Couponing in the Real World

I know there's a lot of drama around TLC's show "Extreme Couponing" and Lord knows I cannot even count the number of times I've been asked if I am one of those crazy hoarders that calls themselves "couponers."  I am NOT an "extreme couponer" if by "extreme" you mean someone like the crazies on TLC.  I am, however, a realistic couponer, and I save quite a bit of money by using coupons.

Most of the excuses I get from other people for not using coupons basically boil down to these two:

1.) "I just don't have the time."  (My response:  I guess you haven't been broke enough, because if you were saving 50-70% of each grocery bill I bet you would make the time!)

2.) "We don't eat processed food, and that's what most of the coupons are for, so they are irrelevant for my life."  (My response:  That's great that you are committed to healthy eating habits!  Why not save money on the other items you use -- shampoo, body wash, deodorant, etc -- so it doesn't hurt as much financially to buy all-organic meat/produce/dairy? Oh, and YES you can catch organic items on sale!!)

So, when I saw this article, written by Jenny from Southern Savers, I just had to share.  Please, whether you are new to couponing, curious (or confused) about how to get started*, or just flat-out anti-coupons, check this out and see what you think.  I'd love to chat about it, perhaps have a friendly debate (for those of you who are anti-couponing) and share how coupons have fit into our lives instead of becoming our lives.

*For those who are confused, please check out the other tabs at the top of the page to read about how we organize ourselves, how to read those crazy abbreviations and grocery store ads, etc.  Any questions?  Let me know!!

CVS trip...paid tax only!

I am still stoked about this morning's trip to CVS so I just had to share. :)  I went today to just pick up a very few things and ended up doing well, in my opinion.  Here's what I got:


Being that its summertime and my kids are loving the outdoors, I'm seeing many more scrapes and scratches and they're certainly asking for Band-Aids frequently enough!  Hannah in particular LOVES Band-Aids, so we keep a good stock when we can.  Her favorite Band-Aids are the Toy Story band-aids, so when we ran out a couple of weeks ago, she was upset but making do with her Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake bandages.  ANYWAY.  When I saw the CVS deal for $3 ECB when you buy $10 worth of Neosporin and/or Band-Aid products, I was excited.  I headed on over and picked some up.  I had a coupon for $1.50 off when you buy a Neosporin AND Band-Aid product, so of course I used that!
*NOTE: The register did NOT print up the $3 ECB's at first, but I pulled out the ad and showed the cashier that the ad didn't specify that the Band-Aids had to be plain ol' Band-Aids...just $10 worth of Band-Aid and/or Neosporin products.  She was awesome and agreed with me, so she printed them up for me, but just so you know...the character Band-Aids might give you a problem if you try to get the ECB's by buying them!

I also saw that they were running a B1G1 free sale on Scotch tape.  Since Chris has been developing and expanding his at-home business of selling online (through Amazon and half.com) he does a lot of shipping, so it was worth it to pick up some tape for when he needs to secure the bigger packages.  I had lots of coupons (printed through a link I got off the Southern Savers site) and, since they were B1G1 free, I could use TWO coupons for each set. :)  So the rolls of Magic tape that were $1.99 ended up being FREE after using my two $1 off coupons.  The packing tape was $4.99 and B1G1 free as well, so after using two $1 off coupons I spent $2.99 for those two rolls.

All in all, my subtotal before coupons SHOULD have been $21.12...however, I had $7.50 in coupons, bringing the total down to $13.62.  I then used my ECB's from last week's trip, which totaled $13.49.  When the tax and everything got adjusted, it ended up that they OWED me money.  They are not allowed to give me money back, so I ended up buying a king-size Snickers and a king-size pack of M&M's for Chris (Happy Father's Day!), which brought my subtotal to $0.13.  After adding the tax on these items to that $0.13, I ended up paying $1.53 out of pocket.  I also walked away with $3 ECB for next week. NICE. 
*ANOTHER NOTE:  They have a promotion right now for Mars candy products...spend $10 and get $3 ECB's.  These were $1 each and count as 2 of my 10, so I might be heading back to stock up on more chocolate if I can hunt down some decent coupons to "sweeten" the deal (pun intended!)...

So what about you?  Any awesome deals you've caught or thought about?  Let me know!!

Rite-Aid Rocks!

So I haven't gone to Rite Aid or CVS in a couple of weeks.  Its not that I haven't wanted to...I just haven't had the time and haven't needed anything badly enough.  I am *not* one of those Extreme Coupon crazy people who buys stuff just to buy it.  I don't have the time, energy or storage space in my house for all that.  Anyway, I happened to look at my Rite Aid +UP bucks (which are similar to CVS Extra Care bucks) and noticed that my $10 +UP bucks were going to expire on Saturday!  ACK!  I simply refuse to let $10 just get thrown away.  No way, no how.  Those +UP rewards are like CASH MONEY, folks, so please, please, please do not just throw them away!  OK, enough about that.

So I checked out the Rite Aid ad from this week and decided to make a stop while I was out and about with a good friend yesterday.  If you've been following me on Facebook, you might know that the kids are visiting their grandparents in Alabama for a few days and while there are no little people running around destroying everything, Chris and I are taking the time alone to get stuff cleaned up and organized around the house.  So, when I saw that Rite Aid was having a Lysol promotion, I had to go after it.  (Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of everything I bought, since I immediately came home and started *using* the products.)  Here's what I picked up:

2 bottles of Lysol bathroom tub & tile aerosol cleaner (on sale 2 for $5)
2 bottles of Lysol trigger all-purpose cleaner (on sale 2 for $5)
1 bottle of Lysol trigger bathroom cleaner (2 for $5...since I bought one it was $2.50)
1 bottle of Lysol trigger kitchen cleaner (2 for $5...so $2.50 for one)

Gain dish detergent (on sale for $0.88)
2 bottles of Ajax dish detergent (on sale for $0.88 each)
TOTAL (before coupons): $17.64

Coupons used:
$1 off 2 aerosol bathroom cleaners
$1 off 2 all-purpose trigger cleaners
$1 off one trigger cleaning product
$1 off Gain detergent
$1 off 2 Ajax products
$1 off Lysol product (from Rite Aid video values site)
Also used $10 +UP rewards
Grand total after coupons & sales tax: $3.87!
AND...since I spent $15 on Lysol products, I got $5 +UP rewards to use on my next transaction!

On my second transaction, I decided to pick up some sunscreen.  As much as the kids love to be outside, I figured it couldn't hurt to stock up.  Rite Aid is running a Coppertone promotion, where you get $5 +UP back when you buy 2 bottles of sunscreen for $9 each.  Here's what I got:

1 bottle of Coppertone Sport sunscreen (for me and Chris): $9
1 bottle of Coppertone Babies Tear-Free sunscreen: $9
Total (before coupons): $18
Coupons used:
$1 off Coppertone product (used 2)
$1 off Coppertone product (from Rite Aid video values site...used 2 of these as well)
Also used the $5 +UP rewards from my 1st transaction
Grand Total (after coupons and sales tax): $9.19 (which kinda makes it like a B1G1 free deal!)
I also received my $5 +UP rewards which I will save for my next visit.

Not too bad, in my opinion!  Anyone else get any awesome deals this week?

CVS Update

Hoping the picture posted correctly because I am supper excited about my second trip in one week to CVS! As you can see in the picture I got milk, bread, cereral, soft scrub, 3 candy bars, 3 Renuzits, Zyrtec, Reese Peanut Butter Cups and Mentos....all of this for a grand total of $5.92! Yup, you heard me correctly! Here's how I did it!

Zyrtec was the first purchase I had a $2 off coupon so paid with tax $4.21 and in return got $5.99 ECB

I then went and purchased the following:

Renuzit Coupon B2G1

Mentos had a $1.00 coupon that the CVS lady gave me

3 Hersey Bars were B2G1 for a penny, but I had a B1G1 coupon so I got the BOGO and the 3rd for a penny!

Softscrub was 2 for $5 and I had two .75 cents off coupons

Milk

Bread

Cinnamon Toast Crunch had a .55 cent of coupon

I also used my $4 ECB, $5.99 ECB and $3 off of 15 for a grand total of $5.92.....Not to shabby if I say so myself :)

CVS WOOHOO from Yesterday!

Hi Gang! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted, but things have been insane! I am fairly excited about my recent trip to CVS yesterday! Just to recap here it is:

At CVS yesterday, I purchased 2 Dial Bodywashes with free lotion attached (great travel size), 12 pack Pepsi, 3 packs of Tic Tacs, 3 Renuzit Air Freshners, a box of 20 note cards to send to friends, and a Shick Hydro Razor. Out of pocket I paid $8.62. Here is how it broke down:

12 pk Pepsi - I was luck enough to get the .99 coupon for the 12 pk (regularly priced at over $5.00)

2 Dial Washes - onsale for $3.88 each. I used two $2 off coupons from last weeks inserts making them $1.88 each (both cam with great travel size dial lotions)

3 Packs of Tic Tacs - priced at 1.62 a piece, but when you bough two you got the 3rd for a penny. I used 3 .75 cent off coupons from this past Sunday's paper as well

3 Renuzit Air Freshners - were on sale for .88 cents a piece. I had a coupon for B2G1

Schick Hydro Razor - on sale for $8, had a $4 off coupons from Sunday's paper as well and you got $4 ECBs.....so this razor was free!

My inital total was $27 and some change. With my coupons and my $3 off when you spend $15. My total was $10.26 with $4 ECB back so basically spent $6.26.

I then turned around and bought the pack of 20 cards to send to family and friends priced at $5.99. I used my ECBs and paid $2.36 out of pocket.

My total spent $8.62 for everything. I also got another $3 off 15 for my next trip!

I will try to post about my trip to Publix last weekend....Pretty stoked! Spent $92, Saved $106!

Till then keep on couponing.....

Sunday Savings!

So today I got up and went to CVS and Publix for some early-bird shopping!  I got away with some great deals, in my opinion, and just had to share!

First, I stopped to pick up TWO double coupon editions of the paper since this Sunday there are not only Smart Source and Redplum inserts, but also a Proctor & Gamble insert as well.  I headed over to CVS, where there were some great deals starting today.  Even though I got there @ 8 am, I was still too late for some of the more hardcore couponing ladies, since there were a couple of items already cleared out.  Crazy!

Anyway, I feel really good about  my savings at CVS today since I got all this:

...for $11.93!  That's two Oral-B power toothbrushes, a 1-liter bottle of Crest dental rinse, a bottle of Excedrin, a tube of deodorant, a pack of Huggies diapers and a bin of Huggies wipes!  Without coupons, all of this would have cost me $32.66 (not counting tax), so I think its pretty cool that I got all this for just under twelve bucks!  Oh, and the best part?  I left with $13.49 in ECB for next week's trip!  Yahoo!  I purchased all of this in one single transaction today because I had gotten a $4 off $20 purchase coupon in my email this week.  I could have paid less out-of-pocket, but I would have had to do four different transactions and of course, wouldn't have been able to save that $4 (nor would I have had as many ECB's for next week).  Oh, and I made sure to take my reusable bag with the CVS Green Bag Tag attached so I could get it scanned!  (You get $1 ECB after using it four times.  I've already used mine seven times, so after one more visit I'll get another ECB!)

After leaving CVS, I headed over to Publix to do a little grocery shopping!  I walked out with this:

...for $27.68!  In case you can't see it, I picked up two boxes of fruit snacks, two bottles of Suave body wash, two bottles of Bayer Aspirin, six Yoplait yogurts, strawberry cream cheese, Nestle refrigerated cookie dough, two boxes of Ritz crackers, two boxes of Ronzini Garden Delight pasta, pancake syrup, two boxes of corn dogs, two packs of Hormel deli meat, a pack of 4 AA batteries, two bottles of Sunny D, frozen sausage biscuits, and a gallon of milk! Without coupons, all of that would have cost me $69.53...but by matching coupons with Publix's B1G1free deals, I was able to save $41.85 (or 60%).

Someone told me this morning at church that they just didn't have time to clip coupons, but honestly...I don't see how you can afford NOT to!  When I think of how much my grocery bill has been reduced by learning how to coupon, I get so excited and want to share what I have learned!  If you have any questions, please ask!  I may not know everything about couponing, but I am happy to share the few tips and tricks that I do know!