Archive for May 18, 2012

Groceries for .27 cents! My shopping trip…

I had an awesome day of couponing today! How did I do it? It all started at Walgreens this morning….

Transaction #1:
1 Complete contact solution 7.99
1 Finish dishwashing gelpacs 3.49
1 Lanacane anti-itch cream 5.00
Used (1) $1 off Complete contact solution (SS 4/29/12)
(1) .75 off Finish dishwashing gelpacs (SS 4/22/12)
Spent $16.15 and received $8 Register Reward (RR) also known as a Catalina from Complete, $1.50 RR from Finish, $5 RR from Lanacane

Transaction #2
1 Complete contact solution 7.99
1 Finish dishwashing gelpacs 3.49
Used (1) $1 off Complete contact solution (SS 4/29/12)
(1) .75 off Finish dishwashing gelpacs (SS 4/22/12)
Spent $10.72 and received $8 RR from Complete,  $1.50 RR from Finish

Next stop:  Fred Meyer…..

Here’s what I got:

1 gallon milk ($2.49)
2 baby watermelons (on sale at 2/$4)
5 ears of corn (5/$2)
8 cans of pork & beans (for my stockpile) 
2 pounds of Challenge Butter (on sale for $2.49 each)
1 packet of spinach seeds (40% off)
1 Ice Breakers mints
2 sweet & sour sauce (for tomorrow night’s dinner)
1 family pack of New York steaks (on sale for $5.98/lb)
1 12pk 7Up (on sale for $4.99)

I used $15 off – Fred Meyer Rewards (seriously, you MUST sign up for this program)
$2 off produce – Fred Meyer Rewards
$2 off meat – Fred Meyer Rewards
(1) coupon in front of the 7-Up for 3/$11 (-$1.32)
(2) .55 off challenge butter
The pork & beans and the butter qualified for buy 10 save $4 off instantly
(2) $8 RR from my Walgreens shopping trip this morning. (Did you know you can use other store’s Catalinas (RR) at Fred Meyer? – as long as they say Manufacturer Coupon)
(1) $5 RR from Walgreens
(1) $1.50 RR from Walgreens
.10 bag refund for bringing in my own bags

My grand total for all of the above groceries……..27 cents!!!!  Woot! Woot! And I still have one $1.50 RR left!

If you would like to learn how to save BIG money on your grocery and drug store shopping bills, come to our next Couponing 101 class on Thursday, May 17th from 6-8pm at the Burien Community Center. 
Sign up for the class here..

Our Food Bank Shopping Trip

Being volunteer shoppers for the White Center Food Bank can be a daunting task sometimes, especially for couponers like us.  The Kiwanis Club of White Center donated $400 to be used in the 2012 15th Annual $1 Million Dollar Giveaway to Fight Hunger.  Created by Alan Shawn Feinstein, a nationally known philanthropist and humanitarian and founder of the Feinstein Foundation, this challenge divides up one million dollars among participating hunger fighting agencies March 1st through April 30th, 2012.  Based on the weight of the donations, last year the White Center Food Bank received $933.35.

We wanted to get the most we could for the $400 so Suzanne and I and my daughter Kelly set off for Winco.  First we went up and down every aisle to see what was on sale – Winco doesn’t publish weekly sales fliers so you don’t know what’s on sale until you get there.  Kelly had her i-phone so she logged onto www.couponmom.com to use the coupon database to see if there were coupons available to match up with the sale items.  We made a huge list and then went to the nearest McDonald’s and set up shop (and had lunch). 
 

We brought all of our coupon bins in and started clipping.  A few people asked us what on earth we were doing and if we were extreme couponers!  Once we had all of our coupons clipped and organized, we headed back to Winco.  We grabbed two carts and filled them to the brim.  Here’s what we got:

10 Totino’s Pizzas
9 Yoplait 4pks of yogurts
10 Lawry’s marinades
57 Tuna Helpers
9 Stove Top Stuffings
32 cans of chili
18 cans of pineapple
8 kielbasas
16 boxes of Jello
24 Pillsbury pizza crusts
99 cans of Progresso soup
20 Yakisobas
11 jars of pickles
15 cans of tuna
We spent $341.76 and saved $143.66.  We were a little disappointed in the savings, until we priced out the exact same items at Safeway just to see what we would have spent at another grocery store.  If we had bought the same items at Safeway and used the exact same coupons, we would have spent $655.37!  By shopping at Winco we saved $313.61 over Safeway.
Suzanne spent the remainder of the money on 10 bags of chicken at .69/lb and 30 Ken’s salad dressings at Safeway just yesterday.  She spent $48 and saved $153.

Check out the post on the White Center Foodbank’s facebook page about our shopping trip!


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