Shopping Around

I am busy! Any mom knows that there is no extra time to fool around. So when it comes to shopping and trying to make deals, I often have to let some go because there just isn't time in the day. I usually shop at three places: Wegmans, Walmart, & Rite Aid. Each of these places is under 5 minutes from my house. So it just makes sense. I do have a Save A Lot about 40 minutes away and several Targets about 20 to 30 minutes away. I don't have a Kroger, Publix, Acme, Weis, or any of these great stores that I see people coming home with hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for nothing. And I have recently begun to look into small town grocery stores to check their deals. There is a Big M near the local bank that I use and their ad is delivered to my mailbox every Sunday. So if I have a chance I will peek at what they have. The prices tend to be higher than Wegmans, but every once in a while I can snag a great deal. It takes 2 minutes to look over the ad and 5 minutes in the store after I stop at the bank. SO to me it's worth it.

In the picture: Big M had jelly bogo and I had two free coupons... so 4 for free!

Frugal Fun

I hate to even put the word frugal here because I think that some will automatically assume that it can't be fun. But we had SO much fun. Our family loves the local festivals, but festivals can be expensive. There is high priced food, parking, and the local artisans selling their craft. So this year we tried something new. We went before the festival started. The shots you see here are the local lilacs at Highland Park in Rochester, New York. Each year there is a famous Lilac Festival. But we went and enjoyed their beauty before the hundreds of thousands of others arrived. We had a lovely picnic in the field of lilacs, where we could enjoy each other, the sweet aroma, and some yummy food from our own cupboards and refrigerator.

I think that there are many ways to have fun without having to cost a lot if you are willing to think outside of the box. I challenge you to find a way to take something you love to do and find a way to do it for less. Maybe you love a local festival too. If it is in bloom try and go before all the hoopla arrives and enjoy the peaceful beauty! I'll be sharing more of our frugal fun throughout the nice weather months, but I encourage you to share yours too. I'd love to hear from you!

Free First Aid Kit and Coupons

Wegmans has kept their bandaid deal at 2/$3 which is great after the $1 coupons. So you can get bandaids for $0.50 a package. Well, let's sweeten that deal a little more.

Now you can mail in for $6 in coupons and/or for a free first aid kit.

Go to www.bandaid.com/safety to download forms and get information.

High Value Coupons

One of my most favorite ways to score high value coupons is to contact the company itself. I love to write to companies that I use and share my thoughts. They are usually compliments since they are from items that I do use. I am always honest and I keep it short and sweet.

Lately it seems that the return from comapnies has been sparse. A few companies told me they were going to send a coupon for a free product that ended up just being $1 off. Too bad the product wasn't free, but I am still thankful for the $1 off which is more than I would have saved for a product I was planning to purchase.

This week I am writing to:
Hidden Valley - farmhouse
Dove Chocolate - just tried the peanut butter bar in sample showcase
pantene
coca cola

As I think of more I will post. Let's have some fun too - I'll update with the results!

Wegmans and Walmart Deals

Here are a few of the cheap finds from shopping this weekend. It is obviously not all I purchased. There is no way I could feed my family of four a healthy and balanced diet from this.... but I have no cool stores like other area with their catalinas and sweet deals. So I have to get excited over these small finds.

From Wegmans:
2 Bandaids 2/$3
I used two $1 off to make them $0.50
4 Rinaldi To Be Healthy sauces $1.59 each
I used 4 $.30 off coupons that were doubled to make it $1 each
1 44oz Pasta Sauce $3.49
I used $1.50 off to make it $2
2 Garden of Eatin blue tortilla chips 2/$4
I used 2 $1 off printable coupons from their website
1 degree deodorant $.99
I used $1 off coupon from past sunday paper


From Walmart:
2 Heinz ketchups on roll back for $1 each
1 Hidden Valley Famhouse dressing $2.78
I used $2 off coupon from old sunday paper (They just keep appearing in bunches of coupons that people have given me..... yay!)

What's in my Mailbox

This week my mailbox was full of great things. Some of them included:

2 books to read - you can see in picture
coupon for free ketchup to try from All You Reality Checkers
coupon for free Oscar Mayer Bacon from Kraft First Taste
Sample Showcase from USPS
Check from Ipsos for surveys I have completed
Frozen Dinner for a product test that I am doing through Global Synovate

What did you get this week?

Rite Aid Scenarios

Update:

So far I did deal #1 and deal #2.

Not pictured are a few more dawn dish soaps and the pampers diapers. I had to send them to the babysitter already. Boy those diapers go fast. My Rite Aid was all out of dawn hand renewal. So I only got regular. Plus, I had so many coupons for Motrin PM I figured I'd pick one up now and another with third trip.

Deal #1 ended up being $1.50 plus tax (I found a $2 off coupon from a previous box of diapers).
Deal #2 ended up being $.28 plus tax.

Overall I did great. i can't wait for a chance to finish the third deal.
Deal Idea #1
4 Cover Girl Face Products (b1g1 free)
1 pampers $9.99

I will use:

$5 off $20
2 B1G1 coupons for cover girl
1 - pampers $1.50 from p&g

submit for $1.50 pampers rebate

pay about $2 plus tax

Deal Idea #2
4 Cover Girl Face Products (b1g1 free)
9 Dawn dish soap $0.99 each

I will use:

$5 off $25
2 B1G1 coupons for cover girl
$1 off dawn hand renewal from booklet mailed (I think I have 2)
$1 off 2 dawn from p&g (I will use 2)

All should be free... I might pick up 10 and use a $0.20 coupons so that I don't go under $0

Deal Idea #3
Motrin PM $5.99
Kotex Liners $0.99
4 - Carefree Liners $0.99 each
Fig Newtons $1.25
EOS $2.99
Cover Girl (eyeshadow or eyeliner)
Johnson & Johnson $2.99

I will use:
$5 off $20
$3 off Motrin in-ad
$3 off Motrin from 4/18 RP
$1 off Kotex Video values (May)
4 - $1 off Carefree (from sun paper couple weeks ago)
$1 printable for fig newtons on facebook
$2.50 off covergirl from 5/2 p&g
$1 J&J in ad
$1 J& J 3/7 RP

Submit for $2 rebate for EOS

If total is around $23 - $21.50 in coupons = $1.50
So I will make money after rebate.

I am totally wishing I had waited for the sunglasses. My daughter would love new ones. With them b1g1 50% off you could get 2 kid pairs of foster & grant at $6.99 and $3.49. You would use both April & May's video value coupons to get them for $0.48and then submit for rebate to make money on these and make a little one super happy!