Coupons & Price Matching

Hello,

I haven't been grocery shopping (other than buying very basic things like milk) in about a month.  I have no idea what we've been eating except I know we've had too many trips to Taco Time.

I've spent the week preparing for this Walmart trip. I know that sounds silly but it's true.  Usually people just make a list of things they need and then walk up and down the isle of the store and get that stuff along with a bunch of random things.  I think this is the first time I went to Walmart and ONLY bought things on my list! Yippee! No impulse buying for me!

So, how did I prepare for my trip?

• I made a list of items that we really do need or want from the store
• I went through all of my newspaper grocery ads and looked up ads online for local stores that I didn't get a newspaper ad for.  I went through the papers and wrote down items I was interested in that had awesome prices (32 oz. Powerade at Smith's for only $.39  Awesome deal). I also wrote down the best prices I found for items that were on my list of things I need.

  

  Shawn helping me put away some of the powerades I bought

• I even found and read some blogs where people were telling awesome prices they found on things this week. Example - Stove Top dressing is usually $1.68 a box and was on sale somewhere for only $.77 (plus a $.50 off coupon per box made it only $.27 CENTS per box, crazy cheap)
• Okay I got ahead of myself on the last bullet point.... Coupons are the next thing I did.  I scoured the web for printable coupons for all of the items on my shopping list.  I was able to find a coupon for most items on my list (other than produce).  Here's some examples of the coupons and price matching that I did.
• I got coupons for cereal (originally $2.60 ea. price matched for $1.88 then used $1 off 2 boxes coupons making it $1.38 per box for Kellogg's cereal)  Some crazy coupon ladies are able to get their cereal for less than a dollar a box but I'm just starting out at this so give me a break :)
• Coupons for the Wheat Thins and Triscuits originally $2.98 a box, price matched for $1.99 a box and then I had a $1 off 1 box coupon for each one making them only $1 each! Yippee!
• Coupons for the Stove Top as previously mentioned... made them $.27 per box.
• Yoplait Yogurt, originally $.58 each, I price matched for $.38 each and then I had a $.40 off 6 coupon and a coupon for a free one.  That averages out to $.27 each! Sweet! 
• Cake Mixes + icing,  cake mix originally $1.50 and I price matched for $.88 each. I had to buy icing at regular price (I couldn't find an ad for it anywhere) by buying the mix and icing I was able to use a coupon for $.50 off. Not a great deal but I needed mix and frosting so it wasn't terrible.
• I searched high and low for powerade coupons but unfortunately I couldn't find any that hadn't expired. Man, I'm sure I would have made money off of it if I could have found coupons.  Walmart gives you overage on your coupons. So if you have an item for 50 cents and a coupon for 1 dollar off that item they will give you either 50 cents cash (if that was your only item) or they will discount 50 cents from your total purchase price. Walmart is one of the only stores that does this.  I know Target doesn't.
• Scotch-Brite kitchen sponges - I had a coupon for $1 off a purchase of ANY 2 Scotch-Brite products.  These sponges were only $.88 each so I got one for free and the other for $.66 
• I calculated it and I saved a wopping $72.03 in price matching and $22.08 in coupons.     
  
  I saved a total of $94.11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some of the sites I found coupons at:

• www.coupons.com
• Allyou.com
• www.happyclippings.com  
• TheKrazyCouponLady  this site also has great information on how to coupon as well as different store's coupon policies. I think I could spend hours on this site learning about couponing.
• You can always google the manufacturer of a product and look around on their website
• Also if you have a facebook account, search for the company's fan page, click that you like them, then look around on their page for a coupon.  Not all companies have this feature but it's worth a try.  You can always scroll to the bottom of their page and on the left you can 'Unlike' them after you get your coupon.