Coupon Savings: January

I thought it might be an interesting experiment to start tracking my monthly coupon and store rewards card savings. Of course, I thought this at the end of the month, so February will be my first month tracking it completely, but for January, I was able to go back through all of my receipts spent at the grocery store and add those up. I also use coupons when we eat out, and other stores, so I'm going to try to track all of that as well. I'm most interested in the monetary value of my couponing versus the time I spend doing it.

So here's my coupon savings for one grocery store in January:
Store Rewards Card Savings: $78.72
Coupon Savings: $30.96
Total Savings: $109.68

I think that's totally worth it for the few hours I spend each week going through the sales circulars and clipping out coupons. Don't you?


Image from here,

UnExtreme Couponing

Here were my bargain scores for this week. I got all of this for $2.12. The chips alone sell at my Whole Foods for $3.96, so I was super excited to get two bags of those for 50 cents a piece! (We ate the other bag before I could get a picture!). The canned vegetables and Skinny Cow candies (stocking stuffers) were from Walgreens. I'm happy with the scores this week!

Clean hands for free!

I wish I had more coupons to work this deal! I had a MQ for Dial hand soap, and it was on sale at Kroger, so I got it for free!

Dial Soap $.88

Used MQ for $.35 off, which tripled at Kroger.

Out of pocket was $0!

The Drugstore Game: 8.21.2011

Here's my win from the drugstore game this week at Walgreens. This deodorant is the only one I've found that works on me, and it hardly ever goes on sale, so I'm happy to get it cheap!

Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste $4.99
2 Degree Deodorants 2/$4.00
I used a $1.50 off MQ for the toothpaste, $1 off MQ for one of the Degree's (I wish I'd had one more coupon and would have gotten them even cheaper!), then I used my $3.00 in Register Rewards from last week.
Out of pocket: $3.49
Register Rewards for next trip: $4 for the toothpaste, $1 for the Degree

Score!

The Drugstore Game

So I play the drugstore game. If you don't know what that means, it's explained very well here.

I'm able to pick up toiletries, household things like paper towels or toilet paper, and other items we use for very cheap, and sometimes free. I'm definitely not an extreme couponer. I don't keep a huge stockpile of stuff on hand, and I'll only buy things we usually use this way, but I've definitely become addicted to it! There are some great resources out there that will help you play the game, and it takes a little practice, but here's my most recent score from this weekend:

Transaction 1:
Revlon Nail Polish   $3.99
Sure Deodorant   $2.99
Used a $2 off Walgreens coupon (WQ) and a $1 off manufacturer's coupon (MQ) on the nail polish, and a 2/$3 WQ and a $1 off MQ on the deodorant, and received $3.00 in Register Rewards (basically Walgreens cash I can use on my next purchase).
Out of pocket: $1.49

Transaction 2:
Pert Plus   $3.99
Caramel   $0.33
Used a $1.00 off MQ on the shampoo, and then used my Register Rewards from my previous transactions. Also received $3.00 in RR from the Pert!
Out of pocket:  $0.35

The original total would have been $11.30, but my total was $1.84 for all four items, plus I have $3.00 in Register Rewards to use next time I'm in Walgreens. These are all things we needed (except for the candy), so I'm happy to get them so cheap!

Grocery Store Flowers

I was at Kroger the other day, and picked up a mixed bouquet that had been marked down to $1.75. The flowers were a little tired looking, but I knew they just needed a little pruning and fresh water and that they'd perk right up. I brought them home and made these two arrangements. I love having fresh flowers around, and at this price, I can get them weekly!