Kroger in Crowley, Texas! Sorry about not posting the last couple weeks, but there really was nothing worth blogging about. That changes today! This post is dedicated to my new favorite Kroger store.
The Kroger store in Crowley, Texas is unlike the Krogers in Fort Worth. First of all, it's clean and the produce looks fresh. It also has a good variety of organic produce and produce that is harder to find at other commercial grocery stores. Like today, I found baby yellow onions. I'm making boiled dinner tonight and the recipe calls for pearl onions. I really hate peeling those little things but when I was at Kroger today, I noticed right by the pearl onions little yellow onions. They looked like they would work perfectly in the soup. So I got about 8 of them. When checking out I found out that they did not have the code for these in the cashier's code book. The sign by them said $3.29 a pound, but she gave them to me at the adult yellow onions price which is 99 cents a pound this week.
Aside from the produce, the dairy department is conveniently located all along the store's back wall. So once I am finished with my produce, I make a turn and there is the milk. Today at this Kroger there was a sale on Springdale milk. If you buy $10 worth of groceries, then you can get a gallon of milk for 78 cents! I cannot remember a time when milk was this cheap! I knew the Kroger in Fort Worth was not having milk this cheap, so I picked up a gallon.
Another thing I love about this store, is that the items that are on sale at all Kroger's in the area tend to run a little cheaper here than at the Kroger stores in town. This week, Kroger is having a buy 10 get $5 off of selected items. Swanson's broths are on this sale. The weekly flier I received in the mail for Kroger off of Hulen had the final price after buying 10 at 50 cents a can. Not a bad price, but when I got to the Kroger in Crowley, the price was 29 cents after buying 10! Let's see which one would I prefer to buy. And the Skinner pastas were 38 cents after buying 10 at the Hulen store. I paid 19 cents each at the Crowley store! The rest of the items looked to be the same price as the Hulen store, but I did not have a chance to compare every single item on the sale.
Finally what really has me wanting to come back, is that this store will double or triple like coupons up to three. The store off of Hulen only double or triples the first coupon and the other two you get at face value. So at this store, I was able to use both of my 50 cents off of 5 Swanson's broth cans coupons and the store doubled both. So in the end, instead of paying 29 cents a can, I paid 9 cents a can! I was also excited that this store took both of my shortcut coupons for Campbell's Select Harvest and Campbell's Chunky soups. Both coupons where for $1 off of 2. I also had 2, dollar off of 2 manufacturing coupons to use on top of those. Since the Select Harvest and the Chunky soups were 99 cents after buying 10 and the store took both of my coupons, I got 4 FREE cans of soup!!!! I also got 4 cans of Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken condensed soups for 30 cents a can.
I ended up paying $28.22 for all of my groceries at Kroger and saved $48.50! That is a savings of 63%! I think that is the best I have ever done at Kroger! I also was able to use my coupon for 100 fuel points. I think today is going to be a great day after all.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
CVS and CHIPS
Today, I was finally able to use my thirteen dollars worth of Extra Bucks at CVS. A couple of weeks ago, CVS had the Oral B Vitality rechargeable toothbrush on sale for $23 with an Extra Bucks coupon for $13. We also received at the beginning of the month a $10 off of one Oral B Vitality toothbrush. Take in account the Extra Bucks and coupon, the toothbrush would be FREE! I tried to do this offer, but every CVS that I went to were out. So I got a rain check from the closest CVS. For 2 weeks, I have gone to CVS hoping to redeem my rain check, but they were still out. Today was the last straw after I was told that they will not get them in for at least 2 weeks! Considering my current $13 worth of Extra Bucks were expiring on Sunday and my coupons will expire before the toothbrushes ever come in, I decided to use my Extra Bucks on items that were not on sale that I needed.
I needed to get a refill for my Lysol no hands soap dispensor and any kind of restoring mouthwash for Rob. The Lysol refills are at CVS for $3.99 each. I had Extra Bucks coupons for $4.99 and $3.00. So I decided to get two refills. I decided to that those two coupons were enough to make the refills free. Next, I checked out the mouthwash. I did bring my coupon binder with me and knew that I had lots of coupons for Listerine, ACT, and Crest mouthwash. I checked out all the available options, and decided to go with the Listerine Total Care mouthwash since I was able to get a bigger bottle and I had a coupon to use. I had one Extra Bucks coupon for $5.50 left. The Listerine coupon was for a dollar off. I was not able to get the Listerine on sale, but that did not worry me too much since I was using Extra Bucks coupons. The regular price for the mouthwash was $7.29. I applied my coupons and only paid 75 cents for a 1 litter bottle of mouthwash! I did have to pay sales tax on all the items when I checked out, which brought my grand total to $1.19 for all three items! The receipt said I saved $14.49! Even that impressed the pharmacists as I was checking out.
The other reason I went to CVS was to get Caisa's medicine refilled. Starting September 1st, my kids are on CHIPS. CHIPS is insurance provided by the state to families that make below federal poverty levels but makes too much for Medicaid. I only had to pay a one time $35 enrollment fee and no monthly premiums. The insurance covers prescriptions, dental, eye exams, and doctor visits for free or at a very low copay. My insurance copay for prescriptions are $20 for name brand and $5 for generics. When we had insurance through Rob's old work, I was paying between $25-$85 per prescription for Caisa a month. I also did not have just one prescription for her. I always had either 3 or 4 prescriptions that she needed to use all together. When she was really bad, I had to refill a couple of those prescriptions twice a month. Caisa has Psoriasis and she has to have topical steroids, anti-itch creams, and special topical creams just for her face. She also has a special steroid foam for her scalp. Most of these prescriptions are not available in generic form. Like today, I had to refill her Luxiq prescription for her scalp. This one used to run me $65 with our old insurance, but today I only paid $20! That was even cheaper the the $25 I paid one time when the dermatologist office gave me a coupon to use on the prescription.
Since being on CHIPS, I have saved quite a bit on Caisa's medication. Every little bit helps and now I do not have to worry about how much this is going to cost me. Believe me, prescriptions for skin conditions are very expensive! Even when you have decent insurance! If I did not have insurance, just one of her medicines would cost over $300. I have one that costs $800 without insurance! Makes me appreciate the CHIPS coverage even more.
I needed to get a refill for my Lysol no hands soap dispensor and any kind of restoring mouthwash for Rob. The Lysol refills are at CVS for $3.99 each. I had Extra Bucks coupons for $4.99 and $3.00. So I decided to get two refills. I decided to that those two coupons were enough to make the refills free. Next, I checked out the mouthwash. I did bring my coupon binder with me and knew that I had lots of coupons for Listerine, ACT, and Crest mouthwash. I checked out all the available options, and decided to go with the Listerine Total Care mouthwash since I was able to get a bigger bottle and I had a coupon to use. I had one Extra Bucks coupon for $5.50 left. The Listerine coupon was for a dollar off. I was not able to get the Listerine on sale, but that did not worry me too much since I was using Extra Bucks coupons. The regular price for the mouthwash was $7.29. I applied my coupons and only paid 75 cents for a 1 litter bottle of mouthwash! I did have to pay sales tax on all the items when I checked out, which brought my grand total to $1.19 for all three items! The receipt said I saved $14.49! Even that impressed the pharmacists as I was checking out.
The other reason I went to CVS was to get Caisa's medicine refilled. Starting September 1st, my kids are on CHIPS. CHIPS is insurance provided by the state to families that make below federal poverty levels but makes too much for Medicaid. I only had to pay a one time $35 enrollment fee and no monthly premiums. The insurance covers prescriptions, dental, eye exams, and doctor visits for free or at a very low copay. My insurance copay for prescriptions are $20 for name brand and $5 for generics. When we had insurance through Rob's old work, I was paying between $25-$85 per prescription for Caisa a month. I also did not have just one prescription for her. I always had either 3 or 4 prescriptions that she needed to use all together. When she was really bad, I had to refill a couple of those prescriptions twice a month. Caisa has Psoriasis and she has to have topical steroids, anti-itch creams, and special topical creams just for her face. She also has a special steroid foam for her scalp. Most of these prescriptions are not available in generic form. Like today, I had to refill her Luxiq prescription for her scalp. This one used to run me $65 with our old insurance, but today I only paid $20! That was even cheaper the the $25 I paid one time when the dermatologist office gave me a coupon to use on the prescription.
Since being on CHIPS, I have saved quite a bit on Caisa's medication. Every little bit helps and now I do not have to worry about how much this is going to cost me. Believe me, prescriptions for skin conditions are very expensive! Even when you have decent insurance! If I did not have insurance, just one of her medicines would cost over $300. I have one that costs $800 without insurance! Makes me appreciate the CHIPS coverage even more.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thursday Morning
Another week has gone by, I have to say that this Thursday morning was not nearly as stressful as last weeks. Not too much were on sale that I had coupons for. I did shop at my three stores today but was in and out each store under 30 minutes. That is how few items I had on my list.
Let's start with Kroger again. They are still having the same sale as last week going on, but they did remove a couple of items and replaced them with other items. I bought my milk at Kroger since if I spent $10 or more, then the Springdale milk was 99 cents a gallon. I also picked up two Nesquiks for the boys at a dollar a piece. I did take advantage of the sale again. I was able to get four boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks for 99 cents a box. My other items that I bought where items I needed to buy either for making school lunches or for dinner tonight. Swedish Meatballs in my new crock pot! I cannot wait to eat! All in all, I paid $26.35 and saved $25.49. A savings of 49%.
Albertsons was my next stop. I needed to get some pasta for tonight's dinner. Albertsons has the Barilla Whole Grain Pasta on sale for $1.25 a box. I still had the 55 cents off of one Barilla Whole Grain Pasta coupons from last month. I used all three and paid 75 cents per box. I also used all three of my 50 cents off of one Yakisoba meals. Since Albertsons still doubles all three of my coupons, I got them all for FREE! Nice, quick lunch for me today. I did take advantage of the buy one get one free sale on the Irish Spring soap bar packs. I still had my two 50 cents off of any one Irish Spring coupons. They were expiring on the 23rd, so I saw this as my opportunity to use them. I am used to getting Irish Soap free, but it has been awhile since Kroger had them on sale for a dollar a 3 pack. Albertsons did take and double my two coupons to drop the price from $2.99 to 99 cents for both packs! I ended up paying $14.69 and saving $15. A savings of just over 50%.
Tom Thumb was my last stop today. I needed to get cereal. Tom Thumb as selected General Mills cereals for $1.88. Tom Thumb also had a coupon that makes the price of Multi-grain Cheerios and Banana Nut Cheerios $1.99 a box, with a limit of 4 boxes. I had two coupons for $1 off of two Banana Nut Cheerios coupons and a Cellfire coupon for 75 cents off of one box of Banana Nut Cheerios. I ended up getting 3 boxes for $1.49 and one for 74 cents. I also used two different $1 off of any two Cheerios coupons for get some Honey Nut Cheerios for $1.38 a box. My best find was the Progresso Vegetable Classic soups for 88 cents each with a limit of 8 cans. I still had several $1 off of any four Progresso soups coupon. I decided to only use one coupon, since I really do not have room in my pantry to get all 8. I checked Cellfire and Shortcuts for electronic coupons. I had a 50 cents off of two Progresso soups coupons on both websites. Tom Thumb did take both of the electronic coupons and this brought my total to $1.52 for all four cans! If you do the math, then that is 38 cents a can! I spent $17.31 and saved $30.25! A savings of 64%! I love having big savings at Tom Thumb!
In the end I spent $58.35 for $129.09 worth of groceries, and I saved $70.74! I did better than I thought I was going to do. Definitely going to enjoy my Swedish Meatballs tonight after doing a good job saving money this morning.
Let's start with Kroger again. They are still having the same sale as last week going on, but they did remove a couple of items and replaced them with other items. I bought my milk at Kroger since if I spent $10 or more, then the Springdale milk was 99 cents a gallon. I also picked up two Nesquiks for the boys at a dollar a piece. I did take advantage of the sale again. I was able to get four boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks for 99 cents a box. My other items that I bought where items I needed to buy either for making school lunches or for dinner tonight. Swedish Meatballs in my new crock pot! I cannot wait to eat! All in all, I paid $26.35 and saved $25.49. A savings of 49%.
Albertsons was my next stop. I needed to get some pasta for tonight's dinner. Albertsons has the Barilla Whole Grain Pasta on sale for $1.25 a box. I still had the 55 cents off of one Barilla Whole Grain Pasta coupons from last month. I used all three and paid 75 cents per box. I also used all three of my 50 cents off of one Yakisoba meals. Since Albertsons still doubles all three of my coupons, I got them all for FREE! Nice, quick lunch for me today. I did take advantage of the buy one get one free sale on the Irish Spring soap bar packs. I still had my two 50 cents off of any one Irish Spring coupons. They were expiring on the 23rd, so I saw this as my opportunity to use them. I am used to getting Irish Soap free, but it has been awhile since Kroger had them on sale for a dollar a 3 pack. Albertsons did take and double my two coupons to drop the price from $2.99 to 99 cents for both packs! I ended up paying $14.69 and saving $15. A savings of just over 50%.
Tom Thumb was my last stop today. I needed to get cereal. Tom Thumb as selected General Mills cereals for $1.88. Tom Thumb also had a coupon that makes the price of Multi-grain Cheerios and Banana Nut Cheerios $1.99 a box, with a limit of 4 boxes. I had two coupons for $1 off of two Banana Nut Cheerios coupons and a Cellfire coupon for 75 cents off of one box of Banana Nut Cheerios. I ended up getting 3 boxes for $1.49 and one for 74 cents. I also used two different $1 off of any two Cheerios coupons for get some Honey Nut Cheerios for $1.38 a box. My best find was the Progresso Vegetable Classic soups for 88 cents each with a limit of 8 cans. I still had several $1 off of any four Progresso soups coupon. I decided to only use one coupon, since I really do not have room in my pantry to get all 8. I checked Cellfire and Shortcuts for electronic coupons. I had a 50 cents off of two Progresso soups coupons on both websites. Tom Thumb did take both of the electronic coupons and this brought my total to $1.52 for all four cans! If you do the math, then that is 38 cents a can! I spent $17.31 and saved $30.25! A savings of 64%! I love having big savings at Tom Thumb!
In the end I spent $58.35 for $129.09 worth of groceries, and I saved $70.74! I did better than I thought I was going to do. Definitely going to enjoy my Swedish Meatballs tonight after doing a good job saving money this morning.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
What's best at destressing your morning?
What is best at turning a rather stressful morning around? Why saving huge, and I do mean huge, at the grocery store! This morning started like any other, get the kids up and ready for school. Dropped the girls off and headed to Kroger for some grocery shopping. About half way through my shopping at Kroger, my phone rings. It was Rob and he needed me to help him out asap. His car ran out of gas and he was stranded not too far from home. I hung up on him and raced around the store to finish my shopping. Took me longer to check out because I had to go through the self check out line since before 8:30am those are the only lanes open. They guy who scans my coupons was having a difficult time scanning and I had to verify with most of my coupons that yes I have the exact item that the coupon is for.
After paying, loading up kids and food, I rushed home to get the full gas can in the garage. I made it home and back to Rob with 30 minutes till his class starts. Too bad he was about 20 minute away from school and still had to fill up and find a parking space at TCU. Good luck with that one Rob. I was able to get Rob back on the road. Now time to take a deep breath and continue on with my shopping. So Albertsons here I come.
I got my groceries from Albertsons, loaded up the kids and food, and headed home. After I got home and unloaded my groceries, I noticed that my iphone was missing. Great not another crisis. I remember Aaron playing it when we were checking out, but I could not remember if he brought it into the house or not. I tried to ask him what he did with the phone, but really got no where due to the fact that he has Hyperlexia. Which is a form of high functioning Autism. I checked the car, kitchen, my room, all the places I last remember seeing Aaron. After saying a quick prayer, I loaded the kids up and headed back to Albertsons to see if he dropped it out in the parking lot. I knew the odds were great that the phone was in the house, but I still wanted to rule this out. Got back to Albertsons, and nope no one turned in a phone from the parking lot. Loaded the kids back into the car and headed home. Five minutes after we got home, Aaron yells at me that he found my phone. It was on the bathroom counter. He must of gone to the bathroom and put the phone down. I thanked him happily for finding the phone and told him next time to just give the phone to me. Hopefully he will remember that. Now both crisis adverted, I can finally sit back and enjoy the awesomeness of my savings. And they are truly Awesome!
Let's start with Kroger. Kroger still has milk for 99 cents a gallon, but they are also having another buy any 10 participating items and get $5 off sale. Checked my coupons and was able to find enough coupons to get me the 10 items for a fairly good price. If you still have your 50 cents off of 1 bag of Nerds, then you can get that bag for under a $1. I got some cream cheese for under a dollar and Capri Sun for 99 cents. But my favorite deal was for the Nestle cookie dough. If you get your ten items, the final sales price for the cookie dough will be $1.99. I did have a coupon for $1 off of any 2 Nestle cookie dough, but while I was picking out my dough, there were some that had a coupon on the package for $1 off of 1. So I tucked my $1 off of 2 coupon back into the purse and choose 2 cookie dough that had the $1 off of 1 coupon on it. So I ended up getting the cookie dough for 99 cents each! I did not spend a whole lot at Kroger. I spent $19.71 and saved $25.00. A savings of 55%.
I saved the best for last. Albertsons has some killer sales going on this week. Eggs for 79 cents, Quaker products on sale and we also have a coupon from the flier too, plus the Conagra promo sale. Frozen bags of Tilapia are buy one get 2 free, so for $8.99 you get 3 one pound bags of fish. Evaporated milk is on sale for a dollar and we have coupons for 50 cents off of 2. I know it's not free, but since I'm low I went ahead and paid the 50 cents per can for some evaporated milk. I use it in almost everything from Mac and Cheese to soups. The Conagra sale was selected Conagra products were on sale for $1 and if you buy 10 of those items, then you get 3 free. Act II popcorn, Hunts canned tomatoes, Wolf brand chili, Chef Boyardee pasta, and Hunts pasta sauce were some items that were on the sale. Since I had coupons for only the popcorn, canned tomatoes, and chili, those were the ones that I bought. I had 2 coupons for 40 cents off of any Act II popcorn, two 45 cents off of any 3 Hunts canned tomatoes, and one 75 cents off of 3 Wolf brand chili. That saves on 11 sale items. I still had 2 more to go. I did not have any other coupons to use, so I decided to get 2 more boxes of popcorn since we will need it for Family Movie Night on Friday. Albertsons double the popcorn and tomato coupons. After everything was taken off, I paid $5.85 for all 13 items. That is 45 cents per item!
Another item on sale are the big cans of Libby canned veggies. I still had two $1 off of any 3 Libby canned veggies. The sale price is 88 cents per can. Since these are the big cans, that is not a bad price. So I got 6 cans and used both of my coupons to pay $3.28 for all six, which if you do the math, is about 55 cents per can. Ragu past sauce is on sale for $1.88 each. I had three 30 cents off of 1 Ragu sauce coupons that are expiring on Sunday. I decided why not use them and tuck the jars away for a rainy day. Albertsons tripled all three coupons and I paid 98 cents per jar.
My absolutely favorite deal of the week was the Quaker deal going on at Albertsons. In this week's flier, there were two coupons for $3 off of any 5 Quaker items. Albertsons has Quaker items on sale this week and if you use just the coupon from the flier, you will either pay $1 or $1.50 per item. From past experiences, I know I can also put my other Quaker coupons on top of this. For example, the Quaker Chewy granola bars are for a $1 if you use your $3 off of 5 coupon. I have another coupon for $1 off of 2 Quaker Chewy granola bars. Albertsons took my coupon and I ended up paying 50 cents per box. I also did this with a 75 cents off of any 1 Quaker Delights to bring the final price down to a quarter, and a 75 cents off of any Quaker instant oatmeal to make it 75 cents a box. Too bad I did not have any Quaker cereal coupons. Life and Captain Crunch is a dollar a box using the flier coupon, still not a bad price to pay for cereal. After I got my 10 Quaker items, I got ten since there are two $3 off of 5 coupons in the flier, I ended up paying $7.30 for all 10 items. That makes each item 73 cents each! I spent $38.37 and saved $82.38. Yes that is right, $82.38 at one store! I'm thinking that the Albertsons receipt is going in my receipt hall of fame.
After it was all said and done, I spent $58.08 and got $165.46 worth of groceries! I saved $107.38 which is a HUGE savings! I have never saved that much at Wallymart in one month, let alone one week! Savings like this, just make the stress from the earlier crisis go away.
After paying, loading up kids and food, I rushed home to get the full gas can in the garage. I made it home and back to Rob with 30 minutes till his class starts. Too bad he was about 20 minute away from school and still had to fill up and find a parking space at TCU. Good luck with that one Rob. I was able to get Rob back on the road. Now time to take a deep breath and continue on with my shopping. So Albertsons here I come.
I got my groceries from Albertsons, loaded up the kids and food, and headed home. After I got home and unloaded my groceries, I noticed that my iphone was missing. Great not another crisis. I remember Aaron playing it when we were checking out, but I could not remember if he brought it into the house or not. I tried to ask him what he did with the phone, but really got no where due to the fact that he has Hyperlexia. Which is a form of high functioning Autism. I checked the car, kitchen, my room, all the places I last remember seeing Aaron. After saying a quick prayer, I loaded the kids up and headed back to Albertsons to see if he dropped it out in the parking lot. I knew the odds were great that the phone was in the house, but I still wanted to rule this out. Got back to Albertsons, and nope no one turned in a phone from the parking lot. Loaded the kids back into the car and headed home. Five minutes after we got home, Aaron yells at me that he found my phone. It was on the bathroom counter. He must of gone to the bathroom and put the phone down. I thanked him happily for finding the phone and told him next time to just give the phone to me. Hopefully he will remember that. Now both crisis adverted, I can finally sit back and enjoy the awesomeness of my savings. And they are truly Awesome!
Let's start with Kroger. Kroger still has milk for 99 cents a gallon, but they are also having another buy any 10 participating items and get $5 off sale. Checked my coupons and was able to find enough coupons to get me the 10 items for a fairly good price. If you still have your 50 cents off of 1 bag of Nerds, then you can get that bag for under a $1. I got some cream cheese for under a dollar and Capri Sun for 99 cents. But my favorite deal was for the Nestle cookie dough. If you get your ten items, the final sales price for the cookie dough will be $1.99. I did have a coupon for $1 off of any 2 Nestle cookie dough, but while I was picking out my dough, there were some that had a coupon on the package for $1 off of 1. So I tucked my $1 off of 2 coupon back into the purse and choose 2 cookie dough that had the $1 off of 1 coupon on it. So I ended up getting the cookie dough for 99 cents each! I did not spend a whole lot at Kroger. I spent $19.71 and saved $25.00. A savings of 55%.
I saved the best for last. Albertsons has some killer sales going on this week. Eggs for 79 cents, Quaker products on sale and we also have a coupon from the flier too, plus the Conagra promo sale. Frozen bags of Tilapia are buy one get 2 free, so for $8.99 you get 3 one pound bags of fish. Evaporated milk is on sale for a dollar and we have coupons for 50 cents off of 2. I know it's not free, but since I'm low I went ahead and paid the 50 cents per can for some evaporated milk. I use it in almost everything from Mac and Cheese to soups. The Conagra sale was selected Conagra products were on sale for $1 and if you buy 10 of those items, then you get 3 free. Act II popcorn, Hunts canned tomatoes, Wolf brand chili, Chef Boyardee pasta, and Hunts pasta sauce were some items that were on the sale. Since I had coupons for only the popcorn, canned tomatoes, and chili, those were the ones that I bought. I had 2 coupons for 40 cents off of any Act II popcorn, two 45 cents off of any 3 Hunts canned tomatoes, and one 75 cents off of 3 Wolf brand chili. That saves on 11 sale items. I still had 2 more to go. I did not have any other coupons to use, so I decided to get 2 more boxes of popcorn since we will need it for Family Movie Night on Friday. Albertsons double the popcorn and tomato coupons. After everything was taken off, I paid $5.85 for all 13 items. That is 45 cents per item!
Another item on sale are the big cans of Libby canned veggies. I still had two $1 off of any 3 Libby canned veggies. The sale price is 88 cents per can. Since these are the big cans, that is not a bad price. So I got 6 cans and used both of my coupons to pay $3.28 for all six, which if you do the math, is about 55 cents per can. Ragu past sauce is on sale for $1.88 each. I had three 30 cents off of 1 Ragu sauce coupons that are expiring on Sunday. I decided why not use them and tuck the jars away for a rainy day. Albertsons tripled all three coupons and I paid 98 cents per jar.
My absolutely favorite deal of the week was the Quaker deal going on at Albertsons. In this week's flier, there were two coupons for $3 off of any 5 Quaker items. Albertsons has Quaker items on sale this week and if you use just the coupon from the flier, you will either pay $1 or $1.50 per item. From past experiences, I know I can also put my other Quaker coupons on top of this. For example, the Quaker Chewy granola bars are for a $1 if you use your $3 off of 5 coupon. I have another coupon for $1 off of 2 Quaker Chewy granola bars. Albertsons took my coupon and I ended up paying 50 cents per box. I also did this with a 75 cents off of any 1 Quaker Delights to bring the final price down to a quarter, and a 75 cents off of any Quaker instant oatmeal to make it 75 cents a box. Too bad I did not have any Quaker cereal coupons. Life and Captain Crunch is a dollar a box using the flier coupon, still not a bad price to pay for cereal. After I got my 10 Quaker items, I got ten since there are two $3 off of 5 coupons in the flier, I ended up paying $7.30 for all 10 items. That makes each item 73 cents each! I spent $38.37 and saved $82.38. Yes that is right, $82.38 at one store! I'm thinking that the Albertsons receipt is going in my receipt hall of fame.
After it was all said and done, I spent $58.08 and got $165.46 worth of groceries! I saved $107.38 which is a HUGE savings! I have never saved that much at Wallymart in one month, let alone one week! Savings like this, just make the stress from the earlier crisis go away.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
This weeks deals
Another week has gone by, and it's grocery shopping day at my household. This week there were not too many big deals going on, but there where enough for me to shop at all three of my grocery stores.
I started out with Kroger today. I mainly went there because Springdale milk is 99 cents a gallon. I also needed tomatoes and lettuce. The Roma tomatoes were 88 cents a pound and the lettuce was 99 cents a head. Kroger did have All Free and Clear on sale for $2.99. We received $1 off of any one All product in Sunday's paper. I decided to use all three of my coupons and got my All for $1.99 each. The best deal I got at Kroger was the Campbell condensed soups. The Campbell condensed soups were on sale for a dollar a piece. This included the Healthy Request soups too. I still had 40 cents off of 4 for any Campbell condensed soup and a 50 cents off of 2 Healthy Request Campbell condensed soup. I checked Shortcuts and there were new electronic coupons for Campbell soups. $1.50 off of 4 Healthy Request soups and $1 off of 2 any condensed soups. Kroger doubled both of my manufacturing coupons and applied both electronic coupons towards the 6 cans of soup that I bought. In the end, I paid $1.70 for all 6 cans! That is about 28 cents per can! I did do well at Kroger today. I paid just over $25 and saved $34.58, a savings of 58%!
Albertsons was next on my list. Albertsons has a coupon for Sara Lee Classic White bread for 99 cents a loaf, with a limit of 2 loaves. Albertsons also has Gain dish soap for 99 cents. I still had two $1 off of one Gain dish soap coupons that were expiring today. I used both of them and got 2 FREE dish soaps! My favorite deal at Albertsons was the Yoplait deal. If you buy 20 Yoplaits, then you will get $3 dollars off the final price. This made each yogurt about 35 cents each. Well we have tons of Yoplait coupons from prior Sunday papers. I had two 40 cents off of 6 and one 50 cents off of 8 Yoplait coupons. Albertsons doubled all three coupons and I ended up paying 22 cents per yogurt! I spent $13.87 and saved $17.47! Well on my way for a great shopping experience.
Finally was Tom Thumb. I needed cereal really bad this week since the kids ate all the cereal by Tuesday. Kroger did have Post cereal for $1.98 a box, but I felt like I could do better. Tom Thumb has a coupon for Kelloggs Special K cereals for $1.99 a box with a limit of four. I also had two coupons for $1 off of any 2 Special K cereals. So that dropped the price to $1.49 a box. Not bad for this week, but I have done better in prior weeks. I did check out the Post at Tom Thumb, since I still had coupons for buy any 2 Post Fruity Pebble cereals and get a box of Fruity Pebbles with marshmallows for free. Tom Thumb is the only store so far that has the new Fruity Pebbles with marshmallows. Post was on sale for $2.79 a box. I decided since I really do need cereal to give it a try. I bought the two boxes for $2.79 each and when I checked out, the scanner took off $4 for the third box instead of the sale price of $2.79! So I bought 3 boxes of Post cereals for $4.37, which make it about $1.46 a box. I did buy other items at Tom Thumb, but the cereal deals were the best in my book. I spent $27.20 and saved $28.23. Not as good as the other stores, but still a 51% savings.
After it was all said and done, I spent $66.09 and got $146.37 worth of groceries. I saved $80.28, a savings of over 50%! Not a bad job, considering there were not too many items on sale this week that I had coupons for.
I started out with Kroger today. I mainly went there because Springdale milk is 99 cents a gallon. I also needed tomatoes and lettuce. The Roma tomatoes were 88 cents a pound and the lettuce was 99 cents a head. Kroger did have All Free and Clear on sale for $2.99. We received $1 off of any one All product in Sunday's paper. I decided to use all three of my coupons and got my All for $1.99 each. The best deal I got at Kroger was the Campbell condensed soups. The Campbell condensed soups were on sale for a dollar a piece. This included the Healthy Request soups too. I still had 40 cents off of 4 for any Campbell condensed soup and a 50 cents off of 2 Healthy Request Campbell condensed soup. I checked Shortcuts and there were new electronic coupons for Campbell soups. $1.50 off of 4 Healthy Request soups and $1 off of 2 any condensed soups. Kroger doubled both of my manufacturing coupons and applied both electronic coupons towards the 6 cans of soup that I bought. In the end, I paid $1.70 for all 6 cans! That is about 28 cents per can! I did do well at Kroger today. I paid just over $25 and saved $34.58, a savings of 58%!
Albertsons was next on my list. Albertsons has a coupon for Sara Lee Classic White bread for 99 cents a loaf, with a limit of 2 loaves. Albertsons also has Gain dish soap for 99 cents. I still had two $1 off of one Gain dish soap coupons that were expiring today. I used both of them and got 2 FREE dish soaps! My favorite deal at Albertsons was the Yoplait deal. If you buy 20 Yoplaits, then you will get $3 dollars off the final price. This made each yogurt about 35 cents each. Well we have tons of Yoplait coupons from prior Sunday papers. I had two 40 cents off of 6 and one 50 cents off of 8 Yoplait coupons. Albertsons doubled all three coupons and I ended up paying 22 cents per yogurt! I spent $13.87 and saved $17.47! Well on my way for a great shopping experience.
Finally was Tom Thumb. I needed cereal really bad this week since the kids ate all the cereal by Tuesday. Kroger did have Post cereal for $1.98 a box, but I felt like I could do better. Tom Thumb has a coupon for Kelloggs Special K cereals for $1.99 a box with a limit of four. I also had two coupons for $1 off of any 2 Special K cereals. So that dropped the price to $1.49 a box. Not bad for this week, but I have done better in prior weeks. I did check out the Post at Tom Thumb, since I still had coupons for buy any 2 Post Fruity Pebble cereals and get a box of Fruity Pebbles with marshmallows for free. Tom Thumb is the only store so far that has the new Fruity Pebbles with marshmallows. Post was on sale for $2.79 a box. I decided since I really do need cereal to give it a try. I bought the two boxes for $2.79 each and when I checked out, the scanner took off $4 for the third box instead of the sale price of $2.79! So I bought 3 boxes of Post cereals for $4.37, which make it about $1.46 a box. I did buy other items at Tom Thumb, but the cereal deals were the best in my book. I spent $27.20 and saved $28.23. Not as good as the other stores, but still a 51% savings.
After it was all said and done, I spent $66.09 and got $146.37 worth of groceries. I saved $80.28, a savings of over 50%! Not a bad job, considering there were not too many items on sale this week that I had coupons for.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
My Weekly Deals
Once again it's Thursday and I'm ready with kids and coupons in tow to save some money. Today I went to Kroger and Tom Thumb. I know what you are thinking, what about Albertsons that I love so much. Well unfortunately, the only thing that Albertsons has on sale that I could use are apples. The items on my grocery list I can I get cheaper at the other two stores, but I still love you Albertsons.
I saved the most today at Tom Thumb. Both Tom Thumb and Kroger have selected General Mills cereals for $1.99 or $1.98 a box. I chose to get the majority of my cereal at Tom Thumb because, my Coupons.com app applies their electronic coupons only to my Tom Thumb card. I also had a decent cereal coupon for $1.50 off of 3 boxes of any General Mills cereal that I could only use at Tom Thumb. My other coupons are a dollar off of three boxes. I checked my Shortcuts and Cellfire coupons to see if there are any coupons that I can use. I had two, one for Multi-grain Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. These were on sale for $1.99. I was able to get a box of Multi-grain Cheerios for 74 cents! This was because my Shortcuts coupon was 75 cents off of one box of Multi-grain Cheerios. I got my Cinnamon Toast Crunch for 94 cents. My Shortcuts coupon was 55 cents off of a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Since I did not have anymore Cellfire or Shortcuts cereal coupons, I ended up getting a box of Lucky Charms for $1.49. My favorite deal of the week was for Campbell condensed soups. This week, Tom Thumb has the Campbell's condensed soups for a dollar a can. Last Sunday, we received coupons for 40 cents off of 4 Campbell condensed soups. I checked my Coupons.com app and there was a $1.49 off of any 4 Campbell condensed soup electronic coupon. Tom Thumb doubled my 40 cents coupon and applied the electronic coupon to drop my price to $1.71 for all four cans! That is about 42 cents a can! My next favorite deal was the whole fryer chickens Tom Thumb has for 59 cents a pound. I paid $2.73 for a chicken over four and a half pounds! At that price, I bought two. Herb rubbed roast chicken is on the menu for tomorrow. For anyone out there that loves Silk Almond Milk, Tom Thumb has a coupon to make Silk products $1.99 for a half gallon. Since in Sunday's paper I got a $2 off of 2 Silk Almond Milk coupon, I was able to get 2 half gallons for 99 cents each! In the end, I paid $28.62 and saved $45.76! That is a savings for 62% from just one store! Totally made my day!
My last stop was at Kroger. We are having salad to go with the herb rubbed chicken tomorrow, and Kroger has Roma tomatoes on sale for 88 cents a pound. I also bought five pomegranates for a dollar a piece. Kroger also has General Mills cereals for $1.98 a box. So if you do not have a Tom Thumb, then you can do what I did above at Kroger. Kroger also has Post cereals for $1.98 a box. I had a Kroger coupon for a dollar off of 2 Post cereals. Since we are completely out of cereal at my house, I thought why not get some Honey Bunches of Oats for Rob. Kroger has Sara Lee bread on sale for 98 cents a loaf. I decided to buy 2 loaves and use one for tonight's dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, using 2 of my Progresso Hearty Tomato soup cans from my pantry. Trying to remember to rotate my food supply to make room for more. Overall I find it harder to get a 50% or greater savings per week at Kroger, but I did save 47%. I spent $31.99 and saved $27.11.
In the end, I spent $60.61 and bought $133.48 worth of groceries. That is a savings of $72.87! Much more than a 50% savings! I think this was a great shopping experience!
I saved the most today at Tom Thumb. Both Tom Thumb and Kroger have selected General Mills cereals for $1.99 or $1.98 a box. I chose to get the majority of my cereal at Tom Thumb because, my Coupons.com app applies their electronic coupons only to my Tom Thumb card. I also had a decent cereal coupon for $1.50 off of 3 boxes of any General Mills cereal that I could only use at Tom Thumb. My other coupons are a dollar off of three boxes. I checked my Shortcuts and Cellfire coupons to see if there are any coupons that I can use. I had two, one for Multi-grain Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. These were on sale for $1.99. I was able to get a box of Multi-grain Cheerios for 74 cents! This was because my Shortcuts coupon was 75 cents off of one box of Multi-grain Cheerios. I got my Cinnamon Toast Crunch for 94 cents. My Shortcuts coupon was 55 cents off of a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Since I did not have anymore Cellfire or Shortcuts cereal coupons, I ended up getting a box of Lucky Charms for $1.49. My favorite deal of the week was for Campbell condensed soups. This week, Tom Thumb has the Campbell's condensed soups for a dollar a can. Last Sunday, we received coupons for 40 cents off of 4 Campbell condensed soups. I checked my Coupons.com app and there was a $1.49 off of any 4 Campbell condensed soup electronic coupon. Tom Thumb doubled my 40 cents coupon and applied the electronic coupon to drop my price to $1.71 for all four cans! That is about 42 cents a can! My next favorite deal was the whole fryer chickens Tom Thumb has for 59 cents a pound. I paid $2.73 for a chicken over four and a half pounds! At that price, I bought two. Herb rubbed roast chicken is on the menu for tomorrow. For anyone out there that loves Silk Almond Milk, Tom Thumb has a coupon to make Silk products $1.99 for a half gallon. Since in Sunday's paper I got a $2 off of 2 Silk Almond Milk coupon, I was able to get 2 half gallons for 99 cents each! In the end, I paid $28.62 and saved $45.76! That is a savings for 62% from just one store! Totally made my day!
My last stop was at Kroger. We are having salad to go with the herb rubbed chicken tomorrow, and Kroger has Roma tomatoes on sale for 88 cents a pound. I also bought five pomegranates for a dollar a piece. Kroger also has General Mills cereals for $1.98 a box. So if you do not have a Tom Thumb, then you can do what I did above at Kroger. Kroger also has Post cereals for $1.98 a box. I had a Kroger coupon for a dollar off of 2 Post cereals. Since we are completely out of cereal at my house, I thought why not get some Honey Bunches of Oats for Rob. Kroger has Sara Lee bread on sale for 98 cents a loaf. I decided to buy 2 loaves and use one for tonight's dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, using 2 of my Progresso Hearty Tomato soup cans from my pantry. Trying to remember to rotate my food supply to make room for more. Overall I find it harder to get a 50% or greater savings per week at Kroger, but I did save 47%. I spent $31.99 and saved $27.11.
In the end, I spent $60.61 and bought $133.48 worth of groceries. That is a savings of $72.87! Much more than a 50% savings! I think this was a great shopping experience!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Organizing your pantry
Since I have been doing coupons, I have accumulated quite a bit of dry and canned goods over the years. After going to Kroger this morning to pick up some milk and more Libby canned veggies for 17 cents a can, I realized that it was time to reorganize my pantry. I find that I have to reorganize my pantry about twice a year.
A couple of years ago, I came to the realization that the two small cabinets that I was using to store my dry and canned items were just not cutting it anymore. My mother had a wonderful suggestion to help me find space for my food. She suggested that I take my linen closest, in the kitchen hallway by my bedroom door, and make it into a pantry. A decision that has benefited my family, by allowing me to have more room for more food. Something we desperately need since there are 6 of us.
Now after three years of using coupons, I find that if I do not organize my pantry every six months that I tend to run out of room in my pantry. After six months, cans tend to be placed where ever I can find a space and instead of being placed by other like canned food. In my pantry I try to keep all my canned items in the middle since that is where I have the most space. Up top, I place my dry items like rice, pasta, taco shells, etc. In the bottom where the hamper used to be, I place my big bulk items like my 25lb bags of all-purpose flour and bread flour, and my home made canned fruit.
Today I started my reorganizing efforts with my canned food. This is were I tend to get into trouble when it comes to keeping my pantry organized. I try to keep my like canned foods together and line them up from furthest away from the expiration date in the back to the one closest to expiring in the front. This method is recommended when doing food storage. That way you can keep your food rotating and not having any go to waste. It also lets me take inventory of what items I have plenty of and what I need to stock up on.
Today I noticed that I have more than enough canned diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. So I organized those cans together and made a note that I do not need to buy anymore tomato product for at least 6 months. Next I saw that I had more than enough canned corn, green beans, and mixed veggies to last me until Spring. Most of those I bought within the past week!
I did notice that I had only 4 cans of evaporated milk left and it was getting close to the expiration date. I'm not too worried about running out, since in about a month is when I tend to stock up on evaporated milk for the year. In October, is when the coupons come out for evaporated milk and around Thanksgiving is when Kroger has sales for evaporated milk too. Last year I got all my evaporated milk for free. I also saw that I am low on chicken broth and condensed soups that I like to use for cooking. Good thing that for the last couple weeks, we have been getting Campbell's condensed soup coupons in the Sunday paper. Now I just need to wait for a sale to come around for me to stock up. Here soon we should be getting the Swanson Broth coupons. During the winter months is the best time to stock up for the year on my beef and chicken broths. If in a pinch, I do keep extra chicken thighs in the freezer for me to use to make homemade chicken broth. Which in my opinion is far superior than the stuff you get at the store, but I just don't have the time to make that much broth and freeze it.
After reorganizing my cans, I moved next to my dry goods. That was not too hard. Most of the items were where they needed to be, I just had to put the pasta together and throw away any expired items. I did spend some time reorganizing my condiments. I used to have these by my canned items, but since I needed the space, I had to move them up top with the dry goods.
The last thing was to organize the bulk items, but since I only have a couple of these, I did not have to do this. Took inventory of my homemade canned fruit and saw that I was out of pickles and running low on canned peaches. I guess next time I go to my parent's house, I can pick some up.
Overall, it only took me an hour to redo the pantry. Not too bad since last time I redid the pantry, it took me all morning. You will find that the longer you coupon and the more items you pick up, the more you need an organized pantry. It makes life easier, especially when you are planning dinner and need to make sure you have all the ingredients. Just doing mine today, gave me ideas for meals I can do during the week. It is also nice to open the doors and see just how much food I have to feed my family and know that it was not expensive to accumulate it too.
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