Walgreens Deals Next Week

It looks like Walgreens will be the deal winner for next week (although I haven't seen Rite Aid's ad yet).  Here's some of what I'm looking at for next week.

• Ghiradelli/Lindt/Dove Bars 2/$3 - $1 (Ghiradelli)Walgreens coupon = 2/$2
• Cottenelle Fresh Wipes 42ct $1.99 w/ in ad coupon - Free Cottenell coupon received in mail = FREE
• Epsom Salt 6lb - $3.99
• Ricola .99 - .50walgreen coupon = .49 - Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon = FREE
• Schick ST & Extreme 3 (4pk) BOGO ($3 off coupon on Extreme 3 x2)= around Free to $1/2
• Pantene $2/7 - $2RR = 2/$5 -$1/2 coupon (10/31 paper) = 2/$4

Get More Coupons!

If you print your own coupons , you've probably run across the "print limit reached" message.  What I've figured out is that on each site you can usually only print 2 of the same coupon at a time.  Then you have to wait for however long for the coupons to reset (I haven't figured out how long yet).  I have figured out how to get more than 2 coupons for those things you want to stock up on.

1. Multiple computers - If you have more than one computer in your house print the maximum allowed coupons from each computer (in my house this = 6 coupons).

2. Multiple Websites - One of the coupons I've been trying to stock up on lately is the Yoplait Frozen Smoothies.  They are on sale at Kroger as part of their Frozen Foods Event for $1.99 and with the $1off coupon that is available on Coupons.com as well as the Yoplait website, that means .99 each.  I have found that not only can you often find the same coupons available on Coupons.com or the other major coupon sites on the manufacterer website, but there are also often sites that use the same coupon base (ie. coupons.com) but not the same tracking cookie, allowing you to still print the coupons off of those sites, even after you've hit your limit on the others.

For Coupons.com coupons, be sure to also check http://www.couponbug.com
For Smartsource coupons, also check http://www.coolsavings.com/printablecoupons.php

Another option for coupons that you see in the paper, if you don't want to buy multiple copies of the paper to get more than one coupon, is to go to Ebay.  There are many folks there who will sell you bundles of specific (or random) coupons for as low as .99 for the bundle.  I just picked up 20 coupons for Marie Calendars frozen meals for just .99 on there (including shipping).

First GiveAway Winner!

Ashley is the winner of my first GiveAway!  Thanks Ashley for following my blog.

Awesome Carnation Instant Breakfast Coupon

Nestle has some great new coupons posted when you register on their site.  We love Carnation Instant Breakfast and finding good coupons on that stuff seems only slightly easier than finding it on sale (something we have yet to see).  The best coupons we'd gotten had always been the ones printed at the Kroger register when we buy it and those were usually along the lines of $1.50 off of 3.  Right now on the Nestle website they have $1 off of 1 Carnation Instant Breakfast, as well as quite a few others including Nestle cookie dough, Stoufers and others.

This Weeks Deals

Here are the deals I'm looking forward to this week.  CVS was rather disappointing, so nothing there. But.....

Rite Aid

• Aveeno Shampoo 5.99 - 1+UP - $4/1 VV coupon - $1/1 online coupon (from Aveeno website) = FREE
• Nivea Lotion 5.99 - $5+UP - $1/1 coupon (available online) = FREE
• Got2B - $2/1 VV coupon - $2/1 from AllYou coupon - $1/any purchase VV coupon = 2 for FREE

Walgreens

• Kleenex 89c - .50/3 coupon = .72 each
• Airwick Candle - 3.99 - $2/1 coupn - $1RR = .99
• Selson Blue Medicated 7.99-$1in store coupon = $6.99
• Axe Body Wash $3.99-BOGO coupon = 2/$3.99

GiveAway: Random Coupons

Over $50 in coupons including formula, snacks, health & beauty, candy, batteries & much more. Plus a few sample size products.  I'm still adding coupons through this weekend's paper.

For a chance to win, just follow my blog and then post a comment on this post.  All entries must be posted by midnight on Tuesday Oct. 26.  I'll choose a winner at random on Wednesday, Oct 27.

I think I'm finally learning how to add

I've not had an issue with going over budget since we started doing the budget and envelope system, but at the same time I've had a time or two where I've been surprised by how much my total was when I got to the register.  I usually do one to two grocery trips in a week, depending on the sales.  Since Kroger runs Sun-Sat and Publix runs Wed-Tues, it's easy to compare them against each other and make sure I'm getting the best deals all around.  If things are even, I'll usually get them at Publix since from what I've seen on the things we buy the most their prices are about equal but since Publix doubles coupons (and our Krogers don't) and since I have a stack of $5 off coupons (ranging from $5/25 to $5/$50) that I can also use at Publix, Publix wins.  The last few weeks I've been spending less and less at Kroger.  Actually, I've been spending less and less at both stores but getting more and more.

Today I went to Publix.  We are at the end of our budget period and our envelopes get replenished tomorrow, BUT I won't have a chance to get to the grocery store again for a week or so, so I was a little more limited in what I could spend.  With that in mind, I didn't want to go to ring out and find that I didn't have enough in my envelope to pay for everything. So, my goal was to have everything in my basket total to less than what I had in my envelope BEFORE I used any coupons.  I did go over just a tad but it was because I had picked up a 6pk of beer for my hubby. I knew it was going to push it over but I also knew I'd be fine when it was all said and done.

I'm also getting a lot better about planning my trips out before I leave the house and knowing exactly what I'm going to get.  One thing that helps is waiting a little into the sale period to get some feedback from others on items that might not be advertised but are on sale.  For instance, this week at Publix Campbell's Chunky soup bowls are in sale for $1.29 but they aren't advertised.  My hubby enjoys these for his lunch during the week and I have quite a few coupons ranging from .50/1 to $2/4, so I picked up 8 for him to get him through the next couple of weeks.  I also went through my coupons one last time before I left the house to make sure I was using the best ones and in the process I noticed a coupon that was about to expire for Carnation Instant breakfast.  We both drink this stuff just about every day but I've yet to see it on sale and never see any coupons for it except the ones that print out at Kroger.  I had one of these from Kroger that was set to expire tomorrow, so I went ahead and used it at Publix and stocked us up on the stuff.

My Favorite Publix Deals This Week:

• Nestle cookie dough BOGO @ 2.89, paired with 2 $1/1 coupons = 2/.89
• Yo Crunch yogurt @2.69 (coupon in in store ad for BOGO, paired with 2/$1 coupons = 2/.69
• Betty Crocker supreme brownie mix BOGO @ 2.69 (paired with $1/2 coupon) = 2/$1.69
• Pepperidge Farms Cookies BOGO @ $3.39 (paired with 2 $1/1 coupons) = 2/$1.39
• Glade Scented Candles 2/$4 (paired with $1.50/2 coupon) = 2/$2.50

The hardest part seems to be finding room for the overstock, but we are making that work too.

This may be the dumbest article ever! 8 Reasons Why You Should Coupon

Obviously written by someone who doesn't use coupons and has no clue what is available or how much using coupons could save them (in both time and money).

8 Reasons why Using Coupons is a Bad Idea

1. You don't have to buy a newspaper.  Even if you do you can use online listings like Sunday Coupon Preview to find out what coupons will be in the paper before you buy it and determine if it will be worthwhile to buy 1 or 10.  You can do coupons without ever buying a newspaper at all now and only get the coupons for items you will use thanks to all the online sites like Coupons.com , Redplum.com and SmartSource.com

2. Clipping Coupons Takes Time... yes, yes it does.  But, for me it's time I would otherwise just be randomly surfing Facebook while watching tv.  The bulk of the time I spend regarding coupons actually revolves around doing our grocery list and matching coupons to the list.  However, in the few weeks we've been doing this we've found that we are not only saving on average of $50 week on groceries because of this effort... but in addition to that savings we have actually cut down our grocery bill as well.  So we are spending a lot less and getting a lot MORE at the grocery store.

3. I'm trying to figure out how getting a newspaper increases the advertising that comes to your home, especially if you don't have the newspaper delivered.  Even if you do, and your local newspaper sells your address for marketing purposes... that's what a recycle bin is for.

4. True, more of the coupons are for things we are not likely to buy than are for things we will buy.  This goes back to my earlier statement about finding out what coupons are in the paper before you buy it and determining if the value is actually there.  I've also found that as we've used coupons more we are becoming less slave to particular brands.  There are some things neither of us will settle on (Kraft Mac & Cheese, toilet paper, my razors, etc) but many other things where it really doesn't matter what brand we use, we were just used to buying particular brands and kept doing it.  Sometimes another brand is cheaper without a coupon and an item we have a coupon for... in that case we buy the cheaper brand and I leave the coupon behind for someone who is more picky. 

So what to do with all those extra coupons?

• Pass them on to a friend who will use them.
• Give them to a shelter (I don't plan to change the brand of food I feed my cats or get dogs any time soon, so I'll pass all the pet coupons on to someone I know who works at a shelter and pet sits.
• Leave them at the grocery store for someone who will use them.  I've often taken a coupon to the store only to find another item was cheaper without a coupon. I just leave the coupon on the shelf for someone else.
• Hang onto it.  If it's a type of product you use but not your usual brand, you may find that at some point a sale combined with the coupon will make the item free, and therefor worth trying a new brand.  Even if you won't use the item and it's free with the sale and coupon, you can always pick it up and donate it to a food bank or shelter.
• Join or create a coupon exchange (find other couponers online or via your church or some other group and swap out coupons).

 5. Ok, Sometimes the coupons do tempt me to buy things I know aren't good for me that I might not buy otherwise.  Chances are I'd buy them anyway, I just wouldn't get as good a deal, or I might not have bought them right then.  We found that was our biggest problem with grocery shopping before. We'd buy whatever we wanted right then.  This often left us not having things we wanted later.  Can't make that favorite dish for dinner, we only have half the ingredients. I'd love a piece of chocolate but we don't have any, etc.  Shopping with a purpose, allows us to buy more for much less and have things on hand when we need/want them, rather than running to the grocery store every other day for things we forgot.

6. The Great News is that the same coupons are often offered over and over again.  This is also true of certain sales.  In the short time I've been watching the sales, I can already predict that the Soy Milk my hubby drinks will be on sale BOGO at Publix about every 3rd week.  Which is just about perfect considering how much of it he drinks.  Coupons tend to work the same way.  The trick is to stock up on the coupons that you will use and match them to those sales.

7. Yes, once you train yourself to use coupons and shop sales, it does become very difficult to go back to buying things at full price.  The great news is that you really don't have to, if you stock up.  And if by chance you get a craving for something you rarely ever buy and it's not on sale and/or you don't have a coupon don't make yourself suffer.  Just get it. You have to treat yourself occasionally.  But, chances are if you are paying attention you'll have whatever you want at a discount just about every time.

8. Shopping Actually Goes Quicker.  Because we now go to the store with a set list and coupons to match the list, we get out of the stores much quicker.  We used to linger wondering what to buy, each of us adding things.  Even if we had a list we didn't stick to it.  Now, we go in with a list and we get the items on the list and we are done.  It goes even quicker if you know your stores layout and can organize your list based on the layout of the store so you don't have to double back to things you forgot.

Kroger Deals!

We saved almost as much as we spent tonight.

The best deals were...

• 5 Yoplait Frozen Smoothies ($2.50 each)
• 2 Marie Callendar Steam Meals (2.28 each)
• 2 Marie Callendar Pot Pies (1.89 each)
• 1 Mayfield Ice Cream (2.99)

Total:  23.83
-$5 for Frozen Food Event = $18.83
Used...

• 5 $1/1 Yoplait Smoothies from coupons.com
• 2 $1/1 Marie Callendars Steamers (from Marie Callendars website)
• $1/2 Marie Callendar pot pies

Total: 10.83

Walgreens Awesome Trip

My hubby doesn't usually go with me to my drugstore runs but I'd had issues earlier in the week and hadn't managed to get Walgreens checked off my list, so we went on the way to Kroger tonight.  The whole time I was putting things in the basket, he kept asking "How much are you spending?".  "Not much.".  I think he was surprised at just how little.

We got...

• Tylenol Precise Patches - 4.99
• Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup (.79 after Walgreens in-ad coupon)
• 2 Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup (.79 each after Walgreens in-ad coupon)
• Dawn dish detergent (.99 after in-ad coupon)
• 2 Glade candles (2/$4 after in-ad coupon)
• Puffs facial tissue (.99 after in-ad coupon)
• 2 Nivea for Men body wash (on sale 2/$5)

Used...

• $2 Tylenol Precise coupon from tear pad
• $1.50 off 2 Glade Candle
• $1.50 off 3 Campbell's "great for cooking" soups
• $3 off Nivea for Men
• $2 off Nivea body wash
• $2 Register Rewards

OOP = 6.24

This is one of those trips where a picture is really worthwhile, but, of course, my camera battery decided to die.