A Little Couponing Goes a Long Way

When my husband and I decided that I would stay home with the kids this part March and work part-time, we also realized we would have to be more careful about our budget.

One of the ways we accomplished this was by saving money at the grocery store. With two adults, a baby, a toddler, a Siberian Husky and two cats, it’s easy to spend upwards of $250 at the grocery store.

While I don’t have the time for Extreme Couponing and maintaining photo albums full of coupons, I find that a little time spent planning and some fairly simple couponing helps me save at least 30 percent on my bill a week. I save the weekly circulars from the newspaper and file them in an accordian style file by month. Then, I clip coupons as I need them.

My goal is to restrict eating out to one day per week, which means planning meals for six dinners. For breakfast, we mainly have cereal during the week, while we usually have deli meat for lunch or leftovers.

Here’s my take on saving money at the A&P this week:

1. Evaluate the weekly sale circular, starting with your highest priced items. If you’re a meat eater, start there. This week, I would buy pork loin at $1.99/lb, ground beef at $1.99/lb, Shady Brook Farms turkey breast at $1.29/lb, Chicken legs at $.99/lb, Fresh whole fryer at $1.29/lb and Shady Brook Farms turkey meatballs for $2.99 a package.

2. Go to Living Rich With Coupons, a site run by Cindy Livesey of New Jersey, where she gives a rundown of coupon matching for the week. Go to “find my store” at the top of her page and select A&P.

Some highlights using just online coupons, in case you don’t have the circulars:

Progresso Vegetable Classic Soups are on sale for $1
Buy 4 and use the $1/4 printable coupon found here and you’ll have soup for only $.75/can.

Sunshine Cheez-Its are on sale for $1.99/box.
You can print a coupon here for $1 off, so you’ll have a snack for just $.99.

Apple & Eve juice is on sale for $2 a bottle.
Buy 2 bottles and use this $1/2 coupon, so you spend $1.50 each.

Smart Balance milk is on sale for $2.99 a half gallon.
Use this coupon to save $.75 (which will double to 1.50) which means you’ll spend just $1.49 on milk.

Shedd’s Spread Country Crock is on sale for $2.99.
Use this $.75 off coupon that will double to $1.50 to pay just $1.49.

International Delight Coffee Creamer is on sale for $2.50.
Use this $.55 off coupon that will double to $1.10 to pay only $1.40.

3. Create a grocery list of the items you need to buy.

4. If you enjoy cooking like I do, I recommend foodtv.com, where you can create an online recipe box. I put the type of meat in the search box, then find recipes for it, then I create a folder called “weekly recipes” and store my menu there.  At the end of the week, I delete the recipes, so I can find new ones. I love that we’re almost always trying new things.

5. Keep a list of your savings after you shop. It’s addictive. Seeing the amount I save with coupons really inspires me to continue and my husband is always impressed with what that little bit of extra time spent planning can result in.

Do you have a favorite couponing site? How much do you save every week?