Over the past year, I’ve gotten more into couponing. Honestly, I’m not gonna lie – it’s a lot of work and time. Yes, it saves a good deal of money…but I can’t say that the time spent on clipping, matching, organizing and planning a coupon shopping trip is completely worth it. But it is what it is and for right now, every little bit of money helps, so I do it.
By the way, I know a lot of people have seen that “Extreme Couponing” show on TLC, but the reality is, is very hard to get to that point and get all those things for free. For one thing, you have to live in an area of the country that has local stores that still doubles coupons…and it would probably also help to live in a place where the cost of living/groceries is much lower than Southern California. You’d also have to put some serious time into collecting copious amounts of weekly newspaper coupon inserts from somewhere.
I will never be able to be an “extreme” couponer like that. But every once in a while, I get a tiny glimpse of the excitement of couponing. Tonight was one of those nights. I got all this, ~$132 worth of products.
for less than $35.
Pretty cool, right??
In case anyone is curious, here are the details of my trip. I had to actually divide my trip into 4 separate transactions because you are only allowed to use ONE $-off-so-much-spent each transaction. But it worked out well for me to do that anyways, because I could roll over my Easy Care Bucks (which are like CVS money you earn and then can spend in a future visit/transaction). Sorry about all the coupon lingo! 🙂
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Transaction #1: Oral Care– (2) $1/1 Crest BE coupons (Coupons.com)
– (2) $1/2 Stride Gum coupons (SS 3/16)
ECB received: $13.00
Transaction #2: Baby Care ProductsECB received: $10.00
Transaction #3: Food(2) boxes Honey Nut Cheerios reg. $4.39 ea., sale $3.00 ea.
– (3) $0.50/1 Wonderful pistachios (SS 1/19)
ECB received: $3.00
– $3 for General Mills ($3 ECB off 3 GM cereals, limit 1)
Transaction #4: SoftsoapECB received: $4.00
– $4 for Softsoap ($4 ECB off 2 Softsoap body washes, limit 1)
Out-of-Pocket I spent (including tax): $41.55 for $132.86 worth of product. AND I still have $7 in ECB left over, so it’s really like $34.55 for $132.68 worth of product – a 74% savings!!
Ok, so I’m a nerd. But I thought it was pretty fun. 🙂
By the way, if anyone is curious, I find out about how to match coupons and sales by following a couple of different sites and blogs. The first website that I strongly suggest is The Grocery Game. While you get a free trial month, after that you do have to pay. It’s like $5-10 each store you add. I normally HATE paying for websites, but I think it’s honestly very worth it. It’s worth checking out at the very least.
The other blogs that I follow are: Money Saving Mom – a huge blog with a huge following, but a very helpful and friendly blog. I follow this site to get updates about great coupons that are available to print as well as all types of savings and deals that are out there that I wouldn’t otherwise know about.
There’s also a site out there called The Krazy Koupon Lady, and I followed it for awhile, but then I just got overwhelmed with all the coupons and matchups they posted all the time and decided I didn’t have the time for it. But you might enjoy it. (And I may be wrong, but I think that the creator of the Krazy Koupon Lady was actually ON the “Extreme Couponing” show. 🙂 )