My Awesome Deals!

I broke my challenge to go two weeks without going grocery shopping. But I've been doing some research into "couponing", and I found some really great deals. I had no idea that there was more to using coupons than just clipping them and saving $.45 here and there. Apparently you can stack manufacturers coupons with store coupons with BOGOs and sale items and really save a bundle (and sometimes even get things for free). Who knew?!

I spent a large part of the morning on the Southern Savers website researching some good deals, and decided I better "strike while the iron is hot" so to speak and snatch these deals up.

I did my research, made my lists, clipped my coupon and set off for some savings! The first place I went was Walgreens. Now I would have never thought to go to Walgreens for grocery items, but I got a couple really great deals that I'm excited about. Here is the loot ...

I got two packs of Huggies diapers, 4 cans of Progresso soup, and 2 cans of Campbells soup. The normal price for all these items at my store would have been: $38.10. Diapers are expensive, in case you didn't know!

The diapers were on sale for $9.99 each, I used 2 - $2 off coupons and got $4 in Register Rewards. So each pack only cost me: $5.99.

For the Progresso soup I used a Walgreens 4 for $5 coupon, and stacked it with a $1.10 off 3 coupon. Each can only cost me: $.97. They are normally about $2.25 each!

The cans of Campbells Soup were Buy One Get One Free. I also used a $1 off 2 coupon. Each can normally costs $1.69 and I got each one for: $.35!

All in all I saved $17.15 at Walgreens.

After Walgreens I went to Publix. Publix has one of the best coupon policys around. They accept competitors coupons, they double coupons under $.50, and they stack manufacturers and store coupons. You can also buy only 1 of their BOGO items for half price instead of buying 2. Here is my loot from Publix:

2 Pillsbury Crescent rolls, Wet Ones, Lysol Spray, 4 Clorox Wipes, 2 Publix Wipes, Colgate Toothpaste, Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes, Quick Oats, Knorr Pasta Sides, Salad Pockets (Pita Bread), 2 Chex Mix, Muir Glen Organic Tomato Soup, Publix Coffee, Hunts Diced Tomatoes, PAM, 4 bags steamable vegetables, and Huggies Overnights.

I won't go through all of the prices of these items, but here are a few of the best deals I got.

• Betty Crocker Potatoes (normally $1.69): BOGO + .40 off 1 coupon (doubled) = $0.04!
• Chex Mix (normally $2.50 each): $1 off 1 Target Coupon + $.50/2 (doubled) = $1 each
• Huggies Overnights (normally $10.49): $2 off Coupon + $3 off Publix Coupon = $5.49
• Wet Ones (normally $2.59): on sale for $1.50 + $1 off 1 Coupon = $.50!
• Clorox Wipes & Publix Wipes (normally would have cost $19.94 for all 6): B2G1 coupon + buy theirs, get ours deal + sale price = $6 for all ($1 each!)
• Publix Coffee (normally $.299) = $.01 with Weekly Ad coupon
• Lysol Cleaner (normally $2.69): BOGO + $.50 off Coupon (doubled) = $0.85!

I saved a total of $42.91 with BOGOs and coupons at Publix!

It definitely took some time and energy but with the amounts I saved I feel like it was definitely worth my time.

Healthy Food is EXPENSIVE!!!

Yes, I'm still alive!

I'm 50/50 on my goals that I set for myself this week. I haven't weighed myself at all since last Monday morning, so tomorrow morning's weigh in will be a complete suprise. I feel like I did well this week though. My eating was really good, I stayed within my points for the week, and I exercised 6 days. So no matter what the scale reflects I know that I did good.

I wasn't able to completely follow through with my 2nd goal for the week though, which was to track all of my food on my Spark People account. I did really well most of the week while I was off work, but I wasn't able to keep it up with the crazy weekend I had. Working 12 hour shifts really doesn't leave time for anything else besides sleep, run, work ... repeat. I'm not disappointed in myself for not following through on this one, I tracked everything in Weight Watchers atleast so I pretty much know where I stand.

One thing I have been working on lately is a plan to help me save money and pay down my debts. I haven't quite gotten the plan completely in place, but I'm working on a budget and I've been clipping coupons and reading some websites and blogs about money saving tips.

I'm shocked at how much money I spent on groceries last month. I added up all my grocery trips and the total came out to a god-awful ridiculous amount that I'm too embarassed to even repeat because it's literally that shocking. I've definitely got to get that under control! I think once my two week ban on grocery shopping is over, I'm going to start doing my grocery shopping once a week when the new sales ads come out. I'm going to plan all my meals ahead of time for the week based on the items that are on sale at the stores I shop at.

I even made a coupon organizer complete with printed categories labels. Lookie ...

Do you shop with coupons? What kind of money saving strategies do you use?