Sales & Q's & Saving Money Oh MY!

So, lately I've joined this phenomenon of couponing. I've always used a coupon here or there occasionally once in a while in the past but I've dove head first into it with a binder equipped with coupons in one arm & my shopping list sorted by store, item, sale price & any applicable coupons I may have. Wow. It seems like a lot of work but honestly - I've spent maybe an hour a week getting myself organized & making the weekly menu & comparing sales to coupons.

This week: I took our $100 grocery budget & spent $69 of it on groceries. Usually it's $100 - $120 on groceries & that doesn't even include diapers (which were newly re-added to our budget after a failed attempt at cloth diapering). But nope. $69 on groceries & the rest of the budget I managed to spent $36 at Walgreen's....On the bottom of my receipts from there? "You saved: $27.36" & "You saved: $53.74"

$53.74!?!? Are you kidding?!? All total: I spent $103 on an order that should of been closer to $200! To say I'm hooked, is an understatement.

Here's a recap of my best deals --

Walgreens
2 - Irish Spring deodorants
Sale priced: 2/$6 with a $4 Register Rewards bringing them to 2/$2
Coupons: 2-printable $1 off Irish Spring Qs off Coupons.com & by playing the Walgreen's Irish Spring Feeling Lucky? Contest.
Total: FREE

4 - Packs Walgreen's Diapers (2 - Size 5, 27ct & 2 - Size NB, 42ct)
Sale priced: BOGO at $8.99
Coupons: $2 off any pack of Walgreen's diapers in the Walgreen's Infant Care Notebook (Also used my Register Rewards making them even lower)
Total: $2.50 per pack

2 - Renuzit 18oz Solid Air Freshener Refill Packs
Sale priced: $3.99
Coupons: $3 off from Sunday's Red Plum
Total: 99c each


1 bottle Herbal Essence shampoo & 1 bottle Herbal Essence styling mousse
Sale priced: $2.99 each with $1 Register Reward
Coupons: Buy one shampoo, get one styling product free
Total: $1.99 for both


1 4oz Colgate Total Advance
Clearance Priced: 89c
Coupon: $1 off one from newspaper 2-weeks ago
Total: Free


2 - Purex Laundry Detergent
Sale Price: $2.99
Coupon: $1 off from Sunday's newspaper
Total: $1.99 each


Safeway
1 - Uncle Ben's Ready Made Rice Pack
Sale Priced: 2/$3
Coupon: $1 off one
Total: 50c


Fred Meyer's

Tyson's All Natural Frozen Chicken Tenderloins
Sale Priced: $5.99 (They're usually $7.99-$9.99. Good deal, but not amazing. And certainly not a stock-up-price).

Those were my amazing deals for the week. Let me know if you're "into" seeing this & how I obtain these deals... I'll try to post more if you do. If not, I guess I'll try to take the blog in a different direction.