Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 1

So yesterday was the end of my first week in the experiment, which seems to have gone by rather quickly! I was surprised at how much I learned and how many questions I have about coupons. Here's a quick run-down of things that I've learned and want to learn following week one:

• I am far more of an impulse buyer than I ever imagined
• If you know where to look, you can find a coupon for almost anything
• Conversely, there are some things that you will wish you had coupons for but don't
• Sometimes, if you wish hard enough for things like gasoline and vegetables, you'll get your wish in the form of a coupon
• Advertising in coupon supplements is more about economy and casting a wide net than trying to cash in on people's saver mentalities
• Coupons are the currency of customer service
• Being in touch with a company about their goods and services can only help everyone who uses those goods or services in the end.
  

• How does perceived value play into choosing items for coupons?
• What is the hope of a manufacturer or business when they decide to create a coupon?
• What is the life cycle of a coupon?
• How can you convince a company to start giving coupons for your favorite item?
• Why is there so much coupon repeating from week to week?
• How closely tied are store sales and coupon placements?

I'm sure there will be many more of questions to come, even as I get answers to some of my questions above. I hope you'll stay tuned to find out what I find out...and if you have a lead on where I might find some of these answers or a hot coupon, remember you can email me or comment here!

All's Fare...

Today I stopped by to see our favorite farmers - Chad and Amy Bishop from Greenbrier Farms - at their weekly Wednesday stop at Scratch on Augusta Road and let them know the reason why we weren't going to be getting any of their delicious meat or vegetables for a couple of weeks. Amy was very sweet and tried to help me brainstorm some recipe ideas for my 9,999,999 tiny tomatoes and 9,999,998 cucumbers, but - as are most people when they find out what I'm doing - was a little concerned about the lack of veg in my diet for the next few weeks. While I am hoping to make up in frozen veg what I lack in fresh, I was once again handed a gift from the heavens when I checked Clipped Blog's Twitter Page and found this Tweet from a local healthy supermarket chain, Earth Fare:




Ladies and gentlemen: We have a coupon for produce! It's really tiny, but on Friday, I can get 10% my entire produce purchase!! If you don't think I'm going to go in there on Friday and buy all the fresh produce that I can stuff myself with over the weekend, then you are out of your mind. I'm having salads for breakfast, that's how ready I am for something crisp and green and leafy!!

So I highly suggest that if you have an EarthFare near you, or another local healthy supermarket, that you seek them out on Twitter. You never know what kind of awesome tweets could show up in your nest!

Being Suggestive

Last night before going to bed, I made myself an incredibly long to-do list to attempt accomplishing today. One of the big things I needed to do was to email some companies whose products I've used lately that have either pleased me or displeased me. I think it's fair that if I'm going to let a company know they suck, I should also tell them when they do not. One of the positive stories I'll relate in a different post, but I wanted to tell you quickly about two of the other experiences I had today and their surprising outcome.

First of all, you may recall this post where I showed off my stash of Off! Clip-on mosquito repellents. After using one of these for the past few days, I felt that it was my duty to let Off! know that their "head to toe protection" did not seem to cover my feet, hands, shoulders, or babe in arms. Now, I think it is important to note that even though I was disappointed in the product, I was not angry with the company and simply went into the phone call with the purpose of letting them know their product was not living up to its claims.

Alice at OFF! took my phone call and listened to me as I explained my problem with the fan. She attempted to trouble shoot with me to make sure I had been using the product properly and when she was satisfied that I was, she apologized profusely for the fan's shortcomings. She did explain that some people are simply tastier than others and that she was sorry the fan did not work for me as I had hoped. Since I told her I had purchased four in order to make a protective bubble of mosquitolessness on my patio, she asked if I had ever tried their OFF! Lantern before. I told her I had not, but that I had seen them, so she explained a little about the product to me. It is a little bit like those scented wax melter things, where you put the candle underneath the smelly wax and it melts and smells up your house, except with mosquito repellent smell. Here's the part that surprised me: She then offered to not only refund my purchase price on the fan, but to also send me a coupon to try the lantern for FREE. Not for $2.00 off, not buy one, get one, but FREE.

I most definietly took Alice up on her offer, and am looking forward to having that coupon to try before our Coupon-Catered party!

The other phone call I made was to Playtex regarding the Diaper Genie II that we use for the baby's nappies. It occurred to me one day that - despite using Seventh Generation's biodegradable diapers - we weren't doing any good at not filling up a landfill with our stinkers because we were then sticking them into this non-biodegradable plastic bag! Knowing that there are plenty of biodegradable plastic bag products out there and wondering if maybe we just didn't have a store that stocked a possible alternative, I called up Playtex to find out.

I spoke to customer service representative Patty, who let me know that as far as SHE knew, there weren't any biodegradable Diaper Genie bags in the works, but she listened as I explained to her why I thought they were needed and that I felt that people who were using greener disposables would probably be willing to pay a small price increase in order to also have greener liner bags for the Genie. She promised to pass on my suggestion, and then asked if I was interested in signing up to recieve special offers and coupons from the company in the future. Well, of course I am interested in coupons for a product I actually use! I think the only DG coupons I have ever seen were merchant specific to Babies R Us. After I gave her my information, she closed the call by thanking me and saying, "I'll get a coupon out to you this week!"

Super Surprise Score!

So - in conjunction with my experience with Blue Diamond, what I've learned is that if you're willing to take the time to a) Let a company know they've disappointed you, b) Let a company know they've pleased you or c) Let a company know you've got an idea for them, then your time will most times be rewarded.

So if I were you, I'd get cracking on telling companies how you feel...but that's just my suggestion.

They say it was curiosity that killed the cat...

...but I'm far more convinced it was one of the products from my Sunday coupon circulars.

You know which ones I'm talking about...don't act like you've never glanced twice at those checks with your alma mater's logo on them, or that you weren't intrigued by an entire series of Christmas ornaments dedicated to the awesomeness of cheese. Here are a few gems I thought were worth sharing with you from some of my recent circulars. Stop me if you've seen these. Really stop me if you've bought these, because we need to have a little chat...

The first ad is sort of what I expect to find in the circulars: Useless stuff

In these hard economic times, is your fridge looking empty and bare? Then maybe you should dress up the outside with these Handpainted Dachshund Magnets! There is nothing more heart-warming than a kitchen appliance devoted to dogs in costumes! Look at their tiny legs! Look at their long noses! Look at their hats! I think that for only an initial investment of $4.90, you won't even mind the total investment price of $302.40. That's right, folks, all 25 of these handpainted, expertly sculpted magnets are yours for the bargain price of just THREE HUNDRED TWO DOLLARS AND FORTY CENTS!

Clipping coupons because you don't have over $300 to spruce up your fridge with dogs in costumes, you say? Well, let's move on to our next category in coupon circular ads: Clothing.

First up in the clothing category is this little beauty from DreamProductsCatalog.com.

That's right, ladies - Summer is here but who doesn't hate trying on bathing suits? They are never flattering and that light in the dressing room makes everyone look like they just came off an ill-fated 3-hour boat tour. That is why this product is so wonderful! Not only do you save yourself the emotional (and possibly physical) trauma of trying on a bathing suit, but you can look FOUR SIZES SMALLER! I think my favorite thing about this ad is the model who clearly would be shopping in the children's section if she were four sizes smaller and the only "proof" they have of this product's slimming capabilities is in an illustration done by Bobby Wilcox from Mrs. Johnson's 6th grade art class. Notice how the ad says it "Trims and shapes EVERYWHERE!" Well, sure - everywhere there is bathing suit. This means look out, world, I'm coming at you with my size "__" body and my arms and legs that are 4 sizes bigger! I think I'd rather just see people who are delusional about their ability to wear bikinis than see freakishly proportioned zebras of different colors walking around on the beach or at the pool, you know?

If you're not in the market for a swimsuit right now, that is OK. Amerimarkads.com has some beautiful items in stock just for you.


First up is this absolutely stunning polka dot dress with MATCHING BELT! I don't even know why my closet isn't full of these dresses. Look how happy the models are in these dresses! The blonde lady is almost giddy with her own hotness. But sometimes you don't want to be dressed up so fancy. Sometimes you need something a little more casual. Sometimes, you need this:


Come and knock on MY door! Mrs. Roper would be so proud that her stylish sensibilities are still making the rounds in the new millenium! I can't even figure out how much these things cost, but they would be a bargain at twice the price! The ad says I'll want to stock up on these, and boy is it right! I can hardly wait to get one in every LSD-trip induced pattern! And for all my plus-sized friends out there, don't fret; These come in sizes all the way up to 5X, so you do not have to be left out in the cold without your slammin' mumu!

I just had to know some more about Amerimarkads.com, so I headed over to their website. I found it to be a site that was strictly for purchasing from the ads. A quick google search landed me on their main site, though, and since I had some questions, I headed right over to the FAQ (well, not before perusing some of their GREAT products! Bed wedge, anyone?) to see if my questions could be answered. Believe it or not, the answer to "Who the hell buys this stuff?" was not featured in their FAQ! But I did find some other information, because the website is actually pretty well constructed and easy to navigate. AmeriMark was on the mark for just their demographic, as I'd soon learn.

One thing I learned from the website was that this company sells it's products in eight different catalogs - none of which I'd ever heard of. But they've been doing this for THIRTY-NINE YEARS. That means SOMEONE is definitely buying this stuff, and I gotta know who.

Fortunately for me, Dave Oby from AmeriMark was willing to answer some questions for me about the company and how well they do business. After explaining to Mr. Oby why I was conducting my overall experiment ("my own, nosey curiosity," I told him), I revealed the reason why I was nosing around into his particular company's business. I explained that I couldn't help but wonder why - when the main reason for coupon circulars, as I see it, is to clip coupons to save money - AmeriMark chooses to advertise products for straight up sale. His answer was surprisingly simple economics: He explained to me that the main reason for choosing to advertise via "FSIs" or "Free Standing Inserts" in circulars is simply because you can reach a large audience at a reasonable cost to the company. So, interestingly enough, it seems that the coupon supplement actually works both ways in the money savings game - to us, the consumers when we are able to clip coupons, and to the advertisers, who are able to get a bargain blast of advertising out.

So that explains why they are in the circulars, but I still wondered who the heck is buying this stuff? Who are they trying to reach via Sunday supplements? I really shouldn't have been surprised by this answer at all: The demographic, Mr. Oby explained, is middle-class women aged 50 and over. Of course. Who is it that is clipping the coupons? Mostly women. Who is it that would actually be tempted by the comfort and class of the above mumu? A 50+-year-old woman. It all made perfect sense to me. And when he explained to me who the target audience was for the ads, it answered yet another question I had about why they didn't just offer a coupon in the circular for usage on the company's website. These women, and my mom would defnitely be one of them, are not necessarily technologically savvy. They are from the heyday of catalog shopping. They like the personal touch of calling up and talking to a friendly customer service representative who takes their order and makes them feel secure enough to give out their credit card information. And while Mr. Oby said he could not divulge the numbers of how many orders they receive from the FSI's vs. other means, he did say that they have been advertising in supplements for at least the 15 years he has been at the company, and so one can easily assume that it is a lucrative form of marketing for them.

Because of the nature of coupons is to save, I did wonder if the recent economic downturn had affected their business at all, and I was suprised to hear that it had actually been very good so far this year. Apparently, other catalog based companies are folding, and Mr. Oby said the lack of clutter in folks' mailboxes was helping them to stand out a little more from the crowd. I do wish I had asked him since the company aligned itself with "money saving coupons," did he worry about being perceived as having products of lower quality because they were advertised with other "discounts," but that will have to wait for another interview opportunity, I suppose.

Another interesting facet to this story is that, even though the company uses the inserts in the supplements as a means of advertising, the catalog industry is sort of self-feeding when it comes to targeting its audience. Mr. Oby explained that they had tried doing some magazine advertising in the past but that it did not work very well, and that their main, true focus is catalog sales. So, what I learned was that this company, and many others, rather than focusing on who to send their catalogs to, focus on who NOT to send them to. They then end up renting mailing lists from one another in order to reach those populations who make the cut. I find it interesting that even in a competitive industry such as sales, there seems to be a lot of back-scratching going on between companies, and I can't help but wonder then if, when there is a decrease in competition, can it hurt as much as help?

My final question to Mr. Oby was personal: I asked him did he own any of the products the company sells. He wasn't able to say definitively that he did NOT have anything that the company sells, but did state that he wasn't in the target age range, plus he didn't really fit that whole "woman" part of the demographic equation! So, no polka dot dresses for Mr. Oby, who said the were "not really my style."

So there we go. I think Mr. Oby's answers as far as who is targeted by his company via the supplements would be very similar across the board for the other products that are featured. Sure, from time to time you'll find products that seem directed at men (Omaha steaks, anyone?), but for the most part the products you'll find are very woman-centric. After talking to Mr. Oby and having him be so indulgent to my questions, (And hearing that the company actually designs a lot of those high fashions themselves!) I almost feel bad for making fun of the products. Then again, I think I'm in the clear, because I'm not his target audience, anyway!

Happy Supplement Shopping!

Taking up the Gauntlet

Ok, so I have received 4 challenges from two readers, and am going to TRY and do as many of these as possible, but I'm picking two to start plus two of my own and we'll see what progress can be made in the way of tackling these this week!

Here are the two reader challenges:

• I'm sure you could find a coupon for this - go to a museum or some other cultural activity!
  
  
• Dinner for four: a three course meal- appetizer, entree (with at least some type of meat, not necessarily as the main dish), and dessert (not ice cream cake).

And the two challenges from myself are:

• Throw a smallish party.
  
  
• Get a pedicure...from a salon!
  

I'll be tackling these concurrently, but they'll be well defined so you will know what you're reading about. I also plan to have a little contest in the next couple of days. Charge up those digital camera batteries and be prepared to share...

Free, but at what cost?

I was definitely intrigued by McDonald's recent announcement that every Monday through August 3, they would be offering free sample sizes of their McCafe Mochas. It seemed like the perfect little treat for me to grab one morning while out running errands or what have you, and - even though I got a late start on the day today - I stopped by after the lunch rush to cash in on my free sample.

Can I just tell you that no matter how horrible the food is, I freaking love the smell of a McDonald's? There is just something about it that takes me back to being a kid and the specialness of getting a cheeseburger and fries, and the smell is still EXACTLY the same as it was back then, and I always get a little bit high when I walk in there. And I'm sure that is exactly what they are going for. But McDonald's is really bringing it when it comes to appealing to my visual senses lately and it was sort of all I could do to resist the urge to get myself some sort of bacon and cheese smothered piece of beef with fries for Lunch: The Sequel. Their new menu boards are very chic and make everything seem VERY nice, even though I know it's the same old tiny burger patty in the same old white bread bun. Whoever redesigned those things deserves a prize, because if I weren't so savvy, I would be toast. Or a McGriddle.

Anyway, I know as well as most smart shoppers that getting you in the McDonald's with it's crack smell and pretty pictures to get your "free sample" of the McCafe is a gamble the company is taking to try and upsell you on ANYTHING else. And I'm sure it will end up working out very well for Ronald & Co. But not on me, and I could tell that the McEmployee was kind of irritated when I confirmed that I only wanted my sample McMocha.

And though I had tried a McLatte before and have not been super impressed, I was willing to give McMocha a chance, especially since - as I found on my way over to McD's - my Dunkin Donuts has closed after less than 2 years in operation. (Hmph. There goes my Sunday morning bagel with blueberry cream cheese! AND I HAD COUPONS!) So I watch as the McEmployee #2 makes my McMocha with care (seriously! I was shocked), and as he hands it to me, I realize that I am looking forward to getting maybe five good, long sips out of this thing. It was so small, y'all. How small? Well take a gander:
Look at that quarter next to the McMocha! Look at the wee-ness of the cup! Look how big my regular straw is in there! (Oh, how I wish there had been mini-straws! Maybe I should have drunk it from a coffee stirer straw!) And if you know me in real life, you know I love abnormally sized things so that even though this sample size at first seemed a negative, it's mini-ness quickly won me over.

Until I tasted it.

How was it, you wonder? In a word: Artificial. Can we really not spring for real chocolate in our mochas, McD's? I mean, it was so NOT good that I didn't even drink all 4-5 ounces of liquid in that cup. And I gave it a proper opportunity to get better through 3-4 small sips. Sadly, McMocha did not prevail.

So, I am left now in a world of coffee-less Sunday mornings. McCafe's are too gross to pay for and Dunkin Donuts has apparently shut down overnight, leaving behind no evidence of ever existing in the location. My local coffee shop (which I am missing SO bad during this experiment, btw!) isn't open Sundays and I am scared to death they may suffer the same fate as Dunkin if I can't figure out how to convince people to go out of their way for local, natural, freshly baked goods and coffees. I'm pretty much willing to stand with my cute baby on the highway with a sandwich board if necessary!!!

Verdict? The time I had to take getting there, getting the baby out of the car, getting in, placing my order and then going back home to drink my nasty little "treat" was just not worth the price I didn't pay.

Of course, I'm aware that my opinion is just that, so what's your take on the McCafe? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Have another place I can get my Sunday Morning Treats? Want to send me a coupon?

The floor is yours...

The Fine Print

I am super proud of my husband, who - after some initial resistance about his having to participate in my crazy scheme - has really jumped into the game of living off coupons feet first. He actually is responsible for locating the newest resource: CouponClipper.com

This website is fantastic. You type in what you're looking for (i.e. "restaurants," "gifts," "services") and your zip code, and it pops up a list of available coupons near you. The hubby says it's related to the "Coupon Clipper" magazines which I had not heard of, but which some of you may receive by mail. You do have to join the website to have access to the coupons, but it only asks for an email address and your name and zip code, plus you can uncheck the box to recieve updates and promotions so you are less likely to end up with a cluttered email inbox!

Using this website, my husband found and printed us several coupons so that we could eat out this weekend. Thank goodness; I was sick to death of eating random, weird, mostly vegetable free stuff that was in my kitchen! The first coupon we found was for a hot dog place we had been wanting to try out for at least a year now, but it is pretty far from our house and it's not somewhere we would drive by or be reminded of often. But with the coupon as incentive, we packed up the baby and headed over. It was so much fun! I couldn't believe we were able to try a new restaurant AND have it cost less than if we had just gone on our own.

There is a little bit of an honor system, though, as you are supposed to only print and use each coupon one time. I like to play by the rules, because I don't want to be the yo-yo who messes up the game for everyone when places start refusing coupons because someone else is committing fraud. But sometimes, even when you play by the rules, there can be a little bit of a snag...

See, last night, I didn't have anything defrosted from the freezer to cook for dinner, and I was not in the mood to eat another carbo-laden meal. We had a coupon for a local upscale steak house that we had printed from the Coupon Clipper website, and I was excited to go because they have really great salads. I also knew I could get a veggie side, thus fulfilling my need for greens! We headed on over for a semi-early dinner and we enjoyed it immensely. The steaks we got were perfectly cooked, the salad was it's usual awesome self, and my grilled asparagus really hit the spot. As it came time to pay our bill, however, I noticed that we had made a huge, huge mistake: We did not read the fine print on the coupon. You see, there are two locations of this eating establishment in town, and we had printed out a coupon for the other location further away from us.

I was crushed. I just knew that meant I was about to totally fail my experiment on only Day 5! When our server came by to ask if we would like our check, my husband explained our gaffe to her. She was so kind; She said that location also participated and would ask her manager if they could accept our coupon anyway. Luckily for us, he agreed and we were able to use our coupon and save my nerves! I think it didn't hurt us that we had a really cute baby with us, so the server was more inclined to help us. :-) So note to selves: If you decide to play fast and loose and not read the fine print, do make sure to always have a cute baby on hand if you need to beg for mercy!

I was really glad that everything worked out and the experiment stayed intact, but I will definitely be more careful the next time I get ready to head out and use a coupon!

Today is going to be a two-post day; stay tuned later tonight as I accept two of your challenges and introduce two of my own. If you can't think of a fun challenge, ask your friends and family if they have any ideas! I can be YOUR free entertainment!

Day 5: Impulse Control

One lesson that I've already learned in the short few days of the experiment is that I have a tendency to impulse buy WAY more than I ever noticed. The first time I had to check myself was when shopping last week. I was very, very, thirsty while we were out and I thought to myself, "I'll just grab a drink at the checkout!" And I never really thought about how much I may have been doing that over the years - grabbing a drink at the check out because I would be out longer and was thirsty; but I bet if I could add it up, I'd be surprised at how often those little refrigerated cases have lured me into their refreshing depths for a severely overpriced quenching for my thirst.

At least I'm not alone. Point of Purchase merchandising has been around for over a hundred years - maybe longer. And there is a complete and total industry devoted to it. The funny thing to me is that it started out being the small things like gum and candy and remains those items - along with magazines - even today. I tend to think that I am fairly immune to these check-out lane buys (aside from the drinks, of course). I used to be really bad about buying magazines in the check out lane, though; I'd get started reading some article or find a recipe while waiting for the person in front of me who was buying a month's worth of groceries for a family of 28 and then I would have to take the magazine with me or die of sheer curiosity about the article's resolution or the tastiness of that recipe (BTW: I never did end up cooking any damn thing I found in a magazine!) However, after turning 16 or so, I was pretty immune to all the candy bars, batteries, tiny boxes of tissue, and cheapie toys that now clutter up my check out lanes.

For me, the urge to impulse buy comes from deep within the store aisles. I'm not sure if that makes me odd or not, but it certainly makes me profitable from the store's standpoint. It never fails that if I take the time to make a beautiful list for any store I'm going in, that I fail to remember one or more items that I had intended to put on the list, which then generates a panic within me that forces me to make rash decisions about anything else I might want or need in the coming days that for some reason, can't wait until I'm sure the purchase needs to be made or not. This "perceived convenience" happened when I knew I'd be driving by a Target on the way home from the little one's six month check-up the other day. I thought, "Oh, I'll just pop in and get her a new bottle of infant acetometaphin so I can keep running errands and she can have some relief from her shots, even though there is already a nearly full bottle at our house!" But of course, I realized that I a)did not have a coupon for that item, so I really couldn't stop in there and b)really shouldn't be stopping to pay more money for what I already have, and that was a pretty interesting lesson that I'd never given much thought to. You know, I'd like to attribute this flaw to my having a child under one and the trouble it is to get out of the house with her, but I've been this way for my whole adult life, and so I just can't lay the blame on her for my problems.

Another thing that always gets me is a new or novel products. When I was in BiLo stealing their Blue Bell ice cream for $2.50 a 1/2 gallon, I happend to see that they had these teeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiiiny cartons of Starbucks brand ice cream on sale. And even though they cost nearly what my 1/2 gallons of Blue Bell were going to cost me, I had this overwhelming desire to get one and "try it." I had all but opened the freezer case when I realized that I could NOT have that precious little carton of ice cream, and man - the heartbreak was real. I was sincerely disappointed that, despite having a FULL GALLON of delicious ice cream in my cart, I could not spend way too much for this little carton containing at most 5 bites of ice cream. This must be why women who resist impulse buys can lose nearly 5 pounds in a year compared with those who don't stick strictly to their shopping lists. No tiny ice-creams for them!

I know it's been said before that the best thing is to make a list and stick to it. But it's more than that. There is a thoughtfulness that needs to be applied to your shopping, because it's far too easy to justify a dollar spent here and there. And I now hope that I can learn from having to be accountable to the project a new way of thinking about shopping so that I can resist these impulses in the future.

Hm. That's a mighty big lesson for Day Five. I just hope I didn't peak early and end up with nothing else interesting to report for the rest of the project!

Did somebody say free?

What's a girl on a strict coupon diet to do when she has a hankering for a fast food chicken sandwich?

Well, dress herself and her baby like a cow and get it for free, that's what!

Sadly, by the time we got our photo taken with the Chick-Fil-A cow, all my spots and my ears had fallen off, but you can see my tail tucked next to my keys. And the baby's bib comes courtesy of Misters Ben & Jerry of Vermont. :-) Of course, the old saying that nothing's really ever free is true - not only did I have to wear a ridiculous paper cow nose to get my free #2 combo meal, but I had to navigate a swarm of daycare children who were all dressed top to bottom in black and white spots. The baby did great - she was fascinated by the whole event, as one who is small should be. Sadly, the one thing she seemed to really want was a waffle fry, and that was just not up for grabs.

A big thanks to the folks at Chick-Fil-A for running the promotion like a military manuever and having all kinds of fun stuff for the kiddos - prize wheels, cups, plushy cows and these photos, taken by a Chick-Fil-A employee, printed out for you via their teensie printer on the spot, and placed in a commemorative photo holder for you to enjoy for years to come!

$8.00 Bananas and Other Tales from Shopping Day One

Last night I scoured my circulars and matched up my soon to expire coupons with some of the sales I found in them as well as lined up some coupons for things we needed. The baby and I headed out first thing this morning to hit the first of three stores: Publix.

Normally, Publix is my BEST store. I regularly average about $25.00 of spending on any one trip there when I match my coupons with the sales. I knew that this was going to be a bigger spending trip than normal because I had my $50.00 BP gas gift card to buy, and even with my $10 off coupon that meant spending $40.00 right off the bat. But I tried to put that out of mind and just focus on the task at hand: Getting the items on my list.

I generally like to meander around the store, which is the direct opposite of the first rule of saving money during a shopping trip. But I was doing research and needed to make a mental note of the the prices of things, so I just kept going on my merry meandering way. I saw the turnstyle of gift cards right off the bat and made sure I grabbed my BP card so I wouldn't forget it, but after that, I just sort of shopped by the coupons in hand. So here is what I got today:


All the stuff you see here cost me the whopping total of $95.33, but $40.00 of that is gift card, so I spent $55.33 on the grocery items pictured. And yes, for what's pictured, that does seem a bit high for someone who didn't buy a single thing without a coupon!

These are the items that ran my total up. The Nilla Wafers, the bananas and the ground beef all were $1.00 off IF I purchased the corresponding items of the Starbucks coffee, the Cheerios and the Hamburger Helper. Now, I did not have to buy two boxes of Cheerios or three boxes of Hamburger Helper to activate the other coupons, but since I had to have a coupon to purchase the other items as well, then I had to play by the rules of those coupons. So, I stacked the coupons like this:

• $1.00 off Starbucks Coffee + $1.00 off any Nabisco cookie or cracker with purchase of Starbucks or Seattle's Best Coffees.
• $1.00 off 2 boxes of any Cheerios + $1.00 off bananas with purchase of one box of Cheerios.
• $0.80 off 3 boxes of Helper + $1.00 off ground beef with purchase of Hamburger Helper

Now, if the Coffee, Cherrios, or Helper had been on sale, then I likely could have saved five more dollars on this deal, making it less of a total waste of money. And since I did not truly need the Cheerios or the Helpers, I feel like I ended up spending $7.98 to get some bananas and $8.40 to get slightly over a pound of ground beef. And it wasn't even ground sirloin! Oh, the things I do in order to have some fruit and beef.

It wasn't all bad, though. I got the Betty Crocker frosting for $0.50; it was on sale 2 for $3.00 and I had a $0.50 coupon that doubled to $1.00.

I got the Blue Diamond Almonds and Planter's Peanuts for $0.60 each; they were both on sale "Buy One, Get One Free" (BOGO) and I had $1.00 off coupons.

But I'd have to call this trip a bust, mostly for the extraneous spending I had to do to get what I wanted.

Next we went to Target.
I spent $45.53 on the items pictured here. The main purpose of this trip was to get my vitamins and the OFF! Clip-on mosquito deterrants. I've been trying to buy these things for a month, but they are always out of them when I go to the store! They were one of the "best buys" of the trip, because I had two BOGO coupons, making these only $4.47 each. The best deal was the razors. They were $2.59 and I had a $2.00 coupon, so they were only $0.59. I love these things to take on trips, because I hate to take my "real" razor anywhere! I usually end up forgetting it and then I have to spend big bucks to get a new one. These you can use and toss! And for $0.06 each, I don't mind that so much!

The worst buy: Can we just talk about Kleenex for a second? I have used some horrible generic tissues before, but Target brand tissues never bothered me. They are acceptably soft and meet my needs. So a coupon for Kleenex is really a waste of paper. The coupon I had was for $0.50 off THREE boxes. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Kleenex, for offering me not quite $0.17 off each box. I can go buy than mansion with all my savings. The point is, Kleenex was on sale for $1.29 and I had a coupon and it STILL was more expensive than the Up & Up brand!

Also, did you know you could be charged sales tax on the PRE-coupon amount? I did not until I checked out my receipt from Target tonight! Is that legal? I didn't buy any non-food items at the other stores, so I don't know if that's the case all over, or just at Target!

Finally I hit up BiLo.
I was a shopping rockstar at BiLo. I didn't buy much, but for what you see here I only paid $13.51. That's right: I essentially paid for all these items what you would normally pay for the two ice creams. Here's what happened: I had another Buy One to Get One situation, but it worked in my favor. I needed to buy 10 packs of Kool-Aid in order to get $2.00 off any granulated sugar. Then I had a coupon for $1.00 off 10 packs of Kool-Aid. So I picked out a sugar that was on sale for $1.99, which means I got 10 packs of Kool-Aid and a bag of sugar for $1.50!

So my first day spending total is $154.37, with a total savings of $81.85, but some waste, too.

And now I just need to find someone to come over and drink some Kool-Aid with me. Any takers? :-)