Priceless

My little guy Landon comes up to me the other day and says, "Mom, can I be an extreme couponer?"  Apparently he had caught an episode of "Extreme Couponing" on TV, where a 9 year old boy was featured.  A mothers dream.... "Of course you can coupon honey!"
 I think that Landon has this deep desire to be featured on TV, and make money from his fame.  Last summer all he could talk about was how he was going to get on "America's Got Talent" and how he would win $1,000,000.00 by doing his break dancing.  This summer it looks like TV spurred couponing interest.

In true Landon fashion, he wanted to start right that second, and nothing was going to change his mind.  Being a Sunday night, I sat down and taught him what I know and we began planning a list from the ads, and cutting the coupons.  Monday morning, he got up anxious for school, not for learning, but because the sooner he went, the sooner he could come home and do his first coupon shop.  I have to admit, it was pretty cute him walking around the store with little black composition book in hand, finding the products on his list, matching them to his coupons, and double checking that everything was just so.  While shopping he ran into a fantastic deal on Poptarts (a non list item).   I had given him the cash to purchase the items on his list, and he figured out that he could afford to buy 3 boxes of Poptarts and still get his coupon list.  He was so excited with his find.  He was my little "hunter" chest all puffed out, head high as he walked to check out all by himself.  He loaded all the items on the conveyor belt, and began to panic, when he realized he didn't have a fresh values card.  "Mom, please tell me you have a fresh values card I can borrow, or my coupon trip will be ruined."  Mom to the rescue, I pulled out my purple fresh values card, and he took care of the rest, handing over the coupons, watching the totals and paying the cashier.  He just could not stop talking about his savings of over 68%, and "just look at all the items I purchased with coupons, and all for under $20!"  Time spent preparing for coupon trip- four hours, price of grocery items after coupons -less than twenty dollars.  Total savings- $68%.  Seeing the excitement on his face after accomplishing what he set out to do, start to finish on his own, while saving money. PRICELESS!

What a Bargain!

My heart is racing, my tummy has flutters, I feel as if any minute I will break out into song, my head is questioning how can this be? My cart is full, and so is my preverbial wallet. I have just left the store with such great BARGAINS! I had the most fun and successful coupon excursion of my life! I couldn't wait to get home and tell Michael of all my fabulous purchases. I mean really, some of my purchases they actually paid me to take off their hands once I applied a coupon. Michael just laughed as I showed him the hair color I was paid to take (I purchased enough to last me the rest of the year...yeah! I hate shopping for hair color.) I got two bottles of gain dish soap for FREE, Wisk for $1.49, Quaker Oatmeal for .67 a box. I even purchased their new line of Hearty Medleys, Apple Cranberry Almond. I had it for breakfast this morning. To die for! All hot and warm and packed with yummy filling cranberries and almonds. I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning to have another package. Progresso Soup for .63 a can,this is a steal of a deal when it usually retails for $1.50 or more, and Parker loves soup. Kraft shredded cheese for .48 a bag, 1 box of cereal free, another for .50, and the others for .99, air freshner for .75, I wouldn't have normally purchased AirWick air freshener, but for .75, I am willing to give it a shot. I purchased their new fall scent and can hardly wait to use it. Those were my super buys, but I also purchased $10.97 Loreal makeup for $5.00 and another box of hair color that retails for $13 for $4. Which by the way I used last night and LOVE. It is Clairol Perfect 10 hair color. It was quick and easy to use, and my hair looks so pretty, shiny and above all natural. I love it! I wonder if they have any more boxes left? I may have to go back today and check it out.

The new Winco opened up out by our house Monday. Oh how I love Winco. Having lived in Idaho, Mike and I became very big fans, it still doesn't fill our void for Aldi, but the opening specials were awesome! I don't know what it is, but since moving into our house I have become bargain obsessed. Don't get me wrong, a bargain has always excited me (who else do you know can convince themselves they like something like a shirt simply because it is $1.00?) At any rate, I wanted to write of some of my fantastic savings. Once I paired a manufacture coupon, with a store coupon, and their sale price, I got Heinz Ketchup for FREE, I got Kraft Salad Dressing with MFC, SC, and sale price for .48, Bumble Bee Tuna for .28 a can, 24 bottles of water for .98, Lays Potato Chips for .89, Fruit Snacks for .98 "Gushers" to be exact(the kids are excited about all the "junk" food that we try not to normally have at the house. Since they simply inhale the stuff.) Corn on the cob for .10 an ear, 12 pack of Cottonelle Toilet Paper for $2.00! And last but not least, upon leaving, Winco gave us a box of Trix for FREE Yeah Me! I was so excited! Now my house is full of goodies, but I am itching to find some more bargains!

The best part of my shopping excursion was that the kids were sooooo good while shopping a store full of crazy bargain shoppers like myself. The kids were as excited as I was about the great deals we found. I couldn't get over how well behaved they were. I seriously wondered who had abducted my children and replaced them with clones. I know it will be a fading thing, but for one day, Winco made my kids shopping angels!

"FREE"dom Weekend

Our weekend started with a trip to Winco Friday night to redeem our coupons for free Shasta, Hotdogs, Buns, and Chips. Mom had given us her coupon as well, so we got twice the free items. I also bundled it with some manufacturer coupons for items like Mac and cheese...It was fun for the kids to see how much we got for little or no cost at the store by using our coupons. Then we went to Red Robin where we had coupons for free kids meals with the purchase of 2 classic burgers. After our 10 dollar dinner (Really, you can't even hardly buy the fixings for a dinner for 10 dollars) we went to Krispy Kreme for for dessert.






It was national donut day and they were giving away free donuts. When we walked in the door, we saw a promotion for a dozen free glazed donuts if we brought in Dad's ugliest tie. Lucky for us DI was across the street so we went on "an ugly tie hunt." The kids loved it! Landon even found a mint condition St. Louis Cardinals tie for Mike, any early Father's Day gift. It was soooo much fun! Our tie was pretty ugly. The kids hope that it wins the ugliest tie contest, the prize is a year of free donuts. Now wouldn't that be fun? On Saturday we went to the Aquatic Center. One day a year they offer a free day to the public. What a boon, this is like a $20 treat for the family. We love the aquatic center. Unfortunately, I also walked away with a free sun burn. I haven't got this sunburned ever. The worst part is it is only from my knee up. Can you say ouch? Of all the free stuff we got/did this weekend, this is one I could have done without. After our fun in the sun, we went to Kent's Market for their
8th anniversary and got free cake, ice cream, and chips.
Saturday was also free fishing day, and state national parks day. Too bad you can't jam everything into one weekend. What a fun summer "FREE"dom weekend we had!