May The Wind Be Always At Your Back

This is me last year running the Salt Lake Half Marathon. It was my first race. My sister Melissa and ran it together. We did it run walk and it turned out to be great.

I'm registered to run it again. I'm actually pretty excited. I hoping to be at least a little bit faster than last year...

So I've been training for the last several weeks. Mostly inside due to the weather.

The other day it was almost 60 degrees, so after work, I decided to venture a 5 miler outside. One problem: I hadn't realized how blasted windy it was! I was no more that 100 feet away from my house when I decided that it was just too windy and I was going to turn around and hit the gym.

As I was walking back to my house, I noticed my friend Tracy coming toward me in her car. She was actually getting ready to go on a road ride, crazy girl. I told her that I was going to head inside and she told me I just needed to turn around and get going.

Well, there's nothing like a little peer pressure to get you going! I turned around and headed south, right into the wind. YUK! I ran into the wind for about a mile, but then, the second I turned around, I remembered that the best part of running into the wind is when you get to turn around and the wind is at your back!

So as I was running with the wind at my back, I remembered a song that I had learned in choir in high school. It was a beautiful arrangement of the traditional Irish Blessing. You know, "May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back...".

As a runner, this blessing takes on a new and special meaning. When you're running into the wind, it's just head down, one foot in front of the other. But with the wind at you back, you can look around, breathe the air, enjoy the view. Sometimes you can even feel it pushing you along. As a newbie runner, I'll take every bit of help I can get! These are the moments that turn you into a real runner, that make you long to get outside and get running.

So to all you runners out there:

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Couponing Adventure $465.29 for $109.08

Last week I spent more on groceries than I have in any one week since December, but I got
A LOT of stuff!
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST
Here's how it went down:

*Remember: I learned about most of these deals on www.athriftymom.com*
MONDAY

Walgreens:

Right Guard $4.29 B1G1 free

• used 2 $2 off 2 printables
• Final Price: $1.14 ea.

Purex $5.79 B1G1 free

• used B1G1 free coupon
• Final Price: FREE!

Peeps $0.99 used as a filler
Paid with a $3 Register Reward from last week
Total OOP: $3.94

These two photos show 4 transactions at Albertsons.
At Albertsons there was a General Mills/NASCAR promotion: Buy $20 get a $7 catalina on your next order (ONYNO). I took advantage of that but I also had some rainchecks from the Quakers promotion last month. There were also double coupons! Please visit www.athriftymom.com for good instructions about using double value coupons.
Before sales, coupons or promotions this would have cost $230.72. I got it all for $49.34!

Transaction #1
6 Progresso Soups $1.50 ea.

• Used 3 $1.10 off 3 printables
• Final price $1.13 ea.
  

3 Nature Valley Nut Clusters $$2.50 ea.

• Used 3 $1.00 off printables
• Final price $1.50 ea.

2 Chex Mix $2.50 ea.

• Used 2 $0.50 off printables
• Final price $2.00 ea.

Total OOP: 16.69
Recieved $7.00 Catalina

Transaction #2
6 Pop Secret Popcorn $1.00 ea

• Used $. 50 off 2 coupon
• Used 3 double coupons
  
• Final price: $0.50 ea

3 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix $2.00 ea

• Used $0.75 of 2 printable
• Final price $1.50 ea

2 Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes $1.69 ea

• Used $1.00 off 2 printable
• Final Price $1.19 ea.

10 Betty Crocker Cake Mixes $1.00 ea

Used $7.00 catalina from transaction #1
Total OOP: $15.15
Received $7.00 Catalina


Transaction #3

4 Pop Secret popcorn $1.00 ea.

• Used $. 50 off 2 coupon
• Used 2 double coupons
  
• Final price: $0.50 ea

4 Best Foods Light Mayo $2.00 ea.

• Used a rain check from February
• Total price $8.00

1 Kettle Chips $3.00

• Used $1.00 off 1
• Used double coupon
• Total price: $1.00

Paid with $7.00 Catalina from transaction #2
Total OOP:$4.78


Transaction #4 (This is were I used $1.00 Quaker rain checks from February)

5 Quaker Oat Squares $1.00 ea
10 Captain Crunch (Crunch berries and Peanut Butter) $1.00 ea
5 Quaker Oatmeal Pancake Mix $1.00 ea.
5 Oatmeal To Go bars $1.00 ea

• Used 5 $3/5 Quaker Products coupons that we found on e-Bay
• Total price: $.40 ea! Can you believe that?!

2 Cake Mixes $1.00 ea.
Total OOP: $12.72

After those crazy transactions, I ran over to Smith's for one more crazy deal.
Before sales, coupons or promotions this would have cost $37.50 I got it all for $13.80!

4 Kellog's cereals $2.50 ea.

• Used 2 $1.00 off 2 coupons
• Final price $2.00 ea

2 Mountain Dairy milk FREE!

• There was a Buy 4 Kellogs cereal, get 2 gallons FREE!
• Final price: FREE!

4 Nabisco Cookies $2.99 ea

• Used 2 buy 1 milk get cookies B1G1 free from Facebook (but I already had the 2 milks from the cereal)
• Also on two of the cookies there were $1.00 off peelies
  
• Final price $0.99 ea.

Used 2 Albertsons double coupons -$2.oo
Total OOP:$13.18

TUESDAY

Smuckers Sugar Free Jam $3.49
Adams Peanut Butter $2.79

• No Coupons for these, but I needed them for my "sugar free" 2 weeks (I'll blog about that later)
• Final price: $6.28

Diet Coke $1.25

• No Coupon, it was late and I was thirsty!
• Final price: $1.25
  

12 Dannon Light n Fit Yogurt $0.50 ea

• Used 1 $1.00 off 6
• Used 1 $0.75 off 6
• Used 2 double value coupons
• Final price: $.30 ea

4 Albertson's Lunchmeat $0.99 ea.

• On clearance in deli section
• Final price: $0.99 ea
  

Dog Food $12.99 (Not pictured, I HAAATE spending $$ on dog food...)

• Used $1.00 off coupon
• Used double value coupon
• Final price $10.99

Paid with $2.00 from a survey I took on Monday
Total OOP:$22.26

Walgreens: This was 2 transactions

Transaction #1

Register Reward Deal: buy 3+ products get $5 RR

4 Kotex feminine care $2.99ea

• Used 2 $1.50 off 2 printable Kotex pads coupons

Final Price: $2.29 each
Total OOP: $9.50
Revieved $5.00 Register Reward to use OYNO
Transaction #2

Computer paper $6.99
Paid with $5.00 RR from transaction #1
Total OOP: $2.40

Wednesday- Can you say "Fruit Snacks"?!?
So, starting on Wednesday there were several great promotions at Albertsons:

1. Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks 2/22 good till 3/21

• Buy 3, get back a $1.50 catalina
• Buy 4, get back a $2.50 catalina
• Buy 5 or more, get back a $3.50 catalina

2. Chill Promotion going on through March

• Buy 10 participating products, get $10 in catalina to use OYNO

3. Crystal Light

• Buy 3, get back a $2.00 catalina
• Buy 4, get back a $3.00 catalina
• Buy 5 or more, get back a $4.00 catalina

I made 2 trips to Albertsons on Wednesday:


Trip #1, Transaction #1:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Final price $0.80 ea

8 Old Orchard Juices $1.29 ea

• Used 2 $1.00 off 4 printables
• Used 2 double value coupons
  
• Final price:$0.79 ea

2 Ore-Ida Steam & Mash $2.99 ea

• Used 2 $1.00 off printables
• Used 2 double value coupons
• Final Price: $1.99

Final OOP: $14.13
Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks
Received $10 Catalina from frozen foods

Transaction #2:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Used $3.50 Catalina from transaction #1
  
• Final price $0.10 ea

Total OOP:$0.80
Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks

Transaction #3:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Used $3.50 Catalina from transaction #2
  
• Final price $0.10 ea

Total OOP:$0.80
Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks

Trip #2, Transaction #1:

Transaction #1:

5 Fruit Snacks $1.00 ea

• Used 2 $0.50 off 2 printables
• Used $3.50 Catalina from earlier in the day
  
• Final price $0.10 ea

3 Crystal Light $2.33 ea

• Used 1 $0.50 off 2 coupon
  
• Used 1 Double Value Coupon

8 Old Orchard Juices $1.29 ea

• Used 2 $1.00 off 4 printables
• Used 2 double value coupons
  
• Final price:$0.79 ea

2 Garlic Bread $2.59

Used $10.00 catalina from earlier in the day
Used $3.50 catalina from earlier in the day

Total OOP:$14.40

Received $3.50 Catalina from fruit snacks
Received $10.00 Catalina from frozen foods
Received $4.00 Catalina from Crystal Light