Today's Dillon Deal



Ready to go to the store



Today is the last day of the Dillon's current Mega Event.  If you haven't taken advantage of these deals yet, get on it.  I decided to go to Dillon's and use a few more of my coupon match-ups yesterday.  I had a Catalina (store issued at register) coupon for $3.00 off my next shopping order plus a Catalina coupon for free bacon I wanted to use.  These type of coupons typically have short redemption periods so I always try to use them right away before I forget and let them expire.  

This event requires you purchase 10 items to get $5.00 off. I scoured the advertisement for items for which I had coupons and pulled out the ones I thought applied and planned on possibly using.

All for $6.84 before tax

Here's what I ended up purchasing.

The Hefty storage bags had a 50 cent off Internet coupon which you could load to your Dillon's card.  I am very careful about what coupons I load to my Dillon's card.  Why?  Because they don't double.  If I have a paper coupon less than $1.00, it will usually end up the larger savings. The coupons I load to my Dillon's card are the $1.00 or more coupons because even if I have a coupon, those don't double. You cannot "stack" paper and Dillon's Internet coupons...it's one or the other and if you have a Dillon's coupon loaded to your card, the cashier will not accept your paper coupon.  You don't have the option to choose not to use the Internet coupon. In this instance, I did not have a paper coupon so went ahead and loaded the Dillon's coupon for 55 cents, they were on sale for .99 (after 50 cent deduction for mega event), so I paid 44 cents for the storage bags. They normally cost $2.49.

I purchased five boxes of Granola Bars. The mega event sale price was $1.99 each.  I had five coupons for 50 cents off which doubled making the boxes 99 cents each. Here's a tip for you: Pay attention to those notices that print out at the register.  I received one stating all Fiber One bars would result in a coupon off a future shopping order between 8/6/12 and 9/2/12, buy 3 get $1 off coupon, buy 4 get a $2 off coupon, buy 5 get a $3 off coupon.  I purchased five boxes last week at the sale price with coupons and received  a Catalina coupon for $3 off a future shopping order plus I received another $1 off coupon this trip. Altogether, last week and this week I purchased 10 boxes of granola bars for 99 cents (sale price minus doubled coupon) and received $4 off a future shopping trip.  On average, I paid 60 cents a box for granola bars.  These bars typically cost between $3.05-$3.69 a box.

There is another similar promotion at Dillon's currently. Buy participating Kraft Food products between 8/19-9/15 and get coupons for money off future orders. For example, buy 3-5 items and get $2 off, buy 6-9 items and get $5 off, buy 10 or more and get $10 off a future order. This may end up being a good deal, if these items go on sale and/or you have any matching coupons. Some Kraft brands included are Crystal Light, Kraft dressings, Kraft Mayo, Mio, Planters Peanuts, Velveeta and some Oscar Mayer products.

The pens were on the clearance rack for $1.00.  Both my husband and I am Pen-Picky.  I like a thin pen with a fine tip. My husband likes the chunky-size pens which remind me of the crayons I used in Kindergarten. We spent a lot of time digging through drawers looking for just the right pen.  If I was handed a pie chart at death as to how I spent my life, I would expect "digging for a pen in the junk drawer" to receive it's own sliver of time.

The, hmmmmm, personal female item was also 99 cents. Moving on, the Teddy Graham snacks were on sale for 99 cents. I had a coupon for 75 cents off two Nabisco snacks which doubled to a $1.00, making each bag of sugary little cookies 50 cents each.

The goldfish were 99 cents and I had a coupon but didn't read it close enough to see it had a size limitation of 30 ounces so the coupon didn't apply. Here's the deal...I can't read a lot of the tiny print on coupons, even with my glasses,  which makes me crazy.  Why don't they print the restrictions in normal size?  Since I am somewhat of conspiracy theorist, I assume it's so I will purchase the product based on the coupon then keep it even when I discover the coupon doesn't apply.  In this case, it worked because I needed ten items to get the $5.00 off.  Usually, I have no problem rejecting an item when I learn my coupon is invalid. I thought the goldfish were going to be free, instead I paid 99 cents. But then again, I love goldfish.

OK, so I now had nine items but needed ten in order to get the discount. I ended up purchasing a bag of macaroni because it stores a long time, I use lots of it and 49 cents is an awesome price for macaroni.

Chicken scratches

I keep track of my purchases as I shop. This is why I prefer to make 2-3 small trips a week instead of making everything in one big trip. It's easier to keep track how much I am spending and watch for mistakes at check out. This trip, I thought I would spend around $6.68 with tax. A $1.25 coupon ended up not applying due to a size restriction which also changed the tax amount so I actually spent $8.06. Had I realized the goldfish coupon didn't apply, I would have purchased another bag of macaroni instead, saving another 50 cents.

Spent a total of $8.06 with tax, saved a total of $30.83
81% off the total bill when including all savings!

Still not a bad haul, thirteen items for an average of 53 cents per item pre-tax. I wanted to spell out exactly how I did it because most money saving websites do not give detailed instructions or achieve huge savings only through fraud.  I try to be very honest when couponing and any mistakes are inadvertent.

But you can't live off granola bars and macaroni. Well, you can but it's not a very balanced diet. So grab deals when you can but continue to try and plan wholesome, inexpensive meals. After all, most coupons are for unhealthy, processed food, not dinner.

Feel free to stop by anytime. Don't be surprised if I offer you a granola bar.