When I first started couponing I would clip whatever coupon I saw and just because I had a coupon for it, it would go on our grocery list. So, even though I was saving money on a particular item I really wasn't because I'd never end up using it and it would expire before I could, so it was really just wasted.
I have gotten better about only clipping coupons that I need or of things that I use often. So, last week I did more than just see if I had a coupon for something that was in my grocery cart before checking out. It took way more time but I did save some money!
Last week Harris Teeter had triple coupons going on (I think today's the last day). Which meant that if I had a .50 off coupon for an item, it really took off $1.50. They would only triple coupons less than $1. I had some as much as .75 off so that really meant $2.25 off that particular item! I did some research and found out what Harris Teeter had on sale for the week with their VIC cards (same as MVP for you Food Lion shoppers). Then compared that with coupons in my stash and even searched for a few coupons on the web. I then made my grocery list based on the Vic Items and what coupons I had, but only if I could use the coupon for a triple discount and only if I knew we'd use those things before they went bad.
Some things that caught my attention were: Martha White Muffin Mix BOGO (the blueberry cheesecake ones are the best!), Boneless Chicken Breast BOGO (we eat chicken and pork all the time), Sunmaid Raisins BOGO (Grace loves), Kraft Dressings BOGO (we use italian for marinating & in other recipes often), and Deer Park Bottle Water BOGO. Unfortunately I only had one coupon for the BOGO items (Dressings) to get additional costs of these items but we use all these often so BOGO is fine with me. Most of the items on my list were on sale with VIC and then I had coupons to get additional discounts too.
Examples:
*Smithfields Bacon is usually $5.99 each. They were 2 for $9 (store savings of $2.98) and I had a .75 coupon ($2.25 savings), so I really paid 6.75 for two packs of Smithfields Bacon, normally 11.98.
*Goldfish Grahams are usually $2.39. They were vic for @2.15 and with my 0.35 coupon I saved $1.05 more making them just $1.10.
*Kraft Dressings: were BOGO so I got two for $2.99 and then I had a $1 off coupon (couldn't triple) but I still only paid $1.99 for two bottles of Zesty Italian Dressing (normal cost would have been 5.98)
*I was a little disappointed in the BOGO Deer Park Water though, I think they upped the original price and then offered the BOGO. Not cool. :)
You could tell other people had the same mission when I was in there. There were people in there just taking notes, I'm guessing for future trips. There were people with their large 3 ring binders full of coupons and divided into appropriate categories. The triple couponing was a craze even to the point that all of the french's mustard, french's french fried onions, and starkist tuna fish were completely off the shelves when I got there. Each one of those items were on my list too. They were on vic and I had triple coupons for all of them. Guess they were the best deals.
So.....
My grand total was: $176.29.
After using my Vic card: $129.80
Vic savings: $46.49
After scanning coupons (13 triple coupons and 5 non-triple) total was: $102.80
Coupon savings: $27
Total savings of $73.49
My best savings yet. My record before was around $22 or something! So needless to say I'm pretty stoked!
...then I drove to the gas station and put $75 in my car, saved just enough in groceries to *almost* fill up my tank. :)
Congrats! Isn't it amazing how much work goes into using coupons?! I'm so jealous of the triple coupons, we don't even get double coupons, but I keep trying and learning.
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