Kroger Trip 3/18-97% Savings

I really wasn't feeling very good today.  I got hit with a head cold that kept me up until 5am.  My loving husband let me sleep in, and when I woke up I found him covered up on the couch wearing a sweater.  He said he had fever and chills.  Not a great end to his spring break week.  I had already volunteered to bring a meal over to a friend from church who had just had a baby, and to get to her house I have to pass right in front of Kroger.  I figured since I was practically there anyways, I would drag myself into the store and grab a few things I wanted to get on their mega sale this week, so I started going through my coupons.  I found coupons, and coupons, and more coupons that I wanted to use.  I ended up with quite a stack to take along with me.  I halfway figured that I would good in there and just grab ten things and decide to come back another day, but my daughter was behaving well and the store was strangely not that busy for 4pm on a Friday.  I was even feeling so good about my purchases when I left that I stopped and bought a box of Girl Scout cookies.

I ended up getting 4 sets of mega items and a good bit of other things.  Here is everything I came home with (click to enlarge):

Total Shelf Price:  $149.91
Initial Sale Price:   $114.87
Price After Mega Sale Deducted $20:    $94.87
Price After Coupons:    $30.16
Price Paid After $25 Pharmacy Credit  :  $5.16    97% Savings



Here are a few highlights:
--Ronzoni  $1.19 ($0.69 with Mega Sale).  Used coupons I told you about here.  Cost $0.19 each! (Not free, but close enough for me!)
--Carefree 46 ct liners on clearance for $1.97.  Used $0.50/1 from 1/9SS (doubled).  $0.97 each.
--Stayfree $2.49 ($1.99 with Mega Sale).  Used BOGO free coupons from 1/9SS and I also had a $1/1 printable and a $1.50/1 Catalina.  This should have worked out to $3.47 for all 6 or $0.58/ pack.  However, the cashier took off not just the pre-Mega Sale price, but the pre-sale price of $2.89, so I actually ended up paying just $0.77 for all 6 packs!  (This will all even out in the end, though....)
--Motrin PM  $2.99 ($2.49 with Mega Sale).  Used $6/2 from 1/9SS.  this should have worked out to be a $0.49 per box money maker after the Mega Sale pricing.  However, when the transaction was completed, only 39 items showed up on my ticket.  I ran and grabbed a $0.50 pack of tuna (an extra purchase I shouldn't have had to make-and I had a coupon for it that I couldnt find--, and went with it).  When I go home I noticed that I had grabbed 2 20ct Motrin PMs and 1 40ct, which was in the exact same size box!  The 40ct rang up $6.79!  Oh, well.  I'm still happy with my savings on this trip so I'm not going to try to exchange it.
--Kids Yogurt  Dannonino $1.79 with Mega Sale, Dannimals $2.29 with Mega Sale.  Used $1/1 coupons from 2/27SS made them $0.79 and $1.29
--Spiderman Bandaids, clearanced for $1.29, used $0.50/1 (doubled) and convinced my daughter they were cool ;)
--Pedigree Dog Food  $4.49 ($3.99 with Mega Sale).  Used $3/1 coupon from 3/6 RP made it $0.99.
--Purina One Beyond small boxes of cat food.  $2.99.  Used a FREE small box coupon and a $3/1 coupon from  3/13 SS made both FREE.
--Aquafresh Training Toothbrushes $1.50 ($1 with Mega Sale).  Used $0.50/1 printable (doubled).  FREE!


That is the majority of the great deals.  If you are curious about something I missed, just leave a comment and ask =)

Did you do the Mega Sale at Kroger yet?  How did you do?

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Reminder: Friday's Are Mega SwagBucks Days!

I just wanted to give you all a quick reminder that every Friday is Mega Swagbucks day.  You can earn higher than normal amounts of Swagbucks with a single search today, so start searching.

If you have not registered with Swagbucks yet, you can do so here.  You can redeem the points you earn from searching for many items in the Swagstore, including Amazon gift cards, which are my favorite.  It only takes 450 Swagbucks to get a $5 Amazon gift card, so start searching!

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An Idea For Those Leftover Chops

I'm not a big fan of eating leftover meat.  I am far less a fan of wasting food, though.  This afternoon I was contemplating what to have for dinner.  We had eaten chicken meals from my freezer cooking day the past two nights, and I was kinda tired of chicken.  I looked in my refrigerator and I saw a plate in there that contained two leftover pork steaks that we had grilled three nights ago.

I thought, we need to eat these or I will have to toss them, and I really hate to do that.  I also thought that is not enough to feed all of us anyway.  Then I had a bright idea:  A dinner salad.  I had plenty of things on hand that could be added to the salad, just not the salad itself, so I made a quick trip over to the 99Cents Only Store--Love That Place!  It is the only dollar type store that I have ever seen with a produce and freezer department.  I picked up a bag of baby spinach and a bag that contained 3 Hearts of Romaine lettuce.  I also grabbed a bag of carrots to shred.  We mixed all of that together in a big bowl.  That only used one of the Romaine hearts.

I had also bought some yellow squash last week at the farmer's market, and it was still sitting in my fridge waiting to be used.  We like it battered in corn meal and fried.  Never thought of adding it to a salad before, but my husband said it sounded good (and it was!)  I microwaved some frozen red and yellow bell peppers alongside the meat, and we tossed all of that stuff on top with some cheese and dressing and it come out great.

What do you do with your leftovers?

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Check Your Email: CVS Coupon

Check your email!  I just got an email from CVS containing a $5/$25 purchase coupon good through Sunday.  Did you get one too?  If you have not registered your CVS card to your email account, make sure that you do.  They send out this type of coupon offer pretty offen.  Plus, they will send you a $4/$20 just for signing up!.

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Kraft First Taste: New Offer

Log into your Kraft First Taste account and you may have a surprise waiting for you!  I was able to request a FREE coupon by mail for Jello Temptations.  Not all offers are available to all members, so check just to see.  If you haven't signed up yet, do so!  There are new offers popping up with chances of free coupons all the time.

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New Kroger Instant Win Game

Once again, Kroger has an instant win game going along with their Mega Sale.  Go here to play every day.  You can win coupons for free products dowloaded to your card.  I just won a free pack of Crystal Light Pure.  I love that stuff!

Let us know if you win anything!

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Ronzoni Coupons: Possibly Free Pasta At Kroger

Kroger is having yet another Mega sale this week.  The list of sale items on their website shows Ronzoni Pasta is included in the sale.  The price is not listed in my sale ad, but I have seen many reports that it is on sale for $1, and if you buy in multiples of 10, the price gets reduced to $0.50.

There are coupons here for $1/2 for each type of Ronzoni (Smart Taste, Healthy Heart, and Garden Delight-which I've never actually seen at my store).  You may print them twice per computer, so one computer can in theory get you 12 free boxes of pasta if your store sells all three varieties.  If you do not have a printer, there were also some of these in the 1/23 SS.

I have never seen a price this good for this pasta, and I am so excited about it because I have almost reached the end of my stash of these!

Also, I always hear people say that coupons are just for junk food, but this is one example of how coupons have help my family switch to more healthy options, because in the past we bought only store brand white pasta!  My father in law joked that I was trying to poison him with the whole wheat pasta, but even he said it was good.  =)

There are many, many things included in the Kroger sale (which should run through next week also).  I am still trying to sort through it all, but I will give you an update with the best deals that I find soon.

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New BzzAgent Campaign: SCJohnson Smart and Easy Spring Cleaning

In the past I have told you about a company called BzzAgent.  It is one of my favorite market research companies.  Instead of sending you surveys, they send you actual products to try, and coupons to give out.  Anytime I see that I have an email from this company, I open it right away!  If you are interested, click the link above and sign up.  You do not have to be a blogger to qualify.  I was a member long before I began blogging.  I have been getting more opportunities recently, though. ;)

I had qualified for this particular campaign a while back, and in all the madness around here, I had completely forgotten.  I was pleasantly surprised when my doorbell rang a few days ago and the mailman handed me a large box.  Here is what was in it:

1 Scrubbing Bubbles Foam Spray
1 Plegde
1 Glade Spring Collection Candle
1 Glade Scented Oil Refill (something to put it in would have been nice....)
1 Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel
AND a coupon book with $58 worth of coupons (keep reading)

The only item I have had the chance to try so far has been the Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel.  It came in a small tube/wand container with gel inside.  You push it onto the inside of the toilet (yes I cleaned my toiler prior to applying it, and I discovered that my 4 year old enjoys using toilet brushes =P).

I was very impressed with two things about this product.  First of all, being that is was a gel, I was expecting it to be soft and runny, or wash away after just a few flushes.  I was very surprised that it seemed to harden after being exposed to the air.  I had to poke it and examine it's consistency for curiosity's sake.  So did my 19 month old =/.  After three days of flushing, the product has no seemed to shrink or change at all.  I think that it should be there for quite a while.  I will be interested to see how long it actually keeps any stains from appearing, though.  About that I'm a bit skeptical.

The second thing that impressed me about it was the smell.  It has a wonderfully clean scent that I could smell down the whole hallway shortly after I applied them to my two toilets.  Still three days later, you are able to smell in strongly in the bathroom area.  It almost takes the place of a bathroom air freshener as well.

I cannot wait to try the rest of the products.  I may post another update to let you know what I think about the others if I am very impressed/unimpressed.  In the meantime, if you would like to try some of these products for yourself (as well as a few others), I would like to give you the opportunity.  In the coupon booklet I received, there were a few sets of these coupons (click to enlarge):

I have four sets like this to give away, and I will mail them out to the first four people who email me with their name and mailing address at savingmyselfsilly at gmail dot com.  *Gone* All I ask is that you email me letting me know your thoughts about the products so that I may convey them back to BzzAgent.

If you would like a printable coupon for $1/1 Glade scented oil refill, you may go here.

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Aldi Deals 3/16-3/22 Dallas Area..And Look Out for Markdowns

Produce Deals:
Bananas   $0.39/lb
Celery      $0.69 each
Yellow Onions  $0.25/lb sold in 3lb. bags for $0.75
Broccoli Crowns  $0.75/lb sold in 1 lb packs

Many areas of the country are having their red potatoes on sale.  They are not advertised here, but I certainly hope to find that they are!

Meat Deals: **
80/20 Ground Beef  $2.49/lb
Beef Stew Meat       $3.99/lb
Beef Chuck Roast    $3.49/lb
Boneless Center Cut Pork Chops  $3.49/lb
Pork Half Loin          $2.49/lb
Center Cut Pork Chops  $2.99

**I find their meat to be high quality, but quite expensive.  Whenever I go, I do check over the meat counter for any mark downs they may have.  I have found items up to half off before.  Right after Thanksgiving last year, I found this, which worked out to $1/lb:

You can see that this was an extra markdown, and there is a $3 off (I believe) sticker underneath the 1/2 price one.  So, whenever you are at Aldi, be on the lookout for those red stickers in the meat department.  Sometimes you can score a great deal on quality meat!

Other Deals:
There are a few markdowns at the bottom of this weeks ad, as well:
Route 1 Jive Bars (Like a Twix)  $0.29   (was $0.49)
Chunk Light Tuna in oil  $0.65  (was $0.69)
Whole Grain White Bread  $1.19  (was $1.29)

The thing that caught my eye the most, though, was the Lullabies Baby Wash 15oz, just $0.99  (was $1.29).  I am almost out of the Johnson's, and that stuff has gotten expensive.  Every once in a while you can find it on sale 2 for $5, but even if you have a $1 off coupon, you would pay more than this stuff at regular price.  I hadn't needed it in the past, so I guess I never noticed how inexpensive it was there.  I will be grabbing one of these on my next trip there!

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Seven New Free Kindle Titles

Here are some new items that arecurrently free as Kindle Downloads.  If you are interested, snag them now because the prices could change at any time:

Money, Purpose, Joy: The Proven Path To Uncommon Financial Success

Money and Marriage

*Note*  I notice these two are by the same man.  I've never heard of him, so I am in no way recommending them, I am just noting that they are available for free if you would like to check them out. =)

101 Things You Didn't Know About Irish History

Living Rich By Spending Smart

This was available for free a while back, but if you missed it, it's back!

The End Is Now

Gray Matter

-A doctor's account of his decision to begin asking patients if he could pray with them before surgery.

Riven

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Aldi Trip 3/14: The Getting Ready To Do Some Freezer Cooking Edition

I have been saying that I need to do some freezer cooking, and lots of it.  However, we just had two sets of family visits, and the first ended up running into the second because my mother in law had an unexpected hospital stay.  Since I had extra people around and extra cooking help, we just kind of cooked night to night.  Now that everyone is gone, and I have my husband home for his spring break, I knew I had to get it in gear.  I knew I was going to need a few things from Aldi this week such as milk and bread, but before I went I sat down and picked out 4 recipes that I plan on cooking tomorrow/Wednesday.  I will be using about half of that 15 lbs of chicken breasts that I had gotten for $0.98lb, and should end up having 9 meals from it.

I went over all of the ingredients that I would use, and checked off the items that I already had on hand.  I was extremely please to find that I only needed to add a handful of items to my shopping list!  The rest of the items I needed were already waiting in my pantry because I had stocked at rock bottom prices with coupons!

Here is everything I picked up, with only a few things that were not on my list ;)

Total spent on all of this was only $25.34 and I do not foresee needing to go back to the store this week (I hear another Mega Sale will be starting at Kroger on Wednesday, so I may have to check that out).

Here is a breakdown of some things I got and the awesome prices at Aldi (love that place!!!)
--Milk  $1.19 (not $0.99 anymore, but seeing the prices in other parts of the country, I'm not complaining!)
--Bread  $0.79
--Cucumbers  $0.59 each.  They actually looked good tonight, I've been passing them by the past few weeks because they were small and wrinkled up.
--Shredded Cheddar  $2.99 for 16oz.  I always thought their cheese was expensive, but I also thought it was a smaller bag.  This is just like getting two 8 oz bags on sale for $1.50 each like I did at Kroger last week.  I was going to need a bit more for my cooking though.  But now I know that Aldi's cheese is very reasonably priced!
--The boxed macaroni and cheese are just $0.29 each.  They may not be quite as good as Kraft, but they aren't bad either.
--Apple Juice  $1.29 for 64oz.
--Italian Dressing  $1.19 (We use this stuff as a marinade for our chicken before cooking it.  Gives it a great flavor!)
--Butter Crackers (like Ritz)  $1.39 and I cannot tell the difference.
--The Zesty Bites (like the new Cheetos) were marked down to $0.59 at my store.  Had tried these and they were delicious, so I picked up a few more bags.
--Parmesan Cheese--$2.29!!  I was most impressed by this price because I thought it would cost at least $3.50, as I have seen it priced over $4 in some stores.

I will post about my cooking progress tomorrow and try to share some of my recipes as well!

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CVS Trip 3/13 AKA My Best Trip Ever!

I was pretty exciting perusing the CVS deals for this week, but I did not realize just how much I was going to be able to walk away with until I sat down and started planning my trip after church.  I had a $5/$25 coupon that I had gotten by email.  I was thinking that I had the $16 in ECBs from my previous trip (I skipped last week).  I had forgotten that when my husband picked up his prescription, my $5 ECB reward for reaching $50 (before coupons) in the new Beauty Club printed on his receipt, so I actually had $21 in ECBs to spend!  I was wanting to try doing the deal on toilet paper on the front page of the ad, since I can never seem to stock up on that stuff, but there were also several other things in the ad that I wanted to get and I didn't want to pay too much out of pocket.  Somehow, I had the idea of what if I did two transactions?  I hardly ever do this.  I know many people go through 3-4 every time they go into CVS, but I can never keep that much stuff straight in my head, so I just do it all at once, hand over all my ECBs, get a bunch of ECBs back and be done with it.

In my planning this week, I had already made it to my $25 mark to use my $5/$25 coupon without any of the Charmin products, so I wondered how much I would end up spending if this was my 2nd transaction, and I spent my $21 ECBs on the Charmin deal, and then used the $10 ECBs from that for the trip I had already planned.  It actually worked out much better than I had hoped.  I went in, did my first transaction, brought it to my car, and then went back in and did the second round (just to keep me from getting too confused).

Here is everything I got:

Total Shelf Cost:  $91.78
Total Sale Price:  $60.35
Total After Coupons:  $32.87
Price Paid After $31 ECBs and Tax:   $2.09     98% Savings  and I still have $12.50 in ECBs for next time!

Here is how I did it:

*Transaction 1*  (all the P&G coupons I used came from P&G rebate booklets I had or that I had gotten inside boxes of other P&G products)
2 Charmin = $20
2 Charmin Freshmates= $5
(this completed the $25 purchase requirement for the $10 ECB)
2 Gain Dish Soap @ $0.97 =$1.94
Purex 3-in-1= $3.99
--Used 2 $1/1 Charmin (inside a Prilosec box)
--Used 1 $1/1 Charmin Freshmates (from a rebate booklet)
--Used 2 $1/1 Gain Dish (from a rebate booklet)
--Used 1 $3/1 Purex 3-in-1 from 2/20 RP
--Used $21 in ECBs
Paid  $2.09 OOP

*Transaction 2*
2 SoftSoap on sale 2 for $6 (Get back $3 ECBs)--no coupons
2 Herbal Essenses (shamp/cond.)  on sale 2 for $5.97 (get back $2 ECBs)
--Used a $1/1 from a rebate book AND a BOGO Free coupon from I believe it was from today's paper (perhaps last Sunday's?)  I do not recall where I clipped it from and I'm getting two different dates when I try to search for it.  Anyone know for sure?
1 Irish Spring Body Wash  $2.99 (Get $2 ECBs)
--Used $0.50/1 from this mornings paper (there was also a $1/1 Deodorant that is also included)
1 Purex Crystals on sale for $3.99 (Used my FREE coupon that I told you about here)
1 Crest Pro Health Toothpaste  $3.49 (Get $2.50 ECBs)
--Used $1/1 coupon from 2/27 PG
Dial Nutriskin $4.99 (Get $3 ECBs)
--Used $1/1 from this morning's paper
3 Dove Dark Bars on sale for $0.99 and B2G1 Free
--Used $0.50/1 that printed from the scanner when I walked in.
Also used $5/$25 coupon and $10 ECBs from above.  My total came to $0.00 and I got back $12.50 in ECBs!

Now if you are doing the math, this is not at all what I expected.  I had figured that I should owe about $3 for this second transaction.  My total actually came to $0.53 and as I was handing over my change I remembered the $0.50/1 Dove bar coupon, so she scanned that and it zeroed out my total and she handed me back my change.  I was confused, but there was a long line so I walked out to the car and checked out my receipt.

When I handed her my FREE Purex and BOGO Herbal Essence coupons, she looked back over the register to find the price.  I wasn't really paying attention I guess, but I assumed that she had gotten it correct since she was scrolling back through the transaction.  However when I got back out to my car, I noticed that she had taken off too much for them.  The only explanation I have is that she scanned my CVS card mid-transaction after these two items had been scanned, so perhaps the non-card price is what was visible on her screen?  I'm not sure what happened with that, and I wouldn't even know what to do to make it right especially since the coupons I used are floating around somewhere inside the register drawer.  I feel a little bit bad though because I had a conversation with a cashier there a few weeks back, and he told me that several of the cashiers at that store had been fired recently over incorrect coupon redemption, so I do hope that the poor girl doesn't get into trouble!

Has this ever happened to anyone else?  What do you do in this situation?  It's just so foreign to me because usually issues with coupons do not go in our favor! ;)

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Book Review: Under The Overpass

Recently, I signed up with a program called Blogging For Books.  The program is sponsored by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing.  When you sign up, you choose a book that you agree to read and blog about, and also post a review on a retail site.

When I signed up, I wondered if there would be any books that I could choose that would be relevant to this blog.  I was pretty excited when I found one called "Under The Overpass:  A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America."  Two Bible College students set out on a mission to experience homelessness for several months in several different cities across America.    This sounded like a very interesting read to me, so I chose this book, and it arrived very quickly at my doorstep, free of charge for me to read and review.

You may be wondering what this has to do with this blog.  This blog is about saving money, and a huge part of how I save money is by using coupons.  I have been pleasantly surprised by all of the freebies I have been able to come across since I began couponing, and I know that many times couponers are able to get more free items than they are able to use.  I am always sharing my overflow with friends and family who have fallen on hard times, but there are plenty people out there that are even less fortunate than those that I know personally.  I honestly thought that this book was simply going to make me feel more like I should try to get more freebies so that I could help out by donating them to shelters and encourage others to do the same.  This is still my plan, however, this book spoke to me much more than that.

As I read through this book the first thing that hit me was the amount of faith that these two guys had in God to provide for them, and He always did.  I'm not sure I could set out for unknown places with only a backpack and guitar even if I felt I was being called to do so.  That's a pretty scary thing to do.  The second thing that hit me was how good I really do have things.  I may be on a tight budget, but I've never had to worry about where my next meal was coming from or when I would be able to shower or where I was going to sleep.  I've never been rich (probably never will), but I've never lacked anything I have truly needed either.

Parts of the book did make me very sad, though.  They were not the parts about how hard life on the streets can be, though.  It was the parts where they had interactions with people from normal society, people who were able to help them out if they chose to.  Being Christians, they would often find themselves drawn to churches.  They rightly thought that if anyone should be willing to lend them a hand, it should be the people of America's Christian Churches.  For the most part, they were hugely let down.  This is what got to me the most out of the whole book.  City after city, there was story after story of them being shunned by people in the Churches.  They journaled the whole time they were on this journey, and I do not think they ever dreamed that so many pages of their journals would be filled with rejection from people that just months before would have welcomed them as brothers.  They once slept on a church's doorstep expecting to be woken by the congregation entering the next morning.  Instead, they awoke to hymns being sung from inside and discovered that every single churchgoer had walked around to the side entrance instead of going near them.  It's sad what a little dirt and bad body odor can accomplish.  At one point they actually said that they had better luck panhandling in front of a liquor store because the drunks were more generous.  I think that this is appalling.

Certainly it was not always this way.  Sometimes they met with individuals who took it upon themselves to occasionally bring pizzas into areas where the homeless congregated.  It also seemed like in each city they met one church group who welcomed them and helped them and accepted them.  It is sad that they were so few and far between, though.  They once even returned to a church on Sunday morning after being run off from the same church on Saturday.  The man who had expelled them from the grounds came up to them, thanked them for returning, apologized profusely, and admitted to getting in his car and trying to find them after he had sent them away.  He also admitted to being the head of the church's homeless outreach program.  If the people who run these ministries still have a first instinct to turn these people away, how will the rest of the church react to them?

These two guys will forever have an altered view of people living on the streets and hold a special place in their hearts for them.  I hope that from now on, I will remember this book whenever I come across people who are in need.

If anyone is interested in reading the first chapter of this book, you can find it here.  I think it is a great read for anyone.  Although it is strongly geared towards those of the Christian faith, you need only be human to be touched by this book.

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Sunday Coupon Preview for 3/13

In tomorrow morning's paper, there should be a SmartSource and a RedPlum.  To have a look at the list of individual coupons, go here.

My favorites are KC Masterpiece, Yakisoba, Kool-Aid, and Eggo (values vary by region).

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Aldi Deals 3/9-3/15: Dallas Area

Here are the advertised produce deals for the Dallas area:
--Gold Pineapples         $0.99 each
--Ripe Avocados          $0.39 each
--California Navel Oranges  $0.35/lb sold in 4 lb bags for $1.39
--Broccoli Crowns        $0.75 each for a 1lb package


It is not advertised, but I was just there and found the strawberries were still $1.49, the gallon milk was still $0.99, eggs are still $0.49/dozen, white bread is $0.79, hot dog buns are $0.69, and 64oz apple juice is $1.29.  These prices are all the everyday prices at the store I go to (on Northwest Highway in Garland), and are cheaper than I have seen anywhere else.

There are also many seafood markdowns for lent, as well as Mexican themed markdowns.  You can have a look at all the markdowns this week at The Aldi Spot.

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Kroger Trip 3/9

There really wasn't very much that I wanted to get from Kroger this week (or last week), but I had $13 worth of those Daytona rewards to use that were expiring today.  I have a busy day ahead of me, so since my parents are visiting (and babysitting) I got up early and went over to Kroger this morning.  I had a few free coupons that I needed to use and a few more expiring ones that I wanted to use.  I also had to pick up my husband's meds and redeem my $25 prescription transfer coupon.  I will have that money to use on my next trip.

Here is what I came home with today.  The biggest cost was the cheese.

Total Shelf Cost:  $61.58
Total Sale Price:  $47.44
Price After Coupons:  $14.55
Price Paid After $13 in OYNO coupons:  $1.55      97% Savings

I had free e-coupons for the Charmin and the Pizza Rolls.  I have free paper coupons for the Lean Pockets, the Philadelphia Cooking Creme, the Excedrin, and the Chef Boyardee.  There are Kroger e-coupons available for both the Green Giant Steamers and the Pampers wipes.  They are store e-coupons, so I was able to stack them with manufacturer coupons.

I have had extra houseguests, so I have not yet been able to make my menu and cooking plan.  My husband has his spring break next week, so I will most likely do it then.  I bought the cheese because I know a few recipes I want to make will need it.  Once I figure out what else I need, I will most likely go back to Kroger and use my pharmacy credit.  I like to use those on things that I have to get that I do not have coupons for to keep my out of pocket very low.

How do you reduce expenses on items that do not have coupons?

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Tom Thumb Trip 3/7

My parents are visiting this week.  You may not hear much from me because I am taking advantage of the extra help and tackling some projects I've been meaning to do around here.  I did sneak out this afternoon and make a quick trip to Tom Thumb, and also the 99 Cents Only store, but that was mostly to purchase cheap drain cleaner since my 4 year old thought it would be fun to stuff TP down the bathroom sink....

Anyways, I did not get my Tom Thumb ad in the paper this week, so I had glanced at it online and found a great deal on cereal that I wanted to take advantage of, and also one for fruit snacks.  I grabbed an ad on my way in, and found a page of in-ad coupons that did not show up online.  One was for Dannon kids yogurt for $1.77.  We were out and I had been promising my daughter some.  I just happened to have my coupons for that with me, so I was very happy about that.  I also picked up a few pouches of tuna (the cans were on sale for $0.88, which would have been a better deal, but the shelf was empty and the pouches were on sale for $1).

Here is what I came home with today:

Total Shelf Cost:  $35.08
Total Sale Price:  $16.46
Price Paid After Coupons:  $5.46

The cereal were each $1.49 when you bought 4.  I used 3 $1/1 Quaker Oatmeals Squares from the 1/30 RP making them just $0.49 each.  I also used a $0.75/1 Cinnamon Cheerios printable (also in the 2/13 GM insert) making it just $0.74.

The Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks were just $0.99 each when you bought 4.  I was happy to find that the "Simply" version was included in this sale.  They are made from over 90% real fruit and fruit juices!  Quite tasty, too. ;)  I used 2 $1/2 coupons that I had clipped from the backs of previously bought boxes, which made them just $0.49 each.  There are $0.50/2 printables many places online (coupons.com, target.com, bettycrocker.com) and also in the 2/13 GM.  If you do it this way, one will double and one will not.  It will work out to be $0.62 per box.  I thought that there was supposed to be a Catalina deal on these, but one did not print after my purchase, so I am thinking it must have ended yesterday.  =(

The Danimals was $1.77 with in-ad coupon (must have a $10 minimum purchase before coupons).  I used 2 $1/1 coupons from the 2/27 SS.  That made them just $0.77 each.

The tuna was $1 each.  I used the $1.50/3 from the 3/6 RP.  That made them $0.50 each.

Tomorrow is the last day for this sale, so if you want to get in on it, hurry!

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A New Product I Was Asked To Try And Share

A while back, I told you how you could sign up to be a Purex Insider.  I was recently notified that I had been accepted into this program.  Not long after that, a nice package showed up at my door.

I was very excited to see what was inside.  When I opened it, here is what I found:

I was sent a small sample of a new fabric softener product, as well as a free coupon for a full sized bottle.  I have not been to a store to use my free coupon yet, but I have tried the sample bottle.

First off, let me say that I have never used a liquid fabric softener, only dryer sheets.  I really liked this product, though.  The clothes had a great smell when they came out of the wash.  I thought that the smell would mostly go away by the time they came out of the dryer, but it didn't.  I washed my bedsheets and comforter with the crystals, and have been really surprised that the scent has lasted so long.  It is the 5th day since I washed them now, and I still smell the scent when I climb into bed.  My sample was of the Fresh Spring Water scent.  I thought that after the first night the scent that lingered smelled a bit like men's cologne, but I tend to like the smell of men's cologne. ;)  For a second, I thought that my husband had tangled the comforter up and thrown the side from his side onto my side of the bed, but then I realized that it was still the scent of the crystals.  I do not normally like for scent to linger on my clothing, because it is normally too strong and gives me a headache.  This scent, however is really light and barely noticeable on clothing unless you take a big sniff. I notice it more on the comforter since I have that pulled up to my nose. =)

This new Purex Crystals product is marketed as an alternative to liquid fabric softeners.  I received an informational sheet in my package that explained many differences between this new crystal product and traditional liquid fabric softeners:
--Liquids are oil based and leave behind a residue that then holds onto dirts and oils and prevents the items from cleaning properly in the wash.
--This same residue can also interfere with the absorbency of the fabrics.
--The residue left behind from liquids can also impair the flame-retardant treatments designated by the government for children's sleepwear.  In other words, the clothing will no longer self-extinguish in a fire like it should.
--The oily residue also interferes with the ability of sports wear to draw moisture away from the body during workouts.
--The new Purex Crystals product dissolves and infuses into the fabric instead of staying on the surface, so this residue is not present.
(Personally, I would love to see some info about how they compare to dryer sheets.)

For more information about this product, and to print your own $1 off coupon, go here.

The Purex Insiders program is offering prizes to the 100 bloggers who send the most visitors to their site, and I would love to be one of them, so please go check it out and print your coupon.

Also, once I send them a link to this post, they have promised to send me a few e-coupons to share with my readers.  I'm not sure about the value or what they mean by e-coupons, but be looking for a post about that coming soon.

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What's Going On Today?

There are a few things going on today that I wanted you guys to be aware of:

First, if you were able to request that Mission Tortilla Chips coupon from their facebook page offer last week, they reached their goal.  You may go to www.missioncoupons.com, input your email (which it should recognize if you entered it before) and print your coupon.  It is a printable PDF coupon for a FREE bag of mission tortilla chips, which I know that many, many stores are not going to accept.  Myself and several others told them as much on their facebook page, but if you were able to enter last week, and you want to give it a try, then go print your coupon.  *Note* there were many people saying that they got a message that their email address was not recognized.  Mine went through ok, but it sounds like they were having some issues, just so you know.

Second, Cellfire.com is having another special coupon giveaway today.  Log into your account, and you should see a coupon for some amount between $0.50 and $3 that you have "won" and is available to load to your shopper card.  More stores than just Kroger affiliates are participating this time (in the small print at the bottom of the image above, which is the banner that should show up at the top of the page when you log in).  I have both Kroger and Tom Thumb participating in my area, but I only "won" a $0.50 coupon for Tom Thumb.  There was not one under Kroger.

Finally, I just wanted to remind everyone that Fridays are Mega Swagbucks days!  You are able to win larger Swagbuck values from searches on Fridays, so do all of your searching with swagbucks today (and always!). You can read my tips for getting the most out of Swagbucks and see what they were able to do for me.  If you still haven't signed up, you may do so here.


Sorry to make these all into one post, but things have still been a little crazy around here.  My mother in law is still in the hospital, but they are letting her go today.  Thank you to anyone who had prayed for her!

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Iams Rebate: Free Pet Food

Iams has an offer right now where you can request a coupon my mail for a FREE bag of Iams when you send in one proof of purchase.  You may choose either dog food or cat food (maybe both??).  Go here to choose and print your rebate form.  Dog is on the left, and cat is on the right.

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Aldi Produce Deals 3/2-3/8: Dallas Area

Here are the produce deals advertised this week for the Dallas area:
-Texas Grapefruit--$0.25 each
-Gala Apples --$0.50/lb sold in 3lb bags for $1.50
-Gold Pineapple--$0.99 each
-California Navel Oranges--$0.45/lb sold in 3lb bags for $1.35
-Strawberries--$1.49 each for a 1lb package.

I'm so glad that it is getting to be strawberry season again. =)

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Dishing it Up Recipe Hop: Chicken Dishes

Welcome to the March Dishing It Up Recipe Hop Giveaway! Dishing It Up is brought to you by Dearly Domestic, Deals From MS Do, Eating With Mimi, Happy Lil Homemaker, Mama Does It All, Pary Moppins, Saving Myself Silly, and Thrifty Texas Penny.

 Over the last year, our hop has grown and we've implemented some changes to make it better for you.  Each month, we bring you recipes with a different theme and this month we're focusing on chicken. Chicken is a very versatile protein to cook with, so we're hoping to have a great variety of recipes linked up!

Earlier this year, we added a website and a Facebook page. This month, we also bring you our first giveaway and hope it's just the first of many! We are so excited to be holding our first giveaway and to be able to feature chicken from Zaycon Foods. One lucky winner will receive a Zaycon Foods account credit to be used on 20 pounds of chicken breasts.

The chicken is being donated by Mama Does It All, who has had a chance to try these chicken breasts and she thinks they are wonderful!  She received them in order to complete a review and is now a loyal customer. You can read her full review here.

 This giveaway starts on March 1 at 12:01 AM EST and ends on March 31 at 11:59 PM EST. There will be new recipes will be added each week, so be sure to keep up with us throughout the month and to linkup your own recipes as well!

This week the recipe I'll be sharing will be Homemade Chicken Strips.  (<--- that's my original post).

Here they are baking in the oven.

I made a big batch of them, as you can read about in the original post.  We enjoyed them as is, in a salad, and we even cooked up some bacon and made our very own Chicken Bacon Ranch Toaster sandwiches, just like you'd get at Sonic!

Mmmmm......

Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win 20lbs of Zaycon Chicken:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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El Rancho Trip 2/28: Shop Local Sales To Save Big!

Last week I told you about some of the meat deals going on right now in the Dallas area.  Today, I was finally able to get to one of the stores and take advantage of some of them, and some produce deals, too.  I went mostly to get the $0.98/lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, which we have been out of for quite some time.  I had also planned on getting some bone-in pork stew meat for the same price, but changed my mind after seeing it.  I did, however, notice that there was an unadvertised special on ground beef for $1.00/lb.  We were out of that, too so I picked up some of that instead of the pork.  Besides, I still had some chops in the freezer.

Here is what I was able to get at El Rancho Today:

15 lbs of chicken @ $0.98/lb=$14.95
10 lbs ground beef @ $1/lb=$10.01
2 5lb bags of russet potatoes @ $0.88 each=$1.76
8 cans tomatoes sauce @ 8 for $1=$1
6 tangerines @ 12 for $1= $0.50
8 avocadoes @ 8 for $1=$1
6 small apples @ 3 for $1= $2
4 yellow onions @ 3lbs for $1=$0.69

My total was $31.87, and to make things even better, I was able to pay for most of it with my $25 gift card that I received from my Prilosec rebate!  After the gift card, only $6.87 of that actually came out of our food budget for the month!

You might be thinking, my goodness that is a lot of meat!  Well, you would be right, it is.  Especially for a family of 4, whose children are 4 and 19 months.  But my husband is a teacher who gets paid once a month, so I try to stock up on meat for the month shortly after pay day.  It also helps to get so much at such a low price.  I will put this into the freezer until I am ready to cook it.  I freezer cook in batches, which means that one day I will cook up a whole bunch of chicken and then prepare several recipes using it.  The cooking time is no different, it just uses a bigger pot, and I can usually put away 8-12 chicken meals into my freezer in one evening (even more with ground beef!).  I have a few favorite recipes that I triple or quadruple, and then dinner time during the week is much less hectic. =)  I will be preparing for some major cooking this week!

I am actually wanting to try out some new recipes for chicken, so if you know of any, especially if they freeze well, please leave a link in the comments!  Thanks!

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Tom Thumb Trip 2/27

While I was out going to CVS I decided to swing my Tom Thumb as well.  I usually see the ad when it comes out on Wednesday and am not very impressed with it, but every Sunday it seems that a second small ad comes out in the paper with some great in-ad coupons that are pretty hard to resist.  They were also having a Buy 3 Save $6 on coffee/tea products that I wanted to check out because I was able to score some great deals with that sale last time they did it.

Here is what I came home with:

Total Shelf Price:  $36.62
Total Sale Price:   $21.57
Price After $6 Beverage Savings:  $15.57
Price Paid After Coupons:  $8.87   76% Savings

-The Lipton Tea was just $0.99 after the $6 savings ($2.99-$2 off each item).  I used 3 $0.60/1 from the 1/30 SS (expire today!) made them just $0.39 each!
-The Skippy was on in-ad coupon for $1.49 (limit 8).  I used the $0.50/1 coupon from 1/30 SS (doubled), made it only $0.49!  *note: Tom Thumb will only double one like coupon, all others are redeemed at face value.*
-The Ken's was on in-ad coupon for $1.19.  I used a $1/1 coupon from the 1/9 SS making it just $0.19.
-The Quaker Oatmeal was on in-ad coupon for $1.77 each.  I used 2 $1/1 from 1/2 (do not recall if from SS or RP), made them just $0.77 each.
-I got the Ragu because I had one remaining $0.30/1 from the 1/30 SS that tripled.
-I got the strawberries to assure that I had over the minimum $10 limit to use the in-ad coupons.  They were on sale for $3.99 BOGO FREE, so that worked out to $2 each.  Not a bad price.

I'm very tempted to go out to Kroger tonight with a bunch of coupons that expire today, but I'm pretty tired, so I will most likely not.  Would you make an extra trip if you had coupons expiring?

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