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Archive for October, 2008
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Total spent: .46 cents
Total before coupons: $31.25
View Receipt #1 View receipt #2
Got:
4 packages of Goldfish crackers – on sale for $1.00, used four .50/1 coupons that I got in the mail – free after doubles!
A 5 pound bag of flour
A 10 ounce bag of organic, fair trade coffee
1 packet of Ramen
2 Glade Plug-Ins – used one “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon from the 9/28 SmartSource newspaper inserts
4 Zone Perfect bars – on sale for $1.00, used four $1/1 coupons from the 9/7 SmartSource newspaper inserts. Free plus .50 cents of overage each after doubles!
For the first transaction, I bought the Plug-Ins and used a $4 catalina plus overage from the four Zone bars to pay for it. I needed a small filler item, so I also got the packet of Ramen. I paid .08 cents and got $8 in catalinas back for purchasing the plug-ins.
Then I used the $8 in catalinas plus another $3 catalina from Monday’s trip to pay for the coffee and flour that I needed. I also picked up the Goldfish, since they were free (not to mention tasty!). And I still have a $4 catalina left from Monday to spend next time.
Posted in Safeway | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
I just discovered that Safeway offers special printable coupons on their website. I knew for some time that they offered printables, but I thought they were the same ones that appear on Coupons.com. But Safeway has sweetened the deal by offering special, store-specific coupons in addition to the usual Coupons.com fare. They currently offer coupons for grapes, bagels, even flowers. Produce coupons are few and far between, so this is a good one! When I printed them, they said “Save with card & coupon. Limit one with minimum $10 purchase. Customer pays any sales tax. Not to be used in conjunction with any other coupon. Valid 10-22 through 10-28.” I don’t know if the valid dates vary depending on when you print them, or if it’s a limited time offer. However, it appears that these coupons can be doubled, if your store will double coupons.
Click here to access these coupons!
Posted in Safeway | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
ETA: Sadly, this deal is no longer available. As of this morning (10/22), several readers who did this reported getting a message stating that they must spend between $50-100 to redeem their gift code.
An Eagle-eyed Super Coupon Girl reader named Nicole sent me an email to tell me about a fantastic deal she saw on Thrifty Florida Mama. I was able to order 14 hamburgers, a cutlery set and a cutting board from Omaha Steaks last night for only $1.98, including shipping! Here’s how it works:
If you register for a website called Geico Privileges, they will email you a gift code good for $25 off a purchase at Omaha Steaks. It’s free and you don’t have to be a Geico customer to sign up. Stephanie at The Coupon Game warns that this offer may be over, however the link still says “Register And Save With Omaha Steaks”, so it ought to still work if they’re advertising it, unless they changed the gift code to a different amount. UPDATE: Two SCG readers wrote in to tell me that they just did the deal, and it worked like a charm, so the offer is still valid!
My code took about 5 hours to get through yesterday, so it can take a little while to show up in your inbox.
Once you get the code, surf on over to Wow-Coupons and click the third link down, that says “60% off The Ultimate Assortment and The Sizzling Sampler + FREE Omaha Steaks Burgers + FREE 6-Piece Cutlery Set + FREE Cutting Board”. This code will give you these freebies with any qualifying purchase. The cheapest qualifying items that I found were the franks and hamburgers; I chose 8 Omaha Steak Burgers for $12.99. The shipping is $13.99 for orders under $40, but here’s the great thing – the gift code applies to shipping, too! So I bought 8 hamburgers, and my freebie code added 6 more, plus the cutlery set and cutting board. My grand total came to $26.98 after shipping. I applied my $25 gift code, and it went down to $1.98!! Wow! I will take some pictures when the package arrives. I’m stoked about the cutlery set, because I need some new kitchen knives.
ETA: Reader Lorrie pointed out another variation of this deal on Money Saving Mom. Basically, if you don’t want the cutlery and cutting board, you can choose 12 burgers as your freebie instead, by following this link. Cool!
Thanks so much to reader Nicole and Thrifty Florida Mama for the info on this deal! The Geico lizard couldn’t save me any money on car insurance, but he sure got me a sweet deal on hamburger.
Posted in Online deals | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Total spent: .63 cents – .62 for the actual groceries, .01 for breast cancer research
Total before coupons: $69.41
I earned 1 Power Pump reward, bringing my running total to 3. I also walked out of the store with $11 in catalinas for next time.
View receipt #1 View receipt #2 View receipt #3 View receipt #4 View receipt #5
Got:
12 boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats – used 12 $1/1 printables from Coupons.com (no longer available)
1 gallon of milk
2 cans of beans
1 packet of Ramen
2 packages of Wacky Mac – used a .50/1 coupon from the 6/22 inserts
6 Glade Plug ins – used six “Buy One, Get One Free” coupons from the 9/28 Smart Source newspaper inserts
1 trial sized box of Tide – used $1/1 coupon from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper inserts
1 moon shaped cookie cutter
Here’s how I broke this down:
For the first transaction, I bought 3 boxes of cereal, 1 Wacky Mac, 2 plug-ins and the cookie cutter, which was the perfect filler item because it was clearanced to .10 cents. I then used $8 in catalinas to bring the total to a whopping .01 cent. The cashier was laughing and the customer behind me was amazed. Safeway is doing a charity drive for breast cancer research this month, and the cashiers usually ask if you would like to round up your total and donate the change. As I was handing the cashier a penny, she jokingly asked if I wanted to round up my penny for breast cancer.
“Wait! Hang on!” I said, reaching into my purse and pulling out another penny. I told her that I would double my total with a matching donation. She thought it was hilarious, and laughed that I was the only customer to match 100% of my total with a donation! Yes, I have way too much fun at Safeway.
I got $8 in catalinas back for the plug-ins, and was expecting another $3 catalina for purchasing the cereal, but it did not show up. Safeway is running a catalina deal on Frosted Mini-Wheats where you receive a $3 catalina for purchasing three boxes. This was mentioned on Hot Coupon World and also brought to my attention by a Super Coupon Girl reader. I realized that I must have bought the wrong kind – which is why I always double-check the details on catalina deals before I go to the store, but I neglected to this time. So I went through the line again, doing pretty much the same thing – except this time I got different Mini-Wheat flavors, two plug-ins, one Wacky Mac, and the packet of Ramen as a filler. But this time the cashier looked at my catalinas and said, “Oh, I’ll have to adjust the last coupon down,”. I had one $4 catalina left that hadn’t been scanned, but the total was at $3.94. I knew something must have gone wrong, so after she balanced me out to zero, I pulled my cart over to the side and looked at my receipt. I realized in horror that I had not put the packet of Ramen on the conveyor belt – it was still in my cart, hidden underneath a sales flyer! I showed the cashier what happened and apologized for my mistake. She was super nice, and when I said, “It’s a good thing I didn’t walk out of here without paying!”, she replied, “Oh, you would have been back in a minute to spend your $11 [referring to the catalinas I just got] anyway!”
So she rang up the Ramen at .29 cents, and then deducted .06 from the total since she had adjusted the $4 catalina down to $3.94. I didn’t ask her to, she just did – which was really cool of her. I paid .23 cents, but I didn’t get the receipt for this one, because I was on the wrong end of the checkstand and she just quickly rang up my Ramen before helping the next customer in line, and I was just trying to get out of the way as quickly as I could!
And all of the catalinas that I was expecting printed out this time, so I got $8 for the Glade and $3 for the cereal. The participating varieties listed on the catalina are Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry Delight, Maple & Brown Sugar, Vanilla Creme, and Cinnamon Streusel.
I still had coupons left for more cereal, which brought the total price for 3 boxes down to $2.16. I picked out a can of beans as a filler item, since they’re .89 cents; I then used my $3 catalina and paid only .05 cents, getting another $3 back! I was able to do this twice before I ran out of Kelloggs coupons.
But I needed some milk to go with all this cereal, so I went through the line one last time and bought a gallon of milk, two plug-ins and the Tide. I used $8 in Glade catalinas to pay, and after overage from the Tide, it came to .28 cents. They adjusted my coupon down again, which is the same thing that happened on Sunday, but I still got .50 cents overage because it doubled.
Posted in Safeway | No Comments »
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Sunday night’s dinner:
Steak, baked potato, and grilled apple slices. I have a bunch of steak in the freezer from back in May, when I got an awesome deal on it. I marinated it in Weber Mesquite grill mix – a product that I got overage on during the summer. It added a really nice flavor to the steak. On the packet, it suggested sprinkling apple slices with cinnamon and grilling as an accompaniment; well, I’m all about using up these apples, so that sounded like a good idea!
Finally, I have a big bag of potatoes that I bought recently, so I thought a baked potato would be the perfect thing to round out this meal.
Posted in Coupon Menu Corner | No Comments »
Monday, October 20th, 2008
I hit up a few stores yesterday. First stop, Walgreens:
Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .15 cents on my rebate gift card
Total before coupons: $45.51
View receipt
Got:
18 bars of Lindt chocolate – These are on sale for $2.29 at my store, and I used nine .75/1 coupons and nine “Buy One, Get One Free” coupons from the 10/5 inserts. Stacked with a $1 coupon from the EasySaver catalog, this resulted in .46 cents of overage for every 2 bars purchased.
4 packages of TP
1 Halloween bag
I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to put chili peppers in chocolate, but this was all they had left on the shelf, so I guess I’ll have to try it out of morbid curiosity!
Next stop, Rite Aid:
Total spent: $11.68 – but I will get back $14.18 in rebates.
Total before coupons: $14.18
View receipt
Got:
1 tube of Crest toothpaste – used one $1/1 coupon from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper inserts
1 package of Tena Serenity Underwear – used one $1.50/1 coupon from the 8/3 Smart Source newspaper inserts
While I have no use for the Tena or the toothpaste (I have more than enough toothpaste!), these items are free after rebate this week, and I will make $2.50 in profit thanks to the coupons that I used. If you think it’s a little overboard to buy things you don’t need, remember that you can always donate items like these. I may not have a personal use for the Tena, but I know a nursing home that will be happy to take it.
Then it was onwards to Fred Meyer:
Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .15 cents on a gift card I got for my birthday
Total before coupons: $6.09
View receipt
Got:
6 trial sized packets of Zantac – on sale for .99 cents, used six $1/1 coupons from the 9/7 Smart Source newspaper inserts
1 packet of Ramen
I got the Ramen simply as a filler item for the six cents of overage I was anticipating – a decidedly ironic choice for overage gained by purchasing antacids! However, it worked out a little different than I thought it would. My coupons stated that they were good for $1 off of any size Zantac, but they beeped and the cashier had to enter the price manually; and he only entered in .99 cents, not the full value of the coupon. Keep in mind, the manufacturer will reimburse the store for the full value of the coupon, which is $1, plus a handling fee – even if they key it in at .99 cents, the store will still get $1 back. So the Ramen ended up being unnecessary because of how he rang it up.
Final stop, Safeway:
Total spent: $1.02
Total before coupons: $21.99
View receipt #1 View receipt #2
Got:
1 Sunday newspaper
1 can of tuna
2 Glade Plug-ins – used one “Buy One, Get One Free” coupon from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts
8 trial sized boxes of Tide – on sale for .89 cents, used eight $1/1 coupons from the 9/28 Proctor & Gamble newspaper inserts
For the first transaction, I got four Tides and the newspaper, with the goal of using the overage from the Tide to pay for it. However, the coupon beeped and prompted for manager approval. Once again, the coupon says that it is valid on any size of Tide, but the manager who came over instructed the cashier to key in the value of the coupon as .89 cents. The store will still be reimbursed for $1 by the manufacturer, even though it’s keyed in at .89 cents, so I don’t really understand why some managers make this their policy on overage. But on the bright side, they still doubled these coupons, so I received $2 in overage to pay for my paper nonetheless!
For the second transaction, I bought two Glade Plug-ins, using my $4 catalina from the Plug-ins I bought on Friday. I had also picked up four more Tides to pay for the remaining cost of the Glade, and grabbed a can of tuna as a filler item. Since I picked out all of the items that I purchased at the same time, and just split my order into two transactions at the register, I had done my calculations before I realized that the store would adjust the Tide coupons down – so both of these transactions came out to be more than I had expected. But I still got $8 in catalinas back for next time!
Posted in Fred Meyer, Rite Aid, Safeway, Walgreens | No Comments »
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Here’s last night’s dinner:
Bean and Cheese Pie. I guess I’m just in a casserole mood this week! This is one of my favorite recipes from a Betty Crocker cookbook called Vegetarian Cooking. Here’s what you need to make it:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons chile powder
2 teaspoons fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can (15 1/2 ounces) garbanzo beans, drained
1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, drained
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
Another 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (for the topping)
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray pie plate, 10 X 1 1/2 inches, with nostick cooking spray. Mix flour, 1/2 cup cheese, the baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Stir in milk and egg until blended. Spread over bottom and up side of pie plate. Mix remaining ingredients except 1/2 cup cheese. Spoon into pie plate; sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Bake uncovered about 25 minutes or until edge is puffy and light brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
I made quite a few substitutions on this to suit my tastes. I omitted the pepper and chilie powder, just because I don’t do well with spicy stuff. I also used black beans and pinto beans instead of kidney beans, and substituted fresh chopped garlic for powder. I usually use cilantro instead of oregano, just because I like it that way, but I totally forgot to buy either!!
I also doubled the recipe so that there would be plenty of leftovers for lunch today.
For the side dish, I made Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli. Sorry the picture’s so blurry!
I still have a bounty of apples to use up, so I made baked apple pancakes for breakfast this morning:
This was sort of an amalgamation recipe. First, I chopped 3 apples into small pieces and threw them in a bowl. I left the skins on because I like them, but you could always peel them if you don’t. I then added an egg, about a cup of water, and some Bisquick. As I mixed it I realized that there wasn’t enough Bisquick left, so I poured what I had in the pan and then mixed together an adaptation of this recipe. I only used 2 eggs, and I added way more flour and even a pinch of baking powder – which really wasn’t necessary, but I was throwing everything into the bowl at this point! I also added Nutmeg and AllSpice. After mixing it all, I poured it on top of what I had in the pan, and baked until it looked done – about 20 minutes or so.
Posted in Coupon Menu Corner | No Comments »
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
This week, I thought it would be fun to do a different kind of giveaway. After all, in order to build up a stockpile of your own, you’ll need to have plenty of coupons. So I thought I’d give a little helping hand, and offer an envelope of coupons as this week’s prize!
There’s an assortment of coupons here, from baby stuff to food, beauty to cleaning, pet coupons and more – $54 worth of savings!
Here’s how to enter: Just leave a comment on this post, and you’ll be entered to win! As a bonus, let me know what kind of coupons you use the most, and I’ll do my best to include a couple of extras according to your needs!
To earn an extra entry: If you’d like to gain a second entry into the contest, just put up a link to my blog and leave a separate comment letting me know that you did. You can either link to this contest, or any other post that you liked. If you already have me in your blogroll – thank you, and be sure to leave a second comment mentioning it to improve your odds!
Fine print, rules, etc: This giveaway is open to everyone! US residents and international readers alike are eligible!
This contest will be open until 11:59 PM, October 25th. A winner will be chosen on October 26th via Random.org and notified. Please be sure to leave your email address, either in your post or in your blogger profile, so that I can get in touch if you win!! I’d hate to see anyone else forfeit their prize because I can’t get a hold of them! Email address will be used only to notify winner. If, for some bizarre reason, the winner does not respond after 4 days, a new winner will be chosen.
Posted in Giveaways | No Comments »
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Total spent: .48 cents – .45 for the actual groceries, .03 for breast cancer research
Total before coupons: $50.06
View receipt #1 View receipt #2 View receipt #3
I also earned another 125 miles in the United Airlines GroceryMiles program that I wrote about recently.
I Got:
1 dozen cage-free eggs
1 8 oz bag of cheese
.39 pounds of organic, fair trade coffee
4 bags of Wacky Mac – on sale for .99 cents, used a .50/1 coupon from the 6/22 inserts. Free after doubles!
1 packet of Ramen
2 packets of trial sized Airborne – on sale for $2.19, used two $2 coupon from the 9/7 SmartSource newspaper inserts. Free plus .31 cents overage after doubles!
6 bottles of Bayer aspirin – on sale for $1, used a $1/1 coupon from the 7/27 Red Plum inserts. Free plus .50 cents overage after doubles!
2 packages of TP
4 Glade Plug-ins – used two “Buy One, Get One Free” coupons from the 9/28 Smart Source inserts.
The Plug-Ins are $5.79 at Safeway, so for the first transaction, I used a $4 catalina from the last Glade deal that I did in conjunction with overage from the Bayer, in order to offset the cost of the plug-in. I had it worked out that I would owe .05 cents, but after I handed over all my coupons, the register ended up showing negative .95 cents. I was puzzled, and the cashier said that she would just balance me out to zero. You’ll see on the receipt that there is .95 cents in “general merchandise” – that’s why. So I looked over my receipt after the transaction was through, and saw that only 3 Bayer aspirins were listed on the receipt, even though I had purchased four; one of them didn’t ring up. So I went back to the cashier and showed her what had happened. If the fourth Bayer had been rung up, the register would have showed me owing .05 cents, instead of the negative .95 that came up. The cashier then opted to just do a “general merchandise” sale for .05 cents, and I handed her the nickel that I owed. She didn’t give me a receipt for that transaction, otherwise I would have scanned that as well.
At any rate, I got $8 in catalinas back for purchasing the two Plug-Ins, so I went through the line once more, purchasing two more Glades and using overage from the Bayer and Airborne along with one of the $4 catalinas to bring the total down to .17 cents – .20 cents after I “rounded up” for breast cancer!
I got another $8 in catalinas back, and I proceeded to go through the line one last time, using $12 worth of my catalinas to pay for a few things that I needed – like coffee!! I still have a $4 catalina left, which I will use towards more Glade warmers next time.
Posted in Safeway | No Comments »
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