My coupon adventures.

My friend Tracy has started a homemakers co-op.  It's basically a bunch of us sitting around discussing what works and sharing ideas to help us be the best we can at our job.  It's also a great chance for me to get to talk to grown ups.  Those of you with small kids at home know just what I mean. 

Our first project has been to lower our grocery bills using coupons.  Now, I'm not new to couponing, but I will say that I've fallen off the wagon in recent months.  I just found it so easy to shop at Aldi's and fill in at Shop & Save or Walmart, that I quit using them.  Not too smart, huh?

So here's my personal rundown on what I'm getting at local area stores, including coupons and price matching for this week. 

Krogers:
Bone in chicken breast 0.99/pound
Chicken quarters 0.59/pound for 10 pound bag (5.90)
Buy 10 sale items:
Grands Biscuits 0.99 minus my 0.30 off 2 coupon that's doubled = 0.69 each
Pizza rolls 0.99 minus my 0.40 off 2 coupon doubled = 0.59 each
Coke 2 liters = 0.89
Barbecue sauce = 0.69
Gator aid - 0.69
Oscar Mayer hot dogs = 0.99

WalMart:
I will be price matching the following items

From KMart
Suddenly Salad 10/$10 minus 0.50 off 2 coupon = 0.75 each
Betty Crocker Cake Mix 10/$10 plus Betty Crocker icing 3/$5 minus coupon for 0.75 off 1 cake mix & 1 icing combo = 5.50 for 2 cake mixes & 3 icings.
Corn on the cob 8/$2

From Save a lot
3 pound bag Perdue frozen chicken breast for $4.77 (1.49 per pound)

From Rite Aid
Twizzlers 0.99 minus 0.50 off coupon = 0.49 each
Raisin Bran 1.99 minus $1 off 2 boxes = 1.49 per box.

The remainder of my groceries will be from Aldi's as usual. 

I'm sure my list seems oddly unusable to make a menu from, but remember - I buy things when they're on sale to save money.  Then they're in the pantry or freezer for me when I need them and I'm not paying full price.  I also try to buy the majority of my groceries once a month - because I hate going to the grocery store.  And the more often you "pop" into a store just to pick something up, the more likely you are to buy something that's not on the plan. 

I've price matched before at WalMart without any trouble.  If your going to price match, put all your items together by store ad and do it at the end of your order.  Then you just show the cashier your items and the other stores ad.  If it says "select varieties" are on sale, I only get the ones shown in the picture - usually those are the only ones they will match.  Be prepared and try to make it as easy on the cashier as possible.

I also give people in line behind me fair warning that I'm using a lot of coupons and price matching in case they want to choose another lane. 

I probably could do even better if I shopped more stores, but for me, my time is important also.  So unless I'm planning on being in the area of another store, I'm going to price match at Walmart.

Yippee for saving money!