A friend asked me to stop by the Lisle Jewel and pick up seven Allegra packs today before the coupon expired, so I decided to use the amount to boost a shopping trip.  What?  If I use the $45 from the Allegra to boost the amount of groceries I’m purchasing, I can use a $6/$60 to give me an extra six bucks worth of food.  So here’s what we have, ignoring the Allegra:  4 half-gallons organic milk (yikes$$$); 2 quarts strawberries; 4 dozen eggs; 2 Tostitos fire-roasted chipotle; five Tyson nugget and tenders and 4+ lbs bananas.  Used 2 $2 berry wts, $3.50 mfr coupons on milk, $12 Tyson frozen chicken wts, $1 bananas cat, $6/$60 cat and $9 Splenda cats and the $5 P&G from the free Ivory soap.  Ended up paying $1.61 out of my own pocket.  Oh, well, I guess you have to pay sometime!  The flowers were a Mother’s Day gift from my husband, so I’ll keep him for another week at least…

A side note, here: The Lisle Jewel still has lots of the 5 ct Allegra packages.  Apparently the Osco clerks put them all in the back and no one knew they weren’t on the shelf.  The shelf has now been stocked and if you go in before the coupons expire today, just ask.

For those of you still holding Jewel rain checks for the $5 Allegra 5 count packages, Lisle  just got a shipment in.  Most of the order was reserved for me, but since they have been substituting the 15 count packs, I “only” had 29 coupons on me; the rest of the 70+ is up for grabs.  Head on over and get yours, since the coupons expire 5/7 TOMORROW.

or whatever that saying is.  You see here 48 rolls of Scott paper towels, 48 rolls of (nasty but softer than Marcal) Scott toilet paper and 24 packs of Scotts flushable wipes refills.  Total OOP was $34.08; it would have been $47 for the paper towels alone on sale. I rolled my $3 RRs and gained another week; the $2 transactions I ran over and over, then took the cats and receipts directly to cs to get my cash back.  This is the method I’d recommend when you are not looking to roll cats.  You won’t tie up the self-scan attendant’s time and makes it your whole transaction flow more smoothly.

Note:  Have you looked at the size of these Scott cats?  They are easily 30% longer than any I’ve ever seen.  And this from a company that keeps talking the green talk? puhleez

Leafing through next week’s ad, here are a few stand-outs (to me):

One dozen long-stem roses for $9.99; $14.99 for the elite premium bunch (probably with baby’s breath and ferns).  It says Mother’s Day above this section, so probably a one-day only deal.
Jewel eggs .99 dozen, limit 2.
Stockman & Dakota beef loin strip steack $4.99 OR the BOGO S&D beef eye round roasts.  Don’t forget to use the $2 store coupon on any 1 lb or larger S&D package.  It’s in that wonderful fresh & FUN celebrations coupon booklet found near the deli/bakery.  It contains $6 in store coupons that don’t expire until 7/15.
One pound packages of Driscoll strawberrries are $1.99 each.  Yummm
The Del Monte natural fruit cups are 10/$10; use the $1/2 from 3/27 r.  Pricey, but good.

Hey, Rachel, the Starbucks ice cream is on “sale”  2/$6.  Get $4 OYNO when you buy any combination of 4 participating products, so brings it down to $2 each. yikes!

OK, here’s something that might be interesting…there is a Life cereal store coupon on the back page which brings the cost per box down to $1.99.  Stack with the $2/3 from the 5/1 Frito-Lay insert.  I’m guessing that would bring your per box total down to about $1.33 for the large size.  A Very Good Price!! (sorry, jillites, i couldn’t resist).  Seems like the Quaker stuff doesn’t go on sale or get as cheap as the GM or Kelloggs brands.

Picked up a bunch of tea and some light cream – no coupons!!  However, I did pay with RRs:  $30.39 and used $30 in RRs…i‘m not that crazy!

I actually wanted to check on an idea I had.  You know that P&G promo where you “spend” $20 and you get a $5 OYNO?  Well,  Ivory soap is a P&G product and it just happens to be on sale, 3 bar pack for a buck with a $1/1 in the 5/1 P&G insert.  So pick up 20 packs of soap, pay with 20 coupons and, if the coupon gods are smiling and the soap is part of the promo, the $5 cat will spit out.  And don’t bother me with that stupid limit four like coupons crap, ok?

Keep checking your store’s clearance cart.  I found more Cottonelle along with a bazillion boxes of Orbit gum – something orange flavor.  The price was really cheap yesterday (.25 or .50?), but there’s a 4/$5 promo going on now, so even the clearance gum scans at that price.  Wait a couple of days and the price will go back down.  There is a $1/2 in the 4/17 S2, so back up the truck on this one, peeps.

The power of coupons:   Jewel has been unable to fill my special order for Allegra – warehouse is out and is suppressing orders.  Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but the coupon’s got such a short expiration date that it doesn’t look good, folks.  The Osco mgr was kind enough to give me five of the 15 ct packages as a substitute and allow me to use those $5/1 coupons against them.  I took those five boxes, plus two European(?) baguettes and a package of organic celery hearts.  Total was…who knows/who cares?!  I used five Allegra coupons, two $1/1 store coupons for bread (emailed to me), a $3/30 and a $1 OYNO both of which PITA found.