Walmart Coupon Deals

Here's some items I picked up at Walmart the other week. I initially went in there just to get the baby products but then I noticed the tomatoes on sale which were too good to pass up!

Total: $5.78

Johnson & Johnson Baby Products (x3)

Sale Price: $2.47 (x3)

Coupon: -$1.00 (x3) J&J call-in

Final Price: $1.47 each 

Alymer Accents Tomatoes (x2)

Sale Price: $1.00 (x2)

Coupon: -$1.00 WUB 2

Final Price: $0.50 each

How to Budget 2012

With the arrival of our baby in the midst and the loss of income due to me being laid off from work, my hubby and I have decided to try our best to lower our OOP (out of pocket) grocery expenses this year. I never thought of myself as one who spent a lot of money. I like to watch for sales and purchase what I need when they're on for a good price. I figured by doing this I was indeed saving money and not spending so much. I never really kept track of groceries in 2011. My hubby and I were both with (what we thought were) secure jobs and so if I went over to Sobey's to get some good deals when they have their dollar days it really wasn't that big of a deal. Now we have to watch carefully what we spend and eat more from our pantry. That'll be the goal for the next year.

This year we've budgeted ourselves $200-$250 a month for groceries. CRAZY... I know. When my husband told me this I looked at him like he lost his mind. Now that I'm pregnant I drink quite a bit of milk, not to mention that I'm home all the time now so I make breakfast, lunch and dinner. When I was working I rarely ever brought lunch from home (there was no staff room and at the time I didn't drive). I went to Subway, Timmies, McDonalds or Safeway. Never an issue money wise.

It won't be without difficulty, though. Where I live, food prices are higher than normal. We also try to buy halal meat as much as we can which is very expensive if we purchase it from the butcher. My hubby is a carnivore. If there is not meat on his plate, it cannot be called dinner. So how will we do it? You got me. So far for January I'm over my budget. Around $280 we've spent. BUT in my defense, for two weeks in December I was on holiday's visiting my family meaning there were no groceries bought and hubby gobbled what was left at home so technically we're still good. Also, the hubby's been sick so trips to buy medicine have not been cheap. And giftcards do not count when we're budgeting. BOO! I used $36 in giftcards but hubby says it still goes towards our OOP. Atleast it gives me a challenge to do!

Here's what we're going to do in order to make this budget happen:

• Record what you purchase
• Do one grocery shop per week, not several. Not only will you keep better track of groceries, you'll save on gas
• Sales our your best friend. Keep an eye out for sales of items that you use regularily and stockpile them
• Cook as much as you can at home
• Ask yourself; do I really need this?
• Eat from the pantry/ stockpile- it's easy to make a list and record what you have so you're not buying things you don't need

I can't wait til Wednesday! It's February 1st which means I can go down to Superstore and stock up on some things I need. This week I plan to make a big batch of homemade pizza and freeze them. We are notorious for running out of bread so this will give my hubby something to eat for lunch if that happens. Plus it's way easier on me as I'm usually the one who makes his lunch to take to work. The cheese is on sale, too.

So what do you usually spend on groceries?

How to Make Your Own Swiffer Wetjet Pads & Refill

 Swiffer refills can get so expensive and with the baby coming soon I've been looking for ways to reduce my expenses. I stumbled upon a Youtube video showing how to refill the Wetjet solution bottle (there's several ways; easiest is to hold the plastic white lid under hot water for 10 seconds then use a cloth to help unscrew it, or you can insert a funnel into the tiny hole opening and pour your solution mixture of choice. For the solution general rule is use a capful of your preferred cleaner and then fill up the rest with water) and in the video she mentioned she uses an old teatowel as a pad. That got me thinking. I've been going through my home, reorganizing and purging things that I don't need or use and I was getting rid of some facecloths and a hand towel I no longer wanted. So here's my inexpensive and enviromentally friendly new Swiffer Wetjet pads!

Steps:

Take old cloth (oversized one preferrably), place it on your Swiffer and cut it. It will look similar to the picture below. Don't worry if it's not even, no one's going to know. You just want to ensure you cut off enough so you are not covering the sprayers. Secure with two larger size safety pins on either side, making sure cloth is not covering the sprayers.

And there ya have it! You're very own pad. The velcro on the bottom of the Swiffer really helps keep the facecloth from sliding around. Once you've used it just toss it in the laundry and wash! If you're really up for it you can sew around the edges you cut so that they won't frey.

Here's how I store them. I made four; two from facecloths and two from a handtowel. In order to not lose the safety pins, I took a magnet from one of my fridge magnets I wasn't fond of and taped it to the top inside lid. I purchased the box from the dollar store and was actually donating it as I didn't have much use for it. Good thing I'm slow at taking my donations to Salvation Army!



Free Baby Samples

Now that I'm expecting, I've been scouring the internet in search of baby samples and free products. So far, I've received two packages in the mail for free baby samples. Please note I do live in Canada so these apply to canadian free baby stuff.

#1) Johnson & Johnson

How: Go to jnjcanada.com, near the top of the page you'll see 'contact us', click and scroll down until you see 'Email: click here', fill out mandatory fields including your address, and in the comment/question section request a 'New parent pack'. One parent pack request per household.

What: They will send you a coupon in the mail for a free take along pack which includes lots of samples of products. They also include $1.00 off coupons for regular size J&J baby products. Go to a local store and use your coupon(s)!

#2: Shoppers Drug Mart

How: Go to shoppersdrugmart.ca, near the top of the page you will see 'baby', click and it will direct you to a page which talks about their 'V.I.B' program, sign up and wait for your package in the mail! Please note you must be a Shoppers optimum club card holder (which is a free rewards card).

What: They will send you a package in the mail which includes samples, a bib, pacifier, and also bonus point coupons you can use when you purchase certain products.

Coupon Deals

Hopefully I'll be getting into the swing of things soon and getting more deals with coupons. I was checking out the Walmart flyer the other week and could not pass up the deals I saw.

Here's what I got:

Special K Oats & Honey

Reg. Price: $4.99 approx.

Sale Price: $3.99

Coupon: Free! from websaver.ca

Final Price: Free

Kraft Smart Mac' N Cheese (x 2)

Reg. Price: $2.29 approx.

Sale Price: $1.00

Coupon: -$0.75 (x2) from save.ca

Final Price: $0.25

Dole Apple Crisp

Reg. Price: $2.49 

Coupon: -$1.25 from websaver.ca

Final Price: $1.25