Adventures in couponing

This stuff was from my last week of shopping. These total stats are not completely accurate because I bought some other stuff that wasn't on sale and without a coupon, so it made my total spend more. For example, I had to buy Spaghettios(not on sale at all) and also snacks for the kids to eat while shopping, but I still think it's pretty good. The store clerk said that I was one of the best she'd seen. I assured her that I probably wasn't because I am not an instructor or anything, but she disagreed and said that I was one of the top three she's ever seen. I still disagree though, she must not see a lot of people. I usually save about 80%, but it was only about 70% this time. I was still happy about my buys though. I got a lot of stuff that I haven't tried before, but have wanted to or heard it was good. I spent about $139, and saved over $300. I only took pictures of the stuff I bought with coupons or with the Mega 10 deal.

Another plus to my day of shopping was that I wore an orange shirt to Panda and got a 2 entree meal for FREE!

4 Arrowhead water- .49 each

6 Glaceau Smartwater- free
5 Ragu’s- .50 each
2 Wacky Mack Pasta- .25 each
6 Betty Crocker Warm Delights- .17 each
4 Ortega jalapenos- .50 each
4 packs of 150 sheets of paper- free
4 mini notebooks- free
2 packs of 24 pencils- free
4 packs of 10 pens- free
5 packs of 8 pencils- .05 total!

All of this is actually not couponing. Some of the Kleenex was, and they were about a quarter a piece. The rest is just some of what we saved and stored from when I was working for campus. We used to get a meal plan of $100 a week and if we didn't use it, it would go away and reload. So, to avoid wasting it(and we also knew I was going to quit at the end of the semester) we would get all of this. We could eat at the Union, or cafeteria-like place on campus, or go to the Tempe Union and get lots of household stuff. We could buy canned food there, but since we have food stamps, we wanted to stock up on things that we can't buy with food stamps. We would buy cards, presents, candy and presents for the holidays for the boys, shampoo, first aid supplies, toilet paper(I'll picture this later for you), paper cups, plates, silverware, dryer sheets, detergent, dish soap, and paper towels. I like having so much on hand, but man does it make me feel all crowded!

4 Carefree pads- $1.50 each
3 Always pads- $1.79 each
3 Kotex pads- $1.50 each
5 Stayfree Pads- $1.00 each

(As a side note- I don't usually use all of these brands, I stick to my favorites. I have been thinking about food storage though, and I never have any extra on hand- EVER! I just get them when I need them. So, I figured that I need to stock up on these because I don't want to be making my own if we ever had a disaster. All of these were AT LEAST $8 for the original price!)

12 Fruit snacks- $1.00 each *plus I got three coupons for free milk- $13.50 value*

6 Dole parfait- .29 each
8 Dole fruit in gel- .29 and/or .79 each

6 brownies- .38 each
6 Chewy granola bars- .99 each

5 Dixie plates and bowls- .49 each
6 Zatarain’s- .49 each
3 Pepperidge Farm Snacks- .99 each

3 Kraft salad dressing- free

2 Keebler cookies- .99 each
2 Pepperidge Farm Cookies- .99 each
3 Aquafresh toothpaste- $1.00 each
1 Colgate toothpaste- .50 each
3 Squeezable Jelly- .49 each
3 Tylenol Extra Strength- $1.50 each
3 Tylenol PM- $1.50 each

2 Quaker Quakes- .49 each

Some more that weren't pictured because I put them in the fridge too fast.

2 Sargento potato finishers- $1.00 each

5 Sunny D Smoothies- free or .39 each

2 Yoplait Fiber One yogurt- .99 each
3 Yoplait Go-Gurts and 4 Trix yogurt(with the stick for popsicles that JJ has been DYING to have)- .49 each