Busy Busy, But Some of You Asked for Info

In case you need proof...from SouthernSavers.com facebook page:

"It appears that we aren't sharing our amazing grocery finds loud enough. Grocery stores are losing market share to Walmart for people wanting to save money! Check out this story: http://ow.ly/1a2h8 then remember over Christmas what we found to be the real truth about shopping at Walmart!! http://ow.ly/1a2kv The real place to save money is in a Grocery store!

Publix Specials Starting Today!

Just thought I’d share with my friends that are trying to do the couponing thing, the deals I found worth getting this week for sure, there may be others, but these were what I caught on a 30 minute break today since I plan to head over on the way home tonite.  You can find coupon links for these on the Southern Savers website or where noted below.  Remember the penny item is today – it’s Publix Sugar, and you have to have the coupon from the Wednesday paper to get it now, they’ve been pretty strict on that at the Lee Branch Publix.  If you wait until this weekend to shop, be sure to check Southern Savers on Friday to see the preview of Sunday’s coupon flyers – that way you will know if you need to wait until after you get the paper on Sunday to buy anything.

Smithfield Bacon B1G1 Free 2.10 each plus .55 coupon this past Sunday or you can print additional copies at http://www.coupons.com/, get it for 1.55

Sabra Hummus 2 for 5.00 plus 1.00 coupon this past Sunday, get 1 for 1.50

Stacy’s Pita Chips 2 for 4.00 plus 1.00 coupon this past Sunday (goes with the yummy Hummus!), get it for 1.00

French’s Yellow Mustard B1G1 Free .95 each plus .50 coupon this past Sunday-doubled by Publix makes it FREE!

Juicy Juice 8pks B1G1 Free 1.50 each plus 1.00 coupon off purchase of 2 at Target.com last week if you printed it makes it 1.00 each 8pk (or I think it was in the paper this past Sunday too)

Chef Boyardee B1G1 Free .77 each plus .35 off purchase of 3, nets it down to .54 a can

Nabisco Crackers B1G1 Free 1.63 each plus 1.00 coupon off 2 on a tearpad at Publix this past week makes it 1.13 each box.  And even better there was a 2.00 off 2 coupon that you can print from Southern Savers site if you haven’t already done so and used them (I used mine already) which makes then only .63 a box!

Kraft Shredded Cheese 2 for 4.00 plus 1.00 off purchase of 2 from coupons.com, get them for 1.50 each

Pup-Peroni Dog Snacks B1G1 Free 1.85 each plus 3.00 off purchase of 2 at target.com, get them for .35 each

Good Shopping, and let me know how you did!

4 Days Left...and Ching Ching Ching!

That's right.  $64.33 was my total, by the time the coupons and ad savings registered, I paid only $34.55.  I have no other items in the Publix flyer for this week that I need, and  unless there are some really sweet coupons that show up in Sunday's paper - I'm in the black this month by about $35!  Helped that the bottle of wine I picked up at Winn Dixie on Saturday ended up also providing me with a $10 off a $50 purchase register coupon and my actual charges before coupons was $52.13 today, so since I can use the coupon at Publix because they take competitor coupons (which ROCKS because it's like getting a $10 BILL!!!)

I WIN THIS MONTH!!

Ok, I'll lay off the Publix, coupon, money saving posts for a while because I think my sisters and mother are starting to worry I've become obsessive.

(Though my thriftiness is catching because Alicia signed up me, Clare AND my mother on the Nestle Good Start website so we get mailed the formula coupons she needs for the new baby!)

Can She Do It...

I promised myself, this year, be more fiscally responsible with your budget, so…

10 Days left in the month. 

Monthly Budget for groceries (incl. household cleaners!) is $500. 

Remaining balance - $71.50. 

Can it be done?  Stay tuned…

Good Shopping Day

My friend Mallory will probably be upset that I took the time to blog this today because she is on a fast from visiting her friend's blogs...I may have to email it to her since it's a fiscally responsible post.

Now that Publix has changed their Penny item day to Wednesday's with the coupon appearing in the Wednesday paper, it makes it a little more challenging for me to get on my game and make sure I'm getting deals on the things I buy.  However, it forces me to shorten my window of shopping to today on the items I already have coupons and deals for each week and I can wait until Sunday when the weekend coupons show up to finish out anything else I want to get for the week's flyer.

Today I did pretty good.  Total bill $154.33, actually spent $81.89 (72.44 in saving and of that, 35.68 was saved with actual coupons!)

Some of my better buys -

• 4 Pack of GE 60 watt lightbulbs - B1G1 at $1.89 for 2 and I had 2 coupons for $1.50 off each on GE lightbulbs (they only gave me actual value, so I didn't get the overage back, but hey, FREE lightbulbs!)
• Healthy Choice Entrees - Buy 5 for $10, already a decent deal for someone that eats in at work.  I had two coupons for $5 off 5, plus a Publix coupons for $1.00 off Healthy Choice, so I got all 10 meals for $.90 each.  Not a free lunch, but darn close!
• DelMonte Canned Vegetables - B1G1 at 1.29 for 2 and I had 2 coupons for $1 off of 4, so the net price per can was 0.39!  My kids still eat their vegetables, plus I can use them in chicken pot pies and other casseroles I make, so well worth the stock up.
• Aveeno Skin Care - 20% off.  I was able to get a facial cleanser and a scrub for 3.59 for each bottle because I had 2 coupons for $2.00 off any Aveeno product.  Who doesn't love cheap, but good for your skin, pampering items!
• Nabicso Crackers - 2 for $5, in itself, not outstanding, but I also had 2 coupons for $2.00 off of a purchase of 2, plus a coupon for $1.00 off Ritz Crackerfuls (the 4 cheese ones are AWESOME!) so for my 4 boxes (3 Triscuits and 1 Crackerfuls), I paid $1.25 each.  I love my Triscuits with hummus, mmmmmmmm.
• V8 Splash - B1G1 at $1.49 each, plus I had a $1.00 off purchase of 2, so I paid 0.50 per bottle (these are the 64oz. ones!)  I have not been making coffee at home on the mornings Cory is out of town - which is most of January, but have been filling up my to go cup with this juice instead, so definitely a good buy for me.

On top of this there were many other items in my cart, some I had coupons for, some I didn't to make up the rest- Gallon of Milk, 2 bags of Tostitos scoops ($3 a bag), 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes (.55 a can), 12 pack roll of Quilted Northern (4.99), Danative Vanilla 4pk (1.00), bananas, 2 bags of Goldfish ($1.00 per pack), 5 cans of Progresso Soup (.64 a can), Gold Bond 13 oz lotion, bottle of red wine, 2 boxes of Cheez Its ($1 a box), 2 - 8oz bags of Kraft shredded cheese, a $5.00 6 pack of Chicken Tenders from the deli the kids polished off on the trip through the store for supper and of course, the Penny Item - 64oz bottle of Publix White Grape Juice.

And...drum roll, my total cumulative shopping trips since January 1st are at $273.44 for the first 2 weeks.  Since I won't probably need anything much before next Wednesday, I might actually come in under my $500 per month household / food budget the very first month of the year!  Hooray for me!  (Especially since the overage goes to our savings for the addition to the house we have planned for the boys new "wing")

For those of you wondering, Duke is doing great.  His hair covers his forehead so unless you know there is something under there, he looks totally normal - and acts it too.  But it is purple on the edges and there is a bump...we'll see what this weekend brings.  He's not too happy he can't be in the bathtub and on top of it, his navy blue paci tore and I had to replace it with a light colored one from the closet on Monday night after the trauma of the day.  Apparently it isn't at "findable" in his crib in the middle of the night, because I have awoken to a wail of "Where Paci GO?!" several times in the past few nights, only to walk in and find his whole crib and everything in it tossed everywhere in his attempt to locate it.  Thank goodness once it's found, it's face down and snoooooze..................