Turkey Time

It today's Wichita Eagle, there's a Wal-Mart ad with turkey at $.40 lb. Limit 2. While supplies last. I'd say hurry right on over and get yours, they'll go FAST at that low, LOW price!!

Image credit to: www.igourmet.com

What Do You DO With All That Stuff?!

One fun side effect of bargain shopping is all excess of free (or super cheap) bargains! It only took me about 3 months of collecting to fill up all the nooks and crannies and realize that it's time to start donating.

I did a quick web search to find one place that would welcome everything from laundry detergent to deodorant. A local clinic serves a broad range of clientele and they were thrilled to have a variety of donations. They gave me an idea of their specific needs too so I can keep an eye out for those items. Depending on who they serve, single size laundry detergent may be better than larger bottles. The new all-in-one laundry sheets were a big hit!

What do you do with your overflow?

In My Mailbox this Week

WOW!! The work of September is starting to pay off!!

This week, we've gotten the following:

$10 rebate check. Free coupon for Country Bob. LUVS coupons.

Water bottle from Juicy Juice. Target Up! brand coupons & Herbal Essences Coupons.

Land O Lakes coupon & recipes. Free bag of Eukanuba & Nabisco coupon booklet.

I took the Eukanuba coupon to PetSmart and bought the 5 lb bag for large breeds. There's a $5 coupon in each bag. So, we took the bag out to the car, opened it, removed coupon, went inside and bought another bag. Twice. There were lots of bags left that said they had coupons inside, so I'll probably head back this weekend and snag a few more bags. Our puppies (now 10 months old) eat a LOT!!

Also, in the last photo are the $5 Discover cards we found in boxes of fruit snacks!! I had bought the boxes at least 2 months ago and tossed them in the snack tote in the storage room. I never even noticed that they might have cash cards inside, but low and behold, both boxes we bought were Winners!!

Coincidentally, this week at Dillons, the boxes are included in the Buy 10, Get $5 off deal. So, I gathered up my coupons and hit up 4 different Dillons. Each time you buy 5 boxes, you get a $3.50 catalina! I ended up with 6 MORE Discover cards!!

Here's how it breaks down:

6 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Roll Up Stickerz (Specially Marked Boxes) $1.29 ea / 7.74

Coupon (doubled) $0.50 off 2 boxes - 3.00

Catalina (to be used on next trip) +3.50

Gift Cards (I averaged 2 gift cards per trip) +10.00

Makes This Deal a MONEY MAKER!!

*** If you're looking for the boxes, check the ones in the back ~ that's where we found them.

Finding Coupons

I can remember when I started couponing and how frustrated I was reading about all the great deals other gals got, but I didn't have those coupons!

In order to build up my stash, I started buying extra papers and hubby volunteered to snag extras at the recycling center. In no time, I have built a very nice coupon binder.

One thing I've noticed, if you ever need to buy extra papers to get good coupons, buy a paper from a bigger city. For example, in today's Kansas City Star (which I buy at Dillon's for $2) they had 3 inserts: P&G, Red Plum and Smart Source. Often, the coupons are the same, but the values are a little higher (example, Campbell's Chunky soups $.75/4 instead of $.50/4).

Here is a list of coupons they have that the Wichita Eagle didn't have:

RedPlum
Hostess family size snack cake $.50/1
Snausages $1.00/1
M&ms, Skittles, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, Twix or Starburst $1/2 bags
Quaker Chewey Granola Bars $.75/2
Betty Crocker Decorating Cookie Icing $1/1
Nature's Bounty Your Life Multi $2/1
Nature's Bounty Any Product $1/1
Nivea Body Wash $1/1
Nivea Face Scrub, Wash, Lotion $1/1
Nivea Revitalizing Lotion or Eye Cream $2/1
StarKist Tuna Pouch $.50/1
StarKist Tuna Pouch $1/2

Smart Source
Campbell's Cooking Soups $.40/4
Krusteaz Muffin or Crumb Cake Mix $.50/1
Krusteaz Pancake Mix $.50/1
PediaSure 6-pack $2/1
Eckrich Smoked Sausage $.55/1
Tyson box Frozen Breaded Chicken $.55/1
Tyson bag Frozen Breaded Chicken $1/1
Curel Moisturizer $1/1
Curel Itch Defense Moisturizer $2/1
Jergens Moisturizer $1/1
John Frieda Collection product $1/1
Biore Skin Preservation product $3/1
Biore any product $1/1
Ban antiperspirant-deodorant $.40/1
Ricola NEW mixed berry with Vitamin C drops FREE bag
Ocean Spray Instant Oatmeal $1/1 box
Bird's Eye Voila! $1.50/2 bags
Revlon any color cosmetic product $1/1

These higher value coupons come in very handy during K-Mart double's week!

Toys R Us & Babies R Us

I don't have anyone in diapers anymore, but I do have a sweet nephew and a local clinic that I donate to. If you are in need of diaper deals, check this out:

Pampers big box, buy 2, get $15 gift card back.

Free wipes when you buy 3 Johnson & Johnson items.

• Best deal scenario I've seen was on Hip to Save
• Buy 1 Johnson's Soap Buddies $0.99
• Buy 2 Johnson's safety swabs 2/$3Total=$3.99
• Use 3 $1/1 coupons from the 9/20RP
• Final cost $0.99 for 3 Johnson's products and a 64 ct tub of wipes!

Need diaper coupons? Scroll to bottom of page 2 here for $5 off Pampers boxes.

Not buying diapers? Use this coupon for TRU Reward Members.

Coupons + Sales = Big Savings

I found the world of coupons to be somewhat daunting ~ in that: I rarely clipped coupons, I had no coupon filing system, I rarely looked at sales papers for local stores and I rarely buy name brand items.

Why?

I've always thought that Aldi's was cheaper.
I make homemade recipes ~ including cleaners, laundry detergent and soap.
I always thought name brands were too expensive (and that money goes to marketing, right?!)
I'm a "walks-to-the-beat-of-her-own-drum" kind of girl.

So, in my 1 month of couponing, I've begun to see the light!!

I still make my own cleaners (I can post recipes), but when I spotted the Lysol products 50% off at my local Dillon's and I also had coupons that when doubled, would mean that 1 item was under $.50, I couldn't pass it up!

Also, the Country Crock was on sale, plus with a doubled coupon meant that the big tubs were just $1 each. The Knoor sides were $.37 each. Hot Pockets, Toaster Strudels and Gatorade were a special purchase -we certainly don't have these on hand normally, but again, on sale and with coupons made these a good buy for a specific event.

In the past month, I've made a coupon binder, begun refunding, joined an online community of Coupon Queens and begun stockpiling.

At first, it was very weird to have multiple tubes of toothpaste - I mean, my "before couponing" way of shopping was to just buy what I needed, picking the cheapest item from Aldi's, Dollar General or Wal-Mart.

I have found some very good reasons for shifting the way I shop. Here are a few blogs that explain it much better than I can:

Moms Need To Know
Bliss Tree
The Checkout Chicks
Coupon Queen
Mom Advice
2 Thrifty Moms
Money Saving Mom
Mommy Snacks
Coupon Psycho

So, how do you shop? Stockpiler? Couponer? Meal Planner? Frugally?

Several months ago, my DH and I went to a Dave Ramsey ELP. The meeting did not go well and I'm still fuming about a few things she said (mostly, the overly pushy sales pitch to join her in a multi-level marketing scheme.) But, I digress.

I blogged about it here.

After many weeks of thinking about it, I decided that maybe I was up to the challenge to see if we could do better with our monthly food/HBA budget. (Always looking for the silver linings LOL).

What I found, I'll share here. It is truly amazing what CAN be accomplished when you have an open mind and are willing to try.

So, even though I never stepped foot back into that woman's home, I did learn a valuable lesson that day.