Life's little wonders....

They say that life is one big test...and I am really hoping I pass! I do the grocery game, I'm learning how to save money at the grocery store and how coupons can make it easier to stockpile to save more money, and right now I'm thankful.

After just finding out that Chrysler filed bankruptcy I know that it's going to affect my job sometime in the near future. So, i'm saving as much money as I can, and filling out apps...and looking at different schools where I can take classes online...

Hopefully it's not the worst!

I don't have to shop for 2 weeks.

After this week, I think I'm good on having to grocery shop for 2 weeks. I pretty much stocked up on everything that I had to get. They had some pretty good meat sales going on, along with laundry detergent and shampoo/conditioner that I wanted to pick up.
So, if I do have to go to the store, I will only have to buy the "staples" like milk, dog food, bread, and fruit. I have everything else that will hold me over till the next shopping trip.

I'm going through the Flier's...

And I see a lot of 10 for 10 items at Kroger's this week. Now i'm going to have to go through my coupons to see how many I have. And that will be how many I buy.
Say Manwich is on sale 10/10. I have 3 .35 cent coupons, so I buy 3 of them. Each will cost me .30 cents.
That's the joy of 10/10 and using coupons!

At Meijers, I'm seeing a lot of 3/$5. Which makes the items $1.66 each, and If I have 3- $.50 off coupons, they double so I'll save $3.00 which makes it 3/$2.00...woo hoo.

Now i'm going to have to go though all of my coupons, and get the list ready to go!!

I have the insert schedule

That shows when the inserts won't be in the paper...which is very helpful for those of us that buy the Sunday paper, for just the coupons...hehe.

April 12th, there will be no inserts in the Sunday paper.
May 24th, there will be no inserts.
July 5th, there will be no inserts.
Sept. 6th, there will be no inserts.
Nov.29th, there will be no inserts.
Dec. 20 & 27, there will be no inserts.

Going to the store the other day

Probably wasn't a wise idea, but I wanted to grab on to the good sales!!! Spent $100 and saved $57, so I'm thinking that I did pretty good!
After glancing at this weeks fliers, I've noticed more 10 for 10 sales going on...woo hoo!!! The list comes out tomorrow, so I'll be all ready for this weekend!

Just checked out my fliers

And i'm lovin the 10 for 10 sale going on again!! I have a boatload of coupons for pillsbury, and they're on sale this week!! Yippeee!!
I went to the store with hubby, saved $54 spent $100, which isn't too bad considering I bought my daughter the twilight movie for $20. There were some odds n ends that I had run out of, that I wanted to pick up. Also there were things on sale, and I had a coupon for, but they weren't rock bottom prices...but when the kids need something, gotta get it....

So, i'm about to go grab the Sunday paper, and pray that there's good coupons in it!

Great Shopping at Meijers yesterday!!!!

I don't think that I need cleaning supplies for a LOOOOOOOOONG time!

Meijers is having a really good sale on all Lysol products, so I stocked up! There were great coupons in Sunday's paper that I used and I got Lysol cleaner ( that you use to mop) for .74 cents!! I had 4 coupons for $1 off, and they're on sale for $1.74!!! Then the toilet bowl cleaner is on sale for $1.74 as well, and with 4 $1 off coupons, I got those for .74 cents! Then I got the Lysol Spray cleaner for .74 cents so I have 4 of those. Got the Lysol Spray for $1.49, got 2 of those!

Then there was the 10for 10. I have 10 boxes of pizza rolls that I got for .30 cents each, along with those microwaveable brownie things that I got for free..10 of them, I had .50 cent off coupons and they double, so I got the brownie's for FREE!!!
Toaster strudles were on sale so I got 4 of them, and it cost me $3 for those.

All in all, I saved $102 and Paid $54 and got 64 items!

Computers are amazing

In my journey to be as frugal as possible, I did searches in my area for local freecycle groups on yahoo, and found a couple that I signed up for.
These are places that if you need something, you post, and hopefully you get a reply, and get the item free. And if you're cleaning out your house, and have stuff that's still good, and you don't need it, you post it on freecycle, and give it to someone who could use it.
It's a great instrument to use in your journey to being frugal!

Now, I love to garden. And I know how much plants can cost. There's also a plants freecycle for my area, of other gardeners, who's plants become clustered, and they need to thin them out. Instead of throwing away the plants, you can plantcycle them, because someone out there might want more plants.
And you can ask questions, and helpful gardeners are there to help!

This is a great resource to have in your journey!

So, I got the new fliers....

And the 2 stores that I shop at, are having the 10 for 10 sales this week. DH is excited because he thinks that he's going to the grocery store and going to save big.
I told him to wait, because he can't go to the grocery store w/o coupons, because he could save even more!
We'll wait and see if he listens.

I hit the shopping motherload!

I am so very proud of myself today!! I saved a boatload of money!

First, I went bright and early, to Krogers, I wanted to get that one out of the way...so at 8am, I was off with my list, and my coupon binder, and I was on a mission!
I hit there, and found 5 porterhouse steaks for $24!! I was in Heaven!! It wasn't on my list, but I couldn't pass that one up, because we hardly ever have steaks for dinner!
I got everything on my list, and a few other's that weren't, but they were at such a great sale price, I couldn't pass it up!
So...this is how Krogers went

Price : $132
OOP : $75.00
Savings: $57

I actually saved $57 dollars!!! I was so excited!!

Then, I went home, and got my coupons ready for Meijers...I wasn't going to get a whole lot, just some things from my list....because the sales didn't look that good this week. Man was I wrong...
They had Tyson chicken breasts for $3.99 and I had $1 off coupon...so I bought 3 bags because I had 3 coupons...so I got bags of chicken breast for $2.99!!
Then I found those steamer bags on clearance for $1.40 and I had 3 $.75 off coupons, so I picked up 3. Total cost for each was .65 cents!!!! Man was I on a roll!! Then I seen the 10 for 10 going on, and searched through my coupons, and got a couple things dirt cheap!! I had coupons for the fudge, I got 2 boxes for .25 each, and the blistex, got 2 of those for .35 each....man was I on a mission!
Well, this is how I faired at Meijers;

Total: $228.22
OOP: $ 154.70
Saved:$ 73.52

I think that I have enough food for 2 weeks!!! I am so proud!! I normally wouldn't worry about how much I spent at the grocery store, but now...i'm all about saving money!! Just looking at me saving a total of $ 130 for the week, is just unbelievable to me! And I bought stuff that I wouldn't normally buy, named brand stuff that I got cheaper then if I would've bought the bargain brand....unbelievable!
I can wait to see the sales for next week!

Ok....

List is ready...coupons organized and cut, and i'm almost ready to get this show going!

I want to hit the grocery store early, because it's supposed to be nice out later, and I want to get some work done in the back yard. So, I have everything pretty much set, I'm hoping that I'll get a lot for a little today!!

Wish me luck!

Why are cashiers mean?

I mean seriously, why do they have to give you an attitude when you plop down your coupons? Yesterday I went to Meijers for a few things, and you would've thought that I had robbed the place, by the way the cashier was acting!
She took the coupons and one by one, started grabbing stuff off of the conveyor, to match the coupon, and would THEN scan it.
Seriously.
All you have to do is scan all of the merchandise, and then scan the coupon, and if the coupon doesn't match, then it won't let you use it.
But, to act like I've just stole stuff, is retarded!
I think I may have to go through my coupons, get a bunch of stuff, and find her isle again!

So...I was talking to a girl at work...

And I had NO clue that if you went to Walgreen's website, and registered, you can get coupons for things, and rebates?!
All I had to do was register, which I did. Then you click on "easysaver rebates" and it let you download coupons and the catalog in which all of the rebates are on it. Once you shop, with your coupons, you save your receipts, and then you can send them in at the end of the month, and they'll send you money back.

You know I had to sign up!!
Haha!! Let the game begin!!

My savings so far.....

Well, I grabbed all of my receipts and started totaling everything up, wanted to check to see how much I've saved over the last 2 weeks of starting all of this...and it's quite impressive for me being a newbie...

2/28/09

Rite Aid

Total: $64.75
Saved: $ 11.75
Paid: $ 53.00

Kroger

Total: $ 100.81
Saved: $ 38.71
Paid: $ 62.10

3/3/09

Kroger

Total: $ 122.83
Saved: $ 47.82
Paid: $ 75.00

3/7/09

Meijer

Total:$ 117.76
Saved:$ 41.62
Paid:$ 76.14

So, for the last 2 weeks, I've saved $139.90 on my grocery bill, and paid $ 266.20 and that's in just the first 2 weeks!! Normally I would spend over $400.00 in groceries to feed my family of 6, so I think that I've done a wonderful job!

I know that I bought things that I wouldn't normally buy, like toothpaste, I now have 4 tubes of toothpaste, but I know that I won't run out anytime soon. They were on sale for 2/$3.00 and I had 2 $.75 coupons, so I got crest for $.75 each, which is a steal!
So now for the next 2 weeks, I shouldn't really need anything from the grocery store except milk, bread, and maybe some meat, but I kinda stocked up on that too..lol.
But, I'm going to run for Sunday's paper, and then check the sales out, and maybe stock up on a few things and get my stockpile going, that way I can save even more money.

Great Savings today at Meijers!!!!

It was great to hit the store with all of my coupons and my list in hand!!
There were some things that I'm not going to buy until next week, the new sale's are much better, but I did really good on what I did buy!

I got;

Pop
Jelly
bodywash
Peanuts
Pierogies
steam bag
shampoo
conditioner
aluminum foil
bath tissue
romain hearts
michelina x5
conditioner
grapes
carpet freshner
cocoa butter
lotion
margarine
yogurt
downy
bbq sauce
mac n cheese
taquitos
shredded cheese
tide

The bill came too :
$117.76

I paid :
76.14

I Saved:
41.62

Or 35%
And I really don't have to shop till after next week..because i'm stocked up on meat, but I probably will anyway, so I can get my stockpile going...

K...it's Saturday

And I think that I have my list for Meijers all set and ready...the coupons are all set aside, and i'm ready to save me some money!!!

Then I walk out front, and there are new fliers sitting there in the little blue bag....and stupid me opens it. And the sales for next week are WAYYY better than this week!!

So now I must go through the list again, check what's on sale this week, against what's on sale next week, and get it all ready..lol.

A woman's work is never done!

This Economy SUCKS

And with the fear of loosing my job at any moment, I've decided to save as much money as I can, while still contributing to the economy....so I am now a coupon cutter. Which, so far, has saved me a pretty penny, while filling the stomach of my household of 6.

Before, when the economy was fine, cutting coupons was a passing thought. To which I never did. I could kick myself in the behind for that, because I could of saved a LOT of money!! But now, with job losses going up, the price of everything going up, and my bank account the only thing that's shrinking, I've decided to put a belt around my bank account, and get it in gear.

So, there's a couple of websites that i've joined, to help me on my money saving crusade....

www.grocerygame.com I spend $15 every 8 weeks, for this nice person to make me a list every Friday, for the 2 stores that I shop at, of everything that's on sale for that week, and where the coupons are located for me to save even more. Everything is spelled out in terms that anyone can understand. They also have this great message board in case you have any questions.

www.couponmom.com is another great site. This one also posts lists up, and it's free!! The only downside is that the list only shows what's on the flier where as the other one shows sales that aren't even posted.

www.smartsource.com is a good place to go to for printable coupons, for grocery stores and regular stores.

www.redplum.com is another one for great coupons.

Since doing all of this, which has only been a week, I can honestly say that i've saved about $150 on my grocery bills, and I would advise anyone that's trying to save money to do it as well.....

Well, until my next shopping day, which will be Saturday...have a great one!