Target Shopping Week of 4/26 through 5/2

Wow! There are some really great deals at Target this week! I am so tempted to go shopping!

Check it out:

Buy 2 boxes of Teddy Grahams at $2 each

Use 2 $1/1 Target web coupons

Use $1/2 printable coupon

Final Price = $1 for 2 Boxes !!!!

Buy 2 cups of Easy Mac at $.77 each-prices vary

Use $1/2 Target web coupon

Use buy-one-get-one-free printable coupon

Final Price = FREE

Kraft Salad Dressing: buy 2 at $1.59 each

Use 2 $1.50/1 coupons from 3/29 Smart Source insert

Use $1/2 Target printable coupon

Final Price = FREE

Quaker Granola Bites: $1

Use $1/1 coupon from 3/29 Red Plum insert

Final Price = FREE

Vitamin Water: $1

Use $1/1 coupon from 4/5 Smart Source insert

Final Price = FREE

If you have a Super Target near you:

Apples: buy 1 lb at $.99/lb

Use $1/1 Target printable coupon

Final Price = FREE

Non Food Items:

Buy 1 Dove Go Fresh Deodorant for $2

Use $1.25/1 coupon from 3/15 Red Plum insert

Use $1/1 Target web coupon

Final Price = FREE

Dry Idea Deodorant: $2

Use $2/1 printable coupon

Final Price = FREE

Lysol Sanitizing Spray: $1.69

Use $2/1 coupon from 3/15 Smart Source insert

Final Price = FREE

Get a $5 Target Gift Card when you buy 5 Selected Special K Products:

Special K (11-14 oz cereal, 6 ct bars, other selected bars, cookies and crackers) - $2.39 each

Use $1/1 and $0.70/1 in 4/5 Red Plum insert

Use $1/1 Special K Crackers here

$1.39-1.69 each after coupon

It's like getting 5 of these for $0.39-0.69 each with gift card!

Kraft Mayo - $1.99 each (price cut at some store)

Use $1/2 Target coupon here

PLUS Use $1/1 in 4/26 Smart Source insert (use 2)

$0.49 each when you buy 2, after coupons

Nabisco Snacks (Cookies & Crackers) - psa $2.99

Use $1/1 Target coupon here

PLUS Use $1/2 manufacturer's coupon here

Save $1.50 per box of Nabisco Snacks

Kashi Frozen Waffles - $1.99 each

Use $1.50/1 here

$0.49 each after coupon

V-8 Fusion - $2.99 each

Use $2/1 here

$0.99 each after coupon

The $300 Screen Door

The door above- that is barely visible-was in the Lowe's ad today on sale for $268 from $298. I really need a new storm door. Mine is aluminum, silver, the screen is ripped, and it does not latch closed correctly, so it bangs shut when we leave the house...at 5 AM! Waking. Me. Up.

You all have read my Snowflaking posts and know we are on a mission to pay off credit card debt this year. I. WANT. THAT. DOOR! (insert feet stomping & fists pounding) We can afford that door. That is $300.00 less dollars to go toward our debt. We also have extra money sitting in our bank account waiting to make an extra payment to a credit card this month. I thought all day yesterday with the warm day of all the Home Improvement projects we could spend that $1,000.00 on. Surely we can afford a new screen door, right? We would still have $700 extra payment. That is still great!

No, that is not still great. We need to pay that extra $300.00 to the debt. I needed a reminder of that & received one. We went to Church and Dave Ramsey gave me the reminder I needed. Getting out of debt is more important to me than being woken up at 5AM, but I couldn't get my wants out of the way. Dave's words reminded me that I could have all the doors I want after we pay our debt, and I am passing the motivation on to you!

The silliest part of the whole situation is that there are other solutions to problem. This afternoon my husband took the old, banging, broken door & frame off. Then, I saw right there in the ad, next to my door, was another door, very similar, for $87.00. We can fit that into our budget without taking away from the snowball/snowflake goal.

I think that is the perfect solution for us, but I am not going to rush, it is working just fine without a storm door. Just because we are on a mission or a budget, does not mean our home needs to be in disrepair. Final thought: when you are able to move your "wants" out of the way your needs have a way of being taken care of.

Rite Aid Deals 4/26 through 5/2

Southern Savers has your Rite Aid Deals here

I am going to run out today for these:

Skintimate Shave Cream 6oz $2.99-$2.24 SCR #96 (limit 1)
-.75/1 Skintimate or Edge Shave gel or cream SS 4/26
Total = FREE

Electrasol/Finish Quantum Tabs 12ct $4.49-$2 SCR #114
-$2.50 off Electrasol Tabs SS 4/19
Total = FREE

Walgreens has the Skintimate in th emonth of April for $2.99 with $2.99 Register Rewards, so you can get your limit of 1 at Rite Aid and then get Register Rewards at Walgreen's if you have several copies of the coupon.

Bargain Meal of the Week - Price Chopper

Ok, I'm losing my mind! Between planning a surprise family trip to Dis next week and life in general...I forgot to post a bargain meal for this week. Well, better late than never. Also, it gets very frustrating planning meals only from the fliers so I'm going to do some scoping after my vacation and hopefully create a PC price book that we can use to price out more items that may not be sale items but may be a good price for a recipe. Also, I'll be able to more accurately price out portions of pantry staples that we'll be using in recipes - like cups of flour, tablespoons of sugar, soy sauce, that type of thing.
Next week I'll be away but I'm not leaving 'til first thing Sunday morning so I'm hoping to have your bargain meal up on Saturday night with the new flier for Sunday.
On to the Bargain Meal of the Week!
Let's Get Grillin'! I love summer because I love cooking on my grill. Here's a favorite summer recipe for me. We use it with steak, chicken, sausage, anything!
Kabobs Without Skewers (they just add an extra step)
1 lb Boneless Bottom Sirloin Steak $2.99/lb
1/2 lb red peppers $1.68/lb divided by 2 = about 80 cents
1/2 large Vidalia Onion 99 cents/lb divided by 2 = 80 cents
1/3 bottle of Italian Dressing - about 50 cents
White or Brown Rice - cook as directed - less than a dollar

Slice steak into strips and marinate with about 1/2 the Italian dressing. Put a cover on and shake it up - marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Cut up onions and peppers into chunks and marinate them with the rest of the dressing (in a seperate bowl).
Start warming up the grill. I put foil over my grill whenever I use it because I don't like charred food. Also, the juices tend to stay on the foil and it keeps the food moist. (As the food seems to finish cooking, I jab holes in the foil with my tongs.)
I partially cook the steak and then add the veggies to the other side of the grill and cook until everything is sizzling and full cooked through. Serve over or next to rice (if you don't like it when your food touches!).
If you feel nervous about the grill, check this website Grillin' Tips here for more info.
I was really scared of the grill until about 2 summers ago. I had my husband show me step by step how to start our gas grill and I've been grilling all summer, every summer since then!

Price Chopper & Kashi Deals

I posted some printable Kashi coupons earlier today and I had thought there was some sort of special at Price Chopper and I found it! In the add there is a Clip'n'Chop coupon for 4 boxes of Kashi Cereal for $8.00. The printable are $1.50 off 2- print 2 and get 4 boxes of Kashi Cereal for $5.00!!!! Also, Kashi waffles are $1.99 at Price Chopper this week and you can print 2 $1.50 off 1 Kashi waffle coupons making them $0.49 per box!!! If you can print more, now you are talking!!! I love Kashi....I am starting to love Price Chopper too....

Free Foil from Reynolds Wrap in Honor of Earth Day

In Honor of Earth Day Reynold's wrap is offering you a $3.99 rebate. The Form is available here and limited in quantity. Be the first to print one April 22nd starting at 4:22AM.

Also, you can sign up here for free Eco Living Tips from Ideal Bite. They send you a daily email with a eco friendly tip that you can work into your life. I personally subscribe to this site and it has been great learning how to increase my recycling and eco living habits to help the planet.

Walgreens is offering a free reusable shopping bag and a coupon for 15% off your in-store purchase. Go here to print your coupon.

Aveeno is also offering a free reusable bag to the first 1,000 respondents here

Free Rabies Clinic!!!!!!

Tonight we took our little guy Gizmo to the FREE Rabies Clinic sponsored by the Saratoga County Animal Health Shelter and Saratoga County Public Health Nursing Service. He just turned 13 and was in need of a shot, and we decided to try this. We were about an hour and half early, got in line and then got Gizzy out of the car when it was close to his turn- or so we thought. the fresh air did him wonders anyway, and now he is vaccinated until 2012 and it was completely free!!!! This is a wonderful resource in these tough economic times. The vaccinations are free for dogs, cats, and domestic ferrets. The schedule in Saratoga County for 2009 is as follows: May 19th, June 16th, July 7th & 21st, August 4th & 18th, September 8th & 22nd, October 20th, & November 17th. The vaccinations are held at the 4-H Training Center, 556 Middleline Rd., Ballston Spa, NY. Cats are vaccinated from 7PM to 8PM & Dogs from 8PM to 9PM. Ferrets are between 7PM & 9 PM. If you provide a certificate of previous vaccination your new certificate will be good for 3 years. Cats & Ferrets must be in carriers, and Dogs must be on leashes. You will want them too, there must have been over 200 animals in line-barking and crying. The were so cute though! We made some nice friends! the number to the animal shelter is 885-4113. If you do not live in Saratoga County contact you local county office to find out if they offer the same program.

Now, Gizmo will be getting his license updated and is off to the groomer!

Printable Coupon Round-up

*******************UPDATED*********************************************
Suzanne at Southern Inspiration let me know the link for the $10.00 rebate form for Natural Dentist Mouthwash listed below is not working. I tested it through a few other blogs and then the Natural Dentist website and it is definitely not. I emailed the site administrator and will update you when I receive an answer. The form is supposed to be able to be postmarked through May-but you might want to hold off buying Natural Dentist until I get an answer for you. I am so sorry!!! Thank you Suzanne!!!!


There are some really great printable coupons out there right now and some great deals to take advantage of with them! Don't forget when printing coupons you can hit your "Back" button on your browser, refresh and retry so that you can print 2 coupons!!!

Here at Vocalpoint you can print $1.50 off 1 Kashi Waffles!!!!

Coupons.com has coupons for $1.50 off 2 boxes of Kashi Cereal and $1.50 off 2 Kashi TLC Snack Bars here

Sign up at Kashi.com to get coupons for $2 off any Kashi purchase
there is a Kashi Deal at Price Chopper this week-but I don't have my flyer handy here, so I will check it out when I get home.

Sign up and get $1 off 2 Campbells Soups here

Sign up and get $2 off V8 Fusion here

Sign Up and Get $1 ff Naked Juice here

$1 off Kettle Baked Potato Chips here

Several coupons for Aveeno Positively Ageless products, which are spend $25.00 get $10 ECB at CVS right now here

Check out this CVS deal with printable coupons and a rebate:
$4.00 ECB wyb Natural Dentist Healthy Gums Rinse 16 oz. @ $6.99 Limit 3
$2.00/1 Natural Dentist printable
$10.00 Mail in Rebate wyb 2
Free plus overage after coupons, ECB, and rebate

May Snowflakes

I was thinking about my snowflakes for my May payment this evening and I wanted to give you a heads up. In case you did not already realize it, some of you get an extra paycheck this month! If you can manage it, seriously consider putting all of that toward your snowflake for May. My husband and I sat down and came up with our plan for this month, and think that between the extra paycheck we are both getting, and an unexpected $800 refund for overpaying our taxes, we will be able to finish up Debt 1 that we have been paying-it has $85 left!- and pay all of Debt 2 with a little to spare! This is the amazing way that GOD and the universe work in my opinion. I set this extreme goal, and made many sacrifices, and I have worked hard at it and so has Mr. Shop Without Money. I posted about this here on the blog even though I was scared of admitting our debt, especially when we have a very public life, and because of this trust and hard work, I have met my goal 2 months in a row- and now am surpassing it beyond my dreams!

I have experienced many moments of despair, and had a poor attitude at times. I have felt like I was sacrificing beyond comfort, and felt like giving up. I didn't though. I stayed strong and my husband helped me, and I am so thankful and blessed. You will be too. If you are just starting out, and are overwhelmed, just keep going along, step by step. You will make it!!!

If you need encouragement, read blogs, or email me or leave a comment. There is nothing like a blogger or blog readers to help lift you up!! You CAN get out of Debt! You CAN create an emergency fund!

Mystery Shopping, Online Offers, & More-Long Post

I received an email today my friend Mandy about Mystery Shopping and thought maybe I should create a post about it. I used to be a mystery shopper about 5 years ago, and my husband has signed up for a few shops now.

You sign up, are offered shops based on where you live, and you have to fill out forms and submit them for reimbursement. They can be for anything from a bank or windows, to a drugstore. My husband was even offered one for a tanning salon! Anyway, I am not an expert nor do I have all of the information compiled for you, but Carrie at Money Saving methods does! Her blog is phenomenal, and she has a ton of step by step information and even tells you the best mystery shopping companies, and gives you all the rules and "methods" for mystery shopping. I will tell you this: Do NOT EVER pay to be on a mystery shopping list!!! You should be able to register for free and then be offered shops. When you go to Carrie's homepage look at the left hand side bar, and she has a tab for Mystery shopping, click on it, and read the instructions thoroughly before signing up for any shops. Mystery shopping money has been one of the contributors to my monthly Snowflakes.

Now, while you are there, you need to check out the section for Online Offers. This could change your life! You know those pop up ads "Answer this question for a $500.00 Target Gift Card..."?

Well, some of them are real!!! I can speak from experience! I was able to get 2 $250 gas cards back in November by following Carrie's instructions. Now, again, read her instructions very carefully! She even has a list of legitimate offers you can choose from! She makes it so easy for you-and me! Carrie even answered an email I sent her asking for her help when I did my first offer. After I did mine, My Shop Without Money Sister did one, and we both received our gift cards. Let me tell you, there is no better feeling then not paying for gas from Thanksgiving until Valentine's Day!!!

Carrie lays out the best way to do this, to put out the least investment, and make the most profit. When I did mine I signed up for "offers" like Columbia House, Disney Movie Club, and different beauty products. For my free movies I picked gifts for my nieces and nephews for Christmas, and also the beauty products. I had half of my shopping done in September! All in all, it cost me about $75.00 to make $500.00.

Please read Carrie's instructions carefully, and feel free to ask questions, I will help the best I can! I have a home improvement project I am planning on doing, so I am going for a $500.00 Home Depot or Visa Card next! I hope this can be useful to you as well! Good Luck!

Rite Aid Deals of the Week 4/19

Check out Deal Seeking Mom for the Rite Aid Deals of the week, including these goodies:

Colgate Toothpaste, $2.49Get $0.75 SCR + $0.75 double your SCR (week of 4/19 only)$0.75/1 Colgate Toothpaste, exp. 4-18-09 (SS 3/29/09)$0.24 after coupon and SCR!

Skintimate or Edge Shave Gel, 2/$4Get $2 SCR #64 wyb 2$1 ea. after SCR!

GE Reveal Light Bulbs, 2/$6Get $2 SCR #106 wyb 2 + $2 double your SCR (week of 4/19 only)$1 ea. after SCR!

Right At Home Nature's Source Giveaway

Go to the Right at Home website because each week from April 7th-May 4th, the first 10,000* to respond per week will receive a free sample of Nature's Source™ Natural All-Purpose Cleaner. Check back every Tuesday in April!

Back to Blogging!

I have been such a bad Blogger lately-I am so sorry! My Money Saving Sister has been picking up my slack, but between Easter and this cold I found Tuesday I was knocked out and exhausted. So, I am sorry to you readers and thankful to my sister! Here come the posts....

Hot Coupon Alert

Purex B1G1 Free from Coupons.com! The best part of the deal - CVS has Purex on sale B1G1 this week so you will be able to get 2 bottles free. Actually, you should be able to print it twice, giving you 4 bottles free! Go to the Coupons.com widget in our sidebar. Scroll to the bottom and click on the "by coupons.com." At the top left of the page, enter your zipcode. If this coupon doesn't come up, try again with the zipcode 45201 (thanks BudgetHelps!) but hurry! These go really fast and they have already disappeared from several zipcodes!

Thrifty Gardening Tools You Didn't Know You Had

Just read this article on Vocalpoint here and got some great ideas. Love the idea of the recipe box to hold the leftover seed packets!
Plants cost enough. Why pay hundreds of dollars more for gardening equipment when you have some garden tools just waiting to be discovered around your house? You might even be about to put potential garden tools into your trash or recycling bin. Before you hit the garden stores or place an order from any catalogs, try these creative tool tips from some ingenious gardeners we know.
A recipe file. It’s easy to lose track of seed packets, especially if you save them from season to season or buy from several different companies. But if you have an old recipe-card box or one of those floppy-disk holders with the clear plastic top lying around, you can recycle it into the perfect seed-packet storage system. File your packets either alphabetically or by sowing date, from earliest to latest—whichever works best for you.
A screwdriver. You can spend a bundle on a seed-sowing device called a dibble that basically opens a hole in the ground so you can drop in a seed. Or you can use your trusty screwdriver to perform the same function for free.
An old umbrella. You can turn that tattered umbrella you haven’t managed to throw out into a cloche or mini-greenhouse. First, cut the fabric away. Then open the umbrella completely and stick the handle in the soil of your garden bed. (The umbrella frame will form a big "bowl" shape over the ground.) Plant your transplant(s) in the soil inside the spokes, and wrap a sheet of clear plastic (or even successive spirals of plastic wrap) around the outside where the fabric used to be. Secure it at ground level with a bungee cord. This will also give direct-seeded baby greens a jump start in spring.
A shop light and a rolling cart. You probably have one of those ugly metal fluorescent light fixtures hanging around in the garage or basement. Give it a second life as a grow light. Ready-made grow-light setups cost hundreds of dollars, but yours can work as well for free. If you have a rolling cart, attach the shop light so it hangs under the top shelf and lights the shelf below. It’s a smart idea to attach the shop light with chains so you can raise it up as the seedlings grow. Use full-spectrum daylight bulbs or one warm and one cool bulb, roll your cart in front of a bright window, put houseplants on that top shelf, and you’re good to go!
An egg carton. Plastic or Styrofoam egg cartons make great seed-starting setups. Punch a hole in the bottom of each egg cup for drainage. Cut off the top of the carton, and use it as a water-catching tray under the bottom.
Twist ties. Don’t we all have a bazillion of these in our kitchen junk drawer? Turn them into plant ties to secure leggy stems of tomatoes, pole beans, peas, and other climbing veggies to their poles, trellises, or stakes. Yes, they’ll rot away, but they should do the trick for a single season, and with vegetables, that’s all you need. Just make sure you don’t twist them too tight—you want to support the stem gently, not strangle it.
Got any great gardening tips? Share them here. Steph has already started her garden and I'll be starting mine soon!
This post is linked up at Life As Mom's Frugal Friday here. Check it out for more neat money-saving tips!

Bargain Meal of the Week - Price Chopper

This week, Italian Sausage links are on sale at PC for $1.99/lb. This is a real bargain since when they are not on sale, they can be up to $3.59/lb. You will need to buy the large 2.5-3 lb package so I'm going to include a few recipes you can use with your sausage after you divide it up into 1lb packages. When a recipe calls for bulk sausage, just cut off the casing, throw it in the pot, and mash up with a big spoon.

Sausage & Broccoli Skillet, click here.
Sausage - $1.99/lb
Pasta - 99cents
Cream of Broccoli Soup - Buy PC brand for around $1.00/can
Broccoli Cuts - PC brand for around $1.00-$1.50
The rest of the items you should have on hand (garlic,parmesan cheese, milk).
Total - Right around $6. Good deal, you are getting protein, carbs and veggies in one dish!

Sausage Pizza
1/2 lb sausage - $1.00
can of Furmano's pizza sauce - $1.29 (only need 1/2 - I put the other half in the freezer)
Price Chopper pizza dough - 99 cents this week!
Price Chopper Shredded Cheese - $1.99 (you'll need about 3/4 of the bag if you like cheesey pizza)
Price - Right around $5. We usually have to make 2 pizzas for our family and we have a few leftovers for lunches the next day.
If you double the recipe buy one more pizza dough, one more shredded cheese and cook up a bit more sausage. You can make 2 pizzas for about $8, much less than the cost of one pizza delivery!!

Sausage Potato Casserole, click here.
Main Ingredients:
1 lb Sausage $1.99
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup $1.00
3 cups of sliced, peeled potatoes $1 or so, depending on what side of sale you can get (they are B1G1 5 lb bag for $3.99 this week)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese - $1.00 ($1.99 for a bag)
Other items you'll probaby have on hand - onion, salt, pepper
Total cost - Around $6

Then, of course there is the traditional Pasta with Sausage I posted about here. It was my first bargain meal of the week. However, this week, substitute:
Ronzoni pasta for 99cents
Ragu Sauce is B1G1 so probaby around $2 per jar
and follow the previous cooking instructions!

Hoppy Easter!!

Free DVD from Fisher Price

Click here to get your free copy of Precious Places: Princess Save the Ball DVD for girls. This is a free DVD along the same lines as the free Geotrax ones but one for girls - hooray! Allow 12-14 weeks for delivery. No shipping costs, no credit card required! Enjoy

Kraft Food and Family

Me and my Shop Without Money sister are big fans of Kraft Food and Family. We love getting the magazine (I tried finding the link for you on their site but I don't see where you can sign up except for the email version) and getting emails from them and trying their recipes which are usually pretty simple. This week, they are featuring a 1 bag/5 dinners idea complete with recipes and shopping list for the week. It looks pretty fast and simple to do. If you don't have major fussy eaters in your house (like I do in mine!), you might want to try these ideas. It would probably work out great for a family of 2. Inexpensive with leftovers for lunches! Now that's thrifty! Go here to check it out!
-Heather

Cake Pops!

Okay, these are not the most frugal (but not too expensive either!) Easter project but it was just a fun thing me and my kids worked on tonight. I have not been feeling quite so joyful about motherhood lately and was hoping it wasn't projecting onto the kids. So last night I did step 1 of Easter Cake Pops and tonight we did Step 2 together. Tomorrow we will attempt to decorate them together! I found the original idea and recipe at Bakerella here. She's got chicks, sheep, eggs, and more. Mine don't look as smooth and beautiful as hers (they are so gorgeous!!!) but mine were definitely made with kid love! Read the recipe - they are really yummy!

We used:

2 bags of candy melts @ $1.79 each

a partial bag of pop sticks @ $1.50

1 box of cake mix @ $1.00

1 can of frosting @ $1.25 (shame on me - no coupons!)

1 piece of styrofoam at $3.79

Tomorrow we will decorate with various sprinkles and candies already in the cupboard.

Heather

Adventures in Unilever at Price Chopper - Part 1

Today my husband and I took a road trip to a Price Chopper that doubles coupons - about 1 hour away! It wasn't too bad except that about 5 minutes before we arrived at our destination, the school called to tell us our son threw up at lunch and Could we please come get him? Needless to say it was a quick shopping trip - we were in the store about 20-25 minutes and then back on the road! So, I made a few mistakes in my totals because I was rushed. I had guesstimated a couple of prices on Unilever products and my guesses were off...and there wasn't time to recalculate in the store because of the - ahem - vomiting issue...so we arrived at Price Chopper with our envelopes in hand. Unilever 1 and Unilever 2 complete with a list of what, how many for each transaction (he made one, I made one) and the exact coupons to use tucked into the envelopes. Here's how we did:

Transaction 1 (with Advantage prices):

1 Skippy PB ($1.99)

2 Breyer's Ice Cream ($2.99)

1 Hellman's Mayo ($2.48) This is the only item I had no coupons for!

1 Axe Shower Gel ($3.99)

4 Knorr Sides ($0.99 each)

1 Dove Body Wash ($5.99)

1 Bertolli Dinner for 2 ($6.99)

1 Bertolli Pasta Sauce ($2.50)

1 Country Crock sides ($5.79 - gasp! gasp! thankfully, I had a $1 off 1 that doubled!)

Subtotal before Advantedge and Coupons: $53.46

Total after: $26.06 and receive a $20 off your next purchase at Price Chopper.

Transaction 2 (with Advantedge prices)

2 Skippy PB ($1.99)
1 Breyer's Ice Cream ($2.99)
2 Hellman's Mayo ($2.48) This is the only item I had no coupons for!
1 Axe Shower Gel ($3.99)
4 Knorr Sides ($0.99 each)
1 Dove Body Wash ($5.99)
1 Bertolli Dinner for 2 ($6.99)
2 Bertolli Pasta Sauce ($2.50)

2 Country Crock sides ($5.79)

1 Ragu Sauce - BIG Jar ($2.99)

1.5 lbs of green grapes ($0.99/lb)
Subtotal before Advantedge and Coupons: $63.14
Total after: $32.10 and receive a $20 off your next purchase at Price Chopper.

Plus, I can use either one of my receipts to send in with the purchase of a $20 ham or turkey and be reimbursed up to $20. I will do that tomorrow when I go use my $20 ONYO coupons.

So after tomorrow's shopping trip and rebate:

$120 worth of groceries for $56 this week!

I'll post part 2 with the rest of the groceries that I get tomorrow!

This post is linked to Money Saving Mom's Super Savings Saturdays. To see more inspiring deals and shopping trips, click here.

-Heather

Price Chopper NewsFlash!

Finally! A deal at Price Chopper Northeast worth getting REALLY excited about!
It's a Unilever Double Dip! If you saw the rebate form in this weekend's paper for the free ham or turkey from Unilever when you buy $40 worth of Unilever products, you probably got pretty excited!
Well, at Northeast Price Chopper when you buy $40 worth of Unilever products, you get a catalina for $20 off your next purchase! Potentially, even without coupons, you can get $80 worth of groceries for just $40. Add in some coupons and you can get lots more!
I'm even planning a trip to the PC that's 45 minutes away because it doubles coupons! I can't wait to take advantage of this trip.
Note: Unilever will reimburse you up to $20 for your ham or turkey so make sure you get one as close to $20 or possible!
I'm off to plan my trip! If you have a plan for this deal, with or without a PC in your area, please share your ideas here!

Bargain Meal of the Week Price Chopper

This week's recipe is a classic from the Campbell's website:

Campbell's 15-minute Chicken and Rice Skillet; It's fast, frugal, easy and tasty!
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. vegetable oil 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts ($1.99/lb)
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Reg or 98% Fat Free) $0.88 cents
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp. paprika (?2 cents)
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper (?2 cents)
2 cups uncooked instant white rice (box is about $1.50, 2 cups will cost about $0.60)
*2 cups fresh OR frozen broccoli flowerets (bag of PC frozen veggies between 99cents - $1.39)
Total Meal cost to feed 4 = about $4.50

Click here for the full recipe.

Deals Galore!!!!

I just cannot wrap my head around the tons of deals out there for us right now! Thank God for all of the wonderful bloggers in blogland! You had better get out paper and pen or get a word doc ready to cut and past some shopping lists! I am going to work really hard this week to get some deals and get pictures posted for next week! Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NWA Deals tells you how to profit $1.03 on One a Day here

Moms By heart is at it again with a HUGE List of 50 cents or less shopping at Walgreen's, CVS, Target, Rite Aid, & Walmart here. I don't know how she does it!!

Grocery Trip April 5th

Ok, I just came back from a grocery shopping trip that has knocked me off my feet! I took my GPS and drove over to Bennington VT, about 40 minutes or less from my house, because they double coupons up to $1.00 in value! What a great trip I had! The picture above is of just a few things because I forgot to take one before I put them away-I am sorry-I always love to see people's pictures and marvel about how little they spent for a ton of food! (I am a geek, I know). Ok, so here is the deal and a few rules I learned-aren't you glad you have me to be marvelous and test these things out for you? I bought $158.93 worth of groceries for $62.88!!!!! Around $20.00 of that is Advantage Card Sale Savings. I bought 53 items-and my last 3 coupons did not double- the receipt says coupon rule- 50% of order reached. I am a bit confused as to what that means- since I bought about 5 products that I did not have coupons for- and I had 39 coupons, so I am guessing once you save 50% of your bill they stop doubling? Kind of lame but I will take it for the savings I did get. This is the best we can do here in Upstate NY so I think I will continue to make a trip once or month or so to stock up on good deals and snacks. I saw no difference in prices from the local area Price Chopper Stores.

Some of my best deals were Fiber One Yogurt for 79 cents a 4 pack; Green Giant Boxed Vegetables are 10 for $10 -I bought 6 and used 2 $1 off 3 coupons so I bought 6 boxes for $2; Quaker Mini Delights were $1.29 after $1 off coupons; Del Monte Superfruit Cups 50 cents after $1 off coupons! I also scored 6 bags of Bird's Eye Steamfresh Brown Rice for $1.94!!!!!!!!! They were on sale for 99 cents ea., and I bought 6, and used 2 $1 of 3 coupons!

Ok, so round trip including shopping time was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. I saved $96.05!!!! I "earned" $34.00 per hour and used about 1/4 tank of gas- about $7.50. I think it will be worth my time to take a trip over there and stock up once a month or so. I went alone today, but it was a nice drive to take with my husband next time, and we have family about 10 minutes from there, and you can't beat visiting the fam too! Also, gas is about 10 cents a gallon cheaper there! Check it out!!!

So Many Good Coupons!

There are so many great coupons between last week and this week - Can you say $1.50 off Kraft Dressing and $1.00 off Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta? And it's Spring...so naturally it's time for me to go Dumpster Diving again! I haven't been since the Fall when it started SNOWING here in Upstate, NY...but I must say, it's time again!!! I need to stock up on my Kraft Salad Dressing - even though I'm mostly an oil & vinegar girl for my salads, I use the Kraft dressings like crazy to marinate things. I marinate everything before cooking - chicken, pork, ribs, steaks, everything! I love the Asian Toasted Sesame for stir-frying!
So where to dumpter dive? Keep in mind I don't actually dive into dumpsters, I dive into Newspaper Recycling Bins...
My favorite spot is a local assisted living/nursing home. They have a huge bin that they collect all of the newspapers from all of the buildings. A lot of seniors read the newspaper....but do not use their coupons! Especially the ones in the nursing home portion of the facility.
You can also check local hotels, your local recycling facility (unfortunately ours has the glossy inserts in a huge dumpster in the ground that you would literally have to dive into and I think would be illegal).
I've heard tell that places like Borders and Barnes & Noble do just toss their unsold papers or left behind papers into big bins behind their stores.
Of course, try collecting coupon inserts from friends and neighbors who don't use coupons.
Where else can we get multiple coupons without buying multiple papers? Post your best suggestions here so we can come up with a huge list!!

Family Fun Friday

I told you I'd be back with some Frugal Family Fun today...better late than never! Following along with Moms By Heart here, we are trying to keep it under $10 for the whole family to have some fun. Today I discovered that if you sign up at the Chuck E Cheese website here, they will send you an email with a coupon to buy 40 tokens, get 60 free tokens. The cost for 40 tokens is $10. You could actually split this in half depending on how many kids you have and make 2 great trips to Chuck E. Cheese (we always save our leftover tokens for next time). There is no admission fee and purchasing food is not required. In fact, you don't even have to buy tokens. If your children are small enough to just enjoy the climbing the facilities, you don't have to spend anything! We usually eat lunch before we go or go after we've had dinner at home. This is always a couple of hours of special fun for our family!

Frugal Family Fun

Here are some fun events going on around town this weekend that you can take advantage of with your kids...I'll also be linking up with Moms By Heart here tomorrow for her new blog carnival Family Fun Friday to bring you ideas on how to have fun with your whole family for $10 or less. I love her idea for a family campout in the living room last week.
In the meantime, here are some freebies you might want to schedule now for this weekend!

To build a free birdhouse at the Home Depot with your child, click here.


Toys R Us is having a Great Easter Adventure with giveaways for kids from 12-2pm Saturday. Click here to find your nearest location. Call and make sure they are participating.

Free Family Fun event at Michael's on Saturday 4/4. Click here for details.


Rent a free dvd from Redbox this weekend using any of these codes:
You can use each one once per debit/credit card:
REDBOX – first time rental only
BREAKROOM
DVDONME
SHPNSVE2

April Snowflake Update

Last month I talked about Snowflaking here. I decided that my goal for Snowflakes toward debt payments is $200.00 per month. If you are new to this term I will basically be finding an extra $200.00 per month to pay off a debt or to add to my emergency fund when the debt is gone. This is the first time I am publishing an actual $$ amount on this blog, but I decided I would do my best to be open and honest and be the good role model I am trying to be.

In March I paid the $200.00 goal easily through a bonus I had received from work, and was working though the month to get the snowflakes built to $200.00 for the April payment. I managed to bring in about $50.00 through rebates, etc. Unfortunatly I went out to lunch way too much, but I was prepared for snacks, breakfast, & dinner. I also opted to pay my property taxes out of my regular account, and not my savings, which melted another snowflake from my total. So here we are, on April 1st, and I have not met my goal. Then we were blessed to receive a check for $200.00 today for a reimbursement we were not really expecting. So, I will be counting that for the March goal, and will start today accumulating the April goal.

On another note, I have chosen to use the word blessed because that is what I am. I do not usually refer to faith or religion on Shop Without Money, but now seems like the best time. I just do not find it to be coincidence that my Church, the amazing Northway Church, will be starting a series that includes Dave Ramsey's Financial Principles, the guy I learned about snowflaking from, and that we received this unplanned $200.00 today, on my birthday, and in time to make my payment.

Friday Freebies from Around The Blogosphere

For a free sample of:

Jergens Naturals click here.
Prilosec OTC click here.
Zyrtec click here.
Rachael Ray Nutrish dogfood click here.
Metamucil click here.
Kotex click here and here.
Eucerin click here.
Always Infinity click here.
Nicoderm click here.
Free Glad Forceflex Trash Bag click here.
Emergen-C click here.

Free Baby Stuff:

Make a pledge here and receive a $5 off coupon on Nestle Goodstart Formula.

Free sample of Parents Choice Formula click here.

Vista Print - Promote your business

These Vista print business cards are a great deal for this price - FREE + s/h. I ordered some a while back for my Creative Memories business and my Shop Without Money Sister just ordered some for us to share for this blog. These are also great to put your personal info on for sharing with other classroom parents, a new neighbor, friend from church or a mom you really clicked with at the park who you might want to schedule a playdate with. Much faster and easier than finding a pen and paper to jot down your info. One mom I met this way just put her first name, and her son's first name with their phone number so we could get in touch with them. Handy!

Using Less

I was just in my basement doing some laundry. I opened up the detergent and started pouring it into the cap up to the little line, when a little light bulb appeared over my head (I only saw it because it is dark down there.) What was I doing? I was washing my sheets and a few other items that were not really dirty, as in soiled or stained, but needed washing. It definitely did not require an entire cap full of detergent. So, I poured it back in the bottle. And I used half as much.
Then the dusty cogs in my brain started turning, and I realized that while in the past I have been conscious of how much I use, I have not been good lately. The other day I actually followed the directions on the shampoo bottle- lather, rinse, repeat. Repeat? Is my hair that dirty? I can also assure you that it was no dime size drop of shampoo either. It has occurred to me that I am taking things for granted. The laundry detergent, the shampoo, the toothpaste, and the dish soap. I have a huge stockpile of these things. I have not been careful about using them since I know I have that safety net. We cannot be vigilant about everything at every time, but I would encourage you to think about using less. Do your clothes need a cap full of detergent? Probably not. My work clothes definitely don't, but my gym clothes might be another story. What else can we use less of? Electricity? Cheese on our homemade pizza? Dressing on our salad? Creamer in the coffee? Bubble Bath? Shorter Showers?

I would encourage you to pay attention to how much you use as you go about your business this week, and if you think it is too much, start scaling back until you can't anymore, or until it becomes uncomfortable, and add a little back in.

Maybe you will find that you can stop using paper towels all together and switch to rags? Or a few extra minutes in your day from a shorter shower? A few extra dollars in your bank account from buying less shampoo?

Leave us a comment and tell us what you are going to use less of!!!!!!!!!!!