It pays to be thankful!

Just 4 days ago I did some searching online for companies we purchase products from regularly. I was hoping to find coupons on sites, or a mailing list with promos, or something like that! We buy only gluten free foods, which limits us in the snack arena. When y’all are stocking up on Pringles, we’re avoiding them because of the wheat. :)  I only looked up a couple of companies online. The first one that came to mind was Lundberg. We buy their rice cakes often and use them with Babybel cheese wedges and lunch meat as a “sandwich,” and we use their basmati rice a couple of times a week. I decided to write a letter to the company. This is what I wrote:

~~~~~~~~

Hello,

I just wanted to thank your company for making some gluten free foods that my family can eat!  We purchase your rice and rice cakes at our local Fred Meyer store and they are a staple in our diet!  Picnics are hard for gluten-free folks, but I just bring your rice cakes and spreadable cheese, and some gf lunch meat.  Thanks for making great products!

If you have a mailing list, I would love to be on it. I am interested in any recipes or meal suggestions, new product announcements, and coupons.

You can send me e-mails at:

My address is:

Thank you!

Brenda Scott

~~~~~~

Right away I got an e-mail from the company, thanking me for the compliments. And that might have been all I received--and that would be ok. Really, our society as a whole is so good at writing complaint letters (haven’t we all been guilty of that? :), but what about thank you letters to the companies who are doing great?  But, the e-mail wasn’t all I received--4 days later--today, I got a letter (hand signed) in the mail, with 2 recipe books, and NINE coupons for .75 off any Lundberg product, with NO EXPIRATION DATE!  Isn’t that awesome???  Wow! I am so impressed!!  Big thanks to the Lundberg company for the great products and the great coupons!! :) :)

More Deals!

I did some more shopping today. It took about an hour and a half to drive around town and go to 3 stores. It took maybe 20-30 minutes to plan out all of these deals. I forgot to mention that everyone should make use of CouponTom, it’s an awesome site and you can search for coupons (either online or in the paper) and it will tell you where coupons are. ALL of the coupons aren’t on there (e.g. a couple of weeks ago I did an internet search for “yoplait kids” and found $1 off coupons that Coupon Tom didn’t list).

The first store I went to today was Safeway. I used the coupons from the Tuesday Oregonian to get these deals.

• Safeway Large AA Eggs, 1 dozen, .69
  
• 6.5 lbs of Safeway Bacon, $9.99 ($1.53/lb) This is a HUGE pack of bacon!! (I came home and Noah said it was a whole pig :)
  
• 48 oz of Fresh  Express Salad, $1.99 (they were out of the 48 oz bags, so they let me get 2 24 oz bags--this is a lot of salad for only $1.99!!)
  
• 10 packs of Brown & Serve Sausage Links, .49 each!! (This was the Mix & Match deal, no coupon required--just get 10 at .99 each and $5 drops off the price of your total bill!!)
  

Totals

Before sales= $38.87

Before sales & Coupons combined= $40.66

My out of pocket = $17.57

Next I went to Fred Meyer:

• I got 5 packs of Bar S Hot Dogs, marked at $1 each, but I had a coupon to make them .88 each. Then I had a $2 off any $5 meat purchase coupon (Fred Meyer Rewards), plus 2 $1 off 2 Bar S products coupons) Total, .40 for 5 packs!!!!
  
• 1 container of blackberries, $2
  
• 1 of blueberries, $2
  
• 1 of raspberries, $2
  
• 1 pk of a dozen eggs, $1 (coupon in ad--I would have bought more but they were out!)
  
• 2 Snuggle Fabric Softeners at $3.99 each, -a $2 FM Catalina for $2/2, and -2 $1 off coupons, so I got them for $1.99 each
  

Before coupons, my total would have been= $17.98

My out of pocket = $11.38

Then I went to Thriftway. I couldn’t justify spending up to $50 to get that $10 off, I couldn’t find enough sales to make that kind of expense worthwhile. :) 

• 2 Newman’s Lemonades, $1.88, -2 .50 coupons and 2 .50 doublers, they ended up being .88 each
  
• 1 W/F Butter for .99
  
• 1 W/F Bacon for .99
  
• 10 W/F Yogurts @ .30 each
  
• Corn on the Cob, 5, $2
  
• 2.78 lbs of peaches at $1.99/lb, $5.53
  

Total before sales would have been $23.09

Total before sales & coupons would have been $27.61

Total out of pocket = $14.27

The peaches would have been cheaper per lb at Safeway, but I have had horrible luck with the produce at our Safeway. Lots of brown or bruised up items, especially after we cut into them at home (so we couldn't tell at the store). I'd rather pay a little more and know we're getting good fruit. :)

Note: I wouldn't ideally feed my kids these kinds of hot dogs or sausages (nitrates, corn syrup, etc.)--but they are SO cheap. My kids love these sausages, and at .49 per box, I can justify them. And at .40 for 5 packs of hot dogs, I can justify that, too. It's all about compromise! :)

Total I didn't spend today & would have if I wasn't watching the sales and clipping coupons =

$43.03

If this is a game, I think I'm winning...

Just joking, of course, I know many others are playing just as well or better! But it certainly is FUN!

Today was a BUSY day!  I dropped off some of our homeschool materials at a used curriculum sale (tagged them this morning for the sale, too!) at about 10 am.  Then it was off to the grocery stores!  I mapped out the 9 closest Albertsons to our house (but only ended up going to 5). I had all of my deals written out, as well as what each purchase would end up totaling. I had the coupons in a little expandable divided thingy, set up for each trip. Why did I do separate trips? The double coupons--you can only use 3 per trip.  At each store I asked for more double coupons, also--and then used them at the next store.

FYI~~People keep telling me I can just do multiple transactions at 1 store. So maybe the different Albertsons runs weren't necessary. :)

I print most of my coupons online, and I get some from the paper. YOU CAN DO THIS TOO!!!!

How much do you think I spent on all of this???

Well, the total WOULD HAVE BEEN $197.46, had I paid full price for everything. And had I just purchased sale items, with no coupons, I would have paid: $82.40. Still a decent savings, but 

I only spent $21.60!!

Here are the details:

4 Country Time Lemonades, .50 each! Plus every 2 lemonade purchases prints out a $1 catalina for your next purchase!

• 4 x Juicy Juice, $1 per box 
  
• 2 Jello Ready-Made Snacks, .75 each 
  
• Seattle’s Best Coffee, $1
  
• 3 Kraft Mayonnaise, .33 each
  
• 3 boxes of Jello Pudding Mix & 3 boxes of Jello Mix, .03 each!!!
  
• 8 bags Kraft Natural Shredded Cheese, .40 each!!
  
• 5 boxes of Bayer Asprin Quick Crystals (to donate), all free!
  
• 11 bags of Jet Puffed Marshmallows, .70 each, and 1 for $1 (this was an “oops!” I grabbed 1 too many and didn’t get the deal--but $1 is still decent)
  
• 2 Kraft BBQ Sauce, Free!
  
• 2 Grey Poupon jars of mustard, free!
  
• 1 pack Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs, FREE!
  
• 1 pack M&Ms, FREE!
  
• 5 Sobe Life Waters, $2 (vs. $1 each!)
  
• 1 Tazo Herbal Tea, FREE!
  
• 2 International Coffee Blends, .33 each!!
  
• 1 Edge Shave Gel, FREE!

You can do this too!  I check out what others are saying about the deals at least 1x per day here on Shop.Eat.Live. (look on the left). I try to go to Albertsons Weds or Thurs so that everything isn’t out of stock.  I keep a running list going of what I’m going to get. I print coupons whenever I see they’re available (you never know, they may reach their print limit!).  

Today it took me a lot of the day. I was back in town to pick up my books and the $2.50 I made at the sale (woo hoo! :) by 2:30, and then went home to put the kids down for nap.  So 4 1/2 hours of driving around and grocery shopping. My husband met me (he even did 2 of the transactions today!!) in Lake Oswego during his lunch break. :)  

It wasn’t as hard as I thought with the kids. They’re especially excited when they see me getting things like Jell-O and Juicy Juice for our upcoming camping trips. :)  They acted up in 1 Albertsons, and I could tell the lady was a bit frazzled. I have found though, that in general, female cashiers are kinder about the coupon thing than the male cashiers. Not to be sexist, but they just (in general) seem to get more frustrated by a stack of coupons. Test my theory and tell me what you think! :)

We listened to “Subtraction Songs” in the car and I paused it to teach them often, so I feel good that we were getting some homeschooling done, too. :) And, when we would leave a store, I’d say “did you see how much I got? I only spent $2!!”  They’re learning--for sure!

Was the gas $$ worth it? I think so--I need to calculate that out.  But I certainly didn’t spend $60 some dollars in gas.  Will I do this every week? Probably not. But it is really great to stock up on things that we know we’ll use. This way I don’t have to pay full price, ever--because I’ll always have items stocked up in my house. And cheese freezes, by the way!  A lot of foods freeze!

Thriftway Deals

coupons in ad that look good, all week (Weds-Tues)

-Western Family Yogurt, 10 for $3, limit 10, min $10 purchase

-Angel Soft Bath Tissue, $4.99 12 double rolls 24 single, first 1 (coupon on angel soft site for $1 off, too!)

-Western Family Oats & More Cereal, $2 each, limit 2

-WF Tater Tots, 2 for $3, limit 2

-WF Orange Juice, $2, 64 oz, limit 2

Friday, Sat & Sun only deals:

-Pork Baby Back Spare Ribs, $2.99/lb

-WF Bacon, .99, limit 1

-WF Butter, .99, limit 1

Other deals:

-BS Chicken Breasts, $1.99

-Yellow Corn, 5 for $2

-Fresh Express Salad, $1.98

-NW Shrimp Meat, $2.99

-Pork Shoulder Steak or Roast, .99/lb

-Hot House Vine Tomatoes, .99/lb

-WF Beef Patties, $6.99 (3 lbs)

-Newman's Own Lemonade, 64 oz, $1.88 (-.50 off in 5/31 RP, -.50 doubler = .88)

-WF Ice Cream Sandwiches or Ice Cream $1.98

-Buy 3 Breakfast Cereals, get 3 free (final price, $2 each--Apple Jacks, Pops, Fruit Loops, etc.)

-Seneca Applesauce cups 6 for $1.99

-Mike & Ike or Hot Tamales, 3 for $1

-Deli Coleslaw, $1.99/lb

-coupon for $5 off a 1/4 sheet cake or larger (the canby bakery is being rennovated)

-Annie's Pasta & Cheese, $1.99

-Cantaloupe, .49/lb

-Seedless Watermelon, $2.99 each

-Organic Mini Carrots, 1 lb, $1.50

-Yellow Onions .39/lb

-Zucchini, .89/lb

-White Peaches, $1.79/lb

-Red or White Potatoes, .69/lb

-Snapple Tea 12 packs, $4.99 (save $1 coupon online from Smart Source)

What I might get (on Friday)

10 Yogurts, $3

Angel Soft, $4.99

Bacon, .99

Butter, .99

Yellow Corn, $2

Fresh Express Salad, $1.98

Annie's Rice Macaroni, $1.99

Snapple Tea, 2 @ $4.99 =$9.98

1 Tatertots, $1.50

1 Orange Juice, $2

1 Lemonade, $1.88

1 Seneca Applesauce, $1.99

3 lbs Peaches $5.37

4 lbs Yellow Onions, $1.56

1 Watermelon, $2.99

2 Mini Carrots, $3

2 WF Ice Cream, $3.96

Total = $50.17

-$10 off of $50

-$1 off Angel Soft

-.50 doubler

-$2 in snapple coupons

-$1 in doublers on Snapple

-.50 on lemonade

-.50 doubler

= $34.67

Deal Parade! Albertsons, 6/3-6/9

Here are the links I have found with Albertsons deals so far:

Budget Bailout

A Thrifty Mom

Krazy Coupon Lady

Krazy Coupon Lady's Albertsons Preview

Couponing 101

Saving 4 My Family

Do you have Albertsons deals posted on your site too?  Put your link below! Make sure to link to the actual post about this ad, not to your entire blog. Thank you! :)

Free Tea Sample

I decided to post something here. :)  A free tea sample for y'all: http://www.yogiproducts.com/sample/. And really, I just liked the looks of the site--it's very pretty. And I like free tea...nothing wrong with that, right? :)

Coupon Giveaway! :)

Go to A Thrifty Mom and enter the coupon giveaway!!! :)