No Insert Reminder & 2 Red Plums!

Just another reminder that there are no coupon inserts in the RJ Sunday paper 12/21/08 & 12/28/08. I guess Red Plum made up for their 2 weeks of no inserts. I got my junk mail today and lo and behold...2 Red Plum inserts! Actually my sister called and scooped me that she had just got 2 inserts in her mail. Now I'm wondering (& hoping) for 2 SmartSource inserts sometime soon. Guess we'll have to see about that. Even just one insert in the paper will be fine with me...I'm so ready to have inserts again! Be sure to check the Grocery Smarts lists tomorrow for the new store lists.

Walgreens Trip

I ran to Walgreens this morning and scored this awesome deal.

I spent $3.17 for these 7 items which works out to $0.45 each! Now I can stay home, do some baking with the kids, and get ready for Christmas. I probably won't post much for the rest of the week so I can just enjoy Christmas time with my family. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and wonderful Holiday.

Food 4 Less...Who Knew?

Wow! I had no idea of the deals to be had at Food 4 Less. I went with my Grocery Smarts list but NO COUPONS and still had a great shopping trip. Here's what I got:
10 lbs russet potatoes $2.48, half ham for $0.87lb, 2lbs apples for $0.98, celery $0.68, then various odds & ends that I needed and I knew were a good price. My total bill was $28.59 for 18 items!! Not too bad. You just have to spend $20.00 to get the ham for $0.87. That's why I got the 2lbs of beef stew meat. It was $5.43 and I needed it for a meal I'm making on Christmas Eve. This trip totally made up for my trip to CVS that was a bust because they were out of all the things I went to get. Just remember on Grocery Smarts the Food 4 Less list is under the "other lists" and it's definitely worth a look.

No Coupon Inserts Today

Just a reminder that there were no coupon inserts in the paper today and there will be no insert next Sunday as well as no Red Plum in the junk mail last week and we won't get one this week either. Two weeks with no new coupons! Hopefully SmartSource will be good to us on 1/04/09 and give us 2 separate inserts (which they do occasionally) or General Mills or Campbell's will throw one in. One good thing from today's paper was the CVS ad. I'm excited about their ECB offers for Sunday 12/21 & Monday 12/22. I hope to get to CVS tomorrow to check out some of those deals.

Albertsons & Smiths Deals

So so sorry for the non-posting all week. I had to finish up my Christmas shopping, attend parties, dinners, a Parent Teacher Conference, Doctor's appointment, get Christmas cards sent and enjoy the RARE snowfall here. I have done (with the help of my hubby--part of the reason why there are no pics of the items) a little bit of Albertsons shopping too. Now's the time to shop if you need a ham for your Holiday Dinner. I also used my in-ad store coupon for the Diet Coke and as if I didn't have enough cereal the Kellogg's deals were great and we stocked up on the Powerade too.
My next trip will be to Smiths for: 5lb bag of Russet potatoes $1.29, Philadelphia cream cheese 8oz $1.00, Kroger frozen pie shells 2 pack $1.00.
I will probably hit either Albertsons or Smiths again for another ham so I'll have an extra in the freezer.

What's In Your Pantry?

I thought it might be fun to share recipes that use products I (and a lot of you) have in my pantry after shopping the sales and stocking up. A few months ago I signed up for the Betty Crocker email newsletter and pretty soon I started getting emails from them full of great recipes using many of the products I had purchased at various sales. Recently, I went back to their website and found that you can search for recipes by products. (click HERE to see) So fun! I found a great recipe using their chocolate chip cookie mix.
Here's what I made:
These are the Luscious Layer Bars. Click HERE for recipe.
The ingredients I used from my pantry:
1 pkg Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix $0.75 - Albertsons current sale
1 cup Nestle Butterscotch Morsels (bag)$1.25 - Vons sale 11/10/08
1 cup Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips (bag)$0.70 - Albertsons sale 10/08
1 Egg -$0.99 (dozen) - Smiths sale 12/08/08
1 can sweetened condensed milk $1.05 - Smiths sale 11/09/08
1 cup flaked coconut (bag) $? - unknown sale - already had in pantry
(I didn't use walnuts)
Not only did I use things I had on hand, I was able to make a delicious treat for around $3.25. How great is that during Holiday Baking time?

Have You Been to Vons?

Last night I made a mad dash (literally...we only had 20 minutes) to Vons with my friend Dyanne. She wanted to add Frosted Flakes to her mega cereal stash-- currently around 30 boxes. We quickly checked the Grocery Smarts list, grabbed our coupons, went to Vons, shopped, checked out and came back home with time to spare. I spent $5.01 and saved $24.38. That works out to 82% savings!!!
Grocery Smarts has Vons on the "other stores" list. Check out the Kellogg's promotion to see how to get Frosted Flakes for $0.29 and apples for $0.79 lb. If you aren't sure how to use the Grocery Smarts website, you can schedule a FREE class for you & your friends where I'll teach you how. Just call or email me for more info.

This Week at Target...

If you need crackers, cookies or snacky food let me tell you about my shopping trip to Target this week. They have a promotion going now for various Keebler crackers & snacks. They are all on sale (prices vary) and if you buy 5 you get a $5.00 Target Gift Card. I had coupons from a booklet I picked up @ Albertsons awhile back and also from 12/14 RedPlum. Here's what I bought:

10 Keebler snacks = $23.88
- 3.00 Mnfcpn
- 5.00 Target gift card
- 5.00 Target gift card
= 10.88 total or $1.08 each item!
You don't have to separate the transactions to get multiple gift cards. You could, and then use your $5.00 gift card to pay for the next transaction of Keebler snacks and earn another $5.00. Whatever works for you, it's still a great deal. The sale ends Sat 12/13/08.

Time to Roll...at Walgreens

I couldn't wait to post this shopping trip to Walgreens. I swear I jumped out of the car, put my stuff on the counter snapped a picture and started typing! This is a little bit of advanced couponing with rolling transactions. I purchased these 15 items for $10.60 and saved $31.68. That's 74% savings!!

Basically I paid $0.70 for each item! 12 packs of Diet Coke for what??? This is definitely a Show Off shopping trip. You can get great deals at Walgreens & CVS by using the Grocery Smarts lists. I also offer tutoring in advance couponing as a class incentive. For more info check out my previous post by clicking HERE.

P&G Coupon Booklet by Mail

I had a Red Plum and P&G Brandsaver in my junk mail today. Woo hoo! If you get one, check on the first page of the P&G Brandsaver where you'll see a coupon booklet offer. It looks like this:
Basically if you purchase $50.00 worth of P&G products anytime between 12/14/08 - 1/31/09 they will send you a coupon booklet with $120.00 worth of P&G savings. Too bad all those P&G items we just bought at Albertsons were before the 14th! I have several P&G items that I use and I have found that it's pretty hard to always have coupons for them so I'm excited about this offer. I frequently buy Pampers diapers so I should get up to the $50.00 in no time flat. I'm also a loyal user of Gain detergent and Bounty paper towels. Remember in class how we talk about "brand loyalty" and only using specific products? Well here's your chance to get extra coupons if you are loyal to P&G products. Just read and follow the requirements exactly as stated in the ad and you should have no trouble. I can't wait for mine!

Expired Coupons

Ever wonder if there was something you could do with your expired coupons instead of throwing them away? Probably not. I've been doing a little research and found a good use for them. Did you know that Military families can use expired manufacturers coupons for up to 6 months after the expiration date? When they are stationed out of the U.S. they don't have access to coupons like we do and rely totally on donated coupons mailed to them. I'm still learning as much as I can because I'd love to mail mine to a family who really needs to save money. Imagine if we didn't have our inserts that are stuffed full of coupons. Sad! If you are interested in donating your expired coupons to Military families do a little searching on the Internet. One website with lots of info and worth a look is http://www.ocpnet.org/. It's another good way to use coupons and a great opportunity to support our Troops & their families.

Alphabetical Coupon Index

A new feature was added to Grocery Smarts website that will help you get even MORE savings and value out of your coupons! Once you've entered the passport and are on the page with the Nevada map, look just below the website logo and you'll find a link that says "Alphabetical Coupon Index". Click on it to find a full listing of ALL current coupons that have been released in our area through the Review Journal AND the direct mail.How do you use it? It is simple... if you need or are planning to buy something that isn't on a list and you want to know if you have a coupon for it, just pull up the Index and scroll through it alphabetically until you find what you are looking for. If there is a coupon for what you are looking for, it'll tell you what the coupon value is and what week it was published! So, you need some Benadryl for a sick kiddo? If you were to check the index, you'd find: Benadryl Allergy Product, any (except trial size) $1/1 (12/28/08) RP-9/28
AWESOME, HUH? This list will be updated weekly with new coupons and expired ones will be pulled out.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT

Super Double Deal!

I made it over to K-Mart tonight. They were out of some of the things I wanted but I still saved--BIG TIME. I grabbed 2 boxes of rice krispies and on the boxes were coupons for $1.00 off of any brand and size bag of marshmallows. (Remember previous post?...coupons everywhere...) So after the sale prices and double coupons, here's what I got for $3.45!!!!

Rice Krispies = $0.50 each, Biz = $1.99, Marshmallows = FREE! I'm adding this trip to my smart shopping "Show Off" savings. (Click HERE) I think this trip is definitely worth showing off. Do you have any show off trips on current sales you'd like to share? Email me the info with a picture. Be sure to include the date, the name of the store where you shopped and a breakdown of your transaction. I'll post the best show offs on my blog each week.

8 Hour Sales

Albertsons & Smith's have 8 hour sales today. Smith's 8 hour is on the Grocery Smarts list and there are a couple of 4 & 5 star items worth checking out. I'm looking at:
Smiths dozen large eggs $0.99
Kroger semi-sweet baking chips 6 oz $0.50 (I hope the mini chips are included)
These deals are only good today from 3pm to 11pm. Albertsons 8 hour is today from 1pm to 9pm. I'm interested in:
Kellogg's cereal (corn pops, corn flakes, froot loops, raisin bran) $1.50 use $1/1 coupon corn pops or froot loops RP 11/9 = $0.50!
Tostitos Chips 2/$3.00 limit 2
Albertsons shredded cheese 3/$5.00 ($1.66 each)
So if you were planning on shopping today be sure to check out the 8 hour deals.

Coupons Everywhere!

When I teach a Grocery Smarts class I tell everyone that the bulk of our coupons come in the Sunday paper, but that there are coupons everywhere. So in addition to your SmartSources and various (General Mills, Campbell's) inserts in the paper you may get Red Plums or Proctor & Gambles in your junk mail. On the Grocery Smart website there are links to printable coupons and links to different companies that have coupons available as well. But it doesn't stop there. Once your conscious of coupons you will notice them all over the place. I was at the front desk of the local Rec Center signing my daughter up for Romper Room and there was a stack of $1.50 off coupons for Clorox cleaning products. The receptionist told me to take as many as I wanted. WHHAAAA? Are you kidding me? In keeping with RULE #2 of my class (have enough coupons for each member of your family...) I took 4 then grabbed another one because I could and I use those products all the time. You can buy All You magazine at Wal-Mart and it's filled with great coupons. I like to give these to my hostesses as gifts. Here's what it looks like:
The little booklet on the right was near a display of baking items at Albertsons. They sometimes have booklets like these around the store. I always pick 'em up to check for coupons or good recipes and take 4 whenever possible. So keep your eyes open for coupons when you're flipping through magazines or see the blinking lights on the grocery isle. Just remember that they won't be listed on the Grocery Smarts website so you will have to keep track of them.

***Update on double coupons***

I was worrying about the whole double coupon thing so I emailed Kmart yesterday to clarify the policy. I wrote:

"I'm just trying to clarify your Double Coupon policy. I'm in Henderson, NV and the sale ad states that K-Mart will double coupons up to and including $2.00. But the management at the store said $2.00 coupons would not be doubled to $4.00 but to $3.99 then retracted and said $2.00 coupons would not be doubled at all. Could you please tell me which policy is correct. From my understandingof the K-Mart sale ad the $2.00 coupons were including in the doubling and should be worth $4.00. Thank you for your help and for having the double coupon event."

This is the email I got back today:

Dear Stacie,
Thank you for contacting Kmart regarding the Kmart Double Coupon Event. We appreciate your interest in this promotion.The current event is 11/30/08-12/06/08 and includes all Kmart stores.Up to and including $2.00 value. Amount of credit from doubling a couponcannot exceed the retail price of the item. Only one coupon can be doubled per item. A limit of up to and including 4 coupons on 4 identical items including varieties may be credited per customer per day. Other coupons for the same item will be redeemed at face value. No cash or in-store purchase credit will be awarded for double coupon amounts above the retail price of an item. Limit 75 total coupons per customer per day. Offer excludes products prohibited by law. Not valid toward previous purchase. In the event of a return, coupon savings may be deducted from refund may not be used in combination with any other offer. Not valid for online purchases. Prices effective only at select stores. Coupons will not be doubled for non-merchandise items, concessions, federal or state regulated items, and prior purchases. Kmart reserves the right to modify or cancel this program at any time.Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate your business and value you as a Sears Holdings customer. We certainly hope you will continue to make Sears Holdings your choice for quality and value.Sincerely, Brooke G. National Customer RelationsSears Holdings Corporation
Re: Double Coupons (KMM2289768I15977L0KM)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 12:52 PM
From: "Kmart Help" help@customerservice.kmart.com

Now we have official word from K-Mart! Whew.

Be Careful

Just a little buyer beware for you. The double coupon deals at K-Mart can be tricky. Some people are having trouble with them doubling the $2.00 coupons. Be very cautious when you go there. I have heard that management at one store said they will only double up to $2 so you would not get $4 off. Another scenario I heard about was that someone received $1.99 for their $2 coupon giving them a total of $3.99 off. I haven't been to K-Mart for a shopping trip yet but when I go I am going to make a list with a subtotal of what I expect to pay and if the total at checkout is not close to that amount, I will head on over to customer service. I generally don't shop at K-Mart because I find that they are a tad more expensive and I can get better deals somewhere else. I only listed deals that I thought were worth a trip- if you use those products and are near a store. Just remember to be careful!

Super K-Mart Double Coupon Deals

I checked out the Super K ad online for good deals during their double coupon week and here's a couple more deals that look good to me.

• Lipton/Knorr rice or pasta side dishes $1.00 (.75/2 Lipton/Knorr side dishes RP 11/16) = $0.25 each!
• Lysol spray $2.66 ($1/1 Lysol disinfectant spray SS 11/09) = $0.66!
• Ziploc 2-5-ct food containers $2.50 ($1.50/2 Ziploc food containers SS 10/12, SS 11/2) = $1.00 each

I know there are more but I can't post them until I verify the coupon amounts and where they are located. Of course I'll share the info with you as soon as I have it.