I started off my shopping for this week at Safeway. I've set a $75 budget for groceries this week. Here's what I got at Safeway:
1 4lb bag of Manor frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts, $4. You need the in-ad coupon, limit is 1 with a $10 purchase, or I would have gotten two!
1 dozen Lucerne large eggs, $1, also with an in-ad coupon and minimum $10 purchase. These deals are only good through tomorrow, if you're thinking about taking advantage of them.
2 loaves of Oven Joy white sandwich bread, $1 each
Red seedless grapes @ 88 cents/lb - 2.2 lbs was $1.94.
They also had another deal with a minimum $10 purchase, but you didn't need an in-ad coupon for this one. They had Rancher's Reserve beef chuck 7 bone pot roast for 99 cents a lb. The regular price for these is $4.29 a lb. They had a limit of 2, so I got two. One of them was $3.38 with a regular price of over $14, and the other one is slightly larger at $3.73. These pieces of meat are huge.
I spent $16.32 total and saved $39.48, according to my receipt, for a 71% savings.
Since Precious has been posting about eating cheaply, I thought I'd tell you what we had for dinner tonight, because I think the whole meal was probably under $5. I took one of the 7 bone pot roasts that I just bought ($3.38) and put it in a Lawry's Steak and Chop marinade (free w/ coupon) for a few hours. Hubby then cooked it out on the grill, and it was YUMMY. We also had Pasta Roni parmesan noodles for a side dish (50 cents for the box w/coupon) and a bag of Dole salad (free at Fry's last week w/coupon) The salad dressing is from the Kraft deal at Fry's a few months ago, and the whole bottle was 67 cents, so the amount we used for one meal was pennies.
Anyway, point is we fed five people (two adults, two teens, one small fry) for probably around $5, and we had meat and salad left over. Not too shabby!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Fry's and CVS This Week
I decided to make one quick trip to CVS after work tonight, which means I got there about 15 minutes before midnight for the Memorial Day specials.
I got:
3 Revlon nail polish (for the daughters), $3.99, used $2/1 mf cpn.
4 Sobe Life waters, $1.49 each. I heard a rumor that these were 10 for $10 again, but they rang up $1.49. In any case, I had two BOGO coupons for those.
1 24 ct Excedrin Migraine, $1.99, used $2/1 coupon.
1 2-liter of Pepsi and 1 2-liter of Mountain Dew. These were on sale for BOGO, $1.69, I believe.
I had a $10 ECB that I was going to use, but I always figure this wrong, and I came out to $9.85. Then I added a 50 cent Dove chocolate bar, which I SO do not need, then she tells me I'm still 83 cents short of $10????
So I had her take the candy bar off, and grabbed one of the CVS brand $1.99 sunscreen mini-tubes they had on the counter. I always try to keep some sunscreen in my purse, because in AZ you never know when your small, fair-haired, fair-skinned child will need it.
Anyway, I used my $10 ECB, and ended up paying $1.21 OOP, which I happened to have jingling around in my pocket. I got $3 each back in ECBs for the nail polish, and $2 for the Sobe. So I ended up with $1 more ECB than I started with.
Not much to say about Fry's this week, except that I only spent $59.59, which I thought was pretty good. I did their Coke deal where you get 5 12packs for $12, plus two free boxes of Cheez Its.
Other deals were:
*Farmer John Bacon, $1.50 each
*Two packages Bar S hot dogs,$1.25 each , with a 25 cent coupon for each from their website. Those tripled, so 50 cents each.
* Printed out five more coupons from the Fast Fixin Chicken site. The Fast Fixin stuff was still 10 for $10, so I got 5 free packages of popcorn chicken.
* 2 jars of Ragu, used 25 cent coupons that tripled. I thought I would also get the 50 cents off two jars coupon that I loaded onto my Fry's card, but I checked that Unilever website, and it doesn't say it was redeemed. Hmph.
*2 1lb clamshells of strawberries, $1 each
*2 Popsicles, $1 each
*2 Ice cream sandwiches, $1 each
*1 package split chicken bone-in breasts, 88 cents/lb
I like only spending $60 for the week, but I'm sure I'll have to go back at some point. I didn't get any milk this week because I know we have enough to last until Wednesday. I'm hoping when the sales change, someone will have it on sale!
Anyway, I'm off to bed...hope everyone had a greatShelley's birthday Memorial Day weekend! :)
I got:
3 Revlon nail polish (for the daughters), $3.99, used $2/1 mf cpn.
4 Sobe Life waters, $1.49 each. I heard a rumor that these were 10 for $10 again, but they rang up $1.49. In any case, I had two BOGO coupons for those.
1 24 ct Excedrin Migraine, $1.99, used $2/1 coupon.
1 2-liter of Pepsi and 1 2-liter of Mountain Dew. These were on sale for BOGO, $1.69, I believe.
I had a $10 ECB that I was going to use, but I always figure this wrong, and I came out to $9.85. Then I added a 50 cent Dove chocolate bar, which I SO do not need, then she tells me I'm still 83 cents short of $10????
So I had her take the candy bar off, and grabbed one of the CVS brand $1.99 sunscreen mini-tubes they had on the counter. I always try to keep some sunscreen in my purse, because in AZ you never know when your small, fair-haired, fair-skinned child will need it.
Anyway, I used my $10 ECB, and ended up paying $1.21 OOP, which I happened to have jingling around in my pocket. I got $3 each back in ECBs for the nail polish, and $2 for the Sobe. So I ended up with $1 more ECB than I started with.
Not much to say about Fry's this week, except that I only spent $59.59, which I thought was pretty good. I did their Coke deal where you get 5 12packs for $12, plus two free boxes of Cheez Its.
Other deals were:
*Farmer John Bacon, $1.50 each
*Two packages Bar S hot dogs,$1.25 each , with a 25 cent coupon for each from their website. Those tripled, so 50 cents each.
* Printed out five more coupons from the Fast Fixin Chicken site. The Fast Fixin stuff was still 10 for $10, so I got 5 free packages of popcorn chicken.
* 2 jars of Ragu, used 25 cent coupons that tripled. I thought I would also get the 50 cents off two jars coupon that I loaded onto my Fry's card, but I checked that Unilever website, and it doesn't say it was redeemed. Hmph.
*2 1lb clamshells of strawberries, $1 each
*2 Popsicles, $1 each
*2 Ice cream sandwiches, $1 each
*1 package split chicken bone-in breasts, 88 cents/lb
I like only spending $60 for the week, but I'm sure I'll have to go back at some point. I didn't get any milk this week because I know we have enough to last until Wednesday. I'm hoping when the sales change, someone will have it on sale!
Anyway, I'm off to bed...hope everyone had a great
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Hoo Boy!
Well, since my money market account automatically takes $30 from my checking account every month, I guess I'll add that to my ticker. Boy howdy, we're cruising now. I can't wait until tomorrow, when I find out how much of that $630 I'm going to have to take back to make our ends meet for the month. Yeehaw.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Frustrated
Well, it's another week, and my emergency fund is still at a standstill. In fact, I know that April wasn't a really good month for husband, so I'm afraid that the $600 I do have in there may be mostly used to get us through the next month. Sigh.
On a bit brighter note, I guess May is going better for him. It's the little things, right?
This week, I shopped only at Fry's. I didn't really see anything that would make me money at CVS, so I'm holding onto my ECBs for this week, hoping for something good next week.
At Fry's, I spent $81.52. However, I saved over $120 (according to my receipt), and my savings percentage was 62%! That's two weeks in a row of hitting a 60%+ savings, which never happens. Now I'm starting to wonder if the higher prices are making my sales seem bigger, if you know what I mean. Like the "actual" prices are even higher to start with, so when I use the sales and the coupons, it makes my savings percentage looks bigger. This is what I'm starting to think.
Fry's can claim all they want that they're "Pushing Down Prices", but according to the rather reliable price book in my head, that's not really the case. Oh sure, they've lowered the price of some things, but they've jacked up the prices of other things. The Fry's brand split-top bread that I used to pay $1.69 a loaf for is now $2.19. I bought Holsum bread this week because it was $1.99. The can of Kraft parmesan cheese says right on the can that the suggested retail price is $3.49, yet the shelf tag says $5.99.
I bought two whole fryers at 57 cents a lb. Anyone know a good recipe for cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot without it getting mushy? And I already do the thing where I put it up on a small rack or balled-up tin foil, so it's not actually sitting in its own juices. Just wondering.
Those of you who live in Arizona might appreciate this. It was SO beautiful yesterday, that we headed to the zoo. I took a lot of pictures. Look here if you are interested in looking!
On a bit brighter note, I guess May is going better for him. It's the little things, right?
This week, I shopped only at Fry's. I didn't really see anything that would make me money at CVS, so I'm holding onto my ECBs for this week, hoping for something good next week.
At Fry's, I spent $81.52. However, I saved over $120 (according to my receipt), and my savings percentage was 62%! That's two weeks in a row of hitting a 60%+ savings, which never happens. Now I'm starting to wonder if the higher prices are making my sales seem bigger, if you know what I mean. Like the "actual" prices are even higher to start with, so when I use the sales and the coupons, it makes my savings percentage looks bigger. This is what I'm starting to think.
Fry's can claim all they want that they're "Pushing Down Prices", but according to the rather reliable price book in my head, that's not really the case. Oh sure, they've lowered the price of some things, but they've jacked up the prices of other things. The Fry's brand split-top bread that I used to pay $1.69 a loaf for is now $2.19. I bought Holsum bread this week because it was $1.99. The can of Kraft parmesan cheese says right on the can that the suggested retail price is $3.49, yet the shelf tag says $5.99.
I bought two whole fryers at 57 cents a lb. Anyone know a good recipe for cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot without it getting mushy? And I already do the thing where I put it up on a small rack or balled-up tin foil, so it's not actually sitting in its own juices. Just wondering.
Those of you who live in Arizona might appreciate this. It was SO beautiful yesterday, that we headed to the zoo. I took a lot of pictures. Look here if you are interested in looking!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Things Are Really Tight This Week...
Therefore, I tried to knock $30 off my grocery budget and $30 off our miscellaneous expenses budget. Of course, that would be the week of the $29 ear infection and $38 worth of thermostat, antifreeze, and temp gauge for my daughter's car. Sigh.
Anyway...
I made two grocery store trips this week. The first one was on Sunday on my way home from work. I stopped at Safeway because they had the $2 gallons of milk this week. Also, only on Sunday they had a 4 lb bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $5.96. That's $1.49 a lb! Great deal. So I spent $10.14 there.
Then I went to Fry's on Monday. I was kind of proud of this trip, so I'm still carrying the receipt around in my pocket. I'm kind of a geek that way.
They had a lot of good Cinco De Mayo specials. Here are some highlights from the trip:
3 packages Farmland Bacon, used $2 off coupon, paid 99 cents each
9 packages Mission Tortillas, on sale 10 for $10. I had 3 $1/2 coupons, then 3 $1.00 off coupons that I printed off the computer. So I paid 50 cents each for 6 of the packages, and the other three were free.
1 Tony's Pizza - free. That was a coupon that Fry's sent me in the mail.
1 Red Baron pizza, on sale for $2.50, used a $1 off coupon from that same mailer.
6 two- liter bottles of Coke products, 67 cents each.
3 jars Herdez salsa, on sale 2/$4, used $1 off coupons, paid $1 each.
2 Eggo Waffles - these were BOGO, and I think the normal price was $2.29. I had a coupon from the Fry's mailer again, that was $1/2 Eggo Products, so I paid $1.29 for two boxes, or 65 cents each.
3 Healthy Ones Lunchmeat, on sale 3/$5, used $1 off coupons, paid 67 cents each
1 Daisy sour cream, on sale for $1, used 50 cent coupon - free.
2 28 oz bags Mission Tortilla chips, on sale for $1.88, used $1 off printed coupons, paid 88 cents each.
6 boxes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, on sale 3/$5, used $1/2 coupons, paid $1.17 each.
2 boxes Jolly Time Healthier Butter popcorn, on sale 2/$4, used two printed $1.50 off coupons, paid 50 cents each.
2 Sunchips Garden Salsa flavor, on sale 2/$4, used $1/2 Sunchips, paid $1.50 each.
1 bag mini peeled Kroger carrots, $1.49, used a 65 cent off coupon from the Fry's mailer.
3 Lawry's marinade, on sale for $1.88, used 50 cent coupons doubled, paid 88 cents each.
There was also $1 off coupon when you spent $3 on fresh fruit. Between bananas and apples, I more than spent $3, so I used that.
All in all, I spent $66.90 and saved (according to my receipt) $104.79! That's a 61% savings! I rarely hit that kind of number, so when I showed my husband the receipt, I said, "Act like you're impressed, even if you're really not." I think he actually was, though.
So my total for this week was $77.04. I went over what I wanted to spend by a few dollars, but I still think I did pretty well.
Anyway...
I made two grocery store trips this week. The first one was on Sunday on my way home from work. I stopped at Safeway because they had the $2 gallons of milk this week. Also, only on Sunday they had a 4 lb bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $5.96. That's $1.49 a lb! Great deal. So I spent $10.14 there.
Then I went to Fry's on Monday. I was kind of proud of this trip, so I'm still carrying the receipt around in my pocket. I'm kind of a geek that way.
They had a lot of good Cinco De Mayo specials. Here are some highlights from the trip:
3 packages Farmland Bacon, used $2 off coupon, paid 99 cents each
9 packages Mission Tortillas, on sale 10 for $10. I had 3 $1/2 coupons, then 3 $1.00 off coupons that I printed off the computer. So I paid 50 cents each for 6 of the packages, and the other three were free.
1 Tony's Pizza - free. That was a coupon that Fry's sent me in the mail.
1 Red Baron pizza, on sale for $2.50, used a $1 off coupon from that same mailer.
6 two- liter bottles of Coke products, 67 cents each.
3 jars Herdez salsa, on sale 2/$4, used $1 off coupons, paid $1 each.
2 Eggo Waffles - these were BOGO, and I think the normal price was $2.29. I had a coupon from the Fry's mailer again, that was $1/2 Eggo Products, so I paid $1.29 for two boxes, or 65 cents each.
3 Healthy Ones Lunchmeat, on sale 3/$5, used $1 off coupons, paid 67 cents each
1 Daisy sour cream, on sale for $1, used 50 cent coupon - free.
2 28 oz bags Mission Tortilla chips, on sale for $1.88, used $1 off printed coupons, paid 88 cents each.
6 boxes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, on sale 3/$5, used $1/2 coupons, paid $1.17 each.
2 boxes Jolly Time Healthier Butter popcorn, on sale 2/$4, used two printed $1.50 off coupons, paid 50 cents each.
2 Sunchips Garden Salsa flavor, on sale 2/$4, used $1/2 Sunchips, paid $1.50 each.
1 bag mini peeled Kroger carrots, $1.49, used a 65 cent off coupon from the Fry's mailer.
3 Lawry's marinade, on sale for $1.88, used 50 cent coupons doubled, paid 88 cents each.
There was also $1 off coupon when you spent $3 on fresh fruit. Between bananas and apples, I more than spent $3, so I used that.
All in all, I spent $66.90 and saved (according to my receipt) $104.79! That's a 61% savings! I rarely hit that kind of number, so when I showed my husband the receipt, I said, "Act like you're impressed, even if you're really not." I think he actually was, though.
So my total for this week was $77.04. I went over what I wanted to spend by a few dollars, but I still think I did pretty well.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
My Stockpile
Because I am a huge dork, I decided to post a few pictures of my stockpile. This is stuff I stocked up on when it was free or at a huge discount, so I don't have to pay full price later. I love being able to go shopping in my garage or my cabinets.
The first two are some shelves in my garage. Think we have enough cereal and Windex for a while? I stocked up on the Windex because I use it for a lot more than just mirrors. I use it for the countertops in the kitchen and bathroom, wiping down the leather couch, and getting dirty fingerprints off just about anything. It's quite versatile. :)
Ziploc bags and toothpaste, and about 9 bottles of Windex. They're about three deep on the shelf.
This is the cabinet under my bathroom sink. It has a lot of Herbal Essence and Sunsilk shampoo and conditioner, deoderant, body wash and toothpaste. I don't think you can see but all the way to the back in there are the 10 bottles of Softsoap Radiant Spa body wash that I got free at CVS.
More shampoo and conditioner. As I've said before, with three girls plus me in the house, I can never have enough of that. The Herbal Essence was a recent great deal at CVS, two bottles for $1.29, or about 65 cents apiece. I bought a lot. That little white basket towards the back is filled with razors and toothbrushes.
What's in your stockpile?
The first two are some shelves in my garage. Think we have enough cereal and Windex for a while? I stocked up on the Windex because I use it for a lot more than just mirrors. I use it for the countertops in the kitchen and bathroom, wiping down the leather couch, and getting dirty fingerprints off just about anything. It's quite versatile. :)
Ziploc bags and toothpaste, and about 9 bottles of Windex. They're about three deep on the shelf.
This is the cabinet under my bathroom sink. It has a lot of Herbal Essence and Sunsilk shampoo and conditioner, deoderant, body wash and toothpaste. I don't think you can see but all the way to the back in there are the 10 bottles of Softsoap Radiant Spa body wash that I got free at CVS.
More shampoo and conditioner. As I've said before, with three girls plus me in the house, I can never have enough of that. The Herbal Essence was a recent great deal at CVS, two bottles for $1.29, or about 65 cents apiece. I bought a lot. That little white basket towards the back is filled with razors and toothbrushes.
What's in your stockpile?
My Name is Shelley, And I'm a CVS Addict
I might as well just admit it now. But if there's a 12-step program, I don't want any part of it. :)
I used my $4/$20 Beauty coupon (because guess what? My favorite CVS cashier said it didn't really matter whether they were beauty products or not!)
I paid with my $10.97 in ECBs, and owed $3.76, which I put on my gift card. Total OOP = $0!
And, I got $9.98 in ECBs from the Adidas, $5.98 ECBs from the toothpaste, and $3.99 ECBs for the toothbrush for a total of $19.95. I practically doubled my ECBs! Yay!
Seriously, this was all I was planning on doing. I was just going to let the other $4/$20 coupon go. Really, I was.
But then last night, oldest daughter wanted me to take her to Fry's to get some tanning oil. (Please, no lectures about tanning oil. I made her get one with at least a little sunscreen in it, and let's face it, teenagers are going to lie out and tan themselves no matter what we say about skin cancer when they're 60.)
I was aghast at the idea of going to Fry's to get tanning oil, and I of course suggested going to CVS. You see, she was planning on paying for it, and I knew I could get it free. :)
So I quickly conjured up a little scenario in my head, verified that I did have $1 off coupons for Banana Boat products, and off we went.
Here's what we got:
I used my other $4/$20 coupon, 2 - $1 off Colgate 360 toothbrushes, and $1 off any Banana Boat product.
I went to use my $9.98 and $5.98 in ECBs, but that put me over the total. So I told daughter to grab some mints and added that to the total. I owed $1.07, which went on the gift card. Once again, my total OOP was $0.
I received $4.99 in ECBs for the Adidas, and $7.98 for the toothbrushes, so I still have $16.96 in ECBs.
I'm not going to apologize for being addicted to this!
I went to CVS twice yesterday. I had two $4/$20 coupons, people! I had to figure out how to make use of both of them. They both came in my email, and one was $4/$20 beauty purchase which expires 5/3 (yes, that's today), and the other one just came on Thursday, and it expired tomorrow.
I was actually planning on just using one of them, and letting the other one go. But here's what happened:
Yesterday morning, I got:
2 Adidas deoderants, $4.99 each
2 Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste, $2.99 each
1 Colgate 360 toothbrush, $3.99
This adds up to $19.95. I need a small filler. Guess what they sell at CVS?
Oh yeah, these little bottles are $1.29. Perfect.
I used my $4/$20 Beauty coupon (because guess what? My favorite CVS cashier said it didn't really matter whether they were beauty products or not!)
I also used 2 - $1 off Aquafresh and 1 - $1 off a Colgate 360 toothbrush.
I paid with my $10.97 in ECBs, and owed $3.76, which I put on my gift card. Total OOP = $0!
And, I got $9.98 in ECBs from the Adidas, $5.98 ECBs from the toothpaste, and $3.99 ECBs for the toothbrush for a total of $19.95. I practically doubled my ECBs! Yay!
Seriously, this was all I was planning on doing. I was just going to let the other $4/$20 coupon go. Really, I was.
But then last night, oldest daughter wanted me to take her to Fry's to get some tanning oil. (Please, no lectures about tanning oil. I made her get one with at least a little sunscreen in it, and let's face it, teenagers are going to lie out and tan themselves no matter what we say about skin cancer when they're 60.)
I was aghast at the idea of going to Fry's to get tanning oil, and I of course suggested going to CVS. You see, she was planning on paying for it, and I knew I could get it free. :)
So I quickly conjured up a little scenario in my head, verified that I did have $1 off coupons for Banana Boat products, and off we went.
Here's what we got:
1 Banana Boat tanning oil with SPF 4 (I know!) $8.89 (yikes!)
2 Colgate 360 toothbrushes, $3.99 each
1 Adidas deoderant, $4.99
I used my other $4/$20 coupon, 2 - $1 off Colgate 360 toothbrushes, and $1 off any Banana Boat product.
I went to use my $9.98 and $5.98 in ECBs, but that put me over the total. So I told daughter to grab some mints and added that to the total. I owed $1.07, which went on the gift card. Once again, my total OOP was $0.
I received $4.99 in ECBs for the Adidas, and $7.98 for the toothbrushes, so I still have $16.96 in ECBs.
I'm not going to apologize for being addicted to this!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Quickie at CVS This Morning
Had to run in real quick to check out the May monthly deals.
My plan was:
1 Adidas deoderant, $4.99
2 Colgate Sonic 360 toothbrushes, $3.99 each
1 Aquafresh Extreme, $2.99.
This was my plan, because it came out to about $15.96, and I was going to use one of the $3/$15 coupons. However, my favorite CVS store has decided that those coupons are only valid in Washington (cuz they came from the Washington Post, you know), and I couldn't use it. Luckily, the store 1/2 a mile up the street doesn't seem to have a problem taking them.
So, I revised my order by taking out the Adidas and just getting the two toothbrushes and the toothpaste. I used $1 off Aquafresh and two $1 off Colgate Sonic toothbrushes.
I paid with $8 in ECBs and owed 20 cents OOP. I received $7.98 in ECBs for the toothbrushes and $2.99 in ECBs for the toothpaste. That's $10.97, right? Ok, so not a huge trip, but I ended up with more ECBs than I started with, so that's always a plus.
I received a $4/$20 coupon in my email this morning, but it's only good this weekend. It expires on the 4th, so I definitely need to see what kind of deal I can put together to use that.
My plan was:
1 Adidas deoderant, $4.99
2 Colgate Sonic 360 toothbrushes, $3.99 each
1 Aquafresh Extreme, $2.99.
This was my plan, because it came out to about $15.96, and I was going to use one of the $3/$15 coupons. However, my favorite CVS store has decided that those coupons are only valid in Washington (cuz they came from the Washington Post, you know), and I couldn't use it. Luckily, the store 1/2 a mile up the street doesn't seem to have a problem taking them.
So, I revised my order by taking out the Adidas and just getting the two toothbrushes and the toothpaste. I used $1 off Aquafresh and two $1 off Colgate Sonic toothbrushes.
I paid with $8 in ECBs and owed 20 cents OOP. I received $7.98 in ECBs for the toothbrushes and $2.99 in ECBs for the toothpaste. That's $10.97, right? Ok, so not a huge trip, but I ended up with more ECBs than I started with, so that's always a plus.
I received a $4/$20 coupon in my email this morning, but it's only good this weekend. It expires on the 4th, so I definitely need to see what kind of deal I can put together to use that.
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