Trying to tackle the Couponing Craze!

So, I have many friends who have seemed to master the Coupon Craze.  I'm in awe of their savings at the grocery store, drug stores etc.  So, I thought I would give it a try.  I never quite mastered it like my friends, but was happy with the savings I received.

Now, TLC has a new show on called Extreme Couponing.  Bill & I watched the 1st show.  He was in awe. He did not get the whole coupon craze until he watched this show. He wanted to save 90% or more on our grocery bills.  So now he's hooked.  And addicted to trying to find the best deal.

I have only 2x's saved MORE than I spent at the grocery store.  Last week I saved $20 more than I spent. I did a little happy dance at the check out lane & hollered.  They all smiled at me. Here is a photo of what I got.

Total retail price: $100.96.  Total spent: $40.64. Total Saved: $60.32

My dear friend does wonders at Walgreens.  So I thought I would try. I don't typically shop at Walgreens.  But they had some good sales.  Here is my 1st trip to Walgreens.

Total retail price: $62.65. Total spent: $17.64. Total Saved: $46.01

And now Bill is on a roll.  He's been searching and searching for the best deal.  Today we went to Target. We were armed with about 30 coupons.  I was nervous.  After some confusion with the computer not taking some of our coupons (we caught this before we left the store so I went back inside to get a manager and she fixed the problem and gave us money back), we ended up saving 90%. Our best shopping trip to date!

Total retail price: $39.45. Total spent: $4.06. Total saved: $35.39.  

Several people have asked me on Facebook how I do it.  This is an email I sent to them.

This site really explains a lot to beginners. Just click on the link at the top of her site that says beginners.

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

It takes a lot of work. We buy 2 Sunday papers so we have 2 coupons for each item we want. You can use a manufacture coupon on each item in the BOGO's at Publix (yes, even the free item). You can also "stack" coupons by using a store coupon as well. So, you can use a manufacture coupon AND a Target coupon on 1 item (at Publix and at Target).

The Target coupons are found on their website at the bottom (it says coupons).

Today, we had 5 Degree manufacture coupons for $1 off. And we printed 5 Degree Target coupons for $1 off. So we saved $2.00 on each deodorant. They are on sale this week for $1.99. So we got them for free. :-)

We had about 30 coupons when we checked out. The key is to stick to your list. If you buy something not on sale or something without a coupon, it will mess up your percentage of savings. :-)

And always make sure you know how many coupons you are using and for how much they will total. Today at Target not all of our coupons scanned. So I went back inside and told them and they figured it out and gave us $6.50 back.

OH, and you can "like" pages on Facebook (like Lysol) and they will have coupons. If you have more than 1 computer in your house, try to print coupons from each computer. Some sites limit the amount of coupons you can print from your computer.

I hope this helps. I will compile a list of other sites we have found that are really helpful in our coupon savings adventure. So check back soon.

Good luck & Happy Couponing!