Orowheat outlet 3/28

After church today I went to the Orowheat outlet in Gresham that is located next door to Craft Warehouse. I had heard about this from my friend Teresa. Anyway, they recently started being open on Sundays and so they are giving away a free loaf of bread to all Sunday shoppers. The center of their store has a good selection of breads that are "Manager's Special." These breads range in price from $0.99 to $1.39. One of the wheat breads on the $1.39 shelf was even BOGO! If you happen to spend $6 or more (I did not) you will receive a free loaf of bread. However, I had mentioned to the friendly manager that this was my first trip in and so she gave me a free loaf anyway! So here is what I got for $3.37: 1 pkg sourdough english muffins, 1 loaf of dark rye bread, 2 loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread, and 1 loaf of cracked wheat bread. Praise the Lord! I think I'll be buying bread on Sundays! Oh yeah - they have a stamp card reward system there: for every $2 spent they stamp your card. When you have spent $20 the card can be redeemed for 1 free item.

Safeway 3/27

( 2 Capri Sun boxes, 5 boxes of Safeway pasta, Kotex pantiliners, 18oz Skippy p.b., Kleenex lotion puffs, Huggies 80ct wipes, 2 pkgs of bun-length beef Ball Park hot dogs, 5 cans Rosarita refried beans, Safeway's garden veggie cream cheese, 1 pint half and half, 6oz artisan asiago loaf, Crest Whitening Expressions toothpaste, Joy dish soap, Dial foaming hand soap)

23 items for $23.62

(total savings $32.26=58%)

This afternoon I signed up for some online e-coupons from Proctor & Gamble that were supposed to be added to my Safeway Club Card. Had they worked I would have saved another $1.85. I'm not sure how the professional coupon-ers would feel about my haul. I am vascillating back and forth between pride and frustration that I didn't do as well as I had hoped. Steve said to think of these early trips as research. I suppose that it makes sense for there to be a learning curve. I will keep working at perfecting my skill!

Walmart 3/27

Ok, I am addicted. Addicted to saving money, that is! I dragged the three kiddos to Walmart this morning for a good deal on Skippy peanut butter. Sadly, it wasn't the price I had heard. That is ok, though, because I got some other great deals. For months I have been keeping my eyes open for the Worcestershire/Pepper seasoning from McCormick. I had received a sample in the mail and really liked it, but could not find it at my regular grocery stores. Well, I found it today for only $1.82, and with my $1 off McCormick coupon I got it for $0.82! Yippee! For $1.90 I got all that is pictured here! I am getting better at this!

Online Grocery Registrations

I learned this morning that you can register online for some grocery stores to send you ads and/or coupons right to your email inbox. I am hoping this means that I will end up receiving twice as many store coupons as before. If you register at www.albertsons.com you can also say who referred you to their website. If you mention my name, Traci Katz, I should be able to get some type of in-store credit. I do not yet know what that might mean, but it can't hurt! Would you please help me out? I encourage you to spread the word and have your friends refer you, too! Also, at www.safeway.com you can click a button on the lower half of their homepage and that will take you to P&G eSaver where you can download coupons right onto your Safeway card! They can't be doubled, but there are some pretty good ones. Then you can print out an earth-friendly list (one w/o pictures) for your reference. The website automatically keeps track of expiration dates and which coupons you've used, etc. On Safeway's site you can also click to print out different coupons that you can take to the store. This will be a learning process, but I am hoping that if I have a paper coupon for Crest that it will still accept it even though I have an e-coupon loaded onto my Safeway card. I may be in for some big savings. Here's hoping!

Kmart 3/25

I have been waiting since Sunday for time and for payday so that I could go to Kmart and try to take advantage of their awesome double coupon. (Through Saturday they will double any manufacturer's coupons up to $2! The doubling happens automatically at checkout.) Today I was able to go and slowly work my way through the aisles looking for good deals. Several items that I would have gotten for free were either out of stock or not sold at Kmart - bummer! On several items I didn't completely rock the world on great prices, but I felt good about what I got for $19, using $16 worth of coupons:

-2 large cans of pringles

-2 Lysol wipes

-2 Reese's whips bars

-2 kid's crest toothpastes

-Bayer 81mg aspirin

-3 pk of Ivory soap

-Doublemint gum

-4 bags of Hershey's easter candy

-and a completely unexpected treat: 2 Christmas gift packs from Starbucks which were each $2 and contained a large white mug with red writing (they will match my kitchen and dishes!), a pot's worth of ground coffee, a small snack bag of choc chip cookies, and the REAL KICKER - a coupon for a FREE tall Starbucks beverage of my choice! All of that for $2 each and just the coffee alone, which I buy weekly, would have cost me more than $2!

I suspect that I could have saved a bit more if I had been a little more careful, but I do feel good about what I received for my time and money. I'll just keep practicing! :-)