Can We Have a Tie-Breaker Between Publix and Winn-Dixie?

My Great Trip to Publix

Birds Eye Voila
Regularly $4.69 EACH
On Sale: BOGO
Purchased 3 = $7.04
$7.04 minus (1) $1.25 coupon and (1) $2.00 coupon = $3.79
SAVED $10.28 just on these and with the purchase of 3 I can send for a FREE Charlie Brown DVD.
Remember, at my Publix I don't have to buy 2 of a BOGO item, I can buy one and get it half-price.

Green Giant Frozen Lima Beans
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 1 = $1.00

Taco Bell Dinner Kit
Regularly $2.59
On Sale: BOGO
Purchased 1 = $1.30
Saved $1.29

Lysol Pourable Cleaner
Regularly $3.19
On Sale: BOGO
Purchased 1 = $1.60
$1.60 minus (1) $.50 coupon = $1.10
Saved $2.09

V8 Broccoli Soup
On Sale 2/$5
Purchased 1 = $2.50
$2.50 minus (1) $1.00 coupon = $1.50

Kraft Easy Mac Cup
On Sale: 4/$5
Purchased 1 = $.80

Keebler Cookies
On Sale 2/$5
Purchased 2 = $5.00
$5.00 minus (1) $1.00 coupon= $4.00

Publix Milk
$3.69

Minute Maid Fruit Falls Water
$2.65

Ground Beef
$2.46
Saved $1.52

Chex Mix Trail Mix
*This rang up $2.89, should have been BOGO and I had a $.50 coupon, which would have made it $.95. That is a difference of $1.94. I will swing into Publix and see what happened. I may have picked-up the wrong kind. I got the right size, but I notice I have Chex Mix (Select), that could be the problem. This is my Peru snack, so we have to get this cleared up. :-)

My total including all in-store savings and coupons was $25.67.

I saved $21.88!!

Jimbo, who rang me up said, "Wow, you saved almost the same amount you spent!"

Blessings,
Tara

My Winn-Dixie Trip

Since I shared with you about the great sale at Winn-Dixie and told you to let me know how you fared, I thought I'd share my trip with anyone interested. If you remember, I had a coupon for $10 off $50 so my mother and I decided we would combine our order since neither of us needed $50 worth--but couldn't let $10 of free money pass us by.

I am only including my portion of the purchase. We split the $10, taking $5 off each of our order, but paid for it all together. Our total with sales discounts was $59.30 BEFORE the $10 coupon and all our other manufacturer's coupons. After all the coupons it was $45.35.

I got everything below for $20.21!!
Together we saved $40.94!

We also received another coupon for $10 off $50 and a certificate for 20 Box Tops for Education which I will give to the elementary school my daughter will attend next year. I want them to have nice equipment when she gets there! ;o)


Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats Strawberry Delight
On Sale 2 for $5
Purchased one at 2.50 minus$1.00 coupon=$1.50
Saved $2.49

Kool-Aid Roarin Waters Drinks
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased one=$1.00
Saved $.34

Winn-Dixie Brand Cream Cheese
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 2= $2.00
Saved $1.58

Michelina’s Chicken Alfredo Frozen Meal
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 1= $1.00
Saved $.67

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls and Crescent Rolls
On Sale 3/$5
Purchased 3 at $5 minus (2) $.30 coupons and (1) $.35 coupon = $4.05
Saved $2.92

Campbell’s Dora the Explorer Soup
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 1 = $1.00
Saved $.69

Margaret Holmes Turnip Greens
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 2 = $2.00
Saved $.78

Winn-Dixie Organic Lemonade
On Sale 2/$5
Purchased 1 = $2.50
Saved $.39

Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 1 = $1.00
Saved $.39


Hunt’s Manwich
On Sale 10/$10
Purchased 1 = $1.00
Saved $.89

Colgate 360^ Toothbrush Reg. Price $5.49
On Sale 2/$5
Purchased 1 at $2.50 minus (1) coupon for $1.00 = $1.50
Saved $3.99

Winn-Dixie Brand 5lb Sugar
On Sale 2/$4
Purchased 1 = $2.00
Saved $.59

Chex Cherry Cola
$2.89--not on sale

Thrify Maid Cookies
$1.00--not on sale

Awaiting my trip to my beloved Publix,

Tara

Attention Size 3 and 5 TitleTown Cowgirls

Tractor Supply had a rack of jeans marked down to $4.50 and $5.00, regularly $44.95, but they only had sizes 3 and 5. These were nice jeans that even a "non-cowgirl" wouldn't mind having-especially at that price. I think they were Cruel Girl brand. If only they had them in my size.

The "Old" Wal-Mart had Hanes Perfect T Relaxed Fit shirts in various colors and sizes for $3.00 each. I snagged 2, I think they will be great for the Peru Mission Trip. There was an entire display rack full of these.

Have a great weekend!

Tara

Title Town Milk and Other Deals for Thursday

Milk prices look to be the same this week.

Winn-Dixie and Publix both have some pretty good sales. Although Publix is my favorite place to shop and Winn-Dixie did annoy me with their BOGO antics, if I were to give a “Great Sell Award,” I’d have to give it to Winn-Dixie this week. (Did I just say that??)

Winn-Dixie has over 52 items on sale this week 10 for $10! That is a lot of items, and if you happen to be one of those people like me that received the coupon at check-out last week for $10 off $50 or more, you can really save some cash this week! Planning ahead will be the key. You can visit the online ad HERE.

Knowing your prices and the sales at other stores is where the planning I keep telling you about really makes the difference. For instance, VO5 shampoo is part of the 10 for $10 deal, but VO5 is also on-sale this week at CVS for $.88. Another example, Betty Crocker cake mix is 10 for $10, but if you aren’t brand loyal then you can get Pillsbury cake mix BOGO at Publix or $.84 each. I know these aren’t huge price differences for ONE item, but if you were to buy 10 of each item that would definitely add up. A $1.20 here, a $1.20 there can quickly become $20.40!

One really good deal at Winn-Dixie this week is for the NEW DUNCAN HINES DECADENT CARROT CAKE. It is on-sale 2 for $5 AND there is a coupon available for $1 off at the Duncan Hines website. Click HERE and look for the Coupon tab in the top right. I also read that there is a rebate form for this cake mix if you click on the Guarantee tab. I hope you can download the coupon the security settings on my computer wouldn’t allow it. :-(
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Onto Publix . . .

Make sure you check out all the good BOGO deals for this week HERE. I see a lot of things on sale this week that I bought just a few days ago—guess that happens sometimes. However, I do see some really good deals that I won’t be able to pass up:

**Keebler Cookies are 2 for $5 and I have a $1 coupon. That’s excellent considering the prices I saw this week for snacks. (Not that I need cookies in my house!!)

**Quilted Northern Bath Tissue is 2 for $12. I will probably buy ONE of these.

**If you have some of those Lysol coupons in your stash, this would be a good week to use them, Lysol Disinfectant All Purpose Cleaner is BOGO and Lysol Spray is $4.99.

**Kellogg’s Special K cereal is $2.99, which is an excellent price for Special K.

If you want to check out another great blog listing all the sales at Publix and the corresponding coupons, visit Fiddledeedee.

Let me know how you fare this week,

Tara

"Saving" Our Daughters: My Personal Opinion of "Little Beauties: Ultimate Kiddie Queen Showdown"

Appalled! Frustrated! Down right angry! Sad!
A combination of all these terms defines how I am feeling right now.

I was turning the volume down on the TV, but instead I accidentally changed the channel. What I saw caught my attention, little girls (6 years old) in a pageant. Seemed harmless until I sat down and realized the horror of what was really going on.

The show was Little Beauties: Ultimate Kiddie Queen Showdown! On this particular show the girls were in Tennessee for the Little Miss Pageant. I quickly discovered that there was so much that I didn’t know about pageants for little girls.

Do you know what Flippers are? These are pieces that are inserted over the little girls teeth to cover their “snaggle” tooth little faces. Parents pay $200 for the Flipper and an additional $50 to have the flippers fitted to their mouths.

These little girls get spray tans, “because the lighting just doesn’t do anything for the fair skinned little girls,” was the response of one mother. This is what they said regarding one the fair skinned girls, “being fair skinned, we have to make her up from scratch.”

Are you kidding me?? This is a beautiful little girl created from scratch by God as he planned her to be, but obviously not beautiful enough for the pageant circuit.

Then there was the little girl, Aleena who wasn’t winning anything. She said, “I’m prettier than all of them!” Bless her little heart, who has put these thoughts in her head to have to compare herself to others based upon beauty??

After this pageant, the little girls and their entourages traveled 10 hours to Daytona Beach, Florida to participate in the Fabulous Faces Pageant. They showed the setting-up process where someone said, “You are judged by your appearance.”

THEN one of the most outrageous comments: “Then, there are the candy vendors to give the girls their boost!!!” And we wonder why so many people in the entertainment industry and beyond are addicted to drugs. Yes, it’s sugar—but like they said—the sugar is being provided to give them a boost. Sounds more like a high to me. These little girls were downing those really long, wide straw shaped sticks of sugar! I don’t know about the rest of you, but my daughter can barely handle 3 pieces of candy, much less that much sugar!!

Then there was the swimwear part of the pageant: little girls prancing around and dancing on a stage—need I say more!!

People are always telling me that my daughter is beautiful and that I should enter her in pageants. I have considered it—and I’ve learned to NEVER say NEVER—but I hope that I never allow my daughter to be subjected to such a negative environment.

We wonder why unspeakable things happen to our children, but while I was watching this I was thinking that this is one of the reasons that children are subjected to horrible things such as molestation, abuse, human trafficking, etc. These LITTLE girls looked like grown-ups. Yes, they did look beautiful and I could tell that these parents really love their babies, but the reality is that I have to wonder what unknown harm is being done to God’s precious little creations.

Maybe you’ve watched this show and it seemed harmless to you. Maybe you are one of those moms that place your girls in pageants. I do know and support many other mothers who enter their daughters in pageants, but I think that each pageant has to be carefully considered before allowing our little ones to be exposed to some areas of life that are just too grown-up for their little minds to comprehend.

I’m not saying that my baby will never be in the spotlight of some type, I just pray that I never let it become of that proportion. She is more than a fabulous find of mine, she is a fabulous gift from the Almighty and it is up to me to prayerfully consider all that she does and is a part of. I pray that you too will consider all aspects of anything that you allow your child to participate in.

Blessings always,

Tara

"Fabulous Finds by Tara is a site for discovering "fabulous finds" in all areas of life--not just the grocery aisle."

I deleted my links!!!

I was trying to remove ONE link on "My Fabulous Web Links," instead I deleted them all!! I will try to get them all added back in the next day or two! I will also be adding 2 new links-exciting!

23 Days and Counting. . .

I will be heading to Peru in 23 days!!! How exciting.

It has been 10 years since I have flown, and we all know a lot has changed since then. I was just reviewing the guidelines for carry-on items and checked bagged. WHOA! Talk about making my head spin. You CAN take this, and you better NOT take this. :-) There are approxiamately 20 of us going on this mission trip. I do pray we will all get it right!

However, I know that God has his awesome hand on our trip and he will be with us as we go through the whole airline process. I feel sure that it will be an adventure and a blessing! I can hardly wait to come back and fill you all in on all the amazing things that are going to take place!

On a side note: When I started this blog, I said that my most fabulous find is Jesus Christ. I also stated that all posts will be prevalent to my life and daily walk as a Christian. I am going to make a point to post something weekly about my Christian walk. I hope you will "stay tuned" while I continue to share my fabulous finds.

After this trip, I hope to be able to post more frequently. Please keep this mission trip in your prayers.

Until next time--Blessings and peace,

Tara

Response from Winn-Dixie

Below is the e-mail response that I received from Winn-Dixie. I am sad about this, seriously. You may think that is silly, but I can't even look at their ad the same.

We had to go in Winn-Dixie Friday night on our way to the hunting club. My daughter loves those white powder sugar donuts. We were already planning to buy them, but then we saw that they were BOGO. We did not NEED 2 bags of donuts so I thought I would just see if I could buy only one. NOPE, not a chance! I had to buy both, or like the Winn-Dixie reply below states, I could buy one but then I'm still basically leaving money on the table. So we ended up with 2 bags of donuts (and 2 boxes of Fruit Roll-Ups), just what we needed. I just hope that my local Publix continues to let you purchase one item when they are BOGO.


"Dear Mrs. _______,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your inquiry. When purchasing BuyOne Get One Free items you have the option of purchasing on item if you would like but you will not receive the item at half price. To get the best benefit of the Buy One GetOne Free its best to go ahead and get both items because the price will be the same.Have a wonderful day and thank you for shopping at Winn-Dixie.

Winn-Dixie Customer Service Department
1-866-946-6349"

Questions or comments? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Blessings,
Tara

UPDATE on Working BOGO's to Your Advantage

Some things are always changing. . .

In my previous post about Buy One Get One Frees I told you that at my local Winn-Dixie and Publix if an item is Buy One Get One Free you can buy just ONE of the item and it would ring up 1/2 price.

That does work at my local Publix; however, my friend Crystal did inform me that in Florida you have to buy both items. Also, my friend Misty told me that when she went to our local Winn-Dixie she had to buy both items to get the deal.

Knowing that I have bought only one of an item and received it for 1/2 price, I told her I would make some calls today to see what I could find out. I called 2 different stores and received 2 different answers. One Customer Service Clerk told me that you HAVE to buy both items. The other clerk at the other store(where I KNOW I have bought only one if an item) told me that you HAVE to buy both items. BUT then I asked, "Has it always been that way?" He said, "Well, it just depends on which item it is."

Obviously, I was a little confused after those conversations. Seroiusly, how is a girl supposed to make her tedious list with all her coupons BEFORE going to the store if I don't know how much I will have to pay for an item??

So what am I going to do? For starters, I went to the Winn-Dixie corporate site, clicked on that amazing little button entitled, CONTACT US, and politely asked them exactly what I am supposed to do!

When they let me know, I will let you know. Until then, please check with your local store to see how they handle Buy One Get One Free items.

(Both stores did tell me that if an item is 2 for $5, you can purchase just one item for $2.50.)

Blessings and sorry for any confusion,
Tara

Title Town Milk Deals for 9/18/08

O.K.

Are you ready for this??

This is really good news!!

I was in Wal-Mart this week on Perimeter Rd. and store brand milk was $3.69 a gallon.

Today, I was in Winn-Dixie on Madison Hwy. and store brand milk was $3.99 a gallon.
Unfortunately, Dairy Fresh (the good stuff) was $5.69 a gallon.

CVS is at $3.99 a gallon.

Publix is still helping us to "afford the essentials" with their brand remaining at $3.69 a gallon.

At least, for now, milk is more affordable in Title Town. You may not get the exact brand you like, but it is cheaper than gas!!!!

Remember that these prices are specifically for Title Town, USA. While I love to share savings and savings tips of interest to everyone on my blog, most of the fabulous finds are specific to Title Town.

If you live elsewhere and would like to give us an idea of the cost of milk in your area, please leave a comment.

Blessings,
Tara

Contest: Win For Your Pastor

Christianbook.com has a an entire page devoted to contests. There are several contests to win books, but there is one that I really liked: Win for Your Pastor. It is for a Pastor Appreciation Plaque. Even though a lot of churches designate a specific day as Pastor's Appreciation Day, wouldn't it be nice to win this and be able to present it to your pastor?

You can go directly to the contest page by clicking HERE.

Best of luck,
Tara

Title Town Milk Deals for Thursday 9/11

Do I even have to tell you?

Yep, Publix still has the cheapest milk at $3.69 a gallon. Their ad states, 'In today's tricky economy, Publix is lowering prices on the items you need most." Then at the bottom it states, "Publix. Affording the essentials is essential." So I am thinking this $3.69 milk deal may be around for some time, which is just fine with me.

Walgreen's does have half-gallons on sale for $2.49 and Winn-Dixie has their brand of organic milk on sale for $3.89 a half-gallon.

If you find a better deal in Title Town, please let me know.

Blessings,
Tara

Save-A-Lot saved me a L-O-T!!

A great big THANK YOU going out to my wonderful mother this week. She called me on Saturday and told me that Save-A-Lot had chicken legs on sale. The "Sale By" date was Saturday so Save-A-Lot had to sell them or throw them out.

Do you know what they did??
They marked them down to $.59 per pound, originally $1.49 per pound!

Do you know what I did??
That's right, I got in my truck and drove straight to Save-A-Lot. I grabbed 7 packages of chicken legs, all marked at $.59 per pound, making each package around $1.06 a pack!! Each pack had 5 legs in it. That's 35 chicken legs--in my freezer!! What an awesome deal!

I told my husband instead of inviting friends over for hot wings, we could invite them over for hot legs. He said that I might want to think of a better way to word that. :-)

Have a great week!!
Tara

Two Great Sales this Weekend

I received an e-mail from Bath and Body Works and another from Kohl's this morning, both are having a great sale!

Bath and Body Works have their Wallflowers Buy 1 Get 1 Free! You do have to buy 2 in order to get the deal. Still, that is a savings of up to $12.50. You can see all of the sales items by clicking on the "Bath and Body Works" link above.

Kohl's is having a 2 day Power Pricing Sale, Friday and Saturday. Click on the "Kohl's" link to find out more about this great sale!

Have a great weekend!
Tara

Title Town Milk Deals for 9/4/08

The choices are slim and I know you think I'm picking favorites, but I am going to have to go with Publix again this week: $3.69 a gallon for the 4th week in a row. GO PUBLIX!! They also have Publix Greenwise Market Soymilk 1/2 gallon on sale 2/$5.

If you are on the other side of town, CVS will still have their milk $3.99 a gallon through Saturday? If you read my previous post, you know that I was in CVS this week. If you are particular about the brand of milk that you drink, I did notice that the milk was Pet Brand. I say this because the CVS ad states, "Brands vary by store."

If I discover any other milk sales before next Thursday, I will post them.

HOORAY...for CVS Extra Bucks!!

With a little planning, I think I fared pretty well today at CVS. Of course, I had to have my CVS Extra Care Card to get the deals. It’s free to get and only takes few minutes.

I needed mascara and toothpaste, so here is how I worked the sales and my coupons to my advantage to get the things I needed, plus some extras I can use. I did 2 transactions so that I could get this to work out right. A little work, but I think you will agree it was worth the deal.

1st Transaction

Covergirl Wetslicks Lipstick was ON SALE for $5.99
Also earned $5.99 Extra Care Bucks (ECB) at the end of the transaction to use on next transaction

Colgate Total Advanced Whitening Toothpaste ON SALE for $2.99
Had a coupon for $1.50 and earned ECB of $2.00

Colgate Max Fresh Toothpaste ON SALE for $2.99
Had a coupon for $1.00 and earned ECB of $2.00

Total of 1st Transaction: $10.31
Total ECB’s Earned this transaction: $9.99
Total Coupon Savings: $2.50
Not to mention, that the same toothpaste was almost $1.00 more each elsewhere

2nd Transaction—this is EXCELLENT!!

Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara ON SALE for $5.99
Neutrogena Lip Shimmer ON SALE for $5.99
Had a coupon for $3.00 off 2 and earned (2) $3.00 ECB’s

Dawn Dishwashing Liquid ON SALE for .99

The BEST Part: I used all the ECB’s from the 1st transaction on this transaction, plus my Neutrogena coupon.

Total of 2nd Transaction: .21 ---YES, 21 cents!!

PLUS, I earned $6.00 more dollars in ECB’s

In my opinion, that is soooooooo awesome!! All that for $10.52!

I also swung by Wal-Mart and picked-up Suave deodorant for 24 cents!
(Had a coupon, of course)

Another quick stop at Publix to get the New Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin cereal. I read somewhere that some of the boxes were offering a REBATE on the purchase price but Publix is the only place I have seen the box with the rebate info. I have to admit that I also had a coupon for this cereal. More FREE money coming my way!

I needed some granola bars for snacks at work. Target has their brand 4/$7 or $1.75 a box. I grabbed a small box that was on sale, but then I looked on the top shelf and they had a BIGGER box of assorted flavors for the SAME price.

FYI: Target also has a deal this week where you buy 4 snacks (certain brands) for $9 and you receive a $5 gift card. You can see the brands HERE.

I think that is about it for now. I did sell an item off of Craigslist today, so that was a blessing! I was also very blessed yesterday (in the grocery store of all places) with a donation/sponsorship towards the mission trip I will be taking in October. Praise be to God—he is my daddy!!

Blessings,

Tara

Rain or Shine...RAIN CHECKS are a Friend of Mine

As I was getting bread today at Publix, I asked the Produce Clerk, “Do you remember when this same bread was .85?” He did. Well, at $1.79 a loaf (Publix brand) I made my way to the check-out just happy that I could buy bread.

The cashier was swapping shifts with another cashier. While I was waiting, I ran and grabbed a sales ad. Of course, I had already viewed the ad online but I wanted to “look” at the ad-so glad I did! Another Publix brand was on sale for .89! That’s a .90 difference or I could get 2 loaves for the same price I was about to pay for 1 loaf. BUT they didn’t have that particular brand, the warehouse was out.

The Customer Service Clerk issued me a rain check for the bread. You know what I like so much about that? She asked me how many I wanted. I only asked for 1, but just knowing I could get 2, 3, 4…10 made me feel all good inside!!

Seriously, rain checks should be your friend, too. It’s like leaving money on the table. My example with the Publix brand bread is great, but what if this were a major brand that was on sale, like Sunbeam? You just might stumble upon a coupon for Sunbeam bread before you redeem your rain check that you didn’t have when you were originally going to buy the bread. Then you could use it and your rain check to save even more money!

Got a good rain check story? I’d love to hear, just leave me a comment. Don't have a Google account to leave a comment? It only takes a few seconds and it's FREE.

Blessings,
Tara