I have for years seen little news clips on TV about those who can go into a store and buy lots of product for pennies on the dollar, or free. I always thought that was neat, that I'd like to be able to do that, but I never took the time, back then I never even clipped coupons.
Then I had children, and I became a stay at home mother, and finances became tighter, so I started clipping coupons, on one shopping trip I saved over $20 off an over $200 purchase, it was worth it to me to take the time to clip.
Now I've moved into a new home, with a mortgage we didn't have before and still only one income, things have become tighter (yes the new home is totally worth that), and THEN I saw a show on TLC a couple weeks ago about extreme couponing, I couldn't get it out of my head, and I've been thinking about it for weeks.
Last week I started researching some things online, coupons, websites with free samples. This week I decided I needed to put my best effort into my first attempt at extreme couponing, my first trip to the store to get something for almost nothing. I decided to start with Rite Aid. I read the flyer, I clipped coupons from the Sunday paper, I went to their website and watched some videos which resulted in more coupons, and Rite Aid as well as some other stores (CVS, Target to name a couple) allows you to use their coupon printed from their website AND the manufacturer's coupon = double savings!
I decided to start small and only with items that I would actually use, I've seen some of these couponers buy up loads of items they'll never use (or should I say get as really they're not buying the items but rather receiving them for free) and donate them to shelters or other causes, which is something I would like to do once I get better at this. I have learned that this is a time consuming process, but I know once I get into it more and get better and more experienced it will be less time consuming.
And the results:
Let me break it all down for you:
To get the sale prices I used my rite aid wellness plus card.
(A hint there, both my father and I use the same card, therefore two household purchases go on the card, which means more points, and more savings!)
The paper plates were buy one get one free, there was a coupon on riteaid.com for $3 off 2, droping my price down to 99 cents, but it doesn't end there, I watched a video online about rite aid pharmacy and received a $1 off my next purchase coupon, meaning I got both packages of plates for FREE.
The Angel Soft was sale for $.97. I viewed a video online at riteaid.com about Rite Aid's wellness program and received a coupon for $1 off my next purchase, meaning the toilet paper was FREE.
The Chex Mix was on sale for 2 for $3. I printed off a coupon at riteaid.com for 50 cents off one, and clipped a coupon from the Sunday paper for $1 off 2. Then I watched yet another video about rite aid online for a $1 off my next purchase coupon, leaving me to pay $.50 for the two bags of chex mix, but with the 4 cents left over from the coupons above I actually paid 46 cents. Add the 19 cents tax and my grand total was $.65!
How could it get better than that? It does! I also got two $1 +up coupons on my receipt! A Rite Aid +up coupon is a fancy way of saying money off your next purchase! So not only did I only pay $.65 I also got two free dollars, Rite Aid actually paid me $1.35 to buy these items!
So what did I do with the $2 +up rewards? I made one more purchase! I purchased this:
Not bad for my first official extreme couponing trip. I hope to improve my skills and inspire you to save!
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