Great News at Publix

Last night we went on our weekly grocery trip, and spent $4.04 to save $123.96 for a really great shop. There was the usual stacking of Publix coupons (PQ) with manufacturer (MQ) coupons with the buy one get one (BOGO) deals. But the icing on the cake is that Publix has decided to accept Walgreens issued MQ's called Register Rewards (RR). These coupons are indeed manufacturer coupons that state that on top, they have an expiration date, they have a scanable UPC code that begins with 5 (like all MQ's), and a redeem at address where they can send it to redeem for the cost plus 8 cents. I would recommend you bring your RR to Publix and confirm with the store manager that they now accept RR for purchases and you will notice the difference in your grocery bill.

 

So far this year we have spent $140 on groceries and household supplies to get $1073 in products.

Disney Give a Day, Get a Day

Did you all sign up to volunteer to earn a free day at Disney? We did, and now we're scheduled to work a really fun event called the Tour de Cure, a bicycle ride starting at DeSoto State Park in St Pete, FL on March 7.

 

Come and ride with us for the first time ever in Ft. Desoto, Florida! The ride will begin and end at the historic and picturesque Ft. Desoto Park. Your ride will take you along the most breathtaking views of the Gulf of Mexico, along amazing natural and preserved forests, and through some of the most beautiful cities of the South! Want to ride for a day and vacation for the weekend? Ft. Desoto is known for stunning campgrounds! What else can you expect? An incredible night before party, and the biggest start & finish line you've ever seen!

Tour de Cure 2010 is catering to the entire community. Whether you're an extremely experienced rider up for an exhilarating challenge, or you're a family hitting the trail together at your own pace, we have a ride for you! Join us for our 100 mile Century Ride, Metric Century, 35 miles, 25 miles, 10 miles, or our 5 mile family fun ride. Ride it by yourself, bring a friend, or form a team…just be sure to ride!

When the ride is finished let the party begin! There will be live bands, awards, incredible vendors, massage therapy and a health and wellness zone! An amazing ride deserves an amazing lunch and it will be provided! 

My Publix Plan This Week 2/4/10

Well I thought I'd share my Publix spreadsheet before I shop, and then you can see how close the final shop is. I'm planning on asking the store manager of my Tampa Publix if they will accept Walgreens RR. I have a bunch from getting some Bayer Contour meters this week. I would much rather redeem at Publix rather than buy overpriced stuff from Wags. I plan to kindly offer:

• That the RR are actually manufacturer coupons as stated at the top
• They do have an address to redeem for full value plus the eight cents on the front of coupon
• They have an expiration date
• It says "redeemable at wags", it does not say "only redeem at wags"
• The UPC code starts with a 5 as all manufacturer coupons do
• It will scan on Publix cash registers like a normal manufacturer coupons so they do not need to enter it as a competitor coupon and "eat it" (not redeem from manufacturer).

Hopefully, they will give me all the right answers, like yes you can use it here.

 

I'm also going to start using my Upromise account to start saving for my granddaughter's college funds. I started the account in 2005 but haven't kept it up or activated coupons or anything. I'm going to ask for a Upromise card from the cashier and start using it now. For more information, go visit www.upromise.com

 

Anyway here's the plan, hope it's readable this week, I wrapped the fonts and took out the $$ to narrow it down. I hope to spend about $2.13 for over $111 worth of product. Check back tomorrow for a report. If you want to try any of these deals and don't understand the coupon details, you can check the complete Publix ad at www.iheartpublix.com blog. Notice I'm using 47 coupons for 47 items.

 

4-Feb	47		111.45	32.88	76.44	2.13	47	-98.09%
Product	qty	price	subtotal	-BOGO	-Q	TOTAL	Q#	Q details
SOBE water	6	1.00	6.00		4.50	1.50	6	bogo+ $1/1 TQ print
lettuce	1	1.89	1.89			1.89
cucumber	1	0.75	0.75			0.75
romaine	1	1.89	1.89			1.89
banana	1	0.60	0.60			0.60
peanuts	1	3.29	3.29			3.29
Marzetti dip BOGO	2	3.69	7.38	3.69	4.69	-1.00	2	free+$1/1 all you dec & feb
Brkstn sour cream	2	0.99	1.98		1.00	0.98	1	.55/1 1-24ss or $1/2 print
Zhills water 2.5 gal	1	2.99	2.99		1.00	1.99	1	$1/1 blinkie
24pk Publx water	1	4.99	4.99		4.99	0.00	1	free PQ peelie
spcl K BOGO	6	3.99	23.94	11.97	14.97	-3.00	6	bogo+ $1/1 granola
Velvta BOGO	2	3.85	7.70	3.85	2.00	1.85	2	$1/1 print
McCormick mix BOGO	4	1.15	4.60	2.30	1.10	1.20	2	.55/2 Party playbk
Knox Gelatin	1	1.39	1.39		4.00	-2.61	1	$4/1 MQ 1-17RP
milk gallon	1	3.19	3.19		3.19	0.00	1	free w/$100 print
pup perroni BOGO	6	3.69	22.14	11.07	11.00	0.07	11	$1/1 PQ+$1/1 MQ 12-13RP
hefty foil pans	3	1.50	4.50		1.50	3.00	3	0.50/1 MQ party playbk
kraft cream cheese	1	1.25	1.25		1.00	0.25	1	$1/1 pub grape mag
kraft shrd cheese	4	2.00	8.00		4.00	4.00	4	$1/2 PQ 1-3 + $1/2 print
chapstick 2 pk	2	1.49	2.98		2.50	0.48	3	$1/1 PQ+ $1/2 12-13
register rewards			0.00		10.00	-10.00	1	walgreens
$5 off $50			0.00		5.00	-5.00	1	mailer
			0.00			0.00

Fairs and Festivals

There's a ton of touristy events going on these days in the Tampa area, starting with the today's opening of the Florida State Fair for 12 days. Then shortly after the annual MOSI Renaissance Fest is on weekends from Feb 13 thru March 28. In between these two events is the Plant City Strawberry Festival from March 4 to 14th.

 

All these events have moderate admission fees that can be eliminated or decreased with some forethought. One way to get in free is to work or volunteer at the event. The strawberry festival has lots of opportunities working at a booth cutting strawberries or preparing desserts for the local churches or schools selling stuff at the festival. Just put in a few hours of work, and then the rest of the day is open for your pleasure. Another way to get free admission, is to give blood at the bloodmobiles provided by Florida Blood Services. Personally, this is what we're going to do - give blood for tickets.

 

You can even choose to give blood one day and then come back a different day or weekend and redeem your ticket then, that way you're not weak or tired or thirsty right after. The Ren Fest is a great event with low security so you can bring in beverages and snacks to help make it a frugal day. They even let you exit and go to your car and come back in with more goodies. We like to bring a cooler and leave it in the car to visit a couple times for refreshments.

 

You can also get discounted tickets for the Strawberry Festival at Sweetbay supermarkets.

Tampa Mail: $5 off $50 Publix

Did you look at your Red Plum junk mail on Tuesday? There is a $5 off $50 coupon for Publix on the front of the Publix BOGO insert. Go dig thru your recycled mail.

My Recruit

One of the biggest supporters of my fanatic couponing and frugal efforts is my DH. I'm proud to say he's even willing to venture out on his own for a deal if he's seen it happen before. Like the Bayer Contour meter deal at Wags, we each got one yesterday, and then he was tickled to be able to buy gum, altoids and other treats with his $10 RR. So this morning I sent him off to work with another Bayer coupon and he's going to stop at one Wagreens on the way home, and I'm going to check another one. Being we live in the #2 Frugal City in America (Tampa) it seems like all the stores are depleted of deals on the first day. So hopefully, one of us will score or both. How about you, do you recruit?

My Eat From The Pantry Challenge

Well if you remember at the beginning of the month, I joined a bunch of other bloggers in the Eat From the Pantry Challenge in an effort to eat some of the stockpile. Well if you read recently about my latest Publix shop where I got $276 worth of product, you probably can guess that this has been a challenge. The biggest factor in not eating a lot of stockpile items is that our entire kitchen cabinet inventory is in boxes. We don't have any cabinets while we remodel. I did manage to use of 26 of the 58 items in the freezer, but added 16 more frozen meals and snacks so the net is 48 freezer items (-10 for the challenge).

Things I learned:

1. I get nervous when I get below a par level of certain products - I like to have my regular items and it kills me to pay "buy it now" prices when I could have stockpiled it. I am still learning the appropriate stockpile of some things, but I am realizing that most things I have too many of.

2. I like the feeling of getting a great deal on stuff - I am emotionally addicted to being frugal. It is my nature down to the bone and I like to get a super deal. Couponing is a much better hobby than playing games on the internet, wasting time on social media sites and chatting online.

3. I need to plan meals more - We have food for lots of different meals, but it takes good recipes. I'm starting to notice more on the blogs I read when there is a good recipe for the foods that I've bought on sale.

4. Its hard to eat convenient foods when you're on a diet. I've lost 7 lbs so far in two weeks, but that can't happen eating ice cream, frozen snacks and candy.

So, thats my challenge.

New Gasparilla Coupon Calendar at Publix

Stopped by today to get a couple more Contessa meals (yummy and easy)

Buy (2) Contessa Micro Steam frozen meals BOGO $6.99 ea

Use (2) $2/1 HERE or look for $2 peelies on the bags
=$1.50 each!

and got the new green advantage buy flyer, but also found a new calendar with coupons. They are all manufacturer coupons:

$2/4 Healthy Choice frozen entrees
$1/1 Huggies diapers
$1/2 Glory Foods cans
$1/2 Kleenex tissue
$0.75/1 Kotex
$1/2 Zephyrhills water 6pks
$1/2 Pirates Booty snacks
$1/1 Listerine 500ml
$1/1 Simply Smart Milk
BIGI Myoplex bar
$2/1 Tylenol any
$3 off both Bandaid + Neosporin

Oops

I guess that spreadsheet is a little too wide for the blog, sorry. Maybe you should sign up for the RSS feed and you'd see it in full. Just click on the SUBSCRIBE icon on the side of the blog.

My Best Publix Shop

What a great week! I knew we were going to have a lot of stuff so DH and I each took a cart. I gave him the shorter list and envelope of coupons and I had my own envelope too. Of course they didn't have enough of the phazyme for overage so I threw in a knox gelatin to help out the total.  I spent $1.79 (saved $154) and DH spent $12.35 (saved $122) for a 96% savings. Here's the spreadsheet and a nice photo. Even though the worksheet is a little off from the exact shop, these were the deals I did. Hope you all have a great shopping trip this week too.

 

28-Jan	47		$142.28	$43.69	$97.40	$1.19	44	-99.16%
Product	qty	price	subtotal	-BOGO	minus Q	TOTAL	Q#	Q details
phayzyme exp 1/29/10	2	$2.99	$5.98		$9.00	-$3.02	3	$2/1 1-10rp MQ + $5/2 PQ
bayer aspirin	2	$2.47	$4.94		$7.00	-$2.06	3	$1/1 1-3ss MQ + $5/2 PQ
french hamb rolls	1	$2.49	$2.49		$0.00	$2.49
lettuce	1	$1.49	$1.49		$0.00	$1.49
cucumber	1	$0.75	$0.75		$0.00	$0.75
romaine	1	$1.69	$1.69		$0.00	$1.69
banana	1	$0.63	$0.63		$0.00	$0.63
green onions	1	$0.60	$0.60		$0.00	$0.60
mushrooms	1	$2.49	$2.49		$0.00	$2.49
Zhills water 2.5 gal	1	$2.99	$2.99		$1.00	$1.99	1	$1/1 blinkie
24pk Publx water	1	$4.49	$4.49		$4.49	$0.00	1	free PQ peelie
$off coupon		$0.00	$0.00		$5.00	-$5.00	1	$5 off $50 PQ
$off coupon		$0.00	$0.00		$5.00	-$5.00	1	$5 off $30 WD
$off coupon		$0.00	$0.00		$5.00	-$5.00	1	$5 off $20 Save A lot
Tyson Beef pot roast BOGO	2	$6.99	$13.98	$6.99	$4.00	$2.99	3	$2/1 PQ Family Style+ $1/1 print
Hidden valley salad dress BOGO	4	$3.49	$13.96	$6.98	$4.00	$2.98	4	$1/1 MQ print
Yoplait Yo-plus 4pk BOGO	8	$2.50	$20.00	$10.00	$8.00	$2.00	8	$1/1 MQ 1-3gm or print
Knox Gelatin	1	$1.39	$1.39		$4.00	-$2.61	1	$4/1 MQ 1-17RP
milk gallon	1	$3.19	$3.19		$3.19	$0.00	1	free milk w/$100 purchase print
Bob Evans potatoes garlic mshd	2	$2.50	$5.00		$2.00	$3.00	2	$1/1 Family style+$1/2 12-6ss
angel soft TP	2	$1.89	$3.78		$2.00	$1.78	2	$1/1 print
coffeemate creamer 32 oz	2	$2.50	$5.00		$2.00	$3.00	2	$1/1 print
chinet plates side	4	$2.00	$8.00		$8.00	$0.00	4	$2/1 11-22ss
8 oclock coffee BOGO	8	$4.93	$39.44	$19.72	$23.72	-$4.00	6	free bag coffee+$2/2 print
28-Jan	26		$134.46	$44.74	$68.49	$21.23	25	-84.21%
Product	qty	price	subtotal	-BOGO	minus Q	TOTAL	Q#	Q details
Farm Rich froz snacks BOGO	8	$7.69	$61.52	$30.76	$16.00	$14.76	8	$2/1 print
broccoli	1	$1.99	$1.99		$0.00	$1.99
Knox Gelatin	3	$1.39	$4.17		$12.00	-$7.83	3	$4/1 MQ 1-17RP
Contessa meals BOGO	4	$6.99	$27.96	$13.98	$8.00	$5.98	4	$2/1 MQ print
tomato	1	$0.50	$0.50		$0.00	$0.50
banana	1	$0.20	$0.20		$0.00	$0.20
peanuts salted in shell	1	$3.29	$3.29		$0.00	$3.29
One a Day vitamins 25% off	4	$5.09	$20.36		$18.00	$2.36	6	$5/1PQ+$2/1 MQ1-3ss
Sundown Fish Oil	2	$4.99	$9.98		$10.00	-$0.02	3	$6/2PQ+$2/1 MQ1-24rp
24pk Publx water	1	$4.49	$4.49		$4.49	$0.00	1	free PQ peelie