coupon follow-up

so after insisting that I am not an extreme couponer, this morning I went to Albertson's and spent $16 but saved $58. I walked away with one gallon of milk, two packages of lean ground turkey, two packages of Jamba-at-home, six bottles of KC Masterpiece marinade, four packages of turkey lunch meat, one package of salami and one Lunchable for grownups (not really what it's called, but that's what it looks like).
I'll admit that the six bottles of marinade was a little extreme, but the coupons came from a week when I got a lot of donated inserts and so I had more coupons than usual for that one item. The bottles were on the clearance rack for $1.14 and I had six $1-off coupons so I paid only 14 cents each for the bottles. Before I decided on the purchase, I double-checked the expiration dates and inspected the bottles for broken seals or cracks and everything checked out so I added it to my cart. When I went to Vons later in the day, I checked the price of the same marinade and it was over $4, so 14 cents is a steal! Next time meat is cheap, we're going to have a garlic-balsamic marinaded feast!

Not Extreme Couponing

Little Miss  found Daddy's
Reese's stash

Before we get any further into this blogger/reader relationship - there's something you should know about me. I am a couponer. Not an EXTREME couponer, but I do have a coupon binder and a mini-stockpile. And while I have never gone through my neighbor's trash or stolen newspapers from foreclosed homes to obtain coupons, I do ask relatives to save their extra inserts for me and have been known to drive from newstand to newstand on Sunday night until I find one that isn't sold out of papers.

I coupon because my family loves breakfast cereal, graham crackers and Gatorade and I love having a pantry stocked with cans of beans and tomatoes to put together a quick meal on nights that I don't plan ahead. Of course, I could never be EXTREME because we also love fresh produce and meat and there are rarely coupons for those products, but they do go on sale (see yesterdays' post for proof!). 

A reason that I have heard given for not couponing is that there are only coupons available for junk food and this is not true. While I have used coupons to get deals on cookies, chips and soda (we're stocking up for Deputy Handsome's 30th birthday party) - I also use coupons to save money on yogurt, dried fruit and nuts, pasta and cheese; in addition to pretty much any home good you can think of. I have gotten toothpaste for free and a 50 cent return on body wash by matching a sale with a coupon. 

There are hundreds of blogs already dedicated to couponing so I'm not going to go into it all here, but I will share my favorite resource: Southern Cali Saver. New deals are listed daily (not just on food items, either) and every week she breaks down the best values based on the grocery ads.