The double BOGO

If you shop at Publix pretty often like I do, then you are probably pretty familiar with the buy one get one free items that they have.  They are on a regular rotation, so typically every 4-6 weeks you will see the same items go BOGO.  Well, usually the BOGO items are convenience packaged foods, and my husband consumes a lot of that stuff- corndogs, chicken patties, frozen pizzas, etc since I work late several nights per week.  I was reading on the internet about how you can buy coupons off of ebay, and I had never thought to check there before.  Lo and behold, I found a lady that was selling 10 coupons for buy one get one free Curly's pulled pork.  I remembered that I had bought it BOGO before from Publix or Winn Dixie (I sometimes shop there for BOGO items.)  Here is where the double BOGO comes in- if the item is already BOGO at the store, and you have a BOGO coupon, then you actually get both items free.  So for 99 cents, I bought 10 of the BOGO Curly's coupons.  I was taking a risk because they expire June 30 and I wasn't sure if the Curly's pulled pork would go on sale during that time.  Luckily, Wednesday came around and I saw that Curly's was BOGO at Winn Dixie.  I got my coupons in the mail Thursday night, went to Winn Dixie Friday morning, and picked up 20 containers of Curly's pulled pork for FREE.  At $5.99 each, it was a significant amount of savings.  I bought a few other BOGO items while I was there just so that my total would be a positive number.  All in all, I spent $17.05 and walked away with $150 worth of groceries.  The pulled pork came in handy for Memorial Day weekend, and I now have tons of meat in the fridge and freezer.  I won't do this often, but if it's a product I could really use and have the storage for it, I think it's a great way to stretch your budget.

Coupon Craziness

For as long as I can remember I lived in a coupon crazy house. My mom never bought anything without a coupon and my brother was obsessed with mail-in rebates. My parents' house was continuously stacked with school supplies, computer stuff, toiletries, extra food, etc. So much so that my brother started stashing stuff at work so my parents wouldn't see it. He was definitely a hoarder, and I never wanted to be that way. My friends and family would always ask for stuff and I would try to sneak it when I could and share with them. When I went to college, there were certain products that I never bought because I knew I could go home and restock my supply for free. Well now I am married and own my own with the coupon clipping, and of course we need to tighten our budget just like everyone else, especially since we now have a kitty cat to feed as well. I thought we spent way too much money at Publix, where I always liked to shop so I can get a Publix sub. I have always used coupons, but never really knew how to maximize their effectiveness. When my awesome wedding photographer Devynn started posting about all these great deals she got, it reignited the shopaholic in me and I wanted to learn what she knew, so I attended one of the coupon classes she went to.

I have always gone to couponmom.com for coupons, but never paid attention to the 8 page guide on how to cut your grocery bill in half. Most of the things in there are common sense, or things I already knew, but she mentions in there some great tips that I never knew until I heard about them at the coupon class. I highly recommend the coupon glass and the guide at couponmom.com.

My favorite tip from the class was this:
When purchasing BOGO items (buy one get one free), you can use 2 coupons, one per each item, even though you are only paying for one. This week, ALL laundry detergent was BOGO ($5.99 each regularly) and there was also 2 coupons for $1 off any ALL detergent. So I bought 2 bottles of ALL and used 2 coupons, therefore only paying $3.99 and purchasing 2 bottles of ALL.

I will be posting some other bargains as I find them in the future =)