HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

Hey everyone.. I finally did the unimaginable.. I didn't take any work home for this 3 DAY WEEKEND! I started the weekend off with a bang by staying home with my son and making smoothies for the two of us. We watched freebie stand up comedy video's through the XBOX 360 and Netflix. It was fun.

I finally came up with a place I wanted my hubbie to take me for good old Valentine's Day. He said I could pick, anywhere I wanted to go.

Here is the catch. About oh 15 years ago they closed the one and only Ponderosa Steakhouse in our area. Since then, my sister had moved to Cincinnati for 3 years so if we were out there we went to Ponderosa and other than that we could drive an hour to get to one. So in our entire 13 year relationship we've been there probably 10 times or less and it's a place both of us love.

My son swears he's never been to one, I'm thinking he just didn't remember going in Ohio.. but that was years ago. So we drove the hour today and it was yummy. Not as good as I remembered.. but yummy.

I also did some shopping today!! Amazing!! Those $1 coupons came in (and are burning a hole in my pocket) for the Almond Breeze so since I just opened the last of the last batch I bought a few weeks ago and I am totally out of the sugar free syrup I needed a shopping fix. **someone asked what Almond Breeze is!! It's a 54 calorie per 8oz serving no dairy beverage. In the Weight Watcher world this can be used for a ton of things and only being 54 calories we find MANY ways to use products that cost us the least amount of points. Check outAlmond Breeze website.

I had seen on line other people talking about Dominicks having a great deal on cereal. My son LOVES the Blueberry Muffin mini wheats and that was part of the deal. Basically they were on sale for 4/$10 but then with an in ad coupon they were 4/$6. Then I had all those IP coupons still from over a month ago for Kellogg's cereals and they were all for another $1 off. So I got 4 boxes of my son's favorite cereal for $2.

When I was searching for this in ad coupon I came across Hormel pork tenderloin on sale for $4.99 with an in ad coupon. I found $1 Hormel pork tenderloin coupons from an insert and got a nice size pork tenderloin for $3.99. Not too shabby.

Also they had another coupon for 99 cent Mission tortilla chips. I was glad to find they had 3 different varieties to choose from.

All of these coupons had a little note on them saying "with a $10 purchase" so I sorta walked around the store looking for something we NEEDED. I found cheese 8 oz packages on sale for $1.49 and it's the Lucerine brand which is hormone free. Nice!

My total was $11.68 for everything mentioned above after coupons! I was dang happy to walk out with 4 boxes of NAME BRAND cereal, 3 8oz packages of shredded cheese, a bag of tortilla chips, a Hormel pork tenderloin, oh and a bottle of Dr Pepper I had a free coupon for. Not bad.

Then came WOODMANS.... ohhhhh my hubbie decided he wanted to come with just so he could pick out something for lunches... *sigh* $96 later we walked out with nothing but carp... oh well. We did get..
10 Almond Breeze 99 cents after coupons (on line they retail for $2.41 without shipping.. so I'm saving myself at least $2 each!!)
2 750ml bottles of Torani syrups for $5.29 each (I've seen them on line for $8.50 each and that's without shipping charges)
5lb bag of tator tots for $5 (my hubbies fav)
5 pizza's for $10
50 small variety pack bags for $11 (hubbie wanted them for lunches)

so right there is $45 ish dollars worth and we got a ton more than just that. I was pretty happy with our trip even though my shopping trips have cost me WAY more than before when I wasn't working. I guess that is my luxury now.. *sigh*

sorry no pics. My hubbie and son helped me put all the groceries away as soon as we got home.

Anyway.. hope everyone had a bang up Valentine's Day!!

Loving Jewel!

Just got back from a Jewel run. I found out over at www.jillcataldo.com that Jewel was running a Conagra deal that wasn't advertised except on Catalinas. They had $1 HUNTS diced tomatoes and one of the deals was pretty easy. Buy 14 cans, use as many coupons as possible, spent at most $14 OOP and get $10 back. Hey $4 WITHOUT COUPONS for 14 cans of diced tomatoes.. I'm there! I printed a couple on line $1/3 coupons and digged for a few manus from the paper and went. Of course the printer jammed and didn't print my $10 CAT but the ladies at Jewel know better than to argue with me and just ask me what the deal is. They just rerang it up at the service desk and my CAT printed! Nice!

Also, while rummaging through my mess of coupons last night I found out I had a few 75 cent off Almond Breeze coupons!! and they are manus which means I can use them at Woodmans because Woodmans does not take IP's!! whooo hoo!

Okay ***just*** googled Almond Breeze coupons and realized there are really great coupons out there! This meaning I can get Almond breeze for under $1 each!! HOLY COW! *sigh* couponing is great even if it means having to figure my own deals out! lol!

take a bayer before reading this post

you will NEVER believe how much I spent at Woodmans tonight! Never in a million years. $80!! I hope you took that aspirin because you are going to need it. But in defense of Woodmans it's a store that has awesome deals and an awesome selection of products. Their cheese isle is 2 sides and the length of a normal Walgreens isle. It's pretty impressive. I just started Weight Watchers again so I wanted to stock up on the products that make my life easier eating healthier. I also had some awesome ideas from my sister in law to help me out.

Also this weekend my son and I were making mocha frappachino's at home so I went on HUNGRY GIRL to look up a few mock recipes she's put together for yummy very low point alternative fraps and other starbucks type yummies. Luckily, Woodmans had a majority of the actual products she suggests and for wayyyy less than the websites she suggests you order them from. Yahhh me!!

Lastly, my in laws bought us the new George Foreman 360 grill(check it out here) so my husband has been making quesadilla's for snacks all the time. I had to stock up on supplies so I wound up GET THIS buying 5lbs of cheese for $14.99. Works out to $3/lb which is actually pretty good in my area. I usually wait for the 8oz packages to go down to $1.50 on sale and then stock up, so this is the same and I don't have to wait for another good sale! lol! talking about quesadilla's makes me think of...

M.I.A.

Hey everybody.. sorry I've been MIA (too, I just saw another post like this). I too have been busy, getting ready for my cookie exchange at my house. I host it every year and for some reason this year it's just taking me longer to get everything put together. Last year I had 2 jobs and 6 teenage boys in my house the weekend before and still managed to get everything put together! Weird.

Anyway.. I only got a few Black Friday deals. Normally every year I refuse to even step foot in grocery stores from Thanksgiving to after Christmas but this year I figured I would at least take advantage of a few freebies.



Carsons had those $10 off any $10 item cards that were in the paper. I managed to snag mine and my sisters (she's a nurse and had to work a 12 hour shift on Black Friday) so I waited until the sale was almost over and went at noon. The sale ended at 1pm. The coupon would not allow for any door busters so I really had to work at finding something for $10 that was not included in any door buster deal. It was actually hard to do! Plus each register had a 20 minute line at the very least. I got in line with just a few minutes to spare and a sales lady walked through our line answering questions. She scanned my items and I asked if I could 2 transactions or if I could use BOTH coupons in one transaction. She told me to do 2 transactions.

I got the scissors normally $38 for $2.xx. I got the plaque for $1.38. I don't remember the original price. But I'm happy with both those buys.

I headed out to Jewel after Carsons, and then to Walgreens. I don't remember at all what I had to get at Jewel but I didn't take pictures. I had an IP coupon for BOGO on these lotions so I paid $1.99 for both of them. I had a $2 RR I wanted to use that they wouldn't let me use because my total on products was not over $2.. *sigh* used my GC and still paid nothing OOP.

I also stopped at Target and printed out a few of their broccoli/cauliflower coupons and got both for 33 cents after the $1 coupons. I used those for snacks for our Thanksgiving on Saturday with my husbands family. I also stopped at CVS where I spent a good half hour putting together a deal only to figure out it was on the wrong products. Bought 2 candy bars and left.


I stopped at Woodmans just to pick up a few other items for our Thanksgiving and they didn't have any good deals there but I did pick up this wreath for our front door for $11.99. I wound up spending $25 there.

My last stop was at Petco trying to find some cat litter I had a free coupon for. It's the Arm & Hammer essentials. The coupon is good for a free bag up to $3.99.. well I have yet to find a bag that isn't over $8!! So I'm not sure where this bag is being sold (on their website they mention every store I've been to for that product, not for that small size) so I still have the coupon which is now expired.

Yesterday I went to Jewel to do the buy $20 P & G products get $5 CAT plus 5 free Redbox video's. I had to pick up a few other items for my cookie exchange party and of course wound up walking out of there paying $30 OOP basically for toilet paper, paper towels, bounce dryer sheets, paper plates, cups, small bowls, utensils, and yeah.. that's it. LOL! I looked at the receipt several times and it's right. It all added up to that. I just had it in my head that my total was going to be like $20! oh well. I walked out with my $5 CAT for next time and 5 free movies.

SPEAKING OF FREE MOVIES!! whoooo hooo
PLUS EQUALS $8.99 PER MONTH FOR UNLIMITED FREE MOVIES PLUS MOVIES BEING MAILED TO YOUR HOME!!

I have been using exclusively for the past 6-8 months and getting freebie codes every Monday, sometimes every Wednesday and then free codes in between. As I mentioned I did a Jewel deal where I got 5 free codes. I'll be using those eventually for new movies that come out, but this watching movies right on my tv through my husbands XBOX is amazing!!! who ever thought that I'd be happy my husband has xbox?

anyway.. basically now all I do is go on line and add movies to my "watch instantly" que, then I go to the xbox and scroll through, find NETFLIX and scroll through the movies I have loaded. This includes entire seasons of tv shows as well as movies. It's so much fun. The other night I watched Grease 2 one of my all time favorite movies.

Freebies at my local grocery store

I have this local store that doesn't take IP's what so ever. So walking in with this one coupon that was printed on regular paper but I had gotten mailed to me from the manufacturer I wasn't sure they would take it. In the end they did take it, but they had to double triple check with a managers manager or something..

♥ 5 KIDS Pert Plus Shampoo $1.99 each used $2 coupons for each. Did not even know these existed!! This is for the kids bags (of course) I have so much Pert for the adults!!

♥ 1 bag of Yesterdays News cat litter $5.49 used my freebie coupon.

I got a few other items.. nothing exciting.. some salsa, some cheese, and some hamburger buns.

this used to be my favorite store before coupons happened

Woodmans.. oooh how I miss thee... but IP's are not allowed and it's difficult to find out prices because they have no sales ads.. so it's almost easier just to go elsewhere.. but this week they actually sent out a flyer and in the flyer was WOODMANS COUPONS which something new. all they had was a few $1 off coupons.. really generic like $1 off paper products, $1 off pet products, $1 off cleaning products, but they let me stack them so this is what I wound up with.

3 bags of cat litter $1.99 each used 3 $1 manu coupons and $1 store coupon
3 bags of cat food used 3 $1 coupons (they said any size WOOT)
1 9 jumbo roll pack Charmin TP $4.99 $1 store coupon 25 cent manu (not the best deal I admit)
1 can mighty dog food FREE with coupon
4 Cascadian Farms frozen mixed veggies $1.59 each used 4 $1 coupons (not IP)

Total OOP $12.31

is it fall already?

Well they haven't even put the kids school supplies away yet, but WAGS already had out all the fall candles and decorations.. yikes! no wonder the months just fly by because next month we'll be looking at Christmas stuff already. I'm scared! lol!

Well I had this plan in my head to go to WAGS, Jewel, Woodmans, Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, and Butera today.. but really I didn't need much and didn't want to go to too many stores because I figured I'd spend too much. after all was said and done I think I spent around $60 in groceries and odd and ends but I only went to WAGS, Jewel, Woodmans and Aldi. I didn't take pics of really anything because some of the groceries were frozen/cold so I needed to get them into the freezer/fridge asap. It was only 84 today but it was super muggy/humid. I did bring a cooler with me, but that also makes it easier to just drag that into the house and get everything put away faster.. so I'll just highlight the deals I got today.

I added a new label today, it's called THINGS TO WATCH FOR because there was 2 things that popped up for me today that could make some already sweet deals even better. I do have pics for those and will add those within the blog!

WALGREENS

Transaction 1

3 Biore Foaming Cleansers on sale for $5.24 each

1 Preperation H travel wipes $3.99

Now here is the good stuff.. Money saving mom had a little segment today telling how to get an overage on those Preperation H wipes. They are $3.99, then you use an Easy Saver $2 off coupon PLUS a coupon from the manufactures website for $3! $1.01 overage! woot.. and it worked.

I had a $2 manufacturer coupon from a sample I got in the mail last week for Biore which I intended to use.. but.. here is "things to watch for"

so I'm looking for my deals and I come across this sticker on the Biore. Not knowing what this meant for sure I decide to ask once I got all the items I was planning on getting. Apparantly my WAGS (not sure if all do this) keep manufacturer coupons behind the cosmetic counter and if you go to the counter pay for your transactions they'll use THEIR coupons towards your purchase! Sweet.. so I only had one $2 coupon.. well she had all 3 so I didn't have to use mine at all!!

So my total was $8.71 and I got back a $9 RR!!! woot for me.

Transaction 2

2 Bertolli dinners $5.99 each

I used 2 $1.25 coupons plus my $9 RR from first transaction. Total 69 cents! woot! And even better I got a $5 RR for my next transaction.

Transaction 3

4 Ragu Sauces 3/$5 or 1.66/1.67 each

2 Skippy PB 3/$5 or 1.66/1.67 each

1 starbucks truffles $1.50 (she gave me a $1.50 coupon)

used 3 $1/2 coupons plus my $5 RR from second transaction, my total was $2.20 and I got back a $4 RR for my next purchase! Now the starbucks candies are a weird thing.. I've gotten those candies for free at other WAGS like when I did the Clean and Clear deal I got 2 packages of them.. They keep the coupons behind the counter along with the candy.. so I'm not sure where the coupons came from but I've gotten 3 of those packages for free now. It's a little tiny box with two candies in it.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Too bad I hadn't done more of the Kelloggs deals then I would have had a $5 RR to start the whole thing rolling. Oh well.. we have so much cereal my DH would have been mad.. he thinks stockpiling means he has to each everything as fast as possible.

At Jewel I got the 4/$5 pop tarts again.. used 2 $1/2 coupons and the milk deal that was $2.28 per gallon. Milk was $1.99 a gallon at Butera over the weekend but you have to spend $20 and there just isn't normally any great deals there so I didn't want to walk around the store aimlessly looking for things to just buy to get up to $20. I'll spend the extra 29 cents and just get it at Jewel since they were having such a great deal anyway.

I stopped at Woodmans next and stocked up on things that I can only find there or only find there for a great price. Of course I only had a few coupons so in the end I wound up spending $46 BUT I normally went there to stock up and would spend $170-$200 so I didn't do too bad in the grand sheme of things.. anyway.. so here I come to my second "THINGS TO WATCH FOR" item. I didn't take an actual pic of the product because I didn't buy it, but if you are still holding on to your FREE coupons for Purina Mighty Dog Classic wet dog food or Purina Friskies Selects indoor wet cat food

then watch for these at your local grocery stores. It was a stand obviously made/sent by the manufacturer. At my grocery store WOODMANS they had them standing side by side at an end cap near all the pet products. It was a box that had 2 cans of food in each and the sign said BOGO at the top!! so it was buy one get one free so if I had those coupons I could have gotten DOUBLE what I got at Target last week when I used these coupons! ughh! I think they were 59 cents each.. I guess I should have bought more.. oh well.

I've gotten a fair amount of samples in the mail over the past few days. Today I got a samples for Orville Redenbacher Rice Cakes with coupon and Meow Mix Wholesome goodness dry cat food with a coupon.

dove pro-age lotion sample with coupons, Biore samples with a $2/1 coupon
BzzAgent taco bell kit with 12 coupons for free fresco style tacos,$5 off coupon for those allergy eyedrops (can't remember the name).

Okay.. so that's it for today. Time to read everybody elses deals! lol!

BAWWHAHAHAHAHA

I stopped at Woodmans after dinner (after that Target and Jewel see next posts).. this is what I got.

3 Pert Plus Shampoos $1.99 each
used 1 $3, 1 $2 coupon, 1 $1 coupon
equals 3 cent overage
3 Kernal popcorn seasonings $2.19 each
used 3 $1 off coupon... so $1.19 each
2 Airwick sprays 99 cents each
used 1 BOGO free coupon.. 99 cents total

$5.33 for $15 worth of great products!

Also, one of them came with the same MIR I have done before.. can I send in another one?