Kroger deals that I got this week

So today I went to Kroger and stocked up on some under dollar items. My trip totaled like 270 dollars and I paid 80 dollars for a ton of stuff. Mostly weekly meal stuff but also some stuff my family eats regularly. I got 20 yoplait yogurt cups for 5.00. I got the rica vida magazines in a la voz paper last week and they had a $1/4 coupon in there. There's a ton of various yoplait coupons out there to where you can get them anywhere from .25 to .40 a piece. Not bad and still lower than usual. If you think about it, an 8 pack at Kroger is $5 and only has two flavors. Well I mixed and matched a 20 pack for the same price. Bigger is not better my friends!!  Then I got hamburger helper for .75 a piece. They are on sale for $1 and I had 4 .75/3 coupons so I got 12 for $8. Again, not bad. Then I got danamals smoothies for 1.38 a piece vs. 2.86. I found some peelers for .50 off any danon product so I used it there. My kids love yogurt. Then there was my favorite deal of the day. My tooth paste deal!  Crest is on sale for 10/10 dollars, 50% off regular price. We have a .75/1 coupon from 7/7 p&g. So that makes them .25 a piece!!!!  This is a stock up price so get as many as you can!  I had a bonus though because a magical Catalina printed out for my General Mills buy last week and I got 5.00 in Catalina's back (1 dollar for every 5 i bough) which means my cereal was definitely less than a dollar and I used the Catalina's to pay for the crest so I paid 2.00 for all 28 of my toothpastes so far. Get yours dirt cheap toothpaste!!

What do you do about uneducated cashiers and supervisors?

Today was a morning full of shopping and finishing up school supplies for me. I've totally lacked on my blog and I do apologize!!  I have some excellent news though!  I will be working directly with the Houston chronicle to host coupon classes and that means I can offer Sunday paper subscriptions for a great price!  This is an awesome opportunity for everyone who comes my classes because no more expensive papers from the store!!

But back to what the post is about. So today while shopping I encountered 4 uneducated cashiers AND customer service managers at Walmart.  I posted about a oral b deal and the herbal essences deal earlier this week that I have been doing. This today was the first problem I encountered with it all.  I went to Walmart first because I had a ton of coupons to go through in a day.  I get to check out, everything rings up with no problem even with price matching. I use my coupons and again, goes smoothly until is get ready to pay. With the oral b deal, a manager has to unlock the computer to ok the whole thing. Well I got the uneducated supervisor. She made rude remarks like, "7 dollar coupon, I gotta see this."  And "All this for 26 cents? Yeah right."  Rude right?  So then it gets to the point where she's going through my receipt and states, " oh you can't price match AND use a coupon. It's one or the other."  Since I KNOW the policy at Walmart, I wasn't worried.  I tell the supervisor that I know the coupon policy and the price match policy. I also state that I've done this already with no problems and already had a manager ok it at the exact same store without a problem.  The supervisor rolls her eyes and calls over the general manager at the store. I politely say hello and we talk about the "problem".  She goes through my coupons and my items and says there is no problem.  She examines that she would rather the cashiers ask if there is any question about a coupon. I understood completely and respected that. I then explained that I was just told by the supervisor that I was told that I could not price match and coupon to which the manager clearly stated, "no that's not true, you can use a coupon and price match. Who told you that?"  The supervisor who had said that ran off before I told the manager that she had said that. The manager found it funny and had realized her employee ran off to avoid confrontation.  The manager then proceeded to tell the cashier to ring me up, apologized for the problem and wished me pleasant day.  See?  Knowing your coupon policy helps!  Even better is having it with you! 

So what do you do when a cashier AND a supervisor try to refuse you?  Stick to your guns and know your policy and your coupon.  The second Walmart was a very pleasant experience. I really enjoyed it. Thank you Walmart on westhiemer and west Houston center!  But the third store was a nightmare. Before I even gave my cashier my coupons he said I could not use my always coupons with the product I had because it was trial. WRONG! No where on the package does it say trial. I said ok, took my coupons back and gave him the second stack. He tells me he won't use them because its not the right product. WRONG AGAIN. Finally, he didn't want to deal with me anymore so he brought his young incompetent SUPERVISOR to try to deal with me. I stated that I had done this already at another store and had a GENERAL MANAGER approve my purchase after she checked my items and read my coupons. I told her I know the coupon policy and my coupons. That supervisor couldn't deal with me and brought me a more abrupt and rude individual to handle my transaction. She proceeds to tell me that she can't take my coupons because I don't have the right product (without even looking at my items mind you). Then she tells me that even if I have the brand of product correct that the coupon will still ring up. Wrong. If you don't have the right product, your register will beep and it will say you don't have the product. Anyway, so I tell the supervisor politely to tell me where on the always liners does it state it's a trial size. She looks and looks and has to give to me. Then the oral b coupon she tried to tell me it had to be the brush with replacement heads.  I said there is no replacement head that comes with a brush and that she could show it o me if she found it. Then she huffed and puffed and then found one out of my eight oral b products that was "wrong". She made my boyfriend go back and change it out. The cashier didn't want to have anything to do with me and made his supervisor ring me and my coupons up. My total was 99.07 and when she was done she owed me .78 and was not happy about it. I apologized for being complicated but I knew my policy. I told her thank you with no response or glance from her. 

Moral of the story?  Know your policy and don't let your supervisor or cashier intimidate you!  

    Retails for 609.xx and I paid 4.xx for all of this. :)

My PSA

Please do not lose hope if things aren't going your way right now.  I've only been couponing religiously for a few months and couponed for fun before but nothing serious.  I never SAW couponing as a way to save money until I saw the difference it has made, especially recently.  In TWO days I have saved around $700.  Yes $700!  It is TOTALLY possible for you to do the same.  It takes you devoting your time to saving money.  My household budget has dropped from $1100 in toiletries and food (I took a break from couponing and that was a bigggggg mistake) and got my total for necessities to about $400 and I'm trying to get it lower than that. We found a few things that were very interesting.
1. Statistics show if you go to the store without a list you spend on average 40% more.
2. If you have someone (usually husbands) run in on the way home to “grab a few things” they buy on average 60% more than what they came in for.
3. You re-buy many of the items that you already have at home because you don’t know that you have them.
I have made the decision to make my own mini mart in my home.  Why?  Because I HATE shopping for items multiple times a month.  The idea is to have food and other items stockpiled in your home that you have got for free or near free.  Every 3-4 months, stores cycle the sales and some items go to the lowest possible price you can get, and it's for NAME BRAND items too!  The idea is to buy as many as you can with as many coupons as you can so that you DON'T have to buy anymore till they go on sale again.

1. The first thing that you need to do is start collecting coupons. You have to have coupons to coupon right?! Where do you get them from:

1. Sunday Newspapers (Houston Chronicle)
2. Printable Sites (I don't prefer printing but sometimes it's the only way to get the coupon)
3. Manufacturers Websites
4. In-Store (Peelies, Blinkies and Tear Pads)
5. In the Mail (I get a lot of baby coupons this way)
6. Magazines (PARENT magazine is the best for coupons in magazines)
7. E-Coupons or Loadable coupons (Randall's and Kroger)
8. Coupon Clipping Sites (You will be paying for each coupon individually so last resort this)

It takes about 6 weeks of consistently collecting coupons to really make a difference so don’t give up. Just keep looking for them everywhere around you and get at least 2 Sunday papers each week.

2. Now you need a way to store them so that you know what you have. It is important to be organized, although I am normally not an organized person but I am with my coupons, I hate missing a deal because I didn’t know where a coupon was or that I had it at all.
There are a few different methods of coupons organization.

1. Binder Method (Clipping everything, time consuming!)
2. Whole Insert Method (I choose this way)
3. Coupon Box (Not the best, but I'd do it over binder)

You need to find a way that works for you, you might even come up with your own system.

3. Next, this is what really is the key to couponing and saving the “Big Bucks”. If you did nothing else but just pay attentions to sales, and every now and then use coupons you can still make a big difference in your families budget. But “stockpiling” is what is really the key to taking your grocery budget from $1100 to $400 like I have.
The idea is that you buy the items that you use the most at the lowest possible price and buy as many as you can or have coupons for. This way you do not have to purchase them again until they are at their lowest price. This is how to spend the least amount of money shopping for food.
For example, sales are cyclical in a grocery store. Every three months or so every item in the store will be on sale at one time or another. Because I buy 6 papers a week I have anywhere from 6-12 coupons. Lets say that soft soap goes on sale at Kroger for 10 for $10. I have 12 coupons for $.50 each, making the soft soap .50! Because I have 12 coupons I get 12 things of soap. Now I do not have to purchase soap again until it is at the lowest possible price (which for me is under a dollar!) I can hold out until it is on sale again within that 3 months.

The question is how do you stockpile?

1. Like I said above you buy at the stores lowest price, combined with a coupon and get as many as you can.
2. Realize that coupons are cyclical just like store sales. I am going to find that I get a lot of baking coupons and canned good coupons in the fall and around the Holiday’s, I want to stock up on these things at this time.
3. Where am I going to store it? EVERYWHERE! I have a small house, 7 people.  You do the math.  Under beds, in the laundry room, bath room and soon to be front room.  I'm excited for my mini mart!
4. Have a budget. In the beginning some people spend more couponing. They are buying things that they normally would not have bought. Set aside a little extra money and spend on building your stockpile, this will save you money in the long run. Once you run out of budget, only get those things that are free after coupons. (Taken from mylitter.com)

Like I said, the key is dedication to saving money.  It takes time to have enough inserts to do anything with.  I promised though, once you start seeing a difference in your household budget you will not want to pay retail for anything!!

School Time!!

Right now Office Max and Staples are having an AMAZING deal on school supplies.  Most of the time they have a limit of two so bring your husband, wife, friend, family. Whomever.  Just bring enough people to get your school supplies or just go multiple days.  I PROMISE if you hunt for cheap school supplies the next few weeks, you will find everything you kiddo needs for school and then some for UNDER $20.  Sounds nice huh?  Especially since most of this stuff is a PENNY here if you have a minimum purchase of $5!

Here’s my price points for school supplies:

• Crayola Crayons 24pk : 1¢-25¢
• Crayola Markers 10pk: $1  (Awesome price especially for the kids that go through them fast!)
• Poster Paints: $1
• Pens 10 ct: 1¢-50¢ (Sometimes FREE when we get a coupon!)
• Pink Erasers: 1¢-25¢
• Loose Leaf Notebook Paper: 25¢-50¢
• Color Pencils 12pk:  50¢
• Composition Books: 25¢-50¢
• Dry Erase Markers 4pk: $2
• 3 Ring Binders 1 inch: 50¢-$1
• Notebook 1 subject: 10¢-25¢
• Notebook 5 subject :  $1-$2
• Elmer’s Glue or staples brand glue: 1¢-25¢
• Glue Sticks 3pk: 50¢
• Highlighters 6pk: 50¢-$1
• Pencil Box: 25¢-50¢
• No. 2 Pencils 10pk: 1¢-25¢
• Small Pencil Sharpeners: 1¢-25¢
• Ruler: 1¢-25¢
• Pencil Bag: 25¢-$1
• Scissors: $1
• Liquid White-Out: 25¢-50¢
• Tabbed Dividers: 25¢
• Folders (with or without prongs): 1¢-10¢

 

Make sure to check out Office Max and Staples!  I know I'll be going there tomorrow! 

Happy couponing!

Don't forget this coupon if you're shopping for multiple kiddos!!

You can get this on the Office Max website!!

Herbal essence downy goodness!!

Update on the herbal essence deal. It works!!!  I hit up 4 cvs today, was rejected by one but got 96 from the other 3 and 6 from Walmart.  Happy happy day!

This is my haul from today. Herbal essences from cvs. They are on sale 2/5 and there is the 5/2 coupon in 7/7 PG. this coupon makes them FREE. Yes, FREE!!  Clairol has said they will honor the coupon and that they will reimburse retailers for the product. Some stores are wary to take it still but it's their right to refuse. I told them that herbal essence is a clairol product and the one store still refused. We are taught to use coupons on what is in the picture. It's not OUR fault PG made a mistake but I will gain from it. The downy is still on sale at Food Town and Fiesta. I got 11 bottles today and made .12 for every bottle I bought which paid for the medium. Coupon is also in the 7/7 PG 3/3 on tide downy products.  There's also the 1/1 always liner or pad in 7/7 PG. Walmart has them for .93 cents which means .07 money maker!! 

 Retails for $417.xx.  I paid .40 for all of this.  Get to couponing!!! School supplies deal coming up later!!

Heads up!

Just saw an awesome deal, unfortunately it's a typo and a "use at your own risk" type of thing. Clairol makes herbal essences. Herbal essences is on sale at CVS for 2/5. In this weekends PG, clairol came out with a 5/2 coupon making the shampoo and conditioner free. The typo is the that there is a picture of hair color on the coupon, but it states "any clairol product" hence the use at your own risk. Some retailers might take it, some might not. I'll be trying it tomorrow to see. I'm actually itching to do it tonight but I'm so exhausted. 

Also, hit up your local Walmart for free pads!   Always came out with a 1/1 in this weekends PG as well and the pads are .93 at Walmart!  Can't beat that deal with a stick. 

Make sure to get your dirt cheap downy too!! That was in this weekends PG too!! .88 at Food Town for the small bottle, 1.44 for the medium bottle. You can also get them at Fiesta for .98 cents for the small bottle there and 1.49 for the medium. AND if all else fails, price match at Walmart. I'll be doing a lot of that tomorrow!

Happy couponing and stay tuned for more deals this week!  School supplies are starting to go on sale and I know all the moms with kiddies would LOVE to know how to get everything they need for their kids for school for LESS than $20. 

It's Sunday!!!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!  You know what that means. It's means I just got a couple hundred dollars thrown on my lawn. Don't know about you guys, but having money thrown on my lawn makes my day!

So I hope everyone has picked up their paper or papers and filed them away.  I have good news for everyone, there is a deal you can do today!!  If you are a friend on my Facebook, you saw my small haul yesterday. If you aren't, here it is. 

    5 medium downy, 13 small downy, 2     deodorant, and 2 Pantene for 4.xx out of pocket. 

You can do this deal and at least get THREE downy. This Sunday, PG is in the paper. The PG only lasts for 30 days so when a deal comes up, clip those coupons!  Anyway, downy is on sale at Food Town and Fiesta until Wednesday. FT has them for .88 for a small bottle and 1.44 for medium bottle and Fiesta has them for .98.  In the PG, there is a coupon for 3/3 any downy and tide products. There is no stipulation on the size of the bottle so you can get the small ones and be ok!!  However, most places don't give you your overage so you have to figure out how to get around it. So of you get 3 small bottles, you will make .36 in overage. We need to even this out somewhat.  Instead of 3 small bottles, make it 2 small and a medium. The .24 will deduct off the 1.44 making your total .20 not including tax.  That is still REALLY good for downy!   These products would retail for around 5 dollars with tax.  That's a great amount of savings!!!  If you do not have a FT or Fiesta around you, price match at Walmart.  YOU DO NOT NEED THE AD TO PRICE MATCH!!  If a cashier tells you that you need the ad, they're policy says otherwise.  

This is my little mini post for the time being. It's family day for me and well, I better go spend time with my kiddos.  I think I'll post a coupon lingo blog later. Unless you guys want details on other stuff?  Happy Sunday!!

Where to start?

Welcome to the world of never having to pay retail price for anything again!  No, seriously. Once you make the commitment to coupon, I promise you will never go back. 

What  a lot of people don't realize is that there is coupons for everything these days. Toiletries, food, clothes, car maintenance, hotels..and the list is endless.  Honestly, there is no reason why people are paying retail or full price for ANYTHING anymore with everything manufacturers send out.  The trick is acquiring these coupons. 

Before I start rambling on about my minor kind of major obsession, I will let you know that couponing is somewhat time consuming. I'm not talking like thirty hours a week, that's just insane! Maybe five to ten at most depending on how you choose to coupon. There are so many websites and Facebook pages that post about coupon match ups it's not even funny. These pages will be your life line!  I've used my litter, Houston coupon moms, and Houston coupon Lovurs to aid me on Facebook. They are all constantly posting coupon match ups, deal scenarios and what's coming out this week in the inserts. I use southernsavers.com as a coupon database to look up what items have coupons, it saves you a TON of time.  There's also a new website out called texassmartbuys.com that matches the items on sale to the coupon for maximum savings. It's really easy to use, I highly recommend it. 

So if you're still reading, obviously minor time consumption isn't an issue. Yay!  First step in couponing....ready?  Get a Sunday newspaper!!  You can find newspapers in gas stations and a lot of grocery stores.  In these newspapers, there are coupon inserts which is the equivalent of money in your hands. There are three coupon inserts that show up in the Sunday paper. Sometimes all three are in a paper one weekend and the next there's one, so if your paper doesn't have three one weekend..it's ok.  

First there's proctor and gamble (PG). PG comes out once a month and they have some valuable coupons for items that every household uses that you will mostly get dirt cheap or free.  Then there's smart source (SS), it's an every week insert. And then red plum (RP).  All of these inserts are valuable. You can find these inserts in Houston Chronicle (HC), La Voz (LV), and I've recently found them in Semana.  There is a downfall to getting a LV versus a HC and that is the type of coupons. Unfortunately LV doesn't carry a lot of the good coupons everyone needs when sales come out, but they still have coupons and that's important. 

So now you may be asking, "Well how many papers do I need?"  It's recommended that for every person in your home, you buy a newspaper. If you're just starting, one will work or two. Don't go buy a million papers at first because there is a high chance you will get frustrated or feel confused and then you'll just be angry that you blew tons of money on something you have no use for.  I have four papers delivered to my door every Sunday even though I provide for nine to eleven people depending on the day. I get only four because well, papers are kind of expensive and I don't like spending money hence this blog..  I get a lot of my inserts from papers I find. Last week I managed to get my hands on ninety papers just from my neighborhood. 

    See? Pretty. :)

These papers have a tendency to sit on the sidewalk for a while because no one claims them.  Again, most people have no idea that there are coupons in here.  Forshame!  

Once you acquire the inserts, you might have the itch to get cut happy.  Dont!!  Why you ask?  Well, it's simple. Do you really want to spend your entire weekend cutting coupons and then having to put them away and hope you remember how you organized them?  I know that's not how I spend my weekends. Instead of clipping, file it away!  The most important part of couponing is being organized.  So people find it easier to clip, while i personally cant stand the thought of clipping so many coupons especially since I get fourth plus inserts a week. When you get a paper, write the date on the front and put it away. That's it. So where do you find the date?  Either the newspaper it came out in will have it on the front or to be on the safe side you can check on the spine of the insert. The print is really tiny and sometimes hard to read but it's there!

That's pretty much all there is to starting couponing.  I promise this isn't it, but I feel as though this is enough for you to take in for now!  Especially since there's actually more to learn. Your brain may need a break. :D