Orville Redenbacher Popcorn is offering one or two free redbox codes when you buy popcorn. There are some other deals associated with Orville Redenbacher going on right now. You might be able to come up with a good combined deal.
If nothing else, it’s a reminder that there are much cheaper ways to have a movie night than going to the theater.
We went to CVS today hoping to get coupons from the coupon printer for $1 off (which =s free) NYC nail polish. We didn’t get the coupons but we did stumble across a 90% off sale on some items. I got the items below, some of which will be Christmas presents, for a total of $2.57 and I used the $2.50 I had in ECBS (CVS bucks) to get all of them for .07 cents. I saved $25.00. Not too bad.
One grocery item that we go through like water and constantly run out of is coffee creamer. It is so much cheaper to make coffee at home than to buy it, even with the cost of coffee creamer, but I wondered- could I make it myself for even cheaper?
Using the recipe of-
-1 can of sweetened condensed milk ($3 for two)
– 1 ½ cups of nonfat milk (~$.50)
– 1 tablespoon of vanilla ($1.5 for about 2 tablespoons)
Mix everything together and shake
I doubled the recipe and it made the amount in the water jug in the picture above. So for about $5 I made just a little bit more creamer than what a $3 coffee creamer generally holds from the store. This coffee creamer was MORE expensive than the coffee creamers from the store plus the time and energy required to buy everything and make it. The taste was good but not quite as good as store bought coffee creamers. Overall, this project didn’t save money but it was fun to try. I may try other recipes in the future to see if they will be more cost effective. If you already have the ingredients on hand (I didn’t but you might!) then this would be much cheaper and it is easy to make.
Before we moved into our new house my boyfriend and I spent way too much money eating out, take out and fast food. We decided that after we moved we would eat at home and cook more often. So far, we are doing really well. This month we decided to take it a step further and limit ourselves to a budget of $200 for groceries and household items, like toilet paper. The people that I have mentioned this to that don’t coupon think that this number is extremely low. The people that do coupon may think it’s too high. I think it’s a start.
One thing that we are doing with this budget is putting the $200 cash into a jar and when we spend any of it we are putting the receipts in the jar with the rest of the money. I am very curious to see how many of certain items we purchase in a month. For example- We have well water that is fine for daily activities but we don’t use it as drinking water (see my post about it). I want to know how many gallons of water we buy in one month. I want to know how many gallons of milk we buy in one month.
Finding out this information will be beneficial because I hope that it will allow me to make purchases of food and household items in bulk that will last for one month’s time.
The Results-
Our first month of our $200 Grocery Challenge ended yesterday with good results. We spent $197.68 total, almost exactly our budget of $200.
I now know that in one month we use-
– 19.5 gallons of water
– 3 Gallons of Milk
– 4 Coffee creamers (this would have been more but we ran out of money and used sugar and milk instead)
– 4 12 Packs of Toilet Paper
– 2 Loaves of bread
And those are just a few things I picked out.
Some of the strategies we used –
– Shopping at ALDI a discount grocery store – Click HERE to read about ALDI
– Using CVS and Walgreens store dollars to our advantage
– Using what we already had in our pantry and freezer
– Not wasting food
– Buying what was on sale
– And we stopped buying when we ran out of money
What we won’t do again-
– A couple of times we went to the closest store instead of the cheapest store and this really made a dent in our budget. One of my big shopping trips this month was at WinnDixie after a really long day at work when I didn’t have the energy to make the longer drive to ALDI. I was able to take advantage of their B1G1 meat department but almost everything else that I bought cost a lot more.
– The couponing trips that I was able to make this month saved a lot of money, especially at Publix who probably has the best couponing deals in the area I live in. It is not always easy for me to find the time to do large couponing/grocery shopping trips but it really is worth it. (See shopping trip HERE)
– We bought a large quantity of Ibuprofen that we were out of and it will last a long time, but it was more money than we probably should have spent on one item and we didn’t get that great of a deal on it.
– Next month I won’t forget my shopping list at the last shopping trip of the month and forget to buy any drinks including water. This is very important because we can’t drink the water from the well.
Overall-
Overall, I think that limiting ourselves to a $200 budget was a good for us because it did help restrict what we bought this month. I wanted to buy B1G1 Tilipia Filets towards the end of the month but it didn’t fit in the budget and we ended up having more meat than we used this month anyway. I have found that it is much harder to stock up on larger quantities of food that we will not use in that specific month because we have budgeted for exactly one month.
I also made the mistake of forgetting to buy drinking water and any other drinks on my last shopping trip of the month and we ran out of everything to drink in the house on the 29th besides milk and even that was running low (see Two Gallons of Milk for the Price of one Forever). It was the 29th and we ended up making a trip to CVS with the $7 ECBs (CVS dollars) that I had left over. We used those to buy water, milk, and a 2 liter of soda which got us through the last two days of the month.
This really does highlight how running to the closest store for a couple things you need can make a huge impact on your budget. It also shows me how much money I save shopping at ALDI for basic grocery items and then hitting sales only at more expensive stores. We are planning on using the $200 budget again next month and now that I have learned a few things from this month I’m excited to see how it will turn out.
When my boyfriend and I moved into our new house we were very excited to have a water well and NO WATER OR SEWER BILL. While wells no longer come with a bucket and a rope that you have to haul up every morning (see the above picture of our well), having a well has been more interesting than we expected.
Our very sweet landlords had lived in our house and drank the well water for thirty years. They assured us it was good to drink and that they have had it recently tested. In addition, we don’t have to add salt to the well and it doesn’t turn our clothes or anything else yellow, like most wells, because it’s a spring fed well.
Once we moved into the house though, we noticed that there were small particles in the water. I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t like amebas with my water. That’s a joke, but we did stop drinking the water right away. We are still able to use it for everything else besides consumption. As renters, we didn’t want to make a long term investment in a water filtration system because we don’t know how long we will be living here.
I kept track this month and we used 18 to 20 gallons of water for drinking, which cost us about $15 dollars. In my former apartment, our water and sewer bill cost us around $35 a month and I know that is a lot cheaper than most houses. My sister’s water bill is around $60 a month at her house. We really are saving a decent amount of money but I will comment that it is much less convenient to be constantly having to buy gallons of water. I may look into other options such as filters or water coolers in the future but for now we are sticking to the simplest solution- buying water jugs. When I am hauling them into the house I remind myself that it’s one less bill to pay every month and that alone makes it worthwhile.
Edit- Since I published this post we have been able to go back to drinking the well water. I think they might have been due to pipes sitting for too long before we moved in. We make sure to flush the well regularly and we have never had a problem with particles in the water since and I’m very picky. We use a Brita pitcher and we have both been very healthy. I actually had the chance to speak with a local man who does water testing and he assured me that we have spring fed wells and that the water is good quality.
I don’t know about you but I love reading articles about frugal living. Why? It gives me new ideas and reaffirms what I’m already doing, therefore providing inspiration!
Here are a few articles I have stumbled upon lately that I thought were worth sharing.
By Jeff Yeager
By Dan Shapley
By Brian Hopkins
Happy Reading!
This is the official first post directly onto www.shopaholicsavers.com ! Shopaholic Savers now officially has its own domain name and host site. This is very exciting to me and also a little intimidating because the software is a little different as well. I ask for everyone’s patience as I start figuring this out but also keep checking back because there will be big changes coming daily.
Thank you to all of our readers for their support!
I had a rare Sunday off of work so I decided to go couponing! I haven’t had the time to do a huge couponing trip in a long time. My mom came with me and it was a lot of fun!
WinnDixie
First we went to WinnDixie where we spent .15 cents and got 4 Hershey’s bars! You can never have too much chocolate!
Hershey’s, Kit Kat or Reese’s Candy Bars, 1.5-1.8 oz, at $1.09 (54¢)
-Free Hershey’s Air Delight milk chocolate bar WYB regular milk chocolate bar, max $1.19, SS 8/28 (buy reg. & air delight get both FREE)
Spent- .15 cents
Saved- around $3.00 (the receipt wouldn’t print at the store)
Walgreens
Then we went to Walgreens where we got dish soap for .25 cents and toothpaste free after Register Rewards(Walgreens Dollars)
$3 RR WYB (2) Crest Deep Clean Toothpaste, 5.8 oz, Glide Floss or Oral-B Advantage Complete Deep Clean Toothbrush at $2.50 ea.
-.50/1 Crest toothpaste 4 oz, + or liquid gel, PG 8/28
-$1 off Crest toothpaste 4 oz, + or liquid gel, excl Cavity, Baking Soda or Tartar, PG 8/28
-$1 off Oral-B PulsarTM, CrossAction, or Advantage or (2) Indicator Cavity Defense, on product (use (2) $1 off, makes it FREE)
Dawn Dish Liquid, 9 oz, 99¢
-.75/1 Dawn product, PG 8/28
-.25/1 Dawn product, Organize in Style home mailer
(use .75/1, makes it 25¢)
Spent- $3.94
Received- $3.00 Register Rewards
Saved- $7.48
I then used my Register Rewards towards something I needed to buy anyway because with store dollars it’s like being able to spend the money twice. I try to make sure I use the store dollars in a way that I am able to get the most for my money.
CVS
The CVS coupon machine was printing free coupons for the New Newtons Fruit Thins and then I did the below deals.
$1 ECB WYB St. Joseph 81 mg Enteric Coated Aspirin 36 ct., $2 Limit 1
-$1 off St Joseph’s Aspirin product, 81 mg, SS 9/11
-$1 off St Joseph aspirin, 81 mg, SS 8/07
-$1 off St Joseph Aspirin, August All You magazine
(makes it FREE)
$3.69 ECB WYB CVS Allergy Relief Loratidine, Cetirizine or Fexofenadine, 5 ct., $3.69 Limit 1
(excludes all products containing pseudoephedrine and items limited by law)
(makes it FREE)
$2 ECB WYB Irish Spring or Softsoap Body Wash 15-18 oz, or Softsoap Bar Soap 4 pk., $2.99 Limit 1
-.50/1 Irish Spring body wash printable
-$1/2 Softsoap body washes, 12 oz+, SS 8/14 , SS 8/28
-$1 off Softsoap body wash AND bar soap, September All You magazine
-.75/1 SoftSoap Body Wash printable
(use .75/1, makes it 24¢)
There was also a deal to buy $20 of certain products and get $10 RR so I bought
(3) Air Wick i-Motion Kit, $4.99
(2) Finish Powerball or Gelpacs, $2.99
Use:
(3) -$4 off Airwick Ultra Freshmatic Reg or Compact, kit, SS 9/11
(2) -.75/1 Finish Powerball or Gelpac, SS 7/31 (EXP 09/11)
Total Due: $7.45
Get Back: $10 ECB
I bought the first three deals first in one transaction and then I used the ECBs I had received from that transaction toward next transaction.
On Both Transactions-
Spent- $9.74
Received- $10.00 ECBs (CVS Dollars)
Saved- $60.00
I’ll be able to use the CVS dollars on my next trip and because I spent less than I received back it was like getting everything I bought for free!
Publix
At Publix I got a lot of great deals. I looked at the weekly sales and both the yellow and green coupon booklets that are currently out. I did a lot of deals and also bought a few things that we needed even though there weren’t coupons for them. It has been a long time since I have done a large couponing trip for groceries. Those tend to be the most time consuming because there are the most items. After the results I had I know why I should do them more often.
Spent- $34.53
Saved- $65.94
To see the coupon match ups for any of the Publix deals I did please visit
http://www.southernsavers.com/category/publix/
In one day I saved $136.42. Not bad at all.
I had a great day yesterday shopping with my mom and sister. We went to several thrift shops, CVS, and Big Lots. We got a lot of bargains. Here are a few of my favorite.
At CVS the CVS coupon printer was printing coupons for free candy bars and there is also a Hershey bar Free after ECBs (CVS dollars). I also bought 4 small boxes of cereal for .50 cents each
At Big Lots my sister found cat litter for $1 a bag
I have needed a new curtain for the small window in my shower. While it is unlikely that anyone could actually see in we didn’t want to take that chance. I bought 1 yard of clearance fabric for $1.50 and made my own curtain by draping it over the curtain rod and cutting the excess. Why pay for expensive curtains?
Who says nothing in life is free? I love free stuff! Here is some of the stuff that we have recently received.
My boyfriend and I needed a toaster for our new house and I was given this one at my work because we had an extra.
I don’t buy a lot of candy. There are only two adults in our household so when I do get candy I set it aside for when we have a craving. It’s better than buying candy bars. This falls under the every little bit counts category.
My boyfriend likes to have some soda in the house from time to time. He wanted me to buy some today when I went shopping . I work at an apartment office and people give me all kinds of stuff. Today I was given this 12 pack of soda by someone who didn’t want it. I’m was excited to have one less thing to buy later (It was unopened when I got it).
Across the street from my work is an Albertsons where we buy many of our work items. Albertsons usually has some kind of “game” running where you get game pieces at the register. They recently has Yahtzee and I won this box of Wheatables. I had idea what they were but I like trying new things.
The other day a trusted resident/friend gave our office a Spanish rice dish. That was my boyfriend and I’s dinner that we didn’t have to cook. I try to use all of my resources to the fullest and it really does save money. The stuff on this page is worth at least $10 that I can now put into my savings account.
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