But a couponer? Maybe.
It all started when I watched Extreme Couponing on TLC. Did you see that show? It was absolutely insane how much of a stockpile these people had. Oops I used a couponing term. A stockpile is the items you have stocked up. Pretty easy huh? So if that doesn’t convince you that I’m taking this couponing thing seriously take my last two trips to the grocery store. They would must likely leave you thinking that I have in fact become a couponer.
I’ve tried this before. When I was pregnant with Mason I signed up for the grocery game {?} I think that’s what it’s called but I never did it. I was switching back and forth too much between New York and Virginia to keep up with what I needed to do.
It SOUNDS like a lot of hard work and sometimes it FEELS like a lot of work but it’s really not. Thanks to so many bloggers out there, Coupon Teacher, Madame Deals , Single Mom on a Budget and Southern Savers, just to name a few I don’t actually have to do any sort of work. I just clip my coupons and wait for their amazing lists that tell me what the coupon match-ups are and what I should buy.
I clip ALL the coupons [unless I know I won’t need it for sure even if it ends up being free] and then I put them in my binder. Let me not fool you. My binder doesn’t have the baseball sleeves. It is not all organized but it’s a binder/folder sort of thing and I have envelopes in there arranging them by expiration date. And a set of coupons from this Sunday that I just have in one of the folders. As you can see I’m struggling with the best way to organize my coupons. I’ve started my price list. Which essentially tells me what the lowest price I’ve paid for an item is. I can use this to double check if I’m getting the rock bottom deal!
My first trip was to a store that doubled coupons. It took me no time at all to grab all the items I needed. Thanks to the list I had found at the various bloggers listed above I already knew what was on sale and what I needed to get. In addition to the paper coupons I had, I also had some electronic coupons loaded onto my card. What I didn’t realize is that they apply first so I had to split everything into two separate purchases. Items with coupons loaded onto my card and items with paper coupons. Another way I could have avoided doing this was by taking off any coupons I had loaded onto my card that I had a BETTER paper coupon for. This would have been much easier and next time I will do this! Anyway in the confusion I dropped my gift card that I was paying for and a thief customer picked it up. I doubt they thought it was theirs but they walked out with it anyway. It was a fiasco because it was how I was paying for the groceries, it was 75 dollars. And I balled. The store taking pity on my poor soul ended up replacing the cash gift card with a 75 dollar gift card to the store. But that’s a whole different story and alls well that ends well.
Using my coupons on the card and some paper coupons from my 12/26 Proctor and Gamble coupon insert I got:
8 Regular Rolls Bounty Paper Towels
12 Double Rolls Charmin Toilet Paper {paid 2.51}
Dawn Dish Detergent
Herbal Essences Shampoo {small bottle}
Herbal Essences Hair Styler
Old Spice Deodorant
Old Spice Body Wash
All for $14.96
I saved $9.63 in Manufacturer’s Coupons and 8.39 using my Kroger Plus Savings.
Upon doing this post I noticed that my fiasco cost me some money. I could have saved another FOUR dollars if I had purchased one more Proctor and Gamble items. And I’m pretty annoyed. But with a total savings of $18.02 I guess I can’t be two annoyed. Well I can and I am. UGHHHH Now I’m wishing I didn’t do this post! Something I thought I paid 50 cents for I actually didn’t and if I knew that I never would have gotten it. UGHHH. I’m just super annoyed because the bottom line is with the whole situation they were super rude and I was so upset and flustered. I digress.
I took another trip to a different store today because they had a good deal on Whole Wheat and Garden Delight pasta. We needed pasta and I had coupons so off I went.
A Coupon Blog I Am Not
For EVERYTHING in this picture I used a coupon!
Pasta was on sale 5 for $5 at Food Lion this deal is STILL going on and you can print the coupons I used here. I bought six because I had three $1/2 coupons. Two for Healthy Harvest and one for Garden Delight I would have bought more if Healthy Taste had been apart of the deal. I paid 50 cents for each box. WHOLE WHEAT pasta. 50 cents.
I printed a coffeemate coupon here, in hopes that they would have a sale on the seasonal creamers. We use creamer with every cup of coffee in lieu of sugar. The seasonal creamers were on sale 2 for 3. I had a dollar off coupon so it turned it to 2 for 2. I paid a dollar for each! They’re usually 2.59 if I remember correctly! I’ve never tried this flavor but I figured for the price it was worth a shot!
This next purchase I struggled with a little. The LAST thing I want to do is spend money on something I don’t usually buy. The other two items I buy and use so it was a no brainer for me. But I don’t usually buy Special K cereal. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just don’t usually buy it. With that being said they were on sale 2/$5 and I had a coupon for $1/2 so I decided that for $2.00/box of cereal it was worth it. We didn’t have any cereal in the house and needed something quick and relatively healthy to eat for breakfast and it was healthier and cheaper than a lot of the store brand cereals so I decided that it was worth it.
I bought everything in the above picture for $9.35 cents
I saved $6.72 using my MVP Card and I saved $5.00 using my coupons for a total of $11.72! That’s more money than I spent!
All in all I’m going to stick with this couponing thing! It’s been good to me so far!
Did you see extreme couponing? What did you think?
Did you/Do you coupon? What have your experiences been like?
New to it like me? I’d love to hear what you saved!
Facebook Comments
Crazy Daisy says
I love the idea of couponing, and have tried with some success. i just find I'm not organized enough, or something.
Coupon Teacher says
You are too cute! I actually started out on the Grocery Game way back. Of course, I make my own lists now. Keep it up! It is fun to see someone who is so excited.
Jill @ Single Mom on a Budget says
Nice job!
Annie says
Wow that is awesome! I really want to start doing this too. One problem – I don't get a newspaper that has coupons in it. I guess I could search online for coupons, but that is what has held me back…not having paper coupons. But with all these stories like yours I really wonder why I am not just doing it. Great job!
Katy at Put Your Big Girl Panties On & Deal With It says
I just found your blog through a CD blog and I had to leave a comment because I LOVE coupons. I might even be obsessed. Not that I save ridiculous amounts of money-but we do save a lot. I go to all of the sites you mentioned above, but I also go to dealwisemommy.net because she lists the printable coupons from the internet. I also go to coupons.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com every Monday because they usually update their coupons to reflect what was in the Sunday circular. For instance, my cats will only eat one brand of food. Picky, I know. This brand is NEVER on sale. But, they put coupons out frequently. So, if there's a coupon in Sunday's paper, there is usually one I can print Monday morning and that makes for one happy couponing girl 🙂
(I also have the couponizer-it was $20, but worth every penny! Good luck couponing!)
Katy at Put Your Big Girl Panties On & Deal With It says
I just found your blog through a CD blog and I had to leave a comment because I LOVE coupons. I might even be obsessed. Not that I save ridiculous amounts of money-but we do save a lot. I go to all of the sites you mentioned above, but I also go to dealwisemommy.net because she lists the printable coupons from the internet. I also go to coupons.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com every Monday because they usually update their coupons to reflect what was in the Sunday circular. For instance, my cats will only eat one brand of food. Picky, I know. This brand is NEVER on sale. But, they put coupons out frequently. So, if there's a coupon in Sunday's paper, there is usually one I can print Monday morning and that makes for one happy couponing girl 🙂
(I also have the couponizer-it was $20, but worth every penny! Good luck couponing!)
Katy at Put Your Big Girl Panties On & Deal With It says
I just found your blog through a CD blog and I had to leave a comment because I LOVE coupons. I might even be obsessed. Not that I save ridiculous amounts of money-but we do save a lot. I go to all of the sites you mentioned above, but I also go to dealwisemommy.net because she lists the printable coupons from the internet. I also go to coupons.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com every Monday because they usually update their coupons to reflect what was in the Sunday circular. For instance, my cats will only eat one brand of food. Picky, I know. This brand is NEVER on sale. But, they put coupons out frequently. So, if there's a coupon in Sunday's paper, there is usually one I can print Monday morning and that makes for one happy couponing girl 🙂
(I also have the couponizer-it was $20, but worth every penny! Good luck couponing!)
Katy at Put Your Big Girl Panties On & Deal With It says
I just found your blog through a CD blog and I had to leave a comment because I LOVE coupons. I might even be obsessed. Not that I save ridiculous amounts of money-but we do save a lot. I go to all of the sites you mentioned above, but I also go to dealwisemommy.net because she lists the printable coupons from the internet. I also go to coupons.com, smartsource.com and redplum.com every Monday because they usually update their coupons to reflect what was in the Sunday circular. For instance, my cats will only eat one brand of food. Picky, I know. This brand is NEVER on sale. But, they put coupons out frequently. So, if there's a coupon in Sunday's paper, there is usually one I can print Monday morning and that makes for one happy couponing girl 🙂
(I also have the couponizer-it was $20, but worth every penny! Good luck couponing!)
Avery Q. Poner says
If you use your BOGO Special K Cereal coupon with your $1Q your oop for the cereals will be $.75 for each box. Great Job!
Avery Q. Poner says
If you purchase your Special K Cereals at Walgreens this week you will pay oop $.25 for the cereal.
Christa says
🙁 We don't have a walgreens! What's $1Q? I hope you see this 🙂