I Love Publix!

I have to say, Publix is my favorite SC grocery store to shop at.  The sale items normally pair up with great coupons and I rarely shop there without saving 50-70% off of the original price. 

My dear husband is getting a taste of the coupon thing. He's had a great attitude about it as well.  Granted I'm due to have the baby next Tuesday, so he doesn't have a choice!  I sent him out to take advantage of the diaper deal and the sale on Kellogg's cereal on the last sale cycle.  I went over the coupons I had and what I wanted.  He ended up with a jumbo pack of huggies and Pampers, huggies and Pampers wipes, 7 boxes of cereal and a thing of dressing for $42.81 (including taxes).  Because of the coupons, he saved $43.12!  The two boxes of diapers alone, without coupons are worth $40! 

Tonight I had to take the whole family to Publix.  It about killed me!  But, the paper that came out had $5 off a $30 purchase coupons for Publix.  I sent Sarah to the neighbors houses to collect their coupons.  They don't shop at Publix and were willing to let us have them.  Because of that, called Daniel to come join us and got some cash out of the bank in order to use 3 of the coupons which gave us an addition $15 off our total bill. 

Here is what the three purchases looked like...

Total Before Savings: $41.21
Final Cost: $20.86
Amount Saved:  $20.35

Total Before Savings: $64.56
Final Cost: $19.44
Amount Saved:  $45.12

Total Before Savings: $113.21
Final Cost: $39.27
Amount Saved:  $73.94

Overall, we saved 63% on our grocery bill.  This included a few non-sale items like cat food, jelly, flour tortillas and ice cream for our very worn out children! 

This will be my last sale shopping for a while, but I'm confident that Daniel will be able to take it over and continue the savings.  It's not the most glorious job, but we manage to save so much money and get some really good things that we would not normally buy.  My goal is to save at least 50% each time I shop the sales papers.  There are few things that we pay full price for.

Walgreens - 63% Savings

I don't normally shop at Walgreen's.  I tend to stick to CVS alone because I can only shop at so many stores in a week and I rarely have good experiences there.  Last night was no exception!  But Walgreen's had Aveeno products on sale and I love their lotions!  On top of that, Sarah and I are sensitive to most body washes and I wanted to see if we could use the Aveeno brands.

Total Before Savings - $59.95
Final Cost - $22.14
Amount Saved - $37.81

As for my shopping experience, I don't like Walgreen's because their sales are not clearly marked and their associates do not know much of anything about how the register rewards and sales work.  I had questions about the Aveeno sale and the concurrent 25% off sale and could not get a coherent answer on any of it. Maybe it's just the ones in my area.  I don't know. If it were not for the Aveeno sale, I would not have bothered going in. 

Publix Shopping - 55% Savings!!

I'm so excited about my shopping trip tonight.  Publix had a lot of things that we love on sale and most of them had coupons to go with them! I even managed to get some Cover Girl Eye Shadow for $0.50!  The Huggies diaper deal allowed me to get a box of diapers, a tub of wipes and a huge box of refill wipes for $14.68.  It would have been $18.18, but I noticed later that the cashier scanned my $3.50 off coupon twice!  He's my new favorite cashier!

Also, the Betty Crocker muffins are buy one get one free.  In the box, there is a $0.75 off coupon on two boxes. I'm going to stock up on these guys.  For $1.02 a box after the $0.75 coupon, this makes a nice cheap breakfast for the family.  And since I'm pregnant, any breakfast that takes little effort is a great help!

Here's the breakdown...

Total Before Savings - $146.85
Final Cost - $65.34
Amount Saved - $81.51

I love saving more than I spend. And I love, love, love getting things that I would not normally buy for great prices. It makes it even more fun when I shock the cashier and bagger with savings!

Making Hair Clips

My dearest Brenna tends to lose hair clips on a daily basis.  Don't get me wrong, she loves having them put in.  But then she feels her hair and notices them and they come out.  Sometimes we find them, many times we do not.  Now if you have girls, cute barrettes and hair clips are anything but cheap.  I lucked out and found her dwindling supply at Claire's during a half off sale.  At full price, they are close to $1.00 per barrette!

While trying to find a better solution to the barrette dilemma, I noticed a post come up at thefrugalgirls.com. The title, "How to Make *Cute* Hair Clips for Babies and Little Girls…" immediately caught my attention. The fact that it was on The Frugal Girls website guaranteed that I would be able to make it happen at a cost that I could live with. Go over to their post for complete instructions.

 The ribbon on the left was horrible to work with.  Don't purchase ribbon that has additional strings running through it.  Use the kind that has printing on it. Things will go a lot better.

By the time I got to get pictures of these, 3 of the 4 pink clips were missing in action. Daniel later found one and I'm pretty certain the other two are lurking in the car, but who knows...

The pink clip was my first.  It takes one or two clips before you figure out the right amount of glue and how to get the ribbon to lay.  Plus, I was using a low temp hot glue gun and the glue dries quickly.  By the time I got to the green clip, I had the hang of things.  Don't get discouraged though.  After two clips, my 10 year old was able to put some together on her own.

You can also make a bow to put on top of the clip.  This was inspired by a set of clips that were $1.25 a piece!  You'll also see at The Frugal Girls link, you can add different embellishments. 

Since I love figuring out savings, I determined that with the four rolls of ribbon and the box of clips, I could make 88 clips for under $10.  That doesn't include glue stick costs, but who cares! Plus, these will make wonderful birthday and Christmas presents!

I'm going to try these soon.  I do hope this encourages those of you with little girls to try this easy craft.  You wont regret it!
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I Saved 68% at Publix Today!

I made the Publix run today and managed to score some great deals.  I waited until today because Kellogg's cereal and Pop Tarts were half off for the weekend only. 

My haul included 11 boxes of Special K, Rice Crispies and Raisin Bran Cereal, 6 - 12 count boxes of Pop tarts, 70 jars of Stage 2 Beechnut baby food, vitamins and more!

Total Before Savings - $187.63
Final Cost - $60.26
Amount Saved - $127.37

And the receipt, well it was at least six feet long!  I know that some of you are wondering why I purchase all that breakfast food and the baby food...  Well, it may take us a few months, but the cereal and Pop Tarts cost me around $18 dollars.  That's barely more than $1 a box!  I'll put a good many of them back in the closet and we'll pull it out as needed. It's very rare to be able to get any of those items for that little money. And the baby food has expiration dates that are well into next year.  And the newest little man in the family will be packing them down by December of this year or earlier!  For the 70 jars, I only paid around $12!  I made  most of my baby food with Brenna, but a few extra jars were very useful when traveling or eating out.  This will save me some time in the future.

I didn't get pictures, but earlier this week, I was also able to score 2 bags of Kraft Home style Macaroni and cheese, Shredded Sargento Sharp cheddar, 3-4 packs of Yoplait yogurt and 2 large bags of Wise potato chips. I only paid $4.56 for all of that!  I hope next weeks Publix deals match this weeks!

I hope you were able to find some great deals this week.

A Target Savings Bonanza!

A month or so after Christmas, Target has a great clearance sale.  Last year I purchased enough toy gifts to last until Christmas. I still had to get a few things, but not many.  It saved Daniel and I a ton of money.   When I saw the notice on Hip2Save that Target was doing it again, Daniel and I decided that I should work some magic again! And what a trip I had.  I wish I had gotten better pictures, but these give you the idea of what I purchased.  Keep in mind that this will provided birthday and Christmas presents for Ashton, Brenna, the new baby, 2 nephews, 1 niece and some cousins for all of this year.  I'm so excited!

  A table and chairs set and a Disney Princess kitchen...

Two Tonka Truck sets...

 Hot Wheel Sets, Lego Sets, Star Wars toys, a bath toy and some wild animals...

 And here is the rest of the it...

 A guitar, a princess cake set, baby toys, dinosaurs, Dora and more...

 Littlest Pet Shop figures, cribbage games, a vintage music toy, more Lego sets and a frog game...

 And more Legos (my nephews are addicts) and a wiggly dragon toy.  The end!

And I decided to let Ashton go ahead and have the dinosaurs.  I purchased two different ones previously and paid $6.  This time I got five dinosaurs (one was camera shy) and paid $0.78 each!

I'm sure you are wondering what I paid for all those toys.  I guess it's time to share -

Original Cost - $587.98

Sales Cost - $167.37

Total Savings - $420.61

Total Number of Toys - 34

Average Cost Per Item - $4.92

That's right!  Over $400 in savings!  And these are brand name toys!  We are soon to be a family of 6 living off of a teachers salary.  Taking advantage of clearance sales to pre-buy birthday and Christmas toys saves us a lot of money each year. If you were looking closely, the Princess kitchen has a torn box.  I checked the stuff inside and it was intact.  But because of the rip, a $60 kitchen cost us only $15.  Since it will be an item that will be pre-assembled before gifting, the box condition does not matter.  To be honest, it wouldn't matter if we left it in the box.  I seriously doubt that Brenna will complain either way!  And to make things even better, I don't have to rush around next year in Black Friday sales to get similar prices!

Couponing Pays In a New Way

See this kid:? She's my oldest.  I love her dearly, even on the days I want to throttle her!  This morning though, she made me smile.  We were talking about an upcoming math test on the way to school when she told me how coupon clipping was making a difference in her school life. 

Apparently there was a lesson on how to save the most money at the grocery store.  It stumped her teachers.  Sarah told me that because I'm always looking for the best deal, she was able to figure the problem out.  She just had a hard time explaining why it worked to the teachers.  It all had to do with cost per serving and how buying mashed potato flakes were less expensive than buying fresh potatoes.  I'm telling you folk, Momma was proud of her girl! 

So if you are into saving money, I encourage you to talk it through with your kids. Not only will they be able to shop for deals when they get older, but you will impart some usable math knowledge to them as well!

My Deals at CVS

I had a good night at CVS!  I spent a little more than I usually do, but managed to get some great deals.  I've been forcing the last little bits of deodorant out of the bottle for the last week.  You see, I couldn't find any on sale.  But this week I hit the mother load and will not have to worry about it for a while!  We've also been out of paper towels for a few weeks and I can't tell you how excited the family was to see those come in! The Revlon nail polish, wig and Re-Nu  were all free!  I'm a sucker for free-bees!

 

So here is my breakdown.  I started out with $15 in Easy Care Bucks from last week.

Total Before Sales and Coupons - $100.13
Total Spent - $21.69
Amount Saved - $78.44
ECB's for next week - $7.99

P.S.  I highly recommend taking advantage of the deal on nail polish.  It costs $3.99.  If you have coupons from a few weeks ago, you'll find $1 off coupons in there.  If not, after the Easy Care Bucks, the nail polish only costs $0.99!

Groupon Signup

I've been posting about the deals that I've been getting lately for our family.  We've been really blessed in saving money on our weekly purchases.  But today I want to share another link that will help you save money.  The Site is called Groupon.  They offer coupons or discounts for businesses in your are and for internet companies.  At the moment, they do not have one for Greenville, but the internet deals are killer. 

For example, today's deal is for soap.com.  You can purchase a $25 voucher for $10.  And there are some ecoupons that would lover the cost of your order even more.  This also includes 1-2 day shipping.

Click on this link and sign up for emails on deals on the net and in your area.

I Love to Save

I really do.  But I also hate to coupon.  It's a pain in the tush.  Thankfully the two sites I use to keep up on things - Southern Savers and Hip2Save -  ensure that I save a ton of money for our family.  Just yesterday I was able to get a free avocado coupon.  I can't wait to try avocado in soup. I saw it on a recipe site and it looked really good!

This week was a good week for saving. I had to get some meat and veggies to restock our barren freezer and pantry.  In addition to that, I need some things for Ashton's birthday party this weekend.  I was also able to go cash in on some CVS savings Saturday.  I had been putting it off all week, but made it in just under the wire!  Here is my breakdown of savings.

CVS - Sorry folks, no pictures this time, but here is what I got...

• 6 Airwick plug-in refills
• 3 Airwick warmer units
• 2 Lysol Nuetrair
• 1-8 Pack of snack cookies
• 1 Sudafed OM Nasal Spray
• 1 Skintamate Shave Gel
• 1 Tylenol Precision pain relief Cream
• 1 Nivea Men's Active Body Wash
• 4 Candy bars (filler items)

Cost Before Sales, Coupons and CVS Bucks - $68.43
What I paid - $9.58
Total Savings - $58.85

And, I still have $5 in CVS bucks to spend on another purchase!

Bilo - I'm not going to do a breakdown because I purchased a ton of stuff!  I took advantage of the meal deal offered and stocked up on roasts and a few other meat items.  And I managed to purchased some of the strongest onions ever!  Poor Ashton loves to cook with me and they even gave him a run for his money!

Cost before Sales and Coupons - $142.26
What I paid - $79.19
Total Savings - $63.07

I did remember to take pictures of the next two before we put everything away!

Publix  - Look at everything I was able to get!  I love shopping at Publix. Their sales are typically better than Ingles.  I avoid getting anything full price there. They are normally very expensive for things that are not on sale.

Cost before Sales and Coupons - $82.01
What I paid - $35.04 (about $0.89 per item)
Total Savings - $47.87 

Ingles - I try to avoid shopping here except for an occasional sale or items that we forgot on our normal shopping trips.  They tend to be more expensive than Bilo or Walmart.  But we have a store two minutes from the house!  This week however there were a few things that I love to get on sale.  The Raovac batteries in the picture (all 5 of them) were free with coupons and sales!  (I missed a bag of groceries in the car for this photo!)  The Rice Krispies, oil and marshmallows were not on sale. I need them for this weekends party.

Cost before Sales and Coupons - $49.43
What I paid - $19.82 (about $0.86 per item)
Total Savings - $29.61

Wells Fargo/Wachovia - There is one final deal that I managed to get.  Many, many months ago, I signed up for the Wachovia rewards program at our bank.  For every credit purchase on our ATM card,  we would receive points towards free gifts.  I looked at the point values and assumed that we would probably never get anything worth a lot value.  I ignored the Rewards review emails that I received and went on about my happy life.  A few weeks ago I received an email about my rewards points and decided to check and see what I could get.  I was afraid that they would expire and I would miss out on my free trinket.  And that is when I my jaw dropped and I came close to doing the happy dance.

We had accrued over 15,000 points.  (This was just typical spending out of our checking account using the credit feature.)  With those points, I was able to get $100 posted to our checking account and get a $50 card to Kohls.  Even better the Kohls card was on sale and less than most other $50 rewards!

If you have a Wachovia/Wells Fargo bank account, I encourage you to sign up for the rewards. Then once a year check what you can trade your points in for!  Daniel and I were blessed to receive $150 for normal spending.  And now if we have the option to use the credit feature on our cards, we do so knowing that we are racking up points for free items later on!

Saving Money

It's been a while since I've posted on here about my attempts to be frugal.  I had a really good week this week between Bilo, Publix and CVS. I've lost my Publix receipt for the moment, but I can tell you that I saved a lot by only purchasing sales items.  And they have my favorite pasta- Barilla -  on sale for buy one get one free.  I wish I could say I had pictures, but we put away all the stuff before I could snap some shots.

CVS Purchase list

Blink Eye Drops
Purex 3 in 1 laundry sheets
Gillette Profusion Razor
4 Right Guard Deodorants
36ct Pampers Baby Dry diapers
Pampers wipes

Without coupons, ECB's or sale items,  I would have paid $64.61before tax.

Including tax, coupons and ECB's I only paid $11.39.  Momma did good!

Since I had such a hard time finding the Blink Eye Drops, I went out and purchased them tonight because they are on sale and I picked up another Gillette Profusion Razor.

Before deals:  $24.58
After Coupons, ECB's and sales: $8.87 and I received $12 in Easy Care Bucks for my next purchase.  I love making a profit when shopping!

And to make this CVS trip better, I had a fun chat with the cashier who excitedly showed me the bag full of goodies she got for just $8! I'm always touched by coupon bonding!


Now for my Bilo take. 

6 large bottles of Emerald Peanuts
2 boxes Cocoa Puffs
2 boxes Kix
Ritz Crackers
2 Hillshire Farm Kielbasa's
2 Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausages
2 Smokey Cheddar cracker spreads

Before Coupon cost/savings cost was $58.44.
Final Cost with taxes: $25.01

I will admit that we probably have more razors than we can use in the next few months.  And the peanuts may seem over the top, but they are so versatile and they will keep for this holiday season if the boys do not eat them all first.  But the good thing about deal shopping is that I get items that I normally would not buy for little to nothing.  That allows me to spend only $70-100 a week on groceries.  And in Psalms it tells of how a good wife manages the money in her household well.  That's my goal.  I want to manage our money in way that glorifies God and balances our budget!

Saving Money and All That Jazz

I love to save money.  I really do. But I dislike all the work it takes.  You see this stuff on my table. It took me a long time to figure out how to buy it all for the least amount of money.  I wont tell you how long.  It's embarassing and I know many are a lot faster than I am.

In the end, after coupons, Easy Care Bucks, sales and rebates, I will have paid $4.  That kind of makes up for the pain.  Mostly... I went to CVS last week and made another great hall.  Albeit, it was not as good at my $4 week.  I did manage to get 4 Sobe waters and 2 Gatorade's for free.  And I scored an Oil of Olay kit that I've wanted for some time for $11 (It's normally $30).  Plus I'm really enjoying trying out new products that I would typically overlook.  Last week I found some Cover Girl eye liner that I now love. And I scored some great mascara and free eye shadow.  And I've been really impressed with the John Frieda Hair Care products. 

If you are interested in learning how to do the CVS/Walgreens/RiteAid deal thing, go to Southern Savers for a great tutorial.  I mainly stick with CVS, but I did score the Finesse in the picture above at Walgreens.  For me, I would never have purchased most of this stuff had it not been for penny's on the dollar.  My budget did not allow for it. 

For those of you who worry about buying stuff you don't need, think of all the organizations you can donate this stuff to.  For me, anything that I don't think we'll use will be going to the Needs Closet/Food Pantry at our church.  I'm certain that your town has a shelter or that you know a family in need who would appreciate any of the things that you could donate.

Frugality and The Desparate Housewife

Desparate.  I sometimes feel that way when I sit down with my coupon thingy and look at the sale papers.  How do I know if buying this item or that is a good thing?  Will I use it before the expiration?  Does it contain red dye or high fructose corn syrup?  At times I want to say, "Screw it" and pay top dollar for all my groceries.  And then I come back to reality and dig in.

Frugality is not a punishment, it's how a wise woman manages her budget.  And since I like to think I'm smart, I've decide to go more in depth with saving money.  I'm working on learning to "CVS". It's all about gaming the system in order to buys stuff for pennies on the dollar.  And it will let me get some beauty stuff that I like without feeling guilty about the cost.  I'm also creating meal plans for two week periods.  I'm removing some unhealthy stuff from our diets - red dye, a lot of processed food, high fructose corn syrup, etc.  (please ignore the crying and wailing).  While all that is happening, I'm working on reducing the $250-$300 we spend on a half months worth of groceries.  My ultimate goal is to spend $75 a week.  Right now I'm aiming for $200 for the first half of the month.

To be honest, not all of that money goes to food.  We have two dogs and two cats.  Kids need clothes and shoes.  Money goes quickly with a family of five.  And since I love to cook for folks and we feed two teenage boys a few nights a week.  Well, our food budget can meet that $300 mark sometimes.  (For all intents and purposes, the clothing budget is getting separated into it's own line item or else people may go naked.  And for additional disclaimer, laundry detergent, dog food, dishwasher goo, etc. are considered part of the groceries.)

But I have a plan.  Plans give me warm fuzzy feelings.  Or maybe it's similar to the thrill that Chris Matthews gets when he thinks of Obama. I digress.  I'm reading a wonderful book titled Family Feasts for $75 a Week by Mary Ostyn (owlhaven.net).  She is a mother of 10 children.  No, I did not mistype that!  And after reading her book, I can report that she knows a thing or two about cutting family food costs.  Some of the things mentioned are already in my repertoire, but there are many other money-saving strategies that I plan to incorporate into our lives over the next few months.  And, the recipes that I have tried so far are wonderful! 

I went to Ingle's tonight and started with one of her recommendations.  Hamburger was on sale.  I also found some ground turkey that was reduced for a quick sale.  I added 4 packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts to that and a pork roast.  I had to stock up on freezer backs and lunch bags as well as some juice.  There was a sale on potatoes.  I purchased 16 lbs for less than $4.  The cashier was shocked.  She did not swipe my card before ringing up my purchases and when all was said and done, I saved over $66. I spent $100 on enough meat for the family for 3 weeks and produce and a few odds and ends for the coming week or two.  I eventually want to get to spending only $150 on our groceries but for right now I'm trying to get down to $200.  Ms. Cashier Lady and I then had a nice little chat about buying stuff on sale and packing the freezer.  Ahh, I love imparting wisdom!  Next I'll begin a comparison price book. 

On top of that, I'm going to start making all of our bread.  I purchased Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  Based on the recipes, I can make enough bread dough to last all week.  Depending on how I modify it, I could use it for standard loaves, pizza dough or rolls.  And since bread is filling, it will cut down on serving sizes at meal time.  The breads are either made with whole wheat flour or a variety of other good for you flours and grains.  I'm not sure when I'll start this little adventure, but I did find out that Ingles carries a lot of the flours.  I will have to shop around for better prices though.

If you are interested in saving money and cooking less processed foods for your family, I highly recommend getting these two books.  If you could care less about the cost savings, you will love the recipes!