More(sort of) Free Stuff and Cereal Deal

I wanted to mention that the Post cereal sale is going on at Albertsons for a few more days (unfortunately my add got taken out with my recycling so I can't tell you exactly how long.) So, even if you don't have any coupons, you can still score some good deals on cereal. The Post cereal is on sale for $1.59 which is not a bad price. The kicker is that there is currently a catalina going on in addition to it. A "catalina" is a promotion (from a national company, not run by any of the grocery stores, it is a coupon that prints out with your receipt when you buy participating items according to that promotion). Right now, there is a catalina promotion running at Albertsons for Post cereal from 3/26-4/18. If you buy 3 boxes of cereal you will get a coupon for $2 off your next order. If you buy 4 boxes you get $3 off your next order, and if you buy 5 or more boxes, you get $4 off your next order. So, if you need cereal and you don't have any coupons, it's still a good deal. I scored because I had coupons for my cereal making most of cereal either free or only .59 so then when I got my coupon for $4 on my next order it was like I was making money. Does that make any sense? A couple weeks ago they had a Betty Crocker fruit snacks sale and catalina promo like this. Because of coupons and double coupons, I was able to get 15 boxes of fruit snacks for almost free and it basically made me money because it produced catalinas which payed for almost all of the food for Anna's birthday party. So, yes, fruit snacks may not be the healthiest, but if they are something that I can not only get for free, but by getting them they can pay for "real" food, it's worth it to me to get them. Same with the cereal deal. Yes, I got a ton of cereal, but I paid hardly anything, but it gave me a catalina with which I was able to pay for the steak and veggies for our dinner tonight (which would have cost more than I payed for all of the cereal!). The yogurt, pasta, and Hamburger Helper were things I got for free using the doubler coupons!
I realized something today, that most of you probably already know. I had bought my little patient individual pre-made jello cups, which she ate the first day after surgery. I went to the store to get her more and they didn't have any. I didn't want to buy the box of jello because I didn't want to have a big bowl of jello in my fridge and I liked the convenience of Rylie being able to go to the fridge and get out her own snack. Then I remembered I had these little plastic containers that would work well. When I made the jello, it filled 5 of the containers which were the same size as the pre-made cups of jello from the store. Then it dawned on me that I had pain almost twice the amount for less jello just because it was pre-made! I made 5 cups, instead of 4 and it only cost me .79 (and that was without any coupons or sales, imagine how cheap it could be!). I'm sure most of you have realized this money saving tip, but I was dense about it! I'd love to hear you money saving tips!

This is just a picture of what you can do with all that cereal you get on sale! This is cocoa pebble marshmallow treats! Yummy! (By the way, the marshmallows were on clearance after Christmas for .37 because they were snowman shaped! After holidays is a great time to look for food clearance!)