I had an excellent run at the grocery store today. I bought 64 items. $88 pre-coupons. After coupons it ws $6.81 and I used my pharmacy rewards to pay for that. The entire order was free. King Soopers is having their Mega sale - buy 10 get $5 off, or .50 per item. I did 5 of these deals saving $25 off the top. The receipt says I saved $123.11.

First thing I did was pick up 2 prescriptions and used my $25 coupon. The prescriptions cost $8.12 and they put $25 on my King Soopers card.

I had coupons for everything except for 3 items. Bananas, potatoes and Magnesium Citrate which I needed for my surgery next week.

Here are the details:

3.00 - 3 tubes of Crest toothpaste - raincheck
-3.00 - 3 .50 q's doubled
-----
FREE - 1 to each neice, 1 to food pantry

.99 - 1 roll Basic paper towel
-1.00 - .50 q doubled
-----
.01 moneymaker

3.96 - 4 Propel water
-1.98 - 2 b1g1 free q's
-2.00 - Mega sale discount
-----
.02 moneymaker

5.38 - 2 boxes Quaker instant oatmeal
-4.00 - 2 $2.00 q's
-1.00 - Mega sale discount
-----
.38 - both boxes go to mom

2.98 - 2 bags Simply potatoes
-1.00 - .75 q/wyb 2 doubled
-1.00 - Mega sale discount
------
.98

2.29 - Secret deodorant
-2.00 - q
- .50 - Mega discount
-----
.31 moneymaker - goes to younger neice

5.00 - 6 pack Olay bar soap
-5.00 - $5 q wyb 1 secret deodorant - see above
-1.50 - ecoupon
-----
1.50 moneymaker

4.00 - 4 bags Ricola cough drops
-2.00 - 2 $1/2 q's
-2.00 - Mega sale discount
-----
FREE - 1 to neice, 3 to food pantry

9.90 - 10 cans Swanson chicken broth
-2.00 - 2 $1/5 q's
-5.00 - Mega sale discount
-----
2.90

4.50 - 3 Colgate toothbrushes
-3.00 - 3 $1 q's
-1.50 - Mega sale discount
-----
FREE - 1 to each of neices

2.98 - 2 cans multi-grain pringles
-1.00 - $1/2 q
-1.00 - Megs sale discount
-1.00 - $1/2 ecoupon
-----
.02 moneymaker - both go to neice

3.87 - 3 boxes American Beauty Quick Cook macaroni
-3.00 - 3 .55 q's doubled
-1.50 - Mega sale discount
-----
.63 moneymaker - 2 to food pantry, 1 to neice

3.00 - Advil 24 ct gels
-3.00 - free item q
- .50 - Mega sale discount
-----
.50 moneymaker

2.58 - 2 boxes Ronzoni Great Taste spaghetti
-2.00 - 2 .55 q's doubled
-1.00 - Mega sale discount
-----
.42 moneymaker

4.50 - 3 tubes Colgate toothpaste
-3.00 - 3 .75 q's doubled
-1.50 - Mega sale discount
-----
FREE - all to the food pantry

2.97 - 3 cans Del Monte tomatoes
-1.00 - .75/3 q doubled
-1.50 - Mega sale discount
-----
.47 - food pantry

3.75 - 3 bottles Honest Tea
-3.00 - 3 .50 q's doubled
-1.50 - Mega Sale discount
-----
.75 moneymaker - go to dad

5.36 - 4 cans Hormel chili
-2.00 - 2 $1/2 q's
-2.00 - Mega sale discount
-----
1.36 - food pantry

4.47 - 3 cans Chunky soup
-3.00 - 3 .50 q's doubled
-1.50 - Mega sale discount
-1.00 - ecoupon
-----
1.03 moneymaker

4.00 - 4 pouches Idaho potatoes
-2.00 - 2 free item coupons
-1.60 - 2 .40 q's
------
.40 - food pantry

So the food pantry gets the following

1 tube Crest toothpaste
3 Ricola cough drops
4 Hormel chili
3 tubes Colgate toothpaste
2 boxes macaroni pasta
2 boxes spaghetti
3 cans tomatoes
4 pouches Idaho potatoes

mom and dad get:

2 boxes instant oatmeal
3 bottles tea

Nieces get:

deodorant
2 Crest toothpaste
2 Colgate toothbrushes
2 cans pringles
1 box macaroni

Plus I got 100 gas points for my 2 prescriptions and 88 points for the groceries.

I finished reading the library books In Other Worlds by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Sci/fi - very good. And Burning Up - paranormal short stories - very good.

walked with mom for 50 min

Good mail day today. Free Downy sample, free Schick Titanium Razor and a Jerry Reed CD from yourmusic.com for $5.99
Coupons to King Soopers and coupons from 7-11 for free coffee, big gulp, hot dog, donut and slurpee.

Gave mom the Downy sample and dad the razor and coupons for free coffee and big gulp.

Phoned the credit card company to get $200 in Target gift cards for mom and dad for their credit card rebates. Mom's pretty happy, she wants to use the 'free' money for xmas presents.

walked with mom for 50 min

Went to Safeway this morning and got the 4 12 packs of Coke for $10 and the $10 rebate form. Also got the lb of Hillshire Farm sausage for .99 cents and more tuna at .50 cents a can. Spent 15.99

Then went to King Soopers and spent $60.00. $24 on books, $16.70 on cleaners and toilet paper. I noticed that the shelves showed the price per 100 sheets of TP. That was cool. I found out that the 4 packs of Angel Soft for $1.00 were almost 50% cheaper than the 12 packs of Angel Soft TP or any other large size package of TP. So instad of buying the 12 pack for $6 I bought 4 of the 4 packs for $4

The books were all 25% off plus I will get another 5% back from using my CC and I had a $5 off $50 Safeway coupon that I used.

Hamburger was $1/lb and I got a free 2-liter bottle of 7-Up.

Spent $6.20 at McDonalds for lunch.

When I got home I saw that the Coke had reward points on them. So I went to the reward site and entered my codes and got 40 points which are good towards 3 more 20 oz bottles of coke. I think I'll see if I can accumulate more points with the rest of my free 2 liter coke coupons and see how much I can get then. I've got pop coming out my ears now, but it's very hard to pass when it's free.

Got 3 free samples of Jergens lotions from Walmart and a sample of Gevalia coffee in the mail. I also got the $5.99 CD for my youngest nieces bday from Your Music.

Finished reading the library book Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters. Mystery. Very good.

went to Safeway this morning. Got the 4 12 packs of Pepsi products for $10 and the $10 back rebate. Also got a lb of Hillshire Farm sausage for .99 cents and 10 cans of Bumble Bee tuna for $5. Spent $33.71. Plan to go back on Tuesday and get the 4 12 packs of Coke with a $10 rebate, plus another sausage since the in store coupon was 1 only.

Went to McDonalds for lunch - spent 6.82

I did food prepping for the week, oatmeal, potato salad and hard-boiled eggs. Cleaned the kitchen and dusted the living, dining, two baths and bedroom. House feels much better. Will tackle the master bath on Tuesday.

I also spent part of the day catching up on blogs. I like 'My Money Blog' I have a link under Sites I frequent. He talks about how Google is starting Google checkout. If you register with your Citi cards you can get up to $10 back. You get $5 with rebate cards that give you 5% back for groceries etc. You get 1000 points or $10 if you register a Thank You points card and $5 back on your statement for any other Cite card. Google also has a list of stores that will give $10 back on a $20 purchase

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to King Soopers and spent $14.97. Got a free 14 oz bottle of French's mustard and a free newspaper.

The newspaper had a free sample of Crest dental floss in it.

Went to Walgreens and spent $10.77 used my Walgreen's rebate gift cards. Got a free bottle of 24 ct Excedrin. $3 rebate + $1 coupon = free.

Met my parents at Tres Margaritas and spent $8

Printed out the $25 restaurant.com coupon that I got for buying an Entertainment book. Planning to eat out with my parents and grandmother on Thursday.

I sent an email to the Aquafresh music place about the 3 downloads I didn't. We'll see if they reply.

Free stuff this week

6 free music downloads - should have been 9
John Freida hair care samples
Pantene Pro-V shampoo samples
Crest dental floss sample
Free local newspaper with coupons
14 oz French's mustard
24 ct bottle of Excedrin Migraine

Finished reading my book How to Save Money Every Day by Ellie Kay. Finance. Pretty good. Good stories and good advice. Mostly coupon related and christian oriented. She has a website with links to freebies and deals if anyone is interested.

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to the grocery store this morning. Spent $41.39. $8 on a book and 2 newspapers. Got 3 large tubes of Aquafresh toothpaste for free. Plus each tube gets 3 free music downloads. I'll give them to my niece. I also got 2 free packs of Dentyne Ice Gum.

My goals for April were

1. Walk at least 20 days for 35 min

Done

2. Pre-pay mortgage - $1500

Done

3. Spend $450 or less on household items

Spent $510.37 went way over. Partly on groceries because I did a lot of stocking up and also because I shop on Sundays and it was a 5 Sunday month. I also overspent on gas and I'm not sure why it's $35 more than I expected. I know it went up, but not that much and I didn't drive more than normal. This is a bit of a mystery right now.

4. Get my mutual fund paperwork from last year updated and organized in their binders.

Not done, worked too many overtime hours this month to fit this in. I know it won't get done next month either because of my vacation. Will put it back on the list in June

5. Re-do budget.

Not done. See excuse for goal 4.

Not a great month goal or budget-wise.

Net worth increased by .99% at least it's an increase

Sold a book on half.com it's been over a month and a half since my last sale so that was nice, even if it was only $2

Ordered a miniature camper kit for my niece for her bday. $24.94

Free things this week

Schick Midnight Razor
Glad Flex bag
Wendy's Frescetta sandwich
Dentyne Gum and mints
2 packages of Dentyne Gum
3 tubes of Aquafresh toothpaste
9 music downloads.

Finished reading the library book Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life by Dave Stern. Sci/Fi Adventure. Ok

Had my first allergy attack of the season and it was brutal. My eyes were watering so bad I couldn't trust myself to drive to moms to walk. Vicious headache too, but it's cleared up now. I had some free allergy pills to take and they eventually kicked in.

Got groceries this morning. Spent $51.57, saved 39% according to the receipt. Salmon was on sale so I stocked up, which is why it was so high. Got 2 free 3oz bags of Starkist Fresh Pouch tuna.

Canceled the Mypoints insider's club membership today. I don't do enough online shopping where shipping costs are involved to make the monthly cost worthwhile. It nice that you can cancel online and not have to call them.

Had grilled salmon, potato salad and watermelon for dinner, very good. Watermelon was on sale at 49 cents/lb.

Free stuff this week

1 GB USB flash drive
Greeting Card
Swiffer Duster
Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste sample
Degree Ultra Clear deodorant sample
2 3oz bags of Starkist Fresh Pouch tuna

Finished reading the library book Memory in Death by J.D. Robb. Mystery/Romance. Excellent books. Love this series.

walked with mom for 55 min

It's my dad's bday today so gave him his presents. I had already given him the Entertainment book, but also gave him a $25 GC to the Outback and 2 bags of black jelly beans, his favorites.

Went to my sister's for a turkey dinner. Spent quite a bit of time with my niece picking out CDs that she wanted for her bday from yourmusic.com $5.99 each and no S&H. She picked 6 CDs and her mom wanted one too. I ordered 5 of them to be sent right away and put 2 of them in my queue to be sent at the end of this month and the next. Spent $29.95 and my sister gave me 5.99 for the CD she wanted, so total for Niece bday so far is $23.96 for 4 CDs.

I went to buy.com earlier and found a 1GB USB flash drive for $38.95 with free S&H and a $14 mail in rebate + the $25 GreatFun rebate, plus I get 3% back by going through Nesteggz rewards so the total cost will be -1.22 cents I've been wanting a USB for a couple months now.

I also went to Barnes and Noble online and ordered a book for my mom for Mother's Day and The Average Family's Guide to Financial Freedom by Bill and Mary Toohey for me. I had a deal from Citi card that if I used thier website I would get $10 back on my first purchase plus 4% of the purchase price rebated back. I spent $32.35. Shipping and handling was free. I'll get $11.29 back from Citi, and I saved 10% with my membership card. The finance book for me cost $2.16 vs the full price of $13.45 and the book for my mom was $17.99

Got a free greeting card in the mail from WalMart.

Finished reading the library book The Prey by Allison Brennan. Mystery. Ok too cliched and too much foreshadowing. It gets boring when you know what's going to happen next.

walked with mom for 55 min

Got lots of bargains today.

Got groceries early this morning. Spent $25.64. $2.25 for newspapers and $7.80 for stamps. Got a free 8 oz bag of egg noodles.

Got $10.00 in gas

My niece came over and we went to lunch at Reb Robin. Spent $6. Had $10 free GC from xmas.

We went to Kmart and I spent $28.64. I got a plastic portable file storage box for $9. I was looking for a footstool to put my feet on under my desk, to help my legs. This was the perfect height, the price was right and I figured it could double as storage. I also got a v-neck t-shirt for $5 and a bag/purse/organizer to carry on the airplane for our trip. It's big enough to carry a change of clothes, plus it has organizer stuff for noteblooks, sunglasses, credit cards, pens/pencils etc. It was on sale at 30% off. I paid $14 for it, black leather looking material.

After that we went to see Ice Age II. Spent $10.25. It was really good. Cute.

Next stop was the Dollar Store. Last year I bought several Fiesta Ware plates from Linens N Things one at a time using the 20% off coupons for about $5 each after coupons. The Dollar Store had the same plates for $1 each and bowls. I bought two plates and two bowls and 15 Peeps for the nieces to share. Spent $5

We went to Cold Stone and got ice cream. I had a BOGO coupon so only spent $5 with tip.

Last stop was Walgreens. I spent $9.66 and saved $11.46 plus I get $3.50 back in rebates. They had 50 ct Excedrin on sale for $5.49 + $3.50 back in rebates making it $1.99. I had a $1.00 coupon so I got 50 ct of Excedrin for .99 cents. Very good deal. They had Tylenol Severe Allergy 24 ct on sale for $3.99 plus a Walgreens coupons for $2.50 and I had a manufactures coupon for $1.00 so it only cost me .49 cents. Very happy with both of these purchases.

Free this week

Sample Dove Calming soap
1 8oz bad of egg noodles

I came home around 6:30 and started working again. Hope to finish by 11:00.

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to the grocery store and spent $21.50 on food and $7.49 on a new paperback. I buy a lot fewer books than I used to, but still like to purchase ones that I know I will read over and over. I can't believe the prices on some of the new paperbacks, $9.99 for a paperback if you pay full price. and $7.49 when I get 25% off. Ridiculous. I don't like the new format of a lot of the paperback either, taller and thinner. The books look wierd on my bookcases.

Got a free Sunday newspaper at the grocery store when I was leaving. Saved 17%. Got two 15 ct boxes of Pizza Rolls for .10 cents each.

Went to Barnes and Noble and spent $18.55 used my free GCs. Got a Kiplinger's magazine How to save on Everything. And a new magazine called Arthur Frommer's Smart Shopping. This is a really good magazine, costs 2.99 and has a ton of money saving ideas and a lot of good websites to go to to find bargains. Well worth the money. Also picked up a book called Mom's guide to saving and making money on the Internet. Looked interesting. I had a 15% off coupon that I printed out from the Internet.

Went to Big Lots and spent $1.25 on a box of salt and 2 large bottles of spices.

Next met my parents at Red Lobsters. Had a coupon for $3 off 2 meals. My meal was only $6 including tax and tip. Popcorn shrimp, I love that stuff.

Last stop was Long's. Got a free Lady Speed Stick 24/7 deodorant. I had a $5 off $25 purchase coupon from the Entertainment book. They had chopped walnuts on sale at 1 lb for $3. A very good deal. I had just bought some at the grocery store for $6.99 a pound, so I stocked up and bought two more pounds at $6 total. I like to put a handfull of them on my oatmeal in the morning. I spent $22.74.

Free Stuff I got this week.

A Sunday Newspaper
A sample of Purpose Moisturizer
Lady Speed Stick 24/7 deodorant
Free Showtime movies

Finished reading the library book Crazy Hot by Tara Janzen. Romance/mystery. Pretty good.

walked with mom for 55 min, it was snowing pretty hard by the time we finished. It was just cold when we started.

Ran errands today.

Got my oil changed and new windshield wipers for $53.59 - had a $6 coupon

Dollar store $3, pasta 2 1lbs for $1 and cinnamon spices

Wendy's mandarin chicken salad for dinner. $4.82

Newspapers $2.25

Outback for lunch $13.80

Walgreens $8.23 saved $12.27 in coupons.

Gas 2.46/gal $20.89

Did a load of laundry and made oatmeal for the week. Didn't watch any movies today, wasn't anything on that I wanted to see while I was at home to watch it. Taped Scooby Doo 2 but don't know when I'll get around to watching it.

Free stuff this week.

Free movie weekend HBO
Degree Ultra clear deodorant - sample
25 2-liter bottles of coke.

Finished reading the library book Dressed to Die by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Good.

It's been really nice around here weather wise for the last week. So of course today when I have to drive for 2 hours it snows.

Got gas and 2 newspapers for $24.81. Gas has gone back up and was $2.29/gal

Took my niece up to Denver for the miniature class I signed us up for. It was really good. We learned a lot of neat tricks.

We went to Barnes and Noble first and I spent. $41.36 on 6 books. Used the gift cards I got from opening a new CC.

We went to Red Lobster for lunch. Our favorite place. Spent $18.48

It started to snow while we were in the class but wasn't too bad yet when we got out at 4:30. I bought one item at the class for $12.82 and I had already sent them a $70 check for the fees.

I stopped at a town halfway between Denver and my town for dinner. We went to Wendy's and I spent another $14.47. I got one of their deli sandwiches to have for lunch tomorrow too. When we got out of Wendy's and back on the freeway, the snow was a little heavier but still not bad, the roads were just wet not slick. But for some reason we crawled home. 10-20 miles an hour. There were no wrecks, people were just afraid to drive. It was ridiculous. It should have taken us a half hour to get to my town and it took more than an hour. Then by the time we did get there, it was dark and the snow was starting to stick.

Free stuff I got this week:

15 2-liter bottles of Coke. I won twice more today.
1 bag black jelly beans
Gillete vibrance razor
3 Smart Ones frozen dinners
Dove shampoo and conditioner sample

I finished reading Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Good

walked with mom for 55 min

Groceries at King Soopers this morning and got my prescription filled. Called several places and nobody close to me had any new prescriptions incentives so decided I needed to just go ahead and get it filled. The pharmacy counter had samples of Tylenol and I got two of them. Spent $21.66 ($10 for prescription). I didn't get very many groceries because I knew I was planning to go to Souper Salad twice this week.

The Entertainment book has 2 coupons for Souper Salad to buy 2 adult lunces for $4.99 each. That's a dollar off each lunch. So I spent $10.72 and got two large salads, 2 baked potatoes, 2 pieces of gingerbread and 4 large bowls of soup. That's two dinners and 4 lunches or 6 meals for $10.72 and I don't have to cook or clean them. I plan to stop there after work and do it again. I used a GC.

Went to Walgreens and got 3 items that are free after rebate this month. Got Toothpaste, a tooth brush that I gave to dad and Garnier Fructuse hair styling stuff that I will give to my niece. Had coupons for all 3 so they actually paid me $2.50 to buy these things. I also got the passport pictures for $7.99 and some Jif extra crunchy PB for $1.00 a jar after raincheck and coupon. Spent $21.33 and will get $11.52 back in rebates. Used 3 GCs.

Went to Borders and bought one book for $6.76 after a 25% off coupon, used a GC.

Went to Barnes and Noble and bought one book for $6.41 had 10% off with membership card and used a GC.

Went to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and had a large salad and baked potato, spent $9.28

Free Stuff I got this week:

Newpaper - $1
Sample Olay regenerist - I like this stuff, might have to buy some full size.
Sample Head and Shoulders
2 samples Tylenol Extra Strength Rapid Release Gels
Colgate Toothpaste - full size $2.99
Colgate Toothbrush - $3.49
Garnier Fructose hair styling stuff - $3.99

Finished reading the library book Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick. Adventure. Ok

Walked with mom for 55 min. Then they invited me to stay for lunch so had hamburgers with them.

I got a $5 pinecone survey check in the mail today.

I got the following items free this week.

2 - 18oz boxes of Quaker Oatmeal - free after double coupons and sale
1 Adidas Deodorant - full size
1 Dove Deodorant - trial size
1 Downy plus whitening - sample
1 pkg Bounce - sample

Finished reading the library book Dead Secret by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Very good.