Back in the Saddle again!

I have shopped very little for the month of January, partly because of the lack of good sales and partly because I have been super busy. And really, there has been very little that I have gotten excited about this month in the sales. (Maybe the Walgreens Bayer deal!)

Starting today, Fry's has another one of their Mega sales and it's pretty good! When you buy 10 participating items you get $5 off. That's $.50 each item and you can do multiples of 10 in one order and get $5 off for every 10. There's a lot of free and cheap stuff with this sale and a couple of money makers!

In the photo above these items are part of the buy 10 get $5 off sale and their prices after coupons I used and sale:
Finish dish tabs $.49 each after coupons
Armour meatballs $.99 each after coupons
Kleenex $.43 each after $.40/1, $.50/3, and b4g1 free coupons
Quaker rice snacks $.50 money makers each after coupons!
Pillsbury Toaster Strudels $.79 each after coupons
Frank's Red hot $.49 after coupon
La Victoria salsa $.51 money maker each after coupon (from points rewards)
Rotel tomatoes $.11 money maker each after coupons
Hormel Chili masters $.21 money makers each after coupons
Land O lakes butter free after coupons (printables from last month)

I also got 2 Tony's pizzas for $1.50 each using some $1/2 printables I had from last month, 4 Wholly guac/salsa products-free with coupons! (first 4 only), and 1 Kroger orange juice that was marked down $.99.

I paid $6.03 oop and saved $105.43 or 95% savings!



I also went to Bashas and got the 10lb bag of chicken for $3.90 ($.39/lb is a great stock up price for me.) There is a limit of 1, so that's all I got this trip, but will be going back for me. The S&W beans are on sale for $.48 and with the $.50/3 coupons doubled, I paid $.44 for 3 cans or @ $.14 a can. I got 9 cans total and used 3 coupons.


I paid $5.22 oop for this whole order and saved $18.99 or 78%!

This was just what I needed to get back into the swing of things!

What happened to all my Toilet paper?

This was the scene last year as I stocked up on free and almost free toilet paper. My littlest one had fun building a fort with just the latest packs I had just brought in. I had way more in my closet already! As I look back at my posts, I realize I was stockpiling these in April and May of last year.

And now they are gone. As I mentioned before, I have 5 girls! 3 of those are teenagers who, when I started rationing the TP, would ask me for a new roll every day! (And I usually gave them two at a time-so they were going through two rolls a day!) So now we have no more toilet paper.



I had some RR's to use up at Walgreens yesterday since they were expiring. I had a $2.50 and a $2 RR. I got two pert shampoos- one was the men's kind. I used a $1.50 on men's coupon and a $1 on the other one, so my total for these two was $2.50 and I got a $2 RR back. I also got a men's sure deodorant that was $1.50 with the in-ad coupon and I used a $1.50 coupon from Sunday's inserts to get that free. (I had only cut out one coupon so far.) And then I got toilet paper! These big rolls are $.50 this week. This is what I'll be stocking up on for now using RR's until more free TP comes along. I got 4 rolls (Only 2 are pictured) for a total of $2. I used the $2.50 and the $2 RR which made my total $0 before taxes. I paid $.75 tax and used a Walgreens gift card, so $0 oop and got the $2 RR back for the pert deal. I will be shopping more this week and adding the TP as a filler as often as I can!

I stopped at the Walgreens next to Safeway today- a store I don't go to very often, and I was thrilled to find more of the Bayer Glucose meters! I got one of each and I also got a box of the Bayer quick release crystals 20ct that was clearanced to $2.19. I had free coupons for the meters and a $1 coupon for the aspirin. Word on the street is you will get a $6 RR for buying 3 bayer products instead of the $3 RR I got earlier for buying just the two Bayer meters and people have been buying this clearanced box. (Plus the $5 RR for each meter!) Well, that is a valid RR, but for me, the clearanced Bayer did not seem to work. I only got the $3 RR and the two $5 RR's. Still, about a $12 MM for me not counting tax.

I also got a thermacare patch that is $2.49. I used a $1 printable coupon and I got a $2.50 RR back. $1 MM!

I saw some Kellogg's corn flakes small boxes for $1 each and I had some $1 peelies so I got two of those-free with coupons and I got a small can of Baking powder since we are out. I used a $3 RR from the glade candles and paid $3.79-most of which was tax-on a gift card I got from Mypoints. (The RR for the glade candles is still good, but they are $3.29 each now, so almost free with the $3/2 but not a MM.)

My total oop for the day was $11.99 for the prescription at Safeway!

Stocking up on meat

I went to Safeway today to pick up a prescription for my dog. I filled this prescription the first time at Fry's for $4 and used a $10 gift card coupon to get $10 back to spend at Fry's. Safeway just came out with a $30 coupon in last week's ad so I transferred it there. I paid $11.99 for the meds at Safeway, but got a $30 gift card to spend there.
While I was there today, I wanted to get some of the hamburger that is $.99/lb. I got @ 10 lbs in two big packages and I also noticed the whole chickens were $.47/lb so I got 3 chickens also. I had some $2 when you spend $8 meat wt's, so I used two of those. I also got the 18ct eggs that are $.99 with the ad coupon when you spend $10 and two packs of hamburger bun for $.88 each with ad coupon. My total was $16.69 with tax and I paid with my new gift card.
*I also found some peelies here for $1.50 on any Post cereal. These are $1.50 this week at Albertsons, so would be free. I grabbed 4 coupons for a trip later this week. (There are also some Post cereals at Walgreens for $1 and $1.75 right now.)



I went to Super Target this past weekend since my daughter had a gift card she was dying to spend and I figured I'd do some grocery shopping there too. Before I left, I printed off two coupons for $2 off Archer Farms ham from the target web site. Two is the limit and I didn't log onto the other computers to get more. When I got there, I found two ham steaks for just over $2 each, so I paid just a few cents for each one of those. I also found a lot of hamburger marked at $.99/lb since they were going to expire in two days. I got 16 packages and used 2 of my $2 on $8 meat wt's and paid @ $.60/lb for the hamburger.

Though this looks like a lot, it's not for our family. I will likely go back to Safeway this week and get more hamburger and chicken as I am trying to stock the freezer again now. At these prices, I should be stocking the freezer to last for several months!

Walgreens quick trip

There's a few good deals at Walgreens this week, but I have limited time. So I just cut a few coupons and made a quick trip for these items.

Electrasol Finish is $3.49 and I used the $2.50 coupon from Sunday to pay $.99 and I got back a $1 RR. FREE after RR

Glade fragrance collection soy candles 2oz are 2/$5. I used a $3/2 coupon from 11/22 SS and paid $2 for both. I got back a $3 RR. This is a monthly deal for the RR. $1 MM with coupon and RR.

Oreos small packs are $.99. I used a $1/2 coupon from tearpads, I think from earlier in the year. $.49 each after coupons. (I love my oreos!)

Toilet paper big rolls. These are $.50 each with in-ad coupon. With the amount of girls I have, we are always stocking toilet paper. I used these as a filler along with a $.10 piece of Christmas candy so I could use a $5 RR from the bayer meters. I paid @ $1 with tax and got $4 in RR back.

I also stopped at QT (Quik trip) for another free sandwich. Thanks to their frequent reloading of this coupon and my tech obsessed husband, we have had free lunch from QT many times over the last few months! With all our computers in the house, I can print from each one. I had enough coupons this time for free lunch for me and the kids for this whole month already! The kids have been getting the foot long sandwiches which feeds two of them at a time. I am out of coupons now, but will check for a reload every week.

Free QT sandwich!

Look in the coupons on my sidebar (click to see all coupons-it will open another page) for another Free sandwich coupon from QT! They seem to be reloading this coupon at least once a month and it's been twice this month. I just printed some more from each of my computers so I have free lunch for everyone for tomorrow!

Some Walgreens deals

There's a few good deals at Walgreens right now. Some of these coupons expire 12/31, so you'd need to do the deal tomorrow.
The Olay Regenerist face cleaner is 20% off this week and there are $3 coupons from the 11/29 PG (exp. 12/31). The new PG from this past Sunday advertises a $15 rebate when you buy 2 Olay regenerist products. The rebate form is online at olay.com.
The face cleanser is $5.83 on sale this week- buy 2 and use 2 of the $3 coupons and pay $5.66 plus tax oop and send for the $15 rebate!

The Bayer meters are on sale again for $14.99 and produce a $5 RR. This time around, though, there is a seperate $5 RR for the contour and for the breeze. There is also another $3 RR when you buy 2 bayer products. SO, buy one of each meter at the same time, use the free coupons from 10/25 and just pay tax. You will get back $13 in RR!

There is another RR deal from unilever for a $4 RR when you buy 1 Theraflu and 1 Lipton tea. The theraflu is $3.99 right now and there is a $2 WG coupon in the Healthy savings booklet that expires 12/31. There is also a $2 printable theraflu coupon-look on my sidebar to print this. I got the bog box of lipton tea which was $4.79 and I used a $.50 coupon from 11/15 RP. There was a smaller box that was $3.49, but it was decaf and I need my caffeine. If you can use all coupons, you could get the big box of tea and the theraflu for $.29 after the RR or about a $1 MM with the smaller decaf box. I was not able to use both coupons tonight because the WG coupon is ringing up as a manufacturer coupon and it wouldn't take both coupons together no matter how they rang it up. The manager would not push it through either since the total left after one coupon was $1.99 and the other coupon was $2. So I paid more than I had planned, but I did get the $4 RR.

Look for Revlon on clearance! This week, Revlon is b1g1 free except for lip and nail products. I got a bunch of eyeliners for $2.19 and they also rang b1g1 free and some lip glosses at $2.19. I used a $2 coupon for each one, even the free ones, so these were a MM and helped pay for my other purchases.







I also went by CVS to check the Christmas clearance. It's still 50% and I am waiting for at least 75%. I decided to get one of the colgate that is $2.99 with a $2 ECB. I had a $1 coupon and a $2 ECB, so free and then got $2 back. They were also putting clearance stickers on a lot of makeup while I was there, so I pulled out my Revlon coupons. All the ones I got were 75% off and most were under $2, so I made sure I had enough $ in makeup to cover the coupons I had left. For some reason the register wouldn't take my last coupon even though I had $2.06 left in makeup to use it on. I just took it back and will go back for more later. Though I could not make money on the makeup at CVS, I had more choices on the clearance stuff than at Walgreens. I got some eye shadows, lipsticks, and a mascara. I am going to pull out all my makeup coupons and go back tomorrow and see what else I can get cheap or free. They had a ton of makeup on clearance in almost every brand!

Cleaning the stockpile

I did some cleaning out of my HBA stockpile today. This is the cabinet in my closet. This cabinet is taller than me. :)
Top shelf is toothpastes, toothbrushes, floss, mouth wash,face cleaners, and feminine products. Second row is mostly men's products- razors, shave gels and after shaves, face cleaner, deodorants. There are also some girls razors and shave gels on the left side. Next shelf is mom's shampoos,hair color, face stuff, body wash, and lotions. The bottom shelf is for kid's use- shampoos, body washes, lotions, hair products.



These are going under the sink in the older girls' bathroom.



This is a shopping bag full of just mascara!



My makeup basket. You can't tell, but it is really big! I have foundations, eye shadows, blushes, lip stuff, nail stuff, and eyeliners in here as well as some makeup puffs. Probably a good 75-100 items in here alone.



Travel size shampoos, face scrubs, etc.



Brushes and heat patches.



Excess hair colors and products. I actually have several more bins full of other stuff for yard sales or donations like glucose meters, deodorants, etc.



More toothpaste, deodorants to give away.



Now I have enough to last a while, but not too much and I can start building again after Christmas!