Groceries!

I went to HyVee and Walmart for our biweekly groceries this time. The deals were so-so, and it was more or less a stocking-up trip.

HyVee: I planned part of our menu around what they had on sale - chicken bacon ranch pizzas and egg bake will use the bacon, cheese, and pizza crusts.

• Oscar Mayer bacon: Buy 1 at $3.99, get 1 free (and I had a $1.50/2 coupon from the Sunday inserts)
• HyVee shredded cheese: 4/$5
• Betty Crocker pizza crusts: 2/$1
• HyVee flour (5 lb. bag): 99 cents with in-ad coupon
• Nestle Toll-house morsels: $1.77 each (and I had a printable coupon for 50 cents/2)
• Total spent: $12.78. Total saved: $6.99.

Walmart: This was definitely one of the more random shopping trips that I've had, but as we get more and more stocked up on things, we need less and less of the usuals.

• Store brand items: bread, crescent rolls, sour cream, black olives, mushrooms, cream cheese, and a shower curtain liner
• Printable coupons for the Country Crock, Fiber One yogurt, and Yoplait Delights yogurt totaling $2.80
• Total spent: $22.70. Total saved: $2.80.

Savings this post: $9.79
Savings so far: $540.37

Free Magazines with Rewards Gold

Today I got my first issue of Town & Country, which I now have a 3-year subscription to. I have also signed up for a 1-year extension of my BusinessWeek subscription, as well as subscriptions to Forbes and Marie Claire through RewardsGold.com.

It's really easy to sign up, and all you have to do to get a subscription reward is fill out a simple 1-page survey. They do also sometimes ask you to refer a few friends - I've referred my other e-mail addresses, and they don't send junk mail - just one referral message.

They send out e-mails when new surveys/rewards are available, and while they aren't the most frequent, they are usually good rewards when they come. And, if you already have a subscription to one of the magazines they offer, you can still participate, and they'll just add onto your current subscription.

Click here to take a survey for a 3-year Town & Country subscription to get started!

Walgreens Trip

I got this for $5.42 (it was supposed to be $4.42, but I didn't realize until looking closely at my receipt that one of my coupons got missed...).

• Wheat Thins: On sale 2/$3. I had two $1/1 printable coupons, making them 50 cents each. I like paying 50 cents or less for snack items, especially when you consider that most vending machines nowadays charge over $1 for far less.
• Campbell's soups: On sale 89 cents each. I had two $1/2 printable coupons (one of these got missed), making them 39 cents each.
• Mentos gum: On sale 2/$2. I had two 55 cents/1 coupons (Sunday inserts), making them 45 cents each.
• Dawn dish soap: On sale 99 cents. I had a 25 cents/1 coupon (Sunday inserts), making it 74 cents.
• Total spent: $5.42. Total saved: $9.13.

Savings this post: $9.13
Savings so far: $530.58

Free is Good...

I went on a little deal shopping trip with some of my birthday money. Yes, I am that much of a nerd...

This is my Target trip. Everything will end up being free. I'm not joking. Here's the breakdown:

• Kashi cereals: Originally $2.88 each, and you get a $5 gift card for buying 5. I price matched with the Walgreens ad to bring them down to $2.50 each, then used four $1.50/1 Honey Sunshine printables (no longer available) and one $2.00/1 Kashi cereal that I got with a sample in the mail. Total cost: $4.50 and I got a $5 gift card.
• Tide sample size: 97 cents. I used a $1/1 any size Tide coupon from Sunday inserts. Free.
• Schick razor: $7.84. I used a $4/1 manufacturer's coupon and a $4/1 Target coupon. Free.
• Palmolive dish soap: On sale for $2.74. Used $1/1 Target coupon, and I have a rebate form to try it free if I send in the receipt. So...free.
• I paid $6.05 out of pocket, got my $5 gift card, and will get my money back on the dish soap. Also, my cashier let the coupons go through that were over the amount without adjusting them down, so I even made a few pennies on the Tide and the razor. Sweet.
• Total spent: $0.00. Total saved, including sales and coupons: $26.10.

I wasn't planning on going to Cub, but I happened to find some deals when I was looking at the ad this morning, so I decided to go.

• Jack's pizzas: 5/$10 with in-ad coupon.
• Baby carrots: 69 cents with in-ad coupon.
• Propel waters: 49 cents each with coupon booklet coupon.
• Healthy Choice dinners: $2.29 each and I used two $2/1 printables (no longer available)
• Strawberries: 99 cents with in-ad coupon (when you purchase an additional $15 worth of groceries, before coupons)
• Total spent: $14.37. Total saved, with sales and coupons: $15.61.
• The register printed out a $1.50 coupon off of my next Cub purchase. Don't know why. Cool.

Savings this post: $41.71
Savings so far: $521.45

I Should Have Called Sooner...

Every month for awhile now I've noticed a $12.xx charge on one of our credit cards (one of the ones we are not using and just trying to pay off). At first I thought it was just a finance charge, but then I realized it was separate.

I called today to ask about it and was told that it was a protection plan which would allow us to stop payments (interest free) for a certain period of time based on various financial hardships. Since we have other avenues that we would take to save money for financial hardships, this is unnecesary, and it's kind of frustrating to know that we've been paying this fee for awhile when we could have been lowering our balance a little bit more each month.

As of tomorrow, this protection plan will be cancelled (I love that they can tell me all about it, but can't cancel it until "normal business hours"). Better late than never...

The moral of the story: check your bills closely to see if there are unnecessary fees you've been paying and get rid of them!

Walgreens Trip

I got a couple of good deals on my Walgreens trip yesterday. I also remembered why I like to shop without my husband, but that's another story...

I did 2 separate transactions to get the best deal. The first was the 5 pints of Starbucks ice cream. They were on sale for $3 each, and I had five $1 printable coupons from coupons.com (not sure if they're still available). I paid $10 for these, and got back a $5 register rewards receipt (these are good toward your next purchase, and ring up like a coupon).

I did the transactions separately so I could use the $5 register reward right away. The chex mixes were on sale for 99 cents, and I had two 50 cents off of 1 coupons and one $1 off of 2 coupon from coupons.com, making them 49 cents each. The rest of the items were picked out by my husband to get us up to the $5 (and then some - we ended up paying $3.30 after the coupons and register reward).

Had I been by myself, I may have spent a longer time searching for something else to get a great deal on rather than just picking up some snacks, but that was the easiest option at that point. And, also, this is the first time I've done anything with the register rewards program, so I kind of just wanted to try it out rather than going crazy with it the first time. Click here to learn more about it (not only the post, but also some of the comments are helpful).

So...total spent: $13.30. Total saved: $12.00.

Savings this post: $12.00
Savings so far: $479.74

Grocery Shopping

For grocery shopping this trip, I spent $53.50 at 3 stores, and saved $12.65 using coupons (not including the deals I got from items that were on sale). I might also go to Walgreens later today for a couple deals. Here's the breakdown:

HyVee - just a few good deals this week:

• Manwich sloppy joe sauce: $0.99
• Jack's pizzas: $1.99 (and I had two 40 cent off coupons)
• Total spent: $4.17. Total saved: $0.80.

Walmart is and probably will continue to be where I do the bulk of my shopping, because the store brands are cheaper than anywhere else. You may notice the green coupon organizer on the left - I have so many coupons that I decided to split mine up even more and get a second accordian file - yay coupons! Here are some of my deals:

• Pringles: 2/$3. (used a $1 off of 2 coupon from Sunday inserts)
• Grand's biscuits: on sale for $1 (used two $1 off coupons from Pillsbury.com - no longer available, although there are still 50 cents off of 2 available I believe) = FREE!
• Pace salsa: $2.68 each (used a 75 cents off of 2 coupon from Sunday inserts)
• Nestle chocolate chips: $2.68 each (used a $1 off of 2 coupon from Sunday inserts)
• El Paso enchilada sauce: $1.14 each (used a 60 cents off of 2 coupon from coupons.com)
• Yoplait Delights yogurt: $2 each (used two $1.25 off printable coupons - no longer available)
• Total spent: $39.24. Total saved: $7.85.
  

Finally, I went to Cub Foods. They also just had a few specific deals that I was looking at.

• Hamburger buns: 88 cents each
• Bagels: $1.39
• Oscar Mayer bologna: 2/$2 with ad coupon (that's some cheap lunch meat!)
• Ronzoni spaghetti noodles: $1 (I used a $1 off of 2 printable coupon from coupons.com)
• Betty Crocker cake mixes: $1 each
• Betty Crocker frosting: $1.50 each (used two 50 cents off of a cake mix and frosting printables)
• Total spent: $10.09. Total saved: $4.00

Savings this post: $12.65
Savings so far: $467.74

Birthday Freebies!

My birthday is next Friday, and I've started getting e-mails from the various e-clubs that I'm signed up for. This is one of the easiest ways to get free stuff at least once a year (and they generally give you something for signing up as well).

• Caribou Coffee: Free drink - Good only on birthday
• Coldstone Creamery: Free Like It + 1 Add-in topping (in the past I've just done one of their standard combinations, and I just have to pay the little bit extra for the extra toppings) - Expires 1 week after birthday
• Culver's: Free sundae with 2 toppings - Expires 2 weeks after birthday
• Papa Murphy's Pizza: Free cookie dough with any purchase - Good for birthday month

I'm sure there will be more, because I know I signed up for a bunch of these awhile back. It's also nice that most of them give you a bit of a window to use the coupons as well (I don't think I could handle that many desserts in one day!).