A good friend of mine got me into couponing about nine months ago. It is very time consuming and we don't always get the good coupons that they get up in Portland, but sometimes it is so worth the effort.
This week I was able to get all this for $4.25 plus I got a $2 off a purchase of $2 or more catalina and a free baked cookies with my next purchase catalina from Albertson's. How did I do this you ask? I will tell you.
Sunday's paper had doubler coupons in it. I had five doublers which I combined with coupons I printed off line or cut out of the paper. Doing this I got the paper towels for free and the deodorant for 59 cents each. The cereal was two for five dollars but I had coupons for those and paid only $5.25 for all four boxes. I was supposed to get a catalina for a free milk and $2 off my next purchase of $2 or more but the catalinas didn't print out. I went to the customer service desk where they gave me $4.40 for the price of their most expensive milk and pulled a $2 catalina out of their coupon bag. I used the cash to buy the Albertson's brand milk and made $1.11 off of the purchase.
I hear that once upon a time couponers could get fab deals like this every week but with the coupon craze going on now many stores have had to change their policies. I do save a lot of money couponing though. I do most of my shopping at Winco, which already has good prices so adding in the coupons makes it great. I also go to Target (which have their own store coupons you can combine with manufacture coupons), Wal-Mart (though now that our Target is turning into a super Target I won't go there as often), and occasionally Albertson's when they have really good deals on cereal and such.
One of my other friends, Sue, finds great deals at Grocery Outlet. I still haven't made it to ours yet. It isn't on this side of town and I hate traveling very far for a good deal. I don't shop at Costco near as much as I used to. They have great food, especially their produce, but their prices aren't nearly as good as I thought they were. Now we do a lot of bulk shopping at Cash n' Carry which is on our side of town, so that's a plus.
I have made a goal of only spending $200 a month on groceries and household items. This website has a budget challenge going on where you keep track of what you spend and save then you are entered each week into a drawing for a free gift card. I already won a $20 gift card to Amazon! They also have an excel spread sheet you can download to keep track of your spending. It is great and has helped keep me on task for the budget I set for this year.
If you haven't done couponing, I suggest you start. It's a great way to save money on the things you already buy. It can be a little overwhelming at first but there are lots of great websites that can help you figure it out. Here are the ones I love to go to:
Frugal Living NW
Thrifty and Thriving
Fabulously Frugal
You can also go to these websites for printable coupons:
Coupons.com
RedPlum.com
SmartSource.com
FreeCoupons.com
Thursday, February 16, 2012
When Couponing is Worth it
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Hooray for you, Nicole! I have couponed almost ever since I got married and it has saved us so much money over the years. It's a habit I can't give up. Last week, I got four bags of Godiva chocolates from Target for $1 each.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is getting harder to coupon. I get what I call "coupon confusion" at the checkout quite often and I hate it, it makes me feel stupid. It is so much more complicated than it used to be. On the flip side, there are all the great websites now. I had to rely on my own wits for decades. I guess it's a trade-off.