Monday, June 15, 2009

Coupon Madness



We haven't posted anything in a while, but I thought this was pretty cool and something that could help other families on a tight budget like us.

So Dawni and I started doing the coupon thing recently because I saw what it was doing for one of my cousin's families. We subscribed to the Standard Examiner to get three papers each Sunday and started at it. It costs us $16 a month, but we get that back in one trip to the store. You don't go to the store and buy stuff that you will use tonight under most circumstances, it's stocking up and creating food storage, as you have to roll with what coupons are out right now and what's on sale, but after a while you get a pretty vast repertoire of items in your cupboard. Most people cut their food bills by over 50%, it just takes time to build up the storage. Here is my haul from today, going to Albertsons and Bowmans:

6 All Small & Mighty 3x
4 McCormick Grill Mates Marinades
4 Ken's Steakhouse Salad Dressing
3 Ken's Steakhouse Salad Spritzers
3 Wishbone Salad Dressing
4 Wishbone Salad Spritzers
2 Wishbone Bountifuls Salad Dressing
8 Ragu Pasta Sauce
8 Tony's Pizzas

(Yeah, Salad Dressing was the thing this week. Anyone got lettuce?)

Total retail cost: $162.10
Total Coupons Tendered & Other Discounts: $136.61
Total Cost (out of pocket): $25.49

Total Savings: 84.27%

So yeah, we won't be needing salad dressing for a while! (The reason we got so much of it is because we got it all for free, minus the 3 cents tax on each one.) We've also stocked up on free BBQ sauce, frozen pizzas, flatbread melts, and aspirin in the last few weeks. What will next week bring? :)

If anyone is interested in how to do this, let us know! We use the website Grocerysmarts.com, the password is g84rcm to access the Utah listings. We can tell you how to use the website if you'd like.