i am officially a nerd.

Friday, January 15, 2010

So I have come to terms with my nerdiness in relation to my love of saving money. I am such a dweeb that I take pictures of my groceries. Oh yes I do. I was so very excited today to score ALL THIS good food for only $118. I saved $80 using coupons (manufacturer, e-coupons, & bonus coupons). I try to keep to a $160 budget for groceries. We get paid twice a month so I try to spend appx $80 a week or less. So as of now I am $40 under budget, which means next week when the new store sales come out if I see a great deal to stock up in combination with my coupons I will still have some cash left to buy those.

What you dont see in this picture is any meat, because I stocked up on that last month and we still have almost 75% of what we stockpiled. Also there is not eggs, milk, or alot of produce. These I will purchase tomorrow with our WIC checks, with no out of pocket cost to me. We are able to be on the WIC program due to our family size and income, and William and I are the only ones that qualify. We just started the program this week and I am looking forward to the $75 in monthly savings on infant formula plus the free milk, cheese, eggs, beans, juice, cereal and produce we are able to acquire. It will definitley help out our food budget!! Which means more money we can put towards paying off our debt!

This morning as I was reorganizing my coupons into my new handy dandy coupon holder I spent some time matching up my coupons with my shortcuts.com and cellfire.com coupons I had loaded onto my King Sooper shopper card.

I was able to score some amazing deals by using both my paper coupons and my "e-coupons". You can use both a paper coupon and one e-coupon per item purchased.

For example:

Fiber One Yogurt Multipack(4) -- price $2.99 (would never pay this price for 4 yogurts!!)
$1.00 off 1 internet printable coupon (from coupons.com)
$1.00 off 1 e-coupon from shortcuts.com
Final price $.99 or .25 a yogurt

Rosarita Refried Beans -- on sale $1
$.50 off 3 manufacturer coupon (from sunday paper)
$.50 bonus coupon (King Sooper "doubled" my manufacturer coupon)
$.50 off 3 e-coupon from shortcuts.com
Final price $.50 each when purchasing 3

Pillsbury Crescent rolls (4 count) --on sale $1
$.50 off 1 internet printable coupon (x2)
$.50 off 2 manufact coupon (x2)
$2 off bonus coupon (when King Sooper doubled all my .50 coupons)
$1 off 2 e-coupon from shortcuts.com
Final price 6 for $1 or .17 each!!

Progresso Soups $1.65 any flavor (sale price)
$.50 off 2 manufact. coupon (x2)
$1 off bonus coupon (KS doubled)
$.50 off 2 e-coupon from shortcuts.com
$.50 off 2 e-coupon from cellfire.com
Final price $3.60 for 4 or $.90 each

I had lots of other great deals, like a quarter for a 12pk of Mission Tortillas and an Old El Paso Heat and Serve rice side dish.
I suggest you check out shortcuts.com and cellfire.com and see if there are stores in your area that participate. Its really easy to just create an account and add coupons to your shopper card for whatever stores you frequent. Its best to combine those e-coupons with paper coupons at a store that doubles manufacturer coupons. Most Kroger brand stores double as well as most Safeways. Back in Washington state my favorite place to shop is Fred Meyer for the everyday low prices and the double coupon policy and use of e-coupons on the Fred Meyer Rewards card.

I lucked out today and had a great cashier who was excited about my savings and said "never apologize for saving money!" when I said "sorry there are so many" as I handed her a big stack of coupons. I even walked out with two "catalina" coupons for my next purchase, one for $2.50 off any purchase and one for $2 off any purchase. So next grocery trip I will already be saving at least $4.50!