Okay so I am making a few changes. At first this was a family/personal blog. Then I changed it to couponing. Now I think I am just going to use it as an EVERYTHING blog.
Still couponing, but also post about the family and my life.
I will also be blogging about the 30 day health challenge with my girls in SHABIO at cafemom.com!

Albie's/Walgreen's Trip 7-30-09

Walgreens Transaction:
* 4 scotch mailers - FREE with overage... they were on sale for .39 and I used 4 .50/1 (RP 7/26)

I purchased a tea with this to soak up the overage, it was hot!

1st Albie's Transaction:

* 2 ziploc freezer bags - $1.25 each after $1.50/2 printable at this link

* 3 Tuna cans - On sale for only $.39/each

* 2 Albie's cereal boxes - $.99/each

* 5 boxes of poptarts -$1/each (promo buy 5 get each one for $1)

* 2 gallons of milk - 1.99/each

* 2 half gallons of chocolate milk - FREE after printables for purchasing white milk

* 2 packs of bic pens - FREE plus $1 overage. They were on sale for $.50/ea and I used 2 $1/1 printable found here

* Bananas- $1.08

* Watermelon - $2.56

* Carrots - $ 1.79

* Grapes - $ 2.13 (On sale for .88/lb)

I also used $1/$10 for produce and 2 doublers. Made my total to 16.67. I saved $37.28. That is 69% savings!

2nd Transation:

* 2 chefboyarde cans - $.25 after using 2 $1/1 printables here

* 2 half gallons of my new favorite tea (Swiss) - $ 2.38/both after using $1/2

Then I used 3 doubler coupons bringing my total to an overage of $.12! But after taxes I paid OOP 6 cents! LoL We saved over 100% I LOVE IT!!

3rd Transaction:

** So in this transaction there are purchases made by my hubby for work so we paid full price**

* White rice - $6.99

* Soy sauce - $1.69

* Daisy Sour Cream - $2.19 after using $.50/1

* Beechbut cookies for lilman - $.59 after using $1/1

* Pork ribs - $ 3.92 (only .99 a pound! We saved $9.90 on these)

* 2 packages of steak - B1G1Free $8.51 for both

We used 2 doublers which brought our total to $22.39. Saved $21.35. That is 48% saved.

So take all 3 transactions. We spent $ 42.22 for everything. Saved $65.91. Thats $108.13

worth of groceries and saved 60%!

JCP Clearance!

FYI JCPenney is doing their annual 70% off clearance deal! Today I got shirts as low as $2.98! Go check it out before all the good stuff is gone! =)

Tried something new this sunday

So since I am out of school for a month, and have a little more time on my hands I thought I would try something new. I decided to clip every coupon of items that I may want... I know seems like a lot of work but it really wasn't! It only took me 35 minutes to clip and file the coupons above. That included some re-organizing of my binder and throwing away expired coupons.

The reason I wanted to try this is because honestly I am sick of filing away inserts, I never know if I have a coupon filed away for something I am either purchasing or found for a great deal! So this is my 3o day test. As you can see I clipped a ton of coupons, I just kept thinking "Would I buy this if it was a really good deal"... if so I clipped it.

Few things I learned: 3 pages of holders is a must in beauty, cleaning, and paper goods. If not more..

Shopping trip from Friday

Just wanted to post this picture really quick, they are always fun to look at. I lost the receipt =(

I still saved about 50% even with all the produce, toilet paper & diapers!

The video I've been promising...

So I made this weeks ago, I just forgot to submit it! I hope it helps =)

Albies Preview

Find it here!
Remember this is for Utah, so Idaho's may differ.
Some great things I am excited about (lets hope they are included for Idaho!)

Healthy eating on a budget?

A large myth when it comes to couponing is that you can only get the packaged, high in sat. fat foods on sale because of the manufacture's coupons. I am here to prove that is not true. I am one of the millions of American's that are overweight and dieting. But even more than that, I want my family to get the nutrition they need to stay healthy. I am doing the weight watcher's diet, which in my mind is the best meal plan for anyone out there trying to lose weight AND live a healthy lifestyle.
It is tough when other blogs out there are raving about free ice cream. I admit I fell into it as well, getting free ice cream, buying 10 hamburger helpers because they were so cheap... But you can get items that are healthy for inexpensive as well. For example, yogurt (which you will probably never see me buy because it makes me yack.. unless I feel like making fruit & yogurt parfait) or milk or Albies does sales all the time on produce, and even fish. You should be saving so much money on the staples (salad dressing, sauces etc.) its ok sometimes to spend a little more and get that yummy salmon from the butcher.
The shopping trips ahead I am committing myself to finding the best deals on produce, fish, dairy, and whole grains. But also its okay to have a little treat (like the free McCafe at McDonalds today.. just if your hungry get a fruit & yogurt parfait or something LoL)

No one said it would be easy, being a new mom and a new college student. Everything has been pretty crazy but I am happy to say this week is finals week, its all that is left for the summer semester!
I have a lot on my plate even after school, next week I have 5, that's right 5 appointments, then you add in grocery shopping, my weekly playdates (Interested? Check them out here) and everything else that comes with a 8 month old, its crazy!
Austin has an appointment with a helmet specialist next week, we are trying to make the most informed decision whether or not to put him in a helmet since it is just cosmetic. Also we will have a meeting with a physical therapist later this month. Having a preemie is not easy in the beginning, but the struggle doesn't go away for a while..
I only have 1 month off and then Fall Semester begins. I have 2 trips to take, all these appointments to get done (my poor dogs need groomed so bad! LoL) and I need to catch up on things like Austin's baby book.
And one thing high on my list is continuing to educate people on couponing. Last week I did a speech to my Comm 101 class about the importance of couponing, it went well and I think I truely persuaded people to begin couponing. I hope that anyone skeptical reading this puts their fears aside and e-mails me! To efficiently collect/clip coupons you only need about 2 hours a week! That isn't much!
Anyway there is my little update. Little shoutout to my mom and grandma who keep up on this ;-) Love you guys!

Quick trip

I am getting so much better at this! I didn't use many coupons today... a lot of the stuff I bought was just on sale at a great price and I did it all in 1 transaction.

* stride gum - clearence for $.64

* Albies chips - $1.89 (for the free dip lol)

* Tortillas - $1.99

* Bread - $1.79

* 2 Reser's dips - FREE (after 2 $1/1 coupons)

* 4 flavored milks - $ FREE (after 2 $1/1 coupons and doublers)

* 3 coffee mate creamers - $2.50 for all (after $1.50/2 and $1/1 coupons)

* 4 stir fry veggies - $1/each

* pretzels - $1

Total OOP- $16.09. Saved - $ 27.60. Thats 63%!

OH AND I GOT A $1 OYNSO FROM COFFEE MATE =)