I have never been a coupon clipper. I found it way too confusing, way too time consuming, and, honestly, not worth the effort. Recently, however, I have become increasingly convicted that doing my part to cut down our grocery bill would be wise. And as soon as I started, I quickly realized: I had been doing it all wrong!
I am new to this whole couponing thing. I don’t claim to be an expert at it. I am, however, starting to get the hang of it! I went to Kroger and Wal-mart today and I wanted to share my Kroger bill with you: 30 bucks for all of this! Now, I must say I have seen many ladies who have done much better than this, but as I am still building my coupon stash and learning all the tips, I am ecstatic!
If you can’t see, that’s:
8 Yoplait yogurts
2 boxes Raisin Bran
2 lbs. strawberries
1 bag Valencia oranges (whatever Valencia means)
1 bag mini carrots
2 pouches Betty Crocker mashed potatoes
3 boxes Pasta Roni
2 pouches rice
1 box Pillsbury family-sized brownies
1 box Hungry Jack complete buttermilk pancake mix
4 pack White Cloud toilet paper
1 pack napkins
1 box saltines
2 packs sugar cookie dough
1 bag Nestle butterscotch morsels
1 Tropicana orange juice
1 Green Giant Immunity Blend boxed veggie
Pretzels
2 loaves whole wheat bread
1 2-pack Lever 2000 soap
1 box South Beach fiber bars
For 30 dollars!!!
Here are some things I have learned since I started couponing:
- It’s important to be realistic. I have a house of men that love to eat! Since we have been blessed with a large family, it would be unrealistic (and would even stress me out a bit) to set the bar for savings so high that I could realistically never attain it. It costs quite a bit to feed our family and I should be content with every step (no matter how small) we take to bring down our weekly grocery bill!
- Ideally I would bake all our bread, eat organic, milk our own dairy cows, and have some chickens in the back yard, but let’s be honest- it ain’t gonna happen! I don’t have the time to bake all our bread, we can’t afford organic (unless it’s dramatically reduced and I have a coupon), udders frighten me a bit, and chickens STINK! Plus- where would we keep them (LOL)? As the kids grow older, some of these things might be possible as the responsibility could be shared and we would hopefully have the land to do these things. At this stage in life, however, I am most interested in spending time with my family and not in the kitchen.
- Convenience is awesome! Until I started using coupons, we couldn’t afford the luxuries of boxed potatoes, rice, brownies, etc. (yes, I called them luxuries– they were) but now, with the right coupon, I can get these items dirt cheap! Like today, the brownies and potatoes were .30 cents a piece!
- If we don’t need it, we don’t buy it. Like today, Soft Soap was cheap. 10 for 10 dollars, I think. But the Kroger brand is always 99 cents and we don’t need soap right now. In the past, I would buy anything that was on sale just because it was a good buy.
- If we don’t need it, we do buy it. The difference is figuring out whether the item you are contemplating purchasing is a good buy that you could probably get again when you do need it or a great buy. An example of a great buy today was toilet paper. No- we didn’t need toilet paper. We had plenty but I had a coupon for 75 cents off. The t.p. was a dollar. So I am got a 4 pack of t.p. for 25 cents! My coupon would have expired before we needed it again so I considered that a great buy.
- This takes work! I spend a few hours a week trying to find the best deals. This consists of viewing circulars, searching websites, clipping coupons, mentally planning meals, and looking through newspapers. It is hard with the kids running around me and screaming their little heads off, but it is worth it when you are at the checkout!
- Shop ALDI!!! I used to refuse to shop at Aldi as I assumed the off-brands were less than tasty, but I was W-R-O-N-G. They are much cheaper and some of their foods taste better! My favorite Aldi items: cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese sticks, vanilla wafers, cream cheese, sour cream, bagged salad, yogurt, the list goes on!
- Supposedly you can get great deals each week at CVS and WalGreens but I haven’t quite figured that program out yet!
That being said, I am sure I have a lot to learn. I welcome your suggestions! But I just wanted to share my new “semi-obsession”!
P.S. A few favorite websites:
Money Saving Mom (I’ve listed this one before)
STLMommy (She has tons of lists of freebies! And restaurant deals! And birthday freebies!)
Coupons.com (You can usually print the same coupon 2 or 3 times, which I am learning is the key to having great grocery trips!)
The Bargain Shopper Lady
The King Home 
Hey Mandy! Thanks for sharing about your couponing. I loved doing it in Louisville, but here in Opp, AL, I don’t have access to any stores with spectacular sales. 😦 But, I think the websites that you posted might help me know about sales at the few stores I can get to. Thanks for sharing the links! They are now saved in my favorites!
With CVS, you have to sign up for a CVS card for the savings to work. You will get coupons on the bottom of virtually every receipt. I often find diapers there for a great price. To maximize the savings, you can combine their sales with manufacturer’s coupons, their register coupons, and their Extra Care Bucks (I think that is what they are called, they will print at the bottom of receipts, and you do not have to obtain a minimum purchase amount to use them.) Watch for specials that are vaguely advertised. For example, one week they had diapers on sale, and below the diaper price on the shelf, there was a little blurb that advertised that if you bought like $20 in diapers, you got $10 Extra Care Bucks. So when I checked I out, I rang up my diapers first and got my $10 Extra Care Bucks. I then checked out the rest of my items in a separate transaction and immediately used the Extra Care Bucks. They don’t seem to care if you do this 🙂 Also, since the will have your address on file from your card, you will periodically get coupons in the mail.