Kroger Shakedown (and BIG news!)

Whew! What a crazy couple of weeks it’s been around here. This week was nice and quiet, which was exactly what I needed after dealing with two funerals last week, scheduled within two hours of each other. I’ve been grocery shopping, yes, but last week we were forced – FORCED – to eat out way more than I would have liked because of all that was going on. This week, Anna Marie was away at camp in Oklahoma for four days, so I didn’t need to get much. So I didn’t get much, and I spent the rest of my grocery budget on a new outfit at Target! That’s what I call smart shopping!

Also, I have to admit I’ve found Kroger’s deals to be a bit lackluster. I guess I’m just living to stock up at their Mega Event sales, and there hasn’t been one of those in a few weeks. Oh, well. That’s part of the beauty of stockpiling: you get to the point where you’re “cherry picking” many weeks and spending even less!

Here’s my rundown for the week:

1 lb. strawberries
3.19 lbs. bananas
1 double-roll 12 pack of Quilted Northern bath tissue ($2.99!)
1 bottle Wishbone dressing
1 package Strawberry Newtons
5 Michalina’s frozen dinners (68 cents each!)
1 package of Bic Soleil disposable razors
1 bottle KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce

Total before coupons/savings: $34.95
Total after coupons/savings: $16.88
Total savings: $18.07 (54%)

Not one of my big blow-out weeks, to be sure, but since it was just the two of us at home we just kind of snacked around for meals. Now she’s back, and it’s back to normal. Or at least, what’s normal for us!

The dinners are for Jason or me to have for lunch - I got the Lean Gourmet kind, don't fret - the strawberries have gone in my cereal each morning, and the dressing will be taken to my Life Group meeting (along with more I have in my pantry that I got for super cheap) this Sunday. And who would turn down a 99 cent package of razors? Not me!

Oh, and before I forget, BIG news: I’ll be conducting my first COUPON CLASS! Yes, if you’re local to the Mid-South area, I’ll be speaking at the Women’s Ministry meeting at my church, Cornerstone (we call it GNO, or Girls Night Out) on Tuesday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. It’s part of a night called Thrifty Living, and we’ll also have other financial pointers like how to shop at yard sales. We’ll have coffee and dessert, and probably (hopefully) laugh our faces off.

The church is located at 5998 Elmore Road in Southaven, Miss. You can either Google it, or email me for more information!

(And if you aren’t in our area, say a little prayer for me…)

Kroger Shakedown! (And other things...)

Well, Gentle Reader, let me just say that it's good to be back in the land of the blogging.

As Blogger is helpful to point out, my last post was April 27 - nearly a fortnight ago, during the terrible, no good, horrible storms we were having. Rest assured, neither my person nor my property is in any danger of being overtaken my the Mississippi River, but that doesn't stop me from being in awe of how much the river has swollen in the last few days.

Anyway.

Point of business: I started a job at my church in February, and last week we hosted all of the Assemblies of God pastors from the state of Mississippi in a four-day conference. And as a result of not being home for basically four nights until around 10 p.m., I did not go grocery shopping last week - I didn't have time, and since we weren't home, I didn't see the point. We needed that money to eat out on! But this week, I hit it HARD, and my normal $30-$40 range went all the way up slightly past $50 in response. I also went to Kroger twice, because after my original trip on Sunday we stopped by two stores to find Anna Marie a replacement nunchuck for her Wii and I couldn't get any refrigerated stuff.

Also, I had to buy two big (for me) purchases this week: paper towels, and coffee. Good grief - the original price on the Maxwell House was $14? WHO PAYS THAT FOR COFFEE? Obviously, not me!

I also stopped by Aldi a few minutes ago, to stock up on ground turkey and turkey meatballs, something I either can't get anywhere else or can't get as cheaply, even on sale.

So, here we go.

Kroger trip #1 (on Sunday)
1 8-pack of Bounty paper towels
1 box of Krusteaz pancake mix (free with a coupon Kroger sent me, but it also counted toward my Mega Event total)
2 bottles of Kraft Mayo
1 bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce (which I got for FREE, thanks to a better-than-expected coupon)
2 bags of Quaker Quakes
2 bottles of Kraft salad dressing
1 pack of gum (the only thing, out of many, that Anna Marie asked for that I granted her)
4.81 lbs of just-ripe bananas, marked down to .39 a lb.
2 boxes of Ronzoni pasta
1 canister of Maxwell House
1 box of Betty Crocker cake mix (also free with a Kroger coupon)
1 box of Nature Valley granola bars (free with a Kroger coupon)
1 box of Cocoa Krispies

Total before coupons/sales: $68.58
Total after coupons/sales: $28.59
Total savings: $39.99 (60%)

Kroger trip #2 (Tuesday)
8 cups of Dannon Greek Yogurt (the only kind that Anna Marie eats these days)
4 cans of Red Gold seasoned tomatoes
4 cans of Kroger brand Italian seasoned tomato paste (which I combine with the tomatoes to make my "homemade" spaghetti sauce)

Total before coupons/savings: $17.89
Total after coupons/savings: $10.01
Total savings: $7.88 (46%)

Aldi trip (Tuesday)
1 box of Aldi's brand of Kashi cereal
1 bag vegetable crisps
1 bag baked chips
2 lbs. frozen ground turkey
1 bag turkey meatballs

Total: $11.71

So, yeah, I spent a little more than I normally would have on groceries this week, but 1. I hadn't been in two weeks, and 2. I was out of several staples, like the paper towels, coffee, and turkey.

Now that my pantry and freezer are sufficiently stocked, we can sit back, relax, and watch the river recede.

Kroger Shakedown?

Sigh. Truthfully, I've been putting this off because I didn't feel I did as well at the store this week as I normally have. I was highly disappointed to find that I'd only saved 25%, not 50 or 60%, so I thought y'all would be disappointed in me.

Yeah, I'm waaaay too hard on myself.

This week's list didn't look really great, but I needed some things that there are no coupons for - milk, eggs, etc. I did find the rice I needed on sale, and had a coupon, even though it wasn't the lowest price I've ever paid for it.

Meh.

I still think I did pretty well for my money, though:

1 dozen eggs
A pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 boxes of Success boil-in-bag rice
2 cans of black beans
2.13 lbs. of bananas (which are getting more expensive lately!!!!!)
1 gallon of skim milk
1 bottle of KC Masterpiece bbq sauce (for 19 cents!)
4 cans of tomato paste

Total after coupons/sales: $19.91
Total before coupons/sales: $27.17
Total savings: $6.26 (25%)

So, yeah. MEH. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Better luck next week.

Kroger Shakedown!

I may have shared this with you before, but when Jason and I were first married, we were broke as a joke.

We were busted.

Broker than the Ten Commandments, as a dear friend of mine used to say.

Jason was working full time at the church, and only getting paid for part time, and I hadn't found a job yet. We subsisted on $250 a week for the first several months of our marriage.

(We also made some very big financial mistakes during that time that we had to deal with for years to come, but that's another post for another time.)

Anyway, there were many weeks that I only had about $5 to shop for groceries on. We at a LOT of hot dogs and cans of soup during those months! As a result, grocery shopping was not a joy at all. And I promised God that once we got out of that mess, I would never dread grocery shopping again.

And while I suppose there would have been something to be said for praise God as I was shopping with $5, I couldn't see that at the time. But, I have kept my promise and, every time I start to hate going to the store, I remember where we used to be and that we aren't there anymore - hallelujah!

What makes it even more enjoyable for me now is playing The Grocery Game. I'm a natural-born tightwad, so seeing how much food I can get for how little is right up my alley.

This week was another great trip for me. I love stopping in on my way to work, when there are hardly any other shoppers (and no nine-year-olds hanging on my cart) to slow me down!

Here's how it shaped up:

2 boxes of Lucky Charms (I should buy stock in this company, seriously!)
2 4.4 lb. bags of Pedigree dog food (99 cents each!)
3 bottles of Suave shampoo
2 boxes of Annie's Organic mac and cheese
2 bottles of Smart Water (and I'm hoping it lives up to its name)
2 bottles of Vitamin Water Zero
1 bag of Seattle's Best Cinnabon coffee
2 boxes of whole wheat linguine (for FREE!)
3 2-liter Coke products
1 bottle of Franks Hot Wing sauce
1 bag of coffee filters
2 bags of Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese
1 pouch Bumblebee tuna (for FREE!)
1 Lean Gourmet frozen dinner (for my lunch)
1 box Natures Valley granola bars
2.96 lbs bananas
2.81 lbs JAZZ apples. (I just love saying that. JAZZ apples!)

Total before coupons/sales: $78.80
Total out of pocket: $28.70
Total savings: $50.10 (65%!)

I've learned that my list isn't infallible, though: I saw that Wisk detergent was on sale at Kroger for $5.99, and I had several coupons for $2 off, which would have brought them to $3.99 a bottle. But, I wanted to check at Dollar General first to see if it was cheaper - and it was - 50 cents each. I stopped by yesterday evening and picked up three bottles for $10.50. We're now stocked up for several months to come!

Happy couponing!

The triumphant return of the Kroger Shakedown!

Yes, gentle readers, lots of changes have been going on in Melz World. You know what hasn't changed?

That's right. COUPONS. I cannot imagine a scenario in which I'm not a coupon junkie. Even if we had tons and tons of money, I'm pretty sure I'd still be a bargain shopper.

It's just who I am.

Although it's been a long, long time since I blogged about my shopping exploits (or anything else for that matter...) I've still been clipping and shopping and saving my family wads and wads of cash.

This week was especially rewarding. Kroger seems like they're having more and more of their cart-busting, buy-x-number-of-things-and-save-y-amount-on-your-bill sales.

And I am NOT complaining. It's a bit of a pain, yes, to stop and count the items in my basket and watch the checker like a hawk - especially with a kid in tow. But, thanks to some recent changes of scenery here in Melz World, I now have the opportunity to visit the store very early in the morning, kid-less, and when it's much, much less crowded. Score!

I got several things for free this week, which makes me VERY excited. They include six FREE cans of Pedigree dog food (which I don't normally buy, but hey, it was free and I have 210 lbs of dogs to feed), two boxes of Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta, and a packages of Kraft 2% Milk Singles!

All-in-all, my bill was $40.83 and my savings added up to $73.34. For those of you who are no good with The Maths (like me) that's 66% saved!

Here is a quick rundown of my list:

2.65 lbs bananas
5 2-liter Coke products
6 cans of Pedigree dog food (FREE!)
3 4.4 lb. bags of Pedigree dry food (for 99 cents each!)
4 cans of Red Gold tomatoes (for a quarter each!)
2 boxes Ronzoni Smart Taste spaghetti (FREE!)
2 jars Pace salsa
2 packages Bumblebee Tuna (in the pouches)
2 bottles low-sodium V8 juice
1 box Lucky Charms
2 boxes Kroger 25-calorie hot cocoa
1 bottle Frank's Red Hot
1 bottle Frank's Red Hot hot wing sauce
1 bottle Irish Spring body wash
1 jar Mt. Olive pickles
1 package coffee filters
1 package Kraft 2% milk singles (FREE!)
1 bottle Olay Reginerist Cleanser (for my mom)
1 package fresh chicken tenders
3.10 lbs Jazz apples

I still start to panic when the total rings up to over $80 (after sales) until my coupons kick in. Silly Mel! You'd think I'd know better by now!

Stay sweet, coupons. Don't ever change!

Kroger Shakedown!

It's weeks like this when I LOVE my list. And this week, it wasn't even printed out!

Jason sings on the praise team at church, and he had to be there by 8:30 Sunday morning. Meaning we had to leave the house around 8:00 a.m. My list wasn't up yet, so I took my netbook, dropped him off, and by the time I got to some free wifi (thanks ATT Hotspot in the Starbucks parking lot!) there it was. I made my selections, printed out an "xps" document (kinda like a PDF, I think) and was ready to go.

(For the record, our church has wifi too. It also has a pretty extensive security key to keep folks from driving up in the parking lot and doing what I did at Starbucks, and I didn't know then that Jason had already programmed it into my netbook.)

Since I didn't have a physical printer handy, I took my netbook into the store, sat it in the "kiddie seat" of the cart, and shopped off the screen. Easy-peasy, but something I probably won't be making a habit of. The computer is so small, and blocked from the back by a sign on the back rest, but still - I never took my hand off the cart, and as soon as I was finished shopping I put the computer into my purse.

We'd had a dinner with a slew of my family at a restaurant, and didn't have much time, so having the list was a lifesaver!

Here's how the shakedown went down this week:

2 packages of styrofoam cups (not on my list, but we needed them for our small group meeting that night)
2 cans of Progresso lower-sodium chicken gumbo (paper coupon plus Shortcuts)
2 cans of Progresso lower-sodium vegetable soup (paper coupon only)
3 boxes of Fiber One bars (paper coupons plus Cellfire plus Shortcuts)
2 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars (paper coupons, plus Cellfire)
2 bottles of Dawn foam dish detergent
1 package Betty Crocker cookie mix (paper coupon plus Cellfire)
2 bags of Kroger 2% milk shredded cheese
1 king sized Reese's Cup (which was free, because Jason found a $1 off coupon when you purchase a 20 oz Coke and the candy was on sale for $1. I've taught him well!)
1 20 oz. Coke Zero
3.58 lbs of Fuji apples
2.54 lbs of bananas
4 bags of Green Giant frozen veggies
1 California Pizza Kitchen pizza (since I had to work covering a banquet Tuesday night, for the folks at home)
2 boxes of Toaster Strudels (paper coupon plus Cellfire)
1 Hormel pork loin (which we had in the crockpot yesterday!)
4 Lunchables

Total before coupons/savings: $101.11
Total after coupons/savings: $46.90
Total saved: $54.21 (55%)

I am really digging these electronic coupons added to my card, and I REALLY hope they keep offering them!

Kroger shakedown!

Special-Ops edition. Because I did my shopping in CAMO, and late at night!

We had a service entitled "Special Ops" at church on Sunday (where the pastor talked about our church's mission statement) and the choir all wore camo. Including me. Camo man pants to be exact, because I couldn't find any way-cheap camo LADY pants. The pastor and his wife rappelled out of the catwalk. The choir marched in to an old Carman song.

We sang some Stryper. It was all good.

I then walked around for about four hours, because we had our annual business meeting that night and never went home between services. So I had to wait until after 8 p.m., and I was WAY exhausted.

So my bleary-eyed, camo-clad crew and I made a mad dash through Kroger, and this is what happened:

2 cans of black beans
1 box of Krusteaz blueberry pancake mix
4 boxes of Nutri-grain bars
3 bottles of Wishbone dressing
3 cans of Red Gold tomatoes
1 bottle of Suave shampoo
1 bottle of Suave conditioner
2 bottles of Suave kids shampoo
1 stick of Suave deodorant
1 package of Glide floss
3 Cadbury eggs (OF COURSE)
1 gallon of chocolate milk (free, because I bought the four boxes of Nutri-grain bars)
5 lbs. of grapefruit
6 lbs. of clementines
1 bag of "overripe" bananas
2 boxes of Green Giant veggies (paper coupons plus Shortcuts)
1 Red Baron pizza

Total before coupons/sales: $79.31
Total after: $48.18
Total savings: $31.13 (41%)

Not as good as last week's, but the total is slightly deceiving - when clearance stuff, like those bananas, rings up, it doesn't calculate how much it WOULD have cost if it had been full price. They were 10 cents cheaper per pound because of their state of ripeness - which didn't really matter, because we ate them before they went bad anyway.

It looks like a really random assortment of groceries, but remember - stockpiling. That way I only buy what's on sale, and I have a rotation of groceries to go through.

I had also gone to Target that morning before church, and gotten two boxes of Kashi cereal and a box of Kashi bars for $5, thanks to a coupon I found on one of the boxes!

How sad is it that I'm really excited about March being Frozen Foods Month, and getting to stock my freezer on the cheap?

Kroger Shakedown!

Geez Louise. You'd think that being the owner of my very own computer for the first time since college would afford me LOADS more time to blog.

Yeah, not so much.

Granted, I didn't go grocery shopping at all on Valentine's weekend. Anna Marie had two different performances in two different counties that day, in addition to church. I was going to go on Monday night, but my brakes were acting up on my van and the weather turned unexpectedly bad, so I stayed myself to home.

I did go to Walgreens, and got three boxes of Kellogg's cereal (two of which I gave to my sister) for $1.66 each and two boxes of Pop Tarts (for Jason) for $1 each.

So.

This past weekend, I was determined that I was going to shop. And I was thankful that Uncle Sam had made a deposit into my checking account, because I knew I needed to spend twice as much for missing a week!

I will interject here that the cashier made some cryptic remark to me upon checkout, which I think she meant to say that people like me (with The Coupons) were responsible for grocery prices going up.

I don't believe that for a minute. I'm pretty sure the prices of raw materials, as well as the rising price of transportation, are what made the groceries get more expensive.

But I digress.

Here's the rundown for this week:

1 (8 pack) Bounty paper towels
4 bottles of Kraft bbq sauce
2 cans Chunky Healthy Request gumbo
1 box Betty Crocker muffin mix (paper coupon + Shortcuts)
4 bags Martha White muffin mix
1 box Capri Suns
4 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks (paper coupons + Cellfire + Shortcuts)
1 box of Lipton pyramid-shaped tea bags
1 McCormick seasoning grinder
3 Chef Boyardee microwave bowls
6 cups of Yoplait (paper coupon + Cellfire)
2 (2 liters) of Coke Zero
2.11 lbs bananas
3.38 lbs. apples
1 package Murray sugar free cookies
2 boxes of Orville Redenbachers popcorn
4 packages of sliced meats (turkey and ham)(On sale, + buy 3, get 1 free coupon)
1 loaf Natures Own light bread
1 bag coffee filters
1 tub of Land O Lakes spread
2 cans of Suave Professionals mousse

Total before coupons/deals: $109.66
Total after coupons/deals: $57.13
Total savings: $52.53 (49 percent)

Kroger was running one of their "Buy 10 of these things, get $3 off" promotions, and I qualified for two of those (a total of $6 off).

On Monday, I went to our local grocery store here and picked up some reduced-for-quick-sale steaks, a small roast, some chicken breasts, a couple of cans of store-brand vegetables, a half gallon of milk, two boxes of Betty Crocker instant potatoes, and an 8 lb. bag of potatoes. I spent about $25 more on all that. I hate that I've spent that much on groceries this week, but I hadn't been in two weeks, so I guess it evens out.

We have our annual business meeting at church this Sunday, but I'm going to have to find time to shop because this is my week to work late every night (and Anna Marie has her basketball awards night on Tuesday, so I'll be out even later than usual.)

At least with my new netbook, I can surf the web from my bed when I get home!

Kroger shakedown!

Yep, I went shopping this week. But this weather has us all thrown for a loop, so I'm just now getting around to posting my list.

I didn't get to go on my normal day, Sunday, because we were CRAZY busy. Our service at church was (way awesome and) football themed. Then, Anna Marie had a cousin's birthday party at a bowling alley. And finally, our small group had a Super Bowl party that night.

Like I said, crazy busy.

So, I had every intention of going Monday night, but when I stepped out the door headed towards the gym on Monday morning (in an attempt to work off the pizza/hotwings/brownies of the day before) I was greeted with the aforementioned snow. And I was all, "Huh? It wasn't supposed to snow!" But it did. And it was way messy outside. And I only worked for three hours, because I had AM with me while Jason went to Memphis.

And then when he got home after lunch - he took me to Kroger! Honestly, we didn't HAVE to have food on Monday, thanks to my stockpile. But it sure was nice!

Here's how my trip went:

3 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars (paper coupons, plus Cellfire/Shortcuts)
1 box of Capri Sun Roaring Waters
1 bag of Ronzoni whole wheat egg noodles
1 jar of Hardeez Salsa
1 bottle of Country Bob's steak sauce (for my dad - it's his favorite, and I had a coupon for a free bottle!)
2 packages of Kraft 2% cheese singles
1 box of Philly 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 bottle of Softsoap
3 Cadbury caramel eggs (guess who THOSE were for?)
1 bottle of Sunny D fruit smoothie
2 bottles of Big K Diet Ginger Ale
3 2-liters of Pepsi products
1 20 oz Coke Zero (to go with his caramel eggs, of course!)
3.45 lbs of "ripe" bananas (at 39 cents a pound, and some were organic)
2.97 lbs of jonagold apples
2 bags of Green Giant steamers broccoli and cheese
4 boxes of Toaster Strudels (I'm set for about six months now)
2 bags of Chex Mix (paper coupons plus Cellfire for these)
2 boxes of Pop Secret 94% fat free popcorn
1 bag of Poppycock
1 package of Butterball turkey smoked sausage

Total before coupons: $88.34
Total after coupons: $40.76
Total savings: $47.58 (56%)

They were having their Mega Event again this week, so I saved $10 right there. I got home and realized I could have had a couple more Cellfire and Shortcuts coupons loaded on my card, but that would have been another $1.00 or so, and the trip was really a spur-of-the-moment thing.

One of the other "perks" I've noticed to all this couponing (besides eating at home more, because we have food available to us) is the savings on gas. Kroger gives 10 cents off per gallon with every 100 points you earn, and I get points based on my before-coupon savings, not my out-of-pocket expense. So Jason fills up at least once a month on the cheaper gas. Score!

I'd also like to give a "shout out" to my college chum Kathy Garvin, a fellow English major who started with The Grocery Game this week. She saved over 50% on her first trip! She's promised me her first-born son as a thank-you, but I'm sure she's gotten pretty attached to him by now - and I haven't clipped any Pullups coupons!

They're forecasting more snow for this weekend up here. I don't know what I'm going to do if Anna Marie has to miss any more school - at this point, we'll be looking at making the days up on Saturdays!

Kroger Shakedown!

Yes, it's a day early. Kroger is having a three-day sale, so our Listmaker at The Grocery Game put up a list today. There will be another tomorrow with the Sunday inserts, but it was worth it to me to go today.

Also, I don't normally make a special trip because the nearest Kroger is 14 miles away, but Jason needed a part for the Jeep from an auto parts store up there so we went. (We also took my mom, so she helped keep Anna Marie occupied. Grammas FTW!)

This was one of the best weeks I'd had in a LONG time. I now am officially out of space in my cabinets - which isn't saying much. I'll have to take a picture some time, so y'all know how truly limited my space is!

One of the great things about this week was the Mega Event, where you buy 10 of a certain group of items and get an extra $5 off. Usually they let you do that three times (getting a total of $15 off) and for the first time, I did the limit!

Here's how my trip went:

1 bottle of Kroger brand cleaner with bleach
1 box of Capri Sun Roaring Waters
2 cans of evaporated milk
1 box of Krusteaz muffin mix (low fat cranberry orange - yum!)
3 boxes of Fiber One Bars (I had three paper coupons, plus one Cell Fire and one Shortcuts coupon loaded on my Kroger card)
2 bottles of French's yellow mustard
2 bottles of French's honey mustard dip
1 bottle of Frank's Red Hot
4 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese (Sponge Bob edition - Anna Marie hasn't realized that yet!)
2 cans of Hormel Turkey Chili
3 cans of Hunts Diced Tomatoes (I had a paper coupon and a Shortcuts coupon on my card)
2 packages of Kraft shredded 2% milk cheese
1 package of Philadelphia 1/3 less fat cream cheese (for my mom, who was only getting a couple of things and not doing the Mega Event)
1 Cadbury caramel egg (for Jason, natch)
1 20 oz. Coke Zero (also, of course, for Jason)
1 dozen eggs (the kind from chickens, not bunnies this time)
5 six packs of half-liter Coke products (for Jason to sell at the auction, so I'll get this $10 back)
1 2-liter caffeine free Diet Pepsi
2.65 lbs of bananas
1 four-pound bag of navel oranges
1 red onion
2 bell peppers
1 box of Ritz crackers
2 boxes of Cheeze-its
1 box of whole wheat saltines
1 bag of Quaker Quakes (which I realized I DIDN'T use a coupon for, so I could have saved another 75 cents! Ugh!)
1 package Johnsonville turkey sausages
1 package light hot dog buns
2 boxes of Toaster Strudel (I had a paper coupons plus a Shortcuts loaded on my card)
1 box of Success boil-in-bag rice (for free, thanks to an email from someone at their PR firm who saw my post about buying the Kroger brand on THIS BLOG and sent me a coupon! Score!)

Total before coupons/sale: $116.75
Total after coupons/sale: $49.56
Total savings: $67.19 (59%)

As Stacy London says (because I've been watching a What Not to Wear marathon today):
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! Who pays over $100 for that many groceries? (If that's YOU, then we need to do an intervention, hon.) The $15 Mega Event savings isn't taken off until the cashier hits the total button, and before she did it was $94! That plus the coupons brought the total down to less than half.

I do still need some cereal for myself, and Walmart has their pizzas on sale for less than Kroger this week (thanks to the Super Bowl) so I'll get one there for Jason and Anna Marie to have while I work Tuesday night. I'd also like to stop by Aldi tomorrow after church to pick up some turkey meatballs so I can make some Hawaiian meatballs this week. I have several bottles of barbeque sauce in the cabinet that I got for next-to-nothing a few months ago, plus those pineapples I got for 24 cents a can last week and the (FREE) Success Rice. Just add some bell peppers, and we've got ourselves an inexpensive, healthy meal.

But still - I will come out having spent about $50 of my own money, and have really enough food to last two weeks if I needed (or more.)

I love stockpiling!

Kroger shakedown!

Two weeks worth, that is.

Yes, I went grocery shopping last week, but "life" got in the way of me posting this. But don't fear! I'm making it up to you this week.

You're welcome!

Last week, I stopped at Aldi and picked up a couple of things I knew I could get cheaper there - like a couple of cans of black beans, and some canned diced tomatoes - because they weren't on sale at Kroger.

That being said, here is my list from January 17:

2 boxes of Swiss Miss cocoa
3 cans of Hunts tomatoes (I thought I had a Shortcuts coupon, but a check of my receipt revealed it didn't work!)
2 packages of Dole diced peaches
4 cans of Campbell soup
1 package of Fleishman's margarine
1/2 gallon of milk
2 packages of Danimals smoothies
1 package of Danimals crush cups
3 lbs. of bananas
1 Kroger brand pizza (for Jason and Anna Marie when I worked late)
1 bag of Birdseye peas
2 bunches of green onions
1 box of Nabisco 100 Calorie chocolate covered pretzels
4 Armour lunchables
1 loaf Natures Own light bread
2 bags of some new snacks called Riceworks, which are a little like a cross between a Dorito and a Wheat Thin. (I had two coupons, but they weren't on sale, and I realized later that they were cheaper at Walmart. Boo!)

Total before coupons/sales: $65.05
Total after coupons/sales: $37.26
Total savings: $27.79 (44%)

Now, for yesterday's rundown:

2 bottles of Heinz Ketchup
4 (8 oz) cans of Dole pineapple
2 cans of Rosarita refried beans
2 packages of Ortega taco seasoning
1 package Folgers Gourmet Selections Hazelnut coffee
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of black beans
1 Hersheys bar (for Anna Marie)
1 Reeses big cup (for Jason - I've got to stop going shopping with those two in tow!)
1 20 oz. Coke Zero (you guessed it - for Jason)
2.57 lbs. bananas
3.11 lbs. Granny Smith apples
1 bag of Clementines
2 DiGiorno 200-calorie pizzas
1 full-sized DiGiorno pizza (for The Redheads, because I have to work tonight)
2 boxes of popcorn
2 packages of Hillshire Farms meat

Total before coupons/savings: $67
Total after coupons/savings: $38.59
Total savings: $28.41 (44%)

Since Jason and I ended our meat fast yesterday, I will probably hit up our local supermarket for a Boston Butt and some chicken breasts that are on sale this week.

My cabinet is getting full again, and my freezer will be that way soon - yay for stockpiling!

New Years Shop-stravaganza!

Happy New Year, y'all! I got (just about all) my grocery shopping done today! HOLLA!

Jason and I drove separate cars to church this morning, something I don't enjoy doing (since the church is 20 miles away), but I also don't enjoy having to have myself and Anna Marie ready to be there by 8:15 (when he had to be there) when we don't have to be there until about 10:15.

Catch my drift?

Well, today afforded me a great opportunity, because Anna Marie rode home with her dad and I got to shop alone! Oh happy day!

Since there were so many coupons in this week's paper, we bought both a Commercial Appeal (the Memphis paper) and a Clarion-Ledger (the Jackson, MS paper) so I wouldn't miss any. Red Plum no longer inserts in the Memphis paper, but mails their coupons directly. Except, they don't mail down here where I live - so the only way I get their inserts is if my sister, who lives in Memphis, remembers to save them and then get them to me in a timely manner. I discovered a few weeks ago, though, that they DO still insert in the Jackson paper. So today I got both!

(I got the Memphis paper also, because it has circulars for stores that are local, and Jackson doesn't.)

Two of the inserts had coupons for $2.50 off Electrasol tabs. And what do you know? Target's circular said they had those very same items for $3.49! And what else do you know, but I had a $5 Target card from buying dog food there last week!

So - I stopped at Target, which was next to the Kroger I was shopping at. And found the regular Electrasol tabs (not those high-falutin Quantam things) for $3.23. I got two boxes for $0.63 each!

Here is the total rundown of my Target trip:

2 boxes of Electrasol tabs
1 bag Baked Doritos
1 pks. Act II 94% Fat Free Popcorn
1 box of Target brand juice pouches
1 package of Folgers Caramel Drizzle coffee (my one splurge!)

Total before coupons/sales/gift card: $19.53
Total after coupons/sales/gift card: $8.97

I saved $10.55 - over 50%!

Next, I went to Kroger. Three things happened that threw off my mojo: my mother called, and I left my list somewhere (later discovered to be the van). I already had my coupons laid out in my folder, so I used those as a guide to what I needed.

The third thing was that our church is starting 21 days of fasting and prayer tomorrow, and Jason and I have decided to fast meat, so I had to buy some staple-type things to make meatless meals - potatoes, beans, rice, etc. Last year he also fasted meat, so in consideration of him I didn't cook any at home anyway.

(Lest you thing that giving up meat isn't much of a sacrifice, remember we're talking about the Chicken King and the Hamburger Queen. And our local grocery store has Boston Butts on sale this week, and I won't be buying one. The sacrifice starts already!)


I'm not real impressed with my performance at Kroger, but I think the Target trip (and my trip to Walgreens, which I'll explain later) kind of make up for it.

Kroger rundown:

2 cans of Progresso soup (they were on clearance, and I had a paper coupon and a Shortcuts coupon loaded on my card, so these were only $0.25 each!)
1 box Kroger boil-in-bag brown rice
1 box Kellogs Corn Flakes with Honey (on clearance, plus my coupon, means it cost me $0.09!)
2 cans of black-eyed peas
3 cans of black beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 packages of Betty Crocker Cornbread Mix (I wanted the Jiffy Mix that was 3/$1 but they were all sold out and I didn't want to mess with rain checks.)
1 can of Chili Magic
1 package of Kroger 2% milk shredded cheddar
1/2 gallon milk
1 box Hershey's 100 Calorie chocolate-covered pretzel bars
1 dozen eggs
1 20-oz Coke Zero (Hey, I was thirsty, OK?)
3 lbs. Clementines
2.91 lbs. bananas
1.67 lbs. Granny Smith apples
1 Kroger cheese pizza (for Jason and Anna Marie when I work late Tuesday)
10 lbs. potatoes
2 Lunchmakers (on sale, but not by much)
1 loaf Natures Own light bread

Total before coupons/sales: $49.56
Total coupons/sales: $10.49
Total after: $37.07 (only 23%)

In my defense, that total does not take into account the soup or the Corn Flakes, both of which were on clearance (only the clearance price is listed on the receipt, not the regular price).

Now, for Walgreens. I did this before dinner tonight, because I wanted to get all of my shopping over with for the week. I have to work late several nights, and they're calling for a significant amount of snow mid-week, so I didn't want to have to get back into the store if I didn't have to.

I may end up going back later, though, because they have their Progresso soup 4/$5, and I have two coupons for 50 cents off two, so they'd be $1 a can. Also, if you spend $10 on this group of products, you get $3 in Register Rewards, so that helps.

Anyway - I had $6 in RR from last week. And their Smuckers Jelly and Jif Peanut Butter were on 2/$4. And I had two coupons for $1 when you bought both the PB and the J.

And I left that store with two jars of Jif and two squeeze bottles of Smuckers for $0.56!

(And I had to bum 6 cents off the cashier, because I'd miscalculated how much tax I'd need and only brought two quarters!)

So there you have it - I spent $46.60, and saved $35.09 - nearly 50%. I'm a little down about that Kroger trip, but I know I got a lot of groceries. I'm not used to doing all of my shopping in one day, and I kind of like getting a more complete picture of what I've gotten and what I've spent.

Hopefully, we won't get snowed in around here!

Kroger shakedown!

Like my logo? I got mad InDesign skillz now, yo.

Anyway - I went shopping Sunday after church, just me and The Kid (kept in line with the aid of your Friendly Neighborhood Nintendo Game Boy)

(Yes, it's older than she is.)

Here's the rundown on my shakedown.

2 cans Dole Mandarin Oranges
1 box Kelloggs Cinnabon Bars
1 box Krusteez Blueberry Pancake Mix
1 bottle Franks Red Hot
1 bottle Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce
2 boxes Kelloggs Nutrigrain Bars
2 bottles Welch's Grape Juice
1 can Dole Tropical Fruit Salad
2 half-gallons of milk (one 2%, one skim)
3.15 lbs. bananas
2.82 lbs. Fuji apples
3 Lean Cuisine pizzas
1 box Act II 94% Fat Free Popcorn
1 bag Chocolate Chex Mix (FREE with sale and coupons!)
1 small bag of Cheeze-its (at the checkout, for the kid, naturally)
4 Armour Lunchmakers (for the kid, too)
1 package Thomas Light Multigrain English Muffins

Total before coupons: $74.09
Total after sales/coupons: $33.06
Total savings: $41.03 (57%)

This was another week of the Kroger Mega Sale (buy 10 of something, get another $5 off) and I did one of those deals. I also had a $2.50 off my purchase "catalina" (one of those coupons that prints out at the checkout.) The cashier, who was harried because they only had two lanes open on a Sunday afternoon, didn't believe it was a coupon, but I persisted - hello, it's got a barcode! Just scan the dang thing!

I went to Walmart on Monday, and got a couple of bell peppers and a couple of onions to make steak tips with some steak I had in the freezer. We had that Monday night, and if I'd thought about it Sunday, I could've saved myself the trip and gotten them at Kroger.

I was planning on hitting up Walgreens for a sale on baking stuff, but Jason just called to inform me that the brakes on my car (which I've been complaining about for the past week, but that's another post) are shot, the rotors are going to have to be replaced, and he and my dad are on their way to Pull-A-Part to see what they can come up with. The outcome of that expedition will dictate just how much I have to spend at Walgreens!

(And hey - since that Chex Mix was free, the calories from the whole bag I ate by myself over the course of three days don't count, right? Right?)

Kroger Shakedown! (Plus a little more.)

Three blog posts in as many days! What has gotten into me?

Guess I've gotten a little of my mojo back, huh?

We stopped at Kroger on the way home from our small group tonight, which meets at a home about two miles from one of their stores. I would have gotten through in record time, but Anna Marie was making that a bit, shall we say, DIFFICULT.

But before I tell you about my Kroger haul, let me talk about Target.

Did you know, sometimes Target has a deal where you get one of their gift cards just for buying something they're running a special on? Well, this past week, it was dog food. If you bought two 20 lb. bags of Dog Chow for $11.49 each, you got a $5 card.

And what do you know? WE have dogs, and WE needed dog food! Plus, I also had two coupons, one for $1 off a three-pound or larger bag, and one for $1.50 off a 15 pound or larger bag, and I saw no reason why I couldn't use both.

We don't have a Target here, but there's one in the next county north of us (and we had to go up there Friday anyway for something else) so we stopped in. We picked up two bags of dog food, a two-pack of DVDs for some long-since-canceled Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series on clearance for $1.98, and, of course, a 20-ounce Coke Zero for Jason (because he can't seem to leave a store without one).

The little teenage guy at the checkout totally spazzed out when he saw those Sonic DVDs. He was so mad he hadn't seen them first, and that Anna Marie had picked up the last set. It was like that SNL "Target Lady" skit come to life! In fact, he was so geeked out, he messed up our gift card!

He scanned the card, like we were paying for one. Then, he took it off like we were getting it for free, and said something about it taking off $5. Fine, I thought, he's applying the gift card to this purchase. No big deal. He put the card under his cash drawer, we walked out, and my math-addled brain went to work.

For the next half hour as we drove home, I tried to figure out what was bugging me, and when I looked at the receipt, I knew. He'd forgotten to give me my $5 card!

So, today after church, we went back to Target. And wouldn't you know, we were blessed with double for our trouble! When the manager investigated, she saw exactly what had happened, and gave us a TEN DOLLAR card! She said the guy was new, and I told her I figured as much. It was also pretty late, and I wasn't angry.

But boy, I sure was glad to see that extra $5 on that card. I basically got one of those bags of dog food for free!

This week, they're running a special on Kelloggs cereal - starting at $2.66 a box, and buy three, get one free. We're out of cereal, so I picked up four boxes. Jason also picked up a clearance bag of candy-corn pumpkins, and two drinks (I'll admit, I got one too) and we paid just over $3 out of our pocket!

(Then I got home, found out there were printable Kelloggs coupons, and wasn't quite so stoked. But, whatever. It was still an extra $5 I wasn't counting on!)

Moving on - here is my Kroger list for this week. There is no meat, because I don't need any, and I didn't need cereal (thanks, Target!) or milk, so that isn't on there either. I tend to buy meat at our locally-owned market here in town, because they run some really good deals about once a month.

Kroger is having a Mega Sale this week, where if you buy 10 of the participating products, you get another $5 off your purchase (or 50 cents off each thing). I racked up two of those, for a total of $10 more off. I also ended up with a coupon for $2.50 off my next grocery purchase, thanks to those nice people at Betty Crocker (who make all these fruit snacks I bought).

1 box of Fruit Stackers
1 box of Fruit Rollups
2 boxes of Fruit by the Foot (all of these will last us several months for lunch boxes and snacks)
2 boxes of Quaker granola bars
2 boxes of Special K bars (Yes, more granola bars! We eat them a lot!)
3 cans of Hormel Turkey Chili (23 cents each!)
2 cans of 2% of Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 bottle of Heinz ketchup
1 package of Danimals Crush Cups
1 package Danimals Smoothies
2.4 pounds of bananas
1.97 pounds of Granny Smith apples
2.16 pounds of Red Delicious apples
2 boxes of Keebler cookies
1 box of whole-wheat saltines
1 package of turkey pepperoni
And, of course a Coke Zero for Jason.

Total before coupons: $60.70
Total savings: $31.90
Total after coupons: $28.80
That's a savings of 54%. Once again, I feel a lot of this is just bringing it down closer to what I think it OUGHT to cost. The people in front of us had a total of over $160, didn't use a single coupon, and I wanted to say, "I am so sorry. Let me help you!"

And before you start deriding me for buying so much processed stuff, let me remind you: this is stockpiling. Yes, I bought four boxes of fruit snacks tonight, but those will last me about four months! One can of the chili will probably feed all three of us, as I tend to put it over baked potatoes (which I bought on sale about two weeks ago) with a little 2% milk shredded cheese (which I got on sale last week). I've got canned salmon in the pantry (that I got on sale about three weeks ago at Walgreens) and I can use that, along with a couple of potatoes and a can of the evaporated milk, to make salmon stew. See where I'm going with this? I only buy cookies about once every three months - literally, the last time I bought them was before school started. And I got them for less than $1 a pack!

The other bonus to some of these foods is that they have Box Tops for Education, which help our school raise funds for stuff they need.

Anna Marie is going to love her lunch tomorrow - some saltines, some turkey pepperoni, a Danimals smoothie and a banana.

(Oh, and a Fruit by the Foot for snack time, of course!)

Kroger shakedown!

I've decided to start posting my Kroger Shakedown here each week.

For one, it'll motivate me to save as much as possible, much like my old-school weigh- ins did.

For another, it'll give me a reason to blog AT LEAST once a week.

I am a sad, sad blogger.

Anyhow, I didn't take a picture like some do - and now, we've eaten some of the stuff, so it's a bit late for all that. Mostly, I don't take pictures of my shopping trips because I don't have a space to do so.

(Yes, I have a dining room table. But that would mean I'd have to clean it off, and that isn't happening anytime soon.)

Ahem.

So, here's my list:

2 boxes of Post Shredded Wheat
2 boxes of Fiber One Bars
2 boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars
1 box of Chex Mix Bars
1 bag of Natures Valley Nut Clusters (these actually MADE me 50 cents!)

Editor's note: I realize there are lots of granola products at my house right now. Jason eats the bars for breakfast, and we snack on them, and the ones I buy ARE better than candy bars.

1 can of Bush's Chili Magic
1 can of Kroger black beans
1 can of Lysol
2 bags of Kroger 2% shredded cheddar
2 packages of Bic Soliel disposable razors (for 19 cents each!)
4 bags of Hershey's candy (for school parties, and one of these was free!)
1 bottle of Sunny D Smoothie
1 package of Dole diced peaches
A bunch of bananas
1 bag of navel oranges

Total before sales/coupons: $83.40 (Folks, that is CRAZY!)
Total savings with sales/coupons: $53.78
Total out of pocket: $29.62
Total savings: 66%

It was pretty awesome to hear that cashier say that my total (after sale prices, but before coupons) was $66, and hand him over $30 worth of coupons. I LOVE seeing that total drop, drop, and drop some more. I also feel that what I paid was more "in line" with what I think the food was worth. No way did I have $84 worth of food in my cart, but $29 sounds a lot more reasonable to me.

I realize that a lot of other "coupon-ers" save much more than I do, but I think it's proportional: I don't have but three mouths to feed, and we don't eat lunch at home every day (but, thanks to a development I'll be announcing in the next couple of days, PINKY PROMISE, we probably will be). I don't have to buy diapers or formula. And I haven't had to buy much meat in the last couple of weeks, because I usually buy it when it goes on sale at a grocery store here in town (which is not known for great sales, but does have pretty good sales on meat occasionally.) If I had a grocery budget of $150 a week, I obviously could do more, proportionally speaking.

Also, our Kroger stores don't ever triple coupons, like some stores do, so I miss out on that. And, Red Plum doesn't insert into our Sunday papers here anymore. They do send their inserts in the mail, but not in my town - I have to rely on my sister, who lives in Memphis, getting them and remembering to bring them to me when I see her every week or two, so I miss those coupons as well.

Well, like I said a minute ago, I've got some pretty great news up in here, so stay tuned!