Newbies

Okay, so I have noticed I have been getting a TON of new people, or newbies, on my blog with GREAT questions about how to use Grocery Smarts. A post showing all the awesome stuff we have gotten for free stirs up quite a bit of curosity! A lot of the questions I have answered for the people who have been to my classes, but I thought I would share the info again. It's never a bad idea to have a refresher for those have already been using what I have taught. So, I am going to post this crash course and over the next few days I am going to break it down step by step for everyone! Let's get started shall we? Here is a quick overview for today's post!

How to Get Started with Grocery Smarts 101

Getting the Coupons

To make this system work you need to have one set of coupons per a person in your family. The coupons inserts are found in Sundays newspapers. For our family that means I receive four Sunday papers. I know that sounds like a lot, but to be able to buy in bulk you’ll want them. I personally tried using the system without the coupons and I wasn’t nearly as successful after ordering a newspaper subscription. I highly recommend 1 paper per person in your home, even babies. Grocery Smarts has negotiated with the papers to get us a good deal on papers, so if you are interested I can place an order for you so you can start getting the paper quickly and save big! I highly recommend one per a person in your family, even babies.

Organizing the Coupons

Once you get your coupons the best way to organize them is in a hanging file. I date every ad that comes in with Sundays date, file them in the appropriate file and don’t even look at them until the Grocery Smarts website tells me which ones to cut out.

Using the Coupons

When I found out I had to use coupons to make this system work I was skeptical because I had used coupons in the past and had no success saving money. I remember I had a coupon for .50 cents of one Betty Crocker frosting. The normal price was 1.67, so that made it 1.17. The store brand right next to it was only .89, so I obviously purchased the store brand. Well, after I started using this system here is what happened a few months later. Betty Crocker Frosting was on sale for .67 and I used the same .50 cents of one coupon. That would make the frosting .17 cents compared to the store brands .89 cents. Imagine if you had a coupon for every person in your house. For me that meant 4 cans of name brand frosting for .68. Pretty cool!

Store ads change weekly and new items go on sale. The object is to use your coupons when those items go on sale. Grocery Smarts is a FREE website with no registration or log ins needed that will tell you exactly which items go on sale when and when to use our coupons. Grocery Smarts lists the items on sale that week and rates them between 1-5 stars. They also list the normal and sale price and which coupons to use that week so you get the maximum amount of savings possible. This website does all the work for you and its FREE!

Shopping

The next step is going to buy your products. A lot of people are hesitant to use coupons thinking it will make checkout difficult and slow, but that is not the case. You send your items through the check stand and then you hand the checker your pile of coupons. You don’t need to place the coupons separately with the item your purchasing. The checker will SCAN in the coupons. They do not need to manually type anything in anymore. The process takes an extra 30 seconds. Usually the people behind you are curious any way and ask how you save so much money. Share your secret with them!

Show and Tell
This is my favorite part of the entire process. I bring in the loads of groceries I purchased and ask my family, “how much do you think this costs?”. They are always so far off! I then organize it, take a picture and share my savings with everyone. I would love for you all to e-mail me with your savings so I can feature you on my web page!

Putting it Away

After I check out my loot I begin putting the items away. The last few months have been incredible to watch. I recently cut my budget to $50 a week from the usual $150 and my pantry shelves have been filling up so fast I keep thinking I will need more room soon! I feel so confident in know I am building food storage and preparing my family for the worst case scenario. The best part is I am able to build a food storage with less money than I was spending weekly without putting items away for storage!

Tracking Your Savings

To me the system wasn’t worth it unless I knew I was truly saving money. I began tracking my savings in an excel document and couldn’t believe how much I was saving weekly, monthly and yearly. Take a few minutes after you put away your groceries and write down how much you saved.

A fun and exciting process

This system truly changed my life. As soon as I started receiving my coupons I started seeing the savings. At first it was hard to say my budget was only $50 a week because I was having a hard time planning a menu around only sale items, but eventually I had so many meals sitting in my pantry and freezer the possibilities became endless. This system is for anyone who wants to save money. It easy to follow and a lot of fun. It will save you money and help build your food storage.