Publix Trip 7/8/10

I haven't really had any posts yet about couponing and the frugal side of me. It all started around 6 months ago when my mom started to really get into the coupon thing. It's really big down here. She started going to coupon classes and learned a lot about the grocery stores, drug stores, and their coupon policies. She also learned about cutting out coupons from the Sunday paper and printing out coupons online. She was told how to create a coupon book. This is basically a 3 ring binder that you fill with baseball card sheets to put your coupons in. You then buy dividers and label each section. For instance some of the labels are cereal, canned food, hygiene, medications, etc. It really helps having it all organized.

Anyway, after she had learned all of this she told me about it. I was still in college at the time and didn't think I would have much time for it. She got me a binder and dividers and while I was home for Spring Break I put mine together.

Once I started to see how much she was saving it got me hooked. The best grocery store for couponing has is Publix. They let you use 2 coupons on Buy 1 Get 1 Free items. The Publix in Fairhope accepts coupons from Target, Winn Dixie, Walgreens, CVS, and Brunos. You can also combine a Publix coupon with a manufacturer coupon, or a Competitor coupon with a manufacturer coupon on one item. They have really good B1G1 deals every week at Publix. Winn-Dixie usually has good B1G1 deals too. They also have better deals on meat than Publix most of the time.

Since I still don't have a job and have had too much time on my hands (unfortunately), I have been doing most of the grocery shopping to help my parents out. I made the weekly trip to Publix on Thursday.

Here's how I did...



As you can see before tax I spent $34.68 and saved $31.58. I was a little over $3 from saving as much as I spent....so close! I also made a trip to Winn-Dixie where I think I spent around $44 and saved $28..or somewhere around there.

I'm hoping to eventually get to where I save more than what I spend in total. It's going to come in handy once Brandon and I are married and are on a tight budget. :)