WoodElves

I've still been making several little trips these past weeks. Over the weekend, I went to Harris Teeter twice for free croutons and brownie mix, to FF for inexpensive chicken, and to Rite Aid and CVS for the usual freebies. I know I won't be able to keep this up forever. I'm about ready to eat from my pantry from now until we move next month... except for Easter dinner!

Here's my Farm Fresh trip today.

Before coupons, the total was $24.70. I spent $8.83 out of pocket and got back 3 $1 catalinas for next week, so in effect everything shown was $5.83 when everything is said and done.
I grabbed up artichoke hearts and canned beans because they were on sale - no coupon. No, I don't buy popcorn every week. Why do you ask? (It was free - and one of David's favorite evening snacks!) I used my free milk coupon from last week to splurge on 2% milk!!!!! I feel rich.

By the way - I joined a coupon train for the first time this week, and I"m first on the list. I hope everyone else is as excited about the coupons I sent on as I am.

It's our 22 month anniversary today! And the stores are giving away all kinds of things to celebrate.

First, Farm Fresh:
I was excited to find the $1/1 peelies on the Mission chips - I usually can never find the good peelies. So many good freebies! Free Jello Temptations, Triscuits, cheese, yogurt, frozen veggies & Miracle Whip. Before coupons, my total was $29.10. I spent $9.32.

Tonight, we went to Harris Teeter for more freebies and cheap strawberries.
We actually did 2 transactions to use all our Kahiki coupons and got strawberries B1G2 (they were $5 each before the sale!). I spent $8.08 between both transactions on all the items above. I'm not sure what it was before coupons, but it was over $50.

I also went to Walmart this week to get the items for the All You rebate, onions & lemon juice that I needed. I'll go back later to get milk. I've been making several little trips lately it seems, to the bread store and to Walmart for milk so that stuff adds up on the side as well.

I had good trips at both Farm Fresh and Kroger (gasp!) this week.



At Kroger, we did the Mega Deal and got a bunch of Annie's Macaroni & Cheese for 50 cents each (no coupons) and free Ronzoni linguine using the $1/2 coupon. David wanted to stock up on Ramen and picked up his free Yakisoba after coupon as well. We spent $5.96 and should be good in the pasta department for awhile.


At Farm Fresh, I was really excited about the produce sale: Kale, Tomatoes & Mushrooms all for 99 cents a pound, and potatoes for half price!
I also used some free product coupons I had and did the Mega Deal there as well. Gentle Reader, please do me a favor and never leave Farm Fresh without checking the clearance carts. I very often find toiletry items on clearance that I have coupons for and can get them for free.

2 Mushrooms: $2
3 Roma Tomatoes: 57 cents
Kale: 56 cents
Potatoes: $2
Philadelphia Cooking Creme: Free (after free product coupon)
Swiss Cheese: (just in case we have Reubens): $2
2 Oscar Mayer lunchmeat (used 2 $2/1 coupons): $1
4 Progresso soup (used $1/4 coupon): $2
5 margarine: $2.50
2 Propel (used $1/2 coupon): Free
Coffeemate: Free (after free product coupon)
Herbal Essence Shampoo & Conditioner (used 2 $1/1 coupons): Free
John Frieda root awakening hair spray (used $2/1 coupon): 50 cents

Total before coupons: $33.52
Total after coupons: $12.82
Saved: $20.70 or 62%

Here is last night's trip to Farm Fresh - I bought some produce, chicken, and clearance savings so the coupon savings are low in comparison. I also got things for a dinner I'm making that weren't on sale.

Total: $23.99 (Used FF Gift card)

Purchased:
Zucchinis - $1.97
Tomatoes - $1.82
Kale - $.54 (See how healthy I am!?!)
Chicken - $9.25
Long Grain Rice - $1.19
Artichoke Hearts - $3.49
Corn Tortillas (Clearance) - $.75 each
Baking Soda (Used $.55/2 coupon) - $.04 each
Tuna (Used 2 $.50/1 coupons) - Free
Shampoo & Conditioner (Clearance) (Used 2 $1/1 coupons) - Free
Pierogies (Used 2 $1/1 coupons) - $.79 each
Pez (Clearance) - $.80

And the good news is, that the Military Farm Fresh accepted my printable coupons! I did ask BEFORE I started my shopping.

This week, as usual, I ran into Walmart and ended up spending more than I intended, because I always get more than I intended in the hopes of being able to avoid another trip into there anytime soon!

Harris Teeter had Super Doubles this week, and everything I wanted was in stock! We are almost out of salad dressing - I use Ranch and David uses Caesar so it was good to stock up.

I spent $9.15 on everything in the picture above. Before coupons, it was $31.67!


Then I went to Farm Fresh, and I spent $8.06 on the items below.

You are probably looking at this picture and thinking one of two things: 1. "My, what a symmetrical picture!" or 2. "$8.06 on just those few measly items in that picture? Heather Wood, I taught you better than that!" Well, my husband's birthday only comes once a year and his cake just wouldn't have the same effect if I didn't have black food coloring. Although, I do wonder if he would rather have the almost $4 rather than a realistic looking cake.

Last week after I got the meat, I went to Walmart and got some potatoes, onions and oranges. It did take me a little over my grocery budget, but I got back on track this week and I'm really glad that I have all that meat "paid for" already.

I picked up a gallon of milk and stocked up on some cans of beans at Walmart this week, grabbed 2 bags of frozen broccoli with free product coupons I had, and made the following trip to Farm Fresh:

I paid $5.79 for the items above, which was a 62% savings after coupons. Once I discovered how much I like boil-in-bag rice, I went back for some more!

I am doing better with my meal planning and doing better at still staying within my budget. This week's meal plan included crock-pot chili, broccoli cheese soup, Greek pasta and hamburger stroganoff. We always have enough leftovers that I usually don't need to plan for more than 4 separate dinners each week.

We didn't get a picture of yesterday's grocery deals, since we were tired and hungry when we got home. Earlier in the week, we grabbed a half gallon of milk at the gas station on our way into town.

Here's a rundown from yesterday, I'm doing this from memory:

Farm Fresh

We got about 3+lbs of boneless skinless chicken - about $7
2 small steaks - about $4
a can of mushrooms - $1
Bumble Bee tuna - free
Softsoap hand soap - free
2 bags of Krunchers chips - $2
2 boxes of Celestial Seasonings tea - $1.80
State Fair corn dogs - $1.20
2 naval oranges - $2

Our total came to $19.91 - just under budget. Before coupons, the total was about $31.

CVS

David and I each got a bottle of Tone body wash, sale price $3.88 and you get back $3 ECBs. We had two $1/1 coupons to make a small money maker.
David' s bottle was on clearance for $2.49!

I also got a 12-pack of Charmin for $3, which I paid for with my ECBs.

Total OOP (tax) was 88 cents. I have $7.79 left in ECBs now and David has $5.79.

I know everybody must think that David and I eat an awful lot of boxed brownie and muffin mix, based on these pictures. The truth of the matter is that we have a very full shelf stuffed with boxes of brownie and muffin mix! I need to get around to donating them. In the meantime, they are good filler items in transactions I want to do at the store because they are free.

We spent $10.08 on the items above. We saved 68% on the total after coupons. We went to Walmart yesterday and picked up several groceries I needed for specific dishes for various Christmas events and the homemade pizza I made last night, and spent about $12, putting me $2 over budget this week. That rounds out the groceries for the week.

There were some good deals at Farm Fresh yesterday, such as this cocoa, on sale for $1 each. I had three $1/3 coupons so I paid 3 for a dollar after doubled coupon. I had coupons for the free chips and free crackers. The pecans were my only real splurge, I had room in my budget and they were on sale for $4.29. Besides this picture, I got food for dinner that night,but they were already in use by the time the picture was taken :) So I spent about $9 for all the groceries pictured. You can find matchups at The Coupon Challenge HERE.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I celebrated by getting lots of freebies at the store today. You can have any of them that you want, ok? :)

First we hit up Harris Teeter's super doubles to use the $5 catalina I had to use this week from some deal a few weeks ago. I walked away with these groceries, paying $1.76 out of pocket and got another $3 catalina (from the Grands biscuits) to use next week :) :) :) Oh and the Garlic powder? I just ran out and it was on sale. Sweet deal. The Coupon Challenge has great matchups HERE.



Then we went to Farm Fresh to see what was going on there.

Why yes, yes that is a turkey. When you spend $25 (before coupons), you can get a Butterball for 58 cents a pound. The only problem was that WHERE ARE WE GOING TO PUT A WHOLE TURKEY!?! I didn't really plan ahead for a turkey sale today. David rearranged the freezer while I took the picture. Turkey is safe.

I also did the deal on the back page of the ad - buy 10 participating products, get $5 off at the register. That explains almost everything else in this picture. Oh by the way - I spent $15.83 on all of this. Including the turkey. Thankfully, the people in line behind me were impressed rather than impatient. As always, you can find the matchups at The Coupon Challenge HERE.

I hadn't realized it's been over a month since I posted grocery deals! Lately I've been so stocked up, I've only been getting a few items each week and haven't been impressed enough to post them. This week, however, I've felt like I have nothing in the house to eat (although we do, maybe I just haven't felt like cooking?) and needed some things so thankfully got good deals on them :)

This is my Farm Fresh trip - I spent $17.61. Before coupons, everything was over $50 so that's a savings of about 65% after sales.

I got my pumpkin yesterday at Walmart for about $4. :) Just think of all the yummy goodies I can make with it!!



This is today's Farm Fresh & Food Lion trips. Total $7.98, saved about $25. Kind of a random trip but I didn't need anything except the lunchmeat and bread. I wanted to do the cheese deal at Food Lion but they decided not to accept my internet coupons :P so I'll try another Food Lion tomorrow.

Wow, what a good week! First, Farm Fresh:


We used the cheese catalina from a couple weeks ago and spent $1.12 on the products above! Not happy about the shopper who took all the peelie coupons off my flour though. Get the matchups at The Coupon Challenge HERE. I only got the cookie pouches because I didn't have room for 6 flours and the deal was only good if you got 6 participating products ;)


Then off to Harris Teeter for SUPER DOUBLES! I can't believe EVERYTHING was still in stock this evening. Yay :)


We spent $3.76 on the products above, originally $30.62. I know a coupon that *should* have doubled, didn't but it was still less than I was expecting :) I'm glad about the hairspray - I had just run out. And the Dole juice is thanks to a random $.50/1 coupon that David rescued that someone was going to throw out, so we got $1 juice. :) Despite the matchups, it's still good to go up and down every aisle if you have the time, you never know what you'll find on sale that you have a coupon for. Find the matchups at the Coupon Challenge HERE.


How did you do this week?

This is a little late, but here is my picture of the cheese I bought with the deal in the previous post:

I spent $21.53 on the groceries above and have $10 in catalinas to use on my next trip to Farm Fresh. We did three transactions to get 14 bags of cheese (and one carton of sour cream, which I needed). I tried to roll the catalina with one transaction and it didn't automatically print out; they printed it for me, but I am not sure that I would say the catalina rolls.

I've been looking for a good price on graham crackers all summer for s'mores... these were on sale for $3 so I went ahead and got them since I didn't have a lot else on my shopping list this week.

There's a great deal on Kraft cheese at Farm Fresh this week, and combined with the coupon below it makes for free cheese! When you buy 5 participating products, a $5 catalina will print out. Combine this with the $5/5 coupon:

http://brands.kraftfoods.com/kraftcheese/index.html

Here's how it works:
Buy 5 Kraft chunk or shredded cheese at $2 each.
Use 1 $5 off 5 coupon above
Spend $5.25 out of pocket including tax
Get back a $5 coupon off your next order

Great trip tonight and it ended up being a big grocery week for me. We went to Farm Fresh after stopping at the hospital to see our friends' gorgeous little baby. We were tired, but Hilary raced me through the store so it didn't take very long.

Before coupons, the total was $50.50 and we paid $14.90, which is savings of 71%. Lots of free items this week - find the matchups at The Coupon Challenge HERE.

Another fantastic week at the stores! I wasn't that excited about the deals at Harris Teeter's super doubles, but once we went to the store and they weren't out of anything we wanted to get, it turns out we were able to get some good deals.
We paid 43 cents for everything in the picture above and saved over $50. We did pay with the $10 catalina we got on the cereal last week, and we grabbed the chips in the checkout line to bring us up over $10. The catalina helped me to get the Glad wrap and oil that I needed and didn't have coupons for. I used the Nabisco coupon for 1 free package of cookies when you buy milk and another cookies available on their Facebook page once a month and the cookies were on sale for B1G1 so they were both free.


After Harris Teeter, we went to Farm Fresh and spent $3.60.

The hot dog buns were on sale for 99c each. They were out of the 25c Nature's Own bread I wanted to get so maybe I'll go back later this week. I was glad to find the Tornados since they aren't listed on their website, and it turns out they were on sale so after my $1/1 coupons they were free.

What a great week at the grocery stores and a fun evening shopping in the middle of a busy week at work!

Please don't judge me based on the pictures below. I promise we eat produce, meat and other healthy stuff. This is just what was cheap this week :)

First, David went to Harris Teeter this morning.

Kellogg's products are 50% off this week, and when you buy 10 products a $10 catalina prints. He also got 2 Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for 60 cents each after coupon. His total for the picture above was $10.08 and he received a $10 catalina for our next trip.

This evening, I went to Harris Teeter again to roll the catalina:

I had to add a pack of gum to this order to bring it up to $10.02. We paid with the $10 catalina and got another one for our next trip. Furthermore, these corn flakes are marked Free after Rebate, so it will be a money maker!


After work, we went to Farm Fresh for bread, free yogurt and cookies, and to do catalina deal that they had running.
Before coupons, the total was over $31. We paid $9.01 and a $4 catalina was supposed to print out but it didn't so they gave us $4 in cash, making our total about $5!! We got 2 juices, 2 Edwards Pie singles and some store brand cookie dough to do the catalina deal. Sweet!

My husband has been cleaning the house spic and span for me this week, and we finally got our own internet so I feel like I can relax and do a post or two. :) He's the best.

We went to Farm Fresh today after I went to Target by myself.

First, the Farm Fresh trip:
We paid $6.87 for the items above. You can find the matchups at The Coupon Challenge HERE. I had a $1/1 coupon for the Trop 50 that I printed out earlier this month and is no longer available, making the orange juice only $1 each. We saved 73%.


The Target trip is here:
I spent $3.79 and saved $14.78. I couldn't believe that my total before coupons was over $16!! It doesn't look like very much, does it?! It was more than I intended to pay but I guess the pack of socks I picked up were in the wrong spot so I thought they were cheaper than they were. My matchups were from Money Saving Mom HERE.

Today David ran into Farm Fresh for me today while I was in Walmart. I don't shop in Walmart very much, only the weeks when there aren't many good deals in the grocery stores; then I go to Walmart to use my weekly grocery allowance on some of the staples I may be running low on. Anyway, here is his receipt:

101% ?!?! Who saves 101% at the grocery store?!?

On to what he got:

(No, I don't remember where I got the coupons from. Either the RedPlum or the Smart Source.)

This is also our first week using the Nielson HomeScan with the National Consumer Panelists. We applied for the panel and finally a scanner came available for us and it came in the mail. Basically we scan everything we buy, transmit it to them once a week, and then we can accrue points to buy things from their gift catalog. Right now it seems like a bit of work (since we also have to enter if we used coupons or anything) for not very many points, but I'll let you know how it goes as I get faster at it.