When Brandon and I decided that we would try our hardest for me to stay at home with our girls, I tried to figure out how I could do my part. One time when I was at my orthodontist, I overheard one of the assistants talking about how she paid 55 for two weeks worth of groceries. WHAT?! I couldn't believe my ears. I asked her how in the world she managed to only spend $55 and was she eating Totinos every night? She assured me that her and her family were not eating frozen pizzas every night and that they were indeed eating wholesome and nutritious meals.She began to enlighten me on the world of couponing. It was interesting to me how far coupons have come since my only experience with them were from my childhood and they never got my parents two weeks of groceries for fifty bucks!
I started researching various coupon bloggers and WOW was I amazed at how much money you can actually save! I have learned most of my couponing knowledge through other bloggers and through my own experience. I feel with every shopping experience I get increasingly better. Here I will outline for you exactly how I applied my knowledge of couponing and started saving us a substantial amount of money every month.
Let me start off by sharing that I don't go to various grocery stores (as many couponers do)to find the best deals, merely because I have two little ones and to get them in and out of the car is a full blown cardio workout. Instead, I hit up good 'ol Wally World because they do this glorious thing called Price Match.
I start my saving extravaganza by purchasing the weekly Sunday newspaper and collecting the coupons and ads(Target, Dollar General, CVS, and Walgreens).
Then when Wednesday rolls around, we get the rest of the flyers in the mail (WalMart, Tom Thumb, Albertsons, Brookshires and Country Market). You can also find other SUPERB coupons throughout the week on websites such as http://coupons.target.com/ , redplum and coupons.com. You can even find great coupons on Facebook when you "like" their page. Who knew?
After hoarding all my coupons and flyers, I create my weekly dinner menu. I make certain to plan for the two weeks or up to the next day Brandon gets paid. Next, I create my grocery list with the needed items for our meals. Once I have completed that part of my list, I fill in the other various items we need for lunches, breakfasts, snacks, and all that other miscellaneous stuff.
Now is the fun part! I pull out all my collected flyers and look for items that I have on my grocery list. When I find an item that is on my list, I place a star next to the item and record the item's price from that store. For example, I found this week that Aldi has avocados on sale for 29 cents. I put a star next to avocados on my grocery list, and record 29 cents next to it. I go through all my ads and do this for any applicable items.
Once I've completed my grocery list and recorded all my price matches, the final step is to compile the necessary coupons. I wish I could say I was one of those couponers you see at the store with the over sized binder that is beautifully categorized with colorful tabbed dividers.Unfortunately, I am just not that good. I usually pile them together (and by pile I mean shove!) in one drawer and then pull them out as needed.
A couple things I have learned from experience is that WalMart does not honor buy one get one free without a specified price. They have their coupon policy online which I should have read prior to learning the hard way, but nonetheless, I learned it. Another trick I learned was once I get to the checkout lane with all my items, I separate my price matched items with a spacer and place them at the very end. During my shopping, I make certain to circle all the items that need to be price matched because there will be times that WalMart does have the price matched or beaten.
So there ya have it. Price matching, plus couponing, equals one happy momma who saves her family money and gets to stay at home with her babies. I know you're probably thinking how time consuming this must be. However, the more you do it, the better you get, and the QUICKER you get at it. And not to mention how rewarding it is to swipe my debit card and look at all the groceries I purchased while saving us money!
I hope I have appealed to at least one person who can share the joy that I so do when I grocery shop! Happy Shopping!
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