How did you spend you long weekend? Hanging out with your family around the barbie? Waving your flag at your community's Memorial Day parade? Did you go out and about and enjoy the lovely weather?
Well I did...none of the above! Unless you consider grilling a few hot-dogs official barbe-que fare ;) Nope not me...I opted for staying in and organizing my coupons because I was so excited that my new coupon pages came in from Coupon Clutch...
Geek....geek...geek! Can you hear the warning sounds now? A few weeks ago my sweet niece, Cortney, turned me onto the extreme coupon site, Stockpiling Moms. They were featuring the Coupon Clutch so I took advantage of the discount and ordered the pages and the clutch itself (didn't feel the need to pay $5.00 for a binder that I already had ;) My clutch, giraffe with red trim, is back-ordered due to the popularity of the show, Extreme Couponing. But that didn't stop me from setting up my binder this weekend ;)
AND...since it was the end of the month I needed to purge my soon-to-be expired coupons and compare them with all the new sale fliers that came out on Sunday. So today...off I went with my coupons and binder in hand...and to think I told DH that I wouldn't be taking the binder into the stores...like the rest of those Extreme Couponers...lol
Yes...saving money and couponing does require good organization...but more importantly...it requires you to not give a darnabout what other people think of you! Because...you will have to avoid all those stares from people in the stores! Just wait until I get my stylin' Coupon Clutch...then they'll all be asking me where they can get theirs ;) Seriously though...it's a none issue for me as to what people think of me when I'm saving tons of money. Hear me roar...get outta my way when I'm shopping with coupons ;)
First up is my haul from Harris Teeter...loads of good stuff here! They had a lot of bogof (buy one get one free for you coupon virgins ;)offers that ended today as well. The total bogof and Harris Teeter VIC savings was $91.36 on great foods like Eggland's Best eggs, Birds Eye Steamfresh frozen veggies and Triscuit crackers.
Combine that with the coupons (everything under a dollar is doubled at Harris Teeter ;) and I saved an additional $26.19 on this order. This is the time of the year when I also stock pile and gather toiletries that will go into gift bags. Especially things like razors, aspirin, toothpaste and sunscreens for all the young men in my family who hate to spend their money on these items. So when birthdays or other holidays come up, I simply fill a box full of toiletries and munchies and ship them off. They always get a kick out of what I'll throw into their goodie boxes ;)
Total retail value for this Harris Teeter haul : $213.14 less savings of $91.36 equals TOP $116.78 for a percentage of savings of 54%...NOT bad for a last minute shopping trip!
After the grocery store, I headed on over to CVS to check out their clearance and store specials. Especially since we were running low on vitamins and they had a lot of bogof store specials and I had the coordinating coupons ;)
Total retail value for this CVS purchase: $167.86 less store savings of ($42.98) and less coupons ($24.68) less tax savings ($11.62) equals TOP $88.58 for a percentage of savings of 52%...PLUSI earned CVS bucks in the amount of $10.00 to use towards my next purchase ;) Toiletries can really add up, especially when you purchase the newest dental whitening strips which start out at $49.99 a box...thankful for the $10.00 store sale and my $10.00 coupon ;)
Heck saving all that money ($175.64) today has almost made me feel better about not having my Coupon Clutch just yet...almost. BUT it does help me justify spending the money on one to begin with :)
How about you...what have you felt the need to justify lately? Do share!
Fondly, Roberta
You really have gotten into the challenge of this extreme couponing. I coupon some and send the ones i don't use to a friend who also coupons. She says she gets different ones sometimes from me because we live in different areas. I do find I have to be careful not to buy something mainly because of the amount I can save on it.
Posted by: Donnie | 05/31/2011 at 10:20 PM
Darn you!!! Now I have to go buy the coupon clutch....just what I needed another tote...LOL!!! Then I will have to start finding coupons...I don't have a one around my house..."Bad Shopper"...
Posted by: Denyse@Crazy Beautiful Life | 06/01/2011 at 12:29 PM
Hahaha!! You are hooked...but so I am. You got a lot of good food with coupons, this week our paper had coupons for watermelon and a few other fruits which is rare so I'm taking advantage while I can.
Posted by: Cortney Lyon | 06/06/2011 at 12:14 AM