That Freebie Place

We have only been doing this a few weeks, and if you're a beginner I'd like to encourage you.  I know it can seem overwhelming at first, but not for long!  For a few days or weeks, take some time that you would normally spend just doinking around on facebook, watching TV, whatever, and use it to educate yourself!  Read couponing blogs, forums, facebook pages, and watch YouTube videos.  Familiarize yourself with the coupon and ad match policies of the stores in your area, and always carry printed copies of them!  I often recommend some of my favorite couponing resources to my facebook followers.  If you've missed it, just drop by there and ask and I'll be happy to share them again.


It will be some work up front but once you know it, you'll always be able to use it!  You will get better and faster as time goes on.  Are we able to save money on *everything* that we buy?  Nope!  We still have to buy lots of fresh foods and just hope for good sales or occasional coupons on those.  If there are no sales and we need to buy it anyway, we still buy it.  But you know what?  The more we save on other items, the more money can be in the budget for healthy foods, bills, fun, etc.!
We were just beginning to get our coupons organized into a binder, and realized we couldn't even fit our food coupons into it, lol!  So we went shopping with JUST our personal and household products binder and got the food just by ad matching the Fred Meyers Founders Days sale.  We could have saved more with coupons, but we weren't prepared enough and it was almost midnight and the sale was going to be over so we took advantage of it while we still could.  We also forgot $3 worth of fresh produce peelie coupons from the cereals, but we'll just save those for another time.  Below is the full breakdown of original prices, and prices after coupons/sales/ad-matching.  Unfortunately, many of these deals are now expired, but this is a great example of what can be done when you've got the right coupons and sales to match up.


Target:


10 Tampax Pearl Compak, 18 count.
Regularly $1.98 each
Used 10 $2 off coupons (these were in a recent insert, but I apologize for not remembering the exact one)
Got them all FREE


4 Nivea Men's body washes
Marked down to $2.43 (these can regularly cost up to $6 each at some stores)
Used 4 coupons for $3 off each (now expired)
Got them all FREE


Ponds moisturizer
Regularly $1.47
Used a $1.50 off printable coupon from Target website
Got it FREE


Febreze fabric refresher
Regularly $3.50
Used a $1 off Target printable coupon, plus a $1 off peelie found on the bottle
Got it for $1.50


2 Glade fabric and air refresher
Regulary $3.68 each
Used a Buy one Get One Free coupon plus a $2 off coupon
Got both for $1.68








Wal Mart


14 Purex laundry soap
Regularly 2.97 each
Ad matched with KMart Buy one get one free sale (now over)
Used a $1 off coupon on each bottle
Got each bottle for only 48 cents


12 Wisk laundry soap (12 load size)
Regularly 97 cents each
Used 12 coupons for $2 off each, ANY size Wisk, no size specifications.
Made a PROFIT of $1.03 PER BOTTLE!
Total of $12.36 overage which paid for the rest of the Purex and still left us with some overage that applied to the rest of our order.


1 Tums
Regularly $3.68 each
Used a $3 off catalina coupon (the kind that print off when you get your receipt) from Safeway
Got it for 68 cents


2 Carefree liners
Regularly 94 cents each
Used 2 coupons for a FREE package from 5/8 sunday coupon inserts


2 Clean and Clear Body Washes
Regularly $4.97 each
Ad matched with Walgreens Buy one get one free sale (now over)
Paired it with a Buy one Get one Free coupon
Got both FREE


1 Suave Professionals Styling product
Regularly $2.74
Used a coupon for a FREE product from their online promo
Got it FREE


2 Tillamook cheese 2 pound bricks
Regularly $7.98 each
Ad matched with Fred Meyer's Founders Days sale
Got them for $3.99 each


10 Hunts spaghetti sauces
Regularly $1 each
Ad matched with Fred Meyer's Founders Days sale
Got them for 69 cents each


3 Corn Pops cereal
Regularly $2.88 each
Ad matched with Fred Meyer's Founders Days sale
Got 3 boxes for $5


3 Raisin Bran cereal
Regularly $3.12 each
Ad matched with Fred Meyer's Founders Days sale
Got them for $1.66 each


4 Doritos
Regularly 2.50 each
Ad matched with Fred Meyer's Founders Days sale
Got them for $1.50 each


10 Pasta Roni
Regularly $1.12 each
Ad matched with Fred Meyer's Founders Days sale
Got them for 92 cents each


1 AllYou magazine
$1.88
Full of MORE coupons!

2 packs of Scott Naturals TP, regularly $2.68 each
-used 2 printable coupons for $1.50 off each.  Paid $1.18 each


4 Oral B toothbrushes, regularly $1.97 each
-used 4 coupons for $1.50 off each, from the 5/1 P&G insert.  Paid 47 cents each.


11 packs of 2 Bic razors, regularly 97 cents each
-used 11 coupons for $2 off each, from the 3/27 SmartSource insert.  They paid me $1.03 per pack!  This overage helped pay for my other purchases.


John Frieda Shampoo and Conditioner, regularly 5.97 each
-these were rolled back by Wal Mart to 4.97 each, then I used 2 coupons for $3 off each from the 5/1 SmartSource insert.  Paid $1.97 each


Aquafresh Kids toothpaste, regularly $1.88
-used a $1 off printable coupon.  Paid 88 cents


8 cans of Friskies cat food, regularly 50 cents each
-used 4 coupons from Recycle Bank, for 2 free cans each.  All were totally free.


5 packs of 20 Bic razors, regularly 4.99 each
-these were marked down to $2.50 each at Walgreens.  Used 5 of the $2 off bic coupon from the 3/27 SmartSource insert.  Paid 50 cents per pack.


(Everything was from Wal Mart except the 5 big packs of Bic razors)