Jill Ann Denham, WA
A great deal at the last minute
By Jill Ann Denham, Bonney Lake, WA
Boy! Did I have a good time with the Albertsons/Johnson & Johnson deal! What a fun couple of days I had! I get so excited when I can actually get in on one of the unbelievable deals I read about on line at RC. It seems Im always a day late or a coupon short to get in on the phenomenal deals, but not this time. Now, I wont say I did as well as some of those super couponers with their huge stashes of coupons, but Im pretty proud of how I pulled off a great deal with only a little planning.
My first trip to Albertsons was on Saturday, the last day of the great Band-aid deal. I was disappointed that I had been unable to start earlier in the week and was equally bummed because I had my 8 month old daughter with me. Now dont get me wrong, I LOVE my daughter, but her couponing stamina is not what mine is, so I always know my time at the store is limited when I have her with me. On the other hand I was quite fortunate to find that my local Albertsons was well stocked with Johnson and Johnson sale products. Apparently no one in my area knew about this deal. So, I filled my basket with enough band-aids, toothbrushes, and toothpaste to do the deal several times. Then, I proceeded to organize my other purchases to maximize the $10 coupon and spend as little cash as possible.
On this trip I purchased three tubes of kids toothpaste, six kids toothbrushes, one dental floss, and 20 boxes of Band-aids. I had coupons for some of the toothbrushes ($1.50/2 and $1/2), the dental floss (.30), and four Band-aid coupons (.55). Oh, if only Id had time to search or trade for more coupons! Sigh! I rounded out my purchases by buying items that I had planned to purchase that week anyway and items that I can rarely get cheaply or free with coupons such as milk, eggs, sausage, orange juice, bread, fresh corn and strawberries, corn muffin mix, and cereal. All totaled, I spent $8.05 on approximately $60 worth of groceries! (Just so you know, when I calculate my savings I count the sale price rather than the regular price of an item because I would NEVER pay full price in the first place).
After reading on line that the deal was still working in most states on Sunday, I decided to give it another go. I took some time to come up with a few more coupons and took off to the store on Tuesday evening. I was initially disappointed to find the Band-aids gone from the shelves, but a helpful sales person pointed me to the special10 for $10 isle they have at my store and there I found plenty of Band-aids. So, I again stocked my cart with enough to complete several deals and planned my purchases. This time I found Gerber baby food at a reasonable price and matched that with a coupon for $1 off twelve. I also purchased Tropicana fruit punch, Hersheys candy bars 3 for $1, several meat items, and a 2 lbs block of Tillamook cheese for $3.99 by using a competitors coupon. I even used my free item coupons for Kens salad dressing and Body for Life protein bars just so I could feel like I was having a really impressive shopping spree. I had my daughter with me again this time, so I was still limited with the amount of time I could spend at the store. She got a little fussy about half-way through, but thanks to her fascination with my car keys and a bit of time being carried around in my arms, we made it through. I wish I could have gone through the line a few more times, as there were still plenty of Band-aids on the shelf, but my daughter comes first and she lets me know when enough is enough.
I had no problems at the register and the checker was impressed with the good deals I was getting. She even said she would have to try it after work.
All in all I did quite well and had fun in the process. . The cutie in the middle is my eight-month-old daughter Kira
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Jill,
If you care to exchange coupons,feel free to e-mail & let me know & tell me some of your interests. How long have you couponed? I've been doing it over 21 years.
Jan. 15, 2008 By:
Sherri in WA state
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