Friday, April 17, 2009

Just the numbers people.

So, I can't tell you how often I'm bragging about how much money I save at the grocery store and then have to explain to amazed people just how it's done. Don't get me wrong, I love sharing and helping others save as well, I guess I just get sick of hearing myself tell the same story..."I buy my coupons on Ebay..." so on and so forth. I think I'll draw up a flyer complete with examples of how much I actually do save. Each time someone asks me, I can just hand them a flyer. I should be the mother who actually set up a website and is making money telling people how to do it...too little, too late.

I often get blank stares and the occasional giggle as I'm walking through ShopRite with my shopping buggy overflowing with 60 PowerAde's, 20 boxes of cereal and so on. And forget about how long it usually takes me to check out. If I'm super lucky, I'll be getting lots of items for free and that takes a manager to override the computer! That's always fun.

This has become a serious addiction. I so look forward to Friday's so I can shop for my coupons for the following week and if I'm not home at noon when the flyer posts, I start itching. LOL, not really.

So, for those of you who may be interested in getting groceries for very little money, here goes.

Ebay is your friend! Yes, it's illegal to sell coupons, but coupons aren't being sold on Ebay, envelopes are. As an added bonus, you are sent the coupons just for buying an envelope...clever huh? Always a way around things.

So you need to have Ebay opened up in one tab and ShopRite in another. You'll be clicking on the "view next weeks circular" button after you've selected your ShopRite. You really want to get all of the coupons you plan on using the following week by Sunday, that way you'll receive them before the sale ends. You'll be checking sales at SR and then going to Ebay and searching for individual items you may be interested in stocking up on. For example, one week Birds Eye boxed veggies were on sale 5 for $5.00. I went to Ebay, searched for Birds Eye coupons and purchased $1.00 off each, making them free (aside from the small cost of the coupons, of course). Now heres the thing...SR doubles coupons up to .99 cents and only up to 4 of the same one per order. This is where the whole timing issue comes into play. You'll need to split your checkout into several orders to make the most of it. This past week Colgate toothbrushes were on sale for .99 cents. I purchased .75 cent off coupons, doubled made them free AND I checked these out 3 at a time because for every 3 the computer spit out a copon for $3 off your next order! My 60+ toothbrushes were free and I got $60+ off my next shopping order. It's just a game folks...easy to play with a big payout!

So I thought it funny, the amount of some items in my house at the moment. Here are the numbers people.

Keep in mind that there are 5 of us and one doesn't use toothbrushes yet. If we (the 4 of us) changed toothbrushes twice a year..because who really changes every 3 months?, we have enough toothbrushes to last us 5 years, yes I said 5 years! And I gave some away, so I could have gotten another few years out of my free toothbrushes.

I have 60+ PowerAde's, 44 rolls of Marcal toilet paper and coupons for about 40 more for free, 25 pounds of butter, 7 1/2 gallons of Turkey Hill ice cream, 10 pounds of mozzarella cheese, 51 boxes of Birds Eye veggies, 6 pounds of bacon, 12 bottles of bodywash, 28 tubes of toothpaste, 60 toothbrushes, 2 dozen bottles of VitaminWater, 3 dozen bottles of SoBe lifewater and 46 boxes of assorted Kelloggs cereals...few take a breath. Crazy? Probably, but it didn't cost much.

2 comments:

  1. i am getting more and more into this game...got to jump on the ebay bandwagon!

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  2. My cousin, the shopper. I too buy from ebay. But I am also like a little old lady shopper watching the check out person scan my items and making sure I get the sale price. Living alone, its easy b/c you are only shopping for one person, so I only buy items that are on sale that week. Unless I need my candy fix, but family understands that.

    For example, a long one, but good one. We, The Foster Family, were heading up to Mommom's and Mom said, if you can, pick up some rolls - just 3 or so. I headed in to Shoprite. Checked the price of single rolls and a bag of rolls. I see that buying the bag of rolls is cheaper then buying just 3. So I grab a bag of 6 rolls. I went to check out, and the Checker rings it up and its not the right price, so its about .54 cents more than it should be. So I told her, that's not the right price. Its such and such per roll and such and such for the bag. There's a nice hot pink sign back there that says so. She tells me, oh there's only one code for the bread. I said what? She repeats herself. I said, you know what, fine, ring it up. I pay and make a U-Turn in front of her and go to the Customer Service Desk. I repeat myself and the checkers comments. So the Customer Service Desk says ok, your right there is a different code for the bread, sorry for the trouble, I'll give you the refund.

    So, YES, for .54 cents I went to the Customer Service Desk. Its a matter of Principal and my .54 cents. I'll do it for .54 cents as fast as I'll do it for 3.99 when the Hagen-Dazs is on sale and they ring me up for 3 instead of 2. Its been done. I can't tell you how many times I stood in lines just to get my money back from a checker or computer mistake.

    So, who cares how many people look at you b/c you have mass quantities of items of the same thing in your cart. Or give you a strange look b/c they over charged you by .54 cents and your standing in line waiting for your refund.

    They turn out to be fun stories to tell your family and friends, so they can look at you funny and laugh. But that's the great thing, your family and friends love you for it.

    Your youngest 1st Cousin - hehe. APRYL

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