Coupons in tomorrow's paper

If you check out Grocery Smarts website you will see that along the right hand side (scroll down towards the bottom) there is a list of dates and the inserts that you will/won't receive. Because this is Labor Day weekend, there's a pretty good possibility that you won't have any inserts. There is some debate though on the P&G insert. These coupons are only good for one month, so don't toss your paper without checking through it for any inserts. I would not count on the Smartsource or Red Plum though.

Have a great holiday!

October - All You magazine

The new October issue of All You is in Walmarts everywhere. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the front cover to find an envelope with a survey inside. The survey states that if you fill it out and return it, All You will send you $10. I actually picked up two magazines at the same time, bought them both, but only one had the survey in it. So if you're at Walmart check the first couple of pages in the front cover for an envelope (business size) to see if it has a survey inside. Who couldn't use an extra $10?

By the way, I found this Link if you're interested in 2 free issues of All You.

Can you feel it in the air?

I really must admit, I love this time of year. Warm days, cool evenings and mornings are the best. We planted a couple of new trees in our yard this year (Maples - Autumn Blaze) and a couple of the leaves are already starting to turn red. Along with the changes of season, come changes in what you'll start to see on sale.

This time of year often brings on a sense of "storing" for the winter. You will start to see case lot sales happening in the next couple of weeks at a variety of stores. Hopefully you've budgeted well and didn't spend all your stash on back to school supplies and clothes for the kids.

As I realized this Labor Day holiday - is probably the last big BBQ of the season it got me to thinking.....what kind of supply do I have on condiments. Summer is the time to really stock up on those BBQ items (ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, pickles, paper products etc...). I went down to my (still messy) cold storage to take a visual inventory and I've done well with everything, but mustard. I did not have any mustard! How could I have gone all summer with out picking up mustard???? I did a mad dash to this weeks ads to see if I could find any on sale at Albertsons (this is where I'm going shopping this week). Whew....with great relief they actually had a 10 for $10 deal on mustard!

So I'm challenging you to take an inventory on your condiment supply to make sure you have enough to get you through the colder months or at least until the next sale!

BEWARE - Honest coupon users - fraudulant online coupons

As I was reading over my favorite blogs today, I came across this story. Apparently there was a marketing company (Vyrl Marketing) that designed some coupons for people to print from facebook in an application called "Check It Out." These online printable coupons were for large dollar amounts off of specific items. There are many retailers out there now that are scanning your printable coupons very carefully and may not even accept them. Please be aware as you bring your printables to the store, that the store's are protecting themselves. They won't be reimbursed for those fraudulant coupons. If you printed any of these coupons, I would suggest getting rid of them now!

Below are some links that you can read more about this situation.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/968102/facebook_check_it_out_coupons_deemed.html?cat=17

http://cbs5.com/consumer/online.coupons.worthless.2.803807.html

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/27/Coupon_fiasco_turns_very_costly/UPI-94121219860765/

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008140900_coupons27m0.html

It's a sad time to see people stooping to these levels to cheat someone else. It ends up hurting all of us!

Procrastination is finally driving me crazy!!!

I can't stand it anymore! This is the story of my life. I love to find the bargains, yet I hate to put it away. I can't tell you how many times that I've "re-stocked" the entry way (front door) to my house. The stairs to our basement are right behind the entry way, so it's easier to drop the groceries there than take them all the way down the stairs. The groceries pile up and pile up before my husband and I get so tired of tripping over things we take them downstairs.

So consider this PART 1 in my effort to get organized. For those of you that know me well (you know who you are), you will know that organization is one of my biggest short comings. Please don't cringe as you look at the following pictures. Take it for what it's worth and we can all learn from this.

These are the wonderful shelves in my cold storage room that my husband built for us last year. Notice these are almost empty. I was standing in the middle of the long narrow room, looking towards the end of the room.Turning the opposite direction (looking towards the door), you will see the shelves have some food and non food items (no organization at all).

This is me standing at the door (it looks okay, but not great).

Another shot (to the right) at the doorway. Can you see where this is going?

Okay - those of you that are neat freaks can start screaming in horror now - it only gets worse from here.

Yes, we are no longer in the cold storage, we have moved into the un-finished basement. Oh, but wait, there is one more.....AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!! I don't even know what I have in food storage since it's all sitting in bags on the floor. Don't let this happen to you.

I have one child in school and the second will be going to pre-school next week. I have a challenge ahead of me. I'm hoping to use some of that time to organize this mess. Anyone want to help????? Wait for Part 2 - hopefully we will both be impressed! Keep watching....

New Addition

I love getting coupons if that isn't already obvious. I also love certain websites. I have been wanting to add this to my blog for some time, but haven't gotten around to it. If you scroll down a little you will notice on the right hand side of my blog that I've added "My Favorite Sites to Visit." I've added them because I like the coupons they offer, they have good advice/content, fun ideas or recipes.

My very favorite website is Kraft. I can't count the number of times that I've gone to that site and typed in a couple of items I have in my pantry and it's come up with a ton of recipe ideas to make with those ingredients. I'm going to put in another plug for them, because as part of their Kraft Community you can receive a free magazine filled from cover to cover with easy to make, everyday recipes. They also email me and allow me to try new products they put on the market. They usually send me a coupon for a free item and several others to share. I have been very pleased with Kraft. I've included a link to their magazine if you'd like to start receiving it as well. I think they put out 5 or 6 each year (it's almost time for the one they send for the Fall recipes). http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/registration/contextualsignuplogin?RegistrationActivityID=1237

If you have any fun sites that you visit regularly I would love to hear about them. Who knows....maybe I'll add it to my list.

Scrubbing Bubbles - Action Scrubber/BzzAgent

I tried this new product today, called Scrubbing Bubbles - Action Scrubber. It came with a nice foam/grippy handle and 4 scrubbing pads. I'm supposed to review it - so here goes.

Likes:

Foam handle

Easy to use

Simple to put together

Got the job done

Dislikes:

Not enough cleaner

Pad kept slipping off of the foam handle

Smell could have been nicer - more refreshing

All in all - I liked the product. I washed two tubs and two sinks and that was about when the pad ran out of cleaner. It does state that you would need to remove the pad and use gloves to get into some tight spots (like around the faucet on your sink). I will probably continue to use this product.

I got this product for free through a new website I found called BzzAgent (www.bzzagent.com). I signed up and they contacted me to be a part of this campaign. Once you receive a product to try out - you need to talk about it (word of mouth, blog, online on their site etc....). If this kind of stuff interests you - you ought to sign up. I've signed up for a couple of others similar sites, but before I post about them, I wanted to try them out and see if I liked them or not. Hopefully you'll be hearing more - until then try out the new Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber!

Free McDonalds Chicken Biscuit or Sandwich

I ran across this freebie today. You get a free McDonalds Southern Style Chicken biscuit or sandwich with the purchase of a medium or large beverage. The instructions on the coupon say it has to be printed from a color printer not B&W - otherwise it would not be accepted. I don't have a color printer, so I printed it in B&W - I guess I'll have to see if they take it or not. (Click on the title and it will take you to the coupon link). Expiration date is 9/1/08.

Make sure your printer is ready to go when you hit print. It won't let you go back and re-print another coupon. Their chicken sandwiches are pretty tasty if you haven't tried one!

UPDATE - Apparently this coupon is also in your Sunday Parade Magazine. Cut it out and enjoy! (Thanks - Tonya)

Lots of sales coming up

The next couple of months will be the time when you will see a lot of your case lot sales. Get ready to start adding to your food supply. I spoke with the manager of Macey's and he told me that their case lot will be mid September. Albertson's will have a big General Mills sale in the next week or two and it will be followed by a Quaker sale and then a Campbell's sale. I haven't checked with Smith's yet, but I'm sure they will have some great sales as well.

One thing I might recommend is that as you see coupons online (www.smartsource.com, www.boodle.com, www.coupons.com, etc....), you may want to start printing the ones you think you may use now. Sometimes the coupons reset and allow you to print more a month or so later. This will give you a good "stock" of coupons to use at some of these upcoming sales.

I get really excited this time of year. I've been looking forward to the Quaker sale. I started to coupon right about this time a year ago and did not get the stock of Quaker supplies that I would have liked to. I hope for your sake, you can take advantage of these great sales coming up!

Random goodies

Here's a couple of links to some free stuff that I thought was kind of fun.

http://www.asi-60320.com/form_poly.htm (hand warmers)

http://www3.3m.com/qfrm/ShowSurvey?surveyid=JOFOCMH8 (post it notes)

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid48622.aspx (Orville Redenbacher popcorn cakes)

http://www.dhl-usa.com/dom/ship.asp?tcode=LADCFS (Free DHL overnight shipping bag)

http://www.cascadeclean.com/en_US/specialoffers.do (scroll to the bottom - Cascade coupons, free Cascade rinse agent. I tried several times for the rinse agent, but it kept asking me to identify where I had heard about the ad - I filled it out (twice) and then it ask me for my info and will send me coupons - I guess those will be as good as a free rinse).

Anyway - just posting this stuff for fun!

Grocery Tips - food for thought

When I first started to coupon - my pantry was pretty pathetic. I either had a little of this and that or things that had been expired for years. There was no organization, rotation and it's pretty hard to make spaghetti with sauce and no noodles or a cake with no frosting (yes - I use a can most of the time).

When I was first introduced to couponing almost one year ago through Grocery Smarts I was on fire. I couldn't wait to run to the store and buy, buy, buy. As I've been doing this - I have become smarter and wiser. Here are a couple of tips I wanted to pass on.

1 - Always check the size (lbs, oz's etc) on the ad vs. what you put in your cart. Check for flavor as well (I see this a lot with cereal - a store will only have certain kinds on sale - but not every flavor of that specific brand). You don't want to get to the register with the wrong sized product or flavor, you want to take advantage of the right items on sale.

2 - Have the right number of Sunday papers for your family's needs. When I first started I was not going to order 4 papers - that would be ridiculous to have that many delivered each Sunday. I now realize that in order to consume the products in which I purchase as well as add to my pantry, I need those extra coupons to get me to the next sale. I now get 4 papers and will be picking up a fifth soon.

3 - Buy the things you need for the week and really stock up on those items that are on sale that your family will use and consume. I didn't fully understand this when I first started couponing. If you've ever been to one of my classes, I show a picture of some of the items that I purchased on sale back in May. I use it as a game. As I looked at this weeks sale at Albertson's I realized that the items in my picture are the same items that are on sale this week. Boy was I thankful too. I went to the kitchen pantry to pull out the peanut butter last week only to notice it was gone. I ventured downstairs to my food storage for another jar and realized I was picking up the last one.

4 - This sort of plays off of #3, but it's worth saying. Really give yourself about 3 months to build a good variety in your pantry. When I first started, I did not have the coupons I needed/wanted to buy all the things that were on sale. Buy the things you absolutely have to have for use and consumption and purchase multiple items with your coupons. Sales repeat every 3-6 months and in that time you will have the coupons you did not have when you first started.

5 - Take this for what it's worth - but it's been very helpful to me. I find that when I have my children with me, I really have a hard time concentrating on the items I want to buy. (True story - I was at Smith's a few weeks ago to purchase some gift cards and pick up about 4 things. Please note: Husband has been gone all week to Scout camp and it was Friday night - 5 days with 3 kids home alone..... Anywho....I was patiently waiting for the man to ring up all the gift cards I was buying and turned around to notice my 3 and 6 year old playing hop scotch on the colored tiles on the floor. This is the same area in which busy shoppers are exiting the store. Several shoppers had to stop and wait for my very pre-occupied children to move. I could automatically feel the anger building because we had the "let's be good kids talk" before we came into the store. Finally the cards were purchased and I was off in a flash to pick up the few items I needed. As I made my way to the last aisle in the store for my much needed Coke fix - I realized the 3 and 6 year old were gone. Oh, lucky me I found them in the seasonal aisle, sword fighting with those foam noodles you take to the pool. NEVER AGAIN WILL I TAKE MY CHILDREN SHOPPING WITH ME AGAIN!!!!). So, take this for what it's worth and I hope you have more well behaved children than I do!

6 - Lastly - please have patience. By keeping up with couponing, you will see a huge savings in your budget as well as a full pantry. There have been weeks where I just get so busy I don't want to make time to cut out the coupons and I go to the store without them. I always leave the store more angry because I could have saved at least half or more with the coupons, had I just taken the time.

2 trips to Smith's this week

I actually went to Smith's twice this week. I usually don't do this, but I really wanted the free Malt-o-Meal cereal so I went on Wednesday (first day of the sale). I don't know why I didn't take a picture of this shopping trip, but I didn't. I was floored though at the huge savings I had. I bought the cereal (4 bags - FREE), granola bars (4 boxes), coke, grapes, cake mix (3), straws, a sandwich, some california rolls (a new favorite) and some bread (2 loaves). In total I purchased 22 items. My grand total was $33.79 and my savings was $29.50. I really spent about $1.54 per item.

So here's a picture of my second shopping trip.

4 bags of MOM cereal
8 boxes of pop tarts
5 boxes of Crest toothpaste
8 boxes of granola bars
4 boxes of butter
3 boxes of Electrasol (Finish)
2 boxes of Yoplait drinkable yogurts
1 box of contact solution
and of course another box of California rolls.

I spent $42.74 on 36 items, making each item about $1.19 a piece. I saved a total of $55.93.

Not bad for couple of days work!

Welcome Home Gift Pack - freebie

Welcome home gift pack from Right@home.

Each gift pack includes a free 10-count pack of medium Ziploc® Brand Zip 'n Steam™ Microwave Steam Cooking Bags and one Glade® Air Infusions® in Clean Linen™ fragrance. These products will help you enjoy the time you spend at home, doing the things you love.

In addition, each gift pack includes coupons for Pledge®, Oust®, Glade® and Shout® products-with a total value of $3.80. Use them yourself or share with a friend.

Hurry though - only the first 10,000 people to fill out the form will get one. Offer expires 8/31/08.

http://rightathome.com/offers/August2008/

Rumors & Gossip

First off - I have to thank others that blog on different sites. Because of my agreement with Grocery Smarts, I can't always name where I got the information I post. Just know that I appreciate other blog sites.....

With that being said - here's what I've heard.

I used to get my Albertson's and Smith's ad's on Tuesdays, but about a month ago, they started coming on Wednesdays. So I don't have my ad yet and cannot verify this information (hence the title of this blog). Rumor has it that Smith's is putting their Malt-o-Meal cereal on sale (4 for $4.00 - I think). If you read my blog a few days ago, there was a link to Malt-o-Meal for coupons. Hurry and print them. People were blogging and saying that the coupons would make the cereal free. This means a stampede tomorrow morning at your local Smiths.

Secondly - I heard rumors about Macey's.

Someone blogged about a VIP letter they had received from Macey's stating a secret "Family Preparedness Sale" at the Sandy location only. It's supposed to start tomorrow (Aug. 6th), but it won't go public with the sale until Aug 13th. They also want you to visit www.mywesternfamily.com to watch a webisode and then get a coupon for one free item. This will be going on for the next 13 weeks with a new free item each week.

All I can say is see ya in line with your MOM cereal and I wish I lived closer to Sandy to cash in on the great deals at Macey's. If any of you go - tell me what ya got.

Having an off day....

Ya know when you're just having an off day? Well I was having one of those yesterday. I had so much on my mind and I was running in a hundred different directions that I didn't really feel like I got much accomplished. I usually try to grocery shop on the weekend because my hubby is home to watch the kids. Well it didn't happen and so that meant I had to do it on a weeknight. In my craziness yesterday, I clipped a few coupons (not all that I wanted - but I got some) to get ready for my trip to Albertson's. I also taught a Grocery Smarts class last night, so I was planning my shopping trip for after. As I wandered the aisles picking up the necessities, I just didn't feel like I was going to do very well at the register. So as I finished up and was joking with the checker about how poorly I had done, we both laughed when she told me my total was $110.95 with a savings of $72.51. Well - la dee da......whadda ya know.... not too shabby - huh? Not too bad, for such a crazy day.

This is what I got, but failed to also show the 2 loaves of Grandma Sycamore bread, 2 pkgs of 1lb chicken tenders, 4 Marie Callendars pot pies, 12 Yoplait yogurts, 1 gallon of Albertson's oj, & 1 bag of Albertson's hamburger buns.

I think the thing I was most excited about on this sale was the Propel water that I got. The Propel and Sobe drinks were 15 for $15. Last week when I was at Smith's they had a tearpad for Propel single drinks ($.50 off each). I just grabbed a small stack and threw them into my coupon holder hoping for a great sale. Well this week when Albertson's put them on sale, I got 7 for $.50. Wahoo! My kids love these and beg for them all the time.

I would love to hear some of your great finds..... and so would everyone else.

All You Magazine

So, on Friday night (Sat. morning) as I drove across the street at midnight to pick up my copy of Breaking Dawn at Wal Mart, I also picked up a copy of All You magazine. I read about it in another forum and found out it had a bunch of coupons in it. It appears that it must be a new magazine because this was Issue 8 (I'm guessing it just started this year). I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised at what easy reading it was. I paid $1.97 at the checkstand and a year's subscription is $21.24 (12 issues).

(This is not the picture on the current magazine. The current magazine is purple and pink on the front cover. I also found it at the checkstand - not back where Wal Mart keeps the books/magazines)

As I flipped through the pages, the first two coupons would have paid for the magazine itself. Here's just a quick idea of the coupons in the magazine.

• All detergent
• Tyson chicken
• Jif peanut butter
• Kotex
• Ban
• Trident
• Abaya or Hydrolage (hair care)
• Neutrogena
• Orville Redenbacher (mini smart cakes)
• Visine A
• Emerald (breakfast on the go)
• Nature Made vitamins
• Wonka nerds
• Kid Cuisine
• Peter Pan peanut butter
• Splenda mini's
• Dole fruit parfaits
• White Castle microwaveable hamburger/cheeseburgers
• Mini Wheats (blueberry muffin flavor)
• Farm Rich
• Smuckers uncrustables
• Sunny D
• Del Monte Fruit Chillers
• Friday's frozen snacks & skillet meals
• Boston Market frozen entrees
• Ore Ida frozen potatoes
• Smart Ones
• Biz
• Spot Shot
• Glade (fabric & air odor eliminator)
• 2000 flushes
• Nabisco Wheat thins
• Kraft dressing
• Oscar Mayer hot dogs
• Crystal light
• Kraft Singles
• MiraLax
• Whole Body Cleanse
• Bundinos
• Greased Lightning

Yes - each of the items listed above have a coupon - these weren't just ad's in the magazine. It's probably worth picking up several magazines to get some pretty great deals. I would love to hear from you. Did you find this interesting or helpful?

Malt-o-Meal Coupons

I love to buy Malt-o-Meal. The bags are bigger than boxes of cereal and my family can't taste any difference between the box and bag. I've printed these coupons in the past and they've saved us a lot of money when you pair them up with a sale. I hope you enjoy this cereal as much as we do.

http://www.malt-o-meal.com/pages/special-offers/special-offers.php (coupons)

http://www.malt-o-meal.com/cereal-central/become-a-member/become-a-member.asp?id=1 (Malt-o-Meal, cereal central - sends special offers)

http://www.malt-o-meal.com/walmart/ (coupons to use at Wal Mart for Malt-o-Meal)

Cookbook freebies today

So I found this new website called Walletpop and it posts freebies everyday. If I think they are cool, I'll link them here - so it will be hit and miss, but I like cookbooks - so here ya go.

Light & Easy - Merck
https://www.goredwithmerck.com/go_red/goredwithmerck/consumer/smarts/congratulations.jsp?correct=5&answered=6&hbpCorrect=0&hbpAnswered=1&t2dCorrect=1&t2dAnswered=1&chlCorrect=2&chlAnswered=2&obCorrect=2&obAnswered=2&score=265&key=

Eating Right - Ann Cox
http://www.firstinhealth.com/CustomPage.asp?guidCustomContentID=%7B03CD5158-65CF-41F6-8A92-57EF1FFCED89%7D

Diabetic Cookbook
http://www.mybettercare.com/

Feed Our Kids Well - Ragu
https://www.timeinc.net/rsn/secure/offerings/ragu/index.html

Jiffy Mix
http://www.jiffymix.com/recipeform.php

Gooseberry Patch (Fall Favorites & Family Favorite Recipes)
http://www2.gooseberrypatch.com/gooseberry/affiliates.nsf/f.sunmaid?OpenForm&action=initial