Savy Shopping: Couponing if you have 5, 30, or 120 minutes.

I'll be honest. The Krazy Coupon Lady does almost all my work for me. GASP! I know. I'm a fraud. You caught me. :P But really, if someone has enough time to keep up with extreme couponing for over a dozen stores, let her. I surely don't. And you probably don't either.

If couponing seems daunting, here are some easy tips that i think anyone (with as much or as little time as you have) can do:

IF you have 5 minutes
If you are going out to buy a certain something that you need, go to her list of online printable coupons. Skip right to the section that brand (or the couple of brands you might be willing to buy) might be. If there is one, click on it and print. (You may need to sign up for a newsletter or install a coupon printing program on your computer. This take five minutes, tops, and you can just send the emails to your spam folder if you wont read them.I never do. :P)
For example, the other day I needed trash bags. I scanned the list for Glad and Hefty coupons. I found:
          $1/1 Hefty Trash Bags at target.com

Savy Shopping: I love Publix...

yes I do. I love Publix. How 'bout you?

It's nice to know that I still got it. Yes, after a four or five month hiatus, I finally caught up on my couponing. Lucky for me, the first weekend I did so, there were three inserts in the paper.

I made a few stops this week but by far, my most profitable ones were to publix and (shocker) walmart. Publix is almost always a good trip but walmart is sort of finnicky on the their coupon policies. But this week, the favor was on my side. :P

I got everything pictured here for little over... drum roll... the suspense is killing you... $4!

True story. Here is the break down:

Savy Shopping: First Baby Stock Up over 50% off

Not bad for a first time.Yes, this was my first trip couponing for baby stuff. I think the worst part was thinking about just how many diapers and stuff we're going to need. yeah let's don't go there. And now I have a better idea of what to look for, what prices to expect, and what coupons are out there. (I heart P&G). But like I said, Not bad. 

What are your favorite websites for saving on baby stuff?

$65 worth of diapers and wipes for *drum roll* $26. That's about $0.10 per diaper! Plus the free wipes :)

Savy Shopping: First Buggy-Full in Quite a While

This was my first big trip in a long while. I actually (shame on me) let my coupon book die for a while. I probably went over a month without buying any papers, using any coupons, keeping track of any sales. Yikes. And my family probably paid for it, literally.

But, as you have seen, I have recently revived it and gone on a few minor stock up trips like the Salad Spree.  It has been so rewarding. The part where they start ringing up my coupons and the total starts diving? LOVE IT. So when I finally got a chance to do a big scale trip, I was floating afterwards.

This trip had so many items, I am actually not entirely sure how to approach listing it. But we'll see how this goes. All the couponing was done in one transaction, although I did a second transaction for WIC items. Those are not included in the totals or the list I'm about to give you. So, here goes.

Yeah, this picture kind of sucks. But it is much harder to get a good shot of this many items. 

Savy Shopping: Salad Spree

Ok, even I was overwhelmed by that alliteration. I apologize.

But I am pretty stoked by the winnings of my shopping today. It was a very small trip, and really I only went today because both of the sales in which I wished to take part ended today.

Yay for Publix and Winndixie, whose sales rotate on Wednesday. Not sure what's up with that. But it keeps me alert to shopping in the middle of the week.

Lucky for me, I am into a new phase in my pregnancy that has opened up the possibilities of what I can eat. This means Bekah isn't being as picky as she was in the beginning. Thus, SALADS! Which I love. Strangely. It used to be that I would rather endure torture than eat "rabbit food." But I guess circumstances (athletics) can change a girl. So this week I stoked up on delicious salad dressing and a couple of lovely salad kits.

Savy Shopping: CVS big time savings.

Yes, I have succumbed to the seemingly cliche phrase: Savy Shopping. Cute huh? Play on my name? :P

Ok, moving on. So today I had the pleasure to take a friend coupon shopping with me. She saved 68% on beauty products. I think I have made a believer out of her. 

My goal in this is to encourage people that, although it takes a little bit of time and a little bit of commitment, coupon shopping is totally worth it. Our budget has been tight since we moved, due to higher bills and other random happenstances,etc. But I am thankful that my diligent couponing and stockpiling has brought us through with a bit more ease than I would have suspected before I started couponing. So I thought I would share with you examples of successful coupon shopping.