So the couponing thing. I thought I’d be better at it by now, to tell you the truth. I’ve never been a details person, so maybe this is causing me some grief and in couponing, details are key. Expiration dates, fine print, each store’s coupon policy, sale dates. I’ve gotten tripped up by each of these things at least once, sometimes more. Example..I’ve taken a shine to ordering my coupons online rather than paying a few bucks for each weekend paper that I need to get the inserts. As I’ve mentioned earlier..there will be no dumpster diving for me. I am a germophobe of the highest order and the idea of touching a lid, let alone crawling in a dumpster, or barrel, or whatever the hell they’re thrown into gives me violent diarrhea. So I’ve become a big fan of ordering online, which for a pretty good number of coupons including shipping, is less than I would spend on two papers. This past weekend we got an awesome q from Renuzit for adjustable air fresheners, b3/g3. Which means buy 3 and get 3 free. Since they’re usually on sale for about .90 just about anywhere, for less than 3 bucks you get 6 air fresheners, which I love, especially with the fall scents coming out right now. I went online and ordered several from Klip2save.com. Only later and because my online friend and couponing cohort Lindsay pointed it out to me did I realize that the ones I ordered were for Dollar General only. We don’t have Dollar General here. Sigh. Luckily it was only about 75 cents lost, but still. I need that 75 cents to feed the bottomless pits I call children. See, they say God is in the details and right now God is laughing at my stupid ass. I also tend to get overwhelmed easily and need to break things down into small groups to accomplish tasks. I’ll go online to compare sales and coupon matchups and one page leads to two leads to 8 and then I’ve got a dozen windows open and am trying to remember which site listed which sales, which coupons matched what sales..until after sitting there for 2 hours of my life that I’ll never get back I get up and walk away and say, “Screw it..I’ll come back to it later” with nothing accomplished. Maybe I’m being hard on myself, but it’s frustrating. I have scored several really good deals and I’ve learned a ton in the last two months about sales and stocking up, but by no means am I a pro yet. Having the attention span of a gnat and OCD combined kind of sucks. Remind me to tell you how much fun school was sometime. Not.
My little stockpile table in the garage is building slowly. Most items here were free or close to it. The Head & Shoulders was b1/g2.
Items for the home and health and beauty items are way easier for me still than grocery items. I’m taking little steps with the groceries..one bunch of coupons at a time. As one good deal comes up, I order a bunch of coupons, stock up on that one item and move on to the next. Shaw’s and Walmart are my go-to stores. Shaw’s for any coupon up to $1.00, because Shaw’s doubles coupons up to 99 cents, the rest I take to Walmart. Baby steps. Shaw’s has some awesome sales starting on Friday this week and my coupons have been shipped! Need to make room!
Kitchen pantry..getting there. On order for this weekend, 30 cans of Progresso, 20 cans of Chef Boyardee and 20 boxes of Betty Crocker.
This week I found a ton of steals, and none of them required coupons. Walgreen’s has awesome clearance enders if you look often enough, you can score some serious loot. Same for Rite Aid.
Bring on the pandemic.
The Halo I was thrilled about, considering my thing with germs. Rite Aid, $18 marked down to $12.99 then $3.24..adults and kids both. Cleared the shelves of those. Emergen-C, my favorite..adult box 10 count marked down to $2.99 and kids 30 count box marked down to $6.49 with a $2 off peelie on the box. From Walgreen’s I got several full sized bags of Halls Defense with vitamin C for 35 cents each (clearance) several packs of regular Halls for the same and a bag of C drops for 79 cents. And, while at Walgreen’s, I got my flu shot. Ha! Cold and flu season can kiss my ass.
Today I am waiting on my first bulk shipment of tp from Amazon. I got 36 double rolls of Quilted Northern Ultra Plush for $16.06 including shipping and set it up to ship every 3 months. Ya..between my overactive bladder (what..like you don’t pee a lot) and the two girls, we go thru some tp, y’all. Gah…is this what my life has come to? Blogging about toilet paper prices. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Anyway…
I also am a champion thrift store shopper. I know on any given day of the week what is on sale at Goodwill or Salvation Army and can tell you where any yard sale within a 5 mile radius will be. Look at these! I found them this morning at Goodwill..brand new!
LL Bean, with tiny moose on them! Gah! Love!
I also got some super cute tops and bottoms for Hallee and a cute table for Mimi’s room all for under $10. I buy a Goodwill customer card for $10 every year that takes 10% off each purchase as well. As much as I shop there, I get that back in just a few trips. I’ve gotten a ton of really cute fall and Halloween decorations at Salvation Army and yard sales the past couple of weeks as well.
So there you have my couponing life so far. Not where I’d like it to be…I’d like to be at the point where I’m getting overages or just paying tax, but it looks like that’s still a good ways off for me. But I am saving a good deal of money on what my family needs, and that is just fine with me. For now.