My new "obsession"...

COUPONS, SALES, STOCKPILING, OH MY! Ok, so I know it's not very exciting and thrilling to most, but to me, it's becoming a way of life. Sad to some, I'm sure, but it's like a game to me and I'm determined to win every time! First, I have to thank the person who got me started in this, my sister-in-law, Rachael. She is awesome at it! It blows my mind how she can get so much and pay so little oop (out of pocket). Thanks Rach and give JB a big hug and kiss from his Aunt Mae :o)

Alright, so here is 411:

My favorite stores are now CVS (love some ECB's!) and Publix (also love Penny Item Sunday's). Before I can talk about the stores, I have to talk about my two secret weapons...weekly ad's and coupons! What would I do without them? I know that I'm becoming slightly obsessed with the coupons...



And I'm constantly studying the weekly ad's that come in the paper (there are also some websites where you can go to see the ads before they even come out in the paper!). Oh, I almost forgot...I have 3 secret weapons. The third, and quite possibly the most important, the CVS Extra Care Card! (insert "Ahhhhhhh" effect) I love that little red card that fits on my key ring..it's becoming my BFF. So let me get back on track here. Ok, so I guess I actually have to start with the coupons. I have a load of them obviously. We subscribe to the paper b/c it's totally worth it just for me to get the coupons out of it. I cut them all no matter what. You never know what you might have that someone else needs :o) I had a small coupon organizer, and for my bday, Josh got me a bigger one. Instead of me only using it, I now have all of my grocery coupons in the small one and everything else in the bigger one. Eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later), I'm going to invest in a binder. Stay tuned for pics! So we subscribe to the paper, but a couple of weeks ago there were some great coupons in there, so we bought 3 more. Yes 3! To me, it was worth it. It's very random that we will do that. Like this past Sunday, the c's weren't near as good as they have been. It's kind of hit and miss. Oh, before I forget, I want a coupon buddy. If there is anyone else out there who would like to swap/trade c's, let me know. We could mail them like every other week or something. i.e. If you have children, I'll send you all the diaper/baby food/johnsons, etc. stuff that I have (along with anything else I won't use) and you can send me stuff for my dogs or something like that! Just let me know! I already have a stack set aside. Anyway, so I have my coupons, and I try to keep them as organized as possible, but I still find myself going through them a lot. Hence the need for the binder, to make them more accessible.

So these days, I'm finding myself not wanting to buy anything unless I have a coupon for it! If you really study the ads, you can find some awesome deals. Also, you probably know this already, but Publix doubles coupons up to .50 (meaning a coupon for .50 with actually be $1.00 off). This was the lastest deal we got at Publix:



Ok, before you start, don't laugh at me for taking pics of my groceries! Yes, maybe it is silly, but I like to document when I get a good deal (or think I've gotten a good deal). We ran to Publix Sunday because we needed a few things and I wanted to see what the penny item was (in case you don't know, every Sunday Publix has a penny item that you can get once you've spent $10). We went in with my coupons in hand (I already had separated the ones we were going to use). When we went in, we saw that a 4 roll of Publix toilet paper was the penny item. Who can't use tp! Even though it's not the kind we use, you can't pass that up. We swiped one and went about our shopping. Here's the run down:

Total Before Advertised Specials and Coupons:
$50.62

Total After Advertised Specials and Coupons:
$22.80

Advertised Special Savings:
$13.05

Coupon Savings:
$14.23

Total Savings:
$27.82

Not too bad, huh? Now, if we had gone in and ONLY purchased the items that we had coupons for, we would have only spent $14 something oop (out of pocket). But we needed some items to make veggie soup and stuff like that, and you can't always find coupons for those things. My goal is to do even better than that. I was pretty excited, being the pickle lover that I am (I can finish a jar in a day and drink every bit of the juice..yum!), because I got 3 jars of vlassic pickles for $1.19 total (they were BOGO (buy one get one free) and I have 3 - $1.00 off coupons). Awesome! Another rule for Publix - and be warned, not all grocery stores are like this, but Publix is - if an item is BOGO, you don't have to get both. If you just get one, then that item is half price! You can get an awesome deal on some things if you'll pay attention to that. Also, even though the item was bogo, I still used a coupon on the free item!

Ok, if I have not bored you beyond all belief right now, then stay tuned for my next post...all about CVS! Also, I'll post about why I'm so into this right now, and my new way of thinking. Don't forget, if you want to trade c's, let me know. I hope everyone has a great Friday!