Marsh Triple Coupon Special!

Attention Indiana (and some Ohio) couponers! Marsh Supermarkets is tripling all manufacturer coupons up to $3, up until tomorrow! Triple coupon deals don't come around often, so take advantage of it! I got up this morning and took a trip to the store and got some fabulous deals!

Here are the best deals I got:

Wheat Thins Stix: 2 for $4. I had 3 $1/1 coupons that tripled to $3/1, making a dollar on each! I got these coupons at Wal Mart, at the sample station, but I think they might have also been in the mail at some point.

Era Laundry Detergent: $2.99. I had a $1/1 coupon, so it was free!

Kraft Dressing: $1.66. Had $1/2, so I paid $.32 for both of them!

Zest 3 pack bar soap: $2.59. Had $1/2. Free.

Glade Room Spray: $3.09. $1/1 from Country Living Magazine. $.09!

My best tip is to just go in with all your coupons and spend some time going down each of the aisles. I found great deals, just by doing this!

Before my store card and coupons, the cost of the transaction was almost $59. After coupons, the final cost was $.53! My total purchases included Era detergent, 2 jars of Ragu, 3 cans of Pringles, Wishbone dressing, 2 bottles of Kraft dressing, 2 tubes of Crest, Kikkoman teryaki, Glade Room Spray, French's honey mustard, a Hidden Valley salad kit, 3 boxes of Wheat Thin Stix, 3 pack Zest bar soap, and Vaseline lotion. All for less than a dollar!

I also stopped by Wal Mart to get more Nexcare band aids, Wilkonson disposable razors, and Aquafresh trial size toothpaste, all for just tax. My total spending today was $.96. Less than my large coke from McDonald's!

For a list of Marsh specials and freebies here, here, and here.

The days purchases.

My Saturday Project

Since I just started couponing about a month ago, I was still using an accordion-type binder to keep my coupons and it was getting messy and stressful, so I made it today's goal to get a new, more organized system. While I was at Wal Mart today, I grabbed a package of baseball collection page organizers. They have 9 slots per page that work great for coupons. For $5 you get 35 pages, which was more than I needed, as it turned out, but will be great as my collection grows. I always have spare binders lying around, being a college student, so all that was left was the sorting. It was time consuming, to say the least, but doing so while watching Dirty Dancing made the time go by faster (RIP Patrick Swayze, you hunk). I now have a lovely, organized coupon binder, which makes me feel a little bit more professional. My only complaint is that for some reason, the middle 3 sections of the organizer pages were not slit, so I could not put coupons in them. But se la vie. Pictures, if anyone cares, follow:

 

 

I made a super cute cover for it. Makes me happy!

Such a better system now. Thank goodness.

Small purchase, Big Success

I took an impromptu trip to Wal Mart today and of course, couldn't help but coupon just a little. I FINALLY got to take advantage of the great Rimmel nail polish deal, as Wal Mart had the right product and price matches. I grabbed a sheer purple and a deep green for just $.19 a piece before tax.

I also found a great deal while looking through the cosmetic and beauty clearance bins. I found 2 1.7 oz. Old Spice body washes (travel size) that were on sale for just $.50. I had a coupon for $1/2 ANY, so they were free! I also used $.75/1 ANY Degree deodorant coupon to pick up a travel sized deodorant for just $.23. That is a big thing to watch out for on coupons. When they say ANY try to see if they have travel sized, as you can usually get them for free or just pocket change, as I demonstrated in this trip. Last week at Target I used an Aquafresh Extreme Clean coupon for $1/1 ANY and grabbed a trial size for free! Grab this coupon here. It is the next to last on this list (NOT the trial size!)

The final cost of these few items, the 2 body washes, the deodorant, and both the nail polishes, was $1.06. The pre-coupon price was almost $7! Not bad for almost no planning!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Memorial Day!

Walgreen's Trip: Hit and Miss

I spent an hour or two preparing for a trip to Walgreen's tonight. I clipped, printed, and searched, looking up all the deals I wanted to take advantage of. Here was my list:

2 Rimmel Nail Colors $.19 (deal listed earlier yesterday)
2 Listerine Whitening + Restore $.20
                    Starting Price Approx. $6
                    Use 2 $1/1 printable coupons
                    Use $3/1 in-ad coupon (will ring up as $6 off)
                    I paid $4.40 out of pocket and received $4 Register Rewards
1 Bayer Advanced Aspirin FREE
                    Starting price $4.50
                    Use $1/1 coupon
                    Use $1.50/1 in-ad coupon
                    Use $1/1 May coupon booklet (ask cashier if you can't find them)
10 Tuf Paper Towels $.50 with in-ad coupon
2 Nestle candy bars $.49 with in-ad coupon

I broke them into two orders to take advantage of the RR I would be getting for the Listerine.

Order 1

2 Listerine

Total: $4.40 Receive $4 RR

Order 2

2 Nail Polishes

1 Bayer

2 Candy Bar

10 Paper towel

-$4 RR

-$1 RR from last week

Total: Approx. $2

Well, things didn't work out as well as I wanted... My small Walgreen's didn't have the right Rimmel nail polish, and nothing else that was the right price to match the deal. So that was out. They had everything else, however. So I went to the register. The first transaction went off without a hitch with a total of $4.40. The RR printed off right and all was good.

The 2nd transaction had a little speed bump though. The cashier and manager would not take the May Bayer coupon. They insisted that the coupon was not speaking of the Advanced Aspirin even though the coupon just said Bayer Aspirin. I didn't want to argue, since it was closing time, so I just had them void the aspirin and go on with the order. Everything else worked and I paid $1.80 total for the 2nd order.

I paid a total of $6.20 and got 2 bottles of Listerine Whitening + Restore, 10 rolls of paper towel, and 2 candy bars. It doesn't feel like a huge success to me, since I like to keep things under $5 usually, but when you think about it, I still got the Listerine for almost free and paper towels cheap. So it was a hit and miss.

How I Got Started

I just finished my first year of college. I lived in a dorm for this year, but next year I will live in my very first apartment. I am very excited, but also nervous. I don't have many expendable funds, rent and utilities have pretty much wiped out my budget, so I came up with a plan. I will coupon, save money, stock pile, and find as much free stuff as possible to have a fun, frivolous life on a dime. Bear with me, I am just learning as well, but I will share my best deals and hopefully it will help you as well. Also, let me know your best tips and tricks. Did you coupon through college or start as a wife and mother? Let's share our best saving tips and together create a better life for all.