BIG savings are achievable!

I just got home from a very productive shopping / savings trip and I wanted to share with everyone. I know that it can be very frustrating to see TV shows about people who coupon and receive $1000 in free goodies. While that's not (at least in my experience) a typical savers haul, it is possible to save a ton of money. You just have to keep your eyes open and stay on top of weekly sales. This week, Walgreens offered two items for "free" after Register Rewards: Cracker Jack'd Snack Mixes and Nogii Protein Bars. What is a Register Reward? They are commonly known as "Catalinas," and are basically store credit in the form of coupons. For each Nogii Protein Bar (limited to one per transaction) I purchased at $2.99, I got a Walgreens coupon for $3.00 to be used on my next store purchase. For each Cracker Jack'd Mix, I got a coupon for $1.50.

I had to run errands on several sides of town, so I stopped by each Walgreens I passed and purchased two of each "free" items, broken down into two transactions in order to maximize my savings. This gave me $9.00 in Register Rewards at each location I visited. In total, I bought 10 of each product, giving me $45.00 in Register Rewards. With those funds, I purchased things we were running low on at my home. My husband made mention that we needed AA batteries. We also needed cereal and cheese slices. One important thing to note is that you cannot use more Register Reward coupons than you have items. For example, if you have five items, you can use a maximum of five register reward coupons. My $45.00 in register rewards was spread over 20 coupons, so I had to make sure I had at least 20 items in my cart upon checkout. The first thing I decided to do was look at the markdown and clearance isle. Believe it or not, they had Energizer Max AA batteries on clearance! Their 6-packs, normally priced at $8.99 each, were marked down to $2.24 per pack. Since batteries are something that are an item we will always have a need for, and are usually quite expensive, I purchased eight 6-packs.

On a shelf right below the batteries, I discovered Goody's 6-pack Headache Powders (regularly $2.49 each) on clearance for $0.62 each. Also, I found Cepacol 4-pack warming lozenges ($1.19 per pack) priced at $0.29 each.

In the food isle, I found the store brand American cheese slices were on sale. Normally, they run 2/$5.00, but this week, they were 2/$3.00. There were lots of cereals on sale, but I had a manufacturer's coupon for $1.00 off two Quaker breakfast items. Walgreens was running a sale on Quaker Life cereal, which normally costs $4.99 per box. This week they are priced at 2/$4.00. After my coupon, I paid just $1.50 per box.

My other errands took me to Dollar General and Neighborhood Market. Excitingly enough, I managed to scored some wonderful deals at both locations.

My last big score was a quick stop at a local thrift store. I found a super cute Lane Bryant Blazer with tags attached. The tag was originally priced at $69.50, but marked down to $64.99. I also found a really pretty blouse from Coldwater Creek. It still had the tags attached, priced at $99.00. I paid only $0.50 each, saving $167.50!

After my day's shopping was said and done, I scored $528.08 in merchandise, but only paid $35.84 for it! That's a total savings of 93%! I hadn't set out with all those savings in mind. Sure, it's always in the back of my head to save as much as possible, but I didn't know I'd find the brand new top and blazer. I didn't know I'd find batteries and headache medicine on clearance. I simply knew what I could buy to get in-store cash, what my family needed, and then kept my eyes open for bargains. Turns out, I found some good ones! Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it also! And quite honestly, it's a wonderful feeling to know how much money you have saved your family. Give it a try. Start small and work your way up. Trust me - the small victories are just as rewarding as the big ones. Let me know what great bargains you've taken advantage of lately!