On Thursday afternoon, I headed over to Safeway to use the last of my meat wine tags. I had traded for 20 altogether, and they all had an expiration date of April 30th. I had planned to make use of them throughout the month, but getting sick threw a wrench into my plans – so I had a big stack of coupons left that needed to get used up before they expired!

I came out of Safeway with $61 worth of groceries for $9.00. Here’s the breakdown:

Transaction #1:

Total spent: $1.18
Total before coupons: $7.18
View receipt

Got:

4-lb bag of chicken thighs – regularly $3.99, used a $3/1 poultry winetag that I got through trading; final price: .99 cents.
A little over half a pound of ham from the deli – on sale for $3.19, used a $3/1 ham winetag that I got through trading; final price: .19 cents

Transaction #2:

Total spent: .04 cents
Total before coupons: $3.04
View receipt

Got:

A little over half a pound of ham from the deli – on sale for $3.04, used a $3/1 ham winetag that I got through trading; final price: .04 cents

Transaction #3:

Total spent: .35
Total before coupons: $3.35
View receipt

Got:

1 Cook’s Ham steak – regularly $3.35, used a $3/1 ham wine tag that I got through trading; final price: .35 cents

Transaction #4:

Total spent: .47
Total before coupons: $3.47
View receipt

Got:

1 Cook’s Ham steak – regularly $3.47, used a $3/1 ham winetag that I got through trading; final price: .47 cents

Each time I went through the line, I would take my purchase out to the car, then walk back into the store and do it again. I went through the same cashier’s line each time, because she is an excellent cashier – she scans everything correctly, so you don’t have to worry about a coupon being overlooked, and she is also well versed in the store’s coupon policy. I’m well known at our Safeway, since it’s a small town, so I always have fun chatting with the cashiers and they get a kick out of my crazy coupon antics. After going through this cashier’s line four times, she looked down at the ham on her conveyor belt and started laughing – “I knew it was you again because of the ham and the reusable bag!”. She then asked me why I didn’t just use all the coupons at once, and I explained that the coupons were limit one per transaction. “Well, then just get the rest of your ham and I’ll ring each one as a separate transaction – it’ll be quicker for you that way.”

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the awesome cashiers at our local Safeway store?

Transaction #5:

First, I went to the deli once again and said, “I have a unique request for you. Can I please get eight bags filled with $3 worth of ham each?” They chuckled but were happy to oblige – and there were no other customers at the deli, so I wasn’t holding anybody up. Next, I grabbed one more ham steak and headed to the checkout. “Are you ready for all this ham?” I asked my good-natured cashier. To make it most efficient for her, I set down my club card and stack of coupons on the counter and had a big handful of change in my hand. This cashier can ring up faster than anyone I’ve ever seen – and it’s always accurate. It was pretty amazing to watch her fingers flying as she quickly swiped each coupon off the stack and keyed in each transaction. A big stream of receipts piled up at the register as she rang up each one! I was concerned that this would cause a delay for the person behind me in line, but get this – my cashier was so fast, that by the time the person behind me had finished loading their last item on to the conveyor belt, the cashier was already ringing up my last transaction! She pulled off the long strip of receipts and put them into my bag because there were so many – this is what it looked like:

So here’s the breakdown:

Total spent: $1.70
Total before coupons: $28.70

View receipts 1-2
View receipts 3-4
View receipts 5-6
View receipts 7-8
View receipt 9

I got 8 packages of deli ham, each of which ranged in price between $3.04 and $3.24 because they were all slightly different weights; after using 8 $3/1 ham winetags, the total price for all 8 packages was $1.07.

I also got one Cook’s Ham steak, which was priced at $3.63; after using my last $3/1 ham wine tag, the price came down to .63 cents.

Transaction #6:

Once I had the ham taken care of, I had two more necessities to pick up before calling it a day.

Total spent: $5.26
Total before coupons: $15.26
View receipt

Got:

2 half-pound packages of organic, fair trade Millstone coffee – regularly $8.99 per pound, used two $2.00/1 coupons from the 3/14 Red Plum newspaper insert, which doubled; final price: $3.28 for both. I had extras of these coupons thanks to a “Coupon train” which I participated in on Hot Coupon World – I mailed two envelopes of coupons to other members and received two envelopes of coupons from others in return. It was fun and I got some great coupons from it!
2 packages of Stayfree pads – regularly $3.49 each, used two $2/1 coupons from the 3/28 Red Plum newspaper inserts, which doubled; final price: .99 cents each. I got these coupons during a recent trade also!

It’s been a while since I’ve gone to the store, because I’ve been sick for two weeks. Fortunately my lovely fiance filled in for me, and on Wednesday I was feeling well enough to re-stock on produce and the other necessities that we were out of!

I headed to Safeway on Wednesday and got $59.72 worth of groceries for $10.97.

Transaction #1:

Total spent: $9.43
Total before coupons: $52.18
View receipt

Got:

1 bag of Mahatma brown rice – regularly $2.89, used a .75/1 coupon from the 4/25 Red Plum newspaper inserts, which doubled; final price: $1.64
5-lb. bag of sugar – price: $2.99
10 packages of Mission flour tortillas (10 count each) – regularly $2.29 each, used a coupon from the Safeway sales flier to bring the price down to .99 cents each – $9.90 total for all ten. The coupon was limit ten per customer – the reason I decided to get that many was because this is a very low price for tortillas, and they are a staple in our household. They also freeze beautifully, so I stuck all but one in the freezer for future use!
1 dozen eggs – price: $1.69
2 lb. bag of cheese – on sale for $3.99
4-pack of Yo Plus yogurt – regularly $2.50, used one free product coupon that I got through the Psst…Network. Final price: Free!
4-lb bag of chicken thighs – regularly $3.99, used one $3/1 poultry wine tag that I got through trading; final price: .99 cents
2 avocados – on sale 2 for $1.00
6 ears of corn – .66 cents each, $3.96 total for all six.
1 bunch of cilantro – price: .99 cents
2 mangoes – on sale 2 for $1.00
2 lb bag of Bolthouse carrots – regularly $1.29, used a .50/1 coupon that I received after writing to the manufacturer; final price: .79 cents.
A little over half a pound of ham from the deli – I asked for $3 worth of ham, and after my club card discount, the price for this came to $2.99. I used one $3/1 ham wine tag that I got through trading, which made the final price free plus one cent overage.

The cashier also doubled both wine tags and my carrot coupon, although they said “Do not double”. I’ve noticed that this happens from time to time, so I’ll be alert when I have “Do not double” coupons next time so that it doesn’t happen again. This deducted another $1.50 from the total, but I’m putting the receipt aside so that I can take it into customer service and give them the $1.50 back – I’ll post an update once I do.

I then used the $18 worth of catalinas that Jai earned during his awesome shopping trip, which brought my final total down to $9.43. Those Lunchables paid for the fresh produce and other staples that I bought on this trip!

Transaction #2:

Total spent: $1.54
Total before coupons: $7.54
View receipt

Got:

4-lb bag of chicken thighs – regularly $3.99, used one $3/1 poultry wine tag that I got through trading; final price: .99 cents
1 Cook’s Ham steak – regularly $3.55, used one $3/1 ham wine tag that I got through trading, which made the final price .55 cents.

When The Student Becomes The Master: How My Fiance Got 20 Free Lunchables & $18 in Catalinas During His First Coupon Trip

Tuesday was the last day of the $1 Lunchables sale at Safeway, and I still had 20 coupons left that I had planned to use. I’ve been under the weather and really did not feel like trying shop in my Sudafed haze, so my fiance Jai was so sweet as to offer to go for me. He’s never done any coupon shopping before, so offering to jump head-first into my extreme couponing world was brave! I do all the shopping for our household, naturally – I’m Super Coupon Girl, why send anyone else? – and Jai thinks that what I do with coupons is totally awesome. He’s never tried using coupons before because trying to wrap his head around sales or rebates is just overwhelming to him. (Likewise, the kind of work he does troubleshooting computer software would overwhelm me, so we’ve all got our areas of expertise!) So while I was grateful for the offer, I wondered how it would work out. What if they rung up the coupons wrong? What if the store was out of stock? I’m used to handling the crazy world of coupon shopping, but Jai had never dealt with this before.

When Jai returned, I asked him how it went. He smiled and said that he thought it went very well – and then handed me a huge bag full of Lunchables and $18 in catalinas good on my next shopping order.

And this, my friends, is how the student became the master.

Total spent: Zero – and got back $18 in catalinas that can be used like cash towards my next purchase!
Total before coupons: $20.00
View receipt

Got:

20 Lunchables – on sale for $1.00 each, used twenty $1/1 coupons that I got through trading; final price: Free, and $18 in catalinas printed out courtesy of Lunchables! I had no clue this catalina deal was going on – file this under the “Hit The Jackpot” category! You can imagine my face when he handed me this stack of ONYOs!

Since this was the last day of the $1 Lunchables sale, I was so very tempted to go back to the store and “roll” the catalinas – IE purchase 18 more, pay with the catalinas, and receive $18 back in catalinas. But every square inch of my fridge is stuffed, since I’ve purchased 83 Lunchables in less than a week! (Had I not been so sick, I would have done it anyway and just given the Lunchables to friends or donated them!)

And the cherry on top: Remember how I paid $12.62 in handling fees for these Lunchables coupons? Well, since I received $18 back in catalinas, that means I actually made a $5.38 profit in addition to getting 83 free Lunchables. This is a prime example of how trading can really pay off!

We’ve been discussing the benefits of coupon trading recently, and this trip is another example of how to make it work for you. Safeway recently ran a promotion where Lunchables were on sale for $1 each. There happened to be a coupon in the 3/21 Smart Source newspaper inserts for $1 off any Lunchables, so I logged on to Hot Coupon World’s trading forum and ended up paying $12.62 in shipping and handling fees for 80 of these coupons.

Next, I saw that another user had 20 “wine tag” coupons available – 3 of which were good for $3 off any meat or poultry, and 17 of which were good for $3 off the purchase of any ham. Wine tags are special coupons offered by wine companies, which are often good on items like meat and produce and are usually found in stores, just like blinkies and tearpad coupons. These coupons will either be a savings offered when you purchase a specific brand of wine (“Save $1 on onions when you buy Brand X wine”), or they will be a general coupon offered with the company’s compliments (“Save $3 on shrimp now, courtesy of Brand X wine”). Sometimes the purchase requirements of these coupons will vary depending on the alcohol laws in each state – as I understand it, some states prohibit coupons from requiring an alcohol purchase, so the coupon might say “Save $2 on rice when you buy Brand X wine – no alcohol purchase required in X, Y, or Z states”. The 20 meat coupons that I found on Hot Coupon World required no wine purchase of any kind here in Oregon, so I spent $12.88 in shipping and handling fees to order them. My savings strategy here was that spending $25.50 total on coupons that could get me $140.00 worth of meat and Lunchables for free would be a good deal.

So here’s what I got on my first trip:

Total spent: Zero
Total before coupons: $46.00
View receipt

Got:

43 Lunchables – on sale for $1 each, used 43 $1/1 coupons that I got via trading! Final price: Free
1 package of Oscar Mayer Deli Shaved Ham lunch meat – on sale for $3.00, used one wine tag good for $3 off any ham, obtained via trading; final price, free.

Once I got home, I re-arranged my fridge and saw that I still had plenty of room – I wanted to gauge how much space I had before getting them all in one trip! – so I went back for round 2:

Total spent: Zero
Total before coupons: $23.00
View receipt

Got:

20 Lunchables – on sale for $1 each, used 20 $1/1 coupons that I got via trading; final price: Free
1 package of Oscar Mayer Deli Shaved Ham lunch meat – on sale for $3.00, used one wine tag good for $3 off any ham, obtained via trading; final price, free.

I must confess: I’ve always loved Lunchables, and before I started using coupons, I would occasionally buy them anyway just because I like them! Now keep in mind, although I may buy 40 Lunchables in one afternoon, that doesn’t mean we’re going to eat them all at once. These all have long expiration dates and will keep well in the fridge, so I’m just planning ahead and stocking up while they are free; subsisting solely on processed foods like Lunchables or Yakisoba bowls isn’t healthy and I don’t plan my meals that way.