Some AWESOME deals this week...

It seems like we have been gone for most of the month of August.  Our cupboards and fridge have been screaming to be stocked... so... Thursday I sat down with my GrocerySmarts lists and box of coupons and off I went... Check out the deals this week that I took advantage of to stockpile this week!  Does it even count as a stockpile if it doesn't last more than a few weeks?

Transaction #1

These items earned Catalinas for their purchase.  And well, we always need more chocolate chips.  I used a $1/10 coupon from the SS-7/10, but there is also one in the BoxTops-8/7.  

Total paid $21.76

Earned $4.25 for my next purchase

Transaction #2 (Both pictures)

Picture on top shows items that were part of the Back to School Mega Event (Buy 10 items receive $5 off your total).  Picture on the bottom was other items on sale that I just 'needed'. 

Total Spent $94.62

Total SAVED $80.62

Not quite 50% but that's ok I guess since I got lots of staple-type products

Ok - Here was my first transaction.  Hunts was doing a Catalina promotion where I earned $1 for every 4 items that I purchased.  It seems there is no limit to this offer. You do not have to do multiple transactions to get this deal multiple times, but it will spit out several $1 Catalinas.  But who cares?  You are going to give them right back in a second anyway!!

Transaction #1

Total Spent $21.65

Total Saved $20.91

Earned $6 for next transaction

(note: the coupons in the RP-8/7 have a different bar code on them and would not scan. period. No "boops" or anything. Will have to be manually added. Hopefully you get a cashier who will do this for you)

Transaction #2

Total Spent $43.53

Total Saved $143.16 (That's what I'm talking about!)

I created my lists on Thursday and went to each store on different days as I had time.  For all you geeks out there... I purchased a total of 174 items for $181.56 or around $1.04 for EACH item!  Yeah!!  Tomorrow I will show you some tricks on how to make the most of your cupboards to fit all this fun stuff!!  I just love saving money!!

Soup's ON!!

I LOVE a good sale!!  I sure hope you all were able to take advantage of the promo that Smith's was having last week.  I have had a crazy busy few weeks and knew I was going to miss out if I didn't hurry.  So after I cleaned out my coupons, I headed to the store just in the knick of time!  

I did not take a picture this time because it would have looked obscene.  Here's a rundown of what I got:

5 Boxes of Quick Cook Pasta

3 Bags of Spaghetti

5 Boxes of Krusteaz Cookie Mix

6 cans Cranberry Sauce

5 Tubes of Colgate Toothpaste

7 Colgate Wave Toothbrushes

6 Boxes of Pillsbury Toaster Strudel 

8 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

32 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

54 cans Campbells Chunky and Select Harvest soups

 {do you have any idea what 86 cans of soup looks like in a pantry! Weeeee doggie}

Chances are, most of this soup will end up being donated.  What a great feeling!

Here's the best part!!  

I SAVED $186.70!  {$51 of that was coupons which is about half the cost of my 6 month subscription for 5 papers}

I paid only $60.84 for all of that! 

That is the magic of combining store sales and coupons!!  It doesn't get much better than that!

P.S. I have been doing this for about 2 years now and I think this may be my longest receipt yet.  What do you think of my "hawwt" slippers?  Guess what's on my Christmas list this year ;-).

New Couponer

 One of my favorite things about this job is getting emails from all of you showing off your great deals!!  Losa is a good friend of mine who was waiting AGES to see the class.  I think it was about a month ago that we finally got our calendars in line and I came out and taught her and a few friends.  Well, only a few short weeks later and she is a Couponing Superstar!!!  Check out what she got at Smiths this week!!  This deal is still going on so click here to create your own shopping list and let's see what you can come up with.  But for now.... YEAH LOSA & welcome to the Grocery Gallery, you are now an officiall 'Geek'!!! 

Just wanted to show you what I got today for $1.42!!!! (I had a $19 Smith's coupon that just arrived in the mail. So the total went from $105 down to $20.42 which made us pay out of pocket $1.42). Amazing deal! 26 cans of Campbell soup, 4 fettucine bags, 2 ARM & HAMMER detergent, 5 Colgate Whitening Toothpastes, 2 Pumpkin Pies, 1 Cool Whip, 1 can diced tomatoes, 2 bottles of Honest Tea Juice, 2 boxes of slide shot hot pockets. Awesome deals! Thanks, Jen! 

 

FREE Cereal!!

UPDATE 8/18: Boo Hoo!! No FREE cereal!  Apparently it was a misprint (even though it's also in the online ad too). $3.49 before discount $2.99 when you buy 8 - select varieties 16.2-25.25 oz boxes. 
I'm going to go bawl like a baby right now...I really was excited about this deal.

I picked up the new sale ads for this week and literally squeeled when I saw that the Smith's promo is continuing for another week.  AND then I saw this nugget ...

(so sorry for the pic quality, I snapped this with my phone as fast as I could)

I will admit I was a little miffed because I had JUST picked up 12 boxes of cereal and 5 boxes of granola bars! Dang it!

OK - I wasn't too upset because I only paid $9.63 for all of it!!  You better believe I am going to scour the internet and order more GM coupon inserts from Coupons By Dede.  It may take me a whole other week to track down free cereal, but with this awesome sale and my fist full of cash coupons, I double dog dare you to beat me to the store! 

Don't forget to check these other sources for printable and digital coupons (don't forget to print twice):

Group A

Group B

Group C

Box Tops for Education

Betty Crocker

Shortcuts

For my organic friends, Cascadian Farms cereals will be included in the promo too.  They will be $2.49 after promo and sign up to receive a $1.00 off coupon here.

HAPPY SAVING!!! 

I would love to see pictures of your grocery treasures and maybe where you store it all - I haven't figured out that part yet.

MAJOR Savings @ Smiths!

I don't know about you, but my summer has been nuts and I feel like I haven't been on a good shopping trip for a while now.  Whoo hoo!!  I sure got my "fix" this morning!  Since I always get asked to actually GO shopping for people, I figured I would make it a no-brainer for you this week (especially if you are new to rolling transactions).  First, I checked the Grocery Smarts Smiths list and then checked the Pinching Your Pennies link to see if there are any other great deals I should know about.  Oh, Boy!!  There are a ton of catalina deals this week too!  [catalina: a coupon that prints from the register after you pay].  So, I spent some time doing my homework last night and I came up with some great transactions.  So, here ya go.... 

 Now it's time to sit down with your coupon file box and clip away. You may want or need to print a few printables out for these transactions.  Next, I always check the digital coupons and see if I can add a few to my card (see the sidebar on the right of this blog for printables and digitals).  I also check to see if I have any store coupons I can add (my lucky day - I recently received my $13 in smiths rewards).  Make sure you organize your coupons with each transaction so when you are shopping, you can easily group the items for each transaction in your cart and you have all the coupons ready to go - makes for a much easier checkout process. 

Here's my loot from this morning's transactions.  It's important to note that sometimes, not everything goes according to plan, sometimes for the better!  I haven't looked too closely, but my totals came to $21.89 for #1, $18.59 for #2, and $7.64 for #3 (I added pens and pencils because I was afraid it would get too close to zero or a negative balance.  PLUS, I now have $7.50 in catalinas from that last transaction AND 50 Bonus Box Tops!  All in all, a SUPER fun morning!!! 

Yipee - We're back in business

I feel like I have been on a coupon vacation for a while.  There hasn't been a stellar promo since I had baby Jaxson and I didn't realize how much I was was in "saving withdraws".  Well, I got my fix in full tonight!!  I spent about an hour at home making my grocery list and getting my coupons together.  Smiths is having a GREAT promotion this week where they will raise the value of ANY coupon to $1 off - which means if you have a coupon for .25 off, this week it will be $1 off!  Soooooo... here's what my shopping trip looked like!

As you can see, I got a bunch of cereal, fruit snacks, brownies, steaks for my hubby, cleaning products, and some staples: milk, fruit, bread, cheese, and yes, ice cream is a staple in our home ;-). 

I got so many goodies though, I had to take a second picture! This next photo is what I played the "Guess How Much" game with my hubby... by the way, he is getting really sick of this game, but I don't care!!  

Well...How much do you think I paid for all the items in this photo!?!?!

After it was all said and done, I still have $4 left for my next trip - hooray!

Have you guessed how much yet?

Here's my breakdown for the entire trip:

Regular Price Value $274.39

MY out of pocket was only.... $103.97 for a savings of 63%! 

Did you guess yet???  

Are you ready for this???

My total for everything in that second photo was only $4.38!!  Most of it was FREE!!  How fun is that?!  I am totally going to be running around begging for coupons in the next few days to get more of these great deals! 

How did you do at the grocery store this week?  Send me your photos to be added in the Grocery Gallery!

Ta Da!!

Here's what $76 looks like at Smith's this week!!  There is still one more day to take advantage of the Big Game promo going on.  Note that there is NO limit to the number of times you can take advantage of this offer in one transaction (I did 6 in this one).  I admit, there are a few guilty pleasures in this group, and some staples, but HEY, I still did GREAT!!! 

Total Retail Value $215.12

Coupon savings $28

Store promo Savings $111.12

Total Out of Pocket $76!!

Savings of 64%

This is why I love Grocery Smarts!  This would have cost me over $200!!  I would love to show you how you too can do this and it's SO easy!!  Call me to book a class 702-882-0172.

Quaker Deal

Here is one from one of my readers!!!  I LOVE getting great success stories like this one!  Way to go Heather!  You are now an official Grocery Geek!!

Retail value $235.16
Coupon savings and preferred card savings- $152.59
Grand total- $82.57

That is a 65% savings!

Heather, I hope you saved that receipt!!

Surprise Catalina Deal

Thanks to Heather, one of my readers, I was able to take advantage of the awesome Catalina deal at Albertson's this week!  If you have checkout out the Albertson's list for this week, you will notice that Betty Crocker fruit snacks are part of a General Mills promotion.  If you buy 4 boxes, you will receive $3 off instantly at checkout.  Then use your coupons found in SEVERAL locations: GeneralMills-1/3, GroupA printables, GroupB printables, BettyCrocker.com, and General Mills printables.

(Don't forget to print all the printables twice from your computer)

Here's the BEST part!  If you buy 5 boxes of snacks in a single transaction, you will ALSO receive a catalina for $3.50 off your next shopping trip!!!  So, let's say I bought 15 boxes of fruit snacks in 3 different transactions, used a bunch of coupons, and got all my catalinas, here's how the price breaks down:

15 Boxes of Fruit Snacks = $30

General Mills Promos earned instantly = $9

Coupons = $5.70

3 GM Catalinas earned = $10.50

Total = $4.80!! or .32 per box!!!!

Another note, these transactions will "roll" where you can use one catalina on your follow-up transaction, and still earn another catalina = "rolling".  (*sing along: rolling, ba ba, rolling, ba ba, rolling down the river*)

Happy New Year!!

I love a new year!!!  

It means a fresh start and a chance to look back over the past year and figure out how I am going to make this year a whole lot better! 

One of my resolutions is to get back in the swing of my weekly grocery shopping. 

I feel like I completely lost my groove over the holidays.  Although, it was nice that I had such a nice storage of supplies that I could turn to instead of making several trips to the store.  But now my pantry and laundry room are looking pretty sad. 

You wanna jump on my shopping mania again!?  I want to fill my "Grocery Gallery" with all kinds of pictures and scenarios of my savings this year, and I would LOVE to add any photos you may have as well.  Let's celebrate our savings!!  So, if you are uber excited about a shopping trip... take a quick snapshot and/or send me and email of your savings breakdown and I will add it to my Grocery Gallery for all of us to oooh and aahhhh over! I can't wait to see what you all come up with this new year!!

Another resolution I have is to teach a TON of classes this year!  

After a particularly awful 2009, I am dying to spread the news on how to SAVE MONEY to any and all of us who need to get our budgets back on track without skimping on the groceries!   If you know of a few friends who may need to learn how to save a few bucks, call me and we can set up a class!  Who doesn't want to learn how to save money right?! 

I can't wait to hear from all of you this 2010.  May the year bring you much happiness and lots of extra cash in your pocket!!! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Last Minute Deal

I didn't get to the store this week until Tuesday (the last day of the sale-naughty). I was excited that I got everything I wanted, and wanted to share with you what I got.

I get lots of questions in my classes about the type of things I buy. This week, I was just picking up some staples: milk, eggs, bread, meat (enough for 5 meals for my family), fruits, cereal, yogurt. Most of these items are things don't have coupons, but by simply looking at the lists and deciding which store had my 'staples' on the best sale, I was able to save a bunch of money. Here's how it broke down:

Total Value of Items - $162.02
Store Club Savings - $58.54
Coupons - $19.25
Total Out of Pocket - $84.23

This is a savings of 48%!! Not bad for things I had to buy anyway!

Vons Promo - Catalina

Vons has a GREAT Catalina promo going on until May 5th that you DON'T want to miss!!

I thought I would do a little post about it and explain how a Catalina works....

The promo is buy $30 worth of participating items (see an extensive list here - minus the prices I'm afraid) and receive a $10 voucher for your next purchase.

A few tips... #1 the $30 is PRE coupon price and #2 your next purchase can be immediately following your first! You collect the Catalina from the first transaction and add it to the coupons on your next one. That is what we like to call "rolling" transactions. Technically, this is an advanced technique, but if you have been coupon-ing for a bit it will be a piece of cake!!

Good luck & let me know how you do!! You could see your savings in my Grocery Gallery!

** For more Advanced tips, book a class with at least 12 new moms and you will receive a $20 gift card as well as an invitation for you and a friend to my Advanced Class**

CVS Whoo hoo!!

So, here is my GREAT CVS run late last night (you have to hunt for them, but there are 24 hour CVS stores out there).

I got $94.65 worth of products

CVS Savings - $20.34

ECBs Earned - $24.97

Coupons - $17.75

Out of Pocket $31.59

I did 3 transactions and rolled the ECBs. Don't know what I'm talking about? Does that sound like a foreign language to you? Have a coupon class with at least 12 new moms and you will get an invite to an advanced coupon class where I can teach you these few tricks and much much more!

Smith's Case Lot Sale

So, I was really disappointed when I heard that Smith's was doing the true case lot sale where you have to buy a full case to get the discounts and you can't use coupons... What a bummer!! HOWEVER, word on the street is they WILL let you purchase individual items and you CAN use coupons! That's great news because there are some great deals there....

Disclaimer: It may be on a store-by-store basis, so you may want to check your market first to see if they are allowing this.

Good luck!! Let me see what you picked up & you can be one of the first to enter my Grocery Gallery!!

Albertson's just Rocks!

Sometimes I just get a little too giddy about this stuff.... Albertson's was having a KILLER promotion this week. Buy 10 participating items get a $10 voucher for your next purchase. This is where a little advanced couponing comes into play. You have to really organize your lists & coupons to make sure you are buying the correct items. Then you buy the first 10 items, receive your voucher and put it with the coupons on your next transaction. Now, you are buying 10 more items with coupons and your $10 voucher, and guess what? You get another voucher!! Well, keep it rolling then... another transaction of 10 items and so on... My first day shopping this week I was in a bit of a hurry and only prepared a few transactions (ok it was 5, but I wanted to do more). Here's how it broke down:

• Total Value Purchased - $205.25
• Store Incentives - $100.08
• Coupons Redeemed - $58.90
• I Paid - $46.27
• Savings of 77%

It would have been less, but one of my $10 vouchers didn't print - again, be very careful about matching promotions. Still, $46!!

So, a few days later I just had to go back to finish the rest of my transactions... This time I took pictures!

• Total Value of Purchase - $164.89
• Store Incenctives - $66.39
• Coupons Redeemed - $62.80
• I Paid - $35.70
• (and I still have $10 to spend - so I could say it's like $25.70)
• Savings - 84%!!!

My favorite receipt is the one that says -$1 for 10 cans of Progresso Soup! Whoo hoo!!

I also realized that this type of shopping is great for my OCD since I can line up similar items and such (for some reason that is REALLY fun for me - just thought you'd like to know)!

I love shopping again!!

So this was a pretty decent day!!

If you are wondering if I am only saving money on bogus groceries, take a look at this... 4 loaves of bread, tons of veggies, 2 whole chickens, chicken nuggets, soup, granola bars, meats, cheeses, and juice (oh, and some ice cream for good measure).

The breakdown:

• Total Value Purchased - $156.31
• Store Incentives - $68.13
• Coupons Redeemed - $23.70
• I Paid - $64.48
  
• That is a 59% savings!
  

It's too bad I couldn't fit it all in one picture ;-)