What I Saved: I hit the coupon jackpot!

It was a pretty decent week for inserts.  I was excited because I had a coworker meet me at Books A Million for our Raleigh News and Observers this morning.  We were the first few people in line and by 9:50 that line had to be over 40 people deep!  It was NUTS!

There was chatter on Facebook that some Raleigh papers were missing the Smart Source insert.

SIDE NOTE:  For those of you who don't coupon newspapers (at least those in the South?) typically have two types of inserts, the Red Plum and Smart Source.  Some weeks you get both, some weeks only one and some weeks you may get two of the same but with different coupons in each

Anyway, I let my fellow coupons know what I had read this morning and we all decided to check our papers super carefully.  I was planning on getting four this morning but wanted to make sure I got all of my inserts.

I was the fourth person in line and all three women before me were missing their Smart Source and returning some of the papers they had initially asked for.

ANOTHER SIDE NOTE:  The newspapers are kept behind the counter to prevent insert theft on Sunday!

When it was my turn I asked for two, but I specifically asked that they come from a different part of the stack.  I did a quick check but didn't see the SS (Smart Source) either.  I grabbed two local papers because I knew it would have both inserts, although the coupons would not be as good.

FINAL SIDE NOTE:  The bigger the paper the better the inserts.  Our regional inserts are never as good as the larger city.

We all wait for each other and go through our papers together after we're done - it's a great group, it really is!  While were were doing that, I decided to go through my N&O again and what do you know, I found a SS in BOTH of my papers!  I was so excited.  One of the ladies told me I hit the coupon jackpot!  I felt bad because only one other person had the SS and it was only in one of her two papers.

I'm going to search for the Charlotte paper next weekend when we go to Asheville (I'm looking forward to some new writing material from the trip!) and if I can find them bring some back from my coupon friend!

After all of that, I had a pretty low key shopping weekend.  I really stocked up two weeks ago during Super Doubles so I've needed very little these past few weeks.

Total Value: $79.26
OOP: $27.02
Savings: 66% (not my best week but still pretty good - I like to hit at least 70% though)

I was also excited when this bad boy printed out.

For those of you who don't know, this is a "Catalina," which is a manufacturer's coupon.  Sometimes you just get random Catalina's and sometimes they are running promotions that if you purchase the correct quantity of a certain brand you can get dollars off of your next purchase.  I had heard about the Kraft promotion but didn't really pay attention (SO NOT LIKE ME!) so I was excited when this printed off, although I'm not totally sure what triggered it.  I purchases two bags of shredded cheese and a block of cheese as well (just in case you want to try it).

A few other great deals I was able to get are:
12 pack of Diet Pepsi for $1.97 - this was the Saturday Special at HT
Oscar Meyer bacon for $0.49 (using the $3 evic coupon)
Dozen eggs for $0.97
8 bags of Steamfresh frozen veggies for $5.56

Finally, I spent some time getting coupons ready to send to CoupsForTroops.

Basically, they take expired coupons and send them to military families overseas, where they can be used for six months past the expiration date!  If you coupon, you should really check them out!

So I'll leave you with this:
Do you have any hobbies that you get super excited about?
Did you coupon this weekend?  If so, how did you do?