Mt. Rainier

Popoften and I are getting ready to visit the most beautiful place on earth, Mount Rainier. Both of us visited Mt. Rainier with our family when we were children and have fond memories of it. Thirteen years ago we took our (then) five children out there ourselves and had a wonderful time. There is just something about that mountain and the way it totally fills your view. It is sheer beauty.

Why are we going? Because we’re celebrating the fact that we have now been married 25 years!! It’s hard to believe but true. And we’ve never been happier. Why God chose to bless us in this way is inconceivable. Truly. Yet, here we are, gray hairs and all, still in love! So if I’m late in posting next week’s Shoppers deals you’ll know why…

Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Deals 08-28-08 through 09-03-08

Here are this week's deals at Shoppers’ Food & Pharmacy for The Grocery Gathering, where each Monday and Thursday morning the “gatherings” of the best deals are posted.


Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Deals
For the week of 08-28-08 through 09-03-08

After the double/triple coupon events the last two weekends, this week’s sale is a real let-down.

Shoppers Value canned corn, French green beans, Short cut green beans, Sweet peas or Cream style corn, 2/$1
Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns 8ct $0.99
Shoppers Value Whole or Stewed Tomatoes, 14.5oz, 2/$1
Schmidt Blue ribbon or Sunbeam Bread 1.39
Ssips 10pk Fruit Drinks 5/$10
Dole 4 pack Fruit Cups 5/$10
Shoppers Value Apple Sauce 1.79
Shoppers Value Vegetable Oil 48oz, 2.99
Welch’s Grape Jelly or jam 32 oz. 2/$5, Get $1 off milk when you buy Welch's Squeezable Jam, Jelly, Or Spread, 22 Oz. Or Reduced Sugar Spread, Any 18.8 Oz., 07-27-08 SS
Jif Creamy Peanut Butter 2/$5, $0.55 off 1, 06-08-08 RP or $1 off 2, 06-08-08 RP, Final Price: $1.90 or $2.00ea
Kelloggs Family Pop-Tarts 4/$10, $1 off 2, 08-03-08 Kellogg’s
Kraft Handi-Snacks Pudding 10/$10
Dole Fruit Jars 5/$10, $0.55 Off 1, 08-10-08 SS2, Final Price: $1.45ea
Kraft BBQ Sauce $0.89
Kraft mayo 32 oz 2/$5

DAIRY
Kraft Shredded or Chunk Cheese 8oz, 5-8oz Crumbles 2/$5
Shoppers Value Imitation American 16 Slice Singles $0.99

PRODUCE
Roma Tomatoes $0.99/lb
Sweet yellow or White Corn 12/$1.99
Romaine Lettuce $0.99/lb
Mangoes 10/$10
Green Cabbage 2 lbs/$1
Red or Black Plums $0.99/lb

MEAT
Angus Boneless Beef Top Sirloin Steak 3 lbs or more, 2.99/lb
Shoppers Chicken Thighs or Drumsticks, 3 lbs +, $0.99/lb
Bar S Jumbo Franks 10/$10
Oven Stuffer Roaster 1.39/lb
Ground Beef 80% Lean 5lb+ 1.99/lb
Chicken Thighs or Drumsticks $0.99/lb
Boneless Beef top Sirloin Steak 2.99/lb
Smithfield Premium Smoked Ham 1.69/lb
Coupon:
$1 off when you buy any two 12 oz can 24-pks from the makers of Pepsi

Coupon:
Free Coca-Cola Zero 12-pack when you purchase any 2 Ball Park Franks and/or hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage, use printable coupon from www.mycokerewards.com

Special sale from 8/28 through 9/1 only on these:
Pepsi 24pk Cubes 3.99ea (with coupon) Must buy 2. Limit 2
Lay’s Potato Chips 2/$4 11.5-12oz bags

Happy shopping!
Momoften

I love Harris Teeter! Who'd've thunk it?

Being the frugal sort that I am I can count on my two hands how many times I've purposed to go to a high-end grocery store to buy something in the last fifteen years. Harris Teeter certainly fills that bill with it's beautiful displays, extremely helpful and friendly staff, and high prices. But now that I've begun couponing it is one of my favorite places to go. That's because I can get a lot of really great deals there. Of course, the only time I do visit is when I can get really, really good deals.

This past week was one of those times. Here's what I purchased:

4 jars Jif Peanut butter
4 Zone Perfect Bars
4 G.U.M Toothbrushes

= $17.56 Total Value

Total out of pocket only $4.24!

I purchased the same items for three children of mine as well. I plan to sell the toothbrushes so my out-of-pocket will be even less.

Harris Teeter does two things that make it an ideal store for couponers. 1) They double coupons up to $0.99 every day. And occasionally, they have triple coupon promotions. In this case, I had coupons for every item I purchased. The Jif was $2.00/jar - a pretty good deal in itself. But I also had a $0.55 off 1 coupons. Since they double coupons that made each jar $0.90. The Zone Perfect Bars were $1.39. I used $0.55 off 1 coupons for these as well making those $0.29. Not a super deal (I like to get them free) but my husband eats these at work to keep from eating out and spending oodles of money. The toothbrushes I also used a coupon on. And this is where Harris Teeter's other ideal policy for couponers comes into play.

Harris Teeter will double (or triple) coupons up to their regular retail price even if they are on sale. This can mean free money for you! It did for me. The toothbrushes were on sale for $1 each. Regular price for these was $2.xx. I had $0.75 off 1 coupons. The coupons doubled to $1.50 off even though the price of the toothbrushes was only $1.00. That meant I had $0.50 overage to apply to the purchase of other things. This is what makes couponers everywhere laugh out loud!!

Save Money and Avoid Disaster When Renting a Car

We live out in the country. If one of our cars breaks down and we aren't able to fix it quickly, we often need to rent a car. Bus service doesn't exist here.

All of our car rentals have gone fine without any problems. But problems can arise if the rental car company finds some damage when the car is returned. Many car renters rely on their on auto insurance coverage or rental car coverage provided by their credit card to pay in the unlikely event of an accident or other damage to a rental car, only to find out that, due to coverage limitations, they are still liable for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Renters can even sometimes be stuck with huge bills despite purchasing the expensive collision/damage waiver coverage provided by the car rental company. Here's how we avoid disaster at the rental car center.

Popoften

The Pitter-Patter of...

... ah, that unmistakable sound. I guess you can say it has been heard a time or two around our place. This afternoon, I wondered if I was dreaming. Could it be? Yes! There could be no doubt. Once again, I was hearing, that old familiar sound of water, leaking down through the kitchen ceiling, over the top of and around the range-hood microwave, and pitter-pattering onto the stove and finally the floor. That could mean only one thing. Someone, upstairs in the bathroom, had filled the bathtub too full, and their subsequent aquatic endeavors were causing an overflow situation.

Up the stairs I ran. I rapped on the locked bathroom door. No answer. I can hear the bathtub water running. I am now pounding on the bathroom door. No answer. This is not good, I think to myself. Someone is in there, incapacitated, or worse, and the water is over-topping the bathtub. You need to break down the door, I say, almost out loud, to myself. I don't want to break down this door, I answer myself. I take approximately 34/100ths of one second looking around for the funny little thing you put in the hole of the door knob to get it open that I had not seen for years.

I kick the door. My foot made a hole in the door but it did not open. How do the cops on TV do this? I threw my shoulder into the door. Goodbye, door frame. Sayonara, bathroom door. It's open!

I whirl around to where the tub is, wondering who was unconscious, drowned, hurt, incapacitated, or some combination thereof. The tub is full to overflowing, and the faucet is going full blast.

The next thing I see is my youngest son's swimming-goggled head and eyes rising resolutely and nobly to the surface. He was fine. He hadn't heard my pounding on the door, because he was under the water pretending to be a Los-Angeles class nuclear submarine. Or something.

Ah. parenthood, that estate of non-stop, 7x24x365, bone-wearying labor, punctuated by brief, ephemeral interludes of sheer terror.

Just kidding. I would't have it any other way. :-)

Popoften

Shoppers Triples Addendum: Doubles, too!!

In addition to tripling coupons up to $0.50, Shoppers is also doubling coupons between $0.51 and $1.00 from August 21-24. I somehow missed that yesterday. Sorry about that. This doubling of larger value coupons adds whole new dimension to the Shoppers experience!

Momoften

More Triples!!! Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Deals 08-20-08

Here are this week's deals at Shoppers’ Food & Pharmacy for The Grocery Gathering, where each Monday and Thursday morning the “gatherings” of the best deals are posted.


Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Deals
For the week of 08-20-08 through 08-26-08

More Triples!!!
Thursday through Sunday (August 21-24)

Weekly Ad specials of Note:
7Up or Canada Dry Selected Barieties 12 pack 4/$10 Limit 8
Capri Sun 10pack Drinks 5/$10
Shedd’s Spread Country Crock 45oz Tub 2.99ea
Stouffer’s Family Size Macaroni & Cheese 6.99 $1/1 printable www.verybestkids.com, Final Price 5.99ea
Yoplait Yogurt 6oz 10/$6 (0.60ea) 0.40/6 08-10-08 GM, 0.40/6 07-13-08 SS, b6g1 07-13-08 SS, 0.50/6 printable www.bricks.coupons.com
Broccoli 0.99/lb
Green Cabbage 2/$1
Del Monte 24oz jar Fruit 2/$6
Ball Park Beef, Turkey & Fat Free Franks 2/$5 $1/2 07-27-08 RP

Just in case you can't follow my gibberish, here’s a guide to understanding my string of numbers and letters:

X.XX/Y = coupon worth X amount of money off of Y number of items
GM = General Mills newspaper coupon insert
RP = RedPlum newspaper coupon insert
SS = Smartsource newspaper coupon insert
SS1 = one of 2 Smartsource newspaper coupon inserts issued on the same date
SS2 = second of 2 Smartsource newspaper coupon inserts issued on the same date


Happy shopping!

Momoften