Confessions of a Pop Tart ADDICT!!

It's really my friend Janet's fault. She knows how I love Pop Tarts. She knows how addicted I am to using Grocery Smarts. She knows how I love a great deal. She knows how I love to go shopping with my coupons. After all, where do you think she learned it all from?

O.K. , back to the Pop Tarts. She told me about a sale at Walmart: Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts in the Dollar Aisle (didn't know there was a Dollar Food Aisle, but there is) and they were actually $.75 a box. She was there and bought me some because she had coupons. But I also had coupons, and it took two trips there to finally locate them (they seemed to be a wandering display for some reason), but I struck Gold!! Hee! Hee!

They were being discontinued because of the advertising on the boxes, and they didn't expire until December, and there were 18 boxes, and I had enough coupons to buy 20 boxes. So I loaded up my cart, avoiding the boxes that were Gingerbread Flavor--the only other flavor available on that aisle. Never having tried Gingerbread, not sure I really wanted to try Gingerbread flavor, sure my kids would take one nibble and hate Gingerbread Flavor, I avoided any box that was Gingerbread Flavor.

I was sure I had every box (and, admittedly, feeling a little bit greedy), and along comes another woman down the aisle. She stops, picks up a Gingerbread flavor box, and asks me, "Are these only $.75?"

"Why, yes, yes they are." I answer, feeling more guilty about my loaded up cart.

She puts down the box, and comments, "I'm not really sure I'd like that flavor."

I'm not sure I, and obviously by the number of boxes of that flavor on the shelf, many others were sure they'd like that flavor, either.

"Do you like Brown Sugar Cinnamon?" I offer.

Why yes, yes she does.

"Would you like some of these?" I guess I could spare one . . .

"Maybe just one." She appears to not want to take too many, unlike someone else, namely me . .

"Here, have two." I give her two boxes, because you have to buy two to use the coupon, after all. "And have a coupon, too. Now you'll only pay $.25 a box. Are you sure you don't need more?" Forget greedy, why not share the joy, right?

She didn't need, or say she needed any more, and we went on our merry ways. The check out girl commented, "That's a lot of Pop Tarts."

But long story short, I got 16 boxes of Pop Tarts for $4.00!!!!!!!

Now, just to justify the need for that many boxes, all four of my kids and myself LOVE them. So we literally can go through a box a day if we all have one package for breakfast. So, really, it's only about a 2 week supply, give or take a few.

So I apologize. If you go to the Rainbow and Spring Mountain Walmart, the Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts on the Dollar Aisle will be cleared out. But I know there are some Gingerbread Flavored ones still hanging around.

(And maybe, for $.25, it might be worth trying a box. Who knows, maybe they really do taste good . . . )

Walgreens Wonderment

I debated whether to go back to Walgreens last night, Saturday, at 9 p.m., to take last minute advantage of the sale ending that night. I had already been there once, but . . . I still had coupons for sale items. The lure of savings was calling me back. So I went (are we surprised?).

-Softsoap bodywash was on sale: $3.99 plus a voucher for a FREE bodywash on your next trip. Plus I had a .75 coupon for it.
-Chapstick shimmery chapstick (it was tough to find, but I found one) $1.99, plus a voucher for $2.00 for your next shopping trip (see how they get us back there . . . :)
-Halls cough drops or breezers (I like the breezers, so do my kids) on sale for $1.39 with a walgreens coupon, plus a $1.00 off coupon. .39 Breezers, I can handle that!
-Two Cottonelle refill wipes, regularly $4.99, sale price 2/$5, 2 coupons for .50 off, so basically 2/$4. Maybe not the five star price, but on sale, with coupons and we use them.

My checkout guy was young, maybe 18, maybe 20 (at the most), but even being young, he noticed my huge savings, too. My total came to $20. 96 B.C. (Before coupons). After coupons and an amazed, "WOW!" from my young checkout guy, my total was down to $10.01, Plus a $2. 00 register reward and the $3.99 softsoap voucher. So really, vouchers included, my final cost was $4.02. All I could respond to his "WOW" was "I KNOW!". Hee, hee, a Happy Couponing High Note to end my week before my " Christmas Every Sunday Morning" happens the next day.

Could It Be True??

Yes, it is! We got two Smart Source inserts in the paper today! Hooray!! But brace yourself, there will be no coupons in the Easter Sunday Paper. So soak up the joy in the double coupon booklets this week since next week there will be none!

It's no April Fool's Joke!

So, it's only March 31st, but it's no joke! Did you check your junk mail today?? It's not junk at all!! I got THREE, count it, THREE sets of coupons in the mail today. I LOVE it!! I got Red Plum, Proctor and Gamble, and Unilever (don't see that one very often, but who cares, it's coupons!!! Whoo hoo!). And, Red Plum had a last coupon I needed (yes, I peeked) to buy cereal at Albertsons and get Free Milk. I asked my neighbor for her Red Plum (to get another cereal coupon, why get 1 gallon of free milk, when I could get 2, right?) and she gave me all 3 of her coupon booklets, plus an Albertsons coupon booklet with $5 off of $50. I don't think she knows how valuable those coupons are that she is just giving away. But thank you to her, she probably doesn't know just how much I appreciated it, either.

So I high-tailed it to Albertsons (the sale ends today), got my 5 boxes of cereal, my 2 FREE gallons of milk, 30 Hungry Man Dinners (we're really hungry at my house), a head of lettuce, 12 yoplait yogurts, and 2 bags of jelly beans (my 6 yr. old was with me). Total value of everything was $97.88, I saved $63.75 and paid $34.13. I paid with my $300.00 Albertsons gift card, which they gave me an exta $30.00 on, so it's true value was $330.00 and so really, out of my pocket today, for my shopping trip, I paid $4.13!!! $4.13 for $97.88 worth of groceries!!! Talk about a Coupon High!!!

Pennies Make Dollars

"Pennies Make Dollars" is what my dad always said when I was growing up. He grew up in the Depression, and back then, every penny counted. These days, with our economy, I think saving our pennies is going to be alot more important. Admit it, if you see a penny on the ground, do you pick it up? I do! (But it's even better when it's a quarter!) So check out the link to Pinching Your Pennies. It's a forum that gives you great ideas on making every penny count!

Albertson's Gift Cards

O.K., before I talk about this week's coupon shopping excitement, I have to mention last week! On Saturday I got a free sample of a Fiber One Granola Bar and a cute little box of cereal. If only it had come on Sunday and I could have had five granola bars . . . but then again, too much fiber is not always a good thing. Saturday evening shopping spree netted me $300.00 worth of groceries for $100.00 and enough Capri Sun to last me through the end of the school year. I don't think I've ever seen Capri Sun for $1.20 before and at that price, I'll buy 13 boxes to get me the great sale price! (It was a spend $25, save $10 promo. Love Those!)

On to this week's excitement . . . Albertson's is doing a "Refund Rewards" promo. If you buy a gift card for $250.00 they add an extra $20 on to the card. It's $30.00 for a $300.00 gift card. That's 10% back on the $300.00 card!!! Where else can you get 10% on your money like that? When I told my friend about this, she asked who would I buy a gift card for in that amount? Myself!! This is what I did last summer when Smith's did a similar promotion. Every pay day, so every two weeks, I would buy a $300. gift card since that's what I would normally spend grocery shopping for two weeks. That was B.C., of course (Before Couponing). I would use my frequent flyer miles credit card to purchase it, then go home and pay it off right. So I was getting a free $30, and getting flyer miles also, and I would just use the gift card to pay for my purchases instead of my debit card. I felt like I was getting an extra bang for my buck!

Just a note, there are some restrictions and certain things you can't buy with your gift card, so check out the bottom of your Albertson's ad this week. I'm excited, payday is this Friday . . . !

A Lesson Learned From a Temporary Lapse of Reasoning

So yesterday I did my normal weekly shopping at Smith's. I used some coupons, but it wasn't my typical coupon shopping, and I spent almost $100! It's really disappointing to only save 20% when I'm used to saving over 50%. The difference in my "shopping frame of mind" now is that before we would always spend at least $100.00 a week WITHOUT coupons, but now that I've been couponing, I know I could be getting a much better deal and absolutely HATE to pay full price! It reiterated to me my old method of shopping (which I kind of reverted back to yesterday, but it was just a moment of temporary insanity, really!) isn't cost effective vs. my new method of shopping (with coupons, saving so much that I can't wait to get home, call a friend and tell her How much I saved and to be panting with excitement while I did it!) and that my new way is WAY better . Needless to say, I won't be doing THAT again (reverting back, that is!)

But on a bright, happy, couponing high note, I'm enjoying the bargains I got last week with my free Excedrin (which obviously helped the headache last night when I thought about my old shopping method relapse) and free Reynolds Wrap (which I don't typically use, but it was FREE) from Walgreens.

Another bright, happy, couponing high note, We got TWO inserts of coupons in the paper today! Yay! Smart Source AND Proctor and Gamble!! Queen Couponer Colette, the blessed person who introduced me to the wonderful world of couponing, said it was like Christmas every Sunday when the paper came, and it's TRUE!! And I was so excited when I saw the second insert that my husband burst out laughing that I was so excited over a book of coupons. He hasn't quite caught the fever yet, but he certainly is quite happy when I come home from a shopping trip, spent $3.50 and saved $23.50.

So, unlike three months ago, I can't wait to go grocery shopping this week.