Feeding the pup

Our 2 1/2 year old mutt eats dog food that is about $25 a bag pricier than what our older dog eats. We originally tried him on the same food (Purina One) that our older dog has no problems eating and always has a nice soft shiny coat. He was just itchy all the time so the vet suggested trying a different food and we went with the more natural Blue Buffalo

A 30 pound bag costs about $55 at either Petco or Petsmart. They aren't sold at stores like Walmart or Target. Occasionally, they are on sale at about $5 off a bag. Unfortunately, when I need a bag, it's hit or miss whether it's on sale and in the past I have never had enough money in the monthly budget to buy 2 bags at the same time. Even though I could go buy 2 bags right now, I still have a hard time doing that. I don't know why. I guess I have a hard time forking out over $100 at one time for dog food. LOL. I always just hope I'll find it on sale and/or have a coupon at one of the stores when I need it.

I am trying to plan ahead for it more now, though.  I'm on the email list for both pet stores to watch for sales and coupons. I just received a $5 off $50 purchase coupon in an email from Petco. A new bag of dog food will need to be purchased within about a weeks time.

To plan ahead I went to my favorite discounted e-gift card site Giftcardzen.com.  While Petsmart is the closer store to me, their discounted cards are usually only 11-12% off.  I just bought a printable discounted Petco card for 17% off. I purchased it with my rewards debit card, saving me another 1%.

The food not on sale at this time, but with my $5 off coupon and discounted gift card and cash back reward I managed to get a $55 bag of dog food for $41, a total savings of over 25% off the price of the food. I love those discounted gift cards!