Weekly Totals and month end

Totals this week:
Spent: $67.16
Saved: $182.77

No CVS this past week, or the coming one. Very lame ads these last few weeks, sadly.
My totals would have been VERY low if I hadn't of gone to HT, always a mistake.... but still under budget.

MONTHLY Totals:
Regular budget: $285.50
TJ/WF: $136.91
Total spent: $422.41
Saved: $1,110.27

So not bad. Trying to get under $400 now. Budget was set at $425 so I did make it!

Couponing Class tomorrow!!!

Don't forget the class is tomorrow! We are getting all geared up. We have a whole packet of info to hand out,  TWO gift baskets for two lucky winners and MORE I'm not going to tell you about. It's worth coming out just to win something. It's a pretty small group so your chances are good!

Coupon Disappointment/extra papers

This is a good week to get extra papers; there are certainly some good coupons this week.
I was disappointed though, that we didn't get the Tropicana OJ coupon. This is a staple in our house. My youngest HAS to have it in the morning- it's his coffee! I did buy some already on Ebay but that won't help my tomorrow when I finally head to HT to hit up Super doubles. I had been waiting specifically for THIS coupon. Oh well. We may get it next week, who knows. It's listed on Hot Coupon World for this week and next. But again, won't help with the sale that ends this Tues.

Where to get papers: CVS has them for $1 with your Extra care card but BEWARE!! they are often missing the coupon inserts. I checked through 8 plus papers at my favorite CVS (Nolensville and Haywood) a couple weeks ago when there were 4 inserts and not one had ANY inserts. NONE. Zero. And during the ice storm, I had to look through 4 to find just one that had both inserts at the Brentwood CVS. So always check!
So now I get them at Publix where, for a time, they are $1.19. The Tennessean seems to cycle through the stores that get a deal. It's been .99 at Walgreens and Kroger too, but not currently. And they all tell me the price is set by the Tennessean, not the stores.

Weekly Totals

I wasn't much into shopping this week.  Still:
Spent: $55.49
Saved: $210.40

Plus: $28.14 of my Whole Foods/TJ budget. Got a few splurges this week there.
 I was under budget by $20 on my regular though so that's ok!

I went to Publix, Kroger, CVS and Whole Foods this week.

Tropicana Rewards Update

I redeemed my first points! It didn't go smoothly, I had to call in to get them to reset it to print out but the call was painless. Hopefully that won't happen EVERY time.
I got (2) 2 for 1 passes for the Jump zone for the (no) snow day on Tues. It did say I could get up to 3 for that vendor and that was the end of it. I don't know if that is the VENDOR'S limit or Tropicana's. I asked when I called in for my printing issue. She didn't know anything about it so maybe a vendor limit. Too bad as I could use that one a lot more than 3x. It prints on a form that is from the Entertainment books, so looks like they partnered with them.
Try it out! There are some good deals and hopefully they'll get the glitches fixed.

Kroger Trip Feb 13th Itemized

I did two transactions here to maximize my savings from the two catalina deals.
 Transaction #1- one mega sale buy 10 get $3 off.
(6) pillsbury grands .69
-.30 shortcuts e coupon (loaded onto Kroger plus card, came off of ONE only)
-.30/2 from coupons.com and smartsource
=.39 ea
catalina deal is buy 4 get $2 but 5 get $3 and buy 6 get $4!

(2) purex $2.19 ea
-.35/1 mq from RP 1/10
= $1.49 eac.
catalina deal buy 2 get $4!!

(2) gatorade .69 ea
- .50/1 RP 1/10
= -.30 overage ea!

So that was 10 items.  I got the $3 off (already figured in the prices above.)
I paid 6.23 with tax. This does include an extra.70 off as one of my Purex coupons scanned twice  (and doubled) and I DID inform the cashier of this- I was at self- checkout- but he said he couldn't take it off? First I've heard of that but he wasn't concerned about it.
THEN, I received TWO $4 catalinas for $$ off my next order.

Transaction #2
I had a hard time getting up to my 10 items for the second deal- not much I wanted from this sale but I did need the OJ ( i have a terrible cold:))
mega sale items first, .30 discount applied to price listed:
 (2) Tropicana OJ- $2.69

(2)  Hefty one zip $1.69 ea
-1/2 hefty IP or RP 1/31

(2) Chocolate cheerios $2.39
- (2) 1.25/1 ip from coupons.com I think.( maybe no longer available?)
(1) Bryers Ice cream $2.48
no qs- for the husband:)

(2) pillsbury grands again to get up to 9 .69
-.30/2

(1) diet coke to get 10 .99

Then other items:
(2) Annie's Mac and cheese on clearance:
$1.49
-50/1 IP from Annie's site. had only 1 of these.

(2) silk Soymilk 2.99 ea
-(2) 2/1 qs bought on Ebay

1 Fiber one bars- 3.69
-.40 cellfire
- $3.29 free store coupon from Kroger home mailer

1 Nature valley granola bar- 3.59
- .40 cellfire
-3.19 free coupon same as above

1 dole salad on Manager's special $1.39

1 Nature bounty Vitamin C on BOGO for 2.74
-5/1 Ip from Nature's bounty rewards program*
-2.26 overage

1 Nature's bounty Vitamin bogo for 3.49
-5/1 same as above
-1.51 overage

-4 catalina
-4 catalina
 With overages and catalinas: 10.78
saved: 54.34

* This takes some work but can be really worth it from some great overage. Here is a link that explains it all:
http://couponingwithmary.blogspot.com/2009/10/natures-bounty.html


I got the first scenario from Brandy at I prefer publix.

Weekly Totals

I haven't posted this week- so here are my totals for the week!
Spent: $62.48
Saved: $287.87

This is for Sun- Sat this week.
I did the best at CVS and Kroger.  Publix actually put my totals up a bit this week!

CVS: Spent $5.51 Saved: $77.73
Kroger: Spent: $17.01 Saved: $71.20

I also tried some walgreens deals. I usually end up spending more than planned there but not too bad this time.

FINAL mega sale shop

I managed to find the Hormel chili blinkie at Publix and went across the street to stock up at Kroger. Did my last 2 mega sale transactions and bought a few extra items with the overage.Whew, I'm glad it's over for a while!
Spent: $5.73 (2.30 tax)
Saved: 69.34
That's more than 95%.

Kroger Feb 4th trip

My last- or next to last if I make it today- trip to Kroger for the mega sale. I actually only did one Mega sale transaction this time but used a ton of overage to buy expensive items we really needed. I did still end up spending $28.42 ($6.20 of that tax) but I saved $110.17! For that amount I did get 5 packs of meat,  bunch of produce-inc. two Tropicana OJs, Silk Soymilk, mini luna bars on managers special,  and of course the goldfish that I went for with the new coupon that came out.

Tropicana Rewards

Now this is a rewards program worth signing up for- esp. if you regularly buy Tropicana OJ like we do! I finally took some time to enter my first code and see what I could get for 7 pts. And I was pleasantly surprised! Points can be redeemed for 2 for 1 or % off discounts on many local activities- like 2 for 1 at the Franklin Jump zone- AND that only costs 1 pt. 1 point and I saved $7! They also had 2 for 1 Discovery Center for 1 pt ( a $6 savings) and we were JUST there on Tues, (bummer)  and 2 for 1 Harpeth gymnatics PNO!! That is a $20 savings for 4 pts. My son takes a class there but we've never done the Parents Night Out as it would cost us $40 for the two kids! But $20 for both is pretty good- and I believe that includes pizza! This is just a few things local to Nashviille, they have it for every state and area.
Now, I haven't tried to REDEEM any yet, but I will. I'm going to try the jump zone one really soon and if it works as claimed- good deal!
And to get you started on points- Tropicana OJ is part of the awesome Mega sale at Kroger this week- it's at a low price of 2.39  when you buy 10 participating items. Not bad for fresh juice plus can use some overage to cover the cost. This costs $3.79 regular price at Publix, but is OFTEN on sale for $3. There are no coupons, trust me I've looked.

Go here to sign up

Kroger Trip Feb 1st

Haven't had time to post this yet. Thanks to some tips from Brandy at I Prefer Piblix,  and a customer appreciation catalina I got the previous trip for $7.50 off my order, I had a really good trip to Kroger!
Spent: 22.31
Saved: 109.10
I did the mega sale 3 times
And I bought a few non-sale, never have coupons items,  and meat! Not bad for all that I did get.
I have even more deals ready to go now- hope to make it there today or tomorrow!
Kroger isn't usually better than Publix but has been these last few weeks during the mega sale for me!

Publix Penny item

I ran in this morning to MF Publix  to get the penny item for today- Publix sugar- wasn't going to miss that one- and I used self- checkout and just asked as usual for the penny item discount. No problems. BUT then, went in with my mom this afternoon and the checker said they now required the coupon from the Wed Tennessean. What? They've never required the coupon before. She said it was to go along with the Tennessean promotion they have going right now- Sunday paper is $1.19 and weekdays are... .50? I'm not totally sure. But if you have to buy a Wed paper, makes the penny item more than a penny. Not sure what other Publix stores are doing on this one but here's a heads up for MF shoppers.

January Finals

Total spent: $369.47
Total Saved: $811.54

I am under budget this (last) month, but was over in Dec so this evens it out! Dec was hard to figure anyway with Christmas in there. Sometimes I just couldn't separate it all!