Publix trip!

It's been a little while since we posted about our grocery savings. Not that we haven't been doing some wondermous deals... it's jsut that, well, life be so daily. :) We're beginnning to get a bit of a reputation at our local Publix market. Tonight's list was very short, as we're pretty well stocked up with most of our needs, However, deals like these are just too hard to pass up.

We picked up:
2 packages of beef hot dogs
2 packages of turkey hot dogs
4 Kid Cuisine meals
2 cartons of Florida's Natural OJ
2 Philadelphia Cooking Cremes
2 packages of Vigo yellow rice
2 Reese's PB cups.

Coupons we used:
(2) Buy 1 Oscar Mayer beef hot dogs, get 1 OM turkey dogs free
(2) Buy OM hot dogs, get $1 off Publix produce
(1) Buy 3 OM hot dogs, get 1 free (Target coupon)
(1) Get 1 Philly Cooking Creme FREE
(1) $1.50 off one Philly Cooking Creme
(2) $1 off 2 Kid Cuisine meals
(2) 50¢ off Vigo yellow rice
(1) B1G1 PB cups (Target coupon)
(1) $5 off $25 purchase (CVS coupon)

Our grand total was $3.49; we saved $38.36! That's a 91.7% savings! ♥
(Sorry we didn't get a picture. Long day, long trip home, rush to get frozen items put away.)

God bless your budget!

Tallahassee Italian Family Festa - 55% Discount!!!

We're sure some of our local readers will be taking in the Festa, so thought we'd help you save a few lira.

$9 for Two Adult Weekend Passes to the Tallahassee Italian Family Festa February 19 and 20 ($20 Value). Children 12 and under get in free. As always, be sure to read the fine print; it's brief. 8-]

Disclaimer: Yes, we get a small credit if you go through our link.

Current Tampa Bay Groupon deals!

Tarpon Springs $9 for Island Adventure Cruise and Tour from Sun Line Cruises (Up to $20 Value)

Lutz $15 for $30 Worth of Children's Clothes, Toys, Furniture, and Equipment at All About Kids in Lutz

Tampa $45 for 10 Cycling Classes at Ryde For Life ($125 Value)

SOLD OUT!!! St. Petersburg $59 for a One-Night Deluxe Room Stay with a Bottle of Wine and Breakfast at The Pier Hotel (Up to $198 Value)

Sarasota Up to 52% Off Salon Services at Details Salon in Sarasota. Choose Between Two Options.

Half off an Amazon Gift Card... better HURRY!

This is a blue moon deal, for sure! For $10, at LivingSocial, you can get a $20 Amazon Gift Card! You know this one will go fast! Limit one!
Oh, and they gave us $5 (Deal Bucks) to use on our next purchase! SWEET! ж:-)

Disclosure: If 3 people snag the deal using our link, our deal is free!

Groupon helps keep your resolutions!

Check your city's Groupon deals today! They're chock full of gym memberships and fitness classes and salon treatments, all at 50-90% off! If you don't make resolutions, how about a 57% discount on Salsa or Zumba lessons in the Fort Lauderdale area? Or 52% off a "Keys to the City" Wristband at Sam's Fun City in Pensacola? Atlanta's Groupon is good for an 88% discount at Sylvan Learning Centers!!!


Groupon deals can be found all over the country. And they're adding new cities all the time. See what's in your area! Most Groupons are good for at least several months, many up to a year, so you can use them at your convenience. If you see a deal you like, grab it now, before it sells out or time to buy runs out.

$5/5 at OneStopPlus!

There are still some amazing deals going on! With the $5/$5 code and FREE shipping, we just got this mock turtleneck for a whopping 29¢ at One Stop Plus! Just use code CHNEG5 at checkout. The code is, apparently, good on almost anything on the site. Better hurry! These deals always go FAST!

Newspaperless experiment

We've decided to stop buying Sunday papers for a while. We end up with huge stacks to haul to the recycle station in the next county. (Our county has no recycling program as yet). And, despite our good intentions, the unused/expired coupons don't regularly get sent to our military families.

So far, it's been working out better than we hoped. 'Buying' the coupons online reduces waste and makes it much easier/cheaper for us to stock up on items we use often. Example: we 'bought' 12 Idahoan coupons for a total, including shipping, of $2.07. Using the coupons during a BOGO, we got 24 FREE packages! This was a $30 value, so we're actually $27.93 ahead! Yes, we're thinking this experiment is going to be a monumental success. the pantry is filling up nicely and the grocery account is still in the black. Momma's happy! 8-]

Black Friday (and more) Doorbusters at JoAnn!!!

Better get there early for this super deal! While supplies last, JoAnn is offering this Cricut® Personal Electronic Cutter - regularly $199.99 - for $59.99!!! Click the pic to see this and other Friday doorbusters.

Click here for Saturday's and here for Sunday's doorbusters.

Summer sandal savings

We're back, at last, after dealing with some health issues that severely curtailed our computer activities.

We're tickled to share with you our latest super deal. While it may seem unnoteworthy to some, we Floridians have a 'different' list of essentials. RIght now, Dollar General has summer merchandise on clearance. We found several pairs of flip flops for 30¢ each and a nice pair of summer sandals for $2.40! Some 'nicer flip flops' were as low as 60¢! These are going very fast, so don't delay!

God bless your budget!

Save on ink!

Do you ever print out your shopping list? You might want to change your font!

A study by Printer.com, a Dutch independent printer comparison Web site, found that consumers can save anywhere from $20 to $80 per year on printing costs just by changing the font on their documents. Fonts, depending on their thickness of lines and height of characters, require varying amounts of printer ink, meaning the more efficient your font is, the fewer ink cartridges you have to buy. read more...

God bless your budget!

The dots are moving at Beall's Outlet

Beall's Outlet clearance merchandise is marked with coloured dots that indicate the % off the ticketed outlet price. Near the end of each month, the dots move! For example, items that were marked 70% off will now be 95% off! Combined with a Monday or Friday Club sale and a completed frequent shopper card, this makes for some out of this world bargains!

God bless your budget!

Save $5 on Creation Illustrated

Pay now by credit card and save $5 per year, per subscription!
Multiple years save even more!


Save $5 on a One-Year Subscription!
Subscribe Now for Only $14.95 (Reg. $19.95)
Not Sure? Try a Free Introductory Issue.

If, for any reason, you are not completely satisfied with
Creation Illustrated, you may cancel your subscription
and receive a complete refund for all unmailed copies.

Reversing the cash flow! 19¢ PROFIT!

We had a short list again today, coz we really wanted some muffins, but payday isn't till Wednesday. We had calculated the total to the penny and reckoned it was going to set us back all of 4¢.


It worked out like this:
(2) ½-gallon cartons Smart Balance milk - BOGO = $3.59
(2) 4-count Publix bakery muffins - also BOGO = $2.89
(4) Kraft Sandwich Shop Mayo @ $1.99 = $.7.96
(4) ears of corn @ 10/$1.49 = 60¢
Grand total = $15.04

We used:
(2) $2/1 Smart Balance coupons
(4) $1/1 Kraft SS Mayo (manuf) coupons
(4) $1/1 Kraft SS Mayo (Publix) coupons
(1) $3/$15 competitor's coupon

We're not entirely sure how it happened, but the cashier said she couldn't accept one of the $1 coupons, because it would result in a negative balance. Stupefied - huh?! - we asked if she couldn't key it down to zero. She consulted the manager, who told her to just scan it in and give us the overage! We walked in the store with a list and a handful of coupons and walked out with a bagful of groceries and 19¢ in our pocket!

We did, eventually, figure out HOW it happened, but we're still not sure just WHY. And frankly, my dear, we couldn't give a hoot! We're doing the making money at the market mambo! ☺

God bless your budget!

Duke's dandy drugstore deals!

The Duke made a last-minute run to CVS and Walgreens this afternoon and scored better than planned.

At Walgreens, he picked up one Re-nu contact solution ($7.49) and two Butterfingers (50¢ each) as fillers (coz he had 3 coupons). He used one $2 Re-nu coupon, two $2 RR's and an old Wags gc that had $1.69 left on it. Total OOP was $1.40 and he got a $7.50 RR. Plus, we get 15¢ back for every purchase using our bank's ATM card!

Next, at CVS... we decided to hold on to our ECB's till the new sale starts tomorrow. We started out with one CVS coupon for a free Dove bar or $2 off a larger amount and one free gift (choice of one 20-pk antibacterial wipes or shave cream ) coupon. The only other items on our list were 2 PowerBars @ 99¢, each of which gave us a 99¢ ECB. The Duke grabbed the shave cream ($1.49), 2 PowerBars ($1.98) and a Dove bar (89¢). The register took $2 off for the Dove and $1.79 for the shave cream, leaving a total of 57¢ and 10¢ tax. So, 67¢ OOP and we saved $3.79. AND we got $1.98 in ECB's. That, along with a $1 ECB for his 4th green bag tag* scan and the 15¢ ATM rebate, gives us a $2.46 profit!


Honestly, 6 months ago, we would have taken very little stock in the notion of saving money at CVS or Walgreens. But we're sitting here now with $46 in ECBs, a fistful of CVS coupons and a cupboard chock full of toiletries and paper products, most of which were dirt cheap if not free. The hardest part of the whole process is planning the best strategy to roll the ECB's/RR's. For beginners who might find that a challenge, just go back to our blog list (lower right) and you'll quickly find someone who has already posted some suggested scenarios. Go for it! Just think, once you're paying pennies on the dollar for all your toiletries, you'll have so much more in your budget for those pricey organics! 8-]

God bless your budget!

*'CVS/pharmacy will donate 5 cents to World Wildlife Fund for every Green Bag Tag™ sold between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.'

Super-saving at the grocery!

Publix was out of Tony's pizzas the other day, so we made a quick stop this evening, last day of this week's sale. Using five $1/2 Simply Potatoes coupons, four $1/2 Tony's coupons, two Publix coupons for the berries, and one competitor's coupon, we scored 8 pizzas, 10 potatoes and 2 pints of blueberries for exactly... drum roll, please...

$1.00! Average cost per item: 5¢! If we'd been sure they'd accept the particular competitor's coupons we used, we'd have gotten four more Simply Potatoes and paid NOTHING! But we're definitely not complaining!

God bless your budget!

Pinching pennies at Publix

We've long since lost count of how many times we've been asked, 'Is it really worth it?', when discussing coupons. Well, of course it is! Today's Publix trip is a good example. We spent $8.18, plus the tax on the Kool-Aid, and saved $42.96! That's a little more than 84% off! Average cost per item was just a fraction over 48¢.

How did we do it? Here's the breakdown:
2 Contessa Green Cuisine Meals @ $4.99 - $3.49 each after coupons
2 Eggo Waffles [BOGO] @ $2.59 - 11¢ overage after coupons
2 Bailey's Coffee Creamer [BOGO] @ $2.09 - $1.10 overage after coupons
4 Green Giant Frozen Vegetables @ $1.00 - 75¢ each after coupons
2 Arnold WholeGrain Bread [BOGO] @ 3.69 - no coupons
1 Kool-Aid Fun Fizz Drink Drops @ $1.99 - FREE after coupon
1 Philadelphia Minis @ $1.99 - FREE after coupon
1 pint blueberries @ $1.50 - FREE after coupon
1 5.6-oz raspberries @ $2.00 - 50¢ after coupon
1 tomato @ 79¢ lb. - 52¢, no coupon
And we used a $5/$25 from a competitor

So, are you convinced now? Really, it doesn't take that much time to clip. And most of the legwork has already been done for you. Just google for couponing blogs and you'll find someone who has matched the weekly sales with available coupons. Or click one of the links in our blog roll. Click, snip, save!!!

God bless your budget!

More deals at Bealls

Click the button below to save an extra 10-20% through Saturday, 19 June.


Celebrate Pink Flamingo Day with a $5 coupon, good 18-20 June. Prefer to shop online? Get free shipping with code 'Flamingo'. More details here.

Thanks, Maria!

Stein Mart Deals

Don't forget to skim through those Sunday circulars. On Stein Mart's (current) back page you'll find two coupons: one for 'an extra 20% off any one item' and one for 'an extra 20% off all Red Dot Clearance' both good through 20 June.

Also, if you sign up for their email list, you'll receive a 20% coupon toward your next purchase. While you're there, sign up for their preferred customer program and get:

• Preview copies of select circulars mailed to your home
• Members-only shopping days
• 20% off birthday discounts
• Email announcements

Still waiting

Yes, we're still waiting to get our computer back up and running. Meanwhile, we just wanted to thank y'all for checking in on us now and again. And to remind you to print out those coupons as soon as you see them. She who hesitates might not find them there tomorrow.

Funny, we find that we're not missing the computer as much as we thought. In fact, when Little Lord Parsimony offered the use of his last night, we weren't all that keen. We are determined to well use this time to clear the treadmill and use it as it was intended, and we've been bouncing daily on the mini trampouline. It's already getting a bit hot and humid for walking through the village, but a daily turn round the royal gardens is quite refreshing. We've enjoyed some lovely salads and steamed broccoli from the veg plot. Hopefully, we'll have potatoes and tomatoes soonly. Mr. Stripey (tomato) is the family favourite.

Are you gardening this year? It's a wonderful diversion and money-saver. With tomato prices ever increasing, growing your own just makes cents. ξ:-)

God bless your budget!

Winn Dixie meal deal

Winn Dixie is doing the Tombstone Pizza deal again. Buy 2 Tombstone PIzzas for $11.98 and get Cole's garlic breadsticks, Totino's pizza rolls, a 2-liter Pepsi product, and 48-ounce Breyers ice cream FREE! This offer is good through 4 May.

To save even more, use these coupons:

. . . 50¢/1 Cole’s Brand Breads, printable

. . . 35¢/1 Totino’s Pizza Rolls snacks SS 4/18

God bless your budget!