Shaw's 7-3 + Classic Good Deal 101

Well it's been awhile since I've posted! We've been pretty busy and I haven't been doing quite as much coupon shopping as normal since we found out our 4th baby is on the way and I've been pretty sick.

Here's a recent visit to Shaws - and this is a classic example why everyone can and should coupon, regardless of what kind of products you buy.

I bought:

*18 pounds of ground beef
*2 beef Ballpark hotdogs
*2 lbs of fresh cherries
*1 Cains relish
*68 pkgs of M&M's (not a typo!)

Total Out of Pocket: $18.13
Total Savings: $124.24
Percentage Saved: 85%

*****

First off, you're probably asking yourself, why on earth does she have 68 packages of M&M's?!

The answer: Buying those M&Ms with coupons allowed me to get money back which I used towards the ground beef & fruit that we did need.

I'll break it down for you:

I had 34 coupons for .75/2 (75 cents off two) M&M's, which I had ordered ahead of time in anticipation of a deal like this. I bought 68 M&M's. The M&Ms were on sale for .49 cents each. The coupons doubled, so the coupons gave me $1.50 for every 2 M&Ms I bought. This gave me overage (money back) of .26 per package of M&M's.

Now tell me you wouldn't like to be paid 26 cents to get some candy!!!?!

This is where the "overage" allowed me to get the ground beef for cheaper, around $1 a pound, plus as you can see, I got a few other things like hotdogs & cherries.

Now bear with me - I could have bought anything to use that overage towards - including organic fruits & vegetables, organic all natural, meats, etc.

I have so many people tell me "Well fine for you to get good deals with coupons, but I only buy organic things so I can't get good deals like you."

WRONG!

I run into deals like this all the time! Now this was a particularly good deal, but nevertheless, they are out there. You just have to get a little coupon savy and you too can be saving big money on your all natural foods.

You know, I got some all natural "green" laundry detergent for free last month? Yep, I didn't pay a penny!

As for me, I tried switching to some more organic foods about 2 months ago, but I've since dropped off. I like & prefer organic, but my grocery bill so quickly doubled that it just wasn't worth it. I'd rather my kids eat as much fruits & vegetables as they want, versus telling them no because a single organic apple is $1 or a peach $1.50! I do still buy some organic/more natural things, just not as much.

And all that candy? I think we'll have some pretty happy neighborhood kids come Halloween this year!