Shopping Smarts

Smiths Double Days!!

2010-06-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

All manufacture coupons under a $1 will be rounded up to $1. For example, 30¢, 50¢, and 75¢ coupons will all be worth $1. This event will last all week long. Between 6/23/10 and 6/29/10. Remember, They are not truly doubling. Just bringing all coupons valued under $1 up to $1. This can be tons better! Go to PYP HERE to see a list of some items you can get killer deals on. Remember this list starts Wednesday so they'll be adding stuff to the list!

The greatest new way to save when shopping online!

2010-05-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

www.myshoppinggenie.com/homerunmedia

I recently discovered my new favorite way to save money... The Shopping Genie. It's a free download that will find anything you are searching for online at the very cheapest prices! Whenever you use a major search engine like Google or Yahoo, your little Genie will pop up on the right hand side of your page. When you click compare, it will tell you where that item is found for the lowest price! It is so time consuming to look through page after page of search results. This is so fast and easy... and it does all the thinking for you! I love it!

Click on the link above to get your free download! I know you'll love it as much as I do!

Free pretzel day!

2010-04-26T08:48:00.001-07:00

Today is Free Pretzel day! Pretzelmaker is giving away free pretzels in honor of National Pretzel Day (I know, I can't believe they even have a pretzel day)! So scoot on over to your local store and snag one of these yummy treats for the whole family! Don't know if you have a store near you? Check out their store locator HERE to find one!

Walgreens SCORED!!

2010-04-12T13:59:00.001-07:00

I absolutely scored at Walgreens today! The reason I am so excited is because everything I bought I use and love and I got a killer/screaming deal! You definitely can't beat that! Some of Walgreens Register Rewards are not advertised in their ads, thus will not show up on the grocerysmarts list. I did some digging around on my favorite blogs to see what deals are unadvertised. Here is my breakdown...
Total value of purchase $107.48
Total Saved $95.25
Total Spent out of pocket $12.23
Total percentage saved 88%
I had to seperate all my items into 7 different transactions. (Hint: I always go to the cosmetics counter to check out, there's never a line and they're always patient)
Register Rewards are just like catalinas. They print out after you buy that item. Then you roll it over to another transaction. Remember you can't roll a RR to the same item, has to be a different item. Feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions!
For scenarios check out one of my favorite websites at Fabulessly frugal for ideas!

Current Catalina deals

2010-04-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Check out the current catalina deals going on at Albertsons HERE. Grocerysmarts does not post these individual catalinas, it's too much work for our listmakers. But make sure you match up these cats if they're on sale. It'll save you tons more! For example Loreal is on sale this week at Albies for 40% off. We also have manufactured coupons posted on the grocerysmarts website. On top of all that you can get $3.00 off your purchase of $10 or more! That's an extra 30% off!
Check out Smiths Catalinas HERE!
This is just an extra step for those who want to even save more!!!

Refund Rewards

2010-03-29T16:02:00.001-07:00

Here's an easy way to earn $20 or even $30! If you buy an Albertsons gift card for $250 they will add an additional $20 onto the gift card totalling $270. If you buy a $300 gift card they will add $30 on totalling $330! So if you have all your grocery money for the month, go put it into a gift card! Hurry cause this offer ends on April 15th!

Stock up trip to Albies

2010-03-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

I know, I know! I just bought cereal last week. But with all my company I've had lately, I will use this up fast. Plus we all have our favorites and frosted mini-wheats are my husbands. But how can you beat only 0.54 cents a box! As some of you may know, Tide is the only detergent I can use (as per my high maintenance hubby), so when they come out as a ***** 5-star deal, it's stock up time. I compared these little 50 oz. bottles to the Costco 170 oz. bottles. I paid .06 cents an oz. and Costco would've cost me .11 cents an oz. So if I would've bought a 50 oz at .11 cents it would've cost me $5.50. Instead I paid $3.49, so in essence I saved $8.04 just buying the smaller bottles at Albies with a sale and my coupons! That's a no brainer! If you want to compare Costco prices check out PYP HERE for a huge list.
Many of you will not know about the McCormick Catalina right now. I found a great scenerio on Fabulously Frugal which states the following...
Buy 4 at 4.99 BOGO $9.98
use 4 $1/1 from coupons.com (must use 47265 zip code)
get $2.50 Catalina back
Vanilla extract comes out to .87 cents each!
I think the catalina only works on extracts and food coloring cause I only got $1.50 cat. but I bought spices. If anyone tries it out, let me know if it works.
So my breakdown for the week...
Total value of purchase $120.95
Total saved $77.70
Total Spent $36.75
Total percentage saved 64%
Plus!!! I got 3 coupons for free milk, and $6.50 in catalinas back!!!

Stock up trips for the week - Smiths vs. Albertsons

2010-03-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

I had a baseball tourney this past weekend that all three of my boys played in. I also took in my little cousin (his mom was out of town), and my sister and her family. It was so crazy. 21 baseball games in 3 days! Whew! I did survive! This weekend in particular I was feeling very grateful for Grocerysmarts, coupons, and sales past. I had plenty of food to feed everyone, snacks, drinks, and sandwiches for the games too! These tournaments can be very expensive for one not prepared. If I wasn't prepared I would be going to Wal-Mart at the last minute getting snacks, and dashing to fast food joints grabbing burgers between games for my family. That gets sooooo expensive! So I estimated that my family saved over $200.00 just this weekend on food. That is so awesome!
My stock up item for the week at Albies was of course...Cereal. At $0.42 cents per box, they can't be beat! Here is my breakdown...
Total Value of purchase $138.87
Total Saved $83.38
Total Spent $55.49
Total percentage saved 60%
Not bad considering I bought quite a few regular priced items I needed
Who got a hold of the Powerade at Smiths this week? As soon as these crates came into the store, they were gone! While I was there, 10 crates of Powerade came in. The clerk told me it would be gone in 2 hours easily. Buy 8 and get $4.00 off. The limit was 8 boxes. Crazy good deal at $0.25 cents each! This deal goes on for another week too, so just keep checking.
Total value of purchase $145.5
Total saved $112.8
Total Spent $ 32.70
Total percentage saved 77%

Another great Huggies deal

2010-03-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Walgreens is having another 5 star deal at Walgreens this week! So if your little ones wear diapers, go stock up! At these prices, Huggies is cheaper than generic brands by far! Below is a copy of the deal listed at Walgreens.

*****	Huggies Jumbo Pack Diapers, Pull-Ups or GoodNites	8.99/7.33	Huggies Diapers, any one $3/1 (active) Group A-03/18 Print it twice	4.33
*****	Huggies Jumbo Pack Diapers, Pull-Ups or GoodNites	8.99/7.33	Huggies Diapers, any $3/1 Here	4.33

Remember you can only print 2 coupons per computer. So to stock up, get to other computers and print, print, print!!

Additional Catalina offer at Albies

2010-03-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Pinching your pennies is posting an additional Catalina offer for the Post cereal this week. It's listing like this...

Buy 4 get $3.00 OYNSO
Buy 5 get $4.00 OYNSO

This is awesome for stocking up on cereal. Here is what your possible transactions would be...

Transaction 1:
Cereal $1.59 x6
-$1.00/2 Coupon 2/28 SS or 3/14 SS x3
=$6.54, get back $4.00 Catalina

Transaction 2: (Repeat as many times as you would like!)

Post Cereal $1.59 x6

-$1.00/2 Coupon 2/28 SS or 3/14 SS x3

-$4.00 Catalina

=$2.54 plus get back another $4.00 Catalina

This equals out to be $0.42 per box!!

Remember that this Catalina only prints til 3/21/10, so hurry while they last!

Albies this week!

2010-03-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

This weeks sale was fun! Not only were hot pockets free this week, but there was a great deal on the Betty Crocker fruit snacks. There is an extra catalina associated with them that was not on the Grocerysmarts list. I make it a habit to check PYP for little extra savings here and there. Found out that when you buy 5 or more fruit snacks you get $3.50 OYNSO. So with this extra savings figured into the fruit snacks I ended up paying out of pocket $0.17 per box! So for all 12 boxes I only paid $2.04, not bad. And for only $0.20 on the Dannon 4 pack yogurts (many varieties) I really felt like I scored this week!
Above is the Catalinas I left the store with. The $3.50 was for 6 boxes of fruit snacks. I bought 12 boxes but I seperated them in 2 different transactions to take advantage of the deal. Just make sure you check your expiration dates on your catalinas and don't forget to use them before they expire, these are like cash. Usually my objective is to use my catalinas before I leave the store. I do this by separating transactions and using them on different sales or regular priced items your buying.

Here is a breakdown of my savings...

Total value of purchase $132.34
Total Saved $99.82
Total out of pocket $32.52
Total percentage saved 75%
The coolest part about this is that I still have $13.50 in catalinas on top of this!!! If I figure this into my savings my total percentage saved would be 86%!!! Wow! I almost feel guilty for only paying this much! ALMOST!!!

Over $20.00 in Albertsons Coupons

2010-03-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to enter your info for Albertsons to send you a booklet of over $20.00 worth of coupons. I don't know whether it's store coupons or manufactured coupons but we'll see when it gets here in 2-3 weeks. Remember if it's store coupons you can stack them with manufactured coupons to save tons!!!

Join in on the Grocery Classes!!!

2010-02-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to post pictures of some of my classes I teach for awhile now. Finally I remembered to bring my camera to take a shot! My awesome Hostess Kristina had a great class she hosted in her beautiful home! We had so much fun learning how to save hundreds! If you are interested in having me come to your home to teach you and your friends how exciting it is, just give me a call or email me today! I offer great hostess gifts and promise a class worth attending. Remember it's free to everyone!!!

I had to post my shopping trip to Albies for this week. I have been out of a few of my kids favorite cereal for awhile now, and they keep asking me, "Mom? When is the good cereal gonna be on sale again?" Ha ha, to them the nutritious kind I have tons of is not classified as the good kind! I do have to admit that Reese's Puffs is so yummy! We sometimes eat it as a dessert! Anyway, My family was thrilled to see my loot! This week General mills offers $7.00 OYNSO (on your next shopping order) for every $20.00 you spend. The cereal & fiber one bars were on sale for $2.50, so I did my first transaction with 4 boxes of cereal, and 4 boxes of granola bars which was exactly $20.00. Then I gave them my manufactured coupons which totaled $4.80. So out of pocket for the 1st transaction I paid $15.80 with tax. But out pops my 'catalina coupons' for $7.00 and $2.50 for the fiber one bars. My next tranaction was the remaining 8 boxes of cereal. Total $20.00. Gave them $4.00 in manufactured coupons and the $9.50 in Catalinas. So with tax on this transaction I paid $7.10. Then again out pops the $7.00 catalina. Now my last tranaction is the rest of my items. I give them my remaining manufactured coupons totaling $6.75 and my $7.00 catalina coupon. Out of pocket I paid $21.24. So for a total of 3 transactions here is the breakdown.

Total value of purchase $135.81
Total Saved $ 91.67
Total Spent $ 44.14
Total percentage saved 67%
Bam! Right on the money! This is so rewarding!!! Even after 2 years of shopping like this, it's still the biggest high!!!

Stock-up item of the day

2010-02-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

I had to quickly run to Wal-Mart for a few perishable items for dinner tonight and I wanted to price match only 2 things. Remember you don't always have to shop huge to save huge. My husband is very particular when it comes to his toiletry items. I don't get it. He was raised a poor farm boy from Clearfield! (Ha ha, no offense honey!) Anyway, he has to have High Endurance body wash, never will try any other brand. It's saddens me, especially when I could've gotten Mens Dove body wash 2 weeks ago for free! So the body wash doesn't come on sale very often. I only see it about every 6-8 months so when a sale arrives...I stock up! So here's the deal I got...

Regular Wal-Mart price $3.99
Rite-Aid sale I price matched $2.99
$1/2 coupon from PG 12/27
Final price $2.49 ea.
savings on body wash $12.00

Regular Wal-Mart price $1.28 ea.
5 Gum is on sale at WalGreens $0.99 ea.
(this is my family's favorite gum and we use a ton!!)
savings on gum $1.16
Total savings $13.16

I know, only $13.16 in savings? Well let me tell you it took me 5 minutes to cut out 4 coupons. Who could pay me $13.16 for 5 minutes worth of work? NOBODY!!!

Are Coupons really worth it?

2010-02-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

As I was browsing around the blogosphere last night, I ran into a post about an article found in Yahoo Finance on the use of coupons. There are so many out there that just still don't think that a $0.50 cent or $1.00 coupon are really worth the effort they put into clipping it out. If you are a doubter or know a doubter, please read this article in Financial Fit to help you become a believer! The writer uses all kinds of methods to calculate if cutting and using coupons are really worth it. I bet you know what he found out...Of course it is!!! He calculated that an average coupon is worth $1.44 and it takes 1 min to cut it out (not really, i'm way quicker than that). This would be equivalent to earning $86.40 an hour. That is a really good wage as the average American earns $20.00 an hour. The best part about it is that you can be home cutting them out in front of the TV!
So the statistics show that cutting and using coupons are tremendously beneficial for your finances. The greatest thing of all is that this guy doesn't even know about Grocerysmarts website where we use our coupons with the store sales! In doing this we increase our capacity to save money! Rememeber that our savings are usually between 50%-70% savings!!! Nobody can tell me that it's not worth it!!!

Savings at Walgreens!

2010-02-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Here was a quick trip I took to Walgreens last week. I really wanted the free Men's dove body wash for an overage of $1.50. That means they would have paid me to take it off their hands! Unfortunately they were out and I didn't want to come back later when they were stocking up. But I did buy Gillette Fusion razors for $0.99 each. All the Nabisco snacks were FREE! We love free! and the John Frieda hair styling products were $1.33 each. I had to buy something to use my Register Rewards on and had to buy my kids valentines anyway so I grabbed them to kill 2 birds with one stone! What a successful trip!
If you want to learn more about saving hundreds on all your groceries and toiletry items, you need to book a free class with me! I teach you and your friends and family how to use our FREE website, show you how to clip and file your coupons that's so quick and easy! Plus I offer AWESOME hostess incentives!!! Call or email me today to find out more details!

Jodi Gardner
435-862-5718
jodigardner@yahoo.com

Huggies Deals

2010-02-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

If you are a Mommy that is in "diaper mode" right now, you can't miss the Huggies deals going on at Walgreens! All kinds of Jumbo pack diapers on sale for as little as $3.49 a pack. Now remember they will give you a $3.00 RR (Register Reward) at checkout that is good on your next visit. They limit one per household, so be creative!!! (you know what I mean) Check out the Walgreens grocerysmarts list HERE for more info.

I'M BACK!!!

2010-02-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

I know most of you are probably wondering why I haven't posted forever, but things have been a little hectic and crazy for the last few months. I am still alive and realizing I'm really not a good blogger. I will still post now and again in case you want to glance at my blog once in awhile. I am still coupon shopping and still loving it in case you were wondering! Here are a few things I picked up this week at Albertsons and Smiths. At Albertsons I stocked up on some staples like Peanut butter, soup, oatmeal, potatoes, and assorted meats. But as you can see I also picked up a few other necessities that I needed. I knew my savings might not be as high because of the regular priced things I needed but it was still a good trip, here is my breakdown...

Total value of purchase $206.77
Total saved $108.70
Total spent $ 98.07
Total percentage saved 52%

Now Smiths is having a mega event. This means that every ten items you purchase you get $5.00 off at checkout. I definitely wanted to stock up on their Plastic cups, diswashing tablets, laundry soap, cream cheese, goldfish crackers, Pepsi (super bowl time!), chili, and pretty much everything you see here! I really felt like I scored with the Quaker Quakes that were FREE! Anyhow, here is my breakdown...

Total value of purchase $205.76
Total saved $118.21
Total out of pocket $ 87.55
Total percentage saved 57%

Remember, don't feel like everytime you go to the grocery store you have to shop with coupons. There might be some weeks go by that you find you don't really use any of the items that are on sale. This is fine, just buy your perishables and necessities you need and don't feel guilty about it. But my advice is to check the grocerysmart lists at least once a week. This will let you know what the killer deals are on that week. You don't want to miss out on the things your families use! Sometimes I only stock up on one or two items that I use my coupons for and the rest is regular stuff I always need! Don't make it complicated and stressful! This is suppose to be rewarding for you!!!

Last Day Albies trip

2009-11-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-07T07:58:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-10-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-09-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-09-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-14T08:22:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-09-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

(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!

2009-09-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-08-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-08-02T16:12:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-28T22:09:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-27T12:40:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-20T21:10:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-19T09:53:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-17T22:01:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

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%

2009-07-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-14T15:21:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-12T09:59:00.002-07:00

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

2009-07-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-07T18:18:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-06-29T17:34:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-27T20:48:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2009-06-24T13:47:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-06-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-16T07:58:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-06-15T12:56:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-06-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-06-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-06-03T17:05:00.001-07:00

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!!!

Preview Albies sale this Wednesday!!!

2009-06-01T21:16:00.001-07:00

Okay, we've waited for awhile to get to the meaty sales! Here comes a pretty decent one this Wednesday! Preview the list HERE! I'm looking forward to stocking up on the following...
Angel Soft 12 roll $1.83
Country time drink mix 19oz. $1.00
Hawaii's own juice blend (great for smoothie base) $0.70
Kraft salad dressing (just in case you missed out on the free ones) $0.25
Kraft chunk or shredded cheese 6-8 oz $0.40
balsamic vinegar $0.90
Grapes $0.99 lb
Quaker Life Cereal $0.49
Check out PYP for more savings on these products!
Let's get ready to SAVE!!!!

PRINTER PROBLEMS?

2009-05-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of questions asking for help when it comes to printing Internet Print (IP) coupons. I wish I was computer savvy and could answer all your questions, but sadly my answer to all computer problems is to REBOOT. However, I do have some answers and tips for you that may help solve and overcome some of your printing problems.
* You can only print 2 of each coupon, your IP address is tracked by the website you are printing it from and you will be locked out once 2 have printed.
* You cannot copy printable coupons (much the same as you can't copy coupons from your SmartSource/RedPlum inserts) - if you notice in the top right corner of all printables is a unique serial code or number. Even though the coupon is the same, each time it is printed, this number is unique. This is what distinguishes your coupons as authentic - so if a cashier ever questions you (thinking it's a copy) point out the unique number to prove it's an original, authentic coupon.
* If your printer is not turned on or jams or you run out of ink in the middle of a print, you can't reprint that particular coupon because to the website, the coupon was sent to a printer - it doesn't know that you ran out of ink or that your printer jammed so it still counts as one of your prints.
* Don't skimp on ink... if you print on a draft or fast setting and the barcode is too light to scan, the store doesn't have to honor it. To save on ink, set your printer to grayscale or black and white, the coupon does not have to be in color to be valid.
* Is printing coupons worth the paper and the ink? ABSOLUTELY! I save an additional $8-10 per week from my printables alone and that is far more than it costs me to print them. That's about $40 a month in EXTRA savings!
* What do you do if your computer or printer has trouble printing coupons? Because everyone's computer and computer settings are different, it's hard to offer an easy solution for everyone having print issues... but here's a few links I found that address common problems:
Troubleshooting with Printables
How to Print Your Coupons
Troubleshooting Guide for Printing Coupons
HTML Help for Printing Coupons

Grocery Smarts is expanding!!!

2009-05-21T12:47:00.001-07:00

Great News!!! Grocerysmarts.com is expanding! We are now not only in Utah and Nevada but have recently branched out into Idaho, Southern California, and Eastern Washington. Below are the passports for these areas. So go tell your friends and family the great news!! Soon we will be available in Northern California, Western Washington, Oregon, and Arizona so hold on tight for those announcements!!!

Utah g84cjg

Nevada g89cjg

Idaho g83ro1

Southern California g92ro1

Eastern Washington g99ro1

***Remember, no inserts this weekend***

I will be out of town this weekend for the holiday so no posts til Tuesday. If anyone wants to email me a picture and breakdown of your shopping trip I'd love to post them! jodigardner@yahoo.com

Happy Memorial Day!

Pinching Your Pennies

2009-05-20T11:54:00.001-07:00

If you haven't logged on to Pinching Your Pennies yet, your missing out! Here are 10 reasons to go check it out...
1- It's a place to learn and share how to save money in all aspects of your life. Utilize the search feature to find specific deals or messages.
2- A community of members who share the common goal of saving money. Share your deals by creating or replying to messages in the forums.
3- Read about unadvertised deals found by other members.
4- Advance info on upcoming sales. Sunday coupon previews, and info on printable coupons that you'll need for future sales.
5- Links to ready-made Grocerysmarts lists, and thousands of other shoppers to help you
understand them. If you have a question, chances are someone has already asked it!
6- SCREAMING online deals. Save as much money on your other purchases as you do on your groceries!
7- Savings on entertainment, local restaurant savings, and discounts on events going on in your area.
8- Mail in rebate offers, freebies, contests, and a whole forum for printable coupons.
9- Great recipes based on items you've gotten free or cheap using coupons and Grocerysmarts shopping lists.
10- Forums for discussing children, family life, hobbies, and more.
So log on to Pinching your pennies and browse around!

Walgreens Coupon

2009-05-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

I know I already posted today but I had to let you in on the Walgreens coupon. May 20th and 21st you can get $5 off $25 purchase! Go HERE to print your out today and add it to your savings!

Alphabetical Coupon index is new and improved!

2009-05-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

We have added a bonus feature to our website! The Alphabetical coupon index is now searchable! Now all you have to do is pop into the index and type in the coupon your looking for and up will come your coupon, info, and location! It's so much better than scanning through all of the hundreds we have in there. For more info about the coupon index go HERE. I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to price match other stores such as Target (which is not on grocerysmarts list). I had to find and clip my own coupons, which only took seconds longer, no biggie! I Saved $32.50 just using coupons alone!(Walmart doesn't tell you what you saved on the sales but I probably would have been close to $132.50!)This is a great tool, so next time you go shopping, go check it out!

Advanced Class Update!!!

I am so sorry, but it looks like we will be doing our advanced class on Sat. May 30th at 10:00am. I changed the day because we have quite a few that couldn't make it on Friday. I will be emailing your official Evite shortly with address and other info.

See you there!

Summer is a few days away! Let's get prepared!

2009-05-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Let's get ready for the heat, kids, and vacations! Here are some great picks from each store that will get us ready for this summer! Hurry cause sale ends Tuesday!

Albertsons - remember to use your doublers!
Ball Park Franks 2/5.29 plus free sara lee buns
Cream cheese .38 - double for -.12 overage
Kelloggs Cereal FREE
Hunts Ketchup .75
Suddenly Salad .35
Pepsi soft drinks 24-pack $4.88
Green Giant Steamers .50 My fav!
Yoplait Go-gurt 1.13 great to freeze for tasty summer treat!

Smiths
Bar S jumbo franks .39
Big K 2 liter sodas .67
Breyers ice cream 2.04

Harmons
watermelon .25 lb
corn on the cob .33 ea
USDA Choice Rib Eye Steak 5.99 lb
USDA Choice Petite Sirloin Steak 3.99 lb
These cuts are the best quality for BBQ's Just FYI
Oscar Meyer Franks .49
Meadow gold ice cream novelties 1.25
Creamies 1.79 My fav!
Cool Whip .75
Powerade .59

Sorry I didn't post all the stores, that would be too time consuming and I gotta scramble out the door to catch these deals while they last! Remember to check grocerysmarts website for the complete sales info!!
Let's bring on Summer!!!

Parade Magazine

2009-05-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

I just learned something new recently. I went to GrocerySmarts to get ready for a shopping trip and when clipping out the coupons I needed I saw something strange. One of my items coupon was found in the Parade magazine! What???? I had no idea that there were coupons inside this magazine (probably because I've never opened it)! Well ladies, my suggestion would be to browse through it to see if you would ever use the coupons in it. I found 2 coupons in this weeks issue. $3 off Mall Cop DVD, and $1 off Healthy Ones oven roasted deli meat (on the back). So I clipped this out and will add this to the weekly inserts. Now when it says this I will be ready. It only takes a second for this and you'll be happy when you see it on sale!

Oodles of inserts!

2009-05-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up to a pleasant site, Oodles of coupons packed into my papers! Some of you may wonder why we got 2 Smart sources. It is because next Sunday is Memorial Day Weekend! And that means time to spend with our families. It also means no coupons inserts. Remember that our inserts are not printed over Holiday weekends, but they double up on Smart Sources either the week before or the week after. So we will enjoy them while we can! You may notice that I only got 4 Red Plum and 4 of one of the Smart Sources. This is because they were missing out of my SL Tribunes. I called the 800 number (which is located on the right of my blog) and told them of the error. They were great to work with and told me that I would have them within the hour! This is why you need to go through your papers before noon ladies. The earlier you catch these kind of mistakes the better. If you call Monday they are usually out of them and you will be out of luck. The best they can do for you is add another week onto your subscription plan.

Don't forget to grab the Albertsons "3 day sale" sheet too! These are full of Albies coupons that you can combine with manufactured coupons. This isn't even the best part! 3 "Twice the Value" coupons! You can double up to 3 coupons with these, which even makes your deals better!

I also love restaurant coupons in our Sunday Papers! Make sure you grab these bad boys out and use them! I keep resturant coupons in my purse so I have them with me all the time in case my family decides at the spur of the moment to eat out! My husband also takes clients out to lunch frequently so I put a few in his wallet also. Saves you 5 bucks!

Always looking for ways to save, right!!!

Feeling Stressed?

2009-05-15T09:30:00.001-07:00

Does this look like you when you Grocery shop? Hopefully without the dog! I have some people come up to me and say, "I just can't do it, its too stressful!" I have some simple tips to help you out!

1-Start with a small list, go to the store and stock up on just a few items. Don't overwhelm yourself with a 2 page grocery list. Check out my shopping trip HERE that was simple, easy, and rewarding (cause i saved so much).
2-Leave the little ones at home. Until your better at the Grocery Smarts process, don't bring your children with you to the store. Even if you have to go later in the evening or early in the morning, it's worth the peace and quiet while you work your magic!
3-Don't chase deals all over town. Just choose one store and stick with it. Remember, everything goes on sale every 3-6 months in a store, so just be patient and you'll see the sale come to your store eventually.
4-Set reasonable expectations for yourself. Know why you are doing this. Is it to save for a trip, pay off debt, save money for a special purchase, to pay the water bill, to give your family a little wiggle room in the budget or to help ease the burden of a spouse's job loss or wage reduction? Maybe you are a student family and just need every penny. Know your expectations, know your personal limits and try to find a happy medium of the two.
5-Start scaling back when you can. Most of us start out gangbusters the first few months stocking up on everything that's 4 and 5 stars. If there's an average sale week, just relax a bit and just buy perishables that week. There have been weeks go by that I didn't stock up. Of course I've been doing this for over a year now so I can do that, but it's nice to take a week or two off if you feel overwhelmed.
6-Stay organized. Keep your coupon organizer up to date, don't get behind. There's nothing worse having to organize yourself before you can clip coupons. Remember it should only be taking you minutes on Sunday to slip your coupons in your organizer. I love it when my file is current and I can print, clip, and go!
7- Plan Ahead. Take those few minutes after your list is printed and your coupons are cut to tell yourself how many of each item you are gonna buy. Pay attention to the sales/Promos. To maximize your dollar stay within the guidelines of the promos for that week. This can all be done before you leave.
8- Track your savings. Keep track of your monthly budget and savings. Print off one on my blog on the right side. When you can literally see a difference in your monthly spendings it is so rewarding that it makes the little stress here and there worth it!

Advanced Class Notice

2009-05-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

Attention Hostesses!!!

We finally have a day set for our next advanced class. Sorry it's been awhile, my life is so crazy until school gets out so I've set the date for my next advanced class on Friday, May 29th at 10:00am. I will email all who have qualified an evite which will show the address and more details. Sorry for the delay but it will be worth it!
For those wondering what in the heck I'm talking about, check out how to hostess a class to qualify for one of my Advanced classes HERE!

Forever Stamps at Costco!

2009-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

Forever Stamps display has been sighted at Costco. I'm pretty sure they are still selling them at the 0.42 cents a stamp package. I hear they're getting low so hurry over so you don't miss out! Post here if you see them!
Thanks Michelle for the tip!

Interesting Tips

2009-05-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love finding a new tip for my home or other money savings advice. Here are a few I've found.

*Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. When they are connected to the stem, they ripen faster.

*Store your chunks of cheese in aluminum foil, it will stay fresher longer and not mold.

*When you buy a tub of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

*To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

*No mosquito repellent? No worries, Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

*To vacuum something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

*Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

*Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

*Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can'tdigest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

*Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to worry about the 'stringy things'. That's how the monkey's do it!

*Easy deviled eggs...Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done. Easy clean up!

Post a comment and share a tip or money savings advice to all us bargain hunters!

Last minute shopping!

2009-05-12T14:51:00.001-07:00

I think my new title should be "queen of last minute shopping!" It gets so crazy for me, I can hardly find time to sneak away to the store. Anyway, along with last minute shopping comes the lack of items in stock. My Albertsons was out of 6 items I wanted! This is upsetting to me, and I know you all know how it feels. I ended up not being able to get my $10 off $30 group. Out of bandaids and Sudafed. I am definitely emailing ole Mike (My store manager) to complain. I urge everyone to do this so they will get on the ball. Anyway I didn't save as much as i'd like, I'm sure you all did better than me but here is my breakdown.
Total Value of purchase $96.29
Total Saved $53.13
Total Spent $43.16
Total percentage saved 55%
The worse part about this trip was that I forgot my double coupons at home!!! Good Grief!!!
I did pick up 5 rainchecks that I plan on taking advantage of.
My favorite buy this trip would have to be the Capri Suns for $0.75 that I was running low on, and just in time for Summer! Also the $2.00 off peelie that was on the Wheat Thins display! It said to buy a Family Size Nabisco Cracker and one pkg of Crystal Light and get $2.00 off! The Crackers were on sale for $1.99, so they were free! Of course you had to buy the Crystal Light but we love it!

Albertsons Preview list for this weeks sale

2009-05-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day! I loved getting breakfast in bed, even though it's just once a year! Hey, we have to take it where we can get it, right? Anyway, here's the LINK to this Wednesday's sale. Don't forget to use your 3 double coupons we got in this Sunday's papers. They're good through tomorrow (5/12)

Stock up on Postage Stamps!

2009-05-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

After you shop using Grocery Smarts for awhile, you will get the urge to save money on everything you buy. Anytime I have to spend money I think to myself, how can I get this cheaper? 80% of the time there is a way. I will try posting things here and there that I find a great deal on other than groceries, and I hope you will also post comments on anything you find that is a deal too! i.e. clothing stores, entertainment, restaurants, etc. So here's my first one. You have to act fast because on Monday, postage is going up but you can buy online HERE to get the Forever stamps. The forever stamps are guaranteed FOREVER! No matter what the going rate is. So stock up as much as you can tomorrow (Sunday)!!!

Stamp Out Hunger

2009-05-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

What a great opportunity to give back. Tomorrow, May 9th, is the nationwide "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. Place non-perishable foods by your mailbox and your letter carrier will pick it up and deliver all the food to your local food bank. So let's all go through our pantries and donate all the excess food that we get such great deals on. I bought tons of peanut butter about 6 months ago and the expiration date is in June/July of this year. There's no way we will use it all up by then, so what a great way of rotating through our food storage too! Let's get our kids involved so they can gain something from giving!

www.helpstampouthunger.com

KFC Rainchecks

2009-05-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

I am assuming from the overwhelming response, that KFC was floored by the number of free meals they had to give out the last few days! My husband and I went for lunch yesterday (wed) and the lines were huge and we had to wait 30 min for our meals. Poor KFC, see what Oprah does! Wouldn't you like to have that kind of power that she has? LOL! Anyway, they cannot redeem anymore meals at this time but will give you a raincheck if you were able to print out the coupon in time. Read below their instructions to redeem them by 5/19.

"We are so sorry, but due to the overwhelming response to our FREE Kentucky Grilled Chicken™ meal coupon, we can no longer redeem the free coupon at this time. But we will honor our commitment to giving you a free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal.
Please visit a participating KFC restaurant for a rain check form. Complete the form, attach your original coupon , and give it to the KFC restaurant manager or postmark per the form’s instructions, by May 19, 2009, and we’ll send you a rain check for your free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal at a later date, plus a free Pepsi with our compliments. Your participating KFC restaurant will provide you with the form you need.
Please note that the redemption periods of the rain checks will vary. All other terms and conditions of the original free Kentucky Grilled Chicken coupon will apply."

Free 2 piece meal at KFC!!!

2009-05-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Many of you may have already seen this deal on Oprah! KFC is offering free printable coupons seen HERE for a free 2 piece grilled chicken meal with 2 sides and a biscuit for FREE! Don't we love free!!! So click on and redeem yours today because who knows how long we will be able to print them. You can print as many as you want, but be polite and only print what you really think you will use. Hurry cause you can only use them through 5/19!!!

last day shopping and bread follow up

2009-05-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

I ran to Albertsons today (my first time this sale) and grabbed a few items I needed and wanted. I had two goals today, get my 10 items so I can get another set of movie tickets, and get a few items I needed for dinner. This is my spread. I know what your saying, "what is she gonna do with all those pop tarts!" I also ask myself that question. They were out of the rice krispy treats, and I already used my $1.50 coupons on cereal a few weeks earlier. Sometimes you have to compromise right there at the store and get other items to replace the items out of stock. It's not that pleasant, but I try to have a back-up plan before I leave the house just in case. So the treat at my house for the next few months will be pop tarts! Hopefully my kids will get so sick of them they won't want me to buy them after this!
My favorite item this week would have to be the ground turkey, bogo (buy one get one free). Brings them down to $2.99 each and I had a $2/2 off coupon. Final price is $1.99 each! This is good quality ground turkey! Also everyones gotta love the free flour tortillas, right? This is a staple at my house!

Okay my favorite part is my breakdown...

Total value of purchase $73.16

Total Saved $49.08

Total Spent $24.08

Total Percentage saved 67%

plus, here's the kicker...2 FREE MOVIE TICKETS!!!! (valued at $24.00) so realistically I got all this stuff for FREE. Who doesn't love shopping when it's this much fun!!!

So I tried out the whole wheat bread recipe and it was a success!!! This is at least $12.00 worth of bread, and my family will actually eat this wheat bread. My favorite ingredient would have to be the instant yeast. No longer are you waiting around all day for bread to rise. From start to finish this only took me 45 minutes! I hope you try this out, and let me know how you liked it!

Preview Albertsons upcoming sale!

2009-05-04T21:15:00.001-07:00

Click HERE to view the upcoming sale for Albertsons this coming Wednesday. I see some good stock up items in the pharmacy!

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe!

2009-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about making homemade bread. Doesn't it make you feel good inside!?! Well, maybe it's just me. I feel like such a good homemaker, a good mom, a good wife, and living frugal. Plus, there's nothing better than eating homemade bread right out of the oven! I wanted to share a super great whole wheat bread recipe that I heard is the bomb! I got it from one of my favorite blogs that I will share with you ... myfoodstoragedeals.blogspot.com. I am going to make this bread today for the first time, so I will let you know how it turns out. I hope some of you will try it with me and let me know how your turns out!

Emilie's Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 4 8/4 inch loaves.

7 c. whole wheat flour (grind your own if you have a wheat grinder)

2/3 c. vital wheat gluten

2 1/2 T. instant yeast

5 c. steaming hot water (120-130 F)

2 T. salt

2/3 c. oil

2/3 c. honey or 1 c. sugar (I like honey the best!)

2 1/2 T. bottled lemon juice

5 c. whole wheat flour

Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.Pre-heat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks. This recipe can be halved to make 2 loaves.

*She ONLY uses Bakers Secret 8x4 inch non stick pans (we could only find them at Smith's grocery store, strange enough).

**Another tip..when the dough is put into the bread pans, squish the dough softly into the corners of your bread loaf pans. This will make your bread cook more evenly and not have the large lump in the middle of your loaf.

Movie Ticket Promo still going on!

2009-04-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

I LOVE when we get free movie tickets for buying groceries! When they did this promotion last year I got 12 free movie tickets. My husband and I had free dates for months! I picked up 2 movie tickets in the last sale but to my surprise the promotion is still going on until May 6th! So ladies, let's do ourselves a favor and stock up on dates!!! Every 10 Kellogg items you buy you'll get 2 movie tickets. So even when these items are only 3 star items you gotta realize that your getting $24.00 worth of movie tickets with them. The following are the items you can mix and match with their star value this week.
*****Kelloggs cereal (from what I understand it's any cereal)
**** Kelloggs poptarts
*****Kelloggs cereal bars (rice krispie treats too)
the items below are not on sale this week but if you need to get a few more items to add to 10 you can use these also!
*** Kelloggs fruit flavored snacks
*** Keebler cookies
*** Keebler crackers
*** Sunshine cheez-it crackers
So, getting 6 Sunday papers, I figured this is what i'd do for my movie tickets...
6 boxes of kelloggs cereals - Free
6 boxes rice krispy treats - $ 9.00
4 boxes of Raisin Bran (printable coupons) - $2.46
4 boxes of Pop Tarts - $3.96
Total $15.42
4 free movies tickets worth up to $48.00!!!
That is not a bad deal!!! I know it's quite a bit of junk food, but let's get real ladies, summer is just around the corner and it's nice to have treats in the cupboards for all kinds of events like baseball treats, neighbor kids telling you they're hungry, and day trips out and about. Make sure you seperate your transacations and we'll see you at the movies!!!

31 Cents Ice Cream tonight!

2009-04-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight is 31 cent scoop night from 5pm-10pm at all Baskin Robbins! So after all the baseball games, homework, dinner, and whatever else you do, bring your family on down to your local store for a yummy cheap treat! For $1.86 I can get 6 ice cream cones for my entire family! Go HERE for more info.

CVS and VON's!!

2009-04-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Las Vegas Gals!! Introducing the newest stores on your list...CVS and Vons!!! We have been working very hard to get these store lists up and going. A quick 411, Vons store ads run the same time as Smiths and Albertson from Wed to Tues. CVS runs the same as Walgreens, from Sunday to Saturday. If your just starting to shop at CVS, my advice is to start small. It can be complicated, but will save you tons! If any of you have friends or family in Nevada, give them the Nevada passport... g89cjg to get in! I am more than happy to go to Nevada for a class if you know anyone who is interested, pass it along!

Happy Shopping!

Albertsons sale April 29th-May 5th

2009-04-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Check out this LINK to preview this Wednesday's sale. Looks like some good buys but a little bit of a breather week for me! Happy Shopping!