My Monday Savings!!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it!! I saved big without any help!! I was so afraid I would be back in the $30 savings bracket! It thrills me beyond words that I was able to put my learning into action AND I saw results!

Here are my bottom line #'s:
Local grocery A - spent $85.93, saved $53.12, rebate 11.99 (I also bought an additional 10 lbs of boneless/skinless chicken breast at 1.99 per lb. and I bought 3 chuck roasts at 1.99 a lb) These savings are not a counted portion of my savings since they rang up the discounted price. So that is why my ticket was in the $80's. The value was worth it. In addition, (this was indicated in my savings) the coffee my husband drinks is normally $5.99 a pound. Although we stocked up about 3 lbs. on my last shopping trip I bought 7 more last night. This is where you begin shopping the store and NOT from your list. The agenda of savings is to have a stocked pantry and freezer. Then all you do is shop the ads. If the item is on sale AND you have a great coupon THEN you buy it. So - the deal. His coffee was on sale for $4.99 a lb AND the coffee had $2 off coupons ON the coffee. I paid $2.99 a lb for his coffee. We probably do not need coffee again this year. We will store the coffee in the freezer to keep it from spoiling. (Does coffee even spoil?)

Ok, store #2 is another local grocer. I spent $56.93 and saved $27.88, rebates of $3.69. The reason I went to this store, and the other one, is because they offer different deals. Store #2 offers a penny item on Monday nights and it was worthwhile to WALK through the store for their bargains of BOGO's and to see if they had anything special marked down. One thing I've learned by taking the shopping class is that some stores (not all of them so watch your prices next time to see how your stores do this) ring up a BOGO item as 2 items rather than one. So, here's an example. Say the store has BOGO coffee (from above example) and that would mean I would get 2 coffee's for $5.99. This store, and store #1 by the way, ring up the coffee like this: coffee 1 would be $3 and coffee 2 would be $2.99. Because it rings up this way if I had a few coupons I could use them on both items. So say I had 2 fifty cents off coupons. I give the cashier my 2 coupons and then that brings my coffee prices down to: coffee 1 = $2 and coffee 2 = $1.99. They double coupons up to 5o cents so I get my BOGO at $3.99 instead of $5.99. Does that make sense?? (If you had only one coupon and didn't really NEED the item on BOGO, since they ring up both items at the split price you could buy one and use the coupon and pay half the price you would by buying both. I hope this makes sense because it is really a helpful tool!)

I ended at Walgreens to purchase all my rebates for this month. They have free items every month. Go to Walgreens and pick up a booklet for the items offered. Buy them and then turn in your rebates and you have these items for free! So I spent $67.11, saved $61.49 AND I will get $23.95 in rebates PLUS I got $4 in store bucks for my next visit! Cha-ching! :)

Today I went to Wal-Mart for my can goods that were not on sale. You never know if you will find a deal! I walked in and saw they had 2 packs of steam fresh veggies for $2 and I had a $1 off coupon for buying 2 steam fresh = I bought 4 sf veggies for $2. :) I only saved $4 at Wal-Mart and spent $38.78. See the LACK of savings potential at Wal-Mart! Although, without sales and without coupons - their straight up price is often cheaper! You just have to pick and choose what you buy there! Ad matches or must haves only!

Grand total #'s:
Total spent = $248.75
Total saved = $146.49
Total rebate= $ 39.63

savings and rebates = 186.12

I was so relieved! I did it! I did save! I look forward to my next chance to improve my skills further! There were a few mistakes I made. For a quick example: Walgreens had a coupon for softsoap being 99 cents a piece with a limit of 3. I had two 35 cents off coupons. I stupidly bought my soap at Walgreens and this was my deal = 2 soaps for 1.28. I could have taken the coupon from Walgreens to store #2 and used the 99 cent coupon with my 35 cent coupon (which store 2 doubles) and spent 58 cents for the 2 products. These are the kind of mistakes you have to make so you will do better next time! Store #2 lets you use a competitor coupon and a manufacture coupon = this is called coupon stacking! So, I lost the opportunity to save another 70 cents. No big deal but it would have been worth the effort to save! If you have questions - let me know! Your questions may help me too!