The Triple Coupon Experience

Doubling coupons up to $0.50 is nice, but what about tripling coupons up to $1? That's what Marsh was doing over Memorial Day weekend. It actually took me awhile to decide to go since Marsh's standard prices and even sale prices are fairly high. I'd only been there once in the past year, and I wasn't sure that I could get good enough deals even with triple coupons. The deal that ultimately got me in the door was the Era detergent - on sale for $2.99, and I had a coupon for $1 off! I couldn't pass up free detergent.

Here's what I ended up buying, and the prices I paid after the coupon:

• Popcorn, Indiana Popcorn — $0.99
• Popcorn, Indiana Chips — $0.99 
• Era detergent — FREE 
• Uncle Ben's Ready Rice — $0.14
• Hormel pepperoni — $0.94
• Kraft mayo — $1.49 each
• Heinz ketchup — $0.39
• Yoplait yogurt — $1.45
• Classico alfredo sauce — $0.50 each
• Dole fruit crisp — $0.99
• General Mills Milk 'n Cereal Bars — $0.49
• Covergirl mascara — $2.99 (Is that even a good price? I never replace my mascara until it's basically solidified.)
• Kraft sliced cheese — FREE

Before I went shopping, I set a few guidelines for myself. I didn't follow them perfectly, but they kept me from getting too crazy.

1. Only buy items with matching coupons. I had no trouble following this one. I went to a quiet aisle before checking out and actually placed the coupons I was using on the items to make sure I had them all ready.
2. Spend less than $1 on items we wouldn't normally buy. Well, we wouldn't normally buy white cheddar popcorn or chips, but since Nathan and I both LOVE white cheddar popcorn, I couldn't resist.
3. Spend less than $10 total. My final total was $13.33. I could have put a few things back to bring that total down, but I was really excited about everything I was getting, as I knew would be the danger.

I was hoping for more free or nearly free items, but several of the items I had $1 off coupons for (Endust and Heinz 57, for example) weren't anywhere in the store. I may have had better luck at a bigger Marsh.

So, while this wasn't exactly an "extreme" couponing experience, I was pretty happy with my 77% savings and had a lot of fun doing it.