Freebies

I got some fun free stuff in the mail yesterday:
A Family Fun magazine (from a gift subscription)
Sample of Total Cranberry Crunch cereal, plus $0.75 coupon
Coupon for FREE Kashi product, plus 2 $0.50 coupons
Coupon for FREE Yogi Tea, plus 2 $0.50 coupons

Then we opened up a box of cereal this morning that had a $5 cash card in it! We bought 3 boxes of General Mills cereal for $2 each, used $1/3 coupon, so 3 boxes for $5, and the giftcard cancels it out.

Four Months

Ollie is four months old today! I dug out the size 6-9 month clothes this week. He had his check-up yesterday and was 15 pounds 3 ounces and 25 inches. He checked out healthy!

This Week at Super One

Ollie had a check-up this week, so we stopped at Super One afterwards.

A few good deals:
Flavorite peanut butter, $1 each
Hershey's chocolate chips: $1 each
Wacky Mac: $1.29-$1.00 coupon=$0.29
Sunsweet dried plums (aka prunes): $1.50-$1.00 coupon=$0.50
Hunt's ketchup: $1.00 each (I used to think I would always be loyal to Heinz ketchup, but the kids don't care!)
Rinaldi pasta sauce: $1.00
Klement's andouille sausage: $3.00-$2.00 coupon=$1.00
Kotex Lightdays: $1.00-$0.75=$0.25 each
Green Giant Steamers: $1.79-$1.00 coupon=$0.79

And some items free with free product coupons I got in the mail:
Cole's cheesesticks
Ore Ida tater tots
Windex wipes
Michelina's frozen meal
Carl Buddig honey ham
On Cor family size frozen lasagna

I only saved 39% ($70.89) this time around, so still looking for 50% savings.

Good Mail Day

Yesterday was a good mail day. After my emailing for coupons frenzy last week, I got 12 responses in today's mail.
FREE coupons: Ore Ida fries, any Windex product, 2 packs of Carl Buddig lunch meat, Cole's garlic bread, 2 On Cor frozen family entrees
Others: Ore Ida fries, Heinz gravy, Red Gold tomatoes, Musselman's applesauce, Fresh Express salad, Cole garlic bread, On Cor frozen entree, Birds' Eye frozen veggies, Welch's juice, Blue Bunny ice cream
Plus some samples of diaper cream, wipes, and other things from Lansinoh.

Spring IS Coming, Right?

Or maybe we'll skip spring and go right to summer. Friday we had a little teaser at it finally reached 70 degrees, but yesterday it snowed again. Not a lot, but there's still a coating on the ground this morning. Since Friday was so nice, we took a walk after supper and then went to the "beach" to throw rocks. Now we've got kids (and mom) in various stages of bad colds. We've been healthy all winter, so I guess it's our turn.

Coupons

I emailed a bunch more companies about coupons again this week, and this it what I've received in the mail so far:
2-$1 off Johnsonville sausage
2-$1 off Brownberry bread
$4 off any Kemp's ice cream or dairy product
2-$0.50 and 2-$0.75 off Rhodes frozen bread products, plus recipes
FREE Drano, plus coupon book for other SC Johnson products
FREE Northland Cranberry juice for doing a survey for them, plus 2-$1 coupons off Northland juice
$1 off Luvs
3 Huggies mailers with coupons for diapers, wipes, and swim diapers

Trilingual?

Remy is already trilingual in his young life. Besides speaking English on a regular basis, he has been heard speaking Chinese (when we left Melisa's house last weekend, he was riding in the car, waving and saying ni hao over and over) and Spanish (when I asked him what color Ollie's shirt was, he said rojo). It amazes me what young children pick up!

He is Risen!

Super One

I didn't necessarily need to get a lot of groceries this week, but grocery stores have great deals around holidays. Some highlights:
Softsoap was $2.09, but buy one get one free with store coupon, and I had 2 $0.35 coupons, making them $0.69 each.
Knorr Lipton side dishes (not pictured) were 10/$10 and I had 2 $0.75/2 coupons, so they were 10 for $8.50 PLUS Super One had a coupon for free Gold'n Plump drumsticks (56 oz.) when you buy 10.
Uncle Ben's rice was $1.66 and I had 3 $0.75 coupons, so they were $0.89 each.
Dole pineapple was 10/$10. I bought 2 and used a $0.55 off 2 coupons, so $0.72 each.
Fisher peanuts were $2.22 and I used $1 coupon=$1.22.
Mann's peas and sweet potatoes were still 2/$3 and I had 2 $0.55 coupons, so they were each $0.95.
Yoplait was 12/$5 and I used 2 $0.40/6 coupons, making them $0.35 each, or about half the regular price.
Cream cheese, Cool Whip and frozen corn were all $0.66 each.


For FREE:
Juicy Fruit (coupon for free), Gold'n Plump drumsticks (with Knorr Lipton sides purchase), 2 Kraft dressings (on sale for 2/$3, 2 coupons for $1.50 off each), Frank's sauerkraut (free coupon), 18 count eggs (with purchase of 4 Pillsbury products), Kashi frozen meal (free coupon), Skintimate shave gel (free coupon)

Totals: $107.43 saved or 44%. Getting closer to 50% savings! I shouldn't need to get groceries for the rest of the month except for a few things here and there.

Cub Foods

No picture, but Barry picked up a few of the deals at Cub Foods when he was in Duluth the other day. Kellogg's cereal was 3/$10, but $3 off when you buy 3. I also had 2-$1 coupons, so they were 3/$5 in the end, or $1.67 each.
Bird's Eye frozen veggies were 10/$10, so he bought 4 and used 1 $1 off 3 and 1-$0.35 coupon making them 4 for $2.65 or $0.66 each.
Kemp's Cottage Cheese singles were 10/$10, so he bought 4. I had 2 buy one get one free coupons, making them $0.50 each.
He also bought Cub twin packs of milk, 4 gallons for a total of $7.34 or $1.84 each.
He saved $33.71 or 30%.

Walgreens

Our next stop was Walgreens. First I bought the Colgate for $3.49-$1 coupon=$2.49. I then got a $3.49 Register Reward for buying the toothpaste.
Then I bought the frosting on sale 2/$3, and I had 2 $0.50 coupons making the frosting 2/$2, and I got a $1 Register Reward that I gave to my mom.
Finally, I got 2 packs of Schick disposable razors on sale for $4.99 each. I had a coupon to buy one pack of razors, get one free, so the razors were $2.50 per pack. I also used my Register Reward from the Colgate to pay for the frosting and razors, taking $3.50 off my total. In all, I paid $6.86 for everything pictured above, and still had $1 additional Register Reward.

Target

One stop we made on Monday was Target. They often have deals where you buy 2 of something, you get a $5 giftcard. This week you buy a Gilette Fusion Power Phantom razor and another Gilette product you get the giftcard. The razors are $7.99 and the shave gel was $1.89; I had a $2 coupon for the razor and $1 for the shave gel, so the total was $6.88 and I got a $5 giftcard which I used toward the rest of my items.

I got PJ pants for Jackson ($7), Princess undies for Raina ( 3 pk. for $3) and some tights that ended up in Grandma's cart, Sesame Street potty seat for Remy ($11, and may not be used for awhile) and a shirt ($2.80) and shorts ($2) for him also. I bought 3 Vitamin Water 10 20 oz. bottles. They were on sale for $1 each, and I had 3-$1 coupons, so they were free.

I also bought Hershey's candy that were on sale for $1.99 each. I had a coupon to buy 3 bags, get the 4th free, so each bag ended up being about $1.50 each. Raina is pointing out which one she wants to try.

We also stopped at a thrift store where I found 3 summer outfits and a pair of pants for Ollie and two shirts for Raina for $9, or an average of $1.50 per piece.

Catching Up

Jackson (and Raina) has spring break this week, so we went visiting over the weekend. We left after school on Friday, didn't have to make any stops along the way, and made it to my parents in 3 hours. On Saturday, we visited my grandparents and aunt for "coffee" and then went to Melisa's house, which I hadn't seen yet since they moved in last December. Jackson stayed there and spent the night with Preston, Ashley came home with us, and Abby came over that evening.
On Sunday we went to church, then ate chili with my family. Later in the day we went to Barry's parents for ham, cheese and milk (according to Remy). Remy was fascinated with the ladybugs that are so prolific in central MN. Jackson watched Wrestlemania and he and Barry spent the night there.

On Monday we stayed home in the morning, then mom, the kids and I did a little shopping after lunch. Barry and Jackson did their own shopping and went to the Twins game. They drove home after the game.

On Tuesday, we got packed up and the kids and I ate breakfast at Perkins with mom and dad. Then we headed home--no stops on the way this time, either.
The kids love playing with Rosie, mom and dad's dog. We were only gone for four days, but I feel like I've been catching up around here since then--unpacking, laundry, getting back into our routine.

Super One

Since they were predicting a big snowstorm for Tuesday, I did my grocery shopping on Monday. Here are some of the deals I found:
Dole pineapple--$1 each, coupon for 55 cents off 2, total of 72 cents each
Sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar were all $1 each
Quaker oats (small cannister, not in picture)--$1.49 with $1 coupon=49 cents
Nestle chocolate chips--2/$3 with $1.50/2 coupon=75 cents each (too bad they were out of regular semi-sweet; I bought chocolate chunks and milk chocolate)
Butter Kernal corn--used coupon for 2 FREE cans
Pillsbury brownie mixes--$1.99 for 2, used 2 35 cent coupons, so 65 cents each
Gold'n Plump drumsticks--FREE with purchase of 10 Knorr/Lipton sides
Marzetti dip--Used coupon for FREE dip or dressing
Nature Cherub cherry tomatoes--$3.69-$1 store coupon-$1 manufacturer coupon=$1.69
Dole Spinach--97 cents
Marzetti crouton--94 cents
Mann's sugar snap peas and cubed sweet potatoes--2/$3, used 2-$1 coupons, so 50 cents each
International Delight creamer--2/$3, used 2 40 cent coupons, so $1.10 each
Suave shampoo--used FREE coupon, shampoo was $1.99 but coupon took $3 off
Overall, shopping sales and using coupons saved me $107.46 or 42%.

Last Week Ice, This Week Snow

Last week we had the big ice storm, then this week we're having more snow--14 inches and counting!