This really is a week of "so many coupons, so little time" for me! I never have time to pick up all the amazing deals that are at the stores each week.

I did hit Walgreens for free Triaminic and True North snacks. Should I get free Cover Girl at Rite-Aid? Should I go to Target for free Kashi cereal? Should I go to Kroger for free bacon and Reeses? When all these options are swirling in my head, and I have limited time because of other responsibilities, I try to go for what our family most needs, and work it into my other errands.

We already have tons of cereal, so I am letting Kashi at Target pass.

I am running low on kids' cold medicine, so I did work that in at Walgreens.

Publix is always a must!

I don't need makeup as much as I need food, to Kroger wins!!

I printed some $3/1 Smithfield Bacon coupons last month from the company website. (I wish they were still available.) I've been waiting for it to go on sale!

2 x Smithfield bacon, $2.50 each - $3 Qs = FREE plus $1 overage

4 Reeses cups, 50c each - 2 x 55c Qs and 2 x BOGO Qs = FREE plus 10c overage

2 x Arnold bread, $1.09 each (great price!)

Oodles of apples, $1/lb.

It's nice to have the overage to go toward my oodles of apples!

Free Yakisoba Noodle Bowls at Publix

Did you receive a 50c/1 Yakisoba coupon in last Sunday's insert (8/23)? If your Publix store doubles, you can get these for free with possible overage. The regular price of these babies is 89c at Publix. You can probably get them for free at Kroger, too, but I haven't checked the price lately. (Kroger registers do not allow for overage and will adjust down the "doubled" value of the coupon.)

My son likes to take these to school for lunch. They make a nice change from sandwiches.

Blessings.

Fun in the Mail & Kroger Mega Sale

Sometimes going to the mailbox is a little bit like Christmas. You never know what goodies you are going to receive. In yesterday's mail I received

(1) A mailer from Vocalpoint for a free box of Rice Krispies (and several other coupons for Rice Krispies.) If you haven't signed up for Vocalpoint yet, I recommend that you do so. They send out fantastic coupons and free samples. This year I have received free Kashi Waffles, a free Bounce Dryer Bar, some great high-value coupons, and the free box of Kellogg's Rice Krispies.

(2) I also received a free sample of Mighty Leaf Tea from Kroger's webstite. It hit the spot while I sorted and filed my coupons. I don't think this sample is still available, but there are other free samples available HERE shipped right to your door!

(3) Lastly, I received a mailer from Kroger (with coupons) for the upcoming Mega Sale Event. I've seen some buzz about this in the blog-o-sphere, and I'm looking forward to a great two weeks shopping. (Publix's ad doesn't excite me very much this week, so Kroger will be getting my business most likely.) The Mega Event lasts August 16 - August 29.

The Mega Sale gives you the opportunity to earn $5 off your grocery bill for each set of 10 participating items that you purchase. That works out to 50c per item, plus you can also use coupons. This is one of the few times at Kroger that you can actually get overage on your purchases. The $5 credit is separate from your sale pricing and coupons.

Here are the rumored products that the Mega Event will mostly be General Mills products and affiliated brands including:

AMP Energy, Aquafina, Betty Crocker Baking Mixes, Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks, Cascadian Farms Cereals and Bars, Cap’n Crunch, Cheerios, Cheetos, Chex Mix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Dole Juices and Juice Drinks, Fiber One, Fritos, Gatorade, Golden Grahams, Green Giant, Hamburger Helper, Life , Lipton Tea, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Pepsi family of 2 Liters, Pillsbury, Progresso, Propel, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, Quaker Chewy Bars, Starbucks, Sobe Life Water, Totino’s, Trix, Tropicana, Yoplait and MORE!

Fortunately for us, there are tons of these coupons floating around from the Sunday inserts. There are also many, many more coupons for these guys at coupons.com and smartsource.com.

Here are some other hints for shopping the Mega Event:

(1) You must have groups of 10 products to earn the $5 discount. Double, triple, and quadruple check you item count before you check out. It would be a shame to go to the register with 19 items, and only earn one $5 discount, instead of hitting the 20-item mark and getting two $5 discounts.

(2) You can have more than one group of 10 Mega Sale Items, just make sure you have groups of 10. Some of Kroger's Mega Sales limit you to three discounts. It is rumored that there won't be a limit this time.

(3) Bring extra ideas and coupons to the store in case some of your planned purchases are sold out. This can easily happen. You plan to buy certain things, but the shelf has already been cleaned out. Build in some flexibility to your shopping plan, and don't worry. The sale lasts two weeks.

(4) In the event that you have overage on some of your purchases, make sure you have enough items in your order to absorb the credit. For example, if you buy five things that earn you 50 cents overage, that gives you $2.50 overage total. Do not expect to get cash out of the till. Use the overage to buy something that you can't usually get a good deal on. For me, it's usually produce, milk, and eggs!

Kroger usually puts the new sale up on their website on Saturday morning. Have fun, and happy shopping.

Two Fun Instant Win Games

Kroger is sponsoring a "Gas and Grocery" sweepstakes on their website. They are giving away 5,000 prizes, including a diamond pendant, $25 Best Buy gift cards, $25 Olive Garden Gift Cards, $25 Home Depot Gift Cards, $25 Barnes and Noble Gift Cards, $25 Kroger Gift Cards, $25 itunes Gift Cards, and $5 store credits.

You can play once per day until September 11th. I haven't won yet, but I'm giving it a try. While you are at the Kroger website, make sure you are signed up to received coupons and special offers from Kroger in the mail. They send out great coupons periodically.

Go HERE to give it a try.

Another instant win game is going on over at Pace Foods. You can win a free jar of salsa. Click HERE, and you can enter once per day.

Kroger and Walgreens: Lots of Frees (Wags Paid Me!)

I hit Walgreens and Kroger while my son was in music lessons today. I had something happen that has never happened to me before. Walgreens paid me money back to shop there!

Walgreens

M&Ms, 49c

Twix, 49c

Milky Way, 49c

Milky Way Dark, 49c

2 Rimmel Nail Polish, Buy-One Get-One sale

Used 2 x $1/2 Mars products

Used 1 Buy-One Get-One Free Manufacturer Q.

I was expecting to pay tax on this transaction, but the cashier handed me a gift card with a 20c credit on it!

Kroger

My receipt got completely eaten up in the register, so I do not know what percentage I saved, but I expect it was over 85%. If I had not bought the apples and potatoes, it would have been in the high 90% range.

8 Playtex Handsaver Gloves, $1 ea - $1 Q = FREE

5 Crest Toothpastes, $1 ea - 50c Q, doubled = FREE

(coupons expire on 7/31)

5 Oral B Toothbrushes, $1 ea - $1 Q = FREE

(coupons expire on 7/31)

2 Purina Friskies Cat Food, $3.29 - $3.50 Q (www.giveabowl.com) = FREE

(cashier adjusted down the value of the coupon)

I also received a catalina coupon for $1 off my next shopping order for buying 2 Friskies. This makes my cat food a $1 money maker.

4 Eggo Waffles, 98c - $1 Q = FREE

(These are part of a Thursday only 50% off Kellogg's Sale at Kroger. My cashier adjusted down the value of the coupons. Kroger registers do not allow overage.)

7 Mahatma White Rice 1 lb., $1.09 - ea - 50c Q, doubled = 9c each

1 Mahatma Brown Rice, 28 oz, $2.29 - 50c Q, doubled = $1.29

(My coupons would expire on 7/31.)

Cinnabon Bars, $1.99 - $1 Printable = 99c

(Also part of the Kellogg's Thursday 50% off sale.)

10 lbs. potatoes, $1.99

3 lbs. apples, $2.49, Manager's Special

Kroger: Mega Event

I went by Kroger today to work the Mega Event. In this event, if you buy 10 specially designated items (has to be 10), the register will deduct $5 from your total. This works out to 50c discount per item, which makes many things very, very cheap or free after coupons and Mega Event discount. These sales can be fun, but are also a lot of work to research, find your coupons, and plan out the trip in batches of 10.

Here's how it all panned out....

2 Boxes Kleenex Ultra-Soft Tissues, $1.49 - 50c Mega Sale - 50c/2 Q doubled = 50c each

9 Boxes Kleenex Tissues (Regular), $1.49 - 50c Mega Sale - 3 x $50/3 Q doubled = 66 c each

2 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Bars, $2.49 - 50c Mega Sale - $1/2 Q from package insert = $1.49 each

3 x Playtex Gloves, $1.00 each - 50c Q doubled - 50c Mega Sale = FREE plus 50c overage each

Whiskas Cat Treats, $1.49 - 50c Mega Event - 50c Q, doubled = FREE

Philadelphia Cream Cheese, $1.29 - 50c Mega Event -$1 Q (from Publix "Grape" magazine) = FREE plus 21c overage

Sara Lee bread, $1.99 - 50c Mega Sale = $1.49

2 x Cottonelle Wipes, $2.69 - 50c Qs doubled = $1.69 each (not part of Mega Sale)

Total Spent, $13.01 before tax.

Total Savings $38.27, or 74%

Kroger Trip: Very Cheap Boneless Chicken Breasts

As usual, I do most of my shopping at Publix, but swoop in from time to time at Kroger. They usually have better milk and meat prices, so it's worth an occasional trip, usually when I am on my way home from somewhere.

I had five coupons for $1 off any Tyson fresh chicken product. Kroger has Tyson chicken breasts on sale for $1.99/lb. Pick the smaller packages for maximum percentage savings.

I bought 9.13 lbs. of chicken

Coupons $5.00

Final price $13.86

Total cost of Kroger shopping trip: $36.74, including tax. I will total up my food expenditures for the week for the All*You Grocery Challenge.

Adjusted "price" of chicken is $1.52/lb

Kroger Trip: Saved 61% on Chicken, Cheese, Sunscreen & Purex

I made a little Kroger trip today.

I wanted to buy some Tyson $1.99/lb boneless, skinless chicken and use a $1/1 fresh Tyson printable (no longer available - sorry.) It made the chicken work out to $1.28/lb after coupons. Hint: If you have a $ off for any size package, buy the smaller packages to maximize your savings!

Also bought 3 Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen on sale for half price, all of which had $1 off peelies on them! It made the 50 SPF lotion $3.50 each, and the 15 SPF lotion only $3.15!

Part of the current Kroger sale is a special where, if you buy 10 participating items, you get $3 off you order (30c each per item.) I bought 7 packs of Kroger cheese (8 oz.) and 3 bottles of Purex. These are the price after the 30c discount:

Purex Laundry Detergent $2.49 - 35c Q, doubled = $1.79 each

These bottles plus my stockpile will give me enough detergent to last at least 6 months.

Kroger 8 oz. cheese, $1.03 (A great price for cheese, and I find the quality to be equal to that of Kraft. Additionally, Kraft has reduced their package size to 7 oz., from 8 oz., so you are getting 12.5% less!)

Kroger Trip: Saved 37%

I have a hard time matching my Publix savings when I shop at Kroger.  I did want to pick up $1.99 chicken and $1.99 milk at Kroger, and found a couple of good deals, too.

$1 Carefree - $1 Q = FREE (I found the Q in Redbook magazine, a free subscription)

Sargento shredded cheese $1.79 - 40c Q doubled = 99c

Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner (50% off this week) $1.29 - 50c Q doubled = 29c

(I wish I had more of those Qs, but the one I found came in my coupon train from out of state!)

2 x 88c eggs

Yoplait Yogurts 6 x 50c - 40c Q doubled.  There is a eQ on Cellfire, too, but I have a new card and haven't bothered to register the new card yet!

Gala Apples - 3.3 lb x $1.73/lb = $5.76  -- Hubby really believes in "an apple a day!"

Sunmaid Raisins $3.99 - not such a good price, but we needed them.

Total Savings:  37%

76% Savings at Kroger

I stopped by Kroger on the way home from taking my kids to school.

I had heard from a friend that Kroger would double only one of a like coupon, and the others would only ring up at face value.  I'm happy to report that that was not true on my Kroger trip today.  I used 2 x 50c Angel Soft toilet tissue coupons and 5 x 50c Mahatma rice coupons, all of which doubled!  (It made the TP 28c per 4-pack and the rice FREE!)

 Kraft BBQ sauce is $1.25 each.  You can get your own $1 off printable coupons HERE and HERE.  Final price is 25c each!  This is a good time to stock up on condiments, as they are never on sale in the winter!

Milk $1.99

Rice 99c - 50c Q  doubled = FREE

TP = $1.28 - 50c Q doubled = 28 c

Kroger cereal bars = FREE with coupon from Kroger home mailer*

Propel water = FREE with coupon from the Kroger catalina machine

Pizza Cheese, 8 oz $1.19 each.  I needed these for pizza later this week!  (These actually rang up at $1.99, so I had to go to customer service for a refund of the overcharged amount.  Too bad Kroger doesn't have an equivalent of the Publix Promise!)

*If you have not registered your Kroger card on the Kroger website, you should do so, and sign up to receive the home mailers.  They issue these about once per quarter, and send you coupons for the things you use.  Usually they send you a coupon or two for a FREE item!

Final cost for all the above items:  $7.10, or 76% saved!