Harris Teeter Super Doubles Shopping Trip

I am really, really excited about this morning's Harris Teeter Super Doubles shopping trip!  It seems like the last few Super Doubles weeks have been only so-so, but there were some terrific deals today!  This is what I got for $36:

I was most excited about the General Mills promotions - Buy 4 selected cereals get $2 off instantly and Buy 4 Fiber One bars get $2 off instantly.  We have been very low on cereal around here for a while, since I avoid buying it when I can't get it for $1.00/box or less.  Today, after the promotion, manufacturer's coupons, and e-Vic coupons, all the cereals I got today were less than $1.00 each.   My husband and kids will be very, very happy to see this!

I was reminded again today of the importance of checking your receipt before you leave the store, since the instant $2.00 did not come off automatically for either promotion.  My Harris Teeter has great customer service, though, so they refunded me the money when I went to the customer service desk.  I'm just glad that I checked before I strapped the kids back into the car!

I was also very happy to find all that marked down produce.  My Harris Teeter is the only store in my area that has a discount produce rack, and I always check it when I got.  All this produce was $.50/lb. - half of the least that I normally pay.  A lot of it is in good enough condition to last for at least a few days, and anything that is deteriorating fast we will eat or freeze today.

As usual, I used Jenny's detailed lists for my coupon matchups.

I usually get my deals in just one trip during Super Doubles week, but since you can only do the cereal promotion once per order, I will be going back.  Time to stock up on cereal!

Did any of you go to Harris Teeter today or get any other great grocery deals?

Deals this Week: Target Toy Clearance and Harris Teeter Deals!

I was blessed to get some really good deals this week!  On a sort of random "browsing" trip to Target (I was trying to get ideas for my girls' birthdays), I found a couple of aisles of toys market 30-75% off!  I stocked up on several future gifts below:

Hello Kitty playset - $3.08 (was $12.39)
My Little Pony - $2.72 each (were $10.89 each)
Circo Train Repair Shop - $4.98 (was $19.99)

Sometimes clearance toys at Target are mostly junk, like merchandise from movies that are no longer popular, but I was excited to find a really good selection of nice toys this time.  I don't know if this is at other stores, but it's worth a look! 

I went to Harris Teeter this morning for the $6.99 E-Vic special on Huggies (and I used a $3.00 printable coupon), but luckily, I checked Mrs. Moneysaver's Harris Teeter deals before I left.  She pointed out the great Kellogg's deal, of which I took full advantage.

Here's what I got:
4 Poptarts - $.99 each
2 Nutri Grain - $1.50 each
2 Special K - $.1.50
1 Froot Loops - $1.69
1 Frosted Mini Wheats - $1.65
Total: $11.32
Coupons used:
(2) $1.00/2 Poptarts
(2) $.75/1 Nutri Grain bars
$1.00/2 Special K
$.70/1 Froot Loops, Corn Pops, or Apple Jacks (from blinkie machine) (did not double)
$1.00/1 Frosted Mini Wheats (from blinkie machine)
Value of coupons: $6.20
Got $10 catalina coupon back

So counting the $10 coupon on my next order, I EARNED $4.88 on this deal!  Sweet!  Wow, now that I realize just how good that deal was, I may try to go back before the sale cycle ends on Tuesday.  (You can check out what coupons are available at Mrs. Moneysaver.)

Definitely a great week for deals!

More Than Free Kelloggs Cereal at Giant!

Yesterday afternoon I headed over to Giant, primarily because of some good produce deals. I also noticed that there is a Kellogg's promotion running in which selected cereals are Buy 4 for $6.  I was sure that I could turn this into a good deal, but I didn't realize that Kellogg's would actually be paying me $1 to take the cereal from the store!

Here's how I did it:

Bought 4 of the selected cereals - $6
Used 2 $1.00/2 Kelloggs printables here and here
Used 2 Giant Dollar Doublers that were in the front of my ad (may not be all stores)
Paid $2 Out of Pocket
Then - SURPRISE - I received a $3 coupon off my next order!

The catalina coupon was a total shock; I couldn't find mention of it anywhere in the ad.  However, the coupon itself says that it is a promtion running through June 3 where if you buy 3 Kelloggs cereals you get a $2 coupon, buy 4 get a $3 coupon, or buy 5 get a $4 coupon.  I love this kind of surprise!

The cereals in the promotion included Raisin Bran, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Rice Krispies, and Cocoa Krispies, all in specific selected sizes (check your ad).  Even if you don't have the Dollar Doublers, you could get all 4 boxes of cereal for $1 total!  Best of all, the sale only started yesterday, so there's plenty of time to do the deal multiple times!

I was also pleased with the other deals I got at Giant; I paid $20.38 for everything pictured, plus got the $3 coupon.  I got a watermelon for $3.99, blackberries for $.99, and 12 ears of corn for $1.99.  The yogurt was on sale for $.50 each, and using a $.50/8 and a $.40/6 coupon, I got them for slightly better than my max target price of $.40 each.  The ice cream was on sale for $2.50, and I happened to have a $2.00/2 Edys Slow-Churned coupon from a mailer.  That made them $1.50 each, a really good deal.  We love to keep ice cream around in the summer, but I really try to pay no more than $2/carton.

Here are my monthly grocery totals, which I haven't published in a while:

May:
Total - $310.76

June:
(I decided to start June shopping on Thursday with a larger Wegmans trip, just to save myself having to go early next week.)

Wegmans - $72. 31
Giant - $20.38
Total - $92.69

I'm stocked up on a lot of things right now, so I'm feeling pretty good. :-)

This Week's Shopping

I got some good deals at Wegmans the beginning of this week.  I found Easter candy marked 50% off, and I still had coupons that had not expired.  I also found Pillsbury Easter Ready-to-Bake cookies for $.99 and Hillshire Farms Little Smokies for $.99!  (Not sure why the Little Smokies were marked down; maybe because they were about a week away from the expiration date.)  I had a $1.00/2 coupon for each of those items, so I got two packages of cookies and two packages of sausages for $.49 each!

In total, I spent just $22.51 at Wegmans for this week's perishables and a few deals.  I'm realizing that when I think about my monthly budget overall, I need to remember to save about $20/week for our weekly "necessities" -- for us, at least milk, yogurt, and fruit.  The rest of the budget can be used to stock up on various deals, but I need to have that $20 for even the last week  of the month to get us through.

With all the Easter food we still had in the house, the Wegmans trip was all I spent on groceries this week.   That brings my total for the month to $193.63, with $121.37 remaining.  There's still three weeks remaining in the month, but, especially after all the stocking up I did at the beginning of the month, I don't think it will be too difficult to stay in budget.

See how others this week did or share your deals at Super Savings Saturday.

A Week of Great Deals!!!

Of course I meant to share this post by Saturday morning, but life intervened, so here it is today.  I really got some amazing grocery deals last week, for which I am very grateful.  I've really been feeling a bit stretched in the grocery department ever since I both lowered my grocery budget at the beginning of the year and since I used up a lot of my pantry stock in January.  The super deals just hadn't seemed as available, and I was stretching to stay in the budget.

That's why I allowed myself to get all of this last week and start on the April budget early.  It does make me start off April a little behind, but I think that I stocked up on so much stuff that it should help, not hurt, me in the long run.  Here are the deals I got:

I made four trips to Giant for the General Mills catalina promo, rolling over my $10 coupon each time!  I have 3 of the 4 trips pictured here, with the total paid after coupons and the $10 coupon for each.

Trip #1 - $12.33

Trip #2 -  $3.35

Trip #3 - $3.46

I also made a 4th similar trip, and I still have a $10 coupon left to use.  So if you count the $10 coupon I received in the first transaction, I paid just $9.14 in total for everything pictured in the above three photos!

I also made a successful trip to Harris Teeter triple coupons on Wednesday.  My total for all this was $20.61, including tax, down from $85.84 before coupons and sales.  My total would have been quite a bit lower, but I did have to buy a couple of items (i.e. toilet paper) that weren't triples deals.

And I'm planning to make one more trip to HT triples today before the promotion ends!

Super Savings Saturday

I made a very successful trip to Safeway yesterday, despite the fact that for some reason LuLu wailed the entire time we were in the store!  I was alerted to these great deals and got the coupon matchups from Gina here and here.

Basically, I purchased these 16 items (including one additional Nut Clusters not pictured) for a total of $8.49, including tax.  Plus, for buying the 4 Betty Crocker fruit snacks I received a catalina for $2.50 off my next order.  Counting that catalina, it worked out to an average of about $.37 per item!  I also happened to have a little left on a Safeway gift card that I had won in a giveaway, so the whole order cost me only $1.39 in real money!

I was especially thrilled about the bagged salad.  It is harder to find rock-bottom deals on produce than on other items, and we seem to eat more fresh produce every day.  And since I hate washing lettuce, this is a real treat for me.

Here's what else I spent this week:

Wegmans - $108.31
CVS - $4.42
Safeway - $1.39  
Total this week: $114.12
Total this month: $276.80
Total remaining: $38.20

I'm a little nervous about having spent so much already this month.  I have a lot of food, but just buying the "essentials" like milk, fruit, and yogurt could put us over the top this month.  I definitely have not been planning and managing as well lately.  I've bought some extra items and items at higher prices than I'd like, both because I haven't had as good menu plans and because I haven't had the energy to pursue a lot of deals at different stores.  However, my energy level seems to be getting a little higher each week, and hopefully I'll be able to make up for lost time!

PS - The Safeway deals are good through this coming Tuesday!

Weekly Savings Roundup

I did quite a bit of grocery shopping this week, and I got some really good deals.  It felt good to stock up.   I technically got my Harris Teeter Super Double deals last week, but since the promotion ran through this past Tuesday, I feel justified in sharing them. 

I spent $21.27 for all this at Harris Teeter.  I wouldn't say it was my best Super Doubles trip ever, but I got a few good freebies and some treats for very low prices.

At the end of this week I started my March shopping, in preparation for my March freezer cooking day.  

I made a trip to Giant, which I haven't visited in a while, for this amazing Gorton's deal (thanks Redemption Unlimited!)  Since my family is observing Lent right now and eating less meat, it was great to get a good deal on all that fish.  I also got some deals on a few other items on my shopping list.  Sometimes I find it's good for me to visit a store that I don't usually patronize to get an updated idea of their prices.  Although I know I'm getting a good deal on most items at my beloved Wegmans, for instance, I found that dried beans were significantly less at Giant.  I'm going to have remember to stock up when I go there.  I spent $31.36 at Giant for the items in the left picture.

I finished up my shopping at Wegmans and spent $68.67 there.  (This included two huge packages of boneless chicken breasts, dated that day and marked down to $1.69/lb.  I just went home and froze them that evening.)

Here are my current monthly totals:

February:

Total spent -$308.37

Total under budget -$6.63

March (spent this week):

Target - $20.71

Giant - $31.36

Wegmans -$68.67

CVS - $7.00

Total spent -$127.74

Total remaining -$187.26

I didn't quite make my $300 goal in September, although I was under our $315 budget.  I think I've decided to suspend that little goal for a while and allow myself the extra $15 leeway.  With being pregnant now, I'm shifting my focus to eating an even healthier diet, while satisfying my cravings and keeping convenient food on hand so we don't resort to takeout.  So I think I've got plenty of challenge for myself right now!

Weekly Shopping Wrap-Up

This week I sent my husband to Wegmans on Monday night for a few essentials before the second big snowfall in as many weeks, and I also ventured out on Tuesday morning for a couple of deals at Target and CVS.  I had some cause to regret my Tuesday morning trip; the roads were so bad that I got stuck briefly in the middle of a intersection!  But with a few prayers and much squealing of tires, we made it out and all's well that end's well.

My best deal this week was probably the Quaker deal at Target (which runs through today).  Here's what I bought:

3 Quaker Instant Oatmeal 10-packs @ $2.54 each
2 Quaker True Delights Granola Bars @ $2.89 each
Used 3 printable $1.00/1 Quaker oatmeal coupons
Used 1 $.75/1 Quaker oatmeal Target coupon from a mailer
Used 1 $1.00/2 Quaker True delights printable coupons
Total: $8.65
Used $5 gift card from previous deal
Total spent OOP: $3.65 (or .73 per item)
And received $5 gift card for next time!

Here are my shopping totals for the week:

Wegmans - $23.02
CVS -$1.02
Target - $14.58

Total this week: $38.62

Total this month: $178
Total remaining: $137 (for budget of $315), $122 (for goal of $300)

I'm excited because I think that should pretty easily be able to hit my target budget this month.  Whoopie!  It's nice that February is a short month.

You can see others' shopping totals this week at Super Savings Saturday.

Super Savings Saturday

Sorry about my blogging hiatus the past couple of days.  I needed to take a break to get some stuff done around the house.  Christmas is coming so quickly!

After this weekend, Money Saving Mom is taking a break from hosting Super Savings Saturday until January 10, so I think I'll probably do the same.  However, I'll probably still share any really great deals that I score, especially after-Christmas clearance!

My best deals this week were probably at Target.  I forgot to take pictures, but I'll just mention the best deals

3 Keebler crackers - $6.00 ($2.00 each)
2 Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies - $4.00 ($2.00 each)
Used $1.00/2 Keebler crackers and $1.00/2 Keebler cookies coupons
Used $.75/1 Cheez-its printable coupon
Used $5.00 gift card
Final price: $2.25 total ($.45 each) and received $5.00 gift card

I also got a box of Wheatables crackers and a box of All Bran crackers for $.49 each, using the $1.50/1 coupons that were recently (still?) available to print.  I also got 3 boxes of Swiss Miss hot chocolate for $.97 total, using a manufacturer's and a Target coupon.

Here's my total grocery shopping for this week:

Wegmans - $62.02
Target - $9.69 & $8.48
CVS - $1.49 & $1.44
Total this week - $83.12
Total this month - $184.61
Left for the month - $165.39

This month I'm allowing myself our full allotted grocery budget of $350, considering the possible extra holiday food expenses.  However, we have a lot of food in the house for the next two weeks, and I'm still not sure whether or not I'm hosting Christmas dinner.  So we might come in closer to $300 anyway!  I'm sure the extra money will come in handy for any little extra holiday expenses.


I'm excited about continuing to lower my grocery budget in the new year, but for now I'm just focusing on trying to get some Christmas treats while staying within budget!

Weekly Shopping and Budget Totals

I did a little grocery shopping this week, including checking out my new local Wegmans!  I also took advantage of this fabulous Giant deal on Cheerios and got for boxes for $1.00 + tax.  The young cashier was so impressed; he said it was the best deal he had ever seen!

On Tuesday, I sent Michael to Harris Teeter after work to pick up some of the fabulously priced $1.47/lb. ground beef.  However, I told him to get five packages, and it turned out that the limit was four!  So the fifth package rang up regular price - ouch!  If it were a less expensive item, I would have let the mistake go, but with meat I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So I went back after dinner, explained what happened, and returned one package.  The store took it back no problem.  Lesson learned: always check the limit on hot sale items!

Here are my current grocery budget totals:

This week's shopping:
Harris Teeter - $10.32
CVS - $2.05
Giant - $1.11
Wegmans - $32.02

Total this month: $194.65
Left to spend: $155.35 (goal: $105.35)

In October, my grocery total turned out to be $300.20, right at my goal!  I was very excited!  In the new year, I'm thinking that I'll "officially" lower it, at least to $340 or $330.  But for November and December I'm still giving myself the option of spending $350, with the holidays coming up!


See more bloggers' shopping for the week at Super Savings Saturday.

A Most Eventful Harris Teeter Triples Run

I was really excited to head over to Harris Teeter yesterday afternoon, since it seemed like a while since the last triple or super double coupon event.  I had prepped my coupons, my girls were fed and rested, and I was ready for some great deals.

Well, about midway through the shopping trip, I had let LuLu out of the cart, and she and GiGi were playing on the floor for a moment while I picked out some items.  A moment later, LuLu fell backwards and hit her head on the hard floor.  I picked her up and carried her to the next aisle, comforting her, but I wasn't overly concerned. 

Until . . . as we reach the next aisle, LuLu suddenly vomited - and vomited again - covering herself, me, and the floor.  Not my best grocery store moment.

To make a long story short, I called my pediatrician's office, who told me to head directly to the ER, since there was vomiting after a head injury.  Conveniently enough, my Harris Teeter is down the road from the local hospital with the pediatric ER!   Obviously, I had some panicked moments there, but thanks be to God, she was totally fine, and didn't even need a CAT scan.  She did not continue vomiting or crying - in fact, by the time the Harris Teeter worker was cleaning up after her she was smiling and waving to him!

So anyway . . .after we got out of the ER, went home, had dinner, and I bathed LuLu . . . I went back to Harris Teeter for my groceries!  I mean, hey, they might have been out of some items if I went back a different day.  You can't keep a true couponer down, right?

The manager had kindly kept them for me at the front desk, and even though there had been a shift change the items had not yet been put back.  I was able to finish my shopping, and I think I got some good deals.  I paid $25.48 for all this below, and my total before coupons and VIC savings was $110.03.  I used the lists at 30 Dollar Weekly Grocery Challenge and Southern Savers to put together most of my deals. 

I might even make another trip back before triple coupons ends, but hopefully my next trip won't be quite as exciting. ;-)

Weekly Shopping & Budget Results

I didn't really need any groceries this week, except some fresh fruit, but I did make a couple of quick evening trips to pick up some deals.  Here is a picture of my Giant trip (total: $21.22).

I was pretty pleased with what I got for about $20 each at Giant and Harris Teeter.  They weren't rock-bottom deals, but they were some good deals on items that I would buy anyway. Sometimes I find that I get so caught up in pursuing the almost-free deals that I forget to pay enough attention the "pretty good" deals on necessary items.  Then it has happened that I occasionally have to pay full price when I run out of dishwasher soap or Ziploc bags!

Here's how the grocery budget is looking this month:
This week:
Giant - $21.22
CVS - $1.84
Harris Teeter - $19.19
Wegmans (milk run!) - $5.00
Monthly total to date: $233.31

Left in budget: $116.69 (actual budget), $63.31 (goal budget)


I do have my usual two-week grocery shopping coming up on Monday, but I already picked up some of the items we needed this week.  I'm really hoping that I might make my $300 goal this month!

You can view more bloggers' weekly shopping results here. 

How was your shopping this week? 

Consignment Sale Finds & Grocery Budget Totals

Well, I had another very successful (early!) morning of shopping at my favorite consignment sale yesterday morning.  My girls already had a lot of wonderful hand-me-downs for the fall, but I got each of them a few things they needed as well as a couple of fun extras.  I also scored some incredible deals on equipment I had been looking for.  Here are some of my best finds:

This Little Tikes Roller Coaster for $7!!!  The girls love it!

This gorgeous Janie and Jack skirt and sweater set for GiGi for $11.  This was actually a splurge for me, but I thought it was so lovely.  Plus, you could hardly buy a pair of socks in Janie and Jack for $11. ;-)

A lot of 12 Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers for $16!  I was thrilled with this find, because this brand was highly recommended to me, and the diapers cost about $16.95 each regular price.  Now, if the cloth diapering works out, I should have plenty of diapers.

This adorable butterfly costume for $5.  It's really interesting because the wings are stuffed fleece, instead of flimsy wire, so they are much more sturdy.  Good thing, because it's for my one year old!

These Pipsqueak shoes for $3 (retail for $30.95).  So cute!

After I checked out at the sale, though, I was happiest because I stayed right about on budget!  Frugal as I may be, I can really get tempted by all the amazing bargains at the sale to buy things that we don't need.  I've learned to set myself a budget, allowing a little money for treats and extras, and to stick to that amount.

I haven't updated on my grocery budget in a while either!  Back at the beginning of September, I mentioned that I'm working on lowering our monthly budget from $350 to $300 (that includes food, toiletries, and cleaning and paper products).  Well, I didn't quite make it in September, but I made progress.  In September, our grocery total was $317.61.  Not quite to the goal, but still an extra $32.39 to sock away.

So far in October I've spent $137.64.  We're well stocked with food, and I shouldn't need anything except fresh fruit at least through next week.  I'm hoping to make my goal in October!

Anybody else go consignment shopping this weekend or recently?  Any great finds?

Deals this Week and Monthly Budget Totals

I didn't take the car at all this week, due to some events and my baby's cold, so I didn't do much shopping. However, I did make a quick run to CVS and Target last night for some of the deals.

Here's what I got (not pictured: Skittles, which I ate!):


Total spent: $5.09!

I was pretty happy with my trip. My total for both stores was less than the price of just two of the boxes of Special K!

I did get a head start on my September grocery shopping last week, so here's my monthly totals so far:

Safeway: $31.37
Harris Teeter: $35.27 & $5.87
Target: $17.11 & $3.71
Giant: $26.01
Walmart: $3.81
CVS: $1.38

September total to date: $124.59 ($225.41 remaining)

And a confession: In August, for the first time in a long time, we went over the grocery budget! We actually spent $390.66. Although part of the reason was the girls' birthdays, one of the other reasons was that I actually miscalculated how much we had already spent. This has really made me recommit to finding a better way to keep track of the day to day spending, so that the totals for each budget category are always at my fingertips. Lately, I've been trying out an online program; I'll be sure to share the results of my trial.

This month, after keeping my $350 budget the same for a number of months, I've decided to try to further challenge myself. I'm going to actually aim for just $300/month! I know that I may not be able to do this every month, especially if there's a special event or a holiday, so the "official" budget is still $350. But I'm really going to aim for less, and I am going to take whatever of the $350 that I don't spend each month and put it toward a savings goal.

I'm excited to trt challenge my grocery savings skills further!

Harris Teeter Triples

I didn't get to chance to post about my trip earlier, but I actually hit up Harris Teeter Triples on Wednesday, the first day of the promotion. That was nice, because they weren't really out of any of the deals. In total I spent $27.43 sand saved $25.75 in VIC savings and $60.40 in coupon savings.

I was quite happy with the trip; I got some free items as well as good discounts on items that I needed.

Here are my free and very cheap items:

Blue Bunny Ice Cream - $.74
Matahama Brown Rice - $.74
Betty Crocker Cookie Mix - $.50 each
Grands Biscuits - $.25 for 2
Betty Crocker Warm Delights - $.17 each
Welch's Grape Jam - FREE
Solo Cups - FREE

Here are the items that I needed but got on a good discount with tripled coupons:

Nature Valley Granola Bars (one box not pictured) - I think this came out to about $.65/box or something, after the sale, coupons, and catalina deal.
Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Cleaner Refill - $1.24
Shout Advanced Gel - $1.84
McCormick Onion Powder - $1.96
Pastrami - $2.50
Cake Mate Icing Decoraters - $1.02-$1.49 (on clearance rack), plus $1.00/2 coupon
Grapes - $.99/lb

What made my deals even better was that there were enough participating items on great deals that I was able to take advantage of the Buy 15 General Mills products, save $5 instantly.

The deals were so good this time that I plan to try to make one more HT triples trip on Tuesday!

Check the list at Frugal in Virginia to get your HT triples coupon matchups. You can also see Dana's and other's shopping trips here.

Check out other great deals from this week at Super Savings Saturday.

One More Deal and All You Challenge Wrap-Up

I just have to share one more couponing deal from the weekend. Late Saturday night, after driving home from helping my sister move, we stopped at Walmart so I could use my $2.50/1 Electrasol Finish dishwasher detergent coupons, which expired on Sunday. I couldn't let such high-value coupons for such a necessary product expire! I also remembered to use the $3.00/2 Pull-Ups wipes coupons, since I knew that Walmart carried a small size for just $1.64, making them $.14 each after the coupon.

On these 7 items, I saved $13.50 in coupons! Sometimes the "coupon savings" on a transaction is not that meaningful if I wouldn't buy the products at regular price anyway, but these are all products that I need and use, coupons or no coupons. The cashier at Walmart was really impressed with my savings. She said that I was inspiring her to get back to couponing. Yay!

Also, yesterday was the last day of the All You Grocery Challenge. Here's what I spent last week:
Giant - $23.02 & $.48 & $3.06 & $4.59 (loving Giant this week!)
Harris Teeter - $3.45 & $16.01
Safeway - $4.06
Bloom - $2.04
Total: $56.71

Here's my spending for the 4 weeks of the contest:
Week 1 - $18.85
Week 2 - $62.92
Week 3 - $57.23
Week 4 - $56.71

(I have to double-check my receipts; there might be one or two missing from these totals. But this is pretty close to my actual spending.)

Overall, I feel good about the challenge. I stayed under budget each week, and it was definitely a good exercise in discipline to strictly keep to the $75/week.

It's true that a lot of it did not involve changing my habits very much, since I have learned so many savings strategies in the last year. There were a few instances, however, where we would have splurged on something but did not because of the challenge. For instance, we had a really busy day on Saturday and ordinarily probably would have gotten fast-food takeout for lunch. But because of the challenge I packed some convenience foods that I had gotten on coupon deals and we waited until we arrived at my sister's to eat a late lunch. It was a good reminder that if we really need to we can spend even less than we do now, and how rare it is that we really "need" to splurge.

Thanks to All You for hosting the contest, and it will be exciting to see who wins!

Cheap Cheerios!

I just had to share a photo of the incredibly cheap cereal I've gotten at Giant this week, so that if you haven't taken advantage of this promotion, you still can go this evening. (The sale ends today.)

Total spent on these 8 boxes of cereal: $1.80 ($.22/box!!!)

1st transaction:

4 boxes regular Cheerios at 4 for $6.00

- $1.00/2 General Mills cereal coupon (doubled with dollar doublers)

- $.55/1 Cheerios printable coupon (doubled)

- $.75/1 Cheerios coupon from Pampers mailer (doubled)

Total: $1.40 for four boxes or $.35/box

2nd tranasaction:

2 boxes Kix, 1 Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 Multigrain Cheerios all at 4 for $6.00

- 2 $.75/1 Kix coupons (doubled)

- $.55/1 Honey Nut Cheerios coupon (doubled)

- $.75/1 Multigrain Cheerios coupon (doubled)

Total: $.40 for four boxes or $.10/box

Most of these coupons can be printed from the coupons.com widget on my sidebar, except for the Pampers one I got in the mail. I think also the $.55 off regular Cheerios might no longer be available.

If you're going for this deal today, bring all the coupons you have for the cereals, since the store may be out of some varieties. Also, make sure you get the correct sizes of the cereal (get an ad in the store to reference). It is doubly confusing because some other General Mills are Buy 4, save $6, which of course is not the same things as Buy 4 for $6!

I'm so grateful for this deal, because my girls both love plain Cheerios. This deal makes them way cheaper even than store brand!

Harris Teeter Super Double Coupons!

Before I left for vacation Harris Teeter had its first Super Double Coupons, but I was only able to make one very quick trip before we left. So I was excited to really take advantage of this promotion this time around.

In total, I spent $11.97 for all of this:


According to my receipt, I saved $14.35 with my VIC card and $51.41 in coupons!

Because of the All You Challenge, I was watching my food purchases carefully, so I didn't necessarily stock up on everything I could have. What I did do was take advantage of a lot of the free or very cheap deals, plus stocked up on Ziploc bags, which were a great deal with the doubled $1.50/2 coupons that I had.

Here are all my FREE items:

Hefty Fresh Extend Bags
Success Rice

Hormel Compleats

Frosted Mini Wheats

Reach Dental Floss

Kashi Waffles

I used the lists at Frugal in Virginia and The Deal Scoop to find the best deals.

It seems like a long time since I've shared my weekly and monthly budget totals! Here's how I'm doing this month:

This week's shopping:

Giant - $29.61

Wegmans - $28.68

Harris Teeter - $11.95

Total: $70.24

July Shopping to date:

CVS - $.92

Giant - $29.61

Wegmans - $28.68

Sav Mor - $8.17

Ingles - $5.29

Rite Aid - $19.66 & $20
Wegmans - $35.84

Harris Teeter - $11.95

Total: $160.12

All You Challenge (food only):

Week 1 Shopping - $18.85

Week 2 Shopping to date - $62.92

Target and Harris Teeter Deals

I hadn't been to Target for a couple of weeks, but there were several deals this week that sent me there again.

I was most excited about the chip deal. I usually buy a bag of corn chips every two weeks at Wegmans; it's our weekend treat. I pay $2.50 for the Wegmans brand chips.

With the deal that runs through today at Target, their Archer farms tortilla chips are on sale for $2.33/each. So already that was a savings for me. Add to that the $1/1 Target coupon on the chips AND if you buy two you get a free salsa or dip. So I ended up with 2 bags of corn chips and a jar of salsa for $3.66!

Then today I went over to Harris Teeter because of this cheese deal. I know I've said that I don't do catalina deals for stores that I don't visit regularly, but this cheese deal is sooo good! Plus, the sale price was good enough that I wanted to go even before I knew about the catalina deal. I also got around the problem of having to use the catalina later by splitting my order into two and just using it on the second order.

For 5 packs (2.5 lbs.) of cheese, I paid:

$1.47/pack = $7.35
Used 2 ($1.00/1) printable coupons
Used 1 ($1.00/2) printable coupon (I think no longer available)
Paid $4.35 out of pocket
Got $4.00 off coupon, which I used for the Hefty bags and Yoplait yogurt deals I was also getting.
So I paid $.35 total for 5 packages of cheese!

Here's my spending this week:

CVS: $2.00
Target: $3.75 & $7.18 & $13.64
Harris Teeter: $3.77 & $9.46
Giant: $9.00
June spending: $299.63
Left in budget: $50.37

I just have to make a quick trip to Wegmans on Monday to get the rest of the supplies for the meals I'm leaving for Michael while we're visiting my family. I'm going to try to get of most of it within the June budget, but since the food is actually for July, I've decided to cut myself a little slack if I do. :-)

My Mega Shopping Trip!

Last night, as soon as my husband walked in the door, I left for a mega bargain shopping trip, hitting three stores: Harris Teeter, Shoppers, and Giant. Michael is going to help a friend move today, and since we have one car, I wouldn't be able to do these errands this morning. So, I had a peaceful but late Friday night date with myself and my coupons!

I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon organizing my coupons for each store and figuring out what deals I wanted. For Harris Teeter, I used this extensive list here. For Shoppers, I checked out Redemption Unlimited's database, as well Gina's Shoppers trip here. And for Giant, of course, I got the deals from Frugal in Virginia.

So, like a general who had planned his strategy and marshaled his troops, I left for battle. Here are my "spoils of war":

Harris Teeter: $27.90 (original total: $75)

Shoppers: $13.73 (original total: $43)

Giant: $21.77 (original total: $53)

Total spent: $63.40 (includes 10 pounds of meat!)

Other shopping this week

Giant - $52.73 (for May)

Monthly Totals

May total: $342.25 (Last night's trip started my June shopping

June: $63.40

Total left in June budget: $286.90

I couldn't resist taking a picture of all my freebies! Hurray for free groceries!

Of course, I got all these wonderful bargains on my shopping trip, and what did I forget? Milk!!!