Couponing...my new hobby

How many boxes of cereal do we really need? A person might ask as they enter my kitchen and see the line up on the top of my cupboard.

Yes, well...it was a great coupon deal.

I got 18 boxes of cereal, 3 boxes of pasta, 1 qt of yogurt, 1 bottle of worchestshire sauce and 1 bunch of grapes for about $22.



It was the doublers weekend at Albertson's. : )

Now this is all new to me. I have a great friend who has been doing this journey for some time now and is willing to let me pester her with questions and occasionally, when our schedules allow it, I get to tag along with her on these shopping adventures.

This time, I was alone, and very slow going. It's tough, when it's new to you, to make sure you're following all the rules. No one wants to get to the checkout register to find that your coupons are for the wrong item. It may be the right brand, but the wrong size. That is a waste of time.

So my first transaction went like this...

Kelloggs Cereal 4/$10.00 that is $2.50 each
Buy 4 save $4 on your next order (OYNO) (This is a coupon that prints at the register called a Catalina or Cat for short.)

Use 2 manufacture coupons (these were printed off the Internet)
$1 OFF /2 boxes
$1.50 off/ 2 boxes
Use 2 Albertson's doubers matching up to $1 per coupon
Final Out of Pocket (OOP) is $5.50 - Recieve $4 coupon for next order

Post Cereal 3/$5 or $1.67 each
Buy 5
$8.35, Get $5 Catalina for your next purchase
I had a previous $5 OFF OYNO coupon from my previous shopping trip that I applied to this purchase.

Mtn High Yogurt
$2.99
Use Manufacturer coupon $.50/1
Albertson's doubler $.50

Total OOP : $10.83


My next transaction (forced to do this because Albertson's only lets you use 3 doublers per transaction and because the Catalina's are only allowed on your next purchase).


Ronzoni Pasta - $1.69 each buy 3
Use 3 Manufacturer coupons $.75/off 1 box
Use 3 Albertson's doublers $.75 each
OOP $.57 cents

Post Cereal 3/$5 or 1.67 each
Buy 5
$8.35, get $5 Cat ONYO
Use $4 Cat from previous purchase -
OOP $4.35

Seedless grapes .99/lb - $2.78

Total OOP $7.69


Final Transaction:
Kelloggs Cereal 4/$10.00 that is $2.50 each
Buy 4 save $4 on your next order (OYNO)

Use 2 manufacture coupons (these were printed off the Internet)
$1 OFF /2 boxes
$1.00off/ 2 boxes
Use 2 Albertson's doubers matching up to $1 per coupon
Use $4 Catalina from previous transaction
Final Out of Pocket (OOP) is $2.00 - Receive $4 coupon for next order

1 bottle Worchersthire sauce - $2.89
Use Manufacturer coupon $1/off 1
Use Albertson's doubler $1
OOP - $.89 cents

Total OOP - $2.89
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow...so my total for the 3 transactions were: $21.41
For 18 boxes of cereal, 3 boxes of pasta, 1 Qt of yogurt, 1 bunch of grapes and 1 bottle of Worchestshire sauce.

If you want to follow the coupon blogs that I do, click here and here. These are the 2 that have been passed on to me, that got me started. It still takes a lot of work for me to read the blogs, print my coupons and go shopping, but maybe you'll be faster than I am and have some great success!

PS. I just found out from a friend that the Catalina's I recieved from the cereal deals, aren't coupons, they are like gift cards from the Post or Kellogg manufacturers. This means the $14 worth of Catalina's can be used on my next purchase at Albertson's for anything I want to buy in the store...not limited to just cereal (which was what I originally thought they were good for). WOW! I'm so excited.