a penny a day, week of 10/18/09

Alright let the fun begin!

If you are new to this series, please see my "what can a penny a day get me" post for information on this series.

$3.65 at Walmart:

2 Super Poligrip 0.75 oz (use this coupon... FREE up to 3.99 expires 10/18!) price = FREE

2 Ricola cough drops 19 ct (FREE, 10/11 SS) price = FREE

2 Friskies Natual cat treats (FREE, 10/04 SS) price = FREE

2 Air Wick Ultra I-Motion (6.00 off, 9/13 SS) price = FREE

2 Reeses Candy single packs (0.55 off, 8/23 SS) price = 0.10 each

2 Reach Floss 55 yd (1.00 off, 10/04 RP) price = 0.12 each

2 Huggies Pull Ups flushable wipes (3.00 off/2, 7/9 SS) price = 0.14 each

2 Nestle Carnation Evaporated milk 5oz (0.50 off/2, 9/27 SS) price = 0.38 each

4 Campbells Chicken Noodle or Tomato soup 10.75oz (0.40 off/4, 10/4 SS) = 0.48 each

total before coupons = just over $36.00

total = $3.40 before tax

total savings = 32.60, or about 91% savings

$3.65 at Target:

**my target will allow more than ONE target printable per transaction, but if yours does NOT, you may have to split this into TWO transactions, for the cat food, chex mix, and peanut butter**

4 Glade Scented Oil Glass Holders (1.50/1, in oil tins) price = FREE

4 Glade Scented Oil Refill Packs (FREE when you buy holder, up to 3.99, tearpad) price = FREE

4 Chef Michaels dog food (3.00 off, 10/11 SS AND 1.00 off Target Q 8/31? SS) price = 0.26 each

2 Mortons All Purpose seasoning (1.00 off, IP) price = FREE

2 St Ives travel size lotions (1.00 off, 9/22 SS) price = FREE

2 Fancy Feast Cat appetizers (BOGO, 9/13 RP AND BOGO Target Q) price = FREE

2 Chex mix 3.75 oz in checkout lanes (1.00 Target Q) price = FREE

2 Skippy Peanut Butter (0.75 off, 10/4 RP AND 1.00 off Target Q) = FREE

1 Tide Stain Booser 16oz liquid (1.50 off, Target hangtags) = 2.29 each

total before coupons = over $54.00

total = $3.33 before tax

total savings = 50.67, or about 94% savings

**remember to send your Glade purchases in for a $5.00 mail in rebate**

new total = -1.67!!

$3.65 at Walgreens:

**warning, you may have to do a few transactions to get your money to stretch, but i will list only a few... repeat as needed**

transaction #1:

2 Glade Scented Oil Candle tins (1.50 off, inside package) price = 1.00 each

2 Glade Scented Oil refills (FREE when you buy holder (tin), blinkie) price = FREE

1 Robitussin DM to go (1.00 off, Wags catalina) price = 1.49

total oop $3.49... get 1.00 RR (glade), 2.50 RR (robitussin)

**remember to send your Glade purchases in for a $5.00 mail in rebate**

transaction #2:

1 Halls Refresh Drops (0.75 off, 8/27 SS) price = 0.25

1 ChapStick Fresh Effects price = 2.99

1 travel pack tissues price = 0.27

use 1.00RR, 2.50RR

total oop $0.01... get 1.00 RR (halls), 3.00 RR (chapstick)

transaction #3:

1 Zantac 24 or 30 ct (5.00 off, IP from Zantac site) price = 3.99

2 highlighters (usually in clearance, find something cheap) price = 0.05 each

use 1.00 RR, 3.00 RR

total oop $0.10... get 9.oo RR (Zantac)

transaction #4:

1 Emergen-C Immune or Alert 2 shot pack = 3.49

1 Vasaline Sheer Infusion Lotion (1.50 off, IP) = 6.99

1 highlighter (cheap filler) price = 0.05 each

use 9.00 RR

total oop $0.03... get 3.50 RR (Emergen-C), 7.00 RR (Vasaline)

All transactions:

total before coupons = over $35.00

total = $3.63 before tax

total savings = $31.37, or about 90% savings

**remember to send your Glade purchases in for a $5.00 mail in rebate**

new total = -1.37!! AND you have 10.50 in RR to spend another time!

How much are you REALLY saving?

SAVING is the whole intent of a coupon shopper. So figuring out what is a good deal, and how much you are actually saving is something that you need to figure out early on.

There are a few ways to look at spending and savings. It sure does feel great to see "you saved $42.61" at the bottom of your cash register tape. But, if you spend $236.66 to save that, you may want to reevaluate your shopping list. There are THREE classical ways to look at savings, and to figure out how much you are REALLY saving.

FIRST, the percentage. If you saved $50.00 using coupons and sale prices, on a bill that was originally $100.00... your percentage savings is 50%. This is an easy example. I checked out at Walmart the other day, my total before coupons and sales was $167.28, I paid just $3.84. This was ALL tax. I saved 100% on merchandise. This was a GREAT trip.

SECOND, the per item savings. A lot of people will split their savings down, by unit. Walmart is one store that helps by giving you the price per unit right on the shelf tag. But how does this work? I got a package of Huggies at WalMart for $8.97, there were 27 diapers in the package. My original ppu (price per unit) was just over $0.33. I had a coupon for $3.00 off, brining my total to $5.97 for 27 diapers, my ppu was now just over $0.22. Knowing that anything under $0.25 per diaper is a GREAT price, I decided to stock up and get more diapers. This is easily done with most food, beauty, and home good items. Laundry soap, shampoo, single serve oat meal... they can all be figured down to ppu. This really starts to give you an exact idea of what a day in your life costs. If I know that I pay $0.22 per diaper, and change 10 diapers per day (I have 2 little ones) I can easily see that in JUST DIAPERS I am spending $2.20 per day! That is going to be a HUGE savings... in a week that is $15.40, and in a month $68.20!

THIRD, simple dollars saved. A lot of beginners simply like to see that when they leave the store, they still have money left in their pockets. I always recommend that "newbies" go shopping with only a certain amount of CASH with them. If you are over budget, this will force you to put items back. This helps to keep you on track with buying only what is on your list. When you start with $50.00 in your pocket, and leave with $5.00 left, you will be happy. Week after week, that $5.00 can grow into more and more savings, while getting more and more for your money.

Figuring out what you saved is simple, but you have to always use the same measurement to see if you are finding the best deals or not. My personal favorite is using a price book, and while in the store using ppu (which is why many people carry calculators with them while shopping). When I get home and look over my savings, I prefer to use a percentage outlook. So... before/while shopping it's ppu, after I use percentage. For me, this works. I like knowing that each item I buy is a great deal, and then I love getting home and seeing my percentage savings!