A New Twist on Shopping

I clip coupons... sorta. I often find that it's cheaper to buy generic brands and to shop at Winco than to use coupons on national brand items. It's a hassle and it doesn't seem to pay off.

Turns out, I've been doing it all wrong. I took a class on how to use coupons to the best advantage. Tonight, I thought I'd try it out.

Here's what I did.

I went to Safeway and spent $6.41 on 3 Hallmark cards. When I paid, the cashier handed me one of those long receipts that prints off with a coupon. This one was worth $5.

I turned around and purchased 5 boxes of fruit snacks (reg price $2.99 on sale for $.99), 2 boxes of cereal (reg price $3.49 on sale for $1.79) and 2 loaves of bread (on sale, of course). I used coupons for the fruit snacks and for the cereal & used the $5 coupon from my previous purchase.

The total came to $5.03, a savings of $29.68. And they gave me another coupon worth $3 off my next purchase. And the fruit snacks have 10 cent labels for education, so I can donate 50 cents to a school.

I may not shop this way all the time, but I've become a believer!