Saving Money With Coupons

A few months ago a friend asked me if I ever shopped at CVS and Walgreen’s. I told her very seldom do I shop at either because their prices are too high. Well, my friend then began telling me how people are able to save a lot of money shopping during the sales and by using coupons.

Now, when it came to coupons I very seldom used them. In my area we have no store that doubles them and most coupons tended to be for items I seldom used. But, after researching the internet I found several web pages and blogs that talked about saving money by using coupons. My favorite blog, that offers the most information, is Money Saving Mom.

I have always been a bargain shopper and I have always stocked up on good deals in order to save money. Learning to use coupons has been a very fun and rewarding venture. I do not get 25-dollars in groceries and pay less than 1-dollar but I am saving money on items we would normally buy.
On Wednesday I received an e-mail from Walgreen’s. Included in the e-mail was a coupon for 10-dollars off your purchase of 30-dollars or more. Here is what I bought;

12 pack Mountain Dew on sale 3 for $10 plus an in-store credit of $2
2 Walgreen’s dandruff shampoo $4.99 each on sale for buy-one-get-one-free
3 Chexs Mix on sale for .99 each
1 Gardetto on sale for .99 each
4 Walgreen’s allergy elixir $3.99, not on sale but I needed this for Elizabeth

I used a $1 coupon on the Mountain Dew, 3 $1 coupons on each bag of Chexs and my Walgreen’s $10 coupon. Before coupons my total was $39.90; after the coupons my total was $20.83
My next stop was Wal-Mart; along with other items I purchased 4-cans Old El Paso enchilada sauce, 1 bottle French’s mustard, 1 bottle Cattleman’s barbeque sauce and 1 bottle Kraft salad dressing.

I had a coupon for $1 off when you buy any two Old El Paso products; each can cost 96-cents so after coupons I paid 46-cents per can. I also had a 50-cent coupon for the mustard; the mustard was 83-cents so I paid 33-cents for the bottle. The salad dressing was $1.58 and my coupon was for a free bottle. The Cattleman’s barbeque sauce sold for $1.68 and my coupon was for 75-cents off so I paid 93-cents for the bottle. Plus, the barbeque sauce came with a mail in rebate for the total purchase price which means it will be free after I send in the rebate form and the 75-cents I saved with the coupon more than covers the cost of a stamp needed for the rebate.

Using coupons has turned out to be great fun. I have really enjoyed learning about them and I am getting better each time I use them.