Thursday, June 11, 2009

Advice to new couponers...read and read again!

Sounds simple doesn't it? However, its amazing how easy it to to forget this rule and pay more than you want to. The perfect example happened in my shopping trip today. Lots of good freebies at Homeland this week so I made my first of many trips this week on my way home. I'll detail what I got below. However, not reading the signs cost me a couple of bucks. Not a lot I admit, but if you do 2-3 trips a week x 52 weeks, you are all of a sudden in the hundreds. Anyway, this is what happened.

Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta is on sale 10/$10 this week. You'd think that means any smart taste pasta right? The rotini, the elbows, the penne or the spaghetti. That's what I thought and I was wrong. Only the spaghetti was on sale. The others were full price @ $1.69. I had a $1/1 coupon and a $1/2 coupon which should have gotten me 3 free boxes with $.69 overage (homeland doubles coupons up to shelf price, so when an item is on sale you get overage...in this case $.69). Instead, I paid $1.40. A stupid mistake that I won't do again!

My other mistake? Not reading my coupon close enough. As I mentioned, Homeland doubles up to (and including) $1.00 coupons. They will even double coupons that say do not double (DND) if it doubles automatically when it scans. Sometimes you do get a cashier who will read the coupon and press the DND button, but usually not. This assumes that your coupon starts with the number 5. All (most?) #5 coupons will double when scanned. However, a coupon that starts with the number 9 will not double. Why is this relevant? Homeland also had Mt. Olive relish on sale for $.99. I had a $.55/1 coupon when doubled would have given me $.11 overage. However, my coupon must have started with a 9 because it didn't double and thus I paid $.44 for relish. Still a good deal, but since I don't need relish, I wouldn't have bought it if I knew it would cost me money. So remember....read, read read!

So after all that, this is what I got today for $7.45:

~~(1) Snickers Ice Cream Bars $3 -$1/1 = $1
~~(1) Blue Bunny Ice Cream $1.99 -$1/1 = FREE
~~(1) Edward's pie singles $2 -$.75/1 =$.50
~~(1) Kellogg's Fiber Plus Bars $2 - $.75/1 =$.50
~~(1) NY Toast Croutons $.99 - $.55/1 = $.10 overage
~~(3) Ronzoni Pasta $5.40 -4.00 (2 *$1) = $1.40
~~(2) Cat Treats $1.89 ea -$1/1 = 2 FREE
~~(1) Mt Olive Relish $.99 -$.55/1 = $.44
~~(1) Trident Gum $.99 -$.75/1 = $.51 overage
~~(2) 20 oz Pepsis 1.49 (no coupon, just thirsty! LOL)
~~(1) Capri Sun $1.98 - $1/1 = FREE
~~(2) Hormel Canned Chicken $1 ea -$1/2 = $.50 ea

Should have been $2 cheaper, but still a lot of food for a small amount of money!

Ready to start saving like this? Remember to stop by www.weusecoupons.com and view the shopping lists for Homeland and all the other great stores. Just tell them that iLUVcoupons sent you!

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