I had never heard the term "Super-Couponing" until late July, when my husband came home from work and said a co-worker was getting great deals on groceries using coupons. 
I tried my hand a coupons a few times, but the little bits of paper seemed to get lost or expire before I used them.  And I didn't see that spending 45 minutes or more cutting out 25 cent coupons for stuff I didn't use anyway was really worth the time or effort.  So I was skeptical, to say the least.
**Enter** Super Couponing.
The website my husband's coworker gave us was Jill Cataldo's site  (www.jillcataldo.com).
I logged on, and from that point on, my grocery shopping experience has been altered, to say the least.
The premise behind Jill's method is to combine high value coupons with store sales.  Add in the extra coupons that print out at the register during special promotions, and you've got a winning combination.

Here is an example of what I mean.  I'm including a photo of everything I bought at my shopping trip to Jewel today, and a breakdown of how much it cost me (and why).  : )



Ok, for this shopping trip, I did 3 separate transactions.  My TOTAL, Out of Pocket Expense for everything pictured here was $3.25.  Yes, I said three dollars and twenty five cents.  no kidding.

Jewel is having a sale right now (check the back page of the ad for a full list of items) where for every $30 you spend on eligible items, you get $15 off of your next purchase.  And that $30 is the Original price of the item, not the sale plus coupon price.  That's a great sale!!

Here's the breakdown:

Checkout Number One:
12 boxes of Kleenex brand kleenex (only 11 are pictured, because I left 1 in the car).
Their original price was $1.19 each, on sale for 99cents.  Then I had four "50 cents off 3 boxes" coupons.

Knorr Lipton Pasta Sides: I bought 10 my first trip, originally priced at 1.59 each, on sale for 99 cents each, and I had two "$1 off of 5 pouches" coupons.

5 cans of Green Giant green beans, originally priced at 1.29 each, on sale for 79 cents each.

I also threw in two 33 cent packages of cookies to make sure my total dollar amount was over $20, because I knew I wanted to use my coupons at checkout.  My total was $20.33.

I paid with two $10 catalinas (coupons that the register spits out from previous transactions)

My out of pocket expense for this round was 33 cents.  AND because I spent over $30 (PRE-SALE) on the eligible items of the sale, I was also rewarded with $15 more in catalina's, which I used on the next transaction:

Checkout Number Two
16 packages of Knorr Lipton Rice Sides originally priced at 1.89 each, on sale for 99 cents each, and I had two "$2 off of 8 pouches" coupons.

1 YoPlus Lite yogurt 4 pack, originally priced at 3.39, on sale for 2.49, and I had a "$1 off of 1" coupon.

At this point, I had more than met the $30 requirement to get the $15 catalina coupon (remember, they go by original prices, not sale prices).  I wanted to use $15 in catalinas to pay for my order, so I had to get my "real" total to over $15, so I bought a loaf of bread that our family loves:
Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Bread originally $4.19, but on sale for 2.09.

So after all the sales, coupons, and those $15 catalina coupons, my out of pocket for this round was 78 cents.  And the register spit out another $15 off my next purchase coupon.

Checkout Number Three
2 Lipton Decaf Green Tea 40 ct, originally priced at 4.49 each, on sale for 2.49

1 Lipton Caffinated Green Tea 40 ct, originally priced at 4.19, on sale for 2.49

2 boxes of Cheerios, originally 2.99 each, on sale for 1.88 each.

Dove 40 oz conditioner, originally 6.99, on sale for 4.99

Dove 40 oz shampoo, originally 6.99, on sale for 4.99

The total came to $22.16.  I paid with $20 in catalina rewards (15 I got from the last transaction, and 5 I had left from Tuesday's shopping trip).  My out of pocket for this round was $2.16.


You may ask what on earth I am going to do with 26 packages of Lipton pasta and rice sides, and 16 boxes of kleenex.  Well, I'll likely hold on to most of the kleenex, but a majority of the Lipton stuff as well as other items I've accumulated will go to the local food pantry. 
We're not in a place where we can donate monetarily to people in need right now, but we can do this. 
And if any of my "In Real Life" friends need some Lipton rice, just give me a call.
: )

Ryan earned a ticket to Great America for reading during the school year.  The other day, Bob took the day off work, and we headed for the park.  It was a perfect day to go.  Midweek, so it wasn't crowded, and only 72, so not too hot.



Needless to say, the kids were Super Excited!

After doing a few "introductory rides" - the carousel and the sky trek, we told the kids they were both tall enough to go on the Whizzer.  It's a tame roller coaster at the front of the park.  Surprisingly, they both agreed to go on it with us.

Here they are waiting in line.


The wait wasn't too long.  Maybe 15 minutes.  Ryan rode with me and Reagan was with Bob.
About half way down the first hill, Ryan decided he did NOT want to be on this ride.  Poor guy, he really was scared.  Reagan, on the other hand, really liked it.
Fortunately for Ryan, there was a good distraction waiting just off the ride.  The Super Heroes had shown up to take pictures with the kids, so the tears were quickly wiped away to get ready to meet them.


Later in the day, Ryan explained that in a few years he'll like that ride... just not yet.  (cute)




I love this picture of Ryan driving his daddy in the old-fashioned car.


We spent about 5 hours there, then headed home for dinner.  What a great day!

To celebrate my 31st birthday, we took the kids to KeyLime Cove earlier this week.  We had a great time!  Going mid-week was a lot cheaper than heading over there on a weekend, and it was a lot less crowded, too!  According to the front desk guy, there were only 250 people at the hotel the night we were there.  That meant no lines, no crowds, and a more relaxed environment for us.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip.
Ryan couldn't wait to play in the arcade.  Luckily Daddy likes it too, so they had tons of fun together.



They had a "Deal or No Deal" game and I had to give it a try.  Unfortunately, I didn't leave with a million bucks. 

I did get 25 tickets, though.


Reagan was my little helper, and fed all the tickets into the machine when we were done playing.
We had enough tickets to get the whole family some new teeth.  Check out our pearly "whites"!



Our hotel room had bunk beds (or as Reagan would say, "bunk-a-beds") which the kids get Soo excited about!



We brought along the laptop, and had fun just lounging around in the room for awhile.



We spent LOTS of time in the waterpark, which was the main reason for going here.  We couldn't carry the camera around with us in the water park for long, because it would have gotten soaked.  So we snapped a few pictures and then hid it away in the locker for the rest of the time.  Next time we go, I need to bring along a waterproof camera. 



It was a great birthday!  On top of all that, Bob bought me a Life Application Study Bible, which I've been wanting for a long time.