QUICK POST*** 19 cent Annie's mac and cheese!!!

King Soopers has their buy 10 and save sale which includes the Annie's mac and cheese, I stocked up on this already at 69 cents a box but just found a printable coupon good for 75 cents off any 2 Annie's homegrown product, that will double to $1.00 at most stores which makes it 19 cents a box! Print them quick before they're gone!!! go to believeinheroes.org and click on savings to print yours as well as several other good ones.

A couple good shopping trips, lots of savings without many coupons and tips on saving on holiday shopping.

The only thing I love more then shopping is saving! I haven't posted a good shopping trip in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't had one :) I seriously shop almost every day, I don't work so once I drop my son off at school I have 6 1/2 hours of time to waste. I'll spare you photos and detailed lists on most of them but here are a few awesome trips I had lately...

Halloween candy for FREE!!!

My niece Emmy and Nephew DJ with our haul of free candy.

Mars had a printable coupon for $1.50 off any of their fun size bags, you are only allowed to print 2 per computer, I have 3, my boyfriend has 3 and my sister has 3, not enough for me so my sister took the printer to school with her and all of her classmates printed their 2, we ended up with 112 coupons. We got 22 bags for the trick or treaters and saved 90 of them because I know walmart puts their candy 50% off the day after Halloween! After the discount each bag was either $1.25 or $1.50, we ended up getting 32 bags of the MM to make $8.00 and the rest was FREE!!! We used the $8.00 overage to help pay for the rest of the goodies we got. TIP #1 in saving on holiday shopping, buy non-perishable holiday stuff on clearance for the next year and box it up for storage. We always get the pumpkin carving kits, candles, goodies for treat bags for the kids class (like the spider rings, pencils and rubber bracelets) and any decorations we like, like strands of lights, tombstones and skulls. If you do this for every holiday then eventually you will have the best decorated house on the block and not had to break the bank to do it! A little out of order based on the title of this post but while we're on the subject here's TIP #2 in saving on holiday shopping, use your coupons on the holiday clearance. In Caren's last post she had got Halloween Softsoap- reg $3.99, sale 50% off, with coupon: $.74 and Halloween Kid's Colgate toothpaste- reg $3.99, sale 50% off, with coupon $.99. I didn't find those deals but I did get some Halloween Renuzit air fresheners- reg $1.00, sale 20 cents, coupon for 55 cents off 3, total price for each 3 was 5 cents! We now have 39 air fresheners that cost me a total of 65 cents! TIP #3 in saving on holiday shopping, online shopping- I order a lot from Walmart.com and other online sites but before I place my order I will do a google search for online coupon codes, you can almost always find one for free shipping or a certain % off your total order. Another way I save on online purchases is to go to ebates.com. You just go to their website, choose the store you want to shop at and you will earn cash back on anything  you buy and best of all they have double rewards for the holidays right now!

Last but not least, here are my deals that I got with not many coupons. I recently started shopping a lot at Walgreens and RiteAid, never did before I started couponing because Walmart is always cheaper then them, or so I thought! Both Walgreens and RiteAid have a program where you earn money towards future purchases, with these rewards and very few coupons I am always able to score a lot of free goodies. My last trip Walgreens I ended up with 2 triamenic cold medicines (my poor boy is sick), 3 life waters, 3 smart waters, 3 blistex, 2 small Folgers coffees, 11 carmex lotions (1oz trial size) and a lollipop for my son, I paid approx. $4.00 in cash by breaking up my transactions to get the maximum amount of reward dollars and using previously earned reward dollars, plus I still had $9.00 in reward dollars to save until next week when the new deals come out! The only thing I had coupons for was the cold meds and the carmex. RiteAid is the same way, my last trip there I got about $50 of stuff and paid $1.92 in tax and for what my rewards didn't cover, this included 4 boxes of dishwasher detergent tablets, 3 laundry soaps, 3 hand sanitizers, 3 boxes of Kleenex, 2 anti-frizz hair things and 1 Zicam... the only things I had coupons for here was the dishwasher detergent, Kleenex and the hair stuff.

The last trip I'm going to talk about was this months big grocery shopping trip. King Soopers is having a buy 10 and save $5.00 sale and I really stocked up on a lot of stuff! Plus I had hardly any coupons for the stuff I did buy, I got some meat, milk and cheese which is always expensive and we go through a lot here. My total before any savings was $322.29, I saved only $36.95 with my coupons but with in store savings and the buy 10 save $5.00 sale I save an additional $142.43 which means I paid only 142.91 on over $300 in groceries! Some of the things I did not have coupons for were Annie's mac and cheese, normally $1.65 on sale for just 69 cents when you buy 10, you can mix and match with the other items in that sale so I got 45 boxes of the various kinds, bumble bee tuna pouches, normally over $1.00 each, 49 cents in the sale, I got 35, Vitamin water, my sons favorite, normally over $1.00 on sale for 49 cents, I got lot, not sure how many but the bottom shelf of the fridge is half vitamin water and half yoplait yogurt, which I also got on sale plus had a coupon. I purposefully did not use any of my coupons that gave me free items or any super good coupons so I could prove that you can save over 50% on your grocery bill by just shopping sales. Hope this inspires you to clip some coupons and shop some sales :)

OK I think that is a long enough post to make up for not posting in so long, I'm off to get my freebies and use my super good coupons now, I'll hopefully make another post soon :)

Double Trip again

Life never seems to slow down enough for me to post each trip on it's own. My first trip to report was to Target on Tuesday the first. I had gone to get some Halloween candy but it was only at 30% so I didn't. Everything else Halloween was 50% so I did get a few things. Here's what I got for $36.85 (including tax). Total savings (store & coupons) was $39.12, I got a total of 35 items.

Best deals:

Halloween Softsoap- reg $3.99, sale 50% off, with coupon: $.74

Halloween Kid's Colgate toothpaste- reg $3.99, sale 50% off, with coupon $.99

Market Pantry juice- regular-$2.24, on sale $1.65, with coupon $1.15 each

Extra gum-regular $.99 with both store & manufactor coupon- FREE!!!

Had pretty good deals on everything else, but those were the best deals. Now for my trip to Publix yesterday. I totally made out on this trip. I spent $34.91 with tax and saved $47.24. I got 39 items. That works out to $.89 per item! Here's what I got:

(not pictured are two single serve OJ's & two newspapers)

Best Deals:

Coca-Cola Products- regular $1.89, on sale Buy 2 Get 1 free. Got 6 and after coupon & sale 3 were Free!

Dr. Pepper- regular $1.89, after coupon- FREE

Don Pancho tortilla shells- on clearance for 2 for $1.29 (regular price $.96 each) after coupon on package- 2 for $.19!!

Pantene Shampoo, Conditioner & Mousse- regular $3.91 & $3.99, after Store and Manufactor coupon only $3.90 for all three!

Two newspapers- $.50 each, inside a $5 off coupon I can use at that store, so basically make $9 off the newspapers!!

I got a bunch of other stuff on clearance including some Mission wraps that my mom uses (6 total) plus fruit snacks and the skinny cow dreamy clusters.

I hope everyone remembered to print their new coupons on the 1st. There were certainly alot, especially at Target.com

Double Trip

Ok since I've been extremely busy with volunteering, this post will show two shopping trips. First one is from Thursday when I went to Winn Dixie. Normally I don't shop there because they are more expensive than the other stores. But they had some good deals.

Spent $32.30 and saved $29.61.

Deals were:

Buy 2-Red Baron Pizza get the following free:

12pk ice cream cups, box of pizza rolls, box of chicken tenders, and the 7up 2L

and I had a $1.00 off coupon for the chicken tenders.

Buy bag of meatballs and get the following free:

Two bags of Ravoli

Had coupons for the Febreeze too making them a $1.50 each. Everything else was on sale, no other fantastic deals.

Next is my trip to Publix that I did yesterday, had to show it in two different pictures. I spent $55.28 with tax and saved $83.25!

Good deals:
-The cat treats regularly $1.75, on sale BOGO after coupons- FREE! I should've also gotten two others free but the store didn't have them.
-ChiChi's Tortilla shells, regularly $2.59 after coupon- FREE! (with purchase of the 2 chichi meals)
-Crest toothpaste- regular $2.93, on sale for $2.00 after coupons- $.25!
-Baby food- regular $.57 on sale for $.40 after coupon- $.15!

Had coupons for most everything though did splurge and it the Curly's Pulled Pork that was BOGO because my son LOVES it even though I didn't have a coupon and also a few other things that he asked for.

Make sure you go through your coupons with the end of the month approaching fast and get the new ones on Tuesday!

New coupons, another good shopping trip and a pic of my newly decorated coupon box!

First things first, lots of great coupons in yesterdays paper, a few good printables at target.com and lots of new ones at coupons.com and redplum.com, I'm sure smartsource.com has some new ones too but I'm out of ink so I want to wait to look until I can print. Caren let me know that coupons.com has a bunch for glade products, I will be taking full advantage of those for sure! While we're on the subject, some people have asked where I print my coupons from, those are my favorite print sites, there are tons out there but the majority are all going to have the same coupons that can be found at those 3 sites (coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com). My favorite site that I visit pretty much every day if not 2 or 3 times a day is couponmom.com, they have a feature that shows you what the best deals each store has as well as what money makers (MM) each store has. Caren's favorite site for this is truecouponing.com, they are based out of the state she lives in so it's more of a help. A lot of store sites (like target.com) has printables for their store specifically, some have coupons that will load directly to your store savings card (Safeway is one that does this) which brings me to my first tip in maximizing your savings, you can match up store coupons with manufacture coupons, when you pair that up with store sales you really save. For example today my sister and I needed to pick up a few things we were out of, milk and snacks for the kids mostly. We went to Safeway and with all my store savings, store coupons and manufacture coupons we saved about 66%!
No pic for today but here's the list...
*8 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks
*6 boxes of Natures Valley Cashew granola bars
*2 4lb bags of sugar
*3 boxes for General Mills cereal (2 brownie bites, 1 trix)
*4 bags of Betty Crocker cookie mix
*2 boxes of Fun da-middles cake mix
*1 bag of Nestle Quick chocolate milk mix
*4 jars of Ragu pasta sauce
*2 boxes of Eating Right pasta
*4 bags of Pillsbury Scrambles
*2 cheese sticks (they were out of the deal I wanted but promised my son cheese sticks lol)
*4 bags of frozen veggies
*2 boxes of Totino's pizza rolls
*1 bag of Tyson chicken nuggets
*1 giant deli sub sandwich (because after shopping I didn't feel like cooking!)
*2 gallons of milk
*1 hazelnut creamer
*1 can of baby formula (no I don't have a baby but it was free)
and the totals... before any discounts or coupons $149.15, after a $98.35 savings we paid only $50.80! I know that's not good enough to put me on tv but I'm proud and I can afford snacks for the kids that way, no way they'd be eating cookies and gushers if I had to pay full price!

Now on to the last thing, my favorite thing right now, my coupon box! I have tried many ways to organize my coupons and I found this shoe box from my nephews shoes works the best! I've been walking around with it for weeks now and people probably think I have a shoe fetish or something lol so last night I was pulling out all my expired coupons and decided to decorate it with them!

I painted it green because that's the color of money :)

The inside has just plane old card stock folded and labeled to organize them, the front has store specific coupons then the manufacture coupons are separated into categories like beverage, freezer section, health and beauty, then in those they are subcategorized like beverage has coffee, juice, soda, tea and other. It is so easy to use now and fun to carry around.

Well that's about all for now, I'm off to bed! Go print some coupons and start saving!!!

Walmart trip 10/23

My first trip to Walmart in awhile. Had gotten alerted to some good deals by True Couponing. Unfortunately I couldn't get everything that was on my list so I'll have to try another Walmart tomorrow.

I also had gotten a head of lettuce and a twin pack of the snack Lunchables. I had already stuck them in the fridge when I took the picture. There is also soda behind the Airwick twin packs. Before coupons & tax in was $39.95 after coupons (and before tax) was $16.80!

Best deals:

(2) Small Listerine Zero mouth wash- reg $1.72 after .28MM each!

 Travel size Axe shower gel- reg $.97 after .53MM!

Travel size Tide- reg $.97 after .47

Mentos UP2U gum- reg $1.28 after .28

Airwick Dual Warmer- reg $2.47 after FREE

Kotex U Liners- reg $1.24 after .24

Carefree lines- reg $.94 after .44

Hormel Compleats Kids meal- reg $1.66 after $.66

Taster Choice coffee packets (2)- reg $1.18 after one FREE

First Aid travel kits (2)- reg $.97 each after $.22 each

Oral B Floss- reg $2.38 after $.38

I think I got all the deals I got. Had to get the other stuff too otherwise my total would've been more impressive.

Got a super good deal on soup at Publix today too but didn't feel like taking a picture of just a few thing I had gotten there. I think it ended up being like $.20 a can for Campbell's Chunky Soup! More deals to come!

A post from Jenn... FINALLY!

When Caren came to me with the idea of us starting a blog to share our couponing tips and savings on shopping trips I was very excited. I LOVE to save money and very rarely pay full for anything and would love to help others learn how to save as well.

In my house saving money is a necessity, I am a stay at home, single mom, on a very limited income (under $900 a month!) In order for me to have the money to pay all my bills and put food on the table I have got to save everything I can. So lets see a couple of the deals I've recently gotten...

This is from my last Target trip. The total before any savings at all would have been $102.47 after in-store sales and clearance pricing the total became $82.85 then after coupons I paid only $28.85!
Here's the breakdown-
*Charmin 16pack mega rolls original price $13.99 - clearance for $9.78 - coupons good for $1.50 off = $8.38
*Airwick automatic air fresheners (x3) - regular price $4.99 - sale price $4.49 - coupons for $4.00 off = 49 cents each
*Listerine mouthwash+bonus travel (x6) - regular price $5.49 - clearance price $3.48 - coupons for $3.00 off = 48 cents each
*Reach toothbrush 3 pack (x3) - $4.99 regular price - clearance price $3.48 - coupons for $3.00 off = 48 cents each
*Kleenex tissues (x3) - $1.79 regular price - sale price $1.29 - coupons for $1.00 off = 29 cents each
*3 pack old spice deodorant - regular price $3.99 - clearance price $2.80 - coupons for $1.00 off = $1.80
*old spice body wash w/travel deodorant (x2) - regular price $3.99 - clearance price $2.80 - coupons for $1.00 off = $1.80
*bounce drier sheets (x3) - regular price ? - clearance price $1.68 - coupons for $1.00 off = 68 cents each
*tide single load soap (x3) - regular price $0.97- coupons for $1.00 off = -3 cents
In my state you have to pay the tax on the full price before coupons so the rest is all in tax

Here is a smaller trip for junk :) This Safeway trip cost me only 67 cents! I don't remember exact prices but here's a rough breakdown...
*Cheetos - store sale buy one get one free + $1.00 off 2 coupons made them about $1 each
*Dr. Pepper 10 (there's actually 5 but gave 2 away before the pic) coupons for free 2 liter so $0.00 each
*Totino party pizza (x8) - reg. price $1.25 - sale 10 for $10 - coupons for $1.00 off 4 = 75 cents each
*Up2U gum - sale price 10 for $10 - coupons for $1.00 off = free
*Milk and TP full price and no coupons
I also used a catalina (a coupon that prints at the register when you buy certain items) from a previous trip that gave me $10 off my next grocery purchase and part of a gift card I had got from a previous trip in which they ended up owing me $5 from my excellent couponing skills :)

So there's 2 of my last 3 shopping trips, no pic for the 3rd but I got 6 covergirl eyeshadow, 4 hand sanitizers and 2 $2 candies for my son, paid 67 cents (for tax) but got a $4 store gift card because I had more coupons then product :) I so love trips like that!

Well that's all for now, off to clip today's coupons from the paper! Hope you're about to do the same :)