Saturday, August 8, 2009

I know, I’m bragging part 2

Well, I decided to go to Albertsons, Carter was at a friend’s house, and it was just Belle and me. (Not that this particular situation makes my trial easier, but I had some gumption.)

So I went coupon binder in hand, with Belle happily sucking on a sugar filled sucker. I first walked down the produce aisle and then up the next aisle. Yep, I made it that far before I about had a heart attack and walked back out of the store again. I drove to my mom’s house, broke down, regrouped, came up with a new strategy, and even printed off some coupons.

Armed with new fervor, leaving the kids at home (Belle was down for a nap) I headed back to the store. I’m sure I looked like a freshman on the first day of high school, wide eyed, and ready for the big bully to jump out at me at any moment. But I did it! I was so excited! I said a little prayer that I would get a good/ patient cashier, and headed to the check out aisles.

Well having such a good trip something was bound to happen right? I start loading my food up on the round table, and then... I couldn’t find my coupons I had printed out. What good is it being a KCL (Krazy Coupon Lady) if you don’t have any coupons!
-Insert near melt down here-

Thinking I must have dropped them somewhere I was ready to walk off to find them. The room began to spin everything got blurry, and I couldn’t focus. Not an ideal state when you are trying to look for something. The cashier was so cute. She came over to my cart, and sweetly in the way mom’s have a certain knack of doing to calm their children down told me, “It’s o.k. calm down we’ll find them.” Reassured by her compassion, I was able to calm down and find said coupons in a folder in my binder.

Now, the check-out process is why I prayed for a good/ patient cashier. You see, KCL’s like me tend to be inconvenient- breaking up purchases into different transactions to maximize savings (I could write a whole other post on that too), and of course all the coupons. My cashier- as you could probably guess- was a DREAM come true! She was so helpful for a newbie like me, and seemed to know what I wanted before I could even tell her. She even helped me with things I didn’t know about.
The result- Total= $184.55
Out of pocket- $52.55
Saved= $132.00

I know that others save MUCH more than this, but the goal is to save more than you spend. I’d say I did that.

Jarrod was so proud he helped me set everything up for my bragging picture.
Now, I did forget to use some of my doubler coupons (not a biggie, I can use them later) and found out how to use other coupons to save more. So this would have been a bigger savings had I done those two things, but I was totally stoked for this being my first time! Jarrod even let me splurge on a new binder that I have been coveting (“All the other girls on the blogs have them!!”- was my reasoning)

I’ll show you...
Of course it’s pink! I found a new love for highlighters. They really work! I don’t have my calculator yet, but that’s soon to come. The inside Files for store ads Baseball protectors work good. I saw some other ladies with picture sized protectors, but Jarrod and Carter had extra of the baseball variety, so that’s what I used. (When I get some more money I’m going to get the picture sized, less cutting/ scrunching.)And my dividers for my different categories

I’m going again Monday. Whish me luck!!
And a personal ‘Thank you’ to Amy and Teresa I couldn’t have done it without all your help and tips!!

Here are some of my favorite sites that helped me with it:
The Krazy Coupon Lady
Pinching Your Pennies
The Obsessive Shopper

3 comments:

Evelyn said...

WOW! WOW! WOWWEEE! WOW! I just don't get it! I am a coupon virgin and I am ultra impressed! I am equally scared. I just know I will get the grumpiest cashier if I try to do this and I can't stand to inconvenience people. Plus it really embarrasses Clayton. He won't even come into the store with me since I have started trying to do "price matching" at Walmart. Way to go!! Keep posting about this. I am curious to hear how it goes.

Rachel said...

That's really awesome, sis. You're giving me inspiration...slowly :)

Cannwin said...

and for what purpose are the 7 jars of frosting?

food storage? so when the world ends at least you'll go down with a sweet taste in your mouth. lol ;)

very nice savings my dear