Just like most of you, I search for ways to save my family as much money as possible. Found myself watching one of those extreme couponing shows. Made me start thinking I could do a lot better. Always a coupon clipper and sale watcher, I never seemed to get the timing down right. Although, far from an extreme couponer, I have learned a few tips that might help your family save money on your next trip to the grocery store.
First of all, you need coupons, and lots of them! To save time, please see my previous blog entry for:
COUPONS... Instant Savings. Use them and save BIG!
You will find a full list of free printable coupon sites plus more valuable coupon information. Of course, you can also find coupons in the Sunday newspaper.
Second, you will need the weekly sale ads for your area. Usually these are found in your Sunday and Wednesday newspapers or you can subscribe to each stores weekly emailed sale ad. I subscribe to several: Kroger, Albertson's, Tom Thumb, HEB, CVS, Walgreens and Target. (Wal-mart offers price matching for all of these stores.)
Third, you need to be open minded and willing to shop at Wal-mart for price matching opportunities. Unless of course, you are one of the fortunate with a grocery store offering double and/or triple coupon days! ;)
Fourth, keep in mind, grocery items usually have a rock bottom sale price only once every five to six weeks. This leaves you a limited amount of time to match your coupon and sale price for the lowest price. For example, the boys' and I were astonished when we able to purchase two full size bags of MM's for less 50 cents each. Simply by waiting patiently for best price on MM's and adding our $1.50 off coupon.
The largest part of our savings come from price matching offered by Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, the grocery stores around here do not offer double or triple coupon days. The best opportunity to save money on groceries is provided by Wal-mart's price matching guarantee. Simply tell the cashier you are using price matching.
We have found it best to keep the sale items in the back of the buggy for easy access at the end of check out. Also, I put the coupons out for the cashier to see and scan easily at the end.
Before, the cashier scans the sale item, tell them the sale price and at what store. For example, this is on sale at Kroger for $1.99. The cashier will scan and manually key in the sale price. In some instances, the cashier will ask to see the sales flier to verify the price. This is especially true if it is a big difference in price. I keep my sales fliers in my coupon binder for easy access. However, you are not required to have the actual sales flier. Wal-mart keeps a copy of the sales fliers for reference. You can also use your mobile device, etc. to show the cashier current sale ads.
Watch the savings as the cashier begins scanning your coupons, your grocery bill will go down, down, down!
Today, for the first time, a person waiting behind me became inpatient. Very loudly, asked the cashier how much longer it would be? She either did not hear or choose to ignore it. Thankfully, it was only one more minute. Usually people are very patient and will ask questions about how I save money.
It is also fun to bless others' with coupons. I like to hand out extra coupons to people looking at the product or simply leave them laying near the product. (Especially if they are expiring soon and I know my family will not be able to use them. No need to waste them!) For example, this evening, a lady and her son were debating on which dog food to buy. I just so happened to have an extra coupon for buy one get one free on a very popular brand of dry dog food. She very happily accepted and her son offered to get dog food down and put it in my buggy for me! Very polite young man. In fact, there were a few polite, young men. Two others', much younger, shyly apologized for being in the way. They really were not anywhere near in my way, both patiently waited for me to go barreling by. I was impressed by the guys' tonight! Just like most situations, you never know what you will encounter.
Now for the most important tip! It is vital that your grocery list and coupons line up with the sales cycle. Products go on sale approximately every five to six weeks. As you practice matching coupons with sales items, you will become more familiar with really good deals. When you come across a really good deal, you need to purchase enough to last your family five to six weeks. This will help you save the most money and also help build up your grocery stock pile. By combining coupons with the lowest sales price, you can often purchase products for less than 25%-50% of the normal price.
Using these tips, our family saved $20.88 with coupons and over $20 by price matching sale ads this evening. Overall saving more than 25% off our total grocery bill.
The timing is key! Although, it takes extra time. Price matching, coupons and perfect timing will definitely save your family lots of money in the long run.
~ Christi T :)
May God bless the work of your hands!
6/16/14 Additional Information: Walmart offers a new Savings Catcher option to help find any discounts you may have missed. Simply go their website and submit your receipt information within 7 days of your purchase at https://savingscatcher.walmart.com/. Walmart will refund the difference with a gift card, after you reach a minimum of $10. Tried both ways, without price matching and with price matching. Found I save more by continuing to do my own price matching. However, I also submit my receipt to Savings Catcher. Last week, I price matched, used coupons and submitted to Savings Catcher. Savings Catcher found the most savings for me yet, an additional $5.94. :)
Christi - Haute Crafty Creations
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