couponing

I was over visiting on one of the "Mom Boards" that I frequent, and I came across a thread about couponing. I thought it was a "oh my gosh, I saved $X in coupons today" type of thread, but these moms took it beyond that.

I didn't know it, but there is a program at CVS that lets you buy items, and then you get bucks back, to use on your next purchase. Some of the moms go crazy, and buy a ton of things, some that they may or may not use, so they can get the extra bucks. Then, on their next purchase, they use the extra bucks, and get things for very close to free. Some of the shoppers will later have a garage sale and sell a tube of toothpaste that they got for free for a dollar, others donate the items to shelters or send them to soldiers that are currently serving over seas. Hmm ... interesting. I don't know if I could have a garage sale, but I could definitely see adding these things to the boxes that I am sending to "our" soldier.

Last week, I had a coupon for Buy One toothbrush, Get one free. And, on top of that, the store was giving back $5.50 in register rewards. So, for two battery powered toothbrushes, I paid $6.33. Not bad. And it's something we can use.

Today, I saw that they had cereal on sale 3 for $7. I had a coupon for $1 off of two boxes, so I got three boxes for $6. Then, I used the $5.50 in register rewards, and ended up paying $0.62 for three full sized boxes of cereal. Definitely something we use at our house. And, I got two more coupons - one specifically for cereal and another $2 reward for my next purchase, whatever it may be.

In two weeks, I have gotten two battery powered toothbrushes and three boxes of cereal, and I have spent $6.95.

I think I get the idea of couponing, and now I see how some people get caught up in the deal scoring aspect of it. After reading through some of those posts, I didn't know why they were so jazzed ... but now I do. I ended up paying $0.21 per box! The only thing better than that would be free.

With the price of gas what it is, and money tighter than it used to be, I'm paying a bit more attention to coupons and sale flyers, and definitely the money being spent. Now, after having figured this out, I think I have another angle to approach it from.