Coupon Cutters Make the Newspaper.

Many of you have been following our recent grocery store savings escapades. Well, I wanted to post this great article from the newspaper this weekend. It's not about us ... so if you're getting sick of hearing out successes, you can pick up on someone else.

However, it's a great article, definitely worth checking out. Definitely look at the 'Getting Started' section on the right side of the page when you get there.

clipped from www.floridatoday.com Savvy savers: Coupon 'stacking' can save a ton of dough For $19.04 worth of merchandise, Riley pays a total of $1.29 after using manufacturer coupons and CVS ExtraCare rewards. After she mails in a $5 rebate for one of the items, she will have actually profited from this shopping trip. Her total rings up to $53.52, but after the cashier scans all her coupons, it's down to a mere $8.15. Wait. Riley's got a $10 gift card from filling a prescription at the Target pharmacy earlier. After using the gift card, yet again, she practically gets paid to shop. Millions of cash-strapped consumers have been feeling the same. Coupon redemption was up 27 percent in 2009, according to Inmar, a company that tracks promotions and coupon redemption. This is the first increase in 17 years and has mainly to do with the recession, Inmar reports.

Grocery day!!

So Thursdays have become my grocery shopping day because around here all the new sales start then. So I want to make sure that they are all stocked up with the good stuff so that I can get all that I want in one trip instead of two.
The total of today's trip before sales and coupons was $196.02 and the amount that I paid out of pocket for all that was  $46.55. It ended up a little more than I was hoping for because I was only able to purchase 3 of the money makers, Knoxx Gelatin. I was hoping to get 6. So that increased my out of pocket by $7.83. I just hope that they get them all back in stock for next week!! I have lots more of those wonderful coupons to use!! So even still not as good as I was hoping for but a savings of 76% is still good in my book!
Here is what I was able to get this week!

1- gallon of Milk
1- 1/2 gallon of Chocolate Milk
2- Gallons of Sweet Tea
12- Packs of Kraft Shredded Cheese
4- Avacodos
2- Bags of Stacy's Pita Chips
4- Packs of Velveta Cheese
10- Lbs of Lean Ground Chuck
4- bottles of Frenches Mustard
2- crts of Chicken Stock
3- boxes of Knoxx Gelatin
4- boxes of Special K Granola
4- packs of Edy's Icecream!
2- tubs Heluva Good Dip
6- packs of Smithfield Bacon
4- bottles of Coke
I was able to get the 4 boxes of Special K granola free with a 2.00 overage. I also had a couponf for a free gallon of milk with the purchase of 100.00 worth of groceries.(that is before couopns!) And a free 1/2 gallon of Chocolate milk with the purchase of a gallon of regular milk, so they were both FREE!
And the Ground Chuck was on sale and I had a coupon for 1.00 off 2lb or more and when I got to the meat section all they had was 1 lb packs and 5 lb packs. So to make the most of my coupon I wanted 5 2lb packs. So that I could get the most off per lb. So I just asked the butcher if he would take the 2 5 lb packs and split them in to 2 lb packs. And he did one even better, He made up 5 freshly ground 2lb packs just for me! So I was able to get an additional .50 cents off a pound just for asking!
Also another thing I did was a few weeks ago in our Sunday paper the Publix store put out a 1.00 off 2 pack of Kraft cheese store coupon.  I decided to hold on to it till I could get a manufactures coupon to stack with it and for a sale. So that is just what I did and I was able to get the pack of shredded cheese for 1.00 each! The checker said, "Wow it is good that you held on to those coupons you got a great deal! Most people used them right away."
Kait was so done with grocery shopping today. But she was very excited when I told her that next week she would not have to go with me as Papa and Mama Miller will be here and she can stay home with them. Then the spark in her eye came back!

A Bunch of Blockheads

While we were at my Dad's place, he and the girls worked on their AWANA race cars.   We were hoping they would have a little bit of time to work with him, on their ideas, in his shop.

Here were a few clips of their cutting and sanding adventure.  The girls came up with the design ideas and helped us draw the fish on the blocks.  We had Dad do the cutting - just so the girls would indeed come home with all of their little fingers and toes.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Al

The Speerclan Crosses a Milestone

First of all ... I want to say thank you to our one reader - we thank you!  For sticking with us for so long.  I know it hasn't been easy or painless for you to deal with our odd little idiosyncrasies.

However, I have to proudly announce that you are no longer alone when you visit our site.  We have officially crossed a threshold that I never thought we would cross with this blog.  And I am so pleased to announce that the Speerclan is now in the top 1,000,000 visited sites on the internet.

I know - I know ...

You're thinking Top One Million sites?  That stinks Al.
Well, you would be partially right.  But the fact is ... this independent monitoring site actually monitors 20 million websites.  There are actually more than 20 million websites on the internet, but after about 20 million sites they no longer keep track of a site's rankings.  So - for us - the top one million mark is pretty cool.

And here's the proof:

 

While that doesn't mean a whole lot, in terms of influence, or income, or anything like that.  It does mean that more than 1 person is hitting our site per day.  And that ... is pretty cool.

So, we just wanted to give a big THANK YOU to you for keeping up with us.  It's great to share the fun, the adventure, and yes ... even the pain with you. 

All the best!

Al

Guess Who's Cutting the Cheese Now?

As some of you may know ...

I am a HUGE cheese fan.  I have always loved it.  Maybe it had to do with growing up a few miles from one of the best ... (scratch that) ... THE BEST cheese factory in America.  Cheese has always been one of my fetishes.

When we lived in Oregon we visited the Tillamook cheese factory many times.  That was always a tour worth taking - in my honest opinion.  And since we've left Oregon, I rarely get to enjoy good stuff of this quality.

But that all changed recently.

First, my Grandma hooked me up with 4 pounds of the lovely goodness when we were visiting her in Oregon.  At the time, I was like ... YAY!  Thank you SO much Grams!  Love it!

And then just this week, my Parents (Chris' folks) dropped a huge cheese bomb on me.  They sent over 15 pounds of Heavenly manna for me to eat.  Yes ... me.  I'm not afraid to say I'll probably end up eating most of it myself.  I am the only one in the house who can cut this cheese as it was meant to be cut.

I have always been proud of my cheese cutting abilities, and now hopefully, I'll be doing a lot more practicing.

 

By the way ...

If you ever feel the need to send me anything from the Northwest - say as a gift, or anything like that - please check out the picture above.   Those black cheese packs in the bottom left of the picture - those things are THE BOMB!  Love 'em!  Those are Aged 'to perfection' cheddar cheese.

Al

All the Lovely Little Eggs

Trying to get caught up on some of the happenings out in Oregon while we were there. Here is a quick one that totally surprised me.

Some of you know that I've sold chicken related books online for about 4 years now. So chickens are ALWAYS exciting for me to talk about and see.

So ...

We show up at my Dad's place and they've got a coop and 10 hens. That was cool. Even more cool was that they were all still laying, even in the middle of winter. So I grabbed some shots of his coop, his hens, and the egg gathering.

It was pretty cool too, the girls named a few of the ladies.

Keeley named hers - Eggna
Kait named hers - Cluckla
Alexa named hers - Jessica

 

  

  

  

  

 

Al

Todays Grocery trip!

I think that today I had my best grocery trip yet. Well at least for the amount of items that I was able to get. There was a trip that I had earlier this month that was for yogurt that was free but since that was just for the one thing I guess it is a bit different.  Anyhow...

Today's trip was all this. The total put of pocket was $11.86 and the total savings was $134.23!! That is 92% savings  people! What a blessing! The checker was just shocked at the total savings and how little I spent. And she went over each and every coupon because she is fairly new to the store and she wanted to make sure all the coupons matched up. That kinda bugs me because it can take so much extra time. But I know that I have been very careful and make sure that the coupon wording matches what I am purchasing so I know it will stand up to the scrutiny. It can just take so much more time but I will wait for that kind of savings I guess!
Here  is what I got...
14 packs of Yo-plus yogurt
8 cans of Rotel Tomatoes
2 packs of Knox gelatin
2 pack of phyzeme
2 chobani Greek Yogurts
2 A-1 steak sauce
2 Kraft Bar-B-Q sauce
4 Sundown Vitamins
3 packs of chinet plates
2 packs of Ronzoni macaroni noodles
2 packs Jolly time popcorn
2 bottles Hidden valley Ranch
2 Tyson cooked pot roast
4 Eight-o-clock coffee
2 Craisins Dried cranberries

The things that were free were the chinet plates, and the Chobani Greek yogurts. The things that were free with overage were, the 4 sundown vitamins (4.00 overage) the Phyzeme (2.00 overage) and the Knoxx gelitan (5.22 overage!) That is $11.22 WOW!
The rest just ended up being very little after coupons and sales. 53 items for $11.86!
God is good all the time!