Just the highlights…

8 (14 oz)  packs of Hillshire Farms Chicken Sausage BOGO Free sale $3.98 plus $1 off peelies on each!   Final cost= .99c each

6 (16 oz)  packs of Bun Length Barr S Franks 10 for $10 sale (used coupons $1 off 2) – Final cost= .50 each

2# 13oz jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce $2.50 on sale used .60 cent coupon doubled to $1.20- Final cost= $1.30

2 packs of Ortega Taco Seasoning 78 cents each used .75 cent coupon off 2 doubled to $1.50- Final cost= .03 each

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis  FREE with coupon for one FREE up to a certain amount.

1 (6 pack) of Breyers kid’s swirled yogurt on sale for $1.99 used .50 cent coupon that doubled to $1.00-Final cost= .99

1 bag of Carolina Rice on sale for $1.19 used a .50 cent coupon doubled to $1- Final cost= .19

My total spent for everything above was $24.81. My total savings was $40.58 or 62% for this trip!

Remember:

• Giant Eagle (at least the ones I’m familiar) doubles coupons up to .99 (which becomes $1.98 off).

• You can stack coupons on top of sale prices and some stores like Target, Walgreens and maybe Rite Aid will stack manufacture coupons on top of their own store coupons and all of that on top of sale prices (I believe). If you’re ever not sure, just ask and if the deal isn’t like what you expected, just ask for your money back.

• Ask your family and friends for their unwanted coupons. Call or email your favorite brands and request coupons. I emailed Georgia-Pacific about the coupon link not working on their site for Angel Soft toilet paper and they mailed me a bunch of .55 cent off  TP coupons that got me the 4 pack tp’s for almost free at Giant Eagle because the coupons doubled to $1.10 off per pack.

• Buy extra Sunday papers when they are half-price on Monday mornings. You might have to call/ask around to find out who if anyone does sell them half off. It paid off for me awhile back. I ran into a place that didn’t sell them but gave me a stack for free! whoo-hoo!

If you browse my blog here, check in the categories or do a search with a key word, you’ll find more posts I’ve shared about the deals I’ve scored and tips to help you too.  Maybe you feel like couponing and rebating is too involved or takes up too much time. If you just start with baby steps and stretch yourself a little here and there with new information it will soon become second nature. It really pays off. Not only will you be able to stock up your pantry with less money out of pocket, but you will have extras in times of need- either for your family, friends or for food pantries in your area

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I haven’t said much lately about my great coupon shopping trips because I’ve had a dry spell. But thats good because it gives me a break on searching for and cutting up coupons, time shopping and spending money.  However, just this weekend a few things came together for me and I saved a lot of money yesterday (Saturday).

I got everything  in this picture for a grand total of $6.27. I made two separate transactions and used a lot of coupons. Here’s how it came together… (oh yeah, and I haven’t even told you about the toilet paper I got today)!

• First- I check my favorite coupon matching website which happens to be CouponAllies.com (NE/Central Ohio) because they are local to me. Also see my post on Baby Steps to Couponing.
  

• Second- go through my coupons pulling out what I wanted to use.

• Third- off to shop at Giant Eagle where they double my coupons up to.99 (which will equal $1.98 off).

Giant Eagle was running a special where I would get a $3 off coupon to use on my next visit if I bought $10 participating Dole fruit products. I had a bunch of .50 or .55 cents off 2 cans of Dole fruit. My plan was to buy $10 worth of Dole in one transaction so I could get that $3 off “catalina” coupon to use on everything else in my second transaction.

First transaction (I think everything was on sale) :

2 (16oz) bottles of liquid Coffee Mate Creamer…used (2) .75cent off printable coupons which doubled to make these both FREE

2 (1#) bags of California River Rice…used (2) .50cent off coupons that doubled to make these both FREE

3 (10packs) of Bic Silky disposable razors ($1.69ea.)…used (3) $2.00 off coupons making these FREE

10 cans of Dole pineapple & mandarin oranges ($1 each)…used  (4) .50 off 2 and (1) .55 off 2, doubled to $5.10 off making these $4.90 for 10 cans PLUS getting a $3 off coupon at checkout to use on my 2nd transaction.

Total: $4.27 cents

Second Transaction (Again, everything may have been on sale) :

2 (10 packs) Bic Silky disposable razors (same deal as above) = FREE

2  (12oz) packages of Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon…used (2) .75cent off coupons doubled to $1.50 off each making them $1.00 each.

1 Pizza Lunchables meal kit for my boy who really wanted one because a couple boys at school get to make their own pizzas at lunch time    (And he carried it around with him in the store, he was so happy!)   I did have a $1.00 off coupon for this.

USED the $3 off my next transaction (catalina coupon from the Dole purchases).

Total:  $2.00 !

And then to top it off…I found 4 Marcal Small Step coupons at home that got me 6 (4 packs) of Marcal Toilet Paper at Marc’s for FREE (just paid sales tax) thats 24 rolls!  I haven’t had to pay more than sales tax for toilet paper in weeks or months. We picked these up today (Sunday).

Note: The Marcal coupons were for $2 off one pack of tp or maybe some of their other paper products (had 2 of these) and up $1.00 off  of the toilet paper (had 2 of these also). Marc’s doesn’t adjust down to make the coupon work for the one pack of toilet paper so they give you 2 packs for the $2 off coupon. The toilet paper is .99 cents regular price at Marc’s. That is how I got 2 packs with one coupon…6 packs total.

I hope I’ve broken this down in such a way that it makes sense to you. It really can pay to use coupons!

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I went to Walgreens to take advantage of the Kotex deal where you buy 3 at $2.99 each and get a $5 RR (Register Reward) and I wanted to pick up some Kleenex (buy one get one free sale). I used coupons I had printed off the computer (check here for Kleenex and Kotex coupons in my sidebar). What I didn’t know and was pleasantly surprised to find out was that by buying 6 Kleenex (three of which were free) that a $3 RR would print out! I also had Kleenex coupons to use. Here’s what I did and how I saved…

Round #1

I did 2 separate transactions. First, I bought 3 packs of the $2.99 Kotex using 2 coupons ($1 off one and $2 off two) Total before tax was $5.97 and a $5 RR ( also known as catalina coupons) popped out.

Then I bought the 6 boxes of (200 ct) Kleenex (my favorite brand of tissues anyways!)- 3 of which were free (buy one get one free sale) and I used 2 .50 off coupons and the $5 RR. Total before tax .57 cents! AND a $3 RR popped out!

Round #1 cost me $6.54 before tax out of pocket.

Later I went to a different Walgreens because the Kotex I wanted was gone. I did the same deals again but a little differently to get another batch of Kotex and Kleexex….

Round #2

This time I  bought 3 packs of Kotex at $2.99 each and used 2 coupons for $2 and $1 off and my $3 RR. But the register “dinged” and the clerk said he thought I needed to spend maybe another $1.80.  I know sometimes there are rules to how many coupons you can use per item- one of my coupons may have been $2 off two and that might have been the problem. So it gave me an excuse to try the Willie Wonka Chocolate bars at $1.99 each    So I spent $4.47 before tax and out popped my $5 RR- (luv it!)

Then I did another transaction for my 6 boxes of (200 ct) Kleenex (three which were free from the sale)-  I had no more manufacturer coupons but I used my $5 RR and my total before tax was $1.57 and another $3 RR popped out!

Round #2 cost me $6.04 before tax out of pocket.

So total before tax was $12.58 for 12 boxes of 200 ct Kleenex, 6 packs of Kotex and 1 Willie Wonka Bar

Later I used that $3 to buy a big bottle Kids’s Suave  shampoo/condition/body wash (sort of an all-purpose for kids).

I am well stocked on paper goods! Does this sound overwhelming to you? I will admit. Sometimes I just “happen” to come across some deals by accident it seems, but most of my savings comes from knowing where to look or who to look too. Don’t miss my Steps to Savings post to come later this week. These steps will help get you started on your way.

Thanks for reading  my blog, I do appreciate you! I also have some giveaways coming up along with a few reviews. So please come back and read. You may want to subscribe to my rss/email updates so you don’t forget.

I plan to share pics of my household/misc stockpiles this week so you might want to subscribe here or in the sidebar for my free email/rss updates right now so you don’t miss anything! I also want to share a little info about why doing a little stockpiling  is a good thing

I also am writing a post about some basic steps to couponing. There are some great tips in there to help you be ready to save!

Today I stopped in Walgreens to pick up my .50 bottle of Excedrin and see if  a Register Reward would pop out! Nope. I guess it wasn’t the right type of Excedrin but it was $2.50 and I had a $2 off coupon. While there I spotted Purex on sale for $2.99 and I knew I had some buy one get one free coupons at home. I paid for my Excedrin and a .49cent Reese’s Cup for Jack and…

…went back home for my coupons

Then we went back to Walgreens and I bought 6 bottles of 32 loads each Purex for about $9.00 total before tax. Which comes out to about .05 cents or less a load! Whoo-hoo! My kind of savings

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Note: by using those price-checkers (self scanners) I could tell which bottles of Olay worked to get the $5 gift card. The scanner told me. I bought the biggest bottle I found that worked with the deal.

I bought 3 bottles of Olay Body Wash plus the bonus bottle (total 25.6 fl.oz. each) for $5.50 each.  Minus $1.00 off coupons for each… Received a $5 Target gift card at checkout  AND will send in for a $15 Olay Mail In Rebate… $16.50 (before tax) – $3 coupons- $5 gift card- $15 MIL (yet to submit) =  $6.50 MONEYMAKER

Next transaction (*see why, below) , I bought 3 of those razors at $4.99 each and used 3 “buy a razor get the olay free” coupons and got my other 3 FREE bottles of Olay which got me another $5 Target gift card at checkout!   $4.99 (before tax) x3 = $14.97 -$5.00 gift card = $9.97

$9.97 – 6.50 =  $3.47 (before tax) will be my cost for all the above.

The Stacy’s chips were FREE (coupon for free product).

Another way to look at this is that I paid about $28.50 out of pocket  for these items, picked up $10 in gift cards (to use later) at checkout and will get back $15 by rebate.  $28.50 – $10.00 -$15.00 =  $3.50.

*The reason and justification for the razor/body wash purchase is that I want to earn that $100 in P&G coupon booklet. I must buy $50 worth of P&G products. My first order of Olay receipt will go to get my $15 rebate.  The 2nd receipt will go towards my coupon booklet.

Any questions about stacking the deals? Just ask and I’ll try to help make it clear.

I sure found more than I expected!

Before my coupons- everything in this picture totaled $60  and change.

After coupons- I paid $34.30

Tips about this trip: (aprx. totals)

4 packs of Angel Soft toilet paper cost  $.09 each = .36 cents total (before tax)

The Story: I had gone to Angel Soft’s website to print a coupon or something and the link didn’t work. Since I had to enter my personal info to get the offer I was NOT happy that their website didn’t keep its end of the deal. I emailed the company and told them. They snail-mailed me 4  $.55 cents off any Angel Soft TP and told me they’d had an issue with the website but I think it may be fixed now.  The tip: Don’t just depend on online coupons, ASK companies if they will send you some in the mail! These .55 cents off any have been the best coupons I’ve ever known for Angel Soft since they work on the smaller sized packages and double at Giant Eagle. The tp wasn’t even on sale and I got it for almost nothing!

4 packages of Ortega Taco Seasoning cost  $.03 cents = .12 cents total

The Tip: I almost always see taco seasoning (this brand?) on sale for less than $.80 cents at Giant Eagle. I often get coupons for $.75 cents off 2 products. I usually use them on taco seasoning since I make taco soup and tacos at home. You can expect to get nearly FREE taco seasoning this way!

4 packages of Breyers Yo Crunch cost $.50 each = $2.00 total

The Tip: Giant Eagle usually has great deals on yogurt. Save those coupons and wait for the sale! Yo Crunch is one of my favorites but check the expiration date!- make sure they don’t expire before you think you’ll eat them. I found some of these didn’t expire till April

6 packages of Kotex cost about $2.00 $1.58.  per package = $9.48  total (before tax)

1 / 20ct. package of Solo Squared Cups = $.50 cents (before tax)

5 boxes of Gorton’s Fish/Shrimp = 3 @ $2 each and 2 @ $4 each = $14 total

The Tip: At $4 or $2 a box- this makes for a very affordable fish dinner for our family at about $1 per person if not less!

1 bottle of Purex 46 loads laundry detergent = $4.30 (before tax)

1 box of Wheat Thins for dear hubby = $1.50

Overall Tip: I went ahead and bought some of the other things at GE because I get Fuel Perks points and I had a coupon that doubled at GE vs. Walmart. The added savings on gas makes the difference for me in that case.

To read more Super Saturday Savings posts click here to go to Money Saving Mom.

So, January was a great month of great deals at Giant Eagle (double coupons!). I was able to do some stocking up. Add to that the Freezer Cooking Day I joined in on  and we’ve had an easy February. I’ve done very little grocery/ household shopping. Very little. In fact, it looks like I’ve spent about $97.00 on groceries this month so far (for a family of 4).

Being creative…

I shared a different Twist on a Taco that was delicious and I used items from my stock/freezer. I want to share another taco combination that I tried out.

I used some frozen taco meat I had in the freezer, a bag of the microwavable Old El Paso Fiesta Rice, Kraft cheese and Ortega Whole Grain Taco Shells (note, I didn’t have any lettuce on hand).  Just fill your tacos normally layering in your desired order.

These were DELICIOUS! I had at least 2 for lunch and  a couple more later on   The Fiesta Rice really made it extra-special.

Planning ahead…

My stockpile is dwindling and my freezer is getting down a bit too. Though we are still doing good on freezer items.

I’d really encourage anyone to spend part of  a day doing some meal-prep cooking. You could drag out your crockpots (I have 3- not all the same size) get your rice cooker if you have one (I do, got it New! for $5 at a garage sale) and let those items do the cooking for you.

But even if you don’t have all that, you can just brown a few pounds of hamburger, mix up some taco meat, bake a whole chicken…etc.. This past week I used one of our snowed-in (no school days) to cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker and then I deboned it before bedtime. I save the broth for future homemade chicken or vegetable soups and the shredded chicken for cream of chicken sandwiches, chicken soup or maybe I’ll make another pot pie

Personally speaking…

During my daily devotions I’m reading in Proverbs right now and came across these verses that I’ve read countless times before but I felt it really applied to these past couple of weeks of enduring snowstorm after snowstorm in our area (and we may be getting another one this Sunday/Monday).  Though I don’t advocate hoarding, I do believe in being prepared when we are able to do so.  By being diligent in my coupon use and deal matching I am able to stock up on items we will use when the prices are at their lowest. Sometimes FREE! Can’t be that with a stick, can you?

Proverbs 6:6-11

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall they poverty come as one that travelleth, and they want as an armed man.

My point is this, I plan and prepare for what my family needs as best I can when the timing is best. When the bad weather struck, I didn’t have to fret about driving through it to pick up more groceries. We were prepared.

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I got all of this at Giant Eagle for about $35.00- by stacking coupons on top of sale prices.

12 boxes of Green Giant vegies (various kinds)

a whole chicken (had a $2 off coupon for this)

about 3# of hamburger (had another $2 off coupons for this)

2 bags of salad

package of small tomatoes

bananas & apples

6 cans of Progresso Soups

1 pack of Old Elpaso rice mix

1 container of cottage cheese

2 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes

I’ve had a few very good Giant Eagle trips this month. To learn more about how I save money, who my resources are and pictures of my shopping deals go to “categories” and click on My Stockpile.  Don’t miss my previous article below on Coupon Help and Stockpiling.

I’ve made a category called “My Stockpile” to share pictures of the deals I get.  I’ve been really fortunate with Giant Eagle this month of January. I can’t recall a month quite so good for me- but getting those deals has required me to…

1-  ask for rainchecks for current sale prices when items on sale are out of stock.

2-  buy extra Sunday newspapers (I can get them half-off on Mondays). Do it at Giant Eagle so you get your Fuelperks.

3-  subscribe to my favorite coupon-blogger’s newsletters (I may miss a deal if I don’t subscribe) to keep me “in-the-know”, cuz I know I won’t do that on my own!

Its all paid off.  I’m pretty comfy with what I know now about stacking coupons with sale prices and using rebates. I’ve been doing this for some time now but you may not be as familiar so let me point you in a helpful direction. I know of two couponing websites that offer tips and teaching. Check out…

Happy Homemaker Cindy

CouponAllies.com

I plan on sharing more about how to stockpile as in where to put your stock and about  finding new purpose for old things!  This would be a good time to subscribe to my free email or RSS updates. You’ll see the option to do so in my side bar.