Oh my dear, as soon as I read it I felt like a giant finger appeared and came poking out of the screen at me!

I’ve been having a HARD year. I feel like I’ve been getting my but kicked seven ways to sunday since last summer. A screaming baby that turned into a whiny screaming toddler, a house that constantly dissapoints and sucks our money…and so much more have made me so angry and depressed this year that sometimes it’s hard for me to find anything to be happy about. But the instant I read this I started to think of all the things I have to be happy about (ergo THANKFUL for) and it’s a list that I could, and plan to keep adding to. Here’s just a taste, and I encourage all you (three) that read this to do the same!

MY HAPPINESS LIST

• Laughing at my baby’s silly sense of humor
• That my baby is smart as a whip about something and totally retarded about others (men!)
• The sense of accomplishment I feel when I FINISH something
• My sisters who are beautiful and generous and wonderful
• My mommy who is always there to help when I need it
• My brothers who make me laugh, even if it’s AT them
• I have fun and wonderful grandparents, and grandparent-in-laws
• I married the geek and I’m so glad I did
• No matter how bad things are a book always makes it better
• DR FREAKING WHO
• Someday I’ll know why crap happens and I’ll say “OH I get it”
• That there’s something called forever and I’m going to be part of it
• My bedroom looks awesome
• Getting something I’ve been waiting for and it being exactly what I wanted
• When I do something creative and it works!
• BABY GATES
• REECE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS
• Jesus loves me this is know

Ok so deals, deals, deals. That’s what I’m supposed to put here right? I’m going to be totally honest here and say that I really haven’t been doing a whole lot of deals lately. :GASP: I know. Me the queen of wait-there’s-got-to-be-a-coupon-for-that-just-let-me-check hasn’t been pinching her pennies?!? No I actually have, but not half as much as I was previously. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a day or two where my hubby comes in and I attack him with “GUESSHOWMUCHIPAIDFORTHISTHINGYHEREJUSTGUESSGOONGUESS?!?” and I smile demurely and squeal about how I got paid to take said thingy home. BUT it’s happening alot less right now. . . and I’m learning to be ok with that.

See right now we’re in a season. You know, that beatles song “Turn, Turn, Turn” passage in the Bible where they go on listing all the stuff that happens in life and all? Well basically it’s saying stuff’s gonna happen and you’re gonna have to adapt. Adapt, react, readapt, act. So I’ve had to do some of that recently since the season we’re in isen’t allowing me much time for…well…anything. As I type this my little conscience (not the cricket kind) is poking me with a sharp object and reprimanding me for blogging when I should be. . .doing about 5 billion other things. See we’re trying to fix up our (very) humble abode here so that we can make a big change, hopefully for the better, in our life. We’re not sure what exactly is going to happen, but we know what NEEDS to happen is get this place in shape. NO. SMALL. FEAT. Seriously, think, have you ever been to my house? Maybe? Probably not. Because we have so much unfinishedness around here its crazy. So right now we’re trying to do ALL of that in a small amout of time. With the W in tow. So yeah, all that to say that I haven’t had time for deals. I even went to Walmart two weeks ago and just loaded up my cart with stuff WITHOUT coupons. I died a little inside. But Hubby keeps saying it’s just a season, and someday I can obsess over not spending money and getting things again soon. :crosses fingers and whispers a silent prayer:

BUT don’t let that stop YOU. Keep checking out those lovely ladies I’ve previously mentioned who make it their job to keep you informed on deals. Even if you do one a week you’re saving your family tons of moola! I’m trying to adapt by planning one day a week to do my deals. I get myself all ready for it, and if it doesn’t go my way-oh well! I guess I’ll either have to bite the bullet and actually pay for that package of chicken, or we’ll have sausage spaghetti again tonight!

MY point is to try and encourage you to do what I’m learning to do; do what you can, when you can, and don’t sweat what you can’t. I need to follow these words too. I’m a weight of the world kind of person-just ask HUBBY-I think I have to do everything, for everyone, all the time. But when they’re paint running down the wall, a toddler screaming at me and ripping up my favorite book, and I have nothing but7 bottles of  ketchup and french onion soup mix in the pantry, I HAVE to just let go and spend the money. And remind myself someday I’ll get to have a cashier tell me I’m stealing again.

SO here’s what I’ve done and plan on doing at Rite Aid this week to take advantage of their diaper deals!

TRansaction #1

Buy 1 Huggies Little Swimmers Pants @ 6.99

buy 4 Tubs of Huggies Wipes (if you get the regular plain ones there are 12 more in them)@2.50 each

buy 1 Trial Size Pkg. of Rite Aid Tuggaboos Diapers @.99 cents

buy 6 Hershey’s Special Dark @ 50 cents each

Use $5 off $20 Rite Aid Video Value coupon

use $1.50 off Huggies Little Swimmers Coupon on Coupons.com

use (2) $2 off 2 Huggies Wipe Tubs Coupons on Coupons.com

use $1 off Tugaboos Diapers (I got this when I picked up a trial pack before-so i just keep rolling it and getting free ones)

use (3) Buy 1 Get 1 Free Hershey’s Special Dark Bar Coupon (4/18/10 SmartSource)

Pay 7.88 OOP recieve $1 SCR for Huggies Swim Pants

IF you don’t have some of the coupons from the paper i did you can easily substitute from this weeks paper. Instead of the candy bars and the trial pack of diapers, just but 1 bottle of Finness Shampoo or Conditioner for 3.99. Use the $1 off 1 Finness Product Coupon from the 5/16/10 Smart Source. Your total after coupons will be $9.48 but the submit for the Finess REbate for $3. Then your total after the Finess Rebate AND the Huggies SCR is 5.48!!! Even less than mine!!! I wanted to use up my candy bar coupons, but I’m going to be using the finness for another transaction.

NOW Huggies Jumbo packs are 8.99 this week, and Rite aid has an SCR for buy 5 Jumbo packs get 1 free (you will be mailed a voucher for a free pack of huggies from rite aid, but if you look at it from a money standpoint they are giving you back $8.99 or $1.80 per jumbo pack) SO since there are some great high value coupons out there for Huggies this is definitely a good time to stock up. Here’s what I’m going to do.

Transaction #2

Buy 2 Huggies Jumbo Packs @ 8.99 each(my Rite Aid has the Huggies Jean Diapers-VERY CUTE)

Buy 1 Finness Shampoo @ 3.99

use $5 off $20 RAVV coupon

use (2) $3 off Little Movers Coupon from Coupons.com or Huggies Facebook

use $1 off Finness Coupon

Total Out of pocket  $9.97

Recieve $3 Mail in REbate for Finess so $6.97 total

Transaction #3

Buy 2 Huggies Jumbos @ 8.99 each

buy 1 Tugaboo Trial pack @ 99 cents

but 2 Hershey’s special Dark Bars @ 50 cents each

use $5 off $20 RAVV coupon

use (2) $3 off Little Movers Coupon from Coupons.com or Huggies Facebook

use  Buy 1 Get 1 Free Hershey’s Special Dark Bar Coupon (4/18/10 SmartSource)

use $1 off Tugaboos Diapers

Total OOP 7.47

Transaction #4

Buy 1 huggies Jumbo pack @ 8.99

buy 4 Huggies Wipes Tubs @ 2.50 each

buy 1 Tugaboos trial pack @ 99 cents

use $5 off $20 RAVV coupon

use $3 off Little Movers Coupon from Coupons.com or Huggies Facebook

use (2) $2 off 2 Huggies Wipes Tubs from coupons.com

use $1 tugaboos diapers coupon

pay 6.98 OOP

so here it is-after all rebates-19.31 for 6 packs of Huggies Diapers, 1 Pack of Little Swimmers, Finness Product, 8 Hershey Bars, 3 Trial pks of Diapers & 8 Tubs of Huggies Wipes!!! That averages out to 71 cents per item!!!! NOT a bad deal to me-and I’m a super cheapskate. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Nature Source Cleaning Wipes 2 for $6-Used 2 $1 off Peelies= $2 for both!

4 Hunts Ketchups @ $1 each-used (2) $1 off 2 Hunts Ketchups from April All You(you can buy it at Walmart)=FREE

2 Sobee Life Waters 1.49 each-Use BOGO Sobee Life Water coupon =FREE (I actually paid 98 cents for these-they should have been free but my cashier totally messed up my coupons and didn’t end up using this coupon and scanning another one twice)

My total was 3.19, again it would have been less had she scanned the Sobee Q correctly, but still a great deal!

Other things I’ve nottice that will be a good deal are:

Covergirl Single Eyeshadows-2.89-use $1 off any CG product Q(this weeks insert)=.89 cents

Cover Girl Brow and Eye Liners-2.89-use $1 off any CG product Q(this weeks insert)=.89 cents

Oral B Crossaction toothbrushes-2 for $7-use 2 $2 off 1 Oral B Q (this weeks insert)=FREE

Also if you spend $20 in huggies products you get a free Juicy Juice product. I still haven’t figured out a good work up for this, but if you need diapers anyway this might be worth it!

5 Gillette BW on sale $4-Use 5 $2 off Qs=FREE

1 Green Works All Purpose Cleaner 2.89-Use $1 off 1 peelie=.89 cent

2 Oral B toothbruses 2.79 each-Use bogo oral b Q=.79 for both (Bogo Qs double to $2)

1 Dove Ultimate Deoderant 3.49-Use $2 off 1 Dove=FREE

Bic Soleil single razor $2.50-use $2 off 1 Bic Q=FREE

I’ll be going back today and can update on what I get at a different Kmart (I have noticed that the Deptford Kmart is cheeper than the Glassboro and Vineland Kmart).

If YOU get any good deals make sure to share them!

What you’ll need to do to cash in on the savings is go to Kmart.com and sign up for a rewards card. At the end it will give you the option of printing a temporary card…DO IT. I signed up 3 weeks ago and still haven’t gotten my actual card yet. There are no stated rules about how many cards per household, so I signed my hubby up for one too. I won’t go as far as sign up Wesley since he’s not old enough to do a transaction (yes that’s my criteria for any sort or rewards/coupon limitation) but it’s up to you how many you feel comfortable getting. The limits go like this: you must use your Kmart Rewards Card to get the doubled coupons, only 5 coupons will double in a transaction, one per person per day. NOW, I have been reading online that stores/the computers are doing this PER store. So some people are taking their card to another Kmart and getting another 5 coupons doubled in the same day. I probably won’t go try that only because I have alot on my plate this week and I don’t have the time to make a 30 minute trip on a chance. Two transactions a day with mine and hubby’s card are enough for me!

There are also some “double dip” deals you might be able to take advantage of, including the one I’m doing a P&G rebate for $10 Gift Card when you purchase $25 of select merchandise. I will report back on what I end up doing with that. It’s always a good idea to check out what other people are doing, deals their finding so check out Afullcup.com and click on the Kmart link. If you have any questions about what to do, or even need some coupons let me know!

First, anyone with a baby know that baby stuff, especially food and formula can be expensive. Rite Aid has a great SCR this month on Gerber baby food & formula products, which I took advantage of today! Here’s the deal I did:

Buy1 Gerber Good Start 2 Formula @ 19.99

Buy 3 Gerber Apple Juices @ 2.99

Total=28.96

Use $5 off $25 Rite Aid Coupon

use $5 off any Good Start 2 Coupon (these are sent out in the home mailers)

use $2 off any Good Start Formula Rite Aid Video Value Q (april)

use B2G1 any gerber baby food/juice products RAVV Q

OOP total=19.97

the BEST part is that the Gerber SCR for April goes with this, so I will get back $10! Making my purchase total for all that just $3.97! IF you don’t have the gerber formual coupons, or don’t need gerber formula let me know what coupons you DO have and I can help you work out a deal. There’s always ebay to find coupons as well!

Also this week Walgreens is doing some great Free After REgister Rewards items (FARR). Here are the deal I’m going to be taking advantage of:

Dove Hair Care Products $4 on sale

recieve $4 RRs =FREE after RRs (if you printed the Dove Hair Care $2 off coupon last week this is a Money Maker)

Dentek floss $2

REcieve $2 RR=Free after RR

Dulcolax $1o on sale

Recieve $10 RR=FREE (there is a $4 off Dulcolax printable coupon on their webite making this a MM as well!)

Walgreens Multivitamins on sale $3

REcieve $3 RR= Free afre RRs

With the exception of the Dulcolax all the items are things I will use so I’m going to do several transactions, and since I started off with $6 in RRs I will have very low (tax) OOP to pay. Even though I don’t need the Dulcolax I do want that $10 RR so I will be making money on it in my various deals, and will try to find a place to donate it.

Also going to hit up CVS this week since I have several ECBs that expire on Sunday. Two of the deals I plan on taking advantage of are:

Huggies diapers 2 Jumbos for 17.98

REcieve $5 ECB WYB 2

since I have so many ECBs right now AND I have those high value Huggies coupons for $3 off (print them on their facebook page), I sohuld walk away pay little to nothing for the diapers and getting ECBs back!

Also this week they have a great ECB deal on Nexxus hair products spend $20 get $10. That alone isen’t a bad deal considering Nexxus is a good, salon brand BUT on top of that there are $2 off any Nexxus product coupons out there. Once I figure out a good deal I will let you know, but this could be a MM especially if you already have ECBs to use (ie if you get your OOP lower than $10 and pay with ECBs you will MAKE money on ECBs–get it?)

any deals YOU are finding this week?

Acme is currently doing a great Catalina deal on Frozen items and General Mills Items. I decided to take advantage of this great deal and some coupon matchups. I am still not sure if it is a rolling deal (meaning if you can use the coupon that the computer spits out on the next GM transaction and have it spit out another coupon), but I hope so!

A more comprehensive list of included items and prices can be found at afullcup.com and acmemarkets.com. Also I wants to let everyone know that my local Acme DOES in fact double coupons with a value of up to 99 cents. The associate I spoke to on the phone last week was not correct. I think I’ll be going to Acme alot more now that I know this!

General Mills buy $20 Worth of Participating Products and Receive a $7 coupon

My transaction

5 Pkgs. Betty Crocker Cookie Mix @ 1.67 Each

2 Boxes Betty Crocker Cake Mix @ 1.00 Each

2 Pouches Betty Crocker Potatoes @ 1.00 each

2 Boxes Betty Crocker Muffin Mix @ 2/$4

2 Pillsbury Sweet Rolls @ 2/$4

Use 5 40 cents off BC Cookie Mix Q

2 75 cents off BC cake mix Q

2 40 cents off BC potatoes Q

2 50 cents off BC Muffin Mix Q

2 95 cents off Sweet Rolls Q

$2 Off Acme Purchase (survey on previous receipt)

Total before coupons=20.35

Total after coupons=4.10

Received $7 Coupon on next purchase

If this is a rolling deal I’m planning on going back to get some of the other items included in the promotion! If anyone needs help putting together a deal let me know-I’m happy to help!

All you need is a copy of the sunday paper, and a printer!

This is everything I got (minus one pkg of cookies,Huggies Wipes and Scotch Fur Fighter)…..for $7.12!

Here’s how YOU can do it too!

Buy TWO Gillette Men’s Body Washes (8 oz) for 1.99 each

Use $4 off 2 Gillette Body Washes Q (P&G Insert 2/21)

FREE plus possible 2 cent overage (depending on your target)

Buy 1 Gillette Clinical Strength deodorant at 1.99

Use $3 off 1 Clinical Strength Deoderant Q (P&G Insert 2/21)

FREE with possible $1.01 overage (depending on your target)

Buy 6 Keelber Fudge Shoppe Cookies @ 1.52 each

Use 2 $1 off 3 Keebler Target Printable Coupon

Pay 7.12 Receive a $5 Target Gift Card

Buy 1 Scotch Fur Fighter @ 3.99

Use $4 off 1 Fur Fighter Starter Kit printable Q

FREE with possible 1 cent overage

Buy 1 Stony Field Yogurt @ 3.49

Do all the above in ONE transaction, then Get the Refill Pkg of Huggies Wipes on sale for $5.49.

Use $1 off Huggies Wipes Target Coupon Peelie on some Huggies Diaper Pgks.

Pay with $5 Gift Card

Pay nothing and have 49 cents left on your card!

You’re probably thinking I should have paid more RIGHT, because I DIDN’T have a coupon for the yogurt (I actually had one with me but I couldn’t get it out since SOMEONE wanted me to hold him). Well the reason I actually didn’t pay for the yogurt (or only paid a few cents is because I DID get an overage on all the Gillette Coupons and since I had several of them my overage was enough to cover the yogurt. I’m not going to say every target will do this-nor every cashier since in their policy it states that the coupon can/will be manually changed to fit the item if it’s less, BUT sometimes the will just put it through the computer anyway. I was NOT expecting an overage, so you shouldn’t either!

Hope you all get a chance to get these deals, even if it is crazy out there!

1. Having a coupon NOT take off the amount you were expecting

2. Having a nasty cashier scrutinize your coupons and have some or all refused

I’ve had BOTH happen. In fact yesterday on my Shop Rite trip I had them both happen at the same time. I haven’t exactly run into this combination yet, but let me tell you it was incredibly frustrating! First off I was not aware that our Shop Rite’s policy was to double coupons UP TO a 99 cents. I took that as they will double it as long as it’s under 99 cents…I had those great Pillsbury coupons for 95 cents off of one and I was all excited that I’d be getting cinnamon rolls for 10 cents….but actually the only gave me an extra 5 cents! It wasn’t until I read over my receipt again that I noticed this, and called the store to check.  Not only that but the cashier I got was one of the worst I’ve ever had.

Now I understand being a cashier, I DO. I’ve done that whole fun (not) service industry/retail gig several times. I KNOW coupons can be annoying and if you’re not careful you can get into trouble! So I’m sympathetic when a cashier wants to double check to make sure a coupon is valid…BUT treating people who use coupons RUDELY and embarrassing them is NOT ok. She asked for my coupons up front which was odd, how do you know if the computer will accept a coupon unless all items have been scanned? She proceeded to read each and every word of EVERY coupon before scanning my items. Now I didn’t have a ton of items, but there were still people in line behind me with large orders. She then told me that my Hunt’s coupons were fraudulent. I responded by saying, you can only print them the number of times a sire allows and I did, since I printed them from a reputable source I did not read every number to make sure they were all different. She pulled over a manager to check them who also told me very LOUDLY, waving them that they were COPIED coupons and that I couldn’t use them. I was mortified to say the least! Back when I didn’t know about coupon fraud I didn’t know that copying them was wrong, but now I do and I would NEVER do that.  I believe you get what you can based on what the mnf. or coupon provider allows you to do, and forcing or skirting that is wrong. Then I did something I wouldn’t have done a few months ago. I told her to take the other items that I couldn’t use a coupon on BACK. When I use to get discouraged or embarrased I would give up and get the items anyway. NOT anymore-I will not be bullied by cashiers. If you can’t get the item for the price you want DON’T GET IT! It’ not worth the extra money you are spending to make a cashier happy with you!

But this incident led me to check out the coupon polices for stores in our area. This is what I found:

All the Shop Rite’s in our area (Vineland, Millville, Wiliamstown locations) are the same. They will only double up to $1, on any coupon up to 99 cents. So if you’re using a 75 cent coupon it will add 25 cents to become a$1 coupon, but nothing more. Also, only 4 LIKE coupons will be doubled (so 4 contida 75 cent ones will double and anything after that will be face value). Also they will not accept coupons with the same SKU number-even if you’re printing from a reputable site check them!

ACME-(Vineland location) they will double any coupon with a total of 75 cents or less. So your 75 cent coupon there will be $1.50! I have also had them accept more than 4 like coupons, but their SKU policy is the same.

Rite Aid-here is the corporate policy. All stores should abide by this but may add on to it. My closest one wont take more than 1 or 2 $5 off internet printed coupons. BUT some other Vineland ones will! Each store can add on thier own so call and ask.

Also very important in this whole accepting vs. not accepting coupons, the CASHIER. They have a lot of power. If their in a bad mood all the time, hate their job or have  been having a bad day, you’re in trouble. In contrast,  if you get someone who’s happy and friendly, and you are polite with them you will most likely use whatever coupons you want (within reason of course). There are several cashiers I KNOW to avoid, and some I love! If you do have issues with a cashier don’t hesitate to complain. If they don’t know the policy let the manager kindly know they should be aware of it; if they were rude they need to be corrected.

Keep all these in mind when out looking for deals and you will have a much easier time!