So you would think that I went to town saving money with all those coupon inserts.  WRONG!!!  Here’s why!!!

1. Most of the coupons in those inserts were for items that the Frugal Hubby and I don’t use.
2. The sales on a lot of the items that we did use came in my West Texas town when I was at my mom’s house and the sales in my mom’s town never matched the coupons.  It doesn’t do a lot of good when you can’t match the coupons to the sales.
3. By the time I got back to my West Texas town, several of the coupons were expired or nearly expired.

A valuable couponing lesson was learned — always, always, always look at the coupon previews for the coupon inserts.  You can find the coupon insert previews here at Sunday Coupon Preview.   Most weeks there are coupons that I will never use in the coupon inserts but there are also some coupons that I will use.  It’s rare that an insert will have absolutely no coupons that I can use but it’s happened.  In the last two weeks, there have been more coupons that I couldn’t use and fewer coupons that I would use.  The small savings just did not justify buying the newspaper (it would have if they had been featured again in the Wednesday paper).

The Frugal Housewife tip of the week:  Always look at the coupon preview for the Sunday paper.  Calculate how many coupons that you will actually use and how much savings you will get from them.  If the savings is greater than the amount of money that you will pay for the papers, then go for it!!!  Purchase multiples and create your stockpiles!  If (and this does happen occasionally) there are no coupons that you will use in the coupon inserts — Don’t buy that week’s paper!!! 

Leave us a comment and let us know if you’ve had similar experiences or what you think about our tip of the week!

My vision in the beginning was that  I wanted to tell you the deals but I also wanted to tell you the ups and downs that we were experiencing in our journey to be frugal.  The blog has got off that path.  It’s become more of a deal and coupon site that only lists the coupons and where you can find the deals.    It seemed that my little blog just got lost in the vast amount of couponing blogs.   I’m going to try and right the ship, so to speak, and get it back to my vision.

Now my vision is to keep bringing you  coupons and where to find the best places to use those coupons and also deals but there are going to be more posts about our quest to frugality and what we’ve learned from it.   The coupon posts will still be written in much the same way but the deals will be written from the perspective of how much you will have to pay this shopping trip at the register (it’s something we were already starting to do).

We hope you’ll stay around to share in our successes and our failures, because believe me, there will be some failures and also to get the coupons and deals that we are going to be bringing to you. From now on, we’ll be bringing you posts about the CVS shopping trips that didn’t quite end up the way that we expected or the Walmart grocery trip that went way over budget and why.  Or maybe it will be the Albertsons trip that saved us a lot of money and increased our stockpile.  Who knows what we’ll be writing about but there is one thing for sure…we are going to be doing this to try and help someone else learn and not make the same mistakes that we made!

We also want you to share your successes and failures with us.  Write us a blog post about your successful shopping trip or about the trip that didn’t quite meet the goal that you had established.  We’ll help each other by sharing and learning from each other.

Look forward to seeing you on this new journey to frugality! 

It’s National Pretzel Day!!!  Today only ..  you can get a FREE pretzel at participating Pretzelmaker by doing one of the following:

1. Sing for your snack
2. Dance for your snack
3. Say “National Pretzel Day”!!!  

Click here for a complete list of participating Pretzelmaker stores.

There is a HOT printable coupon available for Pretzel Crisps.  Click the link to get your $1.00 off any size Pretzel Crisps.  You can print this coupon TWICE per computer.  There is also a GREAT under $1.00 deal at Target that you can make using this coupon. 

Pretzel Crisps, 7.2 oz, $1.99 (prices may vary by store)

Use:  $1.00 off any size Pretzel Crisps

Final Price:  $.99

Today is  Take Our Daughters And Sons to Work® Day! Today only…April 26, 2012…Olive Garden is offering a “Get 1 free Kids Meal w/ an Adult Entrée”!  Head over to Olive Garden’s Facebook page to claim your coupon. 

Here’s how it works!

1. Go to Olive Garden’s Facebook page! 
2. Click the link in the post “Take Our Daughters And Sons to Work® Day is 4/26! Get 1 free Kids Meal w/ an Adult Entrée!“
3. The coupon will be sent to your email address that is associated with your Facebook account. 
4. Print the email and take it to Olive Garden. 

Here is the fine print on the coupon.

This coupon may be redeemed for one free Kid’s Meal with the purchase of one adult lunch or dinner entrée (not including soup, Garden Salad, or pizza). Offer valid for kids aged 12 years and under. Free Kid’s Meal choices are from the Kid’s Menu only and include an entrée and choice of drink. Coupon not redeemable for cash and cannot be combined with any other offer. Dine in only. One coupon per visit. Cash redemption value 1/20 of one cent. Coupon may not be reproduced, sold, transferred or traded. Sales tax paid by the bearer. Valid at any Olive Garden location in the U.S. and Canada. Valid only on 4/26/2012. ©2012 Darden Concepts, Inc.

There is a NEW Printable coupon available for all Laundry Detergent – $1.00 off all Laundry Detergent — 24 load or larger. 

all Laundry Detergent usually goes on sale at several different stores.  Combine the sales with this coupon and it will make for a GREAT stockup opportunity!!! 

Remember, you can print this coupon TWICE per computer.