Rite Aid has simply ROCKED lately.

I had a $20 +UP reward burning a hole in my pocket (with an impending expiration date that was stressing me out), so I had to come up with a scenario that would net me some good stuff and at the same time would pay me back. Get it? Rolling the +UP Rewards!

This is what I picked up this morning:

Yes, it’s true that no one NEEDS Doritos, however we rarely buy chips, so this is a big treat! The bags expire in May, so I think we are set for a while. They are 2/$5, and you get a $5 +UP when you spend $15, plus every 2 that you buy nets you a $1 +UP. So, $15 OOP (or, use old +UPs), and get $8 back. I also used a $3/15 coupon that I earned by taking the survey at the bottom of a receipt. Those are so cool! Essentially, the chips were $4 for 6 bags, but I like to think of them as FREE.

The Little Remedies medicine is $3.99, but you get a $3 +UP back, so it’s like spending 99¢. If you have a coupon (which I missed), it could be free! However, this is a great way to recycle +UPs. I may go back for more.

This is what I did last Saturday. Obviously these deals won’t work this week. A note on the tuna (for my fellow couponers): last week they were Buy 1 @ $1.49, get one 50% off, plus it was supposed to print 2 $1 +UPs. Well, my store was completely out when I went earlier in the week. Apparently, our store manager ordered more tuna, however, while we were waiting for the tuna to arrive Rite Aid pulled the $1 +UP. This created an uproar, apparently, so they changed their minds. Sheesh. But, by then all of the couponers had already done their Rite Aid deals and my store was stuck with an overstock. I was able to get the deal at the last minute (Saturday night). I like to think I helped the store. LOL!

There was a BOGO sale on the Hersheys and a BOGO coupon, which made all of the chocolate free.

The plate deal is even better this week than it was last week. (Doh!)

Can you believe that I did not step foot in Safeway last week? Or, if I did, I don’t remember it. (Mommy brain, I’m sure!)

However, I saved money by NOT shopping, and besides, I am so stocked up it’s crazy. I may head to Safeway tomorrow, for basics (milk, eggs, cheese, etc), but I’m not seeing much. Are you??

After a looooooong day at home with my precious (snot nosed . . . literally) boys, it was good to be able to get out of the house to do a little bit of grocery shopping!

I gotta say, there is not much going on at Safeway. However, I do always find a hidden gem or two, don’t I?

BAAAAAACON! Tell me that your mouth is not watering right now? Oh, how I heart bacon!!

Anyway. Ahem.

I did this in 3 transactions, and they went something like this:

Transaction 1:

6 Rice a Roni (hate me, but I love this stuff) @ 89¢ each with in-ad coupon
2 Pasta Roni
Used (2) 1 free Pasta Roni WYB 3 Rice a Roni, AND the coupons each scanned at $2.00 off! No beeps, no opportunity to enter the price of the free pasta, nuthin’. I’ll take it!
6 Prego @ $1.25 each with in-ad coupon
Used (3) .50/2 MCs and the doubler to make them 75¢ each!! After my ginormous pasta sauce stock up last week, I decided to just stick with these 6 jars and gave the rest of my coupons (6 or 7 of them!) to a friend. She’s loving me right now!
1 Kraft Singles on sale for $1.49.
Used 55¢/1 MC + doubler to make it 44¢.
Total OOP was $8.06

Transaction 2:

6 Rice a Roni
2 Pasta Roni
same coupons
2 Farmland Bacon @ $2.49 each with in-ad (Sunday flier) coupon.
I used (2) 55¢/1 Internet Printables from the Farmland website. You have to register and it took a couple of hours before I got my coupon, but I did get it! With the doubler, these two packages cost me $1.44 each.
2 Buddig Deli Cuts @ $1.99 each with in-ad coupon. Used (2) 75¢/1 MCs + doubler to make them 74¢ each.
Total OOP was $7.48

Transaction 3:

6 Rice a Roni
2 Pasta Roni
same coupons
1 Top Ramen @ $1. It pains me to post that here. However, I love my husband, and he always BEGS me to buy him Ramen. I think it is his comfort food. For the record, this is only the second time I have willingly purchased Ramen in our 13 years of marriage. I make him do it. BLECH.
2 Kraft Singles on sale for $1.49 each. Used (2) 55¢/1 MC + doubler to make them 44¢ each.
1 Lime Juice @ 99¢ (really good price, if you ask me)
1 Butter @ $2.49 with in-ad coupon
Total OOP was $7.48

After the fun at Safeway, I popped on over to Rite Aid to grab a few things.

My total after coupons was $10.96, and I used $10 in +UP rewards and paid with 96¢ OOP. I earned another $7 in +UPs!

(Mitch just shook his head when I took this picture and said, “Tower ‘o Tampons.”)

I can’t wait until Wednesday!! I NEED some cheese and chicken and milk!! After all the sodium I stocked up on tonight, I can’t wait to get some good deals on produce! But I do have a ton of veggies and fruit in the house, so I promise my family eats well!!

Did you see something that I missed? Let me know!

I’m going to confess something terribly shocking. Are you ready for it?

I didn’t even look at the grocery store ads until yesterday. (And, new ads come out tomorrow!)

Yes, it’s true. And I call myself a couponer?! Sheesh!

However, I had been keeping up on my coupon blogs, so I knew that there were some sweet deals to be had at Safeway and Albertsons.

I called up my Albertson’s partner in crime and we took off with 3 kids in tow! Of course, we headed to the closer and prettier option for us, the McMinnville Albertson’s. Such a great store!

I took advantage of the ConAgra promo and ended up with this:

Transaction 1:
13 Hunts Pasta Sauce @ $1 each
12 Rotel Tomatoes @ $1 each
=$25, which means I qualified for the $10 Catalina!

Used: (3) $1/4 Rotel coupons from the Joy of Football book and 3 doublers

Plus, I found a coupon hanging on the cardboard Rotel display for free chili seasoning (up to $1) WYB 4 cans of Rotel (or Hunts tomatoes). The Albertson’s brand was 50¢ each, so I grabbed 4 and used 4 coupons. However, when she scanned the coupons, it automatically took off $1 each! She let it go for the first transaction, but adjusted the coupon for the second transaction.

= $17 OOP, AND I earned a $10 Catalina!!

Transaction 2:
1 Kikkoman Soy Sauce = $2.39 (used $1/1 MC + Doubler = 39¢)
2 Chili Seasoning Mixes = Free with coupon listed above
17 Hunts Pasta Sauce
8 Rotel (used (2) $1/4 MC + 2 doublers)

Used $10 Catalina from T1
= $11.39 OOP, PLUS I earned a $10 Catalina!

At this point, I stayed with the older kids while my friend took our groceries out to the car. I picked up some things that we were going to need this week, which accounts for the rest of what you see in the picture.

Transaction 3:
1 Teriyaki Sauce = $2.39 - $1/1 MC - doubler = 39¢
Food Should Taste Good chips Free with coupon (probably from a FB Fan page)
Carrots
Onion
Oranges
Potatoes
Apples
Bananas

Used $10 Catalina

= $1.80 OOP for Transaction 3!

Next, we headed back home and popped into Rite Aid to grab some free lightbulbs and deodorant (although my store doesn’t have any, so I might head into Salem if it is convenient).

I grabbed this:

The chocolate bar was a filler! I paid with (3) $1/1 MCs, (3) $2 +UP rewards and 44¢. I earned $6 in +UP rewards!

And, finally, I popped over to Safeway for this stuff (because the prices really are so much better on these items at Safeway this week than they are at Albertson’s!):

• The Rancher’s Reserve Meat coupon worked with no problems this time! Apparently enough people complained and Safeway corporate fixed it. Whew! The meat cost me 1¢.
• The Hefty cups were on sale for $1.50 and I had a $1/1 MC from the football book, which doubled, so they were free!
• The lunch meat was clearanced out, but it won’t expire until next week.
• Eggs are a good deal.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased! I stocked my pantry just a bit more (understatement, maybe?) and still ended up with a lot of the basics, all for only $35.79. This keeps me well within my $50 weekly grocery budget.

Of course, I’m going to have to reorganize my pantry again!! It’s getting to be a mess, and I’m running out of room. I might have to find creative spots for my stockpile!!

I know many of you store your stockpile in crazy places. I’d love to see! Please take a picture and send it to me, or leave a note in the comments so that we can teach non-stockpilers that there really IS room to keep a stockpile in your home!! Email to [email protected], or leave a link in the comments to your post or picture!

Thought some of you would like a little update on the grocery savings!

Lots of ice cream . . . and hidden items that you can kinda see. (You know! The good stuff. LOL! Oh my gosh. Was that TMI? Ahem. Sorry.)

I used my $20 Gift of Savings Certificate (from December) and two $1.99 +UP rewards and paid 89¢ Out of Pocket. I earned $23 in +UP rewards. For buying ice cream. Yes! Thank you, Rite Aid!

The apples were my filler to get up to $10 to be able to use the hot dog coupon.

Need the deets? Check out my previous post.

Hi fellow coupon ladies! I know that many of you like to check out my posts before heading to the store, just to see if I saw something that you might have missed in the coupon match-ups this week on our favorite coupon blogs. Oh, the pressure!! LOL!

But, I’ll try to help out just a bit by showing you what I’ve been buying.

First of all, the dreaded/loved $10/$50 Safeway coupon came out this week, and I am completely ignoring it. TOO MUCH PRESSURE! There are so many great daily deals that I just can’t get my brain to organize itself enough to make sure I don’t forget anything. Therefore, instead, I am doing several smaller purchases throughout the week. This kind of gimmick sale (the daily deal thing) is what gets us all in the store every day . . . which is exactly what Safeway wants. But, stick to your list!!

First of all, let me show you what I did at Safeway on Wednesday night (date night while the kiddos are in Awana!):

So, I bought the cheap milk @ $1.99 x 2 = $3.98

AND, 8 boxes of cereal @ $1.99 each - $1.00 MC (1/30 RP, or the printable linked up at FLNW) - doubler = 49¢ each. Ladies, never pay more than 75¢ a box for cereal unless it is your luxury item. I never “stock up” unless they are 50¢ or less . . . except for Kashi. I love me some Kashi.

Mitch and I went together, so we did two back to back transactions to take advantage of the doubler.

= $7.90 (ignore the bad math in the photo)

That same night at Rite Aid:

4 bags of Chex Mix @ $1.50 each - $1/1 MC from the Safeway Joy of Football Book = 50¢ each. And, I earned (4) $1 +UP rewards. Money maker and great Super Bowl snack.

3 packs of paper plates and 1 pack of bowls $3.99 each and BOGO = $7.98 after BOGO savings. Used the $3/2 Video Values coupon and (4) $1/1 MC from Safeway Joy of Football Book = 98¢

2 packs Stayfree were BOGO, plus I had a BOGO coupon, which made them free!

I also purchased two personal items that are not pictured. If you are a couponer and have been reading your blogs, you know what they are! Moneymaker!

AND, 2 bags of M&Ms as a filler so I could use a previously earned +UP reward.

I spent a $1.99 +UP reward and 44¢ OOP, plus I earned another $9 in +UP rewards. Hee, hee!

Oh, and I found another link to that little “personal” moneymaker, so I printed off two more and hope to do the deal again. Or, get it for free at Walmart. Whatever. Woot! {blushing}

Yesterday, I swung by Safeway to pick up 4 packs of hot dog buns @ 59¢ each. They freeze well if you use them in a decent amount of time, and we will.

And back to Safeway this morning:

Today’s Daily Deal is the Nabisco crackers for 99¢ each, limit 2. I used a $1/2 MC (do not double) to make it 2 boxes for 99¢!

Ketchup is $1.49 with the in-ad coupon. Not a stock up price, but really not bad at all! I needed it.

Lucerne cheese is $3.99 for the 2lb brick. By the way, Tillamook is $4.99 with the in-ad coupon. NOT a stock up price, but I’ll probably go back and get one if I have money at the end of the week because we are Tillamook cheese snobs.

The Mission tortillas are $1.29 with the in-ad coupon. I used (2) $1/1 IP (no longer available), which doubled, so 4 packs for $2.16 or 54¢ each. These freeze well, and $1.29 is a pretty good price for tortillas, although I have gotten them for free before. If I have $ left, I’ll grab more.

Old El Paso Taco Shells are 99¢ until Feb 8th. Use the 50¢/1 MC from 1/30 SS and use the doubler to make 1¢. NO ONE is talking about this!! You heard it here first, folks!! I’m totally going back to snag some free taco shells, baby!

Johnsonville Brats are $2.99 with the in-ad coupon. I used the $2/2 MC from the Albertson’s ad + the doubler = $3.48 or $1.74 each. We are huge Bratwurst fans in this house! This is a cheap meal or two!

I bought some Rancher’s Reserve cube steak for $2.20, minus the $2 Ranchers Reserve coupon = 20¢. HOWEVER, the coupon didn’t work!! Blast! I give up on that coupon. Someone linked up to a Pioneer Woman sandwich this week that uses the cube steak and I can’t wait to find it again and try it!

Braeburn Apples @65¢/lb = $1.46

Bananas @ 65¢/lb = $1.70

Total OOP was $17.45 . . . and it could have been $15.45 if that meat coupon had worked. Grr.

But, still, it is cheap meat. I had an issue with this coupon last week and I tried to go back and get $2 back, and the lady at the customer service desk DID give it to me, but she also made me feel like a thief! (Her name starts with an L and ends with an A, and yes, she is one of the curly headed ladies, for you locals.) She was making up a coupon policy on the spot and telling me that I was violating it because the coupon is supposed to be one per household and I had already used one. Except that she couldn’t show me where it said that. And, it doesn’t. But she still made some INCREDIBLY rude remarks about me as a person. All the while, I was trying to stay polite and at the same time figure out WHERE this policy was so that I could continue to be an honest couponer. It was ugly (at least in my head, it was). NOT something that I care to repeat this week, that’s for sure. And, I wish I could report her comments and behavior without coming across as a tattle tale or a trouble maker, but I can’t, so I’m just gonna let it go.

Thanks for listening. I feel better.

What’s next?

I’m going back to Safeway on Sunday to get my Tostitos for 39¢ a bag, plus you know about tonight’s run for more cheap crackers and free taco shells. I might get some more Oscar Meyer hot dogs for 24¢ each (using the MC in the Albertson’s ad plus the doubler), but I’m pretty well stocked up and that deal will come back around. I do have a $1/1 MC for the Reynolds wrap, which would make it 99¢ each after the in-ad and doubler.

I’ll probably hit up Rite Aid again (woot!) and look for that ice cream deal while I’m there.

Did I miss anything?

Today was the great Quaker Oatmeal Stock-Up of 2011!!

Okay, so you know how I gave away two sets of coupons (ten, total)? Well, I found another 6 coupons. On top of my 20 that I got from ebay. Crazy, I know.

I bought this at Albertson’s today:

• I ended up with 25 boxes/canisters of oatmeal. 10 canisters and 15 boxes of instant. Since you had to purchase in groups of 5 to get the good Albertson’s price, I gave the extra coupon to a lady with only one box of oatmeal in her cart (poor thing!).
• Obviously we didn’t get doubles, or this would have been totally free and you would see a lot more groceries in my photo.
• My last transaction was the 3 packages of tortillas, and I paid for them with my final Catalina.
• My grand plan to pre-order my oatmeal sort of backfired on me. I “ordered” Peaches and Cream oatmeal, but when I got there my man Josh had put 3 cartons of Maple and Brown Sugar behind the customer service desk for me. Not interested. The store didn’t carry Peaches and Cream, so I scrounged together some boxes that I thought my family would like. I asked the manager what I should have done differently, and he said that I did everything right. It was Josh who didn’t follow through. They appreciate it when they know there is going to be a big sale and they can plan accordingly. In fact, he acknowledged that we probably know about the sales way before he does! In the end, he gave me his email address so I can email him when I want to special order and he can make sure it happens for me. SO cool!!
• At the checkout line, this lady looked into my cart and said, “Well, I guess you must love oatmeal!” I said, “Yeah! They end up being 30¢ a piece after the coupon and sale!” Her jaw dropped. It was a total look of shock. Love that!

I thought I should mention here that if you are not near an Albertson’s, but you have a Safeway close by, you can still get a great deal. I posted this under the comments at Frugal Living NW:

Keep in mind that if you can’t get to Albertson’s for the awesome Quaker sale, you can still save with the Catalina promotion that is printing starting Friday at Safeway, too!

Buy 4 Quaker Instant Oatmeal @ 2/$5 = $10
Use (4) $1/1 MC from 1/2 RP
Use 4 doublers for -$2.00
Pay $4
Earn a $2 Catalina which you can roll to the next transaction!
Like paying 50¢ a box! Still very good and stock-up worthy!

If you buy 5 at a time, the price would end up working out the same. You can only double 4 coupons, so you would end up paying $5.50 and earning a $3 Catalina, so it is still 50¢ a box.

Hope that helps some of you out!

After arriving back in Dallas, I decided to swing into Safeway to grab more fruit. MAN, we go through a lot of fruit in our house. We have an open fruit drawer policy, so the boys are constantly munching on fruit. However, after today’s oatmeal stock-up, I taught the boys how to make their own oatmeal for a quick snack! Hee, hee!

• I bought the Hefty plates for 50¢ again.
• I used my Rancher’s Reserve $2 off coupon from the Joy of Football book to pick up the meat for practically free. It has a sell-by date of tomorrow, so it was marked 50% off, then when you take the $2 off, it ended up being 31¢. I marinated it and we cooked it for dinner tonight. SO good! For only 31¢!!
• I also used a Catalina that Mitch got at the checkout counter last night. He bought spices. {sigh!}

Have I ever mentioned how much I love couponing!?!