STOCKS, DIVIDENDS AND COUPON SAVINGS

It was a slow week for dividends, only collected one payment for the week from Great Plains Energy (GXP).  While it was only one dividend payment, it was a decent one, since GXP is one of my long term holdings and I own a good number of shares.  Stocks trended lower this week from their recent highs, but I look at it as a good thing, especially since I've got a purchase order in for next week.  I'm hoping the prices stay down a little longer until my order goes through.  Market timing is not a part of my long term investment plan, but if I can buy on the dips, it couldn't hurt.

Had a great week of savings on groceries.  I'm working on improving my extreme couponing and it's really been paying off.  Through coupon match ups with store sales, I was able to save 54% on my trip to Gerbes this week, which included three 2-liter Diet Pepsis for free!  Matching coupons with store sales at Schnucks I saved over 67% on my purchases.  On this trip I got two packages of Barilla pasta entirely free and paid only 17 cents each for Nissin Big Cup soups!  I also got Minute Rice, which normally sells for $2.38 a box, for just 79 cents each!  Since I like rice, and Minute Rice is my favorite, I stocked up on those.  I'll pick up some good deals on personal care items tomorrow at Walgreens and use their register rewards to purchase my favorite Stouffers entrees which they have on sale in this Sunday's ad.  I think what I like most about coupons is, they allow me to do the majority of my shopping outside the big box retailers.      

SAVED 37.5% ON THIS WEEKS' GROCERY BILL!

My grocery budget for this week is $25 but I plan to purchase $40 in groceries.  I scanned the grocery store ads in Wednesdays' paper to see who was having the best sales on items I needed.  I decided to make all my purchases at the local Gerbes store.  This week the store is running a special:  if you buy 10 of any items from a large selection, you recieve $5 off.  I picked out 10 items I currently need, plus some stock up items, and prepared my shopping list.  I then matched up items on my list with the current coupons I have on hand.  I was able to find another $8 off with coupons.  They also have a special on one of the stock up items I'm buying, so if I buy 5 I'll get a catalina for $2 good towards my next in store purchase.  

So this trip I'll spend $25 out of pocket and I'll get another $15 in groceries free, for a total savings of 37.5%.  This does not include the frequent shopper's discount I'll get at the register when I use my shopper's card, so the total savings will most likely be higher than 37.5%, but even if that weren't the case I'm still getting a great deal.  The $15 I'm saving on this trip represents the entire cost of 2 bottles of Wisk laundry detergent, 2 large bottles of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice and a weeks supply of Yoplait yogurt, making them entirely free! 

HOW I GOT $85 WORTH OF GROCERIES FREE!!!

A coworker, who doesn't have a car, asked me to take them shopping today so they could stock up on food and household supplies.  Since taxis are so expensive, they offered to pay me $50 to take them shopping.  I had made up my shopping list yesterday when the grocery store ads came out, so I agreed to take them and did my own shopping at the same time.

I matched up my coupons with sale items and picked up a few extras that I didn't have coupons for, but were on sale.  Our first stop was Walmart, where I took advantage of all my buy one get one free coupons to add to my stockpile of body wash and deodorant.  Since everything I bought was buy one get one free I got $22 worth of products for $11.  Next up was a stop at Super D's for 4 bottles of Trend laundry detergent, which was on sale 2 for $3 and I added those to my detergent stockpile.  From there we stopped a block over at Schnuck's where I purchased enough tortilla stuffing mix and tortillas for 4 meals.  With coupons and sale pricing I paid $5.12 total.  The final stop was Gerbes Supermarket where I stocked up on frozen vegetables, ketchup, yogurt, pierogies, fried chicken, stir fry vegetables, candy bars and Parkay margarine.  With my frequent shoppers card, manufacturers coupons and doubling I got everything for $20.  So I spent just under $50 and got a total of $85 in groceries and personal care items.  Since I shopped with my coworker and they paid me $50 for taking them shopping, I spent $0 of my own money.  While it might seem like I ran all over town to save money, I drive a Honda Civic, so I doubt I used even a gallon of gas since all the stores were close together and I don't live far from my coworkers house. 

The whole point of all this is, when you begin to look for ways to save money, opportunities present themselves that you would never have thought possible.  The way I look at it, for a couple hours of doing something I like to do, shopping for bargains, I made $85.