My New Favorite Toy

I finally bought a larger paper cutter today. I have been using a small 6" paper cutter for months. I caved in and purchased this Westcott one for $16.99 at Target. I am in love with it (and not because it is pink.) It made clipping coupons this evening a breeze. What usually takes 2-3 hours only took 1. Hooray for time savers.

Coupon Trip 8/17/2011

About 2 months ago I started to coupon. Not extreme couponing but relatively close. I do not but 77 mustard's because they are only $0.39 each. Rather I would get just 2 in this instance. I buy what my family needs or will potentially need ( health and beauty items, pasta, cereal etc.)

Each Sunday I buy 2 newspapers. I spend about 4-5 hours clipping, filing, and researching. I have a few databases and forums that I check daily. I print out shopping lists from the Coupon Mom site. I go to each store that I shop at and scour through the deals. I do not print out everything, just the items I have coupons for or will potentially buy. Next, I match up weekly ads to the list because of regional sale and price differences. I take a sharpie and cross out items I do not plan on buying. Then I pull the coupon from 1 of my 3 binders and put it in the store envelope. I keep one envelope for each store I shop at. I mark on my sheet the quantity of each items I plan to buy and the potential cost. I am trying to predict costs now that I am in my second month.

Today's shopping trip includes Target, Walgreens, and CVS

#1 Target

I split up my purchases into 3 transactions in total I bought:

• 2- Olay Single Bath Bars
• 2- Satin Care Shave Gels (bonus 20% size)
• 2- Schick Hydro 5 Single Razors
• 2- Dove Men Deod0rant
• 2- Dove Ultimate Deodorant for Women
• 1- box Pampers Prints Cruser's Diapers 72 ct (My friend is pregnant and I plan on giving a gift basket for her baby shower)
• 1- Sesame Street Onesie
• 1- Bic Flex Comfort 3 Razor 3 ct
  
• 1- Vaseline for Men body and face lotion
• 1- Dropps Laundry Detergent 26 ct
  

My total out of pocket expense was $40.99. I save $48.12 for a percentage of 54%. Not fantastic but not bad considering I bought diapers.

#2 Walgreens

I split up my purchases here into 4 transactions. I go into the store with a specific I plan. I not only write down each item for each transaction but I also separate my coupons into paper clipped bundles with a sticky note denoting which transaction it corresponds too. My total days' purchase is as follows:

• 1- Dial Men's travel lotion
  
• 4- Reach Total Care soft tooth brushes
• 1- Neutrogena Acne Wash 1oz travel
• 3- Kleenex 184 ct
• 2- Mead 9.5" envelope 50 ct
• 1- Mead 6.7" security envelope 80 ct
• 1- Scunci No slip hair ties (I was in desperate need)
• 1- Scunci Hair clips
• 1- Walgreens Daytime Cold gel tablets 20 ct
• 1- Walgreens Nighttime Cold and Flu gel tablets 20 ct
• 1- Nyquill plus Vicks Cold tablets 10 ct
• 2- Skintimate Shave Cream

Total out of pocket was $20.30. I save $40.86 for a percentage of 66.8%. I was not planning on purchasing the cold tablets but they were clearance with an expiration date of 2013, I figured I would stock up early with they were $1.39 a box.


#3 CVS

I have had my best luck at CVS but not this week. I only purchased one item. A Revlon Nail Enamel on sale for $4.99. The savingstar coupon machine gave me $3 off any Revlon Cosmetic item. The out of pocket was $1.99 plus tax and I received $3.00 in Extra bucks for purchasing the nail polish. Woohoo I technical made money. Usually I would use the Extra Bucks on another transaction but since there was not anymore, I will save it for next time.

In the 2 months I have been couponing I have gotten many products free or close to free. I have to constantly remind myself that I cannot get everything for free. I have plenty of deodorant, tooth brushes and toothpaste. When my friends run out, they com shopping at my house!