Dog food sale!

So like I mentioned before, I have 2 medium/large breed dogs. I have always just bought them store brand/cheap food because let's face it, dog food is expensive, especially when they go through at an 8kg bag of food every week. So you can imagine how happy I was a while back when one of the inserts included a $5 off 8kg bags of Pedigree dog food! It worked out that I really wasn't saving any money, but dogs could eat one of the better kinds of dog food, and I wasn't spending any more than normal.
Well, at the end of the month, my $5 Pedigree coupons are expiring and I've been wondering what I am going to do because now I don't want to switch them back to the cheap stuff. So imagine how excited I was when I discovered that Pedigree was going on sale at Walmart!
Normally the 8kg bags retail at about $19 a bag. With $5 off each bag, I've been paying about $14 a bag. Well, this week Walmart had it on sale, for let's just say $15 (I don't remember exact change but it was $14.90 something). To make it even better I had just found a printable buy 2 get one FREE coupon!!!  So of course, I had to use this sale to my advantage! While I was there I of course picked up a couple other great sales. Everything in the picture ended up costing just under $60!

So here's the breakdown :

Pedigree, I bought 6 bags and used 6 coupons. Each bag was $15 and I used 4 $5 off and 2 buy 2 get one FREE which means I got 6 bags for $40!! 

Clear was on rollback at Walmart for $3.62 and I had 6 coupons for $3 off. So I paid $0.62 each. (I actually bought 6 bottles, not 5. There is only 5 in the picture because one fell out in my dad's truck and I didnt realise until I got home) 

Last but not least, Children's Advil. It was on sale at Walmart for $4 and I had $3 off so I only paid $1!!

So that's it. Before taxes i only spent around $45!

If you have dogs and your wondering where you can get the buy 2 get 1 free coupon, it's on the Atlantic Superstore website under coupons :-) 

Thanks for reading! 

Quick shopping trip.

This morning I realized I was out of bacon and eggs so before breakfast I ran into the small local grocery store. While I was there I decided I would use my FPC's(FREE product coupons).
I can't really give a breakdown of the prices because I didn't even look at them. Just grabbed what I needed and left. But everything only cost $13! Everything except the bacon, eggs and bread were FREE!!

Aug 15,2013 Jean Coutu sales.

Well yesterday I got some great deals, even though I screwed up in one of the worst possible ways.... I miscounted and didn't give the cashier enough coupons :-(  Even with my screw up I still walked away with a lot of stuff for a little bit of money. Everything in the picture cost me only $23...Although it should have only cost me $18.
Im not 100% sure of the breakdown of the batteries but I can explain everything else!
Charmin was $3.99 and I had $1 off making it $2.99.
Tide was $5.99 with $2 off making it $3.99
Finish was $6.99 with $3 off making it $3.99
Tooth brushes were on sale 4/$5 ($1.25 each)  with a limit of 6 per customer. So I bought 6 for $7.50. I had 2 save $4.50 when you buy 3 which actually left me with a total of -$1.50!!!
And lastly the batteries. They were on sale for $3.99, $4.99 and $6.49. I had $5 off each pack. I'm not sure how many of which ones I bought I just grabbed some of what was left. In total I bought 8 packs of batteries, and this is where I screwed up. When I put the batteries in my cart I counted 7 packs, so I got out 7 coupons and gave them to the cashier. I was wondering why my total was higher than expected but I figured I must have miscalculated the taxes (I've done this before). Once I got everything  loaded into the car and got my daughter buckled into her carseat, I looked at the receipt and realized my mistake. I could have went in and returned a pack to cover myself but I decided I still got a good deal, even though I paid full price for on of the packs of batteries.

Pet supplies!!

Ok, so I've been meaning to write this for a while now but haven't been able to find time. Last week I got some great deals on pet supplies. Right now I have 5 pets, 2 large breed dogs and 3 cats, one of which just had 4 kittens, so I guess you could say right now I have 9 critters!! Needles to say this score was a HUGE help on to wallets!
Everything in the picture only cost me $52 and change(after taxes) , the dog food being the most expensive part, costing $34. Just the cat food and litter only cost me $18(after taxes)!
How did I get it all so cheap?
Pedigree dog food (wasn't on sale) cost $18.69 and I used a $5 off coupon on each bag, making each bag $13.69
Purine kitten food was $6.99 but I had 2 FPC's (FREE product coupon) making both bags FREE!
Whiskas cat food was $6.99 and I had 1 FPC and 1 $2 off so I paid $4.99 for one bag and the other was FREE!
Cans of wet cat food were $0.69 and again I had 2 FPC's so both cans were FREE!
And the Maxx Scoop Cat Litter was $8.49 and I had 2 $5 off coupons making each one only $3.49!

Binder Organization

So here is my big binder! I do not go to Moncton without it! I think I've spent about $7-$8 on it and that was just for the plastic sheets that hold my coupons. The binder itself is one I used to have in college. It's old, it's stained and dirty, but it holds everything I need in order to do my couponing and more!

On the very front of my binder is a pocket. I do a lot of coupon trading so I need lots of envelopes always on hand. I keep them in this front pocket so I'm never looking for envelopes when I'm getting a trade ready. I got married last fall and I had almost a whole pack of blank wedding invitations left so I took the envelopes out of the kit and threw them in my binder!

As soon as I open my binder, on the left hand side there is an accordion style pocket. This is where I keep all my "bigger things". There's a notebook in there that I use when I do my weekly match-ups, as well as some spare paper for notes or whatever else I may need it for. I also keep my flyers in here. It's always good to have your flyers with you, especially if your price matching at Walmart, so I put mine in here so I always know where they are. I also keep any coupons that haven`t been clipped yet in here!

This is this inside of my binder! On the left hand side I keep a couple pens and a pair of scissors. Again, I like to keep my stuff all in one spot and you never know when you might need either of these when your couponing. There is also a see-through mesh pocket with a zipper. This is where I keep my coupons when I am shopping. When I am shopping, as soon as I put something in my cart that I have a coupon for, I immediately take out the coupon and put it in this pocket. That way when I get to the cash I don`t have to spend a lot of time finding all the right coupons for the right items, they are all right here and ready to be used!

On the right hand side there is, what I think is, a pencil case that snaps into the binder along with everything else. This actually came out of a different zipper binder that I had in high school! The top see through zipper pocket is where I keep all my receipts. I like to have an idea of how much I saved, so I keep my receipts. This is where they all go. The bottom mesh pocket is where I keep stamps. When you do a lot of coupon trading, you can never have enough stamps so I buy them buy the book and I keep them in here. Lastly, there is a zipper down the side and that is a pocket as well. In there is where I keep any coupons that don't fit in the plastic sheets. 

Now for the coupons. I have my coupons divided into 7 categories but I only had 5 tab dividers so I had to play with it some to make it work. 

I try to keep my categories divided into sub categories, and then the sub categories divided alphabetically, but that doesn't always work out so well where I'm always getting new and different coupons.

First is FOOD. 

Second is CLEANING. In my cleaning category I have it divided like this: Dishes, Laundry, "All Purpose" cleaning solutions (Scrubbing Bubbles, Mr. Clean, etc.), "Smellies" (Febreze, Glade, etc.), and Other.

Third is PAPER PRODUCTS, DIAPERS AND WIPES. Divided into 2 subcategories, paper products (toilet paper, paper towel and facial tissue) and diapers and wipes.

Fourth is TOILETRIES. I divided my toiletries into these sub categories: Hair (shampoo/conditioner, hair dye, etc.), Shaving (razors, shave gels, etc.), Dental (tooth paste, mouth wash, etc.), Deodorant, Lotion/Soap, Make-Up, and Other.

Fifth is PETS. Any pet related coupons go here.

Sixth is PHARMACY. Any pharmacy related coupons go here. 

Seventh is OTHER. Any coupons that I can find a spot for in any of my other categories go at the back of my book behind everything else (Batteries, Build-a-Bear, Raid, etc.).

Finally, the actual coupons! I went to the dollar store and purchased 6 or 7 packs of sports card protection sheets. If you go to the dollar store and can't find them, don't be fooled like I was. They are not in office and school supply section like you would think they would be (or at least like I did). They're actually in the sports card section.
Each page holds 9 different coupons. In my binder EVERY COUPON has its own spot! I do not put 2 different coupons in the same slot. If I have multiples of the same coupon I will of course put them in together.

Usually when I'm organizing my binder I like to leave a few blank spots, especially in between my sub categories, since I don't have dividers for them. When I first got my binder I had them in there one right after another, and then I would get a new coupon and I wouldn't have a place to put it, so I would have to spend an hour re-organizing my binder to make room for one coupon. I quickly learned that if I leave a few blank spots then it will be easier to make room for the new ones when I get them.

So that's about it for my binder! I hope the information was helpful! Don't be scared to ask me any questions.

Pay Attention!

There hasn't been a whole lot on sale lately that I needed/wanted bad enough to make an extra trip to town, so I haven't posted anything in the last week or so.

Yesterday I was in town with a friend, who was curious to see me in action with my coupons. Sobeys had a few airmiles sales so I decided to stop there and pick up a few things and build up my airmiles account. There was only a couple things that I wanted to get with airmiles but I planned on getting 40-50 airmiles for the trip. When I got there they were sold out of one thing, so I ended up changing my plan and buying something else that still gave me airmiles, just not as many.

So why did I call this post "Pay Attention"? Well because I didn't and I screwed up and got 10 less airmiles then I should have. Am I still happy with what I got? Of course! I'm just a little disappointed that I didn't catch my mistake in time.

So in the picture is everything  I bought. I paid $27 and change and I got 37 airmiles!!!

Here's the breakdown:

Whiskas wet food packs were on sale for $5.99 and if you bought 2 you got 5 airmiles. I got 2 and used 2 coupons for $2 off making them $3.99 each!

Olay and Old Spice body washes were on sale for $2.99 and if you bought 3 you got 10 airmiles! I had a coupon that was for $4 off when you buy 2 different brands (Olay and Old Spice were 2 of the brands on the list). I bought 12 (6 of each) and used 6 coupons for $4 off which brought the total to $0.99 for each bottle.
Because I bought 12 bottles I should have gotten 40 airmiles but I only got 30. Why? Because I accidentally grabbed a bottle of Compliments brand men's body wash (which looks almost identical to the Old Spice). I didn't notice and obviously neither did the cashier (because she accepted my coupon) but the cash register did and didn't reward me my extra 10 airmiles.

I'm still happy with my results but I wanted to share my mistake to remind you guys to make sure you pay attention to what your putting in you cart!