Coupon Savings!

I love my newest addiction. It brings me such a high, that I want to shout "Hallelujah!" right out loud at the checkout stand.

This week's fabulous savings:

Ralph's Supermarket.......I bought $141.81 worth of groceries, and paid $30.74! I saved $111.07!

Von's Supermarket........I bought $175.08 worth of groceries, and paid $77.62!!!! I saved $97.46!

This means, that I came home with $316.89 in groceries, that I spent only $108.36 on! Yay!

(Are you so proud of me, Hannah???) And that included "big ticket" items like haircolor, detergent, a good razor, and carpet cleaner.

Hannah is my sister, cake baker/decorator extraordinaire, and coupon Queen of all Queens. She taught me almost everything I know. Lots of you have asked me how I save so much money at the grocery store, and so let me tell you....

....It's called The Grocery Game!! It is SO MUCH FUN! You can go to http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ and get a 4 week trial for only $1, after that, you pay $10/month for the first store, and $5/month for each additional store you want tracked. You enter your zip code, and your local grocery stores come up on the screen. You select the one(s) you want, and you see Teri's List, which matches the Sunday coupons up with the in-store promotions for the week so you can optimize your savings. Coupons are great, sales are great, but combine them both, and look out, baby! The items are color-coded by how high the savings are, with green being FREE, blue being at least 50% off, and black being some savings. The Game is to buy the green and the blue ones (whether you need them or not, so you can accumulate a "stockpile".) You only buy the items in black that you need, and as your stockpile grows, your list of "needs" gets smaller and smaller.

Yes, it does take some time to clip the coupons, and play The Game. It took me about an hour to clip all my coupons today and get my list ready for both stores. But I saved $200, and I don't remember the last time I made $200 in an hour. Well, okay, I had some excellent Mary Kay parties, but this time I had no pantyhose on, no makeup, and my feet weren't killing me! My pantry is becoming stuffed, my freezer is jam-packed, the kids aren't whining for food all the time, and I'm not feeling like a kitchen Nazi, trying to ration everything. I am spending about the same amount a month on groceries ($400-500 for our family of 8), and we have plenty of fresh fruit/veggies and meats too.

So, here's the deal...now that I let you in on this, if you decide to play with me and sign up, please tell them I referred you! Jenna Consolo. Please! Then I get some free weeks on The Grocery Game, and I love FREE!!!