My (Jonathan's) New Hobby!!!!!!!

So first things first. I know that everyone wants to see our pictures of our summer trips, but you are going to have to wait.

For a couple of months now I have been waiting to get into the coupon world. I have heard stories of people spending only $50 on a $150 purchase at the store. I figured that it would be worth looking into. I'll give you a little background before I jump into the savings that Katrina and I have come across, because for some reason ladies love the whole picture.

I was over at a friends home when his wife Amy asked if we needed any razors or any shampoo. She said that she got them for free and that they were not going to use them. She than showed me their room of free stuff from couponing. I told her that I have always wanted to start using coupons and then I saw some diapers amongst the free items. "Wait so you get diapers for free," I asked. She said that she almost always does and that she doesn't spend more than $0.10 per diaper. I was amazed at this because well you know. :)

Amy offered to teach us how to get started. We finally got in touch with her when we got back from Utah and right before they left to Washington State. We can't wait to report back to her on our good deal finding skills. So on with the saving details. Keep in mind that this is our second week of couponing.

Our first stop this last Monday August 2 was CVS. As you can tell from the picture we got 6 Ragu, 2 Razors, a 36 ct. and a 18 ct. of Playtex, 2 Colgate, and 3 Crest Mouthwash. The grand total before sales or coupons was $89.53. We paid $12.46 and received $15.00 in store credit for next weeks deals. Let me break it down a little more just for fun. We have two different cards at CVS and we were getting Katrina's card ready for next week money maker deal. So my first purchase was the 2 Colgate and the 3 Crest Mouthwash. I spent a total of $0.32 on this purchase. My second purchase was just one razor which I spent a total of $0.86 on it. A grand total of $1.18 and I received $9 back for next weeks purchase. I made some $7.82 this week. Katrina had two purchases as well and it takes a little money to start making money. Her first purchase was 6 Ragu and one Razor. The total was $10.21 that we put on a gift card that we got from T-Mobile. The second one was the two boxes of Playtex that Katrina doesn't need right now, but will in the future. Her total was $1.07. For a total of $11.28 and between the two purchases she got $6 back for next week. So she really spent $5.28 to get started for next week. :)

Our second stop was Walgreens. Walgreens was a learning experience for the both of us. It didn't go as planned but we were happy with the outcome of the trip. As you can see we got two 42 ct bags of diapers size 2, two 72 ct baby wipes, one razor, a 24 ct box of crayons, .5 oz visine eye drop, a 50 ct Alive Men Energy, one bottle of contact solution, and a 10ct box of pencils. The grand total before sales and coupons was $74.89 and we spent only $7.84 that we put on the same gift card as CVS. Lets break it down. We first purchased was the crayons and the razor for a total of $0.00. Thats right free with the help of a $10 gift card that we got from a purchase the week before. For the second purchase we got the contact solution for $0.36. The third purchase included the eye drops and the alive men energy for a total of $1.99. Our last purchase was the diapers and the wipes for a total of $5.49. That is not bad for 84 diapers and 144 wipes if I do say so myself.

Our third stop was Target. It really wasn't as exciting as the other two before. We got some free soup and a few other things there. We spent in total $6.06. Our last stop for couponing was Kroger. This purchase was a little more stressful, but it was worth it. As you can see we got a lot of stuff here. I won't take the time to list what we got, but I will tell you that it was 25 different items. The grand total in this purchase was $124.77 and we paid a total of 47.91 on everything here. Not bad for our first run at Kroger. Katrina and I spent many hours over the weekend planning our shopping lists and getting the early Sunday morning paper for the coupons. It was a lot of fun and it saved us a lot of money.

The grand total cost of the day would have been $295.25 and only spent a total of $49.09 out of pocket and $19.12 on a gift card that we got from T-Mobile. Also we received $15.00 from CVS to use for next weeks couponing day. :)

You might be thinking that we won't use everything that we purchase and you might be right. But as Amy taught us there is only three reasons why you use your coupons; 1. You need it 2. Its free and/or 3. You make money from it. She also said that with the leftovers she puts them in a yard sale. Which to me means more money. :)

Thanks for reading.

Jonathan