Home Depot Deals

If you are in the process of remodeling, or just touching things up around the house you can definitely use a discount on your materials. Sign up with Home Depot for their email news letter. It has deals, specials and ideas. It is real simple to sign up just go HERE and submit.

Checking the Mail

One thing that I have learned from coupon shopping is that it is possible to enjoy checking the mail. Remember that feeling as a kid? Hoping day after day to see your name on something in the mail box. Day after day was a disappointment, until a holiday or your birthday when some distant relative would send you a card.

As an adult we know that 99% of the time the mail box is only going to hold junk mail or bills. neither is much fun. But, since I started this journey, I have learned that checking the mail can be fun again.

I love the anticipation of knowing that the mailbox might hold coupons from a trade, or freebies from a manufacturer, maybe even a rebate check or reward gift card.

Yesterday's mail was fantastic! I have been waiting on a reward for signing up for a club's trial membership. It was supposed to be $25 gift card to Target and a $25 gift card to Starbucks. This has been a tough on e to collect on and I had just about given up hope when all of the sudden I received them in the mail. The Target card was there but not the Starbucks, instead it was a $25 Wal-mart Card. No complaints from me there. I also received a pro rated refund from Apple for a mistake they made on my protection plan for my iPhone. All told I made $103.53 just for checking the mail.

Not bad huh?

We Now return to the Adventures of the Super Coupon Mom

When we last saw the our friend Emily she was just getting into her holiday shopping. As we all know that experience can drain even the greatest super heroes.

The holidays have passed and the Emily and her beautiful children are back to their regular schedules. Today we join them for a quick trip to Kroger for Hamburger buns. Watch out, here we come to save some money.

Emily quickly dashes to the closet and dusts off her Super Coupon Mom uniform, insert comedic closet avalanche here. Our heroin decides that she needs to get Captain Obvious and Princess Random back into super sidekick mode so she calls them down to help. You see, it may be a quick trip for hamburger buns, but the Super coupon Mom also knows that it is the first day of a Kroger Mega Sale. Woo Hoo! Grabbing her weekly ad from the daily mail pile the Super Coupon Mom quickly notes some great deals and calls out the product names to Princess Random. Princess Random finds the coupons in the trusty coupon binder, and passes them to captain obvious who stashes them in the special coupon holder on his super helper tool belt.

Armed and ready for battle the trio heads off to the nearest Kroger hoping to find the deals and save The Almighty Dollar! DUN, DUN, DUN.....

Once they arrive at Kroger The Super Coupon Mom and her faithful sidekicks grab their equipment and get to work. Princess Random is on coupon patrol, looking high and low for any new coupons through out the store. Captain Obvious gets straight to work as the shopping cart divider (he was grounded so he had to stay in the cart). He was a pro at the task of keeping the Mega Sale items separate from the non sale items. This is after all a HUGE responsibility, since the Mega Sale items need to be in sets of ten to capitalize on the best deals. This job make sit much easier for The Super Coupon Mom to keep track of her total number of Mega Sale Items.

Left and right, high and low, they scoured the store for the deals, knowing they were out there, no deal escaping their watchful eyes. They got 40 Mega Sale items this trip, for an instant $20 savings.

To the register they went, ready to see how well they did in their attempts to save The Almighty Dollar. When all of the sudden Princess Random stops in her tracks. Oh no, does she sense danger? Did we count wrong? What could possibly be wrong with our little friend?

"Hey, Super coupon Mom, isn't this the Kroger that owes you money from the catalina that didn't print?"

"Oh goodness Princess Random, it sure is. I can't believe you remembered! WOW! We better speak to a manager."

As our fearless heroes approached the near by manager, our Hero knows that it is quite possible that he won't be able to help her. Still she explains the story to him.

"Well, yes mam, I remember the call, I was standing next to the manager you spoke to when you called that day. What was the amount again?" Asked the helpful manager.

"$3, it was $1.50 for the Betty Crocker deal and I did it twice." Replied our shocked hero.

"Okay then, why don't we go right here to this open register and I will take care of you myself." responded this new friend.

Amazed at what had just happened our team headed to the register, The Super Coupon Mom would again receive a shock from this manager when he asked Captain Obvious if he wanted to help him scan. Our favorite four year old was ecstatic, he scanned and scanned to his hearts content.

When all 44 items had been scanned The Super Coupon Mom handed her new friend her coupons and waited to see her results. Coupon after coupon he scanned, as she watched the amount due shrink from $90 to $7. Our hero knew that once again she had been successful at saving The Almighty Dollar.

Join us next time when our heroes tackle the local Walgreen's! Can they conquer rude sales clerks and bare shelves and still manage to save The Almighty Dollar? Tune in next time to find out.

Kroger Lunch Trip 1-13

Update!!!! When I went back to review my receipt I realized that the Softsoap is ringing up as $.50 overage. Good deal if you have the coupons. I believe they are from the 1-3-10 paper. Good luck.

Wow! Today's lunch time trip was a great success. I learned a lesson about paying attention to what my total should be so that if it is off I know right away to look into it.

Grocery stores run their new prices every Wednesday so today was a good day to check things out.

Remember that Kroger doubles 3 like coupons up to $.50 and triples 3 like coupons up to $.35.

Here is what I got...
Transaction 1...
3- All Small and Mighty $3.19- $2/1 mfg C/O
3- Sani-Hands Purse Packs $1-$1/1 mfg C/O
3- Oikos Greek Yogurt $1-$1/1 mfg C/O
3- Softsoap $1-$.35/1 mfg C/O
3- Gatorade G2 32oz $1-$.50/1 mfg C/O
3- Birdseye Steamfresh Vegetables $1-$.35/1 mfg C/O
1- Del Monte Can Green Beans $.89-$.50/1 mfg C/O

Total Oop. $3
Total Before Savings $33.63
Savings $30.63

Transaction 2...
3- All Small and Mighty $3.19- $2/1 mfg C/O
3- Sani-Hands Purse Packs $1-$1/1 mfg C/O
3- Oikos Greek Yogurt $1-$1/1 mfg C/O
3- Softsoap $1-$.35/1 mfg C/O
1- Kroger Brand Stuffing $.89 (no coupon but, I needed it for a recipe.)

Total Oop. $3.70
Total Before Savings $23.86
Savings $20.16
Not pictured 1- Softsoap, 3- Sani-Hands, 2- Oikos (forgot to bring them up to my desk) and 6 All because they are too heavy to be toting around the office.

New Goal for 2010

I mentioned earlier that I have a lot of goals for my blog in 2010.

I will start today by letting you know what goal number 1 is.

Goal #1

Track all grocery spending/saving/earnings for all of 2010. In order to achieve this goal I have created a spreadsheet that tracks my price with out sales and coupons, my savings using manufacturer coupons, my savings from store sales and coupons, and Register Reward's/Extra Care Bucks/Catalina's earned, refunds/rebates, and finally my total Oop.

I am really excited to see how this will play out for me. I know that I am saving an amazing amount of money for my family, but I want to be able to see it in black and white.

In order to hold myself accountable to my progress I will post an update each month that shows you how I am doing.

I will also include in this any gift cards I receive from promotional giveaways and sweepstakes, and I will include rebates that I sent off for in 2009 if I receive the checks in 2010.

I hope that this may inspire some of you to take a look at your spending and see just how much you can save if you learn the tricks of the trade. If you are interested please contact me soon about setting up a coupon class. You can find more information on hosting coupon classes HERE.

Another Kroger Run

I love working in different are of Houston than where I live. It may seem inconvenient to some, but I love having two sets of easily accessible stores to shop at.

Today after CVS I went to Kroger to get some more All Detergent.

This store didn't have it marked $3.19 so I took one bottle up to customer service. He checked it and it was on sale, so I went back and got 5 more. Since I brought it back to him he allowed me to do one transaction versus two and accepted all six coupons.

So I got 6 bottles of All Small and Mighty for $1.19 each.

Total Oop - $7.12.

That is 12 bottles down, I hope I can find 18 more before the sale ends.

CVS Lunch Run

I was so busy yesterday with Princess Random's 8th birthday that I didn't get to go get any newspapers. So I had to scramble to find a store that still had some.

There is a CVS near my office that isn't shopped by many coupon shoppers. I love it because I can often locate great sale prices on clearance merchandise, go home that night to get my coupons matched up and still find the deals the next day.

So that store was the first store I found that had any Sunday papers left, so I headed there for my lunch break. I was happy to see a sign on the door announcing 90% off Christmas Merchandise. Woo Hoo!

I of course headed straight there, and cleaned up on Christmas merchandise.

I had $10 ECB to spend so I filled my cart with Christmas goodies. Some of the stuff was as low as $.07.

Here is what I got...

Transaction 1..

3- Sunday Houston Chronicle $5.25

Used $5 ECB

Total Oop $.025

Transaction 2...

1- Pack Snowman Peeps $1.50 clearance $.15

1- Crayola Sugar Cookie decorating set $1.99 clearance $.19

3- Asst Gift bags $1.99 clearance $.19

8- Curling Ribbon $.69 clearance $.07

5- Rolls self adhesive gift tags $1.99 clearance $.19

6- 24 Ct Christmas Stickers $1.99 clearance $.19

7- 3 Pack Large Shirt Boxes $2.99 clearance $.29

1- Transformer Ornament $7.99 clearance $.79

2- 10 Pc Writing set $.99 clearance $.09

1- Jonas brothers hair set $5.99 clearance $.59

1- Tinkerbell Ornament $5.99 clearance $.59

1- 2009 Ornament $3.99 clearance $.39

After using my other $5 ECB my total Oop was $3.32

I can't wait to see these items this December when I pull out the Christmas boxes.

I think this was my 4th Christmas clearance shopping trip, between the various stores, we are going to have some great new Christmas stuff this year.

Kroger Deal Saturday 1-9-10

If you have any of the $2.00/1 All Laundry Detergent Kroger is the place to use it.

I found the Blue bottle of All Small and Mighty on Markdown for $3.19. With the coupon it makes it only $1.19. It is the 26 load size so it makes it less than $.05 per load. My maximum price point for detergent is $.08 per load so I am going to stock up on this deal.

Tonight I was able to get 7 bottles for $right at $9 after tax.

I will definitely be going back for more. This is also a deal that I would check the trading sites for larger quantities of coupons. I have 30 so I hope that I can find enough bottles.

Another great Walgreens run

This run was a lot of fun.

I went to see if I could find more of the Register reward Deals.

This is what I got.

Transaction 1...

1- Electrasol- $3.49- $2.50 mfg C/O

3- Walgreens Bleach-$1.99- $1 Wags C/o

6- Folders $.19- with in ad C/O

1- Bag Gummy Cola- $1.49 ( I had a craving)

3- Hunt's Tomato Sauce - $.39 with in ad C/O

4- Reynold's Foil- $.89 with in ad C/O

Total Oop $ 0000. Paid with RR from yesterday.

Total Before C/O $16.82

Savings $16.82

RR Earned $1

Transaction 2...

1- Electrasol- $3.49- $2.50 mfg C/O

Total Oop $1.07

Total Before C/O $3.77

Savings $2.50

RR Earned $1

Savings $

Walgreens Meter' Electrasol, Neosporin, Reach.

Wow! Walgreen's is full of great deals this week, I have had so much fun getting back into shopping mode.

Today I had to go back to the store I went to Tuesday, my RR for the Bayer Meter didn't print and the manager was going to fix it for me.

So I was able to get several RR deals as well as free Reach Dental Floss.

Here is how I did it...

Transaction one...

1- Contour Meter $14.99- $14.99 mfg C/O

2- Neosporin Lip $4.00- $3.oo mfg C/O

1- Electrasol $3.50- $2.50 mfg C/O

Total Oop = $3.07

Total Savings =$23.49

RR Earned $5(meter), $3(Neosporin), $1(Electrasol)

Refunds $14.99(meter)

$24 Money Maker

Transaction Two...

2- Neosporin Lip $4.00- $3.oo mfg C/O

1- Electrasol $3.50- $2.50 mfg C/O

Total Oop = $3.07

Total Savings =$8.50

RR Earned $3(Neosporin), $1(Electrasol)

$.97 Money Maker

Transaction Three...

2- Neosporin Lip $4.00- $3.oo mfg C/O

4- Reach Advance Dental Floss $3.99 -2- BOGO Mfg C/O- 4-$2/1 Wags C/O

Total Oop=$1.98

Total Savings=$22.00

RR Earned $3(Neosporin)

$1.02 Money Maker

All this and I am getting paid $25.99 for taking it out of the store. Works for me.

A super quick CVS run

This afternoon I had to run an errand before I went home, so I made a quick detour to CVS. I wanted to get the Oust spray that is on special this week, but they were out.

But, the trip wasn't wasted.

CVS publishes a magazine called Reinventing Beauty. It is always full of coupons. The newest issue was just released with $25 in coupons for only $.99. I was able to get 4 of them.

I also got 3 Dawn Hand Renewal they are usually $1.99 but I had a rain check making them $1. I had 3 mfg C/O fro $1/1 from a Proctor & Gamble mailer.

I was also able to find 4 more of the Nivea Lip Balm. This store had them on sale for $2.99, and I had the BOGO Coupon from this Sunday's paper.

So after all the coupons and one of yesterday's $5 ECB my total was $5.50.

I'm BAAAACK!

I am so glad to be back. Pardon the temporary disappearance. I decided to take a few weeks break and really enjoy my family during the holiday season. We had a great Christmas and New Year's and I pray you all did too. I am still having major issues dealing with it being the year 2010.

I didn't even read any of my favorite websites. So here we are it is the beginning of a brand new year, and I am ready to SHOP! Today at lunch I went to CVS and Walgreens to get a few great deals. I did two transactions at CVS and one at Walgreens. I can't wait to go back tomorrow and do some more.

Here is what I got at Walgreen's...

1- Bayer Contour Meter $14.99 - $14.99 MIR- $14.99 mgf C/O

1- Electrasol Dishwashing tabs 20 ct. $3.49 - $2.50 mfg C/O - $1 RR

Total Oop - $1.07

RR- $1

MIR- $14.99

Total - $14.92 Overage

CVS Transaction 1...

2- Christmas Hershey Kisses $3.99- Clearance $.89

4- Christmas Peel and stick gift tags $1.99- Clearance $.49

24- 12 ct. Tylenol Cold and Sinus $.99 - Clearance $.09

24- 12 ct. Tylenol PM $.99 - Clearance $.09

4- Nivea Lip Balm -$3.19 -2 BOGO mfg C/O- $5 ECB WYB $10

Total Oop- $13.62

ECB $5

Total- $8.62

CVS Transaction 2...

4- Nivea Lip Balm -$3.19 -2 BOGO mfg C/O- $5 ECB WYB $10

Total Oop- $6.56

ECB-$5

Total-$1.56

All in all it was a great welcome back to the coupon shopping world.