From the category archives:
Using coupons can be a bit overwhelming in the very beginning. It isn’t hard to do, but there are a lot of rules to learn and it may be confusing. This is a free coupon course that you can do online in your free time and it may simplify things if you are struggling getting started using coupons.
Has anyone given this a try before? If you have, leave us a comment and let us know how you liked it.
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When I first started using coupons I was frustrated. I wasn’t seeing the savings I expected and it was taking up way too much of my so called free time. I didn’t realize that I had made one of the most common mistake of beginning coupon shoppers. I only had 1 subscription to the Sunday paper.
Sure, having 1 subscription to the Sunday paper will save you some money. You can find a good coupon for something you need, use it when the item is on sale and get one good deal. But that’s the problem. All that work and you are only getting 1 product. What if you did the same amount of work and got 4 really great deals? That sounds like a better use of your time now doesn’t it?
Now you may not need 4 of everything that you find a great deal on. Buy it anyway. The stores run through a cycle of sale items so you’ll want to buy enough of something to get you through until the next sale so you can avoid buying it at full price. Buying one really great deal isn’t going to save you much money if you have to turn around and buy the same thing for full price a few weeks later.
As a general rule, you should have 1 newspaper subscription for every member of your family. There are 5 people in my family so I used to get 5 newspaper subscriptions (we’ve since cut back to 4 because we have now have so many tubes of toothpaste that it falls out of practically ever cupboard you open in my house). Subscribing to the newspaper is MUCH cheaper than buying it at the news stand each week and you can get Sunday only subscriptions. Some newspapers offer discounts if you buy more than one Sunday only subscription (although I am still looking for one that does that in Southern California so let me know if you hear of one).
Having multiple Sunday newspapers does present a bit of an organizational challenge. Before I figured out where I was going wrong and started subscribing to multiple Sunday papers I had a small accordion file that fit in my purse and could hold all my coupons separated by category. It didn’t take me long to realize that with multiple Sunday papers, that accordion file was going to fill up fast. There was no way I was going to be able to fit all my coupons in there and keep them until they expired. There simply wasn’t enough room.
I took took some advice from a friend and simply stopped cutting out all my coupons. I was hesitant to make the change because I liked having all my coupons with me when I was at the store just in case I ran into an unexpected clearance item but it made my life so much easier. I used to have trouble finding my coupons, even when they were sorted by category within my accordion file, because there were so many coupons that they were easy to miss or I may have filed it under a different category than I thought it fit under when I finally went to look for the coupon. I was missing a lot of great deals for things because of this even though I had the coupons.
When my Sunday paper comes, now all I do is separate out the different inserts (most Sunday papers will come with a Smart Source, Red Plum, and (once a month) a P&G coupon insert) then write the date on the front of the insert. I store them in a plastic container, stacked with the newest insert on top and then when I need to find a coupon I know exactly where to look. I cut out only the coupons I need based on the sales at the stores I am planning on shopping at each week and leave the rest of them in the insert until I need them in the future. Easy.
Photo by DRB62
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I try and avoid taking my kids grocery shopping with me at all cost but unfortunately my kids seem to want to eat dinner every night, despite the fact that I fed them the day before so I have to go to the grocery store a lot more often than I have childcare available. I certainly can’t pass up deals like this:
I got all that (including the bottle of olive oil hiding in the back) for a grand total of $25.28. Everything I got was included in the weekly Von’s coupon matchup with the exception of a few things I had free coupons for. The free almond milk coupon printed out when I bought another brand and the other free coupons were given to me at BlogHer so unfortunately I can’t duplicate them. To get this deal I had to take my kids shopping with me though because the new grocery deals start tomorrow.
I’m convinced that if I don’t start rotating grocery stores a bit more often, one of these days my local store is going to have someone waiting for me at the entrance ready to turn us away. Grocery trips with kids usually involve multiple temper tantrums, the occasional broken jar, and end in tears (usually mine).
The first rule of grocery shopping is never shop with kids (that goes double if you have a child on the autistic spectrum). It never ends well.
1. You’ll likely spend more money because they will absolutely have to have everything they walk past. They probably saw a very convincing commercial and can sing the jingle if you tell them they can’t have it. Even if you turn down most of their requests, you’ll probably have a few extra things added to your cart. My youngest once filled the entire floor of one of those car carts with bubble gum while we were going through the checkout line. The cashier saw the one in his hand in time but the rest made it all the way out to the car with us before we noticed. Which brings us to the second point.
2. Grocery shopping with kids will take you 3 times as long as it normally will (which will also cause you to spend more money). I get coupon burn out every few months but it happens a lot more often if I make a habit of taking my kids with me. Shopping with coupons does add some time to your regular grocery trip but when kids are involved you may as well unpack your things and move in. You aren’t leaving anytime soon.
3. It’s hard to follow a shopping list when kids are with you. You may miss things (which will require another trip to the store) or you may forget to use coupons you were planning on using.
4. You’ll buy more chocolate. Seriously. I can’t get through a trip to the store with my kids without buying chocolate. Notice the chocolate cake and the frozen brownies in the picture above. I don’t want to think about how much weight I’ve gained from post-grocery store chocolate binges.
5. You won’t be able to catch cashier errors, and they happen more often than you think. Grocery shopping with kids requires the reflexes of a super hero (honestly, I would kill to be elasti-girl from the Incredibles). You can’t pay attention to what the cashier is ringing things through as while trying to keep an eye on where your kids are (and what they are touching). I’ve had more than one shopping trip where I made it to the car before realizing that the cashier forgot to scan a coupon or I forgot to hand one over. So far, it has never been worth it to me to take the kids back in and keep them under control while waiting in line at customer service.
If you absolutely have to take kids grocery shopping with you, be sure and go when they are in the mood to handle it. Don’t go right before dinner on a day your 2 year old hasn’t had a nap. I, of course, have never done that. Ever.
Off to put the kids to bed so I can enjoy my stash of chocolate . . .
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Coupon shopping doesn’t take much more time than it usually takes to plan a weekly menu. I’ve gotten it down to where I only spend about an hour a week between planning my shopping trip and cutting coupons – well worth the time considering what I save as a result of that. The one place where there’s no denying that coupon shopping takes added time though is in the checkout line. I often break up shopping trips into several smaller trips to take advantage of the best sales from several stores (and to avoid losing my mind if I’m shopping with kids) but when I make a large grocery shopping trip I try and warn people in the line behind me so they won’t be annoyed.
I took a trip to Von’s today and filled an entire cart with all of their back-to-school deals. I probably have enough snacks to get through 6 months of school lunches now but the people standing behind me in line were less than thrilled. They stood in line and grumbled about every coupon as it was scanned and made what I’m sure they thought were witty remarks about people who use coupons. Since they were standing less than 2 feet away from me I have to assume they knew I could hear them. I do think they stopped grumbling a bit when the cashier said, “Thank you. You saved $170.00 today.”
I generally go into the grocery store fairly prepared so I rarely run into more than the slightly irritated cashier. There are some things you can do to speed up your time in the checkout line when shopping with coupons and minimize the effect your thrifty habits have on other shoppers.
Ever store has a different coupon policy. Know what your store’s policy is before shopping. Von’s doubles coupons up to a value of $1.00 so I often try and shop there, but there coupon policy is stricter than most. For example, they only allow 3 duplicate coupons to be used in 1 transactions (although I have gotten away with 4 several times after getting a manager’s approval). Albertson’s, on the other hand, will allow as many coupons as you have, but will only double coupons if you have a doubler coupon (from the Sunday paper or in-store coupon book) and then they only allow you to use as many doubler coupons as came in that specific ad.
Knowing the store’s coupon policy before you shop can also help you increase your savings. I’ve run into several cashiers who haven’t understood what their store’s coupon policy was and didn’t want to allow me to get the savings I was planning on. If you know the store’s coupon policy, you can ask them to check with their manager, who is more likely to know what the policy really is, and allow you to save more money.
Grocery cashiers need to be able to fit your coupons into their register drawer. If you hand them a store ad with a coupon on the page, they have to take the time to cut out the coupon while you are in line. Some coupons may be connected to another coupon for a product of the same brand. It’s much easier to cut out one large coupon but it will save you time in the checkout line if you cut them apart while at home. Cut all coupons, including store ad coupons, before shopping and try and stack them nicely so it’s easier for the cashier to scan them one at a time.
Nothing drives grocery cashiers crazier than buy one get one free coupons. The cashier has to manually enter the price of the item in order for you to get the discount, which requires knowing what the price of the item is. If you have a cart full of groceries, it can be time consuming for the cashier to scan your full receipt or dig through your already reloaded grocery cart to find the product to determine the price. Pay attention to the price of BOGO coupons, write it down if you need to, and give that price to the cashier when he gets to your coupon. This will allow them to quickly scan the receipt to confirm the price and get back to checking you out.
The checkout line closest to the door is usually the busiest. Take the time to go to a less crowded line further away from the door to avoid holding up as many people. This isn’t just a service to other shoppers. A cashier who feels rushed is more likely to skip over savings you should have in an effort to move the line along faster. Going for a slower checkout line gives you the chance to watch as your shopping cart is checked out, make sure everything rings up correctly, and sometimes get some great tips from the cashier. I’ve had cashier’s give me additional coupons when they’ve had the time to do it.
How do you speed up the process when shopping with coupons?
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