Day 1 of Couponing
Peach&Fireworks
member
Well I spent several HOURS this morning reviewing the Publix ad and printing coupons, clipping, etc. First I went to CVS which was an epic fail of all fails...I thought I purchased the items that would get me some ECB but I got 0 ECB. I *might* have shed a tear in the parking lot.
Publix - I saved $65 with the use of coupons but I spent $160 which is WAY higher than we normally spend for a week's worth of groceries. However, our pantry looks like a bomb shelter and the spare freezer in the garage is stocked full of Green Giant Vally Fresh Steamers 
) I think it gave us at least 2 weeks worth of food, if not more. I'll need to go back to get meat, eggs, cheese, milk, etc but the side dishes are taken care of for a LONG time, lol.
I bought two AJC papers and to be honest I'm a little disapointed. I got the same circulars from Publix and CVS that I picked up in the stores. There was only one really good insert of coupons but the rest were just store ads, no coupons. Maybe this was just an off week?
Re: Day 1 of Couponing
Good job on the $60! That's an awesome start! It took me a couple months to get enough stocked up before I could go weeks without any grocery shopping (except produce, milk, bread etc...). Those first weeks I was spending at LEAST $100 a trip but saving at least $50. Now, I have enough meat, veggies, etc to last a couple months. Couponing is overwhelming at first, but the effort is worth it. Its so much fun to watch the total keep falling as the coupons are scanned. I haven't looked in my paper yet so I don't know what the coupons are like, but there will be weeks that there aren't any, but the next week will likely be sooo many!
Abigail Taylor 09.18.2008
Ok good, glad to hear that you started out spending a lot too. I think DH is very skeptical at this point, lol. I loved how at the end when she was scanning my coupons the total just kept going down and down. The lady behind me was like WOW honey you really are saving a lot! You're so smart! Haha!
The only gripe I had with Publix was I couldn't tell which coupons went with which items because it just said "vendor coupon" and it seems that many that could have been doubled, weren't. I called earlier and asked about doubling coupons, and the girl said they would double them as long as the coupon didn't say "do not double". Hmm
This was a light week in terms of coupons. Southernsavers.com will do a coupon preview or you can google 2010 coupon schedule and see how many inserts per week. Definitely watch for the P&G inserts (pampers coupons)
Kroger and Publix double anything up to $.50.
As for CVS - did you use an Extra Care card? you need that to generate your ECB's.
Still that was a very good start to your couponing. You'll get better as you go. I saved 82% on one of my grocery trips today at Kroger. They have pampers wipes for $1.99 and I had $.50 coupons which got doubled so I paid only $.99 a box. I had quite a few freebie coupons as well. Kroger mails coupons out quarterly and they typically include 1 - 3 freebies (I got Cheerios and Crest today).
Abigail Taylor 09.18.2008
LOL you made me laugh about almost crying in the CVS parking lot. CVS is a lot of work. I feel like i haven't got the time to figure it out. It is hard on southersavers b/c she is assuming you start w/ ECB in most scenarios.
I think you will find couponing gets much easier once you get a stash of coupons. Great job saving $65!! Just think next trip there will be a lot of stuff you won't have to buy since you stocked up today.
OMG, I didn't use my CVS Extra Care card!!! WTF was I thinking?! I know, I was chatting with the cashier and didn't even think about it. I must concentrate next time!
Also make sure that you sign up for any kind of baby club that's available. Publix has one and they would mail out coupons all the time for diapers, wipes, shampoo and sometimes even $ off a deli or dairy item. They also sent me a free book (and it was a nice one) when I signed up. Sign up on formula websites, even if you KNOW you're going to breastfeed. You can give the samples to friends or to a food pantry if you don't end up needing them. Sign up on the gerber website and all the diaper manufacturer websites and you'll get coupons from them too. When the baby is born, register for Upromise (it's free) and sign up all your debit, credit and store rewards cards to start saving for college automatically.
Question.
Did you use a manufacturers AND a SS/RP coupon on any item today? I can get one coupon but getting two on the same product has been a struggle? Maybe I will get more in the coming weeks?
SS/RP count as manuf. coupons too, right? You're only allowed one manuf. coupon per item so maybe that was why you had trouble? I had very few actual store coupons. I had a few from Publix Baby Club for milk and dairy, so I used those....but the majority were printable ones I printed off yesterday.
You should see soimething like bonus or double in the line after the coupon on your receipt. So it will be 2 $.50 off in a row and then maybe 2 $.25 off in a row.
As for stacking coupons that someone was mentioning- you can use one store and one manufacturer coupon(the manufacturer are typically the print at home or the ones in the SS/RP inserts - they will say Manufacturer). Publix issues lots of coupons - look for LU code and that will be a dead giveaway - and you can use these with a manufacturer. Target is another good local place that you can stack coupons. I get Kroger coupons mailed to me, but they are harder to come by.
$60 is a fantastic savings!!
Something that I suggest (not sure if they covered this in the class) is to check out a couple of websites for coupons. I'll post the list that I use. I do this almost every week. Also, if there are brands that you really prefer (i.e. Stoneyfield Farms, Pepperidge Farms, etc..) check their websites out. They usually have coupons available. For example, Pepperidge Farms had coupons this week for $.75 off Goldfish and $.50 off Bread. We use both of these so I printed off about 4 of each coupon because they don't expire until April.
Also, have you joined uPromise yet? I only bring this up because they always seem to have some great eCoupons that you can use at Publix, Kroger, CVS, etc.. Plus, you'll be able to start a mini-college fund!
Here are some of the sites that I use:
https://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/
https://www.dealseekingmom.com/
https://coupons.redplum.com/stretchingabuck/
https://coupons2.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=2VAXBFAWFHBK2
https://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13903&nid=10&zid=xh20
https://printablecoupondatabase.com/
The AJC varies each week with how many coupon inserts are in the paper. On SouthernSavers she does have a post that lists how many inserts will be in the paper each week for the year. Take a peak...it's helpful to know when to buy double papers and when not to bother.
Welcome to couponing!
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