Let me translate my $84 or 71% savings for you. That puts me at about a $100 per week savings these past few months. That equals $5,200 annually. Follow this logic – that $5,200 is a post-tax expense. So I could say that my annual savings impact our finances in the same way as if I had gotten a nearly $7,000 annual raise at my day job. Wow, huh?
Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for, the picture of what I got free this week. I did not include 4 loaves of bread I got free as part of the buy one, get one free sale because that sale is just a marketing gimmick; one month the bread hits rock bottom price at $2.00 per loaf and the next month it hits rock bottom in the form of buy one, get one free. If I include that buy one, get one free sale, then readers who are sales flyer shoppers might think that every buy one, get one free sale is a good deal. They’d be wrong, then I’d feel badly and well, frankly, it’s not worth all that.
How’d I do it?
- Cheerios: I signed up here to be emailed $1/1 Cheerios coupons. Printed the first one two times, had it doubled tonight at Rainbow and matched with sale price of $2 per box
- Beech Nut Cereal: Found peel-off coupons right on package for buy one, get one free. Also had a $1/1 Beech Nut with me that doubled to make another one free. This comes just two weeks before I am starting my baby on solids. Yay!
- Lysol Wipes: Had a $1/1 newspaper coupon doubled and matched it with sale price
- Pop Tarts: Had two $1/1 newspaper coupons doubled and matched them with sale price
- Sara Lee Cheesecake: A few weeks ago these were on sale buy one, get one free. I also had two $1/1 coupons to use – one for the cheesecake I’d buy and another for the one I’d get free. Problem was that they only had 1 cheesecake left. I got a rain check and picked this up tonight. It was better than free because he adjusted the price to free and I had a $1/1 coupon doubled. All told, I got two cheesecakes for $3.79. This is for my junk food stockpile I’m creating for my Brazilian in-laws that are coming next month; I’ve learned that it always pays to think ahead and stock up in advance of when you’ll need things.
Your turn: How’d you do this week? What did you get on sale that you’re most excited about?
I did pretty well at Rainbow today – especially considering I was ill prepared…I spent 57.11 and saved 62.93 ~ not too shabby but I sure wish they’d let you use more than 5 coupons for doubling!! I did make 2 transactions though – My best buys seem to have been the large jars of Ragu for just .42 CENTS (B1G1 & a .75 coupon doubled) Coke for 1.60/12 pack $1.00 printable coke coupon doubled and Trix GoGurt which my kids LOVE for $1.25 a 6 pack. Was also thrilled about my cereal boxes for 1.30 after coupon though not as good as you did for FREE!
better luck next week I say!!
What a night of deals! First I stopped by CVS, Target and Rainbow to take advantage of deals. Granted, it did take some time to stop by 3 different stores, but I think it was worth it. I spent $48.46 for $180.96 in grocery & personal care items. Plus I received $5 in ECB’s to use on my next purchase at CVS, actually it was like I was paid to shop at CVS tonight. One of my better deals tonight was 4 boxes of ziploc bags and 1 package of ziploc containers for a total of $1.07 at Target. I used a deal that Mercedes had listed on her website, using (2) BOGO coupons for the bags, (1) $0.40 off coupons for the bags & (1) $1.00 coupon for the containers + (5) Target coupons at $1.00 each. That’s like $0.21 a piece! I love a good deal!
I didn’t do too bad yesterday at Rainbow either. I bought $275 worth of groceries for $106. It’s a 61% savings which is better than I did last week. I also managed to get about $25 worth of items absolutely free! A woman in the grocery line watched my $27 worth of groceries drop to about $7 and asked out loud how do I do that?! I was happy to pass along the web site and limited tips I could offer in 1 minute or less.
we love granola – but you know it’s not cheap. so i was thrilled to get Cascadian Farms (organic) granola for $1.50 a box – regular price 5.59. I paid 27% of regular price – 4 boxes for just over the regular price of 1. That’s like getting a Cadillac for the price of a Yugo. Not free but still an awesome deal in our family. Also got Luna bars (like Clif Bars, but “marketed” to women) for $0.21 each.
Can you share which local stores accept online coupons? I had the impression that alot of local stores (Target, WalMart, Cub, Rainbow, etc. etc.) will not accept online coupons. I haven’t tried in quite a while, but see everyone else is doing it. I try to look in the sunday paper but don’t do half as well as any of you who’ve posted here. Any advise is much appreciated.
Cheri – I have personally used online / internet printed coupons at Walmart, Target, Cub, Rainbow, Walgreens and CVS. Certainly individual stores can have differing policies, but generally they are all accepting them now; I encourage you to call the local stores you routinely shop and ask about their policies. Some stores have limitations – like the Rainbow by my house will only accept internet printed coupons up to and including $1 in value and no buy one, get one free internet printed coupons. Walmart, Target, and Cub, in my experience, accept any internet printed coupon. Who else wants to chime in on their experience? Hope that helps! –Carrie
Carrie – I’m not sure if you get a Festival Foods ad, but a few items that popped out at me were Kix, Trix, Cheerios or Lucky Charms 2 for $3. I think there are a bunch of printables out there for I know Lucky Charms and Cheerios. Also they have strawberries 2 lbs for $3.98 – and I’ve always had good experience with Festival’s produce. Good through 6/16.
Jennifer – I don’t get the Festival ad, but if I could get my hands on one… I’ll look into it a little more. –Carrie
I forgot to say in my main post that I got all the deals I mentioned, plus two free games of bowling from pizza I actually paid money for. That’s another $12 in savings on top of the groceries. Woot, woot! I’ll update the post to add that in. –Carrie
We get it in the mail. But I found it on line here: http://festivalfoods.dwgreen.com/wc/
And you can see the cheerios and strawberries on the first page. This ad matches what I received in the mail.