Great Deals at Vons 1/23

While I tend not to make the effort to shop at Vons since there isn't one too close to me, I did make a trip over there today because of a great promo they have going on this week: Buy 4 save $4 mix and match sale (ends 1/26)

The reason I was so interested in this one is because of some great coupons that are out there (and a way to pick up a few more things for my husband's lunches)

Here are the things I picked up with the coupon links for them:

Betty Crocker Fruit snacks, fruit rollups, and fruit gushers: $1.00/2 printables here and here--you can print them twice and there is a coupon for just the fruit snacks and one for the rollups/gushers) Final price: $0.50/box

Honey nut Cheerios: $1.00/1 printable here (there is also a $1.00/2 that prints out with it, and if you just push your back button a few times after printing it once it should print another set out too). Final price: $0.50/box

Capn' Crunch: I didn't have any coupons, but they were only $1.00 with the promo and they are my husband's favorite cereal, so I picked up a couple.

They were also having a Saturday/Sunday only deal on the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers--$0.88 each so I picked up a few.

and last but not least--their blueberries were on sale for $0.99 for 6oz. Since our freezer stash is almost gone I picked up a couple.

Total spent: $12.00

Total value: $55.82

Total saved: 79%

Average price/item: $0.67

Here is where the above deal even got sweeter. After purchasing everything a catalina printed out for $3.50 off my next purchase. Sweet!! Come to find out there is another deal going on by General Mills on their Fruit Shapes, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups or Fruit Roll-Ups Fruit Stickerz:
Buy 3 and get $1.50 off your next order coupon
Buy 4 and get $2.50 off your next order coupon

Buy 5 or more and get $3.50 off your next order coupon

I totally lucked out. I looked online when I got home and I believe this offer ends tomorrow 1/24.

Since I don't usually go to Vons, I decided to go pick up 4 more things of blueberries to use my coupon, thus only spending $0.46 for them = 98% savings with catalina and sale discount.

All Laundry Detergent

If you still have your Big Lots ad from Sundays paper you can use it to price match All Laundry detergent (32 load) for 2 for $5 through this Saturday (1/23). Use that along with the coupon for $3 off 2 All Laundry detergents from the 1/3 Red Plum to get these for only $1 each.

Hmmm...$1 each...32 loads...that means each load only costs me $0.03 each. Not bad.

And if you ever wonder if you really get as many loads out of a bottle as they say, try this technique I learned from Shop Smart in Vegas. Keep a sharpie in your laundry room and put a tally mark on the bottle everytime you do a load. Then you'll know how many loads you have gotten from a bottle.

High value Knox coupon

I hope none of you threw away your RedPlum coupon booklet that came in the mail yesterday. Inside there is a $4 off any Knox product coupon. You can use this to get packages of Knoxx gelatin for free! The 4 pouch boxes are definitely less than $4 (at least when I've gone to buy them). Your cashier may need to adjust down the coupon amount to the acual sale price.

I scored this morning by finding 10 more inserts in the garbage can by our apartment's mailboxes (yes, I do lower myself to digging through garbage cans sometimes :). I should be well stocked up on Knox gelatin by the end of this month for sure.

Excuses for my Absence

I'm back...I know, it's been a long time. Sorry for the long delay. I had a wonderful December, and did almost no deal shopping--I had most of my Christmas shopping done well before December, and we were gone visiting family and friends a lot of the time, so I took a little break. Because of all the deal shopping I had done during the months before, we were well stocked up on the things that we needed, so I really didn't need to do much shopping at all. It was a relaxful December.

I also have been inspired by some fellow bloggers out there to try and eat from our pantry this month, utilizing food items that we already have on hand, and mainly only grocery shopping for milk, bread, and other perishable items. It's been a fun challenge, and I've taken the opportunity to try new recipes out and realize that I can take my food storage and turn it into some wonderful meals--even using our whole wheat without a grinder. I did pick up a bunch of canned items at the Smith's caselot sale last week, but besides that I haven't bought much more food besides the milk, bread, fruits and veggies and yogurt.

I guess my third excuse for slacking on this blog is due to focusing on activities in my other 2 blogs. If interested, check them out here:

http://www.pattycakesbakery.blogspot.com/
http://www.ourscoutingchronicles.blogspot.com/

I did snag a good deal today, worthy of posting. I went to CVS today to pick up some Huggies diapers with a raincheck I had from a few weeks ago. I utilized 2 $2 off Huggies supreme coupons (you can get them on my sidebar--just click on "see all coupons"), a BOGOF Oust coupon from the 1/3 SS, as well as a $5 ECB I had earned during an earlier week and $4 left on a CVS gift card I earned from filling a prescription there. All in all I spent out of pocket $4.40, an 86% savings. I am also getting my Caregivers Marketplace rebate together which will give me $1.50 more back for these 2 packs of diapers.

Why I Love Rebates

I have a confession--I am a total rebate fan. While most people avoid them because they think they are a hassle to do--save receipts, fill out forms, cut UPCs, mail in everything, and wait...and wait for the check to arrive--I love them. Let me tell you why...

When I find something that I will use that has a rebate with it, I will buy the item. Now I do have to spend some money to get it. I just figure that cost into my monthly food/household budget so I don't overspend. Then when I get home, I directly sit down and fill out the paperwork and get it in it's envelope, sealed, stamped and ready to go. (If you say you'll do it later, most times you will just forget about it, that's why I like to do mine right away). Now here's the part I love...getting those checks in the mail. Yes, some may only be for $1-$2, but others can be $10 or $20. Since I had already budgeted for the cost of buying those items, the rebate is sort of like free money. I put all my rebate money in a special drawer, saving it up until I have enough for a big-ticket item that I've had my eye on.

That brings me to my oh-so-exciting news. I did it--I saved and saved all those rebate checks since the beginning of 2009 when I started doing rebates more actively, and finally had enough to go get a small chest freezer that I have been wanting for quite some time. It is small, but the perfect size for us and our small apartment right now. I've already put it to good use making double or triple amounts of meals and freezing portions of it to have on hand for those days that I don't have a lot of time to cook. It is already making life a little easier. (and did I mention that it also came with a $10 mail in rebate to get me started on my next round of saving?!)

Thank you Mail-in-Rebates!! You are worth the time and cost of the stamp to me.

(Hmm...what to save for next...how about a wheat grinder. Yep, sounds like a good plan to me!)

Disney Movie Rewards Double Points Day

For any of you who have signed up with Disney Movie Rewards and have some new dvds whose codes you haven't inputted yet, this Thursday (Dec. 10) is double points day--the perfect day to redeem some of those codes and earn lots of points. They indicated that there would be 2 double points day during these last few months of this year, and this is their second one, so I don't know if and when there will be this opportunity again.

If you don't know what Disney Movie Rewards is, you can read more about it in my post here.

Hallmark $5 coupon

There is a new printable coupon out there for $5 off a $5 purchase or more at a Hallmark Gold Crown Store. If you need a couple Christmas, birthday, or other occasion cards this would make for a close to free purchase. Go here to print off your coupon (you can print it twice too!)

Coupon expires Dec. 24, 2009

thanks Mojo Savings