Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Triple Coupons-spent $50, got $400

Sadly enough, Triple Coupons is over after today.
I shopped 5 times, spent a total of $50 and got almost $400 worth of groceries, etc.
Here is what I got for my $50.
  1. 3 Lysol cleaners, 3 Lysol toilet cleaners=all free
  2. 9 bags Mahatma rice = $0.76 total
  3. 2 boxes Lifesavers Gummies = FREE
  4. 3 boxes Cheez Its = $0.25 each
  5. Chinet coffee cups = $0.25
  6. 10 boxes Frosted Mini Wheats = $10.74 (bought these to get...
  7. 4 gallons of milk = FREE
  8. French's yellow mustard (3) = FREE
  9. Brown spicy mustard = FREE
  10. French's honey mustard = $0.50
  11. Nature's Own Sandwich rounds (4)= $0.22 each
  12. White Wheat buns & bread (3) = FREE
  13. Lunchables (3)= $0.33 each
  14. Beechnut biter biscuits (2) = $.10 each
  15. Totino's cheese pizzas (4) = FREE
  16. Bisquick = $0.05
  17. Frank's hot sauce (4)= FREE
  18. Diet coke (6 pack) = $2.29
  19. Domino sugar = $1.99
  20. Campbell's chunky soup (3) = $.25 each
  21. Texas Toast croutons = $0.20
  22. Crisco veg oil = FREE
  23. Snyder's honey mustard pretzels (2)= $0.25 each
  24. Dole frozen fruit (2) = $1.04 each
  25. Tropicana orange juice = $0.79
  26. Stonyfield Farms organic yogurt (5)= FREE
  27. Gold Medal flour = $0.64
  28. V8 splash (3) = $0.25 each
  29. Country crock spread (2) = FREE
  30. Kraft sliced cheese = $0.67
  31. Danactive drinkable yogurt = $0.25
  32. Silk Soy milk (2) = $1.10 each
  33. Claussen pickles = $1.00
  34. Coffeemate cream = FREE
  35. Ball park hotdogs (2) = FREE
  36. Ortega taco seasoning (2) = FREE
  37. Ortega green chiles (2) = $0.29 each
  38. Welch's grape jam (2) = $0.17 each
  39. Old El Paso green chiles (2) = FREE
  40. McCormick vanilla extract (2) = FREE + $1.50 off next shopping trip
  41. Organic canned tomatoes (2), 15 bean dry soup mix = $3.74 total (to make hambone soup)
  42. Barilla pasta (2) = FREE
  43. Strawberries (3) = $0.95 each
  44. Thomas bagel thins = $1.34
  45. Huggies wipes (3) = $.94 each
  46. Huggies wipes (1) = $0.14
  47. Tide 50 ounce = $1.77
  48. Lipton Tea bags = FREE
  49. HT brand sweet n low (2) = $1.27 each
  50. HT boneless chicken breast (6+ pounds) = $9.41

Grand Total = $49.39

Couponing for Beginners--some info taken from Southern Savers

Supermarket Savings

Have you tried couponing, but felt that it was not helping?

First, couponing isn’t just clipping some coupons from Sunday's paper and handing over a few coupons every now and then. If that is what you think, then you will save $5 or $10 dollars and become discouraged that it is not worth your time.

True couponing is cutting those coupons from your paper and then saving them until the product you want to buy is on sale. Doing this you can get items for 50-100% off regular price (yes, that’s right – FREE).

How?

1. Product prices fluctuate on cycles normally 6-8 weeks long. When an item is at its lowest price in that cycle you want to buy enough of that item to get you through until it comes back on sale. An example: your family eats 1 box of cereal a week, so you buy 6 boxes when it is on sale to get you through the sale cycle.

2. When it is a rock bottom price, you use your coupons to reduce the price even lower. Grab some extra copies of coupons that you will use a lot of by purchasing more papers, getting friends' papers, or printing the individual coupons online.


If I don’t have you convinced, let me spell it out with money.

You can buy 1 box every week for 6 weeks, or buy all 6 boxes on sale.

1 box @ $4.50 x 6 weeks = $27

1 box @ $1 x 6 boxes = $6

That’s one product and you have saved $21. Now think of the other 200 products that the average family buys a month. Even if you didn’t have coupons for all of your items, if you wait until the product is on sale to purchase it, you are still saving. How many times have you heard someone say, "If only I had an extra $200 a month!" If they could save just one dollar per item on 200 items, there is the $200!!

Remember: You maximize your savings by combining the store's sale with coupons.

Want some more tips to save even more?

1. Cut ALL coupons or Save all inserts from the Sunday paper. If you save the entire insert to cut as needed, make sure you mark the date on insert so that you can find it when you see a coupon can be used.

2. Start to shop buying only the things that are on sale and using your coupons then. Also when an item is on sale you STOCKPILE. Some sites recommend 12 weeks worth because that is the common time it takes for an item to come back on sale. That's great if you have the space; if not get enough that if you shop at two different stores you can hold off until it goes on sale at the other store. Once you have a good stockpile, you will only be shopping for sale items and never having to pay non sale prices. Also, once you pay an amazing price for something like 50 cents for cereal you will not want to have to pay the regular price ever again.

3. Make a menu for the week based on what is on sale that week at the store. For example, don’t plan fish when no one has it on sale and you are paying top dollar.

4. If you know that you are going on a trip or having a special event in the future, start a separate stockpile early for those items so that you are not paying top dollar for your groceries just because you are on vacation . Paying $3 for 5 12pks of Coke at CVS a month before a trip is much better than paying $4.50 a 12pk once you get to the beach!!

5. The less brand loyal you can be, the more you can save . My husband prefers Kellogg's Raisin Bran, but if Total or Post are on sale and I have a coupon and can get a box for 25 cents whereas the Kellogg's is $4.59, well, you can just guess which I am going to buy. If you want to pay full price, go for it, but I’ll use my coupon. If Herbal Essences shampoo is 20 cents a bottle, it can’t hurt to give it a try.

6. Store brands are not the best deal. National brand items bought on sale with coupons become incredibly cheaper than store brand items. If you can buy store brand butter for $2.49 or get Land o Lakes butter for 80 cents… that's not hard math. Remember: A store wants you to buy their brand because they keep all the money. They will try to make it seem like a deal, but you can ALWAYS do better by combining a sale with a coupon. The only store brand items I buy are milk, flour, and sugar. Of course, if the store is offering their brand for FREE, I'll gladly take it. Harris Teeter does that from time to time. So far this year, I've gotten trail mix, soup, crackers, milk, and a few other items that are the HT brand for free.

7. Shopping at Costco and Sam's will become a thing of the past mostly. Milk is definitely cheaper at Costco. We eat a lot of fish and spinach so I buy those at Costco. There are a few other things that the grocery stores don't carry that I like to buy from Costco, but even then I know it isn't a deal; it's just something I want! Buying 4 boxes of cereal for $10 at Costco never compares to getting 4 boxes for 2.00 (the average price of cereal when bought correctly is $0.25-$1.00). Personal Care items that could be a good deal can’t even touch being FREE at CVS.

I hope you'll consider learning to save money using coupons. It is truly worth the effort!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Things you can get FREE during Triple Coupons at HT

Yes, I am obsessed with coupons and saving $$. Even if you don't have any coupons, you can still get some FREE things this week at Harris Teeter during triple coupons.
Check out Southern Savers for a list of things that are FREE or a few pennies with coupons that you can print right from her site to your computer. How easy is that?

My husband posted this on Twitter yesterday. The middle class is worried because they don't have any money. They don't have any money because they spend it.

http://www.southernsavers.com

Monday, March 22, 2010

Triple Coupons Coming to HT Wed, 3/24-Tues 3/30

I have been wanting to eat down my pantry and freezer since January and try to spend $150 or less on groceries. A $200 trip each month to Costco along with HT having Super Double coupons twice this year has kept that from happening. But March I was on track. As of today I have spent $120 including diapers, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene, etc. We are so stocked up on everything. I could really just go for bread and milk the rest of the month.
But now HT is having Triple Coupons starting this week. I am excited and bummed out at the same time. I absolutely cannot pass up triple coupons. In a typical triple coupon week, I will go 6 or 7 days. I would do it all in one day except they only triple 20 coupons per day.
By combining the store sales with the coupons, I usually save $60-$100 per trip and only spend $5-$20. I end up well-stocked on cereal, frozen food, yogurt, pasta, juice, spices, toothpaste, deodorant, cleaning products--pretty much everything except fresh fruits/veggies, milk, and bread.
Even if you don't have any coupons, check out www.coupons.com and this link to Southern Savers http://www.southernsavers.com/2010/03/harris-teeter-triples-list-324-330/where there are more printable coupons. There are many items you can get for free or less than $0.25 by combining the sale with the coupons.
Happy Shopping!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Save on Office Supplies--get them FREE

The cost of office and school supplies can really add up. Office Max offers Max Perks Rewards. Just get one of their MaxPerks cards and they will offer 100% rewards on random purchases throughout the year. Check out this week's offers. You get your gift card for purchases the following month and then about a month later they will have another special. I just ordered $120 of office supplies and used last month's gift card of $109. Here is the link for this week's deals. Get your Office Max card today! Once you make your initial purchase and pay for it, if you only buy the things that are 100% Max Perks rewards items, you will never pay for office supplies again!!
Example: order 10 ream case of paper $35, 12 pack of sharpies $8.29, and manilla folders $8.99. Next month, you will get an email gift card for $52 which you can use on the next deal. Just remember to spend $50 or more to get FREE shipping, too!
http://www.officemax.com/promotional-pages/maxperks-member-specials

It's Like Paying $19.99. You Pay $39.99, Plus earn $20 in  MaxPerks® Bonus Rewards♦ on HAMMERMILL® Copy Plus Paper, 10-Ream Case.  SAVE $5. Reg. $44.99. Limit 3. BUY NOW