8 lb Fresh Fruit for about $1.50 @ Target

Mrs. Deals pointed out this deal to me at Target (also seen on Money Saving Mom ). For anyone who thinks that couponing only works for cereal and toilet paper, take a look at this (sorry for the poor quality camera phone pic - it's my only option right now!)

You can print off Target Web Coupons for $0.50 off Bananas (1 lb or more) and $1 off Apples (1 lb or more). If you are really lucky, you're local Super Target will have Apples on sale for 0.99 / lb, which would make it possible to get them free.

At my Target, the small Granny Smith apples were priced at $1.29 / lb, so with the coupon, they were only $0.29 for a pound of apples. Lucky for me, 3 of these little guys came out to exactly a pound. Literally, 2 of my receipts say "1.00 LBS" one was 1.02 and one was .99, but my cashier still happily took the coupon.

Bananas worked out pretty good, although it was a lot harder to hit the 1 lb mark dead on. I split up 2 bunches of six into my four transactions, and found that 3 bananas would weigh anywhere from 1.1 to 1.15 lbs, and 2 bananas rang up as only .68 lb. To my surprise, the cashier let that one fly too, so even though the 2 bananas only cost 38 cents, she still took off the whole $0.50 coupon (the overage came off of the 32 cents I should have paid for the apples) and I ended up having a total of only 20 cents for that transaction!

The total of all 4 transactions was:

.43 + .20 + .50 + .40 = $1.53

Total Haul:

• 4.01 lbs of Small Granny Smith Apples (12 apples)
• 4.20 lbs of Bananas (2 bunches = 12 bananas)

I hesitate to say "OOP" though, because I used a target gift card (one of many we received as wedding gifts), so as far as our weekly budget goes this was a completely free shopping trip.

I can't wait to try whatever Mrs. Deals makes with those apples... yum!

- Mister Deals

July 25 to August 1st

So for this week Mrs. Deals & I finished up our remaining "Giving Honeymoon" with the purchases of some toiletry items at Target (Johnson & Johnson, Destin) and at Copps some Tuna Helper (27), 5 Mighty Dog Dog Foods, Snack Packs (4 for free), 6 Wet Ones, 10 Poptarts (They were cheap, so we went with it--usually we opt for cereals), and a few other small items (I don't have the full list in front of me, I've been visiting the in-laws this weekend and left my receipts behind).

For our personal shopping trip we remained under our $25 budget, but did spend right around $20.

We got:

2 Milks Free after two store coupons at Copps

15 Cans of Tuna .50 each after coupons at Target

2 Tide Stain Remover Bottles .99 each after coupons at Copps

6 Tide Single-Loads Free after coupons at Target

4 All 2-Load Detergents Free after coupons at Target

Grapes 1.29 at Copps

6 Back to Nature Mac & Cheeses Free after coupons at Whole Foods

2 Flintstone Vitamins $7 after coupons at Copps

2 Smart Waters Free after Coupons at Copps

in addition our earlier purchases of envelopes and candy at Walgreens came out to .72

All in all, our total came out to just under $20.00 (somewhere between $18.50-20.00)

We are hoping to save some extra money from this week and this coming week to stock up on some staples we are running low on (Vanilla, Flour, Sugar, Powdered Sugar). Since we don't want to dip into future grocery funds (and then end up spending $25 later on anyhow), we want to make sure we are staying a little bit below budget (~$5 for a few weeks) so we can have that money to spend already available.

So, despite my find of 16 copies of ads this week (Found an awesome truck stop at the in-laws) and the great deals at Walgreens, we are limiting ourselves to three transactions with around $18 out of pocket expense with a $10 RR to use next week and we are picking up around $3 of items at Copps--2 Oats and 1 bundle of bananas).

This post is rushed I'll admit, hopefully once Mrs. Deals school year begins we will have more of a structure established so fitting in posts won't be as difficult!

Mister Deals

Return of Mister Deals: Giving Honeymoon

It is hard to believe about 3 weeks has passed by without a new entry--life really gets busy at times. Since I haven't filled everyone in for my last three weeks of deal huntings, I can summarize it very briefly:

Last weekend I had the pleasure of marrying my lovely bride, Mrs. Deals. So, for the two weeks previous to the wedding we purchased almost no groceries. I say almost none because for the grill out before the wedding we purchased buns.

Since this left most of my average $25/week budget free and to celebrate our wedding, Mrs. Deals & I enjoyed a few evenings out to dinner...so we didn't really end up saving any money.

This past week I took a few days off from work and we had a local honeymoon themed with the spirit of giving. This included my first ever trip to Aldi, some Target deals, a local Health food store, Walgreens, and of course Copps.

Since we were so frugal in our wedding planning and were blessed with so many lovely wedding gifts, we didn't feel quite right about keeping such good fortune to ourselves. We set a budget of $250 to spend this week, with the idea of giving everything away. For people who don't spend more than $25 a week usually, this was hard. We are actually still just under $200 spent, but we are waiting until this Wednesday to pair it with a sale on Tuna Helper at Copps.

A short summary of things we purchased:

At Aldi:

48 cans of Tuna .59 each

36 cans of Vegetables .49 each

12 Spaghetti Sauce 1.09 each

48 Ramen Noodles .15 each

At local health food store:

48 Organic Baby Foods $36.00 (kind of high, I know...we don't really have a history of buying baby food... yet ;)

Walgreens:

School Supplies (10 free bic highlighter packs , several folders, a lot of #2 pencils, 4 packs of papermate pens, 2 free Gel pen packs)

Target:

School Supplies: Glue, 56 note books (.15 ea), and 50+ boxes of crayons

4 Similac Formulas .84 each (HUGE savings with rebate checks)

Baby Bottles

2 Baby Cereals

32 Babyfoods (Earth's Best & Gerber) ~.64 each

Copps:

14 Skippy Peanut Butters $1.20 each

8 Gerber Babyfoods $2.00 for all

17 Beechnut Baby Foods $1.65 for all

27 Beechnut Baby Cereals .50 to .75 each [One store had only a few of the type on sale left, but they said they were fine with what we were doing & brought out a box from the back of a different flavor for us to use]

Overall this was a learning experience on the prices of baby food, it was shocking on how high the prices were--and how much they varied from store-to-store (Sometimes over twice the price, which seems inappropriate for a product meant for babies).

The deals this week were not so hot at any store, but since we had the time we thought we would explore around some different stores and spend the money as best we could!

As the next week of deals begins, you can expect more posts from me, Mister Deals

Less than $5 = More Great Target Savings

Target is quickly becoming my favorite place to shop. Especially now that I have been going there for a few weeks, I feel like I know the store - I can find items easily, and when I can't I can always find a friendly "Target Team Member" to help me out. This makes my shopping trips quick and easy - like today. My fiancee helped me put these deals together last night, and today after work I just popped in, grabbed all the items, and only checked out once - I separated my items on the belt and asked them to bag it together but ring it up separately. The cashier was happy to do so, and it saved me a lot of time from having to wait in line again, or worse - go and reshop to get the items for the second transaction.

Here's the breakdown:
Transaction 1

• (1) Kraft Salad Dressing -$0.11
        sale price 1.89 minus (2) stacked $1/1 coupons
  
• (1) Kashi Waffles $0.29
        sale price $1.79 minus (1) $1.50/1 coupon
  
• (1) Degree Deodorant $0.47
        sale price 1.97 minus (1) $1.50/1 coupon
  
• (2) A1 Steak Sauce $0.99 each
        regular price 2.99 minus (2) $2/1 coupons
  

Total = $2.63 + tax (a whopping 3 cents)

OOP = $0.00 ! (thanks to the Target gift card I got last time)

Transaction 2

• (1) Kraft Miracle Whip $0.14
        regular price 2.14 minus (2) stacked $1/1 coupons
  
• (1) Degree Deodorant $0.47
        sale price 1.97 minus (1) $1.50/1 coupon
  
• (2) A1 Steak Sauce $0.99 each
        regular price 2.99 minus (2) $2/1 coupon
  

Total = $1.59 + tax

OOP = $0.00 *used gift card again :)


So, for less than $5 I'd say I did pretty good. The deodorants will get donated, possibly to our service men & women overseas, or to the usual food pantry. The A1, dressing, and Miracle Whip will be used for our bachelor/bachelorette party. And the waffles? Those are breakfast! My fiancee and I just love them - not sure what we'll do when they aren't 29 cents any more. I guess it will be time to invest in a waffle iron :)

- Mister Deals

Amazing Target Savings!! (5/14)

25 Items for less than $4!!

After work today, I stopped at Target and did 4 transactions. This was probably my favorite trip to Target yet, for several reasons, but the highlight was meeting a fellow Couponer! We were both in the Salad Dressing aisle, checking out the deals on the Kraft Dressing and Mayo. She was very friendly. We chatted about the deals we were getting, and ran into each other several times while we were shopping. During one of our meetings, I mentioned how I was having trouble finding the Wheat Thins Toasted Chips, so she gave me 2 of her coupons (a clipped BOGO & a Target printable coupon) so I could get 2 boxes of regular Wheat Thins on a great deal. What a kind gesture!

Each of my transactions were pretty similar, all together I got:
(8) Kraft Salad Dressing
(6) Kraft Mayonaise
(4) Nabisco 100 Cal Chocolate Pretzels
(4) Hershey Bliss Bar
(2) Wheat Thins
(1) Kashi Waffles

The out of pocket costs were:
Transaction 1: $2.94
Transaction 2: $0.99
Transaction 3: $0.02
Transaction 4: $0.00

Total out of pocket = $3.95

I used a combination of coupons on almost every item, making most of them free, the items I actually paid a little for were the Kashi Waffles and Wheat Thins (both on transaction 1).

At Target: 35 items for under $9 OOP!!

Today I took a break from work and headed over to Target.  I completed 4 transactions and got a bunch of great deals.  Pictured below is most of my loot; however, I accidentally left a few bags at work (I took in a few bags which contained yogurt & forgot them  several hours later when I headed home).  

My 35 items purchased:

(6) Easy Macs (Free)

(3) Bliss Bars (Free)

(2) Planters Nuts ($3 each)

(2) Quaker Bars (50 cents each)

(7) Kraft BBQ Sauce (.24 each)

(3) Chex Mix (Free)

(2) Fiber One Cereals (Part of Promotion)

(2) Fiber One Mocha Bars (Part of Promotion)

(1) Fiber One Toaster Pastry (Part of Promotion)

(7) Fiber One Yogurt 4-pack (Part of Promotion)

I started with a $5 gift card from the previous Special K promotion and ended with money still on another gift card.

Coupons I used (LONG LIST):

(3) Buy One Get One Free for Easy Mac (Manufacturer) 

(3) $1/2 Easy Mac (Target Coupon)

(3) $1 off Bliss Candy (Target Coupon)

(2) $1 off Planter's Nuts (Target Coupon)

(2) $1 off Quaker Products (Target Coupon)

(1) $1 off True Delight Bars (Manufacturer) 

(1) $1 off Omega Three Bars (Manufacturer)

(7) 75 cents off Kraft BBQ Sauce (Manufacturer from 5/3 SS)

(3) $1 off Chex Mix (Target Coupon)

(2) 75 cents off Fiber One Cereal (Manufacturer)

(2) $1.35 off Fiber One Mocha Bar (Manufacturer)

(1) 50 cents off Fiber One Toaster Pastry (Manufacturer)

(1) 50 cents off Fiber One 4-pack Yogurt (Manufacturer)

(3) $1 off Fiber One 4-pack Yogurt (Manufacturer)

(2) Buy One Get One Free Fiber One 4-pack Yogurt (Off of Fiber One Cereal's box) ($2.28 value)

Total Value of Coupons Tendered:  $35.68

With store sales, total savings:  $45.79

Paid with 3 $5 gift cards (one from Special K promotion, 2 from Fiber One promotion) and $8.94 out of pocket. (If I would have been a little more organized, I could have used up one more $5 gift card and had $3.94 out of pocket).  

If you consider the 3 new $5 gift cards as savings the true savings value is:  $60.79.

Most of this out of pocket reflects the cost of the two planter's products ($6), which I bought one for my use and one for my future father-in-law.  I'd call this a pretty sweet deal!

I also did my weekly grocery store trip tonight (double night) where I had planned on getting yogurt, but after realizing the great deal on the Fiber One products I ended up cutting that one off my list.  You can't beat the price of free!

Quick Target Trip

Today my fiancée had her Wedding dress fitting appointment. I drove her there, but of course I could not go in with her, so I popped next door to Target to pick up a few deals I had heard about.

I got:
(3) Special K cereals
(2) Special K cereal bars
(2) Kashi Waffles
(2) V8 Fusions
(1) Dry Idea Deodorant

I had printed coupons for everything except the cereal bars, but they were on sale and helped me to get the $5 Target gift card (free with 5 Special K items).

Out of Pocket = $12.72
Target Gift Card = $5

Final Cost = $7.72


While paying only $7.72 is a good deal, it could have been even sweeter if I had a few more Special K coupons.

But, I wanted to share this because it's an example of just how quick and easy it can be to save a lot money with a few coupons. I printed the coupons online, and only spent about 15 minutes in the store grabbing these items and checking out.

If you are not a coupon user yet, don't be intimidated. True, you can spend a lot time surfing for the best deals and clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, and you will be able to save a lot more, but that's not necessary - especially if you are just getting your feet wet.

By just printing a few coupons per week for items you are going to buy anyway you will start to see the savings add up. And, if you're anything like me, you will get hooked and soon be seeking out all of the can't miss deals week after week!

-Mister Deals