2015 Grocery Challenge

[dancinmama]

Jan 10, 2015 23:07:10 GMT -5 hopetoberich said:

I got some gold bond lotion at CVS recently. I have a $6 ecb to use and will check out this weeks add tomorrow. Its just too cold to go out tonight.
Bad news today...a 96 load (remember those) burst and complexly filled the tub it was stored in. Tide is super expensive and I will be calling them monday  wot a mess, it ruined all other stuff in the tub. 

Please elaborate.  Do you know where on the bottle there was a breakdown that caused it to burst?  I have A LOT of laundry detergent and it isn't in tubs!! 

<< dancinmama runs to check out her stash of Purex, Gain, Tide, Wisk, and All >>

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2015 21:00:58 GMT -5 wonderland said:

I'd like to get back into the grocery game. I use to be a major couponer, before I got pregnant. I've tried to get back into the couponing, but the site I use to use, southern savers, doesn't seem as relevant anymore. What are some good resources for finding coupon matchups?

Since you mention Southern Savers, is there a Publix in your area?  I've noticed a lot of activity on Facebook sites such as Publix Couponing 101 (or something like that).  There seem to be similar sites for a lot of places such as Walgreen's, CVS, etc.

I agree with Dancinmama that couponing has changed a lot.  But there are good deals still to be had.  This week there was a $10/3 coupon that included the small bottles of Bayer low-dose.  You could get overage at Publix and Walmart so there isn't a bottle to be had.  Lol.  The coupon was only good for a week so it expires tomorrow.  I did get my three bottles.  I am on an aspirin regimen so they are appreciated.

That's the only thing that bothers me about couponing.  Particularly in the beginning, it triggers something that drives people to excess . . . the extreme couponing thing.  It takes awhile to learn that we only use two jars of mayo a year and that there will be another coupon and another sale before I need to buy another one.  I just donated 30 or 40 candles to the thrift store.  Most of them were actually free, but I didn't need them.

So, anyway, I'd like to participate in the grocery challenge.  I buy most of my groceries at Walmart, using coupons and the SavingsCatcher thing, but I buy meats/vegetables and the BOGOs at Publix.

[rubyslippers]

Wonderland, bargainstobounty has matchups for Kroger, if you do any shopping there.

Southernsusana, did you know that there are survey offers on Walmart receipts? I just realized that after having a bad encounter with a very snippy cashier who was unhappy at the price I got for some meat after price matching. She didn't believe my price and checked with the service desk who confirmed my price. I did the survey and mentioned her by name as they all wear name tags. I have also started doing surveys to compliment the ones who are helpful and friendly.

Beachbum, do you still do the Staples ink recycling program? Do you know if buying toner counts in order to get the rewards?

[FreeSalsa]

Jan 11, 2015 10:19:13 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Jan 10, 2015 23:07:10 GMT -5 hopetoberich said:

I got some gold bond lotion at CVS recently. I have a $6 ecb to use and will check out this weeks add tomorrow. Its just too cold to go out tonight.
Bad news today...a 96 load (remember those) burst and complexly filled the tub it was stored in. Tide is super expensive and I will be calling them monday  wot a mess, it ruined all other stuff in the tub. 

Please elaborate.  Do you know where on the bottle there was a breakdown that caused it to burst?  I have A LOT of laundry detergent and it isn't in tubs!! 

<< dancinmama runs to check out her stash of Purex, Gain, Tide, Wisk, and All >>

I also had some laundry soap leak.  It was the free after ECB small bottles from Black Friday.  They weren't totally closed, I don't think.  And silly me, I put them in a cloth bag just thrown in with all the other random products.  Luckily I was able to wash it off everything else and the cloth bag I just put it in the washer with the soap already on it and didn't have to add a lot of extra soap.

Today I'm off to Albertsons.  
There is a Q in the ad (not in stores) for 1.75 liter bottle of store brand vodka $6.99, three day sale, limit 1.  
They also have Cascadian Farms organic cereal 2/$4 and I found 75c/1 IPs, making them $1.25.  I might also have some $1/2 peelies (autocorrect does not like that word!) in the car.  
I also see B1G2 free (that's right) store Qs for seasoned boneless pork chops and seasoned chicken or beef fajitas.  I'll check out the regular price and see if it's worth it.

ETA:  The small bottle was the one for $6.99 w/Q.  The 1.75 liter is the big one and it was on sale for $8.99, no Q required.  It came in a plastic bottle but it felt like a gallon of vodka.  Score!  
I got the seasoned pork chops, they were $9.99 lb. but B1G2 free, so more like $3.33/lb.  I got the three packages for $8.99, probably 7 pork chops.  I'm not sure if it was the best deal but DH seemed interested so I got them.  They smell really good--not sure what seasoning it is.
They also had mint chocolate chips marked down to $1.99, not great but we reeeeally like them.  They also had a display with a cardboard sign that said FREE on it.  It was vanilla scented pine cones in these mesh drawstring bags.  I got two.  I put one by the fireplace, one for the laundry room which never smells good since we've moved in, and I can use the drawstring bags in the garden.  Yay!

[dancinmama]

Jan 11, 2015 10:40:28 GMT -5 southernsusana said:

Jan 1, 2015 21:00:58 GMT -5 wonderland said:

I'd like to get back into the grocery game. I use to be a major couponer, before I got pregnant. I've tried to get back into the couponing, but the site I use to use, southern savers, doesn't seem as relevant anymore. What are some good resources for finding coupon matchups?

Since you mention Southern Savers, is there a Publix in your area?  I've noticed a lot of activity on Facebook sites such as Publix Couponing 101 (or something like that).  There seem to be similar sites for a lot of places such as Walgreen's, CVS, etc.

I agree with Dancinmama that couponing has changed a lot.  But there are good deals still to be had.  This week there was a $10/3 coupon that included the small bottles of Bayer low-dose.  You could get overage at Publix and Walmart so there isn't a bottle to be had.  Lol.  The coupon was only good for a week so it expires tomorrow.  I did get my three bottles.  I am on an aspirin regimen so they are appreciated.

That's the only thing that bothers me about couponing.  Particularly in the beginning, it triggers something that drives people to excess . . . the extreme couponing thing.  It takes awhile to learn that we only use two jars of mayo a year and that there will be another coupon and another sale before I need to buy another one.  I just donated 30 or 40 candles to the thrift store.  Most of them were actually free, but I didn't need them.

So, anyway, I'd like to participate in the grocery challenge.  I buy most of my groceries at Walmart, using coupons and the SavingsCatcher thing, but I buy meats/vegetables and the BOGOs at Publix.

Glad to have you join us.

I love my stockpiles, but if you knew you wouldn't use the candles you might as well pass them on to someone who will. 

[Deleted]

I love my stockpiles, too.  But I think in the beginning shoppers get way too excited about what they can get for free.

In my case, I remarried and DH is sensitive to stuff like scented candles.  I did donate, but I do sometimes wonder what all gets trashed.

[murphath]

Yesterday, I was out hiking one of my routes that takes me to our local high school area. Since a lot of the trails are still muddy, I can drop down and walk the track (with a fantastic water view), the parking lots, playing fields etc. While going by the baseball field, I stopped to watch the girls play softball across the way a bit. I noticed some big boxes by the filled-to-capacity trash cans. They were open so I took a peek. Someone had "dumped" a case of unused, still in the packages of 4 pack toilet paper. I know it was dumped because several of the four packs were also on top of the trash cans. When I got home, I told DH what I'd found so we decided to go back and get them: 52 4 pks in all! There was a bunch of other junk dumped there so I guess someone was moving and just got rid of the tp. There's no bathrooms at this field and the box was addressed to a woman on the other side our of town.

208 rolls: I'm guessing that's about $104 normal price but 1/2 that for us hounders.

[Sam_2.0]

What a find, murphath!

[Deleted]

Wow, Murpath! I wish people like that, though, would donate it instead of dumping it.

I had a nice "non-grocery" haul. I'll tell about it just to illustrate that the phenomenal deals of yesterday aren't completely gone. I went to Target today and got 3 bottles of Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner and 2 boxes of the Scrubbing Bubbles toilet gel for $1.71 total.  Notice that I controlled myself!  The 3 and 2 were to use a Target store coupon in addition to regular coupons printed off coupon.com.

Of course, you can't eat cleaners. Still, saving money on this type of stuff leaves more money in the household budget for real food.

[dancinmama]

Jan 11, 2015 21:19:59 GMT -5 southernsusana said:

I love my stockpiles, too.  But I think in the beginning shoppers get way too excited about what they can get for free.

In my case, I remarried and DH is sensitive to stuff like scented candles.  I did donate, but I do sometimes wonder what all gets trashed.

Back in the day when I got something that was a big MM, but that we definitely would not use (diabetic meters, anyone), I'd add them to the donation "pile" and get rid of them ASAP.

I hear ya about the candles.  My sister LOVES scented candles, but they give my BIL a headache.

[dancinmama]

Jan 12, 2015 11:45:43 GMT -5 murphath said:

Yesterday, I was out hiking one of my routes that takes me to our local high school area. Since a lot of the trails are still muddy, I can drop down and walk the track (with a fantastic water view), the parking lots, playing fields etc. While going by the baseball field, I stopped to watch the girls play softball across the way a bit. I noticed some big boxes by the filled-to-capacity trash cans. They were open so I took a peek. Someone had "dumped" a case of unused, still in the packages of 4 pack toilet paper. I know it was dumped because several of the four packs were also on top of the trash cans. When I got home, I told DH what I'd found so we decided to go back and get them: 52 4 pks in all! There was a bunch of other junk dumped there so I guess someone was moving and just got rid of the tp. There's no bathrooms at this field and the box was addressed to a woman on the other side our of town.

208 rolls: I'm guessing that's about $104 normal price but 1/2 that for us hounders.

    <---  A big HIGH 5 to you, houndfriend. 
More importantly, it wasn't used!! 

Seriously though, what a find!!  A girl can NEVER have too much TP.

[dancinmama]

Jan 12, 2015 17:34:07 GMT -5 southernsusana said:

Wow, Murpath! I wish people like that, though, would donate it instead of dumping it.

I had a nice "non-grocery" haul. I'll tell about it just to illustrate that the phenomenal deals of yesterday aren't completely gone. I went to Target today and got 3 bottles of Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner and 2 boxes of the Scrubbing Bubbles toilet gel for $1.71 total.  Notice that I controlled myself!  The 3 and 2 were to use a Target store coupon in addition to regular coupons printed off coupon.com.

Of course, you can't eat cleaners. Still, saving money on this type of stuff leaves more money in the household budget for real food.

Absolutely!!  Excellent deal!! - and now you won't have to even think about buying Scrubbing Bubble products for quite a while which will also save you time!!

[dancinmama]

My find of the day was 8 oz. containers of Tillamook sour cream for $.50/each from the GO.

Then I popped over to the 99 Cent Store to see if they have marked down their Xmas stuff to $.09/each (like they did with their Halloween stuff).  I have my eye on Scotch tape.  They have several cases that they did not sell and my MM, 2010 stockpile from WAGs is finally depleted.  I also have my eye on some Butterfinger Santas hiding in plain site at the registers. 

[973beachbum]

Jan 11, 2015 14:20:23 GMT -5 rubyslippers said:

Wonderland, bargainstobounty has matchups for Kroger, if you do any shopping there.

Southernsusana, did you know that there are survey offers on Walmart receipts? I just realized that after having a bad encounter with a very snippy cashier who was unhappy at the price I got for some meat after price matching. She didn't believe my price and checked with the service desk who confirmed my price. I did the survey and mentioned her by name as they all wear name tags. I have also started doing surveys to compliment the ones who are helpful and friendly.

Beachbum, do you still do the Staples ink recycling program? Do you know if buying toner counts in order to get the rewards?

I am, but I am not as serious as before.  They changed the rules so much is is pretty annoying to me. 

I don't mind the must buy $30 in ink every six months.   It is the loss of the expiration date time that drives me nuts.  I used to be a prime rewards member and got to recycle 20 carts a month and had a 6 month redemption time.  I stopped trying once they made that the end of the next month.  So the carts I recycled in Dec I only have till the end of this month to redeem. 

But to answer you question yes buying toner will get you the 5% rewards.  Just remember never to use rewards to buy them if you want them to count as your $30 in the past six months for recycling carts.

[marvholly]

Can't win for losing:

Eggs have been quite $$ here. Even Aldi was 2.29 so I was really happy when my fqav fruit/veg market had XL eggs for 1.29 last week. This week a local independent market has L eggs for 0.99. I will get another dozen and 0.30 is NOT going to kill me but every little bit adds up .

[murphath]

For all you coffee hounds: Target has 12 oz pkg of Gevalia coffee for $6.99 (I think that's the price--definitely not higher than that-unless you live in Hawaii or Alaska!). There were $1 q's in last Sunday's SS insert. When you buy 3, you get $5 Target gift card back.

I do have a free Gevalia q from the Kellogg's Family Rewards program, plus 1.50 q and the $1 q. So for me the math looks like this:

3 Gevalia coffee: $20.97 (no sales tax on food in Calif)

-$9.99 (full free q value: Target always takes off the full q value)

-$1.50

-$1.00

equals: $8.48

Minus:

Use my own bag:  -.05

5% Red card discount: -.42

equals: $8.01

I'll then take the $5 gift card and buy 2 Seattle Best coffee which are on sale 2/$10. I'll use 2/$2 IP's and will pay

$10 minus $5 gift card, .05 and .05 so .90.

Thus, I'll end up paying $9.38 for 5 12oz pkg. of coffee.

That should keep me wide-eyed for awhile!

[rubyslippers]

Dollar General has today only a $2.00/2.01 e-coupon. I stopped in and got a 2 lb. bag of brown sugar @ $1.50 and a gravy packet @ $.65 minus $2.00 e-coupon and paid $.15 OOP.

Yesterday at Walmart I price matched Tabasco sauce for $.50, Clorox bowl cleaner for $.99 and eggs for $1.50. I used one $1.00 MQ and $.75 IPQ and paid $1.24 for all 3 items.

Kroger has quadruple points on gift cards this Saturday only so I'll be doing my Kroger shopping then.

Beachbum, thanks for the info on Staples.

[Deleted]

My shopping trip at Publix today included 2 boxes of Aunt Jemima frozen waffle, 2 jars of Bertolli Italian Sausage spaghetti sauce (DH's favorite), 1 box of angel hair pasta (DH's favorite again), a large jar of Hellmann's mayonnaise, 1 package of Campbell's slow cooker (bbq) sauce, 1 80-count Snuggles dryer sheets, and 1 package of Publix pecan sandies cookies.

The total was 8.78, and that included $1.10 tax. I did get the 5% Senior Discount (86 cents), and I did take advantage of sale prices (mostly BOGOs).  

If you are on Facebook, you really need to check out Publix Couponing 101 even if you don't have a Publix. The site's owners must spend all their time cruising the internet for the best coupons. They posted the $1/1 Aunt Jemima link that made those 50 cents each. They have one for January 17 for ziplocs that is $3/2. The coupon links are phenomenal.

My husband is eating waffles for supper tonight.  He was really excited!  Easy supper.

[dancinmama]

Jan 14, 2015 18:28:39 GMT -5 southernsusana said:

My shopping trip at Publix today included 2 boxes of Aunt Jemima frozen waffle, 2 jars of Bertolli Italian Sausage spaghetti sauce (DH's favorite), 1 box of angel hair pasta (DH's favorite again), a large jar of Hellmann's mayonnaise, 1 package of Campbell's slow cooker (bbq) sauce, 1 80-count Snuggles dryer sheets, and 1 package of Publix pecan sandies cookies.

The total was 8.78, and that included $1.10 tax. I did get the 5% Senior Discount (86 cents), and I did take advantage of sale prices (mostly BOGOs).  

If you are on Facebook, you really need to check out Publix Couponing 101 even if you don't have a Publix. The site's owners must spend all their time cruising the internet for the best coupons. They posted the $1/1 Aunt Jemima link that made those 50 cents each. They have one for January 17 for ziplocs that is $3/2. The coupon links are phenomenal.

My husband is eating waffles for supper tonight.  He was really excited!  Easy supper.

Heck, mine would be too!!

[chiver78]

going to jump in now, even though I'm going to disappear for a few days soon. I'm closing on my new house 1/21, moving in a week later, and I am going to be starting pretty much from scratch to rebuild all my stockpiles. I am bringing my spice rack, but the rest is as I go. I'm leaving whatever's left of what I brought to my temporary home here when I leave, including the take-out containers we re-use for "tupperware"

my closest grocery store is a Market Basket, and I will have farmer's markets in the summer for my produce. I will have access to Hannaford/S&S/Whole Paycheck near work (I have thermal bags) as well.

I'm looking forward to the insight y'all can share, and to helping out where I can!

[alabamagal]

We have been trying to use up our stockpiles before moving and have done well freezer is empty. I do still have 4 jars of Hellmans mayo.

We put an offer on a house in my new city closing scheduled for feb 13. One great feature is that it is close to main highway and it is less than half mile to Publix, Walmart and best of all ALDI !!!!! Plus Cvs Walgreens and rite aid are pretty close too

[murphath]

Welcome chiver78! Congrats on the new house. Is it on the cape, like you wanted?

Welcome to soon to be not georgiagal! Where are moving?

As has been mentioned several times, the deals are not as plentiful as before but there are still some to be had. Let us know, too, if you discover any in your stores.

[chiver78]

yes, on the Cape. and I've been working from home on Fridays for a little while now, so that's set in place too. can't wait to settle in!

[mizbear]

As part of my kitchen decluttering project I am inventorying what I have as far as food, cleaners, etc. I am getting back into coupons- and have local couponing buddies now in some girls at work and a few school buddies.

Once I have a full inventory, I can make meal plans and start planning what hounding I need to do.

[Happy prose]

My Shoprite today had woman's Hanes hipster silky underwear $1.99 for a three pack. 

[murphath]

CVS sent me a $5/$15 q so I added it onto my loyalty card. Also had $1 EB from my winter quarter spending: that shows how little time I spent in CVS! Since my original purchase plans rarely work (due to lack of stock at the store), I try to have different possibilities planned out.

Thus, I bought:

1 Revlon base coat polish (been needing this for awhile) $7.29

4 sleeves Ritz crackers $3.96 (.99 ea)

1 Xtra laundry detergent $2.49

1 Garnier shampoo $2.99

Total: $16.73

Minus:

$5/$15 CVS q

$1 EB

$2 Garnier (1/11 SS)

$1.50 2/.75 off 2 Nabisco q's (12/14 SS)

$1 Xtra CVS q (from red machine)

$2 Revlon cosmetic item CVS ip (printed this one back in Dec.-don't know if still available)

Total: $4.23 + tax

I had a whole different plan that included Dawn Hand Renewal dish soap and the Colgate 4 pk of travel size toothpastes but they were out of stock of Dawn and my CVS doesn't carry the 4 pk. So, plan B was the best I could do. And I really needed that base coat!

[rubyslippers]

Dollar General has 6 pk. boxes of Lance crackers for $1.00. I bought 5 boxes and used 5)$1.00 MQ's from last week's Smartsource. Five boxes for free.

[dancinmama]

Today at the Grocery Outlet they had V8 Splash lemonade @ 6/$1.  I immediately called DS cuz that seemed like something that he would want.  He had me get him 2 cases.

They also had V8 Splash strawberry lemonade, but it was @ 3/$1.  The manager told me it should go to 6/$1 within the week, so I'll go in on Wednesday when I get a 5% SC discount on top of the sales price.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2015 15:38:59 GMT -5 rubyslippers said:

Dollar General has 6 pk. boxes of Lance crackers for $1.00. I bought 5 boxes and used 5)$1.00 MQ's from last week's Smartsource. Five boxes for free.

I have this coupon.  It was printable on some site . . . maybe Coupons.com, maybe Redplum, maybe SmartSource.

I figured it would be cheap, but I wasn't figuring on free.  I will go by tomorrow.  I want to stock my closet in case of Snowmageddon again.  The kids got really hungry when we kept them overnight.  Yes, we fed them supper, but teenagers eat more than that.  I already put the penny item Publix cookies in the closet.  

Thanks for the tip!

[Happy prose]

Well my big score for this coming Sunday is free Pop Chips at Shoprite. $.55 ecoupon and there will also be a $.55 manufacturer coupon in Sunday's paper. Not much else wows me so far, but I really haven't spent too much time looking.