Coupon 101: BJ's Coupons

I have heard people who swear by BJ's prices, that they are getting a better deal. I have always been skeptical so I really only used my membership for gas, random items here and there, or if I was having a get together and needed a lot of food. I was recently looking over my new coupon book that came in and thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if I could use these high value coupons to buy items at retail stores that were smaller quantities and less in price?"

So I started calling around to the stores near me and I asked if they would accept BJ's coupons? The answer I got was, as long as they carry the item listed it should be no problem. I called around just in my city I found that Walmart and Price Chopper took the BJ's coupons. If you have different stores in your area give them a call and see if they will accept them. 

SO! I started looking through my coupons to find ones that said something along the lines of "$3.00 off any Arm &  Hammer Liquid Detergent." Where it does not specify a certain size that the bottle would have to be I will be able to use it on a smaller bottle but pay nothing or close to nothing for it. 

I usually buy a big ol' bucket of Arm & Hammer powder detergent at BJ's. I use a BJ's coupon for $4.00 off and always get it for $15. The bucket says it will do 220 loads. There is a coupon out right now in the BJ's Journal that says, "$3.00 off any Arm &  Hammer Liquid Detergent." You can buy a small bottle at Walmart that does 32 loads for $3.97, with my coupon that is $0.97!! So I did some math and figured out that if I bought 7 of these bottles at $0.97 ea I would get 224 loads for $6.79! That is a savings of $8.21!! 

After I figured this out I got rather excited and started really pawing through my coupons to see what else I could get for free. I ended up going last night and here is what I got:

I gave the Cetaphil to a friend.

Softsoap Hand Soap:       $1.47
Cetaphil Bar of Soap:       $3.47
Oral-B Toothbrush:          $1.50

All Detergent (32 loads):  $4.97
Total:                               $11.41

Q for Hand soap:           -$1.50
Q for Cetaphil:               -$3.50
Q for toothbrush:           -$2.00
Q for detergent:             -$4.00
_____________________________
Total After Q (coupons):   $0.44 (w/tax)!!!!!

If you are looking for extra coupons there are a couple of different way to get them; Go to BJ's and ask for extras. I think they only hand out one at a time but if you are able to make a couple of trips you could get multiple books. Ask your friends and family if they would not be using certain coupons and start swapping. You can buy the books on Ebay, I have read in a lot of different forums that people feel they are getting a better deal by buying them online rather than paying for the membership. The membership is $50 a year so if you just got it for the coupons it would be $4.16 per book and you have the perks of being able to go in the store and get more books instead of buying more. Also you can use the membership to buy gas or other items in the store.

I am so excited to keep seeing what good deals I can get!! Let me know what deals you score!

Happy Couponing! : )