Can I get a witness...

For those of you savvy shoppers out there you probably already know about the great deals at Harris Teeter using coupons but I am just finding out the benefits. My mom has been using coupons for about 3 months now and is always telling me about her savings. And so I decided to give it a try... I mean free food, what could it hurt. (And those of you who know me well know that I love, I mean LOVE, a good deal).

So this endeavor started off with buying a Sunday paper, printing off some coupons from the internet and "borrowing" a few coupons from my mom. Then I visited a site online called Southern Savers and the Harris Teeter site. This lady at Southern Savers will tell you what coupons to use with specific deals at Harris Teeter to get items free (that's right I said "F-R-E-E) or extremely cheap... I am talking cents. However, I did find that the prices at her store (wherever she may be) didn't always match our prices here. So what might have been a good deal for her wasn't a great deal for me. I did find though that there were deals at our store that she didn't mention on her site. So, I organized my coupons in my little 3 ring binder (don't laugh) and went into the store and walked the isles looking for deals. This week happened to be triple coupon week. Harris Teeter will triple any coupon up to 99 cents. That means if you have a 75 cent coupon then you can get $2.25 off of that item! I did find that because the prices at Harris Teeter are usually more than say Walmart that most of the items needed to be on sale already at Harris Teeter plus my coupons.

Example: I bought an item that is usually $4.68 but this week was on sale 4 for $10. So, individually each one cost $2.50 (you don't have to get 4 to get the sale price). With my 75 cent coupon (tripled to $2.25) I paid 25 cents! I mean really, WOW!!!

Another great thing about getting these savings is that my family has decided to start a "food box" where we will put some of our free or low cost deals to use for ministry opportunities. I am super excited about being able to do that! Adele and I have already set aside a few of our items for this purpose.

Here is the breakdown of my 2 visits to Harris Teeter:

FREE ITEMS

2 bags of mahatma rice - 10 oz. each

3 bags of Wacky Mac pasta (the tri colored spiral pasta) 10 oz. each

Starkist Tuna pouch

Example:

Starkist Tuna reg. $1.99

coupon for .75 cents off (tripled) - $2.25

FREE

Great Deal Items:

Ortega Taco Season Pack - 2 for .13 cents

French's Mustard - .05 cent

Franks Hot sauce - .09 cents

3 Betty Crocker Warm delights -2 pack (mini cakes you cook in the microwave) - .16 cents each

Zatarain's long grain and wild rice - 2 boxes for .75 cents

Breyer's yo-crunch - 4 pack for .75 cents

Marie Callender's Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico (reg. $4.39) - .25 cents

Here is a picture for those of you who are visual learners!

So overall my bill would have been $34.68 and I paid $2.76. (So even though the prices at Harris Teeter are higher than other places it can still be a HUGE benefit to shop there for deals)

I was and still am really excited about the deals I got. I am just getting started and I know that there are people out there whose grocery bill is cut by 80% just from using coupons. I hope to get there.... but until then I will just go into the kitchen and fix myself an .08 cent snack!