HT Triples Round 3: $60 in groceries for $6!

I left Harris Teeter for the second day in a row very satisfied with my shopping trip.

I was able to pick up most of my items yesterday so today's visit was smaller, but I still got quite a few great staples as well as several extra treats! Our pantry is almost completely full now, and I think we're going to have to start getting creative with our non-perishable food storage space!

Here's the breakdown of today's trip:

2 Martha White Muffin Mixes @ $1.15 each $2.30
1 -0.55/2 Martha White Mix RP 2/14 $(1.65)

4 Boxes Mueller Bowtie Pasta @ $1.50 each $6.00
4 -.55/1 off any Mueller’s Whole Wheat Pasta printable $(6.00)

1 Quaker Quakes Rice Cakes @ $1.50 each $1.50
1 -.75/1 Quaker True Delights RP 2/14 $(1.50)

2 Ortega Taco Seasonings @ $0.99 each $1.98
1 -.75/2 Ortega Products SS 1/24 $(1.98)

1 French’s Honey Mustard $2.00 each $2.00
1 -.5/1 French’s Honey Mustard SS 1/24 $(1.50)

2 French’s French Fried Onions @ $2.49 each $4.98
2 -.50/1 French’s Onions 2/21 SS $(3.00)

1 Beech-Nut Baby Biscuits @ $2.35 each $2.35
1 -.75/1 Beech-Nut Let’s Grow printable $(2.25)

3 Mentos Gum @ $0.99 each $2.97
3 -.55/1 Mentos Gum SS 2/21 $(2.97)

3 Sara Lee Whole Wheat Bread @ $1.99 each $5.97
3 -.55/1 RP 2/14 $(4.95)

3 Country Crock Spreadable Butter @ $1.15 each $3.42
3 -.40/1 Shedd’s product printable $(3.42)

3 Trident Layers Gum @ $1.55 each $3.10
3 -.75/1 Trident Layers SS 2/7 $(3.10)


2 Betty Crocker Potato P0uches @ $0.77 each $1.54
2 -.40/1 Betty Crocker Potatoes printable $(1.54)


2 Fleishmann’s Yeast Strips @ $1.79 each $3.58
2 -.40/1 Fleishmann’s Yeast SS 11/08 $(2.40)

1 Package Solo Cups @ $2.00 each $2.00
1 -.75/1 Solo Cups SS 1/24 $(2.00)

1 Shake ‘n Bake @ $2.65 each $2.65
1 -.75/1 off any Shake ‘n Bake Product printable $(2.25)

Subtotal: $5.65
Add Tax: $0.55
Total OOP: $6.20

Total Value Pre-Sales/Coupons: $59.26
Total Saved: $53.06

A 90% savings!!

HT Triples Roud 1: $78 in Products for FREE

Round 1 of Harris Teeter Triple Coupon week has been a success! Today, I was able to get $78 worth of groceries for free! Here’s what I bought and the coupons I used:

6 Mahatma Rice Mixes @ $0.89 each $5.34
3 -0.75/2 Mahatma Rice Coupons RP 2/7 $(5.34)

2 Mahatma Whole Grain Rice @ $1 each $2.00
2 -0.50/1 Mahatma Rice RP 2/7 $(2.00)

6 Mueller’s Bowtie Pasta @ $1.50 each $9.00
6 -.55/1 off any Mueller’s Whole Wheat Pasta printable $(9.00)

2 Wishbone Salad Dressings 16oz @ $2.99each $5.98
2 -.75/1 Wishbone Salad Dressing printable $(4.50)

2 No Yolks Egg Noodles @ $2.29 each $4.58
2 -0.75/1 No Yolks Noodles SS 2/21 $(4.50)

4 Breakstone Sour Cream 16oz @ $1.99 each $7.96
2 -.60/1 Breakstones Sour Cream printable $(3.60)
2 -0.55/1 Breakstones Sour Cream SS 3/21 $(3.30)

4 Coffee-Mate 16oz @ $2.00 each $8.00
2 -.75/1 Coffee-mate printable $(4.00)
2 -0.55/1 Coffee-Mate RP 2/7 $(3.30)

2 Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Goldfish @ $2.19 each $4.38
2 -0.75/1 Printable $(4.38)

2 McCormick Vanilla Extract @ $1.99 each $3.98
2 -0.75/1 McCormick RP 3/14 $(3.98)

1 McCormick Food Coloring @ $2.50 each $2.50
Receive $2.50 for buying 3 McCormick items $(2.50)

2 Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti @ $1.50 each $3.00
2 -0.55/1 Barilla SS 3/7 $(3.00)

2 Barilla Whole Grain Piccolini $1.25 each $2.50
2 -0.55/1 Barilla Picollini SS 3/7 $(2.50)

2 Country Crock Churn Style $1.15 each $2.30
2 -.40/1 Shedd’s product printable $(2.30)

1 International Delight Coffee Creamer @ $1.99 each $1.99
1 -0.55/1 International Delight SS 3/7 $(1.65)

4 Martha White Mixes @ $1.15 each $4.60
2 -0.55/2 Martha White Mixes RP 2/14 $(3.30)

1 Bumble Bee Light Premium Tuna Pouch @ $1.39 each $1.39
1 -0.55/1 Bumble Bee Pouch SS 2/21 $(1.39)

1 Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour 5lb bag @ $2.59 each $2.59
1 .75/1 Printable $(2.25)

Sub-Total $5.28
Add: Tax $0.82
Total $6.10

This was all put on a $20 gift card I’d received yesterday from a prescription transfer  All $78 worth of products were FREE!

A few notes on Harris Teeter Triple coupons:

• This promotion runs March 24th through March 30th
• All coupons with a face value of $0.99 or less are tripled
• Each VIC card registered to the same address is limited to 20 tripled coupons per day. After this limit is reached, coupons will not triple.
• Each VIC card holder may only use 3 of the same manufacturer’s coupon per day.

Good luck and Happy Shopping!!

CVS: 6 Deodorants plus Paper Towels for $2.48 OOP

CVS is running a deal this week where Dove & Degree Deodorant is on sale 2/$5 along with $5 ECB's wyb $15 worth of these products. I was able to get 6 deodorants and some CVS brand paper towels for $2.48 OOP (almost entirely tax):

4 Dove Deodorants @ $2.50 each

2 Degree Deodorants @ $2.50 each

1 CVS Brand Roll of Paper Towels @ $1.29

Add Tax @ $1.19

Total = $17.48

Less:

$3/2 Dove/Degree Printable Coupons x 3 (Total = $9)

$1 any CVS Paper Towel (CVS in-store coupon dispenser)

$5 CVS ECB's

= $2.48 OOP

Plus, I received $5 ECB's!

Between this purchase and 2 men's deodorants @ Rite Aid today, our family should be pretty well stocked up on deodorant for quite a while!!

Rite Aid: $71 in Products for $5 PROFIT

Rite Aid is having an amazing promotion this week: If you buy $50 worth of select Johnson & Johnson products (pre-coupons), you get a $25 Single Check Rebate! As a mother of a baby and the soon-to-be aunt of another baby (!), I certainly use my share of J&J products, so I was excited to make the most of this deal!

In order to purchase $50 worth of products at the lowest possible price, I broke my J&J products into 3 separate transactions, thereby allowing myself to use 3 Rite Aid coupons ($3/$15 or $5/$20) and save an additional $13.

Transaction #1
1 Cottonelle 12pk double rolls @ $5.99
2 J&J Baby Head-to-Toe Body Wash @ $4.49
1 Visine Totality Eye Drops @ $6.99
Add Tax: $1.31
Total = $23.27

Less:
$5/$20 Rite Aid Coupon
$2/2 Johnson & Johnson Printable Coupon
$1 J&J In-Ad coupon
$3 Visine March All You Magazine
$3 Visine In-Ad Coupon
$1 Cottonelle February All You Magazine
$1 Cottonelle RA Video Values Coupon
$1.99 Rite Aid Gift Card
= $5.28 OOP

Transaction 2
1 Box J&J Cars Band-Aid @ $1.99
1 Neosporin Plus Cream 0.50 oz @ $3.99
1 J&J Shampoo @ $4.29
1 Visine Totality @ $6.99
1 J&J Baby Lotion @ $3.29
Add Tax @ $1.21
Total = $21.76

Less:
$5/$20 Rite Aid Coupon
$3 off wyb 1 Band-Aid & 1 Neosporin Product 2/21 SS
$1 J&J Shampoo Printable Coupon
$1 J&J Lotion Printable Coupon
$1 J&J RA Video Values Coupon
$2 Visine Coupon 3/14 RP
$3 Visine In-Ad Coupon
$0.50 Band-Aid Coupon 3/14 RP
= $5.26 OOP

Transaction 3
1 J&J Baby Lotion @ $4.49
1 J&J Baby Bubble Bath $4.49
1 J&J Baby Shampoo @ $4.29
1 Visine Totality @ $6.99
Add Tax @ $1.18
Total = $21.44

Less:
$5/$20 Rite Aid Coupon
$1 J&J Lotion Printable Coupon
$1 J&J Bubble Bath Printable Coupon
$1 J&J Baby Shampoo Printable Coupon
$1 J&J RA Video Values Coupon
$2 Visine Coupon 3/14 RP
$3 Visine In-Ad Coupon
= $7.44 OOP

In addition to the J&J Rebate program, there was also a good deal on Right Guard deodorant, and so I did a 4th Transaction:

Transaction 4
2 Right Guard Total Defense Deodorants @ $4.49 each
Add Tax @ $0.35
Total = $9.33

Less:
$4.49 Rite Aid B1G1 Sale on Right Guard Deodorant
$1.50 Right Guard Printable Coupons x 2 (Total $3)
= $1.84

In summary, with all four transactions I spent a total of $19.82, and will receive a $25 cash rebate!

I therefore was able to purchase $71 worth of products for a $5 PROFIT!!

This promotion lasts through Saturday, March 20th - so take advantage of it if you can!

Friday's Trip to Rite Aid: More FREE Diapers!

This past weekend we had a great trip to visit family in Wilmington, but I am now a little backlogged on my blogging - so I'll hopefully be able to post quite a few deals today and be caught up by tonight. Sorry for the temporary delay...

So on Friday on our way out of town, we stopped at Rite Aid to take advantage of last week's sales one last time. I was able to get FREE diapers, wipes and Nyquil!

1 Jumbo Pack Pampers Cruisers (30 ct) @ $9.99

1 Pampers Wipes (77 ct) @$2.49

1 Nyquil Cough (100 oz) @ $4.99

Add: Tax @ $1.12

Total Value = $18.59

Less:

$3/$15 Rite Aid Coupon

$2 Pampers Coupon 2/21 PG

$1.50 Vicks Nyquil Coupon 2/7 PG

$0.50 Pampers Wipes Coupon 2/7 PG

= $11.59, which was all put on my Rite Aid Gift Card --> $0 OOP!

A Farewell to Baked Chicken: Successful Meal Planning

In the Fall of 2006, when Dean and I first started dating I invited him over to my house one evening for dinner. Prior to this, we had always either gone out or he had cooked for me, so this was the first time my boyfriend would experience my cooking. Of course, being a typical girl, I frantically called my mother in search of the perfect recipe and meal plan. My mom, a better cook than I could ever hope to be, rattled off what I would be making that night: spinach salad, slices of tomatoes and mozzarella marinated in basil & olive oil, fresh fettuccini, and my great-grandmother’s recipe for Sicilian baked chicken.

That evening Dean cleaned his plate as he raved about the delicious meal, especially the chicken. The recipe was a definite “keeper.” Little did he know, he would someday eat those words…

Once Andrew was born in 2008, the separation of duties in our home went under somewhat of a transformation. As I was now the parent at home, I took primary responsibility for meal preparation. In theory, this was not a big deal - I had all day at home with “only” a baby to take care of, so having dinner on the table when my husband walked through the door certainly sounded like a reasonable goal. I quickly learned that this was one area of housewife-ing that I would really struggle with.

As most mothers know, describing a day at home with a young child as “busy” is the understatement of all understatements. Rather than spending my days sitting in a rocking chair rocking my newborn and reading him stories, my days were a whirlwind of cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding, bathing, changing – and the list went on and on and on. Somehow each day, 4:30 crept up on me and I would quickly scour my recipe books looking for a dinner idea to pop out at me. And each day, I would sigh and pull chicken out of the freezer to begin preparing Dean’s “favorite” baked chicken.

Of course my wonderfully sweet husband never said a word. Instead, each night he smiled enthusiastically at his plate of baked chicken just as he'd donethe first night he’d eaten it. Yes, he was a keeper, but in my heart I knew our nightly ritual of baked chicken had to go.

And so began my quest for uncovering the meal-planning technique that would work for me. I tried everything, but no matter what I did I found I was either: a) spending an incredible amount of money on groceries, b) somehow always missing a key necessary ingredient, or c) having a very difficult time remembering what I had planned on cooking. Nothing was working for me and, to my mother’s dismay, baked chicken continued to make a nightly appearance at our dinner table…

And then, in January 2010 (yes my poor husband endured 1 ½ years of this), Crystal at Money Saving Mom, announced her Eat From the Pantry Challenge. Basically, the principal behind this is to take a hiatus from the grocery store for a month and, instead, find creative ways to prepare meals from the food already in your pantry. The only exception to this is a small weekly grocery budget for dairy and produce. My friends, M & W, and I decided to challenge ourselves to an abridged version of this, participating in our own Eat From the Pantry Challenge from January 15-31. As I do my grocery shopping on Wednesdays, my challenge ended up ranging from January 13th through February 3rd.

So during the second week of January, I once again scoured my recipe books and, of course, turned to the cooking expert (my mom) in hopes of creating a menu plan that would sustain my family for three weeks. I honestly imagined our dinners would quickly evolve into an alternating routine of pancakes and grilled cheese for dinner, quietly worrying about how I would get my little boy the nutrition he needed. Instead, as I took inventory of our pantry and freezer, three weeks worth of recipes somehow fell into place.

Each night’s meal plan was written on a dry-erase calendar and hung in our kitchen; and every morning I would consult the calendar immediately after breakfast. Meats would be taken out to thaw, crock pots would be filled, and casseroles would be carefully assembled. Suddenly, I was making the day’s most complicated meal in the mornings when I was full of energy. No longer did dinner time catch me off guard, but instead my family was sitting down to dinner at a reasonable time, eating well-rounded, carefully planned meals full of various meats, grains and vegetables. This was wonderful!

January’s Eat From The Pantry Challenge was such a success that I decided to implement some of the lessons I’d learned into my family’s everyday lifestyle. At the end of January, I created a meal plan for the entire month of February. Just as I’d done in the prior month, each night’s meal was labeled on my calendar and hung in the kitchen.

I came up with somewhat of a pattern that assisted me in planning meals a month in advance:

• Sundays have traditionally been “comfort food” days in our house, so these days now alternate between meatloaf (one of my all-time favorite foods!) and burgers (a favorite of Dean who lives to grill!) .
• Monday is Dean’s night in the kitchen. As he is our designated pork chef, each Monday we enjoy a pork dish of his choice.
• Tuesdays are busy nights in our house, so these evenings are typically designated as Grilled Cheese & Soup or Breakfast for Dinner.
• Fridays are typically “fun” nights (our substitute for not going out to eat) and we make either pizza or a Mexican dish.

This leaves me only three nights each week to be creative. Typically one of these nights is a crock-pot night, and for each of the other two I pick a favorite chicken and beef dish.

It is that easy, and takes me less than an hour each month to plan!

This once-a-month meal planning has not only assisted my dinner-time organizational skills, but has been a major factor in improving our grocery budget. I believe that meal planning has improved our grocery budget by at least as much as the use of coupons, if not more, and I will post more details on this at a later date. Below is a link to this month’s dinner planning menu, I hope you find this helpful.

March Menu Planning

And, for the record, I was having somewhat of an off day last week and asked Dean if he’d rather have barbecued chicken or chicken parm for dinner. His response:

“Let’s do baked chicken, we haven’t had that in a while!”

$0.12 Trip to CVS!

Quick trip to CVS on Tuesday turned out to be pretty good!

Transaction 1:

1 Gillette Fusion Razor @ $8.99
2 packages of Stayfree products @ $3.89 each
1 Dawn Hand Renewel dishsoap @ $0.97
Total Value = $17.74
Less:
$5/$15 CVS coupon
$4 Gillette coupon 2/7 PG
B1G1 Stayfree coupon 1/3 RP
$1 Stayfree Printable Coupon
$4 CVS ECB's

Total OOP = $0.96 (tax only!)
Receive: $8 ECB's ($4 Gillette, $4 Stayfree)

Transaction 2:

4 boxes Raisin Bran @ $2.50 each
Total Value = $10
Less:
2 $1/2 Kelloggs coupons 3/7 RP
$8 ECB's

Total OOP = $0.16 (tax only!)
Receive: $5 ECB's (wyb 4 boxes select Kelloggs products)

Total Cost of Trip:

$4 original ECB's spent
$1.12 OOP

= $5.12 Spent
Less: $5 ECB's remaining

= $0.12 Net Cost!

$18 Profit trip to Rite Aid!

Another great week at Rite Aid! Today, through the use of my gift cards I was able to get the following products for free, while also bringing home a $10 Rite Aid gift card as well as $8 in Single Check Rebates:

1 Jumbo Pack Pampers Diapers @ $9.99

1 Vicks Nyquil @ $4.99 ($2 SCR)

2 Crest Scope Outlast @ $2.74 each $(1 SCR)

1 Metamucil @ $9.99 ($5 SCR) --> Charity

Add: $1.97 tax

Less:

1 $5/$25 Rite Aid Coupon

1 $2/1 Pampers Coupon 2/21 PG

2 $1/1 Crest Coupon 2/21 PG

1 $1.50/1 Vicks Coupon 3/7 PG

1 $3/1 Metamucil Coupon 2/7 PG

= $18.92 --> All of which was put on my gift cards --> $0 OOP

Plus: $10 gift card and $8 SCR = $18 profit!

Note: Even without the gift cards, you can get the above products for $0.92 including tax!

Finally, between this purchase and last week's trip, I have now bought $50 worth of P&G products (for $0.48 OOP) and can submit for the $100 P&G Coupon book!

On Compiling & Organizing Coupons

My first coupon inserts arrived via the Sunday paper on October 18, 2009. As discussed in the Welcome to Savvy Shopping Mama post, I excitedly clipped several of the coupons that interested me. When I was finished, I threw away the remaining coupons along with the rest of the newspaper. I repeated this process the following week.

In early November, Dean was reading an online tutorial on Coupon Mom where he came across a means for compiling coupons that we have found works much better:

• We invested in three 3-ring binders, one each for the different coupon sources we receive: SmartSource, RedPlum and Proctor & Gamble/General Mills (combined).
• Each week, we use a black permanent marker to label the various coupon inserts with the name of the insert as well as the date it was published: i.e 2/21 Red Plum
• The inserts are then 3-hole-punched and filed chronilogically in their respective binders.

This filing system has been great for various reasons:

• It Saves Time: I no longer spend my Sunday mornings flipping through the inserts tediously clipping coupons and trying to organize them in my coupon folder
• It Saves Coupons: I cannot tell you how many times I've come across great deals using the 18-Oct or 25-Oct coupons inserts. Unfortuantely, due to the fact that I only clipped the few coupons that were of interest to me, I no longer have most of those coupons, and have missed out on many opportunities to "buy" free items!
• It Organizes: Most shopping sites list coupons for deals using the insert name and date (2/21 Red Plum). When I am compiling my coupons, I merely pull out the applicable binder, flip to the corresponding date, and find the coupons. It's so easy!

I hope this helps, using this method has worked wonders for us!

FREE Purex Laundry Detergent & Post Cereal

There is an unadvertised sale on Purex laundry detergent at Walgreens this week. All Purex detergents are on sale B1G1 (regular price of $5.99). When you combine this with the B1G1 Purex coupon from the 2/21 Red Plum, you can get both free!

There is also a printable Post Cereal coupon for $2/1 box. Walgreens has Post Shredded Wheat and Corn Flakes on sale for $1/box, making both boxes FREE with the coupon!

My transactions:

2 Purex Mountain Breeze @ $5.99 B1G1
2 boxes Post Shredded Wheat @ $1 each
Less: 1 Purex B1G1 2/21 RP
Less: Post Cereal $2/1 Coupon Printable

= Free! Only pay tax ($0.50 in NC)

Amazing Rite Aid Trip: $0.48!!

Sunday's trip to Rite Aid was fantastic:

3 Gillette Men's Body Wash @ $4.99 each
3 Gillette Series Men's Shave Gel @ $1.99 each
2 Boxes Kashi Heart-to-Heart Cereal $4.99 B1G1
1 Listerene Pocket Pack 72 ct. $3.99
Less: $5/$25 Rite Aid Coupon
Less 3: Buy 1 Gillete Fusion Shave Prep, Get 1 Gillette Body Wash 2/21 PG
Less 3: $1/1 Gillette Fusion Shave Prep 2/7 PG
Less 2: $1.50/1 Kashi Cereal Printable
Less 1: $0.50/1 Listeren Pocket Packs 1/31 SS
Add Tax: $1.53

= $4.48 OOP

And I received $4.00 Single Check Rebates for a net $0.48 cost to me!

Total Value = $31.46
Total Cost = $0.48

Total Savings = $30.98, or 98.5%!!

* Note: It seems that the Gillette Fusion Shave Gel sale is regional. At my store (in Raleigh) it is actually marked at its full-price of $4.49. The Gillette Series Gel is on sale for $1.99. Fortunately I had a very nice cashier who accepted all 6 coupons for the Gillette Fusion, although I had in fact bought the Gillete Series. She very kindly manually enterred them into the system.

Had she not done this, the deal would not have worked, so make sure you check your local ad to see which specific Gillette product is on sale!

Feb 28th CVS Trip: $1.27

I had an OK trip to CVS Sunday morning, nothing terribly exciting but still a couple good deals!

I needed women's body wash and dish soap - both of which were on sale this week. I spent $1.27 Out of Pocket:

Softsoap Body Wash: $4.99
Ajax Dish Soap (large bottle): $1.99
Add Tax $0.54
Less: $0.75 Softsoap Coupon Printable
Less: $5.50 ECB's

= $1.27 OOP

Plus I received $4 ECB's from the Softsoap!