Extreme Couponing Half Way There

How many of you have seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC?  I love that show.  Oh' I know it's not something they do every week but it's still fun to see what their extreme savings are.  What I don't like about the show are some of the hoarders.  The ones that can't leave a single item on the shelf.  


About 10 years ago I used to be a major coupon shopper.  Lot's for free but never the deals these guys get.  But when I did do price matching and couponing I sort of lived by a code of ethics.  You never clean the shelves.  There's others out there wanting to get these same deals and why would I not want them too.  Besides who wants to tee off the store manager completely.  I mean, it's frustrating enough holding up the line especially when you don't get the most delightful cashier.  I'll be returning and I'll appreciate them not running to lock the door as they see me drive up.


I don't have the huge binder anymore, which I never left home without it because you never knew when you were going to find a killer deal.  I can  remember going to Eckerds, when we had them and having to buy more just so my total wasn't in the negative and they didn't owe me money.  They had makeup on clearance and with the coupons I was getting it all free and then some.  And when I got big loots like that I always made up supply boxes for family members and my best friend.  I think now is a great time to buy extra if you can get it for pennies or free because so many people need groceries and beauty and health items, that just can't afford it in this recession, borderline depression.  Get the extra and share with your church, homeless shelters and food banks.


I got frustrated trying to do the whole coupon matching at home thing, I finally gave up.  So with coupons in hand and a little idea of what I wanted to get, I headed to the store. Remember, it's been a while for me, and the longer you do it the much easier it becomes.  Well, I was actually surprised at how good I did.  Here's the picture of my Winn Dixie shopping list hanging from the top of a floor lamp.  It was actually taller then me.

 

  The cashier rang and rang and rang up the items

And yes, I was starting to feel a little light headed.  When I saw the total my heart skipped a beat.  Oh' no, what have I done?  I had no intention of spending anywhere close to $253.60. Could I possibly get it closer to maybe a hundred and sixty?  Okay, here goes nothing.

I handed the cashier my coupons and the beeping starts like music to my ears but I'm still holding my breath as if that's going to help. LOL. 

$214.28 after coupons.  So far that's a savings of $49.31 with manufactures coupons.  Great but looking at that total, I'm not feeling that much better.  Oh' man, how do I explain this when I get home?  Oh' well, lets hope it gets a little better with my store rewards card.  Oops I forgot to take a picture of the total after the rewards card was used.  Peeking through the cracks in my fingers I see a total of $119.82!  Yippee!!!  That's a $84.06 savings with my rewards card!  Thank you Winn Dixie.

 A grand total savings of $133.37 with manufacture coupons and my store rewards card.  I held back the happy dance shuffle that my feet were twitching to do.  The cashier was happy for me and even the front end manager was happy for me, even offering help to take it out.  That basket was loaded baby.  I left the store grinning with pride in my not so well planned shopping trip.  Oh' yeah, besides that when you shop at Winn-Dixie, you earn gas rewards with your Winn-Dixie rewards card.  So I earned 40 cents off a gallon up to 20 gallons.  YIPPEE, more savings!!!


So okay, I'm not an extreme couponer but I'm pretty happy with what I saved.  I had a 53% savings.  Pretty good don't you think.  Especially since I didn't buy a bunch of any one thing.  This was regular shopping, NOT 53 antacids, 10 bottles of shampoo, 20 bags of candy kind of trip.  The most I bought of any one thing was 2, I take that back I did by 3 Pepsi's and 3 packages of frozen Steam Broccoli cuts.   The only things not edible were:

• 1 cube of Puffs Tissue
• 2 Purex laundry detergents
• 1 Downy liquid fabric softner
• 1Purex fabric softener
• 1  skintimate dry gel shave

 

Not bad for 85 items, which by the way breaks down to average $1.41 for each item (sorry I just couldn't resist).  Have any of you tried to save on your grocery or other shopping trips lately.  Or maybe you save in other ways, like gardening.  Let me know so I can share it with others.  There's nothing that gets me more inspired than hearing about someone else getting a great deal.

I love reading everyone's comments so please don't be shy.  I'll like to know if you stop by so I can visit you too.

Hugs Y'all....Tracy :)