Yesterday at Buy Low

I had a heck of a time at Buy Low yesterday... I think there was something in the ice cream cones... The kids turned into monsters after eating them. Not cool. I'm a survivor though, and the shopping got done with everyone still alive.

 Milk $1.98
Vinegar $5.49
-$1/1 any size Heinz vinegar

 Ocean Spray fruit snacks 2/$3
-.50/1 Ocean Spray snack= $1 ea
Keebler family size graham crackers $2.97  This is an amazing stock up price for graham crackers!! They're on an end cap by the registers. Don't miss out!!!
Ruffles potato chips 2/$5
-$1/2 any Ruffles chips= $2 ea
Doritos 2/$6
-$1/2 any Doritos= $2.50 ea 

Most of this produce was the Wed/Thurs only deals.
Carrots 3lb/$1
Tomatoes 63lb/$1
Bananas 3lb/$1
Strawberries .99 I had to really hunt for good ones. :(
Green Cabbage 6 lb/$1  
Cantaloupe .25/lb
Potatoes 10 lb/.99
Crunch bars 3/$1 (ad-matched w/Fresh Market)
-.75/2 Crunch or Crunch girl scout bars= +.09
It was a miserable trip, but I'm glad I got it done!

Stokes & Fresh Market

The baby and I did a bit of shopping today. First was Stokes.

 32 oz Western Family yogurt $1.67
2 lb Cheese $4.88
Pineapple tid bits .67
Sunbelt bars $1.49
ps. There are coupons on the back of the boxes that will make my next ones less than a dollar each!

 I almost forgot about the Wonder bread store. Did that earlier. All of these, including the whole wheat hamburger buns were .99 each!

Then Fresh Market.
Santitas $1.88 I hate paying this much but I needed them for tonight.
Western Family Alfredo mix .59
Barilla whole grain noodles $1.00
WF Cake cups $1.00
Nestle candy bars 3/$1
-.75/2 Crunch singles= +.09/2!!!
I got 30 candy bars and thanks to the coupons, they were just $.10 each!!!
I forgot to grab the $1 graham cracker pie crusts... :( I will have to ad match them at Buy Low tomorrow. Gotta head up there for milk and produce. I highly recommend you get up there too! Today or tomorrow!!

Deal of the day!

I'm so glad to see that Fresh Market is back to consistently being competitive! I nominate them for today's Deal of the Day! They have three things that I am excited about:

Western Family 32oz yogurt $1.79
Nestle single serve candy bars 3/$1
5 dozen medium eggs $2.99!!!

I just hope they keep giving us these great deals!

Dollar Store

I hit the dollar store in Spanish Fork today for a few things. I love hitting the nut section every time I'm there. You just never know what they'll have! Today I grabbed lots of pistachios and walnuts!

I also got a can of roasted peanuts and some packing tape. There was a cart with flour tortillas, 2/$1. I grabbed all they had. We use lots of those!
The dollar store is a great place for deals!! Check it out! You'll be surprised.

Review of Liberty Park, Salt Lake City

The kids and I met up with my good friends Kelsey and Julia in Salt Lake the other day, at Liberty Park. I had already been there several times before but there are lots of things I hadn't tried out on my previous trips. The best thing about this park is it's array of FREE activities! Playgrounds, man made rivers and waterfalls, elegant flower beds, walking and riding paths, duck and koi ponds and much more. Then there are the many inexpensive attractions; a permanent carnival of 5 simple but timeless rides for the kids, Tracy Aviary, and a gated, full size pool.
The pool charges just $2 per adult and $1 per child. How amazing is that?! I'm not sure on the prices at the Aviary as I haven't tried it out yet, but when I do, I'll report on it. They have completely remodeled it recently and it has a lovely, very artistic looking visitors' center.
We played  in the man made rivers, representing our seven rivers and a few of our canyons.

There are lots of benches and shady areas for adults to sit and keep an eye on the kids.

We also hit the mini carnival.

Each ride requires one ticket. Tickets cost $1.50 each.

We stopped to appreciate the fish on our way to the biggest playground.

This playground is really neat. It was created to suit children of all abilities and has a plethora of toys and activities. I was really impressed with it! Musical instruments, sand pit, splash pad, slides and more!

If we had prepared more food, we could really have stayed all day at the park.
There are plenty of picnic areas, with tables and bbq pits. A pond with paddle boats, even a huge stone fire place, great for winding down the evening.
On our way back to the car, we hit my favorite area, the fabulous flower gardens!

As you can see, this park is fabulous!! Worth the drive to Salt Lake! You can find directions by using google maps and just entering Liberty Park, Salt Lake City, Ut. It is really easy to find. We will of course go there again. I'm thinking of talking more of my family into going up for a day of inexpensive fun. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
Ps. There is also a historical home on the sight being used as an art gallery. Pretty cool. Parking for the whole park is plentiful and convenient.
 

Today's fruitful hunt!

Today was a LEARNING EXPERIENCE! I can barely walk; pushed this crunchy old body abit too much, even got in a fight with a guy in a skirt. Good times.
I hit several store dumpsters and was underwhelmed. Turns out that the school bins are still my best bet. One in particular had all kinds of goodies. While I was in there, some workers came out to dump more stuff. We had a few good laughs and then they told me about 5 big trees that needed to go away. I took a look at them, called my mom, and before long, her and Grandpa Denna were on their way to come help me with them. While waiting for them, I got in the fight with the guy in the skirt.... long story. All that matters is that I won. Mama showed up in the middle of it. I figured, heck, if things get too sticky, Mama's gotta be packin,' so it'll all shake out all right. :)
Anywho, we got the trees. I'll put a pic up later. They cost $300 each retail. Turns out they're just for indoors around here so now we're gonna see about selling them.
After I was dead tired, and so were the kids, and ready to head home, mom called. She had seen more junk being thrown out and it looked like scrap metal. I went back and jammed everything I could into my van, including a dolly. I took the scrap metal straight over to the recycling plant in Provo and made $25 off of it. I wasn't able to fit the biggest pieces into my van, what with kids, groceries, and other acquisitions filling the interior. I may go back for them tomorrow if I get this old body moving again.
Here are today's acquisitions, minus the trees and scrap metal.

 The dolly

 Plastic hangers, school chair, folding metal chair, knee pad for gardening

 Packaging materials

 Cloth shopping bag full of gap kids clothes

Wrapping paper, v-tech bear, tithing tins, Veggie tails cd's, still in the plastic! Good times. The smalls are fun, but they just don't pay for the effort. The coupons and scrap metal are where the money's at and definitely what I'll be focusing on for now.

Hunting this morning!

I went hunting early this morning to avoid the heat. I was looking specifically for shipping supplies for my ebay business, and I found plenty. But look what else I found!

It never ceases to amaze me what people throw away!!! I'll be hunting again this afternoon. Wish me luck!

This week's shopping!

I hit Rancho Market and Buy Low this week for some goodies. Rancho was first:

 Bagged salad .99
Cantaloupe 3lb/.99
Tomatoes 3lb/$1
Radishes (now 5/.99)
Cucumber 5/.99
Cilantro 2/.99

Toilet paper 4.99

Then it was off to Buy Low. I discovered yet another reason to love this place; their soft serve ice cream cones! At the deli, order a small and it will cost just .25 and be at at least twice the size of a regular one at McDonalds. The large is .50 and is enormous!! They were perfect on a hot day!

 Milk (ad-matched w/Rancho mkt) $1.99
-.75/1 milk online coupon
Rancho Market doesn't take internet coupons, thus the necessity to ad match.
Butter $1.99
Cheese Sticks 8/$1 (must buy 8 w/in-ad coupon; limit 8)
36 ct Popsicles 2.99 w/in-ad coupon  

 Bananas 3lb/$1 (Wed & Thurs only)
Pineapple 3lb/$1 (Wed & Thurs only)

Green Bell Pepper 3/$1
Strawberries$1 /lb
Nectarines .50/lb
Broccoli crowns 2lb/$1
Wafers .59 ea (I didn't love these wafers.. the kids seemed to like them though)
Yellow Onions 4lb/$1 (Wed & Thurs only)
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you will get the best deals if you will make the effort to get in there on Wednesday or Thursday! Its worth it!!!

Hunting

I've done a lot of hunting these last few days. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of my greatest finds, but I will happily tell you about them. I found an awesome, framed print of a beautiful painting called "Gathering Place." It matches my front room beautifully so I will probably keep it for myself. I also found a fabulous decorative, artificial tree that looks nice in my front room.
A solid oak side table, white board, Christmas and Halloween decorations, toys, baskets and more! Several of my finds will either be sold online or else I will put them away for a big yard sale in the spring.
These days I am checking all of the recycling bins and dumpsters at schools, but I have plans for expanding my hunting ground. I checked out Shopko's dumpster and found a large, lovely shrub that is now planted in my yard and a mini rose bush. So many more possibilities out there! To be continued...
DUMPSTER DIVERS RULE!!

Nuts for the Dollar Store!

Nuts are so expensive!! Never fear! Your local Dollar Store has the solution! I got all of these nuts for $1 per bag at the Spanish Fork Dollar Store.

All kinds of savings!

Stock up deals!

I got to go shopping all by myself today! It was so much easier and I made great time.
First was Macey's:

 WF large bags cereal $1.99
WF Pancake mix $4.99
Nutri Grain bars 4/$8 (wyb 4)
-$1/2 Nutri grain bars (coupon on Cherry boxes)= $1.50 ea
 

M&M's, Mars single serve candy 2/.88

Then I hit Fresh Market. I am so glad that they are being competitive again. Some great deals!

 WF Alfredo mix .59 ea
Taco Bell refried beans .59 (they need to restock the fat free)
Handi Snacks pudding .69
Barilla Whole Grain Pasta .99
WF lasagne $1.79

Big Buy bacon 3/$5

And finally Walmart:

 Allergy medicine .88 ea
Bananas .52/lb (I missed the Buy Low deal...)
Salad .97 (sad that the price has gone up)
I also got some things for the fish since we threw away everything during the Ick outbreak. I have found that these plants with ceramic bases are way better than the plastic bottoms. With the plastic bottoms, the fish nibble at the gravel and the plants end up floating to the top because the rocks have been moved. These ceramic bases keep them snugly in place. :)
I love supporting local business and normally get my fish food at Where's Nemo in Spanish Fork. Where I 'm saving for my Mexico trip, however, I have to save money wherever I can.

 Ice Cream $1.67 ea ad-matched w/Smith's

Milk $2.00 ad-matched w/Smith's
Whipped topping .97 ea

Smith's has lots of great stock up this week. I will try to head up there on Monday.