February 1, 2011

Money in the bank!

Who doesn't love more money in the bank?!?! I sure know I do! So, for any of you who follow me on Facebook you'll know that I have this recent fascination with coupons. I watched a show on TLC recently about these people who cut coupons (almost obsessively) and they save boatloads of money on their grocery bills even getting stuff for free. Now, I realize that I may not be able to get all of my groceries for free every week but I WILL make a dent in the grocery budget! So, my best find so far this week was a Kroger. Here's what we bought:


It may not seems like much but you have to think about it. Hunt's brand tomatoes are usually 80-95 cents a can, BarS hot dogs are $1.25/pk, single serve Mac & Cheese (which is gold in a house with two toddlers) is usually 99 cents each and the cheese alone is about $3! I bought all of these groceries for $3.38! That's a steal! I combined the store sale with the coupons and made out like a bandit!! See......



All in all, I've decided this is going to become a habit. I've already made an $11 savings dent in the groceries for the week and we haven't even made the big grocery run yet! Here's what I've learned so far about clipping coupons.

1. You have to clip all the coupons you know you will use AND the ones that you think you might use. You never know when something is going to go on sale. When the product is free or almost free with your coupons you'd be surprised how willing you are to try something new :-)

2. You have to clip coupons for 3-4 weeks straight before you will begin to see the big rewards. It seems that the pattern is that the coupons come out and then the manufacturer waits a few weeks for people to forget about or lose their coupons before they run a great sale. That's what happened with the items in my purchase above.

3. Plan your weekly dinner menu a week in advance and use the circulars to do it. We get our grocery circulars on Tuesday and Wednesday in the mail. We sit down with them and all of our coupons and plan our menu for the following week according to what's on sale and what we've already stocked up on and have at home.

4. Shop a week in advance. This may require a little more money in the grocery budget the first week you start doing this but trust me, it's so worth it!

I realize this sounds like a lot but I really do believe that this is going to save us a lot of money in the long run. My sister and I pride ourselves on being very frugal people but this just took it to a new level for us! LOL!

Truth is..... I'm a SUCKER for a great bargain!

3 comments:

Colby said...

Good on ya!!!! Wait till you spot another couponer in the store, just because you recognize the items in her basket! :)

Nicole said...

Thanks Colby! When I do spot one, I'll probably get this crazy cheesy grin on my face :-)

Cydnee said...

http://www.justapinch.com/coupons