Home Depot Kids Workshop 7/2

The Home Depot Kids Workshop for July is the 2nd. Head over to make a coaster set. These workshops are free and no registration is required, just show up between 9am and noon. All Home Depot stores participate in the workshop. Participants are also given a little Home Depot apron just like the employees wear and a pin to show they completed the project.

Festival Trip

I printed out my Festival Deals post and got together a pile of coupons to send my wonderful husband to the store for me. He did a great job! Not the best picture to share, some the items are hidden in the back... I was in a hurry because of the melting freezer stuff and I completely forgot to get the Suddenly Salad (there were 6) out of the bag.

Total Before Sales and Coupons = $131.17
Total After = $58.03
55% savings

You'll notice some special treats (aka junk food) for the kids. We don't get Little Debbie snacks or candy bars very often so the kids were pretty excited when they peeked into the bags. We have a pretty full freezer and pantry so this week we just shopped the sales. Since we already have menu planned for this week, most of these items will be made into future meals.

While out shopping an Aldi stop was made as well. That cart was mostly full of produce and gallons of milk. Aldi has strawberries for $.99 per pound, cantaloupe for $.99, and blueberries for $1.29 this week!

Piggly Wiggly Deals 6/29 - 7/5

Lots of good deals at the Pig this week! I LOVE holiday sales!!

Weekly Coupon Items (with $10 purchase, limit 1): 
Ice Mountain Water (12 pk) $2.99
Kingsford Charcoal $5.99
Pepsi Products (12 pk) 4/$8.88 (must buy 4)

Kraft Mayo or Miracle Whip $1.99
- $1/1 or $.75/1 (6/19/2011 SS) = $.99

Meat
Ground Beef (in 10 lb. tubes) $1.99 per lb. STOCK UP!
**Like lower fat ground beef? Read this!**
 
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.89 per lb.
PW Hot Dog or Hamburger Buns $.79 or FREE with 2,000 Pig Points

Johnsonville Brats or Italian Sausage (3# box) $6.79
- $.55/1 (4/17/2011 SS) or $1/1 Italian sausage printable
= as low as $5.79

Oscar Mayer Wieners (3# box) $2.88 (limit 2)
- $1/2 (6/19/2011 SS) = $2.38

Produce
Sweet Corn $.24
Strawberries (2#) $2.99
Whole Seedless Watermelon $2.99 (limit 2)
Anjou Pears $1.29 per lb.
Jalapeno Peppers $.99 per lb.
Romaine Lettuce $1.29 per lb.

Dairy
Food Club Sour Cream $.99
Food Club Chunk or Shredded Cheese (8 oz) $1.67
Kraft Singles BOGO at $2.49 ($1.25 each)
Philadelphia Cream Cheese $1.33

Dean's Dips $.99 (limit 2)
- $1/2 printable = $.49 each 

Pillsbury Grands Biscuits $1.29
- $1/3 (4/17/2011 SS) = $.96

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls $1.99
- $1/2 ( 4/17/2011 SS) = $1.49, plus get $1 Oscar Mayer Wieners

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls $1.99
- $0.50/2 (4/17/2011 SS) = $1.74, plus get $1 Oscar Mayer Wieners

Reser's Salads, 3 lb. $4.99
- $1/1 printable = $3.99

Beverages
Powerade $.69 (limit 6)
Dr. Pepper/7-up 2L $.89 (must buy 4)
Minute Maid Punch, Limeade, or Lemonade (64 oz) $.99 or FREE (see below)
CapriSun Drink $1.99

Swiss Tea, gallon $2.29
- $1/2 (5/22/2011 SS) = $1.79

Crystal Light Drink Mix $2.49
- $1/1 (6/12/2011 SS) = $1.49

Frozen Foods
Food Club Tropical or Rainbow Pops $.99
Cool Whip $.99
Orv's Pizza $2
Food Club Ice Cream or Sherbet, 5 qt. pail $4.99

Totinos Pizza Rolls, 40 ct. $2.99
- $.35/1 (4/17/2011 SS) = $2.64

Grocery Items
Doritos or Lay's Chips $1.79
Heinz Ketchup (32 oz) $1.69 (limit 1)
Food Club Mustard $.99
Food Club Ripe Olives $.99
Bush's Baked Beans $1.33 (limit 3)
Hunt's Snack Pack Pudding $.99

Keebler Crackers (Club, Cheez-It, Townhouse, or Grahams) $1.99
- $1/2 Townhouse printable = $1.49

Pringles $1.33
- $1/3 P(6/26/2011 RP) = $1

Chex Mix $.99
- $0.50/2 (6/12/2011 SS) = $.74

Hershey's Bars, 6 ct. $2.99
- $1/2 (6/26/2011 SS) = $2.49

Creamette Pasta $.99
- $1/2 printable (Quick Cook) or
- $0.55/1 Quick Cook (4/10/2011 SS)
= as low as $.44

Sweet Baby Ray's $.89 (limit 2)
- $1/2 (5/22/2011 SS) = $.39

Chi Chi's Salsa $1.99
- $.50/1 or $1/2 (6/12/2011 SS) = $1.49

Kraft Dressing $1.99
- $1/2 (6/19/2011 SS) = $1.49

Claussen Pickles $1.69 (limit 3)
- $1/2 printable = $1.19

Household Items
Mardi Gras Napkins, 250 ct. $1.99
Food Club Paper Plates, 100 ct. $1.49

Purex Liquid Detergent $1.99
- $1/1 (Purex with Zout, if included)  = $.99

Exclusive Facebook Coupon (w/ $10 purchase) this week:
This week the exclusive coupons are only available on Facebook. Larry's Facebook here and Olsen's Facebook here.

• FREE Minute Maid Punch, Limeade, or Lemonade (64 oz)

Click here for more helpful information about using coupons and shopping at Piggly Wiggly. Remember, Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and their ads occasionally don't match up, check your store ad for prices.

Reminder: $2 Marcus Theatres Movie

This week Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 10am you can see Diary of a Wimpy Kid for just $2! Get more details and see the summer schedule here.

LOCATIONS:

Bay Park Cinema - Green Bay

755 Willard Drive in Ashwaubenon (920) 497-2430

Green Bay East Cinema - Green Bay

1000 Kepler Drive (920) 468-6500

Deal Post Q & A

What do those letter mean? If you are new to blogs and coupon deals you might be wondering what some of the abbreviations used in the posts mean. Here is a list of some of the abbreviations you might see on this blog or others. The abbreviations I use most often are SS, RP, and P&G. You will see these letters in combination with a date, for example: 6/26/11 SS. This just means the coupon I mentioned can be found in the Smart Source insert from the 6/26/11 newspaper. RP stands for Red Plum insert and P&G stands for Proctor and Gamble insert. These are the coupon inserts you'll find in your Sunday paper.

Why do you list the coupons like that? Because, personally, I don't clip every coupon. I only clip the coupons I know I will use and then save the inserts just in case I run across a deal later. If I need to go clip a coupon later I use this information to find it. You can read more about how I organize my coupons here.

Why can't I find the coupon in my insert? Coupons are regional and I use a national database to search for coupon matchups. So some coupons I mention may not have been in our paper. Why do I bother mentioning them? Lots of coupon shoppers (including myself) get papers from larger metro areas or order coupon inserts online in order to get the best coupons so they will have those coupons available.

How do I get printable coupons? When you see the word "printable" highlighted (or a different color) in a deal post you can click on that word and it will take you to a printable coupon. If you haven't already, you will need to download the coupon printer program. A message will pop up the first time you want to print a coupon, just follow the instructions to install the program. Most coupon printing software allows you to print two of each coupon. Once you reach the limit you will not be able to print any more unless the coupon is "reset". If you are having trouble with your coupon printer try a different internet browser (switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox or vice versa).

The printable coupon you linked isn't there! That drives me crazy too! Sometimes a company puts a limit to the number of coupons they will allow to be printed and it's first come first served. Sometimes you've reached your print limit for that coupon already so it "disappears" from your list but is still available to others. So, unfortunately, it is possible you will run across some that are no longer available.

How do I get more than two printable coupons? If you have more than one computer in your house you are in luck! You can print two per computer. If you don't have two computers you can always ask a friend or family member to print a great coupon for you. Please NEVER photo copy a coupon. That is coupon fraud. Fraudulent coupon use only causes manufacturers and stores to get more strict in what coupons they offer and accept.

Have any other questions? Let me know!

4th of July Fun

Looking for a 4th of July festival, parade, or fireworks display around the Green Bay area? WBAY has a complete listing here! It's even color coded. :) Looks like if you planned it right and are willing to drive, you could see fireworks every day from July 1st to July 5th! If you have been to any of these activities feel free to share your experience.

Finding the Deals

The great thing about money saving blogs is a lot of the work is done for you!! So where can you find the best deal blogs? My goal here at GB Savers is to concentrate on local deals. There are lots of blogs that offer deals for nationwide stores (like CVS, Walgreens, Target, etc). I decided awhile back that re-posting the deals and freebies that you can find easily on other sites wasn't going to be the best use of my time or yours!

You also won't find a bunch of posts listing individual coupons to print or freebies. Once in awhile I will post about a really great coupon or freebie but I am going to assume you read at least one national blog and that posting those things here will just be a repeat of something you've already seen elsewhere. The same goes for national stores like CVS and Walgreens. I don't post weekly deals list for them anymore, although I might occasionally highlight a really great deal or share a shopping trip.

Here are some of the national or regional blogs that I highly recommend. Look through a few and see which blogger suits your style best, then follow one them. Almost all great deals end up on both MoneySavingMom and Common Sense With Money. Personally, my favorite is MoneySavingMom... not only does she post great deals she is a great encourager as well.

• Money Saving Mom--CVS, Walgreens, Target, Wal-mart, various grocery chains throughout the country (I send my Piggly Wiggly highlights to MSM each week)
• Common Sense With Money--CVS, Walgreens, Target, Wal-mart
• Freebies 4 Mom--all sorts of great freebies
• Creative Couponing or Pocket Your Dollars --both post Copps weekly deal lists 
• Green Bay Consumer-- fellow GB area deal blogger and great online deals

Beware of blogs that waste your time. You want to find blogs that make it easy for you to read their posts. (Having to click several times to read more than one post is a big pet peeve of mine, so are blogs that don't offer their full RSS feed.) If you follow lots of blogs, you may quickly tire of seeing the same deals over and over.  I sure don't want you to get overwhelmed and give up or miss out on great savings! So choose a few blogs to follow and see how it goes... you can always follow more (or switch) later.

If you have any questions, let me know... I'm happy to help!

Festival Deals 6/26 - 7/2

Welcome to those of you new to my Festival Deal lists! I don't list every single sale item because, in my opinion, some "sale" items aren't necessarily good deals. The items you'll find on this list are what I consider to be good prices either because of the sale or a coupon match up. If you see a deal in the ad or in the store that I missed please feel free to leave a comment (or email me) and I'll add it to the post! Read the Festival Shopping Guide here.

GBPG Online only Festival coupon (with $5 purchase): 
Blue Bunny Bomb Pops (12 ct) $.98 - $0.75/1 All You (magazine) June 2011= $.23

Weekly Coupon Items (limit 1 unless otherwise stated):
Hunt's Ketchup $.68 - $0.25/1 printable = $.43
Kemps Sour Cream $.78 - $.50/1 (6/26/11 SS) = $.28
Bush's Baked Beans $.98 (limit 2)
Lay's Chips $1.88 (limit 3)
Flavorite Butter $1.98
Kraft Miracle Whip $1.98 - $1/1 or $.75/1 (6/19/2011 SS) = $.98
Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $1.24 (must buy 2) - $1/2 printable or (6/19/11 SS) = $.74
Kraft American Singles $1.24 (must buy 2)
Nabisco Snack Crackers $1.99 (must buy 2) - $1/2 (6/19/11 SS) = $1.49 each
Kemps Ice Cream (48 oz) $1.98
Whole Seedless Watermelon $1.98
Roma Pizza $1.48 (limit 10)
Rold Gold Pretzels, Munchies, or Dip $1.88 (limit 3)

Weekly Sale and Green Sheet Items:
Chicken Drums and Thighs $.98 per lb.
Ground Round $2.88 per lb.
Coke 12 pks. 4/$9.88
Deans Dip $.98 - $1/2 printable = $.48
Wonder Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns $.99
Festival's Fresh Homestyle Buns $1.48
Strawberries $1.48
Bi-Color Sweet Corn $.25
Kemp's Ice Cream Treats $1.98 - $.50/2 (5/22/11 or 6/26/11 SS)
Kraft Cool Whip $.98
Keebler Cookies $1.98
Little Debbie Snacks $1.25
Club Crackers $1.98
Suddenly Salad $.98- $.60/2 printable or $.50/2 printable or (6/5/11 SS) = $.68
French's Mustard $1.49 - $0.30/1 (6/19/2011 SS) = $1.19
Milwaukee Whole Dill $1.79
Vlasic Pickles $2 $0.55/1 printable = $1.45
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup $1.79 - $1/2 (5/22/2011 SS) = $1.29
Kraft Dressing $1.99 - $1/2 (6/19/2011 SS) = $1.49
Swiss Premium Tea $1.99 - $1/2 (5/22/2011 SS) = $1.49
Chinet Plates $2.49 - $1/1printable = $1.49
 
Green Sheet COUPON Items:
A-1 Steak Sauce $2.99 - $1/1 (6/5/2011 SS) = $1.99
Lawry's Seasoning Salt $1.99
Country Time or Koolaid canister $1.99
Kemps Cottage Cheese (24 oz) $2.49

S'more Deal
Get $2 off with green sheet coupon when you buy one each of:
Kraft Marshmallows $.99
Honey Maid or Ritz Crackers $2.49
Hershey Bar 6 ct. $2.49
=$3.97 plus use $1/3 (5/15/2011 SS) = $2.97 for all three!

Read the shopping guide and coupon policy for Festival Foods here. Please note if you are outside of the GB area a few prices may be different, check your local Festival ad to verify prices.

Welcome!

If you have found Green Bay Savers because of the article in the Green Bay Press Gazette... WELCOME! Feel free to click around a little bit. You can easily find grocery store deal lists by clicking on your favorite store in the left side bar.

In addition to grocery deal lists, you will find lots of other helpful information. The past few weeks I've been posting lots of fun (and mostly free!) things to do with your children this summer. Just click on the "Kids" tab above to get to all those posts!

If you have questions or aren't quite sure where to start with using coupons to save money, click the "Savings 101" tab above. If you are wondering about a certain stores coupon policies be sure to click on the "Store Info" tab above.

If you like what you see, there are several ways to keep up with posts from GB Savers:

• "Like" GB Savers on Facebook! All blog posts are sent automatically to the GB Savers Facebook feed, but you might miss a deal if you don't see it on your news feed so you might want to...
• Subscribe to GB Savers via email. This is your best option if you want to make sure you don't miss any posts. Every evening one email is sent out that includes the posts from that day. You will not get any spam. Signing up is very easy. Just enter your email address and then be sure to click the link in the confirmation email. If you don't confirm your subscription you will not receive any emails. You can unsubscribe at any time; there is an "unsubscribe" option at the bottom of every email.
  
• Subscribe via RSS Feed Reader. This is my personal favorite. GB Savers full feed is available via RSS. You can learn more about RSS feeds here.
• Follow GB Savers on Twitter. All blog posts go directly to Twitter. 
• Mobile Version -- GB Savers is available in an easy to read mobile version from any smartphone. Just type www.gbsavers.com into your browser.
  

Please feel free to share any deals you come across (leave a comment, write on the FB wall, or send me an email). The more deals we share the more money we all can save!

Piggly Wiggly Deals 6/22 - 6/28

Sale Items:
Split Chicken Breast $.99 per lb.
Chicken Wings $.99 per lb.
Country Style Pork Ribs $1.89 per lb.
Pork Spare Ribs $1.99 per lb.
Pork Sirloin Roast $2.29 per lb.
Chuck Roast $2.79 per lb.
Klement's Brats (2.5 lb box) $4.99
Peaches $.99 per lb.
Cantaloupe $1.50
Mangoes $.79 each
Crystal Farms $1.49 (limit 3)
Piggly Wiggly Gallon Milk $2.49 or $.99 with 3000 Pig Points
Food Club Cream Cheese $.99
Food Club Premium Ice Cream (48 oz) $1.99
Food Club Whipped Topping $.99
ValuTime Frozen Veggies $.69
Roma Pizza for One $.99
Food Club Baked Beans $.99 (28 oz)
Era Detergent $1.99 (limit 2)
ValuTime Paper Towels (8 pk) $3.99
ValuTime Toilet Paper (12 ct) $3.99
ValuTime Bleach $.99
ValuTime Paper Napkins (200 ct) $1.09
Food Club Facial Tissue $.99
ValuTime Coffee Filters $.99

Butterball Turkey Bacon (6 oz) $.99
- $0.65/1 (5/22/2011 SS) = $.34

Fuze $.99
- $1/2 (4/10/2011 SS) = $.49 each

Vlasic Relish BOGO at $1.79
- $0.55/1 printable = $.35 each

Dannon Activia $1.99
- $1/2 (6/5/2011 RP) = $1.49 each

Pantene Pro-V $2.88
- $3/2 (6/19/2011 SS) = 2 for $2.76 (or $1.38 each)

Kellogg's Deal--Must buy 6, limit 6 $1.49 each
Kellogg's Cereal - $1/2 or $1/3 (5/15 or 6/6  RP) = as low $.99 each
Kellogg's PopTarts - $1/3 (5/15/2011 RP) = $1.16 each
Kellogg's Wafers and Cookies


Exclusive Facebook Coupon (w/ $10 purchase) this week:
This week the exclusive coupons are only available on Facebook. Larry's Facebook here and Olsen's Facebook here.

• FREE Food Club Baked Beans (28 oz can)

Click here for more helpful information about using coupons and shopping at Piggly Wiggly. Remember, Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and their ads occasionally don't match up, check your store ad for prices.

Zenni Optical

A few days ago we ordered FIVE pair of prescription glasses for various members of our family for about $100! That included several pair of prescription sunglasses. I posted about our experience with Zenni Optical in 2009, but thought it was worth mentioning again.

GUEST POST by Jerry (Shelly's husband):

As a lifelong eyeglass wearer, I am always on the lookout for a deal on glasses. Zenni Optical is an online only retailer of prescription glasses and general eyewear.  They have complete single vision lenses including frames starting at the incredibly low price of $6.95.

My total cost for new glasses was $25.90 including shipping. I was a little nervous about such low prices.  Would the quality be acceptable?  Would the frames fall apart in shipment? [Now two years later we can confindently say they were definitely worth it! Both the lenses and the frames held up just as well as any other pair of glasses.]

I picked out a pair of glasses that were $8.00.  Zenni does consider certain prescriptions to be extra strength.  The order page on their website will tell you if your prescription is considered extra strength.  These prescriptions have an additional $9.00 charge.  While this more than doubles the $8.00 glasses, $17.00 is still quite an improvement over typical retail prices. The total cost for my glasses was $17.00 and shipping and handling was $4.95.

The other $3.95 came from the purchase of some clip-on sunglass lenses that I added to my order.  Unfortunately, Zenni hasn't yet applied their revolution in eyewear to the area of clip-on lenses.  I think these will have to be put away until I start driving a Cadillac, collecting Social Security, and eating supper at 4:00. So for my $25.90 I got a complete pair of glasses, the clip-ons, a Zenni optical lens cloth, and a space-age looking plastic case.

The frames available at Zenni seemed to be similar to what you would find at most retail eyeglass sellers.  The ordering process requires you to fill out the detailed information from your prescription, so when you see your eye doctor, be sure to get a copy to take home.  There are two pieces of information that you will also need that you don't normally find on your prescription.  The first is the distance between your pupils.  You can measure this at home by following the directions at Zenni's website, or you can ask your eye doctor for this information as this is something they measure during a routine eye exam.  The second item is the size of your frames.  The frames on Zenni are listed by their dimension in millimeters.  I wasn't sure what size frames I needed, so I measured my current frames and could see that they matched many of the frames available on Zenni.

Purchasing glasses online means that you may have to adjust them yourself at home.  I used a guide I found online to help with the adjustment and they fit pretty well. The quality of the lenses doesn't seem to be an issue.  My prescription had a change and I could see things more clearly from the moment I put the new glasses on. So with the exception of the $3.95 I wasted on the ridiculous clip-on sunglasses I am very happy with my Zenni Optical experience.

Summer Fun for Kids: Free Educational Websites

Ahhh... summer! Are your kids "bored" yet? My kids know better than to tell me they are bored. If they don't have anything to do... I'll find them something to clean! :) But sometimes they do need a little suggestion of what to do. The following sites are all free and educational. These might come in handy for you, especially on rainy days or really hot afternoons. My boys enjoy them!

• Starfall--phonics site for preschoolers. Very cute graphics!
• Arcademic Skill Builders--perfect for elementary level students. The games are not to "babyish" and include mostly math skills but some geography and language arts. If you have two computers in your house, you can play against each other in a private, password protected "room". We play with out of town grandparents while chatting on Skype! The kids love it!
• Dance Mat Typing--online typing program. Great way to practice or learn from the beginning!
• State Game-online US map puzzle. If you have a child who just learned or needs to learn where the 50 states are this is a great game. Those New England states get me every time! :)

If you have any other kid friendly, educational sites please share! Don't forget to check out the "Kids" tab above for all the fun (and mostly free) things to do with your children.