Coupons

Lori asked how I managed to save $105 on my groceries a few weeks ago. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures so I'm back to my coupon clipping -- only this time I'm becoming a coupon connoisseur and have boned up on how this stuff works.

The week in question was triple coupon week at Harris Tee*ter. Every coupon up to $.99 was tripled. In addition, their boneless skinless chicken breasts were buy one package, get two free. I saved $24 there as I bought two ($12) and got four ($24) free. It freezes great.

On this shopping trip, however, I only bought things that I 1) needed and 2) had a coupon that could be tripled, and 3) I couldn't get less expensively somewhere else. We bought things like paper towels, rice packets, juice, yogurt, butter, biscuits -- all kinds of things. In the end, we spent right at $111 (for over $200 of groceries) as we had close to $71 in coupons (remember, they were tripled, so really I had about $23) and the $24 we saved on the chicken. It was unbelievable the amount of stuff we got. I bought only a couple of things (some produce) that I didn't have a coupon for. Since they only take 20 coupons at a time, this was spread over two trips (and one with two kids in tow if you can believe it).

Kroger and Walmart double coupons. Harris Teeter doubles coupons. I watch several websites for deals each week on what is on sale and what newspaper coupons are associated with them. I am also a CVS ECB (extra cash back) fan and try to stock up on things when they are basically free or only a few dollars. We may never need razors, shampoo, conditioner or toothpaste again because I've gotten so many that are free. For example, say the shampoo is on sale for 2/$4 at CVS and you get $3 in ECBS (coupons of "free money" to use on your next trip), and you have a $1 off coupon (or even better 2 - $1 off coupons), you can get the product for free or even make some money on it.

When I get ready to buy things, I search the internet quickly to see if there is a coupon that I can print out. Dog and cat food are big ticket items that I work hard to find coupons for. I want to never have to buy either of those without a coupon of some sort. Last week I did an online survey for $3.50 off the kind of dry dog food we use. I'll get Kevin to do the same survey so we can get a $3.50 coupon off for the cat food. That's $7 in MY pocket that I would normally have spent.

I have some friends that we trade coupons or I give my "leftover" coupons that I won't use. Fortunately, most of my friends don't have babies in diapers so I can usually get some Pamp*rs coupons and some wipes coupons, which helps a lot -- especially when I can find them on sale. This week, Targ*t sent out store coupons for wipes ($1.50 off) AND I had a manufacturer's coupon ($1.00) and so I used them both on one large refill pack since there were no restrictions on that.

Is it work? Yes, a little, but well worth the cost savings for our family. I carry our coupon folder with me in the car. Everyone knows that if we are out and going to need something I will likely have a coupon for it. It all adds up!

And that -- in a loooonnnnnggg story -- is how I saved $105 on groceries!