Some Past Shopping Savings

I realize it has been a long time since my last blog post, but between dealing with the flu, a new nanny job, my FIL passing away, a friend's wedding, and all the weekend trips to spend time with both sides of the family...I admit, blogging was not very high on my priority list. This last weekend was pretty much the only "downtime" we've had in a while...and I even babysat both Saturday and Sunday nights, so it still wasn't totally restful!! It looks to be rather busy for the next month as well, with my bro and his wife moving back to Texas from Korea (where he's been stationed for the last three years) this weekend, plus a birthday or two, a couple of family reunions, and my husband's work retreat...but I thought I'd try to catch up a bit before the whole whirlwind of activity catches back up!!

This post is mostly gonna be a brag. I don't remember the exact prices on some of the items, and the deals I made are long gone, so it won't help you to rush out to make the same deals!! I hope that once I get back into the habit of blogging that I will be able to post some awesome current deals for my readers though!!

Way back, not too long after my last post, I managed to get a few deals. My first trip out to snag some deals that I actually could work got me three big bags of chocolates and a big bottle of mouthwash for under $6 at CVS...not bad for starters, but I could do better, I was sure. I also snagged five cans kitty food and some treats for around $1.50 total at Petsmart. Pretty cool!!

My next foray was just before being hit with the flu...and it was a good thing I'd stocked up!! I got four cans of chicken noodle soup and four cans of chicken broth, plus two toothbrushes and a lollipop (just for fun). After ECB's (extra care bucks)...I think I spent a total of about $4.50!!

We had just recovered from the flu when my FIL passed away...and then there was a friend's wedding, so it was a while before I ventured out to score another deal. The next one was one I just couldn't pass by!! I had coupons for Arm and Hammer detergent and CVS was selling them BOGO one week!! I managed to snag the only bottles of the Sensitive Skin formula that they had and walked out of there with four bottles!! After ECB's I paid a total of $2.81!! Better and better, no?

This past week I decided to use some very good coupons for cereal. I stopped off at a Walmart Neighborhood Market and bought one box. The cereal was $3.12 at the market and my coupon was for $3...so I paid 12 cents for it. I was a little disappointed that I had to pay anything for it, as the coupon was so good, so I held off using the second coupon. On Saturday I headed out shopping with my husband. At Target I surprised him by being able to walk out of the store with 40 Lipton on-the-go packets for FREE!! (I'd used $1 off Lipton Target coupons and there were little baggies of 4 packets for just under a dollar near the registers). At Walmart I was able to use a $1 off coupon on the Kotex that were priced at $1 and then found that my cereal was actually marked down to $2.50 at the SuperWalmart...so I used my coupon on another box. With the other purchases that day, it actually worked out that the 12 cent cost of the first box was more than absorbed when the second box was bought...so check out this picture of what all I got for FREE this past week!!

Anyway, so there is my brag. I can't say that I'm in with the big girls just yet...not when I still can't brag about my WHOLE shopping expedition...but I'm definitely getting better at this whole grocery thing!! I hope to be able as I continue blogging to pass on some deals to my readers while they are still current...so that you may also have great deals to brag about!! Pray for me, that God will bless my endeavors to live simply and frugally, and that I can then pass the blessings on!!

Grocery Shopping Savings...

The concept of using online friends and blogs to pass along saving tips and such is a fairly new thing to me....but I've had fun in the learning of it!! This will be an ongoing topic as I share what I am learning in the whole "shopping game"!!

I decided to investigate into ways to save some money for two different reasons...we had less $$ to work with in our budget after my long-term temp job came to an end...and it would be another way to simplify our lives if we could make the smaller budget work.

The first thing that I did was to sign up for The Grocery Game. This is a pretty cool site that you can sign up for that teaches you how to use coupons to your best advantage at your area grocery stores...as well as stores such as CVS and Walgreens. I have only been a member on there for four weeks...and they say that you really need to do it for 12 weeks before you really start to see real savings results. A four-week trial for all your area stores is just one dollar...so it's totally worth checking out...just to see if that is something that will work for you. After the initial trial...if this is something you want to keep up with...it is $10 per 8 weeks for one store...and $5 per 8 weeks for each additional store...so really it only works out to a couple bucks a week for a couple stores...and you can totally recoup that $$ in savings...so check it out!!

If you don't want to spend any money initially until you feel you have a better grasp of the "game"...so to speak...see if you can get your hands on a copy of "Shop, Save, and Share" by Ellie Kay. She gives a lot of great ideas on saving money by using coupons and shopping sales. If you can get this book from the library or thru Paperbackswap...saving you from having to spend $$ to read it...so much the better!!

I do need to mention that for most of these savings ideas that you will prob want to buy a Sunday newspaper (or get someone who gets the paper to save you out the circulars for CVS and Walgreens as well as the coupon inserts). If you don't receive the grocery store circulars in the mail each week (we get ours on Wednesday or Thursday)...then you might want to find out what day's newspaper has those as inserts and get that day's paper as well.

Also, if you don't have a Google account, think about getting one...even if it is just a generic one...for the purpose of signing up for RSS feeds in your Google Reader...I will post some good feeds to sign up for later in this post. This Google account can also be handy if you set up your iGoogle homepage with a bookmarks area...to bookmark other handy sites that don't have feeds...as well as handy forum links...I'll post a few of those as well. Another thing that makes having this Google account handy is that you can sign up for all kinds of freebie offers and coupon offers via email...and it won't flood your regular inbox. Definately some advantages to think about.

And now for those RSS feeds...
MoneySavingMom is written by Crystal Paine. On this blog she shares how to save money...mostly at stores like CVS and Walgreens...but she also lets people know about other good deals. Not all will be in your area of the country, but it's still totally worth it!!
CentsibleShopper is another good one, sometimes with overlap from Crystal's...but she finds some things that Crystal does not and vice-versa.

Those are the top two I check, but some other ones that are handy to subscribe to are linked below:
Frugal Hacks
Sisterly Savings
MoneyCommonSense
iMommies
MommyGetsPaid

A couple forums you can join for free...
Grocery Game
Fishing for Deals

One thing that I think WOULD be a great initial investment though is Crystal Paine's Supermarket Savings 101. I haven't bought this yet...but based on her blog (which is one of my RSS feeds)...even my husband is enthusiastic about buying this. Best of all...since these are ebooks...you can download them immediately and start to put the ideas into practice!!

Anyway, here's the first of my shopping simplicity posts. As I come across good deals and further money-saving ideas, I will post them.