Thursday, June 28, 2007
Saving Money on Groceries
Several people commented and/or e-mailed me after this post, asking how I do it. Crystal did a series back in September and October on Supermarket savings, and I've used many of her tips.
Before I start let me say this: It takes time. Like anything else, it will get quicker and easier as you go, but it will take some time initially to set up your system and after that it will take some time each week to clip and file coupons, go through ads, and hit several stores. I will give you some time-saving suggestions, but you have to face from the beginning that you will have to spend some time on it for it to work. On the other hand, I invest several hours a week on this and currently spend $100-130 a week to provide our family of six with all of our food (including occasional eating out), household items (cleaners, toiletries, etc) occasional clothing (underwear, socks, sometimes other clothing) and sometimes have money left for other things we may need or fun stuff. (Crystal provides groceries and household items for her family for $30 a week!) Before I started this I was easily spending $200 a week at the grocery store alone. I know many people who "don't have time" to bother with this, but don't mind working part to full time and paying taxes on that, spending way more time to "earn" less than I'm saving.
In part 9 Crystal details her coupon organization system, and this is where I would suggest that you start. I don't use a box like she does because I couldn't find one the right size with a handle, and because I was already pretty happy with the organizer I had. It's similar to this one, as long as a business size envelope, with 13 categories. I bought mine at Wal-Mart and used the labels for general categories. Later I took business size envelopes, cut off the flap, and labeled them to create sub-sections for each category, after I collected so many coupons that it was time consuming going through an entire section to find the one I needed.
So now the categories and sub-categories look like this:
Medicines
Cold/Flu
Stomach
Pain
Vitamins/Misc
Beauty/Hygiene
Make-up
Hair Color
Hair Products
Lotion/Skincare
Shaving Products
Deoderant/Soap
Oral Care
Cleaners
Bathroom
Laundry
All Purpose
Other Cleaning
Air freshener
Paper Goods
Tissue/Toilet paper
Paper Plates, Paper Towels, Napkins/Tape
Trash Bags, Foil, Ziplocs, etc
Baby Products
Feminine Supplies
Canned/Pasts/Beans
Canned
Soup
Rice/Pasta
Boxed
Frozen Foods/Meat
Meat
Pizza
Lunchmeat/Hot Dogs
Dinners/Mexican Food
Snacks/Desserts/Veggies
Frozen breads/ Rolls/Breakfast Foods
Bread/Cereal
Hot Cereal
Cold Cereal
Bread
Snack Foods
Cookies/Desserts/Dried fruit and Nuts
Snack Bars
Crackers/Chips/Popcorn
Mints/Candy/Gum
Dairy/Biscuits
Biscuits
Eggs
Cheese
Yogurt
Other Dairy
Condiments/Beverages
Salad dressing/Pickles/Olives
Peanut Butter/Jelly/Honey
Condiments/Sauces
Coffe/Tea/Juices
Baking
Mixes
Spices
Staple Goods (flour, sugar, etc)
Mail/Rebates
(Last section unlabeled)
Store Coupons
Restaurant Coupons
Pet Items
I grouped things either according to their location in the store (dairy and biscuits are together) or according to what I would remember (After health class, bread and cereal are forever linked in my mind.) The categories aren't perfect. For example, I put Baby Items under Paper Goods because diapers and wipes are paper. Baby bath and shampoo also go in the baby items envelope, even though they're not paper, but that's where I thought I would remember baby items being. For things like that, put them where you will remember.
I buy two Sunday papers at Wal-Mart; on Sunday they sell them wrapped together, two papers for $2. They usually have leftovers even as late as Friday. I bring them home and pull out the ads and set them aside, then clip the coupons and organize them. (This can easily be done while watching a movie.) Later in the week, usually after I get the grocery store ads in the mail, I go through the ads and circle the best sale prices with a black Sharpie marker and dog-ear the pages with circled items. (Caution: Not everything in the sale ad is a good price! I will write more on that later.) I go through my coupons to see if I have any for the items already on sale. If I do, I paperclip all of those coupons to that ad, in the upper left corner, so I can still open the ad and go through it. When I go to that store, I bring the ad and the coupons with me and that serves as my shopping list. If I need anything else at that store, I write it at the top of the front page as a reminder.
Most weeks I go by Kroger, Albertson's, CVS, and Walgreens to get the best sale items. Some weeks I go by Tom Thumb, if they have enough good deals to make it worth my time. If there is anything else we need that week, I get it at Wal-Mart because they have the best everyday prices. I get bread, chips and tortillas from the bread store. At Kroger I take my whole coupon organizer with me because they double and triple some coupons and I often find incidental sales that were not in their ad. I stock up when things are on sale and use my stockpile on the weeks that they're not.
I try to work these trips into my regular routine. One of the stores I usually hit while the boys are at violin practice, a few others I usually go to while the girls are at piano, according to what is nearby. One of the stores is on Scott's way home from work so sometimes he goes by for me. The bread store is not in the town where I live, so I go to it when I'm in that town and try to get enough to last until I'll be over there again and store it in my freezer.
So how do I get things for free? Several ways. If an item is on sale for $1 and you have a coupon for $1 off OR you have a coupon for 50 cents off and the sale is at a store that doubles coupons up to 50 cents (or, for that matter, a 35 cent coupon for a store that triples coupons up to 39 cents), that item will be free. This is one reason I go to so many stores. Even though Wal-Mart will match sale prices, they will not double or triple coupons. And this is why I buy the double paper; if I find an item that's free with coupon, now I can get two. Sometimes more, if the coupon ran for several weeks.
Walgreens has a rebate catalog every month, with items that are free with mail in rebate. Use coupons on these items and they are paying you to take it home. Two weeks ago, they had a special where you pay $4.29 for a box of Kotex pads or tampons and get a register coupon for $4.29 to spend on your next trip to Walgreens. Next time you go by Walgreens, take your coupon in and get another box. Repeat.
CVS has a point system where you earn points on certain items; most weeks they have items that are free with points, often they are greatly reduced and your coupon makes it free. The first week you pay for the sale items and get that many dollars in points back. The next week you use those points to pay for that week's sale items, and get more points. Repeat.
Feel free to throw questions at me; I'll write more tips soon.
Before I start let me say this: It takes time. Like anything else, it will get quicker and easier as you go, but it will take some time initially to set up your system and after that it will take some time each week to clip and file coupons, go through ads, and hit several stores. I will give you some time-saving suggestions, but you have to face from the beginning that you will have to spend some time on it for it to work. On the other hand, I invest several hours a week on this and currently spend $100-130 a week to provide our family of six with all of our food (including occasional eating out), household items (cleaners, toiletries, etc) occasional clothing (underwear, socks, sometimes other clothing) and sometimes have money left for other things we may need or fun stuff. (Crystal provides groceries and household items for her family for $30 a week!) Before I started this I was easily spending $200 a week at the grocery store alone. I know many people who "don't have time" to bother with this, but don't mind working part to full time and paying taxes on that, spending way more time to "earn" less than I'm saving.
In part 9 Crystal details her coupon organization system, and this is where I would suggest that you start. I don't use a box like she does because I couldn't find one the right size with a handle, and because I was already pretty happy with the organizer I had. It's similar to this one, as long as a business size envelope, with 13 categories. I bought mine at Wal-Mart and used the labels for general categories. Later I took business size envelopes, cut off the flap, and labeled them to create sub-sections for each category, after I collected so many coupons that it was time consuming going through an entire section to find the one I needed.
So now the categories and sub-categories look like this:
Medicines
Cold/Flu
Stomach
Pain
Vitamins/Misc
Beauty/Hygiene
Make-up
Hair Color
Hair Products
Lotion/Skincare
Shaving Products
Deoderant/Soap
Oral Care
Cleaners
Bathroom
Laundry
All Purpose
Other Cleaning
Air freshener
Paper Goods
Tissue/Toilet paper
Paper Plates, Paper Towels, Napkins/Tape
Trash Bags, Foil, Ziplocs, etc
Baby Products
Feminine Supplies
Canned/Pasts/Beans
Canned
Soup
Rice/Pasta
Boxed
Frozen Foods/Meat
Meat
Pizza
Lunchmeat/Hot Dogs
Dinners/Mexican Food
Snacks/Desserts/Veggies
Frozen breads/ Rolls/Breakfast Foods
Bread/Cereal
Hot Cereal
Cold Cereal
Bread
Snack Foods
Cookies/Desserts/Dried fruit and Nuts
Snack Bars
Crackers/Chips/Popcorn
Mints/Candy/Gum
Dairy/Biscuits
Biscuits
Eggs
Cheese
Yogurt
Other Dairy
Condiments/Beverages
Salad dressing/Pickles/Olives
Peanut Butter/Jelly/Honey
Condiments/Sauces
Coffe/Tea/Juices
Baking
Mixes
Spices
Staple Goods (flour, sugar, etc)
Mail/Rebates
(Last section unlabeled)
Store Coupons
Restaurant Coupons
Pet Items
I grouped things either according to their location in the store (dairy and biscuits are together) or according to what I would remember (After health class, bread and cereal are forever linked in my mind.) The categories aren't perfect. For example, I put Baby Items under Paper Goods because diapers and wipes are paper. Baby bath and shampoo also go in the baby items envelope, even though they're not paper, but that's where I thought I would remember baby items being. For things like that, put them where you will remember.
I buy two Sunday papers at Wal-Mart; on Sunday they sell them wrapped together, two papers for $2. They usually have leftovers even as late as Friday. I bring them home and pull out the ads and set them aside, then clip the coupons and organize them. (This can easily be done while watching a movie.) Later in the week, usually after I get the grocery store ads in the mail, I go through the ads and circle the best sale prices with a black Sharpie marker and dog-ear the pages with circled items. (Caution: Not everything in the sale ad is a good price! I will write more on that later.) I go through my coupons to see if I have any for the items already on sale. If I do, I paperclip all of those coupons to that ad, in the upper left corner, so I can still open the ad and go through it. When I go to that store, I bring the ad and the coupons with me and that serves as my shopping list. If I need anything else at that store, I write it at the top of the front page as a reminder.
Most weeks I go by Kroger, Albertson's, CVS, and Walgreens to get the best sale items. Some weeks I go by Tom Thumb, if they have enough good deals to make it worth my time. If there is anything else we need that week, I get it at Wal-Mart because they have the best everyday prices. I get bread, chips and tortillas from the bread store. At Kroger I take my whole coupon organizer with me because they double and triple some coupons and I often find incidental sales that were not in their ad. I stock up when things are on sale and use my stockpile on the weeks that they're not.
I try to work these trips into my regular routine. One of the stores I usually hit while the boys are at violin practice, a few others I usually go to while the girls are at piano, according to what is nearby. One of the stores is on Scott's way home from work so sometimes he goes by for me. The bread store is not in the town where I live, so I go to it when I'm in that town and try to get enough to last until I'll be over there again and store it in my freezer.
So how do I get things for free? Several ways. If an item is on sale for $1 and you have a coupon for $1 off OR you have a coupon for 50 cents off and the sale is at a store that doubles coupons up to 50 cents (or, for that matter, a 35 cent coupon for a store that triples coupons up to 39 cents), that item will be free. This is one reason I go to so many stores. Even though Wal-Mart will match sale prices, they will not double or triple coupons. And this is why I buy the double paper; if I find an item that's free with coupon, now I can get two. Sometimes more, if the coupon ran for several weeks.
Walgreens has a rebate catalog every month, with items that are free with mail in rebate. Use coupons on these items and they are paying you to take it home. Two weeks ago, they had a special where you pay $4.29 for a box of Kotex pads or tampons and get a register coupon for $4.29 to spend on your next trip to Walgreens. Next time you go by Walgreens, take your coupon in and get another box. Repeat.
CVS has a point system where you earn points on certain items; most weeks they have items that are free with points, often they are greatly reduced and your coupon makes it free. The first week you pay for the sale items and get that many dollars in points back. The next week you use those points to pay for that week's sale items, and get more points. Repeat.
Feel free to throw questions at me; I'll write more tips soon.
Labels: Tightwad Tips
12 Comments:
Perfect timing! I am just getting ready to overhaul how we grocery shop and need advice. However, I am completely overwhelmed. Even all of your great tips make me feel like I can't handle all of the work. :( I know that is sad. I have lots of questions, but will keep it to just one or two for now. I have often looked through coupons and find that we just don't eat/use what the coupons are for--not just the brand, but we just don't use it at all. I guess my question is--what does your family eat and did you change it because of the coupons? Also, is there any cheap way to buy produce and meat? Those seem to the budget busters around here.
Thanks!
I have recently discovered how great CVS and Walgreens sales/rewards are! I am trying to save money by using as many coupons as possible. I do similar as you, I have a coupon organizer and search my ads for good deals. I remember your Thursday 13 post about items you no longer have to pay for...I am hoping to get that good at saving soon! Thanks for your tips! :)
Great post!
Since I e-mailed you, I've found www.couponmom.com. Once you get past all the "offers" when you register (ack, I hate those) it is actually very useful! She has e-books to download, as well as a "virtual coupon organizer" which saves the cutting out and stuff. She even lists "best deals by state". (Look at the sidebar to the left).
So, basically, you save the Sunday ads from the paper, and 3 months from now when Crest toothpaste is $2 a tube at Krogers, couponmom.com remembers that there was a coupon 3 months ago for $1.00 off Crest toothpaste, and it magically knows that Kroger doubles, and it says, "Hey, Amy! Buy Crest toothpaste this week for free!!"
So I got one of those big accordion files, and I've got two weeks worth of ads so far. It'll take a couple of months before I start really seeing savings (because I have to accumulate the back coupons) but I saved 33% at the store last week using her other techniques.
I also got 4 12-packs of Diet Coke for $7 at Walgreen's! I LOVE their rebate book!
Thanks for the great post!
4andcounting--I know, it is overwhelming at first. If you've read my series on Our Story then you know I only started when there were absolutely no options. Later I am still kicking myself because I could have saved so much more starting earlier and because I had no idea how much fun it would be once I started. Start by organizing the coupons, take it a few steps at a time, and as you learn and get experience it will get easier and less overwhelming.
We absolutely eat and use things we didn't before--mostly better stuff than we did before. Instead of asking yourself, "Do we use this now?" Ask yourself, "Would I use this if it were free?"For me that changes things. Having said that, there are coupons I toss, mainly for adult diapers.
Occasionally I get coupons for plain meat, like Pilgrims Pride or some such. I get a lot of coupons for bacon, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meat and pre-seasoned or prepared meat, like in frozen convenience foods. Mainly I save on meat by buying the meat that is on sale in a large quantity and using my deep freeze.
I do end up with more junk food than I would normally buy. I keep most of it hidden in a "Vacation Box" and save most of it for our next trip because we do eat more treats when we're traveling; occasionally I'll take something out of it for us to eat at home.
I take part in an organic produce co-op. Even if I were paying full price I would be getting organic produce for less than I would pay for conventional at the store. But I host it and the kids and I sort so I get a deep discount; a certain amount for every person who participates at my house. At times I have had enough people that our share is completely free.
Look around and often you will see opportunities like that. If not, I would encourage you to save on the things you can and that will enable you to more easily afford the things that don't get discounted as much.
"Mommy"--I tried a trial of something like that once--Teri's list. I personally prefer to do it on my own because I can process it better with the pictures in the ads rather than a list--the list is a little overwhelming to me, and some of the deals were in her state but not in mine. But I say if it works for you, go for it. I did get lots of ideas from exploring the site, so it wasn't wasted.
Thank you for posting this. You have explained it to me more than once, but now I am going to put this post in a word doc so I can refer back to it later. I have three weeks' worth of coupons now, and need to get an organizer.
One more suggestion for those who are having trouble getting motivated: Keep a log of what you bought and how much you saved, and see how much you are "earning" per hour of effort.
Have you seen grocerygame.com? You subscribe ($1 per week) and she makes a list of the sale items at the store you select. Then she tells you which coupon to use (when it came in the paper and how much it is for) and lists the final price and the total discount percentage. It's helped me a bunch.
Good Tips! I don't have much time but know how much can be saved by shopping the grocery sales and using coupons with those sales.
I choose to use GroceryGuide.com because it is fast and easy to use and will match recipes to the sales to give me ideas as to what to fix. I have tried the others mentioned but neither have as many stores and are either full of ads or you pay for each store that you want sales for. The $1 a week is for only one store. (It adds up quick)
This is a very useful post. I'm going to try it. I've been needing a good plan.
I use groceryguide.com also and find it simple and helpful to use, and it's FREE! I like that I can make a shopping list and plan menus using the recipes that correspond with a grocery item. The search feature helps find the best buy on a particular item - it saved me a lot of money providing food and paper goods for a family reunion!
I'm positively inspired! When you posted your Thursday 13 like many others I was thinking "how?!" Thank you for posting this. I'm so excited to be able to save more money. Thank you a million times over!
I am new to this whole money saving, coupon clipping world and am quickly getting addicted. I love your blog!!
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