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Randalls deals for the week of 1/20

January 22, 2010 by


There are some great deals at Randalls this week!

My stores will double one “like” coupon up to a $.50 face value or triple one “like” coupon up to a $.39 face value. (Check with your store for details)

*Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese – $.99 – free after coupon!
.50/1 Annie’s Homegrown products printable here (should double)

*Betty Crocker boxed potatoes – $.99/each – free or close to free after coupons!
$1/1 printable here
.40/1 printable on Smartsource.com (should double)
.40/1 printable here (should double)
.35/1 Betty Crocker potatoes – 12-13 GM (should triple)
.40/1 loadable on shortcuts.com (one expires 1-27 if you’ve already loaded it and the other expires 2-27)
.40/1 loadable on cellfire.com (expires 1-25)

SCENARIO:
Buy 4 Betty Crocker boxed potatoes – $.99/each

Use 2 $1/1 printable coupons
Use $.40/1 printable (-$.80 when it doubles)
Use $.35/1 coupon (-$.99 when it doubles)
-$.40 loadable (X3 if you have all 3 loaded)

= $1.03 possible “overage”

*Blue Bell ice cream – $3.99/each – $2.99/each after coupons!
$1/1 printable coupon here (must register)

*Cucumbers – 2/$.99

*Del Monte Fruit Naturals – $.99/each – $.66/each after coupons when you buy 3!
$1/3 Del Monte Fruit Naturals printable here (must register)

*Eating Right Baby peeled carrots – $.99 (1 lb)

*Freschetta pizza – $4.99/each – $3.99/each after coupons!
$1/1 printable here (must register)

*Fresh Express Spinach or Green & Crisp salad mixes – $.99/each

*Huggies diapers – $8.99/each – $6.99/each after coupon!
$2/1 printable coupon here

*Pampers diapers – $8.99 – $6.99/each after coupon!
$2/1 Pampers – 12-27 PG

*Progresso Traditional or Rich & Hearty Soup – $1.11 – $.61/each after coupons! (possibly less with loadables) .50/2 Progresso soups – 12-6 SS, 1-3 GM, 1-17 SS (should double)
Check shortcuts.com and cellfire.com for loadables (I already used mine, so I’m not sure what there is)

*Rice a Roni – 10/$10 (You don’t need to buy 10) – $.67/each for Rice a Roni when you buy 3!
$1/3 Rice a Roni – 1-3

*Rosarita Refried Beans – $.99/each – free after coupon!
.50/1 Rosarita refried beans – 12-13 SS (should double)

*Suave hair care – $.88/each – $.38/each after coupons!
$1/2 Suave – 1-17 SS

BUY 3, SAVE 3 MIX & MATCH SALE: Save $3 instantly when you buy the following items

$1 each (after instant $3 off):
Quaker Life cereal (15 oz)
Quaker Cap’n Crunch cereal (16 oz)
Betty Crocker Fruit By the Foot (4.5-9 oz)
.50/2 Fruit by the Foot printable here or here
$1/2 printable here or here
.50/2 Betty Crocker fruit snacks (includes Fruit by the Foot) loadable on cellfire.com (you may have two if you loaded on last month and this month!) and shortcuts.com
.40/1 Betty Crocker Fruit shapes loadable on cellfire.com (this is reportedly also included in the deal) and shortcuts.com

There is also a catalina deal that ties in with this (valid through 1/24):
Buy 3, get $1.50 off your next purchase Buy 4, get $2.50 off your next purchase Buy 5, get $3.50 off your next purchase

(This includes Fruit Shapes, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-ups, and Fruit Stickerz)

SCENARIOS:

Buy 3 boxes – $1/each after instant $3 off

Use $.50/2 (should double) or $1/2 printable coupon
.50/2 Shortcuts loadable will come off
.50/2 Cellfire loadable will come off (it will come off twice if you have both coupons loaded)

Total OOP = $1 (or .50 if you have both cellfire loadables) and you will get a catalina for $1.50 off your next purchase!

or

Buy 6 boxes – $1/each after instant $3 off

Use .50/2 (should double)
Use 2 $1/2 printable coupons
.50/2 shortcuts loadable will come off .50/2 cellfire loadable will come off (it will come off twice if you have both coupons loaded)

Total OOP = $2 (or $1.50 if you have both cellfire loadables) and you will get a catalina for $3.50 off your next purchase!
$1.50 each (after instant $3 off):
Quaker Instant Oatmeal (10.9-16.2 oz)
$1/1 Quaker Instant Oatmeal printable here
Honey Nut Cheerios (12.25 oz)
$1/1 and $1/2 Honey Nut Cheerios printable here
General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal (12.8 oz)
$1/1 printable here
$1/2 printable here
.55/1 loadable on shortcuts.com

$2 each (after instant $3 off):
Post Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal (18 oz)
General Mills Wheaties (15.6 oz)
Fiber One Chewy Bars (5 ct)
.40/1 printable here or here
$1/2 printable here, here, or here
.40/1 loadable on cellfire.com
.40/1 loadable on shortcuts.com

SATURDAY ONLY:

*Breyers Ice Cream or Klondike Novelties – $1.99/each

*Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers – $.88/each
*Safeway Select or O Organics pizza – $2.99 (Limit 2)

SUPER COUPONS: (must spend $20 before coupons to use)

*Chinet plates – $2.50 (limit 4) – $1.50/each after coupons!
$1/1 Chinet printable here

*Hot or Lean Pockets – $1.50 (limit 4) – $.98/each after coupons when you buy 3!
$1/3 Hot Pockets – 10-25 SS .55/2 Hot Pockets loadable on cellfire.com

*Sargento Shredded or Natural Cheese – $1.49/each (limit 2) – $.49/each after coupons!
.50/1 Sargento Natural Shredded Cheese – 1-3 SS2 (should double)

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Thrifty Thursday: Why the "cash only" system really works

January 21, 2010 by

About a year ago, my husband and I took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class together. One of the things that this program recommends is a “cash only” envelope system for paying for your everyday expenses. I shared a little bit about our experiences with creating our budget in my Tip of the Day Tuesday post last week.

We budget from the 15th of the month through the 14th of the month, so this weekend, I was getting all of my envelopes ready for our new “month” and I realized that we had $150 combined left in our envelopes from the previous month! This was proof to me, once again, that the cash system really works! The timing was also great because I knew that this month was going to be a very “tight” month for us. We would normally take that $150 and put it toward our debt snowball, but this month, I left it in the envelopes and it was less money for us to have to come up with for this month!

In the Financial Peace University class, Dave Ramsey states that people tend to spend 12-18% more when using “cards” (this includes debit cards). Prior to taking this class, we had been using a “rewards” credit card. We were able to pay off the card each month, and we thought we were “saving” because we getting rewards back. Converting to a “cash only” system was not easy for us, but we decided to try it out and we have been surprised time and time again at how much of a difference it has made.

A few months ago, we decided to go back to trying to use our debit card. After one month of this, we realized the truth in Dave’s statement about people having a tendency to spend more money when they are using a card. When you are using plastic rather than cash, it just doesn’t seem as “real.” Even though we were paying off our card every month, we certainly weren’t making progress toward our debt reduction goals because we had NO money left at the end of the month.

When we are using cash, we have a tendency to re-evaluate the importance of some of our purchases. We also don’t carry all of our cash with us all of the time, so sometimes having to make a trip home gives us time to re-think things. In a way, it has become kind of fun to see how much money we can have left in our envelopes at the end of the month! The thing that I was most surprised by last month was that we had $50 left in our “eating out” envelope. This gave me the confidence to cut our “eating out” budget to $50 for the entire month.

Here’s what worked for us last month:

*Menu planning – Menu planning is a life saver. When I get home from work in the evenings, the last thing I want to do is try to figure out what to make for dinner. By having a “plan” ahead of time (and usually something that is already ready in the crockpot or something that I did prep work on before I left for work that morning), I wasn’t tempted to eat out. (This also helped out a lot with my New Year’s goal to lose weight!) I have cooked dinner for more than three weeks straight now!

*Not carrying all of the cash with us all of the time – When I go out to run errands, I only take the amount of cash that I think I am going to need. For example, when I go grocery shopping, I make a grocery list and I stick to the list. I would have to go home if I wanted/needed more money and sometimes, having to make that extra tip just isn’t worth it.

Have you blogged about your experiences using the envelope system? Do you have another Thrifty Thursday tip to share? Feel free to link up below!

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher and Life as a Mom.

Filed Under: Thrifty Thursday

Kroger deals for the week of 1/20

January 20, 2010 by


Many of the Kroger deals are the same as they were last week which is a bit of a bummer in my opinion because I was REALLY hoping for a Mega sale like they had at this time last year!

My Kroger stores double three “like” coupons with a face value up to $.50 and triple three “like” coupons with a face value up to $.39. Your market may be different. Check with your store for details!

Don’t forget to load your coupons to your Kroger card:
Cellfire
Kroger
Shortcuts
Upromise

Here are the Kroger deals for the week:

FREEBIES (There are lots of items that will be free after coupons this week!):

Birds Eye vegetables – 10/$10 (you don’t need to buy 10) – free after coupon!
.50/1 Birds Eye Steamfresh vegetables, rice, or pasta – 12-6 SS (expires 1-17) and 1-10 SS – this coupon will double making these free!

*Colgate toothpaste, toothbrush, or Wisp (2 ct) – 10/$10 – Wisp is free after coupons!
.50/1 Colgate Wisp printable here (will double making them free!)

Gatorade Sports drink – 10/$10 – free after coupons if you buy G2!
.50/1 Gatorade G2 – 1-3 RP

Healthy Choice frozen entrees – These are priced between $1.88 and $2.25 at my stores. Load the $5/5 coupon to your Kroger card here and if you have the $5/5 printable, which is no longer available, you can get 5 meals for free (with possible overage if you buy the $1.88 meals) or $.25/each (if you buy the $2.25 meals)

Hormel pepperoni or salami – 10/$10 – free after coupon! (these are located in the deli area)
.35/1 printable here (must register) – this will triple making these free!

Pillsbury Grands biscuits, crescents, or cinnamon rolls – 10/$10 – free or very cheap with coupons!
.25/1 Pillsbury crescent rolls – 11-15 GM, , 11-22 SS, 12-13 GM (will triple)
.40/2 Pillsbury crescent rolls – 12-6 SS (will double)
$1/1 Pillsbury crescent rolls printable here (makes them free after coupon!)
$1/2 Pillsbury Grands Sweet Rolls printable here
.50/2 Pillsbury crescent rolls printable here (will double)
.30/2 Pillsbury Grands refrigerated biscuits printable here (will triple)
.35/3 Pillsbury Grands Jr biscuits printable here (will triple)
$1/2 Pillsbury Grands Sweet rolls loadable on shortcuts.com
$1/2 Pillsbury crescent rolls loadable on shortcuts.com
.30/2 Pillsbury Grands refrigerated biscuits loadable on shortcuts.com

SCENARIO:
Buy 2 Pillsbury crescent rolls – $1/each
Buy 2 Pillsbury Grands sweet rolls – $1/each
Buy 2 Pillsbury Grands refrigerated biscuits – $1/each

Use 2 $1 crescent rolls printables
Use $1/2 sweet rolls printable
Use .30/2 refrigerated Grands printable (will triple to $.90)
$1/2 Crescent rolls loadable
$1/2 sweet rolls loadable
.30/2 refrigerated biscuits loadable

This ends up being a $.20 moneymaker after coupons!

Starkist tuna pouches – 10/$10 – free after coupon!
$1/1 printable here

OTHER DEALS: (grocery)

*Aunt Jemima and Banquet breakfast items – 10/$10 – $.75/each after coupons when you buy 3!
.75/3 Banquet loadable on shortcuts.com

*Blue Bell Ice Cream – $3.99 – $2.99 after coupon!
$1/1 printable coupon here (must register)

*Broccoli crowns – 10/$10

*Campbell’s soup – 10/$10 (selected varieties) – $.75/each after coupons when you buy 3!
$.25/3 Campbell’s “Great for Cooking” soups – 1-10 SS (should triple)

*Chef Boyardee pasta – 10/$10 – $.65/each after coupons when you buy 3!
$.35/3 Chef Boyardee cans or microwaveable cups – 1-10 SS (should triple)

*Driscoll’s blueberries – 2/$4 – $1/each after coupons!
.50/1 Driscoll berries printable here (should double)

*Fresh Selections or Dole salad mixes – 2/$4

*Hunt’s Manwich – 10/$10 – $.50/each after coupons when you buy 3!
.50/3 Manwich loadable at shortcuts.com
$1/3 printable here (must play game)

*Hunt’s Snack Pack pudding – 10/$10 – $.67/each after coupons when you buy 3!
.50/3 printable here (pg. 5 for me) – should double!
$.30/2 Hunts Snack Pack Pudding or Gel – 1-10 SS

*Kroger boneless, skinless chicken breasts – $5.99 (3 lb bag)

*Kroger cottage cheese, sour cream, or dip – 10/$10

*Kroger drinking water (24 pk, 16.9 oz bottles) – 2/$5

*Mini peeled carrots – 10/$10

*Pillsbury brownie mix – 10/$10 – $.20/each after coupons!
$.40/1 Pillsbury brownie mix – 11-8 RP (says “do not double” but it starts with a “5” so it should double automatically)

*Quaker instant oatmeal – $1.88 – $.88/each after coupon!
$1/1 Quaker instant oatmeal printable here

*Rice a Roni, Pasta Roni, or Knorr side dishes – 10/$10 – $.75/each after coupons when you buy 3!
$1/3 Rice a Roni or Pasta Roni – 1-3 RP2

*Sara Lee bread – Buy One, Get One Free (I usually freeze one!)

*Sunny Delight – 10/$10 – $.45/each after coupons!
.55/1 printable here
.55/1 printable here (click on coupons)

*Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa mix – 10/$10 – $.50/each after coupons when you buy 2!
.50/2 Swiss Miss hot cocoa – 1-10 SS (will double)

*Texas grapefruit – $2.99/bag

*Tony’s pizza – 2/$4

*Totino’s pizza rolls – 10/$10

*Tyson boxed chicken – 2/$5 – $1.95/box after coupons!
.55/1 Tyson frozen breaded chicken (box) – 10-11 SS

CRAZY MEAL DEAL: Buy 1 35 ct. boneless wing bucket, get free Kroger Ranch dressing, Big K soda, Mini Peeled carrots, and Bakery French bread (save $3.79 with card)

OTHER DEALS: (home/health & beauty)

*Cottonelle bath tissue – $5.99/each – $4.99 after coupon!
$.50/1 Cottonelle printable here (should double)

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Weight Loss Wednesday: Sticking to it

January 20, 2010 by
MamaNotes

Saturdays are my Weight Watchers meeting days. I lost 2 pounds, which isn’t a lot by “Biggest Loser” standards, but I also have a full time job and can’t work out all day, so for me, it was great news!

As I was sitting in my meeting, I started thinking about what keeps me from sticking to a weight loss plan “long term.” I HAVE successfully done Weight Watchers in the past and even made it to “Lifetime” status, but after I started having babies, sticking to it has been difficult for me. I have re-started Weight Watchers and tried other new diets along the way more times than I can count and I’m always really excited and motivated when I first start and then a few weeks into I lose that momentum and so I was trying to figure out why….

The conclusion that I came to is that “life happens.” I’m sure many of you are well acquainted with life. It looks something like this ~ you get home from work, and your kids have soccer practice, so you all pile in the car for that and then you get home and there is still homework to be done and you can’t wrap your mind around what you want for dinner, so you decide to go through a drive thru. You know there’s nothing there that’s on your “diet” but that’s OK because tomorrow’s another day. Except tomorrow, at work, someone decides to bring in donuts and they’re in the breakroom and they look so good and just one won’t hurt, and it’s OK because you can get back on track “tomorrow.” And then tomorrow comes and you were up so late the night before that you’re too tired to follow through with your exercise plan. And then tomorrow turns into tomorrow which turns into weeks and months of excuses.

One of the reasons I decide to blog about my experiences this time around is so I have accountability and I don’t lose momentum and follow in the same pattern (it also helps that one of my best friends is getting married in June and I not only want to be able to fit into, but I also want to look halfway decent in, the bridesmaid dress!).

In Mama Notes “Body After Baby” challenge, she has a weekly question. This week’s question is: Why do you you want to lose weight and/or get healthier? What is your motivation?

I have known I needed to lose weight for awhile now, but I think that having to wear that bridesmaid dress in June is the motivation that kicked it into gear for me! My long term motivation, though is that I am doing this for myself and for my family. There are a number of health concerns in my family’s history and I want to make the changes now so that I can be healthy for my family long term.

Having said all of that, here’s how I’m doing so far this week on my “plan” to meet my goal of losing 10 pounds by 2/14/10:

*Commit myself to Weight Watchers ~ I tracked like crazy this week and it has been awesome! Through tracking, I have been able to stop and think about different foods and ask myself if something is really “worth” 2 or 3 points when I can eat something else that is only 1 point? A couple of times this week, I have actually had a hard time eating all of my points and I haven’t touched my flex points yet!

*Drink more water ~ I have forced myself to make sure I get in all my water this week and what a difference it has made! (Sugar free chewing gum has helped a lot, too!)

*Create an exercise plan for each week ~ I’m back on track with my “Couch Potato to 5K” plan. I’m hoping I’ll be ready to run (not walk) a 5K in the spring! I’ve also continued to use the work-out generator at Spark People to generate strength training work-outs for me.

How did your week go? Feel free to link up and share below!

Filed Under: Weight Loss Wednesday

Potty training? Get free training pants (and earn a little cash, too!)

January 20, 2010 by

If you’re in the process of potty training and your little one is a size 3T-4T (at least 30 pounds) and wearing training pants during the day and night, you can qualify for a training pant study from Arquest!

I have done diaper studies for Arquest in the past. I had to complete a simple questionnaire for each week of the study and I got a $10 check when I was finished!

Here’s the number that you call (if you don’t get a “real” person, leave a message…even if they are full, they will put you on their list and call you back when there are openings):

1-888-342-7372 – extension 364 (Cheyla)

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