Changes in the Albertsons' programs....

So I was in picking up the masses tonight at Albertsons'. (BTW--it was amazing and had me doing Gene Kelly's to the truck afterwards). The PIC (person in charge) informed me that as of tomorrow Albertsons' is kicking off a new rewards/incentive program that will replace the existing card/phone number that they take at the register. Guess what? They are going Fred Meyer-ish...with cash kick-backs for designated monies spent...following me? So, for example, Kroger (ie. Fred Meyer in the NW, Smiths' in the Mountain west, etc) accumulates dollars spent in a quarter and then sends you redeemable dollar amounts with added coupons. It comes in the mail and you have so long to use them. It's like free cash towards your next purchases. Well Albertsons' is getting on a similar bandwagon, except that they won't be mailing the coupons or cash incentives--they will just print them at the register as the totals are met. I haven't got the specifics in writing yet as to what the totals will be, but of course, those totals accrue prior to the coupons decreasing the out of pocket expenditure.

I asked the PIC if they were just going to convert over the existing phone numbers and people to this new program and he said NO. He said that as of tomorrow all people who shop at Albertsons' will have to re-register with the store and get new forms filled out. FYI--fuel points will transfer. (Good thing or I could get a little hostile about losing my 50 cents off a gallon...just sayin'). So, don't forget to salute the theory of "hope and change"--at least at Albertsons', so that you can start getting kick-backs at the register. Who knows--you might get lucky every now and again with your power purchases accruing major bonus points.

Going back to my Gene Kelly's tonight--this is what I got...28 cans Hunt's Spaghetti sauce, 16 cans Chef Boyardee Raviolis, 10 boxes Orville Redenbacher's popcorn, 8 jars Peter Pan Peanut Butter, 6 cans of Pam cooking spray, 8 packages Hunt's pudding-assorted flavors...all for $29. AND I still have $10 to spend from the Catalina print-outs on my next purchase and added 30 cents off per gallon (up to 20 gallons)on my Albertsons' card. Brilliant. Serotonin is flowin'.

Next weeks' deals for Albertsons' includes the Procter and Gamble incentives...buy $20 in assorted products and get $5 back PLUS 5 movie rentals out of Redbox. Not the most stellar of deals, but not bad. The cereal deals are truly what shines this week in the major ads. Make a combination that works...and don't forget to add the coupons. The cheaper it is--the better it tastes, right?

Need Cereal?

This week at SAFEWAY:

Kellogg’s Cereal $1.99 each (Don’t you dare buy it until Saturday!!)
Rice Krispies, 12 oz, Fruit Loops, 12.2 oz, Corn Flakes, 12 oz , Cocoa Krispies, 16.5 oz, Apple Jacks, 12.2 oz, Honey Smacks, 15.3 oz, Corn Pops, 12.5 oz
$1.00/3 – Kellogg’s Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, and/or Frosted Flakes 10oz+ – (kelloggs.com)
$1.00/2 – Kellogg’s All Bran, Rice Krispies, Crispix, Smart Start, Raisin Bran or Corn Flakes – (kelloggs.com)
$1.00/2 Kelloggs All Bran, Crispix, Rice Krispies, Smart Start, Raisin Bran or Cornflakes from RP 4/11
$1.00/3 Kelloggs Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes from RP 4/11

Kellogg’s 8 oz or larger between 5/1-5/14
Buy 3, Receive $2.00 Catalina ($0.67 savings per item)
Buy 4, Receive $3.00 Catalina ($0.75 savings per item)
Buy 5, Receive $4.00 Catalina ($0.80 savings per item)

Gotta do the math: 1.99x5=$9.95-4.00=$5.95 minus the coupons....5 boxes of cereal for $3.95. That's what ONE box of cereal costs at regular price. You can score FIVE for the price of ONE. Just sayin'....

This week at ALBERTSONS':
Buy Post Cereal, any 10 oz or larger between 4/24-5/16 and save up to $4 on your next order

Buy 4, Receive a $3.00 Catalina ($0.75 savings per item)
Buy 5, Receive a $4.00 Catalina ($0.80 savings per item)

Post Cereal $1.67
Pebbles, Honey Bunches of Oats, Raisin Bran, Honeycomb, Golden Crisp
$2.00/1 – Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat or Grape Nuts – (postnatural.com)
Final Price: FREE and BEYOND free?? Free tastes so much better!!
GET SOME COUPONS TO GO WITH THIS DEAL!!

And there is a register print-out on Post cereal....

Kelloggs Cereal & Poptarts 4/$10.00
Buy 4, Save $4 ONYO
$1.50/2 – Kellogg’s Cereal, various varieties – (redplum.com)
Buy participating Kellogg’s products between 4/18 – 5/1 & get up to $4.00 on your next order.

Participating Products Include: All-Bran 13.2-18.3oz, Apple Jacks 8.7-21.7oz, Cocoa Krispies 8.8-16.5oz, Corn Flakes 7-24oz, Corn Pops 9.2-21.4oz, Cracklin’ Oat Bran 17oz, Crispix 12-17.9oz, Jumbo Rice Krispies 11.2oz, Froot Loops 8.7-21.7oz, Frosted Flakes 14-27.5oz, Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size Cereal 16-24oz,
Frosted Mini-Wheats Little Bites 14.5oz, Honey Smacks 15.3oz, Keebler Cookie Crunch 10.5oz, Raisin Bran 15-25.5oz, Raisin Bran Extra! 14oz, Raisin Bran Crunch 18.2-25.5oz, Rice Krispies 9-24oz, Smart Start 14.7-17.5oz, any flavor, Smorz 10.5oz, Special K 7-18oz, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts Toaster Pastries 12ct.

Buy 4, Receive $4.00 Catalina ($1.00 Savings per item)


General Mills Cereal $2.99
Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Kix, Cocoa Puffs, Reese’s PB Puffs
Buy 4, Get FREE Milk ONYO
$1.00/2 – General Mills Cereal – (coupons.com)
$1.00/2 – General Mills Cereal – (bettycrocker.com)
$1.00/1 – Cheerios, Original – (cheerios.com)
$0.75/1 – Kix Cereal – (bettycrocker.com)
Final Price: As low as $1.49 each, plus FREE milk

So--peoples--it's time to buy some cereal. Sit down and have a quiet moment and crunch the numbers and see where your loyalties lie...there's a deal to be had with every brand, so you don't have to be brand-exclusive or saddled to the no-name brands. Get a 3-month supply and get it on the cheap.

Freezer meal Friends...

For everyone that follows me in the freezer meal circles....Fred Meyer has the Glad ovenware on sale for $3.99!! That's pretty stellar since they are normally $5.99 for the twin pack. If you go to one of the coupon websites, check for the Glad coupons to add to that sale price for mega deals. I looked at the tag and the sale price should be effective for at least the next 10 days. Plenty of time to order coupons and stock up on the containers before the next cooking night.

By the way--that's going to be on May 14th--7pm (my house). The recipe selections will be e-mailed by the end of the this week.

Links for ConAgra....

http://www.childhungerendshere.com/Public/brands.html?source=id4283

This is the link for the 2 coupons that you can print for ConAgra to use in conjunction with the Albertsons' sale that ends tomorrow. It's $1.50 off 4 products. Each computer allows you to print twice. Layer it on the $25 deal for the $10 back and you'll have a stellar deal.

Hurry to Albertsons'........

So I was on a ConAgra foods website this morning and there is a great coupon...save $1.50 when you buy 4 items. It was marketed under the Kroger ads but then it occurred to me that Hunts' products are ConAgra owned and they are on sale at Albertsons' this week. AND--when you buy $25 worth of goods, you get a print-out after every $25 transaction for $10 OYNO. Beautiful. You can print 2 coupons (that's $3 off towards 8 products and add any more that you already have). It adds up to a great deal! I wish I had numerous computers to print from.

Now might be a great time to talk about FRAUD. It's a cut and dry deal with manufacturer's coupons that you get from the paper, because one is one--no questions asked. But when you have a home computer you can print, copy, cut and paste, reproduce....you get the picture. So when you have a coupon that you've printed...you CANNOT copy and use it twice. I know--it never occurred to you...but it did to LOTS of other people who thought they'd take advantage of a good deal. Each coupon that is printed generates a Pin Number. It's usable ONCE. The registers (mini-computers) will track it's usage and cancel out the coupon. Multi-use of one pin number is fraudulent and brings into question whether the stores will even take coupons printed from home.

So Tiddly Bit: play by the rules so that we can all play the game. Have some integrity and the stores will keep offering great deals. There's nothing wrong with trading favors and coupons with someone with another computer to print more with different pin numbers. There are coupons that you can print from multiple websites. If they let you print multiples, that is NOT fraudulent.

So last Tiddly morsel for the day: if it says "Manufacturer's Coupon" but it comes from a store that does NOT have the sale that best suits your purchase--it is still OK to use that coupon at another store. A coupon printed in a Fred Meyer ad that says "manufacturer's coupon" can be used at Albertsons'. I love that. Because Albertsons' is the one having the major sale with boo-koo savings. I'm all about the bottom line and savings. Good luck, shoppers. Everyone wins.

Olive Garden....I love You!!

Anyone who knows me, knows that my favorite restaurant is Olive Garden. In other restaurants, I compare my Italian favorites to them to see if they muster up. Most are left wanting and I go back to old faithful.

I love it when I get a coupon for $4 off 2 entrees. It assures me a place there between now and payday. But they have another coupon out that doesn't expire till 5/7 that is the best I've seen---$5 off 2 entrees. Sweet Niblets!! Go to this link http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/2009/05/olive-garden-coupons.html or http://www.olivegarden.com/OEG95RTPHTM/ps/and you can print up to 2 coupons before it expires your computer.

For everyone going to Time Out For Women in Spokane next weekend...now I know where I'm going for dinner.

Watch those Catalina Deals.......

Every store has a different Catalina series of deals going on. Here is one that I think is pretty exceptional since it starts tomorrow and runs an entire month...All Post cereals 10oz or larger are generating Catalina coupons for $3-4 OYNO. Buy 4 and get $3 off; buy 5 and get $4. That does NOT include adding a manufacturers' coupon or if the actual cereal goes on sale.

I know in Spokane, there are chains that run ads for their huge 13 hour cereal sales. It gets the entire city in a panic and they jam the stores full. Parking is a nightmare...and this is all for $1.78 a box. I laugh because people really have no clue that they can get so much BETTER deals by just watching the trends and buying when there is a deal like this Post sale. And the beauty of the whole story--it's a sale that lasts SEVEN days--all day long. No more haggling for shopping carts, dealing with scary looking crowds, product outages, and binge buying for the sake of buying rather than stocking up gradually. And if you shopped like I do---WHO would really pay $1.78 a box for cereal??? 50cents is my personal max on cereal--and that's HIGH to me. I feel great when I can get a box of cereal for 25 cents. The serotonin starts flowing and I'm ordering cases.

**So when you come across this kind of deal, take an inventory of what you have. Then project what you're family would use in the next 3-6 months. And things that are staples (like cereal, canned goods, soups, etc)--make sure that you are never at the mercy of the store to pay full price. You know that you are constantly buying and re buying those items. So when they go Cheap, closer to free that full price--buy your 6 months stash. It is MONEY in the bank. You will be able to get at least 5-6 times the amount of product in one sale than you would on any random shopping trip. Add it up, and you're money ahead. Take that item off the shopping list until it dips back into tantalizing depths of cheapness!

Do this a few times and you'll be hooked. You'll get an acquired taste for free. It will make buying things are regular price absolutely PAINFUL. Start watching and see what you can do to start spending smarter and stocking up for nothing.

Baskin Robbins' Sweet Deal next week!!

Baskin Robbins $0.31 Scoop Night is scheduled
Wednesday, April 28th from 5-10:00 PM.
All proceeds benefit America’s Firefighters and National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

Read Details at BaskinRobbins.com.
Find a participating store near you here.
I know my church’s youth groups meet on Wednesday nights, here’s your refreshments for after the activity! This is about as close to FREE as you will get, so have a family night and it will only cost $2-3---when was the last time you did something for that price with the whole family? Have a great time :)

Free Cleaning Supplies this Week........

So, my youngest brother called. "Do you need free cleaning supplies?" Ummm. Who doesn't need free stuff, right? So he brought to my attention the great deal going on at Safeway with Windex. (Full Disclosure: He claims they clean EVERYTHING with Windex, so by free cleaning "supplies" he actually meant an assortment of different scented Windex). But anyways, it's still a pretty good deal. Go to the different websites, print the coupons you need for the windex and head to Safeway. Follow the directions below and watch the print-outs at the Catalina register and apply to the next transaction. Steal of a Deal, people!


Free Windex at Safeway!
Posted by Joanie Demer // Carrs, Dominick's, Genuardi’s, Pavilions, Randalls, Thats So Krazy!, Tom Thumb, Vons // Comments (41)

Get Free Windex for the next few weeks at Safeway coupons you can print today!

Catalina: Buy 2 Windex (through 5/16), Receive $2.00 Catalina ($1.00 savings per item)

Buy 4 Windex $1.99 each, when you buy 4
Use 4 $1.00/1 – Windex Multi Surface Cleaner – (coupons.com)
or $1.00/1 – Windex Product, any – (rightathome.com)
or $1.00/1 from SS 4/11
Load $1.00/1 – Windex Multi Surface Cleaner, eCoupon – (safeway.com)
Pay: $3.96, Receive 2 $2.00 Catalinas (Yes, multiple CATS are printing in one transaction!)
Final Price: FREE! ($1.00 moneymaker with eCoupon)

Blizzards are coming our way...

Did you know that it is the 25th anniversary of Dairy Queen's Blizzards? That means that they are are offering a special deal right now of buy one at regular price, you get another for for 25 cents. You know what that means in my family? You get your own. You don't have to share it with 2 brothers and 2 sisters and divide the cardboard cup for perfectly even licks of the sweet residue that your brother might have missed. It's only for one week, though. I'll have to tell the kids that "That's it! No more for another 25 years!"

Albertsons' has a ConAgra Foods sale going on right now. You must read the fine print for the deals on the back page. You get a $10 OYNO coupon for every $25 transaction. (BTW--that's $25 before the coupons are handed over). I ordered Peter Pan peanut butter coupons off of Ebay last night and plan on getting my stock for 52 cents a jar. Not too shabby. I've got a better deal on Skippy--but it WAS 2 years ago and I can't predict when I'll be able to get it for 24 cents a jar again. So I think I'll suffer through 52 cents a jar to have peace of mind that we have some on hand. You never know when that peanut crop is going to fail. (OOH. Just kidding--but they DID have a scare last year and all the peanut butter was pulled from the markets--just saying).

Con Agra foods is the distributor of Hunts', Healthy Choice, Van Camps', Dannon, etc. It pays to do a little shopping around to see if there are coupons that match any of these products. The yogurt is an exceptionally STELLAR deal. $2 each on sale, but are included in the $10 OYNO deal. So you can combine it with other products to make a $25 transaction, or just buy 13 packages and slap each package with a $1 off coupon, minus the $10 and you pay $3 for A LOT of yogurt. I ordered the "crushables" that the kids have been hounding me to buy--which come in 6 packs instead of 4 packs. Can you say YOGURT in their lunch everyday for the rest of the school year?

Campbell's has their soups on sale at Albertsons' this week 10/$10. Whoot, whoot...NOT. BUT--if you go to www.campbells.com you can print a total of 2 coupons of Save $1 on TWO...making the gems a mere 50 cents each. Much better. You can only get 4 cans...but most of you don't shop like I do, and 4 cans would be sufficient, right?

Keep that grocery journal going and write what the deals of the week are. You'll be surprized to see that you can stock up on SOMETHING for cheap every single week, and before you know it--you're a Queen and people are hailing to you and asking you how you do it! Just tell them about me :)

Procter and Gamble Update...

I went to Safeway today to cash in on my stellar toilet paper deal. It turns out that the ad says the Charmin 12 double-roll pack is $7.99--but it actually rings up at $5.99. I did a little happy dance at the register because I had been planning on getting 3 packages per transaction, but I ended getting 4 packages per transaction. I didn't have coupons (lack of judgment on my part last Wednesday)--but I did get 4 jumbo packs, a large bottle of Dawn dish soap and a large package of candy for exactly $20 after I gave them the $10 OYNO coupon. Another coupon generated after the transaction and so I will plan my course of action tomorrow to swoop by another store and claim my $60 of TP for $20. I might even go through my cluster of coupons and find the Charmin coupons to seal the tax deal. And as always, Mondays are like Christmas Eve...wondering what the new sales are going to look like in the flyers tomorrow. Anticipation kills me. But at least with this kind of shopping, I don't have to worry about returning anything on the day after the sale starts :)

Tiddly Bit.....

Procter and Gamble is offering a $100 coupon booklet for purchases totaling $50. I found the link at www.charmin.com. Go to the 'coupon' option and read the details. For you with little ones in diapers, Pampers is a Procter and Gamble product......just a thought here. Make sure to look at the Safeway $10 back deal in conjunction with a great coupon and then this coupon return as well. Everything adds up and prepares the way for great deals in the future. Don't forget to check ebay for coupons.

Stellar deals.....Toilet Paper

I know that everyone is checking out the Quaker sale at Albertsons' and the coupon is included in the ad--which is a bonus deal, making each box $1. (I didn't tout this sale too much because I just stocked up on major Quaker deals last month at 40 cents a box....but a $1 a box is a great deal for any "new" coupon shoppers or for those who don't stock up like I do to carry over till the next mega sale). In reference to the coupon, Albertsons' printed it--but it's a manufacturer's coupon, so it is usable at any store (bonus tip for savvy shoppers). **There's 2 more days left in this week's grocery ads and the one that comes to mind that is pretty awesome if the Toilet Paper at Safeway. It's on a Procter and Gamble sale of when you buy $25 in P&G products, you get $10 back towards your next purchase. I LOVE these kind of deals because it's instant savings before coupon discounts. The trick is to get each transaction as close to the $25 amount as possible because even if you spend $40--you still only get $10 back. So do TWO transactions of $25 each and with $10 back on each transaction--you only spend a total of $30 before the coupons come off.....LOVE IT!!

So--going back to the toilet paper. Charmin ultra soft 12 double roll packs are $7.99 a pack. Three packages are $23.97...you need another product that is very close to $1 (try dish soap, that kind of thing), to make a total close to $25. Pay for it--minus off any coupons from the paper, internet, etc., and at the end of the transaction you get the $10 print-out. Do the exact same thing again, but this time you give them the $10 print-out for additional savings and you still get another one at the end of the transaction. Time to stock up on necessary commodities this week. And WHO doesn't need this kind of stuff in your arsenal?

Tiddly bit........

So Albertsons' has a Quaker deal going on right now. The manufacturer's coupon is printed right there in their ad for you. It is save $3 when you buy 5. It's par for the course, making each box of Quaker around $1. But you can take that coupon to Safeway (because it's a manufacturer's coupon) and use it there on their sale. They have a deal where you buy any 5 cereals/breakfast you automatically save $5. You can apply manufacturer's coupons to that deal and save across the board on all brands. It's just a matter of reading the details and pairing up the best deals with a coupon. Watch out for limits per transaction. If it states "limit 20 per transaction"--that is what the computer will take and NO more. But that does not exclude you from making another transaction. So, think outside the box--or, in this case, 'around the box. Happy shopping.

This is how you do it.........

Lots and lots of questions are coming my way because of the news links. People think that it takes a ridiculus amount of time to save so much money. It really doesn't if you think about how much you spend on food, the vitality of it (it's not like you can go without or eliminate from your budget), and how you can control what you spend by implementing a few basic techniques.

My first suggestion to the beginner who wants to start saving in tremendous ways is to start a grocery journal. Get a basic notebook of paper and keep track of the sales and deals at the stores. Sounds hard? You only add ONE page to it a week. Grocery ads start on Wednesday morning and run through the following Tuesday of every single week. So review the ads and write the store name in notebook and then write down everything they have on "sale" that your family eats. (This is NOT your grocery list). By recording the sale prices of all the local stores, you are able to compare the prices and after several weeks of doing this you'll start to see a pattern in what goes on sale and what you would call a difference in Best, Better, and Fair prices. When products are at their Best prices, you match the item with a coupon, purchase in quantities to last until the next stellar sale, and watch the savings add up.

For an investment of 1 hour a week, you start saving 50-90% on your bill. If you're like the average American family spending $125 per person/per family a month on food--that's A LOT of money every year. If you were able to buy the EXACT same stuff you always buy, but spend half of what you normally do--how much money are you saving? Thou$and$ is my guess. So think of the time you spend learning these tips as YouR JoB--and you are PaYinG YouRseLf with all the money you save.

Simple question I get all the time--where do you get all the coupons? I get one a week of all the coupons from the Sunday paper, which I pay $2 for. It's most cost-effective to review sites that vendor coupons in bulk. Not only do you get specifically what you want, you can buy them in quantities that would be virtually impossible without scavenging the recycle bins of every house in your neighborhood (some people do it this way to save $, but what is their time and dignity worth?) I order from coupon clearinghouses like www.thecouponmaster.com, www.thecouponclippers.com, and www.ebay.com. There are other places/businesses on the web that coupons are available for free, like www.coupons.com, www.smartsource.com, www.redplum.com-- but the quantity is limited to 1-2 prints per coupon, so buying in bulk with a print-out is not really an option.

Tip for the day: make a list of what your family eats. Make a list of all the ingredients, snacks, drinks, basics, and essentials that fill your cupboards. Figure out what you need to restock and build a 3-month reserve of--then add this to your master list of items to watch and buy when they go on sale. Stores run their ads in cycles and you'll find that everything you use goes on sale sometime. So when it does, be prepared to find the coupons that match the product with the sale and buy enough till the next sale. That's where the grocery journal becomes invaluable, because you'll start to see the cycle of when the items go on sale.

The key to saving is to not just use coupons, but to use coupons effectively by putting them on the lowest sale price. More tips to come.....

Not your Mama's Meatloaf!!

I have a new family favorite...Meatloaf. It's been one of those dinners that was NEVER requested or oft repeated because, well...let's face it--it was OK...but not especially memorable or very appetizing. But I tried a new recipe for a freezer meal group I host, and it has become a quick favorite. In fact, it was just requested tonight--again. That will make 4+ requests for it in the last month. I knew I had found a hit when my mother was her visiting for a week and on the first night she asked what was for dinner. I casually replied, "Meatloaf." The look on her face said it all. She wasn't looking forward to it and was probably calculating in her head how much it would cost her to take the family out for dinner in exchange for not having to suffer through it. But I won. And the best perk--Grandma asked for the recipe. I made a huge pan of it and we had the most delicious sandwiches the next afternoon. I was a little perturbed to find an empty container left in the fridge when I went to make another sandwich. Phantom snackers are a common problem in my house. I hope this recipe puts a new twist on an old staple.

Amazing Meatloaf with Brown Sugar Glaze

4 eggs 3 cups milk 2 cups quick oats
2 tsp salt 4 lbs lean ground beef 4 cups shredded cheddar
1 finely chopped onion 2 1/2 c. ketchup 1 c. brown sugar 2 T mustard

Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the milk, oats and salt; let sit a few minutes to let liquid absorb. In another bowl, mix the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard and set aside. Add the beef, cheddar, and onion to the wet mixture. Blend well. (I actually put this in the bowl from my kitchen-aid and let the bread hook do all the work). Dump the meat into a 9x13 baking dish and smooth the top until its level. Pour the ketchup mixture across the top, evenly distributing the glaze. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. **I served it with new potatoes in a cream sauce, and long string beans. Baking it in cake pan allowed it to cook more evenly and distributed the glaze over more of the meat. It was the perfect size to slice for sandwiches the next day too. Enjoy.

Watch The Catalina Deals at the Register!!

There's some stellar Catalina deals on right now. At Fred Meyer (Kroger chain), when you buy 3 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes, you get a $3 OYNO ("on your next order"--works like cash)print-out at check-out. If you put the manufacturer's coupons (40cents a box) on top of purchase--the price drops even more dramatically. There's been times when I've been able to get the price down to under 25 cents a box or FREE, and then I stock up!! Nothing tastes better than FREE :) A great place to check the catalina links is www.hotcouponworld.com. They run the lines that are being offered and at which stores. Sometimes there is a confusion with the chain's names. Safeway is not Safeway (Von's, Fry's, etc) in every state, just as Fred Meyer Food stores in Washington are known as Smiths' or Kroger in other states. But the deals will apply in your state if you know the ownership behind your local stores. Watch the dates for the Catalina promotionals and make sure to combine with the coupons available to maximize savings. Post cereals are on the Catalina list through 4/18 with $2-4 OYNO per transactions. They have coupons that work. The ones for kids cereals expired 4/11. The Honey Bunches of Oats coupons don't expire till 4/25 (overlapping deals are FABULOUS if you take advantage of all coupons)--but they don't generate the Catalina coupon. So a generic Post Cereal coupon is best when available. Albertson's has the Double coupon deal for up to 3 coupons going on through 4/13. Two of those plus the 2 manufacturer's coupons combined with a Catalina $3 coupon adds up to negatives at the register. Make sure that you bring something else to the transaction that will bring the register back into the black because the store will NOT give you money at the end of the transaction.

Steal of a Deal....

Albertsons' has this great dealing on Post cereal right now. The family-size boxes are $1.49 a box. Ironically, for every 4 boxes that you buy, the register prints a Catalina coupon for $3 off your next purchase. You can only buy the cereal at the $1.49 price in increments of 4. And the icing on the cake, in the Sunday paper there was supplemental ad that included 3 bonus coupons (Albertsons' will double 3 coupons up to $1 each). So with this in mind, four boxes of cereal=$5.96. I have coupons for save $1 on 2, so I give them 2 + the coupon doubler coupons from the ad for a grand total of $1.96. At the completion of the transaction I get the $3 off coupon/voucher towards the next purchase. If I did another transaction back to back with the say method as outlined PLUS the $3 off, each transaction would be -$1.04....way to GO!! Now, of course, the stores will not return you cash for taking the product away without paying, so you'd throw an item on to each order that absorbs the cost and you basically get that item for FREE as well. (I usually add a canned fruit or veg and pay the pennies difference). Every one is happy and I'm having a mini-seratonin buzz as the cashier is clicking the register buttons. (Ohhhhhhhh....the things we do for a "fix"!!)