Stocking up, and naming your price!

Who among us has not read the posts by people claiming to be able to feed their family of four and a stray cat on twelve cents a week? I know, I know, I exaggerate, but really. We've all read the ones who claim to only spend about $30 a week to feed their fam. I thought it was a pack of lies. But, friends, it can be done. And done well. The secret behind this ability is to STOCK PILE. I am going to post some pics here of some of my stashes...

The Capri Suns are something we consider a staple at the Witness household, so at $1 per box, I stocked up. They won't last long...we'd already gone through two boxes when I snapped this pic.

We LOVE Smores Goldfish, and most any other type of Goldfish for that matter as long as I don't have to change it's bowl......Kroger had these 10 for $10 and I had .75 off each one in paper coupons,,I also had ecoupons for .50 off of two. I got FREE Goldfish. The Flatbreads are another of my addictions, they are normally around $3 so when I scored these for $1, I stocked up.


I don't pay for toothbrushes. Kroger also had OralB 10 for $10 and I had .50 q's which they doubled. Wag's (Walgreen's) had Reach for .99 each and I had $1 q's....so those were free. I'm waiting for them to do that one again!


Again, Kroger had the Crest 10 for $10 and I had .50 q's which they doubled. I had a couple of .75 cent ones so I had to pay a quarter for those since they only double to .60.....I paid $1.25 for 14 of them...plus tax

All of the men's razors where either FREE or FREE plus money back. Don't get confused, they will not REFUND money to you. The way this works is that the money is applied to the rest of your bill. So don't go in and buy ONE item and have a coupon worth more than the value and think they will give you money for it....if you find a store than does, call me, I'm goin' shopping there. Most all of the women's razors were free at Target. I had to pay .50 each for two packs, but the rest were freebies.

The shaving cream was .50 per can after a Wag's coupon matched up with a manufacturer coupon. The 3 Nivea Body washes were .99 each and the other body washes behind it were free, all at Wag's.

The pepsi products I got at Wag's yesterday. GREAT SALE. they were 4 12 packs for $8 after a $5 rr. My sister mailed me two q's from her paper that were for $2 off 4 so I got them for $1.50 a 12 pack. Thanks Sis!!She's my partner in this thing.


The pantry is a crazy mess, please excuse it. I plan to organize it this week....bwahahahah. Yeah right. The puddings were almost free at Target when I matched their q's, the fruit cup packs were .94 for each container of 4. Lots of free soup in the background.



That is just what I have handy. I also have a stash of Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener that I've been living off of for almost a year. I have over 15 Toaster Strudel pkgs in the deep freeze, ditto for Lean Cuisines, and so forth. I got most of these for nearly free if not totally free. When I can get items for almost nothing I will get as many as I can, so that I will not be at their mercy when I need something. If you have a stockpile then you can name the price you are willing to pay for an item instead of having to pay what they are asking. For example....I'm not willing to pay for than .25 for toothpaste. I'm not willing to pay for toothbrushes at all, the same goes for deodorant, which I didn't take a picture of, but I have about 15 sticks. If you don't have any and you need it, then they have the upper hand. So you get the idea. Stock pile your regulars and then you don't have to buy them later. You'd be surprised how low your grocery bill is if you don't have to buy washing products or toiletries. If you're stocked on cereal and soup and such that's even less. I'm to the point that I really only need to buy meat, milk, and bread for a while. But if I do that I'll lose my stock pile. So I just stay on top of what I can get for free or close to it.

Another thing about coupons is that you can't be brand loyal if you want to maximize your savings. If Sure is on sale for .99 and you have a $1 coupon, then that's the kind you might want to use instead of Secret this month. There are some things you just can't change though and for those go ahead and get the free item and donate it to a needy cause. I can't tell you how many bags of things I've given away 6 bags of things in just the last 6 weeks. If there is a favorite, like Crest at my house, then consider going to a clipping service like Kuntry Klippers and purchasing a bundle of coupons for your favorite item. That way when it goes on sale you can buy bulk.

Now go...clean off a shelf and get ready!

Sunday 8/29

Don't forget to buy multiple papers on Sunday 8/29. These will have an extra coupon insert from Proctor and Gamble. It usually has some great high value coupons!!

Coupon Organization

Organization is key in successful couponing. I've tried numerous methods for organizing my coupons. Everything from the box method, to having them in envelopes by store, or carrying them around in little accordion coupon holders in my purse. These methods may work great for you, but the binder method works best for me. With the binder method, I have all of my coupons with me ALL the time. I can see them, I don't have to DIG through to find them. It makes it MUCH better. Here are some pictures of my binder.

I bought this binder in the fall last year marked down to $3.


I keep a pen and a little pair of fold out scissors to clip any coupons that I may come across at the last minute.

I have a clear view zipper pouch up front that I keep rainchecks and store coupons(rr rewards/catalinas/ECBs)in. This way I don't forget about them since most of these expire rather quickly. On the left there is a three section accordion that is sized perfectly for shopping ads, and grocery lists, etc.

I downloaded my dividers from Krazy Coupon Lady.





My coupons are in baseball card holders that I bought for $5.77 a pack.
Lastly, I used "Post It" stick on tabs for labels to keep them in order according to the table of contents. I adjusted the contents to fit my needs. For example, I didn't need a baby section.....Thank you, Krazy Coupon Lady for making this available.

This is the only method I found that didn't leave me completely frustrated, standing in the isle with a stack of coupons going through them over and over trying to find a particular one.
I know it may look cumbersome, but it's so worth it.

Let's Go Krogering....

Today, I went to Kroger. My bill was $116.45, but I paid $46.05, and the manufacturer's paid for the rest.

Okay...Time for true confessions! I was a shopper who made a list of needs for the week, thumbed through the Sunday paper and clipped what coupons I thought would go with it and then headed to the store only to find that once my coupon was redeemed I would still be better off to just buy the store brand. Those were sad times people.
I didn't have a CLUE what I was doing.

Who doesn't have a Kroger card? I think everyone in the central part of the United States has one. They are HANDY. You can load couopons DIRECTLY onto your Kroger card and never cut one out again...but you'll want to before I'm done. First, here is a list and link to the places from which you can load coupons directly to your Kroger card:
Kroger.com That's right. You can go to their own website and choose coupons to load directly to your card.
Shortcuts.com
Cellfire.com

At each of these sites you will need to register your Kroger card number, found on the back of your card. I have never received junk mail, or a phone call or text from any of these sites. I have, however, saved a ton of money using their coupons.
Once you have loaded the coupons on your card they will automatically come off when the cashier scans your Kroger card. There is no need to even mention it to the cashier, because they don't have to do anything. The fun part is that you can ALSO use a paper coupon for the same product. AND MY KROGER DOUBLES up to .60. So you can very likely get some FREE or really cheap items. Here is an example:
Kroger had these on sale in their buy 8 get $4 off promotion this week...That would make them .69 each. $2.76 for all four....

I had 3 coupons loaded on my Kroger card from varios e-coupon sites listed above. I had two q's loaded for .50 off, and another loaded for .75 off this took $1.75 off immediatly. Then I had 2 paper coupons for .50 off one. They doubled both of these, and then I had a coupon for .75 off of two, so I saved $2.75 in paper coupons. So the total I owed for these before coupons was 2.76, when I was done, they owed me $1.74....which was just applied to the rest of my grocery bill. Not only were they FREE, they were a money maker.
Now get off of here and go register your Kroger card!!

The Wal-Mart Deception

Back in the day did you ever know one of those kids who talked tough? I mean the kid that everyone was intimidated by and NO ONE wanted to cross. Then one day somebody got sick of it and stood up to the bully and found out he wasn't so tough after all. Well, that is the deception of Wal-Mart. They have this reputation, which they've spent millions to build, of having the lowest price any where in the land. But, like the bully, they are all talk. When faced with a public armed with "shopping savvy" they roll over, or "ROLL BACK" as the case may be, and play dead. I grew up in Wal-Mart country. I remember the FIRST super-centers. Every time the would open a new one, they would start HUGE price wars with the local grocery chains. Milk for $1 a gallon, Bread for $.25, and so forth. This is one of the ways they got the reputation for having the lowest price. But man can not live by bread and milk alone,,,and Wal-Mart knows this well. Wal-Mart will price comp your ads.....this is a fairy tail most of the time. They will price comp, if: you have your ad present, the advertising store is local, you are wearing a striped shirt at the time you are making your purchase, AND if the cashier is in a good mood. LOL but really THIS is where I was deceived. I was a shopper who would look at the ad for other stores, and see that most of what they had on sale in their ad was not what I was buying, and just assume that everything else they had was more expensive than Wal-Mart. So I didn't even bother going to them. The truth is, that other stores are on to this price matching game and have more UNADVERTISED sales than they have in their sale ad. Quite often over HALF of the good deals I find while shopping are unadvertised. AND..even if they were, and I had Wal-Mart to comp them, they won't double my coupons like Kroger will. They don't have Wal-Mart coupons online that you can match with manufacturer coupons like Target does. I think if more Target Super Centers would go in, Wal-Mart would have to change the way they do business.


I was among the imtimidated, and shall I say it, uneducated shoppers who threw money at Wal-Mart in obscene amounts. I thought at one point we'd be better off to have our paychecks directly deposited to Wal-Mart and they could just pay us what was left. In loose change. I have gone from spending well over $600 a month at Wal-Mart, to around $150 or so per month.

Once I began to coupon, and started shopping at stores other than Wal-Mart, mostly because they are not overly coupon friendly, I began to see how I'd been deceived. Wal-Mart does still have their good deals. But all in all, NOT the best bang for the buck, FO SHO!! Our local Wal-Mart is pretty easy going about couponing. But I've been to a couple that are insane about it. They'll take your coupon if both YOU AND the CASHIER are wearing striped shirts, and she/He is in a good mood.

I say all of this to encourage you to get out and look around. It may take a little time at first to familiarize yourself with other stores prices, but it's worth it. If you are shopping at Wal-Mart for convenience, then they can't be beat. Otherwise....it's time to see other people...umm, err, stores.

Registering for Coupons....

Have you ever been out with your friends and some loser won't leave you alone? Finally you give him your friend's number a fake number so he'll buzz off.....Well, you might want to do a version of that with all of the companies you are going to sign up to receive coupons from. Not really your phone number, but with your email address. It's easy to make a new email address, you can do it through Yahoo, Gmail, or many others. Make it something impersonal and don't give it to anyone except the companies you are registering with. That way your personal mail box does not get bombarded, and you can log on to your "fake" address only when you want to check for coupons and special offers. In the posts to follow, I'll be naming companies, and giving links where you can sign up for Q's.
Happy Couponing!

Target Freebies today!

Today I made a run to Target in Olive Branch. I usually go there because they have a grocery section. The fact that they have a Starbucks has NOTHING to do with it.....Anyway today was a good Target day.

They had the 16 oz Wishbone Italian on sale (unadvertised) for $1.50. I had the Target Q for .75 and a manufacturer Q for .75 so it was free. The ChefBoyRDee was on sale, also unadvertised for .82 and they have a printable on their site for $1 off 1 can, so it was free as well. You can get two prints for most of their coupons, then you have reached your limit and they remove it from your menu of Q's...I had a coupon from Kraft for the Free Mac and Cheese, sign up at Kraft First Taste, it takes a little time in the beginning, but SOOO worth it. They have sent me FREE Q's for many items.
I was also able to score Bagel Bites for .24 per box. They are on sale for $2.24 and there was a printable at Target for $1, I also had a manufacturer Q for $1, so that makes it .24. I was surprised that the Campbell's Select Harvest Soup Bowls were also on sale for $1.50 and there was a Target Q for .50 I added to the $1 Q I got from Campbell's Kitchen, for which you may sign up HERE! They usually have a variety of Q's that changes regularly. Just sign up and log in, click the savings tab.
I had Free coupons for the SoBe water from the game on their website. You can still play HERE! Elly loves this stuff and it has less sugar than Kool-Aid or soda and it's free,,,so sounds like a win/win to me. All of the items I purchased are not pictured. I only photograph FREE items. My total savings on my bill was 71%. I shoot for anything over 50%, so I was pleased.

When you're at Target, always browse the back isle end caps. They have tons of unadvertised mark downs. Today I found Biore' facial cleanser and Clean and Clear Morning Burst, both marked down to $2.48. With coupons, it was nearly free. Always keep your coupons with you at all times so that when you come across a clearance item you don't have to pout all the way home about how you could've gotten it for free if only you'd had your coupons.....not that I would do that or anything.