More free stuff!

When I find a good money making deal, I do it as much as I can while it's running.
I was able to print some more Robitussin and Dimetap coupons, and I had more Garnier coupons, so I headed out to Walgreens yesterday to get some more free stuff.


I did the robitussin deal 2 more times and this time I used the overage from the garnier to help pay for them. I also grabbed some pizza, tissue, a few more ornaments, dish soap ($.49 after coupons), a honey bear, and some hershey's kisses. The kisses were marked down to $.62 each and I used $1.50 on 3 coupons which made them $.12 a bag! I only paid tax again for all of this and I got $40 more in RR back again.

Not pictured is 11 more Garnier and 2 more of the disney storage cubes from another trip last night. (only paid $1 plus tax for those!)

More Christmas shopping?

Walgreens has their Christmas stuff on clearance for 75% off now! I went yesterday to see what they had and their was already a lot of people filling up their carts with all the Christmas stuff. I got some of the Christmas houses I had been wanting for $1.50 each! I also got another nativity scene since we couldn't find ours this year. I got some wrapping paper, bows, stockings, sticker books and tins. I didn't stock up on tins last year after Christmas. I did get them on sale this year, but I had to pay $1.29 each for @ 25 tins! Not again! I grabbed a bunch yesterday while they were $.33 each for the large ones and $.12 each for the small ones. We'll be ready for next year and for a lot less!


Thanks to some great posters at HCW, I also knew about the Robitussin and Garnier deals that would make me some money I could spend on all these Christmas goodies. The Robitussin and dimetaps ae $4 right now and when you spend $20, you get back a $10 RR. BUT, the machines are giving out 2-$5 RR and the $10 RR when you buy 5, so you are getting $20 back. Of course, using coupons makes this a money maker deal. There are $1 coupons in the Sunday inserts from a few weeks back and there are also $2 printables at wyethallbrands.com. I printed the $2 coupons for robitussin and dimetap (you can print 2 of each) on two different computers and cut out some of the $1 coupons. I was able to do this deal twice and spent @ $12 oop on each one with tax and got back $40 in RR!


The garnier is conditioner that is clearanced to $2.19. There is a coupon in the new walgreens rebate book (found in the front of the stores) for $2 off garnier hair products. You only need one of these coupons as it will take off $2 for each garnier you have in your order. This alone makes the conditioners $.19! But there are also $1 coupons in the inserts! You can use a manufacturers coupon with the walgreens coupon, so this is another money maker. Combining both coupons gave me $.81 overage on each conditioner. I only had 2 of the $1 coupons with me this time, so I grabbed 2. For these types of deals- I always hand the cashier the manufacturers coupons first, then I will point out the coupon in the walgreens book I want to use and she will scan it or type it in and it takes off for all of them. I rarely tear the coupon out as you can use it over again-they don't have to keep the walgreens coupons.


I went out again in the evening to do some more Christmas shopping after I had cut more garnier coupons. Here's what I got and I spent @ $4 oop which was all tax!




You can see at the back, I also picked up two cloth storage cubes- one is Disney princesses and one is Cars. These will be great for my little girls' room as they greatly need better storage options. (and one girl is a total "princess" while the other is a tomboy!) These were $5 each and I used the overage from the garnier and one $5 rr from the robitussin to pay for them. I plan on building them some shelves in their closet and getting more of these cubes (with RR or overage of course) to stack on the shelves. Hopefully this will help to keep the mess down at least a little.





I also stopped at the commissary yesterday to use up the rest of my KY coupons and beef coupons that expire 12/31. The KY's are making me $1.16 each, so I can use that overage on all my other groceries. I had $1 on any beef coupons, so I stocked up on ground beef and a lot of other beef. I looked mainly for packages that were $2 or less, so most of these I paid less than a dollar for after my beef coupons. (and nothing after my overage.) I grabbed a few other things- including two packs of denture cream. No, I don't have dentures, but I needed 2 more upcs to send off for a $10 restaurant gift card. My total for this order was a negative $.13, so I threw in a candy bar and paid $.38 oop. I am sad to see the KY coupons expire, though Lord knows I don't need any more KY. ;)

A Couponer's Christmas

Wow! December has been super busy and I haven't had time to post all the great deals I've been getting. But thanks to couponing and other types of "deals" I work, we had a great Christmas! This picture doesn't do justice to the tree and the pile of presents as there are many more under the tree and all the way around and behind it. You are only seeing what was in the front that couldn't fit underneath. In all we had just about 75 presents including one gift basket for my oldest DS with a lot of HBA and household products.


For my shopping this year, I used Walgreens RR, CVS ECB, and gift cards and did a lot of sale shopping. I got gift cards from MYpoints, prescription coupons (CVS gift card), and I got 3 $50 walmart gift cards from opening bank accounts last month. I had some Amazon gift cards too, but we didn't get around to ordering early enough to be able to use them, which means we went over my $0 budget because we had to pay cash for some presents I had planned to order through Amazon. In all, we spent about $100 cash oop. (NO credit cards-so no extra January bills showing up!)
This amount also includes all the gift wrapping since I stocked up last year after Christmas for paper, tags, and bows and used ECB to pay for it all. (Will be shopping for this again in the next few days.)
The kids all got some of the stuff they asked for and they all got to shop for each other and mom & dad too! (yep-all with coupons and gift cards) The only exception was my oldest DD who used her own money this year for her shopping. (hey, she has a job.) And my oldest DS helped with all the candy for the stockings as his contribution.

I bought his gift basket at Michael's with a coupon for $2 and filled it with anything I thought he could use: dish soap, laundry soap, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, mouth wash, floss, a toothbrush, razors, deodorant, cologne, shaving gel, towels, a dvd, boxers and more. He seemed very happy with it, especially since it meant he didn't have to go without some of those items because he couldn't buy it himself. ;)

Walgreens $5 RR when you buy $25

Starting today Walgreens has a 3-day ad out. Some of the stuff is the same as the regular weekly ad, and then there's a few different deals. The most exciting part of this ad is the $5 RR you get for buying $25 of almost anything in the store! After testing it, I found your total has to be $25 before tax and before all coupons- including walgreens, RR, and manufacturers coupons! This is exciting because I can get $25 worth of stuff and use coupons to bring the oop down pretty low and get the $5 RR.
I figured today would be a good day to take the kids for some Christmas shopping. I took them one at a time (I took 4 of them today) so I had plenty of chances to do a lot of shopping. :)
In all, we did 21 transactions today at 3 different stores. I spent $44.21 cash oop for $624.20 worth of merchandise. That is a 93% savings! I got all the items you see in the picture and more. Not shown is the 2 pizzas we had for lunch (on sale 2/$5) and all the Christmas presents that were bought and wrapped. (26 presents total were bought today.) After all that, I still have $49 in RR left to spend, and I will get $5.50 back in rebates.
It was a great shopping day and I'll be back for more tomorrow. :)

How to make money shopping

This is how I make money when I am shopping. This is a new Walgreens deal that started yesterday and continues through Saturday. For every 2 Reach Ultraclean toothbrushes or floss you buy, you get a $6 RR. The tb's and floss are 2/$6, so they are essentially free. BUT, of course, I also have coupons for these items. In the 10/12 RP inserts, there are $1 off coupons for the floss and a b1g1 free coupons for the toothbrushes. This means that for every two flosses I buy, I would pay $4 (using 2-$1 coupons) and get back the $6 RR or for every two toothbrushes I buy, I would pay $3 (using 1-b1g1 coupon) and get back the $6 RR.
So, yesterday, I went to 3 different Walgreens and got 24 toothbrushes. Now, I had some RR from last weeks deals to start with, so i didn't spend as much on the first 2 orders. Each order after that was $3 plus tax. In all, I spent about $39 with tax and I have $72 in RR to spend. I pretty much doubled my money! And I am not done shopping as I have more coupons for the toothbrushes and the floss.
I normally would not spend this much money oop, even for a great money maker like this, but these RR are going to be a big part of my Christmas money, so I am basically doubling my money to spend on Christmas gifts. Yes, Walgreens actually does have a lot of items I can buy for Christmas presents. I will likely give these to my children so they can go shopping for each other here.
One important thing to remember, you cannot use the RR from the same deal to do the deal again, or you will not get a new RR. So, I could use my RR's from last week for this deal or from another deal this week (if there were any I wanted to do), but I cannot use the $6 RR again on the reach items as it will prevent me from getting another $6 RR on the new order. That is why I am paying cash on all these. (and my gift card is now empty.)
So, when you hear a couponer say they made money or "got paid" to shop, this is one way we do it. There are deals like this at many different stores. You just have to know how to find them. :)

Black friday for couponers!

CVS had the deals that got us couponers excited for black friday! The CVS sale started on Thusrday-thanksgiving day and ran through Saturday. This means that a lot of us went out late Wednesday night and shopped the 24-hr CVS and checked out at Midnight. I was at the store by 11:30 pm and I checked out just after midnight. There were at least 8 other couponers (or "sets" of couponers) doing the deals while I was there. We were all helping each other out looking for the deals, and giving tips. It was fun! :)
I had a $14 ECB and a $17.98 ECB from deals last week to start with. I rang up about 3 seperate orders to pay the lowest amount oop and got almost all the freebies. They did not have any of the earphones I wanted, but I was able to get rainchecks for them so I can get them for free when they come in next week. After I got all the freebies, I went back in to shop the b1g1 toys. Thanksgiving was also my youngest's birthday, so we picked up some gifts for her and a couple for Christmas too. I paid @ $3 oop for everything in the picture!





I did a second CVS run on Thursday morning using my DH CVS card and got more of the freebies. Again, no earphones- but got another raincheck, and they were out of the Garnier. I did about 7 different transactions this time to roll the ECB and spend the least oop, but I had no ECB to start with on this card. I again spent @ $3 oop. I have $12.98 in ECB left to spend on one card and $17.77 ECB on the other card.


Though I don't have pics, I also did a little BF shopping at Walgreens. They had colgate TP free with RR, and I had $1 coupons, which means I made $1 on each TP. I got 6 total. I alos stopped in on Thursday for the 50% off toys and used my RR for several toys for Christmas. I spent about $10 oop here between all the deals, but got about $100 worth of toys for the kids, plus the free toothpastes.

A little bit of free...

I got more free stuff yesterday and some cheap stuff. I did a lot of shopping yesterday to get all the deals!
I went to Safeway first to get some broth. I had some $1.25 coupons for the Progresso and some $1 coupons.
I got 15 cartons Progresso broth and paid $13.07 and I got a catalina for $10 OYNO.
Then I went to CVS and grabbed 2 of the Maybelline makeups that are free after ECB and 2 of the Right guard proffesional that is $.99 after ECB. I had 2-$3 coupons for the makeup, so I made $6 buying those two. I also had a $30 ECB from last weeks Duracell deal. I needed about $2 more to use my ECB, so i grabbed 2 rolls of paper towels. I spent $30 in ECB and $.55 cash oop and I got back $31.98 in ECB!
Next, I went to Bashas. I got 36 cans of dole tropical mixed fruit for $3 total oop using the $1/3 coupons that doubled and a $.75 catalina for each 3 I bought. (Every 3 cans produced another $.75 cat) I got 6 boxes of brownie mix for $.25 each with the $1/2 coupons doubled, 1 package of Kings hawaiin rolls for $.99 after $1 coupon doubles, and I got a 12lb turkey @ $.39/lb and used a $2 wt. I donated the turkey outside the store to ST. Vincents De Paul as they were they collecting turkeys and donations. I spent @ $7.50 oop here.
I stopped at Walgreens next and repeated my order from the day before with 9 sure deodorants, 1 Skintimate, and 3 Robitussin. I spent $1.88 oop (tax was $2.01-less than the day before as it was a different city-in a 5 mile radius of my house there are 4 different cities all charging different taxes).
My last stop on this run was at Albertsons. I got 4 more C&H sugars at $.50 each, 1-10lb bag of potatoes for $1.47, 8 boxes of BC potatoes-free, 2 packages of dog treats-used free coupons, 5 Pillsbury crescent rolls-$.50 each, 1 lb butter-free with crescent rolls, 1 bag of marshmallows for $1. I used a $6/$30 coupon and paid $2.06 cash oop. ($1.09 was tax)






After a short break, I went out again when I took my DD to work. I stopped by Fry's and got 10 Bird's eye steamfresh veggies-free with coupons, 1 loaf wheat bread $1.50, an 8.69 lb turkey for $3.39 and used $2 coupon, and a 9.76 lb ham for $15.13. I used a $6/$30 coupon and the $10 cat from Safeway earlier in the day. I paid $2.21 oop. I also went to Bashas again (did not take a picture) and got 18 more cans of mixed fruit for $1.50 total and 2 more turkeys-one was 12.65 lb and one was 12.77 lb. I use $2 coupons on both and paid under $3 for each turkey. That comes out to about $.23 a lb for turkey! I'm stocking up the freezer with these as I'll cook them up during the year and put the meat in freezer bags for quick meals, soups, casseroles, and lunch meat!

After all that shopping, I went to the movies on a date night with DH and used the last 2 of my free movie passes from the walgreens axe deal a few months back. I do love free!

My favorite shopping time!

Around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the grocery stores put out some of the best deals! I love shopping this time of year since there are so many freebies to be had. The stores around here have been really competing hard the last few weeks. They are offering doubles, triples, quadruples, dollar doubles, and accepting competitor coupons. This adds up to a lot of freebies or really good deals for couponers.




I did a lot of quick shopping trips yesterday in between doctors appointments. This first picture is from 4 different stores.
I hit the commissary while I was on base for one appointment and I got:
5 cans Muir glen tomatoes-used $1 coupons and made $.50 each can
7 packages Ronzoni pasta-used $1 coupons and made $.01 each
8 boxes Jolly time popcorn-used $1 and $1.50 coupons made $.11 each on 4 and $.61 each on the other 4 boxes
1-17 lb bag Alpo- used $1 coupon- paid $5.99
1- 3lb bag of rice- no coupons
With 5% surcharge ($1.28) I paid $3.82 oop and I tipped the bagger $1

At Bashas I got:
12 cans Del Monte vegetables- used 3- $1/4 coupons doubled to $2 each, so paid $.25/can
9 cans Dole mixed fruit/mandarin oranges- used $1/3 coupons doubled to $2-paid $1 for each 3 cans and got back a $.75 OYNO catalina for each 3 cans
Total oop: $6.76 (got back $2.25 to use for next time)

At Fry's I got:
21 Cans Del Monte less salt can veggies-used $.30 coupons tripled-all free
1 loaf wheat bread
3 bags shredded cheese
1 block cheese
1 Stove top stuffing
1 lb ground beef
1-3 strip Fleischmans yeast-used $.45 coupon tripled to $1- cost $1 oop and got $.50 cat back
I used a $6 off $30 competitors coupon
Total oop: $2.14 (and got $.50 back for next time)

At Walgreens I got:
free movie from redbox with Monday code
9 Sure deodorants-used $1 coupons and $1.50 walgreens coupons-made $.51 each
3 Robitussin-used $3 printables-paid $.99 each and got $5 RR back
1 Skintimate-used $.50 coupon-paid $1.49 and got back $1 RR
1 gift sack $.10 with walgreens coupon
Tax was $2.81 and I paid $2.78 oop (got back $6 for next time)






I went out again last night after a visit to the acute care clinic and got 3 prescriptions for my dd who has an ear infection. I paid $9 for the scrips and got $30 in gift cards for Fry's using the $10 Target prescription coupons.
While at Fry's waiting for the meds, I picked up:
14 packages of Cottonelle-used $.25 coupon qudrupled-all free
10 pouches Idahoan potatoes-used $.75 printable doubled -all free
2 blocks of cheese
1 can yams
1 jar mayonaisse
Used $6/$30 competitors coupon
Paid $.27 oop

At Albertsons I got:
19.53 lb turkey @ $.39 lb-I used $2 turkey wine tag-paid $5.62
10 lb bag potatoes-$1.47 on sale
10 betty crocker potatoes box-used $.35 coupons tripled-all free
5 Pillsbury crescent rolls-used $.35 coupons tripled-$.50 each
1 lb butter-free with purchase of 5 crescent rolls
4 bags 2lb C&H sugars-used $.35 couopns tripled-$.50 each
1 reusable grocery bag-used free coupon from receipt survey
Used $6/$30 competitors coupon
Total oop: $6.16

Free groceries at TCF Bank!

No they are not handing out groceries, but they are handing out a $50 walmart gift card when you open a checking account. If you go in to open an account, they give you the gift card right then and you walk out with it! (you just doubled your money!) You have to open an account with a minimum of $25, but there are no stipulations on how long you have to leave the money in there or leave the account open. I really like their options, so I'm going to leave mine open and use the account. I have been using my $25 deposit this week with my new debit card for my grocery purchases.

When you open an account, you will have to order a box of checks, but there are several accounts that give you the checks for free and you just pay $5.95 shipping for the checks: "student" or "over 55" accounts do this as well as the "affinity" checking. If you open just the regular free checking account, you will have to pay $16.95 for checks, but you still are making $33 with the $50 gift card they give you with this option.
This deal is good through the end of November, so hurry if you want to do it! The bank is open 7 days a week! They also have a referral program. They have the referral slips inside the bank-so grab some when you go in. You will get a $25 visa card mailed to you (within 3-4 weeks) for everyone you refer who opens an account by the end of November. And your referral gets the $50 walmart gift card too! I have referred my husband and my two oldest (adult) children already. Check the website:
TCF Bank to find one near you. You need to have a mailing address in one of these states:
Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Colorado, or Arizona

And if anyone wants a referral slip before you go in, I'll mail you one! You still get the $50 gift card and I'll get $25 for telling you about it. ;)

Who says "coupons are only for junk food"?

A lot of people say they don't use coupons because they are only for "junk food" or highly processed items or just "for stuff we don't eat."
Last week, I got items like sugar, butter, can milk, and water all with coupons. I also got stuff like ziplocs, oatmeal, razors, toothpaste-all for free using coupons. And with using these coupons and store coupons and other savings methods, I regularly get items like produce, milk, eggs, bread, or meat for free or close to it. If someone says this, they either have a very limited diet or they just don't understand coupons. ;)
Here's some good stuff I got today:




This is from Fry's sale that just started today. I got 32 packages of Bird's eye frozen vegetables for free! They also have white and brown rice in these packages and I got a few of those. So a few staples and healthy items right there for free-rice and veggies! I also got some spices and chocolate milks for free with coupons.
Since I got all these for free, I could use a $6 off $30 store coupons and add in some extras I didn't have coupons for. This was all broken down into 2 orders, so I used 2 of the $6 off $30 coupons and with the extra $, I got 1 box of Stove top stuffing, about 2 lbs of beef for a stir fry tonight, and 2 Contessa packaged meals. I really like these Contessa meals, but they are always so expensive for us as a large family. They are on sale right now for $4.99, so I intend to grab 1 or 2 when I have extra $ to spend until I have enough for a whole meal for us. I spent just about $3 oop today on all this.

This is one of the ways I stock up on meat, produce, or just items we don't have coupons for at little to no cost.

Fry's 2 week mega deal!

I was out of town for a week during this 2 week sale, but I still did pretty good.













I don't have a final count on the tiems yet, but I got everything for @ $15 oop.! (There's another 2 trips that I don't have pics of) This sale was a lot of fun, but it was also very crowded at the stores and they were running out of everything constantly. I got over 2 cases of evaporated milk, more than 20 bags of chocolate chips, 30+ Hefty sipper bags, razors, toothpaste and oatmeal and more! I'm very happy for the 5lb bags of sugar I got for $.50 each! These will last us a while.

Coupons work for other things besides groceries!

I went to Michael's the other day to get some Glycerin to use to preserve some of the fall leaves we brought back from our trip. I used the 40% off coupon to get this little bottle of glycerine (in the bottom left corner) for @ $1.40. I ended up getting 6 of these and used a coupon on each one. :)

I also hit the halloween/fall clearance at just the right time. Everything was 75%-90% off! I got some fun stuff for the kids to do and some decor items. Some of the foam kits had just letters that we can use during the rest of the year too! I paid just @ $12 for all of this including the premade arrangement!

Some Older deals

We were out of town for about a week and I didn't update any shopping trips while I was gone like I thought I would. So here's a few older shopping trips.




Here's a trip from 11/4 to Safeway, Fresh & Easy, and Petco. I grabbed 2 bags of dog food at Petco and just paid the tax after the $5 printable coupons.
At Fresh & Easy, I got a 6 pack of tomatoes that was marked down to $1.87.
Then at Safeway, I got about 20 lbs of meat, 2 loaves of bread, and one Deli creation-marked down to $.99. I used a 10% off coupon and then six of the glade $4 catalinas I had left and spent $.34 oop.






At Albertsons on the 5th, I picked up a prescription for $8 and got a $30 gift card using the Safeway $30 gift card coupon from a couple of weeks ago.
Then I went shopping and got about 12 lbs of pork chops and used my last 2 of the glade $4 catalinas. The toilet paper, ice cream, frosting, and vegetables were all free with coupons. My total for this order was $6.71 with tax and I paid for that with my gift card.

What I saved/made last week

Another site I like to visit does this and I thought it was a great idea, so I'm going to copy it.
I hit Target yesterday for their 75% off the dollar spot clearance and got a ton of cool stuff for $.25 each. I also grabbed a bunch of hats and gloves for the kids (5 sets) since we'll be traveling to a colder state later this week.
I saved $18.06 here. (spent $23.74 oop)

I only bought groceries twice this week-both times at Fry's.
I saved $147 at Fry's last week. (spent $4.77 oop)

I hit walgreens twice-once for some last minute halloween stuff and once for some much needed medicines.
I saved $20 at Walgreens. (spent $6.71 oop)

My Total saved last week was: $185.06 (spent $35.22 oop)

Now what I made last week:
I won a $50 home depot gift card on Saturday from a radio station. Thanks to my husband who heard about it on the radio and suggested we run up to home depot really quick (where the radio guys were giving out gift cards) and check it out. We went, and I won. :)
Last Saturday (not really this week, but I'm going to count it.) I had a stockpile yard sale. I only sold stockpile items, nothing else and I was "open" for about 4 hours. I made $120.
Total made in the last 9 days: $170.

Is free really free?

I stopped by Walgreens this afternoon to get some free razors and free movie rentals.
I got 10 of the Schick razors that are on sale for $5.99 and used 5 buy one get one free coupons. Then I used the $3 walgreens coupon from their rebate catalog and it took off $30 for the 10 packs. So, the razors were all free. BUT, I paid $5.22. This was all tax. Luckily, I had some money still on my gift card (from last month's rebates), so I spent nothing oop. But you do have to take into account the tax you will pay even when something is "free". Since there are 3 razors in each pack and I have 3 teenaged girls, it was still a good deal paying just the tax-it averaged out to about $.50 a pack.


I also grabbed two free movie rentals from the redbox machine. One for the kids to watch and one for mom and dad. Every Monday, redbox sends out a code for a free movie. You can sign up to get a text message from them on your phone each week,(visit their website ti sogn up for this) or just look online. There are many sites that post the code each week. You can use the code once for each credit/debit card you use. I use two different debit cards to get the two free movies. Today's code is: 67JFP8 and it's good through midnight!

Free groceries and Free money!

Chicken is on sale again, so I'll be stocking the freezer this week with chicken. It is $.57 a pound at Fry's. I got one whole chicken and two packs of drumsticks for a total of about 9 pounds of chicken. I got 4 boxes of Oatmeal and 2 booxes of the Oatmeal to go bars for $.50 each and 2 loaves of bread for $1 each. I also got more free Shamrock milks and found some more glade! The glades are $4.99 each and I have buy one get one free coupons, so I pay $4.99 for every two. But each one I buy prints out a $4 off coupon, so I get $8 back for every two. This is how you make money at the grocery store!

Since my order was over $40 before coupons, I was able to use 2 of the $5 off $20 Freash & Easy coupons. I also used 5 of the $4 glade catalinas from previous purchases. I spent $4.10 cash oop, and $3.81 of that was tax. Somehow I got 9 of the $4 glade catalinas back even though I only bought 8. So I got $36 back in cat's to spend on anything in the store! Free money! :)

Oops, out of dog food!

We were out of dog food this morning. Instead of running out and paying full price for a big bag, I decided to head to Walgreens since I have coupons to spend there and deals I can work. I cam home with 5 cans of dog food- enough for today and tomorrow, 3 bags of Ramen noodles-the kids wanted some of these for lunch, and 1 Gillette razor. The razor was $4.99 after my $4 coupon and gave me another $4 catalina. I used a $5 and a $4.50 catalina on everything and paid $1.61 on my gift card, so no oop. Now I have time to find a good deal on dog food where I don't have to spend very much oop. At least, that's the plan. ;)

State fair day and RX gift cards

Yesterday was homeschool day at the state fair. This means we got in for free and got in early, before the fair opened to the general public. We also got free parking, though we had to walk a little ways. The kids got 3 free rides each by turning in book reports at the fair. It was also $1 rides day, but we didn't buy any extra rides as we all were worn out after everybody rode their 3 free rides. We brought our own lunch, snacks, and water and they had several water stations in the kid's areas, so we were able to refill the bottles easily. We looked at art, crafts, petted lots of different animals, learned how to milk a cow, and played cowboy. There was an awesome kids area with lots of free fun stuff for the kids to do. They bounced and tumbled on gym mats, played with building blocks, and raced around a race track on little cars. We spent over an hour just in this play area.
The only expense for the day was gas and $1 hamburgers for dinner as I was way too tired to cook! We had a lot of fun though and boy did the kid's sleep well last night!





I ran out last night to pick up a prescription for my daughter. I had a $25 gift card coupon from CVS that I got in the mail. Her medication was $9 for my co-pay, so I mde $16! I now have a free $25 gift card to spend at CVS. This is how I get a lot of my gift cards that I use for groceries so I spend even less oop. Of course, when I got home, I found out Safeway had a $30 gift card coupon on their new ad. But it's good through 11/30, so I have time to use it on something else.

A little more deal hunting

I went to Walgreens again to get some cards. I had a $10 catalina to use, so I got 2 cards, 1 Gillette razor, 1 Oral b toothbrush, 1 carmex (a staple here in the valley of the sun), and 1 milky way. I got a $4 catalina from the razor which I used on the toothbrush and candy and I got a $4.50 catalina back from that. I spent @ $1 oop in cash. (I forgot my gift card.)






I went to Fry's next to get some of the case lot deals since I hadn't had much chance to shop this week. They were out of a lot that I wanted and would not hand out rain checks. :(

I got 42 cans of Campbell's Spaghettios and Spaghetti-free with coupons, 2 cans of hunts Spaghetti sauce-$.77 each, 2 cans Fry's evaporated milk-$.77 each, 1-5lb bag of flour-$1.47, 1-48oz Vegetable oil-$2.37, 6 Shamrock milks-free, 2 Dole salads-free with coupons, and 25 softsoap hand soaps-free with coupons. I used a $5 off $20 coupon and paid $2.63 cash oop.

Walgreens,Safeway, and Albertson's deals today

I did some running around today, so I stopped at Walgreens to do some of this week's deals and use some of the new Pert plus coupons that we got on Sunday. (making $1 on each bottle with the new coupon and the walgreens coupon in the rebate booklet combined.) I got 10 bottles of pert, 1 Gillette razor, 1 Oral B crossaction toothbrush, 1 Alka seltzer plus cold, and two packs of girl's underwear (5pks) that were marked down to $3.19 each. I spent 1-$4.50 catalina and @ $10 on a gift card (from last month's rebates). I got back in catalinas: 1-$4, 1-$4.50, and 1-$5; total of $13.50 in cat's back.

I stopped at Safeway to look for the glades since they were out everywhere else and found 8. I used a $5 coupon and two $5 gift cards along with the buy one get one free coupons and spent @ $14 oop and I got back $32 in catalinas. I could have spent less oop by buying one set and using the cat's for the next few, but I wanted to use my $5 off coupon and my total had to be $50 to use it. (I bought some stuff for my friend on my order too to reach the $50.) I will most likely use these catalinas at Fry's.








I visited two different Albertson's and snagged 30 boxes of Eggo's. I had more coupons, but I gave them to my friend since I didn't have enough for another 10. (You had to buy 10 items to get the sales price.) I paid nothing oop for these since they were free with coupons and no food tax in that part of town. (In the area closest to me, there is a tax on food.) This may seem like a lot, but I doubt there will be any left within two weeks. :)

Quick run to Fry's for dinner

I made a quick un to Fry's last night since we had nothing for dinner. I found these packs of chicken thighs marked at $.57 a pound, so I grabbed all four. (A total of 13.8 lbs.) I also found some of the Shamrock farms Rockin' refuel milks that are on sale for $1. These are free with the coupons that came out on the 12th. I grabbed 9 of those since that's all the coupons I had cut out right then. I then grabbed some more Cottonelle (which is still free with the $.50 coupon) since you can never have enough toilet paper, and that coupon expires soon, and a bag of flour, which was $1.47. I used a $5 off $20 fresh & easy coupon and one $4 catalina form the glade deal and I paid $.70 cash oop. The kids all enjoyed a free milk with the free dinner! :)

End of the Month Shopping

I did a few shopping trips Tuesday for the end of the month and end of the week shopping deals.





I went to Fry's twice. My first trip I got: 5 Cottonelle-free, 10 Land-o-lakes butter-free, 4 Glade plug ins $3.58 total and got $8 back in catalinas, 2 lbs rice and @ 3.5 lbs of Chciken thighs. I used a $5/$20 fresh & easy coupon and 1-$2 catalina and paid $2.37 oop. I then got 5 boxes of Kroger waffles and @ 4 lbs of grapes. I used the $8 catalinas from before and paid $.45 oop. I also got a bunch of rain checks since they were out of most everything I wanted.

I used all my $2 pert plus coupons that expired 9/30 at Walgreens. I got 9 bottles and made $1 each! I used that overage to buy a Fusion razor ($4.99 after $4 coupon and got $4 RR back), 1 Oral-B toothbrush ($3.74 after $.75 coupon and got $4.50 RR back), 4 packs of Trident gum-these were b1g1 free and I had b1g1 free coupons, so all 4 were free, and I grabbed 1 nail clippers as a filler.

And I hit the Commissary to use up the last of my Kraft free coupons and some Renuzit coupons since the sale ended on those 9/30. Unfortunately, they were out of the tri-scents, so I didn't get those. I'll have to hope for a sale somewhere else on those before they expire. I did get 10 Glade wisp candles for free, 2 Kotex, 2 Totinos pizza rolls, 5 Kraft dressings, 5 packs Oscar mayer hot dogs, 5packs Kraft singles cheese-all free. I grabbed 45 packs of koolaid to go with those Kraft coupons @ $.15 a pack. Deli creations were $.50 with coupon on the box. I got some items we needed: Alpo 17.6lbs dog food, 3lbs of Bananas and 5lbs of potatoes. I used the dove hair products and the Taco seasonings for overage and I paid @ $5 oop of which $5 was surcharge. :)

Almsot forgot the Gum!

I almost forgot the free gum at Fry's last night and I almost forgot to post it here! My daughter however did not forget and took her own picture of the gum. (The kids are all mesmerized by the gum!) I had found some tearpad coupons months ago for b1g1 gum and it included trident, dentyne, stride and a few more. I got some free stride a while back at Walgreens when they were on sale for b1g1 and I used this coupon. Fry's had these b1g1 last week too, and I still hadn't used my coupons when I went out last night. Luckily, we remembered and I let DD go in and get a bunch of free gum. SOmehow she counted wrong and came out with 33 packs (it should have been 34), but she still got it all for free. She laso thought she had enough for all the coupons, but had 2 coupons left. Unfortunately, the store was pretty much closed by then, so we went home. My coupons expire 9/30, so I doubt I'll come across another b1g1 sale before then, but we're set on gum for a while!


Here's my DD "artistic" version of the sea of powerades (taken with her new camera she got for her birthday:

Fry's awesome deals last week!

The Powerade deal was definitely my favorite! My kids have already gotten into these and drank about 10-15 bottles of what I got. For every 6 you bought, you'd get a $4 coupon on your next order. 6 powerades only cost $3, so you made $1 each time you did the deal. I did the deal 24 times over the last week and I rolled the coupons, getting items that were around $1 each time for free and only paying tax. I got ketchup, fresh peaches, can peaches, can dog food, eggs, and cake mix-all for free with the powerades! This deal would only be better if it lasted another week. :)





I also got 60 cans of chicken noodle and tomato soups for $.11 a can-some rolled with the powerade to make them free. My kids have also gotten into the chicken noodle soup as they love this for lunchtime.





I got about 27 packs of Betty Crocker potatoes for free!




And I got a lot of taco shells for $.30 a box and a lot of taco seasoning packets for free!

What a fun week! I also stocked up on Hot pockets and meat at Albertson's, and I'm still stocking up on Oreo's, mouthwash, and toothbrushes at Walgreen's this week. I'm also starting to throw in a Christmas present here and there when I have extra coupon $ to spend. Walgreens has a lot of fun toys and other cool items for gifts. I'm hoping to save myself from too much last minute shopping!