Another great Target trip!

I am amazed at some of the deals I can get at Target. I know they can be picky about some of the coupons they will accept, but if I keep my eyes peeled and my coupons at the ready, I am almost always able to come away from Target with some amazing deals! Here is my most recent trip - I am so excited since I love Fiber One cereal! Overall, I paid $8.87 oop and got back a $5 gift card!





Here is the breakdown of what I got:

5 boxes of Fiber One cereal
2 boxes of Cheerios
1 box of Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal
2 Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers (I already ate one - yum!)
3 bags of dog treats
3 boxes of Cinnabon bars (I took them all out of the box and just put a few in the pic)
7 Glade candle refills (4 candles in each pack)
7 Glade candle tins

I had a coupon for a free box of Kashi cereal, 2 $1/1 Cheerios coupons, 3 $2/1 dog treat coupons, 7 free candle refill coupons when you buy the tin, 7 $1.50/1 candle tin coupons, 3 $1/1 Cinnabon bar coupons, 2 $2/1 Healthy Choice coupons and 5 $0.75/1 Fiber One coupons. I then combined those with a bunch of Target coupons to get some amazing deals.


Here is the receipt that shows my savings! I didn't really have any coupons beep or not work. I left all of the coupons that the cashier had to enter a price for until the end so they were all together. She allowed me to use a bunch of the Target coupons together so that made all the difference in my total.

A post by pictures

Well, my life is never too interesting, but it is my life!

I decided to post some pictures so you can know what is going on in my world. Most of the pictures have nothing to do with each other but I wanted to post them anyway.


Here are my bargains first. I posted this here too!




These are the grocery deals I got today. Of note - I got three boxes of Fiber One toaster pastries for $0.12 each! Walgreens (of all places) had them on clearance for $0.62 each and I had 3 coupons for $0.50/1. Also, I got one of my boxes of Rice Krispies for free thanks to a coupon I got from Vocalpoint for a free box. I ended up getting both boxes for $2.50. The soy milk was about $0.60 due to a coupon and a sale and the four Healthy Choice meals in the front were a total of $0.66 for all four thanks to some more great coupons I printed online. I also had a coupon for free yogurt. The total for all of this was $22.50 but I got register rewards back for the Ragu, Skippy and Rice Krispies at Walgreens so it makes it about $16.50.





This picture probably shows the funnest deals I got today! Granted, I did pay out of pocket for all of this stuff but the cool thing is that I got a lot of it at Walgreens and got a bunch of Register Rewards back so I can use that towards future purchases. I paid a little over $21 out of pocket for the stuff I got and got $19 in Rewards towards my next purchases. Also, Target had some great things on clearance and all of the makeup shown probably cost me about $1 total at Baker's! The candles were $0.84 each on clearance at Target (not bad for soy candles plus I love candles)! The hand soap was $0.02 after coupon - basically free! The deodorant was $0.75. I found the baby lotion in the back left at Walgreens on clearance and with coupon it was $0.19!!!

This is the free stuff I got in the mail this last week. You can see there is a coupon for a free package of Yoplait Fiber One yogurt with some $1.35 off coupons and a coupon for a free box of Rice Krispies cereal with several $1.00 coupons. The Full Plate Diet book was completely free too! It is an advance copy before the book comes out so that is pretty cool. I also got some tampons, pads and coupons to go with them and a sample of Nivea body wash with a coupon.

On to an even better subject! Xander is so mobile these days! He rolls and crawls around until he finds himself in strange spots like this! He is behind the swing near the wall! Crazy kiddo!

My little man is a messy eater!

Sitting in his bumbo after being fed with a silly look on his face. Also, I didn't clean his face very well!

He sure can get his knees under him but he so far has refused to do a regular crawl. Just an army crawl for him.

Something I need to work harder to avoid - Xander watching TV. He doesn't look at it much if it is on but every once in a while he stops what he is doing to observe!

No, he isn't really drinking soda at this age, we just thought it would be a cute pic!

He does act like he wants it though!

Just X being his cute little self!

Helping mommy with her new coupon sorting system.

This pic is out of order. The next one down should be next showing my mess of coupons. This is after I started organizing them.

So many coupons!

The football/baseball cards my husband has from childhood that I stole the sleeves from!

X trying to play with the computer. He always grabs at it when he can.

Our little Husker with his hat backwards.

And with the hat forwards.

Just smiling as usual!

Also out of order I think - just a big mess after eating! Luckily, we tend to keep his hands out of it so it is just on his face and bib!

I never win anything!

I actually won something today! And for me this is a great one!

I won a coupon giveaway! Saving Our Cents is the blog that I signed up for the giveaway on.

Go check out the blog - I love money saving blogs!

Woohoo!

Free and cheap!

I just love getting free and cheap stuff - but who doesn't? I have been getting lots of good deals as usual! It seems like if you miss one deal, there will always be another. That is great since I can't run to the store every day.

Here a couple of pics of the things I have gotten free and cheap recently. There is a lot more that is not pictured, but these are a few of the highlights.


This first picture is of the stuff that I have gotten in the mail for free recently. The nice thing is that some samples come with coupons and often they are higher value than the ones in the paper. The two big bottles were definitely the best (ok, not technically free, but almost compared how much they retail for - I paid $1.95 for both items but saved $20). The two bigger items came with two small samples, I got a paper towel sample, a lotion sample and a body wash sample for Todd. Love it!

First let me preface this picture by saying NO I am not pregnant. I did get a Clearblue Easy pregnancy test box but only because it cost me $0.99! There are two tests in the box and they don't expire for a year so I thought in case we had a 'surprise' I wouldn't have to go out and spend $10 or more on a test! Everything in this picture cost me $3.82 with tax! That is two bars of soap (for when X is older), four packs of wipes - 42 in each pack, a glade scented oil candle holder (I already burned the candle it came with), two tubes of toothpaste, a 10 pack of Schick razors, Skintimate shaving cream, Olay body wash and Johnson's body wash as well as the pregnancy tests. Before I used so many coupons, this would have all cost me about $25 or more! I LOVE bargain shopping!

Saving money...

In the interest of saving money, I have gone to using many products in generic form. I am not too picky with most things. The only thing that I have to be careful about with generics is food. Most food and drinks are ok in generic, but there are a few things out there that just don't taste the same.

With non-food items, I don't think there has been anything so far that I have hated in generics. Recently, I have been trying as many different generic diapers as I can. I have tried a few kinds of generic baby wipes also. My most recent generic diaper purchase was from Big Lots last night. There diapers are called 'comfees'. They are cheaper than most generics (at least they were with the 20% off coupon I used last night). The thing that surprised me the most if they are actually softer on the outside than a lot of the other generics I have tried. As we speak, Xander is in the first diaper from this brand and I am interested to see how they do. Most generics seem to work about the same and they don't really leak anymore since he no longer has the 'breastfed baby poop' anymore. I think I am more interested in if they will leak pee instead.

I think saving money and being frugal is my newest hobby. I really started taking it seriously after I quit my job to stay home with Xander. I feel like I have saved so much money over the last 5-6 months. I have gotten so many free or nearly free items since I started 'couponing'. Some people might think it is silly to worry so much about it, but I figure, I have the time on my hands and no income of my own, so I might as well save as much as I can!

Here is a picture of the package of diapers I just bought. We will just have to see how they do! Obviously that will determine whether or not I will ever buy them again.

Some recent good deals...

So I have gotten a few amazing deals recently that I just had to share them! They are from various places, but I am amazed at how frequently I am able to find great deals even when the blogs have dried up a bit with deals valid for where I live! I have now learned to always carry all of my coupons with me and keep my eye out for sales and clearance items. My persistence has paid off more than once. Here goes.

I got a mega pack of size 6 Huggies diapers (I think 34 diapers - for the future of course) for $3. That is less than $0.10/diaper which is unheard of, especially for larger sizes of diapers (4, 5 or 6). The pack was on clearance at Baker's from $15 down to $7.50. Then I had a $3 Huggies coupon and I had a $1.50 coupon loaded on my Baker's card for Huggies diapers which made it $3 total! Yay!

I got a pack of Huggies Pull Ups (also for when Xander is older) that had about 20 or so in the pack for $0.99. Heck yeah! It was on clearance from $9.99 down to $4.99 at Baker's and I had a $2 off Pull Ups coupon and another $2 coupon on my Baker's card which made them $0.99!

I got 2 packs of Always Infinity pads, 28 per pack, for free! I think I even had an overage on these! They had the supers on clearance at Baker's for $4.49 each (full price is $9) and I had 2 $4/1 manufacturer coupons which made them $0.49 each and on my Baker's card I had two coupons loaded, 1 for $1/1 and 1 for $0.50/1. So I came out $0.50 ahead for these. Thanks for giving me free pads, Baker's! :)

I got 4 cans of Good Start ready made formula, 32 oz each, for $1! Each one was on clearance for $2 down from $5 or so and I had 3 $2 checks/coupons and 1 $1 check/coupon. Right on the check, it says that the coupons are good on powdered formula only, but I handed the checks to the cashier and he took them! I am not sure if that is always the case or if it was just a nice cashier, or one who didn't know better. Either way, $1 for 4 cans of formula is quite a deal! And, no, they aren't expired either!

I found a 3 pack of Comforts brand baby wipes (Kroger's store brand) for $1.50. That is super cheap since each pack of wipes has 80 wipes and they are the nice pop up kind. That makes each 80 pack only $0.50! Most 80 pack wipes are about $2.00! Also, it was weird because they also had on clearance, the 80 packs sold individually, but they were $0.99 each! That is still a good deal, but I thought, why would I spend $3 on 3 packs when I can spend $1.50 on 3?

Are we sensing a theme here? I have discovered that Baker's has awesome clearance sometimes! I also figured out that one location seems to have a lot better clearance than the other here in Omaha. I think the one that has the better stuff on clearance has less traffic, so there is always some good stuff left when I go there.

I got a pack of Comforts brand size 6 diapers for $4.50. The package has 52 diapers in it so that is another great deal!

I got a big box of size 6 Pampers cruisers for about $13 at Target. The box has 76 diapers in it and even though it is still $0.17/diaper, that is a good price for size 6 diapers!

I got 2 boxes of Pampers Easy Ups, one for $8 and one for $7. They each have 66 easy ups in them so that is definitely a steal also! Training pants are usually really pricey but these were on clearance at Target and I had some good coupons too.

I actually got a great deal on clearance at Walmart believe it or not! I found 2 boxes of Huggies wipes on clearance. (I actually like Huggies wipes the best of all the ones I have tried - they are the thickest). The boxes each have about 380 wipes and are normally priced at $8.97/each. I got both boxes for $4.50 each and had 1 $1 coupon and 1 $0.75 coupon. So one box was $3.50 and one was $3.75!!! That is amazing! Some money saving blogs say you should never pay more than $0.02/wipe and there were basically $0.01/wipe or less! Yesssssss!!!

I have gotten a few coupons for free items in the mail also recently. I have received 2 coupons for a free chocolate bar - snickers, milky way, m&m's and a few other choices. I also got a coupon for a free pack of Oscar Mayer hot dogs (up to $4.50) so I was able to get the nice beef franks. I also got a Jennie-O turkey coupon for $5 off!! The product I got from Walmart was only $5.30 or so and I think it was a pack or 8 or 12 turkey burgers. That is almost free! I also found Roberts milk at Bakers on special for $1.19 each! They were going to expire in about a week, but we go through enough milk that I bought 2 gallons! I also had $0.50 off coupons for each so they ended up being about $0.70/gallon. You literally can't beat that!

So as you can see, I am still obsessed with a great deal! I love the feeling of getting something for free or getting something so cheap, that you could never duplicate that price again (except for incredible sales or clearance). I know some people might think it is silly to stock up so much on diapers for Xander that he won't even wear for a year or so. I think of it this way - what if I didn't buy the diapers now at such great prices, and when the times comes for me to buy diapers for him when he needs them, they have no good sales going on? I don't like to pay full price or pay for a normal 'sale' price either. I want the best deal I can get on everything! I would rather stock up knowing I got the best price I could then wonder if I can get as good of a deal in the future.

Anyway, that is the only thing exciting in my life right now! Except for Xander of course. Everything he does is cute and exciting! I love him and can't imagine life without him! :)

Huggies Overnites deal!

I am just so obsessed with getting a good deal! I am continually trying to figure out how to get more stuff for free or at least for cheap.

There was an awesome deal I got on diapers today and I just had to write about it! I went to Baker's today (our version of Kroger) and they had Huggies diapers on sale for $8.99 a package! That is cheaper than Walmart carries them everyday and cheaper than when Target puts them on sale. Normally I am not much of a Huggies fan, but my sister says she likes the Overnites for her daughter and I thought I would get them to try since Xander sleeps a minimum of 10 hours a night.

So the diapers were on sale for $8.99 a jumbo pack which is already a good price. They also had a deal where if you buy $15 or more worth of Huggies products, you get $3 off your purchase automatically when you check out. So that took the total from $18 to $15. Then, I had a Cellfire coupon for $1 off which I had forgotten about (bonus!!!!) AND I was able to use a $2 off coupon for one and a $3 off coupon for the other so I got two packs for $9 total!!!!! That is the cost of one pack normally! So, $4.50 each is about as good as you can get-even for generic brand diapers! I know Walgreens sometimes puts their store brand on sale for $4.50 a pack and that is the cheapest I have seen!

I just love getting good deals! Granted, these diapers are too big for Xander now but he will be able to use them in the future and I like to stock up for the future whenever there is a good deal (I have more than 700 diapers in his closet right now). :)

The weird thing was, I have read on other blogs that sometimes you can use a manufacturer coupon for an item even when it isn't the exact item and it worked today. The coupon went through at the register with no problem or beeps! The item was for Huggies Pure and Natural diapers which they don't even carry, but they took the coupon! Yay!

Good deals and the list.

So I am into this whole couponing thing more than I care to admit. I love getting good deals and can't help but share some of them! I made a few trips the other day to different stores and these are some of the deals I got.

Walgreens -
I bought 2 -1 liter bottles of Listerine. They were on sale for $4 each. I had two $2 coupons so my out of pocket was $4 total for both which is a good deal alone but I also got $4 register rewards (which is a coupon you use like cash for your next purchase).
I got a 90 pack of GUM flossers which were on sale for $2 for free because I had a $2 coupon.
I got two cans of tomato soup for $0.09 each after coupons.
I got two bottles of Ecotrin aspirin for free after coupons and got $2 in register rewards also!
I got three rolls of Scotch's packing tape for $0.50 each after coupons. That is a good deal!
I got two 6 oz tubes of Crest pro health toothpaste for free because I had register reward coupons for them from a previous transaction.

Target-
I got two bottles of Clearasil face wash for $0.96 each. They were on clearance for $2.96 each and I had two $2 coupons. That is a steal!
I got two boxes of Teddy Grahams for $0.50 each! They were on sale for $2 a box. I had a $1/2 manufacturer coupon and 2 $1/1 Target coupons.
I got two cups of Easy Mac for free after coupons.
I got a box of Quaker fiber bars for $0.50 after coupons. I had a $1/1 mfr and $1/1 Target coupon for this.
I got two 1 oz bottles of Purell hand sanitizer for free. I had a $2/2 manufacturer coupon that didn't specify size.

I also found a red 12x12 scrapbook album at Michael's on clearance for $6.99. I also bought some plain cardstock and went to check out and they took the 40% off of the album which was more expensive!! Normally they use the 40% coupon for the full price item only. I might return the cardstock that rang up at full price so I can then get it on sale in the future. What a deal for an album though!

So here is my rediculous list of what I need to go to the store for. I just went on Tuesday and I need to go again tomorrow since I forgot some stuff!

Ketchup
Vegetable Oil
Maple Syrup
Printer Cartridge - black ink
Healthy Choice Meals
Lint rollers

Hopefully that short list will make for an easy trip!

I am also planning on going back to Walgreens to get some more good deals since there is a limit on some of the items you can buy in one trip. I want to use the $6 register rewards to get free Kleenex since it is on sale and will be free!

Happy shopping!

What A Deal!!!

So, ever since I have been staying home with Xander, I have been trying to come up with new ways to save money.

We lost about 40% of our income with me staying home and after giving up our home phone, internet, gym membership and giving up cable soon, I am still struggling with the budget.

I have decided to get more serious about our budget and saving money at the grocery store. Thanks to all of the awesome blogs dedicated to money savings and coupons (see my blog list) I have been able to save a lot of money.

To give you an example of my recent savings, I am going to give you the info about my most recent trip to Target. I was AMAZED at how much stuff I walked away with for such a small amount of money. Here are the details:

My total when I walked out of the store was $36.16. The receipt said I saved $100.00!!! And I know that is true because I saw my total before the cashier started scanning all of the coupons I had.

I received many items for free or for just pennies. I won't list everything but just the cheapest stuff and the free stuff.

-3 packs of Johnson's safety swabs for babies (I use these for Xander's ears) - $1.29/ea. I had a $3/3 coupon from Johnson's and used 1 $1.00/1 Target coupon to get these free and I got a small overage (which applies to your total bill)

-1 Johnson's buddies bar of soap (for when Xander is older) - $0.97/ea. I used a $1/1 Johnson's coupon to get this item free!

-1 jar of Earth's best organic baby food - apples - $0.54. I had a $0.50/1 Target coupon and got this food for $0.04!

-1 jar of Gerber oatmeal cereal with DHA - $2.99. I had a $3/1 off coupon from Gerber and got this cereal free!

-1 Glade sense and spray air freshener - $6.50 on sale. I had a $4/1 off Target coupon and a $4/1 off Glade coupon and got this for free with an overage of $1.50!

-2 Glade scented oil candle holders - $2.50/ea on sale. I had a Target coupon for $3/1 and a Glade coupon for buy one get one free. I got 2 candle holders (each with 2 candles) for free plus an overage!

-1 Glade lasting impressions starter kit - $6.50 on sale. I had a $3/1 off Target coupon and $4/1 Glade coupon. The item was free plus an overage!

- 1 Pledge multi surface cleaner - $3.89. I had a $1/1 Target coupon and a $2/1 Pledge coupon and got the bottle for $0.89! Not free but a heck of a deal still!

-2 All Small and Mighty laundry detergents 32 load - $4.54/ea. I had 2 - $1/1 Target coupons and 2 $2/1 All coupons. This made each bottle $1.54!! Again, not free but the cheapest I have ever gotten this detergent and it happens to be our favorite detergent!

- 1 bag of Hershey's bliss candy - $2.99 on sale. I had a $1/1 Target coupon and a $1/1 Hershey's coupon. The candy was $0.99! Not free but cheap for a sweet treat!

- 2 bags of Cheetos (small bags) - $1.29/ea. I had 2 Target coupons for $1/1. Each bag was $0.29! Cheap quick snack!

- 1 Campbell's tomato soup - $0.55. I had 1 Target coupon for $0.50/1. $0.05 for soup - just about free!

- 1 Archer Farms Artisan mini bread loaf - $0.84. I had 1 Target coupon for $1/1 making this item free!

- 1 can of Del Monte corn - $0.66. I had a Target coupon for $0.75/1 making this item also free plus an overage!

-1 20 oz bottle of Vitamin water - $1.00. I had a $1/1 Vitamin water coupon making this free!

-1 dozen large grade A eggs - $0.99 on sale. I had 1 Target coupon for $0.50/1 making the eggs $0.49! Super cheat for eggs!

1- 2 oz Johnson's Soft Lotion - $0.97. I had a $1/1 Johnson's coupon making this lotion free!

1- Dry Idea roll on deodorant - $2.00 on sale. I had a $2/1 Dry Idea coupon making this free! Even though I don't normally use this deodorant, it won't hurt for a backup if I run out of my usual deodorant!

3- Greeting cards - 2 @ $0.50/ea and 1 @ $0.99/ea. I had a Target coupon for $1/3 making the total for 3 cards $0.99! Can't beat that!

I also had a coupon Target sent me in the mail for $5 off any grocery purchase of $50 or more. I had them scan that coupon first so it would go through since my total after all coupons was less than the required $50. I cannot believe how much stuff I came away with! I didn't even list several of the things I got. It just goes to show that coupons do work and really can save you money if you take some to use them.

Happy shopping!!!