Lives Lived Frugaly: March 2009

Getting Started with Coupon Shopping

I have been receiving LOTS of emails and requests from people about how to get started with coupons. I would LOVE LOVE to help everyone but I know its impossible for me to help everyone and a lot of you live out of town. Coupons aren't really something you can explain through email because there is so much information. I signed up for couponsense this month just to see what it was all about. I am really impressed with the information they offer but I wont continue doing it just because I already know how to find the deals on my own. I think its really great for beginners. The first month is 4.00 so you can try it out and if you dont like it you can cancel your subscription. They teach you everything about organizing your coupons and they tell you what the good deals are so you can pull your coupons. They also have ways to create your shopping list and message boards. You also have an instructor who you can email and call if you need. I would really recommend it because it will help you maximize your savings right off. If you do decide to do couponsense, Kelley McCormick is a really great instructor! Also put your referral person as Sarah Bast since I wont be doing the program much longer. She is my neighbor who referred me and is the reason I am referring the program as well. Hope this helps everyone!!

Also- if you live near fry's the cereal is a really good deal this week so check it out! :)

Fry's this week

For me Fry's was the place to go this week. They are doing their 5 off when you buy 10 participating items. If you dont have a Fry's near you, Safeway is doing the same thing. I just have Fry's right across the street and get discounts on gas when I shop there. Here are a few ideas of things on sale and what you should have coupons for. Most of this stuff I got and I only spent $41 at check out. Also remember the idea of coupon shopping is to stock up when things are on sale so if you have more than one coupon make sure you use the ones you have so you stay stocked up until it goes on sale again.

All prices are assuming you buy at least 10 items and after coupon as well.
Tropicana Juice - 1.39
Chex mix bars -. 50
Nature Valley bars - .50
Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks - .50
Irish Spring Soap (3 bars) - .50
Sargento Cheese - .50
Colgate toothpaste - FREE
Cottonelle toilet Paper - FREE

I had three coupons for all this stuff so I bought three of each plus the Irish Spring coupon you had to buy two so I got about 18 bars of soup for 3.00. I also got some other things like chicken broth which was on sale, fruits, veggies, hamburger buns, black beans, BBQ chip, el pato sauce, and other random things. All this for 41.oo so you can for sure do it too! Good Luck shopping this week!!

Target & CVS

Well today I got the free bread and pledge wipes at Target thanks to commonsensewithmoney. Make sure to print your coupons off the target website before you go. Also you need a manufacturer coupon for the pledge too. At CVS I got the toothpaste that was free after ECB. Yes I finally did it, I started CVS and my first experience was good except they were out of quite a few things I wanted to get. If you are looking for more freebies check for the Irish Spring soap and the right guard deodorant at CVS as well. I am looking forward to grocery deals which come out tomorrow and hopefully will be able to keep my blog better updated with weekly sales.

Freebies!

Dont we all just love freebies! This week you can get toothpaste, toothbrushes, and deodorant for free. Also you can get a jumbo pack of huggies diapers for 1.99 after your coupon. Also we got Kelloggs cereal at Fry's for .50 this week because our freebies made 10 items and you get 5 off at checkout. Not too bad.

I also hope everyone got the free shampoo, conditioner, gum, and hair style stuff last week for free. I didnt have time to post. Actually I think the sale goes through Sunday so you still might be able to get it at Wal-greens. Good-luck shopping this week. Fry's especially has some good deals this week so make sure you check out their add or go to pinchingyourpennies for more details.

I just saw this too. Resturaunts.com is 80% off. Reed and I took advantage of this last month and got two 25 giftcards for 4.00. Now we have a cheaper date night or gift for someone. Just enter the code MENU at checkout and get a 25 giftcard for 2.00. Some of them do have stipulations so make sure you read.

A few savings Ideas..

Today was a pretty good day. I was gone most of this week so I really didnt have time to do grocery, grocery shopping so instead I just found a few good deals and went and got them today. Hopefully this will help you with a few ideas too. I basically spent 9.45 on all the stuff below and saved 34.47 which is like 86% of my bill. I printed of the 5.00 off coupons from coupons.com and Target had wipes for 5.99 so I got 3 of those for .99 each. I had coupons for free eggs, 1.00 of ice cream ( it was on sale for 2.99), 4.00 two baby products, and 3.00 on diapers. I spent a total of 5.45 at Fry's using all my coupons plus all of the stuff was on sale too. I also went by wal-greens and got two of the rebate items which was cold medicine and axe shampoo + conditioner and paid with my gift card so it was free plus I will submit the rebates which make them free anyways. You can also try to get the free Gillette face and body wash from target or Wal-mart by using your coupon for that. I tried but they didnt have it at Target. At least I couldnt find it.