Free Eggs

Stop and Shop has a great sale this week:  Buy two Tropicana orange juice containers and get a free dozen of eggs.  I used the $1 off coupon from the booklet the store gave out during the summer, making this an even better deal.  The last day of the sale is tomorrow, Thursday, so check it out soon if you can!

Water Bottle Stock Up

It is such a wonderful sight to see the shelf by my basement stairs stocked with water bottle packs.  After using two $1 manufacturer coupons, a $5 rewards buck coupon, and a $5 off a purchase off $25 coupon I received via my email, and after subtracting  a $10 gas gift card to Shell, I was able to bring home four packs of Nestle water bottles, one 6 roll pack of Scott's paper towels, a pack of 12 Scott toilet paper rolls, and two packages of Turkey Jerky all for only a little over ten bucks!

If you haven't checked out CVS's buy $30 worth of selected products and receive a $10 gas gift card promotion, you must try it!  Generally the items are very useful, fairly good price-wise, and easy to match with coupons.

Gas Savings

Every little bit helps, especially saving $1.10 per gallon at the pump because of Price Chopper points!

Inexpensive School Supplies

This entry is not about something frugal or nutritious, but certainly about something delicious -- inexpensive school supplies.  I hope you have been keeping up with the weekly offers from Staples (5 cent mechanical pencils and index card packs a few weeks ago, for example).  Today I picked up ten 2 pocket paper folders, 2 two packs of black sharpies, 1 two pack of Bic White-Out, and a seven pack of Zebra Z-Grip retractable ballpoint pens, all, after rebate for 59 cents!

I used my Back to School Savings Pass for an additional 15% off my bill (the pass cost $10, but paid off with a previous required purchase of a graphing calculator).

I am so excited to see what next week's sales flyer looks like!

Gluten Free

My kids always love making Rice Krispies treats.  I just purchased four boxes for $8 -- Price Chopper has them on sale this week 4/$8 with their store coupon.  If I only could find my manufacturer coupons to add to that, it would have been cheaper, but I think I tossed them out a few weeks ago because of the expiration date.

Something new we will be trying:  Gluen Free whole grain brown rice Rice Krispies!  Each serving has a nice percentage of vitamins and minerals, 3g protein, and 90 mg of potassium.  Can't wait to taste them with the marshmallows!

Back to School Snacks (Already?)

I fell for Stop and Shop's "Buy any 10 get $5 instantly" incentive for this week.  It is really rather ridiculous thinking that these pre-portioned Cheez-Its and Keebler cookie and cracker packages are actually going to remain untouched during the summer, but I went ahead with the intention that these will be used for back-to-school snacks.  The expiration date for some of them are not until January 2012 (if they last in the house).  The cookie and cracker packages are only $3.99 for 12 (so are the Oreo and Nutter Butter ones, but they are not part of the promotion).  After  $1 cracker coupons, I calculated that each little snack bag comes out to around 25 cents (would have been less if I found even more Keebler coupons; I think they expired).  It came out cheaper than those vending machines my teenagers are attracted to, but I still might have had a better deal at BJs or Sam's Club (I usually don't shop there).

Turning Red After a Trip to Red Lobster

I turned red last week after going out to lunch with my mom and brother.  We each went for the awesome $14 deal, which included soup, salad, an entree (I chose tilapia with rice pilaf and a veggie side), and an absolutely delicious, soft, warm brownie a la mode.  My mother, who donates blood regularly, had received for her donation two $10 gift certificates to the restaurant, so with that, the bill came out to only around $25.  Had I only been organized, I would have remembered and found a $3 Red Lobster coupon right there in my purse.  It's only $3, but it sure was a waste not using it.  I basically tossed out cash (the coupon expired the other day) into the trash can!

Moral of the story:  Get organized.  Know what coupons you are carrying. Separate your restaurant coupons from the grocery ones and keep them handy!

Price Chopper Deals This Week

Price Chopper boasts an amazing "Earn an additional $1.10 off per gallon of gas" this week in their flyer.  In order to achieve that, you need to purchase a dozen rose bouquet, among other things.  I am not too keen on spending $20 for 8 Kellogg's products (namely sugary cookies and cereal, even though my kids would love it) just to save 20 cents a gallon.  However, their "Spend $25 or more on any unilever products in a single transaction, get 30 cents off per gallon" sounds achieveable, plus Unilever will donate $3 to the MDA with every qualifying $25 purchase.

By matching the Sunday flyer coupons with the store sales, buying the Dove Shampoo for $3 will also get me a free Dove Treatment.  Dove Men+ Care Body and Face Wash is on sale for $3.99, plus I can use a coupon of $1 off in the Sunday paper.  Buying the Dove Ultimate Women's deodorant for $3 will also get me a free Dove Men+ Care deodorant.  The Degree Women's invisible deodorant is only $2, plus I can use a coupon of $1 off from the Sunday paper.  Add to this a few jars of Ragu sauce at 3/$5 (I have a $1 coupon clipped somewhere in my purse), two bottles of WishBone salad dressing at 2/$3 (I have a $1 coupon clipped somewhere in my purse), and two cartons of Breyers ice cream at $3 each, and I have my total of $25.99. 

After deducting my coupon total of $4, plus possibly another dollar if I can find my Breyer's coupon from long ago, and maybe another dollar from one more Ragu coupon, I will have spent $22 and have 30 cents off per gallon on my next fill-up.  For my guzzler, that equates to $5.40, which knocks down that $22 to $16.60 for all of those items, plus the free Dove Treatment and Dove Men's deodorant.  Not free, but not too bad, especially if ice cream is involved in the deal.

Check out that flyer.  There are a bunch of other grocery items that can be selected, like Lipton tea, Knorr pasta sides, Country Crock tubs.  I only chose more of the non-grocery items because I had matching coupons.  Have fun!