My Deal for the Day


Ahhh, the world of Couponing. Say hello to that blissful feeling you get when you know you exited a store with a deal. ;) Jen and I have been slowly embarking on this strange and wonderful new voyage, also known as Operation Cut Your Grocery Bills. Jen has been at it a little bit longer than I have, and we both feel like we're just starting to get the hang of it. You definitely have to change your mindset about buying groceries. Instead of buying what I need for this week, I am learning to stockpile groceries based on sales and stocking up on what I will need later. This way you save money by not having to pay full price for something because you need it now and have no choice but to buy it at whatever price it happens to be listed at.


Perhaps someday I will be able to post a picture of a week's worth of groceries and be able to exclaim in the caption, "And I got all this for $22.97!" or some other equally unbelievable price. Believe me, there are people out there who can do this by combining great coupons with sale prices! But I'm learning you have to start somewhere! I should have posted a picture of the things I was able to get at Walgreens last week for $8, but it included some things I'd rather not take pictures of and show everyone. You'll just have to trust me when I say it was pretty amazing. :) Today however, I have just a small deal that I snagged today at Publix:

And I got all this for $2.90!!!

The cookies were originally $3.49 each and were on sale buy one, get one free. Attached to the packages of cookies were 2 coupons for $2.00 off 2 packages of cookies. So I bought the 2 packs of cookies for $3.49 minus the $2.00 coupon and spent $1.49 total for both packages! I also got to keep the other coupon to use later. The vegetables were originally $2.39 each, and were also buy one, get one free. I had a $1.00 off 2 packages coupon that I used and was able to get both packages for $1.40 total!! So I spent 75 cents for each package of cookies and 70 cents for each package of frozen vegetables. Not too bad for one of my first couponing trips WITH NOAH!!

That's another variable that I forgot to mention: time. These deals take time to think through, and a wiggly two-year-old in the cart is no help! I'm always a little more excited about my deal if I know I did it with Noah in tow. :)

Happy Couponing!

Comments

Melanie said…
Joanna,

That was awesome!!!! I know you have to start somewhere. I can feel sometimes when I didn't come home with everything for free or just pennies that it wasn't productive, but when you look at it over time, it's very, very productive. Especially when you are paying less today than you would have paid yesterday! That's all that matters. It doesn't matter how much less, just starting somewhere. But these were amazing deals! :) Keep up the work. I might show the ladies at the ladies day on November 7th some of your finds and Jen's finds. That way it will motivate them... these are some of the first great deals so far.

Melanie
September 29, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Jen said…
Yay!!! Great job, Joanna! Doesn't it feel great? :)
September 29, 2009 at 1:22 PM
cj and family said…
Hey, Joanna! GREAT job! I've yet to get that good a deal on cookies!!! :o) And yes . . . little ones in the mix definitely raise the challenge bar a good bit higher. :o]
September 29, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Anonymous said…
I've been couponing for a little while and I have to say that the rush of seeing that total go down with the beeps of the coupons being scanned is EXCITING! I saved $80 on our last grocery bill! I'm using the method of stockpiling as well and I have to say it makes a lot of sense - even for 2 people!
Can't wait to see what other good finds you come across!
October 5, 2009 at 6:51 AM
Ruth said…
I've always shopped this way. I remember back in 1993 my Dad saying he wished I did the grocery shopping for the family (instead of my mom) as she doesn't use coupons, etc. I would say as far as time goes, to me it doesn't take longer to shop this way if I study the circulars ahead of time. If you don't get the newspaper (which we don't now), they are all online each week. When I was single, I actually used to go to 2-3 different stores a week, but I don't have the time for that now although if that produce market was still nearby I'd make the time for that as this place had REALLY cheap prices on all produce and deli. Anyhow I have always done the stock piling kind of shopping. I have a price in my head for most items as the most I'll spend on it (such as $1.99 for a lb of boneless skinless chicken) so when I see something come down to that price - I buy a BUNCH of it - enough to hopefully last until it is on sale again. I always stockpile when an item we regularly use is on sale for "buy one get one free." Sometimes they even have it buy one - get two free (I got that recently with English muffins). I don't use coupons as much these days since we don't get a newspaper, but just through trying to only buy items on sale I can keep our grocery bill down. The exception of course are things like milk which never go on sale so I buy those every week or bananas that you can't stock pile.
October 7, 2009 at 11:41 AM
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