5 Reasons to Visit Giant This Week, 04/09-04/15

Cereal, chicken breasts, strawberries, Dannon, and much more!

1. Kellogg's Cereal, 4/$6, must buy 4
   Frosted Flakes
   Froot Loops
   Raisin Bran
   Rice Krispies
   Apple Jacks
   $1.50/2 Raisin Bran, redplum.com
   $1/2 Froot Loops, Corn Pops, and Apple Jacks, 03/07 RP
   Best deal: Buy 4, use two $1.50/2 printables, pay $3 for four boxes of Raisin Bran ($0.75/box)
   
   
2. SUPER G Boneless Chicken Breast, $1.99/lb. (Stock-up price!)
   
   
3. Strawberries, 2 lb. package, $2.99 (Save at least $2.80)
   
   
4. Dannon Yoghurt, 20/$10
   $1/10 or $0.60/6, 03/14 SS
   $1/10 or $0.60/6, 03/28 SS2
   Lowest possible price: $0.30/cup
   
   
5. Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies, BOGO (Save at least $3.39)
   $1/2 or $0.50/1, 02/21 SS
   HOT: $1/1 printable! Print two, and get them for $0.70/bag!
   Edit: I see with a closer look that these are soft chunk version coupons. Maybe soft chunk are BOGO as well, but you'll have to print the coupons (I haven't had a chance to myself, yet), and compare the terms with the deals in store. Let us know what you find out!
   Lowest possible price, $0.50/1 coupon: $1.39 for two, or $0.70/bag!
   Lowest possible price, $1/2 coupon: $2.39 for two, or $1.20/bag!
   
   
6. BONUS reason: Mennen Speed Stick, 24/7, BOGO
   $0.50/1, 03/28 SS2
   Final price: $2 off the price of one, for two!

Other Reasons to Visit Giant This Week:

Petite Sirloin Roast, $3.99/lb. (Save at least $2/lb.)

Fresh Pork Tenderloin, $3.99/lb. (Save at least $2/lb.)

Fresh Pork Spareribs, $1.99/lb. (Save at least $2/lb.)

Snow Crab Clusters, $4.99/lb. (Save at least $4/lb.)

Nature's Promise Whole Chicken, $1.39/lb.

Nature's Promise Boneless Beef Chuck Steak, $3.99/lb.

Sweet Red Peppers, $1.99/lb. (Save at least $0.50/lb.)

Sabra to Go Hummus Snacks with Pretzels (Original, Red Pepper, or Hummus), 10/$10

Giant Ice Cream, $1.99

Polly-O String Cheese, 2/$7
$1/1, 03/28 SS
Final price: $2.50/ea.

Dannon Yoghurt 4 or 6 packs, 2/$4
$0.60/1 multipack, 03/14 SS and 03/28 SS2

Nature's Promise Bread, 2/$5

Nature's Promise Organic Cage Free Eggs, $3.69

Nature's Promise Cookies, 2/$5

Ethnic Gourmet Entrees, $3.29

Quaker Instant Oatmeal, 2/$5
$1/1 (bricks type)
$1/1 True Delights Instant Oatmeal, 02/14 RP, or $1/1 here
Final price; $1.50/ea.

Pillsbury Toaster Strudel, 2/$5
$1/1
$0.55/2, 02/07 GM or 03/07 SS
Final price: $1.50-$1.95/ea.

Del Monte Vegetables, 10/$10
$1/8, 03/21 RP
Final price: $7 for 8

Progresso Light Soups, 3/$5
$0.25/1 Light or $1/4 any, 02/21 SS
Final price: As low as $1.16/can

Campbell's Cream Soups, 10/$10
$0.30/4, 02/28 SS and 03/28 SS
Final price: $3.40 for 4

Campbell's Pork and Beans, 3/$1

Bertolli Complete Dinner for Two, $5.99
$1/1, or $1/1 from 03/14 RP
Final price: $4.99

Hebrew National Beef Franks, BOGO (Save at least $4.99)
$0.75/1, 03/07 SS
Final price, using two coupons: $1.99 for two!

San Giorgio Pasta, 10/$10

Prego Pasta Sauce, 2/$4
$1/1 Heart Smart Italian, 02/07 SS
Final price: $1/ea.

Classico Pasta Sauce, 2/$5
$1/2
$1.50 off two sauces and fresh beef, 03/14 SS
$1/5
Final price: varies

Weight Watchers Smart Ones, 5/$10
$1.50/7, January All You
$3/10, 01/10 SS
Free breakfast when you buy 5, 01/10 SS
Free flatbread when you buy 3, 01/10 SS

Juicy Juice, 2/$4
$1/1 Brain Development Juicy Juice
Final price: $1/ea., if the coupon applies

Brawny Paper Towels, 8 pack, $5.99 (Save at least $2.50)
$0.50/1, 03/14 RP
Final price: $4.99, compare with retail of $8.49

Scott Bath Tissue 20 pack, $11.99 (Save at least $3)
$1/1, 03/21 SS, or March All You
Final price: $10.99, compare with retail of $15.99

Osteo Bi-Flex, BOGO
$5/1, 01/24 and 03/07 RPs
Final price: $10 off the price of one, for two!

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FREE Rotisserie Chicken and Dole 12 oz. bagged salad (estimated $8+ retail) with new or transferring pharmacy customers.

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Save $5 off your order instantly when you purchase 6 participating Arm & Hammer products in one transaction. Limit 1 per transaction.

Arm & Hammer Printables Here

Arm & Hammer 2X Liquid Detergent, 2/$5

Arm & Hammer Toothpaste, 2/$7
$2.50/2 Oral Care Products, 03/21 SS

Nair Depilatory Products, Save $1
$3/2

Oxi Clean, $2.99
Oxi Clean Coupons

Arm & Hammer Clean Burst Detergent, $4.99

Arm & Hammer Fabric Softener Sheets, $2.99
$1/1, 03/28 RP

Arm & Hammer Super Scoop Cat Litter, $7.99

Sample transaction: Buy 5 of the fabric softener sheets, use 5 $1 coupons, and save $5 instantly. Net: ~$5 + tax for 5 boxes!

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Save $3 off your next order (a Catalina coupon) when you purchase $10 worth of participating Maybelline cosmetics and/or Garnier products in one transaction.

Maybelline Great Lash Mascara, $4.99
$1/1, 03/28 RP

Maybelline Define-A-Line $4.99

Maybelline Express Finish Nail Color, $2.99

Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color or Volume Express Mascara, $4.99

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Products, Save $2

Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color, $6.99

Garnier Herbashine Hair Color, $5.99
$2/1 or $2/2, 03/07 RP

Fructis Hair Care, 2/$5
$1/1, 03/07 RP

Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Care, Save $1
$1/1, 03/07 RP

Deal idea: Buy 4 items of Fructis Hair Care for $10, use four $1 coupons. Pay $6 for four shampoos, and get a $3 Catalina. Net $3 for four shampoos - $0.75/each!

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Meal Deal: FREE Country Crock Side Dish when you buy a Hormel Fully Cooked Entree.

$0.40/1
$0.40/1, 03/07 Unilever insert
$0.30/1, 03/07 RP

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This post is part of BeCentsAble's Grocery Gathering

What other Giant coupon matchups and deals did you spot for the coming week? Did we make any deal-calculating hiccups? Post a comment to let us know!

5 Reasons to Visit Giant This Week, 03/19-03/25

I'm going to keep this week's Giant deals simple in order to focus on the generally deeper, more time-constrained set of discounts available by shopping Shopper's Food Warehouse double and triple coupons this weekened, March 18 through March 21. If I catch other Giant deals later in the week, they will be added to this post.

1. The $10/$20 General Mills Catalina Deal. Gina already covered this quite nicely, so we will direct you to her post for the details/matchups for the hot Catalina deal good through 03/25 (listed on this week's Giant ad's back page). She also blogged that retail prices count toward the $20 threshold, so that makes the deal that much sweeter (see her Giant runs here!)! If you want an easy scenario, just buy 10 5-lb. bags of all-purposes regular or unbleached Gold Medal Flour (no coupons currently available, though earlier this month there were some on coupons.com). With the $10 Catalina, you'll be paying a net of $1/bag, which is pretty cheap! (If you think this is too much for you to store, consider going in with one or two friends to get the price.)
   
   For reference, a 25-lb. bag of all-purpose flour costs around $6.75 at the Woodbridge Sam's Club, so in this simple scenario, you could get 5x5-lb. = 25 lb. of flour which would cost you $5 net.
   
   
2. The $3/$15 Nature's Promise Catalina deal is back ON. Buy $15 worth of Nature's Promise products, and you'll receive a $3 Catalina back. As I theorized, this deal is "rollable", but only if you are willing to go to Customer Service. In other words, if you have a transaction consisting only of at least $15 of Nature's Promise products, and you apply a Catalina that you already have to it, this will bring the total under $15, and the computer will not recognize it. BUT, as Customer Service did for me, you can go to the Customer Service counter and point out your items totalling $15 and get your $3 back (I received cash; your situation may be different...). If you buy $15 of NP products and at least $3 of something else, though, the deal will likely go through at checkout.
   
   
3. London Broil or Chuck Steak or Roast, $1.99/lb. This is about as cheap as it gets for crock-pottable beef (excepting the annual Corned-Beef-a-Thon).
   
   
4. Cheap Produce. Tomatoes on the Vine, bagged Giant European Salads, Dole Salad Blends, and Blackberries are all $1.88.
   
   
5. General Mills Cereal, 2/$4. This includes Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, or Cinnamon Chex.
   $1/2 GM cereals
   Final price: $1.50/box
   OK, admittedly I thought I'd dig up some sweeter coupons for this, like the usual roundup of $0.55/1 and $0.75/1 printables from coupons.com and the Betty Crocker and Pillsbury websites - anybody have any tips on relevant and active GM coupons?
   
   

Frugal Fridays: Flexible Spending Accounts

It's time for the blog carnival Frugal Fridays - when we blog about the small habits and other tidbits we include in our comings and goings to save money on a regular basis.

We have a Flexible Spending Account through my husband's employer. It allows our healthcare-related expenses to be pre-tax, which ultimately saves us about 20% on what we spend on those expenses!

There are a couple of big ways that you can do FSA shopping once you secure an FSA through your employer. One is to buy FSA-elligible items, and submit receipts for those items at the end of the spending year. The other (which I use the most) is to buy FSA-elligible items with an FSA-specific credit card issued to you, and use that credit card only on FSA items to ensure that you are spending only on what qualifies.

The tricky part of an FSA is trying to determine a) what you already buy that qualifies, and b) how much you think you'll spend on that over the course of the spending year. If you don't use your FSA-set-aside dollars, you lose them! I know of a coworker who once discovered that her FSA spending year deadline was fast approaching, and so she set about finding a pricey pair of prescription glasses just to ensure that her FSA dollars wouldn't float out into the ether, utterly foregone.

As you can see, it can quickly turn into a "The Price Is Right"-style game. Ultimately, you're generally better off erring on the side of setting aside less than you'd spend than more, since FSA-set-aside money that you don't spend is forfeit.

Here are just a few examples of things that may qualify under your FSA plan (check your plan specifics to be sure!):

Over-the-counter cold and pain medications
Allergy medications
Sunscreen
Diaper rash creams
Bandages
Doctor's office visit and prescription copayments
Flu shots
Eyeglasses and contact lenses

...and much, much more! Even if you're a guru of CVS shopping, you could still stand to save 20% on whatever you do spend on FSA-elligible items, so that's more money in your pocket.

So check out the details of the FSA plans offered by your employers; once you determine your theoretical FSA-elligible pending over the course of the year, the rest (shopping for them, and sometimes saving receipts to submit at year's end) is pretty painless for all the savings you might reap.

Redemption Unlimited is for entertainment purposes only. Mel and A. are not a financial advisers and no information found on this site should be construed as financial advice.

Cottontails Diapers at Giant, 50% Off Large Boxes! $0.16 or less per diaper.

I did another Giant run today (I'll sheepishly admit that we were already almost out of Clementines, a huge craving of mine.).

As I came to the milk/butter/eggs stretch, I noticed in one end-of-aisle markdown shelf that there were three boxes of size 6 Cottontails diapers - my daughter's size! - marked down from $17.98 to $8.99, for each large box of 58! That's ~$0.16/diaper. I'm sure willing to give'em a shot at that price, especially daytimes!

Not sure exactly why they were marked down, but often packs of diapers will be marked down for no other reason than to make shelf space for different "denominations" - for instance, could be stocking a new box containing 52 diapers for $17.98, an unfortunately common occurrence in the past couple of years.

If you're at Giant in the coming days and have any kiddos in diapers, check out the markdowns section! You might be able to snag them even cheaper since the largest sizes are the highest cost per diaper.

Other deals I snagged:

Stacy's Pita Chips, $1/bag
Sunkist and Diet Sunkist, $1 for a 12-pack
Philly cream cheese, $0.58/block
Land O Lakes butter, normally ~$3.79/lb., $1.24/lb. after doubled $0.75/2 coupon
Clementines, $4.44/box
Tangerines, $4.44/box

See the Giant deals for this week here.
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Run to Giant: Lifetime Supply of Clementines, and Enough $0.58/block Philly Cream Cheese to Feed a Small Army

It was a very good run to Giant today. Other than maxing the limit on the cheap Clementines, I bought a whole bunch of frozen spinach, shredded cheese, and 18 blocks (no joke) of Philly Cream Cheese.

To his credit, my husband did not question my sanity when I asked him to load 18 blocks of the cream cheese into the cart. He simply counted them out, and then patiently asked, "Wait, how are these going to be $0.58 a block?"

I had six coupons from a Kraft dessert booklet (collected over a couple of different trips) that has been on dessert displays at Giant and Shopper's Food Warehouse - for $1.25 off 3 of Jell-O, dessert baking chocolate, and/or Philadelphia Cream cheese.

So here's how I ran the scenario:
18 blocks of cream cheese, BOGO (regularly $2/block): $18
6 x $1.25/3 coupons = -$7.50
=======================
Final price: $10.50 for 18 blocks, or $0.58/block!
(You can also use two of these $1.25 coupons to get 6 for $3.50)

There was also a $1/3 in the 11/15 Red Plum. Here's how a similar scenario would work:
18 blocks of cream cheese, BOGO (regularly $2/block): $18
6 x $1/3 coupons = -$6
=======================
Final price: $12 for 18 blocks, or $0.66/block. Still CHEAP!
(You can also use a couple of the $1/3 coupons to get 6 blocks for $4.)

Tonight, I will be making a few batches of freezable and oven-ready warm cheesy spinach dip - and also freezing the remainder of the cream cheese. If you use cream cheese, this is a stocking up opportunity for sure, so keep an eye out for that Kraft dessert booklet!

With a lot of cream cheese around, you could make:

Mexican Hot Dip (only 5 ingredients!)
White Chocolate Cheesecake (*drool*)
Cream Cheese Frosting (so useful this time of year!)
Italian Cream Layer Cake (intriguing)

And a personal favorite I've made many times (a company-pleaser!):

Garlic-Lemon Double Stuffed Chicken
"Not your everyday chicken dish! Stuffed with Cheddar and cream cheeses, then drenched with a garlic-lemon-butter sauce, your friends and family will be begging you to make this recipe - believe me, I know!"

What are you waiting for? Go pounce on this cheap staple! :) Check out all of this week's deals at Giant here.
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First Shopper's Food Warehouse Run - 70% Saved!

(Click above to see larger.)

Ohhhh it was a good trip to Shopper's Food Warehouse this morning. I actually got brave and did my first run using the Shopper's self checkout. I've been comfortable using the Giant one, but each self-checkout system is quirky in its own way, so I'd been hesitant to clog the self-checkouts at Shopper's with tons of coupons. This morning, though, the clogging was at the service checkouts, so I decided to go for it! I'd say it was a good experience. A few pointers:

• If you have any coupons whose tripled total is more than the value of the product, save those 'till last - because like me, you will probably need to ask the self-checkout monitor to process those himself/herself. In my case, I had 6 of these, so it wasn't a big deal. However, if you have a TON of coupons for freebies (with overage?), you might be better off going through the service checkout.
  
  
• Go s-l-o-w-l-y when scanning coupons, and after you've scanned the coupon, be sure to wait until the machine's done gabbing through its, "50 cents savings, 50 cents savings, 50 cents savings," tripled coupon spiel before you put the coupon in the coupon receptacle slot. Be very slow and deliberate about putting your coupon in - you are most likely to register with the machine as having submitted the coupon this way.

Included in this listing are some matchups not originally listed (though they have now been added to the full Shopper's Food Warehouse triple coupon matchups listing):

Mahatma Yellow Rice (saffron package), $0.99
$0.75/2, 08/30 RP
Final price: FREE!

Mahatma Brown Rice, $2.39
$0.55/1, 08/30 RP
Final price: $0.74/bag! Yeah, cheap, healthy eating!

Musselman's Applesauce, Key Lime flavor marked down to $1.55 to clear
$0.50/1, July All You
Final price: $0.05 per four-pack!

Domino Sugar, white, 2 lb. box, $1.99
$0.40/1, 08/30 RP, or $0.30/1, 10/18 RP
Final price: $0.79 to $1.09/box

Domino Dark Brown Sugar, $2.09
$0.40/1, 08/30 RP, or $0.30/1, 10/18 RP
Final price: $0.89 to $1.19/bag

Tyson Honey BBQ Any'Tizers, $2.49
$0.75/1, September All You
Final price: $0.24!

Smithfield Bacon, 2/$6
$0.55/1, 10/25 RP
Final price: $1.35/package!

Yakisoba instant noodles, 10/$10
$0.50/1, 10/18 SS
Final price: FREE!

POM large pomegranate blackberry teas, $2.59
$0.50/1, tearpad not in Shopper's
Final price: $1.09

Breakfast Lean Pockets, $2.95 per two-pack
$0.75/1, 09/27 RP
Final price: $0.70/two-pack

Welch's Guava Pineapple juice, $2.79
$0.75/1, 09/13 SS
Final price: $0.54

Pampers Tub Sensitive Wipes, $2.89
$0.50/1, in package
Final price: $1.39/tub

L'Oreal Kids Shampoo (bottom shelf of shampoo section), $3.28
$0.75/1, 11/01 RP
Final price: $1.03/bottle

Got any coupon matchups of your own to share? Submit a comment at our original post of all the Shopper's triple matchups!
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Natural, Chlorine-Free Diapers via Amazon, Cheaper than Pampers Baby Dry!

Money Saving Mom posted a very simple explanation earlier today of how to get Seventh Generation Chlorine-Free Diapers for cheap, cheap, cheap! Her scenario has them down to $5.85 per jumbo-ish package.

Much to my delight, I was able to get my daughter's size very inexpensively, even cheaper on a per diaper cost ($25.94 for 4 packs of 22, or 29.5 cents/diaper) than to buy Pampers Baby Dry in her size at my WalMart (normally a box of 60 for $18.97, or 31.5 cents per diaper).

If you've ever wanted to try this brand or more natural diapers in general, this is the time to pounce on this super deal! :o)
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Friday Frugal Tidbits Roundup

Here are some tidbits that we've spotted the past week, a mix of eyebrow-raising headlines and common sense:

Overspending on Debit Cards is a Boon for Banks - Via NYT. "...banks now make more covering overdrafts than they do on penalty fees from credit cards." Great incentives to keep close track of your account balances!

How to Cook for Kids Who Aren't Foodies - Via Double X. A great reminder that, when you find frugal recipes using staples that your family loves - you shouldn't feel bad about putting them into regular rotation!

The Social Side of Obesity - You Are Who You Eat With - Via Time magazine. Your dining companions can dictate how much you do or don't eat, often to the tune of hundreds of calories! This applies to concepts of frugality, too. If you and your family members as a group don't overconsume on food, you'll save money and waistlines in the aggregate!

A Weak Back To School Season for Retailers - Again via NYT, from last week. Apparently, with college and high school students' summer jobs being slim pickings, and parents having budget 'reality checks' of their own, prestige retailers like Abercrombie and Fitch are suffering sales drops by as much as 29%. Maybe...just maybe... the consumers are paying half the price for classic jeans will last for a few years instead of those that aren't already professionally deconstructed and abraded.
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A Fall of Stocking Up In Preparation - by A.

I've been thinking a lot about what I need to do this fall to stock our cupboards and freezer. We are expecting our second daughter, due this December! Of course, the frugal streak in me immediately thought, "Sweet! Those girls' clothing deals snagged at Children's Place Outlet at Ralph Lauren Factory Outlet will get another round of wear!" :)

While we didn't exactly plan the pregnancy around the couponing hot streak of the year, it so conveniently happens that the months leading up to the holidays offer some of the most fertile deal-snagging ground on the couponing calendar. With the kickoff of the school year and the triple-whammy that is Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, the deals on nonperishables and convenience foods are sure to be plentiful. I'm going to be like a crazed little squirrel, stockpiling for the winter (not to mention the weeks and weeks of fuzzy newborn days sure to accompany). It's amazing how a little time in the couponing zone can transform your outlook to strategizing months, even (occasionally) years ahead.

Example of the "years" bit: Even last winter, when I was still a few months into couponing, I did a crazy run at CVS right after Christmas, and netted over $40 worth of decorations and gift-wrap supplies for around $6, using coupons, post-Christmas clearance prices, etc. Now, even though it's August, I'm eyeing the tall pile of gift bows, wrapping paper, bendable evergreen boughs, and garland in the "Christmas corner" of our basement storage area, and I'm admittedly getting a little irrationally excited about decorating most of my downstairs this time around for $6 in change. The less money spent on the fun fluff, the more resources are available for more important priorities, like close family's gifts and giving more to your local food bank, church, and charities.

If you're new to couponing, this is a great time to enter what I so affectionately call "the fray", because September through December are sure to yield an abundance of deals:

• More special double and triple coupon deals at various grocery stores, since the stores are trying to get you in to also buy your "hosting company" and "holiday celebration" hauls while you're there.
• More convenience food coupons, sales, and resulting matchups for school lunches - prepackaged/classic lunch items like applesauce cups, juice boxes, Lunchables, soups, lunchmeats, string cheese, etc.
• A huge glut of coupons, sales, and resulting coupon matchups for baking supplies - not only baking mixes for cookies, cakes, pies, and muffins, but also from-scratch nonperishables like flour, sugar, seasonings, cookie decoration supplies, canned pumpkin, raisins, etc.!
• Also coupons, sales, and resulting matchups for nonperishable holiday classics. Green beans, cream of mushroom soup, French's onions ringing a bell for anybody? Also, cranberry sauce, stuffing mixes, mashed potatos (dry mix or frozen), etc.
• In-store freebies, especially at the drugstores like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. This is usually in the vein of stocking-stuffers, candy, decorations, and so on.
• Post-holiday markdowns, like:
  --Just-clearanced Halloween candy bought with still-unexpired candy coupons (think creatively...you can crumble/chop Halloween chocolate for Thanksgiving and Christmas dessert recipes)
  --Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas decorations, clearanced by up to 90% (I bought photo Christmas cards at Target last year at ~$0.90/10 ct. box last year doing this...$0.09/card!)
• Holiday Hallmark deals at various locations. Shop smart with the offer terms and you can often snag cards (and animated stuffed animals) inexpensively.

Hee hee - are you getting a little excited yet? Let's hope the grocers and retailers deliver on our sugarplum visions of deals! :)

For more details on the seasonal grocery deals available year-round, see our commentary on what sales and deals and holiday loss leaders to expect month-to-month.
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Filling Your Pantry for Back to School with This Week's Cheap Cereal and Snacks

We've got you covered on some morning foods this week - just look at all the Kellogg's cereals and Pop-Tarts which range from potentially FREE up to $0.50/each this week at Giant. Besides the 08/02 insert which had the Kellogg's coupons, there are also Kellogg's coupon pamphlets that have been spotted at Giant and WalMart. Thanks, Nicole, for the WalMart Tip!

As for during and after school, Gina's covering snack sales at Safeway and other affiliates this week. She will kick-start you on some sales/coupon matchups that will make your lunchbox additions that much cheaper, so be sure to check out her post before the deals are gone.
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Anatomy of a Giant trip - $16.46 for $66.67 worth of groceries!

It was a good trip to Giant this morning. I printed out all necessary coupons last night - yes, it was an all Internet-printable trip - and done with only one computer! You too can get a similar haul of General Mills cereal for dirt cheap - dollar doublers not even required. Going with this "list" in mind and my doublers at the ready made the trip extra-efficient.

Note on this: If you're going to use the printable coupons listed in our Giant matchups for this week, print them now, because the July coupons will be gone soon in most venues, replaced by the August coupons, tomorrow in all likelihood.

FYI: For some reason, the Chef Boyardee/SmartSource batch linked will only print once; when I did the "standard operating procedure" for Internet printables and hit the back/"Retry" sending info combo that Internet coupon printers use to get their second batch for pretty much any Internet coupon source, a SmartSource banner displayed saying, "Fraudulent Coupon Printing detected" (or something similar). Yikes! That was unexpected. Just an FYI for those planning to go for some free Boyardee.

I netted $16.46 for:

10 boxes of cereal
2 four-packs of Yo-Plus
5 lbs. of peaches
2 bags of grapes
3 mangoes
2 cans Muir Glen organic tomato soup
1 can Chef Boyardee ravioli

(Click the below picture summary for images/details on today's trip.)

General Mills/general info: You'll see by clicking the image above that the 4/$6 General Mills cereals which are listed on the front page of the Giant ad do a two-deduction method; $6 deducted automatically after your fourth cereal (in my case, the MultiGrain Cheerios) is rung-up, and $3.16 at the end of the transaction, as a General Mills "Personal Thanks" item. This brought the price of the 4 boxes of MultiGrain Cheerios down to $6 for the 4. The tasty Banana Nut Cheerios weren't as cheap, but I had a bunch of $0.55 coupons, and the checkout still did another $6 deducted after 4 (as noted inside the Giant ad), so the Banana Nut variety came to about $0.90/box. Finally, after my transaction, I received a printed coupon for $2/5 General Mills cereals. Not sure if I can use this well, but just wanted to let you know that it is tied to the purchase of these GM cereals somehow.

In-Packaging Bonuses: Muir Glen soups are as low as $2.19. If you have some of the $1/any Muir Glen coupons (printable on the Betty Crocker and/or Pillsbury sites linked in our weekly deals post), these are usable with your dollar doublers, making the soups as low as $0.19/each - and bonus! The cans have a $1/soup coupon right on the front, for future use. If you have access to a big stack of doublers (and if you do, can I be your new best friend?) you might be able to roll these pretty easily across several trips to get multiple cans of the soup at $0.19/each. The Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax flavor had two manufacturer coupons in-box: $1/off Kashi TLC Snack Crackers and $1/off Kashi TLC Chewy Cookies (not sure about regular Go Lean Crunch 15 oz. boxes as my store had none in stock this a.m.). My Kashi boxes also had sample bags of TLC crackers inside - great for that "on the go" snack stockpile.

Refunds via customer service: For some weird reason the checkout wouldn't accept my $1 Chef Boyardee coupon, so the lady checking me out sent me to customer service for a refund. While I was there, I double-checked on some mangoes whose display had read 3/$2, but instead rung up at 3/$4.50! My Giant is about 50/50 about refunding the total amount of the item in question where the customer spots a mistake (the official policy), but this time the refund was given to me, so I netted back ~$5.50 total in cash - not bad for less than 3 minutes of my time and simple questions. I couldn't have asked for a friendlier customer service rep, either! She was so helpful in outlining the General Mills savings for me, too.
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2 FREE Large ShamWows!

Money Saving Mom posted a summary list of freebies - but the one that caught my eye was the link to the survey which, once completed, will have 2 large ShamWows headed your way (ship free!)!

I've always been intrigued by the ShamWows, but the cheapest that I could find them was 4 large/4 smalls for $28 at Sam's Club. I wasn't ready to give up $28 to try them, but this freebie will definitely give me the chance to see if ShamWows might a candidate to supplant some of my paper towel usage!

Anybody own ShamWows? Comments with reviews? :)

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Motivation: What a Year of Rookie Couponing Can Yield

About a year ago, it was at an outdoor playgroup session that Mel first remarked to me (A.) that she was getting free toothpaste at CVS. I think I had one of those "Say whaaaaaa?" looks on my face while the record-scratch sound effect could be heard in the background.

Just a short time later, Mel - who'd been couponing since the spring - emailed me the links to some choice resources (http://www.iheartcvs.com/ and Gina's blog to name a couple). It started to dawn on me while skimming the entries how having access to such organized information could be a boon to our budget. Before long, I was making regular trips to CVS - and soon Shopper's Food Warehouse and other grocery stores started advertising coupon doubling and tripling specials. My husband and I eventually abandoned our dependence on Sam's Club for almost all of our groceries in favor of capitalizing on the loss-leaders at Giant and other local grocery stores, with occasional trips to Sam's.

Neither Mel nor I are regular $X/week budget-busters (at least not yet...). We witness in awe the finesse of those whose well-honed couponing skills have consistently brought weekly grocery budgets to dazzling minimums (especially, as in the case of blogger Crystal Paine, those who manage to eat healthfully while doing so!). Do we occasionally net big discount runs? Oh yes, and they are incredible highs when we manage to pull them off. But we are both still learning new strategies every day for saving money in our everyday purchases. Who knows how our skills will have been refined in the coming year?

If you're new to the couponing world, or just looking to increase your couponing power, be encouraged! As in our case, you don't need to spring off your starting block with record-breaking runs. Think of it this way: what if you could save just 8.3% of your grocery and household goods budget? Many coupons' face values come to 20% or more of an item's retail price. Buying meats on sale and produce in season can save you 50% or more off retail - so by making small changes in your approach, you can easily exceed 8.3% savings in a simple shopping trip. Baby steps to savings.

You're saying, "OK, but why 8.3%?" 8.3% is 1/12th - so if you save 8.3% over a year, you've just saved yourself an entire month's worth of grocery and basic household expenses. How could that break down for a family? Let's do a sample family, featuring husband and wife, and two kids, one in diapers. I'll try to keep estimates conservative.

Food basics:
Milk - 8 gallons - $24
Yoghurt cups - $50 (Yoplait and Dannon coupons appear regularly)
Cheese - $10 (four bags/blocks)
Eggs - $5 (two dozen)
Produce - $60 (Could you save $60 in a year on your produce purchases? So doable.)
Meat - $80 (Way doable, especially if you do a couple one or two meatless meals each week.)
Prepackaged cereal, lunch or snack foods - $50 (you could do this in cereal and granola bar coupons alone)
Frozen veggies - $15
Frozen pizza - $5
Desserts - $20
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Food basics subtotal: $319

Basic Family Toiletries (where CVS really pays off!):
Her shaving cartridges (8): $18
Her shaving cream: $3 (1 bottle)
Her face cream: $10 (one bottle)
Her cosmetics: $12 (combined)
Her feminine hygiene products: $6
His shaving cartridges (12): $24
His shaving cream: $5 (1-2 bottles)
His aftershave: $4 (half bottle in a month)
Shampoo: $12 (4 bottles)
Conditioner: $12 (4 bottles)
Soap: $10 (4 bars)
Hand Soap: $7 (three bottles)
Diapers: $80
Wipes: $15
=======================
Toiletries Subtotal: $218

Household goods:
Toilet paper: $6 (9 rolls)
Paper towels: $10 (8 rolls)
Laundry detergent: $2 (half bottle)
Fabric softener: $2 (half bottle)
Anti-static dryer sheets: $1 (quarter box)
All-purpose cleaner: $2 (half bottle)
Sponges: $4 (for 4)
Dishwasher detergent: $3 (half bottle)
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Household goods subtotal: $30

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TOTAL saved: $567
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Of course, your actual consumption patterns will vary depending on your family's unique circumstances, but the point is this: could you come up with a couple of $1 coupons to save on all-purpose cleaner in a year's time? Sure! If so, you've just saved yourself the cost of a month's worth of all-purpose cleaner. Can you try to save $10.90 each week, either by a few coupons or loss-leader strategizing? Just $10.90 saved each week adds up to a month of general food and household expenses - essentially for free! And think what you could do with that $567...

A few ideas:

• A family weekend getaway with some special extras.
• Put it toward your mortgage (or if you're saving for a house, your down payment savings!).
• Fill some new backpacks for back-to-school charities, or fill some boxes for a children's Christmas charity event like the D.C.-area Little Lights Christmas party.
• If you attend church, up your regular giving. Suddenly, where there seemed to be no wiggle room, you've found a twelfth of your regular budget to spare.
• Fly some friends or relatives into town - maybe some grandparents to keep the kids busy for a bit?
• Take yourself and someone else out for a cup of fancy coffee every week.
• Buy yourself some time and sanity - by hiring a house cleaner for a once-over, or regular service!
• Host a party. A big one. Feel zero shame in serving couponed Pillsbury Savorings and loss-leader fruit salad.

The possibilities are limitless...just for thinking your way to $10.90 in savings each week. What more inspiration could you want to kick off your next year of couponing and saving habits?
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A.'s New Frugality Booster

This past weekend, we spent a lot of time with family, and while everybody was getting together, we also celebrated my summer birthday. Behold the newest weapon in my frugality arsenal:This, ladies and gents, is my new crock pot (or to be trademark correct: slow cooker) - a birthday gift from my inlaws. My first crock pot was also inherited from my mother-in-law - an early 1970s-era workhorse (that is: "Old School"). But the new birthday crock pot has all manner of bells and whistles. At 6 quarts' capacity, it can cook two smallish chickens - or 7.5 lbs. of pretty much anything (Helllooooooo freezing extra meals!). It has a clip-tight gasket lid for transport. It even has a thermometer probe option that allows you to put the thermometer right to the center of your meat and specify a minimum temp, so once your meat hits the temp, the cooker goes to "warm". Is that not pretty close to rocket science? I told the my husband that I didn't care if it was the middle of summer; I was going to try out some slow cooker meals this week if I can manage it. With cheaply bought Giant Super G chicken breast and canned beans and corn, I'm thinking some type of white chicken chili sounds good.

Anybody care to share slow cooker recipes while I'm in the zone? :)

5 Reasons to Visit Giant (aka Stop and Shop) This Week, 07/10-07/16

The $5/$15 meat coupon is still out there busting a move. Although links directly to it may or may not work, you can access it right from the Giant site (click the link for more info). Thanks again to those who helped us navigate around this glitch.

Here are 5 Reasons to Visit Giant this week:

1. Meat Reasons! Combo these cheap prices with the $5/$15 coupon for maximum savings. Petite sirloin steak is half price at $2.99/lb. Make some chipotle lime butter to accompany.
   Super G Chicken Drumstick and Thighs OR a Whole Chicken are $0.79/lb. (save $0.70/lb.). I've only ever seen these lower at $0.69/lb., so consider this a stock-up price.
   See our chicken roasting ideas here!
   Center cut pork loin chops are $1.99/lb. (save $2.00/lb.).
   
2. Blueberries galore at $1.25/pint!
   
3. Coke 2-liters, $1 each when you buy 4 and one of those must be a Sprite or Sprite Zero. Limit 1 offer per transaction.
   
4. Kellogg's Cereal (Special K Cinnamon Pecan, Special K Blueberry, Corn Flakes Honey, Froot Loops, or Frosted Flakes), 2/$4. Coupons that apply:
   $1/1 Kellogg's All Bran, Special K, or Raisin Bran Cereal, 06/17 (Final price = $1/box)
   $1/1 Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, or Apple Jacks (Final price = $1/box)
   
5. Dannon Yoghurt is 20/$10 ($0.50/each). Use the $0.60/6 or other coupons from the 05/03 or 06/21 SS inserts - the $0.60/6 will double automatically since it's under $1, giving you $1.20 off 6, final price $0.30/cup.

Other deals and Giant coupon matchups that we spotted for the week of 07/10-07/16:

There is a deal for an extra $0.10 off gas this week when you buy any 4 participating items, listed in-ad. The tiny print goes on to say that the only Giant locations where gas is sold (ergo - where this deal is redeemable?) in Pasadena and Lusby, MD, and Celebrate Virginia Parkway in Fredericksburg, VA. (Thanks to Nicole who commented last time, alerting us to the new Fredericksburg location!)
Cheapest way to work this deal: Buy 4 Fuses or SmartWaters ($4 total). If you pump at least 40 gallons of gas this week at these locations - not hard to do if you have 2 or more cars in your family - you'll have "paid" for the drinks, assuming that you don't have much cheaper gas available nearby.

Buy 4, save $4 on Chex Mix Bars, Fiber One Bars, or Nature Valley Granola Bars. Register to become part of the Pillsbury Community here, and get printable coupons for $0.60/2 Chex Mix , $0.50/1 Nature Valley selected flavors, or $0.40/1 Nature Valley any flavor. With the $0.50/1 coupon, you could save up to $2/box on this deal...not too bad! Other coupons: $0.75/2 Nature Valley (05/31 SS) or $1/1 Yoplait Yoghurt when you buy any Nature Valley Granola Bars, 06/14 SS.

Feel free to post comments with other deals and matchups that you've spotted! :)
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FREE/Cheap Rollable Chicken Deal at Bloom Courtesy of Frugal Friends

Frugal Friends posted yesterday on how Perdue chicken packages containing $0.75 coupons (tripling to $2.25 off through June 30 while Bloom does triple coupons) can get you more FREE or cheap chicken.

Check out this chicken deal STAT! Thanks, Frugal Friends! :)
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Invite Company For Dinner - $5 off $15 purchase Giant (and Stop and Shop) Meat Coupon Debuts!

Let's all send reader Cheri a big virtual hug: she just alerted us to a suhweeeeeeeeeeeeeet coupon for $5 off a $15 meat purchase at Giant. This coupon is good 06/15-07/02. Cheri, you just save us a bunch of money, girl! Thanks so much for this hot tip!

As before, this $5/$15 meat purchase at Giant coupon does not require a BonusCard for discount - neither do its stated terms.

If you shop the Giant affiliate chain Stop and Shop, you can get the $5 off $15 meat purchase at Stop and Shop coupon here. (Thanks for the Stop and Shop coupon link, Bargain Shopper Lady!)

How could you use it for this week's Giant deals? Buy 3.5 lbs. of London Broil or Boneless Beef Chuck Steak. Use the coupon. Then scan your BonusCard. You'll pay $3.75 for $15 worth of beef. That's a price worth clearing some freezer space! :)

Note: Some stores have permitted the scanning of this coupon before BonusCard discount, while (according to reader comment feedback - thanks to all who write with their experiences!) some have not. The last time the $3/$15 coupon came out, I made a couple of trips to Giant and used the self-checkout as I almost always do. The second trip, I made consecutive transactions using this coupon before BonusCard - and a lady who was the designated "self-checkout duty" employee at the time took the time to stop and check out my coupon - in fact she came over twice, once during each of two transactions and asked where I got the coupon. Once I told her that it was freely available on the Giant website, she said, "That's really cool," and allowed me to continue with my other transactions. Since she was watching me, and we've heard of others being able to use this coupon before the BonusCard is used, it is probably a store-by-store basis whether or not you can use it before BonusCard, though the coupon's stated terms do not require the BonusCard to be scanned before the coupon is scanned.

Also, a reader told me earlier this week about a Giant employee refusing the coupon outright (even with well over $100 of meat in the transaction, ergo way more than $15 worth post-Bonuscard discount) - and belittling the couponer, acting as though the coupon was fradulent. This sort of treatment is rude, embarassing, and unacceptable! Fortunately, the reader informed me that later, this particular Giant's manager received a very well-written email about the experience, and since then has been reassured that the customer was in the right and that the coupon is legitimate for use. We mention this story to point out: the with/without and before/after Bonuscard element seems to be on a by-Giant basis, and you may need to add some meat to your transaction if your Giant requires post-Bonuscard scanning, but don't be afraid to seek management's assistance if your coupon is being rejected outright.
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Huggies Diapers As Low As $0.19 Each at Harris Teeter

We had a reader email us a deal on Huggies Diapers (thank you!). Right now they are about $6 off each package, making a package of 52 diapers $12.99. If you can stack this deal with the coupons around for $2 or $3 off Huggies, our reader suggests, you could get a 52-pack of size 3s for as low as $9.99, or ~$0.19 each, compared with $0.37 each normally, a ~47% discount. Nice!

There were two applicable 05/17 SS coupons: $1.50 off Huggies diapers coupon and a $2 off Huggies Pull-Ups coupon. You can get a $2 printable Huggies Pull-Ups coupon by registering here. This might be a separate printable $2 Pull-Ups coupon (not sure).
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$0.99 Kraft Shredded Cheese at Safeway!

Blogger Jackie of the Combs Kitchen just posted a great scenario for getting $0.99 Kraft cheese at Safeway. Thanks for sharing the deal, Jackie! :)
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Shopper's Food Warehouse Kellogg's Deal, 05/28-06/03

The Shopper's Food Warehouse ad for the coming week (deals start tomorrow) has a sweet deal for Kellogg's products. A Shopper's coupon (not a manufacturer coupon) offers $5 off a $20 purchase of Kellogg's products, and many major cereals go for 2/$5. I will try to add a picture of this section of the weekly ad (coupon nulled) to this post when it becomes available online tomorrow.

Strategy: Get yourself $20 worth of Kellogg's cereal, use the $5/$20 coupon, then as many Kellogg's coupons as you can.

Sample scenario, using the recent Frosted Mini Wheats coupons (One BOGO and four $1/1), along with other Kellogg's coupons from the 04/05 insert or past printable coupon campaigns:

5 MiniWheats
3 Other Kellogg's
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Subtotal: $20
Minus coupons:
$5/$20 store coupon
$2.50 coupon (BOGO)
4 x $1 coupon (MiniWheats)
3 x $1 coupon (Kellogg's)
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Total: $5.50 for 8 boxes of cereal, or $0.69/box. Not too shabby. This scenario assumes that there is no conflict between using a $1 coupon on a box which also gets you a free box with the BOGO coupon.

Another scenario with only Kellogg's coupons from the 04/05 insert or printables:

8 Kellogg's cereals
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Subtotal: $20
Minus coupons:
$5/$20
8 x $1
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$7 for 8 boxes of cereal, or $0.88/each.

How did you work this scenario? Post a comment to let us all know. ;) Do tell!
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