Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Coupon Virgin

Up until Sunday I had been a coupon virgin. Oh sure I dabbled in coupons here and there, getting lucky. Mostly from the store ad, right down the street. They offered a few items highly discounted with the "in-ad" coupon, so I would rush down and get them, often buying several other things I may or may not need in the process. But never full on couponing or better yet stacking* coupons, to actually save money.

Until Sunday...Sunday R said "I want hot dogs." A light clicked on and I remembered I had a coupon for free hot dogs, and that started the ball rolling. I then remembered I had the stores flyer and they had some in-ad coupons that I wanted to use, but I also thought I had some manufacturers coupons for their coupon items so I started searching. Pay dirt!

I headed to the store, an bit anxious I admit, to try out this coupon game. And it worked! I walked out of the store paying less then I actually saved. I spent $28.05. With club savings and coupons I saved $49.01!! 64%. And what did I get?

4 boxes of granola bars, 4 boxes of cereal, a jar of PB, a box of cheese-its, a 4pk of Easy Mac, 3 frozen lunches, 2 bottles of whip cream (yes we use this a lot and it was B1G1), Bryers Ice Cream, London Broil, hot dogs, and buns.

Not bad. And while I admit that I did spend a bit more time preparing to shop, I want to do it again. I want to see how much I can save! All in all, since I had the free hot dog coupon, I think I spent $1.50 on dinner that night!

Yea, I'm proud of myself.

*Stacking-I didn't even know you could do this till I read about it. You can use a manufacturer's coupon on top of the stores coupon.

3 comments:

Chris said...

And don't forget to pick up OREOS! What you might do is throw the money you save into a "fun fund" or something and that way you win twice!

Thanks for stopping by my place! Hope you'll come back again.

Take care,
Chris

KP said...

I'm trying to figure out the whole coupon game too. I use a lot of store brands so often coupons aren't that helpful. I have been doing the whole CVS coupon/extra care buck thing. I'm saving quite a bit there.

Tanya said...

I always forget to use my extra care bucks, I hate that.