Calculating your OOP (out of pocket) expenses before you shop

If you are TERRIBLE at math, as am I, it helps to have a spreadsheet to calculate your OOP (out of pocket) expenses before you shop so you don't have to fumble with your coupons at the store so much...with many coupons, it gets tedious to have to read the coupon, make sure you buy enough product and then realize at the check out a coupon was $1 off (two) products and then have to run back the isles to make sure you get enough to get the deal...it's a pain, anyway, this helps eleviate that mess. JUST MAKE SURE YOU READ YOUR COUPONS VERY CARFULLY!!! I can't find a link to attach a file directly to the blog, so I will explain the equasion for excel, and you can always email me at: mullen.coupons@yahoo.com and I can send you a copy. I'm no excel master, I actually had a friend of mine, Bobbi Chinnick make the spreadsheet for me and I vamped it to fit my needs. (Thanks Mama Chinnick!!!) I can make a spreadsheet for each store, print it, and calculate all of my OOP expenses, pre tax (you could add this funtion if you were excel savvy) so I have some sort of idea how much I will spend at every store, this also keeps me pretty organized.
For excel: create a table with 20 rows and  6 columns labeled: Product Description, Amount Product Purchased, (Sale)Price for 1, Amount Before Coupon, Total Coupon Amount, OOP Expense.
Click on cell D2 and enter this equastion: =B2*C2 and hit enter
Click on cell G2 and enter this equastion: =E2-F2 and hit enter
put your curser over the bottom right hand corner of each of these cells until you see a bold + simbol, hold your mouse button and carry that + down to about line 20 and let go. The equasion will work down to that row. Do the same for the other equastion cell and the chart is complete. If this seems too complicated, just email me and I'll send you my copy.
Good luck! There are some great deals for coupon match-ups this week. If you have a certain store that is not on the website I gave in my first blog, or you live in another state...for example, Mass would be Stop and Shop, all you have to do is google 'Stop and Shop coupon matchups 5/1' and you should be able to find a website where someone already did all the hard work for you. Find the coupon circular, clip the coupon, put it in your chart, and go shopping!!!

Happy Couponing!!!