SHOPPING WITH COUPONS ADVICE

For day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I am going to use the suggested topic because it fits so well with what I planned to write about.  The topic is to write about a subject or activity you have a lot of knowledge about and share the #1 best tip to someone new to the subject.   Since I just completed a shopping trip that was over $86.00 but it only cost me $3.51 out of pocket, my #1 tip, Shopping with Coupons Advice seemed perfect to write about.

 

 

My #1 tip is to make a shopping list before you leave home and check for coupons on the items you plan to buy.

So here is my shopping with coupons advice for you.   The first thing I do is make my shopping list then check the store fliers to see if any of my items are on sale.  Next I will search for coupons for the items on my list.  There are a few different places I get my coupons, one is the newspaper (which I don’t get often),  the other are online coupon sites.

 

My favorite online coupon site is https://www.coupons.com.   It’s easy to use, you can click on a category or just scroll through the entire list.  Click the coupons you need and they are saved until you have clicked the ones needed for you shopping trip then click “PRINT COUPONS” and they will print from your printer.

So I have my shopping list, I check the store fliers and mark the prices on my list, then get my coupons.  Next I organize my coupons in the order of the items on my shopping list to make it easier to keep track when filling my shopping cart and put  them in an envelope along with my shopping list.  At the checkout I watch the prices as they ring up like a hawk, making sure I get the sale prices.  Then when my coupons are deducted I watch like two hawks!  LOL   I can get national brands less than store brands when I use the sales and coupons.

 

 

I want to show you my latest shopping trip to CVS where I SAVED $68.90 and yes, you read the prices above correctly.  My total order was $86.45 before sales and coupons.  Every item on my list was either on sale or I had coupons for.  My out-of-pocket for my order was $3.51, yes you read that right, MY OUT OF POCKET FOR THE ORDER WAS $3.51!!

 

Purex laundry detergent was on sale (regular price $6.49) for $2.99 and I had a coupon for $1.50 off plus I received $2.00 EXTRA BUCKS. So they PAID ME 49 cents to get the detergent.  They also had a large 150 oz. jug of Purex for $12.49 with $7.00 EXTRA BUCKS back!

Now I watch the ads that receive EXTRA BUCKS but sometimes I get a better deal without using them.  They had Nivea body wash for $6.00 with $2.00 EXTRA BUCKS back but the coupons I had weren’t for that variety. However they had the Nivea body wash that worked with my $1.50 off coupons on sale for $2.99 each ( regular $5.49) plus there was another $2.00 store coupon on the CVS app. So I got two bottles of Nivea body wash for 98 cents!!

 

Wait until you see my sweet savings on Hershey Gold candy bars!  They were on sale for 3 bars for $3.00 plus $1.00 EXTRA BUCK back.  But I also had two coupons for BUY ONE GET ONE FREE so I ended up getting 5 Hershey Gold bars for $2.00.  I’d say that was a SWEET deal for sure!

The only item I purchased that wasn’t on sale was Listerine but with a $10.00 purchase, I got $5.00 EXTRA BUCKS back.  So with my two $1.50 off coupons and my $2.00 store coupon from the app, I got two bottles of Listerine for a total of $7.88 plus the $5.00 EXTRA BUCKS!

The Pantene shampoo and conditioner had a great offer to buy 3 for $12.00 (regular price of $4.99 each) plus there was a newspaper coupon for $5.00 off three.  But then I had an app coupon for $4.00 off a $14.00 Pantene purchase so I grabbed 2 super large-sized bottles of shampoo, on sale for 2 for $10.00, using another $2.00 coupon plus was able to take advantage of the $4.00 off.   So I got 5 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, total price $22.00 minus $7.00 of newspaper coupons and my $4.00 app coupon, ending price of $11.00.

My last item was a large bottle of lavender soft soap in a pump bottle, on sale for $1.99 but you guessed it, I had a $1.00 off coupon so 99 cents was a steal.

 

To wrap this up, besides my newspaper coupons and online printed coupons, I also had the CVS app coupons and I used a gift card for $10.36 to bring my total order of $86.45 down to $3.51. That’s a saving of $68.90 with an 84% savings value.

 

 

But that’s not all, I got $15.00 EXTRA BUCKS for my next shopping trip!  I will also receive an extra 10 cents for each of the online coupons that I printed out and used because I am a member of SwagBucks, an online earning site that among other ways to earn, they give members 100 points (equals 10 cents) per coupon used.  If you are interested in this site where you can earn points for cash or gift cards site, you can check it out here SWAGBUCKS  My shopping plan this year is to write my list and collect my coupons for both grocery shopping or drugstore shopping then track my savings.

I will be posting how I organize my coupons in another blog, stay tuned!  Thanks for visiting and I hope I was able to give you some good SHOPPING WITH COUPONS ADVICE.

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Martha DeMeo

I started my blog on Christmas Day 2014 mainly to review products I received. Since then it has evolved into many other categories of lifestyles, family, money saving ideas, low cost, delicious and healthy meals plus other surprise posts. My granddaughter has her own category, Alex's Articles and the latest addition to my blog is my great granddaughter now has her category, Lia's Likings The Baby Blogger! Lia started blogger at 8 months old and she now has a Friday Story Time blog you won't want to miss! I welcome you to join the conversation, ask a question, give a suggestion or leave a comment on any blog post. I hope you enjoy Lia's Likings, she has some great posts that will make you smile!

16 Discussion to this post

  1. Martha-That was a great post! I too love shopping with coupons. It’s such a fun game! I do it all the time, but you are so right about the list. It does take some studying up, but well worth it! Keep up the fun posts!

    • Martha says:

      Yes it’s a fun game Anne and I love it when I have coupons for just about everything on my list! It does take time but in the end it’s worth it with the savings. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. Brenda Marie says:

    Coupons are not as easy to come by as they once were. I use them when I can find them. My local Rite-aid has a card where you can download the coupons and use them with your preferred customer cards

    • Martha says:

      There are definitely not as many newspaper coupons like there use to be Brenda. I like the local cards too, more and more are adding digital coupons which are a great way to help with the cost. I usually find great coupons on coupon.com and also the tear-off ones in the grocery stores by the products. Thanks for visiting!

  3. LadyInRead says:

    Martha, that is totally amazing savings.. and i keep thinking of buying things when on sale or with coupons (but we would have just bought it the previous week full price since we really needed it.. 🙂 )…i do some amount of savings using swagbucks and coupons, as well as other apps too..

    • Martha says:

      I am starting the year fresh LadyInRead. I am going to write a shopping list, collect any coupons and also check my grocery store rewards card for any extra coupons. I want to try to stick with my list and not pick up things on the end counters that the stores put there as “bait”. I should see quite a bit of savings! Yes the coupons apps and swagbucks help out. Thanks for stopping by, good luck on your shopping.

  4. That is fantastic, Martha!! I need to try to do this, too. The only thing is, I am very picky about which brands I like, and I am thinking using coupons works better for someone who doesn’t care as much which brands they use. Still, I am going to check it out!

    • Martha says:

      Depending on the products you like, you may still be able to find coupons for some of them. That’s why I have decided to make me shopping list up and then search the coupon sites. I figure every coupons saves a little! Good luck if you check it out Jeanine.

  5. Kemkem says:

    What a coup! Goes to show you that if you really pay attention, you can save a lot of money. I truthfully hated using coupons, but my husband loved collecting and using them, especially this pharmacy you speak of as l worked there for a while :-).

    • Martha says:

      It does take time Kemkem, but in the long run I find it very well worth it. I also think by making my list ahead of time and sticking with it at the market, I will save that way too. Thanks for stopping by!

  6. Rich says:

    What can I say after 53 years she still amazing at everything she does

  7. Lori says:

    Love it

  8. Andria Perry says:

    I love this! You already know they call me the coupon Queen around these parts. You save like I save! Since I did not need anything but Diet cokes I stocked up and bought nine 12 packs for $30 and got $10 extra bucks back! Love flipping those extra bucks.

    • Martha says:

      That was a great haul of diet coke Andria! I’m looking forward to my next shopping trip on CVS bucks! I do get a few people behind me in the line get upset for me taking so long but we gotta do what we gotta do to save! Thanks for stopping by “Queen”!

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