Great day at Kroger

I was behind on my coupons for a while. I always feel overwhelmed if I don't get them cut out and sorted ASAP and I'll admit I let them stack up for way too long. Well I've got things in order now and I'm totally stoked about my latest shopping trip at Kroger. Check out a great coupon/sale match-up here.

Total Stats:
Items purchased 79
Total before coupons: $181.85
What I paid: $44.80 plus tax
Total Savings of $131.28 or 74%
Total Earned: $9.50 in catalinas for $ off my next shopping trip.

A lot of people I've talked to about couponing think that in order to get the deals you have to buy a lot of junk food. Since I was in a rush to put everything away I don't have a picture but I'll do a list of what I bought to give you an idea of where my money went.

4 - V-8 Fusion juice
2 - Pillsbury Grands biscuits
2 - Pillsbury Crescent rolls (these were a bonus buy because they were on manager's special for 75 cents!)
1 - Welch's grape jelly
4 - Old El Paso 10 count tortillas
4 - Pillsbury Toaster Strudel ( These were a splurge for Grammy who is with us right now)
1 - Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh lunch meat
1 - Hormel pepperoni
1 - Domino brown sugar
10 - 24 count Crayola crayons (No I don't particularly need that many crayons but they were on sale for 25 cents and you get a $4 catalina = $1.50 money maker and a great donation item)
5 - Cheerios (total for all five boxes combined = 35 cents)
2 - Ronco bow tie pasta
2 - Ronco shell pasta
1 - Kroger tortilla chips
4 - Fiber One granola bars
3 - Hamburger Helpers (Love having these on hand for dinner on super busy days)
2 - Kroger canned peas
8 - Progresso soups
6 - cans Del Monte fruit
2 - cans Bushes kidney  beans
1 - Edge shaving cream
1 - Kroger wipes
4 - Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers
2 - Kroger large eggs
1 - Chex Mix (free)
3 - Betty Crocker Warm delights (All free, for my emergency sweets stash)
1 - Pillsbury Sweet Moments (also free)
1 - Doritos (again, free)

I'm not picky about brands (except when it comes to peanut butter and mac and cheese) but I'm always excited when I get the brand name stuff cheaper than generic so I thought I'd include the names just to give those who aren't familiar with coupons an idea of what you can get. The cool thing I've noticed is I get most of our snack/junk food for free so when I don't have a deal to get it free I don't buy it. This has actually cut out a lot of snack food in our house.
Another Kroger trip a couple weeks ago I saved 103% on toothpaste and body wash. Wahoo! I bought eight bottles of Gillette and Old Spice body wash for Bryan (I get him brand name only and almost always for free) and five large tubes of Crest toothpaste (my target price for toothpaste is also free). How do you save 103%? Well at Kroger they actually let your coupons cover taxes if there is overage. So I ended up paying taxes only minus over a dollar of coupon overage. Who doesn't use body wash and toothpaste?
I'm telling you, coupons are for everyone.