Monday, January 4, 2010

Coupons Are Your Friends

Sunday morning is like Christmas almost every week for me. This week was great there were five coupon inserts in the Denver Post. They were worth enough for me, that I purchased a second paper. The paper had a wrap on it that included coupons for Safeway that sold me eggs and milk for less than $1 each.

It only took be about a half hour to put my grocery list together and pull coupons as well. I have a box that I keep up on a regular basis (another half hour a week usually). The benefits are measurable on the bottom of my receipt. The surprise I received was at check out with the reaction of the cashier and the two customers behind me in line.

I leave the house with coupons in hand they have been checked for expiration dates and all are sorted according to my list. When I put an item in the cart the coupon goes in my pocket or when I have company at the store that person gets to hold the coupons. My coupons are presented to the cashier at the beginning of the check out. I do not waste other people's time at the register fussing with coupons. That is both annoying and assures that you will not have all the coupons you should at hand. The customers behind me want to know how I had the time to use coupons. Well the answer comes in that my grocery bill was $170.83, but I wrote a check for $69.53. Saving over $100 made my day. It could make yours too.

Coupons are easy to use if you do keep a system up. I cut them weekly and sort by item type: beverages, baking, refrigerated, frozen, canned goods, condiments, pasta and potatoes, health and beauty, cleaning, paper goods and pet food. The only sort within the categories I do is to put each weeks worth in the back of each category. I find that most companies replace their coupons when their prior ones expire so usually there is not much need to sort within a grouping.

Return envelopes from junk mail make great places to write grocery lists and the coupons are handy inside. I use one for each store I plan to visit. Always be sure to check the coupons in the store fliers. Often you can use a manufacturer's coupons with a store one to increase your savings. Check your stores for which ones offer double or triple coupons. The little Safeway I use doubles coupons all the time since they are right across the street from a big King Soopers.

Additional places to squeak a few extra pennies out at the store include looking at the damage goods rack, the near to expiration items and the holiday markdowns. (White candles priced at 12 cents burn just as nicely as the ones marked $1.) Produce and cheese holiday markdowns are hot right now, look for veggie trays and soon the cheeses that we usually only splurge on at holiday time. Bring your own bags it can put an extra few nickles in your pocket too.

I see you at the grocery store. I will know you buy the coupons in your hands.

1 comment:

  1. Great post.... I need to spend more time on this task. Tam

    ReplyDelete