Good Deals for the Week and My Shopping Purchase!

Week 6/10/09 - 6/16/09

Albertson's:
PYP LINK
- In-ad coupon: Save $1 when you spend $10 or more on fresh produce. Limit 1 coupon per customer, per transaction. Great deals on cherries, roma tomatoes, potatoes, and yellow onions.
- Coke 2-liter promo: Buy 3, get $1 off instantly. Buy 6, get $2 off. Buy 9, get $3 off.
- General Mills promo: Save $10 on your NEXT shopping trip when you spend $25 or more on participating items. A lot of great deals on participating items (a lot of 4 and 5 stars). Keep in mind that the wording says "when you spend $25 or more," which means that if you want to do multiples of $25, you should split it into different transaction in order to get the $10 catalina each time. Otherwise, if you have 1 transaction above $25 (no matter the final total) you will only receive 1 $10 catalina. There are no restrictions on rolling the catalinas (i.e. using the first $10 catalina you receive on the next purchase and so on). Most stores are enforcing the 3 transaction at a time rule, so please be considerate and only do 3 at a time, most stores will just make you get back in line, but some are making you go out to the car, it just depends.
- Olay promo: Buy $15 in any combination of Pantene, Secret, Olay, Cover Girl, or Natural instincts, and receive a FREE Olay Complete Ageless Skin Renewing Lotion by mail. A few ok deals on the participating products, but unless you are a devoted user of only Olay Complete Ageless Skin Renewing Lotion, I don't think it's that great of a deal, just my opinion.

Smith's:
PYP/GS LINK
- Dannon Activia and DanActive Yogurt
- Mountain Dairy Gallon Milk
- Pepsi 2-liter Promo: Buy 4 get 2 free
- Lysol Household Cleaners 50% off plus there are coupons in the SS packets from 4/26 and 6/7 - makes for some great deals!

Associated Food Stores:
PYP/GS LINK
- Good deals on milk, eggs, Shasta Soda Pop, Yoplait Yogurt, and Cantaloupe

Walgreen's:
GS LINK
- Good deals on Mars Candy Bars, Reynolds Wrap Foil, and Banana Boat Skin Protection
- Laundry Promo: Buy 3 participating items and get a check out voucher for $5 off your next shopping order. Limit 1 card per transaction.
- Dove Promo: Buy 8 participating items and get a check out voucher for $10 off your next shopping order. Limit 1 card per transaction.

My Shopping Purchases:

Albertson's:

None


Smith's:

None

You're saying to yourself what???? Well, there are some really great deals this week, but I'm stocked enough on my 3 months supply that I actually don't need any of them. And let me tell you that it feels GREAT! To actually be able to pass up great deals because I have plenty is a place I've wanted to be for a long time and I'm just now getting to that point and I love it. It's taken me almost a year, but it was worth all of the work. Now, I will admit that there is a rumor that Albertson's doublers are coming out in the paper on Sunday and that just might be enough to tempt me to go to Albertson's and pick up a few things. But as of right now, I'm not planning on it.

Now, just because I didn't go to Albertson's or Smith's doesn't mean I didn't go anywhere this week - you knew it didn't you? Well, I've had a lot of people ask me if I even bother to shop at Walmart anymore now that I do most of my shopping at the other stores. The answer is yes, but not as often. There are still things that my family likes from Walmart that I still buy there (syrup and freezer fries are just two examples) and of course you can't buy clothes or other things like that at the other stores, so yes, I do still go to Walmart.

And to be honest, there are some things that are priced better at Walmart than the sale+promo price at some of the other stores, so you can actually get a slightly better deal there. My thought on that is that those things are few and far between, so I don't worry too much about them. But when I am at Walmart (during one of my every other month stops to stock up on syrup and freezer fries - imagine the looks I get for buying only 5 bottles of syrup and 6 bags of fries), I will peruse the aisles here and there taking in the prices on certain things I typically buy. Of course this all depends on the amount of time I have and whether I'm there with my children or not. But it helps me stay grounded on their prices in general so that I know when things when things are cheaper and when they are not. In general, most things are better priced at the other stores if you wait for a sale+promo and use your coupons.

For those of you who are busy and don't have a ton of time to comparison shop, there's a PYP thread dedicated just to deals people get at Walmart using their coupons (here's the LINK). I will usually check this thread often so that if I do see a good deal, I can take advantage of it. The good news is that since Walmart doesn't run weekly ads, there's usually not a hurry to get there within the week and I can just pick it up the next time I'm there.

Since I didn't do any Albertson's or Smith's shopping this week, I decided it was about time for a trip to Walmart to pick up a few things I've been wanting to get plus a few things I needed. So here's what I got:



Items Purchased:
- 5 pkgs Chinet Plates ($2.66 - $2 coupon = $.66 each)
- 2 bottles A1 sauce ($2.98 - $2 coupon = $.98 each)
- 2 bottles Nalley Pickles ($1.62 - $1 coupon = $.62 each)
- 2 pkgs Dental floss picks ($1 - $1 coupon = free)
- 10 pk hangers ($1.17)
- 1 refill bottle of Tilex ($4.52 - cried when I couldn't find a coupon - I hate paying full price!)
- Great Value Seasoned Salt ($1.78)
- Great Value Paprika ($1.48)
- 4 pk Flood lights (not pictured - $12.97)

Total Paid = $31.08
Total Saved = $18.00

Considering it cost me ~$22 for the stuff without coupons (flood lights, spices, tilex, and hangers), that means I spent less than $10 on the plates, A1, pickles, and dental floss.

So if you're asking how I knew about the prices on these items so I knew to use my coupons there instead of elsewhere, the answer is most of them I saw on the PYP thread (LINK) and the rest I heard on blogs or from my Mom, who is better at keeping up with the Walmart prices than I am. I just keep a little list of the items and coupons (with expiration date) and when I'm getting ready to head to Walmart, I look over my list and take all the appropriate stuff with me to pick it up. Hope that makes sense!