I have received many questions on how we save money using coupons, so I am going to try to let you in on a few of my secrets, but let me just say this...stay away from MY Teeter! Lol!
I am going to break this up into a few segments, as I do have children and I could so talk about this forever!
Firstly, you HAVE to retrain your brain. If you are a brand Wh*re, guess what? To save money, you won't be. But in retrospect, by trying other brands, you might find something that is sooo much better. This is how I fell in love with some of my new fav's!
Then, whist you are retraining your consumerist brain, you must understand that if you do not have a coupon for something that is in the "inside" aisles not the perimeter of the grocery aisles, you will not buy it. What we consider to be items of acceptance for buying without a Q is produce and meat. I might add in that sometimes, we will have run out of our milk Q's. Yes, there are Q's for "ANY BRAND" milk.
Disclosure: For those of you who think that you can't eat nutritiously while using coupons, let me just say NOT! It's ok to let coupons expire. Don't let yourself fall into the pattern that many shopaholics do...you don't have to buy it just because you have a Q for it. If it's not good for you and you typically wouldn't eat it or you just don't like it...DON'T BUY IT!
Secondly, to succeed in the reducing your grocery bill world, you will have to take a notepad and a pen with you every time you go to the grocery, so keep one in you car. You will want to walk up and down all the aisles spot checking for the little flags that grocers put out telling you "hey it's on sale". If they are out of that product, write it down, continue on your merry way. At the end of your shopping, take your heiny up to the customer service desk, hand them your list of products and price, get RAIN CHECKS! They never expire and are awesome to pair up with Q's at another time, especially during mega events like super doubles and triples, so start your collection now!
Thirdly, start thinking about what you are willing to pay for something. The majority of people can tell you that they "know" that something is cheaper here vs. there so use those known price points to your advantage. Now understand, I am not saying run your gas tank all over town. What I am saying is know your low prices and then you will come to know the rock bottom price deals when you can pair stuff up with a Q.
When you figure out what you are willing to spend $$$ on and what you are willing to wait til' it goes on sale, then you will see your grocery bill decrease.
Next, you have to understand that grocers operate on cycles. Typically every deal that you typically see in the grocery store each week comes around again 6-8 weeks later. You will notice that the price for something that is on sale this week is ok, then 2 weeks later there is no sale to be found, then 2 weeks later it is even lower than it was 6 weeks ago! Though there are things that grocers do put on a great sale just once or twice a year, and these are known as seasonal sales. For example, a seasonal sale at my grocer is B2G3 (buy 2 get 3 free) on boneless skinless chicken. This sale is bi-annually and you should stock up.
Disclosure: When it comes to food, for those of you who like to eat the freshest of things like we do, you might want to invest in a stand up freezer and a vacuumn sealer. There are many places online that you can read about preserving the freshness of freezable things!
Now to start you off with "collecting" your Q's...
There are a few places that you can "get" them
1. The Sunday paper
2. Gas Stations
3. Magazines
4. The internet
5. Blinkies: those coupon shooting things at the grocer
6. Catalinas: those print outs with your receipts
More on Collecting Q's in Part 2
I am going to break this up into a few segments, as I do have children and I could so talk about this forever!
Firstly, you HAVE to retrain your brain. If you are a brand Wh*re, guess what? To save money, you won't be. But in retrospect, by trying other brands, you might find something that is sooo much better. This is how I fell in love with some of my new fav's!
Then, whist you are retraining your consumerist brain, you must understand that if you do not have a coupon for something that is in the "inside" aisles not the perimeter of the grocery aisles, you will not buy it. What we consider to be items of acceptance for buying without a Q is produce and meat. I might add in that sometimes, we will have run out of our milk Q's. Yes, there are Q's for "ANY BRAND" milk.
Disclosure: For those of you who think that you can't eat nutritiously while using coupons, let me just say NOT! It's ok to let coupons expire. Don't let yourself fall into the pattern that many shopaholics do...you don't have to buy it just because you have a Q for it. If it's not good for you and you typically wouldn't eat it or you just don't like it...DON'T BUY IT!
Secondly, to succeed in the reducing your grocery bill world, you will have to take a notepad and a pen with you every time you go to the grocery, so keep one in you car. You will want to walk up and down all the aisles spot checking for the little flags that grocers put out telling you "hey it's on sale". If they are out of that product, write it down, continue on your merry way. At the end of your shopping, take your heiny up to the customer service desk, hand them your list of products and price, get RAIN CHECKS! They never expire and are awesome to pair up with Q's at another time, especially during mega events like super doubles and triples, so start your collection now!
Thirdly, start thinking about what you are willing to pay for something. The majority of people can tell you that they "know" that something is cheaper here vs. there so use those known price points to your advantage. Now understand, I am not saying run your gas tank all over town. What I am saying is know your low prices and then you will come to know the rock bottom price deals when you can pair stuff up with a Q.
When you figure out what you are willing to spend $$$ on and what you are willing to wait til' it goes on sale, then you will see your grocery bill decrease.
Next, you have to understand that grocers operate on cycles. Typically every deal that you typically see in the grocery store each week comes around again 6-8 weeks later. You will notice that the price for something that is on sale this week is ok, then 2 weeks later there is no sale to be found, then 2 weeks later it is even lower than it was 6 weeks ago! Though there are things that grocers do put on a great sale just once or twice a year, and these are known as seasonal sales. For example, a seasonal sale at my grocer is B2G3 (buy 2 get 3 free) on boneless skinless chicken. This sale is bi-annually and you should stock up.
Disclosure: When it comes to food, for those of you who like to eat the freshest of things like we do, you might want to invest in a stand up freezer and a vacuumn sealer. There are many places online that you can read about preserving the freshness of freezable things!
Now to start you off with "collecting" your Q's...
There are a few places that you can "get" them
1. The Sunday paper
2. Gas Stations
3. Magazines
4. The internet
5. Blinkies: those coupon shooting things at the grocer
6. Catalinas: those print outs with your receipts
More on Collecting Q's in Part 2
Fun couponing tutorial, thanks! I hadnt thought about getting RCs for things I wasnt going to buy with a Q. Will do it now!
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