Extreme Couponing to the Max!

Happy Thursday my peeps and welcome!  As promised, I have FINALLY got my stuff together to show you my first (but certainly not my last) extreme couponing from last weekend.  There were also some lessons learned and some frustrations along the way. 

On Friday I made sure I had all of my coupons clipped and ready to go so when I got to the store I would have them all in order so I could get in and get out, so to speak.  Welllllllll.... 3 hours later.................... I finally got to the checkout and got hit with a HARD reality.  First off, I should have prefaced this to say that my local Pathmark store had 3 days only of TRIPLE COUPONS so I wanted to really take advantage of that sale!  So... I got to the checkout only to be told they ONLY allowed TEN (10) coupons total per order, per day - ACK!  WHAT??!!! I began to have a panic attack - then I said - okay - well let's split the orders into separate orders and they said NOPE can't do that either - OMG!!!!! Needless to say, I really was panicking by that point.  So...... they said they would keep all of my stuff in my basket with my name on it and I could pick it up the next day. 

Here is my first haul that Friday night with my TEN coupons:

Total Retail - $34.58

Total Paid out of Pocket - $1.39

On Saturday I made SEVERAL trips to the store so I could go back and get all of my stuff that I had to leave behind!  This time I took my husband and we split up our baskets and went in two different lines with 10 coupons each -

Here is our second haul combined:

Total Retail -  $60.26

Total Paid out of Pocket - $12.00

My next haul:

Total Retail - $27.60

Total Paid out of Pocket - $8.24

My last 3 hauls didn't get any pictures taken for some reason but here is the breakdown:

Total Retail - $47.21

Total Paid out of Pocket - $23.20

Do you see any problems with the last three hauls?  Yeah - the out of pocket wasn't so good compared to the total retail - right?  Well there is a reason for that - each time I went in there were different checkers working and each one did it all different.  Some would use two or three coupons per item and others wouldn't - this is why they say it's VERY important to make sure you have your store's corporate policy with you at all times.  That way you can show it to the cashiers and say - um.... no - this is what you are supposed to do!  *sigh* 

Overall for all of my shopping trips combined for the wekeend- my total Retail was $169.65 total for all of my groceries (though I think there was another order in there somewhere that I am missing) and my total out of pocket spent was $44.83.  I'm not sure how exactly to figure out the percentage of my savings so I can't tell you what my savings were overall. 

My next goal is to figure out exactly how to learn the coupon system for Wal-Greens, CVS and Rite Aid.  Once I have that figured out I will pass along those hints as well.  However, since I also found out that my store, Pathmark, doubles coupons EVERY.SINGLE.DAY I WILL be going back and taking advantage of THAT!  I still have a lot to learn with stacking coupons and such, and I will gladly share my findings as I figure them out along the way - but I feel that I am at least on my way to saving a lot more money for my family and using the coupon system to my advantage.  Unlike some of the people on the TLC show Extreme Couponing, however, I wll not be clearing the shelves of 78 bottles of mustard - LOL  I will just be buying what my family will and can use and then anything above that will be donated to shelters, etc. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by to say hello!  P.S.  Thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday as well - I had an absolutely awesome day and will be posting pictures from my birthday celebrations on Friday.

Lots of love and hugs,