Thursday, July 29, 2010

What a GREAT Shopping Trip!

I was so excited to go shopping today. Why? Because I got quite a few things for CHEAP/FREE!  Last week, Rachel and I got rainchecks for kraft shredded cheese, because all the Fred Meyers were out. Theres a catalina that goes with it so I ended up paying a total of $1.50 for 15 bags of shredded cheese! (I know, I know, that sounds like a lot. But with the amount of cheese our family uses, and the cheap price-and knowing I can freeze shredded cheese- its a great price. Here's the scenario:

Buy 5 Kraft shredded cheese, 1.50 each
use (2) $1/2 cheese coupons
Pay 5.50
get a $5 dollar catalina
Roll the catalina to the next transaction, and pay $0.50 for the next 5 cheeses
After transactions, end up with a $5 catalina to spend on your next shopping trip!

I saved 56.85 with this deal.
For those of you wanting to save money on kraft items thru the middle of August, here is the Catalina information:
Buy 5 participating Kraft Items, between 7/19 – 8/15 and receive $5 on your next order

  • Kraft Singles
  • Kraft Parmesan cheese
  • Kraft Natural cheese
  • Kraft String-Ums cheese
  • Kraft Cracker Cuts cheese
  • Kraft Deli-Deluxe cheese slices
  • Philadelphia Cream cheese
  • Velveeta cheese product
  • Cracker Barrel Cheese
  • Cheez Whiz processed cheese
  • Breakstone’s sour cream
  • Breakstone’s cottage cheese
  • Knudsen Sour Cream
  • Knudsen Cottage Cheese


Target is also having a 75% clearance on their toys, so I got 7 items (for Christmas gifts, various kids birthday presents...) for 16.94. I saved 77.98! And a couple of the toys I bought were ones I had already been looking for, for Jonathans birthday or Christmas present. So that part of my Christmas shopping is done, too bad he's the easiest one to shop for ;)

2 comments:

Ness101 said...

Why's it called a Catalina? At first I thought you were talking about salad dressing! lol I'm picturing how Catalina dressing "goes with" cheese and you "roll"ing the Catalina down the conveyer belt...ya know, so it can join the "next transaction!" haha needless to say it was an interesting image. Also - that'd be expensive dressing and good luck with spending it on your next purchase! haha

Do you have to tell the cashiers how to ring up all that stuff? Do they ever act annoyed with you?

And p.s. - I am shocked but happy to see your blog is back! :)

Sarah said...

Vanessa, Nathan thought exactly the same thing as you. As I think a lot of people would. The coupons you get after you buy something (in this case, the $5 catalina for buying cheese) comes from the Catalina marketing company. So people call them catalinas, or cats for short. Although I'm sure you would have been very confused if I had called them cats LOL! Normally its pretty easy for the cashiers to do. All they do is scan the items (and look at the raincheck if you have it) and then scan the coupons. The catalinas print out automatically, from a machine hooked into the register. Btw, you can also get good coupons from the catalina machines too. Sometimes based on what you buy if you have a store card that kinda keeps track of the things you get. I've gotten quite a few coupons for free stuff for things I've bought before. Usually at Safeway, Albertsons, or Fred Meyer. Most cashiers are pretty great, but sometimes I get pretty horribly rude ones- Usually at Walmart, where they act like I'm a criminal when I try using a coupon. And the Albertsons in Salem isn't very coupon friendly. Nor do they have employees that know what they are doing. However, the Albertsons in McMinnville is WONDERFUL! They are very coupon friendly and nice nice people. I'm sure you probably weren't asking for ALL this information, but here you go anyways. LOL. Why are you shocked by the way? Shocked about what I wrote? Or shocked that I actually wrote on my blog? :) I do really like writing, but don't often get the time to write. Or I don't think about it when I do have time...