dystopia

Saving Money on Groceries

Coupon schedule & listing of deals at different stores each week (helpful info & forums):
www.southernsavers.com
www.couponmom.com
www.afullcup.com
www.hotcouponworld.com

Commissary Deals:
http://thehappyhousewife.com/category/military-commissary-deals/
http://themoneyherder.com/search/label/Commissary
http://www.militarycoupondeals.com/
http://www.commissaries.com/subscribe.cfm
http://www.commissaries.com/links.cfm#IYSC
http://www.maxisavergroup.com/main.php?do=index

Online printable coupon sites:
www.coupons.com
www.redplum.com
www.smartsource.com
www.coolsavings.com
http://www.vivemejor.com/JustForYou.aspx?NavID=22&CultureCode=en-US

Coupons you can upload to a Kroger Card:
www.shortcuts.com
www.cellfire.com
www.bringinghopetothetable.com
www.pgesaver.com
www.upromise.com

Target grocery coupons:
http://sites.target.com/site/en/supertarget/page.jsp?title=coupons_specials

List of Companies to contact for free coupons:
http://www.swaggrabber.com/blog1.php/swagstuff/companies-to-contact-list

Subscribe to All You Magazine $18 for 2 year subscription (filled with many coupons each month):
http://www.southernsavers.com/southern-savers-store/

Free Samples:
http://walmart.triaddigital.com/In-Stores-Now-Free-Samples-And-Trials.aspx
http://www.startsampling.com/retail/kroger/
http://www.swaggrabber.com/blog1.php/Freebies/
www.freakyfreddies.com
http://shop4freebies.com/

Other good sites:
$5 Dinners: http://www.5dollardinners.com/
Retail Me Not (online coupon codes to save money): http://www.retailmenot.com/
Free magazine & coupons for baby: http://www.kiwimagonline.com/MomsMeet/join.html
Current Codes (online coupon codes): www.currentcodes.com
Shopzilla (price comparison shopping): www.shopzilla.com
Beat My Price (price comparison shopping): www.beatmyprice.com

Most of the information I’ve read online says that the best way to save money when using coupons on groceries is to try to wait until a product goes on sale and then use a coupon on it, that way you buy it at a sale price, plus you reduce the amount even further when using a coupon. Also, when it is on sale and you have coupons for the product, stock up on it then. I understand that the commissary may not always run sales like most other stores do, but you will be amazed how much you can save with coupons on stuff you regularly buy and eat. Sometimes coupon books are offered to sign up and receive a book full of coupons occasionally. There are some coupons available that will even let you get a product for free. I’ve seen coupons for free bottle of ketchup, free pack of beef hotdogs, free candy bars and a few others. Also, if you have a coupon that is equal to the sale price or worth more than the sale or regular price you can get certain items free too. I got a bottle of salad dressing for free a few weeks ago because it was on sale for $1.50 and I had a coupon for $1.50 off. You can even sign up to receive coupons from people in the U.S. who are willing to mail you their unused expired or non-expired coupons (since the commissary will accept expired). Check these out to sign up to receive coupons and I can mail you our unused ones too if you’d like: http://thehappyhousewife.com/thank-you/
OR http://www.ocpnet.org/ (Overseas Coupon Program) There are also forums where you can post, like if you want only certain coupons or certain types of coupons, you can post on the forum and list exactly what coupons you would like and if others have the coupons they may swap with you and mail you the coupon. (Afullcup.com has coupon swapping forums)

Target has some awesome deals this week! I just recently got married and we were given gift cards to Target and Wal-Mart, which we plan to use to buy food and other things we need or want. I looked at the Target ad this week and they have some really great offers going on. I had no idea that Target could have such good deals on their food until now. They currently have deals where if you buy something you can get something else for free or if you buy a certain number of products you can get a free gift card. I’m loving the deals at Target this week, that’s for sure! Here’s the list of best deals they have going on:

Nabisco Chips Ahoy Cookies - $2/ea
Use $0.55/1 in 5/17 Smart Source insert
Final Price = $1.45/ea

Pepsi Products (12 pk cans, 6 pk bottles) - $2.75 each
Use $1/1 Target coupon in the Afullcup.com Target Coupon Generator
Final Price = $1.75/ea

Baked Lays - $3/ea
Use $1/1 here
Final Price = $2/ea

Sun Chips - $3/ea
Use $1/2 here
Final Price = $2.50/ea when you buy 2

Archer Farms Yellow or Blue Tortilla Chips - $2.33/ea
Get a FREE Archer Farms Salsa (16 oz) with purchase of 2 Archer Farms Tortilla Chips
Use $1/1 Target coupon in the Afullcup.com Target Coupon Generator (use 2)
Final Price = $1.33/ea when you buy 2 + FREE Salsa

Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch, Cocoa Krispies & Apple Jacks - $2.75/ea
Get a FREE Simply Orange Juice (59 oz) with purchase of any 3 of these cereals
Use $1/1 Raisin Bran Crunch here
Use $1/1 Cocoa Krispies & Apple Jacks in 6/7 Red Plum insert
Final Price = $1.75/ea when you buy 3 + FREE Orange Juice

Lean Cuisine One Dish Frozen Entrees - $2/ea
Get a FREE box of Lean Pockets with purchase of any 3 Lean Cuisines
Use $1/4 in 5/3 Smart Source insert
Final Price = $1.75/ea when you buy 4 + FREE Lean Pockets

DiGiorno Frozen Pizza (12 in) - $5.50/ea
Get a FREE 2 liter of selected Coke with purchase of any 1 DiGiorno Pizza
Use $1/1 in 6/14 Smart Source insert
Final Price = $4.50 for 1 Digiorno Pizza + a 2 liter of Coke!

Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Lunchmeat & Kraft Cheese Singles (14-16 oz) - $2.79/ea
Get a FREE Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Lunchmeat with purchase of 1 Oscar Mayer Lunchmeat & 1 Kraft Cheese Singles
Use $1/2 that was available here (no longer available)
Final Price = $2.29/ea when you buy 2 + FREE Lunchmeat

Welch’s Squeezable Grape Jelly & Skippy Peanut Butter (15-16 oz) - $1.79/ea
Get a FREE loaf of Brownberry Bread (24 oz) with purchase of 1 Welch’s Jelly & 1 Skippy PB
Use $0.55/1 Welch’s Jelly in 3/29 Smart Source insert
Use $0.40/1 Skippy in 4/5 Unilever insert
Final Price = Jelly - $1.24/ea, Peanut Butter - $1.39/ea + FREE Bread

Secret Deodorant (2.6-2.7 oz) - $1.99/ea
Use $1/1 in 5/17 P&G insert
Final Price = $0.99/ea

Old Spice Deodorant (3 oz) - $1.99/ea
Use $0.75/1 in 6/7 P&G insert
Final Price = $1.24/ea

Banana Boat Sunblock (8 oz Sport, 6 oz Kids UltraMist) - $6.69/ea
Use $2/1 coupon
Final Price = $4.69/ea

Suave Body Wash (12 oz) - $1.49/ea
Use $1/2 in 5/17 Red Plum insert
Final Price = $0.99/ea when you buy 2

Filtrete Micro Allergen Furnace Filters - $9.99/ea
Get $3 back via mail in rebate
Final Price = $6.99/ea after rebate

Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair - $4.99/ea
Use $2/1 here
Final Price = $2.99/ea

Quilted Northern Bath Tissue (12 pk double rolls) - $6.29/ea
Use $1/1 in 4/26 Red Plum insert
Final Price = $5.29/ea

~ GIFT CARD DEALS ~

Get a $5 Target Gift Card When you Buy 1 of the Following:

Prilosec OTC (42 ct) - $24.99/ea
Use $3/1 in 6/7 P&G insert
Final Price = $21.99/ea; It’s like getting this for $16.99/ea with gift card
* Request a FREE Sample of Prilosec OTC here

Get a $5 Target Gift Card When you Buy 3 of the Following:

Huggies Diapers (Jumbo packs Snug & Dry, Little Movers, or Little Snugglers diapers) & Pull Ups Training Pants - $8.99/ea
Use $2/1 Pull Ups in 5/17 & 6/14 Smart Source inserts
Use $3/1 Pull Ups here
Use $2/1 Pull Ups here
Use $1.50/1 Diapers in 5/17 Smart Source insert
Use $2/1 Diapers here
Get $0.75/ea back via Caregivers Marketplace Rebate
Final Price = varies

Deal Idea:
Buy 3 packs of Pull Ups
Use 2 - $3/1 coupons
Use 1 - $2/1 coupons
Pay $18.97 out of pocket ($6.32/ea)
Submit Caregivers Marketplace Rebate and get $0.75 back per pack
It’s like getting 3 packs of these for $11.72 (or $3.91/ea)!

Viva Paper Towels (8 pk or 4 pk double roll) - $6.99/ea
Use $0.50/1 here
Final Price = $6.49/ea

Scott Bath Tissue (12 pk or 8 pk mega roll) - $6.99/ea
Use $1/1 in 5/17 & 6/14 Smart Source inserts
Final Price = $5.99/ea

Get a $5 Target Gift Card When you Buy 5 of the Following:

Ben & Jerry’s (1 pt), Klondike Bars (6 pk), Popsicles (24 ct) - $2.50/ea

Breyers Ice Cream (1.5 qt) - $2.50/ea
Use $0.75/1 in 5/17 Red Plum insert
Final Price = $1.75/ea; It’s like getting 5 of these for $0.75/ea if you have 5 coupons, with gift card!

**Even with no coupons, it would be like getting 5 of these products for $1.50/ea with gift card**

More Deals I found on my shopping trip:

Spaghettios – On sale for .73 cents each
Dole fruit cups – On sale for $2 each (plus you’ll get a coupon inside the dole packaging you can use for next time)
Cat litter (20 lbs) - $3.59
Entenmann’s Little Bites (5 packages) – On sale for $2.50

Here’s what I bought on my trip:
* Digiorno pizza (used $1.25 off coupon), got free 2 liter of Coke
* Nabisco chips ahoy cookies (used .55 off coupon)
* Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh Lunchmeat & Kraft cheese singles (used coupons for both) & got a free pack of Oscar Meyer Deli fresh lunch meat
* Welch’s grape jelly & Skippy peanut butter (used .40 cents off coupon on Skippy) – got a free loaf of bread
* 1 Can Spaghettios - .73 cents
* 1 4-pack of dole mixed fruit cups - $2
* 20 lbs cat litter generic brand - $3.59
* Entenmann’s Little Bites Brownies (5 pack) - $2.50
* Hunts Ketchup (had a coupon for a free bottle)
* Oscar Meyer beef hot dogs (had a coupon for a free pack)

I made out like a bandit and what I did pay was put on my gift card!  I’m so happy to get so much free stuff! I thought about doing the ice cream deal too to get a free $5 gift card to add to my other gift cards, but decided not to since I wasn’t sure we really needed all that ice cream. We’ll eat all of the stuff I bought for lunches, snacks and dinner!! Plus I needed some cat litter to refill our cats litter box. I just wish we had a Super Target nearby so I could purchase things like salad, fruits and veggies and ground beef or chicken from Target. Unfortunately our Target doesn’t carry those things because only the Super Targets have them. Oh well, I still made out pretty good!

I signed up for Kraft Food & Family magazine a couple years ago and have received it for free ever since. However, when I went on their web site yesterday I learned that it is no longer free! They are now charging $11.98 for a 1 year subscription (which is awful! they only publish 4 to 5 times a year!) Anyways, I was deeply saddened to learn they are now charging for it, I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to give it to my mom as a mother’s day gift, but another magazine may be worth more than that, since you can order a 2 year subscription to All You magazine for only $18 and it has lots of money saving coupons and recipes and good money saving tips. Does everyone else know they’re charging for Kraft Food & Family magazine now? Was I the only one still in the dark? Oh well…I wonder how this is going to affect the people who receive it free now, will we continue to receive it or will they stop sending it and we will have to pay to continue to receive the paper magazine? You can still get all their recipes online for free and use all their other services for free, but getting the magazine was really nice.

On to my weekly savings, I shopped at two stores this week, Kroger and Ukrops.

Ukrop’s only had a few good buys:
Canned food Food Club Brand (vegetabables and fruit cocktails) were on sale 5 cans for $2 or 40 cents each. I bought 12 cans of vegetables(corn, green beans, peas, carrots, creamed corn, wanted potatoes but unfortunately they were out) Cost= $4.80
Freschetta pizza on sale for $4.99 each (regular price $6.99) Bought 1 pizza Cost = $4.99
Piece of individually sliced cake on clearance Cost= $1

Kroger:

2 Liters of Kroger brand soda: 50 cents each, bought 4, Cost=$2
New Cat food bowl on clearance table: .89 cents
Cat toy on clearance table = .59 cents
(4) Boneless Pork chops=$4.98
Perdue individually wrapped chicken(5 count bag) used $1 off coupon and on sale for $6.99 Cost=$5.99
Suddenly Pasta Salad (2), used $1 off coupon paper and cellfire coupon
Betty Crocker Warm delights, used paper coupon and cellfire coupon
Kotex pads, used paper and cellfire coupon
Total Cost with tax was around $20

My plan was to purchase the can soda 12 pack for only $1.77, but my soon to be husband wanted the 2 liters instead, also did not plan on buying the clearance items for the cats, but couldn’t resist since can’t find toys or food bowls that cheap anywhere else and now they have their own food bowl as opposed to eating off of one of our small saucer plates. I was happy to get a good price on the chicken and pork this week, but disappointed in the price of beef, which I really wanted to buy. Kroger used to have good sales on their packaged rolls of beef, but even that is overpriced now and I haven’t seen it go on sale for a while, so I’m trying to stick it out to wait and stock up on beef the next time the rolls go on sale. You used to be able to get a 1 lb roll for around $1.66 when they have them on sale for 3 for $5 or sometimes on sale for $1.99 or the 5 lb tube on sale for a good price. We used to eat a whole pound per meal between just the two of us, but we have gotten used to eating only a half a pound in each meal now, which we have been doing for probably the last 6 months or longer now. 1 pound is too much for just two people to share, we always had leftovers, so now we only use a half pound in meals and find that to be more cost effective and less wasteful.

I’m trying to get a coupon for a free chocolate bar and the site does not seem to be working for me or lots of other people. Perhaps there are just too many people trying to get it right now. oh well, i’ll keep trying, here’s the site if you want to try too, remember if you’re not successful, they’re running this promotion every Friday from now until September! www.realchocolate.com

Just wanted to let everyone know that from tomorrow until September Mars will be posting coupons for a free chocolate product every Friday at 9 AM!!! Make sure to go to the site bright and early tomorrow to get your coupon!!!

Here’s the site address: http://www.realchocolate.com/

Here are some new freebies I’ve found:

Receive 5 Free Makeup Coupons from Walgreens (Almay & Revlon products): http://www.nmamicrosites.com/walgreens/mainLogic.lasso

Free Playtex tampon sample: http://www.playtexgentleglide.com/Gentle_Glide_Sample.html

Free Iced Fruitea at Arby’s (only Today, May 6th): http://arbys.fbmta.com/members/ViewMailing.aspx?MailingID=27917290261&storecode=5735

Free EBook by L. Ron Hubbard “The Devils Rescue”: http://www.goldenagestories.com/html/ebookforfree.php

Caress Evenly Gorgeous Bodywash: http://www.vivemejor.com/Sample.aspx?NavID=173&CultureCode=en-US

Free Sample of Cape Cod Potato Chips: http://www.capecodchips.com/promo/hgpromo.aspx

Lots of free e-cookbooks: http://www.shop4freebies.com/category.php?cid=40

Free Samples

We all love free samples. Here are some that I found courtesy of Southern Savers (my new favorite coupon site.) 

Free White Castle Pulled Pork Slider (print coupon for it)

 Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise Caress Skinware Collection

New Degree Women Fine Fragrance Collection

Pond’s Rejuveness anti-wrinkle cream

Clairol Advanced Solution for Gray coverage

 Join Dove Dimensions and get free samples and coupons

Fireworks Poster, Stickers and Magnet from TNT

Free Magazines for almost any type of Business.  

Vista Print is running Free samples of most anything they make.  You do have to pay shipping, so order one of a few things and it makes for a great deal.