On Sale Trap

This past week I exercised a lot of self-control. I'm proud to say that I only bought a few things and most of them were a few cents or free! I think I am on my way to our savings plan this month of not buying as many groceries as last month.

Here the deals I got this past week -

Wal-Mart
Carefree pantyliners  .94 - $1 off coupon = .06 credit
Ivory Bar Soap 3 pack  .97 - $1 off coupon = .03 credit
* Coupons at Wal-Mart do not automatically adjust to the retail price so you can make money by buying items that are on sale, clearance, close-outs, or great buys with coupons and walk away with cash or with money off the rest of your order. 

Harris Teeter
Ragu Pasta Sauce $2.79 B1G1 - $1.25 off 3 = 97 cents each
HT 18 Large Eggs $1.57 eVic member price

Lowe's Foods
Steamfresh Vegetables .97 with in-store ad coupon - .35 coupon doubled to .70 off = .28 after tax!

Target
Pringles $2.51 - $1 off 3 - $1 off 3 Target coupon = $2.58 for 3 after tax!

Kerr Drug
2 liter Pepsi products on sale for .99 - $1 off 2 = .50 cents each!

CVS
M&Ms on sale for .50 each - .75 off 2 =  .25 for 2 bags! Plus I got $1 in Extra Care bucks!
Used my $1 ECB to get a bag of Hershey's Bliss, on sale for $3 - $1 off coupon - $1 ECB = $1. 

I spent very little money and time finding these deals. Since we have a stockpile of groceries at the moment, it feels really good to know that I can take a week off from buying lots of food and not go hungry! We still have plenty of spaghetti noddles and taco shells to have for dinner!

My tip for this week is know your prices. What is marked as "on sale" is not always a great buy. For instance, Harris Teeter had Hillshire Farm lunch meat "on sale" for 3 for $7 during triple coupons. Well since that's a lunch meat we buy on a regular basis, I know that it's $3-$3.12 at Wal-Mart everyday before a coupon. So I took 1 look at my $1 off coupon and realized that even getting it on sale and with my coupon, I would still pay $2.50 while I could get the same lunch meat at Wal-Mart with my coupon for $2 or $2.12. Another thing to watch out for candy is typically way overpriced at pharmacies so even if you have a coupon, you could potentially be paying more than the regular, everyday price that other stores offer.