Katsy

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Deal of the Day! $.27 Stove Top Mix

At CVS - they had soups and Stove Top on sale for .77c each- I combined my purchase with a manufacturer coupon for .50 off- viola - .27 cents!! WOO HOO.
I am learning!

 

Sunday, March 27, 2011

First Coupon trip- CVS 3/27/2011- $88.50 SAVED !!! BIG SAVINGS!!

First lemme say this- I made a few mistakes - but I am learning as I go here- so I think my 2 errors (causing a return trip to the store) can be chalked up to the learning curve and NOW I KNOW! Mostly it was my own inattention to detail that caused my "oops" - I will know better next time! Also I was totally unfamiliar with the layout in the store- causing me to be rattled a bit cause I constantly had to look up and get my bearings to hunt down the next thing on my list.

I am posting a picture of my real "steals"- several of my finds weren't shown- paper towels and laundry detergent buy 1 get ones took too much room for my picture! 2 packs of 8 paper towel rolls- you get the idea anyway. I am posting the receipt section with a ECB too.

OK- My mistake #1 was not buying "enough" of a product to get a dissent... I had to buy $10 dollars in
Johnson and Johnson BAND AID brand product to get the ECB (Extra Care Bucks are credit I can use on next trip to CVS- think of it like a CVS gift card with $5 on it.)  OOPPS- I was $2.51 shy of making that $10 limit - but the nice receipt told me exactly what I shoulda spent to save more- so upon returning to the store- the nice employee fixed it so that I got both of my $5 ECB that were coming to me (once I spent a few more bucks.)

Mistake #2 - I bought the wrong brand- I accidentally bought Neutrogena brand wrinkle cream instead of the CVS brand of the same stuff- spending $19.99 on Neutrogena... OOOPPPS. Again- upon my return to the store- she helped me trade in my retail for a sale CVS cream - that meant I spent $15 and got back a $5 ECB- in essence making my CVS cream only $10 - whereas the famous brand was $19? Make sense? Which I never would have paid $20 for- but at $10- I will try it...?

SO- Learn from my mistakes and DON'T DO what I did- course it was only a few miles for me to turn around and go back anyway!? HTH!

Also let me give credit where credit is due- I used a few sites really to give me guidance on exactly HOW to go about this whole coupon thing...
www.cleverlysimple.com and
www.Southernsavers.com and
www.moneysavingmom.com

For the record I am using the accordion style storage for newspaper insert coupons and envelope style coupon holder for the "trip" each time that I go. I am storing each store specific coupons in an envelope in the very front of the large accordion folder - so I know where to find target's coupon for Wheat Thins when I go to Target next. The whole idea is to "Stack" coupons- waiting till the item is ON SALE - meaning already 20-40% off regular price- everyone has sales going all the time... THEN check for STORE COUPONS- they all have their own store coupon for print- like target online etc. THEN STACK a manufacturer coupon on top of that! ( From your newspaper weekly inserts ) and don't go buy a newspaper just for coupons- ask a friend or neighbor to save them - or go by the local coffee shop at noon on Sunday and see how MANY papers are laying around with all the coupons still in them!?

Also keep in mind that this is only at CVS and in the next weeks I will also plan to go to TARGET for specials and in a few weeks I am headed to Super S store (a few miles down the road near Canyon Lake) for their DOUBLE COUPONS- they only double .50c coupons - so I save the "little ones" for a trip to Super S- so when I get my Green Giant frozen vegetables - the same ones that are at HEB BTW.. I get them for $1 less - PER BAG!!!

I'm learning- but so far I am really enjoying the joy of the "hunt" and the rewarding feeling that I am
saving my family money and OH YEAH- if something happens to be FREE and I don't need it- like a deal on toothpaste - I have like 6 tubes in my linen closet (thanks to COSTCO) I can snag it while I am there and DONATE IT to the FOOD PANTRY - which also happened to be less than 1 mile from my house!? ( Thanks God! I see that COOL WHIP!) HMM.. Bless my family... Bless others.... what could be better!?  Well- getting paid back I suppose - but hey - I will take FREE any ole day!

Hope you too can be blessed by using the systems that are already in place thru store buying programs and COUPONS!

BLESS ME! BLESS YOU!

K