Nature Valley Clusters Giveaway!

Have you all tried the Nature Valley Clusters yet? They are so delicious!  Perfect for a quick snack in the car, or to pack in a lunch. We've been taking advantage of the sales on these lately and I am so glad that I can do this awesome giveaway.  MyBlogSpark was kind enough to send me everything pictured above, and wants to offer the same package to one of my readers! Isn't that awesome? Included in the package:

4 packs of assorted Nature Valley Nut Clusters

1 pair of binoculars

1 flashlight(it's one of those wind up ones that doesn't need batteries)

1 small Nature Valley back pack

1 metal re-usable water bottle(this thing is awesome! keeps your liquids cold for a loooong time)

One lucky winner will get this package delivered to their doorstep. All you have to do to enter, is answer one important question:

What do you want for Christmas?

I'm curious to know, and your answers will help me with a project I'm doing in November. It's a win-win!

The contest will end on Monday, November 2nd, at 12pmEST.  One entry per person. Double entries will be deleted.Make sure to leave your(junk) e-mail so I can contact you when you win. Do me a solid and actually answer the question. You'll really be helping me out, and hey, it will get you thinking about what you want for the big holiday!

Quotable Wednesday

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses."

-Alphonse Karr

Frugalistas make something out of nothing....

One thing I've noticed about not only myself, but about some of the great frugal friends I've accumulated in the past few years, is that we make a point of making "something out of nothing."

Whether it's a sale at our local store that seems to have hidden deals no one else could find, or creating great homemade cleaners to use instead of going out and spending 4 bucks on harmful chemicals, we make do in all occasions.

I was reminded of how great it is to use frugal ingenuity this past weekend.  Hubby was a groomsman at a wedding while I had to go to my parents' house to "babysit" my 14 year old sister.  Maybe my memory is skewed, but I always remembered the fridge at my parent's house being full of food. At all times. Food Food Food. Well, when I arrived last Saturday and they scooted out the door to attend a friend's 50th birthday party, they left me with pretty much nothing in the fridge and a hungry toddler and teenager.  Not a good combination.

But, my ingenuity kicked into overtime.  I was determined to find something, ANYTHING, to put together to feed the two monsters.  I could have easily ordered a pizza and put it on my debit card, but spending 20 bucks for the 3 of us to eat sub-par food was not in my frugal vocabulary.  I was on the prowl.

I hit the jackpot when I found eggs, already made brown rice and half an onion.  I searched the freezer and found frozen veggies. Score!  Add in the fresh ginger in the produce drawer and some jarred teriyaki marinade, and fried rice was created! It was only a little bit of everything, but once I made it, my sister commented that it was "way too much!" We all ate like Kings and there were still some leftovers.

When my parents came home, I told them I found a few things and made sis some fried rice...with leftovers. Little did I know, while I was putting Sonny to bed, my sister was down in the kitchen finishing off the rest. Guess it was good.

I appreciated how great it was to just use my noodle and create something from nothing. Saving money and still making a healthy meal.  Showing my sister that you don't always have to order out and that a cheap meal is always lurking somewhere in the house.

This is true with our money.  In a real pinch, we always seem to find something out of nothing. Rebate money from items that we get cheap or free, Chirstmas gifts just from clicking e-mails for a few weeks, and even items to pamper ourselves without wasting a dime. Creating something out of nothing is a gift we all share and are able to pass on to our family and friends.  Being frugal is beneficial....even when staring into an empty fridge.

Meal Plan Monday!

This is Vegas week for me(whoo hoo! Mama gets a vacation), so i'm gonna make some indulgent meals this week for my boys. Also, in honor of Halloween, I'm gonna make a fun meal on Thursday for my boy. The boys still get their pizza, but it's gonna have to be the frozen kind. Mama will be on a plane while they are eating it. Happy Halloween all!


Monday: "Lobster" Mac and Cheese with a side romaine salad and raspberry vinaigrette
Tuesday: Pasta bolognese and garlic bread
Wednesday: Cheesy Chicken and Rice casserole
Thursday: Mummy Dogs with witches hair and crunchy broomsticks(hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, with french fries and carrot sticks)
Friday: I'm off to Vegas! The boys will be left with their favorite frozen pizza
Saturday and Sunday: The boys are off to Six Flags(we didn't get to go last week) and trick or treating. I don't even wanna know what they will be eating.

Dessert of the Week: Homemade cupcakes(sonny has been asking for cupcakes for weeks!)
Bread of the Week: None! We still have some left from last week

Shop Rite Deals 10/25-10/31

Let's see what we got this week. We gotta get to that free turkey!

4 day price break(wednesday through saturday)
Birdseye streamfresh veggies- .99
use .50/1 printable coupon doubled- FREE

Fisher boy fish sticks- .99
use .75/1 printable coupon(you have to register to get it) doubled- FREE

Wacky Mac Pasta- 1.19
use .75/1 printable coupon doubled- FREE

Nature's Pride bread- 1.59
use .75/1 coupon from 8/16SS doubled- .09

Hefty trash bags- 1.24
use .55/1 coupon from 8/30RP doubled- .14

Carnation evaporated milk- .99
use .50/2 coupon from 9/27SS doubled- .40 each

8th Continent soy milk- 2.99
use 2.00/1 printable coupon(IE or FF)- .99

nabisco multi pack cookies- 2.99
use in store coupon for 1.00/1- 1.99
use 1.00/1 coupon from nabisco yellow bus coupon book- .99

Hershey's snack size bags- 2 for 5.00(there is a store coupon for 4 for 7.00 in some circulars)
use 1.00/1 special or extra dark chocolates from 9/27SS- 1.50
use .35/1 reese's chocolates from 8/23SS doubled- 1.80

Fisher baking nuts- around 2.99
use 1.00/1 coupon from 5/10, 6/21 or 10/4SS- 1.99(pretty good price for baking nuts)


Other deals:
5lb bag Russet potatoes- .99(limit 2)
3lb bag eastern apples- .99(limit 2)
pomegranates- .99(limit 4) yay! something new to try!
Shop Rite shredded cheese- .99(4 day price break ONLY)
Shop Rite block mozzarella or 15oz ricotta- 3 for 5.00

A Brief Note: Hey Shop Rite Shoppers! As you all know, all shop rites are owned by different owners, so our circulars may have different deals.  If you view deals on other sites(thanks for the link, Bethany!) and don't see the same deals on my blog, that may mean that blogger has a different circular than mine. Most of the time, when I check on those deals I don't have, my stores do not have them on sale. So, buyer beware. Since I shop on Mondays, I will update the list with items I found were on sale at my store(thus probably on sale at most stores) that aren't in the circular. I don't like to post deals unless I have proof that they are going on for most. I'm diligent like that :o)

Friday Funny- 2 Gay Guys in the Military

Not only do I love this skit because it's a spoof on the infamous "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy, but it's a lovely spoof on us New Jersey-born military "membaaaas" and all of our quirkyness.

How you's doin'?

Yogurt Pancakes

Since there have been steady sales on yogurt at our stores, these have become a staple on saturday mornings here. They are easy to make, come out fluffy, and taste like heaven. Pancake mixes are easy but homemade is yum yum yummy!

Yogurt Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons double acting baking powder
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
6 oz cup vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup milk

Combine flour, salt, powdered sugar and baking powder in a medium bowl. Toss together with a fork(you can sift if you want, but who has time for that on a saturday morning?).
In another bowl, combine yogurt and milk. Then, add the egg and mix together.
Add the wet products to the dry products and mix a few times. Then add in the butter and mix until all of the flour mixture is wet.
Let sit for a minute or two while you get the griddle ready.

Makes about 10 to 12 medium sized pancakes.


If you like this recipe, take a gander at: Monkey Bread

Quotable Wednesday

"I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better."

-Plutarch

Meal Plan Monday!

Since I roasted a Chicken for our dinner saturday night, we have a good amount of chicken left to use this week. *sigh* I love roasting chickens! Anyway, we will be using it in a few meals this week.


Monday: Mexican corn soup with cornbread
Tuesday: Faux crab cakes with garlic green beans and homemade rice pilaf
Wednesday: Chicken fried rice
Thursday: Wild Card Day! Hubby has class, so maybe grilled cheese, maybe leftovers....
Friday: Chicken Parmesan with pasta and side salad(no pizza! I know, shocking....)
Saturday: Hubby is best man at a wedding and I have babysitting duty, so no dinner at home
Sunday: Slow cooker beef and veggies served over orzo

Dessert of the Week: PW's apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream
Snack of the week: Apple Chips
Bread of the week: Honey wheat

Shop Rite Deals 10/18- 10/24

This week starts the Turkey Promo! Spend 300.00 between 10/18 and 11/24, and get a free turkey. This would be a great time to bust out those freebie coupons you might have been holding on to. It's also a great time to use up the catalinas you might have gotten this past week or the week before.

Stayfree pads, 16 to 24ct- 1.99
use 2.00/2 coupon from 8/30SS- .99 each and get back a 2.00 catalina! .02 money maker!

Starkist tuna pouch 2.6oz- 1.00
use .50/1 printable coupon doubled(they reset it! go get 'em!)- FREE

Campbell's canned gravy- 4 for 2.00
use .50/4 coupon from 10/11SS doubled- .25 each

Sure deodorant- 1.79
use .75/1 printable coupon doubled- .29

Birdseye boxed sauced veggies- .99
use .35/1 coupon from 9/13SS doubled- .29

Skippy peanut butter- 2 for 4.00(must buy 2)
use .75/1 coupon from 10/4RP doubled- .50 each

Shop Rite dozen large eggs- .99
use BOGO egg printable coupon(no longer available)- .50 a dozen!

Beech nut let's grow mini meals- 5 for 5.00(must buy 5)
use 2 BOGO coupons from 8/2SS- .60 each

Heinz ketchup- 2.39
use .75/1 coupon from 10/4SS doubled- .80

Breyer's Ice Cream- 2.50
use .75/1 coupon from 10/17RP doubled- 1.00

Tidy Cats litter 20lb bag-2 for 4.19(must buy 2)
use 2 1.00/1 coupons from 10/4RP- 1.10 each

Ritz crackers or Nabisco chips ahoy- 1.99
use 1.00/2 coupon from home mailer(these were all over the place a few months ago)- 1.50 each

Ragu pasta sauce- 3 for 5.00
use .75/2 coupon from 9/13RP doubled- 1.16 each

Deal Idea
There is a catalina deal out that will give you 2.00 for every 3 bottles of ragu you buy.

Buy 6 bottles of ragu
use 3 .75/2 coupons doubled
Total OOP: 5.50
Get back 4.00 in catalinas, so 1.50 for 6 bottles, or .25 a bottle! This deal might roll, which would make this even better if you have enough coupons. After the free pasta last week, pasta sauce would be nice to have!

Other deals
Green, Black or Red seedless grapes- .99/lb
Broccoli crowns- .99/lb
Beef Roast cut-up combination tray(sold as is)- .99/lb

September Grocery Savings!

Wow, I just realized I never put up my september savings! I think it's because I hardly did ANY shopping in September since we were working on whittling down the stockpile and packing. Look how low my totals were for the month!


Total items purchased: 58
Total coupons used: 29
Total before coupons and discounts: 176.45
Total out of pocket: 52.86
Total savings: 123.59
Total number of free items: 11
Re-usable bag credits: .10
Total amount received from rebates: 27.31
Total OOP: 25.55

Organic items total before savings: 1.39
Organic items total after savings: 1.39
organic savings: 0

Friday Funny- Glee's football team

If you haven't watched Glee yet, then you need to get on it! The show is hilarious and hubby and I have been waiting for it to come back on since we saw the pilot a while back.

This clip is by far the best dance sequence on the show so far. Especially if you love football. Can you imagine the Cowboys or the Eagles doing this? Ha!

P.S.- The kick at the end is my favorite part. Anything like that should be done with a soundtrack!

Grandma's sour cream pound cake

Take a gander of that picture, will you? As soon as I picked this picture as representation of how good this recipe is, I immediately went to the kitchen to grab another slice. This recipe used to be my grandmother's, or so I think. I had been recreating pound cake recipes for a few years, going off of the memories of watching my grandmother make pound cake. I also had to wake up my taste buds and get them to help out. After trying and trying, I finally found it. I did remember that her secret ingredient was sour cream, and boy am I glad I did. Check out the recipe and I hope you all like it!


Grandma's sour cream pound cake

1 stick of butter(room temperature)*
3 eggs(room temperature)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon extract(or any other extract you have)
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease your bundt pan and flour(if you don't use that fancy baking spray, you may need to flour the pan after greasing it.)
Cream the butter and sugar together and then add sour cream.
With a fork, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl.
Add the flour to the creamed mixture, alternating with the eggs. You should start with adding flour and end with adding flour.
Beat after each addition and periodically stop to scrape down the bowl.
Once done, add the extracts and stir to combine.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes and then unmold and cool completely.

*If you don't want to use all butter, you can use half butter and half shortening. I wouldn't recommend margarine for this recipe.

Quotable Wednesday

"Hope is a bright leaf growing out of a crack in the cement."

-Gene Colan

Super Mega Swagbucks Day!

Whoa Nelly!

If you haven't signed up for Swagbucks yet, what in the world are you waiting for? Today is one of the best days to sign up because they are going crazy with the free codes today. They have reached 100,000 followers on Facebook, and are celebrating today by giving us lots of codes. If you aren't familiar with Swagbucks, check out this post I did a while back. Once you've signed up, you can friend them on facebook and continue to get codes throughout the day. You can also check the "swidget" on the swaggrabber site(located on the left hand side of the site) and click the "SC" button. There will be codes there as well.

Now get going! The day is quickly wasting away and there are codes to be had!

Blog Spotlight

Wow! Haven't been able to do one of thee in a while! I had some time at the end of last week and got caught up on some new blogs to spotlight. I'm so glad to get back to doing this!

This week I want to spotlight Sabrina over at Pate Life. Sabrina is a good Christian girl who writes wonderful posts about her everyday life. Not only do I love that she does a meal plan every monday(you all know how much I heart this), but she also does book reviews, and discusses her health issues since she is insulin resistant. Not sure what that is? Check out her cute explanatory post about it. I learned quite a few things from reading her health posts.

Sabrina, thanks for creating such a lovely blog(and a cute-as-a-button header)and folling 4 hats and frugal. I can't wait to see what you write about next!

Meal Plan Monday!

Yay! I'm finally back on track and can make a meal plan this week! It was rough to "wing it" when I got home last tuesday up until now, but thanks to my stockpile, we still had some yummy meals that were easy to make. I didn't even have to run to the store for anything.

Monday: Lazy mom's tator soup(with corn added in) and homemade rolls
Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner! Yogurt pancakes(recipe coming soon!) with turkey bacon and grapes
Wednesday: Baked italian chicken with mixed veggies and sauteed potatoes and onions
Thursday: Vegetable fried rice
Friday: Pizza! Probably with some leftover chicken on top
Saturday: Roasted Chicken with green beans and rice pilaf
Sunday: Off to Six Flags for fright fest!(And for free! whoopie!)

Dessert of the Week: Grandma's sour cream pound cake(recipe coming soon!)
Bread of the week: Honey wheat

Shop Rite Deals 10/11-10/17

A great week to roll those catalinas from last week! Cheap roaster chickens, free fish sticks, cheap toilet paper, super cheap eggs...the works! Thanks to Hot Coupon World for most of the match ups.

4 day price break(wednesday to saturday)
barilla pasta- .88
use .50/1 coupon for piccolini and whole grain from 8/23SS doubled- FREE

Fisher boy fish sticks- .99
use .75/1 printable coupon doubled(no longer available)- FREE

Hormel compleats- 2 for 4.00
use 2.00/1 coupon from October All You magazine- FREE

Deal alert: Buy 4 hormel compleats, get a 6pk of pepsi, sierra mist or mountain dew FREE.
There are lots of other coupons for the compleats, one being the .75/1 coupon from september 13th parade magazine. This could be a great deal for those of you that take your lunch to work!

knorr rice or pasta sides- .94
use .45/1 coupon from 8/30SS doubled(this was in the spanish version of the paper)- .04

Chock full o' nuts coffee- 1.59
use .75/1 coupon from 8/30SS doubled- .09

Whisker lickins cat treats- 2 for 1.29
use 1.00/2 coupon from 8/9RP- .15 each

Eggland's best eggs- 1.69
use .75/1 coupon from 9/13SS doubled- .19

Fisher fusion nuts- 1.24
use 1.00/1 coupon from 6/7, 6/21 or 10/4SS- .24

Fast Fixin chicken products- 1.99
use .75/1 coupon from august or october All you magazine doubled- .49

Butterball turkey bacon- 2 for 3.00
use 1.00/1 printable coupon(use zip code 97068)- .50

Skippy peanut butter- 2 for 4.00(must buy 2)
use .75/1 coupon from 10/4RP doubled- .50

Kelloggs pop tarts- 1.79
use .55/1 coupon from 9/13RP doubled- .69

Heinz squeeze ketchup- 2.39
use .75/1 coupon from 10/4SS doubled- .80

Deal alert: Buy 5 participating heinz items, get 5.00 back. If you use 5 coupons, the last one will not double, but you will still get 5 ketchups for 4.84, and get back 5.00. 16 cent money maker on a great brand!

Tropicana Trop50 juice- 1.88
use 1.00/1 coupon from 9/13RP- .88

Friendship sour cream- 1.29
use 1.00/2 coupon from 9/13SS- .79 each

Special K cereal- 5 for 9.97(must buy 5)
use 1.00/1 printable coupon(use multiple computers to print 5 of them)- .99

Oscar Meyer bacon- 1.99
use 1.50/2 coupon from 8/30SS- 1.24 each

Angel soft bath tissue, 12pk or double roll 6pk- 2.24
use .50/1 coupon from 9/13RP doubled- 1.24


other deals
bananas- .49/lb(rock bottom is .39/lb)
perdue oven stuffer roaster- .69/lb(rock bottom is .59lb, so this is a good price)
1lb shop rite butter- 1.69
3lb bag yellow onions- 1.49
3lb bag eastern apples- 1.49

Shop Rite GM deal!

OK, it took me a while to try this deal, but I wanted to get my scenario up for you all before it's over tomorrow. I wanted to get confirmation that it works on pre-sale prices, and after I did the deal yesterday, I had that confirmation! Also, there are double deals going on right now, so some of the General Mills products included in the deal have their own separate catalina deals. Check out the scenario I did:

3 betty crocker cake mixes- 3 for 3.00
3 betty crocker tub frostings- 3 for 5.00

4 tubs pillsbury crescent rolls- 4 for 7.00

20 cups yoplait whips yogurt- on sale for .40 each

catalina deals:
buy 25.00 worth of General Mills products, get 10.00 back(all these products are part of General Mills
buy 4 pillsbury products, get 2.00 back
buy 20 yoplait cups, get 2.00 back

coupons used:
(2) .50/2 betty crocker products(one cake mix, one frosting) printable coupon doubled
.50/1 betty crocker frosting printable coupon doubled
(2) .55/2 pillsbury crescent rolls coupon from 9/13GM
(3) .40/6 yoplait yogurts coupon from 9/13GM
(for links to the printables, check out the shop rite deals I have posted for this week)

Total OOP: 15.30
Total Catalinas back 14.00

After catalinas, that's only 1.30 for all that stuff! The pre-sale total for this particular scenario is 27.95, so it's well over the 25.00 mark. The best part is that the GM deal rolls, so if you want to stock up on cake mix for the holidays, or are in desparate need of yogurt, this a great deal to do.

I already started putting together next week's deals, and having these catalinas will help get some cheap chicken, free fish sticks and really cheap rice sides and coffee! So, get out there and shop!

Quotable Wednesday

"Though one should conquer a thousand times a thousand men in battle, he who conquers his own self, is the greatest of all conquerors."

-Buddha

Frugal Fall Findings...

With the coming of fall, I start to notice that besides seeing the change in weather, the stores change up what they offer. This isn't something brand new to anyone; we see the sweaters put up in the clothing store windows, and we start to see the sales of Autumn food-stuffs, such as apples, pears, carrots, potatoes and lots of canned soup.

But what I have come to love is the fact that every fall, without fail, I learn something new about how to take advantage of the season. A few years ago, it was the many uses of apples. Last year was all about making breads to save money and making the perfect chicken or turkey stock. Also, year after year, with the free turkey promotions at the stores, I learn new and different ways to use turkey meat in meals that don't require a side of mashed potatoes.

This year, I have a feeling I might be venturing out to try something else new. Will it be Quinoa? How about Parsnips or turnips? Who knows. I can't wait to see what the store circulars will have in store for our home this fall and winter. Man cannot live on roast chicken alone.

How about you all? Do you have favorite fall or winter items that you can't wait to see on sale? Are you also looking to expand you frugal horizons by trying something cheap but new? Do tell!

Shop Rite deals 10/4 to 10/10

Gum toothbrush- .88
use .75/1 coupon from 8/9RP doubled- FREE

Ronzoni pasta products- .67
use 1.00/2 coupon from 8/2RP- .17

Wet Ones wipes- 1.49
use 1.00/1 printable coupon- .49

Airwick freshmatic starter kit- 4.49
use 4.00/1 printable coupon- .49

Fab or Dynamo laundry detergent- 1.99
use .50/1 coupon from 8/16SS doubled- .99

Betty crocker cake mix- 3 for 3.00(must buy 3)
betty crocker frosting- 3 for 5.00

deal idea:
buy 3 cake mixes and 3 frostings- 8.00
use .50/2 printable coupons(may need 2 computers) doubled
use 1.00/1 frosting printable coupon

pay 5.00 for 6 items!

(There is a great catalina deal where you buy 25.00 of GM products, get 10.00 back this week. Once some of the scenarios are tried, I'll post them here. Get those Gm printables organized!)

4 day price break(Wednesday to Saturday)
birdseye boxed sauce frozen veggies- .88
use .35/1 coupon from 9/13SS doubled- .18


Good deals
McAddam chunk cheese- .99
Shop Rite shredded cheese- .99
Bartlett or Bosc pears- .99/lb
5lb bag Eastern White Potatoes- 1.49
5lb bag shop rite long grain rice- 1.88
Modenaceti balsamic vinegar- 1.88
Wesson cooking oil- 3.99(with an additional 10.00 purchase)

The Wal Mart experience...

I'm not a big fan of Wal-mart.

I just never had a great experience in that store and if you've read my blog or know me personally, you know that I go out of my way to NOT shop there ever. Although, I do love their online samples they send out! I digress.

Since I know a few of you do love to shop at Wal Mart, I decided to do a little experiment to see if I could not only stand to utilize the store, but find great deals there that I could compare to the ones I get at the grocery store.

Since I needed a few things for home as well as for me to use down at that base this week, I decided to try to find those items at a good price while only allowing myself 20 dollars to do so. The list included items like crystal light to-go packets, 2% milk, whole wheat bread, eggs, lunch meat and some other items.

To my surprise, even though I didn't see a great price on crystal light(I subbed sugar free hawaiian punch packets), I did do quite well at Wal-Mart, only paying 18.11 for all of my items. Here are a few things I loved and a few that still irk me:

1. The eggs are so cheap! I got a dozen large eggs for 1.18. That is pretty much unheard of at my grocery store, unless eggland's best eggs are on a great sale and I have a coupon that will double. We go through lots of eggs at home, so this was a pleasent surprise for me.

2. Bread is around the same price it pays for me to bake it, with some extras. The extras is that the bread is great for hubby to use for sandwiches and that the wal-mart brand whole wheat bread is so long! It's about 1 and a half times longer than the bread I make. Of course, my bread has no preservatives, but you have to take the good with the bad.

3. If we need silk soy milk, I can count on the wal-mart price. About every 12 weeks or so I'm able to get Silk for around 1.00 to 1.50. After coupon at Wal-Mart, I was able to get a half gallon for 1.93. That's a wonderful price if I need to buy a few to hold us over until the next sale price after coupons.

4. Lots of open lanes. This is something I have NEVER experienced at previos Wal-Marts, but was so happy to experience at the one near our new place. The service was fast, and the cashier bagged all the groceries. Win and win.

5. No double coupons. This is a clencher for me since all of my stores do double coupons and some even do triple coupons. I'm just so used to getting free, or close to free items with double coupons, that it was strange to me to not have them double.

6. The milk prices are nuts! This was something that I was expecting to be pretty cheap at Wal-Mart, but was one of the most expensive things I spent on. I'm used to the milk sales at the local grocery stores, so paying 4 bucks for a gallon of milk was a hard pill to swallow.

7. Very small grocery area. This is a regional thing, but at the Wal-Mart I went to, the grocery area was little. Too little. The prices for the items were great, but I love to have a variety. It was bare bones but understandable since it wasn't a Super Wal-Mart.

All and all, I was very pleased with my trip. Now that doesn't mean I'll be doing more of my shopping at Wal-Mart, but it's great to know that in a pinch I can depend on the store to help me get some essentials at a great price.