and March is national frozen food month, so there will be really good deals on frozen stuff. I need to start eating out of the freezer to make some room.

Yesterday Safeway had a really good deal on frozen food. I spent $1.39 for $17 worth of food. I saved 94%
Stacking the deals is what really makes the price go down.

First layer is the sale. Stouffers and Lean Cuisine are on sale for $2/each

Next Layer is the store deal. Buy 5 Stouffer's or Lean Cuisines and get 2 Dreyers smoothies for free.

Next Layer is the store coupon. Buy $15 in frozen foods and get $5 off. The free Dreyers count towards the $15.

Next Layer is manufacture's coupons. 4 $1 off Stouffer's and 1 $1.10 on 2 Lean Cuisines

Last Layer is the e-coupons. Some stores take both e-coupons and paper coupons. Your stores may have different rules. $1 on 2 Lean Cuisines e-coupon.

8.00 - 4 Stouffers individual meals
4.00 - 2 Lean Cuisine
3.00 - 2 Dryers smoothies
-----
15.00
-3.00 - 2 free dryers wyb 5 Stouffers or lean cuisine
-5.00 - Safeway q wyb $15 in frozen foods
-4.00 - 4 $1 stouffer's q's
-1.10 - wyb 2 lean cuisine
-1.00 - e coupon on lean cuisine
-----
.90 for 8 items, less than .12 apiece.

Plus I paid using a 5% discounted gift card and I will get 50 points for printing the coupons from Swagbucks, and I get points toward .10 off per gallon of gas.

2.00 - 1 jar Skippy peanut butter
-.51 - Safeway q
-1.00 - q
-----
.49 - goes to food pantry

I also went to Walgreens where I got paid to buy toothpaste and got some cheap Pond's facial cleanser cloths.

2.99 - 1 4 oz Colgate toothpaste
.24
-----
3.23
-.75 - q
----
2.48 - got back a RR for $3. I did this deal twice and made .52 for each tube of toothpaste. These will be donated to the food pantry.

11.98 - 2 30 ct Ponds facial wipes
.40 - taxes
-----
12.38
-5.99 - bogo sale
-3.00 - 2 $1.50 q's WAGs usually lets you use 2 q's on BOGO sales
------
3.39 - 1.70/each

I paid using a Walgreens gift card bought with other RRs - so no OOP.

I finished reading the library book Dragon Harper by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - very good.

My sister works in marketing for a big software company. She puts on shows and recently did a survey at one. She needed the information in the survey input into a spreadsheet. She asked my niece if she wanted to do it, but no, that would be like working. So she asked me if I wanted it for a $25 AMEX card. I said sure.

It took about an hour and a half. She wanted to give me another $25 AMEX card, but I told her that was decent pay for an hour and a half of data-entry work. Especially since no SS or taxes.

I don't get my niece, when I was 16 I worked at whatever I could to make money. I hated baby-sitting, but still took baby-sitting jobs when they were available. I worked all the hours I could get when I got my first job. But she's super spoiled, basically gets whatever she wants.

Recently she broke her cellphone on purpose because she wanted a new, more expensive, one. So far my sister has held firm and not gotten her the more expensive one. She can get her phone replaced with the same model she has now. She's always done that though, even as a little kid. If she wanted new jeans or a coat, she would rip whatever she had so she could get a new one. My sister never believed she was doing that, even though my niece told me that's what she did.

It's a bad precedent to set and will definitly not help her in her adulthood.

I got free sample of San Francisco coffee in the mail today. This will go to the food pantry.

DirecTV has free Starz this weekend, so I plan to watch some movies on TV later today - maybe with some kettle corn

I finished reading my book The Last Prophecy by Jon Land. Adventure - ok.

I've never tried this before but I saw a recipe on one of the blogs I read so decided to try a microwave version. It was delicious.

1 tbs oil
1 tsp splenda
salt
1/4 cup popcorn kernals

mix in microwave popcorn bowl
microwave 2 min

yum, yum, yum

I had a really good mail day too. I got a bunch of samples

6 Always pads/liners + coupons
3 tampons
2 prilosec samples
1 travel size Secret deodorant
head and shoulders shampoo and conditioner
4 hearing aid batteries
coupon for free can Chef Boyardee

Hearing aid batteries go to dad, secret deodorant and head and shoulders go to food pantry.

I also got the first season of the Amazing Race from Netflix and my credit card bill. The credit card bill isn't so wonderful, but it showed I have $80 in rewards I can cash in.

I finished reading the library book Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee. Sci/Fi - very good.

I got a notice I had 10 Border's Bucks that expired Monday and they are calling for snow this weekend so I decided to go in town and use them today. They don't give you much time to use these, 1 week. I got 2 books and after border's bucks and a 33% off coupon it was $3.23, which I paid using a free gift card. Rewards from Discover credit card.

Since I was in town I stopped at Albertson's to see if there were any deals to scoop up. Albertson's doesn't double coupons so I kept seeing what I thought were really good deals, but after translating to non-double coupon, they weren't so good I did however get 4 boxes of Hamburger Helper for .50/each. These will go to the food pantry.

I also got a roll of Marcel paper towels for .25 and my best find was 24 ct Excedrin PM on sale for $2.50 and I had coupons for $2.50. Free except for taxes. I got 4 of these. I only use them a few times a month, so this is alot. I may give a couple boxes to my parents.

I stopped at King Soopers on the way home to pick up another prescription. Spent $7.32. They gave me another $25 off groceries. On the way out I saw Star Kist tuna for $1.00 and I had 2 .50 coupons which doubled. So I got 2 free pouches of tuna, which will also go to the food pantry.

My change oil light came on as I was leaving King Soopers, so I need to find a coupon for that soon. I usually go to Jiffy Lube.

I finished reading my book The Scarlet Ruse by John D. MacDonald. Mystery - very good.

Yesterday I entered a simple recipe in the Pillsbury bake-off contest and they put $5 on my King Soopers loyalty card.

http://katycouponers.blogspot.com/2011/02/pillsbury-bake-off...

I also had a $3 OYNO coupon and some of my RX coupon left. I only needed a few basics today so I got

1.29 - 1 quart milk
1.39 - 1 lb dried black-eyed peas
1.59 - 1 lb dried great northern beans
1.82 - 2 large potatoes
.99 - 1 loaf rye bread - day old
1.87 - 8 bananas
.84 - 3 onions
5.67 - 3 small pre-packaged Millstone coffee $1.89/ea
-----
15.46
-5.00 - pillsbury bake off
-3.00 - OYNO q
-6.00 - 3 $2 Millstone coffee q's - made .11/each
-----
1.46 - used my RX coupon to pay $0

The coffee goes to the food pantry.

I finished reading my book An Original Sin by Nina Bangs. Romance - ok.

Went to Walgreens this morning and got 3 free Dove Deodorants.

3 x 3.49 = 10.47
- 3 $2 coupons = 4.47
- Walgreen's in-ad coupon making them $1.99/each took off $4.50 = .03 profit before taxes. Taxes was .41 so technically they weren't 'free'. I paid .38 in taxes. I also had to buy a filler to soak up the overage of .03 cents. I got a Valentines Reese's heart and used my Walgreen gift card to pay. The Walgreens gift card was purchased with RRs - so free. These will all be donated to the food pantry since I already have 4 deodorants. Deodorant is free pretty often.

I went to Safeway to get free Nature Sweet cocktail tomatoes, but they didn't have any. They had an ad in Sunday's paper for 3 days only on sale .99 and I have coupons to make them free. The store never had them, but said they might get them tomorrow. What a rip-off. Safeway is really bad for doing things like that. My least favorite store to shop at, but they do have good deals at times, so I continue trying. I may go back tomorrow. It's only a mile out of the way.

Talked to my oldest niece for awhile yesterday. Her and a friend drove up to Vail for snowboarding and almost had a serious accident sliding on the ice in the car. Fortunately they didn't hit anything, but got stuck on an ice bump. Someone pulled them out. But it scared them good. It's tricky driving in the mountains here with the ice. The friend is from Hawaii and doesn't have good snow driving skills.

I finished reading the library book A Gift of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - very good.

I went house hunting with my sister and her friend who's a realtor. We saw 5 places, 4 of them contender's. I think it's very premature to start looking for houses now, since they aren't selling very well here and her house will be hard to sell because of where it's located. It's basically on the prairie and a horse property with a huge barn. 1/2 drive from anywhere. You have to have the right person to buy.

But she can't stand to sit still and has to go out looking, even though everything she's liked so far has sold already. She hasn't gotten a serious offer on her place and it's been on the market for 5 months. But I like looking at houses so no biggie for me. The stuff she's looking at is a lot smaller than what she has and stuff under $300K is selling.

We went to Arby's for lunch and I spent $3.30. Then my parents came home from a trip upto Cripple Creek and Victor and mom wanted to walk. So I did that and then they wanted to go out to eat and to the grocery store afterwards. It started pouring rain, which is extremely rare in February here. This whole year has been weird weather wise.

We went to Chili's and I spent $10.29 and brought half my California Club sandwich home for tonight. Paid with one of my discounted gift cards.

At King Soopers I got paid $3 to buy $17+ worth of groceries.

17.67
-13.47 - coupons
-3.00 - Daytona sale wyb 10
-1.20 - Pharmacy RX
------
FREE + I got a coupon for $3 OYNO

I did the Daytona 500 sale where if you buy 10 items you get $3 off at the cash register and a $3 coupon off on your next order.

2.99 - Reese's Puffs cereal
-2.99 - free item from playing the King Soopers Daytona game
-.55 - ecoupon from cellfire
-.30 - Daytona wyb 10 sale
-----
(.85) - moneymaker - I was surprised the cellfire coupon came off as well as the free item coupon. This will go to the food pantry

2.58 - 2 Totinos pizza rolls
-.80 - .40/2 q doubled
-.40 - ecoupon from cellfire
-.60 - Daytona wyb 10 sale
-----
.78 or .39/each

6.36 - 4 cans Campbell's chunky soup
-1.20 - Daytona wyb 10 sale
-2.00 - 2 $1/2 q's
-----
3.16 or .79/each

2.97 - 3 cans Chef boyardee
-.90 - Daytona wyb 10 sale
-.70 - .35/3 q doubled
-----
1.37 - .46/each - goes to food pantry

1.79 - 1 can whole wheat Chef boyardee
-1.50 - free wyb 3 chef boyardee q - up to $1.50
-----
.29 - goes to food pantry

.98 - 1 large tube Colgate toothpaste
.08 - taxes
----
1.06
-.98 - .50 q doubled
----
.08 - goes to food pantry

I also used a .55 cellfire q that I had to use on anything and a $3 OYNO q from the last Daytona deal I did. And I finished paying with $1.20 of my Pharmacy redemption reward of $1.20. No money out of pocket and another coupon for $3 OYNO.

I finished reading the library book The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook. Sci/Fi - excellent. She is so imaginative, her books are great. If you like Patricia Briggs or Laurel K. Hamilton or J. R. Ward, you will like her books.

On the way to walking at Walmart I stopped at Safeway and got one of my prescriptions - $2.74. I also got another package of 80% hamburger for .22. This is the 6th pound of hamburger I got for less than .50/lb. That's it for me for now, it's about 6 months worth. I also picked up 4 16 ct packages of 2% Kraft cheese slices for .49 each. I will freeze these. They are on sale for $1.49 and I had .55 coupons that doubled to $1.

I also got 2 more popcorn shrimp for .64/each at Walmart.

I finished reading my book The Da Vinci Legacy by Lewis Perdue. Mystery - very boring and cliched. I felt like I'd already read it in several versions.

I went to King Soopers today and as I was walking in I saw a bunch of change in the parking lot. Mostly pennies. Someone must have dropped their whole coin purse. I stopped and picked it all up. I felt weird standing there with my big butt in the air for quite some time since there was 50 pennies and 2 nickels, so it took awhile It almost paid for my prescription which was .80.

I spent 0 again on groceries because I used my prescription rewards and I got a coupon for $3 on your next order at the end.

Before coupons I spent 19.91
- 3.00 - Daytona buy 10 get $3
- 9.34 - coupons
- 7.57 - RX redemption
------
FREE + $3 OYNO

2.94 - 3 6.4 oz tubes Colgate toothpaste
.22 - taxes
-----
3.16
-2.94 - 3 .50 q's doubled
-----
.22 - food pantry item

6.00 - 6 cans Chef boyardee
-1.80 - Daytona deal wyb 10
-1.40 - 2 .35/3 q's doubled
-----
2.80 - 1/2 to my niece and 1/2 to the food pantry

3.58 - 2 Whole wheat chef boyardee
-3.00 - 2 free item wyb 3 Chef boyardee up to $1.50/ea
-----
.58 - food pantry

6.36 - 4 cans Chunky soup
-1.20 - Daytona deal wyb 10
-2.00 - 2 $1/2 q's
-----
3.16 or .79/each

1.09 - Bananas

I finished reading the library book Last Night's Scandal by Loretta Chase. Romance - very good.

I had .60 off per gallon of gas from King Soopers today. I got 21 gallons and paid $50 - $2.36/gal. I filled up 2 5 gallon cans and my car. I used a gift card I got 5% back on to pay.

My grocery category is going to be pretty high this month. I got 2 1 year Sunday only Subscriptions to the Denver Post for $56.70/each - $113.40. I used Discounted Newspapers website to purchase them and I went thru My Points so I should get 5 points/dollar. I track newpaper subscriptions in the grocery category because the only reason I buy them is for coupons. The subscription went up $20 from last year.

Inflation is really starting to hitting everything. I still have 8 boxes of the Cheerios I got last year for free to .50/box. I haven't seen a good sale since and now I haven't seen less than $2.50/box on sale and it's $4 for a regular box which is insane. Lot's of other groceries are up too. Clothes are supposed to go up 10% this year. The gas would have been 2.99/gal if I hadn't had the discount - up 17% in just a couple months.

It was warm today, but we had to walk at Walmarts anyways because the wind was blowing very hard. It's given me a major headache. I got 3 more small boxes of the SeaPak popcorn shrimp. $1.64 each and I had 3 $1 coupons. When I got home I saw the cashier put in 4 coupons so I paid .92 for all 3 boxes. I used a Walmart gift card that I got 3% back on to pay.

I finished reading my book Hadrian's Wall by William Dietrich. Historical - pretty good.

Target had a coupon for $10 gift card when you transfer a prescription so I went in town today and ran some errands. My prescription cost $5.50. I also got a box of 20 ct Finish dish detergent and a snack size planter's peanuts for .68 after coupons.

Target had several ads, but all the prescription coupons had been cut out of them. I wish I had known about the coupon on Sunday. I would have bought more papers.

I had a coupon for a free small size of Wendy's fries and got those and a small chili. Spent 1.07

Carwash - spent $7

Used bookstore - traded in a brown paper grocery bag of books, got about 6 new books to bring back home. No cost. I have almost $400 in credit now.

Dollar Store - 3 bags of eggs noodles - $3

Last night mom invited my sister and niece and me to dinner for Valentine's. I said that was weird to invite your kids over for Valentine's. She didn't want my sister to be alone, since she's in the middle of a divorce. She gave us all gifts. I got a $25 Red Lobster gift card.

We had steak and potatoes. Everyone's favorite meal. I was telling my niece about my free taco's and since she loves tacos, I showed her how to print them out.

I finished reading my book A Tan and Sandy Silence by John D. MacDonald. Mystery - very good.

I made a bad misjudgement yesterday. Mom called and instead of walking at Walmart she wanted to go up to Denver and walk in the mall up there. Dad needed to go up to Thornton to get some tires. So not really thinking about it I said ok. Everybody and his brother, his mother, his sister, his father, his neices, nephews and cousins were there. It was a zoo. I haven't seen it that busy in years. I have a big problem with crowds. I have started to hyper-ventilate in the past. Dad dropped us off with the plan of picking us up in 2 hours. By the end of the first hour I was gritting my teeth. I made it but it was very uncomfortable and I wish I had not gone. I get incredibly anxious in crowds and avoid them whenever possible.

I did get a free book at Borders. 50% off coupon and free gift cards from credit card rewards. And I found a really cute hourglass for $6 at Pottery Barn. I have wanted one for years because I like them and hadn't ever come across one. I wasn't actively looking just in the back of my mine I knew if I found one I wanted one. I put it next to a cool kaledescope I have on an end table and I've probably turned it over 10 times. It's a 5 min one.

We went to Red Lobster for lunch at 2:40 and they were packed too. We had to park in the last row. I used a coupon and one of my discounted gift cards and spent $9.01 with tax and tip.

While eating dad was asking what we got and I told him. Mom said "she actually bought something she didn't need". I buy stuff I don't need, it's just not that often Most times when we go shopping I may buy a book, that I don't pay anything for since I use my free reward gift cards, and lunch and nothing else. But I'm not really tempted by most stuff in the stores.

Today I went to King Soopers to pick up a prescription. I transfered it from Target and got another $25 RX rewards put on my KS card for free groceries. I spent $2.24 on the prescription and $1.50 on the Sunday Denver Post.

I got 3 more tacos at Taco Bell for brunch today. Spent $2.33 and used the last of my free taco coupons.

Tomorrow Subway is giving out a free cookie with purchase. They have all their footlongs on sale for $5 again so I may do that. Here's the coupon if you're interested.

http://media.subwayfreshbuzz.com/facebook/free_cookie_day/sf...

I finished reading my book Coming Back by Marcia Muller. Mystery - very good. I really like the whole Sharon McCone series.

I had to get another blood test today, so afterwards I went to Safeway and saved 74%, spent $5.55.

9.98 - 2 Oscar Meyer Carving board
-4.99 - BOGO sale
-2.00 - q
-----
2.99 or 1.50/each - I see several turkey sandwiches ahead. Good with a bowl of soup for dinner

2.47 - 1 lb 80% hamburger
-2.00 - safeway coupon from joy of football book
-----
.47

3.96 - 4 Milky Way candy bars
-1.98 - b2g2 sale
- .99 - buy2 get 1 coupon
-----
.99 or .25/each

3.96 - 2 snickers and 2 snicker peanut butter cubes
-1.98 - b2g2 sale
- .99 - buy 1 snickers get snicker peanut butter free
------
.99 or .25 each

.11 - taxes on candy bars

I got 3 more tacos for lunch/breakfast at Taco Bell for $2.33, 1 free one with coupon.

Kroger has a new game for winning groceries the Daytona 500 game. I won a free box of Reese's Puff's cereal today. Here's the website if you're interested.

http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/Kroger_Daytona/Page/SweepsPage

I finished reading my book Princess of the Sword by Lynn Kurland. Sci/Fi - excellent.

I went to Taco Bell for lunch and had no problems using my coupon for a free crunchy taco. I got 3 tacos for $2.33. I'll probably go back tomorrow.

Went to King Soopers and saved 86%. Saved $23.70 in coupons and spent $7.20 for just under $50 in groceries.

6.76 - 4 Old El Paso refried beans
-3.00 - 3 .50 q's doubled
-----
3.76 - was supposed to get a $3 OYNO coupon wyb 6 and it didn't print so they gave me $3 in cash. Donated beans to food pantry

2.78 - 2 Old El Paso taco seasoning packets
-2.78 - 2 free wyb 2 Old El Paso products q's
-----
FREE - donated to food pantry

7 cans Kuner beans @ .69/each = $4.83

21.18 - 2 bottles Nature Made multivitamins 90 ct
.84 - taxes
------
22.02
-10.59 - bogo sale
-7.00 - wellness reward q
-3.00 - Nature Made q
------
1.43 - plus added 190 Nature Made points to my Wellness rewards toward another $7 q.

2.94 - 3 tubes 6.4 oz Colgate toothpaste
.23 - taxes
-----
3.17
-2.94 - 3 .75 q's doubled
-----
.23 - donated to food pantry

1.98 - 2 Mentos fruit mints
.03 - taxes
----
2.01
-1.98 - 2 .50 q's doubled
-----
.03

Dropped 4 bags of food at the food pantry. Dropped a bag of magazines at the library and picked up my 9 holds. Have a load of laundry started and need to empty the dishwasher. After that I'm planning to relax for the rest of the day.

I finished reading my book The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Sci/Fi - very good.

Went to Walmart to walk this morning and before meeting mom, did a little shopping. They have the Swiffer 360 extender swiffer's on sale for $8.97 and they have a tag that says you can get a free subscription to one of 4 magazines when you buy the duster. The form is online and in the fine print it says instead of getting the magazine subscription, you can have the money sent to you instead. I opted for that option and will only have to pay taxes. I also had a coupon that when you buy the Swiffer starter kit, you get a free refill up to $4.99. The only refills were $7.97 so it wasn't completely free, but a starter kit and 6 refills for $3 and taxes is pretty good.

I also got a new toaster for about $20, my other one broke. I got 3 of the small sizes of the SeaPak popcorn shrimp for .64/each after using 3 $1 coupons. That's 2 servings of shrimp in each box - I love this. I have some more coupons so will get some more in a week or two.

Taco Bell has coupons for a free crunchy taco on their facebook site so I printed 3 of them, you can only use one coupon per visit and it expires in 7 days from the day you print, but we have a Taco Bell here and I like their crunchy tacos.

I finished reading the library book Sins of the Soul by Eve Silver. Paranormal - very good.

I was very happy to see Walgreens had the Skippy peanut butter on sale for $1.50 this week. I got 6 jars this morning, used 6 $1 coupons so .50/each. These will be donated to the food pantry since I already have 10 jars. About 3 months worth.

I also got a free small bag of Ruffles using a coupon I got in the mail. Also donating.

Subway has it's $5 footlong deal again on any sandwich, so after we walked mom and I both got one. I used a discounted gift card to pay for mine. I got ham and turkey.

I finished reading the library book Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews. Paranormal - excellent. I love her books. I've been getting all of them from the library, but I think I will buy them next time I see a deal. I have a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card I got for my birthday.