Saturday Savings Smorgasbord – The Coupon Edition #1
For those of you who read my blog or have taken my Supermarket Savings 101 course, you know I'm a big fan of coupons.
No, I'm not talking about using coupons to save a few quarters here and there on over-priced items you would never buy anyway. I'm talking about using coupons to get items almost free, free, or more than free.
Because we get such great deals by matching coupons with store sales and by maximizing our CVS and Walgreens shopping, we are easily able to have a $35/week grocery budget. And yes, despite what some believe, this $35-a-week budget covers all of our groceries, household products, fresh fruits and vegetables, food for having company over, stocking up on good sales, and even diapers.
Every time I talk about only spending $35/week on groceries, I always get emails from people who sincerely believe it can't be done and that I must be overlooking some extra spending somewhere that I'm not including. Actually, no.
It's $35 folks. Really and truly. No loopholes. No extras. We start with that cash at the beginning of the week and when it's gone, it's gone.
A $35/week grocery budget isn't some magic number; depending upon where you live, what you eat, and how many people are in your family, your budget will vary. I do believe, however, that almost everyone living anywhere can significantly cut their grocery bill by being creative and, yes, when possible, by using coupons.
Over the next few weeks, in my Saturday posts, we'll be exploring just how our family and others are using coupons to save a great deal on their grocery budget.
Let's start with one of my favorite stores to find great deals - CVS. If you have one in your area, welcome to the world of "free" food and household products, no strings attached.
Here's my primer on how to shop at CVS and here's what we bought this week. You can't beat free, can you?
I'm not the only one singing the praises of CVS. Check out Kacie's posts on her CVS shopping trips here and here. Or check out Mrs. Pear's savings this week. Or the post Jes wrote on her savings.
Have a CVS nearby and want to try it out yourself? Here's a post on beginner deals at CVS for this week (hurry, they are only good until tonight!). If you are really ambitious and have Walgreens in your locale as well, The Natural Mommy shows you how you can save $120 and spend less than $15.
And come back here next Saturday as we explore more ways to save with coupons and those who are doing it!
related posts:
- Saturday Savings Smorgasbord – The Coupon Edition #2 Last week I talked about how much money coupons could...
- Saturday Savings Smorgasbord – The Coupon Edition #3 By now you know that I'm a big fan of...
- Saturday Savings Smorgasbord Hi! I'm Crystal Paine from Biblical Womanhood and the new...
- Saturday Savings Smorgasbord – The “When You Don’t Want to Use Coupons” Edition So, you don't want to use coupons? Or, you live...
- Saturday Savings Smorgasbord My husband kindly decided that I needed a break from...
6 Responses to “Saturday Savings Smorgasbord – The Coupon Edition #1”
October 6th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
[...] Read the rest of this entry. [...]
October 7th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I have a question. Following your advice Crystal I went to CVS today. I generated $13.58 in ECB’s with my purchases. I wanted to use these on the glucose meter that is on sale for $14.99 on a shopping trip tomorrow (which will generate another $14.99 in ECB’s) but this is the first time I have used ECB’s and I noticed on the bottom of each of my ECB coupon it says, “Limit One Per Customer”. Does that mean I can only use one of my ECB coupons at a time? Meaning I can not use all of my $13.58 ECB in one purchase? I am confused. Thanks for any help you have and I loved saving so much money!
God Bless,
Michele
October 7th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
At $35/week, what are you eating? I have never been able to get nearly that low and still eat relatively healthy; there never seem to be coupons on “real food.” Is it possible to spend this little (or close to it) and not eat preprocessed stuff all the time?
October 8th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Michele, I’m not exactly sure why CVS has that printed on the ECBs, but their corporate policy recently changed in that all stores must accept multiple ECBs per order. In other words, you can use as many ECBs per order as you have $$ in product. By the way, visit my blog to check out some great ECB deals this week along with coupons to use with them!
Rachel R., Thanks for a great question. Yes, you can absolutely eat well on a small budget! We don’t eat all organic, but we do eat very little processed food (the food I get free with coupons is an occasional treat at our home, not an every meal thing at all!). We also try to buy hormone-free meats, farm-free milk and eggs, and organic whenever we can. Because we rarely pay anything out of pocket for all of our household supplies (toilet paper, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, medicine, etc.), this frees up a lot of our budget to be invested in healthier choices. Plus, when you cook simple meals from scratch, it saves a lot of money. I often discuss eating well on a small budget on my blogs so be sure to check them out if you have a chance! It’s a fun adventure for our family to see how well we can eat on how little.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Thanks, Crystal! I am heading over to your blog now.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Thank you Crystal! I went to the store and they indeed let me use them all at once.
God Bless,
Michele
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