Until I started couponing, I did not know that stores had their sales in 12-week cycles. For those of you who are new to couponing, or are thinking about couponing, your best deals occur when you can combine a great sales price with a coupon. Let me give you an example. Giant Eagle currently has Ken's Salad Dressing on sale for 3 for $5.00, which comes to $1.66/bottle. Before January, I would have thought that was the best deal ever! Well, it can get better! I was able to get coupons that allowed me to deduct $1.00 off each bottle of salad dressing. Yep! At the register, I paid only $.66 a bottle (I also had to use my store loyalty card)!
In case you are wondering where I managed to score the coupons, I got them from Ebay. All total, the coupons cost me about $.25 each. Even with that cost factored in, I spent only $.91 on a bottle Ken's! In my book, that is still awesome!
Okay, so what does this all mean? It means record keeping! Hiss! Boo! Yeah, I know. I am not crazy about that either, but if it means that I can get my food for a great price, so be it.
Start by figuring out what things you really want to save on, which means do an inventory of your buying and eating habits. Also, don't be store loyal, and if possible, don't be brand loyal either. Next, start a spreadsheet with each spreadsheet page devoted to one item or kind of item. Make labels for the following columns (You can adapt these as needed, of course):
- Store
- date
- Brand name of item
- Size
- Sale price
- Quantity required for price
- Coupon value (if one used)
- Price (after coupon used)
Each week, enter the information for each item for a couple of different stores. After a couple of store cycles, you should be able to figure out when a store will have a sale on the targeted item. It may be different times at different stores. If you are able to always use a coupon when something goes on sale, then you will know that a coupon may be available for the next sale. Another thing that I have learned is a coupon tends to come out a couple of weeks before the associated item goes on sale. That is why it is important to keep those coupon inserts. Happy record keeping!
After I started couponing this last January, I noticed that I mentally started developing price points that I would not exceed for certain products. For example, I use Colgate toothpaste. During my first coupon deal, I managed to get a tube of toothpaste for free! I thought that was just one of the most amazing things that I had ever done! Okay, so now you know that it does not take much to make me happy these days! :-) Anyway, little did I know at the time, that getting a free tube of toothpaste was something that I could do quite often. Since January, I have "purchased" five tubes of toothpaste (none are travel size), and I have paid nothing for them. This week, I will get two more tubes (6 oz) for free. In fact, I think I will actually be paid $1.00 for each tube to buy them. Now that is amazing - being paid to buy something for free! If you are wondering how I will manage this common feat, it is simple. For example, this coming week (5/1/2011), CVS has Colgate toothpaste on sale (using one's Extra Care card) for $2.77 with a limit of two tubes per person. For each tube, I will use a $1.00 coupon that I will clip from the May 2011 issue of All You magazine, which is told at Wal-Mart and Amazon.com (I'll do a posting about that magazine in a few days). That coupon brings the price down to $1.77 per tube. Since I will have the cashier scan my Extra Care card, I will end up getting back $2.77 in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). That brings the price down to $0, and gives me $1.00 of extra buying power at CVS. When you coupon, you have to re-arrange your thinking when it comes to calculations for free things. When I purchase these tubes of toothpaste this coming week, I will actually pay $1.77 per tube plus tax, but I will get back the ECB for $2.77, which I can use on a future purchase at CVS. Of course, by using your Extra Care card without the $1.00 coupon, you can get the toothpaste for free; you just will not get the overage.
With that explanation out of the way, below are just a few products with the maximum prices that I will ultimately pay:
Toothpaste: $0
Men's body wash: $0 (I donate this to a senior citizen's group)
Manual toothbrush: $0
Dental Floss: $0
Shampoo (full size): $ .50
Conditioner (full size): $ .50
Hair Color: $2.99
Sprite (2 litre bottle): $1.00
Blood glucose monitor: $0 (I donate this to a senior citizen's group)
As I said, these are just a few things. Gas prices continue to rise, and that will impact the price of products. Therefore, my maximum prices may have to be adjusted slightly, but not much. :-)
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