Starbucks deal alert!

I stopped by my favorite consumable product spot today and discovered that Starbucks is running a great deal that began last Thursday and will run through Monday, the 22nd. Select products throughout the store are marked 20% off. When you take them to the register, you'll get an additional 20% off. That's 40% off many of their items, which is great for any last minute items or stocking stuffers you may need to pick up! And it includes ground and whole bean coffee!

Since many Starbucks are franchises, I assume not all stores are participating. You will see signs throughout the store if your store is running this sale - or you could just ask your friendly barista!

My Deals This Week

Here are the deals I was able to come up with this week. You can still get out today and get them. In fact, Kroger runs through tomorrow - and the Buy 10 Items Get $5 runs again next week as well.

At CVS I was able to get all this for just about $6 OOP.

10 Ice Breakers gums - spent $10 got $5 ECBs (Used 5 BOGO coupons to really only spend $5.)
4 Boxes of Kleenex (BOGO)
2 Crest Total Care toothpaste (free after ECBs)
2 packs of Pampers (Spent $17 got $5 ECBs)
1 Colgate battery toothbrush
1 Blade Body Spray

At Meijer I spent $39.07

2 gallons of milk (not pictured)
Taco Bell taco shells
18 eggs
2 Pop Tarts
1 bag Splenda
1 bag tortilla chips
1 pkg stewing meat
1/2 lb. Sara Lee ham
2 cans Healthy Choice Soup
bananas
grapes
asparagus
avocado
3 persimmons
1 bag Honey Crisp apples
2 boxes jello
tortillas
raisins
Aunt Millie's bread
10 cans mighty dog food (free with coupon)
Glade plug in gel (free with coupon)

A few of these items were not on a specific deal this week, but I needed them and I didn't have them in my stockpile.

At Kroger I spent $35.54

3 boxes Betty Crocker potatoes
Hamburger Helper (free with coupon on BC potato package)
3 Stouffers meals
Kroger saltines
4 Scotch Brite scrubbers
2 boxes Orville Redenbachers popcorn
mini carrots
Fresh Express salad mix
2 Kroger peanuts
2 canned Kroger vegetables
ground turkey
Kroger Syrup
Banquet frozen chicken
2 Welch's juices
2 bags Tyson chicken

I bought raisins at Meijer and the peanuts at Kroger to make a trail mix snack in order to use up some of our Halloween candy. I combined Cheerios (we have lots of those already), raisins, unsalted peanuts and all the M&Ms we had. You could probably throw in different types of candy, depending on what you like - but I thought this might be a good way to use it up and include it in a snack that's a little better for the kids!

Are you using Target to your advantage?

Have you paid attention to gift card deals at Target? They have them almost weekly. Often they're not such a great deal, like buy 2 boxes of diapers at $27 each and get a $5-$10 gift card. But occasionally they're pretty great.

This week they have a Kellogg's deal: Buy 5 boxes of Kellogg's cereal and get a $5 gift card. Most boxes (in my area) are priced $2.54 to $3.99. I got all this cereal (that's 10 boxes) for just $12.14 OOP PLUS I have another $5 gift card.



I split it into two transactions to maximize my savings. There are a few $1 manufacturers coupons out there or you can use a $1 printable here.

In the first transaction I got 5 boxes and used 5 $1 coupons. My total OOP was $8.54 plus I got the $5 GC. Then I got 5 more boxes and used 5 more $1 coupons PLUS that $5 GC, making this OOP only $3.60 and I got another $5 GC.

I try to take advantage of these Target deals whenever they come up. If you can use coupons and make it a good deal anyway, it's well worth it. I'm stocking up to do some major Christmas shopping!

*~* CVS Deals 10/26 - 11/1*~*

There are a few of the spend xx/get xx ECB deals next week, so check Hot Coupon World for more details.

• Spend $20 get $10 ECBs: Dimetapp $8 - $1 q 9/21 RP or $2 printable here; Children's Tylenol $6 - $1 q 10/5 RP, $3/3 or $2/2 9/14 SS; Benadryl $6 - $1 q 9/7 SS or 9/28 RP or $1 printable here; Tylenol Cold/Sinus $6 - $1 q 9/14 RP, 9/28 RP or 10/5 RP or $1 printable here; Theraflu $6 - $2 q from 10/19 SS plus MIR in 10/19 SS; Airborne $7 - $2 q 9/7 SS; Sudafed PE $4.50 - $1 or $1.50 q 10/5 RP or $1 printable here.
• SoyJoy bars 4/$4 - get $4 ECBs = free - Buy 2 get 1 q 10/19 SS, $3 WYB 5 printable here makes this a moneymaker!
• Renu contact solution $7.99 get $2 ECBs - $2 printable here = $3.99 after ECBs
• Bic Comfort 3 Advance Shavers 4 pack $5.99 get $4 ECBs - $2 q 10/12 SS = free after ECBs

Non-ECB deals:

• Atkins bars Buy one get 1 50% off, starting at $1.39 - $1 q 8/17 SS = .04 each
• Almay products BOGO - $1 q 10/12 SS - prices vary
  

Trunk or Treat....

Well, I had lots of treats in my trunk today...here is the best of what I got. Thanks to Mommy Snacks and Cincinnati Cents for providing me with the deals this week - my crazy weekend didn't allow me to post it myself!!

CVS:

I LOST my CVS envelope containing my card and my ECBs last week. In case you're wondering, they cannot be replaced - so guard them like cash! I had to start from scratch. Luckily when I went on Sunday to get my free pumpkin pails and lights I recieved a $10/$50. I was planning to do the diaper deal anyway because we're almost out. So for the same price I would have spent to do that, I was able to get all of this. Total OOP (only $5.25 in ECBs to start): $24.67.

• I had enough Coke Rewards points for FOUR BOGO coupons. They're bricks coupons, so you can print two! Yes, that's EIGHT 12 packs of Coke you're counting there!
• Excedrin $1.99 - free after $2 printable here.
• Colgate Max Fresh $2.99 - $1.00 coupon from All You (Sept or Oct) - get $2 ECBs
• Huggies diapers- 2 $1.50 coupons - supposedly 2 $1.00 upromise coupons, but it doesn't look like those came off, so I'm going to have to check that out.
• Huggies wipes - $2.79 - 2 .50 coupons (Buy $25 in products get $10 ECBs)
• GUM toothbrush $3.99 - get $3.99 ECBs = free

KROGER:

I also did very well at Kroger, where there were a few freebies or almost freebies . Total OOP: $8.58.

• I was all set to buy Nestle hot chocolate at Meijer, but discovered that it's on sale for $1.25 at Kroger! With this .75 cent printable it was only .25!
• Celestial Seasonings tea was 10/$10 which means free with the recent $1.00 coupon.
• Tennessee Pride sausage gravy was $1.19 regular price. I used a .55 coupon to get them for only .19 cents.
• Nesquick was .99 cents 0r free after .50 cent coupon from the 9/14 Red Plum
• Grapes .99/lb
• Cotton Balls 10/$10

I have recently started going to Walgreens, but I didn't do pictures of that. This week I got:

• Gillette Fusion Razor - $8.99 - $4 coupon (from P&G insert) = $4.99. I got $4 RR, so .99 total
• Theraflu (part of a buy 3 get $8 in RR deal) - I bought 3 Theraflu at $4.99 - 3 $2 off coupons = $8.97. I got $8 RR, so .97 total. There was a mail-in rebate form in this past weekend's inserts for 1 Theraflu at the price minus the $2.00 coupon - so it's a moneymaker!

I also went to Meijer, but not too much special there. They do have General Mills Cereal $1.80 per box, but I usually try to avoid sugary cereals (except for the occasional Fruity Pebbles treat for DH). I did get a couple of boxes of Total and Cheerios Crunch.

I also got my free Jello and Taco Bell taco shells courtesy of the Meijer Mealbox coupons. Did you know that Jello has a Pumpkin Spice pudding flavor out?? I picked up 2 boxes today! I'm sure this is a limited time item, so if it's something you like check it out now. Apparently the Meijer prices on Jello and Jello Pudding vary, but at my store the pudding is on sale for .88 right now. With the $1.50/2 Mealbox coupon, that's still only .13 a box.

Disney on a Budget

We took the kids to see Disney on Ice this weekend and managed to do it on a super low budget - less than $45 for five of us. It could have been done for less than $20 if we hadn't fed them dinner, but we did that pretty inexpensively as well!

My husband always says that shows like that are money pits - and they are. They were selling toys for as much as $18 - and people were buying them! We were very excited to go see the show, but I am always worried about the bottom line. With a little planning I was able to keep that bottom line low enough for my comfort level - so I had a great time along with everyone else and didn't have that constant nagging feeling that we'd just spent money that was designated for something else. By considering all the areas in which we would potentially be spending money, I could figure out how to get the most out of the event by spending the least amount of money.

• Tickets. To begin with, the only reason we were even going to the show is that we were given the tickets for free. Our one-year-old didn't need a ticket, so we were able to let our four-year-old bring a friend. If we had paid for all those seats, it could have cost $80 or more. Our total cost: $0.

• Parking. Another serious cost pitfall can be parking. It all depends on where you park. If we had gone on Sunday (football day), we would have paid as much as $25 to park in the arena garage. We parked behind the arena at the public landing next to the river. We walked up four flights of stairs right to the main entrance. Our total cost: $0.

• Food. I brought a few light snacks along to keep the kids occupied without having to spend a fortune on carnival food. It's definitely not easy to completely avoid the temptation of all the cotton candy, sno cones and candy floating around. We did spring for a large tub of popcorn that kept them happy, in addition to the snacks I brought along. The arena did allow one sealed bottle of water per person (which we brought but never even opened). Our total cost: $4.00. The snacks I brought were already part of my grocery budget, but if I had to put a price on them I'd say I paid less than $3 for the Cheerios mix, raisins and M&Ms.

• Souvenirs. As anyone would expect, there were lots and lots of ridiculously overpriced goodies available for purchase. Why pay that much for a toy that's going to end up in the corner of the toy box and never played with again? To completely avoid the begging, I went to KB Toys the day before the show in search of some Disney items. I found these little Mickey Mouse cell phones that light up and make noises, which I gave them when we got to our seats. I didn't think they were anything special, but the kids were so excited about them! They were such a hit. I also used a $5 coupon which the store told me won't be available after Oct. 25th, so get yours now! Our total cost: $12.00.

• Dinner. This is an area that could have been skipped. But we went to a Saturday afternoon show that got out just in time for dinner. If I hadn't planned it, it would have happened anyway. A few months ago we purchased gift certificates from Restaurant.com at an 80% discount when they were having a special promotion. I found a restaurant in the area that only required a $35 minimum purchase for a $25 gift card. We ended up coming pretty close to that with 3 kids and 2 adults. Our total cost: $26.00.

When we first found out we were able to get free tickets to this event, I thought it was going to just be a good time doing something that we never would have been able to afford otherwise. But adding in all those extras that really are involved in the process can easily make something like this cost a lot, even without the price of tickets! But with a little advanced planning, you can definitely do even a Disney show without spending a fortune!

This Week at Meijer

I have to post how I've done at Meijer this week because there are many deals there this week that are super-dee-duper (as my 4-year-old would put it)! If you haven't been to Meijer this week (or you normally don't) you really MUST GO!

• Glade catalina deal - Buy one Glade Scented Oil Warmer, get a $4 catalina. These are priced $4.69 to $4.99. But what makes this deal really sweet is the BOGO coupon in the 9/28 SS insert. Each warmer scanned prompts the $4 cat to print automatically, so you're getting $8 in cats and only paying for the first warmer!
• Fleischmann's catalina deal - This one isn't nearly exciting, but when you buy 2 yeast strips at $1.45 each, you get a .50 cent cat. There were .45/1 coupons in the 10/5 SS. This isn't a moneymaker, but if you use yeast, you're getting 2 strips for $1.10.
• Birdseye Viola deal - These are on sale for $3 this week. There are $1 coupons in the Sept. and Oct. issues of All You or a $1.00 printable from coupons.com - click on that in my right sidebar. There is also a $1/2 Meijer coupon you can stack on top of these manufacturers coupons. (The printable Mealbox coupons exclude combining coupons, but if you got the ones in the weekly ad last week, it does not say that). That makes them $1.50 each, which is a great price. But what makes this deal even better is that for every three bags you buy, you can get a Charlie Brown holiday DVD free. And the limit is 8 per household!! Download the form for that here.
• Deli Creations - This was not in my local ad, but these are on sale 3/$5. With this $1/1 coupon, they're only .67 cents each! These are great for DH's lunch.
• Jello - Mealbox currently has a coupon for $1.50 off two of these and they're .64 cents regular price, so that's overage!
• Goldfish - 1/2 price this week at $1.09.
• Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn - 1/2 price this week, making most boxes around $1.59 each. With the .40/1 from the 10/12 SS, the $1/1 Natural from the 9/28 SS or here, these boxes are .79 cents or less!
• Hillshire Farm Sausage - Smoked Sausage is $1.39 and the $1/2 from the 10/5 RP makes them .89 cents each. The cheddarwurst and beef sausage are also $1.39 with a .55/1 from the 10/5 RP, which makes them .39 each.
• Green Giant Steamers - They're 5/$5 this week and that makes them free with the $1 coupon from the 10/5 GM or here.

Here's how I did. Keep in mind that coupons like the Meijer Mealbox (Jello) only allow one per transaction and Meijer only doubles 2 like coupons per transaction, which makes it kind of a pain to do these deals. They are split in to quite a few transactions. I will be doing a few more trips this week when my popcorn coupons arrive that I bought on ebay. DH loves the pour over movie theater butter and at .59 a box it's too good to pass up!

I paid a total of $14.48 OOP for what I have here, including 4 $4.00 Glade catalinas.


I paid a total of .75 cents for all of this! That includes 2 more $4.00 Glade catalinas, not to mention the .57 cents Meijer gave me back for each transaction with the Jello!

There was one small trip that I did not include in the photos that included some fruit, 3 more Voila meals and another Glade. It totaled $7.78.

So for $23.01 this week at Meijer I got:

• 9 Voila meals
• 3 Charlie Brown DVDs (from Voila UPCs)
• 8 Glade Scented Oil plug ins
• 2 Band-Aids (free from last week)
• 4 boxes Orville Redenbacher popcorn
• 2 strips Fleischmann's yeast
• 2 Goldfish crackers
• 2 Hillshire Farms cheddarwurst
• 2 Hillshire Farms smoked sausage
• 2 Juicy Juice
• 6 Green Giant Veggie Steamers
• 1.5 pounds of plums
• 1 large eggs
• 1 lunchable
• 6 boxes Jello
• 2 Deli Select sandwiches

See? I wasn't kidding. Go to Meijer before Sunday!

I Overdid it at CVS

I just spent $25 out of pocket at CVS. I totally went overboard!! Here's what I got:



I did two trips in order to maximize my ECBs. I only had $11.98 to start with this time. So on my first trip I got the Always, Bic Soleil, Vitamin Water and M&Ms to round it out. Of course, my CVS looks like it never had any of the Colgate MaxFresh toothbrushes or toothpaste, so that was a lost cause.

Then a $10/$50 printed out. And I was going to come back in anyway to do the Tylenol deal.

So I thought, well I might as well use it now since I'm going to spend at least $20 already. There were a few things that I could've gotten that I didn't get the first time. So I sat in my car for a minute with the ad and my coupons, made a quick list and went in. This time I had only $11.29 in ECBs to work with.

I went in and got 2 Tylenols, one Children's Tylenol and one Children's Motrin. Then I grabbed a Bic Soleil cartridge that I didn't have a coupon for, but I love the razors and at $1.99 after ECBs, it's a pretty good deal. I grabbed my husband's favorite razor, some sale-priced batteries and the Renu that I could kick myself for not going to get Saturday - when it was still on sale for $6.99 - even though I did have a $2 coupon.

My total came to $59.00 before the coupons. Oops. I only needed to spend $50 in the first place. I used all my coupons, all my ECBs and she still wanted more. So begrudgingly, instead of digging in the bottom of my purse for loose change - my usual CVS checkout method - I pulled out......the debit card. (Can you sense the hanging of my head in shame?)

This is what happens when you do things in haste! This is what happens when you go into battle unprepared. I had a list, but it was a lame attempt at organization. I didn't add. I guess I thought that the register would be on my team? I know, I know, I cut my total by more than half once all everything was taken off. Maybe the average person would think that's pretty darn good. But many of you know what I'm talking about. I did horribly!

I hope my husband is not reading this blog today. Perhaps he's busy using the shiny new razor I bought for him =). I had to use my own money this time. Ouch.

Have you ever done this? Please share your stories, so I know I'm not the only one who has had a math meltdown while bargain shopping!

Update - Donations for Village Life Outreach

Here is an update to the post I did here about Village Life Outreach.

A new trip is being planned for next week. Anything that can be donated by Friday (October 9) could be packed up and sent. Of course, they will accept later donations for future trips. Again, they are in need of any OTC pain relievers and anti-fungal creams. They also always in need of financial contributions for items like mosquito nets, medications for specific tropical diseases, as well as equipment for their water filtration systems.

Where to donate: Alliance Primary Care - 3306 Ruther Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45220.

I'm going to scramble together everything I can between now and then and make a trip down there next week. I hope those of you in the area will consider donating some of your extras for this cause as well. If you're not in the Cincinnati area, I encourage you to find a similar program in your area.

Village Life Outreach

Dig into your stockpiles! For all of you who have a mountain of Advil from that recent Kroger deal or any other extras laying around, I've got a great opportunity for you.

The University of Cincinnati's DAAP program has teamed up with the medical volunteers of Village Life Outreach to begin work on a year-round medical clinic in Tanzania. Currently the group sends a medical team twice a year, but they are now considering what it will take to build a permanent, year-round clinic - independent of electricity and running water!

They need donations. And what they're looking for are exactly the things that every couponer probably has stockpiled on his or her shelves right now: pain relievers and anti-fungal creams, including Gold Bond, etc. This is a great opportunity for those who have been searching for a place to donate all of those extras you may have gotten for free or as part of another deal.

The people in Tanzania live in some of the poorest conditions in the world. Many would never see a doctor, if not for programs like Village Life Outreach. Those of you who know me probably know that a large part of my college education was devoted to African development and it's something that is very important to me. You can make a difference in small ways, even without planning a mission trip and traveling there to live for a year.

I'm waiting to hear back on where to send the items when they're collected, so for now start assessing what you can afford to give up! I'll post an update as soon as I have the details. If you can't wait, you can call 513-584-8630 in the meantime!

Super Double Coupons at Kmart!!

I usually don't spend much (or any) time at Kmart because they tend to not have the best deals in my opinion. But Little Miss Know It All has info on super double coupons at Kmart (select regions) starting tomorrow, October 1 through October 5! She's working on posting some coupon matchups

They are doubling all coupons - up to $2! That means $2 coupons are doubling to $4. There is no overage, but this is a pretty fantastic deal.

More details including rules (for my area) are here.

Happy shopping!!

Why I Became a Couponer

I never thought my husband would brag to people about how much money I save, but I guess I can't complain about the compliments! I have learned the art of a good deal. I used to despise going to the grocery store. It took so long, I spent so much money and I never felt like I had what I needed once I got home. Occasionally I would use coupons, but here's how I would do it - I would go to the grocery store, locate an item on my list and see if I had a coupon for it. Saving .50 cents here and there didn't seem like much - especially for the time and hassle of clipping coupons!

Then I discovered how real couponers use coupons. It's not about what's on your list. It's about what's on sale. If I take that same .50 cent coupon and take it to a store that doubles coupons (Meijer and Kroger in my area) then that .50 cent coupon is now a $1 coupon. If I wait for a sale, then the deal is even sweeter. Often stores have 10/$10 sales. If I have a .50 coupon (doubled to $1) then those items are free! That's a pretty sweet deal, right?

The key is stockpiling. I might not need the item right now, but I will need it. So why not buy 6 months' worth now for pennies instead of paying full price if I wait until I run out? Recently there was a really good Electrasol coupon for $2.25 off. Stores have been running the Electrasol tabs on sale for $3. That's .75 cents for an item that is normally close to $4.00! I bought about 20. So now the next time I empty a box of dishwashing detergent I don't have to go to the store and spend $4.00 on another box. For the next year, I will use my stockpile of detergent that I bought for less than a quarter of that price per box!

Do I have your interest? Everyone can use some grocery savings, right? It's not hard. And I'll make it even easier with more information to follow.

Greetings!

Thank you for visiting my blog! We are a young family with 2 children, ages 4 and 1. My blog's title, "Violet's College Fund" , is inspired by a goal of my husband, Serge, and I - that we are able to become secure financially and give our kids a head start in life. Like many young couples, we've struggled with our finances - particularly when I became a stay-at-home mom in 2007.



Knowing that our budget was about to get even tighter, I considered it my job to find ways to save my family money and make money as well. I was able to find an actual job working from home part-time and along the way I learned a lot about the process of finding work at home - something I know many, many parents want to find but don't know how. I also learned about ways to save some money. I love finding a good deal and when I score something great, I like to spread the word.

So here you'll find many things. Partly I've created this blog to document our journey to solidifying our finances. I also want to teach other people how they can find a real job they can do at home by sharing what I've learned. Maybe I can help others navigate through that unfamiliar (and scary) territory. I'll be posting great deals at grocery, drug and discount stores so you can learn to cut some money from your budget and put it towards other things. Since I have 2 k ids of my own and we're always looking for fun stuff to do, I'm sure there will be some things there for them as well!