How Fry's Food Made Me Hate Couponing

I used to loooove couponing.  I would put at least 20 hours a week into getting my papers, cutting coupons, organizing them, and the best part, taking them shopping to get my discounts.  After many, many hours of hard work, my reward was getting discounts on my food.  That doesn't mean I cheated on my couponing.  I never tried to get items that weren't on the coupon nor did I ever try to print out bad coupons from my printer.  I was just an honest to goodness coupon loving gal.  Well, something changed all that.

Every single store I ever coupon at (pretty much) have the same policies.  I could walk into Safeway and they'd almost always tell me the same thing. No matter who I was talking to.  Same goes for CVS or Walgreens.  They are easy and simple.  They knew their store policies and didn't have an angry look on their face when I took out my coupons.

The second worst (before I tell you the first) would be Walmart.  I printed out a store policy and stores pretty much go between two different policies.  Either they follow it perfectly or they changed just one thing about it.  It's not as much fun to coupon at Walmart because they never have sales (sorry, but a penny rollback doesn't count) and they don't double their coupons in any way.  However, in general they can be cheap. Still, it's way more fun to shop at stores that have great discounts on different foods for different weeks out of the year.

The worst, worst, worst store I ever deal with as far as couponing goes is Fry's Food.  Some places call it Kroger.  Not only does nobody know the policy but most managers don't agree on it.  It's almost like it's up to each manager to decide how much they want to follow the store couponing policy or not at all.  I can go to one Fry's and they'll allow 50 coupons in one transaction.  Then I could go to another down the street and they only allow 10.  Why?  It's nowhere on the policy.  At times I get looked at with disgust by cashiers and managers at times for being a couponer.  I've never broken any rules but it's very confusing when each store chooses how they want to handle couponers.  I am not ridiculous and expect what I can't have and in fact, I'm really polite to the cashier.  I try to never hold up lines and I don't go during the rush hours.  There are times I was even told just to go home because my coupons froze up their system.  I wasn't offered to be helped on a different register.  Whether I coupon or not, I still on average spend about $900 a month on groceries.  I'm a good customer.  When I started to wonder why each Fry's were so different on their policies, a friend that is a manager confirmed it to me that it's left up to the managers to decide how to handle couponers and most are confused about it.  One time I reported a manager for being extremely rude to me.  When he was called up and confronted by corporate, to save himself he lied and said he was only telling me I couldn't price match to other stores.  I would never, ever do that as I know Walmart is the only place that does that.  It's easy for corporate to take the manager's side because they are in leadership but it left me as a customer with a mark on my head as a liar by other managers.

I finally just let it go for my sanity.  I worked too hard to deal with the anger I got from managers and the people working the registers.  It's really hard knowing the policy (which seems super simple and easy to understand) but deal with so much confusion.  My last straw was a few weeks ago, couponing, trying to save some money, the register freezing up, being told to just go home without my groceries, my car getting keyed by gangsters while shopping and right in front of their security guard, trying to report it to security, and being turned away because it was too late and they were about to close.  I had it.  It was on tape that it was done in the parking lot but I was brushed away.  I love, love Fry's for their weekly discounts and doubling of their coupons but their customer service is greatly lacking and drives customers to higher priced stores for the sake of good service.

That's why I gave up couponing. I'll never treat a register person or a manager rudely back.  It's not right to act angry and spew out things I'd later regret.  When they'd turn me away, I learned to just walk out and deal with it.  But I think the BEST thing Fry's corporate could do for their customers is maybe hold a class on just their coupon policies alone and how to treat couponers fairly.  There may be people that abuse them but a lot of us out there are just trying to find ways to stretch our money and are good customers.  :P

Finding Time Alone With One Child for a Date

I had a GREAT night!  I took my second son out on a date.  Just him and I.  You know how you can just tell that a kid needs some time alone?  I have been going through some behavior issues with three of my kids so those three are the ones I am focusing on.  That doesn't mean the good ones are being ignored because they earn really awesome things for their good behavior. 

Over time I've loved observing how large families operate.  I even watch smaller families.  One of the biggest frustrations to me is mom making their kids doing EVERYTHING.  Sitting down while their kids do the work.  I remember when I had a lot more time for reading and I had read some advice from James Dobson.  He said that kids will resent watching their mom sit down while giving out orders to their kids to clean.  Every since I read that I've made it a point to be working on my chores the same time as them.  Even if I've finished my chores, I'll get up and find something to work on.  Our job never ends anyway.  I remind the kids when they complain about their chores that I'm always working alongside them.  Never standing over them.  I know exampleship is really important to my kids and they aren't slow to point out discrepency in things.  I'm glad we all hold each other accountable.  ;)

Over the last few years, maybe 3 or 4, I have worked on and perfected a chore list for my kids.  One that I feel is fair per age.  I've had to switch them around many times in order to find which chore fit which kid.  I feel like I have to assign chores because if I just tell everyone to clean then some of the kids, particulary one I can think of, will hide somewhere.  Or I'll have the kids that work ultra fast while the others are turtle slow and get away with picking up very little.  When I assign chores, I'm able to see each of their work and know who didn't do theirs.  Works great!  I was one of those kids that would hide somewhere while my older kids did the work.  I tell my kids that I tried getting away with a lot as a kid so they aren't gonna get things passed me very easy. 

There is one kid I have who is generally pretty good but he is like a volcano.  If he erupts and starts being very naughty and defiant then there is a reason behind it.  After I figure out what's really going on, I try to find what their needs are and fix them.  At least what I am able to do.  I took Ryan out to dinner tonight.  We had dinner and then shared an oreo shake.  I took him out alone to pick out a new pair of shoes and a couple other treats.  He left very happy.  So did I with my New Balance Heart Rate Monitor S4.  Heh heh.  I also got Charles his Father's Day gift but shhhhhh.... don't say anything.  Ryan and I did a little couponing at the store and had a fun time goofing off.  I couponed for very little since the night was supposed to be for Ryan.  However, since some of the couponing benefited him, he walked out with a smile.  On the ride home he told me what a wonderful time it was together and that made my heart happy. 

Learning How to Live Gluten-Free

Oh my goodness, life has been incredibly busy.  I don't mean to but I do tend to make my life harder.  I wish I could do it ALL but I just can't.  I decided that since I have an overload of non-food items from couponing, I'll only be couponing in the summer.  Seriously, I think my 40 deodorants will last me for a year or two that I've acquired over the summer.  Ya think?  Ha ha.  I don't want to be a hoarder.  Well, that frees up time for me to learn other important things.


My friend and I have spent HOURS learning about how to eat gluten-free.  I mean, we've spent HOURS.  While the kids went to their one-day-a-week school today, we went around looking for gluten-free bakeries and finding healthy stores.  Um, it's really expensive to have food made for you that's gluten-free.  It is so much better to learn how to make it all on your own.  I got a book awhile back from Future Horizons that is a recipe book for gluten-free cooking.  Special Diets for Special Kids.  Over 200 revised and new Gluten-free, casein-free recipes.  It's a fantastic book because the recipes are for kids in mind.  What can we make that's healthy, doesn't have a million ingredients, and kid will love?  Even better, it's not gonna hurt them if they have an allergy because substitutes were made.  Well, it's not nearly as hard as I thought.  Michele and I went to Whole Foods and had so much fun sampling everything.  I think I sampled the mangoes so much that it equaled just eating a whole mango.  So funny.  They had this machine that had peanuts in it and you can grind it.  Guess what comes out?  Peanut butter of course!  No yucky preservatives in it, just good ol' fashion peanuts.  Nothing needed to be added to it.  I'm in loooove with the store.

at least I try to convince myself... haha

Tonight Michele and I made Chicken Curry and some drink smoothies.  I called it Hulk Juice because it was tons of different fruit, kale leaves, and amazingly healthy for you.  The kids downed it.  We proved to them that great juice doesn't have to be about drinking Koolaid.  :D  Why does healthy food have to be more expensive?  Whyyyyy?  It's so much easier to go into Fry's (Kroger) and just snatch up $1 savings here and there but if it's bad for Chaz, My Aspergers son, and ADD son and daughter, I'll take that extra steps to help them.  I think Michele and I just have so much fun learning about all these interesting things and we tend to venture off into new things together.  I love having a friend like that.  Makes it so much more fun to explore when you're laughing half way through it.  :D

Here is the smoothie we made tonight.  See?  Not difficult at all!  Was yummy too.  :D

Click to enlarge picture

Diaper Rashes & Dinosaur Food

Wow, I have gone through a horrible battle with my baby regarding diaper rashes. I've only talked a little about it but it had gotten so bad that I was getting up every hour of the night to change her diapers. When I was nursing her I never had that issue.  Unfortunately, because I switched her to formula and also changed her brand of diapers at the same time, I didn't know the cause.  I wish I could have kept nursing but it just wasn't possible since I ran out of milk.  I tried eating more, which is why I gained weight.  I tried drinking tons of water and even took Fenugreek pills that lots of moms were telling me about.  Nothing worked and I hesitantly did what I always end up having to do.  I had to switch Juliet to formula.  Well, her bottom started to get really pink and it gradually got worse and worse.  Eventually I had to take her to the doctor and get a prescription.  When that didn't work I tried all the different brands of diapers, including switching to cloth,  then tried different formulas.  I've spent so much money buying one here and there, using it only one time and then having to find another.  Then I tried all the sensitive ones.  By now her bottom was bleeding and she was pooping almost every 15-20 minutes.  After being up with her all night to keep changing her after every poop, I had enough and was calling the doctor again.  That's just not right.  The nurse was perplexed since they originally said it couldn't have a link to the formula.  They called a meeting and then called me back to tell me to switch her to soy.  By now I've spent a lot of money on finding different brands of diapers, cloth diapers, switching formulas without even using most of it.  I had recently discovered a hidden shop inside of a church that is majorly discounted so I paid a visit and found 3 cans of soy formula and spent a total of $8.  That's my kind of deal!  Well, she no longer has a rash.  She's happy and mommy is happy having some sleep at night.  :)

Did I tell you I switched my family over to the Paleo diet?  Basically we are meat and vegetable eaters now.  I do have some compassion about it and haven't forcefully taken away all pastas.  My husband and kids are lovers of it.  However, I have GREATLY reduced it.  Last night I made homemade chicken noodle soup and it had mostly the meat and vegetables in it.  I personally didn't eat any noodles at all but I added a tiny bit for the ones that insist they have to have it.  I asked them for a compromise on it and told them I'd at least like to get them special noodles that are high in protein.  I hope to eventually win them all over.  :D  I feel fantastic and I don't have sugar crashes in the day from so many carbs. I will be making visits to meat markets and to the farmers markets on the weekends.  Should be fun.  ;D  Because of this new way of eating my couponing is definitely being cut in half.  Most of all coupons are about bad foods so I won't be couponing for food anymore, only for toiletries and stuff.

Yeah, I know.  I make everything hard in my life rather than taking the easy route.  Lots of kids, cloth diapers, chickens for fresh eggs, couponing for deals, healthy food planning and homemade meals every day.  It'd be so much easier to just go pick up a pizza.  But... it's a good life.  :)

Picture Taking and Having Fun at the Science Center

A few days ago I got an email from the science center that they needed a few kids for picture taking at the science center. Could we come?  Hmmm....no problem!  We love the science center!  I spent all morning getting the kids ready, cutting the boys hair, and making them look good.  It was fun because when we got there they told the kids they just want them to stay in a certain area, play, have fun, and act natural.  In the meantime I snuck my own photos in.  :D

Ewwwww..... What's with the pile of manure?  See below.

Interesting.  

Kyle is holding Caleb's hand during a demonstration about storms and fires.  The heat comes on, the ground shakes, and they get mist sprayed at them while watching the videos.  It's pretty neat. :D

While Chaz is looking through this, it shows his eyeball on a big screen.  

Ivy thought getting pictures from the science center photographers was awfully boring.  

Caleb and Kyle talking to other kids while shooting hoops.  

Ryan on the Skycycle.  The photographers were gonna use him for pics on the Skycyle but couldn't because he was wearing a black shirt. Ryan was bummed so I just paid to put him on it.  :)  Pretty neat!

Ryan loved it!

Ivy working hard to pull herself up on the hardest one. Ha ha.  She did it though!

This was Caleb's favorite area and I hated tearing him away from it so quickly but we had to go wherever we were told.  Seeing him play in here made me realize I need to get some stuff like this for him in our house.  He is in his big brothers room but once we get them bunkbeds, there will be more space.  

I need to find this Lego table for Caleb.  We have the one for small Legos but seeing Caleb play at this one for so long makes me want to get one for his age too.

Ivy on the bed of nails

It was a fun day but we were SUPER tired at the end of it.  Who knew having fun and taking photos was so tiring!  We were in downtown so we had to walk somewhere to find a restaurant to eat at.  We were getting a lot of stares so I guess not that many big families walk through that area.  By the way, Subway can get expensive with so many people eating and you know me, I always use coupons!  Even with coupons it's really added up but it was the most affordable place to eat nearby.  

Out of Town Friends and Stock Room Organization

I love how at the Kroc center they let my 4 year old little Ashley rock climb.  When we go to the Bass Pro Shop they don't allow it.  Ashley is the little one in the brown shirt (2 from left).  I really, really thought she would be scared and only go a couple of steps but she really climbs up there fast.

Ashley is so cute and tiny. She likes to help me pack snacks for all the kids whenever we get out.  She says she can't wait to be a mommy and have her own family.  Yeah, she's four... quite a ways to go for her.  Not such a long ways for me because kids grow way too fast.

We had a couple of kids from out of town visiting.  Chaz's friend and Ivy's friend.  They really are good kids and I love having them every each time.  In fact, I beg their mom for extra days because the kids get along great and never fight.  Well, of course I wanted to take them to the Kroc with us so they we could all play.  

Dexter and Chaz

Ashley, friend Cassidy, Ivy

Here are some pics of the kids rock climbing....

Ashley (4)

Ivy (6)

Ryan (10)

Chaz (11)

From left: Caleb, Kyle, Ryan, Chaz, friend Dexter, Ashley, friend Cassidy, and Ivy

Okay, okay... I'm so embarrassed but I moved Ivy and Ashley into a different room again.  I made a playroom for everyone to play in so I moved Ashley and Ivy into the smaller room.  Well, no one played in the playroom and it was just left empty every day.  Seriously, you could hear the crickets in there. Well, I've had the problem of baby Caleb constantly getting into the stock of food and tearing things open or ripping off labels.  Finally, Charles and I decided to take out the playroom, put the girls back in, and make that small room the stock room with a lock on the door.  Thank goodness.

Our plan is to buy more shelves, maybe more like the one pictured, maybe not.  Then we'll place them around the room.  I'm seriously running out of space for everything.  That's not picturing all the nonfood stock that we have that's taken over the hallway closet meant for linens.  There is absolutely no more room left because it's holding lots and lots of baby wipes, diapers, toilet paper, shampoos, deodorants, toothpastes, detergents, etc.  I'm OUT of space with that too. I'm gonna have to put some organization into the stock room so I can free up that linen closet also.  Since the boys will be taking drum lessons we might put a drum set right in the middle of the room.  We shall see.  My husband is a trained drummer so he will be able to help with their lessons.  I DON'T want the drum set in the living room if I can help it.    

Couponing at Fry's and Big Savings

This week I got 10 inserts from the Sunday paper because there were some really, really good coupons.  See the potential freebies on this page?  If your store doubles coupons then you'll get 10 free toothbrushes and 10 free toothpastes.  There were cereal coupons in there also that would make each box of cereal only cost .69 cents.  Also, there were other potential freebies.  I'm waiting for the items to go on sale.

Okay, so I kind of disappear when I'm planning out a big couponing trip to the store.  I have been keeping up with my newspapers and inserts each week so that has helped a lot.  However, it takes several hours when I study Coupon Sense and find all the internet coupons I want to print out.  Half of the coupons I use are from the internet.  I think I did pretty well.  I only got half my shopping done so tonight is another big trip to the store.  Last night I saved 73%.  I spent $153 but saved $571.  Not bad!

Fry's is having this really neat sale right now so I took advantage of it before it's gone.  Here are my freebies.  I forgot to include some but this is most of it.

This all should have cost $118
I paid $4!

Couponing for a Few of My Favorite Things

Got some great savings at Fry's yesterday!  These savings are good until Wednesday. Remember, I don't just find savings through Sunday paper coupons but also online.  This past week they have been having a Daytona savings where if you buy 10 items (that qualify) you save even more money. Then I added coupons on top of that. Some of these things were less than a dollar but since Fry's makes all coupons worth $1, I was able to apply that overage to other items that I would have paid for otherwise.  I used the overage from the Sun Bird seasoning packets and the Bayer Aspirin to be applied to other items.

Here is what I got...

4 boxes of Hot Pockets, 6 boxes of cereal bars, 7 bottles of Bayer Aspirin, four 12 packs of Diet Dr. Pepper, Coffee-Mate creamer, 9 boxes of Hefty freezer bags, Huggies Swimmers, and 22 packages of Sun Bird Asian seasoning (Bourbon chicken, General, and fried rice seasoning). 

It should have cost $147 total.  

I paid only $9

That's a savings of  94%! 

The Basics of Couponing and How to Get Started

Sooo, my blogging friend Sally asked if I'd do a guest post over at her blog about the basics of couponing.  I wrote it out it detail.  She has a fun blog all about reviews, giveaways, and freebies so if you'd like to read on getting the most for your dollar, come check out my post!  :D 

click here:

Saving with Coupons... How To Get The Most for Your Dollar

Raking In Savings from CVS

Yesterday my friend and I went out to CVS to see what kind of deals we could get.  We knew we were gonna pick up 6 bottles of Bayer Aspirin for free but since they were out we just got a rain check.  However, I got some other really good deals like Pantene ProV for only $1 each and pads for .77 cents each.  Here are my favorite deals that I got yesterday



All makeup (except for the Covergirl was 50% off) was 75% off then we used coupons for each item. Should have cost $83.73. Paid $2.90.

Diapers 75% off they should have cost $57.49. Paid $14.90.  Was only $2.49 each.



We love savings and hop on them when we can.  I was already getting low on diapers and once I saw a shelf that said 75% off, you bet I was gonna clear the rest of them out.  Diapers are a constant need around here with two in diapers and one in Pullups at night.  The makeup was a big deal because I was already in need of some.  Paying under $3 total for it was a major score since they had lots of makeup on clearance.  This is why I mostly buy any makeup from CVS or Walgreens (drugstores) because since they keep such a large selection, they tend to clearance them off more.  That's when I take those clearance items, put coupons with them, and rake in major savings.  My nonfood pantry is getting filled up with things we actually use.  It's nice that when we run out we can just go straight to the pantry to get another.  Most items in there were free or at least 75% off after sales and coupons.



Hostility Stores Have for Couponers

I had a horrible experience couponing at Fry's yesterday because I thought I'd give the one by me a shot again but the management made sure to show me their hostility again.  Just like always I stayed very kind to them in response but they really didn't care.  I think that store hates couponers and makes sure to show me even though I always follow the rules.  Other than that, in the last 3 days I saved around $1,000 with my couponing.  We did really well.  On average between the three stores I saved around 75%.  Pretty good!  My favorite deals were the $7 bags of string cheese that I got for only $2.50 apiece so I grabbed about 14 bags of them.  Also, I paid 29 cents for sour cream and 69 cents for cottage cheese.  I got about 80% off of my 7lbs of fresh ground beef at a different store.  Anyway, would take forever to share all the deals.  Basically, couponing works!  I actually found coupons for ground beef which is really, really rare.

I probably should share some of the same problems I get from Fry's when I coupon there.  This is not always at one store but the one by me serves as a good example so I'll share.  First of all, just two days ago I shopped at Fry's and they decided when they saw my cart that they did not want me to separate my items by threes.  The policy states that over three like coupons, they will not double.  I don't really buy in huge bulks as I only buy six of each things.  Unless, I get some online coupons and it's such a fantastic deal I get 10.  Because I only have six items and six coupons, I'll just separate in two different orders.  Well, they decided two days ago that they didn't want me to do that and just have me put it all in one order and all coupons will be made worth $1.  They didn't want the line to back up with customers.  So, I came back yesterday and did the same thing except this time they gave me no warning and the SAME check out lady decided to not tell me till she was scanning my coupons that she would NOT up my coupons after the third item. When there were wrong prices on items she would not stop and check it for me, even though I would ask, and when coupons would be stuck together, when she'd skip over them, she refused to go back and fix it to scan it.  On coupons that legitimately should have doubled up to $1 but didn't, she would ignore me and refuse to fix it.  I would kindly try to ask her to fix these things and she would either huff out loud, get irritated at me, and finally called the manager (that dislikes me very much).  Instead of checking into the right prices, he would just argue and say there is no way that item would be priced that.  When he finally did call back to that department to check the price, the guy wouldn't even know about it or explain why the price tripled overnight even though they said it wasn't supposed to.  The manager talked to me with such a hostility you could cut it with a knife.  Another manager lady came up and made sure some of my coupons wouldn't double.  When I kindly asked if I could just separate the transaction into two so my coupons would double, she once again ignored me and kept scanning.  Once she was done I simply went to customer service and got my money back.  I'm done going to this store, done with being hated because I'm a couponer.  I've never once talked rudely to the management there and have always kept my cool, even made sure I was following policy.  I have called corporate before to report the male manager but in order to cover his tracks he lied and said I was trying to break all the rules.  I keep a policy paper in my coupon book to make sure I know how Fry's works.  As of now I've been having to drive 10 miles out of my way to a Fry's store that has a nice manager.  She doesn't break rules or anything, I just love her because she's always treated me nice and respectfully when explaining things.  I always feel welcome there.

I guess in order to coupon, we're just gonna have to accept that bullying will almost always come with it.  Especially inconsistancy with the policies.  I will just deal with it in order to save money for our family, it just can really be a downer on your day.  I think sometimes it'd be good to send in coupon secret shoppers in order to fix poor customer service issues.