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Coupon Post! - Week of 6/5
Hey Coupon Ladies - As promised here is another coupon post!
First, I am going to show you guys a trip I did at Albertson's last night and break it down. Missing from the pic below are 6 additional pizzas and a gallon of milk, my DH put those away before I could take the pic. 
And yes, we do eat like children - I know!
Using a combination of sales and coupons, the total out of pocket was $27.95. Before the sales/coupons the total was $70.81. For reference, Albertson's triples coupons up to $0.39 and doubles them up to $0.50.
Rather than list the whole purchase here are few items to show how the sale/coupon combo works:
- Totino's party pizzas, my DH loves these things so much: Normally priced $1.29, on sale for $0.88, I had two coupons for $0.50 off of 4. Albertson's doubled the coupons to $1 off of 4, so it looked like this: 8 pizzas at $0.88 each = $7.04 - $2 in coupons = $5.04/8 pizzas = $0.63 per pizza. We used to buy two of these every single week at $1.29 each, so this is a month of pizza for more than 50% off.
- Oscar Meyer Turkey - I am a turkey sandwich-aholic: A pound of the shaved lunch meat is normally priced $4.49, and were on sale for $2.99, I had two $1 off one package coupons, so it looked like this: 2 lunchmeats at $2.99 each = $5.98 - $2 in coupons = $3.98/2 = $1.99/pound. I used to buy 1 of these every other week at $4.49, so this is a month of lunchmeat for 66% off.
In the interest of stockpiling, which is how this coupon thing really pays off I also bought four boxes of cereal and three cans of diced tomatoes. I bought the cereal for $0.50 a box (86% savings) and the tomatoes for $0.10 a can (93% savings). I use two rules when stockpiling - I only buy it if we will actually use/eat it and if I can get it 75% off or more.
To make this a lot easier on myself, I do a google search for DFW Albertson's Coupon Matchups and the date. I also visit the Dealicious Finds blog weekly to see her matchups.
The easiest way to do this is to find a blog you like and purchase the deals that interest you. Where do you guys shop? - I will give you a good blog link for that store and point out some good deals to get you started.
Drugstores
Drugstores are the hardest part of couponing to understand, but they really pay off for getting things free or dirt cheap.
My DH is a razor snob, he loves expensive razors but hates the prices of the cartridges. Here is a scenario that nets a very cheap Gillette ProGlide razor and involves coupons from this Sunday's paper.
The razor is on sale for $9.89 (normally $12.99) and in the Sunday paper there is a coupon for $4 off one razor. This takes the price down to $5.89, which is an okay deal, but Walgreens has a program called Register Rewards (RR) which is basically a gift certificate to Walgreens that prints from the register when you buy certain products. Walgreens is offering $5 in RR when you buy one razor. While you still pay $5.89 for the razor out of pocket, you get a $5 gift certificate to use on your next purchase, making it like paying $0.89.
I know what you are thinking - well, great I have $5 for my next purchase, but the razor still cost me $5.89. This is where the harder part (but the big payoff part) comes in. The way to make Walgreens really work is to do what is called rolling. You basically roll your RR from previous purchases to pay for the out of pocket portion of your next RR purchase - truly making it free and netting you as more RR to use the next time. There are some rules about RR which make them a little tricky but they really are the key to getting free items at Walgreens. - This is a really good link for more information and FAQ.
CVS has a program (Extra Care Bucks) that runs very similarly to Walgreens Register Rewards and Target gives out Target Gift Cards in the same manner.
To find Walgreens deal matchups I use the Wild For Wags blog, for CVS and Target I use the Hip2Save blog.
I know this is all a lot of information and super confusing, but it gets so much easier and really pays off. In the beginning if you need help, let me know in the coupon post or PM me and I will help you with questions and with deal scenarios.
Re: Coupon Post! - Week of 6/5
Michelle & Michael
Married - August '10
TTC - Since September 2011
Thanks Leslie. I usually shop at Kroger or Target. Do you know of any good blogs for them?
Same here! I would definitely be interested to know. I don't think Kroger doubles/triples their coupons anymore though, which is disappointing. Thanks so much for posting this!
For Kroger I use http://www.southernsavers.com/
For target I use http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
Dahlia - Kroger should be tripling up to 39 cents and doubling up to 50 cents, my Kroger definitely does and it seems like most in the area do as well - maybe call and ask them?
This is a good Kroger DFW blog, the link is for this weeks deals, which are good until 6/7: Click When looking at other blogs for Kroger deals - make sure they are DFW area, Kroger does different sales all over. Also this is a good post to read when starting out with Kroger - Click
For Target I use the Hip2Save blog - I love her blog for all kinds of savings. This link is for this weeks deals, good until 6/11 - Click - Here is a little tip sheet for starting out at Target as well - Click
Dealicious Finds - http://dealiciousfinds.com/tom-thumb/tom-thumb-safeway-coupon-matchups-601-607/
Also - when you visit these blogs, you will see abbreviations like this:
SS 4/17 exp 6/31 - This means this coupon is from the 4/17 Smart Source newspaper insert and expires 6/31. RP is Red Plum, P&G is Proctor and Gamble.
I do buy more papers. When I started I bought one, then two, now I buy four. I get two of the double coupon Sunday/early Sunday editions. They are $2.89 each at CVS, which is more than getting them at Dollar Tree, but lately my DT has been sold out of papers by the time I get there.
As long as you don't have more manufacturer's coupons than items you are generally allowed to use multiple coupons. Some stores limit you to the number of like coupons you can use (generally around four) in one transaction, but I have not exceeded that limit anywhere yet.
I did! I bought 4, which is awesome because we were paying $21 for 120 oz of Tide at Sam's, 4 of these is 120 oz. for $12. My deal wasn't as good as yours, I only had a $0.35/1 coupon, which still tripled, so $3 each after tax rather than the $8.50 they are normally.
Bobbileigh - This makes me think of something else about using multiple coupons. Almost all stores allow you to use a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon for the same item (like in this Tide deal - one $4 Albertson's coupon and one $0.35 off Tide manufacturer coupon, which was tripled) BUT the Albertson's coupon states 1 per customer per transaction. I have an Albertson's on the way to/from work so I stopped in twice there and once at our local Albertson's with DH to get four total. Supposedly Albertsons will let you do three separate transactions in a row, but I'm not ballsy enough for that yet.
By the way - The $0.35/1 coupon was in this Sundays paper as was the $4 off coupon - so if you have both you girls can do this deal tomorrow if you are interested.
Oops your right Leslie my coupon was $.35 off not $.55 which Albertson's tripled. And I am also not ballsy enough to do seperate transactions. My sister did 8 different transactions once at a Walgreens.