Safeway affiliates, including Vons, Randalls and more, are offering a frozen foods deal this month in which when you buy $25 of participating products, you get $10 toward a future purchase. Yesterday, I got $26 in products at Vons and in the end will have paid $3.68! That’s 86 percent off!

These deals take a little strategy, but you can really make ‘em work for you. By giving you a $10 Catalina at the end of your shop (that’s those little coupons that print out when they give you your receipt), everything is essentially 40 percent off. Match participating items with coupons, and you can make some dang good deals.

You can find participating items at Couponmom, or such great blogs as Saving Cents with Sense or Krazy Coupon Lady. The blogs even give you scenarios and the coupon matchups.

A big tactic to take with these type of deals is to ensure you just hit the required purchase amount. I usually do the math ahead of time, but still bring a calculator with me to the store. The best part of these Buy $XX, Get $XX deals is they count the purchase price before coupons. Can you see where this is going?

So I bought 4 Michael Angelo Italian entrees, 4 Tornados appetizers/snacks, 2 Pillsbury Struedels and 1 can of Orchard frozen cranberry juice. Total — $26.21. (I had to throw in the juice because I was 5 cents short of hitting the $25. This is called a filler item — something cheap just to make sure you hit a purchase goal.)

Now here comes the fun part. To the above purchase I used the following coupons:

The juice was the only item for which I did not have extra savings. The BOGO coupons were found on Facebook by following Saving Cents with Cents and For the Mommas, both of which tipped me off when they were available. (They were also produced by “Bricks Coupons” which allow you to print two when you hit the back button three times — a trick of the coupon trade. You print one, then hit the back button three times, and the coupon will print again.)

The other two coupons were from Coupons.com, while the Ecoupon was loaded either from Shortcuts, Cellfire or the Vons site directly. I don’t recall which. Now don’t think you need to hunt all these savings venues down. The nice folks at the blogs I mentioned will do it for you.

If I had not used the coupons, I would have got 40 percent off with the $10 Catalina, but by using the coupons, I got a whopping 86 percent off! Now that’s a deal! Would I normally buy these items? Probably not, but for 33 cents apiece, you’re damn right I will use them. I will use the $10 Catalina later this month toward any normal frozen foods purchase, or I may even parlay it into another $25 deal where I will get another $10 Catalina. We’ll see.

But for now, the freezer is packed, and I feel I once again won the grocery game!

Working the drugstore deals is one of the biggest highs for a coupon shopper. That’s because most of the time, you get paid to shop! All the major stores have programs, but my personal favorite is Rite Aid.

It’s Single Check Rebate program and liberal coupon policy usually will net me nearly $20 in free merchandise each week. Today was a great day — $44.18 in products and I will end up getting paid $3.29 to buy ‘em all. Even after tax, I still got paid 26 cents! It is so much fun to walk out of the drugstore and know they are paying you to take it all.

I’ve noted many of my drugstore deals in these posts, but let me quickly tell you how I did it today. It’s a matter of combining coupons, with sales and with Rite Aid’s Single Check Rebate program, in which you enter your receipt online and once a month request the company send you all your eligible rebates in one check. That’s it!

Now don’t think you have to use too much brain power to figure the deals out. Some very nice bloggers weekly tell you exactly what products to buy, the coupons to use, and what you will end up paying. Every week, I rely on the list I find on For the Mommas. She even puts an asterisk next to the free or money-making deals. How easy is that?

All you need to do is save the coupon flyers each week (I just have them in a big white envelope with the date they were issued written on top), then you just cut out the coupons to go with that week’s deals. Go to the store, snag the deals. Check out. Come home. Enter the receipt info online for Rite Aid, and put away the haul. I can tell you straight out, I have not paid for deodorant in more than a year!

OK, let me quickly show you how I did the two transactions. (That’s a tip — to use the Rite Aid store coupons in which you get $3 off $15 or $5 off $25, you split the transactions. Don’t worry, the cashiers don’t care.)

Here’s how it went down: I used one $3 off $15 purchase Rite Aid coupons (found online). Always give this one first. Used two “Buy a deodorant, get free body wash” coupons from the Proctor and Gamble flyer insert. Used $4 off the purchase of two Gillette body washes (keep in mind, I got ‘em for free!) and then submit for one Single Check Rebate for $2. End result — I get paid $1 to buy it all.

Now, I know it sounds complicated, but remember, great blogs will tell you when the coupons came out, how to match up the deals and even give you the links to the Rite Aid coupons! All you do is cut, combine and shop.

Here’s how this one went down. Used a $5 off $25 Rite Aid online coupon (always give this one first, so the register acknowledges you “spent” $25+), then I used a number of manufactuer coupons and will request $8 in Single Check Rebates. I will detail in a later post about how a “buy one, get one free” special at Rite Aid actually nets you both free, but you’re gonna have to wait for that.

For today, I just want to say if you are not using the drugstore deals, you are cheating yourself out of hundreds of dollars of free merchandise — not to mention, saving at least 90 percent every time you go. Check out For the Mommas or “fan” her on Facebook, and you, too, can see how you can get these kind of deals each week.

I realized tonight to me grocery shopping is a game, and one I usually win. When you can walk out of the store and have saved 70+ percent, there is no better feeling. And let me tell you, it saves the monthly budget!

The deals stunk this week at the store, but by using the loss leaders, coupons, Ecoupons, and other deals, I will feed our family of two for about $40 this week. If I hit $50 a week, I am very happy, and thankfully I do by using the skills noted under “Grocery Store Tactics” here.

My friend Nancy emailed me today and said she does not have the patience for coupons, but just to complain about her food bill for a family of four. That’s when I realized it’s not a pain for me — it’s a game.

That’s how I walked out of the store last night with $48.50 in groceries for $6.50. I played the game, and I won. I plan on hitting a second store tomorrow, and have all the coupons and the matchups ready to go. My prediction is 65+ percent off. Last night was 86 percent off. I still should easily meet my goal of spending less than $50 for the week.

Tonight, too, a couple friends of mine entered the Ralphs contest I detailed here and one won free cheese and the other free Oscar Mayer weiners. I know dang well they are gonna have a big smile when they put those in the cart, because they won.

My Mother always hated grocery shopping when I was a kid (even though she is good at a deal), but I think if you treat it like a game, you can see how much fun it can be!

This post goes to show you that even when the deals suck at the store, you can still walk out with some whopping savings. Tonight I left Ralphs with $48.50 in groceries for $6.50 — 86 percent off!

True, I did not buy a lot (’cause the deals stunk), but I used my strategy of hitting the loss leaders as I mentioned in this post, and left. I was helped tonight with two wins on the new Kroger/Ralphs/Frys March to Savings contest that I mentioned in this post. I had won a $5 off Ecoupon loaded directly to my club card, as well as an Ecoupon for the free can of Yuban coffee.

I parlayed those free items to some incredible deals using coupons and Ecoupon matchups I found on Saving Cents with Sense. I’ve learned it’s best to use its list, as well as that found on Couponmom, because often Saving Cents notes how Ecoupons may also be used to make even better deals — tips that Couponmom lacks. Here is the Saving Cents list for this week, including the links to the ‘net coupons. (Note: Her list says Frys, but this is a a Kroger/Ralphs affiliate and most prices match up.) I highly recommend you follow Saving Cents on Facebook. You can load the Ecoupons directly on the grocery store’s web site. Easy-peasy!

Once again, the combining newspaper/printable Internet coupons and Ecoupons nets the best deals. Here are some examples from tonight:

The $5 off my bill win in the March to Savings Ralphs game nearly paid for the two chickens, making tonight a red-letter shopping day. I also am starting to realize how much I use Internet coupons. I still think it’s worthwhile to get a newspaper, but if you don’t, there are lots of good sources online — and I think you are cheating yourself of savings if you are not printing coupons off the ‘Net. (I will detail these in a future post).

So, for a sucky week on grocery prices, I walked out tonight with a mega-good day. Just goes to show you again on how well you can live for less — if not free!

There is a nearly indescribable thrill for me when I walk out of a store with stuff for free (and I’m not talking shoplifting). It’s just knowing that you worked the deals well. Tonight, I walked out of Rite Aid with $17.50 in merchandise, and will end up getting paid $1 to buy it all! If I had paid full price, it would have been $31 in stuff!

Once again, I used the tips I found on Couponmom.com and on For the Mommas.com, which tell you what the steals are at the drugstores and what coupons you can use to make them even better. Here is the list from For the Mommas this week, with all the matchups and final prices, so you can see how simple it is.

Rite Aid also offers its Single Check Rebate program (which I detailed here and love). That means I walked out of the store today with the $17 in merchandise for $3.90 (including tax!), but I will have $5 in rebates coming back to me at the end of the month once I enter the basic receipt info at the Rite Aid web site, resulting in getting paid $1.10 to buy it all (and that’s after tax)!

A couple tips from the shopping trip:

So, once again, I walked out tonight with some purchases that allow us to lead a more comfortable life for nothing extra. I take a lot of pride in that. Just wanted to share how I did it.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I won the coffee and the next night won the $5 off my shopping order. Tonight, I again won the $5 credit. But it would not load to my card. I read the official rules and they state: “Once a participant has won two Instant Win prizes, no further Instant Win prizes will be awarded to that Participant. However, additional log ins will result in additional Sweepstakes Grand Prize drawing entries.” This sucks, in my opinion, I played the game and won again. I get dinged ’cause of my loyalty? Oh well, just wanted to make sure you all knew.

This is one cool, easy-to-win contest! If you go to Ralphs.com or Kroger.com, you can enter its March to Savings promotion. But this is no bogus “one person wins a lot and the rest get screwed” waste of time. There are a slew of instant prizes — I just won a $6 can of Maxwell House or Yuban coffee!

The cool part is the coupon loads directly onto my card so I just pick it up next time I’m in the store (was planning on going anyway to hit the 67 cents chicken special). And you can enter every day through April 6! Guess where I am going to log onto every day?

To play the game was nothing more than signing into my Ralphs.com account (you will need your club card number if you haven’t registered before), and then clicking the March to Savings banner to go to the game (it scrolls on the top, left side in the large box).

To play, all you do is press a button, and get ready to win! My pal Traci at Southern CouponBelle (who tipped me off on the promotion) won a free 4-pack of Reeses. Other prizes include California Pizza Kitchen merchandise, deli trays, and products from Oscar Mayer, Kraft, etc. Most are high value, including one for $5 off your grocery order.

There will also be winners of bigger prizes, but I already feel like a winner, with free groceries!

For those who have Kroger in their areas, you will need to go to Kroger.com. I’m sure they own other affiliates, so let me know what the ones are in your area.

Remember, you can enter every day through April 6, so plan on making this a daily stop on your ‘net surfing rounds, and get ready for the free stuff. I’m anxious to see if I get something every time, but anyway it’s worth the minute of time.

Let me know what you win!

Been a long time since we’ve had a free sample, so here’s one through Sam’s Club for a free sample of Bounce dryer sheets.

Just click here for the form. (You don’t need to have or provide a membership number)

I think sometimes the coupon “queens” do a disservice to those hoping that they, too, can replicate such deals as $100 in groceries for 25 cents. Let me tell you, in four years of heavy-duty couponing, I’ve never hit that. Such publicized shopping expeditions are well-orchestrated, meaning they hit all the big deals and do not buy anything extra that one normally picks up weekly, such as milk, meat, etc. For example, last week I could have checked out with my six Right Guard deodorants and nothing else. The final bill? Nothing. I had coupons to cover the cost of each. But that’s not real life.

However, for me, a bad day at the market is 50 percent off, and a great day is 70+ percent off, so you can still net big savings.

I still thank my lucky stars when my neighbor told me about Couponmom. I’ve since added to her skills by routinely visiting such blogs as Grocery Gathering, Making Cents with Sense and For the Mommas. These are my four secret weapons and contributed to me tonight saving 70 percent at the grocery store. Look at this haul! $123 in groceries for only $38. Dang good in my opinion, and helped out by $44 in coupons and $42 in “club card” savings.

But you can see that I didn’t walk out for a quarter; however of the 39 items I bought tonight, only 7 did not have coupons. And, of those, 5 were on special.

But I still stepped away with these deals:

So, no I did not walk out for 25 cents. But if you have the goal of cutting your grocery bill in half, I can guarantee you that you will do so by learning how to coupon shop, stockpiling when items hit their lowest price, wait for the 12-week cycle and spending about an hour a week before you head out to the store.

I was a good shopper before at $550 a month, but now I rock (in my opinion) at averaging $200-$250 a month for groceries. An average savings of $3,600 a year!

I guess what I am saying is that it’s baby steps, and don’t set yourself up for disappointment. Sure, you will get paid to buy stuff (especially at the drugstores), but if you cut your grocery bill by 60+ percent every month, you’re a star in my opinion.

Today reminded me why I love using coupons and rebates — I get to enjoy the thrill of buying without the guilt of paying for it! In fact, I will get paid $1 to buy everything in this photo.

I snagged the free 8X10 photo deal at Walgreens I mentioned yesterday on Facebook (a $2.99 value), so I am all set for a lovely gift for my friend Jayne. But before I headed out, I checked other blogs who enjoy saving as much as I do and found that I could pick up four of the expensive soy-based Glade Fragrance Collection candles at 2 for $5 at WAGS. But they also recently had a high-value coupon for $3 off 2, so now they were $1 apiece. (If you keep your coupon flyers — as you should — you can also find the same coupon in the February 2 SmartSource circular.)

But it gets better!

The same blog noted that S.C. Johnson still has this great rebate offer going that when you buy 3 participating products, you get $5 back on a rebate. So, yes, I will get paid $1 to buy everything — $13 in merchandise!

I know it is sometimes hard to believe, but these scenarios occur on a regular basis. Just this week I got a check for $12 in the mail for the two Olay lotions I bought with this rebate offer, in which I also used a $2 Ecoupon coupon (learn about them here). So not only did I get free lotion, but I got paid to buy them! I also just sent off for the great $15 Olay rebate to net two body washes and another lotion. This deal is still available! Last night, I sent off for the “try me free” rebate for Sure deodorant for men. Of course, I used a $1.50 coupon, so I will not only get the purchase price back ($1.99), But I will also get paid $1.50 to buy it. The rebate programs don’t care about coupons. They only look at the purchase price — a big secret. That means you often make money buying luxuries and necessities. Gotta love that!

This is one of my favorite aspects of couponing and using rebates — you get to enjoy items you normally would not buy when on a tight budget. I call them my little luxuries.

The Material Boy in me is happy, and you can still do this candle at Walgreens through today!