Saved approx. 57% at Price Chopper

Another great shopping trip today!! Decided to try and share as many of my deals as I can.

Today's trip was a small grocery trip to Price Chopper.

Total paid for groceries after coupons and store savings: $27.85

Total savings: $37.56. Not bad!

Here is a breakdown of my savings:

DiGiornio Pizza/Breadsticks - sale price $6.49 - coupon $3.oo = $3.49

DiGiornio Pizza/Breadsticks - sale price $6.49 - coupon $4.00 = $2.49

2 Boxes of Cheez-Its - sale price $2.00 each - $1.00 coupons (2) = $1.00 each

2 packages of Chinet plates - sale price $2.50 each - $1.oo peelie coupons(2) = $1.50 each

2 boxes Breyers Ice Cream bars - B1 G1 priced $3.99 - $1.00 coupon = $2.99 or $1.50 each

Coffeemate - sale price $3

1 1/2 doz. eggs - sale price $1.48

Danonino yogurt - $2.29 - $1.00 store coupon = $1.29

Mt Olive Pickles - sale price $2.19 -$.75 coupon (from little machine in store) = $1.44

Pie Crusts - $2.49 (not on sale and no coupons)

Pint Blueberries - sale price $2.99 - $1.49 FB coupon = $1.50

1 lb Strawberries - sale price $1.66 - $.66 FB coupon = $1.00

Angel Food cake - sale price $2.99 - $1.99 FB coupon = $1.00

PC Whipped topping - sale price $.99 - $.49 FB coupon = $.50

So my total savings was approximately 57% for today's trip!

$1.35 Moneymaker at CVS!

I have recently begun playing the "CVS game" and I am HOOKED in just a few short weeks! Today's CVS visit was a huge high, since CVS paid me for the items in the photo. Yes, you read that right, I actually MADE money on my purchases today!

Here's how:

I bought 8 Sobe Lifewater's that were on sale for $1.00 each. But I had 4 coupons B1G1 free (I haven't figured out how to link to my coupons yet - but I will do that in the future, I promise - for now visit http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ for her links). The cashier did not take $1.00 off each water as I expected, she took the original price of $1.79 off instead! So 8 Lifewater's cost me $1.24 (including 5cent deposit on each), or .16 each! WOW! These are not something I would normally buy, but they will be a treat for me, or the kids over the next week.

Also on sale was General Mills Cereal - $3/$10 - plus you got $4 ECB back if you bought the 3 boxes (see http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ for more information on how ECB work). I bought 2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and 1 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch - had a coupon for $1/2 GM cereals and .55 off 1 Cinnamon Toast Crunch....total paid for 3 boxes was $8.45, but I got the $4 ECB back so that actually brought my total to $4.45 or $1.48/box. Not bad! My new goal is to keep each box of cereal under $2 - my family goes thru many boxes of cereal, lol!

Next 2 purchases weren't great deals - 1 gallon of milk for $3.59, which we needed and 2 small bags of chips (impulse purchase for Aubrey and I for lunch) for $1.98 (1 bag is missing from my picture as Aubrey already grabbed hers).

Last purchase was Old Spice Body Wash and deodorant. I think I could have worked this deal a little better, but I am new and still learning :-) The body wash was on sale for $4 each, with $4 in ECB's, making them free (limit two). Well I had manufacturing coupons to use too - one was B1G1 free on the body wash, which would have made that a $4 money maker ($4 for 2 body washes, $8 in ECB back). The other coupon I had was buy 1 body wash, get a free Old Spice deodorant....I thought maybe I could use that coupon with one of the body washes I was buying from the first part, but I actually needed to buy one more.....the deodorant wasn't on sale so $5.99 (it was a newer kind, hence the higher price) and the cashier only took $4.99 off for that one (not sure why, didn't realize this til later). But it still made it an okay deal in the end....3 body washes and one deodorant for $9.00, plus $8 ECB back, so .25 for each item.

What made this trip and even sweeter deal was the fact that I had $10 in ECB from last week's purchase (these ECB's are basically coupons that come off the bottom total of your transaction) and after swiping my CVS Extra Care Card in their little handy machine I also got a $4 off $20 purchase coupon to use today!!

Bottom line:

Spent $10.65 on ALL the items below

Got $12 in ECB

So, in the end CVS PAID ME $1.35 for 18 items! NOT BAD! I am slowly learning, and loving this new CVS game :-) :-)

Anniversary weekend

Here are a few pictures from our anniversary weekend get-away!

Photos

Like many other mom's, I am very behind on organizing and printing photos. I also love to scrapbook and although I do find time for that, I am still behind.

So, I have made it my goal to get caught up on the picture printing. The internet has a number of websites that can help me with this process. Today I found a great deal on this website: http://www.moneysavingmadness.com. Shutterfly is giving away a free 8x8 album, all you pay is shipping. You upload your photos to Shutterfly, organize them in an album and Shutterfly will print up a nice album for you. I will be taking advantage of this deal, and I hope that this will help me accomplish my goal quicker!

Frugal Mom

Due to a number of things (economy, poor financial choices in our past, our large family, my job as stay-at-home mom) I have been trying harder to be more frugal. I recently found a website that has been helpful in this attempt - www.moneysavingmom.com.

The main purpose of this blog is to help you find all the great deals out there - especially with grocery shopping. This blog will help you find coupons (either online or in your newspaper inserts) and then match up the coupons with sales to reduce the cost of items to sometimes free! With today's economy, I know we all can use some extra savings! Reading this blog, cutting and printing coupons - it's all worth the extra time to save my family a little money.

Check it out! And if you have any other "frugal" tips to share - leave a comment on my blog!

Crazy days of a stay-at-home mom

The kids are home from school again today. Yesterday was a holiday, today a teacher in-service day. I suppose the school system thinks they are doing us a favor tacking on this extra day to our already long weekend, but in reality a 4 day weekend can be too long for us stay-at-home mom's, lol!

It hasn't been too bad for me though because I enjoyed 2 days away from my children for the first time in TWELVE years. Yes, you read that right, lol! Tim and I have been married 15 years, and since the birth of our oldest 12 1/2 years ago, we have never left all of them. One or two has gone to visit the grandparents here and there, Nathaniel has done a week at sleepover camp, but we have never left all four. It was a brave thing for this mom to do, leave my babies overnight, but a much needed vacation for us as a couple.

Tim and I ventured to the Pocono Mountains in PA. It was only a two hour drive, close enough that if something should happen we could quickly drive home (yes, I was thinking ahead of if something should happen.....I am one of those anxiety-stricken mom's). But, they did fine with nana (my mom) and we were able to enjoy two days of peace & quiet, lovely fall-foliage, shopping without tag-a-longs and sleeping in late!

So, while today has been a little crazy with the kids all at home and Tim at work, I didn't mind since I was away for two days. We are still continuing our crazy schedule though - leaving soon for Arts & Craft at the library (Emily) and Guitar Lessons (Nathaniel). I am thankful that most of the kids don't have homework tonight so when we get home we can relax a little!

I will post some photos from our trip later.