Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Snip & Save


Alright, so in case you haven't noticed our economy is quite umm.... crappy right now. That's right, I said it, crappy! EVERYTHING has at least doubled in price over the last year or so. Everything that is, except your salary.

What to do... what to do....

Let me share a bit of wisdom (ironically I posted about my lack of wisdom just earlier this week lol). Like I said though, each day you live and learn. And since then, I've been livin and learnin.

Last night I was watching the news and can't believe the wonderful coupon and store savings knowledge that was bestowed upon me. I'm so flippin shocked what I didn't put it together before. It burns me up!

SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! That's what we have to do these days when you walk into a supermarket... well any market/store. But I'm gonna let you in on some secrets on how to save bagoodles in the supermarket. Perhaps you already know these "secrets", if so enlighten me and let me be joyful with my new found way to save!

Alright. Coupons. They are your BEST friend! Get the Sunday paper (Dallas Morning News) you can purchase it on Sunday but I wait til Monday to get mine, it's $.50 cheaper and I'm not a fan of Sunday grocery shopping anyway since every grocery store known to man is crowded on a Sunday afternoon. I'll pass thanks.

Your paper will also have all the grocery store circulars (I use Kroger's). Take that out of your paper, it will be needed.

Ok. You have your coupons, you have your circular and you are going to need a pair of scissors and something to keep your coupons in. Now you're ready to get started.

Cut all the coupons you need and/or want. Check your circular to see what's on sale. This is where the savings can get out right ridiculous, when you put the two together.

For example: You see that Kroger is having a sale on all General Mills cereals, this week they're 2 for $4 with your Kroger card. That's a deal in it's self, right? Yes, but you also have a coupon for General Mills cereals that is $1 off. So you just got two box's of yummy Lucky Charms/Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Cheerios for a $1.50 a box. Pretty sweet deal don't you think? How can those savings get any better? Is it even possible, why yes, it is. Check with your local super market, they will have double and triple coupon days. Now this stumped me. I had NO clue what this was even talking about?! My idea was that you got to use as many coupons as you wanted for the same thing ha ha. Of course that can't be right because then everything could be free. Well, actually double and triple coupon day means that they will double or triple the amount on your coupon that is taken off of your purchase. So, let's go back to our example of the cereal's. They're 2 for $4 and our coupon is $1 off but it's a double coupon day, so the coupon is now worth $2 off making the cereal's 2 for $2. But if it's a triple coupon day the coupon is worth $3 making the cereals .$50 a piece. Yes, that is quite the steal may I say.

The catch? You have to find out when your double and triple coupon days are. They aren't everyday of the week. Also, sometimes not all amounts off apply, it depends on your grocery store. Like it may say, "Triple coupons up to $.40." That means that they will only triple coupons worth $.40 or less. You have to catch these small things in order to save big.

Yes, I know... some of you think this post is crazy. I mean I'm 22 years old and writing about grocery savings, again (I have already posted about how to save money on meals previously). Well, it's never to early to learn the value of money, food and saving.

Honestly, it makes me feel so much better when I walk out of the grocery store and hold that receipt in my hand and see the amount that I saved by just taking a little time outta my day to clip coupons and look at deals.

Today's grocery store trip was very very successful :)
Price before coupons/Kroger card savings: $72.58
Price after coupons/Kroger card savings: $47.49
SAVINGS: $24.09

So I'm challenging YOU to go give it a try ;)

1 comment:

Heather said...

Yay! I love clipping coupons! :) We do all the time. Plus, the Commissary is so much cheaper than grocery stores already. :)