Back in the Game: A Walmart Shopping Spree

When I first began doing couponing workshops, I had to design a power point presentation that would include targeted shopping sprees with good demonstrations of how coupons can save money. My husband and I spent a good five or six weeks shopping with a camera, my coupon binder, and a plan. The plan was to utilize sale prices combined with coupons for a wide array of examples. David was both companion and champion of the cause. While he didn't participate in either the list-making or the deal-breaking, he stood next to me in line, commenting on my savings and lauding my praises to the (usually) bored cashier.

It was embarrassing.
It was wonderful.We were a team.

For a long time after David's death, I left my coupon binder at home when I went to the store, even though I continued bringing it with me to display at my workshops. I stopped shopping at our favorite stores. I still don't shop two of the Hy-Vee stores we frequented on our shopping trips, where David drank copious amounts of coffee in the deli area while I did my thing. Couponing, however, has been a part of my life for over 30 years, so the cold turkey approach of quitting entirely was not really an option. A month after my partner's death, I tentatively pulled a few coupons out of the binder to bring with me when I went to the store. Thought the pile of inserts built up, I did half-heartedly shuffle through them, looking for coupons too good to throw away. I shopped clearance prices without coupons. Recently, though, I got back into the habit of clipping coupon inserts began lugging my binder with me on shopping trips again. I had to update my binder since the handle of the black one I'd used for over a year was tearing. David would have duct-taped it.

I found this binder on ebay for less than $10 shipped, and it looks quite business-like when I hold it.

I transferred the plastic sleeves and plastic dividers from one binder to the next, adding a zipper pouch from the school supply aisle since this binder doesn't have a front pocket pouch like my old one did.

And I waited. Was I ready to attempt a super shopping spree? Yes, I'd done a few smaller ones without David, but nothing on a grand scale. After just one morning of clipping and organizing, I decided I would give it a go. I wasn't about to leave town to try and save money, but I would see what kind of damage I could do at our own hometown Walmart.

Up and down the aisles I went, searching for clearance prices and those items priced low enough they would be either cheap or free with my carefully-filed coupons. While not near the "Extreme Couponing" savings, this was a spree that most Iowans could replicate easily, and without the advantage of double-couponing.

The retail cost was over $75, and I paid less than $20. The razors are $5.77 at our Walmart, and I had $4 coupons burning a hole in my binder. These are the razors I like to put in my son's Christmas baskets each year. At $1.77 a pop, they are a nice addition to the baskets I already have partially-filled on my attic steps. The Centrum supplements were on clearance for $5, and I had two $5 coupons in my binder, so they were free.  The Ivory soap bar packs are $1.24 at Walmart. With the $1 coupon from the P&G inserts a couple of weeks ago, the soap cost 24-cents, a nice addition to the baskets I make up as prizes at my workshops. This is the basket I've prepared for Monday night's workshop. The person who guesses the closest to the actual price I've paid for the products in the basket, wins the basket.

Anyone reading this blog who attends the workshop already has an advantage at winning it. They know I paid 24-cents for the Ivory soap and nothing at all for the vitamin supplement.

The Kotex liners pictured are 97-cents at our store, and I had a $1.50 off two coupon, meaning I paid 22-cents for each package. If your Walmart sells the Kotex U liners, the same newspaper insert included a coupon for $1 off any Kotex U product and you will be able to net a package of liners for less than a quarter.

And the Band-Aids? I didn't have any coupons for Band-Aid products in my binder, but the clearance price of $1 for large knee-size bandages with first-aid ointment already applied is a good enough deal, I picked up two boxes. We've already experienced one episode of skinned knees this summer and I expect there will be more.

Was this an "extreme" shopping trip? No. Was it an example of "saving" money? Not when you consider that, other than the Band-Aids and liners, I didn't actually NEED any of these products. Was it an inexpensive way to add to my son's Christmas gifts and my workshop prize? Yes.

The more pressing question might be; was this shopping trip fun, despite the absence of my dear husband?

I know I was smiling when I left the store.

Transformation From Coupon Box to Coupon Binder

I used a coupon box for more than 25 years of couponing, but after the Extreme Couponing show debuted on the TLC channel, I had to admit those coupon binders did look pretty impressive. When I saw a black binder on sale for just $5 at a Goodwill store, I bought it and began the transformation from coupon box to coupon binder. 

It turned into quite a fiasco, involving quite a few dollars invested into plastic sleeves and dividers and several hours transfering coupons.


I wasn't sure it was going to be worth all the work, but I did like the organized look of the binder.  I knew, however, the true test would be with my first shopping trip.


That first trip was to a Walgreen's.  The binder sat nicely on my purse inside the baby seat of the cart and I liked being able to have the ads laying inside, along with my lists. The coupon box always took up the whole seat and ads didn’t fit on the side.
Score one for the binder.

My husband did one order and I did three, two of them just Reach toothbrushes. My husband’s order looked like this: 2 Finesse shampoos on sale for 2/$7, 4 2-packs of Reach Advanced toothbrushes on sale for 2/$5, and a Gillette Fusin razor on sale for $9.89. He used a $4 coupon on the razor, $1 coupons on the Finesse shampoos and $2 coupons on each Reach 2-pack. Out of the register popped a $5 catalina from the shampoo, a $5 coupon from the razor and TWO catalina coupons for Reach, one a month-long offer and one a weekly offer, $3 and $4 respectively. A woman behind him saw the catalinas come out and asked how he got so many. She had a coupon binder and said she was just learning how to use coupons. I came over and explained the Reach offer to her and gave her four $2 coupons so she could do it herself. I did a total of three Reach transactions, one of them combined with other merchandise, including 6 Gillette deodorants that I had Buy One, Get One Free coupons for. With the purchase of 6, I got a $10 catalina. I also bought the Finesse shampoo, one Bic Solei razor, Revlon clippers that were on sale for Buy one, get one half price and I had a $3 and a $1 coupon on, as well as several toothbrushes I found on clearance for 99-cents that I had $1 coupons for.

It was fairly easy to flip through the pages to find my coupons. Score another for the binder, or maybe it was simply because I organized specifically for this trip.
Our total for all our transactions was $67.52, minus the three $10 register rewards= $37.52. And we had $60 in register rewards to use on our next trip.
And all this stuff either to stock in our own cupboard or to fill Christmas baskets for our adult children.

Could I have done as well with my coupon box?
Probably.
But I wouldn’t have looked as cool doing it.