Tag Archive | grocery saving

Couponing Tip- Make Educated Decisions!

Jan23

Take a Moment and Consider the Worth

Excited Student With A Composition Book

 

This Sunday there should be multiple coupon inserts in your Sunday paper.  These coupons provide great money saving opportunities for the wise couponer.  Here’s the shocker…I won’t be purchasing extra papers!  Have you passed out?  Has your mouth dropped open and hit the floor?

I will receive my home delivered newspaper and will gladly use whatever coupons match with great sales for items I currently need or will need in the near future.

Confused?  Perhaps you are scratching your head and asking why I wouldn’t purchase extra papers since there are so many inserts?  The answer is easy… I really am not in need of any of the items the coupons are for.  Although they are great products, I already have them in my stockpile.  As I look at my calendar, I recognize I have just a few limited days before traveling for a week.  How do I desire to spend my time?  Since I am well stocked in the items, I’ve decided to not spend the limited time purchasing, clipping and organizing coupons.  I’ve also decided I will only head to the store for the minimal items, if any, I need prior to my trip.  Actually, my goal is to only stock pile additional items I am low in or need to add.  This is one more benefit of a stock pile!  No grocery store for me this week or next…and no, my family will not starve.  Instead, they will be well fed from our freezer and pantry.  Their daily needs will be provided for from the stock pile.

This is one more way I’ve proven you do not need to become a prisoner of your coupons or shopping.  Freedom is to be had, just like the great deals are.  

Have you checked http://www.moneysavingmom.com or http://www.forthemommas.com to see the sneak preview of this Sunday’s coupons?  You can also peak into the upcoming sales. Gather your information and make educated choices as you plan your shopping trip and stock pile needs.  Your time and money are valuable and worthy of taking a few minutes to educate yourself with these money saving resources!

Happy Couponing!

Coupon Tip- How Much Time Do I Have To Spend To Save Big Money?

Jan17

Another common question, usually followed with, “I don’t have a lot of time to invest in this, can I still save?”

My answer is a resounding, “YES! You can save BIG and spend less time preparing and shopping!”

MP900341439

 

For the past two weeks I have proven this to be true.

The first week I reviewed my Sunday paper coupons at home from the paper we have delivered daily.  I also reviewed the current Weis ad.  I found them both to be worthy of purchasing additional papers so I had more coupons so we purchased our newspapers Sunday morning on the way to church.  After church we went to the local Weis store and clipped and shopped at the exact same time.  I would call this ‘flying by the seat of our pants’ couponing.  If you were there you would have found both Bob and me removing the coupons from the multiple papers, and then finding the coupons we were interested in and clipping them by hand which meant we neatly tore them since I didn’t have my binder or scissors with me (lesson learned).  We didn’t spend much time at the store and still made quite a few bargains and gas points.  I wish I still had my receipt to show you the details.

This past week I once again reviewed my paper at home as well as the ad.  We did our Sunday trek of Bob dropping me off at the Dollar Store to purchase my papers while he made a Wawa run for his coffee.  Remember, always verify they have the correct number of inserts.  I could have walked down the sidewalk to Weis if the Dollar Store didn’t have them all.  After church we grabbed a quick bite to eat, cut some coupons at the pizza shop and then went to Weis.  Great deals were had!!!  Keep in mind the week before I put my coupon binder back together again and I had it with me for this trip.  Again, I didn’t plan the trip ahead of time.  I do have the details for this trip.  Although we purchased many items not listed below, here are a few of the great deals I received:

Ragu Pasta Sauce is on sale- buy 2 get 2 free (limit of one deal).  I didn’t have coupons for this however, who could refuse half price pasta sauce?

Birds Eye Steamfresh Veggies are 5 for $5- I had a coupon for $1 off

Yoplait Yogurt is on sale for 10 for $5 and I had lots of coupons for $1 off 8 and since this is a popular item in our home we purchased quite a bit

Ortego Taco Sauce was on clearance for just .99 and I had multiple coupons for $1 of two so I stocked up.  We’ll be enjoying this in many forms. Always check the dates on clearance items.  This sauce has another year left to it yet.

General Mills Cereal (GM) was on an incredible deal from Weis and then GM made it even better.  Weis gave free milk coupons when you purchase any 8 boxes of this cereal.  Specially marked boxes provided a special deal for free movie tickets- when you buy two you get a free ticket on line.  In addition to this I had coupons $1 off two boxes.  I purchased quite a bit of cereal of our favorite kinds and Bob and I will have free dates to the movies!  Do the math and you will be impressed!  This deal is good for 12 weeks and you do not need to purchase all the cereal in one trip.  Also, there is no limit to the number of times you do this deal.  We purchased two deals worth this past Sunday.

Weis is also running another great deal this week on multiple items (Scott TP, Viva paper towels, Cottonelle TP, Huggies diapers and wipes, Kotex, Colgate, Irish Spring, Soft Soap body wash, wipes, Kleenex, Depends and Poise, Palmolive, and Speed Stick/Irish Spring deodorant .  When you purchase $30 worth (shelf price) you get $10 off toward your next order.  If you do not need $30 worth of these items you can purchase $20 shelf price and receive $5 off your next order. I chose Scott paper towels and Kleenex tissues.   I had coupons for these items, however even without coupons I would have found this deal worthy since we were getting extremely low in tissues and kind of low in paper towels.  By the time you get the $10 toward your next order you save quite a bit!  Remember, at Weis it’s the shelf price they count toward the $30 or $20, not the sale price.  Unlike Giant who doesn’t count it until after all savings- sales and coupons.  This is one more reason why Weis is my store of choice!  

Overall, here are the numbers for this past Sunday’s trip:

  • Out of Pocket (OOP) $125.73
  • Total Savings* $75.83 (includes 2 gallons of free milk which are now in my freezer)
  • Total Movie Ticket Value* $96! (in addition to the total savings listed above)
  • Total Gas Points* .30 per gallon which could save us $8 at the pump!
  • Total Savings including all * above: $179.83
  • Percentage of savings was 70%

NOT BAD FOR NO PLANNING!  All it took was to look at my one delivered paper quickly on Sunday morning, look at the Weis ad, purchase multiple papers (because I found it worthy to) and do a 45 minute shopping trip.  All it takes is a few moments, an organized binder from past coupons (which doesn’t take very long) and a trip to the store knowing what the sales are and then having your eyes trained for clearance items- such as the taco sauce.

As you can see, I really haven’t spent much time on this.  I hope you’ve found this encouraging.  By the way, the sales I spoke of above are still available until this Saturday, January 19th.  

How much time do you spend preparing for your trip?  I’d love to hear your responses!  So would others.

Couponing Tip- What’s the Deal with Newspapers?

Jan11

Where should you purchase your newspapers and how many should you purchase?

Woman with Newspaper

These are two very popular questions I’m asked.  Let’s look at them individually…

Where Should I Purchase My Paper?

Up until recently I have recommended purchasing Sunday newspapers at Dollar Tree since they only charge $1.00 per paper as compared to full price elsewhere.  Depending where the store is located will depend which paper they carry.  In the past I’ve found this to be very beneficial until they began limiting the number of papers each person could purchase.  I found this limiting for myself since I often purchase multiple copies when the coupons are good.  Another problem- they just seem to run out all the time, quite early.  I’m not sure if they are limited by the amount of papers they are permitted to sell?

Another reason to rethink where I purchase my papers happened this month.  I heard, through good sources, there were to be five inserts on a particular Sunday.  I investigated what coupons would be found in them.  I realized I wanted multiple papers since there were quite a few valuable coupons for items I needed to restock.  When I went to Dollar Tree at 10:30am they told me they were already sold out.  After a short conversation they mentioned their papers only had four inserts.  I then went down the sidewalk to our local Weis store (Gap) and checked the same paper and guess what?  It had all five inserts!  Mmmmm… I’m wondering if Dollar Tree doesn’t receive all the inserts in their discounted papers?  I was happy to purchase four papers that Sunday- and they all had five inserts!  Thank you Weis!!

Lesson learned- make sure the papers you purchase have all the inserts in them.  You can verify which inserts you should see at www.moneysavingmom.com or www.forthemommas.com.  I find both of these sites are extremely helpful in my coupon shopping.  In fact, I’ve learned to teethe on coupons with their help.

 

How Many Papers Should I Purchase?

Personally, it varies from week to week.  The Sunday newspapers are my number one source for coupons.  By verifying which coupons should be included in the paper and what deals are on the way I can make an informed choice.  I’ve been known to purchase anywhere from two to eight papers Sunday mornings.  Keep in mind I am an extreme coupon shopper which means I have a large stockpile on hand at all times. For instance, this time of the year we will see many coupons for cleaning items so I know it’s time to begin seeking deals to stock up on spring cleaning products as well as cleaning products for the remainder of the year until next January.  Seem a bit extreme?  Perhaps to the untrained coupon shopper.  However, when I get name brand cleaning supplies for $1 or less at this time of the year then I’d say it’s worth my while.  I won’t need to purchase my cleaning items for an entire year.  For the most part I save a minimum of 75% of the cost.  Although cleaning is not one of my favorite things to do, I do smile when I get to use quality products and saved money for my family at the same time!

How many papers will I purchase this week?  I’m not sure yet- I better go check out my sources to see what coupons will be in them and get planning!  To help make this easier- I have a Sunday paper delivered to my home so I can check before heading out the door for church.  It’s common for me to read through the coupon inserts in the car while my husband gets us to our church in Gap.  Happy shopping everyone! 

 

Extreme Couponing in Excellence Workshop April 14th!!! Registration is a MUST!!

Mar30

REGISTRATION OPEN TO PUBLIC!

Extreme Couponing in Excellence Workshop

is being offered on Saturday, April 14th, 9-4

Taught by Karen Pennell of Sharing From the Heart Ministry

Hosted at Living Rock Bible Church, Elverson PA.

$20 per ticket

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED!

http://couponworkshop0414.eventbrite.com/

Isn’t it time you started saving money on your groceries?

My March is Coming in Like a Sweet Lamb…

Mar3

I’ve been enjoying some extreme shopping this week.  Extreme sales + Extreme coupons = EXTREME DEALS!  This post is a little longer than my past ones, but you will want to see these pictures and these numbers.  Check this out…

On 2/26/2012 I made an early morning trip to my local Gap Weis to participate in their Kelloggs Cereal deal of ‘buy 4 selected cereals at 2.99 each and get a gallon of milk for FREE’!  These were not little boxes of cereal- they were the larger ones.  I spent $80.47 out of my pocket, saved a total of $73.93 (including coupons), and brought home a total value of items $154.40.  This means I only paid for 48% of my items.  Unfortunately I do not have a picture, but let’s see what $80.47 bought me…

28 large boxes of cereal and 7 FREE gallons of milk (see picture in previous posting)

I know this seems like a lot to spend on cereal at one time, but keep in mind that 7 gallons of milk would have cost $27.  The price of 4 large boxes of cereal and one gallon of milk (after coupons) cost just me $10 approximately.  Your next question is most likely, what will you do with all that cereal?  Check the dates- many are good until 2013!  I have 4 adults in our home which adds up to a lot of cereal consumed.  We also use some of this cereal to donate to food pantries in our community.

The next Extreme Couponing trip was on March 2nd at my local Gap Weis again.  They had a great ad this week and I had the coupons to match the incredible deals!  This trip was $87.51 out of my pocket, total savings of $171.92, total value of $259.43.  This means I only paid for 33% of the items I brought home.  I also had a $10 Catalina Coupon leftover for my next trip.  (Don’t know what a Catalina Coupon is?  Come to my next workshop and find out…you’ll love them!)  In addition to these savings I also have great gas rewards.  Let’s see what this $87.51 bought my family:

Stacks of Sobe Waters, Tostino Pizza Rolls, Trix Yogurt, Smart Ones Weight Watcher Meals, Ore Ida Fries, Birds Eye Veggies, Tuna, Ketchup and Salad Dressings.

Now keep watching and reading..

My next trip (same day) was to the Thorndale Giant and I spent $83.82 out of my pocket, total savings of $121.99, total value of $205.81.  I recieved gas rewards.  I only paid for 40% of the value of the items.  Here’s what this $83.81 bought our family:

Yes, that’s more free milk:)  Got it free by purchasing the cookies that were on a Catalina deal and I had coupons for them (this is called layering your deals)!  Check out all the items- a beef roast, cheese, meatballs, fish, tuna, pizza…and yes, more cereal.  Considering the milk would have cost $22.50 and the roast was $14 (total of $36.50)…I think my remaining $47 was well spent.  Don’t you?

Now, one day later I made one last trip to my local Weis Market (Gap, PA) and spent $58.29 out of my pocket, saved a total of $158.28, with a total value of merchandise at $216.57.  This means I only paid 27% of the bill and saved a HUGE 73% on this order.  Let’s look at what my $58.29 bought my family:

Had ya for a minute, didn’t I?  Not only did it buy all the lovely junk food, but it also bought the following:

Now, before you judge me for the excess ‘junk’ food…keep in mind the warmer weather is coming, so are picnics, parties and gatherings.  I’ve decided to stock these items while I can get them at the best price.  Instead of paying $4 for a bag of tortilla chips, I paid $1.  Oh, and the additional ketchup?  Not mine, I picked it up at just $1 per 40 oz container for my daughter:)  There is a redeeming item…did you notice the Mrs. Paul’s Parchment Baked Fish?  4 boxes.  Each box sells for $7.  The Birds Eye veggies?  Each sells for $2.19.  Total value of these six items would have been $32.38.  I only paid $14!  Not bad, heh?  Today’s trip to Weis was only a total of $58.  Figuring the fish and veggies regularly sell for $32, I think the remainder of my $26 did a great job, don’t you?

Do I normally spend this much on groceries in such a short time?  NO!  Good grief…I wouldn’t have the time, the strength or the money.  Since building my stockpile I haven’t needed to shop weekly like many of you do.  Instead, when the great deals come around I am able to spend additional funds to restock items near depletion in my stockpile.  Note, I said stockpile, not hoarding pile.  What’s the difference?  That’s easy to explain.  A healthy stockpile is one that includes items and quantities of those items that you will use until the sale rotation allows you to restock the items you deplete at the best deal possible.  Example:

One year ago I purchased 65 boxes of cereal which included a lot of free milk.  I froze the milk and didn’t need to purchase milk for the next 4 months!  I knew I would use it up and wasn’t about to walk away from a free milk deal!  The 65 boxes of cereal?  We ate most of it, donated some of it, and helped stock my daughter with some.  By the time this amazing deal came around again (one year later) I was only left with a few boxes.  So, as you can see in the lists and pictures above…I just restocked!  I’ve already set aside a donation for Jars of Hope food pantry and also for my elderly parents.

This cereal and milk deal most likely won’t roll around again until this time in 2013…at that time, I’ll be ready with coupons in hand and head to the store to do a complete restock again.  I know what I stock we will use or I donate it.  That’s what I call a healthy stockpile.  Hoarding is grabbing deals on things you don’t like, can’t possibly use all of and won’t donate.  The items will just sit there in your home unused and wasted.  It’s sad…so many extreme couponers do this type of hoarding.  Extreme Couponing in Excellence teaches how to have a healthy stockpile and how to benefit the community with your abundance.  Sitting in the corner of my office are nine grocery bags I will be taking to my elderly parents this week.  The bags are full of cereal, paper products, soups, gravies, jelly, peanut butter, broths, laundry detergent, cleaning items…  In my other corner is my growing pile to donate to Jars of Hope.  Freely we have been given the blessings of amazing extreme couponing deals, so freely we must give to others.  It makes finding the deals all the more exciting!  Thank you Giant and Weis!  Thank you to the manufacturers of these products and their willingness to offer coupons and Catalina deals. Thank you Lord for the ability to provide for our family at just a fraction of the cost.

Have you signed up for the Extreme Couponing Workshop yet?  It’s on Saturday, March 17th, 9-4 at the Family Center of Gap.  Check out more info at REGISTER or call me at (610) 593-6331 or karen@karenpennellconsulting.com.  You don’t have to spend the amount I spent this week to save 50, 60, 70+ percent of your grocery bill!