I was practically PAID to shop!

Part of being prepared is building up your food storage for those times when you might need it. Because of this, I'm a completely obsessed coupon and sale shopper. For a while, I played The Grocery Game - which is a great website that tells you what is on sale and when to use your coupons. After some time, I figured out the pattern so I stopped paying for their lists and tried to keep track of things myself. It's a little hard, unless you have a system.

Well...I've found a GREAT system that is starting to pay off even MORE than The Grocery Game did! If you haven't been to The Obsessive Shopper website yet, you HAVE to check it out. Shauntell has a great system for organizing and using your coupons that you need to try! I'm not going to list it all out here, you'll have to go to her website to check it out for yourself - but I will share when I find great deals or save a ton of money as I'm adding to my food storage! (By the way, her website is part of a network called Fun with Food Storage - it's packed with more info than you can every use for your food storage, make sure you take a look!)

Drumroll please......

Today, I was practically PAID to shop at Shaws. Just a few more dollars and I would have been!

First, a little background on how I shop. I do not buy the essentials (Milk, Bread, Eggs, Butter, Cheese, etc.) from the "regular" stores. I have found that the prices are hyper-inflated. Instead, I pick up all of those things from Aldi. (What? Never heard of Aldi? I'll have to tell you the story about that sometime and how a friend turned me on to the BEST place for basics - and much more - ever!) For other things, I scour the ads and check my coupons to get the best deals.

This was my result this week: I spent $6 - and bought 10 jars of Mayo and 12 jars of Peanut Butter. I saved $66.90! (Calculation based on if I had purchased the same products at full price.)

(Before I'm loaded up with peanut butter comments, remember it's the PB that's added to other foods that was affected by the salmonella, not the PB in jars!)

Want to know how I did it?

• Skippy Peanut Butter - 16 oz regular price $2.50, on sale for $1.67. I had 4 coupons that gave me $1 off for every 3 I purchased - AND if I spent so much, I also got a coupon for $10 to use at another time. Result: $6 spent - $24 saved.
  
  
• Hellmans Mayo - 30 oz regular price $4.29, on sale for $3.00. I had 5 coupons that gave me $1 off for every 2 I purchased - AND again, if I spent so much, I also got a coupon for $15 back to use at another time. IN STORE BONUS - I wasn't aware of this before I shopped, but I also got ANOTHER $10 in coupons from Hellmans to use on any products the next time. Result: $25 spent - $25 saved!

I have to say, that I was pretty much skipping to my car with my Mayo and PB. Woo Hoo!

The message I want you get from this is to just spend a little time organizing yourself and paying attention to the ads and sales, and you will SAVE A TON on your shopping! I'd love to hear what you do to save money while you are adding to your food storage! Just leave a comment!

PS - Just so you know, I don't purchase 5 different Sunday papers to get all my coupons, I have GREAT neighbors who save what they don't use for me every week!

PPS - It's so much fun to hear the comments from the gals at the checkout when I'm shopping. Today it was...WOW, looks like you'll be making a ton of potato salad soon! And the other gal said something about liking peanut butter, but not THAT much! hehe They were impressed though, with the final amount I owed in the end!