Today's shop was another great savings!!!
Total spent was $81.19 (including tax)
Total savings: $38.73
Non coupon savings = $24.33 (savings from purchasing these items on sale)
Coupon savings= $14.40
Yippee!!!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The reason why I coupon shop!
A fist full of coupons, a cart full of goodies, and my favorite cashier at Meijer helped solidify another marvelous experience of savings today!!!
If you frequent the same grocery store, you might have a favorite cashier. Today my favorite cashier was there. I just love Imelda. She gets my coupon addiction. As she rang up my 6 pack of brawny paper towels that rang up for $7.24. She said that is a good deal. I smiled because I had a raincheck to get these paper towels for $5.99 and I had a .50 cent coupon that would be doubled. I purchased these paperttowels for $4.99. A much better savings that the $7.24!! She then turned to me and said now that was a great deal!!!
When I first began my coupon adventure, I would buy the items that we needed without batting an eye at the price. Now don't get me wrong I would buy generic or I might even have a coupon but I didn't play the savings game like I do now.
Even though, we weren't out of paper towels. This price was a great deal so I bought 2 packages. Another strategy that I didn't do before. I would only buy items that we needed on the list and usually we were totally out of that item. Since we were out, I was forced to buy that item whether it was on sale or not. When the cashier rang up my cart of groceries, I would always have a heart attack when my total rang up! Now, almost every grocery item in our home was purchased when it was on sale. This type of savings changes your thinking that you have to buy items even when you don't need them.
Be careful playing this way as you may end up with too many of an item that will spoil before your family eats it or they may grow tired of this item and never get around to eating it! Then this would be a waste of money! Something that I will not allow!!! :)
Now, I watch the cashier as she rings up my coupons and my original price drop and drop and drop.
This just makes me squeal with glee!!!
If you frequent the same grocery store, you might have a favorite cashier. Today my favorite cashier was there. I just love Imelda. She gets my coupon addiction. As she rang up my 6 pack of brawny paper towels that rang up for $7.24. She said that is a good deal. I smiled because I had a raincheck to get these paper towels for $5.99 and I had a .50 cent coupon that would be doubled. I purchased these paperttowels for $4.99. A much better savings that the $7.24!! She then turned to me and said now that was a great deal!!!
When I first began my coupon adventure, I would buy the items that we needed without batting an eye at the price. Now don't get me wrong I would buy generic or I might even have a coupon but I didn't play the savings game like I do now.
Even though, we weren't out of paper towels. This price was a great deal so I bought 2 packages. Another strategy that I didn't do before. I would only buy items that we needed on the list and usually we were totally out of that item. Since we were out, I was forced to buy that item whether it was on sale or not. When the cashier rang up my cart of groceries, I would always have a heart attack when my total rang up! Now, almost every grocery item in our home was purchased when it was on sale. This type of savings changes your thinking that you have to buy items even when you don't need them.
Be careful playing this way as you may end up with too many of an item that will spoil before your family eats it or they may grow tired of this item and never get around to eating it! Then this would be a waste of money! Something that I will not allow!!! :)
Now, I watch the cashier as she rings up my coupons and my original price drop and drop and drop.
This just makes me squeal with glee!!!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
November savings
Another month under my belt and the savings continues...
For the month of November, I spent $575 and saved $132!!!
This works out to $115 a week to feed a family of 4!!! As I begin to coupon more and add to our stockpile, I am working towards achieving 80-90 a week!!!
Wish me luck!!!
For the month of November, I spent $575 and saved $132!!!
This works out to $115 a week to feed a family of 4!!! As I begin to coupon more and add to our stockpile, I am working towards achieving 80-90 a week!!!
Wish me luck!!!
Meijer and Aldi shop 11/28
Today my dear husband decided to accompany me on my grocery shopping expedition. He has gone once before and was very supportive. I ran into a friend on Wednesday who shared with me that her family is now becoming more supportive of her coupon addiction. My family still teases me but loves it when I come home with special items that are on sale that I wouldn't have usually bought before coupons.
I just don't understand how anyone wouldn't support saving money. I have found when I am a conscious coupon clipper I am able to apply more money towards bills and/or retirement.
When I get lazy and don't pay attention to the grocery shopping and budget, we start eating out more and eating less healthy meals.
Today's shop included Aldi and Meijer. I needed to run to Aldi as I was filling a box of food to bring into our church for their food collection day. I bought 20 dollars worth of groceries at Aldi and spent 20 on our family. Last year, I was a die hard couponer and I just pulled this food from our pantry. Since I haven't filled our pantry doesn't look like it did last year, I needed to supplement a little to support our church's campaign.
Our Meijer shop also included something to take into church and that was a winter coat for their Imagine campaign. I was able to get 4 dollars off the coat using a coupon. I also bought some toothpaste and toothbrushes to donate with our food drop off.
I spent 106 at Meijer and saved 48 dollars!!! I did have a few items that made it into the cart due to my husband accompanying me on this journey. He did apologize for throwing off my savings a bit! :)
This does include the 20 dollar coat for donation. Our grocery budget for the week was 106 dollars including the Aldi shop!
Savings breakdown:
Total Meijer promotions: $6.09 (from my catalinas)
Items being on sale: $12.92
Total coupon savings: $29.08
Total Savings of $48.09
I just don't understand how anyone wouldn't support saving money. I have found when I am a conscious coupon clipper I am able to apply more money towards bills and/or retirement.
When I get lazy and don't pay attention to the grocery shopping and budget, we start eating out more and eating less healthy meals.
Today's shop included Aldi and Meijer. I needed to run to Aldi as I was filling a box of food to bring into our church for their food collection day. I bought 20 dollars worth of groceries at Aldi and spent 20 on our family. Last year, I was a die hard couponer and I just pulled this food from our pantry. Since I haven't filled our pantry doesn't look like it did last year, I needed to supplement a little to support our church's campaign.
Our Meijer shop also included something to take into church and that was a winter coat for their Imagine campaign. I was able to get 4 dollars off the coat using a coupon. I also bought some toothpaste and toothbrushes to donate with our food drop off.
I spent 106 at Meijer and saved 48 dollars!!! I did have a few items that made it into the cart due to my husband accompanying me on this journey. He did apologize for throwing off my savings a bit! :)
This does include the 20 dollar coat for donation. Our grocery budget for the week was 106 dollars including the Aldi shop!
Savings breakdown:
Total Meijer promotions: $6.09 (from my catalinas)
Items being on sale: $12.92
Total coupon savings: $29.08
Total Savings of $48.09
Saturday, November 21, 2009
11/21 Meijer shop (Spent $49 and SAVED 36)
I am back on my coupon high!!! I had a great shop today. However, I was mad at myself because I left my $6.50 off coupons that can be used at Meijer. I will have to use them on my next shop. If I had them today, I would have been close to a 50% savings on today's grocery shop!!!
We made a Sam's club run last night. Despite my attempt at always using coupons, there are many items at Sam's that are cheaper than Meijer and Kroger. When we make a Sam's club run, I pay extra close attention to our weekly grocery shop. Sometimes, on the week that we make our Sam's club run I don't make a Meijer/Kroger run. However, there were lots of great items on sale this week.
Today's shop totals:
Spent $48.57 (including tax)
Saved: $24.14 for shopping the sale and $11.85 with coupons (Total Savings $35.99)
GOTTA LOVE COUPONS!!!
We made a Sam's club run last night. Despite my attempt at always using coupons, there are many items at Sam's that are cheaper than Meijer and Kroger. When we make a Sam's club run, I pay extra close attention to our weekly grocery shop. Sometimes, on the week that we make our Sam's club run I don't make a Meijer/Kroger run. However, there were lots of great items on sale this week.
Today's shop totals:
Spent $48.57 (including tax)
Saved: $24.14 for shopping the sale and $11.85 with coupons (Total Savings $35.99)
GOTTA LOVE COUPONS!!!
Is the time to clip coupons worth it?
When I brag to my friends about my coupon savings, the automatic response is I don't have time to do this. I understand how busy our lives are and know that I don't have a lot of extra time either. My husband and I both work full time and I am in graduate school. My daughters are in middle school and participate in travel soccer and run cross country and track. So, our week is always busy as well as our weekend. I have written about my hiatus from couponing but I have reevaluated that the time that I spend couponing is worth it for a couple of reasons.
1. When I am shopping the sales, our family eats at home more because we have more food. This also saves money!!!
2. When we have more food, we eat healthier!!
Today, I took the time to pay attention to the time that it took for me to organize my list and clip coupons. Since I subscribe to the grocery game, I log into the site on Monday's or any day after Monday to pull my grocery list(s). The grocery game lists all of the items that are on sale and where you can find the coupon. The list also is color coded. Blue= stock up!!! it is a great price, green=free, and black= that it is a good price but will be cheaper. Your shopping list could be huge, but I go through and just select the items that our family will eat. No reason to buy an item just because it is on sale if no one will eat it.
The list is then narrowed down with just the items that you will buy buying. Another wonderful thing about the grocery game list is that it also sorts the items by where they are located in the store. This saves time!!! When you rely on the list, you are in and out of the store within 30 minutes because you aren't browsing the aisles. This also saves you money because you aren't adding extra items to your cart!
Once the list is printed and sorted (this takes less than 5 minutes), I match up my coupons. Today, this took me only 20 minutes to do. I purchased 34 items at Meijer and was able to find the coupons that matched up to the items in this amount of time.
Today's shop saved me 50 dollars. So, for 25 minutes of my time I was able to save 50 dollars! I think that this is a wonderful way to invest your time.
Clip your coupons while the family watches tv or while you are supervising homework! If you do this every week and save 50 dollars on average, you will be saving your family 200 dollars a month for 2 hours worth of time for the month!!! Not too bad!!
How many of us have easily "wasted" 2 hours by browsing the internet or watching tv. I challenge you to give it a try!!!
1. When I am shopping the sales, our family eats at home more because we have more food. This also saves money!!!
2. When we have more food, we eat healthier!!
Today, I took the time to pay attention to the time that it took for me to organize my list and clip coupons. Since I subscribe to the grocery game, I log into the site on Monday's or any day after Monday to pull my grocery list(s). The grocery game lists all of the items that are on sale and where you can find the coupon. The list also is color coded. Blue= stock up!!! it is a great price, green=free, and black= that it is a good price but will be cheaper. Your shopping list could be huge, but I go through and just select the items that our family will eat. No reason to buy an item just because it is on sale if no one will eat it.
The list is then narrowed down with just the items that you will buy buying. Another wonderful thing about the grocery game list is that it also sorts the items by where they are located in the store. This saves time!!! When you rely on the list, you are in and out of the store within 30 minutes because you aren't browsing the aisles. This also saves you money because you aren't adding extra items to your cart!
Once the list is printed and sorted (this takes less than 5 minutes), I match up my coupons. Today, this took me only 20 minutes to do. I purchased 34 items at Meijer and was able to find the coupons that matched up to the items in this amount of time.
Today's shop saved me 50 dollars. So, for 25 minutes of my time I was able to save 50 dollars! I think that this is a wonderful way to invest your time.
Clip your coupons while the family watches tv or while you are supervising homework! If you do this every week and save 50 dollars on average, you will be saving your family 200 dollars a month for 2 hours worth of time for the month!!! Not too bad!!
How many of us have easily "wasted" 2 hours by browsing the internet or watching tv. I challenge you to give it a try!!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Christmas Shopping....
It is time to think about Christmas Shopping. I know it is hard to believe but it is almost the Christmas season. I still am amazed at how early the Christmas decorations go up. There use to be a respected code that Christmas displays didn't go up before Halloween. For some reason this code has fallen by the wayside. It irks me to see ghosts and goblins in one aisle and boughs of holly in another. ...
Well, from some of my former posts I have shared Ebates with you. Today, I received a check from Ebates for $19.21. This money is from just shopping online through Ebates' portal. Every one of their 900 stores will give a percentage cash back on your purchases if you hit ebates first.
My husband and I started shopping with Ebates one year ago and have earned back $152 dollars!!
I am including the link to a previous posts so you can learn more about ebates and how it works!!
Well, from some of my former posts I have shared Ebates with you. Today, I received a check from Ebates for $19.21. This money is from just shopping online through Ebates' portal. Every one of their 900 stores will give a percentage cash back on your purchases if you hit ebates first.
My husband and I started shopping with Ebates one year ago and have earned back $152 dollars!!
I am including the link to a previous posts so you can learn more about ebates and how it works!!
http://savingmoneytofillupmytruck.blogspot.com/2008/06/ebates-easy-way-to-save-money.html
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