Harris Teeter Super Doubles

I decided to take a trip to Harris Teeter to see what I could get since it is a Super Doubles week. Unfortunately, pretty much everything I had a coupon for was out...(extreme couponing?!?) so I just got a few things.


3 bags of steamfresh broccoli
1 bag of steamed rice
2 bags of cheese
1 box Kashi granola bars
1 GINORMOUS jar of tomato sauce

Total value: $23.23
Paid: $7.08

Not a bad trip!

Drug store deals

I recently had some luck picking up some needed items playing the drug store game. I even ventured into a Walgreens for a deal, something I've never done before!

At Walgreens I picked up 3 toothbrushes. I needed one for myself and I always like having extras around for guests.


At CVS I used some expiring ECBs to pick up some cheap body wash. I am now all set for a long time! I was on my last bottle of body wash so this was definitely a good find!

Grocery store deals without a coupon

Want to save money on groceries but don't want to bother with coupons? No problem! Check out the great deals I got on these products without handing over a single coupon.


How did I do this? Check the markdown section! My Kroger has a few bins in the back where they keep marked down items. Sometimes you get lucky and get there right after they fill it up.

The total list price for all of these items would have been $21.34. I paid $10.12. That is a savings of >50% and I didn't use a single coupon!

I always recommend checking out the markdown section just to see what is there. Often there won't be anything interesting, but every once in a while there are some great deals!

CVS Trip

I am really trying hard to maximize my grocery dollars this month to see if spending $20/person/week is a realistic goal for me. One way to do this is to play the drug store game. I tend to focus on CVS because it is the closest store to me and it is much easier to pay attention to only 1 store at a time. There are only so many hours in a day, you know!

This challenge is different than a typical "eating from the pantry challenge." I am not trying to minimize my spending. I am still shopping as I typically would and when possible I am building my stockpile so that I don't pay full price for items in the future.

So, with $3.50 in ECBs and a $3/$15 coupon burning a hole in my pocket, I headed to CVS with the goal of adding to my stockpile.

This is what I got:


Grand total: Around $7 including tax plus I earned $2 ECBs back that I will roll into another deal. Not bad considering each laundry detergent retails for $7.

I haven't bought laundry detergent in over a year and these bottles combined with what I still have left will probably last me close to that long again. So cross laundry detergent off the list of things to buy in 2011 :)

Food Lion Deals

So I am typically not a Food Lion shopper because in general I haven't been impressed by their prices or their customer service.

However, Hip2Save alerted to me to a great deal on Kraft cheese so I decided to head over. Well...I still can't say much for the customer service but the deals may get me back there every once in a while. I ended up getting 5 packages of cheese and about 6 lbs of chicken for $11.80. The cheese ended up being $0.40/package and 2 packages of chicken were marked down to about $2.50/package. The third package was the regular deal this week which was buy 1 pound, get 1 pound free.

Unfortunately my cashier experience wasn't great. The cashier grumbled when I asked for a paper bag and scanned my coupon in wrong. He did not seem please when I asked him to check the coupon although he did correct the mistake. So - the deals were good, the customer service was so-so, but I wouldn't turn down a trip in the future.

Soap.com purchase

I got my soap.com purchase in the mail today! What a great surprise to have waiting at my door! I purchased the $20 voucher from Groupon for $10 and got 3 rolls of papertowels, 2 bottles of shampoo, 1 large bottle of dishwashing detergent, and 1 large bottle of hand soap.

All in all a pretty good deal. This soap should last me a VERY long time. The shampoo was something I needed anyway so it all worked out. I was overall impressed with soap.com. I was even able to use some coupons on the site. Definitely something to think about for future toiletry purchases.

Target Deals!

Thanks to tips on Hip2Save and MoneySavingMom, I found out about some crazy good deals at Target.

Anyway, as I've mentioned I have a very limited grocery budget for the rest of the month since I've been hosting so many wonderful visitors. So, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to stretch the grocery bucks a little further.

So, I ended up with:
2 SoBe Waters
2 8-packs of Juicy Juice
2 boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars
2 packages of pens
1 candy bar (couldn't resist!)

The waters were free, the juice was $1.39 each (super excited because I love this juice), the granola bars were $0.89 per box, the pens were free, and the candy bar was $0.29.

So, the pre-coupon total was $16.92 and I ended up spending $4.85 plus tax. Not bad and definitely a way to streeeeeeetch those dollars!

CVS deals!

Man have I been loving CVS recently!! I had a bunch of ECBs that were going to expire this weekend so I had to use them up. Nothing really jumped out at me as far as ECB deals go but I was able to score some deals on general food and household goodies.


So I ended up with 1 box of South Beach Bars (on sale for 2.50 plus $1/1 coupon), 2 boxes of pop tarts (on sale for $4 for both plus $1/2 coupon), gatorade (on sale for $0.77 each), razors (on sale for $2.99), Stayfree ($3.79 each plus BOGO coupon), Tic Tacs (needed some filler).

I also had a coupon for $4/$20 and $9.98 in ECBs.

My total OOP ended up at $1.97 (most of this was tax!) and I saved $29.57 from the non-sale prices.

Not too bad!!! I'm down to $13 for my grocery budget but this was well worth the $2!

ReStore Deals!

As I've mentioned previously, I love the ReStore. If you are patient and willing to look around, there are some crazy good deals to be had.

I had another successful visit this past weekend. I scored a Thomasville dresser with mirror, end table, and chest of drawers. Condition wise, it is probably a very good on a scale from poor to excellent. I cannot put into words how excited I am about these pieces. As an adult I haven't had a set of furniture so it is pretty exciting to finally have a set I love. And even better than it didn't cost too much!
So here it is!
The end table:
The dresser. The flash made it look a little lighter than it really is.


The dresser and mirror. I need some help putting the mirror onto the dresser. It is too heavy for just one person!

Next on the agenda is to find headboards for the master bedroom and the guest room and also a desk.

Grocery deals!

I was in the mood for some bargain shopping tonight so I grabbed my coupons, consulted Hip2Save and Southern Savers and headed to Target and Harris Teeter.
I think I did pretty well for a spur of the moment shopping trip!
First up is Target:

I got:
2 packages of Eggo Waffles
2 BBQ Sauces
1 Salad Dressing
1 Brownie Mix

Total OOP: $5.36
Total Savings: $5.72
Best deals - the BBQ sauce was $0.25 each and the salad dressing was $0.76. I didn't have a coupon for the brownie mix but it was regularly priced at $0.77 - SCORE!

Next up was Harris Teeter:
I got:
1 Jar of Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
2 Taco Seasoning
1 Chex MIx
1 Coconut Milk

Total OOP: $4.23
Total Savings: $5.80
Best deals - the taco seasoning was $0.40 each and the chex mix was $0.29

So my grand total was $9.59 for a decent amount of stuff! Not too shabby!

Good deals!

So I've been in the market for stools for my 'bar' area since moving into my house but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I wanted stools with a back that swivel and apparently those are hard to find. Anyway, I was browsing craigslits this weekend and came across these awesome stools listed for $20 each! They are solid wood and well made AND they swivel! Score!

It was a little challenging to get them home since I have only a Honda Civic, but 2 trips later they were in my house and looking perfect! Yay craigslist deals!

Harris Teeter Triples

I did pretty well at Harris Teeter this week. I ended the month with a decent amount of $$ left over in the grocery budget so I decided to use it to stock up a little. Below is what I got using coupons. I also purchased some meat and produce to stock up for May.

For everything in the picture I spent $5.54. Yep, less than $6 for all of that! I am pretty excited about everything I got. I probably could have passed on the toothpaste (with the amount of toothpaste I have, I should probably brush my teeth a lot more often) but it was almost free so...I'll donate it if I end up with too much.

I didn't take a picture but I also got a great deal on the chicken I like. It is expensive chicken - normally $6.99 a pound - but it was on sale for $4.99/pound and I had 2 $1/1 coupons so I purchased nearly 4 pounds of chicken breasts. That should last me for a good while!

New Dining Room Table

So continuing my run of good luck at the Restore, I bought a dining room table and got a SMOKING good deal on it. Solid wood, great condition, my colors, and my style. I absolutely love it! I love the deals that you can get at the Restore, craigslist, and other second hand places if you are willing to be patient. There is a lot of junk to wade through, but there are definitely some treasures in there too.

Without further ado - my new dining room table!

New Patio Furniture!

So for the first time in my life, I have a patio. I am SO excited about this because I really haven't ever lived in a place where I could go outside easily. I plan on spending a lot of time out there.

Anyway - I may have a patio but I have NO patio furniture. I don't even have anything I could repurpose as patio furniture since anything that goes out there really needs to be weather proof. I don't want to spend a lot of money right now (since I am spending plenty of money on the whole buying a house situation) so I've my eyes peeled for some good deals.

I found a great deal at Habitat for Humanity's Restore.

These chairs were each priced at $2!! Can you believe that. I sat in each of them and they seem to be fully functional. They each have a small amount of rust on the bottom and all of the slats seem to be fine without tears or anything. All in all they seemed like perfect chairs! Only problem was - they were FILTHY. You can't see the dirt very well in the picture but trust me - they needed a good scrubbing.



So after an hour or so with a sponge and some soapy water, they are looking as good as new. Not bad for $4! They will definitely last this season and probably a few more depending on when I decide to get something else. Now I am on the lookout for a small glass table to put between them. With that I think my patio will be all set!

Note: Picture taken on friend's deck - not in my yard!

Diaper Deals

Today, for the first time in my life, I bought diapers. And no, it is not because I have any big announcements to make in the near future. Trust me faithful blog reader, if any announcements need to be made, you will be among the first to know.
I bought them because they were a crazy good deal and while I may not be having a baby anytime in the near future, basically everyone I know is. So good diaper deal = good baby shower gift idea!

I bought 2 Jumbo packs of Huggies size 3 diapers (I've heard size 3 is a good one to get because they stay in the small sizes for such a short time).


So anyway, Harris Teeter has these diapers on sale for $5.99 which is a fantastic deal in itself from what I understand. They are regularly priced at $10.99. PLUS I had 2 $3/1 coupons to use. So each package ended up costing $2.99 before tax.

Not too bad if you ask me! Now I have a great start to my next baby shower gift!!