Run, Don't Walk, To This Sale!

Last year, I successfully hoarded an entire years worth of supplies for my family in a relatively short span of time. Over the past twelve months, I have only purchased perishables, meat, and produce. Its been amazing how much money I have saved with couponing. After my extended break, I recently returned to couponing. I must say that I have exceeded my savings from last year and my storage is already replenished. The most recent sale at Smiths is to great to pass up. I thought I would post a picture and list of what I got with my total amount spent and saved. If you would like to shop this sale, then check out the PYP Grocery Smarts website where you can get the detailed list of what's on sale and what coupons to pair it with. I also frequent this forum to better prepare for unadvertised sales and where to find the coupons to pair with those deals. I was also inspired by the PYP blog post about this sale that is found here. Its amazing to me that little tiny pieces of paper paired with the right sale equal major savings! Its highly addicting and gratifying being a couponista!

Smith Mega Sale Nov3-10 Save $5 for every 10 particpating items that you buy

4 Colgate toothpastes

2 Danimal crush cup yogurts

8 Jell-O puddings

2 Toll House Cookie Doughs

2 lbs grated cheese

4 Pepperidge Farm cookies

1 Yoplait frozen smoothie mix

4 Nestle Hot Chocolate Mix

6 Heinz Home-style Gravy

16 32 oz Gatorade

5 Quantum Finish Powerball Dishwasher Detergents

4 Krusteaz Cookie Mixes

2 Stove Top Stuffing Mixes

2 Swanson’s Broth Cartons

10 Cans Swanson's Broth

4 Cans Carnation Evaporated Milk

6 Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup

12 Campbell’s Healthy Select Soup

My total before sales and coupons was $163.13. After sales promos and coupons, I spent only $64.39. I saved a total of $98.74! The amount that I saved on this sale alone has paid for my newspaper subscriptions. I purchased 94 items and so that's like paying .69 cents per item. I seriously heart couponing and I am proud to be a food hoarder.

The Couponista Strikes Again

My husband has given me an apply well deserved new nickname, it is the Couponista. I am an obsessed coupon bargain hunting mama that has been couponing now for about 6 weeks and I am LOVING all of the amazing crazy deals that I have been scoring. Here is my latest conquests.

I shopped from three different stores, Albertson's, Smith's Marketplace and Lee's. All of these groceries would have cost me: $196.63
But I only spent $ 82.21 OOP (Out of pocket)
Here are some of the amazing deals I scored in detail.

These cereals were on sale for $2.50 so 4 for $10 however if you bought them in quantities of four you were given an instant discount of $4 so that makes it 4 boxes for $6 and I used 2 coupons that were $1 off of 2 which gave me another discount of $2 bringing my total down to $4. I added the $1 Easy Mac to bring my total to $5 so that I could use a $5 catalina or coupon from a sale from last week. So my actually total for this order of 4 boxes and one Easy Mac was...only .21 cents!! You read that correctly .21 and I was also given a $3 catalina to use on my next purchase and so this was what we couponers call a moneymaker. I made 2.79 off of this transaction! (Coupons used came from 8/9 SS)

Bottom line: .21 OOP with $3 cat making this a $2.79 moneymaker

These boxes of cereal were on sale for $1.50 if you bought them in quantatities of four, I had three coupons that were $1 off of 1 box and one coupon that was $2 off one box. My coupons totalled $5. Four boxes at $1.50 each equals $6.00 with $5.00 taken off totals for me $1.18 OOP for four boxes of cereal. Thats like paying only about .29 per box!! WOW. (For those who are curious the coupons I used on this transactions came from 8/9 SS and a printable coupon from a link on Pinchingyourpennies.com)

Bottom line: $1.18 OOP, only .29 per box!

This is my Kraft Rebate where if you purchase $25 worth of participating items at Albertson's (and other qualifying grocery stores per Kraft's website) Then you will have a $5 catalina print out for you instantly with a $20 rebate form that you submit printed with your receipt. I have sent my rebate in and I will get paid $20 for these items. The kicker is can you guess I much I paid for these?? My total was 25.75 I used $5 worth of coupons on four boxes of the Ritz Crakerfuls ($1/1 SS 7/12 and a $1/1 IP for the Easy Mac) I then used $20 worth of catalinas that I saved from last weeks huge sale and so I paid .75 for tax, that was all that this order cost me!! I used the $5 catalina from this order to purchase the guacamole in the post below. So I spent only .75 OOP will get $20 rebate check and used the $5 catalina to buy guacamole on sale!

Bottom line: .75 OOP with additional $5 cat and $20 rebate check. $24.25 monemaker!

These were on sale for $2.50 each I used four $1/1 (one dollar off of 1) the coupons made each $1.50 times four makes the total $6 plus tax I used the $5 catalina from the above transaction and I only had to pay $1.75 for four guacamole's. This is our favorite brand and the amazing thing is that you can freeze it! Hooray! Bring on the chips and salsa!

Bottom line: $1.75 OOP, .44 each

This transaction isn't the coolest ever but I wanted to show how you can "stack" coupons together. The Yogo's were on sale for $2.50 I had a $1 off of 2 which made them $2 each but I had a coupon that if you bought two boxes of Yogo's you would get $2 off of store brand bread. I selected a loaf that was only $1.25 making this bread total free for me.

Bottom line: $4 total for 2 boxes plus free bread.

This is a similar transaction from the one above only with bananas. The cereal was also on sale for $1.50 per box but I used 2 $1/1 coupons making each box only .50 each and then I added a coupon that if I bought two boxes of participating cereal that I would get $1 off off of fresh fruit. Bananana's were .59/lb and so I made sure I only had $1 worth making them free.
Bottom line: Cereal .50 per box with free bananas.

This is an example to me of being prepared and looking around in case you find killer deals. I happened upon the Mac and Cheese aisle and spotted these boxes of Deluxe Mac and Cheese that retail for about $3 per box on clearance for .97 but I happened to have 6 coupons that were $1/2 so I saved .50 per box making them .47 each. I bought 12 boxes totalling $5.64 for 12 boxes. These would have cost me $36.00 at regular retail-- so as you can see, huge savings!! Moral of this story: keep your eyes peeled for unadvertised specials and have all of your coupons organized with you so that you can strike when you find crazy deals like this!!
Bottom line: 12@.47 each totaling $5.64 for 12. These retail for about $3 a box on sale!! Huge discount for me!!

I was also able to get some amazing fresh produce from Lee's such as green peppers were .50 each, Apples .89 per lb, and a 3 lb container of cheeries for $3.49!! Thats $1.16 per pound!! WOW! Score! Mmmm...I am looking forward to enjoying all of this yummy fresh produce!

This my friends is why I am OBSESSED with couponing! With both Bill and I in College and affording Liam's daycare bill, I have learned to LOVE coupon hunting as Liam calls it! I hope that these posts about couponing are beneficial to you all and that they are not just plain annoying! If you would like to know more about couponing I would highly recommend clicking on any of the buttons on my sidebar. These ladies are amazing and highly knowledgeable about all things relating to couponing and scoring amazing deals! I seriously couldn't do all of the amazingness I do without their sage advise!

UPDATE: Oops I posted the wrong picture in the beginning of this post the following picture is the picture of all of my groceries that I paid 82.21 for!

Why Being A Food Hoarder Really Pays Off!

You may have noticed that I have added some new buttons to my sidebar and perhaps just maybe you have been wondering what I have been doing with so many new buttons. I have been challenging myself this month with cutting my grocery bill in half.
I have always been a thrifty person who only ever shops a sale, clearance, garage sales, etc and yet for some reason I have never been able to keep my grocery bill under control. Now with all of the amazing blogs and such that are dedicated to couponing and grocery shopping, I have dedicated July as my month for "test driving" couponing to see if its something that will really benefit our family. I am happy to report that I have been pleasantly surprised each week as I have been scoring some SERIOUS deals on my groceries. Granted, I already have an impressive stockpile of food storage that I have been using to augment my weekly menu with, but I have scored big time on items we use a lot of and are running low on.

I am a food hoarder and yes I am OK with it, if the end of the World comes tomorrow I don't want to be without Pop Tarts!

Neat rows and rows of boxes of food makes me feel...prepared! For what I don't know perhaps nuclear fall out!?

What is the big secret to scoring sweet deals?? Multiple newspapers with coupon inserts and using lists like the list found here. (If you would like to know more about this list etc you can go here.) I select my grocery store, I then choose to view only the hot items of the week and then create a menu and weekly shopping list from the four and five starred items only. I love this list because it tells me where to find the coupons I will need and it also provides online links for coupons that are available for printing from my very own computer. I then staple all of the coupons I am going to use to the shopping list which I have highlighted and specified how many of each items I am purchasing and I am ready to go shopping.

I have also created a coupon book that I will post more on later. But here's a peak of it in all of its organized glory ready to save me big bucks!



Important lessons learned thus far:

1. Couponing DOES take a lot of time, you decided how much time and effort its worth to you.
2. Finding the balance between scoring deals and the time requirement necessary is where I am stuck right now.
3. Double coupons rock!
4. Don't go shopping with your spouse or children when couponing. Especially in the beginning it takes a lot of concentration and focus to ensure your getting the deals you think you are getting.
5. Its frustrating when you do all the work before hand and get to the store to see the stuff you wanted is GONE! You then have to come up with other scenarios which gives me huge headache!
6. You get better at it each week, just keep it up!!
7. Its addicting and you will annoy people with your talk of amazing deals!
8. You may even acquire some new math skills.
9. You can buy the nicer brands for cheaper then the generic brands at Walmart.
10. Shopping at Walmart has become a rare occasion!!
    

Can you guess how much this lot of food rang up as? Before coupons and deals it was $36.00 after coupons etc I only paid...$11.34 I saved $23.76!

All this chocolate was can you guess??? FREE!!!

I only paid $4 for two bags of mini candy bars! Sweet or is that double sweet!?

These olive oils were each $7.49 each before killer deals and I only paid $2.99 each!! Gotta love a great deal!

I made a trip to Albertsons and went through the checkout twice in order to use 6 double coupons. Before deals etc my total receipts were $69.79 but I only paid $21.30 about 40% ??
(math not my strong point!) HUGE savings!!

It makes me feel awesome saving money, getting the things we need, and a few extras while saving money for going on a family vacation. I am sold on couponing that is for sure and my husband is even loving the deals and asks me what coupons I have so that we can go out and get a free dessert or so that one of us can eat for free on our date nights. Its been amazing to see how much we are saving and I think I am totally addicted so please pardon all of my new buttons besides who knows perhaps you too will get bitten by the couponing bug! Cause after all hoarding food is what loving moms do for their families!! ;)