In preparing to quit my job, I decided to see if I could become a fabulessly frugal couponer. I did good tonight. I spent $33 and we have 24 boxes of cereal, 8 gallons of milk, 3 big bags of M&M's, a bag of my favorite easter candy and enough UPC's to send in for a $10.00 gas card. It may not be the $600 worth of groceries for $10 that Devyn is trying for but it was over $200 worth of groceries for $30. At least we have breakfast, dinner and late night snack covered for the next week.
Too bad I will probably blow all of my savings at Costco this weekend. Some days are good saving days, some days not so much.
That is amazing! There is a new show called "Extreme Couponing" or something like that. I've only seen the preview and I am in awe. I want to be able to do that!!! Tell me how to do it!
ReplyDeleteI have found out that efficient couponing is a major change in the way you shop. I like the website www.fabulesslyfrugal.com. The basics are you stock up on coupons (by getting five+ Sunday newspapers and using internet coupons) and then apply them at the right store, at the right time. If you have enough coupons to apply you can get some pretty sweet deals in bulk and then you "shop" from your storage rather than paying high store prices. The awesome thing about the website is it tells you which stores to go to and which coupons to use to get the most product from your money. The best way to save the most is to have enough coupons to be able to purchase enough product. One free bottle of fabric softner would go so quickly in my house that it probably isn't worth the trip to the store. If you have 20 bottles of free fabric softner, it is worth the trip.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Albertson's had cereal on sale 3 boxes for $5.00 and then you receive a printout (catalina) for a free gallon of milk to use on your next purchase. That is a great deal all on it's own. Adding coupons to the mix, Kellogg's had coupons for $1.00 off when you buy three boxes of certain cereal. I printed the coupons off. In the Sunday paper, Albertson's provided a double coupon, so you could apply the double coupon to any other coupon for an extra dollar off. Both of those coupons brought my total down to $3.00 for 3 boxes of cereal and 1 gallon of milk. Rice Crispy's had a coupon attached to the box of cereal for a free bag of M&M's if you bought two boxes of Rice Crispy's or Cocoa Crispy's. We bought 6 boxes so we were able to get 3 bags of M&M's. Kellogg's has a gas rewards promotion also going on. If you mail in 10 UPC's from certain cereals, you receive a $10 gas card in the mail.
My total at checkout before coupons was $66, with $106 in savings. I paid $33 and walked away with my food, plus store coupons (catalinas) for 8 more gallons of milk that I need to use before April 14th. We had enough UPC's from that purchase for one gas card.
There are several short cuts to make the process easier that I am still learning, but it really is amazing that you can easily save over 50% on your grocery bill with fairly little effort.