Publix and Coupons

So tonight I will say was my first official couponing trip to Publix, I know I have mentioned this in a few other posts but this time it was for real. I spent a few hours sifting through the ads, collecting my thoughts on what to make and eat for the next week and what I was willing to sacrifice on name brand wise to get the deal. Honestly there are only a few things that I would have a tough time not buying a particular brand on. So here is a copy of the long reciept from my shopping trip.


Its about 3 feet long, I feel like I did well for my first true coupon experience. I have enough food for lasagna this week, a chicken, rice and veggie meal, Cereal for awhile, Lunches for the week, and the necessities.

I had so much over stock that I had to make a list and tape it to the cupboard(so we remembered we had it) in the kitchen and put the overstock in the front closet.



So you ask how much money did I save? Well the recipe is proof:



I saved 47.09 total on my trip today. $15.30 was from the coupons in the news paper and 31.79 were items that were on sale! I have now paid for the Groupon for the Sunday paper 3 times since I purchased it in January. So if you have not yet decided to get the Sunday Paper or join Couponmom.com, I promise you it is worth your time. Tonight I saved a ton of money and will have food for 7 days! I spent just over $50 in total and felt like it was well worth the time I put into the research and coupons. Oh and my store takes competiors coupons, which means that on some items I can use the manufacture and store coupon on certain items. If you need to save money or just like a deal get the Sunday paper today and start saving money!

Lions and Tigers and Bears!

Oh My, tornado warnings tonight in O-Town. Cars off the road, and people are still thinking it's a good plan to drive around outside. Why would that be a good plan? Oh Well, that isn't what I feel like writing about tonight. I could spend 3 blogs talking about people driving on I-4.

So here's the story for today:

I have begun couponing (def. The act of using coupons in order to save money). So two weeks ago I got a Sunday subscription to the Orlando Sentinel (major newspaper here in O-Town). That was a battle in an of itself because I got it with Groupon. But really the paper was only $10 for a year! So finally after 2 weeks and a few phone calls and emails the paper shows up this week. I have also been collecting coupons here and there for the last 2 weeks. So when my newspaper arrives on Sunday I carefully go through it and find all the "deals" that I might be interested in. I leave this to sit for 24hrs while I think about by savings.

Monday I decide I am gonna make dinner for Nicole who I will be picking up at the airport at 7pm. So I am gonna try my hand at coupon use for the first time! I am sort of excited about the prospect of saving around $8 on 2 items. I have 2 - $3 off 2 bottles of wine coupons and the wine was on sale for $7.99 a bottle and 2-$1 off 2 cans of Campbell soup which is on sale for $1.5o per can. Which means, in case math for you is like grammar for me, I should be able to get these 4 items (2 bottles of wine, 2 cans of soup) for a total of $9.99. Which is how much one bottle of wine would normally cost me. So off to Target I go. I do all of my gathering of the items I will be purchasing for the day. I head to the register. The woman was very nice and wrung up all of my items, I hand her my 4 coupons. She easily handles the soup and then the looks at me and says "you can only use one of these coupons for the wine". Now I accept that there is a belief that you can only use one coupon per item idea but I can promise that I can read, and there is no where on these coupons that state only "one per transaction" or any limit period. So I said "well I used 2 on the 2 cans of soup you just wrung thru". She responds "well I wasn't supposed to do that either". So I nicely said "well if you read the coupon there is no limit on the number I can use on this item". She started to get very angry with me so I looked at the customer behind me and said "ma'am you might want to go to another line, I am gonna have to call the manager" now the cashier I guess didn't exactly know what I meant so I repeated to her "Can you please call your manager". So now I am the person holding up the line at Target... crap. So the manager comes over and they have their little discussion to which the "nice" cashier tells him in not so many words I am trying to rob the store blind by $3. She says that "she can't use two coupons on the same item", well interestingly enough the manager with out entering any special code swipes the second coupon and amazingly it works! At the same time saying "I will do it this once". Are you freaking kidding me? Really Target. You didn't have to do anything but process the order correctly in the first place. So finally I get my total. I look at the cashier and say to her "did you take off the 5cents for my reusable bag?". LOL she was mad. Oh well, they should train you to read the things that pass over your counter better. So the trip cost me about $24 with all of the things I purchased and I walked away with 2 bottles of wine.

So I have begun reading Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, if you want pick it up and read it with me. I have no idea if it will be good or not but it is next on the list!

State of the Union is on, better get my glass of wine and pay attention.

Happy Tuesday!