Black Friday -- oops!

OK, I totally blew it. I forgot I even had a blog for the last week! And to think I left you all hanging on the biggest shopping day of the year too! Well, my one consolation to myslef is that I have tried to focus on groceries with this blog. As I'm sure you've noticed, I don't talk about other sale items. I figure groceries are one thing in life we NEED -- the others are "wants" and I don't want to tell you how to spend your money there. We just all try to be good stewards with all we're given while trying to let our families feel special at this time of year too. And that is TRICKY! At least I think it is. I love seeing my kids smile and enjoy gifts throughout the year, but it's hard knowing I'm spending money on more toys (and things of the like) rather than paying down mortgages or giving the money away.





"Black Friday" has usually been the day where I buy gifts for our kids to last almost every special event through the year. This year Nathan and I were going to buy a second laptop too (for the farm). So we hit WalMart then came home.



So since I missed telling you all the good deals out there, let me just say this -- Between now and the end of January is a really good time to buy basically all the "extra" kid stuff for the year. The sales are great before AND after Christmas. I always buy wrapping paper after Christmas for the next year too. Why pay full price when you can get it 50-75% off??



So sad as it may be, that's the only shopping advice I have for you here. I'll continue to post the free or nearly free grocery deals I find -- or let you know when I am going grocery shopping. I actually have not bought groceries since last week (except 1 gallon of milk).

FREE Toll House Cookie Dough

Surely by now you know my favorite price for anything is FREE --
So if you head to Bloomington for your free veggies tomorrow (or until next Wed.) make sure you stop by Target to get your free cookie dough. Here's what to do:

Transaction #1:

Buy 1 package of Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough at $1.96
Use $1/1 printable coupon
Spend $0.96 plus tax out of pocket, Get back a Target coupon good for $1 off your next purchase of cookie dough

Transaction #2:

Buy 1 Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough at $1.96
Use $1/1 printable coupon
Stack with $1/1 Target catalina coupon received on your previous order
Spend $0.00 out of pocket, Get another $1/1 Target Nestle Cookie Dough coupon

Repeat until you’ve stocked up (transaction details compliments of Moneysavingmom.com)

I love being ablel to combine shopping trips -- makes the gas $$ better spent!! Enjoy your cookies :)
ps - these freeze really well -- last time I bought premade cookie dough was the first time I ever have, it was 0.25/each so I bought 8-10 and froze them. I still have one in the freezer and they have all come out fine so far. Just FYI.

Jewel Deals 11/18-25

Jewel is having a savings event similar to Krogers this week (buy 10 items, get $5 off) but the Jewel sale includes FREE GREEN GIANT VEGGIES!

Sale price after instant savings is 0.50, but use the 0.50 coupon HERE to get them free. This is the same link I posted last time, so if you already printed yours, you'll have to find a new computer to print from. My print limit is already reached so it's time to get creative :)

Other good deals are: (price listed after savings)
Ragu pasta sauce - 0.99
Blue Bonnet - 0.49
Ritz crackers - $1.99

That's all I see worth buying, but if you're heading to Bloomington, make sure you grab your free veggies!
Couponingfor4 has a complete list of Jewel's sales this week so head on over to her if you want to see more. These are just the items that I think are a price worth paying.

KROGER 11/11-17

Krogers has a decent Mega event this week too (same as last week)
I went yesterday and got quite a few groceries to re-stock after our flu. I LOVE being stocked with groceries for times like that -- we already had Gatorade, soup, jell-o & crackers on hand that I bought for rock-bottom prices.
Kroger this week has Gatorade for 0.49 after the Mega 10 discount.
Annie's mac & cheese (organic, and VERY good) - $0.49
Quaker oatmeal - $2.19 (i had the $2 Q left from a while back - so used those making it 0.19)
Quaker granola bars - $1.49 (great deal if you have any 0.50 q's to double! - I had one)
Jell-O (lg boxes) - 0.79 each

Not part of the mega event:
Bananas 0.39/lb
I stocked up on boxes of Chex for $1 - used a rain check I got 2 weeks ago + coupons.
Pillsbury sweet rolls are 2/$3 but you get $1 CAT when you buy 4. I had $1/2 coupons so they ended up being 0.50 each after coupons & CAT. We love to have these Sunday mornings for a special treat :0)

Jenno-O TURKEYS are 0.59/lb. I do not claim to be a turkey-pricing expert, but this seems like an excellent price to me. In fact, I bought 3 turkeys yesterday! We are hoping to have Nathan's cousins for a family Thanksgiving, one to make for my small family and then the third for a family retreat next summer (the turkeys don't "expire" until the end of next summer & I plan to be prepared!!)
Last year WalMart did have turkeys for ).50-60/lb but there were not very many and no substitutes. I recommend hitting up Kroger for yours as they even substituted another brand for me when I didn't see the size of Jennie-O turkey I wanted. I do love their customer service!

I think that's it for now! Hope your family stays well this holiday season!

IGA almost over

I have utterly failed you this week! My family had the puke-flu for about 8 days (one at a time we fell like dominoes -- except Anna & I) so I did NO shopping during that time & a LOT of laundry.

Well, if you checked IGA's add, obviously the front page is FULL OF GOOD DEALS this week! This is so rare for IGA I hope you all got in on the sales. I went Tuesday and they were already out of the powdered sugar and brown sugar. :( I'll check back tomorrow.

Anyway, basically all of the front page prices are really good -- and I would stock up (except the sugar -- I did buy one b/c it's a good price, but I prefer 0.99 for stocking up).

There are coupons for the $1/2 Nestle chocolate chips and $0.50/2 evaporated milk making them an even better price. If you do not have an IGA near you, remember WalMart matches any price (they are 2/$3)

Sorry there are only 2 days left on this one - i'm sure you all noticed the good prices, but may not have known about the coupons.

Free Folgers Sample

If you know Nathan & I -- you know we love our coffee! I am kind of a coffee snob and much prefer flavored coffee, but Nathan likes plain old Folgers or Maxwell House.

Go to Folger's Facebook page to request your FREE SAMPLE of their Special Roast.

It is so fun getting freebies in the mail!! And they often come with high $$ coupons too.

CVS 10/31-11/06

I found this post at commonsensewithmoney this morning:
This week you can get two free Oral B Battery operated toothbrushes at CVS with the following deal:

Buy two Oral-B Stages Power Toothbrush $4.99 each
Use two $3/1 Oral-B Battery Toothbrush 10/31/2010 P&G Insert (exp 11/30/2010)
Pay: $3.98 out of pocket and get back $4 Extra Care Bucks

What kid wouldn't LOVE to see a pooh, Cinderella or tigger toothbrush in their stocking? especially if it's BATTERY POWERED! maybe my kids are easily tickled, but trust me I need to find a way to get 3 of these, not just 2, or there will be fighting.

Also, Toy Story 3 DVD $19.99 Spend $25 in Select P&G Products get $16 off
I am not sure the best way to go about this, but there has to be something good here. For $28 (less any coupons you have) you get the Toy Story 3 movie and $25 of P&G products (T.P., batteries, Puffs, etc..) The only bummer I see here is that no ECBs are involved. So if you spend ECBs to do this deal, there's no turn-around.

Not much else at CVS this week unless you are a diabetic.

IGA 10/31-11/06

Here are a few deals at IGA this week (I am paying more attn to their ads now that I have my "beef coupon" -- looking for a sale to match).

$0.99 shredded or chunk cheese (my buy now price - except i still have a ton from the summer kraft sales)
$0.69 Bush's beans -- not as cheap as WalMart brand, but a good price for Bush's
$0.79 oyster crackers
$0.49 Banquet pot pies or fruit pies - 0.35/1 fruit pie q in a lot of SS inserts lately. Might be worth trying for $0.14!
3/$0.99 IGA chili seasoning pks
$1.99 IGA veg. oil (i usually buy if less than $2)

Then this weekend is another 3-day meat sale:
Really almost all of these are decent to good meat prices.
$1.88/lb ground beef - I was hoping for a smaller quantity sale to use my beef q's, but i'll have to check this out & see what the price breakdown is buying in bulk.
$1.99/lb boneless pork loin (I prefer closer to $1.69, but when you're out $1.99 is pretty good!)
Both steak prices are fair.
$2.49/lb slab bacon - that's a GREAT price for bacon, but I have been disappointed in the quality of this bacon in the past. Maybe it's through a different packer and will be better?

That's it for this week.
Happy sale hunting!

$2/1 Huggies

There is a new $2/1 coupon available now on coupons.com -- last time this one hit its print limit really quick, so I recommend printing it now if you want it.

Walgreens has Huggies for $7.99 with a $1 RR -- I do not think this is a great deal, but better than full price if you need diapers right now.

0.50/1 ground beef -- IGA!!

Now this is certainly a rare coupon!
Follow these instructions to play an instant win game and you will either win a cart of groceries or will be able to print your 0.50 coupon.

*Visit Souped-Up Suppers webpage
*Click on “Free Code Play“ at the bottom of the page
*Use the free code to Play the Game
*Type the name of a grocery store bear you in the “Grocer name” box - I checked the list of participating grocery stores and in our area the IGA is on there!! No kroger, jewel, schnucks or Walmart. In Chicago you probably have a few more options.
*Click “Check Your Code” (you either win a cart full of groceries or a $0.50 coupon).

Oh, this keeps getting better (i'm playing the game as i'm typing this) - the coupon is in PDF form!! That usually means you can LEGALLY print to your heart's content! I printed 9 b/c 3 coupons nicely fit on each page.
It is a bummer that Kroger wasn't on there b/c they would have doubled the q to $1, but it's nice to finally have a perk living near an IGA!! My next step will be to check out their beef prices - i have never purchased ground beef at the IGA before (truth's out) so I hope it's not terribly expensive. We don't have hogs on our farm right now and I am down to TWO POUNDS of ground pork so this couldn't come at a better time for us. :0) I do love it when I feel like the Lord is blessing us with our grocery shopping - trying to make those hard-earned $$ go a bit further. Let me know if you find a good deal with these.

Slow Days . . . .

Sorry for yet another week of no posts, but it's been a S-L-O-W week at the grocery stores. I know the IGA has had their coupon books the last 3 weeks, and have had some decent prices, but I think I have only used one coupon so far & didn't make any special trips.

Next week I will probably use the smoked sausage coupon b/c there is a manu. coupon that I can stack with it making the deal even better (from the paper a few weeks ago).


Not even CVS has been able to lure me in (except to buy milk one evening). This coming week at CVS has nothing special again -- one lady whose blog I follow for CVS even says it is a "dry and dull ad" this week. I agree.


Kroger is having another Mega Event right now. It is for frozen food and I am sure there are some good deals, but I have stocked up so much at Jewel the past month that we really don't need anything at all right now (except the basic parishables).


Jewel is even having a down week. ConAgra is doing an instant $2 savings WYB 10 items at $10/10 -- making them 10/$8, but that still means you are paying 0.80 per item (stuff like pudding packs, micro popcorn, manwich & soup).

Well I am officially exhausted so will sign off. Just wanted you to know I was still out there and will SURELY let you know when another great sale strikes, but until then it will probably be slow-going over here. Enjoy your Sunday :0)

Jewel-Osco 10/14-20

I know Bloomington is a long way away (about $8 in gas for us) but some sales are just worth it. Last week I went to Jewel twice to get in on the ConAgra CAT deal (i did get a ride one time). And last night Nathan & I packed up ALL 4 KIDS to head over there again -- this time for a General Mills CAT deal. We spent $11.20 saving 96% of our grocery bill.

This deal is very similar to the ConAgra one -- spend $25 (shelf price) get $10 CAT
Here are the scenarios I did last night:

7 Pillsbury Sweet Moments $17.50/$26.25
Use $1.50/1 coupons HERE to make this a moneymaker
Pay $7.50, get $10 CAT
OR
Use $1 from Coupons.com, or 9/12 GM insert
Pay $10.50, Get $10 CAT

I went to the library and printed as many $1.50 as I could from their computers, and printed from home so I was able to add in a large can of pumpkin so that the store would not owe me money. At Jewel you have to at least pay tax.

4 yoplait splitz $8/$11.80
7 Green Giant Boxed veggies $7/$14
use .50 splitz q from 09/12 or 10/03 GM insert OR
use .75/2 coupons from coupons.com
use 0.50 Green Giant veggie coupon (link below)

3 GM cereal (price spread varies - sale price is $2)
9 G.G. boxed veggies $9/$18
I had some $3/3 q's that i gathered over the summer, but there are 0.75/1 cheerio q's on coupons.com and a lot of $1/3 q's there too.
Use 0.50 G.G. veggie q from greengiant.com - i told you about this q a while ago, but it is still available. scroll down the page to the bottom right side and click on the coupon link. This q makes this scenario a money-maker too so I added in bags of chocolate chips or spaghetti sauce so I could still pay with my CAT from the previous transaction.

7 yoplait splitz
2 fruit snacks
used q's from coupons.com and from the GM inserts

Those are all the scenarios I did, but here are a few more I came up with:
If you are just after cereal, the Multigrain Cheerios had the highest shelf price so,
7 Multigrain Cheerios 14/27.65
7 - 0.75 q from coupons.com AND smartsource.com
Pay $8.75 get $10 CAT
This would be a good one to use as your first transaction if you do not have a CAT left from the ConAGra deal -- lower your OOP. Or add an item to make $10 if using a CAT to pay for it.

Buy 13 participating Progresso Soup $13/$26
Use 3 $1/4 from 9/12 GM or 10/10 GM inserts
Pay $10, Get $10 CAT
Final Price: 13 Free! (or the price of tax)

Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted you to have as many details as possible to help you get organized. Our trip only took us 1 hour and that was WITH all four kids!

If you are specifically after the yoplait splitz or the sweet moments, i would call Jewel to see when they re-stock b/c they were low when we were there and out of the splitz when we left. I went to the one on Veterans, there is another Jewel on 51 near ISU campus. Hope you find something good!! I love, love, love deals that are for HEALTHY stuff like veggies, yogurt, cereal and soup.
There were deals for totinos pizza and cake mixes on this CAT deal too, but I didn't buy any. CHeck out couponingfor4.net for even more scenarios if you want the other stuff. She is absolutely amazing with these things.

$1/1 Jimmy Dean

Facebook has a coupon right now for $1/1 Jimmy Dean product if you "like" them on FB. We do not usually buy meat in the store so I am not sure how much it runs, but surely $1 off will help!

As always, look for sales to pair this with and you should have a decent deal on sausage (or their sandwiches).

CVS 10/10-16

There are a couple nice freebies at CVS this week:
(put together by commonsensewithmoney)

Azo Itch Relief $6.99 Earn 5 ECBs Limit 5 (month-long deal)
Use $2/1 AZO Itch Relief Maximum Strength
FREE after coupon and ECBs

Colgate Total Advanced or Enamel Toothpaste $2.99 Earn 2.99 ECBs Limit 2
Use $0.75/1 Colgate Toothpaste 10/3/2010 SS Insert (exp 10/23/2010)
Free plus $0.75 overage after coupon and ECBs

Dial or Tone Bar Soap 2-3 pk $1.99 Earn 1 ECB Limit 1
Use $1 Dial Bar Multi-Pack or Liquid Hand Soap 10/10/2010 RP Insert (exp 11/28/2010)
FREE after coupon and ECBs

Quaker Oats Products 2/$5 Earn 2 ECBs Limit 2
Use $2/1 Quaker Instant Oatmeal (this is a FB coupon, click on the "coupon" tab)
Use $1/2 Quaker Chewy Granola Bars 9/19/2010 RP Insert (exp 11/13/2010)
Free plus $1 overage for boxed oatmeal after two $2 coupons and ECBs

Brach's candy corn - 0.99
the "red machine" by the door is printing a 0.99/1 coupon making these free too.

If you are new to CVS, buy oatmeal first to lower your OOP (out of pocket):
1) buy 2 boxed oatmeal. use 2 $2/1 coupons. pay $1, get $2 ECB back.
2) buy 2 more oatmeal. use 2 coupons. pay with ECB from #1. owe tax. get $2 ECB back.
3)buy toothpaste. use 0.75 coupon. pay with ECB from #2. owe 0.25. get $2.99 ECB back.
4)buy Azo itch relief. use $2 coupon. pay with ECB from #3. owe $1. get $5 ECB.

Now you have $5 to either keep for next week or to buy something your family needs. I personally like to keep them and roll them following weeks. I currenetly have $19 in ECB. The Azo deal will be great for you if you need to "renew" some ECBs that are about to expire!!

CVS is also running the P&G spend $25 get $10 ECB. I have done this in the past for the Charmin TP and it comes out to be a good price. So you could take your $5 ECB from #4 and put it toward the P&G deal to lower your OOP there and go home with TP too! I am pretty stocked up on TP right now (previous CVS deals and yesterday's trip to Jewel)

Make sure to scan your card at the "red machine" shortly inside the door to see if there are money-saving coupons you want to use.

My Jewel Trip

Today MaryBeth & I headed to Bloomington to hit Jewel, Kroger, Office Max & Target.

At Jewel I bought:
21 boxes of O.R. popcorn
5 boxes Swiss Miss hot cocoa
13 Hunts pudding/jello packs
4 Angel Soft 12 dbl roll T.P.
27 cans Healthy Choice soup
30 Healthy Choice complete freezer meals (for nathan when the kids & I head to FL - they have Asian flavor ones so he should be happy)
1 lg can Folgers Coffee

My total OOP spent was $32.74
Total $ saved was $318.00 (91% savings)

Some transactions I did but did not have on the list below are:
* 13 Hunts pudding/jello packs for around $2 OOP
* 6 Healthy Choice freezer meals and 1 hot cocoa (or any other product around a $2 shelf price) was between 0.64 - 1.72 OOP (there are coupons for $1/2 on healthy choice's website or there are $1/3 coupons at the store right on the freezer door - MaryBeth spotted those).
* 1 Angel Soft TP, 1 Folgers coffee & 3 cans of H.C. soup was around $3 OOP (considering the coffee itself is usually $8-10 that's a great deal)

The greatest part about this ConAgra deal is that most of them DO NOT REQUIRE coupons! I only had coupons for the T.P. and the healthy choice meals.
Hope you can get in on a good deal or two ~~

Jewel deals 10/07-10/13

Starting yesterday Jewel is running my favorite Con-Agra CAT deal where if you spend $25 you get a $10 CAT.
But with Jewel the $25 is calculated off the SHELF price, not the SALE price so it is a HUGE money-saving event. I will certainly be making a trip to Jewel in the next 6 days.
I was actually thinking of this CAT yesterday because I am down to 2 boxes of Orville Redenbacher popcorn & would love to re-stock. yay! :0)
Here are a couple scenarios for you compliments of couponingfor4 (my go-to spot for the Jewel deals):
hint: the prices below are sale price/shelf price so you can see how the total adds up for you versus the CAT machine.

Start with this deal to reduce your OOP spent:
9 Healthy Choice Soups 0.88/2.89 (each) - $7.92
Pay $7.92 w/no coupons, Get $10 CAT
Final Price: $2.08 Moneymaker!
If you have coupons this will be a larger moneymaker!

Use this $10 CAT to roll into any of the following deals:

6 Healthy Choice Soup $5.28/$17.34
1 Angel Soft $5.99/$8.29
Use $1 Angel Soft from Coupons.com (zip 12345)
Pay $11.27, Get $10 CAT
Final Price: $1.27

Buy 7 Orville Redenbacher $11.83/$25.13
Get $10 CAT
Final Price: 7/$1.83 ($.26 each!) -- woohoo! my kids eat popcorn A LOT as a bedtime snack. So I absolutely love this one.

Buy 5 Wesson Oil $12.50/$25
Get $10 CAT
Final Price: 5/$2.50 ($.50 each!)

There are a LOT of other scenarios out there for this deal. I recommend heading over to couponingfor4 to get them all. I just posted the ones I will likely do. ConAgra is a HUGE company and has a lot of products that qualify for this CAT, they just happen to be things I don't need right now.

My one caution to the couponing for 4's website is that she mentions coupons we do not have access to, so don't forget to add in the extra money for the q's you don't have.

Laundry Detergent

I have mentioned in the past that Jan & I make our own laundry detergent. We have been using it for over a year now and I cannot tell you what a great detergent it is and how much money it has saved us to make it. Nathan keeps telling me I need to post the recipe, so today I decided to do it.

This detergent is dye-free, scent-free and hypoallergenic for all you out there requiring these things. AND it is LOW SUDSING so perfect for HE machines.

Home-made Laundry Soap Recipe :

1 bar Fels-naptha
1 cup Arm&Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
5 gallons and 4 cups HOT tap water (total)
1 5 gallon bucket with lid

*Grate bar of Fels-Naptha with Food processor or by hand with cheese grater.
*In medium sized saucepan, add grated soap and 4 cups water. Cook over medium heat till melted, stirring often.
*When soap is melted, fill 5 gallon bucket about 1/2 full of HOT tap water. Add melted soap, Washing Soda and Borax to water and stir well till dissolved.
*Add enough HOT water to fill the 5 gallon bucket. It will be quite heavy at this point.
*Cover tightly and let it sit overnight or until it thickens into a gel-like substance.
*Stir well. When you're ready to use the detergent, fill any empty container (milk jugs, apple juice containers or old laundry det. containers) with 1/2 laundry concentrate and fill the rest of the bottle with water.( 1 part soap/ 1 part water)
*Shake well before each use. Top load machine: 3/4 c. per load; Front load machine: 1/4 c. per load.

Yields 5 gallons of "concentrate" and 10 gallons of detergent.
Cost: less than $2 per recipe. This will be more for your initial recipe if you don't have the ingredients on hand already. Fels-naptha costs a little over $1, Arm&Hammer Super Washing Soda and Borax are $2-3 each

I do like some scent in my laundry, so using a front-loading machine I use 1/2 cup of the home-made detergent and one squirt (literally, a small squirt) of Gain or All to each load. It is amazing how little store-bought stuff you need to add the fragrance.

Let me know if you decide to try this -- I think you would be pleasantly surprised with the results. :0)

CHEAP grapes @ Walmart

Grapes are only $0.85/lb at WalMart this week!! I cannot remember the last time they were so low. If they have been this summer, this proves how poor my memory is sometimes :)

Anna's kindergarten teacher requires that the kids bring a fruit or veggie EVERY DAY for their snack - which i find to be quite inconvenient - so I bought about 10 lbs to freeze for snacks later this year. Grapes don't get as mushy as blueberries when they thaw.

Remember that WalMart prices vary by store even in the same region, but I bought mine at the Bloomington WalMart on Veterans. You could always call your WalMart to double-check the price before going.

Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs 0.69

A month ago I told you about a high value $1/1 OM hot dog coupon. If you did not get the free hot dogs at Jewel there is another good deal right now.

IGA has hot dogs on sale for $1.69 making them only $0.69 after this coupon.

I do still have a couple of my Q's left and they expire on 10/06 so not much time left!! I ran to WalMart last night and since they match any price I got a few there for the ACTIVE weiner roast this week.

I do have a few extra coupons so let me konw if you want some and can get them from me in the next 2 days.

Free Nabisco Cookies (BOGO)

Today is the first monday of the month so on Nabisco's Facebook page they have a Free pkg of cookies WYB another pkg of cookies and a gallon of milk.

I do not guarantee this is a good deal, but last month I printed it and ended up with milk & 2 pks of oreos for about $3 (thank you, Jewel-Osco). I N-E-V-E-R buy oreos so we have been conserving them and still have 1 pk left.

$2.50/1 Huggies Coupon

There is a new $2.50 off 1 Huggies printable coupon on coupons.com right now! These coupons usually expire 30 days after you print, so it gives us some time to find a sale to combine it with.
I would print mine now just in case it reaches its print limit.

I think there are a few of you near Chicago or Wisconsin that read this, so if you live near a Rite Aid, there is a great deal on these starting tomorrow 10/03/10! -- check out commonsensewithmoney.com for the details (or moneysavingmom.com).

Nivea lip product coupon

Starting on 10/3 Walgreens will have Nivea Lip care on sale for $1 each. Use the following printable coupon to get not one but TWO free Nivea lip products:

Buy two Nivea Lip Care, $1
Use $2/2 Nivea Lip Care printable coupon
Get 2 FREE after coupon!

The sale includes the lip glosses as well. I have never tried these so am excited to try it for free!

This coupon is from the "bricks" website which I have had problems in the past with properly copying the link. If my link does not work, just go to Commonsensewithmoney.com and click through her link. She's a great site to follow anyway so go there even if my link does work! :)

0.50/1 Pillsbury Simply Biscuits

October 1 marks a new month which = new coupons on coupons.com
Among those are two coupons for 0.50 off 1 Pillsbury canned dough. One is for Simply Biscuits and the other for Simply French bread. I am not familiar with the "simply" line, but if you use the coupon at Meijer or Kroger where they double coupons, & of course combine with a sale, these should make for fairly inexpensive canned biscuits.


I also want to grab this opportunity to share my excitement for the day -- it is so nice that people know I am a bargain shopper because my super-duper awesome friend just called me about a John Deere Gator she saw at a garage sale for $200 less than you pay in the store! I have been wanting one for about 3-4 years, but didn't want to pay the high price. YAY! Waiting so often pays off. Thanks, Jamie :0)

Deals This Week (or the lack there-of)

Well, I just checked the Jewel ad and the Kroger ad that both start tomorrow and I did not see anything worth driving there for -- in either store. Sure they both have a few decent deals, but unless a scenario arises that I don't forsee I will not be doing any grocery shopping this coming week.

The IGA has a few sales this week that aren't too bad:
IGA cream of soups are 2/$1. That is a really good price for cream of soups (better than Dollar General even) -- I got mine last week at Kroger & Walgreens for free or 0.30 so didn't buy any at IGA.
They also have a 3-day pumpkin sale this weekend. I am a sucker for pumpkin donuts, but won't promise it's a great deal (they're good though) :)

Also, I believe there is a shortage on pumpkins again this year which would make it worth while to hunt down a field pumpkin or two, cook & puree them yourself to make sure you have enough pumpkin to get through the holiday baking! Just a thought . . . . .

FINALLY some formula samples!

After a long, LONG time there are finally some formula samples available.

GO HERE and you can sign up for three formula samples by Parents Choice (walmart brand) of formula.

And get a free sample of Earth's Best Organic formula when you "like" them on Facebook HERE

Well, that's all i see for now. I am going to go eat some apple crisp w/ice cream now! :0) I love fall.

$1.50/3 Campbells Coupon

There are a few spots that have Campbells q's right now -- good ones too!

GO HERE for a selection of $1.50 off 3 cans (varieties different on each coupon)
OR HERE for a slightly different selection of $1.50/3 q's (these include cr of mush etc)

Then you can go to Kroger or Walgreen's for FREE or almost free (0.29/can) cans of Campbell's soups.

While you're at the first link, also print the q for $1 off any can of Camp. Select soup. It is on sale at Kroger this week for $1.25 making it only a quarter. (hit your browser back button 3 times to print it twice)
Kroger has their cream of soups for $1, so if you load e-coupons on shortcuts.com and cellfire.com (more $1.50/3) AND use the printed coupon, you will get them completely free.
Or head over to Walgreens where they have an in-ad coupon @ 0.79 each, minus the coupon = 0.29 per can. Soups tend to be the cheapest in November, but with a sale this good I am going to stock up and buy mine now. The coupons I printed expire 11/09 so I don't want to risk wasting them if another sale doesn't pop up before then.

Sorry this post isn't very organized, but I'm getting ready to head out shopping myself so am posting the coupons while i find them. and i know i haven't written anything the past couple weeks, but again i only post when i find deals worth buying. so no posts from me means i am not doing any shopping myself (or only the milk, bread, eggs type stuff that probably isn't on sale anyway).

$0.50 Green Giant coupon

There is a new coupon available for $0.50 off ANY one Green GIant veggie. This could easily make for free veggies if used at Kroger or Meijer (stores that double) or at least cheap ones at other stores.

The boxed versions often sell for $1 on sale. I will keep my eyes open to see what we can get with this.

GO HERE to print your coupon (scroll to the bottom of the page and check the right corner). Coupons for vegetables are among my favorites!! I love getting healthy stuff with my coupons :0)

Tips for Buying Produce

I meant to write this post earlier in the summer, but just never got around to it. I have a few suggestions/guidelines for buying produce:

1. I almost never pay more than 0.99/lb for any produce (except blueberries!)


2. When I do buy my blueberries I buy in major bulk from a provider so they are a little less (and fresher) than ones you would buy at a store.


3. For apples, pears and other produce that can be grown locally, ask around to see who doesn't use all of the "fruit" from their own tree -- you will be amazed at how willing people are to share their extra bounty. For example, Nathan & I love to press our own cider each fall, but we do not own even one apple tree (something I hope to change). But for now we decided to see what we could acquire from other people's extras. One year Nathan called an orchard and asked to pick up their drops - they said yes, so he did. They apples weren't the greatest (quite bruised), but it was a place to start. So then he took a drive around Secor spotting some nice-looking apple trees, went up to the door and asked the owners about their apples. 3 trees were owned by an older couple who use all of one tree themselves for canning & sauce, but usually had the other 2 trees go to waste. They said they didn't like having all the apples fall to the ground making a job for them to pick up so they were very happy to let us pick them. We provide them with some of the cider we press as a "thank-you" and have developed a nice relationship with them now. Same goes with a local pear tree. Nathan spotted it during harvest, waited until one day someone was outside the house so he stopped and asked. They said they never-ever picked them & we could take what we wanted. They might say "no" and that's fine!! but you don't know until you ask - and often you will find them very willing to share. Nathan also has an uncle with a small apple orchard who has been amazingly gracious letting us pick apples for sauce-making (takes a nicer apple than cider does). So I have never had to buy apples for sauce either.


4. Take advantage of the season!! Each season has its own produce so obviously those items will be cheaper at that time of year. Strawberries in the spring, blueberries in mid-summer, grapes usually in summer (varies), pears in late summer, apples throughout the summer & fall, melon in summer & fall, citrus in the winter.

I try to keep all of those things in mind when shopping for produce. I do occasionally spend more than $1 per pound at the store, but not very often. My kids love clementines, but they are always cheapest in November-December so that's when we get them. For a special treat in the summer I might buy a 3-lb bag for $5, but not on a regular basis. Why would I spend $5 for clementines when I have 2 fridge drawers full of FREE sugar pears and 2 bushels of FREE apples in the garage that they can eat to their little hearts content?? Variety eventually comes, it just has to wait its turn when you're on a tight budget.

IGA 09/12-18

As usual, not many great prices at IGA this week, but there are a couple worth mentioning:
pork chops $1.39/lb
Azteca tortilla shells 2/$3 (not a great price, but beats driving 20 miles to save 0.20 - & i need some tortilla shells!)
Brooks chili beans - 0.99 (you can get chili beans cheaper than this, but not this brand)
IGA canned fruit - 0.99

now this is kind of an odd thing for me to put on here, but Friskies Party Mix (cat food) is on sale 4/$5 and there is a $1/1 coupon HERE making these only 0.25.

Then there is a 3-day sale from thursday (16th) to saturday (18th):
milk @ $2 is a great price
Purex - $1.99 (there was a Q in the newspaper recently too -- sorry I can't remember which week)
P.F. Ice Cream 1/2 gal - $1.99 (use 0.50 Q from tearpad in the store)
iceburg lettuce 0.88/head
Westpac vegetables - 0.69 (14-16 ozs) - my STOCK-UP price is usually 0.50 for 16 ounces, but this is so close I will buy some in case they don't hit 0.50 this year - especially peas, mixed veggies & a few others I don't grow in my garden.

The other items are either a bit pricey for a "3-day sale" or are items I do not buy at grocery stores.

we got a couple bushels of apples today and are getting a couple more tomorrow so I might not post much next week -- i think i'll be up to my eyeballs in apples/sauce/cider !! not a bad place to be though :0)

Jewel 09/09 - 09/15

Most of the Kraft freebies are over, but Jewel still has some pretty good deals this week.
3-day sale thurs, fri & sat

• 1.88 veg. oil (remember, anything less than $2 is a good price here)
• 1.88 sugar (i prefer $1-$1.25, but I bought some since I'm about to make applesauce and the other stores are more right now).

Regular rest of the week sale:

• 2.66 milk

now i saved the best for last -- I love scenarios like this one where you can stack deals & coupons

Green Giant boxed veggies are on sale 4/$5 - but if you buy 10 you get $5 off your order automatically - and there is also a CAT on these for $3 when you buy 8. Then use a few coupons and suddenly you pay $0.27 each! A VERY good price for these veggies. I bought 10 today and wished I had more coupons (though it is still a good deal w/o them - 0.45 each).

For the coupons, redplum.com and coupons.com have 0.60/3 so you can use 3 of them.

There are other sales and deals at Jewel this week too, but these are the items I thought stood out and are what I bought. Also, since I have mentioned bread recently -- their bread is 0.99 (standard price) but is a good quality unlike IGAs bread. So I bought two loaves of wheat bread too.

Free Cool Whip @ Jewel too

I forgot to post this with the other Jewel freebies, but you can get 5 (or more!) containers of Kraft Cool Whip for free at Jewel right now with NO COUPONS NEEDED.

Cool Whip is on sale for 5/$5. It is also a Kraft CAT participant, so when you buy 5 you get the $5 CAT - making them free.

Just make sure you buy 5 at a time, do NOT buy it in the same transaction as the cheese or the hot dogs (they all produce the same Kraft CAT) and send me any recipes you have that involve cool whip :0) Actually, you can combine them -- just make sure the total is 5 items -- not five of each.

I splurged and bought some oreos so I can make Emily Sauder's yummy oreo ice cream dessert w/the Cool Whip and I will also make Jamie Dill's lemon-blueberry tapioca jello. I must be hungry -- is it supper time yet??

My Jewel Trip (labor day)

I didn't think the free cheese was enough to warrant a trip to Bloomington, but then over the weekend I heard I could get free hot dots too so we packed up the kids & went to Jewel yesterday to see what we could get.

Nathan took the kids to Abbie's apartment then a park so I could go alone. Here is what I got:
This took 9 separate transactions (i know, it's a lot -- but w/o the kids & a great cashier it really went pretty fast).

1. 5 pks of 8 oz Kraft cheese $2/4 - used one $5/5 coupon. PAID $5.10 and got a $5 CAT back.
2. 5 pks of cheese - $5/5 Q - gave $5 CAT from #1. PAID $0.10 OOP and got a new $5 CAT
3. 5 pks Oscar Mayer hot dogs - used five $1/1 Qs - gave $5 CAT from #2. PAID $0.10 OOP & got a new $5 CAT
4. 5 pks of cheese - $5/5 Q - gave $5 CAT from #3 - PAID $0.10 & got new $5 CAT.
5. 5 pks OM hot dogs - five $1 Q's - gave $5 CAT from #4 - PAID $0.10 & got new $5 CAT
6. 5 pks cheese - $5/5 Q - $5 CAT from #5 - PAID 0.10 and got new $5 CAT.
7. 5 hot dogs - same as the others.
8. 2 shredded cheese & 3 Kraft singles (2/$5) - gave $5 CAT from #7 - PAID 1.62 OOP and got a new #5 CAT.
9. bought milk, bananas, bread, smoked sausages & sour cream. Stuff we needed. Gave last $5 CAT - PAID $3.24 OOP and was DONE.

TOTAL OOP for the trip was $9.04 and I got 25 8-oz pks of Kraft cheese, 15 pks of O.M. hot dogs, and the other groceries.

Now there were 2 times during this "check-out" that someone came up behind me so I let them go through between transactions. Just some stock-up shopping courtesy. For the hot dog coupons, go to coupons.com and use zip code 33313, couponbug.com (use 33313 again) and also go to Oscar Mayer's website - meaning you can print SIX per computer making this trip possible for us. Coupons.com also has $1/2 coupons which would still make for a great deal. On my computer the $1/2 Q was on the first page and the $1/1 Q was on the third page - so don't give up right away.

ALSO, this morning I read that Jewel has Ice Mountain Aquapods (8-pk) ringing up for $1 each (double check that if you do this). There is also a CAT running if you buy 3 Aquapods you get a $3 CAT back - FREE AGAIN. You can combine the water deal with either the cheese or the hot dogs, but you cannot combine the hot dogs & cheese b/c both those CATs are from Kraft. Make sense?? If you happen to get a newspaper, there was an Aquapod Q in the 08/29 red plum insert for $1.50 off 2 which would even turn you a profit after the CAT. Just a thought :0) Happy shopping!!

FREE CHEESE

I try not to let my people down so here it is ----- FREE cheese when you use the $5/5 Kraft coupon from my previous post.

Jewel has Kraft cheese on sale 2/$4 starting tomorrow (09/02) ending 09/12. They are also running the buy 5 Kraft products get a $5 CAT deal that Kroger had last month.
So here is what you do:

Buy 5 Kraft Cheese @ $10
Use $5/5 Kraft printable coupon
Pay $5, Get $5 CAT
Final Price: 5 Free!

Then just turn around and do it again with your second coupon! But this time pay for the order with the CAT you got the first time around. $0 out of pocket and still get your $5 CAT at the end. Oh, this reminds me -- don't forget that you can hit the "back" button on your browser 2-3 times to print another coupon on almost every website, so you should get 2 q's from each computer. So you're really in luck if you have multiple computers!!

If you cannot get to a Jewel store, WalMart also has Kraft cheese on sale for $2, making it $1 each after this coupon. $1 is usually my "buy it now" price for cheese. Although this summer I was able to get it for WAY less.

ONe last thing then I'm really done --
If you do get to Jewel you might want to check out the soda sale. All brands are $1.88 per 12-pk when you buy 4 (limit 8). This is also a "BUY IT NOW" price if you're pop drinkers. So if you buy the cheese first, you walk out of there with 10 bags of kraft cheese & 4 12-pks of soda for $7.50 OOP. That is some pretty thrifty shopping!! Have a great week :0)

$5/5 Kraft Cheese coupon

I was not going to post anything tonight, but when I found this coupon i just HAD to post it.

GO HERE to print a $5/5 Kraft cheese product -- includes Breakstone sour cream, cottage cheese & Velveeta.

With the many Kraft sales lately, this should make for a great deal somewhere -- I will keep my eyes open and let you know if I see a good one.

Amazon Diaper Deal Reminder

Just a quick reminder (again) that Amazon is STILL running their diaper deal for 30% off when you sign up for Subscribe & Save. PLUS until the end of August you can combine 20% off cards from August Parenting - Early Years magazine, August Parents magazine and September Parenting - Early Years. There are potentially 3 codes you can use at the same time (the codes have to start with different letters so I have heard).

I do have one card from the Sept. Parenting mag. but wish I could find some of the older august ones before they expire. i just keep forgetting to look when i go to town!

If you don't know the details for this, search my blog for the full explanation from July 31 or something.

Kroger & Jewel this week

Well, I checked out Jewel & Kroger's ads for this week (reminder: both of these stores run thurs-wed sales) & this is certainly a week that I am thankful for my stockpile because the sales are skimpy in my opinion.

Jewel:
I saw nothing worth driving to Bloomington for. In fact, we are going to Bmg on Tuesday and I do not plan to stop there. bummer.

Kroger:
They are running their standard 10/$10 sale this week -- their biggest sale type. Remember here too that you DO NOT have to buy 10 items, each one will ring up as $1 on its own.

Here are the $1 items that are a good or at least decent price:
~Kroger flour (i need some too!)
~Kroger bread (WAY better quality than IGA bread - I bought some at IGA in a pinch last week and have totally regretted it; it just falls apart)
~Kroger tortilla chips (we have been averaging about 3 bags a week due to amazing fresh salsa we've been plowing through - thanks for the lessons, Jill!!)
~Kroger toaster treats - these have the best flavor for generic pop-tarts in my opinion, so if your kids like pop-tarts and you're tired of paying the price, try these.
~Hunts snack packs (pudding or jello) - I did the math and at $1 it is cheaper to buy these than to buy a box of pudding mix and make it yourself w/milk. FYI.
~Kroger spaghetti sauce
~Goldfish crackers - bummer that there is no coupon to go along with this sale, those help.

Kroger's veg. oil is $1.99 - anything under $2 for veg oil is a fair price.
Gatorade G2 is $0.79 - when i was at eureka IGA last week they had some Gatorade G2 coupons - I didn't pick any up & forget the amt (probably 0.50/2), but it would have to make for a good deal with this sale if you got some.

I'm sure I missed a few good things, but at a glance this is all I saw. I will not be going this week since I did end up going last week to get in on the Fiber One bar deal. (seriously could not help myself -- pretty sure the van drove there on its own). ANYWAY, I spent $50 last week for about $250 of groceries including milk, bread, fruit, caprisun & pringles for lunches, tortilla chips, yogurt, strawberries for making jam and 20 boxes of Fiber 1 bars so this week I HAVE to stay home.

I will look at CVS's ad later and try to write about that too. I really do try to "shop eureka first", but they just need better sale prices! I would like to contact the store owner and see if I can help them write their ads. Anyone have a contact for that?? I would seriously love it if you do.

It was good to see you last night Ashley! Thanks for the reminder to get back in here :0) Enjoy your weekend.

CVS 08/29-09/04

Well, for as faithful as CVS has been the last few weeks, this week is a total bummer for me. I will probably make one trip at some point during the week just because I can't stay away, but not many good deals.

Here is what I saw:

Phillips headphones $6.99 - get $6.99 ECB
I would only do this if a) i needed the headphones or b) i needed to "renew" some ECBs I already had. I prefer not to buy items not useful to me or someone I know unless they "make" money.

Campbells Condensed soups on sale $1/2
use 0.50/2 coupon to get these for 0.25 each. That is a GREAT price for condensened soup. If you need a lot, there is also $1/4 Q on the same link. I printed both to get 6.

Nestle Pure Life Water 24-pack $2.77 Limit 3
Use $1/2 Nestle Pure Life Purified Water Multi-Packs
Pay $2.27 per pack when you buy 2 after coupon

I am not sure about the milk status for this coming week. I haven't seen an actual paper ad yet, but it sure is worth it to get milk there ($1.79 after ECB for 1 gallon when they have the ECB deal running).

CVS 08/15-21

Well, no Fiber 1 bars from Kroger for me yet. Still 2 more days though! :0)

I did get to stop by CVS on our way home from church today though and wanted to highlight a couple deals they have this week. I am a total ding-dong though and forgot to grab a paper ad while I was in there. So I apologize if I am missing a good deal.

Blink Tears eye drops - 7.99 - produce 7.99 ECB
use $1.50/1 Q available to MAKE $1.50 (scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "download coupon")

SoBe Lifewater is BOGO - AGAIN
Use BOGO coupons from the SoBe online game to get both FREE.

I am also going to give you my shopping scenario so you can see an "example" again:

Remember when I said I was going to get rainchecks from the Neutrogena Suncare ECB deal? Well I finally had a scanario where it really made sense to use it. Here is what I bought today:

2 Neutrogena sunblock sticks (7.99 each) - $10 ECB when buying 2 rain check
used coupon for $3 off each that was available when the sale was on.
1 gallon of milk (2.79) - $1 ECB (not advertised, but still going on this week!!)
6 SoBe Lifewaters (1.69) - BOGO
used 3 BOGO coupons from SoBe game
Blinki Tear eye drops (7.99) - 7.99 ECB
used 1.50 coupon above

My total before coupons was roughly $31.00
I got a coupon via e-mail from CVS for $5/30 (expired today - thus the quick trip)
Used $5/30 Q
two $3 Neutrogena Qs
3 Sobe BOGO Q's
1.50 Blink eye drop Q

Total after Qs was about $15.50
I had $13.00 in ECBs from previous purchases the last few weeks that I handed over

New total = $2.50
So I paid the $2.50 out of pocket but I got back $19.00 in new ECBs to use over the next month!

The milk itself was worth the $2.50 OOP plus I got to exchange $13 in ECB for $19 ECB. And I am really excited to try the sunblock sticks - my sister loves them for her kiddos.

Sorry if this post was too long or too wordy. I just like you to have real scanarios if you want them. Remember too that buildling the ECBs doesn't happen overnight. It has taken me about 6 months to get this far, but now, by watching sale ads closely, it is paying off.

Kroger Aug. 12-18

Just a heads up on Kroger's next sale:

Right now (through Wed.) Kroger has a P&G Mega event going on. I did not go as I didn't need anything on sale.

But starting Thursday they are having a "regular grocery" Mega Event again. These can really produce some great deals combined with coupons!

Fiber 1 bars are supposed to be on this upcoming sale so here is a scenario for you:
Buy 5 boxes at $1.99 (prices may vary)
use 5 coupons for 0.50 (doubled to $1)
get $3.50 CAT after purchase for buying 5 boxes (CAT offer is $1.50/3 boxes, $2.50/4 boxes or $3.50/5 boxes)
Total price/box = 0.29!

To make it even better, remember to load your e-coupons on Cellfire first - there is one for 0.50 off Fiber 1 bars. The machine will only let you use one of these, but would still take an addl 0.10/box making them 0.19/box. That's mighty cheap especially considering how good these are! My kids & I all love them.

Now -- if I can just explain to Nathan that I NEED those bars. hmmmmmm. Will he let me shop again? Wish me luck.

CVS Aug. 8-14

Just in case you didn't notice - CVS started running the $1 ECB on Dean's Milk again last week! I was so excited when I went in & saw the signs.

I haven't had a chance to look at their actual sale flyer for this week yet, but based on other bloggers scanarios, nothing looks tempting to me.

I will probably skip CVS this week so hopefully next week has something great b/c I have about $15 in ECBs that expire on the 19th!

I'm Back (sort of)

I knew it had been a while since I last posted, but I was surprised to see it has been 8 days!! Sorry if you were waiting for some great grocery news during that time.

I did hear about a 2-day cereal sale at Meijer that I didn't post because you had to have just the right coupons and I was not sure it was going to work anyway. I tried calling the store and the Customer Service lady was less than helpful.

So, we packed up all the kids & headed to Bloomington last Saturday to check it out -- and I feel guilty that it worked. We got 40 boxes of Kellogg's cereal and PopTarts for $9.00. Needless to say we won't be buying breakfast food for a while now.

So, now that I am stocked up on frozen pizza, cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, cereal & poptarts, and tons of veggies that we put up from our garden and our gracious neighbors I will be severely slowing down in the grocery shopping department for at least a month if not two. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I will still try to post any great deals I see (b/c I can't stop myself from looking even if I'm not buying) but they may be fewer than last month. I will still try to keep up with CVS since the ECBs expire if not used. Besides that, they are close to home so it doesn't usually involve a special trip anywhere.

My goal with this blog was to teach people by example how the "stock-up" method of grocery shopping works. Hopefully it has helped even if in just a small way. Every little bit helps these days! So even though I put in a few hours (or days) of coupon-clipping and shopping around over the summer it sure payed off finding those amazing deals, stocking up my pantry & freezer and now I can take a break for a little while! The shopping freeze may also be driven by my husband (saying enough is enough!), the pantry being quite full, the freezer being fuller, and the fact that I AM OUT OF INK!! meaning I can't print my coupons right now (sniff!). If anyone knows of a great deal on ink, feel free to let me know.

Thanks!

I Need Your Help

Hey guys. I did another thing I don't usually do -- I entered a contest on my favorite blog for being an "Iron Shopper" and scoring a great deal somewhere. The winner gets a $20 gift cert. - and I don't even know to where! Just sounded fun to win something.



Anyway, if you have some extra time I would LOVE IT if you would vote HERE to see if I can win with my Kroger shopping trip last week (the one I posted with the picture). The winner is just whoever has the most people to "like" their deal. The link I gave you should take you straight to my post.



Thanks in advance :0)

Free Triaminic Offer

Starting today, 08/02 through 08/08/10 you can submit for a rebate form to get a free bottle of Triaminic. You will be e-mailed the rebate form and have to submit it via mail by 08/31/10.

CLICK HERE, scroll down on the page and click for the rebate form. It takes about 30 seconds to do.

There is also a $1 coupon you can print on the same website - making it a 0.50 money maker! (after paying for rebate stamp). I love stuff like this - who doesn't need a fever-reducing agent or cough medicine during the winter!!??

Amazon Deal Is Still Available

Amazon decided to continue the 30% off diaper deal by using the Subscribe & Save option -- so if you didn't see it early enough on Saturday, looks like you can still jump in on this deal! I do not know how long it will last, but probably for another week.

The September issue of Parenting magazine also has a 20% off code on an orange tear-out paper, so if you used your August one you could still get more inexpensive Pampers.

I still have a lot of Huggies, but am so tempted to try this anyway!

CVS deals 08/1-7

Not too much going on at CVS this week (at least not much free stuff) --

SoBe Lifewater - BOGO (woo-hoo!!)
use BOGO coupon from playing the SoBe game online (see earlier post for link)
= 2 FREE waters (not that I need more, but I'm going anyway!)

Dawn dish soap - $0.97
use $1/1 coupon in 08/01 P&G insert
= FREE

Altoids - 1.49 - $1 ECB
= 0.49 (not bad if you like these)

Spend $10 in Hellmans (2/$6), Skippy (3/$5), Ragu (3/$5) or Lipton (2/$6) products, get $3 ECB back
Use .60/2 Lipton Q in 08/01 RP
use $1/2 Ragu Q in 08/01 RP (= 0.67/each)
use 0.75/2 skippy Q in 08/01 RP (= 0.80/each)

Makes for good deals on the Ragu & skippy anyway. Hopefully I can find these Q's to stock my cupboard for all the PB&J (or PB & honey) I will be making with TWO kiddos in school this year.

side note:
My goal for PB = less than $1/jar
My goal for brand name spag. sauce = $1/jar

Amazing Amazon Diaper Deal

OK - you have my apologies here. I found this deal on Monday, but thought it was a one-day deal so did not post it. Turns out it ran all week and today is ACTUALLY the last day. OOPS. But after they found a few extra savings, the deal ended up being good enough I wanted to post it anyway.

Here's the breakdown: '
FIRST sign in to your amazon account, or create one
Go to Amazon's coupon page - refresh the page 2-3 times until a $2 pampers coupon shows up.
Order whatever size diaper you need (i chose size 1-2 for my example below)
Enter 20% off coupon codes from Parenting magazine AND Parenting - early years
Choose the Subscribe & Save option to get 30% off
Go to checkout and you should see your $2 discount, 30% off, 20% off and another 20% off if you had all the coupons. AND through subscribe & save your shipping is FREE too.
Place your order and once it arrives (or even after you get your confirmation e-mail that your order shipped) remember to go in to your Amazon account and cancel your Subscribe & Save subscription if you do not want the shipments to continue every month. Once the item ships, the price you paid is locked in so you can cancel any time after that.

Women are reporting purchasing their diapers for as little as 0.05-0.07 EACH. That is really a great price for diapers. Even if you only had one of the Parenting 20% off coupons it would still be worth looking in to.


252 count box 1-2 size diaper
Original price was 40.49 (16 cents/diaper)
30% off from S&S + $2 coupon = 10.5 cents/diaper
20% parenting code = 7 cents per diaper
2nd parenting code = 4-5 cents per diaper
approx $10.24 for 252 diapers shipped right to your door. can't hardly beat that!

p.s. - these 20% off codes in Parenting magazines are in the AUGUST addition and are an orange card that you tear out. If you go to the library or another public place, be sure to tear out the card because they are a one-time use code and it would be a bummer for another mom to think she got a valid code only to get home and it didn't work. And do not worry, it is PERFECTLY acceptable to tear out the card from the library or doctor's office or something. They are for public use.

My Kroger Deals This Week

I don't usually do this, but the Kroger deals this week warranted a picture & breakdown (i thought so anyway). I love getting "useful" things with my coupons.

I saved over 90% from my bill and got:

14 Tombstone Pizzas @ $1.99 - (14)$2Q = FREE ($0.14 overage)

10 Dan-o-nino yogurt @ $1.79 - (10)$1Q - $1CAT(x5) = 0.29/each ($2.90)

25 Kraft Cheese @ $1.88 - (10)$1/2Q - $5CAT(x5) = 0.48/each ($12.00)

5 Phily Cream Cheese @ 0.99 - (4)$1Q - $5 CAT = FREE ($4.05 overage)

4 Spaghettio's @ $0.49 - (2)$0.50/2Q (doubled to $1) = FREE ($0.04 overage)

(4) 1/2 gallons milk @ 4/$5 = $5

1 doz eggs @ $0.88

Athena melon @ $1.50

bunch bananas @ 1.08

Total before coupons & CATs = $137.33

Total OOP actually spent = $19.13

87% savings - or I PAID 13% of the marked shelf price for any given item.

I used the sale price, not the "kroger price" to figure all this so my receipt actually shows a higher % savings since they also factor in what I saved by using my Kroger card.

Also, I did this in 6 separate transactions (b/c of the $5 Kraft CAT) over 2 different trips. Still only took about 30-40 min. per trip. Just didn't want you picturing me walking up to the register with all that at once. :)

CVS 07/25-31

There are a couple nice freebies at CVS this week. Hopefully you are at the point where you are just paying for tax and using old ECBs to pay for new items that produce new ECBs. That is usually my goal at CVS.

Anyway, this week you can get:

Any Kotex U product - 4.99
4.99 ECB (limit 1)
use $1/1 coupon to make $1 overage after coupon and ECB

BioTrue multipurpose solution 2 oz - 2.99
2.99 ECB (limit 2)
use $2/1 coupon for $2 overage after Q and ECB

Pampers boxed diapers $21.99
$10 ECB (limit 2, not 1 like the add says)
$2 Q from RP insert 06/20 or
$3 Q from vocalpoint mailer
use the coupon database to help find another location if you want.

Neutrogena sun care products - prices vary
$10 ECB when you buy 2
use $2/1 coupon
The best deal I found at the Eureka CVS was the 30 spf Sunblock sticks priced at $7.99
Buy 2, use 2 coupons and the final price is only 0.99 each after Q and ECB. I think that's a great price for these sunblock sticks.

** don't forget that CVS offers rain checks if they are out of an item you want. I have never tried it on an item that produces ECBs, but I have heard that the ECB will still print when a raincheck is used. You could always ask the cashier to make sure. I say all this b/c I was at CVS Monday and they only had 2 boxes of diapers left (and no, i did not buy them). :) And there was only one sunblock stick left (didn't buy it either). I will try again Wed. and get my raincheck if they still only have 1.

** Make sure to check the bottom of your receipt too as I got a coupon for one FREE gallon of milk. Apparently they were keeping track of how many gallons you bought and if you bought 4 or 5 you qualify for a free gallon. woo-hoo! the only bummer was that I let MaryBeth carry it to the van and she dropped it -- turns out plastic jugs do break. Oh well. Good thing it was free, right? :)

More Kroger Deals This Week

For the next 3 days you can get some FANTASTIC deals at Kroger -- these end Wed. night.

Part of the Mega 10 Event:

Dan-o-nino yogurt - $1.79
use $1/1 coupon
you will also receive a $1 CAT if you buy 2, $1.50 if you buy 3, or $2 if you buy 4
final price = 0.29/each

Kraft Naturals cheese - $1.88
there is a "blinkie" machine with $1/2 coupons
you get the $5 CAT when you buy 5 of any listed Kraft products
final price = 0.38 for CHEESE

Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese (includes tubs of soft cream cheese) - $0.99
use $1/1 coupon I told you about last week
$5 CAT wyb 5 participating products
final price = FREE

I'm not going to re-type them, but don't forget about the free tombstone pizzas and spaghettio's.

I stocked up on all these items and stuck the yogurt in the freezer for the girls' lunches this fall. Stick a frozen yogurt in a lunch box and they have a great treat in their lunches.

IGA 3-day sale

Remember the warnings I gave last time there was a "3-day sale". NOT all the deals are good ones!!

milk 2/$4 - that is a good price, but CVS is better this week so I got mine there. If you do not play the CVS game then grab your milk this weekend at IGA.

peaches - 0.79/lb This is the best price i have seen all summer (I am shocked too). If these look good, grab them!

Lay's chips - $1.78 - a good price, especially if you saved some of the $1/2 coupons from the last big sale (I have a few if you need them) :)

Chip's Ahoy - $1.88 - sounds like a good price. ?? I never buy cookies in a bag so am not sure.

boneless skinless chicken breast - 2.5 lbs for $4.69. Anything under $2/lb I consider a good price. The only thing to consider here is that these frozen breasts do cook up smaller than other ones due to extra water added. I prefer to buy mine fresh and freeze myself, but this is a good price if you like to have them around.

P.F. ice cream - a decent price I guess. I prefer under $2 so will not buy any.

buns - not a good price. should be under $1.

Mt. Olive pickly stuff - 0.99. Sounds like a good deal to me, but then again I hate pickles & relish so never buy it. :)

Cottonelle - barely a decent price, but I got Charmin for cheaper a few months ago.

There you have it. Sorry no comment on the deli ham, but we never buy deli meat and i have NO IDEA what a good price is.

CVS 07/18-24

There is not much going on at CVS this week (only my opinion) but I wanted to send this as a reminder that the Dean's Milk ECB deal is still going on!

1 gal Dean's milk - $2.69 - $1 ECB

There is one other deal that would be worth it especially if you have some ECBs from previous weeks:
4-pk Celcius Green Tea $7.99 (seriously, who would buy this??) - $7.99 ECB PLUS there is a $2 coupon available HERE, so ends up being a $2 money-maker.

This coupon is in PDF form so you can print quite a few, but CVS has a limit of 1. Also, it is an ink-hog so I printed the "in view" part getting only the coupon and one small row of store names.

$1/1 Philadelphia Cream Cheese Coupon

Yes, this is for real. I just found a $1/1 coupon for philadelphia cream cheese. Read the below post and you can get PAID for buying cream cheese at Kroger this week and next.

I printed this Q a long time ago so i don't think a link from my computer would work for you, but at the top of my blog is a link to a "coupon database". Click on that and in the search box type in cream cheese. It will take you to a link for the coupon that will work.

please ask if you have trouble with this or need a "tutorial".

There is a new $0.50/2 Campbells SpaghettiO's coupon that will get you 2 free cans at Kroger during the Mega 10 Event going on.

I read on southernsavers that the Mega 10 Event will continue on next week so no huge rush to get there. Most of the prices will be good through the 28th.

ALSO, as long as we're getting free stuff at Kroger, starting today there is a new Kraft Catalina going on where you get a coupon for $5 off your next order when you buy 5 participating Kraft products. Kraft cream cheese is on sale for $0.99 as part of the mega event. So buy 5 for $5 and get a $5 CAT off your next order. :)

Free grocery Deal idea:
5 cream cheese
1 Tombstone pizza
4 Campbell's spaghettio's

you will pay $5 + tax and get the $5 CAT.
Then use your CAT to buy milk, eggs, cheese, fruit whatever your family needs.

Kraft natural cheese is part of the $5 CAT deal too, and is on the mega event for $1.88. Especially if you can round up a coupon or 2 that's a GREAT price for cheese! My strike price for shred. cheese is usually $1 so even w/0 a coupon it is time to buy and stick in the freezer for later.

Jewel Fruit coupon

There is a new electronic coupon program starting at Jewel. Not much is known about it yet, but the sign-up coupon is a good one! After you fill in your name, e-mail, etc... there is a box for a promo code (or similar). just enter PRODUCE when you Sign up HERE to get a $2 coupon off any produce purchase of $2 or more.

couponingfor4 found this one and said she used it on blueberries to get a pint for only 0.57.

she also said it is in pdf form and can be printed multiple times. only one coupon per transaction, but usually when i go to jewel i make about 5 transactions anyway, so i could use one each time! looks like the expiration date on mine is 07/26/10 so i have a week to use it.

No Facebook account?

This post is for Jill Rocke :0) - and anyone else who does not currently have a Facebook account.

There have been a lot of freebies and coupons offered on Facebook lately, and you have to have an act. to access these offers. A post was written by "for the mommas" on how to set up a secure, discrete Facebook account if you want in on these w/o compromising your identity.

This excerpt was taken directly from her post:


I wish I could say that Facebook coupons are going to decline, but in fact I think they will increase! So while we cannot avoid the ever growing popularity of Facebook, I can show you some quick tips to keep your information private. You do not have to join Facebook, but if you don’t, there are many promotions you will miss out on. (it is perfectly fine to miss them too if you are not comfortable!)

Companies love the ease of collection and mass marketing capabilities of Facebook. So you may want to consider a Facebook page and use the controls built in to secure your information.

1. Create an account with the minimum allowable information. If your name is Melissa A. Jones, set the account up as M.A. Jones. You do not have to put a profile picture up either. Now, you will have to give the company your mailing address for samples, but this is no different from any other free sample offer. Some people create Facebook pages for their pets. ( I am not suggesting it, just saying)

2. Remove yourself from Facebook search results - If you don’t want old croonies from high school looking you up, then simply make it impossible for them to see you.

■Go to account and then privacy settings page in upper right hand corner.
■Click on view settings under the Basic Directory Information.
■Change your settings to be friends or custom only me, depending on what is allowed. (Note: If you have no friends, no one can find you)

I do have a Facebook account, but if you look on there you will see a lot of:
Laura "likes" Kraft
Laura is a fan of Nabisco
Laura gave a "thumbs up" to Tombstone
etc....

all for the sake of a high value coupon.

Krogers Sales 07/15-21

There are some GREAT deals at Kroger this week.

I was wrong about the Tombstone price - after Facebook coupon it is FREE (not 0.50 like I posted earlier) as long as you purchase them with a combination of 10 products from the Mega-10 Event starting today.

SO, at Kroger today I found these great deals:

Blueberries - $3.88 for 2 lbs (I just paid $2.20/lb 3 days ago)

Whole carrots - $0.79/lb

Peaches - 0.99 (not as good as 0.88, but still a great price)

Crayola crayons (24 ct) - $0.25

Now on to the Mega-10 Event prices. You get $5 off your order when you purchase any 10 participating items (mix & match). The price I write is the price AFTER the 0.50/item discount.
There are a LOT of good deals this week so I will only post the ones I either bought or that really stuck out:

Gatorade - 0.49 (I bought 30 - should be enough to get us through any flu season)

Dannon multi-pack yogurts - $1.65/each
I bought the Dan-o-nino yogurt using this $1/1 coupon AND when I bought 2, a Catalina printed out at the register for $1 off my next order (basically paid 0.15 each). AMAZING price for yogurt (duh).

Tombstone pizza - see previous post for coupon info - FREE after coupon & sale

Green Giant Steamers vegetables - $1.49
use 0.50 coupon (doubled) makes then $0.49

Spaghetti O's - $0.49

Maxwell House Coffee (the LARGE cans) - $4.88 (reduced from $7-$10)
Check the top of these cans for a booklet with $10 in savings - there is a $1 coupon for the coffee making a GREAT price for MH coffee. (nathan thinks he likes Folgers, but I'm going to convert him next week). :) shhhhhh.

Starbucks ice cream pints - $1.98
Also in the $10 savings booklet on the MH coffee there is a $1/1 Q for Starbucks ice cream

Quaker Life cereal or Cap'n Crunch (21-22 ozs) - $2.19
I used a $0.50 coupon from the 05/16 paper insert (Red Plum) making it $1.19

Kraft Easy Mac or Velveeta Shells & Cheese cups - $0.50
B2G1 coupon HERE after you play a game - makes them about $0.33/each

If any of my coupon links do not work, try going to southernsavers.com - that is where I got all the coupon links and they worked for me from there.

Hope you find some good deals this week!

$2/1 Tombstone Pizza coupon

There is a Facebook Coupon good for $2 of 1 Tombstone pizza available right now. I printed mine now and will save it until Thursday (or later) when Tombstones go on sale at Kroger for $2.50 as part of a mega sale event that will start on 07/15.

This will sure make for some inexpensive quick meals! My target price for frozen pizza is $2 or less, and we prefer Tombstone to Jacks anyway :)

Purex 3 in 1 Sample

GO HERE to sign up for a free sample of Purex 3 in 1. I have received a sample of this before and LOVED it. I would probably not buy it because it is pretty expensive, but I'll take all the samples they'll give out :)

I used each sheet one time in the washing machine, but was able to keep it in the dryer for quite a while as it really retained a nice scent!

Kellogg's at Jewel

If you need more cereal or Poptarts, head over to Jewel this week. They are running a sale where if you buy 8 Kellogg's cereals, crackers or Poptarts they are only $1.50 each.

at Kellogg's.com they have some good coupons on cereal & poptarts making them $.50 to $1 each after the sale and coupon.

We just had our poptarts stash replenished from Girls' Camp, otherwise I'd be sure to do this one! I still might head to Jewel while in Bmg tonight to grab some cereal & widen the poptart selection -- we'll see!

Programs to Try

OK. I have mentioned before that samples are a GREAT way to get high value coupons (as well as a free product!) so I wanted to share my two favorite programs that regularly send out samples and coupons.

1. VOCALPOINT - it is a members-only program that you "apply" for and it also does require some amount of participation. Not much or I wouldn't do it though. I value my time too much to spend hours doing surveys and chat-boards. The best thing about Vocalpoint is that they usually send out full-size samples and then a coupon for a free product and quite a few other coupons for the same product (to give to friends or keep yourself!). I think they are operated by P&G (not sure though). After I receive a product and use it I jump on and post a quick review if I liked it or not -- or sometimes I wait until I've received 3-4 products and review them all at once to save time. They will send you reminders to participate too if you haven't yet (i just got one today) :) I really do like the samples and coupons though. So SIGN UP HERE if you want.

2. Kraft First Taste - Another high quality samples/coupon program. Obviously run by Kraft. They send out a TON of samples or freebie coupons - at least they have this summer. I would highly recommend this one too - and if it requires participation it is so minimal I can't even remember it. I have definitely found it to be worth having. Go to Kraft First Taste to sign up for this one.

I am sure there are other taste-testing programs out there, but these are the best ones I have come across. I didn't share them sooner because I wanted to make sure they actually sent the products/coupons etc... Some companies say they will, but never do. These have both been great. Hope you find something you like!

Grocery Overload

Hey there. Just wanted to let you know why my posts have dwindled the past couple weeks. I usually post the coupons I print or the deals I think are worth buying. Well, since being in the kitchen @ the A.C. High School Girls' Camp at the end of June I have done almost no grocery shopping. True. We wind up in Grocery Overload after camp and lay low for a while.

Even though I am not grocery shopping - you probably still are. Make sure you check out Moneysavingmom.com or Commonsensewithmoney.com -- those two blogs are where I get 90% of my information . They are so "huge" they can be overwhelming, which is why I wanted to start my own blog to help out new couponers, but they really have some great information on their sites.

Neither of them blog about the IGA so I will keep plugging away here in central Illinois to help us find good deals there. I will also stay more current with good coupons worth printing.

In the meantime, don't forget to go to CVS and get your Free SoBe Lifewater (using BOGO coupon with BOGO sale) -- sale ends Saturday! I got 36 bottles this week for the price of tax.

$1/1 Rayovac Batteries

Using this coupon for $1/1 Rayovac batteries, you could get free batteries at either Target or Walmart.

At target, look in the dollar section near the door.

At WalMart, they are in the check-out aisles or in the battery center.

Update on IGA & CVS deals for this week

Sorry it is so late in the week, but I did my shopping today and thought I would update/add a few things.

AT THE IGA (in Eureka)
I did not buy a watermelon -- too small for the price in my opinion.

I heard first-hand that the sweet corn they have is really good this week.

There IS a tear-pad of $1/2 coupons for the Lay's Chips making them only $1.38/bag. I found the tear-pad on the end of a row near the meat display with a ton of bags of chips there too.

Eggs are only $0.92/dozen for Grade A large (anything $1 or less is a good price - they are $1 at Kroger this week)

AT CVS:
They have their Deans Milk for $2.69, which is a good price for milk, but you also get $1 ECB for the first 2 gallons you buy making it $1.69!! You can't beat that!!

They have a photo/movie DVD for $9.99 with a $9.99 ECB. I asked the guy how it works and he said you can use still pictures or even home movies, just bring in a flashstick or CD and they will turn it into a DVD for you. I thought my kids would love to have a bunch of picts on a DVD that they can watch as a slide-show in the van when we travel. Hopefully I will get back to Eureka by Saturday! I still have a $10 ECB from the P&G deal a month ago that expires on 07/05 so this would be a great way to extend the exp. date on that $10 and get a DVD for free.

24-packs of water are on sale for $1.98 (going off my memory here, so sorry if i'm wrong). Anything $2 or under is a really good bottled water price (I even pay $2.50 sometimes).

$0.50/Del Monte Pineapple coupon

There is a $0.50 coupon for Del Monte pineapples right now. Especially if used at Kroger (where they will double it to $1), you could get a really great deal on pineapple!

Fruit coupons are rare to come by, so snag it if you can.

SoBe Instant Win Game

SoBe lifewater has an instant win game going on right now that you can play once every day. I don't think I have shared this one yet, but even if I have it would be worth checking out again as I have won a coupon every time I have played this game so far.

Many of the prizes are coupons for BOGO free Sobe drinks that you print right then or a completely free SoBe coupon that they will mail to you (I have won both so far).

Next week CVS will have their SoBe waters on sale BOGO so combined with the BOGO coupon, you would get 2 free! I have combined BOGO sales with BOGO coupons at CVS before and you really do get both free.

So GO HERE to sign up and play now!

IGA June 27-July 3

Here are the deals I think are good at our local IGA this week:

bi-color sweet corn 5/$1

Oscar Mayer hot dogs or turkey franks $0.99 - use $1/2 coupon from coupons.com making them only 0.50 each!

Sweet baby Ray's BBQ sauce $0.99 - there have been a lot of coupons in the paper for SBR lately

Prarie Farms Ice Cream 1/2 gal 2/$4 - $0.50 tearpad coupons at many stores (I got some at IGA in El Paso a couple weeks ago that will come in handy)

Fritos or Lays potato chips $1.88

Kool-Aid packets 10/$1 - This is my "buy now" price for Kool-Aid. I would buy what you need for the entire summer.

Kraft Marshmallows $0.99

Cool Whip $0.99

Seedless Watermelon $2.99 (depends on the size, but this is considered a really good price)

Peaches 0.99/lb

Also, there are a lot of IGA store coupons in this week's insert. You all know by now I love these coupons because they can be "stacked" with manufactur coupons. Used alone, I would say all of them are decent prices, but if you can find a manu coupon to use with them, they would be GOOD prices.

$0.50/1 Goldfish coupon *NEW*

OK. I know I have been silent for almost a week -- sorry about that. We were on vacation from Sunday-Wednesday then I left early Thursday to go to High School Girls' Camp until this Sunday. So I am here at camp and ran across this new Goldfish coupon and just felt guilty not telling you all about it!

GO HERE to print yours. Just enter your e-mail address & print! I would recommend canceling the print once it gets the coupon done because there's a good-sized ad at the bottom (save ink). After canceling, just go back to the main page, enter e-mail address again and print again. (yay!)

Remember Kroger doubles coupons up to .50 -- and they occasionally go on sale for $1 there making them free.

Unless I find another great one, I will not post again until next week. SORRY! Enjoy your weekend :)

Free Beech-Nut Next Steps Kit

You can sign up for a free Beech-Nut next steps kit when you fill out the form to receive Beech-Nut's monthly newsletter. It has some great coupons and a completely free item coupon too.

I don't think I had this exact link on my post about saving money with a baby around, so that's why I posted it today.

Beech-Nut can be very generous with coupons & freebies so they're a good company to stick close to.

$3/1 Huggies coupon

The Huggies coupon resurfaced again just in time for the CVS box diaper deal I told you about last week - where you get $10 ECB WYB a box of Huggies diapers.

Head over HERE to print yours before it's gone again!

Cereal at IGA

Sorry for such a late-week post on this -- but if you need cereal it would be worth a quick trip to the IGA today or tomorrow.

GM cereal is on sale (select varieties) 4/$10 (terrible price)
There was an IN-STORE coupon in their ad this week for $4 off 4 boxes (4/$6 - getting better)
Then you can still combine it with manu. coupons too. Joan P. said she found coupon dispensers in the cereal aisle for $0.75 off 2 boxes or I got some in a coupon insert on 06/06/10 for $1/2 boxes. Using 2 coupons your total is now down to either 4/$4 or 4/$5, which is finally a pretty good price for cereal.

**I just checked coupons.com and they have a $1/2 coupon available now too **

My stock-up price is still $0.50/box, but these make for great fill-ins or widening the variety in the pantry for not much extra. In fact, I will probably head to IGA this afternoon and grab a few boxes as Marcus is living on Cheerios these days (part of the sale & I have $0.75/1 coupons). :)

HURRY - $0.75/1 Goldfish coupon

There is a new $0.75 off 1 Goldfish grahams coupon on coupons.com, but it will not be there for long so print it quickly if you want it.

These Goldfish coupons have been going really fast, so I am so glad that Mercedes over at CSWM posts them right away.

Goldfish crackers are still on sale at Kroger for $1 each until Wednesday night.

FREE Snapple (well, only $0.44 anyway)

I have been meaning to post this for a couple weeks now, but keep forgetting!

GO TO THE IGA in Eureka where they have stacks and stacks of Snapple tea 6-packs and with them are tearpads of rebate forms to get the full price back by mail. Other stores may have these too, but that is where I saw them.

So it is not 100% free, you will have to pay for your stamp, but $0.44 for a 6-pack of Snapple is a great deal! Also, Jan (my mother-in-law) pointed out to me yesterday that the rebate form says "ONE PER PERSON" not one per household like many of them do. So while you're at it, grab a rebate form for your husband/wife too! Just make sure you buy the Snapple in separate transactions because you will need a unique receipt for each submission.

If you live out of town, it might be worth it to have a family member grab you a few to get later. If you can't tell, I am all about the idea of "helping each other out".

Yoplait - $0.50/4 coupon

There is a new coupon for 0.50 off 4 yoplait yogurts! If you are not familiar with yogurt coupons, let me say this one is fairly "high value" - especially if you use it at a store that doubles coupons (kroger in our area).

To get the $0.50 coupon, just click on the box that says "try it with a coupon" once on yoplait's website.

Kroger - instant win game

Kroger did an instant win game last summer, and has brought it back this summer. You can play once per day and can win free product coupons loaded directly to your Kroger card. We won a few items last year.

It is called Summer of Savings.

GOOD LUCK! :)

Kroger - cereal & milk deal

Kroger has a deal right now where if you buy 2 Kellogg's cereal (select varieties) you get a free gallon of P.F. Milk!

The boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats are on sale for $1.88 (even the mini blueberry ones, which our whole fam loves) AND there is a coupon dispenser right by the cereal for $1/2 boxes making them $1.39/each.

So for $2.78 cents you get two boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk.

that is a GREAT deal.

$3/1 Huggies diaper coupon -- reset

If you want to print 2 more of the $3 Huggies coupon, the link on their Facebook page has been reset!

$0.35/1 Goldfish cracker coupon

There is a brand new coupon on coupons.com for $0.35 off any one package of Goldfish Crackers!

These are on sale for $1 right now at Kroger, who doubles coupons less than $0.50 making them only $0.30 per bag!

You might want to print this one soon as I am guessing it won't last long before the print limit is reached and it's gone.

Diaper Duty

Seems like I have been writing about diapers quite a bit and last night Nathan & I were bored so we came up with a list of diapers and in what order we like their quality. Keep in mind I have not tried all the diapers out there (like Luvs) so they're not included in my list for that reason.

1. Huggies
2. Pampers
3. Walgreens Brand diapers (true!)
4. WalMart Brand diapers
5. Toys R Us Especially for Baby brand
6. basically any other diaper brand
7. Kroger brand is at the bottom of the barrel. Now, it has been about 3 years since we used these, but they were TERRIBLE! Our kids leaked out of every diaper we put on them. Keep in mind I am still a huge Kroger fan, I just don't buy their diapers.

I prefer Huggies over Pampers because to me, the outside of a Pampers always feels a little damp making it tougher to know just how wet the baby really is.

So, for the first time, I attempted a picture -- here is my sweet baby Marcus with his stash of our fav. Huggies diapers . . .

Orville Redenbacher popcorn -- Jewel deal

A few of you have heard me say I got O.R. Popcorn boxes for 0.07/each lately. Well HERE'S YOUR CHANCE. Starting 06/09 Jewel has another ConAgra Catalina deal going on where if you spend $25 you get a $10 CAT back (used on your next order).

Buy 7 boxes of O.R. popcorn ($3.59 shelf price/on sale for $1.89) total = 13.23 (but total shelf = 25.13 so you qualify).
Use as many coupons as you can find (sunday's smart source insert & try my coupon database link)
Total OOP will be around $10, but you will get a $10 CAT for your next purchase.

So once you have made your initial $10 investment, go and do it again, and again and again using your $10 CAT to pay for your next order. Each time you will pay about 0.07 for taxes.

You can also try Wesson Oil included in this deal. Buy 5 bottles. Total = 12.50. Pay with CAT from popcorn &2.50 OOP and get another $10 CAT.

When you're all done buying ConAgra stuff, either save that CAT for your next trip or turn right around and go buy bread, milk, eggs, cheese, fresh fruit or WHATEVER with your last $10 CAT. I usually spend mine right away because it may expire before I get back to Jewel again -- it's just too far away for this girl to go very often. Then when you get in your car you will see BAGS of popcorn, cooking oil and other useful groceries all for $10 (plus a little change here & there).

I got this information from Southernsavers so if you are confused as to how the Jewel CAT deal works, feel free to go to her site and read up on all the details.

If you do go to Jewel, it might also be worth your time to hunt down a few Dannon Danimals coupons as you can get some free yogurt now too. It is Dairy Month and Jewel has a promo to buy 5, get $5 CAT. Danimals is on sale for 5/$10 with $1/1 coupons available making them free after $5 CAT.

Looking Ahead at CVS - Huggies diaper deal

I do not know how these women get their information so far in advance, but CSWM wrote a post today on an upcoming deal on Huggies at CVS.

Apparently the $3/1 Huggies coupon has reset, meaning you can print it again!

The week of June 20, CVS is going to have their big boxes of diapers priced at $19.99 with a $10 ECB.

So go to CVS this week and make sure you scan your card at the red machine, she also said a $3 coupon of some sort was printing out right now to save for that sale too.

Then when June 20 rolls around you will go to CVS, purchase the diapers at $19.99, give the $3 Huggies coupon, the $3 CVS coupon = 13.99. I still have a $10 ECB from the P&G deal last week which I will use making my OOP expense only $3.99 for a WHOLE BOX OF DIAPERS. And then I will still get my $10 ECB back!

Now that is a REALLY GOOD diaper deal. the only bummer is it is a "limit 1" per card.

Please e-mail with any questions! This might be time to sign up your hubby for his own card so you can get 2 of these. Then have your mom go for you -- your mother-in-law and anyone else who wouldn't use it for themselves!

CVS - Free ice cream!

**UPDATE**
The CVS in Eureka does not carry this brand of ice cream, but WalMart has them for $1.29 so they are still pretty cheap after the coupon there.

I said I would let you know if anything else "popped up" for CVS this week.

Well, there are two new coupons for $1 off ANY Skinny Cow ice cream, and CVS has the little cups on sale for $1 this week making them FREE. :) These would be great to add in with your deodorant purchase, especially to help get you to a $25 threshold to be able to use a $5/25 or $4/20 purchase coupon or something.

Skinny Cow's website has the first $1 coupon

Skinny Cow's Facebook page has the second coupon offer, so you can get 4 coupons per computer. First you have to "Like" Skinny Cow, then go to the "fan exclusives" tab to get your coupon.

IGA 3-day sale June 10-12

3-day sale. They are TRYING to make you think all the prices here will be so good they can only offer them for 3 days. Don't be fooled!

Good priced items:
Seedless Watermelon - 2.99
California Cherries - 2.99/lb
peaches 0.99/lb

Decent prices:
Pineapple - 2.99
red grapes - 1.29/lb (0.99 at Jewel this week)
sweet corn - 4/$1 (they were 6/$1 at Kroger last week)
vidalia onions 0.999/lb

the rest of the things were either too highly priced or I just don't know what they should sell for. I never buy garden fresh green beans because I have my own. Tomatoes at 1.69 just seem high as do the nectarines and honey dew melon. The Athena melon i could be talked in to, but usually buy them at $1-1.50.

IGA June 6-12

As most of you know, the IGA is not my favorite place to shop, but 1) it is MUCH more convenient than most other stores 2) They do run some good sales sometimes & have store Q's that can be combined with Manu. Q's and 3) the whole "try to support the local guy" thing.

So, here are the best deals I can come up with for the IGA this week:

Prarie Farms Milk - 1.29 for 1/2 gallon (only 0.04 more than Kroger!)

Prarie Farms Yogurt 3/0.99 (I prefer 0.25 per serving, but not too bad)

Tide 2X laundry det. 50 oz - There is an in-ad IGA coupon for this at 2/$10. I have a $1/1 manufacture coupon that I got in a sample a while back which would make it a decent deal. Target has the 150 oz Tide on sale for $16.00 this week (WYB 2) so IGA's $5 price beats that ounce for ounce, but I am still not convinced. If you LOVE Tide I guess I would get it, but if you're okay with Purex for $2.99 instead I'd wait for that sale. I struggle with good prices for detergent. If only CVS would start putting that on free ECB sales! :) enough with the deodorant! we want laundry detergent!!

Green peppers 2/$1. I prefer 3/$1, but it sure beats the price they've been!

I hate to say it, but that's all I saw for this week.

Target 06/06-06/12

There are some great deals at Target this week! So if you're heading to Bloomington or Peoria it might be a good idea to get a few coupons organized first.

CSWM posted quite a list of Free or almost free items she found:

Pampers wipes tubs $1.99-$2.39 reg price
Use $2/1 Pampers Wipes 60ct+ 6/6/2010 P&G Insert (exp 7/31/2010)
As low as FREE after coupon

Olay Total Effects body wash 8oz bottle $3.54 reg. price
Use $4/1 Olay Total Effects Body Wash 6/6/2010 P&G Insert (exp 7/31/2010)
FREE after coupon

Bounce Bar $3.49
Use $2/1 coupon from Home Made Simple Booklet
Use $1.50/1 Bounce Dryer Bar TARGET 6/6/2010 RP Insert (exp 7/17/2010)
FREE after coupons

Dannonino Yogurt $1.69
Use $1.50/1 Danonino coupon from 6/6 SS insert
Pay $0.19 after coupon

Satin Care trial size $0.97
Use $1/1 Satin Care Shave Gel 6/6/2010 P&G Insert (exp 7/31/2010) (regional value)
Free after coupon
Herbal Essence shampoo, conditioner trial size $0.97
Use $1/1 Herbal Essences Product 5/16/2010 RP Insert (exp 6/30/2010)
FREE after coupon

Johnson and Johnson First Aid travel kit travel size $0.97
Use $0.75/1 J&J Red Cross Product, any 5/16/2010 RP Insert (exp 7/31/2010)
Pay $0.22 each after coupon

Shout Stain Removers $1.97
Use $0.55/1 Shout Laundry Product 5/2/2010 SS Insert (exp 6/12/2010) (or peelie coupon found on product)
Use$1/1 Shout Target printable coupon
Pay $0.42 for one (Thanks Katrina)

Nivea Shave gel for men $3.49
Use $2/2 Nivea for Men 4/25/2010 RP Insert (exp 6/30/2010)
Use $2/1 Nivea for men Target printable
Pay $0.39 each

Bounty Basic single rolls $0.99 every day
Use $0.25 off one Bounty from 5/2 P&G insert (hand this one first)
Use $1/1 any Bounty Target coupon from 5/16 insert
Free plus $0.26 in overage!