Me, My Much Needed Glass of Wine, and My Coupon's

Yesterday's post was actually from a few days ago, I just finally got it finished yesterday. However, since then some of my opinions have changed.

I've been trying to resist shopping. I have this nagging feeling like I need to go stock up on everything I can, immediately, and not miss any sales! Especially after Sunday's coupon's came in the paper. I bought extra copies since I knew the Proctor & Gamble coupons would be out. And then my neighbor's gave me some as well! I dated them all & they are in a neat pile on my table as I have yet to find a place to file them. I planned to file them each week by date and only pull them as needed, like the http://www.couponmom.com/ system says to. Seemed smart not to cut all the ones you don't end up using. I still had the rest of my coupons in a very full wallet size accordion file.

There are some great deals at Walgreen's on some items I regularly use, so I broke down and decided to go stock up yesterday! I spent ALL day planning this trip! I was SO frustrated! Luckily my husband was home, so he watched the kids. I logged on to the database and selected all the items I might buy. Then I went through all my inserts to cut the coupons. It took forever to find them all. I tried putting like pages together to cut them all at once and ended up cutting a bar code off one. So I just did a page at a time. I was very upset to find that some of the same SmartSource inserts from the same date, had different coupons or some were on different pages!

I couldn't spread them all out like the experts say to, since I did not have the space and I can't clear my whole table every time I want to make a shopping list! I was getting more and more frustrated! I finally had a mess of coupons everywhere, cut up pages I hope are back in the right piles, cranky kids,... you get the idea!

I then had to decide which items to actually buy and what order. I did not have all the prices. They are priced on the database, but the original price doesn't always seem to be the right price to me. And the final price often is after register rewards. I was very annoyed about that because I still have to pay for the items before I get rewards and have to use the rewards on something else!

I was (and still am) upset it was taking so long, but am trying to give myself some credit since I am half brain-dead most of the time when nursing (I currently am nursing my baby girl), and not sleeping through the night yet. Plus being interrupted every few minutes by my kids doesn't help. Somehow I finally managed to have three lists and an envelope for each with the corresponding coupons in the same order in each. I wrote 1-3 on each list and envelope & paper clipped them together. I brought my accordion file also, in case I needed any other coupons while there. And clipped my cereal coupons to the back of the last list because I wasn't sure which I would use. I was sure I had more cereal coupons??

I went to Walgreen's, which was baking hot inside! My husband wanted to come, too, so he got his own cart and took the kids to wander while I concentrated on shopping. I bought my first items, put them in the car, & got some rain checks for things that were out of stock. One of my first items was the Walgreen's coupon book, which I found out is free! The database had said $1, which is another reason I had that first list separate! Oh well. I took my stuff to the car and clipped a coupon I needed out of the book.

I went back and to my hardest, second, list. This one, had pricier items, like razors, which would give me register rewards so I could use them on my next purchase. But I had to look at each item and decide if it was worth it and how much I would be spending. And I wanted to make sure to get $10 of participating items, so I would get another $3 in rewards. I was so tired of thinking and anxious, since it was so hot and I knew my kids wouldn't last too much longer. Though they were across the store from me, I still felt pressured! I finally chose my items and then found my husband. My baby was hungry and starting to fuss. She wanted her mommy, so I had to hold her. My third list was simple, so I just grabbed the rest of my items & threw them in my husband's cart. Along with the toys he found, but they were deeply discounted, so I was fine with it! Oh, and they didn't have the kind of cereal I liked, so I didn't get any this trip.

We checked out. He took my son out, since he was getting too wild, but I had to hold the baby. It came to around $50 for my second list of items, but dropped down to about $30 after coupons and I got $8 (I think, I forgot to count them) in register rewards. I was aiming for $18, but I didn't get a lot of the items I planned because they were still too expensive even with the sale price and coupons. And some were out of stock. I got more rain checks for those items. But only the sale price. They can't rain check the rewards. Bummer!

The last list came to a little over $100! I about peed my pants! But I was so miserable, I didn't even care. I wasn't about to take everything out of the bags and pick and choose what I would and wouldn't buy! And my ice cream was melting fast! I was aiming at about $30 when I left home! But then I remembered to give her the coupons and then barely remembered to give her the register rewards from the last transaction. It dropped down to $53! Considering the toys being added and the tax I didn't account for, oh and I realized later I had forgot to give her some coupons for my fabric softener (so mad about that!) I was right on! I guess the database prices were mostly right.

Later, after I had nursed the baby, we had all had ice cream to cool down, and I could breath again, I tallied up my three receipts. I spent a total of $95.72 (OMG! Why did I do that?! Yes it's all stuff we'll use, but I'm trying to save money here and I still need to go get produce this week! Very mad at myself.)  However, I saved a total of $96.10! So I basically got double the groceries and I will not need plastic wrap or laundry soap for the rest of the year. I feel a bit better.

I stayed up late last night after everyone went to sleep, just me, my glass of wine, and my coupons! Oh heaven! I put all my clipped coupons in my binder. I will cut and put the insert ones in there as soon as I have time. I have decided I can find them easier that way. I can see them all without taking a bunch out of the accordion file! (Oh, I found the rest of my cereal coupons! I had stuck them in the wrong spot the accordion file!) Plus they are clipped and ready to make prepping for a shopping trip faster and easier. Also, since I will be sending expired ones to the military, they'd have to be clipped eventually anyway. Now I can just pull them as I see they've expired.

I do not like the couponmom system after all! I'll still use the website for the lessons, database, and forum, but I can't handle going through all the inserts, searching for coupons. And I like having them all with me at the store in case I come across something I know I have a coupon for. I think I will clip all my Sunday coupons once a week and I can clean my binder out as I go through it then. I hope I can get this system down so my next trips will be easier!