Save $50.00 with Kraft

Starting today and with limited quanities, you can go to Kraft Foods and print off coupons totaling $50.00 in Kraft and associated brand products!! I'm excited to see what I can use with my double coupons that came in this weeks papers!

Baskin Robbins 31 Cents Night

I am so excited to announce this! Every year Baskin Robbins has 31 cents night on April 29 from 5pm-10pm. They, then in turn give a $100,000 donation from the proceeds this brings in to the National Firefighter Volunteer Council. I think this is amazing. My husband was a volunteer firefighter for a couple of years until his schedule got crazy. But I know that this money benefits all these great volunteer fire stations around the country.

Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream scoops to .31 . At some locations you may also have an opportunity to make a donation to local fire charities.

So go get a scoop for 31 cents and in turn you will be helping a great Council. For a reminder, which if you are like me will be needed, just text SCOOP to 31310 and they will send you a one.

I Heart Albertsons!!!

Another successful and slighly intoxicating grocery week! I used to HATE to go into Albertson's, because they really are expensive, but boy, do they know how to have a good SALE! Now I LOVE them!! I wanted to take pictures of all of this, but my hubby was helping me put away and he thought that was a silly idea and I'm all for letting him help out if he wants to. I was going to pull all of this out and take a picture, but why?? It's put away. So here you go, I bought:

1 loaf of bread, (my only item I didn't have a coupon for)
2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights
3 Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies
4 Betty Crocker Cookie Mix's
4 Betty Crocker Frostings
5 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
5 Campbells Soup at Hand (72 hr kit item)
11 Pillsbury Grands Biscuits
11 boxes of cereal (Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch & Trix)
12 Progresso Soups
17 boxes of fruit snacks / fruit roll ups (It's insane, I know, but I have kids at my house every day, and some of them will go into 72-hour kits, but mostly they will be hiding at the top of my closet)


My Grand total before coupons and sales was $239.91. My total out of pocket cost was $43.14. Just so you know, I love Grocery Smarts as well!! I also love Pinching Your Pennies. I use them to preview sales and also they have some amazing coupon links that I haven't found on Grocery Smarts.

It would have even been $10.00 less, but I messed up on my first transaction and missed buying 1 item, in order to recieve an additional $10.00 off coupon. But what do you do? I'm soooo happy with my shopping. Can't wait to see what's for sale next week.

Do You Think I Am Obsessed?

Hello, my name is Brandy and I AM A CRAZED, COUPON CLIPPING MANIAC! The first step is admitting you have a problem. I mean really, who takes pictures of their food after they go grocery shopping????? :) :)...

This is a $123.85 worth of groceries. Here is what I got:

10 boxes of Gogurts
6 boxes of cereal
4 boxes of Fiber One granola bars
4 boxes of Fruit Snacks
3 tubs of frosting
2 lbs of butter
2 blocks of 32 oz. cheese

I only paid $39.56!!!! I save $84.29 between the sales and the coupons. I'm telling ya, Grocery Smarts is the best thing ever! Plus I have a $15.00 off my next purchase coupon. I figure that I spent about 2 hours going through the add and printing and clipping my coupons. But that means it saved me $42.00 for every hour. That is not counting my additional $15.00 coupon.

Anybody else want to be obsessed with me?????

Every Sunday, my husband and I would take our little family and go and visit his grandparents. Every Sunday, his sweet grandmother would give me her coupons out of her paper. And every Sunday, I glanced at them and then threw them away! I'm ashamed to admit that, but I did. I never wanted to spend the time on clipping coupons. I mean, I knew it could save you a little money, but who had the time?

I won't lie. It's time consuming if you want to save money and use your coupons to your advantage to get the best deal. When using coupons, it is a waste of time (and money) if you are using coupons to purchase things just to use the coupon, or to buy things you wouldn't normally buy. Using coupons on items you always buy anyway, AND combining coupons in conjunction with sales and clearance prices is where you will get ahead! Today for instance, I bought 8 bottles of Aussie Hairspray. Crazy, you say? Well, we go through about 1 bottle a month, I'd say. Well it's regularly $3.99 a bottle. Lins had it on sale for 2 for $4.00. Well I had coupons for $2.00 of 2 bottles of Aussie product. If you do the math, it works out to be $1.00 a bottle instead of $32.00 for 8 bottles. Great deal, huh? It may not save me money in the moment, but it saved me $24.00 over the course of the year.

The first step to take if you have not been an avid couponer before is to get a subscription to the Sunday newspaper so you can get the coupons. I get 4 Sunday papers so that I can have multiple coupons available to stock up on items that I use every day. Most papers have weekend subscriptions, and subscriptions where you can purchase more than one paper. Also ask family members, friends and neighbors, whether of not they use their coupons. Many people, throw them away!!! T

You can also find coupons on line. The website that I use is Grocery Smarts. This is the best site for anyone who uses coupons. They break down the sale ads and show you where to spend your money so that you are getting the best deal. They also show you where to find coupons online and they also tell you where to find coupons in your ads. They do all the work for you.

Once you begin getting coupons you need to organize them. Some people cut out every coupon in the weekly inserts and file them away. Other people only cut what they know they are going to use. I have friends who use the Grocery Smart System and they keep a file folder with their inserts filed by date. That way they just pull out and clip what they need.

I've tried both way's and I use both systems to some degree. Any coupon that I will for sure use, get clipped and put in my organizer. It goes with me everywhere. My inserts are kept in a file box by date and I use those if a great deal comes up on something that I would not normally buy. I try not to be stingy with my coupons. My neighbor and I swap coupons frequently. I also try to give them to other's if I know it is something they will use. I have also left coupons at the store on the shelf before. I like generic diapers. I have never been one to buy Huggies or Pampers, I mean I like them, but they are so expensive. I alway's try to leave those coupons in the baby aisle. I like to think of myself as the coupon fairy!! I hope it makes someone's day!

I promise that it is worth the time it takes to clip coupons. There have been times when I have saved $40.00 or more just in my coupons. It makes up for the cost of the newspaper subscriptions very quickly. Join me this year and make a resolution to save yourself money and to bulk up your food storage!

Free Coupon Books

I love coupons. Here are couple of links that you can go to and if you register you will recieve a booklet in the mail for $10.00 in coupons.

There is one for Betty Crocker items and also for Pillsbury. As a side note, Albertsons is having a great sale on Betty Crocker and Pillsbury items this week. While the coupons won't reach you in time for this sale, you will have them for future sales. Hurry quick, though, because they are limited.

Addendum to the Post Below

I am so EXCITED!! I wish I had taken pictures to give you guy's a visual. I went to Albertson's last night and I got $76.63 in Groceries for $11.42!! I had a $15.00 off coupon from Albertson's sale last week. I went in and spent$20.00 on this week's sale and earned another $10.00 off coupon. I turned around and put up a 2nd order and payed for it with my $10.00 coupon and used several coupons and ended up paying only $11.42 out of my pocket. Here is what I bought:

16 cans of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce
3 pkgs of 4 pk. Hunts pudding
1 Readi Whip ~ These 3 items were on the sale for buy $20 before coupons and earn $10.00 off
8 boxes of Nestle Hot Chocolate ~ On sale for $1.00 a box, I had a .50 cent off of 2 coupon! .50 each
Box of popcorn
1 dz. eggs
1 Gal milk
2lbs. of graper
2 Arm & Hammer Toothpaste~ On sale for Buy 1 get 1 Free and I had 2 $1.00 off coupons. $1.00 each

I'm telling you guy's it's possible. That's a lot of Spaghettie Sacue.!! Go check out Grocery Smarts , this link should take you directly to the store page. This is the store page for Utah, but you can still access the online coupons. And they are AWESOME. I also get 4 newspapers on top of them and there are times I am able to really stock up. Today I am going to get Herbal Essence hair products at Smiths. They have them on sale for 2 for $5.00. I have $3.00 off of 2 coupons. Each bottle will cost me $1.00. Same with Aussie products. On sale for 2 for $5.00 and I have
$1.50 and $1.00 off coupons on one.

It's my new hobby! I am loving it, but it does take a lot of time, but it's worth the savings!

$1.00 off candy coupons

Click here to go to the Nestle Celebration corner. You have to sign up, but it's free and you will have access to 2 coupons for $1.00 off a bag of Nestle brand candy!! I got 2 bags at Albertson's last week for .66 cents a bag!! If you have more than one computer, try to print off of both!! It might get you more coupons. Every little bit helps!!

Grocery Smarts Update

Okay, I have actually spoken to someone regarding the Grocery Smarts website and system. I also have the Utah passport, which is g84rcm. Now you Utah gals can go in and browse the system. I will be holding a class at my home on Tuesday, Sept. 23rd at 7:00 p.m. If your intersted in attending please let me know. If you would be interested in holding your own class, leave me a comment and I will email you Jodi's phone number. She is one of the local representatives who comes and teaches people how to use their system.

It's so worth it to use coupons. I saved myself like $28.00 just in manufactures coupons between my 2 trips to Albertsons this week and if I knew the system better, I am POSITIVE that I would have saved more.

Coupons

If you don't cut coupons, your throwing away money!!! Josh's grandma used to tell me that all the time and she used to give me her Sunday paper coupons. And I hardly ever used them. Shame on me!!!

Since I quit my job last year we have been trying to pinch pennies every where that we can. This picture was from my shopping excursion today. I spent $55.00 with tax for everything here, plus a few other things and I saved almost $77.00 in coupons and in store sales.

I hit Albertsons this morning because they are having great 10 for $10, $15, & $20.00 sales. I automatically saved $15.00 from in store rebates by buying the 10 for 10 items. That was on top of the sale price. And then you add in $13.00 in coupons and it adds up quick.

I think I have a new hobby! There is a website called Grocery Smarts that is amazing. Basically, Grocery Smarts has a website that offers FREE listings of local grocery store ads matched with manufacture coupons from the Sunday paper. They mainly operate out of Utah, specifically the greater Salt Lake/Provo/Ogden areas and in St. George.

You have to have a passport code in order to access the whole sight. But without the passport you can print off coupons. That is how I managed to help myself save quite a bit. It's a shame that in St. George there are no grocery stores that double coupons :(.

The passport code for the Las Vegas Area is g89ccb. I have been in touch with the manager of the Las Vegas area and am waiting for her to get back to me with codes for Utah. They teach FREE classes to organizations and church groups as well as in-home classes to show people how to save big on groceries!

As I find out more information, I will pass it along. Go to the website and check it out. Use the Las Vegas passport code to look and get an idea of what they offer. Click on this link to check out the fun website of Collette, who is the Las Vegas area manager.

Fabulous Websites to Help You Spend Less

I love saving money! I must admit that I am a thrift store and garage sale shopping mom.

One place that I cringe every time I visit is the grocery store. FOOD IS SO EXPENSIVE! If you don't already know, I am a food storage nut. I started selling for Alison's Pantry about a year ago and have got into buying bulk and have recently really started to watch my coupons. You can save a ton if you do it right.

I have found several websites that will help you save money when shopping at the grocery store. I had to share these with you.

Way More 4 Way Less ~ What a great blog. They have lots of ideas on saving money, but the amount of resources they have available for coupons is AMAZING!!

Pinching Your Pennies ~ You have to sign up to access this sight, but it is free. They have forums where people post the best deals of the week and where you can find coupons to save you a little more money!

Coupon Cravings ~ Another great coupon sight.

Box Tops 4 Education ~ Agian, you have to sign up but it's free. This website let's you print off coupons for items that carry Box Tops. It also let's you track how much money your local school has made from box tops! Kind of neat.

Thanks to all you ladies and gents who run these sights and for sharing your knowledge and insight with us!! Now lets all go save some money!!