Here is my trip to Safeway today. I still have to go to CVS and Target for a few more things.
Safeway Salad Dressing $1.97- free with coupon
Safeway Marinade $3.39- free with coupon
Safeway salsa $3.49- free with coupon
Brown Gravy Mix $.77
Girard’s Salad Dressing $1.49- used $2 coupon
Mission Tortillas $3.19-free with coupon
Chef Michael’s Dog Food $14.99- used $10 off coupon
Frozen peas $2.00- free with coupon
Brown Rice .99- free with coupon
Whole Wheat Bread $2.29
Farmland Bacon $2.99- used $1 coupon
2 Johnsonville Italian Sausage $1.99 each- used $1 coupons
Organic Celery $3.99
Safeway Minced Garlic $1
2 Eating Right Salad Blends $1.99
3lbs organic apples $3.99
Plus I used a $10 off $50 Safeway coupon. So the total was about $12.
Now this isn’t an example of me being a fabulous coupon queen at all. I just happened to get incredibly lucky and my grocery store decided to give me a bunch of free food. So I wasn’t going to post this trip at all but I wanted to give this as an example for new couponers. There is no doubt that coupons put a tremendous amount of money back in our pockets- especially when combined with sales. But I do want to encourage you to be a little inquisitive when you see people claiming they got $200 in groceries for $5 and so on. It certainly is possible to do but personally I always like to see the exact breakdown of transactions. In the case above my total before coupons and club card savings was $65. So I could easily say that I saved 80% and leave it at that but that wouldn’t really be a fair representation of a regular shopping trip that anyone could replicate. I have a fistful of other free item coupons from various places so I could have thrown those in the mix and claimed even larger savings.
I totally agree with you! Sure you can order coupons online, go in and buy 100 of the freebies and say you saved 100% (or just pay tax), but that’s not a realistic shopping trip! Oh, and remember you are still spending money to buy the coupons. What I appreciate most about your blog is that you shop like a real person and I would say I shop very similar to you. Buy a few extra things when the price is low, but not accumulate a huge amount of surplus that I have to either manage or make sure I eat before it expires. Thank you for setting a real example for new couponers instead of the sensationalized version we are seeing on TV that is bringing new couponers to the table! 🙂
Thanks Tiffany. I wasn’t trying to pat myself on the back I just meant the true story isn’t always shared and it is nice to know precisely how people did things 😉 I think people are getting set up for failure because the true reality of how people accomplished huge savings are not being shared. (Buying coupons, accumulating free item coupons, buying things to earn catalinas and using those cats to reduce the bill etc.. etc..)
Hi Charlene,
Safeway has coupons for their own brand name products? Where do you get them? A Safeway just opened near my house, so I need to get on this deal. I’d say what you’ve accomplished looks like a great deal!
I agree, Tiffany and Charlene. I like to have a pantry/freezer/HBA cabinet, stocked with items I like, that I bought for as little as possible. I also want a whole foods diet of fresh fruit, veges and meat/fish. But I don’t want to dedicate a room or a floor of my house to a stockpile, as I’ve seen on Extreme Couponing. Nor do I buy stuff I don’t want/use just because I have a coupon. I do plan my menu around what produce is on sale that week.
Every once in a while, the stars align and you can get out of a grocery store with a lot of food for next to nothing. I monitor how I’m doing by running quarterly reports in Quicken. Since food is seasonal, that is a more accurate look at how I’m doing. Of course, I run annual reports, as I do for all line items in our spending. Can you tell I’m a business owner? 😉
I agree with Tiffany . Ur blog is realistic ..For example I never ever have 10 coupons from any insert to do some spectacular deal posted on most blogs;) Also I do not like to hoard,buy in moderation, stock up on essentials..get me a good price on toilet paper & paper towels someone !!! I was planning on doing something similar with Safeway coupons too and get some chicken with $10 off ..Love ur blog and enjoy reading ur shopping trips and menu plans.
How do you accumulate the free item coupons? I’ve gotten a couple of things (Cooking Cream, Creamer,yogurt) but that’s it. What is the best way to start accumulating more useful everyday shopping coupons?
Jen- there have been a lot of them on Facebook lately. I also get them from sites like Vocalpoint and Kraft First taste. I tend to hold onto my coupons for a long time and then use them when I can really maximize them. Like a BOGO sale or if I have a $10 off $50 grocery store coupon etc… Otherwise, I think free item coupons are harder and harder to come by so it sounds to me like you are on the right track. I just hoard them so it looks impressive once I finally use them all 🙂
Suzanne- I showed the coupons in the post here:
http://myfrugaladventures.com/2011/04/in-my-mailbox-today-coupon-lottery/
I agree with everyone else. I love your blog the best b/c it is realistic and you do transactions that are similar to what I do (and I can copy you sometimes, haha). I follow some other blogs who do more “hardcore” stockpiling, and I get a few tips here and there from them, but yours is the one I always turn to when I am planning my shopping trips.
Thanks for sharing. And I love that your deals were on “real” food and stuff I would actually buy. I don’t usually buy a lot of processed foods, even if they are cheap, so I appreciate seeing these deals. A side note – I’ve been having an easier time at Vons, now that I only go the one with self-checkout at the next town north – no more checker hassles!
I am afraid of what that Extreme Couponing show is going to do for us “regular” coupon gals (& guys). I think it is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous some of the things they do. I agree with everyone else – I LOVE your blog. I have tried to follow some other couponing blogs and they are too confusing. I know lots of people are saying it, but I don’t think one more could hurt – your blog is the BEST! My husband thinks I’m a bit crazy, but he loves the savings! Keep it up girlie!
Thanks Michelle! I really don’t want to put anyone down- I just know myself how some of these trips were done and I would like to see full disclosure from these shoppers 😛 If I go to Safeway this week and spend $90 on groceries and get a $10 catalina coupon, then I go to Safeway and spend $11 on groceries, use a $1 coupon and my $10 cat- did I “save” 100%? What if I just posted the $11 in products and neglected to mention that other $90 I dropped and just told you I used coupons to save 100%? Well that isn’t really accurate and is very misleading so that was my point 🙂 If I posted this trip and left off all the details and said I spent $12 it seems very deceptive to me. I hope that makes sense.
While I have no problem “stockpiling” I do have a problem with bloggers that receive tons of free coupons to review products and not always share that info when they post their shopping trips.
Forgot to add … Thanks so much for your honesty. And for your dedication to helping all of us!
Well I have seen that too Polly and I think it is shameful 🙂 Especially when it says I spent $2 for all this and doesn’t say how! I am a blogger and I don’t get coupons for free products unless I go to a conference.
They have amazing coupons there and last year at Blog Her there was a whole room of stuff people didn’t want- typical conference giveaway stuff like shirts and mugs- anyway- non coupon bloggers can’t be bothered with coupons so apparently there was a whole table of coupons for freebies free for the taking. There were free laundry soap coupons up to $10 in there and one blogger took several and I saw she had a spectacular shopping trip and of course I knew instantly how she did it because I got the coupons myself so I thought that was terrible. How many people get $10 off laundry soap coupons? Totally unfair to not disclose she had free item coupons by the fistful. I have to remember to go to that room this year and snatch them up for giveaways.
Anyway, the coupons I posted weren’t from blogging but from a lucky run at the mailbox. Those could have gone to anyone.
It’s easy to pay little out of pocket on the Extreme Couponing show when you notice that they buy coupons and look at what their buying-all pasta and the Ramen noodle type high sodium foods! I didn’t notice anyone buying produce, meat or organic/gluten free foods!
Hey Charlene, I plan on using my mailer this weekend that you used for this shopping trip. I was reading the fine print on the $10/$50 coupons and it says, “With a single purchase of $50 or more in a single visit after deduction of Safeway Club Savings and manufacturers’ coupons ….” What is your interpretation or that? Are they speaking of mfr coupons attached to your card or just mfr coupons in general? In the past I have used these coupons with a $50 total after only Club Card Savings first then presented other mfr coupons to lower my total further and not had a problem. And it looks like you did the same …. any thoughts on this? Thanks!
Um.. I didn’t read any of that. I just gave the $10 off first and it was fine 🙂