Extreme Couponing Gone Wild!

My husband and I were watching a show on TLC a few weeks ago. This woman walked into the store with a handful of coupons (and by a "handful" I mean she had to truck them in). She walked out with $1000.00 worth of groceries and I think she spent around $100.00.

Of course, the show doesn't tell you how they do it. They only show you that it is possible.

I don't have a large pantry or a basement that I can store $1000.00 worth of canned goods and toiletries. And from what I saw, they bought a ton of stuff they didn't need just because it was on sale and it was free.

But if I can buy things that I need and spend a fraction of what I normally would, I'm willing to try anything. So here is my attempt at Extreme Couponing.

We recycle our toner cartridges at Staples and I received a $4.00 credit in my email at the end of the quarter. I took the $4.00 credit and bought business card protectors for $3.99. (They actually gave me a $.01 coupon off of my next purchase.)

To get started, I bought two of Sundays paper. Publix sells them for $1.00 after Tuesday. While I was at Publix, I picked up a couple of their weekly circulars for more coupons. You can use one manufacturer's coupon and one store coupon on the same item. After I cut out all of the coupons, I slid them into the plastic sleeves. If there is a store coupon for the same item, I put them together so I don't have to keep looking for it.

My first attempt looked something like this:

Crazy savings, huh?

That was for our normal grocery trip.

Then I went to the grocery store by myself with the intention of not buying:

a.) anything I didn't have a coupon for and

b.) anything that we don't ordinarily use.

The biggest deal was the Bayer Advance. It was normally $3.49. I used a manufacturer's coupon for $2.00 off and the Publix coupon for another $2.00 off. They essentially gave me $.50 for buying this.

Special K is on sale, BOGO. I used a coupon for $1.00 off of 2, which means I paid $3.29 for two boxes.

BIC Flex 4 Razors are sold for $5.49 each. With two $3.00 off coupons, I paid $5.00 for two packs.

Dial body wash is normally $3.91 each but I spent $1.91 after using a $2.00 coupon.

Finally, the 3 pack of Ivory bar soap was $.29 after I used the $1.00 coupon.

I probably should have waited to see if the Dial would ever go on sale.

Today I tried my hand one more time at this whole couponing thing. This time I went to Walgreens.

They kind of messed with my mojo. The BOGO toothpaste didn't ring up, so I had to get a refund.

I spent $5.00 on $17.00 worth of stuff. Not a shabby deal, but certainly not anything that the reality shows are made of.