Shopping at Fry's ....

It has been a while since I have really shopped for deals... I need to be more proactive...

Today I was on a mission to get some things at Fry's. I take my oldest son with me in case I ran into any coupon nazi's at the checkout lanes...

I grabbed 16 pkgs of Angel Soft toilet paper, 3 boxes of Ziplock bags, 20 bottles of Powerade, 30 bottles of Honest Tea/Drinks and 1 orange juice for FREE! Yep!
I paid $1.61 in tax for the toilet paper and ziplock bags... I hate Tax! But $1.61 is nothing for all of this on my table...
Luckily, my favorite cashier was on duty, so I had no problems cashing out! Whooohooo...
I have some more of the Honest Tea coupons left, so I will most likely have to journey out in a couple days to get more, as drinks never last long in this house! I also have a lot of powerade coupons too, so I will be grabbing a lot more of these as well!
With all the money I saved... $124.00 with coupons and sale prices... we bought some Sonic for lunch!
(My son Jack Jack wanted to be in the picture and you can catch a glimpse of my husband "Peace sign" at the top of the photo.... we were eating lunch!)

Mustard Anyone?

Lot's and Lot's of Mustard! Ya Want some? Yes, this is a lot of Mustard! Why do I have this much mustard? I like mustard! LOL. Ok, here is the deal... Did you know that couponing can make you (me) money? Sometimes, you can actually get cash handed back to you, sometimes you can get a gift card loaded with money... and sometimes you can get what is called a "Catalina" which are printed coupons at the register, that are good for "On Your Next Order" (OYNO), which is good as cash to me!
My friend Katherine tipped me off about the mustard deal. She ordered 160 coupons for mustard and we split the cost and I have 80 coupons for mustard. The mustard is on sale for .99 each, coupons double to $1 making the mustard FREE! The deal is that for every 2 you "buy" you get a $1 catalina! So doing the math, for every mustard I pull off the shelf, I am making $.50! I will do this until I run out of coupons! So I spent $4.25 on my share of the coupons, but will be making $40 for pulling free mustard off the shelves. Today, I pulled 18 off the shelves, but got $12 in catalina's back, I was only expecting $9 back, so I was surpised to get an extra $3 in catalina's! So I made $12 today and have 18 mustards! I won't keep 80 mustards, I will most likely give them away to family and friends, and donate some to the food banks! I still have a stash of mustards that Katherine drops off when she visits! I have an abundance of Mustard and KY Jelly that Katherine will throw in my bags or drop off when we visit. It is funny, but I always pass it along to unsuspecting family and friends too! Spreading the joy of coupons! ha ha
I do shop at Basha's from time to time, so I can either wait until a good deal comes up and use my catalina's there, or I can use them at Albertson's since they accept them there too!
So if you hear a couponer say, I made money... this is how it is done! I know how $12 to spend on anything I may need! Woohooo!
I have to mention that Katherine and I live kinda near eachother, but still manage to stay away from eachother's "Stores"... It is a respect thing and I don't invade her stores and she jokingly says she won't go to my stores. LOL Even though I want to get my share of mustards, I still want my friend Katherine to get her Mustards too! When we are chasing the deals, we will keep eachother in the loop of what stores we hit and what we "left"... LOL... We are like a tag team!
Thanks Katherine for the tip and for hooking up the coupons!

If you want some mustard, just let me know!

Coupon Etiquette...

Coupon Etiquette.... Yeah, even in the crazy world of couponing, there are a few etiquette "rules" that experienced and newbie couponers practice... or should practice. Sometimes not everyone plays by the rules, or might not even know some of the "un-written" rules...

For instance... The other day, I was minding my own business... I stopped at a local gas station on my way to work with my son... He says he is thirsty and wants a donut. In the store we go in search of a drink and a donut! While picking a drink out for myself, I notice there is a what we call a "Tear Pad" of coupon on the glass door in front of Powerade. Since I was purchasing two of them. I peel a coupon off to read it and discover that if I took extra, I could get them FREE at Fry's with my handy Raincheck! So, I start peeling away! I took about half the pad and went onto the cashier to pay for the donut and drinks! On my way out, I notice a huge section of cases of Powerade and two more pads of coupons... I didn't take anymore, since I already took some and off I went about my day! Later on that day, I started feeling guilty about taking so many coupons... So I reach out to my trusted friend Katherine and ask her what she'd do in a situation with Tear Pads... I learn the etiquette quick! You take some and you leave some! You always leave SOME! Now, I admit, sometimes it is easy for me to be greedy in life, especially if it is Lemonade or Tamales... But since I know there are other people out there who use coupons and we are in a Recession... I don't let my greedy side come out too often! LOL

Getting back to the tear pads... So after learning the rules of Tear Pads, I figured since I left 2 1/2 pads I am good... Later on that night, we went back for some OJ... I take my trusty PIC (Partner In Crime) with me. I tell him that if there is any more coupons left, to take some... and be sure to leave some! well the obvious tear pad was totally wiped out, but there were still some on the cases. My PIC has no fear, and he delivers A LOT!

Each one of these coupons is good for 2 bottles of Powerade! We drink these daily, especially during the warmer months. I am so excited and can't wait to pick them up at Fry's! One cashier told me they have "More coupons in the back"! So she said to check back in a couple days! I think I have more than my fair share, so I am going to leave that for someone else!

I did give some to my SIL and also gave her a raincheck so she could get the powerade for free for her husband and his workers! Since they pay out of pocket-DAILY, full price for these too, it will save them some hard earned cash!

How do I get my son to be my PIC? Well, having a teenager boy who ALWAYS wants something... now he has to EARN it... by being my PIC ...No questions asked!

Vitamin Water! Free!

Today me and my boys headed to Fry's to get stuff for dinner! For a while we have been collecting coupons for Vitamin Water! They are on sale 10/$10. We had coupons for $.50, which doubled to $1, making them free! I recently learned that there was a coupon in a free magazine, so we were able to swipe some up. Our oldest son is my "Partner In Crime" (PIC) and he is AWESOME at getting me rainchecks, blinkies and coupons. He found a stash of these magazines and he ripped them out for me while we shopped. All together we had 30 coupons, but 2 accidently got ripped in half, so I will need to tape those for the next trip to Fry's. We got 28 for free today! Wooohooo! A couple of them didn't make it to the table for the photo, they were taken by the "Vitamin Water Monster"! LOL
My boy's drink these non-stop, so to get them for free or cheap is a treat for us, these types of drinks I will pay full price for, but always look for a sale or coupon! We rotate Gaterade, Powerade, Vitamin Water and Life Water. Luckily, one or the other is always on sale, and I usually have a coupon!
Another trip is due here in the next day or so... have to hunt down more coupons!

Super Cheap Pull Ups!

I really scored on Pull Ups last week! First I need to thank my family and friends who helped me with coupons! THANK BUNCHES! There were Printable coupons for Huggies for $5 and $3 online. The problem was it only allowed you to print 2 times, so I sent an email out to all my peeps and they really came through! Huggies were on sale for $6.99 at Albertsons, but I tried "price matching" at Walmart for the first time and eventually ended up with 12 pks of Pullups and 4 pks of diapers for $1.99 each. (We took a bunch of them to daycare for KoKo to use)
Now I did run into a little problem at first, I couldn't find Size 5 or 6! They were sold out! So I bought sizes they had and then went back 3 different times to exchange for a bigger size. The coupons worked, and when I noticed the Pull ups were $6.99 too, Customer service allowed me to do a fair trade and get them. So in the end it really was an awesome trip! Luckily my youngest boy can wear generic and name brand diapers, so I would buy what ever was the cheapest! Now we have name brand diapers and pullups! Woot! Let's hope that we can get this one potty trained before we run out of pullups! Cause I don't know if I can find another deal as good as this! I did a price check and the pull ups ran about $11 a pack!

*sorry about the picture, couldn't get it to flip/rotate! You get the picture...

Huggies Wipes!!!

Here is a picture of some of the Huggies Wipes I have left. I got all of these FREE! At one point, I had nearly 300 boxes of wipes! I haven't purchased wipes in 8+ months! I did sell A LOT of my wipes on Craigslist, consignment sale, Yard sale and the Stork exchange for $2 a box! I have also given away wipes to pregnant friends and family. I also found a stash of 20+ boxes of wipes in my garage this weekend too! (It was like Spring Cleaning with a kick!) I still have "rainchecks" for these at an awesome price, so I may pick up some more, when I get a hold of a lot of Huggies coupons. I have dear friends at work and family who always clip coupons for me, so it won't be long. I still have one more in "pull ups" so I am hoping that all these wipes will last until he gives in and uses the potty! LOL

Free Toilet Paper!!

Toilet Paper! You gotta have it! Now, this is a portion of some of the toilet paper I have picked up along the way for FREE! I have BOTH my bathrooms stocked with toilet paper and I even found some in the garage this weekend that I totally forgot about. I don't think I have "paid" for toilet paper in 8 months. I have stocked up on the Cottonelle TP at Fry's every time I have coupons! The Scott TP went on sale a few months ago at Albies, so I picked up a case of that for Free! My family is not picky with toilet paper, so this is awesome! I use to be a TP Snob, but after 3 kids, mortgage, car payment etc.... some things you just learn to let go! LOL. The cool thing about these TP is that they come with the "Box Tops" on the package, so it is a Win-Win situation in a few months, when my son starts collecting them for school! Whoohoo. I also was told that people actually pay for "box tops" on ebay. I doubt I will ever sell them, since my son needs them for school. I just thought that was crazy that someone would actually purchase them, but hey... to each their own. (On a competitive note, I'd probably purchase them too, if my son was gonna win a contest or something! LOL)
I had a lot more coupons for the Cottonelle TP, but lost them in my coupon folder a couple weeks ago, so now the only coupons I have left will cost me $.50 a pack... I am holding out that another "good" coupon... I am happy I have the stockpile I have now, very thankful!
TP, you gotta have it... and I got it Free! Woot!

Garnier at Walgreens....Last week

Hello... Here is a picture of some of the Garnier that I recently picked up at Walgreens. All these products were either FREE or I made $.81 for everyone I pulled off the shelf! Now, I know this is a lot of product, but I don't plan on keeping it all... Considering I have no room for it! I am going to make a big basket full of product that will be raffled or auctioned off for the March Of Dimes. And the rest I will either sell to friends or give them to people who help me build my coupon stash! On this table were 115 products, I still had 45 more in my van and some more under my bathroom sink! I will keep a lot of the product like gel, hairspray and mousse, cause I use those, but as far as Shampoo and conditioner.... those are as good as sold!

I did run into a little snag while attempting to purchase this time around. This isn't the first time Walgreen's has had a sale where I could make money or get it for free. So to my surprise when I tried to "clear the shelves" at my Walgreens, they put a limit of 3 per customer! WHAT? Then two days later, they put a limit of 1 per customer! I was upset, especially when my favorite cashier got lippy with me. Now, for everyone who REALLY knows me, it really doesn't take much to get me all in a tiffy, especially when I know I am right... haha! So yes, I got in a tiffy and I marched out of there with 1 product. And if you REALLY know me, you know that I don't understand the word "No" or "let me"... If I want something I am gonna get it one way or another and smile on the way out. As the result... looky at my picture! I got everything except the smaller sized Conditioner last week! YUP! There is no stopping me... ha ha

Now one thing I have learned in my adventures in couponing, is that sometimes you have nice cashiers, then you have others who think you are ripping off the stores... Then you have some that act like police or CSI... One tip that I take from my friend Katherine, is to "Stand your ground"... I do. At first, I was actually a little intimidated by mean cashiers... now I just put on the SUPER COUPON DIVA face and I coupon!!! ha ha

More pictures to come!!!

Fry's 3/14

I went to my local Fry's to cash in some of my coupons and rainchecks that were about to expire and to catch the weekly deals! I purchased 20 packages of Eggo's for FREE after coupon, 25 boxes of cereal (Froot Loops, Honey Smacks, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks and Rice Crispy's)@ $.50 each ($12.50 for 25 boxes), 15 Kraft Crumbles, shredded, singles and cube cheese for FREE after coupon, 10 Ken's Steakhouse Dressing @ $.50 each after coupon and 1 pk of margarine. Now I didn't plan on buying margarine originally and didn't check to see if there was a coupon available... I figured we'd need it to cook with, so I paid $1 for it. So for everything on the table, I paid $17.50. I did recieve a Catalina for $3 off my next shopping trip for getting 4+ Kraft Cheese, so the next time I go to Fry's I will use it and save $3 off! Now $17.50 may seem like a lot of $ to the Hard Core couponer, but in reality when the average person looks at the table, they would say.. "Hey, a box of Froot Loops run about $4 a box, Kraft Cheese singles run about $3, Eggo's can go around $2.50 and dressing runs around $3 and the Margarine is about $2 when not on sale. So if you were to buy these 5 products with no coupon and not on sale, it would be $14.50! So only $3 more than paying without sale and coupon... BUT I have 25 boxes of cereal, 20 b0xes of Eggo's, 10 Salad Dressing, 15 Kraft Cheese, and Margarine! I know 25 boxes of cereal seems extreeme, but I won't be buying cereal at full price for a while and the Eggo's can be frozen! We just started eating salads in this casa, so dressing is a must! And I am seriously kicking myself... a couple days before this sale came, I spent $4.xx a box for Froot Loops and Rice Crispies! Can you feel my pain?

I had a lot of coupons and rainchecks to use this week too, but I managed to leave my coupon folder somewhere and it is missing. I hope whomever found it made use of the coupons and didn't throw them in the dumpster... Enough about that... cause I cried for a few days!

p/s... yes, that is my second freezer in the background! Here is a picture of the inside. Everything in this freezer was Free or I paid no more than $.50 each for the Toaster Struddles.

New Blog!!

Hello world! Well this is my very first blog on coupons. I must say that it took a little coaxing from friends to put one together, so here it is! First off I have to say that I am fairly new to couponing, less than a year. Most people who have known me throughout the years know that I did go through a "High Maintenance" phase, then had 3 kids and went to "No Maintenance" phase. LOL. So over the years I had to learn how to make the dollar stretch and cut corners. Now with a growing family and the crazy economy, saving money has become my hobby.
I met a nice lady by the name of Katherine who I learned was a "Crazy Coupon" lady. I was in shock when I seen her pantry, fridge and freezers... and her stash of makeup, toothpaste, deordorant, shampoo...you name it...she had it. So for a few months I would shop at "Katherine's". If I needed it she had it! She had offered to teach me, but I figured it was easier to just shop at her house! Finally, after seeing how she could "make money" or walk away paying $.90 for a shopping cart FULL of groceries... I wanted to play too. So Katherine took me under her wing and she showed me the ropes and now I am a Super Coupon Diva! he he... I am still a long ways to being a "Crazy Coupon" Lady like my friend Katherine, cause she can REALLY make a dollar stretch. I am still in training! I think I do pretty well for being in training, but I know there is STILL A LOT to learn! Besides being in training... I am Super Lazy Diva too! So sometimes I miss out on the deals or am a day late and a $1 short! lol
Everyone asks me "Where do you get all your coupon's from"? Well, I have to give credit and say Thanks to family and friends who contribute to my habit...I mean Hobby! Without them, I'd be paying full price ALL the time! LOL. No really, I have a lot of friends who don't coupon, but reap the benefits. They give me their weekly inserts to the paper or one's they get in the mail and in return I'll give them something I got for free. Most won't accept it, but who doesn't like "Free"? ; ) I also subscribe to the AZ Republic and recieve 6 Sunday Papers at home every week! So I collect as many coupons as I can and then clip and save! Now, there are sometimes where if it is a product that my family will use no matter if I have to pay Full Price on... I will go to the good ol' ebay or beg other couponers to trade me coupons. I never knew people sold coupons, but it is a whole underground world in couponing! ha ha!
Oh, I must give a shot out to my Mom Freida who did raise me on clipping coupons and showing me how to be frugal. Thanks Mom! My mom laid the foundation to me becoming a couponer! Now I am on another level... not the highest-hard core level yet! But getting there!
I will be posting my great finds and pictures of my pantry and freezers! Yes, I said freezerS! I have learned to super coupon, you need the space!!! Yes, SPACE! I have the worlds smallest pantry... I wish I had a contractor in the family who could knock down a few walls and build me a huge pantry! I can only sit back and hope my two single sisters will meet a "Contractor" for a boyfriend! That or either my younger brother will be gay and bring home a handy man. I can only hope! Ha Ha!

Enjoy!