Tag Archives: Friday Finals

Saturday Shopping Spree

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Sometimes I go through phases where I feel like I’m just buying things all the time! Yesterday I bought a Groupon deal to renew my Thursday/Sunday newspaper subscription (woohoo!), a Living Social voucher for a tea tasting for two, ordered a new swimsuit, and ordered a pair of nude patent leather flats. Whew! Of course, I got great deals on all of them, and shopped through Ebates, and they were all good things that I put thought into…but it’s still crazy to think about!

Then today I bought another Groupon deal (a walking tour for two of Historic Oakland Cemetery at 50% off) and found a great deal on some jeans for Andy! I had been keeping an eye out for that, so I was pleased.

It’s a beautiful day, so we walked to Publix together to pick up some of the BOGO and sale items.

Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner $1.67
used $0.50/1 coupon from Clorox Latino; doubled to $1.00 off
$0.67 total

Palmolive Dish Detergent BOGO at $3.49
used 2 $0.50/1 coupons; doubled to $1.00 off each
$0.75 each

French’s Worcestechire Sauce $0.99
used 1 $0.40/1 coupon; doubled to $0.80 off
$0.19 total

Blue Diamond Almonds BOGO at $3.19
used 2 $1.00/1 coupons
$0.60 each

I was planning to pick up a Cottonelle toilet paper 12-pack at $6.49 and use a $1.00 off coupon, but I stupidly forgot to bring that coupon! Lesson learned: always bring all your coupons! I grabbed a small pack of the Publix brand (which was only $2.19) to tide us over and I will pick up a better deal at another time.

The Lysol Dual Action Wipes have a “try me free” rebate going on, so that $2.99 will be reimbursed after I submit the form.

I also picked up a package of London Broil for $5.07. It was on sale for $4.49/lb, so this package is a little over a pound. I thought it would be a good size to feed Andy and me, and five bucks didn’t intimidate me. I can’t wait to try Jen’s recipe from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!

It’s hard to say exactly how much I spent/saved because we also picked up some, uh, “necessities” to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day tonight:

The gelato was a whopping $4.99!! But I went against all my frugal intuitions because I don’t really want to have ice cream around, so I felt like it was worth paying the premium for a smaller container. Plus, I wanted it to be green for the holiday, and some of the brands’ mint chocolate chip were not! So it was a splurge, for sure.

After a nice long walk to Grant Park this morning enjoying the beautiful weather, we’re staying in with our Guinness and gelato tonight and watching Michael Collins. I’m fixing ham, roasted cabbage, and Irish brown bread for dinner! Are you doing anything fun for St. Patrick’s Day?

Friday Finals (on Saturday)

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My grocery shopping schedule was a bit funky this week due to our travel. I did my normal “big” Kroger run on Tuesday evening, which felt so weird (though the store was nicely empty). But I managed to put together a pretty awesome Publix trip yesterday!

Total Spent: $12.23 (including tax)
Total Saved: $28.96 (between coupons and “special price” savings)

  • 4 boxes Emerald Breakfast on the Go at 2 for $3.29
    used 4 $1.00/1 coupons
    $0.65 per box
  • 2 boxes Welch’s Fruit Snacks at 2 for $2.79
    used 2 $0.50/1 coupons; doubled to $1.00 off
    $0.40 per box
  • 2 tubs Smart Balance buttery spread at 2 for $2.59
    used $1.00/2 coupon
    $0.80 per tub
    (Land o Lakes spread is my favorite, but this was too good of a deal to pass up.)
  • 2 Dannon Light and Fit 4-packs at $2.19 each
    used $2/2 Publix coupon
    used 2 $0.25/1 manufacturer’s coupon; doubled to $0.50 off
    $0.60 per 4-pack
  • 1 32-ounce bottle Pompeian EVOO, BOGO at $12.09
    used $1.00/1 coupon
    $5.05 after BOGO and coupon
    (I paid $4.19 for a Kroger brand 16 ounce bottle, so this was a great deal.)

I also picked up 2 bags of Pretzel Crisps at Target:

Total Spent: $2.09 (including tax)

These actually were not on sale; their normal price is $1.99 at Target, but there was a printable $1.00/1 coupon this week, so I got them for $0.99 each. I also saved 5 cents by using my own bag. :-)

And…..I swung by the thrift store. I had to go for work purposes, but of course I ended up buying a couple of things:

 You can tell I was in a spring-y mode. The navy blue chinos are Ann Taylor Loft, and I thought they would be cute with the camel colored flats I’m eventually planning to buy. The pink shirt is Forever 21, and the short-sleeved cable knit cotton sweater is by Jeanne Pierre (whoever that is). I spent around $8.00 total, thanks to my employee’s discount.

So that was my week! It felt good to get back to being frugal after being on vacation. I always feel like I’m just bleeding money on vacation, even though I know we had it saved and it was totally worth it to spend. I’m looking forward to some good CVS deals starting up tomorrow!

Publix, CVS, and a Free Sample

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I haven’t done a Frugal Friday/Friday Finals grocery post in awhile…mostly because I have been a bit lax with the coupons lately! I still managed to do really well budget-wise in December, but it was mostly from shopping at the farmer’s market one week and from being out of town for awhile. But I’m back at it and hit up a couple of good sales this week! My main Kroger grocery trip came to only $58, which is great for me. I bought from the P&G sale, where you buy 4 items and get an automatic $4 off, and several of the items in the 50% off sale.

I eased back into CVS with these deals:

Suave Deorodant: on sale for $1.00, used $0.50 off coupon
Listerine Mouthwash: on sale for $3.99, used $1.00 off coupon
Received $2.00 Extra Care Bucks
Total Out of Pocket: $3.89

Obviously not a huge buying week, but at least now I have the $2 ECBs to entice me back into the game!

At Publix I bought:

Campbell’s Chunky Soup: BOGO at $2.49, used $0.50/2 coupon which doubled
Prego Pasta Sauce: BOGO at $2.07, used $1.00/2 coupon
Gorton’s Frozen Shrimp: BOGO at 7.99, used $0.50/1 coupon which doubled
Bird’s Eye Steamfresh Chef’s Favorite Frozen Vegetables: on sale 50% off, used $0.50/1 coupon which doubled
Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats: BOGO at $3.29, used $0.40/1 coupon which doubled
Mentos Up2U Gum: $1.09, used $1.00/1 coupon
Total Out of Pocket: 7.26
Total Saved: $17.67

And I had this fun freebie in my mailbox

I’ve learned that when you send off for freebies, they more often than not come with a coupon. So even if the freebie is dinky (like a single packet of Splenda), the coupons make them worth sending off for.

So there you have it! The beginning of my year in coupons. We’ll see how it goes from here!