Albertsons 12/16-12/24

Lots of good deals on soda pop, meat, baking good, party items, check out grocery smarts matchups if you need a ingredient for that special holiday dish.

• Clementines $4.99 for 5 lbs box, $1 coupon from 12/6 SS


• Kraft Shredded Cheese $1.49, use $1/2 from 11/15 RP


• Minute Maid Orange Juice $1.99


• Del Monte canned veggies $0.50, use with this $1/4 coupon


• Buy one Sara Lee Pie, get another pie and 2 Cool Whips free


• Dole Pineapple and Mandarin Oranges $1, use coupon for both in 11/8 SS


• Tree Top Juice $1.67, use $1/2 at this link

Rite Aid 4 day sale 12/16-12/19

I am loving these four day sales, wish they did it every week. Check out the deals of the week here, including the updated Prell deals, no coupons needed!

• Duracell Batteries $5.99, use with $0.50 coupon from Sunday's paper, spend $15 get $5 SCR


• Buy any Gillette Razor or cartridge, get a Gillette Deodorant free. Use get free Gillette body wash, when you buy any Gillette Deodorant (11/1 P&G), $4 off Gillette razor (11/29 P&G), and $1 off Deodorant (11/29 P&G)


• Buy two Old Spice or Secret Deodorant, get one free. Use get free Old Spice Body Spray when you buy 3 Old Spice deodorants (11/1 P&G), $1 off two Old Spice deodorant (11/29 P&G) or Buy 2 secret deodorants get one free (11/1 P&G), $0.50 off Secret deodorant (11/1 P&G) PLUS qualify for a $2 SCR when you buy any two Old Spice or Secret Deodorants.

The 12 steps to couponing

Let's review the steps

1. The rules you must obey
A. Always use coupons with a sale
B. It's okay to let coupons expire
C. Don't hit every deal
2. Gather info (read blogs!!)
3. Gather coupons (paper, online, packages, in store, mail, magazines, etc..etc..)
4. Organize your coupons (find a system that works for you)
5. Plan your trip (list and coupon to use)
6. Shop (be vigilant, observant, and polite)
7. Home (look it over, plan your meals)
8. Balance your stockpile (become a storer not a hoarder!)
9. Use rebates
10. Share (what your learned, deals you find with others)
11. Make it a habit (fit your new way of shopping into your schedule)
12. Limit (learn what deals to hit or miss and stay on budget)

I hoped these steps have helped you become a better shopper and couponer. Please take a minute to review them. Don't give up and don't get frustrated. Start slow and simple, you will get it! Remember couponing is like a part time job (10-20 hours/week for me, including blog time). I saved $60 today at the grocery store and it took me about 1 hour to plan. $60 an hour is a pretty nice part time job if you ask me.

Rite Aid 12/13-12/19

This is the only $5/25 coupon that I know of out there. Hopefully they will release another soon, I know they will. Also you can always get a $5/20 coupon at video values at riteaid.com. Now on to the deals!

*Free: Philips Flip Universal Remote $9.99, $10 SCR

*Buy $20 in Hershey's Products get $5 SCR, Hershey's Kisses on sale for $1.99, use buy 3 get one free coupon from 12/6 SS. Hershey's Miniature are also on sale for $1.99, use $1/2 coupon from 12/6 SS for some cheap stocking candy.

*Free: Chapstick fresh effect $2.99, get $2.99 SCR

*Band-aid $1.99, with in ad coupon only 0.99

*Nivea Lip Care $2.99, $2 SCR

*Overage: Prell Shampoo 0.99, $2 SCR, overage of $1.01 UPDATE: You can get 5 SCRs on this item, so buy 5 Prells and make $5.05 in overage!

*Free: LA Looks Gel 0.99, use $1 coupon from 10/4 SS

*7 UP two liters, three for $3.99, use in ad coupon to get 3 for $1.99 UPDATE: Sunkist is included, use $1/2 from 11/15 SS to get 3 2 liters for $0.99!

Also please check out hip 2 save for some AWESOME scenarios. Check back on Tuesday when I post the deals for the 4 day ad. Cheap batteries to finish your Duracell deal!

Blogosphere deals

One of the best things about blogging, is finding and sharing good links. Here are my two favorite from yesterday:

the krazy coupon lady has a giveaway for their coupon book. What a great way to learn more tips. I just might have to order myself this for Christmas.

frugal living nw has some great "money maker" ideas on that great Olay lotion rebate. I have some of this and is smells wonderful. Here is the rebate form, basically it is buy two Olay Quench body lotion, get a full rebate. There are some great coupons circulating that allow you to also get two free body washes with your lotions, so check frugal living to see how.

Did you find some great deals somewhere, please share.

Friday Food for Thought

Quote of the week:

My mother-in-law, who is not a couponer, but one of the best shopping buddies in the world, just bought a boutique-style, expensive looking nativity set. She showed it to us and mentioned that she got it 50% off. My husband questioned how much it was. She smiled and said:

"It doesn't matter how much, the more expensive it is the more you save when it goes on sale."

Albertsons Doubles Catalina

I had read about a doubles catalina printing at Albertsons from fabulessly frugal. Since I had a few items to get for a holiday party, I decided to check it out. The deal is spend $25 get 3 double manufacturer's coupons catalina (exactly like the regular doubles). You have to spend the $25 between now and Sunday and spend the catalinas between now and Tuesday. I was a little concerned because I was wondering if this was Albertsons "new" way to have us get doubles, instead of releasing them in the paper. The cashier/manager/5 star! said, "No this is just an extra thing going on right now." So there you have it, if you are headed out to do a $15 catalina promo, just add the extra $10 with something you need and then you will get the doubles to use.

Q & A

Question: I really want to learn this couponing thing, I just get so confused and overwhelmed. Where do I even start?


First thing, USE COUPONS WITH SALES. Second thing, collect coupons (Sunday and online)and get informed. (Blogs). Review my steps. Start slow, choose ONE store and just coupon there for a few times. Then gradually start adding stacked coupons, rebates, and other tricks into the mix. The most important thing is not to get discouraged. One day it will all click. Be sure to ask lots of questions to me and other bloggers, we have blogs set up to help people learn. That would be my best advice, what is yours?

Store Secrets: Land of No Doubles and other Coupon Injustices

I live in the Pacific Northwest, more specifically Oregon. I have also lived in Utah for most of my life and guess what all of these places are in the "land of no doubles." You know when you see those coupon tv stories where the lady fills her cart and pays like 27 cents, well how does she do it? Two secrets they don't tell you 1)she has like 20 coupons for the same item that happens to be priced so it is free that week and 2)she is going to a store that doubles or triples coupons. Yes some places routinely double or even triple coupons, no extra hassle, no extra coupons. Oh the irony to think I lived in the Midwest for two years as a poor newly wed graduate students and we never knew this. :(

The only time I get double magic is when KMart doubles, which hasn't happened for almost a year ago in the Northwest, or when Albertsons releases their doublers. I hate how you can only use three per transaction though. I am not really a fan of multiple transactions, plus when they did let me do it at Albertsons, they made me feel like I was getting away with something. Triples coupons, never even heard of it!

Another injustice is the price difference and lack of sale items in what is supposed to be a "national" ad...why? Why the unfairness? Aren't Western and Northwestern couponers deserving of the deals? Why do you hear about a great $3 coupon only to find it is $0.75 for your state or zip code? Seems just unfair to me, but maybe there is a reason, I just don't know it, do you?

And what about pulling the Red Plum inserts from the Utah, Idaho, and Nevada papers? Well, at least I can do something about that one. Go here to sign up for the Red Plum via mail. I have to warn you though, I tried this a few months ago and never got anything. However, Oregon still gets the Red Plum inserts in the paper and I did move since then, so probably one of those reasons is why. Which brings me to another injustice, why doesn't the postal service consider coupon mail "forwardable"? I know it is my favorite piece of mail to get, hmmm no love for the couponers.

What injustices have you noticed in your area? Let's vent!

Albertsons 12/9-12/15

Some better deals this week. Here are the deals I like.
In ad coupons:
*Darigold Sour Cream 99 cents, use $0.40 from 10/11 SS, limit 2.
*Sargento Shredded Cheese, $1.49, limit 4
*Tropicana Juice, $2.39, limit 2.
*Darigold Butter, $1.79, use $.30 from 11/22 SS, limit 2.

*Stouffer's Lasagna party size $8.99
*Tyson Anytizers $2.49, use with $1.50 from 10/11 SS

Yeah! We have a catalina promo! Spend $15 get $5 cat.

*$1 Items: Progresso Soups, Betty Crocker Cake Mix, Progresso Bread Crumbs, Green Giant Boil in Bag Veggies

*$2.49: General Mills Cereal, Granola, and Snack Bars

*$1.25: SoBe or Pepsi Soft Drinks

*$1.69: Pillsbury Crescent, Grands, Sweet Rolls, Gold Medal Flour

*$1.99: Betty Crocker Premium Brownies, Muffins, Fiber One Toaster Pastries

*$1.39: Progresso Soups

*$2.49: Pillsbury Cookie Dough, Pie Crusts, Big Cresent or Flaky Twists.

*$1.29: Old El Paso Refried Beans, Betty Crocker Potatoes

*$2.49: Old El Paso Dinner Kits

*$0.69: Green Giant canned veggies (good filler to get to $15)

*$1.69: Chex Mix, Bugles, Betty Crocker Cookies, Bisquick

*$1.99: Green Giant Steamers

*$1.49: Betty Crocker Frosting

*$4.99: Aquafina select varieties.

The best part is a lot of these products have three places to print off coupons, so you can get 6 per product. Check out coupons.com, smartsource.com, and boxtops4education (all on sidebar)
You should be able to do several transactions and "roll" your catalinas. We "might" even get doubles on Sunday to save even more (cross your fingers)! Check out a thrifty mom and the krazy coupon lady for more matchups.