Shopping Trip #1!

It's been a few weeks since I've been researching coupons and using The Grocery Game.  I felt pretty confident about my strategy on what products to purchase, but I still wanted to start small.  It's a little unnerving to hand over forty coupons at the check-out while customers are lined up behind you, all the while trying to make sure that each scans correctly.  So I made a small list for both Kroger and Walgreens (and I do mean small!)  But I just wanted to prove to myself that it could be done. 

I made my lists in a small notebook that is now my designated shopping log.  A week earlier, I made a coupon binder with clear plastic pages to store and organize all the coupons I'd been clipping (one thing I noticed about The Grocery Game is that when it lists which coupons you need to use for the products you have selected, it organizes them by the date of the Sunday paper they came in, not by category - since then, I've been keeping my coupons organized by the date of the insert).  

Walgreens
I set out with two identical coupons for $8 off any two Covergirl face products.  An advertised special meant that I could get two LashBlast mascaras for $2.64 each, and that's what I planned to stock up on.  BUT, when I got to the store, all Covergirl products were on sale, buy one, get one 50% off!  I bought two different shades of lipstick (which retail for $7.49) and two eyeshadow compacts (retailing for $5.49 and $3.49), since I had wanted to buy this stuff anyway at some point.

My total SHOULD have been $25.16, but with $16.00 in manufacturing coupons and $5.50 in store sale savings, I paid only $3.66!  That's less than a dollar per item! 

I walked out of Walgreens feeling nearly guilty that I purchased cosmetics for an absolute steal, but I also felt giddy and empowered.  Also slightly sickened by the fact that I spent years and years paying full retail for this stuff!

Kroger
My next stop was Kroger, my local super market.  My carefully planned list paid off.  I walked out with:

Three 2-liters of Dr. Pepper
Lay's Potato Chips
A package of Oreos
Two tubes of Colgate toothpaste
Two boxes of Pillsbury Scrambles sandwiches
Two tubes of Nivea lipbalm
Two Tai Pei frozen meals
Package of Lipton's Cup-a-Soup
A loaf of white bread

...and spent a total of $14.21! 

Now, I'm sure to some extreme couponers, that wasn't much of a deal, but I proved to myself that I could save substantial amounts with some planning.  My total should have been $38.38, I saved 64%!

I'm sure that as I hone my couponing skills, the savings will be even greater.  And I'm realizing that brand loyalty will be thrown out the window, which doesn't matter too much to me if I can score these kinds of savings!

Stay inspired!  Tell me about your first couponing experience!