Michael's Coupons

I was wandering around Michael's the other day with an awesome coupon that I found through Wicked Cool Deals.  I stopped to ask a clerk where to find a particular product. I talked to her for a bit about my coupon and how great it was. While we were talking, she gave me a really good tip.

You know how those coupons don't include sales items....

Well - they DO include CLEARANCE items. WHO KNEW?

It turns out that any item that is on Clearance is considered to be "regular priced" so the discount coupon is valid for those clearance items.

Kroger and P&G eSaver

Well ---

I just went to load coupons onto my Kroger Plus Card. Much to my dismay, I have discovered the Kroger is no longer a participating store in the Proctor & Gamble eSaver program. So sad.

However, Kroger has started another digital coupon program through their own website. Unfortunately, none of the coupons that are listed there are of any interest to me.

Sigh...

Way Behind

Mom has stacks of newspapers and unclipped coupons waiting to be attended.

Mom may never catch up.

In order to avoid becoming overly frustrated with the fact that I am so far behind, I will likely get today's papers and start from there. I will work backwards, if time allows, to catch up on the papers that are still waiting for attention.

I'm planning to go shopping on Wednesday. I haven't really done much in the way of shopping, so it's about time to replenish our pantry. The good thing about stock shopping is that when there are times that I can't get to the store - or just don't feel like it - then our house still has plenty of food and we don't need to rush out to buy things at higher prices.

I noticed over the holidays that the sales weren't really all that great. That's one reason I didn't bother to do much in the way of shopping. Why waste time shopping when the sales are minimal? I'm hoping this next weeks sales will be back the usual range of usefulness. I know this past week's sales were pretty decent, so hopefully the stores are reducing prices again.

How Time Flies

I haven't really been shopping at all this month. Things have been rather hectic and there has been no time for shopping. Luckily, I have had an extensive supply of stocked up groceries to work with.

The time has come, however, for me to venture out to the stores again. I'm going to try to make it through this week without a trip to the grocery store and then go this weekend after Christmas is over.

I also have to get through all my coupons. I have several to get organized and clipped.

Publix Take

I went shopping last night for the first time in two weeks. I spent $49.00 and saved $97.00.

I got 6 bottles of Sundown Vitamin B6 for FREE because Publix had a store coupon to save $6.00 on 2 bottles of vitamins. I also had manufacturer coupons to save $1.00 on one bottle. The vitamins were $3.49, so they were free.

I got 3 nail clippers. My husband said that I have a fetish for clippers because I buy so many. Silly man! I had to explain to him that the clippers cost $1.50 and I have this awesome store coupon that saves $2.50 off any 1 Revlon Beauty Tool. I earn $1.00 for each package of clippers that I purchase. That extra money goes towards the final balance of my grocery bill, making my final cost lower. This is why I buy the clippers. They won't go bad. I can give them away in gift packages or to the local homeless shelter.

I got 2 packs of Contact Cold and Cough medicine for FREE. I had this amazing coupon to save $7.00 when I bought 2 products of any kind from that manufacturer. I also had store coupons to save $2.00 of one box of Contac. Combined, the savings totaled $11.00. The Contact was priced at $5.39, so I actually came out with a little extra to apply to the final cost.

With that same $7.00 coupon, I got 2 boxes of Sominex. These were priced at $3.19, so again I had a bit left over.

I got 2 packs of Sudafed Cough and Cold medicine for FREE. The Sudafed was priced at $3.99. I had a store coupon to save $2.00 off one box and a manufacturer coupon to save $2.00.

I got 5 packs of Fisher's Trail Mix for free. They were on sale with the Buy 1 Get 1 Free, so they were priced under $1.00. I had 5 coupons to save $1.00 on any Fisher product.

As usual, there were many things I purchased without coupons or with minimal savings because I had to have them. I'm also in the habit of treating my husband to something sweet and there is rarely a coupon for that.

I'll be going to Kroger one day this week, but I'm not sure when.

My Kroger Event

I went to Kroger on Tuesday of this week with the express purpose of having myself a bit of robbery fun. Here is what I purchased.

I purchased 10 cans of Carnation Evaporated Milk. These were on sale for $0.49 if you bought 10 of the participating items. I had 5 coupons that would give me a $0.50 savings on 2 cans of this milk. The coupon doubled to give me a $1.00 savings. The milk was all completely FREE.

I purchased 2 pouches of Starkist Tuna at $0.99. I had 2 coupons that would give me $0.50 off any pouch of Starkist Tuna. The coupon doubled to give me a $1.00 savings. The tuna was FREE.

I purchased one can of Armour Vienna Sausage at $0.45. I had a coupon to save $0.25 on one Vienna Sausage product. The can was FREE.

I purchased 2 bottles of Herbal Essence Shampoo at $2.99 per bottle. I had 2 special coupons to get this shampoo for free. The shampoo was FREE.

I purchased 1 bottle of Country Bob's sauce at $3.29. I had a special coupon to get this for free. The sauce was FREE.

Even with all these FREE products, I still had to pay taxes. Fortunately there was coupon overages that covered a portion of my tax responsibility.

My total out of pocket expense for this trip:

THIRTEEN CENTS!!!

Double Coupons

I spoke to the manager at my local Publix store last week. We had a great discussion about getting products for free through the use of coupons and sales. I learned something, too. I used to think that doubled coupons were just something that stores would do to make themselves more inviting. I used to think that when the stores doubled those coupons, they lost money on that.

I was wrong. 

It turns out that when a store doubles the value of the coupon, the manufacturer reimburses the store for the costs of that extra value right along with the face value of the coupon.

How awesome is that?

Learning this also helped me understand why some coupons are clearly marked with "DO NOT DOUBLE" on them. I had wondered for some time why manufacturers would be concerned with whether the stores doubled the value of the coupon or not. Now I know.