Monday, March 28, 2011

A Shopping We Will Go!

I was out of town for part of last week, so I didn't do much shopping.  The nice thing was that I didn't need to!  I already have some stuff stocked up, so we didn't need to hit the stores!

Wally World: I hit Wally's yesterday.  I needed some stuff that I didn't have coupons for.  So, the majority of my shopping was non-coupon.  HATE THAT!  But, the stuff that I did have coupons for ended up saving me 23% overall on my purchases.  Not huge, but so much better than full price!  This also included my newspapers for this week.  My total $69.50 my coupons $15.66 total paid $53.84. 

Walgreens:  I had some RR I needed to get used up at Wag's before they expired.  So, I hit their ad.  It was a great ad, unfortunately for me, my Wag's was out of A LOT of the stuff I was after :(  BUMMER!  Anyway, I still saved $32.70 and got $2 more in RR.  So, it was a 61% savings on my bill overall.  Gotta LOVE that!

My FAVORITE store was Target today.  They FINALLY had my Excedrin.  I have been carrying around those coupons for WEEKS!  Their Excedrin has been out of stock, but not today!!!  They actually paid me .36 cents to take that Excedrin out of the store!  WOW!  Overall, my total was $17.87.  My coupons totaled $14.84.  Total paid? $3.03.  That was an 85% savings!!!!  I left the store with two full-sized bottles of Aussie hairspray and 3 full-sized boxes of Excedrin for $3.03.  LOVED IT! :)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Target Fun!

I had a few Target store coupons that were going to expire next week and since most of them could be stacked with some manufactures coupons I wanted to get them used up.  So, I headed over to Target when I was out and about on my other errands.

I ended up with 2 free dental floss, free shampoo, free conditioner, .50 cent deordorant, and .39 cent mouth wash.  If I hadn't added some of the other stuff I needed that didn't have coupons, I would have been basically getting my stuff for free today.

Even though I had to get some other stuff, I still ended up saving 54% today :)  Can't complain about that! 

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Another Shop :)

Am I getting addicted to shopping???  Perhaps!  I had a craving for homemade granola yesterday.  I decided to go and buy the stuff to make it (even though I didn't have any coupons for ANY of the ingredients, GASP!).  I ran to Wally World to get the stuff because I did have some coupons for free cat food, and a couple of other things.  I decided to kill two birds with one stone and get all the stuff while I was there :)

I ended up spending $26.28, but I had $17.71 in coupons.  On top of that, I bought the two items I needed for the All You $10 Wally Gift Card with purchase of Frosted Flakes (which I had a coupon for!).  So, I ended up with a 52% savings even though I had NO coupons for my granola items :)

Not too shabby!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Walgreens Register Rewards

Lesson learned.  I am new to the whole couponing thing and I have only hit Walgreens twice.  While I have scored some pretty awesome deals, I just learned my first lesson on Register Rewards.

I was buying razors and had a $5 off coupon.  I should have received and additional $4 in Register Rewards, making the razors FREE!  Well, they didn't print out :(  I still got an amazing deal because the razors were on sale and then I had $5 off.  So, I only paid $2.99 for them.

I came home and figured out what messed them up.  I used a $4 off Register Rewards from PG and in doing so, that canceled out my new Register Rewards from printing because my razors were a PG product.  UGH!  Lesson learned.  Oh well.  I will try not to let that happen again :)

My total: $54.54.  My coupons $44.86.  My total paid? $13.68.  That is a 77% savings!  Can't complain about that!  And I learned a valuable lesson about Register Rewards :)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Kroger & Walgreens

Today was my first time trying out coupons at Kroger and Walgreens.  It was pretty successful (not to mention fun!)!!!

Kroger has a HOT, HOT, HOT ad this week!!!   I purchased $188.48 in groceries, but I only paid $79.70.  That's a 58% savings!!!

I tried my first coupon shop at Walgreens.  I was a little bit nervous.  I have heard so many different things about couponing there.  They were out of a lot of the stuff I wanted, but I still ended up getting some of my stuff.  I purchased $28.22 worth of products, paid $13.23 (after coupons), then got $9.00 in Register Rewards.  Which puts me at an 85% savings!!!

No wonder couponing can be so addictive!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Monday Savings!

Today was fun!  I found some really good buys and I am starting to get my stash of supplies built up.  I now have toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, floss, shampoo, face wash, ibuprofen, and other various supplies on a shelf and ready to rotate!  The best part?  Many of them have been FREE with my coupons.  Others have been around .25 cents. . .the others, all WELL under $1.00.

My fun finds today???  Albertsons: 45% savings ($46.73 in coupons).  Target: 63% savings ($19.66 in coupons).  Walmart: 80% savings ($8.00 in coupons)!  I spent a total of about $71.00 today and my entire trunk was packed FULL of stuff!  It was very satisfying!!!  LOVED every minute of it :)

Friday, March 11, 2011

Dog Food Savings!

I had a coupon for $10 off of the dog food we buy for our dog at Costco.  On top of that, I have a rebate for a dog food purchase.  Since the coupon wasn't a manufactures coupon, but rather a store coupon, I am curious to see if I get the full price on the mail in rebate, or the price less the store coupon.

Either way, it is a FREE 50lb bag of dog food.  It may even be that I made $10.00 purchasing the 50lb bag.  Can't wait to find out in a few weeks!!!  I will post with the rebate info when it comes :)

+ $10.00 added to my coupon total today!  :D

Thursday, March 10, 2011

First Grocery Shop w/Coupons!

Okay, so I ventured out to the grocery store to try my hand at some coupon savings!  It went pretty well.  My first stop was at Albertsons.  I spent $35.89 and saved $41.64 with my coupons.  So, that shop was a savings of 54%!  Wahoo!

The next day, Albertsons had a two-day ad that came out, so I went back with my coupons.  I spent $47.61 and saved $41.86.  That was a 47% savings!

I popped by Target on my way home and spent $26.53, but saved $23.51 + I got a $5.00 gift card, so my total saved was $28.51!  Total savings: 57%!  WOW!

Last, I stopped by Wal Mart so that I could get some make-up.  I saved $9.00 off my total, but for some reason, I didn't get home with my receipt, so I don't have a total savings!  At least I know I saved $9.00!

Can't wait to see what savings I can find this week!!!  :) 

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Another Freebie!

I have been carrying around a coupon for a free box of Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches for about 4 months now.  I FINALLY remembered to use it last night!!!

YES!  FREE dessert after Sunday dinner!!!  COST?  $5.99  For me?  FREE!

This coupon purchase puts me in the black from the costs I incurred from starting this whole process.  YES!  In only 4 different small shops, I earned my money back!!!

$4.37 (in the red)
$5.99 coupon

+$1.62 in the BLACK!  YIPPEEEE!

Friday, March 4, 2011

My FIRST FREEBIES!

Today I had my first experience of getting stuff for free.  Actually, I was surprised, because I actually made .03 cents twice, for a total of +.06 cents!  WOOT!  I bought two Reach dental floss.  They were .97 cents each and the register took $1.00 off for each.  YAY! 

I also scored four free boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars!!!  :)  At Target, I saved 81% off my total.  The guy behind me turned to his wife and said, "Did you see that???  WE need to start doing that!".   I just smiled to myself :)

I am not going to lie, the cashier seemed irritated by me, but oh well, it is her job, right?  I can see why some couponers say you need to do "cashier profiling" when you go to check out! 

At WalMart, I was able to get some mascara for my daughter for .79 cents and some more free dental floss. 

Oh!  AND today I finally went and got my Kroger rewards card!!!  Now I can take advantage of some of those GREAT savings that Kroger stores have!

So, with what I spent to get started, I am now only $4.37 in the red.  SO CLOSE to being in the black with only a FEW SMALL shops this week!!! 

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Target Finds!

So, today I headed to Target to get some of my deals.  They are still out of Excedrin and they were out of the ibuprofen that ends up being free with the coupon.  I will keep checking back though.  I won't give up hope.  There is still a while before the coupons expire :)

Another lesson learned today. . .DON'T FORGET TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL YOUR COUPONS BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE!  I had the coupons I needed to get the free granola bars, but guess what???  I left them sitting on my desk!  DARN!  Oh well, I wasn't actually going out of my way to go to the store, I just popped in on my way home from school.  Now I see why most ladies carry their coupon binder in their car at all times!  Lesson learned.

I still had some success today. I bought another 3 pack of my favorite gum, Q-Tips, and some apricot face scrub, using my coupons that I did have with me :)

Total?  $3.66 for all three items.  A savings of 41%!!!  YES!  :)  Still not free, but SO much better than paying full price!  With today's savings I am down to only being $16.57 in the red!  YES!