Couponing for a Cause

You know those Snickers commercials, where the guy is so hungry that he turns into super diva Aretha Franklin? Then he {Aretha} eats a Snickers and he's back to his old self and life is good again?

Well, there are many people in just this country alone that go hungry every day. This video is funny, but think about what happens to the body when you are hungry: lack of focus, no concentration, grouchy, etc. Imagine being a child in school trying to pay attention in class and that child is hungry because he didn't have breakfast or even dinner from the night before. Maybe your only meal for the day is the free lunch you get at school (Have you even seen what they feed kids at school?!). Or think about the elderly, hungry but afraid to eat what last few items are in the pantry because they don't know where their next bites of food will come from.  (Cue the violin music.) 

But seriously, I write all this to urge you to make a donation to your local food bank. Here in NC, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC is totally out of food. Below is a pic from their facility.

If you're local (Piedmont Triad, NC) you can make donations at these locations:

Goodwill Stores in Forsyth and Guilford County

BB&T Bank Branches
NewBridge Bank Branches

Lowes Food Stores
Food Lion Stores
Ideal Image

Go here for a list of most needed items from their website. They also need some toiletries which are also listed.

Now, you may be thinking that you really don't have the extra to donate. If you don't, that's fine. But this is where I tell you that if you are not a couponer, you should become one. I know, I know, I'm always trying to convert ya'll. Lol. But you can get so many items for pennies on the dollar, or even free, just by pairing coupons with sales. Here is a great article that I read just today about couponing for a cause.

This week I scored for free:

banana chips

toilet bowl cleaner

Lucky Charms cereal bars (2 boxes)

peanut butter

Gain dishwashing liquid

And for super cheap I got the following:

Concord grape jelly (.27)

4 boxes of name brand cereal ($1.25 each) 

2 boxes of Smart Balance popcorn (.29 for both)

salad dressing ($1.00-I splurged a little, lol)

Nature's Own loaf of bread (.49)

3 pack of Dial soap (.49)

2  4-cup packs of Hunt's Snack pack pudding (.19 for both)

2 boxes of Snackwell fudge cookies (.98 for both)

2 Mccormick taco seasoning mix packets (.25 for both)

2 cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli (1.00 for both)

Aunt Jemima 12-count frozen pancakes (.49)

2 tubs of Country Crock 15 oz. margarine spread (1.00 for both)

2 cartons of eggs (free-i had a coupon that doubled to $1.10 off of two plus an e-vic for free eggs when I bought two margarines. It was also a score that eggs were B1G1 at HT this week.)

Now, I know that you can't just feed your family cookies, grape jelly, and taco seasoning mix for a meal. I know that...but, you can shop smarter and supplement your pantry (or the local food pantry) just by comparing sales and coupons. The key is to use coupons to buy things when they are on sale at rock bottom price, so that you won't have to pay full price when you actually need the item.

If everyone donated just one item to their local food pantry, just think how stocked those shelves would be!

My Adventures in Extreme Couponing...Today's Haul

Couponing...at this point either ya love it, or ya hate it. Am I right folks? There's been so much talk about it as of late all over the blogosphere and TLC's Extreme Couponing show only feeds my couponing need. :) I've been trying to convert my friends and family, but they just don't have the desire. They don't get it. In turn, I don't get that they don't want to save money?!

Anyhoo, speaking of the coupon craze, Harris Teeter is running Super Doubles this week. Other than triple coupons, this is like holy mecca for us couponing crazies. Let me share with you what I got for exactly $12.99 (tax included) at Harris Teeter today. (Pardon the crumbs on the stove, lol.) I got some great items to send to the Hip2Help tour that will benefit the flooding/tornado victims that I posted about here.

List of items I got using coupons:

Kraft salad dressing (I like to use these as a chicken marinade!)     2/.99

Pedigree can dog food      2/.60

Muellers spaghetti     FREE!

Gillette Body Wash     .29

Pampers Wipes     FREE!

Knorr Rice Mix     2/.24

Tidy Cat Litter 7 lbs.     2/.55

Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Kit     FREE!

HT Grits (not shown)      1.67 (no coupon)

HT Croutons      FREE!

House of Autry     1.49

Milos dog treats     .45

Fusion Razor   .99 (Normal price for this is around $12!!!)

Tom's Soap     FREE!

Zest 3 bar soap    .49

Colgate travel size toothpaste     2/FREE!

Crest ME toothpaste     FREE!

Always pantiliners      FREE!

Oral-B Crossaction toothbrush    .99

Playtex Teethers    1.77

Tide travel size    FREE!

Herbal Essence Gel    FREE!

Pert Plus Travel Size    FREE!

Hot Pockets Pretzel Pockets    FREE!

Which camp are you in? Do you love it or hate it?

My Adventure in Extreme Couponing

Have you heard about “extreme couponing”? I finally caught an episode of the show on TLC this past week. All I can say is “wow”! It really is a science. From what I’ve read, there seems to be such a negative reaction to these extreme couponers, but I think that it’s fan-tas-tic how they are able to research and match up the deals to get hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise for just dollars. I do think that instead of hoarding these goods for themselves, they should donate, donate, donate! Food banks and shelters are in dire need. I mean, really, what are you gonna do with 1000 tubes of toothpaste? These are the people we need to balance our governmental budgets, lol, but that’s a whole another topic and I’m not going there.

 

So, I did try my hand at extreme couponing yesterday. How do you think I did? Well, I went to my local Food Lion because they had some items on sale and I had coupons for them.

 

• First lesson learned: Food Lion does not double coupons, which really makes it hard when trying to get something for nothing.

• Second lesson learned: Stick to your list! I was tempted by Chocolate Chip Famous Amos Cookies for $3.99, OH’s cereal $2.49, and four Pepsi twelve packs for $11.00. I didn’t have coupons or store credits so I was already $17.48 out of pocket.

• Third lesson learned: Read the fine print. There was a promotion going on that offered a free carton of eggs when you buy 3 Pillsbury 8-count canned biscuits or cinnamon rolls for $5. I also had a coupon for .75 off of 3 cinnamon rolls, and a coupon for .55 off of 2 cartons of eggs. So, one of the cartons of eggs was supposed to be free, the other should have been $1.69-.55=$1.14. The cinnamon rolls should have been $4.25 ($5-.75=$4.25). Well, I picked up a 5-count of Grands cinnamon rolls, when I should’ve gotten an 8-count pack of regular cinnamon rolls so I missed out on the free eggs. I ended up paying $3.99 for the Grand cinnamon rolls and $1.69 for another carton of eggs. Again, read the fine print!

• Fourth lesson learned: Are "special promotions" really all they are cracked up to be? Sometimes what seems like a good deal may not necessarily be-especially if the “deal” is for items that your family doesn’t use. For example, Food Lion is running a special when you buy two Gorton’s Fish Fillet Family Size bags, you get for free: One Cool Whip, One Mrs. Smith Cobbler, one bag of Green Giant Veggies, and one Oreida (French fries) product. While I think this is an awesome deal, I haven’t eaten the Gorton’s fish products in quite a while just because they are fried and I try to stay away, but I’ll be sticking it out the next few months. The total for this deal was $11.98-.50 coupon for Gorton’s = $11.48. Oh yeah, and somehow I ended up with an extra cool whip in my buggy in addition to the free one so I paid $1.49 for an extra Cool Whip that I didn’t need.

• Fifth lesson learned: Make sure there is room to store your haul. I got 5 Lean Cuisines for $9.00 thanks to an in store promo. Lean Cuisines were already on sale 4 for $10, and if you bought 4 you got a 5th for free, making them $2/each. I then had a coupon for $1.00 off so that brought my haul on Lean Cuisines to $9. Awesome, but in addition to my frozen fish, steak fries, Lean Pockets ($1.67 x 2 =$3.34-$1.25 (coupon when I buy 2) = $2.09 for two), I had to find room in my freezer for all this frozen food. I did, barely!

• Sixth lesson learned: Have a system. I have a coupon organizer; however, my coupons were not organized. This made it really hard to find coupons and to match them up with sale items. I spent way too much time digging for coupons. Yes, I’m the girl that stands in the aisle right in the spot you need to get to sorting through 500 coupons for 20 minutes. Yes, that is me. Hopefully we don’t shop at the same store.

• Did I score anything?? Yes, I got what I think are good deals on the following:

All liquid detergent 32 loads-on sale for $2.99 - $1.00 coupon = $1.99

All liquid detergent OXI 32 loads-on sale for $2.99 - $1.50 coupon = $1.49

ARM & Hammer 32 loads liquid detergent-on sale for $2.99 - $1.00 coupon when you buy 2, so I got two for $5 or $2.50 each. Not bad. I am set for a few months in the laundry department. But still...I got nothing for free.

 

All these savings but my bill still managed to be $63.35! I FAILED miserably on my first extreme couponing adventure. Now that I've broken this down I'm still trying to figure out how I racked up $63 dollars! Most importantly you must be organized and have a plan. Secondly, don’t give into temptation! Famous Amos and Pepsi, darn you! Third, honestly, I’m not sure that extreme couponing is effective if you don’t shop somewhere that doubles or even triples coupons. But, I’m a newbie at this, so maybe…Next time I will shop at Lowes Foods, where they do double coupons. I’m not trying to leave the store with 50 deodorants for free, but, one would be nice.

 

Will keep ya posted!