Publix for 8/21 - 8/27

This week wasn't a big shopping week. Because of Tropical Storm Fay hanging around, we hung out at the house most of the week except for doctor appointments. The rain finally let up for awhile yesterday so I snuck out to Publix. With this being the last day of the Kraft - JCPenny promotion, I needed to finish up my purchasing. I needed 5 products and $16 to reach the 3 card limit. So that was my main goal. Plus, with baby working on making an appearance soon, I needed some items for my boyfriend to cook when I was recuperating.

I didn't really do a lot of coupon research. I might go back after I put more coupons together later in the sale. I used 2 copies of the free Kraft products from the All You Magazine.

Here are some of the highlights of the shopping trip:

Free Products from All You:
2 Kraft Dressings (for JCP Promo)
2 Kraft Singles (for JCP Promo)
2 Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs (for JCP Promo)
2 Nabisco Wheat Thins
2 Crystal Light

Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs - BOGO -$3.99
- 2 All You Freebies
= 4 free packages (2 count towards the three products for the All You Promotion)

Juicy Juice 64 oz - BOGO -$3.49 (This is in Central Florida.)
- 2 $1 printable coupons
= 2 bottles for $1.49 or .75 each

Ritz Crackers BOGO - $3.69 (Counts towards the three products for the All You Promotion)
= 2 Crackers for $3.69 or $1.85 each

Seapack Seafood - 6 various types - BOGO - $7.29
- 3 $1 printable coupons + 3 $1 peelies found on boxes
= 6 boxes for $15.87 or about $5.29 a box

I used the Ritz Crackers, extra hot dogs, and Kool-Aid packets to qualify for the All You coupons.

I also bought $15 worth of produce for $9.00 using 3 $2 off $5 (and here) of produce from Food Lion.

I tried to use the $5 off $20 from Walgreens but the cashier wouldn't allow it. My other store would have, but I was already at this store, so I let it go. This coupon expires 8/23 so use it quick. There is also a $2 off $10 from CVS. It's good till 9/28. It's on page 30.

The Publix Brand Challenge is about this week. The dogs out there will be very happy. When you purchase the brand, you will receive Publix brand for free.

The products are:
Purina Bacon Flavor Beggin Strips
Milk Bone Medium Dog Biscuits
Pedigree Choice Cuts 22oz can

I also found several new Publix coupon booklets that I had never seen before:
Heinz Toss For Cash (Has $12 in store coupons)
Mypyramid.gov (Has $20 in store coupons)
Be Prepared (Has $11 in manufacturers coupons)
Smart Summertime Savings (Has $75 in store and manufacturers coupons)

So hopefully this will help you find some deals at Publix. I ended up saving $93.45 and used 21 coupons. I was able to fulfill the JCP requirements. Remember, it needs to be received by 9/5 so get it in the mail soon.

Win a 100 Coupons!!!

Welcome to Monday's Coupon Challenge. How many coupons can you use and how much can you save in one shopping trip?

This should be an easy week. There are a lot of great coupons circulating for free products and items that become almost free when you match them with a good sale.

The Rules: There aren't too many.

• Use any store you want on any products you want.
• Post your scenario on your blog and add your link to the bottom of this blog. If you don't have a blog, leave your scenario in the comments section below.
• Be sure to include where you found your coupon in your scenario. If you printed the coupon, please include a link so all the readers can use it.
• I need to know your total dollar amount of the sale, total number of coupons used, and percentage you saved.
• You can enter multiple stores.

The Prize: Let's make this fun!!! I will mail a potluck of 100 current grocery coupons to the reader who uses the most coupons and saves the most for this challenge. If you have a wishlist posted somewhere, I will try to choose coupons from it. The deadline for this challenge is Saturday 8-16-2008 at midnight. I will announce the winner Sunday.

Here's a few coupon tips that I use:

On BOGO sales - You should be able to use 2 coupons. In many instances, this could make the product free.

Store Coupons - You should be able to stack store coupons with manufacturer coupons. Notice I said, you should be able to stack. Sometimes stores have different policies, even if they are the same chain.

Competitor Coupons - Check with your store to see if they will accept competitor coupons. Our Publix has a big banner hanging in their entrance stating they will accept manufacturer coupons for non-pharmacy items. Target and Food Lion are a couple competitors that print some valuable coupons occassionally. I am going to try Walgreens and CVS coupons this week to see if they will accept them. Has anyone had any luck with these?

Printable Coupons - When printing coupons on the computer, print the first coupon, hit your back button a few times and you should be able to print multiples. The limit is usually two but sometimes it's higher. As always, if you use the link on this site, you will be supporting this blog. Thanks!!!

Trial sizes - I love using coupons on travel sizes. Many times I end up getting the product for free. Wal-Mart and Target have a great selection of travel sizes. They are great for traveling, purses, diaper bags, gym bags, and sending with kids on their overnights. I also stock the kids bathroom with travel sizes so if they accidently spill the bottle, they won't spill a full size amount. Plus travel sizes are nice in those emergency situations when you can't get to the store to buy more immediately.

Stores get paid for accepting the coupons you turn in. Sometimes they forget this and need to be gently reminded. They are not giving you the discount, the manufacturer is. They are simply the middle man. The manufacturer reimburses the store.

Know your store's coupon policy. Check out your store's policy on their website. If it's not posted, call the customer service. They should be able to answer your questions.

So what can you do with your coupons this week? We want to hear from you!!!

This Week At Publix 8-10

As I mentioned in the previous Wal-Mart blog, my goal was to find out how much I could get with as many coupons as possible and as little cash as possible.

I have been working on getting the receipts for the Publix-JCPenney Gift Card promotion so my next stop after Wal-Mart was to head over to Publix. I had my latest copy of All You in hand. This is the issue that has the coupons for the 5 free Kraft products with the purchase of any 3 Kraft, Nabisco, or Oscar Mayer items.

This is what I did:
Total Bill: $45.55
Total Coupon Savings: $33.41
Total Advertised Specials: $7.78
Total Cash out of Pocket:$4.36
Total # of Coupons: 11
Total Savings %:.90

My goal was to pick up the 12 products I need to earn 3 JCPenney gift cards, but I didn't want to spend any cash. So this is what I came up with:

4 Boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats Just Bunches - BOGO $3.89
- 2 free box coupons from the latest coupon mail in = Free
(Qualifies as a Post Cereal for the Promo)

I bought the following products using the coupons from the All You Magazine. I needed to buy 3 products for each coupon.

2 Oscar Mayer Beef Hot Dogs - $3.99 x 2 (Qualifies for Promo)
2 Kraft Dressings - $3.19 x 2 (Qualifies for Promo)
1 Kraft American Singles - $3.19 (Qualifies for Promo)
1 Nabisco Wheat Thins - $3.29
1 Crystal Light - $3.99

I bought 24 packets of Kool-Aid and used 2 tearpad coupons to get 4 free.

I now have 9 products towards my 12 product goal. The only drawback to not spending the cash, is I still need to spend the $150 towards my grocery goal for the promotion. By not having to spend cash on the Kraft products, I can take that money and put it towards other items we need like produce, meat, and dairy.

Have you heard about our Monday Coupon Challenge? You win 100 grocery coupons for telling us about your best shopping scenario using the most coupons you can this week. Feel free to use these deals if you want. Do you want to find more Publix deals, check out my friends over at Fiddledeedee! She has a great list over there. The deadline for this challenge is Saturday, August 16 so don't wait. Link up today.

Wal-Mart This Week 8-10-2008

Yesterday, I took a trip to Wal-Mart. This is something I usually avoid on a Sunday, but I had some time to kill so I decided to challenge myself. I wanted to see how many coupons I could use and spend as little cash as possible. My coupons were starting to stack up so I need to use some up.

My Totals:
Total Bill: $45.15
Total Savings: $38.95
Total Cash out of Pocket: $6.20
# of coupons: 27
Total Savings %: .86

Here's what I did:
3 Huggies Baby Wipes (Travel Size) .98 = $2.94
- 3 $1 coupons from inserts = +.06 overage

1 Playtex Cleansing Cloths (Travel Size) $1.97
- $1 coupon from inserts = .97

10 Huggies Clean Team Wipes $1.64 = $16.40
- 5 $3 off 2 coupons from inserts = $1.40

1 Pond's Clean Wipes (Travel Size) .97
- 1 $1.50 off coupon from inserts = +.53 overage

2 Kotex Pantyliners $1.00 =$2.00
- 2 $1.00 off coupons from All You = Free

1 Adidas Deodorant $2.96
- 1 free coupon from All You (Issue 5) or insert = Free

5 Meow Mix wet cans .48 = $2.40
- 5 free coupons from inserts = Free

2 Bic Pens .88 = $1.76
- 1 $1.00 off 2 coupon from Coupons.com
Use link on side of blog = .76

1 Cascade Rinse = $2.47
- 1 free coupon from P&G Home Mailer = Free

7 Powerade 32 oz bottles .60 = $4.20
- 3 $1 off 2 coupons plus 1 $1 off 1 = +.20 overage
Coupons are from inserts.

1 Uncle Ben's Rice $1.62
- 1 free coupon received in mail = Free

1 Harvest Selections Microwavable Dinner $1.94
- 1 $1 coupon from inserts = .94

I found a couple of other deals that I did not take advantage of:

V8 Fusion $2.98 - $1 insert coupon = $1.98
Cascade 20 ct Action Pacs $3.50 - $1coupon from P&G Home Mailing = $2.50
100 Calorie Snacks $1.66 - .60 coupon from pillsbury.com or various inserts = $1.06
Electrosol Pacs $3.67 - $2.25 insert coupon = $1.42


Check out the Monday's Coupon Challenge to see how you can win 100 coupons for posting your scenarios. What did you find this week? Leave a link and let us know.