It's Bathing Suit Season

It's the beginning of fall, and you know what that means... It's bathing suit season! Well, it is if you're a scavenger of the clearance racks. Last month I decided to hit up the clearance racks at a few department stores to see what I could find. The first stop was Macy's. That day they were also having a 1-day sale. All of their bathing suits were marked 70% off. While browsing I came across this bathing suit. It's Hobie brand. The only problem was I could not find the correct top. I ended up purchasing the bottom portion and planned to find the top portion online. I had NO LUCK at all. Fortunately, the next weekend I went home to Stuart, FL and with the help of a wonderful friend, I was able to snag the correct top. Here's how I did:
Bottom portion: $6.41; originally priced at $34.00
Top portion: $9.99; originally priced at $34.00
Total: $16.40; originally $68.00

If you're a coupon clipper, then you were extremely excited about today's Sunday paper. There were many coupon savings to take advantage of. (On a side note, I signed up to receive the Sunday paper to start saving about $.70/week.)

Travis and I started off the morning clipping away. Then it was up to me to organize and build the shopping list. Sticking to that list is a hard thing to do BTW. Usually we divvy up our groceries when we go to pay. There's no real science to it. One good find was the halloween candy. Mars had their minis on sale at Publix BOGO. On top of that I had 2 coupons. One for $1off 3 bags and another coupon for a free Publix tote bag when I purchases $9.99 worth of Mars candy. Another nice combination was our Ragu pasta purchase. It was BOGO this week. We also had a coupon for a free box of Mueller's pasta with the purchase of 2 Ragu pasta sauces (How convenient!).

So here's how we did:
Total coupons used: 14
Me (left): Saved $30.69 = 33%
Travis (right): Saved $36.39 = 39%

I recently learned a couple of things:
1. The do not place coupons in the sunday paper if it is a holiday weekend (Thank you Brittany)
2. The wednesday paper sometimes has coupons
3. Publix accepts competitor coupons. I did not know this. They take other grocery store and Target coupons! (Thank you Katherine)

Double the Coupons

This weekend I planned to pick up the Orlando Sentinel on Saturday along with the Sunday paper the next day. Before purchasing it, I checked to see if there were any coupons inserted into the paper. I didn't find any so I left it alone.

I tried my luck again on Sunday. After having no coupon inserts last week and the day prior I was a little worried. Thankfully, there were coupons inside so I picked it up! I did, however, run over to Panera (a new Sunday ritual for me) to pick up breakfast. Since I'm a rewards member, my croissant was free. I'm really like their reward system. Since the middle of August I've had 2 free pastries and $1 off coffee.

When it came time to start clipping coupons, browsing the circulars, and making the grocery list, I noticed that they inserted double the coupon booklets into my paper! I love it when that happens. So, as Travis was out competing in his pool competition (they won regionals!) I ran off to Publix. Here were the highlights of my trip:

• Barilla pasta sauce was BOGO and I had a coupon ($.55 off)
• Keebler Right Bites were BOGO and I had a coupon
• Select Pillsbury Rolls were 10 for 10 and I had 2 coupons ($.40 off two and $.30 off two)
• Campbell's Chunky Soup 4 for $6 making it $3.00 total for 2. I had a coupon ($1.00 off 2) which made it $1.00/ea

There were other BOGOs, coupons, and special savings I took advantage of as well. All in all my total came to $99.58. After the coupons and savings, my total was $64.70. That's a savings of $34.88 or 35%.

In addition, Sunday evening we headed to TGIFriday's for trivia. I was able to use a 15% off reusable coupon I had from a mailer along with a free appetizer card we had received.

The Power of the BOGO

It's Sunday morning and you know what that means... It's coupon day! As I sit here reminiscing over last week's grocery store purchase, Travis is browsing the circulars. I recently started clipping coupons again. It has become some-what fun!

Last week I took advantage of my almost-expired coupons and headed to Publix. They're right, shopping was a pleasure. I must of annoyed countless people around me as I stopped down each isle searching for the appropriate coupon when I saw an item on sale. Now let me say that I don't just buy something because it's on sale or buy something because I have a coupon for it. I only buy what I'll use. I won't go buy 5 packs of energy drinks just to save 50 cents. It's a waste of money for me.

So how did I do? To tally it up there were 8 BOGO's and on-sale items I took part in last week which saved me $29.94. On top of that I had vendor and store coupons I applied to some of them. I also got to combine vendor and store coupons on a couple items. I love doing that. All in all I purchased $125.17 worth of groceries. I saved $41.94 which brought my total down to $83.23. That means I saved 34% on my bill! Woohoo!

For someone who refuses to make this her full-time job and spends on average 15-20 mins a week doing this, I'd say that's pretty good. I know there are moms and dads out there who laugh at this puny amount, but I don't care. That's $41.94 I can spend on other things like booze and scratch-offs. Just kidding (sorta)!