A "Normal" Shopping Trip to Smith's

Look what came in my mail yesterday!!! I signed up for the coupon just a week or so ago, and I already got it!



I was very excited because my husband and I had toyed with the idea of getting a puppy eventually, and we just decided that we wanted to start saving up for one. So, our current goal is to get our back yard in order and make it 100% kid & puppy friendly as well as save up for a golden-doodle puppy for the middle of the summer. So, from now until then, we are going to stock up on dog food whenever we see a GREAT price on it! After this coupon, the dog food was only $1.69 for the 4.4 pound bag.




Also, we drink milk like water at our house, so we buy it a lot! I'd buy more than this at a time if it would fit in my fridge. It would spare me about half the trips to the store... maybe when we get our own house we'll have a second fridge n the garage...
Anyway, with not any awesome stock-up prices on things we needed or use this week at Smith's, I just got milk, the dog food, some frozen veggies and baggies that we desperately needed. This is a normal shopping trip for us. A trip without many coupons (I only used 3 this time) and I still saved 53%

Total would have been $27.96, but after a minimum coupon use, I only paid $13.42

Now, referring back to my post yesterday, this isn't really good enough for me on a regular basis, but 50% off is nothing to turn your nose up at (even though I usually save a heck of a lot more than that on a trip to the store). If you have thought about trying to use coupons in the past, and haven't and are reading this thinking that maybe, just maybe shopping with coupons is worth your time after all... I think you'd be right. Remember, I only spend about 15 minutes each week to organize my coupons. If you have any questions, just ask :)

Smith's Sneak Peek - 4/20 - 4/26

The Preview list is up for Smith's at GrocerySmarts!

Remember that it is only at the link above for today! Once it is the 20th, you can find it here!

The following are just some of the awesome deals starting tomorrow!

Coupons: The "Gateway Drug"

When I started using coupons, I was all excited about how much money we were going to save... And we have!

But being grocery savvy has made me a lot more aware of our financial situation as well as helped me to realize that there are a lot of other areas in our lives that we can improve monetarily, physically and other ways as well.

Tobacco, alcohol and other common drugs are frequently referred to as "gateway" drugs, that once you use them enough you need to turn to harder and more dangerous drugs to get that same high...
The same goes with coupons, only in a positive way!!!

Before I started using coupons, if I could save 10-15% or even just 5-7% for that matter, it was an awesome day!!!! Now, I'm not satisfied unless my total is more than 60% savings, and sometimes, even a 75% saving isn't good enough.

Here is how the frugality of grocery shopping has started to spill over into other areas of our life and finance.

Gas: We don't drive as much as we used to. WE used to go places more frequently, but now we plan our trips so we get the most out of every gallon of gas. I'll plan my shopping trips according to distance and store location. where I used to back-track to go to more than one store, I will actually plan my route so that I can travel the least amount of miles in the car. Also, I use this site to help me find the best price on gas. Whenever we travel a longer distance, it is great for finding the places that I can spend the least to fill up my car on the way.

Cable: Technically we could LIVE without the TV, but for our family and our personal interests, it's an important thing for us! Remember that every family is different and your needs and wants are going to be different than the next family. We weighed our needs and wants, and then sacrifice most of our wants and then allow ourselves certain things. When it comes to Cable though, we don't need it! Most basic packages for Cable start out at a great price but then sky rocket to an easy $60/month after the first while and you are stuck with a contract at a high monthly payment. Consider this... Cancel your Cable or Dish service. Upgrade your internet plan so you can great streaming, then subscribe to HuluPlus and NetFlix. Combined, the two plans will run you less than $20 each month, and you can watch all of your favorite TV shows and movies from your computer. If you have the right TV or Bluray player, you can stream the movies and watch them from your couch whenever you want!

Phones: Do you need both a land-line and a cellphone? Believe it or not, a lot of people have both. If you look at your numbers and really focus on your personal needs, most people can get away with one or the other. If that is the case, you can drop an entire monthly payment all-together. If you do need both, re-evaluate your cellphone needs. Do you need that many minutes? Can you do without a Data Plan? Is that smart phone a need or a want? If you can do without a little bit, then downgrade your current phone plan to save money in the long run.

Smart Phone or iPod?: Most companies require you to purchase a data plan when you buy a smart phone. data plans can cost anywhere from $10-$100 per month depending on what you need. If you are a business person and do a lot of travel and that is the only to go, then by all means DO IT! It is an amazing tool we have at our disposal. But, if you are not a business person, and just want a smart phone because they are cool...ask yourself this; can you get away with just using Wi-Fi? If you do most of your mobile-surfing or browsing at home or Wi-Fi enabled locations, you may be better off downgrading your cell phone to a simple phone that doesn't require a data plan, and then get an iPod or even an iPad or another similar device that has just Wi-Fi and no 3G or 4G options. The upfront cost may be a bit more, but in the long run, you'll save big that way.

The list goes on and on, and I'm sure I'll blog about more of them later on. But these are just some of the things we have done and it has helped us a lot!

How I Saved For: My Husband's Epic Day

This year wasn't a big birthday for my husband... He just turned 28. But he has wanted this sword for a while now, even before it was released. Well, last year (in October) I started using coupons. I had never used them before and was excited to see how much I was saving, right from the get go. By the time Christmas came, I was really getting the hang of stock-piling and building a food storage while spending less than we had previously done. We hadn't cut our over-all monthly grocery bill by that much yet, but we really were saving quite a bit!

The day after Christmas, I had a small amount of cash from our Grandparents that I had really no idea what I wanted to spend it on. And I decided that day, that if I could show just a bit of self control for the next year, I could easily afford to get my husband the sword that I knew he wanted so badly. I figured by the next Christmas, I could easily stash away enough cash to get it for him.
For the next few weeks, I tried to research the sword... only I didn't know what it was called, where to find it or even what it looked like to know if I had stumbled across it. I needed help and couldn't get it from my husband without ruining a perfectly good surprise... Then I remembered that his friend at work (who happened to be my friend on Facebook) so I sent him a message asking about it. He told me that they had recently gotten their last shipment in and that the sword was no longer going to be made. So I knew I couldn't wait for Christmas. His birthday was coming up in April , and it had to be then or never. So I made a plan...

Every time I went shopping with coupons, I would get a portion of the total money saved from coupons and sales in cash back, and stash it where Justin wouldn't find it. If I saved$10-$15 I would get $10 cash back, if I saved $20 or more, I would get $20 cash back. $20 was my limit in cash back as we still wanted to save money. Also, we are on the same cell phone family plan as my Mother, so we pay the full phone bill every month and she gives us a check afterwords for her portion of the bill. Now that we were saving money using the coupons, I was also able to take that check she gave me, cash it, then add that to the pile for Justin's birthday. I tried not to let him know I was saving small wads of cash here and there, and was determined for him to at least not know how much I was spending. If he did, I know he would figure out what I was up to, and the element of surprise would be lost!

My husband was a little more perceptive than I thought... I had to change the plan.I had saved almost enough for the sword alone (about $500) but he was getting suspicious... So I had to think of something fast! I decided to throw a surprise party (an idea I had played around with a few months before) to help throw him off the scent. If I was hiding a large surprise party, I could strategically "let slip" a couple details here and there that would have him stop thinking about the gift. I contacted a bunch of his old friends from high school that I knew he still liked and got along with, but also they had never really contacted me, some of them I had never even met! I left my phone out once for him to see a text message from one of them, and that worked like a charm! (He won't even know I did that part on purpose until he reads this blog post)

So I kept saving, and my budget plan went from $500 for the gift up to $700 for the gift, the party, the food, and all the other trimmings and trappings for a party. THEN he made a comment and asked exactly how much I was spending for his birthday... I was in trouble... I knew he would notice I was saving a LOT each month sooner or later, I had just hoped it would have been later rather than that!!! I still had more than two months to go!

I told him it didn't matter... and that he really didn't want to know. But that I would tell him after his birthday had past if he really wanted know then. Fortunately he said "OK", so my plan was back on, but I had to come up with another way to get him away from thinking that I got him that dang sword!!! I didn't care if he found out about EVERYTHING else! I just wanted the sword to be a real surprise!
SO, I had to get some more gifts on top of it.

The day of the party finally arrived. I had planned for my brothers to take him bowling while I got the kids out of the house for the night, and set up for the party. (another thing I needed to pay for.) Once the guess started arriving, I felt like I could breathe a little bit.

Justin came in the front door and was so kind to act surprised about the party. There were streamers out all over, and even little party hats I made everyone wear. We all talked for a while, then opened the presents that everyone had brought him, we even played heavy heavy hangover. It was fun. I got him two games for the WII and a remote control helicopter, I made a big deal about this, and got all kinds of excited to see his face when he opened it. (The sword was all wrapped up and hidden in my daughters closet still.)
After the gifts were open, we ate dinner. A kid favorite, hot dogs and chips! We ate the food and talked about what everyone was doing now, and catching up. I slipped out of the room and grabbed the LARGE wrapped gift (it was so heavy, I was worried I was going tp tear the paper open just bringing it into the other room).
My plan had worked! After opening the games and the helicopter, he didn't even think for a second there was more!!!

He opened the gift, almost shaking out of excitement. When he saw that it really was what he had hoped it was... well... it was just AWESOME!



Then we played games (I even got a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game, though we didn't end up playing it) and ate the cake I made... It fell apart because it was so big, but it tasted amazing!!!
The kids we gone for the night, so we were able to sleep in a bit. Then next morning I had planned to take him breakfast and a movie as well, but he opted to go to the store and buy a movie, then get McDonald for breakfast and come home and eat in out pajamas while watching the movie (We got Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1)

It was by far, the most I have ever spent on him. And I won't be doing it again... at least for a few years! But I was glad I was able to give him a great day.

After all the gifts, bowling for him and my brothers, the party itself and the stuff the morning after, I ended up spending just under $1,000.00 in cold hard cash (yes, one-thousand) for his birthday. Definitely NOT the frugal way to go. I wouldn't recommend doing it more than once or twice in your WHOLE life... But I learned something from this...

If you tighten your belt and have a reasonable and worth-while goal in mind, you can save the money to do it! Whether it's that vacation you've been dying to go on, or simply pulling your family out of debt, you CAN do it! I CAN do it! I saved almost $1,000 in a little less than four months. My husband and I are so excited to see how realistic it is for us to save up for a house now. To be able to get a larger car for our three children to fit in.

I hope this inspires some of you to save for the things that matter to your family, if so, I'd love to hear what you are saving for!

Happy Savings!!!

My Trip to Wal-Mart this Week

I paid just .11 for all of this (before tax).

The Nivea Body Wash is $3.00 (regular price) I used the $3/1 coupons from the 4/17 Red Plum insert. There were two in there, one for the men's and one for the women's body wash. So they were both FREE!

The Air Wick warmers are regularly priced at .97! I used 2 of the $1/1 Printable Coupons and got them both for free as well, plus a .03 overage for each coupon.

The McKormick Taco Seasoning was .52, I used the .75/1 coupon from the 4/10 Red Plum and got .23 in overage from it!!!

Then the Yakisoba was priced at .58 each. I used 5 of the .50/1 coupons from the 3/13 Smart Source insert and only had to pay .08 each.

Take that .08 X 5 packages of Yakisoba, and that's a whopping .40 I would have had to pay... But as Wal-Marts new policy states, they always give you overage now, SO subtract that .23 from the Taco Seasoning and the .06 from the warmers, and I only had to pay .11 for all of this. Normally would have cost me $11.36. I saved $11.25, or 99%! Great day!

Smith's Sneak Peek - 4/13 - 4/19

Here is a brief list of some of the sale items paired with coupons. The sale starts tomorrow (April 13th).

ALSO, pay attention to the new Rewards policy! I think it is great! What an awesome way to save even more on fuel, which I think we all need right about now. Make sure you read the whole thing through so you can understand it, it will take effect starting tomorrow!

AND from April 13th through April 19th, you get a bonus 200 rewards points when you shop at Smiths with your rewards card. I'm not sure if that 200 bonus will only be counted once or if you can get it multiple times throughout the week. If you know, PLEASE leave a comment below.

Check here for the full preview list, if it is not up yet, it will be soon. Remember that it is only a preview today (the 12th of April) Starting tomorrow morning (April 13th) it will be the current list which you can find here.

Smith’s Sale Valid dates 4/13 - 4/19
Item Description	Sale Price	Use this Coupon	You Pay
Nestle Baking Morsels	2 for $4	Nestle Toll House Morsels, any varieties $1.50/2 (5-22-11) SS-4/10	$1.25 each
Reddi Wip 7 oz.	2 for $4	Reddi wip, any .35/1 (5-22-11) SS-4/10	$1.65 each
Mountain Dair Milk	TRIPLE REWARDS		$2.18 each
Kroger Cheese	TRIPLE REWARDS		$1.50
Kroger Singles (cheese)	TRIPLE REWARDS		$1.50 each
Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, or 7-Up 2 Liter	TRIPLE REWARDS .89		.89 each
Red Seedless Grapes	TRIPLE REWARDS		.99/lb.
Kroger Water	TRIPLE REWARDS		$2.50 each
Gatorade or G2 32oz.	TRIPLE REWARDS		.69 each
Apples	TRIPLE REWARDS		$1.00/lb.
Folgers Coffee 22.6-33.9 oz.	$7.49	Folgers Coffee, 3 oz. or larger excluding Folgers Gourmet Selections K-Cup portion packs $1/1 (5-14-11) RP-4/10	$6.49
Rice-A-Roni	10 for $10	Pasta Roni FREE up to $2.00 when you buy any 3 Rice-A-Roni (4-30-11) LOrealRP-1/2	.75 each
Pasta-Roni	10 for $10	Pasta Roni FREE up to $2.00 when you buy any 3 Rice-A-Roni (4-30-11) LOrealRP-1/2	.75 each
Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup	10 for $10	Campbells Condensed Great for Cooking Soups, any .40/4 (5-15-11) SS-3/6	.90 each
Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup	10 for $10	Campbells Condensed Great for Cooking Soups, any .40/4 (5-15-11) SS-3/6	.90 each
Nestle Toll House Ready to Bake Cookies 16-16.5 oz.	2 for $5	Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough, any .75/1 (5-22-11) SS-4/10	$1.75 each
Pilsburry Sweet Moments 5.6-6.1 oz	2 for $5	Pillsbury Sweet Moments Refrigerated Desserts, any .75/1 (5-7-11) GeneralMills-2/13	$1.75 each
Pillsbury Grands Biscuits	3 for $5	Pillsbury Grands Refrigerated Biscuits, any size/variety .30/2 (5-7-11) GeneralMills-2/13 and (6-4-11) SS-3/13	$1.52 each
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls	3 for $5	Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls, any .40/2 (4-23-11) SS-1/30 AND (6-4-11) SS-3/13	$1.47 each
Tyson Chicken	6.99	Tyson bagged breaded chicken strips, any $1/1 (4-30-11) SS-1/23	$5.99 each
Tyson Any’tizers	6.99	Tyson Anytizers, any bag $1/1 (6-7-11) SS-3/6	$5.99 each
Red Baron Pizza	2 for $7	Red Baron Singles Product, any .75/1 (5-29-11) EyeMasterSS-3/27	$2.75 each
Schick Disposable Razors 3-12 ct. Select varieties	2 for $6	Schick Disposable Razor Package, any $1/1 (5-15-11) SS-4/3	$2.00 each