So I'm a little late getting in on the couponing game. I would try and clip coupons based on ads occasionally, but I wasn't serious about it. I would buy a Sunday paper once a month or so and use those and then throw away all the expired coupons...oops!
Then....my job got put on hold.
I planned to go back to work part-time after having Ruthie, but unfortunately they've had to make cuts and we have not been able to work out the hours I'm able to work (when Joel is able to watch Ruthie) with the hours they're needing coverage right now. Hopefully in a few months that will change, but for now I'm savoring every second with my little girl and doing my best to stretch our dollars, especially when it comes to groceries.
I've read some friends couponing stories who are spending $20 at the grocery store every week or so for families of four. I think that is amazing and proof it can be done!
Since I'm not working I'm trying to dedicate at least Monday morning nap-time to going through the paper, ads, couponmom.com, mygrocerydeals.com, and figuring out where the best deals are, what I can get for free, and so on.
This past week, I tackled (or tried to tackle) CVS. CVS has some Great deals mainly because of their extra bucks program (using your rewards card).
For me, learning how it works was very confusing. I spent three hours just going through the deals, extra bucks promotions, searching for online coupons and newspaper coupons and I only had Two weeks worth of newspaper coupons. I think it was good to start with a smaller amount of coupons to try and learn their 'system'.
I went to CVS yesterday and spent probably an hour. Where I came into problems, was not understanding the best way to check out to maximize savings because it does matter!
I'll try and give my rundown of working the CVS system, hoping to save you a little time and money! Its long, just a warning :-).
First, I've found thusfar, the best deals are with the extra bucks promotions. For example, last week if you bought $25 worth of baby products, you got $10 extra bucks. Pampers diapers were on sale for $20 for 96 diapers.
All Johnson and Johnson bath products were on sale for $2.50 for 20 oz size. I had a $1.75 off pampers coupon and bought 2 baby wash items and one baby lotion:
$20 diapers
-$1.75 coupon
+$7.50 in baby bath products
=$25.75 total
Then you get $10 in extra bucks so really $15.75 total. Not bad for that many diapers. The catch is the extra bucks are printed on your receipt for use on future purchases.
What I've found the key is for CVS purchases using extra bucks, is to start out with extra bucks purchases, and do each as a single transaction.
I should have started with the baby stuff and checked out, then used the $10 extra bucks on my next transaction, which was dove products. Gotten the extra bucks from the dove products, then done the next transaction, etc. I should have ended with just my normal items that I had on coupon, then I could've used all my extra bucks.
What I actually did (not knowing any better), was pay for my normal (non-extra bucks) items first with my baby items. Then, I did each extra bucks transaction separately. The problem with this was I ended up with $6 in extra bucks when all was said and done. Had I worked this system better, I would've have paid out that $6 and wouldn't have ended with any extra bucks.
Shew, does that make any sense?
Now, the fun part was seeing how much I saved. I ended up spending $50 and saved $62. I should have spent only $44 and saved $62, but I didn't understand about the order of transactions and now have $6 of extra bucks to use within the next month. I want to get to the point where I'm spending $20/week on groceries. Gotta have goals, right!
The exciting thing for me is that I think this could be a game to see how much I can save. Seeing it actually work (sort of) was fun and I really enjoyed it. I'm actually looking forward to getting the paper on Sunday and going through the sales and ads! Isn't it funny how as you get older the things that are exciting and fun! Who would've thought I would want to coupon :-). I'm sure thankful I do!
3 comments:
I seriously wish I could wrap my brain around this and had the patience to do it...keep posting tips and maybe one day it will click for me!
That is awesome!! It is SO confusing but once you get the hang out it, it'll make more sense. I'm always worried that the cashier will be SO ANNOYED with me doing all those purchases, but you know what we have to look out for ourselves, not them!
Great job! A mom at church actually teaches a class on doing things like what you're doing at CVS. Sounds like you're getting the hang of it!
I still can't imagine only spending $20 a week on groceries. How?!! We spend at least $10 on milk per week! I know, we should get our own backyard cow!
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