Quick Trips

Sometimes living close to LA has its perks. Like a huge "local" newspaper. A huge local paper that has a weekend edition...that has the same coupons as their Sunday paper.

So no matter what happens, you will always find me at the store on Saturdays.

Harmony was thrilled to see her favorite Doctor on the cover!

I had some Rite Aid rewards that were expiring and so I decided to make a quick trip. My husband said, "yeah right, there is no way any of your trips are QUICK." lol

First stop: Rite Aid
6 Gatorades ( I wanted to get the Fiji waters since they were bigger but they were out)
8 packages (2 in each) of Soft Lips chapstick
1 large glue stick

Guess how much I paid? $4.64! Plus I earned $11 in rewards. Thank you, thank you. No applause please.

Next stop was Vons. For papers of course.

However, while I was there I completely forgot about the try me free offers on certain General Mills/Betty Crocker products. All free after rebate.

I decided to grab those. While I was there I also noticed...Red Baron pizzas on sale for 3/$10, with a coupon aaaaand they had codes for a free movie ticket to Iron Man 3.

Vons is also having their frozen foods promotion...which Red Baron was a part of...So if I was going to spend $10 on pizza and $4.99 for the Totinos pizza rolls (part of the free after rebate promotion). I was already looking at 1/2 of what I needed to get a $10 catalina back.

In the end my quick trip, turned into a little more than that. I paid $64 for a whopping savings of 35%. I was bummed at first and then...DUH! Half of the items I bought I get back free after rebate. That of course doesn't show up on the reciept. Or the free movie tickets. Or the free sodas for buying the pizza rolls. Or the movie ticket I earned for buying Ballpark products. Or the extra box tops. Or the Stouffers rewards points. Or...

I consider that an NRV. What is an NRV you ask? Well, a lot of people who are losing weight, are encouraged to celebrate their NSV's...Non Scale Victories. So...NRV would be a Non Receipt Victory! I made that up myself, what do you think?!

Got breakfast?

Milk is a good thing. Its got vitamins, calcium...

We also go through it like it was...well milk.

I normally buy 4 gallons at a time, at about $2.99 (or more) a pop.

Since I can't keep a cow in my backyard, I always try to take advantage of free milk deals.

Right now, my Ralphs is having a Buy 4 items (from a huge list) and get a free gallon of milk.

I always try to find the cheapest item I can, that qualifies, use a coupon to get it lower.

I went in today and got:

6 Quaker Perfect Portions (used 6 coupons for .55/1)
2 Kelloggs Cinnamon Jacks (used 2 .50/1 coupons)
3 cartons of 18 ct eggs (on sale for $2.50 each)
2 gallons of milk (free)
1 pkg of discounted Choc. chip mini muffins

It is times like these, when I realize just how much I miss double coupons. I could have doubled all of those coupons up to a $1. Oh well. In the end I paid a little over $27.

I think I am covered for breakfast for awhile!

Albertsons good deal alert

This is a quickie post to tell you about an awesome deal at Albertsons.

Fresh Express salads are on sale for .99.

There are coupons good for .55/1 making them only .44 a bag!

Right now, Lean Cuisine Salad Additions are on sale 2/$6.

Or Tyson Fresh & Ready chicken strips/ steak strips are on sale 2/$5.

Or you can go even cheaper and get the tuna that is on sale for .50 each.

Any of these would make a yummy, healthy and CHEAP lunch. What more can you ask for?

***The salad sale is only good from Thursday-Sunday, limit of 2 salads per day***

Got sunscreen?

I have verrrry fair skin.

I burn easily.

I have what I call a "perma-burn" from getting sun burnt so many times while living on Guam.

When I burn, I burn fast.

Sunscreen is this girls best friend.

After a trip to Rite Aid, I think I am now stocked up for summer!

Here's the deal...

Banana Boat is on sale Buy One Get One Free. For every two that you buy, you get a $5 register reward back. Add in coupons from yesterdays paper and...you have some free sunscreen.

There was a limit of 4 offers, and as much as I wanted to "roll" this deal, there were hardly any BB left on the shelves. So I grabbed it while the getting was good.

I paid $44.03 for 8 cans of Banana Boat sunscreen (these are regularly priced between $9.99-$11.99 each). I also grabbed 2 pkgs of Sixlets (on sale 2/$3 and get $1 in RR back) and 2 pkgs of fun sized peanut butter M&Ms that were on clearance for .74 each.

And then I recieved...$21 back! So really I got all that for $23.xx (or the cost of 2 of those sunscreens!)

Woot, woot!

Good deal alert!

Do you have a little one that you are filling an Easter basket for? Right now you can score a nice deal on the newest Veggie Tales movie!

My kids (even the older ones!) love Veggie Tales. I love them because they always have a good message.

Right now, there new movie, " The Little House that Stood" is on sale at Vons for $9.99.The latest issue of All You magazine has a coupon good for $4 off!

You can find the coupon in this issue towards the end!

 

$9.99 -4.00=
$5.99!!

That isn't all though...

On the cover of the movie is a coupon for a free box of Capri Sun Super V's. Not bad for $5.99! Throw one of those juice boxes in an Easter basket as well!

Mason couldn't wait for Easter! He laughed his way through it!

What do you normally put in Easter baskets? Do you go all out or just keep it simple?

Staples good deal alert

***I am not a deal blogger. I am really not. But I have so many people ask for help that I have found myself doing it a little bit more often. So here is a deal others might be interested in...

**In order to get your Staples Rewards, you have to have the Staples card. It is free, just like any other store card. When something qualifies for "Staples Rewards" that money goes directly back to your Staples card. That way you can use that money IN THE STORE, for anything (like printer ink!!). If something is offered as "free after manufacturers rebate", that means you will get it as a check in the mail, that you deposit into your bank account.**

Staples is having a Presidents Day sale, and it has some nice little freebies to go with it. This is what I am doing...

In the ad, there is a coupon for a free pair of earbuds, when you purchase $25 or more. We go through ear buds like...water in our house, so this is a good freebie for me.

Here is my break down of how I am going to get there...

**A 5 ream case of paper is $4.99 after Staples rewards. You can do this twice. So you will pay almost $50 out of pocket. But you will get...

1 pair of ear buds
10 reams of paper(or you can just do 1)
and $40 back in Staples rewards. Staples Rewards can be used for anything in store!

But there are also a few other hot deals, you can get to get up to $25,
** 1 pkg of Bic-Matic mechanical pencils= pay $4.29 out of pocket (free after mail in rebate)
**2 pkgs of Staples photo paper= $14.99 each or $29.98 out of pocket
This will get you above the $25 so you can get the free earbuds as well!

Lysol disinfecting wipes are $3.99 each but you will get 100% back in Staples rewards. There is a limit of 3, so it would look like this...

3.99x3= $11.97 out of pocket and then you will get it all back in Staples rewards! Nice.

Lots of awesome deals! If you have any questions just ask!

Superbowl Sunday

One day while wandering down the aisles of the commissary with my 6th child coupon binder, I was stopped by a cute elderly couple.

The husband, " Look at all those coupons! Boy are you ready to shop! Honey, look at this!"
The wife comes over and says, "I am impressed. How do you find the time to do that?"

So I told her my secret...".I LOVE my husband. My husband LOVES sports. I am not a fan. I want to spend time with my husband. My husband wants to spend time with me. My husband wants to watch sports. Soooo, he watches sports (and I try very hard not to complain) and I clip coupons. It is a win/win. We are both doing what we want aaaand spending time together."

She winked at me and said, "you are a smart girl. And I am not just talking about the coupons." Awww, I love sweet comments from random strangers.

So why is this non-sports fan looking forward to Superbowl? Because of the deals of course!!

I got my ads yesterday and there are so many good sales!

Yesterday I printed off coupons good for .50/1 (2Liter) of Diet Pepsi. Score one for me. There are coupons & deals out for my hubbys favorite pizzas! Score another point for me.

Of course, lets not forget the deals and coupons for:
**chips & salsa
**nuts
**frozen appetizers
**crackers
**chips
**dips
**condiments

Also there are a plethora of fun recipes!

While I am not even exactly sure who is playing, I know who is going to score the most! Time to get my coupon on!!

good deal alert

Once again, for the record, I am not a deal blogger. However I did want to share this awesome deal with everyone. So here we go...

Most grocery stores are really trying to encourage you to use digital coupons. So they offer a lot of great deals.

Right now, at Ralphs (and other Kroger affiliate stores) you can download a coupon for a FREE 8-10 ct. box of Carnation Instant Breakfast. If you do not have an account with them, you simply fill in your rewards card number and other info. Click on coupons and load coupons to your card. Easy shmeezy.

Here is the thing...THIS COUPON CAN ONLY BE DOWNLOADED TODAY JAN. 18TH!!!

The coupon doesn't expire until February, but it has to be downloaded today.

Now if you have the Ibotta app, you can also turn this into a MONEYMAKER!! Who doesn't want free money?!

Right now, one of the offers on Ibotta is to get .75 back on your purchase.

Here is the run down:

Go to Ralphs.com (or Kroger, Fred Meyer, Smiths etc.)
If you haven't registered your card, do that.
Add the coupon for a free box of Carnation Instant Breakfast.
Pay $0.00 at the check out
Take a picture of your reciept, upload it to Ibotta, and make .75!

My kids love to have this breakfast using Instant Breakfast or Ovaltine.

Weekly Wrap Up

On Monday evening, I ran around using coupons that expired that night. I had some seriously amazingly awesome deals. Here is a round up of what I got....

1st stop---> Albertsons

Campbells Skillet sauces were on sale 2/$4. For every two that you bought, you got a catalina back for a $1 off.

I bought 8 pkgs @ $2 each = $16.00
Minus 8 coupons for .75/1 = $6.00
Made my out of pocket (oop) $10.00
Earning $4 in rewards

Quaker products were on sale for $1.88 when you bought 5.

To be honest, I had a huge variety of coupons for Quaker products. I ended up with 6 boxes of granola bars, 3 boxes of soft baked banana bars and 8 boxes of Cap'n Crunch (my absolute favorite!)

After all was said and done, my total out of pocket at Albertsons was...$33.20 for a savings of 62%

2nd stop---> Vons

Some of the things that I wanted were not there, but I got...
3 Yakisobas
4 Sun Rype fruit strips
7 boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks
4 Dole Smoothie shakers
deli lunch meat on sale for 50% off
4 12 packs of soda
1 bag of Tostitos
 I had a variety of coupons, and a catalina good for $2 off.

My total was: 31.93 for a savings of (seriously!!) 62%. Crazy that I saved the same at both places!

3rd stop---> Staples
4 Avery heavy duty binders
2 storage containers
2 desk calenders
4 pkgs of Hammermill printer paper
2 pkgs of manilla folders
1 mailer for my husband ( I told him he ruined my totals :)

I turned in 11 used ink cartridges and 3 Avery binders to be recycled. Each binder netted $2 off!
I also had a coupon from their ad for $5/$25.

After coupons, I paid $127.xx...yeah expensive right? Well guess what? All of it was free after rebates and Staples rewards. I get all of the money back!! I actually made  money off of it!

Last stop---> Target
Once again, too many coupons to count and a ton of items courtesy of Christmas clearance. So I will just name a few...
12 Digiorno pizzas
6 boxes of Edys fruit bars (free)
2 Vaseline lotions (free)
1 Caress gift pack (clearance for $8.xx, used a coupon for $3/1)
3 cases of Lip Smackers
8 bags of Christmas candy
2 bags of chocolate chips
6 (?) mini bags of Pepperidge Farms cookies
2 boxes of crackers
4 fruit snacks
I honestly can't even remember all of it.
Used a ton of coupons, gift cards etc. and I saved $146.09 and paid $31.xx out of pocket!

The line behind me had people clapping for me. The cashier was so impressed. I even got a "you should be on that coupon show". It was just too much fun.

Of course I was completely exaughsted after that but it was worth it. Did you get any good deals this week? I would love to hear about them!

Ralphs good deal

OK, I am not a deal blogger. There are so many people who do such a great job, that I don't want to take the time, energy etc.

However, when I started to explain this deal on Facebook, it started getting really, really long. So I decided to just write it here...


Ralphs is having a deal where if you buy 5 of certain products (this is a Mix & Match deal) you will get $5 off your order. The brands are Procter & Gamble, Pepsi and Kelloggs. ***Ralphs is a Kroger affiliate store as well as Fred Meyer and Frys)

Image taken from abc15.com

Couponers ARE NOT brand loyal. However, I know a lot of people who love Tide but don't love the price. So if you want to add some Tide to your stockpile, try this deal!

On Sunday (12/30) we got a Procter & Gamble insert. In there was a coupon good for $1.50 off any one Tide.   So if you want to do this deal it works this way...

REMEMBER THAT YOU HAVE TO BUY AT LEAST 5 PARTICIPATING PRODUCTS TO GET THE LOWER PRICE. THEY DON'T ALL HAVE TO BE THE SAME!!

Buy 1 bottle of Tide @4.99
Less your $1.50 coupon=
$3.49 for a 50 oz. bottle of Tide

Now, I get quite a few copies of the paper, so I would do this deal as often as I can. $3.49 is a pretty cheap price for Tide. However if you only have one P&G, you can buy these items to get your 5 products...

Buy 2 Old Spice deodorant @ 1.29 each = $2.58
Use one coupon good for $1/2
You will pay $1.58

Buy 1 pkg of Duracell batteries @ 2.99
Use 1 coupon good for .75/1
You will pay =$2.24

Buy 1 box of Special K cereal @ 1.99
Print off a coupon on coupons.com for .70/1
Pay $1.29


Your transaction would be:
1 bottle of Tide = $3.49
2 Old Spice deodorants= $1.58
1 pkg of Duracell batteries = $2.24
1 box of Special K= $1.29

Your out of pocket cost will be...$8.60

Dumpster Divin'

Have you ever dumpster dived?

Big swallow...I have. I confess. Only three times.

Once on Guam, a neighbor put an awesome wicker basket on top of her trash. It still had the tag on it. I was honestly not sure if it was trash or she had set it there. I waited. I watched them walk past it a few times. No one moved it. When it was dark...I snatched it. And guess what? I still use it every.single.day.

Another time, my husband was putting the trash out, when he saw a shelf in our neighbors trash. He brought it inside, fixed it up and...we still use it every.single.day.

The other time was just the other day. However, it wasn't a trash can.

Near our Target, there is a donation bin. I was dropping some items off. One of the bins wouldn't close all the way.Kind of like a library book drop off bin. I opened it to see if something was stuck in there...and right on the door was 2 pairs of shorts.

They are 5T, which my son is still a little too small for, but hello adjustable waists! These were Old Navy and great quality. So...I snatched them. I did. I confess. My son who was with me, told me he would never tell.

What do you think, if you had been in the same situation, would you have grabbed them?

back to school

Every Sunday I go and get my papers off the front porch.

I sit and go through them, taking out all of the ads and coupons. Yes, I lead an exciting life.

This past Sunday as I was looking at the ads, I was shocked to see school supplies already. I mean we just celebrated the 4th of July right?

However, I shared on Facebook how I shocked I was, when people started sharing the dates their kids are heading back. Most were headed back in either July or Aug.

Even though as a homeschooling Mom, I get to decide what my school supplies are, I still want to take advantage while the getting is good!

Staples is the closest office supply store to me. They had a coupon good for $5 off a $30 purchase. They also have an offer, where you can buy a Back to School savings pass. It was $10 and will give you 15% off every purchase from now until mid Sept. While I normally refuse to pay for a discount card, I believe I will make my money back on this one. Here is my breakdown:

Transaction 1:
Back to School Savings pass (this had to be on the first transaction, so I could use it towards my 2nd one!) =$10
2 (4oz) Staples glue =.02
2 (24ct) RoseArt crayons=.02
2 (10ct) packs of Bic pens =.02
Total $10.06
**You had to buy a minimum of $5 in order to get the .01 items**

Transaction 2:
4 HP photo paper (50 ct. each) = 9.99 each (.50 each after rebate)
2 Staples brand reams of paper (500 ct) = $2.99 each (.25 each after rebate)
4 pkgs of Expo Dry Erase markers (4ct)= .50 ea for a total of $2
4 pkgs of mechanical pencils (5 ct) = .50 each for a total of $2
2 pkgs of filler paper= $1.00 each for a total of $2
Total $51.94 (before tax)

I am not sure what he took off first, the 15% off coupon or the $5 off coupon but after those were included it brought my total down to $41.73. The reciept printed out and I am getting a check for  $45.58 back. Yeah, that is a profit baby!! Next up, Office Max. Praying no one else got all my deals today!

expect the unexpected

When you are out shopping, you never know what you will come across!

Here are 2 of my awesome scores from Vons the other night.

 This Pillsbury frosting was on sale 2/$4. The normal retail price was ridiculous at $3.99 a pop! Ugh. So $2 would be half off. But then there was a blinkie machine with coupons good for .40/1. My store doubles so here is the math...

Reg. price $3.99
sale price $2.00 each
coupon .80
= $1.20

Not bad huh? However there were plenty more of the coupons so I  keep getting more every time I go. These are fun too. I do worry about the kids treating it like a can of whipped cream though!

The 2nd good deal was for these boxes of Delimex Chicken taquitos. My hubby loves these and they are perfect for our appetizer night! Well these were another product that the regular retail price is just absurd. Are you ready for this? $7.99!! These better have a $5 bill inside for them to cost that much.

OK anyway, these were marked on sale for $4.49. Still not great but better. Well guess what...on the box was a coupon for $2 off!

Regular price= $7.99
Sale price= 4.49
coupon = 2.00
Total price $2.49! Nice right?

So I get home, and am putting them in the freezer when I notice...there was still a coupon on the box! Talk about freak out. I thought I had forgotten to use them. Nope, they had just placed one on each side!! Woo hoo! I was able to use my 2nd coupons to get a discount on more boxes that came with the coupons.

That is what we call rolling the deals (: Sweet