Wal-Mart (1/8): Coupons $1.50

Fred Meyer (1/8):Bag Credit $.05
Store Sale: (2 $1 lettuce bags - find receipt for regular price)

Rite Aid (1/9): Store Sale $8.90
Coupons $3.00
(OOP $2 with $5 ECR!)

Safeway (1/10): Bag credit $.03

Target (1/10): Store Sale $22.19
Coupons: $7.50

Wal-Mart (1/10): Store Sale $1.20

Walgreens (1/10): Store Sale $3.00

Safeway (1/11) Store Sale: $8.72
Bag Credit $.03
Coupons $2.00

Walgreens (1/11)
(Check regular price on Mt. Dew 12 pk - sale 7x$3.00=$21 plus $4.20 deposit)
[received $10 RR exp 1/23]

I've been busy at the computer

But I haven't had a lot of time for "fun stuff" this week. Sorry you've been neglected =)

I took advantage of the $5/$25 coupon Saturday at Walgreens. I can't really list all of what was purchased since some will be Christmas gifts for family. But, the gift that (so far) I think will be the biggest hit of the year... and the next 4 years... for my FIL was on clearance from $15 down to $3.74! So I picked up 4 of those (I had already gotten one earlier in the week and then kicked myself for not picking up the rest - glad they still had some). They had exactly TWO Blues Clues nighttime glow in the dark Handy Dandy Notebooks with a clock face and write-on-wipe-off pages, also on clearance for $2.49 each. I got 4 Bonnie Bell Lip Smacker sticks and 2 of the tubes (the ones my friend, Meli, would call lip thur-APP-y) - they were all 40% off and I had a handful of BOGO coupons for Lip Smackers and Bonnie Bell products. They'll make great stocking stuffers, too! I bought 2 Lindt dark chocolate with orange bars that came out to free plus a tiny overage after coupons. And, fearing that I wouldn't quite make it to $25 (I was right - it was something like $24.78 after coupons), I picked up two 3-packs of these little rubber bracelets that you're supposed to put the croc-charms in. Only, my kids are two small for the charms (also on clearance) - but the bracelets will go in the dress-up box as well. I ended up spending just over $20 after the coupon - and I'll post details when I have it in front of me.

In other shopping news...

2 bottles of Arbor Mist - on sale at Bi-Mart for $3.49 each. I have a MIR for $4 off 2 from their website a couple months ago. It ends at the end of this month - but it has already been pulled from their site. Those will end up being about $1.50 each!

I found a clay baker at Goodwill for $7.99. I have already passed on it a couple times and I have been wanting to one since reading THIS post. That, coupled with chickens on sale at Fred Meyer this week for $.79/pound... I decided to go for it.

Walgreens again. Oh my beautiful Walgreens! They have Pert on sale this week for $3.49 - I think I mentioned that before. Their coupon for $2.50 off, coupled with my coupons for $1/1 (and one $2/1) left me with 7 more bottles of Pert... and $1.07 in my pocket for buying it! I added in a Triaminic ($4.99 - $2/1 q), a Theraflu ($4.99 - $1/1) and an 80 ct Excedrin express gels ($4.99 - $2/1) to the order. The Theraflu has a MIR for purchase price (though some at HCW are saying the fine print says they deduct your coupon from it.) And purchasing those last 3 together earned me an $8 RR. Second order was a 20 ct Excedrin express gels (also a full MIR - maybe minus coupon... but I didn't use the coupon on this one) and 2 6-packs of Joint Juice. I've heard great things about Joint Juice... and they were BOGO with the first one on sale for $.50 off regular price... and I had 2 $1/1 coupons. So between the Excedrin and the 2 things of Joint Juice, the total came out to $8.98 - minus my $8 RR was $.98 - and I have a a MIR for the Excedrin which will put money back in my pocket.

Apples were a REALLY good price at Grocery Outlet this week. I found out when I was there it was because some of the apples in bags were rotting, but I was careful to choose bags that were good. Only, when I got home, I noticed that one of my 3# bags wasn't as full as the other - so they had been removing rotting apples from the bags and selling them for the same price ($1.99/3lbs). Whatever - I know it's a gamble buying produce at my store. But, that "6 pounds" of apples made 4.5 pints of apple sauce - which I canned for the first time this week! So I went back and carefully looked through the 5 remaining bags of apples yesterday - got 3 of those ($5.97) and 2 5lb bags of WAY better looking apples for $5 each ($10). For just under $16, I have enough apples to fill the rest of the canning jars with apple sauce - and have warm applesauce with dinner! Plus, I'm borrowing canning equipment from a friend... but found the ones I was given and had forgotten about while cleaning out the garage. So I can do this at any time now! I plan to pick up a bunch of acorn squash and pumpkins and can those, too!

Because of all this canning goodness, I actually had to expand our pantry out in our garage! This is SUCH a blessing to us! In the midst of everything else we have going on, I know for a fact that my family can eat - and eat healthfully - should our unemployment situation continue on... or should the power go out for too long. One of these days I'll have to do a post with a photo of our pantry. You can see how stockpiling on frequently used items when they're on sale works for us and helps keep our grocery spending WAY down.

Final great deal of the week. Rite Aid had SoyJoy bars on sale $5/10 ($.50/1). I have grown to really like them - even though soy, for the most part, still scares the bugeezus out of me. I miss granola bars, though, and I like having something that I can safely grab when we're on a long car trip. I had a few coupons for them - one B2GO and two $2/10. The cheapest I've been able to find this has been $.96 at Walmart, so I went and got myself 23 SoyJoy bars for $7 - or about $.30 each!

From July 23, 2008

Geof LOVES Pibb. We can only get it if we drive to at least 30 minutes, and Fred Meyer, the store that carries it, hardly ever has it on sale. We've been collecting the mycokerewards points for a long time now - never find anything worth spending them on, really. But the had an offer for spend 100 points and they'll send you a coupon for a free 12 pack of Coke products. Including Pibb. I ordered 2 (they were one per customer per visit - so it worked out well that we were both going down there). The day we had our trip planned to go to Newport, I also got the Fred Meyer coupons in the mail. There were a few really good ones in there, so we brought those along.

I don't have those receipts right in front of me, but I'll do this from memory as much as I can.

My trip
1 Pibb 12 pack @ $4.50 (it was on sale - go figure)
1 "designer cupcake" @ $.99
Coupons - free 12 pack, free cupcake
No sales tax in Oregon
Total: $.60 (can deposit)

Geof's trip
1 Pibb 12 pack
2 packages of frozen tilapia @ $2.99 each
2 packages of ground pork sausage (I don't remember the price)
1 bottle of the kids' acidophilus (about $10)
(something else that I'm blanking on right now - which is why I should do this as soon as I get home)
Coupons - free 12 pack, $3 off $3 or more in seafood department, $3 off $3 or more in meat department, 50% off one vitamin or supplement from a certain brand
His total went from $29 something to $9 something.

I then found 3 pennies in the lobby and had found a few extra cans in the can return when I took ours back for deposits. Always fun =)

Then today, I was reading in poor_skills. If you're trying to live frugally, don't mind skimming a fast-moving community for advice that fits you and are looking to save money - you really need to join in over there. Someone posted that Walgreens brand of disposable diapers are pretty good and they had them on sale for $5.99 (normally$8.99 each). There's a coupon book you can pick up in the front of the store with a "Save $5 on two" that includes these diapers. There's also a coupon flier available at the pharmacy that had a coupon for $2 off one. Plus, if you buy three packages of the Walgreens diapers, you get an instant coupon for $5 off your next shopping trip.

Yeah, like I'm gonna pass THAT one up!

It gets better...

Even though the coupon clearly states that it's $5 off for two packages, the computer rings it up as $2.50 off EACH, so that's $7.50 off. The $2.00 off one package of diapers rings up as $2.00 off EACH package of diapers. This isn't the guy ringing it up funny - this is what is happening when he's scanning the national coupon book. I got a few other things that had really good rebates ($2 box of Crayola washable markers with a $2 rebate, $9.99 box of vitamins with a $9.99 rebate, $.99 candy bar with a $.99 rebate), two boxes of ziploc bags with a $1 off coupon, and birthday cards for mom and Andrew (sibling) - not on sale. Total: $30.71 I have to submit the rebates, but that's $12.98 in the form of a check or $14.29 in the form of a Walgreen's giftcard. That's a prescription right there. Plus I got the $5 off coupon.

I went out to the car, put the things in, called Geof (because the sale ended in a couple days - they had just gotten their shipments in - and they were down to the last 3 packages of diapers in M's size). I decided to go right back in and do the diapers again. Here's where it gets REALLY good. 2 packages of diapers, one of their pull-ups, minus the coupons (that rang up the same way on a different cash register) - under $5. I had to pick something else quickly since there was now a line behind me, so I grabbed a hershey bar. Which also had a coupon (I didn't know that), now I'm at $4.89. So I grabbed a second Hershey bar - and I left with 3 packages of diapers and two chocolate bars for $.20. TWENTY CENTS!!!!!

We are set on diapers for quite awhile - and we still only use them when we're out or traveling or whatever... so they're gonna last a few months!