Saving Money

I have recently started using coupons. My sister has been using them for a while and she has said that it takes her a while to clip the coupons and plan what to buy, but that she's been saving a lot of money. So, I decided to give it a try. So, I now spend part of my free time clipping coupons and pouring through the store flyers. It really is a challenge to see what I can get fora really low price.

This week I hit the jackpot! Weis Markets has some good buys this week. General Mills cereals are buy 4 get $4 off your shopping order. Plus, I had $1.50 off 3 boxes of GM cereal, so my 4 boxes cost $1.78 per box. We don't go through cereal that fast, but both my kids eat it every morning and their expiration date is far away, so I considered it a good stockpiling investment.

Also, Weis has Betty Crocker fruit snacks 4/$4, plus a coupon for $2.50 off your next shopping order. I also had 2 coupons, one for $1.00/2 boxes and $.75/2 boxes (Weis doubles up to $1 so that was increased to $1) so that brought them down to 4 boxes for $2....plus 2.50 off my next order. Basically, they paid me $.50 to take home 4 boxes of fruit snacks.

This week too at Weis Markets, Fiber One bars are 4/$6 with $2.50 off your next order, plus I had 4 $.50 coupons. I don't know if they normally would double all 4 coupons, but today they did because I had problems getting them to scan. A manager had to swipe his card, which let me use all 4 coupons and doubled them! So, I got 4 boxes of Fiber One bars for $2, with a $2.50 voucher for my next order. Again, Weis paid me to take home these Fiber One bars.

Some other good buys: Viva Big Roll paper towels, 3/$5 plus $1 coupon; Egglands Best Eggs, $2.39 on special for $2, plus doubled $.35 coupon - down to $1.30.

So, I split my order and used those 2 $2.50 vouchers for my second transaction. I ended up spending $37.58 for $71.13 worth of groceries! I am having so much fun looking for good deals. Plus, it makes my husband so happy that I'm trying to save us money.

I had a baby sitter this morning so I headed over to Rite Aid and CVS after my trip to Weis. I am fortunate to live within 5 miles of these stores. This week at Rite Aid, Maybeline make-up is bogo. I recently decided that my Estee Lauder make-up is too expensive, and I'm almost out of foundation, so I headed over there to check out their selection. I got foundation, lipstick, and a quad and a trio eyeshadow for $15.48...not bad compared to my $36 Estee Lauder foundation. I also got Garnier Fructis shampoo $2.99 with a $2.99 rebate. Another good buy was on Aleve. I paid $6.99 for 130 count package, including my $1 coupon.

I'm new a 'couponing' so I'm still deciding if I made a good purchase at CVS today. I started with $6 in ECB. CVS had Head & Shoulders on sale for $4.99 with $3 ECB (limit of 5). I purchased 5 (stockpiling again), had a $1 coupon for 1 and got 15 ECB to use for my next purchase. My next purchase is the one I wasn't sure about. I bought the Huggies Jumbo packs for $10 each. There are 34 per pack and I used my 15 ECB and had a $1.50 coupon so I got them for $3.50, but I I just don't know how good a buy that was. I got $5 ECB for buying the diapers. And, I saved gas by not driving to Sam's or Walmart where I know I could have gotten a better buy. Maybe I should have skipped the diapers and saved the ECB for my next trip. And ideas?

Well, like I said, I'm new at this. My budget for each week is $100, but I've love to use less. I'd love any good tips on how to cut back on weekly grocery bills.