Junk Mail

Whew! I was getting worried. I normally get my junk mail on Tuesdays but it didn't come until Wednesday this week. Since I let you know how my Sundays went with the ads, here's how Tuesdays go with the junk mail.
First thing I do is filter through the mail and look for the Red Plum. I date that and move on to the Grocery Store ads. I know Grocery Smarts will have the Albertsons & Smiths lists up so I generally browse through the Food 4 Less & Vons looking for the best deals. I always keep the ads until I actually go shopping because the stores will put coupons in those ads that you can't get anywhere else and they are usually really good coupons! Don't throw those away cause you could be missing out on some great deals. I shudder to think of how many Red Plums or great coupons I got rid of before I became a smart shopper! I used to dread junk mail day and now I can't wait for it to get here.

Sunday

Here's what I'm looking for and excited to see when I go through my Sunday papers each week. Woo hoo!
I look for the SmartSource and any other coupon inserts then pull them out. Next I grab the Target, CVS, Walgreens, JoAnn & Michaels ads. I whip out my Sharpie & mark the date on the inserts then sit and comb through the other ads. Happiness! Don't forget to check your Parade & USA Weekend ads because they sometimes have coupons inside that you can clip out. This week there was one for 409 cleaner. Have you been one of the lucky ones to get an extra SmartSource in your paper? For as long as I've been doing this I haven't had it happen to me. (Still waiting/hoping to experience that!)

Here's What I'm Looking At

Just thought I'd show you what I'm looking at in this week's grocery sale ads.

ALBERTSONS

There are a few items in the spend $20 get $5 off at checkout promo on the back of the ad that I need and have coupons for. (the new Banana Nut Cheerios & Cinnamon Chex cereals) The free 2 liter bottle of Cherry 7-up (reg or diet) offer on Jan 24th is one to check out for sure.

SMITHS

I'm overly excited about the buy 10 items get $5 instant savings @ checkout because of all the great products you can mix & match. My favorite item is the Green Giant Steamers. They are soooo good, low fat, and did I mention very INEXPENSIVE. I love eating them with steamed white rice. I will totally be stocking up on Goldfish for $0.99. Can't beat that! Also a good time to buy a block of Velveeta cheese to mix up with a can of chili for an awesome queso dip. (um, hello...Super Bowl Sunday coming up) Check out the great deal on Nature's Own Bread too. Grocery Smarts has both of these lists on the website and what coupons you need to get the rock-bottom prices.

FOOD 4 LESS

One store that we don't have a list for but I was excited about. I went there today to check out the Buy 7 and save $3 at checkout promo. Just a word to the wise...you must separate the transactions by 7 items each to earn the $3 off. Here's how I did:

The Aunt Jemima syrup, pancake mix, cereal, Quaker Oats, oatmeal & granola bars were all part of the buy 7 promo. The Top Ramen is a kid favorite around our house and they are $1.50 for a 12 pack. Chicken Noodle soup is $0.58 each, Rice-a-Roni is $1 each. I had coupons for everything except the Top Ramen. So I spent $24.43 for these 27 items. That averages out to $0.90 each! Not too bad. All of these sales started today and end on Tues so you have plenty of time to get out there and be a smart shopper!

Albertsons 8 Hour Sale--TODAY

There are some great deals to be had during Albertsons 8 hour sale today from 1pm - 9pm. Go to Grocery Smarts & check out which 4 & 5 star deals you want then get on over to Albertsons so you can take advantage of the sale. You know I'll be there!

Target!

Guess what you can get for $0.65 each @ Target this week?

Yes Pringles. The king sized can is $1.25 and if you go to Target.com you can print out 3 Target coupons for $0.50/1 then combine them with a manf. coupon for $0.30/3 from P&G 12/14. I love the printable coupons Target offers on their website and the fact that you can print as many as you want. It's even more fun to combine them with manf coupons during a sale and save BIG. Target also prints you out great catalinas (Target store coupons) at checkout. I use these all the time.Here's an example of things I've bought using Target printables & catalinas.Everything I purchased was on sale or had a manf coupon/catalina/Target coupon and cost me around $1.00 or less each except for the Gain fabric softener (which I was out of) & Heart Basket. I saved so much on everything else that it didn't hurt so much when I had to buy the Gain full price. (Still trying to get stocked up on that one) If you're wondering how to store all these little extra coupons check out Target's $1 section...right now they have coupon organizers that will fit right in your purse so you'll have them with you whenever you're doing your Target shopping.

2009 Coupon Insert Schedule

Jan 4, 2009 2 Smart Source & 2 Red Plum
Jan 11, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Jan 18, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Jan 25, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Feb 1, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum, P &G
Feb 8, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Feb 15, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - President's Day
Feb 22, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Mar 1, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum, P & G
Mar 8, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Mar 15, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Mar 22, 2009 Smart Source ONLY
Mar 29, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Apr 5, 2009 2 Smart source, Red Plum, P & G
Apr 5, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Apr 12, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - Easter
Apr 19, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Apr 26, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

May 3, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
May 10, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
May 17, 2009 2 Smart Source, Red Plum
May 24, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - Memorial Day
May 31, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Jun 7, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum, P & G
Jun 14, 2009 Smart Source ONLY
Jun 21, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Jun 28, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Jul 5, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - 4th of July (P&G ?)
Jul 12, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Jul 19, 2009 Smart Source ONLY
Jul 26, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Aug 2, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum, P & G
Aug 9, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Aug 16, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Aug 23, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Aug 30, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Sep 6, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - Labor Day
Sep 13, 2009 Smart Source & 2 Red plum
Sep 20, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Sep 27, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Oct 4, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum, P & G
Oct 11, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Oct 18, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Oct 25, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum

Nov 1, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum, P & G
Nov 8, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Nov 15, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Nov 22, 2009 Smart Source ONLY
Nov 29, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - Thanksgiving

Dec 6, 2009 Smart Source, Red Plum, P & G
Dec 13, 2009 Smart Source & Red Plum
Dec 20, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - Christmas
Dec 27, 2009 NO INSERTS SCHEDULED - New Years

My Albertsons Trip & SAVINGS!

I had a killer trip to Albertsons! Did I say I love this sale? I do!

I separated my items into 5 transactions. The first 4 had items that were included in the buy $30 earn $15 promotion, and the final transaction was items on sale or with various promotions (the buy 2 Smuckers or Jif & get a free loaf of bread & buy 10 Yoplait Yogurts & get 10 free). I earned my $15.00 vouchers and would roll them into the next transaction and ended up with an extra $15.00 in vouchers as a bonus I didn't even know about. Woo hoo! Here's my breakdown:

Total Bill: $267.04 Spent: $86.94 Saved: $180.10

That's a 67% savings or 79 items for $1.10 each! Plus I still have $15.00 in credit right now to use at Albertsons on my next trip. Maybe I should go back before this sale is over. FYI... there were coupons on the display where the Halls Cough Drops were for BOGO so I grabbed 2 of those and used 2 $0.50 off and ended up getting 4 bags for $0.98 or $0.24 each! Keep your eyes open for those. I can't wait to hear about your Albertsons trip. Send me an email! If you haven't been to a class yet...let's get you going so you can save big too.

Big Deals at Albertsons

I'm so excited for the Albertsons promo this week...
The spend $30 get $15! It's on the back page of the sale ad and you can check out the Grocery Smarts list to see for yourself just how many 4 & 5 star deals there are. I LOVE this promo. They had one like it in November and I stocked up on so much but spent so, so, so little! I think this one is even better because there are such great items included in the sale. Not just the typical granola bars, cake mixes, frosting and cereal but seriously cool name brand items like Pampers, Cascade, Gain, Bounty and Tide!! The main thing to remember is that you have to separate your $30.00 transactions to earn more than one $15.00 voucher. You can only earn one per transaction. Just use that plastic divider bar at checkout. It may take a little more planning at home before you go but so worth it in the end. I can't wait to get there and score some great deals!

Back To Smart Shopping

Did you get your 3 inserts in the Sunday paper yesterday? That's right, 3 inserts...Yippee! Now I'm all rested after the Holidays and ready to get back to Smart Shopping. The Nestle promotion at Albertsons (ending tomorrow) has been great so if you haven't had a chance to get over there you might try and check it out. Hopefully we'll get some killer sales this week so we can dig into all our new inserts. I can't wait.