coupon schmoopon?

austin and i do our grocery shopping on sundays, after we can clip out all the coupons we might need out of the sunday paper. but since we were in atlanta, we didn't get to go sunday. so we decided we would go last night. since i'm not working currently, i kind of have all day to do, well, nothing. so austin and i decided i needed to find out where we should shop by which store had the most stuff we needed on sale.

and then, apparently, i became an amateur "couponer."

it seems like everyone these days is doing all sorts of money saving tricks and the other day i was reading my friend katie's blog {she actually has two, here and here} and she has recently starting couponing. it seemed a little overwhelming to get all the work arranged to get the best deal, but austin and i decided to give it a shot.

first stop was cvs, a place we rarely shop at, but considering the deal we got, we're going to start going there more! here's how we got our deals.

purchase 1:
aussie hairspray: one 14 oz. can
       regular price $4.99
           sale price $2.99
                         -$  .50 manufacturer's coupon
                          $2.49 paid out of pocket
                                 + received $2.00 in cvs extra care bucks {same as money on next purchase}
fiber one chewy bars: one 5 ct. box
       regular price $3.99
                         -$  .50 manufacturer's coupon
                          $3.49 paid out of pocket
                                 + received $3.00 in cvs extra care bucks
cvs green tag: {carry with a reusable bag, earn $1.00 in extra care bucks for every 4 scans}
       regular price $  .99 paid out of pocket
                                 + received $.25 in cvs extra care bucks {essentially}
                         ___________________
                           $6.97 total price + $5.25 in cvs extra care bucks

purchase 2:
progresso soups: four 19 oz. cans
      regular price $3.29 for one can
                          $3.29 for two cans {buy one get one free special}
                          $6.58 for 4 cans
                         -$1.00 off 4 cans manufacturer's coupon
                          $5.58 total
                        -$5.00 cvs extra care bucks
                         ___________________
                          $  .58 total price 

so, we spent $7.55 out of our pockets {since the discounts don't apply to taxes, we'll just ignore them for these calculations} and we got $23.13 worth of stuff. pretty good, huh?

then we went to bi-lo to get the rest of our groceries. obviously bi-lo doesn't have the extra care bucks, so the deals don't work quite the same way. but we still saved tons. we literally only bought foods that were on sale {didn't really plan this, just worked out that way} and we used as many coupons as we could. lucky for me, bi-lo does a sub-total on the receipt so i don't have to do the math.

total before savings:   $113.67
                   savings: -$   42.61 {$31.31 through bi-lo bonus card, $11.30 from coupons}
total after savings:      $   71.06

$71 for $113 worth of stuff. pretty good, huh? i say yes.

the thing about coupons though, is you can sometimes get excited about the deal and end up with stuff you don't need or normally get. i refuse to let that happen, so austin and i have to really focus on our meal planning for the week and things we buy even if we didn't have coupons for them.

so that's that. i just got a call about a job i applied for so i'd better get off my butt and call them back! fingers crossed for me, please!