Adventures in couponing + a project.

Happy Happy Sunday, Girls!

Up for you today is the best *damn* Albertsons couponing adventure ever! Seriously. I saved a boatload of money and got TONS of stuff free....like crazy free. But first I want to tell you about a little project I am doing that started with the couponing adventure you see today. I have decided to save all the receipts and see how much money I spend on groceries in a month. Starting with this trip on August 16th. So August 16th - September 16th I am tracking everything I buy at the grocery store. Sure I save a lot of money when I am couponing, but do we make too many random trips to the store for a loaf of French bread and end up spending another $20 on stuff we didn't really need? We'll see how it adds up. I'm excited. So anyway - back to the best *damn* couponing trip ever, let's have a looksie, shall we?

By the numbers:

(55) boxes of Betty Crocker cake mix

(53) cans of vegetables

(24) boxes of Hamburger Helper

(16) packages of Bic pens

(11) bags of Chex Mix

(8) boxes of Ziploc bags

(4) bags of Pepperidge Farms cookies

(4) 8-pks. of Keebler PB&J-filled crackers

(3) tubs of frosting (looks like I'm gonna need some more)

(2) boxes of Cheerios

(2) bottles of Teriyaki sauce

(2) bottles of Ponzu sauce

(2) packages of Keebler cookies

(1) mini jug of Bisquick (SO BUMMED! - these were FREE and I didn't know it until the lady in front of me cleared the shelf *tears*)

Actual retail price: $403.15.

I paid: $31.54.

That's a 92% savings - - it doesn't get any better than that!

And here's the good stuff: the cake mixes were totally free. They were part of a promo that made them 50-cents and in the store they had coupons for $1 off 2. Yeah. Free. 55 boxes. I'm totally gonna be the cupcake class mom this year - LOL The Bic pens - free too. They were $1 each and I had a coupon for $1 off 2 and then I doubled it. 16 packages - free. The teriyaki sauce was $1.99 and I doubled a $1 coupon and the Ponzu sauce was free when you "bought" the teriyaki sauce *giggles* And the yummy Pepperidge Farms cookies were $1.99 and I doubled $1 off coupon there too. I hate buying cookies for the kids, but if they are free - mamma ain't sayin' no!

But wait, there's more! I have to do a lot of transactions because you can only use 3 doublers per transaction. That means I've got a LOT of receipts. (5) of them had surveys for you to take over the phone which they give you $2 each for - - so they gave me $10 to come back and play again plus a 75-cent Catalina printed off in the midst of the madness. Score!

This week wore me out.
Here's to a relaxing Sunday.