Baby Deal at Jewel!!

Ok, GL friends...lots of you have little 'uns so here's a deal for you. Thank you CouponersWanted for the list of participating products!

Buy $30 in baby products receive coupon for $10 off your next order of baby products.

Similac:

Isomil Advance Ready to Feed Advance 32oz.
Similac Advance Ready to feed Advanced 32oz.
Similac Organic 23.2 oz powder.
Isomil Advance 23.2oz powder.
Similac Advance 23.2oz powder
Similac Sensitive 23.2oz powder
Similac Sensitive RS 23.2oz powder
Similac Advance Organic Ready to feed 32oz.

Pampers

Baby Dry Big Packs or Jumbo(Sizes 1-6)
Extra Protection Jumbos(Sizes 4-5)
Underjams Jumbos Size 7
Swaddlers Big Packs or Jumbos (Sizes 0-2)
Cruisers Big Packs or Jumbos (Sizes 3-6)
Easy Ups Big Packs of Jumbos ( Size 4-5)

Huggies

Natural Care Baby Wipes (fragrance free) 360 ct.
Soft Skin Baby wipes refills 320 ct.
Snug and Dry Diapers Big Pack (Sizes 3-6)
Little Movers big Pack (Sizes 3-6)
Pull Ups Big Pack (2T-4T)
Goodnites Sleep Pants (S-XL)

Baby Basics

Diapers Club Box (Sizes 3-5)
Baby Formula Soy 25.75 oz.

Johnson & Johnson

Bedtime Washcloths 14ct
Baby Lotion Original and Vanilla 15oz
Baby Oil 14oz
Baby Oil Gel Original and Cocoa Butter 6.5oz
Baby Cream 8oz
Baby Powder 15oz
Baby Shampoo 13-15oz(Original, Lavender, Detangling, Extra Conditioning)
Body Wash Original ,Vanilla Oatmeal 15oz
Johnsons Leave in Conditioner 5oz.
Bubble Bath 15oz

Misc.

Boost Kid Essentials (Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry)
Playtex WetOnes 40 ct. Canisters(Original, Scented, Citrus)


Gerber

Second Food Puree 7 oz. ALL fruit and vegtable varieties (does not include organic)
Graduate Puffs(All)
Graduates Crackers
Graduates Lil Crunchies(All)
Graduates Lil Entrees(All)
Graduates for Preschoolers Healthy Meals(Pasta Primavera w/chicken, Pizza pasta w/turkey, Southwest Rice w/chicken)

For Gretchen

I know I need to pick up where I left off down there with the Jewel tutorial, but right now I need to get up "Gretchen's cheat sheet" LOL!

Kraft buy $20 get $5
4 cream cheese blocks 10.36/5.16
2 wheat thins 8.38/4.98
1 capri sun 2.19/1.99
=20.93/12.13
-4.10 in MQs
=8.03 pay with cats/ybs; get back $5 Kraft cat and $1 cream cheese cat

Other items on my list
Coffemate $1ea and 0.75yb wyb 2
Jewel sugar $1.88ea and 1yb wyb 2
BOGO McCormicks grinders 3.25ea
Marinated salmon portions 3.99ea
all laundry detergent (not sure of price) 1.25yb wyb 1
3 boxes of Kelloggs cereal = free gallon of milk
BOGO Oberweiss choc milk :)

Probably another Kraft deal with Capri sun and cheese :)

Hope that helps, let me know if I can be more specific.

Pogue ma'hone!

Ok, not really...unless your my brother and reading this LOL! Ha!

Sunshine glorious sunshine, OH HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU! Please don't leave me again, promise? My mood has been drastically improved in the past 2 days which solidifies my belief that I do indeed suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

There hasn't been a lot to blog about here recently, besides deals and shopping. DevilDoc is STILL in school and I am STILL going crazy missing him and being the primary parent figure. He was planning to take the week of spring break off from work to get a break but OF COURSE every other person in the clinic already asked for time off...and well, we ARE still the low man on the totem pole. I am hoping he can at least get a couple days off for a break; I dunno how he goes to work every morning and deals with all the BS and then goes directly to school afterward. When he comes home he sets up camp at the kitchen table and studies until 11 or 12 o'clock - then to bed to be up by 5am and back at work. THIS MAN NEEDS A BREAK!

That's all really...except in case you didn't know Magoo wants to see "Diarrhea of a Wimpy Kid" LMAO!

Friends and neighbors

I'm gearing up for a coupon exchange brunch tomorrow; I've got my expired coupons all gathered up to trade. I put together some goodie bags from my "house party" a couple of weeks ago to give away and I have a HUGE manila envie filled with coupons to trade (baby stuff, cat stuff, stuff we don't use). I'm excited to see old friends and meet new ones, to learn more about saving money and share what I know and of course...to 'nuggle on some babies!

Here's a little sumpin' sumpin' to chew on 'til I get back - we are gonna talk about Jewel next, so get your Jewel Preferred Card. You can get it online or in the store. Once you've got the number (you can print out a temporary card when you register online) head on over to Catalina Marketing to sign up for "YourBucks". It's a special promotion at Jewel right now in conjunction with Comcast - at least that is what we think anyway.

Get yourself all organized for Jewel, the new sales flyer comes out tomorrow so I'll be back to hook up the deals!

"More on that later"

In yesterday's post I wrote "more on that later" by the $3.80 in eCoupons I used for ONE Nature Valley nut clusters. Here's how that works....eCoupons come out a couple times a month, I think? Honestly, I am not sure how often but it seems like A LOT! So, everytime they come out I load them to my card....remember I said LOAD EVERYTHING even if you think you will NEVER USE IT!

I loaded nut cluster eCoupons 3 times and they hadn't expired yet, so when I bought that one bag it took off ALL 3 that I had loaded PLUS it took of 2-.40/1 Nature Valley granola bars. Not sure WHY it does that granola bar thing, but it does. So, my $1 bag of nut clusters (b/c I bought 5 of the participating products) actually EARNED me $2.80 which in turn brought my total purchase down! That $2.80 in overage helped cover the asparagus and some of the Fruity Pebbles.

Make sense?

Getting everyone on the same page

I don't want to re-invent the wheel here. You can see along the right side of my page LOTS of links to different bloggers and coupon sites that I use regularly. I don't want to do what they do, I'd like to focus on my own niche...the military shopper :) So, I hope to help you stretch your grocery budget even further every month by bringing you deals from the GREAT LAKES area!

I highly encourage you to make a price book from the commissary of the items you most commonly buy. I did this so I can compare the sale prices of the local stores to the regular prices at the commissary...then I can figure out the coupons, store sale savings and money back for buying particular items.

New ads/sales start on Thursdays, so today is PERFECT to jump right in. Let me tell you about Dominick's first.

Dominick's

Before you even get started LOOKING at the deals, GET A DOMINICK'S card! The little one that attaches to your key ring. You can print out an application online and fill it out at home or you can just go to the customer service desk at the store and get one.

Once you have it, go load eCoupons. There are several different types of eCoupons; shortcuts, Cellfire, P&G eSaver and coupons.com that will also allow you to print (you must have a coupons.com account to log in and load your Dominick's card).

Have I lost ya yet? Hang on, you'll get it...I promise. If I can do it, anyone can do it!

I know you are looking at all those coupons thinking, "I don't even USE half this stuff". Don't worry about it right now, just ADD EVERYTHING! Trust me.

Now let's look at the ad. If you are reading this on Wednesday night and looking at the ad it is still for last week. Wait 'til tomorrow to see the new ad - which is the one I am going to be talking about.

The big hulabaloo at Dominick's this week is the Buy 5 Save $5 promotion.

Buy ANY combination of 5 participating items with your Fresh Values Card (Dominick's card) in a single transaction between March 11-17, 2010, and SAVE $5 or more instantly!

Group One

• Eating Right cut vegetables 12-oz. package. Selected varieties.
• Eating Right salad blends 5 to 12-oz. package. Selected varieties.
• Fresh Express salad blends 4.5 to 12-oz. package. Selected varieties.
• Marie's pourable dressings 11.5-oz. bottle. Selected varieties.
• POM Wonderful tea 16-oz. Selected varities.
• Monterey mushrooms 10-oz. OR whole & sliced white button mushrooms 8-oz.

NO LIMIT! The more you buy, the more you save!

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by spelling out every.single.sale.item. So, look at the ad while you follow along.

There is another "Buy any 5 Save $5" mix and match sale with cereals, fruit snacks and granola bars. Check in store to see LOTS more than just the brands/types pictured. Remember, you MUST BUY 5 of these items to SAVE the additional $5!

Another great deal going on right now at Dominick's is the "CHILL" deal because it's frozen food month :)

Buy $25 in participating products (thanks slickdeals!)and receive a $10 coupon to use on your next purchase of frozen food. (Choose frozenfood-upc.pdf from that link). Your total must reach $25 on Fresh Value card prices BEFORE taxes and coupons! SO, if you have some super awesome coupons (AND e Coupons) you could really bring your total down and still get that $10 coupon.

I'll give you a "for instance" on this particular deal. DevilDoc likes the Yoplait smoothie things. (A) they don't carry them at the commissary and (B) they are WAAAAY too expensive without some kind of deal. Last week they were 2/$6 AND included in the CHILL promotion. I bought 6 of them ($18) and added some other items to get to my $25 mark. I used $6 in coupons ($1/1) to bring my total down. I also had coupons for those other couple items I bought to get to the $25. When all was said and done I spent $16 (after coupons) and got back a $10 coupon to use on my next frozen food purchase. A VERY good price for that particular item and a BONUS because I got a coupon to use next time :)

Once you start "collecting" coupons you will REALLY see your savings skyrocket. The BEST part about Dominick's?! FOR NOW, they take expired coupons up to a year!! Yes, you read that right...you can use coupons up to a year AFTER their expiration date. I say "for now" because some stores may give you flack about it while others may not even bat an eyelash. Just keep that in mind :)

I would scan in my receipt from today to show you an example (and I probably will do that later) but I am tired so I'll just break it down for you!

4 Betty Crocker fruit snacks @1.99 = 7.96
-1.50 eCoupons
1 Betty Crocker fruit shapes@1.99 = 1.99
-.40 eCoupons
1 Nature Valley nut clusters@2.50 (saleprice)
-3.80 eCoupons!!!!! (more on that later)
4 Fruity pebbles@2.50 = 10.00 (saleprice)
1 4lb bag frozen Safeway chicken breast@8.99 (sale price)
-1.00 eCoupon
.92lb asparagus@1.99lb = 1.37 (saleprice)

SAVE $5 instantly on 5 fruit snacks
SAVE $5 instantly on 5 cereal/granola
-$10 CHILL coupon from my Yoplait deal I talked about above
-.50/2 fruit snacks
-1.00/2 fruit snacks
-1.00/asparagus
-1.00/1 nut clusters

Total $3.01 (of which .40 was tax)!
AND, there are special promotions going on right now with the fruit snacks and select POST cereals called "Catalinas". They are called this because the marketing company who runs the promotions is called "Catalina Marketing". Google it to find out more specifics. You may see little white tags on the shelf at the store saying "Save $1 when you buy 2" or something of the like. Typically, the savings increases with the number of items you purchase. For these particular deals POST) I bought 4 cereals so I got a coupon at the end of my order for $3.00 off my next order total and for fruit snacks) I bought 5 so I got a $3.50 coupon to use off my next order total.

I paid $3.01 BUT received $6.50 in coupons to use next time...so REALLY they PAID me to bring the groceries home to the tune of $3.49!

For more in depth information on catalinas and basic couponing in general I HIGHLY suggest checking out
Jill Cataldo. She also holds couponing classes ALL OVER the state. I haven't been to one yet, but I am going to keep trying!

Hope that gives everyone a jumping off point. I know it is A LOT to digest; take it SLOW! Ease into it! It is NOT for everyone and it does take time and patience. It works for my family and I have FUN doing it.

Feel free to leave a comment or send me a note with any questions.

***Disclaimer-I do not make ANY guarantees on the amount of money you will save on your grocery bill. I share my experiences with you in hopes that you can make the most of your grocery budget.

As always, MAD props to the peeps over at CW who allow me to follow them and learn the way of the Jedi.

And away we go

CORRECTION!! THIS ENDED 3/10....HOPE YOU GOT YOUR POPCORN :)

Per request...an easy one:


Ok, I’ll start ya off with something easy. Jewel has a promotion going with ConAgra (and a few other) products through 3/14…but we’re keeping it simple; so here ya go:

Buy $25 in ConAgra products and recveive a $10 coupon to use on your next order. For NOW the $25 is based on the price the item scans at the register BEFORE your preferred card.

So, right now Orville Redenbacher (which is included in this ‘deal’) is ring price 3.59 preferred price 1.69. This is what is called a “good spread” between the ring price and the preferred price.

So, buy 7 popcorn at 3.59 = 25.13 plus tax. Use (3) $2 off 2 boxes coupons from www.save-a-lot.com (go to printable coupons, it should let you print it 5 times) . Your preferred price total will be $11.83 MINUS your $6 in coupons = $5.83 plus tax and you get back a $10 coupon to use on your next purchase. You just got PAID to take popcorn home 

***These are the UPC codes for the popcorn varities that will work towards this deal:
ORVILLE REDENBACHER
2700048244 ORVILLE REDENBACHER BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048856 ORVILLE REDENBACHER BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048363 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL BUTTER 8.60 OZ
2700048372 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048741 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL NATURAL 8.60 OZ
2700048855 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL SIMPLY SALTED 9.90 OZ
2700048206 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL BTRY SLT & CRCKD P#1 6.20 OZ
2700048207 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL BUTTERY GARLIC 6.20 OZ
2700050000 ORVILLE REDENBACHER NATURAL LIME AND SALT 6.21 OZ
2700048539 ORVILLE REDENBACHER POUR OVER MOVIE THEATER BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048540 ORVILLE REDENBACHER POUR OVER CHEDDAR CHEESE 9.30 OZ
2700048250 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SMART POP BUTTER 8.60 OZ
2700048648 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SMART POP BUTTER 8.60 OZ
2700048288 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SMART POP BUTTER 4.90 OZ
2700048198 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SMART POP KETTLE CORN 4.90 OZ
2700048223 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SMART POP KETTLE CORN 8.60 OZ
2700048478 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SMART POP MOVIE THEATER BUTTER 8.60 OZ
2700048596 ORVILLE REDENBACHER MOVIE THEATER BUTTER 9.00 OZ
2700048606 ORVILLE REDENBACHER MOVIE THEATER BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048289 ORVILLE REDENBACHER MOVIE THEATER BUTTER 6.00 OZ
2700048187 ORVILLE REDENBACHER CHEDDAR CHEESE 7.60 OZ
2700048589 ORVILLE REDENBACHER CHEDDAR CHEESE 9.00 OZ
2700048393 ORVILLE REDENBACHER KETTLE CORN 9.90 OZ
2700048200 ORVILLE REDENBACHER KETTLE CORN 6.40 OZ
2700048862 ORVILLE REDENBACHER CARAMEL 13.00 OZ
2700048102 ORVILLE REDENBACHER TENDER WHITE 9.90 OZ
2700048391 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SWEET N BUTTERY 10.50 OZ
2700048402 ORVILLE REDENBACHER ULTIMATE BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048403 ORVILLE REDENBACHER HOMESTYLE OLD FASHIONED BUTTER 9.90 OZ
2700048404 ORVILLE REDENBACHER CORN ON THE COB 9.90 OZ
2700048590 ORVILLE REDENBACHER SPICY NACHO 9.00 OZ
2700048742 ORVILLE REDENBACHER LIGHT BUTTER 8.60 OZ
2700048357 ORVILLE REDENBACHER 12/4 1.6OZ HERB & OIL

My tip, scan your items FIRST to make sure you hit $25 BEFORE TAX!!!! Then scan your preferred card for the discount.
***Thanks to Barb09 et al. at CW for this information.

What would you like to see?

First off, let me say SORRY for being gone for so long. My laptop finally met its maker and I had to scurry out and buy a new one. I CANNOT even get it to START so I lost ALL MY BOOKMARKS and my budget spreadsheet :( I am hoping DevilDoc can persuade one of the IT guys at the clinic to hand out some free advice *insert eye fluttering here* pretty pretty please?

Anywhose, I've had LOTS of peeps in my little circle asking me "HOW do you DO THAT?!" and I've promised to share. I think THIS is the perfect place to share, but I want to know - what would you like to see? There are a few options:

I can put up some easy deals with readily available coupons that you can get your feet wet with.
I can put up MY shopping plan for Jewel, Dominick's or both.
You can suggest any variation of the above and I will do my best.

So, what would you like to see?

Disclaimer: I in NO way, shape or form purport to be any kind of coupon wizard. Sometimes I can come up with a deal on my own, but usually I have tweak deals I've seen on the net to suit my family. Remember, what I buy might NOT be what you buy so the deal won't work for you. Just a reminder before we get started :) And, as always, THANK YOU CW...without you I would NOT be able to "do what I do."