Frugal GAB

Wow I just walked down to the mailbox & staring up at me was a nice little surprise from CVS!
A coupon to save 20% on your entire in-store purchase on Saturday August 14th or Sunday August 15th!

Of course there are a few exclusions, so be sure to read the fine print!
Sadly sale items are not included.
Happy Shopping.

Any good ideas as to what you would like to use your coupon for?

Saving money on groceries is probably my most frugal success story.  I started out with a goal to reduce my spending of anywhere from $120-$150 a week on groceries (plus many trips to Target etc. for other household necessities) down to a more reasonable level. Now I rarely spend more than $60-70 week for all our groceries, toiletries and household cleaning and paper products.

First stop was The Grocery Game. Oh  am I ever glad I found that site. They make up lists for your favorite grocery stores and drugstores  (for me that’s Shaw’s,  CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid).  Then they match current coupons to the deals and let you know which items are FREE, a “rock-bottom deal” good for stocking up, or a good enough deal to buy if you happen to “need” the item asap.   There is a small fee for each list, but your savings of time and money are well worth it.

Another site I will frequest is Coupon Mom. There are also lists there, although a little less comprehensive for my taste, and there is a great coupon database so you can see what is available in your area. A great site if you are looking for a FREE option.

Also there are sites like A Full Cup and Slick Deals which I follow the forums for my local stores. This is  a great resource to get real feedback from other shoppers on what deals are working, what is included in a sale, more coupon match-ups and secret or clearance deals that have been found.

Then there are the store specific sites like I heart CVS or I heart Rite Aid.  They post advance copies of fliers so you can plan ahead.

Next are a few blogs I follow to check out deals, recently posted internet coupons, rebate offers, free samples and more. If you are looking for a place to see all the up to the minute info on just about every deal out there try reading Common Sense with Money or For the Mommas. These ladies focus on relaying all the info and links that one might get by subscribing to multiple newsletters or perusing the web.

Also check around for bloggers in your local area who may be posting about sales and deals at your local stores. I have a few places I go to see if they have any scoop on my local stores.

Last but not least is finding ways to stock up on coupons for your shopping. My favorite coupon clipper is Coupons by DeDe, but many people rely on The Coupon Clippers or The Coupon Master for their needs.  Do not forget eBay is also a great resource to find coupons already clipped for you!

Do you have any other sites you frequent to find deals?

What about blogs focused on presenting deals?

Any good coupon clipping sites I missed?

The ads are so enticing, your friends are chatting it up, the kids are circling everything they want from all the circulars (and they want EVERYTHING).

Boy is it ever hard to show some restraint when the Holiday shopping season kicks off. All those killer deals can make you feel like you must have all this stuff.

Hopefully if you went out shopping today you had a plan, a neat little list, and your allotted spending amount firmly etched on your brain.
I had my budget for today (ZERO) so I stayed home!
Still formulating a plan, knowing full well there will be more deals to be had, and hopefully they will be for items already on my list!

On one of my shopping trips this week at Shaw’s I was able to get all of this for just $1.20 OOP (out of pocket). Shelf price $62.44!

With some great Catalina deals going on from General Mills and Unilever I was really able to maximize my $60/week grocery budget. The deal was if you bought $30 in product you would get back $15 in Catalinas (coupons) off your next order. If you repeat your trips, and pay with those coupons earned, you minimize your OOP expenses.

Here are a few photos of this week’s haul:

That is the overview of most of what I got…minus the perishables and some peanut butter, rice and more cereal. Here are a few close-ups:

In addition to what is pictured I also got:
6 Breyer’s Ice Cream
3 Green Giant frozen veggies
Fiber One yogurt 4 pack
Yo Plus Yogurt 4 pack
3 ½ lb boneless Pork Loin
3 lbs ground beef
1 ½ lbs Steak Tips
2 Ball park beef franks
2 ½ lbs red grapes
3 kiwi
2 bananas
Sargento Shredded cheese
2 12-packs Coke
2 Pillsbury Simply Chocolate Chip cookies
3 Betty Crocker fruity snacks
2 Skippy PB
2 Rice sides
3 Honey Nut Cheerios
1 Bisquick
1 Mac & cheese
Total OOP $67.53, Shelf Price $383.50
Also, I still have $15 OYNO(off your next order) Catalinas to spend for next time!!
As you can see, with stocking up on these non-perishable items I will not have to buy them in the future at full price. With a little info on matching up your coupons to the right sales and repeating any really good deals is the best way to make the most of an awesome deal at your store.

Thanks to The Grocery Game who has awesome lists to match up your coupons to the best sales, and the ladies at A Full Cup who provide info on what is working or not on these Catalina promos, I can really make the most of my budget.

Mr B&W would have loved it if I did a few more trips this week, but I was shopped out. He was kind enough to do the final trip last night where he was able to get a $19 pork roast for 79¢ OOP!! I bet he understood how cool it feels to get so much for so little!

Starting today is a great Kraft deal called the SuperValu Promotion*, spend $25 gt a $5 OYNO coupon, plus a $20 mail in rebate!

*the promo is no longer active, so I have revised that  link to go to the regular Kraft Promo page instead