Grocery goodies

Thursday night, I made a Kroger run after my dinner with Denise. Kroger was running a special: buy 15 of specified products, get $3 back instantly. 15 items is a lot to buy for a special, but I noticed that chicken noodle and tomato soup cans counted. And I had coupons for those, so getting my 15 items was easier than I thought!

Here's the breakdown:

• 4 cans Campbell's tomato soup, $0.77 each, minus 1 $0.40/4 coupon
• 4 cans Campbell's chicken noodle soup, $0.77 each, minus 1 $0.40/4 coupon
• 5 Totino's pizzas, $1.25 each
• 1 box Fiber One chewy bars, $2.19, minus $0.50 coupon
• 1 4-pack Yo-Plus yogurts, $2.49, minus $1.00 Mfr. coupon, minus $1.00 coupon linked to my Kroger plus card (Shortcuts)
• 2 bags of frozen pepper/onion mix, on sale for $1.45 each
• Organic fresh spinach, on sale for $3.50
• a bunch of red grapes, on sale for $1.28/lb.
• 3 cans of Campbell's cream of chicken, $0.99 each, minus 1 $0.40/3 coupon
• 1 half gallon of milk, on sale for $1.69
• 1 pack of Land O Lakes butter halves, $3.85

Kroger doubles coupons up to $0.50, which is so wonderful. After coupons and tax, my total came to $24.66, and I will receive a full refund for the butter, bringing my out-of-pocket to $20.81!

We're stocked up on Totino's, which is Lance's favorite "cheap pizza," for another few months. We're definitely stocked up on tomato and chicken soups for a LONG time, probably through winter. The spinach will be used for side salads for dinners this week, and possibly topped with grilled chicken for a big dinner salad one night. I love fresh spinach salads!

You may notice a box of Just for Men haircolor in the picture, and a bottle of Excedrin. Those I got at CVS right before heading to Kroger. The Just for Men was on sale for $7.99, and giving 2 ECBs. I had a $2 Mfr. coupon to use on it, and a mail-in rebate form for the full purchase price. The Excedrin was $3.99, get 3.99 ECBs, and I had a $1 off CVS Excedrin coupon (printed at the scanner one day), and a $2 Mfr. coupon. Since the haircolor and Excedrin totalled just over $10, I was able to use a CVS $2/$10 coupon. I paid with 5 ECBs and about 1.21 cents, got 5.99 ECBs back. I sent off for the $8 rebate yesterday, making that a profit of $7.78!

I was tired by the time I got home Thursday, but it was worth it. Our grocery bills used to be high, because I didn't pay much attention to sale flyers or coupons. I certainly didn't tailor our menus to what I could get cheaply that week. Half the time I didn't even cook! But now I'm seeing what a difference it makes to take a little time to research, plan, and clip. It's fun to try to make our bill less and less each week!

Tiny butter!

Look at this tiny stick of butter! It's a "half-stick" that is individually-wrapped. Isn't it cute? It's even cuter when you know it's FREE! Go here to download a rebate for a pack of Land O Lakes half-sticks. I was almost out of butter, so this rebate came at the perfect time. : )

What you've all been waiting for...

A picture of the toilet paper I bought! Riveting, I know.

Transaction 1:

• L'Oreal Advanced Revitalift, on sale for $11.99, get 11.99 ECBs,
• Used $3.00 Manufacturer's coupon and a $2 off $10 CVS coupon
• Paid with 5.99 ECBs and $1.37 in cash

Transaction 2:

• 4 12-packs of Cottonelle double rolls, $6.49 each, buy $25 of specified products get 10 ECBs
• 1 Nivea Men's body wash, $4.99, get 4.99 ECBs
• Used 2 $0.50 Cottonelle coupons, 1 $1 Nivea coupon, and a $5 off $30 coupon I got by email JUST THIS MORNING! (How lucky is that??)
• Paid with 22.98 ECBs and $1.24 cash

So, I walked away this morning with all those goodies (which took a CVS shopping cart to transport), having spent $2.61 in cash, used 28.97 of my ECB stash, and earned back 26.98 ECBs. That means I "paid" exactly $4.60 for it all. ($2.61 + 28.97 - 26.98)

Knowing that the Revitalift would be GONE in another day's time, I went back after work with Lance's card and got both it and another Nivea body wash. After my coupons, I used 9.99 ECBs and paid $1.45 cash, and earned 16.98 in ECBs. That's a profit of $5.54, which puts me in the black for all of today's purchases!

Today's deals were awesome. Later on (probably Sunday), I'll go take advantage of their good deal on Mt. Dews and use some ECBs. That will stock Lance up for a while, hopefully until the next time they run another Pepsi product deal.

I'm excited about toilet paper and feel no shame

Katy Coupons is a strange creature. I'm just getting to know her, too.

Today's excitement: TOILET PAPER!

Why? Because this morning I got 48 double rolls for $4.60 at CVS! We go through about 1 double roll per week, so that's almost a YEAR'S worth. And the best part is: I won't have to go buy it at Walmart! (I hate Walmart.)

It's truly strange, but having a car full of toilet paper makes me very happy.


: ) ------------------------------>

Silence of the Lambs Bear

Baxter is never easy on his playmates.

At least this bear only cost $0.45 at the local Thrift Store. Small price to pay for his destructive enjoyment.

At the present time, he has managed to remove Bear's nose and some "brain." Mama stitched up the opening and glued the stitches down with E-6000. (A trick I learned over the years...Otherwise, he'll just rip the stitches out.)

And now Bear looks very scary.

What I'm thankful for right this minute

• a working car that gets good gas mileage
• fall weather
• good friends (like Denise), with whom I can share daily frustrations and small victories
• the fact that the red rose bush is blooming just enough for me to be able to snip a few roses to have here at work (I stop and smell them when I get stressed)
• my good black skirt (wearing it now)
• a job, even though it aggravates me most days
• a home in heaven with my Savior

"Man does not live by bread alone..."

...But GOOD bread makes everything else taste better!

I'm right proud of myself.

Monday night, I came home and got dinner started as usual, then put all the ingredients in the bread machine to make some sandwich bread for this week. I realized that I used the last of the milk that morning in my cereal (DOH!), so I substituted water in the recipe. I had my fingers crossed that it would turn out okay. I set it on dough cycle, and went about the rest of my chores.

My first attempt at bread a few weeks ago produced a HUGE loaf that we didn't even eat half of, so this time I took the finished dough and separated it into two loaves. I let those rise for another hour in the oven (still warm from cooking a yummy chicken casserole, using the leftover shredded chicken from Friday's dinner), and Lance and I ran to Office Max to use some coupons and get printer cartridges. When we got back, they were ready to be baked.

The baked loaves came out just right! Oh, they smelled so good. It took everything I had not to slice into one right away and gobble it down. But I was good, and let them cool on the counter until they were ready to be put away, one in the fridge, one in the freezer for next week.

This morning, I took the one out of the fridge and sliced it up for sandwiches. It sliced so beautifully, that I wanted to run downstairs to get my camera. Had I not been running late, I probably would have. : ) I made us some chicken salad (using the last of the shredded chicken from Friday...whew, that chicken went a long way!), and made us some sandwiches.

Just now, I finished my lunch, and I was just so proud of myself at how delicious the bread was! Now, it didn't have a strong taste, of course, but it was nice and firm (held up well with the chicken salad in it), and was just soft enough to be pleasant. I even ate the crusts, which I usually hate when eating store bread.

Success! My bread machine has earned its spot on the counter, that's for sure. I foresee a long, happy relationship for the two of us. : )

Now, on to the next frontier: cinnamon rolls! (To be continued...possibly this weekend...)

$0.41 Sauce

CVS Transaction today:

• 4 jars Ragu sauce at 3/$5
• 2 jars Hellmann's mayo at $3 each
• 1 Aleve 10-ct at $3.99, get 3 ECBs
• 1 Excedrin 20-ct at $3.99, get 3.99 ECBs

SUB-TOTAL = $20.65

Coupons used:

• CVS $4 off $20 purchase (printed at scanner last week, lucky me!)
• 2 $.50/2 Ragu coupons
• 2 $.60/1 Hellmann's coupons
• $1 off Aleve (printed online)
• $2 off Excedrin

TOTAL after coupons = $11.45, plus tax

I used a total of 10.99 ECBs, then paid the remaining $1.44 in cash. I received back 3 ECBs for buying over $10 of the food products, 3 ECBs for the Aleve, and 3.99 ECBs for the Excedrin.

I really wanted to use that $4/$20 coupon before it expired tomorrow, so getting some food staples was the perfect plan. We can always use mayo and sauce, and it keeps in the pantry for a LONG time. The food deal was "buy $10 of Ragu/Skippy/Hellmann's/Lipton products, get 3 ECBs back", but I could only do it once, so there was no point in buying $20 worth of just food (to get my total up). Thus I picked out some "fillers", things I could either get for free after ECBs or, in the case of the Excedrin, actually MAKE money on. Hence, the Aleve and Excedrin. Those brought my total up just over $20, so I could use my $4/$20 coupon.

In all, I was only out $2.44 for this transaction (10.99 ECBs used + $1.44 cash - 9.99 ECBs earned), so it's as if I paid $.41 a piece for the jars of sauce and mayo. Good deal! And I'm sure Lance and I will use up the free Aleve Cold and Sinus this winter. In all, I'd call this a successful trip. I didn't end up making money or even breaking even, but I paid less for these staples than I would at the best sale Kroger could come up with!

Now, if only CVS sold gasoline...

Oh, me of little faith

Only a few short hours after writing about how there are no good deals at CVS, I checked out the CVS ad for next week, and was blown away! Deals GALORE! I've already gotten my transactions planned out, and will (most likely) be able to stock up on toilet paper and Diet Mt. Dews for a fraction of the cost at Walmart or Kroger. Hooray!

And, ironically, even though the deals are not great this week, I'm STILL going to make three trips to CVS before the weekend. Maybe four, ha ha! That's because the ad for "next week" begins on Friday. They are conducting a test in our area, trying out a new ad layout and also running the ad from Friday to Thursday instead of Sunday to Saturday. I hate the new ad layout and I hate the new run time! And don't you know I've already contacted Customer Service to say as much. : )

Another irony: The good deals at CVS starting on Friday are some of the very same products that Walgreens is offering free-after-rebate this month...and have been out of stock on for the entire month. On Saturday, I was bemoaning the fact that I wasn't able to get those products with my super-duper coupon, but it actually worked to my advantage that they were out of stock, because now I can get an even better deal at CVS!

Have I mentioned how much I love CVS? Have I?

PS - That picture I posted of CVS was off the internet...I didn't stand out in the parking lot and take it myself. : )

Where are the deals?

It looks like a really boring week.

Neither CVS nor Walgreens have anything spectacular going on in the deals department. And, besides, I'm miffed at Walgreens.

I think I'll stop by CVS today and take advantage of their Ragu/Hellmann's sale, though. I have coupons for Ragu sauce and Hellmann's mayo, so it will probably work out that I get four jars of sauce and 2 jars of mayo for about 65 cents a piece including tax. That's a good deal (though free is better), and we're almost out of mayo.

Yesterday was a lazy day, so that's why I didn't post anything. It was drizzly all day, which was perfect for climbing under the warm covers and reading away the afternoon. In between loads of laundry, of course. : ) I can't just laze about, as you know! I have to be getting something done!

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend, and is refreshed for the new week! It's looking like it will be a good week here: sunny and cooler, highs in the 70s and low 80s. Ah, fall is finally coming...