January 2010 - Coupon Gossip!

Fred Meyer weekend coupons

In today's Idaho Statesman, there are 3 coupons good today (Friday) thru Sunday 1/31/10. Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna 4/$1 (limit 4), Kroger American Singles 2/$1 (limit 2), Sun 2X Laundry Detergent (Liquid) 99c (limit 2). In addition, they are advertising Whole sockeye Salmon $2.99/lb (previously frozen). Great price, I think for whole salmon. When I buy frozen items (specifically shrimp and scallops) from the butcher block, I ask them to go to the back and get what I want out the freezer - I'm going to take it home and freeze it generally, so why refreeze and lose some flavor? The butcher has always been very receptive to my request, so you might want to think about that when you shop, if your purchase is going right into your freezer for later.

As always, the cashiers should have the coupons mentioned above at the register, so you don't need to go buy a paper just for the coupons. Just ask them to find the coupons and scan them for you.

Have a great weekend!

Read more.......loves fish!

Free Reese's Pieces coupon up to $3.69

This is a great offer, but you will need to move quickly. You need a complete candy bar wrapper from Hershey's Special Dark dark chocolate bar, Almond Joy Candy bar, York Peppermint Pattie or Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Go here and download the form. Mail the two items (no receipt needed) to Pieces Wrapper Reward Program to the address shown on the form. The first 25,000 people will receive a coupon for a free bag of Reese's Pieces up to $3.69. Limit one/household and ends 2/10/10.

Since they are only giving away 25,000, I will be mailing mine tomorrow. I sure don't want to miss out on free chocolate!!!!!!!!!

If you don't have a stash of wrappers waiting for a Hershey's offer to come along, and need to actually buy a candy bar, you may want to use the coupon from the 1/10/10 Smartsource for $1 off Hershey's Special Dark 3.5 oz bar.

Thanks to RefundCents for the heads up on this offer.

Read More....Loves his chocolate.

Restaurant Review: The Vietnamese Deli

I'm going to do something different today, just for fun. You'll have to tell me if you like the idea.

I like to go out to eat. There I've said it. I don't mind eating at my desk, but I don't like packing a lunch. That doesn't mean I don't do it - I just don't like it. I don't like soggy bread from making my sandwich 4 hours before I eat it and I don't like eating leftover xxx that I didn't like the night before. But finances being what they are, I try to limit my lunch purchasing to once or twice/week. My office is near the corner Cole/Franklin in Boise. It's great for a quick run to Fred Meyer on Franklin/Orchard.

In front of Fred Meyer on Franklin/Orchard is a Vietnamese Deli. It was written up in the Statesman this past Friday and I have to say that I agree with the write-up. I had the Turkey Pesto ($4.25?) a few weeks ago and really liked it. I met some friends their for lunch last week and it was so crowded, we couldn't find a place to sit. The House Special (#1) ($3.25 sandwich only or $4.xx with a soda and chips) was recommended and I have had that a few times. If it hadn't been recommended, I don't know that I would have tried it - the description says pork cold cuts, pate and veggies. I have been unable to name any pork cold cuts (I think that one is the same pork you get when you order pork and seeds at a Chinese resaurant) and I'm not a fan of pate. Let me tell you, it's REALLY good! The veggies are very similar to a kimchi, I think. Not sour, just a little spicy, but great! They get their bread from the Oriental Market and it's nice and fresh. Today, I added a Vietnamese Spring Roll (85c) to my order. I'll do that again.

They offer free samples of any sandwich, so go check them out. Prices are VERY reasonable, but they don't have a lot of seating.

Read More....Loves fresh bread!

Free Skinny Cow Freezer Tote Bag

Unfortunately, I can't remember what blog I saw this on, so I can't give credit to them for the find. Some days are like that! Anyway, go here and sign up for a free freezer tote bag. Sam's club membership number is optional. They are only giving out 30,000, I believe, so don't delay!
Get ready for your summer shopping trips!

Read More....loves grocery tote bags!

Albertsons Quaker Deal

By now, I'm sure you have seen the new Albertsons ad and read on various blogs about different ways to do the Quaker deal. One coupon of note is the Buy 5 participating Quaker Products (6.1-8.7 oz Chewy Granola Bars, 14-16 oz. Cap'n Crunch, 15 oz Life or 16 oz. Toasted Oatmeal Squares) Save $3.00 coupon that can be found in the Fred Meyer monthly booklet.

There are two items to note, well maybe three. One, I've read that at some Fred Meyer stores, the monthly booklets are gone. Don't get me started on that bit of greed! BUT, I have found those same coupons hanging underneath the different Quaker products at the Meridian FM. They are printed on goldenrod colored paper. So, if you didn't get a booklet, and the store you go to is out of booklets, try the cereal and/or granola bar aisle and see if you can snag a few hanging coupons. UPDATE: Franklin/Orchard in Boise has two stacks of booklets at the grocery side door and a few near the service desk. They don't have any coupons hanging for quaker products.

Two, I emailed my favorite Assistant Manager (Cole/Fairview store) and he confirmed that they will accept the coupon (which I have heard beeps and needs to be forced through), AS LONG AS FRED MEYER IS NOT NOTED ON THE COUPON.

Now, I have two coupons on goldenrod paper, with a hole punched thru the expiration date. The expiration date is also the last words in the consumer fine print (February 2, 2010). No where on my coupons can I see the words Fred Meyer (i.e. valid at Fred Meyer, etc). So, I am very comfortable telling you that even though the coupon beeps, there is no reason why you should be unable to use them.

Three, since you have this coupon and it's over $1 in value so you would not be able to double it - you don't have to wait till Sunday to make your Quaker purchases. If you buy 5 items and use 1 coupon, you would pay $2 plus tax - 40c/item is an awesome, stock-up price! Sure, it's not free, but IMO unless you shop on Sunday morning at 6am, you have a good chance of missing out on some of the items. This deal has been posted on almost every blog I follow and a lot of people have ordered coupons from ebay. I'm sure you can see where that's headed.

I have another email in to Cole/Fairview to see what kind of stock he has. I'll post separately on that when I have a response. Remember, you can contact any Albertsons and tell them how many items you would like and they will order them for you! That way, you don't clear the shelves for us folks who only need a few.

Read More.....Hates to see people being greedy!

Fred Meyer this weekend

In today's Idaho Statesman, (pg. A8), there is a Fred Meyer ad with 3 decent 3-day coupons (exp 1/17/10). They are:

Fred Meyer Mac & Cheese 15c limit 6
FM Bath Tissue 6 double rolls 99c limit 2
Big K Pop 20oz 10c limit 5

And, New Crop Red or Green Seedless Grapes $1.98/lb (no coupon needed)

Remember, if you don't get the paper, just ask at the service desk or the checkstand - they will get you coupons.

Then in my email, I got notice of a big Doorbuster 6-hour sale on MONDAY - who shops on Monday? (people who have the day off as a holiday?!?!).

Inside the email were coupons for $5 off shoes $14.99 and greater, $5 off 1 apparel or accessory item $14.99 and greater and 15% off vacuums and steamers. Al 3 coupons exclude clearance.

Have a great weekend!

Read More.....Looking for Fred E. Bear.....

Inexpensive chicken

How is your supply of frozen chicken breasts? After I posted about inexpensive hams, I was bopping around the web and found a post on Fabulously Frugal about inexpensive chicken at Winco in Meridian - 3 lb. bags for $3.98! $1.33/lb is a really good price! Until someone goes to a different Winco and then posts, we have no way of knowing if this is specific to that location or if it's chain-wide or even how long that price will last. If you will be out and about, you may want to check it out.

Thanks to FabulouslyFrugal for the info!

Read More....Thinks he's going to be eating VERY well!

Inexpensive Ham

Does your family like ham? If so, you might want to check out this deal that I picked up on my lunch hour.

Albertsons on Overland and Orchard in Boise has Hormel Cure 81 hams with a sell by date of 1/14/10 on clearance for $1.49/lb. They also have a $3 store discount coupon on them. They are regularly $4.99/lb. The same brand, but small butts are $2.49/lb and don't have the sticker coupon. The one I ppurchased was about 6.37 lbs for $9.49 minus the $3 coupon so, $6.49. Albertsons will cut/wrap for free. These are already cooked, so just need to re-heat.

The same deal MIGHT be at other Albertson's, but the meat department does their own mark-downs, almost not connected to the store, so it will depend on how many they have. Overland/Orchard had about 20 of them, just mixed in with the hams. They didn't have "clearance" stickers on them, just the re-price sticker and the $3 coupon sticker.

This store also had quite a few Jimmy Dean sausage rolls on clearance for 99c and two pkgs. of Jimmy Dean sausage slices for 99c. I sort of watched a lady work a deal with the butcher - she walked away with 3 white meat trays with 4 rolls each wrapped on them. When I had walked by, she was talking about taking them all for a lower price - but I have no idea what that price was. She had mentioned that the sell by date was two days away and if they didn't sell, they would be discarding them. A good point to make here is that there is always room for negotiation - the worst they can say is no!!!!!!!!

I'm not a very good cook and asked the lady at the butcher block what to do with the ham. She suggested dicing some for quiche or omlets, slicing some for lunches and chunking it for ham/scalloped potatoes. I'm sure there are plenty of other things out there to do with it and we should get quite a few meals out of this ham.

Read More.......Thinking about some split pea soup!

Fred Meyer ecoupons!!!/Free Healthy Choice entrees

Fred Meyer has gotten behind the whole ecoupon idea. If you go to their site here, and either register or sign-in (I was already registered, and in the past, have gotten some bonus coupons because of that), it will take you to a page with 15 coupons, 1 of which is $5 off 5 Healthy Choice dinners. Match that up with the $5/5 coupon here.

The FM site say maximum 100 coupons. I would not recommend loading that many coupons on your card - Cellfire and Shortcuts only allow 50 total, and you wouldn't want to miss out. You can still load both Cellfire and Shortcuts, but remember that only 1 ecoupon will apply to any one item - and you have no way of knowing which ecoupon will get applied.

I am still getting a handle on the entire ecoupon thing - Crystal at Frugal Chic Living is THE PRO!!! If you have any questions, drop her a note.

Make sure you do this deal - it looks like 5 free or close to free Healthy Choice entrees!

Read More.....Likes to eat healthy!

Dole 30-day challenge

Purchase eight 4-packs of Dole fruit bowls between 1/10/10 and 2/10/10 and receive four coupons, each good for a free 4-pack of fruit bowls. Limit one per household. There is an instant win game along with the rebate form here. There are two coupons in the Smartsource that came out this weekend (1/10) - 75c/2 Fruit parfaits and 75c/2 Fruit bowls or fruit in gel bowls.

These are kind of spendy, but really are a great size for lunch - my daughter loves them! Double the coupons at Albertsons for additional savings.

Thanks Fistful of Coupons!

Read More....Now he needs more veggies!

Facebook Freebie - Celestial Seasoning Tea

Here's another free sample for all you Facebook users. Click here, become a fan and take the quiz. At the end of the quiz, you can click the link for the free sample of Authentic Green Tea. I took the quiz and my result is "Peacock": Demonstrating graceful appearance and charitable spirit in equal measure, the PEACOCK reminds us of ...the beauty we each possess far beneath our plumage. LOL One of my favorite summertime drinks is Green Tea Frappachino with Blackberry Sauce - perhaps with the free sample I can figure out how to make it!

Thanks Hip2Save!

Read More......Getting out the tea cups.

Kettle Chips Coupon/Sweepstakes

Enter the Kettle Chips "Real Food - Real Life" makeover sweepstakes. Just for entering you will receive a $1 coupon on Kettle Chips, and you could win a trip to LA, 3 months of consultations with a registered dietician, salon and spa package and a 1-year supply of Kettle chips.

The chips run $2.87 at Walmart and probably a little more at Albertsons, but you could double the coupon and it's good for 30 days.

Thanks to Hip2Save for the info!

Read More.... Who's passing the dip?

Free Uni-ball Pen

Can you ever have enough pens? Not at my house, they seem to disappear along with the scissors! Go register here at Uni-ball for a free uni Super-Ink pen. These pens are designed to prevent check fraud. I registered for mine today, but when I went back to get the links for you, it says to come back tomorrow after 12:00 pm, today's allocation has all been given away. They are giving away 10,000 per day, so I'm sure you can get yours too!

Thanks to Coupon Geek for the heads up!

Read More......Ready to write the Great American Novel.

Music Download: Workout Mixes

My dd has an IPOD and she gave me an MP3 player for Christmas, so I'm always on the lookout for free music. She does get the majority of her music from the library, but I'm still always looking. When I saw this post at Common Sense with Money, I was pretty excited - these are current songs! We haven't done the download yet, but I looked at the preview and it's 60 minutes of music, called the Biggest Loser and Subway Workout Mix and would be $9.95 to purchase, if you didn't take advantage of the free download. Artists include: Lady Gaga, Rhiannon, Taylor Swift, Kayne West and others (12 tracks in all). BPM rate on all songs is 128, so this would be a good workout.

Read More.......starting his stretches!

Good for a Laugh

I got this link from Hip2Save - I was eating my lunch when I started reading the thread and had to stop eating I was laughing so hard. So, with warning: Do not eat while you read this thread, here is Collin's post and a direct link to the thread. It's not really funny till about the 5th post. Don't let the subject throw you off, just start reading.

Read More.....thinks that was a snorter!

Brita Water Pitcher only $3 at Lowe's

UPDATE: I went to Lowe's on Eagle Road and Ustick last night - the pitchers were in fact $8 and I scored two of them. The coupon didn't want to scan, but they just changed the price to $3 each. Pitcher comes with one filter. Three-pks of filters were about $15 - so it's just like toner cartridges - they suck you in with the cheap price and you pay more later. LOL It's ok, we will use it on our trip back east this summer if we drive and take our trailer.

Word on the street is that Lowe's (the hardware store) has Brita pitchers on sale for $8. Get the $5 coupon (bricks, can print twice) here at the Filterforgood.com website after taking the pledge. That would make the pitcher only $3!!!!!!! There is also a coupon at the same site for $1 off a filter. I have not purchased any of these items, so I don't know the regular cost of the pitcher or the filter, but it sounds like a great deal to me!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Fistful of Coupons for the info.

Read More.....thinks he should drink more water.

75c Malt-o-Meal coupon

I received an email from Malt-o-Meal with a 75c coupon (bricks) in it. Go here to print (or here and answer the question about how you are reducing your carbon footprint).

You can find Malt-o-Meal cereal at Fred Meyer and Walmart, I don't know if Albertsons and Winco carry it. Coupon may not get you free cereal, but it will help.

Read more.....ready to stock back up on cereal.

Welcome to Coupon Gossip!

So, why did I create yet ANOTHER coupon blog? Well, I wanted to showcase four things I couldn't find anywhere else.

1. I want to create a site that talks about the unadvertised bargains! We have some really great sites handling matching up the advertised sales with our coupons, but nothing out there just dedicated to the sales we should gossip about.

2. After running this blog for about a month, I think there is a need for a open forum discussion board to get ideas passed quickly among couponers. This idea is the brainchild of Jennifer H. (who is a voice of sanity for me). So, here is a new goal for this blog! Let's rock the Discussion Board!

3. When I started couponing, I was frustrated and NOT SURE if the item on sale was a good price or not! We all the stores jockey their prices often so it's hard to keep track. Well, I've created a spreadsheet that will help with this problem.
[ COMING SOON! ]

4. Lastly, I can't find a good coupon site that talks about how to save money feeding our four-legged family members. I want to put together a place where we can all share how to save money when feeding our pets!

So, now you know the why. I hope you enjoy this site. Please feel free to contact me whenever you have (PSSSSST!) something to talk about!