I've Succumbed - a Post on Couponing

A wave of couponing has hit my circle of friends, Kelly, specifically. I've always used coupons (thank you, Amron!). I love all things BOGO (buy one, get one), clearance (I LOVE me some clearance digging) and mix-&-match sales. I have recently been able to do a couple of shopping trips where I've saved anywhere from 75-90%... but I will admit that some of those trips ONLY included the special deals and not other weekly/needed items that our household normally consumes. I don't typically buy anything that we do not eat or use unless I have a specific person I am getting it for, so I thought I would post my trip to Kroger today to show a normal trip.

This week Kroger has their mix-&-match sale, buy 10 items, get $5 off. You can do that up to 30 items, so I did and got $15 off which is taken into account in the starting price of these items ($0.50 per item). I listed the total value of the coupons, which includes the doubled amount if they were $0.50 or more.
Mix-&-Match Items:
2 Welch's Juice $1.99 ea., coupons: $1, total paid: $2.98, individual price: $1.49.
5 Dole 4-pk fruit cups $1.79 ea., coupons: $2.25, total paid: $6.70, individual price: $1.34.
3 Nature Valley Granola Bars $1.99 ea., coupons: $2.2, total paid: $3.77, individual price: $1.27.
3 Fiber One Bars $1.99 ea., coupons: $1.5, total paid: $4.47, individual price: $1.49.
1 Nutrigrain Bars $1.99 ea. no coupons
3 Ken's Salad Dressing $1.49 ea., coupons: $2, total paid: $2.47, individual price: $0.82.
5 Ziploc Sandwich Bags $1.99 ea., coupons: $4.4, total paid: $5.55, individual price: $1.11. I picked up 3 pkgs of 120-count sandwich bags, 1 pkg gallon bags, 1 pkg quart bags.
2 pkgs Dixie Bowls $1.49 ea., coupons: $1.99, total paid: $0.99, individual price: $0.495.
1 Cottonelle TP (12 rolls) $5.99 ea., coupons: $1, total paid: $4.99, individual price: $4.99.
1 Viva Paper Towels (6 rolls) $5.99 ea., coupons: $1, total paid: $4.99, individual price: $4.99.
2 Colgate Toothpaste $1 ea., coupons: $1.5, total paid: $0.5, individual price: $0.25.
2 Colgate Toothbrushes $1 ea., coupons: $1.5, total paid: $0.5, individual price: $0.25.
Other items I picked up:
1 Cod (2.5#, frozen) paid $9.99, no coupons.
1 Chicken paid $3.14, no coupons.
1 Chicken paid $3.08, no coupons.
1 Chicken paid $3.22, no coupons.
1 Flour paid $1.99, no coupons.
1 Whole Wheat Flour paid $2.49, no coupons.
4 Yeast Packets paid $0.89, no coupons.
3 Harry & David Choc Covered Cherries paid $0.50 on clearance, no coupons.
1 Nestle Choc. Sticks paid $0.5 on clearance, no coupons.
Bunch Green Onions paid $0.68, no coupons.
Bunch Asparagus paid $1.40, no coupons.
3 Oranges paid $1.67, no coupons.
1 Cucumber paid $0.82, no coupons.
1 Stayfree Pads paid $2.50 on sale, no coupons.

Total Paid per receipt: $75.50 before taxes for 58 items. (I know I have a typo in my addition up there somewhere, but I am not going to try and find it and the receipt says $75.50). I saved $96.28 with MFG coupons, doubled coupons (up to $0.50), buying stuff on sale and the mix-&-match $15. 56% is not bad for my regular shopping, especially when $32 was allotted to items without coupons.

I still need to get lettuce, garlic and more fresh fruit, but other than that I'm pretty set this week. So there's my post. Got it out of my system. Updates on Maggie to come soon.