Teaching Tuesday: Lesson 1--Know Your Costs And Shop Around

Welcome to Teaching Tuesdays!  In this series, I intend to lay out some of the basic rules and how-to's to help you save the most money!

Today's lesson I intended to be two separate lessons but no matter how I thought it through and tried to write it out, they were intertwined!  Today I'm going to be talking about knowing how much you usually pay for an item so you can know if you are getting a better deal elsewhere.

I think that most people, whether they use coupons or not, have a go to store that they imagine has the lowest prices.  There's nothing wrong with that!  In fact, its a great thing!  The problem comes when people get so used to shopping the same store, buying the same items that they need, that they don't even pay attention to the prices anymore.

One day they happen into another store, and they see what they *think* is a good price on an item they use, but they aren't really sure.

You can't know if you are getting a good deal on something if you don't know the price you usually pay for that item.

I used to be a one stop shopper.  Back when I was working and had one child who was an infant.  I didn't even pay attention to sales flyers from other stores because I was sure they were more expensive, and equally sure I didn't have the time to go from store to store chasing deals.  I still attempted to use coupons, but my savings were very slim at that time.

When my husband and I decided that I would begin staying home, and I found myself pregnant with baby number 2 a few months later, I knew I had to start spending less money.  I had a pretty good head for numbers back then, and could usually spout off the prices I paid for any item in my pantry.  I knew the prices I normally paid!

One day, I decided to open up a grocery flyer just to see, and I noticed that some things were on sale for LESS than I usually got them for.  I also noticed that the flyer said that they would double couples.

Now, I had to stop and blink a few times.  This "expensive" store had an item I liked on sale for less money than I had been paying for it, AND they would deduct double the value of my coupons?   At the time I had just printed a $0.50 coupon for this item, that just so happened to be on sale for $1.   It didn't take very hard calculations to realize that I could get that item for FREE that week at that store with my coupon.  

It wasn't hard to figure out that FREE was a good deal, but I still thought that this was only one item that would be on sale for one week.  It was a fluke.  Nothing more.

I was wrong.

I started paying more attention to the flyers from the three grocery stores that doubled coupons in my area each week (note that Kroger no longer doubles).  I started to find that the "every day low prices" I was used to paying, were usually beat each week in at least one of those three store's flyers.

So I started shopping around.  I would make my lists (I'll be talking more about how to do that later on), gather up the coupons I had for the sale items, and go to each of these stores to get the best deals.  I was prepared before entering the store, so shopping didn't take very long!

Once I had grabbed all the grocery store deals, I would shop my usual store to get what remained on my list.  By this time Aldi had just opened, and it quickly became my usual store.  I was incredibly surprised when my shopping lists of items that I needed started becoming smaller and smaller.  I was beginning to build a small stockpile of items in my pantry, and I was spending less than ever on food. (That was about the same time I was inspired to begin this blog).

Now, that's a long story of how I personally came to figure these things out.  What I want you to take away from it is that because I knew how much I normally paid for things, I was able to realize that I could get things for less by shopping someplace other than my normal store.

I kind of went a bit overboard when I first began, and I think that is just normal to do.  You naturally want to snatch up every deal you find.  But in order to know if you are getting a deal, you must know your prices!

These days, with two kids...one in school with homework to do and the other all over the place...its harder to keep track of prices I'm accustomed to paying.  I'm also a little more selective about if a trip to a particular store is worth the effort (how many things I can get cheaper there is important!  I don't make a special trip for just one or two items....I'm conserving gas, too!)

I'm planning on doing something that everyone suggests, and I've always thought it was a great idea, but never got around to doing:  I'm going to make myself a price list!

That's right!  I admit it.  I've never made one for myself before.  *hangs head in shame*  I've always had a good head for numbers, and I can still often tell you how much I paid for items after coupons, but there are a lot of things flying around in my head these days, so I think it would save me a lot of stress and wondering if I wrote these things down.

I intend to base it off of Aldi's prices, and I'm not going to do it all at once.  I'm just going to jot down a few items that I routinely buy there the next time I go.  I'm sure I'll leave things off, so I'll slowly make a more complete list.  Then I can compare other store's sale prices to my Aldi prices, and if an item is less at another store (and I'm going there for other things....no extra trips for me!) I can pick it up elsewhere while I'm out.  I'm going to also calculate a second column that is 30%-50% lower than Aldi's prices, depending on the item.  That will be my stockpile price, and when I am able to get items for that price after coupons, I will stock up, sensibly. ;)

If you'd like to have a look at an example, my friend Cricket at Thrifty Texas Penny (she lives in the Tyler, TX area) put together this very detailed comparison chart listing Wal-Mart prices next to the price she normally pays after coupons in her area.

She also has a blank one listed that you can start with if you'd like, or there is a selection of printable price list forms here.

Your Homework  (Now what kind of teacher would I be without homework!)  ;)

I challenge you to make a list of about 20-30 items you regularly buy, and write down their prices next time you go to your regular store.  You can even just use your current shopping list, and add on to it the next time you shop.  

Then, when you get home, open up a sales flyer from a store that you do not normally shop at, and see if anything is on sale for less than the prices you wrote down.

If you take this challenge, come back and leave a comment if you find something cheaper.

Next week I will talk about the importance of knowing your store's coupon policies, and I will give you the details of my local Dallas Area Stores.

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How I Save Time And Stress Packing Lunches

I've tried sending pre-frozen and thawed sandwiches to school in my daughter's lunchbox, but they always come home half eaten.  She says they don't taste very good to her.  So for the past few weeks, I've been making up a few sandwiches at a time instead of just making one (I truly despise making sandwiches, so if I can do it just once a week and have it out of the way, then I'm thrilled!)

Today, I decided that instead of the usual two or three days worth, I was going to go ahead and knock out the whole week.  I didn't want her to have to eat the same thing every day, though, so I tried to give her a little bit of variety.  The only type of lunch meat I had on hand today was smoked ham, so I made her three ham and cheese sandwiches, and two peanut butter sandwiches (she then requested one have grape jelly and the other strawberry).

I tossed all five of these into the lunchmeat drawer in the fridge.  Then after dinner, I let her pick which sandwich she wanted to bring tomorrow, as well as a fruit (that way there's no 'but I didn't want an orange, I wanted an apple' conversation later.)  I realize as a 5 year old she is very likely to change her mind by lunch the next day, but like her teacher tells her, she needs to make good choices. ;)

Then I let her pick a juice (I try to keep two types on hand), and a snack.  Today we only have cheese crackers, so she didn't have a choice in that.  I've also been letting her bring *one* Halloween candy each day, so by the end of this week we should be done with those.  She didn't have a ton to begin with, but spreading them out this way prevented her gorging on them.

I also like having them pre-made because in the event that we forget to pack it up in her lunchbox the night before, its very easy to grab it all and toss it in there in the morning instead of having to break out the bread and mayonnaise.

Do you have any time/sanity saving tips to share for getting school lunches packed?  Do you have any kid approved freezer lunch ideas?  I'd love to hear them!

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Stockpiles Do Not Have To Be Extreme

Yesterday I shared with you about organizing coupons and how to plan shopping trips for maximum savings.  This morning I want to share with you a great post from my good friend over at Thrifty Texas Penny.

Many of you have seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC, and have either marveled or been appalled by the stockpiles shown on that show.  Either way, we can all agree that those people were on the show because they do, in fact, take things to the extreme.

If you have the time and budget to do that (yes, it does cost extra in both of those areas) then great!  But most people are able to manage on a stockpile a fraction the size of those televised.

I like this post because it is very similar to what my own looks like, even the way it is spread throughout the house in logical locations.

She even has some great tips about why spending too much time couponing, while it may save you more money, will actually cost you in more important areas of your life.

Read the full post here.

Once I get finished with all of my organizing, I plan to share pictures of my stash with you as well. =)

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How I Plan My Shopping Trips

So far today, I've shared with you about different methods of organizing coupons, and how to set up your binder if you choose to use that method.

Now, I'd like to share with you a post I wrote back in April about how I plan my shopping trips.  My shopping trips have gotten fewer and fewer lately (and that's ok), but the basic method I use when planning a trip using coupons is still the same.

I do not bring all of my coupons to the store with me, so I do miss out on some deals, but I am usually in and out of a store within half an hour using my method...even with children!

You can read the original post here.

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How To Set Up A Coupon Binder

This morning I shared with you a list of various way people organize their coupons.  Many people like the binder system because everything is so easily visible to them.

The biggest question I hear is about what categories to add to the binder and how to go about setting one up.

My friend over at Deals from MS Do has a great post where she takes you through how her binder is set up.  It is very extensive, and you may not need all the dividers that she uses, but it is an awesome place to start!  

Read the full post here.

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How to Organize Coupons

A few weeks back, I saw a fellow blogger at Couponing 101 asking for ways that people organize their coupons for a series she was doing on coupon organization.  I had just finished writing my post about my new file box (which is working great....except that the handle broke off.)

She featured my post in her series, along with several other ways to organize coupons.  Everybody is different and no one way is right for everyone, so I thought while I was gone, I would show you all the different ways she found that people organize their coupons.  Hopefully it can help you find the way that is right for you!

See the full post here.

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How To Use Daily Deal Sites To Save Money

Daily Deals sites are popping up all over the place.  Everyday, it seems my email is bombarded with tons of money saving offers on a plethora of services.  Many of these are things you would not normally spend money on (the multitude of spa services come to mind....although one of these days I intend to splurge on a massage!).

These sites truly can be a money saving tool, however!  You just have to keep an eye out for the right type of deal.

My friend over at Mama's Money Tree has a post that will give you some ideas on how to get the most out of the various daily deal sites that exist.

Read the full post here.

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What Can You Freeze?

Right now I should be on my way into the woods to join a group of women from my church for a weekend retreat.  I won't be bringing my laptop, and most likely won't even have cell signal.

While I'm away I wanted to answer a few questions that I've received by linking to some posts from my blogging friends.

The first topic I want to cover is what types of items can be frozen.

Freezing items is a great way to prevent ruin, and allows you to stock up on certain items when you find low prices.

My friend over at Dearly Domestic will take you through may items that can and cannot be frozen, and also tell you some steps you should take to make sure your items last their longest in the freezer.

Read her entire post here.


If you are a little more ambitious, and would like to plan an entire day of freezer cooking, she also has some tips on how to go about that on this post.

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Repost: Couponing How-To

While I was on summer vacation, I had written this How To Series to post while I was away.  I've gotten a ton of new followers lately, and many of you have told me that you are new to all of this, so I wanted to repost this series just for you!

You can start at the beginning or anywhere in between.  Each post will link you to the next!

What Is A Coupon?
Where Do You Find Coupons?
How Do You Use A Coupon?
What Happens After You Redeem A Coupon?
How Do You Double A Coupon?
How Do You Price Match?
How Do You Stack A Coupon?
When Is The Best Time To Use A Coupon?
All About Stockpiles
How to Match Coupons To Sale Prices
How To Save By Shopping At Drug Stores
Anything Else?

Please look over these and let me know if you have any remaining questions, and I will do my best to get them answered for you!

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A New Month..A New Start For Me! Let's Hear About Yours!

Have you ever gone through a period of time where it just felt like you couldn't get it together?  I'm sure we all have!  Well, that's been me for quite some time.  I told myself at the beginning of the year that I was going to get myself organized, and I have been making small strides here and there.  I've had several great ideas that I have not yet been able to fully implement around the house and it seems like if I get one area under control, it is only by ignoring another area completely.

Lately, I have been doing a bit of work on my blog behind the scenes and doing my best to stick to the schedule I made, and I have also been working on getting my house back in order and some pre-made meals into my freezer.  I have made a good bit of progress in those areas, and don't feel nearly as behind and overwhelmed about them as I did.

However, it seems that I just can't juggle everything, and one thing got drastically pushed to the side.  That's right!  My coupons!  You've seen me get a lot of fresh foods at incredible prices lately (which is great!) But I haven't posted any coupon shopping trips.  That is because, to be quite honest with you guys, its been like 3 weeks since I've even used one!

Now I'm a very "out of sight, out of mind" type of person.  If I don't see something, it may as well not be there.  That's why my desk stays so cluttered, but that's another topic entirely.  I wrote this post a while back about how I prepared for my shopping trips.  In that post, I mentioned that I no longer clipped out all of my coupons, but dated the whole inserts and stored them in a box.

This is still what I do, however, when they were in that box, I didn't see them.  Therefore, I didn't think about them.  As I sat down with the grocery ads this morning, preparing to write a post telling all of you what coupons to use on what sale priced items to get the greatest savings, I had  a realization---I had absolutely no idea what coupons were inside of that box!  I usually have at least a vague idea of what items there are coupons for, but all the coupons I remembered seeing had already expired, and I had skimmed through the newer inserts so quickly before tossing them into the box that none of their contents had even registered in my brain.  So I decided that before I could keep on helping all of you, I had to stop and take some time to get myself together.

So, I grabbed the box.  I took all of the coupons out of the box.

 I sat the entire stack in front of me on the table.  I was shocked to see that there were coupon inserts on the bottom of the stack dating back into MAY!!

Yikes!  This is what I have spent my evening sorting through.  I am clipping out the few remaining non-expired coupons to put into my binder with my printed coupons.  I have already kicked myself into gear and clipped and sorted *those* when I looked up one day and saw this sitting in my printer tray.  (Nor was that all of them...there were many more printed and tossed into the box...=/)

My goal is to get my stack down to a more manageable size so it can fit in here:

This is a new file box I purchased last week at Big Lots for $8.  I already knew then that something must be done about "the box", so I've had this thing for a week now, and have yet to put it to use.  It was another of those good intentions not yet put in practice of mine.  But I digress...

This box is only about 2 inches wide, and it is filled with 26 slots to file things.  I figure that should hold nearly 3 months of inserts, assuming 2 sets on most Sundays.  It locks tightly, and has a handle so it is easy to carry if I ever happened to need to carry it anywhere.

I will file the coupons inside by date and type, and in theory they will be much easier to flip through and find what I need.

You can see that I have already gotten a small start on sorting them by date and type.  I think this new item is going to help me out tremendously, saving me time and frustration.  I also won't have to worry about the kids and pets getting into my box and spilling or otherwise maiming its contents.  My only concern is that once I get everything in there, it may be too full to snap closed.  I will have to post an update when I'm all finished.  *Note: I realize many people have many, many, more coupons than I do and this system will in no way hold all of theirs.  That is ok!  Everyone has to do what works for them!*

I really do feel like I have been making progress towards organization in all areas around here, though, and I think that during this month I am going to be able to truly get it together (for once!).  For one thing, I now only have one child home during the day since my oldest started Kindergarten last week.  Also--I've never truly believed it-- but actually having to get up and dressed and bring her to school has helped me feel more like doing things, so I have been so much more productive around here lately.  It could also be the fact that I just work better under pressure, and since my husband, who teaches during the day, has taken on a part time evening job and is usually gone from 6am-10pm, its kinda all been up to me to keep this place running smoothly, and I think I'm doing a much better job of it than I was during the summer when he was home all day and we all sat around in our PJs.  Those were some lazy days...

I just wanted to share this with you all so that you could see that we bloggers are not perfect.  We don't have it all figured out, and we struggle with keeping it all together just like everyone else.  It is always a constant battle, and there is always going to be something in our life that needs work, or at least a little bit of fine tuning!

In fact, next up on my agenda is working out a more solid plan for my week, so that I am including time to make meal plans (I hope to have time to begin sharing those with you) as well as shopping days.  My two year old is a great little shopper, so I think that she and I will be doing lots of couponing, once I get myself all set up!

I would love to hear about what you've been struggling to keep up with lately.  Leave a comment below so that we can all encourage each other.  I am going to try to post weekly updates about how I'm doing keeping it all together, so you can all check in and share your successes and failures with me!

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Using Up Leftover Rotisserie Chicken

The other night, we thawed out a whole chicken from the freezer (the whole bird cost under $4).  My husband injected it with a bottle of Lawry's Lemon-Pepper Marinade  (I don't remember exact price but I know it wasn't over $1).  With that meal we had a box of Suddenly Salad ($0.49) and a pack of frozen corn ($0.88).  That's an entire meal to feed a family of 4 for just $6.37.

But, we didn't even finish all of that chicken.  There was a lot of meat left over.  I pulled the rest of the meat from the bones, and I boiled the bones down to make a stock.  I froze two butter dishes full of that, to be used in later recipes/soups.

Chicken Bones About To Be Boiled

Then I had the chicken meat...I really didn't know what to do with it, and I really was not feeling like eating anything that I already had recipes for, so I began digging around in my pantry (yes, I did organize it!--will share that soon.) and my fridge and I grabbed a box of Skinner Quick Cook Pasta (FREE), a bag of frozen mixed vegetables ($0.88), and a Philadelphia Cooking cream ($1.49 after coupons?), and also about half a cup of that chicken stock.

I boiled the noodles, microwaved the veggies, and heated up the chicken in the broth and cooking cream.  Then I mixed it all together in the pasta pot.

It came out to be a pretty tasty lunch, and there is plenty left over for dinner as well.

For an extra $2.37, I was able to stretch the leftovers from the first meal into 2 more (plus savings on future meals when I use the homemade stock--which tastes much better than store bought!).

For a grand total of $8.74 my family ate/will eat three separate meals.  That is an average of $2.91/meal, or just $0.73 per person.

I *really* need to keep this in mind!  We've had FAR too much fast food this month...and yes I realize the month just started.  We even went out to Cici's the other night after a long, long day when my husband was working.  Of course, I used a BOGO coupon and we ordered water, but that still cost nearly $7 just for three of us for one meal!

I did all these calculations mostly for my own benefit, but I wanted to share them just to put things in perspective.  My husband is always floored when I add up how much full meals for the whole family actually cost us because he often just spent more than that on just him at the Taco Bell drive thru!

I'm not saying that grabbing food out is a bad thing.  Sometimes we all need a break, and sometimes it is completely necessary.  In fact, we will have to grab lunch out again tomorrow after church because we will be heading to visit some family instead of going home.

I just know for us, it can be a money draining habit when things get hectic, so I have to try extra hard to keep that from happening.  I am working very hard to get back into the habit of menu planning and being organized before school begins and my daughter starts Kindergarten.  My husband will be back to teaching as well, on top of his second part time job he just started, so I will need to be better prepared!

I would love to know your tips for staying on top of things when time is short!

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Trying To Get Organized...

Hello everyone!  I've been a bit quiet this weekend because we had a friend from college who was staying with us.  She has just left to head back home, and I am trying to get caught back up on all of the posting/housework that got overlooked while we were visiting.

I am also trying to get myself better organized (a constant struggle for me), especially since my daughter will be starting Kindergarten in less than a month!

The first thing I decided I needed to do to better organize my time was to come up with a blogging schedule.  I have a rough outline of what I plan to share with you each day, but I also know that I will need to be flexible because great coupons/free samples are popping up all of the time.  However, just having a rough schedule will help me out, especially on busy days where the great deals just keep coming and I just stare at the computer wondering where to begin. =)  They will also help you better know what to expect when you visit my page on a particular day of the week.

Here is my plan as of right now, and I know I may have to alter it a little bit when I get settled into the having to bring a child to school schedule.

--Monday:  Coupon Round-up
--Tuesday:  Freebie Round-up
--Wednesday:  New Grocery Deals
--Thursday:  Introduce a website that I like (surveys/coupons/freebies/another blog, etc.)
--Friday:  Sunday Coupon Preview/ My Shopping Trips (I've been shopping on Friday's but this may change)
--Saturday:  Dinner From This Week's Deals (and hopefully a menu plan for the week--that's another area of organization I'm trying to work on!)
--Sunday:  My CVS trip for my $25 gift card challenge (I'm already behind on that for the week)

If I make any extra shopping trips during the week, I will post them.  If I find any extra coupons/free samples during the week, I will post them right away because some will not still be available come Monday/Tuesday.  I will also be posting Daily Deals such as Groupon, LivingSocial, etc. as I find them.

I would also like to continue my How-To Series from when I was on vacation with a follow-up Q&A post weekly (perhaps on Tuesday, since there are not always free samples available), so if anyone has a question that they would like answered, please email me at savingmyselfsilly at gmail dot com.

I would also like to post more of my reader's shopping trips, so if you have one that you think can inspire others, please feel free to email me at the address above.  Please include a picture of what you bought, as well as the shelf price (what it would have cost without sales/coupons) and what you actually paid.

I will also be working on changing up some items on the side bars on my site.  I am going to be adding some of my new favorite sites that I've found just recently, and taking down some that I'm not as fond of any more, or that are no longer offered.  If you know of any links on my page that do not work anymore, or do not take you where they say they will, please let me know so that I can make sure to take care of those first.

Thank you all for reading my blog, and thanks in advance for bearing with me while I take the time to make my page more helpful and more useful for everyone!  =)

Now, since it is Monday, I'm off to go find some new coupons for you to print!

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Recap of How-To Series For Those Who Missed It

While I was out of town over the 4th, I had an Introduction To Couponing Series that posted.  If you missed some or all of it, I wanted to put this post together with all of the links to the individual posts.  I will also be adding this to my "Getting Started" tab.

Click on any link that you missed to be taken to that post:

What Is A Coupon?
Where Do You Find Coupons?
How Do You Use A Coupon?
What Happens After You Redeem A Coupon?
How Do You Double A Coupon?
How Do You Price Match?
How Do You Stack A Coupon?
When Is The Best Time To Use A Coupon?
All About Stockpiles
How to Match Coupons To Sale Prices
How To Save By Shopping At Drug Stores
Anything Else?

Please look over these and let me know if you have any remaining questions, and I will do my best to get them answered for you!

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How To Save Big By Shopping At Drug Stores!

We have discussed how to find coupons, use coupons, match up coupons to sale prices, and stockpile items when they are at their lowest price. Now I want to tell you about a little secret that surprises most people. It certainly surprised me! That secret is: you can get the BEST deals by shopping at drug stores!

Nearly every week I come home with bags full of items from CVS that I paid pennies for, and you can, too! If you’ve never shopped at a drug store before, you may think I’m crazy, but I have been able to virtually eliminate our household toiletry/cleaning supply budget, and often some OTC medicines as well!

The trick is learning to use the reward systems in place at each of the major drug store chains. There are three major chains: CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. All three offer some form of cash back incentive program for buying certain items that are participating each week.

You may say “Aren’t drug stores more expensive?” Most of the time the answer is yes! Often, they are grossly overpriced. However, if you are spending the store's money and not your own, that almost ceases to matter!

Here’s how it works:

Item A is on sale for $2.99. When you buy that item, you receive a reward back for $2. You also have a coupon for $1 off that item. You pay $1.99 OOP for the item, after using your coupon. Then you get back $2. It’s “like” you got that item for “free”. *I tend to not like this analogy because you are actually paying for it up front, but we will get to the actual FREE in just a second. =)

Now you have $2 of their money to spend. You could go right back into the store and use it to buy something you need. Maybe you ran out of milk, which is $2.99 there that week. You could buy the milk, use your $2, and pay just $0.99 for it, which would be an awesome deal. I suggest that you not do this, though.

If you hang onto your $2, next week there may be another item that is on sale for $4.99 and when you buy it, you get back $4.99. There happens to be an awesome coupon that you found online for $3 off of this item. You buy the item, use your $3 off coupon, use your $2 store reward and pay nothing! THEN, you get back $4.99 to spend next time! You now have more of "their money" than you started with, and you didn't have to pay anything!  This process is called “rolling.”

The main idea of “rolling” is that you are always spending the stores money on items that will give you back more of the stores money to spend later. There will be an initial investment when you get started, but after that, the savings are phenomenal!

At CVS the rewards are known as Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). To learn more about how to shop at CVS, please visit my good friend Cheryl at Simply CVS. Her site is devoted to all things CVS and if there is a coupon that matches up to a sale at CVS, you can bet she knows about it and has posted about it, so I always check her site out before heading out to see if there’s something I missed.  The link will take you to the home page where you will find posts for the latest sale ad.  Look on the right side bar for a list of CVS Lessons to help get you started!

At Walgreens the rewards are known as Register Rewards (RRs). I find Walgreens a bit more complicated to shop at than CVS because the RR’s are considered manufacturer coupons. If you want to use a RR along with a coupon for a single item, you cannot. This is because you have to have a 1:1 item to coupon ratio. You will have to purchase a “filler” item so that your ratio will be 2:2. There are a few more details, and my friend Cricket at Thrifty Texas Penny is an expert, so head over to her page and read all about it.  The link will take you to her Walgreen's tutorial page, but have a look around because she's got some great stuff there!

I do not even have a Rite Aid in my city, so I know absolutely nothing about that, but you can visit Brandi at Must Love Coupons to learn all about that.



What is your favorite Drug Store to shop at?

That is all I have prepared for this series, but be thinking about anything I may not have covered.  Tomorrow I am going to give you an opportunity to ask any questions you still have!  I hope you enjoyed these posts.  I should be on my way back home right now!

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How To Match Coupons To Sale Prices

Now that you have multiple coupons for items your families loves, do you run off to the store and use them right away? Only if they are on sale! I already posted about when to use a coupon, and the answer to that is “when the item is on sale!” When it is on sale, you want to get as many as your family needs at the lowered price.

How do you know when an item is on sale? You look at your grocery ads! Don’t just glance at them, either. Truly study them. I never see all of the good deals the first time I look through a sale ad. Sometimes I’m still catching things I didn’t notice before the 4th time I look at it.

Once you see an item that is on sale, the next step is to see if you have a coupon for it. Now this step delves deep into your system of coupon organization, and I promise to discuss that a bit more at a later time.

For right now, let’s just say that there is the clipping method, and the non-clipping method of organization. If you are a clipper, look through your clipped coupons to see if you have one for the item on sale.

If you are a non-clipper, then you probably already have a favorite internet coupon database.  A coupon database is an online listing of every coupon that is available (hasn't expired).  You put in a search term, and if a coupon exists for that item, it will tell you the date the coupon was issued and which insert it was in. If there is a printable coupon available, the database will link you right to it!  I prefer to use www.afullcup.com, although if I don’t find what I’m looking for there, I will take my search elsewhere. Once the database tells you where the coupon is, find it and clip it. The clippers out there might also opt to search a coupon database so they do not miss any printable coupons that may be available.

Many blogs post extensive coupon match-ups as well, and even scour the stores for unadvertised sale items. I suggest you do a google search for “Your store name & coupon match ups” and see if you can find a site near you that offers this for any of the stores you shop at. Follow those blogs or stop by when a new ad comes out.

Once I have gathered up the coupons I need to use for my sale items, I make a list for each store, and keep those coupons I plan to use with it so I have them handy when I head out to shop. I keep the coupons I plan to use separated by store so there is no confusion when I check out.


How do you find out if there is a coupon for an item you want to buy?  What's your favorite coupon database?  Let us know below so we can check them all out and pick a favorite!

Check back tomorrow when I talk about shopping at drug stores!  Subscribe to my emails so you don't miss it!

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All About Stockpiles!

What is a stockpile and why do you need one?
I know that the word “stockpile” has been tossed around a lot lately since Extreme Couponing began airing on TLC. Many of you have probably seen this show and seen the amount of stuff the people had on hand and been astounded! Many of you may also have thought their stockpiles were ridiculous and they should have been on the show Hoarders instead!  Others may have been envious, if not of the stuff at least of the organization. ;)

I am not here to judge anyone that was featured on that show, and I would like to remind you that you only saw a very skewed 15 minute window into their lives.

Like what you saw or not, they have the right idea, to whatever “extreme” they chose to take that idea. The whole point of having a small stockpile of items on hand, that you purchased *BEFORE* you needed them, is so that you NEVER run out and have to go out to the store and pay full price for that item. However, we have already talked about how THERE WILL BE ANOTHER SALE on that item. What that means is that you realistically only need to stock up on enough to get you to the next sale, not more than you will ever be able to use in your lifetime! If you have a ton of an item, but you can still get it free, by all means grab a couple more. You can always give them away! Last Christmas I cleaned out my toiletries by making gift baskets for my husband’s college aged siblings. And you know what, the very next week I was able to stock back up on toothpaste!

How do you build a stockpile?:
This is not something that is going to happen overnight. It takes time and will naturally happen as you shop the sales with your coupons. Each week I have been posting highlights of the best deals you can get using coupons at a number of stores in my area. The purpose of this is to help you know what is a good stock-up price, so you can add that item to your list while you are there shopping for other things.

It is hard to know how many items to buy when there is a stock-pile price though. I tend to get as many as I have coupons for (which usually isn’t more than 4-6, most of the time just 1-2). However, if you are not careful, you can actually end up spending *more* money trying to build up a stockpile.

The way I like to think about it is this: How many can you get for that items shelf cost? If you were needing the item anyway, you would have to buy it at full price. Let’s pretend it cost $3 originally and it is on sale for $2, and you have coupons for $1 off. This means you will pay $1, for what you were already planning on paying $3 for. If that is the case, why not buy 3? Sure you won’t be spending less *this* time, but you now have 3 of that item instead of 1, so that is two trips to the store where you will not need to purchase that item. That ends up saving you $6 in *future* purchases! That may not seem like a whole lot, but we are only talking about one item here. Imagine the savings if you shopped this way for every item you buy!

What you want to be careful not to do is buy 10 of them (spending $10 when you would have only spent $3), unless you have enough room in your budget to do so. Sure, it may be a great price, but if you blow your whole budget buying 3 years worth of laundry detergent, then you aren’t really helping out your current situation, and you aren’t going to have a whole lot of money left for food!

You may also realize from that example that if you are going to buy multiples of the item, you will also need multiples of the coupon. This is very important. You will need a way to get more than one of the same coupon (I’m not talking 20 here. I rule I’ve heard, and I think it’s a good one, is one per family member. That means I would need 4, but I often have less) . You can do this easily by buying more than one paper (I only do this on days when there are extra inserts because our papers cost $3 each!) You could also ask friends who do not coupon if you could have their inserts (I’ll be heading home from my trip with all my families coupons!). There are several places online that sell clipped coupons, but I have heard rumors about the possibility of them being shut down. =(

Printable coupons will normally allow you to print two copies per computer, so if you have more than one computer, you can print two from each, or ask a friend to print some for you if you need more.

If you decide you want to begin building a stockpile, a smart thing to do would be to set aside a portion of your weekly grocery/household item budget to be used for stockpiling.   Just to make the math easy, let's say you budget yourself $100/wk for food and other household items.  You want to spend less, but you want to build up a stock pile.  Try lowering what you spend on needed items to $90/wk (your coupon savings will help with that, too) and setting aside $10/wk to buy items that will go into your stockpile.  Since you want to buy stock-pile items at their lowest price, that $10 will go a lot farther than you think it will!  In a few month's time you will find fewer and fewer items showing up on your lists of needs, and you should be able to start permanently lowering your grocery budget.

Our next topic will be about matching coupons to sale prices, and this is going to help us see when an item is at a stock-pile price.  Subscribe to my emails to make sure you don't miss it.

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When Should You Use A Coupon?

My grandmother has always clipped coupons. Not many, just a few. Every Sunday she sits at her table and looks through the inserts (usually before the sun is even up) and clips out maybe a handful that are for brands she likes (she’s very brand loyal, too). Every Monday she goes to Wal-Mart and uses those coupons. (She saves the rest for me, so I can’t complain.) Is she saving money? Sure! Is she saving as much as she could be? No way!

The reason I say this is because she does not take sale prices into account. Whenever I post a shopping trip, I always try to illustrate that most of my savings come just from buying items when they are on sale! Let’s say an item's normal shelf price is $3.50 and you have a $1 off coupon. You could buy that item and pay $2.50 for it, and you would have saved 29%. If this is less than you usually spend on that item, then that’s great! You are already saving!

However, the very next week you get your sale ad and notice that same item is on sale for $2. This is a 43% savings already, without even having a coupon. If you still had your $1 off coupon, you could use it then, and pay just $1 for that same item you paid $2.50 for last week for a savings of 71%!!

So how do you know when to buy? To answer this question, you need to pay attention to the prices of items you regularly buy from week to week. Even if you only shop at Wal-Mart, and the prices stay relatively constant, you could always bring along a grocery ad and price match, so it is still worth paying attention to them.

In order to do this, many people keep what is called a price book. They make a list of items their family uses and record the price of that item each week for a few months (I could do much better if I actually made one of these instead of trying to keep it all in my head!). Usually a pattern will emerge and you will be able to see what the lowest price of that item is, and sometimes predict when it will be at that price again. With this knowledge, you can determine when to wait on purchasing an item, and when to purchase as many of it as you need to get you to the next time it is on sale.

That will bring us to tomorrow’s topic: Sensible Stockpiling and and Why you may need more than one coupon.  Make sure to subscribe to my emails so you don't miss it!

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How Do You Stack A Coupon?

I occasionally get asked what the term “stacking” refers to. Often when people hear this term, they tend to think it means that they are able to use two coupons on the same item. This *can* be true, as long as they are not the same *type* of coupon.

How many “types” of coupons are there?

--Manufacturer Coupons
--Store Coupons
--E-Coupons (these are a paperless form of Manufacturer Coupons)
How will you know what kind of coupon you have and if they can be stacked? This one is pretty simple! The coupon will tell you! At the top of a coupon, it should read either “manufacturer coupon” or “store coupon”. Store coupons should also have the store’s logo on them somewhere. Sometimes the coupon will say the specific store’s name on it, like “Target Coupon”. If you clip a coupon from a store’s circular, chances are it is a store coupon, unless it says otherwise. The coupons that print from the scanner at CVS are store coupons.

So, back to this stacking business. Most stores will allow you to use both a store coupon AND a manufacturer coupon on the same item. This is what is meant by stacking. You cannot use two manufacturer’s coupons for the same item. They will beep because they are the same type of coupon.

Since e-coupons are manufacturer coupons, the stores in my area no longer allow them to be stacked with a paper manufacturer coupon. You should be able to stack them with a store coupon, though.

Some people even consider it “stacking” when you use a coupon on a sale item because you are redeeming two different types of discount for that item.

Where can you find store coupons?  Often, they will be in a store's circular (think Walgreens, Tom Thumb, etc.)  Some stores, such as Target, have printable ones on their website.   *Note:  Target's printable coupons contain store coupons and manufacturer coupons, and you will not know which type it is until you print it and see either "Target Coupon" or "Manufacturer Coupon" on the top.

What stores near you have store coupons that you can stack?

Check back tomorrow to learn more about when to use a coupon most effectively!  Subscribe to my emails to make sure you don't miss anything!

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How Do You Price Match?

Some stores will allow you to “price match” items. What exactly does this mean? It means that if you find an item being sold for a lower price at another store, they will lower the price of the item at their store to “match” the competitor’s price. The two major stores that offer price matching are Wal-Mart and Target.

I am not at all the authority on price matching. In fact I have only ever price matched 2 items in one transaction at Wal-Mart. The main reason that I don’t price match items more often is not because it is hard to do. In fact it was pretty easy! The reason is simply that I hardly ever shop at those two stores.

There are certainly some pros and cons to price matching.

· Pros: It can save you time and gas! You can get everything at one store instead of driving all over town. Wal-Mart will even price match produce.

· Cons: If you are using coupons, neither of these stores double, so you may be missing out on savings if the store you are matching it to does double. There are pretty strict rules to follow, and you have to make sure you stop the cashier and show them the price to match it to. This can be a little bit tedious and time consuming.

Price matching may be a great option for you if no stores in your area double and/or you have to drive long distances to get to the store. Around here, all the stores are clustered close together, and I would have to pass them by to get to Wal-Mart. I also find that I am able to get better deals by shopping at the stores that will double my coupons and matching my coupons to their sale prices (more on that later).



If you decide to give price matching a shot, here a few things that you should keep in mind:

1. Make sure you know the rules! Here are the price matching policies for Target and Walmart. Read over them before you go so you know what to expect. Print out a copy to take along in case you run into any issues.

You will notice that Target’s is VERY strict, so proceed with caution. Wal-mart seems to have relaxed a bit on their rules and some stores do not even require you to show the ad any more. I suppose they take your word for it??? Do not abuse that, though!

2. Bring your ads along! You will definitely be needing them at Target!

3. When you get to the register, it would be a good idea to group the items you want to price match together, either at the beginning or at the end of your transaction.

4. Pay attention to make sure the cashier does not scan them in at normal price. If so you will need to ask them to void it off the transaction and re-ring it at the lower price. Too many voids on a transaction will require them to need a manager’s key before the register will allow the transaction to proceed. This can take a long time as these stores can be very busy and often have only 1 manager available.

5. If you are making a large shopping trip, you may want to make a list of your items that will be price matched, and organize your list by which store has the lower price on that item, so you can quickly present the correct ad for that group. For example, write down the items you intend to price match from the Kroger Ad, the Albertson’s Ad, etc. Then you can hand over all the items from that ad at once instead of flipping through all of them for each item trying to remember where it was on sale.

6. Have patience with the cashier and be happy to know you are saving money and will not have to go to three more stores. =)


Have you done price matching before?  Did you have a good or bad experience with it?  Tell us about it!

Check back tomorrow to learn more about coupon stacking.  Sign up for my email subscription to make sure you don't miss anything!

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How Do You Double A Coupon?

Now that you know the basics about what coupons are and how to and how not to use them, lets get into some of the fun stuff!

 I get asked this question a lot “How do you double a coupon?”  Many people think that there is something special that they have to do, or that doubling means using two coupons on the same item.  This is not the case.

Doubling means that the store will give you twice the face value of the coupon.  This will happen automatically at the register if your store does this.

You will need to check with each store in your area to find out if they double coupons and if so how many they will double and what face values they will double up to.  Also, do not assume that every location of a larger chain has the same rules.  Store managers have the right to set limits regarding doubling at their particular stores.  Also many chains are broken into smaller regions, and each region can have its own set of rules concerning doubling.

There are also stores that double coupons everyday, while there are other stores who periodically have double coupon events for a specific time frame.

In my area (DFW) there are three stores that double/triple coupons everyday:  Kroger, Albertson’s and Tom Thumb. 

All three of these stores will give triple the face value of a coupon $0.35 and under, up to the price of the item, and double the face value of coupons valued from $0.36-$0.50 up to the price of the item.

This means that a $0.25 coupon will actually take $0.75 off of my total at the register; a $0.50 coupon will deduct $1.00 from my total, while a $0.55 coupon will only deduct $0.55 since it is above the limit that the stores will double.  So smaller value coupons can actually be worth more at these stores than they would be at a store that does not double, such as Wal-Mart.

My Tom Thumb has a limit of one like coupon doubled per transaction.  This means that if I have two coupons for $0.50 off a certain product, and I buy two of that product and redeem both coupons, the first will deduct $1, while the second (and any subsequent ones) will deduct only $0.50.  You can use as many as you purchase items to use, but only the first will double.

Albertsons and Kroger (at least the ones I shop at) do not have such limits.  They will double all the coupons you use that are within doubling range.  This may not be the case at all stores.  I have heard that some Kroger stores are now limiting you to 1 or 3 like coupons doubled per transaction, and in some areas (Houston in particular) they have stopped doubling all together.

Stores will often have their coupon policies printed at the bottom or top of their ad.  If not, you may want to give your store a call and ask before you plan your shopping trip.  You don’t want to get up to the register with a cart full of items and not have your coupons double like you expected them to.

What stores in your area, if any, doubles coupons?

Be sure to check back tomorrow to learn more about price matching.  Sign up for my email newsletter to make sure you don't miss it!

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