CREATE LOVES SAVE NOSH OBSESS EYE-CANDY

CROCHET helps relieve stress, DOGS love you unconditionally, COUPONS leave you a little extra money in your pocket and FOOD nourishes your soul...what more could you ask for?


New to JellyBeanster? Click HERE to find out just what we're all about... Don't forget to comment and leave me a link to your blog so I can visit too! Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

FREE Nexcare Band-Aids at Walmart!

Head on over to Walmart to score some FREE bandaids (you can never have enough really) with THIS coupon :-)
They're on rollback to 99 cents right now so get them while they're FREE!

Publix Pet Coupons!!



If you go to publix.com and sign up for their pets rewards program (under the clubs/loyalty tab at the top) they send you pet coupons every couple of months to use in stores!  Best part is that they're all Publix coupons and you can combine them with manufacturer's coupons to get a great deal

You can find the coupons they JUST sent out (6/30) HERE

They also have a "Try theirs, get ours free" campaign going on right now and if you buy any of the brand name items in the picture below, you get the publix equivalent for FREE!! 


* Get a Milkbone BOGO Coupon HERE
* Use the Fancy Feast Publix coupon from HERE
*Use your Pedigree BOGO Coupon from 6/19 Newspaper!

NOTE:  Remember that you get ONE Publix item for EVERY brand item you buy!!  Use your BOGO coupon and get TWO brand items AND TWO publix items!!

Nutro $7 off Coupon

If you head over to Nutro.com and sign up for their loyalty program, they let you print out a $7/1 bag ANY SIZE dog food! They ask you to fill out a quick profile about your pets and if you put down that you have a dog AND a cat they also let you print a $5/1 cat food coupon!  You can print these twice by pressing the back button :-)

You can use these coupons at Petsmart on their smaller bag and it comes out to $1.28!!!

If you don't have a pet, please consider buying the food and donating it to a local shelter or mail them to me or give them to me if you live in Orlando so that I can use them to buy food for Pet Rescuse by Judy a local shelter I volunteer for!

Great deal at Walgreens :-)

The Walgreens sale with combined RR on the Dove products is still on until this Saturday 7/2 so hurry in to get this deal!

(2) Dove+Men 6 pack bars of soap $6 each = $12
(2) Dove womens body wash $6 each = $12
(2) Dove+Men Body wash $3.75 each = $7.50
(2) lollopops (filler items) 2/$1

Retail Price = $31.50

Sign up at walgreens.com for their newsletter and they will periodically send you $5 off a $25 purchase!
I got mine on Tuesday, just in time :-)

Here are the coupons I used:
(2) $4/1 Dove+Men Soap Bars (6 pack or larger) from 6/26 newspaper
(2) $1/1 Women's Dove Body Wash  from 6/19 newspaper
(2) $3.75 off of Dove+Men body wash wyb Women's Dove Body Wash

In the end I paid: $6.79 OOP + $5 RR = $11.79 and got back $6 RR so it was only $5.79 for everything!

AND both of the WOmen's Dove Body Washes had bonus samples attached to them :-)  Dove's products are awesome and usually pretty expensive so I'm glad I got really good body wash for a decent price :-)

Monday, June 27, 2011

Old Navy 10% off next purchase!



If any of you went to Old Navy for the $2 tankathon event, you should have received an offer on your receipt for 10% off your next purchase when you fill out a short survey about how they're doing.  Be sure to look at your receipt!

Milkbone Minis ONLY $1.50 & Milo's Treats ONLY $1.00 at Target!






Target is having a sweet little sale right now on Milkbone minis treats and Milo's Kitchen treats.  They are all 2/$5.  You can use the newest 6/26 coupons to get a sweet little deal :-)

Milo's Kitchen 3.3oz treats $2.50
- (1) $1.50 off a 3.3oz bag from 6/26 newspaper inserts
FINAL PRICE: $1.00 a bag!

Milkbone Minis $2.50 a box
- (1) $1/1 from 6/26 newspaper inserts!
 - (1) BOGO Any Milk Bone Products found HERE
FINAL PRICE: 75 cents a box!

Sale runs through 7/2 Saturday :-)

PetSupermarket Deals!


I stopped by PetSupermarket this past weekend to pick up some quick treats for my loves.  It turned out they were having a "Best Trick" contest so we figured, what the heck, let's sign up!  There was only one other person who signed up with their doggy, so we only had one competitor.  The boyfriend had been working on getting the nugget to roll over now for a couple weeks and we weren't sure if she would do it with a crowd around.  Lo and behold, she did it! And she ended up winning us a $25 gift card for best trick!! woot woot!

Needless to say, I had to get her some yummy treats and bones as her well-deserved prize.  But just because we got a free gift card didn't mean I was going to pay full price!  Here's what I got:

(3) Nylabone "Healthy Edibles"
- (3) $2/1 Any Nylabone Product found HERE
FINAL PRICE: 69 cents each!

(2) Individually Greenies Snacks
- (1) BOGO MQ received when you sign up for their newsletter
FINAL PRICE: 75 cents each!

(2) Purina Pro Plan Cans wet dog food
- (1) Purina BOGO up to $1.79 value
FINAL PRICE: 75 cents a can!

In total, I paid $6.03 for $15.01 worth of doggy treats and bones!

TRULY FREE Tylenol Precise Products!



Publix had the Tylenol Precise on sale for $4.99 making their products FREE after the manufacturer's coupon found HERE

If you didn't catch the Publix sale on time you can still get this product FREE at Walgreens!  Here's how:

Tylenol Precise $7.99
- MQ found HERE
- $3/1 Tylenol Precise Product found in Walgreens July Coupon Booklet (Found at the front of the store)

I did this deal yesterday and paid ZERO for it, not even tax!  I always thought you would at least have to pay tax but I guess not in this case making this product TRULY FREE!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Publix Trip 6/23



AWESOME spree at Publix yesterday.  Got some yummy stuff at a great price!
Here's my shopping List:

Cupcake Wine $8.49
- $2 off any chocolate or card wyb Cupcake Wine (tearpad)
FINAL PRICE: $8.49

Green & Black Organic Chocolate $2.99
- $1/1 Green and Black MQ
FINAL PRICE: FREE

(4) Alexia Appetizers BOGO @ $3.49
- (4) $1/1 Alexia Facebook coupon
FINAL PRICE: 4 for $2.98

(4) Philadelphia Cooking Creme 2/$4
- (3) $1/1 MQ from newspaper
- (1) BOGO MQ from Philadelphia website
FINAL PRICE: 4 for $3

(2) Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Pints BOGO @ $4.49
- (2) Whole Foods $1/1 Qs on their website
- (1) $1/2 MQ from newspaper
FINAL PRICE: 2 for $1.49


Raspberries & Blueberries 3/$6
FINAL PRICE: $4

Tylenol Precise Heat Patch & heat cream $4.99 each
- (2) $5/1 Precise product found HERE
FINAL PRICE: FREE

Herbal Essences Conditioner @ $2.49
- (1)  $1/1 Herbal Essences MQ from 6/19 newspaper
- (1) Winn Dixie $1/1 Q from savings booklet 
FINAL PRICE: 49 cents

Wet Ones Towelettes BOGO @ $2.59
- (1) $1/2 Wet Ones canisters
FINAL PRICE: $1.59 for both!

Pedigree Wet dog canned food 77 cents
- BOGO MQ from 6/19 newspaper
FINAL PRICE: 77 cents for two cans!

Pineapple on sale @ $2.99
- I didn't have a Q but i know there was a $1/2 dole pineapple Q floating around!  I didn't get to it quick enough :-(
FINAL PRICE: $2.99

Peaches $1.99/lb -> $3.34
FINAL PRICE: $3.34

Kettle Cooked Chips @$2.50
- $1/1 Kettle chips 6/19 newspaper
FINAL PRICE: $1.50

Boulder Chips @ $2.69
- 50 cents off peelie on bag
FINAL PRICE: $2.19

Tic Tacs @ 99 cents
- 75 cents off of 1 MQ from 6/19
FINAL PRICE: 24 cents

King's Hawaiian Bread @ 3.99
- $2/1 King's Hawaiian Bread found HERE
FINAL PRICE: $1.99

Lance Sensation Crackers 2/$4
- (2) $1/1 Lance Crackers from newspaper
FINAL PRICE: $2 for both boxes

Winn Dixie $5 off of $30 purchase from 6/19 ad!

I paid $33.83 for EVERYTHING!!

I had $40.02 in coupons and $35.45 in special store savings (BOGO and sales)

so in the end, I got $107.71 worth of groceries for ONLY $33.83!! wahoo!  

Gotta love Publix :-)

How did you do this week??

FREE Iams dog food at Target!!

Check your binders for a $3 off ANY Iams pet food bag. (Newpaper 4/17)

Target has the trial size Iams dog and cat food priced at $3.00 exactly so you can get them for FREE!!

If your dog doesn't eat Iams and you have some of these coupons, PLEASE consider buying them anyways and donating them! OR if you could mail them to me, I can buy them and donate to Pet Rescue by Judy in Sanford, Florida.  She just took in 29 pups and they need food!!  Thanks!

Newman's Own Publix Dog Food Sale!!

Newman's own 7 lb bags of dog food are on sale for $10.99! ($3 off normal price).  If you have any Newman's own coupons found on various products of theirs (I get mine from their popcorn usually).You can use this $1/1 any Newman's Own product to get a bag for only $10!

Need some Newman's Own coupons?  Try a box of their Organic popcorn! and get a good deal on it too by using the 0.50 cents off Newman's popcorn Whole Foods coupon (If your Publix accepts Whole Foods as a competitor).

I bought two bags and the deal went like this:
(2) bags Newman's Own Dog Food $10.99
(1) box Newman's Own Popcorn $2.49
- (2) $1/1 Any Newman's Own Item
- (1) 0.50 cents off Newman's Own Popcorn
FINAL PRICE: $22 for two bags of dog food and some organic popcorn!





Petsmart Biggest sale of the Year!

Petsmart is having a big sales event, "The Biggest Sale of the Year".

They have Wellness 4-6 lb bags on sale for $9.99 (small breed) and $11.99 all the others.  The seniors mix does not come in a 4-6 lb bag :-(
You can call Wellness and request coupons once a month.  They sent me TWO $5 off ANY $5+ Wellness purchase.  Also, Petsmart accepts competitors coupons (Winn, Dixie, Publix, Petsupermarket, you name it!)
Go HERE and print out some Petsupermarket coupons for $2/10.  You can get a 4lb small breed bag of wellness for only $3 OR another flavor for $5!!  sweet deal :-)

Wellness 4-6lb bags
- $5/1 Wellness Manufacturing coup
- $2/10 Petsupermarket store coup
Final Price: $3 (small breed) $5 (all others)

Don't forget to Sign up for the Wellness Newsletter to get their coupons emailed to you every month!

They also have Pedigree canned dog food on sale for 68 cents!! If you use your BOGO coupon from 6/19 newpaper, you can get TWO cans for only 68 cents!

Pedigree Canned Dog Food 68 cents
- BOGO 6/19 newspaper coupon
FINAL PRICE: 34 cents each when you buy 2

Simply Nourish is Petsmart own brand of dog food.  The ingredients are very similar to Wellness so I got some of those two for my sensitive little cairn terrier.  The cashier gave me coupons, so be sure to ask for some! You can get a sweet deal if you can get your hands on some of their coupons

Simply Nourish Dog Food 6lb bag $9.99
- $5/1 store coupon
FINAL PRICE: $5 a bag


Nylabone is offering a $2 off coupon on their website HERE
You can use these to stock up on some bones and toys for your loves :-)
Petsmart has some bones for only $2.49!! woohoo!!
Don't forget to sign up on Nylabone's website to get future coupons!

For those who feed their loves Wild Blue, Petsmart has some flyers at the entrance of the store with TWO Wild Blue coupons
1. 50 cents off any Wild Blue treats
2. Buy 5 cans Wild Blue and get one FREE!

Also all Wild Blue bags of food are $5 off!

STOCK UP!!


Anybody else spot any awesome deals I may have missed?  Post your shopping pic!!  And while you're at it, a pic of your loves too :-)

Old Navy Tankathon!! 6/24 and 6/25

If you "like" Old Navy on Facebook, they give you a coupon to be able to get the tank tops TODAY (6/24) as a preview sale @ $2 a piece.  You can also get the preview sale price if you have an Old Navy credit card.  Otherwise, the sale officially starts tomorrow for everyone else.

NOTE:  If you purchased a Groupon a few weeks back, they DO NOT let you use your groupon on the tank top sale!!!!

Monday, June 6, 2011

beansterNOSHES.................Filet Mignon, twice baked sweet potato, and tomato salad

Filet? Well, thats not a good decision for a vegetarian is it? No, you're right. Thats why I didn't eat it, but not a good reason why I can't make one for my giant-meat eating lover. So I utilized my knowledge of eating a good steak: Keep it simple, stupid. Any foodie will tell you that with a good cut of beef only needs salt and peppah (and maybe a delicious bearnaise or red wine sauce. Blue cheese, anyone?) But this weekend I wanted to keep it as light as possible with a simple seasoning. From listening to various chefs, steakhouse waiters and TV food hosts I left ample time for the salt and pepper to completely absorb into the meat (At least 30 minutes, but the longer the better.) I also believe, as many recipes online will show you, that the flavor and capabilities of kosher salt compared to regular iodized table salt are WAY better and leave the steak with a better taste. Also, remember when seasoning a pretty thick filet (ours was 8 oz and about 1.5 to 2 inches thick) to be pretty heavy handed because you are seasoning for all of that thickness and don't want it to end up bland.


So, as health conscious individuals and for the newly and still adapting vegetarian (Im not that good at it yet, and that steak looked sooooo good!!!) we needed some sides that I could keep my self occupied with. So, after reading an article on sweet potatoes and how beneficial they are-- check out sweet potato superfood-- I decided to try a twice baked sweet potato. Here is the Twice baked sweet potato recipe that I used. However, I didn't feel like waiting for the baked potatoes to cool down before scooping out the flesh, so I just mashed it all together with the other ingredients, which included one of my top 5 favorite foods cream cheese (YUM). The result was a chunky, sweet and slightly creamy textured mash that was extremely delicious! Maybe next time Ill try and do it the right way and not be so impatient. ;-)

Lastly on the menu is a tomato salad that I just kinda made up with ideas from the various types of tomato salad that I've had. 

1 8oz container of cherry tomatoes, big ones sliced in half
1 avocado, chopped
half of a red onion, chopped into big pieces
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (I eye-balled this, but am guessing I put about a tablespoon.)
salt and pepper to taste
a few squeeze of lime to keep the avocado from browning

I love tomato salad with huge chunks of mozzarella, but to keep it light I opted for the healthy fat option of avocado to get the same creaminess without the guilt of cheese. Also, the crunch from the raw red onion was absolutely necessary to give a much needed texture difference from the avocado. (This salad was actually better the next day when we took it for a picnic at the topiary gardens in Columbus, OH. An awesome landscape recreation of George Seurats A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatt. The boyfriend didn't car for the art history lesson although I love that shit, but all in all it was nice day in the park. Perfect for a sweet little picnic. Wish I had my boys though; Zylo would have LOVED it, although Razin would have thought it was boring. Where are the lizards?!)
I tossed the salad with some left over chicken for my Gimme-some-protein-body-builder. It was delicious!) Next time I would love to add some basil and maybe add some small balls of mozzarella to indulge a little! 

Yummy weekend! I love not having anything to do :)

Best wishes, 
K


Friday, June 3, 2011

beansterLOVES

The first of many to come... Our guest spot feature: RAZINsays!






Todays special topic is on doggy massage, especially important for a senior dog. Massages have been widely used for centuries, and if you wiki search and don't mind wikipedia information (come on, what time crunched college student doesn't?) you'll see just how long human kind has been enjoying its benefits. So why can't our pets reap the benefits, too? So here is a special feature where my 13 year old Razin gives his tips on keeping your senior doggy happy, healthy, calm and pain free!

Uh, hey, my name is Razin, but my friends call me Raybini. Im gonna keep it short cause there are lizards to be slayed, so here it goes. Like most of my Jack Russel friends I was NUTS in my heyday. Sprinting after cars and balls, jumping 4 feet high, licking the dry wall off in the kitchen (there was a shadow! it freaked me out), my joints and bones took more than a beating. So im an ol' geezer now and my mom keeps reminding me of all the things i shouldn't be doing, and how I need to watch my health. I hate her nagging but one thing I love is my morning massages! There is nothing worse than having to get up from my warm, cushy, fluffy bed (especially when mom lets me sleep with her. I don't get why she wont do it more often, its so warm and comfy! anyway... i digress) and having to walk outside all stiff and achy. So I LOVE when mom sweetly calls to me "Raybini time to get wake up!" cause then I know I get my rub down. She starts with kisses and an ear rub, ooohhh so good! and then gently moves over my neck and shoulders. My doc says I carry a lot of stress in my right shoulder so she is more gentle there so I don't pain from it. Slowly and softly she runs her hands all along my back and legs and I can feel myself warming up. I think she must have read a few words on massage, cause man is it good! Maybe she checked out this article and watched a video or two, like this Youtube video on dog massage. After a few minutes of lovin' I am ready to go! Lizards, here I come!!! 13 years and I still get chills from the chase! 

So, Razin says: massages... 2 paws up!

Massage helps stimulate blood flow and lymphatic fluid, which may help with swelling and more effective immune response. Also, for doggies with cardiovascular problems (ie. blood pressure, enlarged hearts and atherosclerosis) it can help the blood flow more easily, allowing for less strain on the heart! Sounds good to me! Also, we humans get massages for relaxation and as treats for our hard work so massages work great for those same reasons on doggies! So read up on how to make your doggy more relaxed, calm, and ready for the day and give a gentle doggy massage!



Best wishes, 
K

Andy the Android

Ever since I started to crochet, I kept wanting to make something for the boyfriend.... anything really.  I just didn't want to commit myself to making a sweater or something that would take me forever (and I don't think my attention span is long enough anyways) or something that would later get accidentally put in the wash and get ruined or even worse... something he wouldn't use!  *GASP*  It would truly suck to spend that much time on something just for it to sit around gathering dust bunnies...

Anywho, lately he's gotten into the Android OS for mobile phones.   He must have tried out every single version, flashed a bazillion ROMs, and hacked about 5 different models of phones.  I did notice that the one thing he seemed to be most excited about was when he would find a picture of the classic Android vs Apple battle.  This is the exact picture that brings oh so much joy to his little heart...

and then the best idea ever struck!!  I decided to crochet him a little Android man.... the boyfriend then uniquely named him "Andy" the android.

Voila!


The pattern is not mine and all the credit in the world goes to Brittany J. Jackson who made this awesome pattern and then posted it on ravelry.com for all to enjoy!  You can find her free pattern for this awesome little android man HERE.

I have to say... best boyfriend gift ever!!

Jackpot at Target!!

wahoooo!! Went to Target and I got what may be the best deal everrrrrr!


Target currently has a deal going on where you get a $5 target gift card when you buy any 2 banana boat products.  I planned on getting two bottles of Aloe after sun lotion for $4.99 a piece so that I would get one free but lo and behold when I walked down the aisle, they had banana boat chap sticks on clearance for $1.77 and it had a sign that said it qualified for the $5 gift card!

Here's my shopping list:
  1. (1) Banana Boat Aloe after sun lotion @ $4.99
  2. (5) Banana Boat SPF 50 chap stick @ $1.77
With 3 sets of 2 Banana Boat products, I paid $3. 26 and got a $5 gift card!! Sooo Target pretty much paid me to get these lovely products off of their hands :-)  Just in time for summer!!


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Hola! Me llamo Kristina...

Bienvenidos!


 Don't worry, I will not write in spanish for the rest of my posts because I can't speak it all that well, but I thought it would be fun to introduce myself that way. One of my favorite friends already gave introduction explaining how we met and what our blog is all about, but I thought I would say a little bit about me. 


I am young in years, but old in heart. I love cooking for others, crafting, the outdoors and my dogs! I have two amazing, special, lovable and oh so fucking cute jack russel terriers. They are senior citizens so we are especially cautious on their doggy food and exercise. Unfortunately at this time I am pretending to be Ms. Busy-Jet-Setter and have been flying around the country visiting family, my boyfriend of seven years (Yes, your read it right; seven years. We met when I was 15... creepy, huh?) and vacationing so my boys are with their uncle Jon, living it up college style in Orlando. I miss them like crazy, but am passing the time looking around online to learn more on keeping them healthy and happy, while spending my few moments of spare time crafting, shopping and preparing. 


Preparing for what, you may ask? Well... after studying my ass off for four years, I finally made into a great medical school and will be moving away to start another four years of absorbing a crazy amount of DETAILED information so that I can maybe help someone someday. Eh, who knows. I'll keep you posted on how that works out. ;-) 


Anywho... Razin and Zylo are the canine loves of my life so a lot of my post will be surrounded around them. 


So, so far you know that I am a medical student with two dogs, and that I have healthy appetite for curse words. I am going to apologize now if it offends you, but I also must warn you that when I get excited and passionate, which I do so on a daily basis, I tend to curse. And since this is a blog on our likes, dislikes, hobbies and tips, I figured what better way to know us than to read our blog and actually hear us saying this stuff out loud as in a conversation-- which includes my fucking disgusting vocabulary. I am working on expanding my knowledge of the English language so that these words don't come out, because I do agree that swearing is a form of vocabulary ignorance, BUT in the meantime you will have to suffer because I love me some filthy words!


Stay tuned on upcoming posts on relocating pets to a new area, awesome shopping websites for brand name goods on a college budget, super CUTE crochet projects ( a purple elephant named Lola, loopy bright pillow, and chunky throw blankets and AWESOME thigh high leg warmers), my new obsessions (including some authors, tea and essential oils... you'll see) and missing my bestie, Brendy!


Best wishes,


K

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Publix Trip 5/31

The publix trip yesterday was pretty sweet.  I got a good variety of things for the house without spending that much. 
Here is my shopping list:
  1. (3) Dreamfields Pasta boxes (ON SALE @ 3/$5)
  2. (2) Zone Perfect Energy Bars (ON SALE @ 10 for $10)
  3. (2) Right Guard Mens Deoderant (ON SALE @$1.95)
  4. (2) Johnson & Johnson Red Cross Gauze products ($1.99)
  5. (1) Breakstone's 4 pack cottage cheese (ON SALE @ 2 for $4)
  6. (2) Lysol no touch hand soap system ($11.99)
  7. (1) Air wick scent releaser (ON SALE @ $5.99)
  8. (2) Athenos Yogurt (ON SALE @ 10 for $10)
  9. (1) Combat insect killer ($4.69)
Here are the coupons I used:
  • (3) $1/1 Dreamfields Pasta (http://www.trydreamfields.com/facebook/)
  • (2) 0.55/1 zone perfect single bar or box (sunday newspaper)
  • (2) $1/1 Right Guard Deoderant (Target.com printable)
  • (1) $3/1 (ACD in store coupon)
  • (1) $1/1 Breakstone 4-pack cottage cheese (sunday newspaper)
  • (1) BOGO free Publix coupon for Lysol no touch hand soap system (summer savings coupon book at the front of the store)
  • (2) $3/1 Lysol no touch hand soap system
  • (1) $4/1 Air wick scent dispenser starter system (http://www.airwick.com/)
  • (1) 0.75/2 Athenos Yogurts
  • (1) $3/1 Combat Product Publix coupon (summer savings coupon book at the front of the store)
  • (1) $2/1  Combat product
I had initially gone to the store to pick up the Lysol soap systems, combat,  the dreamfields pasta and the BOGO OFF! clip on offer but they were out of clip-ons!  Everything else I noticed was on sale while walking up and down the aisles and realized I had coupons for them!  Not too shabby....

In the end, I paid with $37.85 in coupons and $18.33 out of pocket including tax.  67% savings!  I don't factor in the sale price when I calculate my savings because anyone can get the sale price by simply walking into the store...I think the cool part is using the coupons to get the price even lower.

The "nuggets" story and 5/30 & 5/31 Petsmart Shopping Trip

This memorial day I was lucky enough to have Monday off of work!  I was finally able to get out and do a little stockpiling for my little "nugget".  Shelby is my long haired dachshund/cairn terrier mix that my boyfriend adopted for me for my birthday in August.  We call her nugget since she's small and has golden hair...much like a golden nugget...may sound weird  but if you met her, you would see how nugget perfectly depicts her very being!



We first met Shelby at a Petsmart adoption event hosted by the Inverness Animal Shelter.  She was so quiet and friendly, we thought she was perfect!  When we first got Shelby around 8 months ago, we brought her home from the shelter and she was too calm... she would just lay on the couch doing nothing, dozing off all day, and then rolling up into a ball, I knew something was wrong.  Long story short, after a loooong weekend taking care of her, it turned out she had intestinal worms! Poor thing didn't eat or drink water and I was forced to give her Pedialyte because I was so nervous about her getting dehydrated.  We called the shelter to see if they had any advice on how to deal with the situation. They told us to bring her back and that they would give her all the medicine she needed and wouldn't charge us.  At this point, I wouldn't have cared if they charged us, I just wanted her to get better! After 3 shots, some wet food (which she ate right up!), and two weeks worth of medicine to give her, she was as good as new!  Although many dogs have suffered from worms before (and they're easy to get rid of by the way!) and the majority of dogs have a small amount of worms present in their body (their immune system is able to keep it under control to the point where it doesn't hurt them), the nugget seemed to be extra sensitive when it came to digestive issues.

Now, don't get me wrong... I LOVE a good deal, but a lot of times, I have seen couponers that simply buy what is cheap without really considering the quality of what they're buying.  I love to get a good deal on things that are not (for lack of a better word) complete and utter shit.  After going through finding every way possible to trick the nugget into taking her 2 weeks of medication, I swore I would nourish her well to get her into her tip-top shape.  And so my quest began to find the nugget a decent doggy food.  After going through about 5 different brands, I FINALLY found a brand she loved AND it was NOT complete crap! (insert happy dance here)  We found the Wellness brand of dog food and it is AWESOME!  We bought her the small breed variety and she loved it!  She literally ate it down in 15 seconds flat... it's not necessarily good that she ate it so damn fast but it was good that she loved it that much!  At the shelter we had gotten the nugget from, she was fed wet food.  Wet food is 10x more palatable for pets due to the high moisture content in the food compared to dry kibble.  So after seeing her sniff the other brands and walk away only to return and eat her dinner when she was absolutely starving, it was nice to see her eat the Wellness on her own free will :-)

Along with quality usually comes a higher price tag, this is where the couponing comes in, woot woot!  A lot of people buy the crappy brands of dog food simply because they can't justify or just can't afford spending 3x more on the better brands which I completely understand.  Being an engineering student with all sorts of bills to pay in addition to tuition and books and only an internship as an income source, I definitely didn't have the extra cash to pay for the higher quality doggy foods.  After some research, I found some great deals for the nugget!

My goal was to stockpile enough doggy food to last the rest of the year.  The nugget eats about 5 lbs of food a month which is typically the size of the smaller doggy food bags, so I decided my goal was to attain around 6-7 small bags with an expiration date of sometime in 2012.  Mission accomplished!!

At Petsmart, they are having a sale (May 22nd - June 19th 2011) and included in the sale is Wellness and also Petsmart's own new brand of food called Simply Nourish.  There is also this new organic and all natural line of doggy food by Castor & Pollux that I had heard about and found some coupons to try it out.
Here is my shopping list: 5/31
  1. Adult lamb Simply Nourish 6lb bag (1 @ $9.99 ON SALE!!)
  2. Adult chicken Simply Nourish 6lb bag (2 @ $9.99 ON SALE!!)
  3. Castor & Pollux Ultramix chicken 5.5lb bag (1 @ $13.99)
  4. Castor & Pollux Ultramix lamb 5.5lb bag (1 @ $13.99)
  5. Nylabone Dog Toy (1 @ $2.99)
Coupons I used:
  • (3) $5/1 any Simply Nourish dog food bag 
    • I asked a sales associate for coupons and he gave them to me, make sure you ask them too!
  • (2) $10/1 any Castor & Pollux Organix or Ultramix dog food 
    • Castor & Pollux posted 5,000 free coupons on bricks.coupons available for print until they ran out- limit 2 prints per computer
  • (1) $2/1 Nylabone puppy toy 
    • Get Nylabone Coupon HERE
  • (1) $2/10 PetSupermarket printable coupon
    • Sign up on the PetSupermarket website to get their newsletter- Petsmart accepts competitor's coupons!  I forgot to use this one but you can use it when you go!
In the end, I paid $37 with coupons and $28.16 out of pocket for 27lbs of high quality dog food and 1 Nylabone puppy toy!



Here is my shopping list: 5/30
  1.  Wellness Super5Mix 6lb bag (2 @ $11.99 ON SALE!!)
  2. Simply Nourish adult dog food (2 @ $9.99 ON SALE!!)
  3. Wellness 13.5oz canned dog food (6 @ $2.39)
Coupons I used:
  • (2) $3/1 Wellness bag of dog food
    • mambosprouts.com
    • Also sign up for the Wellness newsletter for special offers HERE  
  • (2) Petsmart Coupon- Buy a 4-6lb bag of Wellness and get 3 free cans (tearpad- exp: 5/30)
  • (2) $5/1 Simply Nourish Petsmart Coupons
  • (1) $2/10 PetSupermarket printable coupon
In the end, I paid $33 with coupons and  $19.36 out of pocket for 24lbs of dog kibble and 6 cans of wet food!



Total Outcome: 51 lbs of dog kibble, 6 cans of dog food (13.5 oz) and 1 nylabone dog treat for a grand total of (drumroll please...) $47.52!!

That's enough to feed my nugget for the rest of the year and these bags don't expire until April 2012!  Success!

Now I realize that many of you have much bigger dogs and I'm sure they would eat through this stockpile super quick and may still opt to buy a cheaper brand... keep in mind the quality of the food!  Read the ingredients....some of the ingredients of the cheaper brands may scare you.  I think of the cheaper foods as junk food.  I'm sure it tastes delicious (anything with more fat is always yummier, i have to agree) but I wouldn't want to feed my dog junk food every day.  Anything in moderation should be ok :-)