Stores,Stores of the South

Yes, it's true I am alive!   After reading this post, you might think I've been buried in coupons.  That's not the case :)  I assure you, I spend no more than an hour on coupons each week.  I clip from the paper and I print all the printables I see during the week, put them in a pile and clip them all together before I go shopping.

I point out the time I spend on coupons because I hear so many people say "I just don't have time for that".  Well, let me tell you, I just don't have the time (or money) not to clip coupons.

Let me illustrate by my shopping trip this week:

It is hard to capture everything in a picture.  But here is a list...

1 40pk Hefty Trash Bags
1-8 Roll Scott Toilet Paper
8 cans of Green Giant Veggies
20 cans of Hunts Tomato Sauce
8 packs of Uncle Bens Long Grain Chicken and Wild Rice
2 Boxes of Ritz Crackerfulls
1 Bag of TendaBake pancake/waffle mix
1 Box of Minute Brown Rice
4 Boxes of Green Giant Frozen Veggies
2 Cans of Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2 Jars of Bertolli Pasta sauce
2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
4 boxes of chicken broth
4 cans of Progresso Beans
2 cans of Progresso Soup
3 half gallons of Silk Almond Milk
2 quarts of Good Belly Probiotic Drink
1 32 oz Pacific Almond Milk
2 cans of Lindsay Black Olives
1 jug of Log Cabin Syrup
1 package of Butterball Turkey Bacon
1 package of Butterball Turkey Sausage
2 packages of al Fresco Chicken Sausages
1 organic whole chicken
1 package of organic baby carrots
1 package of Sargento cheese
2 packages of Wholly guacamole
1 package of Activia Blueberry Cheesecake Yogurt
1 bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce
1 dish of mashed potatoes
1 bottle of Men's Vaseline lotion
10 gallons of water (not pictured)

Total spent?  $56.52.  Yup, fifty six bucks.  Retail price (before sales and coupons) was $192.20.  I saved $135.68.  All for an hours worth of coupons each week. I save more money by clipping coupons than I make in an entire day at work. 

Now, I will tell you one secret.... living in the South is a tremendous help.  I shopped this week at three stores that they don't have in the North.  Earth Fare is the equivalent of Whole Foods, except they have awesome coupons.  (I got the chicken, carrots and mashed potatoes for FREE there just for buying water and a few other things I had coupons for.)

Then, Harris Teeter was having Super Doubles week where they double any coupon with a face value of up to $1.98.  I love those weeks.

And Publix had an awesome deal on General Mills and Hunts products.  They offer store coupons that you can use along WITH manufacturer coupons. 

So, yes, the stores in the South rock.  And they put Walmart's "Low Prices" to shame!