Jumping on the Bandwagon

So it seems that in these days of rising prices and soaring gas costs, the new "it" thing is saving money. I'm in. I'm SO in. I'm still working on learning the best way to use coupons, but I think I got off to a pretty good start this weekend. I think I managed to put together a few of the "rules of the trade" to get some good deals:

1) Combine coupons with deals that are going on.

2) Bigger isn't always better.

3) Be willing to get something other than your normal brand if it will be cheaper.

4) Stock up when you can get good deals, so you never have to pay full price for an item.


The first picture is my Target bounty. Wipes were on sale for $1.99. I had four different coupons ranging from $.50-$1.00 off. I found some $1 off tide copouns in the paper, but I don't use Tide because even after coupons, it's still too expensive. I really like Tide, though. So, I used my 2 $2 coupons to buy two trial size things of Tide. Basically, I got two free loads of Tide. :) I also found that it is cheapest to buy shaving cream that way. I had 3 $.55 cent coupons for SatinCare that didn't specify size, so I got 3 trial size for $.45 each. So for $1.35, I got more than I would have if I used the coupon on the full sized can. Then, I had a $1 off of Sure deodorant that I used and a $2 off Excedrin.

Pre-tax cost for 4 boxes of wipes, 3 mini cans of shaving cream, 2 loads of Tide, 1 stick of deodorant, and a box of Excedrin: $7.63. Without coupons/sales it would have been $20.14.

The next deal was all about being in the right place at the right time. Office Max (Elizabeth City) is running $.1 days. 24ct crayons were on sale for $.1 each. And Sharpie mini highlighers were on sale for $.5 each. Each item had a limit of 3 per person, though. So after doing laps in and out of the store until one of the clerks told us we couldn't anymore, I got 21 packs of crayons (this is pure gold for a teacher!) and 4 highlighers for... $.41. :)

Next, I worked the CVS game. The cashier hated me, but I did multiple transactions. Transaction #1: Crest toothpaste. On sale for $2.49 for the big tube (6.2 ounces). I had 3 $.75 off coupons. Plus, they were ECV items, so I got $4.50 in ECBucks. This is like CVS money. It prints out with your receipt after the transaction and you can use it on anything at CVS. Oh, and I got a bonus $.50ECBs and a coupon for a free CVS 24ct ibuprofen.

Total pre-tax cost of 3 large tubes of toothpaste: $5.22.

Transaction #2: Next I got some shampoo and dish soap. Pert Plus was on sale for $3.69 and was BOGO (I really hate that acronym) plus I had a $2 off coupon. So I was able to get 2 shampoos for $1.69. Dawn dish detergent was on sale for $.88 and I had two coupons for $.50 off. With that I used my $.50 ECBs and got two shampoos and 2 dish detergents for a pre-tax total of $1.95. :D Oh, and I got another coupon for free ibuprofen.

Transaction #3: (you could only use one PertPlus coupon per transaction) I got two more PertPlus shampoos. Then I got two Sure deodorants. They were $2.69, but CVS was running them BOGO and I had a $1 off coupon. Then I used a BOGO coupon on Schick razors and got a 10 pack of twin blade for me and a 6 pack of triple blade for Nathan. I grabbed my two things of ibuprofen as well. I used my coupons and my ECBs from my prior purchase.

Total pre-tax cost for 2 shampoos, 2 PACKS of razors, 2 deodorants, and 2 ibuprofen: $5.87.

This is my final CVS bounty:

4 Shampoos
2 Deodorants
2 Dish Soaps
2 24ct Ibuprofen
3 Tubes of 6.2oz Toothpaste
2 packs of razors (totaling 16 razors)
15 items - 13.04 before tax :)

Oh and in case you were wondering, I saved $44.19 on stuff that I needed anyway. :)

I forgot to mention... There is one little fib in my final CVS picture. On the left, there is a picture of a Gillette Fusion razor/shaving cream bonus pack. I actually got this at RiteAid. It is regularly $10, but RiteAid had it on sale for $9, plus a $5 rebate. I had a coupon for $4 off. So... it was free. :) AND I still have one more PertPlus coupon and $.50 ECBs. So I'm going to go grab 2 more shampoos... for $1.10

Being able to get stuff that we need and stock up on it at really cheap prices makes me feel really good. I try really hard to make sure we can save and this is one really great way to do that. I am officially a coupon nerd now (no, really... I have a binder where the coupons are in baseball card sleeves so I can find them easily), but I'm okay with that. I had been saving money by buying all store brand stuff, but I've found with couponing and researching sales, in a lot of cases I can actually get name brand stuff (and in the case of razors, BETTER stuff) for us, for less.