When I started couponing, I found myself in the stores at a near daily basis. I HAD to score all these freebies & deals, right?
I soon found myself experiencing “couponer’s guilt” whenever I missed a deal, or didn’t do a deal as perfectly as could be done. Now that I’ve been at this a bit, my perspective is much different. Most important, I believe couponing should be fun and that it shouldn’t consume your life! I thought this morning I would share a few things I’ve done to improve my “shopping strategy.”
1. I try to shop on ONE day. As much as possible, I try to focus my shopping efforts on ONE day. Usually, it’s towards the beginning of the week. I may pick a drugstore and a grocery store, two grocery stores, or one grocery store. I do them back-to-back, on one trip. This saves time and it saves gas. The goal of a couponer should be to become a better, more efficient shopper.
2. I throw in my deals with my normal shopping. I’ve explained this before, but there are two kinds of shopping: “stockpile deals,” and the items you need to complete your meals for the week (I call the latter “need-based“). Each week, I’ll see if there’s a freebie or two I can throw in my mix. If there’s a Catalina promotion I’m doing, I may plan on doing two transactions. I’ll do the first transaction, get my Catalina, and then proceed to shop for the rest of my items.
3. I go in with a plan! I’m usually shopping with little ones, and that works to keep me even MORE on task. I don’t want to be in the store for a long period of time! I have my list, my coupons, we get and do our thing.
4. I’ve identified my “go to” stores. For instance, Winco is my “go to” store for cooking and baking basics (LOVE those bins!). Albertsons is my “go to” store when there’s a great promotion for stockpiling. Fred Meyer is my “go to” store for produce and meat. This helps me make my plan. If you have more than one store in your area, do some comparison shopping!
So what happens if an incredible deal pops up mid-week?
First, I have to do some soul-searching. Do I REALLY need more shampoo? Is it worth my time, effort, and gas? You could even do the math. Let’s say the shampoo is on sale at Walgreens and works out to a $1 profit after Register Reward and coupon.
Time in clipping coupon, gathering kids, and out the door: 15 minutes (if I’m fast!)
Time driving to my Walgreens and back: 10 minutes (we have one close by)
Sales tax (at nearly 10%): $0.30
Bottom line: profit of $0.70
If I don’t really need more shampoo, I think I’d value 25 minutes of my life more than $0.70.
What about you? What things do you do to save time and stay on task? How do you determine if the deal is worth doing?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Over the last year, as I’ve tried out “extreme couponing” as I call it, I’ve come to a lot of the same conclusions as Angela. I used to get really uspet if a deal didn’t work out, but I feel like I’m much more balanced about it all now. I also don’t have a car, so I limit myself to stores within walking/biking/bus distance. I miss out on a lot of good deals, but I think lifestyle has to come first, plus having to rent a car or spend an extra hour on the bus to get to a store is hardly ever worth the money or time. I also absolutely don’t buy things I won’t use, even if it means loosing out on additional savings. It’s just really important to me to not be wasteful.
p.s. Angela, I love the new blog design-it seems to fit your writer’s voice quite well. Thanks for doing such a great job with the blog-it’s my favorite frugal living blog.
WOW! Thanks, thisjill, what a huge compliment!
I do my shopping pretty much the EXACT same way as you. We even have the same “go to” stores. I also do a weekly trip to Target to check out their prices and see if I can find any amazing clearance deals.
Great post Angela!
I do my shopping in a similar way, with Albertsons being the great stock-up place (especially when there’s doubles), Fred Meyer is my “go-to” for a typical weeks grocery “needs”, since I know if I don’t have a coupon or there’s not a big sale on something I need, then I am paying a good price for it. I tend to hit target a couple times a week and just search the clearance for fun….but it just seems to be easier to take the kids and wander around in there than the grocery stores. I will sometimes hit a mid-week deal if it’s something I would really like to stock up on, but I usually do that before picking up the kids (I work part time)….makes it so much easier than hauling them out the door!
Angela,
I have to tell you I really enjoy your blog and fb page. I really appreciate your matter of fact style. You also motivate me to try even harder to save money when I can!
I also wanted you to know that you have the BEST “Followers!” I’ve “followed” a few other pages on fb and have noticed a lot of whiney, negative comments. I love everyone’s positive comments and the information and experiences that they so willingly share. This is a great site! I truly appreciate all the cooperation and collaboration that goes on here. Thank you for being the conduit for all of this great knowledge!
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve only been couponing for a few weeks now and this helps a lot. I basically have everything down to one store because I take all of the promotions and coupons you tell us about and go to Wal-Mart since they will price match anyone in town. That way I get (almost) every good sale at every store without going to each of them. Very helpful since I’m 6 months pregnant and have a 2 year old in tow! The only time I go somewhere else is if I can get something free or make money at Walgreen’s. It is literally across the parking lot from Wal-Mart and I also love checking their clearance shelves to see if anything matches my coupons.
I do have a question…will you share how you match up coupons with deals in the ads? There are a couple of grocery stores local to my town (Yakima, WA) that are never listed on any blogs and I want to make sure I’m not missing deals. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of coupons I now have and don’t know how to match them up to the ad. Thanks!
Aubrey, I may just have to do a separate post to do that! I can tell you the best thing to do is to dive into those ads and scan them every week. And scan your coupons, too! Over time, you will start to make the connections.
When I see something that looks like a sale, I circle it. Then when I’m done with that, I go to Hotcouponworld’s database (www.hotcouponworld.com). I also have a coupon database under “Getting Started.” If there is a coupon to match with the sale, and IF the end result is a rockin’ price, it goes on my post. If it’s only so-so or not a good deal (even with a coupon), it doesn’t make the final cut.
I’ll have to do a separate post sometime soon to show you how I’m doing that!
I stick to my Walgreens & Safeway stores with a trip to the farmer’s market once in a while. Our Safeway has a great produce selection and we have our meat butchered so no need to head to FM – I’d be tempted by everything else if I did! I only go to Wags on Thurs. because my dd is in town for dance so I don’t waste the trip. I do miss having a Winco, but the 40 minute drive there isn’t worth the savings to me. My stockpile has gotten to the point that I cherry pick more than anything else these days, sometimes going a month or two without shopping for anything other than dairy or produce.
When I first started, I, too, felt like I had to get every deal at every store every week. After a while, I learned what’s important for me and my household.
We don’t live near any stores, so it takes careful planning and choosing to fit everything in one trip. My son’s preschool is surrounded by all kinds of stores. It’s usually more efficient if I don’t go home after I drop him off, so I have the luxury of two shopping days during the school year. When school’s out, though, it’s back to one carefully planned trip.
Great post. A strategy is key to sanity! People who run around everyday trying to score the deals are crazy and they burn out on couponing very fast.
The recent post for TP from Staples…OMG. I got 120 rolls for $14.95 delivered (free). We looked at that..12 cents per roll….for something we all throw away but we all need…and then, further, realizing that there are 52 weeks in a year – even if we used 2 rolls per week (which we do not), that’s a years’ worth of TP (even if it’s not super-duper quality). After analyzing all that, it was definitely worth it. AND NO DRIVE TO THE LOCAL STAPLES!! Your site is awesome.
I agree with your post. When I first started couponing about 1 year ago I thought, gosh I have to do that deal, I have to do this deal..ect. Now that I have a decent stockpile around the house I have to always remind my self it is worth me doing this deal, do we need more, is it worth me going out of my way to buy this product, ect. Bottom line you have to make sure what you are doing in the first time is to save money for your family and to have more time to be spent with them.