I guess I love Tomatoes!

Went to Publix Saturday night... got a few great deals: 38 cents for diced tomatoes, 42 cents for 6 Pepsi Max 2-liters, and free instant mashed potatoes. I got a few "ok" deals - 14 cents for tomato paste, $1.80 for each SmartOnes and 34 cents for Lysol cleaning spray.

I spent $33.57 and saved only $18 in coupons, but a bit more in BOGO sales. So it wasn't my best trip ever, but I needed the frozen meals for lunch and I added the mandarin oranges for that too. So feeding myself lunch for a week for $10 is pretty good!

The balasmic vinegar was not on sale and I didn't have a coupon, but it is the best deal on that product at Publix ($3.29 for a 16 oz bottle).

I know this really isn't one to brag about, but I did shop with Kim and together our total sounds better than my invididual total. ( I don't have a combined photo..)

Together we spent: $75.95, saved $91.51 and qualified for a $2.75 rebate.

My point is, you are not going to save mucho dinero EVERY TIME, but as long as you are shopping sales and using coupons.... you are helping the bottom line.

Until next time... happy saving!

Shannon

Rocked it at Target today

Ok, SouthernSavers.com gave some great tips for some FREE items at Target and since I was going by there anyway, I decided to try them out.

I left with more than $32 worth of stuff, for just $5.87 out of pocket.



WHAT I BOUGHT:

5 travel packs of Band Aids (97 cents each)
4 Johnson & Johnson travel size First Aid Kits (97 cents each)
3 travel size Clean & Clear face cleansers
6 packs of BIC pens (99 cents each)
1 can mini Ravioli (84 cents)
2 travel packs of Tide detergent (97 cents each)
2 boxes Nature's Valley granola bars with yogurt ($2.39 each)
1 pocket calculator ($1)

Total - $27
Coupons Used:
(3) $3 off Johnson Johnson/Band Aid coupons
(3) $1 off any Clean & Clear product
(3) $1/2 BIC product
(2) $1/2 Target BIC product
(1) $1 off Chef Boyardee (84 cents)
(2) $1 off any Tide product
(1) $.75/2 boxes Nature Valley granola bars
(1) $1 off Target Nature Valley granola bars

TOTAL OOP: $5.87 (which actually is a Flex-spending eligible total because of the band aids/first aid kit, so I will submit that to my FSA plan). And I am submitting 3 Band Aid UPC codes for a FREE Toy Story 3 book!

Not a bad little tip to learn to use a coupon that is elibigle for ANY product on a brand that offers TRAVEL SIZES!!!!


I also made a quick stop in CVS because I had a $4 off $20 purchase email coupon that expired today. So I grabbed 4 cans of Pledge multi-surface cleaners ($5.79 each) and used 2 B1G1 Free coupons on it (the max value on those was $4.99), so here's how this breaks down:

BOUGHT:
4 cans Pledge multi-surface cleaner ($5.79 each)
Total: $23.16
Coupons used:
$4 off $20 purchase
2 B1G1 free Pledge M-S cleaner (-$9.98)
$5 ECB
Total OOP: $4.18 plus tax. (I paid using a Rx gift card, so I paid nothing out of pocket!)

And when I asked for a raincheck for the Blink Tears eye drops that were on sale for $7.99 and gave $7.99 back in ECB (making them FREE!), they told me they had one bottle behind the counter. So my second transaction looked like this:

Bought:
Blink Tears 0.5 oz. ($7.99)
Total: $7.99 + tax
Coupon used: $1.50 off Blink Tears
Total: $6.49 + tax (again, I paid with a Rx gift card.. so it cost me NOTHING! And I can submit this to FSA as well.)
ECB Received: $7.99




Summary - I paid nothing in cash out of pocket, spent $5 in ECB, got back $7.99 in ECB and left with 4 bottles of Pledge and a bottle of Blink Tears. NOT BAD!!


I have some Walgreen's RR I have to burn this week because they are expiring Wednesday, though looking briefly at the ad, nothing really jumps out at me. Might look at what I can stock up on...

Until then, happy saving!

Shannon

Coupon Swap

I mentioned to a few of you on Facebook a few weeks ago about swapping coupons... so until I can figure out a better way, I am going to use this blog entry page as a coupon swapping site.

Please feel free to post here coupons that you have that you do not need and want to trade for something you do need (for example, I don't need dog food coupons, so I would make a post here saying that I had XXX dog food coupons and ask if anyone wanted them and if so, suggest something I would want in return, like Kellogg's cereal). Or post here if you are looking for something and then you can work out your trade if someone responds to you (i.e. Sam posts that she is looking for baby food and diapers. Mel reads this and sends Sam an email and says she has tons of baby coupons that she does not need and then tells Sam that she is looking for pasta and soup coupons. So Sam agrees to send Mel pasta and soup coupons in exchange for the baby coupons. Everyone is happy and saving money!!) When you post your email address in the comment box, write it in this format: username @ provider (dot) com (so mine would be gamecockshan @ gmail (dot) com). (Obviously, when you send the email, you will write it out properly. This keeps spammers from getting your email address.)

I hope this works for you guys for now. I plan to host a coupon swap night in September, I will let you know when I work that out! Until then... happy swapping & saving!

Shannon

Rocked some deals tonight

I got all of this for $18.

Seriously. I spent $18.84 at Publix and NOTHING (no cash) out of pocket at CVS.
I should have spent 99 more cents at Publix, and then applied for a $5 Publix gift card, but they were out of a cereal I was looking for, so I have to go back tomorrow. That would bring my out of pocket in the end to $14.83 for $105.48 worth of groceries and a few personal items!! A savings of 86.6%!!

Here's how it went down:



PUBLIX -
4 boxes of Eggo products ($2 each)
4 Boxes of Aunt Jemima ($1.34 each)
3 can Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauce (89 cents each)
4 Jars Prego spaghetti sauce ($1.25/$1.24 each)
2 Cans Publix diced tomatoes (75 cents each)
1 can Green Giant sweet corn (79 cents)
1 8 oz. Daisy sour cream (99 cents)
4 boxes Ronzoni pasta (69/70 cents each)
TOTAL: $27.09
Coupons: $8.25
Total OOP: $18.84



CVS -
Transaction #1:
10 Vitamin Waters (10 for $12.50)
1 Lysol Hand soap touchless starter kit ($9.99)
1 12 oz. Clear Care contact solution ($8.99)
2 Cans Progresso Soup (B1G1 - $3.19/$2.99)
TOTAL: $34.67
Coupons: $5.50
ECB: $5
Gift cards (received when I took new Rx took CVS pharmacy): $25.50
Total OOP: NOTHING!!
ECB back: $12 ($5 for Vitamin Water, $5 for Lysol, $2 for Clear Care)

Transaction #2:
2 boxes Cheerios ($2.50 each)
TOTAL: $5
ECB: $5
Total OOP: NOTHING!!

Transaction #3:
2 2 liter Coke Zeros ($1.50 each)
TOTAL: $3
Coupons: $1
ECB: $2
Total OOP: NOTHING!!

So I paid NOTHING at CVS and I left with the amount of ECB - $5 - that I went in with!!

Until next time - happy spending!

Shannon

FREE ICE CREAM!

Who doesn't love ice cream.... and especially when it is FREE?!?

I found this lovely little MAYFIELD ICE CREAM rebate tonight for 1 of 2 things:
1 - you can submit for 4 $1.00 off coupons.
OR
2 - To be reimbursed for the cost of your 1.5 gallon container of ice cream.

Here's a $1 off coupon: http://www.mayfieldfree.com/

I would pick #2... Here's the REBATE FORM http://www.mayfieldfree.com/Mayfield_Rebate.pdf

Offer expires and must be postmarked by 9/30/10.

Yummy! (so much for giving up ice cream, huh!?!?)