Recent Deals and Grocery Shopping

Our Shop n Save (Hannaford) store is having it's 125th anniversary sale. They have a ton of items for 1.25, plus some buy $$ get $$ back deals. Today, I went in with six $3.00/1 TGIFriday's coupons, two $1.00/3 Prego Coupons, and three $1.00/2 Lean Pockets coupons. I grabbed 6 boxes of TGIFriday's frozen snacks for $3.29 each, 6 bottles of Prego sauce for $2.29 each, and 6 boxes of Lean Pockets for $1.25 each!!! So...

TGIFriday's - .29 each
Prego Sauce - 1.96 each
Lean Pockets - .75 each

I also picked up some hamburger to throw in the freezer that I'm currently working on stocking for winter. They were from yesterday and they were putting out new meat so they were marked down .50 a package. So three of those took 1.50 off my total. I needed hamburger anyway.

I ended up saving a total of 24.50 in coupons and my total was under $30.00 for 12 boxes of food, 6 bottles of pasta sauce, and three packages of hamburger! Pretty decent. PLUS!!! Because I bought $15.00 worth of TGIFriday's stuff, I got a $5.00 off my next order coupon! =) So that'll save me a few bucks next time around! I tried to find some other deals that would give me more of these coupons, but I just didn't have the time to look for the coupons to match up to their sale paper today. Maybe before Saturday when the sale ends I'll get a chance to see what else I can do.

Oh, I also used those Marcal coupons from this past insert. I got three papers because there were some weatherization product coupons and the free marcal again, plus a bunch of other coupons I have yet to even look at. So I got three packages of Marcal toilet paper for 12 cents after tax and coupons.

I REALLY need a big shelf to stock this stuff on in my basement. My hall closet needs to be emptied for food storage because my kitchen cabinets are so full. I have about 6 extra boxes of cereal, and I continue to stock up when I find a good deal.

At Target this weekend, I used two printable Target coupons from Afullcup.com that were $1.00/2 General Mills Cereals, and a $1.00/3 General Mills Cereals coupon. They had select varieties of GM Cereal on sale for 3/5.97, which is 1.99 each. After my coupons, I spent $1.65 a box. Not a huge savings, but it's better than paying 2.50 regular price at the grocery store!!!

This month my grocery budget has gone WAY farther than it normally does. I stocked up on more soups and pastas, cereal, snacks for the kids to take to school, meat, veggies. I got so much stuff that my freezer, which was completely empty less than two weeks ago, is now looking pretty full.

I bought 22 packages of frozen vegetables last week with coupons and sales. I got 20 cans of soup (campbell's and progresso), pasta (12 packages between a sale at shaw's and great use of Ronzoni coupons at Walmart), and I even got two roasts BOGO at Shaw's, and two whole chickens for .79/lb. Usually, buying meat is what monopolizes my grocery budget. I can buy tons of stuff to throw a meal together, but when it comes to buying the meat to do it, I'm always spending so much. But after putting 3 chickens, two packages of chicken breast, two roasts, and 3 packages of hamburger in my freezer this week, I still have 100 bucks left for the month! And I usually go over my grocery budget by about 100.

So... if anyone is reading this... like, anyone in particular who thinks they can't come stay at my house cause they'll starve, I think I have enough food to last a while, even with a huge crowd to feed every night. =) And there's always next month's Shaw's trip to add to my grocery stockpile!

Walmart Trip

So I had a bunch of coupons set aside for a trip to Walmart today. I went to get some laundry detergent and other stuff that I needed and figured I'd grab this other stuff too while I was there.

• (8) rolls of Viva Papertowels (MY FAVORITE) - 1.00/ea
• (2) 4 packs of Cottonelle Ultra - 3.54/ea
• (2) Pert Plus - 2.88/ea
• (1) Resolve - 3.88/ea
• (2) Glade Carpet and Room Refresher - 1.97/ea
• (4) Glade Air Freshener Spray - .97/ea
• (1) 6 pack Dove Bar Soap - 5.96
• (1) Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner - 1.93
• (1) All Small & Mighty - 4.46
• (1) Downy Fabric Softener - 4.42
• (1) Zoo Temps Thermometer - 3.50 on Clearance (reg 6.97)
• (1) Tylenol Rapid Release - 3.24
• (2) Vicks Vapo Rub Cream - 1.00/ea on Clearance (reg. 5.97)

Coupons:

• (6) .35/1 Viva
• (2) FREE Cottonelle 4 pack ($3.54 value)
• (1) $2.00/1 Tylenol Rapid Release
• (1) .50/1 Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• (2) BOGO Glade Air Freshener Spray
• (2) $1.00/1 Glade Carpet and Room Deodorizer
• (2) $2.00/1 Pert Plus Shampoo and Conditioner
• (1) $1.00/6 Dove Bar Soaps
• (1) $1.00/1 All Small & Mighty
• (1) $1.00/1 Downy
• (2) $1.00/1 ANY Kimberly-Clark Product (Viva)

Total before coupons: $58.05
Total coupons: $26.62
Total AFTER coupons: $31.43

So, it's not the BEST savings, but considering that I needed to pick up some items that I didn't have great coupons for, I did alright. It left me a little extra money to buy my son some fall shoes. =) Not to mention, I got really cheap vicks vaporub on clearance (I'm sure there's a coupon somewhere I could have used to get it free) and a cute little Froggy Thermometer. =)

Stockpile Update

My dream of getting a grocery stockpile started is finally starting to come together! I went shopping at Shaw's with a bunch of coupons yesterday and got Hamburger Helper (not a frequent meal in our house, but a nice quick supper to have on hand), cereal, snacks for the kids, and a few other items that were on sale. I used their sale paper, some good coupons that doubled, and took my total from 183.00 to 128.00 after coupons!!! I actually saved 94.00 according to my receipt, but that was including their "sale prices", which were pretty close to, if not more than Walmart's regular prices. But after those coupons doubled, a lot of that stuff was SUPER cheap! Hunt's Snack Pack Puddings for 25 cents each, Success Rice for 69 cents for a box of 4 Boil in Bag (reg 2.69 but after a fortunate peelie that the cashier scanned in WITH my own coupon, I got $2.00 per box off!), and Bar S franks for 50 cents a package (not my favorite brand, but it pays NOT to be brand specific).

I also got a chance to go to Super Walmart and Target yesterday and got a BUNCH of free stuff. At Walmart, I got Post Its for a 92 cent (total) overage on 4 packages, two more packages of Kotex for FREE, a 2.00 (total) overage on two trial size packages of Dove Shampoo, and 2 packages of Huggies Cleanteam for 18 cents per package. Then at Target, I got 5 trial size bottles of Tresemme Hairspray for 3 cents overage on each one, and 5 packages of Durex with a 1.00 overage on EACH package! I've never shopped for overage, but I used it as an experiment this time, and it actually worked.

I reorganized my "stockpile" today and I figured I would post some pictures. I'm hoping in the next few weeks, I can start putting things in the basement and stocking my freezer. I have to buy a couple of shelves, and they have some good ones at Target and Sam's. I really hope to get them so I can get things put away a little better. The cabinets in my kitchen are not made to STORE food. They're only made for temporary storage, and very small quantities.

Here's what I did so far:

17 Kotex, 3 Durex Rings, 5 Durex 2 Pack, 2 Dove Trial Shampoo, 1 Carefree Thong

3 Airborn, 3 Triaminic, 5 degree Deodorants , 5 TresEmme Hairspray, 4 Skintimate, 4 Edge Gel, 2 Gillette Series, 1 package Schick Basic Razors, Trial Scope.

2 Cleanteam Softpacks, 2 Cleanteam Refills, 2 Cottonelle Tubs, 1 Kandoo Refill, 1 WetOnes Travel, 37 Buddies, Arm & Hammer Tooth Paste, Gum Toothbrush

6 Glade Flameless Candles, 2 Febreze Noticeables, 6 Sudacare Shower Soothers, 2 Vivarin, 1 Sudacare Vapor Plug Unit, 3 Vapor Plug Refills

Kitchen Pantry: 8 Au Gratin Potatoes, 6 Barilla Pasta, 7 HB Helper, 2 Suddenly Salad, 9 Libby's Whole Kernel Corn, 9 Libby's French Style Green Beans, 10 Campbell's Tomato Soup, 4 Cream Soups, 2 Success Rice, 4 Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, 4 Easy Mac Cups, 1 HB Helper Singles, 4 Knorr Rice Sides

sweet weekend deals

Over the weekend, I went to a friend's house for a couple of days of scrapbooking. The second day I decided not to scrap, so I brought all of my unclipped coupons over and decided to go through them all and get everything organized.
Before I went over the first day, though, I'd gone to Wal-Mart. I'm trying to cut out soda, but I get migraines if I don't drink it, so I remembered seeing some Vivarin caffiene pills on a clearanced end cap. I stopped over to pick some up and I saw a whole bunch of other clearanced out stuff. There was a sudacare Vapor Plug for 1.50, the refills for 1.00, Triaminic tongue strips for cough, cough with cold, and just cold, all for 1.00. So I figured I'd pick up a few things since cold and flu season will be on us any minute. I ended up getting about 100.00 or more in drugs for only $14.00. I thought I'd done so great with my deal shopping. But, when I got home, I was looking through the paper I'd bought and there was a coupon for Airborn, 2.00 off. It was only 1.50 on that end cap!!! So I figured, if there's a coupon for this in the paper, I must be able to find printables for Sudacare and Vivarin. I ended up finding 2.00 off Sudacare products, which were only 1.00, and 1.00/1 Vivarin, which were 2.00. I bought two Shower Soothers (those tablets you put in the shower that vaporize and clear up your head cold and chest congestion), two Airborn, and two Vivarin, and it ended up costing me nothing! I bought a pair of leggings and another weekend paper to balance out the difference. This deal couldn't have come at a better time either because one of my boys got sick on Sunday night with a cough and that Vapor Plug does WONDERS!!! Not to mention, the Triaminic cough strips he's been taking!

So, I took my free purchases over to my friends house, and clipped my coupons, and went through the whole paper finding good deals. A friend said that Rite-Aid had the Glade Wisp Flameless Candle on sale for 5.99. It's usually about 9.97 at Walmart, so I thought wow, if I had a coupon for that, it might be worth picking up a few. Well, I bought 4 papers over the weekend and they all had a $5.00 off Glade Wisp coupon!!! So I've gotten 4 so far, for 1.29 each, including tax. I have 5 more coupons that a friend gave me (I traded for the free Marcal papertowel coupons that were also in the paper) because she can't use air fresheners anyway (some kind of allergy, I'm assuming). So, I made out pretty well on those. I have until Saturday night to pick up the rest, and I'm thinking it won't be too hard to do since I go to the store at least once a day, and Walmart will price match it as long as I have the Rite-Aid paper, which I have in my wallet at all times. =)

Oh, one more thing. I planned a shopping trip for Sunday. I'm going to Shaws and Target to see what they have for deals. I've gathered all of my coupons that double and am waiting for the new sale paper to be available so I can see what I can get super cheap or perhaps free! I love the Target deals, especially since I'm starting to build a collection of coupons so there's a chance now that I can find one to use on most products that they might have a really good buy 4/get a $5.00 giftcard, like the poptart deal.

So, I'll post my finds on that when I get back on Sunday, and until then, I'll be looking for more ridiculous clearanced items for free, or sweet coupon deals to post about.

Stockpile

Ya, so it's not a stockpile, really. And my goal isn't to have a thousand packages of Kotex, or two hundred buddies soaps. I've been stocking up on the stuff I had coupons for free stuff, and once those run out, I'm not trading for more. I'd really like to get a grocery stockpile. Canned goods, dry goods, etc. I have a dream of having a huge pantry someday, just filled with stuff. That way, when I go grocery shopping, I only have to spend money on meats, dairy, and fresh fruits and veggies. I have a deep freeze but I need to clean it out and start getting it stocked with frozen veggies and stuff. I'm not sure if you can find awesome coupons for that stuff, but if you can, I'm hoping to get all stocked on it all. I have this fear of running out of food sometimes. Never in my life have I ever been in that situation, but it's a panicky feeling to know you're down to not many groceries and not much money left. I know how to make it stretch into a few decent meals (not just boxed mac n cheese or ramen) when it comes down to shopping with little and trying to get a lot. So hopefully I can stockpile with coupons and not have to worry about it ever again. =)

Here's a pic of my pathetic little stash so far. No grocery items yet (other than my 4 boxes of pop tarts from last night, but I don't keep those in my bathroom closet. =)

Buddies Soaps, Kotex, wet wipes (cleanteam, kandoo, and cottonelle), various items, deodorants, shave gels, and one of the few durex rings. =)

Paper towels (not really stockpiled anymore since I'm down to 2 again), tissues, q-tips, and tp (about 10 rolls total... there are some on a bottom shelf too. )

I was looking at stockpile pics last night and was in awe over some people's ability to stock up on stuff. It was like looking at a grocery store. They have their basements lined with metal shelves stocked with canned goods, formula, diapers, wipes, water... one lady even had about 40 12 packs of coke! Like soda would last that long here... =) I had ten 12 packs this summer stacked in the corner of my kitchen and I'm not kidding, they were gone in a week and a half.

But anyway, hopefully someday I'll have a food cupboard in my basement and all my poor family members can come over and get food in the winter when they're starving and have no money for groceries. =) Actually, I think I'd keep it a secret cause my NOT poor family members would probably be moochin' my stash. lol

Poptarts...

I went to Target the other day on my trial run shopping spree. While I was there I missed a HUGE deal. Well, maybe not huge to normal people, but to me, it was the worst miss ever.

Target had a 4/$9.00 deal on various products (Poptarts and Rice Krispy Treats, a couple others) and when you buy 4, you get a $5.00 Target giftcard. I had missed that in the sale paper and read about it in a forum after I'd already been to the nearest store, which is about 45 miles away. I wasn't about to pay $20.00 in gas to get Pop Tarts that cheap.

Today, a friend said she needed to go down and look for Scrappin' stuff for a big day we have planned for tomorrow. Her mom said she didn't want her driving down alone and suggested I ask to go with her. I was about to text her and ask and she texted ME asking if i wanted to ride with her! So of course, I went, hoping she'd swing into Target so I could pick this deal up.

I printed off a few Target coupons from afc and took them in hoping for the best.

I got 4 12 pack boxes of Pop Tarts for 9.00

I had 4 .50/1 Target coupons for Pop Tarts, bringing me down to 7.00 total.

I got a $5.00 giftcard for my purchase (which is being saved for Christmas shopping) bringing my grand OOP down to $2.00!!! I got FOUR boxes of Pop Tarts for 50 cents each!!!

I've been waiting to try a Target deal but I haven't been able to get down there for one, and when I missed this one the first time around, I was pretty bummed.

Target Trial Run

I took my first coupon trip to Target today. It's about 45 miles from my house so I just figured I'd stop in on my way back from getting my books at the college I go to (online) that's about 100 miles from home. I wouldn't have gone to Target just for this stuff, so since I was going right by, I got my coupons that had no exclusions on size and headed in to scope out their Trial Size section. At our tiny WalMart, we have a few things, but nothing special so I was hoping for the best with Target.

Target has an entire aisle filled with trial and sample size items. I didn't dare to use a 2.00 off any Dove Shampoo on a 97 cent item but I did use a bunch of good coupons and got this whole lot of stuff for super cheap!

All Small & Mighty (2 Load Size) - 2 @ 1.00 ea.
Degree Women Deodorant - 2 @ 1.00 ea.
Degree Men Deodorant - 2 @ 1.00 ea.
Gillette Series Shave Gel - 2 @ 1.00 ea.
Wet Ones Travel Pack - 1 @ .97
Durex Condoms 2 pack - 1 @ 1.00
Tide 2x (1 Load Size) - 4 @ 1.00 ea.
Tylenol Trial (8 count) - 2 @ 1.00 ea.
Advil Trial (10 Count) - 1 @ 1.00 ea.
Sunsilk Hair Creme - 1 @ 2.75 (Sale)

Coupons Used:
2 - 1.00/1 any All Small & Mighty
1 - 1.00/2 any Degree Women
1 - 1.00/2 any Degree Men
2 - 1.00/1 any Gillette Series Gel
1 - .75/1 any Wet Ones
1 - 2.00/1 any Durex Product
2 - 1.00/2 any Tide
2 - 1.00/1 any Tylenol
1 - 1.00/1 anyAdvil
1 - 1.50/1 any Sunsilk Hair Creme

Total Cost - 19.72
Total Coupons - 15.25
Total OOP - 4.47!!!

So I was super excited to use up some coupons that I'd never use on something else. The Tide wasn't really that great of a deal, but I wanted to use them and now I have 4 loads of laundry detergent in case I ever run out of my regular stuff. The Advil was actually supposed to be 1.97 but they gave it to me at 1.00 anyway because it was in the trial bin with the other Advil packets. I also got an overage of 1.00 on the Durex coupon! I had 5 more of them and had I known she was just going to hit enter on it, I would have gotten another 5 boxes. I don't use them and won't need to for a while, but with a 1.00 overage on all of the boxes, the rest of my stuff would have been free! I did buy a maternity shirt and a couple of shirts on clearance for the boys so my actual total was a little more, but I just threw the trial stuff in the cart to see how well it worked. From now on, I'm scanning the papers for trial coupons and saving them up for my shopping trips to Target! =)

Cheap Dog Food!

I went to walmart today and thought I'd pick up a couple of things. I got my usual free package of Kotex with my $1/1 coupon. I also got the new September All You, even though there aren't nearly as good coupons in this months as the August issue! I thought I would check and see how much cans of Purina dog food were, since a friend just gave me four coupons to add the one I already had for b1g1. I didn't even get that far because on an end cap they had two kinds of dog food. One was 18 something and the other was 10.98. I walked by it at first because I wasn't there for dry food and my dog isn't even close to running out. I realized though that for a bag that huge, it would be ridiculous to pay 10.98 so something must be wrong. I went back to see what kind it was and figured Walmart Brand at best. It was PURINA DOG CHOW!!! That's the kind we buy our dog, though we usually buy the 7 lb. bags because he's a Jack Russell Terrier and doesn't really eat it that fast. =) But hey, for 10.98, I could buy 44 lbs of dog food. Of course, since I had a 4.00/1 Purina Dog Chow coupon, I was definitely going to buy it. =) I usually think 3.47 for a 7 lb bag is a good coupon deal, but 6.98 for a 44 lb bag is even better! So now my little doggy has enough dog food to last until the end of the year at least, and I still have one more $4/1 coupon left so here's hoping I can find another good deal like that again before it expires on 12/31. =)

So, that was my deal of the day. I got a couple other things cheap today in the Walmart Clearance category and am now up to 4 Christmas presents that are done. I bought two fleece blankets (Spiderman and Cars) and two Planet Heroes for Josh's Christmas presents. I'd like to get Jason's a fleece blanket like the ones I bought for the other two boys but they didn't have a Batman one and that's usually his thing. So maybe I'll find something eventually. But it's a good start to the Christmas shopping season. I have almost 4 months to get the rest of the gifts done but it's always nice to have a couple done so it doesn't seem so stressful shopping for everything at once.

Fun Saving at Walmart!!! =)

So this is today's shopping trip. I had two different stops, but this is just from Walmart. I know a lot of people don't like shopping at Walmart because they offer nothing extra (store coupons, cash back, rebates, etc.) but I really have no other choice but to shop there. I have a Hannaford and a Rite Aid in my town and they generally have higher prices and no rewards programs/coupon doubling.

So today, I went to Walmart with all of my coupons organized and my price match fliers ready. I had heard of some coupons in All You magazine on Deal Finding Mom's blog. Kraft had several products with B3G1 coupons (Dressing, Singles Cheese, Hot Dogs, Crystal Light, and Wheat Thins). So I figured I'd take advantage of that and see how it worked out.

My list was as follows:
Cocoa Puffs - 1.98
Crystal Lite - 2.98
Cookie Crisp - 1.98
Wheat Thins - 2.98
Juicy Juice Apple 8 pack - 2.50
Kraft Mac and Cheese - 3/1.50
Koolaid - 3/.60
Airwick Scented Oil Warmer - .97
Ziploc Bags - 1.97
Kotex Liners - 1.00
Jumbone 2 pack - 3.47
Alpo Canned Dog Food - .58 each, 12 cans
Cottonelle Ultra 4 Pack - 3.57
Cottonelle Wipes - 2.48
Airwick Scented Oil - 3.27
Airwick Scented Oil - 3.27
Razors - .97

Coupons:
6 B1G1 Alpo Dog Food = 3.48 Savings
Wheat Thins G1Free (wyb 3 kraft prods) = 2.98 Savings
Cottonelle Wipes Adjusted to 1.99 (Rite Aid Sale) + 1.00 Coupon = 1.49 Savings
Cottonelle Ultra Adjusted to 2.49 (Rite Aid Sale) + 1.00 Coupon = 2.00 Savings
Jumbone 1.00/1 = 1.00 Savings
Airwick Refills 1.00/2 = 1.00 Savings
Free Airwick Warmer WYB 1 Oil Refill = .97 Savings
Cocoa Puffs .75/1 = .75 Savings
Kotex 1.00/1 = 1.00 Savings (FREE Product!)
Ziploc .75/1 = .75 Savings
Crystal Lite G1Free (wyb 3 kraft prods) = 2.98 Savings
Juicy Juice 1.00/1 = 1.00 Savings

Total Before Coupons/Adjustments: $41.11
Total Savings After Coupons/Adjustments: $19.48!!!!!

Total After Savings/Adjustments: $21.63!!! (+ tax)

I think I did pretty well. That's just about a 50% savings! =) I walked away with 4 free products, total, got cereal and baggies for 1.23 each, and 12 cans of dog food for 3.48! That's almost two weeks' worth of food for my little mutt! =) I also used koolaid and kraft mac n cheese for my 3 kraft products on those coupons. That totaled up to be 2.10 and I got 6.00 in product free. I also used that deal at the grocery store to get free hot dogs and only used koolaid, so i got hot dogs and koolaid for a total of 75 cents (koolaid is a little more expensive there).

Again, I made a list of things I needed/wanted and then checked my coupons for various items, then threw in the good deal coupons just to make things more interesting. =) Of course, I annoyed the crap out of the cashier that rung it all up, between having to write in the amounts of most of the items (dog food, kraft foods, and the airwick warmer). But oh well, that's her job, and her IPH (Items per hour) dropped WAY down. =) But it was worth all the savings!

I ended up saving a not as impressive 6.20 at the grocery store, but i spent around 20 after discounts cause i was grabbing supper ingredients. I ended up with the Oscar Mayer hot dogs free, and a few 1.00 off coupons. So, it worked out alright, just not impressive enough for pictures and a breakdown. =)

spent little, got lots!

I went to the store today to buy a few things (mainly toilet paper, milk, and bread) and this is what I came back with. And I only ended up spending 3.96 OOP. =)

Rite Aid had Cottonelle toilet paper on sale for 2.49 so I took their sale paper to Wal-Mart and had them do a price match. I also had a coupon for it too. I used WIC to buy the milk, eggs, grape juice and cheese, so those were all free. (Anyone who doesn't get WIC and might qualify (their income standards are high so even if you don't think you qualify, you probably do!!!) should totally see about getting it. I usually get about 40.00 in free groceries per month for only having one child on the program, before that, I had more milk, cheese, eggs, peanut butter, juice, and cereal than I knew what to do with!)

Wal-Mart:

Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper (4 pk. Double Roll) - reg. 3.57, price adjusted to 2.49, - 50 cent coupon.

Kotex Light Days - reg. 1.00, - 1.00/1 coupon (FREE!)

Johnson Buddy Soap - reg. 97 cents (they just raised the price 3 cents since yesterday!) - 1.00/1 coupon (3 cent overage!)

My total at Wal-Mart was $2.18 OOP after adjustments and coupons.

Shop-n-Save (aka Hannaford):

2 Gallons Hood Light Milk

1 pkg. Kraft Deli Style American Cheese

2 cans Welch's White Grape Juice frozen concentrate

1 doz large brown eggs

All free through WIC program.

1 loaf Giant White Bread - 1.49

1 pkg. TGIFriday's Potato Skins Frozen Snacks - reg. $3.29, - $3.00/1 printable coupon from TGIFriday website.

Total at SnS: $1.78

$3.96 total OOP!!!

I'm so proud of myself for bringing home four bags of stuff for less than $4.00. I guess I cheated by using WIC, but I just went back on the program as part of my plan to start saving a little more each month.

First Blog

So, I'm not a blogger. But when I talk sometimes, people tend to make fun of my long-windedness. =) So I'm gonna start posting a blog to keep track of all the things I'm not talking to everyone else about, or have already worn out on my husband.

I'm basically starting this blog because I read someone else's and it's devoted to posting freebie deals and ways to save. My husband works at home and I am a stay at home mom. I'm trying to figure out any way I can to make things easier on us financially without having to actually go out and get a job. I have two children in school but I still have one at home and plan to have at least one more before I decide to go back to work. I want to make sure the last ones are at least in Kindergarten before I start working outside the home again.

So, in the mean time, I'm devoting all of my leftover energy to finding ways to save a little. This week, I started off with a bang.

A few months ago, a friend of mine referred me to the site www.afullcup.com and I signed up but never returned. She is always getting great deals on stuff and tells me all about how she has 216 bars of free Johnson & Johnson Buddies soap, or 86 tubs of Huggies baby wipes that she got for 14 cents a tub at Target. I think some of this is a little excessive, but it's quite inspiring that someone can get that much for so little, just by using coupons.

So, this past week, a website that I signed up for a while back, www.mypoints.com, sent me a link to print grocery coupons. I printed off a few, then went to afullcup to see if there were anymore deals. There is a Target coupon generator, which I couldn't use because the nearest store is 45 miles from here, and a Coupon Search Database. I looked for printables, found several that I wanted, and started printing.

On Thursday, I went grocery shopping and decided to pick up a few extra things while I was there. I ended up saving, in total, 13.95 at just Walmart and 7.20 at Shop-n-save (Hannaford). I was pretty impressed since I didn't buy anything I normally wouldn't have bought. On Friday, I went back to Walmart and picked up a few things for a BBQ we were having the day after, and I ended up saving another 6.00 in coupons. Again, I bought nothing extra that I normally wouldn't have bought. I've made a couple more trips to pick up papergoods and health and beauty stuff, and after tallying it all up, I saved a total of 60.15 since Thursday. 60.15 seems like a lot to save in coupons, so I must have spent a whole lot to save so much. I actually didn't. I did my normal grocery shopping and instead of waiting until the next paycheck to pick up things a little at a time, I used my coupons for practically free items and bought our deodorant, toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, dog food, and other items all at once.

After saving so much in such a small amount of time, I'm excited to start deal shopping. I'm going to start living for sale flyers and planning all of my shopping trips around the sale papers. Coupons are a new passion, and I will print as many as I can for relevant items that I buy anyway. And if there's something free that I don't necessarily need but would try, I'm gonna go for it!

I don't want an extravagant stock pile, but I'd love to be able to use coupons to get a winter's worth of toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste stocked up so I don't have to waste a bit of our precious winter funds on anything unecessary.

One other trick I'm trying, and it seems to be working, is paying for as much as I can with cash, and always paying up a dollar, instead of using exact change. When I'm done shopping, I bring home the change I got back and throw it in a giant jar. We've been doing this for a couple of months and so far we've saved well over $60.00 at last count. It's a family effort. The kids are saving for a big wooden swingset. We said we would buy them a new one this year, and were going to settle for a metal one, but we asked if they would want to help save for a big one by putting change in a jar and they agreed to help out. They can keep their allowance, and even keep their spare change if they want to, but they usually put all of their extra change into the jar. No bills are allowed in (they might get stuck) and it gives them a chance to save a little for themselves. They still have their own piggy banks for personal savings. But they've been great about throwing any pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters that they find laying around or get back at the store into that big jar. The good thing about the jar is that it's not even up to an inch of change yet and we have that much money already! I can't imagine if it was actually full! And our rule of not cashing the change in when things get tight has really been going well. This is a dedicated Swing Set fund and the kids will have the best swingset they can buy with that money, with us pitching in whatever's necessary to make up the difference (although I doubt we'll have any trouble buying a good one by next spring!!!)

So... those are my goals. Stock up on necessities before winter (so things won't get frantic when it comes down to buying fuel or toilet paper) and keep on saving in the change jar for that swing set! Who knows, maybe we'll have enough to buy that super huge swingset I've been eyeing at Sam's Club for the past year. (It has a deck and a club house on top!!!)