My First Day with Coupons

Well today I did it....I shopped at Publix with my envelope full of coupons.
This is a big deal for me because I am mostly an Aldi shopper with some Wal-mart thrown in there. (BTW...I still have to go to Wal-Mart. I hate you wal-mart for making me need you!)
Anyhoo....I spent several hours yesterday at http://www.southernsavers.com/ going through their list of Publix stuff, printing coupons, and then cutting my own out of the newspaper.

Here is my break down:

1. I usually have $200 to spend for 2 weeks. This includes non-food items...toiletries, dog food, medicines, cleaning supplies...all of that annoying stuff.

2. The non-food items I needed today where as follows:
Dog food
Dog treats
Lysol Wipes
Comet
Windex
Laundry Detergant
Fabric Softener
TP
Q tips
Ziplocs (large and small)
Aluminum foil
Vitamins
Paper Plates
Total I spent about $40 on these items, but I did get some good deals.
For instance.

Dog Treats: They were $3.69 each, but where buy one get one free. I also had a $1.50 off of 2 coupon, so I got $7.38 worth of dog treats for $2.19.....Total Savings $5.19

Windex: (I actually got "Glass plus" ) It was $2.49, but was buy one get one free, making it $1.25 for 1. I had a $1 off coupon, so I got it for .25.....Total Savings $2.24

Comet: $1.19 each usually. Walgreens had a coupon for 2 for $1...Total Savings $1.38


Food items:
These were some of my favorite food deals.
PREFACE: I usually buy Aldi brand snacks and cereals. I don't have a problem with it, however my husband....well lets just say, it will bless his heart to have some name brand snacks.

Cheezits: $3.19 a box. On sale, buy one get one free. I had 2 $1 off coupons. So I got 2 boxes for $1.19 . Total savings: $5.19

Claussen Pickles: On sale for $2. I had a $1 off coupon. So I got them for $1.

Frenchs Mustard: On sale for .93. I had a .50 coupon, but AHA, Publix doubles coupons, so they paid me .7 to buy mustard today!

Kraft Cheese: On sale for 2 for $4. I had 2 $1 off coupons, so I got them for $1 each.




I have a lot of deals like that.


Now, I did also go to Aldi cause lets face it, they cannot be beat on milk, bread, and fruit.
I spent $35 at Aldi. I figured up that if I would have bought the items I bought at Aldi, at Publix, I would have spent $50 on those items. ( Because there was no sales or coupons on those items.)


Walgreens had some good coupons, and since Publix doesnt consider them a competitor they won't take their coupons. So I did go into Walgreens for several things.
I spent at Walgreens $8.84, and saved $7.04.
This was on Campells soups, Comet, Chicken Broth, and Green Giant Vegetables.

Back to my Publix total.

I spent (and I always take a big gulp when I see this amount of money being spent, but I do have to remind myself that I got ALOT of stuff and nobody in my house will starve, smell bad, be dirty, or complain about Aldi crackers!)....$159.95 and saved $96.47.

So to sum up:

Total spent (at 3 places) $204.06
Total saved........................$118.51


I feel really good about that, escpecially considering the amount of stuff that I got, and the fact that this will last for at least 2 weeks.
Hopefully in 2 weeks I can do even better because I'll have more coupons stored up, I won't have to buy as much non-food items (i.e. dog food), and I will know a little bit better what I am doing.

Also, I know about the CVS thing, and I had planned on doing some stuff with that, but honestly, I am out of money, so it will have to wait.

I still have to go to Wal-mart to get some vitamins and duct tape. Oh well.