Shop-Rite...Using all those Kraft/General Mills/Unilever Rewards

So I had to head back to Shop-Rite this week. I still had $35 in rewards from that Spend $120/Get $40 in Catalinas when you buy Kraft/Unilever/General Mills products Promotion.
The Rewards expire July 18th BUT.....the 2 FREE MILK Coupons I got for buying the General Mills Cereal expire July 10th-Today!
Grumble, Grumble....

So off to Shop-Rite we went to spend those Free Milk Qs and that $35 in Rewards.

Before I went through the checkout I gave the daughter 2 boxes of Excedrin(on sale for $2.99 ea.), 2 $1/1 Qs for Excedrin, my Store Card and $4.
She bought the Excedrin, paid $3.98 and got a $4 OYNO Catalina Q.
So I went into this next Transaction with $35 in Rewards, $4 OYNO Q + all those other Qs I brought with me.


Transaction #1
4 Northland Juices @$2.50 ea.=$10.00
3 Packs of Pencils @$.33 ea.=$.99
4 Dole Fruit Cups @$2.00 ea.=$8.00
4 Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade @$1.39 ea.=$5.56
1 Joint Juice 4 pack @$3.99=$3.99
1 Purina Kitten Chow @$2.19=$2.19
2 Pam Cooking Sprays @$3.00 ea.=$6.00
1.90 lbs. Broccoli @$.99lb.=$1.88
1.94 lbs. Peaches @$.99lb.=$1.92
2 Excedrin @$2.99 ea.=$5.98
8.88 lbs. Fresh Pork Picnic @$.79lb.=$7.02
3 lbs. Fresh Chicken Legs @$.79lb.=$2.37
3.13 lbs. Fresh Chicken Legs @$.79lb.=$2.48
3.00 lbs. Fresh Chicken Breast(boneless) @$1.99lb.=$5.97
Subtotal...$64.35
Tax $.71

Coupons Used
2 Northland Juices @$1/2=$2.00
1 Dole Fruit Cups @$1/3=$1.00
4 Santa Cruz @$.75/1 doubled to $1=$4.00
1 Joint Juice 4 pack @$2/1=$2.00
1 Purina Kitten Chow FREE ITEM=$2.19
2 Pam Cooking Sprays @$1/2=$1.00
2 Excedrin @$1/1=$2.00
7 $5 Rewards=$35.00
1 $4 OYNO Q=$4.00
Coupon SubTotal...$53.19

$65.06-$53.19=$11.87OOP
And I received another $4 OYNO Cat for buying the Excedrin, & a $.75 OYNO for buying the Dole Fruit Cups.

So we went back in for this....

Transaction #2

4 Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade @$1.39 ea.=$5.56
2 Excedrin @$2.99 ea.=$5.98
1 Gallon of Milk @$3.23
1 Gallon of Milk @$3.05
2 Reduced Rolls/Buns @$.84=$1.68

Subtotal...$19.50
Tax $.28

Coupons Used
4 Santa Cruz @$.75/1 doubled to $1=$4.00
2 Excedrin @$1/1=$2.00
2 FREE MILK Qs=$6.28
1 $4 OYNO Q=$4.00
Coupon SubTotal...$16.28

$19.78-$16.28=$3.50OOP
And I received another $4 OYNO Cat for buying the Excedrin. That Cat was truly ROLLING!
At this point, I was fresh out of Excedrin IP Qs. I was loving this spend $5.98 on Excedrin, use $2 in Qs & the previous $4 OYNO Cat. Q to get 2 boxes of the stuff free in each transaction....too bad the gravy train had to end.
Sigh.
But when I went over to get 2 more Bottles of it for Transaction #2 I saw that a lot of the Excedrin boxes that were the size on sale for $2.99(that gave the $4 OYNO Cat Q) had $1/1 Qs right on the boxes!!!
So if I had wanted to(and you know I would have if daughter wasn't with me & rolling her eyes at me with teenage disgust), I could have gotten as many FREE BOXES OF EXCEDRIN until I ran out of boxes with the $1 Q on them.lolol
Oh, how I LOVE when stores want to GIVE you stuff for F-R-E-E!!!

We did 3 Transactions, buying 2 bottles of Excedrin each time plus a pack of pencils($.33)once & a candy bar($.69)twice(daughter ate her bar so it's not in the picture).
Subtotal spent for all three transactions was $19.65.
Tax was $.02(for the pencils).
Coupons used amounted to $18.00.
$19.67-$18.00=$1.67OOP
And I received yet another $4 OYNO Cat Q.

So.....I went back in one last time....
Transaction #6....7....oh, who knows!
1 Flat of Blueberries @ $6.99
I used my $4OYNO Cat. and paid $2.99OOP for 6 Pints of fresh Blueberries.
Oh.
Yes.
Yum!

Total Figures for this Trip to Shop-Rite.....

Value of Items Bought $155.43
Sales and Discounts from Store Sales Ad $37.95
Coupons Used $93.47
Cash OOP $24.01
Savings of 84.5%

It's funny that both grocery store trips this week, Shop-Rite & Weis, my Savings % was 84.50 at each.
Since we bought 12 Boxes of Excedrin totaled, we spent $3.98 total for them all(the cost to get the 1st $4 OYNO Cat). Each box cost me .33¢. These were the 50 count boxes that go for $5.49 regularly.
Seriously.
Love.
It.

I spent a total of $58.98 OOP this week at the grocery stores(I'm not counting KMart Double Q Trips this week). In these 2 trips, I got everything I needed for this week's meals that I didn't have at the start of the week(namely the produce/fruit), plus enough tortillas and chicken to do a TON of homemade Burritos for the freezer(approx. 38), milk for all that cereal I got at Weis for breakfasts, and a big honking Pork Picnic to make more BBQ...enough for 3-4 more meals of that. We had most of the chicken legs & thighs I bought for tonight's grilled chicken. I reserved 3 leg/thigh combos to pick the meat off the bones to add to the boneless breat meat I also got for the chicken enchiladas and chicken wing pizza(2 meals for next week) and the burritos I'll fill with chicken(some will be filled with beef that's in the freezer). I know I wanted to keep this week's grocery bill to $20 or so, but for $59 I finished off the 7 meals for this week AND got the fixings for 12 or more meals or partial meals for next week and beyond, got alot of fruit, milk, cereal, lots of lemonade, needed school supplies and enough pain reliever that I won't even mind the annoying loud friends of #2 son who live in our pool in the summer.

I'll try to be good next week.
Really....I will! 8-P
I am designating next week as my "Stay Out Of The Grocery Store Week" for July.
How wants to come and hide my keys?lol

Sluggy

Weis this Week & the P&G Catalina Deal-Final Results

Remember my previous post about the Proctor & Gamble OYNO Cat Promo this week at Weis Markets?
I was able to hit Weis one more time last night before their sales week ended. (Their Sales run Thursday to Wednesday. I believe they do that just to mess with my head and to keep my off-balance.)
Well I just HAD TO pair that $10 of $50 Weis Coupon with this P&G Deal and see what I could do One Last Time!
Story of my life....."one last time". It usually gets me into trouble every honking time.

Anyway, here is the haul...

Transaction #3
1x Borden Special Cheese on sale $2.50
3x Mentos Gum on sale @$1.00=$3.00
1x Nutri-Grain Bars on sale =$2.99
1x Weis Grain Bars =$2.59
2x Mission Tortillas @$2.79=$5.58
4x Head&Shoulders Shampoo @$4=$16.00
1x Cascade Gel @$3.88=$3.88
1x Dawn Direct Foam @$2.00=$2.00
3x Old Spice Deodorant @$2.00=$6.00
2x Secret Deodorant @ $1.99=$3.98
1x Olay Body Wash @ $3.99=$3.99
SubTotal $52.51
Tax $2.16

Coupons Used
1x $10/50 Weis Coupon=$10.00
1x Borden Special Cheese $.55/1 doubled to $1=$1.00
3x Mentos Gum $1/1=$3.00
2x Mission Tortillas $1/1=$2.00
2x Head&Shoulders Shampoo BOGO=$8.00
1x Cascade Gel $1/1=$1.00
1x Dawn Direct Foam $1.50/1=$1.50
3x Old Spice Deodorant $1/1=$3.00
2x Secret Deodorant $1/1=$2.00
1x Olay Body Wash $2/1=$2.00
1x $10 OYNO Coupon

Coupon Total....$43.50

$54.67-$43.50=$11.17 OOP
And I received another $10 OYNO Coupon.

I could have done this one with about $2.50 less OOP(under $9 definitely!), but #2 son was with me and wanted 2 boxes of Nutri-Grain bars, which I had NO coupons for!
Eek.
I did talk him into buying the generic Weis brand for one box.
No,"thanks Mom!" for that.....just grumbling and eye rolling because it wasn't the name brand he wanted.
Kids.
The Weis brand was a bit cheaper, but if I had bought just one box I would have been .03¢ short of $50 before tax(and couldn't use the $10 off $50 Q) and would have bought a filler like a cheap Ramen noodles or a pack of gum, etc. to get over $50 as lowly as possible.

So let's recap today's Adventures in Grocery Shopping Totals.

3 Orders that included all this....

1 Borden Special Cheese
3 Mentos Gum
1 Nutri-Grain Bars Box
1 Weis Grain Bars Box
4 Mission Tortillas packs
6 boxes of Kellogg's Cereal
2 boxes of Bagelfuls
2 Wishbone Salad Dressings
2 Bread Machine Mixes
1 Corn Meal Container
1 DiGiorgno FlatBread Melt
2 Grillmates Marinade Packs
8 Head&Shoulders Shampoo
6 Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner/Styler
3 Cascade Gel
3 Dawn Direct Foam
7 Old Spice Deodorant
5 Secret Deodorant
2 Mr. Clean Cleaner Bottles
3 Olay Body Wash

$223.64 in regular retail value groceries
$34.97 spent Out of Pocket
$64.82 in store sales/discounts
$123.85 in coupons
$188.67 in total Savings
A Savings of 84.5%

PLUS a $10 OYNO Coupon for $10 of free food to use later. (And don't forget the 2 free boxes of cereal after rebates.)

Hopefully Weis Markets will have another Cat Deal worth doing that I can roll this $10 Cat into before it expires. Otherwise, I'll probably spend it on something we don't get coupons for, like fresh meat.

Sluggy

My Life in Gardening Part 1

I have had gardens at various times in my life, since I was young. My mother grew up in the country before moving to the big city in her teens. I have the recollection that we always had a garden in some form or another as I was growing up. Momma kept close to her rural roots by cooking country food from scratch, gardening and canning.

My 1st garden was as a 5 yr. old. back in 1964. Mom gave me a little plot in one of her flower beds on the side of our house and let me plant anything I wanted. Of course I chose to sow watermelon seeds and carrots, 2 veggies/fruits that most kids love. The carrots never sprouted(the wrong type of soil not worked sufficiently)but the melon plants did grow and we ended up with a couple med. sized watermelons.
From then on, I was hooked on gardening.
Let me back up here.....I was hooked on the Yummy FRUITS/VEGGIES part, NOT hooked on the back-breaking, sweating in the hot summer sun, laboring part.

As a disgruntled teen, I was FORCED by my parents to do yardwork at home. Summers from 1973-1975 were spent weeding massive flower beds of Azaleas(I still have an aversion to azaleas) and weeding a rather large garden my father put in. Ok, he didn't actually put it in....the garden was an excuse for him to rent & use a rototiller(overgrown boys with their big noisy machines syndrome). What's even more amusing is that dear old dad didn't eat vegetables....ok, he ate onions and if pressed, he'd eat corn, but our gardens didn't grow those veggies. My mom planted the garden w/a little help from me. Being the only child left at home, I was responsible for all the weeding of the garden. Weeding is one of my LEAST favorite things on earth to do.

After I left home, attended college & then got married, I tried to have a garden in the yard of the house where we rented the 2nd floor. That was the summer of 1984. I put alot of blood, sweat & tears into that tiny garden. I even lugged buckets of bathwater down the narrow backstairs of that 100 yr. old house from our clawfoot tub to water those plants.
But it was all for naught. The soil was poor & compacted and I had no gardening tools, except for a hand trowel. This was in urban NJ, with the houses nearly on top of one another. Between the trees and the closeness of the neighbor's house, my little plot didn't received enough sunlight to produce anything beyond a few tomatoes that never made it to red & ripe.
In hindsight, perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing, as a few blocks from there was an old watch factory's radium dumping ground that turned into a Super Fund sight while we lived in that town. My tomatoes, if they had been eaten, might have made me glow-in-the-dark.

To Be Continued.....

Sluggy

DOUBLE YOUR REFUND on PANTENE Purchase OFFER

Remember my last post about the Proctor & Gamble Catalina Deal going on NOW at Weis Markets?
There is a 2x your Purchase Price REFUND Opportunity on any Pantene Pro-V item(up to $12).
Go get the details HERE.
It's available until 2010 so plenty of time to avail yourself of the opportunity.

Buy some Pantene this week at Weis(on sale for $3 a bottle) or KMart-where most stores are doubling coupons this week(get the big honking bottle and use that $2/1 Q that they'll double to $4 from last Sunday's coupon insert). Then save your receipt to submit for a DOUBLE WHAT YOU PAID REFUND.

Speaking of KMart.....I've gotta run. ;-))
Details on the rest of my shopping day later.

Sluggy

Weis this Week & the P&G Catalina Deal

Remember my previous post about buying multiple newspapers to get multiple coupons HERE? I mentioned that the Sunday coupon inserts from June 28th contained a regional coupon for $10 off a $50 order at Weis Markets.
Weis is also having a Proctor & Gamble OYNO Cat Promo this week. When you buy $35 of select P&G products you get a $10 OYNO Coupon. (This sale ends tonight, so get down to Weis today if you plan on doing this deal.)
Well I just HAD TO pair that $10/50 with this P&G Deal and see what I could do.

Transaction #1
3x Kellogg's Cereal(selected varieties)3 for $4.00
2x Wishbone Dressing 3/$5=$3.34
1x Bagelfuls $2.00
1x Digiorno FlatBread Melts $3.00
2x Sourdough Bread Mix clearance @ .94¢=$1.88
1x Corn Meal clearance @ .87=$.87
4x Head&Shoulders Shampoo @$4=$16.00
1x Cascade Gel @$3.88=$3.88
1x Dawn Direct Foam @$2.00=$2.00
2x Old Spice Deodorant @$2.00=$4.00
1x Secret Deodorant @ $1.99=$1.99
2x Olay Body Wash @$3.99=$7.98
SubTotal $50.94
Tax $2.16

Coupons Used
1x $10/50 Weis Coupon=$10.00
3x Kellogg's Cereal $1/1=$3.00
1x Wishbone Dressing $1.25/2=$1.25
1x Bagelfuls $.55 didn't double=$.55
1x Digiorno FlatBread Melts $1.00
2x Head&Shoulders Shampoo BOGO=$8.00
1x Head&Shoulders Shampoo $2/2=$2.00
1x Cascade Gel @$1.00=$1.00
1x Dawn Direct Foam @$1.50=$1.50
2x Old Spice Deodorant @$1.00=$2.00
1x Secret Deodorant @ $1.00=$1.00
2x Olay Body Wash @$2.00=$4.00
Coupon Total....$35.30

$53.10-$35.30=$17.80OOP
Received a $10 OYNO coupon.
I also can send for the Raisin Bran Crunch TRY ME FREE Offer. Not sure from the receipt whether I'll get back $4.39 or $2.00 on that....so ultimately, my OOP is either $14.31 or $15.80 on this order.

I did screw up here though. I have a rebate form for the DiGiorgno Flatbread Melt for a full rebate on the purchase price. But I need the receipt to send for that. I bought the Cereal with a TMF rebate in the same order and the receipt is needed for that too!
Ugh.
So I'll lose out getting back $2 on that one.
It goes to show that even when you write things down and prep fully before going into the store, you can still goof it up! 8-P

Onward to my 2nd Transaction....

Transaction #2

3x Kellogg's Cereal(selected varieties)3 for $4.00
2x Grillmates @.80¢=$1.60
1x Bagelfuls $2.00
2x Mission Tortillas @$2.50=$5.00
4x Pantene Shampoo/Conditioner @$3=$12.00
2x Pantene Styler @$3.00=$6.00
1x Cascade Gel @$3.88=$3.88
1x Dawn Direct Foam @$2.00=$2.00
2x Old Spice Deodorant @$2.00=$4.00
2x Secret Deodorant @ $1.99=$3.98
2x Mr. Clean Cleaner @$2.50=$5.00
SubTotal $49.46
Tax $1.59

Coupons Used
1x $10/50 Weis Coupon=$10.00
3x Kellogg's Cereal $1/1=$3.00
1x Grillmates $1/2=$1.00
1x Bagelfuls $.55 didn't double=$.55
2x Mission Tortillas @$1/1=$2.00
2x Pantene Shampoo $2/1=$4.00
2x Pantene BO'Poo/GO Styler=$6.00
1x Cascade Gel @$1.00/1=$1.00
1x Dawn Direct Foam @$1.50/1=$1.50
2x Old Spice Deodorant @$1/1=$2.00
2x Secret Deodorant @ $1/1=$2.00
2x Mr. Clean @.75¢/1 doubled to $1 ea.=$2.00
1x $10 OYNO Coupon

Coupon Total....$45.05

$51.05-$45.05=$6.00OOP
And I received another $10 OYNO Coupon.
I can also send for the full Refund Price Rebate on the Cereal to my BIL, so that another $2-$4.39 off the OOP.

I just realized that my 2nd order was NOT $50...it was $49.46 before the tax. I had another DiGiorgno FlatBread Melt in this order but had the cashier void it out when I realized I couldn't send for both the cereal and the flatbread melt on the same receipt. She had already used the $10 off $50 coupon but before she rang up the coupon for the Flatbread Melt.
So I was short .54¢ on my order. Oh, I won't lose sleep over it.
Really.
I've spend how much over the years in that store? And how many times have I been overcharged for stuff?
This particular Weis Store will just have to get over this one slip-up on my part.
Serves them right for being about the ONLY STORE on the PLANET that still WON'T ACCEPT INTERNET PRINTED COUPONS!!
Do Ya Hear that WEIS!!??
Yah, I have issues with Weis.....does it show? 8-P

So let's recap today's Adventures in Grocery Shopping.....
2 Orders.
$152.27 in regular retail value groceries
$23.80 spent Out of Pocket
$48.12 in store sales/discounts
$80.35 in coupons
$128.47 in total Savings
A Savings of 85.5%

PLUS a $10 OYNO Coupon for next time.....and Full Refunds on 2 Boxes of Cereal.

Not a bad morning's work....

Sluggy