Saturday, August 29, 2009

Albertsons and Target

Albertsons

I HAD to immediately have diapers today so I ran to Albertsons and used my catalina from a few days ago.


To use the catalina my total had to be more than $10 and with the coupon I used, I needed to up my total so I grabbed some air fresheners that we really needed for our car.

Retails: $13.75
Total Spent: $2.25
Percent Off: 84%

How did I do it?
  • coupons: $1.50
  • catalina: $10


Target


Retails: $66.38
Total Spent: $19.70
Percent Off: 70%

How did I do it?
  • compiled list from hip2save
  • only bought what I had coupons for, except for the contact solution which was on sale and I needed and the soy sauce that I thought I had but went bad when the fridge went out.
  • I paired store coupons with manufacturer's coupons
  • The great thing is that my total is less than what the 2 packs of diapers would have cost.
  • I actually made money by buying the bounce dryer bar and the toothpaste.
  • free items: paper towels, toilet paper, dog food, some of the bananas.
Money Left for the Month: -$17.59

not a bad total for not shopping for over a month.

Friday, August 28, 2009

buy low and albertsons

Buy Low

I have chicken! Happy day! Chicken Breast, I have missed you and your delicious ways. Thank you for coming to my house.

I also picked up some things for my newly married sister who will be dragging back here Saturday and will NOT feel like grocery shopping. I'm excited to also be able to pass on some stuff from my stockpile that I was able to get at my price points. How dorky am I? It's just so fun!

I got 4 things of oats, a gallon of milk, 30 pounds of chicken (they come in 40 lb boxes but my sister-in-law's taking 10 lbs), a gallon of milk, 2 packages of tortillas, a thing of margarine, a dozen eggs, 2 lbs grapes, 2 artichokes, a pound of turkey, and 3 1/2 lbs of red potatoes


Retails: $153.92
Total Spent: $58.21
Percent Off: 62%

How did I do it?
  • compiled my list from savvyshopperdeals
  • only bought what was on sale
  • got the chicken on their Friday only deal
  • coupons: $4.00


Albertsons


Retails: $51.69
Total Spent: $20.21
Percent Off: 61%

plus I have $10 in catalinas to spend on anything in the store in the next 2 weeks.

How did I do it?
  • compiled list from pinchingyourpennies
  • sales: $22.92
  • coupons: $1.05
  • past catalina: $5.00
  • albertsons has a promotion where you buy $25 worth of select items (before coupons- coupons count as payment) you get a $10 catalina to use in the next 2 weeks on anything in the store. Catalinas are like a gift card.
Money Left for the Month: $4.36

remember how at the beginning of me posting again this month how I said that I may have to go over budget as I make up the difference for not grocery shopping last month? Well, I'm afraid that's going to have to happen, darn it. I have 6 diapers left and that's a problem. I'll be heading to Target later today...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

smiths

Have any of you tried these Quaker Quakes rice cakes? They are so good. And they're rice cakes, so they don't count as junk food, right? Even when you eat a whole bag in one sitting? Right?!!


Retails: $ 36.20
Total Spent: $11.68
Percent Off: 68%

How did I do it?
  • compiled my list from pinchingyourpennies
  • only bought what was on sale
  • sales: $20.05
  • coupons: $2.75
  • Smiths has a promotion of buy 10 select items, get $5 instantly off. (the milk, eggs, and cheese aren't on it) By carefully choosing which items were the best deal and I actually wanted I went in with a great list. Unfortunately they were sold out of the True Delights and the delicious cheddar flavor of the rice cakes (I did get the last one of each of these today) so I may be back tomorrow after they restock to do another batch of 10.
Money Left for the Month: $82.78

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

buy low

Oh, fresh produce. How I love thee. And apparently tortillas too. The tortillas were only 50 cents each! I have been known to make my own tortillas. Question: how delicious are fresh tortillas? Answer: very. But they are, unfortunately, a lot of work to make and as is extremely obvious to the world right now I am still not high functioning. Not that I ever really am. That is why I bought 8 packages of tortillas.


I got 2 things of oats, 8 packages of tortillas, 2 pounds of ham, a can of olives, lettuce, 8 kiwi, 3 avocado, 2 lbs of potatoes, 1 1/2 lbs of grapes, 2 pounds of strawberries, a bag of chips, and a gallon of milk.

Retails: $50.33
Total Spent: $18.49
Percent Off: 63%

How did I do it?

Money Left for the Month: $94.46

weekly menu (gasp)

It has finally arrived: the return of the weekly menu. I am extremely excited about this, as it means that I will not have to frantically throw something together. Not that I've been doing that or anything.

Menu:
  • sloppy joes with homemade rolls
  • chicken parmesan over pasta
  • taco salad with homemade hard shells (real fancy here: just spray tortillas with Pam, shape them over a ball of foil, and pop em in the oven until they're crunchy. I'm a gourmet.)
  • sweet and sour chicken over rice
  • bbq hamburgers with homemade buns (here's a little hint: make a double batch of buns, let them rise the first rise like normal, roll them out and then freeze the extras you don't need right away. Then the next time you need buns, just throw them on the cookie sheet a few hours beforehand to let them thaw and rise and bake them then. Aren't you glad you're spending your precious time reading this dumb blog? Sorry for all the "help.")
  • bbq chicken breast
Sides:
  • fresh fruit/veggies (from garden/store)
  • homemade fries
  • crash hot potatoes (ummmm Fay. These are de-li-cious)
  • salad
  • wild rice
Need from store:
  • chicken breast (I've been out of this for SO long. I won't know what to do with myself when I have it.) buy low friday deals $1.49/lb
  • tortillas buy low $.50
  • ketchup albertsons $.60
  • fresh fruits and veggies buy low wed deals
Sorry there's nothing super exciting on the menu. I just lazily compiled this list from my old menus. But hey! I have a menu. Hooray!!!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Smiths

I'm bringing over dinner to a friend tomorrow and needed some cottage cheese for a killer lasagna I'm making (thank you Pioneer Woman) so I ran out to Smiths tonight. I cannot believe how many things are on the shelves at both Albertsons and Smiths on the last day of great sales.

Oh, and by the way, I know I've bought a load of junk food lately, but I swear it's not all for us. I'm using the cookies to give as gifts to teachers I supervise tomorrow, I've bringing a thing of ice cream to the family I'm bringing dinner to, and you get the picture. Plus, Fruit Loops are DELICIOUS. Have you had those things lately? Man, they are good eats.

Speaking of what we eat, I know I need to get a menu up again, both so I know what to make for dinner before it's an emergency and to prove to you we don't live off of fruit snacks and frozen pizza (which, incidentally will be dinners for Matt while I'm in Seattle for my little sister's wedding this weekend.)

Enough with the rambling. Here's the deals:

Retails: $43.64
Total Spent: $6.38
Percent Off: 85%

How did I do it?
  • compiled list from pinching your pennies
  • did 2 sets of 4 (buy 4 select items, get $4 off)
  • had a free coupons for the toothpaste, the cheerios, and rice krispies
  • used $4 in coupons for the sale items
Money Left for the Month: $112.95

Albertsons x 2

I am so proud of myself. I went to Albertsons. Twice! Look at me, little Mrs. Shopper. It was slow, took 2 packages of fruit snacks, 1/2 a tortilla, and a container of pudding a nice old man gave us while we were waiting for some meds in Rite Aid, but we did it. Sam was so good, bless that child.

Albertsons 1

Retails: $62.30
Total Spent: $23.60
Total Spent After Rebate: $3.60
Percent Off: 94%

Plus, I also have a $5 catalina to use on anything in the store in the next 2 weeks.

How did I do it?
  • compiled list from pinching your pennies
  • If you buy $25 worth in certain products, a $5 catalina and a $20 rebate form print. You can only do one rebate per household. The $25 is BEFORE coupons, so you can really bring down your total and make money on this one. I bought cilantro, milk, and tortillas that were not on the sale so my total was higher then it would have been.
  • sales: $26.14
  • manufacturer's coupons: $6.50
  • double coupons: $3.00
Albertsons 2


Retails: $15.33
Total Spent: $2.75
Percent Off: 82%

How did I do it?
  • sales: $6.02
  • manufacturer's coupons: $2.75
  • double coupons: $3 (the cashier made a boo-boo here. I went back in and customer service told me to enjoy my quarter)
The double coupons were in a one page ad in the Sunday paper. I get 3 papers so since I can only use one set per store per day and I didn't shop yesterday, I gave away my last set to someone in the store.

Money Left for the Month: $119.33