My very first coupon deal ever was for Kraft shredded cheese. This was long before coupon binders became popular. Well before deal sites and forums were born. And eons before smart phones. Hell, I didn’t even own a printer.

We are talking old school couponing here. Unassisted. Figure it out yourself couponing. The golden days.

I can’t remember what the price of the cheese was, but I do remember that it was the first time I ever saw a peelie coupon on a package.

The peelie doubled and I dang near peed myself at the register. What happened? Was that a register error? Did the cashier put it through twice?

That’s when I learned about double couponing. My life has never been the same after that. My virgin coupon moment with Kraft cheese.

Cheese for pennies on the dollar and this was back in the way back before I knew A.J. was lactose intolerant. Our first emergency room visit wasn’t very long after that cheese deal.

And here we are today. We now know that A.J shouldn’t have more than a half cup of dairy per week, which is just as well considering the dairy prices lately.

I used to have a whole freezer dedicated to cheese, which was aptly named “the cheeser”.  But the days of super cheap cheese have sadly become a thing of the past.

So, when I saw this week that cheese was part of the gas points deal at Stop&Shop, I got busy restocking the cheeser.

I went to a Stop&Shop that is not frequented by couponers and was so very glad I did. They were fully stocked with cheese and Zatarain’s rice which is also part of the gas points deal.

For some reason the store I visited had the cheese on sale for only $2.50 a bag instead of the advertised $3.00. Because of this, my cheese came to $1.10 per bag after figuring in the value of the gas points.

In the old days I used to stock up on cheese when it was .50 per bag. Now I’ll cram the freezer full of $1.10 bags of cheese. I shudder at the thought of how much cheese will cost ten years from now.

I haven’t had many epic coupon hauls since the accident. This deal is the closest I’ve come to how I used to shop. I find myself concentrating more on the food deals and less on the drug store deals lately, which suits me just fine for now.

The cheeser is full and we have enough rice to last us through fall. A good shopping trip indeed.

How about you? What was your very first coupon deal that made your skirt fly up? Your a ha moment, if you will.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Ok, so you know how I always preach about how important it is to eat a well balanced diet? How we as couponers can look normal at the checkout?

Yeah, for this one post, you can forget about all of that. Today my cart looked like it was pushed around by an Oompa Loompa on a chocolate bender.

Here’s the scoop. At Stop&Shop there’s a candy/gas points deal that will allow my kids to have smores for the entire summer for dang near free. That is, if I can hide the chocolate from them. It’s sort of hard to hide 60 king sized Hershey bars.

For every 5 king sized Hershey products I purchase, I pay $6.25, but I get $7.00 in gas at the pump if I purchase 35 gallons. So basically, it’s a money maker. Smores for the whole neighborhood it is!

Also, certain theater box candy has the same math as the Hershey deal above, so I seriously stocked up on boxes of Whoppers, Reese’s Pieces and Good N’ Plenty to go with all of the cheap movies we are going to see this summer.

How are we going to do that? Great question! Let me show you!

 You need to keep your eyes peeled for certain products that have Spidey codes. You can go here to see all of the participating products, but  Cheez-Its, Kellogg’s, and Keebler products all have the Spidey packaging….

For every 6 codes entered, you get a free movie ticket. There’s a limit of 30 code redemptions for the duration of the promotion, but I need to do a little digging to see if this is per email address or household. I’ll update in the comment section when I figure that out.

This week Cheez-Its are buy one box, get one free.  So for every six boxes I purchase, I pay $11.55, but I get a $12.00 movie ticket for free. We absolutely love Cheez-Its, so this is a win-win situation. We are totally stocking up.

As I mentioned, Kellogg’s is also a participating brand, and once again Stop&Shop is offering a promotion this week where you buy 4 boxes of cereal and you get $6 off your order and a free gallon of milk.

Of course I’m purchasing the specially marked Spidey code boxes which turns out to be a fantastic deal.    As an example, I’ve been buying four boxes of Crunchy Nut cereal using .70/1 coupons. My total comes to $1.74 after coupons and the $6 instant savings.

And for that, not only do I get all of that cereal, I get a free gallon of milk and 4 Spidey codes. So for every 12 boxes I purchase, I pay $5.28 and I get two free movie tickets and three gallons of milk.

A pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Those theater boxes of candy will taste even sweeter while watching movies for a fraction of what the rest of the people in the theater are paying.

This time around Kellogg’s switched things up by putting the codes on the front of the package. I sort of like the way you can see how much cereal is left in the box. Don’t you?

So, that’s what I’m excited about this week. How about you? What are you working on?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

I ran out to Walgreen’s today for only two items. Toilet paper and Hefty food storage bags. The toilet paper turned out to be a no go deal, but I was quite pleased with my $1.14 Hefty bags. That would’ve made the trip worth it in and of itself, but I figured I’d walk the aisles to see if there was anything else that had to come home with me.

As luck would have it, I stumbled across a killer deal on clearanced Jose Cuervo margarita mix. $3.99 for both the regular and sugar free jugs of mix……

It pays to walk up and down the aisles. You just never know what you might find. Oh, and before I forget… if you got the $3.00/1 got2b coupon in your paper today, some of those products are 50% off at Rite Aid this week. I know that they are free at Walgreen’s, but people are reporting problems with the coupons scanning at Wag’s. Just another option if you don’t want to deal with the issues with the Wag’s computers. Boy, do I hope they fix those computers soon.

How about you? What are you excited about this week?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

When I woke up this morning, I got the kids off to school and then crawled back into bed. I pulled the covers tight up under my chin and burrowed down. I clenched my eyes shut, trying to will sleep to come. I was so tired, but could not convince my body to go back to sleep. Once up, I’m up. There’s no way around it.

Preparing for that cooking show was a lot of work. I know it looks simple, but it really wasn’t. And this morning I felt like a slug. As much as I wanted to just crash, there was too much to do. Thursday is the last day of the sale for grocery stores in my area, and Shaw’s was having a crazy deal on Orville Redenbacher popcorn. Buy one box, get one free, plus TWO free 2 liters of A&W Root Beer or 7 Up. How awesome is that?

So I forced myself to head out and grab the popcorn/soda deal before it was too late. When I got to the store, I decided to go up and down the aisles to see if there were any unadvertised specials. And I’m glad I did. There were bargains to be had left and right, but what should’ve been a cheapo shopping trip escalated quickly.

The first thing I stumbled across was the pumpkin pie filling you see above. $1 is a stock up price for me. And stock up I did.

Now you’ll most likely chuckle over this one. We all have French’s coming out the bottom, right? But here’s the thing, I like really good mustard. There is nothing like a sandwich with spicy brown mustard, but at $3.50+ I rarely buy it. At 50% off, I will.

I’ve never tried Maille. Sure looks fancy pants. It even had a coupon attached. $1.25 for fancy pants mustard is exciting stuff.

After filling my cart up with all of these amazing finds, I grabbed my popcorn deal and off I went to checkout. I was so excited about my deals that I didn’t mentally prepare myself for the checkout total.

I don’t know about you, but I have a good idea of what my total should be before I roll up to the register. And in my mind, that total was to be around $20.00. Whenever the cashier said $95.00, I about had a heart attack.

Are you sure? I said incredulously. That can’t be right. But as I looked at the conveyor belt overflowing with good deals, I realized that it was indeed correct.

Sometimes stockpiling can be expensive if you get too excited over a deal. It’s sort of like shopping at a club store. You go in expecting to spend $30 or so, but if you get side tracked for even a moment, you end up paying $100+. It’s crazy how that happens.

Even though my end total was so much higher than what I’d normally spend, I got some really great products that rarely have coupon deals. So I am very happy overall, but I will admit that I damn near hacked up a fur ball when I heard the total.

Have you ever been taken by surprise at the register?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

When people find out that I’m a hardcore couponer, I often times hear the old “couponers eat too many processed foods” argument. And try as I may to convince them otherwise, what they see on tv doesn’t help my message.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

When I read that there’s a deal on Lysol products at Walgreen’s this week, I was out the door bright and early. I’ve been hoping for a deal on the spray because boy is that stuff expensive!  I did indeed get to my local store very early, but the stock was not great. I have a feeling that this deal is going to be very hard to pull of if you wait much longer than a couple of days or so.

This deal requires that you buy five of the bonus packs of spray/wipes, which brought my total to $20.00. I then used five $1/1 Lysol coupons, which brought my total down to $15.00. For hitting the $20.00 mark, I got a $6 Register Reward. $9.00 for ten packages of wipes and spray.

Two cans of the spray alone would’ve cost me $12.00 if I had bought them at the local grocery store. After Register Rewards, each item came to .90 each.

There were some other good deals at Walgreen’s this week, but I was just there for the Lysol. It was my one must have deal of the week.

The other hot deal that everyone in the coupon world is abuzz over is the Coke/Nabisco deal at CVS this week.  We have no soda in the house, so this is a welcome deal. Not that we drink much soda, but it’s nice to have it in the house when guests come over.

This deal requires you to purchase $30.00 in assorted Coke/Nabisco/Planters products, which will net you a $10.00 CVS gift card. This deal could take some time to execute because you can only buy four 12 packs at a time. I’ll just be visiting CVS often this week.

It helped that I had coupons for Coke Zero and a free coupon for Kettle chips, which is also a participating product in this promotion. I didn’t have coupons for the 12 packs, but in the end they will come to about $1.67 each plus deposit. That’s a stock up price in these parts.

My goal is to purchase 24 12 packs in total which should last us well through the spring. There are other good deals at CVS this week, but these were my must have items today.

After Walgreen’s and CVS, I ran to Stop&Shop for a few coupon and produce deals. Nothing earth shaking, just cheap tuna fish, Odwalla drinks (yum), toothpaste, Goldfish crackers and a few other odds and ends.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

After weeding out all of the coupons that expired on 12/31/11, my binder all of a sudden feels a lot lighter. And with weeks of no coupons in the paper, I have very little to file. So, here’s to hoping that 2012 brings lots of good coupons our way.

More food, less house cleaning and health/beauty coupons. Pretty please. And enough with the Airwick coupons already! We can only use so many room fresheners.

My last shopping trip was pretty light. I ran to Stop&Shop because they have a good cereal deal where you buy four boxes of cereal, and you not only get $4.00 off your order, but a free gallon of milk too. I love when they run this promotion. Cheap cereal and free milk are always welcome in this house.

Besides the cereal and a few other miscellaneous grocery needs, I grabbed a bag of oranges that were on sale for $2.99. I have a recipe that I’m working on which I’ll share with you tomorrow or the next day. It’s full of orangey goodness.

Lately, I’ve been craving citrus and spinach. And before you even ask, no I’m not pregnant. But clearly my body needs it since it’s the first thing I think about every day. I guess there could be worse things to crave, right?

Speaking of cravings, I want to share something yummy with you. Awhile ago, while traveling on Jet Blue, I tried this chip like thing called Popcorners. Holy Yum! They are so good and so much lighter and healthier than potato chips.

They’re kind of a cross between tortilla chips, rice cakes, and popcorn. Incredibly good, but hard to find in stores. Well, last week when I was doing my weekly BJ’s run, guess what I found?? Popcorners! A giant bag for $4.59!

I was giddy. I grabbed my phone to take a photo, and I guess I looked a little exuberant because another shopper commented that they must be very good if I was taking photos of it. I talked them up so much that the shopper bought a bag too. Maybe I should forget about blogging and go into snack sales.

I haven’t done much at the drugstores this week. I did go on a little hunt for the All that everyone’s talking about, but no luck for me. Which is totally fine because I still have enough All from a previous deal to last me a good long time.

I did pick up the free after Extra Care Buck peanut butter Snickers bar, which I will never bring into my house again because Oh My Gawwwwwwd was that good. Too good. That would be public enemy #1 to my arse, which I’m currently trying to whittle down to a more respectable size.

That’s about it for my shopping this week. I’m off to a slow start, but I plan on hitting the drug stores later this week to grab a few of the better deals.

How about you? What are you excited about this week? Did you snarf down a peanut butter Snickers bar?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow will be a big day for coupon inserts. It’s been reported that there will be six inserts in the Sunday papers. You can check out the coupons at sundaycouponpreview.com to see what’s coming out.

There are a ton of really good coupons in the paper tomorrow. I noticed quite a few food coupons, which is a nice change of pace. I love a good deal on beauty products, but I sure can’t cook with them. I”m very happy to see the .55/1 Barilla whole grain pasta coupons. That is something I can work with! So make sure you pick up that paper. I think the ROI will be worth it this week!!

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

This morning while Shannon was eating her breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios that I bought for around .50/box, I reflected on how coupons have greatly affected our lives in subtle and not so subtle ways…..

Lessons on flexibility….

Because my kids have grown up in the house of a couponer, I believe they have a more flexible spirit than most when it comes to what they eat and the products they use. This will serve them well in the future because they will be open to trying new things and will most likely never be brand loyal.

The kids have been taught that Crest, Aquafresh, and Colgate will all work swimmingly if they would just put the stuff on a toothbrush and use it. And that Tide, Wisk, and Cheer will do a good job cleaning their clothing if that clothing ever makes its way to the laundry room.

The same thing is true with Electrasol and Cascade. If you put the dishes in the dishwasher before the food solidifies into a cement like state, either product will do a good job cleaning the mess up. Now if I could just get them to unload the dishwasher without being asked, boy would we be in business.

Lessons on delayed gratification….. 

When I’m out shopping, I see kids clamoring for this box of cereal or that package of cookies, pestering their frazzled mothers until the poor woman gives up and tosses it into the cart. On the rare occasion that my kids are at the store with me (avoid, avoid, avoid), they know that if it isn’t on the list, I’m not buying it.

HOWEVER, they will point out the things they like, knowing that I’ll watch for a sale down the road that I can pair with a coupon to get the best price.

I think this is an excellent lesson for kids. Now don’t go thinking that my kids are perfect. They aren’t. They just know and accept that they can’t always get what they want at that very moment in time, and that everything goes on sale at some point. Except North Face because that stuff NEVER goes on sale. Ever.

Lessons on seasonality…..

I cook with what’s in season. It’s one of the best ways to cut down on meal costs. Now for most of you this goes without saying, but it’s so important to cook with whatever produce happens to be in season.

Way back in the way back, I would make a dish with whatever produce was called for in the recipe. Bruschetta with fresh tomatoes in February, strawberry shortcake in January, pesto angel hair pasta in March made with fresh basil, and I could go on.  The Food Network was enemy #1 to my budget.

Pre-couponing I would foolishly buy whatever my belly dictated it wanted. In season or not. I’ve now trained my tummy to crave the appropriate veggies for the appropriate season, which sure makes a ton of sense when you think about it.

The kids may not be fully conscious of this particular lesson, but they are so used to eating certain fruits and veggies during each season, that I’m hoping this lesson will be learned through not only their brains, but their taste buds too.

Lessons on preparedness……

I hate running out of toilet paper. There is nothing worse than seeing a wisp of toilet paper on the brown cardboard roll, knowing that there is a possibility that there is none to be had anywhere in the house. And even though there may be a pile of Bounty napkins chest high in the basement, Bounty wasn’t made for bums or septic systems.

My stockpile is always stocked with certain goods. Flour, sugar (white, brown and confectioners), cereal, pasta, and rice. Toilet paper, paper towels, laundry soap, and Tampax. Just to name a few.

Stockpiling makes so much sense for so many reasons that it would take several lengthy blog posts to explore all of the benefits. Stock up when the prices are low for the products you need to live your daily life. Simple sense.

And we learned this to the core this past summer. My month long absence after the accident would have been so much harder on Jeff and the kids if they hadn’t had the stockpile to fall back on. A gift that kept on giving throughout my healing.

Such a lengthy post to say that I’m really thankful for coupons and what they’ve added to my life. Free product is great and all, but I think they’ve added so much more than that. They’ve provided valuable, practical lessons that I hope will stick with my kids for life.

How about you? Do you feel the same way? Are there any other lessons you’ve learned?

Be Sociable, Share!

•