My Aunt Anita (the blogger formerly known as Silverbelle) is a bargain hunting expert. The woman brings home massive amounts of stuff from stores she picked up for little to nothing with great regularity. This is really a skill I should learn since I'm shopping for six people on a single income.
I'm not great at bargain hunting. I don't do so good with going to multiple stores in one day to get the best deals. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with dragging 2-4 children in & out of stores. It's not fun.
Lately I've been giving thought to attempting to cut our weekly budget. Seriously cut it. To be honest, we've not really had a budget & I think that's dangerous. This morning I decided to check out the weekly sales ad from a store I never go to in a town I rarely visit (where Husband works). On Thursdays they have manger specials & I've never hit them before. After today, I think this may be a weekly trip.
I spent $37.15 on 4 bottles of Purex laundry detergent, three 3 lb. bags of frozen chicken breasts, lots of bananas, 3 loaves of bread, and a full pork loin. I saved $24.64. That felt good. And now I have meat to stock my freezer & help cut down our weekly grocery bill.
I'm currently browsing for coupons to print...but I'm not having much luck. I tend to buy generic when ever possible. Most coupons do not bring name brand products down to generic prices. Any advice on this? I checked out couponbug.com, but the site needed to download some printer software that would take three years with my dial-up.
9 comments:
Do you have my phone number??? call me and I will give you some tips. Oh and the good thing about the download is that you do it once and your done. Also check out Thrifty Mama I follow her. I have done a trip were I spent $180 and saved a total of $135. This was during christmas. You can also make your grocery list on line now which lets you plan better what you want to buy. Shop the BOGO deals with coupons. oh and check out the individual sites for products that you want to buy ie kellogs,uncle bens (great deals there) Kashi, horizon (coupons for organic milk!!!!) seventh generation (organic natural cleaning products) this might be helpful to BabyGirl if harsh smells aggravate her.
I always shop at that store! I love their ground beef!
We buy generic alot also. We have started going to Sav A Lot on occasion for certain things too.
Oooh...my coupon rule is this - if the sale price plus the coupon is still more than the store brand - FORGET IT!
As for the website, I don't know that one, but I'm checking it out while I'm in California next week!
We're blessed to be in a big enough town that I have 3 major chain groceries, plus 2 "discount" chains. We don't, however, have an outlet, or a saver store...
I'll tell you what I do - when things I know I use are on BIG sale, I stock up. This might mean, that at any given time, I've got 3 dozen cans of cream of chicken soup, and 46 cans of green beans in my pantry, along with 35 pounds of ground beef, all nicely wrapped and marked (can you say OCD?) with the date and weight, BUT, this way, I know I'm getting great deals on things we need, and not having to pay premium prices because I need something right away.
The only brand I buy regularly is for my laundry care, and that's just because I don't think the generic does the same job...I know, bleach is bleach right? And soap is soap? Eh...that's my "splurge".
As for budget? I'll send you an email...I could go on and on and on...but I won't!
Lots of luck for you!
I can second Vic's comment on the ground beef (and any meat there), it is the best in probably the five-county area.
Brando and I are thinking we need to open an Aldi's in our town. ;) That would simplify your shopping quandries.
Our local Fred's store doubles coupons on Saturdays. You may find a store that does that.
I love saving money when I grocery shop but it's so time consuming to get everything ready beforehand. Time or Money? hmmmm, the age old question.
BTW I have a couple of videos up just for you FarmWife!
You just need to plan your shopping forays for when your husband can entertain the Farm Hands!
I like to go to the store that has the best sales on things I need. And I clip coupons regularly, in case I need a certain item. But if the store brand is still cheaper, then it's the store brand (unless I've already determined that the store brand doesn't work for me). The strategy is to go to the other stores often enough to compare prices all around. And stock up on stuff when it's really cheap.
My friend Jenna left this comment, but I had to delete part of it (she's new here & used my name. :) )
"A missionary friend has started a blog
http://www.thecouponconsultant.com/
She saves tons of money every week.
Jeanna"
Looking back, so did my Aunt Anita! :)
"I am so very proud of you. This is a start and you have to do the best you can with what stores you have in your area.
I will have to spend time with you and explain my whole system, but it takes too long.
You did good."
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