Now, can it actually be called shopping when you don't actually pay for the merchandise, you only pay the tax? Well, that's what I've been up to the last few evenings! I've gone to Dominick's and grabbed Colgate toothpaste and used the $1 coupons (manufacturer, of course) provided in Jewel's ad last week - that adds up to free toothpaste for DH & I, my mother, my sister (and family), and my assorted inlaws - with a few leftover to donate to the women's shelter!

That's what I call a good deal! What made it even better is that at the Dominicks I prefer to shop at, the items were correctly tagged, but rang up wrong at the register - so I got one free (their policy for an item ringing up wrong - love it!!)

I bought:
24 tubes Colgate toothpaste (and I didn't even make a dent in clearing the shelves either - there were plenty for the couponers)
1 6lb. pkg. Rancher's Reserve beef patties (24 count) marked down to $5.99! I used (2) $2.00 YBs expired from Jewel and when all was said and done....

I got 100% savings!
I paid $3.36 and tax on my order was $3.37 - I only paid the tax for all those yummy goodies!

That's what I call shopping and saving!

Dinner Dilemmas: When something in the fridge is not what is appears to be! A cautionary tale....

I hope I'm not the only one out there that has dinner dilemmas. Even though I'm pretty good about meal-planning, sometimes the components you plan to work with are simply not there. Last night is a perfect example.

When I asked DH what ideas he had for the meal-plan, he said there was some leftover ground turkey that was browned up - why not make Hamburger Helper or tacos. For a change of pace, I figured helper would make my cooking and prep time a little shorter, so I planned tomato basil penne (or something that sounded like that). That is, until I go to the fridge to pull out the ground turkey - and it's fried rice from the week before. Oops... and I didn't have any other meat thawed except some chicken and mozzarella sausage and deli meat - and we each had sammies for lunch. And we both are not the biggest fan of eating the same thing for lunch as well as dinner.

What I did have is 2-3 lbs. fresh mushrooms and more jarred pasta sauce than I can shake a stick at (though why I would be shaking a stick when I was trying to get dinner ready is completely beyond me. Maybe I'm just quirky like that.). And I did plan to use mushrooms in nearly every meal this week.

I started by chopping the mushrooms and wondering what the heck I was going to do with them. But thinking as fast as my tired brain could manage, the basic idea is finally hatched: I'm still making helper, it's just not coming out of a box anymore, it's coming out of the pantry. Though hubby is not the biggest fan of a meatless meal or alfredo sauce for that matter, I grabbed a jar of Alfredo and a bag of medium shells.

The more I got to thinking, the less the idea of meatless appealed to me, either. So I started by looking in the freezer for leftover cooked chicken - and promptly struck out, unless I wanted to add some chicken nuggets to our meal, and I wasn't willing to go that far out on a limb. A better the idea, in the form of chicken sausage in the pasta sounded do-able, so I tossed sauteed mushrooms, browned some chicken sausage medallions, and medium shells with a jar of Ragu's Alfredo and a 30-minute meal was born. Why - because sometimes, every once in a great while, things do not go as planned. The up side: the fried rice will be making an appearance tonight with the Thai ginger pork stirfry.

Tell me - have Dinner Dilemmas ever happened to you? What was your saving grace?

Well, from my fellow bloggers - rumor has it Jewel will start limiting the number of YourBucks offers to 12 per preferred card. With that rumored deadline predicted for tomorrow - I have made a few more runs at the Suave MM and the free Ragu - before they put the breaks on this fun ride, I'm gonna ride it to the end! So, during my lunch break yesterday and on my way to work today, I squeezed in a few small transactions - and after work yesterday, I picked up my hounding/shopping buddy and grabbed another dozen.

Hubby officially thinks I'm crazy, my under the sink cabinet is 2/3 full of Suave products, and I have to reorganize my pantry to fit in all the free Ragu. Good thing, I have nothing planned for the weekend to start getting my house in order. With my sister due to make a visit in a few weeks - I know the extra space I need to make in my pantry is only temporary. When she's sees this haul, she'll be loading up her car! Which I must admit - I am counting on...

I think I'll try one final run at this deal after work today, before I finally let it rest. Let's hope some stores in my area have the shampoo left because all I keep finding of the Suave is conditioner. Really, my hair can be soft and silky, but if it's still dirty, well...it's still dirty. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself after this deal is done - I've been squeezing in a few bottles of body wash/shampoo/conditioner here and few jars of sauce there since it started, it's almost become routine to me.

What I find most interesting in all this shopping is the wildly different attitudes that I come across in cashiers. At my "home" store, they couldn't be more helpful. Even if I have 6 orders back to back, they are polite, friendly, and understanding. At the neighboring stores - I'm treated with vague annoyance - like, "Why are you wasting my time? DOn't you have somthing better to do?"

But the one that takes the cake is the one closest to my office where the front end staff is outright hostile. Yep, these ladies have been working there for 12-30 years and they are none too happy about it. One cashier even told me that there was a limit of 1 coupon transaction per day. I started reading the coupon and asked her to point out where it said that. Needless to say, she was flummoxed and let me do my 3 transactions. Since then, I've been treading somewhat lightly and only running 1-2 there per day. This morning was a classic, I grabbed the last 3 bottles of Suave (conditioner, of course) they had left on the shelves and paid for the first 2 bottles, then went to use a coupon on my final bottle (and jar of Ragu). I waited for 7 minutes, after hitting the coupon button 3 times and she didn't come over. I finally had to ask her to come to the register to put the coupon through (she was busy talking to a co-worker, pointedly ignoring me). The attitude of the front end there - especially during the work day, is nothing short of atrocious. Why couldn't I work closer to a nice Jewel - one with pleasant or even uninterested front end staff? Unfortunately, I am stuck with the mean, old, and bitter hags.

Sorry for the rant, I just had to get that out of my system. I feel much better now. Back to my regularly scheduled program...

49 jars Ragu pasta sauce $1.99
47 bottles of Suave body wash, shampoo, or conditioner
24 tubes Colgate toothpaste
32 cans Shoppers Value tomato sauce
30 cans Chicken of the Sea tuna
19 cans Shoppers Value tomato paste
1 box Rice-A-Roni

Total OOP: $9.79
Total coupons spent: $240
Total savings: $399.28

Looks like spaghetti is going to be on the menu each week for the next year....not worrying about having a meal ready to go - priceless!

With the easy to use, individualized catalina deals that are running at Jewel through YourBucks - I've gotten a 12-18 month supply of lots of goodies - can you believe these deals??

Transactions 1-8: (I've repeated this transaction 8 times!!)

1 jar 26 oz. or larger Ragu pasta sauce
1 bottle Suave Body Wash - assorted flavors
1 tube 4.6 oz. Colgate toothpaste
1 can Shoppers Value tomato sauce
1 can Shoppers Value tomato paste

Total OOP: $.55
Savings: $6.99
Coupon savings: $5.00

GM Catalina deal:
(2) tubs BC frosting reg. price $2.29 each -$.50/1 Q's (2) - sale price $1.49
(4) boxes BC Supreme brownie mix reg. price $3.09 each -$.75/2 Q's (2) - sale price $1.99
(1) Box BC cake mix reg. price - $1.49 - sale price $.99
(2) BC Cookies mix pouches -reg. price $2.39 -$.40/1 Q (2) - sale price $1.69
-$7.00 catalina (from previous catalina deal)
-$2.00 catalina
-$1.00 catalina
OOP: $1.28
Saved: $22.20
Coupon savings: $14.30

Last 2 transactions:

1 jar 26 oz. or larger Ragu pasta sauce
1 bottle Suave Body Wash - assorted flavors
1 tube 4.6 oz. Colgate toothpaste
2 bags (small size) Doritos 3/$1 -$.25 Q's on each
1 can Shoppers Value tomato paste

OOP: $.31
Saved: $7.52
Coupon savings: $5.50

Total Spent: $6.30
Total Saved: $93.16
Coupon Savings: $65.40

Not having to buy toothpaste for a year....priceless! For that, and everything else: there are coupons!

I haven't even gotten to Meijer and the $30 in cats I have to spend there yet!

Today I've grabbed another:
2 bottles Ragu pasta sauce
2 bottles Suave body wash
1 500 ct. box Q-tips
2 tubes Colgate toothpaste
1 can Shoppers Value tomato paste
1 can Shoppers value tomato sauce

OOP = $1.34
Saved: $13.42
Catalina left to spend: $20

All in a day's hounding!

Can't wait to see what my weekly totals on these items are!!

Lots and lots of free after coupon deals going on at Jewel this week! If you haven't signed up your Preferred Card for the YourBucks promotions - do that right now! Click here to sign up.
Okay, you're all signed up - good. That makes the rest of this so much easier. YourBucks are catalina offers for your preferreed card. If you don't sign up - no freebies for you. Here are the basic rules:

5. There is no limit (as of now) to the number of transactions you can do that will generate the coupons. Yippee!!

4. YourBucks are limited to the three (3) Jewel stores you frequent most often. I know, it makes the shopping more of a challenge, but think about the stores you shop at most frequently. Most likely, the one nearest home and work will be among your YB stores. For me, I have no clue which store would be my #3. I'll let you know when I figure it out!

3. It takes 36 hours for offers to load to your card, so start clearing some time in your schedule tomorrow for shopping. The offers are good for 3-4 weeks, on average.

2. Scan your preferred card first. No exceptions.

1. Unless otherwise stated, one like item will generate a coupon per transaction. You can do multiple offers per order, but only one like item will print the coupon. Example: 1 Suave shampoo/conditioner, 1 Ragu pasta sauce, and 1 loaf of bread will generate you: $2 YB (for the Suave), $2 YB (for the Ragu), and $1 YB (for the bread). They will begin printing as soon as you swipe the item. Watch the size, count, type of item carefully. If it helps, print out the list that YB's lists for you. Take it into the store in case there is any problem with the coupons printing - that will be your reassurance that you will get your coupons from customer service in the event that they don't print automatically.

The items (I know of) that are free or super cheap after YB:

1. Ragu pasta sauce $1.99 = $2 YB
2. Suave product (any but trial/travel sized)$.89-$1.79 = $2
3. Jewel large eggs, dozen count $1.29 = $1 YB
4. Jewel 16 oz. or larger loaf white bread = $1 YB

http://tv.catalinamarketing.com/ - Sign up and get in on the good deals!!

I've spent $5.27 for:
8 jars Ragu pasta sauce
4 bottles Suave shampoo/conditioner
1 Suave body wash
1 dozen eggs
1 loaf bread

And I still have $15 in coupons to spend!!! I love a good moneymaker!

I couldn't believe the luck I had yesterday at Dominicks! While I expected everything to be picked over - I was in for a pleasant, albeit mildly pleasant, surprise. They had just enough of everything in stock for me to score big:

8 boxes Kellogg's Fruit Loops $1.88 -$1/1 blinkie coupons (expired) (8)
2 boxes Kellogg's Apple Jacks $1.88 -$1/1 blinkie coupons (expired) (2)
Buy 5 get a $4 coupon OYNO - and I did!!

Pork Steaks at $1.69 lb. marked half price - individually wrapped $.84 & $1.02 (both were well over 1 lb. each!)

$1.99 bag Nestle mini-morsels - $1/1 coupon (printed from Jewel catalina machine - expired) - $.99 (wish I had a few more of those coupons!)

1.45 lbs. Honey crisp apples $3.49 lb. = $5.07 -$1 off produce purchase of $5 or more and $2 any fruit purchase WYB 2 Kellogg's cereals (2). I grabbed 5 Honeycrisp apples for a 7 cents! Got to love a bargain!

Total OOP: $13.61
Total saved: $33.64

Then I stopped over at Jewel to try the new YourBucks program and grabbed some more goodies:
$.79 Jewel brand bread 16 oz. or larger white or wheat only - receive $1 YB per loaf purchase in a single transaction - one YB per item per transaction - $.21 MM
$1.39 large dozen egg -$1.00 YB from previous transaction, - $.40 - recieved another $1 YB
Tyson chicken (normally $7.49 a bag) on sale $4.99 a bag received $3 YB for each one purchased in a single transaction.

Total spent $5.93
Received $1 YB (2), $3 YB (1) - then I went back and did it all over again...and only spent $2.43 on the second identical transaction! All I can think to say is....Hello, chicken - what's kickin'?!?

As part of DH job - he scored a pair of free tickets to the Chicago Auto Show (weekday only, of course) - so I'm taking an afternoon off and we're going to check out all the new cars! Last year, my favorites were the Saturn Vue and the Ford Escape. It isn't often that we get to go into the city for free entertainment, so when it happens - I get pretty excited!

Tomorrow, it'll be back to deal-hunting when I start canvassing all the Jewels in the area for the single serve Tennesee Pride breakfast biscuits - the one I popped in to this morning didn't carry them....go figure. I'll call around to a few of the other Jewels along my usual driving route and see if any of them carry it. I've heard that the ones neawr my home don't usually carry this, and since I have couposn that will make them free - it's worth looking into.

I've already used 16 $.40/1 coupons at Dominicks for the BC cookie mix pouches that were on sale for $.99 WYB 4. I also stacked on a cellfire $.40 coupon and spent $7.32 and saved $21.87 - not too bad!! This is the cheapest I've ever seen these and Dominicks still accepts expired coupons! Yea for me!

Well, as my momma always said, "the best laid plans of mice and men...often to go **** in a handbasket!"

The long weekend of the board meeting, it got long - then it got longer, then I ended up going to the immediate care center Saturday afternoon and having a small procedure done. Today is my first day back at work since Saturday and I'm desperately hoping I'm up to par. At my job, if I'm not at 100%, I shouldn't even come in the door - there is no such thing as an easy day, or making small allowances if you're not up to par.

Now that I'm back to work, it's time to get my life back in order. While it was nice to have a few days off of work - next time, I'd prefer not to be recovering when I get some time away. I haven't been out of the house except for work and going to the clinic in 9 days. Wow - that is such a long time!

It's late in the game, but I need to scrounge together a meal-plan, I've been living off my cereal stockpile, with cheese and crackers for my snacks. We have 4 pieces of fruit left, some fresh spinach for salads - yum, and 3 or 4 English muffins. Pickings for tonight's dinner are going to be sparse, but I think I can toss together a spinach salad with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, thin sliced apple, and croutons. Maybe I can make an open faced English muffin sammie with some Swiss and cheddar cheeses melted on top to round out my meal. It's either that or I crack open a can of Tomato Basil soup - I love having ready made soup on hand. I've already used my lazy, new favorite go-to meal: the frittata. That was dinner for Tuesday, and lunch for Wednesday.

For tomorrow, it's dinner with my in-laws, Saturday DH gets to cook, and Sunday...well, I was hoping DH would surprise me with something, but doesn't look like that is going to happen. It'll probably be a favorite restaurant of his, and then back home to watch TV.

I'll be back tomorrow with Valentine's Gifts on a budget!

We were out of most fresh produce, so a quick trip after work with DH yielded some versatile produce to use for next week - lots of options with these affordable fruit and veggie options:

$.24 - heart of Romaine
$.35 - 2 cloves of garlic
$.75 - 2 extra large roasting red bell peppers
$.79 - 8 lbs. potatoes
$.42 - 5 medium bananas
$.99 - 8 oz. whole button mushrooms
$1.49 - 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
$3.99 - 3 lb. Italian sausage links

Total OOP = $9.16 (includes tax)

I also scopped up some coupon booklets while walking through Caputo's - so lots of deals to be had for the future.

Want an easy, no bake recipe for....tiramisu? Just click HERE to see how to put this together using lots of basics from the pantry and freezer - I actually have everything on hand to make this tasty treat. Looks like dessert will be served in no time at all!

TIRAMISU - 30 Minutes or less!!

The snow we were predicted is coming down, turning the view from my windows into a picture perfect scene. Too much snow to drive in, so I'm working from home today. Which will save me a gallon or two of gasoline - yippee!! Though, I do have easy access to the peanut butter, so the savings may very well cancel itself out.

I've eyed some good deals at Caputo's:

$.79 lb. large roasting red bell peppers
$.39 lb. bananas
$1.49 each golden pineapples
$.59 lb. anjou pears
$.79 8 lb. bag russet potatoes
2/$1 mangos
$.49 lb. Florida juice oranges
$.99 8 oz. bag Fresh Express iceberg lettuce shreds
$.49 lb. Andy Boy Romaine Lettuce
4/$5 Francesco Rinaldi pasta sauce (love this brand - great for pizza sauce)
$1.19 lb. Pork Sirloin End Chops or Pork Country Ribs
$.99 16 oz. Prairie Sour Cream
$.99 Dutch Farms cream cheese, 8 oz. bricks
$.89 14 oz. Dutch Farms bagels

I see some cheap breakfast in my future using the bagels for sammies or along side some deals on fruit, and potatoes will be my primary side dish for next week's meal plans. I'm still good on sour cream, but may grab a few extra cream cheese for the freezer - I love making cheesecake, especially in the summer, so this is the best time of year to stock up on that. Tons of salad options with the romaine and bell pepper, so this next week will be super easy for eating. I even came up with a chicken recipe using the deals I see for the week - a Tropical Chicken in a Crockpot! What could be easier?

The best part? The chicken for this recipe is on sale at Butera for $.79 lb., though Caputo's has it for $.99 lb. It's about time the meat prices dropped, my freezer is getting a little empty, and this sale is just in the nick of time.

With the cold weather and the dreary skies, I haven't been too eager to go out and do any kind of shopping - and the stores here have been obliging with skimpy sales, Christmas clearance at only 50% off, and most stores didn't have much to pick from before Christmas anyway.

Last night, I stayed in and made my first whole roasted chicken. And never did I realize how easy that was! 5 cloves of garlic, some spices from the spice cabinet, a splash or two of olive oil, and dinner was delish! I took a little help from my good friends of Rice-A-Roni for some yummy chicken rice on the side, and we finished the head of lettuce DH bought on Sunday as a light, simple salad with some baby carrots (shredded), parmesan cheese, and a palmful of dried cranberries. Dinner was super simple, and I have leftover chicken breast to make into quesadillas, tacos, sammies, and any other lunch item we need for the week. I love a simple meal, and this will definitely go back into the rotation soon!

Another idea I had for roasted chicken flavoring - using free/dirt-cheap seasoning packets instead of raiding the spice cabinet. I've got oodles of Lipton dired mixes left from the last great catalina deal at Jewel and a few dozen Weber marinade packets from the freebies at Jewel over the past summer, so I will be using those to season everything from dips, to roasted pork tenderloin, to chicken, adding it as seasoning to pasta sauce, and anything else I can think of! While I'm challenging myself to cook more from the pantry and put all those freebies and cheapies to good use, I am also looking to round out the variety of stuff on hand in Annie's Market.

Since my pantry is fully organized and functional, my next step is to take stock of the freezer. I haven't really bought much meat in the past few months, so I will need to restock the freezer - slowly. My chicken breast supply is probably gone, and I'm hoping I've got the pork chops on hand to make Friday's meal - if not, there is always soup and sandwich.

I stopped at Jewel on my way to work this morning, grabbing Cascade, Dawn, and Crest - using a $10 cat that I generated when buying paper towel for my workplace. 4 tubes of Crest, 2 bottles each Dawn and Cascade for $13.18. Savings of $16.xx. For items I was out of, I'm glad to have found a deal just in time.

At this point, I'm nearly out of fresh produce - since I've been too cold/lazy to go to the produce market - but now, I'm off....to see if Caputo's has any sales waiting for me!

Coupon Savings Today: $10.00

In defense of winter weather, it elps me save money. Seriously, it does. It's too darned cold to go out shopping, but that's okay - yesterday, I sent DH out to grab a Redbox (movie rental) using a code I found online (which actually worked - woohoo!) and asked him to grab some lettuce and a tomato to go with our burgers for dinner.

Meanwhile, I stayed in, baked some pumpkin cookies out of the leftover refrigerated dough I made up myself when I was doing all sorts of holiday baking. I even have 3 rolls of cookie dough (each a different flavor) in the freezer. Since it's just DH & I, I just made one cookie sheet worth of cookies. I still have enough dough left on the Decadent Chocolate Snowballs to make 3 dozen cookies and ditto that for the Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies.

So, my savings was small - $1.00 on the Redbox rental. But, there is no savings to small to be kept in my pocket!

Today, at the office is a co-workers birthday, since there is only 5 of us here, one girl will bring the cake, the office guy will bring bread, my boss is in charge of a card and small gift, and I brought in my crockpot to make spaghetti. Much of the fixin's for a good spaghetti sauce for me were nearly free and I didn't have to buy anything (as I always have the ingredients to make this on hand), so this goes down as a nice big savings to me. Much better than paying $3.00 for a loaf of french bread. Nope, I'm not kidding, that's what they get away with charging around here. The a lternative - everyone chipping $5-$8 and ordering a pizza. As tasty as that sounds, I'll feed them spaghetti and feed my savings at the same time!

Deal of the Day = Dominick's Super Coupons: $.99 milk (Can't remember the brand), $.98 - 18 count Lucerne Eggs, $1.99 Smithfield bacon - 16 oz. pkg. - limit 4, and Nature Valley Granola Bars 4/$6. Minimum $20 purchase satisfies all requirements.

Even though it was pretty cold outside, 3 degrees, but windchill made it feel like -17, I went out for a quick hounding/couponing run. Grabbed 6 newspapers from Menards (only $1 each there) and popped over to Target for my final 7 boxes of Swiss Miss hot cocoa. Used my last coupons, and grabbed all 7 boxes for $.14 total. $7 worth of coupons spent, and a handful of pennies liberated from the bottom of my purse.


As I was leaving, DH gets a call from his mother - his grandfather's 92nd birthday - they decided to throw a party. Naturally, we find out 2 hours before the party starts. Naturally....not enough time to make a dish to share, I asked DH to grab a bag of chips or box of crackers to contribute and found a birthday card among the stash I still have left from my days working for Factory Card Outlet. OOP for birthday party = $0. Yay! Moments where I wish I could strangle people for not planning ahead....priceless (or should I say countless?). For everything else, there are coupons.

Total $$ spent: $6.14
Saved $$: $10.14 (newspaper and hot cocoa savings)
Coupon Value Redeemed: $7.00
Number of Coupons Used: 7

New Deals: Ultra Foods - BumbleBee tuna = $.38 a can - limit 4

DH & I went into Chicago - our new years tradition. We go into the city - where it's eerily quiet, parking is plentiful, and the streets aren't overly crowded. This year, the tree at Macy's on State Street was beautiful - decorated in silver. Each year we go to see the tree, and like most year - I absolutely adored this one. Afterwards, we typically grab lunch in the city, though instead of an over-priced pizza place, this year we went to an old family favorite's of my husband, Nuevo Leon. This is the only restaurant I will wait in line for. The enchiladas in mole sauce are amazing. Best in the city, hands down. And a huge bargain, $6 a plate for salsa and homemade tortilla chips, 3 enchiladas with beef, chicken, or cheese and your choice of homemade sauce, beans, rice, and an appetizer. Where else can you eat that cheap in Chicago? Not even McDonalds. Total spent on lunch/dinner: $18.03 - and that includes tip!

We even popped into Avenue (clothing store) who was having 80% off select stuff, and I found jeans for $1.96! I can't tell you how happy I was about that. They were originally $35.90. A savings of $33.94! I can ring in the new year with that!!

After that, rather than spend $$/time on things we didn't need, we went home and DH helped me organized anthoer portion of my pantry. Little by little, things are getting whipped into shape. 2 shelves organized, 2 more to go. I'll tackle one today and the other tomorrow and by Monday, I'll start making my list of "endangered/extinct species" - all the that items I'm running low on or completely out of and need to desperately hound deals on. I'll post my list by the middle of next week - once I've got a good handle on everything we've got.

Any tips, hints, ideas, and suggestions for getting the deals are always appreciated - it takes a village to empty my pantry, and it'll take all the help I can get to refill it!