Weekly Spending Summary

This was kind of a wild week as far as my grocery spending goes. Of the 3 places I shopped, I only actually really "spent" money at one. Again, a no-picture post thanks to my camera acting fluky, but I did try to give details from each store to help you understand what I bought.

Total Spent: $20.00
Total Saved with Coupons: $43.99
Total Saved with Sales: $12.29
Total Saved: $56.28

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $19.99
Saved with Sales: $1.57

Bought some cosmetic items, 2 bottles of CVS vanilla extract, CVS candy corn and a package of Huggies diapers. CVS is running a promotion right now that when you buy 6 packages of diapers you get a coupon to get the 7th free. I had earned one of those coupons several weeks ago and used it to get a pack of diapers free today.

Rite Aid: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $2.00
Saved with Sales: $0.80

I had a Rite Aid gift card that I had gotten from returning some things a couple of weeks other. I used that to pay for this purchase otherwise my total would have been $1.27. I bought a deodorant and that was it. I got back $2 in UPRewards and I'll also get a $1 Single Check Rebate, so I actually made $1.73 on this!

They were out of the other things I wanted. I have a whole slew of rain checks to use, but so far they are still out of stock on those items. It's getting rather frustrating!

Giant: $0
Saved with Coupons: $22.00
Saved with Sales: $9.92

My total was actually $0.05 but I just used a nickel that I had in my wallet to pay. I had a $10 off-your-next-purchase coupon that I had earned a couple of weeks back during a promotion Giant was running. I used this to pay for my purchase today.

If you could see my freezer right now you would probably laugh. I have so much ice cream from all the ice cream deals lately! It makes this ice cream lover happy. :) At Giant this time I was able to buy 6 Green's ice cream for only $1 each. When ice cream is that price I try to stock up and it's so handy to have ice cream in the freezer for a quick snack when friends come over...or just to eat for the fun of it.

Misc.: $20.00
- Used this to buy things at a local bulk food store.

Weekly Spending Summary

I know that I have some new readers and so I thought it was a good time to once again explain why I do these Weekly Spending Summaries. To be honest, in some ways it can feel rather vulnerable to let you see how we spend our money. But I do these posts because I want to show you just how much using coupons, watching sales, and playing "the drugstore game" can actually save you.

These posts are not meant to be discouraging to you if you spend more than I do. I realize that we all have different grocery/household needs and varying amounts of time and energy to give to this whole money saving thing. But rather I hope to encourage you to do what you can. And if you have questions about my transactions etc., please feel free to ask. I will be more than happy to try to explain and teach you what I have learned!

And I also feel like to be honest, I have to admit that these Weekly Spending Summary posts are partly for my benefit. See, if I have to post what I am spending it helps me stay more accountable. And it also makes for an easy way to keep track of our grocery budget. So I admit, my reason for posting them is partly selfish. :)
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I didn't do too bad this week, which is good considering I've been spending quite a bit lately!

Once again, this a "no picture" post unfortunately since my camera still is acting fluky and not letting download the pictures that are on it. I'm really sorry since I know that to truly benefit from these posts you kind of need pictures. I'm looking for a new camera now and hope to have a new one in several weeks.

Total Spent: $25.26
Total Saved with Coupons: $71.49
Total Saved with Sales: $63.86
Total Saved: $135.35

CVS: $1.24
Saved with Coupons: $36.99
Saved with Sales: $21.50

This was an awesome week for me at CVS. I had a raincheck for Airwick airfreshner so I bought that then I bought 4 packages of Pampers diapers as well and with buying 4 of those I got a $10 American Express Visa card to use on future purchases!

One thing to note, if you don't already, be sure to scan your Extra Care card at the little coupon scanner when you go into the store. I keep getting Pampers coupons and $3/$15 Baby Care Purchase coupons which can be combined with manufacturer coupons as well. These coupons have helped me get some great deals on diapers lately.

Rite Aid: $6.45
Saved with Coupons: $25.00
Saved with Sales: $21.63

Mostly bought a bunch of cold care items that were free or moneymakers after coupons and Rite Aid Single Check Rebates.

Giant: $17.57
Saved with Coupons: $9.50
Saved with Sales: $20.73

I bought some Turkey Hill ice cream, peanut butter and Wisk laundry detergent.

Sunday Coupon Preview

Want to know what coupons to expect in this Sunday's paper? Go here.

Living Social: $10 Account Credit

Follow the instructions below to get a $10 Living Social (a daily deal site- one that I love) account credit. Act on this one fast if you want to get it!

* Sign up for a Living Social account

* Go to this page and enter Molly Cooper. If you are one of the first 20,000 people to do this, you will get $10 account credit. This should enable you to get a deal either free or really inexpensively!

New Coupons at Coupons.com

There are bunch of new coupons available at Coupons.com, including many Glade coupons:

* $1.00 off Glade Sense & Spray refills

* $1.00 off Glade PlugIns Scented Oil refills

* $0.75 off any Glade Automatic Spray refill

* $0.55 off Glade Premium Room Spray

* $0.55 off Glade Carpet & Room Odor Eliminator

* $1.00 off 2 Glade 4-oz. Jar Candles

* $1.00 off Glade dacor scents holder or refills

* $1.00 off Glade Press & Sprayâ„¢ starter kit

* $1.00 off Glade Fabric & Air Odor Eliminator

* $3.00 off Glade Lasting Impressions warmer

* $1.00 off Glade Scented Oil Candle refills

* $2.00 off Glade Sense & Spray starter kit

* $1.00 off Glade Scented Oil Candle holder

* $1.00 off Purchase of HEALTH Magazine

* $1.00 off of COOKING LIGHT Magazine

* $1.00 off Garnier Fructis Style Hairspray

* $2.00 off Any (1) LamisilAT Product

* Buy 5 Healthy Choice Micro Bowl soup get one free

* $1.00 off any JENNIE-O TURKEY STORE Appetizer

* Buy 1 Get 2 FREE EASY BAKE OVEN MIXES

* $0.75 off KRAFT Parmesan Seasoning Blends

* $1.00 off any JOHNSON'S Baby product

* $1.00 off DESITIN Soothing Rash Bath Treatment

* $1.00 off Cat's Pride cat litter

* $0.50 off 1 Scotch-Brite Botanical Disinfecting

* $1.00 off HORMEL ALWAYS TENDER flavored product

* $5.00 off CARS 2 Mattel & Fisher Price Toys

* $2.00 off Any Aleve 40ct or larger

* $3.00 off two BISSELL Stomp And Go

* $2.00 off on ONE (1) Filtrete 8 Cup Water Pitcher

* $0.55/1 Edge Shave Gel 7 oz.

New Redplum Coupons

Print these new Redplum coupons:

* $0.50/ Newman's Own Pasta Sauce, Salsa, Lemonade, Marinade, Popcorn or Cereal
* $1/2 any Vanity Fair Napkins
* $1/1 any L'Oreal EverPure, EverSleek, EverStrong treatment
* $1/1 any L’Oréal Paris skincare product
* $0.75/2 packages of Bar-S® 1 LB. Franks or Bologna
* $1/1 any package of Bar-S® 2.5 LB. Smoked Sausage
* $1/1 any ONE package Rhodes™ Cinnamon Rolls\
* $3/1 any ONE (1) pur-Absorb Iron
(you may have a rain check from CVS for this item from the week of 10/9- use this coupon to turn that offer into a moneymaker!)
* $0.50/1 any ONE box of Quaker® Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies (Available at select stores)
* $1.50/1 any ONE (1) Axe® Shower Gel Product (Excludes trial and travel size)
* $1/2 Snapps products
* $0.75/1 ANY box of Tennessee Pride Sausage Patties

Groupons: $40 Body Shop Voucher for $20

Groupon is offering a $40 voucher for The Body Shop for only $20 today only. If you don't see this voucher change your location to Springfield, Missouri.

If your wanting some bath products for gifts this is an excellent way to save on them!

Walmart: Olay Spa Gift Set- Free After Rebate

1. Go to Shop At Home and choose Walmart as your store to get 2% cash back on your order. (If you don't want to do this step, just proceed to step #2.)

2. At the Walmart website type "Olay" in the search box. The second listing you see should be the correct one: Olay Spa Gift Set Caddy with Bonus 1-Year Subscription to Allure Magazine, $9.00. (Do NOT use this link of you want to get 2% cash back through Shop at Home. Use the link above and follow the instructions in #1.)

3. Select which Gift Set Caddy you want and add to cart.

4. Go to checkout and follow the instructions there to pay for you purchase. Shipping will be free.

5. Once your order arrives, submit this rebate form to get $9.99 back. The rebate form states it is for a magazine subscription worth $9.99 BUT if you read the fine print at the bottom (the last 5 lines or so) you'll see that you can bypass the magazine subscription and get a refund for $9.99 instead. From what I've heard from other people you can use either the invoice that comes with the Gift Set Caddy or print a copy of the invoice they email to you as your receipt. Do note that you have 30 days from the purchases date to submit the rebate.

6. You will receive the caddy for free (and the rebate should even cover the cost of your postage stamp for the rebate!) and get $0.20 cash back to your Shop at Home account!

Sunday Coupon Preview

Want to know what coupons to expect in this Sunday's paper? Go here.

InkGarden: Custom Mugs, Mouse Pads, Placemats & More Free (Just Pay Shipping)

InkGarden is offering all new customers a $13 credit which will allow you to get one of the following items free or two items very inexpensively. You do have to pay shipping. To get the $13 credit just enter ForFree at checkout.

Here are the shipping rates for the promotional items:

* Notebook: $3.95
* Mousepad: $5.49
* 10 Holiday Cards: $3.29
* 10 Invitations: $3.29
* Ceramic Mug: $5.49
* Biz Cards: $3.49
* Placemat: $3.29
* Notepad: $3.49
* Note Cards: $3.29

SaveMore: $25 Boston Market Gift Card for $15

(I am thinking that if you are new to SaveMore you get a $10 account credit but I can't find anything about it on their site. If this is the case, you would only be paying $5 for the gift card. So if you are interested, you may want to sign up and see if you get an account credit.)

SaveMore, a daily deal site, is offering a $25 Boston Market gift card for only $15. The great thing about gift cards like this is that you can pair them with coupons to save even more.

Remember my post about saving on gifts? This is a great way to save money on a gift card for a gift!

Saving on Gifts

I had promised you that I'd do a post on how we save money on gifts. I didn't intend to make you wait this long but we had some unexpected things come up- one of which includes me being on what I guess you'd call partial bed rest. Sunday night I started having contractions (I'm only 30 wks. pregnant) and to make a long story short we got them stopped but were told that I am basically just to sit around and not really do any housework. I'm hoping that at my doctor appointment on Fri. they will tell me I can resume working but in the meantime I'm trying hard to rest, which really wasn't too hard the last two days since I had only gotten 3 hrs. of sleep Sunday night!

Anyway, I finally feel like my brain is clear enough and like I have energy enough to blog again. So here's the promised post!

One of the areas in our budget that we seem to consistently struggle in is the category of "Gifts Given". I think every year since we got married 5 years ago and began budgeting we've gone over our dollar amount for this category. And we've even upped the amount. I think one of the reasons it is difficult to budget for is because you never know at the beginning of the year just who all you are going to need or want to buy gifts for. As much as we try to plan, it seems there are still those unexpected weddings we are invited too or that baby that we didn't know about in Jan. when we made our budget. Or I decide I really want to give one of my friends a birthday gift this year just because. At any rate, we like to be able to give gifts freely and do not want to let our budget keep us from the joy of giving. And so we give and somehow compensate our budget from other categories we are under in.

I've also tried to get really serious about finding ways to save money in this whole area of gift giving. I'm still learning but have found a few things that have saved us a bit while still allowing us to give gifts in ways that we feel good about. (We do NOT want to give cheap, cheasy gifts just to stay in budget! My husband says it would be better to give no gift at all than to give a cheap, cheasy gift and I think I agree.)

Here are some of the things we've done to save money giving gifts.

1. Plan and buy ahead
This alone is huge. If you wait until the day before a wedding to get a gift you are almost guaranteed to pay full price! However, if you plan ahead you can almost always at least save a couple of dollars one way or another.

At the beginning of the year think of all the gifts you will likely give that year- weddings, birthdays, baby showers, and Christmas gifts. Then begin watching for items on sale or clearance to give for these occasions. I am constantly on the lookout for baby clothes for baby gifts, household items for wedding gifts and kid's items and fun, small things for the people I give birthday gifts too. In fact we have a gift box in our attic that I try to always have a few go-to gifts in so that if I suddenly have an event sneak up on me I at least have something on hand and don't need to go pay full price for an item.

Of course you don't always know in January just what occasions you are going to get invited to that year. But as you get invitations to events begin watching right away for gifts. You might even find it helpful to make a list of people you need to buy gifts for as well as a few ideas of what you'd like to get for them.

2. Watch daily deal sites
Daily deal sites offer deals on everything from gift cards to flowers to toys to household items to clothing. In the past I've posted these deals (and this is only a handful of the great deals you can score through daily deal sites): National Geographic Kids- Mamapedida, Old Navy- Groupon, Flowers from a Florist- Savemore, American Girl Doll- RuLaLa. Many sites offer sign up bonuses which allow you to get deals for an even lower price.

3. Shop sales, do rebates and use coupons
This is one of my main ways of saving money on gifts. Just recently there was this deal at JCPenney and I was able to snag something for a wedding gift. Today there is a deal on toys at Kohl's. And I frequently use store coupons from Kohl's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Carters, and JCPenney to save on gift items as well. If you shop online, don't forget to use ShopAtHome or Ebates to save even more. It's not much, but it really does add up!

4. Save with Gift Cards
A lot of people register for their baby and wedding gifts any more and for myself, I actually enjoy knowing what someone wants, so I like this. But it does make it a bit harder to save on their gifts. Besides using store coupons as mentioned above to get registry items cheaper, I also have bought gift cards at Gift Card Rescue and used them to buy the gift registry item(s), typically saving another couple of dollars. Another site that is similar is Plastic Jungle. These sites are also great sites to buy gift cards at a discounted rate to give as gifts.

5. Get Creative
I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not the most creative person and when it comes to craft projects? Well, I really stink. But even I have been able to pull off creating some of my own gifts.

Some of the other things I've done have include using Amazon gift cards earned through Swagbucks to buy gifts for people, buying things rather inexpensively on Ebay, and several times I've found items on Freecycle that were gift-able.

And to end this post I just have to tell you a big way that both my family and my husband's family saves on Christmas gifts. Not only do we exchange names, which cuts the cost of things drastically, we also have decided it's okay to give second hand gifts. This has actually been a lot of fun and it's amazing what "expensive" items people have found at yard sales, thrift stores and the like for a little bit of nothing. This cuts the cost of our gift giving down considerably and yet we still have a blast being able to bless each other in this way.

What are your top ways to save money on gifts?

New Printable Coupons

There are some new printable coupons available:

* $1.00 off 1 pkg of PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme
* $1.00 off 1 GARNIER FRUCTIS SHAMPOO
* $1.40 off 1 bag of NESTLE or WONKA candy
* $1.00 off Honey Elixir or any Little Remedies
* $1.00 off 1 T.G.I. FRiDAY'S Frozen Entree for One
* $1.00 off any LISTERINE WHITENING Rinse
* $1.00 off any LISTERINE Antiseptic Mouthwash
* $0.50 off ONE BOX Lucky Charms cereal

Sunday Coupon Preview

Want to know what coupons to expect in this Sunday's paper? Go here.

JCPenney: Cooks Blender, Coffee Maker or Toaster $8.20 After Sales, Rebates and Cash Back

The wafflemaker is now priced at $24.99, so to use the coupon code you would need to
add an item to get your total over $25.

JCPenney has a great deal on certain appliances right now. I like to buy deals like this and have them on hand for shower, wedding and housewarming gifts. To get the above appliances for $8.20, follow the instructions below:

* Go to the JCPenney page at ShopAtHome and click the "Shop Now" button.

* Search for "Toaster Sunbeam 4-Slice", "Cooks 5-in-1 Power Blender" or "Coffeemaker 12-Cup Programmable" on the JCPenney site.

* Head to checkout and use coupon code BESTSALE to get $10 off the $29.99 price. Your total will then be $19.99 plus any applicable tax.

* Select shipping to your local store and shipping will be free.

* Once you receive your order, submit the $10 Cook’s Mail-In Rebate (limit one rebate per address per appliance).

* In a few days you'll receive a $1.79 rebate in your ShopAtHome account, making your total after sales, rebates and cash back $8.20 per appliance plus any applicable tax.

Phone Tip

I had barely gotten online yesterday morning when I suddenly had no internet . I finally decided to call our provider to see what was going on and after getting frustrated with the ridiculous automated help system, hung up and called back to talk to a real, live person. As I was doing that, I realized that I should share the tip I learned while working as a pharmacy technician.

We frequently had to call insurance companies and the like and I soon learned that most times if you simply push zero you can bypass all the automated stuff and get to a real person. If that doesn't work try * or #. Most times one of these will get you a real person but of course there are always those systems that are just plain annoying and make you wait it out. I guess they think they need to be an assistant in teaching us about patience! :)

Just a Heads Up...and a Request for Your Suggestions

A while ago Christy left this comment on one of my posts: "I'd like to hear more about how people save money--what are ways you save in addition to couponing. A post idea sometime if you feel like it. =) "

Well, that got me thinking and I started jotting down different things that we do that save money and I realized that there is no way all of those things would fit into one post! And so I decided to do multiple posts devoted to the subject of how we save in addition to couponing. I have numerous post ideas but if you have any specifics you'd like to hear about feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment. Your input is what helps me know what other people find the most helpful and I value it a lot!

So stay tuned...you'll be seeing a post soon on how we save money on gifts.

Obtaining Coupons: Magazines

One of the places I find coupons is in magazines. There are many magazines that you'll find them in, especially ones like Parenting, Good Housekeeping, Women's Day, and All You. Of course there are others too but those are just ones that I can think of offhand that I have definitely gotten coupons in.

I personally don't pay for magazine subscriptions but instead sign up for free ones that come available, and trust me, you'd be surprised at how many free magazine subscriptions come up! In the past I've gotten free subscriptions to Weight Watchers, Parenting, Parents, Baby Talk, American Baby, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping and more.

Here are the free magazine subscriptions that I know are currently available:

* American Baby
* Baby Talk
* Good Housekeeping
( For this one, after you enter your information you'll see a bunch of other offers. Just ignore them and exit out of the page. You do not need to do those offers to get the free magazine.)

What magazines do you like to find coupons in?

Did you miss the other posts in this series? If so, here are links to them- Contacting Companies, Coupon Websites- Part 1, Coupon Websites- Part 2, Coupon Websites- Part 3, Coupon Trading, Store Emails & Fliers, Newspaper Inserts- Part 1 and Newspaper Inserts- Part 2.

Weekly Spending Summary

Total Spent: $5.88
Total Saved with Coupons: $27.37
Total Saved with Sales: $21.87
Total Saved: $49.24

Rite Aid: $0 (Visa gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $23.37
Saved with Sales: $14.77

I had earned a Visa gift card through a rebate. I used this to pay for my purchase.

Giant: $4.50
Saved with Coupons: $3.00
Saved with Sales: $7.10

Target: $1.38
Saved with Coupons: $1.00

This was for 2 dozen eggs.

Aldi: $5.77

Sharp Shopper: $5.47
- Got some more inexpensive cheese and orange juice!

Chili's: Free Chips and Queso

Sign up for Chili's email club and you'll get a coupon for free chips and queso. You'll also get emails several times a month with coupons and special offers. Remember, you can opt out of the emails at any time after you sign up.

Signing up for email clubs is one of the ways that we save when we eat out. I've learned that you pretty much never have to pay full price for restaurant meals if you simply watch for coupons, sign up for email clubs, etc.

New Printable Coupons

Here's some of the new printable coupons that are available. I highlighted a few of the best/more unusual ones.

• $1.00 off three Tombstone Large Size Pizzas
• $0.55 off any Flatout brand product
• $3.00 off Coromega Omega-3 Squeeze products
• $1.00 off 1 GARNIER FRUCTIS STYLE PRODUCT
• $1.00 off TWO Campbell's Slow Kettle Style soup
• $3.00 off any 1 REFRESH Brand Product any size
• $1.00 off Gold Peak 18.5 oz bottle any flavor
• $0.75 off any Effergrip Denture Adhesive product
• $1.50 off 1 ex-lax product. Use as directed.
• $0.50 off Scotch-Brite Botanical Disinfecting Wipe
• $3.00 off Two (2) Triaminic OR Theraflu Products
• $0.40 off 3 Campbell's Condensed soup
• $1.00 off one Baby Lips Lip Balm
• $1.00 off on THREE 7.5oz or larger HOT POCKETS® Brand items
• 40¢ off Stevia In the Raw Products
• 50¢ off on any flavor/variety Nature Valley® Granola Thins
• 50¢ off on TWO CUPS any flavor Yoplait® Greek yogurt
• $1.00 off on Betty Crocker® or Fiber One® Box Muffin Mix
• 75¢ off Romano's Macaroni Grill® Restaurant Favorites® Kit
• 50¢/2 off on any flavor Betty Crocker® boxed Potatoes
• $1.00 off on Pillsbury® Sweet Moments® Refrigerated Desserts
• 40¢ off on Pillsbury® Refrigerated Italian Meal Breads
• 40¢ off when you buy ONE POUCH Betty Crocker® Cookie Mix
• 30¢ off on Pillsbury® Refrigerated Grands!® Biscuits
• 40¢ off on Fiber One® 90 Calorie Chewy Bars or Brownies
• $1.00 off on any TWO BOXES select Cheerios® cereals
• 40¢ off on Pillsbury® Sweet Rolls OR Grands!® Sweet Rolls
• 50¢ off on ONE BOX Fun da-middles™ Cupcake Mix
• 40¢ off when you buy TWO PACKAGES Totino's® Rolls Snacks
• $1.50 off when you buy Pillsbury® Refrigerated Cookie Dough
• 50¢ off on Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® Cake Mix & Frosting
• $1.00 off when you buy Pillsbury® Refrigerated Cookie Dough
• 50¢ off when you buy TWO Pillsbury® Crescent Dinner Rolls
• 50¢ off on Pillsbury® Rolled Refrigerated Pie Crusts
• $1.00 off on Totino's® Crisp Crust Party Pizza® Products
• 75¢ off when you buy any ONE BOX select Total® cereals
• $1.00 off when you buy TWO BOXES General Mills cereals
• 50¢ off when you buy EIGHT CUPS any variety Yoplait® Yogurt
• 50¢ off on Pillsbury® Toaster Strudel®/Scrambles®/Pancakes
• 50¢ off when you buy any flavor/variety Bugles® Corn Snacks
• 50¢ off on Nature Valley® Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bars
• 50¢ off when you buy Chex Mix® OR Chex® 100 Calorie Snack
• 75¢ off when you buy any ONE BOX select Kix® cereals
• 50¢ off on Uncle Ben's® Long Grain & Wild Rice products
• 50¢ off when you buy TWO Uncle Ben's® Ready Rice® products
• $3.00 off Bausch + Lomb Alaway® antihistamine eye drops
• $2.00 off when you buy any TWO GoodBelly® Quarts
• $10.00 off Philips Norelco Speed XL/Nivea for Men Razor
• $5.00 off Philips Norelco 7000 Series Electric Razor
• $1.50 off 1 AVENT Pacifier Pack
• $3 off 1 Multi-pack AVENT BPA-Free Baby Bottles
• $1.00 off SIX Mighty Dog® 5.5 oz single cans
• $1.50 off when you buy any TWO Sundown Naturals® Product
• $1.60 off any TWO Nature's Bounty® Vitamins or Supplements
• $5.00 off any Philips Norelco Shaving Replacement Head
• $1 off when you buy any two bags of SENSEO® COFFEE PODS
• $2 off when you buy any Osteo Bi-Flex® Supplement or Powder
• NBTY® - SAVE $1.00
• L'Oreal® - SAVE $1.00
• L'Oréal Skincare - Save $1
• L'Oreal® - SAVE $1.00
• L'Oreal® - SAVE $1.00
• NBTY® - BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!
• NBTY® - SAVE $1.00
• Ecotrin® - SAVE $1.50
• IHOP at Home™ - SAVE $1.00
• Right Guard® - $1 off

And some Saving Star coupons:

Buy 1 Diamond Crystal Sea Salt, Save 40¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 Krazy Glue, Save 50¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 Elmer's School Glue, Glue-All or Glue Sticks, Save 50¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 Elmer's Foam Board, Save 50¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 Diamond Crystal Salt Sense, Save 35¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, Save 40¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 NO YOLKS, Save 40¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 1 WACKY MAC & Cheese Dinner, Save 40¢. Expires 10/31/2011.
Buy 1 WACKY MAC Veggie Pasta, Save 40¢. Expires 10/31/2011.
Buy 1 Truvia® Natural Sweetener (40 ct or larger), Save 75¢. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy ONE (1) HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On Diapers, Save $2.00. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy 2 HUGGIES® Baby Wipes (64 ct or larger), Save $1.00. Expires 10/31/2011. .
Buy ONE (1) 12 oz package of Johnsonville Chicken Sausage, Save 55¢. Expires 10/26/2011. .
Buy ONE (1) Johnsonville Italian Sausage(16 oz or 19.76 oz), Save 55¢. Expires 10/26/2011. .
Buy 1 GUM® Crayola Kids® Toothbrush, Save 75¢. Expires 10/26/2011.
Buy 2 Gorton's® Frozen Seafood items, Save $1.00. Expires 10/26/2011.
Save $2.00 on any 1 AIR WICK® Double Fresh Oil Warmer. Expires 10/26/2011.
Buy 2 AIR WICK® Scented Oils Twin Refills, Save $1.50. Expires 10/26/2011.
Buy 1 AIR WICK® Freshmatic Ultra Air Freshener Starter Kit, Save $2.00. Expires 10/26/2011.
Buy 1 L'Oréal Studio Line Styling Product, Save $1.00. Expires 10/26/2011. .
Buy 1 L'Oréal Vive Pro Shampoo or Conditioner, Save 75¢. Expires 10/26/2011. .
Buy 1 Femystique® personal lubricant, Save $1.00. Expires 10/19/2011. .
Buy any 1 Phillips' product, Save $2.00. Expires 10/19/2011. .
Buy any 1 One A Day Multi-Vitamins, Save $1.00 (does not include One A Day Kids). Expires 10/19/2011.
Buy any 1 Aleve Product 20 ct or higher, Save $2.00. Expires 10/19/2011. .
Buy any 1 Bayer Aspirin product, Save $1.00. Expires 10/19/2011. .
Buy 1 PERDUE® Refrigerated Baked Whole Grain Breaded Chicken Variety, Save $1.00. Expires 10/6/2011. . (Only at Kroger Southwest)
Buy 1 PERDUE® SHORT CUTS® Carved Breast Strips, Save $1.00. Expires 10/6/2011. . (Only at Kroger Southwest)

Sunday Coupon Preview

Check out what coupons you can expect to find in this Sunday's coupon inserts.

Weekly Spending Summary

My camera is still not working...so I apologize for a "no picture" post!

Total Spent: $72.01
Total Saved with Coupons: $63.29
Total Saved with Sales: $26.02
Total Saved: $89.31

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $14.79
Saved with Sales: $5.70

I had a $4/$20 purchase coupon that I used. The Rephresh tampons were bought with a rain check.

Rite Aid: $1.78
Saved with Coupons: $23.00
Saved with Sales: $6.15

The Bayer aspirins were bought with a rain check.

Giant: $24.29
Saved with Coupons: $19.50
Saved with Sales: $14.17

I did a deal where if you bought $25 worth of certain freezer items you got a $10 catalina coupon to use on your next shopping trip. So while my out of pocket was rather high I'm hoping that in the next two weeks I'll be able to score some great deals and use my $10 catalina coupon to pay for them.

Save-A-Lot: $14.12
Saved with Coupons: $5.00

I bought some things for my mother-in-law so my total before coupons was actually $25. I then had a $5/$25 coupon that I used. Aldi had eggs on sale for $1.00 which is the cheapest I'd seen in a long time. I was pretty excited until I went to Aldi afterward only to see eggs there for $0.94! They had just been $1.50 there! Oh well, you win some and you lose some. And actually after my $5 coupon, I guess they were still a bit cheaper at Save-A-Lot.

Target: $2.75
Saved with Coupons: $1.00

Springville Foods: $7.59

Creekside Food Outlet: $4.98

Misc.: $16.50
I got a bushel of grapes to make into grape juice.

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Amazon: Huggies Natural Care Wipes $1.50 ($0.02/wipe)

Huggies Natural Care Fragrance Free Baby Wipes Soft pack, 72-Count (Pack of 8) are $12 right now on Amazon if you use the Subscribe and Save and Amazon Mom option. If you aren't able to do the drugstore deals, this is a great way to get wipes for cheap!

And don't let the Subscribe and Save option scare you. You can cancel your subscription at any time- just make sure it is after you received your order! I usually wait until my order comes then log on and cancel my subscription.

Please note, Amazon deals like this can disappear at any time, so if you are interested you might want to act now.

Tasty Tuesday: Country Potato Soup

Country Potato Soup pictured with Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits

One of the ways that I stretch our budget is by having at least one meatless dinner a week. Recently I discovered this Country Potato Soup recipe in one of my cookbooks and thought it would be a great addition to my list of meatless dishes.

Don't let the basic ingredients of this soup fool you because it still is tasty and full of flavor. The onions, pepper and chives add a lot to it and the sour cream makes it just a little bit creamy. In fact my husband who is not a potato soup fan declared this one to be "pretty good." And I think it goes perfectly with Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits.

Country Potato Soup

3 c. diced, peeled potatoes
1/2- 1 c. carrots
1/2 c. onion, chopped
2 c. water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chopped chives
1 c. sour cream
2 Tbsp. flour
2 c. milk

Combine potatoes, carrots, onion, water, bouillon cubes, pepper and salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook for about 20 min. or until potatoes are tender but not mushy. Add 1 c. milk, heat. Mix sour cream, flour, chives and remaining 1 c. milk. Stir mixture into soup gradually. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

For other recipe ideas, check out Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday, Blessed with Grace's Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesday, Mandy's Recipe Box's Totally Tasty Tuesdays and All the Small Stuff's Tuesdays At the Table.

More New Coupons

• $2.00 off any AVEENO Hair Care Product
• $0.75 off 1 New Swanson concentrated broth
• $0.50 off Scotch-Brite Botanical Disinfecting Wipe
• $.40 off 2 packages of Frigo Italian Style
• $.40 off 1 package of Frigo Cheese Heads
• $0.75 off any Effergrip Denture Adhesive product

The Time Keeper Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Tonia who's "I subscribed" comment was #59- the winning number that random.org chose! Tonia, I emailed you and you have 48 hours to reply before another winner is chosen.

Thanks to all of you who entered. This is one of those giveaways where I really wish that I could give each of you one of the prizes!

Obtaining Coupons: Coupon Websites- Part Three

In addition to the other coupon websites that I previously posted about here and here, I have three more that I thought you all might enjoy knowing about if you don't already.

* Recyclebank
Recyclebank is kind of a different way to get coupons. To get coupons, you must first "earn" points which you can then redeem for quite a variety of coupons. The different things you do to "earn" points take very little time to complete and you can quickly rack up points.

Some of my favorite coupons at Recyclebank are: $2/2 Earthbound Farm Organic products (can get really cheap produce with this), $2/1 Kashi product and $1/2 Bumble Bee tuna. They also have coupons and gift cards for places like Bed Bath and Beyond, McDonalds, Ruby Tuesday, and Walmart.

* P&G Brand Sampler
I'll be honest, this is another one of those programs that I have a love/hate relationship with. While you can request some great coupons and samples from P&G Brand Sampler, you can only do so once every quarter, which I find to be a real pain. I can never remember when I last requested the coupons/samples and hate logging in only to find that I still cannot request a thing!

Basically you can request coupons or samples, which often come with coupons, for various Proctor & Gamble products. The coupons vary every quarter, but most are fairly high value.

* Cellfire
Cellfire works similarly to Saving Star from what I understand. I wish that I knew, but to be honest, I never have used Cellfire because none of the stores in our area participate in the program.

I do know that Cellfire users can add coupons right to the stores grocery savings card. In other words, it's like clip-less coupons. Here's a list of stores that Cellfire currently works with: Baker's, City Market, Dillons, Fry's, Gerbes, Hilander, JayC, King Soopers, Kroger, Owen's, Pay Less, QFC, Ralphs, Scott's, Smith's, Carrs, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Pavilions, Randall's, Safeway, Tom Thumb, Vons, and ShopRite.

If any of you Cellfire users want to provide more information on this program, please feel free to do so!

Did you miss the other posts in this series? If so, here are links to them- Contacting Companies, Coupon Websites- Part 1, Coupon Websites- Part 2, Coupon Trading, Store Emails & Fliers, Newspaper Inserts- Part 1 and Newspaper Inserts- Part 2.

Saving Star: Huggies Coupons

There are two new Huggies coupons over at Saving Star. I would clip these immediately as they'll probably go fast. Remember, these coupons can be combined with other manufacturer coupons as detailed about here.

Huggies are on sale for $8.99 this coming week at CVS. Plus you'll get $1 Extra Bucks as well. So this should make for some inexpensive diapers.

SaveMore: $45 Worth of Flowers for $18

Savemore's national deal of the day is $45 worth of flowers for only $18. And if you are a new sign up you'll get a $10 credit making this only $8! Now that doesn't include the $14.95 delivery fee or tax, but still if you are looking to send flowers to someone in the near future, this is an incredible deal!

The voucher will be good until 4/3/12.