Last Day Albies trip

I hate to waste my Albies doubler coupons so I dashed today over to Albies to stock up on the sale items this week. I cheated and had my son go with me to use another set of doublers, but all in all I think I did pretty good. Here is my breakdown...
Total value of purchase $109.15
Total Savings $64.76
Total Spent $42.08
Total Percentage Saved 59%
I think of it as a successful trip when my percentage saved is between 50-70%. So today I did good!!!

Thanksgiving price comparisons

Thanks to Pinching your Pennies, go HERE to view a complete price comparison on all our Thanksgiving meal items. They have done all the work for you! That is awesome!!!

Another all-in-one trip to Wal-Mart

Usually I'm not particularly fond of Wal-Mart. I mean, who really is? We are merely victims of their monopoly. But sometimes, like these last few weeks, I find a bunch of stuff I need at all my local stores. I can't run all over town to patronize every one of them. I am much too busy for that. Plus Wal-Mart for me is closer than any other store! Thus, I am happy to do all my shopping in one store for the entire week! Here are my steals for this week...(click on picture to enlarge)
Sunkist, A&W,and 7-Up $0.27
Nabisco Ritz and Wheat Thins $0.67
Orowheat bread $0.95
Reynolds turkey bags $1.00
10 lbs Potatoes $0.88
Campbells crm of mush & Chick soup $0.24
Mentos Gum $0.45 (great stocking stuffers)
Birds Eye steamer veges $0.87
Nestle Choc. chips $1.28
Jimmy Dean Sausage $2.00
Meadow Gold whipping cream $0.59
Hasbro Card games $5.24 (coupon for BOGO in Sundays newspapers! Great family X-mas gifts!)

Today I spend a total of $82.52 on everything you see here! Of course Wal-Mart doesn't calculate how much you saved, but just calculating all my coupons up alone I saved $36.14!! And that's not including all the sales I price-matched all over town!!!

I love my part time job (I save my family enough money each week, that's what I consider it)!

If you want to learn the ropes to saving literally hundreds each month on your grocery bill, call me to set up a free class to learn how!!
435-862-5718

Price matching at Wal-Mart!

Sorry for the hiatus I've taken with my blog. I've been too busy to post lately but I will probably be only posting from now on about once a week. But here is my successful trip today to Wal-Mart. Before you go you need to arm yourself with all the Ad's from any stores you will be price-matching (see pic below). From experience, most of the time they will ask to see the actual ad, so don't leave home without it. I also printed my All-in-one list from the grocerysmarts website. This will let you print off one list for all or any of the stores. Then you won't have to print a seperate Smiths, Albertsons, Lins, Walgreens, etc. Very convenient! Then I clip and print all the coupons I will need for my trip!

Today, I got everything you see in the above picture for a total of ... $56.03. Of course Wal-Mart doesn't tell you how much you saved like Smiths and Albertsons does, but I know I totally scored! Here are some of my great deals...

2 lbs of Cache Valley cheese $3.99
Ragu pasta sauce $0.38
Chex cereal (stocked for the holiday's) $1.00
Cottage cheese/sour cream $0.88
Banana's $0.39 lb
Orrowheat bread $0.95
Yoplait yogurt $0.31

One of the best parts about it...I stocked up! Remember, don't just buy one or two when your getting a killer deal. Stock up at those prices!!!

Wal-Mart

Just a little tip from a fellow smart shopper. Wal-Mart is selling Jennie-O Turkeys for $0.40 per pound. Limit 2

The Spectrum Changes

As of Monday, Oct.12th the Spectrum newspapers will only be allowing up to 3 Sunday newspapers to be delivered per household. This means one daily paper, and an additional 2 for Sunday delivery only. Now if you already receive more than 3 currently you are okay. They will not touch exsisting subscriptions unless you change something on your account, and then they have to go to the current plans.
So after Monday if anyone wants to receive more than 3 papers you'll have to combine it with the SL papers (which are a better price), but they don't offer the Red Plum inserts. The SL papers offer their own coupon inserts about 3 or 4 times a year that no other newspaper offers.
If anyone wants to get the Spectrum, I am still taking orders up til Saturday afternoon. If you call me and get your order in by then, you can still get in on up to 6 papers! Plus, we are still doing a $10 gift card for gas when you sign up!

For Spectrum prices call or email me today!!!!
(435)862-5718
jodigardner@yahoo.com

Albies shopping trip yesterday!

I only wanted a few things this week at Albertsons, but was excited to save so much and use my double coupons on top (6 pringle cans were only $0.25 with my 3 double coupons). I got all this for...$14.48! What a steal seeing how the fruit wasn't even on sale!
I forgot to circle my totals but here is my breakdown...
Total value of purchase $42.90
Total saved $28.81
Total out of pocket $14.48
Total Percentage saved 67% BAM!!! Right where I like it.
Most of you know that I rarely leave a shopping trip with my percentage saved under 50% It's usually between 60-75% for me. What a great feeling!

So my kids love these pizza rolls for after school snacks and when friends come over. Albertsons was completely out of them so I ran over to Wal-Mart to price match them. They were already reduced to $0.96 on the shelf. I love that cause I always forget my Albertsons ad that your suppose to produce. Anyway, with my $0.35 manufactured coupon for each of them I only paid $0.61 cents each! That is a great price for my growing family!

I LOVE GROCERYSMARTS!!!
P.S. Everyone should be shopping at Albies this week! There is a killer sale going on NOW! Go check it out HERE. If you have any questions or want to learn more how to save substantially, call or email me today!!!
jodigardner@yahoo.com
435-862-5718

GM Insert!

Before you throw out your Sunday papers from yesterday, I wanted to make sure that everyone saw the extra GM insert! These misc. coupon inserts come sporatically so we never really know when they come. This is why I go through my first paper really thoroughly!
St. George is home of the Blue Bunny ice cream plant, so we are a little biased toward our ice cream! I found some coupons for Blue Bunny ice cream on PYP (click HERE) if you wanted to take advantage of the best ice cream around!

Halloween is here!!!

October is now upon us, and you know what that means... Halloween!! Halloween is such a fun, and exciting holiday...for KIDS! For us parents its a lot of money and work into costumes, party's, classroom activities, and of course trick or treating! So this month let's try to keep our eyes out for all the great deals going on around town to help us save money on these extra purchases that are usually not in our budgets! I have $2.00 coupons HERE to save you some money on all your bags of candy you'll be buying this month. Comment if you've seen something we all can benefit from!
Here's a few things on our Grocerysmarts lists that I will be using this Halloween. But rest assured this is just the beginning of a fun month to stock up!
Smiths
7-up, Sunkist, A&W 2 liters $0.80
Kroger Apple juice 64oz.(apple cider) $1.25
Albertsons
Reese's King size candy bars $0.45
(you can get regular size bars for free at Wal-mart with your .55/1 coupon)

Personal Classes! (this week only)

This post is for anyone who saw my add in the "Women's Savings Guide", or for anyone who has not been to a class, or couldn't make it to one. This week only I will be doing personal mini classes over the phone to help you get started! I will email you a class outline, we'll go over the basics of couponing, get onto the grocerysmarts website together and plan a shopping trip. Then if your ready, I will set you up with newspapers! Email me quick so I can schedule a time to give you a call! Don't put it off any longer, start saving today!!!

jodigardner@yahoo.com

Spectrum Promotion!!!

If you haven't called me to sign up for the Spectrum, NOW is the time!!! We are giving away a $10.00 gas card (to a gas station of your choice) for everyone who signs up for a new order to the Spectrum! Plus! Here's the kicker...they have lowered their prices! So have your friends and family Call me ASAP because this promotion won't last long, so get it while it's HOT!!!

(435)862-5718
jodigardner@yahoo.com

Click HERE to view Albertsons sale list starting tomorrow. Looks like a Campbells and Nabisco sale!
Click HERE to view Smiths sale for their upcoming sale. For the 2nd week in a row, I think Smiths is the winner! They're continuing the case lot sale plus Nestle/Kraft promo. My favorite buy is the Tillamook 5lb bag of shredded cheese for 7.99. This is high quality cheese and the 2lb bag is normally 7.99. Also make sure to stock up on the Betty Crocker fruit snacks at .60 cents each!

Christmas in September!

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I opened my newspapers last night! Wow! So many coupon inserts, it was Christmas for us avid coupon shoppers! hundreds of dollars in potential savings! Just for all you who don't know, the reason we got 2 Smart Sources and 2 Red Plums was a make-up Sunday. Since we don't get coupons on holiday weekends, they usually give us 2 of each either the Sunday before or the Sunday after the holiday.

Now, again on the Red Plums. Currently they are only in the Daily Herald in Utah County and the Spectrum here in sunny St. George. Read my post HERE for more info on it. I was just getting 2 Red Plums a few weeks ago, but I currently bumped up my subscription to 2 more for a total of 4 Spectrum papers. When you already get 1 paper everyday, the Sunday additions are only $0.40 more each paper! Killer price! Call me if you want to add more or start a Spectrum subscription.

I hope you all saw the manufactured insert that says "Better at Home" in your papers! This is why I go through my 1st paper really thouroughly so I don't miss any of these bad boys!

I also go through the "Parade" magazine that's in the Salt Lake papers, or the "USA Weekend" in the Spectrum. Usually there is always a coupon or 2 and if I want that product i'll quickly cut them out just in case. On Grocerysmarts website they will list "Parade mag" and then the date in the coupon location site. I found this out the hard way one time, so since then I always look through them. Then I set them on top of my Smart Source when their in the page protector sheets so I can see them right away. If you need more papers or just want to get started, I can definitely hook you up! For those of you who don't know, this is how we fund the awesome website... grocerysmarts.com. This is why you need to go through us for your subscription to the newspapers! So call or email me today for any upgrades to your paper or a new subscription!

Jodi Gardner

435-862-5718

jodigardner@yahoo.com

Costco price list

This is awesome! The ladies over at Pinching your pennies have made up a price list for Costco frequently bought items. This list is great to have on hand when your scanning the Grocerysmarts lists for comparison. So click HERE to view the Costco list and bookmark that page for quick referencing when your preparing your shopping lists. They will update it every so often.
Happy Shopping!!!

Albertsons and Smiths Previews!

Click HERE to preview Albertsons sale starting tomorrow! If your a Kashi lover, prepare to stock up!

This week, everyone should be a Smiths shopper, cause this coming week is their CASE LOT SALE!!! I see loads of 5* items, so I hope you are prepared to stock up your food pantry's cause it looks like its gonna be a hot one!!! Click HERE for all the deals!

Harmons Case Lot Sale?

(I know this logo says "cooking classes", but it's the only one i could find to copy!)

For those of you who don't already know, Harmons is having their semi-annual case lot sale this week. This sale is an excellent way to stock up on food storage items, or replenish the items you already have. Below I've listed the items that I thought were a great deal and worth it to stock up on even though most of them are 4 star items. A lot of the items you can buy this week are staple items that we don't see too often on our week to week sales.

WESTERN FAMILY

tuna .55

corn .50

grn.beans .50

tomato sauce .20

tomato paste .39

canned tomatos .59

applesauce .69

flour 25lb 7.99

sugar 25 lb 10.99

brn.sugar 2lb 1.33

Spagettios .59

Campbells Soups .69

Morton salt 26oz .50

Quaker Granola bars 1.00box

Miller honey 24oz. 4.50

Morning Moos products varies (these are great items for food storage!)

Remember this is a CASE LOT Sale, so all these items will be sold by the case.

These are just a few items that caught MY attention, Click HERE to view Harmons sale this week and check it out for yourself!!!

Last day Albies trip!

Yes, I am a procrastinator by nature, hence, most of the time I am shopping on the last day of the sales. Fortunately I found most of my items in stock! I usually never leave a store with any Catalinas, but today I had to use my last weeks $10.00 Catalina coupon. So I broke my trip into 2 transactions. The first one was all the kelloggs sale items (buy $25 get $10 OYNSO). Then my second trasaction was everything else, and I used all my catalina offers on that order. The reason I do this is because these Catalina coupons have expiration dates on them. If you don't remember to use them or lose them somehow you are out of luck! Anyway, they were out of mustard, frosted mini-wheats, and the good flavors on fruit bars, but i did get to use 6 double coupons (3 with each transaction) and they didn't even mind. Now that will vary from cashier to cashier. Some are more sticklers than others. I personally have my favorites, and when I go I always try to spot them out. So with all that said, here is my breakdown...

Total Value of purchase $91.90

Total Saved $68.78

Total Spent $23.12

Total Percentage Saved 74%

BAMM!!! Right on the MONEY!!!

Have I told you I love GrocerySmarts!

If you want to learn to shop like this, call or email me today!

PREVIEW

Click HERE to preview Albies sale this coming Wednesday! Don't forget to use your 3 double coupons (found only in the Spectrum) for Albertsons today or tomorrow. Click HERE for ideas on Albertsons doublers.

Get Your Papers & Earn FREE Groceries!

Some people ask me, "Why does anyone want multiple Sunday Newspapers?" Let me tell you why...Multiple papers means multiple savings!!! If you get 1 Sunday paper and go to use your $1.00 off coupon, then you will save $1.00. If you have 6 newspapers like I do, then you will use all 6 of your $1.00 coupons and stock pile your pantry and you will save 6 times more than someone just getting one paper! Combining our coupons with Grocerysmarts.com (which tells us what items are on sale that week) you can easily cut your current grocery bill in half! (These discounted Sunday only Newspapers are as low as $0.88 per copy)
It's so easy!!!
Plus, if you order papers from me at one of my classes you can earn free groceries (a gift card to Albertsons or Wal-Mart) depending on how many papers you get.
*$12 gift card for ordering 2 papers
*$18 gift card for ordering 3 papers
*$24 gift card for ordering 4 papers
You can also call me to order over the phone and the above gift cards will apply if you mention this post!
OR...
Earn an extra giftcard for booking a free class to learn more on how to organize your coupons and understand our FREE website!

Call or email me today to get started
435-862-5718
jodigardner@yahoo.com

This weeks Albies trip!

Another week of happy shopping! I know what your thinking...20 boxes of fruit snacks? But between 4 healthy eating kids, and all their football/baseball games coming up, I know i'll probably be through all these in a month, maybe two! And the Reese's puffs are my kids favorite and I was definitely needing a stock up! Anyway, here is my breakdown for this week!
Total value of purchase $178.65
Total Saved $110.39
Total Spent $ 68.26
Total percentage saved 61%

After my Albies trip I stopped by Costco to get some perishables and decided to price match some items on sale at Albies compared to what they are at Costco. So here is a little research for those interested...

Kirkland fruit snacks $9.89 for 50 count = $0.19 ea.
Betty Crocker fruit shapes $1.30 for 10 count = $0.13ea *WINNER*

Kirkland cups $9.99 for 240 count = $0.04 ea
Hefty cups $0.75 for 30 count = $0.02 ea. *WINNER*

Arm & Hammer (costco)$10.89 for 112 loads = $0.09 per load
Arm & Hammer (albies) $1.99 for 31 loads = $0.06 per load *WINNER*

Kirkland brand Toilet paper $18.99 for 36 rolls = $0.52 per roll
Cottonelle (albies) $3.99 for 12 rolls = $0.33 per roll *WINNER*
(these rolls were very comparable as to thickness and girth)

Anyway, it was very interesting to find out that Albies sale items with a manufactured coupon beat Costco in all 4 items that I compared! If you have price matched Costco or Walmart to a sale item this week, post your results so we can all see the difference!

A quick Walgreens trip

Walgreens for me is usually a hit and miss store. When I'm really excited about one weeks sale I get there and they're all out of my items. Since it is not really close to me I only get there about once a month or so. But if you regularly check out the Walgreens list on Grocerysmarts.com (I like to browse their ad in the Sunday paper too), you will find great deals on their non-food items. Combining mfg. coupons with their store "Register Rewards" program you can sometimes get killer deals!!! This week I was super excited cause i've been waiting for the whitening strips to come on sale. When you buy Listerine whitening strips and a whitening pen on the go for $25.00 combined, you get $10.00 Register Reward on your next visit. I also had a $3.00 mfg.coupon on each of these. So for both teeth whitening kits I paid $9.00. Softsoap body Wash was $3.99 with a register reward of $4.00! So these were FREE! We love Free! I paid $0.39 for chapstick, and the Loreal HIP eyeshadow powder (which I absolutely love!) was 11.99 each but on sale for BOGO. I also had $2.00 off each one mgf. coupon. So for both items together I paid $7.99. I always seperate my transactions so I can roll my register rewards over and use them right away. I don't like to take them home cause I usually forget to use them before their expiration date.
But all in all I would have to say I was really pleased with my trip to Walgreens! Here is my total breakdown...

Total value of purchase $ 61.13
Total Saved $ 42.99
Total Spent $ 18.14
Total percentage saved 70% Bingo!!!
Right where I like it

Preview Albertsons upcoming sale

Check out Albertsons upcoming sale starting this Wednesday Aug. 19th. It looks like a hot one! Just FYI, This weeks sale doesn't have any of the Kraft items on sale, so take advantage of all those doublers and buy your $25.00 in FREE groceries tomorrow (Tuesday). You'll be able to get much more for your dollar!!!

Click HERE for the preview list!!!

Albertsons Doublers

Did everyone get 3 double coupons for Albertsons in your Sunday Papers? Click onto PYP HERE to get some great ideas on how to use them! I think I'm gonna use my doublers on the Lysol Disinfecting wipes since I'm low. End price is $0.50 each! Can't beat that! How will you use your doublers?

Savings this week

Here is a picture of my shopping trip today at Albertsons. I was so excited to get my $25.00 of free groceries brought to you by Kraft (See post HERE for more info). My Kraft items were Capri Suns, Philadelphia cream cheese, Kraft cheese singles, and Easy Mac cups. Cereal was unfortunate for me. I thought you could buy 4 of any Post cereal and you'd get the $4.00 off. My cashier informed me it was only the Select brand that it worked for. This is why it is so important to be chatty with your cashier. Let her (or him) know what you intend to do and what your looking for at the end of your transaction (i.e.catalinas). They are really helpful!! Anyway, here is my breakdown for today...

Total value $111.88

Total saved $ 69.43

Total Spent $ 42.45

Total percentage saved 62%

but this is not all. After my $20.00 mir (mail in rebate) my percentage will be 80% !!!! make sure you grab your rebate form from the catalina machine after you pay. Ask your cashier to make sure!!!

Let's see your FREE Kraft groceries!

I would love to see pictures of your $25.00 of FREE groceries from Albies during the Kraft promo. I'm heading to Albies hopefully tomorrow to bask in all my free stuff! So everyone, please email me pictures of your treasures from the Kraft free promo. Remember, this promo goes on until 8/23. So we might see a load of more Kraft stuff on next weeks sale too!

Save on Restaurants!!

We all love to save money at the Grocery Stores, right? If any of ya'll are like me, I also love to eat out at restaurants. I try not to very often, but sometimes my days are so busy and hectic that I have to give myself a break and take the family out to eat!!! Next time you have one of those days, check out the alphabetical coupon index for Restaurant coupons stashed inside your coupon inserts. There's always a great deal of money to save, and you will keep your sanity! below are a few of my favorites I will try to take advantage of before they expire!

Olive Garden $4/2
Quiznos $2/1
Baskin Robbins BOGO
Carls Jr. Free fries and Drink with sand
Chuck E Cheese (tons)
Red Lobster $4/2
Sweet tomatos BOGO

Guest Post by Misty!

This Shopping trip is brought to you by one of my great Hostesses, Misty Eliason. She had a great trip to Albertsons this week and wanted to share! Here is Her story for all of us to enjoy...

Hi Jodi, I know you are gone and enjoying Lake Powell this week, but I couldn’t resist sending my picture with the loaded goods I got from Albies this week. I was also able to figure out my total % saved this time and was really excited about that.
Anyway the breakdown:

Total Value of Purchases: $258.13
Total Saved: $192.25
Total out of Pocket: $65.88
Total % of Savings: 74%

That is huge in my book, not to mention the amount of stuff I was able to stockpile. Who wouldn’t be happy when you come home with 16 boxes of cereal, and you paid less than $1.00 a box. That’s savings!

Thanks so much!
Misty

Smiths Double Coupons!

From Sunday through Tuesday, August 2-4th, Smiths is doubling all coupons up to $2.00!!! From what I understand there is no limit of how many coupons you can use. This is an excellent way to save some serious money!!! See PYP for more info. Just thought I'd post this before I cruised out of town. Unfortunately I won't be able to participate in the fun, so please email me some awesome trips to Smiths so we can post them!!!

Coupons Galore!!!

Wow! I opened up my papers today and couldn't believe all the inserts!!! Hundreds of dollars of potential savings, I LOVE IT!!! Wow getting 2 Smart Sources definitely softened the blow of our lack of Red Plum inserts. Now I didn't quite know what to expect with the Red Plums today. Many of you know that I get 4 Salt Lake papers and 2 of the local Spectrum papers. It looks like the Red Plums have quit coming in the Salt Lake papers. But I found 2 in my Spectrums. I don't exactly know if this will continue or not but from what I am hearing the Spectrum will discontinue also, I just don't know when. I will definitely post more as soon as I know. I also pulled out my "Twice the Value" coupons for Albies! This spread above is $$$$ in my pocket!

Those of you who didn't receive any Red Plums, watch Tuesdays or Wednesdays for it to come in your mail. It won't be mailed to everyone, but hopefully you'll be in one of the targeted mailing zones

FYI - I will be in Lake Powell for one week, so I will resume my posts when I get back! Happy Shopping!!!

Red Plum News!

Well ladies, bad news has struck us! I've been hearing rumors of it for months now and finally it has hit. Red Plum inserts will no longer be available in our Sunday papers. Red Plum/Valassis has figured if they mail these coupons inserts to targeted areas they will reach more people than offering it through the newspapers. We don't agree! Please help us by voicing your frustrations about this matter. Check out the PYP forum for all the details on emailing Red Plum and all the manufacturers too! Join us on our crusade! they will hear us!
Now I'm not sure who will be in their targeted mailing lists. Salt Lake ladies have already started receiving their inserts in the mail. So hopefully everyone will still get at least one in the mail weekly. Over on my right hand side you can click on "Coupons by Dede" and order additional inserts on line if you wanted too. The good news is that 80% of the coupons we currently use from our newspapers are from the Smart Source and P&G and they're not going anywhere.
Also, good news for all the ladies in Utah County... The Daily Herald is continuing to supply Red Plums at least for one year. They are the only paper in Utah that will continue to do so. I guess they have a longer contract with Red Plum, so for anyone in Utah County that gets the SL papers, call me to switch your subscriptions over to the Daily Herald!! They have a great deal on the Sunday Onlys!!! Please feel free to call, email, or leave a comment if you have any questions.

Kraft Promo starts 8/7

Start printing all the Kraft coupons you can now! Next week (8-7) Kraft is doing a Promo... buy $25.00 in Kraft products, get a $5.00 Catalina print out good on your next visit. Then a MIR (mail-in rebate) will print out which is good for $20.00! Click HERE for more info. This makes it all FREE! We love FREE! Here is an on-line site where you can print some Kraft products...
Click HERE.
Please comment if you find anymore online coupons so we can all partake!!!

Albertsons Doublers

Sunday's our newspapers are loaded with awesome coupon inserts, restaurant coupons, and other store deals. On top of ALL that, Albertsons will put out 3 double coupon coupons (that was weird, but how else to you state that)! You can double up to 3 of your coupons worth $1.00 or less. Of course I get 6 Sunday newspapers so potentially I have $18.00 worth of savings. Now there are a few rules. You are suppose to use only 3 per day, or per trip. So bring someone else with you to use them in another line (Oops, I didn't just say that)! I've never used all of mine, but when I use them I at least use $6.00 worth! Here are some good ideas at Krazy Coupon Lady on how to use your doublers and what great deals you can get with them. Remember, they're only good til tomorrow, 7/28! So take advantage of their savings!!!

How I pick my stores

One of the most frequently asked question that I get in my Grocery classes is...Do you try to hit every store to take advantage of their sales that week? My answer to this question is NO!!! I am way too busy to shop at all the stores every week! I'm sure most of you are too. So here's my tip...I usually pick one store from the grocerysmarts list to shop at that week, whoever hosts the best sale (most of the time its Albertsons). So I print off my list, clip my coupons, and stock up at that store. Then I choose either Wal-Mart or Costco. Why do you say? Cause that's where I will pick up all my perishables like produce, milk, eggs, and bread for cheap. If there is quite a few other stores that have some great deals I will price match them at Wal-Mart. But I prefer Costco for my perishables, and we all know why ... Wal-Mart=Yuck! This way I don't buy these items for regular price at Albertsons, or Smiths, etc. It will defeat my purpose of SAVING!!!

Sugar!

Just thought I'd let you know that C & H Sugar is on sale at Albertsons this week for $1.40 per 5 lb bag. I haven't seen sugar on sale as a 5 Star rating for about a year now. So my tip for today would be to head on over to Albies sometime this week and stock up on sugar!!!

Price matching

So these were the items Smiths was out of when I shopped last week. Today I ran to Wal-mart for some perishable so I price-matched these items. The gum was already reduced to $1.50 ea on the shelf. The gloves were not. Wal-Mart had them priced at $1.88 ea and Smiths had them for $1.00 ea. So for all this I paid a total of $3.00! Not bad!

News Flash!!!

Target now price matches! Yeah!!! The only bad thing about price matching at Target is that you For Sure have to have the ad with you, and you have to pay full price for the item your price matching and go to their customer service desk and they'll give you a refund. So it's a little inconveniant unless your doing quite a bit.

Today's Inserts

Don't worry when you rummage through your papers searching for your red plum insert...It's not there. Today we only get the Smart Source but don't worry, next week we'll get two! And the week after we'll scheduled to get three! Our binders and file boxes will be brimmed with coupons!

What to do with all this Yogurt!

Okay, so I am thinking today to myself, how am I gonna use up all this yogurt before it goes bad? I mean I like to eat yogurt, but my kids aren't crazy about it. They'll eat a few bites and leave the rest on the counter for me to find a few hours later. So I just found out (hopefully I'm not the only one) that you can freeze yogurt! Wow, I was way excited about that. I guess i've always froze my go-gurts so I don't know why i've never tried regular yogurt. Plus isn't frozen yogurt more of a tasty treat? Maybe my kids will like this better! Using GrocerySmarts I am always finding killer deals on yogurt so let's not be afraid to buy too much now! FREEZE IT!! This is my tip for the day!
This is another thing I love to do with Yogurt...I make yummy fruit dip with it. Summertime is the all time best fruit months, and topping our fruit dishes with dip is spectacular. I mix my yogurt with a package of cream cheese, add some sugar, and a dash of vanilla and Voila...Yummyness!!! My kids will pound away at fruit when it's dipped in fruit dip!

A successful Smiths trip!

I was really satisfied with my stock-up trip to Smiths this week. They were out of a few things that i'll try to price match later during the week at Wal-Mart. But all-in-all it was successful! My favorite buy would have to be the FREE Rolaids! Its great to get such a killer deal on stuff you use all the time!

I know these recepts are kinda fuzzy but here is my breakdown below...

Total Value of purchase $119.52

Total Saved $78.14

Total out of pocket $41.38

Total Percentage Saved 65%

I know I always talk about Albertsons and their great sales, but please don't forget to always browse through other stores in your area. At least once a month another one of my local stores will have a great sale and I will definitely make a trip across town to patronize them! This week Smiths has a great sale! Here are some items that stand out to me...

* Milk for $0.75

* Tums and rolaids are FREE (my husband has terrible indigestion, we go through these like crazy)!

* New York Steak $2.99lb

* Kroger yogurt $0.12

* 2 liter Coke products $0.69

* Keebler fudge shop cookies $0.49

* Kleenex Facial Tissue $0.74

* Playtex hand saver gloves - FREE

* Propel Fitness Water $0.50

* Scotch Tape (3 pack) $2.00

* Wrigley Extra gum (3-pack) $0.50 (My Favorite)

There's lots more so go check out SMITHS list this week!!!

5 Free Oprah magazines!

I signed up for this offer a few days ago, so hopefully the offer hasn't run out yet. Go to O-Magazine to sign up for 5 free issues of Oprah's mag. The best part about it is no strings attached!

Preview upcoming sale!

Click HERE to preview Albertsons sale this Wednesday. There's definitely some stock up items. Here's a list of items that popped out at me!

Capri Suns $0.50
kraft jet-puffed marshmellows $0.49
kraft salad dressing $0.49
homelife napkins 250 ct. $1.00
FlavRPac stir-fry veges $1.00
Sobe life water $0.50
Albertsons chunk or shredded cheese 8 oz. $1.00
Port Ribs (bone-in) $1.00lb
Reser's Baja Cafe salsa $0.49
Spray and Wash Spray $0.99
Kelloggs Cereal (assorted) $0.38
Nestle Nesquick flavored mile $0.50

There's lots more so let's stock up this Wednesday!!!

P.S. Milk is only $1.00 at Smiths til tomorrow! Catch it while it lasts. If you can't make it to Smiths price match it at Wal-mart!

This weeks treasures!

When I'm browsing through my Sunday papers I love to pull out all the adds for stores that aren't on our grocery smarts lists. I will look through them and highlight things I need/want/or think are a super great deal. Then I will go see if I have a coupon in my possesion in the Alphabetical Coupon Index on the home page of the GrocerySmarts website (See post HERE for more info). I usually can find some super buys this way at Rite Aid, Kmart, etc. Also I am noticing that school supplies are starting to surface at our stores. Staples and Office Max have some great deals going on. Don't miss the $5 off $20 purchase coupon at Staples too.

I love finding great coupons in the papers for my favorite places to eat. In the Salt Lake papers I found 8 coupons for Quiznos, which include 4 free sandwiches (buy one get one free)! Now remember I get 4 SL papers so when my family goes to Quiznos We buy 3 sandwiches and get 3 free! Our savings potential is not just limiting us to the grocery stores. We can get great deals everywhere!

Free Slurpee on 7-11

Tomorrow - Saturday July 11th (7-11) Stop by your local 7-11 convenience store and pick up free slurpees for the entire family!!! I live here is Sunny (and right now boiling HOT) St. George, so you better believe that I will go treat myself and my family to a free slurpee on 7-11!
ENJOY!

My filing system

Okay, so a lot of you wanted to know how I organize my coupons. Well, here it is... I use this hanging file box that I bought at Wal-Mart for around $10.00. This fits 5 months of my coupons perfectly. Remember I get 6 newspapers each week, so this works great for my situation. As you can see each hanging file holds one weeks worth of coupons. I do put a manila file in with that weeks coupons so I can see the date just by glancing at them. I write the date with pencil so when that week is 5 months old and ready to throw away, I re-use the file. I just erase the old date and add the new date. Piece of cake!

This file box just sits on the floor in my office so it's out of the way, and I love the lid so my 3 year old can't get into them. This file box contains thousands of dollars of potential savings for me so it's very important to stay organized and on top of things.

If you have a great filing systems that works great for you, email me at jodigardner@yahoo.com so we can all enjoy seeing other methods of organizing our coupons!

preview to albies sale tomorrow

Okay! whew! I'm finally back from one long vacation after another. Life is rough! Me and my family have had so much fun from baseball tourneys to Lagoon to Park City and Lake Powell. It is very nice to be back home. I am truly thankful for Grocerysmarts which I feel has made it possible for us to take a break out of life to make some memories with my family. I save so much money grocery shopping that I can take these vacations and not feel guilty about spending money! Anyway, Click HERE to preview tomorrows sale. Just FYI, don't get frustrated with seeing the same things on sale week after week. Some manufacturers will promote items for a month at a time. Or they will put their items on sale one week and back on sale again a month later. It does seem like we see the same items week after week. Don't worry! Soon enough we will see other items popping up on sale. REMEMBER... Everything goes on sale! On an average an item will go on sale every 3 to 6 months! Just be patient, and check out other stores in the meantime!!!

Preview Albies sale this Wednesday!

Click HERE to preview Albertsons sale this Wednesday. Is it just me, or does this look a lot like this weeks sale? Anyway, we continue to have great savings and another chance to get these great buys in case you missed out on them!!!

Before and After

I love before and after pictures! This week there wasn't alot I needed at the stores but I had to take advantage of the free cereal at Albertsons, and picked up a few other things while I was there. Here is my list with clipped and printed coupons ready to go. Remember I write out in the column on my list how many I wanted of each item.

and Voila!! After... I came home with a few prizes! My total for this trip was $33.55! Now do you know what was the best part? I still had $40.00 worth of Catalina coupons from my last shopping trip! So technically they paid me $6.45 for all this!!! Now Albertsons will never give you money back on trips like these. Knowing I would be in the negative I threw in some gift cards to make up the rest! Shopping is so much fun!!!

P.S. My husband and I were both over in the Santa Clara area today so we took advantage of my gas savings at the Albertsons over there. I had $1.00 off a gallon I had earned! I filled up my van with 16 gallons and he pulled in after me and we topped off his car with the remaining 4 gallons you are allowed. So a total of 20 gallons we purchase and saved $20.00 on gas!!!

Vacation Savings!!!

So, obviously i've been vacationing for awhile (hence the lack of posts). I've been wanting to post ways to save money while spending time with your families on vacations. One of the biggest expenses is food, right? Well, Last week I went to lake powell with my extended family. Each sibling is assigned one dinner to feed the entire family, and every individual family brings all their own breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. The entire week was so cheap for my family! I brought 3 boxes of cereal which cost me about $0.25 each. I brought deli meat, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch which was also in my pantry and freezers when I stocked up. Then I made chinese chicken salad for dinner for about 25 people, which was my biggest expense but still didn't cost me much! On top of all that I brought water bottles, capri suns, pop, and all kinds of snacks which mostly came from my pantry!!!

We are also going to Park City over the July 4th weekend to spend a few days in a condo. This condo has a kitchen!!! Guess what that means? Yes, I can bring lots of food from home to save money! I am actually gonna make up a few dinners from home so I won't have to spend my time cooking! Who wants to cook while on vacation? Definitely not me! I am going to make 3 lasagna dishes. We'll have one tonight, one to take on vacation, and freeze one to make up when you get home. I definitely need a break when I get home too!

By planning your meals around items you already have in your food storage and freezer, or from those items that are on sale for the week, you can save hundreds of dollars! If you have a large family like mine, you can spend $50+ every time you take your family to a restaurant. Save that money for more fun activities, be frugal with your food budget and you can make your vacation inexpensive and still fun!!!

Please add a comment if you have a great idea you'd like to share for saving money while on vacation!!

Another last day shopping trip!

I had to take 2 pictures of my groceries cause I bought so much stuff! I was pleasantly surprised that everything was in stock that I wanted except the go-gurts. Not bad for a last minute stock piling trip! Here is my breakdown...

Total value of purchase $265.28
Total amount I paid $118.16

Total amount saved $147.12
Total percentage saved 55%

The best part about this trip was that I left the store with $40.00 in catalina coupons that is good for my next trip (see picture above)! If I figure this into my trip today it would leave me with a total percentage saved at 70%!!! If you noticed also I got quite a few items that were not on sale that I needed for our Lake Powell trip this week. So this kind of savings is why I shop with Grocery Smarts and spend 30 min to prepare for a grocery trip. I just saved technically $187.12. What kind of job can pay me that for just grocery shopping!!!

FYI - I won't be posting til Monday cause I am vacationing in Powell! Have a great week and email me pictures of your shopping trip success so we all can admire!

jodigardner@yahoo.com

Preview Albertsons Sale!

Click HERE to preview Albertsons sale from 6/17-6/22. Looks like there's some good stock-up items on sale. Here are a few things I will be stocking up on!

Kellogg's cereals .49
Pillsburg brownie mix .50
Hillshire farm rope or link sausage 1.23
Hillshire farm summer sausage 2.00
Sara Lee white/wheat bread 1.00
Chef Boyardee pasta .48
Dannon drinkables 6-pack 1.20
Dreyers fruit bars 6-12 count 1.49 (My favorite)
Dreyer Dibs 1.00
Eskimo pies 6-12 count 1.00
Nestle drumsticks 4 count 1.49
Skinny cow truffle bars 1.99
Hunts Ketchup .60
Hunts manwhich sloppy joe sauce .40
Hunts Spaghetti sauce .60
Marie Callender pasta Al Dente .50
Orville Redenbacher 3-pack .50
Wesson Cooking oil 48oz 1.80

I'd say it's another good week for stock piling your pantries (and freezers)!!!

Why do you get 6 newspapers?

For those who are not familiar with Grocery Smarts and our methods, this is the most common question I get asked. Why in the world would you buy 6 Sunday newspapers? Well, This is my #1 tool to saving hundreds of dollars each month! For example: Crest toothpaste is on sale for $1.50 each at the grocery store this week. Through the Grocery Smarts website I find that I have a $1.00 off coupon for Crest toothpaste in one of my inserts that come in my Sunday papers. The website tells me when my insert with crest coupon came. Now when I go to the store to buy the toothpaste I will end up buying it for $0.50 each! Now this is the kicker...I have 6 coupons, right? That means I will be able to buy 6 tubes of Crest toothpaste for $0.50 cents each so a total of $3.00 for 6 tubes of Crest toothpaste! This is how I have personally cut my families grocery bill by 60%!!!

There is much more information that I teach at my free classes such as how to organize your coupons, how to stock-up, and how to shop the sales! I also can get killer deals on all newspapers in Utah and Nevada!

Call or email me today to get more info about my classes!!!

Jodi Gardner

435-862-5718

jodigardner@yahoo.com

tip of the day!

Can I use a BOGO (buy one get one free) coupon on a BOGO sale?
Thanks to Harmony for figuring this one out for us, YES you can! You will technically be paying for one and getting 3 free. She tried this out at Rite Aid this week on their BOGO candy bars, used a BOGO coupon with the sale and ended up getting 4 for $0.88. In order to shop at other stores that are not on our Grocery Smarts list like Rite Aid, Kmart, Target you will have to look through the store ads that come in the Sunday papers and find a coupon to match up. All the coupons are found in Grocery Smarts aphabetical Coupon index. Click HERE to find out more about it!

Preview Albies Sale tomorrow!!

Click HERE to preview Albertsons sale for week 6/10-6/16. Definitely a stock up week. Below is a list of some hot buys that I will be stock piling!

Dial liquid hand soap $0.45

All liquid detergent $1.70

Cherries $1.99lb

beef round rump roasts $1.88lb

Bertolli pasta sauces $0.25

Best foods mayo $0.90

Breyers ice cream $0.80

Chex mix $0.40

Dasani water 24 pack $2.70

Cheerios/trix/etc. $0.70

Total whole grain cereal $0.20

Ragu pasta sauce $0.30

Skippy Peanut Butter $0.80

Wish Bone Spritzers FREE

Gogurt 8 pack $1.10

Let's print off our lists and get cutting!!!

forgotten items

As I was putting away my groceries after I posted the picture, I saw a forgotten bag that was not included in the pic. I didn't want to leave these puppies out! I love balsamic vinegar for salad dressing and Country time Strawberry Lemonade is awesome for the summer, two great buys that couldn't be left out!!!

My Shopping trip

This weeks trip was a bit smaller than I'd planned. I only got 2 California Pizza Kitchen pizzas but I wanted 9, and the good crystal light flavors were out but all in all it was a decent trip. I did get my beef sirloin tip roasts that I had a raincheck on. Always good to stock up on meats. Anyhow, here's my breakdown for todays trip...
Total Value of purchase $115.42
Total Saved $70.94
Total Spent $44.48
Total Percent Saved 61%
I love shopping, it's so much fun!!!

Host your own Grocery Smarts Class!!!

The SINGLE BEST WAY to learn how to SHOP SMART and SAVE BIG is at one of my coupon classes!!!

At each class I teach the basic concept of couponing, how to stay organized in less than 5-10 minutes a week, how to use the Grocery Smarts website, and how by following a few super simple rules you'll be able to cut your grocery bill in half (or more) and start SAVING HUNDREDS immediately!

I teach the class in your home with your family and friends, but also teach church or women's groups as well. Minimum attendance required is 8 moms to hold a class, but I prefer groups of 12 or more. I also offer killer deals through all the newspapers in Utah and incentives on the Sunday Only paper. I can also take orders over the phone if you can't wait to get your papers going!
CLASS INCENTIVES FOR IN-HOME CLASSES
Earn a $10 gift card to Albertsons or Wal-Mart for hosting and getting 8 or more moms to attend.
if you get 12 or more moms to your class, earn the gift card PLUS an invitation for you and a friend to attend my Advanced Couponing Class. This class will launch you into a whole new level of savings ~ I teach you how to shop Target and Walgreens and how following a few more tips and tricks will increase your savings even more. See my post HERE for more info about my advanced class!
If 20 or more NEW moms attend, you'll earn a $20.00 gift card plus an extra invitation for a second friend to join you at the Advanced Couponing Class! (church groups do not apply for incentives)

To schedule a class call or email me today!!!

435-862-5718

jodigardner@yahoo.com

FYI- I am coming up to Utah, Salt Lake, and Davis counties the week of June 29-July 3rd to teach classes so if you live in these areas call me today to book a class cause I'm filling up fast!!!