Small Town Coupon Blues

My friend Chris mentioned that he didn't have a lot of stores around him to shop in.  That's ok.  You can still save money on your grocery bill.

The big thing is to get coupons.  I usually go every Sunday to the Dollar Tree and pick up one paper for each member of my family plus one.  That means I spend 5-6 bucks every Sunday.  When we get home, I pull out the coupons from the Red Plum insert, or the Smart Source insert, which are usually the two I find in my papers.  The rest of the papers go on the burn pile, or get recycled, and every once in a while I actually read them first.  :)

Your Sunday paper probably comes with at least one of these coupon inserts, as they are nationally distributed.  If not, go directly to the websites themselves and print the coupons out that you need.  RedPlum.com and SmartSource.com are two of my favorite  The links are on the right side of this page.  And the important thing is, these are legitimate web sites to print your coupons from.  (I will get into the no no's of couponing soon.)  Suffice to say, these two sites will ask you to install a coupon printing software on your computer.  Allow it.

 This software helps the manufacturer make sure that the coupons are being printed according to their policy, and that helps to keep printed coupons legal.  Which makes them okay to use.  Usually they will only allow you a print limit of 2 of the same coupon.  Please, don't try to just scan/copy the coupons.  This is illegal, and will eventually lead to stores not accepting internet printed coupons.  We don't want that to happen.  So do things the right way.

Next, give your store a call and ask them what their coupon policy is.  You can usually find it online too.  Print this policy up and cary it with you when you are heading out to the store.  You're going to want to make sure that you know what the store's policy is, even if the cashiers don't.  It isn't often that you'll find this to be an issue, but you're going to want to be prepared if it does happen.

The great thing about coupons is that the manufacturer is paying the store for the face value of the coupon plus a handling fee of around 8 cents.  So grocery stores like getting coupons.  Even the smallest store should accept them, you just have to ask.

Thursday 4-28-11: Coupon Prep.

I am sitting in my office, getting ready to start planning for my Saturday shopping trip.  My youngest is sitting on the floor finger painting, where her older sister left her about half an hour ago.  Where to start?

Before I set foot in a store, I sit at my computer for around thirty minutes.  I scan my local store circular.  This week it is Pick n Save.  I like to shop there because they have double coupons on Wed and Saturday.  Double coupon days is where the store will take whatever coupons you have and double the face value of the coupon up to so much.  So at PNS (PicknSave), the store will take anything up to $1.00 and double it.  But, they will only double the first five coupons in your stack, and you have to spend $25.00, then swipe your savers card in order to activate the savings.   Lately, they have been doubling the first 10 coupons in the stack, and that has been exciting.  I have to do less transactions that way. :)

Yes, I am the one in the line who will do several transactions to get the best prices.  Sorry if I take too long, but smile when they tell me how much I saved. :)

Every week, I pull out the circular, and pull up my excel spreadsheet to track what I am buying.  Anyone interested in a copy, let me know.  Then, I search out the things in the paper that I think my family will use,  items I think I can get a great price on, and anything else that looks good.  (Tip:  Don't do this when you are hungry.  No shopping hungry either.)

Now, I get to go through and type in every item I am purchasing, quantity,  and what the cost is from the paper per item.

This takes me around twenty five minutes, depending on how many distractions are thrown my way.

My next step is to open my coupon binder and looking through it, pull out any coupons I will be using, then marking them in my spreadsheet, along with the final price.  This lets me know how much I would have spend vs. how much I am actually going to be spending.  It's wonderful watching the prices drop at the computer before getting to the cash register.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about my coupons, where I get them (no, I do not dumpster dive), and answer any questions posted.

The Beginning

There's no money, there's no food in the fridge, what next?  What to do when sixteen hours of work can't bring in ten bags of groceries.

It wasn't more two months ago when I paid $230.00 for two weeks worth of groceries, only to come home, get everything unloaded, and have the family look at me wondering if there was anything in the house to eat.  Even so, I would have to go to the store every other day or so to pick up whatever ingredient I was missing from that day's menu item.  And the prices in the stores have not been getting cheaper.  A gallon of milk costs almost as much as a gallon of gas.  And we are a single income home.  There has to be a better way to shop.

Short of living off of Top Ramen soup for the rest of the month, I had no idea what to do next.  My friend asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her that Saturday evening.  A chance to get out!  No kids?  No husband?  Sure!  So we went.  And as we shopped, I watched as she pulled out three coupons from her purse.

Now, if you are anything like I was, shocked was the nicest way I could put my reaction.  Coupons were for little old ladies.  Not us.  Barely in our 30's, I was not ready to fall into "That Crowd."  But, in the end, she got what she was looking for, and spent less than I would have bargained for. (Tide just isn't cheap.)

The next morning, I was watching the Nate Berkas show, and who just happened to be his guest's for the day?  These two ladies that were on some TLC show soon to be coming up called Extreme Couponing.  Joanie Demer (Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey: Save Big Money & Make the Grocery Aisle your Catwalk (Lakeland Fellranger))was one of the ladies, and she was younger than me.  She didn't look old and stuffy, but she could bring her $600.00 shopping bill down to around $8.00.  I was shocked.   Seriously?  Less than ten bucks?  HOW?  

Thus began my search for savings.  It's been a little over two months now, and I have managed to shave around %70 off of our grocery bill every week.  We are eating well, not just a bunch of junk, and no Top Ramen.  :)  

In the next few weeks, I'll tell you all about how I did it, and how you can do it too.  And no, Couponing does not have to take over your life.  You do not have to spend 40+ hours clipping coupons, or going without the things you like to eat.