Coupon Craz

For the longest time I have been wanting to save money while shopping. I mean I don't bring in any money anymore because I get to be with the kiddo's. So I thought if I save money it is almost like making money too, right?

Well at the end of December I subscribed to the Daily Herald. I guess the mail man had a hard time finding us, so I didn''t receive all of them. While they did accumulate, I had no idea what to do with all of them, so my stack kept on getting bigger and bigger as weeks passed. Well, I met a girl who does Savvy Shopper and I went shopping with her. I guess I felt overwhelmed and like I wouldn't be very successful. I never use coupons so it was a total new thing to me. Lauren was awesome, she totally hooked me up. Thanks to a worker at Walgreens too, she helped us out a ton. As I saw the savings I was making, it gave me a high that felt so good. We also went to Rite Aid too, which wasn't as great, but still pretty good. 

So here is my first shopping trip:

 2 Right Guard Body Wash
4 Huggies Diaper Wipes in Containers (72 ct each)
2 Huggies Diaper Packs (36 each)
3 Cascade dishwasher soap
2 Ocean Spray 100% Juice
3 Kellogg's Cereal
4 Febreze
2 Lysol Fabric Mist
5 Gain Dish Liquid
3 Venus Embrace Razors (2 blades in each)
3 Colgate Toothpaste
3 Packs of Halls Drops
4 Hershey Chocolate Assorted Packages
4 lg Reese's Mini Bags
6 Aerosol Hairspray (Finesse)
2 Hairspray (Finesse)
2 in 1 Shampoo/ Conditioner (Finesse)
6 Shampoo( Finesse)
6 Conditioner (Finesse)
1 Freezer Pops
 Bubbles4 Coloring and Activity Books (Disney)

Did I save money?

Oh ya!!

Walgreens:
Total Cost at Regular Price: $244.75
Spent: $61.00
Saved:$ 183.75

Rite Aid:
Total Cost at Regular Price: $84.15
Spent: $25.49
Saved: $58.66
So I was happy with my savings. I was told that the deals I got weren't even the greatest and that I could have done even better. Well I guess I am learning and when I saw how much I saved I was jumping for joy.

So today after a few nights of cutting out all the many coupons from December (hours on end and staying up until 4 a.m., so my little guy wouldn't trample all over them was not fun at all. But today I finally felt organized and like I just might be able to go on my  own. Couponing is like another language to me, so I really was intimidated by the whole thing. So I took off  with my huge binder in hand and told Josh I was going to save money. First stop I totally questioned one of the workers on a few things I didn't understand. She was super nice, so that made it so much more easy. But I forgot that new shipment comes in tomorrow, so lots of the stuff I went for was out of stock. Darn it. But these were the findings I did get:

 2 Listerine Mouthwash
3 Jumbo packs of diapers (each one was usually $10.99, go them for $4.99 each)
2 Venus Razors (got paid to get these )
2 Hershey drops bag
Parsley seasoning
Giant Nerds
Lip Balm

Did I save Money?

Yes, but I didn't feel like it was amazing by any means.

Walgreens:

Total Cost at Regular Price: $63.37

Spent: $22.30

Saved: $41.07

Next Place I went to, hoping  I could get food, was Smiths. But I had to hurry, so I found the following. I thought they would have better and more deals.

1 Pineapple
2lbs grapes
5 cans Hunts Spaghetti sauce
3 Whole wheat pasta

Did I save Money?

Yes, but only if I would have bought these items at regular expensive prices that Smiths had them priced at before. I have never really shopped there, because of the high prices.

Smiths:

Total cost at regular cost:$20.78

Spent:$7. 51

Saved: $13.27

Well, I did learn some new things today about couponing and the greatness of finding a good deal and then using coupons on top of those deals, using Walgreens rewards and how a smile and asking questions can really educate you on saving money. I know that I still have a ton to learn, next time I will probably go with my friends who are more experienced, so I can learn to tricks too.

I am a believer of SAVVY SHOPPING. 

If you want to save money for your family go to savvyshopperdeals.com and get a few Daily Heralds on Sundays.I went to a seminar on Savvy Shopping and it did help a lot. I am excited to save money!! It really does give me satisfaction and a total HIGH!!

So here begins my experiences of being in on the Coupon Craz.

High Five for shopping and feeling good about it.