Coupon Savings

I'm not a coupon queen. I rarely look through the ones that come in the Sunday paper and when I do clip them I usually forget to use them. About the only coupon I use with any regularity is the free $10 Target giftcard with a new or transferred prescription. I get excited when I have those and I sit around waiting for someone to sniffle or cough.

But a couple of weeks ago something almost as exciting happened! Target sent me not one but two of their "Haul In Big Savings" coupon books in the mail.

I was excited because these were high value coupons - most for $1 or more - for really practical items that I tend to buy anyway. Cleaning supplies, health and beauty items, etc. The coupons are good until April 30. Wanting to get the most out of them I came up with a strategy involving a weekly trip to Target. Each week I:

1. Use coupons only for items that are also on sale for the week. (I used the weekly ad that comes in the Sunday paper to plan my purchases.)

3. Buy things we already use. (No Glade PlugIns, for instance.)

2. Even with the combined sale price and coupon, the item has to be cheaper than the equivalent store brand. (Exceptions being the few items to which I am brand loyal.)

This trip I netted $8 in coupon savings and an another $10 or so in sale prices on six different products; things I would have bought anyway. Here's what I purchased:

Powder and Mascara that I badly needed
2 jugs of laundry detergent
paper towels
toilet paper
4 12 packs of Diet A&W Root Beer

I doubt you'll ever see me on the Today Show with my story of how I purchased $150 in groceries for $1.99, but I was excited nonetheless. Now there's this Walgreens ad I have my eye on...