I Made $2.50 Buying Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks!

Did I mention that I love love love Safeway lately! Lots of great deals going on this week. I actually made $2.50 buying 6 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks. I also got cheap Honey Nut Cheerios, free Mac n Cheese and BC Potatoes and used up a lot of eCoupons to get free BC Warm Delights and John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo. My favorite deal though was the $.99 blueberries. We love blueberries here and stock up and freeze them whenever there is a good deal.

Money Making Scenarios for BC Fruit Snacks $4 Off When You Buy 4 Promo
Buy 4 at $1.00 each
Use 2 $.50/2 BC Fruit Snacks Coupon
Pay $2.00 and get a $2.50 Catalina back for buying 4 boxes.

Buy 6 at $1.00 each, plus 2 boxes of cereal or oatmeal to get a multiple of 4
Use 3 $.50/2 BC Fruit Snacks Coupons
Pay $3.00 for the Fruit Snacks and get a $3.50 Catalina back for buying 4 boxes.

You can make even more money if you have the $.40 off one BC Shapes coupon(they are included) and Cellfire or Shortcuts eCoupons. I used 2 $.50/2 coupons, 2 $.40 off 1 coupon and 3 eCoupons to get a $2.50 proft!

My total for the 26 items I purchased was $10.35 and I got back a $3.50 Catalina!

The Frugal Map

Check out the new Frugal Map that debuted this week! It's a great resource to look for bargain blogs in your regions. I love this idea and plan on using it when we go on vacation in a few months. I prefer to try and eat in as much as possible so it will be good to know what deals to get while grocery shopping in another state.

Toy and Clothing Deals

What a great day! Target toy clearance was marked down to 75% off and Old Navy had an extra 50% off all their clearance items, plus there are a lot of Old Navy coupons that you could stack with the sale.

My first trip was to Target and I really was hoping I wouldn't find to many good things since my boys have plenty of toys. I'm already done shopping for their birthday presents and their birthday's are in June! The only thing I bought was Backyardigans for Leapster. It was originally $24.99 marked down to $6.22. I happened to have a $5 off any Leapster Game coupon so the game only cost me $1.48 with tax! I already got a great deal on a Leapster for my son this fall that he will be getting for his birthday along with the game.
Next I went to Old Navy and got lots of pants and long sleeve shirts for my oldest that all cost less than $2.00 each. I bought sizes that will fit him next winter and the year after. This is why I never buy clothing from thrift stores since I can usually get stuff brand new for the same price. I even got a Halloween shirt for the baby to wear next year that cost me a whole 18 cents!


Thanks to Common Sense With Money and A Full Cup for sharing these deals.

Mid Month Update

Here is our progress so far for the month of January. I'm happy to report we haven't bought much besides groceries. That will make it easier to pay the credit card bill that has the Christmas purchases on it this month:)

Total Debt Payoff: $777.97 - So far this is just from paying the monthly payments on our debts, but I hope to add more at the end of the month after the rest of the bills get paid.

Groceries: $115 - I've made a total of 10 purchases so far this month at Safeway, King Soopers and Walgreens. Luckily my Safeway, King Soopers and Walgreens are located at the same intersection so it's easy for me to make trips to several stores at once. I still have $135 left in my grocery budget for the month.

Gas: $71 - I've decided to include car washes in this category as well. We still have $54 left for the month.

Shopping(everything else): $58 - So far this month we have shipped a baby gift to a friend, bought a baby gift for another friend, paid shipping on a free calendar from Shutterfly.com, rented one Redbox movie, bought printer ink and 8 towels. We still have $92 left to spend on shopping.

For more info on our expenses go here.

Is it Worth it to Buy Coupons Online

People often look at me a little funny when I tell them I purchased a certain coupon online(usually ebay, but I often using the coupon clipping services too). Just yesterday there were 2 coupons in particular that I was interested in buying. One was worth it to buy and the other wasn't. Here's why:

Coupon #1 Gatorade $.50 off 1



We got $.50 off 2 coupons for Gatorade a couple weeks ago in our inserts, but I was unaware that other regions received $.50 off 1. This would make for free Gatorade at my grocery stores that double coupons when the price of Gatorade is $1.00 like they are this week at King Soopers(Kroger). From buying my local paper I already have 4 coupons for $.50 off 2 which means I could get 8 Gatorades for $.50 each since the coupon would double to $1.00. When I checked ebay the cost per coupon averaged out to be about $.50. So even though I could get the Gatorade free at the store with the coupon the coupon itself would cost me the same as if I had just used my $.50 off 2 coupon. The only reason to buy the $.50 off 1 coupon would be if I wanted more than 8 Gatorades. I decided not to buy any coupons. If I would have realized sooner I could have purchased these for much less from a coupon clipping site like Coupons & Things by Dede, but they are sold out already.

Coupon #2 Quaker Chewy Granola Bars $.55 of 1


While previewing the Safeway ad I saw they had an in ad coupon to get Quaker Chewy Granola Bars for $.99 with a limit of 3. I already have several $1.00 off 2 coupons that would make a box cost $.49 with the Safeway sale. Since there is a limit of 3 and the coupon is off of 2 I would only by 2 at a time. I generally only like to make 2 trips to the same store each week meaning I would only buy 4 boxes this week for a total cost of $1.96. I checked ebay for the $.55 off 1 coupons and found that I could do a "buy it now" for 20 coupons for $1.48 with free shipping. Since this coupon will double up to the $.99 sale price that would make each box I buy free. Also, since these coupons are off of 1 box instead of 2 I can buy the limit of 3 at each visit. So with 2 trips to the store I can get 6 boxes free, but will have paid $1.48 for the coupons. So overall it was worth it for me to purchase the coupons. I'll spend about $.50 less and get 2 more boxes.

When purchasing coupons online make sure to check the expiration dates and also the reputation of the seller if buying off ebay.

Safeway Run for Cheap Fruit Snacks

I'm really liking Safeway lately. They seem to just keep getting better! First they started doubling coupons, then lowered their prices and now you can load additional eCoupons from their website. There were a few that I really liked: $1.50 of 2 Yo-Plus Yogurts, $1.50 off 2 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks and $1.00 off 2 Progresso Soups. My son wanted the yogurt asap!



1 Gallon Milk $.99 with in ad coupon
4 General Mills Cereal $1.49 each - 4x $.55 doubled - $.55 ecoupon
4 Nature Valley Granola Bars $1.50 each - 4x $.40 doubled - $.40 ecoupon
5 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $2.00 each -$1.00/2 - 3x $.40 doubled - $1.50/2 Safeway ecoupon - $.40 ecoupon - $.50/2 ecoupon
2 Yo-Plus Yogurts $2.50 each - 2x $1.00 - $1.50/2 Safeway ecoupon
2 Progresso Soup - $.50/2 doubled - $1.00/2 Safeway ecoupon

Total $11.28 and I got back a $2.50 Catalina for buying 4 Nature Valley Granola Bars and a $3.50 Catalina for buying 5 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks!

Things I Get For FREE!

There are frequently opportunities to get stuff for free by using coupons. Here is the list of the items I never pay for. Most of these are Health and Beauty items.

• Shampoo and Conditioner
• Body Wash
• Body Lotion
• Hand Soap
• Toothpaste
• Tooth Brushes
• Floss
• Mouth Wash
• Razors
• Shaving Creme
• Deodorant
• Frozen Vegetables
• Salad Dressings
• Condiments
• Powdered Mashed Potatoes

Here are some that I rarely pay for, mostly either because the sales don't come around enough or we just simply go through the items at a faster pace. There are also some things you simply cannot stockpile, like yogurt for example.

• Crackers
• Granola Bars
  
• Cereal
• Toilet Paper
• Snack Mix
• Fruit Snacks
• Yogurt

This year I want to track all the items I get for free. I also want to try and collect more free items that I can donate to various organizations in my community.

Walgreens and Safeway

On Sunday morning I was really bummed out when I saw the Walgreens ad. Here in Colorado we get the smaller version of the ad which results in less of the sales being offered to us here. The Finish Dishwasher Detergent sale that would make it free with this Sunday's coupon was not in our ad. I was happy to see the new Safeway sale that started today that included getting Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $.49 along with really cheap Progresso soup.

Walgreens Trip

Transaction #1
1 Gallon Milk - $1.99
2 Kellogg's Special K - $5.00 - $2.50 BOGO coupon
2 Neosporin Lip Health $8.00 - $3.00 IP coupon - $3.00 IP coupon

Total $7.20 and got back a $2.00 RR for the Special K/Milk and a $3.00 RR for the Neosporin.

Transaction #2
1 Gallon Milk - $1.99
2 Kellogg's Special K - $5.00 - $2.50 BOGO coupon
3 Denver Post Newspapers - $4.50

Total $9.21 and got back a $2.00 RR for the Special K/Milk.


Safeway Trip
4 General Mills Cereal - $5.96 - 4x$.55 coupon doubled - .55 ecoupon - .55 ecoupon
4 Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup - $4.44 - 2x$.50 coupon doubled - .50 ecoupon - .5 ecoupon - .5 ecoupon
2 Florida's Natural OJ - $4.00
1 18 Lucerne Eggs - $.98 Safeway in ad coupon
1 Gallon Milk - $.99 Safeway in ad coupon
2 Foster Farms Lunch Meat - $4.98 - $1.00/2 coupon
1 Canteloupe - $1.22

Total $13.60

Total Spent on Groceries in January $27.31

Free Money - Adding it All Up

Now that the year is over I decided to tally up how much "free money" I made throughout the year. This is money I made without doing any work, unless you count a couple extra clicks work.

Discover Card Cashback Bonus- This is our main credit card. We get 1% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on different purchases throughout the year. You can also get additional cashback when you shop online by clicking through from Discover's website. In 2009 we made $216.34 with Cashback Bonus.


Target Visa 10% Coupons - Our second credit card is the Target Visa. We pretty much only use this at Target. For every 1000 points you accumulate you get a 10% Target Coupon. You can also get them when you fill prescriptions at Target Pharmacy. I didn't track these throughout the year, but I estimate our savings from getting these coupons to be $30.00.

Swagbucks - I discovered Swagbucks almost a year ago now. Basically it's a search engine that lets you win Swagbucks when you search. You can then use your Swagbucks to purchase items. By far the best deal is buying the $5 Amazon Gift Cards with 45 Swagbucks. Over the course of the year I have bought $100 in Amazon Gift Cards that I used mainly to buy Christmas presents for my boys.

Ebates - Before my Discover Card became so great with it's online shopping bonuses I mainly used Ebates to link through for all my online shopping. Last year I earned $31.94 using Ebates.



Bing - Bing.com is another shopping site I discovered right before Christmas. It seems the cash back percentage can vary. At one point they had %20 cash back for Ebay purchases so I bought one of our more expensive Christmas presents at a great price with it. My total Bing cash back pending for 2009 was $25.61.



Altogether I made an extra $404!

Our Expenses

Where does it all go? This year I am going to do a much better job of tracking every dollar that we spend. Here is a list of our monthly expenses.

• Mortgage Payment/Taxes/Insurance - $2563.57
• Car Payments - $1078.59
• Student Loan Payments - $366.85
  
• Utilities - $200 (Usually closer to $250 in the winter/summer and $150 in the spring/fall)
• Credit Card at 0% - $100
  
• Cell Phone - $110
  
• Internet - $54.95
  
• TV - $53.14
• Groceries - $250
• Shopping - $150 (anything that doesn't fit in the grocery category)
• Gas - $125
• Once a year expenses - $100 (this goes into a savings account to pay yearly HOA fees, Life Insurance and Car Maintenance)
  
• Veterinary Services for 2 dogs- $59.90 (We pay a monthly fee for our vet services. This covers 2 exams, all shots, 1 dental cleaning and unlimited office visits each year)
• College Savings for our 2 boys - $50
• Charity - $20

Total Monthly Expenses = $5,282

Once our debt from the credit card, truck loan and students loans are paid off our monthly expenses will go down $944.85!

First Walgreens Trip of the Year

We needed milk and I wanted some free cereal so I took a trip to Walgreens this morning. I also did the money maker Neosporin deal while I was there. With two boys at home I love getting free Neosporin and Band-aids!


1 Gallon Milk
2 General Mills Lucky Charms
2 Neosporin
1 Package Candy Canes(filler to be able to use all my coupons)

The total $7.30 and I got back a $2 Register Reward for the Milk and Lucky Charms and a $3 Register Reward for the Neosporin. Net cost was $2.30!

Thanks Common Sense With Money!