A few months ago I started tracking my portion of our household budget. I’m not talking about bills, I’m talking about money spent on groceries, household items, eating out, etc.
I was appalled about how much we (I) was spending on groceries/pets/household items. I’ve read these blogs in the past about thrifty moms who spend like $50 a week on groceries for a family of four or five and I was horrified to learn that I was spending wayyyy more than that on our family of two. Granted, we have five animals that we have to feed and care for also, and their food is included into one lump sum of our ‘food/household/pet’ category of the budget. But still. Something had to change.
I started to research couponing. At first, I was watching Extreme Couponing, but then ruled that out almost immediately for two reasons:
1. Time
2. Space
Some of the people on this show make couponing their full-time job. They spend anywhere from 35-45 hours EVERY WEEK planning and researching their shopping trips. Because I already work full-time, I definitely don’t have time for this. I also don’t have room for a stockpile room. Now, I totally understand why couponers stockpile. In the long run, it’s how they can get free groceries most of the time. But we have no room, and with only two of us, even dry goods would expire before we had a chance to use them.
But I took the basic principles and put them to work on a MUCH smaller scale.
I only buy one Sunday newspaper each week instead of 10. I only spend 1-2 hours each week (at most) couponing, as opposed to 40. I only stock up on 2-3 items at a time (if that) instead of 50.
It’s working very well so far, but I’ve had to make a few adjustments. At first, when I was all excited, I tried to go to Target, Smith’s, Walgreen’s, CVS and Albertson’s all in one day. While I did save a lot, it was just too hectic and stressful. Especially Walgreens and CVS. They are their own little monsters in the coupon world. Yes, you can save probably the most at these places, but it is also the most confusing with their ECBs, RRs, coupon policies, etc.
So I decided that I will not focus on those spots, although when they do have great sales, I will try to find a coupon to match with it.
I decided to focus on one store: Target.
Anyone that knows me will not be surprised. Target is my favorite store. Not only do I save 5% on EVERYTHING every single time I shop there using my Target Red Card (Debit card), I also have started using their Cartwheel app. Once you download the app, you browse through the offers, and ‘add’ them to your virtual discount card. A lot of these are for their store brand items (Market Pantry), but they also have tons of other offers on there. Most are ‘save 5 – 10%’ off. When you get to the register, you pull up the app on your phone and the cashier will scan the barcode, and the discount will be removed from your total.
We also get our prescriptions filled each month at Target, and for every 5 prescriptions you fill, they send you a 5% off card everything.
AND, because I try to get EVERYTHING there, each time I check out, the register spits out usually an additional 5-7 Target coupons for me. Plus, I get them in the mail all the time.
With Target’s policy, you can pair one Target coupon with one Manufacturer coupon. So if a Target coupon prints out for $1 off Tidy Cats litter (normally $6.99), and I have a manufacturer coupon for $1 off Tidy Cats litter, I can pair those. Plus, usually Tidy Cats is one of the items discounted within the Cartwheel app (10%), plus my automatic 5% off by using my Target Red Card, plus if I have an additional 5% off prescription card, my once $6.99 cat litter is now…….$3.99! I save even more if Tidy Cats goes on sale.
Target also has great gift card deals. For example, this week they had 'Buy 3 of these select items, get a $10 gift card'. There were probably 10 items on the list to choose from, including Tide and Bounty. I bought two Tide detergents ($9.99 each), and one multi-pack of Bounty paper towels ($11.99). I had two coupons for the Tide (a manufacturer coupon plus a Target coupon), bringing the price of the Tide detergents down to 6.99 each. I also had $2 off the Bounty, bringing it down to $9.99, plus a 10% off Cartwheel, bringing the Bounty down to $8.99. And then, I had a $5 gift card to use from a previous purchase. So when I paid for my items, I paid $17.10 (using my 5% Target Debit Card). And then I got a $10 gift card back. So really...I paid $7.10 for a purchase that would have been $32.00 without coupons.
I still look through all store ads though. Sometimes Smith’s has great ’10 for $10’ sales, which I can use coupons for and get free items. I was able to stock up on shampoo, deodorant, and body wash for us and my mother-in-law a few weeks ago from one of these sales. And Walgreens and CVS do have some great deals too. I got three free items at CVS a couple of weeks ago, and have $5 of CVS bucks to use this week.
It just takes a little planning. Here are my tips:
*Do the majority of your couponing at one store. This will save a lot of hassle and headache. Not to mention time.
*Keep up with it every week. If you don’t clip and organize your coupons each and every week, you will get backed up and then it will take forever to get caught up. Have a system, whether that be a binder, folders, envelopes, etc. I spend usually 1-2 hours on Sundays.
*Try not to be too ‘brand picky’. The reason I was able to get us free shampoo, deodorant, etc. was because I wasn’t super picky about the brands. If you are a super brand picky person about everything, then couponing is probably not for you. Be willing to try new things and new products. You might be surprised. Most of the free stuff I got was Secret, Dial and Dove brands (no off brands). The only coupons you will ever get for ‘off’ brands are ones that print out at the register. Like when Target spits out coupons at the register for me, they are usually for their ‘Up and Up’ and ‘Market Pantry’ brands. And I can pair those coupons with the Cartwheel discounts.
It's worth it for us. I kind of view it as a game. I love seeing how much I can save each week!
