There are always coupons to use. You can find them everywhere: the paper, the Internet coupon sites, magazines, product websites, product packages, in the store... they're everywhere! So there are always coupons to use. The trick is HOW you use them to get the most from your coupons. Some weeks I go without using a single coupon. But some weeks, I rake in big time. This is an example from just a couple of weeks ago. It'll give examples of how I use rewards points and HyVee's fuel savers the "right" way.
Here we go.
First, I always check the ads for the week: HyVee, Fareway, Walgreens and Target. Then, if there's a good sale, I match up with coupons and deals. SO....
Deal One: Josh and Sarah Rose love peanuts. Their favorite: Planters Dry Roasted. They'll sit on the couch and just eat a few together... it's their special bond and it's pretty darn cute! :-) But they are expensive! So I keep my eyes peeled for just the right special. This particular week was it:
Planters Peanuts: Regular Price $4.49 (HyVee)
Price matched to local store ad, now becomes $2.50
I had $2 coupon. I bought 2.
$4.49 x 2 = 8.98
-3.98 (price matched to local ad 2/$5)
$5.00
-$2.00 (coupon)
$3.00 (down from $8.98)
or $1.50 each, which is still high for this frugal gal, but sure beats $4.49 and I do so enjoy spoiling Josh and Sarah with their peanuts. It's the simple things in life! Do the math: that's a $5.98 savings.
Deal Two: Softsoap Handsoap. I like to keep this at the kitchen sink so a certain husband of mine won't use my Dawn to clean his hands. It can be pretty pricey, unless.....
Softsoap: Regular Price $3.99 (HyVee)
Price matched to local store ad, now becomes .97
I had two coupons totaling .85. I bought 2.
$3.99 x 2 = $7.98
-6.04 (price matched to .97)
$1.94
-0.85 (coupons)
$1.09 (down from $7.98)
or 55 cents each. Do the math: that's a $6.89 savings.
Deal Three: Breyers Ice Cream. I usually never buy Breyers. Too rich for my blood. Call.
Breyers: Regular Price $3.99 (HyVee)
On sale, (limit 2), now $1.99
I had two coupons, totaling $3.00. I bought 2.
$3.99 x 2 = $7.98
-4.00 (sale price)
$3.98
-3.00 (coupons)
$0.98 (down from 7.98)
or 49 cents each. Do the math: that's a $7.00 savings.
Now it gets really fun! But I have to explain HyVee's fuel savers first. One of HyVee's sale pitches every week is to put certain items on "fuel saver" (FS). For example, Product X has a FS of 1 cent. You're supposed to buy FS products to accumulate cents on your FS card and when you purchase fuel at Casey's, you swipe your card and whatever cents you've accumulated on your card comes off your per gallon total, up to twenty gallons. For example, if gas is $3.50 and you have, say, $1.50 worth of FS accumulated on your card, your per gallon price drops that $1.50 to now make your gas $2.00 per gallon... up to twenty gallons. It's a nifty gimmick if you do it right. BUT you have to do it right....
For example, you go to HyVee and see that hotdogs are $1.50 with 1 cent FS. Well, that one cent FS really adds up to 20 cents (remember, up to 20 gallons). So, take that 20 cent savings off your $1.50 hotdogs, and you've now got $1.30 wieners. BUT you know that Fareway always has theirs for 1.00. Are you saving anything with FS? No, because Fareway is cheaper everyday anyway. So you have to be smart. A FS "deal" isn't always a deal.
(A lot of people will save up their FS and then purchase gas to show how much they've saved on fuel. I, however, don't care what my purchase price on fuel is, I always take the savings consideration into my grocery bill.)
So let's talk deals with FS.
Deal Four: Eggos. Most mornings, my family has a homemade breakfast. On the mornings they don't, it's either cereal, toast, or (if they are lucky) Pop Tarts. My kids love Pop Tarts. Before this week, I'd never bought a box of Eggos a day in my life. But just so happens the week before, Josh was reminiscing of his youth about having Eggos for breakfast and wondered, if they were still around, he wouldn't mind having some. Okay, whatever. They're expensive and I don't buy 'em. And why would you pass up a homemade breakfast for Eggos? Men are strange. But my strange man lucked out, 'cause within just a few days of this conversation, I snagged this:
Eggos: Regular Price $2.49 (HyVee)
On sale, now becomes $2.00
I had 5 coupons totaling $7.50. I bought 5.
Fuel Savers .50 if you buy 8 Kellogg's products
$2.49 x 5 = $12.45
- 2.45 (sale)
$10.00
-7.50 (coupons)
$2.50 (down from $12.45)
or 50 cents each. Do the math: that's a $9.95 savings.
BUT!!!!! There was a 50 cents fuel savers deal if you bought 8 Kellogg's products, which you could mix and match. Which boils down to roughly 6 cents a product.
FS: $0.06 x 5 products = .30
$0.30 x 20 gallons = $6.00
Total of Eggos $2.50
Fuel Savers - 6.00
-$3.50
That 3.50 is what we call a money maker. Stacking sales, coupons and special advertising to get a product at its lowest cost sometimes means that they actually PAY ME to buy the product! I actually made $3.50 to buy five boxes of Eggos. At that price, my Honey can eat all the Eggos and reminisce from his youth all he wants!
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Deal Five: Mini Wheats. Believe it or not, my family will choose shredded wheat or raisin bran over sugary cereals on any given morning. They've had very few chances at sugary cereal anyway, but I will say that a box of Corn Pops sat in the cupboard so long that they went stale and have now become goat treats. So when shredded wheat becomes a deal, I stock up.
Mini Wheats: Regular Price $3.19 (HyVee)
On sale, now becomes $1.68
I had 3 coupons totaling $4.50. I bought 3 (would have bought more, but the shelf was cleared out).
FS same as Eggos.
$3.19 x 3 = $9.57
- 4.53 (sale)
$5.04
-4.50 (coupons)
$0.54 (down from $9.57)
or 18 cents a box. Do the math: that's a $9.03 savings.
BUT!!!!!!!!!! There was that 50 cents FS deal, doing the math for three products:
FS $0.06 x 3 products = .18
$0.18 x 20 gallons = $3.60
Total of cereal $0.54
Minus FS $3.60
-$3.06
That's another money maker of $3.06!
Deal Six: Pop Tarts. One of those nice things to have on hand for those rare mornings when mama doesn't have breakfast made. And sales for cheap Pop Tarts come around often enough that I only buy them then. But in this case, I snagged a super sweet deal! I can't read all my notes on the math of the how-to's so I can't share the specifics, which is a shame because it was the impressive one! But it came down to, after the sale, coupons and fuel savers, a $5.70 money maker!
*Just a little disclaimer: I almost feel ashamed of sharing with you that I actually purchased Eggos, cereal and Pop Tarts to feed my family. But you know what? Almost ALL our meals are homemade, from scratch, REAL FOOD meals. Most of which a big portion are food we raise and produce with our own two (or eight, rather) hands. I don't feel guilty feeding my kids and hubsters one meal a week of a processed food. So, quite honestly, if you've got a problem with it.... well, that's your problem. With all due respect of course! Even with a smiley. :-)
Now, if you're thinking that all the good deals are highly processed crap, remember the peanuts and the hand soap. And these next two deals:
Deal Seven: Head & Shoulders. Yep, my Stud Muffin needs some heavy duty H&S. He wears his work hat longer a day than he sleeps at night, and between the sweat, dust and his naturally dry skin, he has the perfect recipe for a disgusting, scaly, pimply scalp. (TMI?) And H&S is what we've found to work best to fix it. But it's costly. Unless....yep, you gots it! This deal was at Target. And Target's gimmick is to buy so many of a product to get a gift card back towards a next purchase. Again, you have to be smart about it and do the math, but sometimes it works out. And I always assume the savings of the gift card towards my current purchase and then just don't take the savings into account when I actually use it.
Head and Shoulders: Regular Price $4.99
I had a coupon for $5 off 3
Target offer of $5 gift card off purchase of 3
Plus 5% off for using Target Redcard
$4.99 x 3= $14.97
-5.00 (coupon)
$9.97
-5.00 (gift card)
$4.97
-0.25 (5% off for using Target card)
$4.72 (down from $14.97)
or $1.57 each. Not great, but definitely better than $4.99. Do the math: that's a $10.25 savings.
Last one for today:
Deal Eight: Tide. I have tried every brand of laundry soap and even tried two different kinds of homemade versions. I don't know if it's my washing machine or if it's just the way the world works, but I haven't found anything that works as good as Tide. PLUS I have two peeps in my house with sensitive skin and two in my house with allergies (Caleb is the only normal one among us!). I've found that Tide is the only brand that keeps us three freaks comfortable. And I think they know it, too, because they have a price tag on the stuff that just hollers confidence that they're stuff is the best! But this mama's too frugal (read: cheap) to buy it full price. Again, at Target:
Tide: Regular price $11.99 (not the big bottle, obviously)
On sale, now becomes $9.99
$2.00 in coupons
$10 gift card gimmick
5% off for using Redcard
$10 mail in rebate from Proctor and Gamble
$11.99 x 4 = $47.96
-8.00 (sale)
$39.96
2.00 (coupons)
$37.96
-10.00 (gift card gimmick)
$27.96
-$1.40 (5% off for using Target Card)
$26.56
-$10.00 (Proctor and Gamble mail in rebate)
$16.56 (down from $47.96)
or $4.14 each. Not great, but better than $11.99! Do the math: that's a $31.40 savings!
The big argument against couponing is that it makes you buy things you wouldn't normally buy. Which is sometimes true. I wouldn't have bought the Breyers, Eggos or the Pop Tarts had I not had a coupon. Those things are a special treat for my family and if I can get them affordable, I purchase them. But everything else (the peanuts, hand soap, shampoo, cereal, Tide), I would have gotten anyway. It takes a lot of time, but it pays off. And it's a fun challenge for me to to play the game of how big of a deal can I find that week. Money makers are always fun. It just takes some math and some brains to be smarter than the gimmicks, and couponing can be a HUGE success. Unfortunately, you can't find coupons for everything. So I still pay plenty out of pocket. But every little savings adds up, and every little bit helps out!
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