My Shopping Trip to Acme for Free Coffee Creamer + My Empty Fridge!
Extreme Couponing Shopping Trip
If you were following along on the LRWC Facebook Page, you would know that we were without power for 11 days after Hurricane Sandy. I feel blessed that we had no damage to our home but let me tell you, it was a long 11 days without power! I do want to take a moment and thank all the lines men and women that have been working around the clock to restore power. Many people traveled from far away states to help us here and I just want you to know that we appreciate it very much!
The above image is a picture of the inside of my refrigerator on Friday evening when our power was restored. We lost all our food in our refrigerators and freezers as I know many of you have as well. Throwing out that food was heartbreaking. However, I am not worried in the least because I am a Couponer and I will rebuild my stockpile!
If you lost everything as well, remember the tip we mentioned in the Extreme Couponing Tip last week. Take your time! Don’t feel the need to restock every single item that was in your fridge before the power outage.
As most of you know, I have a weekly budget of $75 in my grocery envelope which we deposit in every 2 weeks. Well, for me, it turns out that we had just deposited money into our envelope right before the Hurricane and we just did again on Friday. So, I have $300 of unused grocery money sitting in my envelopes waiting to be used to restock. This is another great example of why I, whole heatedly, encourage people to set up a budget and stick to it. It’s times like these that, because of our budget, I do not feel the stress of where will I get the money from. It’s there already!
Now, I have a lot of shopping to start up but, as I mentioned, start small and take your time. We didn’t have time to do any shopping yesterday because we were cleaning inside the house and the yard. But, we made our first purchase this morning. And, it was an important one 
My first purchase was, you guessed it….coffee creamers! Ranks #1 on my list!
As I was posting deals this morning, I sent Pat out to Acme (which happens to be very close to my house) to take advantage of this awesome deal for free International Delight Coffee Creamer.
Here is what he did:
Buy 2 International Delight Coffee Creamers 16 oz – $1.50 each
-(2)$0.55/1 ID Coupons
Pay: $0.80
Get a $1 Catalina
Free + $0.20 money maker
See that, I’m already $0.20 ahead! Couponing truly rocks!
Next stop, ShopRite and Best Market!
LRWC Reader Grocery Savings Counter: Be sure to add your weekly grocery savings to the the LRWC Reader Grocery Savings Counter below. You can check out the counter in the sidebar to see how much we have all saved so far in 2012!
Cindy Livesey is the force behind Living Rich With Coupons which provides it’s readers with all the resources they need to shop smart so they can get life’s necessities for a lot less. Allowing you to spend more on life’s luxuries. Her family of 5 has saved over $11,000 a year in groceries. And you can too.
Cindy I’m so glad you finally have power back! I’m so sorry you lost everything in your fridge and freezer, though.
All the most reason to keep on couponing, right??
After Irene last year, we had to throw out all of our food in our fridge, which as you mentioned, is truly heartbreaking! However, my husband called our insurer (USAA) and they reimbursed us for the food! You should pick up the phone and give it a try!
This time around, for Sandy, a kind neighbor let us hook up to his generator so our food was spared. But, although we did have enough juice to power the fridge and freezer, we couldn’t let our space heater run throughout the day for fear of overloading the neighbor’s generator. Thank goodness my mom in Howell regained power quickly so we were able to send our 5 year old there while we braved it out here in Atlantic Highlands.
Let me tell you, there isn’t going to be a next time around! We save so much money from couponing that we finally have enough saved for a rainy (or hurricane-y) day. Our very own generator has been ordered and is on its way!
Cindy, I am sorry for all your losses, food & power. I think this calls for a road trip to Warmnster for Shop Rite triple coupons.
what stores are printing the ID catalina??
Every storm NE gets hit with we go with out power. We have gone with out as little as 24 hours, or as much as 14 days. Two weeks, right before Christmas is such a big let down. No decorations, no lights, no warm showers or food. So, we now run two wood stoves and have a generator. I REFUSE TO THROW MY FREEZER ITEMS OUT!!!!!!! We raise our own pigs, chickens and freeze the veggies that I did not can. I PRAY I NEVER have to do that! The other person who left a comment is right. Your insurance company covers the items in your fridge. I remember back in 97 when I still lived at home and Mom and Dad claimed the food in their fridge after a big storm. Way back then they were given $800. I guess each insurance company has a “average” amount they will cover.
Cindy, so glad you have power again!
There is also a savingstar multi purchase deal on the ID creamers…yay!
Cindy,
We were also out…13 days in our case (I think we may have literally been the last house in town restored, for reasons that are beyond me).
Dragging the stockpile to the curb was painful, but happily it was mostly cheap stuff (waffles, frozen veggies, etc). Now I’m prepping my first post-restoration shopping list, to start replenishing our fridge and freezer.
Cindy,
I’m very glad that you survived the storm. We live in Westchester and were lucky that we did not lose power or suffer any severe damage. Not sure if your power company is doing this, but for Con Ed customers, they will reimburse you up to $450 for the food you lost due to the power outage.
http://www.coned.com/customercentral/lawclaims.asp
http://www.coned.com/customercentral/brochures/Residential_Claim_Form_English.pdf