eCoupons at Safeway-

I'm still learning as I go.  Did pretty good on my shopping trip today- saved 65%!  But saw some areas I could improve on:

Here's my first rule about eCoupons- keep them current!  Every two weeks Cellfire.com and others have eCoupons available to download that don't expire for 4 weeks- Tuesday Feb 9 was the most recent one, then you wait for another set to upload 2 weeks later, and you'll basically "double" your coupons.  Shortcuts.com has a lot of the same items available to put on your card, so then you'd "triple" on some items and you can also use 1 additional printable coupon in the same purchase- "quadruple" your savings!  All of the upload sites link through the Safeway site.

A few things I learned- you don't need to buy the Nature Valley nut clusters AND granola bars- just get Nut clusters next time- the granola bar ecoupons still were counted toward it.  They were $2 each mix and match with General Mills cerals and BC fruit snacks in sets of 4.  I had 3 $1.00 off ecoupons on the nut clusters- so already I was $1 in the positive and $1.20 in ecoupons from the granola bars.  Then I also had another $1 printed on the nut clusters- so that is $3.20 in the positive on one item, which can help me take $ off on the items that don't have coupons.  I've also done this with frosting- when it was $1 each and actually got a $2 overage from it without printing coupons.

Cheerios was also part of that $2 sale, I had a $1 off paper coupon and $.55 off ecoupon- so got the cereal for $.45.

Another thing, if you have a hunch you might use something- print it anyway!  I didn't realize all the GM cereals were in the sale, so didn't print the $1 off 2 Big G cereals coupon- would have worked perfect with the mix and match 4 deal.  4 cereals for $6, not even counting the ecoupons- I had at least 1 $.55 off ecoupon each on Trix, Multigrain cheerios, Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  That would have come out to around $.95 per box (or less, if I had the 2 weeks worth of ecoupons mentioned above)- if I would have been more ready, I would have ended up with $.67 per box.  (My kids love cereal.)

I like to pull out all the coupons I plan to use before I get there- then use it as a checklist right before paying to make sure I have all the items I planned to get.

Also, make sure you give yourself limits on what you'll pay for something.  I had $1 off 2 Nestle candy bags as an ecoupon and as a printed coupon, but they were $4.50 each- I don't like to spend more than $2.50-$3 on those.  Don't spend $9 to save $2.  I would have got them if it were 2 for $6- which would make them $2 each after both kinds of coupons.

It's very possible to get around a 50% savings just with the ecoupons and the items available on your card because you are "tripling" even before using printed coupons.  There are some great things on there- Fiber One products, Green Giant frozen veggies, Betty Crocker items- so check it out.  Put ALL available ecoupons on your card, cause you never know what you'll use and once the limit of uploads is reached, then you are out of luck until the next opening.