First off, I had a $10 +UP reward that expired on Saturday!  ARGH! I hate it when I flake out like that!  SO, I was going to roll that reward, but it turns out that I still had a great Rite Aid trip even without that $10 to start with.

This is what I picked up:

My child has his chin on my maxi pads.  WHICH, by the way, make awesome donations!!  Did I mention that couponers never pay for pads??  Never.  Ever.  Ever.  EVER.  I can’t stress that enough. (Ever.)

Don’t bother clipping any coupons, but do if you’d like to make a little money on the toothpaste!  Go to Rite Aid and grab an ad.  Look at the front page, where all the best deals this week are listed (not always, but this week they are on the front).  This week you can pick up FREE toothpaste, FREE pads, cheapo deodorant and cheapo detergent.

SO, the transactions went like this:

Buy 1 Colgate Total (or any number of other Colgate toothpastes included) using your Wellness Card Discount.
Pay $3.50 out of pocket (OOP)
A $3.50 +UP Reward will spit out at the register = FREE.

THEN . . .

Buy 1 Colgate
Pay with your $3.50 +UP Reward
Owe $0 OOP
A $3.50 +UP Reward will spit out at the register

Repeat for a total of 4 tubes of toothpaste (the limit as listed in the ad).  If a line forms behind you, go to the back of the line.  Don’t make people irritated with you.  By the way, stores are used to this behavior.  My manager (sweet Becky) hung out with me at the register until I was done since she had to override all of my $0 sales. 

IF I had my +UPs from last week, I would have used those to pay for the first transaction.  But, I didn’t.

Now, use your $3.50 +UP Reward to pay for some deodorant.

The Arrid and the Arm and Hammer are 2/$4 this week, plus it produces a $3 +UP reward.  You can do this deal 2 times.

Grab 4 deodorants included in the sale.  There will be tags on the shelf.

Buy 2 deodorants
Pay with the $3.50 +UP from the toothpaste deal.
Pay 50¢ OOP
A $3 +UP Reward prints at the register.

Buy 2 deodorants
Pay with the $3 +UP
Pay $1 OOP
A $3 +UP Reward prints at the register.

If you have printed the coupons, you will pay $0 out of pocket.  I paid 50¢ each.

Actually, I was in a massive hurry, so I bought all 4 deodorants at the same time = $8 minus $3.50 +UPs from toothpaste = $4.50 OOP and I earned $6 in +UPs.

After picking up my sweet boy, I went BACK to Rite Aid and grabbed 2 detergents/$7, used my $6 in +UPs, paid $1 OOP and earned $3 +UPs.

I used my $3 +UPs to pay for the Stayfree = $0 OOP, and I earned a $2 +UP.

I still have $2 in +UPs in my wallet to roll into next week or spend on something else that I might need from Rite Aid like sandwich bags or milk.

In the end, I paid $6 OOP for everything that you see up there, plus I still have $2 in +UPs leftover.  Like I said, if I had cut coupons, I could have saved or even made money on this trip.  As it is, I’m pretty pleased!

Now, if nothing else, go pick up your free toothpaste this week!  It’s a great way to break in to couponing without having to clip a single coupon!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
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Never pay for toothpaste!! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

At least I didn’t have the kids with me, right?

I realize it has been a very long time since I have posted any of my coupon scores, and really, tonight isn’t massively impressive compared to past trips.  However, it was the week of the dreaded $10/$75 Safeway coupon, so I felt like I needed to shop, just for you guys!

Let’s recap a couple of quick details for my newest Facebook Likers:  I’m a strategic couponer.  There are 4 people in my family.  We have a budget of $50 a week for groceries/household, etc.  You can read about how I coupon in my Extreme Couponing Series of posts, and while you are at it, you might want to check out how we use our Cash Envelope categories.  (For those of you stalking my Etsy shop, I promise I have more coming tomorrow!! Please stop emailing me!!  LOL!)

As all strategic couponers can testify, it is really quite difficult to get our totals up above $75 to be able to use the coupon.  Most of us do small trips of $10 at a time.  NOTHING at all like that Extreme Couponing show.  Except for the nerves.  Most of us still get nervous.

For those of you joining me for a couponing post for the first time, please understand that my trips will look a bit strange to you because I have a great, huge stockpile of frozen veggies, meat, dry goods, etc.  I haven’t done any real major shopping in over a month, and our family has still eaten well.  We’ve just been going out for the basics: milk, bread, cheese, fruit and veggies (not very post worthy!).  Otherwise, we’ve definitely been eating out of the freezer and pantry this month!  THAT is the luxury of being a strategic couponer!

This is what I did tonight:

Let’s break it down starting with the interesting stuff.

You know that coupon that was going to expire?  Well, it was the $5 off Cars 2 Blu-Ray+DVD (regularly $24.99), which I had planned to get for my boys for Christmas!  Safeway is having a Buy Cars 2, get stuff free promo, so I got water, popcorn, a box of crackers and a Cars 2 cup for free.  BUT, it gets better, because the Special K cracker/chips are BOGO this week, so I ended up getting 2 boxes for free.

Ocean Spray 64oz drinks are $2/4, plus they are having a Buy 2, get one (the Cran w/ lime) free.  And, thanks to Frugal Living NW’s Coupon Database (which I reference all the time), I discovered a $1/2 MC in the Oct. Better Homes and Gardens.  In the end, the 3 bottles of juice cost $1 each.  Not the best price we have seen, but we’ve been craving cranberry juice!

Pineapple is $2.50 today.  Not tomorrow, though.  (I think it was a 3-day sale?)  I like to buy fresh pineapple, cut it up and freeze it for our Friday night pizza nights.  I get the equivalent of about 3 large cans from one fresh pineapple.

I finally used my FREE Open Nature ice cream coupon.

And, I used my FREE Starkist Tuna pouch coupon.

Plus, I used my FREE Kettle Chips coupon that came in the mail on Saturday!  Great timing!  We couponers like to save our FREE item coupons (which we get by writing to manufacturers or liking on Facebook during promos we hear about on the coupon blogs) for the weeks when we get the $10/$75 coupon.  It brings our total up! 

Safeway frozen veggies are 99¢ with the in-ad coupon.  This is really not a stock-up price, however the mixed bell peppers were included (which is rare)!  Wahoo!  We have a ton of frozen veggies in the freezer right now, and I like to oven roast them with bell peppers. YUM, in a major way.

I needed some all-purpose flour, and it is on sale for $1.99 until Thanksgiving (not stock-up, but decent).

The Open Nature bread is $2/5, and I had (2) $1/1 Safeway coupons from one time when a gal was giving out samples a couple of months back.  SO, the bread was $1.50 each!

Idahoan potatoes are my guilty purchase this time.  Yes, I do like them A LOT.  They are yummy and so super easy!  I paid 75¢ each after MC.

The Tide detergent was $5.99, but I had $2/1 MCs, so I paid $3.99.  This is a good price for Tide, but I typically don’t buy Tide.  I just wanted to sort of “clean out” my washing machine.

One of my precious children does not like hot cocoa (which couponers get for free this time of year), so I was thrilled when I saw the in-ad coupon for the hot cider @ $1.49/ea! Since the Thanksgiving ad prices go until Thanksgiving, I will most likely buy a few more boxes for camping season.

Other things you see:

Milk
Potatoes
Bananas
Onions
Coffee (Ouch! $7.99 for the not so great stuff!)

After promo savings and Safeway coupons, but before manufacturer’s coupons, my total came to $89.83, and I almost had a heart attack.  After all coupons, my total came to $51.98!  And, keep in mind that the movie was $19.99, HOWEVER since I was able to stick within my grocery budget this week (with $2 borrowed from last week), I’m not going to reimburse myself from our Christmas gift savings.

Over all, I’m pleased with this trip, even though it wasn’t a massive shocker!

If my store restocks Kotex tampons, I’m stocking up.  PLUS, there is a Lucerne Catalina starting Tuesday, so I will most likely go back for cheese.

Did you guys get some great deals this week?

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
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Early Christmas Shopping at Safeway! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

I went to my trusty end cap frozen food clearance section and found a BUNCH of Eating Right waffles and pancakes on 50% off clearance, which made them just $1.40 each.  I bought 11 boxes to get my total above $15 so that I would earn that fun $5 Catalina!  I rolled a previous Catalina, plus I used the last of my $5 off a $15 frozen food purchase coupon that Tera sent me (I gave a couple away!).  SO, all 11 boxes cost me $5.40 OOP, however I also earned a $5 Catalina, so basically, I paid 40¢ for 11 boxes.  Kinda fun!  I actually gave 3 away to a friend, so I Photoshopped some in for the picture.  Hee, hee!

Other deals:

Artisan tortillas were 49¢ after Buy 8 promo and coupon.

Cheese was $1.79 after Buy 8 promo savings, and I used the 55¢/1 pdf printable on the California Dairy website, which made them $1.24 per bag.

Peanuts were $1.  They sucked me in.

Chicken legs, thighs and quarters are BOGO @ $1.49/lb, which actually equals out to about 75¢/lb.

Bananas were cheap.

The chips were $1.99 each after Buy 8 promo, which isn’t the best price, however we NEEDED them because I made a bunch more salsa last night!  I now have about 14 quarts!  I plan on making Jamaican Jerk Nachos, too! 

Anyway, I hope that this post gives you more ideas for your shopping trips!  My freezer is now completely full to the brim (literally), and tomorrow I start a massive apple canning adventure.  I think it’s time we started eating from the pantry/freezer!!  I love that that is an option for us since we have been stockpiling and preserving!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
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Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

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Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Waffles! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

So, reader Tera sent me some of the amazing $5 off a $15 purchase of frozen food coupons, which coincide PERFECTLY with the amazing $5 Catalina when you buy $15 worth of frozen food promotion!  AND, I haven’t had a problem with my Catalina printing.  However, I have always made sure my total is up to $15, even after manufacturer’s coupons.  I’ve had a lot of success with  50% off markdowns on frozen food.  Check out today’s purchases:

For this transaction, I did the frozen food promo and the Buy 8 promo.

Buy 8:

The Knorr homestyle stock was $2.49 wyb 8 promo items, and there was a $2 off MC.

The Barilla was $1.29 wyb 8 promo items, and I had two 55¢/1 MC (Thanks, Jenny!), however my $2 Catalina didn’t print, and NOW I see that it is because I bought the Plus instead of the Whole Grain.  I’m totally taking those back, people.  First, because they accepted the coupon on the wrong product (it didn’t beep), and that’s not good.  Second, because I don’t PAY for pasta these days.  I get it for free, or it is a moneymaker for me.  I want my $2!!  Hee, hee!

The Crest Complete is $2.29 wyb 8 promo items, and there was a $2/1 MC in 9/11 SS or RP (can’t remember).  It’s a great filler item to get to the 8 item threshold.  Especially since, you know, couponers don’t PAY for toothpaste.  (Thank you to the lovely commenter under the Frugal Living NW post for sharing this one!!)

The Artisan tortillas are $1.99 after promo savings, minus the $1 MC and doubler = 49¢.

Frozen Food:

All of the pizza was in a freezer on an endcap where they keep clearance and overflow items.  The pizzas are originally $4.99 each (these are not the ones in the ad), and they all had 50% off stickers on them, which made them $2.50 each.  I bought 7 in this transaction to get my total above $15.  Then I used the $5 off coupon, and a $1 off Safeway brand coupon (from the same book), plus the $5 Catalina from a previous frozen food promo trip.

I paid just $10.25, and received another $5 Catalina.

Then, I took my son to a birthday party.

Later this afternoon/early evening, I went back to grab MORE clearanced pizza, and threw a Hot Pockets in there to get my total above $15. (For the record, this is the first box of Hot Pockets I have EVER purchased in my life, and it is so yummy!  Eating it now! Oh, and it’s LEAN pockets, so I can eat both.  Just kidding!! Although, you know I will.)

I paid $5.23, and, I earned another Catalina!!

I don’t know if I’m done or not.  My hubby is going salmon fishing, so he is bound to bring back a bunch of fish that I have to figure out how to get into my freezer.  IF there is room, I will go back for more.  Hee, hee!  SO much fun!!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
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Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

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Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Frozen Pizza! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

However, I scored.  I figured I would post, just in case any of the rest of you are last minute people!

I cleaned out the freezer case of the O Organics Lasagna.   Sorry Dallas peeps.  You took all the beans, so we are even. 

I only had (2) $1/2 Eggo coupons, so I could only buy 4 boxes.  That meant I had to throw the pink lemonade in there to get my total up to $15.97, which meant that I earned the $5 Catalina!!  Then, my coupons came off.  I’m pretty sure they fixed the bug that made the Catalina not print if the total goes below $15 after MCs.  By the way, they are having this same promo next week, so keep an eye out for great deals!!  The checker told me that all of the O stuff is going on clearance starting Thursday.  I plan on checking the clearance section in the freezer case!

I still had a $1/1 MC from the Ocean Spray free can promo that was a while back.  It doubled, so my 4 cans were 50¢ + deposit.

I did the Scrubbing Bubbles thing again!  I’m gonna have to teach my compulsive toilet cleaner (Cole) how to use these things!!

And, I’m done for the week.  Good thing, because I see a couple of sweet deals for next week!!  Wahoo!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
One last trip! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

I have been going, going, going since the first day of school, and I can’t see a break in sight!  This is seriously crazy! My house is a mess, the laundry is very far behind, and my grocery shopping has been sporadic, at best.

However, I did go shopping last night, just to grab some sandwich bread, bananas and cheese.  I brought back the rest.

I had a very small list of things I was going to get for “a great deal”.

First, the basics: 

We needed some meat, so I bought some cheap chicken.

I’m impatiently waiting for my cheap apples to arrive, so I couldn’t bring myself to buy any.  Instead, the boys get bananas!

I canned some salsa this morning, so I grabbed some cilantro, garlic, and chips.

We needed the cheese, and it was decently priced, plus I had a 55¢/1 coupon.

And, I was going for the Nature’s Own Bread that was priced 2/$4, but it was sold out, so I asked the checker to substitute the Safeway brand.  No problems there.

Now, on to the better deals:

My stock-up price for mushrooms is 99¢ a pack, but @ $2.18 BOGO, I’ll take it.  I mentioned before that I just dump them out into a freezer bag and store them in my freezer.  I grab a handful as needed!

The little jars of marinated artichoke hearts are $1 each, no coupons needed.  I am looking forward to making some Lemon Artichoke Chicken this fall.

I did the Scrubbing Bubbles deal, so I got two boxes of toilet cleaner stuff for 49¢.

I read under the comments over at Frugal Living NW that the Barilla Pasta ($1/ea) was producing a $2 Catalina WYB 3.  I only had (2) 55¢/1 coupons (which doubled), but I still bought 3 boxes so that I would get that Catalina!  In the end, purchasing whole grain pasta was a $1.10 moneymaker after you factor in the Catalina!

The Old El Paso Refried Beans were free after coupon and doubler.  I may go back for more, but my store only has ONE variety, and it looks like lots of my fellow Dallas couponers have been taking advantage of the deal!

Thanks to a comment under the Safeway deals post over at Frugal Living NW, I was on the lookout for full sized meals to take advantage of the $5 Catalina that is printing when you buy $15 worth of frozen goods.  According to the comments, it looked like the computers were really keeping track of your total needing to be $15 BEFORE manufacturer’s coupons.  That meant, I needed to proceed with caution if I were to do this deal.  One gal mentioned finding some peelies on a Stouffer’s Lasagna, so I was on the lookout for those, however a peelie bandit hit my store before I got there.  It was so sad to see the shiny spot on the package where the peelie used to be!  However, I turned the corner and, to my delight, I saw that the O Organics brand of lasagnas were on 50% off clearance!  I took a box up to Brad (we all love him) and he checked the price for me.  They ended up being $2.24 each after clearance price.  SO, I picked up seven bad boys and also used the $5/$15 frozen food coupon that I found in the frozen food book a while back (Totally no longer available, and I only grabbed 2 at the time.  Grr.).  My total for seven family sized (small family!) organic lasagnas was $15.68. Minus the $5 off frozen food coupon, minus the $5 Catalina, and I ended up paying a net of $5.68 for 7 meals!  Score! 

I’m really looking forward to pulling those lasagnas out for the times when I don’t have the time or energy to plan dinner.  Frozen food saves the day again! 

Okay, so tell me. Does the craziness ever end?  Will my life calm down later this fall?  Give a mother some hope!

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
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Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Frozen food saves the day! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

Cash budgeting is catching on all over the country, but it can sometimes be uncomfortable to talk about money. I thought I’d demystify the topic a bit and let you know what WE do as a family of 4 living on one income.

First of all, let me explain our cash envelope system.  I have a set of 10 envelopes that I keep with me in my wallet (in my purse) at all times.  I know that makes some people uncomfortable, but it works for our family, and it prevents me from having to run home to grab the grocery envelope if I forgot my cash while at the grocery store. My husband also has a set of 5 envelopes that I made for him that he keeps with him most of the time.

These are the categories that I use:

• Groceries – Week 1
• Groceries – Week 2
• Groceries – Week 3
• Groceries – Week 4
Breaking up my groceries over 4 weeks keeps me from overspending at the beginning of the month and then not having enough money for milk at the end of the month.  I put all food and household purchases in this category.  So, all cleaning supplies, toiletries, food – including the occasional take-out pizza if there is money leftover at the end of the week.  When you start using cash for groceries, you will figure out that you will spend WAY less at the grocery store, because you will reevaluate whether you NEED that second bag of chips.  When I started my cash budget, we figured $100 per person for groceries ($400 for our family).  By the end of the second month, I was able to cut our budget down big time.  We spend $50 a week on groceries, for a total of $200 a month.
• Fun – This is my fun money. I get $50 and my husband has his own $50 that he keeps with him.  I use it to buy myself a coffee treat, a meal out, new lipstick, a new shirt, school pictures, a gallon of paint, a trip to DQ, or new socks for my son.  “Fun” is sometimes not so fun, but it keeps us on track and within our budget.  Neither of us feel a sense of “entitlement” when it comes to our fun money.  I would imagine that “blow” is probably a better descriptor, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put that on an envelope!
• Gas - I live in Oregon, where we have gas station attendants who won’t let us pump our own gas.  Typically, they make you take your cash inside, however I have never had one insist that I get out of my car when my kids are with me.  I just hand them the cash and they hand me my receipt.  I have a Gas envelope ($150) and my husband has one for his vehicle ($150) that he keeps with him.  I DO use cash for Gas, because it helps us to evaluate whether we REALLY need to go into town, or could we wait and group our trips later?

The way we do it is we don’t say, “Fill ‘er up!”  Instead, we say, “$50 please!” which doesn’t fill ‘er up, but it keeps us on track with our budget so we don’t overspend at the beginning of the month.  Also, there are months that my envelope is empty a week early because my vehicle is the family vehicle.  Thankfully, those are usually the months when my husband’s gas envelope still has money left in it.  We share as needed!

If using cash at the pump won’t work for you, then just try my “$50 please!” method to help you stay within your gas budget.

• Hair - I budget $40 a month for this, but it requires a little bit of wrangling.  My husband’s haircuts cost a bit less than $20 every 6 weeks, and my haircuts (and brows!) cost $30 every 6 weeks.  So, I give him $20 in his Hair envelope and I keep last month’s leftover $10, plus my $20.  The first month, I didn’t get a haircut.  By the second month, we were on track. (Confession: Sometimes I over-tip my stylist, because she rocks. I just steal from another envelope to compensate.)  I color my own hair, and I am pretty low maintenance otherwise.  I’m always jealous of the ladies who have me make an envelope for their pedicures!  Hey, if it is important to you, you should budget for it, right?

•Date Night – YES, we have all heard that you should have a weekly or bi-weekly or monthly date night.  I have to tell you that going out to dinner with JUST my hubby sounds so amazingly appealing that it makes me want to cry, but it doesn’t always work into our busy schedules.  Instead, we budget $10 a month for something special for the family.  Think of this as another “fun money” category.  Usually, we will add it to leftover grocery money or Daddy’s fun money and go out to Thai or Chinese food as a family.  Sometimes we get the 4 for $5 ice cream treats deal at DQ.  Sometimes we will pick up some fancy cheese and crackers and a bottle of wine for a “couch time” date night.  We are very grateful that we live near my husband’s parents and that they really, really like our kids.  When we do head into Salem for a date night, we drop the boys off with them and then use a gift card that we received for Christmas for dinner out.  Plus, I’ve been picking up a lot of local Groupons for fun little restaurants around town, and when I share my referral link and you sign up and purchase your first deal, I get a little credit, so these dates end up being free for me!  ••• By the way, here’s a bit of a soapbox speech: You really, really, really do need to spend some quality, face to face alone time with your husband.  My favorite is couch time after the kids go to bed.  NO television, soft music and conversation.  It doesn’t cost any money and is a great way to invest in your marriage!

•Gifts – My Gifts envelope is usually empty except at Christmas time or in the early summer when my boys have their birthdays.  I’ll tell you about our savings account micro categories in a later post, but just for now: We budget $50 a month for Christmas, birthdays, showers, weddings, etc.  Any type of gift is taken out of the gift budget category.  When we get closer to Christmas, I’ll probably pull $100 out of savings for my Gifts envelope so I will have my money with me when I find my husband the perfect pair of pants.  Or whatever.

I’ve been using Swagbucks as my search engine instead of Google, and I’ve shared my referral link on my blog and on Facebook.  When you sign up with Swagbucks using my referral link, then every time you search on using the Swagbucks search engine, you have the opportunity to win Swagbucks.  These add up pretty quickly (especially when you share your referral link), and pretty soon you can cash them in for a $5 Amazon gift card.  Last year, I bought most of our Christmas presents on Amazon using $475 worth of gift cards I had earned through Swagbucks. WOW! You can read all about that in this end of the year Swagbucks post!

Yes, we DO usually have money leftover in the gifts category at the end of the year, so we roll it into savings.  Again, I’ll tell you about that in a later post.

 •Blank – This is my last of 10 envelope categories.  I usually put my +UPs in there, or if I received some money from my birthday, I’ll put it in there.  I like having a “misc” category, just in case I find that I need to add something to my budget temporarily.

And, that’s how we use our cash envelopes.  However, the cash envelopes are really just one (major) part of a larger budgeting system that we have in place.  I’ll share about our savings account and our little micro categories in a later post!

In the meantime, let me encourage you to budget for what is important to you.  I have seen a LOT of categories, and I really love seeing how other people budget.  Some categories that I really like:

Starbucks – My sweet friend Susan has a major Starbucks habit, and she BUDGETS for it.  I love that.
Leftover – My friend Angie has an envelope for any money that is leftover at the end of the month.  Oh, the discipline!!!  She then puts it into savings!
Crafts – NO guilt when you buy that new bottle of adhesive or tube of glitter.  After all, it’s in the budget!
Entertaining – YES, you can entertain on a budget!  Imagine having an envelope strictly for entertaining others in your home or taking someone out for coffee!  You’d see a lot more of your friends, for sure!
Decorating – I am SO jealous.  No, envious. 

What about you?

What other cash envelope categories do you use?

A sincere thank you to my current sponsors!
International Family Services - Adoption Services

Keeping Life Creative - unique art prints on Etsy

JeniLu Scraps - handmade wristlets, bags & wallets on Etsy

Bluebird Chic - hand sewn camera straps on Etsy

Visit my new Etsy shop to purchase cash envelopes!
Cash Envelope Categories – What works for us is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

{Sigh}  So, if you saw me at Safeway today, please try not to judge me by my parenting skillz, or lack thereof.  I was ready to pull my hair out!  Grr!

With that being said, I didn’t do any really crazy deals.  I just stuck to my list.

This is what I ended up with today:

Yeah, I kinda freaked out a bit at the register.  $50.58 is WAY more than I usually spend in one trip.  (I budget $50 a WEEK!)  However, once I started putting the meat away, I realized that I have at least 11 meat-as-main-dish meals here, plus a bunch of sides and meatless meals.

Some highlights:

LOTS of the value packs of meat are BOGO right now.

• I ended up buying two packages of chicken: thighs and leg quarters BOGO @ $1.49/lb for $8.67, which ends up being 74¢/lb.  As soon as I got home I pulled the skin off, tossed a few pieces of chicken at a time in freezer bags (7, total) and squeezed some soon-to-be-expired salad dressing in 3 of the bags as marinade. Thank you, mom, for making me de-skin chicken as a teenager!!  I rise up and call you blessed! (Proverbs 31, baby!)
• I also bought two packages of some kind of beef roast @ $4.29/lb, which I had them grind into ground beef.  The benefit of this is LOW fat, cheap beef, and it all came from the same cow.  Ever see Food, Inc?  Yeah.  ONE cow. BTW – after the BOGO deal, it ends up costing me $2.15/lb.  I cooked up 3 lbs tonight.  We are having taco salad, and I saved 1/2 of the meet for the freezer.  Probably for spaghetti.  I have 3 more lbs. to deal with tomorrow.  I’ll probably cook it up because that is super easy to deal with for quick dinners.  Let’s call that 4 meals out of the ground beef, although I’m sure I could stretch it into 5 since I like to add beans or lentils to the ground beef to stretch it out!

SALAD was completely free, and a bit of a moneymaker.  I used coupons and ended up making 51¢ on each bag I bought, for a total of $1.53 overage.  There were a ton of the little booklets in our produce section, so I didn’t have to mess with the printable, plus the coupon didn’t beep.  I ended up going back later tonight for 3 more bags of salad and a loaf of bread for 1¢.  We’ll be eating salad this week, fo sure.

Mission chips were actually $1.49 each. The price on the in-ad coupon was a misprint. Wahoo!!  I was totally going to pay full price for chips if I needed to, because . . .

I’m making restaurant style salsa tonight or tomorrow.  That’s why you see fat cans of tomatoes, tomato paste, jalapenos, onion, garlic and cilantro.  I stocked up on Rotel a while back, so I’m set there!

And, I have sour cream in there.

You also see Whole Milk and yogurt. Yes, Safeway took my free printable coupon for the Oikos yogurt (Facebook). I’m going to scrape the “plain” off the top for my homemade yogurt.

AND, the beans were a decent price.  I bought 2 bags of black beans and two bags of pinto beans.  As soon as I’m done with this post, I’m going to get those pinto beans started in the crockpot.  I’ll do the black beans tomorrow night in my sleep!

Rice. Probably a better price at Walmart, but I saved time by buying it in this trip.

I took advantage of the Buy 3 juice promo and bought 3 Mott’s Apple Juice @ $1.99.  One is Mott’s for Tots and I used the $1/1 Vocalpoint coupon (although I would definitely NOT be advocating tots drinking apple juice on a regular basis! Yikes!) and I used (1) $2/2 coupons from the MDA book. These 2 coupons doubled, so my OOP on 3 juices was 65¢ each.

Apples from the bag are the best price right now @ 93¢/lb. Ugh. I can’t WAIT to be able to buy organic apples for super cheap again!  Remember, I’m buying apples out of season, so I can’t expect awesome prices.  However, the boys love apples, and I love saying “Go grab an apple” when they start to whine about starving.  Bananas work, too.

The olive oil was $2.99 after coupon WYB 2.  That’s a decent price, and I probably won’t have to buy more until next year.

I’m pretty sure that is it, but I thought I’d leave you with some main meal ideas from this trip:

• hamburgers, salad, peaches
• taco salad (Had this tonight. MAJOR hit with the boys and they have requested it again.)
• chicken salad
• ground beef enchiladas
• tacos/burritos
• spaghetti
• crockpot chicken (x3 or 5)
• Asian chicken stir fry
• chicken divan

Plus, I’m planning on skipping shaving my armpits tomorrow and instead working on:

• homemade yogurt
• cooked dried beans – pinto and black
• homemade salsa – canned
• peeling and freezing peaches (finally, right?)

This week I also worked on blanching and freezing a HUGE amount of free broccoli.  My friend picked too much!  I’m so thankful!  I used 3 bags and gave 2 bags away.

I can’t WAIT to pick up cheap cheese next week!  Thanks to my coupon blogs for putting the deals up so early!  You ROCK!

PS – these deals end tonight, so GO!

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Major Shopping at Safeway! is a post from: Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs