About a month ago I went to the home of my friend Rebecca to learn her tips and tricks regarding coupon shopping. She finds some amazing deals and spends under 200.00/ month on groceries. This is for a family of 5, plus she is able to stock up on her year's supply of food off of this total. Her shelves are well stocked and I just had to find out her secret. I learned that stores do not care if you use a store coupon and a manufacturers coupon on the same item. This can amount to huge savings in and of itself! For example: I had a 1.00 off manufacturers coupon for a box of Progresso Chicken broth. Regular price at Albertson's, 2.99. I then found a store coupon for 5o cents off, plus I had a double coupon that got me an additional 50 cents off. That made the total cost of the broth 1.00, and it was a large box of broth. Pretty cool, huh? The other trick that I learned is that Albertson's will take any other competitors coupon, which means that I can use the Thriftway coupons for 99 cent butter, 4.99 for a 2 lb. block of Tillamook cheese, 99 cent dozen eggs, and 79 cent half gallon of milk, limit 2. Thriftway has some awesome coupons! On Sunday I found a coupon for 1.00 off a 2 lb. block of Tillamook cheese. Combined with a Fred Meyer coupon for 4.99 for a 2lb. block of Tillamook cheese, I ended up paying 3.99. The regular cost for that same cheese at Albertson's is 9.99. Anyways, I actually find myself excited to go through the ad's to see what deals I can find, and I am happy to say that we are under budget on groceries for the first time in months. Well, we were so over budget, that we are still catching up on our deficit, but when you look at our current spending it is down quite a bit, so we should be caught up soon!
I have loved the time that Ivy and I get to spend together when Eli goes on the bus for afternoon Kindergarten. The other day she turned two of our folding chairs upside down and asked me to go a roller coaster ride with her. This is her getting ready for our wild ride! If you can't see it, my seat is right behind hers. We had fun putting our arms in the air and screaming. I would ask her which way we were going and then we would bend our arms in the proper direction. I love her sense of imagination:0)
Eli came home from school today with a Pilgrim outfit and an Indian outfit. Here is Eli and Ivy modeling the newest trend in fashion. Eli says he is taking them to Aunt Clarka's house tomorrow so he and his cousin Bethany can dress up for Thanksgiving. So cute!
Rylie and I attended an open house for Middle School options this last week. In our school district she has multiple options for Middle School next year. I have never heard of another school district that does this, though I am sure that there are others. She can go to our regular neighborhood school, or she can apply to several "option schools" that are also part of our school district. At the Open house we had the opportunity to hear the Principal's from several of the schools talk about what they had to offer. Her school of choice is the Art's and Communication Magnet Academy. It sounds like a neat school and a great match for her. She loves drawing and writing and definitely has a talent in both. I have some reservations about her going there...I have heard that it attracts what some would call the Gothic group. And I don't think Rylie is really a Goth type of girl. I have also heard that in the last couple of years the student body has become very diverse, thanks to an implemented lottery based acceptance. We will go to the Open House in January at the school to make our final decision if she should apply. The school get exceptional ratings and below is the explanation of what ACMA is all about:
Arts & Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA) is a publicly funded arts magnet school within the Beaverton School District. A member of the International Network of Schools for the Advancement of Arts Education, ACMA is the only stand-alone arts magnet school in the State of Oregon. Our students, grades 6 through 12, receive a rigorous academic program combined with rich pre-professional experiences in a wide array of artistic disciplines. Our combination of high expectations and placing the arts at the core of our curriculum produces graduates who are well prepared for post-secondary study in a wide range of pursuits, both within and outside of the arts.
It will be exciting to see where Rylie end's up next year.
Below: Sophia singing her Turkey Song!
I just had to add this story: Today Sophia overheard me talking to Rylie about Eli's bad habit of stealing her Nintendo DS. I was telling Rylie that we both needed to talk to Eli about this and give him some rules regarding it. Out of the blue Sophia says, " Mom, I really think Eli is out of control! You better give him some responsibilities in his life. I think it's really important!". It was really funny the way she said it:0)
12 comments:
Great updates for a slacker!! Hehe:). That is so cool about coupons, you can really use any coupon at Albertsons??? AWSOMEEE!!!!
Don't you just love saving money that way? When we lived in Houston I got really into all that you said--I actually had a friend named Tonya teach me how! Anyway, San Antonio doesn't have the same options--only one grocery store besides Wal-mart, named HEB that has taken over everything! I was so sad when I realized that. I still do some "stacking," but they don't double or triple, and they don't take other stores' ads.
Sophia up on the table reminds me of your house growing up. I used to always be so amazed that your parents would just sit and watch you be crazy and perform like that. So fun! Makes a kid feel special.
you are amazing! Isn't saving money thrilling!
Happy thanksgiving to you and your fun family.
Hailey
Way to go! I'm glad that you've learned so much, and really, it was probably stuff you already knew and just needed to be reminded of. At the rate you're going, you're going to catch up soon on the "deficit". :)
i've been wondering where you were! glad to have you back! i have started using coupons for the first time in my life, since groceries are more expensive here. i've always thought it a pain and a bore to look at the coupons, but not anymore! thanks for your tips!
i love the time that i have with kawena when both of her sisters are in school for a few hours 3 days a week! it is special time!
As a daily cover-to-cover reader of The Oregonian (and before that, Eugene's The Register-Guard... and The Tri-City Herald from Tri-Cities, Washington, when I lived at home), Sunday's edition is always one of my favorite days. You get lots of news, more feature-length stories (which the journalist in me loves!)... and the fat wad of circulars!
I will admit that I especially love perusing those of Best Buy and Circuit City... but I also make my way through the different grocers.
Even though it's just the two of us here in the ShepAlder family, I still relish the thrill of getting good deals when I do our grocery shopping (as Em has mentioned on our blog, she mostly stays away from the grocery store as she tends to shop like a single college student). I've never realized that Fred Meyer has such good deals many times (plus, if you ever forget their circular, they usually stock them at the store by the entrance). Safeway is more of a week-by-week thing, but they do cool things sometimes (i.e. two free movie tickets when you buy $40 of qualified items ranging from pasta sauce, soup, laundry detergent, razors, etc. For devoted film fans like us, that was well worth it!).
Costco, of course, has fantastic buys if you know what you like... and their Kirkland brand items are of fantastic quality (I'm a big fan of their delicious Kirkland-brand-but-actually-Mission-made tortilla chips and 48-pack of AA batteries for $10!!). Plus, buying gas at the Hillsboro Costco can save you a bundle of money, even if you only go out there once a month or so. I paid $1.71/gallon on Tuesday and I get 3% back on gas with my Costco Executive membership to boot! Plus, if I go between 2-4 p.m., I can hit Happy Hour at Sonic over on Cornelius Pass... mmm... Strawberry Slush... yum!).
Anyway... I think it's great that you're saving money and having fun with it. As for the kids, they're super cute and you guys always seem to be having a good time. I'm glad we get to be your neighbors! :)
I love to save $ it gives me such a high. Your kids are adorable, I love to hear about them. Cute video.
So my question about the coupon thing is what do you actually buy when the Thriftway coupon says it is 99 cents for butter but it is for the western family brand? What brand do you buy? That is why i didnt think i could use those ones at albertsons. Same with the milk ones. Call me sometime or I'll call you.
I think your Sophia may be a famous stage and screen performer some day!
Your house is so dang cute, Tonya. I love the backsplash in your kitchen. Come decorate my home for me, wouldya???
Coupons. Oh coupons. Teach me oh wise one. I have the same question as Darilyn... answer on here - I'll subscribe to the comments.
Rachel-
If the coupon is for a store brand item and you take it to Albertson's, just get Albertson's brand and they will honor it. Also, I took in a coupon for .33 cent cans of broth-store brand. The limit was 9 and all Albertson's had was 7, so I grabbed two cans of Swanson's broth and told the checker that I wanted my 9 and all they had was 7 and he totally honored the coupon, even with the name brand stuff. I did the same thing with milk yesterday. They were out of the Albertson's brand, but I got Dari Gold instead and asked if they would still honor my .99 cent coupon- limit was 2, and they did. This week is the second time I have been able to do a shopping and save more than I spend. I spent 67.00 and got quite a bit of stuff, but saved 76.00. AWESOME!!! Hope this helps.
Totally totally helps!! Do you know if Albertson's will take coupons printed off the computer?
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