When it comes to these 70%, 80% or more savings, though, you need to do the exact opposite.
You make your list around your coupons, you don't clip coupons based on your list.
Our circular came in the mail today, and six months ago I would have looked through it and added some $2 pasta sauce, 2 packages of frozen veggies on sale for $1, and a box or two of $3 cereal to my existing list of meat, milk, etc. I wouldn't have had any coupons because I didn't buy a Sunday newspaper and the coupon circular that comes in the mail didn't have anything for cereal, veggies, or pasta sauce (actually, the entire circular pretty much sucks ass). But hey, they were on sale so I was saving money!
Today I looked at the sales circular for all of 5 minutes before tossing it aside.
It's craptastic. Abso-freakin-lutely craptastic.
And, you know what? That's perfectly fine.
Why is it fine?
Because I got 16 packages of frozen veg last week for $.31ea on top of the 10 I'd gotten two weeks before for $.50ea.
Because I got 10 large jars of pasta sauce for $.70ea a few weeks ago.
Because I got 15 boxes of pasta at a profit last week.
I have canned tomatoes, canned veggies, cheese, lunchmeat, coffee, cookies, feminine products, toothpaste, deodorant, and all manner of everyday use items that I got for free or nearly free tucked away for shitty sales weeks just like this one.
I'm not obligated to pay $3 for a box of cereal this week because the boxes I got for half that or less are in the pantry. If we were out of coffee I wouldn't have much choice but to pay $11 for a single canister.
And as an extension of shopping based on your coupons rather than the other way around - you eat based on what you've already purchased for pennies on the dollar rather than shop based on what you want to eat.
I mean, sure, if you've got a craving for some ice cream, go buy the ice cream even if it's full price. But once you get that new mindset, once you get to the point where you've got the beginnings of a stockpile of nonperishables, your meals should be planned around what you've got on hand.
With so much free pasta, I'll lean towards preparing more pasta dishes. I've got tomatoes, pasta sauce, piles of frozen veggies, beef, chicken, cheese....I could turn that into about 10 different meals. Instead of looking at the craptastic grocery sales this week and trying to come up with dinner, I pick and choose the few good deals and use those to supplement the food I've already got. Next week's sales will hopefully provide more opportunities to stock up on other stuff.
So what am I buying this week?
There's the usual: milk, meat, produce, soda.
Ketchup. We only have about a bottle and a half right now. One store (which doesn't double coupons) has Heinz for a buck, and the other store (which does) has it for $1.29. I may have a handful of $.75/1 coupons en route, so if those get here in time I'll take the profit on the $1.29 ketchup. If not, I plan to pick up a couple bottles for a buck each at my non-usual store to stash aside until another sale comes up.
Ziploc bags. $1.20 per box after sale & coupon, which is still fairly high, but again....we're almost out. I'll buy a couple and hope for cheaper to stock up.
Bush's beans. They're on sale and I have a stack of coupons to take the bigger cans down to $.57 and $.67ea. That's low enough to buy 8-10 cans.
A few canned veggies for $.50ea. We have a fairly decent amount of these, but I'll grab 5 or 10 for that price.
That's about it. No pushing around two carts, no 58 transactions, no car packed to the rafters with bags this week.
And we have enough food stocked on our shelves to not have to worry about it.
3 comments:
I applaud the concept. From a prepper POV you are stockpiling what you eat and eating what you stockpile. If, heavens forbid, something happens to make getting to the store impossible or impractical, you will hardly notice. Bravo!
Woohoo, I'm blogworld famous! :)
In all seriousness, though, I think I get it now, and the forum you sent me to is a wondrous resource, which led me to discover that there is ONE grocery store I go to sometimes (though usually I don't buy groceries there, since it's an hour away) that does Catalinas, and that's Meijer. Now, since I go to Springfield (where Meijer is) fairly often anyway, I can keep an eye on their sales and coincide them with my coupons and maybe get an even better deal!
Getting my mom on board is going to be tougher. She thinks it's a waste of time, spending so much time looking for/clipping coupons, organizing them, and looking for sales. I figure she'll change her tune once I get a really good deal on something (or a lot of somethings).
Misty, first of all, show her my trip recaps if you haven't already. :)
Second, don't feel that you have to clip every coupon! I'm actually getting to the point where I just don't have the room to clip and carry everything with me. My purse ain't that big.
What I've started to do is only clip what I know I need for the current shopping trip and also items that stand a good chance at being free or nearly free (i.e. $.75 off any Mr. Clean Magic Eraser; it doubles, and I recall that they're not much over $2, so I'll take those coupons with me and buy if the price is right). The stack of inserts gets labeled with its date, put aside, and I can pull them out and clip as needed when sales come up. Like - hey, sale on Ziploc bags coming up at Rite Aid, there was a coupon for that in the 10/10 circular, so I took out my 10/10 circulars and cut out the correct coupons. Then I put them away again.
If you're out in Springfield often enough, throw a cheap styrofoam cooler in your backseat or trunk when you're going to hold frozen/cold items on the trip back.
Okay, looking at the Meijer sale this week - Kraft shredded cheese and the blocks of Kraft cheese are on sale for $1.67ea. You can print two copies of a $5 off 5 Kraft items coupon here:
http://brands.kraftfoods.com/kraftcheese/index.html
If you buy 10 bags of shredded cheese or 10 blocks ($16.70) and use two of the $5 coupons (-$10), they'll be $.67ea through Saturday. $6.70 for 5lbs of cheese total.
There's your good deal #1.
You can also get two boxes of Raisin Bran for $1.49 per box by printing the $1 off two coupon here:
http://www2.kelloggs.com/Coupon.aspx?id=1992
That's a pretty good deal, especially with non-doubling coupons. Deal #2.
If you're out that way before the sale ends, try those out. :)
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