I survived MEGA with 2 toddlers!!

So after doing two different shopping runs with a 3 year old and a 16
month old I am finally sitting in my comfy chair and blogging my savings.I just want for you to see how I do it and inspire you to try too.


I got the items in this picture below for $32, after receiving back $16 in
Catalinas for future shopping trips. Remember Catalina's are those
coupons printed with your receipt! I think there are 59 items here and
I think I got one amazing deal, considering my out of pocket was only $32!



This was my first trip, all in all $48 +$6 back in Catalinas.

These are the catalina coupons from Transaction #1. I then used them

for transaction #2.

Here is my receipt showing my savings. I bought these things

at Fry's(aka:Kroger/Dillons.) 66% Savings, not too bad!

Here is transaction #2. I used Catalina's from competitor

store, cuz Fry's lets us this week. I also used a store coupon

from a store called Bashes, it was for $5 off when you buy

10 General Mills products.

My receipt from Transaction #2.... 90% savings, even better!

So my outta pocket cost on Transaction #2 was $8.31

AND.....they gave me these pretty puppies below!! $10

to use on my NEXT trip. So they paid me $2 to buy everything

in transaction #2!! Paid to shop!! I like the sound of that!!

MEGA IS COMING!!

Kroger/Fry's is starting a mega sale tomorrow! This is a big one!! Are you ready?
I have been feeling icky this morning. I over did it and carried to much, I am such a over achiever and I have so little to show for it, lol!

Go to this website http://www.thecentsableshoppin.com/2011/02/frys-food-deals-0216-0222/ and match up your savings with your coupons......Here is a list of what I plan on doing......should be interesting with kids in tow!

What is "MEGA?" Well, it a rocking great deal at Fry's/ Kroger stores. Check your local ad if you don't live in Arizona....your deals could be slightly different than ours here. Mega means that when you buy 10 items on the Mega list (marked in the grocery aisles) then you get $3 off when the cashier rings your order up. This time you also get $3 on your next order in the form of a catalina! Whoopie!!!

Here is my plan......hopefully it will go as planned :)

Mega deal #1 (must total 10 items to get the $3 off + $3 Catalina on the next order)
7 Hefty One Zip Storage bags $1.19 each -7 $1 off coupons
3 Ragu jars $1.28 each -3 .30 off coupons= $1 off each with doubled to $1
___________________________________________
roughly $2.30 out of pocket
+ $3 catalina to use on my next order

Mega deal #2
2 Shout Stain Remover $2.19- 2 $1 coupons
1 Scrubbing bubbles foam Shower Cleaner $2.19 -$1 coupon
2 Scrubbing bubbles Bath Cleaners $2.19 -$1 off 2 coupon
5 Reynold Foil boxes $2.69 - 5 $1 off coupons
______________________________
-$3 Catalina from Mega deal #1
roughly $14.00 Out of pocket
+$3 Catalina on my next order
+$2 Catalina (being given for buying 3 Scrubbing bubbles products!

Mega Deal #3
3 Boxes honey Nut Cheerios (Matt's fav) $1.99 each -Catanina for $1.50 off 3
3 Boxes Cinnamon Toast crunch (the girls fav, don't judge please)$1.99 each-$1.50 off 3
4 Cans Campbell's Chunky soup .99 each -2 $1 off 2
4 Betty Crocker Brownie mix boxes $1.69 each - $1coupon off each box
3 Two-liters of Diet Coke .99 each -3/ .50 off each
1 Country Crock Margarine $2.19 - $1 coupon (catalina)
2 Boxes Pizza rolls .97 each -$1 off 2 coupon
_______________________________________-
Roughly $7.50
-$5 Coupon from bashes for buying 10 General Mills Products (Fry's accepts competitor coupons this week!)
-$5 Catalinas from Mega deal #2
+$3 Catalina on my next order

Mega Deal #4
3 Best Foods Mayo $1.89 -Three $1 coupons
4 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix $1.69 -Four $1 coupons
2 Boxes Orville popcorn $2.69 - One $1 off 2
1 Multi package of Bounty Paper Towels $6.69 - One $1 coupon
______________________________________________
Roughly $11
-$3 Catalina From Mega deal #3
+$3 Catalina on my next order

So all in all about $35 (+tax) for 50 products!! SWEET!!!
You can see here how I shop, for the most part. Not needing paper towels or foil for a long time frees up my shopping money for other sales later...like meat or dairy products. Should I actually find the time and energy to do these shopping trips I will try to take photos of my savings :)

Examples of recent savings.....

I thought I would blog a few of my most recent savings. I know how overwhelming this whole couponing thing is at first. All of the organizing and planning can seem like too much at first. I can relate, when I first started I went for smaller deals. I've bragged to more than a few friends about my very first couponing trip. It was about 3 years ago and it happened at Walgreens.
I studied and copied some other ladies blogs about available savings that week. I took my short list and gave it a go. I cannot remember what I bought exactly, but it was only 4 or 5 items.
When the cashier rang up my items and then scanned my coupons she looked at me like I was nuts! She then told me that I owed her nothing and she owed me 30 cents!! CRAZY! I was so pumped when I left that store. From that moment on I changed the way I shop for groceries and household products. I no longer shopped for what we needed. I ONLY purchase sale items and match them with coupons, if possible. Shopping this way changes everything. Sometimes it means bringing home 6 jars of peanut butter when we really don't need peanut butter. It also means that I plan our meals around what we already have in our pantry and fridge. I no longer come up with a list of meal ideas and then buy the items I need for that week. I check to see what we already have at home, then I plan our meals around the items I already bought on the "freap" (aka:REALLY SUPER CHEAP!)
The only items I do not by in advance are produce (although you can often still use coupons) and sometimes meats. I do try to bulk up on the meats when they are on special sale.
So here are a few of my most recent deals on the FREAP. Remember......I am not name brand loyal on most of the products I buy.


Gain recently came out with their own dish soap.
My Gain coupon was only for 50 cents, but when doubled at
my grocery store I got them for free, while they were on sale for
$1.00............FREE IS GOOD!! I actually had about 6 of these and
we are down to our last 2. This deal is a little older than the others.




These Finish dishwasher tablets were on sale at Walgreens,
$3.99 with a $1.50 back in register rewards (good for my next
purchase.) I also had 8 coupons valued at $2.75 each. By the
time I added my coupon to the sale price, then factored in my
register reward...Walgreens paid me 26 cents each to "buy" these.

Skippy is my most recent deal on the FREAP! This week

at Walgreens Skippy is on sale 2/$3. I happened to have

6 $1.00 coupons, from the booklet I found at Safeway (grocery

store.) So I scored 6 jars of PB for a grand total of $3. In the past

I would have paid $3 for ONE jar! With 4 little women, we go

through peanut butter like mad!!

Stockpile Time!!!! You know you wanna see....lol!

So here is our stockpile.......I will give a brief description of what you can and cannot see in these pictures. This is in no way a complete description of all the food we have, lol. We actually have a good variety since I have been playing the grocery game for about 8 months. We were blessed with a second fridge last summer and we have 2 pantry's. Our home is small (1600 ft) and I use every bit of our space to make it all fit. Organization is the key and also the hardest part of having little fingers that wander into my neatly stacked items. Not shown is our kitchen fridge and our 1st pantry....which seems to have a large amount of canned veggies. It's kinda crazy really. Last summer Fry's/Kroger had a deal and I had a coupon that made all Libby's Canned Veggies 16 cents each. I tried to get a variety but somehow we now have about 75 cans of corn. LOL!




I'll start in the garage. This is the last of our Cottenelle stockpile. Remember how I told you about this lil deal on TP? Do your homework, lol! The Kleenex was 40 cents each box. The paper plates were 50 cents each (Walgreens) The Hefty Trash bags deal ROCKED a few weeks ago, got 3 boxes of 80 bags for $14. Electrasol tabs were a steal at WAGs a few weeks back too. Each box was under a dollar with sale and coupon. I bought 9 boxes! The Brawny pack was $4 and we have several (6) bottles of dish soap that were free.



I got these Light and Fit packs for 88 pennies. Our girls love yogurt. Me....not so much. Snack packs of yogurt were 30 cents each on sale a few weeks ago. I believe I bought about 10, but the girls have eaten several since then. Behind this pile is a lil pile of Crescent Rolls, they were free at Safeway a few weeks ago. Gonna have the girls make "pigs in a blanket" for the Super Bowl :)

When Grands go on sale, I stock it UP!! We eat them with dinner, we eat them for breakfast, we just eat them!!! They taste even better at 25 pennies each. I think I bought 10.

This my lil stockpile of frozen Steamer meals, matching the coupons I had to the sale at Kroger/Frys I got these for 50 cents each. We have about 6 of these bags.

I am proud of our noodle stockpile....we have 15 bags at 25 pennies each. We go through carbs like we go through toilet paper, nuff said. Often Spaghetti sauce goes on sale at the same time noodles do, that makes sense. I bought about 6 jars of sauce and we have 3 left. Our girls go through sauce like CRAZY! Well, it helps that spaghetti is something our big girls know how to make for themselves. Today I found a freezer spaghetti sauce recipe and I think I am gonna give that a try, using alllll of those cans of petite totmatoes in pantry #2. I also use those canned tomatoes for homemade salsa. Mmmm!

This is a photo of our 2nd pantry about our washer dryer. I am working with small spaces in our current home. We downsized to 1600 feet but still have 4 bedrooms. This picture does not show all that is really in it. We have around 7 boxes of cake mix, 4 cans cake icing, 4 boxes unopened dry cereal (50 cents each) 4 bags marshmallows, 3 boxes hot cocoa mix, 2 boxes granola, 4 bottles syrup, 6 bags chex mix, Crisco, cookie mix, oats and 2 jars Jelly.

This is he other corner of our 2nd pantry. Three boxes crackers (25 cents each) 15 cans diced tomatoes, 8 cans tomato paste, 3 bottles cooking oil, 6 jars peanut butter, 15 cans rotel, 6 cans Progresso Soup, 4 bottles Strawberry Nesquick and Laffy Taffy. (The banana flavor makes me think of Heather :)

THIS IS AN AMAZING COUPON BOOKLET FOUND AT SAFEWAY (Tucson Friends!!)

Did you buy Sunday news papers last weekend? Did you?

Well, IF you DID......you won't regret it after I show you how you too can score an amazing deal at Walgreens on the FREAP!

How about this deal????

Go to WAGS (aka:Walgreens for the Newbies here)

This will take more than one transaction.....oh come on.......have you ever counted how many times you pass Wags daily? You. Can. Do. This.

This my friends and new followers/new friends....is called "Rolling!"

Okay, so you are not so sure..... What if I told you....you can get 3 bottles of Dove shampoo, 5 bottles of Dove body wash, 3 Fusion Razors for $22?

Transaction #1
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor
-$4.00 Coupon
________
$5.99 OOP (out of pocket)
+$4.00 Register Reward

Transaction #2
1 Dove hair care (shampoo/conditioner/hairspray)
-$1 Dove Hair Care Coupon
3 Dove Body Washes
-3 $1.25 Dove Body Washes
____________________
$10.25 After coupons
-$4 RR from transaction #1
$6.25 (+tax) Out of pocket
+$5 Register Reward


Transaction #3
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor
-$4 coupon
-$5 Register Reward from Transaction #2
_________________________________
99 Cents Out of Pocket
+$4 Register Reward

Transaction #4
2 Dove Body Wash
2 Dove Hair Care
-2 $1 Dove Body Care Coupons
-2 $1 Dove Hair Care Coupons
-$4 Register Reward from Transaction #3
________________________________
$7 Out of Pocket
+$5 Register Reward

Transaction #5
1 Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor
-$4 coupon
-$5 Register Reward from Transaction #4
________________________________
99 Pennies
+$4 Register Reward

Total Out of pocket about $22 and Tax (+$4 Register Reward left over after Transaction #5)
for 3 Razors and 8 dove products.

If you want to start smaller..........try using the $1 Colgate 360 toothbrush coupon from the Sunday paper (1/30/11) Match it with the $1 Walgreens in store coupon for 99 cent toothbrushes.


Stay tuned next week for 50 cent Skippy Peanut butter.......AZ friends, go to Safeway and grab "The Joy of Football" coupon booklet, or 3.