Couponing 101

I was recently on a job interview.  One of the questions they asked me was:

“Tell me about ONE of your hobbies”

I thought for a minute.  It crossed my mind to talk about scrapbooking.  Most people know that I am a Creative Memories consultant…so I could easily talk about that hobby.  And then writing popped into my head.  I love to write; I’ve always wanted to write (and publish) a book…someday I will.  But then it hit me, I knew what I could talk about…couponing!  I know that may seem silly to some people, but it really is a hobby to me.  You see, as a stay at home mom, my job (besides taking care of my kids and the house) is to save money.  That’s where couponing comes in.

Every Sunday I wake up and drive to my local Dollar Tree.  Papers are only a dollar…the beginning of my savings for that week!  I always buy 3 papers…if coupons are expected to be really good that week, I buy 4.  Now before you sit there and think I am one of those “crazy extreme couponers”, I like to have the extra coupons on hand for things that I need to stock up on that we go through a lot of.  For example, this summer Skippy Peanut Butter was on sale.  When I used my coupon, it made each jar of Skippy Peanut Butter $0.24!  I had 6 copies of the coupon!  Can’t beat that price!

So what exactly do I do?  After I get my coupons I go on the Bargains to Bounty website.  If you aren’t familiar with this site, you really need to check it out!  I absolutely LOVE this site and ever since I started clipping coupons, I’ve used this site.  Once I choose the store I want the coupon match-ups for, I open up an Excel spreadsheet.  Across the top I put the following headings:  Item, Quantity, Price, Coupons, and Total Price.  Now obviously, you can figure out what I put under the first three headings.  However, under the Coupons heading I put the exact coupons I am to use for that transaction and how many I am supposed to use.  Then I update under the last heading exactly what I am going to pay for that particular item.  That way, when I am shopping I am able to double check everything and not be surprised at the check-out line.  If I am standing in front of an item and the price on my spreadsheet says it is supposed to be $1.99 and it says $3.99, I then have the choice of either buying it or not…or ask a store employee about it (which I’ve done before).

I was recently given the opportunity to try out another coupon match-up website.  Only this website has a membership fee.  You may have heard of it…it’s been around a long time; The Grocery Game.  I was really excited to try this site out.  I had heard great things about it and the kind of money people save using it.  So last week I decided to make two lists and use my Grocery Game list to do my shopping from.  The first thing I noticed about The Grocery Game was the fact that it is very user friendly (and if you are confused by it, they have a tutorial for you to go through)!  The first thing you do is customize your list.  To do this you just click on the check next to the item you want to purchase.  If you look to the left hand side of the screen, you will see how much you are saving (I like that part).    After you have compiled you list, click on “gather coupons”.  A screen will pop up to tell you exactly what coupons you need to gather.  Once you’ve gathered your coupons, click on print and you have your list ready to go.

Since I make a spreadsheet for my coupons when I use Bargains to Bounty, I always know what I am going to pay at the store (unless my husband is with me…and then I end up spending more because of the junk he puts in the cart!).  While I was shopping last week, using my list created on The Grocery Game website, I made sure to note next to any item that was actually a higher (or lower…though that doesn’t happen often) price at the store.  Once I came home I added up my “Total Price‘ column on my Bargains to Bounty spreadsheet and compared it to my receipt.

My savings was exactly the same!

So ladies and gentleman, while I was VERY excited to get the opportunity to try out The Grocery Game website, I will not pay to use it in the future.  I definitely see the benefits to using the site.  And if you are one that doesn’t want to sit and make a spreadsheet each week to do your grocery shopping, then The Grocery Game is for you.  But for me, saving money is most important.

If you have any questions about couponing or tips you’d like to share, please leave me a comment!

Disclaimer:  I was provided with a trial of The Grocery Game for the purpose of this post.  All opinions are solely mine.