Safeway LW -- my last trip for this promotion

Tonight I made my last purchases for the LW promotion at Safeway.

Here is what I bought (in three separate transactions):

15 packages of Ball Park Franks (a $5 Cat prints when you buy 5 items)

10 Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

5 Chinet Casuals lunch plates

2 Deer Park Waters

My OOP was $4.81

I used the following Qs:

15 $1/1 Ball Park Franks

5 $2/1 Chinet Casuals lunch plates

1 $1/2 Deer Park water

1 75c/1 Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (doubled to $1.50)

5 B1G1 Free Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

I earned $47 in Catalinas.

Although my $10 Cats didn't print in any of the 3 transactions. I went over all the items I purchased with a manager and he gave me a $10 store coupon credit to use on my second and third transactions and then $10 out of the till from the last transaction.

I used $18.25 in Catalinas (plus $20 credited as store Qs representing the missing Cats) + $4.81 to pay for these items.

Total Catalinas left from entire promotion to spend on groceries at Safeway $28 plus the $10 cash back.

Free after rebate at Staples

Just in time for Mother's Day--a fun toy for you for free and fancy chocolate to eat too! I've always wanted one of those cool label makers--and now's my chance to get one for free at Staples this week!

Free Casio KL-60L Label maker after Rebate (Price: $19.99) Limit 2
Free Ghiradelli Luxe Chocolate Bag after Rebate (Price: $3.99) Limit 1

Thank you to Craving the Savings for posting these!

Free Redbox code! Just enter BT73H9 at the checkout.

Meal Plan Monday

Sunday: Spaghetti Carbonara, peas, baby spinach salads, homemade 5 minutes Artisan bread topped with bruschetta tomatoes.
Recipe:
-1 pound spaghetti (I used the Barilla Piccolini Fusili since we got a ton of that free)
-5 eggs
-4 oz heavy cream
-1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-7 ounce bacon cut into bite size pieces (I just cut the 1 pound pack in half and used that)
-salt and pepper to taste.
Gently beat cream, eggs and salt together. Cook bite size bacon pieces in a little melted butter. Cook until fat is transparent--I make mine crispy. While cooking bacon, cook your pasta. Drain pasta, return to pot and add bacon pieces. Stir well. Remove from heat and stir in eggs/cream mixture and a little cheese. (Eggs will coagulate so work quickly.) Stir until all pasta is covered. Stir in remaining cheese and pepper. (Sometimes I return it to the heat for a little bit stirring it constantly to make sure the eggs are cooked through.)

Bruschetta: chop tomato into tiny cubes, place in bowl, sprinkle with dried parsley and salt to taste. Toast slices of artisan bread in oven until slightly crispy, drizzle with olive oil and top with bruschetta.

Monday: Chili (I hide pureed cauliflower and broccoli in it and no one notices) and cornbread

Tuesday: Pioneer Woman Chicken Sandwiches, french fries, carrots (Make extra chicken for Wednesday dinner)

Wednesday: Tball Game--dinner at the ballpark. Spinach wraps filled with baby spinach, grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, tossed in Newmans's own balsamic vinaigrette, Sunchips, grapes.

Thursday: Piano--need something easy to be made ahead and quickly assembled at dinner. Taco salad (with black beans and corn added)

Friday: Pasta, spaghetti sauce, green beans, 5 minute Artisan bread. (using up more free pasta, sauce and frozen veggies!)

Saturday: Chicken strips (using the free Special K I got last week at Target), baked beans, peaches, brocolli.

Check out more menus at OrgJunkie's Meal Plan Monday roundup!

Harris Teeter Triple Coupon Event totals

Triples bagan on Wednesday, April 29. They end this Tuesday May 5. There is a limit of 20 coupons per transaction. Some HT locations have a limit of 20 coupons per day. You'll have to check with your local HT for this information.

My first transaction didn't go too well. I was in a hurry to get to a Dr. appointment and slipped in & out (with a hand held basket) just to check the stock of the "free" items. I purchased 6 cans of Ortega refried beans, 3 skintimate shave gel (trial sizes), 6 packages of Mueller's pasta (elbows and spaghetti), 3 Viva paper towels, and 2 Lady Speedsticks.

My total after Qs was -$1.11. That's right, they owed me $1.11. Well you cant' have that. There was my mistake. I ended up giving her a candy bar and TicTacs to bring my total to $.92. If I'd have thought that coming up negative was a possibility in advance, I would have had the forethought to have the cashier ring up 2 more cans of refried beans instead of candy.

I did a total of 4 HT runs during Triple Coupon Event. I spent $22.68 on the following items:

14 each: cans of Ortega Refried Beans, Boxes of Mueller Pasta (7 spaghetti & 7 elbow)
9 Skintimate trave size shave gel
7 each: Pillsbury Brownies, Viva PT
6 Reynolds baking cups
4 White House apple sauce
3 each: Reach dental floss, Super pretzel, McCormick Marinades, tortilla chips
2 each: Texas Croutons, Lady Speed Stick
1 each: McCormick pure vanilla extract, Duke's Mayo, package of 2 sirloin tip steaks, Snickers, and Tic Tac

SAFEWAY Living Well Promo

Here are my totals from the Living Well Promotion at Safeway.
I did 18 transactions.
My OOP total was $55.74
I purchased $959.96 worth of groceries.
I have $14.25 in Catalinas to spend and another $15 in Catalinas coming in the mail from the Catalina company.

This is what I got:
LW promotional items:
53 Bertolli pouches
64 Dial hand soaps
28 Deer Park Waters
19 Electrasol gel pacs
14 Ziploc bags
36 Yoplait yogurts
8 cans Bush's beans
6 canned tomatoes
5 PAM cooking sprays
4 Mission flour tortillas
4 Mac & cheese
4 boxes of tissues
3 Smart Balance sticks
3 Smart Balance tubs
2 Skippy Peanut butter
2 Reynolds foil
2 Lysol wipes
2 Hefty garbage bags
2 Scott TP (12 roll pks)
2 Gain laundry detergent
1 mini Strawberry Newton's (for hungry tot)
1 CapriSun

Other items (not part of the LW promo) purchased with LW catalinas:
40 bags of Nestle Toll House Morsels
7 boxes of Eggo Waffles
2.5 lbs grapes
2 bags flour
croutons
2 lbs. bananas
1 Nutrigrain bars
1 box jumbo pasta shells
Dum Dum lollipops

Here is my last trip to Safeway. I did three transactions.

My OOP costs are WAY over frugal momma's. I've not gotten to her level of success. :o)
I also only have one Safeway and it's 20 miles away. Frugal Momma probably has at least 3 Safeways in a 20 mile radius.

I realize now that I should have rolled all my catalina's into more LW products to produce more catalina's. I spent alot of my CATs on non LW items. I also began buying some of the higher end priced LW items. I wish now that I'd waited until close to the end of the promotion to begin purchasing these.

Budgeting

It's the first of May! On March 31 I wrote this post encouraging you to join me in keeping track of "where the money goes" on an April calendar posted to your refrigerator. I hope your recording went better than mine! Frugal Momma brought her family to my house for Easter and commented on 4-5 (at that time) blank squares that should have been filled in on my budget calendar. :o)

I found that I did just fine keeping my receipts and getting my husbands receipts. It was just too difficult to record the receipts once I had pulled them from my purse, pockets, and coupon folders! I was usually too busy unloading the car, settling children and putting away groceries. I did not give up. I just created another method that works better for me. Maybe you will find this method more mommy friendly.

Every few days I would clean the receipts out of my purse and off my husband's shelf. I just put them here until I had a moment to record them.

When time allowed (usually late at night) I began to record my receipts in this notebook.

I had one page for each day. Some were left blank. Yay! On those pages where we spent money, I recorded the total, where I spent the $ and an abbreviation to indicate what category it was for (GR-groceries, CL-clothing, HH-household, MD-medical, AU-automotive, ENT-entertainment, etc.) I also kept the receipts in this folder. If I needed a receipt for a MIR, I just made a note beside that purchase (MIR) indicating that it was missing because it had been mailed away for cash. I did not record our regular bills. We know how much $ is going out for these monthly expenses. I just wanted to find out how we spent the $ we pulled out of the ATM and how much went to entertainment, groceries, clothing, etc. This receipt basket/notebook was/is a work in progress. I worked out some of the kinks to streamline it as I used it. I'm sure I've not perfected it.

Now I just have to total it!

Food Lion DEAL on Hefty Garbage Bags!

Hefty 20 count garbage bags are on sale BOGO this week at FL. The regular price at my FL is $4.39/1. These ring at half price ($2.20 when scanned through the register. There is a $1/1 in the 4/19 RP. $2.20 ea. - $1 = $1.10/box! That's just 5.5c/bag!
Note: I didn't check the ending date for this price. It may be May 5.

$1.40 spent at Safeway today

I did 4 back to back transactions (no small feat at 8:30 in the morning with 3 small kids in the self check out lane!)

I bought:
45 packs of Healthy ones lunch meat
4 boxes Life cereal
6 six pack of Deer Park water
2 packs Quaker chocolate rice cake snacks
3 boxes of tissues
1 Capri Sun
2 boxes Ziploc gallon size freezer bags
1 12 pack Cottonelle
5 bananas
2 apples

I walked into Safeway with $15 in catalinas, spent $1.40 in cash and walked out of Safeway with 66 items worth $186.51 and with $15.25 in catalinas in my wallet.

Totaling my receipts since the Living Well promo began I have received $1340.90 worth of groceries. I have spent $37.42 out of pocket and still have $15.25 in catalinas to spend in the store. I also have received $18 in free gas on a gift card to BP gas stations. If you subtract the catalinas and free gas from my out of pocket expenses, it brings the actual total down to $4.17!

The Living Well promo at Safeway has enabled our family to donate:

150 packets Bertolli sauce $3.49 x150 = 523.50
65 packets Healthy Ones lunch meat $2.69 x 65 = $174.85
20 bottles Dial handsoap $1 x 20 = $20

That's a total of $718.35 worth of groceries we've been able to give to the local food bank. (And that's just the stuff I know we donated multiples of.) This is why I love couponing so much. I'm able to get the food my family needs, but I'm able to multiply my efforts to help others. With 4 small kids at home it's really difficult to find volunteer opportunities I can participate in, but by using coupons I'm able to volunteer my time in a different way, shopping for families in need and providing them with goods they need for their own families.

Cereal Coupon Match-ups

This week at Target there is a gift card promotion. Buy 5 select Special K items and get a $5 gift card.
The cereal is $2.39. There are $1/1 blinkie coupons at some grocery stores, but there are also printable coupons for $1/1 Special K cereal at coupons.com (see sidebar for link) and on the Kelloggs site. Between those two sites you will be able to print four $1 coupons per computer.

5 boxes of cereal x $2.39 = $11.95
-5 $1/1 coupons
_____
$6.95 and earn a $5 gift card. (so really $1.95 cost for 5 boxes of cereal.) If you have multiples of the coupons you can "roll" this gift card into the next order.

Also found on the coupons.com and Kelloggs site are coupons for $1/1 on other cereals. I went ahead and printed all of them twice (for a total of 4 coupons per type of cereal) because it's a safe bet that there will be upcoming deals on these cereals and you want to print them while you can.

You'll be able to use the Raisin Bran coupons you print out at Safeway this week. Select cereals (Raisin Bran is one) are $1.99 this week. With the coupon it makes it just $.99 a box.

Starting Sunday at CVS select Kelloggs cereals (Mini Wheats, Special K, Frosted Flakes) will be $3/$10 and you earn $5 ECBs. After coupons and ECBs each box will cost $.67.

Definitely make sure you set your printer setting to "fast" or "economy"--espeically when printing from the Kelloggs site. Each coupon prints out on it's own page and has additional text and pictures below.