Getting Back Into Couponing

When Decker was alive, we had some financial goals as a couple we had set before marriage.  One was to become financially independent.  With his death came a very deep depression that has taken years to work through, so a lot of things fell by the wayside, so to speak.  One of those was couponing.

I'm starting to get back into it, in an effort to handle money better, and make my money work for me, rather than the other way around.

So, I ended up at 3 stores last night:  Walgreens, Frys Foods and Wal-Mart.  Everything I bought at Walgreens and Frys either had coupons or store sales, Wal-Mart I didn't.  I don't have very many coupons at this point, so I need to get stocked up.

The tally:

Walgreens:

Spent:  $40.00 (after coupons)

Coupons:  $1.80

Store Coupons:  $5.00

Balance Reward Savings:  $4.74

Store Ad Savings:  $3.98

Total Saved:  $15.52

Fry's Foods:

Spent:  $39.14

Mfg Coupons:  $1.05

VIP Card Savings:  $4.82

Total Saved:  $5.87

Wal-Mart:

Spent:  $57.02

Keep in mind that a lot of what got spent at Wal-Mart was food for Rachel, and I didn't have any coupons for what I bought there.  Fry's and Walgreens I used both paper coupons and electronic coupons I loaded onto their cards in advance.  This took some time to go through and do.  Walgreens makes it a lot easier with their iPad app, although I haven't checked to see if Fry's has an app yet.  I'm also not sure about Wal-Mart, although I do know they have some sort of savings program.

The only item that will not be immediately used that I purchased was the ibuprofen from Walgreens.  Everything else was food or other items that will be getting used within the next few weeks.