I saw breanna asked the question about couponing so I wanted to share my insight on coupons and how they've worked for me.
On average each month I spent about $300 total on groceries, hygiene products, etc. Now I spent around $60. Truth.
The #1 best way to save money, without coupons, is pricematching. Walmart pricematches any store that is a competitor within the area, to include online stores if the items are electronics, toys, etc. They don't require that you supply advertisements (they will have them available if they question the sale) and it has decreased our spending by about 40%. The remainder has been as a result of coupons. After DH realized what we could save with coupons, he and I both chose to give up our brand loyalty to certain items and allow the coupons and sales to guide our decision-making about what to buy for groceries.
I spent about one hour a day updating my coupon list and one afternoon (about three hours) grocery shopping. I shop primarily at Walmart and Target (I LOVE their $5.00 gift card sales!) but occasionally will stop by CVS and/or Walgreens if they are hosting a sale I can't pass up. They're all within a one mile driving range for me so I'm not wasting a ton of money on gas, either.
Each week, I send out a pricematching e-mail with all the local stores here that I pricematch from. I also give out a weekly tip on how to save more money and take advantage of coupons further. I figure, if I'm creating a list for myself, I should make it easier on other people and just share it. If you want in, let me know. And ask as many questions of me as you wish - I love to help others learn how to take advantage of the sales and coupons out there!
Re: hi my name's jeni...and i'm a krazy couponer!!
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lol Jeni I admire you and will try and keep my jealousy bottled. good for you for having the patience for doing this! i'm seriously envious of this but i KNOW it's not for me. i mean who knows, when i'm home over the summer maybe i'll take it up.
where do you get your coupons? online or from newspapers?
good work and thanks for the post!
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it's not so much a patience thing. i can admit that i spend about an hour on facebook a day...thirty minutes on here a day...HOURS on pinterest a day...i could give away some of that time to more productive things, you know?
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and to answer your question, i get my coupons from both newspapers and online. i buy my newspapers weekly for $10.88 and get that money returned to me in one shopping trip.
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Jeni I would love to be on your mailing list! I need to start couponing more and need all the help I can get!
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You inspired me to look at the local grocery ads that came in yesterday's paper. It is shocking to me how much I could save if I switch to a different grocery store because it offers a Privilege Plus card, so I can get things WAY cheaper!!! Plus, they have this thing each week where you can mix and match products to make them $1 each (10 for $10), and many of those items are things I would normally buy and have coupons for! I told Jeff we are going to switch stores (which he is jazzed about because he HATES Wal-Mart), and try them for a while. I wasn't impressed with their meat department last time, but I always get meat from the store here in my local home store anyway because they vacuum seal, so that isn't a big deal.
Off to organize my coupons for tomorrow's shopping trip!!!