OK - so you don't have to go to the extremes that I might but with the ever changing economy and the price of gas ---you have to start somewhere. Thanks to my friend Aubrey I got started with Pinching Your Pennies about 1 1/2 years ago. I am amazed at each trip I make to the grocery store how much money can actually be saved. I am at the point (and I have been for a while now) that I shop almost exclusively for my "stockpile" or "storage" and then of course perishables. I plan meals mainly around what is on hand. What should you keep on hand?? I recommend making a list of 10-15 of your family's favorite tried and true meals and then make sure that you have the necessary ingredients on hand at any given time. For instance --- if you have a few meals that require cream soups or canned vegetables --buy those items when they are at their lowest prices. Cereal, pasta, sauces, frozen meats, baking mixes, condiments, canned foods and much more are on sale frequently at ROCK BOTTOM prices and it's easy to stock up then!! How do I know when the price is right?? I personally look to Pinching Your Pennies-Utah they have great lists posted on there of the sale prices at the local grocery stores. If you are outside of Utah they offer the Grocery Guide as an alternative or there is a price book that gives star rankings for pretty much everything at the grocery store - you compare the price of the shelf to the price book too look for the best deals. Bonus Savings!!! Every time I go to the grocery store I make sure to swing by the clearance carts and scour them for bargains - there are really some great deals to be found - especially if you have coupons!! Another "Never-Miss" for me is the reduced price meat - this is the meat that must be sold in the next day or so - usually marked down at least 40-70% just take it home and cook it that day or freeze it. PYP has a great blog now to!!! They have great tips and how to advice for saving time and money! One more great option that can help you as well as local farmers is to join a Co-Op. One of friends buys from them frequently and I plan on trying it out this month too. Most are available for anyone to use - no matter what your income level is. Another is Angel Food Ministries - although that one is not available in Utah.
76 comments:
I lose all my coupons, everytime I try to keep some I know I would use, if I didn't lose them. lol I think I'm helpless.
Coupons and I don't get along! I wind up buying things I normally wouldn't buy or the store brand is on sale cheaper. I have found that as long as you have one of them VIP cards at your local store, you will save money very easily!
Thanks for the tips. I'm always looking to save some moolah.
I've never really been able to save big with coupons...mostly because the people I hear that DO have stores that double coupons...ours don't...darn it! But I'm gonna check out that site!!
Coupons ROCK!!! Congrats on being featured blogger!
Congrats on the SITS feature! I do the coupon thing in waves...once upon a time I was good at it. Now...not so much! I really don't have the time. The good news, though, is that my favorite grocery here doubles coupons up to $1.00!
I've been trying the coupon thing too, but I have gone whole hog like you have (thats a compliment by the way). So excited for you on your SITS day. Mine was yesterday and I left you a little note in the SITS comments on their site. Good for you for being a good steward of your family finances.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing.
You are SO my kind of people! Great tips!
I love coupons. I adore coupons. It is so much fun shopping that way anyway.
I think it's nice your STIS day is on a Wednesday too. The day for new grocery ads around here. :)
Awesome advice! Thanks!
*congrats on the feature!
Congrats on being featured on SITS :)
Thanks for the tips! We're a blended family with very different tastes, so it's hard to keep everyone pleased!
Congrats on being the SITS girl for today!
Congrats on your SITS feature! I recently started doing meal planning which is helping us stick to our budget. Haven't started with the couponsw yet though...
I'm such a coupon freak I keep them in a binder in baseball card sleeves and organized by category. It's a sickness. LOL!!
I need to get back into coupon clipping!
We have the angel food ministry here and it is great. I love all of your tips. Very good advice.
I had never heard of the co-op thing (at least, I didn't know what it was). I'm going to check that out!
Great tips! Thanks for those and congrats on being featured today!
I hear so many people saving so much money by doing similar things, like Grocery Game or CVS. None of the grocery stores I frequent belong to Grocery Game, so that's out for me and I can't seem to get the hang of CVS to save tons of money.
But MAN do wish I could! I'm so envious!
I rarely use coupons. I find that I do not wind up recovering the cost of the newspaper. We also have a couple of discount grocery stores here. I shop there most often. They do not accept coupons. If something HAS to be name brand (and everyone has SOMETHING that just has to be the name brand), I will look for it on sale at the more expensive gerocery and buy it then.
Morning SITSa!
Great tips and links.
I think it's especially important to have that list of the top 15 or so recipes and their ingredients. Although I'd like to think we eat a bigger variety, the truth is we have a lot of favorites we make over and over.
Great advice!
Love love love the design/colors! I'm a sucker for anything brown and blue.
15 recipes? I'm not sure I've even made that many different recipes more than once. Since I'm single, I only have to "cook" cook once a week or so. The rest of the time I make meals for me.
Hey, I posted my own money-saving plan a few weeks ago in a 3-step process (the optional 4th includes complaining bitterly to your husband about everything you're NOT buying). It's nice to have some real advice from you blog.
http://mrsmouthy.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!C48DB47FC79C0C2C!157.entry
Great post, thanks! Congrats on your SITS nod!
Thanks for the tips...saving money is always a bonus:)
WOW - I admire you for that! I never have a problem cutting the coupons...what I DO have a problem with is getting them to the truck or my purse....and harder yet is actually getting them to the correct store when I need them.
Congrats on being a SITSta! I love the Design! I have the flipflop of it!
With 5 hungry boys I could definitely benefit from the use of coupons. I try. I really do. I don't know if things are just different here in California. We don't have clearance carts at all and the discount meat is 30% off at most. I find that EVERYTHING is far too expensive nowadays! I use coupons whenever I can though....
Great tips! I'm inspired to start clipping coupons again. Congrats on the SITs feature!
I keep saying I'm going to use coupons and get myself more frugal, but I fail a lot. LOL. You have some great tips here though, great resources. :)
I just recently discovered pinching your pennies- My SIL has gotten ridiculous amoundts of stuff for free! I now have an official "coupon bag."
I'm right there with ya SITSa. I recently became a coupon fa-reak. Best quote I heard: "I'm not cheap, I just really really like keeping my money".
Another good one: Jane that only spends $800 A YEAR on groceries. http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/
These coupon pros amaze me.
I try and not to well, at that!
I really need to do better, and this just might help.
Great tips! I love trying new recipes, but usually plan them around the things I have. Keeping ingredients around for favorite meals is a great idea. Thanks!
I have never been successful at the coupon thing. I clip, I lose them and then I find them after they expired! :(
I use coupons all the time and save quite a bit on my supermarket shopping bill.
Good tips and Congrats on being SITS Queen for the day :-)
Most of the coupons I use are ones I win or get from sponsors for free products- now those are fun. Around here only one dollar store doubles, the grocery stores don't at all.
I've been reading great things about CVS and Walgreens having a lot of free after rebate deals so am going to look into that.
Enjoying your blog so far, congrats on being featured on SITS
Thanks for the tips. And happy SITS!
This is a great post! Thanks for the information my SITSA!
great advice!!! Thanks and congrats on being today's FB!!!
Congrats on being featured on SITS!
These are great tips! Thanks a bunch!
Thanks for all of the tips! Your blog is beautiful!
I've always wondered if coupons are really worth it. I've tried before but have never been consistant. My Grandmother was a coupon QUEEN!! :-)
Thanks for the great tips.
And Congrats on being the SITS featured blogger today.
Great ideas! I like the idea of keeping a list of the meals that we usually eat so that we KNOW what we need and can coupon clip. Great hint!
Jen
I have to check out Pinching Your Pennies - I love bargain shopping!!
Congrats on being featured today :)
great ideas!
Happy SITS Day!! I like the idea of knowing the prices you should be looking to pay for the items you buy all the time--cool that there is a guide for that. Thanks for the info!
I just in the last six months started to incorporate many of your tips. Not only have I saved a ton of money, but life is so much more organized now too.
i used to coupon a lot. problem is I am brand loyal or else i buy a lot of generics which are always cheaper than the brand name + coupon. But i still do it somewhat. especially for diapers & wipes!
Congrats on being featured today!! I could learn a thing or two here because I NEVER look at prices at the grocery store. It may just be because that's the only place I spend my money. I don't shop for clothes or shoes like most women so I spend it all at the market, it's a necessity AND a luxury because I enjoy it!!!
Congrats on being featured by SITS! Great post! I need to start doing better at pinching my pennies. I have already looked into Angel Food Ministries.
Just started doing the coupon thing,recently and posted about my new coupon organizer, today on my blog. That is funny. Congrats on BEING SAUCY!!
Coupon lover and bargain shopper. I cut. I love to find those good deals in the weekend paper!
We have a 40 something year old aunt with Down symdrome. She loves to cut coupons. It is one of her big tasks to do on the weekends. She puts them in a bag and delivers them to us.
The best!
Coupons and I are trying to get along. I know a good one when I see it! Lately I've taken to writing my grocery list on an envelope, and then just tucking the coupons inside it--that way it all makes it to the store with me!
I love your idea about having 5-10 meals worth of ingredients on hand. I think I can at least do that!
Have fun on your SITS day :)!!!
With prices going up I have recently started trying to save more money with coupons and sales. Thanks for the tip!
I am not the most organized person so often I forget about coupons. My husband, who is much more organized then me, has created weekly meal plans which really helps us save at the grocery store. We often have $5 coupons for orders over $30 that Publix or one of their competitors offer which definitely helps also.
Congratulations on your SITS day!!
I love the look of your blog! Thanks for the tips!
Jen
Congratulations on your SITS day! great tips!
what wonderful tips :o)
I love the "feel" of your blog...have fun with your sits day :o)
~simply~
Our Grocery store does double coupons on Wednesdays, but there is a catch. only 5 can be doubled! It bugs me!
Congrats on being featured. My difficulty is that I don't usually eat processed foods, so coupons don't tend to work for me, as veggies and meats don't have coupons (and hot dogs don't count as meat!)... but I do compare our local produce markets and am always amazed at their sale prices (peaches $0.39/lb) vs the regular grocery store prices (sale: peaches $1.79/lb) -- both this week!
I stink at coupons. I ALWAYS forget to bring them with me. You have inspired me (maybe) to try harder. Happy SITS day!
Thanks for some great tips! Congrats on being today's SITS blog!
Congratulations for the featured blogger today.
Hmmm...coupons, like many before me do not mesh. I use some, but it's hit or miss.
I used to work at a Piggly Wiggly so I know how they can really reduce your overall total.
What I need to do is keep the coupons in my purse at all times, because I am never sure when I will have time to grocery shop.
My mom loves the coupons!! Me not so much b.c they are a hassle to keep up with and then if u don't use them, forget them u have to throw them out. What a waste of paper, yanno. But I'm glad u are making them work for you.
Here from SITS - I don't do coupons but have found a similar service that shops the stores for you. We've been working on our food storage a lot this year, every little but helps!!
These are such great tips! I need to get better about using coupons! You've inspired me!
woohoo! my hubby loves it when i save some money! :) thanks for all the great tips!
Awesome! Thanks for the tips! Oh, I miss Utah. :(
I am SOOOOO sorry I missed your big day with SITS yesterday. I'm trying to catch up with everything now.
I had not read this post before....lots of good tips I will have to check out. Groceries and bills....two bad words for me right now! So much help is needed.
Congrats on being featured! I hope you had a great day!
great tips! personally i've been loving the grocerygame.com i don't have to think at all... it's great.
Oh how I WISH I was that organized and smart about this stuff!!!! Someday someday...
I don't know if someone else has asked you this, but what Kaysville are you Kaysville Momming from?? Is it in Davis County perhaps?
I'm horrible about keeping coupons and using them when I need them. Not sure why. I like to save money...
Girl! Congratulations on being a featured blogger! Sorry I'm a week late, but we've had internet woes and I'm playing catch up.
Thanks for this post... I'm trying to learn to be a savvy shopper, but it is really hard, every little pointer helps!
Post a Comment