This evening I had no intention of finding any deals at the store. In fact, I just went to the store to buy a few items for Grandma's birthday dinner tomorrow. I didn't even have my coupon book with me for crying out loud. I have noticed that the store had a grocery cart full of Ken's Salad Dressing for $0.99 for about the past week. It was 3 different flavors, all of which I like, but the expiration was around mid November, so I had no intention of stocking up. Until tonight...
After seeing the cart, and starting to turn away, the wall behind us caught my attention. It was lined with tons of the salad dressing! I saw a paper on a lot of the bottles and upon closer inspection I realized they were coupons. $1 off coupons at that! Making them FREE! I grabbed up a ton of them, and I know we will never use them all. But the Harvester's Food Collection barrels are at the exit of the store, I had it figured out! I am also going to give most away to co-workers, family and such.
I just happened to glance to the left of the Ken's dressing and saw an equally as large display of Sweet Baby Ray's, on sale for $1 with $1 off coupons on them! I grabbed up 25. The BBQ sauce doesn't expire for over a year, so we kept every bottle. We like to BBQ! In the picture you will notice the Bic Flame Discs. I didn't get those tonight, but wanted to share with you the great deal, as they were also free! I got them last week.
As you can see on the receipt, I spent only $4.18 for the salad dressing and BBQ sauce. With a total savings of $195.96 off of the regular price. So, for not planning on getting any really great deals and being unarmed without my coupons, I would say I did pretty damn good! I love surprise bargains! These were special coupons by the way. They are sent to the store in the box with the products. They never know when they will get them. It seemed to be a good way for the store to get rid of the older stock to make room for more. They will get back exactly the price they were asking for it. It was a win-win kind of deal!
If any of you run across this kind of deal, I highly suggest taking advantage of it and to the extreme if no limit is stated by the store. But PLEASE, do NOT hoard! Pass on the good fortune of your couponing deals to others. Pay it forward, and more good deals will come your way!
So, this week was a bust for my couponing...don't get me wrong, I used coupons, but it wasn't much! To make it worse, I went to a store closer to my house and I am not very familiar with the layout yet, that might have kept me from finding a better bargain. This weeks goal was to make a list, stick to the list and keep it cheap. With the holidays, we needed to keep costs down as much as possible with no extras. And it would make sense that coupons would help with that. But actually when I am saving money, I am also spending it. Are you lost yet?
Let me explain...I have found the "golden ticket" of coupons several times now. That is when I find a coupon that will make an item free or nearly free. Or just down right cheap for that item. That is when you want to find multiple coupons like that and stock up. A couple of weeks ago it was like that for canned goods and frozen veggies. I paid no more than $0.25 a can for the canned veggies and about $0.50 a bag for the frozen ones. Veggies are now off of my shopping list for a while. I also stocked up on canned fruit at $0.50 a can during that time. So, in the long run I will save money by getting it that cheap, but I have to pay for it all up front. Hence the spending money to save money.
We have done that with several things and are starting to get the hang of it, but it is not as easy as they make it look on TV! lol We are learning that these product coupons come out in cycles, sometimes they are great ones, other times you wonder why they bothered to spend more on the paper than the coupon was worth. It is a lot of work, time and effort to make this work but I am determined! I dream of having a stock pile like some of the people of the show Extreme Couponing. I would love to be able to go to my pantry and know I have tons of needed items.
I have also noticed that when you get those coupons, and use it to stock up, the next time they come around the price has been raised or the coupon value is dramatically lower. It slightly irks me to see them do that. Just because we have figured out a way to use the coupons to their full advantage and get a great deal is no reason to make it harder. If you do not want all of those coupons used, then do not publish that many...gezzzz!
So, with the start of the new year, I vow to to rule this couponing game and save my family some money while getting great deals! I know this blog is a slow work in progress, but please check back frequently and I will keep you informed of the great deals I come across!
Couponing is nothing more than a game. There are so many rules to follow, and at times your supply can be limited. In order to win at the game, you have to use those rules to your advantage and go above and beyond the typical couponer. I will admit, I got into couponing after seeing the show Extreme Couponing. While I would love to be able to do what those people do, in reality I know I cannot possibly do that every week, (but of course I am going to try!) Games can become addictive, and couponing is no exception. Although I do have my moments where I am not as much of a go-getter with coupons, there are other times I am so determined, you will find us at the recycling bins savaging for those thrown away, (occasionally we have lucked out and found a paper delivery route dumped). I have a few people I get their insert coupons from them, but most of them come from buying multiple papers. The amount purchased depends on the coupons in the papers that week. We average 8-12 papers on Sundays. I have good and bad weeks with Internet coupons, and having multiple computers in the house usually gets me passed that 2 coupon print limit. I just hit every computer in our house and can get 10 of each needed coupon, (as long as there are no printer issues). I am still new to all of this, but I have a decent start, learning the ropes as we go. My husband is a HUGE help! He is right beside me at the dumpsters, helping on Sundays with the paper collections and searching the Internet far and wide for bargains, coupons and deals. He is also at the stores with me when help. It takes 2 to watch at the register and make sure things ring through like they are suppose to. When I work hard at it, on average I am saving about 40%, which may not sound "extreme", but savings is savings, right?! It is time consuming and sometimes works my nerves! With every store having different coupon policies, you have to know how they play the game before you even walk into the store. You have to research those ads and decide your route ahead of time to save some time! We often spend several hours shopping, it pays off in the long run. This blog is my way of passing on what I have learned to others. I admit I have much more to learn, and I hope that this blog helps some of you! So bear with me and check back often and let's see if we can find some deals!
