Fall Savings!!

When I was researching the coupon industry's tactics and time tables a few years ago, I ran across an interesting tidbit of information that I think bears repeating. Manufacturer's flood the market with over $3 Billion dollars worth of coupons every year. Over half of those coupons are released in the last four months of the year--rather then the first 8 months. That is when consumers are the most predictable with their traditional menu production and consumption. They are eating at home more throughout the holiday season and need more supplies to whip up those tasty favorites. It's the HOLIDAYS--and we do our best celebrating with FOOD! In order to maximize sales and supersede brand loyalty--the quantity of coupons and savings amounts are greatly increased.

With all the changes in the Albertsons' coupon policy and the removal of the doublers from the stores--I haven't really noticed a great opportunity for stocking up on the predictable staples. But tomorrow is hopefully the start of the count-down deals till Christmas. The entire center pages are full of deals that will render additional savings via the Catalina print-outs. Many of the items require purchases in set quantities--and most have coupons that are available in the mass market. Some of them I found on the Internet sites that are free to print. There is a limit of two prints per computer address...but at least some of the coupons don't requirement any extra work to retrieve. One than one computer=2 additional prints :)

There are dozens of others items that are on sale that will also generate those Catalina's that act like money on your next transactions. I'm thinking that a few transactions with some aptly placed coupons will fill the pantry quite nicely, on this week's sales.

Another stellar deal is the Green Giant Vegetables 11-15o.25 oz 6 for $4 ($.67 each). You get back a $2 Catalina coupon when you buy 6; making the final price after Catalina $.34 a can. If you need green beans and corn in bulk--make sure that you call the store ahead of time and have them order the quantities and kinds that you would like, so that the infamous shelf-clearers (and they are out there in droves!), won't leave you empty-handed or with the flavors that nobody likes either! This is a great stock-up price, especially since you don't have to have any coupons to purchase at that price!

General Mills cereals are also going on sale. If you have coupons to layer on the sales' prices--it beats the other competitors' sales--hands down. On the link for the Jello deal above, there are also coupons for the cereal. Don't forget to go through all the different coupons to see what you can print from home for free. Quaker oats look like they would be a great deal if you get coupons to match.

I tell ya'!! Coupons work like magic. They are the only time that you will be able to pay for something with a piece of paper that acts like MONEY at the register--that you didn't have to earn or take from your financial savings account. Coupons are a form of payment that don't require you punching a time clock to earn. It really is the most amazing concept for saving the money that you did work hard to earn! So make sure that you go your ads this week and see what items you can buy that have coupons to match. And 'tis the season to Save, Save, Save.
**Fred Meyer started a great sale on Sunday, which will go through till Saturday. They have hundreds of items that are on a "Save $5 when you buy 10" program. One of the more stellar deals is the Campbells' Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom soups that are 99cents a can. When you buy 10 of them, $5 automatically comes off--making them 49 cents a can. Great price...but if you have some coupons, which are rotating out there, you can save a lot more.

Think about the difference this way. There are coupons for 40cents off of 3 cans and 40 cents off of 4 cans out there. If you were to buy 4 cans of soup at the 99cent price and then apply one of those coupons...your total would go from $3.96 to $3.56 for four cans. But if you buy 10 cans at 99cents, $5 comes off, making the new total $4.90. If I had 3 of the 40cents off of 3 coupons--I could use 3 of them on this transaction. They would reduce the total to $3.70. That is only 14 cents more than the original example--and you are getting 6 cans more soup. If you were to stock up on the items that your family uses the most of with these kinds of sales (and they repeat cyclically--so no worries about this being a one-time gig that won't ever come your way again...), note the difference in the amount of food you would have on hand in comparison to not taking advantage of the sale with the coupon. You can put more food on your shelves that will be your cost savings until the next sale comes around. You save long after the sale is over. It's amazing! And you don't have to have a lot more money to make a difference in the amount you would like to buy.

Another stock-up item found at Albertsons' this week: Jello 3oz packages or pudding packages--4 for $3; Buy 4 and get $1 back. Applying the coupon that you can print here--will increase the savings tremendously. This is a great stock-up price because it's less than 19cents a box and it includes the variety of puddings. Yum!http://www.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14997&zid=iq55&nid=10&bid=1101221106cf273e082781673e0827816

What to do with all those pudding mixes? Try making these cookies!

AWESOME Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3 1/2 ounce) packages vanilla instant pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups walnuts, chopped (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookies-using-instant-vanilla-pudding-409814#ixzz1cWXwAYNj

Awesome Albertsons' Goes "Printable"

I thought I would check http://www.thekrazycouponlady.com/ and it was a HIT!! There was atiddly-bit about Albertsons' offering doublers that can be printed from home!! Oh My Gosh...goodness is still out there. You don't have to buy the Sunday paper to get a set of doublers. Wooooo-HOOOOOOOOO!! When the the chain stopped making the doublers available in the store, I knew that the major stock-up days were dwindling. It meant the only way to get doublers in mass quantity would involve buying, begging, or stealing them. I have serious moral issues with two of these methods, and for the third--I'm a cheapskate! What good would it do to spend $2 just to save $3. That's like taking two steps forward and one step back. So the printables are BRILLIANT because they are free!! Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you Albertsons'. Go here to print a set of your own.

http://couponconnections.com/2011/09/hurry-albertsons-printable-twice-the-value-coupon/

The doublers will double any coupon up to the face value of $1. But, for example, if the item you are attempting to buy is 99 cents and you have a $1 coupon...the register will automatically adjust the doubler to 99 cents. No more getting credit for things that you don't "pay for". Albertsons' has done major overhauls on the way they handle their sales with mass coupon usage now. I think that it's mostly from the "extreme" publicity that TLC's "Extreme Couponing" show brought to the chain, that showed some savvy shoppers applying their windfall savings towards items that didn't have coupons applied towards them. No more "free meat" or "freebies" driving your totals into the negative balance. You can only get exact store credits courtesy of new software on the registers.

The northwest region doesn't have any stores that routinely double coupon values except for Albertsons'--who limit that privilege to a total of three per customer per transaction (up to three transactions in a row)--and only if they have the hard ad with the double coupons, in hand. And the access to the doublers has been severely tightened by no longer being able to get them in the store itself. It's driving many of the novice couponers to steal...literally. I know that I've ranted before about being honest...but hard times seems to have some people shelving their morals and principles for the sake of $3. (BTW--so not worth the sale of your integrity....)

So under the circumstances, I'm extremely pleased that I was able to print a set of doublers at no cost and also have the doublers that I got from our Sunday paper. It will be worth the trip tomorrow to use them. Especially on the items that are taking an additional $5 off when purchased in sets of 10. Go to http://www.albertsons.com/ to see which ones.

Hooray!! Kellogg's Rocks!

Some people look forward to Fridays.....Not me! I look forward to Tuesday nights, when I can get on-line and can see the upcoming grocery ads. I get all giddy and can't wait to plan the weekly shopping "events". Case in point...I was just looking at the upcoming ads for tomorrow--wondering if there would be a fabulous deal in the works and I think that I found one worth sharing. Albertsons' is featuring Kelloggs' cereals and Pop Tarts on sale starting tomorrow. When you buy 3 boxes of participating kinds, you get a Catalina print out for a free gallon of milk (up to $3.99 a gallon), on your next order. You can buy up to 9 boxes at a time and get up to 3 print-outs for milk. There are coupons available on ebay and in the ad circulars from past Sunday papers--but the stellar part of this deal is that Kelloggs' is also doing a fuel rebate on certain participating products. Go to: http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2011/03/get-up-to-50-of-free-fuel-with-kelloggs-rebate.html to review how the rebate works. This is AwEsOmE--because you are allowed to submit up to five submissions per address and it doesn't require a receipt to participate. So--if you plan your trip to purchase participating UPCs, get free milk, and use coupons--you are going to Win, Win, Win!! [It was mentioned at one of my store haunts this week--that there might be doublers this coming weekend as well--and that would turn this deal into something to really squeal about!] **During the last Kelloggs' sale, about three weeks ago, there were coupons for free produce on my boxes of Cocoa Krispies. The coupon is for $1 off fruit/produce for every 2 boxes purchased. That means--bonus savings in addition to milk and fuel!!

TIP: If you are going to be one of those customers that is going to take this deal to the cleaners--like, as in clearing the shelves and mass purchasing without thought to other customers--make sure that you call the store and ask for the order clerk to order your quantities ahead of time. This will guarantee that you have your product waiting for you when you decide to get in to purchase it, rather than being at the mercy of whatever kinds and quantities are left on the shelf. That will save you time and effort in getting the product during the sale dates, as well as making sure that you don't cause the store undo stress of not being able to satisfy other customers between restocking dates.

Safeway has a "Spring Fling" event starting. For every $75 you spend, you will automatically get a $10 print out to use on your next order. Some cashiers tell you that in order to get your $10, you have to "pay" $75--before coupons are used. Ag. Whatever. The computer generates the $10 first, before the coupons are even used--so just micro-manage your cashier, if there is a problem. But if you are taking advantage of some of the great deals there--it would be very easy to generate those cool $10 freebies--and there is no limit to how many you can generate off of one telephone number. So if Safeway is your store--Game on!!

I noticed that cases of Coke products are on sale--when you buy 2, get 2 free. Fair deal...but it's a compound sale because you also get two boxes of Nabisco snack crackers for free as well. Good deal before coupons; great deal after coupons. For example--hand them a $1 off 2 manufacturer's coupon for the crackers...and because they are technically "free"--the $1 off will be applied to the Coke products. If you check ebay, there are also coupons for cases of Coke. Not only is it a "compound" sale with extra freebies--you get to use all the extra coupons. The less it costs, the better it tastes. Yum!

SOUPER Deals!!

Alright. I eluded to the fact that Albertson's is featuring a fantastic Con Agra sale starting tomorrow--2/9. It's not as extensive in product range as before, but it's still a great deal to get in on and start building a food reserve with!

This is a high-dollar savings week for the advertised products, because the way the deal goes--you have to buy $25 worth of product at the regular price for the Catalina to generate the $10 coupon. In layman's terms, that's NOT sales' price. The qualifier for the $10 is based on the $25 of regular-priced items, but what you pay is based on the sales' prices. You then "roll" the Catalina for $10 that you get on the first transaction onto the subsequent transactions. Each transaction, purchasing in transactions of $25 increments, or thereabouts, will generate a new $10 Catalina print-out. You can accumulate a LOT of food for very little, if not free, quickly.

Regular prices of some of the products:

Chef Boyardee canned pastas--$1.49

Manwich------$1.49

Healthy Choice Soup---$2.99

Swiss Miss Cocoa-$2.50

Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce---$1.19

Hunt's Tomatoes-----$1.19

Hunt's Ketchup----$2.29

Gulden's Mustard---$2.29
Hunt's Snack Pack puddings---$1.99

Peter Pan Peanut Butter-$3.29

Pam Cooking Spray----$3.99

Wesson Oil-------$6.29

Ro-Tel Tomatoes---$1.89

Sales' Prices for the same products:

Chef Boyardee canned pasta--10/$10

Manwich-$1.00

Healthy Choice Soups--$1

Swiss Miss Cocoa---$1

Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce--$1

Hunt's Tomatoes--$1

Hunt's Ketchup/Mustard/Margarine--$1
Hunt's Pudding---$1

Peter Pan Peanut Butter----$1.69

Pam Cooking Spray----2/$5

Wesson Oils---$3.49

Ro-Tel Tomatoes---$1

(There are a few other products included in this sale that I didn't research the prices of, but may be worth looking into: Snapple Fruit Drinks and Teas, Healthy Choice Complete Meals and Cafe Steamers, Reddi-wip, Marie Callender's Dinners and Steamers, Rosarita Salsa, Banquet Brown and Serve sausage and Dinners, Ro-Tel diced tomato varieties, frozen Kid's Cuisine, and assorted Healthy Choice lunch, dinner, and fresh mix entrees).

Sale Guidelines: SAVE $10 On Your Next Shopping Trip when you buy $25 or more of participating products. Purchase must be made in a single transaction using your Albertsons' Preferred Card. Coupon issued at checkout. Limit one coupon per transaction. Minimum purchase requirement calculated after manufacturer coupons.

What this means: You buy $25 of "regular-priced" goods, but the register totals what you pay based on the "sales' price". You pay the balance owed on the first transaction and a Catalina coupon is generated for $10 that you can use on your next order. For example: you buy 3 Blue Bonnet margarines and 7 Healthy Choice soups and your total will come up to $10. You pay the $10 and you also get the $10 Catalina. You can turn around and use that $10 on your next order. So if you have another $10 total, you "pay" that amount with the Catalina, you have zero out of pocket expense and still generate another Catalina to use on your next order.

Albertsons' Check-Out Policy: You are able to do three transactions before you need to exit the check-out and get back in line, so that everyone has their turn paying for the great deals. They anticipate that this is going to be a blockbuster of a sale and that there are going to be lines of people taking advantage of getting some great products for free. So--3 trannies, back of the line. Now--everything is different when there's no one waiting behind you. You can roll as many transactions as you want, until someone gets in line behind you. BE COURTEOUS. There are stores that are opening up lanes for just this promo deal. The store on 57th and Regal will have 2 check-out lanes that are for nothing except these kind of transactions. Most stores are prepared for the lines, but the customers need to play by the store rules and Be Nice.

Here are some of the match-ups that would make for a great deal:

Buy:

3 Blue Bonnet Cubes + 7 HC Soups = $10 minus $10 Catalina =FREE

5 Blue Bonnet Tubs + 6 HC Soups =$10 minus $10 Catalina =$1

4 Hunt's Puddings + 6 HC Soups = $10 minus $10 Catalina =FREE

4 Ro-Tel Tomatoes + 6 HC Soups =$10 minus $10 Catalina =FREE

6 Guilden's Mustards + 4 HC Soups =$10 minus $10 Catalina =FREE

4 Hunt's Ketchup + 6 HC Soups =$10 minus $10 Catalina =FREE

4 Hunt's Tomatoes + 7 HC Soups =$11 minus $10 Catalina =$1

2 Rosarita Salsa + 7 HC Soups =$11 minus $10 Catalina =$1

3 Pam Cooking Sprays + 6 HC Soups =$13.50 minus $10 Catalina =$3.50

3 Hunt's BBQ Sauce + 6 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina =$2

2 Wesson Oil + 5 HC Soups =$11.98 minus $10 Catalina =$1.98

6 Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce + 6 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina =$2

2 Reddi-wip + 7 HC Soups =$12.58 minus $10 Catalina=$2.58

4 PP Peanut Butter + 4 HC Soups =$10.76 minus $10 Catalina= 76cents

3 Marie Callender's dinners + 4 HC Soups =$13 minus $10 Catalina= $3

3 Marie Callender's Pot Pies + 4 HC Soups =$13 minus $10 Catalina= $3

3 Kid's Cuisine + 6 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina= $2

5 Chef Boyardee + 7 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina= $2

5 Banquets + 7 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina= $2

5 Manwich + 6 HC Soups =$11 minus $10 Catalina= $1

2 HC steams/dinners + 6 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina= $2

3 HC entrees + 6 HC Soups =$12 minus $10 Catalina= $2

Boy--that's A LOT of soup and other stuff!! FYI--The stores know that there is going to be a lot of Healthy Choice Soups purchased to just get the great price on the other products, and so they are setting up stations inside the store for the local food banks if you don't find a need or want that kind or amount of soup.

I'm scoring a lot of peanut butter on this deal and so a lot of my transactions actually don't have any soup in them because the regular price on the peanut butter is $3.29 and acts as a higher mediator in accumulating the $25 needed to generate the Catalina. This is an amazing way to stock up on basics like canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, soups, cooking oils, condiments, and quick dinner ideas. Most of the expiration dates on the products are months out, if not a year or two.

I'm still thinking about that quote that says it's better to be prepared 10 years early, than 10 minutes too late. What would it hurt to have a few months supply of staples to feed your family on hand in cruddy economic times. Food is always in fashion ;)

Just to see if you read all the way to the bottom...there are some coupons that you can print for free from the privacy of your home that you can use with this awesome deal. http://www.readyseteat.com/brand-coupon.do

Make a Game Plan....

Guess what! Tomorrow through Tuesday, Albertsons' is going to have double coupons. That means that with their store coupon, they will double 3 coupons up to $1 (for a $2) each. That's HUGE when you are talking about a great deal anyway. The products that are already free, they make a negative total. You have to plan ahead because you want to fill the negative equity with some other product that absorbs the cost or leaves your total closer to pennies rather than dollars.

For me, this is noteworthy because I'm willing to do smaller transactions to save tons of money--but I am still going for the Box Tops with every set of 10. I learned yesterday that you don't have to break your transactions into sets of 10 to still generate the print-out. I did 60 cans of beans and corn and got 6 Box Tops print-outs. So, if you have a mathematical brain, you can layer your transactions to offset what you could pay with a doubled coupon. For example: on the Bisquick Shake and Pour--they are 50cents in a set of ten. The coupons are for 50cents off...making them free. You are allowed to double 3 coupons per transaction. If I doubled the three 50s--I'm $1.50 ahead in the transaction. Here is a fab scenario:

6 Bisquick----------------------50 cents each=$3.00

4 cans of Green Giant vegetables =$1.56

Total------------------------------------------$4.56

Double 3 of the 50 centers ($1per coupon) = -$3.00

3regular coupons on the Bisquick (50x3) = -$1.50

Total----------------------------------------6 cents

Bonus--------a 50 point Box Top Coupon per transaction!!

I think I can afford a few more of each of these. You can work the math to any combination that you like and have coupons for--but the doublers (even if only 3 of them) make for a great deal. The sale goes through Tuesday, and even though rain checks are a great thing--they don't give you the Box Top print-out and the doubler expires on Tuesday as well. So take advantage of the deal early on.

Something to Brag about....

Occasionally, I've been known to toot my own horn. Here is another occasion--"toot, toot!" I just got back from Albertsons'. It's Tuesday night. Didn't have any plans or purchases in mind for the eleventh hour of the sales' week. But my neighbor across the street has taken some of my tips and put them to good use. Well...today she gave me her extra doublers from the Sunday paper. Not wanting to waste a precious coupon doubler, I went to the computer at 8:30pm to refresh myself with the sales' ad and figured that it might be worth a trip down the hill to my favorite grocery haunt. I decided a mere 4 transactions would suffice--but I brought the 100 toothbrush coupons I recently ordered off of ebay...for a "just in case" back-up item to use any extra doublers. And as would have it, the toothbrushes were on sale for $1.19 (doubling the $1 off coupon allowed me to subtract 81cents x3 coupled/doubled for a total of $2.43 in overage per transaction). So doing transactions with three toothbrushes and smaller amounts of groceries, I had final amounts ranging from 17-89 cents per transaction. Doing 10-12 transactions really paid off...to the tune of $165.84 in savings. And for all of the viewers who stand in judgment of the value of couponing--please note the items that were "purchased" in "coupon cash" rather than liquid cash--like produce and milk; which are items that generally don't have a coupon specifically for them available. If I had freezer space and forethought--we would have been having steak for dinner tomorrow instead of cereal! Oh well. Better plans next time :)

So--here's what I got for $11.88!!
3 gallons of milk
8 boxes of General Mills Cereals
12 bags of Malt-o-Meal cereals
6 avocados
6 large apples
2 bunches of green onions
1lb of carrots
3lbs of bananas
22 Gum Toothbrushes
2 bottles Kikkoman's Teriyaki sauce
2 bottles Kikkoman's Teriyaki glaze
8 jars of Prego spaghetti sauce
21 cans of Starkist Tuna

Now, if I had paid regular price for all of these items, before any coupons, etc...this total would have been $177.72. But I paid $11.88 and came home with a $1.oo OYNO Catalina coupon, 35 cents off of gasoline for up to 20 gallons, and 4 free movies from Redbox--woo hoo!! So the little jaunt to my favorite haunt was well-worth the time. I shutter to think what I could have done if I had come prepared with a grundle of coupons and a method to my madness. Tonight was just a great reminder of what kind of good you can do without a lot of money or time.

Panic...will there be enough Ketchup for everyone???

Starting tomorrow: FREE ketchup at Wal-Mart!! I just bet they love psycho shoppers like me. I won't be that conservative shopper who wonders how long it takes their family to get through a bottle of ketchup...I already know that it is it's own food group in our family. So here's the skinny on the fabulous deal. Wal-Mart has the Heinz 40oz bottle on a "Rollback" special for $1 a bottle. That is quite a deal by itself. But starting in the Albertsons' ad tomorrow there is a printed manufacturer coupon for $1 off Heinz ketchup!! For the mathematically-challenged...that equals FREE.


This coupon is a manufacturer coupon, but does have the Albertsons' logo on it. This shouldn't be a problem as Wal-Mart accepts "competitor coupons"--although, technically speaking, this is a manufacturer coupon and can be redeemed by the store who sends it in...thus Wal-Mart is the beneficiary of the reimbursement from the manufacturer. If Wal-Mart flings you any crap at the register, and it has been known to happen...just point out Wal-Mart's competitor policy and suggest that they follow the "retailer instructions" on the coupon. You're just the happy shopper out for a great deal. It's a 'Win-Win' situation, right?

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?