About 4 months ago Wayne and I were talking and decided we had to do something to start saving some money! We were about to have our 2nd child and the bills would only get more expensive! After seeing the series on TLC "Extreme Couponing" I decided that I would try that. Not to the extreme that they go to, but just to try and save more than half on our grocery bill. I was already pretty great a bargain shopping and saving us money. Our average grocery bill a month was less than $200 bucks, and that was for everything. But, I wanted to cut that in half. Is that even possible?? It is! I do have to say that if you aren't good at this couponing thing.. you will end up spending more each month. Just because you do typically go shopping more and at a few different places and if you don't understand ways to save, you spend a lot more in the long run! You have to know what you are going for, budget for it and get only that! Ok.. here are a list of a few tips to remember when you are first starting:
1. Buy at least 5 newspapers! I personally get 4 Houston Chronicles and 4 Beaumont Enterprises! Note* There are a few times a year there are no coupons in papers and that is typically around holidays! Also, because there are so so many people trying to coupon, papers get sold out QUICKLY on Sunday morning! My hubby goes around 7 am and never has any issues!
2. Save the sales adds. The ones I always save are Walmart, Target, Kroger, Market Basket, HEB, Walgreens, and CVS! These will be key to finding your deals!
3. Get a binder and baseball card holders. I tried couponing with out a binder and its just too messy for me. This helps you organize your coupons and makes them very easily accessible!
4. Set out an allotted amount of time each week to prepare your shopping trips. You will spend more if you don't plan! And, you will spend too much time away from your family if you are constantly trying to clip and prepare! I clip my coupons and update my binder on Sunday afternoons after church. Then, on Sunday too after everyone is in bed, I go through the sale adds, circle what I am needing and what is on sale that I know I have a coupon for. Most grocery store adds are from Wed. to Wed. and stores such as target and walmart and Sunday to Sunday! So make sure and plan accordingly for those sales! On Monday morning I always make my list, match it up with coupons I have, or print ones I need, and that is really all the preparing I do. Sometimes this is altered by new sales that are posted, or I find additional things, but for the most part I do stick to this each week! I do most of my shopping On Monday's and Friday's!
5. Do not buy what you don't need or what you won't need within the next 6 months! This not only takes up product from others who actually need it, but it also makes you spend more money than you have to. That being said, If it something like toothbrushes or BBQ sauce that doesn't go bad and you can get for FREE, use all of your coupons on it! I never have more than 8 of a coupon, so that is the most I typically buy!
6. Always read your coupon carefully and read the stores coupon policy carefully before going shopping! Also, make sure you read the sales add too. For instance, Market Basket may have a great deal on pork chops, but in fine print it will say "With a $10 or more food purchase"! Not such a good deal anymore unless you need other things!
This is just what I do, and it has really saved our family so far. I do love saving us money and am proud when my total goes down. I do have to say, that I am still learning too and I do make mistakes! For instance, yesterday I went to HEB for Miracle Whip, went to check out, and I had read the coupon wrong. It was $1.00 off of 2, not 1! Oopps! Now in my case, I still purchased it because that's all I was getting and we use a lot, But if you were doing a huge haul and this happened, it would mess up your calculations and totals!
<3Alana
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment