July 16 Couponing Trip

Here's a picture of a shopping trip to Walgreens and Rite Aid I made on July 16th. I paid $68.04 for all of these items. Regular retail cost would have cost me $152.49! I was able to match my coupons with store discounts to receive these great deals.

Here is the following cost for each of my items:
Rite Aid trip:
1. Fructis Shampoo $2.50 paired with $1 off coupon made it $1.50
2. Fructis Frizz Control $2.50 paired with $1 off coupon made it $1.50
3. Mitchum Deodorant 2/$7 paired with 2 $0.75 off coupons made it $4 + $2 rebate
Final Price $1 each after rebate Did this twice to buy 4 deodorants
4. Tugaboos Wipes 360 count box $8.99 receive $1 +Up reward and $2 rebate
Final Price $5.99 after reward and rebate
5. Reach Floss and Listerine 2/$7 paired with 2 $1 off coupons and receive $2 +Up reward
Final Price $1.50 each after reward
6. Crest toothpaste $2.69 with $2.69 rebate makes it FREE
7. Chapstick 3 pack $4.49 with $2 rebate makes it $2.29
I did two separate transactions so I could use the +Up rewards from the wipes and floss on the other products. Plus I had 2 $3 off $15 or more which I could use on both transactions which helped with my savings even more. So I paid $28.91 but will receive a check at the end of the month with the $8 rebates which makes the purchase total $20.91 which should have cost $53.33 at regular retail.
Walgreens Trip:
1. Huggies Wipes 72 count $2.49 paired with $0.75 off coupon plus $1 Walgreens July booklet makes it $0.74 I bought two since this was a great deal and with 2 kids still in diapers we are always needing wipes.
2. G-U-M Dental Floss $2 plus $2 Register Reward (RR) makes this FREE after reward I did this twice so I could use both rewards on other transactions.
3. Softsoap hand soap $0.99 with in store ad so I bought 3
4. Air Wick Fresh Matic $7.99 paired with $4 off coupon makes it $3.99 receive $3 RR which makes this $0.99 after reward I bought 2 since I loves these automatic air fresheners, it was extremely cheap and could use the RR on another transaction.
5. Mandarin Oranges 2/$1
6. Enfamil Formula 2/$46 paired with 2 $4 off coupons made it $42 plus $6 RR makes it $36/2
I did 3 separate transactions so I could use all of my RR on the transaction with the Enfamil to help make the formula even cheaper. I was able to get another $10 off the Enfamil the way I set up my transactions using the RR making the Formula only $26 for 2! I was very happy with this shopping trip because we use Enfamil and it's not cheap. I paid a total of $47.82 which would have cost me $99.16 regular retail.

So even though this was a pretty big transaction it was a lot of things we needed for a pretty big discount. I usually only try to spend no more than $20 but when the weekly ad includes formula I just have to increase my budget. Let me know what you think because I think I did pretty good!
I did 3 transactions

Couponing

So along with family updates, I am also going to be posting about my new obsession...couponing. After watching TLC's Extreme Couponing, I became very interested in how these people were saving that much money on essentials. I have been doing research, reading blogs, books, magazine articles; anything that had to do with couponing and helping me learn how to do it.

Since Dave got out of the military, we lost the opportunity to shop at the Commissary that was tax free and had some great deals. I realized how much money we were saving just shopping there. Since I have wanted to put ourselves on a tighter budget to get ourselves out of debt, I thought this could also help.

I have only shopped about 3 times, but those 3 times have made me instantly addicted. It's such a rush to get a bunch of stuff for more than 50% off, FREE and/or making money buying the products. Who would have thought how easy it is to save money just by paying attention to the weekly ads and paring specials with coupons.

Now I am never going to go to "extremes" like the show because every time I see the "stockpiles" those people have, I think how truly crazy they are. I just want to "stockpile" the essentials I know my family needs and will use. I will not buy things just because it's a great deal like some of those people on the show do. I am just trying to be a money saving mom.

So I have begun a small stockpile. I subscribed to the Sunday paper for the coupons. I clip and file my coupons into a binder. I check the weekly drugstores for their deals than match my clipped coupons to the deals. I have shopped at Walgreens, Rite Aid and Giant Eagle. I just recently started Rite Aid so I can't say which I like more yet. So far I like Rite Aid because you can buy more than one product to receive more than one +UP Rewards. Walgreens are limited to one Register Reward per transaction so you have to do multiple transactions if you want to stockpile. Rite Aid allows at least 2 for their rewards. These are coupons good for future purchases which makes saving even better!! Stores will be another post though because I can go on for hours.

I really am looking forward to continuing this adventure and blogging about my savings. I will begin to post pictures of my purchases along with the total savings. So stay tuned for Brittny's 'Krazy' Coupon Adventures! :)