Pineapples and Bananas!!

 

Pineapple and bananas were on sale this weekend when I went shopping.
Instead of giving a break down of my coupon shopping (which I haven't done hardly any of in months) I'll just tell you what I did with the oodles of bananas I got *FREE*!!

Albertsons had Pineapple on sale for $3.99 each. And when you bought a pineapple you got Free bananas up to 2 pounds.
We do use lots of bananas, but not quite 5 pounds before they turn brown and mushy and I have to do a lot of creative baking ;)

I bought 2 Pineapple, and got 4 bunches of bananas, each weighing a little over a pound.

Total I paid for 2 Pineapple and 5lbs bananas was $8.57. Not bad for that much fruit!!

 I pulled out the dehydrator and made dried banana chips with 2 of the 5 lbs of bananas. The rest we will enjoy fresh!

Love having my dehydrator. Great way to "stock up" on fresh fruits and veggies when I find a good price on them.

And this is my plan for the pineapple for tomorrow's barbecue....

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/06/pineapple-fruit-bowl/

(I also love Pioneer Woman!!)

3-10-12 Shopping Trip

The new experiment of shopping twice a month is turning out to be successful!
I bring home less and less stuff in one trip! :)

I'm also very proud of myself today for not buying things I didn't need...

Ok, I bought some things that I didn't need. But they will get used/consumed.

For example, of something I turned down. At Raley's Progresso canned soup was on sale (select varieties) for only $1 a can!! With my $1/4 coupon I could get them for $0.75 each. Which is a really good price for that kind of canned soup. The only reason I didn't take advantage of the deal is because I don't need canned soup. I have a good stockpile of it already, and I don't feel that I need to add to it at this point.
So even though it was a good sale and coupon deal I still saved $6 by NOT buying any (I had 2 coupons).

As for the purchases I did make it to the checkout line with, here are the highlights from the trip, as well as a break down of my transactions and savings at both CVS Pharmacy and Raley's stores.


Everything in the picture below was either a $1 or less!!

Ocean Spray Juice $1 ea.
Dole Tropical Fruit $1 ea.
Fresh Express bagged salad $0.99 ea.
Nature Valley granola bars $0.99 ea.
Variety of Protein bars (21 total) averaged $0.94 ea.
French's Classic Yellow mustard $0.74 ea.
Uncle Ben's ready rice cups $0.71 ea.
Johnson & Johnson hospital grade gauze pads $0.57 ea.
Softsoap Body wash $0.50 ea.
Iodized salt (kroger brand) $0.45
Tortilla chips (raley's brand) FREE
Fire Roasted salsa (raley's brand) FREE
Pepper and Corn salsa (raley's brand) FREE
Jelly Beans FREE


Paid a little over $35 for everything in the picture below. Did 4 transactions to make it happen!

Transaction #1
Colgate multipack toothbrush $7.29
used $0.75/1 coupon
Total OOP: $7.04 w/ tax
received $3.00 ECB (extra care bucks/CVS cash)

Transaction #2
2 Softsoap body wash 2/$7
used 2 $0.50/1 coupons
1 Jelly Beans $0.99
used $3.00 ECB from Trans. #1
Total OOP: $4.47 w/ tax
received $5.00 ECB (for softsoap)
received $0.99 ECB (for Jelly beans)

Transaction #3
4 M&M's bagged candy $12 ($3 ea.)
used 2 $1.50/2 coupons
used $5.99 ECB from Trans. #2
Total OOP: $3.01
received $3.00 ECB

Transaction #4
Listerine $5.99
used $1/1 coupon
3 Zone perfect bars $0.37 ea. (clearance)
3 Met Rx bars $2.57 ea. (Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale)
used $2/2 coupon
3 Pure Protein bars $2.19 ea. (B2G1 free sale)
used 2 $1/1 coupons
12 Balance Bars $1.77 ea. (B2G1 free sale)
used 2 $1/5 coupons
used $3.00 ECB
Total OOP: $21.19

All 4 Transactions together:
Spent: $35.71
Saved: $47.18
I love saving more than I spent!!


At Raley's spent less than $20 on everything in the picture:

Just one transaction this time :)

Downy softener $4.49
used $0.50/1 coupon
2 Filippio Berio olive oil $3.99 ea.
used 2 $1/1 coupons
2 Keebler cookies $1.99 ea.
used $0.55/2 coupon
2 Fresh Express Salad $0.99 ea.
2 lbs Tomatoes $1.49/lb $2.71
Bob's Red Mill whole grain oatmeal $2.49
used $1/1 coupon
Raley's Tortilla chips $1.99
Raley's Fire roasted Salsa $1.25
Raley's Pepper and corn Salsa $1.99
used Raley's store coupons Get all 3 items free when you spend $20

Spent: $19.58
Saved: $29.26

I also shopped at Smith's, Albertsons, and Walmart. Most of the $1 and under items were from Walmart. And, at Smith's I purchased mostly meat as they were having a very good sale on Beef and Pork, and, even though I did buy other items at Smith's I didn't use any coupons there today!!

Love crossing things off my wish list...

Today, thanks to the girls at Fabulessly Frugal I found out about a great price on a Salad Shooter at Amazon.

A few weeks ago I went to a Pampered Chef party and she used/demonstrated the Salad Shooter for grating carrots within seconds for the carrot cake dessert she was making.

Since then I've been very interested in one. So I was thrilled to hear about the deal on Amazon.

I got this Salad Shooter

Being 43% off today and having a $25 Amazon gift card that I got from redeeming points from MyPoints.com! And I got free shipping as an Amazon Prime member (could be free shipping anyway since it is over $25). I paid $14.97 for my new SaladShooter! 

So excited to get this at such a awesome price! :)

Also, if you haven't signed up for mypoints.com you really should! If you're like me and shop online often, you should sign up, for free! You get points for your purchases, and can redeem them for gift cards! Great way to get free gift cards just for buying things you already would buy!! :)
Here is a referral link:

MyPoints.com

 

 

2nd Anniversary

Next week is our 2nd wedding anniversary.
We had already decided to go to Reno and spend the night and do whatever else we found to do in Reno.

Last night as I was checking my "coupon spam" email account. I actually took notice of a email from LivingSocial for a one night stay at Circus Circus resort casino hotel in Reno!
So, instead of deleting the email from them (like I usually do as I don't want most of the deals in the emails they send) I looked into it.

Really happy I got a one night stay deluxe room for 2, with 2 welcome cocktails, 2 breakfast pastries, and 2 coffee/hot chocolates all for just $35 (+ tax and resort fees).
I'm thrilled about the timing on this deal! That it was actually available when we were planning a trip!

This deal is good for next 7 days or so, here's the link:
https://www.livingsocial.com/deals/236350?ref=conf-jp&rpi=44798046

Couponing! and a summary of this weeks deals

With the exception of a post or two, I haven't really blogged much about couponing or online deals I've scored. I'm going to try to do so this year.

First of all,  some changes to my shopping this year:
Last year I spent an average of $400 a month on groceries (including household items, cosmetics, tolietries etc). Not bad, as that's only $100 a month. But I know I could probably do better.
My problem is I can't shop every week. I just do one, big shopping trip a month. Which means I miss out on the weekly deals the other 3 weeks of the month.
So this year, I'm going to try to spend only $300, and shop every 2 weeks. IF this pays off, (as I have to drive 140miles round trip to shop) with the expense of gas and car mileage I will continue to do so. If I don't save at least a $100 by shopping more often I'll just go back to once a month.

I've decided to participate in Fabulessly Frugal's Grocery Budget Challenge. I put in my $300 a month budget, and each week I record my spending and saving!
And also am entered into their weekly giveaway. This week it is a $20 Amazon Gift Card.

I'll also continue to use the Excel spreadsheet I've used the past year and a half for keeping track of percentage saved.

So far this year I've spent $45.49 and saved $4.88. Obviously not the greatest, but $30 of that was at Costco, which does not accept manufactures coupons.

These are the online deals I was able to score this week!

A FREE Facebook offer for a NeilMed Neti Pot (This offer ended yesterday I think. But I know they do giveaways periodically).

 Dear Fans,

FREE NETI POT offer is back for a limited period and valid only for NEW FANS. Click the "Like" button above, become a fan of NeilMed Neti Pot and get access to request your FREE NeilMed NasaFlo Neti Pot with two packets.Click on the FREE NETI POT link on the left panel or visit http://www.facebook.com/neilmednetipot?sk=app_7146470109
Existing fans who have already requested are not eligible. Repeat and incomplete requests will be discarded.

I've heard good things about these, but never used one. Since it was Free, decided I'd try it out. Sounds like a good thing to have on hand, as it is a natural way to relieve colds, and congestion.

Also, through Disney Movie Rewards I redeemed 150 points for a FREE box of Pop Secret popcorn.
I received the coupon in the mail this week. And it's good for one 3 count box of microwave popcorn until 3-31-12, Up to a $3.50 value.

And today, I scored a $40+ value box of beauty and cosmetic items for $0.01 from Julep Maven

This is supposedly for new members only. After taking survey to determine you're style you set up an account (for free) and they select products and colors for you and ship them to you. A $40 value for $19.99. But with Promo code NEWYEAR2012 brings total down to $0.01 shipped!!

After creating an account, they send you new products ($40 value) each month for $19.99. You are automatically billed, and receive a email notification as a reminder. You can cancel anytime, and can always skip a month if you don't want new stuff.
For a penny I thought this was a good deal, I plan to cancel my membership/account soon since I don't use this stuff often enough to pay $20 a month for it. (even though, that is 50% off). Apparently this can only be done by calling or emailing them.
Go Here to score this deal! Not sure how long it is available.

Thanks to Hip2Save for this deal!

Last one, Today on Langers Facebook page they have some rebate deals.
I got the MegaBlocks Blok Squad product. Since we host church fellowship once a month, I've been trying to get a variety of children's toys for the kids to play with while here. Since Langers juice was on sale at my local grocery store I decided this was a good deal, and bought 3 bottle of juice.

That's it for this week! Hopefully in future weeks I'll be more organized with my shopping spending and online deals!