Frugal Living in Vegas

Farewell for now . . .

2010-09-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

OK so I have been stressing and stressing and stressing and I feel horrible about doing this, but I have decided to no longer blog about the deals. I know that there are people who appreciate this Las Vegas friendly blog, but I literally am ridiculously sick lately that if I do go shopping the minute I walk in the door I am throwing up and leaving my hubby to put the groceries away. I don't feel like I am doing anybody any justice by blogging once every month and so I feel like I need to take a break for a while. For how long I am not sure.

I also feel like there are so many other amazing blogs out there that give better information and more frequent information than I do and I feel like I am letting all of my followers down every week by never updating. So I am going to refer you to another amazing Las Vegas blog which is done by the manager of the Las Vegas region. She is the Grocery Geek and between her and one other amazing lady they update their blog atleast every other day. You can check her out here.

Thank you so much to all of my faithful followers and friends that I have made. Hopefully I will start feeling better soon and can return to the wonderful world of blogging.

Do you price match?

2010-08-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have recently started price matching at Wal-mart for produce. I love love love fresh veggies and fruit, but am very picky about the produce I eat. I was talking to one of my fellow couponers and she told me that she price matches her produce from the Hispanic store ads. I thought I would give it a try and I love it! There are so many good deals on produce. Some of the items I picked up this week were:

6 lbs of oranges for .97
4 lbs of roma tomatoes for .99
3 iceberg lettuce for .99
cucumbers for .50
10 lbs of watermelon for .99

Right now I am going through the best part of pregnancy (morning sickness, which is not only in the morning but all day and night) and the idea of eating anything is absolutely revolting. Especially if I have to open my mouth too wide to eat it. So I have been eating a lot of finger foods and produce hits the spot perfectly for me, so it is nice that I can have a ton of produce for a little amount of money every week.

Some tips on price matching:

Learn the stores policy before attempting this. Often it is found on the stores website. Currently at the Wal-mart next to my house they have a display of all of the ads in circulation and they will cross out any items that they will not price match.

Wal-mart will not allow you to price match and use a coupon for the same item, so I still go to Smith's and Albertson's to hit their promotions or pick up any item that is on sale with a coupon. I mainly just price match produce, meat and dairy.

You don't have to have 6lbs of oranges to get the rate - the store will figure out what it is per lb and then weigh and charge you accordingly. One time I got 3 jalapenos to make pico de gallo for .01

I make a list of all items I am buying and how much the item is and what store ad I found that price in and I bring all ads in the store with me. I have never had to show the person the ad, but I still bring it just in case someone asks I am prepared.

I put all items I am price matching at the end of the belt and tell the cashier immediately that I will be price matching, these seems to be the least stressful way of doing this so I am not holding up the line at all.

Typo on Smiths ad

2010-08-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

so if you are like me and was super excited to see cereal for forty eight cents a box, then like me you will be disappointed to learn that it was a typo and cereal is two ninetynine a box.

however, there are still some killer deals at smiths so check out grocerysmarts lists and have fun shopping. i stocked up on powerades, sunnyd, sobes, and sodas. no one will be thirsty at my house.

btw if you are wondering why my grammar is so horrible i am typing this on my phone.

Busy Busy Busy

2010-08-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am always apologizing for the lack of posts and for that I am truly sorry, but life has been so hectic lately that even though I have been scoring some great deals I haven't had the time to share any of them.

Some of the things that have been keeping me busy are:
1. a trip to Idaho for a week
2. Our ward being dissolved and we were realigned into a new ward. I was the first counselor in the Primary presidency and didn't lose my calling (there are currently two first counselors) and there are 90 kids in the primary so we have been trying to figure out all of the logisitics of that.
3. My daughter was in her first dance concert at Cashman Field, and we had rehearsals every Friday, dance class every Saturday and the week of the show we had rehearsal Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday was the show, then on Saturday my cousin was married.
4. On top of all of this I just found out that I am expecting our final baby! I am only six weeks along and am EXHAUSTED! Literally I could sleep all of the time.

Life has finally calmed down and looking at the ads this week there are some killer deals, if I were I would be checking out Grocery Smarts tomorrow (especially the Smith's ad) and check here throughout the day where at some point I will be putting together a list of my picks!

Free Tortillas at Albertsons

2010-08-06T09:24:00.001-07:00

Mission Tortillas are on sale at Albertson's for 1.49, and in this Sunday paper there were coupon doublers for Albertson's and in the Smart Source in that same Sunday paper there is a coupon for .75/1 Mission Flour Tortillas. When you combine both that coupon and the doubler at Albertson's it makes the tortillas FREE! I picked up 4 of them yesterday all for free!

Coupon Class

2010-08-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

*updated email address, I typed it in wrong, sorry!

I will be having a coupon class at my house on
Saturday August 14, 2010.

If you are interested in coming to learn how using coupons will save you a TON of money please
email me at

frugallivininglv@yahoo.com
and I will give you more details!

New email address

2010-08-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

I have a new email address for this blog, it is frugallivininglv@yahoo.com feel free to email me anytime about any questions!

RJ Issues

2010-07-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to do this post for AGES! I get calls and emails all the time about having issues or questions about their papers. Unfortunately, most of the time I can't really help since I don't technically work for the paper. I simply process your orders. Once they are turned in, they are out of my hands. However, I understand the frustration that can come if your papers aren't delivered properly (we NEED our coupons dang it!), or you have issues upon renewal. After some research, I found that the RJ online is SO easy and a great way to ease those frustrations. Below is a little tutorial on how to register online and manage your account. I really hope this helps! Thanks!!

Step #1 - Go to www.lvrj.com and click on the link at the to of the page that reads "Subscribe or Manage your account"

Step #2 - Click to Register

Step #3 - Locate your account by entering in 2 pieces of information. You don't even need your account number! Just try your phone number and/or house number and/or zip and/or last name. Any 2 will do. Then enter your email address and create a password. Super easy!!

Step #4 - Managing your account. When all your info pulls up you should have 2 accounts. The first is your account if you already had one before adding more Sunday papers. If you signed up at a class, this is your $45.50 account. The next account is for you additional Sunday Only papers at $19.50 each.

Now, the cool part!! On the left side (circled in red) are some really neat options.

Vacation holds - remember how the paper doesn't have coupons on holidays? Just click on that tab and set your delivery date you want for the hold (the next one will be July 4th). SUPER simple, right?!

Service Issues - You can send them a note if your paper came delivered wet, late, or was missing the coupon inserts or heaven forbid they delivered the wrong amount of papers. You can even send a message to the carrier. So handy - and I am pretty sure this is a new option.

I sure hope this helps! Happy Couponing everyone!!

p.s. if you click on the images above, you can see them full size

I scored at Albertsons!

2010-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

This week I scored at Albertsons! I spent 52.77 and saved 113.19! $48.85 of the savings was in coupons alone!!! So what did I buy? I will tell ya:

Refer here for a printable shopping list and reference of where coupons are located

5 John Freida hair products - used $2/1 coupon from SS
5 John Freida Root Awakening hair products - used $3/1 coupon from SS (this is not on the list but these products are on sale as well and the coupon is next to the $2/1 coupon)
4 Jello mix - used 4 .50/2 coupon from SS
5 Kraft salad dressings - used 5 $1/1 coupons from SS
4 Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce - used 4 $2/1 coupons from SS
2 Kraft Mayo's - used 1 1.50/2 coupon found in SS - 6/20
4 12 packs of coke
1 quilted northern bath tissue
1 15 lb watermelon.

Today is the last day you can take advantage of this amazing sale so get off the computer and get shopping!

wow 2 weeks in a row

2010-06-30T09:54:00.001-07:00

After looking at both the Albertsons and Smiths List I am way excited - THERE ARE A TON OF GOOD DEALS!!! The best part is that there are a ton of coupons from the Smart Source which makes having multiple coupons sooooo worth it! I haven't been posting pictures lately of my shopping trips because of the heat I just want to hurry and get my food put away before it spoils but this week I will make a list of what I purchased and how much I saved - it is going to be amazing!

Smiths is AMAZING

2010-06-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Finally something worth blogging about is going on! Smith's is doing an amazing coupon promo!! All coupons are worth $1.00!!!!! That equals killer savings! Can you imagine how much you are going to save just by having four of each coupon? A TON!!!!!!

Albertson's has doublers!

2010-06-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

So as I walked into Albertson's this week I spotted a packet of store coupons so of course I grabbed one and noticed that on the back there are 2 coupon doublers! You can only use two per transaction so that's what I did, I added it to the $1/1 Handover pretzel coupon and was able to get two of them for only .50! Not too shabby huh. I was too hot when I got home from grocery shopping so I didn't take a picture, I just put the groceries all away and hopped in the pool but here is what I picked up . . .

4 bags Malt o Meal cereal - after store coupon .50 each
10 weber Marinades - after $1/2 coupon from SS FREE
5 Hunts Pudding Pack - after promo .80 each
2 Papa Tortillas - 1.49 each
5 Hunt's Ketchup - after promo and .20/1 coupon from SS .60 ea
1 Albertson's olives - 1.29 each
1 Vanilla Coke Zero 12 pack - used catalina coupon from previos week - free
4 bags Handover Pretzels -after $1/1 coupon from SS 1.50 each (used two doublers making 2 .50 each)
5 Hunts Spaghetti Sauce - after promo .80 each
5 Banquet Chicken Nugget Meals - after promo .80 each

Total After Coupons and Promotions - $28.84 Saved $44.39

Great article for you to check out.

2010-06-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who want to learn more about shopping at the drugstores (CVS/Walgreens) I recommend checking out this article at money saving mom's website. It is a great start to help you feel better prepared. Just remember when you are looking at nonVegas websites their deals are different than ours, but the principles are still the same. Happy learning!

NO COUPONS TODAY

2010-05-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Due to Memorial Day there will be no coupon inserts in today's paper. But flip through the ads and see if there are any major sales you want to take advantage of this weekend!

Incredible Opportunity for you!

2010-05-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Have you been wanting to learn more about how to save money at the grocery store? Have you been saving money at the grocery store and now you want all of your friends to be able to save like you? Well you are in luck. The owner of grocery Smarts is in Las Vegas and he is an AMAZING instructor and he has offered to teach any class in Las Vegas as long as you have 8 or more NEW moms (meaning they aren't doing grocery smarts already) at your class! So if this is an opportunity you want to take advantage of call me NOW!!! His schedule and mine are filling up fast and I really don't want you to miss out on this opportunity.

The same hostess incentives that are offered will be offered to you, which is a box of brownies and a drink mix for your party, invitations, and a letter explaining what to expect and what he needs from you. Then at the class you will receive a surprise gift and a $3 gift card per family that signs up for the paper. If all eight ladies sign up for the paper that would be a $24 gift card for you to Albertsons!

I don't think I can stress enough to you the value of having the owner teach you and your friends how to shop smart so call or email me and let's get you on the calendar!

Cell: 375-1445
Home: 362-8959
email: tkmiller81002@yahoo.com

I only have a few dates left so call today!

$50 or less shopping trip

2010-05-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some ideas for a $50 or less shopping trips for Smith's and Albertson's

Smith's
8 corn on the cob .25 ea
1 Tomatoes on the vine - 1.50 ea
2 Kroger Chicken Boneless Chicken Breasts - 6.96 ea.
2 Kroger Cream Cheese - .88 ea
4 Coke 12 packs - 2.50 ea
8 Nabisco Crackers - 1.67 ea use 4 $1/2 Nabisco Crackers SS 5/16
4 Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce 1.00 ea. use 4 $1/2 Sweet Baby Rays BBQ SS 5/23
3 Cool Whip Dips .99 ea
2 gallons 1% Mountain Dairy Milk 2.09 (approx)
1 gallon whole mountain dairy milk 2.29 (approx)
1 dozen smith's eggs - .88
Total: 50.86 - I have a $5 off catalina from the water promotion from last week so I will use that and my total will be $45.86

Albertsons:
2 lbs grapes .89
1 cucumber .79
2 bell peppers .79
2 Moran's Hamburger Patties 5.99 ea
8 weber marinade mix use 4 $1/2 Weber Seasoning Grinder or Marinade SS 5/23
4 coke 12 packs 2.50
1 free hillshire farm smoked sausage free when you purchase 4 12 packs coke.
Total: 30.05

Happy Shopping Everyone!

Albertsons or Smith's

2010-05-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

So I just checked out Albertsons and Smiths lists and I have no idea which one to pick from, they both are having great sales sooooo I am probably going to go to both and stock up on some much needed groceries. I am loving Smith's water sale and I am loving that Albertsons has mission tortillas on sale . . . oh it is going to be hard to stay within budget this week there is so much I want :). I will let you know what I decide on whenever I get around to deciding!

No major savings this week

2010-05-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

So this week I went to Smith's with my family and the problem with that is when you are thinking I am only going to spend x amount of dollars but you have more than that in your wallet, it is easier to say yes to things you don't have planned out. So I ended up spending about 94.00 and saved 50 which isn't bad - especially considering the fact that smith's is a lower priced store so the savings are rarely as big as albertsons. But I did take advantage of the P&G promo and bought

2 pampers cruisers diapers
2 tide laundry detergents
2 olay quench body washes
2 olay quench body lotion

And even though these alone were forty something dollars combined - I love these products so I didn't mind splurging on a good product that will last a while

I am back and ready for action!!!

2010-05-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

My Hubby and I having a blast together!

The beautiful ocean

Well after a week of preparing for my amazing cruise, a week of enjoying an amazing cruise and a week of detox from an amazing cruise I am back and ready to get back in the coupon groove! It was nice to go on a vacation and reconnect with the love of my life and experience another culture, but it is also nice to be home! My calendar is completely booked for the rest of May but if you are interested in learning more about saving money on groceries give me a call and we can definitely set something up for you!

Also - I hope you are all taking advantage of the amazing sale at Albertson's this week! There are a lot of catalinas printing out for ice cream - much appreciated with this warm weather - and cereal - by the way there is an additional $3.00 off you next shopping order catalina that prints out when you buy four boxes of Kellogg's cereal so you actually get $7.00 off your next shopping order - not bad huh! I did two transactions of the skinny cow and haagen daaz ice cream special - I love the small little cups because then I don't overeat :), then did the kelloggs promotion and used all of the catalinas I received from those first three purchases to buy all my necessities like meat, cheese, bread and produce - not bad! You've got one day left so if you haven't taken advantage of the sale I highly recommend you do!

If you need more papers, are interested in booking a class, or have a question please don't hesitate to call me! 702-375-1445 or email me at tkmiller81002@yahoo.com! I look forward to hearing from you!

Out to Sea

2010-04-20T18:45:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I am off to Mexico in a few days and since I will be busy getting my house in order, preparing menu plans, packing, etc. I know I won't be posting anything this week and obviously I won't be posting anything while on vacation - so happy shopping!!! See you all next month!

Haven't been doing a lot of grocery shopping

2010-04-15T12:05:00.001-07:00

For those of you who may be frustrated with me because I haven't posted pics of my shopping trips lately it is because I haven't been grocery shopping in two weeks! I am going to go this week to buy a few essentials - like the Hunt's pasta sauce, some peanut butter (I know it's not a four star deal, but we go through peanut butter like most families go through toilet paper), definitely getting some Life cereal and granola bars and milk of course! Other than that I am pretty well stocked up.

I also am saving as much of my spending money as I can because I am heading off to Mexico on the 25th and I wanted a new wardrobe for that and I want to bring as much extra cash as I can because my hubby has me on a strict credit card budget so this way i can still have fun and not stress over the end bill! That is the beauty of coupon shopping, I can take two weeks off and still be o.k.!

Another and final reason I have been M.I.A. on here is that I have a started a new business selling Premier Designs jewelry, which is high fashion jewelry, and I have been crazy busy getting all of that stuff organized so now I am good to do to do coupon classes AND jewelry parties (separate of course)!

I also know that you guys love to get ideas for the week so if anyone has any killer ideas on how to save mega bucks leave a comment and put your list on there, or your shopping trip. If you want to take a picture, email me the picture and all of the details (how much you spent/saved) and I will happily post it on here.

Quaker Promotion

2010-04-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

O.k. ladies and gents the reports I am getting from people who have done the quaker promotion is that you can only buy 5 per day, so you cannot roll the transaction! The sale is probably linked to your card so if you do another transaction it will charge you full price.

Bye Bye Dollar Stores

2010-04-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

BIG Changes are happening at the RJ this past week. If you look closely at your Sunday paper, you may have noticed the price has increased from $2.50 to a full $3.00! Another BIG change you may not have noticed is that the RJ is no longer available at the Dollar Stores around town!

Why am I so excited about this!?! Well, because OUR price has not increased at ALL! I used to get excited to tell people at my classes that we can offer the Sunday Only paper at about a 60% discount off the regular price... well, my fellow couponers, our savings is now closer to 70%! (68% to be exact). Don't you just love a good sale?!!

Now, there may be some of you out there who have been Dollar Store faithfuls and getting your coupons there - I know you're out there. How would you feel about paying LESS than $1 each for your coupons now? AND they come to YOU every week!!

Call me anytime to place your order, or you can check out my new Online Order Form and you can start receiving your papers in just a few weeks!! Even better - why don't you host a class!! Remember at the classes I can offer you a gift card to Albertsons to help offset the cost of your subscriptions & you can earn more great prizes. Check out these posts for more info on how easy it is to host a class.

I can't wait to help you start SAVING big money - call me today!

I love Albertsons

2010-04-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry the picture isn't the best but here is my shopping trip from today! I spent $45.31 and SAVED $101.57! The chips, lunchables, crystal lights, 5 can of dog food and 3 gallons of milk were all FREE after coupons!

Just a few shopping tips this week

2010-04-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

We have had a major run of the allergies this past week and have felt very unmotivated to do much, but today I am feeling good so as soon as I get ready for the day I am off to the store to do some shopping! As I was printing out my list this morning I was thinking about some things I could post about and I had these two thoughts running through my head . . .

1. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE COUPON DOUBLERS!!! You can get chips, lunchables, crystal light, canned fruit etc for free this week by using the Albertson's coupon doublers! They are good for two weeks so it is up to you if you want to use them all this week or hold on to them until the next weeks sale. I am going to use all of mine today so I have extra money to shop for the easter bunny :).

2. The only rule with the coupon doublers is that you can only use 3 per transaction and they can't match higher than a dollar.

3. At Smith's Tresemme is on sale and if you are at Smith's you will see that the Tresemme Naturals are also on sale. There is a $1.00/1 coupon in the 3/21 SS so you can use that and make the Tresemme products 1.88 - not bad!

Hope this helps everyone this week - I will make to sure to remember to post my shopping trip when I get home!

Triple Perks in the sunday paper!

2010-03-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in the paper there were some great perks! First there were 2 smart sources to be found because next week there won't be any inserts due to Easter. The next thing I found was an Albertson's Ad filled with store coupons and three coupons to match the coupons you already have!!! These coupons are good until April 13th so we have some time to use them. The best part is that because I get four papers I now have 12 coupons I can use to match other coupons and I received 8 smart sources! Not too bad.

New Phone Number

2010-03-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

I have a new cell phone number so if you need to get in contact with me you can reach me at 702-375-1445.

My picks for the week

2010-03-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

One thing I always think about while I am planning my shopping trip is first how much money am I wanting to spend on groceries. A lot of my budget is based on what I need to spend money on other than groceries, for example this weekend I am taking my kids to Chuck - E- Cheese for a nephews birthday so I am going to spend money on that, we are going to order the UFC fight and have a party where we are providing the burgers so I am going to have to spend money on the fight and on the fresh condiments to go on the burgers so I need to make sure I have money for that before I make sure I have money to go crazy on killer deals.

Once I have a budget in mind I look at my fridge and pantry to see what I need to buy. Every week I have to buy bread, eggs, fresh produce, and 6 gallons of milk (yes we drink that much milk in our house). Then if there are any ingredients I might be low on I will plan for those as well. As nice as it is that pizza is a killer deal if I spend a majority of my budget on that and am therefore unable to buy the necessities then I blew it. You have to plan for the necessities first always and then what is left in your budget you can use to stock up on the killer deals.

With all of that in mind, that is why I love Smith's. They are notorious for running a promo for two weeks running, so the first week they have a sale I buy the most important items, like the killer deal on kid's toothpaste, and then the next week I will buy more of my wish list items. Albertson's never has the same deal two weeks in a row so when they have a killer promotion I will do the majority of my stocking up at Albertsons.

This week I am going to be picking up toilet paper, paper towels, and crystal light at Albertsons and then I am going to head on over to Smith's and pick up some apple juice, poptarts, digiorno pizza and some Tresemme.

What are you going to pick up this week?

The lists are up

2010-03-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

The lists are up for Albertsons and Smith's now. I will post my picks tomorrow!

Sorry for the delay . . .

2010-03-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Grocery Smarts listmaker lives in UT and if she doesn't get her ads in the mail then she can't make the lists. This week that is what happened so if you go to check out the Albertsons and Smith's lists and there isn't anything there that is why. I will be watching the lists like a hawk today to see when they are posted and then I will let you all know!

CVS 101 part 2

2010-03-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of last weeks CVS 101 article and is more for novice CVS users. You have your card now and have attempted at least on trip to CVS. Now for a few more tips

There are a lot of blogs out there that do weekly CVS deals, the most popular is the $5 CVS challenge found on many blogs, but you have to be careful when planning out these trips because every region (Utah, California, Texas, etc) has VERY different coupons delivered to them so it may get frustrating when you are trying to plan out your shopping trips because the scenarios just won't work for Las Vegas. I am thinking about starting a $5 CVS challenge specifically for Las Vegas so if you would be interested in participating in these leave me a comment, if there is enough interest then I will do it.

The single best place to find the best deals for CVS for our region is GrocerySmarts because they have a list of all of the coupons we have available to us!

There is a coupon printer at the store, they look like the price scanners at Target, and if you swipe your card under it then coupons will print out of the machine! You can use these at the store the same day you get them!

There are two ways to shop at CVS the first one and most complicated is to roll your transactions. I try to never do more than three transactions in one shopping trip in order to save my sanity. The idea behind rolling is to recycle all earned ECB's back into subsequent transactions, leaving the store with no ECB's. It is best to have your highest earning ECB's in your first transaction, but try to spend the least amount of money as possible.

The second way to shop is where you complete your purchase with only one transaction and then use the ECB's on next week's trip.

At the bottom of your receipt it will summarize which deals have reached their limits (some are more than advertised)

Just a little FYI

2010-03-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

If you are headed out to Smith's this week to take advantage of their madness promotion then be aware that you can only do up to 3 $4.00 off instantly at checkout per transaction. So if you are planning on purchasing more then split them up!!

CVS 101 part 1

2010-03-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a three part post with one new post each week. This post is dedicated to those of us who are newbies and don't typically shop at CVS. CVS is a great place to stock up on every day household and hygiene items for a small amount of money and rewards!!!

The first thing you need to do is to get a CVS card and make sure it's registered online to your name, address and email.

After you have received your card go here to read about all the benefits of having a card and also a list of FAQ's.

Next understand the lingo. Just like Albertson's and Smith's CVS runs promotions where you can earn money off your next purchase. These are called ECB's or Extra Care Bucks. These are like store coupons and can be combined with manufacturer coupons. They do expire so watch the expiration dates!!!

You can earn ECBs by purchasing certain products, quarterly rewards (2% of spending) and filling prescriptions.

You can find the ECB deals in weekly ads and in the monthly ad and also on the grocery smarts website!

Busy Busy Busy

2010-03-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

Life has been crazy busy lately with my new calling and my new goal of teaching at least four classes a month so again I apologize for the lack of posts but I wanted to give you a quick run down of my killer deal at Albertsons this week!

Last week I was feeling kind of lazy and didn't want to roll my transactions because that would require more effort than I wanted to put into my shopping trip. So I bought everything on one transaction and after it was all said and done I spent about $80.00 and walked out with $22.50 in catalinas to use for the next week.

So this week I was looking at the sales and nothing really super popped out at me, except for the chill promo going on at Albertsons so I decided I would use my catalinas and coupons to pay for the items I wanted in the chill promo and then use the catalina I received from that to pay for my miscellaneous items so here is what I bought (sorry for no picture)

4 boxes of Red Baron french bread pizzas
4 Healthy choice frozen dinners
2 breyers ice cream (this is my family's favorite ice cream especially the triple chocolate so YUMMY!!!)

After coupons this came to exactly 22.50 so I used my catalinas and it made all of that FREE
I the received a $10.00 catalina and bought

1 roast
3 taco seasoning packets
6 candy bars/ m&m's that were on sale for .50

That equaled out to $10.07 so I used my catalina and bought all of the ingredients listed above for only .07!!!!

Not too bad huh!

THE EARNING POTENTIAL IS UP TO YOU!!

2010-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

How would you like to receive a minimum of a $6 gift certificate to Albertsons and a maximum of as high as you want? All you have to do is host a class, invite your friends, coworkers, church members, relatives, running buddies, etc. over to your house, which I am sure you do on a regular basis already, and invite me over as well to teach the people you love and care about how to save MEGA BUCKS at the the grocery store! Literally the only thing you have to do is invite your friends over and I do the rest!

In fact I will even provide the dessert and drink! I will then give you a $3 gift certificate to you for every household that orders the paper from your class! I will also surprise you with another gift just for you during my presentation.

I promise your friends and family will be grateful for you inviting them over to learn how to save them money! So call me today to book your class!

As an added bonus if you book your class for either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week I will also give you the book Shop Smart, Save More which is full of couponing tips and recipes! This is a must have book for serious couponers!

Call Today my schedule is filling up fast! 702-362-8959!!!

P&G INSERT THIS SUNDAY!!!

2010-03-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

I just found out from a little birdie that there will be a Proctor & Gamble insert in this Sunday's paper!!! I am so excited!!!! because I get four papers so I will receive 4 P&G inserts on sunday which is AWESOME!!!

Albertsons is AMAZING this week!

2010-03-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

If you haven't had a chance to check out the lists this week then you better hurry over and check out the Albertson's list! There are three amazing promos this week and a sweet 8 hour promo sale on Thursday as well! If you don't get the P&G inserts be sure to head over to Coupons by Dede and order them right now they are only .35 an insert!

Also if you check out here you can find even more great promo's and hints for shopping the sales this week!

Happy Shopping!

p.s. be on the lookout tomorrow for a $50.00 or less shopping example . . .

It's a breakfast kind of day

2010-03-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and if you took advantage of the sale at Albertson's this past week you definitely won't be hurting for breakfast food for a while!

Today I went to Albertson's and picked up the following items:

8 boxes of frozen Aunt Jemima waffles
2 boxes of Frozen Aunt Jemima breakfast entrees
13 boxes of General Mills cereal (lucky charms, cheerios, reese's puffs, cinnamon toast crunch)
2 Grands biscuits
2 boxes of BarS Corn Dogs
1 Orbit pack of gum

I picked up all of this for only $37.30 and saved 56.75!!! Hurry in to Albertson's before the sale ends it goes till midnight!!!

20% off any frozen pizza on Fridays At Albertsons

2010-02-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

Did you know that every Friday Albertsons runs a promo where you can get 20% off any frozen pizza? If you are ever thinking about picking up some frozen pizza the best time to do it is on Fridays at Albertsons. Match it up with a Manufacturer coupon and you can save BIG!

I love being stocked up!!

2010-02-10T08:25:00.001-08:00

So after looking at both the Albertson's and Smith's list this week I realized that the only thing I really need is Milk and fresh veggies soooo guess what that means? It means I will spend at most $40.00 this week on necessities and I have $140.00 to spend on whatever I want, hmmm the possibilities are endless, in fact I think hear Kohl's and Ross calling my name . . .

What are you going to splurge on this week?

How did you do?

2010-02-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

So because I stocked up so much last week I didn't really buy a lot this weekend, just the necessities with a few stock up items - I love the Tyson anytizers that were on sale this week. So I was wondering how you guys did? What were your costs and savings? I am dying to hear!!

Huge Savings over the weekend!

2010-02-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went first to Albertsons to take advantage of their amazing soda and produce deals! I bought 8 2 litres of Coke, 2 heads of lettuce (1 romaine, 1 iceburg), 1 3 lb bag of onions, 1 1 lb bag of baby carrots, 2 Rootbeer 2 litres, 2 boxes of popcorn and 4 12 packs of 7-up brand sodas. After we rang up these transactions we received a catalina for a FREE pack of albertsons brand diapers so of course we ran back to the diaper aisle and grabbed a bag of diapers, then after we bought those another catalina printed out for $4.00 off the same diapers so we went back and grabbed another pack of diapers. After all that we walked out of Albertsons spending 32.54 and saving 62.44!!

After we went to Albertsons we went to Smiths for their HUGE stock up sale and well you can just look at the picture to see what all we bought for 110.09! We saved $138.98 and walked out with 2 carts full of food and beverages! One trick I use when planning out my buy ten get $5 off transactions is I create an excel spreadsheet where I list the quantity I am buying, the item, the price of the item before the coupon but after the promo and the value of the coupon. This way as I make adjustments to the quantities I want to buy I can make sure I am still buying within groups of ten and it is easier to look at while I am at the store. I still bring the grocerysmarts lists so I can make sure I grab the right items!

So after all is said and done I spent a total of $142.63 and saved $201.42! I spent more than I normally do but I didn't have anything else I needed to spend money on this week so I splurged!

Value of the Newspaper

2010-01-29T15:40:00.001-08:00

I have had several people tell me that they use more printable coupons than they do from their paper. Some weeks that may be the case, however this week that is definitely NOT the case! After making my list and clipping my coupons I found that I am using $26.75 worth of coupons just from the paper and ONLY $1.00 from the online coupons! Considering the fact that I get one additional subscription to the newspaper for less than $20.00, this week alone I more than paid for one 6 month additional subscription and a fourth of another paper!! Now some of the coupons you could print or clip, and when deciding which one to do for me, I always think that it is better to clip then print because I have already spent money to get the coupon in the paper and to print it costs extra money (ink and paper) so I will always clip it first and then if I want more then I will print the coupon.

As a side note for those of you who are using coupons from the paper watch the expiration dates some of them expire SUNDAY!!

FAQs of Printable

2010-01-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

Printable coupons are one of the easiest ways to begin couponing because you don't have to wait for a paper to come, you just have to go to the grocerysmarts website and click clip and print and you have a coupon. Sounds easy enough right? Well actually you will be surprised by how much drama these coupons can cause if you don't know some simple facts about them.

1. The best way to guarantee that you will have access to a printable coupon when you need it is to print it the minute you see it!! The reason this is is because manufactureres will release a set number of online coupons (like 50,000) and as soon as that number is reached the manufacturer will pull the coupon from the website it is located on. So if you see a 1.00 of Wanchai Ferry coupon and you think hey I might want to try that but it's not on sale print it anyway because it doesn't cost much to print and if Wanchai Ferry goes on sale two weeks later the coupon may have also disappeared two weeks later! So if you think you might want it print it the minute you see it! This is what happens when on the grocerysmarts website it says coupon is on this link and you go to the link and the coupon isn't there, it is because it has been pulled from the internet.

2. To save yourself money in ink the best way to print a printable coupon is to set your printer settings to print in black and white only (no one cares about the colors they just need the barcode) and to put it on the lowest setting available. I have a Lexmark printer and so the lowest option for me is to set my printer to quickprint. This will save you loads because it uses the least amount of ink as possible!

3. You can only print 1 or 2 printable coupons from your computer!! This is important because in the Grocery Smarts class I teach that you need to have 1 coupon per consumer in your home however the most you can print out of a printable at one computer is 2. This is to ensure that the coupon can go out to a lot of people instead of one person printing out 20 and others feeling frustrated.

4. If your printer jams up you are out of luck, because the website will read it as though you have already printed it so make sure your printer is functioning properly before you select print.

5. I have only had about an 80% success rate with printables so I don't rely on them. Once upon a time I felt like I was saving more with the printables than with my newspaper but now I hardly ever print out printable coupons and am saving just as much as before. The only guaranteed coupon is the one that comes in the mail or the newspaper.

I do not return phone calls in regards to printable coupons because it is not something I have control over so if you have any questions about printables that I didn't talk about here leave a comment and I will answer it to the best of my ability!

There is a new Proctor & Gamble out

2010-01-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are lucky enough to get the proctor and gamble insert in the mail you should have received one today, if you aren't one of the lucky ones (like I used to be) then have no fear you can head on over to coupons by dede (see the link on the right side) and you can order as many as you want!

I scored at Albertsons!

2010-01-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

We were running low on fruit snacks and cereal and now we are well stocked on the above items! I did 3 transactions and spent 52.68 and saved 89.61! I went over to Smiths to pick up milk and produce items because well let's be honest here they are cheaper and I spent 30.00 on that (plus I picked up 4 bags of hostess donuts and refried beans and hunts spaghetti sauce since they were such a good deal!) Not bad to spend a little over $80.00 at two stores for a ton of groceries!

Want to teach your friends and family members how to save like I am? Give me a call or shoot me an email I am looking to book classes for January and February and the new hostess incentives are AMAZING!!!

email: tkmiller81002@yahoo.com
phone: 362-8959

Alphabetical Coupon Index . . .

2010-01-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

Have you ever needed to buy something but it wasn't on sale and you didn't want to go through every one of your coupon inserts to see if you had a coupon for it? Well luckily for you Grocery Smarts has this wonderful thing on their website called an Alphabetical Coupon Index. This is a list of every good (meaning nonexpired) coupon that has been distributed to the Las Vegas valley either in the Smart Source (SS), the Red Plum (RP), the General Mills (GM), or the Proctor & Gamble (P&G) inserts. It doesn't matter when the coupon came out if it hasn't expired then it will be on this list!

This is a great tool because let's say I am out of shampoo and it isn't on sale but I don't want to pay full price for it, then all I have to do is click on the alphabetical coupon index link at the top of the home page and it will display a list of all coupons in suprise alphabetical order! I can then scroll down to say the H's for Herbal Essence and it will show me if there is a coupon available and what insert I can find it in. I can then go to that coupon clip it and head on over to Wal-mart to pick up some shampoo. The items are listed by brand name and not by type so if you need toilet bowl cleaner you are going to need to know the brand name. i.e. scrubbing bubbles, to see if there is a coupon for it.

Now obviously if this item is not on sale then I am not going to stock up on the shampoo by using all of my coupons but I will buy one to get me by until it goes on sale at a great price!

Triple Bonus!!!

2010-01-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Did you guys see that there are THREE coupon inserts in todays paper? That is triple the savings in just one week! Also in one of the smart sources it has my FAVORITE coupon of all time . . . 2.50 off of electrasol dishwashing tablets, SWEET!

If you didn't receive these inserts in your paper today go ahead and give the RJ a call at 383-0400 and they will redeliver your papers for you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2010-01-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

Wow can you guys believe it is the new year already? It seems like last year flew past us and now it is 2010!! I personally love January because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on the previous year and see what accomplishments I have made and what I need to improve upon. Last year the two best things that happened to me were the birth of my adorable Owen and the opportunity I had to attend a couponing class. Both of these events happened for me in February and literally changed my life! Before attending the coupon class every time the idea of spending money, getting out of debt, saving, investing, anything to do with money was literally a fight and now, because I am able to save so much money on the daily necessities we no longer argue about what to buy or when to buy it. Not only that but we have so much more fun as a family because every week we have money to take the kids and do something enjoyable!

At the beginning of last year I was taking out $260.00 every week for my family of four and most weeks that entire amount was spent on groceries and household items. After attending my very first grocery smarts class I was able to not only buy groceries and household items with that amount, but was also able to buy clothes, toys, take the kids out to eat, go to movies etc for the same amount.

Now 10 months after attending a coupon class I am taking out $180 a week, putting 20 a week in savings and still have a STOCKED house!! I am still able to go buy a new pair of shoes if I desire, order out some pizza hut or even take the kids out to Chuck E Cheese!

I honestly believe in the power of goal setting and plans to go with this goal so I want to encourage you to set your own goals this year in specific regards to financial goals and determine how you can attain those goals. Is your goal to spend less money every week or is it to be able to spend the same amount you are already spending and just stock up and build a year supply of storage?

I would love to hear what your goals are so leave me a note and hopefully I can help you achieve it!

No Inserts Today

2009-12-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone but because of the holidays there are no inserts in today's newspapers. There will be inserts in next sundays paper!!

Home for the Holidays

2009-12-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

I am again sorry for the lack of posts, I was really planning a bunch of posts, but as usual life has gone crazy, it is so crazy that I still haven't gone through my sunday papers yet!! We are going to my hubby's parents house and we are having some friends of ours house sit while we are gone. Well I didn't want them thinking I lived like a slob so on top of packing up the suitcases for ten days I had to scrub my house on top of that so it's not that I don't love you guys and don't want to give you tons of information, it is just how christmas time goes. But be prepared because while I am in Idaho I plan on organizing my posts and scheduling them out so at the beginning of the new year you will have a whole slew of coupon information from me :)

No more advanced coupon classes

2009-12-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have ever attended a grocery smarts class by another instructor there is a chance you would have heard about a little thing called Advanced Couponing. Well because some instructors offer this and some do not the Management team of Grocery Smarts has decided to nix all advanced coupon classes and are now encouraging us instructors to put any advanced couponing tips onto our blogs so stay tuned over the next couple of weeks and I will be putting a lot of the advanced tips that would have been learned at an advanced coupon class on my blog!!! If you are new to couponing don't stress out, the grocerysmarts class I do is a very basic introduction to couponing so I don't overwhelm you with information, but as you get the hang of organizing, clipping and using the grocerysmarts lists it is nice to learn a few extra bonus tips to help you along your money saving ways! This also means I am going to get out of my comfort zone and start learning about couponing at CVS and Walgreens and give you the lowdown on all of their secrets!

The New Lists are HERE!!!!

2009-12-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys but I have been dying for today to come!! Not that I didn't love the two weeks of sales that ensured I scored on some great deals even though I was feeling lazy and only went to the store the day before Thanksgiving . . . but I love new lists, and new items being on sale . . . especially when they are items I am in DESPERATE need of!

Some items I am looking at buying this week are:
Albertsons
Milk for 2.09 (We buy 4 a week atleast so this is a must!)
Coke 24 pk for 4.99 (My hubby loves his soda and well let's be honest so do I :P)
Doritos for 1.50
Healthy Choice soups for .63!! (After coupon of course)
General Mils Cereals for 1.00!!! I love that I can get name brand yummy cereals for sooo cheap!
Then on top of all of that there are some huge savings on Proctor & Gamble products! If you didn't get the P&G insert make sure you head on over to couponsbydede so you don't miss out on the killer sale!!

Check out the Albertson's list here

Then Smith's has even more amazing deals on top of this!!
I am really excited about the Marshmallow cream - I add this to cream cheese and a little bit of lemon and it makes the yummiest ever fruit dip!!
Smith's is also having a one day saturday sale so I would make sure you get there early so you don't miss out on the deals! Check out the list here!

Happy Shopping everyone, if you need help with the list at all please don't hesitate to call or email me!

Email: tkmiller81002@yahoo.com
Phone: 702-362-8959

No inserts today

2009-11-29T14:51:00.001-08:00

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday there weren't any inserts in today's newspaper.

Restaurant.com

2009-11-28T09:31:00.001-08:00

Are you trying to think of great holiday gifts for friends but are stumped on what to get them? Why not get them a gift certificate for dinner? Right now at Restaurant.com you can purchase a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant for only $2!!! The restaurants are amazing and this is a killer deal! Enter the code SAVE to get your gift certificates for super cheap!

Black Friday Savings

2009-11-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

Well I did it! I woke up at 4:30 this morning, picked up one of my girlfriends at 5:30 and was off to the stores! I picked up some killer deals though that made the trip more than worth it!

We went to Wal-mart first because they were price matching other stores ads as long as you had the ad. I really wanted an Ipod Nano and RC Willey had them for 99.96 but they only had 35 in stock according to their ad so I went back to electronics and asked them if they would price match it and they said they would so I picked up an Ipod Nano for a killer deal! Then in the Office Max ad they had Photoshop Elements on sale for 60.00 so I price matched that and scored as well! I also picked up some $2.00 DVD's and a Princess Dress up box for my daughter!

We then headed over to Target and picked up some o.k. deals like hi ho cherry-o for 4.95 and a mickey mouse memory game for 4.95. I also bought a $25.00 Itunes gift card for $20! We also picked up a few stocking stuffers in their dollar spot which was nice.

After Target we went to Kohls and oh my lines!!! It was a mad house in there! But it was so worth it in the end I bought 5 Barbie's, 2 kid Digital Cameras, a Laugh and Learn baby toy which has 4 different toys in it for 88.51! I had a $10 off $20 coupon and a 15% off coupon that I used as well so I saved over $200 in that transaction - plus I earned $10 in Kohl's cash as well!! Not too bad. My girlfriend was waiting in another line so I went browsing after I was done and found a super adorable coat that was originally 78.00 but was on sale 40.80 so I ran it over to her and had her buy it for me. So all in all I would say it was definitely worth the trip. Now it's off to the Outlets to hunt for a leather coat for my hubby!

How did you do? Did you brave the crowds and score some killer deals or did you spend the day inside avoiding the madness and putting up Christmas Decorations? What was your best find? How many of you are completely done shopping for the season? I know I have lots more to go!

Black Friday

2009-11-24T22:25:00.000-08:00

Are you a black Friday shopper? This year I am considering whether or not I want to brave the early morning crowds in order to score big. I haven't ever gone shopping on Black Friday so I don't really have any techniques so I was hoping that maybe some of you have gone shopping on Black Friday and could share with the rest of some of your shopping tips and tricks.

Also if you don't get the paper daily and want to get the ads to decide where the best deals are then I highly recommend getting to the news stands super early like before breakfast to pick up your paper or they will be gone!

Give the gift of saving!!

2009-11-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

Throughout the Holiday season the biggest focus on most people's minds seem to be what can I give to my friends and family members? What would they love to get from me? We throw cookie parties, white elephant parties, Thanksgiving parties, etc. While all of these parties are great and fun to go to, why not host a class and give your friends and family members an opportunity to learn how to save money by using the Grocery Smarts website and by combining that with the right number of papers for your home! By saving money on groceries it will help free up precious money to spend on Christmas gifts for others!

The class is free for you and not only that but as a hostess you will receive special gifts and a chance to earn free groceries!! Grocery Smarts no longer has a class attendance requirement but rewards hostesses based on how well the classes go! So don't delay, give me a call today and book your class, I can do a class as early as this Saturday! I only have the first two weeks of December available for classes so don't delay, the first two classes to book will receive a free copy of "Shop Smart, Save More" written by the creator of the website The Grocery Game. This book is full of more coupon information than you can imagine and will help you to maximize your savings!!! If you can think of a handful of people that could use this program then you need to call me . . .

Home: 362-8959
Cell: 353-0330
Email: tkmiller81002@yahoo.com

Holiday Giveaway!

2009-11-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Tis the season to have great giveaways! This is a great giveaway for those of you who need to add more subscriptions to their arsenal! I typically will only give away gift cards for ordering papers at a class, but since it is the holiday season then I decided that from now until January 1, 2010 I will give away gift cards for phone or email subscriptions as well! You can recieve up to 5 newspapers for Sundays only for a LOW price of .75 per paper!!! You will not find this price anywhere else!

If you increase your subscription to:
2 subscriptions you will recieve $5.00 in FREE Groceries!
3 Subscriptions you will receive $10.00 in FREE Groceries!
4 or 5 Subscriptions you will receive $20.00 in FREE Groceries!!

So don't delay and call me today! Just mention this post when you call and I will priority mail you your gift cards!

That's what I get . . .

2009-11-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

I am a procrastinator, it is rooted deep in my blood I am sure to be a procrastinator and therefore because I am such a huge procrastinator I missed out on some great deals at Albertsons. Now I am not blaming my procrastination for this shopping trip solely on what is rooted in my personality, I actually had a really good reason for procrastinating going shopping. It was my girlfriends birthday this past week and her sister and I decided to throw her a surprise party. I also decided it would be fun to play games with her and her husband on thursday, then go to lunch with them on Friday, then take her to breakfast and shopping for New Moon t-shirts on saturday and throw her a surprise party on Saturday night. Which was very time consuming and so I didn't even have time to sit down and make my list until yesterday morning.

Fortunately for me I am super stocked up on pretty much everything which is why I was totally o.k. with waiting until yesterday to decide what I wanted to spend. I had my list ready and my coupons clipped and headed out to Albertson's yesterday afternoon and unfortunately almost everything on my list was sold out!!! But I still got a pretty great deal on what I did buy. I spent 41.50 and saved $41.64 which equals about a 50% savings, plus I have $15.00 off my next shopping trip in catalina's)

I was pretty bummed on the way home (yes even seasoned couponers like myself get bummed) until I got home and my husband put it into perspective for me. Had I not had any coupons then just for the two boxes of diapers I would have spent $41.05 which is about .45 short of what I spent so it is like I paid full price for the two boxes of diapers and then bought everything else (4 bags of chex mix, paper towels, veggies, onion soup mixes, cheerios and frosting) for only .45!! K I feel better now.

I got mine, did you get yours?

2009-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have a Rewards card with Smith's you should have received something like this in the mail last week or early this week. It came in a gold envelope and looked like it might have been junk mail, but it wasn't.

Now some of you might be wondering why my certificate is only for $10.00 because I have been shopping at Smith's for a while and this is the first one I have received in the mail and the reason for that is because up until 2 months ago I was using the WRONG fresh values card!!! I was going to the store and swiping my card like always and still getting the benefits of the reduced prices, but I wasn't earning any points until one day a cashier informed me that I was using the old Fresh Values card - you know the one from like 3 years ago that had pictures of produce on the front. She handed me a new application and explained that while that card gives me the lower prices it doesn't accrue points so by switching to the new plan I get the reduced price and earn points which in turn gives me certificates for FREE GROCERIES in the mail.

Why am I telling you this? Because you may be just like I was and hadn't been to Smith's in such a long time because you thought it was easier to go to Walmart and you may be using the wrong card! So if you aren't sure if you are earning points that turn into dollars ask the cashier the next time you go to Smith's and they will help you out!

The other bonus is that not only did I receive a certificate in the mail, but I also received tons of coupons for items that I use everyday!! SWEET!

Holy Hotness!!!!

2009-11-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the Albertsons list this week???? It is stocked full of some seriously amazing deals!!! The best part is that a lot of the items you can purchase are with printables so if you haven't started getting the papers yet but still want to take advantage of the deals you still can!! The Early bird gets the worm so get off my blog, check out the GrocerySmarts website, print out your coupons and get on over there!!!

That's the way uh huh uh huh I like it!!

2009-10-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Smith's and SCORED!!! I spent 116.36 and saved 180.52. I used 24.70 in coupons today which more than pays for one of my 6 month sunday only subscriptions!! I also received 2 $1.00 off my next shopping trips by buying the Ghirardelli Brownies! Make sure you check the expiration dates on your coupons a few of them expire today and tomorrow!!

Restaurant.com Promo Code

2009-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

To get $25.00 Restaurant certificates for $2 go here and enter the promo code TREATS Hurry before they are all gone!

My Plan for the week

2009-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

After checking out the Grocery Smarts lists I am planning on running over to Albertson's to pick up some frozen pizza and Anytizers on Friday and then doing my main shopping at Smith's because their list is amazing! I love that it is that you can get $5.00 off instantly and you can do multiple combinations of that in ONE transaction! Easy breezy and full of savings! Check back in on Friday to see my purchases and savings!!

Couponing at the Children's Place

2009-10-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

One of the beauties of being stocked up on groceries is that some weeks I can totally forego going to the grocery store and go clothes shopping instead!! My two favorite clothes stores are Kohl's and the Children's Place! I love going to the Children's Place Outlet at the Premium Outlets because they have a huge selection of all the clothes on sale and it is usually super easy to find clothes in your kid's size! I have 3 kids and 2 of them are boys who grow like weeds so I need to buy clothes fairly often.

At the Children's Place you can use up to 3 coupons to get your clothes for even cheaper! When you sign up for their mailers you can receive a 15% off coupon in the mail or check out retailmenot.com and they will have links to 15% off coupons as well. Then you can sign up for their Place card and you will receive an instant 10% off and then the first time you use your Place card at the Children's Place you will receive another 10% off, then you will accrue points and receive more coupons in the mail for 10% or $20 off etc.

Right now their fall line is on sale for 50% so by adding the 10% off for using the Place card and the 15% off coupon you can get their clothes for 75% off!! That is amazing, the other day I went and bought all the clothes above for 113.00! Not bad!

Pork Loin Roast

2009-10-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

Last week Smith's had Porkloin roasts on sale, so I of course decided to try it out and bought a 3 lb. porkloin. The problem is that I don't have any idea how to cook one! So I was wondering if any of you had a delicious and easy to make recipe for a porkloin? Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email with your favorite recipe! Thanks a million

76% Saved at Albertsons

2009-10-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

So I made it to Albertsons yesterday morning with three kids in tow and I scored!!!

My first transaction I purchased:
2 Simply Pillsbury refrigerated cookies
2 Refrigerated chocolate chip cookies
4 Fiber One yogurt multipacks
2 Gogurts
Total after coupons came to - 17.20
I then received a $10 and a $2.50 coupon off my next purchase

My second transaction I purchased:
2 Pillsbury Pie Crustd
5 Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
4 Boxes Cinnamon Toast Crunch
3 boxes Golden Grahams
1 5 lb. Bag Gold Medal Flour
I used both the $10 and the $2.50 coupons plus manufacturer coupons
Total after coupons came to $11.75
I then received another $10 and a $3.00 coupon off my next purchase

My third Transaction I purchased:
4 Warm Delights
4 Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes
7 bags Chex Mix
I used both the $10 and the $3 coupons plus manufacturer coupons
Total after coupons came to $7.43
I then received another $10 coupon off my next purchase

My fourth and final transaction:
3 2 liters Diet Dr. Pepper
15 Jars Beechnut Baby food
1 Albertsons salt
Total came to 9.49 and after using my $10 off coupon it was all FREE! Can't beat that!

You still have time to take advantage of the killer sale at Albertson's go here to look at the Albertsons list and have fun SAVING!!!

FREE MEN'S DEODORANT!!

2009-10-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

This week at Walgreen's Sure for Men is on sale 2 for $3.00 which makes it $1.50. Well in this Sunday's Smart Source there is a coupon for $1.50 off one Sure Men;s deodorant - so that makes it FREE!! My girl Jen called me last night and had just picked up her 4 Men's deodorants and wanted to pass the word along - thanks Jen!!

Busy Week

2009-10-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. My husbands brother's company closed its doors a while ago but they kept him on to continue working until January of 2010 but they gave him permission to move to Idaho and still do the work so my brother and sister in law found a house in Idaho and then had a week to pack up all of their things and get moved. They have been more than just family to us, but have been amazing friends to us and our kids have grown up together so I tried to give as much help as possible to them this week by watching their kids and then helping them load up the moving truck and clean their house. It was a busy and hard week. They have seen my husband and I through all of our trials and helped me to change and grow into who I am now. We are going to miss them like crazy.

With that being said I didn't have a chance to do much shopping last week, but I now have my list ready and my coupons clipped for Albertsons and I will have pictures and a shopping breakdown ready for you tomorrow afternoon!

A great article about couponing!

2009-10-12T08:53:00.001-07:00

So this morning as I do my usual website routine I was on Yahoo! and saw a great article about shopping at cutting your grocery bill in half and I thought I would share the link with you so you can read it and get some more ideas on how to slash your grocery bill in half (or more!)

Tips for slashing your grocery bill at the store

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think!

70% Saved at Albertsons!!

2009-10-09T21:14:00.001-07:00

As many of you know Friday is my shopping day and today was a very successful shopping trip!! After looking at both the Smith's list and the Albertson's list I decided that I was only going to go to Albertsons today and I SCORED!!! My goal was to spend less than 100.00 and I succeeded. As you can see on my receipt I spent 99.81 and saved 229.23 for a total of 70% saved, NOT BAD!!! Luckily you have 4 days left to take advantage of these amazing deals!

Albertson's list is AMAZING!!!

2009-10-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

I love weeks like this where I wake up on a wednesday morning, check the Grocery Smarts Albertson's list and see stars!!! Literally, there are sooo many amazing items on sale this week that are 4 and 5 star items. I can't wait to get my list ready, my coupons clipped and get on over there to take advantage of all of the KILLER deals!!

Proctor & Gamble Giveaway!

2009-10-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

For the first 5 people who call or email to host a class I will mail out 5 of the latest Proctor & Gamble inserts to you. In order to qualify you must set a date with me for an October class. I also will offer a special where you can earn up to $20 in free groceries with a gift card for ordering the right amount of papers for your family. I can sell you the papers for a super DISCOUNTED price so this makes it a killer deal! I look forward to hearing from you. I also do enrichments and church events!

Home: 362-8959

Email - tkmiller81002@yahoo.com

Raspberry Syrup . . . SOOOO YUMMY!!

2009-10-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

For those of you who checked out the Albertson's Ad this week I am sure you saw that they have raspberries on sale for .99! Well I never buy raspberries, but I decided this week since they were so cheap I would. I ended up buying two and then not having the slightest idea of what to do with them. This morning we were having waffles so I decided to run a google search and make Raspberry Syrup. I found this recipe and made it and it turned out sooooo good! Here is the recipe. You can also check out here to get this recipe and more syrup recipes!

Raspberry Syrup
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup light corn syrup

Puree raspberries in food processor or blender and strain to remove seeds. Measure and add enough water to equal 1 cup.

Combine puree/juice with all other ingredients and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for exactly one minute, counting the time after the mixture comes to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Skim foam. Store in refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe as much as my family and I did!

Expiration Dates!!

2009-09-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

I just glanced at the Albertson's and Smith's lists and wanted to encourage you to watch the expiration dates! There are quite a few coupons that expire this weekend so make sure you don't procrastinate too long and then you are unable to use the coupon!

Last Chance to earn $10.00 in FREE GROCERIES!!

2009-09-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

If you have been thinking about hosting a class but have been sitting on the fence about it then it is time to hop off and give me a call! You have until tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. to call and book a class to earn $10.00 in FREE GROCERIES just for hosting a class then once you host the class and get 8 NEW ladies (or gents) there you will earn an ADDITIONAL $20.00 in FREE GROCERIES!!! Plus if you don't get the paper already and decide to sign up for the papers from me you have the potential of earning another $20.00 IN FREE GROCERIES!! That is a total possibility of earning $50.00 in FREE GROCERIES!! So don't delay and give me a call now to book a class for October!!

Home Phone: 702-362-8959
Cell Phone - 702-353-0330

$45.00 at Albertsons - not too shabby!

2009-09-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

So I totally scored at Albertson's this week and bought 10 boxes of poptarts (the 12 ct size) 10 boxes of nutrigrain bars, 10 packages of Keebler cookies (my guilty pleasure) and 10 boxes of Rice Krispie treats for a grand total of $45.00!! I saved 122.00 just by shopping the sale and using coupons. Plus for those of you who received the Kellog's insert there is a rebate form where if you purchase 10 kellogg's products then you can recieve a $10 rebate so I will be mailing that in and it will be like I bought all of those delicious treats for $35.00 - can't complain about that!

A word on stars

2009-09-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

If you have ever looked at a Grocery Smarts list you have noticed that next to each item there are stars. The stars are a rating system and help you to know if an item is an amazing deal, a great deal, an average deal or a not so great deal. I have several people lately ask me how I decide my shopping list and if I ever buy 3 star items, so I decided to do a post on this.

When I first started using the Grocery Smarts website I would buy 3, 4, and 5 star items because my cupboards were bare at the time. When it came to buying 4 or 5 star items I would always buy enough to last me 12 weeks and sometimes even more. However when it came to buying a 3 star item I would buy the items I needed but I wouldn't stock up on them at the price they were listed at. The reason I didn't stock up was because I didn't want to use all of my coupons for that item at a 3 star price and then have it go on sale at a 4 or 5 star rating two weeks later and then I wouldn't have any coupons to buy it with. Plus how much of a bummer would it be if I bought 4 packs of yogurt at an o.k. price and then the following week they were a killer price? I would have been very upset.

After about three months of consistently shopping at Smith's and Albertson's and getting my cupboards to the point where I felt like we were stocked up on all of the items we use on a daily basis I then started shopping only 4 or 5 star items - however - I still occassionally will buy 3 star items if I need them, I just rarely need to do that at this point.

One last thought on star ratings. Star ratings are based on the bottom line price so if you don't have the coupon it drops a star rating and if you aren't buying enough items to qualify for a promotion then the star rating drops as well. This is why I go to coupons by dede and stock up on inserts that I don't receive in the mail (P&G and Red Plum) so I have the coupons I need when they go on sale.

I hope this helps clarify any questions you might have had about shopping based on star ratings. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me or call me.

Email: tkmiller81002@yahoo.com
Phone: 702-362-8959

Add more to your savings

2009-09-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been out to the store and found a killer deal that you wanted to spread the word on but didn't know how to spread the word? Or was there an error on a list and you wanted to let the listmaker know but wasn't sure how to get ahold of them? Are you ever unsure about where a coupon is or how to maximize your savings? Well if you have ever been in this situation then just head on over to the pinching your pennies website and feel free to post and share any tips or questions you might have about couponing and deals in Vegas. This is a great way to share with others your great finds and clarify any questions about the lists you might have. I encourage all of my readers to add this website to their arsenal. So don't be shy and head on over to pyp to see what's happening!

More Campbell's soups

2009-09-20T18:55:00.001-07:00

If you checked the inserts in todays paper you would have seen that there are more Campbell's soup coupons. Because the lists are only made once a week these new coupons won't be on the Albertsons lists but you can still clip them and use them to get a ton of great soups for cheap - plus it even had some chunky campbell's soup coupons in there! Check them out and give me a call if you need help figuring out the best way to save the most. I am definitely going to be making another trip to Albertsons by Tuesday so I can pick up some more soups and some V8 Splashes that were sold out the other day!

I scored at Albertsons!!!

2009-09-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

I am back Ladies and Gents! I have a teething infant and a potty training 3 yr old right now so I apologize for the lack of posts this week. My goal is to post at least every other day and that was my intention on Sunday but teething babies make it hard to get anything accomplished. But I am back and what a great way to update the blog than with an AWESOME trip to my favorite store . . . Albertsons!!
I bought about 75 items (not counting each individual diaper but the pack as a whole) for 86.30 today, which averages out to be $1.15 per item. Now you tell me where you can buy a big box of pull-ups for $1.15??? I saved about 154.10 for a total of 64% savings!!

How did I do this transaction? I went on the grocerysmarts website last night and made my list. I then printed out and clipped any coupons I was going to use (which I had a ton of!!) then this morning I loaded up the teething infant with my list in my purse and went shopping. From the time I walked into the store till I walked out was about 45 minutes so not bad for all the great items I bought. I also tried the self checkout since I did 4 different transactions and rolled my rewards into the next transaction. If you have never tried the self checkout I highly recommend it. I received awesome customer service by three different employees - they even helped ring up all of my soups so I didn't have to do each one individually! They were so impressed with my savings I handed over my information so they could start saving as well! I love great shopping trips and what a way to start the weekend!

How did you do at Albertsons this week? Leave a comment with your spent/saved and other great tidbits you discovered while shopping this week!

Just an idea

2009-09-15T14:21:00.001-07:00

Do you have tons of cake mixes and canned frosting in your pantry like I do? Buying cake mixes and frostings are seriously one of my biggest weaknesses! Well, I have always wanted to learn how to decorate cupcakes and cakes super cute - but if any of you have tried to pipe canned frosting onto anything you know that it is pretty difficult, because it doesn't set right and it isn't firm enough to do much with except to spread it across the top then add some sprinkles and there you go.

So the other morning I didn't have anything planned so I decided to bake! And since I was baking I decided to experiment with the canned frosting and cupcakes. I googled how to firm up canned frosting and I learned a new trick from the Wilton's cake decorating website. Apparently if you mix 1 can of frosting and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar then chill for about 10 minutes or longer (I chilled it while the cupcakes were baking) you can achieve the same result as if you had made the homemade frosting that cake decorators use. So I tried it and the result turned out amazing!!! I had so much fun frosting all the cupcakes and then even more fun eating them! The picture above is an actual cupcake I made and was super delicious. Oh and when you a buy a can of frosting for about .50 yo can afford to experiment and mess around with it to see how it all turns out.

So give it a try and send me your pics. I will then do a posting of everyone's cupcakes! Have fun
baking!!!

How do I buy cake frosting for only .50/can I use the grocerysmarts website and have multiple papers delivered to me every Sunday. Give me a call and I will teach you how!

Wow . . . 3 of them!!!

2009-09-13T13:57:00.001-07:00

I hope you didn't throw your ads away before you noticed that there were THREE inserts in the papers today!! There were 2 smart sources and 1 General Mills. I love the way I organize my coupons because I don't have to clip any of the coupons and sort them at all! I just flip through the ads, pull out the inserts and another ads that catch my eye, write today's date on it, then file the whole insert, uncut, into my coupon binder! I love that it takes me less than ten minutes to put my coupons away!!!

Hey! Where's the lists?

2009-09-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

If you logged on to Grocery Smarts this morning and noticed that the Albertson's and Smith's lists were missing it is because they are slightly delayed in making the lists due to the holiday on Monday . . . so don't freak out and be patient. The lists should be up later today.

Oh and by the way . . . Smith's is having their fall annual caselot sale so watch the ratings and the prices! Also make sure you check expiration dates - it would be a real bummer to buy a case full of something that would expire before you could use it all!

2009-09-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Albertson's and used my coupon doublers to pick up some much needed chicken nuggets and yogurt. They also had hamburger on sale for a pretty good price and a coupon for 4 cokes for $9.00. My goal was to spend no more than $30.00 and I did! I bought all of this for 25.41 and saved 50.96 for a total of 67% saved!! I love saving more than I spend!!!

Why do you?

2009-09-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

I would like to start adding other couponers stories onto this blog to help show people how couponing can help improve their lives so I would like for you to send me an email with your story about why you coupon, how you came across couponing and what your best spent/saved scenario is. My email is: tkmiller81002@yahoo.com

Hey! Where's the Smart Source?

2009-09-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

If you opened up your newspapers today and didn't find any smart sources that's because it is a holiday weekend and there are never inserts on a holiday weekend.

I'm thinking Smith's is my spot for this week

2009-09-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

I just took a quick look at the lists and after browsing the four and five star items for the week I am thinking I am going to be shopping at Smith's for a few of the needs - like sunny D for 1.00, apple juice for 1.00, soda 4 for 10.00. If you know me and my family we love to drink a wide variety of beverages (minus alcohol) so whenever I can get juices and sodas for cheap I am there! I will probably stop by Albertsons for their great capri sun deal but it looks like this week is going to be a great week for me to spend very little on groceries and a whole lot on new clothes! I love being to the point where I can look at a sale and say, "Do I really need that or am I stocked up enough that I only have to spend maybe 50.00 this week on groceries and put the rest to fun?" If you follow what you learn and my classes and get the right amount of papers then after a few months you will be able to do the same!

Do you need papers? I can give a KILLER deal on SUNDAY ONLY papers so give me a call and I can get you set up - you don't have to come to a class to order papers I can fill the order over the phone with a credit card! So if you want to start saving like I do call me!! 362-8959

Do you stock up on meat?

2009-08-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but before I discovered couponing and grocery smarts meat was my biggest expense. On days where my grocery bill was way high it was typically because I had to buy meat. Now I love getting a great deal on pretty much everything I buy, so it is hard for me to pay full price for anything so whenever I see meat and cheese go on sale I stock up!! I love buying fresh chicken breasts, hamburger, steaks, roasts whatever. I don't like paying a fortune for it though, so what I do is as soon as I see these items go on sale, (Smith's has ground beef on sale for 1.69/lb and fresh & easy has boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for 1.67/lb) I stock up!! Typically when the meats go on sale they are in a "max pack" which means you can't just walk in and buy 1 lb of hamburger and be good. Typically you are going to be buying about 4 lbs give or take. Obviously you don't want to freeze it all as is when you get home so here are some options.

1. Separate the meat into 1 lb quantities (unless you have a food scale this is a guestimate) and then place in freezer bags and freeze.

2. Separate the meat into 1 lb quantities or for chicken I typically put either one or two chicken breasts in a bag. After you separate the meat you can premarinade them . . . I do this by preparing my marinades and then placing the marinade in the freezer bag with the meat. This way when you want to cook dinner your meat is already marinated and flavorful and becomes even more so as you are defrosting it!

3. Prepare the meat and cook immediately, then freeze. I personally have never done this but I know a few women who do it all the time. The idea is basically the same as premarinating and it makes cooking dinner a whole lot quicker. Imagine if you are making tacos for dinner one night and the meat is already cooked, all you have to do is reheat it and there you go.

For those of you who don't have room in your freezer to stock up on meat don't worry you can still find ways to save money on meat. One thing you could do is to check out what meats are 4 or 5 star items and then plan your menu for the week based on those meats. This week Albertsons had tons of beef cuts on sale so you could buy some steaks and roasts and make a wide variety of meals . . . fajitas, french dips, kebabs, pot roast, etc.

Don't throw those papers away yet!!!

2009-08-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

Did you see the 1 page Albertsons coupon insert?? Did you see the coupon to double up to three coupons??? That means if you have a coupon for $1.00 off you will actually get $2.00 off and you can do that with 3 coupons!!! Now if you are like me and get multiple papers then you will have multiples of this coupon -for me I get 4 papers so I can double the value of 12 coupons!! I am so excited about this. So hold on to it, use it and save save save!!

Sorry this is a late in the day post I have a super sick 6 month old so I just barely had a moment to sort through the ads.

$50.00 or less

2009-08-27T00:02:00.001-07:00

K I am a slacker and promised you this on Wednesday but life has been hectic and so I am sorry it is delayed, next week I will be better!! But here it is as promised . . .

I am going to give you an example of how you can get a great variety of groceries from Albertsons for $50.00 or less. The first example is by buying only staples such as produce, milk, cheese and meat and the second example is by only doing the promotion and rolling the rewards.

Albertsons
Example 1
2 lbs of cantaloupe @ .29/lb = .58
2 bags of baby carrots @ .49 ea.
2 lbs of Honeydew Melon @ .29/lb = .58
4 lbs of Watermelon @ .19/lb = .76
4 lbs of Albertsons Blade Cut Steaks @ 1.79/lb = 7.16
4 gallons of Shoppers Value Milk @ 1.89 ea = 7.56
2 packs of Kraft Singles @ .99 ea with in store coupon = 1.98
5 pepsi 12 packs @ 2.39 ea = 11.95
2 bags of Doritos @ 1.49 ea = 2.98
4 Mission Tortillas @ 1.49 ea. use 4 .75/1 off mission tortillas from SS 8/9 = 2.96
2 Knudsen sour creams @ .99 ea with in store coupon = 1.98
10 Tina's burritos @ .20 ea = 2.00
4 Barrilla Pasta @ .99 = 3.96
Total cost for entire transaction is 45.43

Example 2 - rolling transactions
Transaction 1
4 Keebler fudge shop cookies @ 2.50 ea use 1.00/2 from Kellogs 8/2 to bring to 2.00 ea = 8.00
6 Poptarts @ 2.50 ea. use 1.00/2 from Kelloggs 8/2 to bring to 2.00 ea = 12.00
Total cost for Transaction is 20.00 plus you will receive a 10.00 off your next order coupon

Transaction 2
12 Chef Boyardee Pastas @ 1.00 ea use 4 .35/3 coupons from SS 8/2 = 10.60
3 Hunt's Ketchup @ 1.00 ea = 3.00
5 Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce @ 1.00 ea = 5.00
2 Kelloggs Cocoa Krispies @ 2.50 ea. use 1.00/2 coupon from Kellogg's 8/2
Use 10.00 catalina from previous transaction
Total cost is 12.60 plus 10.00 off next order coupon

Transaction 3
5 cans Manwich @ 1.00 ea = 5.00
8 Marie Callendar's pot pies @ 2.50 ea = 20.00
Use 10.00 off next order coupon
Total cost is 15.00 plus 10.00 off next order coupon
Total cost for all 3 transactions = 47.60 plus you have a 10.00 off next order that you can use again for either the first example or save to use next week

The instore coupons mentioned above are from a booklet you can get in any Albertsons store!

Smith's
This week their promo is super easy because it is 5.00 off instantly so you don't have to do multiple transactions! Here is one example of what you could get for 50.00

5 lbs 85/15 ground beef @ 1.69/lb = 8.45
3 lb pork loin @ 1.99/lb = 5.97
4 bags of Simply Potatoes @1.25 ea = 5.00
The following items are part of the buy 10 get $5.00 off instantly so I will base the price off of you getting the 5.00 off
6 boxes Hamburger Helper @ .89 ea use 2 .75/3 coupons from GM 8/9 = 3.84
4 boxes Golden Grahams @ 1.99 use 2 1.00/2 coupons from here = 3.96
10 cans Progresso Soup @ 1.00 ea = 10.00
12 Sobe or Sobe lifewaters @ .39 ea = 4.68
4 Wanchai Ferry Dinner Kit @ 2.49 ea use 2 1.10 coupons from here and here = 5.56
4 Quaker Rice cakes @ .49 ea = 1.96
Total Cost for transaction is 49.42

So how did you at the grocery store this week? Leave a comment with how much you spent and how much you Saved transactions!

It's a great week for Couponing!

2009-08-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow did you check out the Albertson's lists today? They are having an AMAZING sale right now!!! I hope you didn't throw your ads away yesterday because there are some awesome deals with the in ad coupons that you can't get in the store. I am also super excited that Smith's sale is the same as last week because I ended up going clothes shopping instead of grocery shopping so I missed out on some great deals.

Stay Tuned for later today I will be posting several $50.00 or less transaction scenarios!!

Restaurant.com Promotion Code

2009-08-25T13:24:00.001-07:00

Hey do you want to go out to dinner but are strapped for cash? Just go to restaurant.com, select the gift certificate you want and put in the promotion code Taste for 80% off - that means you can get a $25.00 gift certificate for 2 bucks!!! Make sure you read the requirements on the certificate and you tip based on what you would have spent if you didn't have the coupon!

Host a Class

2009-08-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Do you want to learn more about how to save money while grocery shopping? Are you already saving tons of money but wish your friends and family members could save as much as you? Then host a class! I am doing a special promotion for hostesses in spirit of going back to school. The benefits are as follows:

Just for hosting a class

Receive a $10.00 gift card to Albertsons or Smith's
I will personally help you plan out your shopping trip using the grocery smarts website and coupons
A box of brownies and a koolaid packet so refreshments are already taken care of

For hosting a class with 8 NEW attendees
(meaning they have never been to a grocery smarts class before)
You will receive the same benefits as above for hosting a class
PLUS
a $20.00 gift certificate to Albertson's or Smith's

For hosting a class with 12 or more NEW attendees
You will receive the same benefits as above
PLUS
A reusable grocery bag
5 Proctor and Gamble Inserts
The book Shop Smart, Save More
A pocket size coupon organizer
A small calculator
Scissors

For hosting a class with 20 or more NEW attendees
You will receive all the benefits listed above
PLUS
a $20 gift certificate to the restaurant of your choice
(this will be mailed to you after the class is over)

So give me a call today and book your class in September! I am available to do a class for you any day except for Sundays!
362-8959

I knew better

2009-08-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Today we were out running errands and we were close to a Wal-mart and it was hot and I just wanted to be done shopping, but I had to buy some things for a barbecue and I was in desperate need of diapers so I figured, whatever I will just run into wal-mart and grab the necessities and just go home. I am blaming this thinking on the 110 degree weather outside!! So we go in and immediately I am regretting the decision as I am looking at the produce and its prices which were all slightly higher and then the hamburger patties that were a dollar higher and so on and so forth. Now this isn't typically a big deal because I always take my ads with me when I go shopping but I forgot!!! I know better than to go shopping without the ads because then you have to pay wal-mart's price and not the super low discounted prices of items that are on sale at other stores :(. The good news is that I did have my coupons with me and therefore I saved about $30.00. The savings would have been much higher if I had brought my albertsons and smiths ads with me so heed my advice, learn from my mistakes and NEVER go shopping without your ads!

It works!!

2009-08-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

I had my very first coupon class on August 8th and one of the ladies that came to my class and ordered her 5 papers and followed what I taught her emailed me this today:

I did it! I did it! I did it!!!

Albertsons. I did a total of 3 transactions.

First Transaction: Spent $31.57, saved $42.19…. BUT I had a $5 coupon that printed out, plus the $20.00 mail in rebate (so really I only spent $11.57 on this transaction) (I also had a $4 coupon, among other coupons that I used, which was earned purchasing some ice cream last week.)

Second Transaction: Spent $3.64, saved $13.72 (I had a $4 coupon that had printed out from some ice cream I bought last week, so I used that on this transaction)

Third Transaction: Spent $1.57, saved $7.43 (I used my $5.00 coupon that printed out of my first transaction.)

Total after all of my coupons/rebates/sale items? Value of items: $100.12, spent (after my mail in rebate) $16.78

THANKS FOR SHOWING ME HOW TO DO THIS!!!!

FREE GROCERIES FROM ALBERTSONS!!

2009-08-15T09:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I hopped onto the Grocery Smarts website and checked out the sales at Albertsons. I didn't need a ton of stuff because we are pretty well stocked. Right now they have a promotion where if you buy $25.00 worth of purchases then you get $5.00 off your next shopping trip and a $20.00 rebate - essentially making all those items free. Now here are some tricks you need to know when there are these types of promotions . . .

1. The $25.00 that you have to spend is BEFORE you use any manufacturer coupons!
2. The $5.00 of your next shopping order can be used immediately, you don't have to leave and then come back!
3. If you are going to receive a Catalina (the 5 off coupon) you can either do multiple transactions called Rolling or you can do one big transaction and save the Catalina's for your next shopping trip

Knowing these two tricks here is what I did to get these groceries for dirt cheap:
Transaction #1

I bought 10 California Pizza Flatbread Melts on sale for $2.50 bringing the value to $25.00
I clipped 10 $1/1 any California Pizza products making each item only $1.50 making my Out of Pocket only $11.50
I then purchased these pizzas on Friday where Albertson's gives you 20% of any pizza purchase which made each pizza onle $1.00 instead of $2.50
So for $10.00 I got 10 delicious flatbread melts (we had them for dinner - so good!) and I received a $5.00 off catalina

Transaction #2
This transaction didn't have any promotions attached just a few items that I was running low on or was completely out of.
I bought 4 Ken's salad dressings on sale for $1.69
I clipped 4 $1/1 Ken's dressings from the Smart Source making them .69 a piece
I bought 2 3 lb boxes of corn dogs on sale for 3.99 this item had no coupon
I bought 1 Albertson's ranch dip packet on sale for .73
My order rang up to $11.47 after the Albertson's rewards were applied.
I then used my $5.00 catalina which is used like a coupon and it dropped my price down to $6.47 essentially making the dressings and the dip packet and a portion of 1 box of corn dogs free!

So for all of these items I spent out of pocket 16.47 BUT I also received a $20.00 rebate form from the pizza's so after mailing that in and recieving the $20.00 it is like I received all of these groceries FREE PLUS 3.60 BACK!!!

Have questions? Email me and I will be happy to answer any questions you have about couponing or using the grocery smarts website

Smith's is where I go for my staples!

2009-08-15T09:22:00.001-07:00

For those of you who do not know this about me . . . I have been using Grocery Smarts since March of 2009 and I started doing Weight Watchers at about the same time. I have lost 25 lbs by following the Weight Watchers and by making sure that every week I find the best deals on my meats, dairies and produce so I have healthy staples on hand! I have found that I love both Albertsons and Smith's produce, I believe they are equal in taste and freshness but Smith's typically has the lowest priced produce and milk and more sales on cheese, sour cream and butter than Albertson's. So every week I stop by Smith's and buy my milk, veggies, and sour cream then whatever fruit is on sale I buy as well. I wasn't going to buy any treats at smith's until I saw that cookies and Rice Krispies were $1.00 after the promo and coupons I had . . . and well I couldn't pass that up!!!

As a side note your savings percentages are never high when buying meat, dairy and produce because it is based on market value.

Using the Grocery Smarts Website

2009-08-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't attended a class but want to start saving money let me tell you the very basics of using the Grocery Smarts website.

The first thing you are going to need to do when you get to the website is to enter a passport, the one for Las Vegas users is G89CKM. By entering this passport it takes you to a Nevada page where you can access information for the stores in Nevada and also for the alphabetical coupon index that is an entire compilation of all CURRENT COUPONS Nevada residents have received in their inserts.

Once you have entered the passport you should see a page with a NV map and an option to select a store. The stores you can select from are CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Smith's, Food 4 Less, Vons, Wal-mart and Sunflower Market.

After you have chosen your store you are going to click on the START button at right hand top of the page! By clicking on the start button the entire grocery list will be grayed out. After clicking on the gray button click on the STAR above the words stock up sale. This will make all four and five star items white.

You can now go through the list and click on any items you want and unclick any items you don't want. The items that are white are the ones that will stay on your shopping list, the items that are gray will go away when you shrink your list.

After you have made your selections you can type in any other needs you need from the store at the bottom of the list where is says: type other items and notes here

Now go back to the top of the page and click SHRINK. This will get rid of all the gray items and you can now review what you have selected to buy. If there is anything you need to change click on UNSHRINK and make the correction, then shrink it again.

You can now print out your own personalized Grocery shopping list! I hope that helps you all!