In the past (up until 2-3 months ago), I always thought that shopping at Walmart and Sams Club for groceries, toiletries and household items was maximizing my dollar. Now, thanks to my cousins Shanna and Alisa I have seen the light of coupons matched up with sales . . . which can save soooo much money! I don't have the skills that they have yet, but I have been able to buy things for much less than I would have a few months ago w/o coupons or sales. Here's the results of a couple of my more momentous frugal quests.
Last month, I went to Albertson's and bought
36 boxes of Post cereal (Raisin Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats, Trail Mix Crunch, Post Select)
2lbs. of oranges
3 2lb. containers of Yoplait yogurt
2 20 oz. bottles of Sprite
3 candy bars
Without sales or coupons, these items would have cost me about $175 dollars. What did I spend? $16 dollars!!!!!!
I was so excited about this! Cereal is one of my favorite foods, and so I loved being able to stock up on this for practically nothing!
Today, I went to Target and bought
3 boxes of Special K cereal
2 boxes of Special K crackers
2 boxes of Wheat Thins Artisan crackers
4 Kraft Easy Mac singles
1 Dry Idea deodorant
1 14 oz. bag of Santitas tortilla chips
1 loaf of bread
2 travel size Axe shower gel
1 16oz. sour cream
1 box of 100 sandwich bags
1 pack of gum
Without coupons or sales these items would have cost about $36 dollars. I spent $10 dollars!
Anyway, I have had to change my way of thinking about coupons and such. I used to think it was such a waste of time for people to clip coupons. Who cares about saving 35 cents? Or even a $1 here or there. I always wondered what that accomplished . . . it's not like you can buy that much more with that extra $1.35 saved. But when you combine the coupons with a sale . . . that is where some real savings happen. It is more work, but for me it has been worth it. Thanks Shanna and Alisa for inspiring me . . . it is so much fun to save money!
