Time to Use Your Coupons!
Now you've cut your coupons, you've gotten organized and your ready to learn the "Couponing Game". First off you need to change your way of shopping. No more stopping at the store to get stuff for dinner that night, no more buying expensive food that there probably is a coupon out there for.
You now need to think of coupons as CASH. Because in all honesty, that's what they are, Cash. The store will get reimbursed the coupon amount and an extra .08 for there time. So each store is actually making money on you using coupons in their store.
The best thing you can do is make a list of the top 10 items that your family uses/eats on a regular basis. For example:
Boneless Chicken, Pork Chops, Milk, Cereal, Bread, Ketchup, Oreos, Apples, Juice, and Sandwich Meat.
For the next 6 weeks try to write down the price of those items. You will probably see the price go up and down, because sales go in 6 week incraments. For example boneless chicken is on sale for $1.69 this week at Yellowfront, so in another 6 weeks it will be on sale for $1.69 again.
During that time when the price is at it's bottom lowest is when you want to buy enough for your family for those 6 weeks. So I bought 20 pounds of boneless chicken at the sale price, packaged them up into smaller portion sizes and got 12 meals out of that 20 pounds. That will last my family of 5 for those 6 weeks, eating chicken 2 times a week.
This is how people that coupon on a regular basis shop. We buy enough to last us 6 weeks. Some take it further and stock up as much as they can on certain products such as Toilet Paper, since Toilet Paper doesn't expire and it's a necessity.
So you did your list for about 6 weeks, trying to start using coupons during this time and now that the 6 weeks is up you've figured out your top 10 items and when is the best time to stock up.
You have your Shaws flyer, start circling items you know are on sale and are good deals. I save all my envelopes that my bills come in and write my list on the outside. (I know I am that cheap!) Then when I have coupons for that item on my list I just put the coupon in the envelope and there all there and easily accessable when it comes time to check out.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: Just because you have a GREAT coupon doesn't mean you need to use it that day...it's best to wait for the BEST sale/deal that you can so you can get the most from your coupons!
(The Following are just examples)
Another thing you notice that's on sale is Cheerios are on sale for 4/$6. You remember printing out a coupon for .75/1 box of Cheerios and Shaws will double that coupon up to $1.50!!! So each coupon that you use (and you can only use 4 of the same coupon) you could get up to 4 boxes for FREE!
Ocean Spray Juice was on sale for B1G1 (buy one get one free) and you had printed a B1G1 coupon and now is the time to use it! You will get two for FREE!
Digirno Personal Pizzas are on sale for 3/$10, when you buy 3 you will get a coupon that prints at the checkout called a Catalina. This will be for $2 off your next purchase. You also have .75/1 coupons that will double to $1.50 so you use 2 of those and pay $7 for 3 pizzas. Then you recieve your coupon for $2 off your next order so you pay $5 for 3 pizzas, that makes it $1.67 per pizza!
Another reason to hang on to your good "doubling" coupons (which are usually .75/1 or .85/1 coupons) is clearance sections. Shaws has 5 Clearance Sections in there stores.
- Deli Area
- Refrigerated
- Frozen
- Bakery
- Produce
This of course is my favorite part of the store cause you can sometimes hit it lucky and get some AWESOME deals! Many times I have found cheap/free items in them and it's always good when you have a great coupon to go with it! For example I have found Chocolate Milk for .50/gallon, Free Pillsbury Cresent Rolls, .80 for a loaf of sandwich bread, .40/bag of Fresh Express Salad mix. Here's some examples:
The Jello was in clearance for .75, I had a coupon for $1/2 so I bought two and only paid .50, or .25 each! The chocolate milk was .50, I had no coupons, but .50 is a Super Deal! The Grands were .50 each, I had a coupon for $1/3, so I only paid .50 for 3 Grands, or .17 each!
At www.weusecoupons.com or www.afullcup.com alot of people will go on there and post their lists that they are going to use when they go shopping, which coupons they are going to use and also where to find the coupon. These are also some of my favorite blogs that I follow and they also list out the weekly deals:
Store sales also go along with the month/season. Condiments like ketchup, mustard, relish will go on sale around Memorial Day, Soup is always on sale during December, January is Super Bowl items like chili, October is apples, candy, etc. So if your family goes through ketchup like it's water, like we do in this house, then come Memorial Day you better stock up and you better stock up to have on hand for along period of time.
Another thing, Shaws always has items that are 10/$10, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY 10 OF THAT ITEM TO GET THEM FOR $1 EACH!! This is how they "trick" you into thinking the only way you'll get it for $1 is if you buy 10, but you can buy 1, 4, 6, 18, and they will all be $1.
A common mistake too is that people still think it's cheaper to buy the Store Brand item instead of the Name Brand, sometimes this is true, but if you have a coupon for .75/1 box of Cheerios, that will double at Shaws and you get $1.50 off a $2.00 box of Cheerios, that's only .50 for a Name Brand!
So what's on your list of Top 10 items?
~Amie
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