Safeway coupon deals I snagged this week

Total spent: 18.94 ($10 in CHEESE)

Total saved: 61.14 

Get back: $3 from iBotta

Net total: 15.94

A part of bringing down my meal costs is shopping sales, not just all sales, but the best sales of the week and meal planning around those deals. Keep in mind I am always eyeballing meat and seafood sales & clearance in my store & when there's an awesome price I stock up so I'm not necessarily always needing to find a deal on my protein.

The best part of shopping? Getting PAID to shop. Yes. GETTING PAID.

Nature Valley granola bars, granola thins, and oatmeal squares are on sale this week for 2.49 but when you buy four participating products you save $4 bringing each box to 1.49. Already a decent price of you want to grab a few boxes but make it a stock up price (aka buy enough to last four to six months) by using the AMAZING coupon being offered on coupons.com under zip code 77477. The coupon is for 1.25 off of ONE (1.25/1) box. Now... This magical Catalina machine pictured in the bottom left is what makes it a RUN deal. This magical machine typically prints coupons you can use on random items when you checkout. But sometimes it will print a UNIVERSAL coupon. That is right. A coupon you can use on ANYTHING (well, I should be more specific, certain exclusions do apply and usually include tobacco products, prescriptions, USPS stamps, etc). When this happens Couponers take advantage of this to lower their expenses. Especially in this case because we (they, everyone! Save all the money!) are getting paid to shop! And here is how:

Buy (4) Nature Valley Granola 2.49 each

= 9.96

- Buy 4, Save $4 store promotion

= 5.96

Use (4) 1.25/1 Nature Valley printable coupons (-$5 total)

= .96 

& currently when you buy (4) boxes a $2 Catalina is generating, making it a 1.04 money maker! Yes! You make money because you spend .96 and get back $2! 

Now, you must split your transactions and buy four at a time to ensure you get $2 back for every four boxes, but making over $3 is worth the extra two minutes at checkout! 

Next I bought Gogurt for $1! Gogurt is on sale for $2 this week. Use the $1/1 coupon from coupons.com (zip 77477) and snag these up for $1 each! My boys LOVE Gogurt. As you can seem they're normally $3 so saving 66% works for me! I'm ecstatic with saving at least 50% on grocery items. And on the upside, they're perfect frozen so I can stock up and not have to worry about expiration dates.

Buy (1) Gogurt $2

= $2

Use (1) $1/1 Gogurt (-$1)

= $1 

Another great way to save on groceries is by signing up for iBotta! You can earn $ back on common grocery items you buy, including some bonus offers to make the savings even better! The current bonus offer on iBotta requires you to buy a single gallon of ANY brand milk and redeem the .50 iBotta offer. Once you've redeemed that offer, redeem any other two (grocery, restaurant, movie theater, electronics, etc.) and get the credits for both offers and an additional $1 by Sunday, 01.05.14.

I already purchased my gallon of milk and redeemed my .50 iBotta credit. So today I bought one dozen eggs (ANY brand) and used a .35 off one (.35/1) coupon that came in the 11.03.13 Sunday newspaper coupon inserts (SS = Smart Source, RP = Red Plum, P&G = Proctor & Gamble)

Buy (1) Eggland's Best 2.69

= 2.69

- .35/1 (11/03 SS)

= 2.34

Then I submit my receipt to iBotta and got a .50 credit to my account.

Net total: 1.84

Found a GREAT deal on cream cheese (did you know they don't have cream cheese in Italy?).

Buy (1) Challenge Cream Cheese $2

- $1/1 Challenge Cream Cheese (coupons.com)

= $1

Submit receipt to iBotta

Net total: .25!

TWENTY-FIVE CENT CREAM CHEESE!

Eggs and cream cheese are staples in my kitchen so the savings is appreciated, and because I completed the milk offer and two other offers I'll get back $1 bonus! Even better savings! Sign up for iBotta today and start saving!