Has February been as crazy for you guys as it has been for us? It’s been one of those months where everything breaks down at once. We kicked off February 1st with a broken furnace, which had me wringing my hands envisioning what it would cost to replace. Luckily for me, Jai figured out what was wrong and how to change out the part himself – and the best part? It only cost $44. How’s that for frugal? Almost as soon as that emergency was dealt with, my desktop PC got hammered by a nasty rootkit virus that resulted in having to reload everything, leaving it down for the count for almost a week. Luckily, we haven’t had any disasters occur so far this week! 😉

But despite all this, I’ve actually managed to do several coupon shopping trips – hooray for healing kneecaps! Since I have many to report, I’m just going to give you a quick overview of each one. I don’t have all the receipts in front of me since my work area is torn up (Jai has also been working on additions to a custom desk he built for me amidst all this chaos!) so I’ll just give you a summary.

Safeway, January 27th:

I used a $1/1 Activia coupon from the 1/15 SmartSource insert to get the yogurt for .38 cents after doubles, and a .50/1 Carefree coupon from SheSpeaks to get the pantiliners for free.

Our Safeway did not have one of the items I needed in stock, so we headed up to Astoria and bought milk, half and half, and Bertolli Meal Soup, which was free after coupons provided by the company for the purposes of writing an article on Contest Corner.

Dollar Tree, January 27th:

We stopped by Dollar Tree on the way home from Astoria to pick up a variety of supplies for $1 each. I liked to stock up on rice, beans, and canned tomatoes whenever I’m there in order to make chili. It’s actually cheaper to buy canned tomatoes than fresh at the moment!

Safeway, February 2nd:

Jai went to the store on my behalf and picked up milk, half and half, 4 boxes of Barilla pasta, and 2 packages of Stayfree. The pasta was free plus .20 cents overage after using four .55/1 coupons which doubled; one of the Stayfree packages was also free using a “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon. I received these coupons through trading (More on that below).

Safeway, February 6th:

This was another trip that Jai did on my behalf because I wasn’t feeling well. I gave him a detailed list with many coupons, and he did great! He got a paper, a gallon of milk, 4 quarts of half & half, 4 boxes of pasta, 1 bag of 6 turkey burger patties, and one Fresh Express Salad Kit. The turkey burgers were $3.99 after a printable coupon paired with an in-store coupon (More on that here), and the pasta was free plus .20 cents overage after using four .55/1 coupons which doubled. The salad kit should have been free, because it was on sale for $2 and he had a $2 off coupon. However, when he was assembling his coupons at the checkout, the salad coupon accidentally got sucked under the conveyor belt!! Oh, the crazy mishaps that can occur when you use coupons! Oh well, I was still super happy with the deals he got. The instructions I have him were somewhat complicated and he did a fab job following it to a T!

Safeway, February 14th:

I bought 4 packages of Stayfree and used two “Buy One, Get One Free” coupons and two $1/1 printable coupons, which I got while signing up for a free sample. My final cost for all four was $3.98.

Safeway, February 16th:

Finally, we have yesterday’s shopping trip. This was for a project I am working on over at Contest Corner to assemble a cold & flu kit. I will be reimbursed for what I bought and compensated for the project. All told, my total was $36.03. I got Florida’s Natural orange juice, Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, AirChews, Caltrate chews ($8.99 after using a $1/1 printable coupon – that’s my referral link, FYI.), the new issue of Rolling Stone, a tub of yogurt that was on 50% markdown, a gallon of milk that was on 50% markdown, two boxes of Kleenex which were .99 cents each after using a coupon from the store circular, and three bottles of International Delight, which were $1.44 each after using three .75/1 coupons, which doubled. These coupons also came through a trade.

Part of this project was to create a Google+ photo album documenting my shopping trip. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when I go shopping and how I organize it, it might be of interest to you to check out. You can view the photo album here.

Phew! That was a lot of trips to cover! As you can see, I’m getting back into the swing of things little by little. It’s hard dealing with limited mobility, but when I stop and look at all those shopping trips it’s a reminder of how far I’ve come from even a few months ago. As I mentioned earlier in the post, I’ve even had a chance to start coupon trading again – if you don’t know what that is, click here to read my article about it. I got the Stayfree BOGO coupons, .55/1 Barilla coupons, .75/1 International Delight coupons, and a few others in exchange for three Forever stamps. Normally, I factor in the cost of the stamps when figuring out how much I’ll save through trading, but this time the stamps were actually free. You see, I recently began participating in a program where I report on mail that I receive. They send me catalogs and other periodicals, and I call an automated hotline to report what date I received them on, to help them track their promotions, work out their mailing schedule, that sort of thing. It only takes a few moments to do when the mail comes in, and to thank me for participating, I receive 10 Forever stamps each month. Occasionally, the periodicals I receive include manufacturer’s coupons, which is an added bonus! For the time it takes me to do, I consider it a good investment since these stamps can in turn can be traded for coupons that get me great deals. The program which I participate in is invite-only and has specifically asked for its info not to be posted online, which is why I’m not linking to them.

Oh, and if you’d like to get an idea of what we’ve been eating, you can click here to check out my crockpot chili recipe. I’ve been chopping the turkey burgers into pieces to stretch them and bulk out the chili. It’s such a frugal, easy, and tasty dish – in fact, I have some of this chili in the slow cooker as we speak! 😀

What deals have you gotten this month?

Since I’ve been gone for almost four months, we’re a little low on food, so I’ve been re-stocking our supplies over the last week. I made a trip to Dollar Tree and Safeway yesterday – first up, Dollar Tree:

Total spent: $24.00
View receipt

1 package of napkins – Price: $1.00
2 bags of rice – Price: $2.00
2 bags of pinto beans – Price: $2.00
2 bags of kidney beans – Price: $2.00
2 two-packs of chandelier light bulbs – For the chandelier in my living room – great price! Price: $2.00
3 boxes of quart bags, 22-count – I will need these for freezing all the onions I bought last week! 😀 Price: $3.00
2 packages of gallon-size freezer bags, 12-count – Price: $2.00
1 phone coupler and 1 USB cable – Jai picked these items up for his computer business – Price: $2.00
1 roll of foil – Price: $1.00
3 packages of tortillas – Price: $3.00
1 large can of crushed tomatoes – Price: $1.00
1 package of ant traps – Good price, so I’m planning ahead with this purchase since we seem to need these every summer! Price: $1.00
1 bottle of dish soap – I actually received a gallon of dish soap for a review last month, and we needed a smaller bottle to keep by the sink since the gallon container is unwieldy. We decided that the best thing to do would be to grab a bottle of this inexpensive dish soap, and then re-use the bottle once it is empty! Price: $1.00
1 package of Jalapeno cheese slices – I thought these would be good to cut up and melt in burritos or chili – Price: $1.00

Next stop, Safeway, where I did two transactions and got the following items:

Transaction #1:

Total spent: $8.10
Total before coupons & promotions: $11.20
View receipt

Got:

Four boxes of General Mills cereal – on sale for $1.99 when you buy four boxes, and I used two coupons for $1.00/2 GM cereals that came from a coupon booklet that I found in the store. These coupons also doubled, making the final price $4.96 for all four, and I received a catalina for a free gallon of milk for purchasing the cereal. (Thanks for Frugal Living NW for this tip!)
1 Carefree sample – This sample is free with your Safeway club card (Or .10 without a club card) – you can find the display with it in the feminine care aisle. Price: Free!
1 bottle of wine – Price: $3.14

Remember the crazy receipt I received last time I was in Safeway? Well, unfortunately it looks like they are keeping that format. On this receipt, you will notice that one of my coupons is not even mentioned on the receipt, even though I saw it scan correctly, and I know it deducted from the total because the final price is correct. This is going to be a pain, since it will make it trickier to ensure that everything scans correctly at checkout going forward. Has anyone else noticed their Safeway receipts have changed format, or is it just this store?

Transaction #2:

Total spent: $2.50
Total before coupons: $5.39
View receipt

1 gallon of milk – Regularly $2.89, used the free milk catalina that I received during the first transaction. Final price: Free!
1 Sunday paper – I forgot to get one the day before, but I lucked out and got the very last one that they had! Price: $2.50

Now that I’m back home, I’ve been busy unpacking and getting caught up. I headed out to do some shopping last Saturday to stock up on some supplies and check out my new favorite store: Dollar Tree!

Total spent: $15.50
View receipt

Yes, Dollar Tree has opened a new location in my area! I can’t tell you how excited this makes me. We don’t have any other dollar stores in the area currently, so this will make a big difference in my budget – not to mention, I also consider Dollar Tree to be the best dollar store because of what they carry. So I was excited for my very first visit! Here’s what I picked up on my first trip:

1 bottle of Vanilla extract – Killer deal on this item, so I had to grab a bottle! Price: $1.00
1 tooth whitening kit – Just for fun, thought I’d give this a try! Price: $1.00
1 box of Crunch & Munch – Jai wanted this! 😉 Price: $1.00
1 package of fig bars – This was Jai’s also! Price: $1.00
1 box of sleep aid – Price: $1.00
1 package of lithium batteries – This item was another fabulous buy – Price: $1.00
1 balloon – Price: $1.00
1 box of Brillo pads with soap – Price: $1.00
1 package of scrubber sponges – Price: $1.00
1 package of regular sponges – Whenever I’ve visited Dollar Tree stores in the past, I’ve always stocked up on sponges because they have MUCH better prices than any other store around here! Price: $1.00
1 package of two drain stoppers – Another miscellaneous item we needed – Price: $1.00
1 package of coffee filters – Just in time, we were running low – Price: $1.00
1 package of produce bags – After reading Faylee’s guest post about produce bags, I was eager to try them myself! Price: $1.00
1 package of bread bags – Similar concept to the produce bags – this will be fantastic for my homemade bread! Price: $1.00
1 card – Price: .50 cents
1 package of frozen french fries – Price: $1.00

After Dollar Tree, we hit up Safeway for a few items:

Total spent: $7.99
Total before coupons: $32.14
View receipt

Got:

2 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats: Touch of Fruit – normally $2.99 each, and I had one $1.00/1 coupon, which doubled, and one “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon, making the final price $1.49 for both. There is also a “Try-Me-Free” rebate on the box, which will make it free less the cost of a stamp – possibly with a small profit, if they decide to refund me the pre-coupon amount! Both of these coupons came with a free sample that I got from Vocalpoint. If you aren’t a Vocalpoint member, click here to read my article about it – I highly recommend it as a source for high-value coupons!

1 bag of Malt-o-Meal Fruity Dyno-Bites – normally $3.59, used one free product coupon that I won in a giveaway – final price: Free!

1 gallon of milk – price: $2.49

1 package of Hebrew National hot dogs – regularly $5.99, used one free product coupon – final price: Free! I received this coupon because I am working with Hebrew National on an upcoming giveaway – so stay tuned for that, because several Super Coupon Girl readers will win free hot dog coupons of their own in the near future!

1 package of hot dog buns – price: $1.49

5.52 lbs of bananas and 1.90 lbs of apples – I had a printable coupon for $1.00 off your produce purchase of $5.00 or more which I got through this offer, so I chose the cheapest produce – bananas were .64 cents per pound, apples were .78 cents per pound – and weighed it out until I had exactly $5.02 worth. After using my $1.00 off coupon, I paid only $4.02.

1 package of Earthbound Farm organic, pre-washed & peeled baby carrots – Regularly $3.59, used one free product coupon that I got thanks to an offer I participated in via their mailing list – final price: Free!

1 tub of Sabra garlic hummus – regularly $3.99, used one free product coupon that I received for a post I did on Contest Corner – final price: Free!

The cashier also doubled three of my “Free” coupons, deducting an extra $1.50 from my total. I’ve been told conflicting things regarding whether “Free” coupons can be doubled or not, and since Safeway seems to be changing its policy every month now, it’s getting hard to keep up!
Also, my “Buy one, get one free” cereal coupon deducted $4.19 initially, so the cashier adjusted it down by adding $1.20 to my total – just in case anyone gets confused deciphering my receipt! 🙂