About 4 times a year I redo our budget and then challenge myself to find ways to save money. We usually fall off the wagon after a month or so but we still pride ourselves knowing that we can get by on less if we ever need to.
I belong to a local military wives group where there has been a lot of “complaining” going on about people not receiving their flyers. They said they used these to grocery shop. I could not understand what they were so upset about. How could not getting flyers be such a big deal. Usually mine go from the mailbox straight into the recycling bin.
This morning that changed. I decided I was going to try out price matching. I knew one thing for sure though, only buy what we need/use or else I am not really saving any money.
It took me two hours to get ready to go grocery shopping. First I went through all my flyers and circled everything we would actually be buying. I then started a spreadsheet (nothing fancy, just something basic) and entered the item, size of item on sale, price and which flyer it was in.
Once I was done that I sorted my list by product name and compared prices. I deleted for example three 1kg peanut butters from different stores and kept the one that was advertised for $1.99. The cheapest of the bunch.
After this was done I sorted by store and pulled out the flyers I needed for my shopping adventure and recycled the rest.
On to the next step…. coupons. I had ordered coupons from brandsaver when they had their big release earlier this month I think it was. I pulled out all the coupons that matched up to my list and any other coupons I may use for the day. I had another flyer as well that came with my newspaper that had coupons so I went through that as well. I went in the spreadsheet and made a column for coupons and entered the coupon description beside the appropriate item.
We headed for Wal-Mart with my purse full of flyers, coupons and 2 lists. One with items sorted by product and another with the items sorted by flyers. Oh and we left the kids at home with Grandma. No way was I doing this with them.
It went surprisingly well. As I went along I check marked items I got and crossed off those I didn’t or crossed off the price if Wal-Marts was lower but I had a coupon to use. We finished our shopping near the seasonal section as we had to get pet food. I wanted to organize my coupons before getting to the cash and lucky me they had patio sets set up. Side note… way too early for summer stuff to be out. Tobei thought it was hilarious that I was going through other store flyers while sitting in Wal-Mart.
Me organizing myself before heading to the cash.
I got myself sorted out with the coupons and flyers I needed and headed to the check out area. First open cash we came across had no line and was just finishing the customer in front of us. I hold up the flyers and coupons and apologize to the cashier. I was super nervous and even told her this was my first time price matching and I tried to be as organized as possible for her. She told me not to worry and to take my time. She then closed down the cash so that no one would come behind me and get mad or make me panic.
It was super easy and she had tons of patience. Even told me I was more organized then some people she sees who do this all the time.
Between coupons and price matching I saved roughly $71. I say roughly as Tobei was adding it all up in his head as I was trying to stay on top of everything.
Would I do this again? I think I would as long as we had someone to babysit the kids. I would never do this with the kids with me.
What would I do differently? I would go through the cash with my list sorted by product not by flyer. Would be much quicker to find each product as it goes through so that I can price match it.
Watching Extreme Couponing I always found it crazy and overwhelming. You need to crawl before you walk and if you haven’t started doing it I say start now. Why spend money you don’t need to?
Thanks for reading and please if you have any tips for me leave them in the comment section. How do you prepare at home? How do you tackle the shopping once at the store? How do you keep track of everything as you go through the cash?
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Twitter: nugglemama
says:
I don’t know if I would have the patience to do a spread sheet. I do use coupons and price matching when I can, but I find Walmart is pretty good at lowering their prices to match specials in the area.
Julia recently posted..Welcome the Dragon with VH Sauces
I think the only reason I had the patience was that Tobei was keeping the kids out of my hair before going to pick up my mom.
I always thought our wal-mart was good at lowering prices to match specials at other stores, I learned otherwise today though comparing prices myself.
Twitter: MamaAsh77
says:
$71 is great savings!
What I hate about couponing is the food products available! All processed, loaded with preservatives, chemicals and artificial colouring/flavours/BPA found in a can.
I remember one episode where mom bought boxes of powdered potatoes(fake mash), Hamburger helper foods and other junk like chips, high fructose juices etc while walking past the fresh produce and not one fresh veggie or fruit or meat from the butcher was checked out.
The money saved from those families in the US Extreme Couponers can go towards hospital bills and the pharma drugs that they will need in the future for themselves and kids (hopefully not!)
Blech powdered potatoes and hamburger helper are disgusting. I like the real stuff for fruits and veggies. We surprisingly did’t buy any junk food. I even had a flyer for half off cookies yet we totally skipped the cookie aisle which is a shocker for us. We like to keep a supply of junk food to munch on when the kids are in bed.
Twitter: cookiesANDclogs
says:
The only thing I can say is stick with it and find what works for you. Some can save crazy amounts of money but the time and effort they put into preparations and giving the cashier/customers behind them is no joke. I’d rather have a list, paperclip appropriate coupons ($1 and up only) and finish it in one swoop. The whole price-matching costs me more in energy and gas
TerriAnn recently posted..Superbowl Fever with Dip Recipe & Giveaway, Ends 1/29
OH I don’t see me ever putting in crazy efforts. But checking the flyers delivered to my house and coupons I order now and then is no biggie. I am sure with practice I will get faster at the entire process and one day laugh at the time it took me today.
No gas wasted for us though. We do all our shopping at wal-mart and they accepts all competitor flyers and coupons.
Nolie recently posted..My First Time Price Matching and Couponing
Twitter: mistressarawynn
says:
That is awesome. $71 is a lot of money. It was great of that cashier to close the cash down for you. I would be freaking out if I had a bunch of angry customers behind me while doing that. I have priced matched at Zellers before and some of the cashiers are nasty about it. I would so be up for braving this myself if I had a Superstore near me. Pretty limited when you are bussing with groceries. Was there a limit to any of the items that you price matched? Zellers changed their policy to only price match two items and then you have to pay their price for any above that. So I only price match there when I have only one or two items to buy and not when I am buying soup or something. As for coupons I never seem to remember them. I usually end up stopping for stuff on the way home and don’t have them in my purse. Think I might have to start planning actually shopping trips now. Thanks for sharing
Mistress Arawynn recently posted..365 Fail…
I don’t know if there is a limit as I didn’t buy anything out of the ordinary for us. We did buy 4 cans of soup and got the price match on them which was $.41 off per can. I am horrible at remembering coupons too unless I plan an outing around them.
Twitter: reatadiva
says:
I wish I had just a smidge of your mad ninja skills.
The Bipolar Diva recently posted..Diva? Why Not Diva?
Come here and I will teach you.
Twitter: ljenator
says:
That is awesome!!! I would have to leave the kids home too. Thank for posting how you did it!!
Lisa recently posted..How to Sew a Prefold out of a Simple Kitchen Towel | Cloth Diaper Making Video Tutorial
The worst thing about using coupons is how much time it takes lol
Kas
Kasandria Reasoner recently posted..Sesame Coated Tuna with Cilantro Salsa
Twitter: shibleysmiles
says:
And this is why I don’t coupon very often!
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Twitter: ElegantlySaid
says:
Great job! I can save here and there with coupons, but haven’t developed a system to save more. I should make myself do this.
Elizabeth recently posted..Recipe: Homemade Chicken and Dumplings (from scratch)
Twitter: ahensnest
says:
Great savings! I have been wanting to learn how to price match for a while now but really have no idea on how or where to start! I use coupons once in awhile but so many of the ones I see are for products we never use.
Henrietta recently posted..#Project365 (366) – week number three
For price matching you just go through your flyer and bring them with you to your store that price matches (for me that is wal-mart) then as you go through the cash each item you have a flyer for with a lower price you show the flyer to the cashier and she gives you the flyer price.
Nolie recently posted..Attention: Tim Hortons Customers
Twitter: ahensnest
says:
that sounds so very easy! I would use Wal-mart as well. I think I’ll try this, I’ll be nervous but if it works then that would be a great way for us to save!
Henrietta recently posted..#Project365 (366) – week number three
Twitter: ahensnest
says:
Also, do you know if this works for fresh produce and meats?
Henrietta recently posted..#Project365 (366) – week number three
I haven’t tried it on produce or meat but I would think it would. Best bet call your local wal-mart and ask them their price matching policy on those items.
Nolie recently posted..Attention: Tim Hortons Customers
Twitter: ahensnest
says:
Thanks Nolie! I’ll do that!
There was a time when I did couponing every week. I saved a TON of money. I just gave up my newspaper subscriptions. I just don’t have the time or patience right now to do it.
Paula recently posted..Parmesan Chicken #Recipe
It is time consuming but I want to try it again.Already did my spreadsheet for this week but need to find time to shop without the kids.
Nolie recently posted..My Mommy Says You’re a Twit
Thanks I have been wanting to try price matching at Walmart for a while.
Good luck.
Nolie recently posted..My Mommy Says You’re a Twit
You’ve inspired me. I have been thinking about doing this but thought they might send me to Customer Service at the end of my shop to do the price differences and the thought of that was too much to bare. I’m going to give it a shot!
Nope they do it right at the cash.
Nolie recently posted..My Mommy Says You’re a Twit