What a rush!!!!

Okay, so today, I made my first extreme couponing trip and wow, what a rush!!! I have always loved to save and I find myself to be pretty darn good at it when it comes to clothes and accessories, but today I tried my hand at groceries and I think I was pretty successful using less than the 10 bucks I had in my wallet!

I researched the last two days, not too much maybe two hours total, but thanks to my friend Terra Gaines Rhodes and www.moneysavingmoms.com the whole process seemed a lot less overwhelming.

Here's how my shopping trip went:

Wal-Mart-(Tax not included)
          Frigo String Cheese
                     33 cents a piece (store price)
                   - 50 cent coupon per item purchased (mfc from this week's paper)
                     17 cents Wal-Mart paid me!
                   x 36 string cheese purchased and 36 coupons used
                 $6.12 Wal-Mart paid me to buy string cheese!


          Reach Dental Floss
                    88 cents a piece (store price)
                 -$1  coupon per item purchased (coupon.com)
                   12 cents Wal-Mart paid me!
                  x 2 reach dental floss purchased and 2 coupons used
                   24 cents Wal-Mart paid me to buy dental floss!


         Allegra 5 count allergy medicine
                  $5.94 a piece (store price)
                 -$5      coupon per item purchased (mfc from this week's paper)
                   .94 cents
                 -$2  coupon per item purchased (coupon.com) (Target.com also has one)
               $1.06 Wal-Mart Paid me to buy allergy medicine


     Total Cost for Wal-Mart
              -$7.42 (Wal-Mart wouldn't pay me though because they didn't know how to so I bought
                          a bottle of FIJI water, a bottle of Dove Hair Spray, and two canisters of 3 Hour
                          mints.)
              $1.66 new total because Wal-Mart couldn't figure out how to pay me to shop there, lol!


Walgreens (tax not included)
     Nivea Body Wash
            $3.79 a bottle ( sale price)
           -$3      coupon per item (mfc in this week's paper)
              .79 cents a bottle
            X 2 bottle purchased and 2 coupons used
             $1.58 total paid for 2 large bottles of body wash

     Scotch Brand Tape
            $1.99 (store price)
            X    3 you must buy 3 rolls of tape
             $5.97
           -$3.98 Walgreens coupon (buy 1 roll of tape, get two free - this was in Sunday's insert)
            $1.99  
           -$2.00 coupon (scotch brand has a coupon for $1 off of a roll so I used two)
               -.01 cent  total paid for 3 rolls of tape

      Reach Toothbrushes
           $1.59 (store price)
          -$1      coupon per item purchased (coupon.com)
               .59 cents
           x     3 reach tooth brushes purchased and 3 coupons used
            $1.77 total paid for three tooth brushes

      Splenda
          Walgreens was out the Splenda I wanted to purchased but I did get a rain check for it. 
          They have the 80 count fiber plus individual Splenda packets on sale for 2.99.  I have a
          coupon for $3 off from this week's paper, so when I go back it will be free!!!! Remember
          you rain checks! 

   Total cost for Walgreen (tax not included)
             $3.34

So all in all, I spent $5.28 (this is the total with tax included) and took home 36 cheese sticks, 2 large body washes, 3 rolls of tape, 3 toothbrushes, a box of allegra allergy medicine, 2 containers of dental floss, a bottle of FIJI Water, a bottle of Dove hairspray, and two canisters of BreatheSavers 3 Hour Mints!

I'm looking forward to my next shopping adventure, I still have a few items I'm planning on picking up at Target later this week when I can get into Fort Worth.  The best part about this is that I didn't even go to Kroger or Tom Thumb who normally double and triple coupons, I can't wait until I get time to do that!

Lesson Learned from this Trip-

1. Look for the smallest quantity your coupon will allow you to purchase!  Yes, I know we live in America and always seem to want to buy as much as we can at once but coupons really work best when you purchase the smallest quantity possible. If it free, its free!!!
2. Rain checks! Rain checks! Rain checks! These are great!  Always ask for one if the store is out of the item you want to buy and it happens to be on sale by the store at that time!
3. Look at your weekly ad for the drug stores, if you don't see a great price, check Wal-Mart first! I purchased the dental floss for 88 cents a piece so with my coupon they paid me 12 cents a piece to buy them.  Had I gone to Walgreens the cost was 1.89 and even worse at CVS 3.19! So I would of paid more at these two stores with a coupon for the floss than the normal cost without a coupon at Wal-Mart! And remember, if its advertised in the weekly ad, Wal-Mart will honor the price!