Expired Coupons

What do you do with your expired coupons?

I know not everyone uses coupons (although I can't imagine why you wouldn't it saves me thousands of dollars a year). But even if you don't use your coupons out of the Sunday paper I am sure the families overseas living with their military member would love and appreciate them!

I KNOW they would because I lived in Panama and Puerto Rico and we couldn't get coupons in the Sunday paper like you do in the U.S. and at that time there really weren't very many printable coupons at all. Even though there is the PX/BX and Commissary the prices typically aren't that much cheaper and although the Commissary says there isn't tax there is a surcharge (so it's like a tax).

I recently went through my coupon binder and sorted my expired coupons and here is what I came up with. 

Please check out this WEBSITE that has been specifically set up to help out our military families.

It can really become a mess sometimes but I will do my coupons while watching TV in the evening. I have to pick a night and just do it because most nights I am doing laundry or many other things while the TV is on.

I remind myself not only does this financially help out my family but I am doing something great for other families.

Talk about multi-tasking. I spend a lot of time on the phone at work with a headset and so my hands are free a lot so I will sort my coupons while I am talking to the organizations I work with.

I sort the coupons to Grocery Items, Non-grocery items, and pet items.

There is a wonderful lady at my work that will collect the coupons and then she ships them off. It is wonderful because I can contribute but I am not the one that has to do it all! I didn't total my coupons but I know I just send hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of coupons.

Remember what a different this really does make in the lives of these families being able to really save some money. That is one less stress for them.

Take the time please to check out OCP.



Saving Money - Stocking Up

What Great Deals we have this week at Fry's!

I decided to buckle down and devote some time to my couponing to stock up on everyday items to save our family LOTS of money!

A few ladies at my work meet once a week and we swap coupons. It is great and I often get what I need and stock up on coupons for multiple purchases.

I made a quick stop at Safeway to get 6 items that I had matching coupons for that gave me a great deal and then I did the bulk at Fry's.

Here's my stash! $187.26 worth of products. I paid $41.11 with a total savings of $146.15.

Most of the items are every day products that we all use and most of these products I can stock up on without them going bad.  Here is what I bought:

• 4 - 12 pk. sodas
• 2 1/2 gallon ice cream
• 4 Colgate Toothbrushes (Free)
• 2 Colgate toothpaste
• 2 Crest Vivid Toothpaste
• 4 L.A Product Hair Gel (Free)
• 3 Febreeze Room Sprays
• 2 Febreeze Air Set and Refresh (Donated to Science teacher for class)
• 2 Dawn dish detergent
• 1 Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
• 1 A-1 Steak Sauce
• 1 Heinz Ketchup
• 1 Mezzetta Peppercinis
• 10 Gillette Shaving Cremes
• 3 Gillette Men's Body Wash
• 1 Old Spice Body Wash
• 6 Old Spice Deodorants
• 8 Secret Women's Deodorants

Preparing to organize. I am slightly over the top with making things look organized.

Our stockpile of deodorants.

After seeing this picture I decided I really need to make all my labels match. I know I have a problem.

So here's the deal.  Get your Sunday paper every Sunday. Cut all the coupons out even if you are not going to use them this week. You never know when it will go on sale and you might be able to get a great deal before they expire.

If you haven't seen this blog I did on coupons and my binder check it out Here !!

So after I got everything organized last night I took an inventory of what we have on hand.  You might ask what someone would do with all of this stuff? Well, we donate some to the school, soldiers, and we do Christmas Angels at Christmas and make their stockings so we also put goodies in their stockings like I would my own kids.

I LOVE saving money but getting to also give back at the same time.  Take a moment, check with your friends, co-workers, and family to see if anyone would want to do a coupon swap with you!

Also, keep your eye open for peelie coupons, tear pad coupons, and often times different stores will have different booklets that also contain coupons.

I found this coupon book at Fry's yesterday while I was there. I picked up a few and the coupons are manufacturer coupons so you can use them at other stores. PLUS they don't expire until 12/31/12 so I can hold on to them and wait till the best sale to get the most savings!

Couponing can be confusing and it can seem overwhelming but I promise you the more you do it the easier it is to navigate. Give it a try and you will be amazed at how much money you will save your family!



Frugal and Stretching Every Dollar!

As you probably can tell I am about being frugal and trying to get the best deals to stretch our money as far as we can! We have all sorts of goals in life (more on that later some time) but I try to make sure we are as efficient as possible with our money.

Do you do REBATES?

We went to get the oil changed in the truck (just too hot and didn't have time for hubby to change - because we normally do that to save money) and they said we received a rebate on the oil they used.

Never heard of this but we took it!

I think many people forget to send the rebates in and then that is lost money!

BIG Savings off the oil change!

Make sure you read the form and the fine print for all the information required. Normally it isn't too bad - maybe the form and the receipt. Now if I need the receipt for something like tax purposes I always  make a copy and keep the copy for myself and send them the original.

I hear people say they don't really care about using coupons or rebates and trust me I totally understand the work that goes into and the hassle but this is OUR MONEY PEOPLE! I always tell my kids when they pass up a penny on the street that you would never just go throw money away! Same thing with coupons and rebates - it's like throwing your money away!

Do you shop online? Check out Ebates!

Savings, Cleaning, and Madness

Being a wife, a mother, a working mother, the list goes on and on. What doesn't change is HOW BUSY WE ARE!  It just seems the to-do list never ends. Part of this is because I will admit, I am type A, anal retentive, and over the top on some things. But I can't help that I just want my family to have the fullest life ever but on a budget!

I get asked a lot how I coupon, how do I get all the savings. Well.. Bottom line- it is a LOT of work. But it is work that pays off and pays us back!

It starts with LOTS of coupons.

My suggestion is to print your coupons off the Internet every week even if the items aren't on sale at the time. Normally the coupons do not expire for some time. I even print for items I may not normally buy because if I can get them free it is a great opportunity to try a new product or even get the products for free and donate them..

There are different websites I use to get coupons. Since I most shop at Fry's I also hit the blogs that give the details to the sales each week. I do try to link them up to my blog so you can visit the blogs as well. Here are a few I visit. Many of the blogs don't just highlight the stores I use, or stores on the West Coast - so make sure you check them out!

http://coupons.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=5S2ZUA6PWPEPO

http://coupons.allyou.com/Couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14803&nid=10&zid=rd17&cid=14549007&bid=ccr015uyfgtdke8936625310

http://coupons.target.com/mcp/pd.cfm?encp=bw3Edh8NsU3vzmfu%2BCqxk1gE5kAdfbx6dC45DH8m6FuvNQDwYVl3xOH31DkRj79yzb%2BSNmiA403U%0D%0Ak0Vud5AkAA%3D%3D&ref=nav_footer_coupons

http://dashingfordeals.com/

http://dealseekingmom.com/

These are just a few of the sites I visit. Again, I print every week because often time the coupons you get this week will be something that goes on sale in a few weeks.

I also buy a Sunday paper every week. I have read that the rule of thumb is to buy one paper for each person in your house.

Make sure you print out and know your stores coupon policy. For instance Fry's is really special. Right now they make all manufacturer coupons a dollar. They also will accept competitor coupons and they will let you stack one competitor coupon on top of a manufactorer coupon. This can create really big savings!

Here's a tip - If you have a buy one get one free (BOGO) coupon and a store is having a BOGO sale - both items end of being FREE!!

OK here's another little dirty secret. Sometimes I go coupon shopping! I know I am insane. If I am in town and pass a grocery store and I have a few minutes I will go in and walk the aisles and if I see any peely coupons or tear off coupons I will go ahead and get some of the coupons to build my grocery shopping list.

Start organizing those coupons!

I took a BIG binder and bought business card holders (my mom suggested baseball card holders, may  be better!) and then I organized them into sheets of relevant items. I tried to make it where I could at least see a picture to make it quicker to get through while I am at the store.

It is Madness I know!

I went shopping with my list - I detail it to the cents. I try to have it as accurate as possible. I bought $296.99 worth of groceries and paid $88.02! Just a little of what I bought was 16 bags of potato chips, 10 Vitamin waters, 2 Boxes rice krispies, bananas, bread, milk, 4 - 6pk Diet Coke bottles, Kitty litter, cat food,, dog food, 5 boxes of pasta, 2 Ragu, 2 packages of sandwhich meat, 18 Power bar, 2 boxes granola bars and MORE!

Well I have covered couponing and part of our madness! I will post another post soon about cleaning!

One thing I have done is switched all of my cleaning products and my laundry and dish cleaners over to Safe, Non-Toxic Shaklee! I love it! The products are so concentrated that it isn't expensive to switch over and it is healthier for your home and for our environment! Right now till May 20th if you buy $30 worth of products at member price you will get a free membership with No minimums to buy ever! I promise once you try it you will love it! Check out my site at http://lawsonshealthyliving.myshaklee.com/

Fry's Grocery Deals

Check out this weeks deals at Fry's! Visit and Thank Dashing for Deals! Lots of Freebies!

http://dashingfordeals.com/favorite-frys-grocery-deals-for-04-06

GREAT Grocery Deals!

Hey all! If you live in Arizona check out this blog! There are the Fry's Grocery Deals listed out for this week starting today! No need for me to do more work when Kellie at Dashing for Deals has already done all the hard work. Check it out! She also has posts for other stores like Safeway you just have to click on the Stores tab at the top.

http://dashingfordeals.com/favorite-frys-grocery-deals-03-30-through-04-05

For those of you that shop at Krogers please check out Coupon Divas and they have a posting about the Kroger deals.

For Safeway Deals please visit http://www.savingforsomeday.com/safeway-deals-330-45/

I hope you get some great savings!

Fabulous Deals!!!

OK - I was so excited about the deals I got I had to go ahead and blog about it tonight.  The last week  I hadn't been very motivated about getting my coupons together. I am tired... what can I say?

But my neighbor and super mommy friend Dawn had a great deal the other day and posted on her facebook and it really got me motivated again. Yesterday, I posted a link to a blog with some great deals at Fry's grocery (check it out if you haven't already) and got my stuff together last night.

I normally do this while watching TV so I do feel productive but also get to relax. Remember the tricks. You can "stack" coupons at a lot of different stores, just check out their coupon policy. Fry's grocery will let you stack coupons right now and Target always lets  you stack coupons. Stacking is when you use a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon for the same item. Right now Fry's is accepting all competitor coupons and then all manufacture coupons are worth a dollar. Target normally has great coupons you can print off their website.

This is how the madness started last night.

This the result after the grocery store.

OK so if you are trying to count the boxes of pasta just give up! There are 41 boxes of pasta ALL FREE!!!!! This is $230.16 worth of groceries and I only paid $49.14 for all of it!  I normally don't buy bottled water ( I am trying my darndest to go green) but for my Emergency Kit I need to have a stock of water so I ended up getting these 24 pks of bottled water for $1.79 each after my coupons. Another really cool deal I got was purchasing that new Philadelphia Creme Cheese Cooking Creme on sale for $1.49 and I had a coupon for $1.50 off! Plus I had another coupon for $1.50 off any chicken when you bought the Philadelphia Creme Cheese product, so I found a pack of chicken legs on clearance for $1.99 so I got both items for only $.49

I would love to hear about your deals! Come on people I know you can do it too! Let me know how you do!

Fry's Grocery Deals!

Why recreate the wheel when it is already good? Check out this blog about the great deals at Fry's this week! You can also sign up to follow this blog to get the great deals each week! I have signed up so you can always click off my blog but you can sign up too! You can also sign up to follow my blog!

http://dashingfordeals.com/frys-grocery-deals-for-03-16-11

FREE Stuff??

Who doesn't like Free Stuff? I wanted to share some deals that I found at Money Saving Mom for Target!

I thought really Target?? I can get free stuff at Target? Don't get me wrong I love Target, I love the store, I love their stuff, I love Target!

So I decided on my lunch hour I would run down to Target because I needed to pick up some birthday invitations and this is what I got!

I was able to get 3 boxes of granola bars, 2 travel size of Shout Wipes, One box of 24 count Ibuprofen, and One package of dental floss for a grand total of $.09!!!! Seriously people it can't get much closer than free!

Check it out and let me know if you get any great deals!

Savings Savings Savings!!

I was thinking this pay period my grocery shopping may be a little more than what I wanted to spend. Fry's wasn't having any special Mega Ten Deals and no additional coupons but I still set out to do the best I could.

First I went to Safeway (it is only about 2 miles from Fry's so no next extra gas was wasted). They were having specials on the Gusher Fruit Snacks for .99/each when you buy 4. Safeway makes all coupons a dollar and I had 2 coupons for .55/off 2 boxes of Gushers which would be 2.00 off the 4 boxes. So on my first order I had 4 boxes of Gushers for $1.97 except I also had 9 $1.00 off coupons for Vitamin Water. But if I bought 10 I also got 2 additional items for free. When I checked out the Catalina coupons printed off a save $2.00 coupon for your next order AND a save $1.50 on your next 3 Gusher/fruit roll-up purchase. I ended up buying 16 boxes of Gushers, 10 Vitamin Waters, and 2 Smart Waters for only $2.37.

Even with only paying $2.37 I still had 3 $2.00 coupons off my next order and since Fry's is taking competitor coupons I used this $6.00 off my Fry's order.

I always search for coupons where there is XX of one item so that will be $1.00 off the one item and then I always try to pair with a competitor coupon so I can get even more off. I still have one $1.50 off my next 3 boxes of gushers so I might go back to Safeway tomorrow to get another round since they are practically free and normally at best they are $2.50 a box

In total I have $387 in groceries and spent $156!! As you can tell from the pics with this $156 spend I still bought a lot of stuff including 6 bottles of Tide detergent, 3 bags of cat food, 16 bottles of Propel Water, 10 bottles of Vitamin Water, 2 Smart Water, 16 boxes of Gushers, 6 boxes of General Mills cereal. Excedrin Extra Strength,  2 Degiorno Pizzas, 1 California Kitchen Pizzas, 5 packages of hamburger meat, a bag of shrimp and 1 bag of chicken breasts. 2 bottles of Pantene, Charmin toilet paper, and LOTS more!!

SUCCESS!!!!

Grocery Deals!

For my friends in Arizona - Fry's is having fabulous deal through Tuesday February 22. I am not sure what their ad will be starting the next day but I never take chances. For my friends that go to Krogers, Dillons, and other Kroger family groceries their deals are very similar but I think Fry's is the only one that accepts competitor coupons and makes all manufacturer coupons a 1.00 (which really helps!) so check out your local grocery store for their coupon policy.

Fry's is having a Mega 10 deal where if you buy a combo (mix and match) of the specified 10 items you will save $3.00 now and get a coupon for $3.00 off your future purchase.  Plus remember you can still "stack" your coupons! So if you have a competitor coupon you can use it WITH a competitor coupon!

There are several websites that you can go to print out manufacturer coupons.
SmartSource
Wow Coupons
All You Magazine

There are many sites and you can google these and so many great sites and awesome blogs will come up. I am only touching on a few points but there are some blogs out there that are unbelievable and can tell you specifically what the deals are by item. I will try to give you the best details I can.

Remember don't forget to go to the Target website and print out their coupons as well.

So I went to the grocery store with Cody and we had to be smart with our carts since I was going to do all the Mega 10 items in one cart and check out and then use my $3.00 coupons on my next cart (all non-mega 10 items).

Non-Mega 10 Items

Mega 10 Items Cart

It was a crazy day at the grocery store and having Cody there to help me was so helpful he doesn't even realize. I did "catch him being good and helpful" (as parents we often catch them doing wrong) and told him he could have one "freebie" item (one that isn't on the list) - he chose a candy bar which made him happy and was cheap for me!

This is what it looked like as we went through the store. One cart on top of the other trying to squeeze through the aisles while trying to be polite and teaching Cody that others aren't always as nice as I am trying to teach him to be (it was frustrating at times).

Some of my deals!  And most of these are mega 10 items plus coupons.

Easy Mac 4 pk Mac-n-Cheese - Target has a coupon for $1.50 off a 4 pk and I printed off a coupon (remember all manufacturer coupons will be worth a dollar) and with how the coupons were I bought 2 - 4pk Easy Mac for $3.88 which made them $1.94 each.

Ritz Crackers - Target coupon and manufacturer coupon. Bought 2 boxes of Ritz crackers paid $2.88 which made them $1.44 a box.

Oreo Cookies - Target and Manufacturer coupons. Bought 2 boxes paid $2.98 which made them $1.49 a box.

Oscar Mayer Lunch Meat - Target coupon (must buy 3) and manufacturer. Bought 3 packs of lunch meat. Paid $4.47 which made them $1.49 a pack of meat.

Bounty Paper Towels 8 pk (not a normal item for me to buy). Target and manufacturer coupon. Bought 8 pk for $4.69 which made it $.58 a roll for paper towels.

Kraft BBQ Sauce - Target Coupon (looks like mayonnaise but says other Kraft products below picture which included the BBQ sauce) plus a coupon that if I bought 2 Kraft products save a $1.00 on a 2 liter (mega 10 coke 2-liters were .99 which made it free). Kraft BBQ sauce after coupon were $.19 a piece plus a free 2 liter.

Totino Pizza Rolls and Totino Pizzas - buy 2 saved a dollar. I printed the maximum number of coupons and bought Totino rolls for $.47 a box and Pizzas were $.30 a pizza and I bought 6.

On My Non-Mega 10 Items

In one of the coupon circulars last week there were cut out coupons for Target for Tide Detergent. There were 2 coupons and I had 2 manufacturer coupons for Tide plus Tide is on sale for the Super 8's sale that is also going on. Tide $5.88 minus my coupons = 2 Bottles of Tide for $3.38 and $4.13 each.

Yoplait Yogurts - Target and Manufacturer Coupons. Bought 12 and they were $.23 each.

I also still have Snapple Mail in Rebates so I made sure that I bought 1 pk of Snapple Teas with both check-outs so I was able to get 2- 12 pks for free!

Bought 151 items - $389.27 Worth of Food and Paid $182.23 out of pocket. I had a $25.00 gift card I had been holding on too and used that before out of pocket. I saved $207.04. Average of feeding a family of 4 is $91.12 a week.

Success!!

Squealin and Dealin!

Well I was planning on writing something that was unique and uplifting tonight after work but instead I can't help but want to share the awesome deals I got at the store. I dropped Haley off at gymnastics and the countdown was on to get everything done in an hour! Because everything is in a loop within about 2 or 3 miles of each other my plan was going to work perfectly!

I stopped at Safeway first. I had 4 manufacturer coupons for buy one Hershey bar get one free. Plus Safeway was having a sale of buy 2 get 2 free. So I ended up getting all 8 Hershey bars completely FREE!

Next I swung around to Fry's to take advantage of the sale that is still going on.

This is $142 worth of groceries for $34.63! I was so happy with my deals. Tonight I was able to get 8 Hershey bars, 5 Gatorade pre-energy drinks, an 8 pk of Gatorade, 12 Propel Waters, 4 different Fruit Cups, 3 boxes of Jello, 2 cans of Cashew nuts, a 12 pk of Dr. Pepper, 2 Ragu Sauces, 6 pk of Snapple, Snyders Pretzels, California Pizza, Dove Conditioner, Some sort of Ramen thing, Jet Dry, 2 Pace Picante Sauces, 2 TGI Friday Frozen Dinners, and 2 packages of Keebler cookies. 

Most of this was part of the 10 items save $5.00 but I also had manufacturer coupons and I stacked them with coupons from Target. Target has a coupon for buy 2 keebler cookies save a dollar, as well as buy 2 TGI Friday frozen skillet meals and save 4 dollars! Check it out and start stacking the coupons.

For my friends that does not have a Fry's check your local Kroger store for their deals. Fry's is part of the Kroger family and Fry's does have some of the best deal ever but the other Kroger family grocery stores have a lot of good sales going on as well!

Ok ok, I hope tomorrow to provide something more fulfilling than me just getting great deals! Haley was so excited that her and I split one of the Hershey bars (don't count the ones in the picture, there is one missing!) on the way home from gymnastics.