Wednesday, January 7, 2009

I'm a couponer

I'm sure y'all have figured out by now that I like saving money and finding bargains, right? Well, I've always been a "casual coupon user," using a coupon if I happen to come across one, but never really seriously using them. Until now.

One of my goals for this year is to spend only $35 a week on groceries and items like shampoo, dish soap, and stuff like that, consumables I guess you would say. I know to meet that goal, I'm gonna have to be one thrifty b*tch. That's where the coupons come in. I've been reading all these blogs of these ladies that save ridiculous amounts of money this way and thinking "I can do this!" I can't even explain how freakin' excited I am about saving money this way! It's kind of like a game to me. I think it's a sickness maybe.

So anyway, I went on my first "serious couponing" trip to Walgreen's yesterday, and am so excited about all the money I saved that I just had to make a post about it.



In the picture:
Arm & Hammer laundry detergent - Buy One Get One Free @ 6.99

Electrasol tabs - sale 3.49 minus 2.50 with MFG coupon= .99

Softsoap - Walgreen's coupon making it .99 minus .50 with MFG coupon = .49

Palmolive - sale 1.79 minus 1.00 with MFG coupon = .79

Hunt's tomato sauce - Walgreen's coupon making it 3/$1 minus 1.00 with MFG coupon = FREE

Progresso soup - Walgreen's coupon making it 4/$5 minus .50 with MFG coupon = 4.50

Pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream - sale 3.00 minus 3.00 with MFG = FREE

Total cost of today's trip = $14.82

Not too bad for a newbie I think.

Do any of you do the coupon thing?

9 comments:

Dr. Wifey said...

you did great! when i do have coupons, it seems like it is cheaper just to buy the off-brand products than to save 75cents of a more expensive name brand. guess i need to keep an eye on the sales papers more closely! thanks for the links :P

Anonymous said...

Nice Job! Glad to see you are saving lots of money. Looks like you are catching on fast.

Kitty :)

Anonymous said...

How am I supposed to like you when you get Ben and Jerry's for free??? That's above and beyond!

Seriously, you did great! I'm with Dr. Wifey in that usually it's cheaper for me to buy store brand stuff BUT there are some things that the kids and Studly will only eat the "real" thing so I really need to pay attention to those. I have heard that CVS couponing is a good way to save too!

I've been making good use of the Aldi's near me for a lot of staples like break, milk, eggs.. the things we go through really fast. I still haven't found a way to beat the giant bags of generic cereal at Wal-Mart and with 2 teen boys, we go through a LOT of cereal!

Madeline said...

Wow! Ben and Jerry's for free? Yum!

Confessions of A Mississippi Mom said...

That awesome, and great tips for us people who need to save some money.

Anonymous said...

If you like L'Oreal lipstick (because you're worth it) there's a $2 coupon in Sunday's insert you can use at either CVS or Walgreen's where the L'Oreal lipsticks are bogo all month.

Crystal said...

Thanks for your comments ladies, it's making me even more excited about this. Dr. Wifey and Willow - yeah I usually just buy store brand too and probably will continue to do so unless I have a great coupon for name brand.
Anonymous - thanks for the tip :-)
I think I'll start posting every shopping trip, so I can keep up with how much I spend and knowing others see it, I think it will keep me more accountable for what I buy and spend.

Stephanie said...

You did great! Gotta love Free ice cream!

Thanks for the link! :)

Unknown said...

Fantastic job! I am a coupon junkie and am amazed at all the great shopping trips I see posted