I have had several friends ask me about my couponing, savings and shopping, so I thought I would detail my post here. This shopping trip was ONLY to Publix but this will show you an example of how it goes.
1. I buy 4 papers every Sunday. Holidays do not have papers but every other Sunday does. I use the coupons from there. Also our local paper has coupons. I also get alot of my coupons from online!
2. Publix accepts competitor coupons. I use a lot of Target coupons there. Some policy states that it has to be within 5 miles of the store so keep that in mind.
3. We do NOT make a list and then go shopping. We eat and make a list off of what is on sale!
4. I have a price point of $1 or less for a ton of my items.
5. When doing a BOGO (by one get one free), the price is halved and you can use TWO coupons (one for each item).
6. NOT ALL BOGO's are a good deal!!
7. My coupons are organized with a photo box and a TON of envelopes. They are seperated by category, just like the store (baking, dairy, breakfast, etc). Then sub categories in those are like for baking: oil, cake mix, brownie mix, etc.
I also have envelopes for Target, CVS, Kroger and all of my main stores that I visit. That way if I have store coupons, I can put them in there.
8. I try to make sure I can do a double, triple or quadruple deal. Publix doubles coupons to .50. So I use a coupon and they double. Hey that's great, right? Well, then I get to use a store coupon ON TOP of the manufacturer coupon! Cool huh?
9. Create a "stockpile". Stockpiling means buying items a) when they are on sale and b) when you have coupons. Stockpiling enables you to purchase these items at the lowest prices to save you more money. I buy as many items as I have coupons for. Make sure they are items you will use or you will waste your money.
10. Realize that there are "sale cycles". Sales run in cycles of 4-6 weeks.
11. We stockpile on Turkeys and Hams at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. FYI. They are usually their lowest prices then. We buy all natural beef from a butcher for $2.25/lb. (processed). We also have a garden that we can from. It is smaller but growing ;)
Two main sites I used for my trip today was:
Fiddle Dee Dee Mom (she details Publix shopping trips)
Coupon Mom (she does deals by state and by store)
Another one I used but not as much was Money Saving Mom
I make sure to look and to see what the sales are and make a list. I then figure out what the prices will be and how much of a savings. I ONLY buy the items we will eat/use or else you are wasting your money.
Here is what we got:
5 boxes of Cherrios (.49 each)
1 Publix shopping bag (free)
1 gallon of Publix water (penny item)
1 OJ (.39)
4 boxes El Monterey Tornados ($1 each)
8 cans of Healthy Harvest Soup (Campbells)
2 pkgs of Keebler Cookies
4 boxes of Smart Balance Butter (.25 each)
8 bags of Steamfresh Veggies (.20 each)
2 Dole Fruit Parfaits
As you can see, We came home. We got quite a bit of items. Let me detail some of the finds:
Smart Balance Spread
BOGO $3.49 ($1.75 each)
Bought 2. Used 2 $1.50 coupons for a total of $3
OOP (out of pocket) was $.50 for BOTH
Another deal was Cherrios $1.99 each (a GOOD sale)
MINUS $1/1 coupon
$.99
MINUS Target $1/2 General Mills coupon
$.49
PLUS Publix has coupons on their site. Two of them. One is if you buy TWO GM products, you get a FREE Publix shopping bag. Also there was another coupon that says if you buy 2 GM products, you get $1 off of OJ. So not only did we get 4 boxes of cereal for $.49 each, but we got a FREE shopping bag and a $.39 can of OJ.
Another Deal was the Steamfresh Veggies. They were on BOGO for $2.39 ($1.20 each)
we had $.50/1 coupons. They doubled to $1. So we paid $.20 for each bag. Not bad!!
BTW, look at the top picture. The only thing you do not see is a gallon of Publix water that is in the bag. That was my $.01 (penny) item!
Our total was $54.57. After coupons and sales, our out of pocket was $18!!! Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!!
