New TLC Show - Extreme Couponing

Have you all heard about the new show on couponing that TLC is coming out with?  It features Joanie from The Krazy Koupon Lady (who I love) and it looks good with a dash of crazy weird hoarders mixed in. 

I am all about coupons and stockpiles, but the one guy has over 1500 sticks of deodorant.  Um....that is just plain nuts.

Go HERE to check it out and tell me what you think!  It premiers tonight, December 29th at 8pm ET/PT on TLC.

Are you going to watch it? 

Our Disneyland Trip

I'm not sure when I got so into running numbers and looking at the budget. 

I'm really proud of the fact that we have been staying on our household budget and managing to stash a little cash in the bank for our vacation next year.

But I need to up the ante just a tad.  Looks like, starting in January I need to be putting at least $89.00 per month in our vacation account to make this happen.  This will be the first time Lauren comes along with us so this makes our budget go up just a tad.

I think she will LOVE it!

I'm going to try working my Etsy shop a little more as well as attempting to do a few more Utah weddings this summer to get those numbers up.

Are you saving up for something special?

Smith's/Kroger Trip

Smith's is rounding up all their coupons to a dollar again through tomorrow!  All low value coupons are being rounded up to $1!

Dan was a saint, I got everything ready and he went out in the cold and did the shopping for me since I'm trying to get better.  Too much going on around here to be sick!

First I will tell you...

Before Sale and Coupons 

Total Cost $132.74

After Sale and Coupons.....

I PAID $42.68!!

A savings of 76% percent! 

What I did:

Tic Tacs, $1.00
Use .75/1 from 10/3 RP
Final price: FREE
 
Banquet Fruit Pie, .89
Use .35/1 from 10/24 SS
Final price: FREE
 
Carmex Lip Balm, $1.00
Use .30/1 from 11/7 SS
Final price: FREE
 
Suave Deodorant, .88
Use .75/1 from 11/14 RP
Final price: FREE
 
Hormel Pepperoni $1.00
Use the .55¢/1 coupon from the 11/7 SS (round-up)
FREE Item!

Krusteaz Cookie Mix .99¢
Use the $1.00/1 coupon from the 10/10 SS
FREE Item (10 item event)
 
 Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta $1.00
Use the .75¢/1 coupon LINK (round-up)
FREE Item

American Beauty Quick Cook $1.00
Use the .55¢/1 coupon from the 10/3 SS or .50¢/1 coupon LINK (round-up)
FREE Item

Idahoan product, any 4 oz or larger $.94
Use the .40¢/1 coupon LINK (round-up)
FREE Item
 
Chex Mix $1.49
Use the .50¢/1 coupon LINK (round-up)
Pay .49¢
 
Barilla Plus Pasta $1.49
Use the $1.00/1 coupon LINK or LINK
Pay .49¢ (10 item event)
 
Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn 3 pk $1.49
Use the $1.00/2 coupon from the 11/14 SS
Pay $1.00 each (10 item event)
Carmel is included!
 
Cuties Clementines $3.99 (Produce Section)
Use the .35¢/1 coupon from the 12/5 SS  (round-up)
Pay $2.99
 
Shedd’s Country Crock $2.45
Use the .50¢/1 coupon from the 11/14 SS or LINK
Pay $1.45

I combined my lists from Utah Deal Diva and Coupons4Utah.  Both great sites!

Happy Shopping!

It's Mega SwagBucks Friday!

Happy Friday to you!   

Are all of you signed up with SwagBucks yet?
Because it's Mega SwagBucks Friday!

You could earn from 10 to 1000 Swagbucks in ONE search on Fridays!

If you don’t know about Swag Bucks, it’s just something I do to pay for Christmas.  I use mine to get Amazon gift cards, but there are a lot of other great prizes and cards you can get in exchange! 

 

Just from SwagBucks alone - I made $300 in Amazon.com gift cards.  It paid for a large chunk of our Christmas!

 

What is Swagbucks? Swagbucks is a search engine. It is powered by Google and Ask.com. It's not any different than searching on any other search engine except that you have the chance to win Swagbucks. Swagbucks are like points that you can turn in for cash or gift cards. Unlike other online point systems, it doesn’t take months and months to earn a gift card. Most people can earn at least one or two gift cards a month through regular searching.

It’s simple, you search the internet and “google” just like always, and the more you use the SwagBucks search engine, the more you win! 

For more information, go here!

You can sign up here and earn 30 points just for signing up.

Vacation Fund!

One of my beer rebate checks came in the mail today!  Whoo hooo!

I added the $6.00 from that to our fund.

I also kicked, screamed and cried about it, but I sold Lauren's car seat and cover.  Think I'm being silly?  Look at how beautiful it was...

It's one thing to know you are done having babies and a whole other thing to get rid of the baby things.  I get sentimentally attached to things like this and her clothes.  Thankfully it went to someone who was just as excited about it as I was when I first got it and I know it was needed. 

Snif. Snif. 

So another $25 to the fund.

Making a grand total of $235.00 earmarked for Disneyland without a single penny coming from our paycheck! 

What To Do with Expired Coupons

I used to just throw all my expired coupons away, until I saw them piling up and looked into what I could do with them.

Did you know that coupons can be used another 4-6 months past expiration dates for military families? 

How cool is that? 

It may not be much, but I feel good doing something that will help out a military family overseas.  

I divide my coupons into two easy categories like this:  

Then I go HERE to pick out a base to mail them to.  

Easy as pie and the least I can do to help!

Another Smith's Kroger Trip

I did this one really quickly while Lauren was at Joy School.  I was completely out of Cream of Chicken soup, which I use quite a bit for Chicken Enchiladas, casseroles and crock pot recipes.  

Smiths' had their Great for Cooking Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom soup marked down from $1.09 each to .49 cents each when you bought 10.

I had two of the $1.00 off 4 cans from here.

I also had several .40 cents off of 4 (not as great but still good)

Total with a few other items came to $63.22

I bought 48 cans and paid $ 24(ish) for that and my five extra items.  I love that I am stocked up for some yummy fall and winter cooking.  No running to the store in the snow with three little ones!

Sale is continuing on for the next week!  Now is a great time to stock up on these items if you haven't done so already. 

Smith's/Kroger Trip

It was such a quick trip I forgot to take pictures!!!  And it was my best savings yet!

I got:

Six Krusteaz Bakery Style Cookie Mixes, $1.49 after promo

• Use $1/1 coupon from 10/10 SS
• Final price: .49!

Six Campbell's Chunky or Select Harvest soups, .99 after promo

• Use $1/2 Campbell's Select Harvest or chunky coupon here
• Final price: .49 each

Eight 7-Up, A&W Rootbeer and Sunkist soda, .79 after promo

• Use BOGO coupon from 9/19 SS
• Final price: .40 each

 Two pkgs Ricola cough drops, .50 after promo

• Use $1/2 coupon from 10/17 SS
• Final price: FREE

Six Swanson chicken broth, .49 after promo

• Use .75/5 coupon from 9/26 SS
• Final price: .34 each

  Nine bottles of Langer's apple juice 

($1.25 for 4 with $1.00 coupon, so .25 cents each)

A carton of eggs

Price before sale and coupons - $55 something

I PAID...

$12.34!!!!

Savings of 87%

Sale goes on for one more day!  I will be heading back tomorrow for some Cream of Chicken Soup (.49 cents per can after the buy 10 promo - that is a great deal for Campbell's!)

The "B" Word

Have you ever thought you were going along, doing really well with your money management and then you make the stupid smart move of looking things over a little more closely? 

Yeah, well, I did that yesterday.

My initial reaction was like getting on the scale after Thanksgiving weekend.

What the WHAT?

So I spent a few hours revising and revamping.

And then I spent a little time considering how I can make a little money to pay off my student loan. (yes, I still have one and yes, it's been awhile since I was in college paying OUT OF STATE tuition thankyouverymuch)

Things are going to get a little ugly around here financially while Dan and I work on better plan with more savings.  

Have you said the "b" word lately?  How is your financial health?

Kroger Smith's Shopping Trip

My total for today $196.51

After Smith's sale and coupons:

I PAID $86.79!!!
 
I was happy to get several freezer meals that Dan can grab for his lunch on busy days at work.   We were also getting low on cereal and it felt good to stock up my shelves again.  

 

I really need to start keeping a written budget.  I know *about* how much I spend and how my spending has been drastically reduced using coupons, but it would be fun to see some more concrete numbers.

I think I might shoot for trying that in the New Year.

Beer Rebates

I added another $5 today to our vacation fund.  This was from a check I received in the mail from turning in a Beer Rebate.

 Beer Rebates look like the picture above.  You can find them usually in most grocery stores - I've had the best luck finding them on tear pads at Smith's/Kroger stores. 

So the deal on this was you had to buy pizza from the deli or frozen pizza.  California Pizza Kitchen had theirs on rollback at Wal-Mart for $4.98.  I had $1.00 off coupon and I bought three - since I wanted my total to be over $10 like the rebate requested.

So I paid $12.39 for the three pizzas, or $4.13 each.

 I am mailing in the form (that takes 30 seconds to fill out) today and I will get a check from Bud Light for $6.00 back in the mail.  

Making the pizzas cost $6.39 or $2.13 each!  I take that check and put it straight into the vacation fund since it has already left my grocery budget.  

You have to keep your eyes open for the rebate slips but they are mostly for things I already buy, fish, ground beef, chicken, etc. 

Smith's/Kroger Trip

Are you disappointed that there is no picture?  I went to the store late and I came home TIRED.  To tired to take pics...I just wanted to put things away and get into jammies!!

I am still getting over feeling like a total and absolute nerd walking into a store with my coupon binder.

My total for tonight $289.26

After Smith's sale and coupons:

I PAID $133.28

I walked out feeling not so nerdy after all. 

Vacation Fund!

 I am dying to pack the minis in the car and take off to Disneyland for a week.

Too bad the budget says otherwise!

But progress is being made!!

This week I added to our vacation fund:

$20.00 from a wedding that I did flowers for

$40.35 from a random check I received

$13.81 from our change jar

Bringing our grand total to:

$194.00!

This has gone slow but has been absolutely effortless!  We still have an entire year to save so I am positive at the rate we are going that we can pay cash for this trip!  

Love it!

Smith's/Kroger Trip

Total before sales and coupons  - $138.52

I PAID - $60.11

Woot!

Smiths/Kroger Case Lot Sale

I used to be a huge case lot sale fan.  Dan and I would go and spend $400-500 on who knows what but a lot of the same stuff and then get some with what felt like....not very much. 

Since I've started couponing I've noticed that the case lot prices are not that hot.  You have to pay attention and be careful.

I did go to Smith's today and stocked up on green beans and corn.  

I was almost out of both in my stockpile.

The sale price was $3.96

I had two $1.00/3 cans coupons for each case.

So I paid $1.96 for each case or .16 cents per can!

It felt great to get a bargain and add to our food storage without going broke over it. 

Are you a fan of case lot sales?  What do you try to stock up on?

Vacation Fund!

As of now, the plan is to take all three minis to Disneyland for three days next winter sometime for Greg's 6th and Lauren's 4th birthdays.  

To do this we need at least $1400 by the time we pay for gas, hotels, meals, tickets and souvenirs. 

So I started up a small little savings account to put spare change in to start saving.  I'd like to pay for the whole trip in cash. 

Call me crazy. 

I added another $12.62 in the account this morning just from Dan's change jar.  

So we are now up to $106.84 just from loose change!

I'm expecting a few rebates back in the mail and will add those to the fund as well. 

Yee-HAW!!

Smith's/Kroger Trip

Proof that my life is getting pathetic - I was excited to go to the gym and grocery store last night.  It meant TWO WHOLE HOURS without children. 

Since Smith's is rounding their coupons up to $1.00 until tomorrow, I picked up a few things we needed.  

Total amount before Smith's card and coupons

$138.92

I paid:

$67.23

Dan was laughing at me - I usually call him a computer nerd and then here I am taking pictures of groceries.  What does that make me? I have to admit that I always feel a tad silly showing off what I bought. But it's fun too so I'll just go with that!

Papa Murphy's Pizza Deal

Today, 8/30 through Wednesday, 9/1 you can get a large pepperoni pizza for only $3.99! There is a limit of 3 per visit.

What a great sale!  I'm going to purchase a few as these pizzas freeze really well. 

Find the nearest Papa Murphy's location here.

Thanks Utah Deal Diva!

HOT Newspaper Deal!

If you are new to couponing or are thinking of adding more papers - NOW is the time!!

 Utah Deal Diva (who I purchased my papers through before) has an amazing deal going on where you can get up to EIGHT subscriptions and they are running $19.99 per YEAR!

I used to get two per week and now I am upping it to four - wheeeeee!!

Go HERE to get more info!

Target Trip

So this is why I love using coupons.  I went into Target today hoping to catch the 75% off of children's clothing (it was still at 30% - bummer.)

But LuLu was in a good mood so I decided to wander around.  I haven't done that in a looooong time!

As I passed the back end caps I saw a ton of household items on clearance.  I knew I had coupons for a few of them so I decided to see what I could stack. 

Total for above items before clearance 

$45.98

Total after sale price and coupons...

$12.60!!

So much for not stockpiling for awhile!

Vacation Fund!

It's been awhile.  And my printer broke.  So the coupon thing has slowed down from that since most of my high value coupons were coming from Coupons.com.

It's okay - I haven't wanted to add a lot to my stockpile when I don't have the new shelving up in the basement yet.  I was starting to store salad dressing and detergent all over the house so I'm taking a little break.

I have been saving our change and we made a small deposit of $16.83 into the account today.  It was so cute, Greg knows it's for Disneyland so he gave me a fist full of change to add to it! 

Kroger Shopping Trip

 

I wanted to post a picture from my Kroger/Smith's trip today!  They are doubling coupons up to a dollar for three days and I was thinking of skipping out at first.  

I realized I had a lot of the coupons for the P&G promo that were expiring and now would be a good time to stockpile on some things we use. 

Total after sale and coupons...$101. 67

For a savings of 62 percent!

Free Lunch Bag at Target!

Target has these Embark insulated lunch bags for $3.99.

If you look inside the bag there is a coupon to get 6 free Parents magazines OR...a refund valued up to $4.96!

Since I am already an ideal parent with no need for any further advice (ha!) I opted for the refund.  But make sure your bag has the card inside of it to do this!!

There is also a booklet full of 8 coupons!  Sweet!

While I was there I used this coupon to get these pens for .20 cents!

I am a nerd and LOVE office supplies.  

Matching blue Bic pens makes me one happy girl!

Thanks Kristin!