Reading my awesome friend Michelle's blog post about couponing today made me want to post my own. Here is the link to her blog. She's awesome and inspiring with her getting out of debt ways and living more affordably. It's worth the read.
http://ditchingdebt.blogspot.com
Anyway, I'll admit it...I've turned into a couponer. Not extreme like on that TLC show. I'm against that on a variety of personal principles such as I will never buy things that I'd never use just because it's free. I also think some of these stockpilers are bordering on hoarders. I have a few things I hoard...like toothpaste and clearance laundry detergent. I did have a huge stockpile of clearance toilet paper too for a while. I am a huge clearance hound, but I have my limits. I am a bit snooty and have my certain products that I won't compromise on buying. Like I don't care what sale milk is on...I will only buy organic milk. I've also started to only buy organic cereal for the kids. It doesn't matter to me that I can get regular cereal practically for free. So even if I can get an awesome deal, I won't bother with it because I won't use it. The only exception to this is if it makes me money. Like if I can get two dollars back for buying fake eyelashes...I'll do it!
But I love a good deal. I love an awesome coupon deal even better. I have worked at CVS for way too long and have learned a lot about couponing from all the regular coupon crazies we see. I've started to work harder at using these skills towards my grocery shopping. It's hard when you're as particular as I am. I would do a lot better if I was more willing to buy stuff just because it's cheap. I guess that's why I say I'm 'not so extreme'. My other problem is that I'm on a very tight self-imposed grocery budget which doesn't always allow for a lot of stocking up on things. So even though my favorite BBQ sauce that we practically live on is on sale this week for almost half off, I don't have the extra cash in my budget to stock up on enough to make it last until it's on sale again. They say that an item typically goes on sale every 3 months. Sometimes sooner. In CVS land it's probably more like once a month, but we have way less product than a grocery store does. So in the case of the BBQ sauce, I'd have to buy about 6 bottles to get me through to when it's on sale again. At a dollar each it comes to $6. Now I know $6 doesn't sound like much, and I kind of feel silly even typing that I won't do it knowing that it will save me money in the long run, but when your budget it set up down to the dollar...it doesn't leave room.
Here are my basic coupon rules...
1. I will never clear out a shelf and I respect store and coupon limits
2. I will never buy something I don't need or wouldn't use just because it's free. I will however buy something I don't use or need if it it's a 'money maker'.
3. I will never split up my transaction in to 30 separate transactions. It holds up lines, isn't fair to other customers, and is annoying to cashiers. I will occasionally do two or three at CVS but I work there and my coworkers love me. I will also get out of line if there are people behind me. That is proper shopping etiquette.
4. I will never continuously stockpile items I do use just because they are free. Like at CVS we are pretty constantly giving toothpaste away free. I have probably 12 bottles of toothpaste in my toothpaste stockpile. I won't just keep buying and hoarding them and will wait until I get to a more normal amount before I start stockpiling again. Again money makers are the exception. I never pass those up.
So my own little rules kind of limit me in a sense but on occasion I can partake in an awesome deal and this week at Shaw's I got a couple of them that were just too good to pass up and possibly too good to not go back and do again. First Coke 12 pks are on sale for 5/$10. Awesome deal on it's own if you're a big soda drinker. On top of that there are coupons out in the Shaw's summer coupon book...two separate ones. One for $2 off and 2 coke products (not including coke itself) and a free 8 pk when you buy 3 coke products. Plus there is a secret catalina coupon (which are coupons you get back after you pay for the items) on Minute Maid 12 pks which are a coke product.
So just to lay out the math for you (not including deposit and tax)...
You buy 5 coke products. In my case 4 Minute Maid 12 pks and 1 Coke 12 pk. = $10
You use 2 of the $2 of 2 12 pk coupons. $10 - $4 = $6
Plus you get a free 8 pk of coke for using the free 8 pk coupon.
Then because I bought 4 Minute Maid 12 pks I get a coupon back for $3 off my next shopping trip. If you factor that into your savings I just spent $3 for 5 - 12 pks and 1 - 8 pk.
There is no limit to this deal but it's only a 4 day sale and you have to grab 2 coupon booklets for every set of 5 that you buy. I will probably go back today and do it again just because it's so cheap. Then maybe I can take my $3 coupon back and buy some of that BBQ sauce that I should stock up on.
My other awesome deal was actually a bit of a lucky one but worth mentioning. Shaw's was running a deal where if you buy 4 of General Mills Cereal or Yoplait Smoothies that you'll get a coupon back for a free gallon of milk. I planned to buy the smoothies since I don't buy that cereal and I also had $1 off coupons for them. They were on sale for 4/$10.
You buy 4 yoplait smoothies at 4/$10 = $10
You use 4 $1 off yoplait smoothie coupons $10 - $4 = $6
Then you get a coupon back for a free gallon of milk!
Now for me who spends $6 on a gallon of organic milk this is a good deal, though generally there is a price limit to the milk coupon. Not sure what it would have been this time since the ad didn't specify and it turned out different for me anyway which is a thing to learn when it comes to couponing. My store was out of the yoplait smoothies. You have two options depending on your store when this happens which is either get a raincheck or see if they'll substitute a like item. They offered to substitute these Jamba Juice smoothies for the same deal...taking my coupons and everything. But because they can't make the coupon for the milk print out they have to just markdown my milk to $0. This gave me my normally $6 milk for free when otherwise I might have had to pay $2 for it with this deal.
So after all that I got 4 jamba juice smoothies and 1 gallon of my $6 organic milk for $6! It is like I bought my milk that I buy weekly anyway and got the smoothies for free!
In the end I spent $48 for all the groceries I need for the week after savings, discount, and coupons (I saved a total of $56 not including the $3 coupon I got back for the soda). This doesn't include my meat which I buy at the meat market and a few of the fruits and veggies that I buy at the farm stand down the street. I typically spend a total of $30 for both of those. That gives me a weekly grocery total of $78 for my family of four which comes in at $15 below my budget. Not bad and it leaves me room to buy some more 12 pks and then maybe get some more BBQ sauce too!
No comments:
Post a Comment