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.