Weekly Publix Trip

I think that I got a lot this week for the money. No huge money makers, but everything I bought we will use.

1 Tyson Beef Pot Roast in Gravy B1G1 3.49 ea
6 boxed Ronzoni pasta 12-16 oz B1G1 .69 ea
6 Yo Plus yogurt 4 pks B1G1 1.25 ea
7 Pillsbury Toaster Strudel B1G1 1.24 ea
2 Nabisco Honey Maid graham crackers B1G1 1.99 ea
1 Bob Evans Sides, Macaroni & Cheese 2.50
3 gallons Publix brand milk 3.19 ea
1 A Day Multivitamins, Scooby gummies 25% off 4.27 ea
2.8 lb bananas .69 lb 1.95
6 Rotel diced tomatoes B1G1 .67 ea
3 Hammark Shoestring Cards .99 ea
* 9 lbs ground beef 21.19

I used:

$10.00/50.00 purchase Winn Dixie catalina Q
$2/1 Tyson Entree Publix Family Style Magazine Store Q
.75/1 Tyson IP
6 $1/1 Yo Plus SS 1/23
7 $1/1 Toaster Strudel IP
1 $2/2 Nabisco cracker IP
1 $1/1 Bob Evans Publix Family Style Store Q
1 .50/1 Bob Evans side dish IP
1 2.50/1 One A Day Publix Family Style Store Q
1 $2/1 One A Day SS 1/03
1 .55/2 Rotel blinkie
3 .75/2 Rotel Yellow Advantage Flyer Q's
3 .99/1 Hallmark card tearpad Q's
4 $1/2 lbs ground beef Yellow Advantage Flyer Q's

Total Due: $36.17, Total Saved: $78.20

* The reason I really stocked up on ground beef this week was because the yellow advantage q's will expire on 2/5, AND I will be submitting this receipt for a rebate. Purchase $20.00 of meat, get $7.50 back. Basically I paid $1.07 lb for beef.

I went back to CVS...I love that place!

I had to go back to CVS today, a couple of things that I really wanted had coupons that came out in today's paper. Here's what I did:

Transaction #1

3 Skippy PB 16 oz $1.67 ea
2 Hellmans Mayo 22oz B1G1 $5.99

I used:

3 .40/1 Skippy RP 1/31
2 .60/1 Hellman's RP 1/31
1 $5.00 ECB (from diaper deal last night)

Total Due: $4.58, Received $3.00 ECB

Transaction #2

1 Colgate Maxfresh $2.99
1 Dove Men's Bodywash 13.5 oz $5.49

I used:

1 .75/1 Colgate (newspaper, can't remember which insert)
1 1.25/1 Dove Bodywash RP 1/31
1 $3.00 EC (from above)

Total Due: $4.24, received $5.49 ECB, $2.00 ECB

Transaction #3

1 Dove Bodywash $5.49

I used:

1 1.25/1 Dove Bodywash (there are 2 in each paper!)
1 $2.00 ECB (from above)

Total Due: $2.73, received $5.49 ECB

Total Spent at CVS today: $11.55, earned $5.98 ECB's to use next week!

How Much I Saved In January

As you may know, I have challenged myself to spend $40.00 or less per week on groceries/toiletries/diapers, etc...I wanted to give you a total of *cash in hand* what our family saved this month.

2 $5.00 SC Johnson rebates
1 $21.00 Rite Aid Single Check Rebate
$185.00 Cash

Total Saved $216.00

I didn't come in right on target this month...on paper. I spent a little more for things that we needed, but when the rebates continue to come in I will have spent less than $40.00 per week. I guess I'm kind of on a "flexible spending plan." I know that this month, I have sent off several rebates that total more than $100.00. One thing I have done to try to put that money into our savings account (instead of letting in dwindle away) is by getting cash back at the register every week when I do my Publix shopping. If my total is $34.00, I get $64.00 back, trying not to go over $40.00 and putting the remaining $60.00 into an envelope to deposit at the end of the month. Just an idea, maybe that will work for you too!

Great deals at CVS starting tomorrow!

Well, actually if you shop a CVS store that isn't a 24 hour location, the sale starts at 6pm on Saturday night. I just got in from my weekly visit and I had an unbelievable find!

Some M & M products and Hershey Kisses were ringing up at $0.39 per bag! This was for the 12.6 oz bag. The only thing that tipped me off that they might be different was the kisses had a snowflake print on the back of the bag, indicating that they were from Christmas. No other mention of "Christmas" or "holiday" anywhere on the packaging. As for the M & M's though, the candies were wearing santa hats, but they too, were stocked with the regular candy. I hope you have some luck at your store! BTW, there is a blinkie out (a few aisles over) for $1/2 bags. I love being paid to walk something out of the store, don't you?

Transaction #1
3 bags M & M's .39 each
8 bags M & M's 2.50 each
4 bags Hershey Kisses .39 each

I used 1 $4/20 cvs Q (email from cvs)
5 $1/2 blinkies for the M & M's
1 $7 ECB from last week
Total paid $8.77, received $10.00 ECB

Transaction #2
2 Huggies Jumbo pks 10.00 ea
1 Clean & Clear face wash* 4.99
1 gallon Barbers milk 3.79

I used 1 $4/20 cvs Q (email)
2 $2 Huggies IP's
1 $2 Clean and Clear Q 1/3 SS
1 $10 ECB from candy purchase above
Total paid $12.37, received $5.00 ECB

The 1 Clean & Clear face wash that I purchased will complete the requirement for the $10.00 Mail In Rebate, Beauty for All Ages.

Just to clarify, we will NOT be eating all of those M & M's! They will be used for Valentine goodie bags. We won't eat them all. ;)

I'm still here!

Hey everyone!

I want to apologize for my long absence. We were out of town last week on a wonderful vacation that we received as a Christmas gift, then since we have been back I have spent most of my time catching up! I have been busy finding deals and not taking the time to blog about them. Tomorrow starts a new ad for Publix, so I will post soon about the hottest grocery deals out there this week. If you have any questions, or need any help, just let me know!

Wal-Mart, is it a necessity?

I've been pondering this question the last few days...and I think that after the past year, I can feel confident saying "no." For many, many years I jumped into the car and took off to Wal-Mart for everything from frozen vegetables to toothpaste to hosepipes and underwear. But I first noticed I had a choice when ALDI moved to town. Specifically, right next door to Wal-Mart. Then I realized that I could buy groceries elsewhere without upsetting my routine too terribly. As the months passed by with my mind being opened to options (and enjoying the freedom of not standing in line for an hour) more shops moved to our little town. Target and Publix opened their doors and my choices grew even more. Finally I feel confident knowing that the few things I wanted that ALDI didn't sell and Publix was to pricey for, I do have Target. I took the time to actually compare the prices on t-shirts, toys, dvd's and the like, and find that Target is a smart place to shop! Wal-Mart has been telling us they are "the low price leader" for so long I had begun to believe it without question!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not out to put Wal-Mart out of business, (like I could) but just to show you that, yes, we do have choices! My Sam's club membership renewal came this week. Now I'm trying to decide if I even need to bother?
I would love to hear any comments you may have!

The best place to find coupons!

I'm telling you, the best place to find coupons is by subscribing to your local newspaper. If you live in an area where you have a choice between a few different papers, be sure to choose the largest in your area. For me, that is the Birmingham News. They have a great deal going right now, you might want to check it out. I love having my coupons delivered to my home, and I don't have to worry that someone else has gone through the paper and picked them all out! If you want to see how to get 26 weeks for $26.00 check it out here.

What is a good price?

I have compiled a list of items with the best prices in my area.
This may be different for you, depending on where you live and what stores you have available.

Keep in mind, all prices listed are after coupons.

Apples $0.99 lb
Bananas $0.33 lb
Grapes $0.99 lb*
Peaches $0.69 lb*
Strawberries $0.99 lb*
Bagged salad $0.99
Can tomatoes $0.33
Can vegetables $0.39-0.55*
Can beans $0.45*
Frozen dinners $0.99
Frozen chic. nuggets $1.99 2 lb
Frozen pizza $3.00
Frozen vegetables $free-0.99
Ice cream/novelty $0.99
Ground sirloin $2.50 lb
Roast $2.49 lb
B/S chicken breasts $1.99 lb
Whole chicken $0.69 lb
Bacon $1.50 lb
Pork chops $1.99 lb
Can tuna $0.49
Hot dogs $0.65-0.99
Ketchup $0.20
Mayonnaise $1.00
Mustard $free
Salad dressing $0.75
Cookies $0.79
Crackers $0.50
Nuts $0.49
Popcorn $1.25
Soups $0.40
Can biscuits $0.45-free
Coffee creamer $0.50
Tea bags family sz $0.80
Butter $1.25 lb
Margarine $0.42
Cheese slices $1.00
Cheese block 8 oz $1.16
Lunch meat $0.75
Cookie dough $free
Eggs $0.99 dz
Yogurt $0.25 4 pk
Milk $2.99 gal
Sour cream $free-0.50
Spaghetti sauce $0.50-1.00
Tomato paste $0.07
Elbow macaroni $0.69
Spaghetti noodles $0.69
Instant potatoes $0.07
Rice $0.99
Cereal $free-1.00
Cake mix $free-0.50
Cooking oil $0.65
Frosting $free
Brownie mix $0.50
Hamburger helper $0.66
Poptarts $0.50
Applesauce $0.66
Can fruit $free-0.50
Jello $free-0.35
Pancake mix $0.65
Syrup $0.75
Sugar $1.49 5 lb

* I usually buy at ALDI

I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Publix and once every few weeks I hit ALDI and stock up on the best price items there.

This is what I came up with as staple items after surveying my refrigerator/pantry.
I will post a list of baby/household/toiletry items soon!

The Coupon Shopper's Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Couponing


Advantage Flyers- These are freely available in your Publix rounder.
They list the items that are on a month long sale. Be patient when you
see these, chances are coupons will be coming out for these items.
BOGO or B1G1- Buy one get one free.
Blinkies- Coupons that are available in the “blinking” automated
machines along grocery store aisles. Free for the taking.
Buy theirs, get ours free- Occasionally, Publix will offer a special incentive to buy a product by offering the identical product in the
Publix store brand to you free of charge.
Coupon Fraud- Unlawful use of a coupon.
Competitors- Who your store views as a competitor. Many Publix
locations accept other grocery stores as competitors, few recognize
drugstores as competitors.
Doubling- Publix, Winn Dixie and some other grocery stores will double your coupon up to .50 daily ($1.00) Some small stores allow for even greater savings.
ECB’s- Extra Care Bucks. This is CVS terminology.
Magic coupon machine- A red machine located in most CVS locations.
Great coupon source!
Manufacturer coupons- Coupons printed, distributed & reimbursed by the manufacturer of a product.
Match-ups- Combining a sale price with a coupon for the best possible price.
OOP- Out Of Pocket cost.
Overage- The $ you are allowed to “apply” to your total bill if the Q is greater that the price of the product.
Peelies- Peel off coupons that are usually attached to the front of a
product. Read carefully! Many peelies are void if not removed by the cashier.
Penny item- Special “secret product” that Publix gives away on Wednesday’s with minimum purchase ($10.00 before coupons) and the “penny item coupon” found in Wednesday’s paper.
PG- Proctor & Gamble (newspaper insert.)
Publix magazines- Grape, Green Wise, Baby Club, etc.
Q’s- Coupons.
Q Booklets- Coupon booklets. These can be found in many places, most often on your Publix rounder.
Rainchecks- A paper that can be obtained from customer service to ensure that you can purchase the product that is out of stock at a later date for the sale price.
Rebates- Mail in or online submission to receive all or a portion of the purchase price of a product.
Rite Aid Videos- Short commercials you can watch online to earn coupons.
Rounder- Revolving rack usually located just inside the front door.
Register Rewards- Walgreens “money“ in the form of manuf. Q‘s. These can be very useful,sometimes accepted in other stores.
RP- Red Plum (newspaper insert.)
SS- Smart Source (newspaper insert.)
Stacking- Using a manufacturer/store/competitor coupon together.
Stockpiling- Building a supply of products that your family can consume in 4-6 weeks.
Store coupons- Coupons that are printed and distributed by the store rather than the manufacturer.
Target Q generator- Resource that allows you to print store coupons from the Target website.
Tearpads- Coupons that are available in a “tear top” design.
When Q’s print as PDF‘s- This is a rare but joyous thing. They can be
saved to your computer as a file and printed as needed.

Milk from CVS...is it a great deal?

I'm sure you can picture the scene in our kitchen this evening. While eating dinner, Justin mentions we are almost out of milk, so off I go to the store while they do kitchen duty (someone has to do it!) I'm having a real dilemma, do I go to Publix (the penny item is today) Winn Dixie (and get my $10.00 off $50.00 purchase coupon) or to CVS where I have plenty of ECB's? CVS won. Probably because it's about 20 degrees out and I didn't have to walk very far to get inside! The milk wasn't on sale this week, but I did have the ECB's. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about these are Extra Care Bucks and this is currency inside the doors of any CVS store. You receive them for various reasons, but they can be spent on almost anything. So, it worked out like this:

2 gallons of Barbers 1% milk (that is all they had left) 3.79 each

I payed with 3 ECB's $1.99, $2.00, $3.00

This brought my total down to $1.27. Two gallons of Barbers for $1.27, not too bad. To my surprise, I had a $1.00 ECB print out on my receipt. Usually, these ECB's are incentives to buy certain products, but sometimes you will just be surprised with some for no apparent reason. Sounds great to me!

Just so you know, I do not think that $3.79 is a good price to pay for milk. I wanted to clarify for those of you who are trying to get a list together on "what is a good price on..." I normally pay $3.09 at Publix for milk (house brand), this is their regular price in my area. While there are places around town that sell milk for less, milk is one of the few things I'm picky about. I know I could get it cheaper, but the risks outweigh the savings (for me.) I don't like to buy milk with hormones added, as much as we drink around here, that just frightens me.

With the bad weather moving in, I believe that my shopping for the week is done. I will be getting a list for you on the best deals at Publix this week. I typically do my grocery shopping on Sundays, because I can go alone, and that is the day that my week starts. I ended this week's budget at $36.63. $3.37 under budget! Since I am challenging myself with such a small budget this year, I will "roll" that money over and begin next week with $43.37.

Publix trip...with all the kids. Eeeekk!!!

We didn't have much to get on this week's ad. It was kind of a slow week for me. But, to be quite honest, my cabinets and freezers are filled to overflowing so I only went to get the things that I had to have + a few yummy things.

1 16 oz Butterball turkey bacon 2.00 ea regular price/
6 boxed Hamburger Helper .99 ea B1G1/2 Internet Printable Q's $1/3 boxes
4 Kelloggs Pop Tarts 8 ct box 1.25 ea B1G1/2 $1/2 Q's mailer last week
2 Betty Crocker brownie mixes 1.27 ea B1G1/$1/2 Internet Printable (IP)
2 Old El Paso dinner kit 1.45 ea B1G1
2 4 pk Fiber One yogurt 1.25 ea B1G1/2 $1/1 Internet Printable (IP)
1 dozen Publix large eggs 1.49 ea
2 Wonka gummies candy 1.00 ea Advantage Buy/$1/1 IP

I used 1 $5.00 Walgreens RR (remember yesterday), a $5/20 coupon from Rite Aid Videos(for watching commercials). Total price after sales but before coupons: $25.67. Total cost after coupons: $6.67. Not my best week, but I really went for the poptarts and hamburger helper. These are both quick fixes when you don't have a lot of time.

Total Spent: $6.67 Total saved: $39.19 % of savings: 85%

Total Spent in 2010: $35.36

Mom!!! What's for dinner?

I'm sure this a popular question around your house, and friends are always asking us what we eat for $40-50 a week. Well, we eat the same things most families on the run eat. We will be out of the house tonight (this happens at least 2-3 nights per week) so I try to prepare something in advance and program the stove timer so that it will be ready by the time we are home. This helps me to control the urge to grab something at a drive thru, blowing my budget and Weight Watchers at the same time! This week, our menu includes:

Taco casserole w/ salad on the side (see photo) This is an Old El Paso Dinner Kit (B1G1 at Publix this week for $1.39 each) I used 1 lb of ground sirloin at a cost of approx. $2.25. Salad was B1G1 last week, probably .45 cents for 1/2 of the bag. So, we have dinner for around $4.00 tonight.

Also, this week we have: Hamburger Helper & rolls ( $3.25 approx.)
Deviled chicken w/rice and veggies ($2.00 approx.)
Smoked sausage, mashed potatoes, green beans ($1.65)
Breakfast for supper (everyone's fave $2.50)
Boston butt, baked potatoes & salad ($6.00)

So, there you have it friends...affordable, healthy, Weight Watcher approved. Most importantly, kid friendly! That is what we strive for...no complaints! ;) Please share any recipes that are inexpensive and kid friendly. I'm always needing new ideas!

My first shopping trip of 2010

I stopped by The Dollar Tree today and picked up 6 copies of the newspaper. I was so excited about the Electrasol Q that I couldn't contain myself! So, first stop I spent $7.63, (I also bought a box of sweet & low.) With all of my coupons in hand, I headed over to Walgreens where I did several transactions using just coupons from today's paper with the exception of 1 item.

I purchased 2 Reach Total Care toothbrushes (2 pk's) for 3.99 each
1 Electrasol *bonus pack!!!* 3.99
1 Bayer Contour meter 14.99
2 Stayfree maxis 36 ct 6.29 each

I used $30 Bayer Meter RP 10/25 (adjusted to $14.99) $5.00 RR (5.00 profit!)
$2.50 Electrasol Dishwasher Detergent SS 1/3 $1.00 RR (makes it free!)
B1G1 Reach toothbrush RP 1/3 + $2 off w/ in-ad coupon (comes off twice)
B1G1 Stayfree pads RP 1/3 + $3 off w/ in-ad coupon (comes off twice)

Total out of pocket (OOP) for first transaction $3.88

I did this similar transaction a few more times, increasing my OOP costs a bit more than I wanted to but I left with quite a haul, including 2 gallons of Barbers milk & Neutrogena shampoo that never has a coupon) spending a total of $21.06 BUT earning back $25.00 RR for the day. I will probably take those over to Publix to spend later this week for grocery money.

TOTAL SPENT IN 2010: $28.69 TOTAL SAVED: $367.68 % OF SAVINGS: 92%