Another Level of Couponing

     Happy Sunday!  I hope you are all doing well and saving money, I sure am!  This week, I decided to add another piece to this marvelous game called Couponing.  One of my Coupon Sense members recently posted on her Facebook page about a shopping trip to Target and all the savings she was getting there. I was quite envious.  I had some time this week and got online to explore my coupon options at Target.
     The wonderful thing about coupon shopping at Target is coupon stacking.  What this means is, Target will take one of their own coupons (off their website or one of their mailers) and a manufacturer's coupon (out of the paper or coupon websites), off ONE item.  Also, Target posts many coupons for non Grocery items and those are good on Clearance items.  For example, my Coupon Sense member found a coupon on the Target website for $10 off bedding, she then found a sheet set on clearance for $13.48, therefore, got an entire sheet set for $348.  Now I call that a good savings!
     This week, I got on the website and printed any coupons I thought I might use.  Now, I do not usually print many coupons because of the cost of ink, but this week that I wanted to see how this could work.  So, I printed alot!  I then sat with my awesome website, Coupon Sense and looked up each coupon to see if there was a manufacturer coupon to match it and found there were manufacturer coupons for over half of them.  I also checked Coupon Sense for any sales that were advertised and  I pulled all the coupons, matched them up and put them in various envelopes and headed for Target.  I walked around the store and began putting items in my basket when I found a good deal.  I was a little nervous about it because I forgot my notebook and was not keeping track of my spending...and that is not something I usually do on our budget.
   
I finally found all the deals I thought were good and here is the result:

• 1 KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce - Free
• Nivea Body Lotion - $1.00
• 1 Colgate toothpaste and toothbrush - $.69
• 1 Tresseme Shampoo - $.59
• 2 small dog food - free
• 3 Benedryl Itch Stick - $.29 each
• 2 Nexcare Bandaids - $.37 each
• 1 lb Beef Stew Meat - $2.18
• 2 Quaker Chewey Granola Bars - $1.28 each
• 2 Kraft Deli Cheese - $1.74 each
• 2 Boxes of Lipton Iced Tea Family Bags - $1.23 each
• 3 Kraft Salad Dressing - $1.06 each
• 3 Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Lunch Meat - $1.33 each

My total was $69.63 before all my coupons and was $16.35 after all coupons, that is a 77% savings.  Not too bad for the first time.  I will be honest, the whole endeavor took me a little bit too long for my taste, but now that I have printed the majority of the coupons, I will only have to print new ones each week and I will try matching them as I go. I am going to do this for a few weeks and see how it goes and I will post my lists each week before the sale ends so you can get in on the savings!