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Monday, July 27, 2009

Why Being A Food Hoarder Really Pays Off!

You may have noticed that I have added some new buttons to my sidebar and perhaps just maybe you have been wondering what I have been doing with so many new buttons. I have been challenging myself this month with cutting my grocery bill in half.
I have always been a thrifty person who only ever shops a sale, clearance, garage sales, etc and yet for some reason I have never been able to keep my grocery bill under control. Now with all of the amazing blogs and such that are dedicated to couponing and grocery shopping, I have dedicated July as my month for "test driving" couponing to see if its something that will really benefit our family. I am happy to report that I have been pleasantly surprised each week as I have been scoring some SERIOUS deals on my groceries. Granted, I already have an impressive stockpile of food storage that I have been using to augment my weekly menu with, but I have scored big time on items we use a lot of and are running low on.


I am a food hoarder and yes I am OK with it, if the end of the World comes tomorrow I don't want to be without Pop Tarts!

Neat rows and rows of boxes of food makes me feel...prepared! For what I don't know perhaps nuclear fall out!?

What is the big secret to scoring sweet deals?? Multiple newspapers with coupon inserts and using lists like the list found here. (If you would like to know more about this list etc you can go here.) I select my grocery store, I then choose to view only the hot items of the week and then create a menu and weekly shopping list from the four and five starred items only. I love this list because it tells me where to find the coupons I will need and it also provides online links for coupons that are available for printing from my very own computer. I then staple all of the coupons I am going to use to the shopping list which I have highlighted and specified how many of each items I am purchasing and I am ready to go shopping.

I have also created a coupon book that I will post more on later. But here's a peak of it in all of its organized glory ready to save me big bucks!



Important lessons learned thus far:
  1. Couponing DOES take a lot of time, you decided how much time and effort its worth to you.
  2. Finding the balance between scoring deals and the time requirement necessary is where I am stuck right now.
  3. Double coupons rock!
  4. Don't go shopping with your spouse or children when couponing. Especially in the beginning it takes a lot of concentration and focus to ensure your getting the deals you think you are getting.
  5. Its frustrating when you do all the work before hand and get to the store to see the stuff you wanted is GONE! You then have to come up with other scenarios which gives me huge headache!
  6. You get better at it each week, just keep it up!!
  7. Its addicting and you will annoy people with your talk of amazing deals!
  8. You may even acquire some new math skills.
  9. You can buy the nicer brands for cheaper then the generic brands at Walmart.
  10. Shopping at Walmart has become a rare occasion!!
Can you guess how much this lot of food rang up as? Before coupons and deals it was $36.00 after coupons etc I only paid...$11.34 I saved $23.76!

All this chocolate was can you guess??? FREE!!!

I only paid $4 for two bags of mini candy bars! Sweet or is that double sweet!?

These olive oils were each $7.49 each before killer deals and I only paid $2.99 each!! Gotta love a great deal!

I made a trip to Albertsons and went through the checkout twice in order to use 6 double coupons. Before deals etc my total receipts were $69.79 but I only paid $21.30 about 40% ??
(math not my strong point!) HUGE savings!!

It makes me feel awesome saving money, getting the things we need, and a few extras while saving money for going on a family vacation. I am sold on couponing that is for sure and my husband is even loving the deals and asks me what coupons I have so that we can go out and get a free dessert or so that one of us can eat for free on our date nights. Its been amazing to see how much we are saving and I think I am totally addicted so please pardon all of my new buttons besides who knows perhaps you too will get bitten by the couponing bug! Cause after all hoarding food is what loving moms do for their families!! ;)

8 comments:

Michelle said...

After learning how to save tons of money on grocery bills I seriously HATE paying full price for anything food...don't you!

Michelle said...

By the way...do you guys have a Rite aid close...ours just went out of business...you can get all your toiletries FREE! They are the best!

MOANA said...

Michelle,
Sadly we don't have a CVC, Rite-Aid, or Target! I hear about the crazy deals at these places all the time and I must admit I am jealous! Any time we will be getting a Walgreens, I am dying for them to open so that I can score some more sweet deals!! I agree spending full price hurts!! Hope your doing well, thanks for checking us out and making some comments, loves
Moana

April said...

Moana you are my hero!

MOANA said...

Right back at ya April!

Jana Perkins said...

Okay, you totally took this idea and ran with it. You are so on top of it. you are going to have to share some tips with me now, cause i've been loosing my momentum when it comes to couponing.

The Kooky Queen--Rachel said...

Holy Moly!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so awesome!!! I can't believe how well you are doing at that and how ORGANIZED you are! Now your next post...WHERE to find coupons because that is where I am SOOOOOOOOOO lost.

MOANA said...

Rachel,
You must be a mind reader! I am going to do a "tutorial" on sunday when I get the Sunday papers and do a walk through step by step so you can all see how I do it and I will also provide some links for where I get my printable coupons. Once you know where to look you will be shocked to realize that you are actually surrounded by coupons. I just didn't know how to use them or if it was really worth it. WOW I do know!