Shopping Trip - Saved 60%

This was kind of a wierd week. We are home from vacation and it is kinda like starting over. We used up/tossed/gave away any perishable items before we left. I also took lots of nonperishable items from our stockpile with us on vacation to save money. So, I probably spent a little more this week than a typical week but I still saved 60%, which is not too shabby. To see deal specifics (i.e. coupons used) click on the store name. As always, I am here to help. You can e-mail me at couponqueendiaries@gmail.com.

---->GROCERY STORES<----

FOOD LION: This was the ONLY thing worth stopping at Food Lion for. Lucky for them it was on my way to pick up Skylar or I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Regular Price: $2.10
Savings: $1.12 or 50%
Total OOP: $1.06

KROGER:

Trip #1: Turns out that Kroger decided to bring back triple coupons again this month (competition with Harris Teeter). I got several items for free including pasta sauce, tortilla chips & mustard. Cheepie items included dressing (0.04), cups (0.25), rice (0.41), potato fries (0.74) and croissants (0.85). I also bought several items that I would not typically buy but I like to keep my frozen-food-nut of a husband happy and triple coupons allows me to do that. He got Flatbread melts (0.94), Frenchbread pizzas (1.09) and Texas toast (1.19). The store I went to was out of several sale/coupon items but I still managed to save 68%. Note: I returned the TP. It was an oops.

Regular Price: $72.29
Savings: $49.27 or 68%
Total OOP: $23.02

Trip #2: This was just my regular weekly shopping with just double coupons. Nothing to brag about, just stuff we needed combined with a few sale items.

Regular Price: $78.17
Savings: $29.53 or 33%
Total OOP: $48.64

PUBLIX: I mainly went in to get the Taco Bell kits (0.35) but added a few more items like the cheese (2.00). Honestly, I was trying to get to $10 to get the penny item but I just couldn't justify it because I was going to have to spend more money than what I would have saved. Sometimes it is better to just walk away than to blow your budget.

Regular Price: $14.62
Savings: $7.06 or 48%
Total OOP: $7.56

WALMART: Had to return an electronics item and figured I would get some granola bars. My coupons for these won't double at Kroger and Walmart has the best price on these brands.

Regular Price: $11.97
Savings: $3.45 or 29%
Total OOP: $8.52

---->DRUG STORES<----

CVS: A while back we used my card and Mike's card to do a Dr. Pepper deal and I had 10 ECBs left on his card that were expiring this week. For me, it's too time consuming to keep up with multiple cards so I wanted to "burn" his ECBs on items that weren't going to produce and further ECBs. I got 2 detergents (BOGO), 2 newspapers ($1 each) and some Chicken Noodle Soup (2/$1)

Regular Price: $22.07
Total OOP: $0.61 + 10 ECBs
ECBs earned: 0.00
Savings: $11.46 or 48%
Actual Cost: $10.61

WALGREENS:

Trip #1: I did the Ecotrin deal 4 times. On each transaction I paid $0.19 tax and they gave me 2 RR.

Regular Price: $14.72
Total OOP: $0.76
RR earned: 8
Savings: $21.96 or 149%
Actual Cost: -$7.24

Trip #2: I went back because of rumors that the Revlon dryer was ringing up $12.99 versus $19.99 and still giving 10 ECBs. I found this to be true at my store and I was thrilled! While there I also got a few more Ecotrin and a box of hair color.

Regular Price: $39.36
Total OOP: $12.13 + 9 RR
RR earned: 12
Savings: $30.83 or 77%
Actual Cost: $9.13

Grand Totals:
Regular Price: $255.90
Savings: $154.60 or 60%
Total OOP: $101.30