This week in conservative couponing…..

Ok, so as you may have realized, one of the key aspects in my great house plan 2012 is to cut back on my grocery budget. WHAT? you say? You’re already a crazy coupon lady! How are you going to save MORE? This sounds worrisome.What I realized though, is that while I AM saving a TON of money off of shelf price (and even sale price many times), I still was buying too much stuff and spending money on things I wouldn’t use or was going to give away. (Even if it did seem like little amounts here and there) Little amounts add up, especialy when you shop multiple stores every week. And since it does seem like so little, it is easy to lose track of. And then you realize that as a single person who does NOT eat out a ton or buy fancy expensive food….you’ve still managed to spend over $300 per month on food in the last year. Which is just…..not necessary.

So I am officially cutting back. I was already cutting back a bit at the drugstores especially because I know that I am fully stocked on household/toiletries for like 6-18 months. I have for the most part been managing to only buy free or moneymaker items there. Now I am cutting back on food spending too. This doesn’t mean that I am going to change the way I eat or start subsisting on ramen and peanut butter and rice. It just means I will eat from my freezer and stockpile, buy produce mindfully, and coupon carefully and consciously. Last week was an excellent start….mostly because it was a quiet week at the stores so I didn’t buy much. This week was busier, but look how well I did!

I shopped at 3 stores: Albertson’s, Safeway, and Fred Meyer.

Albertson’s
It was a doublers week but with my new guidelines….it was so slow! I had barely enough items on my original list to use all the doublers I get with my newspaper subscription (18) and one item was out of stock, one was an incorrect coupon, and another I couldn’t find at all. In the end, I only used 8 doublers and gave the rest away at the store for others to use.

All for $0.30!

(4) Single paper towel rolls
(2) Mission artisan tortillas
(2) 4-pack Activia yogurt
Total: $0.30! (tax on paper towels)

Safeway
Time to use up my rainchecks that had coupons that expire on 3/31!  I had a raincheck for POM juice and one for (6) Fresh Express salad kits. I LOVED these kits 2-3 weeks ago when I first got them. I spent a couple weeks eating my first 6 bags, then took a week off and cleared out some other food from the fridge. Now ready for more! Luckily another great sale came along to take advantage of also….

$3.26 before cereal rebate!

(4) Corn Flakes @ $1.99 w/ in-ad coupon
(1) Kiwi – $0.33ea
used $4/4 Kellogg’s cereal printable
used $1 off fruit wyb 3 Kellogg’s cereals (found in a box of the Raisin bran from a couple weeks ago)
= $3.26
PLUS!! I got a catalina coupon for a free milk up to $4 for buying 4 Kellogg’s items! Sometimes these coupons will scan for a flat $4 rather than have the cashier enter in the actual amount of the milk….so it could be a moneymaker item.
(4) POM juice – free w/ raincheck (actually a $0.03 moneymaker)
(6) Fresh Express salad kits – free with raincheck
Total: $3.26 paid

Fred Meyer
I was quite torn between Fred Meyer and Safeway this week in regards to using my (2) $4/4 Kellogg’s coupons. Such great deals either way. I decided to split and do one at each to get a little of each store’s promos. Fred Meyer was doing a Save $5 instantly wyb 10 items promo which can be a pain to get the right number of qualifying items to coupons to end up with a great deal. An amazing deal came my way though this week!

Fred Meyer: $8.35 (4.35 after MIR)

(4) Rice Krispies @ 1.99
(3) Fuji apples = $1
(5) Kraft Fresh takes cheese + breadcrumbs mixes @ 1.79
(1) Country Crock margarine @ 0.99
used $4/4 Kellogg’s cereal printable
used $1 off fruit wyb 3 Kellogg’s cereals (found in a box of the Raisin bran from a couple weeks ago)
used (5) $1/1 Kraft Fresh Takes from insert
used $1/1 Country crock printable
Total: $7.90, received a $4 catalina from Kraft cheese!

Then I bought:
5lb bag of whole carrots @ 2.69 ea
1 large bunch celery @ $0.91 ea
1 pear @0.85 ea
used $4 catalina from 1st transaction
Total: $0.45
Store total: $8.35

_____________________________________________________________________

My grand total for the week?

$11.91!

But wait, it gets better! I will submit the (8) cereal UPCs for the Kellogg’s $10 wyb 10 rebate. So essentially, that is another $8 off. So it equals $3.91 for all of that!! I mean seriously, it doesn’t get much better than that. Look at what I bought:

Fresh veggies (carrots, celery, salads)
Fresh fruit (apples, kiwi, pear)
Cheese
Tortillas
Cereal x 8 boxes
Margarine
Juice
Yogurt
Milk
Paper towels

And something nice for my savings budget? I used a $10 visa card from a previously submitted Kellogg’s rebate to pay for my purchases this week. So all I paid out of pocket (and all that I will apply towards my March grocery budget?):

$1.91

That’s right.

~Lissa

Resolution strong

Well! So far, March is progressing QUITE nicely.

I have spoken with a real estate agent, he will be keeping an eye out for potential properties and be ready for me whenever I see something I want to look at or know more about. I spoke with a mortgage broker, she is very optimistic that I should qualify for a very good interest rate and possibly even a 5% downpayment (though I want to put down at least 10%). I don’t think that I should have trouble getting finance for the amount of loan I am looking at as I am pretty conservative in my own wishes. I have a list of documentation to gather for her….including the lease for my tenants (which I need to revise and send to them to sign and send back) and my 2011 taxes (which I haven’t done yet – eek!). So it will probably be a week or two for me to get that all put together for the preapproval. Which is fine!

I also looked at my expenditures last year for groceries/household items/pet items/dining out. They were MUCH higher than I had assumed! I spent on average $311/month on these categories combined. Yikes! While I was saving with couponing over shelf costs, I was still buying more than normal + lots of veggies. I also ate out quite a bit more than my usual last year what with going to the little Italian restaurant by my house to study and also once  a week to study group as well as on vacations. The good news? I have a fully stocked house and plenty of room to cut back and save money here! My original plan was to cut back by $50/mo but now I am aiming to spend only $180/mo on these categories – a savings of $130/mo.

Here’s the House Downpayment Savings Standings for the first 2 weeks of March:
1. PAH jobs:  a petsit job = $120 net
2. Relief shifts: 14hr shift last night + a 12hr shift next Sunday = $435 net
3. Extra hours: staff meeting today = $25 net
4. Grocery running total: Spent so far: $32. Left in budget for March: $148. Savings over last year:  $279

Directly saved so far: $580 + $120+ in grocery savings. Woot woot! We are well on our way!

My house plan

For quite a while (probably about a year now) I have been rolling around the idea of possibly buying a house. Now, mind you, I ALREADY own a house. It is about 2 hours south, in the “country”. I bought it 8 years ago in 2004 just after I graduated from college. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it has turned out to be a fantastic investment that I have not regretted for a second. I am so glad I bought it when I did. The house is a good little house but the job market within commuting distance kinda dried up as I grew up and moved up in my career. 2 years ago I left the house behind, found trustworthy faithful long-term renters to take care of it, and moved north, back into an apartment.

I like my apartment. I LOVE the location in a small waterfront town just north of Seattle and only 20 minutes or so from my job. My windows overlook a treeline and burbling creek (drainage stream). I am one door down from the lovely city park. I am 4 blocks off of the quaint downtown area, and only 6 blocks from the waterfront. This town buried in surburbia only steps away from the big city has a small artsy community feel to it. I have fallen in love.

Affordable houses are not easy to come by There are plenty of aparmtents, and condos in all price ranges. But houses? They tend to be more spendy….in the 200,000-500,000 range. I can’t afford a 200,000 mortgage….or the 20-40,000 for a downpayment on one. I wasn’t totally sure that I could either afford to buy a house here, would want to save that hard and long for a downpayment, or even REALLY wanted to buy a 2nd house. I had already decided I wouldn’t sell my 1st house. I love it too much and plan to “retire” there eventually.

But my circumstances have changed for the better recently. I got $3/hr in raises this fall. I am refinancing my 1st house into a lower interest rate, saving ~$80/mo. I upped my tenant’s rent. I have areas where I can cut spending. My business is well grounded and has some level of reliable minimum income. I no longer HAVE to take extra shifts to meet my budget. So there is suddenly some flexibility that allows for more substantial savings with less extra work and less time required than just a year ago.

So I have started on the steps towards buying a house. I want it within about a mile radius of where I am now, which is a quite small area to be searching. I want it for $150,000 or less, which means I will not be buying a fair market value house. I will definitely be buying a bank-owned, foreclosed, auctioned, or short sale. So I will have to be very very careful with inspections and what I am willing and not willing to put up with. It will likely take several months to even find a handful of possibles. It may easily be a year or more before I find the right house. Which is fine because it gives me more time to save for the downpayment. The longer it takes to find the house, the more money I will have saved, the larger downpayment I can put down, so the higher priced house I can buy, leading to more houses in my price range. On the other hand, I do have enough existing savings that I could put down a 10% downpayment (if I finangle that approval-wise) on a 130,000 house right now. If the perfect one appeared.

In making my estimates and assessments, I took a 10 month timeline into account. This is when my lease is up at my apartment and when I would likely start looking quite in earnest if something hasn’t appeared before then. I was actually quite surprised at how much I would be able to put aside in savings in that amount of time — and for not that much more effort! Here is my House Downpayment Savings Plan:

Estimated Home Loan: $150,000

Estimated Downpayment Required: 10-20% ($15,000-$30,000)

Goal Timeframe: 10 months (January 2013)

Current Savings:  $5,000-$10,000

Goal Additional Savings:  $10,000-$20,000

Savings Plan

(With below numbers = $15,630-$18,630 saved)

1. Refinance Yelm house: ~$80/mo + 1 month no payment = $1836

2. Use ING direct checking account, accruing interest: @0.2%*3800 = $0.63/mo = $7

3. Roll interest from ING savings accounts: $77 in 2011, est. $160 in 2012 = $237

4. Roll rewards from Discover: $380 in 2012, est. $100 in 2012 = $480

5. Put all PAH income into downpayment fund: est. $3000 in 2012

6. Take 1-2 relief shifts/mo: $200-250/shift = $200-500/mo = $2,000-$5,000 in 2012

7. Analyze grocery/household spending, cut by at least $50/mo = $600 in savings/2012

8. Put all couponing rebates into downpayment fund: average $15/mo = $180 in 2012

8. Maintain current savings of $1,000/mo, moving it to $600/mo in downpayment fund = $7,200 in 2012

Total Estimated Savings by Jan 2013: $20,630-$28,630

Estimated loan potential:

Home purchase price: $133,000-$150,000

Downpayment %: 15-20%

Downpayment amount: $20,000-$30,000

Closing costs: $3,000-$5,000

Loan amount: $116,000-$123,000

Est. property taxes: $1500/yr

Est. home insurance: $1000/yr

Est. monthly payment: $900/mo

So this thing is completely doable! I am very excited about the possibilities. I have a real estate agent keeping an eye on the listings. My next step is to contact a mortgage broker about financing pre-approval to see what deals I can swing. Now that I have made this decision and researched its feasibility, I am REALLY looking forward to getting into my own home…..with a washer/dryer…..and no carpets….and a yard. But I am in no hurry and I realize that with my location and price specifications, it could be quite awhile before the right opportunity comes along. I can wait. Like I said, I like my apartment just fine.

 

Winter Rewards at Rite Aid: My Journey (final tally!)

As you may have read last week, Rite Aid was doing another incredible UPR promo for the month of February. Dozens of products were included and when you spent $100, you’d get a $20 UPR. I looked through the deals with an eye towards getting this UPR. But I didn’t want to break my previous rule about only buying items that are entirely free, a moneymaker, or something I will actually use and need that is still not much OOP.

Well this last week concluded the promotion and here’s the final rundown!  Prices are after tax, and after all UPR & SCR earned.

Week 1:
(2) Stayfree – 0.43MM
(1) Abreva – 8.76
OOP: 8.83 (I didn’t have any previous ups to apply)
Leftover: (2) $2 UPR, (1) $2 SCR
Total to winter reward: $20

Week 2:
(4) Thermacare + (1) Optic White – $13.33 MM (after Pfizer rebate)
(4) Snickers eggs – $1MM
(2) Haribo gummy raspberries – $1.16
(1) Pot-of-gold – $0.99 (The winter reward says Valentine’s candy are excluded but judging by my total, this must have been included in the winter reward!)
OOP: $15.97 (used $4 UPR from week one)
Leftover: (2) $4 UPR, (1) 1.75 UPR, (1) $10 UPR, (1) $2 UPR, submit $10 UPR for Pfizer
Total to winter reward: $54

Week 3:
(4) Colgate toothpaste + (5) Colgate toothbrushes – $4.04 MM
OOP: $12.21 (used $2, $10, and $1.75 UPR from week two. I need to call customer service about getting my 2 $4 UPR from the thermacare)
Leftover: (4) $3.50 UPR, (4) $1.50 UPR, (1) $10 UPR.
Total to winter reward: $93

Initially the $3.50 UPR x 4 from the toothpaste didn’t print on my receipt, so had them returned and bought them over again. Weirdly, it  counted them twice for the winter rewards total. I figured when you returned something with your card, it would subtract it from the running total, but not so far. It might do so the next time I’m at the store though, sometimes it takes a bit to process. I’m not going to work too hard to correct it, as I have had issues every single week with UPR not printing. I have to call customer service about 3 different weeks of shopping to have UPR credited to me that are missing ($36 in total – eek!).

Week 4:
(1) Blink tears – $0.24 MM
OOP: $0.57 (I bought some Valentine’s clearance stuff and used the $10 UPR from week 3)
Leftover: (1) $7.50 SCR, received $20 Winter Resolutions UPR

Total OOP expense for promotion: $37.58
Total actual cost after UPR/rebates: $28.13 MONEYMAKER!!!

That’s right folks, in the end everything I bought that was in this promotion was a moneymaker except for a little bit of candy (deeply discounted) and Abreva (at about 50% off shelf price). And I MADE $28 dollars doing it! What will I buy with $28?? I honestly don’t know, probably some cheap Easter candy! Maybe a nice picture frame for my VECCS certificate/diploma. We’ll see

I’ve been “featured” on CouponConnections!

So one of the coupon blogs that I follow closely is a local blogger (as in she shops the exact store locations that I do). www.couponconnectionsnw.com is a very popular blog in the Pacific NW, Amber was featured on TLC’s Extreme Couponing (but don’t get me started on THAT show!) and she is a very prolific poster of deals. She also loves to have reader interaction and seeing pics/details when readers do great shopping trips. I was SO excited about my haul from last weekend’s doublers at Albertson’s that I sent an email off to her…..and she posted it on her blog!!  It’s so great to have that recognition as well as a bit of bragging rights. Here’s the link to the blog post on couponconnections:

http://couponconnections.com/2012/02/check-out-what-lissa-got-at-albertsons-for-only-18-44/

And here’s the picture of my haul! I used 36 doublers, doing 4 different sets of 3 transactions. I actually did go to 4 different stores over 2 different days (trying to find a certain item on my list mostly) but I didn’t go out of my way, just took different routes to other errands. Sometimes when I do doubler weeks, I just do multiple trips back and forth from the car all in the same shopping session. Just depends on the stock in the particular store and what other errands I have to do that week.

The grand total for this? $18.44!!!! I mean, seriously!!

All this, only $18.44!

(16) Oikos greek yogurt
(2) Yoplait lactose-free yogurt
(3) Peanut butter Cheerios
(4) Bear Creek soup
(4) Albertson’s canned beans
(2) Tylenol precise cream
(2) Right Guard deodorant
(1) Kashi go lean bar
(6) Blue Diamond almonds (raincheck from last week)
(6) Doritos
(2) Trop50 orange juice
(2) Quaker chewy granola bars
(4) Mt. Olive pickles
(2) Mission artisan tortillas
(2) Stride gum
(3) V8 v-fusion
(2) Cranberry naturals juice
(13) boxes Mischief Jello gelatin (clearance)
(3) small boxes conversation hearts (clearance)
(3) wineglasses (clearance)
(1) wisk (clearance)

My favorite transaction of them all was one that I put together totally on my own, using tearpad coupons that I had in my binder for months now just WAITING for the right confluence of events. It all worked together in a perfect storm of promotions! A lot of times when doing couponing, I’m just copy & pasting matchups from the various blogs I follow, it’s nice to have the opportunity to “discover” a totally new deal that is unique just to you.

(3) V8 V-Fusion – $2 each
(10) Mischief Jello gelatin – $0.25 each on clearance!
(1) Wine glass – $0.25 on clearance
-Used (5) $0.55/2 Jello tearpad coupons (found these by the Jello a few weeks ago)
-Used (3) $1 off any juice wyb 3 Mischief jello tearpad coupons (found these MONTHS ago when this product first came out…..they are good til 12/12 so I’ve been hanging onto them – score!)
-Used (3) doublers (-$3 total)
Paid: Nothing! The overage from the jello coupons covered the cost of the wine glass – bonus! Albertson’s is one of the only stores that will give overage – but only with manufacturer coupons, not including doublers.
Got: $2 catalina from V8
Final Price: $2 moneymaker!

This transaction (one of 12 that I did) combines several key promotions that are the basic elements in successful “extreme” couponing:

1. Store sale – the V8 was on a loss leader sale at only $2 each
2. Clearance deals – This particular Jello product was new 6 months ago and obviously not a big seller, so it was on clearance for a steep discount. It can be common to see high value tearpad coupons for new products (often with lengthy expiration dates), and many new products do not sell well and may end up in the clearance racks a few months later – excellent opportunity for great deals!
3. Coupons! – ok, pretty obvious one here
4. Doubler or other store coupon – Albertson’s is the only store in my area that routinely offers in-store coupons that double the value of your manufacturer coupon. Also in this category would be store coupons you find in the weekly sales flyers, anything that you can stack with a manufacturer coupon to increase your coupon savings!
5. Catalina – this is a coupon for an X $amount off of your next transaction (oyno) that prints at the register when you pay. It is generally triggered by buying a certain number of a product. These type of catalinas can be redeemed like cash at the same store you received them at and so you can factor them in to the overall final cost of the items you bought to trigger them.

Obviously, this is a pretty complex transaction and definitely not for the faint of heart. I would call this an advanced couponer level deal…..putting it together requires a bit of out of the box thinking (and math skills) and even just following what is happening it is easy to get confused! Luckily all the coupons went through with no issues and it was just a gorgeous transaction from start to finish….quite a shopping “high”!

Cereal mayhem

So last year there was a Kellogg’s cereal rebate – $10 wyb 10 select Kellogg’s cereals. You could send in up to 5 rebates. It ended at the end of the year, and I had bought enough for a 3rd rebate but missed the cutoff mail in date. Bummer! A few weeks later, I threw the UPCs in my recycle.

A few days later, I saw a posting on a blog about a NEW rebate. It was basically the exact same one, just a different expiration date and some of the cereal choices were different. Luckily, I hadn’t yet taken the recycle out and was able to fish out that envelope with the UPCs and send it in at the beginning of February. Yay! Some of that cereal had been specifically bought for that rebate and I would have wasted money.  This new rebate expires 3/31/12 and so far I had sent in for only 1 of the 5. Good Kellogg’s coupons are scarce to come by so I was just biding my time for the right sale and promo and coupon combination to come along. I don’t need ANY cereal, so any I would buy would be for donation to coworkers so I wanted to make sure that if I did any more rebates, it would be make it so that the cereal was free (or a moneymaker).

This weekend there were 2 great printables that came out and I managed to snag: A $5/5 ANY Kellogg’s cereals and a $4/4 of select size and varieties of Kellogg’s (select varieties are those in the rebate yay!). Now to match with a great sale.

At Fred Meyer this week selected Kellogg’s cereals are 50% off! This includes Raisin Bran, one of the rebate varieties. Sadly, the size of Raisin Bran does not match the $4/4 coupon so I will be holding onto those. I’m hopeful for an even better sale to use those on! Many of the boxes of Raisin Bran were marked as having $5 in coupons inside of them. One of the coupons inside is $1 off ANY eggs wyb ANY 2 Kellogg’s cereals. Here’s what I did:
 
(10) Raisin Bran 25.5oz – $1.99ea (all have the coupons inside!)
(4) Dozen store brand eggs – (2) $1.19, (2) $1.49 (they only had 2 of the cheaper medium eggs and I didn’t feel like splitting the transaction and coming back another day)
used (2) $5/5 Kellogg’s printables
used (2) $1 off eggs wyb 3 Kellogg’s (yes I popped 2 of the boxes open – opened at the bottom, they were not inside the cereal bag itself)
used (2) $1 off eggs wyb 2 Kellogg’s (these came in boxes of Fiber Plus in a similar packet -  Great Days - several months ago and I’ve been holding them for the next good Kellogg’s sale – exp 3/31)
Paid: $11.26
I will submit for the Kellogg’s rebate here: $10 Kellogg’s Gas Rewards Card rebate - only the Raisin Bran is currently eligible from the FM sale this week
 
After rebate I will have paid $1.26 for 10 boxes of cereal and 4 dozen eggs. Awesome!!! (Now I have nearly 8 dozen eggs in the fridge – eek! I’m finishing up the 4 dozen that I bought at Fred Meyer for super cheap using overage from Snapware a month or so ago. And I REALLY wish I hadn’t bought 2 dozen at FM about 3 weeks ago for $1.33/doz. That’s a fairly lousy price and i don’t know what I was thinking.  These 4 are 0.32/ea!!! Thankfully eggs stay good for a lonnngg time and I will have to make a point of eating them more. HB eggs for snacks and in salads!)

I also stopped in again at the local Petrosa’s grocery
Spent $3.80
(4) Bananas – 0.27
Huge bunch of broccoli crowns – $0.91
(2) Zucchini – $1.63
80z package mushrooms – 0.99

I love this store!!

Winter Rewards at Rite Aid: My Journey

So Rite Aid does a lot of promos. In January they did a “resolutions rewards” where when you spent $100 in participating products, you earned a $20 UPR. There are dozens of products on the list. I didn’t really try for it and only made about $50. I probably could have gotten it without any or much out of pocket (OOP) cost if I had tried from the beginning, but it wasn’t worth it by the time I was really aware of it at the end of the month.

Surprise surpise, they did it again in February! A new list of products but the same deal….spend $100, get a $2o UPR. This time around, I looked through the deals with an eye towards getting this UPR. But I didn’t want to break my previous rule about only buying items that are entirely free, a moneymaker, or something I will actually use and need that is still not much OOP.

We’re 3 weeks into the 4 week promo and I already have earned $93 towards my $100! See the rundown:

Here’s my tally so far. Prices are after tax, and after all UPR & SCR earned.

Week 1:
(2) Stayfree – 0.43MM
(1) Abreva – 8.76
OOP: 8.83 (I didn’t have any previous ups to apply)
Leftover: (2) $2 UPR, (1) $2 SCR
Total to winter reward: $20

Week 2:
(4) Thermacare + (1) Optic White – $13.33 MM (after Pfizer rebate)
(4) Snickers eggs – $1MM
(2) Haribo gummy raspberries – $1.16
(1) Pot-of-gold – $0.99 (The winter reward says Valentine’s candy are excluded but judging by my total, this must have been included in the winter reward!)
OOP: $15.97 (used $4 UPR from week one)
Leftover: (2) $4 UPR, (1) 1.75 UPR, (1) $10 UPR, (1) $2 UPR, submit $10 UPR for Pfizer
Total to winter reward: $54

Week 3:
(4) Colgate toothpaste + (5) Colgate toothbrushes – $4.04 MM
OOP: $12.21 (used $2, $10, and $1.75 UPR from week two. I need to call customer service about getting my 2 $4 UPR from the thermacare)
Leftover: (4) $3.50 UPR, (4) $1.50 UPR, (1) $10 UPR.
Total to winter reward: $80

Total OOP so far: $37.01
Total actual cost after UPR/rebates: $7.89 moneymaker!

Initially the $3.50 UPR x 4 from the toothpaste didn’t print on my receipt, so had them returned and bought them over again. Weirdly, it  counted them twice for the winter rewards total. I figured when you returned something with your card, it would subtract it from the total, but not so far. It might do so the next time I’m at the store though, sometimes it takes a bit to process. I’m not going to work too hard to correct it, as I have had issues every single week with UPR not printing. I have to call customer service about 3 different weeks of shopping to have UPR credited to me that are missing. So far, I am NOT impressed by the new load2card feature where the UPR are supposedly loaded automatically….there’s been nothing but errors so far.

I need to call about:
1.29 Johnson & Johnson promo – missing $5 UPR wyb $25
2.12 Thermacare – missing (2) $4 UPR wyb 2
2.19 Colgate – missing (3) $3.50 UPR from toothpaste, (2) $1.50 UPR from toothbrushes, and (1) $10 UPR wyb $25
So annoying!

The good news? I only have $7 (or possibly $20) left to spend to get my $20 UPR for the winter rewards!! Which means that I will definitely EARN at LEAST $8 from this promo. (that’s with spending the money to reach $100 without using a single coupon or getting a single UPR from those items) It is extremely possible that I will reach the $100 mark by buying freebies or moneymakers next week and will therefore EARN $28+ for this month, just from items on this promo!! Can you say free clearance holiday candy??

I LOVE RITE AID! (just not their computer tracking)

Discovering new stores

I have a few stores that I shop at weekly, more that I shop at once or twice a month, and a few that I shop at on occasion depending on the sales.

Weekly: Albertson’s, Rite Aid (almost ALWAYS these two)
Weekly-Biweekly: Safeway, Top Foods
Once or Twice Monthly: Fred Meyer, QFC
Occasionally: Walgreen’s, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods

Now I have another store to add to the occasional or once/twice monthly group: Petrosa’s. Petrosas’s is a little family neighborhood grocery store that is 2 blocks from my house. I have stopped in a couple of times for produce when they have some amazing deal listed on their marquee. This week they had cauliflower for $1.29 each! I love when cauliflower is sold by the head instead of by the pound because it is almost always cheaper. Usually the best price I find in the store per lb is $0.80, often not better than $0.99/lb which comes out to each head being around $2.50. So nearly half off the best price! I definitely wanted to stop in. It’s always good to surf the edges of stores for clearance and unmarked sales on produce, dairy, and meats. Here’s what I found:

 

Only $5.78!

This was an amazing shop to me…such amazing prices. I will definitely be going back to check in here!

 

(3) cauliflower – 1.29ea
(1) 8oz crimini mushrooms – $0.99 on clearance
(1) Zoi greek honey yogurt – $0.69 on clearance

(4) bananas – $0.19/lb on clearance (only 0.23 for all 4!)

 

I have already eaten 3 of the bananas, the yogurt, used 1/2 the mushrooms in zucchini lasagna, and roasted a 1/2 head of cauliflower. Yay for cheap produce!!

 

How to best spend $0.66

Couponing has been going very very well lately. I suck at taking the pictures and suck even worse at posting them here. So here is a VERY quick glance at my shopping from last week. I stopped at 3 stores: twice to Albertson’s, once to Fred Meyer and Rite Aid. Here’s what I got:

Albertson’s

$12.55

4 Tidy Cats litter
3 yogurt w/ granola
2 Trop50 lemonade
2 albertson’s lemonade
3 parmesan cheese
3 Secret deodorant
18 pouches Starkist tuna
2 wedges Brie

2 carrots

1# sirloin steak

 

It was a doubler week, I used 36 coupons and 36 doublers to purchases these items. I have + $5 in leftover catalina coupons which can be used on anything as “cash”. Can also be doubled so this is really like $10. So REALLY, it’s like spending $7.55 on all this after doubling the catalinas.

 

Fred Meyer
No picture, I spent $6.50 and got:

2# of strawberries
~1.5# organic pears
~2# asparagus

 

Rite Aid

MADE $13.39!

4 Thermacare heat patches
1 Optic White toothpaste
1 Pot of Gold box of chocolate
1 Brainstrong kid’s vitamins
2 Haribo gummy raspberries
4 Snickers eggs candy

 

After a couple of different rebates, I will have MADE $13.39 on this purchase!! I love Rite Aid.

 

Altogether for the week, these purchases equal out to a total spent of $0.66! And this doesn’t even count the 14 pounds of tofu I got for FREE at Whole Foods……..so awesome.

 

I could wax poetic about couponing and the last few weeks and whatnot but I have a bowl of homemade turkey chili and a new episode of Vampire Diaries waiting for me before bed. Hopefully I’m back soon with more amazing deals!

 

~Lissa

The Year of Me

Well as the winter continues both my mood and couponing has picked back up again. I also started back on the South Beach diet in early January and joined a gym. I’m trying to make a more concerted effort to socialize. This is my year to go a little easier in the work-so-much department and maybe finally get a bit of a life! (I’ll let you know how THAT works out

Let’s do a little rewind to January and take a look at my “resolutions” for 2011 and my new (very not formalized in any way except for what I do right now here) resolutions for 2012:

2011

1. Stick to SB diet, Phase 2 for at least 3 months, then if ok, Phase 3 indefinitely – well I think I stuck to P2 pretty well for about 2 months. Then some slip-sliding and cheating before I just gave up SB as a formal eating plan. I did better in general through the rest of the year with eating a bit more veggies (not enough) and more whole grains (but a lot of white rice/pasta again) but portion control got a little excessive. And candy. Always candy. One of my biggest issues is snacking on weekends and not planning out meals, just winging it.
2. Outside of SB, new drinking rules: no drinking between work shifts during workweek, only drinking when in a good mood, no more than 2 glasses of wine or one mixed drink when home alone, ok to drink more if with friends - yeah….this went well for awhile. Then I started going out for breakfast with one of my coworkers on her Friday (after my 2nd of 3 shifts) and would usually have 1-2 mimosas. And I found more and more reasons to have drinks at home. Now my tolerance level is ramped up to an entire bottle of wine or 4-5 mixed drinks in an evening. NOT GOOD. In general what I have found works best is to just not buy bottles of wine or hard liquor at all. If  I really want a drink, I buy 1-2 mini bottles so that I cannot overindulge at home.
3. Exercise! Stick with it! SB exercises EOD-q3days, yoga 2x weekly, walking/intervals EOD-q3days, ice-skating 2-4x monthly, dancing 1-2x monthly. - uhhhh. yeah. I never really started doing any of this. Occasional SB strethes. I did find a squar dance group at the end of the year and went a couple of times.
4. Get Pets At Home up and running. While income is majorly variable depending on level of busyness/employee numbers, aim for my income to be minimum $500/mo ($700-$3400 gross income depending on if I’m taking the jobs vs. employees)(35hr/mo-170hr/mo) – PAH is doing ok. It is very variable and I decided in November that I did not want to work on growing it at this point in time. It is providing me a very acceptable level of supplemental income with a very manageable and minimal time outlay on my part. Basically, in a good position for my financial needs and time commitment desires for just myself. Moving forward is going to require a much larger management time and effort towards promotion and finding/managing employee(s). I am in general tired of working so hard (I’ve been working 50+ hours/week for 2+ years now in addition to my VECCS application process) and just need a break before progressing with PAH. Making this decision was a HUGE mental stressor relieved and I definitely think it was the right decision.s
5. Get accepted to take VECCS exam (March), study daily SOMETHING, take test at VECCS (Sept), pass and get VTS (ECC) in November! - I did it! I passed! I am now a LVT, VTS (ECC) Woot woot!!
6. Date! - ohhh hahahaa! There was this one guy. He was a huge letdown as nothing remotely romantic happened on our “dates” Oh well. I was pretty busy most of the summer pretending to study for my boards so I didn’t put myself out there at ALL.

So what is on the agenda for 2012? Let’s see!

1. Continue with south beach again. Maintain on phase 2 for 2-3 months, then ease to a phase 3 and really commit to making this a permanent lifestyle change. I’ve found several new recipes which are phase one friendly, giving me a much wider recipe base to work with so its been even easier this time around. I think committing to this lifestyle may be a bit of a continual cyclical thing for me in some ways.

2. Exercise! Seriously. My back/hip pain last year just got to a really annoying level. My cardio, core and hand strength and flexibility is at an all-time low. I’m entirely sick of it. I finally bit the bullet and joined a gym. I obviously need that level of mental coercion and financial commitment. I also signed up with a trainer for accountability though we’ll see how that part works out. Plan: Go to the gym at least 3 times/wk (aim for 4 eventually). Do yoga 1-2 times/wk. Go square dancing 2-4 times/month. When it’s warm, walk the dog on my days off. Go ice skating 1-2 times/month.

3. Drinking. Continue with the resolutions from last year: no drinking between work shifts during workweek, only drinking when in a good mood, no more than 2 glasses of wine or mixed drinks when home alone, ok to drink more if with friends.

4. Socialize! Date a bit, hang out with friends, make efforts to go out with coworkers and develop new friendships.

 

Ok, not going to go too crazy this year. I want to just be a physically and mentally more healthy person. 2012 is the year of ME!