My “Extreme Couponing”

Have any of you seen the new TLC show called “Extreme Couponing”?  I love it!  Except there’s no way I would want to spend 20, 30, 40 hours a week couponing.  Still, I manage to get some good deals when I do.  We’ve been getting the Sunday paper for about 6 months and I tried clipping out all the coupons I thought I would use and filing them into categories.  WAY too much work!  I’ve discovered that if I leave my coupon inserts in tack and file them by date, I can scan the weekly sales, match it with a coupon, go to that insert, and just clip it then.  I LOVE the website Pinching Your Pennies for this!  It’s all done for me ahead of time!

Now, in all honestly, I don’t do this very often.  Sometimes I will take the time to look through the store ads and price match at Walmart.  And sometimes I will go all out and score big time like I did on Saturday.  This was a fluke actually because I had my grocery list done and just ran upstairs to see if I had a coupon for a couple of times.  30 minutes later I came out with a game plan to shop at Smith’s and also Walmart (my regular grocery store) and to get some stuff for FREE!!  I’ve never been able to get anything for free and that’s mainly because the stores in Utah (or at least up here and at least to my knowledge) don’t ‘double’ coupons.  That’s how those crazy people on the show save so much money.  Anyway…..the stars aligned on Saturday and I was able to get all of this for free:9 boxes/bag of pasta
2 bottles of men’s body wash

My full shopping order from Smith’sWith the 9 free boxes plus 10 bags of American Beauty pasta, I’d say we’re pretty well stocked up on pasta!  And you can’t see it, but I also bought some make-up remover for full price that I needed (and that Walmart was out of) so that skewed my ‘cheapness’ a little.

My total was $81.15 but with $37.76 in promo sales + $16.29 in coupons, plus tax, I only paid $27.10 for a total savings of 68%!!  It’s not 98% like the crazy people on “Extreme Couponing” but it’s my best savings ever and I’ll take it!

I also saved about $15 just by price matching a few items at Walmart.

So although it does take time, it can be worth it.  It’s motivated me to be better at it.  I don’t want to have to change my shopping habits drastically by going to multiple stores every week and spending hours preparing to shop, but if I can cut my grocery/household budget down by $50 a month and only spend an hour a week preparing, I’ll be happy.  I’d like to cut it down even more but I’m limited on space and to really save, you need to stockpile.  I’ve also learned a lot from the website Money Saving Mom.  Anyway, sorry for bragging but I’m excited! :)