I won't be spending it in the drive-thru!

So, if you've seen any of my weekly meal plans and accompanying cost estimates, you may have wondered how I can feed my family of six for under $30 every week. One reason is because I tend to buy things I use a lot when they're on sale rather than waiting until I need them and paying full price. I'm excited to learn more about coupons and seeing how little I can spend!

You can see how others live frugally over at Life As Mom.

My Faves- Internet Resources

I love the internet. There's a plethora of information and resources out there. Sometimes I get sucked in and spend WAY to much time in front of the computer. When used wisely, the internet offers a great place to get recipes, coupons, tips, and ideas. Here are some of my favorites. I check each of these websites at least weekly, and all too often, daily!

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/ As moms we're in charge of both how much we spend on food and what goes into our families bodies. A great resource to help you with both!

http://www.gettingfreedom.net/ Deals, recipes, and other ideas for cutting your expenses.

http://pennypinchingpenguin.blogspot.com/ A great blog with lots of helpful hints and tips for getting great deals and making your money work for you. She has a couple of other sites that I think you'll like, too. Check out the sidebar.

http://chicksdigdeals.blogspot.com/ An awesome website for here in Lincoln and Omaha. They go through the store ads and match the sales up with coupons. They even have a list of all the current coupons that come out of the paper! Takes a lot of work out of getting the best deals for my family. I just log in before shopping, print my coupons and go!

http://www.5dollardinners.com/ A great website that offers truly frugal meal ideas! Includes recipes and approximate cost per meal.

http://www.afullcup.com/ A web site that offers coupons and ways trade coupons with other moms. I just signed up for this site and look forward to learning how to use all the resources it offers.

http://thehappyhousewife.com/donate-expired-coupons-to-military-families-overseas/ Feel good about all those unused coupons when you donate them to overseas military families!