Couponing Works: My First Experience

Alright, so for the past week I have been researching and writing about how we can all save money with coupons. Well, today I decided to put my newfound knowledge to the test just to see how much I could save. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was…and I did save money! Here’s my results and what I did to get there.

I know you can’t really tell with the way I have the cereal boxes, but there are a total of six cereal boxes there (two of each type of cereal). Okay, so here’s the “skinny” on my savings today. I purchased a total of 15 items (16 if you count the $1.00 March of Dimes donation) at Kmart. My grand total was $31.79, but with my coupons I saved a total of $36.29!! I’m pretty excited about this because I actually saved more than I spent!

All I did was follow the advice I have shared with you over the past week. Since I didn’t get last week’s Sunday paper, I went online and printed off manufacturer coupons for the things my family uses. That took a little time – visiting the various coupon websites and clicking the coupons I wanted, printing them and then clipping them. This step was probably the most time consuming for me.

Next, I went to Walgreens and Kmart and picked up copies of their weekly fliers as I had decided early on that I didn’t want to start off my coupon shopping at Wal-Mart. I then came home and browsed the weekly specials. Since I’m not a member of the Walgreens reward program yet, I decided to go with Kmart.

All of the items I bought were already on sale (except the Suave body wash…that was just something I needed and didn’t have a coupon for…it was $1.99). The toothpaste was on sale 2/$6 and I had two $1.00/1 coupons making the actual price 2/$4. The cereal was on sale 2/$4 and I had two $1.00/3 coupons bringing the total price for the cereal $10 ($1.67 per box). The Fruit Rollups were on sale 2/$4 and I had two .75/1 coupons, making that total $2.50 for both boxes. The shampoo was on sale Buy 1 Get 1 50% off and I had a $2.00/2 coupon, dropping the price to $6.00 for both bottles. Finally, my greatest savings was on the women’s razors. Those Schick razors were $12.99 a pack, but were on sale for Buy 1 Get 1 Free…I had a coupon for $6.00/2 boxes – making my total $6.99 for

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about my savings today. I know it isn’t as great as some, but considering it was my first time and I saved more than I spent, I’m pretty excited.

I wanted to get out and try the couponing for myself so I could share my results with you to show you that couponing really does work! If you take the time to follow the steps found in the previous posts and plan ahead, you can save a considerable amount of money on the items you and your family use on a regular basis!