Armed with Coupons

Ok, so I just came home from my first "couponing" experience.  Whew!  I am mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted, but thrilled with what I found. (I was gone for over 2 hours)  I may not have come away with a huge stock-up style of groceries.  There is a reason for that, though.  First, since I am use to shopping week-to-week, I do not have a bountiful supply of staple items.  I think this will occur over time, but for now, I have to try to stock-up while still buying the weekly items, too.  Also, we do not have a supply shelf or a deep freezer to store "stock-up" items and with us wanting to move soon, I really don't want extra things lying around. Another thing that makes a difference is buying multiple Sunday papers (which I knew).  I wanted to see just how it all went before buying lots of papers.

My first trip out had its let-downs and disappointments, but it was mostly my fault.  I waited until later in the week to go shopping and so some items were sold out.  Lesson learned!  My biggest let-down was I had a Walgreen's coupon for $10 off Crest Whitestrips 3D Whitening kit along with a manufacturer's coupon for $10 off for a total of $20 off.  I thought the original price would be close to the other kits so I thought my out-of-pocket expense might be around $5.  But, the original price was $44.99 so I would still pay $24.99 (which is around the regular priced strips).  Since I don't know that the 3D product is way better than the regular ones, I didn't see any reason to spend that much for them.  Bummer...

On the flip side, though, I found some pretty sweet clearance items at another store.  I have kept looking for boys' winter clearance items, but they NEVER seem to go on clearance!  Tonight, I found some basic sweats for next Fall/Winter.  I also found some play slip-on shoes for the kiddos.

The coupon I was most excited about using turned into a panic situation.  On all the couponing blogs I read last week, they kept talking about the $3 off Gain fabric softener coupon that was going to be in the Sunday paper.  I proudly cut that sucker out and was anxious to use it. I hadn't yet invested in the organizational notebook with all of the dividers and sheet protectors because I wanted to make sure I was going to continue to use the coupons.  I had the Gain coupon (safely, I thought) in my grocery list notebook.  Now normally at this store, I am quickly in and out because it's not my favorite place, but tonight, I wanted to look for good deals.I had perused through most of the store before I made it to the grocery section. When I finally did make it there, the softener was one of the first things I picked up.  When I had it in my cart, I wanted to double-check the coupon for any size limitation.  It was NOT there!!!  I looked through my purse, through my notebook.  Nope, it was gone.  With the earlier disappointments of items not in stock, the Whitestripes and now this, I was beginning  to hate coupons.  I re-traced my many steps and finally found it in the spray paint aisle.  Relief!  I quickly marched over to the office supplies section and found the needed materials to get organized (well, minus the baseball card protectors...they haven't had them in years I was told).  Tomorrow, when I cut out my new coupons, have no fear, I will store them safely.  In a future post, I will show you my coupon binder.

Overall, I think it was a good learning experience and I am excited to see how I do next time!

Below is a run-down of my deals:
    Dillons:  Buy 10 participating items (which are already on sale), save $3 on this order and $3 on the next
                 order - - I also used some of my own coupons for the sale items, too. I normally don't buy Mixed
                 Nuts, but I'm helping to host another baby shower and we needed nuts! The coffee was reg.
                 $9.89, but was on clearance for $2.99
                                    Spent:  $27.37         Saved:  $28.78

Walgreens:  Used a Walgreen's coupon $1/for 2 along with a manufacturer's coupon $0.40/4
                                   Spent:  $1.75       Saved: $4.36

Walmart:  The Beautiful Gain (reg. $4.37)  Paid $1.37 --I did ask the cashier twice if she rang the coupon!

Clearance Items:  The shoes were $5 each, sweats $2 each, and decorative balls $1.50 (will put in a bowl
                            for staging our house)