CVS is having a great sale on tuna fish and soup.  Right now, you can get cans of Bumble Bee tuna fish, Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, and Campbell’s tomato soup for only $.50/can.

I stopped by earlier this week and picked up about 12 cans or so,  but I’m thinking of getting a few more.  Stockpiling foods when they’re at their lowest prices can really save a lot of money.

What foods are you stockpiling this week?

Since we live in a very rural area, going shopping usually requires a 30 minute drive.  A 30 minute drive may not seem like much to some of you, but to me this is a long way to go.  At our last house, there was a local grocery store less than 1 mile from our house and there was a Food Lion only 2 1/2 miles away.  If I was in the middle of cooking and needed something, it was easy just to drive up to the store to get the item. 

Today my husband and I tried something a bit different.  I wanted to get a few more groceries from Harris Teeter before the Super Double sale ended and he needed to get some things from Lowe’s Home Improvement and some other places.  We decided to do our errands together.  Actually, he dropped me off at Harris Teeter so that I could shop while he did his errands.  This saved us gas and time and also avoided me having three kids in the grocery store.

This is what works for me.  For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit We Are THAT Family.

Restaurant.com is running another sale.  Save 70% on restaurant gift certificates plus you’ll get something free.  Get $25 gift certificates for only $3 and with your purchase you’ll also get a free $10 gift certificate. 

Simply enter the discount code RECIPE at the checkout and hit “apply”.  This sale ends Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

Harris Teeter is having a super double coupon sale. They will double coupons with a face value of $1.98 or less.

I went shopping yesterday with a 3 and 5-year-old. Yay, me!  I made it out alive and with some bargains as well.  I hope to make it back in before the sale goes off, but here’s what I got today:

Starbucks 4 pk Frappuccinos (mommy’s splurge item)
7.19 reg price, 6.49 sale price
$1 coupon
$4.49 final

Hefty one zip bags
2.99 reg price, 2.50 sale price
$1 coupon
$.50 final

Kraft dressing
$2.82 regular price, $2.50 sale price
$1 coupon
$.50 final

100 calorie packs
$2.29 reg price, $2 sale price
$.55 coupon
$.90 final

Ocean Spray Cranberry Grape juice (bought 2)
$3.19 regular, buy 1 get 1 free sale
$.55 coupon (only had 1 coupon)
$2.09 final for 2

Smart Balance peanut butter
$3.29 reg
$1 coupon
$1.29 final

Pringles canister (bought 2)
$2.15 each reg
$1 coupon off 2
$2.30 for 2

French’s Mustard (specialty mustard)
$3.29 reg, $3 sale
$1 coupon
$1 final

Beechnut DHA baby cereal, 7 oz (bought 2)
$3.29 each reg
$1 coupon on each
$1.29 each final

Dr Pepper ice cream topping
$2.99 reg, $2 sale
$1 coupon
FREE

Gold Bond baby powder
$3.49 reg, $2.49 sale
$1 coupon
$.49 final

Suave lotion
$2.97 reg
$1 coupon
$.97 final

Vaseline lotion
$3.49 reg
$1.25 coupon
$.99 final

Activia 4 pk yogurt (bought 2, had 2 coupons)
$2.50 reg, $2 sale
$1 coupon
FREE x2

Bayer Caplets
$7.59 reg, bogo sale for $3.80 (bought 1)
$1 coupon
$1.80 final (for 1)

I got all of these groceries for around $20. It would have been less, but I was supposed to get the 4 oz baby cereals. I don’t need them, but was anticipating buying them for $.39 and donating them to the church food bank. They were stocked in the wrong place. This could have happened with several other items, but I noticed it myself. It seems the people that stock the shelves put things in other areas when they run out of room. It is annoying, but seems to happen at every store, so be careful.

I’m pleased with my deals, but feel like I could have done better if I wasn’t trying to shop with two children. I hope to share some more bargains with you later in the week.

Have you been to Harris Teeter for their super double coupon sale? What kind of bargains did you find?

image (c) Karen Weideman

Shoney’s is offering a printable coupon for a free kid’s meal with the purchase of an adult meal.  The meal includes also includes a drink and dessert.  This offer expires July 15, 2009.

Click here to find a Shoney’s near you.

Thanks Bargain Briana.

I went to Harris Teeter tonight for the final night of the triple coupon sale.  I’m quite pleased with my bargains.  I got about $160 of groceries for around $60 (including tax).  Not bad, I think. 

Here’s a list of what I bought and some of the prices. Sorry, I can’t remember all of them.

• Harris Teeter coffee beans
• 2 Wisk 2x Ultra laundry detergent (bogo +$1.50 qp +$2 printable qp, 2/$5.09)
• Comet long grain rice
• Diap soap 3 pk (free)
• 2 Mahatma yellow rice ($.75 qp, free)
• 2 Kraft dressing (bogo +$1.50 qp)
• Lawry’s marinade (bogo +qp, $.09)
• Doritos (bogo, $1.99)
• Ragu spaghetti sauce
• Fruiti Loops (bogo)
• 2 Knorr Pasta Sides
• Sunmaid Raisins 6 pk (bogo)
• large French’s onions
• 2 Blue Diamond almonds
• 4 Japanese noodle dinners
• 3 Campbell’s pork & beans (3/$1 sale)
• 6 Texas Pete chili sauce (6/$1 with qps)
• 1 lb Angus stew meat
• 2.5 lbs bananas
• 1 lb fresh strawberries (bogo)
• 2 Nature’s Own bread ($1.50 ea, sale)
• Sargento swiss cheese ($.50 w/sale + qp)
• 3 lbs yellow onions (1.97 sale)
• 2 bottles vitamins, 100 pk (bogo)
• Atkins shakes, 4 pk ($4 w/sale + coupon)
• 2 Indian sauce (bogo, $2 each)
• Capri-Sun, 10 pk ($.99 w/sale +qp)
• 2 Grande tortilla chips
• Snyder’s flavored pretzels, 10 oz ($.25 w/sale + qp)
• Libby’s tropical fruit in can (bogo)
• Texas croutons ($.39 w/ .50 qp)
• 3 Smucker’s ice cream syrups (sale for $2 + qps, $.20-30 ea)
• Spray ‘n Wash (bogo + qp, $.14?)
• 2 Whitehouse applesauce ($.75 qp for 2)

As you can see, you can save a lot of money when you shop during triple coupon week, especially when you combine a coupon with a sale.

Did you shop at Harris Teeter this week?  How did you do?

Belk is having an additional 50% off their red dot clearance merchandise.  Items are clearanced 25-50% regular prices and then an additional 50% is given off the clearance price. This makes many items 75% off.

The 50% red dot sale is my favorite time to shop at Belk.  Many times I have left the store paying $5-10 for my pants, tops, and skirts. 

Today I shopped at Belk and I purchased two pairs of men’s Izod pants, a boys’ Airwalk t-shirt, and a women’s dress with jacket for only $50.  The dress was the most expensive item.  It’s been a few years since I’ve had a new dress, so I was excited to find such a great deal.

One of the best deals I saw today was for a girls’ white dress.  The regular prices were $120-130. The dresses were on clearance for $20-30 each.  The smallest size they had was a 7 and I was disappointed because I wanted one for my little girl.

I am not certain when this sale ends.  It might be Sunday evening, so you may want to call ahead before shopping.  Happy saving!

image sxc.hu

For quite a while now I’ve been using the same coupon organization system. I was using The Grocery Game to help me find deals on groceries. The Grocery Game tells you which week of the paper to pull the coupons from so that you don’t need to clip the coupons until you need them.

The filing system shown above a great system to use if you’re only using The Grocery Game.  I definitely like the convenience of the system.  The big problem is, I’m missing out on saving money on unadvertised specials, close-outs, and triple coupon sales.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been in a store and seen an advertised special or close-out item.  I know I have a coupon for the item, but since the coupons are not clipped, I have to search through all the inserts and hope to find what I need.

Finally I have switched to a new coupon organizing system!

I am now using the coupon organizer inserts from Smart Spending Resources.  The coupon organizer inserts fit into a regular 3-ring binder which sits on your grocery cart allowing you to flip through the binder and find the coupons you need.  A few things I like about this system from Smart Spending Resources:

1)  The coupons can be easily viewed.
2) The tabs are neat and professionally printed.
3) You can easily find coupons you need for unadvertised specials, close-outs, and triple coupon deals.
4) The system is neat and keeps loose coupons under control.
5) The system is expandable. More pages can easily be added to each section as needed.

A few tips for those who are interested in this system:
1) Be sure to buy an oversized 3-ring binder. I bought a regular binder and I mine is slipping around on the cart. I plan to pick up a larger binder the next time I go to the store. It will make couponing so much easier.
2) I would recommend purchases extra insert pages.
3) You might want to consider buying a zipper pencil pouch for your binder. I purchased one and will use it to put coupons I know that I will be using or to store my pen and calculator.

As always, I try to provide an honest product review, so I will tell you that this system is a lot more time consuming than my previous method.  I feel that the savings will be worth my time though.  As I’ve told you all before . . . Time is Money but Money is Time.

Have you tried the binder organizing system?

top image (c) Karen Weideman, bottom image (c) Smart Spending Resources

I went to the dollar store today for some packing tape.  While I was there, I decided to walk around for a few minutes and I saw a package of pull-ups inside of a bin.  It looked like it was some stuff that the manager was working on or marking down to clearance. 

I inquired about the pull-ups in the bin because they had been opened and taped with packing tape.  I thought perhaps I could get them to mark down the pull-ups since someone had opened them.  At first the lady told me that they weren’t going to mark them down and then a few moments later she came back to me and said that they would mark them half price. 

The original price of the pull-ups was $10.  They marked them down to $5 and then I asked if they accepted manufacturer’s coupons.  The cashier said that they did so I put my stuff down and went out to the car to get my $1.50 coupon.  I ended up paying $3.50 for the package.  Sometimes it pays to ask.

Has asking for a discount ever paid off for you?

image from walgreens

Yesterday, I gave a small introduction to stockpiling basics.  You can expect more of these money saving tips in upcoming posts.  Some of you may be wondering what I am stockpiling this week.  This week, I am stockpiling ground chuck.

Food Lion has their ground chuck on sale this week for only $1.69/lb.  Normally, you would pay $3.50 or more per pound for ground chuck.  You certainly don’t want to pay that price when you can stockpile it now on sale for later use.  By the way, if you plan on heading out to Food Lion, you’ll want to check this Food Lion sale and coupon match-up from A Full Cup.

By the way, I am in desperate need of a freezer.  I sold ours when we moved and I’m hoping to find a good deal on one before the ground chuck sale ends on Tuesday. If I have the freezer space, I plan to buy 15-20 lbs of the meat.  A freezer is essential for stockpiling sales on meats and frozen foods. 

Are you taking advantage of the Memorial Day sales?

image sxc.hu