Coupon Adventure!

So, since I would like to do my grocery shopping tonight and Saturday, I've decided that today is a good day to start my shopping list and get an idea for my menu next week... This whole idea of writing it down before I shop is kinda weird. Not bad, just weird. lol.

I'm also going to see about this coupon craze that is happening, and see if I can get in on it! Who doesn't like to save money! I would not be offended in the least if you wanted to shoot me some hints, experiences with "coupon-ing" that you may have *wink* I am going to look the traditional routes of mailers and newspapers, but also checking out the online sites. Mainly, mommysavesbig.com and coupons.target.com. Wish me luck!

Now, toooo theeeee aaaadds! (channel a super hero commentating voice when you say it, it makes it much more appealing. lol)

***UPDATE***

What an adventure! It has now been two medium shopping trips in (a combo of food and house supplies) since my original post, total savings on just the food using coupons was around $45. A good amount of that went to ground beef, which I found for $0.99/lb! I saved $2.50/lb just on that! I also learned to combine an "In Store" coupon and a "Manufacturer's" coupon for an even better deal!

I found that, with buying the fresh produce, there are not many coupons out there, but you can find the store that has them for the best prices in the weekly ads. Sadly, the only place that price matches and takes competitors coupons in Tucson, that I have found thus far, is Walmart. A store I usually don't like to shop at, for multiple reasons, that I don't need to get into on this here food blog, but I did succumb. I went there for the first grocery trip because I wanted to see coupon-ing in it's entirety. It was cool!

side note: not all cashiers are created equal, find out if they like to get the coupons all at the end, or during the transaction, so they can make sure you get what the coupon states, and finally, make sure to bring the entire add you want them to price match, along with the entire ad with the competitors coupon, if their name isn't on the coupon itself (the store you buy it at will need to send the coupon back to the company that the coupon is from). One last thing, I had to get over the apologetic feelings I was having for all the people behind me in line because it was taking so long at checkout. I guess it's not written anywhere that says grocery trips and checkout have to be done at record speeds. lol.

Final note: I will absolutely be taking my time each week to look over the ads! The "In Store" coupons are usually good just for a week, but "Manufacturer's" coupons are usually good for a few. I now have to deal with the psychology of it's ok not to buy something, even though I have a coupon for it. haha.

p.s. I also learned that for cleaning supplies and non food items, coupon-ing makes perfect sense! I got cheaper, toilet paper, paper towels, bleach wipes, bathroom cleaner, 409, deodorant, and canning supplies too.