Why I always take my whole coupon binder to the store! (or...Pillsbury Grands Bisbuits for $.04!)

I'm a coupon planner...I prefer it if everything is organized BEFORE I go to the store.  I have my coupon binder, plus a bunch of envelopes marked with the names of store I shop frequently that I store inside my binder.  When I'm going shopping I plan out my trip, pull the coupons I'm planning to use out of my binder and put them in the envelope for that store.  Geeky, I know, but that's how I roll. :)

However, after a couple disappointing trips where I saw great deals I knew I had coupons for...at home...I started carrying my big binder with me everywhere.  I still pre-plan, but now the envelope just gets tucked into the front pocket of my binder and I bring the whole thing.

Last week it paid off at Albertsons!  My store had one variety of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits on an unadvertised Bonus Buy for $.99/can, and they were marked as part of the GM promo (buy 10 items, save $5 instantly).  I happened down that aisle, saw the sign and thought "I know I've got coupons for those!"

And because I had my binder with me, I ended up with 10 cans for $.40 TOTAL.

10 Biscuits at $.99 = $9.90
Save $5 instantly
Used (3) $.75/3 Pillsbury Rolls or Biscuits printables + 3 Doublers
= $.40

They don't expire for a couple months, so in the meantime we'll be having biscuits with dinner, making Monkey Bread, mini-pizzas with the biscuits as dough, maybe some Mini Taco Bowls.  Yum!

All that to say I encourage you to clip all the coupons you know your family would use if you got the product for free (or nearly so), organize them and take them shopping!

Tax free couponing fun in Oregon!

Ok, so I have a confession to make - I have become unbelievably cheap while learning to coupon.  I once put back 2 Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Sprayer refills ($6.99) at Target because even though I could get them totally FREE with coupons I had with me, it didn't seem worth it to pay the $.66 tax on each one.  Now, dear fellow coupons, before you laugh, my reasoning was sound:
1. I had enough bottles already to keep my family's showers sparkling clearn for months to come
2. I didn't just want to donate a refill container and count on someone happening to have a starter sprayer lying around to attach it to.
Later a friend (who doesn't coupon) told me that sounded just crazy - after all, it was only $.66!  Oh well.  And you know what?  A week later I score 6 Shower Sprayers for Better Than Free AND used the overage on them to pay for other stuff I was buying.  That's the day I ended up with a cartful of goodies and a negative total at Target before tax.  After tax I think I paid $3 and change for over $100 worth of stuff, then I was able to donate 6 sprayers!  Glad I didn't spend the $.66 the week before. :)

All of that to say I do occasionally think, as I read other blogs where they declare that a bunch of stuff at Walgreens or Rite Aid is "free" that week, that I wish we didn't have such outrageous sales tax here so more stuff was a little closer to free after tax for us!  Soooooooo, since I was headed to sales-tax-free Oregon last week I thought I'd make good use of the recent Schick coupons and Walgreen's RR deals.  The result (done in 5 transactions so I could get the RR on each razor):

5 Schick Hydro 5 razors (on sale for $7.99)
5 Schick Hydro shave gels (on sale for $1.49)
= $47.40
used (5) $5/1 Hydro razor SS 8/8
used (5) free shave gel when you buy a Hydro razor
OOP = $14.95, plus receive 5 $2 RR (one for each razor)
= $4.95

If I bought it all at home it still would have been a PRETTY good deal at $9.45, but saving an extra $4.50 (and getting to use up some of my about-to-expire RR doing it) made my vacation just the tiniest bit funner!  LOL!  I'm not the only one having fun couponing, right?  Ladies?  :)