I am starting this blog mainly to help a bunch of awesome ladies learn how to coupon. Yes, I know. There are a million and one different coupon sites out there. Well this one is geared to helping the local mamas of the area. Specific deals to watch in our area, and the hidden deals waiting to be found. So without further ado, are you ready ladies?
These are my tips and tricks. They work for my family, but might not be the best for your family. Need help? Send me a message. We can brainstorm together. Found a good deal? Send me a message. I'll be your best friend... ;-)
1) Pick ONE store, and stick with it. Sort of...
We do 90% of our grocery shopping at Weis. They have a great customer loyalty program. We are actually gold level members. What do we get for that? Extra coupons! Wahoo!! Better yet, these coupons are specifically geared to items that we actually use. We do not bounce from store to store following the sales. I am not a professional couponer, nor do I want to be. I am a mom who has a tight budget for food. Every dollar in gas that I spend trekking from store to store is a dollar that comes out of my grocery budget. Not going to happen.
But, you said sort of...? Well I think there are some exceptions, and we make them on rare occasions. Some items just make more sense to buy in bulk. Paper towels, toilet paper and other paper products are good examples. We have a Costco (which I admittedly still call Price Club, don't judge), Sam's Club, and a BJ's within reasonable distances. Did you know you can still use coupons at wholesale clubs? And sometimes you can use more than one at a time on the same item. More on that in another post. (Baby steps ladies.)
Another time to make an exception? Freebies. Finding items for cheap? Awesome! Finding items for FREE? I hear angels singing from above. I will make a side trip to pick these deals up. By side trip I mean CVS, Walgreens, Stop and Shop and Shop Rite. Wegman's, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are not side trips to me. They are often journeys into the center of hell for me. (Ask me how I really feel...)
2) Look at coupons for what they really are: Money!!
When it comes time to pay the clerk at the grocery store, do you want to hand them your credit card, or those lovely little green slips of paper from your wallet? Or do you want to hand them pieces of paper that you lovingly (sometimes begrudgingly) snipped from the newspaper? Trust me, it is the latter. Whether you pay with coupons, or with a debit card, it is all your hard earned money!
My most recent shopping trip that spurred this blog post is an awesome example. I will be purchasing $361.66 worth of groceries. I will only hand them $37.79 worth of actual United States Tender. The balance of my bill? Not smuggled out in my bra and breeches! I am going to hand over a lovely envelope full of coupons with a total value of $323.69!
Along the same line of seeing coupons as money, is how does that account for the time this takes. It took me two hours to organize my shopping list, peruse the circular and Weis website, cut, print and bundle (just wait) my coupons. I can hear you through the interwebs already. "Two hours?! I don't have two seconds to pee in private. My time is very valuable!" If you look at couponing as just another part time job, I got paid $161.45 per hour ($323.69/2hours). Yep, I can make time for that!
3) In the words of the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want..."
As much as I would love to find a coupon for 95% off steak, chicken or organic fruit, it isn't going to happen. Yes, you can actually find good coupons for produce and butcher products. You can find coupons for organics and non-gmo also. Just be prepared to not see huge savings (under 50% in my experience, though I am glad to be proven wrong.) But just think of them as a Pegacorn (that's a Unicorn and a Pegasus all wrapped in one, so yeah, pretty rare). Instead, couponing on pantry staples, like soup, cereal, bread, rice, frozen and canned veggies, etc. leaves me the wiggle room in my budget to purchase produce and meat, without blowing my budget out of the water. That being said, you can find great sale prices on produce and meat. And when you do, buy a little extra.
You may not be able to get your exact brand either. Sometimes I compromise, sometimes I don't. Dry pasta? Weis brand, Barilla, Ronzoni, doesn't matter. All tastes the same with butter or spaghetti sauce on it. Yogurt? Nope. No compromise. Sorry. My kid eats one brand, one flavor and There. Is. No. Compromise!! No. Seriously. His head will turn in a complete circle if you even think about it. So don't be afraid to switch it up and try a different brand if you can find a good deal, unless you don't wanna. (No foot stomp necessary.)
4) Hoard it like Zombie Apocalypse is on the near horizon.
I'm about to purchase 48 cans of soup, 16 boxes of oatmeal, 3 bottles of mouthwash and 8 jars of pasta sauce. Why am I doing that? No seriously, can someone tell me why I am doing that?
Just kidding. I do it because these items are on crazy specials right now. I am actually going to make money on some of these products. They have a long shelf life, and are staples in our house. If I buy 16 boxes of oatmeal, I have breakfast for 16 weeks at a total cost of around $4. A jar of pasta sauce that I am getting for free, paired with a box of dried pasta that cost 25 cents, means that my family of three has dinner for, that's right 25 cents total!! Add a portion of chicken that I bought when it was on sale for $2.49/lb last month (it's been in the freezer in a lovely marinade), and it is now dinner for three for about 69 cents per person. Wanna get crazy? Add in some broccoli that was on sale for 88 cents. Now dinner costs 91 cents per person. So, will it be 4oz pasta with sauce, 4 oz grilled chicken breast and a cup of broccoli for 91 cents, or a 4 piece mcnugget for $1.07?
5) Catalina? That's a salad dressing right?
You will unfortunately have to learn the lingo. If for no other reason then to find the better deals.
I'm just going to go over a few here. The above mentioned million and one couponing sites have covered these a few times over.
- Catalina - These are coupons that print out at the register. They can be manufacturer's coupons, or store specific. These aren't just randomly printed. You typically have to purchase a specific item/items to trigger these to print. For example, this week at Weis, if you purchase 2 Campbell's Kettle style soups, you will get a Catalina that is good for $1.50 off your next purchase.
- eCoupons - You don't need to print or cut these bad boys out. They are added directly to your store loyalty card.
- BOGO - Just kidding. We all know what BOGO is. =-)
- Stacking - This is where the big savings come in to play. You can either stack by combining a coupon with a promotion/awesome sale price, or by combining a manufacturer's coupon with a store coupon.
Seriously. Take the time to read the policy. Every store has it listed on their website. In fact, don't just read it, print out a copy and take it with you. There is nothing worse than having two hours of work get messed up by one wrong move. If something doesn't look right, ask. Be nice, but ask! Be the crazy lady with the envelope of coupons. If you have forgotten that this is money, see #2!
7) Crazy Lady with Coupons is good. Hot Mess with the coupons, not so much.
You need to be organized. Make a list. Check it twice. Then check it a third time. (Santa's got nothing on you!) I create an excel spreadsheet. Why? I'm a complete nerd. You can do it on a plain piece of paper. I won't judge you... to your face.
Here is my crazy OCD Excel spreadsheet:
I can not stress enough, that you don't have to do it this way. It certainly helps though, because then the computer can do all the adding and subtracting for you.
8) Use the Force.. of the internet.
I have said it twice now. This is the third and final time I will say it. There are a million and one different couponing sites out there. Find the one or two or three you like. Follow them like it is your new job. And it is. See #2.
My two favorites:
http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
Living rich with coupons is where I start out. Every. Single. Time. Almost every store imaginable is there. There are lists, and breakdowns, and links to coupons. You can always go to coupons.com yourself and look for coupons. Be adventurous!
9) Keep your perspective.
Not every trip is going to be a glory of 90% savings. My last three trips have been amazing. The trip before that, I think I saved about 24%. Before I am forced to run in shame, it was meat stock up week. A months worth of sausage, ground beef, chicken, pork and turkey. 40 dinners worth of meat and produce. I try to do this once per month/1.5 months. I prep 20 double meals and package and freeze. These 40 dinners cost $150. That is $3.75 per meal. So while that percentage of savings is low, I still saved by bulk shopping on sale prices. Before you ask, I get all my meal planning and recipes from www.5dollardinners.com
So that is it! A basic start. Shoot me some questions/comments and I will answer as best I can. Thanks!!!
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