FREE stuff at Bilo

Well, yesterday, it happened.. It always does this time of year. I was craving a steak cooked on the grill! The weather was nice and I thought it would be the perfect day for it. So I got out my ads and started the search for the perfect deal. It wasn't real hard consindering EVERYONE has steak and lobster on sale this week!! I found the deal for me at Bloom, but Robbie REALLY wanted mac and cheese and it was on sale at Bilo and besides, I needed some other things at Bilo. So off to Bilo I went...Can I just say... I LOVE getting FREEBIES!!! First of all, I got this week's meal deal, so right off the top, I got a 6pk of Coke, a peach cobbler, breadsticks, and whipped topping free just by buying a really large chicken alfredo.. Someone gets to come over for dinner that night. The chicken alfredo is REALLY big. Next, I had milk tokens for a FREE gallon of milk. I don't always buy my milk at Bilo because sometimes it's on sale somewhere else, but I still managed to get 6 tokens and I finally cashed them in (and got another one for the gallon I didn't purchase last night). Next I had coupons for vitamin water that after being doubled would have given me 4 FREE vitamin waters! But, they did not have Alyssa's flavor, so I kept those until next time. Then, I had a coupon to buy one Mr Clean Magic Eraser and get one free. I used a .75 coupon on the one I purchased (which was already on sale for 2.50) and used my free coupon too! I think that is it for the free stuff... But listen to this!!! All together I bought $100.06 worth of stuff, including an $11.74 pack of Steaks, a LOT of cleaning stuff (2 bottles of Tide, Cascade, 4 magic erasers, shampoo) and I paid REGULAR price for potatoes ( I know-that's not like me), this weeks entire meal deal, a gallon of milk, mac and cheese, 2 boxes of Cereal (which I paid .89 for), a box of Taquitos, and I decided to try the Sargento Potato finishers (since they were on sale and I had a coupon).... Oh yeah, and I donated 1.00 to God's pantry and got the opportunity to tell the cashier what God's pantry was and all about what they do there. My total?? $52.04!!! I saved 49.41 off the regular price AND walked out with a $5.00 off your next shopping order coupon (because I bought all the cleaning stuff)! SWEET!!!!!!!

The best part of the trip was the fact that I got to talk to the cashier about God's panty and now she knows WHY people should donate to it and has a reason to ask people to donate. We also talked about couponing and she told me that she has been "meaning to start" but just has not gotten motivated yet. I told her I had saved over $700 in one months time and she was AMAZED!! She promised me that she was going to start cutting out her coupons this Sunday! She said that was pretty good motivation!

Oh yeah, when I got home.. There was a plastic bag on the counter that our mail man had left. They are doing the food drive this weekend and are asking for non-perishable food items to go to fill the food bank. Usually when they do this, I throw in a few canned goods that I really don't even like and won't use and complain to myself that I can't afford to do more. This time, I went into my pantry and LOADED the bag DOWN!! This is the first time ever that I have been able to really donate some good stuff! I mean when you only paid .69 for a box of Cereal, you don't feel compelled to hang on to it!!! It was the best feeling to be able to donate to a good cause and not feel like I was giving away my families food supply! Hope you all have a wonderful day!