One of our MOPS moms saved around $175 in one trip shopping for groceries. Another MOPS mom regularly snagged items for less than $1. Another MOPS mom saved up to 90% on a single item during a grocery trip. What's the secret?
COUPONS!
Here are some common excuses people have for not couponing & the responses to those excuses:
"I don't have time. It just seems like a lot of work to save $0.75." - Clipping coupons does not take that much time. A single coupon insert can be gone through in under 5 minutes. Most grocery stores, like Giant Eagle, will double coupons that are $0.99 and less. Target accepts manufacturer coupons in addition to their own store coupons (you can use 2 coupons for one item). Spending 5 minutes once a week and then saving tens of dollars (at least) at the store is a good deal! The Grocery Game takes a lot of the work out of coupon clipping by matching up coupons with sale for you! You can even get a free trial. Cancelling is a no-hassle process.
"I only buy generic, so I don't have a need to clip coupons." - It's easy to purchase name brand items for pennies when using coupons. You can even come out cheaper than buying generic! The key is to use coupons when there are sales (watch your local ads) and you can sometime walk out of the store with FREE items.
"I don't get the Sunday paper." - You don't have to get the Sunday paper to start using coupons. Redplum is a coupon circular that is distributed in our mailboxes each week with the Giant Eagle sales ad. Occasionally Proctor & Gamble's Brandsaver is included in this, but not always. Smart Source is included in the Sunday paper. There are also numerous coupon sites where, if you have a home printer, you can print out coupons to use when shopping. Most stores accept Internet coupons just as they would a clipped coupon. Below you can find links to popular coupon sites:
- Coupons.com - http://www.coupons.com/
- Smart Source - http://www.smartsource.com/
- Red
- Deal Seeking Mom * - http://dealseekingmom.com/
- Common Sense with Money * - http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/
- Money Saving Mom * - http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom
- Stretching a Buck * - http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com/
- Target Store Coupons
- and don't forget to visit manufacturer's websites (Pillsbury, Nestle, etc). They usually have coupons for printing available. If they don't, writing an asking if there are any they can mail you is not a bad idea. Most companies are willing to give you some in order to get your business.
If you do get the Sunday paper, or buy it every once in a while for the coupons you should check out The Sunday Coupon Preview. It is a website that lists all the coupons that will be in the Sunday paper from week-to-week, even alerting us as to when no coupons will be in the paper (this happens just a few times a year).
* These sites will list sale offers and then share the coupon you can use in order to get the best bargain. They mainly list the following stores: CVS, Giant Eagle, Target, Walgreens, Walmart. These sites even give you the links to Internet coupons and sometimes have links for FREE products and samples from major manufacturers!
Thanks to Chippewa MOPS blog @ http://cefcmops.blogspot.com/copied with permission
