My best coupon shopping trip EVER!!

I'm back after my usual blog vacation. I've been busy, busy, busy as usual....though this time it's not with crayons up a nose, thank goodness! I'm feeling lately like a chicken running around with my head cut off. It' so hard trying to find a BALANCE between work, kids, my hubby, my friends and family, my hobbies and everything else in between! I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this, and I tend to bring on most of my stress myself. If I weren't busy, I think I'd lose it but when I am a slave to the craziness then I'm anxious and can't rest until it's all done. And guess what, it never is! Because just when one project seems to be closing a new one manages to sneak in. I am about 99% done with our garage/shed/laundry room organization project and I'm sooooo pleased about it! I'll have to post some pics later, if I ever find the time! But now I'm on to my next gigantic undertaking. Over the past year I've become a super shopper and an expert saver. Hi, my name is Melanie and I'm addicted to saving money!

I started thinking that all of the tips I'm using to cut our grocery bill in half could easily apply to many other families in the area. So I'm on a quest to create 2 money-saving manuals, one mostly about saving on groceries and toiletries, entitled: Coupons to Cash: Creative Ways to Cut Your Costs! The other is about eating out, finding entertainment and retail shopping for less, specificially new and used stores in the Clark County/Portland area, and it's called : Discovering Dramatic Deals and Discounts in Clark County. I have written about 100+ pages and have about the same number to write. The part I am most excited about is that I've just put my proposals in with Vancouver Parks & Rec (Marshall Center) and Clark College and my friend Traci and I should be teaching money saving classes to the public in January! I will also be marketing and selling my manuals on eBay.

One of the chapters in my manual includes a fun list that goes something like this: You know you're addicted to coupons and saving money when: you take pictures of your shopping successes and post them on your blog! To give you a taste of what I can do when combining store sales with coupons and rebates on top of it, here are my treasures from my late-night trip to Albertson's; just take a good look at the pics and then scroll down to see what my net price was:

12 jars of Ragu pasta & alfredo sauce

20 Sobe lean 20 oz. drinks

4 Fresh Gourmet croutons

3 Wish Bone Bountifuls dressings

3 large Rasin Bran Crunches

1 jumbo box of Rice Krispies

5 Pop-Tarts

2 cans of Blue Diamond wasabi almonds

Next up we have 5 boxes of Popsicles

5 pounds of bananas

5 pounds of grapes

4 store yogurts

10 Breyers yogurt and crunch

2 Silk chocolate soy milk

2 gallons of skim milk

2 packs of Yo-Plus yogurt

8 packs of Stayfree pads

10 Degree body mists

3 Dove body mists

3 Dove deodorant

11 Degree deodorant

And I almost forgot about the loaf of whole wheat bread I stashed in the freezer!

So with 2 carts full of stuff, after sales, coupons and rebates my final price was...

$1.22!!

Yes, you read that right! And that included tax too! And if I hadn't already sent off for it, I could have gotten a $10 rebate on the Kellogg's cereal and they would have PAID me $8.78 to take all of this home!!! The coolest part of all is that I will donate at least half of it to a local women's shelter. Not bad for a day's work, huh? :)