Using coupons is a great way to save money but if you are purchasing items that you will not use just because you have a coupon on it, you are not saving money. Here is a tip that will help you make the most of your weekly shopping trip.
1. Start with a clean dining room table.
2. You will need a pair of scissors, pencil, highlighter, notebook, paper clips
3. Gather All the local sales ads even those that are not grocery stores
4. Gather all your coupons.
5. Look through the sales ads making note of those things that you normally purchase in your mind
6. Look through your coupons, take a highlighter and highlight the expiration date.
7. Now get your store list and compare the sale items to the list.
8 Gather the coupons that you will need for the items.
9. Use the paper clip to clip the coupons together for each separate store.
10. Now, in your notebook, write the name of the store and what you are purchasing at that store under the name. Add the sale price and write down the coupon deduction.
11. Go to the stores and pick up ONLY those things on your list. Nothing else.
Many people just stop there but I suggest that you watch the register and make sure the items are ringing up at the sale price. It is easier to take care of then than have to come back in to customer service.
DO NOT be afraid to ask the cashier if that item rang up at the sale price. Usually they will then make sure the screen is turned so you can watch it yourself.
Remember Gifts when you are looking at sales fliers. CVS is great at offering items with full refund printed on your sales slip. Use a coupon and you will make money on the purchase.
Do you have tips to share?
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Comments: 45
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Good luck!
We don't buy the papers, so no coupons. I've looked through my MIL's coupons before but I rarely see a good deal that is on something/a quantity I'd normally buy anyway.
We don't even come close to following it, though. ;) We do most of our shopping at stores that don't have sales fliers, so I have to wait until I'm actually there to see what is on sale. I do make a list of things that we NEED, and things that we have coupons for that are about to expire. But then I also buy a bunch of other stuff that I find that is on sale. It's always stuff we use, though, and I always know what we might be running low on, or at least what I would be buying within the next 6 weeks anyway.
And as far as non-grocery stores, we buy lots of stuff from the clearance aisle. We're more or less done Christmas shopping (we just need stocking stuffers and I still need to pick something for ME), and probably around half of Elliott's presents came from the clearance section.
I often clip coupons that I probably won't use, but they are still good to have just in case. Last month this habit came in handy when we needed cold/cough medicines. I usually don't save them because he seldom gets sick and I am allergic to most of them. He and his daughter got that cough that you just can't seem to get rid of and I was able to save a lot of money. So I say, if you have the room to do it and have a good coupon organization system, cut 'em all out. You never know.
I spread it all out on the table like you do, but after looking at the ads and going through my coupons, I go over to the PC and check all of the coupon sites for new ones. Having just looked through the ads, it is fresh in my mind, so I only print out the ones that I plan on using.
we also can everything we can to make sure nothing goes to waste.
I have seen that shopping with coupon take up a lot of time for me since i only shop once a month and most of the time I have maybe 4 to 6 hours of shopping time .
but I do try to print the coupons I can use in my area a lot of the time the coupons they have are not brands I ve ever heard of ~
When I go with a list, I do really well coming out with ONLY what's on the list....except when they are having fantastic Manager's Specials. Sometimes, the deals are too good to pass up, and if it's an item that we'll be needing soon anyway, it usually saves money in the long run. I've managed to find great deals on canned cat food, raisens, crackers, and many other things because the package was slightly dented. I always check to make sure the inner packaging is still sealed and safe, but it's usually better than a sale/coupon combo to buy it that way.
Every store I normally shop at is on my way home from work, so I just go after work instead of making that extra trip. I also pay attention to what day of the week it is. I get a senior discount on my Kroger card (I used to live with my grandma, so I think it has to do with the phone number), so if I usually wait until Tuesdays to grocery shop. It saves me 5% and often I can get my gasoline discount after that.
LOL I have tried to do it with a half clean dining room table. We use our rather large dehydrator on the other half and it just does not work.... too cramped.
Sounds like a good method to save!
great tips