Extreme Couponing?

Last week I watched Extreme Couponing on TLC with my extended family (it was actually what we did on my birthday!). I have always been more frugal than my sister, but we were both blown away with the savings that the Extreme Couponers could find. We decided to see how much we could save this month too!

Of course, I happen to live in an area that just doesn't double coupons. Every once and a while, Giant may run a promotion and double 6 coupons, but otherwise we just aren't lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the type of sales/discounts shown on that show.

But I was willing to try anyway...

On Sunday, I clipped a ton of coupons from the newspaper. Normally, I would clip a few for items we normally buy. This time, I clipped just about everything except pet food. Next, I sat down with a pen and all the sale inserts for my local stores. I circled everything that interested me - either because it was something we needed or something that was potentially a good deal. Next, I matched up coupons to sales.

Today, I headed to CVS. I had $1 in ECB (Extra Care Bucks) in my possession already, so I knew I would be able to use that. My list was short here, so it was a good way to test out my Extreme Couponing skills.
The Special K was on sale 3 for $10. I had a $1/3 mfg coupon, and received $4 in ECB!

The Colgate was on sale for $2.69 each. I had a $1 coupon, and got another coupon for $1.50/2 from the ECB kiosk (hooray!). I also got a surprise $2 ECB at check-out!

The coloring books (for my niece and nephews next year) were marked down to $.25 (from $1).

TOTAL SPENT: $11.67
TOTAL SAVED: $10.29
$6 in ECB earned!

From CVS, I went to Walgreens:

General Mills cereals were on sale for $1.99. I had a $1/3 coupon, getting me 3 boxes of cereal for $5. I also got a $1.50/4 coupon at the checkout for next time.

The Quaker Oatmeal was on sale for $1.99 and I had a $1 mfg coupon.

The SoftSoap was $1.99 plus a $1 in-store coupon plus a $.35 mfg coupon - $.65!

The Progresso soups were on sale 4/$5 with an in-store coupon, plus I had $1/4 mfg coupon.

The cough drops were on sale for $1 and I had a $.35 mfg coupon.

The Papermate pencils were $1.99 normally, but an in-store coupon brought them down to $.19 each pack!

The razor blades were a pricey $11.99, but I had a $2 mfg coupon, plus I got the shaving gel for free with the purchase.

TOTAL SPENT: $22.63
TOTAL SAVINGS ; $32.56

I may not be an Extreme Couponer yet, but I think I did fairly well for my first time out!