Prepping

The BEST part of couponing.

Not having to run to the grocery store and stock up on canned items, granola bars or anything like that before a storm.

Priceless, I tell you. I have plenty of cereal, granola bars, crackers and canned meats and soups, enough in case the power goes out.

Plus having a gas stove means we can most likely cook if the power goes out.

The only thing I had to go get was bottled water and a few extra batteries. We had some but just in case I picked up a few on the way into the office today.

I love coupons sometimes!

Down & Dirty

In my last post, I wanted to see if anyone would guess what I paid in a recent Target trip. Under $20! All simply by using my coupons and shopping the clearance rack. Once you get in the habit of couponing, it's really hard to stop! Here's what I did at Target:

I bought:

• Wolfgang Puck Organic Soup on clearance $.98
• 9 Small bottles of Advil $16.98 ($1.84 each), used 3 $5 off when you buy 3 Advil, total cost $1.98 for all of them!
• 2 full size Suave deodorant $.97 each used printable $.75 off any Suave deodorant, $.22 each
• 2 bags of Newman's whole bean coffee clearance find $3.48 each, total $6.96 (no coupons but practically a steal!)
• 1 bottle Fleichman's yeast clearance find $2.07 (since we bake our own bread)
• 2 travel size Band Aids $.97 each, used $.50 off any Band Aid or Neosporin product printable coupon
• 1 Johnson & Johnson first aid kit $.97
• 1 roll Johnson & Johnson medical tape $2.59 used $1.50 off when you buy two Johnson & Johnson products coupon
• 2 Wet Ones wipes $1.97 used 2 $.50 off Target.com printable coupon
• Revlon Nail File $1.28, used $2 off Revlon product CAT coupon = FREE
• 3 Cascade trial size dishwasher gel packs (2 not pictured) $1.09 each, used 3, $1 off any Cascade coupons $.27 total
• Nature Valley Granola Thins, price cut to $2.50, used $.60 off coupon, $1.90
• Fiber One Brownies (my new obsession) $2.69, used $1 off any one Fiber One Brownies coupon, $1.69

Total spent $19.42. Total saved $27.09.

Name that Price.

Guess what I paid for all this at Target today:

My haul included:
Wolfgang Puck Organic Soup
9 Small bottles of Advil
2 full size Suave deodorant
2 bags of Newman's whole bean coffee
1 bottle Fleichman's yeast
2 travel size bandaids
1 Johnson & Johnson first aid kit
1 roll medical tape
2 Wet ones wipes
Revlon Nail File
3 Cascade trial size dishwasher gel packs(2 not pictured)
Nature Valley Granola Thins (bought for my patient this weekend)
Fiber One Brownies (my new obsession)

Details on how I did this in my next post, AND the actual cost of all this.

A Pit-Stop

A quick pit stop turned into a fantastic CVS trip yesterday. I left the store paying $.52 for all this. If you hadn't been to a CVS and scanned your card this week you missed out on some great freebie coupons. My CVS card is tied to my health insurance so I get 20% off CVS healthcare brand products not on sale all the time so on top of a great coupon I get 20% off.

The CVS magic coupon machine gave me two freebie coupons this week one for a free box of CVS fabric bandaids (retails value $4.29 or less) and a second coupon for a free Caramello. I stopped at CVS twice before the coupons expired yesterday and I asked the store clerk if I could substitute any CVS bandaid since they were out of practically everything and no Caramellos were in stock.

He agreed! I was so happy.

Here's how my coupons worked out:
M&M's on sale 2/$1, bought 6, used 2 $1.25 off 3 coupons (all 6 bags were $.50)
Bandaids $2.49 - 20% off and used my coupon (the cashier allowed me the overage and rang it in at $4.29! Cha-Ching) = FREE
The Hershey bar was a substitute for the free Caramello = FREE using coupons
Burt's Bees lotion travel sized $1.99 not on sale

When all was said and done, the overage on the bandaid coupon, plus my 20% off savings make that trip fun!

Vocalpoint Freebies

I'm also a member of Vocalpoint where I've gotten some great freebies. I just signed up to get a Swiffer duster today which I know is lame of me to say, I'm so excited to use.

Case in point, the other day I was in the kitchen and I looked up at our ceiling fan and saw dust. Lots of dust.

Me: "I think we need to dust that fan and need to get a new duster for it."

Then a whole conversation ensued about how I was not going to dust it that very minute because it would get dust in our dinner.

Voila! I think my prayers were answered!

Size does matter

Just the other day I heard on the news reports that food costs were going to go higher, but instead of the food companies raising the prices they are shrinking the boxes.

Case in point.

About two months ago I purchased the box on the left, about two weeks ago I purchased the box on the right. Notice a difference? I paid the same price for both.

How about 20 oz of cereal vs 15 oz? I'm figuring out that's about a bowl and a half less cereal for the same price. Did they not think I'd notice?

Just another good reason to coupon as much as you can. As some of my favorite bloggers say, "Buy it when it's cheap, buy it before you need it." I don't need to be spending $5 on a piddily little box of Raisin Bran, do you?

About Last Night

Ever have one of those days when it seems like you can't get out of your own way and you probably should have stayed in bed? Yep, that was me last night. The last thing I wanted to do was go to the grocery store but sometimes just wandering around the store clears my head.

A few weeks ago I organized my cereal stockpile and said I didn't need to buy anymore cereal but there was a caveat to that. I could ONLY buy cereal if I found it super cheap and was stuff we would eat. So, off to Shaw's I went. I went to buy Cascadian Farms cereal because I knew I had a coupon for it and could get it for $1 a box.

Well, when I got to Shaw's and was standing in front of the Cascasian Farms cereal I was angry. My coupons expired but when I rounded the corner it instantly made up for it, I found Kashi marked down to 50% off (thanks Kashi for changing your box!) and I picked up a few other things. Total I spent $11.47 and saved 66% on a quick trip -- adding 4 boxes of cereal to my stockpile...but we did finish 2 last night so it evens out, right?

Here's how I did it:
Barbara's Cereal regular price $5.19, this week it was $3.59, bought 2 used 2, $1 off coupons (2.59 each, this the second cheapest I've ever been able to find this cereal!)
Cape Cod Chips not on sale $3.49, managed to snag a coupon for a free bag so it was FREE
Kashi Cereal regular price $4.49 on clearance for 50% off, it was $2.24 each, used $1 off when you buy 2 Kashi coupons ($3.48 for 2)
Celery (Blech, but I bought by request) $2.49
Spinach and Cheese ravioli regular price $4.99, it was a managers special with  $3 off coupon ($1.99 for a quick easy dinner)
Lemon juice $1.59, had a $1.50 off any juice CAT so this was $.09!!
Panko bread crumbs $1.93 (no coupons)

An additional $2 off rang up when I checked out. I was a happy camper!

BzzAgent

One way I get to try new products is through BzzAgent, a word of mouth marketing company. Just last week I received this awesome package from them. I attend quite a few tradeshows at work and I absolutely cannot wait to try these massaging gel insoles.

Also, what's great about BzzAgent is that they send me one of my most favorite things. Coupons!

I was not paid to write this, I was provided this packet of information, coupons and sample as part of being a BzzAgent.

Coupon Helper

Last night I had a little helper while I was clipping and organizing my coupons. Ozzie the kitty was helping me. He's not a very good helper because he likes to sit on my coupons sometimes.

A Day Late - Freebie Friday

I took the day off yesterday and got home way too late to post my Friday Freebie.

This week I stopped at Target, Market Basket, and Stop & Shop (while out and about).

Target:
Tide packets $.97 used $1 off any size Tide coupon = Free
Reach Floss $92 cents (I think), used $1 off any Reach product = Free
Revlon nail files $1.29 and Buff & Shine $2.99, total $4.28, used a $5 off any 2 Revlon products Target Catalina coupon = Free

Market Basket:
Ben Gay $4.79,  used $5 off any Ben Gay product coupon = Free

Stop & Shop:
Luna bars 10/$10 = used $.50 off coupon which doubled = Free
3 ears of corn = Free. This was a coupon I loaded to my Stop & Shop Card

All in all, not a bad week. My favorite deal this week was the free corn. Free produce? You CAN shop for free!