Easy "moneymaker" at Rite Aid until 9/27/11

Hey everyone!  I know I haven't posted here since April, but I'm trying to get back into the coupon game.  I stumbled upon an amazing "moneymaker" at Rite Aid this morning.  It's particularly lovely if you have teeth, especially if you clench or grind them when you sleep.  I know I'm stressed if my jaw starts aching.  I'm a clench-er, especially in my sleep.  It's not something I'm proud of.  Anyway.

Starting today, Crest ProHealth Clean Mint Toothpaste 4.2 oz. is $2.69, get $2.69 in +UP Rewards.  So that's a freebie, made better if you have a coupon.  Then The Doctors' Nightguard is on sale for $24.99, get $20 in +UP Rewards.  There is a simple $5 off coupon for these night guards here.  ALSO, until 9/27/11 Rite Aid is giving you a $5 +UP when you spend $25 on oral care items.  Seems a little overwhelming when it's all in one paragraph so looky here...

$2.69  Crest Toothpaste
$24.99  Doctors' Nightguard
-----------------
$27.68    price without coupons
- $5  nightguard coupon
-----------------
$22.68  amount you pay for these two items

earn:
$2.59 +UP from toothpaste
$20  +UP from night guard
$5  +UP from buying $25 worth of oral care products
--------------------------
$27.59  in +UP Rewards earned
total profit: $4.91 (earn up to $1 more if you have a Crest coupon to use)

The top deals at my top 5 chains- week of April 1, 2011

Target
Free $5 Target Gift Card when you buy 2 John Freda Precision Foam haircolor ($11.99 each)
- use 2 $5 off  John Freda Precision Foam haircolor coupons from 5/1/11 Smart Source and
- use 2 $5 off  John Freda Precision Foam haircolor Target printable coupons found here
= total price: $3.98 plus tax, get $5 gift card back

see all the Target match-ups for the week at Totally Target

Rite Aid
Revlon Beauty Tools 40% off, Get $4 +UP when you buy 2 (limit 4)
- look for cheap items (nail files, nail clippers, etc) as anything under $3.33 will be free after +UP and 40% discount

see all the Rite Aid match-ups for the week at Maven of Savin'

CVS
Colgate MaxClean foam, MaxWhite, MaxFresh Toothpaste $2.77, get $2.77 ECB back (limit 2)
- use .75/1 Colgate toothpaste from Smart Source 5/1/11 insert
= free plus .75 overage after ECB

see all the CVS match-ups for the week at Maven of Savin'

Walgreens

G-U-M Eez-thru Flossers, $2, get $2 RR back

= free after RR

see all the Walgreens match-ups for the week at Maven of Savin'

Stop & Shop

Tabasco Sauce $1

- .50/1 printable coupon found here

= free after coupon doubles

see all the Stop & Shop match-ups for the week at Maven of Savin'

I'm thinking of doing this every week- letting you know my favorite deal at each store, along with a direct to my favorite link for doing match-ups for that store, that week.  Would this be helpful to you?

But I don't WANT to meal plan today.

We had a lovely weekend, and I am very glad that spring break is over and I'm back down to only one kid home during the day.  It just makes things easier- I'm not a fan of bringing two kids to grocery shop, or run to the post office, or any of a bunch of other things I try to do during the day.  So with just one kid in tow, we drove out to the consignment store and dropped off a rubbermaid bin full of clothes to see what they'd buy from us.  They told me it'd be an hour wait so I headed home-- to a voice mail saying they were all done and I could come back in to pick up what they didn't want to take.  I should have just stayed there!  I'll let you know how much money I get from them for the clothes in the bin.  I've never tried selling the girls' old clothes like this before, but they offer 20% more if you opt for store credit, so I'm hoping it pays off for me.

I also put the girls' crib/toddler bed up on Craigslist, since Mia graduated to a big girl bed last week.  Gosh, I'm getting rid of all of their baby stuff!  And I really don't mind that.  I love having babies and I love babies in general but I ALSO love not having to carry a diaper bag or a burp cloth or schedule my life around mealtimes anymore.  And I admit, I love selling their old stuff instead of just giving it away ;)

So now it's the Monday after Easter.  We opted to have family over and eat Chinese food yesterday instead of cooking a whole big meal, so there are no leftovers to speak of besides a container of Miso soup and a few chicken fingers.  I've been poking through the grocery store sales flyers for the week and it's occurring to me that it's maddening to try to plan a normal grocery trip on the says after a big holiday.  What's in place of the loss leaders on the front & back of the grocery flyers?  Lots of ham.  Lamb legs.  Shrimp.  Flowers.  Cupcakes.  I need some REAL food options here, people!

Do you have any good plans for dinners this week?  I'd love some ideas... because I'm seriously 100% out of them!

It's almost Easter?

What are you talking about?  It's like I've missed oh, I don't know... 16 days somehow.  Still feels like it's April 7th to me!

Yes, I know, I've been MIA for a while.  I'm really sorry.  Trips, school vacation, some health stuff... it's all over now, promise!


I haven't been posting because I haven't been saving.  Though to be fair, I haven't been spending either.  But this morning I headed out to Rite Aid to pick up some Easter goodies.  Thanks to a few coupons I had clipped I ended up leaving with plastic eggs and a few different Easter fillers, plus a bottle of vitamins, for $5. Not bad.

The family dyed some easter eggs today.  I couldn't find any of the PAAS kits at the stores so I just mixed up some food coloring with water and vinegar and we went old school.  The colors aren't so great, but hey, we had fun doing them anyway!  Pictures to come shortly.  End cost... $1.99 for the dozen eggs.  The end.

No coupon inserts this weekend... good thing, it'll give me some time to get my insert binder up to date.  I'm a week or two behind in hole punching my inserts.

I hope everyone has a lovely Sunday, April 24th, whether or not you're celebrating Easter!  I'm off to finish knitting the girls' Easter sweaters.  Hey, I never said I wasn't a procrastinator!

one of the best things about saving is giving.

I love donating items to food banks and charities.  Every month I send my older daughter to school on Food Bank Friday with bags full of groceries to donate.  I give food and health & beauty supplies to Rosie's Place, a shelter for women and children in Boston.  If a table for donations is set up at the grocery store, I love to leave boxes of cereal with them as I leave.

Today I learned about Couponing for Community, which is a group of people who are hoping to donate 10,000 items to charity from May 8-14, 2011.  I'm really excited about being able to join in this challenge.  I was already planning on putting together a large donation for Showers for Shelters, which is a campaign conducted between April 23 and May 8 to collect house wares and personal necessities for victims of domestic violence who are preparing to transition from a shelter into living quarters of their own.

I love that these two programs will overlap, and I'll be able to donate to one, while helping to add to the total of the other!

I invite you to help me in donating to charity from May 8-14.  It's as simple as leaving a bag full of nonperishable food items at your mailbox on May 14th for the Stamp Out Hunger national food drive (check with your local post office to make sure they're participating first).

Do you donate goods often?  I'd love to hear about it!

My top 10 tips for saving money in real life.

Tonight is the season premiere of Extreme Couponing on TLC.  I've already talked about this show a couple of times, and I'll be watching... probably in the same way a high school wrestler may turn on Wrestlemania for entertainment.

The thing that I really want to impress upon you if you watch the show is this: what is shown on the show is NOT realistic, and sometimes not even legal.  I worry that the average person will see the show and expect to pull off a similar mega shopping trip, and honestly, it's just not going to happen.  Yes, you CAN save money at the grocery and drug stores without spending hours each day cutting coupons or lots of money ordering coupons from "clipping services" on the internet.  The important thing is to manage your resources and expectations wisely!  Here are my top 10 tips for anyone who is looking to save money on the items they buy each week.

1) Pay attention to prices so you know when to stock up.  How will you know you're getting a good deal if you don't know what you normally pay?  Normal shelf price for a can of tuna is $1 in my area.  I can't tell you how many times I see tuna marked at $1 a can with a big red SALE!!! sign.  If you know what you normally pay, you'll know when you're getting a steal on an item- or when you're being fleeced.  I suggest keeping a list of the cheapest price you see for your top 10 grocery with you when you shop.  Here's my post about my stock-up price list if you'd like to see what I pay for certain items in the Boston area.

2) Don't be brand loyal.  A recent study by Consumer Reports showed that 14 brands of dish detergent, ranging in price from $2 to $14 a bottle, all did the same job cleaning dirty dishes.  When you're brand loyal, you're often going to pay more because most items are only on sale once every 3 months.  Trying out different brands of laundry detergent, paper towels, etc will save you money, and if you're still smitten with your favorite brand, at least you know that it stands up to the competition!  Don't be afraid to try generics or store brands, either.

3) Use the internet to your advantage.  If you're heading to the store, take 5 minutes before you go and check to see if you can get any great deals while you're there.  I suggest Coupon Mom, which lets you quickly pull up sale price lists by state.  They've also got a "extreme drugstore deals list" which tells you the best deals at the big drugstore chains, and a new "extreme grocery deals by state" list for food stores.  Coupon Mom requires registration, but it's totally free.


4) Manage your expectations.  I'd say that on a normal weekly grocery shopping trip, you should be proud of yourself if you save 30-50%.  People on TV save 95%, but in real life, that's not going to happen (not at the grocery store anyway!).  You'll need to purchase fresh produce, meats, and dairy products every week or two, and these should be the bulk of your grocery shopping.  If I tell you I saved 90% at the grocery store, but all I got was candy bars and Pop Tarts... I sure can't feed my family on that for a week!


5) Get the Sunday paper every week and hold on to the coupon inserts.  The cheapest Sunday paper in my area is $2.  Odds are that there are $5-$10 worth of coupons in that paper that you can use right off the bat, if you want- or you can hold on to those coupons and see if the items go on sale soon.  Either way, the $2 is a good investment because the more coupons you have available to you, the more you can save when sales do come along.  If you're not currently using coupons, you might want to read my Remedial Couponing and Couponing 101 series to learn how to find and "stack" coupons and sales.


6)  Buying in bulk isn't always cheaper.  In fact, when you're using coupons, it's usually the most cost effective to buy the smallest package possible.  Even if the price per pound is cheaper for the larger size, you'll get more bang for your coupon buck on the smaller size.  


7) Use Facebook to score high-value coupons and freebies.  It seems like every day I'm entering a giveaway or printing a coupon from Facebook.  I've now got a great supply of shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion- lots of different shelf stable products that I can store and use when I need them.  Every time I use a free sample, that delays me having to purchase a new full-size product, and those little freebies add up!  


8) Meal planning will save you money and help keep you sane. In this family, "I don't know, what do you want for dinner?" almost always turns into a take-out night or a trip to a restaurant.  If I've got a meal planned for dinner, it's really unlikely that I'll succumb to the lure of a meal someone else cooked for us.  Eating out adds up really quickly, and as soon as you're done eating you've got nothing to show for it!


9) Don't forget to check the frozen section.  Frozen veggies are really good, and often cheaper than the fresh ones.  I realize this isn't rocket science, but there are plenty of people that never check behind those freezer doors!  So many items are available frozen these days-- garlic bread, pasta, boneless chicken breasts... it's always worth checking the freezer aisle.


10) Always get (and use) a store's discount/loyalty card.  I can't tell you how many times I'll see someone buying an item at a store, then telling the cashier that they don't have or want the store's discount card, therefore having to pay a higher price.  If you're shopping at a store more than once in your life, it's really worth the extra minute to sign up for a store loyalty card.  Don't assume that you won't save any money or that you never buy the items that are on sale- how do you know until you try?


There you go- my top 10 tips for saving.  Hopefully I won't be back tomorrow with a massive, screaming rant against TLC and the people on the show tonight!

I bought Polident today!

Because really... I am so far gone down the "if it's a moneymaker, I'll buy it" road.  I've thought a lot in the past few months about if there are any moneymakers at drug stores that I wouldn't buy, and I have to say, it's a pretty short list.  Summer's Eve, a sitz bath, anything Sponge Bob... I think that pretty much covers it.

Anyway, one of the things I really like about doing deals at Rite Aid is a program they call Single Check Rebates.  I call it How I Turn +Ups Into Real Live Cash.

  

Single Check Rebates (SCRs) are fairly simple rebates that you can get through the Rite Aid website.  It's great because unlike normal rebates, which require you to mail in receipts, UPCs codes and rebate forms, all you have to do with an SCR is to enter your receipt info online.  Rite Aid tracks all the items you bought, and once a month you request for them to mail you a combined check of all the rebates you got the previous month.  You can either cash this check at your bank or use it at Rite Aid to pay for purchases.

Now, here's where SCRs get really useful:  quite often, Rite Aid will sell items that are completely free after SCR.  Let's take that Polident I bought today.  It was $1.99, with a $1.99 SCR.  If I use $2 in +UPs on this one tube of denture cream, I'll get a check next month that gives me that $2 back in cash instead of an +UP.  And if I have coupons, I can make out even better!  For example, another deal I did today:

(2) Tena Serenity Ultra Thin pads, 9.99 each

- (2) $2.50 manufacturer coupons

-------------------------------------

$14.98 paid in +UPs

submit for SCRs, will receive a check back for $19.98- a cash profit of $5

Suddenly that denture paste and those bladder control pads don't seem like such a bad purchase, do they?

To date I've received SCR checks for $113.97 (and I've only been doing this since November).  This was ALL from purchases I made using +UPs I earned in various deals.  This is money put directly into my bank, no strings attached, just profit.  I love it.  LOVE it.

Have you tried SCRs?  Do you have a store nearby that does a similar type of promotion?

I have a problem. (also, Meal Planning Monday)

It's a big problem.

Ready?


I didn't get any grocery store circulars this week.

I KNOW!!!

Usually I get a Globe Direct mailer on Friday with the sales circulars, but it didn't come.  I figured I'd just wait until the Sunday Globe came (I have a Sunday only subscription for the coupons) but I dug through the paper, and again, no circulars.

What's a meal planning, money saving mom with little to no life to DO?

Luckily for me, both Stop and Shop and Shaws post their weekly sales circulars online.  Unluckily for me, this didn't help me much at Stop & Shop since the Catalina deals I was planning on doing were either 1) gas points instead of a $ off coupon or 2) completely sold out, shelves empty, please drive through.

Grrr.  Anyway, in no particular order as usual, here are our meals for the week...

Smothered pork chops (another Cooks Illustrated crock pot recipe)  and asparagus
chicken stir fry and rice
Rebekah's pork chops with potatoes and asparagus (guess what fresh veggie I got on sale?)
Chicken scallopine with linguine and salad
breakfast for dinner- pancakes and bacon
leftovers

anything I can do, I can do better.

When Charlie was two, I knitted her a pink sweater to go with her Easter dress. It was the year I learned to knit, and I thought that it'd be a cute handmade touch to go with the dress I fell in love with and bought her at Baby Gap (normally I don't brand drop, but there's a reason I did it this time, and you'll see why soon).

 

The year Charlie was three, she had a baby sister.  I decided that I'd knit Charlie a new Easter sweater from expensive organic cotton yarn to go with her dress from Old Navy.  Baby Mia?  Well, she'd be fine wearing a dress she already had and a sweater I'd knitted when I was expecting her.

 

When Charlie was four, it dawned on me that I'd need to knit TWO Easter sweaters.  So I hunkered down, bought acrylic (sparkly) yarn from JoAnn's, and knitted them cute little boleros to go with their dresses from Old Navy.  My mother-in-law contributed the hats, which lasted all of 2 minutes.

Last year, I hit on an awesome clearance sale at The Children's Place.   For yarn for the sweaters, I'd long given up on hitting my local yarn store.  Once again,  I got my yarn at JoAnn's.

Which brings me to this year.  After poking around the various websites for their Easter dresses, I decided to hit up a local consignment store.  Lo and behold- I found two super cute dresses.  They were less than $20 total, as was the yarn that I bought for their (bright pink) sweaters this year.

See, my life has changed.  I've gone from spending $45 on the dress alone for one daughter for Easter to spending less than $40 total for the dresses and sweaters for both girls for Easter.  Am I bummed that they won't be matchy-matchy this year?  Yeah, a little, I'll admit.  But does it feel good to have that saved money sitting in the bank instead of at the bottom of the closet, where the dresses inevitably end up?  You bet it does!

If you have kids (or you buy for kids) has your holiday spending changed over the past few years? 

It's my VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

It's April first, and I woke up to a solid coating of snow on the ground.  It's supposed to be spring, and yes, I know that I live in New England and this is completely normal, but I'm still sick of it.  So in order to cheer myself up, I'm having a giveaway!

The winner (chosen at random) will receive codes for TWO free redbox rentals!  These codes don't expire until 9/30/11 so you have plenty of time to use them.  Do not apply to Blu-ray or video game rentals.


You can enter the contest in a few ways:

1) Comment on this blog post- 1 entry
2) Facebook fans, comment on this Facebook post- 1 entry*
3) Facebook fans, SHARE this Facebook post on your wall- 1 entry*

*You must be a fan of Goldfish OTT on Facebook or have already "liked" Goldfish OTT on Facebook in order for these last two entries to count.  Click here to visit and "like" my Facebook page.

This contest will end at 11:59 PM EST, tonight, April 1st, 2011.  I highly doubt I'll still be up by then, so I'll announce the winner tomorrow! (and by then... this snow better damn well be melted.)


ETA: The winner was announced and notified- congratulations, Tiff P!  I hope you enjoy your free rentals!

for better or for worse, Extreme Couponing is coming back.

TLC aired a special called Extreme Couponing a couple of months ago.  To their surprise, the show was a hit, and they've made it into a series.  The first season will start airing on April 6th, and if you're already couponing, you WILL be affected by it, even if you don't watch the show.

Strangers and cashiers will see your coupons in your hand and ask if you're "like those people on TV".  Your favorite stores might have the shelves cleared of their sale items earlier than you're used to.  You'll have more "competition" out there.  Drugstores might impose more limits on their sale items.

The problem with the show- at least, last time- was that it didn't teach responsible coupon usage.  I talked about this at length when the show first aired.  Yes, it's great to get a good deal, and yes, if you can stock up you should-- but you should NOT clear shelves unless it's the last day of a sale.  Three of the four couponers shown on the first episode bought more items than their family could possibly consume in a year.  What's the point?  Why bother getting free stuff if you're just going to throw it away?

I'll be watching the show then it airs- and it might feel a little like watching a horror movie through my fingers.  Anyone else planning on watching?

menu plan Monday, on Tuesday.

I love having our menu planned out every week, but I have a really hard time actually doing the planning.  I'm just too easily distracted by everything else in the world to sit down and concentrate on SEVEN WHOLE NIGHTS of dinner.  So sad!

I will say though-- menu planning each week is a HUGE money saver for us.  First of all if I've taken the time to buy ingredients for a particular meal, I'm mush less likely to go "ahh, who cares" and order take-out instead.  Secondly, it cuts way down on impulse purchases at the grocery store.  Thirdly, it helps me to remember on the days that I need to start prepping the meal early (to get the crock pot going, or to marinate something, or my nemesis- remembering to defrost meat in time).

In the past I've tried a couple of different meal planning services- e-mealz and Dine Without Whine.  While they were a great starting point for me, I found that most of the recipes they offered were things my kids (or I!) would never eat, so I've gone off on my own.  Every week I try to plan meals based on what's on sale that week, and what we have on hand and in the freezer.

I love looking through Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.com where literally hundreds of people post their weekly menus.  I get some great ideas there!

So with all that said, here's our planned menu for the rest of the week, in no order whatsoever...

-Baked Ziti (Tom made this for Game Night at church on Sunday and it was so good, we want it again!), salad, garlic bread
-Individual Meat Loaves (last time I tried an Ina Garten recipe but this time I'll just wing it), peas
-Macaroni & Cheese (Tom's specialty, made on Thursdays when I'm at gymnastics with Charlie in the afternoon)
-Salisbury Steaks, mashed potatoes, salad
-Huli Huli Chicken (from America's Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution), asparagus
-we usually get pizza Saturday night
-one night of leftovers!

Do you plan your meals every week?  Or are you thinking of trying?  I'd love to hear about it!

my Sunday shopping scores

Yesterday was my best shopping day so far.  EVER.  I didn't feel like I bought a lot of things, and I only went to 3 stores, but I walked away with a profit at each of the stores for a whole day of moneymakers.  Here's how I did it!

CVS
1 Physician's Formula Cover Stick
1 Physician's Formula Organic Jumbo Wear mascara with Try Me Free peelie
1 Colgate toothbrush
-------------------------------
subtotal: $19.23
- (2) $5 off Physician's Formula Qs (from their promotion a few weeks ago)
$1 Colgate toothbrush Q
------------------------------
spent $8.23 (used $6.99 ECB and the rest in cash)
earned $16 ECB
----------------------------
$7.77 MONEYMAKER plus will get a $9.99 rebate- $17.76 profit total


Rite Aid
18 packs of Trident Vitality gum (yeah that's right, and I'll go back for more at the end of the week)
2 ScunciGirl headwrap 6-packs
1 Scunci elastic 24 ct.
4 random Revlon beauty tools
2 Old Spice deodorants
2 Old Spice bodywashes
4 Stayfree packages
-----------------------------------------
subtotal $50.64
total coupons used: $46.40
----------------------------------------
total spent OOP:   $5.47 (used $4 +UP rewards, paid $1.47 in cash)
earned $12.98 in +UP rewards (and I need to buy 1 more Revlon tool to earn another $4 UP but I'm not counting it in the total)
----------------------------------------
$7.51 MONEYMAKER plus $1 SCR... total $8.51 in profit


Stop & Shop
12 boxes of General Mill cereal, bought in 3 transactions of 4*
--------------------------
subtotal $40.78
used $8 in internet printable coupons
earned $6 off each of these 3 transactions= $18 off
-----------------------
spent $6.73 PLUS earned 3 coupons for a free gallon of milk (any flavor or brand up to $4.50 each)
-----------------------
total $6.73 in profit


grand total for Sunday shopping: $33 profit
*only 8 boxes of cereal are pictured because I gave 4 to the Framingham Survival Center as I exited the store, which felt awesome.  I LOVE donating items, and most of what I bought on Sunday will be donated to various places.

how to make freebie offers and giveaways work for you

I read a lot of different blogs about saving money.  I've "liked" a lot of them on Facebook so that I can get updates quickly, and when a company is giving away something for free I get bombarded with posts about it.  I used to think "oh, I don't want to get signed up for junk mail so I'll skip it" or "geez, I don't even USE that product, why would I want it for free?" and I'd just pass on by.  But as it turns out, these offers can turn into "moneymakers" at drugstores or supermarkets, if you know how to work them the right way!

Let's take an example from a giveaway I posted about on Facebook a couple of days ago:  a coupon for a free box of John Freida hair color.  When I get this coupon in the mail, I'll keep my eye out for any promotions at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, or my local supermarkets that allow you to earn rewards on John Frieda products.  Take CVS: it's possible they'll run a promotion where you buy a box of this hair color and earn $2 ECB back.  They're not counting on you having a coupon to get a free box!  You can use your freebie coupon to turn your free hair dye into a moneymaker- and then, if you don't use hair dye, just give the box to someone else or donate it to a women's shelter.

I suggest you create an email account to use when signing up for offers like this- a spam email box, per se- so your real email box doesn't get clogged up with promotional emails.  I also like to sign up for mailed freebies using my maiden name.  I know it's not affording me any privacy, but I feel like I'm not selling my real name to advertising firms.

Have you ever made a freebie work for you?  I'd love to hear about it!

the power of a stock-up price list

When I was young my mom had a book called The Tightwad Gazette.  In it, author Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced "decision"- man, I thought that was the COOLEST name) gave a million different frugal tips and tricks, including keeping a price book for the various items you buy often at the grocery store.  When I started trying to save money on groceries this past fall, I was completely at a loss as to what was a "good" price and what was an "woah, amazing, stock up now" price.  I'd never paid enough attention to most items to really compare pricing.  If anything, I'd see a sale tag and think "it's on sale, must be cheaper!" and that was about it.

I now have my very own stock-up price list on various family staples, and I'd like to share it with you.  I developed it in part by using a form that came with Grocery University, which I found pretty helpful in learning to stack coupons and stock up on sale items.  Last week Money Saving Mom posted her own stock-up price list, which I love to look at-- she's in the Midwest, so her grocery prices are very different than mine here in Metro Boston.

I think that a stock-up price list would be helpful for ANYONE, even those who are just starting out on trying to save money, or those who only shop for one or two people every week.  My suggestion is to initially make yourself a list for the 10 grocery or health & beauty items you buy the most often (milk, bread, yogurt, eggs, diapers, Cadbury Mini Eggs- you know, household staples) and then just quickly write down the cheapest price you see for that item each week.

Of course, prices will also vary based on how often your family eats particular foods, if you have enough freezer or storage space to really stock up in bulk when the price is low, if you have access to "good" coupons, etc.  With that said, here's my own stock-up price list.  I hope that my list will help you compare what you're currently paying at the store, so you can get a better idea of what's a good price for you.

Health & Beauty/"Drugstore" items

Bandages — .50/box
Deodorant — free to .25 each
Floss — free
Liquid Soap — free (if I can't get it free, I fill our hand soap dispensers with body wash)
Lotion — free (though to be fair, we don't use a lot of lotion)
Mouthwash — 2.00 (I get particular types for Tom and the girls)
Pain Relievers — 1.00 per bottle (many "PM" versions are free each week)
Razors — free (I stock up as much as possible during big sales)
Shampoo/Conditioner — .50 per bottle
Shaving Cream — free
Toothbrushes — free (though I got Tom a free Sonicare in the fall, and now I'm stuck buying refill heads for it- OUCH.  They're pricey!)
Toothpaste — free

Refrigerated Items

Butter — 1.69 per pound
Deli Cheese — 3.99/lb (my girls LIVE on American cheese)
Eggs — 2-00 per dozen- I have a REALLY hard time getting "cheap" eggs.  It's not like I can freeze them!  They tend to be an item that I get as cheap as I can every couple of weeks, but I don't "stock up" and if I have to pay more, I pay more.
Milk — 2.99/gallon- this is the cheapest price I EVER see around here.  I don't freeze milk, so I generally buy 2 gallons when I go shopping and they'll last us 5 or 6 days.
Greek Yogurt — .75 each- we prefer Greek and it's really expensive!

Produce

Bananas — .49/pound if I can get them that cheap
Grapes — .99/pound or less
Salad — 1.99 (I buy it bagged- I know, I know)
Salad Dressing — free
Strawberries — .99/carton
Carrots, mushrooms, celery —.99 per bag, or package

Frozen

Frozen Meals — 1.00 each (for Lean Cuisine type meals, to have as lunches)
Frozen Pizza — 3.00 each (we don't buy these often)
Frozen Vegetables — .50/bag or less (they go on sale so often, and there are lots of coupons available)
Frozen Breads- 1.00 each- for things like garlic toast, which are a nice treat

Meat

Beef, Ground — 1.99/pound
Chicken, Boneless Skinless Breast — 1.99/pound or less
Chicken, Whole or bone-in breasts or thighs — .99 per pound
Pork chops, boneless — 1.99/pound or less 

We don't eat a big variety of meats, as you can tell.  In general I won't pay more than $2/pound unless it's a special occasion.

Dry/Canned Goods

Bread — 1.49 per loaf or less for whole grain white bread
Brownie Mix — free
Cake Mix — free
Canned Tuna — .50 each (I have a really hard time finding "cheap" tuna- the normal sale price around here is $1 a can)
Cereal — free- .50 per box (I pay more for Kashi for Tom)
Chocolate Chips — 1.50/bag
Crackers — .75/box
Flour — I don't honestly know, I just buy the store brand or whatever's cheapest
Honey — I have a hard time getting this cheaply- the best I've done is 8.99/36 oz. at Target
Jelly — .50/jar
Ketchup — 1.00 per bottle
Mayonnaise — 1.00 per jar
Mustard — free
Oats — 2.99 per cannister
Pasta — .25 per box (Barilla)
Peanut Butter — 1.00 per jar
Spaghetti Sauce — .50 per jar
Sugar — same as flour- I just buy whatever's cheapest
Syrup — we only use real maple syrup, which is never cheap!
Tomato Paste — free
Tomato Sauce — free

Do you keep your own price list?  Do you think having a price list would be helpful to you?

What does any of this have to do with goldfish?

My two girls are big fans of salty, cheesy snacks.  They're not big eaters, and I don't ever remember a dinner where I didn't sit between them at the table, saying "take a bite.  Take a bite.  Take a bite!" over and over- but give them some sort of cracker, or some cheese, and they'll eat it by the handful.  They love Saltines, they love Cheez-Its, and they REALLY love Goldfish.

You know... goldfish.

A couple of years ago, our lives were very, very different.  I worked full-time for the years that Tom was in grad school.  He worked a few part-time jobs, but I was really the breadwinner for the family, and Tom was the primary caregiver for our kids.  My mom was fond of saying "he's their Dad AND their Mom!" which would always make me grimace, but I understood what she was saying.  The girls got to have Daddy home with them every day.  Tom was super dad, driving them to school, packing lunches, doing their piggytails and picking out the appropriate leggings to match their dresses.

My life plan, my family plan, had always been to stay home with my kids until they were at least school age.  But when Tom sat me down and talked to me about going back to school to become a minister, I realized that things were going to change, and why not?  I'd depended on him to provide for the family-- why couldn't he depend on me for a while?

Our family flip-flop went fairly smoothly, but I'm not going to lie.  I spent a good amount of time being jealous.  When I'd call home during the day and Charlie wouldn't want to talk to me because she was playing a game and didn't want to be disturbed, or when I was pumping for the third time in a day in an empty office at work and my boss banged on the door and told me she had to get in the room RIGHT THEN because she had to look for something "important" as I'm sitting at an empty desk trying to empty my brain so I can make more milk for my baby who is home with her daddy all day long, it was hard to remain upbeat about our current situation.

One day I was sitting at my cubicle talking on the phone to Tom, who was having a hard time with the girls at home.  I tried to be empathetic, but when I hung up I found myself complaining to my co-workers.  "Seriously, how hard can it be?  Put on a movie, throw some goldfish on the table, and call it a day!"

Well... now our jobs have shifted again, and I'm the one home full time with the girls.  Spending my days with a three year old isn't easy, just as it wasn't easy when Tom did it with our older daughter.  And yep, there are times when I follow my own sarcastic advice- I throw some goldfish on the table, distract the kids, and take a deep breath.  And keep going.

It's friday, friday, gotta get down on friday

1Get down?  Get down to the week's shopping list, I mean.  The grocery stores I shop at start their sales week on Friday, and since Rite Aid and CVS start on Sunday, I find that friday morning is a good day to gather any sales information I can from around the internet.

I've talked about Catalina (CAT) deals before- that's when you go to the grocery store and the coupon printer spits out a $ off coupon when you buy certain items.  These are usually a GREAT way to save at the grocery store.  For example, there are two frozen food CATs running this week at Stop & Shop, and they overlap.  One is buy $100 of frozen foods, get $25 off your next order- and the other is buy 6 of certain frozen items, get $5 off your next order.  As an example, let's take a look at Pillsbury Toaster Strudel, which are $2 per box and qualify for both deals- a "double dip".

6 boxes of Toaster Strudel @ $2 each= $12, earn $5 back
buy 54 boxes (I know... gross.  But stick with me here)= spend $108, and earn back:
-$25 from first CAT deal
-$45 from second CAT deal (you will have purchased 9 sets of 6 boxes each)
--------------------------------
total OOP $38 for 54 boxes, or .70 a box


Now, clearly I just used the Toaster Strudel as an example... I really hope nobody runs out and does this.  But it nicely illustrates my point, that CAT deals allow you to save money- even without using any coupons- if you're willing to sit down and do your math before you head to the store.

Wondering what I'm planning on buying this week?  Me too!  Well, I'll be taking advantage of the buy 6, get $5 off CAT above- I highly doubt I'll get anywhere enough to do the double dip with the buy $100 get $25 promo.  At a different store, there's a Buy 5, get 5 CAT running, so I'll take advantage of that to get Charlie more juice boxes for snack time at school.

As for Rite Aid this week- I haven't really looked yet.  I'm sure there'll be some decent freebies to pick up, but recently they've been playing around with limits on deals and it's been sort of tricky to shop there.  Hopefully I can come up with something good.

ETA:: I'm back from Stop & Shop and Shaws.  Both trips involved a Catalina deal.  Wanna see how I did?

Stop & Shop
1 McCormick Rotisserie Chicken spice mix
1 McCormick Vanilla Extract
2 Toaster Strudels
2 Orieda Steam & Mash potatoes
2 Yoplait Frozen Smoothie Mixes
1 40 oz. Bisquick
1 Kikkoman Soy Sauce
1 lemon juice
--------------------------------------
total before savings: $33.43
coupons used:- $9
CAT for frozen items: -$5
--------------------------------------
total after sales, coupons and CAT: $15.47

Shaws
1.5 lbs. red grapes
1 16 oz. pack of strawberries
1 pk. Joseph's oat/flax wraps
5 Capri Sun 10 packs
------------------------------
 total before savings $27.12
coupons used: NONE! (I know, right?  Sad.)
CAT for Capri Sun: -$5
-----------------------------
total after sales, coupons and CAT: $13.38

So a little over 50% saved...

A quickie for you.

Not an afternoon delight.  That's different.  I like the marshmallows*.

Anyway.

I've been really, really sick.  You don't want me to go into details, but let me just tell you I've only been able to "eat" liquids for the past 3 days and I generally feel like my throat was attached by a pack of irate Rite Aid shoppers who just missed out on free cans of  tuna fish.  So I haven't been shopping (or doing much but sleeping) but do you know what this means?  It means the batch of chicken stock I made last week was a LIFESAVER for me.  I drank all of it over the course of 2 days and not only was it tasty, but I'd like to believe it was more nutritious than the other soup options I had in the house.

I decided to venture out into the world again this morning for a test run to see if I could re-enter the land of the living.  I hit RA, and apparently I got there just after their most notorious smash & grabber left.  I actually saw her, running (yes RUNNING) out of the store with a huge grin on her face, throwing a bag in the car, then heading right back in to do another transaction.  When I got up to the register my resident MOLC (mean old lady cashier) confirmed my suspicions and told me that the last customer had just bought a ton of nail polish and lip gloss.  Oh well.  Funny to actually see it in person, when it's not me getting the deals!

I hit Stop & Shop and did much better.  They're having a deal- buy 4 General Mills cereals, get an instant $6 off AND you get a catalina for a free gallon of milk.  I had printed a bunch of coupons for different GM cereals off various sites, and was able to get all of the following:

8 boxes of cereal (Cheerios (different flavors), Chex, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
14 Yoplait Greek yogurts (regularly .99, sale .89, I had a total of $2.80 worth of coupons for these)
2 gallons of milk
-----------------------
total before coupons, sales & promotions: $49.76
I paid: $15.57 (and $9.66 of that was yogurt!)

That's .73 a box for the cereal, not even taking into account the 2 gallons of free milk you earn.  And ALL of the coupons I used were internet printables, so you don't even need to hoard coupon inserts to get this deal!

*This is a Glee joke.  Sorta.  Sorry.  Told you I'm sick.

It's a cooking day for sure.

A week or so ago, I saw a great blog post about using 5 chicken breasts to make 5 meals.  I'm all for stretching our grocery budget, and this article talks about how to use bone-in chicken breasts to the fullest extent.  I had to hit Shaws yesterday, so I decided to take the plunge.

If you know me, you know that I'm bone-a-phobic.  I never eat meat on the bone.  It's not that I care that it's a dead animal-- it's that I'm too freaked out about chomping down on a piece of cartilage, or a splintered bone that'll poke me in the gums, or- God forbid- a vein.  Ugh GROSS.  So when I shop I buy boneless chicken breasts, boneless pork chops, and on and on.  If I go to a restaurant I ask the server if the dish I want to order is boneless, and if not, I order something else.  So this"experiment"  is a biggie for me, and not easy!

First, I skinned the chicken and put the removed skin aside.  I cut the chicken breasts off the bone and chopped them up into bite-sized pieces.  These I split into 3 freezer baggies, labeled, and froze them.

The chicken ribs went into a stock pot with enough water to cover them, and I boiled them for 30 minutes until the remaining meat on the bone was cooked through.  I then removed the ribs from the water, cooled them, and used my hands to pick the rest of the meat off the bone.  This got me about 1/5 cups of shredded chicken, which I also labeled and froze for future use.

I then heated the oven to 475.  I roughly cut up 3 carrots, 2 celery stalks, and 1 onion.  I threw all the veggies into a roasting pan along with the chicken ribs, and the skin I'd removed earlier, and 4 big cloves of garlic, and roasted all of it until the veggies were browned and the house smelled delicious.

I had kept the water in the stock pot from boiling the ribs, so I skimmed the gunk off the top of the water, then threw all the roasted goodies (except the garlic and the remaining chicken skin that hadn't cooked down) into the stock pot with the chicken water.  I smashed the garlic cloves, then added them too, along with 2 bay leaves, a tablespoon of thyme, and 8 black peppercorns.  I added more water, enough to cover everything in the pot plus another 2 or 3 inches.

I boiled all of this, then turned down the temp and got the stock to a good simmer.  And that's where we are now.  Simmer, simmer, simmer.  It's been going for almost 4 hours now, and it looks (and smells!) great, but not tasting "done" yet so I'll leave it be.

Once I feel it's done, I'll strain it all through a fine strainer and put it in a bowl in the fridge so the fat will rise to the top and solidify.  Once it's cooled, I'll remove the fat and then freeze the stock in small containers for future use.  Awesome!

I don't think I could have gotten this much use out of boneless chicken breasts, and just looking at that simmering pot of stock makes me feel like some sort of kitchen wizard.

It doesn't always work out.

I feel the need to share this story so you can see that, even with the best intentions, sometimes the deals don't work out for me (or you, or anyone- even the Extreme Couponers).  Three weeks ago, before I left for vacation, Rite Aid was running a sale on Dove Invisible Solid deodorant- buy 2 for $4, get $2 +UP back.  When the math works out, a customer would be getting this deodorant for $1 each, which is a good deal... but there's more.  See, there was a $2 off any Dove Deodorant coupon out at the same time.  Suddenly you could get both deodorants for free, THEN still get the $2 +UP back, for a profit of $1 per deodorant.

All of the deodorant I had in the house was men's, from the big Gillette/Old Spice sale a few months ago.  I hadn't yet seen a good deal on women's deodorant, and once I'd gotten used to free health and beauty products, well, I just couldn't bring myself to spend money just to get girly smelling armpits.  I was using a stick of Old Spice in the Fiji scent ("smells like palm trees, sunshine, & freedom" according to the label) and while it wasn't girly, I also didn't smell like I'd gone swimming in Drakkar.  But a chance to get some free women's deodorant?  I was ON IT.

I had ordered a few extra coupon inserts for the week that the Dove $2 off coupon came out, so luck was on my side when I went through my binder and found 8 coupons for the deodorant.  I scoped out my Rite Aid in Saturday night- they had 13 Dove's in stock.  "Great", I thought. "I have 8 coupons but I won't buy 8, I'll just buy 4 and leave all the rest for everyone else."

So Sunday morning rolls around, and I'm not able to go to Rite Aid when it opens, but I get there around 11:30.  I go straight to the deodorant aisle and immediately see it-- the empty shelf where all the Dove used to be.  Crap.

No worries though- I decide to just get a rain check.  That way I can still use the coupon, and get the sale price, but I won't get the +UPs.  And that's OK- I love "moneymakers" but I also love free! So from this point on, I dutifully check the Dove area every time I'm back in the store.

This past Saturday, I check RA one more time.  They never got in any more Dove, and my coupons expire the next day, so I know I'm stuck.  I've got to use the coupons or lose them.  I head over to Shaws because I remember they were also running a Dove promo, and I'm not sure what the specifics are, but I'm hoping I can still snag a deal, even at the last minute.

As I browse at Shaws, I realize that the Dove promo had ended THE DAY BEFORE.  The day before!  The deodorants are on "sale" for $2.99 each now- but can you see how paying .99 each for them is so hard when I was originally going to be PAID $1 to take each stick home?

So what did I end up doing?  I found a stick on "clearance" for $2.79, and I bought it.  One stick.  79 cents.  And threw away the other 7 coupons.

But, you know... 6 months ago, I would bought the deodorant at 2.99 and thought I was getting a deal.  Heck, a year ago, I would have bought whatever deodorant I liked the scent of the most and not even LOOKED at the price!  Deals don't always work the way you want them to, and it's just not worth beating yourself up over.

Yay for Sunday Rite Aid trips!

Florida has no Rite Aids.  Sad, but true.  So I missed the past 2 Sundays at my beloved Rite Aid.  I was so happy to get back into the grind that I mentioned it at church, where someone quipped "church is over and now she's going to her REAL church."  This is particularly amusing if you know that my husband is the minister!

This is a good week for freebies at Rite Aid.  Unfortunately the freebies are junk food... but that's OK.  In fact, I only used ONE coupon that I'd walked in with this morning, which means this is a great week for people to get freebies with very little work done beforehand.

Lay's Stax (similar to Pringles), TGIFriday snacks, Burger King snacks (who knew there was such a thing?) and Combos are all $1 each, get $1 +UP back.  No limit.

Also, there's a Thermacare-type heat wrap called BodiHeat.  It's on sale this week, but for some reason it's ringing up for $1, get $1 +UP back- AND many of the boxes have peelies on them for either .50 or $1 off each, making them a "moneymaker".

I also got a box of hair dye for .24 with a coupon.  Something tells me I may never get the courage to actually USE this color, but hey... it's a fun story!

So I got:
4 BodiHeat Wraps
1 Natural Essence hair dye
4 Stax
5 Combos
2 Burger King snacks
---------
16.24
- 2.00 coupons (peelies)
-2.00 coupon (hair dye)
-------
12.24 OOP (paid $12 in +UPs, .24 in cash)
earned $15 +UP= $2.76 "moneymaker"


The shelves were full (for once!) and I could have bought a LOT more, but I just didn't want that much junk food- even free junk food.  I do donate it to food banks, though it makes me feel weird to donate non-nutritious food.  I find that they're good to have on hand for parties, church functions, etc. so I buy some every time a sale comes around, but I wouldn't stock up on freebies like I would for health & beauty care items or healthy foods.

Anybody out there have shopping success to share this week?

on vacation

We're currently in Florida, visiting family, which is why I haven't posted in a week.  I don't have much to say about money saving while I'm here, except that visiting Publix with my  "coupon eyes" was a whole new experience for me.  Firstly, it seemed like every item had a peelie on it!  Everywhere I turned, I saw a peelie or a tearpad.  The prices weren't too different than what we see at home, but they sure make it a lot easier to save money here by handing you the coupon to use with the item.

I found a coupon book tearpad and took three of them to bring home with us.  Oh, how my life has changed.

A couple of quick pictures to include you in the warm, sunny, beautiful joy that this week has been...

We'll be home Wednesday!  I'll be glad to be back in our lovely house with our comfy bed, but right now I'm thoroughly enjoying soaking up the sun and watching the girls swim in the pool ALL.DAY.LONG.

found money?

All of this couponing and deal-ing is causing me to take a closer look at magazines and store displays.  I used to think that rebates were a total and utter waste of time.  Surely it wasn't worth my 10 minutes to fill out a form (and keep the receipt I needed to send with it!) in order to get a check for a measly $2.99 in 2 months.  Why bother?

On the other hand, I'd still fall for the marketing trick.  I'd be in the store and pick up an item that said "try me free!".  I'd buy it, thinking "oh I'll mail it in for the rebate!" but once I got home, I'd either forget all about it or look at the pile of crumpled receipts in my hand and decide- you guessed it- that it wasn't worth my time.

As you can imagine, I've changed my tune when it comes to rebates.  In fact, in the last month I've stumbled across THREE rebates for items that I'd already bought-- and I'd had no idea I could get money back on them.  Two of these rebates were for salty foods, deli meats, prepared foods, or frozen pizzas from Budweiser.  We're not beer drinkers and I had NO IDEA that beer companies offer these rebates- and you don't even need to buy beer!  Honestly, I don't get the point of these at all- no clue how it helps Budweiser in any way- but if you'll give me back money on stuff I bought last month and (luckily) kept the receipts for, heck yeah, I'll take it.  I mailed in $11 worth of rebates to Budweiser this morning.

I stumbled across the other rebate when I was reading Real Simple magazine- a subscription I got super cheap thanks to one deal or another in November or December.  Hidden in a page of ads, stuck in the middle towards the magazine spine, was a column with a picture of a k-cup on it.  When I looked closer I realized it was a mail in rebate for $5 back when you buy at least $10 worth of Green Mountain k-cups.  Now, I have a Keurig, and it's about the only place where I don't save money.  I love coffee, I love k-cups, and Tom loves tea k-cups.  I buy online from sites with discounts and free shipping, or sometimes I'll get a box of k-cups with a 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath & Beyond, but I do still spend a lot on coffee.  I'd ordered a large number of boxes from Green Mountain coffee a couple of weeks ago.  So this was a no-brainer!

All in all, I'm sending in for $16 back today, all on stuff I'd already bought.  It took about 20 minutes to fish out receipts for the right products, fill out the forms, and stamp the envelopes, but is that work worth it for $16?  You bet it is.

morning thoughts- freebies, giveaways, and surveys

It's winter, and everyone I know is either fighting an illness, or getting over one, or watching their spouse or kids do the same.  We've been pretty lucky in this house so far- a couple of colds, Tom had the flu but it only lasted about 24 hours, Mia's only had one ear infection.  Other than my sinus-and-double-ear-infection over the past week, our house has stayed relatively healthy... until yesterday.  Whee!  Charlie's sick, Tom thinks he's getting sick, I'm still getting over the afore-mentioned infectionpalooza, and Mia is just fine, thank you very much.  So far.  We're leaving for Florida on Valentine's Day, so I'm hoping everyone gets the sickies out of their systems NOW so we can have an awesome, relaxing, warm time.

Since we haven't been leaving the house much, I wanted to tell you about the mail I've been getting.  I sign up for a lot of freebies, Facebook giveaways and samples.  I always sign up for them using my maiden name, which gives me a false sense of security.  I have a junk email address I made on gmail that I use for any giveaways that I'm not really interested in.  That way, the company doesn't have my real email address and I don't have to go through the process of unsubscribing to all the spam.

In any given week, I usually get 2 or 3 product samples and a good number of coupons.  I also recently joined a consumer opinion panel that regularly emails me surveys.  Sometimes I'll get to the end of the survey and they'll ask if I'd be willing to test out a particular product and give them my feedback.  I've already received two full-size free products to test, which is great because the kids think it's fun, and both were products I either needed or would have bought if I had seen them in a store.  I earn points by doing all of these different surveys, and once I get a particular number of points I can redeem them for cash.  I really don't mind taking surveys, and I LOVE testing products, so it's really a win-win for me.  It's not lucrative, that's for sure, but getting the free products to test is worth it in my opinion!

The company I do these tests for is called Synovate.  Other than being a panel member, I'm not affiliated with them in any way, and I don't get anything if you sign up (they don't do referrals).  I just think it's a cool opportunity and I thought some of you might also enjoy it.

My plan for Rite Aid on Sunday

Here's my list for tomorrow!  I really doubt my store will have enough items in stock for me to get all of this, and I do NOT slash & grab (clearing the shelf, especially on the first day of the sale, is a big no-no!) but if all the stars and store stock aligned, I'd come home with the following:

3 Betty Crocker cake mixes
3 Betty Crocker frostings
6 Betty Crocker cookie mix pouches
1 Children's Chestal
1 Children's Coldcalm
1 Oscillococcinum
9 boxes Rice Krispies
2 cans Scrubbing Bubbles aerosol cleaner
4 Excedrin PM, 20 ct.
16 rolls Bounty Basic
1 Mentos
4 bottles Finesse
85.65 (total, sale prices)
-------------------------
-36.90 in coupons
= 48.75
earn $37 in +UPs
get 20.97 back in rebates
------------------------
total price for all the above: 9.22 moneymaker  
Wish me luck!


ETA: For the first time ever, I got to RA when they opened this morning. Here's what I ended up getting (and I'm planning another trip for cheapies, not freebies, later in the week)...

2 cake mixes
2 frostings
4 cookie mix pouches
1 Children's Chestal

1 Children's Coldcalm

1 Oscillococcinum

1 adult Chestal

2 Excedrin PMs

6 boxes Rice Krispies

3 RA coffee cannisters (I was SUPPOSED to buy 4, you only get the +UP if you buy them in 2s... whoops!)

1 Red Dress coupon

----------------------------

66.85 sale prices

- 26.60 in coupons

---------------------------

40.25 OOP ( paid mostly in +UPS, $1.68 in cash)

earned $23 in +UPs, plus $20 Winter Reward, PLUS $27.96 in Single Check Rebates)

------------------------

$70.96 "earned/cash back", makes this trip a $30.71 moneymaker!

I've been lax!

Sorry, guys... a double ear infection and a sinus infection have pretty much kept me confined to the couch this week.  Sleeping, not posting.  The antibiotics started kicking in yesterday, just in time for Tom and I to go out to dinner and a movie- a total rarity around here!

As we were heading out, we walked by the shelving unit in the basement that Tom set up for me to store my stockpile/freebies/random loot on.  He shook his head as he saw the shelf full of Afrin and other products we never use in this house.  "I know you said they're a money maker, but it's not REAL money.  We can't buy gas with it.  I just don't get why you do it."

I yawned (gotta pop those ears!) and said "you know how you came home from the doctor earlier with a list of things that you needed?  And I went out to Rite Aid and got them all?  It should have cost me about forty bucks, but I paid 4 cents in cash for those items.  They weren't on sale, and I didn't get any sort of deal, but using my 'fake money', I still bought stuff we need."

"FOUR CENTS??  Woah."

I think I got through to him.

Thus ends a great week for Rite Aid shopping, and Shaw's shopping, though being sick really cut down on the number of Shaws runs I was able to do.  There are decent deals coming up at Rite Aid this week, though, so no reason to be upset!

By the way- The King's Speech was good!

Keeping track

I just saw a good deal for Rite Aid next week posted on Southern Cali Saver.  I used to see things like this and just assume I'd remember.  Or I'd keep the Notepad on my netbook up, and add to the list, which worked OK except I couldn't really format it and if my computer restarted, it was gone.

I began keeping a rolling shopping list on Google Docs.  I keep mine private.  It auto saves, and it's super easy to edit, print, and access from anywhere.  Feel free to take a look at my list for this week (I made a private copy for myself so you're looking at a semi-public copy). It's not pretty at the moment, and maybe it doesn't make any sense to other people, but it does to me!

This way, I print out the pertinent page on shopping day and throw it in my basket/shopping cart.  I can quickly scan the list to see what I wanted to buy, how I wanted to break up transactions, and what coupons I wanted to use.  This helps me to keep my wits about me when I go into the store-- otherwise I'm easily confused.

No matter how you keep your list, I highly HIGHLY suggest keeping one.  It is a lifesaver in terms of staying to your plan, and getting the savings you were hoping for.

two quick runs today.

I hit up Shaw's and rolled a couple of the Catalinas I earned yesterday, plus earned one more.  Here's what I got (a lot of this was for dinner tonight, which was a TON of work, but was delicious!):

6 jars Skippy Natural peanut butter
8 boxes Barilla pasta
1/2 lb. butter
1 pt. heavy cream
1 gallon milk
1 1/2 gallon chocolate milk (free with purchase of the milk gallon)
1 carton bread crumbs
1 container red pepper flakes
1 container steak seasoning
2 cans tuna (at .89 each-- I'm having the HARDEST time getting a good price on tuna!)
1 doz. eggs
1 pack napkins
-------------------------
used $37.99 in Catalinas and coupons, for a total out of pocket price of $9, and I also got a $10 Catalina for my next order.

How did that kind of grocery success feel?  AWESOME!!  Man, the cashier was even like "how did you DO that?!?"  I TOLD you the deals at Shaws this week are awesome!

Then I hit up Rite Aid, because I just can't resist on weeks like this.  Even when I'm buying really odd items, and I'm only buying them because they're moneymakers.  Is there ANYTHING I wouldn't buy if it made me some money?  Not sure... but I tested it today and decided to make a mortifying purchase and hope the cashier (who recognizes me!) didn't pay much attention to what I was buying...

ANYWAY I bought 2 of this not to be named item, used 2 coupons, paid .46 out of my change purse, and was handed a $5 +UP reward for a $4.54 moneymaker.  Now if only there was a place I could donate said embarrassing products...  I hate throwing new items away but I'm pretty sure they're destined for the trash!

What a Sunday for sales!

Normally, if you're lucky, ONE store in your area will have good deals in any given week.  Somehow the stars aligned for me, and I have THREE stores running big sales, with another two with good prices on things we needed.  Let me tell you, I've been driving myself nuts planning for today for the past couple of weeks.  My youngest woke up at 5 and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I bundled her up and we went to the 24-hour CVS to pick up some extra papers (4 coupon inserts in each paper today).

So my first shopping trip today was Rite Aid.  I got the following items:
6 Afrin sprays
1 Coricidin cold medicine
3 Colgate toothpastes
1 Dawn dish detergent
1 Neuragen gel
3 Lays Stax
2 NY Bagel Crisps
2 Edy's ice creams
2 Dixie plate pkgs.
Retail price for all was $91.80.  I used $49 in coupons and paid the remainder in +UPs, then 1.83 in cash.  I got back $66 in +UPs and I'll get a $19.99 rebate.  In total, my Rite Aid trip was a $43 moneymaker.

Next I went to Walgreens where I'm still learning the ropes.  I did 2 very simple transactions.  My final haul was:
1 Arnicare arnica gel
1 bottle of Melatonin
2 bottles Renpure conditioner
1 container of Tidy Cats litter
---------------------------------
I paid about $10 OOP for these items (I misplaced my 2nd receipt) and I'll be submitting the 2 Renpures for mail-in-rebates, making my total price around $4 for all the above.

Then I hit Shaw's.  They're having a big catalina deal right now and I didn't want to miss out!  Here's what I got...

4 2-litre bottles A+W rootbeer
4 boxes Orville Redenbacher popcorn
4 boxes Pillsbury brownies
6 tubs Pillsbury frosting (for VBS this summer)
9 jars Ragu pasta sauce
9 jars Skippy peanut butter
-----------------------------------
The total pre-sale price for these items was $84.87.  By combining coupons and the current catalina sale (by breaking up my order into 3 transactions) I spent a total of $17.43.

Finally, and least impressively, I went to Sudbury Farms.  They had boneless chicken breast for $1.79/lb, part of a big 3-day sale.  Here's what I got...

10 bags of Goldfish
10 pounds (approx.) of boneless chicken breast
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Total regular price was $60.76, I paid $27.24.


If you want to be ridiculous (and I always do!) and count the money earned at Rite Aid versus the money paid at the other stores, I spent $4 for all of this.  Of course... that's not how the world works ;)  But it's fun to pretend!

And with that, I need to go find the missing receipt... happy Sunday everyone!

Couponing 201: Organization

Welcome to my series on how to save money at grocery stores and drugstores!  If this is your first visit, please view the previous entries in the series, found in the sidebar --------->

I had some requests for a post on coupon organization.  I know that it can quickly become overwhelming to coupon when you're sitting at a table covered in sales flyers, coupon inserts, and lists.  It's so easy to get frustrated and worn out by the constant checking and re-checking, then losing the coupons you clipped, then picking up the wrong flavor of cereal at the store that isn't on sale, etc... Many people begin couponing but burn out within a month or two because if you're not careful, you can quickly get swallowed up by all of the possible deals, the variable scenarios, the "what if's" and the "why not's".  So I'm happy to share with you the 5th secret to couponing success: coupon organization is your new BFF.

Now, before I get into the nuts and bolts of my own ever-evolving system, I'd like to point out that I was the girl who would color code my highlighting in my textbooks.  I took great pride in my neat notebooks and my legible class notes.  See, I'm by NO means a neat freak (I'm pretty messy) but I love systems-- If anything, I tend to over-categorize.  I'm happy to show you how I do it, but coupon orgnization is pretty personal, and the key is to find a system that works best for you.  Once I show you my system, I'll also talk about some other systems I've seen and give you links to check them out for yourself.

My coupon system is comprised of three parts: my insert binder, my store organizer, and my coupon organizer.

On Sunday afternoons, I sit down with the Sunday paper, a 3-hole puncher, and my insert binder.  I take a coupon insert and cut down the center spine to make it all into single pages (works better in a binder that way).  I 3-hole punch the insert, write the date on the front page, and then put the whole insert in the back of my binder.  I also put a Post-It flag on the front of the insert and label it with insert type and date, so I can quickly find specific inserts when I need them.

If I have more than one copy of the same insert, I repeat so that the inserts are all organized by date and by type.  

I then flip through all of the inserts for that week and clip only the coupons I know I'll use right away.  99.9% of the time, the coupons can be clipped so that the rest page can stay in my binder (as you can see in the picture below, on the left page).  I'll also rip out all the "junk" pages near the back of the insert that don't contain coupons.

The clipped coupon will then go into one of two places: either my store organizer (if I know it's going to be used at an upcoming sale) or into my coupon organizer (where I keep the good coupons that I clip because I know I can use them at *some* point, but not necessarily for any particular store or sale).  I keep my price list, extra Post It flags, coupon books, and Sharpie in the front pocket.

My store organizer is the old coupon organizer that I grew out of.  I have it labeled with Post_It flags so I can move around the categories if I want to.

It's a little hard to see, but I break down the categories by store & week.  Remember how I showed you how to see what the sales will be in upcoming weeks?  This knowledge really helps me to keep my coupons sorted by week.  So here you'll see "Rite Aid this week", "Rite Aid next week", etc.  I also keep store envelopes in the front of this organizer.  These envelopes hold +UPs, ECBs, RRs, Catalinas, store-only coupons-- anything that is store specific, but again, isn't needed for a particular date.

The third part of my "system" is my coupon organizer.  It was a present from my brother- it's The Coupon Wallet Organizer.  I like it, but not as much as I was expecting to-- since it's all fabric, it's not super sturdy, and I'm not confident that I could actually fill it all the way without it exploding if I squeezed it at the bottom.  It DOES have a lot of nice pockets, and loops to Velcro it on to my shopping cart (but I have to prop it up on top of my pocketbook for it to stay open without all the contents falling out) and a pen loop, and it came with a calculator, so I'm happy with it.

My coupon organizer currently has 17 categories and 8 subcategories, organized by the order of the aisles in my grocery store.  My categories are:

• Produce & Meat
• Drinks
• Pasta & Soup
• Sides & Rice
• Condiments, Spices, Dressing
• Breakfast: Cereal & Bread
• Baking
• Snack Foods
• Surface Cleansers & Air Fresheners
• Laundry
• Dish Washing
• Paper & Plastic Products
• Frozen
• Dairy Case & Eggs
• Medicine, Vitamins & First Aid (subcategories: Vitamins/Supplements, Medicine, Kids' Medicine)
• Hair, Skin & Oral Care, Beauty (subcategories: Skin, Dental, Hair, Shaving, Kids)
• Office- Batteries, Tape

I use the pretty, clear front pocket for rebates, coupons for free items, etc- stuff I don't want to get lost in all of the other coupons.

So that's it for my particular system- lots of places to put very specific coupons.  I tend to change it a bit every few weeks, but it's what works for me!  Seems like every couponer I know of has a slightly different system, though, and I love poking through various blogs and sites to see all the different ways that we accomplish basically the same thing.  Here are some other coupon systems:

• Vanessa at Vanessa's Values uses a file folder method. She keeps her inserts in a different place than I do, but I think our systems are pretty similar.
• The Money Saving Mom uses a coupon box method.  It wouldn't work for me- too much empty space for the coupons to float around- but it looks like it works well for her!
• Erin at 5 Dollar Dinners uses a coupon binder system.  I have to admit that the idea of each coupon in it's own place warms my heart a little, but I can't imagine lugging that whole binder around when I went to the store!  On the other hand, keeping all of your coupons with you at all times means you never miss out on a deal...

Hopefully by now you've seen that no matter how you organize your coupons, you need to organize them.  Do yourself a favor and start organizing now, and you won't be overwhelmed a month from now!