Fantastic saving!

Wow, I never get used to the great deals that I am able to work up. It always amazes me and fills with me with such thankfulness.
Before I get to the shopping savings I have to tell you that I was blessed yet again with a sweepstakes winning. Last week I got in the mail a winning Publix gift card for $100.00 dollars! I had entered this sweepstakes last fall and was picked as a first prize winner! How cool! So again I am going to keep track of how far I can stretch this free gift card. And let me say, so far it is looking very good!

And here is what I got this week at Publix. The total for everything before sales and coupons would have been $262.44. And the total that I paid, $11.12. A whopping 96% savings. And I could not be happier as I was able to get a lot of meat for that price. It is always a little harder to get that good of savings on meat but this week everything lined up perfectly.


1- gallon Milk $3.55 I used a Publix store coupon for $1.00 off making it @2.55

8- Kraft Shredded Cheese $2.00 used Target store coupons for $1.50 off 2 and manufactures coupons for $1.00 off 1 making them .25 each

4 Kraft BBQ sauce $1.65 BOGO used manufactures coupons for .75 of each making them .06 each

2- Beachnut baby foods $2.00 BOGO used manufactures coupons for $1.00 of each making the FREE!


2- Oreo Cakesters $2.50 used a target store coupon for $1.00 off each making them $1.50 each

2- Publix hot dog buns $1.19 no coupons used on these

4- Oscar Mayer hot dogs. $3.49 BOGO used Target store coupon for buy 3 get 1 free Making them FREE! (for further explanation on how this worked see below.)

4- Oscar Mayer Turkey hot dogs. $2.79 used manufactures coupons for buy a beef frank get a free Turkey frank making them all FREE! because this was a manufactures coupon and the other was a Target store coupon I was able to combine them with the sale and get them all free!

1lb Strawberries $1.67 used a manufactures coupon for $1.00 off making them .67

1- bag Broccoli florets $1.67 used a manufactures coupon for $1.00 making it .67

2 lbs Grapes $1.69per lb. used a store coupon for $1.00 off making them $2.36

6- Yoplait Fiber One Yogurt 4 packs. $2.50 BOGO used Target store coupons for %1.50 off 3 and manufactures coupons for .50 off each making them .25 each

4- Sundown Vitamins 2.99 each used Publix store coupons for $6.00 off 2 and manufactures coupons for $1.00 off each making them FREE with a total overage of $4.04!

22- Betty Crocker Fruit snacks $2.75 BOGO I used several manufactures coupons for BOGO and $4.00 off 4 and an Albertsons store coupon for $4.00 off 4 making tham all FREE with a total OVERAGE of $9.00!

9.2 lbs Ground Sirloin $3.99 per lb I used Winn Dixie store coupons for $2.00 of 1 making it 3.40 per lb or $31.32 for all of it.

12.9 lbs Pork Loin $1.99 per lb I used A Winn Dixie store coupon for $1.00 off and an Albertsons store coupon for buy 1 get 2 free making it .69 per lb or $8.96 for all of it

I also was able to use 5 Winn Dixie store coupons for $5.00 off a $30.00 purchase. This was taken off before any other coupons. So because my total before coupons was $160/something I was able to use all them! That is $25.00 right off the top! Add that to the overage items and I had a total of $38.04! Love it!!
Plus I was able to pay for it with my winning gift card so I technically had nothing out of pocket!


I never did post up last weeks saving. I won't list it all out but here are the final numbers. The total before saving and coupons for last weeks trip was $111.61. And after $7.98! A total saving of 93%! This was the first time that I used my wining gift card so again nothing out of pocket!
So far with my gift card I have used $19.10 and I have gotten $374.05 worth of groceries!! Couponing is so worth the little extra time that it takes to do! I think that is a good return on my investment!

I never thought this day would come.

So today was a monumental day for me. Want to know why? I shopped with coupons at Walmat and had a good experience. I have tried in the past to shop there and it had been a huge issue. Between waiting for ever in line to check out because there are so few cashiers, to them not taking a coupon because it would make an item free, and then infering that I am stealing from the store because of coupons. But that hopefully has all changed. Walmart has finally updated their coupon policy. You can check it out Here. This is a HUGE step in the right direction for them as far as couponers are concerned! For me the best thing is it very clearly states "Coupons may exceed the price of the item. Change may be given or applied toward the cost of the basket purchase." WOW! This is great!
So I went in today, armed with a print out copy of the policy, to try it out. I had 2 different sets of manufactures coupons that would give me a large amount of overage and I wanted to see how it would work out. And I am happy to say that it went very well. There was not even any questioning by the cashier and she even complimented me on my savings! Now I am smart enough to know that this may not happen every time but I am thankful that it went well this time and will try again in the future. And that is a lot since it has been nearly 2 years since I have purchased any groceries at Walmart.
And here is how I did. I paid $2.75 for all of this. The total before coupons would have been $ 48.85. So that is a great savings of 95%.
Here is a photo and run down of what I got...

5- Gain dryer sheets $1.87each I used manufactures coupons for $3.00 off 1 making them FREE with a total OVERAGE of $5.65!

5- Purex 3in1 Sheets .97 each I used manufactures coupons for $3.00 off 1 making them FREE with a total OVERAGE of $10.15!

2- Cupcake paper liners $1.12 each no coupons used.

1- Bobs country sauce $2.14 I used a manufactures for a free sauce making it FREE!

2- Beef Filets $3.98 each I used manufactures for $1.00 each making the $2.98

2- Cocoa Powders $2.44 each no coupons used.

1- Argo Baking powder $1.28 No coupons used

2.5lbs Red Grapes .98lb No coupons used making them $2.45

4- Mission Tortilla Chips $3.19 I used manufactures coupons for $2.99 off 1 making them .20 each

1- McCormik Seasoning mix .98 No coupons used.

I could have paid even less out of pocket but when I was headed to the check out I saw the good price on the grapes and decided to get some! But I would say that 2.75 for all this is great! It was nice to get the overage to use towards things that I needed and did not have coupons for.

So does this mean that I will stop shopping at Publix and switch to Walmart. No way! I have far to many personal issues with Walmart to do all my shopping there. And let me tell you there is no better customer service than Publix. So I will not be switching permanently any time soon. But When I have coupons for things that will make for free or overage items that I can not get at Publix then I will use my coupon money there at Walmart.

More Gas savings this week!

With the gas prices going up I was super excited to see the $10.00 off gas card coupon in the Publix weekly add this week! And this time the coupon is for any $50.00 gas card not just B.P.! I was able to get 3 $50.00 Hess gas gift cards. And I only paid $120.00 for them. I chose Hess because it is closer and usually a little less per gallon that B.P. So there is a savings of 20% on gas!! I will most likely try and get a couple more before the sale ends. Essentially I am using our gas budget to prepaying for our gas by getting the gas gift cards at the grocery store. So this will be about a month and a half for us!

So now on to the groceries!

The total before sales and coupons would have been $168.99. The total out of pocket $20.30, for a saving of 88%!!

Here is what I got...

12- birds eye frozen veggies .89 each I used manufactures coupons for $1.00 off 4 and Publix store coupons for $1.00 off 2 making them .05 each!

4- Yoplait smoothie bags $2.50 each I used Publix store coupon for $1.00 off 2 and manufactures coupons for $1.00 off 1 making them $1.00 each

1- egg beaters $1.67 I used a Publix store coupon for .75 and a manufactures coupon for a free egg beater. Making it an OVERAGE OF .75!

12- 2 litters soda BOGO $1.89 I used manufactures coupons for $1.00 off 2 making them .44 each

10- Propel waters .50 each I used manufactures for $1.00 off 2 making them FREE!

4- Voskos Yogurt $1.00 each I used manufactures coupons for $1.00 off making them FREE!

1lb- Strawberries $1.67 I used a manufactures coupon for $1.00 making them .67

2.05lb Oranges $1.69 I used a manufactures coupon for $1.00 making them .69

1.75lb- Bananas $1.21 I used a manufactures coupon for $1.00 making them .21

4- Honey Bunches of Oats w/Raisins BOGO $3.91 I used manufactures coupons for $1.00 off each making them .95 each

6- Raisin Bran Crunch BOGO $3.99 I used Target store coupons for $1.00 off 3 and manufactures coupons for .70 off each making them .96 each

24- Sargento Shredded Cheese $2.00 I used Publix store coupons for $1.50 off each and manufactures coupons for $1.00 off 2 making them all FREE!!

With Al being a huge cheese fan, and the girls and I also liking it, we use a lot of cheese. So to get it free is HUGE in this house! Also the 2 litters will be perfect to send with the girls for an AWANA overnight lock in next week!

So because the total before coupons was over $75.00 they allowed me to use 3 of the gas coupons. And the manager said it was fine to do them all at once and there was no need to break it into separate transactions. I was ready to do them into 3 transactions but it was nice doing it all at once!
And I also found out that you can use Albertsons store coupons at the Publix I go to, This is news to me so I am super excited about that possibility!! It is the little things that get me excited!!

Latest AWANA Grand Prix Race Cars and Results

Well, that time of year has stunk up on us again. Yep... It's AWANA Grand Prix time, and we were totally unprepared.

We just got the girls' cars about 2 weeks before our race deadline. And the girls weren't sure what they wanted to do with their cars, so they sat there for... oh... about 2 weeks. And then, Friday night, they realized they HAD to do something, or they weren't going to be able to compete with their cars at our AWANA group.

So, Friday night, they busted their little booties, and finished up their cars.

Keeley ended up going for a Lemony Snickets book design for her AWANA car. The cover of the book opens up on the car to reveal the table of contents inside. We had a buddy cut off the top, because I didn't have the tools to do it. She then added some book spine tape, to tape the top of the book onto the bottom block of wood. And then Keeley went through the painstaking process of painting everything so that it would look like a book. Unfortunately, I was hoping we could do the cover in color, but our printer cartridge only had black and white. Thank goodness Keeley is a very laid-back personality type, so she was happy to go with the lack of color.





Kait, went to the other extreme, and built what looked like a bunch of legos put together in a car shaped block. Her AWANA car was super bright and colorful. And from a distance, it actually looked like legos stuck together.




We thought we might have a chance at getting some design trophies... maybe? Even that was a little iffy, because the girls didn't have as much time to put their cars together as they had in the past. We definitely weren't sure how they would do in the speed department.

However, their results came out great. They did quite well with their AWANA Grand Prix entries for this year. Both of them got design trophies from their groups. And they both got speed trophies. Thankfully, we didn't have a tremendous amount of competitors, but hey... the girls were super excited to do so well again. Especially after our dismal results at last year's AWANA grand prix.

Great job to the Speer girls! I am SUPER proud of them for nailing it once again.
Al

• Awana Grand Prix Results from a few years ago.
• AWANA Grand Prix beauties
• Our cute AWANA Grand Prix car designs