My shopping trip to Fred Meyer and QFC

My first trip to Fred Meyer in Issaquah, WA last Sunday was a success. I had woken up early to get 5 newspapers and got all my coupons clipped and sorted. Afterwards, I looked for my own match-ups in the paper, and I got really excited to see coupons in the Fred Meyer circular that came with the Sunday paper. They had some things on sale that I knew I had coupons for and I started the hunt for good deals! Since you can clip store coupons and stack them (use them with) manufacturer coupons, I first looked at FM coupons in the paper.

They had a $3 for 5 Treetop Juice coupon. I happened to have 3 $1.00 off Treetop Fruitful Smoothies coupons. Combining the store coupon with the 3 manufacturer coupons, I got the juices for $0.67 each wyb3 (when you buy 3).

Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent was also on sale with coupon for 2 for $6 (reg $6.49 each). I had a $2/2 ($2 off your purchase of 2) coupon. So they were $2.00 each after coupon
I have learned in my short couponing experience that having multiple coupons is how you really maximize savings. I have an example of that below with my QFC shopping trip:

QFC (which I never shop at because I felt that they were too expensive), was having a promotion that ended 9/16/14, for Buy 5, Save $5 on qualifying products throughout the store. You are able to mix and match the 5 qualifying items also, so this was the most ideal way to maximize savings. I did a 5 item only sale, and I used 5 coupons, so I was able to use the sale price with the B5/S5 event, as well as coupons on top of that, to get the products free or close to it.

I purchased 1 Garnier Shampoo ($3.99 retail, $2.99 sale)  and 4 Softsoap Body Washes ($5.49 retail, $2/5 sale or $2.50 each wyb2). With the B5/S5, you take $1 off of each sale priced item, therefore the shampoo was $1.99, and the body washes were $1.50 each. I used (1) $2.00 off Garnier coupon making that item FREE and used (4) $0.75 off Softsoap coupons making them $0.75 each. It brings each item in that haul down to $0.60 each before tax.

Another thing I have learned it that you pay tax on the PRE-manufacturer coupon price. Store discounts are taken into consideration but the total sales tax calculated is based on the total sale cost (less) store discounts/promotions. So take that into consideration when you are shopping. I thought it was based on the total after discounts. It is NOT. 

The specifics in regards to sales tax are listed below. Sales tax in Seattle in 9.5%.
http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/businesses/sut/factsheets/fs167.pdf