If a penny saved is a penny earned, I earned $181 on groceries this past Sunday. I spent $280. Yes, it’s a lot, and it was a royal pain to do. But when there are good deals to be had, I splurge there and cut somewhere else. Don’t pay full price for any groceries. Ever. If it’s not on sale, don’t get it unless you absolutely have to have it. If it is on sale, stock up on enough to get you through until the next sale, which will be approximately 12 weeks. I rarely pay for razors, shampoo, shaving cream, deodorant or toothpaste. I don’t pay for them because I know if I wait a couple of weeks, they’ll be free somewhere. If they’re not free, they’ll be dirt cheap.
First, you need coupons. You don’t HAVE to have coupons, but getting something on sale, with a coupon, is even better. Subscribe to your local paper(s) and get Sunday delivery. The Sunday papers have the sales brochures for most of the grocery and drug stores, along with manufacturer coupons. It will take approximately 12 weeks to have a good bunch of coupons. You can still save money with them, but you’ll have a vast amount of coupons after 12 weeks. Hold onto them until they expire. You can also print coupons from the Internet now, and every store that I know of takes them. You can even print most coupons more than once, depending on the manufacturer. Here are a list of some of the places you can go to print coupons. No doubt there are many others, but here are my favorites, for coupons, as well as other information:
The Grocery Game
Coupon Mom
A Full Cup
Hot Coupon World
A lot of the above places have the same coupons for printing. If you have reached your print limit on one site and go to another, you will still get the message that you have reached your print limit. Trust me, the manufacturers thought that one through! Now whether a printed coupon can be copied and used, I don’t know and I’m not going to find out, so please don’t push it and ruin it for the rest of us...
You can go through the sales brochures yourself and figure out which coupon to use where, or you can let some of the sites above do the dirty work for you. They’ll tell you what store to use what coupon and how much the savings will be. ‘Fur’n as I know, they’re all free except TheGroceryGame.com, which is the one I use. I found that site quite by accident a couple of years ago and have gotten used to the style, so I’ve stayed there. I can’t quite remember what she charges, but it’s per store. There are seven stores in my area, but I purchase the sales info on six of them. For that, I pay $30 every eight weeks. I get that $30 back in one week with all the savings. She does give you a free four-week trial period. Just put in your zip and the available stores in your area will come up. I’m not sure if that trial period is only on one store or all in your area. I’ve slept a couple of times since I used that free trial, and I’m not coordinating this diary with her in any way whatsoever. Don't know her, have never met her, but most of what I’ve learned has been through her website, though the others may have the exact same or similar info, or even more info.
The major drug chains are a boon for shoppers. They have every way from Sunday to GIVE you stuff you need. The drug stores are where I get the toiletries for free or next to free. I don’t know all of the information, maybe others who do can chime in, but here’s what I do know:
Walgreen’s gives Register Rewards, Walgreen’s coupons in their sales brochures, as well as their coupon book, which you can pick up from their display, usually as you’ve just walked in the store. Register Rewards are basically money coupons to be used back at Walgreen’s when you go the next week to save more money. The RR's are given for buying that week’s advertised RR sales. You’ll pay for the item, but then they’ll give you the $$ back in a RR, which prints out separate from your receipt, so the item is free. It’s easy to find something on sale, and with the sale, the Walgreen’s coupon AND the manufacturer’s coupon, voila, you’ve saved money. This past Sunday, I spent $97.42 at Walgreen’s. I saved $45.66, PLUS, I got $26 in Register Rewards to use the next time I go in, which is usually every week.
All of your RR’s cannot be used on one item. For every one RR, you have to have one item, any item. Pick one. A cheap one. For instance, today I bought a humidifier. I was in a hurry, with a sick child, or I would have gotten the thing for next to nothing. Only one item means using only one RR. My highest one was $5.50, so I used it. But there at the register sat some kind of Oreo cookie package, $.89. Okay, now we’re talking TWO items, which means I can use another RR, so I pulled out the one for $5.00. With RR, they don’t care that the Oreo was only $.89. As long as I had two items, I could use two RR’s. So I got the humidifier with the RR discount of $9.61, plus it has a $10 rebate.
As you’re checking out, in the hustle and bustle of it all, BE SURE TO GET YOUR RR’s. Do not walk off without them. One time I thought the cashier had handed me the RR’s with my receipt, but she hadn’t. Luckily, I caught it at the car, so I went back in to get them and the dear, unconcerned cashier simply shrugged her shoulders and told me she had given them to the person behind me. Oh, trust me, I got my RR’s. She was probably new and didn’t have a clue, but she either knows better by now or she’s working somewhere else!
At RiteAid.com, sign up for their Wellness card to get more discounts along with their store coupons and manufacturer’s coupons. They also have Video Values. All that means is you log into their website and watch some 30-second commercials to get a coupon to print out for that item. Save the coupon until the item goes on sale (or it expires).
They also have Single Check Rebates. The SCR sales will be advertised as SCR. SCR items end up being free. KEEP YOUR RECEIPT. To get reimbursed for your SCR’s, you have to go to RiteAid.com and create an account. Go to the page for Single Check Rebates. There are two different headers for RiteAid receipts. Click on the header with the picture that looks like the RiteAid header on your receipt. Then you’ll enter the date, transaction number, store number and register number, which is all located at the top of your receipt. It takes a couple of days for the SCR’s to register on their website. You have to make yourself remember to register every receipt at RiteAid.com to get your SCR rebates. At the end of the month, they’ll send you a Single Check Rebate check to basically reimburse you for the SCR items you bought. That check does not have to be spent at Rite-Aid, it's simply a check to cash or deposit into your bank account.
There is also their version of register rewards called UP Rewards. Certain sales will tell you the price, minus the UP Reward, which usually ends up being free. These UP Rewards will print at the bottom of your receipt. PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE, THEY’RE MONEY to be used the next time you go to RiteAid. Cut them off the receipt and put them where you’ll have them when you need them. At Rite-Aid this past week, I spent $20.05, saved $16.07 with coupons, AND got $4 in UP Rewards. All on items I will need sooner or later.
CVS also has their system, of course. Sign up for their Extra Care card to get more discounts. When you go in CVS, somewhere near the door will be a machine with a scanner to read the barcode on your card. It will print out a few CVS coupons for you. Some you’ll use, some you won’t. I hang on to the ones I will use in case they go on sale sometime before they expire. Their Extra Care Bucks are like the Register Rewards and UP Rewards. The $$ coupons will print at the bottom of your receipt to be used on any item the next time you go in. Again, DON'T THROW THE RECEIPT AWAY until you've cut the $$ coupons off. They do have an expiration date, too, so pay attention to that.
They also have the Green Bag Tag program. If you take your own reusable bag, no matter what store it comes from, buy a green bag tag. They’re usually by every register and they cost $1.00. Attach it to your bag and make sure you use THAT bag when you go. They’ll scan the green tag when you check out. It can only be used once per day per household. After every fourth scan, a $1.00 coupon will print at the bottom of your receipt. This past weekend, I spent $49.10, saved $16.89 with coupons and sales, in addition to $9.00 in ExtraBucks at the bottom of my receipt.
One plead here... if you don’t need the item and never will, please don’t get it just because it’s free. Let it stay on the shelf for someone who might need it. There’s no guarantee those items will stay stocked all week anyway, much less if people are just getting them because they’re free only to throw it away sometime later when it gets in their way.
While you’re clipping coupons, go ahead and clip the others you’re not going to use. Then when you get a chance, lay them down in the store by the item the coupon is for so someone else will see it and use it.
If your grocery stores have a loyalty card, use them. Or don’t if you’re concerned about your privacy. Using them gets you discounts, plus they’ll send you emails and snail mails with special discounts and coupons.
Even if you don’t want to fiddle with coupons, try to pay attention to prices for the specific items you use. Make a list with the item, store, price, quantity, and break the price down to ounces so you don't have to try to figure out whether something you're looking at is a good deal or not. I quit being a loyal brand consumer a while back. If you’re not paying attention, you’re going to pay more. This past weekend, CVS had Xtra liquid laundry detergent on sale for I think $.99. Lo and behold, this week, a couple of stores have the same, exact thing "on sale" for $2.50. Why, bless their little old hearts.
Hubby loves pork and beans, so I try to stay ahead of him. I bought several cans at $.56. Went back to the same store a couple of weeks later and they were "on sale" for $.89. Kroger just had them "on sale", same brand, same size, at 10 for $10. Oh, shoot, I’m all over that one. NOT. I stocked up when they were $.56, so I’ve got enough to last until I find the little buggers at the cheapest price again.
Gosh, the horror stories of people going broke buying a turkey at Thanksgiving. One lady I know said she went to four stores before she found a turkey at I think she said $1.80-something a pound. She was quite upset. I’ve tried to tell her before what I just wrote above and she was not interested in listening, didn’t care. I got my turkey at $.39 a pound. Otherwise, we would have done without.
If you can afford to stock up, this time of the year is the time to do it. All canned veggies are on sale for damn near the cheapest you’re going to find them. Buy enough to last you until this time next year, when they’ll be on sale again. Chicken and beef broth, certain soups, are also on sale. Where are you going to put all those cans? In closets, under beds, stacked behind the couch. If your bed or couch aren’t high enough, put boards underneath the feet to raise them up high enough. Just don’t go a tossin’ and a turnin’ too much in the bed. I speak from experience. Keep like items together so you'll better remember where you put them, and make a list to help you not forget where they are.
And don’t forget to buy extra for the local food banks when you can. If there’s a buy one, get one free, buy one for you and one for the food bank.
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One more thing...we all have crap we don’t want or need anymore. But "one man’s trash" and all...don’t throw it away. Register with your local Freecycle. There’s one in almost every area. It’s a Yahoo group system. You can either post that you’re giving something away or that you need a particular item. If someone needs whatever item you’re giving away, they’ll email you. If someone’s got what you’re looking for, they’ll email you. I’ve given away a couple of things, one of which I completely forgot I had until I saw a lady asking for it. I was happy as a lark to get rid of it, and she was even happier to get it. No money changes hands. Ever. It’s against the rules.