The Coupon Diva

Menu Plan Monday!

2009-02-08T21:04:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the irregular posting the past month but I really haven't had too much to blog about. I got back to work at my business and haven't done much shopping. I did however make a menu for this next week and I am glad! We have ate out too much this past week because of the lack of a menu.

Monday: Spicy Chicken Soup

Tuesday: Chicken Picatta

Wednesday: Lemon Linguine

Thursday: Salisbury Steak

Friday: Pizza & Bread sticks

Saturday & Sunday: Probably something from the grill

So as you can see, nothing too exciting this week and lots of chicken! I am running out of new recipes to make and haven't had time to search AllRecipes for new ones.

As a side note, I am about to redeem my first gift certificate from SwagBucks!! I have only been a member for about a month I think, if that, and I just do all my searches there instead of google. I am so excited, nothing is better than free money right!

If you haven't signed up here yet you really should!

Click my banner and sign up, it's so easy, just use their website to search the web like you normally do and get paid to do it!

I Don't Have a Problem.....

2009-01-23T10:16:00.004-06:00

Ok well maybe I have just a itty bitty problem with obsessively stockpiling.... LOL!

Today my post is part of Frugal Friday posts and it is about saving money in the long run. The past month I have been buying boxes of Electrasol with the 2.50$ coupon that came out recently. I went a little overboard and bought 60 coupons off of Ebay along with the 18 I had out of the Sunday paper.

Now this is not being frugal as of this point and time, because I have spent about 80$ this month buying Electrasol. At Walmart, the 2.50$ off coupon makes each box just 1.00$ which is a huge price discount. They are usually over 4$ a box at Walmart and considerably higher everywhere else. I go through about 2 boxes a month (our dishwasher is constantly running).

This is, however, very frugal in the upcoming months and even years. According to my calculations, I will not run out of Electrasol tablets for the next 5 years or maybe even longer. So I spent about 80$ for a 5 year supply of dishwashing tablets, that in my mind is very frugal indeed! It would have cost me over 300$ for the same supply without a coupon. I saved over 60% just buy using the coupon!

I now have 1968 Electrasol tablets!! Yes I admit I probably did go a little nuts with the coupons, but you never know when and if they will put out another one. I am happy that I have such a large supply, that is one less thing I have to worry about buying. If you do this with as many things as you can, you could save a ton of money off your monthly budget just by not having to buy it! I did this with dishwashing soap, dishwasher tablets, trashbags, toilet paper, and paper towels.

That is my Frugal Friday post, what's yours?

Be sure to check out the post below on easy ways to make a little extra cash at home!

Thankful Tuesday

2009-01-20T13:43:00.007-06:00

Today my post is about me being thankful for the little things I have going for me. What I mean is, since I am a stay at home mom we basically live on one income, being my husbands. We don't have as much money as we would like to, and I am sure that applies with all mothers that stay at home.

About a year ago I started looking for ways to bring in a little extra income to help our situation. I do not want to work outside the home because I want to raise my baby myself. So I started looking at paid survey companies and I signed up for a TON of them. All I got was thousands of spam emails per day and no surveys! Well I did not let that discourage me. I kept looking until I finally found a couple of programs that I do make a little money on.

These are certainly not get rich quick schemes by any means. I am happy if I make an extra 50$ a month just sitting at home on my computer doing things I would be doing anyways in my spare time. 50$ is a lot of money to me, that's like paying my phone bill or car insurance or just an extra 50$ in savings. If you are like me, you understand how much any extra money helps.

So as time has progressed I finally found a few places that really do pay off.

One of my favorites is Hits4Pay. This isn't a survey company, you get paid for reading the ads on the site. I always thought these places were a waste of time but I have been successful with this one. They give you a 10$ sign up bonus and pay you .02$ per each ad you read. Right now I have 18.41$ in my account for just for clicking on the ads I get everyday. That's not bad for a couple of minutes a day!

One of my top favorite survey companies is American Consumer Opinion Program. This is a very good company to do survey's from. The thing you need to know about this place is you do not get surveys inside your account. They send you surveys and the sender's name is Anne Parks. Whenever you see these surveys you should definitely do them, they pay great! I just finished a survey about Rimmel Lipstick and earned 5$ in about 10 minutes, which will be credited to my account in less than 2 weeks. I LOVE this company!!

I also do surveys for SurveySavvy. They send surveys to your email too, and some of them are really good! Once you sign up for an account, go fill out the short profile surveys so you will receive more surveys! It takes a little while for them to start coming in but they generally pay very well for short surveys.

I really love Mindfield Online! I love all of the survey companies that send surveys straight to my email because I have a a habit of forgetting to log in and check for them. They have short surveys about your demographics that you should fill out to be included in a broader range of surveys, but even if you don't you will still get them! I just checked my account and I haven't fill out any of the profile surveys except for the general one and I receive quite a few surveys to my email, and most of them are 5$ surveys! I think the lowest one I ever saw was 3$ and I have seen them go up to 10$. Sometimes you won't qualify for certain surveys but that usually doesn't happen to me.

InboxDollars and SendEarnings are basically the same company. When you log in to you account everything lookls exactly the same, but they are different companies! You can make money from both of them seperatly. They send you paid emails which you earn a couple of cents clicking on them, and they also have paid surveys! You get .50$ per survey and they are usually pretty short. You also get a 5$ sign up bonus. You can usually take a few surveys a day so if you did 2 a day for 1.00$ per day, on each site, that would be 60$ a month! I like this place too, and clicking the emails do add up!

CreationRewards is a really neat place. You earn points and the points can be cashed in to buy all kinds of stuff including gift certificates to places like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Walmart, or you can even receive a paper check from them! It is very easy to accumulate earnings here because there are 2 surveys you can do every single day and if you do both of them you earn 220 points. You can earn a 5$ Amazon giftcard with 1000 points so if you did both surveys everyday, you could have enough points for a 5$ giftcard in 5 days! You can see that it is easy to accumulate points here. You can also earn points by visiting certain websites and paid emails, but the surveys are the fastest way to get your points.

The is a cool new concept a few places are coming out with now, search the internet on their site and earn points! Redeem your points for all kinds of cool stuff! The one I like the best is SwagBucks. You do your regular internet surfing and if you are anything like me, you do about 20 google searches a day, LOL. Anyways, do your searches and you get rewarded SwagBucks! You can also get randomly rewarded too. Earn enough SwagBucks and redeem them for just about anything! 115 SwagBucks gets you a 10$ Barnes and Noble giftcard. I am sure going to love this place, I have only been using it for like half a day and already have 10 SwagBucks, woohoo!

Lastly, there is this cool new place called Scour which is like a type of search engine. This is almost just like the one above. You can search by going to the site and doing any kind of search that you would do on Google or Yahoo or any of those places or you can download their toolbar. You get points each time you search and you will randomly get bonus points! I just started trying this and it seems really cool. I will post an update once I use it more and see what all it has to offer.

Those are all the places I have had success with thus far. I have a few more I am trying out to see if they amount to anything before I let my readers know about them. The best thing about these places is they are tried and true and you don't have to go through all the trouble like I did trying to find the ones that actually do pay off! Check them out =)

This post doubles as my Works for Me Wednesday post. If you would like to see more WFMW posts go here.

My Menu This Week

2009-01-19T11:53:00.002-06:00

Ok so now since you have seen what I bought for groceries this week, I will give you the recipes I am using to cook all week! I didn't have to buy a whole lot because I have almost everything I needed in my stockpile. I am getting very good at cooking and I only make a meal once per 30 days, so I am always trying new stuff. Being that these recipes are new to me and I haven't tried them before, I cannot vouch for how tasty they are =) I always check the reviews though and they seem really good so I am sure it will all be yummy!

Menu:

Monday

Brown Sugar Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and mac&cheese
Find the Brown Sugar Meatloaf here.

Tuesday

Garlic Chicken with Pasta and Breadsticks
Find the Garlic Chicken recipe here.

I am cooking the garlic chicken per the recipe, and serving spaghetti on the side with Pillsbury breadsticks.

Wednesday

Ham Steaks with mashed potatoes and broccoli/cheese.
(No recipe for these, just cooking the ham steaks I found in the freezer)

Thursday

Homemade pizza & cheesy breadsticks

Friday

Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes and a veggie
Find the Salisbury Steak recipe here.

Saturday

Leftovers or something the hubby cooks

Sunday

Homemade enchiladas
(recipe on the back of the Hatch enchilada sauce)

Good Deal Alert

2009-01-19T11:50:00.001-06:00

If you have an HEB grocery store near you, they have Boston Pork Butt Roasts on sale for 1$ per pound. The limit is 2. I have never used this kind of meat before but for 1$ per pound I was willing to try it. I am hoping to make atleast 3 meals out of it!

If you have an Albertsons grocery store near you, they have Wholly Salsa on sale this week for .99$ and there are 1.00$ coupons that came out a few week's ago which mean free salsa!! I picked up 8 boxes this week and am thinking about going back and getting another 8 or so, it looks very yummy!

My Shopping This Week

2009-01-19T11:32:00.004-06:00

There has not been very many great coupon deals lately, but I have managed to snag a couple! Recently the 2.50$ off of Electrasol coupon came out and I use this stuff A LOT so I got about 15 copies of the newspaper and I bought another 40 coupons off of Ebay. I am planning on getting a 2-3 year stockpile this time around. So here is how I did this week:

Walmart:

(17) boxes of Electrasol - 59.50$
(3) cans of Campbell's cheddar cheese soup - 3.72$
(2) bags of Texas Toast croutons - 2.12$
(1) package of ready made pizza crusts - 3.64$
(1) can of GV crescent rolls - 1.46$
(2) packages of Pioneer brown gravy mix - 1.00$
(1) bottle of Adam's almond extract - 2.13$
(1) box of GV cream cheese - 1.07$
(2) boxes of Pillsbury bread sticks - 3.88$
(1) 10lb. bag of potatoes - 3.50$

Total Before Coupons - 83.42$

Coupons Used:

(17) 2.50$ off Electrasol
(1) .40$ off 2 Pillsbury bread sticks
(1) .30$ off 3 Campbell's soups
(2) .55$ off Texas Toast

Total After Coupons - 39.12$

HEB:

(1) 9.41 lb. Boston Pork Butt Roast - 9.41$
(10) French's Worcestershire sauce - 8.30$

Total Before Coupons - 17.71$

Coupons Used:

(10) Free French's Worcestershire sauce

Total After Coupons - 9.41$

CVS:

(7) 12 packs of Pepsi
(1) 20 oz. Pepsi

Total Before Coupons - 24.45$

Coupons Used:

19.96$ ECB
2.59$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .04$
Got back 10$ in ECB's for buying Pepsi

So those are the deals I have gotten this week. I have already went over my monthly budget for January because of buying sooooo many Electrasols. They equal out to 1.00$ per box after coupon and I have bought 54 boxes already and still have another 24 coupons to use!

I'm Back! Yipee!

2009-01-17T19:44:00.005-06:00

Well I finally feel like I *kinda* have everything under enough control so I can start putting time into my blog again! I really missed being away and I can't wait to get back into it. Just to let you know, I have not stopped couponing.... NEVER! Coupons are a way of life for me. I have gotten a ton of great deals but I quit taking pictures of them some while ago, I guess I will be starting that up again soon!

I am going to keep a spread sheet of exactly how much I spend every time I go shopping, I haven't started yet but I think I know where all of my receipts are. Even if I can't find them, I can always start a little late and it would still be pretty accurate for 2009 =)

Yes I admit it, I have gotten a bit lazy since the baby come.

Anyways, you will never believe the most coolest thing ever I got in 2008 (well besides my baby ofcourse)!!!!! I am not sure if you knew about this, but back in December, Amazon had a customer vote thing where you could vote on what you wanted to be able to buy for a certain price. The thing with the most votes kept it's price, which was a hugely discounted price on Amazon. Anyways, I never thought too much about this but I was just messing around one day and I voted on Round 6, the KitchenAid Pro 600 Series. The price was 79.00$!!! By luck I was checking emails one day and I clicked on the one that said Amazon Vote or something like that. They said I was invited to a "race" to try and buy the mixer for the special 79.00$ price. The catch was, there was only 500 mixers available and far far more people than that racing for it.

Well I have always wanted one of these mixers ever since I learned how to cook, or should I say, I taught myself how to enjoy cooking. I got up that morning and waited by my computer for an hour until 7:00AM when the race would start. I didn't think I had any chance at all because the Amazon forums were going crazy with people saying they were racing for it. I gave it a shot and I so could not believe it when I saw it in my shopping cart! I raced through the checkout, and I got it 2 days later! It was so HUGE! OMG I did not know these things were gigantic. Thank god I have high cabinets or I would have been sorely disappointed not being able to leave it on the counter (it wouldn't fit under the cabinets either).

So here's the kicker.... I discovered KitchenAid had a rebate going for the purchase of select mixers. a 50$$$$ REBATE!! Mine happened to be one of the models so I sent in everything required and I didn't think I would be getting the rebate because of how low the price was that I paid. I was started to get bummed out here the past few days because it still hadn't came yet... And imagine my surprise when I checked my mail box and saw something from KitchenAid, opened it up, and saw this!

This was too good to be true but it was! I got a KitchenAid Pro 600 Series (brand new) for 19$!!!! Is this like the deal of the century or what?

So to wrap it up =) I am going to revamp my blog a bit and figure out where I am going to take off, and I am so glad to be back around! I also got a new email address that is much easier to check so please email me if you would like to, I promise I will get back the same day =) My last email was so hard to get in to and it had so much spam going I just quit logging in, it drove me crazy! texascoupondiva @ stx.rr.com

30% Cashback through Live.com!

2008-10-05T11:07:00.002-05:00

Just letting everybody know about a pretty cool deal through Live.com! If you need to buy anything off Ebay and you have been putting it off, you might want to consider doing it now while you can get 30% off.

My son's birthday is coming up in about 2 weeks and I needed to buy some stuff for him so I finally took an advantage of it now, plus some stuff I have been wanting forever =) This is what I have bought so far:

Lego Star Wars PS3
Lego Batman PS3
New ac adapter for my laptop
Betty Crocker's 100 piece cake decorating kit (be wanting FOREVER!)
Foodsaver 2840 machine

All of this stuff was brand new and I paid 250$ for it through Paypal, BUT in 60 days I will getting back about 70$ through Live.com back to my Paypal account which makes everything I got about 180$ and that is including shipping! Not the best deal I know, but considering the PS3 games were 50$ a piece and the Foodsaver is 150$ retail, I think I did pretty good!

All you have to do is go to Live.com and type in "cheap wii" in the search box. The next page will bring up a bunch of search results, right above them you should see a banner that says something along the lines of "Buy Wii cheap! You may get 30% cashback if Paypal eligible" and it will have a Ebay web address. Click that and them just search for whatever you want to buy, but it has to be a buy it now auction to get the cashback. Click on buy it now and on the confirm page you will see a banner towards the bottom that says how much cashback you will get if you buy it. That's how you know you will get cashback, if you don't see this banner then you won't get any cashback. Buy your item and wait a few minutes and check your Ebay messages and click on the "You earned cashback" and follow the directions!

You have to click on the banner on the Live.com search page to actually get in on the cashback, if you don't do this you won't see any cashback offers.

I hope this helped somebody! Don't wait too long because the 30% cashback is a huge special, it is usually only 8%!

CVS Deals

2008-10-01T11:10:00.010-05:00

I only go in to CVS about 1 or 2 times a month now because the deals are really lacking, but this month I actually went about 10 times or so =) They had a great deal on toilet paper and paper towels and I couldn't miss the chance to re-stock! Let's hope October will bring some great deals as well, I really miss my weekly CVS shopping!

Transaction #1:

(2) bags of Skittles - 1.50$
(7) various clearanced summer toys - 2.44$
(2) pairs of clearanced ladies sandals - .68$
(8) bottles of Dawn dish soap - 7.92$
(2) Covergirl Wet Slicks - 11.98$

Coupons Used:

(6) .50$ off Dawn
(2) 1.00$ off Dawn Hand Renewal
(1) 1.00$ off Covergirl
(1) BOGO free Covergirl
(1) 2$ off 10$ CVS coupon
5.00$ ECB
5.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .68$
Earned 5.99$ ECB's

Transaction #2 and #3:

#2:

(1) Nivea for men bodywash - 4.99$
(1) Adidas deoderant - 4.99$
(1) clearanced coloring book - .99$

Coupons Used:

(1) 1.00$ off Nivea
(1) 1.00$ off Adidas
2$ off 10$ CVS coupon
5.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - 1.97$
ECB's Earned: 4.99$ for Nivea & 4.00$ for Adidas

#3:

(1) 12 pack of Pepsi - 3.00$
(4) packages of Cottonelle toilet paper - 25.96$

Coupons Used:

(4) .50$ off Cottonelle
2$ off 10$ CVS coupon
4.00$ ECB
4.99$ ECB
11.98$ ECB

Total After Coupons - 4.32$
ECB's Earned: 10$ for Cottonelle

Transaction #4:

(4) packages of Cottonelle toilet paper 25.96$

Coupons Used:

(4) .50$ off Cottonelle
(1) 2$ off 10$ CVS coupon
(1) 10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - 12.95$
ECB's Earned: 10$ for Cottonelle

Transaction #5:

(3) 12 packs of Pepsi - 9.00$
(2) boxes of Crest Pro Health toothpaste - 5.98$

Coupons Used:

(2) .75$ off Crest
2$ off 10$ CVS coupon
10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - 1.48$
ECB's Earned: 4.00$ for Crest & 3.00$ for Pepsi

Transaction #6:

(4) packages of Viva paper towels - 25.96$
(lost receipt for the toothpaste, nivea, and adidas so didn't post that deal)

Coupons Used:

(4) .50$ off Viva
2$ off 10$ CVS coupon
4.00$ ECB
4.00$ ECB
4.99$ ECB
5.99$ ECB

Total After Coupons - 3.23$
ECB's Earned: 10$ for Viva

HEB Deals

2008-09-30T20:31:00.008-05:00

Transaction #1:

(15) cans of Mighty Dog dog food - 8.85$
(5) bags of Purina Healthful Life cat food - 10.90$
(1) bag of M&M's - .50$

Total Before Coupons - 20.32$

Coupons Used:

(5) free bag of Purina Healthful life
(15) free can of Mighty Dog

Total After Coupons - .87$

Transaction #2:

(2) bags of Senseo coffee pods - 6.78$
(1) box of Wheat Thins - 2.99$
(3) packages of Koolaid - .60$
(1) package of Oscar Mayer roast beef - 2.99$

Total Before Coupons - 13.41$

Coupons Used:

(1) free OM lunchmeat WYB Wheat Thins (HEB coupon)
(1) free Wheat Thins WYB Kraft
(1) .75$ off 2 bags of Senseo

Total After Coupons - 6.68$

Transaction #3

(3) boxes of Ronzini pasta - 2.76$
(5) boxes of Wheat Thins - 14.95$
(24) packages of Koolaid - 4.80$
(3) cans of Crystal Light - 9.87$
(1) bag of Green Giant steamers - 1.27$
(5) packs of Oscar Mayer lunchmeat - 14.95$
(2) Cascade dishwasher rinse - 5.18$

Total Before Coupons - 54.18$

Coupons Used:

(3) 1.00$ off Ronzini pasta
(5) free Wheat Thins WYB Kraft
(5) free OM lunchmeat WYB Wheat Thins (HEB Coupon)
(3) free Crystal Light WYB Kraft
(1) 1.00$ off Green Giant
(2) free Cascade

Total After Coupons - 8.25$

Transaction #4

(8) boxes of Ronzini pasta - 8.56$
(5) cans of Crystal Light - 16.45$
(5) boxes of Wheat Thins - 14.95$
(1) bag of Senseo coffee pods - 3.39$
(5) packs of Oscar Mayer lunchmeat - 14.95$
(30) packages of Koolaid - 6.00$

Total Before Coupons - 61.50$

Coupons Used:

(5) free Crystal Light WYB Kraft
(5) free OM lunchmeat WYB Wheat Thins (HEB Coupon)
(5) free Wheat Thins WYB Kraft
(8) 1.00$ off Ronzini

Total After Coupons - 7.15$

Transaction #5:

(3) cans of Crystal Light - 9.87$
(3) bottles of Kraft dressing - 6.48$
(7) packages of Kraft singles - 24.36$
(39) packages of Koolaid - 7.80$
(1) carton of eggs - 1.78$
(4) bags of Purina Healthful Life - 8.72$
(1) bottle of Cascade dishwasher rinse - 2.59$

Total Before Coupons - 71.78$

Coupons Used:

(4) free Purina Healthful Life
(7) free Kraft singles WYB Kraft
(3) free Crystal Light WYB Kraft
(3) free Kraft dressing WYB Kraft
(1) free Cascade

Total After Coupons - 11.18$

Walmart Deals

2008-09-30T18:44:00.001-05:00

Here are all of my Walmart deals from 9-1-08 till today.

Transaction #1:

(2) packages of Luvs diapers - 15.94$
(3) baseball canteens - .30$ (clearanced)
(4) Clearasil pads - 8.00$ (clearanced)
(1) 3 pack of Mini-DV tapes - 12.44$
(4) Clearasil gel wash - 8.00$ (clearanced)
(1) Clearasil face scrub - 2.00$ (clearanced)
(1) measuring cup set - 1.00$ (clearanced)
(1) Maybelline mascara - 1.00$ (clearanced)
(5) baby shorts - 2.50$ (clearanced)
(11) wash clothes - 1.10$ (clearanced)
(2) Rubbermaid water bottles - 1.00$ (clearanced)

Total Before Coupons - 54.28$

Coupons Used:

(9) 2.00$ off any Clearasil
(2) 5.00$ off any Luvs

Total After Coupons - 26.28$

Transaction #2:

(13) Maybelline mascaras - 13.00$ (clearanced)
(10) Kotex liners - 10.00$
(3) Clearasil gel wash - 6.00$ (clearanced)
(2) Clearasil face wash - 4.00$ (clearanced)
(1) Rubbermaid water bottle - .50$ (clearanced)
(4) Kens salad dressing - 3.34$
(1) CD-RW 5 pack - 5.47$
(1) kids water bottle - .75$ (clearanced)
(4) packages of gravy mix - 2.24$
(3) lbs of bananas - 1.20$
(1) loaf of GV bread - .78$
(1) package of GV hamburger buns - 1.13$

Total Before Coupons - 48.16$

Coupons Used:

(10) 1.00$ off Kotex
(13) 1.00$ off Maybelline
(5) 2.00$ off Clearasil
(4) 1.00$ off Kens salad dressing

Total After Coupons - 11.16$

Transaction #3:

(16) 10 pack of Schick razors - 31.52$
(20) Kraft easy mac cups - 15.00$
(1) baby shorts - .50$ (clearanced)
(2) bell pepper - 1.00$
(1) package of Senseo coffee pods - 4.12$

Total Before Coupons - 52.14$

Coupons Used:

(1) free bag of Senseo coffee pods
(16) 2.00$ off Schick razors
(10) 1.00$ off 2 easy mac cups

Total After Coupons - 6.02$

Transaction #4:

(5) Kotex liners - 5.00$
(2) Febreeze candles - 11.94$
(2) Febreeze refills - 9.74$
(6) tiny notebooks - 3.00$
(1) On-Cor salisbury steaks - 2.08$
(1) On-Cor pork riblets - 2.62$
(8) packs of Trident gum - 10.24$
(4) packs of "bankers boxes" - 4.00$
(1) bottle of GV cheese whiz - 2.37$
(1) package of GV hamburger buns - 1.13$
(2) Dove trial size conditioner - 1.50$
(10) Kraft easy mac cups - 7.50$
(3) boxes of Rozini pasta - 9.00$
(1) package of dry yeast - .87$
(2) mini staple puller - .20$
(1) can of rotel tomatoes - .92$
(1) bottle of 5th seasons black pepper - 1.00$
(2) packages of Kraft singles - 7.46$
(2) bags of semi sweet chocolate chips - 2.00$

Total Before Coupons - 92.17$

Coupons Used:

(5) 1.00$ off Kotex
(4) BOGO Trident gum
(4) .75$ off Trident gum
(2) 2.00$ off any Dove
(4) 5.00$ off Febreeze
(2) free Kraft singles WYB Kraft
(6) 1.00$ off Ronzini
(5) 1.00$ off 2 Kraft easy mac cups

Total After Coupons - 27.18$

Transaction #5:

(10) bottles of Kens salad dressing - 10.70$
(16) packs of Kotex liners - 16.00$
(15) boxes of Kraft mac & cheese - 9.90$
(5) packs of Kraft singles - 17.76$

Total Before Coupons - 54.36$

Coupons Used:

(10) 1.00$ off Kens dressing
(16) 1.00$ off Kotex
(5) free Kraft singles WYB Kraft

Total After Coupons - 11.68$

Transaction #6:

(12) packages of Oscar Mayer - 27.04$
(2) packages of GV hotdog buns - 2.26$
(12) boxes of Kraft mac & cheese - 7.92$
(15) packages of Taco Bell seasoning - 7.50$
(9) boxes of Jello - 7.02$

Total Before Coupons - 51.74$

Coupons Used:

(12) free OM hot dogs WYB Kraft

Total After Coupons - 26.74$

Transaction #7:

(19) Green Giant steamers - 23.18$
(3) packages of Oscar Mayer hot dogs - 7.50$
(9) Johnson buddies - 8.73$
(9) packs of Koolaid - 1.80$
(1) pack of GV hot dog buns - 1.13$
(1) loaf of french bread - 1.50$
(1) pack of HP printer paper - 4.97$

Total Before Coupons - 49.84$

Coupons Used:

(3) free OM hot dogs WYB Kraft
(3) 3.00$ off WYB 3 Johnsons
(1) 3.00$ off HP paper
(19) 1.00$ off Green Giant

Total After Coupons - 11.34$

Transaction #8

(9) bottles of Kraft dressing - 21.96$
(3) TGI Fridays frozen snacks - 7.68$
(15) packs of Kotex liners - 15.00$
(27) packages of Koolaid - 5.40$

Total Before Coupons - 50.57$

Coupons Used:

(9) free Kraft dressing WYB Kraft
(3) 3.00$ off TGI Fridays
(14) 1.00$ off Kotex

Total After Coupons - 5.61$

Life Update

2008-09-30T18:05:00.004-05:00

I am really sorry that I haven't been keeping up with things lately, I am behind at everything I normally do... and I never thought I would be. The baby does have a lot to do with it because I like to hold him all the time and it's hard to get anything done, I guess I could put him down and do stuff but I just don't want to, I would rather be holding him =) So now that a new month is starting tomorrow I am going to try and set some resolutions to follow and get myself back on track. I am actually so behind on stuff that I had a ton of the Kraft free coupons that were going to expire tonight that I almost did not use! Luckily I did remember and got to the stores to use them, and I still have to make another trip tonight to use the rest of my 9/30 expiring coupons.

Just letting myself get behind for the past 2 months have made me extremely lazy, and I really do not like that. I guess from not doing anything like I used to do has made me get into the habit of not doing anything, and that is a really hard habit to break! If anybody has any ideas on how to make myself start doing stuff again please let me know, I need a motivation makeover!

I am not really liking how I do my deal postings, all of them on Sunday and such, so I am going to start posting them each time I go shopping. This will be easier for me and you, mainly because I won't be posting 30 deals at a time, and it gives you a chance to copy my deals before the sales are over. I think this will work out nicely.

I still haven't gone back to work on my normal stay at home computer job... I am just so burnt out on it after doing it for the past 5, almost 6, years. I know the extra income really helps us so I have to get back to it, but I just really do not like doing it anymore. I guess I don't have too much to complain about though, I am sure other people have it worse than I do so I am grateful for what I do have.

Anyways, I think that's about all I have to say for now. I am going to post all of my deals up to today and then I will start posting each one as I do it =)

I hope everybody has been doing great with couponing!

Good Deal Alert @ Walmart

2008-09-08T15:43:00.001-05:00

If your Walmart has a clearance section be sure to check it for Maybelline Great Lash mascara in the 2 for 1 packages, they were clearanced to 1.00$ in my store and I had 13 coupons so I got 26 free tubes of mascara!!

Super Savings Sunday - Walmart Edition

2008-09-01T18:19:00.012-05:00

I always find time and energy to go shopping at Walmart because I can usually get a ton of great deals there, I go to Walmart atleast 2 times a week, sometimes more. Here is all of my Walmart deals for the past month or so.

Transaction #1:

(6) Schick Intuition razors - 23.94$ (price matched to CVS)
(12) Huggies Clean Team wipes - 19.68$
(10) bags of Kotex liners - 10.00$
(11) packages of Land o' Frost lunch meat - 26.07$
(4) pouches of Starkist tuna - 3.36$
Total Before Coupons - 83.05$ Coupons Used:

(6) 4.00$ off Schick razors
(6) 3.00$ off 2 Huggies
(10) 1.00$ off Kotex
(11) free Land o' Frost lunch meat
(2) 1.00$ off 2 Starkist

Total After Coupons - 3.11$

Transaction #2

(10) Huggies Clean Team wipes - 16.40$
(10) Schick disposable razors - 19.70$
(1) box of GV hamburger patties - 13.98$
(1) unknown item (can't remember) - 5.94$
(4) Huggies travel size wipes - 3.92$
(1) GV cooking spray - 1.46$
(1) bag of Kotex liners - 1.00$
(2) loaves of GV bread - 1.56$
(1) carton of eggs - 1.27$
(1) GV hamburger buns - 1.13$
(1) 5lb sack of potatoes - 2.27$
(1) kids yogurt - 2.24$
(4) packages of Farmland ham steaks - 11.92$
(4) boxes of GV stuffing - 3.44$
(4) boxes of HandiVac bags - 11.92$

Total Before Coupons - 82.61$ Coupons Used:

(5) 3.00$ off 2 Huggies Clean Team
(10) 2.00$ off Schick razors
(1) 1.00$ off Kotex
(4) 2.00$ off Farmland steaks
(4) 2.00$ off HandiVac
(4) 1.00$ off Huggies wipes
Total After Coupons - 44.13$

Transaction #3:

(12) Huggies Clean Team wipes - 19.68$
(4) travel size Shout wipes - 3.88$
(5) Farmland ham steaks - 14.90$
(4) Farmland diced ham - 10.72$
(1) Taco Bell taco shells - 1.08$
(1) bag of Tostitos - 3.28$
(10) Glade oil warmers - 39.40$
(1) box of Joy ice cream cones - 1.00$
(1) 5lb sack of potatoes - 2.27$
(1) can of baking powder - .82$
(3) boxes of Rubbermaid containers - 7.50$
(1) 10lb roll of hamburger meat - 15.54$
(1) 1.23lb of onion - 1.08$
(1) jar of Best Maid pickles - 2.58$
(1) bell pepper - .50$
(1) unknown item (can't remember) - 2.98$
(6) packets of Taco Bell seasoning - 3.00$
(1) tub of Country Crock butter - 2.50$
(1) Hersey's baking cocoa - 4.64$
(1) Pina Colada drink mix - 3.28$
(3) cans of Rotel tomatoes - 2.76$
(1) GV brand Velveeta cheese block - 4.12$

Total Before Coupons - 148.06$ Coupons Used:

(6) 3.00$ off 2 Huggies
(4) .75$ off Shout
(9) 2.00$ off Farmland
(10) 4.00$ off Glade oil warmers
(3) 2.00$ off Rubbermaid
(1) .55$ off Country Crock
(1) .25$ off Best Maid

Total After Coupons - 62.26$

Transaction #4

(10) Huggies Clean Team - 16.40$
(4) Glade oil warmers - 11.36$
(1) package of boys underwear - 7.97$
(1) clearance Harry Potter toy - 1.00$
(1) Spiderman boys shoes - 15.00$
(1) bottle of Pepsi - 1.38$
(1) package of boys socks - 6.50$
(1) clearanced toy - 4.00$
(12) boxes of mac & cheese - 6.00$
(6) packages of Pioneer brown gravy mix - 3.00$
(1) loaf of GV bread - .78$
(12) Taco Bell seasonings - 6.00$
(3) boxes of Jello - 1.50$
(9) Kraft Singles - 22.32$
(6) Suave body washes - 6.00$

Total Before Coupons - 108.40$ Coupons Used:

(5) 3.00$ off 2 Huggies
(4) 4.00$ off Glade warmers
(9) free Kraft Singles WYB Kraft
(3) BOGO free Suave
(2) 2.00$ off 3 Suave

Total After Coupons - 51.08$

Transaction #5:

(9) Farmland ham steaks - 26.82$
(6) Farmland sliced ham - 18.96$
(5) Farmland diced ham - 13.40$
(1) box of Kleenex - 1.52$
(1) school supplies box - .97$
(1) Senseo coffee pods - 4.12$
(10) All You magazines - 17.77$
(1) GV hamburger buns - 1.13$

Total Before Coupons - 83.13$ Coupons Used:

(20) 2.00$ off Farmland

Total After Coupons - 45.13$

Transaction #7:

(9) Crystal Lights cans - 26.82$
(10) travel size Dove conditioner - 7.50$
(6) Taco Bell seasonings - 3.00$
(4) boxes of Pop Tarts - 5.00$ (clearanced)
(15) boxes of mac & cheese - 7.50$
(5) cans of GV tomato paste - 2.10$
(5) cans of GV tomato sauce - 2.00$
(1) can of GV raisins - 2.13$ (clearanced)
(1) bottle of GV apricot jelly - 1.28$
(3) bags of Jet Puffed marshmallows - 2.64$
(1) bottle of GV ketchup - 2.17$
(2) bags of chili mix - 3.32$ (clearanced)
(1) bag of GV split peas - .76$
(1) 5lb sack of potatoes - 2.27$
(3) boxes of Jello - 1.50$

Total Before Coupons - 71.35$ Coupons Used:

(10) 2.00$ off any size Dove
(9) free Crystal Light WYB Kraft
(2) 1.00$ off 2 Pop Tarts

Total After Coupons - 22.53$

Transaction #8:

(5) All You magazines - 8.85$
(8) boxes of Pop Tarts - 10.00$

Total Before Coupons - 19.58$

Coupons Used:

(4) 1.00$ off 2 Pop Tarts

Total After Coupons - 15.58$

Super Savings Sunday - HEB Edition

2008-09-01T18:06:00.003-05:00

I finally had a great trip at HEB! These are far and few for me so I am very happy!

Transaction #1:

(50) cans of Iams cat food - 10.00$
(9) 1lb bags of Purina Healthful Life cat food - 19.62$
(10) bags of Friskies party mix - 15.00$
(3) Spiderman mac & cheese - 2.25$
(1) HEB sliced pepperoni - 2.50$
(1) 1lb block of HEB mozarella cheese - 4.47$
(3) cans of Clemente jalapenos - 1.77$
(3) cans of La Sierra refried beans - 2.67$
(13) Kens marinades - 12.87$
(15) rolls of Farmland sausage - 20.85$
(1) Crystal Light can - 3.29$

Total Before Coupons - 95.33$

Coupons Used:

(9) Free Purina Healthful Life
(10) Free Friskies Party Mix
(10) 1.00$ off 4 cans of Iams
(1) free Crystal Light WYB Kraft
(13) 1.00$ off Kens marinades
(3) free Clemente jalapenos WYB La Sierra (HEB coupon)

Total After Coupons - 15.07$

Super Savings Sunday - Walgreens Edition

2008-09-01T17:58:00.003-05:00

I actually ventured into Walgreens 2 times in the past couple of months because I couldn't pass up the cheap Pop-Tarts that my oldest son loves so much, otherwise they never would have gotten my business... LOL

Transaction #1:

(16) boxes of Pop-Tarts = 32.00$
(2) bags of Papermate pens - 3.00$
(2) bags of Papermate Highlighters - 5.00$

Total Before Coupons - 40.00$

Coupons Used:

(8) 1.00$ off 2 Pop-Tarts
(2) Walgreens Coupon for .09$ Highlighters
(2) Walgreens Coupon for .09$ Pens

Total After Coupons - 18.39$

Super Savings Sunday - CVS Edition

2008-09-01T17:44:00.006-05:00

I am happy to say that CVS has had some pretty good deals for me the past few weeks. They were having such bad sales that I didn't visit them in over a month, and I actually had 16$ worth of ECB's expire because I hadn't been in so long and I didn't check my ECB's. hopefully they keep up the good sales so I can keep rolling my ECB's every week, I really love CVS and I hate not going there atleast once a week!

Transaction #1:

(5) Crest toothpastes - 9.95$
(1) package of Duracell baterries - 5.29$
(1) Revlon mascara - 7.99$

Coupons Used:

(5) .75$ off Crest
(1) .75$ off Duracell
(1) 2.00$ off Revlon
(1) 2.00$ off 10$ CVS coupon
3.00$ ECB
5.00$ ECB
6.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .73$ ECB's Earned: 5.00$ for Crest / 5.00$ for Revlon

Transaction #2:

(2) boxes of OB tampons - 9.00$
(1) package of Kotex liners - 1.39$
(1) box of ZipFizz - 5.99$

Coupons Used:

(1) .75$ off Kotex
(2) 1.50$ off OB tampons
2.00$ off 10$ CVS coupon
5.00$ ECB
5.00$ ECB
Total After Coupons - .63$ ECB's Earned: 5.00$ for OB / 5.99$ for ZipFizz / 1.49$ for Kotex

Transaction #3:

(2) boxes of OB tampons - 9.00$
(3) boxes of Garnier hair color - 15.00$
(1) bag of Skittles - .79$
(1) bag of Pita chips - .50$

Coupons Used:

2.00$ off 10$ CVS coupon
(2) 1.50$ off OB tampons
(3) 3.00$ off Garnier
5.00$ ECB
5.99$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .30$
ECB's Earned: 5.00$ for Garnier / 5.00$ for OB

Super Savings Sunday - Super S Edition

2008-09-01T17:36:00.002-05:00

I have only made 1 trip to Super S in the past month or so, the sales have really been crappy to say the least. I hope they start having some decent sales again soon!

Transaction #1:

(1) Toy Soldiers for son - .99$
(12) cans of Veg-All veggies - 10.08$
(8) boxes of Reynold's wrap - 11.04$
(4) boxes of Gogurt - 10.00$

Total Before Coupons - 32.19$

Coupons Used:

(2) .75$ off 2 Gogurts (doubled to 1.50$)
(4) 1.00$ off any 3 Veg-All veggies (doubled to 2.00$)
(10) .75$ off Reynold's wrap (doubled to 1.50$)

Total After Coupons- 7.60$

(Didn't notice the girl didn't ring up 2 of my Reynold's wraps, was trying to figure out why the computer didn't want to take my last 2 coupons.... )

Super Savings Sunday - Albertson's Edition

2008-09-01T17:05:00.006-05:00

Since I haven't posted any of my shopping deals for the past month I am going to post them all now before they get backed up anymore =) Here is all of my Albertson's deals to date.

Transaction #1:

(2) Planter's peanuts - 5.00$
(5) small cans of Libby's veggies - 5.00$
(3) large cans of Libby's veggies - 3.00$
(15) packets of Koolaid - 3.36$
(5) Kraft Singles - 16.45$
(5) pounds of grapes - 5.23$

Total Before Coupons - 38.04$ Coupons Used:

(5) free Kraft Singles WYB Koolaid
(2) 3.00$ off Planters WYB Koolaid
5.00$ off WYB 10 Items (Albertson's Promotion)
Total After Coupons - 10.74$

Transaction #2:

(15) packets of Koolaid - 2.40$
(5) Kraft Singles - 10.00$
(10) bottles of Dove shampoo and conditioner - 25.00$

Total Before Coupons - 37.40$ Coupons Used:

(5) free Kraft Singles WYB Koolaid
(12) 2.00$ off Dove (didn't notice she scanned 2 twice)

Total After Coupons: 3.79$

Transaction #3:

(10) cans of CoolWhip - 20.00$
(1) Crystal Light on the Go - 2.00$
(3) Crystal Light cans - 10.50$
(14) Jet Puffed Marshmellows - 14.00$
(4) boxes of Wheat Thins - 18.36$

Total Before Coupons - 64.86$

Coupons Used:

(10) 1.00$ off CoolWhip
(4) free Crystal Light WYB Kraft
(4) free Wheat Thins WYB Kraft
10.00$ off for Kraft products (Albertson's promotion)

Total After Coupons - 15.36$

Finally!

2008-08-26T21:46:00.003-05:00

Well I am happy to announce tonight that I am finally caught up on pretty much everything I needed to do, and I have only been caught up for about an hour now but I already feel so relieved! I finished cleaning the whole house (except my bathroom, tackling that tonight), I the past 2 weeks worth of coupons clipped and put away in my coupon binder, I finally made it to Walmart for the rest of my All You magazines, and I cleaned off my desk so now I can actually blog!!

I can't believe it's only been 2 weeks since baby came home, it seems like he has been here for so much longer... I just hope time doesn't fly by with this one like it did with my oldest son, he is already almost 6 years old and it seems like just yesterday he was a little baby like my new baby. It makes me sad to see them growing up so fast.

I am, however, happy that he is back in school, I am already loving it! He hates going shopping or leaving the house in general and whines and whines and whines when I used to make he go to Walmart or CVS with me, so atleast now baby and I can shop till we drop!

I am way off budget this month since I spent a lot more than I was planning to, baby needed unexpected stuff and I had to switch to driving the Durango instead of my car and gas in that thing is crazy! I have also spent a lot on school shoes, underwear, socks, etc, etc. The biggest budget buster (well not really, we had it in savings) was my DH upgrading his little 250cc motorcycle to a 14 year newer 750cc, 2003 Honda Shadow which costed us 5000$. He is a great guy and he works hard and gives me all but 40$ of his paychecks every week so I never say anything when he wants to buy something. Besides, it will pay for itself in no time, he only uses about 10$ in gas per week versus the 70$ he was spending in the Durango.

So anyways, it feels good to just sit and blog for a while, and I can't wait for my Super Savings Sunday post this Sunday because I have been taking pictures of all of my deals for the past few weeks, I just haven't been posting them, so I will have lots of pics to share! I have to get back to work at my normal computer job too, I didn't work at all this month so my income is down very low for August, gonna get back into the swing of things and start making some $$ again!

I will be posting a lot more now but it will start off slowly, I am caught up but I am still exhausted and sometimes the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer =) Can't blame me though, holding a baby at the computer totally kills my back.

Yes! There is a baby!

2008-08-16T18:56:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't given you an update yet on the baby. I didn't know I would be this wiped out from the little guy, I seriously thought I would be back to normal in a couple of days. So anyways, he held out and was born on 8-8-08 at 1:45 PM and was a half ounce away from being 8 pounds even. He is such a pretty little guy and such a good baby too, just like his big brother was. I feel extremely lucky that I have been blessed with babies that don't cry or fuss and make life so much easier on me.

We got to come home the next day but I was majorly sore and didn't do anything besides clean a little and cook. I still feel so tired and it is almost 2 weeks later, but I am only getting about 4-5 hours of sleep per night so that's probably why. I can't take naps during the day because my body just won't let me, so until I get used to the lack of sleep I am going to feel like this.

Luckily school starts back in a week and I will have a bit of time to myself (well I will still have the baby) and I can start getting back to work with my blog and everything else. So I just wanted to give the update and I am going to start posting a bit during this week and once school starts back I will get some kind of schedule going.

No Baby Yet, Taking the Week Off

2008-08-04T21:44:00.002-05:00

Just letting everybody know that I am STILL pregnant! Not that that is a bad thing, I am starting to get sad that my last few days of pregnancy is upon me. I was due this previous Friday but my babies just seem to run late so I kinda expected he wouldn't be here. Normally I would just let it go untill he comes on his own, but I choice to be induced this Friday in hopes of having a baby born on 8-8-08! So they set it up at the hospital and now I am just hoping he stays in me a few more days.

So I am taking a break from blogging this week just to relax and enjoy myself, I am not doing any shopping either unless it's a good deal because the heat is killing me. So I will post back hopefully on Friday night when my baby is here =)

Wish me luck on my 8-8-08 baby!

Menu Plan Monday!

2008-07-27T22:46:00.002-05:00

This is my third time of menu planning. All of this week's meals are going to be easy quick stuff because I am due to have this baby on Friday and I am already so tired I just don't feel like cooking for hours.

Monday: Beef Stew

Tuesday: Beef & Bean Chimichangas

Wednesday: Sloppy Joes & French Fries

Thursday: Chicken and Dumplings

Friday: Homemade Pizza & Breadsticks

Saturday & Sunday: Leftovers and whatever hubby cooks

Super Savings Sunday!

2008-07-27T22:10:00.009-05:00

Here is this week's edition of Super Savings Sunday! I have been hitting the Albertson's mega sale hard this week, and hopefully planning on stockpiling some more veggies next week too. I just wish I had coupons for the veggies but .50$ a can isn't bad, especially for the jumbo cans. My baby is due this week so we will see how much shopping I actually feel like doing =)

Walmart:

Transaction #1:

(4) jars of Planters - 8.00$
(10) Powerades - 6.00$
(2) can of GV corn - 1.16$
(1) package of Senseo coffee pods - 4.12$
(12) packages of Koolaid - 2.40$
(1) package of beef stew seasoning - .33$
(1) 3 pack of yeast - .98$
(2) cans of GV cream of chicken soup - 1.64$
(12) boxes of Jello - 6.00$
(1) can of GV sliced carrots - .56$
(1) can of GV green beans - .50$
(4) packages of Kraft cheese - 10.00$

Total Before Coupons - 41.69$

Coupons Used:

(4) free Kraft cheese
(1) .55$ off yeast
(4) 3.00$ off Planters
(1) free Senseo coffee pods
(10) 1.00$ off Powerade

Total After Coupons: 5.02$

Transaction #2:

(3) Tava 4 packs - 5.94$
(1) bottle of Calamine lotion - 1.22$
(12) Huggies CleanTeam wipes - 19.68$
(1) Hotwheels 5 pack - 4.97$
(5) Land o Frost lunchmeats - 9.48$

Total Before Coupons - 43.91$

Coupons Used:

5.00$ off Hotwheels peelie
(6) 3.00$ off 2 Huggies
(3) 1.50$ off Tava

Total After Coupons: 4.56$

Transaction #3

(5) Farmland ham steaks - 8.94$
(10) Weber seasoning mixes - 5.80$
(4) Starkist tuna pouches - 3.36$
(1) GV oysters - 1.08$
(1) GV sardines - .68$
(14) cans of Starkist tuna - 9.52$
(6) Land o Frost lunchmeats - 14.22
(1) GV bread - .78$

Total Before Coupons: 50.34$

Coupons Used:

(10) .50$ off Weber
(5) 2.00$ off Farmland
(2) 1.00$ off 2 Starkist pouches
(7) 1.00$ off 2 Starkist cans
(6) free Land o Frost

Total After Coupons: 11.62$

Albertson's

Transaction #1:

(6) bags of Pictsweet frozen veggies - 6.00$
(2) Daisy sour creams - 2.00$
(4) Suave body washes - 6.00$
(4) French's mustards - 4.00$
(4) cans of Libby's veggies - 4.00$
(1) jar of Planters peanuts - 2.50
(3) South Beach drink mixes - 6.00$

Total Before Coupons: 30.50$

Coupons Used:

(2) Buy 1 Get 1 Free Suave
(2) 1.00$ off 2 Suave
(3) 2.00$ off South Beach
(1) 3.00$ off Planters
(4) .50$ off French's
Albertson's promotion 10.00$ off

Total After Coupons: 3.50$

Transaction #2:

(12) cans of Libby's veggies - 12.00$
(4) French's mustards - 4.00$
(3) South Beach drink mixes - 6.00$
(1) jar of Planter's peanuts - 2.50$

Total Before Coupons: 24.50$

Coupons Used:

(3) 2.00$ off South Beach
(1) 3.00$ off Planters
(4) .30$ off French's
Albertson's promotion 10.00$ off

Total After Coupons: 3.80$

Transaction #3 & #4

(30) cans of Libby's veggies - 30.00$

Total Before Coupons - 30.00$

Coupons Used:

Albertson's Promotion 20.00$ off

Total After Coupons - 10.00$

So that's all the shopping I did this week, not too much but I have been tired and it is way hot here in south Texas. I am up to 46 cans of veggies not including the ones from Walmart, I am thinking about getting 20 or 30 more and that should last me atleast 6 months I think, maybe longer. Really it is a good deal because the Walmart brand are .56$ a can or higher and .06$ is .06$ =)

Super Savings Sunday!

2008-07-20T17:42:00.014-05:00

Welcome to another edition of Super Savings Sunday! There hasn't been too many great deals as of lately so I have basically just been buying what I need for my weekly menus and anything that is free or close to it. So here is how this week went, Monday through Sunday.

Dollar General:

(12) boxes of Electrasol tablets - 30.00$
(1) toy cars for son - 1.00$

Total Before Coupons: 31.33$

Coupons Used:

(12) 2.25$ off Electrasol

Total After Coupons - 4.33$

CVS:

Transaction #1:

(2) Air Wick Mini's - 9.98$
(4) Suave body washes - 7.96$
(2) Neutrogena mascara - 11.98$
(2) Benefiber 36 count - 12.98$
(1) Benefiber powder - 8.99$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(2) 4.00$ off Air Wick Mini
(2) BOGO free Suave
(2) 1.00$ off Neutrogena
(3) 2.00$ off Benefiber
6.00$ ECB
6.98$ ECB
15.91$ ECB

Total After Coupons: .00$ ECB's Earned: 8$ for Neutrogena & 10$ for Benefiber

Transaction #2 & #3

(10) bottles of Herbal Essences - 25.00$
(6) Sure Deodorants - 17.34$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(5) 3.00$ off 2 Herbal Essences
(3) BOGO free Sure deodorant
(3) 1.00$ off Sure deodorant
10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 2.67$
ECB's Earned: 9.00$ for Sure

Transaction #3

(4) Bic Soleil refill cartridges - 27.96$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(4) 4.00$ off Bic Soleil
8.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 1.04$ ECB's Earned: 10.00$ for Bic Soleil

Transaction #4:

(2) bottles of Herbal Essences - 5.00$
(4) Sure deodorants - 11.56$
(1) Bic Soleil razor - 6.99$
(1) Bic Soleil refill cartridge - 6.99$
(1) bag of army men for son - 2.99$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(2) BOGO free Sure deodorant
(2) 1.00$ off Sure
(1) 3.00$ off 2 Herbal Essence
(2) 4.00$ off Bic Soleil
10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - 1.75$ ECB's Earned: 5.00$ for Bic Soleil & 6.00$ for Sure

Walmart:

Transaction #1:

(20) Head & Shoulders trial size - 19.40$
(1) Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Mop - 12.68$
(6) Powerades - 3.60$
(1) Crayola markers - .88$
(6) Rubbermaid containers - 13.32$

Total Before Coupons: 50.91$

Coupons Used:

(10) 3.00$ off 2 Head & Shoulders
(6) 1.00$ off Powerade
(6) 2.00$ off Rubbermaid

Total After Coupons: 2.91$

Transaction #2

(2) Handi-Vac bags - 5.96$
(5) Kotex pantyliners - 5.00$
(5) Huggies travel size wipes - 4.90$
(3) Pert Plus shampoo/conditioner - 8.16$
(3) GV cream of chicken soup - 2.46$
(1) GV cream of mushroom soup - .82$
(1) green chiles - .67$
(1) GV bread - .78$
(2) GV hamburger buns - 2.26$
(5) clearance assorted hardware - .50$

Total Before Coupons: 31.64$ Coupons Used:

(2) 2.00$ off Handi-Vac
(5) 1.00$ off Huggies
(5) 1.00$ off Kotex
(3) 3.00$ off Pert Plus

Total After Coupons: 8.64$

Transaction #3:

(9) Olay body washes - clearanced to 3.00$ each - 27.00$

Total Before Coupons: 27.74$ Coupons Used:

(9) 2.00$ off Olay

Total After Coupons: 9.74$

Albertson's:

(6) Suave body washes - 10.00$

Coupons Used:

(3) BOGO free Suave
(3) 1.00$ off Suave

Total After Coupons: 1.08$

HEB:

(1) package of pepperoni - 2.50$
(3) Hidden Valley ranch dips - 3.57$
(1) HEB chips - 2.00$
(3) Daisy sour cream - 5.07$

Coupons Used:

(3) Buy Daisy get Hidden Valley free
Total After Coupons: 9.57$

Super S:

(1) package of chicken breasts - 3.54$
(1) package of pork ribs - 2.89$

Total (no coupons used): 6.43$

Menu Plan Monday!

2008-07-13T19:17:00.001-05:00

This is the first time I have participated in Menu Plan Monday! I never had any recipes untill I got tons of good recipes from one of the Works for Me Wednesday blog posts so now I can start menu planning! I also started a new budget type thing for myself figuring it will help me stick to my 200$ a month grocery budget. The first Friday of every month I will take 200$ and put it in my purse, and that's my grocery budget! I think it will be better this way versus my old 50$ per week way so that if I need to stock up on something one week I have the extra money for it. We will see how that goes...

So here is my menu for this week:

Monday: Cheesy Tuna Casserole

Tuesday: Tater Tot Casserole w/ Mac & Cheese

Wednesday: Chicken Burritoes

Thursday: Chicken Potato Bake w/ Cheesy Vegetable Medley

Friday: Homemade Pizza Night!

Saturday: Left Overs / Tex Mex Roll Ups

Sunday: Left Overs / Tex Mex Roll Ups

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

That's my menu plan for this week, these are all brand new recipes so let's hope they all taste as good as they sound! Check out what everybody else is doing at Menu Plan Monday!

STOCKPILE PICTURES!!

2008-07-13T14:35:00.017-05:00

I finally got around to taking pictures of most of my stockpile since I have been getting quite a few emails from people wanting to see. Keep in mind I have only been couponing since the last day of March of this year so I don't have a massive stockpile yet. I keep working on it all the time though =)

I have a guest room in my house that we turned into a walk in pantry since I had food coming out of every cabinet and corner of my house, so that's why you will see the cheesy looking white shelves.

(this is my stockpile of hamburger helpers, pastas, side dishes, mac & cheese, cake mixes, cookies, some crackers, and some seasoning packets. Behind every hamburger helper there is an identical box of the same hamburger helper)

( this is my shelf for most of the condiments I have which is not too many at the moment, and a few of sodas I scored from CVS over the past couple of months)

(this is my shelves for all the Vlasic pickles, pasta sauces, marinades, and canned soups/veggies. The marinades are stacked about 7 deep on each row....lol)

(this is the shelves for the rest of my CVS soda stockpile and various juices, Fuze drinks, and wet cat food)

(this is my stockpile of Dr. Peppers and part of the cat food stockpile, I haven't bought extra shelves yet)

(this is the rest of the cat food stockpile and the soda stockpile I scored from Target a couple of weeks ago)

(this is part of the diaper stockpile, the Rubbermaid containers, and the 30 or so Powerades)

(these are the 2 health and beauty shelves that catch the overflow from my bathroom cabinets, not much here yet but you should see under my bathroom sinks!)

(this is the rest of the diaper and wipes stockpile, plus more condiments, refried beans, and tea bags, plus a few other items)

(this is the Handi-Vac bags, Dixie paper plates, and notebooks. Oh yeah, also some chocolates I scored on clearance at CVS a couple of months ago. Also holds the overflow of cereals I have, I have about 30 more boxes in my kitchen cabinets)

(this is the laundry pantry, has all of my laundry detergents, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets. Also has the stockpile of Bush's beans that I couldn't fit anywhere else)

(my humble toilet paper stockpile, 6 additional packages of Angel Soft not pictured here)

(and last but not least, my razor stockpile! Most of these came from Walgreens but some also came from CVS and Albertson's. You can't see them very well but I have about 15 womens Schicks, 15 mens Schicks, about 10 Bic Soleils, and a few Soleil refills)

So there you have it! That's my stockpiles I have accumalated in the past 3 months or so. I didn't take pictures of my baking cabinet in the kitchen or the cabinets under the 2 sinks because they are a mess right now. I have about another 20 bottles of shampoo/condition, a gazillion Schick refills, 60 tubes of toothpaste, baby washes, toilet cleaner kits, more baby wipes, more razors, makeup, nail polishes, and probably a few other things in those places. Maybe that's a task for next weekend?

I love looking at stockpile pics so if you have any leave a comment with the URL of your blog!

Super Savings Sunday!

2008-07-13T13:41:00.010-05:00

Here is this week's grocery shopping trips from Monday to Sunday =) I make multiple trips to the stores a week which is why you see so many different transactions. Also, this week I am going to start menu planning which means I will be buying stuff that I don't have coupons for as well as the sales I find, usually I only bought stuff on sale with coupons but I really want to start menu planning, I like to be organized!!

Walmart:

Transaction 1:

(1) 3.5 lb bag of Purina Cat Food - 5.64$
(1) 16 inch pizza pan - 3.17$
(2) jars of Planters Nuts - 4.00$
(10) packets of Weber Seasonings - 5.80$
(6) packets of Koolaid - 1.20$
(6) 4 roll packs of Angel Soft TP - 6.48$
(1) 13 lb box of GV hamburger patties - 13.98$
(20) Post It Flags - 24.80$
(2) Elmers glue sticks - .50$
(1) scissors - .60$
(2) boxes of crayons - .50$
(1) 1 lb block of mozzarella cheese - 3.88$
(1) Dannon Yogurt - 2.24$
(3) boxes of Barilla pastas - 3.69$
(4) cans of GV Tuna - 2.24$
(2) cans of GV black beans - 1.00$
(2) cans of GV mixed veggies - 1.04$
(1) can of GV cream of chicken soup - .82$
(1) can of GV cream of mushroom soup - .82$

Total Before Coupons - 85.19$

Coupons Used:

(10) 3.00$ off 2 Post Its
(10) .50$ off Weber Seasonings
(6) .50$ off Angel Soft TP
(2) 3.00$ off Planters
(1) Free Purina Cat Food
(1) Free Dannon Yogurt

Total After Coupons: 33.31$

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

Transaction #2:

(4) boxes of Handi-Vac bags - 11.92$
(6) Rubbermaid Take-A-Longs - 13.32$
(4) bottles of Pert Plus shampoo/conditioner - 10.88$
(2) packages of Huggies travel size wipes - 1.96$
(40) 70 count notebooks - 2.00$

Total Before Coupons: 40.58$

Coupons Used:

(4) 2.00$ off Handi-Vac
(6) 2.00$ off Rubbermaid
(2) 1.00$ off Huggies
(4) 3.00$ off Pert Plus

Total After Coupons: 6.58$

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

Transaction #3 & #4:

(1) box of GV saltine crackers - 1.00$
(1) 10 lb roll of hamburger meat - 15.54$
(1) package of GV wide egg noodles - 1.44$
(3) boxes of Handi-Vac bags - 8.94$
(6) pouches of Star Kist tuna - 5.04$
(6) jars of Planters nuts - 12.00$
(1) bottle of Vanilla Extract - 1.98$
(2) packages of Taco Bell seasoning - 1.00$
(3) cans of tomato sauce - 1.20$
(3) cans of tomato paste - 1.05$
(3) cans of GV cream of chicken soup - 1.74$
(1) package of bread flour - 2.44$
(1) jar of Best Maid hamburger slices - 1.68$
(10) packets of Koolaid - 2.00$
(9) boxes of Jello - 4.50$
(1) bottle of GV ketchup - 1.96$
(1) can of Rotel tomatoes - .92$
(2) cans of GV tomato soup - 1.16$
(1) can of GV corn - .58$
(1) bottle of Parmesan cheese - 2.47$
(1) can of GV sliced carrots - .56$
(1) bottle of onion powder - .50$
(2) cans of cheddar cheese soup - 2.48$
(1) can of Ravioli - 1.00$
(1) can of GV chopped black olives - .68$
(1) 2.63 lbs of peaches - 1.97$
(1) package of tater tots - 1.56$
(1) 5lb sack of potatoes - 2.27$
(1) bottle of GV white vinegar - 1.50$
(4) packages of Stay Free pads - 11.36$
(10) packs of Kotex panty liners - 10.00$
(30) 70 count notebooks - 1.50$
(10) travel size Huggies wipes - 9.80$
(6) bottles of Pert Plus - 16.32$

Total Before Coupons: 124.87$

Coupons Used:

(10) 1.00$ off Kotex
(10) 1.00$ off Huggies
(6) 3.00$ off Pert Plus
(2) BOGO free Stay Free pads
(1) 2.00$ off 2 Stay Free pads
(6) 3.00$ off Planters
(1) .25$ off Best Maid
(3) 2.00$ of Handi-Vac
(3) 1.00$ off 2 Star Kist

Total After Coupons: 57.62$

Super S:

(4) jars of Vlasic pickles - 10.00$
(1) tub of Country Crock butter - 2.99$

Total Before Coupons: 12.99$

Coupons Used:

(4) 1.00$ off Vlasic (doubled to 2.00$)
(1) .55$ off Country Crock ( doubled to 1.10$)

Total After Coupons: 3.89$

HEB:

(6) rolls of Farmland sausage - 7.68$
(1) package of HEB hamburger buns - 1.14$
(1) package of pepperoni - 2.50$

Total Before Coupons: 11.32$

Coupons Used:

(6) 1.00$ off Farmland sausage

Total After Coupons: 5.32$

Albertson's:

(4) packages of Ball Park franks - 3.96$
(1) Albertson's french bread - 1.50$

Total Before Coupons: 5.46$

Coupons Used:

(2) 1.00$ off 2 Ball Park franks
(1) free Albertson's french bread

Total After Coupons: 1.96$

Super Savings Sunday!

2008-07-06T18:01:00.012-05:00

I haven't been feeling too energetic lately so my shopping has slacked, I suppose it's because I am getting ready to have this baby! Anyways, here is the last week's shopping trips that I did.

Walmart:

(6) Post It Page Markers - 5.82$
(1) Senseo Coffee Pods - 4.12$
(2) Loaves of GV Bread - 1.56$

Total Before Coupons - 11.98$

Coupons Used:

(3) 3.00$ off 2 Post Its
(1) 1.50$ off Senseo Coffee Pods

Total After Coupons - 1.48$

Target:

(36) 12 packs of assorted sodas - 95.76$
(12) cartons of Dreyers ice cream - 36.00$
(1) toy saw for son - 6.67$

Total Before Coupons - 138.43$

Coupons Used:

(36) 1.00$ off soda (Target Coupon)
(12) Free ice cream with soda purchase

Total After Coupons: 69.89$

Super S:

(13) Wishbone Salad Dressings - 19.50$
(2) Nesquik Chocolate Syrups - 4.00$
(1) Toy gun for son - .99$

Total Before Coupons - 24.57$

Coupons Used:

(13) .75$ off Wishbone (doubled to 1.50$)
(2) .55$ off Nesquik (doubled to 1.10$)

Total After Coupons - 2.87$

Albertson's:

(5) Kraft Mayo - 10.00$
(1) C&H Sugar - .99$

Total Before Coupons - 10.99$

Coupons Used:

(5) 1.00$ off Kraft Mayo

Total After Coupons - 3.99$

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

Transaction #2:

(15) Corn Ears - 4.50$
(3) Bic Soleil Razors - 12.00$

Total Before Coupons - 16.50$

Coupons Used:

(3) 4.00$ off Bic Soleil

Total After Coupons: 4.50$

CVS #1

(2) 12 packs of Mountain Dew - 5.50$
(2) 12 packs of Pepsi - 5.50$
(2) Listerine Smart Rinse - 6.98$
(2) Brut Deoderants - 6.38$

Coupons Used:

(2) .55$ off Brut
(2) 1.00$ off Listerine
4$ off 20$ CVS coupon
6.00$ ECB
10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 1.26$
ECB's Earned: 6.00$ for Brut / 6.98$ for Listerine / 3.00$ for Sodas

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

CVS #2:

(2) Bic Soleil Razors - 13.98$
(2) Bic Soleil Refills - 13.98$

Coupons Used:

(4) 4.00$ off Bic Soleil Razor or Refills
10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 2.12$
ECB's Earned: 10.00$ for Bic Soleil

Walgreens:

(10) packages of Dixie Paper Plates - 37.90$
(4) packages of Dixie Paper Bowls - 15.16$

Total Before Coupons: 55.23$

Coupons Used:

(7) Buy 1 Get 1 Free Walgreens Coupon
(5) 3.00$ off Dixie

Total After Coupons: 7.54$ (also used 4.10$ on gift card)

HEB

(10) cans of Casa Fiesta Refried Beans - 6.80$

Total Before Coupons - 6.80$

Coupons Used:

(5) .55$ off 2

Total After Coupons: 4.05$

Fix Scratched CDs - Works for Me Wednesday

2008-07-02T09:34:00.002-05:00

I just figured out some really awesome this morning and I am going to use it for my Works for Me Wednesday post! My son has a PS2 and when he was a baby he got into our games and scratched them up so bad they won't play anymore. Well, he really wanted to play a certain game last night and it just would not play so he went to bed sad and so did I. This morning I really wanted to fix it for him before he woke up this morning so I started thinking about my huge stockpile of toothpaste and figured it was worth a try!

I grabbed a tube of free toothpaste and slathered it on the cd and buffed it clean, popped it in the PS2 and to my suprise it works perfectly! I am so happy I can't wait till the little boy wakes up and sees he game working!

So if you have any CD games or possibly DVDs (haven't tried it on DVDs) that won't play, try buffing them with toothpaste and see if that helps!

I used white toothpaste that did not have any gritty stuff in it.

This works for me, check here for other Works for Me Wednesday tips!

Monday Redbox Code

2008-06-30T13:21:00.002-05:00

Here is today's Redbox movie code for June 30th, 2008. Too bad I can't get a movie today, we are waiting for the replacement lamp to come in for our big screen =(

W1H6J4

Have fun and remember the code is only good for today!

Self Cleaning Oven - Works for Me Wednesday

2008-06-25T07:13:00.004-05:00

Today's Works for Me Wednesday blog post is about cleaning your oven with the self clean feature. I know not everybody has an oven with a self clean feature but if you do, consider yourself lucky! I have had my new oven for almost 7 months and never even knew what a self clean oven was. Well, I got tired of looking at the yucky mess inside from my husband overfilling pans so I decided to do something about it.

Here is a before picture:

So after looking up self cleaning ovens on the internet and figuring out exactly how it works, I decided to give it a try. And I must say I was actually scared to do this, something about having your oven lock itself and heat up to 900 degrees for 3 hours was not very appealing to me. I did it though, and it was totally worth it. It nuked everything that was inside and all I had to do was wipe everything down with a wet cloth and now it looks brand new again!

Here is an after picture:

I am happy my oven is clean and I am going to keep it clean the old fashion way now, because I am sure using the self clean feature is not very frugal when it comes to the electricity bill.

So self cleaning ovens work for me, wanna see more Works for Me Wednesday tips? Visit here.

Ham & Potato Soup!

2008-06-24T14:34:00.005-05:00

My family absolutely loves this soup! I am making twice as much this time because we didn't even have left overs last time I made it.

Ham & Potato Soup

4 cups of peeled and cut up potatoes
1 cup of diced fully cooked ham
3 1/4 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
5 tablespoons of butter
5 tablespoon of all purpose flour
2 cups of milk
a few crumbs of chicken bouillon

Directions:

1. Combine the potatoes, ham, and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the bouillon, salt, & pepper.

2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork and continue to cook and stir constantly until thick, about a minute or so. Slowly stir in the milk being careful not to let lumps form. Continue stirring over medium heat until thick, anywhere from 4 - 20 minutes.

3. Stir the milk mixture into the large pot and cook soup until heated through.

4. You can add some potato flakes if you would like a thicker soup.

Hooray for Freebies!

2008-06-24T14:21:00.003-05:00

I stumbled across a few freebies today and wanted to let you in on them, everybody loves freebies! I signed up for these and can't wait to get them in the mail!

Take this survey for a free box of Dip'N Sticks if you have tried them recently.

Take this survey for a free sample of Bio Spot Flea Medicine for dogs.

And most importantly, tomorrow, June 25 is Double Coke Points day!! I hope you have been saving your 12 pack codes just for this special occasion. You can only enter 10 codes per day but I have exactly 10 codes to enter. Your 12 pack codes will be worth 20 points instead of 10, tomorrow only! Don't forget about this one! MyCokeRewards.com

Hot Tip Tuesday!!

2008-06-24T14:01:00.006-05:00

Here is the first edition of my Hot Tip Tuesday blog post! Hot Tip Tuesday will be all about nifty and frugal tips that I have found really helps out!

Today's tip is from an email I received from Cherise. I thought this was an absolutely wonderful idea and I actually did it yesterday and I love it already. She told me that she organizes her receipts by using zip lock baggies and a binder, punching holes in the baggies and filing the receipts by month. This worked out so well for me, it is much easier and more efficient than my envelope method.

I used one of my old coupon binders that I quickly outgrew for this task.

I used gallon sized zip lock baggies for my coupons since I have tons and tons of coupons.

And that's it! I think this is one of the most helpful tips I have gotten in a long time, and I love being able to keep up with the coupons I get from my weekly shopping trips because I can easily put them in the appropiate baggy instead of leaving them laying around for a month.

Do you know any helpful tips that you would like to share? Email me with your tip and it could be posted on my Hot Tip Tuesday posts!

Mailbox Monday!

2008-06-24T13:49:00.003-05:00

I am so happy to post my first edition of Mailbox Monday! Yes, this post is a day late too, but they won't be anymore. I spent all day today organizing, cleaning, and playing catchup on everything! So without further ado, here is what I got in the mail all week!

Home Made Simple Coupon Booklet from here.

3 Playtex Baby Bottles from here.

Fandango Visa Gift Card from winning the Dr. Pepper Instant Win Game.

Walgreens Rebate Gift Card

Free Subscriptions to Woman's Day & Country Home Magazine

2 Coupons from Purina for Free Dog Food

Free Xcid Sample from Walmart.com

** Best of all, I got all of this stuff FREE! I love freebies, keep checking back here for more freebie offers! **

Super Savings Sunday!

2008-06-23T11:57:00.009-05:00

This is getting posted a day late because I was busy shopping yesterday! Plus I had to cut out 30-something inserts my mom brought me. So here is my Super Savings Sunday shopping trips!

(I combined all of my stuff from HEB, Super S, & Walmart from my first trip to town in this picture because I was hot and didn't want to seperate everything.)

Walmart:

(17) 32 oz. Powerades - 10.20$
(4) Sweet Baby Ray BBQ Sauces - 5.88$
(1) Box of Barilla Penne Pasta - 1.23$
(1) Box of Barilla Medium Shell Pasta - 1.23$
(1) Package of Shredded Mexican Cheese - 1.88$
(1) 10 lb. Sack of Potatoes - 3.47$
(4) Post It Flags - 3.88$
(1) Loaf of GV Bread - .68$
(2) Adam and Eve Juices - 1.00$
(1) GV Vegetable Cooking Oil - 2.43$
(1) Tub of GV Shortening - 2.72$

Total Before Coupons - 34.71$ Coupons Used:

(2) 3.00$ off 2 Post Its
(17) .75$ off Powerade
(4) 1.00$ off Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
(2) .50$ off Barilla Pasta

Total After Coupons: 10.96$

Super S:

(2) Packages of 20 Count Flour Tortillas - 1.57$

Total (No Coupons) - 1.57$

HEB:

(2) Boxes of Frozen Salisbury Steaks - 3.96$
(1) 3 Musketeers Bar - .50$

Total (No Coupons) - 4.50$

~* Trip to Town #2 *~

Walmart:

(1) 3 Ring Binder - 5.00$
(24) Post It Flags - 23.28$
(1) Jar of Cheese Sauce - 2.37$
(1) GV Ketchup - .74$
(8) Boxes of Blue Bunny Bomb Pops - 12.00$
(6) Bottles of Kens Salad Dressing - 6.42$
(5) Bottles of Vlasic Dill Relish - 5.00$
(4) Packages of Land o' Frost Lunchmeat - 9.48$
(12) Packages of Kool-Aid - 2.40$
(1) Box of Barilla Rotini - 1.23$
(5) Oral B Dental Floss - 4.85$
(4) Packages of Kraft Singles Cheese - 9.48$

Total Before Coupons: 84.70$

Coupons Used:

(12) 3.00$ off 2 Post Its
(8) 1.00$ off Blue Bunny
(6) 1.00$ off Kens Salad Dressing
(5) 1.00$ off any Vlasic
(4) Try it Free Land o' Frost Lunchmeat
(1) .50$ off Barilla Pasta
(5) 1.00$ off Oral B Dental Floss
(4) Free Kraft Singles WYB 3 Products

Total After Coupons: 5.24$

Super S:

(10) Boxes of Reynold's Wrap - 12.90$
(3) Packages of Chicken Breasts - 11.84$

Total Before Coupons - 25.80$

Coupons Used:

(10) .75$ off Reynold's Wrap ( Doubled to 1.29$)

Total After Coupons - 11.84$

Super S #2:

(6) Packages of 20 Count Tortillas - 4.71$
(1) Toy Gun - .99$

Total (No Coupons) - 5.78$

Lots of Fun at CVS!

2008-06-21T11:30:00.007-05:00

I am so glad I went to CVS today. I wasn't going to because I have been exhausted but I did make myself get out this morning and I'm am so happy! They had a bunch of stuff marked to 90% off clearance so I grabbed a lot of stuff plus the couple of deals I went for. I spent more OOP then I wanted to but I only had 12$ in ECB's to work with. I just took a picture with all of the stuff together because I didn't want to seperate it by transactions in the pics, yes I'm lazy!

Transaction #1:

(2) Oral B Cross Action Power Toothbrushes - 11.98$
(1) Hersey's Kissables Candy - .87$ (clearance)
(1) Huggies Baby Wash - 3.49$
(2) Sally Hansen Color Quick Nail Pens - 15.98$

Coupons Used:

4$ off 20$ CVS Welcome Coupon
$1.00 off Huggies Baby Wash
$3.00 off any 2 Sally Hansen Products
$7.49 off Oral B Toothbrush (BOGO Coupon)
$1.99 ECB
$13.98 ECB

Total After Coupons: .93$
ECB's Earned: 6$ for Oral B / 2$ for Huggies / 10$ for Sally Hansen

Transaction #2:

(2) Oral B Cross Action Power Toothbrush - 11.98$
(1) Hersey's Kissables Candy - .87$ (clearanced)
(2) Sally Hansen Color Quick Nail Pens - 15.98$

Coupons Used:

4$ off 20$ CVS Welcome Coupon
5.99$ off Oral B (BOGO Coupon)
3$ off any 2 Sally Hansen
2$ ECB
5$ ECB
4$ ECB
3.79$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 1.14$
ECB's Earned: 6$ for Oral B / 10$ for Sally Hansen

Transaction #3:

(4) Oral B Cross Action Power Toothbrush - 23.96$
(1) Hair Scrunchie - .09$ (clearance)

Coupons Used:

11.98$ off Oral B (BOGO Coupon)
12$ in ECB's

Total After Coupons - .08$
ECB's Earned - 12$ for Oral B

Transaction #4:

(2) Sally Hansen Color Quick Nail Pens - 15.98$
(2) Boxes of 125 Count Playtex Bottle Liners - 1.18$
(4) Packages of Crayola Erasable Crayons - 1.96$
(1) Speedstick Deoderant - .19$
(1) Pack of Scrunchie Head Bands - .49$
(1) Single Scrunchie Hair Tie - .09$
(1) Edge Shave Gel - .17$
(1) Pack of Baby Pacifiers - .69$
(8) Color Books & Kids Reading Books - .80$
(3) Cover Girl Lip Sticks - .87$
(3) Cover Girl Lip Liners - .87$
(1) Cover Girl Outlast Lip Stick - .50$
(2) Cover Girl Lip Slicks - .58$

Coupons Used:

2.00$ off Covergirl Lip Products
12$ in ECB's

Total After Coupons - 11.13$
ECB's Earned: 10$ for Sally Hansen

So I am pretty happy with my shopping trips. I only had 12$ in ECB's to start with so all of the clearance stuff I basically had to pay OOP for and I couldn't find anymore 3$ off Sally Hansen products so I lost 3$ there too. I did, however, get back 10$ in ECB's so really it's like I only spent 1.21$ OOP and 2$ in ECB's for the last 2 transactions.

The way I look at it, I could have split it into 1 more transaction and had 0$ OOP and spent my last 10$ ECB, or next time I go shopping there I will have a 10$ ECB to use and I will save 10$ there. It's all the same thing anyways, right?

Frugal Friday - Cheap Grout Cleaner!

2008-06-20T11:08:00.004-05:00

Today's Frugal Friday tip is one I just learned not too long ago. I have very expensive tile counter tops with grout between the tiles and I can't use any cleaner on the tiles. I can only use soap and water. So this leaves me with the problem of my grout getting dirty and not being able to clean it or get the stains off of it.

I was reorganizing under my bathroom sink one day and I saw a tube (ok well 45 tubes) of whitening toothpaste. The bright idea struck me to use this on my grout lines to see if it would work. So I took a tube of Colgate Whitening toothpaste and smeared it on my grout and let it sit about 20 minutes. Then I took one of my many free toothbrushes and brush my grout and then I wiped everything down with a rag and hot water and soap.

The verdict? It worked pretty good! It didn't get out some of the stains I was hoping it would, like the coffee or kool-aid stains. I'm starting to think those are going to permanent forever. Anyways, it did overall whiten my grout and made it look all pretty and clean!

This is a great way to use some of that free toothpaste and toothbrushes so many of us have!

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops

2008-06-19T09:49:00.002-05:00

This is a super easy recipe for those of you who have a day or two where you don't want to be on your feet cooking dinner for 3 hours. Today is definitely one of those days for me, my feet are swollen and I am already tired.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Chops

8 Pork Chops
BBQ Sauce

Directions:

Pour a little BBQ sauce on the bottom of the crockpot then put as many pork chops side by side as you can on the bottom of the crockpot. Pour more BBQ sauce over those pork chops so that they are fully covered in BBQ sauce. Keep layering pork chops and BBQ sauce untill you use all of the pork chops. Cook all day on low or 3-4 hours on high.

Notes:

How many pork chops you need depends on your family size. 8 pork chops is way too many for us, I pulled out a bag of pork chops I had frozen in April and it had 5 in it so that's how many I used. I also used 2 bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (the smaller bottles) and I almost have enough BBQ in the crockpot to completely cover the pork chops.

I Need Help From You!!

2008-06-18T20:02:00.003-05:00

I was just sitting here reading a blog about getting 15% extra from your stimulus check if you put it on a United Supermarkets gift card. Well I can't do that because none of the stores around here offer any kind of incentive, and I have never seen a United Supermarkets in my life.

So as I was reading this a thought popped into my head. I thought, what if I bought some gift cards to the stores I normally grocery shop at, so that way when my husband gave me my weekly "grocery allowance" I could put that money in the bank instead. I was thinking I could put 50$ on a CVS gift card and maybe 100$ on a Walmart gift card, etc etc.

Then after I was so excited thinking this is such a great idea, another thought popped into my head. Wouldn't putting it on gift cards be basically the same thing as just depositing it into my bank account? I mean, realistically, if I put 300$ on gift cards and didn't spend anything OOP, I would still technically be spending OOP. Plus the money I would be able to put into savings each week from being able to spend my gift cards would be the same thing as just putting the initial money into savings and not getting gift cards....

Catch my drift? So I am asking you, what do you think of this idea? Has anybody ever did this and found it to help in anyway? I was thinking it would help me save some money but in all reality I would be saving the same as any other time. It still seems kinda neat though I guess, what do you think?

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2008-06-18T15:54:00.004-05:00

Here is another recipe that my family really likes! I made this last night and it turned out pretty good, although I like stuff really spicy so next time I make it I am going to up the spices. If you like it spicy you might want to do the same.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 cans of chicken broth
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans (rinsed well)
1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic or garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder (I used a lot more than this and think it needed more)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
tortilla chips
1 cup of Mexican blend shredded cheese

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the chicken in the oil for 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, chili powder, and lemon juice. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Break up the tortilla chips and sprinkle over individual bowls of soup, also sprinkle cheese on the soup bowls as well

Notes:

I found that simmering over medium-low heat for about an hour made the flavors blend together so much better. I also used a lot of chili powder because I thought it was a bit bland. I posted the original directions though, because I know not everybody is a Texan.... LOL.... Seriously though, I know some people don't like spicy food and if you don't the original version will be perfect. Spicy lovers: You can also add 1 cup of salsa for extra spice!

Works for Me Wednesday

2008-06-18T09:38:00.003-05:00

I am going to start trying to post a "Works for Me Wednesday" post every Wednesday with something I do around the house or elsewhere that works for me! I am excited about this because I recently found a love for trying new things, especially money saving frugal things! I used to be a person that didn't care about money spent, spent plenty of it, was very wasteful, and very disorganized! Also not to make myself look worse or anything.... lol.... I was an awful housekeeper! I never cleaned house because I was too busy with my stay at home job, I also never cooked, did laundry, or anything besides "work".

I am glad those days are over and I must say, if they had an "Extreme Life Choices Makeover" show I would definitely be the #1 star! I am proud to say that in just a short 2 months or so, I transformed into a regular little Susy Homemaker! It just makes one feel so much better to be eco-friendly, cook good meals for so cheap, and have a spotless house all the time! Yes I have given up my stay at home job for the most part, I still do a few hours a week and still bring a decent little income, but for the most part I am have become more involved with being a good mother versus being a good worker. I wish I could balance the 2 of them better but I am finding it hard right now. I am constantly tired and once I finish the housework and cooking I find it hard to get motivated to do any real work. Plus my son is out for the summer and it's hard to do anything with him around, work wise. Once he goes back to school and my new baby is born I am planning on returning to my job and putting at least 20-30 hours a week back in and bumping that income back up.

Anyways, enough rambling already! Here is my Works for Me Wednesday!

Hang drying laundry!! Today I am trying this for the first time ever. I have been fortunate enough to have a washer and dryer for the past 4 or so years and it is just so easy to throw wet clothes into the dryer and turn it on. I am not sure how much electricity this is actually going to save, or how much money off my light bill but I sure hope it's more than noticeable. I am one of those people that throw the laundry into the dryer, turn it on on the hottest setting then forget about the clothes and when I get around to hanging them I turn the dryer back on to get the wrinkles out. So I go off to do something else and forget about the laundry again for another 3 hours, then I turn the dryer on again to get the wrinkles out.... again.... and usually wind up forgetting them again.

Needless to say, I read somewhere that the electric dryer can be one of the most energy consuming appliances in a home next to the hot water heater and refrigerator. My light bill has been dropping the past couple of months since summer is in full swing here in Texas and the AC cost considerable less to run than electric heaters. Last month my bill was 135$. I haven't gotten my bill yet this month but I am hoping for at least a 10$ drop from that. I am going to note when my cycle runs and note that today I started line drying my clothes, and when I get the next months bill I am going to compare and see how much I really saved.

I know nothing about this so I am hoping to drop at least 20-30$ off my light bill but my estimate could be totally off, like I said I don't have any idea how much it will save. If my light bill only goes down like 5$ a month, I will probably wind up just drying my laundry in the dryer again because it is very time consuming to line dry, plus I have to constantly guard my clothes from my dogs who are at this very moment jumping in the air trying to grab my husbands jeans to play tug of war with. As much as I hate to say it, if this doesn't save a good chunk of money I will regretfully be going back to the old ways. Hopefully this will work for me.

How Do I Get So Many Coupons?

2008-06-16T16:22:00.009-05:00

I am asked all the time how I get so many coupons that I get my deals with. I know people are curious because a lot of them would like to do the same thing so they can get lots of multiples of items like I do. So this is how it all started:

I started out my couponing by buying 3-4 copies of the Sunday paper. I would get 4 coupon inserts so I would have 4 multiple coupons of the same coupon. Once I started running into killer deals in the stores and I only had 4 coupons, I wanted to be able to get more than 4 items! I figured 4 Sunday papers were just not enough.

So then I started buying 8 Sunday papers at a time. This really helped with my coupon deals because being able to get 8 sale items versus 4 really helped me out... ( My family of 4 eats A LOT! LOL) So I did the 8 papers a week thing for a while.

Then I told my mom about couponing and finally got her interested, then she told me one day that she could get me lots of coupons. I figured she was talking about like a handful or something like that. So one Monday she brought me the coupons she was talking about and to my suprise, she had a stack of about 20 FULL coupon inserts from the previous Sunday's paper! I was like, YAY jackpot!

Every since then, every Sunday my mom scores me atleast 15 coupon inserts of SmartSource, RedPlum, and P&G... whichever inserts happen to be in the paper that weekend. So I have however many she gets me, plus the 6-8 I buy for myself. I have been cutting back on the amount I buy for myself since my mom has consistently been getting me atleast 15 inserts a week.

Next, if there is a super good coupon that I know will save me a lot of money, or if I see something in a sales ad on the first day the ad starts and I know I can get an incredible deal on it with a coupon, I will order lots of them on Ebay. For example, the 36 bags of cat food I wrote about in my last post, all of those coupons were ordered off of Ebay. The main reason for this was because those coupons came out the Sunday before I started couponing so I didn't have any. Even if my mom would have gotten me that particular insert with the cat food coupons in it, I still would have ordered more off of Ebay because it was too good of a deal to pass up.

The price you will pay for coupons on Ebay really varies, if it is a popular coupon then you can expect to pay 2$ - 10$ for a set of 20 coupons. (Note: I would never pay 10$ for the coupons but I have seen auctions this high before.) A lot of times I luck out and find the coupons I want for 1$ for the auction and 1$ for the shipping or even less than that. Example, the 40 boxes of Bagel-Fuls I got from Super S, I ordered all 40 coupons from Ebay for about 4$ shipping included, it seemed like those were not very popular coupons.

So that's it folks, that's how I get so many coupons! I know everybody doesn't have the ability to get 15 or more coupon inserts a week, but I have seen many people have lots of luck asking family and friends for theirs if they don't use them. Also, you can check your local coffee shops, a lot of people read the paper and leave it behind, coupons and all! Another thing to note, some cities have 2 for 1 Sunday papers where you can get 2 papers for the price of 1, my city doesn't do this but if yours does I would definitely snatch up 4 or so.

It seems like the rule of thumb about coupons is, you get as many newspapers as you have members of your family. If you have 4 family members, you get 4 Sunday papers. This seems to work for a lot of people. The golden rule about stockpiling food and other items is that you stockpile enough of one item to last your family 12 weeks. The reason for this is that everything goes on sale in 12 week cycles. It may not be the exact same brand or style, but you can pretty much guarantee that peanut butter will go on sale every 12 weeks, or hot dogs, or tin foil, or anything else. The whole point of the 12 week rule is to never pay full price for anything again!

So it really depends on how much food your family goes through to tell how many coupons you need to stockpile a particular item for 12 weeks. I like to go crazy and stockpile a particular item to last my family a year or more (if it doesn't expire quickly). This is just my style, I know some people don't have the space to do this. I am very lucky in the fact that I have a 3 bedroom house and my third bedroom has been turned into my huge walk-in food pantry!

I hope I explained everything you were curious about! If not, leave a comment and I will answer any other questions you may have.

Stay tuned for pictures of my stockpile coming up some time this week!

Super Savings Sunday!

2008-06-15T22:36:00.008-05:00

Here is another Super Savings Sunday!! I stockpiled on a few things I use a lot and didn't get a whole lot in the way of groceries. Lately it seems like the grocery stores are really lacking in the deals, I hardly want to get out and actually go shopping anymore. Even CVS has been a let down lately, although I am still managing to snag a few good deals here and there. Here's to hoping that this is just a phase and the sales will start kicking butt again soon!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about how I get so many coupons and pictures from last weekend's coupons! Here are my Super Savings Sundays shopping trips!

Super S:

(8) boxes of Trix cereal - 16.00$
(4) boxes of Cocoa Puffs cereal - 8.00$
(1) toy for my son - .99$
(1) French's mustard - .99$
(5) packages of chicken breasts - 18.30$

Total Before Coupons - 44.28$

Coupons Used:

(5) 1.00$ off 2 GM cereals - 5.00$ doubled to 10.00$
(1) .30$ off French's mustard - .30$ doubled to .60$

Total After Coupons - 25.76$

(After looking at my receipt it looks like the cashier didn't ring up 4 boxes of my cereal, I was wondering why my total seemed lower than it should be, and that would explain why the register didn't want to accept my last coupon and he had to push the one before that through)

HEB:

(25) packages of Farmland Bacon - 62.50$
(5) 1 lb. pouches of Purina Healthful Life Cat Food - 9.95$

Total Before Coupons - 72.45$

Coupons Used:

(25) 2.00$ off Farmland Bacon - 50.00$
(5) Free 1 lb pouch of Purina Healthful Life Cat Food - 9.95$

Total After Coupons - 13.27$

Walmart:

(13) 3 lb bags of Good Life Cat Food - 49.66$
(13) 2.7 lb bags of Good Life Cat Food - 49.66$

Total Before Coupons - 101.51$

Coupons Used:

(26) 3.00$ off any size Good Life Cat Food - 78.00$

Total After Coupons: 23.51$

( I ordered all of these coupons on Ebay because they came out in the newspaper before I started couponing, and once I saw I could get 3 lbs of cat food for .82$ I just had to have some! I got them right in time before they expired, they actually expired today and I managed to get all the cat food just in time, luckily my Walmart restocked after the first time I bought them out)

So after last week's 10 bags of this cat food plus today's 26 bags, I have 36 bags of cat food. I have 104 pounds total cat food. So roughly if my math is right, I paid about .31$ a pound for my cat food, yay! This is good cat food too, you can't beat it for .31$ a pound. I priced the cheapest cat food Walmart had and it was 8$ for an 18 pound bad, which means it would have costed me 48$ or .46$ a pound for that stuff.

CVS:

Transaction #1:

(3) 12 packs of Cherry Coke - 8.25$
(2) Garnier Face Scrubs - 11.98$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
2.00$ ECB
6.00$ ECB
6.98$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 2.44$

Earned 3.00$ & 10.00$ ECB's

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

Transaction #2

(1) Huggies Baby Wash - 3.49$
(2) Garnier Face Scrubs - 11.98$
(4) bags of Skittles - 2.00$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
1.00$ off Huggies
10$ ECB
3$ ECB

Total After Coupons: .51$

Earned 10.00$ ECB and 2.00$ ECB

All in all in was a pretty good day. I went slightly over my grocery budget again but I justified it because I won't have to buy cat food again for hopefully atleast 6 months or more. I am also fully stocked on bacon and cereal, no more cereal unless it's totally free!!

So how did you do on groceries this week? Leave a comment!

Subscribe to My Blog

2008-06-14T20:36:00.002-05:00

Just letting everybody know that you can subscribe to my blog via the link to the left of this post =) If you subscribe, you can read all of my new updates in the reader of your choice, or have them delivered email! So why not? Just click on the subscribe link over to the left....

Stay tuned for lots of great posts later tonight, I am resting up at the moment because my neck and head are killing me. I am about to post the deals I got today and yesterday plus some other fun stuff.

Walgreens 5$ off 20$ on 6/13

2008-06-12T18:39:00.002-05:00

Walgreens has come out with another coupon good for tomorrow only. You can get a 5$ off 20$ purchase by going here. I am usually a big fan of these coupons but since my Walgreens staff are so crappy and the new exclusion on the coupon which reads "must have 20$ total AFTER all coupons and discounts", I will be sitting this one out.

This is still a good deal if you are one of the folks that likes to buy the free after rebate items and such, but I never get into all that health stuff so I am going to pass =)

Good luck for everybody who tries to use it!

Win a Free Movie Ticket!!

2008-06-12T12:54:00.002-05:00

I forgot to post about my experience with the Dr. Pepper instant win game. I have been playing the instant win game everyday for the past few days because when you lose it let's you print 2 coupons for 1$ off 2* 12 packs or 2 liters. So I never thought I would win, I just wanted the coupons.

Well to my great suprise I was routinely adding a code to play the instant win game and the screen refreshed to say I won!! I won a free movie ticket! Although I don't have any theaters around here that participate in online movie ticket ordering, they had an option to have a 12.75$ prepaid Visa card sent to me! I haven't received it yet but that is going to be pretty cool. If I can use the whole 12.75$ at the movie theater, I will be able to buy 2 tickets because our adult tickets are only 5$ or so.

YAY! I love free stuff!

You can play the instant win game too, I heard you can also win 5$ Kroger gift cards.

Go here, http://www.drpeppermoretoexplore.com/

Once you have an account go to the instant play page, and at the bottom of the page you will see a link that says "need a code?". Enter your email address to be sent a free code that you can use to play, good luck!

Free Pepsi Codes!

2008-06-12T12:51:00.003-05:00

I found this website today where you can win free Pepsi Stuff points!! I am not a big fan of Pepsi stuff because each 12 pack I buy is only worth 2 points, and a Coke 12 pack is worth 10 points. However, for free codes I'm all for it! You play the recycling game which is 5 questions and you get 4 points, plus if you take the recycling pledge you get 2 more points! That's the equivalent of buying 3* 12 packs, hooray!

Check it out at http://www.pepsirecycling.com

Desperately Needs Cleaning

2008-06-11T23:42:00.013-05:00

This post is going to be about the mess I call my desk and how I *finally* organized it today! I always keep the rest of my house spotless, I find joy in keeping a spic and span house. So most of my day revolves around constantly being up cleaning and cleaning some more. When I am not cleaning I am usually found on the couch sleeping away, whoever said you gain lots of energy in your third trimester was full of it!

One part of my house that always get neglected is my desk, I'm not sure why since this is where most of my money saving strategies come into play at, but that's just one of the mysteries of life. So without further ado, here is my mess!

My desk before cleaning:

Here is my receipt drawer and the other drawers in my desk:

And here is my massive pile of receipts from April and May.... I estimate about 300 receipts or possibly more:

I cannot stand living with a mess, it frustrates me to no end! My messes only get this bad and stay this way for no longer than a week before I finally get around to it. Although like I said, this is the only part of the house (well ok, besides my sons room) that ever looks like this. My new goal of the month is to keep this area clean!! After about an hour of cleaning and organizing, this is how everything looks now!

My desk after extreme cleaning:

My receipts after being sorted by month:

My receipt drawer newly organized:

My battery drawer newly organized:

Ok so that's it. My desk is totally cleaned and organized, I can actually find everything I need now, and I don't have tons of receipts exploding out of my drawer! I really have to keep on top of that desk area and especially those receipts! I do love being clean and organized though, it feels so good to know that everything is perfect and in it's place.

I'm not sure why you would want to see all of that mess but I was bored and thought it would make a cute blog post so it is what it is =) Hope everybody has a good night, I'm off to bed!

Farmland Bacon at HEB!

2008-06-11T13:23:00.003-05:00

I heard through the grapevine that Farmland Bacon is going back on sale today at HEB for 2/5.00$. If this is true, which I haven't made it to the store yet, then you can use the 2$ off coupons from last weekend's paper to get .50$ bacon!! Hooray for bacon!!

I still have about 25 packages of it from last month but I have about another 20 something coupons so I will be stocking up some more, now I just have to make the freezer room for it! I can't imagine having 50 packages of bacon in my freezer, that is so crazy!

On the plus side, this bacon is sooooo good. I buy the thick sliced and it's quite possibly the best bacon I have ever ate. My whole little family loves it and we have been eating a package every weekend. Anyways, if you have an HEB around and find out if this is on sale today, leave a comment and let me know!

Today's Menu

2008-06-10T08:54:00.005-05:00

I am going to start posting the dinners I cook every night since lately I have been cooking a lot and using a lot of new recipes. We'll see how this goes and if anybody enjoys it, if not it will probably be discontinued. I used to hate cooking with a passion, but every since I started getting food so cheap and being hungry ALL the time from being pregnant, I am actually starting to like it! And suprisingly, almost everything I make turns out really awesome.

My favorite things to cook are deserts and pies and such, but I haven't been making too many of them lately. I haven't found any sales on many pie baking items so I am going to hold off untill I find them on sale, I am SO cheap!

So here is tonight's dinner. Simple yet tasty, and very little work because today is one of those days where I don't want to cook since I am re-organizing my cupboards and closets.

Hearty Beef Stew:

2 cans of sliced carrots
2 cans of green beans
2 cans of new sliced potatoes (or slice about 4 medium potatoes)
1 packet of Mc Cormick Slow Cookers Savory Pot Roast Seasoning
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of stew meat

Directions:

Pour vegetables and meat into a large crockpot. Mix the seasoning packet as the directions say on the back and pour into crockpot. Make sure to add enough water to just barely cover everything in the crockpot otherwise the stuff on top won't cook. Mix everything up and put the lid on! Cook on low for 8 or so hours, or you can cook on high for a faster cook time!

Notes: If you don't have the seasoning packet handy, you can use a can of beef broth or a beef bouillon cube and you will get basically the same flavors. Once the meat and everything cooks together it produces a lot of it's own flavors.

Also, I have a fairly big crock pot, not sure on how many quarts but it's big. So when I make this stew we always have enough left overs for 2-3 days and this is with my DH and I both eating numerous bowls per day so this recipe makes a lot of servings. If you don't need that many servings just use 1 can of everything and perhaps a bit less meat and it will turn out great!

Let me know if you try this recipe and like it!

PS: I am also making a loaf of home made white bread to go with this meal. I am using the bread maker so I guess it isn't truly home made, but close enough for my family =)

Estimated cost of this meal - 6$

Free Movie Rental!

2008-06-09T20:18:00.003-05:00

Well it's Monday again and that means it's movie night!! Every Monday I treat my family to a totally free movie rental from the RedBox Movie Machine that you commonly find outside of Mc Donalds, inside Walmart, and a bunch of other locations.

Today's FREE movie code is 6TK2A3

This code expires tonight at midnight, so if you are going to get a rental be sure to do it soon!

312$ Worth of Groceries for 79$!

2008-06-09T14:27:00.009-05:00

I went shopping today armed with a fistful of coupons and I got some great deals! I really love coupons, can't you tell? I can't believe I ever paid full price for anything. The crazy thing is, I used to go to Walmart and spend atleast 140$ every week and that would last us about 4-5 days, usually not even that long because I bought a bunch of junk that I thought I needed. So on top of that, we would resort to eating fast food atleast 4 times a week. I am a much better shopper now I must say. Anyways, here are my steals and deals for this week!

WalMart #1:

(1) GV Mayo - 2.12$
(1) 5th Seasons Ground Black Pepper - 1.00$
(1) 5th Seasons Ground Cinnamon - .50$
(1) Good Life Cat Food - 3.82$
(2) Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal - 3.96$
(3) Farmland Diced Ham Cubes - 7.50$
(4) 2 Liter Bottles of Dr. Pepper - 4.00$
(2) KY Jelly - 5.14$
(1) Kotex Panty Liner - 1.00$
(2) Kashi Cereals - 4.48$
(1) Box of Bar S Corndogs - 3.97$

Total Before Coupons - 37.72$

Coupons Used:

(2) 3.00$ off Ky Jelly
(1) 1.00$ off Kotex
(3) 2.00$ off Farmland Ham
(1) 3.00$ off Good Life Cat Food
(2) 2.00$ off Honey Bunches of Oats
(2) 2.00$ off Kashi Cereal
(2) 1.00$ off Dr Pepper

Total After Coupons - 11.72$

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

WalMart #2

(1) 50 lb Sack of Ol' Roy Dog Food - 18.28$
(16) Post Its - 15.52$
(7) Farmland Diced Ham Cubes - 17.50$
(8) 32 oz. Powerades - 7.04$
(1) GV Cooking Spray - 1.50$
(2) Johnson's Buddies Soaps - 1.88$
(1) Oatmeal Dog Shampoo - 3.86$
(1) Senseo Medium Roast Coffee Pods - 4.12$
(1) Kraft Tarter Sauce - 1.28$
(4) Pioneer Brown Gravy Mix - 2.00$
(1) GV Bread - .68$
(10) 3lb Sacks of Good Life Cat Food - 38.20$

Total Before Coupons - 115.72$

Coupons Used:

(8) 3.00$ off 2 Post Its - 24.00$
(8) .75$ off Powerade - 6.00$
(7) 2.00$ off Farmland Ham - 14.00$
(2) 1.00$ off Johnson's Buddies - 2.00$
(10) 3.00$ off Good Life Cat Food - 30.00$

Total After Coupons - 39.72$

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

I wasn't too impressed with WalMart #2's totals but then again I did get a lot of stuff that I did not have coupons for. I had to get Dh's coffee pods and dog shampoo and ofcourse the dog food which is so expensive. So all in all I didn't do too bad.

Super S #1:

(12) Deli Creations Flat Bread Sandwiches - 30.00$
(2) Nestle Pure Life 12 Pack Waters - 5.98$

Total Before Coupons - 35.98$

Coupons Used:

(12) 1.00$ off Deli Creations (doubled to 2.00$ each)
(2) 1.00$ off Nestle Pure Life (doubled to 2.00$ each)

Total After Coupons - 7.81$

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

Super S #2:

(14) 2 Liter Bottles of Dr. Pepper - 17.50$
(20) Boxes of Kraft Bagel-Fuls - 40.00$
(1) Toy Gun for my Son - .99$

Total Before Coupons - 58.86$

Coupons Used:

(20) 1.00$ off Kraft Bagel-Fuls (doubled to 2.00$ each)
(7) 1.00$ off Dr. Pepper (doubled to 2.00$ each)

Total After Coupons - 4.86$

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

YAY! I love my Super S!!

HEB:

(8) Tubes of Farmland Sausage - 9.44$

Total Before Coupons - 9.44$

Coupons Used:

(8) 1.00$ off Farmland Sausage - 8.00$

Total After Coupons - 1.44$

Albertsons:

(2) Libby's Jumbo Can of Green Beans - 2.00$
(2) Dozen of Albertsons Eggs - 2.00$
(1) Package of Stew Meat - 7.80$

Total (No Coupons Used) - 11.80$

I really don't like shopping at Albertsons because I always feel like I am getting ripped off, I think I am going to stop my Albertsons shopping from now on, unless they are just having a killer deal which is highly unlikely.

CVS:

Transaction #1:

(3) Packs of Duracell Batteries - 8.97$
(2) Huggies Shea Butter Lotion - 3.50$
(1) Huggies Baby Wash - 3.49$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(3) .75$ off Duracell
(3) 1.00$ off Huggies
(1) 6.98$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .79$

Earned 2.00$ ECB's

---------

Transaction #2

(4) Chex Mix Chocolate Turtle Flavor - 4.00$
(4) Packs of Duracell Batteries - 11.96$
(1) CVS Bandages - 1.99$
(1) Halls Cough Drops - .60$

Coupons Used:

3$ off 15$
(4) .75$ off Duracell
(4) 1.00$ off Chex
(1) 2.00$ ECB
(1) 4.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .25$

Earned 1.99$ & 10.00$ ECB's

Dollar General:

(7) Boxes of Band Aids - 7.00$
(1) Tub of Cotton Candy - 1.00$

Total Before Coupons - 8.00$

Coupons Used:

(7) 1.00$ off Band Aids

Total After Coupons - 1.00$

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

Ok that's all of my trips! Whew I am tired from writing all of that down, now I have to go log my receipts in my notebook and get ready to hit Walgreens and CVS tonight.... not even sure if I will have the energy for it or not!

My CVS Scenarios for 6/8 to 6/14

2008-06-08T10:53:00.003-05:00

I just love shopping at CVS! I have already done a lot of the monthly deals this week is not too terribly exciting for me so I am just going to have a couple of transactions and hope that next week is a lot more fun!

Scenario #1

(2) 12 packs of Coke - 5.50$
(1) Oral B 2 Pack Toothbrushes - 6.99$
(1) Listerine Smart Rinse - 3.49$

Total Before Coupons - 15.98$

3$ off 15$
1$ off Listerine

Total After Coupons - 11.98$

Earn 6.99$ ECB and 3.49$ for a total of 10.48$ ECB's

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

Scenario #2

(2) 12 packs of Coke - 5.50$
(4) Fab Laundry Detergents - 7.96$
(1) Listerine Smart Rinse - 3.49$

Total Before Coupons - 16.95$

3$ off 15$
1.00$ off Listerine
2.00$ off Fab

Total After Coupons - 10.95$

Earn 3.00$ & 3.49$ ECB for a total of 6.49$ ECB's

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

Scenario #3

Huggies Baby Wash - 3.49$
Oral B 2 Pack - 6.99$
2 Fab Laundry Detergents - 3.98$
Filler - 1.00$

Total Before Coupons - 15.46$

3$ off 15$
1.00$ off Huggies
1.00$ off Fab

Total After Coupons - 10.46$

ECB's Earned - 2.00$ & 6.99$ for a total of 8.99$

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

So this week is not that great and I am going to be losing a little OOP and some ECB's. However, I need to stockpile more laundry soap since the 18 bottles I have doesn't feel like enough, and I am on this soda stockpile thing right now too. I have about 20 - 12 packs of Coke/Pepsi and we only drink about 2 a day with dinner so our stockpile should last us a long time!

I feel like a mother animal hoarding food for her baby.... LOL! Only about 8 weeks to go!

My Grocery Spending Totals! WOW!

2008-06-07T21:16:00.010-05:00

Ok so I keep a spiral notebook with me at all times to write down exactly what I spend everyday. This includes all grocery stores, Walmart, gas, convenient stores, and anywhere else I spend my money. Today I made a cool spreadsheet to keep track of my weekly spending in 2 different categories: grocery spending & everything else. I also keep all of my receipts and at the end of the month I go through and add up all of the manufacturers coupons I redeemed while shopping. Don't ask me why I do all of this work, I really don't know why, I guess I am just one of those obsessive compulsive people.

I am suppose to have a budget for myself which is 50$ a week, period, for grocery spending and everything else. I also have a 25$ a week gas budget. I have no problem following the gas budget, in fact 25$ has gotten my car 1 week and 5 days this week and I have to fill it up tomorrow. However, I don't seem to be doing very well on my grocery budget, I attribute some of this to the fact that I am still in the "stockpiling" phase and I am spending a bit more now so I won't be spending anything later. During May I also had a lot of expenses that I wasn't counting on, such as spending money finishing our privacy fence and what not.

So anyways, here is the break down:

May Total Spending:

Grocery Spending: $399.04 (yikes!)

May Everything Else Spending: 377.65$
(this includes a 54$ baby crib mattress, a 62$ pantry, fence materials, gas, and the occasional fast food stop)

Total Spending for May: 776.69$

Total Savings in May: 1917.69$

Manufacturers Coupons Redeemed: 922.92$

I must say I am really disappointed with myself... I am suppose to be sticking to a 50$ a week budget, plus 25$ a week in gas, which would be 300$ a month. I am over budget 476.69$ for May. There is light at the end of the tunnel though, hopefully by the time baby gets here in August I will be fully stockpiled and I will be sticking to my budget.

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

Here are my April Totals:

Grocery Spending: $317.71

Everything Else Spending: I wasn't writing down the everything else spending until May 1st so I don't have the data for this.

April Total Savings: 953.90$

Manufacturers Coupons Redeemed: 472.75$

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

Here are my March Totals:

I started couponing and everything on 3-30-08 exactly, so my data and receipts only go back this far, so here is the total for the 1 day of March that I was an official couponer.

Grocery Spending: $155.08

March Total Savings: 244.41$

Manufacturers Coupons Redeemed: 84.80$

I really went crazy during those 2 days...lol! As I remember, I got 30 boxes of Hamburger Helper and a bunch of fruit snacks and cereal at Albertson's during the sale. AND I only had internet printed coupons at that time.

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

Ok so that is all of my totals since I started couponing on 3-30-08. I can't believe I have spent so much still, but then again just seeing all of the health and beauty items and food that I have makes up for it. Besides that, I never kept track of my spending before this, but my DH would give me 200$ a week and I would spend every dime of it the next day and have nothing to show for it. I also have a small income of my own and I would spend atleast 200$ a week of my money too! So I know pre-coupon days I spent at the very least 300$ a week on junk so I guess my spending it down a little bit and hopefully it will be going down more.

Are any of you as obsessed about totals like I am? I feel like a freak!, I would feel better if I knew more people like me are out there!

CVS & Walgreens!

2008-06-01T22:07:00.008-05:00

Since the 5$ off 15$ coupon was expiring today I decided to do all of the deals I needed to do, plus some of the monthly CVS deals. I really loved this coupon and wish it wasn't expiring =( Anyways, these are my CVS deals since yesterday and my Walgreens deal from Friday!

Walgreens:

3 Schick Titanium Trimmers - 35.97$
5 Schick Titanium Razors - 47.45$
1 Schick Quattro Razor - 9.49$
1 Bic Soleil Razor - 4.99$
1 Bic Soleil Razor Refills - 4.99$

Total Before Coupons: 111.38$

Coupons Used:

(9) 3.00$ May Easy Saver Schick Titanium Coupons - 27.00$
(9) 4.00$ June Easy Saver Schick Titanium Coupons - 36.00$
(1) Buy Bic Soleil Get Free Razor Refills - 4.99$
(8) 4.00$ off Schick Titanium Razors - 32.00$
10$ off 30$ Friday Only Walgreens Coupon

Total After Coupons - .97$

Total Savings - 95.99$

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

CVS:

Transaction #1

(2) Pampers Jumbo Pack - 15.98$

Coupons Used:

(1) 2.00$ off any 2 Pampers
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon

Total After Coupons: 9.72$

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

Transaction #2

(2) Pampers Jumbo Pack - 15.98$
(1) Huggies Supreme Refill Wipes - 3.15$ (clearaned from 8.99$)

Coupons Used:

(1) 1.00$ off Huggies Wipes
(1) 2.00$ off any 2 Pampers
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 5.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 6.72$
ECB's Earned: 5.00$

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

Transaction #3

(5) 4 Pack AA Duracell Batteries - 14.95$
(1) Bounty Paper Towel 8 Pack - 5.99$
(1) CVS Band Aids - 1.99$

Coupons Used:

(1) .25 off any Bounty
(5) .75 off any Duracell
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 1.99$ ECB
(1) 3.49$ ECB
(1) 8$ ECB

Total After Coupons - .45$
ECB's Earned: 11.99$ - 10$ for Duracell / 1.99$ for CVS Band Aids

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

Transaction #4

(2) Dawn Dish Soap - 2.00$
(7) Pampers Wipes - 20.93$

Coupons Used:

(3) 2.00$ off any Pampers
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 10.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: .00$
ECB's Earned: 5$ for Pampers

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

Transaction #5

(1) Oral B Cross Action 2 Pack Toothbrushes - 13.98$
(1) CVS Band Aid - 1.99$

Coupons Used:

(2) .75 off Oral B Cross Action
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 1.99$ ECB
(1) 6.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 1.48$
ECB's Earned: 13.98$ for Oral B / 1.99$ for CVS Band Aids

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

Transaction #6

(2) Dawn Dish Soaps - 2.00$
(1) Gilette Fusion Razor - 9.99$
(1) Listerine Smart Rinse - 3.49$
(1) CVS Band Aids - 1.99$

Coupons Used:

(2) .50$ off any Dawn
(1) 1.00$ off Listerine Smart Rinse
(1) 4.00$ Gilette Fusion
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 2.00$ ECB
(1) 3.79$ ECB

Total After Coupons: .68$
ECB's Earned: 1.00$ Dawn / 5.00$ Gilette / 3.49$ Listerine / 1.99$ Band Aids

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

Transaction #7

(2) Brut Deoderants - 6.38$
(4) Huggies Baby Wash - 13.96$

Coupons Used:

(2) 1.00$ off Brut
(4) 1.00$ off Huggies
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 1.00$ ECB
(1) 9.98$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 1.85$
ECB's Earned: 6.00$ for Brut / 8.00$ for Huggies

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

Transation #8

(2) Pampers Jumbo Packs - 15.98$
(1) Huggies Supreme Refill Wipes - 3.15$ (clearanced from 8.99$)

Coupons Used:

(1) 1.00$ off Huggies Wipes
(1) 2.00$ off any 2 Pampers

Total After Coupons: 7.74$

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

Transaction #9

(8) Dawn Dish Soaps - 8.00$
(2) Listerine Smart Rinse - 6.98$
(2) CVS Band Aids - 3.98$
(3) Packs of Gum - .80$ (clearanced)
(1) Jolly Rancher Lolly Pops - .70$ (clearanced)
(2) Jolly Ranchers Fruit Chewies - 1.10$ (clearanced)
(4) 4 Push Pops - .80$ (clearanced)

Coupons Used:

(6) .25$ off any Dawn
(2) .50$ off any Dawn
(2) 1.00$ off Listerine
(1) 5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 3.00$ ECB

Total After Coupons: 9.93$
ECB's Earned: 4$ for Dawn / 6.98$ for Listerine / 3.98$ for CVS Band Aids

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

Total OOP: 38.47$

Total Savings: 186.88$

Yikes that's high... I didn't have any ECB's on my card so I had to pay full OOP for a couple of transactions which is why it's so high. I now have about 42$ in ECB's so I won't have that evil OOP anymore =)

2 Days of Shopping Trips!

2008-05-27T18:59:00.009-05:00

I always keep an eye out on my favorite forums for tips from other couponers about deals at my local stores because I love getting those great deals! Here are all of my shopping trips from the past 2 days! I am so exhausted from all of the shopping in the hot weather down here, I am hoping for a break untill this weekend!

Wal-Mart:

1 pair of beach sandals - 2.44$
6 boxes of Lipton Tea - 9.00$
14 Johnson's Buddies Soap - 13.16$
9 Meow Mix Market Select Cat Foot Cups - 4.14$
1 jar of Best Maid Hamburger Pickles - 1.68$
1 jar of Vlasic Dill Relish - 1.08$
1 jar of Vlasic Hamburger Pickles - 1.78$
3 jars of Vlasic Original Dill Pickles - 5.34$
7 boxes of Snuggle Dryer Sheets - 13.09$
4 bottles of Spring Water Gallons - 2.96$
28 Post It Flag Page Markers - 27.16$
2 All You Magazines - 3.54$

Total Before Coupons - 88.07

Coupons Used:

(4) .60$ off Lipton Tea
(14) 1.00$ off Johnson's product
(9) Free Meow Mix Market Select Cup
(5) 1.00$ off any Vlasic Pickles or Relish
(7) 1.00$ off Snuggle Dryer Sheets
(14) 3$ off 2 Post It Products

Total After Coupons: 12.33$

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

HEB:

9 Sally Hansen Nail Polishes - 17.91$
10 La Cross Nail Boards - 10.90$
7 La Cross Nail Clippers - 12.53$
4 Packages of Picante Flavor Ramon Noodles - .28$
4 Packages of Lime Shrimp Ramon Noodles - .28$
2 packages of Heritage Sliced Cheese - 1.98$
5 bottles of Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover - 8.95$
1 tub of HEB Sour Cream - .88$
1 Package of Bluebird Powered Doughnuts - 2.89$
1 Package of Mission Tostada Shells - 2.25$
2 boxes of HEB Cream Cheese - 1.98$
1 bottle of Armour Dried Beef - 1.42$
1 box of Bread Flour - 2.59$
2 Packages of Red Star Yeast - 1.78$

Total Before Coupons - 67.31$

Coupons Used:

(26) 2.00$ any Sally Hansen Nail Product or La Cross Implements - 52.00$
(5) Buy Sally Hansen Nail Product get Free Sally Hansen Polish Remover - 8.95$

Total After Coupons - 6.36$

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

CVS:

(10) 12 packs of Pepsi - 24.00$
(2) Adidas Deoderants - 9.98$
(2) Russel Stover Box Chocolates - 4.00$ (clearanced)
(2) Whitman's Box Chocolates - 3.50$ (clearanced)
(7) Ragu Pasta Sauces - 10.50$
(6) Revlon Nail Polish - 25.14$
(6) CVS Allergy Medicine - 22.74$
(1) pack of Bubblegum - .60$
(4) bottles of Mountain Dew - 3.18$
(1) box of Lipton Tea - 3.00$
(1) package of Bounty Paper Towels - 4.99$
(2) case of CVS brand 24 pack drinking water - 7.98$
(3) Colgate 360 Toothbrushes - 11.97$
(2) bottle of Tide Laundry Soap - 11.98$
(2) bottles of AquaFresh Toothpaste - 5.98$
(1) pack of Bubble Gum - .60$

Total Before Coupons - 146.35$

Total After Coupons - 21.33$

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

Forgive me for not posting my CVS deals in detail this time, this was about 7 transactions and I am not feeling too well, so I just merged everything together and I can't remember which coupons were which. Next time I will do better, I promise!

CVS and Walgreens!!

2008-05-23T15:36:00.004-05:00

I had 30$ in RR's from Walgreens expiring today and I wanted to take an advantage of the 5$ off 20$ coupon that was good for today only, so I beat the 100 degree Texas heat to go shopping! Crazy huh? I usually only go out at night during the summer here but the sales were calling me! So here is what I snagged today, and I must say, YAY!!! No more Walgreens untill the next huge sale!

Walgreens:

6 bottles of Purex Laundry Soap - 5.99$ each
4 bottles of Suavitel Fabric Softener - 2.79$ each
3 bottles of drinking water - .99$ each
1 box of 100 count Ultra Tuf trashbags - 9.99$
3 boxes of 30 count Ultra Tuf trashbags - 3 for 10$
5 boxes of Royal Gelatin - 5 for 1$
1 bag of hamburger buns - 1.69$
1 toy gun for my son - 1.99$

Total before coupons - 76.38$

Coupons Used:

Buy 1 Get 1 Free Purex Walgreens Special - 17.97$
Buy 1 Get 1 Free Suavitel Walgreens Special - 5.58$
(6) .50$ off Purex coupons
(4) 1.00$ off Suavitel coupons
(3) 10$ Register Rewards

Total After Coupons: 9.97$
Total Savings - 66.41$

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

CVS:

Transaction #1:

(2) 12 packs of Coke - 6.00$
(1) Garnier Shampoo - 2.99$
(1) Almay Intense Mascara - 7.49$

Coupons Used:

(1) 1.00$ off Garnier
(1) 1.00$ off Almay
5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
8.98$ in ECB's

Total After Coupons: .00$
ECB's Earned: 6$ ( 1$ for Garnier / 5$ for Almay )

-----------

Transaction #2

(1) 12 pack of Coke - 3.00$
(1) Oral B Toothbrush - 1.99$
(2) packs of bubble gum - 1.00$
(2) bottles of Purex - 5.99$ (Buy 1 Get 1 Free)

Coupons Used:

(2) .50$ off Purex
(1) 1.00$ off Oral B
5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
5$ in ECB's

Total After Coupons: .00$
ECB's Earned - 1.00$

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

Transaction #3

(1) 12 pack of Coke - 3.00$
(1) Almay Intense Mascara - 7.49$
(2) bottles of Purex

Coupons Used:

(2) .50$ off Purex
(1) 1.00$ off Almay
5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
7.98$ in ECB's

Total After Coupons - 1.08$
ECB's Earned - 8$ ( 3$ for Coke / 5$ for Almay )

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

Transaction #4

(1) 8 pack rolls of Scott Paper Towels - 4.99$
(1) Garnier Conditioner - 2.99$
(4) Oral B Toothbrushes - 7.96$

Coupons Used:

(4) 1.00$ off Oral B
(1) 1.00$ off Scott Paper Towels
5$ off 15$ CVS coupon
5.94$ in ECB's

Total After Coupons - .00$
ECB's Earned - 5$ ( 4$ for Oral B / 1$ for Garnier )

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

So all in all I am really happy with my shopping trips today. For roughly 10$ OOP and 7.90$ in ECB's I got all of the stuff above and was able to spend my 30$ in RR's that expired today. I didn't do as good at CVS as I thought I would because the Almay was more expensive at my store than the forum peoples stores, and I forgot to use 1.00$ coupon so I lost out on 2$ overall.

I spent 27.90$ in ECB's and earned 20$ back which brings my total ECB's to 16$.

Shopping Sunday!

2008-05-19T08:26:00.009-05:00

I went to 5 stores today and did all of my shopping for this week. I usually run to the stores about 4 times during the week but I am *so* tired of the gas prices and since I make myself stick to a strict 25$ per week gas budget I am starting to cut it close. Anyways, so I won't be leaving the house all this week unless there is a killer sale on something and I just absolutely have to! So here is what I got:

Walmart:

(2) Live Active Cereals - $2.84 each
(1) Pioneer Gravy Box - clearance to 3.00$
(1) Box of Electrasol Dishwasher Detergent - 2.76$
(6) 4 packs of Pillsbury biscuits - clearanced to 1.27$
(1) package of cheese crackers - clearanced to 1.00$
(16) cans of Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes - 1.14$ each
(2) Huggies Cleanteam Wipes - 1.64$ each
(1) 2 pack of clear tape - clearanced to .50$
(6) 10 packs of Schick disposable razors - 1.97$ each
(3) bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce - 1.47$ each

Total: 60.16$ before coupons

Coupons used:

(16) 1.00$ off Muir Glen Tomatoes
(2) 3.00$ Live Active Cereal
(2) 1.00$ off Huggies CleanTeam Product
(3) 1.00$ off any Sweet Baby Ray's
(6) 2.00$ off any Schick Disposable Razor

Total: 21.16$ after coupons!

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

HEB:

(4) Meow Mix Market Select Cup Cat Food - .47$ each
(6) boxes of Pasta Roni - .99$ each
(2) boxes of Stove Top Stuffing - 1.45$ each
(3) boxes of Reynolds Handi Seal Bags - 2.85$ each
(1) tub of Country Crock butter - 1.99$
(2) cups of Easy Mac - .89$ each
(2) packages of Butterball turkey Bacon - .99$ each
(7) packages of Farmland Thick Cut Bacon - 2.50$ each
(1) bag of Goodlife Catfood - 3.49$

Total: 46.70$ before coupons

Coupons used:

(3) 1.00$ off 2 Pasta Roni (HEB coupon)
(3) .55$ off any Reynolds Handi Vac Product
(2) 1.00$ off Butterball Turkey Bacon
(4) Free Meow Mix Market Select Cups
(7) 2.00$ off Farmland Bacon
(1) Buy 2 Get 1 Free Reynolds Handi Vac bags (HEB coupon)
(2) Buy Easy Mac get Free Stuffing (HEB coupon)

Total: 15.98$ after coupons!

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

Albertson's

(1) Hunt's Ketchup - 1.00$
(2) Ragu Pasta Sauce - .99$ each
(1) Albertson's dozen eggs - 1.00$
(1) Albertson's Hotdog Buns - 1.00$
(2) Cacique Chorizo - 1.00$ each
(1) Albertson's french bread - 1.00$

Total: 14.03$ before coupons and great deal savings

Coupons used:

(2) .25$ off Ragu Pasta Sauce

Total: 7.48$ after coupons and great deal savings

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

CVS:

(1) 8 pack roll of Scott Paper Towels - 4.99$
(5) 12 packs of Coke - 2.75$

Total: 33.60$ before coupons

Coupons used:

(1) 3$ off 15$ CVS coupon
(1) 1.00$ scott paper towels
(1) Buy 4 Cokes Get 1 Free (CVS coupon)
(1) 10.00$ ECB

Total: 2.15$ after coupons!

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

Walgreens:

(5) 12 packs of Pepsi - Buy 4 Get 1 Free
(1) 100 count Tuf Trashbags - 9.99$
(1) Wooden Jewelery box - clearanced to 2.99$
(2) bags of M&M's - .69$ each

Total: 40.02$ before coupons

Coupons used:

(2) 10$ RR's

Total: 2.55$ after coupons!

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

So that does it for all of my shopping this week.... although I might run to Super S and see if I can get more of the .50$ lunch meat I got last week with my double coupons, plus today is our movie night with the free Redbox Movie code so that gives me a good reason to go!

In all of these trips I spent 49.32$ and I did awesome! I try to abide by a 50$ a week grocery budget and I just barely made it! Ofcourse after the lunch meat I will probably be 2$ over budget but that's ok!

I also have to buy materials and Lowes and Home Depot to finish our fence, and a small lunch at Taco Bell, so I also spent 46.28$ on that stuff and hopefully I won't have to spend any more money besides my groceries from now on!

Walgreens, CVS, Super S, & HEB

2008-05-14T13:58:00.004-05:00

So I did some shopping today and yesterday and today I just found out that a local grocery store here, Super S, doubles coupons upt o 1.00$!! Woohoo!! I never knew this and it's so cool getting double coupons, I have always been so jealous of everybody else that gets doubles. Now if only Albertsons and HEB would start it would be so nice! So anyways, here are the totals between the 3 stores:

Super S:

I got:

(2) large size Kraft Salad Dressing
(1) A1 Steak Sauce
(1) Bad of Salad
(2) Cans of Veg All Mixed Veggies
(2) boxes of Eggos
(1) bottle of Frenchs Mustard
(4) Banquet Pot Pies
(1) Store Brand Syrup
(1) 5 lb bag of potatoes
(2) Land O' Frost Sandwich Meats

Coupons:

(1) .75$ Kraft Coupon doubled to 1.50$
(1) 1.00$ A1 coupon doubled to 2.00$
(1) .50$ French's Mustard coupon doubled to .99$
(2) 1.00$ Land o Frost coupons doubled to 4.00$
(2) .20$ Veg All coupons doubled to .80$
(2) .55$ Eggo coupons doubled to 2.20$

So my total before coupons was 26.33$ and after was 14.84$! I saved 11.49$ with my coupons, not too bad for a first time doubler! None of that stuff was on sale either, I was just dieing to try double coupons though so I bought that stuff for shelf price :-O

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

HEB:

I also bought a few things here with no coupons because I was making banana nut bread and needed a few things for it. No pictures because I don't want to dig everything back out of the freezer and I already used most of it... lol!

1 Fishers Walnuts
1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust
1 Imperial Sugar
1 All Purpose Flour
4.15 lbs of Bananas
12 Packages of 1 lb Farmland Bacon

Coupons:

(12) 2.00$ coupons for Farmland Bacon

Total:

37.90$ before coupons - 13.90$ after coupons

I got all of the baking stuff yesterday for 7.90$ and all of the bacon today for 6$!! Can't beat .50$ bacon, woot!

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

Walgreens:

I have been trying hard to use up my RR's for Walgreens and stuff I will eventually need that I usually don't have coupons for and that is pretty expensive. Plus I have been treated so badly at Walgreens during the last week, once I use all of my RR's I probably won't be going back untill the next killer deal rolls around. Some of the stuff I got is not pictured in this picture because it has already been put up and I don't want to dig it back out.

(4) 1 gallon bottles of water
(5) packages Pampers diapers
(2) boxes of trashbags
(1) package chocolate doughnuts
(2) boxes of envelopes
(1) Hello Kitty coloring book
(8) Red Baron Pizzas
(2) loafs of bread

Total:

5.73$ after RR's and coupons

Savings:

99.92$

I didn't use really any coupons besides (5) 2.00$ off Pampers coupons and my (5) 10$ RR's. I still have 53$ in RR's to redeem!

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

CVS:

Last but not least the wonderful CVS! No pictures for this one being I only got 2 things and was too lazy to whip out the camera.

2 Hawaiian Tropic Sunscreens - found (2) 2.00$ off peelies on the bottles

Total before coupons:

18.18$

Total After Coupons:

Paid with a 10$ ECB and paid 1.18$ OOP and got back 10$ ECB!!

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Ok I am exhausted from typing all of that up... seems like I have been slacking lately in saving money, I was doing much better a few weeks ago. I guess I have been buying a few things that are not on sale the past couple of weeks and that's why. I am getting back into my old impulse buying ways again, I must get therapy!! I don't think I did too terribly bad though, I got everything above for 35.65$. I am not too impressed with myself, but considering before I would have spent over 100$ at Walmart for the same amount of food and products I am pretty happy. Anyways, time to clean house, talk soon!

My CVS Deals 5/11

2008-05-11T07:09:00.004-05:00

Ok so I went to CVS last night for the deal on the Venus Embrace but the sweet checker told me they were honoring 5/11-5/18 ad that night! YES! So I went ahead and got the stuff I was going to get today so I could save a trip to the store. So this is what I got:

5 - 12 packs of Coke
1 Venus Embrace
5 Colgate Total Advanced
1 Schick Intuition
3 Aquafresh Extreme Clean

I used:

(1) 4$ coupon on Embrace
(4) 1$ coupons on Colgate
(1) 1.50$ coupon on Colgate
(3) 1$ coupons on Aquafresh
(1) 4$ coupon on Schick
3/15$ CVS coupon

34.35$ in ECB's
1.05$ OOP

Received: 29.97$ in ECB's (but actually only got 21$ because 8.97$ didn't print so they gave me 8.97$ back in cash!)

ECB's Left: 33.98$

Rocking Walgreens All Week Long!!

2008-05-10T13:15:00.011-05:00

Hello folks! I have been couponing for a little over a month now and I wanted to be more organized on all of this, so starting in May I started keeping a log book of every single dollar I spend at every store I go to, and now I wanted to do something so I could remember just what I got for the little bit of money I spent! So here it goes!!

Started this week shopping at Walgreens bright and early at 12:30AM Sunday morning. Since then I have done about 20-30 transactions at 2 different stores and I have kept track of it as well as I could. So here are pics of all of the stuff I have gotten.

(( Click on the images to make them bigger ))

Ok so the breakdown is as follows....

39 Crest Pro Health Toothpastes
6 Venus Embrace Razors
27 Covergirl Boundless Nail Polish
6 Covergirl Pencil Sharpeners
10 Covergirl Brow/Eye Pencils
10 Covergirl Wet Slicks
5 Covergirl Eyeshadows
3 Chapsticks
1 Covergirl Lipstick
1 Covergirl Blush
1 Covergirl TruBlend Mineral Blush
1 Covergirl TruBlend Mineral Powder
1 Covergirl TruBlend Pressed Powder
4 Covergirl Foundations
4 Covergirl Makeup Sponges
5 Covergirl Powder Puffs
2 Mini Color Pens for my Purse
1 Charmin Wipes
14 Packs of Charmin Toilet Paper
1 Pack Quilted Northern Toilet Paper
4 Packs of Huggies Diapers
6 Packages of Oreo Cookies
2 Packs of Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 Color Books
4 Schick Titanium Razors
4 Schick Titanium Trimmers
4 Schick Quattro for Women
1 Schick Intuition for Women
9 Schick Titanium Razor Refill Catridges
4 Packs of Venus Disposable Razors

And here is the money totals:

Total OOP spent: 56.99$
Total $ Saved: 705.00$
Total RR's Earned: 392$ approx (kinda lost track over the week)
RR's left to Redeem: 123$

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I also hit up CVS last night thinking I could get a good deal on the Revlon makeup spend 20$ get 10$ ECB's back, but I didn't do as good as I thought I would.

Used 14.97$ in ECB's
1.29$ OOP spent
10$ ECB's back

The only reason I did this deal since I have plenty of makeup is because all of my ECB's are expiring on 5-31-08 and I needed to roll some so I had them to use for the June deals on the 1st. I currently have 48$ in ECB's to roll.

So all in all it has been a good week for me, especially at Walgreens and I really never shop there because I don't like the rebate system, and after I spend these RR's I probably won't be shopping there again untill another awesome deal comes around. I am going to spend the rest of my RR's on diapers and possibly Electrasol tablets if they are not totally overpriced. I am glad today is the last day of the sales there because I am so tired of having the urge to go back.

Thanks for reading about my deals!

A Little About Me!

2008-05-10T13:08:00.004-05:00

Welcome to my blog everybody! This is a small post about me. I started couponing on 3-30-08 because I got tired of how much money I was spending weekly on the stuff we needed, plus I was an impulse spender and could easily spend 200$ a week on nothing, and have nothing to show for it. I am pregnant and my second baby is due on 08-01-08 so I really wanted to start saving more money and become a better mom!

So I started googling the keyword coupons and other coupon related stuff a few days before 3-30-08 and I came across the site thegrocerygame.com - I started reading the message boards and once I started seeing so many women saving 60-90% on their groceries so easily, I was hooked! I signed up for my 4 week trial and could hardly wait till Sunday came around so I could go shopping.

Well it started off kinda slow but my first couple of shopping trips I easily saved 40% or better, and now, a little over a month later, I am saving 60-70% at grocery stores and 90% or better at the drug stores! If you are just starting out and looking for a good place to start learning to coupon and saving tons of money, check out thegrocerygame.com ! If you sign up, I would appreciate you using me as a referral, my username is kkeller2002@yahoo.com (this is not my current email address)

So anyways, that's how it has all started. Now that I save so much money and get so much stuff free, I always find myself kicking myself for throwing so much money down the drain the past few years. I keep telling myself there is nothing you can do to change the past and to be happy I am starting now... but just thinking of the $1000's of dollars I could have saved makes me a little sick.

So this is a blog dedicated to all the money I save and probably other things too as I get further into it. I hope you will stop back in and check out my steals and deals a lot!