Saving Myself Silly: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Posting Will Likely be Very Slow until August

Hey guys! I haven't been able to post much lately. We have been out of town, and had unexpected visitors. We will be having more visitors, and then be out of town for two whole weeks. Most likely I will not be able to keep up with posting until after all of that happens. If I find a really really good deal, don't worry I will share it, and I will try to post some of my shopping trips, although there may not be many of them either. I hope everyone is having a great summer! I just wanted to let you know what was going on.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

My CVS trip 6/25

I went into CVS today mainly to get the awesome deal on the big box of Huggies diapers. This week it is on sale for $19.99 and you get back $10 ECB! There have also been $3/1 coupons floating around on coupons.com and on the Huggies facebook page (don't see it there now). When I walked in the door I noticed some bins at the front full of clearance merchandise marked 90% off. I didn't pay much attention to it as all as I made a beeline to my first stop--the coupon scanner. I scanned my card and out popped a $4 off $20 purchase coupon! I had planned my trip so I was going to be spending about $4 before tax so that was perfect. I also got a $1/3 Gold Emblem candies....wait a minute...weren't there some of those in the 90% off bin....why, yes there were! I grabbed 3 twizzler-ish items that were scanning $0.29 each. =) ~~My husband will love that~~. (Actually, he hated them, but I think they are tasty.)

I went along getting the rest of the items that I came for. I found these coupons for BOGO free and $0.75/1 Taster's Choice this morning before I left out. (Thanks Amber@ Saving Money Wisely) They were on sale for $1 each this week so with two each of these coupons I was able to get 4 packs of them for $0.50 total. I also noticed the Chicken of the Sea were on sale for $1. I had planned to get these at Walgreens--they are $0.99 w/in-coupon there-- with my $1/1 coupons that I told you about on their facebook page (they are no longer available), but I picked them up here instead.

When I made it to the back aisle, there were no boxes of size 3 Huggies diapers on the shelf. I was afraid they were going to be all out, but the cashier called someone to come help me. He popped right out of the stock room and assured me they had more. He even asked if I wanted to get a second box to use my coupon from the first one on. I declined, but I thought that was pretty nice of him.

In all, here is what I came home with:

Shelf Price: $52.23
Sale Price: $38.83
After Coupons: $21.33 plus I also had $21 ECBs
Total Paid after ECBs with tax: $0.67 AND I received $15 in ECBs!!

Did any of you find any great deals at CVS this week? Let us know if you did. If you have a blog feel free to post a link in the comments.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Aldi Deals 6/23-6/29

Here are the best deals I see at Aldi this week. There are some really great produce prices!

Nectarines                 $0.29/each
Peaches                     $0.29/each
Plums                         $0.29/each
Strawberries               $0.99/lb (the ones I got Monday were organic!)
Cherries                      $1.69/lb   (sold in 1lb tubs. I'm so excited about this because I *almost* bought some on Monday for $2.99/lb there but I decided to wait)
Milk                            $1.59/gallon
Sliced American Cheese $1.49
Ketchup 32oz.             $0.99
Mustard 14oz              $0.69
2L. Cola or Citrus        $0.59 (they also had a diet cola a few days ago for this price and its pretty good coming from a Diet Coke addict!)

Healthy Choice coupon and Target Deal

Click here to print a coupon for $1/2 Healthy Choice frozen meals. Come back and reclick the link to print it twice (the back button didnt work for this one).

Target has these on special this week. When you purchase 4 you get a fifth one free. I also have a Target store coupon that came in one of the coupon inserts recently (I'm not sure which insert but it exp. 7/23) for $2/5 healthy choice frozen meals. Target store coupons can vary greatly by region, so you may or may not have gotten this one. This is a pretty good deal without the store coupon, but a really great deal with it.

Buy 5 Healthy Choice frozen meals (prices will vary, the lowest priced one is free)
Use 2 $1/2 coupon above
AND use $2/5 Target store coupon

Prices will vary, but you will save $4 total or $1 off each one that you pay for and get one free meal.

I'm Back and (Getting) Ready to Shop

Good morning! I just wanted to say that I am back from the lake. Well, we got back Sunday afternoon, but it has taken me a little while to get back into my normal daily routine around here. We had a wonderful time. It was a much needed break for all of us, and I can hardly believe it, but I left my coupon binder in the van and completely forgot about the chaotic state of it the whole time I was there. I am kind of kicking myself for that now that I have seen the new sale ads because there is some great stuff going on this week. Especially at Kroger and Aldi (but I don't guess I need coupons for that one). I will post more about those shortly. Last night I began sorting through my binder and pulling out the expired/expiring really soon coupons. This is sort of my end of the month ritual, since my husband gets paid about this time and I will usually make a large stock up trip before the month ends. My grandma also sent me a package full of coupons she and my mom had saved, so in total I have 13 unclipped inserts as well as some printables and a baggie full of clipped ones that I haven't put into my binder yet. I think I have my work cut out for me. I'll be really glad when my 4 year old gets a bit more handy with the scissors. =P

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I'm Off to the Lake

It's been a little quiet around here lately, and that's because I've been getting stuff in order around the house so we can go away for the weekend. We are about to head out to visit some family at their friend's lakehouse about 2 hours from here. I am not sure if there will even be internet available there. I'm going to enjoy the break. I'll do some fishing and reading and maybe get my coupons back organized....yes, I have them ready to pack...I may just leave them in the van though. Hope everyone has a great Father's Day weekend. I'll be back then. =)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Freebies and Coupons on Facebook

I shared a few items available through facebook on my facebook page today. Go there to see how you can get free samples of Chex Mix, Propel, and a coupon that should make free tuna!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Kroger: New Instant Win Game=Free Items

Kroger has a new Summer of Savings instant win game on their website. Sign in, or register your card number if you have not already. Spin the wheel. If you win, a coupon for the free item will be loaded onto your shopper card and will automatically deduct at the register. I won a free Bob Evans side dish so far. As of today, there are 89 days left to play the game. You can spin once per day. I am not sure how many times you are able to win (last time there was a promotion like this there was a limit of two wins), but the site says there are three different prize pools with dates for each one, so I'm thinking that there will be resets for each prize pool. I am hoping there is going to be a nice sale soon to go along with this promotion. =) Let me know if you win anything!

Schick Hydro Rebate=Moneymaker!

There is a rebate offer available on the new Schick Hydro Razors. You can receive back the full purchase price, up to $10.99 by mail. These have been on sale weekly at the drug stores, and there was a $4 off coupon in Sunday's Smartsource (6/13). (Some regions even got a $5 off). You may even still have one floating around from a previous week. I remember having another $5 coupon, but I used it already. =)

These are one sale this week at CVS and Walgreens with cash back offers at both. Here's what it would look like (if you already have ECB's or RR's your OOP could be less):

CVS:   Sale price: $8.97
           Use $4/1 coupon.
           Pay $4.97 OOP, Receive $4 ECB
           Submit Rebate for $8.97

Walgreens: Sale Price: $7.99
                   Use $4/1 coupon
                   Pay $3.99 OOP Receive $4 RR
                   Submit Rebate for $7.99

Leave a comment if you know of another good place to do this deal!

New E-coupons available

Head over to Shortcuts.com right now to load some new e-coupons to your shopper cards. You may also wish to check at Cellfire.com. I had a few for Kroger available, but I'm hoping there will be some new ones for Tom Thumb available too, and they usually appear every other Tuesday, so I'm going to check back there tomorrow morning.

Free Sample of Bodycology

Walmart.com is offering free samples of Bodycology hand lotion. Go here to request yours. You can choose from Cherry Blossom or Cucumber Melon.

New Website from General Mills

I got an email from the General Mill's Pssst program today alerting me that they now have a new website. The website is http://www.moneymindedmoms.com/. There is a wealth of financial advice on the page, and also printable coupons, powered by coupons.com. Check it out, and register for the newsletter if you are interested.

If you haven't joined Pssst, it is a consumer opinion site for General Mills. They have randomly sent me packages of coupons, a free one for myself and money off ones to share with my friends, for new products. Then they may email a brief questionaire to get your thoughts. Its a great source of coupons and samples.

New Free Kindle Downloads

Amazon.com has a ton of free Kindle book downloads. These can be read on computers and mobile phones as well. Usually, I will highlight a few that I find, but there are LOTS of new onest hat I noticed today. Amazon has made it really easy to find these free titles by seperating the free best sellers from the paid best-sellers. Go here and take a look down the right hand collumn to see if anything interests you. Download these quickly if you would like them because they do not stay free for long.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

New Free Samples at Walmart.com

I just noticed a couple of new items on the Free Samples page of Walmart.com.

All OxyActive

Nivea Happy Sensations (click the free sample link above and refresh until this shows up, when you click it the form will pop right up).

There are several older ones still available, so if you haven't gotten yours yet, request one before its too late.

New Goldfish Coupon Available=FREE??

There is a new coupon for Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers available HERE. It is for $0.35/1 bag (certain flavors only). I have seen these go on sale for $1, and even as low as $0.88 once. If your store triples up to this value this could make them FREE. My daughter LOVES these, so I'm excited about this one. I'll look out for a sale.

BOGO FREE Snapple Coupons Available

It appears that today is National Iced Tea Day. I love iced tea, and I love Snapple Lemon Iced Tea. That's why I am excited about this coupon. It is for BOGO Free ANY Snapple Tea. There are two places you can get this coupon, and you can print twice from each place.

The first place is on their facebook page. Click like up top and then click print. Hit the back button to print again.

The second place you can find it is on Coupons.com. This link should have the Snapple coupon at the top and already checked. Someone let me know if worked. I can't tell on my end since I already printed my limit. =) Check off any others you need while you are there. There are alot of good ones.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Free Swagbucks on Your Birthday!

Swagbucks has just announced that they will be giving all of their members 50 bonus swagbucks once a year on their birthdays. You can read the announcement here. All you have to do is log into your account on the swagbucks homepage, and then you can either enter your birthday in the banner at the top, or go under your account settings to enter it. My birthday isn't until December, but I'm excited about this nonetheless.

If you do not yet have a Swagbucks account, you can register for one here. You will get 20 swagbucks just for registering. Also, enter the swagcode SUMMEROFSWAG for 30 more, a total of 50 free swagbucks just for registering.

If you do not know what swagbucks is, it is a search engine portal which allows you to win when you search the web as you normally would. If your search is a winning one, you will be alerted at the top of the results page. You can redeem swagbucks for many different prizes in the Swagstore. I always just purchase Amazon.com gift certificates. I am saving them up to buy Christmas presents. =)

Free Samples from All You Still Going

I told you about how you could request a free sample every day in May from AllYou.com. I thought that the samples had ended, but I was wrong. They are still going on. Here is a link to their free stuff calendar, where you can catch up on what has been featured.

Today's sample is a facebook freebie. If you have a facebook account you can "like" Surfrider Foundation and request a sample of EmergenC Blue.

Once you visit the calendar, simply click on a date that has passed to see what was listed on that day.

June1: Water Test Kit
June 2: Tena sample
June 3: Cottonelle Sample (these are the ones I told you about from Walmart.com)
June 4: Starbucks VIA (also from Walmart.com)
June 5:Purina One (Walmart)
June 6:Zantac (walmart)
June 7:Miracle Skin Transformer
June 8: O.B.

So if any of those things are of interest, just click the calendar link above and then choose the corresponding date for instructions on how to get the sample.

Aldi Deals 6/9-6/15

Blueberries                           $1.39/pint
Cantaloupe                           $0.99 each
Red and Green Grapes         $0.74/lb (sold in 2lb. pks for $1.49)
Coffee (large can...its good!) $4.99 each
Milk                                      $1.69/gallon
Pancake Mix                         $1.39
Cereals                                  $1.59-$1.79
Evaporated Milk                    $0.69/can
Take and Bake 16" Sausage Pizza $6.49 (normally $6.99)....These are AWESOME! Cheese costs less.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

$1/1 KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce=FREE

Click here to get a coupon for $1/1 bottle of KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce. These are reportedly on Rollback at Walmart for $1, so they are free after coupon.

Thanks Krazy Coupon Lady

Todays Shopping Part 2: Tom Thumb

The second place I went today was Tom Thumb. I had told you about the huge mix and match sale they have going on right now (I have heard I will last another week, but I won't get the ad until tomorrow mornings paper to be able to verify that). I also told you that any item over the 8 is an additional $0.50 savings. Basically, once you get to the 8 items, you get all of the items for the sale price listed.

With that in mind, I did something today that I haven't done in a LONG time. I took my entire coupon binder with me and I walked up and down every aisle of the store looking for those mix and match sale stickers. I found several items that I would never have thought to look for this way.

One item of note are the 3-4 roll packs of Rolaids. They are $1.49 after the sale price. I bought 2 of those, and was able to use the $4/2 from this Sunday's paper (its the same one I talked about in the last CVS post, so if you only have one, choose carefully..it can be used on several brands). After the coupon, I actually made $1.02.

Alot of my savings today came from e-coupons. If you don't know what those are, or how they work, you can read my page about them.

As a rolled my really full cart up to the register, I was kinda nervous because I hadn't been keeping track of the total as I threw stuff in, and I hadn't gone in with a planned list like I normally do. However, I was astounded when the manager who was ringing me up got to the bottom of my stack of coupons.

Here is everything I got today. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Shelf Price: $87.55
Sale Price: $50.39
Total After Coupons: $11.20

Todays Shopping--CVS

I love that my husband is home from teaching for the summer...well at least until summer school starts. Having him around has really made it easier for me to get my coupons together and go out (childless) and get some great deals.

This morning I went out to two stores, one being CVS. I had a great plan mapped out, but I was afraid that they were going to be out of something and my plan would not work out. I was pleasantly surprised that they were all stocked up on everything that I came in for.

Before I get into today's shopping, I just want to point out that I did run into CVS last night (I was driving right past it) and purchase a $0.50 candy bar. I had heard many reports that any purchase made at CVS was generating a $5 off a $15 purchase on the bottom of the reciept. If you are planning to go this week, it may be worth your time to do a small transaction before you get to your list.

Since I already had a plan to spend more than $15, before coupons of course, that $0.50 candy bar actually made me $5 because I was able to add alot more things onto my list. I also scanned my card at the price checker/coupon printer when I went in and I got some great store coupons out of there. My favorite (I think I got this one last week) was a $10 Prevacid 24 Hour store coupon, which I paired up with a $10 off manufacturer coupon for $20 total savings. The 28ct was $21.99, so I paid just $1.99 for it!

Also my husband was almost out of deoderant. I know, I know. How could I let that happen? Well he could not have told me that at a more perfect time because there was a lot of deoderant on sale this week. First off, the Old Spice fresh collection was $3.99 generating $1 ECBs and there was a limit of 2. I paired that up with a BOGO free coupon from the P&G insert. I paid $3.99 for both of them, and got back $2 ECB.

There was also a great mix and match promotion on Dove and Degree. Spend $15, get back $5 ECBs. I found some great $3/2 Degree Coupons and I also had a couple $2/1 Dove hair care printables that do not seem to be available anymore. =( The deoderants were $2.50 and the hair care was $3.50 on sale. So the coupons made the deoderants $1 each and the hair care $1.50. So for $7.50 total, I was able to get the $5 ECB.

I also picked up two bottles of Mylanta that were on sale for $3.99, and were included in a promotion where you get back $4 ECBs when you purchase any 2 of the products. I used a $3/1 coupon that I had gotten by mail, and the $1/1 that was in Sunday's paper. There was also a $4/2 on Sunday that would work out the same way. You would end up paying $4 and getting $4 ECB back.

The coupon printer also gave me a $1 off Dove Chocolate store coupon, which I matched up with a $1 manufacturer coupon. These were on sale for $2.50 this week, so I got it for 50cents. Plus, it was a bonus size bag!

Lastly, Aussie was $2.97 and I used a $2/1 coupon (can't find what insert it was in, but it expires 6/30), and the Dawn was $0.97, and I used a $1 off any Dawn Hand Renewal that I got by mail. I think it came from one of those Home Made Simple coupon books. It beeped, so she had to adjust it down to $0.97, but still free!

I also had $11 ECB's from last week to use. In all here is what I got:

Shelf Price: $ 82.16

Sale Price: $61.39

After coupons and ECB's, I paid: $2.65

AND, I got back $11 ECB's

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Pampers Wipes Coupon=FREE wipes

Did you notice the coupon in the Proctor & Gamble insert today for $2 off 1 pack of Pampers wipes?!?!

These sell for around $2 at Wal-Mart and Target, and usually go on sale for about $2.50 at the drug stores. I had decided that I didnt care for pampers wipes because they are so thin compared to the Huggies, but they have a new thick variety that is advertised on the coupon that I'm curious to try out.

If you need wipes, it may be a great time to ask around for unwanted coupons from friends and family because that's definately a great one. If you don't have kids, and don't know anyone who does, consider grabbing a free pack next time you are out to donate to a church nursery or daycare.

Cheap Printer Paper at Office Depot

As I was fishing through the sale ads this morning looking for coupons and whatnot, I sifted past the ad for Office Depot. Normally, I wouldn't even glance at this ad, but today something caught my eye. They had printer paper advertised for $1.97 per pack. It is HP Office paper, 20lb weight and 92 brightness, that normally retails for over $6. There is a limit of two per customer. This is an awesome stock up price if you need some paper. We were almost out, and the lower quality paper sells for $4 at Walmart.

My husband was out running some errands after church today while myself and my daughters were home napping, and he went by there and got two packs. Then he walked next store to the 99cent store and bought a few things there (including Nestle Toll House Ultimates fudge filled cookie dough!!!). Then he went back to Office Depot and got two more packs. Gotta love him. I've taught him well!

Freezer Cooking: Part 2

As promised, here is an update on my freezer cooking. I bagged up the remaining food today to put it in the freezer. I also assembled the lasagnas. To do that, I used the sauce that I prepared yesterday, and layered it with cheese and OVEN READY lasagna noodles.

These are great because you do not have to cook them ahead of time. My husband actually discovered them. They soak up the liquids from the food while it cooks and soften up in the oven. Simply lay them out on the pan. *NOTE: One box actually made all four of these. I bought two, and didn't even need to open the second one.* Here is a shot of the lasagnas I made in different stages of prepared-ness.

I make them in square aluminum pans (they call them cake pans and come in packs of 3 for around $1.50 if you find the ones without the lids), and then wrap with foil, place the whole thing into a gallon sized freezer bag, and pop them in the freezer. Try to lay them out individualy until they freeze, but once frozen they stack nicely. These types of dishes are great to grab and take to a friend in need of a meal too!

We had one of those for dinner tonight and they came out REALLY good with the monterrey jack cheese. Actually, when I went to put what was left away in the fridge I noticed the top layer of cheese was missing from the remaining piece. I questioned my husband about it, and he said he had no idea what I was talking about...his usual response when he's been caught. ;)

Getting back to the food. In all, I put away 4 more bags of red beans, 4 lasagnas (3 went into the freezer), and two bags of spaghetti sauce.

Add that to the 3 sets of burgers, 2 sets of meatballs, and 1 meatloaf I froze last night, as well as the meal of red beans we ate, and that makes 17 meals that were prepared yesterday. My husband helped out some, but I would say it took the two of us maybe 2-2 1/2 hours total to do all that. That is including the time spent bagging them up today. Not too bad for a few hours in the kitchen. I know some people map out a whole day for cooking and get a whole month's worth of meals knocked out. It wouldn't be hard to do at all, but I prefer to go at a bit more of a relaxed pace and work with one type of meat at a time. This time I did two, but one I just tossed into the crockpot so I don't think that really counts.

I will be cooking up some chicken soon, so I'm on the look out for some tasty sounding recipes. I'm also kind of in a lunch food rut. I want to make some freezer lunches, especially since school is out and my husband will be home during the day now. I just don't know what kind of lunch items freeze well. I just know I'm sick of hot dogs and chicken nuggets...So if anyone has done lunches, or has any ideas or recipes, I would welcome them. Thanks!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Update on Tom Thumb Mix and Match Sale

I told you about the sale this week at Tom Thumb here. When I went in there today to buy my 8 items, I asked the cashier about the *or more* part. Here's the deal: once you hit 8 qualifying items, $0.50 will be deducted from your total for each item included in the sale. For example, you could buy 9 items, and get $4.50 deducted. Buy 10, get $5 deducted, and so on.

Hope that clarifies things a bit.

I actually had time last night to get my coupon binder completely in order, and after the new coupons come tomorrow, I am planning on heading back over to Tom Thumb with ALL of my coupons just to see what other deals I can find. =)

Have any of you been there this week? If so, what did you get?

Todays Shopping--Walgreens and Tom Thumb

Walgreens

Total Spent: $1.92

Received: $2 Register Rewards

The Ecotrin was $2, and gave back the $2 RR. There was also a $2/1 MC (not sure when it came), so that was free, and gave me back $2 as well. I had a coupon for $2/2 Reach toothbrushes, which were on sale for $0.99 so that would make 2 for free, but they were sold out. For the first time in my life, I asked for a rain check. =) The foil was on in-ad coupon for $0.59 limit three, and I had just ran completely out. I have not been a big a Walgreens shopper up until now (I think working there for over a year just turned me off to the place..lol). I'm trying to ease my way into it, so wish me luck!

Tom Thumb

Shelf Price: $25.92

Sale Price: $15.92

Total After Coupons: $9.75

Not too bad, considering the cheese. ;)

Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice Recipe

I told you that Red Beans and Rice was really easy to make in a crock pot and really yummy. Well, I thought I would elaborate on that just a bit.

Ingredients:
1lb bag Red Beans (kidney beans)
1lb Sausage (any)
Onions, if you wish
Season to taste

I start the beans early in the morning. I usually triple this recipe, mainly because I get the sausage I use in 3lb packs, so I use 3 packs of beans. I pour the beans into the crock pot, fill it with plenty of water, and add seasonings to the water. I let it cook on high all day, adding the sausage a couple hours before we wish to eat, but they can be added sooner--at the beginning even if you wish. *If the beans look like they have soaked up all the water, just add more*

That's it! Serve over fresh rice. We always have this meal with cornbread, also. Louisiana tradition.

A Little Bit of Freezer Cooking

Today I did a bit of impromptu freezer cooking. I often multiply a single recipe if I'm cooking a nightly meal. That way my effort on that one day will not only feed us that night, but it will also put a few more meals into the freezer as well.

Today we were having a dinner guest, and I was making a large (crock)pot of red beans and rice for dinner--easiest, yummiest thing to make-- with some sausage I had gotten on sale at El Rancho. Actually, in this photo the sausage has not even been added. You can see it thawing on the side. The beans swole up so much that I had to split it up and put some of it into my smaller crockpot in order to get the sausage to fit. I do not yet know how many meals this 3lbs of beans and 3lbs of sausage is going to make because I have not bagged it up for the freezer yet.

I also had the 12 lbs of ground beef that I had bought last Monday still sitting in my fridge, so today I decided that I either had to freeze it all raw and deal with it later, so fix up something. I decided upon the latter. To me, ground beef is probably the easiest thing to cook in bulk because the prep work and inital seasoning can be the same for so many recipes. Today, I split my beef into two equal 6lb portions. One part went into a pot on the stove and was turned into a spaghetti sauce. That part is sitting in the fridge for the night (along with the rest of the red beans) and tomorrow I am going to use some to make lasagnas and freeze some just as sauce for spaghetti. Then, all I will need to do is heat it up and make fresh pasta and a side.

The remainder of the meat went into a large bowl and was seasoned up like you would for hamburger patties. I personally use onion soup mix to season (I used 4 packets for the 6 lbs of meat) and 6 eggs and some bread crumbs.

Once this was all mixed up, I shaped it into three meals worth of burgers: 2 sets of 5 for just us, and one with 8 for when we have company, 2 meals worth of meatballs--I use a mini muffin pan to hold these while they freeze and it works perfectly, and a small meat loaf--for this I line a small loaf pan with foil and then put the meat in. Once it is frozen I pop it out of the loaf pan and put it in a freezer bag. I freeze these raw on the pans laid out flat and then when they are frozen I place them into freezer bags. I cook them later on the day we plan to eat them, but the messy portion of it is all done at the same time (and that's the part I hate).

Once I get everything bagged up and into the freezer I will post an update on just how many meals my little bit of effort today created. I had let my freezer get pretty bare, so I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking in the near future.

I started cooking this way before my baby was born so I would have food ready and it would save me time, but I have found that it also saves a lot of money, too. I am able to shop with coupons and buy things on sale for very low prices and then find recipes that use whatever I have been able to purchase for cheap. I also keep watch for awesome sales on meat, and purchase large quantities at the discounted price. I have picked out several favorite recipes as well as several new recipies that I plan to cook this month using the meat that was already in my freezer, and there were very few things that I did not already have on hand to make them with.

Probably the largest extra expense to make this weekends meal was a large bag of shredded cheese that I had to purchase today. Yes, I know I just bought 8 bags of shredded cheese at Kroger. Sadly, I was not very organized that week, and I did not have the foresight to buy more than one bag of mozzarella. So before our guest arrived today, I made a quick trip to the stores. I noticed that Tom Thumb had 32oz bags of shredded cheese on sale for $4.99 as part of their Mix and Match Sale (more on that later), so I stopped by there armed with a few coupons, and they were stocked up on all flavors of cheese EXCEPT mozzarella. I needed to get one more item in order to get the discounted prices, so I called my husband to ask about other flavor possibilities. He told me he usually mixed monterrey jack in when he made lasagna. So, tomorrow I am going to perform a little kitchen experiment...using only Monterrey Jack cheese in lasagna. Could be good! Or not. We shall see.

Campbell's Coupon + Possibly Free Soup

There is a new Campbell's Soup Printable coupon available here. The coupon states save $0.50 on any two Campbell's condensed soups. (excludes Chicken Noodle--even though this one is pictured on the coupon??, Cream of Mushroom, and Tomato). It does not exclude cream of chicken, or any other cream soup. If your store doubles this could be a great deal, and possibly free when paired with a good sale.

Friday, June 4, 2010

In The Mail

Today I got a few samples that I had ordered from Walmart.com. John Frieda (came with a coupon), Eucerin, and Old Spice. I also got a postcard from Save-A-Lot with a free coupon to redeem each week this month. I've never actually been to this store, but it is nearby so I just may have to go there. =)

What did you get?

Pillsbury Crescent Roll Coupon

Go here to get a printable coupon for $0.70 off one Pillsbury Crescent Roll. It is a bricks coupon, so hit your back button and print it twice (or just go back to the link).

Thanks Coupon Geek.

Earn Mega Swagbucks on Fridays

Just a quick reminder before I head off to bed. Tomorrow, er, well I guess today...hehe...is Mega Swagbucks Day. That means you have the potential to earn greater amounts of Swagbucks for just one search. If you do not have a Swagbucks account yet, you can get one here.

If you do not know what Swagbucks is, it is basically a search engine portal. You type in your searches, and sometimes you win. The more you search, the better your odds. You can redeem your winnings for many things in the Swagstore. I have decided to redeem mine for Amazon gift cards to save up for use on Christmas presents. I did the math, and it is actually a better deal to redeem for the $5 Amazon cards than it is the higher denominations.

Download the toolbar, so there is a search box at the top of all your webpages, and type in your websites that you want to go to in the search box.

They have announced some pretty big earning potential for the summer, starting this coming Monday, so be ready for that as well.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Make Sure to "Like" Me on Facebook

There have been alot of deals and freebies on facebook today, and those sorts of things can be very time-sensitive. Since my blog posts do not get emailed out until like 5am, there will be times that I will update my facebook page with a deal instead of making a post on here. So, make sure you "like" my page on facebook so you don't miss anything. Today I have made updates about a $2/1 Welch's Juice coupon, free meals at IHOP, and a free Nivea sample. Go check out the details now.

New Free Samples at Walmart.com

Update: Some of the samples have already changed since I posted this. The Prilosec is gone, but has been replaced with Zantac, and Starbucks VIA is now available. It looks like the Pantene is gone too.

Go here to see what new free samples are available from Walmart.com. They have Cottonelle, Purina One, Prilosec, Crest 3D, Pantene, and Playtex.

If you can't get back to the original list after signing up for one of the offers, just hit the back button or simply click the above link again.

Sunday Coupon Preview

It looks like this week we should get three coupon inserts: a Smartsource, RedPlum, and Proctor and Gamble. I can't wait to see what all they contain.

Tom Thumb Mix and Match Sale

Tom Thumb has a sale going on right now and their ad states "Save $4 *or more* instantly when you purchase any 8 *or more* participating items in a single transaction with your Reward Card. It is not very clear about what the *or more* parts mean. I think I would stick to getting 8 at a time. There are a lot of items to chose from, and you basically get an extra $0.50 off the sale price of each. I suspect, as I have noticed in the past, that there are many more items included in this sale that are not advertised. I think I might go over to the store and scope things out before I make my shopping list, or perhaps if I can get things organized I will lug my whole coupon binder over there (I usually don't do that. It's just too heavy).

Here are a few of the things advertised:

Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Capri Sun, Crystal Light, Kraft Salad Dressing, Mott's Juice or Apple Sauce, Fritos or Cheetos, Gushers Fruit Snacks, Kraft Mayo (all $1.49 after $4 off)
Betty Crocker Potatoes or Hamburger Helper ($1 each after savings)
Betty Crocker Frosting ($1.09 after savings)

I am hoping that there are some more of the Betty Crocker/General Mills products available since there are abundant coupons/e-coupons for these items (more than I can list here). There was a surprise insert featuring these items on Sunday! Did you see it?

Remember that Tom Thumb will only double or triple the first like coupon in a transaction and all others are redeemed at face value.

El Rancho Deals 6/2-6/8

El Rancho has some GREAT deals this week. I'm kinda upset about the ground beef since I just bought 12 lbs of it on Monday for $1.58/lb. =( I may just have to go get some more.

Here are the best deals I see:
Ground Beef                                     $0.99/lb (limit 10lbs w/ $10 purchase)
Chicken Leg Quarters (10lb. bag)     $0.39/lb   (limit i bag w/ $10 purchase)
Pork Chops (sirloin ham ends)          $0.99/lb (limit 10lbs w/ $10 purchase)
30 ct. medium Eggs                           $1.00 each (limit 1 w/ $10 purchase)
Clorox Bleach 96oz.                        $1.00 each (limit 1 w/ $10 purchase)
Parade Vegetable Oil 48oz.               $1.00 each (limit 1 w/ $10 purchase)
Manila Mangos                                  7 for $1   (these are the smaller yellow ones)
Roma Tomatoes                                3lbs for $1
Small Oranges                                   8 for $1
Cantaloupe                                       $0.98 each
1lb bag of Carrots                              2 for $1
Avocados (small I think)                     3 for $0.88
Cilantro                                              5 for $1

Aldi Deals 6/2-6/8

This week at Aldi:

Tomatoes                     $0.99/4pack
Bananas                       $0.39/lb.
Large Avocados           $0.39 each
Pineapple                      $0.99 each
Strawberries                  $0.99/lb

New E-Coupons Available

Cellfire.com has new coupons available today. What is available will depend on the stores in your area. These e-coupons are loaded onto your shopper card, and when you scan it at the register, coupons for any item you purchased will come off automatically. In most cases, paper coupons are still able to be used for these items also, so this means extra savings. On this site, you must load coupons for each store you wish to shop at.

There are also a few new e-coupons available at Shortcuts.com. These work the same way as the Cellfire ones, but they can be used at multiple stores. For example, if I use one at Kroger, it marks it used on the account and it is not available if I shopped at a different store.

And, if you have an account at Upromise.com, you can activate their new e-coupons for the month. These work a little differently, as they do not get deducted from your order at the register, but the amount gets deposited into your Upromise savings account when you purchase the items at one of the stores that you have your shopper cards linked up. I had totally forgotten all about these in my shopping last month but just logged into my account and saw that I have a $0.50 credit pending for buying Wacky Mac (that I got for free!) So go check them out. You can also get cash back into the savings accounts you set up when you shop online through their portal. I did this with my Christmas gifts last year.

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