Oooooooooh, under $50.00 after tax! I did it! Even though that's the goal, it's been awhile. I've done a lot better at coming in under $50.00 before tax. I had two things working in my favor -- me and the girls had a nap before we went AND I had time for the first time in a few weeks to organize my coupon book and to set out the coupons I needed for our trip. Setting out my coupons before I go to the store is the single thing that makes the biggest difference, I think.

I only made one trip this weekend. I'm just not finding the time for making it to two especially not three stores these days! I will have my mom pick up one little package of Kraft Singles with my overage this week. We are out, and that is like *crisis.*

Here is what I got...

1 Blueberry Creme Cake
1 Suave shampoo (free, will donate)
2 Pillsbury Grand Biscuits
2 1/2 gallons of Roberts OJ
1 Rainbow Chips Deluxe
4 small cans of Hunts Tomato Sauce
4 cans of generic kidney beans
1 box of Wheat Thins (free)
2 Nature's Path 100% Whole Grain loaves
1 box of Ritz
1 box of Nature's Valley Nut Clusters
2 6 packs of Sun Maid raisins
2 jars of Skippy Natural
2 box of Ronzoni Smart Taste
1 squeeze bottle of Welch's Red. Sugar jelly
1 box of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Granola (This is soooooooooooo good.)
1 box of Nature's Path Optimum Slim cereal
1/2 gallon of Organic Nature's Path whole milk
1/2 gallon of Heartland Creamery root beer milk
1/2 gallon of Blue Bunny Coffee Break ice cream
1 box of Mango Whole Fruit popsicles
2.03 lbs of pears
1.82 lbs of Necarines
Hormel Naturals Ham

The checker said I saved just under $30.00 with coupons. That includes $5.00 in diaper coupons that did not count in my under $50.00. No telling how much I saved on sale stuff. A lot, I think. There is some good quality food in that list. Although I realize now we are missing some veggies. I am a little afraid I will hear some complaints from husband about the lack of quick and easy meals!

All in all, a good trip!

Feelin' a little dumb. I went over because I totally forgot to give them my $10 gift card. Well, I remembered after it was too late. Whatever.

I got...

1 dozen eggs (1st time I've bought eggs not on sale in a LONG time. Oh well.)
1 Dinty Moore chicken breast entree thing (This was HORRIBLE.)
1 package of store brand tortillas
1 box of Kellogg's Cinnabon bars
1 box of Cascadian Farms Dark Chocolate Granola(I'm noticing that it looks like my $1.00 did not ring on this item)
1 Nature's Path Optimum Weight (or something like that) BTW, I think they've over charged me $.50 on this cereal THREE times now. I'm going to have to remember to say something.)
1/2 gallon of Organic Valley whole milk
1 Farmland Cider House bacon
1 Hormel Meat Loaf
1 Hormel all natural ham
2 Danimals smoothie packs
2 8 oz bricks of generic cheese
4 2 litres of various Pepsi products
2 pints of blueberries (my girls ate an entire one AT the store)
1 cantaloupe
1 lb pumpkin seeds (My 3 year old LOVES pumpkin seeds. Weird, I know.)
9.45 lbs of peaches (On sale for $.99. I am afraid this is the last I will see that price. I'm going to have to make a BIG batch of "baby's favorite" ((homemade peach applesauce that my baby easts for breakfast EVERY morning) to make us through for awhile!)

Total after tax was $48.57.I saved $12.75 with coupons. That figure paired with our other shopping trip for the week is a REALLY good coupon savings week for me, so I'm happy!

In other news, my coupon binder is a messsssssssssssss. I've GOT to do something about it this week.

Free in Aug...

I'll post what I've got so far before I lose my list --

A really fancy double layer chocolate cake from a nearby bakery
$10.00 Schwann's meal (although I haven't GOTTEN it yet)
2 Snickers
1 half sheet cake and smash cake (This was my daughter's 1st birthday cake. It was supposed to be hot pink, and it was ORANGE. But, free is cool. I spent the extra money on much needed fall clothes for the girls.)
$20.00 in groceries (1 gc from earning baby bucks and 1 gc from a Keebler rebate)
1 box of Pampers wipes
Some CVS brand school supplies
Free shipping from Pottery Barn Kids
3 2 litres of Sprite
1 package of Dannon smoothies
1 small bouquet of flowers (randomly free at grocery store)
$2.00 of fresh produce
1 16 oz Coffeemate (accidentally got left in the car, so it was a waste)
Lunch from Jack Stack (for a job well done!)
Oxy face wash sample
A pre-release of a high fiber diet book
2 packages of Kotex samples
Glade candle

That's all I've got on my list for now. I've probably overlooked some stuff, but I think it's pretty good!!!

I hadn't really intended on doing the Kellogg's "Fuel for School" rebate, but I had some extra time, a good sale and a bunch of coupons that made it easy and worth my while. Here's what I got...

2 boxes of Vanilla Wafers
2 3 Muskateers
1 Milky Way
2 Kellogg's fruit snacks
2 2 litres of Sprite
1 package of Oroweat whole wheat sandwich thins
2 boxes of whole grain Cheez-its
2.07 lbs of red grapes
1 gallon of AE chocolate milk
2 boxes of Eggos
2 boxes of Corn Pops
1 loaf of Price Chopper brand wheat bread
1 bag of frozen peas

Total out of pocket - $14.83

I saved $14.56 with promotions. $11.98 in coupons. $4.31 with my frequent shopper card and $10.00 with a gift card I received from the Sunshine/Keebler promotion. I will also roll this for the Fuel for School rebate if I can remember to gather all of those UPCs!

Now, I know this isn't exactly health food, but it stocked pantry with goodies to last us a LONG time.

Would you believe we have ANOTHER party this weekend??? We're celebrating my youngest daughter's first birthday with a Mexican buffet and cake for 30ish people. I allowed us an extra $50.00 for party food. I am responsible for cheese, black beans, lemonade punch, ice cream, tomatoes, and a few back-up tortillas in case we run out. I was very pleased to be able to get a good deal on almost everything!

Here is what we got:

3 AE Red. sugar lemonades
2 16 oz Coffeemates (Incidentally, one of these didn't make it home. I'll have to remember next time I'm there.)
2 4% HV brand big tubs of cottage cheese
2 1/2 gallons of Robert's OJ
2 Bertolli Dinners for 2
1 bag of Ore-Ida french fries
1 Freschetta pizza (forgot to give them my coupon for this, darnit!)
1 Crisco canola oil with DHA
1 bag of generic tortillas
4 cans of generic black beans
2 box of generic baking soda
3 boxes of Pop Tarts
1 tin of McCormick black pepper
1 bag of Pillsbury muffin mix
3 jars of Ragu
2 jars of Skippy
2 Annies Shells and Cheese (1 ended up not being on sale and cost an arm and a leg!)
1 box of Cascadian Farm Vanilla chip granola bars (These are SO good.)
1 box of Blue Bunny Aspens
1 box of Blue Bunny Sedonas (Holy cow! These are also amazing!)
2 1/2 gallons of Breyers ice cream
1 Glade mini candle (Free after coupon!)
4 bags of generic Mexican blend cheese
6 various Coke 2 litres
3 bags of Hy Vee lettuce (forgot coupon on one! darnit!)
1 lemon
2.63 lbs of tomatoes
'
My after tax total was $90.75, so I came out pretty good. I also got a $7.00 catalina, which was a great surprise!

I am trying to decide if I am going to go to Hen House this week for the Fuel for School promotion. I think I could go and spend very little after coupons if I STICK with the Fuel for School products, but I'm thinkin it would be better for my budget if I DIDN'T.

Also, I should mention that we bought a NEW CAR this week. We are no longer debt free except for mortgage. While it was not a decision I was dying to make, it was the best one. We now have a minivan for our hopefully growing family, and we got it at a price of 8K under invoice price. All this means is that I'm going to have to stretch our dollar even further to get our 12K loan paid off on the double! We paid our last car off 11K loan in 12 months. Think we can do it a second time?

Kind of a tough $20.00 to spend knowing that I'm up against ANOTHER party next week, our fridge is lookin' pretty empty, and my girls are eating us out of house and home. I also had to buy diapers. Our food total was just over $20.00 after tax.

1 box of Pamper's wipes (free)
1 box of Pamper's diapers ($18.99)
1 Del Monte Fruit Chiller ($1.00)
8 generic tortillas ($1.28)
1 can of generic black beans ($.28)
4 boxes of Nutri Grain bars ($1.50/a piece)
1 jar of Peter Pan PB ($.99)
1 box of Uncle Ben's brown rice ($1.69)
1 lb of Farmhouse bacon ($1.99)
1 Hillshire farm ham ($2.00)
2 half gallons of chocolate milk and 2 half gallons of whole white milk ($1.28) (sadly not organic. couldn't do it this week, and I feel like a bad mom)
3.50 lbs of Granny Smith apples ($.88/lb.)

How did I do? What would you have bought in my situation?

Another thing that I noticed on my trip today was that there are WIC stickers now for WIC recommended foods that are high in nutrition for the value. I noticed the sticker by the whole milk and the black beans. I thought it was kind of an interesting idea. I'll have to pay more attention next time about what WIC recommends. I think I have a pretty good handle on nutrition AND cost, but maybe not on the two put together. We'll see!

I have three main objectives this week --

1. Stay at $50.00.
2. Stock the freezer with quick meal foods
3. Post pictures!

So far, so good.

Total savings $27.75. Pre-tax total, $27.77. I guess that means I saved 50%! I figure that's decent considering the amount of fruit I bought. And, I have a 1 year old that will eat almost exclusively blueberries and peaches lately, so I was lucky to get them at a reasonable price!

I started following moneysavingmom.com, and I do have to say that I get frustrated that I can't keep up with her deals. See here - http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/08/my-544-dillons-shopping-trip.html#comments I have to remind myself that I have two things working against me -- The biggest one is the full-time job. Go figure. The other is that I don't have a printer. Have I ever mentioned that? Printable coupons are MONEY, but I only have access to them when I can steal a few minute's at my mom's house. So, whatever. We all do what we can, right?