Santa Sightings Around Pensacola and More!

If you're idea of pictures with Santa leans towards the free side, and, far, far away from the mall, then you are in the right city! Within half an hour drive around Pensacola are lots of different places Santa is sure to visit.

The Wharf at Orange Beach: everyday from 1pm-5pm
The Bass Pro Shops at Fort Morgan: Mon-Fri 5pm-9pm; Sat 10am-9pm; Sun 12pm-5pm
Big Lagoon: Friday and Saturday 4pm-9pm (Santa comes at 6pm!)
*At the Bass Pro Shop, you'll get one FREE picture with Santa. But please be prepared to wait in an unbelievable long line. Unless you get there in during the week in the evening. Bring your camera and let the kids pose around different displays. We had a great time just trying all the games and doing the crafts (only on the weekends). We took a picture with Santa in the background because there was no way we were waiting in line that long. The kids did end up talking to Santa when he was at Wal-Mart! That is guaranteed no wait. Too bad it was only the past two weekends.

Christmas Parades this weekend:
The Wharf at Orange Beach: Sat 4pm
Gulf Breeze Parade and Santa Fest: Sat 10am-5pm
Pensacola Christmas Parade: Sat 5pm, Downtown
Orange Beach Lighted Boat Parade: Friday 5pm-til
Pensacola Beach Lighted Boat Parade: Friday 7pm
* If you live near the Perdido area, the Innerarity Point Firehouse gives Santa a ride on the firetruck and they drive around all the neighborhoods throwing candy and beads shouting Ho! Ho! Ho!

Church events this weekend:
Christmas Pageant at Hillcrest: Fri, Sat, Sun at 7pm, also Sun 4pm!
Spirit of Christmas service at Marcus Pointe: Sun 10 am, JC Watts as speaker; Roast Beef dinner afterwards
We Are Family Concert, Olive Baptist: Sun 6pm- Olive's choir joins w/ Greater Union Baptist choir for Christmas Panorama

*A few years ago, we went to Big Lagoon's event. Not only is the park decorated with lights. But near the Pavillion, the lights are coordinated with the Christmas music. It's really neat. They had a mini concert while we waited for Santa plus several arts and crafts take home projects for the kids. Hot cocoa and cookies were served. Best of all, it was all FREE, even the park entrance fee!

* We also went to Marcus Pointe's Spirit of Christmas to see Kirk Cameron speak. That was awesome. He gave a powerful message and invitation. We stayed for the dinner too. I have never seen a more organized food line. The line moved so fast, next thing you know you're sitting down. If you go, arrive early to get parking around the Church. Otherwise you will have to park a few buildings down and take a shuttle bus back to the church.

Save-A-Lot Deals

Our town has only one Save-a-Lot. And it's in one of the most congested areas (as far as small towns go) so it's hardly ever worth it for me to drive over there. Once in a while though, I'll remember to go on to their website and see quite a few great loss leaders.

3lbs for $1 Bananas, limit 6 lbs (Wal-Mart's is $0.39/lb right now)
$0.50 Imperial margerine, limit 12
2 for $3 Citrus 3lb bag: oranges, tangerines, navel oranges
$0.88 baby carrots, 1lb
2lbs for $0.78 sweet potatoes
$0.99 Fresh Express garden salad mix, 12 oz
$0.99/lb Sugardale shank portion ham, 9lb average
$0.99/lb whole fresh picnic pork roast
$1.99/lb Hormel boneless pork loin roast, 2lb average
$3.99 Biggin's potatoes, 15 lbs

Sometimes, Wal-Mart will price-match these deals (even without a copy of the ad). It really depends on your cashier. It's been rare to find Save-A-Lot's ad in the paper lately. So if you prefer to shop at Wal-Mart and can grab a copy of Save-A-Lot's ad beforehand (or print a copy), that might be the safest way to price-match. If you decide to go to the actual store, please know that you have to bring your own plastic/reusable bags because they will charge you to use theirs. I've been there a few times and I liked it well enough. It's pretty clean and friendly and much less crowded than Wal-Mart!

Come to think of it, our area has other smaller grocery stores that do a fairly decent job staying competitive with Wal-Mart. Grocery Outlet off Fairfield and in Pace have their own butcher. Did you know Wal-Mart and Target are the only ones without one?) Also The Butcher Shoppe across from Grocery Outlet is famed for their meats. We might even have a Piggly Wiggly in Pace, too.

Hallmark $5 off $5 Coupon- Cheap Gift Wrap!

Hallmark has $5 off $5 coupons in magazines and also to PRINT. Thanks H2S! You can probably print two of these. Our Hallmark is independently owned and is in a shopping plaza instead of the mall. But the cashier had no problem taking them. Right now they have Christmas wrapping for Buy One for $4.99 Get One for $0.99. They also have lots of 99-cent cards and a smattering of overly-priced clearance items. I also saw a photo ornament for $3.29 (So get two for $6.60 and get $5 off.) I picked up 4 wrapping paper and a 99-cent card for $3+tax.

I've been noticing in the past few weeks that whenever there is a new high value coupon in a magazine, within a couple of weeks it comes out as a printable coupon online. So that means double coupons. Rewards Gold I think is the company that provides free magazine subscriptions. I have 3. It's completely frivolous, if it weren't for the coupons they have in there, a real waste in ink and trees. I've also used Swagbucks to get a subscription to Real Simple for FREE (a mag I used to get back in college and paid regular price for the subscription!) But in reality, I love magzines! Snippets of info packaged in glossy paper covering varied subjects NPR would never talk about. I just love it!

If you are great friends with your librarians and ask nicely, they may let you take out coupons too (as long as they are booklets not in the same page as an article). I would ask about issues at least a month old.

Walgreens 4 Day Sale Starts Today!

Walgreen 4day sale starts today. The deals here plus other deals this week are good through Saturday. You'll get $5 RRs for spending $25 before coupons. They have great sales, even on groceries, this week and lots of RR deals that will give you FREE items.

Side Note: For those who use EBT cards for food, this is a great tip for you- buy $25 worth of food items and get $5 RR to use on non-food necessities like toilet paper. Lookout for other stores that have grocery deals that give you store credit to use on other items (like Target's $5 gift card deals and CVS extra care bucks). Say, you're in need of detergent. Target has a gift card deal for Keebler cookies. You don't care for cookies. Do the deal anyway and use coupons to lower the cost. Then you'll get $5 for the detergent. Plus, bring the cookies to potluck or kid's events. Now you won't need to buy something for that, saving you even more.. Planning for $20 extra in your EBT card every month for these types of deals will yield a lot of savings on non-food items in the long run.

Four-day sale: Weds-Saturday, Dec 9-14
Get an extra $5 RR for spending $25 (before coupons!)
$0.99 dozen eggs
$2.39 gallon milk
$3 for $10 Coke Products 12-Pack (get $2RR for 3)
BOGO Reusable Tote Bags, 2 for $2.99
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Buy these 6 items below for $28 before Qs, get $28 RR
Plus $5 RR for spending at least $25
Plus, Make $7 more with Just for Men Rebate
Use all coupons, get $5 more!
Total possible money-maker: $17, plus all FREE items

1. Conair Brushes or Scuncci Hair Accessories $2 get $2 RR
2. Stim-U-Dent 100 pack $2 get $2 RR
3. Neutrogena Men's Skin Care $4.99 get $5 RR
4. Just For Men Touch of Gray Hair Color $6.99 get $7 RR
-$2 just for men Touch of Gray
-$7 mir just for men Touch of Gray
5. Renu Multi-Purp Plus Solution Twin Pack 8 oz , $9.99 get $10 RR
-$2 Renu Multi-Purpose
-$1 Renu Multi-purpose (try zip 85013)
6. Stayfree Femine Care Maxi 16 or 24 pk or Ultra Thin Pads 16 pk $1.99 get $2 RR
-$1 Stayfree

Thanks, IHeartWags for ad scan and deals!

Target Super Shopping 12.8.2009

At Target today, I stopped by to pick-up the last Disney Princess Barbie Collection. It's priced at $49.99 for 7 barbies. Using two $5 Gift Cards from the Keebler snack deal dropped my total to $40, only $5.75 per doll. I hope this will not be overkill since my daughter has too many dolls as it is.
H2S posted this deal for Boggle. $12 at Target, but get a FREE Card game. Only for $10 or more Hasbro games. Plus I used a $5 Q from this Sunday's USA Weekend. So, $7 for 2 games!

While there, I picked up a few cheap or free items. Thanks to this new blog: Totally Target. If you are a fan of I Heart Publix, you'll like this new Target blog. It's by Kerry who edits for Michelle's Publix site.

Go here to see the deals & Q links. This list is what I paid after Qs:
$1.09 Steaz Organic Teas for 2 w/ BOGO Q
*not your Southern Tea, mind you, very unsweet
$0.89 Mott's Apple Juice w/$1 Target PRINT
2 FREE Kashi Go Lean Waffles w/ $3 off 2 peelies from TLC bars
2 FREE Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa w/ two $1 Target Print
*Q says one per transaction, so my cashier split them

Snack Deal: Buy 5 Get $5 Gift Card
*I bought 10 in one transaction and got 2 gift cards. This works well when your Q is off 2 items. And all these snacks are $2 each:
6 Keebler cookies used $1.50 off 2 & two $1 off 2 Qs
*perfect for potluck net week!
2 Cheeze-Its, used two $0.75 Q
2 Keebler Townhouse: No Flipsides or Toppers at our store- these have Qs
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Paid $15 got two $5 Gift Cards

Notes:
None of the Keebler crackers have the $10 Toy Voucher logo. But in the party food section, there are Keebler Gingerbread Men cookies for $3. These have the Toy logo!

Now, I am taking a rabbit trail:

I tried to use two $1 off Kelloggs or Keebler Qs printed from Save-A-Lot website's. They beeped. The cashier would not push it through. This reminded me that since it is the holidays, there will be seasonal hires who may not be used to your coupon ninja skills. Humor, patience and courtesy are your allies to winning over the cashier.

You must prepare with advanced decision making (a new concept I learned at Bible study just yesterday). These are if-then role-playing scenarios played out in your mind beforehand. Example of what I did: If the cashier decides not to take my coupons (I thought), I will point out that these are Manuf Qs with Save-A-Lot logo but will buy these irregardless. Wel, she decided to go to the manager- I said out loud I would buy them without the Qs, which put her at ease I think. The manager said if they beeped, don't take them and they beeped.

But I had already figured that even without the $2 Q, each box is only $0.50 after the gift cards. And I was using the gift cards for the next transaction anyway. So a little advanced decision making saved me and the cashier frustration. Plus, I could tell she was a bit nervous because I had a coupon for almost everything I bought. She said she could lose her job if she messed up processing the coupons. A little extreme, I think, since box stores lose more money on shoplifting (from customers and employees) than little ladies' coupons. But I can understand the paranoia too well, especially in our current economy. So we all need to remember to be gracious and smile a lot. In fact, teeth whitening might even come in handy. Just kidding.

Publix Deals Dec 9-Dec 15

Here are the best deals I see:
$0.79 Publix white bread, limit 4
$0.88/lb bartlett pears
$0.99/lb red delicious apples
$2.99 fresh Del Monte pineapple
$2.50 Tropicana orange or grapefruit juice ($1Q- Walgreens blinkies)
$1.50 pomegrantes ($1 off 2 Q from Greenwise booklet)

$0.69/lb Publix young turkey
$1.09 Publix sour cream, 16 oz
BOGO Del Monte pitted prunes, 2 for $3.63
5 bags for $2 Glick's dark or milk chocolate coins
BOGO Fast Fixin's chicken breast nuggets, 2 for $5.99
BOGO Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit, 2 for $2.19
$1.49/lb Publix semi-boneless ham portion, whole or fully cooked

BOGO Campbell's Select Harvest 2 for $2.45
BOGO Chex 12.8-14 oz, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Golden Grahams 10.7-12 oz; 2 for $3.59 (use $1 off 2 Chex Q)
BOGO Bertolli Pasta Sauce, 2 for $3.75 (use two $0.60 Q)
BOGO Wish Bone Dressing, 16 oz, 2 for $2.97 (use two $0.75 Q)
BOGO Quaker Cereal: Life 21oz, Square 16oz, Cap N Crunch 20.7-22oz
BOGO Arnold Whole Grain Breads 2 for $3.69

$1.67 Sargento cheese, shreds 5-8oz (use FREE eggs Q when you buy this cheese in All the Trimmings)
$2.39 Publix Greenwise soymilk, 64 oz
$3 Publix Ice Cream 32 oz

$0.50 Stoyfield Farm yogurt cups
$3.50 Organic Valley milk, 64 oz
BOGO Kashi instant oatmeal or hot cereal, 2 for $3.69 (use $3 off 2 peelie from Target)
BOGO Newman's Own organic raisins 2 for $3.69
$2 Wolfgang Puck organic broth
$2 Cascadian Farms frozen veg or potatoes ($1 Q PRINT)

$2 Glade Candle 4 oz jar (price-match at Target to do BUY 5 Holiday Glade, Get $5 GC deal)

Greer's Weekly Deals Dec 9-Dec 15

Here are the best deals I see this week:

$1.68/lb ground beef
$4.50 Sanderson Farms leg quarters, 8lb bag
$1.50 Dole Classic Iceberg or coleslaw, 12-14 oz
$2 Dairy Fresh Egg Nog, 32 oz
$1.50 Martha White flour, 5 lb
$1.67 Best Choice sugar, 4lb (store brand)
$2.50 California navel oranges, 4lb
$3 Russett potatoes, 3lb
$0.50 Best Choice 15oz can veggies: cut/French style green beans, sweet peas, whole kernel or cream style corn
$2.99 12-pack Pepsi cans

Saturday and Sunday only sale:
$0.98/lb porkchops, family pack
$5 whole chicken fryer- 2pack
$2.88/lb whole ribeye, cut & wrapped free
$0.98/lb Jamestown shank portion ham
$1.08/lb Jamestown butt portion ham
$1.18/lb Fieldstone whole smoked ham, small 16-19 lbs
$1.49/lb Carolina Pride smoked ham, shank or butt
$1.88/lb John Morell spiral sliced ham, half and smoked
$2.99/lb Kretchmar half boneless Bavarian ham
$2.99/lb John Morrell EZ Cut Whole Ham
$1.69/lb duck, mature, frozen

$1 Best Choice block cheese, 8oz
$2.50 red delicious or gala apples, 3 lbs