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Shop the Sales
If you are using coupons already but not seeing a big difference in your grocery bill let me ask you this. Are you shopping the weekly sales??
You need to be pairing your coupons up with your sales. When starting out decide your menu for the week based on what’s on sale. For example, if the store has boneless, skinless chicken breasts for only $1.68/lb, stock up and plan on having 3 meals made from it. As you start to stockpile you will be able to shop your stockpile and just replenish based on what is on sale. More on Stockpiling later.
Pair the Sale with a Coupon
Everybody know that during sales you can score some great deals. But take it one step further and pair it with a coupon!! I generally do not buy anything anymore if it isn’t on sale and I don’t have a coupon for it.
The deals to really get excited over are the BOGO’s (buy one get one free). I L-O-V-E BOGO’s! Did you know that if you have a coupon for a BOGO free product, and that product is on sale at the store for BOGO Free you will get both for free?? How does this work?? Well, the store takes the hit on one for the sale at the store, and the manufacturer takes the hit for the second one from the coupon! How sweet is that.
Also, many stores allow you to stack a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon. This essentially allows you to double your savings. This is important all of you whose store don’t double coupons. How do you know whether it is a store or manufacturer coupon? Well, all manufacturer coupons will say that on the top of them (or somewhere on the coupon). Store coupons will say ‘Target coupon’ or ‘CVS coupon’ and so on. If you store double coupons you can save even more.
You can find the weekly store match ups right here on The Frugal Navy Wife every week. We do the work for you. Do we not cover a store you follow? Contact us we can help you find a blog that covers your stores OR we will start doing the match ups for you!
Change Your Thinking
One thing i found everybody seems to have trouble with is changing you way of thinking when it comes to shopping. Everybody has their own way of shopping but to get the best deals you have to change this. Many people think if you buy in bulk you save money and then add a coupons to the bulk savings and you save more right? WRONG! When things are on sale and you have a coupons you will get the better deal buying the smaller quantity. If you have multiple coupons you can buy several of the jars on sale! For example, if you have a $1 off Deli lunch meat (with no size restrictions), ask for $1′s worth of the meat. It is now free. If you have 4 of these coupons, you will get $4′s worth for free. Whereas, if you bought a pound for $5, you will end up spending $4. I hope this makes sense.
Are you playing the Drug Store game??
You should be!! Many people have the notion that drug stores are over priced. I just smile to myself when I get so many freebies each week how is that over priced??
There are 3 main drugstores that The Frugal Navy Wife covers, CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. CVS calls them Extra Care Bucks and you need to have a card to get these. Walgreens calls them Register Rewards – no card needed. Rite Aid has Single Check Rebates.
No matter which store(s) you have near you, you Can get some great deals. Here’s how it works. Each week the stores will have a few products that will qualify for one of their rewards. For example, CVS this week has the Oral B Vitality Power Toothbrush $23 with a $13.00 ECB and a $10 coupons out. You would pay the cashier for the toothbrush after coupons ($13.00) and on your receipt, you will receive an ECB for $13.00. This is good towards your next purchase. In essence, you get the product for free. Another example is the Blade 5 razor for $6.99 with a $6.99 ECB. You would pay the cashier for the razor ($6.99) and on your receipt, you will receive an ECB for $6.99.
Now, say we had a coupon for $1 off that same razor. We would pay the cashier $5.99 and get back $6.99 – thus, making a dollar. We call these money makers!
Each week, go to the drug stores and take advantage of these deals. Roll your ECBs, Register Rewards, and/or UP Rewards you earn each week to your purchases for next week. This will help you build your stockpile for the least amount of money. I can’t tell you the last time we spent money on shampoo, deodorant, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes and such.
Playing the Drug Store games alone has cut a tremendous amount of money off our monthly spending
Check out these guides to leanr more about each store:
CVS 101
Rite Aid 101
Walgreens 101
