Inserts!

Whew! A whole week has passed and I have no great shopping trips to share. I do, however, have some great insert info. Sunday's Smart Source insert was thicker than usual which made me super excited to have 4 newspaper subscriptions with 4 inserts. Then today in the junk mail there were 3 yes, I repeat--3-- inserts! I'm still trying to get over the excitement from that. I've heard there should be 2 inserts in this Sunday's (4/5) paper. This is because Sunday 4/12 is Easter and there will be no inserts that day or in the junk mail next week. See...those coupon making people do care about us! I'm still scanning the sale ads to see what looks good and anxiously awaiting the new Grocery Smarts lists.

Sunday Coupons

Yesterday I noticed something fun in the Smart Source. Smiths put some store & manufacturer coupons right into the insert. Gotta love that! I'm looking forward to a new Red Plum and new sale ads. This has been a slow shopping week for me but that's the benefit of being a smart shopper. Now I'm so stocked up, I can pick and choose which sales to hit while I use up what I have. I love it! I've also added more items to the shopping "rules" list in my previous post. (click HERE) I'll probably keep adding to it as I think of things or get suggestions or ideas from you. Be sure to check it out.

Some of My Shopping "Rules"

I have some funny "rules" when I shop. It's basically how much I'm willing to pay for items I want or need. I have put a price limit of what I'll spend on certain items and do so with the help of my Grocery Smarts lists, sales, & coupons. Here are a few:
I never pay more than $1.00 for:

toothpaste/toothbrushes, (usually $0.50 & under or FREE) soup, cake mixes/frosting, pasta, mustard, hand soap, Quaker Quakes, frozen veggies

I never pay more than $1.25 for:

cereal (usually it's under $1), granola bars, fruit snacks, Chex mix, cream cheese, dish soap, plastic food storage bags (Ziploc or Hefty), Goldfish crackers
I never pay more than $1.50 for:
household cleaners, applesauce, Q-tips, syrup, Electrosol, mac & cheese

I never pay more than $1.99lb for:

boneless skinless chicken breast, ground beef, pork chops, roast

I never pay more than $2.00 for:

shredded cheese, tortillas, chocolate chips, razors, deoderant, Cottonelle wipes, Excederin, NyQuil, Lean Pockets, Doritos

I never pay more than $3.00 for:

Diet Coke (12 pack), Tostitos

Do you have crazy shopping "rules" like me? I'd love to hear about them. Leave me a comment or send me an email and tell me what you are spending "limits" are.

Red Plum-NO...P&G-YES!

Don't worry if you don't see a Red Plum in your junk mail this week. There won't be one. (see 2009 Coupon Insert Schedule) I did get a P&G Brandsaver in my junk mail yesterday along with the sale ads. It's dated 3/15 which is strange because we normally date them for the upcoming Sunday. I'm not complaining--I love P&G coupons. As a matter of fact on Monday I received my $120 P&G coupon booklet from the "Year of Savings" promo. (click HERE for post) It's a thick booklet with great coupons. Unfortunately the promo is over now but hopefully they'll have another for us again soon.

Pinching Your Pennies

Want to share deals or post big savings tips? Pinching Your Pennies is an AWESOME forum for doing just that! There isn't a ton of participation yet in the Nevada Forum so I thought I'd do a post to get awareness out there so we can all start using it! Basically, you just register then can share info on extra deals you find as you are out shopping. The Grocery Smarts lists are great, but if you find something extra - this is where you can post it for everyone to see!

I'm always hearing about various deals and sometimes there is just too much info for me to post on this blog. If we all share our info and start using this forum it can be a great smart shopping tool for all of us! I'm excited to see how we can help each other.

Read the guidelines for joining HERE

Link to the NEVADA forum HERE

Smiths Savings

Here's the breakdown of my trip to Smiths:

# of Items Purchased: 60
Total bill/value: $155.10
Total savings: $100.40
Total spent: $54.70
64% SAVINGS

I separated my purchase into 2 transactions--30 items in each. I'm hearing from lots of you that many of the items included in the buy 10 get $5 off are GONE or SOLD OUT. Don't let it get you down. Just make sure to ask for a rain check on the items that are out of stock before the sale ends on Tues. That way you'll be able to get them for the sale price later when they are in stock again.

Where Have I Been?

Yes, I know I haven't been posting/updating this poor blog lately. I have been debating whether or not to share this info with you but I think it's important that you know what's going on. Remember how I was cursing my camera for not being able to get my pics downloaded and onto this blog? (click HERE) Well, it came back to bite me because that camera is GONE. Our house was broken into and burglarized on Wednesday 3/11/09. It was a horrible, crazy day for us but the good thing is that my family is safe. We are lucky in so many ways. So I thought I should let everyone know to just be careful and pay close attention to everything happening around you. Also, until I get another camera I'm not going to be able to post my pics or pics of the inserts and I've removed some of my personal info from this blog. I'm sorry to have such bad news. I'd much rather tell you about all the SWEET deals out there and help you save money.

70% SAVINGS at Vons

O.K. this past week has been torture for me with my computer mess. I really thought it was fixed but...it turns out when you lose your hard drive and get a new one you have to replace EVERYTHING and I do mean everything to get it up and running to the way it was before it crashed. I am still missing the ability to download pictures to my PC. Frustrating! So I'm not able to post any pics of my shopping trips or what Red Plums & SmartSources we have. Trust me I'm working on it. Anyway, I had a good trip to Von's today. I went EARLY (like right after 12am) to cash in on the 48 hour sale prices and stock up on other great deals. Here's my breakdown:

Total bill/value: $75.78

Savings: $53.20

Total spent: $22.58

70% SAVINGS

I purchased 23 items including a cantaloupe & bananas. (that averages out to $0.98 each!) The 48 hour sale ends Sun 3/8/09 and any other sale items end Tues 3/10/09.

Sunday Paper COUPONS!

Sunday was an AWESOME day for those of us who subscribe to the RJ! Why? Two inserts: SmartSource and a P&G Brandsaver. It was seriously like Christmas for me with the P&G in my papers. These are much sought after coupons which usually show up in our junk mail so we are limited to one insert. (for those of us who are lucky enough to even get them in the mail) Now I have 4 P&G inserts!!! Yippee! The only other time I had a P&G insert in my RJ Sunday paper was back in November. Now we really need to use up those coupons and then maybe P&G will get the hint we really need their insert in our papers instead of the junk mail.

Computer Down

Sorry for the lack of posting. My computer "crashed" last week and it was finally up and running (thanks to my computer expert cousin) late Sunday night. I'm still trying to get everything back to the way it was so just bear with me a little bit longer...