Going EXTREME!!!

For those that know me even the slightest little bit know that I LOVE to shop!  I can shop for anything from groceries (my personal FAVORITE) to clothes, jewelry, shoes (of course) and even plants.  However, it is certainly not what I want to define me and I honestly try to get most things on sale...oh how I LOVE a good deal!  Recently, I've tried to streamline my habits to be more beneficial and less selfish.  A couple of weeks ago I saw commercials for a television show on TLC called "Extreme Couponing".  I watched one episode and was instantly intrigued.  I am a self-proclaimed "type A" personality (i.e one of those people who enjoys organization, having things precise, and very detail-oriented...sounds terrible huh?!? LOL!).  On top of that I majored in accounting with an emphasis on audit for my college career so I love to track money and read fine print!  LOL!  I know what you're thinking,  but rest assured I know how to let my hair down and have a good time too!  I'm certainly not your typical "pencil pusher". Ha!  Anyway, after watching several episodes I decided to take the bait and give this "extreme couponing" a go.   Seriously it can't be THAT complitcated, right???? About 3 weeks ago I bought my first Sunday paper and I haven't looked back since!  I am cautiously becoming more & more familar to coupons and have yet to shop without them since this little experiment began!  It literally blows me away how easy it is and that it REALLY does work!  I remember thinking watching that first episode that those people were crazy!  I mean seriously, who buys 110 bottles of sleeping pills or 75 bottles of antacid????  I don't care if they DO pay you to take them out of the store, that just seems wrong if you're not going to use them or donate them!  I have promised myself I am NOT going to stockpile massive quantities of anything just so I can say I got it cheap, and PLEASE hold me accountable to that!  I can't imagine the complex mental issues I would develop as a "type A hoarder"!!!  LOL! 

So, here's the basics....

I started off just clipping coupons from the paper, but quickly learned that the internet is the serious jackpot!  My favorite sites are

 http://www.coupons.com/   This is a great website that is contantly changing.  You can just click on the ones you want to print & then voila, you have instant discounts.

http://www.target.com/  All these years I have LOVED Target, and I never knew they had coupons just ready & waiting for me to use.  Once you get to the site, scroll over to "see more" and click on the coupons link (on the left-hand column). 

http://www.albertsons.com/

The awesome thing about coupons from a source like target.com is one of the very first cardinal rules a couponer should know by heart!  There are 2 types of coupons: manufacturer (who made it) & store (where you buy it).  For each item you buy you can use one of each!  Yes!!!  That's right!  You can use TWO coupons for the SAME item!!!  Example: Walgreens (store) has a coupon for dawn dish soap for $1 off 1 bottle.  I have a coupon from the paper (manufacturer) for 35 cents off 1 bottle of dawn.  So if Dawn is on sale for $1.50 I can purchase it for 15 cents!!!!  $1.50 - $1 store coupon - 35 cent manufac. coupon!  Can I get a WHOO HOOO!!!!!  Yes, I do now have 2 bottles of dish soap, but I thought it was too good of a deal to pass up.

So far this is my extent of my regular sites I check.  There are LOTS of others, but I haven't tried using coupons from those sites.  I have also started signing up for lots of "fan club" type things.  I created a junk email account and use that just for sites like pillsbury.com and poptarts club, etc.  You name it, if they have a website, they have a member club and there is almost always a coupon associated with it.  That's something else I learned from the show.

My favorite stores to shop at are:

Albertsons (because they actually double & TRIPLE coupons!!!)  Coupons 35 cents and under are tripled, and coupons 36 cents - 50 cents are doubled.  So a 35 cent coupon is actually a $1.05 coupon!!!  This is where I started doing all my "real" grocery shopping because of this and they honestly do have great store specials.  The only draw-back is that if you don't have a coupon, their "everyday" prices are higher than that of the other local grocery stores.  I wish we had a Kroger, because it's the best of both worlds, awesome selection AND coupon multiplying!  Sigh, makes me miss living in the "big city".

Target - I will ALWAYS love Target, with or without coupons!  I don't really know what it is, but I just love it! LOL!

Wal-greens - they have great deals on health & some household products.  Especially with their "in store cash back bonuses".  Case in point... my son likes to use "manly body wash" now.  He really could care less what brand it is so I usually just get him what is on sale.  So, Walgreens had buy 3 bottles of Old Spice or Gilette body wash on sale for $10.  I had a $1 off 2 bottles of Old Spice body wash coupon from the Sunday paper and a $2 off 1bottle of Gilette body wash also from the paper.  On top of that Walgreens was offering a store cash back reward of $3 if you bought any 3 bottle combination.  So I got 3 full-size bottles of body wash for $10-$1 coupon - $2 coupon = $7 but then they gave me $3 in "store cash".   I grabbed 3 brownie mix boxes that were on sale for $1 each and since there is no tax on grocery items I got them for FREE by just handing over my "store cash".  The cashier said she'd never had anyone have a zero balance due!  Yea me!!!

CVS - it works exactly the same as Walgreens.  Although I will caution you to get a store rewards card here.  It is free and takes like 5 seconds.  They don't ask you for any info either.  So why not!  And you get to take advantage of all there great discounted prices that way.



So, here is my "haul" from today's shopping outing.  I went to Target & Walgreens.  I really just devoted today to shopping with coupons.  I plan to do my "normal" grocery shopping on Wednesday.  So far I've managed to consistently save about 50% on my groceries during the past 3 weeks.  Not too bad, especially for a beginner, and I gaurantee you I do NOT have a trophy "wall of toilet paper" or "room of toothpaste".

In case you can't tell, the picture above is of:
12 bottles of vitamin water (my husband drinks 1-2 every day)
3 boxes of my favorite 100 calorie breakfast crisps that I eat every morning (I am a serious creature of habit! LOL!)
2 boxes of whole wheat crackers (another favorite snack, especially with Laughing Cow cheese! YUM!)
2 boxes of nutrigrain bars (my kids love them for breakfast!)
2 boxes of granola bars
a bottle of baby shampoo (gotta love the tear-free stuff for my kids!)
and my 3 boxes of brownie mix
and 3 bottles of body wash

I got ALL of that for less than $30 TOTAL!  I have no idea how much it retails, because a lot of it was "on sale", but I literally saved $30 with coupons!  YIPEE!!!  That's enough savings to "pay" for my next pedicure! LOL!

Looking forward to my next challenge...grocery shopping on Thursday!  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Happy Saving!