Coupon Adventure

I just got back from a coupon adventure. I have recently started couponing. I took a class with my amazing sister, Brenda, and learned how to coupon the right way. I have a goal to build my food storage. I am quickly doing that with coupons. Last night I bought Pampers baby wipes at Wal-Mart for 1.97, BUT, I had a $2 off coupon. I got 4 packs of wipes for nothing. In fact Wal-Mart paid me 3 cents to buy them!

Tonight I think I had the most fun. Smith's is doing a promotion right now that any coupon up to $1 is worth $1. 10 cent coupon = $1, 20 cent = $1, you get the picture. So I took my handy dandy coupon binder that I have put together and headed to Smith's. I also had my pinching your pennies list that said what the best deals were and I figured I would see if there was anything else worth my money to get.



I got 6 mens body wash's, 6 girly body washes, 6 hand soaps (for free I might add!) 5 pkgs of gallon ziplock bags, 6 worchestershire sauce, 1 Texas Toast, 6 cookie mixes, 6 containers of wipes, 6 big mustards, 6 honey mustards, and 6 Pam Olive Oil sprays. Before all my coupons I would have paid 166.60! That is outrageous!! I budget about $150 a week for food and household items for our family of 7. So they scanned my fresh values card and took of 55.03...new total 111.57. Then they scanned in my coupons, 27.60 in coupons. They then rounded up all my coupons to make them an even $1 off...30.40 taken off. I had a grand total of $113.03 in coupons and I paid 53.57 for everything. That is about $.89 an item. AND...AND....I have 15 cents off per gallon of gas on my next purchase at the gas station in front of Smith's. Yes ma'am...I have a coupon for GAS!!!

This story gets better. I went to Albertson's next. I didn't used to shop at Alby-land because I figured they were the most expensive store in town. I was a discount shopper and stuck to my favorite W stores: Winco and Wal-mart. Not anymore, I am singing a different tune. Albertsons had a sale on their fruit snacks which I haven't met a kid yet that doesn't absolutely L-O-V-E those. My kids devour them. They had a sale that made them 87 cents a box. That is pretty cheap and I can let my kids eat what they want and not freak out cuz it is so stinking expensive.



In this picture is 20 boxes of fruit snacks, 5 wacky macs, 2 big bags of dibs, 4 Haagendaz ice cream mini tubs, 8 jars of Smuckers ice cream topping, 37 items all together. This all totaled up to $109.41 before my discounts and coupons. $39.36 in preferred savings. $30.50 in coupons. Ending balance: $39.55 or $.94 an item.

This doesn't end there!!! Albertson's gave me catalinas (the coupons that print out with your order) a $2.50 coupon on my next order, $4.00 off my next order, $6 off an order of $60 or more, and $1.50 off 3 bags of Dibs ice cream bites.

If anyone doubts the power of coupons, just come and talk with me. I think this is a ton of fun and can hardly wait until the next great deal!!