Christmas in New York!! & more shopping!

Oh what a wonderful time we had!!! Tallulah did great on the trip up there and we had tons of fun!! No big snow but it was still beautiful. I love all my in laws :)



This is the first week of me staying home and so far I am LOVING it!! I am loving the fact that Lula and I get to play together, that I have time to cook and clean and even nap.

Today I went shopping for the first time since we got home and I even added Rite-Aid to the list of stores because of an awesome deal I found online. So here it goes.....

First stop was Rite-Aid where I feel like 1 (out of 3) transactions didn't come out right. Boo. But it was still a good trip....just could have been better.

Transaction #1

2 Benevia drinks 8.99 each BOGO
1 Huggies Jumbo pack 11.99
Total: $20.98
2 $2/1 benevia Video rewards
2 $5/1 benevia mq
1 $1/1 Huggies video rewards
$5/20 Rite Aid
Total Q's: #20.00

OOP: $1.86!!!

Transaction #2 (the one I got screwed on)

2 Olay Bodywashes B1G1 50% $8.68
2 Olay Lotions B1G1 50% $11.73
Total: $20.41
2 B1 bodywash get a lotion free
$5/20 Rite Aid Q
I SHOULD have got $16.73 off...but I only got $12.78

OOP: $8.48

Transaction # 3

2 benevia 8.99 each BOGO
2 Mich Lite $6.49 each (needed New Years Eve drinks lol)
Total: $21.97
2 $2/1 benevia Video rewards
2 $5/1 benevia mq
$5/20 Rite Aid
Total: $19.00

OOP:$3.90

Soooo grand total for all 3 transactions

OOP: $ $14.24
Total Savings: $51.78 plus $1 Single check rebate for the Huggies


*EDIT TO ADD* I found a mail in rebate today (1/1) for free lotion!! So I will end up getting $11.74 back for the Olay deal!!:)





And now for Publix! I pretty much just looked online at the very best deals and went for those. Our cabinets are full so unless it is super cheap or we actually need it there is no point in getting it.

Stuffing .50 on sale (no coupon)

Various Shredded mini wheats BOGO 4 x 2.10 ($8.40)
1 $5/4 MQ
$3.40 (.85 each)

Bumble Bee Tuna 4 pk BOGO $4
no Q- just needed Tuna

Philips Crab Cakes BOGO 2 x 4.50 ($9.00)
2 $2/1 MQ
2 .55/1 Target Q
$3.90 (1.95 each)

Juicy Juice 8 pk boxes BOGO 4 x $1.50 ($6.00)
2 $1/2 Target Q's
2 $1/2 MQ
$2.00 (.50 each)

Chex Mix BOGO 4 x 1.25 ($5.00)
2 .50/1 -> 1.00/1 MQ
$3.00 (.75 each)
Matt wanted these lol

bananas for Lula on sale for .39 lb
.94

Publix Hot dog buns (Matt wanted these too)
$1.15

Doobie dish Scrubber $1.29
1 1.50/1 Publix Q
-.21

Kraft Cheese Singles BOGO 2 x 2.00 ($4.00)
2 .50/1 -> $1/1 MQ
$2.00 ($1.00 each)

1 $5/25 Save A Lot coupon (which I was informed they might stop taking) BOO!!!

Total OOP: $17.37
Total Savings: $61.33




And finally a run to CVS where after Lula got into our suitcase and destroyed my deodarant and pumped out all my hair gel I was needing some bath supplies!!!

Secret (on sale)
$2.50 (save .79)
.25/1 MQ
$2.25
If I get one more I could get $1 ECB but unless I find a larger coupon than .25 I won't be getting it.

Maxwell House Tub (on sale)
$5.99 (save 6.50)

Dawn Hand soap (on sale)
.99 (save $1)
1 $1/1 MQ
-.01

2 Aussie/Herbal Essence hair products (on sale)
$5.76 (save 3.52)
2 $1/1 MQ
$3.76

Colgate Toothpaste (sale)
$2.99 (save .90)
Earned $2 ECB

Ivory soap 3 pack (sale)
.99 (save .70)
1 $1/1 MQ
-.01

Bounty Dryer Bar (Looked totally cool) (SALE)
3.99 (save 1.50)
1 $1/1 MQ
$2.99

Used $16.49 ECB
OOP $1.59
Savings: $37.65

80% savings!! YAY!

Tonight I hit the 80% savings mark!!

OOP: $11.83
Savings: $40.42


It was a small trip but still lots of food. :) I am really wanting to hit the 90% mark at some point.

This weekend was pretty darn great with the family! We had our Christmas and my hubby got me some awesome presents and Lula of course was spoiled rotten. We had so much fun playing Pictionary Man Saturday night! And Lula's new game Elefun on Sunday!! I really think we should start a family board game night. I always have fun playing them.



We are leaving for NY Wednesday morning! Yay!

Looking foward to the next week and then some!

It is going to be so great!! The shopping trips are looking awesome, Lula has her very last day of school tomorrow that happens to be the day of the Christmas party! So excited about watching her sing her carols and wear her little reindeer ears. Aww. My family is getting together to do our Christmas thing and Santa is coming to our house early. Yay for presents on Sunday! lol. Then come Wednesday morning we will be leaving out for New York! 16 hours plus stopping time and we will be there with hubby's family and hopefully playing in the snow! If it is just butt cold with no snow I will be so dissappointed!

This is my shopping plan. I'll come back and edit to put in the cost after it is done :)

PUBLIX

3 Barber Stuffed Chicken
4 Betty Crocker boxed potatoes
2 Duncan Hines Cake Mixes
8 boxes Mueller's Whole Wheat Pasta
2 Wesson Cooking oils
3 Philedelphia Cream Cheese
1 Scotties Facial Tissue Cube
2 Reynolds Wrap
2 boxes Jones Farms Sausage
3 Hillshire Peporoni
2 Aunt Jamima frozen waffles/french toast
2 Cool whip
2 Swiss Miss Hot cocoa
2 Electrosal Dishwater tabs
1 12 pack Charmin
1 Cottonelle mosit wipes
1 Sarah Lee dessert

Ok. So I got all this minus the 4 Ore-Ida French fries plus 2 huge jars of Prego sauce and some bananas for Lula...

Grand Total OOP: $33.40
Total Savings : $98.30
So 75% savings. Not too shabby!




And I am SOOOO excited about what I'm figuring the cost to be!! *SQUEEL* I will update on Sunday with the OOP cost and the Savings!!

CVS

1 Venus Razor
5 Thermacare 1 ct
2 Neosporin Lip care
1 Alteril Sleep Aid 4 ct
1 Lysol Disinfectant spray
1 Nivea Bodywash
[1 Revlon Lip Color]NO :(
1 Listerine
1 Crest Toothpaste
1 Blade deodarant
1 reusable shopping bag

Again...SOOOOOO excited about the total OOP and the savings! :) Wait until you see this coupon magic! lol.

And AGAIN CVS seems to be more trouble then its worth. I grabbed the wrong Lysol, the lipstick wasn't ringing up on sale or as an ECB earner, and It was just a mess. In the end I spent:

OOP: $12.69
Earned $13.49 Extra Care Bucks. So I guess I still did ok but it was a hassle.

A good ol' family weekend

yep. That is what we had. All wrapped up was shopping, Santa's Village, car-picking-uping, fighting, a Gold Party and coffee (or lack thereof.)

Saturday we got up and went to pick up Matt's birthday/christmas present. Drove to Decatur to get the trailor and then Hartselle to get the car. It was freezing!! I planned on stopping at work to get a few more coupons I needed to go shopping but forgot my stupid keys at home. Boo. Then I wanted coffee. Not just any coffee!! McDonalds coffee. After passing 2 McDonalds with no coffee and already being upset about the coupons well, lets just say this is where the fighting came into play. Yeah..I overreacted. :(



Sunday!

Got up and went to church. Then came home and decided to do what shopping I could but first Matt needed to get air in the tire of the new car and spray it out or some crap. So off him and Lula went. Two hours later and 1 hour before the Gold Party and he FINALLY made it back. See "fighting" from above. I finally decided to go on shopping and just hurry. First stop was CVS..got bows, name tags and tissue paper for wrapping Christmas presents. Made like $2 cause I had 1 coupon and got ECB bucks back for all of it! YAY! Then to publix! I did awesome!!. All of this below for $27.84. I saved $83.88!! Woohoo!! (Pic coming soon)



Then it was off to the Gold Party where I sold some old stuff I haven't worn in years and made $110! Yay! Got home and picked up Lula and then went back to CVS where I got 2 bottles of All detergent, an airwick nightlight plug in and 2 refills and 2 Revlon lipsticks. I paid a total of $3.80 out of pocket!!Back to church at 5 for the new member class, then to Santa's Village!! Tallulah had SO much fun. She loved the fake snow which makes me even more excited about going to New York next week! She was scared to death of all the people walking around in costumes though. I thought for sure she would freak when she saw Santa!! But nope! Totally the opposite! I had to literally hold her back and once I let go she ran to him and just talked and talked and talked. Lol. She also pointed out her "pretty shoes" Too cute!




After Santa's Village we went to Olive Garden for a nice family dinner. :)

Today I went back to CVS and Publix to finish up! I had coupons for some candy but they didn't let me use one so I ended up paying more than I wanted. I got 4 bags of Hershey Kisses ($3.99 reg/$3 sale) and 8 Reeses Christmas trees for Johnny. (.75 each) Normally would have paid $21.96 and paid $9.27. If they had let me use my other coupon it would have only been $6.27. :(




Then over to Publix. Ugh. I ended up spending $62 even and saving $79.97. Not my best trip by far. BUT...I did get 2 HUGE boxes of diapers and pack of wipes. Breakdown cost of just them were:

(2)19.99
2.99 (wipes)
Total: $42.97

$10/2 Publix Q
(2) $2/1 MQ
B1G1Wipes free $2.99
1.50 Competitor Q

Total: $18.49

Total OOP: $24.98. So basically I got one box free!!!

Then I stocked up on beef so I didn't have to keep running back. Got like 4 lbs for $11.99 minus a $2 competitor coupon. So that and the diapers was like $35 of my OOP expense. I never realized diapers were SO expensive. But Matt and I decided to go ahead and buy them when I could find a good deal. We figure since we are planning on another baby it can't hurt plus diapers always make great baby shower gifts! Here is a pic of everything.

A pretty good Friday

I ended up staying home. I was hurting pretty bad. :( Not sure if it was leftover from losing the baby or what but like I said...it was bad. I did finally get to where I could walk and me and Matt went to CVS. Mama wanted one of those EZ hair clip As Seen on TV things so I went ahead and picked that up and Huggies were on sale for $8.97. With a $3/15 CVS coupon, $5 ECB and $2 Huggie one I spent about $9. So basically got the Huggies for free. Then we went to Publix to get the drinks we needed that were on sale. We ended up with 3 bottled Mountain Dew packs (18) 4 12 pk cans of Mountain Dew/Sierra Mist and 2 (24) cases of Dasani water. That is a lot of drinks!! Can you tell my husband is a mountain dew freak!!?? Oh and 2 tubs of wrapping paper. Which is the ONLY thing I used a coupon on! $1 off 2. We spent like $31. Ugh. But besides milk and the Juicy Juice that is on sale this week that I'm going to get Sunday that is most of the drinks we will need for awhile.

Matt is sleeping on the couch right now but I'm about to wake him up to get Lula to bed then I'm going to start wrapping presents!! I need to do Christmas cards too...but ugh. I really wanted to get a picture one made this year but just can't find time. Maybe next year.

*sigh*

Tonight is probably going on night number 10 of fighting with Tallulah to go to bed. She will get up, turn the light on and do anything BUT go to sleep. So after about losing my mind last night and being in a pissy mood all day I decided to try something new tonight. We already had the door knob thing put on because of many, many nights of waking up and finding her in the kitchen eating potato chips or candy so I know she can't get out. She is just stuck in there.And most of her toys have been removed already in an attempt to keep her from climbing on them to turn her light on which didn't really work, she still gets it on. As of right now she has been in there and cried twice (I just had to go in and check on her those times) and I can still hear her in there singing. But it is still early and I am calmer and she seems to be heading off to dream land! Maybe this will actually work!! yay!

As for my shopping today, I made Trip #4 to CVS for the week. (Check out the "CVS this week" blog. And made the mistake of looking at the Kroger forum on www.hotcouponworld.com. uh oh!! Lol. I picked out the *HOT* deals and went with those. I got:
6 cans of Progresso Soup (the 10/$10 selection was AWFUL but I managed to get some that I might actually eat) (2)-1.10/3 = 3.80
4 Lunchables! (4).55/1 = 1.80
4 pillsbury pizza crusts/breadsticks (various coupons and no clue what she allowed lol)
1 Dial handsoap (got it for .20 with my coupon! Wish I could have got more but it said "Limit 1 per household" on the coupon. Boo)
Tyson drumsticks (2) and split chicken breasts for .99 lb
and then I ran across 4 pks of Angel Soft for .88 :)

So basically
TOTAL OOP: $18.79
TOTAL SAVINGS: $30.98
Yay. Not bad at all.

My 2010 Plan!!

I want to try to keep up with all my purchases and feed my family for $100 a month!! I totally think it can be done...I just have to stop wanting EVERYTHING just cause it's on sale and go for the super deals. And watch for meat to go on super stock up sale. How fun!

On top of all this I need to come up with a daily plan for me and Lula. I need structure. And she needs structure. I want to make sure we have time for learning and playing and exercise too. Plus need to work in shopping and naps! Oh...and cleaning. lol. Wow. I can't believe I will be pretty much a stay at home mommy come the 21st!! And be totally out of my job February 1st WOWOWOWOWOW!! Scary. I've had a few people be interested in me doing their bookkeeping but no definites yet. :( I'm so scared I will never get any. Ugh. And I don't even WANT to think about school starting! But I guess I need to. I am actually going to grab my information right now to get my books ordered! Yay me.

So stay tuned for my $1200 annual food budget shopping and for the joys of being a stay at home mommy.

My Publix Plan

My plan for my shopping trip this Sunday....

(2) Juicy Juice 100% Premium Juice, Assorted Varieties, 64-oz bot, BOGO $3.65(Good Lord we drink SOOO much of this! I would get more than 4 if I could print more coupons!!)
Total : $7.30
(2) $1/2 Target coupons
(2) $1/2 MQ coupons
Price: $3.30 /.83 each

(5)Campbell's Select Harvest Soup, Assorted Varieties, 18.6 to 18.8-oz can or 15.3-oz bowl, BOGO $2.39
Total: 11.95
(10) $1/1
Price: $1.95 /.20 each

(1)Klondike Ice Cream Bar or Ice Cream Sandwich, Assorted Varieties, 16 to 27-oz box, BOGO $3.59
(2) $1/1
Price: $ 1.59/ .80 each

(1)Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers, Assorted Varieties, 12-oz bag, BOGO $2.39
(We totally do NOT need any vegetables but they freeze and for this price I just can't say no!!)
(2) $1/1
Price: .39 / .19 each
Might actually get 2 BOGO deals for that price lol

(15) Stonyfield Farm Yogurt, Assorted Varieties, 6-oz cup, 10/$5
Total: $7.50
(5) .50/3 (doubled to $1/3)
Price: 2.50/ .16 each

(2)Contessa Meals, Assorted Varieties, 20 to 24-oz bag, 4.99
Total: 9.98
(1) $1.50/2
(2) $2/1 Publix coupon
Price : $4.48/ $2.24 each

(1)Tylenol Cold or Sinus Medicine or Sudafed, 18 or 24 ct box, or Tylenol Multi-Symptom Cold Medicine, 8-oz bot, Assorted Varieties, $4.99
(1) $2/1 Publix coupon
(1) $1/1 coupon
Price: $1.99

(2)Bayer Aspirin, Assorted Varieties, 24 to 36-ct box, (100% more free on select pkgs, while quantities available), $1.99
Total: 3.98
(2) $1/1
Price $1.98 / .99 each

The next 2 kind of go together:

Huggies Baby Wipes, Assorted Varieties, 184 or 213-ct pkg, $5.99
In ad coupon: -$3/1 Huggies Diaper Box, Selected Varieties, Supreme, 48 to 76-ct, Snug & Dry, 60 to 96-ct, Pull Ups, 33 to 44-ct or Goodnites, 21 or 27-ct. (reg 19.99)

Total: $25.98
-$3/1 Publix coupon
-$2/1 (diapers)
-$1/1 (wipes)
Buy one diaper get a wipe free -5.99
Price: 13.99
I have a $1.50 competitors coupon but I don't think they will let you stack 3. I will ask though and that will bring the price down to $12.49 :)

Whew. Ok. Yeah they did take like 10 minutes to put up but it will be worth it to see how much I can stick to my plan. Oh and bread is on sale for .79 and we need milk which it says it is $2.69

grand total should be around: $36 :)

CVS this week! 12/5- 12/12

Trip # 1

2 Essential Beauty Bath @ 4.99 each
2 CVS Tissue @ 1.29 each

Total $12.56

CVS coupon $1 off tissue
CVS Coupon $2/$10 purchase
CVS ECB $5

Total $8

OOP = $4.92 (inc tax)
Earned $8 ecb!!



:)
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TRIP #2

2 Blade bath Gift Sets @ 7.99 each

Total $15.98

$3/15 CVS coupon
$8 ecb
$5 gift card (Free when I bought the $25 one!!)

Total savings $16.00!!


Had to pay .70 out of pocket for some reason though. Boo. lol. Probably something to do with taxes.


Trip # 3
Me and Lula went this time! She had fun scanning my key tag and getting the coupon. Lol. Anywho..it was a quick one. I was going to go for the energizer deal but forgot to print another $2 off coupon that I needed so did the KY one.

So I got the His & Hers KY and knew I needed a few cents to push me over $20 so got the Palmolive they had on sale for .96 since we needed some anyways :)




And here was the break down:

KY Yours Mine : 19.99
Palmolive : .96
Total : $20.95

-$5 MQ
-$3 ECB
And then I had what I thought was $4 off $20 coupon but it was a $4 ECB when you spend $20...So

Out of Pocket : 13.94
ECB Earned: 10.00 + 4.00 bonus!

TRIP # 4...or is it 5 lol!

First let me say that I know no good deed goes unpunished. Me not punching that woman in the stomach and taking her $25 gift certificate with prescription that printed off RIGHT after I got done scanning my card will be rewarded. I have been trying FOREVER to get one of those!! Lol. Ugh.anyways....

Got the Energizer battery deal (Spend $15 get $5 ecb) We needed batteries and decided to go ahead and spend a little more now and get rechargeable! It will save us more in the long run. :) Soooo..I got 1 AA & 1 AAA 4 pk. They were on sale for $2 off on there own.

10.99
10.99
Total: $21.98

(2) $2/1 M@
(1) $3 off $15 CVS purchase
$14 ECB

OOP: $2.03!!
What an awesome way to save and go green!

No one...seriously NO ONE needs that much lube

What to do with 20 coupons for $5 and $2 off KY Products?!? That is the delima I am facing now. I swear I was ordering 1...not the whole bundle. Wow. Oh well...today is going to be a good day. Got plans on going out with friends tonight and making my first trip to CVS today for this weeks deals!! (Hence the KY coupons lol) And I had a great shopping trip at Publix last night and even got hubby to watch baby girl so I could go alone! *note to self* do NOT wear 3 inch heels grocery shopping. *OUCHIE*

Publix shopping trip -

Grand Total of shopping : $74.95

Savings Summary

Store coupon $40.35
Vendor Coupon $40.24
Advertised Special Savings $51.99
Advantage Buy Savings ( I still have no clue what this actually is) $1.50

Total Savings!!! $134.08

This included 2 coffee pots, a toaster, a bottle of wine (so did not have a coupon for that! ) and for Tallulah an Advent calendar and a big ol' pack of pampers for bedtimes.

That jolly fat man is coming

That's right. He is on his way. And with a tight budget and a big list I am struggling to pull it all together. It IS coming together though. :) I have used my savings to get some gifts at an extreme discount which is awesome. And then I found some really cute little stuff at the dollar store of all places!! And pictures are always a great gift for grandparents. Lula got spoiled as usual but hubby was awesome and picked her up the Jeep Barbie Power Wheels on Black friday for only $88!!! SCORE! Oh and the hamster...my $25(Only $8 in the stores but they are sold out everywhere!) zhu zhu hamster I couldn't live without. So much for fabulous savings on THAT one.

I feel good about this year though! Going to New York to spend Christmas with the in-laws and play in the snow! I think this is the year I am going to enjoy Christmas more for the people I get to share it with.

CVS & Publix in one night!!

CVS went better than the first night for sure. They were out of what I initially wanted but luckily I was able to go for my 3rd night purchase instead and it worked out great.Oh I did miscalculate and had to grab an item for $2.50 cause I had ECB's that needed spending, which I ended up returning but I will try to keep this simple. Here is the break down....

Febreze Air Affects 3 @ 2.50 = 7.50 (one was the returned item later on)
Vicks Nyquil + Vitamin C 2 @ 4.99 = 9.98
Lollipop (for Lula) .50

Total $17.98

$3/15 CVS coupon
$5 MQ
Used $9.98 ECB

Total OOP = .28!!

Earned $4 ECB

Now for the return....returned febreze spray. Got $2.64 put back on the card. Got Lula's toothpaste (she was out). Also noticed the Greenbag tag that allows you to earn $1 ecb for every 4th visit for .99!! So easy to get my money back and more!

So...

Toothpaste $ 2.99
GreenBag Tag .99

Total $4.20
card used- $2.64

OOP - $1.56

So total OOP was $1.84!!!



So now for Publix!!!


Publix was awesome just like before!! I got tons of good stuff and my savings summary was :

Store Coupon $11.99
Vendor Coupon $ 15.85
Ad Spec $ 59.32

Total 87.16

Grand OOP Total $ 69.02

CVS!!

I started my first week with saving at CVS by purchasing a gift card...for myself. ;) By purchasing a $25 gift card I got a $5 one FREE!! Woohoo. Love free money!!

Soooo....CVS ended up taking more time out of my day then the HUGE Publix shopping trip. Hopefully it goes smoother from now on or it won't be happening.

I went in to get the spend $25 on Gillette products get $10 ebc and the .99 toothbrush for Lula. The gillete products I planned on getting werent there but I was able to get other ones that worked with my coupons. But I was still like a $1 short from being able to use the $5/30 coupon so I decided to get another toothbrush. (OOPS! Didnt work so well since the ECB offer was limited to 1 per household) Oh well...Lula will need another toothbrush eventually. :) Anyways..they ring me up and the ONLY ECB award I receive is the $2.00 for the one toothbrush and $2.59 towards the gillette deal. Um...no. The manager and cashiers seemed to be lost and like they didnt want to deal with it but damn it!! I spent a LONG time researching all this and had 2 more shopping trips planned this week that depended on me earning those ECB's!! So they told me to call the 800 # which I did..

Long story short, I got my $10 ECB for the gillette deal and left with a very fussy baby and not so thrilled myself.

Breakdown of Trip #1

1 zooth toothbrush 2.99
1 Colgate Dora brush 2.99
1 gillette foamy sensitive skin shave foam 2.59
-$1.oo MWQ
2 Gillette Power Fusion gift sets 11.99 each
(2) -$4 MQ

- $5/30 CVS coupon

Total OOP $20.07 ( My initial plan was to spend somewhere around $15 OOP)
Saved $14.30

Earned $12 ECB

Math = $32.55 - $5/$30- $9 MQ - $12 ecb = $6.55

Not too awful bad I guess but hoping for better.

My first coupon experience

I spent probably 2 days finding and printing coupons. I really hope this gets easier. I think it will once I get a good stock and narrow down my shopping. I tried to focus on the BOGO deals but needed lots of things for Thanksgiving too. This was my first year EVER actually cooking Thanksgiving dinner! :) After about 3 days of preparation I was ready...armed with a stack of coupons and a big highlighted grocery list!

I entered Publix at approximately 1:30 pm, Wendesday afternoon the day before Thanksgiving. I went to the customer service desk to ask one final question. Although most of the sites allowed you to print 2 of each coupon it appeared that the two I printed had the same bar code. I was worried this would void one of each of my coupons which would ruin the entire amazing publix shopping trip I was hoping for. I was assured that they would be accepted but also informed that they no longer accepted the CVS or Rite Aid coupons. Oh well.. no biggie. As long as all the other ones worked. I was off!

It took awhile to get into the groove of things but soon I was zipping through the aisles picking up everything I needed. It was easy enough withe the printable grocery list from http://www.publix.com/. It broke everything down into the sections of the store which was VERY helpful. If my coupons had been more organized it wouldn't have taken nearly as long.

I found little store blinkies along the way and made sure to pull those coupons and throw them in my purse. I saw peelies and hang tags but have no clue how people get these unless they buy those products are thieve them off of them which I was not about to do. The last thing I wanted was the Publix police coming down on me.

I finished my entire list and only had to ask for help fiding 2 items!! Not bad.

I made my way to the checkout.

I laughed and told the girl at the checkout about my situation and how I was new to all of this. Then I showed her all my coupons. She laughed and said "ALL of those?" "Yes..all of these" I said. She was very nice about it.

All the food rang up and then the coupons started! It was very exciting to watch actually! lol. Or maybe I'm just that much of a goob. I had a few that were expired that I hadn't noticed and one that said "Do not double or triple" that caused a little trouble. Also a Honeybaked Ham coupon for $10 off a 8 lb bone in ham that had to be ok'd by a manager. Which she did!! YAY. The Honeybaked Ham coupon did make one man pick his 3 items up and walk away but oh well. I just saved me $10!! I didn't feel too bad. And then we were done...ending at around 3:30 pm

My savings for my first time ever and buying Thanksgiving dinner....

Total Groceries 261.61

Store coupons 20.05
Vendor coupons 39.15
Ad SS 98.73
Adv BS 1.20

Total savings 159.13


GRAND TOTAL INC. TAX $110.27

I feel really good about that :)

How my fabulous savings adventure began!

After deciding that it would actually SAVE us money for me to stay at home my husband and I decided to do just that.

I turned in my LONG notice and patiently awaited the first of the year when I would be FREE from the corporate world. In the meantime I searched for more ways to make our theory a fact. This is how I came across coupon shopping!

Along with trying to build my Bookkeeping business ( https://sites.google.com/site/stocumbookkeeping/home )
I would become a couponer!

I narrowed my focus down to two locations.....Publix and CVS.

Let the fun begin!!