Sep

21

Yesterday’s deals explained

Posted by littlemissknowitall

September 21, 2008 |


Hello to everyone from Cincinnati.com and SavingCentral!  I see that yesterday’s post was made a headline, so I thought I’d come back and explain it a bit more for all the newcomers!  If at any time you don’t understand the lingo I use, head over to Littlemissknowitall.net to my page on Coupon 101–there I list all the terms and lingo we regularly use here.

First, I need to explain my style of shopping.  Typically I do not walk into a grocery store of what I need and then buy those items.  That is the method most people use and it costs a lot of money that way!  Now, many of you who are new to this are really confused, because if you don’t buy what you need, how are you supposed to get what you need?!?  Who is this crazy woman?!?  Well, what I do is I make up my list of common needs, and I buy them before I need them–when they are on sale or really, really cheap.  So while I may not need the Capri Suns or Powerades this week, I know that we do need them on a regular basis, and while they are at such great prices, I’m going to go ahead and stock up.  That’s why you see multiples of the same items in these orders, and not the normal cereal, shampoo, beef, carrots, etc, type of shopping list.  I shop for what’s on sale.  Then when I ‘need’ something, I go to my pantry and ’shop.’  In many cases, I’ve already purchased what I will normally ‘need.’  Its a form of long-range planning, and by planning ahead and shopping at the lowest possible price, I save a lot of money!

Second, I combine deals with other deals to really make the most of my time and money.  Until September 27th, Meijer is running a sale on Vitamin Waters and Powerades, that I combined with a separate deal on Powerades.  Meijer’s sale is buy 10 Vitamin Waters get 5 Powerades free.  The Powerade deal is buy 6 Powerade Zeros, get a coupon for $4 off your next order at Meijer.  Now I added in coupons–Buy One Get One free on the Vitamin Waters (making them $5 for 10 bottles) and 5 Buy 2 Vitamin Water get 1 Powerade free coupons.  Now, if your head isn’t spinning yet, let me explain this deal further, and then I’ll move onto the other deals in the shopping list.  The trick to saving the most money is to combine store sales with manufacturer coupons.  The store sale was Vitamin Waters (VW) for $1 each, and buy 10 get 5 Powerade (PA) free.   The manufacturer coupon was BOGO Vitamin Water on the 10 bottles.  Those two combined gave me a cost of $5 for 10 VW and 5 PA.  The 5 coupons on Buy 2 Vitamin Waters Get 1 Powerade free were not on the Vitamin Waters.  It was for the Powerades.  So Meijer gave me 5 Powerades as a part of their sale–and the 5 B2G1 Free coupons gave me the other 5 Powerades for free.  So I was able to get 10 Vitamin Waters and 10 Powerades for $5.

Now, the other deals!  Sara Lee Bread is expired but a great coupon–it was for a free loaf of their Soft and Smooth Whole Wheat White bread.  The milk was 2/$5–no other deal there.  The Buddy Bars had a coupon $3/3, and I received a Catalina coupon for $3/3 more Johnson and Johnson products.  The Glade Gel Warmers had coupons, plus you get a $2 OYNO Catalina when you buy one.  I bought 7 and got 7 $2 Catalinas.  (It doesn’t always work that way, but it did this time.)  The Wheat Thins had a coupon–buy 3 participating Kraft products, get a box of Wheat Thins free.  Kool-Aid was a participating item, so I bought three packets of Kool Aid–at .60 total–to get a free Family Size box of Wheat Thins.  And when you buy 4 Wheat Thins, you get a Catalina for $3 OYNO.  The Capri Suns weren’t on sale, but I have coupons that expire soon, so I’m using them up.

Now, you should notice that while I had 20 coupons for Vitamin Water, I only get 10 bottles at once.  I try not to clear shelves, and I do not encourage you to walk in and get 20 or 30 of any one item at one time.  One, stores don’t like it.  It clears their shelves of products for other customers.  Two, its not nice to other customers.  We follow the Golden Rule around here–and if I expect to find what I’m looking for during a big sale, then I’m expected to leave some for others during big sales.   Please, if you’re new to this, always be nice to cashiers and store personnel.  Respect the stores, and respect other shoppers.  It can get very exciting at first as you begin saving so much money!  Its easy to get carried away!  Enjoy the savings, just be respectful of others.

Now, did I confuse you, or help you understand?   And don’f forget the Coupon Class is coming up October 11th, when I’ll go into great detail of how I find such great deals, and how I save $600 or more every month!


Comments

6 Comments so far

  1. Debra on September 21, 2008 6:03 pm

    Question…If a coupon is get $1.00 off 2 items, and I buy 2 items, am I able to use 2 coupons?

  2. littlemissknowitall on September 21, 2008 7:44 pm

    No. If a coupon is $1/2, then you can only use 1 coupon on 2 items. However, if its BOGO and the items are not on sale for BOGO, then you can use two coupons–like one BOGO and a $1 coupon. For example, right now Sobe has both a .50/1 and a BOGO coupon available. I can get two bottles, use a .50/1 coupon on the first bottle, and the BOGO on the second.

  3. Josieandthepussycats on September 22, 2008 12:44 pm

    Thank you LMKIA for explaining. I was just about to ask you to do that! I was so disappointed on Saturday night because I tried to mimic what you did - at least with the Capri Suns, All You Kraft coupons, and the glade. I thought I would get a Capri Sun CAT for buying 4 Kraft items but no luck at Colerain Meijer that night anyway. I tried twice. Bummer! I didn’t even try the Glade although I might go back and try again this week now that I know what generated your Catalinas. Thanks for the info!

    I 2 more questions. If I want to buy Cheerios, can I use any General Mill cereal coupon or do I have to use one that is specifically for Cheerios? Also, am I able to stack (for example) a Kroger catalina manufacturer’s Q, a printable, and a manufacturer’s coupon that came from the paper? Do printables stack with MQ’s? Thanks!

  4. littlemissknowitall on September 22, 2008 2:56 pm

    Sorry Josie! The only Kraft catalinas I know of are incredibly specific. You know what…you just made me realize….I didn’t need to buy the KoolAid to get the Wheat Thins free! The Capri Suns were a participating product for the Kraft All You q’s! Duh! Thanks–I’ve got 5 of the Capri Sun q’s and 4 of the Wheat Thin q’s left!

    On the coupon questions–no, you cannot stack multiple manufacturer coupons on one product. The limit is one manufacturer and one store coupon per item. You need to identify what type of coupon each one is, and then you can tell what you can use with what. And on the GM cereals–you can use either a specific Cheerios coupon, or one that says something like $1/2 General Mills cereals. You cannot use a Cocoa Puffs coupon on Cheerios, and vice versa.

  5. Carrie M on September 23, 2008 3:54 pm

    How do you what the Catalina deals are going to be? For Example, how did you know the 3 Johnsons products were going to produce a 3$ catalina?

  6. littlemissknowitall on September 23, 2008 4:44 pm

    Carrie, this is the beauty of the coupon communities like Cincymoms.com and HotCouponWorld. Coupon Queens gather and share the information we’ve gathered. So when one of us finds the Glade cat at Meijer, someone else finds the J&J cat, and yet someone else finds the coupons to go with the deals.

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

<< Post Navigation >>

« « This weekend’s runs… | Sunday Savings! » »




 

LMKIA in your Inbox!


Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner