Well I broke my cardinal rule of Safeway shopping this week- which is to always keep the ads that come in my mail and cut out the in ad coupons. I didn’t bother with it this week because one would assume that a store would have its own ad available- but not mine! So anyhoo- back I went for a second trip with my ad from the Sunday paper.
Click below to see the breakdown of my trip this week:
Here is trip #1:
SAFEWAY: 30.88
Lemon Cake .89
Frosting $1.50- use .75/2 coupon and had $1 in e-coupons come off .64 for both
4 Pillsbury Grands .99- Used (2) $1/2 coupons and had $1.20 in e-coupons
2 Crescents $1.99 (yikes I didn’t notice that before!)- Used $1/2 coupon and $1 in e-coupons= $2.74 for all
6 Yoplait .50- Used .40/6 coupon, and $1.20 in e-coupons= $1.40
Ground Beef $13.20
Oranges $1.48
Cucumbers $2.37
Cauliflower $2
Grapes $4.18
Hummus $2.50
Raspberries .77- used .50/1 coupon (YEAH! The coupon I saved actually worked for once! I printed it as well so these were .27!)
Then I got a $3 cat back for the Pillsbury
WALGREENS $2.25
3 Nivea $1- used $1 coupon= Free
2 Mac and Cheese on raincheck from last week $1.99- used (2) $1 coupons
TARGET $9.39
3 cans veggies .65 each= $1.95
3 Kraft Cream Cheese $1.87- Used $1/2 Target coupon
2 Deli Cheese $2.74- used $1/2 Target coupon and a $5/5 Kraft coupon = $4.09 for all 5 items
5 Mott’s Natural Applesauce $1.67- Got $5 gift card = $3.35 for all 5
I bought the Mott’s first and used the gift card to pay for the rest.
RALEY’S: $4.78
I lost my receipt. But I did make a trip into Raley’s and got a gallon of milk (Gone already!) $2.79.
I found the Oral B Vitality on clearance for $11.99- used $10 off coupon
1 dozen eggs- Free with store coupon (Gone already!)
SAFEWAY #2: 5.94
3 Coffeemate .99 each- used (3) $1 coupons= Free
3 Safeway English Muffins $1 per bag
2 Hillshire Farms lunchmeat $2.49- Used $3/2 peelie coupon on package
Pumpkin $3.99 (on my doorstep right now!)
5 Del Monte Smoothies $1- used (5) $1 coupons= Free
and I used the $3 cat from above
SAFEWAY #3: $4.23
Granola Bars $1.79- used .50 coupon and $1.50 in e-coupons
Land O Lakes .99- used .50/1 coupon
3 Coffeemate .99- used $1 coupons= Free
4 Del Monte Smoothies $1- used (4) $1 coupons= Free
2 Precious String Cheese $2.49- used $1/2 coupon
CVS $1.53
Renu Contact Solution $7.99
Halloween Lights $4.99
Used $5/1 CVS coupon for Halloween items
Used $6.98 in ECB and got $7.99 ECB back!
Kohl’s $.99
2 Tassimo Hot Chocolate $10.99- used $10/10 coupon
The total was $59 for the week. My husband is now calling me a crazy hoarder but I use Coffeemate everyday and it is really the only thing I am brand loyal to. Also, I love smoothies because my braces make eating a challenge sometimes- so I went overboard on those.
I do want to say I would never have purchased 9 if my store didn’t have at least 200 or more of the coupon booklets for Del Monte. (There was actually a box in the produce area that was overflowing.) I did 2 trips to 2 stores as well to be sure there was plenty on the shelf for others.
Carissa tGaffney says
Well you didn’t do as bad as I did with the Coffee Mate Creamers I went to three stores and got nine….count them nine creamers! Not to mention 20 smoothies, hubby uses those for his protein shakes in the a.m, it gives a nice break from just O.J! Thanks for the tip on the coupon book! Your site is favorite! Thanks for all the hard work!
Josie says
bhaha!! My husband calls me a hoarder all the time. I bought six things of coffee-mate as well and he almost looked at me like I was crazy 🙂 But seriously, that stuff is my fuel for the day!
Josie says
Oh, have you happen to see the new cat for Hallmark cards? I saw this at my vons the other day and was able to buy 9 cards for $5!!
Jessica says
My Safeway NEVER has their own ads in store. At least not the ones with coupons in them. I always have to clip mine out and bring them with me.
Maile says
The store I go to almost never has there own ads and also we never get any store ads in our mailbox. So the only time I get a safeway ad is the sunday newspaper or my boyfriend and I will go up and down the aisle looking for ads. We usually find one that has the safeway coupons we still need in it. I always thought it was weird that they never had enough of there own ad. Like others have posted, thank you for the great deals.
Charlene says
Oh good- I am happy I am not the only cranky one about this! Irritates the heck out of me. Just offer the in ad as printable coupons if you can’t put them in the stores 😛
Maile- have you ever tried signing up for Red Plum to your home mail? That is how I get the ads on Tuesdays.
Susan says
You rock!! You rock!! You rock!!
Tina says
Maybe it would help to post on Safeway Facebook that your store needs to have more ads! It really helped last week when people complained that they couldn’t find the Safeway $70 dairy/freezer coupon booklet. Corporate called individual stores, and the managers called customers. Worth a try.
kelly says
How do you sign up for Red Plum to come in your mail?! My store always carries the weekly ad in-store (with the exception of special inserts, like the 3-day specials), but I end up hiding in a less-traveled aisle to tear out the in-ad coupons…hahaha!
kelly says
…oh, and did I mention that as I am tearing out the coupons I am also trying to wrangle 2 2-year-olds since my store has only single-child shopping carts…ugh!
Stephanie R says
I’m so sad because our Safeway didn’t offer the Coffeemate for .99 🙁 I was SO excited about this deal and then it wasn’t in our Safeway ad…sadness 🙁
Sara says
Hahaha…I’m so glad I’m not the only person who hoards the coffee mate! I bought 9 of them from 3 stores as well. I LOVE the peppermint mocha! I also did the Hallmark card deal twice. I hate paying full price for cards, they are so overpriced… or maybe I’m just cheap!
Adena says
So, I’m assuming since you didn’t buy any, that the Mott’s Medleys is not part of the gift card deal at Target?
jennie says
We love the smoothies. they are great with a little yogurt and a banana. What coupon book did you find a coupon in???
Charlene says
Jennie- I posted on it here:
http://myfrugaladventures.com/2010/10/safeway-free-del-monte-smoothies/
Charlene says
Adena- Actually I don’t buy juice very often so I wouldn’t have bought it this time either. But I did look and Mott’s for Tots was included but not Medley’s.
Charlene says
Kelly-
Here is where you do it. It comes with junk like fast food coupons. I don’t mind junk mail but I just wanted to warn you. I can’t promise the ads will arrive in your area but they do in mine:
http://www.valassis.com/1024/Contact/consumersupport.aspx
Danielle says
To “purchase” 9 coffemate creamers did you obtain 9 booklets? If so, is that fair for everyone else who might want to get one or two? I tried to get a second booklet and they were all out at my store.
Maggie M. says
Thank you for the link Charlene I have been wondering how people get Red Plum in the mail too- you rock!
Maggie M.
Charlene says
Oh Maggie just to be clear you will not get any coupons from them! The Red Plum coupons are mailed to select households and are not available to everyone. The people that get them mailed do not get them in the paper typically so it isn’t that great. This is strictly to get junk from Red Plum. Junk meaning ads and other nonsense like Burger King coupons. My junk also includes the ads for 3 local grocery stores. So I think it is worthwhile to sign up if you want to try and get your grocery ads as well.
Charlene says
Danielle- I can’t say for the others but as I said in my post I am not a person that clears shelves or takes everything and I don’t think those other ladies are either. I have been to Safeway probably 6 times since those booklets have come out and each trip I take 2 books. Now the stores I have been to have no fewer than 100 books- probably significantly more than that- so I don’t think I have been greedy in any way at all. In fact, I personally think taking 2 books per trip is more than reasonable considering there are stacks and stacks of them everywhere I turn. I happen to believe in coupon karma and on MFA I almost never have problems with people that are inconsiderate of others. You can see from my shopping trips for the past 2 years that I have never encouraged people to take as much as they can get of anything or to empty shelves so no one else can get a deal. Also, you will see from my trip that I actually made a point of going three separate times- so again I don’t feel this was unreasonable at all. It is a shame that you could only get one booklet- I know in my experience there are hundreds and hundreds available in the stores I shop at.
Tina says
I would love to get the Tassimo hot chocolate, where did the $10 come from? Thank you for all the scenerios and great deals you send our way. You have help save my family hundreds of dollars.
Charlene says
Tina it was here:
http://myfrugaladventures.com/2010/09/possible-10-off-10-kohls-coupon/
It is for Tassimo machines which I have. They also have Keurig ones but I didn’t check the prices.
cjk1208 says
Hi Charlene,
Thanks for all your hard work. I was at Safeway today and bought the raspberries that are on sale. I realized later that the .50 ecoupon from safeway.com didn’t come off. What would you suggest I do? Thanks!
Charlene says
Um.. I hate that. To be honest cjk I just print the coupons out now because they never work. This last time it did work- I noticed the price was adjusted down to $.77 on my receipt even though the coupon wasn’t reflected anywhere.
So what you can do is just put the receipt in your wallet and see if you can print the coupon off. If you can- you can probably get a refund. If you can’t print it, I don’t know what to say. I know lots of readers have pursued this without any real satisfaction from Safeway. Personally, I have not tried arguing with them myself. Maybe someone else can offer a suggestion. My suggestion is to print them from now on 🙁
kelly says
I just signed up for Red Plum…& waiting with fingers crossed that I get the Safeway circular when it arrives! Thanks so much!!!
Sharon W says
I signed up with Red Plum on 10/10 and just got the ads in the mail for the first time yestersay – yay!!! Thx so much Charlene!