Got baby?

Find out by going here to get $5 off an EPT home preggers test. Good chance this would make them pretty cheap at somewhere like Target or Wal$(*!. (I've been sort of dying to go to Walmart but we watched "the high cost of low price" a few years back and I'm afraid once I went in and saw some of the prices, I wouldn't be able to restrain myself...)

Free $5 Babies R Us gift card

Thanks Teresa over at Money Saving Maine-iac for posting this. Become a fan of Babies R Us here on Facebook and they'll email you a $5 e-card that can be used either online or in-store. This offer is only good today, so head on over.

Mesa Verde discounted gift cards

Looks like Mesa Verde just got added to the Maine Dollar Saver discounted gift certificates program. This is one of my faves for local Mexican food-- they have lots of vegetarian and vegan options too. You can save 30% by buying these $25 gift certificates for $17.50 here.

Whole Foods weekly specials

Here's this week's specials at Whole Foods, good from 1-27-10 to 2-2-10. You can go here to see them all. This usually comes out on their website on Tuesday nights. However, there are plenty o' other things on sale that don't make it to the flyer.

Bear Bond Queso Dip, $3.99
Haddock Fillet, $8.99/lb.
Organic Broccoli, $1.99/lb.
Bone-In Short Ribs of Beef, $3.49/lb. (Okay, is it just me or does "bone-in" sound like something Tiger Woods would sign up for?)
Grilled Chicken Drumsticks, $1.99/lb.
Chobani Greek Yogurt, $10 for 10, aka $1 for one. There were $1 off Chobani qs a while back making them free. Or you could go here and get one free if you buy two.
Kent Mangoes, 3 for $2
Organic Navel Oranges, $1.49/lb
Beef Skirt Steak, $6.99/lb
Fresh Air Chilled Whole Chickens, $1.59/lb
Organic Avocados, 2 for $4
Buffalo Wing Cheddar, $6.99/lb
Eggplant Parmesan, Family Size, $5.99
Genji Value Line Mix n Match Sushi, 2 for $6.99
Irene's Biscotti Crisps, 2 for $7
Pineland Farm's Crumbled Feta, $1.99 for 4 oz.
Robert's American Gourmet Pirate's Booty, 3 for $5 for 4 oz. bags
R.W. Knudsen Black Cherry Juice, 2 for $6
Bread & Circus Bakehouse Muesli Bread, $3.49
Robusto Gouda, $11.99/lb.
Santa Cruz Organic Applesauce, 2 for $6
Vita Coco Coconut Water, $1.79
Captain's Pack Appetizers, $6.99
Ducktrap Smoked Salmon, $4.99 for 4 oz.
Back to Nature Mint Fudge Cookies, 2 for $7-- use Whole Deal coupons to get 1 free Back to Nature Crackers with purchase of cookies
The Natural Dentist Mouth Rinse, 2 for $10

Blue Diamond Almond Milk, unsweetened, $1.99 Use $1 off coupon from Whole Deal and $.50 off here making these $.50 each! I tried it this morning in my oatmeal and it was pretty good.
Tazo tea, 3 for $10. Use $1 off Jan/Feb Whole Deal coupon and $1 off here bringing it down to about $1.33/box.

Remember to use up your coupons from the December issue of the Whole Deal-- they expire 1-31-10. And this seems simple but did you know that usually when a store advertises something is "2 for $5", you don't have to buy 2 to get the deal? I'm a little slow-- just realized this recently. Doy.

Think Thin bars

Thanks to Organic Deals and Coupons for this little lady.

I ate these like they were going out of style when I was pregnant. They're pretty tasty, and many of them are gluten free, vegan, and/or sugar free. Good stuff!

Not sure if Shaw's has these, but if they do, these coupons should double, bringing the savings to $1 off. And this is a rare internet printable in that you can print it off as many times as you'd like (so long as they keep it on their website) and it doesn't expire until the end o' the year.

Yeah, baby...

So yesterday at Whole Foods I ran into a little snafu with "stacking" my coupons-- using one from the Whole Deal coupon book and one manufacturer's coupon for the same item. The cashier wasn't sure if it was allowed so she called a manager, who kindly said it wasn't allowed but he'd let me use them this time. I was mildly embarrased, especially since I was holding up the line, but fortunately the woman behind me reinstated my self esteem by remarking, with a tone of pure wonder in her voice "where do you get all your coupons?" I instantly felt redeemed.

I used to be a pretty shy person who had a hard time standing up for herself. Since I've had a baby and gotten into couponing, that's changed a bit. And so I found myself yesterday writing an email to the Portland Whole Foods asking them to pretty please clarify their policy on stacking coupons. (My dearly departed grandparents, who were somewhat reknowned for writing frequent letters to the editor, would be so proud!) After all, they get reimbursed for manufacturer's coupons, as well as a handling fee for each one. So everybody wins, right?

Apparently so! A manager wrote be back and said that indeed, you can stack coupons at Whole Foods.

So hurray! I'm going to bring this email with me next time I go to Whole Foods, just in case. Stackity stack!

Another Decent Diaper Deal...

Target has Pampers and Huggies jumbo packs on sale for $8.99 this week. Jumbo packs aren't usually a good deal, but when you buy 3, you get a $5 Target gift card. And I have several $2 off Pampers that are only good through the end of this month and I won't be able to use them all-- so you could get 3 jumbo packs for $21 using 3 $2 off, and then get the $5 Target gift card-- not bad. Let me know if you want some of the $2 offs.

Rite on

Had a good trip to Rite Aid today. Here's what I got:

3 boxes of Ziplocs at $1.99 each(usually 3.99)
1 package of Purevia sweetener at $3.69
1 big box of Pampers baby dry diapers at $19.99

Total before coupons was $30.something

Here's what I used for coupons:
$1.50 off any 2 Ziplocs
$5 off $25 at Rite Aid from Coupons.com
$2 off Pampers coupon from newspaper
$2 off Purevia

That took $10.50 off my total, and then I used my Holiday gift of savings $20 gift certificate for the rest. Out of pocket = 0.

And, the 19.99 for the Pampers goes towards the Going for the Gold Proctor and Gamble promotion that I mentioned a few days ago http://portlandpennypincher.blogspot.com/2010/01/cheapish-diapers.html
Oh, and I should get a $5 SC Johnson rebate for the Ziplocs thanks to this little lady http://www.scjohnson.com/files/Rebate_Form.pdf here.

And, the cashier was coupon-friendly. Swoon.

Wild Harvest coups

A few good and healthy coupons for Shaw's Wild Harvest organics-- thanks to Money Saving Maine-iac http://www.moneysavingmaineac.com
for sharing these links:

http://www.wildharvestorganic.com/
http://coupons2.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=OIP4FV5HQ57SO

The first is buy 2 Wild Harvest pizzas, get one free, and the second is $1 off any Wild Harvest organic product. Good stuff.

Make a wish and get a chance for a $25,000 savings bond for your kiddo

Here's the link:
http://www.earthsbest.com/earths-best-wishes/wishes

Here's mine.

http://www.earthsbest.com/earths-best-wishes/makeawish3?action=view&key=2645D8EC9E5AD958706C9B4C8F839CEF

Frugal F&*@up

I'd like to introduce you to a new feature on my blog-- the Frugal F&*!up. In this feature I will be sharing with you frugal attempts that have gone horribly awry.

In this episode I'd like to share with you my recent experience with almond butter.

Long story short, almond butter has become a diet staple for me because when I eat peanut butter it seems to bother the nursling. All good and dandy except the generic Whole Foods brand runs about $6.99 a pop. And I go through about a pop a week. So, I decided to try making my own.

I purchased about $5 worth of almonds, and we used a gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond (plus coupon! plus mail in rebate!) upgrade our leaky blender to a shiny new blender-slash-food processor. We were in business.

Per online recommendations I roasted the almonds in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Then I called in the hubby to fire up the new Cuisinart. (Ever since my child was born I seem to have acquired this helpless thing. I think a integral part of my brain slipped out with the placenta. And how come I don't remember the first time I tried to nurse my baby, but I do remember the midwife asking "are you sure you don't want to see the placenta? Most people do!" The little glimpse of it I got was enough-- it's cool that it was inside of me, bringing sweet life to little one but gross!) Anyways, hubby ground up the almonds until they had "released their own oil" (isn't that what skunks do?), added a dash of olive oil, and we had instant almond butter! It was tasty, too. So where does teh F@*!up come in? Well, though it wasn't terribly labor intensive, it turns out that $5 worth of almonds (even bought at the bulk bin) doesn't go too far. I had enough to spread on maybe two rice cakes. And we were left with a sticky Cuisinart mess that looked like the cat had hurled on it.

On the bright side however, I have the satisfaction of knowing that if I was ever in a survivalist situation with a working Cuisinart and a sack o' almonds, I could totally make my own almond butter. For now however, think I'll stick to the Whole Foods brand. Or maybe start looking for cheaper snacks.

Tell me what you want, what you really really want.

First off I must apologize for invoking the spirit of the Spice Girls. Sometimes I really can't help myself. But I'm trying to figure out exactly what to do with this blog-- I'd like to share good deals that I find, especially local deals. So I could use some feedback-- what would you find helpful? What are staples of your family's diet or household goods that you have a hard time finding good deals on? What would you like to see here? Besides a prettier website? Let me know, 'kay? 'kay.

Tazo tea... and gluten free.

Tazo tea is on sale for the next few weeks at Whole Foods-- I love this tea. I believe the prices around $3 something. Usually they're $4/box. Grab some of the Whole Deal coupon books at Whole Foods (by the front door and at the registers) where they have $1 off coupons for Tazo tea (and lots of other decent coupons too). Then go here http://coupons.allyou.com/Couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14803&nid=10&zid=rd17&bid=ccr019uzbteezi9331754526 to print a few more $1 off Tazo. You should be able to print this one twice. This would make for a pretty good deal on some yummy tea. I've been able to use both the Whole Deal coupons and internet coupons on the same item at Whole Foods because one coupon is put out by the manufacturers (so Whole Foods gets reimbursed for that) and the other is put out by Whole Foods. Good stuff.

Another staple of my diet is rice pasta. De Boles rice spirals being my fave. These are on sale at WF for about $1.80. Go here to register for two $1 off coupons: http://www.glutenfreechoices.com/contact/family.html
bringing these babies down to about $.80 each. These coupons are also good for rice dream products, Imagine soups (hubby likes the meatball & orzo) and some other stuff, too.

Cheapish diapers

So have I mentioned my recent found love of Rite Aid? I can't go into all the details right now, as I just have time to type while the little one drains me of milk. But this is a cool deal--

https://riteaid.rebateplus.com/images/DirectoryImages/period551/RA_Book551_551.pdf

Basically if you buy $100 worth of Proctor and Gamble products between 1-17 and 2-13-10, you get a $35 Visa card back. Proctor and Gamble happen to manufacture Pampers as well as lots of other useful stuff. And my understanding is that this $100 is before coupons. So click here:

http://www.redplum.com/ (I think it's on page 2)

and you should find a handy little $5 off your $25 purchase at Rite Aid. Combine this with Pampers coupons (or whatever else Proctor and Gambley things your heart or home desires) and you should be able to get a pretty good deal. I'll let you know how it goes for us.

Coupons are good for you

Looks like Mambo Sprouts is about to send out a coupon mailer chock full o' healthy coupons! You can go here http://www.mambosprouts.com/coupons/free_coupons.php to sign up if you haven't already. You can also check out the coupons available to print online, which includes $1.00 off some tasty coconut ice cream stuff and $1 off Seventh Generation diapers or wipes (not as tasty but just as necessary).

Meow

For those of you new to the wonderful world of couponing, a Catalina deal is something to get a little excited about. You know when you buy, say, a frozen pizza and when you checkout, you get a little slip with a coupon for a competing brand's frozen pizza? Those are Catalinas, named so because the machine they print out on is called a Catalina machine.

But there's another kind of catalina, where companies like General Mills will give customers a certain numbers of dollars back in future purchases when you spend a certain amount. So this week, there was a General Mills catalina at Shaws. The best thing about these catalinas, or cats, as we couponers call them, is they're based on pre-sale price. And they don't take coupons into account. So for this particular cat, you needed to spend $20 to get $5 back. But these cats usually are in concert with a sale on the items, so I ended up spending 10.55 out of pocket, after coupons and sales, and getting $8.50 off my next purchase. Not as good as some of the coupon geniuses do, but not bad for a newbie. I actually messed up and two of the items I purchased weren't on sale-- a reminder to double check next time.

My total before sale: $25.58
Total coupons used: $7.00
Total out of pocket: $10.55, with $8.50 in cats. Not bad. And the hubby has snacks now. Purrrrr.

Seventh Generation Q

Hey there,

There's a $1 off coupon for any Seventh Generation product in today's Red Plum coupon insert in the Sunday paper. This could make for some cheapish (and environmentally friendly!) baby wipes for you mamas out there. If you like this coupon, you can get more here:

http://www.redplum.com/

I was so intending to do cloth diapers with my kiddo-- I used to avert my eyes when I'd see other mamas putting those cartoon-laden diapers on their babes. But alas, it turns out I like the environment, and I guess saving money, less than I like not having to deal with a batch of poopy laundry every few days. Now I see Big Bird, Elmo and the gang several times a day. More power to you cloth diapering mamas-- you are stronger than I.

Money Saving Maine-iac's Giveaway!

Money Saving Maine-iac, who is quite awesome, is hosting a giveaway on her blog for a $10 Hannaford gift card and reuseable shopping bag. Check it out here:

http://www.moneysavingmaineac.com/2010/01/1000-hannaford-gift-card-shopping-bag.html#comment-form

I like Shaw's

So I used to be such a Hannaford girl. Their stores just seemed somehow nicer to me, their produce section fresher... but alas, I have become a Shawsophile. Some of their prices are higher, but they have great sales, and catalina deals, and they double coupons up to $.99. Which means if you have a $.75 off coupon for an item, it's actually more valuable than a $1 off-- because Shaw's will turn that into $1.50 off. Cool, eh?

For more on Shaw's, check out http://www.shaws.com/ You can browse their weekly flyer for sales and they also have additional coupons here. Oh Hannaford, I still love you but I think I just want to be friends.

So today was maybe the second time that my savings on a grocery trip was higher than what I spent. For some of the coupon blackbelts out there, this isn't so impressive. But for a newbie who eats a lot of produce and less processed foods that are harder to find deals on, it's not so bad.

If I'd bought all this stuff for regular retail at Shaw's, it would've cost $61.99. I saved $22.27 by buying things that were on sale, and another $10.71 (I'm not entirely sure where the 71 cents comes in, but that's what my receipt says) in coupons.

Oh, and I forgot to include the 12-pack of Cottonelle in the picture-- that was $4.99 on sale and I had a $.50 coupon that doubled, so it was $3.99. My husband started to put away the groceries when I came home and I said "no, I want to take a picture first for my blog." He wasn't sure whether to laugh at me or be grateful that he didn't have to put away groceries. So he did both.

B.J.s Baby.

Not that kind of BJ. Get your mind out of that gutter!

We got a membership to BJ's wholesale club this year for Christmas. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) We were members several years ago but found we were spending more than we were saving, what with all the nifty little impulse buys. Oh, we didn't know we needed five pounds of cinnamon, a bushel of pens (that all mysteriously vanish within two weeks), and some video games, but we must because they're so reasonably priced, and come in such delightfully big packages!

So yesterday I went to BJ's get my membership going. They took a fabulously askew picture with my eyes closed (those pics are so grainy and yet you can still tell my eyes are closed). Plus, Max was in the Ergo so he's in the picture too, which makes it look like I have another head (albeit a cute one) coming out of my chest. Good times. Anyways. One of the things I'm learning from my steamy love affair with coupons is that bigger packages (teehee) do not always mean more savings. Often if you have multiple coupons you can use those on smaller packages (teehee) that are on sale, and save more. There are definitely some good values at BJ's though. I eat a lot of fruit, both frozen and otherwise, and they have these yummy 6 pound bags of Dole frozen fruit for $8.99 a bag. I happened to procure some $2 off any 2 bags of Dole frozen fruit (more on that soon) so that lowered the price even more. BJ's takes all manufacturer's coupons, as well as having some of their own coupons, both in the the store and on-line. Apparently they can be combined (or stacked, as we say in the couponing community) for extra savings.

In fact, I was all psyched because I saw some BJ's on-line coupons for goat cheese. I don't do cow's milk cheese but I looovvve goat cheese. In fact when Max was a newborn he would let out these intermittent snorts when he cried and I thought I might've eaten so much goat cheese during my pregnancy that he had a little bit o' goat in him. Fortunately for him (and us) that's subsided, but my love of goat cheese has not. And goat cheese is expensive. Anyways I'd found a BJ's coupon on-line good for $1.75 off any of their President's cheeses. Sadly, by the time I got around to trying to print it out last night they'd switched their coupons.

So now I'm just rambling about goat cheese. And the little one is army crawling towards the outlet. More soon.

Hannaford $5 off purchase of $50

Become a fannaford of Hannaford (I'm sorry, I can't help myself) on Facebook, then when you're on their Facebook page, click on the Football Frenzy link at the top of the page. Sign up and they'll give you a fancy $5 off your purchase of $50 or more. Of course, since I've started this whole couponing thing, I'm not sure when the last time was that I spent $50 at Hannaford!

More soon.

My coupons think I'm fat...

Okay, so there are four coupon inserts in today's Sunday paper. I was pretty psyched about that, and made some inappropriate comments about the level of my excitement in front of my husband and child. However, I'm pretty sure the coupons think I'm chubby. Coupons for Curves, lowfat cottage cheese, and sugar-free sweeteners, and some sort of Atkins crap. Thanks a lot coupons.

There's a lot of coupons that we don't use because of my diet (not weight-loss type diet, Mr. Coupon fancy pants, but diet as in things that I eat because they agree with me and my nursling) but wanted to mention a few that stuck out to me that you might want to set aside--in the Smart Source New Year, New You (aka you're a fatass) insert, there's another $1.00 off or free Marcal small steps coupons-- this is for environmentally friendly paper products, and they're available at Hannaford.

There's also a $1.00 off Oikos organic greek yogurt-- these have been on sale a couple of times at Whole Foods in the last months, and this could make the small sized yogurt free. Plus it's a pretty tasty, creamy...alright, I'd better go before I get inappropriate again.