Couponing- what’s the BIG Deal ??
Well nowadays, everyone is talking about Coupons. I’m BIG on coupons myself as you probly already figured out. Coupons are like CASH in your pocket, they are just in disguise. If you have a $5 bill in your pocket, would you ignore it? So why would you ignore a $5 coupon of an item that would make it FREE…?? That FREE item now gives you $5 in your pocket…. So open them eyes, look at coupons in a different way and let me show you how…
Basic Idea- Shop when it’s a CHEAP sale, use coupons WITH that sale, and stockpile!
How do WE shop?
1.) Preplan my grocery trip.
*Research all the sales websites, I post each Sunday “what’s on sale” for the week, that’s where I go and pick out the BEST deals and make my list
*Put ALL my coupons needed in an envelope.
*ONLY buy what is on my list.
*ONLY buy what is on sale and with coupons, I rarely buy something at the store that is NOT on sale or doesn’t have a coupon, everything at one point or the other will be on sale, work your shopping list around the sales not your list around your Wants !!!
A rule in our house is :” if it is NOT on a great sale, and if I don’t have coupons for it, I USUALLY do NOT buy it!” Everyone in the house knows that andI have a list of things the kids want and hubby wants, they know they will get it eventually but not till there is a sale.. once there is a sale, they usually get enough that would last them month.:-)
2.) STOCKPILE when it is cheap!
*Would you rather pay $5 for your favorite bag of coffee or buy 5 bags of your coffee for $5?
* My general rule when stockpiling is buy enough for about 2 months. Coupons & sales generally go in rotation every month or so. I also hardly ever buy more than 10 of an item. My family of 5 will live well on 10 items, if it’s snacks or cheese or what ever we use, 10 is plenty for us. Also make sure you check expiration dates at the store, you want to get as far out as possible. If the expiration date is 6 weeks out, will ou eat 10 boxes of Cereal in that time frame?? if not, then only by 4 or 6 boxes. Get the idea?
3.) Plan your meals AROUND the sales.
That’s what we did in the beginning, now that we have a stockpile we plan our meals around our pantry; if we have pasta and Pork in abundance that’s what we will eat that week. I post a Monday Meal Plan each week, that keeps us on track and keeps our budget down.
Share Your Thoughts