Giant Eagle Deals of the Week 3/11-3/18

There aren't too many deals to get all excited about this week but here's a few that I thought I might venture in to get.

Betty Crocker Cake Mix or Frosting (12-20.5 oz.), 10/$10
$0.50/1 Betty Crocker Frosting Tub printable
$0.50/1 Betty Crocker Frosting Tub, exp. 4-3-10 (GM 02/07/10)
As low as FREE after doubled coupon!

(I don't use a lot of icing. Especially not straight from a jar but I have found that Hannah and her little friends LOVE to bake cupcakes, ice them and decorate them. This is perfect because it's one less step for me and it's easy for them to use. 3 cheers for free icing!!)

Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing or KC Marinades (16 oz.), 4/$10
$1/1 Hidden Valley Bottled Dressing printable
As low as $1.50 ea. after coupon!

(Joe's favorite kind of ranch dressing! A must have at our house. I think I may have to check the price at Walmart to make sure this is a better price then what I could get at Walmart. Don't have this item listed in my price book yet.)

Giant Eagle Butter Quarters (1 lb.), $1.78

92% Lean Ground Beef $2.59/lb.

(My freezer is lacking ground beef at the moment. I think I'll get a bit to tide me over till a better sale. If you know of a great sale, please let me know. I'm looking for 90-93% lean.)

Kellogg's Fruit Snacks (9 oz.), 5/$10
$1/1 Kellogg's Fruit Flavored Snacks printable
$1.50/1 Coupon in Vocal Point Mailer
As low as $.50 each after coupon!

(Special treats for Matthew during church... Yeah!)

You can also score FREE deodorant this week. There are numerous printable links. You can find a full list of Giant Eagle deals at Savings in Akron. You'll find the deodorant printables listed under 'Health & Beauty'.


So what deals am I overlooking? Let me know......

Questions

Today i will attempt to explain myself as well as answer some questions that I have received. They are random and not in any specific order.




Question: Do I feel everyone should shop the way I do?

Answer: NO. There are a lot of things to be considered. Your time, the needs of your family, your children's ages, your driving distance, your personality, your interests, etc.

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Question: Do I enjoy shopping this way?

Answer: Yes! Yes! Yes! I enjoy the challenge of it and have enjoyed trying to figure out what works best for my family. I will see if I continue enjoying the challenge after child #3 makes it's arrival. Somehow, hauling 3 kids in and out of 4 or 5 stores doesn't sound too fun. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

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Question: Why did I start this blog?

Answer: A lot of my friends had questions about it. When I get excited about it I can't seem to keep my mouth shut and it seemed like a good way to tell my friends why it has worked well for me. I was also hoping some of my friends who are pros at this could critique me and give me tips and pointers.

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Question: Do I feel everyone should try to live more frugally?

Answer: Yes. I believe most people raise their standard of living every time their income is raised. The whole idea of being frugal is not because you are forced to save money or spend less but because you can use that money elsewhere or give to those in need.

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Question: What are some of my favorite sites?

Answer:
1. All time favorite - Hip2Save (she does a lot of posting so you may find yourself feeling like you're wading through a lot of stuff that isn't useful to you. Her match ups are almost always correct and legal. :) I've found some other sites try to use coupons for items other then the size or product they were intended to be used for.)

2. Money Saving Mom (She has a lot of stuff to wade through but writes some wonderful articles on menu planning, shopping and saving)

3. Frugal & Thrifty Mama (Love this because I know Michelle and it's been great to connect with her this way. It's not fair that she has a Krogers though. :) If you are a newbie, Michell's site is perfect for you. You would benefit from all her posts without having to wade through a bunch of other stuff.)

4. Saving in Akron (The only reason I use this site is because it's the best site I've found for Giant Eagle match ups.)

What's your favorite site? Maybe there's a site that I've been missing out on all this time. Please enlighten me!

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Question: Which Sunday paper has the best coupons?

Answer: The bigger the city, the more coupons will be included. Our small town papers often don't have near all the coupons in them. The biggest one sold in Dalton is the Akron-Beacon Journal.

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Question: What does do the little letters stand for in coupon match ups?

Answer: RP stands for Red Plum, SS stands for Smart Source and P&G stands for Proctor & Gamble. These are the 3 different inserts that are sometimes found in Sundays paper. Hip2Save has written some great stuff on couponing basics. I would recommend you check out her 'Couponing 101'.

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Question: If a person doesn't have a lot of time, how can I best save money?

Answer: I think one of the fastest ways to save a buck or two is price matching at Walmart. Take some sale papers, circle the best deals and price match it. You don't need to hop from one store to the next to save. I never pay more then $.33 a lb for bananas or $1.99 for milk. Those are two items I buy every week and price matching enables me to save on them every week too.

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Question: Do we eat a lot of rice and beans?

Answer: Actually, I love rice and beans (and lots of other Mexican fare) but somehow I don't think that was the point of this question. :) In my opinion, we eat very well and not like some poverty stricken family. My husband is a meat eater and I don't think I could get away with cooking very many vegetarian type meals. I try to stock up on meat when the price is right. Meat is still a big chunk of my grocery budget.

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Now it's my turn to ask the questions? What are some of your living frugal/money saving tips? (Grocery, Eating Out, Around the House, Etc.) How often do you go get groceries and other household goods?

Free Stuff

Here's a quick recap of last week's free stuff.

Giant Eagle- Always be on the look out for .75 cent coupons. Since Giant Eagle doubles coupons it can make for free items especially when paired with a sale. The sandwiches and gum were more then free but Giant Eagle doesn't give overage. (Overage is when your coupon is worth more then the product and it becomes a moneymaker. The balance of the coupon goes towards other items that you purchase.)

Freebies from my mailbox - The Teecinno was an organic chai sample. They sent enough to brew 6 cups which is a pretty nice sample. We did enjoy it. Too bad it's SO pricey.

Also, has anyone tried the Purex 3 in 1? I haven't tried mine yet but they sent enough for 3 loads. It kind of intrigues me. Throw in one strip and it's the detergent, the fabric softener and then you throw the sheet in the dryer with your clothes too. Hmmm....

As always, the best part of the Kotex sample is the coupon. It's usually a nice dollar value and it doesn't expire as soon as the ones you get in the paper or print online.

The pullup sample also comes with coupons. I always take those to the local library. They have a coupon swap of sorts. I take in the coupons that I'm not planning on using and get some that I would like to have. Great way to get extra coupons for items you really like.

CVS & Rite Aid - I have been learning that the bigger box is not always the better deal. Therefore, 4 little boxes for free is worth more to me then the 4 larger boxes I could have gotten for $.50 each. It comes down to what I spend OOP. (out of pocket) And with a new month almost all the coupons reset and I can get a fresh supply of coupons.

Hope you have a wonderful week! I am enjoying the beautiful sunshine that is streaming in my window at the moment. Makes me itch to start working in flowerbeds and the garden!

Weekly Spending

In the interest of keeping myself accountable in my spending habits and for those of you who have asked what my weekly spending looks like. Here's an attempt at showing you. I think over a months time you will have a more accurate picture of how I attempt to do things. I'm learning as I go.

I have 3 separate categories: Groceries, Home Care and Baby.

Groceries = Food

Home Care = Personal Care Products, Laundry Detergent, Styrofoam Plates, Etc.

Baby = Recently started fund to purchase pampers at great prices instead of waiting till we need them.

This weeks shopping was a bit abnormal. On Monday evening the kids and I hitched a ride to Wooster with Joe. While he took his guitar lesson we went to CVS and Rite Aid. After his lesson we stopped at Kohls and Walmart.

On Wednesday I had to take the car to Massillon for an oil change. So I stopped at Walgreens, Giant Eagle, Walmart and Kmart.

I am not a big advocate of driving all over creation for deals but I like to have lists made in case my errand destination coincides with a store that I like I can make a little pit stop.

Walgreens - $1.00 (Groceries)

Kmart - $9.04 (Home Care)

-216 loads worth of detergent @ $9.04 = $.04 a load

Walmart - $5.66 (Groceries)

-Milk was marked $3.38 a gallon. Priced matched it with Fishers and got it for $1.77 a gallon.

Giant Eagle - $16.21 (Groceries)
-My husband and brother LOVE Wheaties Fuel. I was able to get 5 boxes for $5.00. You may think that buying a bunch of Gatorade isn't that budget friendly. I have found it is for our family. Joe used to run to the gas station down the road before many hockey, softball or volleyball games and get Gatorade at the gas station price. Last year I bought 30 bottles of Powerade at a great price and it lasted till now. So I got 10 this week and got a rain check for 20 more. We should be set for another year. :)

Rite Aid - ($3.50 Groceries & $.74 Home Care)

Walmart - ($14.24 Groceries)

Marathon - ($3.25 Groceries)

~some weeks the Sunday paper expense gets taken out of the grocery budget and some weeks it gets taken out of the home care budget

Weekly Total

Groceries - $43.86

Home Care - $9.78

(Side Note: Last month I did some serious stocking up on bonesless, skinless chicken breast while it was on sale and went over my grocery budget just a bit. I'm going to try and keep it around $50.00 a week but I'm also placing my garden order from Henry Fields and think that should probably come out of my grocery budget too. Hopefully the garden will pay me back this summer. :) I'm also planning on buying an apple tree. Yeah~!~ :) Wish me luck! )

Fun and Free

In my little world, free is fun. And I wanted to share a little of my free fun with you. :)

(I got this idea from a coupon/savings mentor of mine. I got to know her through her blog and she posted her free items every week. She isn't going to be doing that anymore but I thought I might steal/borrow the idea from her. You can check out Rachel's blog HERE. I've garnered a lot of great information through her blog.)

Here's last weeks freebies that came in the mail. I think I got a few from CVS or Rite Aid that didn't make it on the list.

1. Busy Moms Bible - what an awesome freebie!

I was a little skeptical when I signed up for this one? Who gives away a Bible that retails for $24.99. I did agree to write a paragraph in review of this product. It's a pretty neat and I've been enjoying it already.

2. A huge mound of 'free' vegetables and rice.

These are the same vegetables that I blogged about earlier. I had to get a rain check for 30 of the 40 and last week I was able to get them. Yeah! If I remember correctly I would have paid $.14 per coupon but it's close enough to free to enter into the freebie category.


3. A sample of Kashi cereal from Vocal Point.
It may not look like that much but it came with a coupon for a FREE full size box of Kashi cereal as well as 4 other $1.50 off coupons.
Oftentimes the coupons that come with the samples are the best part of the package.

4. Corduroy - Matthews book of the month from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
This is a really neat program that the kids have been part of for almost 2 years now. Every month they get a book mailed to them. It's for kids age 5 and under, I believe. We've gotten some really neat books through this program. (I think there have been 2 books that have entered the garbage because mom (me) didn't think they were good. You may want to check and see if there is a sponsor in your area. If so, this program is available to you and your kids.



Well, guess this wraps up my 'fun' for one evening. :)

A New Toy in My Kitchen

New Toys. Oh what fun. I could spend a lot of money buying gadgets and fun stuff for my kitchen. I try to control myself. :)

My family loves quesadillas. Chicken quesadillas. Salmon quesadillas. Breakfast/brunch quesadillas. The options are endless.

The last time I made quesadillas Joe and I got to talking about how much better they would be if I had a quesadilla maker or a toaster oven. I guess I was looking to get more of a restaurant style quesadilla.

Last week I spotted a deal at Kohls online that was a must have. A quesadilla maker. Woo-hoo. I just got it and haven't had the chance to use it yet but I'll be sure to share the results when I do.

Here's the link. The regular price is $39.99 (and we all know how inflated regular retail prices are) but I was able to get it with shipping for a total of $8.59. Not sure why they had them priced so low that week because it looks like they still have them in stock and they are now priced at $35.99.

I'm quite excited to try my new quesadilla maker. Help me from having to learn from trial and error.

What do you put in your quesadillas?

What killer recipe have you come up with?

What are the secrets to making top notch quesadillas?

Waste Not

I love 'lightbulb' moments. Especially if they have dollar signs on the inside. Who wouldn't?

"Thou Shalt Waste Not" was one of those light bulb moments for me. Anything I throw out comes at a cost to me. At one point and time I paid for this item and now I'm throwing out 1/4 of it. What $ amount am I tossing?

I hate cleaning out my refrigerator to begin with but one day last fall I analyzed the dollar amount of what I was getting rid of. That was the turning point.

No more money going into the trash. The items in your pantry and freezer obviously have a longer shelf life BUT when you clean out the pantry or the deep freeze are there items that get tossed? You can also figure into this vegetables like potatoes and onions that the last 2lbs sometimes get tossed or the apples and oranges that came in a big bag and last 1/4 of the bag gets tossed.

Maybe I'm the only one who has had to deal with this. I will say we have come a long way. I think I can safely say it has been months since I've tossed anything. I can assure you though, that isn't the way it used to be.

Have you ever analyzed the cost of what you toss? Maybe I'm the only one crazy enough to pull things out of the frig, analyze the cost and keep a running tally in my head. :)

How do you eliminate waste? How do you manage your refrigerator? What are good ways to keep the pantry and deep freeze organized to eliminate waste?