If you have your coupon inserts from 8/3, there are coupons in there for GUM toothbrushes. These are on sale at Acme until Thurday for $1. Your $0.50 or $0.75 coupons, doubled, will make them free or give you overage.

Also, don’t forget to log in to your Avenu and check your Avenu offers and compare them to what Kraft South Beach items are on sale. There also have been South Beach coupons in recent inserts. The sandwich wraps and frozen pizzas are ok, not terrific. But for what I paid for them (25-50 cents, or free) they make an ok lunch.

Lunch meat is soooo expensive, isn’t it? Premium brands are as much as $12 a pound, and even store brands are $7 or $8 a pound. There is one place, sort of close, that has very cheap lunch meat. (and just a reminder, around here it is lunch meat, never cold cuts!)

If you go up 41 to the town of Gap, there’s a small grocery store called Dutchway. I still call it Dutchman’s, which is what it used to be known as, and in my defense, I’ve noticed that the handles of the shopping carts still say Dutchman’s.

Anyway, I am fortunate in that I am required to pass there twice a day, to/from work. It is about 20 miles north of Avondale. With these gas prices, it may not be worth your time & effort. But if your family eats a lot of lunch meat, and you have a vacuum sealer and can freeze it, it is worth your while. They also have better meat prices than what I have found, yesterday I paid $1.39/lb for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Yes, I did have to buy in bulk (9 lbs) but I divided it up, vacuum sealed it and froze it.

Yesterday I paid $2.49/lb for Jennie O smoked turkey breast, $3.99/lb for Hatfield Virginia baked ham and about $3/lb for sliced American and Muenster cheese. I know the Dietz & Watson smoked turkey at Acme is $11.99/lb!

With autumn approaching, maybe you were planning a trip up that way anyway, so make sure & stop on your way home if you do. And jsyk, they are closed on Sundays. Bakery items are cheaper and better than around here and you can get good sticky buns.

And, I thought milk prices were state regulated, but milk there yesterday was $0.20 cheaper per gallon than what I pay at Acme.

Their phone number is 610.593.2388. You can always call & ask for the deli or the meat dept to see what they have on sale before going. Sales change on Mondays–but they overlap for a day, so you can take advantage of both week’s sales on Mondays.

Sorry for the delay–my brain is still on vacation. Here are a few of cheap items I see in the ad after coupons.

Ragu- 4 for $4, must buy 4. There were $1 off 2 coupons in yesterday’s paper, so 0.50 each.

Minute Maid drinks-$1 each, lots of coupons out there, varying in value from 0.25 to 0.55. After doubling, these drinks will be cheap. They are very good and refreshing if you mix them with seltzer.

Grapes-1.29/lb., cheapest I’ve seen in a while.

Hatfield pork chops- $1.79/lb., $1 coupons out there.

Bisquick-$2.50 for the big box; $0.60 printable here. Makes it $1.30.

Wishbone-4 for $6, must buy 4. Depending on which coupon you have, very cheap or free. There are $0.75 coupons out there from a couple of weeks ago, so then it would be free.

South Beach–all of these items are on sale, double check the sale prices with what e-coupons you get on your Avenu, and they’ll be really cheap or free. And don’t forget, if you buy 2, 3 or 4 of these items, you’ll get a catalina for $$ off your next order.

Dannon-items are on sale, again, check it with your Avenu.

Beef tenderloin is 7.99/lb again, must buy whole tenderloin. I was pretty disappointed with the one I got though. Lots of waste on it.

August is a month of milestones for me. Of course, with it being Kevin’s birth month, that is most important. But I also have two coupon milestones this month.

In August of 2006, I was on restricted work hours due to being hugely pregnant. Late term pregnancy insomnia had also set in, so late at night I would get on the internet. Unable to sleep and I didn’t want to wake anyone, I just internet surfed. It was then that I discovered the couponing websites and the whole concept of CVSing. Rolling your ECBs to buy more and more products. It was that month that I tried it, and I have not been without ECBs since then. I have been rolling the same ECBs over and over for 2 years.

In August of 2007 I again found myself with more time on my hands as I was in between jobs. In addition to being extremely enthused about my new position, I was concerned about the pay cut I was taking. It was then that I decided to try to get free diapers-always. In one year, I can honestly say I have only paid for one pack of diapers–the rest I have paid for with either Extra Care Bucks, Register Rewards or Gift Cards or Rebate Checks earned with other promotional offers. A year of free diapers! That is significant savings.

So as this is my last post for a few days as I will be offline until Friday, I’d like to give you all something to think about. Savings and goals–and spend the next few days deciding what you would like to achieve. On other boards I see moms saving up for all sorts of things–Disney vacations, other vacations, clothes, something special for their child. I don’t have such specifc goals.

Actually, despite the amount of couponing and bargaining I do, I find savings to be very difficult to track. All over the internet you can find all sorts of savings and coupon tracking spreadsheets. I don’t use one. I tried. But it’s too hard. Why?

For example, I did the CVS candy deal when it ran 2 weeks ago. I got *lots* of candy. I didn’t pay for any of it–used ECBs. So how much did I save? Nothing really. Candy is not something I would buy. And if I did buy it, I certainly wouldn’t pay CVS prices. The same goes for many treats I bring home. I had free tortilla chips from Acme. And free Chex Mix. Back in May, there was a deal at Acme where I was getting free Fuze drinks. I had an unlimited supply of those coupons, so I added about 20 bottles in my cart every time I shopped. But was there really a savings, if it is something I would not have normally purchased? You might be asking yourself-Why bother doing this if it’s not stuff you’d normally buy? Well, of course I get tons of free stuff that I would normally buy–cleaning supplies, diapers, etc. And there definitely is added value–I get to try lots of makeup and other beauty items for free and it’s fun. Keep in mind though–I get this stuff for free–buying items you wouldn’t normally buy, just because you have a coupon, is not a good deal! You may have saved on that item, but you have spent money you wouldn’t normally have spent. This is why I’m such a fan of rewards programs like ECBs and RRs–it’s play money to play with and still get the things you need.

I have lots and lots of health and beauty items in my stockpile, all of course were free at either CVS or Walgreen’s. But when do I calculate the savings? Now? Because I certainly wouldn’t have 20 bottles of shampoo on hand if I had to pay for it. Or do I calculate it when I actually need the shampoo, and would have to go out and buy it?

And is it savings if you’re giving something up? Perhaps there’s a $20 bottle of wine you really like and get yourself 2 a month. But given the current economy, you’ve decided to spend that $40 on gas instead, giving up the wine. Is there really a savings if you’ve had to give something up? I saw a mom on the Today show who was giving up pedicures for her family to try to save money. I got two free pedicures from an Herbal Essences deal this summer. She gave up her pedicures to save money, I didn’t-I just found a way to get them for free. So which one of us is doing a better job of saving?

I prefer to look at the bigger picture. Our monthly food budget is $600 for three people. That includes groceries, baby stuff, health & beauty, cleaning supplies and alcohol. My goal is to consistently fall under than number, which I do, without giving up our quality of life. Also, despite the rising costs of everything, I do not want our food budget to increase-I want to keep it the same or lower no matter what inflation does. I can say I have no problem coming in well under that number every month. And we don’t give anything up–treats, little indulgences, stuff like that. And $600 may seem high–but we rarely go to restaurants and we always pack our lunches. I cook dinner just about every evening, so that figure is for 21 meals a week per person plus snacks.

So take a look at your monthly spending vs your monthly budget. How are you doing? And decide upon a goal. Maybe you’ve never actually looked at your spending. I would track the last three calendar months, see what you’re spending. You could be surprised.

Now decide on your goal. Maybe it’s a dollar amount, maybe it’s a percentage. And be realistic. You don’t want to set yourself up for failure. This is a lot to learn in the beginning, so if you say “I’m going to cut my grocery bill in half” you’re going to be disappointed at the end of the month. A tank of gas costs me about $10 more now than in did in January–how much more are you paying? Maybe that can be your goal-save with coupons what it is costing you for gas so that your gas spending doesn’t cut into your other spending.

I strongly recommend having some type of goal. Saving money is great but actually having a concrete number to compare really helps track your progress. Also, if you’re feeling frustrated about learning to keep your coupons organized or learning to shop with coupons are remember the deals, when you see that you’re actually saving real money helps keep you going, makes it worthwhile.

Whatever it is, good luck, we’ll check back in & see how everyone is doing. See you Friday.