Thursday, July 17, 2008

Money saving

I think you need to further explain this method of bargain hunting to those of us who are not quite as good at is as you are, but long to be. Poke. Poke. Poke.

My method? hehehe...I'm a genius! Oh, ok, you want the truth? I cheat. I tried doing it on my own, but I can't keep it all organized enough with everything else I'm responsible for in my life.

So, I belong to thegrocerygame.com for my grocery store deals and afullcup.com for deals at other stores. These places match up sales with coupons so I can save maximum dollars. I like grocerygame because they even divide the shopping list up for you and give you percentage savings and tips on how to stockpile when things are at their best prices. It costs me $10 every 8 weeks, but I figure the time I save searching through ads and coupons is worth it...not to mention the deals I would miss if I didn't have the help.

afullcup is great because they will have the sales lists out ahead of time, so I can plan ahead...want to maximize every coupon, ya know? :o)

At the grocery I try not to buy anything less than a 50% savings. I can achieve this either through sales (my store has a lot of BOGO sales) or through coupons (my store doubles coupons up to and including $0.99...so a $0.99 coupon gives you $1.98 off).

And then, there's CVS and Walgreens. These stores are awesome for their coupon/sale combos. The Extra Care Bucks program...LOVE it! That is my favorite way to get the non-grocery items. The key is to shop the sales and the ECB deals and stock up on stuff before you need it. I will never again pay full price for toothpaste or deodorant...because I don't have to!

**edited to add (because Rach's question made me think of it)**
I am not fully committed to the idea of good deals for the sake of good deals and I probably spend a bit of extra money because I maintain brand loyalty for certain things...particularly laundry, skin and haircare products (due to the sensitive nature of my family's skin). I also am, and always will be, a Crest girl (36 years old and NO cavities). Not even freebies from another brand will convince me to switch toothpaste.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I need to start doing this with the grocery store. I LOVE that you do this too - was so excited to see that! I am going to post some of my finds today - have you seen the Johnson's Bath buddies coupon for $1 off a bar of buddies soap? They cost $0.94! Too good to be true! :)

I'm a dork, yeah, I admit it.

Mom

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