January 2009

Here are my totals for January 2009:

Total amount for items purchased: $2,512.89

Total spent: $383.60 ($7.26 over budget)

Total saved: $2,129.29

Total paid in tax: $52.55

Total coupon overage: $25.62

Total coupons spent: 670

Total FREE items: 479

Rebates received: $75

Rebates requested: $177.49

Tax credits: $650

Yep, it was a pretty good month!

*Our family budget is set for $85 per week. We have two young adults and a one year old in our family. Our budget includes: all groceries, baby items like Desitin and diapers and wipes, health care items like cough drops, cough medicine or Advil, household items like toilet paper, paper towels, Ziploc bags and garbage bags, make up, laundry products and personal care items are also included, as are meals, side dishes and snacks that we bring to parties and events.

Because most months (all except February) have more than 4 weeks in them, I divide my $85 a week budget down to a daily monetary amount. $85/week = $12.14/day. I multiply the number of days in the month by $12.14 to get my exact monthly budget. ($12.14 x 31 days = $376.34)

I try to stay in line with my budget each week, but if I am a bit over or under I make up the overage or shortage over the course of the rest of the month.

From My Readers...

From an email...

Coupon Clipper: Last nights class was fun and informative! I had been buying several papers for the past 5 weeks or so.... I sat down today with my notes and my box and clipped my little heart out. 7 hours and 2 blisters (bleeding blisters) later, I have my box all organized. I almost emailed you cuz I didn't know where to file the cereals.......then I found the breakfast tab.... oops.

My husband has agreed to give me a few hours on Mondays to shop ALONE.

Me: Wooo Hooo! I'm so proud of you!!!!
7 hours? I think that you are far more HARD CORE than I am!!!

From My Readers...

From an email...

Coupon Clipper: Thanks so much for the coupon class last night, I had a great time and learned a lot! I was dreaming about coupons last night ;) (Me: Who doesn't? !!!)

I actually thought of something this morning that you may want to mention, especially when you are doing classes in the Howell area: VGs ( a grocery store) actually has some good deals sometimes. I know that they don't have the best overall prices in the area and they don't double coupons but, they do have BOGO (buy one get one free) deals occasionally.

Also if you watch their sale papers they occasionally have a great meal deal: You buy the meat and get things such as, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, rolls and brownies FREE! Usually it is 4 or 5 free items.

VG's will also give you money back if you recycle and bring in your own grocery bags, I believe its 10 cents per bag. Oh and if you go to their website you can print all of the online Smartsource coupons right from their site. And they have and online grocery list where you can click on the items you want to buy in the store and it makes a printable grocery list for you to take to the store with you. http://www.vgsfood.com

Thanks for all you do. I am really excited to get organized and start saving (and making) money.

Me: I have never shopped VG's before- thanks for sharing your info with me (and my blog readers...) It pays to know the stores that you regularly shop in. I may have to pop into VG's sometime soon. I know I can view their ad online!!! Thanks!

Rolling Your Bucks

I think that it would be a good idea for me to show an example of ROLLING store rewards.

Today I went to CVS to purchase some Gillette shampoo for Dave. Dave doesn't like using girly shampoo like Garnier...

I picked up two bottles and brought them to the cashier. I had (2) $2 coupons (one for each bottle) and $5.98 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB's).

The sale was for $1 off the regular price (normally $5.99, this week $4.99) AND if you purchased the product at $4.99 you would receive $3 in ECB's.

I gave a $2 coupon towards each bottle of shampoo- so I brought my cost from $4.99 down to $2.99 each.

I paid with previously earned ECB's ($5.98) and having half of my previous ECB's going towards each bottle, $2.99 was taken off of my bill. I was left with $0.00 balance. I did need to pay the tax on Dave's shampoo, but I used a gift card that I had earned by transferring a prescription.

Below are the ECB's that I earned from buying today's shampoo, $3 per bottle.

COUPON LADY SNIPPET: I paid (including using coupons) for my items with store money that earned me MORE store money. Essentially I received my items for FREE (except for the tax) and I now have store money to use for my next purchase. I like to call this rinse and repeat!!!

Where Beauty and Poverty Meet

Here is just a peek into the work that Raincatchers does to help the people of Haiti.

Raincatchers.org is an outreach organization who has chosen to bring compassion, the love of Jesus and the means to give an endless supply of clean drinking water to families living in Haiti.

The actual Raincatcher is a gutter system used to catch rain water as it spills off of the rooftops of houses. The water runs off the roof and makes its way into the PVC piping. The PVC piping leads into a hose, which filters out sediment, and then the water is deposited into a 55 gallon barrel drum. Rain water is the cleanest water that many Haitians are able to drink. The Raincatcher, while it looks primitive, it actually is one of the most amazing blessings that a family can receive.

For the families that are still waiting to receive their Raincatcher, a two hour trek (each way) is necessary to reach the nearest water source. This source is murky at best, but is all that is available to them. Can you imagine needing to travel two hours on foot to fill a five gallon bucket with murky water- only to have to carry the heavy bucket two hours back home... the whole time walking over rocky terrain?

This is where the $10 donation from each person who takes my coupon class goes. It is our responsibility to care for our own families as well as to take care of all of God's children around the globe. To read more about this outreach program please visit www.raincatchers.org.

Thank you to all of my students, together we raised $380 for Raincatchers!!! Way to Go!

Q & A

From an email...

Coupon Clipper: I have a question for you, oh coupon goddess. I always calculate the price per unit, always use coupons, do stockpiling – I have all of the basic components of couponing “down”. I have more to learn – which I do want to do in your class by the way... but, I digress.

Here is my question. When you are going through the flyers on Sunday and analyzing what to buy and your coupons, etc, how do you know which store is cheaper for an item? I sometimes see a disparity of pricing on various items between Kroger and Meijer, for instance.

There is no consistent “this store is cheaper” either – it can really vary item to item. So, if you are looking at the Meijer flyer, for instance, and you see something that is on sale, and you have a coupon, etc and you put it on your list, how do you track/remember that Meijer is the best for that item originally.

And then, at the same time, how do you track Costco into that same pricing equation. For instance, I know the price of cheese sticks at Costco. They were on sale 50% off at Meijer and I had no coupon, but the price didn’t bring them down to the Costco price. Had I not just bought at Costco the day before and remembered, then I would have paid more because I was attracted to that 50% off sale sign. I do have a way of tracking it now, and it is time-consuming and cumbersome. Any help/thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Me: Keeping track of specific items to always get the best price is done most efficiently and effectively with a price book (google it).

A price book is individually kept by the shopper, and is used to record prices of most frequently purchased items and each store's "best price" before sales and coupons. When an item is needed, the price book can be referenced to remind the shopper of where he/she should use his/her coupons- or at least purchase the specific item.

I personally do not use a price book because we have very few items that we are "Brand Loyal" to. An example of being "brand Loyal" is meaning that we will only accept Crest toothpaste for our pearly whites. In reality, we will gladly use several brands of toothpaste.

As for non-branded items, like cheese in general, I will purchase these when I feel like they are a good bargain. Cheese prices have fluctuated so much over the past two years (I have fond memories of Kroger's 10 for $10 cheese sales) that I purchase large quantities at a time to be able to hold out for the next, at least decent, sale.

I have decided not to keep a price book personally- instead I have made it a habit to purchase 95% of my items at "all star" prices. I am not willing to kill myself over every single purchase.

For example, our family eats a lot of oatmeal... and I like the convenience of the individual packets, and recently I have purchased 7 boxes. I previously paid about $1 per box, so when I was running low (about 3 boxes left) I decided to start looking for a good deal. I purchased 4 boxes at Walgreen's when they were $1.99 and used (4) $1 coupons = $.99/box, and I purchased 3 boxes at Super Kroger during last weeks sale, scoring them for FREE with my $1 coupons getting doubled. So I now have 70 breakfasts for $3.96.

So my aim will always be to only pay about $1 per box. I won't go crazy over finding the absolute best of the best price, but I will keep in mind a ballpark figure to shoot for.

As for Costco, we do have a membership but we rarely use it unless we are having a party and we are serving meat. Most items, if you are patient in waiting for coupons, will be a lot less expensive at the drug or grocery store when you match a sale price with coupons. The exclusion would be for items that you rarely are able to find a coupon for. These items you will just need to price out per unit and decide whether you should visit Costco.

And for your cheese sticks- which we don't buy because I'd scarf them down like nobodies business- if you find a great sale... stock up!

I hope this info is helpful!

Dimes and Nickels...

At Dave's request, I picked up some tomato soup for a lunch with friends. I needed three cans, but was willing to purchase a fourth can if it was worth the price...

I was shocked by what I discovered.

A small can of tomato soup (approx. 11 oz.) cost $.61,

a large can (approx. 26 oz.) cost $2.39,

and the four pack of cans (approx. 44 oz.) cost $2.72.

My quick cost estimation while standing in the store made me aware that purchasing 3 of the small cans was my least expensive option.

Here is the actual cost breakdown:

Small can: $0.055 per ounce.

Large can: $0.092 per ounce.

4 Pack of cans: $0.062 per ounce.

I was surprised to find out that the largest can was the least cost effective.

I would have thought that the largest can would have been the most cost effective, followed by the 4 pack leaving the small can the least cost effective... boy was I wrong.

Coupon Lady Snippet: It pays to check out the cost per unit, and don't pay for fancy packaging!

From My Readers...

From a Newbie Coupon Clipper's blog...

Coupon Skills
Yea, I've got skills. Inspired by a friend of my friend Gina, and one of my new favorite bloggers, http://sharpenyourscissors.blogspot.com/ , I have taken on the new hobby of saving us money. I am trying to be more cost conscious and work on some "process improvements" in our household.

I started with the Sunday paper, bough two copies along with some other items on Sunday with a gift card I received from Walgreen's for transferring over a prescription (love those deals).

I went through the coupons and started matching them up with the ads. I then took it a step further and started looking online for coupons. Most manufactures will send you coupons for signing up on their mailing lists. Combine those with store coupons and sales and you can save a lot of money.

My first trip was to my favorite grocery store, Kroger. "My Kroger" in Grand Blanc is a special Kroger. Not only do they have a Starbucks inside, but they double your coupons up to $1, calling them "Bonus Coupons".This is my first trip testing out my new skills. I stocked up on some necessities and a few favorites. I spent $21.95 and saved $44.15. I was hoping to do a little better but for 22 items, that brings the average cost to less than $1 each. It's a start.

Me: WOO HOO! Spending coupons instead of money... the wave of the thrifty!!!
(Way to share the LOVE Gina!!!)

Grocery Shopping at Meijer

Grocery Total: $69.52

Spent: $38.25 & Saved: $31.27

18 coupons used

This is more of a typical grocery shop for me.

My goal is to save about 50% of what I spend.

Gifts from My Stockpile

A friend from church contacted Dave to see if I may be able to help a displaced family. The family has three children including a little boy just about Boaz's age. Our friend thought that I may have or know how to get some inexpensive diapers for this family.

Since we only cloth diaper about 90% of the time, I do stockpile diapers and wipes. Bo is still a size 3- buy I have been buying a few packs of 4's for when the day comes that we will need them. (Actually, I 'bought' a few packages of Walgreen's brand diapers back in July- and they paid me $.75 a package!) I was happy to be able to share!

Then I learned a little bit more about the family. They will be moving into a house soon (from a hotel) and they are starting over completely... everything is needed to make their new house a home. I went through all of the stuff that I stock up on for my family and created a little house warming supply kit. It was so much fun!!!

There really are limitless opportunities for caring and sharing.

Q & A

From an email...

Coupon Clipper: At CVS if they screw up on a price and you bring it back to the store, do they give you $5? I know Kroger's does that. Not sure if CVS does. They failed to give me the sale price on tampons and I realized it when I got home (darn it the girls are sleeping!). Also, they have a deal right now for BOGO Post cereals and the paper had a $1.00 off Post. 2 boxes of Fruity Pebbles for $3.49 is a deal. And thank you again SO much for getting me into coupons. I can't believe I didn't start sooner. Even if I just save a $1 it's totally worth it:-)

Me: I'm so glad that you LOVE clipping coupons- it is so worth the time!!!
I'm not sure if CVS offers the $5 back, I have never tried, but I think that it is a Michigan law... so probably.I'd call before I went... the store phone number is on the receipt!
Good luck!

There is a Michigan Law, to keep stores honest with their price tags- that if a store charges you a different price (higher) other than what is indicated on the package- then you are entitled to the price difference PLUS $5.

I have only taken advantage of this law once- and it was about 10 years ago... does anyone have any up to date info that they'd like to share in the comments? Thank you!

Q & A

From an email...

Future Coupon Clipper: Where is a good place to start for someone who can't throw herself into the whole couponing thing but wants to try it out a bit? The Sunday newspaper?

Me: The Sunday Paper is the best resource- and really, if you on a weekly basis, set aside half an hour to go visit the blogs on the right hand side of my coupon blog- you'd find out about some great Internet printable coupons that are free for the printing too...

Future Coupon Clipper: Thanks, I'll be sure to pick up the paper this week. I was reading Money Saving Mom (blog) for a while but she totally freaked me out! I had no idea what she was talking about most of the time.

*Using coupons can seem very overwhelming at first- especially if you are trying to wing it on your own.

(SHAMELESS PLUG: The class that I offer really does hand hold you for your first peek into the world of saving tons of money. $20 is a worthy investment into the thousands of shopping trips that you will make over the course of your lifetime!)

SUPER Kroger

*Super Kroger is Located on M-59 in Howell, MI.

Every day this Kroger will double coupons up to $1.

This is the ONLY grocery store that I am aware of the doubles coupons up to $1.

Grocery Total: $266.23

Spent: $26.43 & Saved: $239.80

Coupons used: 154 (including the store doubles)

63 FREEBIES!

I bought quite a few items that Dave really likes (4 Johnsonville brat products and big bags of pizza rolls), that I have coupons for- but that are higher that $.50 and my regular grocery stores won't double. So I often will save them for my monthly trip to Super Kroger!

A few of my friends from church and I get together for snackies (thanks Jarett) and then we shop together. We plan our shopping party for the last Sunday of the month- to use our coupons before they expire. If you'd like to join us next month- just let me know!!!

Full carts, full wallets and happy shoppers~

We even bumped into another friend from church!!!

Clarification:

I had a girlfriend call me today (to schedule a coupon party) for some clarification on my glucose monitor purchase(s).

I shopped 3 separate times on Saturday between two stores. I have a really hard time not going and getting FREE stuff, and so I felt that I needed to exhaust either the store's supply of goods- or my collection of coupons. Just for the record, don't do the glucose deal at the 11 Mile & Middlebelt Rite Aid, you will be sadly disappointed when you look at the shelves!

I made 15 transactions- needing (15) $5 off a $25 purchase IP (Internet printable) coupons. One cashier offered to do just one large transaction- but I needed to do many small ones- keeping my total bill to $25 to get everything for FREE.

If I had purchased 4 glucose monitors and $20 worth of goodies- I would only have gotten to use (1) $5 off a $25 purchase coupon. Yes, the glucose monitors would have been FREE, but I would only have gotten $5 in FREE stuff.

But I deliberately broke my transactions into $25 increments to get the FREEBIES.

*I often find that the longer that I stand in front of the cashier, the more money I save. Multiple transactions are often necessary to save the most money.

I hope that this clarification has helped!

Smelling REALLY Good!

Rule #1 to keeping your spending to a minimum...

find someone else to pick up your tab...

like this super cute Little Lefty... he's a BIG spender!!! :)

Bath & Body Works Total: $117.00

Spent: $9.54 & Saved: $107.46

9 FREE items!

9 coupons used

ALWAYS open you B&BW emails...

We have two B&BW stores in my neighborhood. One just outside of 12 Oaks, and one inside of 12 Oaks. I usually just run to the outside store- as it is much less crowded.

Boaz and I each (yes, my son is a bargain hunter just like his Mommy!) made a transaction on the second and third day of the sale (A store manager told me that we could use one coupon per person per day...).

But today Bo and I ventured inside the mall- to check if they had a different selection. We hit the jackpot when the cashier told me that I could make as many transactions as I please! Woo Hoo- I didn't have to go back tomorrow!

So... all in all, we made 9 transaction- scooping up 9 large body washes (one is missing from the picture- it has already made its way into my shower- and I smell delicious!!!) and 9 little body washes and lotions. I'm thrilled... if you can believe it, I was just about out of body wash... I want a little bit overboard with a previous donation- so this sale was just in time!

A Little Bit of Money Goes a Long Way

Rite Aid Shopping Total: $401.93

Spent: $21.08 & Saved: $380.85

36 Coupon used

EVERYTHING WAS FREE

(except for the tax and some of the bottle deposits!!!)

I paid $1.83 before tax... just for 18 of the bottle deposits...
The tax on this purchase was $20.70.

Today I read about a deal that included buying glucose monitors (to donate) for $19.99 and picking out another $5 worth of Rite Aid merchandise and getting it all for FREE (minus the sales tax).

So I scooped out all of my One Touch coupons, and I printed several $5 off of a $25 Rite Aid purchase (check out www.hiptosave.blogspot.com to find the link to the coupon).

I picked up 30 reusable bags (you'll see these if you take my class), (24) 2L of Coke (my breakfast beverage of choice), and three big boxes of girl stuff :)! I love to get some good needs & wants when they are FREE!!!

Coupon Lady Snippet: using a coupon is like paying with cash. The One Touch glucose monitors above were $19.99 and I had several (obviously) $20 off coupons. When I hand the cashier my coupon and (s)he scans it into the system, the system reads it like I have handed over a twenty dollar bill- so I am still obligated to pay the sales tax.

If I used a $1 coupon to pay for a non-food item, I would still have to pay Michigan's $.06 sales tax. Food items are purchased without payment of sales tax.

Rolling My Dough

Grocery Total: $37.93

Spent: $2.92 & Saved: $35.01

Before I started using coupons I never would have imagined myself buying spaghetti sauce anywhere but a grocery store. Who would have thought that you could get a better deal at a drug store? Not me!!!

Well, I bought these today at Walgreen's. (No we are not Italian, but we love spaghetti and lasagna in our house.)

Walgreen's often has fantastic deals on grocery items... weird as it may seem to buy them at the "corner store".

This week (middle page of flyer on the right side), Walgreen's has a deal that if you buy 4 jars of sauce you receive $2 in RR (Register Rewards - Walgreen's money), if you buy 6 jars you receive $6 in RR, and if you buy 8 jars you receive $10 in RR.

Since I had $10 in RR from my Sunsilk deal earlier in the week, I decided to ROLL my Register Rewards into my Ragu deal- 1. to help pay for the jars of sauce, and 2. to earn me a new $10 RR.

So I bought my 8 jars of Ragu ($1.99/each) + (4) $.75 off of two jars coupons (-$3.00) bringing my total down to $12.92. I then handed over my $10 RR (from the Sunsilk), bringing my cost down to $2.92 and I received another $10 RR. Not bad!

*Remember: I only paid $3.35 (actually it was $0 because I used a gift card) for my Sunsilk items- which earned me the $10 RR. So I made $6.65 in my Sunsilk transaction and I just exchanged one $10 RR for another $10 RR. So I rolled my Walgreen's money into more Walgreen's money.

Coupon Lady Snippet: "ROLLING" your store rewards is one of the best ways to make your money stretch. Both Walgreen's and CVS have a reward type of system to lure you into shopping at their store. Use these gimmicks to your advantage. I always try to buy a product with my reward money that will end up earning me MORE reward money. I check the store's sale ad to plan my purchases strategically.

Walgreen's RR's are usable for 2 week, then they expire.

CVS's ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) expire after one month. (Check with your store manager, but my store manager will accept ECB's even after they have expired!)

Secret Mission

*** Special Note: I am trying to stock up on quick breakfast foods and granola type bars to aid in a ministry that a friends of mine has started.

My friend's child is in a class with a child who is sent to school without eating breakfast. Just the thought of a hungry child breaks my heart.

Now, I'm not sure of all of the details, but when my friend found out about this child, she decided to make it her mission to provide this child with a simple and healthy start to their day. Silently she has purchased and provided a breakfast each morning.

Recently she invited me to tag along in her mission- and I am so thrilled that she did! God gifts us so uniquely in ways in which He wants us to reach out and meet the needs of other people. I am heartbroken for this family that has no choice but to send a child to school hungry, but I am also thrilled that an opportunity to 'love one another' has been made known and is being cared for.

Target

I heart Target FREEBIES!

Between the two shopping trips...

Items Total $76.91

Spent: $13.82 & saved: $63.09

33 coupons used

25 FREEBIES

This week Target had a lot of FREE items offered.


I like to match my manufacturer's coupons with Target store coupons- leaving me to pay very little for my items... if I pay anything at all.



There are two places on the web that you can see and print Target coupons.

http://www.afullcup.com/

&

http://sites.target.com/site/en/supertarget/page.jsp?title=coupons_specials

The Life of a Coupon

I found another deal for hair products at Walgreen's this week.

This weeks Walgreen's ad states that if you buy 8 Sunsilk products (particular products) that you will receive $10 in Register Rewards (AKA: Walgreen's money). To make this deal sweeter, many stores have clearanced some of the Sunsilk brand hair products, and last weekend's paper had a coupon for $2 off of two Sunsilk products, and I had picked up 6 copies of the paper- so I had 6 copies of the coupon! YAY!

So I headed to my favorite Walgreen's (where Bo and I are known by name!!!) and checked out their clearance section. I found 16 Sunsilk products on clearance so I decided to split them into two transactions. (ONLY one Register Reward will print per transaction and I wanted two Register Rewards!)

I headed to the register and handed my first set of eight products ($1.09 each) to that cashier, followed by three of my coupons(-$6). My total for the first transaction was $3.35 (actually it was FREE because I paid with a gift card that I had earned) and I received $10 in Register Rewards.

Again, I set eight Sunsilk products($1.19 each) on the counter along with my three coupons and my total was $4.09. I paid with my gift card again, but no $10 Register Reward printed out.

I didn't understand why it didn't print out, but I didn't want/need any haircare products that I would actually have to pay for. (I'm pretty stocked up from the Garnier deal.)

So I went to the photo department and met a manager to do a return.

We read the ad more closely and discovered that you were eligible to receive Register Rewards only if you purchased certain products - but not the spray gels that I had bought in my second transaction. So I proceeded with my return.

Since I had made my purchase with a gift card, the purchase price of $10.09 ($4.09 + $6 in coupons) was reapplied to my gift card.

Coupon Lady Snippet: Walgreen's is not allowed to remove coupons from their register after they have been scanned. It throws their sales numbers off for the day. Walgreen's policy is to instead give their customer money (either GC, Cash or Credit) back in return for keeping the coupons.

So I ended up coming out much further ahead than I had anticipated. I bought 8 products to donate, made $10 in Walgreen's money, and received $6 back on my gift card because of my mistaken purchase.

I often feel bad when this happens, but that is the life of a coupon...

The Life of a coupon is as follows:

Coupons are offered by the manufacturer.

Coupons are obtained by the shopper.

Coupons are clipped, sorted, pulled for use,

brought to the store and spent by the shopper.

Stores are paid ($.08/coupon)

by the manufacturer to accept the coupon.

The manufacturer knowingly takes a hit

on the purchase price of their product.

So with my second transaction above:

In the purchase: the manufacturer sold some of their product (although it never left the store) and they made their money, the store made their money in the sale of the product, and I saved my money in my purchase (the coupons).

In the return: the manufacturer received their product back, the store has their shelf restocked and I was paid for my time and effort.

Interesting huh?

From My Readers...

Coupon Clipper: You and my sister inspired me over Christmas to give this all a try. We only have Walgreen's here and none of the supermarkets double coupons so I have really just been concentrating on Walgreen's.

My sister and I have figured out some interesting things about Walgreen's, the add that I get is different then the ad that comes out in Brighton or Howell, but Lansing and Fenton get the longer extended version ad that I get. My sister and I realized it the first week I was visiting and she asked at the Brighton Walgreen's. She was told that they will match the extended ad that other areas get.

As an example this week Gillette Mach 3 razors are on sale for 5.99, I had 2 BOGO coupons from my P&G insert (get 2 papers, mine and a friend from church who gives me the coupons), and then received $5 in RR for purchasing $20 in P&G products. $5.99 x4 = 23.96 - 11.96 BOGO - 5 RR makes 12 razors for my husband cost $7. He was thrilled and so was I. I have also managed to accumulate 7 tubes of free toothpaste just since returning on January 5.

Thank you for showing me how its done and for being a good friend to my sister.

The 'Ripple Effect' is a beautiful thing.

From My Readers...

When I know that a certain Coupon Clipper enjoys/needs certain products, I try to share any coupon leads and sales that I can...

Here's to coffee sippin' & coupon clippin'


Me:http://www.coffee-mate.com/getyourcoupon/default.aspx?source=10078462
print your coupons here and get them FREE at Target this week!!!

Coupon Clipper:Oh my gosh, I love you! I also tried to comment on your blog the other day, but for some reason it didn't work (I'll have my resident Technical Assistant (AKA Hubby) look into this problem!!!!). Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I am so proud, because some of the deals that you got recently (toilet paper, mustard) I got too! I'm learning!

WAY TO GO!!!

January Donations

Yesterday Boaz and I made our monthly donations. I try to drop of goodies at Community Sharing once a month. I know that there is such a HUGE need in my local communities.

I first heard about Community Sharing through my Mom. Both my Mom and my Dad volunteer their time to Community Sharing, my Mom assists clients with registration and getting their proper care and guidance, and my Dad helps with sorting and carrying goods into the building for donations and out of the building for clients and their families.

The mission of Community Sharing is to be a Beacon of Light in their community.

"All the darkness in the world cannot put out the light from one small candle."

Community Sharing is striving to be that candle. And they extend a welcome invitation for anyone to partner along side of them. I have gladly accepted their inviation.

When I first step through the doors of Community Sharing, I often am overwhelmed with how blessed I am. Seeing people who are struggling with what are considered basic essentials is heart breaking. I try to make eye contact with each person who is patiently waiting in line. I know each person is just like me... trying to do the best that they can to care for their family. I want to make that burden or that stress lighter.

The individuals and families who come to Community Sharing to seek relief from the brutal economy are traded food and clothing in return for proof of residence in either Highland or Milford MI. Sometimes I am saddened that this food pantry can only serve these two small towns, but I believe that God has a place for each of us to serve one another- and for me it is at Community Sharing. For you it may be at another food bank closer to your home.

My short visits to Community Sharing do so much for me personally. I always leave feeling so much more thankful for my husband's job, our home that we are able to not only make the mortgage payments for, but we are also able to heat. I am thankful that I am able to decide what we will eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am thankful that we have more that enough hygiene products to care for our bodies. I am thankful for our health insurance and our running/gas filled cars.

My heart is greatly impacted- and I always leave thinking of ways that I can do more... I know that I can do more... people's lives are at stake, and the economy isn't getting any better-I have to do more!

So during my weekly shopping trips I keep Community Sharing in mind. I LOVE to shop like a crazy lady- especially like a crazy lady with a cause!

Almost all of the items in the picture above were purchased especially for Community Sharing. I try to keep their list of needs in mind when I plan my shopping. Community Sharing always needs: cereal, canned goods, beans, spaghetti sauce, hygiene products, toilet paper, dish soap, laundry detergent, feminine products, paper grocery bags and seasonal clothing. Most of these things are pretty easy to pick up for FREE with coupons.

In addition to Community Sharing doing all kinds of wonderful things for their clients, Community Sharing also offers some great perks to their donors. Because I chose to donate to Community Sharing I receive a tax write off and I receive a very kind thank you note. Honestly, I'm not sure which perk I like better!!!

I am able to get a tax write off because Community Sharing is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) corporation. They received this governmental status by providing food, clothing, emergency financial assistance, referrals, advocacy and tutoring to people in need living in Highland and Milford Michigan. So ALL items donated to Community Sharing are legally tax deductible. The IRS code places the responsibility of estimating the fair market value (the estimated cost) of the items donated by the donor. Because I donate new items, I have been encouraged to estimate my value based upon the price tag- not my purchase price. I kind of laugh because the volunteers at CS call this the 'Street Value.' Like its drugs or something :).

When planning my donations I try to sort like items together- I'm pretty sure that this makes the donations easier to stock in the pantry and gets them into the hands of clients faster... that's my goal anyway.

When I pull up to Community Sharing there are ALWAYS kind volunteers to help me take my donations inside. Often they use a grocery cart. Once inside, I visit my Mom first (Mary Cronenwett if you want to say hi too! My Dad volunteers in the evenings- so I don't see him, but if you are there on a Tuesday night you can say hi to Frank Cronenwett!) Then I drop by the center registration table in the foyer to fill out a donation slip. It is quick and easy- Community Sharing keeps one copy and I keep one copy (for my taxes).

Honestly, it feels so good to be just one little person who can make an impact.

Sometimes I like to stop and image all of the households who I have had the honor of sharing with. I often wonder who or how many people are brushing their teeth today with toothpaste that I was able to donate.

If you would like to partner with Community Sharing here is a bit of their information:

Community Sharing

2029 North Milford Road

(CS is housed inside of Apollo Elementary)

PO Box 405

Highland, MI 48357

(248)889.0347

http://www.community-sharing.org/

Drop off hours:

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

10am-1pm

2nd & 4th Tuesday's

6:30pm- 8pm

2nd & 4th Saturday's

10am -1pm

***It is easy to think that you may not have the funds to be able to make any sort of an impact. I have been amazed by what I am able to purchase for FREE with coupons. The picture above does indeed show $650 worth of food and hygiene products, but I only spent $28. I also, through store rewards, coupon overage and one rebate made $73 on these purchases. So I am ahead of my purchases by $45 and I have received $650 in a tax write off.

Q & A

From an email...

Coupon Clipper: Ok, I have a few questions. Where do you get your online coupons? How on earth did you have all those TP and toothpaste coupons. I've been cutting the Sunday paper coupons but have no where near 16 coupons each????

And I just don't understand how your getting so much for free. I can see if the item is $1 and you can double your .50 coupon but how are you doing it otherwise???? I guess I'm not finding the great deals that you are and my mind cannot grasp it.

By the way, I love that you have a 2 liter of coke in all your pictures... do you still drink it for breakfast???? (Um, yes... my dirty little habit!)

Me: Look at the blogs that I have referred you to (my blog roll in the right hand column of my home page)- these blogs will give you the links to the online printable coupons when they describe their shopping trips. Often you just need to click on their link (usually highlighted). Or, they will let you know which week the particular coupon that they were using was in the newspaper. Andrea at Mommy Snacks is really good about that!

*If you are newer to clipping coupons you may not have some of the coupons that these blogs are referring to- do not get discouraged! Each coupon user has to start somewhere- soon, if you religiously buy your papers and clip your coupons, you will have ALL of the coupons that these blogs refer to.

As for the 10 TP coups... I have recently been getting 6 newspapers- I work the cost of my newspapers them my deals at CVS. I used a CVS $5 off of a $30 purchase coupon (plus $30 in FREE goodies)- that they sent to my email to buy them for FREE (my 5 newspapers were the $5 off from my coupon)- but you can find these types of printables at http://www.iheartcvs.com/.

So since I have multiple papers (6) I have 6 times the coupons. I know- it is a lot of thought up front-but it is awesome when I shop!

Q & A

From an email...

Coupon Clipper: So here is a slightly lame question for you....what is the best deal you have gotten on olive oil? I usually buy the store brand, and I saw that it is $7.34 for a fairly large bottle. It is a dollar off the normal price. Do you usually get a better deal on olive oil?

Me: Occasionally I do get OO coups, and I use them at stores that double coups and then I buy several of the smallest bottles. It does sound like you have found a decent deal... some products are tricky to get amazing deals on. Sometimes you need to make up the cost by using great coupons on the other products in you cart.

***If you are 'brand loyal' (meaning you NEED to ONLY buy Jif peanut butter- nothing else will do) then sometimes you will just need to pay full price- especially if you have run out of the product (although stockpiling this item will help curb this in the future). Using coupons doesn't have to mean that you forgo your favorites- you can focus on saving money elsewhere in your cart in order to still have the items that you most enjoy.

AND, some items are just tough to find coupons for. I try to save on my overall spending to guilt-free splurge when I want/need to.

Grocery Shopping at Meijer

Grocery Total: $140.36

Spent: $53.67 & Saved: $86.69

60 coupons used

15 FREE items

It was a typical Monday today, Bo and I went grocery shopping at Meijer. I love starting out my week at the grocery store, and as you can tell- grocery shopping is FUN for me!

I broke my shopping into 3 transactions- based on my coupons. I had multiple coupons (from yesterday's paper) for the Lawry's marinade and the mustard. Since they were on sale, I decided to stock up. All of the expiration dates are for 2010- so they will mostly be used this summer for BBQ's and entertaining.

My first transaction was the largest- spanning everything but 4 marinades and 3 mustards. I wanted ALL of my coupons to double- so I was willing to spend an extra couple of minutes (about 2 min.) checking out to save an extra $9.42.

Coupon Lady Snippet:
Occasionally, Meijer will have store coupons that match up with the stores sales... and sometime even with manufacturer's coupons as well. Visit http://www.meijer.com/. In the upper right hand corner you will find a box that says 'search entire site,'type in mealbox and hit search. A screen will pop up- select 'specials' along the top bar of choices. Here are Meijer's store coupons. You can print these and bring them to the store.

So along with my manufacturer's coupons, I matched the Meijer coupons to my Quaker oatmeal packets (making them $1 per box- or $.10 per breakfast) and to my Lawry's marinade coupon's (making each bottle $1). Essentially, I was using two coupons per item(also called stacking), one store coupon and one manufacturer coupon.

I really does pay to do your research in advance- before even entering the grocery store.

Our Cart

Here is a quick peek into our cart... see how I shop few just a handful of items to stockpile and then my fresh stuff...
Cute Little Guy too huh?

I am also trying to be a bit more 'green' these days too! Most stores will give you a $.05 credit on your grocery bill for each reusable grocery bag that you use. I rarely ever get the bag credit if I use the U-scan check outs. I guess that I could ask.

Coupon Q & A

Actual g-chat conversation:

Coupon Clipper: so I went to Bath and Body Works on Saturday and bought a few clearance items, but I just got a coupon for a free signature item (which I bought)

Me: ohhhhhh

Coupon Clipper: can I take the coupon and get an adjustment? Do you know?

Me: yep, just walk right to the register and return your full price item with your receipt and repurchase it with the coup. Smile a lot, and let them know you wish that you'd had your coup with you in the first place and then get your better deal!

Coupon Clipper: OK!

Me: I'd return everything and just re buy it all.

Coupon Clipper: OK!

Me: I do stuff like that- especially when you stand to save a bundle. Do you have more than one coup? You could return your stuff and buy it in two transactions. I love their printable coups myself!!! Good luck!

Coupon Clipper: Y,es its printable it came this morning, did you get it?

Me: I didn't open it... but I will.

Me: OK, you could return your stuff with friends and have them re buy your stuff and use a coup each time... and stock up!!!

Coupon Clipper: OK! Yea all the clearance items are sooo cheap so you could buy a cheap one and get a free one woohoo!

Me: Absolutely!!!

Yep, this Coupon Clipper is getting it! Woo Hoo!

I Can't Pass Up FREE Stuff!

Total $11.99

Spent $1.30 & Saved $10.69

20 coupons used

10 items FREE

I hit Kroger one last time for this week's sale. I found that I had more Cottonelle coupons- and I think that I still have some old unclipped coupon inserts (YIKES!). 40 more rolls... I'm up to 64 FREE rolls for this week!

I like to 'Run the Circuit' on Sunday nights. I live within two miles of CVS, Walgreen's, Target and Kroger. After clipping my coupons- I like to sort out my game plans for each store- and make a run for it after Boaz is asleep for the night! Sometimes I think that if I wait until too late in the week- all of the FREEBIES and the good stuff will be gone... sometimes I don't want to settle for rain checks!

AND... I think that I learned something new about Kroger tonight. As I was stocking up on my TP, I had 10 Cottonelle coup's for $.50 off. Kroger doubled them by taking another $.49 off (the purchase price was $.99- that's why it only doubled to $.49).

Well, I only paid $.30 in tax, but the tax on $10 worth of non-food items is $.60.

SO... I think that Kroger does not charge tax on the doubled coupon amount. Hmmm, awesome! I'm pretty sure that the reason is that the store cannot charge tax on something that they are offering to you for FREE. I just may need to call corporate to find out!

A CVS Run

Total $39.38

Spent $.38 & Saved $39.00

Used 12 coupons

(Basically- because of tax) 12 FREEBIES!!!

I'm not normally a store brand shopper- but I will occasionally give products a try, knowing that I can return them for a full refund if I don't like them. I have tried these CVS brand wipes before and did not like them at all- but... my son is a super messy eater-and he drops lots of crumbs and food onto our wood floor.

I hate slimy half chewed food stuck to the floor, so I keep a soft package of wipes in one of the drawers that is built into our table. After Boaz is done eating I whip one out and quickly wipe up the mess. These CVS wipes will handle that mess well, and I really don't care if I like the scent or not! (Honestly, I think they stink!)

The Huggies I will save for Bo's sweet little cheeks!

Grocery Shopping at Meijer

Grocery Total: $64.19

Spent $17.52 & Saved $46.67

Coupons used 17

FREE items 18

I really enjoy grocery shopping on Saturday mornings. If I get up and out early enough, Meijer is dead- and I get in and out super quick. Plus, Meijer often has Super Saturday sales that have some pretty sweet deals.

One of the Super Saturday sales that I took advantage of was the Aunt Millie's bread deal. Buy one loaf get two FREE. So I used my coupon on the purchased loaf- and so I got all three loaves for $2.19.

Colgate toothpaste was also on sale this weekend- for $1.25 per tube. I had coupons for $1.50 off per tube- so I 'bought' 16 tubes (to donate) and made $4.00 in profit to help pay for the rest of my groceries.

*I had brought some extra coupons with me into the store, I enjoy doing this because I can usually makes someones day just by sharing a scraplet of paper! In the toothpaste aisle, I found a man in deep contemplation over which toothpaste to purchase. As I was grabbing my 16 tubes- he lunged in to grab one for himself. (This is a panic reaction- I always laugh!) This guy kind of eyed my pile of toothpaste and so I handed him some coup's and shared with him my toothpaste secret.

Then, as I was eyeing my bread, I found an old lady (I mean super old lady... 90 yrs.- so no disrespect ) browsing the same sale. I offered her some Aunt Millie's coupons- and I am pretty sure that she ended up using her very first ever coupon!!! I'm pretty proud of that shared coupon!

So, the nugget of truth here is share- you never know when someone will be willing to share in return!

Random Thought...

Saturday morning, as I was getting ready for the day, I started thinking about all of the FREE stuff that I use each day- just to get ready.

I brushed my teeth with FREE Aquafresh toothpaste.

I washed my face with FREE Dove soap.

I washed my hair with FREE Garnier shampoo.

I shaved with a FREE Bic razor.

I washed with FREE Aveeno body wash.

*I should have used my FREE body pouf that I just 'bought'!

I cleaned my ears with FREE Q-Tips.

I lotioned my face with FREE Aveeno lotion.

I put FREE Aussie gel & hairspray in my hair.

I put on my FREE Secret deoderant.

I applied my FREE Jane face powder.

I applied my FREE Covergirl Mascara.

I applied my FREE Jane eyeliner.

and finally, I applied my FREE Bath & Body Works lip gloss.

I have found ways to get the products that I want- or that I at least find acceptable to use, for FREE using coupons, sales and store rewards.

Its funny, I have never realized how much FREE stuff I use everyday! I kinda like it!

Which Is the Better Buy?

*For comparison's sake, I will be calculating my price per roll of toilet paper based on the 12 double roll package being treated as 24 single rolls.)

12 pack of double rolls $5.99 (=$.25/roll*)

VS.

4 pack single rolls $.99 (=$.25/roll).

Which is the better buy?

I think that most people would consider the 12 pack of double rolls for $5.99 the better purchase solely because it is the bigger package. If you purchase this large of a quantity, you will feel that you have stocked up on this item and so you aren't paying a portion of your weekly budget towards toilet paper, at least for the few weeks between purchases.

Now lets add a $.50 coupon into the mix, and keep in mind that the stores (Meijer & Kroger) that I shop in here in SE Michigan will double a $.50 coupon.

So, with our coupon doubled...

The 12 pack double rolls will cost $.21/roll, and the 4 pack of single rolls will cost $.00/roll or they are FREE!!!

The better purchase is the smallest package- because the coupon value makes more of an impact on the price per unit of smaller quantities.

COUPON LADY SNIPPET:Always look at the PRICE PER UNIT when making your purchasing decision. Don't be fooled that the bigger package will always be the better deal. Most often the better price will be on the smaller item, and if you have several coupons (from purchasing multiple Sunday papers) then you can have the same amount of product in the larger package- for a much better price- just with multiple smaller packages.

Think about the purchases that you make at Sam's Club or Costco... do you think that you could get better deals with coupons at the grocery store?

On my most recent trip to Kroger I "purchased" (6) 4 packages of single roll Cottonelle TP. I used (6) $.50 coupons that were doubled. I could have paid $4.99 (after my $.50 coupon was doubled). I would rather my TP be FREE!

* For more coupon snippets, check out my right sidebar.

The Buddy System, Its Not Just For Kids!

COUPON LADY SNIPPET: If you have a COUPON BUDDY, you are far less likely to miss out on a great deal/sale.

I personally have quite a few friends who also have been bitten by the coupon bug. Whenever any of us are together we offer up where the best deals can be shopped, where to find non- Sunday paper coupons, and sometimes we even trade coupons with each other.

Since I have a baby and no pets I am thrilled at the opportunity to rid myself of coupons that I will never use- knowing that a friend is thrilled to have a few extras. And when I receive added baby coupons that a friend doesn't need- I can use them to build my stockpile. It is like getting the best coupons from a newspaper that you didn't have to buy!

I have even gone as far as shopping alongside of friends- cart to cart. The COUPON BUDDY system inspires me to share my info & coup's, to keep deal seeking and to keep up with friends who share the same interests.

Make sure YOU have a COUPON BUDDY too!

FREE Suave

Check out this address and enter your information.

Suave will send you a coupon for a free product!

https://suavenomics.sweeply.com/

We all LOVE coupons and FREE stuff don't we?

Notes from My Stockpile

One of the great things about stockpiling is that when I grocery shop I can be selective, for the most part, about what I purchase. Then I just add in my dairy and fresh items that I will need for that week.

Each week, when I look over my grocery sale papers, I ONLY look for the best of the best deals. I like to think of my style as planning ahead shopping. I know what items and what brands my family prefers and so I keep my eyes focused on only those items.

In my most recent Meijer shopping trip I purchased 10 boxes of Fiber One granola bars. Normally they cost about $3.89 per box, but they were on sale and I had coupons to make them $1 per box. Since I love to keep one of these bars in my purse, just in case I get hungry when I am out, to keep me from snacking on drive through food- I snatched up as many boxes as I had coupons for. I am pretty confident that before they expire I will have eaten (or shared) every last delicious bar.

If I am looking to build my stockpile for future needs (food and household items) then when I can get the best price- I will buy as much as I can, all while staying inside of my grocery budget. Spending $10 on 50 granola bars that will last me several months is much more wise then spending almost $4 a box of 5 bars when I run out.

You need to know that building a stockpile does take time and patience.

Time: the best sales do not happen all at the same time!
Patience: learn to love the thrill of the hunt. You will be greatly rewarded.

Little by little your stash of stuff will accumulate IF you religiously by multiple items when they are on their best sale.

Often my grocery cart only has 8-10 items that I have multiples of (like 10 of the Fiber One bars) and my fresh items. I don't have to shop the whole store, wander aimlessly, or decide what I should purchase- because I have already depended on my surfing of the store's flyer and my clipped coupons while I was still at home. This gets me in and out faster, I spend less money and I know that I have scored some of the stores best sales!

Coupon Lady Snippets:
ROCK BOTTOM PRICES. Rock bottom prices, in the coupon world means items that are their best sale price + the use of a coupon. For example, say my family likes Muellers pasta. I see it advertised in the sale flyer for $1.29 per box. I have a coupon for $.50 off per box- which the store will double- making by box of pasta $.29. $.29 would be the rock bottom price. Then, if I had several of the Muellers coupon from buying several papers- I would be able to stockpile my family's favorite pasta for about 20% of the original price.

LOSS LEADER ITEMS. Loss leader items are the greatest deals in the sale flyer! Often they are promoted on the front page of the sale paper. For example, this week (Thanks Gina for the heads up!) Kroger, on their front page, has an advertisement for 2 FREE gallons of milk or juice when you buy 3 Kellogg's products- which also happen to be on sale for 3 for $8. I had (2) $1 off coupons Kellogg's products- making my purchase of 2 gallons of milk, one box of cereal and 2 boxes of breakfast bars = $6. I would have paid more than $6 for just the milk... so I essentially received 3 FREE items!

*Loss leader items are the items that the store is willing to take a financial hit on. Meaning the store will pay more for an item than they sell it to you for... because they want to lure you into their store. The store's logic is that you will come for the items that they are willing to lose money on- BUT they will earn it back when you do the rest of your shopping in their store. Its not kindness- its strategy on the store's part.

BUT... you can shop like me, stockpiling loss leader items and shopping two stores per week- all to get the best prices!

Grocery Shopping at Kroger

$81.45 worth of groceries.

Spent $18.49 & Saved $62.97

66 coupons: 34 clipped and 32 store doubles.

23 FREEBIES!!!

A Target Run

Spent $3.32 (or $1.96 before tax) &
Saved $43.69 (on sale prices- not the regular prices)

I bought these 11 pkgs of girlie products solely to donate. I used a Target coupon and a Manufacturer's coupon on each product- making me $.21 profit per package, or $2.31 in coupon overage. This coupon overage paid the tax and then some towards my other items purchased.

My four boxes of Electrasol dish washing tabs were on sale for $3.25 per box and I used (4) $2.50 coupons- making these $.75 a box. I also selected the bonus boxes with an extra 5 tabs - making each dish washing tab $.03. Not to shabby!

Coupon Lady Snippet:
The Target coupon policy states that you are allowed to use a Target store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on the same item. So above, with my 11 girlie products, I used 22 coupons. The term used for using a store and manufacturer's coupon together is called STACKING. Meaning placing one coupon savings on top of the next coupon savings! It is really easy to get nearly FREE, FREE or "FREE plus" items by stacking your coupons.
*To get more Snippets of information- click on my side bar in the upper right corner of my home page.

Grocery Shopping at Meijer

$81.22 worth of groceries.

Spent $42.26 & Saved $38.96

24 coupons: 14 clipped and 10 store doubles.

1 FREEBIE

Garnier Anyone?

Last week Walgreen's was running a fabulous sale on Garnier hair products. The entire line was on sale for $2.99- then Walgreen's had a store coupon for $2 off- and then I had all sorts (45 to be exact) of $1 off manufacturer's coupons.
I'll do the math...

$4.29 regular price
- $1.39 for the $2.99 sale price
-$2 for the Walgreen's coupon
-$1 for my manufacturer coupon
= -.01 x 45 products (that's negative one cent!!! They paid ME!)
(and one other product bought without a coupon- I had an uber chatty cashier...)

So I paid $.54 (+ tax) for 46 hair products.

Enough for me and the a lot of sharing!!!

I Heart Mail...

Today I received two checks in the mail = $35. Yippee! Over that past four or five months I have been sharing my opinions with a particular company- maybe once a week. The surveys are about 10-15 minutes long- and I earn points by completing them. Then I can trade in those points for cold hard cash!

If you would like to give this a try, feel free to sign yourself up at http://www.globalopinionpanels.com/
FYI: you never have to complete a survey- if you are busy you can skip it. Also, I was offered to try new products for FREE- along with giving my opinions. I received FREE shampoo, body wash, aftershave for Dave and paper towels.

I also decided to mail out a few of my rebates... over the next few weeks I should be receiving checks for $73.49. Not too shabby. (All in all, the products that I will be receiving rebates for cost me $7.49 - that $66 in profits!!!

90% Off = FREE

You are looking at 31 rolls of super cute wrapping paper!
CVS has them on sale for 90% off- making them $.29 per roll. The bows (below) were also part of the sale- I'm pretty sure I have over 250 bows.

I 'bought' all of these items in 4 transactions. I noticed that the Merry & Bright label was the CVS brand of wrapping supplies, and I had a $3 off any CVS brand coupon. So I bundled up about $30 of original price merchandise, and at 90% off- it was just under $3, making everything FREE! (No sales tax even!!!)

Coupon Lady Snippet:Because my total was actually only $2.90, my cashier (who was the manager) ADJUSTED DOWN the coupon value. Adjusting down means that she rang my coupon in as $2.90 rather than $3 because then I would have an extra $.10 that I would need to spend in the store. I hate when you need to buy just a teeny something to make the cash register move from a -$.10 to a monetary amount above $.00.

PS: If you would like to do the same deal- go to http://www.iheartcvs.com/ and look for the printable coupons at the site - towards the center at the top- and you may print the $3 coupon for yourself... as many times as you'd like!!!

These are for my annual yard sale!

But One Get One FREE X2

I love buy one get one FREE sales! But I especially love buy one get one FREE sales when I have matching buy one get one FREE coupons!

*Buy one get one FREE (BOGO).

This week at Walgreen's they have Oust air sanitizer on sale BOGO. I 'bought' two using my BOGO coupon. So I ended up with both of them for just the tax on one can.

Here is how it worked:

Walgreen's, in trying to lure you into their store, graciously offered one FREE can of Oust if you were interested in 'buying' two cans. So Walgreen's footed the bill on my first can- and there was no tax on that can because I didn't pay for it! The second can was graciously paid for by the manufacturer- because they gave me the BOGO coupon in my Sunday paper.

Since a coupon spends just like cash- you are obligated to pay for the tax on the couponed item, or in my case, the second can of Oust. SO I only paid $.17 for two $4.29 cans of Oust.

Toothpaste

I'm pretty sure that I will never ever pay for toothpaste again!


I think that I have surpassed the 100 mark for number of tubes donated!

(Actually I was pretty geeked that I "bought" packages that had FREE toothbrushes with them!)

This week at Walgreen's they have Colgate toothpaste on sale buy one for $2.79 and get one FREE. I picked up 2 (actually 8) and used a $1.50 coupon on each item (yep- even the FREE one). Thus making both absolutely FREE even including the tax!



A Coupon Lady Snippet:
Most stores will allow you to use one coupon per item purchased. I used one coupon for the item that actually cost me money (well not really :) ) and one coupon on the FREE item. The coupon that I used on the FREE item essentially just was used to bring down the price on my 'paid for' item.

How Much Can One Coupon Lady Handle?

I "buy" a lot of stuff! I honestly just LOVE to shop! I don't however, like to part with a whole lot of my funds.

Since I have entered the BIG LEAGUES of the coupon world, I have decided that all of my purchases need to have categories... a place to belong.

The first thing that I do with the items that I purchase is decide if they are really needed by my family. If I purchase several cans of spaghetti sauce- I need to know that we will be able to use all of it before it will expire.

Secondly, I like to have family and friends in mind when I shop. A few months ago I was talking to a girlfriend about how expensive her shampoo/conditioner was (she does not use coup's) and the following week I was able to score three sets of shampoos and conditioners in her brand and they were even the 'pink bottle' for $.90. She was thrilled that she now has a year's supply for FREE, and I was thrilled to help a sista' out!

Then I like to 'buy' freebies or things that just cost pennies to me- for a favorite food pantry- Community Sharing. (I actually would encourage everyone to have a favorite place to donate to!) I love donating bags and bags full of food and hygiene products- it feels so awesome to be able to give so much!

Lastly, I purchase goodies (non-essentials, essential items like food, hygiene, cleaning supplies and the like will always be donated!) like air fresheners, hair ties and lint rollers for my annual $1 yard sale. This is a cool way to make a little bit of money to help us pay for the next project around our house!

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

FREE Make- Up

This passed weekend I had a few high value ($2-$3) coupons burning a hole in my coupon box- so I decided to take them to Walgreen's to see what I could "buy."

I found 5 lip glosses on sale for $2.19, and I had 5 $2 coupons for lip products. These lip glosses were originally priced at $7.99.

I also found 7 concealer sticks on sale for $2.59 and I had 7 coupons for $3 off a face product. Originally these were priced at $9.99. YIKES!

Since I used all of my coupons, I had coupon overage from the 7 concealers to cover the extra $.19 from the lip glosses AND the extra $.41 on each concealer also paid for the tax on these items. Woo Hoo! Absolutely FREE!

A Scissor Lady Snippet:
COUPON OVERAGE. When you use a coupon for an item and the value of the coupon exceeds the purchase price of the item- leaving you with left over money- this is coupon overage. For example, say I was buying a pack of gum. If I have a manufacturer’s coupon for $.75 off and the gum is on sale for $.50, I will have $.25 in coupon overage that I can use to help pay for the rest of the items that I am purchasing. It may not be much, but it is nice to have! ***Some stores (and sometimes it is just the cranky cashier) do not allow coupon overage, and so they will write the purchase price on the coupon. Keeping with the gum example, The cashier would give you the gum for free, but instead of crediting your bill with the added $.25, she would cross out the $.75 on the coupon and write in $.50.

Making Money...

I LOVE rebates!

In the Sunday paper a few weeks back I read about an Olay rebate. If I purchased two Olay products I would receive a visa card for $15.

I purchased two of these Olay cleansers and I will be mailing my rebate tomorrow.

AND... I will be making a $15 profit! I used two $5 off coupons from the paper and I used $5 in register rewards from Walgreen's to make my purchase FREE and my visa gift card all profit!

I can't wait to pop my rebate in the mail tomorrow!