My first "couponing" experience.

I've been hearing lots of talk about couponing.  Getting AMAZING deals on things.  $96 worth of stuff for $.10.  (I don't know if anyone's gotten that deal, but it seems possible)

So the other night I was at Albertsons just getting a few things.  I saw a store special ... $1.69 cans of Del Monte canned veggies for $.59.  That's a GOOD deal right?  I bought 6.  At the checkout, I received a "catalina" (yes, that's what they're called by the couponing world ... it's the thing that prints on that little printer next to your receipt.) for $2.00 off my next Albertson's purchase, because I had bought 6 Del Monte cans of veggies.  I stored it in my wallet and came home.

I recently attended a couponing class for RS, and had heard that you should NEVER leave a store with a good catalina.  Use it.  I realized that if I went back, I could buy 6 more cans of veggies for $.59 and then use my $2.00 off.  And I could do that many times.

So I went.  I bought 36 cans of veggies.  I spend $1.54 on each 6 cans ... and did that 6 times.  That means I spent $9.24 on 36 cans of Del Monte vegetables that originally at full price would have been $60.84.

Can you believe that?  I'm proud of my non-couponing self.  (and this is how I've spent my birthday.)