Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Who knew it was a Science?

Coupons....

Now - I have used coupons off and on for years - but it just didnt work out. It seemed like a WHOLE LOT OF WORK for 35 cents on something I wouldnt normally use - so I quit...

UNTIL NOW.... I am giving it another try....

We have a grocery store in our area that doubles coupons up to a $1.00 - so thats $2.00 OFF! I dont shop here because groceries are expensive. Well, I will be shopping there now... I have been cutting out the coupons for a couple weeks now - out of the newspaper - online: www.SmartSource.com (You can print all coupons twice) - out of magazines....

On Wednesdays, the ad comes out to start on Thursday.... You take your coupons and match them up to the circular - thats it....Dont buy anything else at this store - just buy what you get cheap.

There are also a few tricks. Just because the coupons says you have to buy a certain thing, you dont - the company will honor the coupon on ANY item made by the company.

I also learned that Grocery Stores have a "schedule" of when they put things on sale. Other tricks can be found at www.GroceryGame.com - ** Its a pay service (not much) but I wanted to let you know - I also want you to know I dont get anything from them and do not use them. They dont cover my grocery store for my area, but I WILL USE THEM when they cover my grocery store. Also, you can get quite a bit of information before you have to sign up and they have a free 2 week trial...just FYI....

Back to the schedule - that means that when you learn your grocery store's schedule, you can maximize your savings.

I am going to give this a try - I will keep you posted on my success. If this starts to cost me more in terms of my budget than I spend on groceries normally, I am done. I also dont want to stock up on a bunch of crap that doesnt really deepen my pantry. I am all for some comfort foods, but I draw the line at crap - stuff that turn my kids' tongues blue or changes colors is off the list!

Supposedly you are also not to use a check out lane with a middle-aged, white woman - guess they are a hardass....pick a kid that just doesnt care. My grocery store that doubles coupons actually has self-check out lanes. I like this because I am faster than the regular lane. And no, my grocery store isnt a Walmart - YIPPEE.....otherwise it would take forever!

I will keep you posted and post some pics of my receipt and my coupon holder (which I love).... I know you are really interested in seeing that ;)

Pray, Praise, Prepare and clip those coupons!!

6 comments:

It's me said...

I am very bad about coupons. Since I tend to only buy fruits, veggies and meat I always figure that there won't be any coupons to cover those items. And I almost always buy generic of anything else, because I just don't care!

So I'm looking forward to seeing how this works. In fact, post a grocery list and then I can compare. I should do that when I get home.

Anonymous said...

Coupons can save you a lot of money, especially the two for one kind. We keep an eye on them.

Anonymous said...

coupons rock, however I sometimes find that even with coupons you can get a generic version of the same food at a cheaper price.

Anonymous said...

you should have given me credit for this article :-) and be sure and tell them that 2 for 1 just means 1 is 50% off....you do not have to buy 2....your critquer.

I drive my tractor in pearls... said...

My Mom...oops, I mean, Anon, wants me to tell you that if a coupon says 2 for something, you dont actually have to buy 2 - you can buy just 1.

Meadow & Kook - I intend to watch the prices carefully. Generics are also fine with me.

I will keep you posted - going to print some more coupons off tonight or tomorrow and will get my circular tomorrow also and figure out what I am going to get...

Lets hope its fun - if it becomes a game, I can see me sticking with it.

Pearls

CastoCreations said...

As I mentioned in another comment, head over to Hot Coupon World. They are FREE and have an amazing amount of information (overwhelming at first).

I started out with a regular #10 envelope. I moved to a $10 plastic divider style carry all. I now carry a huge binder with me on all shopping trips. Organized by letter with baseball card plastic sheets for the coupons. =)

I'm hooked.