Oil changed and deals

I went in and used a coupon for NTB to get an oil change for just $9.99. I think oil costs more than that plus the filter. Unfortunately I was not impressed and without the deal will not be using them again. They told me I didn't need an appt but when I got there tried to tell me without one that it would be a 2 hour wait. With a 2 year old are you kidding me. So I told them I had just called and so they worked me in and we were only there an hour. I got all my expired coupons cleaned out while I was there. I would have gotten the new ones clipped if the guy that was also waiting would have just stopped talking. :( Oh well. On top of that someone put a nasty black shoe print on my carpeting. If I hadn't paid so little they would have heard about that and probably should have anyway but taking a two year old back out of the car make some things just not worth it.

My Meijer trip. I got 5 lbs or Strawberries for $1.25 a pound. I am going to make freezer jam with them. I got a pint of blueberries for $2.50 which is at least a better price than the $3 for 6ozs they have had recently and Scotty was so excited. I got 3 ears of corn for 25 cents each another Scotty favorite. A Sweet Onion for 52 cents. Two huge bags of I think Clemetine's for $1 each I am going to freeze them for Orange smoothie drinks thanks to a blog writer who did it recently. Can't beat that price for fruit. A free container of coffee creamer thanks to Vocalpoint.com and the free coupon they sent. 2 packages of Ball Park hot dogs for 79 cents each after $1 off coupons from their FB page. A can of Maxwell house coffee for $1.50 after $1 off coupon I got from voting. found here http://www.kraftbrands.com/maxwellhousecoffee/drops-of-good/Pages/default.aspx A package of Lunchmeat with no preservatives for $1.50 after a 50 cent coupon that doubled. No longer available and it expired today so I had to use it. I also got the two shirts on clearance for $4.99 each. Spent $17.25.

1st Kroger shopping trip of the week.  I got 3 pizzas for $2.49 after using $2 off coupons from Facebook and received a $5 catalina back. Got 5/4 packs of yogurt all but one were marked down to 99 cents. I got the other one for 49 cents with the Mega sale and a $1 off coupon I had. I got the two Pure Almond free with $2 off coupons from the Silk challenge and the Mega sale that had them for $1.99. I also got the two boxes for pasta for free with a $1/2 coupon and the Mega sale. The Cheez Its were $1.39 each after a $1 off coupon. I also picked up one more box of Allavert for Scotty while they still had a couple on Markdown. So sad we are not going to be able to buy it much longer.

Rite Aid

2 Packages of Easy Ups used a $1.50 off from P & G on Sunday and a $2 from a home mailer I got. I also used 2 $5 off Up rewards from last week and a $3/$15 for answering the survey on my receipt from last week.

2 bags Sunchips on Sale for 2/$5 used a $2 off coupon from the Sunday insert.

1 Crest toothpaste on sale for $2.99 used $1 off from a home mailer.

1 Gillette Fusion Razor used a $5 off coupon from a home mailer and $4 in Up rewards from the above purchases.

Spent $11.29 and got $7 in Up rewards to use next week or before if I make it back to find another razor since I have more coupons. Saved $37.25!

Walgreens They were out of a lot of stuff which is way to normal for them.

2 Lysol wipes used two $1.50 off and they were BOGO free paid 59 cents. (thanks Jacque)

2 bottles Melatonin for my husband on sale BOGO free used 2/$2 off coupons paid $2.99 total.

Suave hair spray used free coupons saved $3.

Comet used 25 cent off printable coupon and store coupon making it just 25 cents.

3 padded mailers for 39 cents each with store coupon

Package of non padded mailers for 99 cents with store coupon.

Mandarin oranges on sale for 50 cents. Only had the one can.

Mr clean magic erasers used $1.50 off coupon from Sunday paper. Paid $1.11 for the extra strong ones. They were out of the others and these are great I have tried them before.

Spent $9.28 Saved $29.19!

Kroger (best trip of the day)

11 boxes of pasta all but one they paid me a penny to buy. I got one more because I needed to round out my mega deals and they were just 49 cents on sale. So technically I paid 39 cents total.

8 Raspberry Whip eggs (I love these so much) on clearance for 21 cents each.

4 Power Bars on sale for 99 cents each and used two BOGO free coupons so $1.98 total.

4 boxes of Z bars on sale for $1.99 and used 4 $1 off coupons printed from Mambo Sprouts.

Uncle Ben’s Rice used a free coupon which gave me an extra item to add toward my mega sale so gave me an extra 50 cents toward another item.

3 boxes of Mom’s Best cereal 99 cents each after the Mega sale and I used 3 75 cent off one coupons to make them just 24 cents each.

1 Brut Deodorant used $1 off coupon making it free after regular sale price not part of the mega sale.

1 bag of pop chips used free coupon

1 bag Boulder chips used $1 off one coupon from coupons.com zip code 90210 and got paid 1 cent to get them.

I also had a $5 store coupon from the pizza I bought earlier in the week.

I spent $3.38 total and saved $62.48 or 95% .

Saving money on vacation

How to save money and have a fun vacation too!

This year we have decided instead a big vacation we are going to take some smaller ones mostly closer to home. This past Friday my husband too a day off work and we headed off to Cave City to Dinosaur World. My two year old is slightly obsessed with Dinosaurs lately and I figured it would be a great adventure for our family. I subscribe to many different cities “Groupon” and “Living Social” deal sites as well as a few other sites as well. So thinking ahead I purchased a Groupon for Dinosaur World and used some credit from sharing Groupon with others to buy 2 adult tickets for just $2. Two year olds were free so he did not need a ticket. Normal admission price is $12.75 per adult. So we saved $22.50. We packed a lunch and had a picnic at their many tables in the playground area and saved some more money. We did pick up a couple of souvenirs some of which were broken before we got to far away but Oh well we took lots of pictures. Maybe I can put the truck back together with some glue. We spent about $14 total for our fun and souvenirs.

For our next adventure of the day I had picked up tickets to Kentucky Down Under for just $10 per adult and once again toddlers were free. The normal admission price is $22 per person so we saved $24 by buying in advance. I would not recommend going there during the week because of the school groups though it was crowded with tons of kids and it was hard for our two year old to wait while all the kids got to do things like pet the Kangaroo before they gave him a turn. What is wrong with people thinking it’s OK to do that to a two year old. He was a good boy and waited pretty well though. We only bought a small Kangaroo toy for about $5 so we did pretty well saving money on that fun outing.

Then off to a hotel to spend the weekend in Bowling Green, KY so we could visit with some of the kids I used to be a nanny for. I am super picky when it comes to hotels and I read all the reviews and check all the prices and make sure that I am getting the best rate. Traveling with a child who goes to bed super early means we need a hotel room that has two separate rooms so that we don’t have to go to bed at 7pm. After some research I chose the La Quinta Inn and Suites. It was a newly built hotel and was getting great reviews. I always try to pick hotels that include a free breakfast to help save some money. This one was great because it included hot food as well as things like muffins and toast. I love being able to get protein for breakfast. We have a AAA membership and that often gets us a great price on hotel rooms and it saved us about $8 a night at this hotel. This hotel had a great heated indoor pool and we had a blast swimming and enjoying it. Thankfully Friday night and Saturday morning were pretty quiet in the pool area and we had it all to ourselves. Not the case on Saturday night but we were too tired to swim again anyway. We could not have asked for a better room. They put us all the way at the end of the hall away from the elevators and only had a room on one side and one above us. We were over the pool so I did not have to worry that all the running my two year old was doing around the huge room was upsetting anyone. The room had the most space of any hotel I have ever stayed in it almost looked empty which was great for playing. J It had a separate bedroom and the best part was you could enter the bathroom from the bedroom and from the sitting room so no going through the bedroom and waking up the sleeping child. I was a little confused on the super cheap microwave they put in the rooms. I haven’t seen a turn dial one in years and I did not think it was going to survive popping our bag of popcorn. It was nice to have a refrigerator as well so we could keep our drinks and food cold without dealing with ice the whole weekend. The room also came with free internet which is a big one for us. I love not having to pay extra to upload my pictures form our adventures and keep up with email and Facebook.

On Sunday we headed down to the Nashville Zoo which was about an hour away. We all love zoos and my two year old is getting to where he loves watching for certain animals. We have a zoo membership to the Louisville Zoo and it often gets us into other zoos for free or ½ off. Nashville is one that offers free admission so all we had to pay was the $5 parking fee. I love how shaded the Nashville Zoo is especially since the high was over 80 yesterday. My two year old loved all the water features in the Zoo the most. Lots of really pretty waterfalls to watch. His second favorite was the giraffes that he watched for a long time. He even picked a stuffed giraffe to bring home. He picked it up and told me, “Giraffe, home.” He then named it after himself and told me it was going to take a nap. Must have been time to head home. J The zoo offered a discount on food and at the gift shop for members of all zoos so we saved 10% off our giraffe and pretzel we ate while there. We took our own crackers and water to help cut down the cost on what we spent while there as well. Could have taken lunch but chose to just pick up some on our way home at Arby’s which was a bit cheaper than eating at the zoo. We saved $37 with our zoo membership. Considering it cost $79 to start with that a great savings. We got it last June and saved about $13 at the Columbus, OH zoo. Saved about that at the Cincinnati Zoo as well. Then we also have gone to the Louisville Zoo 5 times since we got it including free admission to Halloween at the Zoo. It has been paid for many times over. Such an easy way to save money.

So total saved for our trip by thinking ahead and using coupons, passes, and travel membership is just at $100!

See you can save money on just about anything!

Lots of great deals and some frustrating losses

I am not doing very well keeping up with my blog. Life just seems to get out of control and leave me no time for everything else.

I had a lot of mystery shops which is nice for getting some stuff I wouldn't normally get and stuff I don't have to pay out for but it takes my extra time as well. Deli stuff can be fun and I get drinks for free which is nice. Love my Coke!

This week I got some some fluoride free toothpaste for a great price and some power toothbrushes for super cheap after register rewards. Unfortunately I managed to lose one of my rewards. :( I have got to do better about hanging onto coupons. I also got 6 packages of free tuna with my Seafood friday coupons from Starkist. I love matching coupons with sale prices for free stuff. :) Last week they would have cost me 45 cents each at the same store. I also got four protein bars for just 82 cents can't beat that. I also got some chicken for 99 cents a pound. I love that I found out how great bone in chicken breast is so I can save money.


I got free toothbrushes and toothpaste at Kroger with coupons and a sale. Also two things of Reach floss and a Reach flosser all for free with coupons and a sale.

I also discovered that I can make my own homemade refried beans in the crockpot super easy and then make up burritos and freeze them for quick and easy lunches for my husband. My 2 year old even loved the refried beans and ate his quesadilla made with them all up. :)

This week I am going to get some Strawberries on sale and try my hand at Freezer Jam. I got some pectin on clearance last week. YUM I love strawberry jam and it is not cheap.

I am determined to do more to save money by making my own food ahead. Now to find the time to do that.

Happy Saving

A second trip to Meijer, Rite Aid, and Walgreens

I did super well today at Meijer. There were to many good deals that popped up to miss going back. I also went to Walgreens for a couple of deals and to Rite aid as well.

At Meijer I got 2 ice cream cakes. They were buy one for $8.99 get one free and then All You magazine had a $3 off coupon for Celebration cakes so I paid $5.99 for both and M perks gave me a $2/off $2 coupon so I got that off as well. So $3.99 for the two ice cream cakes. YUM I also found more coupons for the Wheat Thins sticks on smart source for $1 off so I got them for 67 cents each. I also had a coupon that printed from buying 3 Crystal Light to Go items at the beginning of the week so I got one more box of regular wheat thins for free. Wish I had known about that deal and would have split up my purchases earlier in the week and gotten two of those. Oh well at least I got one. I also was able to print two more 50 cent off one stove top coupon and get 2 more for just 25 cents each. I found a deal for Green Works dish detergent. If you bought two they gave you $2 off. The price was $2.15 each before that. I was able to print two $1 off coupons so I paid 15 cents each. I printed 4 of the $2 off Heinz coupons from two computers when they were available on FB this week and got 4 36oz bottles of ketchup for free. To bad that Meijer will not give me the overage since they were on sale for just $1.59 oh well it's free Ketchup. I also found some Pectin for freezer jam marked down to 77 cents so I picked up a couple of packages. I want to try making some Strawberry freezer jam this year. I also took back the $1 coupon I found in the Smart Source coupons for the Oxyclean I got last week and got that back as well. I do like that they will give me the money when I take my coupons I forget back in. :)

At Walgreens I used a $1.50 coupon I printed online and a $1 store coupon to get 6 rolls of Scott Green paper towels. Never used them but I hope they will be good for some stuff at least. That is just 50 cents a roll. I also got 3 free rolls of Scotch tape. It was buy one get two free and used two $1 off coupons from Scotch's website making all 3 free.

At Rite Aid I got a bottle of Nivea Body wash free using a $3 coupon from Red plum and a $1 Up reward from last week. I also got 4 packs of 5 gum using 2 printable $1 off 2 coupons so I paid $2 for all for which is a pretty good deal even though occasionally I can get them for a little less.

Monday I will be back out getting my Easter stuff for next year. Scotty's basket has a lot of great stuff I got doing just that last year. I hate paying full price. Can you tell? :)

Happy Saving

Wow Freebies in the mail and shopping

I went to the mailbox today to find some awesome full size products instead of sample size like usual. Viewpoints not only has been offering me free Amazon gift cards for writing reviews they are now sending me these awesome products to sample. Might be worth getting signed up with them to see if you can get some too. :) I got a free bottle of contact solution for my husband. That stuff is not cheap so what a deal. :) I also got a 10 pack of the new Tide Stain remover packets to try out. I think i got another one sample of those through the Tide Facebook page as well we will have to see what comes in the mail. :) I also got a sample of a new product that is supposed to help with teeth grinding. My husband uses that kind of stuff a swell so he will get to try it out. Going to my mailbox is like Christmas morning. :)

I had a couple of coupons that were expiring today but with the rain I did not make it out to run my errands as planned first thing this morning so I ended up making a quick trip to Kroger to use them after dinner. I got 3 boxes of cereal, a box of granola bars, and 5 packets of tuna. I spent $11.09 out of pocket and have a $5 gift card and a $1.50 OYNO to use at my next trip. So about less than $5 total for all that. Cereal is not cheap so when I can get it for that price I am all over it. We don't eat a ton of it but my husband likes it as a snack and my little boy will eat some on occasion.

I started this blog last week but never got back to finish it. :) Over the weekend I ran a few more errands. I ran to Walmart to check on some games that could be paired with coupons for great deals to have on hand for gifts and such. I did not have any luck finding the Operation game everyone was talking about both our stores were sold out or never had them. I did however pick up two travel Connect 4 games for just over $5 with tax. Since they started out at $5.24 each that's a great deal. :)

On Saturday I made one more quick trip to Kroger for a few more deals that popped up. I got 8 cans of Libby peas, a can of fruit cocktail, and a package of floss and spent just $1.40 out of pocket.

I also went to Rite Aid where the cranky coupon man is growing on me. He was laughing when after my second transaction and wanted to know if I wanted to spend my $1 UP reward for something else. He told me I could just roll them all day. LOL I got 2 bottles of Gillette Body wash, a bottle of contact solution, a bottle of eye drops, and a box of Kashi cereal. I spent 8.35 OOP and will get back $7.99 in a rebate as well as I have a $1 UP reward to spend this week or next depending on when I make it in.

This week I went to Meijer to stock up on some stuff. I got 6 packs of Crystal Light Drink mixes with coupons and a sale for $8 or about $1.33 each, 10 cans of Del Monte Fruit on sale for 97 cents each but if you bought 10 you got a $2 instant rebate so they were just 77 cents each. I also picked up two packages of Wheat Thins Sticks with some $1 off coupons from Facebook for just 67 cents each. I believe that is what triggered the coupon I got for a free box of wheat thins. :) I got 3 boxes of Stove Top Stuffing for 25 cents a box, 2 packets of Tuna for 17 cents each, 2 cups of greek yogurt for 49 cents each, 4 dozen eggs for 72 cents each, a box of brown minute rice for $1.30, and two packs of goldfish grams for 97 cents each. Total of $28.98. :)

Then made a quick trip to Aldi to pick up a loaf of bread and some fruit and veggies. I also picked up a bag of chips for our family get together this weekend. A pineapple, 3.1 lbs bananas, Celery, baby carrots, and 2lbs of grapes all for $10.55. I love Aldi and their produce deals as well as great basic prices for when I don't have a good sale price for something like the chips and bread. My goal is to perfect my bread baking but no luck making a good sandwich bread yet. Working on a new one at the moment. I will keep you posted as well as a blog post on making other things from scratch to save money as well. It's been a lot of fun and yummy so far.

Happy Saving

Not a lot of shopping going on

The good thing about having a stock pile is that  when there are not a lot of deals you don't have to go out and spend extra money just because of it. Since my last post I have done two mystery shops where I got stuff that was either on sale or stuff I use all the time and I didn't use any coupons on either one! I spent two extra dollars on one of them but the rest of the stuff was all within what they pay for and my extra pay from doing the shop. I got some whole wheat flour to start my bread baking with. I got yummy deli chicken salad that I used for dinner one night when I was having a really bad day and ham that I have been eating for breakfast because it sounds good and I need the protein. I also made a quick trip to Kroger on Saturday because my sister gave me a coupon for free ice cream and a dozen eggs. My husband really wanted to go to Dairy Queen but I hate going without a coupon and the private Selection ice cream is pretty much as good as a blizzard it just last longer and you can't beat free. I went ahead and got the eggs so I would not forget to use the coupon since it expired this week and with Easter coming up I am sure they will be used. If not I will try my hand at freezing them with my new freezer. :) There are so many things I didn't even know you could freeze. While I was at Kroger I found some Activia yogurt marked down and a friend gave me some $1 off coupons for it recently so it was only going to be 9 cents each. Well the new policy of ecoupons not working with paper coupons got me. I had left a coupon on there for Dannon yogurt planning to use it for some of Scotty's yogurt and even though they never work on markdowns this one did. :( So I ended up having to pay the extra 50 cents not to mention arguing to be able to use the other coupon because for some reason it makes them all beep. :( What a bad policy they currently have. Oh well I spent 68 cents so I really can't complain I just was having a bad week and left pretty upset with Kroger. No more ecoupons for me unless they are for free or store brand stuff!

This week since there are not a lot of sales I decided to use my extra money to go ahead and pick up a ham for Easter since my extended family is coming for a meal. I love that Aldi offers spiral hams with a glaze to add for just $1.49 a pound. They are yummy just like Honey Baked Ham without the price or the wait in line. LOVE IT! I also picked up a few other things that I knew I would need soon enough like regular flour, salsa, popcorn, and Ketchup. Grapes were still 79 cents a pound so we got some more of them and bananas as always.My plan is to make some homemade bread this week but I bought a loaf just in case I don't get it done. I am currently waiting for my parents to come down because I could not get my freezer completely up and running. The bolted boards to the bottom so it has to be laid down and they have to be taken off. So I can't start really filling it yet. Our Aldi is getting super busy. The cost of groceries have remained pretty steady there while they are going up everywhere else along with the price of gas. The manager even told me they are going to have to get more help because of it. I love Aldi when it comes to prices you can't beat without coupons and sales. If the show extreme couponing show messes that up for all of us I will be shopping at Aldi even more. I have a friend who got her family of 3 through a really tough time using Aldi to stretch her $20 a week to feed them all. Not sure it would go as far today but I bet you could get close without the meat which her family didn't eat anyway.

Happy Saving!

Lots of frustration with deals lately

So sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been shopping but have not had a lot of time to get it all typed up. The Kroger deals have not been as good since we are in between mega sales. So I have not been buying as much there. Meijer didn't have anything a couple of weeks ago so I didn't bother going but I have hit them the last two Sunday's to pick up some great deals. Last week they had Maxwell house coffee for $1.99 a can if you bought 7 items so I got two of those with a coupon for $1/2 making them $1.49 and 5 Crystal Light drink mixes for $1 each. :) Cheap drinks for my husband. I know I got  few other deals but nothing to exciting. This week they had their buy 10 $1 deals and get one free deal. I got 2 bags of salad, a bag of cole slaw, 3 bags of organic baby carrots, 4 cans of juice with 2 BOGO free coupons making them just $2 for all four, and a can of spaghettios for my free item. At Aldi I have been mostly buying fruits and veggies that were on sale or a good price. Not a lot else we need right now.

Walgreen's has continued to be frustrating. I took back the item that didn't print my register reward and the manager did not want to let me return it and was pretty rude. He finally returned it though. Then I went back this week but after the problems with the rewards printing I didn't even want to do any of those. I used some coupons to get Color Wonder On the Go packs for 50 cents each. I found some trash bags marked down and there was a coupon that should have worked on them but since they were marked down they would not allow me to use the coupon. I was only getting them because it made a good deal with the coupon. Without the coupon it wasn't a good deal. I would return them but that might be more trouble than it is worth. I think I just won't me shopping there very much in the future even though I am always tempted.

I finally got my freezer today after multiple phone calls to the company who could not figure out if they shipped it or not. I got a call from the delivery service saying they were ready to deliver it. I was happy to hear that since nobody returned my call yesterday to tell me what they found out. They did finally call back right before the freezer was delivered. A little late then. It was a nice deal but knowing if you shipped something makes for better customer service. What is wrong with people. I am however excited to start using it and making more of my own food from scratch and having the space to store it.

Happy Saving