So, Price Chopper was the grocery store to be at this past week here near Teeny Tiny Town.
They had a special promotion going. Spend $40 on Unilever owned brand products in 1 transaction and you got a $20 CAT good OYNO(=On Your Next Order).
For my readers who don't coupon, basically PC gave you $20 to spend in their store if you spent $40 first. So the 1st trip to the store, you spent $40 and use coupons to bring that total down as low as you can for your Out of Pocket expense.
The OOP(Out of Pocket) you pay this trip, will be your highest amount paid in cash, out of your pocket.
After you pay, the CAT machine at the register generates a $20 CAT.
You then go buy $40 worth of products again & use your coupons to bring the total you owe down as low as you can and then pay with the $20 CAT+ a little bit of cash if your total is higher then $20 after the coupons are applied.
After you pay, the Cat machine spits out another $20 CAT and you do it all again, and again, and again, until you either run out of coupons, cash or energy.lolol
Ok, so if this isn't good enough, there is also a MIR(Mail-In Rebate) form from last Sunday's Unilever Coupon Insert. Send your receipt(s) for $40 worth of Unilever owned brand products purchased + a Ham or Turkey purchase(these purchases do Not have to be in 1 trip or even from the same store) & Unilever will send you a check for the cost of the meat product(up to $20). This is what we Coupon Hounds call a
Double Dip. Using 1 purchase to get 2 or more Perks.
Your $40 purchase at Price Chopper got you $20(CAT to spend) AND a check up to $20(for a meat purchase). Pretty sweet, huh?
I ended up doing
NINE Transactions at Price Chopper.
9 times through the checkout over the course of 2 days. Most of them were late on Sat. night. I still had coupons to do a 10th transactions before midnight(the end of the promo period) but my legs just gave out.
I think I did pretty well on this campaign. I forget my calculator on Sat. for keeping track of totals so I could get to $40 w/out going much over or ending up under(even worse!). By the time I left PC, my head hurt from all those math calculation I did in my head. It's a wonder I could do simple math accurately that late at night!lol
Hubby & I did the 1st two transactions on Friday. When I got home I was going over the figures for those runs and realized something.
I assumed that the store was figuring 'totals' on the sale prices of items. On my run(transaction #2)through the register, my 'total' after the sale price deductions was UNDER $40....but the CAT still printed! This means, the store used the REGULAR SHELF SELLING PRICE on ITEMS to figure when you hit $40, not your total including the week's Sale Prices on some items.
For example, say you bought Axe Shower Gel to get to $40. The regular price at this PC is $4.49 but was on sale this week for $3.99. You would have to buy 11 of them at the sale price to hit the $40 threshold. Using the regular selling price, you only need 9 to get to $40. That's a difference of what you need to spend to generate the CAT of over $9....meaning that's potentially $9 more OOP you have to spend(before coupons were applied). At that point, I could have kicked myself for OVERSPENDING on the 1st two transactions. I could have done them for less money and still have gotten the $20 CATs. Ugh. So, I got over it and hit the store 7 more times before midnight at Saturday when the sale ended.
Luckily, there was a whole separate Unilever coupon insert last Sunday and I had bought LOTS of copies of that week's Sunday paper, so lots of coupons to redeem.
As it's so many Transactions, I'll just cut to the chase with the important numbers.
Here's what I hauled home.
Skippy Peanut Butter.....28
Lipton Rice/Noodle Sides....37 (6 not pictured)
Bertolli Spaghetti Sauce.....23
Lipton Tea......6
Knorr Gravy/Sauce.....2
Breyer's Ice Cream......2 (not pictured)
Axe Shower Gel......14
Caress Body Wash.....16
Suave Shampoo......22 (1 not pictured)
It may not look like much in the photo but it was a Metric TON. You can't heard the table
groaning under all that weight!lolol
Except for the Ice Cream, I bought items that were shelf stable & didn't need refridgeration/freezing. It's all stuff we eat and the toiletries are all items we will use(some toiletries will be shared). I tried to buy items that after sale prices that week & couponage cost me the least per item. I wish they hadn't run out of the size peanut butter I bought as that was a good item size/cost to buy & the food bank is always asking for peanut butter.
Value of all these products was $422.51 ($413.47+$9.04 tax)
That's 150 Items total.
Savings
Sale Prices.............$92.89
Coupons Used......$109.95
$20 CATS Used...$160.00(8x$20)
Savings Total.......$362.84
OOP.........$59.67 ($9.04 of that was tax.)
Per Items it comes out to .40¢ each.
And I have a $20 CAT to spend so I'll get at least $20 MORE Free Food!
Add in that I can potentially send in for 9 FREE Ham or Turkey REBATES(once I buy some meat, that is!)using various family members &/or friends who aren't going to be doing this rebate themselves, so I have potential for up to $180 more worth of products with NO Additional OOP.
Well, except for some stamps & envelopes.
I'm not going to send in for 9 Rebates so does Anybody want to buy a register receipt or trade one for coupons?lol Then you just have to buy the ham or turkey and send in for your Refund on the meat. You won't have to purchase the $40 of items since I already did it for you. ;-)
Including the $20 CAT left to spend, this gives me a SAVINGS of 86.5% + a potential for over a 90% Savings after the Free Meat MIRs.
Can you see me smiling??
Sluggy
