I am probably boasting a bit in this post, but I will also be humble enough to admit that I didn't come up with this on my own. A great friend of mine, who is an amazing penny pincher, showed me this little trick. We had a little "penny pinching seminar" at her house a couple of months ago to learn how to save money while grocery shopping. She told us that "her husband works for the money, and she makes the money work for their family." I love that quote! Anyway, she talked about a website (pinchingyourpennies.com, but it is also like grocerysmarts) that shows the best deals for particular stores. THEN she showed that she buys coupons on ebay. Yes, that's right people. She is buying coupons on ebay. She only buys items on sale and also uses her coupons. She also uses %80 of her grocery budget on food storage (or basically stocking her pantry) and the other %20 on perishables (meat, veggies, etc.). Needless to say it was a very educational night.
Well, I put it into practice this week, and it had amazing results. Albertson's was having a fantastic sale on several things that I loved, so I decided to stock up. My parents gave us food storage for Christmas, and it made a huge dent in our overall progress in that category. However, for this sale I decided to by only non food items. Here is what I got:
10- 105 load Simple Pleasures Downy
13- 100 oz Tide with Color safe bleach alternative
8- 8 roll packs of Bounty Papertowels
20- Cascade Action Packs (20 per bag)
20- 6.2 oz Crest with Scope
20- Gillette Fusion razors (non disposable)
13- Betty Crocker Fruit snacks
4-24 pack of Dasani water
I spent $244.67
AND
I SAVED $701.95
Can you believe it??? I got a year supply of Downy, Tide, Bounty, Cascade, Crest, and razors (I have all the razors I need for life, I just need to buy refills if I want)! I also went to the store earlier this month for other groceries, and I still have money left in our grocery budget if I need to go back.
It works people, and I am addicted. It was so easy too! Just let me know if you have any questions if you want to give it a try. Happy saving!
Well, I put it into practice this week, and it had amazing results. Albertson's was having a fantastic sale on several things that I loved, so I decided to stock up. My parents gave us food storage for Christmas, and it made a huge dent in our overall progress in that category. However, for this sale I decided to by only non food items. Here is what I got:
10- 105 load Simple Pleasures Downy
13- 100 oz Tide with Color safe bleach alternative
8- 8 roll packs of Bounty Papertowels
20- Cascade Action Packs (20 per bag)
20- 6.2 oz Crest with Scope
20- Gillette Fusion razors (non disposable)
13- Betty Crocker Fruit snacks
4-24 pack of Dasani water
I spent $244.67
AND
I SAVED $701.95
Can you believe it??? I got a year supply of Downy, Tide, Bounty, Cascade, Crest, and razors (I have all the razors I need for life, I just need to buy refills if I want)! I also went to the store earlier this month for other groceries, and I still have money left in our grocery budget if I need to go back.
It works people, and I am addicted. It was so easy too! Just let me know if you have any questions if you want to give it a try. Happy saving!
32 comments:
Holy Crap! I have really been wanting to do this for a long time. I think it is amazing when I watch the shows where the women walk out of the stores with a cart full of groceries and only spent a few dollars after coupons. I want to feel that "high". I just don't have the patience to coupon clip and all of the price matching. You have inspired me to at least try. Thanks!
Okay...........how do I do this? Please tell me! You rock!
Mel, I didn't clip a single coupon. I looked at the ad sent in the mail the first night it came and picked the items I wanted to get. Then I went to ebay, searched for the products, and bought coupons. They came in packs of 10 or 20 (they can very depending on the seller). Once they came in the mail I went to the store.
For this particular sale, Albertsons was offering a $15 coupon for every $30 you spend, so I just did several $30 transactions and used my $15 coupons and ebay coupons on every transaction. I could have grouped my transactions in $60 dollars, but I just wanted to keep track (because I had messed up once or twice)! It was so fun!
You guys should just call me, it is easy to explain.
Next time I will only pick one or two items to get a year supply or so. I want deodorant and tampons!
Watch for the caselot sales too. Those are great time to get the deals!!!
OH, and every transaction for my water, fruit snacks, toothpaste, and razors ended up being $5.09 each (normally $30)! The razors alone are normally $10.99 each!!! So fun.
OK, that is AMAZING!! I can't believe I didn't do it this month, I'm crazy. Soon though. Maybe sometime I just need to go up with you and actually go shopping, that would be sweet. Plus, I HAVE to get over the fact that you have to BUY the coupons first, I don't know why that is so hard for me! But, it's obviously worth it!
YOU ROCK!! I'm totally inspired. Nice work.
Whoop-a job. I'm inspired, too.
Nice! So the only coupons you used were the ones you bought and then you utilized the stores sales and money back offering?? Keep giving us info please!
That would make alot of husbands happy. I will have to try it. Always up for a bargain.
Yup! That is exactly what I did.
It's exciting, huh! I have been doing this for over a year now, and the longer you do it, the more tricks you learn. Sadly, lots of people are doing it now and so if you don't go early on the first morning of the sale, some of the good stuff is gone. I used to feel bad for the people behind me in line, but now I don't care, I just watch to make sure they give me every dollar off in the deal!
That is so awesome!!! My neighbor here in Mapletond does that.She has tried to explain,but I just get confused and overwhelmed .I have been on the pinching your pennies website,but there again,confused! So I am so glad you posted this. I feel inspired again. Oh, by the way I found your blog off of Tiffany's, I hope you don't mind.
Julie, I have seen your blogs about your savings. I am so excited I learned how to do it! I kinda went crazy this time, but I think I will stick to one or two items (to get a years worth) once a month.
I was at Target today, and I saw a few things that were probably a really good deal, but I had a hard time getting them because I kept thinking if I had coupons they would be free! I am psycho!!!
hey girly look at my blog we are twins lets meet up and compare notes!!! i would love tips!!!
Also, I haven't thought about razors for my year supply stuff. Shaving will be the first thing to go on my list of luxuries, I guess. Poor Sean. No really, we need to live by each other so I can just help you use your food storage/year supply. Ok, now I'm serious: Good job on saving lots of monies. I definitely need to try this.
Wait, if you have to get to the store early before everything is gone how does that work if you have to wait for the ordered coupons off ebay? How fast do they come?
I can't wait for this weekend. The end.
Stacey,
The stores will give you a rain check for the sale prices if they are out. I did it with paper towels.
That's freakin awesome!! My roommates and I are in awe.
The Tide alone for that price is impressive.
My sister was telling me about this, I need to look into it also.
Like Stacey, I am wondering about the coupons. If I ordered them today would I get them before the sale is over? How do you get there early if you are waiting on coupons to arrive?
Nichole, the sale is already over. However you can look on each weekly ad and probably find something you want to get coupons for. You need to order the coupons the first two days or so to get them in time. I ordered coupons for the razors and toothpaste three days into the sale and they came the last day, so I barely got those. Usually the ad comes on a Monday and the sales or promotions start on Tuesday or Wednesday and run for a week.
Thanks! Sounds like a lot of work, but worth it, especially for us stay-at-home moms.
It actually isn't too bad. It sounds totally crazy, but once I was at the store I figured it out pretty quick. Plus, if you only have two items instead of 6 like me, it won't take long at all! It is so worth it.
WOW! I am calling you! I am all about getting awsome deals like this one.
WOW, Kj! I have been doing the www.myfoodstoragedeals.com where I pay $5.00 a month (are you still paying that fee?), but I haven't done the coupons. You've inspired me to include them. It is really addicting. I decided this week that I have to cancel my subscription until after the baby because I almost went into labor going to the grocery store so many times (This week I did do some coupons because Albertsons was doubling and they limit how many in each transaction). Anyway, I want to talk to you more about buying the coupons...later.
I need to call you for the details about the internet coupon purchasing. I just get 3 Sunday papers, but I ordered a batch of 100 random coupons from ebay for $1.75 including shipping. I'll see what I get, but you probably know how to do that more efficiently.
OH MY CRAP! I just spazzed a little! I just had a thought..if i can do what you just did at target..and timed it right..i could get an extra 20% off!!!! Oh my, i am SOOOO doing that!! So awesome!
KJ,
Pretend like I am a 5 year old. Explain this all to me. Start from the beginning. California has only 5 stay at home moms and I am one of them. I don't have a network of friends where this would ever be brought to my attention. THANKS for doing that for me !!!! But, really I need a lot more information. Please help. : ) You can e-mail me ( krislamb2@yahoo.com )
Chelsea, I bet you could!!! Crazy.
Nicole, I will call you. You need to see the picture for your parents all framed. It looks awesome.
Kristi, I will email you. Just give me a day or so. I am still chasing my own tail from being gone all weekend.
We are all going to be so thrifty!!!
kj will you forward me the email with the 5-year old version explanation of what's going on? i asked your husband- he doesn't understand either :) haha
TEACH ME
Is there any way to have a conference call? Hahaha!
When you mentioned you had a blog, I just had to go in search of it. Good for you stocking up! I'm trying to get that done too. And now I'm really sad that I missed that night, it was during my family's never-ending sickness.
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