Super-Couponing

Well, with the way prices are, I've begun doing this again. It's really pretty easy, so I don't know why I ever stopped. I joined The Grocery Game again to re-familiarize myself with the stores' sale cycles and am slowly building up my coupon collection again.

I thought I'd post some of my recent activity:

11-10-08 Jewel

Total Before Savings (TBS): 131.68...32 items
Preffered Card Savings (PCS): 16.23
Manufacturer Coupons (MC): 3.60
Store Coupons (SC): 24.04
Total Savings (TS): 43.87
Out of Pocket (OOP): 87.81

11-11-08 Jewel
TBS: 35.60...13 items
PCS: 9.39
Avenu Savings (AS): 5.00
MC: 1.05
TS: 15.44
OOP: 20.16

11-16-08 Jewel
TBS: 23.52...8 items
PCS: 10.25
AS: 1.00
MC: 3.95
TS: 15.20
OOP: 8.32

Now the following are several transactions I had in the same day. Yes...I will go back into a store several times if it will benefit me. Jewel was having some great deals where you purchased specific products and received Catalina coupons good toward you next purchase. The General Mills deal gave me 3-$5 coupons and a coupon for 4.50 toward milk (you save the entire amount even if the milk costs less) when I bought 10 qualifying products. You can't use all the $5 coupons at once, hence the multiple trips. The ConAgra deal gave me a $10 coupon for my next purchase if i bought $20 in qualifying products. But the key here is that it was the SHELF PRICE that counts toward the $20...not the sale price!

11-18-08 Jewel #1
TBS: 54.74...21 items
PCS: 16.20
MC: 5.90
TS: 22.10
OOP: 32.64
I actually made money on this transaction. For the ConAgra deal, I bought 9 Swiss Miss Hot Chocolates on sale for $1 each ($9 total). Since the shelf price is $2.35 each, my $10 Catalina printed! They paid me $1 to take home 9 boxes of hot chocolate! Plus I got 2 bottles of vinegar for free. They were on sale for $1 each and I had 2-$1 coupons.

11-18-08 Jewel #2
TBS: 35.66...7 items
PCS: 2.40
MC: 20.20 (used $19.50 in Catalinas plus other coupons)
SC: 12.91 (sirloin steaks and chicken breast were buy 1 get 1 free with store coupons)
TS: 35.51
OOP: 15 CENTS!

11-18-08 Jewel #3
TBS: 11.29...4 items
PCS: 3.80
MC: 8.50 ($5 Catalina plus other coupons)
TS: 10.30
OOP: 99 CENTS!

11-18-08 Jewel #4
TBS: 7.37...3 items had to buy cookies for PTA at full price :(
PCS: .70
MC: 5.00 (my last $5 Catalina)
TS: 5.70
OOP: 1.67

11-20-08 Ultra
TBS: 30.76...16 items
MC: 2.00
SC: 5.21
Sales Discounts (SD): 3.87
TS: 11.08
OOP: 19.68 between SC and MC, I managed to get 4 boxes of cereal for $1.08 each!

11-11-08 Walgreens
TBS: 60.23
SC: 16.16
SD: 11.37
MC: 4.80
TS: 32.33
OOP: 27.93

11-16-08 Walgreens
TBS: 65.71
SD: 13.98
OP: 51.73 I got 2 free toys!

11-17-08 Walgreens
TBS: 89.75
SC: 21.85
SD: 14.71
MC: 40.76
OOP: 48.99

11-17-08 Walgreens
TBS: 63.18
SC: 15.76
SD: 10.00
MC: 4.10
TS: 29.86
OOP: 33.32

11-18-08 Walmart
TBS: 56.77
MC: 14.16
OOP: 42.61


Sooooooooo...in the last couple weeks, my OOP has been $383.87. This includes grocery, household and MANY Christmas presents. My TS have been $295.29. The total for groceries only is $177.43 My freezer is full, my pantry is stocked (including 17 boxes of cereal) and my medicine cabinet is overflowing. I could probably get by for the next month without buying a thing.