You can do this, too!

So many of you who have heard me talk or read my blog have thought, "I can't do this because I don't have a store that doubles or triples." Well, today I made two shopping stops, one to Food Lion and the other to Kroger. I used coupons today, but none of them were doubled or tripled. So, I want to share with you how I did this:



I bought all of this today for only $36 dollars out of pocket and I still have $16 more in coupons to spend at Food Lion. Oh, and there is one gallon of milk missing; it was already in the fridge. It's worth $131. So, I saved $100 with out using double coupons, just knowing how to work the deals. You CAN do this!

First of all, I need to explain the Glade Gel Plug-In deal that is going on at Food Lion and Kroger. Both stores have it on sale (Kroger for 1.79 each and Food Lion for 1.50 each). There is also a special promotion that for every one Plug-In you buy, a $2 coupon prints toward your next purchase on ANYTHING in the store. So, even without a coupon, this deal is a money maker. Pay 1.50 and get a 2 dollar coupon back. You've made 50 cents. Now, I had coupons for them. They were Buy One Get one Free coupons. So, that means I got two for the price of one, and the $2 coupons for each one still printed! So, for every two I bought at Kroger, I profited $2.21. For every two that I bought at Food Lion, I profited $2.50.

Now, the next question is that some of you may wonder how I get multiple coupons of the same thing. Well, we have one subscription to the Sunday paper, but I must confess something. I have an inside source, and I will NOT reveal my sources that gets me extra papers each week for free. BUT, there are other ways to do it. You can actually buy coupons more subscriptions and you can buy them online. You can buy Qs on Ebay, which I've done. There are also sites like, Coupons & Things by Dede, and The Coupon Clippers. These are businesses that you pay for their time of clipping coupons, and they will send you multiple coupons for a nominal fee. This is wonderful when you know a great deal is coming, or you see it in the paper. If you order immediately, you should have your coupons before the sale is over! It's a great thing!

With that explanation out of the way, I can now share about my deals for today. First, I went to Food Lion and did two transactions.

Transaction #1
12 Glade Gel Plug-ins $1.50x12=18.00
6 Buy one Get one Free Coupons
But because they originally rang up at $1.79 instead of $1.50, they gave me 1.79 off for the free one, so I made more money!!!

18.00-(1.79x6)= 7.26
Plus tax $8.16 paid out of pocket
$24 in coupons printed for my next purchase (profit of $15.84)

Transaction #2
4 boxes of Kellogs Cereal Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) 6.92
Bread 1.99
Hot Dog Buns .94
Hot Dog buns .94
Hamburger buns .94
Hamburger buns .94

Total with tax $8.99
Used 4 of the $2 coupons that printed ($8)
Paid out of pocket 99 cents.

So I got all of the above for 9.15.

Then I headed to Kroger. They have a deal going right now for the Kroger brand cereal. When you coupon, you cannot be brand picky. When the generic is cheaper, (which rarely happens anymore for me) BUY generic. But, when the name brand (or a different brand than you use) is cheaper, of course go with that. Well, for Kroger brand cereal, you could get it for $1.00 a box. It was buy 6 boxes for $10 and get $4 off instantly. So that is $1.00 a box. You can only have one of those deals per transaction, so I did two transactions. YOU CAN DO THAT, it's legal! Here is what I did.

Transaction #1
6 boxes of cereal for $10.00
Instant $4 off
Paid $6.71 out of pocket (oop)

Transaction #2
6 boxes of cereal for $10.00 (instant $4 off)=6.00
8 Ball Park hotdogs .99 each (used coupon for $1 off of 2)=4.00
3 Kroger sandwich meat 2.79x3=8.37
3 Kroger skim milks 2.85x3=8.55
1 Turkey Hill Ice Cream 2.99-$1 coupon=1.99
Then I used $10 in coupons that printed for me earlier in the week for the Glade Plug-in deal

Total Out of Pocket: 20.01

So, for $36, I got all of this. Do we need 16 boxes of cereal today? No, but that is point of coupon/deal shopping. When you find food on a REALLY good deal, buy a lot of it. Then when you need it in a month or two, you don't have to pay full price, you just go to the pantry or the freezer!

None of my coupons doubled today. I just "worked the deals." I read about all of this on Coupon Mom! You CAN do this, even without double or triple coupons. I saved $100 today. YOU CAN, TOO!!!

Happy Savings!