Who knew coupons were so much fun??? :-)

As some of you know, I have been getting into coupons lately. It all started when I found out I was pregnant and wanted to come up with ways to save on baby necessities, such as diapers, wipes, etc. I registered at a number of "expectant mom" sites and the coupons for Pampers, formula, Babies R Us, etc started flooding my mailbox and email. Jason gave me a coupon organizing book for Christmas, and oddly it was one of my favorite gifts. I began looking for coupons for other parts of our life, such as eating out and grocery shopping. It's been a focus for me ever since.

Last week my friend Sarah informed me that Harris Teeter does triple coupon days where they'll triple the face value of a coupon that is worth 99 cents or less. For those that are not familiar with Harris Teeter, it's a southern grocery chain. They also have the VIC club, which is their shoppers reward club similar to Food Lion's MVP program.

I already had a VIC card from my previous days of living in VA & NC. We did not have Harris Teeter while living in Michigan, so this is a definite advantage to being back in the south now! I pulled out my existing coupons to find the ones that were worth 99 cents or less, searched online for printable coupons (there are a TON out there!) and purchased the Sunday paper for the first time in forever and clipped coupons from the Red Plum & SmartSource inserts.

Harris Teeter limits shoppers to 20 coupons per day, so we've made a few trips to make the most of the promotion. I was especially proud of my finds today - here is a photo & a written list of what I purchased:

Non-coupon items:

6 lbs of boneless chicken breasts (VIC Buy one 2 lb package, get two free, cost $1.66 per pound)
3 lbs of fresh strawberries (VIC special Buy one, get two free, cost $1.11 per pound)

Coupon items:

2 Duncan Hines cake mixes
1 Betty Crocker cookie mix
1 Betty Crocker muffin mix
1 Betty Crocker Warm Delight
1 Chex Mix
1 Total cereal
2 Orville Redenbacher popcorn
1 Lipton decaf tea bags, qty 24
1 Heinz cocktail sauce
1 Wishbone Italian dressing
3 Hunts Snackpack pudding, qty 4 per pack
1 Yoplait Greek yogurt
1 Sargento shredded cheese
1 Sargento string cheese
2 French's mustard
2 French's honey mustard dipping sauce
2 Lever 2000 bars of soap
1 Colgate toothpaste

So now for the exciting part .... guess how much I spent??? I can't just blurt it out, so here is the math - hey, gotta keep my skills sharp for when I go back to teaching :-)

Retail cost of purchases: $143.84
VIC program savings: - $38.36
Coupon savings: - $72.06

TOTAL SPENT: $33.42 .... that's a savings of $110.42!!!!

Here's a breakdown of some of the great deals I got:

French's mustard: $1.95 retail price - .45 VIC savings - 1.50 triple .50 coupon = FREE

Colgate: $3.25 retail - .75 VIC savings - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .25

Betty Crocker Warm Delights: $2.55 retail - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .30

Wishbone dressing: $2.99 retail - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .75

Total cereal: $4.45 retail - 1.45 VIC savings - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .75

Sargento shredded cheese: $3.19 retail - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .94

Hunts pudding Snackpacks: $1.29 retail - .29 VIC savings - .50 triple coupon = .50 each, $1.50 total for three packs

I can see already that "couponing" is going to be addictive for me, it combines two of my favorite things.... math & a scavenger hunt! Hey, I guess you could have worse hobbies, right? :-) I still have a lot to learn; I have read blogs where ladies manage to end up with a total less than a dollar. Now that is impressive! Sarah also mentioned that Harris Teeter does "Super Doubles" where they will allow you to double coupons up to $1.99 face value.... who knew coupons were so much fun?