It has finally come to pass that the world's most skeptical coupon clipper has gotten something free at the grocery store! Not overly processed food-like items filled with preservatives that I wouldn't want to feed my kids even if they were free. Not strange products that I would never otherwise try. Not just a free promotion because some new store just opened in town. But a bona fide coupon success.
I was thrilled to come home with two cartons of organic milk, the exact kind I normally send to school in a lunchbox, for zero dollars each! The store promotion was for a dollar per carton, the highest I normally pay. Then, the coupons were for a dollar each. I expressed my amazement with the cashiers that they accepted the coupon, after my previous tuna couponing failure. That was months ago when I had tried to use a dollar-off coupon with a 97-cent item, and the cashier wouldn't let me use it at all. One of the more experienced cashiers I met today said she would have allowed 97 cents off the tuna so that I could have had it for free, just no cash back.
I'm still skeptical whether couponing is worth lots of time, next to old-fashioned comparison shopping, growing your own vegetables, etc. Especially since I'm particular about what my family eats and prefer mostly organics and other whole foods. However, I must give credit to the Coupon Katie website for helping me out with this modest two-dollar victory in the effort to be thrifty at the grocery store. Katie led me to the right link that produced two valid coupons. Thanks, Katie!
I'm still skeptical whether couponing is worth lots of time, next to old-fashioned comparison shopping, growing your own vegetables, etc. Especially since I'm particular about what my family eats and prefer mostly organics and other whole foods. However, I must give credit to the Coupon Katie website for helping me out with this modest two-dollar victory in the effort to be thrifty at the grocery store. Katie led me to the right link that produced two valid coupons. Thanks, Katie!
I carefully tracked my shopping bill yesterday, just so I could report my savings to you:
ReplyDeleteI spent $90.67.
I saved $9.60 using coupons (10%).
I saved $25.80 using manager's specials (28%).
I also saved $16.75 with my loyalty card (18%), but I don't really count that.
I only bought one thing I wouldn't have otherwise, a bag of salad mix, but that was a manager's special and not a coupon item. I did get free browines using a coupon - junk food, yes, but junk food that I would eat whether or not it was free!
Thanks for sharing this, Siobhan. I think your percentages reflect something that I often see at the grocery store: I find deeper discounts with the manager's specials than I do with coupons themselves. It seems that wherever we all stand on the coupon-loving spectrum these days, it's a hopeful sign that we're all practicing conscious consumerism.
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