thursday shopping 3-17-11 (& weekly shopping linky)

I’m sure I’ve mentioned my love of coffee.  I don’t know if I’ve emphasized just how much I love coffee.  I dream about it.  I crave it.  I drink it all day long.  I’m from the Pacific Northwest, where the coffee flows like water, and I have literally been drinking the stuff since I was 6 years old.  (And for the record, it does NOT stunt your growth!)

I am addicted to my Kerurig coffee machine.  You never see coffee on my shopping results because I order my coffee K-cups through Suscribe and Save on Amazon.com.  I pay about $0.40 per cup.  It is in no way cost effective, especially because I drink at least 5 or 6 cups a day, but I love it and I don’t care.  I use coupons so that I can afford to pay for my coffee.

But I did a bad thing.

I have been a little distracted lately trying to get my new SavingWellSpendingLess.com site up and running and I somehow managed to ignore the 50 or so emails I got from Amazon telling me that the card on my Subscribe & Save account had expired.  I figured I would get to it eventually.

And then this morning I woke up to a sobering realization.

We were Out. Of. Coffee.

Now a normal person would probably just suck it up, go to the grocery store, and buy a box of pods, resolving to keep their credit card up to date on Amazon from now on.  But I couldn’t bear the thought of adding a $10 box of coffee to an otherwise savings-filled shopping trip.

I decided to get creative.  I don’t normally do a lot of shopping at Walmart but they recently made some coupon-friendly changes to their corporate coupon policy. The most significant of these is that they now allow overages on coupons.  I made a quick trip this morning to matchup some high-value coupons with a few low-priced items, creating enough overage to get me some very cheap coffee.

And as luck would have it, I also scored some great overages at Publix, which made for a great shopping day!

Here is what I got:

At Walmart I spent 3.65 for $44.20 worth of groceries, a savings of 92%

Grocery Breakdown

1 Clorox Bleach (regular price @ $1.87)

(Should’ve used $0.25/1 Clorox Bleach from SS 3-13 but I forgot!)

(4) Gain Fabric Softener Sheets, 40 ct (regular price @ 1.87 each)

(4) $3.00 off Gain Fabric Softener (Red Plum 2/13, final price: +$1.13–moneymaker!)

(5) Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, 2ct (regular price @ $0.97 each)

(5) $3 off Purex 3-in-1 Laundry sheets (Red Plum 2/20, final price: +$2.03 moneymaker!)

(4) Tucks Tagalong Wipes (regular price @ $2.84 each)

(2) $5 off 2 Tucks Tagalong Wipes (printable here, final price: $0.34 each)

(4) Maruchan Yakisoba Noodles (regular price @ $0.58 each)

(4) $0.50 off 1 Maruchan Yakisoba (Smart Source 3/13, final price $0.08 each)

(2) Taco Bell Taco Seasoning (regular price @ $0.58 each)

(1) $1.00 off 2 Taco Bell Home Products (ALL YOU Feb. ’11, final price: $0.08 each)

(2) Dozen Grade A Large Eggs (regular price @ $1.64 each)

(1) $0.55 off 2 Dozen Eggs (no more prints available; final price: $1.36 each)

Green Mountain Breakfast Blend K-Cups, 18 ct. (regular price @ $10.88)

At Publix I spent $3.45 for $74.22 worth of groceries, a savings of 94%.

Grocery Breakdown

20 Boxes Mueller Pasta (BOGO @ $1.43)

(20) $1 off 1 Mueller Pasta (printable here (register for emails), final price: +$0.29 each–moneymaker!)

2 Boxes Cheez-It Swiss Cheese Crackers (BOGO @ $3.99)

(2) $0.75 off Cheez-It Baby Swiss Crackers (printable here, final price: $1.24 each)

2 Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals (BOGO @ $3.49)

(2) $1 off Pepperidge Farm Baked Naturals (printable here, final price: $0.74 each)

2 Lance Cracker Snacks, 8ct. (BOGO @ $2.89)

(2) $0.55 off Lance Crackers (printable here, final price: $0.84 each)

4 boxes Betty Crocker Potatoes (on sale for $1)

(2) $0.50 off 2 Betty Crocker Potatoes (GM 2/13, final price: $0.75 each)

6 boxes Betty Crocker Tuna/Hamburger Helper (on sale for $1)

(2) $0.75 off 3 Various Boxed Meals (Target coupon, printable here)

(2) $0.75 off 3 Hamburger Helper (GM 2/13, final price: $0.50 each)

2 Sundown Vitamin D3 (regular price @ $2.99

(1) $6 off 2 Sundown Vitamins (Publix Green Advantage Flyer)

(2) $1 off Sundown Vitamins (Red Plum 2/20, final price: +$1.01–moneymaker!)

All in all, today I spent a grand total of $7.10 for $118.22 worth of groceries, an average savings of 94% for the day.  Combined with my Sunday shopping trip, this week I spent a total of $16.06 for $239.23 worth of groceries and drugstore merchandise, an average savings of 93% for the week.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

{we celebrated with donuts}

Now it’s your turn!  Seeing others’ examples is one of the best ways to learn new couponing strategies, hints, and hot deals.  If you have a blog, pleas link up your coupon savings here.  If you don’t have a blog, feel free to share your shopping experiences in a comment below.

All shopping lists prepared at www.savingwellspendingless.com

P.S.  Don’t forget to enter here to win your very own Qubie Coupon Binder Organization System!

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