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