Coupons 101

Have you ever heard someone say or perhaps you yourself have said, “By the time I buy everything I need for a meal it seems like it is cheaper for us to just go out to eat.”  It usually happens more with families like mine a two-person family.  And what usually happens is that you have a taste for something, say Mexican food or Chinese food, so you go to the produce section of the closest store purchase all the produce, then all the necessary sauces and extra things and by the time you are done the meal is like $30 – $40 or at least $15 a person.  (I saw this phenomenon when my husband cooked me dinner on our annervisary.)  And in that case it is true it would’ve been better to find a nice Taqueria or Tex Mex joint or $8.99 chinese buffet and you would’ve saved the energy of cooking.

However if you stockpile you won’t have to worry about that. Which brings me to my Kroger #1 entry in the previous post.  At first glance it truly looks like a couponing failure.  However what happened was this.  I’d made a marinated steak in the crockpot the two nights prior and had that the night before.  My husband asked me what was for dinner and I told him we still had leftover steak.  He thought about it and asked could I do something else with it, like a stirfry or something so I thought about it and said sure.  I went to the store on my way home and bought fresh mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and frozen edamme beans for the stir fry.  There were three brands of edamme beans and one was cheaper and on sale and that is where my small 6.81% of savings came in at.

To make the rest of the meal I used things I already had on hand.  I had Teriyaki marinade that I got for free during VGs Triple Coupon event, frozen green beans from Aldi’s, canned carrots from a previous store trip, and the meat still left that was bought discounted at VGs.  Granted I didn’t even really need a store trip but those were some things I preferred to have in my stirfry.  The meal was a sufficient complete dinner for my husband and I and I had some left over for lunch for work the next day.  So although the $6.84 spent with little savings seemed like a lot, due to my stockpile I probably still had a meal for about $10 or so, three meals really so a little over $3 a serving for a delicious stirfry, much cheaper than restaurant prices.

So what is this concept of stockpiling?  Check out my post here buy things you don’t need.

Another good article to check out is this one here Grocery Coupon Guide Stockpiling groceries.  It is very detailed and even has pictures of what to do if you believe you have limited space to stockpile.

This is just one of the benefits of stockpiling it makes planning a meal that you don’t normally make a lot simpler.  It truly saves more money over the long run.  My husband has about 8 bottles of body wash right now most of which were bought for $.50 or less.  I don’t have to buy any more body wash for a while and won’t until it is available to me at $.50 or less.

A stockpile also gives you some financial stability and leeway.  If I had a an unexpected expense come up and I really didn’t have the funds to go grocery shopping for two or three months I could survive.

Lastly you can stockpile many things and then use them as gifts.  When make-up, perfume, candy, all kinds of things are on clearance in a store or on-line I buy them and later use them as gifts.  For weddings you can put together a nice gift basket with household goods, bridal showers perfume, lipgloss etc in a nice bag or later just donate things if you really have excess.
One other good post that I had earlier linked to a really good discussion so check it out here: How Many Coupons do you need to stockpile?

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This is a guest post from Courtney over at My Dallas Mommy. To check out more of her posts, go here. Thanks Courtney !

This is my favorite coupon savings strategy because it’s simply and allows me to buy lots of super cheap and even FREE goodies!

What is coupon stacking?

Most stores allow you to use their own store coupons AND a manufacturer’s coupon one the same product. For instance, if you have a $1.00/1 Target Herbal Essences coupon and a $2.00/1 manufacturer’s coupon (from the newspaper or other source), you will be able to save a total of $3.00 on a bottle of Herbal Essences and probably get it FREE or very close.

Stores that allow coupon stacking and where to find their coupon:

Target – you can find most Target coupons on their website. You might also receive Target coupons in the mail or get them in your Sunday newspaper inserts. These will always have the Target logo and say Target Store Coupon.

Walgreen’s – you will find these in their weekly flyer, on their website or in their monthly coupon booklet (found in the front of the store by the weekly flyer)

CVS – you will find these on there website (these will say CVS Pharmacy coupon – be aware that there are also manufacturer’s coupon on their website), clip-free coupons (these are usually good for a whole month and will automatically be deducted with your purchase) and at the price scanners in-store (just scan your CVS card before you shop to print out CVS coupons).

Other local grocery stores – you will usually find these in their weekly sales flyer.

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