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!
Step #3 Planning out your Shopping Trip
Now ever one knows how to organize the coupons from Step 1 and everyone knows not to just use your coupons any old time because of Step 2, so now lets talk about Step3, planning to use the coupons.
Once a week new items go on sale at the grocery store. They are advertised in their weekly circulars that come in your mail, typically on Tuesdays. Sometime during that week log on to the grocery smarts lists and plan a trip to the store. All grocery stores in the state are on the lists, so no matter where you like to shop you can use grocery smarts! Cool huh!
Every week the lists are update with the current sale items, prices, and what coupons to use to get items at rock bottom prices, or even FREE. Every week since I have been using grocery smarts, something has been FREE.
Here are some of the stores that She Shops Smart readers normally shop at and their sale dates: Albertsons-Wednesday-Tuesday (check for your stores hours)
Smiths- Wednesday-Tuesday (check for your stores hours)
Macey's- Wednesday-Tuesday (check for your stores hours)
Associated Foods- Some run Wednesday-Tuesday, others run Monday-Saturday
(check with your store to be certain)
Walgreens- Sunday-Saturday (check for your stores hours)
When you log on to the list plan your shopping trip out. My budget is $50 and I do not go over it, unless it's a BIG week (I'll get to that in the next step). I use the list, I like to say religiously. I stick to my plan and don't let the signs at the store lure me into buying things that aren't really on sale. A lot of times I will have people call me and say, "You missed this buy 3 tombstone pizzas, get 2 free deal that is advertised in the circular!". I just remind people that just because it's being advertised in the ad, doesn't mean its a sale! They are called "eye catchers" and they are there to get you in the store and buy their products. Don't let that happen to you!!!
After I go through and plan out what I am buying I print off my list. Then I go through and figure out how many of each item I am going to buy. I normally buy as many items as I can with my coupons. For example, if Captain Crunch cereal is on sale for $1.67 and my coupon is for $1.50 of any box I could buy 4 at .17 cents a piece, because I get 4 Sunday papers. If Darigold yogurt goes on sale for .50 and the coupon is for $1/2, then I would be able to buy 8 Darigold yogurts, because my 4 coupons each buy me two yogurts for free.
After I plan out what I am buying, how much of each product I am buying, I just quickly jot down my expected amount I am going to spend. I like to do that, so then when I am checking out, if the bill is way off I will know to ask if something didn't ring up the right way.
And the last thing I do is cut out the coupons from my hanging file. The coupon location tells you exactly where to find your coupons. Here is an example; the Captain Crunch cereal coupon for $1.50 of a box is located in RP 5/15. So I would know to go to my file, find Red Plums insert from May 15 and cut out the $1.50 off Captain Crunch cereal. I would repeat the process until all 4 coupons were cut out from my 4 inserts.
Now, lets shop!
Look for the upcoming Step 4- How to Shop
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