Worth The Paper It's Printed On

I've been printing away. On most couponing 101 articles people say that when they first started out they printed all sorts of stuff and then started printing only what they needed. But most of what I've printed are things I looked for. As long as VG's is going to double them I'll get what I need.
So I needed paper. I printed out the HP Paper coupon and was set to use it. But as I was walking out of Kroger I checked the school supply aisle and saw they had a pack of multi-purpose paper for $3.49 card price which was less than just about every price I'd seen online and less than the coupon would have made the HP.

So this will be my first deal post.

Kroger - a Detroit area, Michigan store

OfficeWorks brand multi-purpose paper
Reg price $4.49
Card price $3.49
Don't know when the price ends but even the reg price is lower than most other paper. And so far it prints fine.
OfficeWorks is the Kroger store brand.

If you know of something cheaper feel free to say so.

Warning to those New to Coupon Printing

Something I'm learning is that when you print a coupon it does not always print at the top of the page and it does not always leave the rest of the page blank. I've been lucky so far not to print over a coupon or print one on the back of another. But I'll mess up eventually.

Some coupons not only give you the coupon but will print other things to fill a page such as a recipe. I've had one that put the coupon at the top and the rest under it and another printed the stuff first and then the coupon at the bottom. I've been trying to reuse the back sides of what I've already printed but I'm gambling.

So far these coupons have printed full pages

HP paper coupon $1 off - Coupons.com

Bob Evans Side Dish Buy 1 Get 1 from BobEvans.com

Kikkoman 55 cents off - Smartsource

Coffee Mate - Both coupons from Coffee-Mate.com

PB @ VG's ~ Part 3

The shopping trips are getting a bit easier and faster.
First of all being able to print out a list of what I'm planning to get is a time saver. I don't have to flip through coupons in the store as much.

I was only planning a short trip to get the matchups I liked before the deadline tonight. So after 7 when I got off work I shot over and took just a small 3 page binder in. Based on this test I think my idea will work ok. Just need to tape my bags on better. Or maybe glue.

Anyway I had a nice combo of newspaper and printable coupons to use.
Thanks to the VG's matchups & comments on Coupons Equal Cash and Bargains To Bounty I had a list.

I didn't get everything on the list. As a grocery employee the term I've heard for empty shelves is a hole. As in I need to fill it. There were a few holes for some of the cheap and free items. I'm not getting rain checks yet. Eventually if its something I really want I'll go that route but not until. Its a karma thing.

So to start with I had a catalina from the last trip for $1 off my order. I got it by buying Combos snacks with a Q last trip.

At the Shelby Twp store the GM Cereals that were sale priced 2 for $4 were regular Total, reg Cheerios, Trix, and Fruity Cheerios.
I had 3 coupons for buy 2 get $1 off.
I only used 2 of them since the sale selection wasn't great. The coupon has a good variety on it so I'll save at least one Q for another sale. But $1 per box is good for 4 boxes.

Heinz Vinegar would've been 15 cents a bottle if they had them.
Mueller's Whole grain pasta would've been free.

Keebler Town House Flip Sides - 2 boxes sale and email club price $1.88 ea.
I used a printable for $1 off 2 to get them 88 cents ea.

Snyders Pretzel Sandwiches - On B to Bounty they mentioned these were in store special 2 for $6.
I got 1 bag and use my $1 off 1 Q to get it for $1

Pop Tarts 12 ct boxes 2 for $5. The newspaper Q is expired and I had already used mine but there's a printable I used to get $2 off 3 boxes or 3 for $5.50 / $1.83 ea

I got 1 Danimals and 1 Danoninos both free after using $1 off Q on ea.

I took my KC Masterpiece $1 Q because it expires tomorrow. I got the Southern Style BBQ sauce that's Cider Vinegar style. It was $2.29 - $1 Q doubled = 29 cents

1 Johnsonville Chicken Sausage, apple flavor - $3 sale price - $1 dbl = $1

1 Land O Frost 16 oz premium lunchmeat - $3.99 sale - 55 cents dbl = $2.89 for a pound of lunchmeat. If you get a pound of LM for under $3 its decent. I got the ham because of the packs left it had the longest date.

3 bottles of Coffee Mate 16 oz Liquid
2 for $4 sale
I had 2 printables. One for 55 cents off 1 and another 75 cents off 2. I used both for 3 bottles. So $6 - $1.10 - $1.50 = $3.40 or $1.13 ea
They have the big bottles on sale tomorrow $3.29 ea. The printables are on
Coffee Mate's site

Coles Garlic Bread - 2 for $4
My printable from the Coles site said breadsticks so I got the box of 6 garlic sticks. $2 - 50 cents dbl = $1

I forgot to bring my bags in but I wanted to buy a few more anyway and only had a small order so I grabbed 2 more of the $2.49 cold stuff zip top bags.
Plus I got a gallon of Milk so these items were my non coupon items.
When I put my bags back in the car at home I put one on the passengers floor as a reminder for next time.
So $2.49 + 2.49 + .30 tax + 2.79 + $1 charity = $9.07 non Q

$52.60 before Q scan
$28.90 after
$23.70 in coupons.

If my math is right
$52.60 - 9.07 non Q = $43.53 coupon items - 23.70 = $19.83
So I got more than 50% knocked off the Q items.

Anyway, its a new week now. Will it be V~ery G~ood S~avings?

Note: VG's doubles printable manufacturer Qs if they don't say not to.
Considering how many stores don't even take printables much less double them I'm considering myself lucky to have had some doubled. One reason not to tempt karma and fuss over some small bottles of vinegar. Because just my luck by the time the vinegar comes in they'll change the policy to not even double up to $1 anything.

Note: Shopping time less than an hour. Left work at 7. Receipt says 7:56

Thanks for reading. :)

Edit:
Trip 1
Before = $50.03
After coupons = $25.05

Trip 2
Before = $106.32
After coupons = $69.77

Trip 3
B = $52.60
A = $28.90

Total
B = $208.95
A = $123.72
59% savings

Time to Inkorporate a Printer

So after browsing the sales, asking on forums, getting help from others and all that good stuff I went today and got a coupon maker. So my first printer in over 10 years is the HP LaserJet p1102w B&W
Took me 4 hours to get the thing to install because it kept telling me the USB wasn't connected halfway through even though it was connected enough to detect it to start the installation. Finally after restarting the computer the hardware detector detected it and it finished. Its not as quiet as I'd hoped for. Maybe the Samsung would've been quieter. But at least now I've got something to use, to use up, and then decide whether to buy ink or trade in on one of those $50 toward offers.

Now I get to go get oogly eyed on the coupon sites and get the coupons I'm tired of waiting for in the paper. When you go away from couponing for a few years and come back it sucks when half the good coupons aren't in the paper anymore. Hopefully the ones I want aren't all the while supplies last on Facebook kind. Maybe I'll have to write some letters or something.

But I'm glad I can type up a list of the coupons I have and print it out to take with me.
Thanks again to anyone who helped me with the printer recs. :)

I've Flipped My Binder

I was thinking about how when I had my binder in the shopping cart the other day sitting in the child seat it was kinda tight to get my hands into the almost closed binder to get at stuff. So I thought back to some school classes I had years ago where a teacher had a binder with large pictures that she would flip through and the binder would be placed on the table in an A shape. So after digging out my older binder with larger rings I've decided that it will probably work better to do the same A technique with my bags. Thus I will give this a try



If I have to I can put a small piece of cardboard with a fold in the binder to help keep the binder from slipping through the basket. But I should be able to just put the seat down. In a pinch a sale paper would help.

Edited: Also I could drape the binder over the seat back if I slip the seat belt through the rings and buckle it. I hope.

Second VG's Trip Last Friday

I kinda messed up a bit the other day when sorting through my coupons. In my job as a meat department employee I have to put dates on the ground beef of 2 days when I put it out in the counter. So on Thursday the 7th when I was home and sorting through my coupons I was thinking that it was the 9th. Thus I put all the coupons that said the 9th into the expired group and then I saved all the 10ths and soon to expires in my take with me group. It wasn't until I was walking around VG's on the 8th that I realized that it was not the 10th. But I used some of the 10th coupons anyway.

My receipt is a bit long this time so I won't list everything.

Pringles - Store price of 2 for $3. I had 3 coupons for $1 off 3. So 9 cans at $1.50 ea is $13.50 - $6 of doubled coupon = $7.50 or 83 cents per can.

Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches - $4.99 sale. I had 3 coupons for $1 off 1. They doubled and made them $2.99 ea.

2 for $6 Kruncher's Potato Chips - 3 $1 off 1q = $1 ea for 3

$2 Crystal Light on the Go -$1/1 FREE

3 for $4 Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad - $.50/2 $.83 each for 2

I used a few condiment coupons since its easy to get them cheaper with double $1.

Kikkoman Soy Sauce - $1.99 - 55 cents off doubled = 89 cents.

French's Worcestershire sauce $1.65 sale - .75 doubled = 15 cents

Heinz 57 Sauce $3.99 sale - $1 doubled = $1.99

I got lots more stuff and if anyone wants me to list more I will but lets get to the total.

The reusable bags were Bogo or 2 for .99 so I grabbed 2. As I was checking out I decided to go grab 2 more. But when I got home I realized I actually grabbed the insulated zip top bags that were $2.49 each. But that's ok since I probably can use them anyway.

My total before Q was $106.32 and after was $69.77 for a 34 % savings.

Trip 1
Before = $50.03
After coupons = $25.05

Trip 2
Before = $106.32
After coupons = $69.77

Total
Before $156.35
After = $94.82
Total saved at VG's = $61.53

Edited: The store had plenty of Pringles on the shelf and had more on display in another aisle. My 9 cans did not even make a dimple in their shelf amount. I'm not a shelf clearer.

Coupon Forums I Joined.

I've found a lot of good blogs so far but I wanted to mention the two forums that I've joined so far that have lots of free info and lots of members.

1. We Use Coupons

2. A Full Cup

Both have coupon databases and insert schedules and tons of info such as store matchups posted by members. The links above are plain links not affiliate links. I have not joined their programs if they have them.

In a Hefty Bind

Today was a busy day. I'll be posting about my second VG's trip tonight or tomorrow but for now I'm posting the progress on my binder.
While at Kroger today I noticed that a few of the boxes of Hefty One Zip freezer bags had .15 off peelies on them and they were part of the Mega event where you buy 10 participating items and get $3 off or .30 nocked off each items already sale price. The bags were starting at $1.99 sale price and I bought 3 Lean Pockets - $1.84 ea, 3 Diet Coke 2 liters .89 ea, and then 2 quart size Hefty One Zip at $1.69 ea and then 2 gallon size bags with the .15 coupon to make them $1.54 ea.

I didn't get a chance to get my binder set up before my VG's trip but I had a rough draft version using other zip loc bags and I think this could work. While in VG's I bought 3 packs of 5 binder dividers for .99 ea. They are different colored plastic with tabs on top to label if I want.

So what I am doing right now is I fold the gallon sized bag in half and then tape it to keep it folded. Then I poke the binder rings through to hold it. Then I tape it to one of the dividers to not only give a hard backed surface but give me the option of taking the page out. And it comes out like this so far. I purposely folded the bags so that the clear side is closest to me so the Hefty logo isn't in the way of my coupons.



I can also add a few pages using the smaller bags if needed. They are wide enough to get grabbed by 2 of the 3 rings. They may come in handy for smaller categories or aisle types. Which is what I need to do. I need to organize by food type or aisle type. And then have one empty bag for the checkout coupons (those that I have products in my basket already) and one for misc organizing. Such as if its expired or I decide not to use it but am in a hurry and will wait till home to put it back in its space. The picture is showing only 5 of the dividers so I still have 10 more to use if needed. I do need to dig out one of my wider ringed binders though. Also the zipper sliders do cause a bit of a bump on one end. But its not meant to be a perfect system. Its basically my old envelope system but they are clear now. Being able to work one aisle at a time will be much better than what I'm currently dealing with.

Return Shout out to Lesa at Coupons Equal Cash for her mention of PB Saves on her VG's post. Thanks to her and thanks to any of you who may be reading.

IP no longer means Internet Protocol. Guess I Need a Printer

IP this IP that everywhere I look. I'm trying to hold off on buying a printer but its hard to ignore all the coupons I'm missing out on. To me its like this. If I spend $100 - $150 on printers and cartridges then I'm forcing myself to stick at this long enough to get that investment back. At the moment I've made one shopping trip so far and paid $6 for four newspapers and am up about $44. I guess when I look at it like that it seems like I can get my money back. But I don't want to buy a printer just because its cheap only to find out I can't get ink for it or have to keep buying toner cartridges and drums. I'm not expecting myself to use up a cartridge in only a month but who knows until they have the thing. I don't know how many sites have printable coupons yet. There's the obvious ones like RedPlum and SmartSource but I'm also seeing all these products with coupons on Facebook. Trying to get recommendations for printers is hard because everyone seems to like something that another says is junk. Some say get Kodak because it has cheaper ink while others say get a laser printer because they last longer. I'm leaning towards the laser printers but I want to get one that will last and not be discontinued two weeks after I buy it. But the toner and drums cost the same as the printer or more combined. I don't need to be playing the throw out the printer and buy a new one for the same price as ink game. But knowing me I'm going to buy a printer. Probably the cheapest black and white laser printer I can get preferably wireless. And then I'll have something post about when I get it. Now if I can just get away from this computer and mess with my newspaper coupons.
If you're reading thanks.

So Why am I doing This?

I suppose the short term answer is its another project for me to start and hopefully it will lead to something good.

I'm 35 years old with only a part time job and I don't have my own place. But I do have goals. There's a river I haven't seen in at least 3 years. I'd like to eventually see it everyday. There are car trips I want to take and retake. I haven't left the state in 11 years after I spent 2 years traveling to 24 states and another country.

Will using coupons and blogging about it help me figure out how to take control of my life? I don't know. But I do have some inspiration telling me to try something.

First is
My grandmother Lillian.
I wish I had known more about her when she was alive. It took a eulogy for me to know what an inspiration she was. But she was always encouraging me. Had I known what I wanted to do perhaps I could have done something with the encouragement. She was a fighter. She fought off cancer for years and I remember one of the last times she was in the hospital her hands were wrapped up in white gauze wrap and they looked like boxing gloves.

Second is my Dad.
His goal was always to have some sort of place up north to retire to for hunting or fishing or relaxing. It didn't happen. But for 20+ years he was my best friend and at times my only. He took me to the Soo Locks in 1990. When I got into Nascar in the early 90's he took me to the Michigan track for a few races. He was there when I climbed my first lighthouse tower at Tawas Point, MI. He taught me to drive after the high school drivers ed teacher barely taught me. One of my favorite words of advice he gave was "a poor ride beats a proud walk" meaning if the clunker car gets you there it'll get you there faster than any walking. I want to reach my goals. I want my place by the river or my store by the river or whatever it is that gets me there. Maybe it'll turn out that there's a better goal to reach. But I have unfinished business and I hope to finish it.

Third is my grandfather Paul.
Until age 3 my family took our vacations down in Ohio at Sea World and Geauga Lake. After that we started talking 2 weeks in the summer to spend in St. Clair, MI along the river at a small cottage rental place. My grandparents would come up and spend a few days also. It was there that I first started seeing the 600 - 1000 foot long Great Lakes ships. It was by staying there that you would see them pass each other and give their loud horn salutes. On a trip into town to the Riverview Plaza we saw a book in one of the drugstores called Know Your Ships. It contains all the info you need to know about the ships such as how long, what company, etc. My grandpa and I would sit out on the dock jutting out into the river and learn the names and look them up. So after a few years of that I was more than hooked. The other thing I got from him was the love of sunday drives. We'd go over for weekend dinner and then pile in the car and just take a ride somewhere. Something I've tried to do with my niece a few times. So far I've made it up to Imlay City and back but not over to the river yet.

Speaking of Niece she would be a big inspiration to mention. She just turned 5 and while we haven't gotten to watch the big ships yet we've substituted watching for cars and school buses for now. Especially Bubble cars aka VW Beetle.

Now for some non family inspiration.

Evelyn Ryan & her daughter Terry "Tuff" Ryan - Terry wrote a book about her mother called "The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" which was made into a movie "Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio" starring Julianne Moore. It was the movie that I saw that caught my attention. This woman got through a lot of tough times by winning contests that asked people at home to submit slogans for products or complete a fill in the blank jingle. Her daughter Terry also had some struggles that she needed to overcome and fight.


Julie Powell - author of Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen AKA Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously
Which was turned into the movie Julie & Julia featuring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Powell.

Its the story of Julie Powell who enjoys cooking and decides to try cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writes about it on a blog.

THE JULIE/JULIA PROJECT
http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html

WHAT COULD HAPPEN?
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html

I have not read the books and I have not read the entire blog. But I did read enough to know that while I was very inspired by the character version of Julie I kinda like the real version a bit more. But as someone who does not subscribe to any particular religion or political view I guess she wouldn't bother me.

But at a time when I needed some inspiration the real Julie Powell accepted me and didn't say hell no I'm a big star get the heck outta here. If you like her you can find her on FB just being herself.

Colonel Harlan Sanders - A man who held several jobs during his life but didn't find his greatest success until he was 65 when I-75 threatened to kill off his cafe's business by taking away the Highway traffic. He drove the country offering to show other cafe owners how to cook his chicken with his special recipe and well the rest is history. But I do have a bit more personal interest. In 1998 I was on my way to Georgia to see some internet friends and I stopped in Corbin, KY to hotel for the night. I figured I would go for the pun and have Kentucky Fried Chicken in KY so I looked in the yellow pages and saw a location at the next freeway exit. I went over and got some chicken at a regular KFC location. Earlier in the day I saw billboards on I-75 saying something about a KFC or Sanders museum but I didn't catch where it said it was at. Here in MI there are billboards for places that are 300 miles away. After I went back to the hotel and ate my chicken I went for a drive around town and it was then that I passed by the Sanders Cafe which happened to be right there in Corbin. So it went from a pun to being in the original location. When I got to GA I looked on the computer to read about it and then on my way home I spent another night in Corbin and visited the cafe the next day.

A few months later I flew to Salt Lake City to visit another friend during the after Christmas week. Turns out the first person to franchise with Colonal Sanders was Pete Harman sp while I was there I got on a bus and went up a few blocks to eat at the first ever KFC franchise. I've recently learned that they tore it down and put a new KFC on the spot.

In 2000 I drove down to Nashville, TN to pick up my lighthouse friend Dawn and drive up to New England to see lights. On my way home after dropping her off I stopped in Louisville, KY to see the small KFC museum at the headquarters.

Anyway the fact is if he can make something happen that late in life then I have no reason to give up at the young age of 35.

Roberta Guaspari is another inspiration brought to me by movie. Music Of The Heart starring Meryl Streep as a violin teacher who gets a job teaching violin in East Harlem, NY and helped bring music to many who might not otherwise have a chance to give it a try. You can watch the movie or find out more by visiting Opus118.org

Thank you to my first Follower

Thank you to Lesa of Coupons Equal Cash for becoming my first follower.
Your site has been very helpful so far. The VG's matchups definitely come in handy.

A Sunday to Gamble On

So there were no Smartsource or Redplum inserts this week but there was the P&G (Procter and Gamble) for July. So I bought my 2 papers and got the third insert from the home paper.

Still thinking about my organizing ideas. I really do want to have something with slider zip type bags. As long as I get something that's wide enough for the long or tall coupons. I really don't want to have to fold them. Plus there are bags I can write on. But I'm still in planning stages.

Organizing ~ Bagging it?

I'm thinking of designing my own binder type organizer and instead of baseball card or photo pages I might attach slide lock type sandwich bags to cardboard pages or use a large bag as a page to hold smaller bags. The slide lock would help keep the bags closed incase of tipping or the binder falling. Plus the bags would be like envelopes but would be clear. On my trip the other day many of my coupons were for condiments. Perhaps if I had a large bag for the condiments with smaller bags breaking them down into types like dressings or sauces. Some stores have all the condiments in one aisle while some will have them in separate. VG's had the sauces and mustards in one aisle while the dressings were in the next aisle. Having to sort through the dressings to find my mustard or steak sauce coupon could be a pain if I've got 3 of each. I've got some images in my mind of what I might try. After searching Joann and Michaels websites I figured out that what I wanted were eyelets. If I can find some that are big enough for binder rings I might try using them to bind the large bags. So now I'm going to go lay in bed and ponder.

Organizing ~ Can I figure it out my way?

So I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to organize my inserts and coupons. The method I used to use was small envelopes inside of a large envelope. And it worked because I had it sorted out according to a certain store that I had memorized enough. The main reason I had trouble with it was my mom would always put a bunch of coupons in there that got in my way. Which not only made it harder to get at the coupons I meant to use but made it harder to get the expireds out of the way. So I'd have to stand there for like an hour going through the envelopes and trying to find the coupons I knew I wanted that would match the ad and it just got to the point that I didn't want to bother.

Now its me doing the organizing and I don't have anyone piling things on. Having a binder in the store would be nice but its something a bit big to me. I say that now but I don't even have a printer yet so who knows what I'll end up using if I have other sources of coupons besides the inserts. I just don't want to have people bugging me about being one of those extreme people. But I still want to have my coupons with me so either I bring them in the store or have them in the car. I would rather have a system that's more like a recipe card box organized by food type such as cereal or condiments.

I also don't really like leaving my coupons in insert page form even with multiple inserts. I don't like having a ketchup coupon stuck to a page with a cat food on the back. I am grateful that there are sites that do the matchups and show coupons with insert name and dates. Bottom line is I cannot have boxes or crates full of inserts. Especially if at any given moment many of the coupons will be sitting there already expired. I'd like to send them to the people who can still use them but I'm not going to have time to page through inserts multiple times per month just to get the few expireds out. If I cut them out to begin with and organize them I can then just refer to some sort of log sheet and then pick them out. So that's my mission. Organize my way and see if it works for me.