Coupon Clipping Ninja Skills Redefined

It's warming up in the holler. I may have to mow this weekend.

This week I jumped back on the coupon clipping bandwagon. Those of you who have been around for a while will remember how I used to keep a Winnie the Pooh binder full of hundreds of coupons, obsessively chasing down deals and threatening to blow up our paper girl's car when she didn't bring my Sunday delivery.

The truth is, I would normally end up buying stuff we didn't need, driving 40 minutes to save on a bottle of shampoo and stressing out if I paid full price for anything.

Living in the holler and trying to save pennies means unique challenges. For instance, Wally World is  way cheaper on groceries than the local grocery store, but the closest one is 45 minutes over the mountains and through the woods. When you factor in Jolene's healthy appetite for gas, it's actually costing me more.

Plus, the nail salon is beside Wally World. I must not be lead in to temptation. I'm currently sporting the fat-vienna-sausage-finger look.

This go 'round, I'm limiting my clipping and comparing to just 3 stores. The DG, literally in sight of my house, the local grocery store, about 20 minutes up the road and the FD (think real hard now.. you'll figure it out) in the old shopping center across from the grocery store. I'll have to admit, those CVS Extra Care Rewards are tempting as hell and you can end up with stuff for free, but it's not worth the gas. However, The Amazon works right by there and has agreed to make a pitstop when needed. For now, though, I'm sticking to the three closest stores, at least 'til I get back in the swing of things.

Our local grocery store is pretty expensive when compared to others, farther away. What they DO have though are double coupons (limited to .50 and less,) and frequent BOGO deals, which when combined with coupons can really add up. They also sell gas and give cents off per gallon based on points earned while shopping.

If I lived ANYWHERE else, I could compare prices, choose where to shop and get the best deals, but this is what I've got and I'll figure out how to make it work. DG is cheaper on cleaning stuff and I always have a $5 off $25 coupon for Saturday. Instead of running down there every fricken day for this and that, we now keep a list of stuff we need and get it all on Saturday, using the $5 off coupon plus any manufacturer's coupons. Now, they also have "digital coupons." You can log on to their website, add the coupons to your account, which is tied to your cell phone number. When you check out, you enter your cell number and the coupons AUTOMAGICALLY come off.

Haven't tried it yet. We'll see.

The only exception to my self-imposed shopping limits, is critter feed. With two bunnies, five chickens, three dogs and two cats, one must consider the expense of feeding all those little pewp machines when trying to save money. The absolute best deal I've found is at Tractor Supply. I feed the dogs Pedigree, which is often on sale at the TS for around $20 bucks for 50lbs and I usually have a $1 off coupon. Sometimes Kat has extra 20% off coupons for TS that she shares with me. I need to figure out how to get on that mailing list.

Have I bored ya'll absofuckinlutely to tears yet?

No?

Great cuz there's more!!!

In addition to drinking the coupon clipping Kool-Aid, I found this app called Ibotta that gives instant rebates when shopping at certain stores. And? Those stores include DG, FD and our local grocery. SCHWEET! I've earned a few rebates already, but I've not attempted to cash them out yet. It's pretty easy so far. If you are so inclined, you can use referral code gpvgryo when you sign up and I'll get $2.

Anywho... That's what's been on my mind this week. I'm sure I'll bore you with pictures of my future grocery hauls.. if I'm successful.

We'll talk again real soon. Ya'll have a good one.

Later Taters!