Week 3 of a Month of Menus has been posted at SuperJenn. Please feel free to check it out and see how I make coupons and the theory of stockpiling work for me!

I offered to post my menus to give an idea of how you can reduce your monthly budget by planning meals based on what you have and shopping for deals. It takes TIME and EFFORT to make this work. I tell people in my coupon classes that you have to give it about 2 months before it starts to feel natural. People often get carried away and use coupons because they have them…not because it makes a deal. If you weren’t going to buy it…and you don’t need it… it isn’t a deal. It is hard not to get caught up in a buying frenzy only to realize that you have spent more than you planned. Make lists, plan your trips, take a calculator!!

Speaking of going overboard….I went over our weekly budget of $50 by about $20 last week. I spent some extra money on chicken breasts and Juicy Juice, mainly, because each were a very good deal and staples in our house. I also knew that this would be a very small shopping week for us so it should easily balance out.

Thursday this week I am heading to BlissDom in Nashville, TN. BlissDomis a blogging conference and I am thrilled to be going… to be re-inspired, to learn, and to see friends. I’ll be taking Baby Ryan with me but Eric and the two big kids will be at home…and I suppose they will want to be fed! As part of my weekly plan I’ve provided them with meals in the freezer they can have while I’m gone. The rest of the week is easy as well…I’m trying to stay low maintenance as I get myself ready to go…and the house/family ready for me to be gone!

Needless to say I really won’t be shopping…my plan is to pick up a couple of things when I go to buy my papers..my list includes: Rice milk, asparagus, hot dog buns, bananas and french fries. Not bad for a week’s worth of groceries!

What deals can YOU find around town?

Dillon’s is having their MegaEvent this week and next. For this particular event you will get $5 off the purchase of 10 or more qualifying items. This equates to $0.50 each item you purchase. You can see some of their sale items in the paper insert…you can get a complete list of included items when you walk in the store.

Did you know that in addition to Cellfire and Shortcuts you can now load coupons to your Dillon’s card on their website? There are not many…and I’ll be honest..they aren’t great… but every now and then you will find a gem…like the $5/5 Healthy Choice meals. You can stack this with the printable $5/5 Healthy Choice Meals if you printed it, and get a GREAT price on these meals.

If you are in to MAKING money with your coupons…this week at Walgreen’s is the place to be. Bayer Blood Glucose meters are on sale for $14.99. You will receive a $10 RR on the purchase of ONE. There was a coupon for UP TO $30/1 Bayer meter in the 10-25 Red Plum. That means you will pay nothing but tax out of pocket and you will receive a $10 Register Reward. If you want to do this deal more than once you will need to do them in separate transactions. You will also need to know that Walgreen’s will QUICKLY run out of these…and they often will only put out 2 at a time. You can also ask in the pharmacy to see if there are any available.

Don’t need a Blood Glucose Meter? I’m willing to bet someone does…and the best folks to donate to are the folks at Health Care Access.

At CVS this week you will receive $10 ECB when you buy $50 in iTunes gift cards. This might be a fun little gift for Valentines Day… the $50 doesn’t have to be all on one card.

At Target if you buy 2 bags of Tostitos chips you will get a FREE jar of dip. The January edition of All You Magazine has a coupon for $1/1 bag of chips and 1 jar of dip. This coupon would make each bag of chips $2 instead of $2.50.

You can find Kraft Naturals shredded cheese on sale at Target for $2/ea. You can print a $1/2 printable HEREthat will knock the price down to $1.50/ea. Not bad for Shredded cheese. If you didn’t stock up at HyVee last week you might consider doing it now.

If you didn’t see it in Wednesday’s paper you can read my post about LOCAL deals HERE. I’m interested to hear what your favorite LOCAL businesses are because of their deals or ability to save you money. Be sure to check it out and EMAIL ME with your response.

A little shameless self promotion: From time to time on SuperJenn I run giveaways for various items. This weekend I’m doing a giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card. This is part of a project to bring attention to Thyroid Awareness Month. This giveaway ends tonight at 10:59pm CST. Please visit and get yourself registered to win! I will announce the winner on Monday.