Garden Update: How Raccoons "Helped" Me Garden

April 8th, 2010

So far, my efforts in container gardening have gone fairly well. Of course, there’s always setbacks – a cold snap killed off most of my plants a few months back, and now raccoons have decided to dig for treasure in the planters:

Planter torn up by raccoons

Big hole dug by raccoons

Here’s the really bizarre part. Jai had been trying to grow an avocado plant indoors, but it wasn’t doing too well. He decided to stick it in the planter a few months back, just for fun. Well, the raccoon dug it out of the first planter, carried it over to the second planter, and stuck it into a hole they dug. They were “Helping” me transplant it!

Transplanted Avocado starter

And how do we know it was a raccoon?

Raccoon

Shopping Trip, April 3rd: Supplies for Hot Cross Buns

April 7th, 2010

I made a quick run to Safeway & Rite Aid last Saturday to pick up supplies to make hot cross buns for Easter, as well as a few other things we were out of:

Eggs, milk, raisins, and more

Total spent: $36.63
View receipt

Got:

12 double-roll pack of toilet paper – price: $6.49
2 dozen eggs – price: $3.58
2 lbs of cheese – on sale for $3.99
1 gallon of milk – $2.39
15 oz canister of raisins – price: $2.99
24-pack of PBR – price plus deposit: $17.19

Splat hair dye & Olay makeup removers
Total spent: $15.48
Total before coupons: $16.48
View receipt

Got:

1 box of hair dye – price: $9.99
1 box of Olay makeup removers – regularly $6.49, used a $1/1 coupon from the 3/14 Red Plum newspaper inserts to bring the price down to $5.49. I’ve mentioned before how this is one of the few brands that I don’t have an allergic reaction to, so it’s worth the cost!

Hot cross buns

I made hot cross buns in the breadmaker for Easter using this recipe, and they turned out great! I took most of them to a family Easter brunch, and had a few left over to toast for breakfast on Monday morning. Yum!

Hurry – Free Yoplait Greek Yogurt for the First 50 Super Coupon Girl Readers!

April 6th, 2010

The wait is over! Click on the “Try Me Free” tab on the widget above and enter your address to receive a coupon good for a free cup of Yoplait Greek yogurt. This offer is limited to the first 50 to respond on a first come, first serve basis.

And if all the free coupons are gone by the time you read this, then check over at Contest Corner. I’m doing a 50 coupon giveaway over there as well, so you are welcome to try your luck there if the free coupons have already been depleted here!

Here’s a little more information on Yoplait Greek yogurt, courtesy Yoplait:

About Yoplait Greek yogurt

· Yoplait® Greek yogurt, the newest option from America’s number one yogurt brand, has a unique, thick & creamy texture with the great taste expected from Yoplait

· Each cup contains 12 grams of protein, 2 times that of the leading yogurt

· Now, Yoplait offers a new Greek yogurt with 0 grams of fat

· Yoplait is the only leading yogurt with vitamins A and D

· Flavors: Strawberry, Blueberry, Honey Vanilla and Plain

· At a suggested retail price of $1.19, Yoplait Greek is affordable, when compared to similar Greek yogurt products, and available at major grocery stores nationwide

· Package Size: 6 oz.

Big thanks to our friends at MyBlogSpark and Yoplait for making this happen! They are also mailing me product samples for my participation.

Free Yogurt for the First 50 Super Coupon Girl Readers Tomorrow Morning!

April 5th, 2010

Yoplait Greek

Remember last year when I gave away coupons for free yogurt to the first 50 Super Coupon Girl readers who signed up? Well, I’m holding another coupon giveaway – this time, it’s for Yoplait Greek yogurt! Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM PST, I will be giving away coupons for a free cup of Yoplait Greek to the first 50 readers who respond. The coupons will be available on a first come, first serve basis, and I’m sure they’ll go quick so be here early! A post will go up at 9:00 AM sharp containing a widget with a sign-up form. I’m also giving another 50 coupons away on Contest Corner, so if all the coupons are gone when you get here, you are welcome to check over at Contest Corner and register there if any are left.

Big thanks to our friends at MyBlogSpark and Yoplait for making this happen! They are also mailing me product samples for my participation.

Happy Easter

April 4th, 2010

Easter eggs

I want to wish all of my readers a happy Easter/Passover/Spring break weekend! Whatever your plans are, I hope your day is great. I’m going to attempt making hot cross buns in the breadmaker for the first time, and will be spending the afternoon with family. Should be fun!

The Week in Savings: $109.04 Worth of Groceries for $25.30

April 3rd, 2010
Milk, half & half, Yakisoba and moreYakisoba, Snuggle & garlicTurkey, Bacon & lots moreYakisoba & OlaySunday paper & Yakisoba

This week was all about coupon trading. I wrote an article about what it is and how to do it, and I showed you how it saved me money. Here is the grand total that I’ve spent on groceries in the last week:

Total for all groceries before coupons: $109.04
Total spent on groceries out of pocket: $2.69
Total spent trading for coupons that I used this week: $6.61
Total deducted from my Safeway gift card: $25.00 – I got this gift card free through MyBlogSpark, and we’re also giving one away – click here if you’d like to enter!
Total that I will receive back in rebates: $9.88
ETA: I initially forgot to add in the cost of the two stamps to mail the rebates – .88 cents! Of course, if they refund the amount pre-10% store discount, it will cover the postage plus a small profit -but I don’t know for sure that they will, so the updated total is below.

Grand total: Spent $25.30 total ($10.18 of it in cash and $15.12 of it on my free gift card) after rebates for $109.04 worth of groceries.

Here’s the links to each individual post where you can see the scenario breakdown, receipts, etc:

Shopping Trip, March 30th
Shopping Trip, March 29th
Shopping Trips, March 27th & March 28th

Stockpile

I think we should be set on Yakisoba bowls for a while!

Free Chavrie Goat Cheese

April 3rd, 2010
Chavrie Goat Cheese

Click here to sign up for a coupon good for one free package of Chavrie Goat Cheese. Thanks to coupon*clipper on Hot Coupon World for the tip!

Shopping Trip, March 30th: $12.60 for $62.37 Worth of Groceries

April 2nd, 2010

This week’s theme has been saving money by trading coupons. Today, I’m going to show you what I got with the last of my Yakisoba coupons! Click here to read my previous post about this deal scenario if you missed it.

I did another trade last week for an assortment of good coupons – known in trading circles as a coupon “Potluck” – most of which I have not used yet, save for the Lunchables coupon mentioned below. This trade cost me two stamps, plus one to mail it out – making the total cost for these coupons $1.32.

Yakisoba, Turkey, Bacon & more
Yakisoba & Olay

Spent $2.69 out of pocket, put $19.79 on my free gift card from MyBlogSpark, and will get $9.88 back in rebates – making my final cost $12.60 for $62.37 worth of groceries.


Transaction #1:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $5.93 on my gift card
Total before coupons: $15.64
View receipt

Got:

4 Maruchan Yakisoba bowls – on sale for $1.00 each, used four .50/1 coupons, which doubled, and received an additional .10 cent deduction each because of the 10% club card discount; Final price: Free plus .40 cents overage. (More about the 10% here and here.)
1 can of Mighty Dog food – on sale for .65 cents, used one free product coupon from the 03/38 Smart Source newspaper inserts; an additional .06 cents was deducted because of the 10% discount, making the final price free plus .06 cents overage.
1 Odwalla fruit smoothie – on sale for $2.50, used one free coupon that I got in the mail after emailing the company (I’ll be writing more on this topic soon!). I also received an additional .25 cent discount because of the 10% promotion, making the final price free plus .25 cents overage.
1 Odwalla bar – on sale for $1.00, used one free coupon that I got in the mail after writing to the company. I also received an additional .10 cent discount because of the 10% promotion, making the final price free plus .10 cents overage.
One 100 count bottle of ibuprofen – I was all out of ibuprofen, and even though I have a generous stockpile of Ecotrin and Bayer, I find that only ibuprofen will cut it for me. So I bought this, which was originally priced at $7.49; the 10% took off a .75 cent discount, and the overage from the other coupons brought the final price down to $5.93.

Transaction #2:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $1.21 on my gift card
Total before coupons: $5.79
View receipt

Got:

4 Maruchan Yakisoba bowls – on sale for $1.00 each, used four .50/1 coupons, which doubled, and received an additional .10 cent discount each because of the 10% club card promotion; Final price: Free plus .40 cents overage.
1 package of rubber gloves – I needed a new pair! The 10% deducted .18 cents, and the .40 cents overage from the Yakisoba brought the final price down to $1.21.

Transaction #3:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put .22 cents on my gift card
Total before coupons: $4.69
View receipt

Got:

4 Maruchan Yakisoba bowls – on sale for $1.00 each, used four .50/1 coupons, which doubled, and received an additional .10 cent discount each because of the 10% club card promotion; Final price: Free plus .40 cents overage.
1 can of cream of mushroom soup – I bought this as a “Filler” item to absorb the overage from the Yakisoba – this soup is so handy to have on hand for casseroles. Originally .69 cents, the 10% discount deducted .07 cents, and the .40 cents overage from the Yakisoba brought the final price down to .22 cents.

Transaction #4:

Total spent: Zero
Total before coupons: $5.00
View receipt

Got:

5 Maruchan Yakisoba bowls – on sale for $1.00 each, used three .50/1 coupons and one $1/2 coupon, which doubled, and received an additional .10 cent discount each because of the 10% club card promotion. The first three were free plus .30 cents overage after the .50/1 coupons; the other two cost .30 cents total after the $1/2 coupon, so the overage paid for them exactly. Final price for all five: Free

Transaction #5:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $4.04 on my gift card
Total before coupons: $12.27
View receipt

Got:

4-pack of Dannon CrushCups yogurt – on sale for $2.00, used a $1.00/1 coupon from the 3/28 Smart Source newspaper inserts, which doubled; the 10% discount took off an additional .20 cents, making the final price .30 cents.
1 package of Stayfree maxi pads – regularly $3.49, used a $2.00/1 coupon from the 3/28 Red Plum newspaper inserts, which doubled; the 10% discount took off an additional .35 cents, making the final price .64 cents.
1 Lunchables – regularly $1.99, used a $1/1 coupon that I got through trading, which doubled; the 10% took off an additional .20 cents, making the final price .29 cents.
2 packages of Farmland bacon – priced at $4.79 and on sale for “Buy one, get one free”, I used a $1/1 coupon that I got through their coupon mailing list, which doubled; the 10% took off an additional .48 cents, making the final price $2.81 for two packages of bacon.

Transaction #6:

Total spent: Nothing out of pocket, put $4.49 on my gift card; and I will get $4.49 back in rebates.
View receipt

Got:

2 lbs Jennie-O turkey & gravy in roasting pan – regularly $4.99, the 10% discount took off an additional .50 cents; and I will submit this for the Jennie-O rebate that I signed up for, which will make my final price free less the cost of a stamp to mail it in. And who knows, they might even refund the full amount, pre-10% store discount, which would turn this into a small money-maker. I will keep you posted!

Transaction #7:

Total spent: $2.69 out of pocket, put $3.90 on my gift card, and will get back $5.39 in rebates
Total before coupons: $13.99
View receipt

Got:

8 Maruchan Yakisoba bowls – on sale for $1.00, used four $1.00/2 coupons, which doubled; and received an additional .10 cent discount each because of the 10% club card promotion. Final price: $1.20 for all eight.
1 bottle of Olay Quench body lotion – on sale for $5.99, and I will send in for the Olay Quench “Try-Me-Free” rebate, making this free less the cost of the stamp to mail it in. Also, I may be reimbursed for the full price, pre-10% discount, in which case it will turn into a small money-maker. As always, I will keep you posted!

Custom Photo Stamps For .33 Cents Each, Including Shipping – Today Only

April 2nd, 2010

Custom photo stamps

Custom photo stamps that I ordered last year through a similar offer


With all this talk about coupon trading, I thought this was a good deal to share – you can end up using a lot of stamps doing trades, so what better way to maximize your saving than by getting a discount on postage! Click here to read a post on Money Saving Mom explaining how you can get inexpensive custom photo stamps today only through Snapfish. To make this deal even better, use Ebates or ShopAtHome (If you’re not familiar with them, check out my article about online rebates to learn more), as they both offer 7.5% cashback on Snapfish orders. What I did was add the $10 credit and save the photo stamps to my shopping cart, and then closed the window and loaded up ShopAtHome. I paid 19.96 total for 3 sheets of 20 first-class stamps – this includes shipping – and I will get $1.49 back through ShopAtHome, which will make the final cost per stamp around .30 cents. That’s a .14 cents savings per stamp! ETA: Money Saving Mom says that she is not sure if this coupon code can be combined with cashback from ShopAtHome. But even if that is the case, the stamps are still only .33 cents each!
This is a great way to save on a necessary practical item, plus you get to have the fun of putting your own photo on it.

Free Kids ‘N Pets Product After Rebate

April 1st, 2010
Kids 'N Pets

Click here to become a fan of Kids ‘N Pets on Facebook, and you will qualify for a free rebate on any Kids ‘N Pets odor/stain removal product. These products can be found at Wal-Mart and Target. Thanks, Common Sense With Money and Coupon Mamacita!