My Deals -- May 14th

I am by no means an experienced couponer. As a matter of fact, I am just learning what to do! But, I want to share any deals I do find just because I am proud of myself! I usually do my shopping on Friday or Saturday. Until I start saving a lot of money, there is just no way I can do multiple shopping trips to get the deals the day they come out. But, here are the deals I found this past weekend.

Deal #1 -- Superfresh
This was my first time shopping at Super Fresh in, honestly, over 10 years! I saw online that they were selling Thomas' Original English Muffins Buy 1 Get 2 Free. I had no idea what the price of one was going to be, but it was on my list "just in case". I was getting my loyalty card that day and wanted to stake out the regular prices of my most used products anyway.

The regular price for 1 ended up being $3.79. I had no coupons but I figured $1.26 per pack wasn't that bad! So, I picked up 3 packages!

They also had San Giorgio Pastas for $0.88 a box. I had a coupon for $1/2 San Giorgio Quick Cook Pastas. This made it $0.38 a box! I really wish I had more than one coupon!

Total Cost Before Promotions and coupons - $13.87
Total OOP - $4.55
Savings - 67%

Deal #2  -- Target

I had seen this deal online and was excited that I had actually found it at my own Target!

Zantac (24 ct) was on sale at my Target for $7.21 a box. I had a 2 -$5 off (24 ct or higher) coupons from the Zantac website as well as 2 - $2 off coupons from the Target website (no longer available). This made them $0.21 a box! Plus, I got a Catalina coupon for $0.50 off of bread (may be used soon! LOL)

Total before coupons - $14.42

Total OOP - $0.42

Savings - 97% (+$0.50 off a future bread purchase)

Deal #3 -- Walmart

Both of these deals are ones I had heard about online as well.

Ballpark Hot Dogs were on sale for $1.50. I had 2 - $1/1 Ballpark coupon (printed online). This made my hotdogs $0.50 a pack.

These Wilkinson razors were $0.97 for a 4 pack. I had 2 - $1/1 (printed on http://www.coupons.com/). I made $0.03 on each pack!

Total before coupons -  $4.94

Total OOP - $0.94

Savings - 81%


I'm hoping to find some deals this weekend. Another goal is to figure out the Walgreen's Register Rewards program!

When Did I Become This Person??

I remember as a little girl watching my grandmother as she sifted through the Sunday sales ads and coupons and wondering "What's all the fuss about?" I remember standing in lines at the grocery store as she handed the clerk a stack of coupons thinking, "This is taking forever." I didn't understand the difference between the before total and the after total. I just knew I was ready to go and have fun.

Now, I'm an adult. I have 7 little mouths to feed besides mine and my husband's. And we are a one income family. I need to make every dollar count. When we had fewer kids, I could take a certain amount each week and know that our pantry and refrigerator would be stocked. Now, the budget has dropped and the occupancy has increased. It's time for me to make to two mesh.

We could do several things. We could just resign ourselves to eating ramen noodles almost everyday. Or we could change the way we ate. Or I could start clipping coupons. Or... <ding ding ding> we could change the way we ate AND clip and use coupons. I always tried to plan around sales anyway. This coupled up with coupons could be a wonderful thing for our budget!

We also decided to take a drastic step to see if our grocery budget decreased: We decided to have mainly a meatless diet. Meaning, we would only use meat up to 3 times a week! This will begin on Friday.

Now, I am by no means an extreme couponer. I am just learning the ropes. I get excited over the smallest deals. I have not mastered any of the drugstore programs. But, once I do, they will be added to my pages above. I pretty much understand the grocery stores already.

I hope to grasp this concept and get awesome deals for us. And I hope to pass any knowledge I gain onto others.