Extreme Couponing at Giant and RiteAid

On my shopping trips this week, I was totally surprised to hear so much about this new TV Show, Extreme Couponing. I guess I didn’t realize how many people have cable TV. At both stores, either people behind me in line or the cash register attendants talked to me about the show! Of course that was after I used all my coupons and impressed them.

Total Amount Spent: $14.86
Total Amount Saved: $60.00 (coupons and instant checkout savings)

RiteAid

8 bags of Hershey kisses ($1/3 Select Hershey’s, Reese’s, Cadbury or Whoppers (SS 4/3/11))
2 Cadbury eggs ($.55/1 video values)
2 NYC nail polish (used $1.50/2 to make them FREE)
1 KY Yours and Mine ($7 printable, $3 in ad)
used 2 – $3.00/$15.00 Survey Coupon
got back $14 UP for this week’s candy deal
got back $5UP for KY deal
PAID: $5.00 (paid mostly with gift cards and UP rewards)

This is the most I’ve spent at a drugstore in a long time. I usually try to keep my out of pocket cost to under $1.00. And if I would have switched the order of my purchases, I think I could have paid less out of pocket. But the good news is, I now have $14 in UP rewards to use on deals in the next two weeks! (In the first purchase I bought KY, regularly $20.99 but after the $3 in ad coupon, a $7 printable coupon, a $3/15 survey coupon, and $5UP back it only cost me $2.99! I didn’t want to put a picture of that because of children that might be near your computer.)

Giant

4 boxes gummy snacks (2 – $.50/2 Printable Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks Coupon)
4 boxes granola bars (use $0.75/2 Nature Valley Granola Bars, exp. 5-21-11 (SS 03/27/11))
2 potatoes boxes (2 – $.55/1 Betty Crocker Printable Coupons)
also used 2 Dollar Doublers
got $7.00 off instantly
PAID: $6.86
Got (2) $4.00 OYNO Coupons

2 Windex ($1/2 Windex Glass Cleaner, exp. 5-15-11 (SS 04/03/11)) = $
2 Fantastik ($0.75/1 Fantastik All Purpose Cleaner, exp. 5-14 (SS 04/03/11))
1 Beechnut (FREE coupon) = $0
3 Tyson frozen chicken, B2G1 FREE ($1/1 Tyson Bagged Breaded Chicken Strips, exp. 4-30-11 (SS 01/30/11)
also used 2 – $1/1 Tyson printable coupon
1 Silk Soy Milk ($2/1 Silk Coupon) = $.49
2 Starkist Tuna pouches (2 – $.50/1 Starkist, coupons doubled) = $.50
5 Kiwi for $1.00
also used 2 Dollar Doublers
got $6.00 off instantly for cleaning products
used (2) $4.00 OYNO coupons
PAID: $3.00

I definitely got some stuff here that I don’t need, nor do I consume very often in my house, but I used those deals (like the Betty Crocker fruit snacks) to pay for the items that I did need. I did two transactions, with the Betty Crocker one first. I spent $6.86 in that transaction, and got back (2) $4.00 off my next purchase catalina’s. I used those catalina’s to pay for my next purchase, which cost me a total of $3.00 out of pocket after the catalina’s, coupons and Dollar Doublers!

As I was leaving Giant and observing everyone at checkout, I was amazed how many people were in a rush. They were busy. They were at the self checkout focused on their task, quickly swiping their products across the barcode reader and entering their credit card information. It occurred to me that these people don’t have time for deals! I didn’t look down on them because of it, I just thought “how can I help them?” They were buying the same products I was, but they had no idea that if they bought the right combinations they would get catalina’s for $$ off their next purchase!