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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Super Duper Deals

Today my friend, Kristi, and I went to Target and Safeway together. We did a bunch of pre-planning with our coupons and came away with some sweet deals. It takes a bit of work but in the end, it is totally worth it.

At Target, my purchases WOULD have cost $81.30 total but I ended up spending only $10.30 out of pocket (OOP). I ended up saving 87% of my purchases!

At Safeway, I saved 76% and spent only $22.74 instead of $87.26.

Between the two of us, we ended up with 13 boxes of free cereal. 10 packs of free gum. 12 boxes of free Fiber One granola bars and toaster pastries. 3 bags of free cough drops. 3 free bottles of Vitamin water. 6, 4-packs of good quality razors that cost us $1.50 total. That's 0.12 and a half cents per razor. Each razor is normally $1.63 each. We had many other discounts as well but those were some of our best.

What you see in the picture are just some of my discounts. I had more as I mentioned above and Kristi had lots of the same discounts as well athough I don't know what her totals were. Here's what I bought...
All of the products that I brought home (after I gave some to Kristi)

My Safeway purchases. I gave her most of the cereal since she has 6 people in her family and I only have 2 that eat cereal.
Most of my Target purchases

How did we manage getting such deep savings you ask? I'll share the gist of it, but you'll have to do a bit of research to get the same kind of deals yourself.
First of all, I use Couponmom.com. This shows me what's on sale and what I have coupons for. Read their free little booklet or watch their movie to see how it's done. It really works. I was skeptical at first but I usually save at least 50% on my grocery trips...including items that aren't on such super sale. (Last week I bought delicious whipped butter at $0.66/lb...I stocked up.)
Read other people's websites to get ideas and links to good printable coupons. I have a local one for CO that helps a lot and one that is based in Vegas that helps me as well. Click here for the Vegas website.
It also helped that Kristi and I pooled our coupons. We were able to get better deals working together than each going individually. For example. At Target right now, there is a sale for buy 4 Fiber One products and get a $5 gift card at checkout. We did this deal 3 separate times because between the two of us, we had at least 12 coupons for Fiber One products. We ended up getting all of our Fiber One products for free because of the money we received back at the end.
Here's another example. One pack of 4 razors normally costs $6.49. I had 3 TARGET coupons I printed offline a couple weeks ago for $2 off the razors. I also had 3 MANUFACTURER coupons for $4 off the same razors. That brought the price down to $0.50/pack. I could do this three times. However, I also had three buy one get one free (BOGO) coupons. So, I bought 3 packs of razors for $0.50 each and got three more packs free. Both Kristi and I are now set on our razors for awhile. :)
One thing I learned recently is that if something is on sale for BOGO free and you have a coupon for BOGO free then you actually get two items for free. They basically cancel each other out so you get both for free. That's how we got 10 packs of gum for free. We had 5 BOGO free coupons between the two of us and they were on sale for the same.
Hope this post inspires you to start couponing if you don't already. I have saved SO MUCH money since I started couponing last fall. I rarely buy full-priced items anymore because I've learned so much about sales, coupons etc. over the past few months. The stores where I live also tend to be more expensive than many parts of the country and do NOT double coupons but I am still able to receive savings like you see above.
I used to try to cut coupons and I would just get frustrated at only saving 2-3 dollars on my grocery order for a whole bunch of work and half the time I would forget my coupons. It still takes a bunch of work but I am now saving 50% or MORE off of my purchases with the help of couponmom and a little research on my part.
If you would like some free KFC meals (2 pieces of grilled chicken, 2 sides and a biscuit). Go to Save a Penny and check out the link. I just printed off 4 for Phil and I. Hey, it's free food. You can't beat that!

9 comments:

Kristi said...

Loved your post today :) By the way, I saved about 97% on my Target trip. I spent $6.12, saved about $25 and got a $5 gift card back. Not too shabby! Safeway was not quite as good, I only saved 53%, bringing my total down from $109 to $50! Still not bad, but next time will be better! :)

Shannon said...

that's awesome! Most of our grocery stores have "one one coupon or offer per item" and stipulations that on double coupon days only the first coupon of like item is doubled. So that really takes the wind out of my sail. I might look more and see what I could save even if it is a dollar here and there 20% isn't 87% but is still soemthing!!

ladybug said...

http://athriftymom.com/
If you don't already follow her blog, it is worth the time & coupon deals.

Anonymous said...

Wow! You go girl!
Aimee

Julie Danielle said...

That is so awesome and a big reason I can't wait to move back to the USA!!!

Rebekah said...

I've always been so overwhelmed by the thought (even though I used to be the amazing deal getter). I guess I feel that it's an either/or situation, but I'm going to have to try to start out small.

I bought Steven a toy vacuum at a garage sale last week for $1. That is by far the best dollar I've ever spent. Of course, it's a pink and white vacuum (not that Barbie would ever vacuum!).

The best part is that there is a button you push, and it says "Hi! I'm Barbie. Let's vacuum!" and then makes vacuum sounds. It also has a see through "dirt" chamber filled with little balls that swirl around after you push the button. Love it!

The two love birds .. said...

Hey Phil & Megan

We have been so out of touch from our Blog that we have not read up on yours for awhile. Congratulations on purchasing a new home. This is a big step for you both and we pray for this happiness in your life.

ladybug said...

Check it our and share if you want to:
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Who wants some free chocolate? Every Friday from May 8th till September. You can enter forFREE coupons, they are limited to the first 250,000 who register each Friday through September, between 9:00 a.m. ET to 11:59 p.m ET. I will try to do reminder posted every Friday! Here is the link Let me know if you win!

Nomad said...

i know it isn't particularly healthy, but KFC is ridiculously good, grilled of fried -- too bad they ended up running out