Back to school sales

I'm a little behind in posting this but there is still time this week for these deals.

Walgreens:

• Penway or Wexford 2-Pocket Folders — $0.04 (Limit 4)
• Splash Mini Highlighter — $0.04 (Limit 4)
• Penway Pencils (10-pack) — $0.19
• PaperMate Mechanical Pencils (5-pack — $0.19
• 1 Subject Notebook — $0.39
• Penway Crayons (24-pack) — $0.39
• Penway or Wexford 1 in. Polybinder — $0.49
• RoseArt School Glue or Glue Sticks (4-oz.) — $0.49
• Penway or Corner Office Sheet Protectors (12-pack) — $0.49
• Penway or Corner OfficeTab Dividers (5 pack) — $0.49

Office Depot:

2-Pocket Folders — $0.10
Filler Paper — $0.25 (Limit 5)
Rulers – $0.25 (Limit 5)
Crayola Crayons — $0.25 (Limit 5)
Office Depot Stick Pens — $0.25 (Limit 5)
Sharpie Singles — $0.50
Multipurpose Copy Paper, 500 Sheet Ream  — $1 after $5.49 Prepaid Visa card rebate offer  (Limit 2)

Target:

Bonus-Size Scotch Magic Tape – $0.50
Use $0.50/1 Target printable
Free after coupon
Papermate Pens (10-count) – $1
Use $1/1 Papermate Writing utensil item Target printable coupon
Free after coupon
TUMS 3 roll (24-count) – $1.92 (Regular Price)
Use $1/1 printable
Stack with $1/1 Target printable
Free after coupons (Thanks, Totally Target!)
Rose Art Glue Sticks (6-count) — $0.80
V8 Fusion Juice – $2.99 (Regular Price)
Buy 2 and use 2 $1.50/1 coupon from the 6/26 SmartSource insert
Stack with $1/2 Target printable
$0.99 each after coupons (Thanks, Totally Target!)
Rose Art Washable Water Colors — $1
Construction Paper (96-count) — $1
Kashi Bars, Cookies, Cereal or Crackers — on sale Buy 4, Get 1 Free
Buy 4 and use 4 $1/1 printable here (IE) or here (FF)
Stack with $2/4 Target printable
$1.49 each after coupons

Good buy 7/20-7/26/11

El Super (1st and Tulare)
White onion 5lbs for .99
Peaches 3lbs for .99
Pork country ribs 1.39lb
Tilapia fillet 2.49lb
Chicken breasts bone in .97lb
Chicken drumsticks .69lb Thursday only
Ground chicken 1.59lb Thursday only
Nectarines 2lbs for .99
Italian squash 3lbs for .99
celery 3 for .99
carrots 4lbs for .99
Green beans .99lb
Plums 2lbs for .99
Jalapenos 2lbs for .99
The following items Wednesday only
Tomatoes 3lbs for .99
bananas 3lbs for .99
Limes 3lbs for .99
Green grapes .99lb
Honeydew 3lbs for .99
Jicama 4lbs for .99
Rice 3lbs for .99

Food Co.
nectarines 2lbs for .98
Fuji apples .78lb
oranges 3lbs for .99
White peaches .78lb

Vons
strawberries .88lb
Powerade .69 (limit 10) with in ad coupon Fri-Mon only

Save Mart
bananas .37lb
green onion 3 for .99
Earthbound farms organic salad B1G1F

Vallarta market
watermelon .12lb
cantalope 5lbs for $1
cilantro 6 for $1
garlic 5 for $1

Adventures in ethnic shopping

ok, so I am learning a little as I go. I discovered why some of the prices didn't match up yesterday. In little tiny print on the ad some of the stuff says on wednesday only or something like that. Got it. Must look at the ad more carefully. It is certainly challenging to buy at the meat counter too. We waited half an hour to be waited on. They didn't have one of the items either but the guy did tell my husband when it would be available to come back and get it. Some of the stuff isn't translated for you either. My english to spanish ap is coming in handy at the store. I still feel it's worth it because some of the stuff there go for amazing prices. I also love the fresh tortilla option. My kids are enjoying the fresh mexican pastries. I'm lucky I don't have to go too far out of my way since it is right down the street from my job. I'm going to keep trying. If nothing else, I'm having fun figuring it out.

Good buys 7/13-7/19

El Super (1st and Tulare)
Boneless skinless chicken breasts 1.49lb
chicken drumsticks .69lb
Mangoes 4 for .99
pork picnic roast .99lb
Powerade .59 each
Colgate toothpaste .99
peaches 2lbs for .99
cantalope 3lbs for .99
cucumbers 6 for .99
iceberg lettuce 2 for .99
plums 3lbs for .99
grapefruit 5 for .99
green cabbage 8lbs for .99
fresh green beans .99lb
bananas 3lbs for .99
white onion 5lbs for .99

Save Mart:
Large tomatoes .47lb
limes 10 for $1
iceberg lettuce 3 for .99 (fri, sat, sun only)

Vons:
Whole chickens .69lb
fresh corn 5 for $1
Jenno O ground turkey B1G1F

Vallarta Supermarket
Shrimp 3.99lb
nectarines 2lbs for $1

Feeling discouraged

I was feeling a little discouraged today. After paying all the bills there isn't much left over so once again I was going to need to be creative with groceries. I thought to myself I am so sick of this. I am tired of making something out of nothing. Then I went out to my freezer to see what I could do to stretch the groceries a little further this week. I was pleasantly surprised to see I had carefully stored away more than enough to make the stretch. Then I was reminded to count my blessings. Why is this important? It keeps me from feeling so discouraged I make even worse decisions because I deserve better don't I? So here it is. My bills are paid and nothing is going to get turned off. I have food in the freezer and we aren't going to go hungry or have to eat rice. Ok maybe we will eat rice but that's because my husband thinks he will die if he doesn't eat it every day! I also found as I was planning another freezer cooking day that I still had all the ingredients to make PB&J breakfast cookies with my little boy. I ran out of time to make them the last time I did a freezer cooking day and I had forgotten about it. Now we have a fun, free activity today. There are always blessings in the middle of trials, you just have to remember to look for them. So I'm planning to make the most of my day today, count my blessings, and Thank God that He always provides for me. Instead of dreading it, I'm looking forward to it!

Good buys this week 7/7/11

El Super (1st and Tulare)
Limes 3lbs for .99
Pears 2lbs for .99
Mangos 4 for .99
Broccoli 2lbs for .99
Honeydew 3lbs for .99
grapefruit 5 for .99
carrots 4lbs for .99
spinach 3 for .99
garlic 5 for .89
Black beans 2lbs for .99
white onions 4lbs for .99
Zucchini 3lbs for .99
bananas 3lbs for .99
plums or donut peaches 3lbs for .99
Red grapes .99lb
Pineapple 3lbs for .99
cucumbers 8 for .99
iceberg lettuce 3 for .99
Roma tomatoes 4lbs for .99

Vons:
Yellow peaches .77lb
pepsi 2L .77
Clementine mandarins 5lbs for $5 on Friday only
Safeway icecream B1G1F 1.5qt 3.49 for 2

Save Mart
Cherries 1.47lb
chicken leg quarters .59lb
Cocoa puff brownie crunch 3 for $5 with .75 coupon 3 for 2.75
Jennie O ground turkey B1G1F

Food Co.
Oranges 5lbs for $1
plums, peaches, fuji apples .78lb
Buy 10 and save $5 mix and match the following:
Kraft barbecue sauce .98
7up 1.28
Oscar Mayer hotdogs 1.48 coupon $1 off 2
Kraft dressing 1.98 coupon $1 off 2
Kraft shredded or american cheese 1.98
Nabisco Ritz, wheat thins or Triscuits 2.28 coupon $1 off 2
Kraft mayo or miracle whip 2.48

Fabulous Freebies

1. Internet, instead of paying for a monthly service go to free Wi-Fi spots wififreespots.com

2. Texting, Sign up for a free email account through gmail.com and you can text to any mobile number through your account for free

3. Computer help, try geekstogo.com

4. Cell phone, use skype to call any friend in network without using the minutes on your plan.

5. photograpy, try picnik.com for photo editing.

6. Business cards, try vistaprint.com just pay shipping

7. Faxing, fax any online document for free from faxzero.com

8. Stationary,  freeprintablestationary.com

Water savers

Do you have a water meter? We have one, but they haven't started billing us yet. We bought a new front loader washer last year to save on water and efficiency, next on my list is our toilet. I'm saving now to replace it with a more efficient one. I found this today the Deluxe water ecokit for $40. They say you will save up to $288 annually with a few quick fixes. Sounds good to me! Click here for more info.

Shopping at ethnic stores

I don't know why I don't do this more often. The prices can be phenomenal compared to other stores. I was tempted to go to El Super this week, which is a mexican grocery store. They had some produce this week for an incredible price. I saw on the sale flier they have another store in Salinas. I have to wonder if they get their fresh produce from Salinas and that is how the prices are so low. So here is what I bought. 5 mangoes, 5 limes, 2 jalapenos, and 2 oranges. My price. $1.60! The only thing that was disappointing were a couple of items in the sale ad were priced differently in the store. My friend TC told me a while back about spices priced very differently at the asian market too. I'm going to try this more often. Definitely worth taking a trip. It's only a little intimidating for an american born girl who only speaks one language!

Cancel Extreme Couponing

Here is a petition to ask TLC to cancel the Extreme Couponing show. This show is not being truthful about couponing practices, and it is literally showing people using illegal methods as well. Here is the link. At the end you will be asked for a donation, you do not need to donate anything.