92%

OK Girls - no card today, but something I want to share and maybe you can pick up something from me. A few of you know this about me, but for those of you that don't: I am a COUPONER. Yes, I am. I am a PROUD couponer at that. Basically what I do is get all the coupons I can - from the newspaper and online. I never throw away a coupon. I know sometimes you'll see a coupon and think "I'll never get that because even at $1 off it's still too expensive", or "we don't use that brand" but I am here to tell you, when you can save tons of money or even get something for free, you buy things that aren't your brand - - you can donate them to the church, you can give them to a family member whose pantry may be a little bare right now, or you can send it to your Secret Sister *wink*

This week was "the big one" - the big General Mills promo. The way it works is simple: spend $30 and get $15 back. So your first transaction you have to get certain products that are on sale and in the promo and they have to total $30. However, because this week was essentially the perfect storm of couponing, my first transaction was far less than that for I had coupons to use. So my first $30 spend, I bought the products to hit $30, but then taking off my coupons and my double coupons, my first transaction was only $3.45 - for $30 in product at the sale price - AND they gave me a $15 Catalina (voucher for your next visit - good as money). My next visit was quite similar - totaling $2.91 - and again with the $15 Catalina. The Catalinas keep rolling as you buy along with the promo.

The perfect storm isn't just that this was a doublers week, but there was also a Unilever promo going on at the same time as the General Mills promo. So get this!! Certain items like the Q-tips and Vaseline lotion were part of (2) promos. So here you spend $30 and get your $15 back from General Mills AND THEN Unilever gives you $12 back too! Oh my sweet heavenly couponing goddesses!! And this is all instant coming out of those little machines at the registers. So $30 worth of Q-tips (that's 12 boxes on the promo - LOL) you pay $3, but using your $15 Catalina from the last transaction, you're MAKING MONEY ding ding ding!

Here's what I got:

12 packs of Knorr pasta & rice sides

2 jars of light Best Foods mayonnaise

8 bottles of Wish Bone salad dressing

121 jars of Ragu

2 boxes of Kix

6 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios

2 boxes of Chex Mix bars

2 boxes of Pop Tarts

1 (4-pk.) of Yoplait

4 packs of Bic pens

4 packs of Betty Crocker cookie mix

3 bags of Chex Mix

2 packs of Granola Clusters

2 bottles of Sobe light water

36 boxes of Q-tips

6 Dove body washes

18 bottles of All laundry detergent

6 bottles of Vaseline lotion

- - total price for all this was $933.00.
However, using coupons, doublers, and taking advantage of all the promos, my out-of-pocket expense was $85.59; that's a 92% savings, Girls!

Now - this is a lot of work, many trips to the store, and a fair amount of planning involved. However, I have 2 kids, a husband and a full-time job, so I don't want to hear anyone talkin' about they ain't got time for that. Just think of all the money you save and all the extra cardmaking supplies you can buy with - - and of course, how clean your kids' ears are going to be until they leave for college *giggles*

TGIF!