Tuesday shopping trip

Today I made a trip to Walmart to stock up on some more freebies. While at my mom and dad's house last week I printed out some more coupons and needed to redeem those puppies! I didn't have a very favorable cashier experience today, but I am pleased with my purchases. I paid $1.97 for $34.88 in merchandise. To find more great Walmart deals, visit Crystal at Money Saving Mom or Denise at The "Cent"sible Sawyer .


Here's the breakdown:
Two 3.5 lb bags of Purina cat chow - free after coupons
Two Johnsons Buddies soaps - free after coupons
Schick value pack razors - free after coupon
Old Spice Red Zone body wash (trial size) - free after coupon
Four Calgon lotions/body sprays - .08 each after $2/1 coupons from Kmart Beauty in Bloom booklet
Three Healing Garden lotions/body sprays - .14 each after $2/1 coupons from Kmart Beauty in Bloom booklet
Two pickle relish jars - .08 each after 2 $1/1 coupons
Wishbone Bountifuls salad dressing - 1.13 after .75/1 coupon from recent insert (not the best price but I LOVE this salad dressing!!)
Two boxes Honey Bunches of Oats - free after coupons

That's it - not too shabby! :)

It is thundering and lightening up a storm (ha ha - no pun intended!) outside right now. I LOVE thunderstorms so I'm planning to curl up with a book and enjoy the storm's sound and visual effects. Have a great night!

Fully Loaded

The refrigerator and freezer are fully loaded for our meals during May. I finished my meal plan early this week and bought groceries at Sam's Club and King Soopers on Thursday. This isn't everything I bought, just the big items. I didn't take this picture until Friday and I didn't feel like getting everything out of the cupboards again.


I'm not going to go through every item individually, but I did manage to get a few deals worth mentioning...

Old El Paso taco seasoning from King Soopers: 1.19 minus .55/1 MFC plus .45 bonus coupon (since King Soopers doubles up to $1) = .19

Fast Fixin' chicken patties and nuggets: At King Soopers these regularly retail for 1.99 each. The sale tag said they were 3/$5 this week. I had 3 $1/1 MFC, making them 3/$2 or .67 each. Not a bad deal! However, when I went through the checkout line, I didn't catch that they rang up at regular price. I always double check my receipt in the car so that I don't get all the way home and then find an error if there is one. I went back inside and talked to customer service. I'm not sure how the clerk figured this out (I just wanted him to adjust the price to the sale price), but for some reason he ended up giving me 4.68 back. So, with my $3 in coupons, I actually ended up making $1.71 on this chicken. Works for me!

Old El Paso refried beans from Target: .88 minus .55/1 MFC = .33

And here's the scoop on the Totino's pizza. Once a week (Saturdays), I get a break from cooking by making these pizzas. We cook one for each of us, add a salad or vegetable, and at .91 per pizza we have a yummy, quick, no-stress dinner for 1.82. Such a deal!

Walgreens & Wal-mart Deals

Have I mentioned that I'm hoping to be less busy and frazzled in the month of May? Part of my plan to simplify is to stay home a lot more. I enjoy shopping and running errands to a point, but it also stresses me out. Crystal over at Money Saving Mom just wrote a post that echoes my thoughts almost perfectly - check it out here.

So, now that I've declared my less-spending-and-running-around-goals to the world, let me recap my last two days of running around and making purchases like a crazy woman. However, in my defense, I planned for these shopping trips, used sales and coupons to my advantage, and made a lot of great deals.

On Wednesday, I made two trips to Wal-mart and three trips to Walgreens. Here is what I picked up...


And now for the breakdown...

Walmart Trip #1
Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner: sale price $12 minus $7/1 MFC = $5
Huggies Clean Team flushable wipes: 1.64 each minus $3/2 MFC = .28 or .14 each
10 oz. Gerber Nuk bottle: 4.87 minus $5 rebate = FREE (.13 over)
Muir Glen organic tomatoes: 1.24 minus $1/1 MFC = .24
Honey Bunches of Oats cereal (2): 1.98 each minus 2 $2/1 MFC = FREE
Trail Mix Crunch cereal: 2.98 minus 2.98 MFC = FREE
Kashi cereal: 2.00 each minus 2 $2/1 MFC = FREE
Old Spice Red Zone trial size bodywash: .97 each minus $2/2 MFC = FREE
Johnson's Buddies soap (8): .94 each minus 2 $1/1 MFC, 2 $2/2 MFC = FREE (.49 over)
Feline Pine cat litter: 3.42 minus 3.42 rebate = FREE
Paid 13.22 OOP
Rebates 8.42
Total = 4.80 for 53.19 worth of merchandise

Walgreens Trip #1
Lady Speed Stick: 2.39 minus $1/1 MFC minus $1.40/1 WAG = FREE
Zantac150 Cool Mint, 8 count: 5.49 minus $5/1 MFC = .49
Hallmark Gift Wrap (3): 1.50 minus .50/3 WAG = 1.00
Paid 1.48 OOP
Earned $3 RR
Total = 1.48 for 9.38 worth of merchandise plus $3 RR

Walgreens Trip #2
VanCamp's Pork & Beans (3): sale price 3/$2 minus .83 WAG = 1.17 or .39 each
Walgreens Ibuprofen: sale price 2.00 minus $2 rebate = FREE
Paid 3.17 OOP
Rebates 2.00
Total = 1.17 for 5.96 worth of merchandise
*I'm actually hoping to buy enough pork & beans to take advantage of a $5 rebate on those too, but that will be added in at the end...

Walmart Trip #2
Malt-O-Meal Honey Nut Scooters (4): 1.00 minus 2 $1.50/1 & 2 $1/1 MFC = (1.00 over)
Scotch Brite Toilet scrubbers refill: 3.87 minus 3.87 MFC = FREE
20 mule team borax: 2.56
Paid 1.56 OOP
Total = 1.56 for 10.43 worth of merchandise

Walgreens Trip #3
VanCamp's Pork & Beans (3): sale price 3/$2 minus .83 WAG = 1.17 or .39 each
Softsoap: sale price 2.99 minus $2 WAG = .99
Paid 2.16 OOP
Total = 2.16 for 6.96 worth of merchandise

When I spend $10 on beans (before Walgreens coupon making them 3/1.00), I will get a $5.00 rebate. I'll have spent 5.85 on beans, minus the 5.00 rebate for a total of .85 or .06 per can.

Grand Total Day 1: $11.17 ($9.19 after rebates on beans) for $85.92 worth of merchandise, plus $6 in RR at Walgreens!!

Coupons & Sales Are Your Friends!

It's only Tuesday but I've already been working the deals this week. I spent all of this morning and a little time yesterday on these shopping trips. Check out what I've bought...


Here is the breakdown by store:

King Soopers Deal...
Two Brita pitchers: sale 4.99 each minus 10.00 (2 $5/1 coupons) = (0.02) overage to use on other items
Earned 0.02 for 27.98 worth of merchandise

Rite Aid Deals...
Dawn dish soap: sale price .99 minus .25 coupon = .74
GUM toothbrush 2 pk: sale 2.00 minus .75 MFC = 1.25 or .625 each
Two Ban deodorants: 2/3.49 minus .75 MFC minus .40 MFC = 2.42 or 1.17 each
Hershey bliss dark chocolate candies: sale 2.99 minus 2.99 rebate = FREE
Pure Shine hair styling cream: sale 3.99 minus 3.99 rebate = FREE
Jane mineral powder foundation: sale 5.99 minus 2.00 MFC minus 5.99 rebate = (2.00)
Oral B toothbrush: sale 3.19 minus 3.19 rebate = FREE
Paid 18.87 OOP
Rebates 16.16
Total = 2.71 for 34.32 worth of merchandise

Walmart Deals...
Cascade drying agent: 3.13 minus 3.13 MFC coupon = FREE
2 boxes Kellog's Raisin Bran: 1.88 each minus 1.50/2 MFC = 2.26 or 1.13 each
Post Trail Mix Crunch: 2.98 minus 2.98 MFC = FREE
Total = 2.26 for 9.87 worth of merchandise

Walgreens Deals...
Trip #1
Colgate toothpaste: 2.69 minus .70 WAG coupon minus 1.00 MFC = .99
6 bubble mailers: 9.87 minus 7.87 WAG coupon (3/1.00) = 2.00
4 Aveeno baby products: sale 4.63 each minus 1.00 MFC =17.52
Paid 22.02 OOP
Earned 10.00 RR
Total = 22.02 for 35.72 worth of merchandise plus $10 RR

Trip #2
3 Aveeno baby products: sale 4.63 each minus 6.00 MFC (3 $2/1 coupons) = 7.89
Aveeno lotion 2.5 oz: sale 2.79 minus 2.00 MFC = 2.00
8.89 minus $10 RR from previous trip = (1.11) overage to use on other items
Earned 1.11 for 20.86 worth or merchandise

Grand total: 25.86 for 128.75 worth of merchandise!!!

Friday Happenings

Just thought I'd share a few things about my day. First of all, I made a major killing at Walgreens this morning. I used a lot of tips and deals from MoneySavingMom to score some major savings. First thing this morning I took probably an hour (maybe more) and planned my shopping trip, printed coupons, and organized my list so that I would be getting the most for my money. Walgreens had an additional coupon for $5 off a purchase of $20 or more today which made my trip that much more economical. Anyway, thanks to sales and coupons, I bought $59.09 worth of merchandise for $9.23. PLUS, several of the items I bought are free after mail-in rebate, so I'll be getting $11.88 back from Walgreens once I get that sent in. I actually MADE money this morning - sweet! I don't think I'll be doing this kind of shopping every week, but it sure is fun when I can work them out! Here's the photo of what I got...



Second, the sun is out!! It isn't awfully warm and we've had some major wind gusts, but at least the sun is shining. Early next week we're supposed to get into the 70s - now that's more like it! So that I won't be accused of only posting bad weather photos, here is one of the sun steaming in and shining on the tulip on my kitchen table...



Apparently I'm not the only one who missed the sunshine...



She's one happy camper this afternoon and so am I. Happy Friday!