Sunday, February 27, 2011

Home Made Simple coupon booklet

Head here and request a FREE coupon booklet by Home Made Simple! 

This coupon book contains coupons for Dawn, Cascade, Mr. Clean, Swifter and many more!  There is a coupon for $1.00 off Dawn Hand Renewal, which makes it free at many drug stores!

18 items for $7.91 OOP! (My Rite Aid run)

I had a great run at Rite Aid today!  I went in with $16 in +UP's, spent $7.91 OOP and left with $6 in +UP's.  Usually I won't lose UP's like I did, but today I decided it was worth it for me to lose $10 in UP's.  My goal is build them back up by doing money maker deals and smaller transactions.  The things I bought was

6 cases of Pepsi products (On sale for 3/9.99, used 3 $1/2 peelies, and received $3+UP)
2 Folgers (On sale for 2.99, used $2.50/2 IP, and received 2 $1 UP's)
2 softsoap hand soaps
1 TGI Friday chips (ON sale for $1.00 and received $1 UP)
3 Reach dental floss (On sale for $1.00 and used $1.00 off coupons) Never pay money for floss!
4 Nivea chapsticks (On sale for $1.00 and used 2 $2/2 coupons)

I am going to hit the Rite Aid by my work since the Dawn hand renewal little bottles are $1.00 this week and I have 2 $1.00 coupons.  Dish soap is another thing you should get for free or under $1.00....and that's for the name brand stuff!

Awesome Price on Pepsi 12 packs at Rite Aid!!

If you need cans of pop head over to Rite Aid this week!

Pepsi 12 packs are 3/$9.99, when you buy 3 you will receive $3.00 +UP's.  To make this deal even better, look for $1/2 peelies on the boxes.  $5.99 for 3 cases of pop= .17/can!! When I think about it that way I realize I am getting so ripped off when I shell out .60/can at work!

ETA: There is a limit of one per household, so you can only do this once.  I bought 6 cases though and used 3 $1/1 peelies to pay $16.98 OOP (out of pocket) and received $3+UP.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

CVS

By now you all know I love Rite Aid! I shop at CVS too but not nearly as often. CVS is a great store, and often times has freebies.

Here's a few tips to get you started on shopping at CVS.

1. Sign up for the Extra Care Card.  Have this scanned every time you shop.
2. Scan your Extra Care Card at the "magic" coupon machine every time you go.  These coupons can be combined with manufacturer's coupons!
3. Try and buy products that earn you ECB's (Extra Care Bucks). Once you have earned ECB's, keep them rolling!
4. Unlike Rite Aid, CVS has limits.  The limits are clearly stated in the ad and on their shelves.  The benefit to this is people can't clear the shelves.  You will have an equal chance to get an item because a crazy couponer can't go in there and buy all 20 that is on the shelf! 
5. Green Bag Tag is a plastic tag you purchase for $1.00.  Attach it to any reusable shopping bag and have it scanned every time you make a CVS purchase.  With every 4th purchase you will earn a $1.00 ECB!  This can only be used once a day though.

I did shop at CVS this week. I went in with $0 ECB's, spent $1.74 and walked out with $2.75 ECB's for next time.  So now my goal is to find something to buy that after my coupons is close to the $2.75 above but will earn me at least $2.75 in ECB's.

One website that is great for looking ahead for deals is www.iheartcvs.com

Looking ahead, Rite Aid beginning 2/27

I really like the blog For the Mommas for matching up Rite Aid and the other drug stores.  She has done a deal preview for next week.  Check it out here .

Head here to print a $2/2 Nivea lip care.  This will be on sale for $1 so 2 FREE after coupon!

Looks like there is other things for free as well but the Nivea deal is my favorite!

Giant Eagle (2/24-3/2)

Hooray! Finally a week to be excited for at Giant Eagle! I left my coupon binder out in the car, but off the top of my head, I know I have about 31 items for $38 on my list.

If you have not done so, please head over to Giant Eagle's website and set up an online account with them.  You can add e-offers which can be combined with paper coupons! Also, you can view your shopping history and keep track of your fuel perks, food perks, and savings!

This week e-offers combined with a manufacturer's coupon and cash off my next purchase, will earn me free Dayquil and Nyquil! 

Broccoli is BOGO so that will be the veggie of choice in our house!  I am also going to introduce the baby to mango's since they are 10 for $10. 

Other items on my list was the Bounty/Charmin/Luv's deal.  If any of you have Luv's coupons it would make it much better! I do not have any Luv's coupons but 2 for $10 is good enough for me since I think we might need some. 

If you have the coupons from the P&G Brand Saver (they expire the 28th) check out the Crest toothpaste and Oral B toothbrush deal.  They are 2 for $5 but if you spend $10, then you will earn $3.00 off your next purchase.  There is e-offers to go with these as well. 

Lady Savings has the complete ad matchups, along with links to the internet printables.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Cheap Seventh Generation!

Didn't take me long to find a good Target deal! 

Check out this cheap scenerio for Seventh Generation!  If you use both a Target coupon and a manufacturer's coupon, you can get it for $0.99!!

The deal and links to internet printables can be found at The Krazy Coupon Lady.

Target

First let me say that before I began couponing, Target was my favorite store!  Now that I coupon, I realize I wasn't shopping Target to it's full potential! It's a great place to buy grocery, cleaning and personal care items.

My all time favorite blog for Target shopping is Totally Target.  This blog is awesome and full of links to coupons, the most current happenings at Target and has lots of giveaways :)

The key to shopping Target is shopping their sales and using both a Target coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon! Head to Target's website, scroll down until you see Get Coupons.  The only downside to these coupons is sometimes they are manufacturer coupons even if they are on Target's site and you will not know that until you print them.  Usually though Totally Target will let you know which are Target Web coupons.

Another thing I love about Target is their clearance.  In July and January, the toy section will have a major clearance.....stock up for Christmas/Birthdays/Other holidays then if possible!  In my basement, I have several presents for my girl's for Christmas plus some presents in case they are invited to a friend's birthday party.  I even got my niece (I can say this on here since my sister is the one who told me to buy it) a $50 doll set for $12, now I just need to get her a little outfit and she is set for Christmas! She will be getting a completely awesome present, but it didn't break Aunt Lori's budget!

The clearance isn't just in toys!  Every time I am in Target I cruise the inside end caps.  By doing this I have scored plush towels for $0.98...who cares that they were bright orange! I have bought generic twinkle toe shoes for my daughter for $2.48. There is way too many awesome clearance deals! It's come to the point that unless something has a bright red sticker I don't buy it.  Eventually it will go on sale :)

I can not think of any great Target deals this week, but I will definitely update if and when I do!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Planning and Practice make perfect.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  This is both true in life and couponing!  Sometimes I get extremely frustrated when a scenario so thought out does not go according to plan, or if I can't find a coupon I swear I had.  My family can attest to my coupon craziness at times! In the end though I find it extremely rewarding and fun...when things go my way!

Here's some things to make your shopping trips go smoother, and mistakes I made this week which caused me to overspend at Walmart.

Eat before you shop: Make sure you eat something before you go out, being hungry at the grocery store will make you spend more...trust me :)

Go without kids and husband whenever possible: Trust me, I work full time and have 3 kids....rarely do I get to shop without my children.  But, I have definitely noticed my extreme coupon trips are alot less stressful, quicker, and less expensive when I am doing them solo.  It's sometimes hard to resist getting the kids candy at the checkout when they have been so good. 

Meal Plan and Make a Grocery List: Making a meal plan can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be.  In our house, we go with simple.  I typically list 7 meals for the week and my husband and I cook according to what we're in the mood for. Breakfast and snacks are pretty standard in our house, the girls know what they are allowed to have.

Here is a meal plan with a section to make your grocery list at the same time. Meal Planning Chart

I try and make my meal plans based upon what is currently on sale and what's in my pantry.  Currently I know that I have stuff to make taco's, spaghetti, hamburger helper, chicken and rice soup, shake n bake with rice, frozen pizzas....the list goes on and on!  Technically I could just go and buy a few things and be done.  Which is what I should have done this weekend!

Always carry coupons for items you know you will buy! I always buy baby food....so why I went to Walmart without baby food coupons was just ridiculous!  If you have certain items/products you buy consistently and there is coupons for them, keep them with you always!  I also try and carry an "expiring soon" envelope in case I find a good price on a product that the coupon is about to expire. 

Clip your coupons and carry the sale ads: When preparing to go shopping, I usually clip the coupons I am going to need for that trip and paper clip them to the sale ad.  This way I can compare the shelf tags to the sales flier to make sure I am buying the correct product.  I have lost too many times by trusting the shelf tag!  You might like the envelope system if you are planning on going to more than one store.

Shop Early: If your doing major shopping, try and do it in the off hours.  I prefer early morning, like before 8am, but I know that's not for everyone! It seems the stores are less crowded, the cashiers more friendly, and products are freshly stocked!

One thing to remember is it takes awhile to get started and really notice the savings adding up.  Another thing is it might take you awhile to figure out the best way for you personally to be organized and get the most out of couponing....keep trying! Saving $1.00 here and there is better than throwing those dollars away!

Later this week, I am going to try and talk about other stores that I love to use coupons in.  Target and CVS come to mind!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

It's all in the planning!

This is what I bought at Rite Aid this morning. It was a great run! For everything pictured above I spent $7.23 out of my own pocket and walked out with $14 +UP's for next time!  Here's some things I noticed at the Rite Aid I went to.
Sucrets-It's the 18 count that is on sale and producing the UP but look for the Bonus 33% more packs because they also are on sale for $2.99 and produce the $2.00+UP.
Johnson's and Desitin- My store was completely out of the Desitin that was on sale.  I could have asked for a raincheck but I wasn't that worried about getting it.  I might ask for one tomorrow when I check out my Rite Aid near work. There is no limit to this so you can buy as much as you want.  There was a ton at the store I went to this morning, but I bet by Wednesday it's gone! Maybe even earlier than that! The natural's are included in the sale, so if you like to go all natural with your baby stock up!
Huggies-Plenty of selection on these and just to note they are not the best price I have ever paid but we needed diapers and for $2.99 I was buying them there! (I got them for $2.99 since I watched a video values last month, it's no longer available but always check your account to see.
Oreo's-These are on sale 2/$6 and then you earn a $3UP (one $1 UP mentioned in the ad, and then there is a monthly +Up that prints for each one you buy).  There is a coupon for $1/2 Oreo's in Video Values, pair this with a $1/2 "Spring" oreo's that can be found on coupons.com. My store did not have the "spring" oreo's but my Rite Aid scanned the coupon anyways and it went through.  Don't mention it and see if it works, this is a YMMV (your mileage may vary) in the coupon world!

Right Guard-If you go to Rite Aid this week, check and see if the Right Guard body wash has a $1.00 off peely.  If it does, then you can get some free body wash!

If you don't have any UP's or have few, remember you can break your purchase up into smaller transactions.  I bought everything above today in 2 separate transactions.  Usually if there is a line I will go to the back and let people ahead of me.  This gives me time to regroup, take care of the baby, and make sure all the coupons are ready to go!

Planning.....
After my well planned Rite Aid trip, we headed to Walmart.  I did not plan for this.  My receipt is proof of that.  I am quite embarrassed to say I spent $160 at Walmart today.  To be fair, I did buy prescription meds, valances for my living room, and sippy cups/feeding supplies for my 10 month old.  My next post I am going to talk about the planning it takes me to be a extreme couponer. 

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Going to be another awesome week at Rite Aid!

Part of my nightly routine is to check my favorite coupon blogs and spot good deals. I will try and make a list of them but I believe blog rules is I have to ask for permission. Anyways, looking tonight I have decided that this week is going to be fun at Rite Aid.  I already told you about the Johnson & Johnson/Desitin deal, but if you missed it go here.

I also plan on buying Sucrets since they will be free or maybe a money maker depending on the coupon I have.  Huggies diapers will be $4.99 for a jumbo pack. (If you use Pull-Ups you can get them for $4.99 too!) 24 packs of Nestle water will be $2.00 each which is better than what I pay at Giant Eagle. I know the cheapest thing would be to not buy bottled water but I have a first birthday party to plan ahead for!

Check out Lady Savings she put more hot deals than I mentioned, plus if there is online printables you can find them there.  Once I get my paper if I notice something great I will be sure to let everyone know!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Cheap Fun with the Kid's!

Most of you know I am a Mommy to 3 little girls, my children range in age from 10 years old down to 10 months old! I am always looking for fun things to do with my girl's that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!  I will share a few things I have come up with and would love to hear other ideas.

Scavenger Hunt
This is by far my 10 year old's favorite!  I usually do this for Valentine's day and hide about 5 clues and at the end they get a small present.  I got this idea from a back in the day Jon & Kate Plus 8 episode.  If you lack in the creative department, google scavenger hunt clues and a whole bunch come up!

Baking
Since I coupon I get a ton of cookie, brownie and cake mixes for next to nothing!  This is something we can do and enjoy together.  This is my 4 year old's favorite!

Crafts
I am a huge fan of the plastic sun catchers!  We have a bunch along with the paintbrushes and paints.  Both the girl's love to paint these and give them as presents to their Grandma's!

Cleaning Pennies
I have not done this project with my girls but it's on the list.  When I was in high school, I taught preschool through my Child Development class and this was one thing we did.  You get the old, ugly, lost their shine pennies and make them sparkle again!  Drop the penny into the vinegar and then rub salt on it when you take it out. Tada! Clean pennies!

Make Oobleck!
This is another one I learned in Child Development.  Head here for the recipe!

Scrap Paper and Scissors
Expired coupons?  The cartoons?  Junk mail?  Leftover construction paper?  Throw it in an old shoe box with scissors and let your child go to town!  My 4 yr old loves to cut her "coupons"!

Make a tent
Have a contest and see who can make the better tent Mommy or Daddy?  Or maybe the kids can! Even my 10 month old like tents!

Makeovers, Manicures and Pedicures!
This might not be fun for those of you with boys!  My girl's and I love to do this kind of thing.  For us it's more of a spring/summer thing but we love to paint toes and nails!  Also my girl's love to do my makeup and me do theirs!

Plays and Concerts
Ask your child to preform for you!  One night my girl's had a concert for my husband and I!  I have never in my life laughed so hard. They came up with their own lyrics and songs and made instruments. It was so cute and warmed my heart to see they worked together for hours to do it.

Take a Walk, Have a Picnic!
I am a huge fan of packing a picnic and going to the park.  It can be as easy or fancy as you want it to be.  In the summer we like to buy a bag of water balloons from the dollar store and take them to the park.  We usually all leave soaked and smiling! 

I think this weekend when I am doing my grocery shopping I am going to pick up some cornstarch so we can make Ooblek!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

BOGO Sale and Coupons

Did you know that when a store is having a BOGO (buy one get one free) sale you can use a coupon on the free item?! This is how you can stack up the savings and get items for free or dirt cheap.  As long as the coupons you are using is $1/1 ($1.00 off 1 item) then it can be used at most stores during a BOGO sale.  This week at Giant Eagle Purex with Zout is on sale for BOGO, in the Red Plum you got with your grocery store fliers was a $3.00 off Purex w/Zout coupon, use 2 of these and get 2 Purex for free. (I am assuming the will be free since in the Giant Eagle ad it says that you save up to $5.98 using this sale).

Sometimes you have get coupons that are BOGO, like Buy Orbit Gum get one free.  If you combine these coupons with a BOGO sale you will get both items FREE!  The store gives you one free as part of their promotion, and then the manufacturer will reimburse the store for the other one since you had a coupon. 

Reminder: Save all your coupons, you might not normally buy Purex laundry detergent but for FREE wouldn't you try it out?  Honestly I will probably just use it for towels, bibs and misc rags unless it comes in a Free & Clear version!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Weekly Check in!

Look through your coupons, if you have ones for $2.00 off Dove Deodorant you can get free deodorant at Rite Aid this week!  Other good deals are free toothpaste. One thing I learned from couponing is you should never ever pay more than 0.25 for toothpaste, and to me even 0.25 is too high! It's Colgate Sensitive or Colgate Total, if you have $1.00 off coupons (which were in this week's paper!!) then you can actually make money.  Remember to save your UP rewards to use on future deals that earn the UP rewards (unless they are about to expire!)

Giant Eagle
Head on over to Lady Savings and see the matchups.  The things that I plan to buy are Tombstone Pizza's for $2.17 a piece, Betty Crocker fruit snacks, Fiber One cereal, Bounty napkins, yogurt, some cleaning supplies and FREE Purex laundry detergent (2 of them!)

Also if you like Coffee Mate creamer, check out the link that she has posted.  It will get you free creamer this week after the coupon is doubled.  Sadly, I have already printed the maximum allowed for my IP address so I will have to pay for creamer if I needed some.  Luckily I stocked up a few weeks ago :)

Future Heads UP!

Get your printer's ready, and print these coupons now if you are interested!  Next week at Rite Aid you can get free Desitin, and J&J items!  I love the bedtime bath from Johnson & Johnson! It smells so good on my sweet baby girl! 
Lady Savings has the info on the deal, and I am super stoked about it.  I love clean smelling babies so I will be taking advantage of this deal!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Pantry Week!

Every once in awhile we have Pantry Week in our house!  The upcoming week will be one!  When it's pantry week my husband usually does the shopping.  We only will need a few staples like bananas, bread, juice and a few other things.  Luckily for me, I chose a week that doesn't have awesome deals! 

You might like some of this week's deals at Giant Eagle so definitely check out Lady Savings, but I am not too impressed by any of the specials.

Some of our pantry week meals will be Taco's, grilled chicken and veggies, spaghetti, kid's choice and not sure what else!  We have a ton of food in this house so it will be good to use it up!

Another way I save money is I do not buy Lean Cuisine's anymore.  I used to buy 5 a week, that's easily $7.50-10 depending on where I shopped.  Now for lunch, I pack PB on wheat, ham sandwich, leftovers, canned soup or anything else I can find around the pantry. Surprisingly to myself I have not gained but actually lost weight by doing this!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Giant Eagle!

Head on over to Lady Savings to see the complete match ups for the week, along with links to internet printables!

Here's what I plan to buy:
Huggies wipes for 0.79 (3 of them since I have 3 coupons!)
9 Cans of Chunky Soup (they are only $1.00 a can after my coupon which is 50 cents cheaper than Walmart...we go through soup like crazy!)
Nestle Hearts 0.88 after the coupon
Colgate toothpaste (buying 2 since they are FREE after my coupon!)
Frank's Hot Sauce 0.50
2 Oretega Taco Kits 3.00
3 Ragu 2.50
2 Gogurts 2.50
4 Mamwich 3.00
3 Hunt's diced tomatoes 2.00

The Mamwich and Hunts are in a promo they are doing so I might buy the BOGO popcorn for $2.28 so I can get $3.00 off my next purchase.  A few weeks ago I got cheap popcorn at Save-A-Lot and it's horrid.  So it might be worth using the bogo sale! lol

Also I do not have coupons for these items but I think they are a pretty good deal.  Pepsi 24 packs are 2 for $11. We have a special little girl's birthday coming up so I am preparing now for her party.  Also Coke 2 liters are $1 each so I will probably buy four 2 liters!
Also I am heading to Foodland to get the frozen chicken breasts we like since they are $5 each.  If I spend $20 I can get a Digiorno pizza for $3.98, so that will be in the cart too!

Hope everyone saves some money this weekend with their grocery shopping!!! 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Random Rumblings....

Today I was talking with my sister and she mentioned my latest post.  She said it's cheap if you have UP rewards but not really for those who don't.  Good point but you don't earn UP rewards unless you purchase products.  The key to shopping Rite Aid (CVS and Walgreens) is to take those coupons off your next purchase and "roll" them.  Rolling is the couponing term to keep them going.  I typically try and only use UP rewards on products I am earning UP rewards.  If a product is on sale for $3.00 and gives a $2 UP reward, I will try and find a coupon for the difference and use my UPs since I will earn more back.  The only time I don't use my UPs on products that earn me UPs is if they are about to expire or if I am using it towards products that will earn me an SCR.

For you coupon newcomers I would suggest trying smaller purchases for less out of your pocket, unless you don't mind your first trip to be costly and your next ones to be low.

Buy 1 Lay's stack for $1.00
They will give you a $1.00 UP reward, take this and buy another Lay's....this time you will pay $0.00 and earn another UP, which you can then use for more Lay's!

*Note this only works at Rite Aid....Walgreen's rules are trickier and I haven't quite mastered them yet. CVS has limits on their ECB's (Extra Care Bucks)


Giant Eagle
Each week I encourage you to go to Tammy's website called Lady Savings she does complete coupon match ups to Giant Eagle along with several other things.  I typically go on her website everyday, but usually Tuesdays or Wednesday's she will have hot deal internet printables for the Giant Eagle sale that starts on Thursday.  Sometimes internet printables reach a certain limit and are no longer available.  It's important to print a coupon that you know without a doubt you will use when you see it, if not by the time you do, it might not be available anymore.  

Giant Eagle has e-offers.  I never knew this until I started reading Tammy's blog.  These coupons can be paired with another manufacturer's coupon.  This week Bounty paper towels were 10 for $10, there was a 0.50 e-offer, and I used a 0.25 coupon (which was doubled) making a roll of paper towels FREE!  Seriously, head over to Giant Eagle, get your Advantage Card signed up so hopefully you can get free paper towels or other products one day!

My method with Giant Eagle is I go through all my coupons with the ad and just mark it up.  I circle things I think I have a coupon for, or I think is a good price.  After I do all that, I head to Tammy's site to see what I missed. I print all the internet coupons I need and put everything into an envelope so I am organized to go shopping!!

Every week I will provide you the link to Lady Savings and also tell you which deals I hope to score. 

Price Book/List
I do not cover all the different interests people have in their life.  Some of you may be into all organic, others may have food allergies or medical conditions to deal with, and others might not need to know about diaper deals.  This is why I suggest you make a list of products you normally buy and pay attention to the price the next time you put it in your cart.  If you have a good memory, make a mental note.  If not, write it down in a little tablet.  Then after you have your list, make it a game with yourself to be lower than that price on the shelf.  If you are interested in stockpiling if you can find the product for about 1/2 of the shelf price or even 75-90% off then stock up!  I stock up when I think something is a really good price, and I know it won't go to waste.

Don't be TOO brand picky!
Do I have a favorite brand of diapers?  Absolutely! Unfortunately for me the brand I like is usually the most expensive.  My baby isn't allergic to other brands so I buy what I can find for cheap.  After all, she is just going to wear it an hour or two before it ends up in the garbage.

Be willing to try new brands and even generic store brands!