E-coupons

I know there are some of you out there who don't want to bother with paper coupons--the clipping, filing, and researching and all. Well, you can still save! If you have a Kroger card, you can have coupons loaded onto your card that will come off automatically when you buy that item. Now I realize that Kroger doesn't have the cheapest prices on a regular basis. But you've got to admit that when they have a sale, it's generally a good one. And they double coupons too. I shop more at Kroger now than I do anywhere else, just because we are living mostly on the things I get from there really cheap on sale with a coupon or whatever.

These three websites have e-coupons for Kroger:
Shortcuts.com
Cellfire.com

PGesaver.com

I load on the ones that I will use, and I check the sites before heading out to see if there are any e-coupons for items that I already have a manufacturer's coupon for (that's doubled) or are on sale. If an item is on sale and I have a paper coupon for it, the e-coupon still comes off too! There is one e-coupon for $.50 off a 4-pack of Cottonelle. The regular price for it at Kroger is $.99, so it ends up being only $.49.

You can use the coupon for only one item, but you can re-load the same coupon back on your card for the next time you go. Before I go to Kroger, I stop to see if there are any coupons I want to load.

To keep track of which coupons I have, I print out the page with my coupons listed. (I print them enlarged.) Then I cut them apart and file them with my regular coupons.

Look what Lee brought home!

Yep--I mentioned something about a bread maker for Christmas, and I guess Lee decided that it was such a good idea, that we couldn't wait until Christmas for it! We got a few ingredients that we were missing, mainly yeast, at Aldi this afternoon, and set out to make a yummy loaf of warm, fresh bread.

I read the directions carefully for the "quick" bread which takes all of an hour to mix and bake. I put the ingredients into the machine in the proper order and turned it on. A short while later, Lee called me up, and the machine was smoking a little out the back and smelled like something was burning. Upon looking into the machine, the ingredients were really dry (looked like sand), so flour must have escaped the pan and gotten onto the burners. I guess I somehow measured something wrong--water or flour or something. So after the machine cooled, Lee measured up a batch and turned it on. An hour later, we were removing a wonderful-smelling, beautiful, crusty loaf of white bread. I sliced it up right then and there, and little of it remains. Lee used two big slices for an enormous sandwich, Molly used two small slices for a sandwich, and Adam and I just ate warm bread with butter on it. MMMMmmmmm.... Then Adam ate the rest of Lee's sandwich that he couldn't finish.

We are going to experiment with different recipes and find one that we like that doesn't cost much to make. I am going to try freezing the slices to make them last longer (no preservatives=spoils quickly). I figure I can freeze two slices and take them straight from the freezer to the kids' lunch boxes. Well, that is, if the loaf can even survive long enough to cool off good.

We have set out to find ways to save money various ways--by couponing and stockpiling, and by making our own stuff, when it is cheaper to do so. We want to make eating at home more attractive than eating out. And, since I'm not so crazy about fixing up elaborate gourmet meals, we have to work hard to keep the restaurants out of our minds. The bread machine is just another step in this journey.

KMart is doubling coupons again!

And most of their food items are on clearance 40% off. They are getting ready to remodel or something. But be prepared--they are sold out of a lot of things. But I did manage to get 72 items, and my total was $71.11! I put it all away before I thought about taking a picture. But it was a lot of stuff, and mostly food!

$157.09 - merchandise total (after some were discounted 40%)
(95.34) in coupons (after doubling)
9.36 tax
= $71.11 total oop (out of pocket)

I actually still need to go to the store to get bread, ground beef, lunch meats, etc. since Kmart was cleaned out of that kind of stuff. I got lots of cookie dough, and a bunch of Ziplock containers. So I can make and give away lots of Christmas cookies! Oh, there I go again, posting about Christmas presents. Well, I didn't say WHO I would give them to, now did I?

A whole day of shopping

I spent the day yesterday finding deals, sorting coupons, and shopping. We needed some groceries, so I figured it was time to do some serious bargain hunting.

I started at Walgreens, went to another Walgreens, Schnucks, Aldi, Kroger, and Piggly Wiggly.

I added up all my purchases last night, all my coupons, the money out of pocket, and the rebates. In all my shopping, I purchased $231.54 worth of items (nearly all were on sale). I used $96.81 in coupons, bringing my total spent to $134.73. I will be getting back $55.97 in rebates, so that's a total of $78.76 spent. I also used a gift card from Walgreens which contained my rebate from last month to pay for $50 or so, so that is only $84.69 out of pocket. I got a few small Christmas gifts, groceries, and a few personal care items.

It's kind of time-consuming, but if you really need to lessen the amount spent at the store, it's worth it!