Snow day!!

It's a snow day in Kentucky....which means that yesterday the store was NUTS!!! I went to Walmart and Kroger and I am pretty sure everyone in town was at one of the 2.

I didn't get too much at Walmart. My sister was with me and she's not a shopper. :( I did pick up some popcorn shrimp (Seapak) for .58 each using the $1 peelies. I also got Special K cereal using the BOGOF coupon they had up on the site a few weeks ago. $3 for 2 was the final price.

Kroger was crazy. Every register was open, and with a line. A LONG line.
I got a large free box of Cheerios using one of the coupons that General Mills sent me through MyBlogSpark.

Glade candle tins were marked down to $1.74 (from Christmas, I guess) and I had coupons to get a free pack of refills wyb 1. They were $3!!! So, for $1.74 I could get a candle with tin and pack of refills. AWESOME!

Kroger's Everyday Living fabric softener in one scent was on closeout for $1.91

Suave for Kids in Orange was on closeout for $1.41 and I had a .25 coupon, making it .91

I also picked up on some Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta for $1.50 each and had coupons for $1/2

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Here is a free sample of Slim Fast's Peanut Butter Crunch Time Snack Bar. You do not have to be a Sam's club member.

Check out coupons.com for some really great coupons, including a high value Sudafed coupon!! You can click on the link to the left to get there.
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Buy 2 of the .99 Chips Ahoy at Walgreens and get a $2 RR, making them free after RR

Also free: Glade 2 oz candles. Use a $3/2 coupon (which can be found in Smartsource from November or in the Dec issue of All You), get a $2 RR and they will be free after RR
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Don't forget to check Walmart, Target, etc for clearance Christmas!! Most places are 75% off by now, making decorating next year much more affordable.
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I am almost ready for ANOTHER Amazon gift certificate from Swagbucks. If you haven't signed up, you can make them your default search engine and win Swagbucks randomly from searching, which you can trade for gift certificates or prizes. I trade mine for Amazon GC's, and have earned quite a bit so far. Check them out!

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If you have any questions about getting started in couponing (for my new people) you can check out my first few blog posts. You will find quite a bit of information there and if you have any questions, feel free to email me at dimestretchermom@gmail.com

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I was also asked if I make a menu plan. Yes and no. There are certain things we have every week or 2, so I guess that's planned. As far as getting sales ads and making menus, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. The reason why is, I keep a stockpile. If something is on sale for a fantastic price, I buy several. For this reason, I can pretty much choose what I want to eat from day to day. I know there is extra of this or that it my pantry or freezer.

I also make freezer meals some. If I am going to make a cassrole or lasagna or something similar, it's just as easy to make 2 as it is 1. Freeze the second one, and you have a meal for a future night.

A great book to get you started is Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer! There is even a follow up! There are some fantastic recipes in those books, and they aren't a once a month cooking type of thing, which is too overwhelming for me. They are more like recipes that you can eat one tonight and freeze the extras. It multiplies everything for you and even tells you the best way to go about freezing them.

I also make large batches of mashed potatoes, etc and freeze them in freezer bags. You can freeze them flat and it will leave a lot more room in your freezer.

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I hope you have a great shopping day!