I went on the three most popular coupon websites and downloaded my coupons. I studied my Save Mart weekly ad. It was a good week to start. They had lots of 10 for $10 offers. Just wish I'd planned a wee bit better; I didn't have a coupon for each item...and that is a key point to strategic shopping. But even so, at Save Mart, I saved 49% the first time out with my new plan. I was so excited, I went to CVS and there I saved 45%. This was October 16, 2010, a turning point in my life.
My next trip was to Walgreens. I bought six bottles of Nivea body wash, 2 for men and 4 for women. My coupons were: 2 coupons for $3 off of ONE bottle of MENS and two coupons for $3 off of TWO bottles of WOMENS Nivea. Walgreens was having a sale of 2 for $5. So my total should have been $15 before coupons and should have been $3 plus tax. They refused one of my $3 off one coupons, claiming that their registers couldn't calculate a loss (which is ridiculous because it took a loss on one bottle anyway. I still had a balance for it to be deducted from). So, reluctantly I spent 6 dollars (not including tax) on 6 bottles. My savings: 83% in money terms: 35.94 - 6.00 = 29.94 saved.
I have since been to CVS a couple of times and each time saved: 42.05 and 29.26.
I am stockpiling foods and personal care items we use that are on sale, even though we don't need these things at the moment, eventually we will. I'd prefer to buy them at 50% off and not have to pay full price because I waited till the last minute. It's just a different way of looking at things. Our financial outlook is already turning around. I think this next month will be the first month I won't HAVE to use our credit cards to buy groceries. I just wish I'd figured all this out before we maxed them out! Hopefully next month we can begin to reduce the balances! This is so exciting for me! I can't wait to be debt free.
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