Tightwad's Savings

Last week we enjoyed vacationing at Hilton Head, so I didn't do any shopping. This week I purchased a good many items without coupons, because I just wanted to try to make crab cakes...and can I just tell you that one bottle of crab meat is so unbelievably expensive?! I also picked up some potato chips because I was starving and ate some on my way home after grocery shopping.

I was excited to score inexpensive meat, because our freezer is running low on meat.

At CVS I picked up 4 toothbrushes, but my only one picture wants to download for some odd reasons. I also picked up 2 packs of gum. My total at CVS was $1.48 and I saved $36.40...woot...woot.

Total spent: $48.19

Total saved: $51.56

Tightwad's Savings

I had a pretty good shopping week. We didn’t have to have anything in particular so I shopped at Bi-Lo and Ingles for sales items. I snagged a few boxes of muffins and a few boxes of dessert for $0.25 each. Because I was planning to make my very first dish of mac & cheese, I bought cheese and butter that wasn’t really on sale, but I didn’t care too much that I did not have a coupon for it. I was a little shocked at how much real butter cost nowadays.

Prunes were on sale B1G1 this week and after sales and coupons I paid around $0.25 a bag. We were out of rice so I bought Rice Select brand, which I love sushi rice (makes the best sticky rice). The rice was pricy, but it lasts us for a while. Oh I did also stop by Aldi and bought 2 packs of frozen raspberries. I think next time I will buy vanilla ice cream and mix it up with raspberries. Yum!



Total spent: $26.75



Total saved: $34.31

Tightwad's Savings

This week I once again traveled out of town to speak about the Operation Christmas Child. Since I didn’t see too many good deals in the stores, I decided to enjoy my weekend writing my final paper, visiting with Daniel’s parents and speaking about OCC.

On Sunday morning I did stop before the church at CVS and purchased two razors. Since I had ECB and coupons, I only ended up paying in $1.40 taxes. I also made a quick stop at Earth Fare and purchased flour to make artisan bread and because I had a coupon for a free fresh pineapple, I ended up paying only $5.99 out of pocket.

Total spent: $7.39

Total saved: $24.75

Tightwad's Savings

This week was fantastic in terms of grocery shopping! During the week I stopped by Ingles and picked up Chef’s Requested meat for $5.99 a pack. I had several $5 off coupons along with $3 off coupons, thus it made my meat super cheap. Bananas were on manager’s special, so I picked up a basket to make more muffins for Daniel and to freeze the rest for smoothies.

This weekend I traveled to Rock Hill to speak about the OCC, so I spent Saturday with my in-laws. On my way to Rock Hill I stopped by CVS, where I was thrilled to receive from the coupon machine $5 dollars off any Halloween item (X2). I picked up two candles ($4.99 each) and the sales associate told me that they qualify, since they were on Halloween decoration isle. I chose pumpkin scent! J


My mother in law and I stopped by Target, where I picked up 10 bottle of apple juice for Daniel. I divided my purchase in two transactions. I paid $8 + for first 5 bottle and received $5 gift card, then I paid $3+ for second transaction that included 5 more bottle of apple juice. I ended up paying $11+ for 10 bottles and still have $5 gift card to spend at a later time.

Since we don’t have Harris Teeter near my house, I stopped by the store and was thrilled to buy yogurt coated raisins for $0.60+ because Daniel loves to eat them. For some odd reason they are qualified healthy on his “no junk food” list.


At Bi-Lo I stocked up on Baby Ray BBQ sauce because it was on sale B1G1. I didn’t have a coupon but was happy to pay only $1+ for a bottle of our favorite sauce. I went a little overboard and picked up 10 bottles, because we will probably go through 10 bottles in several months.


On Sunday I made a stop again by CVS for free toothpaste and candy bars.

At Publix I snagged 2 packages of Burtolli pasta for $0.11 each!

Total spent: $70.05 (I felt good spending that much this week, because I haven’t been spending much in previous weeks J)

Total saved: $119.85

Tightwad's Savings

On Saturday I traveled to Georgia to speak about the Operation Christmas Child, so I took an opportunity to stop by Publix. I had coupons for Lara Bars and apple juice. My bars ended up free and I only paid $1 for a bottle of apple juice.


Although I don’t shop at Target as much as I used to, I also took an opportunity to stop by the store. I had $5 gift card from Starbucks promotion so it was time to redeem it. Because I have $1 off any size Tide, I purchased a few packets. I am planning to send my parents a care package around Christmas, so I purchased candy for them. Baby wipes ended up costing me less than $1 after sales and coupons.




All in all I had a lovely break from shopping with coupons.



Total spent: $10.06



Total saved: $16.08

Tightwad's Savings

I started my shopping this week with CVS. On Saturday I decided to pick up baby wipes and diapers. Because I had several coupons and a gift card for transferring prescription, I paid $0 out of pocket. As I was checking out I noticed that storage containers were 75%, so I decided to buy it and paid again with my gift card.


On Sunday I spoke about OCC and stopped at CVS to purchase free after ECB toothbrush. I don’t think I have ever been so frustrated with CVS before. Believe it or not but I stopped at 5 stores and non of them had the toothbrush that CVS ad advertised. Instead I bought a similar toothbrush (the same brand) that was discontinued and a clerk printed ECB anyways. I finally found a store that carried the toothbrush, but they were out of stock. So I asked for rain check and will purchases the toothbrush next week.

Since the closest Publix is almost 1 hour away, I was happy that I was passing the store on my way back home after the OCC event. I was particularly happy to purchase milk for $0.50!!! I also stocked up on farmers cheese. Because I had a coupon for waffle mix, I decided to pick up 2 boxes of it (they were B1G1).




I finished my shopping at Bi-Lo by picking up juice for my loving husband. Also Tilapia was on sale for $2.99 and steaks were on B1G1 (I had $1 off making steaks only $1).

Total spent: $32.29
Total saved: $110.29

Tightwad's Savings

On Saturday I picked up Ingles ad for the upcoming week and was surprised to learn that the store will participate in triple coupon event. Usually Ingles triples coupons twice a year, January and June. So I came home and took out every coupons $0.50 or less for the products that I was interested buying.

On Sunday I had an opportunity to share my story about the Operation Christmas Child with a near by church so on my way home I decided to stop by Ingles and check out the prices.

Since Ingles has a funny coupon policy, where you can only triple 3 coupons for every $10 you sent, I had to become very creative in raising my total dollars spent. This means that I redeemed some of my coupons for free products.

I had coupons for free dog food and we were running low on dog food at home. So I decided it was time to stock up on dog food. I am sure Abby is happy about that.

Since we eat a lot of taco dishes I decided to stock up on Ortega taco seasoning. It was on sale and after the coupon tripled, the seasoning was free. Florida Crystal’s sugar was about $1.30, which in my opinion is a good deal. Cottonelle wipes were free after I used store coupon. And I paid about $1.50 for a carton of 18 eggs.


Apple juice was about $0.75 a bottle and my hubby has been after me for apple juice, so I made his day. The sad thing is the two bottles of apple juice were gone in 2 days. I had a coupon for free chips and yogurt. And sadly I paid full price for milk.

I do not eat cheese, but my hubby loves it…I can’t recall the price but after coupons one bag of Sargento cheese was super cheap…it was definitely a stock up price. The wet dog food was free after coupons (I received several dog food coupons in the mail from manufacturing directly).

Oh how I love Nuetella spread. I haven’t had a spoonful of this heavenly treat in about 3 years. The store was selling it originally for $3.99, but this week’s special was for $2.99 and I have $1 off I decided to purchase a jar for myself and 1 jar to send it to my dad in a care package. My hubby loves yogurt covered raisins and I had $1 off, but unfortunately they were not on sale. I figured we could splurge. And finally Welch’s juice concentrate was about $0.30 a can after coupons.


Before heading home I stopped by CVS and purchased 2 mascaras, which cost me only $0.79. Plus I received 5ECB back.

Total spent: $21.06

Total saved: $87.69

Tightwad's Savings

Jet lag has not been my friend this week. I have been feeling so tired that I cared nothing about grocery shopping and coupons. On Sunday after church, I picked up a few items that I either wanted or we needed from Ingles.

I picked up fish, ready to eat cole slaw, BBQ sauce and deli meat just to name a few.



Since I haven’t cooked fish in ages, I thought it would be a great break from eating chicken and ground turkey. Tilapia is my favorite. Deli meat was for my hubby to sandwiches for lunches. And BBQ was for us to make pulled pork…yummy! Oh, yeah…forgot the cole slaw. I have been craving this side dish for a month now and still have not been able to make it. Do you have a good recipe?



CVS trip was nothing to brag about. I picked up two items that were free after ECB. I am planning to put corn candy in one of the shoe boxes that we are putting together.



Total spent: $29.19

Total saved: $14.23

Tightwad's Savings

This week I had fun grocery shopping in Spain. My co-worker and I decided to buy breakfast items instead of going out to eat breakfast every day. That way we would save money for our employer and save time for us.

I slowly browsed every grocery isle and picked out several items that I was familiar with and several items that I have never tried before. The prices were very reasonable and in some cases were cheaper than in the US. As far as I know Spain does not have coupons.


On Saturday we stopped by the farmer's market and I felt like a kid in a candy store. The place was huge!!! The variety of fish, meat and fruit was unreal. The best part is that everything was fresh and fruit was very cheap.

Total spent: around Euro 20 ($25.68)

Tightwad's Savings

This week I picked up a few sales items from Ingles, Publix, CVS, Bi-Lo and Earth Fare. Since classes have started again for Daniel, that means that we must have slide turnkey in the fridge at all times. Ingles had turkey on sale for $4+ per pound. Olive oil was on sale B1G1 and I had $1 off coupon, so yay for inexpensive oil. Apple juice and Nilla Wafers were also on B1G1 sale and I didn’t feel guilty one bit for not having coupons for these items, because I still saved 50% of retail price.

On my way to Spartanburg to speak about OCC, I stopped by Publix to pick up my all time favorite Farmer’s Cheese. Since I buy it so much, I need to e-mail Friendship Cheese and ask for coupons… will add to my never ending to do list. I also made a quick stop at CVS and redeem manufactures coupon and CVS coupon to score Power Bar snacks. I paid for 3 packets of juicy snack and received 3 packs for free. My hubby was thrilled.

On my way back from Spartanburg I made a quick stop at Earth Fare. I love that store and if we had the money I would shop there every day…well…also if the store was not 1.5 hours away from us! I had several coupons to redeem. One coupon was for free lunch bad and another coupon was for 1 lb of organic grapes with $5 purchase. To meet my $5 spending, I picked up 2 bags of our favorite chips and Mother Earth magazine. Now… I must confess that the magazine was a splurge and I was quickly reminded why I never buy magazines…they are expensive! But I have to tell you that I love reading Mother Earth. It makes me want to have my own farm and be more self sufficient. The magazine is full of great tips and I look forward to the next issue. Note to myself…find a cheap way to obtain a subscription.

I finally stopped at Bi-Lo after work one day and snagged inexpensive milk, sour cream and yeast.

Total spent: $53.70

Total saved: $39.93

Tightwad's Savings

I had a pretty good grocery shopping week and I didn’t use any coupons. Mostly I concentrated on purchasing meat and fruit. Thankfully both were on sale! This week I shopped just at Ingles and bought chicken, corned beef brisket and ground chicken. I used chicken for pizza topping, cooked corned beef in crock pot and made taco meat out of ground chicken. YUM!


Eggs were on sale this week, so I stocked up. Daniel can eat his way through eggs in no time, so I bought 3 dozen eggs. My co-worker shared her garden crops with me and we enjoyed fresh okra. I also enjoyed buying 10 lbs of apples and used apples to make homemade apple sauce. Bananas were used for banana nut muffins and I froze a few to make peanut butter smoothies. Grapes were yummy too and the best part all fruit was on managers special for $1.49!

Total spent: $39.92

Total saved: $29.05

Tightwad's Savings

This week I enjoyed shopping only at one store, Ingles. We didn’t need anything, so I mainly picked up items that we wanted. Since I had several of coupons for free items, I made the executive decision to redeem them. The coupons covered the cost of Amy’s pizza and Newman’s Own Fig cookies. Requested Chef meat was on sale, so the coupons covered the cost of meat as well. Chex Mix and Bugles were on sale and after coupons cost me pennies. I also picked up staples like milk and eggs for breakfast. We were out of raisins and I have made plans to make curknuku, which my father in law absolutely loved. Sour cream for tacos rounded up the shopping trip.



Later in the week I picked up reduce for sale ground chicken and on sale chicken breast. I have taken yet another week off from CVS, so I need to brush up my skills and start utilizing my ECB and coupons there. But at this point I can’t think of anything that we need, so I am grateful for the break!

Total spent: $26.32
Total saved: $63.55

Tightwad's Savings

I had a fabulously great week of coupon shopping. My first stop was Bi-Lo, where I was able to pick up tons of peanut butter crackers and a few jars of peanut butter. Ok, you may be a little shocked at 21 boxes of crackers, but I am certain that my husband will eat all 21 boxes in about 3 months. Your next question is probably, "Where did you print 21 coupons?" I am glad you asked. On Tuesday night I take a class at a local University and my classroom is happened to be near computer lab. Therefore every break I was printing cracker coupons! :) I also stopped by Ingles and bought peaches for $0.69 per pound.

I also made several more stops and snagged free candy using my EBC at CVS. My daddy loves fun size candy and I can't wait to send him some in a care package. The reason he loves fun size is because we do not have that size in Belarus. He tells me that he loves handing them out to friends and neighbors.



I also picked up apple juice, pasta and farmers cheese at Publix.

Total spent:$19.60

Total saved: $93.25