This post is for all the Moms of Children in Diapers that I know. That's a lot of you! Rite Aid has a great deal on Huggies right now and it's definitely worth your time to check it out. Rather then retype out all the details on how to get the awesome coupons just check out the Frugal Living NW blog post. I used three $3/1 and 2 $2/1 Rite Aid Video coupons in addition to the $5 off $20 Rite Aid coupon and paid $14.98 for 3 packages of Huggies Natural Choice diapers. I submitted my receipt online for the $10 rebate so the total for 3 packages of diapers comes to $4.98. That's $.07 a diaper for Ethan's size 4's. Not too shabby! Oh, and I'd already done the Video Coupon thing before but used a different email address and borrowed my Mom's street address and it let me do it again. You can print all the coupons out twice so don't forget to do that!
I also picked up two small boxes of Wheat Thins for free. They're on sale for $.99 apiece and I had two internet coupons for $1 off one box so I guess I actually made $.02 on the deal. If you do the Video coupon make sure to watch the Clean & Clear video to get two $3/1 coupons. This week Clean & Clear products are 2 for $9 and you can use two $3/1 video coupons and a $2/1 internet coupon to get two for $1.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
More Safeway Deals
The alternate title for this post would be "Oh no, this is going to be trouble" which is kind of how my husband feels about the whole couponing thing thus far. I don't think he's seeing how cool this is! Thus far my grocery budget is the same if not slightly higher as I work on stocking up on the things we use a lot. Hopefully within a month or two I'll get to the point where I have a good supply of things we go through constantly (hello cold cereal and mac n cheese!). Then I'll be spending less because I won't have to pay full price for things.
I know most of you have heard about the super good cereal and snack sale at Safeway this week but there's some other good deals there this week as well. Here's some I took advantage of today:
Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $.99 (max. 4) This price is only good Friday-Sunday.
I had a $1 off one package internet coupon and a $1 off 2 packages internet coupon.
Total: $.97 for 3 packages or $.32 a package
Safeway Artisan French Bread $1.59
$1 off 1 Artisan Bread coupon can be found here
Total: $.59
Campbells Chicken Noodle or Tomato Soup 2 for $1
(2) $.40 off 2 cans from last Sunday's newspaper
Used 2 doublers
Total: $.40 or $.10 a can
Prego $1.67
If you buy 5 Campbells items (Prego and Pepperidge Farms goodies also count) you earn 100 extra Box Tops for Education!
And of course I had to do another Nature Valley deal. This time I only got 4 packages of the Nut Clusers. No free Capri Sun but I made money on the deal!
Nature Valley Nut Clusters $10 for 4 boxes
$3.20 in eCoupons from Cellfire and Shortcuts
1 $1 off 1 and 1 $1.60 off 1 internet coupon
(2) $1 off 1 coupons from the newspaper
2 doublers
$4 off 4 promotion
Total: I made $2.60
Alright, I'm done grocery shopping for the week. Excited to see what next week brings, hoping for a Mac n Cheese sale soon!
I know most of you have heard about the super good cereal and snack sale at Safeway this week but there's some other good deals there this week as well. Here's some I took advantage of today:
Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $.99 (max. 4) This price is only good Friday-Sunday.
I had a $1 off one package internet coupon and a $1 off 2 packages internet coupon.
Total: $.97 for 3 packages or $.32 a package
Safeway Artisan French Bread $1.59
$1 off 1 Artisan Bread coupon can be found here
Total: $.59
Campbells Chicken Noodle or Tomato Soup 2 for $1
(2) $.40 off 2 cans from last Sunday's newspaper
Used 2 doublers
Total: $.40 or $.10 a can
Prego $1.67
If you buy 5 Campbells items (Prego and Pepperidge Farms goodies also count) you earn 100 extra Box Tops for Education!
And of course I had to do another Nature Valley deal. This time I only got 4 packages of the Nut Clusers. No free Capri Sun but I made money on the deal!
Nature Valley Nut Clusters $10 for 4 boxes
$3.20 in eCoupons from Cellfire and Shortcuts
1 $1 off 1 and 1 $1.60 off 1 internet coupon
(2) $1 off 1 coupons from the newspaper
2 doublers
$4 off 4 promotion
Total: I made $2.60
Alright, I'm done grocery shopping for the week. Excited to see what next week brings, hoping for a Mac n Cheese sale soon!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wedding pictures are finally up!
Some of you know that I photographed two weddings two weeks ago (back to back!). It produced a mountain of work which took me twice as long to finish (surprise surprise). Along with the wedding photography came the drama of my camera breaking. I'll spare you all the details, but it broke at a seriously inconvenient time (just as the bridesmaids started walking down the aisle at the first wedding) and it's at the repair shop until at least next Tuesday. I rented a camera for the second wedding and prayed nothing would go wrong because I couldn't afford to rent two cameras. That will be the very last time I do a wedding without a backup camera. Trust me.
Check out my photography blog here to see a couple photos. Each wedding has a separate post so be sure to scroll down to see both!
Check out my photography blog here to see a couple photos. Each wedding has a separate post so be sure to scroll down to see both!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Super Safeway Deal!
If you live near a Safeway and have access to internet coupons then you are in luck! This week Safeway is running a promotion where you save $4 when you buy any 4 participating General Mills cereals, Nature Valley granola bars, or Betty Crocker fruit snacks. Plus you get a coupon for a free package of Capri Sun. Totally time to stock up on cereal and snacks and get some free juice while you're at it!
Today was the first time I attempted to do two transactions back to back and it went pretty well. I was a little nervous since I'd never done it before, but it really wasn't a big deal. A tip I've read online is to "profile" checkers and whenever possible find a young male checker since they're the least likely to question coupons or raise a stink about doing multiple transactions etc. So I found the young guy at the end and he rang me up without one problem. I think I'll be back in his line in the future!
Here's how I did it. For this one you don't need any Sunday paper coupons and you can print all the coupons online. Don't forget to sign up for Cellfire to get extra savings!
Transaction 1:
2 boxes of Cocoa Puffs (hey, they make for a good snack!) $2.50 each
$1/1 internet coupon found here
$.75/1 internet coupon found here (I had to use this one because I already used one of my $1 off coupons at Target last week but obviously it would be better to print out two $1 off coupons if you can!)
(2) $.75/1 Cellfire coupon found here
2 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch $2.50 each
(2) $.55/1 internet coupon found here
Total for Transaction 1: $1.65
Transaction 2:
2 boxes of Trix cereal (another good snack!) $2.50 each
(2) $.55/1 coupon found here
$.55/2 Cellfire coupon found here
Total: $1.35
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $2.50 each
$1/2 internet coupon found here
(2) $.40/1 Cellfire coupon found here
Total: $1.20
10 pack of Capri Sun $2.50
FREE with coupon from Transaction 1
Total for Transaction 2: $2.55
Grand Total: $4.20 which is $.42 an item
The max. is 20 items for this deal and so I'll be back for another 12 once I finish rounding up my coupons!
Today was the first time I attempted to do two transactions back to back and it went pretty well. I was a little nervous since I'd never done it before, but it really wasn't a big deal. A tip I've read online is to "profile" checkers and whenever possible find a young male checker since they're the least likely to question coupons or raise a stink about doing multiple transactions etc. So I found the young guy at the end and he rang me up without one problem. I think I'll be back in his line in the future!
Here's how I did it. For this one you don't need any Sunday paper coupons and you can print all the coupons online. Don't forget to sign up for Cellfire to get extra savings!
Transaction 1:
2 boxes of Cocoa Puffs (hey, they make for a good snack!) $2.50 each
$1/1 internet coupon found here
$.75/1 internet coupon found here (I had to use this one because I already used one of my $1 off coupons at Target last week but obviously it would be better to print out two $1 off coupons if you can!)
(2) $.75/1 Cellfire coupon found here
2 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch $2.50 each
(2) $.55/1 internet coupon found here
Total for Transaction 1: $1.65
Transaction 2:
2 boxes of Trix cereal (another good snack!) $2.50 each
(2) $.55/1 coupon found here
$.55/2 Cellfire coupon found here
Total: $1.35
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $2.50 each
$1/2 internet coupon found here
(2) $.40/1 Cellfire coupon found here
Total: $1.20
10 pack of Capri Sun $2.50
FREE with coupon from Transaction 1
Total for Transaction 2: $2.55
Grand Total: $4.20 which is $.42 an item
The max. is 20 items for this deal and so I'll be back for another 12 once I finish rounding up my coupons!
Grace's First Day of Preschool
I know you've all been waiting to hear how Grace's first day of preschool went on Monday and you'll be happy to know that it went great! She was very excited to go after all the preparations. We went last Friday to meet her teacher and see her room which was a nice preview for her. She found her hook to hang up her coat and backpack, her spot at one of the tables, glanced longingly at all the toys, and found her name on the Special Helper board. We received some homework before school started when they asked Grace to decorate a paper doll to look like herself and to pick a stuffed animal to bring to school the first day. We worked on the paper doll on Sunday and Grace picked out her Lilly frog to bring to class.
Monday afternoon we all four trooped down to the school and let Grace and Ethan play on the playground for 5 minutes before we headed into Grace's classroom. She hung her backpack up and handed her paper doll to her teacher before she sat down at her spot and began to play with playdough. That's when we took our exit, and just as I predicted, Grace didn't even look up to see us go. It actually makes me kind of glad that Grace has zero issues with separation anxiety. It means that she's secure enough in herself to not need me there all the time and trusts that we will be back to get her.
I picked her up Monday afternoon and she told me all about her afternoon at school. She was very glad that she was the only one to bring a Lily to share and kept telling me there were 2 kitties. I guess it's a faux pas to show up with the same stuffed animal in preschool. She brought home a School Rules book she colored/glued, a fish hat she made, and a letter with all the snack times for the month. We're signed up for the most inconvenient day ever, a week from Monday. I'm leaving for Nashville Wednesday evening and will get back really late Sunday night and I'm pretty sure that making up 16 individual snack baggies will not happen Monday morning. Guess I'll do those before I leave!
Grace was pretty tired when I picked her up from preschool and I assumed she was tired from all the excitement etc. but within an hour of getting home I could tell it was more then just being tired. Then she snuggled up to me and I noticed she was hot. I broke out the thermometer and her temp read 101.3 so I gave her Tylenol and got her to nap and go to bed early. Who knew the sick season could start less then an hour after school gets out the first day? She was a little lethargic yesterday but today she's acting normally and has no temperature. I'm hoping it was just a freak fever that's gone now.
Since I still don't have my camera back (and probably won't get it back until at least the 22nd...) I had to make do with my iphone to get pictures on Monday. Really irked me, but is spurring me to find a replacement battery for our HP point and shoot so we have a back up camera for these kinds of things. Here's what I managed to get with my iphone though:
Monday afternoon we all four trooped down to the school and let Grace and Ethan play on the playground for 5 minutes before we headed into Grace's classroom. She hung her backpack up and handed her paper doll to her teacher before she sat down at her spot and began to play with playdough. That's when we took our exit, and just as I predicted, Grace didn't even look up to see us go. It actually makes me kind of glad that Grace has zero issues with separation anxiety. It means that she's secure enough in herself to not need me there all the time and trusts that we will be back to get her.
I picked her up Monday afternoon and she told me all about her afternoon at school. She was very glad that she was the only one to bring a Lily to share and kept telling me there were 2 kitties. I guess it's a faux pas to show up with the same stuffed animal in preschool. She brought home a School Rules book she colored/glued, a fish hat she made, and a letter with all the snack times for the month. We're signed up for the most inconvenient day ever, a week from Monday. I'm leaving for Nashville Wednesday evening and will get back really late Sunday night and I'm pretty sure that making up 16 individual snack baggies will not happen Monday morning. Guess I'll do those before I leave!
Grace was pretty tired when I picked her up from preschool and I assumed she was tired from all the excitement etc. but within an hour of getting home I could tell it was more then just being tired. Then she snuggled up to me and I noticed she was hot. I broke out the thermometer and her temp read 101.3 so I gave her Tylenol and got her to nap and go to bed early. Who knew the sick season could start less then an hour after school gets out the first day? She was a little lethargic yesterday but today she's acting normally and has no temperature. I'm hoping it was just a freak fever that's gone now.
Since I still don't have my camera back (and probably won't get it back until at least the 22nd...) I had to make do with my iphone to get pictures on Monday. Really irked me, but is spurring me to find a replacement battery for our HP point and shoot so we have a back up camera for these kinds of things. Here's what I managed to get with my iphone though:
Monday, September 14, 2009
Coupon Crazy
Last week I discovered that I can print coupons off the internet after a looooong hiatus and now you can accurately call me the Crazy Coupon Lady. About a year ago I started getting into coupons and then David downloaded the Windows 7 beta and none of the coupon programs would work. Frustrated me beyond belief so I gave up. Last week I read Kelleigh's blog post about coupons and thought I'd give it another try...and guess what? The newest version of the Windows 7 beta that David downloaded last month now supports the coupon program and I can print! Good thing my husband works for an ink company because I'm keeping them in business with all the coupons I've printed out :) Right now it's a lot of fun but I'm hoping I can eventually settle into a system so that it doesn't consume all of my free time like it does now. I'm sure that at some point I won't find it as fun to spend 6 hours a week figuring out how to save $.50 off toilet paper but for now I'm enjoying it.
Now that Grace is starting preschool (she's currently at her first class...will blog about that tonight!) I am able to go shopping for 2.5 hours by myself which is going to make this process much easier. I think it would be easy to go crazy and run around to 10 different stores to get the best possible deals at each one of them, but since I live in a small town with only one grocery store I'm going to have to scale my ambitions down a bit. I think it will be easier if I focus only on 2-4 stores to shop at a week so I think I'm going to focus on Safeway and Rite Aid as they're in Dallas, and I think Walgreens and Fred Meyers in Salem. Of course there's also Target and Albertsons which I might visit periodically when they have an especially good sale going on. Like this week at Albertsons where they are taking double coupons for the coupon amount, NOT just up to $.50 like Safeway. Kind of excited about that one!
Today I hit up Rite Aid and Safeway and here's my deals:
Rite Aid
1 canister of Wet Ones $1.99
use $1 off 1 coupon from here
$1 Single Check Rebate
Final Price: FREE
Coffee Mate Creamer $1.99 with Safeway coupon
$1.50 off 2 coupon from here
Use a double coupon (only doubles up to $.50)
Final Price: 1.98 for two
Tyson Chicken Nuggets $3.99 with Safeway coupon
Grapes $.88 a pound
I also got bananas but they weren't on sale. Are they ever? Safeway deals/sales start on Wednesday so be sure to stock up on creamer and chicken nuggets before then!
Now that Grace is starting preschool (she's currently at her first class...will blog about that tonight!) I am able to go shopping for 2.5 hours by myself which is going to make this process much easier. I think it would be easy to go crazy and run around to 10 different stores to get the best possible deals at each one of them, but since I live in a small town with only one grocery store I'm going to have to scale my ambitions down a bit. I think it will be easier if I focus only on 2-4 stores to shop at a week so I think I'm going to focus on Safeway and Rite Aid as they're in Dallas, and I think Walgreens and Fred Meyers in Salem. Of course there's also Target and Albertsons which I might visit periodically when they have an especially good sale going on. Like this week at Albertsons where they are taking double coupons for the coupon amount, NOT just up to $.50 like Safeway. Kind of excited about that one!
Today I hit up Rite Aid and Safeway and here's my deals:
Rite Aid
1 canister of Wet Ones $1.99
use $1 off 1 coupon from here
$1 Single Check Rebate
Final Price: FREE
Airwick Ultra Freshmatic Kit $6.49
use $6 off 1 coupon from 9/13 paper
Final Price: $.49 (I bought two because I had two coupons)
Suave Body Wash $1.99
$.50 off coupon from 9/13 paper
$1 Single Check Rebate
Final Price: $.49 (I bought two because I had two coupons)
Johnson & Johnsons Baby Products $2.99 apiece
$1 coupons from 8/13 paper and here
$5 rebate off 3, $10 rebate off 5, $15 rebate off 10
Final Price: FREE (I bought 5 because they didn't have enough product for me to get to 10, will check back Friday when they get new stock)
Stayfree 16ct Pads $3.99 buy one get one free
$2 off 2 coupon
Final Price: $1.99 for two packages
I also used a $5 off $25 coupon from coupons.com which is good through this week. So I spent $18.39 out of pocket and will get $13 back in rebates. That means I got it all for $5.39! Rite Aid deals are good through next Sunday.
Safewayuse $6 off 1 coupon from 9/13 paper
Final Price: $.49 (I bought two because I had two coupons)
Suave Body Wash $1.99
$.50 off coupon from 9/13 paper
$1 Single Check Rebate
Final Price: $.49 (I bought two because I had two coupons)
Johnson & Johnsons Baby Products $2.99 apiece
$1 coupons from 8/13 paper and here
$5 rebate off 3, $10 rebate off 5, $15 rebate off 10
Final Price: FREE (I bought 5 because they didn't have enough product for me to get to 10, will check back Friday when they get new stock)
Stayfree 16ct Pads $3.99 buy one get one free
$2 off 2 coupon
Final Price: $1.99 for two packages
I also used a $5 off $25 coupon from coupons.com which is good through this week. So I spent $18.39 out of pocket and will get $13 back in rebates. That means I got it all for $5.39! Rite Aid deals are good through next Sunday.
Coffee Mate Creamer $1.99 with Safeway coupon
$1.50 off 2 coupon from here
Use a double coupon (only doubles up to $.50)
Final Price: 1.98 for two
Tyson Chicken Nuggets $3.99 with Safeway coupon
Grapes $.88 a pound
I also got bananas but they weren't on sale. Are they ever? Safeway deals/sales start on Wednesday so be sure to stock up on creamer and chicken nuggets before then!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Grace's 4 Year Portraits...a tad overdue!
So I'm a bit late in doing Grace's four year portraits since she turned 4 over a month ago. We've been busy, but mostly I've been waiting for the lovely red poison oak rash to disappear! Nasty stuff, that poison oak. I'm still scratching a spot on one of my legs!
I took the opportunity to bring Grace to the park for some pictures one day while David was working from home this week. I waited until Ethan was down for his afternoon nap and then did my best to make picture taking sound like fun to my four year old. She wasn't buying it at first, but after a mention of a "special treat" if she cooperated things got a little better. Grace has never been a fan of the camera, and only really wants her picture taken if the camera is pointed at her brother. Siblings are a big help in motivation I've discovered. The best motivator was actually the last spot we found on the way back to the van. I noticed this little tree with the perfect limb for sitting on, not three feet from the ground. I swung her up there and ooohed and aaaahed and told her she looked "just like Sleeping Beauty" which got her glowing and her real smile finally made an appearance! Not only that but she smiled while looking in my direction...a real rarity when I have a camera in my hands. Usually she looks down or anywhere other then my direction. She can't really look up because of her ptosis, and any shots that I get of her looking up really make the ptosis show up so I avoid them with her.
I edited the photos two ways, both my regular vivid colors and a more vintage "honey" look. By the way, if anyone out there reading this has Photoshop you really should check out Coffee Shop for a bunch of fantastic and FREE actions! I really like the Color Pop and tried out the Vintage Honey Action for the more vintage looking photos. Check out my photography blog for my favorites.
And what do you all think about the vintage look? Do you prefer the full color? Personally, I think I like the vintage look for some of the photos, but purposefully dressed Grace in bright girly colors that would pop in photographs.
I took the opportunity to bring Grace to the park for some pictures one day while David was working from home this week. I waited until Ethan was down for his afternoon nap and then did my best to make picture taking sound like fun to my four year old. She wasn't buying it at first, but after a mention of a "special treat" if she cooperated things got a little better. Grace has never been a fan of the camera, and only really wants her picture taken if the camera is pointed at her brother. Siblings are a big help in motivation I've discovered. The best motivator was actually the last spot we found on the way back to the van. I noticed this little tree with the perfect limb for sitting on, not three feet from the ground. I swung her up there and ooohed and aaaahed and told her she looked "just like Sleeping Beauty" which got her glowing and her real smile finally made an appearance! Not only that but she smiled while looking in my direction...a real rarity when I have a camera in my hands. Usually she looks down or anywhere other then my direction. She can't really look up because of her ptosis, and any shots that I get of her looking up really make the ptosis show up so I avoid them with her.
I edited the photos two ways, both my regular vivid colors and a more vintage "honey" look. By the way, if anyone out there reading this has Photoshop you really should check out Coffee Shop for a bunch of fantastic and FREE actions! I really like the Color Pop and tried out the Vintage Honey Action for the more vintage looking photos. Check out my photography blog for my favorites.
And what do you all think about the vintage look? Do you prefer the full color? Personally, I think I like the vintage look for some of the photos, but purposefully dressed Grace in bright girly colors that would pop in photographs.
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