I have been coupon browsing/shopping every week over the past few weeks. Many are curious as to how I get all that I get at such a great price. Here are some of the rules I live by when coupon browsing/shopping. First and foremost, do not make a trip out if you are not already heading in that direction. Making a special trip defeats the purpose because the money you are saving is going into gas and mileage. For example, if I know that I will be making a trip to Washington, I will take my Giant Eagle, Foodland, ShopnSave, Walmart, Dollar General and Target coupons. If I hit all of them, great, if not, oh well, I didn't spend any money. Secondly, do not print too many coupons online. The money you are saving is going into buying more ink and paper.
Onto the savings:
My big 3 month trips usually end up with me spending no more than $300 at the very most. This is $300 for 3 months of groceries for 8 people. Before I make this trip, I take a calendar and mark down a meal a day. You do not have to eat the meals in order (you may have a day marked pasta, but instead want chicken) I usually put family meals down for Mon, Tues, Wed (remember to put a new recipe in per week, always livens up dinner) Thursday is our "Fend for Yourself" day. You can either eat leftovers from M-W or make yourself something quick. Friday is soup and sandwich day. If you are more adventurous and look through your cookbook, you will see a ton of soup and sandwich ideas and then you are not stuck just opening a can of chicken noodle and slapping together some bread and ham. But hey, if you like the quickness of opening a can, by all means, enjoy! Saturday could be your eat out day and Sunday could be your prepackaged day (Hamburger Helper, Kraft Mac & Cheese, etc...) Be sure to throw one baked dessert in a week. The kids love that!! You can switch these days around to fit your schedule. I do try to make as many homemade meals as I can with my schedule...my oldest son is an aspiring chef and loves to help out in the kitchen with the meals.
After creating your calendar of meals, write down anything you don't already have in the house for these meals. Tip: when writing up your meals, try to create using things you already have in stock, saves major money! After writing down the items you do need to shop for, go through your coupons to see if you have any that match what you need. After doing this, check the ad for any items you wish to have. Then, try to match up coupons to these items. Remember, do not buy something that you have a coupon for that you will not use, this is extra money spent. I also try to make it a rule to buy the bulk of your things on sale (you will have a few things here and there that won't be on sale that you need, but try to stick to the sale items) After pulling out the coupons you need, go online and look for coupons that you may not have had, but need. I use www.ppgazette.com. It has all the coupons (smart source, red plum, etc...) all on one site! Remember, only clip and print what you need or you are putting out more money for printer ink and paper. Giant Eagle, Foodland and ShopnSave double coupons up to .99 everyday! Tip: Interstate Foodland off of the Chestnut Exit does not accept computer printed coupons.
Giant Eagle in your area? Always make sure to get your gas at Getgo everytime you need gas! You get the food perks! Anytime you make an off trip to Giant Eagle, if it asks you to use your food perks, say no. Always wait until you are going on a huge shopping trip to do that. The very most you can save on food perks is $60 and I do it everytime I have a big grocery trip. $60 automatically off of your food bill just for buying your regular gas!!! So, when you are shopping at Giant Eagle, check out the price of an item, substract your coupon doubled (.75 to $1.50 off) and then subtract 20% (that is amount you are saving with your food perks if you hold out) The final price is what you are paying :) Side Tip: make sure that you don't redeem your fuel perks until you are almost completely out of gas. If you only need to top off your tank, you are wasting your perks. Make sure you get it off of all of those gallons you will be filling up!
If you don't get a newspaper subscription, be sure to at least buy a Sunday paper. It is only $1.50 and you will have that paid off just by one 75 cent coupon in the insert since grocery stores double! Both the Observer Reporter and the Herald Standard have coupons on Sunday. AllYou magazine is another great source for coupons. There are a ton in this awesome magazine!! Are you a Target shopper? www.target.com has coupons that you can use just at Target (has target logo on them) The great thing about these are, you can use the Target coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon!! Take your stack of Target coupons and matching manufacturer's coupons with you anytime you hit a Target (remember, don't make a special trip, just keep them in your purse for when you go) and then just check out the products. They could be on sale that week and you could get them really cheap! Uniontown Target has freezers and Washington doesn't so if you are looking for cold groceries, you have to go to Uniontown.
I am a major multi-tasker! Do not take extra time to cut your coupons, make menus, etc..If you are sitting on the couch watching your favorite show, do it then. That way you are not taking away from your everyday duties :)
Sound like a lot of work...no, it isn't. Basically a huge trip is this simple.
1. Make a menu for whatever time you are grocery shopping for (weeks, months)
2. Match your coupons to your menu items needed
3. Go through the ad for the grocery store you will be hitting
4. Match your coupons to the items you need/want
5. Do not redeem food perks until you are going on a huge trip
6. Be sure to always try to fill up at Getgo so it adds to your foodperks.
Be sure to watch for my blogs or just follow them. Everytime I write a new one, it will come up on your dashboard. I hope to save you all as much as I am saving! I also have 2 other blogs www.dede-daytoday.blogspot.com. This blog has daily savings, tips, things to do with the kids, etc... and www.dede-kneadarecipe.blogspot.com. This blog has any recipe that I have tried that turned out awesome. Includes a finished photo of the meal.
Use all of these tips and you could end up with an overflowing pantry like mine with a ton of money still in your purse! I got such a good deal on cereal last week that I had to start stacking them towards the ceiling of my pantry shelf!
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