True Life: I'm Now a Coupon Cutter, Gym Update, Favorite Superbowl Commercial

I was on Young House Love, and saw Sherry's ‘couponing’ tips that just made it SO easy to follow her links and get started. It took a whopping 30 minutes to do the following (which, per my trip to the store on Saturday saved me $20.58 at Publix and $18.45 at Kroger. Yes, $39.03 in free groceries I would have purchased anyway (maybe not at that time, but buy one get one free on non-perishables like barilla pasta, cans of diced tomatoes our shampoo/conditioner? Um, sign me up). Here’s some info.

1. Southernsavers.com is now my favorite coupon site. I click the Kroger tab and the Publix tab since this is where I shop. It includes the circulars for the stores so you can check boxes for the items you want to purchase and make a list to print. Also, it has manufacturer’s coupons right there so you can combine store deals with those deals for even more savings (i.e. Deer Park Water case on sale for $3.50 – part of a mega deal so if you buy 10 participating items you get $5 off; ALSO provides $1 manufacturer coupon so you get the water for $2.50 for 24 bottles, and save a bit more by buying other items).
2. Southernsavers.com>Kroger>e-coupons is where I went within that site to load things onto my Kroger card. Kroger Site: I had to create an account – it took about 3 minutes – and link it to my email. CellFire: I had to create an account – it took about 1 minute – and link it to my email. Shortcuts: I had to create an account – it took about 1 minute – and link it to my email.
3. Coupons.com for printable coupons.
4. Redplum.com for printable coupons.
5. Smartsource.com for printable coupons.
6. Mojosavings.com for printable coupons.

While doing the above, I made sure that I:

• Only checked the box for products we already use/like/etc.
• Printed the ‘Publix Weekly Ad’ and ‘Kroger Weekly Ad’, which include all of the items I checked with headers.
• Noted the dates they ended (Kroger ended on 2/5 and Publix on 2/8).
• Honed in on Publix’s ‘Buy One Get One Free’ list.
• Honed in on Kroger’s ‘Mega Event’ where items were marked down, tagged MEGA, and then you got another $5 off for buying items you A) already want/use, B) are cheaper with the mark down and then C) additional savings at the end. Beautiful.
• Printed a few coupons for additional savings (I printed one for Deer Park and one for Advil. I mean really, the Advil was $4.50, on mega sale for $2.50, with a $2 manufacturer’s coupon… I got 24 advil, a product we use and keep on hand, for 50 cents).

After this I noted on the printable coupons which were Kroger and which were Publix, stapled the sheets together, checked my meal plan for next week and pantry and added on some items (that weren’t on sale but things we needed, like milk) and took off to the stores. Here’s how it panned out.

Publix (2 miles from my house)

Like I mentioned, I honed in on Buy One Get One Free, picking up:

• 8 boxes of different barilla pasta shapes (63 cents each; normally $1.26!
• 4 cans of rotel (70 cents each; normally $1.40)
• 2 sleeves of English Muffins ($1.85 each; normally $3.69)
• 2 boxes of Cheez-Its ($1.64 each; normally $3.89)
• 4 cans Del Monte diced tomatoes (69 cents each; normally $1.49)

Then I got other items listed on the circular with mark downs:

• 2 Dannon yogurts (40 cents each; normally 50 cents)
• 2 cans of Campbell’s fat-free cream of chicken ($1 each; normally $1.50)
• Then I also picked up stuff we needed that wasn’t on sale or was just mildly marked down: Milk for $3, SF Red Bull for $7, tortillas for $2, black eyed peas for 87 cents, tomato sauce for 53 cents, and Green Works cleaning spray for $3 and 2 cans kidney beans for 97 cents each.

I didn’t use any manufacturer coupons and got ALL of the above for $39.67 – total savings amounted $20.58 so on a ‘normal’ day unless I just stumbled upon these deals, I would have paid $60.25.


Kroger (1 mile from Publix)

Like I mentioned, I honed in on the Mega Deal, picking up participating items; their receipt is much more difficult to read, but the highlights include:

• getting $5 off for buying certain items.
• Monster drinks (normally $1.50 – on sale for 70 cents and then $5 off).
• Advil & Deer Park Water (mentioned above)
• Spent $48.29 (even got stuff like shampoo, conditioner, dryer sheets, fabric softener, frank’s, etc.) and saved $18.45 in coupons. Today would have normally cost me $66.74

K - enough about couponing! As you can tell i'm just so excited to again be saving money on things that I already buy - very cool!! So Sunday I just woke up early, played around on the computer then headed over to, let's say, New Gym #1 to try out a class. I attended the body pump + abs class and it was great! The instructor was good and we did a full-body, 1-hour class. I would definitely go back again! I'm going to try to hit up this gym this week. It turns out i'll be paying for my current gym for 1 month/30 days, so I may wait and try out other gyms after this one lapses. I'm definitely liking the classes though - I think I just need someone to tell me what to do! :) Afterwards I just napped, cooked some more, halfway watched the Super Bowl (loved the VW commercials - the Darth Vader one was too cute!) - did you see it?

So yes, great, relaxing end to a fun weekend!

Q: Do you use coupons? What's your best coupon tip or favorite coupon site?

Q: Did you watch the Superbowl? Which were your favorite commercials?