Cub and Rainbow 4/4/12

Today, I hit the two grocery stores that are a little farther away, so I have to add Mapquest's estimated gas cost of $7.50 to my shopping trip. I'm not sure whether I am saving money by shopping 10 miles away or not, so I'm curious to see whether it seems like I am really saving any money doing it this way.

I started at Cub Foods today.

24 oz. Vlasik Pickles were 2/$4, and I had two coupons for $.75 off, which made them $1.25 each.

30 oz. Miracle Whip was $2.49, and my coupon was for $.50/2, which made them $2.25 each.

1.5 quart Kemp's Old Fashioned Ice Cream was on sale for B1G1 free, and the first was $5.99. I had a $1/2 coupon, so I paid $2.50 each.

Birds Eye Broccoli Florets were $1 each. I bought two, and had a coupon for $.50/2, for a total of $.75 each.

20 oz. Dole Pineapple Chunks were on sale for $1 each, and I had a $.50/2 coupon, for a total of $.75 each.

The sale on Marshmallows was 4/$5. There were coupons in the aisle for $.50/2, so I grabbed a few and used two. That made the 10 oz. marshmallows come to $1 each.

Asparagus was on sale for $1.88/lb. I had a $1/1 lb. coupon, so I paid $.88.

Strawberries were $1.88/lb. I bought two lbs.

Barilla Rotelli was $1.59/lb. I bought two.

Stove Top Stuffing was $.99, and I had a $.50/1 coupon, so I paid $.49.

My total bill was $27.50. The receipt says I saved $17.76, or $40%. The cashier told me "good job" after I was done checking out.

Next, I went to Rainbow, where it was Double Daze. This means that 5 manufacturer coupons can be doubled.

I bought 4-20 oz cans of Bush's Best Baked Beans, on sale for $1.68 each.

There was a coupon in the circular for $1.50 for 1 lb. of butter quarters.

I bought two Simple Orange Juice, which were on sale for 2/$6. I had two $1 off coupons that I printed online. They were both doubled, so the juices were $1 each. :-)

I got one dozen eggs free with the purchase of two Simply Orange Juice.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese had a coupon sale for $.98 for 1-8 oz package. I bought one.

Birds Eye Broccoli Floret Steamers were on sale for $1, and I had a $.50/2 coupon, which was doubled, so I got them for $.50 each.

Kemps Old Fashioned Ice Cream was on sale for $2.88 each. I had another $1/2 coupon, which was doubled, so I paid $1.88 each. I should have used both of them at Rainbow. I would not have been able to double all of my coupons, but it still would have been better if I had doubled a $1 coupon instead of a $.50 coupon.

There was a coupon for Oscar Meyer bacon for $2.88. I got one lb.

There was a coupon for $.99/lb on ham with a $25 purchase. I got an 8.91 lb ham for $8.82.

Roundy's All Purpose Flour was $1.89 for 5 lbs. That's .38/lb.

C&H Powdered Sugar was $1.89 for 2 lbs. I got two.

Emerald Trail Mix - breakfast blend was on sale for 2/$5.

McCormick Food Coloring was on sale for 2/$4. I had a $.75 coupon, which was doubled, bringing it down to $1.25 each.

My total purchase came to $42.62. My receipt says I saved $44.12. I also have a $.20/per gallon reward that I can use if I happen to get gas in Chaska or Chanhassen in the near future. I almost started to get grumpy in the checkout aisle today, as the checkers at Rainbow are extremely slow. I got in a line with two people in front of me and didn't leave the store until 15 minutes later, and I consider this to be a little too long. However, I thought about how much I was saving, and the fact that everyone there was doing the double coupon thing, so it is going to take longer, right? I set my mind to not being bothered and walked out of the store happy.

On another note, I don't really believe I saved as much as these stores claim on the receipts. For example, there is no way that a 1.5 quart of Kemps Ice Cream is really $5.99. This is a case of raising the price in order to have a B1G1 Free sale. But I still think this trip was worth the $7.50 I spent in gas.

I could have done better on a few of these items. I bought two newspapers, but they were from two different stores, and one was missing one of the coupon inserts. If I had had both, I would have had a few more coupons to use. Also, because I just started up again, there were a few items I paid way more for than I would have if I had been paying attention and stocking up. For example, the Rotelli noodles. I normally do not pay more than $1 per pound on noodles, but I needed them for a salad I am making this weekend, so I had no choice. In the future, I should be able to do better.

I am up to $135.37 for the week. I read recently on another blog site (I think it was MoneySavingMom.com - if not, it was another blog I linked to from her site) that a good grocer budget starting-point is $20 per person per week. I had thought I would try $200 for the family, but after reading that, I thought maybe I could try to do it with $180. If I'm going with that figure, I have $44.63 left for the week. I still need to go pick up baking chocolate for my French Silk pie for Easter, some pepperoni for a noodle salad for another family gathering on Saturday, and some milk. I will go to Kwik Trip for the milk, as it is $1.98/gal this week on sale. I also still have another egg coupon, and I could still stand to buy a little candy for the Easter baskets, and I have all of those RR's at Walgreens and their egg prices are the best right now, so I will probably head over there, as well. I may hit Target, too, as I want to get two laundry baskets to make the mountain that is always being dumped behind the current two laundry baskets to go away.

I need to put my bread in the oven now, so I'll write again later if I get out again today.

Target 4/2/2012

When I got home from Target, I checked the mailbox to see if the postman had been here. He hadn't, so I rushed to get the UPC codes off my cereal boxes, get the Kellogg's rebate form filled out and the envelope ready to go. I had to hurry if I didn't want to make a special trip to the post office, as the Kellogg's rebate offer is ending today. Yes, the rebate forms say it ends at the end of the month, but it also says, "while supplies last," and if you go on their web page where the rebate form used to be, you will find that today is the last day to get them postmarked or they will not honor the rebates. I discovered this after I had already purchased two boxes of Rice Krispies at Walgreen's this morning, so I had to buy the other eight today. Anyway, in my rush to do all of that, I forgot to take a picture of my goods before putting them away. We'll have to make do without that today.

Target had some good match-ups today, plus some sales to go with them. 

Rice Krispies 12 oz. boxes were on sale for 3/$8. On www.target.com/coupons, there is a $1/3 selected Kelloggs cereals coupon (you can print this twice). Plus, there were Kelloggs coupons in the newspapers and online at Kelloggs.com for $1/2. Then, there was that rebate offer I mentioned at the beginning of this post. It was for $10 off 10 boxes of cereal. In addition, there were coupons on each of the boxes of Rice Krispies for a free bag of M&Ms with the purchase of two Rice Krispies. So, I got six boxes of Rice Krispies and three (appx. 10 oz each) bags of M&Ms (normally priced at $2.88 each)  for $5.02, or $.84/box plus half bag of M&Ms.

To finish off my rebate offer, I also purchased two boxes of Raisin Bran Crunch for $2.66 each, minus another of those printable coupons from Kelloggs.com for $1/2, minus $1 each for the rebate. That brought the price down to $1.66 each. I can't remember offhand how many ounces the Raisin Bran Crunch boxes were, but I think they were 14 oz. boxes.

Archer Farms fruit leather was not on sale, but there were $1/2 coupons on www.target.com/coupons. I bought four boxes at $2.49 each. That's $.25 per fruit leather strip.

Gogurt Simple was also not on sale, but there was a $.75/2 coupon on www.target.com/coupons. I also had a $.55/2 manufacturer's coupon from a previously purchased box of Gogurt. This brought the eight-pack of Gogurt down from $2.44 to $1.79, or $.22 each. 

Both of the previous two deals are really good, as I have six school-aged children who take home lunches to school. I aim for their sides to be $.25 or less each.

I'm feeling dumb on this next one. I looked for a coupon that I was sure I had seen previously on target.com/coupons. It was for Market Pantry crackers, but I couldn't find it. I needed graham crackers. I checked out with two 14.4 boxes of crackers for $2.24 each. After checking out, I discovered that the coupon I had been thinking of was in my coupon binder, worth $.75! It was a checkout coupon, not an online coupon. Ugh! But it is good for another 6 weeks, so it isn't like I won't be able to use it. Hopefully, I will remember to check out those checkout coupons in the future.

I  made two unplanned purchases. I checked out the girls' clearance racks. There were two items on the 70% off rack that I purchased. One was a really cute navy blue shirt with silk-like flowers below the front of the neck. It was $2.99. The other was a pajama set. I don't have any clothing for Katie beyond this summer, and this set will be her size come fall. It was $5.08.

I used four canvas bags at checkout, saving an additional $.20. I used my REDcard, which also saved another 5% off the total bill, which was a savings of $2.12. I always pay it off each month, so there are no interest fees. There is also not an annual charge for this card. If you can't use a credit card without carrying a balance, it isn't worth the discount.

My total for this trip was $40.76. Combine that with the Walgreen's trip of $33.49 and I have spent $74.25 this week on six bags of groceries. I have $12 in Register Rewards for next week and $10 in rebates coming in the future.

Walgreens 4/2/2012

It is a beautiful day in Waconia, MN; just right for a mile's walk to Walgreens with my daughter. We took the little red wagon so we wouldn't have to carry bags home with us and so that she could ride if she got tired of walking. We saved on gas (which at 11 m/gal in my huge van adds up) and got some much-needed exercise at the same time. I am back into the swing of things with couponing. I have determined that I need to bring our grocery bill down to $200/week. Keep in mind that I am shopping for a family of 9, so that is less than $100 per person for a month. 

Now for the excitement!

30 ct. Zyrtec tablets, plus 10 bonus tablets are $18.99 each on sale. This was not marked on the shelf properly, but it is in the ad. This Sunday's paper had an $8/2 24 count or more coupon in it. Also, there was a Register Reward of $10 when you buy more than $30 of Zyrtec (or other qualifying products). This brings the total cost per pill down to $.25!!

Jell-o gelatin has a coupon in the Sunday paper for $.50/2. The Walgreens ad has a coupon for $.59/each, up to 3. I purchased two, bringing the price down to $.34 each.

Rice Krispies 15 oz. cereal is on sale for 2/$5. I had a $1/2 manufacturer's coupon that I printed out on Kelloggs.com. Then, there was a $2 Register Reward for purchasing two. The reason there are two UPC codes in the picture is that I have a rebate form for a $10 gas card for sending in 10 selected Kellogg's UPCs. This brought the price of the Rice Krispies down to $0. Well, except that I do have to pay for a stamp and envelope, so across all 10 UPCs, I'd say that it is about $.05 per box. 

Revlon beauty tools are B1G1 50% off this week. The regular price of the emery boards is $1.59. After the sale, they were $1.19 each. With two coupons from the Sunday paper for $1 off one, they were $.19 each. Also, a checkout coupon printed off for $4 off Revlon Nail tools. I may or may not use that in the future. It has a far-off expiration date, so there is time.

As far as the eggs go, they have a sale for 2/$2. I had an Incredible Edible Egg coupon from Facebook here http://www.facebook.com/IncredibleEdibleEgg/app_216737171706225 for $.55/2. This brought the price down to $.72 each.

I paid $33.49 for my purchase today, as I used a $3 Register Reward coupon from last week. If you count this week's Register Rewards and not last week's, my total bill was $24.49.

Saving Shopping Online

Do you shop online much? I do. I find that I save more money when I do, because I tend to not impulse buy so much. The only down side is shipping costs. However, if you go through Ebates you can offset some of the cost with their cashback rebate program. So, whenever I go shopping online I start at www.ebates.com. I look up the store on the main screen on the left. If it is there (and it is most of the time), it directs me to their site and automatically creates a tracking ticket so that when I check out at that store, Ebates knows how much I spent. The Ebate site will tell you how much of a rebate they are currently offering before you click over. They deposit the current rebate offer into my account, and I get a Big Fat Check cut from all of my purchases quarterly (actually, I just have it all deposited in my PayPal account, as it is easier that way). If you click on my link, you will get a bonus for signing up through me after you are qualified.

Saving the Earth

If you know me very well, you probably know that I don't believe in man-made global warming. So, you might wonder why I would be posting about saving the earth. Well, global warming isn't the only good reason to recycle and conserve energy. I find the dependence on foreign energy disturbing, so I try to do my part to conserve. I also like clean air, so it is in my best interest to buy recycled goods and recycle what I can. I also like promotions and contests, which is why I am posting this particular post.

Are you participating with RecycleBank through your garbage service? I am. They weigh my recycling each month and give me points in my account, which I can then trade for valuable coupons, like $6 off at Cub Foods (which I can get every month) and a $10 iTunes gift card, which I have to save up for a while for, but is still worth it to me! There are a lot of others, including coupons for individual grocery items, as well. 

Currently, RecycleBank is having a contest. The highest points-winners get some awesome prizes. The grand prize winner will get a complete kitchen makeover, and a lot of other cool stuff. I could use this. There are hundreds of other prizes, as well, like Barnes & Noble's Nook. Very cool. Plus, all the points earned while doing the Earth Day-type activities are also awarded to your RecycleBank account, which you can also use just as I described up above. If you want to join in, just click this link and sign up: http://www.recyclebank.com/referafriend/?___store=us&bl=c3RlZnByYXR0QGdtYWlsLmNvbQ==&utm_campaign=Refer-a-friend&utm_medium=direct%20link&utm_source=J6302532&cm_mmc=Refer-a-friend-_-direct%20link-_-J6302532-_-referral

Saving Time and Gas with Merging and Roundabouts

A friend's blog reminded me of how frustrated I get with a couple of traffic issues. I hope he isn't upset that I ripped off his topic. First, merging from an ending left lane. Second, the proper way to use roundabouts.

Merging from an ending lane can be really unpleasant. That is mostly because the people in the right lane can get really huffy, as if you are cutting in front of them at the grocery store or something. Some even pull in front of you so you can't get in front of them. The thing that they don't understand is that the wait wouldn't be as long for anyone if they would just move over into the left lane and/or allow everyone to merge like a zipper when they reach the merge zone. This is not just my opinion, but the laws of physics and MNDOT agree.  When the right lane is full and the left lane is not, people entering the freeway cannot merge into the right lane easily. This slows the right lane down. If half of the traffic would move into the left lane, traffic would not slow down as much. Then, if at the merge point people took turns politely, there would still be no slowing down.

Roundabouts have been popping up all over the metro area. I have to say that I love them. They save on gas and keep us from having to stop when there is no on coming traffic. We have at least three in my town now, and they have allowed traffic to flow much more smoothly. Unfortunately, they could be even more efficient if everyone knew the law about signaling. When we first got our roundabouts in my town, I read up on them. An article by MNDOT said to signal your turn. I thought that meant to signal as I enter the roundabout whether I am turning right or left. I have frequently been frustrated by my signal turning itself off before I even get into the roundabout due to the way some of ours are laid out. However, now that the law has been officially entered into the books, I have found out that I was mistaken. We are supposed to signal right when we intend to exit the roundabout. If everyone would do this, traffic could flow more freely, as we wouldn't have to assume they are staying in the roundabout any longer than they are.

Let's save even more gas and time by putting into practice these two little changes that can make such a difference!

How to Save on Garbage Service

Rate increases last month forced my garbage bill up by $8/month after taxes and fees. I really don't appreciate having my set monthly expenses go up, so I decided to lessen the impact. I had been noticing that my garbage can was rarely more than 2/3 full each week. Since I had the largest can size (90 gal.), I downgraded it to the 60 gallon can and decided to do a little better job with composting and recycling, saving $5/month plus tax. No, I didn't come all the way up to that $8/month figure, but it was close. If we find we can go down to the 45 gallon can after we get the hang of this, that would be awesome. If you can't imagine reducing your garbage can size, compare your household size to mine. We have two adults and seven children, ranging from 3-15 years old. If nine of us can go down to a 60 gallon can, certainly a more typically-sized family should be able to do this.

Regular glass, plastic and paper/cardboard recycling has been going pretty well in our household the past year, but I found another way to recycle this month. Mackenthun's and many other grocery stores in the Twin Cities metro area recycle plastic bags & food packaging for free. I found a website that gives details about which plastic items can be recycled just by dropping them off at the store. It also has locations of some of the stores here in MN that take the recycling. Just go to http://www.itsinthebagmn.org for more information. Yesterday, after about three weeks of saving up store bags, cereal bags, zipper bags (with the zippers removed) and wrap from things like bulk toilet paper and water bottles, we had a large garbage bag full and took it to the recycling station while running errands. It was pretty painless.

We have been composting kitchen scraps for a few years, but it has primarily been during the non-winter months. This year, we are composting year-around. Fortunately, I have children I can send out to the compost bin with food scraps so I don't have to tromp through the snow. Composting food scraps, rather than throwing them away, saves space in the garbage can and keeps the garbage can from stinking so much. I have a Tupperware container with a lid that we use, which keeps the smell of our potato peels, apple cores, banana peels and other compost-friendly items from leaking out. Many counties sell compost bins to their residents for a very reasonable rate. Carver County charges $35 for theirs. You can find their address and hours of operation here: http://www.co.carver.mn.us/departments/LWS/env-svc/envirocenter.asp

That last link also has a list of all of the other items Carver County takes, many of which are free, such as fluorescent bulbs, batteries and household hazardous waste. They take paper products that you could recycle in your bin if only they weren't tainted by food, such as the cardboard round inside a frozen pizza box, or a cardboard pizza delivery box, napkins, paper towels, paper plates and even those waxy dairy boxes that you can't recycle. And here's the clincher: they will also take ALL food scraps - even meat and bones. I haven't gotten motivated enough to take that stuff all the way to Chaska yet. Maybe if they were open in the evenings I would, because I go out there regularly for play practices with my kids. At the moment, it is not worth the gas to do it. I wonder how much more room in our garbage can could be saved if we did? Maybe I'll have to experiment and see.

Let me know if you have found any ways to reduce your garbage. I'd be grateful for any tips!

***UPDATE***
Carver County expanded its recycling service to include more items this year. We can now recycle all plastics #1-7. This has already proven to overfill my two huge recycling bins if I don't do a good job of squishing everything down. I haven't noticed my garbage can getting any less full, but I have been doing a lot of de-junking with my spring cleaning so far, so I doubt I would see much of a change yet. Maybe in a few months?