Couponing Fun

My sister Melissa turned me on to couponing while I was in Illinois last month. She and Wes are professional couponers and while I am not yet at their expertise, I have started and am improving my skills. Here is how I like to use coupons in my shopping:

On Monday I go to the Newspaper office and pick up 3 Sunday newspapers (soon though I will be getting the regular Mon-Sat subscription and 5 Sunday newspapers delivered to me which will cost me $17). From those newspapers, I take out all of the coupon leaflets, which include Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G Saver. I also take out one copy of the stores weekly specials, like Walgreens, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer to name a few.

Next I write my menu and grocery list for that week. I then scan the coupon leaflets for coupons that would match what is on my grocery list. This week I had Scotch-brite scrubbing products for my dishwashing needs, and I found matching coupons. I noticed that at Walgreens you could buy toothpaste for 3.99 (I had a 1.00 coupon on top of that) and in return you would get a $4 catalina good for any future purchase. So I took my coupons and used the catalinas from purchasing the toothpaste to fund my scotchbrite purchases. I had to add some fillers, hence in the picture you see bubbles, m&ms and 2 cadbury eggs. So here is my purchase...
What do you think I paid for this? My out of pocket expense was $13.94. How much would all of these products cost me if I had paid full price? $33.67!!!! That is a savings of $19.73, which is great! The cool thing is, I needed them anyways.

Albertsons had a pretty cool deal this week as well. You could take any coupon in that was worth up to a dollar and have it doubled. So I bought three packs of feminine pads, which would have cost me $11.09 but only paid $4.92 after 3 $1.00 coupons that were matched by the store, for a total of $6.00 off!! I am loving this!