NEW BLOG!

I've launched my new BLOG! This is more specifically centered around shopping opportunities in the Las Vegas area, but will still have weekly tips and shopping scenerios. Plus, it gives you more information regarding the FREE grocery shopping classes I'm teaching. I'd love for you to stop by and check it out, even if you don't live in Vegas!

www.shopsmartinvegas.blogspot.com

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE! :(

I’m sure you’ve noticed we’ve been slacking on our posts the last couple of weeks and I thought it was time to tell you what we’ve been up to! In the midst of helping Lisa get settled, I was hired to manage the Las Vegas area for a company called Grocery Smarts! I’ll tell you more about that in a sec, but what this all means is I’m retiring as a regular contributor to our BLOG. And, I’ve hired Lisa to join me as an Instructor, so she’ll be stepping away as well. We will leave everything intact, so you can still access the downloads and reference our previous posts for tips and tricks. We do want you to know more about what we will be doing, though!

Basically, Grocery Smarts has a website that offers FREE listings of local grocery store ads matched with manufacture coupons from the Sunday paper. They mainly operate out of Utah, specifically the greater Salt Lake/Provo/Ogden areas and in St. George. They are currently launching into Las Vegas (thus the reason for my new job)! It’s an awesome concept that I love (and have really already been doing)… we teach FREE classes to organizations and church groups as well as in-home classes to show people how to save big on groceries! Then, on top of that, we are able offer multiple subscription packages from the newspaper.

So, if you live in the Las Vegas area, I’d love to hear from you! Or, if you live in Utah and want to either attend a class or host one, I can connect you with Instructors there. Grocery Smarts may be coming to a city near you, so I’d be happy to pass along your interest in hosting a class or becoming an Instructor to the big wigs over at the office.

If you’d like to check out the website, go to http://www.grocerysmarts.com/ and enter “g89ccb” as the passport. This will give you access to the local Las Vegas area lists. For more information on classes in Las Vegas or Utah, email me at:

shopsmartinvegas@hotmail.com

Thanks for being loyal readers of our BLOG, we’ve enjoyed every minute of it!

PS - One last thing... the Red Box FREE code for today (8/27) is DB96TH! Sorry, I'm obsessed! :)

BOX AFTER BOX

I never thought that the a day would come that I would curse my beloved stockpile of toiletries. I am usually doing a victory dance in the parking lot for scoring 6 bottles of shampoo for free, but today I was crying as I had to carry all those boxes up the stairs! And they are not light!

Thankfully... in all of these boxes I have some Excedrin Back & Body. I'm going to need it!

Wow - We're Back!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Lisa has been moving across the country due to her hubby's recent job transfer and I've just returned from a last minute "before school starts" mini-vacation. So, thanks for sticking with us... here's a few things we've missed while we've been away:

1. Walgreen's has a $5/$20 coupon good this Friday/Saturday only! Click HERE to print. Want to get these coupons in your inbox? Click HERE to register your email address!

2. P&G Esaver just released a new batch of digital coupons for Kroger Fresh Value users. Click HERE to register and/or download your new coupons!

(all coupons valid Aug 21 to Oct 1)

3. Wanna sneak peek at Monthly ECB's deals at CVS for September?

Click HERE.

4. Did you know that LUVS are on sale right now at Target for $6.99? You can print a $1 Target coupon HERE and stack it with a $5 off coupon you may have gotten in the mail by registering with LUVS in June! That's a $0.99 pack of diapers, nice!

(Did you miss the June registration? Click HERE to register for their current promotion.)

BEECH NUT COUPONS

Beech Nut has a great deal going on. You get FOUR $1.00/10 coupons for Beech-Nut products or get TWO $1.00/4 coupons for Table Time products (when you send in proofs of purchase).

Click HERE to find a link for the baby food or Table Time snack products mail in form. Don't forget to read the guidelines. This offer is limited to one mail-in certificate per envelope. So you could mail in a form every week. How nice to get a good supply of coupons for what your baby eats every day!

TOP 5 PANTRY LIST

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of recipes that call for the same ingredients. Plus, (like most people) I have a few recipes that I find myself making every week. It seems like I am always running out of these "popular" ingredients and I have found myself buying them weekly.

So, to help get the most out of my budget (and to start building a stockpile of what I use most), I did a quick inventory of my recipes and actually created a "top 5 most used pantry ingredients" list. Now that I know what I use the most, I will buy and totally stockpile these items when they go on sale. Now I am saving money on my weekly budget, and I also have a great supply of what I use the most, and always have it on hand when I need it.

Here is my TOP 5:

1. Cream of Chicken Soup
2. Chicken Stock
3. Soy Sauce
4. Peanut Butter
5. Spaghetti Sauce

What's yours? Do a quick inventory check list against your recipes and get your TOP 5 list together so you buy big when the right sales and/or coupons come along!

AND THE WINNER IS....

Thanks for participating in our first Give-Away, we were floored at how many people entered! Congrats to our winner... Mikelle Jones! Please resond to my email by Tuesday to claim your coupons! :)

Be sure to bookmark us and check back often for more tips, tricks, printables, scenarios and more coupon give-aways!

What's a Case Lot Sale?

We had a couple of commenters ask what a Case Lot sale was (referring to a post we did a few days ago)... so I figured there could be more readers that didn't know about them as well... so here's a quick explanation:

A "caselot" sale is when a store sells a selection of products by the case. For example, last Fall, at Kroger, I got a case of Mac N Cheese (50 boxes) for $12. I got a case of Betty Crocker Cake mixes (I think it had 10 or 12 boxes) for $5. I got a case of Cream of Chicken soup (with 24 cans) for $12. Watch the price per ounce or the price each - as some of the pricing can be confusing. Sometimes alot of the caselot selection is store brand items, but you can definitely save big! If you don't know if the stores you shop host these types of sales, just stop by the customer service desk next time you are there and ask if they ever do and when they typically have them. For any store I shop, this is typcially a "once a year" deal.

Thanks for the great comments and questions ladies! We'd love to respond to any questions or make clarifications where needed - so don't hesitate to leave a comment and let us know! :)

New Coupons for Box Top Products...

Box Tops for Education has released a new round of printables!

Click HERE to check it out!

IS COUPONING WORTH IT?

I was blog hopping today and I ran across this post on my friend Erica's blog and I had to share it with you. She did a great price comparison on Kroger vs. Walmart to see if couponing is worth it (literally) for her. Here's what she posted:

"So recently Kroger (a local grocery store) had a great sale and a lot of my coupons matched up to make them even better deals! Here's a picture of what I bought at the grocery store.

For all of the products in this picture I paid $5.25! I was very excited about how much I was able to get. Then I decided it would be fun to check the prices of these products at Wal-Mart to see how good a deal I really got...Drum roll Please...At Wal-Mart (using no coupons - just their everyday low prices) I would have spent $29.69 + tax. If I used the same coupons as I did at Kroger I still would have spent 22.09 + tax!! By matching coupons to a good sale at the grocery store I saved our family an additional $16.84 (and that was just one of my transactions)!! So to answer my title question - YES - for our family and because I love it, couponing and watching the sales are definitely worth it. I LOVE a good deal!"

Thanks, Erica! This was a great idea to really compare how much you save by stacking sales with coupons. Your comparison is a great reminder (and motivator) that couponing does really pay off!!!

Time to SAVE for CASELOT SALES!

Typically, grocery store chains like Kroger and Albertsons, run thier huge caselot events in September. So, be watching your ads and start planning ahead by saving $5 or $10 each week so you have some extra money to spend when the sales start!

New Printable Coupons from Pillsbury

If you haven't visited Pillsbury's website yet this month, be sure to hop over and check out their August coupon selection! Click here for access to $20 of great printable coupons!

PS - Don't forget to enter our $350 coupon give-away!

Leave a comment HERE!