I’ve been getting the newspaper and clipping coupons since the beginning of 2009. After a few months of trial and error I’ve finally figured out the right way to use coupons for me.
For personal care products, I pick up any free items at Walgreens or Rite Aid each week (Longs Drugs has discontinued their rebate program in anticipation of the conversion to CVS and my local Target is currently closed for renovation but eventually I’ll be hitting CVS and Target each week too). I wasn’t too sure about the Walgreens register rewards program at first because I don’t like the way the register rewards expire after two weeks – what if I don’t find something else to spend them on in time? I’ve figured out now that I’ll use any register rewards I can’t roll into another Walgreens freebie on Diet Coke (my one major vice). If I ran out of anything, I’d check for a coupon, check the circulars for a sale price, and pick it up on my next trip to the store but running out of any product category has yet to happen.
For groceries, I’ve become a pretty big fan of meal planning and sticking to a strict list in combination with thegrocerygame.com. The Safeway ad usually arrives on Tuesday or Wednesday at which point I start thinking about what meals I want to make for the next week based on the loss leaders (pretty much any sale prices that hit the front page of the ad). During the rest of the week I work up my grocery list based strictly on what I need to make my planned meals (I plan dinners and baked goods, I eat leftovers for lunch and, in addition to whatever I might be baking that week, I have nearly a lifetime supply of breakfast foods stocked already – I do need fresh milk to go with those breakfast foods though). Late Saturday night or Sunday morning I check out thegrocerygame.com and add anything to my list that I know I’ll use that is 75% or more off the regular price (sometimes those 75%+ off items are good for breakfasts or lunches too). Before I hit the store I check my list against my coupons and see if there are any coupons applicable to the items already on the list.
To make the most efficient use of my time, I try not to make more than one stop at each store a week and I usually hit all three Sunday morning (Rite Aid and Safeway are next door to each other and Walgreens is across the street).
What’s a reasonable level of couponing for you and how do you do stick to that?
Featured in the Festival of Frugality at My Life ROI.
Related posts:
- Couponing and Stockpiling
- Drugstore Deals 4/26
- Drugstore Deals 4/5
- Drugstore Deals 4/19
- Couponing and Stockpiling Deals for the Week of 1/4
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{ 6 comments }
I’ve been couponing pretty seriously ever since I became a sahm! I used to have a coupon binder – I’d clip each and every coupon from the paper, then file them into baseball sleeves and take the whole thing with me. I consistently got great deals because I had everything with me, and when something I hadn’t planned to buy was on clearance, chances were pretty good I had a coupon that made it free! But, after my second child was born (last summer) I just didn’t have the time to do the binder thing anymore! So, now I keep all my coupons in their inserts and file them by date. I often check Hot Coupon World for what deals are out there, and their coupon database gives the insert and date to find corresponding coupons. I don’t get near the amount of surprise freebies at the stores, but I still manage to bring home some great hauls!
btw – thanks for entering my Nature’s Source giveaway! If you’d like another chance to win, I’ll be giving another Nature’s Source product (in the form of a free coupon) away for the Bloggy Carnival, May 2nd – 8th!
Sounds like a great plan. I try to stick to Kroger, Walgreens, and CVS. I hit Kroger and CVS once a week since they are in my small town, and only shop at Walgreens when there is a super cool deal or I am already going to be in town. Walgreens is in the larger city near my small town and is about a 20 minute drive so I don’t go there weekly.
I am not a fan of Walmart so I don’t hardly shop there and I have yet to use coupons at Target or Kmart. My Kmart never has the super doubles that you hear about. Bummer!
So basically I am a 2 store kinda gal! Keep it simple!
My family tries to eat mostly fresh made-from-scratch food and I’ve also been trying to buy more organics. Because of that, I haven’t had a lot of success with coupons, but other people claim to save so much money with them that I’m beginning to think I’m doing something wrong. Have you had success with coupons for natural, organic products?
@Erin
yes i have. you might be interested in checking out my grocery deals post from this week Grocery Deals 4/19 which i plan to make a regular weekly series
I have a couple of rules for couponing: try not to buy too much non-food stuff as those kind of coupons are the most easily obtained but end up blowing the budget. Do I really need 10 razors, even if I got them all for 13 cents? Since I started full on couponing in January of this year I have had to clear out extra space in my pantry as am stocking up on loss leaders plus coupons. I have also had to decide what my maximum amount is of stockpiling ie 1 month of toilet paper as it simply takes up too much room and yes, there is another sale around the corner. Most importantly, if it is not something I would normally buy, put the coupon on my trade pile and move on as I do have a food budget and am sticking to it. In Canada we get way less items for free but still the occasional one so I have to also decide, is it worth the tax to me? Usually yes, sometimes no. Even free has a cost sometimes.
@Cheapchick
Great point about the tax. Here in California it just went up 1% in April so I’m noticing it more than ever. We don’t get taxed on food so that’s not an issue but it doesn’t make a big difference on personal care items.
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