Saving Cents on Scents & Shaving

If you got last week's Sunday coupons (8/22), then you might have clipped some of the coupons I used on a Target trip last week. Target's coupon policy allows you to "stack" a Target Coupon with a Manufacturer Coupon. Before learning this policy, I rarely shopped for household goods like cleaners, food, or toiletry items because I think their regular prices are kind of high. Well, since starting couponing, I have gotten quite a few fantastic deals. Here's last week's steals:

Airwick Twin-Pack: On Clearance for $3.48
Used $1/1 Airwick Twin Pack from SS (date unknown)
Used $1/1 Airwick Twin Pack from Target
Total Price: $1.48


Glade Premium Room Spray: $2.79
Used $1/1 Glade Fall Seasonal Item from Target
Used $1/1 Glade Premium Room Spray from here (to avoid looking through tons of pages, just click on the glade savings on the left-hand side of the page)
Total Price: $.79 each (bought 2)


Skintimate Shaving Gel: $2.24
Used $1/1 Target coupon from 8/22 SmartSource
Used $.75/1 from SmartSource (date unknown)
Total Price: $.49 each (bought 2)


Edge Shaving Gel: $1.97

Used $1/1 Target coupon from 8/22 SmartSource

Used $.75/1 from SmartSource (date unknown)

Total Price: $.22 each (bought 1)


Total Target Trip: $4.90 (including tax)


Check out the Target because there have been some great coupons I have printed every time they put them out, like:

•  $1/1 Chef Boyourdee, which makes cans of Ravioli completely FREE
• $.50/1 SoBe, which you can print two per computer, stack them with a B1G1 from Sobe's Heads or Tails game (you can play once a day for free, but it ends soon)
• $.50/1 PaperMate products, for cheap or free pens (I bought 8 free packs while they were on sale for $.50 and donated them to our church youth group)
• $1/1 Bic Stationary Product, stacked with $1/2 Bic Stationary Coupon, for more free or cheap pens (donated several more free packs to the youth group)

Fun Freebie: Cookies for Kids!

As I was blogging for my post earlier today, I was surfing the Giant Eagle website (one of our local grocery stores) for their coupon policy. I discovered a fantastic deal I look forward to registering Levi for next year: for $1 (100% goes to local children's hospitals), you can get a "cookie card" for your child (12 & under) that is good for the whole year, and every time you go grocery shopping, you can stop at the bakery, show them the card, and your child gets a free cookie!

I remember doing this as a child, and how excited my sisters and I were when we went grocery shopping with my mom, because we'd get to go pick out our free cookie. My favorite was a shortbread type cookie with nuts, hollow on the inside, and dipped in chocolate on the outside.

Did any of you ever get a free bakery cookie when you were a child? What was your favorite?

Sunday Savings

Today after church, my husband stopped at Giant Eagle with me to pick up groceries. I have been watching the weekly ads, and planning my trips for when things I want to stock up on are on sale, and I can take advantage of Giant Eagle's coupon doubling policy. This time I also was able to use a few eOffers that I had loaded to my GE Advantage Card. After two months of couponing, I am finally starting to see savings. Because now I'm not only getting great deals on things I need for this week, but I've also started being able to stock up for the future, when I can get things now for a great price. We are stocked up on basics like toothpaste, razors, contact solution, cereal, toilet paper, paper towels, soup, snack bars, mac & cheese... Yay!

So here is today's shopping spree (I won't always remember the exact coupon date/source-I'm still learning this blogging thing) Any coupons under $.99 were doubled: 

Select Always or Tampax: 3/$8
Used $1/1 Always Pads from 8/29 P&G
Used $1/1 Tampax from 8/29 P&G
Used $.55/1 Always Liners from 8/29 P&G
Total: $1.63 each


Kraft Macaroni & Cheese: 10/$10
Used $.55/2 from Kraft's Game (printed twice by pushing the back button on my browser)
Total: $.45 each box (bought 4)

MultiGrain Cheerios: 4/$10
Used $.75/1 from here (printed twice)
Stacked with $.75/1 from Giant Eagle eOffers (no longer available)
Total: $.63 each (bought 2, for my cheerio eating machine named Levi)

Giant Eagle Farmer's Market Salad: 10/$10
Used $.50/1 from Giant Eagle eOffers (no longer available)
Total: $.50 each (bought 1)

Ken's Dressing or Marinade: 2/$3
Used $.55/2 on Ken's Salad Dressings from previous SS (date unknown, maybe 8/22?)
Used $1/1 on Ken's Marinade from same source as above
Total: $.95 each for dressing, $.50 for marinade (bought 3 total)


Campbell's Chunky Soup, Hearty Request: 8/$10
Used $.50/1 from Campbell's (printed two from my laptop, two from my husband's)
Total: $.25 each (bought 4)


Tyson's Chicken Nuggets: $5.99
Used $1/1 from 8/22 SS
Total: $4.99 each (bought 1--my husband loves an occasional dinner of mac& cheese with nuggets)

Shopping Trip Total: $16.02 (including an additional $1.42 taken off from "FoodPerks")

A Cup of Morning Coffee!

As a friend in college jokingly told me, I like my coffee so "blonde" (with cream), that it's albino! And it's true. I especially love flavored creamers. I discovered this summer that Coffee Mate has coupons at their website regularly. My favorite is the $.75/1 coupon. You have to give your email address (which is another time when having an email address for coupons/freebies is very handy), and if you hit the back button, you can print the coupon twice. I have been able to print this off every month this summer. I use this at Giant Eagle (which doubles coupons under $.99) or Walmart, and am able to feed my addiction for a lot cheaper!

To make this even sweeter, I discovered a few weeks ago that using the baby food processor someone gave us (which is great for small amounts), makes a very frothy, sweet morning treat! I only drink one 12oz. cup of coffee every morning, and this has made my morning routine really fun! I added up the calories the other day, and it's only 120 (which I think is pretty good for a coffee treat compared to coffee-house calories). I add two tablespoons of flavored creamer (70 calories) and 1 tablespoon of caramel topping (50 calories) to my cup of coffee, then blend it for thirty seconds, which gives me a very frothy cup of coffee! A normal counter-top blender would work, too, just a little harder to clean quickly! I do that when making an blended ice coffee treat.

What are some coffee/hot drink treats that you've learned how to make at home?

Sunday Newspaper

This week has been full of grocery shopping trips (and found some great deals!), meal planning (and cooking), baby food (tried a new recipe for biscuits this week), and a random garage sale. While I intended to blog about all of that, it hasn't happened yet, but I did want to give everyone the heads up that this Sunday's newspaper is a great one to buy if you don't always get a paper. The P&G insert is only put in once a month, usually on the 1st Sunday (so I'm guessing since next week is a holiday and this Sunday is a 5th Sunday, they decided to put it in early?) and is filled with high-dollar coupons. If you're wondering what's in it, here's the previews for the various coupon inserts:

• SmartSource (SS)
• Red Plum
• P&G Insert

If you don't get the RedPlum (the Cleveland Plain Dealer doesn't carry it), don't forget that you can find out where you can get it, and if it isn't local, you can request it to be sent to you. I have, and I'll let you know once I start receiving it, or if I don't get it...

And have you signed up for P&G Brand Sampler? This summer I have already been able to request a free Gillette Fusion Razor, travel size Pantene ProV shampoo/conditioner, and multiple other smaller samples, along with receiving coupons in my mail. Definitely worth the few moments to get signed up! I love signing up for stuff directly with the company vs. unknown third party groups. Oooh, one other favorite high-dollar free coupon booklet: Home Made Simple. I got mine in the mail, and it has great coupons for Febreeze, Dawn, Cascade, Swiffer, etc...

Have a great Saturday! If I get stuff done around the house, I will try to blog more about this week. Right now I'm going to fold laundry on the floor with Levi, and we're going to watch old Disney cartoons (I bought a bunch on VHS yesterday at a garage sale).

Recycling I didn't know about...

Somehow in the last year I became a lot more "green" than I ever thought I would be. Through the experience and advice of friends, we have been using cloth diapers for over three months now (which means we're now in the saving money phase of it, since it costs a little bit to start up). We started doing recycling through our garbage company over the winter, and I've been learning how easy it is to bring my own reusable bag into a store when I'm just picking up a few things. And with making my own baby food, I don't have dozens of little jars hanging around.

But I learned two new tricks this summer about things that I didn't know I could recycle. Baby swim diapers and kitchen sponges.

Swim diapers, which run anywhere from $8-$10 for a pack of only 12 diapers, can be reused. And it's actually pretty simple:

1. Let your kid have fun in the pool. If it's only wet, then just slide the diaper off (instead of tearing off the sides).
2. Throw it into your wash with the rest of your laundry/baby clothes.
3. Instead of putting it into the dryer (it will get crunchy), just let it air dry by placing it over a canned good, bottle of something, etc...
4. Reuse (which means you only have to buy one pack for probably most of the summer)

The second thing I've learned about reusing is kitchen sponges. They say you're only supposed to use it for a week, but who can keep up with that? Anyway, I can't stand it when my sponge gets all stinky and mildewy, and it's still pretty much brand new. But I always end up throwing it out because it's makes my hands stink. Well, if it gets stinky, just put it in the silverware tray in your dishwasher when you run a load of dishes, and it returns to being clean smelling. Of course once the sponge gets grungy, throw it out!

What other household tricks have you learned to stretch the dollar a little bit more?

Today's Deals

Well, I haven't made it to Walmart yet, and I think I'll put that off until tomorrow. But while my hubby watched our son this morning, I did make a quick dash to Target, and along with picking up some essentials he needed for a trip he's making soon, I got a couple of fun things: a pair of ladies denim capris for $1.97 (found on the clearance rack for $4.97, and used a $3/1 Target coupon from a couple weeks back), two "Glade Sense & Spray" kits for $1.12 each (the "apple cinnamon" were on clearance for $4.12, and I used a manufacturer's $3/1 coupon), and some cherry red flower plastic pots for $.48 each (summer stuff is starting to be clearanced) to use for re-potting some of my indoor plants.

Target also had other Glade and Febreeze things on sale/clearance, so you might find another great deal. Have you signed up for your free "Home Made Simple" coupon booklet? It has around $30 of savings for Febreeze, Mr. Clean, Swiffer, etc... products in it.

I also saw that Giant Eagle will be having a sale on Fiber One Cereals, 3/$7. If you clipped any of the coupons the last couple weeks (I can't find them currently) for $1.50/2 or $.75/1, you can get cereal for around $1.30 a box. We go through cereal a lot these days. I'm watching for Cheerios to go on sale... I have a mean, green, Cheerio-eating machine living in my house these days, aka as Levi!

So what other great deals are out there this week?

My Next Wal-Mart Trip!

Sundays & Tuesdays are quickly becoming my favorite days of the week: I get my coupons and store ads in the mail. After a quick glance, I already spot a few things I will be snagging at my next Wal-Mart trip, thanks to some great sales at other stores! All I have to do is bring in my ads with me, and they will honor the prices listed. I make my own baby food, so I love getting good prices on fresh produce.

• Fresh Green Beans, $.89 per lb. @ Marc's (one of Levi's favorites)
• Eggplant, $.89 per lb @ Marc's (this will be a new one for Levi!)
• Green Bell Peppers, $.88 per lb @ Marc's (I will chop up and freeze to use later)
• Bartlett Pears, $.89 per lb. @ Marc's
• Red Seedless Grapes, $.99 per lb. @ K-Mart
• Kleenex, 4 boxes for $4 @ Marc's (and I can use a $.50/3 coupon I have)

Have you spotted any great deals this week? Any fun coupons?

Amazon Prime for College Students!!!

College students, don't forget that you can sign up for a FREE 1-year Amazon Prime membership, courtesy of Canon. This means you get free 2-day shipping on all your Amazon purchases. That can be a lot of money saved!

Are you trying to find your coupon inserts?

Ok, so here are some of the links you can use to find your coupon booklets. Or find out that you don't get certain ones in your area!

RED PLUM: If you type in your address, you can find out if you receive the RedPlum coupon booklet. Apparently, a lot of newspapers dropped carrying them about a year ago. However, you can request to have it sent to your address. The website says it takes 5-6 weeks to get your first booklet. I just signed up for mine, since our newspapers don't carry it. :-)

SMARTSOURCE: not sure the link yet, although I can say I know the Cleveland Plain Dealer carries it, since this is the newspaper I subscribe to personally. And if you ever get a newspaper without it, you can contact your newspaper, and they will send you it! (this happened to me this past Sunday)

P&G SAMPLER: Definitely find out which newspaper in your area carries this valuable monthly coupon booklet, which comes out on the first Sunday of every month!