How to Lower your Grocery Shopping Bills with coupons.
This is a guide to show you how I have effectively used coupons in just the last month I started this regimen. I recommend sharing this information to anyone you know looking to save some money on shopping and having fun in the process. I feel that everyone should be able to use this information to help others save, rather than hoard the information for only a select few friends.
First, you need to check regularly for coupons on the sites (I recommend once every 2-3 days) I have listed to the right column of my website.
These sites also heavily use abbreviations and I will do my best to show you what they are (I didn’t create them):
Q or Qs/C or Cs – Coupon(s)
OOP – Out of Pocket
ECB – CVS Extra Care Bucks
RR – Walgreens Register Rewards
WYB – When You Buy
BOGO/B1G1 – Buy One Get One
GC – Gift Card(s)
HTSFF – How to Shop for Free
CRT – Cash Register Tape
GBT – CVS Green Bag Tag
MFR – Manufacturer
P&G – Proctor & Gamble
RP – Red Plum
SS – Smart Source
FAR – Free After Rebate
MIR – Mail-In Rebate
PSA – Prices Start At
I don’t have it quite down to a science, nor am I an expert, but it’s becoming easier with the help of others and seeing what they bought and then using couponmom.com to plan out my mission of what to shop for that week.
What you are doing is stocking up for weeks and sometimes months on the name brand things that you’re family uses. In the process, you are saving money buying when things are on sale and using coupons for even further savings. The next time you are at the store, take note of what the regular price of things you purchase for your family. This will allow you to compare what is a good price when you see an item advertised at the stores.
Lately, I’ve noticed I stopped shopping at WalMart. In prior months, I often frequented the big superstore discount giant and spent money almost full price, sometimes matching sale prices from other stores and sometimes using coupons. But, I had at the time committed myself to buying groceries once a month because I had a system I picked up from a book, America’s Cheapest Family of buying everything once a month saving me the trips in gas to the store. But studying the trends of when things go on sale and coupons, I found I would save so much more money, including gas trips if I just buy when it goes on sale and matching it with coupons. Now, the stores I frequent are Target, CVS, Walgreens and the grocery stores because they are realizing people in this unstable economy want to utilize the best of their dollars and see the savings.
Often times, you’ll want to do a few transactions to get what you need and to avoid confusing you or the cashier. The cashiers and often the people behind will get frustrated using the coupons, do not let this discourage you and the power of savings. You will experience those that don’t like to help you or see the savings you reap. Sometimes you and them will get so frustrated that you may just end up walking away from the transaction and leaving empty handed from the store. Go back and try another time.
On couponmom.com, it provides you with the store ads each week (you have to search for the store chain based on your location). For example, they only list Smith’s for Nevada, but I was able to find Vons and Albertson’s ads under California. They aren’t always 100% the same, so all you have to do is grab your weekly ads (mine in LV comes on Tuesdays as the sales start on Wednesdays — also Wednesdays are THE BEST day to shop in grocery stores – you’ll notice that it is emptier in the store on that afternoon, than on Thursday through Tuesday).
CouponMom then lists what’s on the ad, the coupon associated with it, which weekly coupon insert it’s in, how much the coupon is, the total after coupon is applied and the percentage you’ll save. It’s a timesaver!
With the coupons in the inserts, my favorite has been P&G and my favorite type of coupons are BOGOs (Buy One Get One – may either be free or half off). They are the products my family most often uses.
CVS
My strongest suggestion will be to sign up for at least 1 CVS card. Some of these ladies on the howtoshopforfree (HTSFF) forum including Kathy (who is the Queen Bee at coupons, in my book at least and watching the Inside Edition segment of her shopping at CVS and getting paid (in ECBs) for what she was buying) suggest signing up one for you and one for spouse and children over 18.
What you’re responsible for at CVS are:
1) Going to iheartcvs.com to do a little planning on what you need to get and how to use them.
2) Finding the coupons in the appropriate insert and cutting it or printing from website via couponmom.com.
3) Scanning in your CVS card for additional coupons (go every day that you get a chance to – these small kiosks print out coupons once a day).
4) Buy a Green Bag Tag (.99 – it pays for itself after first 4 scans) and use a reusable bag each time you go.
5) use a $3 off $15, $4 off $20 or $5 off $20 or something you get that prints out from the kiosk or via email (if they ever send you any) and hand it to the cashier before you use any other coupon in your purchase – just make sure you meet the minimum amount.
6) Always have the CVS cashier scan in your CVS card at the beginning and don’t forget to have them scan the green bag tag after.
Local Grocery Stores – sign up for Albertson, Smith’s, Vons or any other grocery/drug stores that offer a shopper’s reward card.
What you’re responsible for at Grocery stores are:
1) Finding the coupon in the appropriate insert and cutting it or printing it from website via couponmom.com.
2) Printing or writing list of what you plan on getting that day
3) Making sure you know how much the things you buy are lower than normally priced (like 1/2 gal milk is usually 1.89, but it’s on sale for 1.39)
Buying & Trading Coupons
Recruit friends and neighbors that do not use their weekly inserts to give them to you or trade coupons with them. This will make the use of coupons and savings more worthwhile. I usually have three inserts to our family, one we normally get, my mom’s after she picks which ones she wants and my sister who sets them aside and doesn’t use them at all. There are three that will come in the mail or Sunday papers here in LV: Red Plum, Smart Source and Proctor & Gamble (P&G).
Other alternatives are buying them on eBay or trading with someone on some of these online coupon forums. I began trading with the ladies on HTSFF and they have normally sent me extras. One sent me 15, yes 15 of the same coupon. So it pays to trade with someone who wants coupons you don’t use for something that you do use. When trading, ask if they prefer to be sent a SASE or just mail your coupons to them, while they mail theirs to you. Be careful on eBay however. I haven’t tried to buy coupons from anyone selling them, just be sure that their coupons are legal (must have a barcode and expiration date).
Overages
In some cases, the amounts of a coupon will cover more than you’re actual purchase (you’ll see example for Target later in this guide). Make certain you take along a calculator to ensure your totals. If there is an overage, I suggest buying something else with the use of another coupon to make sure you utilize that free money making the purchase almost free.
Target
In Target, shop the end caps of the aisles along the store walls. You’ll find name brand products on clearance and double your savings with coupons. Another trick at Target is that you CAN use a MFR coupon + a Target coupon for one product. For example: right now as this is written (which I also bought today) Target has a Kid’s Crest Toothpaste for $1.49. P&G has a coupon for $0.75 off + on the Target website for $1, so there is an actual overage of $.26 that you can use on something else you purchase. They also offer $5 gift cards if you purchase a quantity of a specific item in the store during the sales period. For example, the ad this week was if you purchase New Moon 3-disc Deluxe Edition DVD $19.99 + Twilight in Forks $9.99 or another two listed in ad, you’ll receive a $5 gift card. Well, RP is offering a $5 off coupon if you purchase two of those listed in the ad. So here’s my breakdown:
New Moon 3-disc Deluxe Edition DVD $19.99
+ Twilight in Forks $9.99
-$5 Q in RP for buying two dvds listed
-$5 Target GC
This means you only paid $19.99 + tax. The Twilight in Forks DVD is basically free.
Then I used the $5 Target GC towards my next purchase of BOGO Gillette Products.
My gripe of Target is that they charge tax on the entire retail total unlike CVS who takes the tax off the total after coupons.
Kohl’s
At Kohl’s, sign up for their newsletter either in store or online at http://www.kohls.com and you will get a $5 off coupon on anything in their store and you can also couple that with other coupons they offer like $10 off $20 (so long as the directions on the coupons allow you to do so). This is how my family shopped for an updated wardrobe this spring for next Fall’s clothes at more than 50% off (we shopped the 60-80% clearance section, and also used the coupons prior to expiration in multiple transactions only getting $20 worth of clothing, then making it $10). Shop and think ahead in the clearance sections (Spring/Summer for next Fall/Winter and Fall/Winter for next Spring/Summer).
Donations
With the excess of food and toiletries, I am able to get what my family needs and anything we don’t I donate them to charity (I use US Vets because my husband is in the Air Force Reserves and it means a lot to us to help our military community for their service). With the clothes that we purchased, we rotated out clothes that we no longer used and donated them as well. It helps us clear the clutter as well.
I highly suggest paying it forward to your community that is in need. If you find someone that is listed <– charity on couponmom.com and you don’t use it in your home and is virtually free after coupons, get it and donate it. It will make you feel better donating it and you’re definitely helping others in need. I urge you to do the same as there are many families in need much less fortunate than you may be.
cutyourbudget 