Saving this week...

I keep thinking my week should be over but it's only Thursday morning and I am ready for bedtime. Not a lot of shopping this week but some good deals and savings.

I hit Aldi up on Monday and got flour tortillas because we were out, lettuce so I convince myself I don't need to buy bagged salad because it goes bad to fast and I end up throwing half of it out, our usual 3 packs of bananas for 39 cents a pound, a loaf of whole wheat bread because I haven't been a Kroger when they have marked it down the last two weeks and I used the last loaf out of the freezer. I also got more re-fried beans and a bag of chips for when my dad visits. They have great prices on snack foods even though I don't buy a lot of those. The bag of chips that are like lays ripple chips were only $1.29. :)

Kroger did not have a lot of deals this week but I had 50 cent off a starkist tuna product so I got 4 free pouches of tuna since they were on sale for $1 each. Someone left behind a coupon for the yogurt smoothies a couple of weeks ago so I used to to get Scott another 6 pack for 88 cents. He loves that stuff.

I had two mystery shops this week so that helped my budget. I picked up a pumpkin for us to carve for Halloween and another pack of water. I haven't bought bottled water all summer. Love to have it to take when we go out. At home we drink from the tap. It's just not cost effective to buy it when we go places when it's so hot. Who wants to pay $1 or more a bottle when whole pack is less than $4 for 24 bottles. I even freeze some so we have cold water all day long. I also now have lunch meat for the next week. I even got beans for Scotty to play with. (He loved digging in them and playing at art class so I figured why not bring the idea home.)

I probably will not hit Meijer this week they really didn't have any great deals.

I did find some amazing deals online which I was very excited about. Lands End had a great clearance on shoes. I got two pairs of sandals for Scott for next summer for $7.99 each. (I can't even but shoes at Target or Walmart for that price.) I also got some shoes for me for next summer for $5.99 and a pair I hope will work for now in place of the tennis shoes I have yet to buy for $11.99. I got free shipping so after added tax I spent a grand total of $36 on four pairs of shoes. LOVE IT!

I have been doing my best to start buying Scott's birthday items for his party. Since we are going with a Wonder Pets theme I cannot always get the cheapest things out there but using ebay and coupon codes and buying when I can I will save as much as possible. I also went ahead and booked Scott's party at Gymboree. As members we got $25 off and I was able to use gymbucks so I saved another $25 off. So that is all paid for and I am sure it will be great. Now I just have to figure out how to get the W symbol onto iron transfers for the capes.

Kroger, JoAnn's, Meijer (second trip), and Yard Sales

My Saturday has been filled with lots of errands and lots of yard sales. I didn't make it home until after noon and I left before 8. I love to get out early for the yard sales especially neighborhood sales. I was excited that the big neighborhood across the street was having theirs today. I apparently have either bought everything for Scotty already or I am getting pickier because I didn't buy all that much this morning. My big purchase of the day was a Twin Size bed for when Scotty is ready for it. Scotty's furniture is all painted white some came that way and some of it I sanded and painted before I even got pregnant with him since I knew the crib I had was white. (So glad I did that since he was born 6 weeks early and there was no time to work on the nursery before he arrived.) Anyway this one is already white and it was hand made. The rails just slide on and off no tools needed. When I first stopped the guy was asking $60 which wasn't a bad price just more than I really wanted to pay. So I told him I would think about it and come back if I wanted it. I decided it was worth doing since I would not have to paint it. I went back and offered him $40. He said I will give it to you for $35 just since you came back. :) So I got it for almost 1/2 what he originally wanted. I was able to get it in the car and get it home with only minimal issues. When he's ready we will just have to find a sale on mattresses for it. I found more Pajamas so I now have enough to last the week between laundry at least for the start of winter. They were only $1 each. :) Got a few little toys and other misc stuff for Scotty and a couple of books. I found a container of tinker toys to start a good collection of those for when he is bigger for only $3. They are one of those things that I think are outrageously priced brand new and even at yard sales are usually overpriced. I came home and unloaded the bed and headed across town. I tried to get a refrigerator for my neighbor but the lady didn't like my price. I gave her my card and we will see if she managed to sell if for what she wanted. I found an xylophone for Scotty. I have been finding all these little kid ones that won't last any time and he will be bored. This one is a really nice one that he can actually learn to play songs on should he choose to. It was only $2 and I know he's going to love it.

I realized I forgot to buy Apple Cider when I was at Meijer and it was on sale for $2 a gallon so I wanted to get back over there. I also got some great coupons for Crystal light making a pack that makes 8 quarts only 95 cents and some Maxwell House coupons that made the sale on Brad's coffee even sweeter. I got two more cans for only $1.49 each after the sale and coupons. It's is $5 a can regular price.

I also only had a couple of things to get at Kroger so I had been procrastinating on getting there this week but the free veggies made me need to get there before the sale ended. I love the GG veggies and paying 30 cents out of pocket and getting back a $2 coupon for sure was my kind of deal. I had used 3 computers to print 6 50 cent off one GG veggie coupons making them only 25 cents each after the coupons. Then I had several 60 cent off 3 e-coupons to combine with it making it 30 cents out of pocket and when you buy 6 you get $2 back. So I used my $2 coupon and the $5 coupon to buy 3 12 packs of Dr. Pepper for Brad. Out of pocket after the sale 3/$9 and a 50 cent e-coupon was $2.04. Got to love that and worth the trip. While I was there I saw the weinermobile was parked outside so I called Brad and had him bring Scotty down to see it. Free entertainment to boot. :) LOVE IT!

My other stop of the morning was to JoAnn's Craft store for fabric to make capes for Scotty's birthday party. I have decided to make them instead of buying stuff for goody bags. A friend of my mom's is going to do it for me so that part won't cost much and I was able to use coupons to get one piece of fabric half off and one piece for 40% off so a good time to go and get it. Now I just have to pick up some iron on paper so I can print out the symbol to put on them. I already bought the cups to use at the party they are straw cups and I got them for 25 cents each. My way of saving money on a party is to start early and get the deals. Now if I could just get the party supplies for a deal I would be happy. So far no luck with ebay and no great sales online that I have seen. I am going to book Gymboree next week when my Gymbucks are good for $25 off. We already get a discount for being members. I get someone to entertain and clean up. :) Worth the money.

Consignment Sales

I was able to hit a consignment sale this week without taking Scotty thanks to my friend Britney. Taking a toddler shopping in a busy place where they don't like you to use strollers is not my idea of fun. I have learned which of the sales around town are the ones I like to hit and watch for them to come around once or twice a year. A lot of them have a spring and a fall sale. All I really needed for Scott was some pajamas and he can use some more shirts but I didn't find any I liked at prices I liked. I was able to get him 5 pairs of pajamas and a sweater. I also picked up a magnet toy that will be great for church or on a trip. A Thomas the train DVD with the new animation instead of the older stuff. Two books one was a Thomas with all the fun noises and one was a vehicle book that makes fun noises as well. (Brad wants to know why all the toys have to make noise now.) I also found a pair of Thomas the train boots. They are going to be big this winter but should fit next winter perfectly and since boots are not worn much around here it's better to get them big. I spent a grand total of $33.50. Normally I would wait and go on Saturday when some stuff is 1/2 off but I had to many errands for Saturday and I wanted to make sure and find the pajamas I was looking for.

If you are looking for deals on clothes for kids consignment sales and stores are great places to look. Sometimes the stuff is brand new and sometimes it's not but at least you know how it will wash and wear. Happy hunting.

Diaper Deal

I went back to Rite aid this afternoon to see what I could find out about the Diapers being on sale. This store did not have them marked either but since so many people had said they were on sale I decided to just go ahead and try it. I got two packages of Huggies Pure and Natural diapers and one of the jean diapers. I had a free coupon from my Huggies points I used on the Jean diapers. Then I used two $3/1 coupons on the Pure and Natural ones. I also had a $2 video values coupon from last month I never used and a $1 one from this month. I also used a $5/$25 purchase. I spent $5.30 out of pocket. I got $6 in Up rewards to use in the store. I also have submitted it for a $10 gift card. So I made more than $10 on this diaper deal. Now to figure out how to use my $6 in the next couple of weeks and I will have the gift card for the next deal. :)

Got to love free/cheap diapers.

Aldi, Meijer, and Target

Well it has been a busy week already and I am ready for it to be over. Not sure where that will get me since most of my days are pretty much the same. :)

Yesterday we headed to Aldi to pick up mostly fresh fruit. Their deals sometimes just can't be beat. I got 4lbs of grapes at 78 cents a pound. A pound of Strawberries for $1.59. Two bags of bananas that were 39 cents a pound. A Pineapple for $1.49 (If it tells you anything these were $3.49 at Meijer today) and I got two boxes of raisins. My total was $11.41. Love that place.

Today we went to Target to get the new Tinkerbell movie on Blu Ray and DVD. I had a $10 off manufacturer coupon making it only $12.49. Somewhere out there there were $5 off Target coupons I wish I could have found one of those. Such a bummer when you can't get what you want. I also picked up two packages of PF Chang's Sweet and Sour Chicken. They are on Markdown for $6.99 and I had manf coupons for $1.50 and Target coupons for $1.50 off making them $3.99 a bag. I love PF Chang's so hopefully the frozen meals will be as good.

Then we went to Meijer where I had so many deals to get. As a head's up for my total I had $12 in catalinas from last week to add to this week's order. My deals were 4 cans of shaving cream for my husband I had a $1 off when you spent $4 so this made it a good time to stock up. I looked at using the Edge shaving cream BOGO free coupons but the cans are only 7ozs vs Barbasol which are 11ozs so about the same price for an extra 16ozs and my husband does not care. I had two $2 coupons good one BioFit contact solution and they had the little bottles on sale for $1.99 so these were free. I also picked up a box of hair color to try. I love Nutriesse Garnier hair color and they have a new type out. Meijer had a $3 M-Perks coupon for it and I had a $3 printable coupon for it so I spent $1.39 to try it. Food wise Meijer had a deal if you bought two family size Stouffers Entrees you got free bread sticks, veggies, and cookies. The meals were on sale for $5.99. I had a $1 off coupon for both making them $4.99 each. So for less than $10 I got several meals for us. My husband loves his coffee so I watch for Meijer to mark it 1/2 off and if I am lucky like I was today I have a $1/2 coupon. So his coffee that normally costs $5 a can I got two for $4. That is an awesome deal. :) I got a bottle of Farmhouse Wishbone dressing on sale for $2.50 with a $2 off coupon for only 50 cents. I got two bottles of juice on sale for $1.67 a bottle with two 50 cent off one coupons that doubled making it only 67 cents a bottle. I also got 10 cans of Chunky sirlion burger soup which were on sale for 1.25 a can. I had two $2/4 coupons and two .50/1 coupons so my total was $6.50 for the 10 cans or 65 cents a can. :) I add noodles to these and it makes a yummy quick dinner for us.

I spent $18.29 total and saved $71.45. Even my cashier friend who does my coupons for me most weeks was impressed. Love when that happens.

I still have a small Kroger run and I need to try and get the diaper deal from Rite aid. I got in and I think things were not priced correctly and they didn't have the sizes I needed at the store I went to. Will check one more on my way to take Scotty to Gymboree and if not will do it at the end of the week when they restock. Should get money back on 3 packs of diapers when it's all said and done. I will update if it works.

What a crazy money week...

It's like it just slipped through my fingers. Sunday night my Tivo died that was a sad moment for me. I have become addicted to that thing. So after some research into a DVR from the cable company and checking what I could get from Tivo to replace it I ended up getting a new Tivo that will give me the channels in HD and we could get a card from the cable company so we could get our extended channels on it. Which means Wonder Pets for Scotty and Versus for my Indy car racing. To bad it's the end of the season. LOL It pays for itself in about 3 years if the cable company did not change it's rates in that time and I am happy again.

Our other big expense for the beginning of the week was I found out the guy who sold me Scotty's Power Wheels had lied to me about the battery being new. We could not get it to run at all. :( So off to Walmart we went to get a new battery for it. I did my research online first and knew that it was only a couple of dollars more in the store than it was to get it online and wait for them to ship it out. I confronted the guy but he just played dumb. Live and learn I guess. It was still a great deal I just hate when people lie to me and won't own up to it.

Grocery shopping felt really crazy to me this week because there were some great deals and trying to get all that together along with two mystery shops was kind of crazy. I must be getting old I seem to be having trouble keeping up with a busy toddler and everything else I need to get done. We hit Aldi on Monday and only picked up a few things. Mostly fresh fruit. I always get my bananas there because they are 10 less a pound than anywhere else. Strawberries were still 99 cents a pound so we got more of those. Got Brad a couple more cans of refried beans to make burritos. It's rare to get them cheaper than they sell for at Aldi.

Meijer had some great deals. I got 6 boxes of Green Giant Veggies and made 6 cents off the deal. I got two bags of Stouffer's Express for $3 which means a meal for $1.50 and they are pretty good. I thought I got a deal on ziploc bags but the coupon didn't work right and I forgot to print another one before they were taken off so I missed out on that. It was still a good deal just not as good as it would have been. I need to watch closer but it's hard some times to tell if those Meijer coupons come off. I also got 10 things of cheese for next to nothing. We won't be buying cheese for a long time.

Kroger I got more almonds and this time I found the plain ones at a different store. $3 a pound is a great deal! I found granola bars on markdown for 99 cents a box and got three. I found the black trash bags on markdown as well for $3.79 for half off. Pretty sure it was a good deal but will have to double check later. I got 6 boxes of tampons for $1.49 after coupons and a Catalina. :) That was one great deal. I know I got more but I can't even remember.

I did hit a few yard sales on Saturday. Next weekend is the big neighborhood sale and I am very excited. This week I found a few books for Scotty and some Saw horses for $2 each. One is a little broken but still works. We needed some of these a while back and didn't have them and they are always great for making a table with. The find of the day was a fishy mask for a nebulizer. I think they quit making these and they are great for little ones. Only 25 cents. :)

The week rounded out by finding out our doctor visit that I thought was going to cost me $10 is not covered because the doctor was out of network. Now you would have thought someone would have let me know that at least as a head's up but I guess not. So I owe another $126. As my dad says "It's only money" but ouch that hurts. On the bright side it was cheaper than the ER would be but we probably could have gone somewhere else for less had I known. I am going to talk to our regular doctor and see what he recommends for next time. This Dr is in his office but I guess doesn't do insurance or at least BCBS. :(

Wow, I am really behind on my posting.

It's not that I haven't been getting any deals it is just with Scotty being sick and everything else going on I haven't gotten around to posting.

I will just give an overview for the most part with a few specifics. Aldi I have been getting my fruits and veggies as they are on a good deal. The fruit is going up and veggies are coming down as the fruit is not in season as much and the veggies are. I have been trying to get bread on markdown at Kroger so that I save money that way. 99 cents to $1.19 for the same kind of whole wheat/whole grain bread I would get at Aldi for $1.69. I still get it there when I can't find a mark down. I really need to try the bread store that is close to Aldi and see what kind of deals I can find there. Maybe on Monday I will try that and go by Payless since they sent me a gift card after not having what I ordered in stock from them and I have a coupon that I can use too. Maybe they have some tennis shoes for me. I really need a new pair but I am picky and have so many other things I want to spend money on.

I was able to get Scotty his first Power Wheels this week. I belong to my local cheapcycle group and every once in a while I get lucky and find something great that someone else has not snatched up already. We saw a Power Wheels at Goodwill several weeks ago but it did not have a battery or charger. I came home and looked up what they would cost me and found that it would be close to if not more than $100 so I decided it was not a good deal. This one was only $50 and it's one of the Jeep Wranglers that sells for around $250 new. It has a pretty new battery and did include the charger. It is missing on piece on the back that does not effect how it works. He is a little bit to small yet but he loves it and I know he will figure it out really soon. :)I also ordered him a bucket swing from ebay and we can't wait for it to get here. I put some eye hooks and some chain in the garage so we could hang a swing out there for Scott. We have a Fisher Price one but I don't like how he sits so tall in it and being over concrete I want him as safe as possible. He loves that he gets to swing at home now though. He will sit there for a good 20 minutes at a time. :) I only wish the person had not been so slow about shipping it. I ordered it on Sunday and they finally shipped it on Friday. I guess when you are looking for a deal sometimes it takes longer to get what you want. I have not had a lot of luck at Yard Sales recently I went weeks without being to go and now there are just not that many not to mention it rained this morning. Last week I got a great deal on a box of books. There were at least 30 kids books in the box and an etch-sketch for $3. Lots of Thomas books so I was excited and a lot of other great books including some Dora to share with Scotty's little friend K who loves Dora. Today I found a couple of things making it worth going out. I got a pair of ear protectors to use when we go watch Indy car races. I had bought one pair at Meijer thinking we would take Scott this year but Brad and I don't own any either so now we have two pairs. :) I also was very happy to find a white lamp base. A couple of years ago I found one and it didn't have the piece on the top to keep you from getting shocked and you couldn't buy just that piece. So someone took it apart for me supposedly to rewire it and told me it was not made well and I should use it so I gave up. Today I got a nice heavy base with all the pieces so I was able to put the shade on it that matches Scotty's room and get it all up and working. We didn't need it before because the dresser where it goes was being used as our changing table until the last few months where we moved to the crib or the floor. For $2 I am very happy.

I also went to Meijer where I got 4 cans of free soup and 4 more cans for 50 cents each. I also picked up some more drinkable yogurt for Scott since it was on sale. And just because I know they are not going to sell them any more I got Scotty some more Wonder Pets figures. I really wanted to get the school house at half off but decided to wait and see if it gets any cheaper and call it a lose if not. He might or might not play with it and it is still $20.

At Kroger this week I got bread and buns on mark down. I also got some oatmeal packets with coupons for 98 cents a box. I picked up one more bottle of the Claritin for $1.79 after mark down and coupon. Love getting something I have to buy no matter what for a great price. Especially something that costs me about $9 every 24 days normally. Scotty doesn't love it but he will survive. I also found a great deal on on Almonds. $3 for a pound of cinnamon flavored. YUM and even plain ones cost more than that.

Speaking of nuts I got a great deal on Groupon for $10 I got a $25 gift certificate for Nutty Guys and am excited to try them out. I got a different one from them from Eversave a few weeks ago and I need to get my orders in. Check out these sites that give you a deal a day in some bigger cities and some online deals too. Check out Groupon and Eversave if you haven't already.

My one other purchase was not so much of a deal as it saves money by not running water constantly for my one year old. He loves to play in running water and I finally found a toy that will let him do that. Yookidoo Flow 'N' Fill Spout I think he will be in heaven.

More soon. Happy Saving to you all.