Happy (early) Halloween!

You may have noticed that it's been a little quiet on the blog front today. That's because I'm throwing a huge party tomorrow, so I've been running around like crazy preparing for it. Halloween is a huge deal for me, and I throw an elaborate shindig every year. So it'll stay quiet around here for the next day or so, but when I return I'll show you how I threw a big bash on my coupon budget. Happy Halloween!

Shopping Trip - October 28th

Total spent: .01 cent
Total before coupons: $15.83
View receipt

Got:

2 Glade plug-ins - used one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source newspaper inserts
4 Zone bars - on sale for $1, used four $1/1 coupons from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts. Free plus .50 cents overage each after doubles!
1 purse sized packet of kleenex - on clearance for .25 cents

I used a $4 catalina that I had left from last time, and got $8 in catalinas back.

Special for Oregonians: $10 off $50 At Safeway

Reader CC sent me an email to tell me that today's Oregonian has a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase at Safeway. I haven't seen this coupon yet to know the full terms and conditions, but in the past I was able to combine it with manufacturer's coupons for some awesome deals - so read the fine print carefully and see what kind of deals you can get!

Free Dr. Pepper From Axl Rose

On November 23rd, Dr. Pepper will be giving away free soda coupons on their website in commemoration of the new Guns 'N Roses album. I'm not a big Guns 'N Roses fan, but I love free soda! Thanks to Confessions of a Coupon Queen for the tip.

And today only, you can head over to Taco Bell for a free taco from 2pm to 6pm! No, they're not celebrating Guns 'N Roses - I guess this one is to honor a baseball victory.

How To Find Catalina Deals

I wrote an article recently explaining what catalinas are and how they work. So now that you know what they are, how can you find these great deals?

Word Of Mouth: The Internet has made it possible for coupon users to share deals like never before. I often see catalina deals posted on websites like Hot Coupon World and Money Saving Mom.

Check Your Sales Circulars: When stores run their own special catalina promotions, they'll advertise it in their sales flier. For example, when Safeway ran its “Summer Savings Rally” a few months ago, they offered various catalina rewards for purchasing participating products. These items were marked in a special section of the weekly ad.

Look For Tags: Sometimes, catalina promotions will be marked in-store. For instance, I first saw the $4 Glade Scented Oil Warmer deal listed on a little tag underneath the product on the shelf.

Hit The Jackpot: Some of my most memorable (and profitable) catalina deals were total accidents that I capitalized on. As an example, I wrote here about the happy surprise I encountered buying Glade products last month. There's been times when I've bought a product simply because it was free with a coupon, and was further rewarded with a $ off catalina at the checkout. So keep your eyes peeled – you never know what might pop out!

Coupon Giveaway - WINNER!

And the winner of this week's giveaway is...



Lucky number 121 was:



Congratulations, Angela! I have sent an email notifying you.

Shopping Trip - October 24th

Friday's shopping trip - $162.56 worth of merchandise for .28 cents!

I started at Walgreens:



Total spent: .10 cents out of pocket, put $16.78 on my rebate gift card. But I will get back $19.99 in rebates, plus a 10% bonus for loading them onto a gift card - for a total of $21.98 in rebates. And, I got an $8 Register Reward catalina back!
Total before coupons: $73.59
View receipt - My total after the gift card was actually .11 cents, but the cashier picked a penny out of the "take-a-penny" dish and said, "Here! I've got a penny, just give me a dime!". That was nice of her!

Got:

3 boxes of Benefiber mix - on sale for $7.99, used three $2/1 coupons from the 10/19 Smart Source newspaper inserts, stacked with a $5/1 coupon from the EasySaver rebate booklet. This brought the total to $2.97 for three boxes, and I earned the $8 Register Reward for purchasing them!
1 package of 10 disposable gloves
1 bottle of Pert Plus - on sale for $3.49, used a $2/1 coupon from the 10/19 Smart Source newspaper inserts, stacked with a $2.50/1 coupon from the EasySaver booklet. Free plus $1.01 in overage!
1 bottle of L'oreal moisturizer - $19.99, used a $1/1 coupon from the 8/3 Red Plum newspaper inserts. And I will get back a $21.98 rebate for this purchase!
10 bars of Lindt chocolate - On sale for $2.29, and I used five .75/1 coupons and five "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons from the 10/5 inserts. Stacked with a $1 coupon from the EasySaver catalog, this resulted in .46 cents of overage for every 2 bars purchased.
5 Halloween bags

I also used a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $20 or more, which is valid only during the 24th and 25th. Heading to Walgreens today? Print one here!

Then I went through the line once more to spend my Register Reward:



Total spent: .18 cents
Total before coupons: $8.18
View receipt

Got:

1 gallon of milk
1 package of TP - There were several coupons that I could have used on this, but it didn't occur to me at the time.
1 roll of foil
1 peanut butter cup


Then I headed to Fred Meyer:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $4.98 on the gift card I got for my birthday. And I got back $8 in catalinas!
Total before coupons: $12.76
View receipt

Got:

2 Glade Scented Oil Plug-Ins - used one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts
1 Glade Gel Plug-In - I found a catalina on the shelf for a free gel plug-in!
1 trial sized Zantac - on sale for .99 cents, used a $1 off any size Zantac coupon from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts. Free plus a cent overage!

Fred Meyer is running the Glade catalina deal as well, so I thought it would be a good investment to do the deal there a few times. Fred Meyer is a great place to spend catalinas because their prices are much lower than Safeway. Of course, Fred Meyer is also a 30 minute drive from me and they do not double coupons, so I factor all that in when determining where to get the best deal.

Then I went back through the line to roll my $8 in catalinas:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .47 on my birthday gift card
Total before coupons: $14.46
View receipt

Got:

2 Glade Warmers - once again, I used one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts
1 box of band-aids
1 package of Kotex - used one $1/1 coupon from the 10/12 Smart Source newspaper inserts

I then used my $8 in catalinas to bring the total down to .47 cents, and got another $8 in catalinas back!

Then I made one last trip through the line, to use up my catalinas:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .29 cents on my birthday gift card
Total before coupons: $47.29
View receipt

Got:

1 package of Kotex - used one $1/1 coupon from the 10/12 Smart Source newspaper inserts
A 5 pound bag of flour
A pound of onions
.41 pounds of mushrooms
A pound of tomatoes
An 8 ounce bag of cheese
38 Brut deodorants - on sale for $1, used thirty eight $1/1 coupons that I found in the store!

I then used my $8 in catalinas to bring the total down to .29 cents!

So while I was shopping, I noticed a lot of coupons hanging on the shelf for various products. One was for $1 off any size Brut deodorant or antiperspirant - and it was hanging right next to some Brut deodorant that was on sale for $1! The cashier was amazed, and so were the people in line behind me. I explained where to find the coupons - I made sure to leave product and coupons on the shelf for other customers - and the lady behind me actually got out of line and went to get some deodorant for herself!

Now, you're probably thinking that this is excessive - why on earth would I buy 38 deodorants? How could I possibly use that much deodorant? The reason I got that many is because most of it is not for us. My aunt is involved with a local food bank, and told me a few days ago that they have a big need right now for personal products, like deodorant and toothpaste. So I put a few deodorants aside for my boyfriend, and will be taking the rest to the food bank. I hate clutter, and there is a place and purpose for everything that I purchase - even if it doesn't always seem that way!

My final trip was to Rite Aid, to get some potting soil:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $6.28 on a gift card. I have yet to find coupons for potting soil, so this was the full price!
View receipt

Got: 2 bags of potting soil

I didn't get a picture of the bags before using them, so here's a snapshot of my planter. I want to start growing some of my own produce, and this is apparently the week to plant garlic, so that's what I did. I thought this was a good investment towards next year's food budget!

And in case you're wondering how I got the gift card, I received it several months ago for filling a prescription at Rite Aid.

Coupon Funded Menu Corner

Thursday's dinner:



Chicken and dumplings, adapted from this recipe. This was my first time making this dish, and it turned out pretty good. I wish I had cooked the dumplings longer, but it wasn't bad. Baked potatoes served as the side dish, because I felt like having them again!

Usually, I make a big batch of food for dinner and then have the leftovers for lunch the next day. I find this to be a convenient way to eat something quick yet nutritious for lunch. There were plenty of chicken and dumplings left over for today, and there's still some in the fridge.

For dessert, I used up the last of my apple bounty:



Baked Apple Wedges, taken from this recipe.

Tag! You're It!

I was "tagged" by Karen, of Frugal Rhode Island Mama!

Here's how it works:

1. To link the tagger and provide the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

In keeping with this blog, I wanted to share 7 coupon-related facts about myself:

1. This time last year, I had never used coupons and had no idea what was possible with them.
2. Groceries used to be one of my biggest annoyances. I would look for the best sales and lowest prices, and would still spend a fortune.
3. I discovered the joy of coupons in February of this year. I randomly stumbled upon Hot Coupon World one day, and it changed my life!
4. My coupon binder never leaves my purse.
5. I have way too much fun in the grocery store.
6. My most memorable shopping trip was when I used coupons to pay for an espresso maker.
7. My boyfriend Jai has built custom cabinets for me, specifically designed to hold the stockpile!

I also got a virus from Lousie over at Momstart- but don't worry, it's not a bad thing!

{Start Copy Here}

Rules:
1. Copy paste from {Start Copy Here} to {End Copy Here}
2. Please link back to the person who tagged you and PASS this tag to many of your friends
3. If you have more than one blog, please post this to all of your blogs, the more the merrier.
4. The use of NO FOLLOW on links is not allowed, Let’s all be fair!
5. Remember to come back here at JENNY TALKS (pls. don’t change this link)and leave the exact post url so I can add you to the master list to help increase our rankings and improve our Technorati Authority.
6. Spread the virus.. oooopps I mean the VIRAL LINKING and happy blogging!

BLOGGERS:
#1. Scraps & Shots #2. Simply Jen 3. This and That 4. Fab & Chic Finds 5.A Slice of Life 6. Jenny Talks 7. Tech Stuff Plus 8. Food on the Table 9. Aussie Talks 10. When Mom Talks 11. Moments of My Life 12. My Crossroads 13. A Life in Bloom 14. Because Life is a Blessing 15. Digiscraptology 16. BLOGSILOG 14. Cherry’s Comfort Zone 15. DigiScrapz: Captured Memories 16. Buzzy Me 17. Fab Finds, Etc. 18. Thinking Out Loud 19. Wishing and Hoping 20. PRC Board Exam Results 21. Jobs Abroad 22. My Blog Portfolio17. Race Corner 18. Mommy Talks. 19. Home and Health 20. All Kinds of Me Stuff 21. Ink Baby Studios 22. The Salad Caper 23. Winding Creek Circle 24. Aggie Scraps 25. Momma Stuff 26. We Are Family 27. Gandacious 28. Busynessworld 29. Folcreative 30. Swanportraits 31. Rumination Under The Clouds 32. Consciously Think 33. Sprawt 34. Healthy Skinny 35. Geekyology 36. When Mom Speaks 37. Rumination 38. Etc Atbp 39. When Silence Speaks 40. When Sahmone Speaks 41. Joys in Life 42. Hailey’s Beats and Bits 43. Hailey’s Domain 44. It Is Nap Time 45. From Melissa's Desk 46. Momstart 47. Super Coupon Girl

{END Copy Here}

Now I'm tagging YOU, dear reader! If you have a blog, consider yourself tagged, and feel free to share 7 facts about yourself and spread the "virus"!

Last day to enter!

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway for a chance to win $54 worth of coupons!

Shopping Trip - October 22nd

Total spent: .46 cents
Total before coupons: $31.25

View Receipt #1 View receipt #2

Got:

4 packages of Goldfish crackers - on sale for $1.00, used four .50/1 coupons that I got in the mail - free after doubles!
A 5 pound bag of flour
A 10 ounce bag of organic, fair trade coffee
1 packet of Ramen
2 Glade Plug-Ins - used one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 9/28 SmartSource newspaper inserts
4 Zone Perfect bars - on sale for $1.00, used four $1/1 coupons from the 9/7 SmartSource newspaper inserts. Free plus .50 cents of overage each after doubles!

For the first transaction, I bought the Plug-Ins and used a $4 catalina plus overage from the four Zone bars to pay for it. I needed a small filler item, so I also got the packet of Ramen. I paid .08 cents and got $8 in catalinas back for purchasing the plug-ins.

Then I used the $8 in catalinas plus another $3 catalina from Monday's trip to pay for the coffee and flour that I needed. I also picked up the Goldfish, since they were free (not to mention tasty!). And I still have a $4 catalina left from Monday to spend next time.

Safeway Printable Coupons

I just discovered that Safeway offers special printable coupons on their website. I knew for some time that they offered printables, but I thought they were the same ones that appear on Coupons.com. But Safeway has sweetened the deal by offering special, store-specific coupons in addition to the usual Coupons.com fare. They currently offer coupons for grapes, bagels, even flowers. Produce coupons are few and far between, so this is a good one! When I printed them, they said “Save with card & coupon. Limit one with minimum $10 purchase. Customer pays any sales tax. Not to be used in conjunction with any other coupon. Valid 10-22 through 10-28.” I don't know if the valid dates vary depending on when you print them, or if it's a limited time offer. However, it appears that these coupons can be doubled, if your store will double coupons.

Click here to access these coupons!

Stockpile Giveaway, Week Four: Winner, Part II

Last Friday, I announced the winner of week four's giveaway. Unfortunately, she did not leave an email address or contact me, so I was forced to re-draw a new winner. And the new winning number is....



Lucky number 280 was...



Congratulations, Donna! I have sent an email notifying you.

And don't forget, there's still time to enter this week's giveaway of $54 worth of coupons!

14 Hamburger Patties, A Cutlery Set, And A Cutting Board for $1.98

ETA: Sadly, this deal is no longer available. As of this morning (10/22), several readers who did this reported getting a message stating that they must spend between $50-100 to redeem their gift code.

An Eagle-eyed Super Coupon Girl reader named Nicole sent me an email to tell me about a fantastic deal she saw on Thrifty Florida Mama. I was able to order 14 hamburgers, a cutlery set and a cutting board from Omaha Steaks last night for only $1.98, including shipping! Here's how it works:

If you register for a website called Geico Privileges, they will email you a gift code good for $25 off a purchase at Omaha Steaks. It's free and you don't have to be a Geico customer to sign up. Stephanie at The Coupon Game warns that this offer may be over, however the link still says "Register And Save With Omaha Steaks", so it ought to still work if they're advertising it, unless they changed the gift code to a different amount. UPDATE: Two SCG readers wrote in to tell me that they just did the deal, and it worked like a charm, so the offer is still valid!


My code took about 5 hours to get through yesterday, so it can take a little while to show up in your inbox.

Once you get the code, surf on over to Wow-Coupons and click the third link down, that says "60% off The Ultimate Assortment and The Sizzling Sampler + FREE Omaha Steaks Burgers + FREE 6-Piece Cutlery Set + FREE Cutting Board". This code will give you these freebies with any qualifying purchase. The cheapest qualifying items that I found were the franks and hamburgers; I chose 8 Omaha Steak Burgers for $12.99. The shipping is $13.99 for orders under $40, but here's the great thing - the gift code applies to shipping, too! So I bought 8 hamburgers, and my freebie code added 6 more, plus the cutlery set and cutting board. My grand total came to $26.98 after shipping. I applied my $25 gift code, and it went down to $1.98!! Wow! I will take some pictures when the package arrives. I'm stoked about the cutlery set, because I need some new kitchen knives.

ETA: Reader Lorrie pointed out another variation of this deal on Money Saving Mom. Basically, if you don't want the cutlery and cutting board, you can choose 12 burgers as your freebie instead, by following this link. Cool!

Thanks so much to reader Nicole and Thrifty Florida Mama for the info on this deal! The Geico lizard couldn't save me any money on car insurance, but he sure got me a sweet deal on hamburger.

Shopping Trip - October 20th

Total spent: .63 cents - .62 for the actual groceries, .01 for breast cancer research
Total before coupons: $69.41

I earned 1 Power Pump reward, bringing my running total to 3. I also walked out of the store with $11 in catalinas for next time.

View receipt #1 View receipt #2 View receipt #3 View receipt #4 View receipt #5

Got:

12 boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats - used 12 $1/1 printables from Coupons.com (no longer available)
1 gallon of milk
2 cans of beans
1 packet of Ramen
2 packages of Wacky Mac - used a .50/1 coupon from the 6/22 inserts
6 Glade Plug ins - used six "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons from the 9/28 Smart Source newspaper inserts
1 trial sized box of Tide - used $1/1 coupon from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper inserts
1 moon shaped cookie cutter

Here's how I broke this down:

For the first transaction, I bought 3 boxes of cereal, 1 Wacky Mac, 2 plug-ins and the cookie cutter, which was the perfect filler item because it was clearanced to .10 cents. I then used $8 in catalinas to bring the total to a whopping .01 cent. The cashier was laughing and the customer behind me was amazed. Safeway is doing a charity drive for breast cancer research this month, and the cashiers usually ask if you would like to round up your total and donate the change. As I was handing the cashier a penny, she jokingly asked if I wanted to round up my penny for breast cancer.

"Wait! Hang on!" I said, reaching into my purse and pulling out another penny. I told her that I would double my total with a matching donation. She thought it was hilarious, and laughed that I was the only customer to match 100% of my total with a donation! Yes, I have way too much fun at Safeway.

I got $8 in catalinas back for the plug-ins, and was expecting another $3 catalina for purchasing the cereal, but it did not show up. Safeway is running a catalina deal on Frosted Mini-Wheats where you receive a $3 catalina for purchasing three boxes. This was mentioned on Hot Coupon World and also brought to my attention by a Super Coupon Girl reader. I realized that I must have bought the wrong kind - which is why I always double-check the details on catalina deals before I go to the store, but I neglected to this time. So I went through the line again, doing pretty much the same thing - except this time I got different Mini-Wheat flavors, two plug-ins, one Wacky Mac, and the packet of Ramen as a filler. But this time the cashier looked at my catalinas and said, "Oh, I'll have to adjust the last coupon down,". I had one $4 catalina left that hadn't been scanned, but the total was at $3.94. I knew something must have gone wrong, so after she balanced me out to zero, I pulled my cart over to the side and looked at my receipt. I realized in horror that I had not put the packet of Ramen on the conveyor belt - it was still in my cart, hidden underneath a sales flyer! I showed the cashier what happened and apologized for my mistake. She was super nice, and when I said, "It's a good thing I didn't walk out of here without paying!", she replied, "Oh, you would have been back in a minute to spend your $11 [referring to the catalinas I just got] anyway!"

So she rang up the Ramen at .29 cents, and then deducted .06 from the total since she had adjusted the $4 catalina down to $3.94. I didn't ask her to, she just did - which was really cool of her. I paid .23 cents, but I didn't get the receipt for this one, because I was on the wrong end of the checkstand and she just quickly rang up my Ramen before helping the next customer in line, and I was just trying to get out of the way as quickly as I could!

And all of the catalinas that I was expecting printed out this time, so I got $8 for the Glade and $3 for the cereal. The participating varieties listed on the catalina are Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry Delight, Maple & Brown Sugar, Vanilla Creme, and Cinnamon Streusel.

I still had coupons left for more cereal, which brought the total price for 3 boxes down to $2.16. I picked out a can of beans as a filler item, since they're .89 cents; I then used my $3 catalina and paid only .05 cents, getting another $3 back! I was able to do this twice before I ran out of Kelloggs coupons.

But I needed some milk to go with all this cereal, so I went through the line one last time and bought a gallon of milk, two plug-ins and the Tide. I used $8 in Glade catalinas to pay, and after overage from the Tide, it came to .28 cents. They adjusted my coupon down again, which is the same thing that happened on Sunday, but I still got .50 cents overage because it doubled.

Coupon Funded Menu Corner

Sunday night's dinner:



Steak, baked potato, and grilled apple slices. I have a bunch of steak in the freezer from back in May, when I got an awesome deal on it. I marinated it in Weber Mesquite grill mix - a product that I got overage on during the summer. It added a really nice flavor to the steak. On the packet, it suggested sprinkling apple slices with cinnamon and grilling as an accompaniment; well, I'm all about using up these apples, so that sounded like a good idea!
Finally, I have a big bag of potatoes that I bought recently, so I thought a baked potato would be the perfect thing to round out this meal.

Shopping Trip - October 19th

I hit up a few stores yesterday. First stop, Walgreens:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .15 cents on my rebate gift card
Total before coupons: $45.51
View receipt

Got:

18 bars of Lindt chocolate - These are on sale for $2.29 at my store, and I used nine .75/1 coupons and nine "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons from the 10/5 inserts. Stacked with a $1 coupon from the EasySaver catalog, this resulted in .46 cents of overage for every 2 bars purchased.
4 packages of TP
1 Halloween bag

I don't know who thought it was a good idea to put chili peppers in chocolate, but this was all they had left on the shelf, so I guess I'll have to try it out of morbid curiosity!

Next stop, Rite Aid:



Total spent: $11.68 - but I will get back $14.18 in rebates.
Total before coupons: $14.18
View receipt

Got:

1 tube of Crest toothpaste - used one $1/1 coupon from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper inserts
1 package of Tena Serenity Underwear - used one $1.50/1 coupon from the 8/3 Smart Source newspaper inserts

While I have no use for the Tena or the toothpaste (I have more than enough toothpaste!), these items are free after rebate this week, and I will make $2.50 in profit thanks to the coupons that I used. If you think it's a little overboard to buy things you don't need, remember that you can always donate items like these. I may not have a personal use for the Tena, but I know a nursing home that will be happy to take it.


Then it was onwards to Fred Meyer:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .15 cents on a gift card I got for my birthday
Total before coupons: $6.09
View receipt

Got:

6 trial sized packets of Zantac - on sale for .99 cents, used six $1/1 coupons from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts
1 packet of Ramen

I got the Ramen simply as a filler item for the six cents of overage I was anticipating - a decidedly ironic choice for overage gained by purchasing antacids! However, it worked out a little different than I thought it would. My coupons stated that they were good for $1 off of any size Zantac, but they beeped and the cashier had to enter the price manually; and he only entered in .99 cents, not the full value of the coupon. Keep in mind, the manufacturer will reimburse the store for the full value of the coupon, which is $1, plus a handling fee - even if they key it in at .99 cents, the store will still get $1 back. So the Ramen ended up being unnecessary because of how he rang it up.

Final stop, Safeway:



Total spent: $1.02
Total before coupons: $21.99
View receipt #1 View receipt #2

Got:

1 Sunday newspaper
1 can of tuna
2 Glade Plug-ins - used one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts
8 trial sized boxes of Tide - on sale for .89 cents, used eight $1/1 coupons from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper inserts

For the first transaction, I got four Tides and the newspaper, with the goal of using the overage from the Tide to pay for it. However, the coupon beeped and prompted for manager approval. Once again, the coupon says that it is valid on any size of Tide, but the manager who came over instructed the cashier to key in the value of the coupon as .89 cents. The store will still be reimbursed for $1 by the manufacturer, even though it's keyed in at .89 cents, so I don't really understand why some managers make this their policy on overage. But on the bright side, they still doubled these coupons, so I received $2 in overage to pay for my paper nonetheless!

For the second transaction, I bought two Glade Plug-ins, using my $4 catalina from the Plug-ins I bought on Friday. I had also picked up four more Tides to pay for the remaining cost of the Glade, and grabbed a can of tuna as a filler item. Since I picked out all of the items that I purchased at the same time, and just split my order into two transactions at the register, I had done my calculations before I realized that the store would adjust the Tide coupons down - so both of these transactions came out to be more than I had expected. But I still got $8 in catalinas back for next time!

Coupon Funded Menu Corner- Now With Recipes!

Here's last night's dinner:



Bean and Cheese Pie. I guess I'm just in a casserole mood this week! This is one of my favorite recipes from a Betty Crocker cookbook called Vegetarian Cooking. Here's what you need to make it:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons chile powder
2 teaspoons fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can (15 1/2 ounces) garbanzo beans, drained
1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, drained
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
Another 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (for the topping)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray pie plate, 10 X 1 1/2 inches, with nostick cooking spray. Mix flour, 1/2 cup cheese, the baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Stir in milk and egg until blended. Spread over bottom and up side of pie plate. Mix remaining ingredients except 1/2 cup cheese. Spoon into pie plate; sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Bake uncovered about 25 minutes or until edge is puffy and light brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

I made quite a few substitutions on this to suit my tastes. I omitted the pepper and chilie powder, just because I don't do well with spicy stuff. I also used black beans and pinto beans instead of kidney beans, and substituted fresh chopped garlic for powder. I usually use cilantro instead of oregano, just because I like it that way, but I totally forgot to buy either!!

I also doubled the recipe so that there would be plenty of leftovers for lunch today.





For the side dish, I made Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli. Sorry the picture's so blurry!


I still have a bounty of apples to use up, so I made baked apple pancakes for breakfast this morning:







This was sort of an amalgamation recipe. First, I chopped 3 apples into small pieces and threw them in a bowl. I left the skins on because I like them, but you could always peel them if you don't. I then added an egg, about a cup of water, and some Bisquick. As I mixed it I realized that there wasn't enough Bisquick left, so I poured what I had in the pan and then mixed together an adaptation of this recipe. I only used 2 eggs, and I added way more flour and even a pinch of baking powder - which really wasn't necessary, but I was throwing everything into the bowl at this point! I also added Nutmeg and AllSpice. After mixing it all, I poured it on top of what I had in the pan, and baked until it looked done - about 20 minutes or so.

Stockpile Giveaway With a Twist - Win $54 Worth of Coupons To Build Your Own Stockpile!

This week, I thought it would be fun to do a different kind of giveaway. After all, in order to build up a stockpile of your own, you'll need to have plenty of coupons. So I thought I'd give a little helping hand, and offer an envelope of coupons as this week's prize!



There's an assortment of coupons here, from baby stuff to food, beauty to cleaning, pet coupons and more - $54 worth of savings!

Here's how to enter: Just leave a comment on this post, and you'll be entered to win! As a bonus, let me know what kind of coupons you use the most, and I'll do my best to include a couple of extras according to your needs!

To earn an extra entry: If you'd like to gain a second entry into the contest, just put up a link to my blog and leave a separate comment letting me know that you did. You can either link to this contest, or any other post that you liked. If you already have me in your blogroll - thank you, and be sure to leave a second comment mentioning it to improve your odds!

Fine print, rules, etc: This giveaway is open to everyone! US residents and international readers alike are eligible!

This contest will be open until 11:59 PM, October 25th. A winner will be chosen on October 26th via Random.org and notified. Please be sure to leave your email address, either in your post or in your blogger profile, so that I can get in touch if you win!! I'd hate to see anyone else forfeit their prize because I can't get a hold of them! Email address will be used only to notify winner. If, for some bizarre reason, the winner does not respond after 4 days, a new winner will be chosen.

Shopping Trip - October 17th

Total spent: .48 cents - .45 for the actual groceries, .03 for breast cancer research
Total before coupons: $50.06

View receipt #1 View receipt #2 View receipt #3

I also earned another 125 miles in the United Airlines GroceryMiles program that I wrote about recently.

I Got:

1 dozen cage-free eggs
1 8 oz bag of cheese
.39 pounds of organic, fair trade coffee
4 bags of Wacky Mac - on sale for .99 cents, used a .50/1 coupon from the 6/22 inserts. Free after doubles!
1 packet of Ramen
2 packets of trial sized Airborne - on sale for $2.19, used two $2 coupon from the 9/7 SmartSource newspaper inserts. Free plus .31 cents overage after doubles!
6 bottles of Bayer aspirin - on sale for $1, used a $1/1 coupon from the 7/27 Red Plum inserts. Free plus .50 cents overage after doubles!
2 packages of TP
4 Glade Plug-ins - used two "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts.

The Plug-Ins are $5.79 at Safeway, so for the first transaction, I used a $4 catalina from the last Glade deal that I did in conjunction with overage from the Bayer, in order to offset the cost of the plug-in. I had it worked out that I would owe .05 cents, but after I handed over all my coupons, the register ended up showing negative .95 cents. I was puzzled, and the cashier said that she would just balance me out to zero. You'll see on the receipt that there is .95 cents in "general merchandise" - that's why. So I looked over my receipt after the transaction was through, and saw that only 3 Bayer aspirins were listed on the receipt, even though I had purchased four; one of them didn't ring up. So I went back to the cashier and showed her what had happened. If the fourth Bayer had been rung up, the register would have showed me owing .05 cents, instead of the negative .95 that came up. The cashier then opted to just do a "general merchandise" sale for .05 cents, and I handed her the nickel that I owed. She didn't give me a receipt for that transaction, otherwise I would have scanned that as well.

At any rate, I got $8 in catalinas back for purchasing the two Plug-Ins, so I went through the line once more, purchasing two more Glades and using overage from the Bayer and Airborne along with one of the $4 catalinas to bring the total down to .17 cents - .20 cents after I "rounded up" for breast cancer!

I got another $8 in catalinas back, and I proceeded to go through the line one last time, using $12 worth of my catalinas to pay for a few things that I needed - like coffee!! I still have a $4 catalina left, which I will use towards more Glade warmers next time.

Stockpile Giveaway, Week Four: WINNER!

And the winner of Week Four's Stockpile Giveaway is....



Comment number 84 was:



Unfortunately, SlyLady did not leave any contact info in her post or profile. So SlyLady, please send me an email at this address: bakahentai AT gmail.com. If I do not hear from you within four days, I will be forced to choose a new winner.

Coupon Funded Menus - So What's For Dinner?

I've gotten a lot of great questions recently from readers and friends who wonder what a hardcore coupon shopper eats. Since I love to cook, I thought it would be fun to share more of the meals that I make on my budget of $20 or less a month.

Tonight's dinner:



The picture isn't great, but this is called Easy Garden Bake. I love this recipe - it's a yummy casserole loaded with zucchini and tomato.

Dessert:



Baked Apples. A friend gave us a bunch of wonderful apples from her tree that are very ripe and need to be eaten soon, so I tried this recipe out. It's great Fall comfort food!

Last Day To Enter!

There's just a few hours left to enter this week's giveaway, so don't miss out!

Shopping Trip - October 12th

Here's my big Rite Aid trip from Sunday:



Total spent: $133.21. But you can pick your jaw up from the floor - because I'm getting $140.21 back in rebates!
Total before coupons: $140.21
View receipt - I had to fold the receipt in half to fit it all in. I also blacked out my debit card number.

This was the "Free After Rebate" bonanza that I mentioned! I was in Rite Aid right when they opened to snag all the deals. And I got a ton of stuff:

1 bottle of Nighttime Theraflu
1 bottle of Sambucol immune system booster stuff
1 bottle of Buckley's cough syrup
1 box of Sucrets throat soothing icy pops
Another brand of throat soothing icy pops - these may be aimed at kids, but I think they sound like a great idea for adults, too!
1 jar of Mentholatum rub
1 bottle of Little Colds cough syrup
1 bottle of Triaminic nightime cough syrup - all this cold medicine couldn't have come at a better time. I've almost finished this bottle off already! I know it's kids medicine, but it's the same ingredients as adult cough syrup - you just have to double the dose. And it tastes better. ;)
1 bottle of Children's Advil
1 bottle of Chloraseptic Throat Numbing Spray
1 bag of Bee M.D. cough drops
1 bottle of 4 Way Nasal Decongestant
1 Neti Pot - this has got to be the strangest coupon item I've gotten yet. This is a tea pot - for your nose. I guess you stick it in your nose and it flushes your sinuses with saline?
1 box of Ayr saline stuff
1 Simply Saline kit
1 pediatric saline kit
1 bottle of Simply Saline allergy & sinus relief
1 bottle of Simply Saline cold formula
1 box of Breathe Again
1 box of Comtrex cold medicine
1 box of Zucol cold medicine
1 box of Sniffles 'n Sneezes For Kids
1 box of Orajel cold sore treatment
1 tube of Novitra cold sore treatment
1 tube of Nexcare cold sore treatment
1 tube of Lizard Lips balm
1 tube of shimmery Chapstick
1 tube of LypSyl lip balm
1 2-pack of SoftLips lip balm

In addition to all of these items being free after rebate, I also used some coupons to result in a profit. A friend sent me a coupon that she found for $5 off a $25 or higher purchase at Rite Aid (Thanks, Cathy!), so used that, and also two $1 off "peelie" coupons that I found attached to two of the saline products in the store. I don't have a personal need for some of this stuff - I've never used saline solution or had cold sores before - but I can give it to others, and everybody wins!

You may also notice that I don't count money spent on rebate items as part of my budget. Why is this? The way I see it, when I buy normal items that I need for my household, that is money that is spent and gone. But money that is paid for rebate items is not gone - I get it right back, plus the products and often a cash profit as well. I see rebates as simply an investment of my money, not an expense.

This Rite Aid trip was a perfect example of this. I paid $133.21, but I'm getting $140.21 back - when was the last time you got $7 interest for keeping your money in the bank for a month? Not to mention that I have $140 worth of merchandise as well! And in case you're wondering how often these rebates actually come back, this rebate has already been processed and is ready to be claimed. Here's a screen capture from my status page on the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate website:



I could request my rebates right away, but I'm going to wait until the end of this month's rebate period - you can't claim rebates at Rite Aid more than once per period, and I'm sure there will be other rebates deals that I'll want to do this month, so I will wait and claim them all at once.

Also, it's worth mentioning that rebate items are paid for using the "mad money" part of my budget, so to speak. That's the wiggle room in my budget after factoring in all bills, expenses, savings, and so on. After all, it would be counter-productive to invest money in rebates if it took away from another area in my budget.

After all the fun at Rite Aid, I stopped by Safeway to pick up the Sunday newspaper:



Total spent: .29 cents
Total before coupons: $14.08
View receipt - I paid in exact change, but the cashier accidentally punched in "$29.00" instead of .29 cents, in case anyone was wondering about that!

Got:

2 Glade plug-ins - used one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 9/28 newspaper inserts
1 Sunday Newspaper

For this transaction, I just rolled two of the $4 catalinas that I had from the last time I did this Glade deal, and used them to pay for the Plug-in and newspaper. I then got two more $4 catalinas back!

Shopping Trip - October 11th

Here is my belated "Super Savings Saturday" post! I came down with a flu over the weekend, so I'm a little behind on getting my deals posted.

First stop, Safeway:



Total spent: Zero
Total before coupons: $6.00

View receipt #1
View Receipt #2

Got:

6 boxes of napkins

These were on sale for $1, and there were coupons for .50/1 in the 6/22 newspaper inserts - free after doubles! Unfortunately, these coupons expired on the 12th, but there seem to be Dixie coupons in the inserts frequently, and I see these on sale for $1 at Safeway often; so keep your eyes peeled for this one in the future.

Then, it was off to Walgreens:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $1.95 on a rebate gift card. And I got back $3 in Register Rewards!
Total before coupons: $13.99

View receipts - one of my items rang up wrong initially, so the first receipt is what I overpaid, and the second receipt is the refund back to my gift card.

Got:


1 Glade Flameless Candle - used a $5/1 coupon from the 9/7 newspaper inserts, and got a$3 Register Reward back for purchasing it.
2 bottles of Coffee-Mate - On sale for $1.50 each, and I used two $1/1 printables. You are allowed to print two coupons per computer, so I used my boyfriend's computer to print these.
1 pez dispenser - fun stocking stuffer!
1 Lindt chocolate bars - These are on sale for $2.29 at my store. I used one .75/1 coupon and one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 10/5 inserts, and stacked them with a $1 coupon from the EasySaver catalog. This resulted in .46 cents of overage for purchasing 2 bars! Overage from chocolate - does it get any better than that?


I got last month's rebate loaded onto my gift card, so I put it to good use during this trip. Remember how I spent $32.72 out of pocket for rebate items last month? Well, I got $42.60 back in rebates!

As a side note, you'll notice that there is an item voided off my order. I had originally planned to buy one trial sized packet of Airborne for .99 cents, and use a $2 off coupon. However, the coupon would not go through automatically, and the manager said he could not accept it. The coupon was valid, because it says $2 off any variety of Airborne. The manufacturer reimburses the store for the full amount of the coupon, plus a handling fee. But the manager seemed to be confused about coupon redemption, as he said several different contradictory things regarding the redemption, and has been misinformed in the past also. This was the same manager from the last time I tried to redeem this coupon, and the register processed the coupon differently that time. But that's OK; I just voided the Airborne off my order. Incidentally, my total was $1 higher than I had intended as a result, since I didn't have the extra overage.

Then I stopped by Fred Meyer's:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .20 cents on a gift card I got for my birthday
Total before coupons: $21.70

View receipt

Got:

Over a pound of organic bananas
10 Dove deodorants - on sale for $1.99, and there was a stack of $2/1 Dove deodorant coupons right next to it on the shelf!
1 trial sized Zantac 75 - on sale for .99 cents, used a $1.50/1 coupon from the 9/7 SmartSource newspaper insert - resulting in .51 cents overage!

Then I went through the line one more time:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .18 cents on my gift card
Total before coupons: $11.68

View receipt

Got:

1 gallon of milk
A pound of apples
8 trial sized packets of Zantac 75 - used seven $1.50/1 Zantac 75 coupons, and one $1 off any Zantac product coupon, both from the 9/7 newspaper insert. Both of these coupons say good on any size, so they can be used on trial sizes. The resulting overage paid for the milk and apples!

Then I stopped by Walgreens one more time:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $23.73 on my gift card. And I will get back $27.50 in rebates!
Total before coupons: $122.77
View receipt - I had to fold it in half because it's so long! I think this might be the most coupons I've redeemed in one transaction.

Got a bunch of stuff:

18 Lindt chocolate bars - MMM! As I mentioned above, for every two bars I used one .75/1 coupon and one "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon from the 10/5 inserts, and stacked them with the $1 coupon from the EasySaver catalog. And I got .46 cents overage for every two bars purchased!
2 bottles of Coffee Mate - used one $1.50/2 printable.
1 roll of foil
1 package of Windex Wipes - on sale for $2.50, used one $1.50/1 printable. I will get $1 back in rebates, making it free!
3 bottles of Pert Plus - on sale for $3.49, used three $1.50/1 coupons from the 9/7 inserts, stacked with a $2.50/1 coupon from the EasySaver booklet - resulting in .51 cents overage each.
2 bottles of Fantastik Cleaner - on sale for $2.50, used two $1.50/1 printables, and will get $2 back in rebates - making them free!
1 Glade carpet deodorizer - on sale for $1.99, used a $1/1 coupon from the 9/14 inserts, and will get back $1 in rebates - making it free!
2 packages of rubber gloves - used coupon from Walgreens sales circular, making them two for $1.
1 bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles spray - on sale for $2.50, used a $2/1 printable (I found it here, but I'm not sure if it's still available). And I will get $1 back in rebates, so .50 cents profit!
2 bottles of Palmolive dish soap - used a coupon from the Walgreens sales circular to make them .89 cents each, and stacked it with two .25/1 coupons from the 9/28 inserts, making the final price .64 cents each.
3 boxes of pudding
2 boxes of Shout Wipes - on sale for $2.50 each, used two $1.50/1 printables. And I'll get back $2 in rebates, making them free!
1 Glade Scented Oil Candle - on sale for $3.99, used a $2/1 coupon from the 9/14 inserts. And I'll get back $2 in rebates, making it free plus a penny profit!
3 packages of TP
1 Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner - on sale for $19.99, used one $10/1 printable. And I will get back a $10 rebate, making it free! Score!
4 Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubbers - on sale for $3.99, used four $2.75/1 printables - two from my computer, two from my boyfriend's. And I will get back $6 in rebates - resulting in $1.04 profit!
I also used my $3 Register Reward from the last transaction.

During this transaction, I had a problem with one of the coupons from the Walgreens sales circular - the coupon for the rubber gloves would not go through. The same manager I had talked to earlier tried and tried to scan it, but it just beeped. He looked at the rubber gloves and the coupon for a long time, and finally had to override the price manually. He couldn't really say that he wouldn't accept it just because it beeped, since it was from their own sales circular.

This was a great trip - not only did I not spend anything out of pocket, but if you add up the amounts I put on both my Fred Meyer birthday gift card and my Walgreens rebate gift card, it only comes to $26.06. I'm getting $27.50 back in rebates from Walgreens, so that paid for both the gift card expenditures and then some!


Big thanks again to Money Saving Mom, Deal Seeking Mom, and Common"Cents"ical for posting these deal scenarios! Also, bear in mind that Walgreens changes their sales on Sunday, so the sales this week are different. (I believe Fred Meyer's also changes their sale prices on Sunday, although I'm not 100% sure. Safeway changes select sale prices on Sunday, with most of the prices changing on Wednesday.)

Catalinas 101

I've gotten some great questions about catalinas recently, so I decided to put together a little article about the ins and outs of catalina usage.

So what are “Catalina coupons”? One of the latest tools employed by advertisers, these are coupons which print out at the cash register when you go through a checkout. The nickname “catalina” comes from Catalina Marketing, the firm behind these special coupons. This particular brand of advertising is referred to as behavioral marketing, because coupons are triggered in relation to the products which are purchased. Sometimes these coupons are for money off a product. Sometimes these coupons are good for a specific amount off your next shopping trip at that particular store. Occasionally, an ad will print out with no coupon attached to it. So what makes these coupons print out? Let's take a look at the different types of Catalina coupons:

$ Off Product Catalinas

When you receive a coupon for money off a specific item, it is often triggered by purchasing a competitor's product. For example, if you purchase a bottle of Glass Works window cleaner, you might receive a coupon for $1 off a bottle of Windex. Alternatively, a coupon like this might be triggered by purchasing something in a brand family – a purchase of Campbell's Tomato soup might produce a coupon for a new Campbell's product.

$ Off Shopping Order Catalinas

These valuable coupons are good for money off your entire shopping order, and can be used like cash to pay for products the next time you go shopping. There are some small restrictions – usually, these coupons prohibit you from using them to pay for alcohol, cigarettes, or lottery tickets – but these Catalinas can be used towards almost anything that you'd like to spend them on, and are redeemable at the store where you received them. These are triggered in two ways: by manufacturer promotions, and by store promotions.

Manufacturers use this type of coupon to reward their customers for purchasing their items. These catalinas will say something along the lines of, “Save $1.50 on your next shopping order, courtesy of Glade.” When you discover a product that triggers these catalinas, see if there are coupons available for it – if you can buy a Glade plug-in for $1.50 and get a $2 catalina back, you just made .50 cents.

In addition to this, stores will often run special promotions to entice their customers to buy certain products. Safeway recently ran a sale called “The Summer Savings Marathon”, where customer could earn coupons for between $5 to $20 for purchasing participating items. These items were promoted in their sales circular and also tagged in-store. Once again, matching up coupons with the qualifying products can result in a very good deal.

And if you get a Catalina that is just an ad, with no coupon, don't immediately discount it – sometimes these ads will notify you of upcoming catalina promotions. For example, you may receive an ad that says something along the lines of, “Get $2 off your next shopping order when you buy 5 packets of Kool-Aid between 9/7 and 9/17”.

Shopping Trip - October 9th

I'm a little behind in posting my shopping trips, so I have some catching up to do!

I did a lot of baking over the past few days, and on Thursday night I realized that I was all out of several ingredients. So a trip to Safeway was in order:



Total Spent: .13 cents
Total before coupons: $15.13
View receipt - note that the total on the receipt is $2.13. This is because an item rang up wrong, and I was subsequently refunded $2. I also cut the bottom of the receipt off, since it had my debit card info on it.

I got:

2 pounds of flour
1 dozen cage free eggs
1 package of margarine
1 bottle of shampoo
1 bottle of conditioner
2 bottles of aspirin

There is a promotion running currently at Safeway for Dove hair care, where if you buy 2 Dove products, $2 is supposed to come off your transaction automatically; I read about this on Hot Coupon World, and there was also a sign marking it in the hair care aisle at my store. There was also a "Super Coupon" in the Safeway sales circular last Sunday that makes the Dove shampoo & conditioner 2 for $6. Store coupons can be combined with manufacturer's coupons, so I also used two $2/1 Dove hair care coupons from the 8/17 newspaper inserts in conjunction with the Super Coupon. After doubles, this would give me $1 of overage. The only problem is that the automatic $2 discount did not come off, which is weird, since the sign did say it was off any Dove. So the cashier just refunded me the $2 that I overpaid, but I did not get a receipt for that transaction, since he just handed me cash.

Also, the Bayer aspirin is on a great sale this week - selected varieties are priced at $1, and there were $1 coupons for Bayer in the 7/27 newspaper inserts! My store will also double these coupons, so I was able to get .50 cents overage on each bottle.

As a side note, if anyone wonders why I use my debit card for such small transactions - the truth is, now that my groceries only cost me spare change, I've found that I don't really need to carry much cash around anymore!

I also needed a few items at Rite Aid:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $9.85 on 2 gift cards that I earned through various promotions
Total before coupons: $13.85
View receipt

Got:

1 box of band-aids
1 pair of nail scissors
1 pair of tweezers

No exciting deals here, just stuff I had to get. Rite Aid had the best price I've been able to find on band-aids currently, and I also needed the scissors. I used a $2/1 Sally Hansen Implement coupon from the 9/28 newspaper inserts to lower the price of the scissors, and since the Sally Hansen tools were on sale for "Buy One, Get One 50%", I also picked up a pair of tweezers. After the coupon and sale, they were only .47 cents, which is not a bad price for something useful.

SCG Won Another Award!

I was nominated for another blog award by a sweet reader! This was sent to me by Louise, who blogs about coupons and more over at her website, Momstart. Stop by her blog and say "hi" if you get a chance!

Update: Longtime reader Rebekah C of Ready Set Read Reviews was also kind enough to nominate me for this award! Thanks so much!

Heads-up: Great Deals This Weekend

I'm making a few trips to Walgreens and Rite Aid this weekend, to take advantage of some awesome deals. Here's the scoop:

Walgreens has some super sales going on this week. The last day for this sale is tomorrow, so be sure to stop by soon if you'd like to check it out. There's some great scenarios posted at Money Saving Mom, Deal Seeking Mom, and Common"cents"ical, so check them out if you want an idea of what I'll be doing on Saturday!


Rite Aid is also offering a ton of "Free after rebate items" starting on Sunday. There is a list available on the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate website. I'm going to hit up Rite Aid first thing Sunday morning, because the free rebate items go fast!

Stockpile Giveaway: Week Four!

Back by popular demand (and the fact that I have a million of these), I am offering another cleaning prize package for my fourth Stockpile Giveaway! Here's what you could win:




1 Glade Plug-In Scented Oil Warmer, Hawaiian Breeze scent - This clean floral scent will keep your home smelling great!
1 Glade Plug-In Scented Oil Warmer, Lavender and Vanilla scent - I love the sweet Vanilla overtones in this scent.
2 Glade Plug-In Scented Gel Warmers, Clean Linen Scent - This is my favorite scent, because it's so crisp and fresh. The gel scent pack is supposed to last for 30 days, so your house will smell great for months!

And, to keep your home sparkling clean, you will also receive a big stack of coupons - a value of over $67! There are all sorts of coupons for cleaning supplies included: Scrubbing Bubbles, Air Wick, Snuggle, and Windex are just a few of the brands.


Here's how to enter: Just leave a comment on this post, and you'll be entered to win!
To earn an extra entry: If you'd like to gain a second entry into the contest, just put up a link to my blog and leave a separate comment letting me know that you did. You can either link to this contest, or any other post that you liked. If you already have me in your blogroll - thank you, and be sure to leave a second comment mentioning it to improve your odds!

Fine print, rules, etc: This giveaway is only open to US residents, because I unfortunately can't afford to ship this package overseas. (APO/FPO addresses are OK, because the rates are the same as domestic.) But fear not, international readers! I will be having another giveaway that you can enter next week!

This contest will be open until 11:59 PM, October 16th. A winner will be chosen on October 17th via Random.org and notified. Be sure to leave your email address, either in your post or in your blogger profile, so that I can get in touch if you win! Email address will be used only to notify winner. If, for some bizarre reason, the winner does not respond after 4 days, a new winner will be chosen.

Stockpile Giveaway, Week Three: WINNER!

And the winning number for this week's giveaway is....



Comment number 103 was:



Congrats to Bison, lucky winner and Pert aficionado! I have sent an email notifying you.

Shopping Trip - October 8th

Today, I used some of those Glade catalinas that I earned to pay for a few things that I needed:



Total Spent: .17 cents
Total before coupons: $32.67
View receipt

I got:

Half a pound of organic, fair trade coffee
1 can of black olives
1 bag of chow mein noodles
3 bags of Wacky Mac - on sale for .99 cents, used three .50/1 coupons from the 6/22 newspaper inserts, free after doubles
1 bag of organic tortilla chips
4 8 ounce packages of cream cheese - on sale for $2 each, and Safeway is running a promotion where you instantly save $4 off your transaction for purchasing 4 Philadelphia Cream Cheeses. I then used a coupon for $1 off 4 Philadelphia Cream Cheese packages to sweeten the deal further. I got this coupon in a trade a few months ago, looks like it came from an in-store tearpad.
1 8 ounce bag of shredded cheese
1 bottle of International Delight coffee creamer
1 pound of roma tomatoes
1 pound of onion
A 10 pound bag of potatoes

Shopping Trip - October 7th

Total spent: $9.45. But before you fall off your chair - I walked out of the store with $36 in catalinas!
Total before coupons: $128.88

View receipt #1
View receipt #2 (I cut the bottom of this receipt off, because it had my debit card info on it)
View receipt #3
View receipt #4

For some reason, my name didn't show up on any of my receipts - I am now "Valued Customer"! It also didn't register my Power Pump accumulation, my GroceryMiles, and so forth, so I'll have to call customer service tomorrow and find out what's up.

I got:

1 gallon of milk
2 1-pound bags of Healthful Life catfood - on sale for $1.50, used a $1 coupon from the 8/3 newspaper inserts. Free after doubles!
A 4-pack of TP - Came to $4.99 after $1 SuperCoupon from this weekend's Safeway sales circular
2 South Beach pizzas - on sale for $2.50, used two $2/1 printables (link seems to be down at the moment), free after doubles. The tag in store said this price was only through 10/7 - I lucked out, since I didn't know what the sale price was until I got to the store.
2 bottles of Coke - used two "Free Coke" coupons that I got in a promo from My Coke Rewards a while ago.
4 bags of Wacky Mac - on sale for .99 cents, used four .50/1 coupons from the 6/22 inserts. Free after doubles!
16 Glade plug-ins - used eight "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons from the 9/28 inserts.
1 3 pound package of Bar-S sausages - used $5/1 coupon that I received in the mail from the company.
1 pound of butter
Over a pound of bananas
A pound of Zucchini


So regular readers may remember that I set my grocery budget for October at $20 or less. So why, then, did I spend almost half of it at the beginning of the month? I chose to invest part of my budget in a new catalina deal, and I was able to leave the store with $36 in catalinas in my purse. My plan is to keep rolling this catalina deal throughout the month, and use the proceeds towards groceries during the rest of the month. This is the latest catalina deal at Safeway:

The Glade gel warmer deal is over, but has been replaced by a different Glade deal - this time, it's the scented oil warmers! They are $5.79, and produce a $4 catalina. Used in conjunction with a "BOGO" (Buy One, Get One Free) coupon, this quickly becomes a moneymaker. The previous Glade deals seemed to be running throughout different grocery chains nationwide, so watch for this one.


I started off my shopping trip by using the last two $2 catalinas that I had left from the prior Glade deal, and bought 2 warmers utilizing the "BOGO" coupon. I also got 4 free bags of Wacky Mac, spending a total of $1.72 and receiving $8 in coupons back.

For the second transaction, I used a "$10 off a $50 purchase at Safeway" coupon that was in the Oregonian last week. The nice thing about this coupon is that it can be used in conjunction with manufacturer coupons. So essentially, you can buy $40 worth of products that you have $40 worth of coupons for, and then buy an additional $10 worth of merchandise for which you have no coupons, and use the $10/50 to pay for it. If this is confusing, just think of your $40 worth of coupons as cash - the store is reimbursed by the manufacturer for them, so it doesn't really matter whether you're paying for your $40 subtotal in cash or coupons.


So to get my pre-coupon total up to $40, I bought four more Glade warmers, using two "BOGO" coupons and the $8 in catalinas that I had just received to pay for all but $3.58 of it; I also used a lot of the "Free" product coupons that I had on hand. Altogether, my total ended up being $4.88 - and I got $16 in catalinas back.

The third time, I just got 2 Glade warmers, using yet another "BOGO" and one of the $4 catalinas, paying $1.79 altogether. I thought I might need this extra catalina for my next transaction, but I actually didn't have to use it.

Finally, I made use of one more $10/50 coupon. This time, I got 8 warmers, which brought my pre-coupon total to $46.32. I then bought the butter and bananas to get me up to $50. I used the $10 off coupon, four "BOGO" coupons, and $16 in catalinas, bringing me to $1.06. I then got $32 in catalinas back!

Free Ensure Shake Coupon

Click here to receive a free coupon for Ensure!

Shopping Trip - October 5th

Total spent: .27 cents
Total before coupons: $14.77
View receipt #1 View receipt #2 View receipt #3


Got:

6 Glade plug-ins
1 Sunday newspaper
1 package of hamburger buns (3 guesses what we had for dinner tonight!)
1 head of garlic
Over a pound of apples

As I took advantage of the Glade catalina deal once again, I noticed that the tags marking the deal in the store stated that today was the last day of the promotion. In other locations, it's marked as ending on the 7th, so if any of you still plan on doing this deal - BEWARE! Check the tags in your store and see what the end date is marked as!

As you can see, I broke this down into three transactions. For the first, I bought 2 plug-ins and utilized the "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon I had. The plug-ins are $1.50, so I bought a head of garlic at .50 cents and used the $2 catalina that I still had left from Friday to pay for the purchase. I subsequently got two $2 catalinas back.

For the second transaction, I bought 4 plug-ins and used 2 "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons. Since this brought the plug-ins to a grand total of $3.00, I bought the buns I needed for $1 and used $4 worth of catalinas to pay for the purchase. I then received $8 in catalinas back.

I still needed a Sunday newspaper, so I spent two of my catalinas on that and the apples. And I still have $4 in catalinas left for next time!

Later in the evening, I realized that today was the last day of the free Ronzoni pasta deal at Safeway. I had two $1/1 coupons left, so I headed back to the store! I live very close to Safeway, in case you're wondering why I would bother making another trip.



Total spent: Zero. I didn't even bring my purse with me - just my coupon binder!
Total before coupons: $3.00
View receipt

Got:

2 packages of spaghetti

The cashier who rang me up was very nice, and enthusiastic about my coupons. The customer in front of me was inquiring about a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase at Safeway that appeared in the Oregonian recently, and the cashier looked at me and said, "She knows all about coupons!" I ended up talking to the customer about when this coupon expires and when it came out (Last Tuesday's FoodDay, for my local readers - I'll be sure to give you a heads-up when the next one comes out, they seem to appear once every few weeks or so). The cashier raved about how well I do with coupons. Then when the total came to nothing, she dashed away from the checkstand, chasing after the customer in front of me who was starting to leave. She waved my coupons at her and said, "Hey! Look at this! She just got those for free!!" It was hilarious! She then came back to the checkstand and finished the transaction. As I was leaving, she yelled that I need to teach a seminar, and tell her as soon as I do!

Let's Try This Again: Stockpile Giveaway, Week Two: Winner!

Earlier in the week, I announced the winners in week two's Stockpile Giveaway. Unfortunately, the grand prize winner left no contact info. I gave them 4 days to contact me and collect their prize, but since I have not heard anything, I was forced to choose a new winner. Drum roll please!



Comment #47 was:



Congratulations, Sara!! I have sent an email notifying you. Your twins are adorable!

Shopping Trip - October 4th

Yesterday I realized that I was almost out of coffee, so I made a quick run into Safeway:



Total spent: .10 cents
Total before coupons: $4.10
View receipt (looks like the register was running out of ink, but you can read most of it)

Got:

A little under half a pound of my favorite fair trade & organic Millstone coffee.

I used 2 of my catalinas from Friday's Glade deal to pay for all but ten cents of it.

Rite Aid is right next door to Safeway, so I popped in to get a rebate freebie:



Total spent: $5.00 - but I'm getting $5.00 back in rebates, making it free!
Total before coupons: $9.00
View receipt

Got:

1 Gillette Fusion razor - used a $4/1 coupon from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper insert


Then I came home and ate a coupon-funded dinner:



Baked Eggplant Parmesan - I used this recipe, which I liked a lot!



As you can see, I'm still trying to find a good setting on the camera for food pictures...

Shopping Trip - October 3rd

Here's Friday's haul:



Total spent: -.75 cents!
Total before coupons: $7.26
View receipt

Got:

4 Glade plug ins
Over 2 pounds of bananas

So for this transaction, I used 2 of the $2 Glade catalina coupons from my last Safeway visit, and 2 "Buy One, Get One Free" plug-in coupons. The plug-ins are on sale for $1.50, so after buying some bananas at .59 cents a pound, I figured my total would be roughly .20 cents, depending on the actual weight of the bananas. But when the cashier scanned the "Get One Free" coupons, they both took off $1.99. "Oh, look, it's taking off too much," I pointed out. "The plug-ins are only $1.50, and it's taking off $1.99." To which the cashier replied, "Well, if that's what it's taking off, then that's what it is. I can't argue with what my computer says." And since I'd handed over $4 worth of catalinas, it put my total at minus .75 cents. "And you get change back!" she said. So the cashier pretty much insisted on giving me money back! Not to mention that I got $8 in catalinas from the plug-in purchase. Crazy!



Total spent: .05 cents
Total before coupons: $2.05
View receipt

I went through the line one more time to get another pound of bananas and one more plug-in. And I got the same $2 catalina coupon back, so I left the store with $8 in catalinas and an extra .70 cents in my pocket.

Then, I headed to Walgreens:



Total spent: $3.94 - but I'll get $7.49 back in rebates
Total before coupons: $28.44
View receipt

Got:

4 bottles of Pert Plus - on sale for $3.49, and I used 4 $1.50 coupons from the 9/7 newspaper inserts, combined with the $2.50/1 EasySaver Pert coupon, to produce .51 cents of overage for each bottle.
1 bottle of Rimmel foundation - on sale for $7.49, free after rebate
1 box of Zantac - on sale for $4.99, used this coupon for $5.50 off.
2 packages of TP

This transaction was just a mess. Originally, I had planned to get 3 trial size packets of Airborne, on sale for .99 cents, and use the $2/1 coupon from the 9/7 inserts to produce $1.01 overage each. To soak up this overage, I picked up a package of Quilted Northern TP, which would have been $3 after using a $1 Quilted Northern coupon. The remaining 3 cents would be absorbed by the rebate item.

The first Airborne coupon scanned just fine, but then the register refused to take the other 2, or my Zantac coupon (which came from the Walgreens website!). The manager came over and had to push the Zantac coupon through manually. Then he looked at the Airborne coupon for a long time and said, "Oh, it won't take it because it says limit one per purchase." I mentioned that each item is considered a purchase, and that I had 3 items. He said that in this instance, "purchase" refers to the whole transaction. I knew this was not accurate information, because if that were the case it would say "limit one per transaction" - for an explanation of this, I recommend this great coupon basics tutorial on Hot Coupon World. But it's not worth arguing over - if they don't want to take my coupons, I will just politely put the item back. Anyway, since I had bought the TP as an overage eater for the Airborne, I asked the cashier to just void the TP and all three Airbornes from my transaction. In retrospect, I could have kept 1 Airborne on there and let the rebate item suck up the $1.01 overage, but I was getting so confused and was trying to keep the math simple so that I didn't end up paying more than I wanted to.

At any rate, the total came to $3.94, which didn't seem right at all - I had figured that it would come to over $6. So after I paid, I sat in my car with my calculator for a good 5 minutes or so, just staring at the receipt trying to make heads or tails of it. If you take a look at the receipt you'll probably see why I was having trouble making sense of it! Finally, I realized that the clerk had voided off the Quilted Northern and handed me my coupon back, but the $1 coupon for it had not been voided off. $4.94 was still way lower than I was expecting, but I thought I must have done the math wrong on the Pert.

I headed back into the store, explained what had happened and showed the manager my receipt. "So I owe you a dollar!" I said. He looked a little stunned that I would want to fix an error that was in my favor. "Oh, don't worry about it," he said. "It was our mistake. But thank you for coming back in!" So he appreciated my honesty, anyway.

And when I was scanning the receipt in today, I studied it further and added everything up several times, and it finally dawned on me - the $2 coupon for the Airborne hadn't been voided off, either!! So that's why it was so low. What a confusing mess that transaction was!


After all that, I headed over to Fred Meyer:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $7.97 on a gift card that I got as a birthday present. And I got $16 back in catalina coupons!
Total before coupons: $37.95
View receipt

Got:

1 Dove deodorant - on sale for $1.99, and there was a tearpad of coupons for $2/1 sitting right next to it. So watch for these if you shop at Fred Meyer!
4 Glade Flameless Candles - On sale for $8.99, and I used 2 $5/1 coupons from the 9/7 inserts, and 2 "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons that I printed here. And I got a $4 catalina back for each candle that I bought! This promo is running at other Kroger stores, Safeway, and probably a few other chains as well.
These candles are great, especially with power outage season fast approaching!


So essentially, I was able to double the amount I had to spend by turning $7.97 on a gift card into $16 in coupons. My cashier was super nice, and couldn't believe the deal. As I was leaving, I heard her say to the next customers in line, "Did you SEE that?! She got all those $4 coupons back!!"

I then used those coupons to pay for the following items:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $1.54 on my gift card
Total before coupons: $19.54
View receipt

Got:


1 head of organic red leaf lettuce
Just under 2 pounds of organic apples
1 Eggplant
A pound of organic oranges
A pound of broccoli
1 gallon of milk
1 8oz bag of cheese
2 ears of corn
1 canister of bread crumbs
Another free Dove deodorant

Then I made one last stop at Safeway on my way home:



Total spent: .04 cents
Total before coupons: $2.04
View receipt

I used one of my $2 Glade catalinas to buy:

1 package of TP - my favorite overage item! After all, you can never have too much of it, and there's rarely good sales on it in my area.
1 bag of Cheetos - I was hungry for a snack. The bag was empty by the time I snapped this picture!

New Walgreens $5 Off Coupon

Walgreens has put out yet another coupon for $5 off a $20 purchase, good this Friday and Saturday. I love all these great deals that Walgreens have been offering lately!

First Shopping Trip of the Month - October 1st

Got a few deals tonight:



Total spent: .10 cents - .06 cents on the actual groceries, .04 cents for breast cancer research
Total before coupons: $31.56

View Receipt #1
View Receipt #2

And I got $4 back in catalinas to use on my next trip!

Also, I earned my first 125 miles in the United Airlines GroceryMiles program. I have to earn about 50,000 before I can get a plane ticket anywhere, but it's worth noting that you can cash in 1,000 miles for Restaurant.com gift certificates. It's free to sign up for the program - just fill in a form and it will add the promotion to your club card, and your grocery purchases will start to count towards miles.

I got:

1 can of corn
1 4-pack of TP
8 trial size boxes of Tide - used $1/1 coupons from the recent P&G newspaper insert
6 Glade plug-ins - used "Buy One, Get One Free" coupons from another recent newspaper insert. There's also a printable here.
1 package of pasta - used $1/1 coupon from 8/24 SS insert
1 pint of milk
2 bottles of Coffee-Mate - used $1/1 printables, found here.
2 packages of Stayfree - used $2/2 coupon from 9/28 insert

For my first transaction, I used overage from the Tide to pay for my other items. The trial sizes are .89 cents at my store, and the coupon is good for $1 off any size Tide - resulting in .11 cents of overage (And the store is reimbursed for the full amount of the coupon by the manufacturer, just as a side note). And I was also able to double these coupons, giving me an extra .50 cents of overage each. At my store, any coupon can be doubled up to .50 cents; and there is no restriction on the amount, so your coupon doesn't have to be .50 cents or less.

So, as an example, a .35 cent coupon becomes .70 cents, a .50 cent coupon becomes $1, a .75 cent coupon becomes $1.25, a $1 coupon becomes $1.50, and so forth. In addition, a coupon can be doubled beyond the item's face value. So if an item is on sale for $1 and you have a $1 off coupon, it will still double - hence the .50 cent overage on the Tide. This was confirmed by several managers at my store, who said that yes, it's perfectly legitimate and accepted to get overage this way. I've gotten some great questions from readers about my store's doubling policy, so I wanted to explain it in a little more detail so that it makes more sense. Also, bear in mind that it is up to the discretion of each store to set their own coupon policies - some Safeways don't double coupons at all.

At any rate, the first transaction was .10 cents, and I got $8 back in catalina coupons towards my next order. I subsequently made my next purchase, and used the catalinas to pay for all of it. And I got $4 back in more catalinas!

Then, I made a quick stop at Rite Aid:



Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $2.69 on a gift card that I earned for free from a promotion
Total before coupons: $2.69
View Receipt

So this was a pretty good start to October's budget!

Budget Total - September 2008

After adding up my grocery expenses for September, here is the grand total expended for the month:

$11.80

This is for all food, including fruit, vegetables, meat, milk, cheese, eggs, and my favorite gourmet coffee. Many of these items were also organic. $11.80 fed myself, my boyfriend, and quite a few dinner guests - not to mention the fact that I added a ton of items to my food stockpile.

And, this figure also includes all household items, such as foil, sponges, dish soap, toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, toiletries, and so forth. It also includes all my Sunday newspapers - more coupons! - and paid for some new kitchen pans and utensils.

All of my shopping trips for September are documented in the September 2008 archive, if you'd like a more detailed overview of what this amount got. Also, you'll notice that there were several trips where I left the store with more money than I came in with, during those instances where I was given change back from catalina coupons, or had coupons that produced more overage than I anticipated. I never aim to get "money back" from my purchases - I always plan on using my overage to pay for other items. But sometimes the register goes into the negative anyway, when an item rings up less than you anticipated, or if you forget to check a price. Stores are reimbursed by the manufacturers for coupons redeemed, and depending on the store's policy, sometimes they will give you cash back. In these instances, I adjusted my budget total accordingly to include this "profit".

For October's grocery budget, I am setting aside one $20 bill. Let's see how much I have left over at the end of the month!

Guest Post on MoneySavingMom.com

I recently wrote a guest post for one of my favorite websites, MoneySavingMom.com. The article, How I Buy Organic, Fresh Foods For Pennies, talks in more detail about the strategies I employ to slash costs on expensive foods. So if you're interested in reading more about the methods I use to save, check it out!

Stockpile Giveaway, Week Three!

This week's giveaway is all about hair!



Winner will receive a haircare prize package, consisting of the following:

(1) 13.5 oz bottle of Pert Plus "So Fine" 2 in 1 Shampoo Plus Conditioner - designed especially for fine or oily hair
(1) 13.5 oz bottle of Pert Plus "Happy Medium" 2 in 1 Shampoo Plus Conditioner - designed for normal hair
(1) Try Me Free Rebate Form For Pert Plus - this little form will get you another bottle of Pert for free! Buy any Pert Plus Thick 'n Full, Revive & Rejuvenate or Dandruff Dismissed product between now and August 31t, 2009 (!), and send in this form along with your contact info and receipt, and they will mail you a refund up to $3.99.
Assortment of haircare coupons - everything from shampoo to styling aids and even hairdye! A $22 value, this is sure to save you some cash while keeping your mane looking great!

Here's how to enter: Just leave a comment on this post, and you'll be entered to win!
To earn an extra entry: If you'd like to gain a second entry into the contest, just put up a link to my blog and leave a separate comment letting me know that you did. You can either link to this contest, or any other post that you liked. If you already have me in your blogroll - thank you, and be sure to leave a second comment mentioning it to improve your odds!

Fine print, rules, etc: This giveaway is only open to US residents, because I unfortunately can't afford to ship this package overseas. (APO/FPO addresses are OK, because the rates are the same as domestic.) But fear not, international readers! I will be having another giveaway that you can enter soon, I promise!

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM, October 8th. A winner will be chosen via Random.org on October 9th and notified. Be sure to leave your email address, either in your post or in your blogger profile, so that I can get in touch if you win! Email address will be used only to notify winner. If, for some bizarre reason, the winner does not respond after 4 days, a new winner will be chosen.