Coupons!!!

A few months ago I heard about couponing from friends, family, and online sources. Everything I heard and saw made it look like couponing would save you tons of money and you could get tons of products for nothing or next to nothing. This didn't seem possible to me because in the past whenever I considered using a coupon on a name brand item, the store item still came out cheaper. One night, Sara McCarty, my cousin, showed me her coupon binder that was loaded with every type of coupon imaginable. She told me a lot of the secrets to couponing, but I still had a difficult time comprehending all the ways to get a steal of a deal. I started looking at a few websites: thekrazycouponlady.com and freebies2deals.com. These websites teach you how to coupon, share with you lots of ways to get deals, and link you up to great printable coupons. After collecting and printing coupons for a while, I had a container full or coupons. I went to Oregon for spring break and my mom had started couponing also. We went coupon shopping and thought we got some great deals (we were still very new at it). After coming back to Utah I decided that I needed to start getting the Sunday newspaper with all the ads and coupons. Managing my coupons was next to impossible and very frustrating when you are in a store trying to find a specific coupon. I decided to organize my coupons in a binder with plastic baseball card sheet protectors. (http://thekrazycouponlady.com/beginners/)

Now that my coupons are organized and I get the Sunday coupons I have been able to get some amazing deals.

Here are some of my deals from this week: Can you guess how much money I spent?

Total: $ 2.28

Walgreens:

2 sobe drinks: Free

3 bags of Chex Mix: $0.40 each ($1.20 total)

2 Nivea Shaving Gel: $0.50 each ($1.00 total)

1 Fish Oil: - $2.00 (I made $2.00!!!!)

1 Herbal Essence Mousse: $2.00 (This wasn't that great of a deal, but you can't use more coupons then you have items, so I bought this as a filler)

Total cost: $2.20

Rite Aid:

1 Crest Toothpaste: $0.22

2 Veet: Free

Total cost: $0.22

Winco Foods:

2 Lunchables: $0.48 each ($0.96)

Maceys:

9 Crunch Bars: -$0.40 (I made 40 cents)

Gillette Proglide Razor: I got it in the mail for free

Here was my first week ever coupon shopping:

I can't remember all of the prices but here are some:

2 Reach floss- $.06 moneymaker

Toothpaste- Around free or moneymaker

4 Butterfinger snackers: Free

Gillette proglide razor: $0.98

Tide: Free in the mail

Propel: $.060

Herbal Essence Mousse: ???

2 weeks ago shopping trip:

Shampoo and Conditioner: Free

Tylenol Cream: Free

Cottonelle toilet paper: Free

All other products: Under $1 each

Couponing is really enjoyable. It's fun to calculate prices and numbers in your head. It's rewarding to see all your great deals. The frustrating part is that a lot of the times I get to the store for a "free product" and they don't have any on the shelves.