February 2009

Feb

March is National Frozen Food Month…among other things

Couponing and stockpiling. These terms are linked inextricably. The reason behind this is fairly simple, really. Your goal as a couponer should be to pay the lowest possible amount for the items your family uses, needs, and loves. So when that amazing sale on canned tuna hits your supermarket, you are going to buy as many cans as your budget allows. Make sense?

The next step is to try and determine exactly when that amazing sale is going to be. Of course, one can never really know what's coming down the pike, but you sure can pay a little attention to store trends and make a pretty darn good guess! As an example, let's take a look at the month of November, when I started couponing. Here are the sort of coupons and sales I found on a weekly basis:

Baking goods: flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cake mixes, pie crusts
Canned vegetables: peas, corn, green beans
Holiday food items: canned cranberries, pumpkin mix

There is nothing mysterious about this. Stores know that many shoppers will have holiday dinners during the months of November and December, so their goal is to entice them with specials focusing on those items.

Here is the point. An easy way to save money is by anticipating store trends and stockpiling items when they come in season. So November would've been a great time to bulk up your baking supplies. And December there were deals on batteries to go with all the battery-powered toys parents were buying their kids. In January, many stores were running promotions on diet food and organizational supplies because many people like to make New Years resolutions. Knowing when these trends are going to hit can help you plan! So one of my key goals this year as a newbie couponer is to establish what trends I see happening each month.

So I knew March was National Frozen Food Month…and sure enough, all the grocery store ads I pulled today had "sales" on frozen food items. Note quotations around the word "sales." None of them seemed particularly fantastic to me today. I expect we'll see some more coupons related to this theme throughout the month, so I'm gonna hold off on major frozen food purchases for just yet.

Incidentally, there are some other food holidays this month. I'm not too optimistic of seeing all of these debut with a great sale or coupon, but at least maybe they'll be good for a chuckle…

March is…

National Frozen Food Month
National Nutrition Month
National Noodle Month
National Celery Month (try not to get too excited about that one!)
National Peanut Month (great timing on that one…)
National Sauce Month
National Caffeine Awareness Month (my personal favorite! Everyone: "be aware!!")

Mark your calendars for these all-important food holidays in March…

National Potato Chip Day – March 14
National Poultry Day – March 19
National Chip N' Dip Day – March 23
National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day – March 24
National Something-on-a-Stick Day – March 28
National Turkey Neck Soup Day – March 30
National Clams on the Half Shell Day – March 31

Be sure to comment to let us all know how you intend to celebrate National Frozen Food Month or any of the wonderful but lesser-known holidays mentioned above. Oh, and if you happen to see a great deal on turkey necks, please do email me.

Photo credit Sanja Gjenero

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Feb

Albertsons, Safeway, and Fred Meyer Grocery Deals through 3/7/09

My paper puts out a "Sunday Advance" edition on Saturday, so I was happy to clip coupons today and preview tomorrow's ads! There were a few grocery deals I thought I'd share with you. I also want to point out that many of the items below are great grocery staples – probably stuff that would make it on your shopping list already. And many are just great sale items, which means you don't have to hunt for any coupons.

Incidentally, I've noticed something about finding deals on grocery staples such as dairy, meat, and produce. These deals do come (and on a weekly basis), but they are more likely to be found by perusing the store ads. In looking at the ads today, I found several wonderful sales and in-ad coupons for these items. In other words, don't disparage if you're cutting up your weekly SmartSource or Red Plum insert and don't find a coupon for milk!

Albertsons

Boneless, skinless chicken breast on sale for $1.88/lb (in the butcher's block)
Extra lean ground beef (85%/15%) for $1.99/lb
Albertsons brand chicken noodle and tomato soup $0.33 ea
Large eggs $1.19 (limit 2)
Albertsons chunk or shredded cheese varieties 8 oz. $1.48 ea (with in-ad coupon good 3/1-3/3 ONLY) (limit 4)
SUNDAY ONLY: Kellogs Raisin Bran on sale for $1.67 (use with the $1.50-off-2 coupon from the 1/18 Red Plum – exp. 3/1/09!) $1.84 for 2 ($0.92 ea) (limit 6)

Safeway

10-lb navel oranges $3.60 ($0.36/lb)
FREE 2-liter 7-up (with in-ad coupon)*
Lucerne butter $0.99 (with in-ad coupon)
Kelloggs' Frosted Mini Wheats or Raisin Bran (use in-ad coupon for $0.99 price AND use $0.70-off-1 coupon from 2/22 Red Plum) – $0.29!
Paramount Farms Wonderful Pistachios 16 oz. bag $3.99 (with in-ad coupon)

* These coupons might seem fantastic, and I do think they are noteworthy…however, it is also noteworthy to point out they require a $10 min purchase to use and they all have a limit of 1. So do not attempt to go into the store and score 15 boxes of Raisin Bran for $0.29 each.
** Remember! Many Albertsons stores still accept competitor coupons. This is a great time and money saver. Just clip the Safeway coupons out of the ad and bring them in. If you are not sure if your Albertsons accepts competitor coupons, phone your store before you head out the door.

Fred Meyer (a Kroger store)

In their ad this week is a coupon for $0.99 1/2 gallon milk, chocolate milk, and orange juice (limit 10)

*See my note above under the Safeway section regarding Albertsons' competitor coupon policy! You might be able to consolidate your grocery trips further this week.

Please remember that pricing of food items may vary from region to region. I happen to be blogging out of the greater Seattle area, so if you live a distance from that, I urge you to check out the ads for your area (Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyer).

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Feb

Get your free Kashi frozen entree coupon!

Right now, you can request a coupon for a free frozen entree from Kashi's website! If you don't already know, Kashi prides itself on putting together foods that are tasty, easy-to-prepare, and healthy all at the same time. (You may have seen some of their "seven whole grains on a mission" commercials lately.) From their home page, follow the link to claim your coupon.

I'm particularly excited to share this because I've gotten a number of folks asking if there are ever any coupons or deals on healthy foods. The answer is "yes" and I will make sure to focus some good attention on helping you find them.

Incidentally, I also find the timing of this freebie interesting. March – as I'm sure you all know! – is National Frozen Food Month. I am excited to see what sort of coupons, sales, and promotions we'll find during the month. In a few days, I'll spend some time discussing National Food Month and how understanding seasonal trends can help you save money. (I know you are excited, but please, try to restrain yourselves!)

Thanks to my awesome friend Sarah for emailing me today about this offer! Free food always tastes better!

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Feb

Calling all readers: I am looking for your feedback!

My goal in launching this blog was to make a REAL impact in helping people – just like you – save money on their groceries and household items. I want to make sure that I'm doing just that, and that's where you come in.

If you have a question, comment, or suggestion to make this blog a better place to read, please send me an email! For example, you might contact me with:

A fabulous deal you think I should notify my readers about
A question you have related to couponing that you'd like me to find an answer for
A testimonial of your own couponing success
Feedback as to whether this site is meeting your needs as a newbie couponer (or an oldie!)

It's important to me that this site is relevant to you as I work on developing future content. You can find a link to my email address on the About Me page (please email me as opposed to leaving a comment).

Thank you to those who have already provided me with ideas and feedback – it is much appreciated!

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Feb

How to maximize your couponing success with a little planning

Since I started my couponing project to save money, I've gotten a number of people making this remark:

"Sure, I'd like to save money, but I don't think I have the time to devote to it. Plus, it sounds like an awful lot of work."

I think this is a very valid concern, so today I thought I'd focus some time on explaining how I plan my grocery shopping trips each week. The truth is you could spend a LOT of time each week perusing store circulars, clipping coupons, and driving around town. OR, you could find ways to organize your coupons, trips, and meals and perhaps even save time in the long run. Personally, I'm all about being efficient, so my choice would be the latter of the two options. So for the sake of not wasting a minute more, let's dive right in.

Organize your coupons. Does the idea of cutting up coupons sound tedious? No worries. You can simply label the inserts and file them by date. There are several coupon databases out there that will help you locate your coupons quickly when you need. My favorite is by far the extensive database on hotcouponworld. So when you find the deal on Tide you've been waiting for, head to their database, type in "Tide" and they'll tell you which insert you can find it in. Simple.
Organize your "favorites." There are some pretty terrific websites and blogs out there that have already matched the sales and coupons for you. Among my personal favorites are Money Saving Mom, Abundant Food Savings, and The Coupon Mom (this website actually gives you a printed list!). All this information is completely free for you to use and is thoughtfully put together each week. Before I plan my trips, I'll review a few of these to help my shopping lists together. It's a great time saver!
Plan your meals. If you are already a meal planner, don't stop doing that! Planning a schedule of meals is a terrific way to save money and stay on task. I just encourage you to consider planning your meals around that week's sales.
Focus on a few great stockpile items each week. It's easy to go overboard on deals. There are ALWAYS deals going on, so it's important to remain mindful of your grocery budget. I'd recommend you set aside a portion of your weekly budget for deals and stockpiling. This week, for instance, I stockpiled soup and pasta sauce. I spent around $15-20 on those items. Now I did find several free items this week. As these did not impact my budget in any way, I took full advantage!
Designate a store for your "need-based" items. You're likely not going to find everything you need for the week on a rock-bottom low sale. That's OK. As you build your stockpile over a few months, you will need to buy less and less. Until that occurs, pick a local grocery or wholesale store in your area that has prices you can live with. In my area, that might be Fred Meyer, Winco, or Costco. Pay attention to what you spend on those "need-based" items so you can keep an eye out for a sale that beats them.
Plan your outing. I now say that a good 75% of my shopping takes place at home. What I mean is I spend the bulk of my time planning my menus, organizing my coupons, and creating my lists from the comfort of my own home. I often have two kids in tow (a baby and a toddler, mind you), so I don't want to lolly-gag at the supermarket. I decide which store(s) I will tackle, get my coupons and list in order, get in, get out. The actual time I spend in any given store is relatively short.
Review your transaction before heading home. Better yet, pay attention while the items are scanning. Is everything ringing up at the correct price? Did the cashier take all of your coupons and enter them correctly? My good friend Jessie has a great tip. She calculates ahead of time an estimate of what her total will be. This helps her catch an error more quickly (and prevents her from making any impulse purchases as well!). If there is an error, try to correct it right then and there. It's always easier to do that than to deal with customer service later or make another trip out to get your money back.
Be a good couponer. Common courtesy, folks. Have your coupons organized BEFORE you get in line. If you have 30 items and 40 coupons, for heaven's sake, let the guy with 2 items behind you go first. Know the store's coupon policy ahead of time by visiting their website or phoning customer service. Make the rest of us couponers look good!

If you have additional tips you'd like to share with me and my readers, I invite you to leave a comment. There are so many ways you can create efficiency when it comes to meal planning, grocery list making, and couponing. Please do share!

Photo credit Cindy Kalamajka

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Feb

Perfect for Seattleites: enjoy an annual Space Needle pass for $29.99!

Thanks to my friend Tara for sharing this awesome deal with me! (Incidentally, I find it humorous she found this because she lives on the other side of the country and here I am in the great state of Washington and was clueless!)

Onto the deal. Right now, you can enjoy an special rate of $29.99 for an annual Space Needle pass when you make the purchase through the Space Needle's website. The great part is the pass entitles you to bring one guest per visit – at no additional charge! Here are a few more details about this promotion:

*Admission once a day for the cardholder + a guest (special events excluded, such as New Year's Eve)

*As a limited time bonus, a complimentary glass of wine for you and your guest on your first trip up will be included!

*20% discount on retail merchandise

When you click on the link above, you'll want to select the "WEB SPECIAL ONLY" link for additional benefits and restrictions. An annual pass normally runs $110 according to their website. Factor in the free glasses of wine, and you have a deal that will pay for itself on your first trip up!

(Photo credit Jade Gordon)

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