Free Samples / Freebies / Free

Free Samples / Freebies / Free

No Shopping this week

I won't be doing any shopping this week as bills always come first. But I am trying to get a plan together for the following week. I found that Save A Lot has coupons on their website. Some of the items are manufacturers coupons that you should be able to use at other stores and some are their store coupons. I think it is great that they are offering even more savings off their groceries. If you like to shop there and don't mind the store brand there are great coupons like .40c off a box of mac and cheese. You can go here and print their coupons.

I need to put together a list of items we have ran out of and try to find the best way to get these items while spending the least amount of money possible. I really was hoping to get my grocery bill under $50 a week. But I just don't think that is possible. Household items and personal items are so expensive and unforchanetly we need those just as we need groceries. Ideally it would be wonderful if there was a sale and coupon for every item we need every week but there isn't. Which is why stock piling I know is the best way to go, the biggest problem I run into is finding the extra money to stockpile when there are other things you need as well.

Not a exact science that is for sure. I will not give up. With God all things are possible! He will help find the way to do this for my family.

Trying to find my way back

Okay I am going to get back into blogging and give it another shot. After finding out I was pregnant and battling morning sickness I gave up on it.

I still read lots of other blogs, most of them geared towards saving money. I envy a lot of these women who live in places where they double coupons. My goal had been to get my grocery bill down to $40 a week like a lot of these women do.

I realized the reason they have such low grocery bills is because they live in areas that double coupons and they so many items for free or just pennies. After a couple of months of stock piling I was finding I was still spending way too much and the items I was stock piling were household items and not edible items. So that left me in pinch when it came time to make meals.

So I have changed my thinking a little about stockpiling and shopping. I stock pile when I can and only if it is items that will come in good use. Publix is a great store for this. I try to go every week with coupons and take advantage of the buy one get one free items. This makes for some very cheap items and helps to stock up on them. One week I was able to get 12 boxes of spaghetti for like .15 cents a box.

Over the holidays I didn't pick up very many newspapers, so I am working to rebuild my coupons. And now some of the household items I had orginally stock piled such as shampoo and laundry soap need to be replenished.

I am going to look at more and more ways to try and lower our grocery bill.

Weekly shopping trip

Okay, I am finally going to post this. Sorry but no pictures, just a brief run down. Went to Walgreens and was greatly disappointed. I had it all planned out for 3 transactions, they were out of most of the things I wanted. I wasn't feeling well and had to wing it. I spent way more out of pocket than I wanted to.

I did 2 transactions and got:
1 vaseline lotion $6.99 get $7 RR - used .50c coupon
2 Lysol toilet bowl cleaner BOGO $2.79 (had one .50c coupon and forgot to use it)
2 Morton Salt/2 Deerfield baking soda 2/$1 with in ad coupon
3 votive candles (filler items) on clearance .12c (looking at receipt now looks like 2 rang up .49c)
2 Ester-C BOGO $10.99 Used 2 $5/1 coupons
2 Zantac $8.99 get $9 RR - used 2 $5/1 coupons
2 Glade candles 2/$5 get $1 RR used 1 $3.50/1 + $1/1 coupons
1 Robitussin DM 2 pack $2.49. get $2.50 RR
2 packs stickers .24c each (filler item)
2 Nestle bags candy 2/$4 used 2 $1/1 coupons
1 pack skeleton rings .24c (filler item)

used $7.50 RR
Spent a total of $20.71 (I was mad about this)
Got $25 RR

So really with all of the RR it was still free. We ended up going back to Walgreens yesterday, I went to a different location thinking I could get some of the stuff the other store was out of but alas, no they were out too.

I could roll the RR but we decided to use them, we bought a gallon of milk, beer (for the hubby), 12 pk soda, fairy wings and a wand and head piece for the little ones halloween costume and paid all of like .23c.
So overall even though it was frustrating, we actually did pretty good.


I also made a trip to Walmart to get a few things we needed and I made a trip to Save A Lot as we needed canned goods and items to make meals out of. Since I have only been stock piling a few weeks, I haven't been able to get deals on a lot of that stuff  yet to stock it up.

We made a quick trip to Publix after Walgreens yesterday and did really well. I only had one coupon and we still saved over 50% because the BOGO deals were really good.
We got:
2 boxes Ritz Crackers BOGO $3.39 - used 1 $1/2 coupon
4 Kraft Miracle Whip BOGO $3.99 ($2 a jar is a really good price)
2 Kraft Fat Free Mayo BOGO $3.99 (Also a good price for mayo)
4 cans Planters nuts BOGO $4.29 (excellent price for nuts)
We spent $22.94 and saved $24.94.

A few good coupons, samples and freebies

This has been a ugh week for me. I haven't been blogging because I have been under the weather. I did think I was feeling better last night and attempted to do my shopping trips. I found out I wasn't feeling as well as I had originally thought. It didn't go very well. I will post some more details of that later.

There are coupons for six different Hasbro games at http://print.coupons.com, these will be great for Christmas gifts.

I'm sure you have seen the commercials for the "Snuggie" blanket. You can go here and register to try it for free. There is no cost whatsoever, it is a promotion they have going on. I already ordered mine, I am excited because my husband has been wanting one ever since they first came out. This would be an excellent Christmas gift for someone. They even make them for kids, but only the adult sizes are included in this promotion.

I will post more later.

Free samples and other items

Here are some great free samples, coupons and freebies that I have found today.

Go here to the registration page to sign up for as a member of Juicy Juice and click the box and have a free Juicy Juice sports bottle sent you. You can also click the box to have a nutrition guide sent to you as well.

Go here to register with All and get coupons for their laundry detergent

Go here to request your free sample of Downy fabric softner

Go here to register with Similac and get a free sample and welcome packet.

If you have a newborn or will soon, or know someone who is pregnant, you can go here to request a sample (3 pk) of Huggies Pure & Natural diapers. It comes with coupons as well.

Go here to request a Huggies Pull Ups potty training kit.

Go here to request your Beech Nut next step baby food kit with coupons inside.

Go here to request a free potty training kit from Pampers

Go here to download a printable coloring book "The ABC's of Safety".

Go here to get a free Interactive Potty Training Success DVD from Pull Ups.

Go here to get a free copy of the book "Walking in Faith" by Tim Greenwood

Go here to get a free cook book kit from Morris Press Cook books

Go here to recieve a 3 piece sample of Lindt Truffles (these are my fav's) and a free DVD of Chef Quentin Ulrich's secret recipe's (includes 3 recipes).

Go here to request a free bracelet for breast cancer awareness

Dollar General summer clearance

Went to Dollar General this evening to pick up some packing tape and found they had what was left of their summer apparrell for 90% off. They didn't have a lot left, lots of flip flops, they were .10c, .40c and .50c. Plus scored 3 pairs of shorts for the hubby at a $1 each. Originally $10...what a deal! If you have a Dollar General near you check out the summer clearance. Never know what good deals you may score.