I admit that I have become a bit lazy in my bargain hunting over the last few months and our budget has been hemorrhaging a bit. So, with a tip from my friend Sally, I decided to venture more into this very serious world of couponing to get back on track and to revive my love for finding the best bargains! So, I spent this weekend getting all of my coupons organized because I have learned through my couponing research that you need to acquire a large stash of coupons in order to take advantage of the best deals. I then scoured over all of the ads and came up with my plan of attack. Check it out:
ALL of this together was FREE. In fact, I actually EARNED money. $1.52, to be exact! The toothpaste (both Aquafresh and children's orajel), razor, and contact solution was all free after rebate. I had two $2.00 coupons for each of the contact solutions, which meant I earned $4.00. The deodorant deal was buy 5 and receive a $10.00 from Rite Aid. Each deodorant was regularly priced $3.48. Well, right beside the deodorant were coupons for $1.00. So, I grabbed 5 of those coupons for an additional $5.00 in savings! All of this would have cost me $49.35 if I had paid full price. Woohoo! Everything came from Rite Aid, except for the Razor (CVS).
Here are my best deals in this picture:Aunt Millie's bread $0.30
4 boxes of cereal at $0.75 each
2 boxes of cereal at $1.45 each
2 salad dressings at $0.50 each
2 boxes of playtex at $2.00 each
5lbs of ground turkey at $0.90/lb
2 bags of organic carrots at $0.90 each
Total for everything pictured: $25.97
CVS had an incredible deal on Pampers. They were on sale for $8.99 with an additional $5.00 in extra care bucks (basically a gift card for CVS). I also had three $1.00 off coupons, which made these $2.99 each. Unbelievable! I also purchased these lithium batteries for $10.00 after extra care bucks. The batteries regularly cost $8.99.
So, how did I do? Granted, I did purchase some other items at the grocery store, but I saved so much money overall! The key, I am learning, is to stock up on on these deals. I also never really paid much attention to the rebate program at CVS, but there is a system! They offer several products every week in which you can earn "extra care bucks." Once you earn a few, then you use those to make the extra care bucks purchases the next week, virtually paying nothing out of pocket. Stack the extra care bucks with coupons and you can find some serious deals!I would love to hear how you all save money. Any other couponing junkies out there? What else should I know?
Wow! You are amazing. You inspire me to get back to couponing. We have a CVS going in this week. Thanks for the hot tip about their program!
ReplyDeleteOhhhh! I'm going "CVSing" this week too! I don't have the ad with me at the moment, but I'll email you and let you know how I do. And you don't even have to wait until the next week to use your Extra Bucks--I plan it where I buy, say, the 12 packs of pop and get Extra Bucks, then I do a separate transaction for the diapers using the extra bucks from transaction #1, then buy whatever is on sale (but doesn't get extra bucks) with the extra bucks from transaction #2--the cashiers hate me, but you can save a ton of money! Good luck--looks like you did great!
ReplyDeleteSteph, As you know, I am a coupon junkie. I have enough shampoo to last us through the next millenium!! I go every couple of weeks to the couponclippers website and purchase extra coupons of things that I use alot. You can get them for a few pennies each and then if you use them, especially if you get them doubled or tripled, you can save some serious money!
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me too! I cringe thinking how much you are saving and how much I am paying! Great job!
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