Coupon Savings Week of 3/21 - Meijer

I made my second trip to Meijer after work today, my first was yesterday.  I made Jason tag along to assist and see my mad coupon skills before he heads back to Atlanta.  I had to stop there again today because I forgot my $1.00 off South Beach bars coupons and Jason needed the bars to take to Atlanta with him.  I bought 3 boxes, they were on sale for $2.50 each and with my coupon they were $1.50 each.

It was a slow week for items at Meijer.  After the amazing deals I had last week with 10 for $10, it was a disappointment.   I know I can't expect huge sales and deals each week, so I just have to wait in anticipation for the next weekly ad to come out.

Order Summary: 
Spent:  $16.45

Total Savings: $30.14

Purchased:

1 box of Biz stain fighter ($3.99 had $2.50 coupon)

4 gallons 2% milk (on sale 2 for $4)

2 4 packs of Atkins shakes (2 for $10 had $1.00 off each)

2 packs of men's disposable razors ($5.24 each.  Had $4 off 1 and $3 off the other)

3 boxes of South Beach bars  ($2.50 each had 3 $1.00 coupons)

I also used the $10 I earned last week.  No money toward my next order (catalina) deals were earned this week. 

 

 

 

 

 

Coupon Savings Week of 3/21 - Walgreens

I had a good week at Walgreens.  I did learn that you can only use two Register Rewards (RR) per order. I would have had my orders for close to free this week if I had been able to use all of the $30 I earned last week.  I was able to stock up on diapers at a reasonable price, earn more Register Rewards and keep the remaining rewards to use next week.  The rewards I earned last week expire on 3/31 so I need to be sure I use them or I am pretty much throwing away cash!  The rewards I earned today don't expire until 4/8 so I have time to hold onto them.

In order to take advantage of the maximum amount of register rewards, I had two separate orders this week.  Huggies diapers were $8.99 and you received $5 in  RR with the purchase of 3.  Planters Trail Mix was 2 for $3 and I had 3 $1.50 coupons and one $1 coupon.

Order Quick View: 
Spent:  $22.98

Total Savings: $48.38

Earned: $10 in Register Rewards

Purchased:3 packs Huggies size 6 diapers (20 diapers per pack)
1 pack Huggies size 3 diapers (36 diapers per pack)
2 packs Huggies size 4 diapers (31 diapers per pack)
4 bags of Planters Trail Mix

On the first order I used 3 coupons for $3 off one pack of Huggies.  This made each pack $5.99 (total $17.97).  Once the RR rewards of $5 are factored in, I was able to purchase the 3 packs of diapers for $12.97 out of pocket or $4.32 per pack.  This is a pretty good price for diapers.  I now have a nice stockpile of them since I also bought them at Giant Eagle two weeks ago.

Since I could only use two RR per order I still have $12 in RR earned last week. My total RR left to spend is $22.

Coupon Savings Week of 3/14 (Part 2) - Meijer

I have been delaying this post for the past week, not sure why since it was possibly one of my best trips to Meijer so far. I went to Mejier once and realized that I missed out on a few deals during their 10 for $10 event.  I went through my coupons did some more match ups and stopped at the store for one more shot at finding deals to stock up.

To maximize my money earned toward my next order, I broke my purchases up into four separate orders.  I learned that Mejier only doubles the first two like item coupons so I wanted to be sure I only had two of each same item on each order.

Order Quick View (total items in all 4 orders): 
Spent:  $19.96

Total Savings: $56.12

Earned: $10 on my next order

Purchased:
16 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks
2 boxes Bagel Bites
3 Land O' Lakes spreadable butter
2 Betty Crocker potato packets
4 bottles fruit juice
8 bags of Green Giant frozen vegetables

I am not going to go into the specific detail of each order as I usually do because they were all pretty much the same.  2 veggies, 4 fruit snacks, 1 bottle juice, and as you can see from the numbers 3 had butter, 2 had bagel bites and potatoes.  The total for three of the orders was $5.04 each and I earned $2.50 toward my next order for each of them.  The fourth order was $4.84 and I also earned $2.50 toward my next order on that one.

With the money toward my next order the total for all of the above items was a little over $9.00.

The juice ended up being $0.17 a bottle.  This was because I was able to stack a $0.50 Meijer mealbox coupon with a $0.50 manufacturer coupon (doubled).  The juice was $1.67 and I received $1.50 off with my two coupons, so they were $0.17 each.

The bagel bites were free because they were part of the 10 for $10 and I had $1.00 off coupons.  The vegetables were free as they were also part of the 10 for $10 and I had $0.50 off coupons that were doubled to $1.00.  Same with the butter.

The potatoes were $0.20, they were part of the 10 for $10 but my coupon was only for $0.40.  Still $0.20 for a side dish of potatoes is a pretty good price.

Lastly, the fruit snacks were $1.66 each (3 for $5).  My coupon was for $0.50 off of two and when you purchased 4, you receive $2.50 toward your next order.  I bought 4 boxes on each order, used two $0.50 coupons which made them $4.64 for the 4 boxes.  Subtract the $2.50 earned and it was $2.14 for 4 boxes or $0.54 a box.

The kids are LOVING the fruit snacks and can't seem to get enough of them.  I must admit I sneak a fruit roll up on occasion as well.  Having the large supply saved me from running to the store the night before Liam's snack day at school.

How the Roku Changed Our Television Habits

In August of 2009 my husband and I made a decision to cancel our satellite tv subscription. This decision did not result in us replacing it with cable, we decided to *gasp* go without tv.  That's right, we didn't have tv at all for a month or two.  No cable, no premium channels, and no local channels.  We figured that with the amount of DVDs we had and the kids had, it would be no problem to go without.

We didn't have tv for months and still survived to tell the tale.  I am a complete reality tv junkie and was able to watch almost all of my shows online.  Sure I didn't get to watch them the night they aired, but I was recording most of my shows with the DVR and watching them later anyway so it wasn't that big of a change for me. 
I then looked into subscribing to Netflix so we could get DVDs and watch some items instantly online.  We did this for about a month until I found out about the Roku player.  With this tiny device we would be able to watch all of the instant programming from Netflix on our tv!  How exciting.  I have loved watching Law & Order since law school and now I had so many seasons of SVU and Criminal Intent I didn't know what to do with myself.  It was like having A&E again when they were running a Law & Order marathon.

Not only was I enjoying the programs, my husband was able to add South Park, Sherlock Holmes shows, and his new favorite the IT Crowd.  The boys love watching Thomas, Blue's Clues, Spongebob, and tons of kids movies.  Liam especially loves watching Wall-e, iCarly and Mythbusters. 

The system is so simple to use that Liam (our 5 year old) can easily use the remote and find the programs he wants to watch.  He dominates the Roku in the family room that we have decided to buy a new one for the family room and give him the old one for the bedroom he shares with his brother Evan. 

We used to have one Netflix account for $14.99 a month.  We decided to add another account and downgrade the original account to the $8.99 a month accounts.  This will allow us to have one Roku linked to the family room tv where we will have all of the grown up shows and a few for the kids in the instant queue.  The second account will be linked to the boys Roku and we can put all of the kid shows they love in the instant queue.  We have total control over their queue and can make sure they are only watching shows we approve for them. 

This means we now spend $17.98 a month for entertainment when we used to spend over $100 a month on satellite.  Getting rid of our satellite subscription also allowed us to cancel our home phone which we were spending at least $40 a month on.  We kept the high speed internet because we both use it for work and now as our primary source of entertainment, news, etc.

I love that we no longer see commercials.  The boys don't watch regular tv so they are asking for items advertised during their shows less.  They still watch regular tv at the babysitters or when visiting family.  They aren't in a bubble so they do know what new toys are out there, but it isn't a constant saturation like we had before. 

Roku and Netflix are offering a special deal, you can get $20 and FREE shipping with the purchase of a Roku player and set up of a Netflix account.  If you already have Netflix, you will still qualify for FREE shipping.  If you use the provided link, you can help me earn rewards for the referral.  Click HERE to order now!

Feel free to send me an email (CouponGirlSaves@gmail.com) or leave a comment with questions and I will be happy to answer them as best as I can.

Shopping for the Upcoming Week

Jason made it home on Sunday and I have been sick since last Thursday so the focus o/n my coupons has been drifting.  I checked out the ad for Giant Eagle that ends tomorrow and there aren't any screaming deals for me.  The only freebie is Softsoap that is 10 for $10 or $1 each. There was a $0.50 coupon in my All You magazine, but I can't find it.  I think I may have already used it.

Regardless, a trip to Giant Eagle isn't warranted for a free soap valued at $1.  I thought about picking up some Pierogies since they are $2 each and I have $1 off two boxes, but my freezer is fairly stocked and my coupon isn't going to expire anytime soon.

I still have to post my amazing savings from my second trip to Meijer last week.  I plan on checking out the blogs before Saturday so I can hit the rest of the stores on Saturday morning while my hubby stays home with the kids :)

Coupon Savings Week of 3/14 - Kroger

Order Quick View:  Spent:  $35.99

Total Savings: $93.75

Earned: $1 on my next order

Purchased:
9 Tyson Anytizer frozen snacks
2 Oscar Meyer bacon
2 Capri Sun packs
4 Ronzoni pasta boxes
3 Flintstones Gummy vitamins
1 Bumblebee Tuna pouch
1 4 pack light bulbs
1 Macaroni Grill meal helper
2 Turtle Chex Mix
3 Del Monte Fruit Naturals
1 King Size Reese's Cup
1 20 oz. Coke Zero
2 Warm Delights
4 Snickers
7 2 liters Diet Coke
1 large bag Reese's Pieces

This week I had three orders and two trips to Kroger. The two trips was not by choice.  I stopped there before dropping off the kids to pick up drinks for Liam's snack day.  The plan was to complete my list while I had all 3 kids at the store.  Thankfully, the sitter called and was able to take them so the first trip included only the 2 packs of Capri Sun and the 2 packs of Oscar Meyer bacon.  I had $1.50 each pack of bacon and they were on sale for $2.99. I didn't know there was a catalina deal as well where I received $1.00 off my next order with the bacon purchase.  With the price, coupons, and $1 this made the bacon $0.99 a pack.

When I went back to Kroger later in the afternoon, I was able to split my purchases into the two separate orders that were originally planned.  I did most of my coupon match ups on my own using the Kroger ad.  I had a tip from the blogs on the Ronzoni pasta which I used a $0.75 coupon on each of the 4 I purchased.

I made sure to buy 8 of the required items on each order to get the benefit of the March to Savings event.  This gave reduced prices on certain items and $4.00 off at the end of the order.  Tyson frozen anytizers were part of the sale, once you purchased 8 items the price was $2.49  I had a few $1 off coupons, 1 $1.50 off, and some $0.55 coupons.  This made the price of them $1.50, $1, and $1.40.  I had one for dinner last night and it was pretty good.  I like having items like this to have around for a quick dinner.

I had coupons for $0.50 off two Snickers and Kroger had them 2 for $1. After the coupon and it being doubled, they were free.

My boys really like the Flintstones Sour Gummy vitamins, they are usually pretty expensive but Kroger had them on sale for $4.99 and I had a few $1 off coupons.  This let me pick up 3 bottles of the vitamins for $3.99 each.

Details for the three orders are below:
Kroger Order #1
Spent:  $6.90

Total Savings: $9.00

Earned: $1 on my next order

Purchased:
2 packs Oscar Meyer bacon
2 boxes of Capri Sun

Kroger Order #2:
Spent:  $16.11

Total Savings: $29.27

Purchased:
4 2 liters of Diet Coke
4 Tyson Anytizer snacks
1 Turtle Chex Mix
1 Warm Delights
1 bottle Flintstones vitamins
2 Snickers
1 Bumblebee tuna pack
2 boxes Ronzoni pasta

Kroger Order #3: 
Spent:  $12.98

Total Savings: $55.48

Purchased:
5 Tyson Anytizer snacks
1 Turtle Chex Mix
1 Warm Delights
2 Snickers
2 boxes Ronzoni pasta
1 Romano's Macaroni Grill meal helper
2 bottles Flintstones vitamins
3 2 liters of Diet Coke
3 Del Monte Fruit Naturals
1 large bag Reese's Pieces
1 King Size Reese's cup (won in the Kroger march to savings online sweeps)
1 box light bulbs (had coupon for one free box from Kroger)
1 20 oz Coke Zero (won in the Kroger march to savings online sweeps)

On this last order I used $10.50 earned last week after purchasing all the fruit snacks and getting $3.50 for every 5 boxes purchased.

New Moon from Target for $4.99!

I will be purchasing New Moon for $4.99 on Saturday morning.  This incredible price is due to my cereal savings at Target this week.  I was able to score 8 boxes of cereal for $0.50 a box and 4 boxes for $0.76 a box.  I did this in three transactions.  One was made earlier this week when I stopped at Target during my lunch break.  The other two were today. 

This week Target is running a special on Kellogg's cereal and Pop Tarts.  When you purchase 4 of these items, you receive a $5 gift card.  On the three transactions the 4 boxes of cereal were: $10.16, $11.54 and $10.08.  I used $3.00 in coupons on two of the orders and $2.50 in coupons on the other.  I paid the following out of pocket for each of the orders:  $7.16, $8.04, and $7.08. 

I did this in 3 separate transactions to make sure I received the $5 gift card for each of them.  After the gift card my final prices for each order of 4 boxes of cereal were: $2.16, $3.04, and $2.08.  That made them $0.54, $0.76 and $0.52 a box! 

Now I have $15 in Target gift cards to use toward my purchase of New Moon.  Now I can enjoy my movie and we can all eat cereal for dinner :)