Round 2 of Couponing for Normal People...+ a breakdown!

I think that today, I will be doing a round 2 of coupon shopping detail. Again, part of my reasoning is because I want to show how that tv show is unrealistic. Some of them, as you may have noticed, get very defensive when others use the words "hoarder" or "OCD" ... This just in! If you need to be defensive about your actions, it is probably something you need to scale back on and/or not do.

Yesterday I went into Birmingham to get a few groceries. Last week, there was a coupon for free milk when you buy 4 packs of yogurt. Coupons for the yogurt came out on Sunday. I already had a few so for the past week, we've enjoyed free milk and cheap yogurt. Then, I decided that it was too good of a deal to pass up on the milk because the boys and I have been wanting to make fresh mozzarella for our ongoing class called "Cheese". So, yesterday, we went to 3 stores and above is a picture of what we bought.

 At the first store, I picked up 7 Diet Mt Dew and took advantage of a coupon that the bottles had on them for 50 cents off one bottle. This doubled to $1 and the Dews were part of a 10 for 10 sale so the drinks were free. I only bought 7 and left at least that many on the shelf for the other shoppers. I also bought 2 bags of salad and used another coupon from in the store on the salad display. The salads were 2 for 2.99 and the coupon was for 1.50 off 2, thus my 2 bags of salad and 7 drinks were $1.49 plus tax.

My next stop was another store where I made my bulk purchase. At this store, I had a coupon for $5 off when you buy $30. You can use those together with other coupons to make your bill even lower. At this store, I bought 2 bricks of coffee, 2 boxes of tea bags, 8 yogurts and 2 milks for a total of $31.54.
2 coffees @ 2.99 each plus 2 $1.00 off coupons
2 tea bags @ 1.09 each plus 2 .40 coupons, doubled to .80 each
8 yogurt @ 2.00 each + 8 1.00 coupons
2 milk @ 3.69 each + 2 free milk when you buy 4 yogurt coupons

$5 off when you buy $30

My total coupons for this trip totaled $23.98. and my out of pocket expense was 7.56 plus tax.

After we left, we went down to the next block to the last store. This was not a long trip that used a lot of gas, it was something we would have done anyway. It's hot out, so we use our AC but if we get thirsty, we have a cup that has free refills at the gas station fountain. However, I always pack a big jug of ice water before we leave, there is nothing that quenches thirst like ice water. According to Alpha Man, I am wrong about this and maybe even crazy. Anyway! On to the next store.

This store had Crunch bars on sale for .50. We had one coupon for $1.00 off 2 crunch bars. Here, I decided to grab one more gallon of milk and 4 more packs of yogurt. How do I get so many coupons? I SAVE them, just like saving coins in a bucket. There are always coupons available for products, manufacturers WANT you to try their stuff. Nobody is required to use a coupon as soon as they get it so when mine come out in the paper or from a promo or from a printable site, I SAVE them until a store puts the item on sale. No sale? No problem! They expire and more coupons arrive. Sometimes, I do buy more than one newspaper. This week was one of those weeks. I ended up buying 8 because the coupons were good and I needed the newsprint to mulch my garden with. Several people give me their coupons and in return, I give them random free groceries. This is another one of those couponing no brainers. This week's newspapers have already paid for themselves. I was taught that a good rule of thumb is 2 newspapers per family member.

SO! At the last stop, I picked up
2 Crunch bars for $1 (and we get a nice treat)
8 packs of Nesquik on sale $10 for 10
4 yogurts for $2 per pack
1 gallon of milk for $3.85
1 box of Shells and Cheese for $1.66

I used a $1 off 2 coupon on the candy, 8 50 cents off any Nesquik item coupons, doubled to $1, $1 off each yogurt, a free milk when you buy 4 yogurts and a 50 cents off the Velveeta, doubled. My total after coupons was 4.76 plus tax.

So my total yesterday for everything in the picture was about 15 bucks. I did it all legally and I did it all ethically. I didn't do anything that will hurt other shoppers' budgets. It's not hard to save money on your food, it just takes thought (math!) and planning and you have to eat what's on sale. And respect other humans. There is too much of a me me me mentality out there and other people want to save money on their bills, too.
Respect your cashiers, respect your stores, and respect the other shoppers.