Soon after I married Justin, I began to learn about bargain shopping. His family members are bargain shoppers to the core. They can't pass up a good deal. After returning from my second trip to Walmart in one day last night, I realized I may now be more obsessed with bargain hunting than they are.
Yes, I made two trips to Walmart yesterday. The first trip occurred yesterday after naptime. I loaded my two boys in the car...diaper bag was packed with snacks, juice, grocery store ads, and a long list categorized by area of the store so as to make for as fast of a shopping trip as possible. We arrived at the store (which was packed with back-to-school shoppers), and a few minutes into my trip, I realized I had left my coupon file at home. AHHHHH! I must have had $15 worth of coupons, many of which I had paired with a great sale of the day. The old shopper in me would have said, "Forget it!" and gone on with my shopping trip. The new bargain hunter in me just couldn't bear the thought of buying these items without my coupons. So I proceeded to buy all the things off my list that did not require coupons in favor of returning later for the remainder of the items. So at 8:30pm last night, after the kids were in bed, I headed back to Walmart. It could not have waited until the next day, because Tuesdays are the last day in the sale cycle. So, I guess I am officially obsessed. Anyone who subjects themselves to two trips to Walmart in one day must be obsessed.
I think my friends are getting tired of me talking about grocery shopping saving strategies. It started a few months ago when my friend Hannah introduced me to her newly learned savings strategies that her mother taught her. Get us talking on this, and we can go on for hours. You can skip this if you don't care, but just in case you get as excited as I do about saving money, here is a brief lowdown:
1) Shopping at Walmart saves money. You miss the convenience and pleasantness of nicer grocery stores, but if you want to save big bucks, you have to shop at Walmart.
2) Walmart claims to be the lowest price in town, and if they are not they will match it. All you have to do is look at your ads that come in the mail and the ones in the Sunday paper from any grocery store or drug store (even Target). Circle the sale items, and when you get to the store, compare it with the Walmart price. If the sale price is lower, show it to the cashier and they will manually put in the lower price. I actually write the sale price next the the item on my list, so that I can quickly compare prices and find the ad easily when I get to the counter. Walmart will even price comp on produce. The only thing they don't match are buy 1, get 1 free sales. You would have to go to the actual grocery store to take advantage of those sales.
3) Clip coupons. Get a Sunday paper and start cutting coupons. Keep a coupon file.
4) Print online coupons. There are all sorts of free online coupons available. Some of the ones I have discovered are:
coupons.com
smartsource.com
couponbug.com
bettycrocker.com
You can sign up for email alerts on these, and they will email you when new coupons are available.
5) Try to match coupons with the sale items. This way you are using your coupons when the item is at the lowest price and getting the best deal for your money.
6) Learn to stockpile. This means you buy items when you don't necessarily need them. You are buying them when they are at a low price and thus saving money in the long run. After a few months of this, you will start to see real savings. For instance, stockpile on chicken breasts when they are on sale, and then you can freeze them and have them to use all month long.
7) Learn how to shop your drug store sales. For me that is CVS, but I hear that Walgreens has great bargains too. Walgreens is not very convenient for me, so I shop CVS. For details on how to get the most from your money at CVS, see iheartcvs.com
I used to think that all of this would not be possible with two little ones, but I've been doing it all summer. It just takes some extra time and planning. So is it worth it? Yes, yes, and yes! For me, it is all about being a good steward of God's money. It's all HIS anyway, and this is one small way that I am learning to be a better steward with what He has entrusted to me.
"Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything. " 1 Chronicles 29:11
Fourth of July
18 hours ago
3 comments:
Kate, you have told me about this before, but it is seriously amazing! I pride myself on being quite the organized person, but I don't know if I am that organized. Maybe one day we can go over all of this again, and I'll jump on the bandwagon. It's clearly a great way to save money and be a good steward!! And I do feel the thrill when I go bargain shopping!
Great Post Kate! I always love to hear how you and Hannah are saving money. I think I am just going to start slow making changes and hopefully will also become obsessed and see huge savings! I figure since I do not work outside of the home it is my job to stretch our dollars, so the time is NOW for me to jump onboard!!!
Oh, I like this! One other coupon savings website that I like is printable-coupons.blogspot.com
It feels SO good not to be wasteful and careless in this area. I feel a burden lifted that I never knew I had! But I know now there was a heaviness that came with spending money I didn't have to spend. There really is no end to how it has blessed me. And I still consider myself an amateur! I think there's a lot more savings out there that I haven't even begun to tap into. There's definitely room to grow still for me in this!
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