Preparation is Key!!

When it comes time for grocery shopping (whether you are using coupons or not, but ESPECIALLY if you are using coupons) preparation (ie: planning) is the KEY to a good (ie: lots of savings) shopping trip!

The way I prepare for my shopping trips is by following 3 rules!  Budget, Meal Plan and List, and Sales

First Budget:
Set your budget before ever making your grocery list for the week.  If you do a monthly budget already this should be easy, however if you do not do a monthly budget and are unsure of how much you typically spend on groceries then I suggest you sit down and give this some good thought.  If you don't typically set a budget decide early on whether you want to shop for 1 week of groceries, 2 weeks, 3 or even 4.  (For myself I have found that shopping for just 1 week of groceries at a time I can save the most money since the sales are new each week.  By shopping just once per week I'm able to get the things I need and usually have a little extra for those stock up items when they go on sale-ex:noodles, sauce, sugar).  When I first started couponing we were spending about $170-$200 every two weeks on groceries (and toiletries, household, diapers) which adds up to $400 a month!!  (WAY WAY WAY too much in my opinion).  I'v now been able to drop my grocery spending to about $70 a week (including toiletries, household, diapers) which is only $280 a month (a savings of $120 a month).  My current goal is to drop that down to only $50 a week.

Second Meal Plan and Make a list:
Make your meal plan for the week (or however long you'll go between shopping trips) by looking at the sale ads. I repeat MAKE YOUR MEAL PLAN BY LOOKING AT THE SALE ADS.  The most expensive part of your bill will be meat, so watch for meat sales and base your weekly dinner around what is on sale.  From there ad on your sides, snacks, and anything else you'll need to EAT that week.  Make your grocery list from you meal plan list and check your coupon binder or folder to see what you coupons you have for sale items that week.

Finally Sales:
This kind of goes with the steps above but I want to reiterate how important sales are.  As I said above meat is expensive, if you can cut down the meat price by buying the sale items then do it!  Another way to save on meat/meals is if you can buy sale meat in bulk to put in your freezer and do multiple meals ex: HH had hamburger patties last week for $5.99 for 10, that made about 3 meals for my family at only $0.89 per burger!!  It's quick, easy, and CHEAP)

So I've got a little challenge for you!!  If you haven't started couponing or saving much money on your groceries yet then I am challenging you to spend at least $15.00 less this week (or in the next two weeks, whenever you'll be shopping) on your groceries (this means food items only, not toiletries, household, or diapers).
If you have been couponing and following the above steps for a while and have already cut down your bill then I challenge you to find a way to cut $5.00 more dollars off of it!  IF you just don't think you can cut down the $5.00 then add $5.00 TO your budget and spend $10.00 on food you can donate to the local food pantry or local church!

I bet you can do it by watching the sale ads alone!!  Good luck and Happy shopping-and yes, I'll expect feed back :)

Coupon Class

Taught a coupon class last night (actually only the 2nd one I've taught) but it was wonderful. 

We had such a great time, and I find that I'm ridiculously passionate about saving money...you'd think I had millions or even just hundreds in my savings account...unfortunatly that's not true because I more often than not find something else to spend my savings on (for example shopping).

I find it so interesting when I'm teaching class that someone always knows something about coupons even if they know nothing about coupons (confused? lol)  In both classes so far, I've had to field questions regarding the TLC Show Extreme Couponers (puke) and I've learned things that even I didn't know...(some that I need to look into more, like sending expired coupons to soldiers bc the base will let them use them-definitly need to check that out)

So, I have many more classes scheduled and I'm super exicted about them.  I can't wait to teach everyone how to save money for their family and look forward to the next few weeks.  Again I have to thank my BFF (who's name I did not say last time and got lectured on so, ERIN DAVIDSON) thanks for the encouragement and of course to my mom and my husband for keeping T-man entertained while I'm out "all hours of the night" ;)

Tomorrow is Wednesday so don't forget to pick up your Marshfield Mail!  Still waiting to hear about the deals and steals everyone got this weekend (if I judge by the silence here I'm saying that NO ONE got a good deal, so please prove me wrong).  Planning to do Match-up's tomorrow around lunch time (as long as I get my coupons cut and organized today)!! 

Sunday Shopping

So, like I do just about every Sunday I attended Sunday morning Walgreens service for my weekly shopping worship.  I was able to.fellowship with other shoppers, here testimonials on savings and pray over lost coupons.  I left feeling invigorated and fueled for the week to come, (and then I left to attend church in Elkland and really worship God, my father.) 

This of course is just a silly comparison but in some ways the couponing community is similar to a church family (though I must say that if you put coupons above all else-lets talk BC I'd love to introduce you to Jesus my Savior-and yours too if you'll let him into your heart), in the coupon community its about SHARING the savings and holding your breath while waiting to see how good of a deal your friends get.  Its about helping new couponers learn the ropes and sharing items so everyone can get a deal.  Its about searching for lost coupons and truly understanding the sadness that comes when they aren't found.  Couponing is a hobby that saves families money and offers a way for many people to serve their community by donating their savings to local food pantrys or churches. 

I'd just like to encourage those of you who coupon to remember this, (especially in the heat of the moment when the deals are HOT) we are all in this together!!

Can't wait to hear about the deals everyone got this week!! Please feel free to post comments here or on my Facebook page, One Brand's Savings.

Also, how AWESOME was it that Walgreens had the Kansas City paper?!?! Woot!!

Expiration Dates

Well friends, the beginning of the new month is a bitter sweet time; it's bitter sweet because while it marks the new edition of the P & G Brand Saver insert (sometimes I ask myself, is my life that boring that I get excited for new coupon inserts?) but it also marks the end of the previous month and that usually means expiration dates.  And no, I don't mean the expiration dates on your milk jugs I mean expiration dates for your coupons.

I know that it sounds like a SIN to let a coupon expire without using it, but I'm here to tell you that it's OK (though very heart wrenching) to let your coupons expire and to (don't shoot me) THROW THEM AWAY!  The main point here is this: Just because you have a coupon, doesn't mean you have to use it.  If the item the coupon is for doesn't go on sale before it expires and it isn't something you NEED, then it's probably not going to save you much money just to use the coupon because you have it.  So, wait for the sale, if it doesn't come and the coupon expires IT'S OK!!  (Of course if the item is something you NEED and the sale never comes and it's a GOOD coupon ie: a high value coupon, or your store will double it) then go ahead and make the purchase with the coupon if it fits your budget and is on your grocery list.

At the beginning of each month (I usually do it at the same time I cut my new P & G coupons) go through your binder, or file folder, (or if your old school, your envelope LOL) and clear out all the expired coupons.  (Go ahead, cry a little if you need to; it IS sad to see the savings go into the trash, but just tell yourself it isn't saving if it isn't on sale) and then look at all the brand new coupons your about to cut-this will usually cheer me up :)!

Tomorrow I will be posting the store match-up's for Harter House, Price Cutter, and Summer Fresh.  I hope everyone remembered to pick up their Marshfield Mail today, if not you still have time!

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Since starting to coupon I have gotten a lot of information from many different places.  I figured that I better give a little credit to the people who have helped me figure this stuff out!

1st.  Youtube, search IamTHATlady.  She did a series of 5 coupon 101 classes that I watched in the hospital because I was bored, and my husband insisted I learn to coupon.

2nd.  Baby Center Community, search the groups for Coupon Newbies.  The ladies that run that board and all the members of it (thousands) have helped me with so many questions!!  They still help me :)

3rd.  Google.  LOL you can google anything

4th but more important than all the above.  I wouldn't have been encouraged to start teaching a class for others to learn to coupon if I didn't have the encouragement from my best friend!  She was the one that really pushed me, without her I'd still be boring my husband and my mom with all my informatin LOL. 

Of course there are other people that I appreciate (I love talking savings with my mom) and my husband is amazing (he goes along with all the crazy ideas). 

I really am excited to start teaching classes (scheduled my first one for august 8th, can't wait) and I'm hoping this blog helps people too!  Feel free to post comments, questions and I'll make sure I do my best to answer them all!

Free Weekend!

Great shopping trips this weekend!

First-Harter House in Strafford, MO.  They had General Mills cereal on sale for 1.99.  I had a coupon that I printed from coupons.com for .50 off of one box of honey nut cheerios and a coupon for 1.00 off any two General Mills cereal (from the Sunday paper)!  I got two boxes and spent 1.98 (Harter House doubles up to 0.50 cents, which I didn't know until Saturday!!)  which means I got a box of cereal for FREE and one for 0.01 LESS than the sale price! I also had a coupon that I got in the mail for Rotel, buy 3 get one free.  The Rotel was on sale for 0.99, so I got 1 for free (or 4 cans at 0.74 per can)!  TWO fantastic deals at Harter House.  This sale will run until Tuesday!!

Second trip which was today to Walgreens got me 2 free Oral-B toothbrushes and 2 free boxes of Snuggle Dryer Sheets!  The Oral-B toothbrushes were on sale, 2/4.98 with a $3.00 RR.  I had a $2.00 off of 2 Oral-B Indicator toothbrushes(from the 7/1 P&G insert), which made the toothbrushes free (after RR), OR 1.49 each with $3 in RR for next purchase!!  The Snuggle was free with the purchase of one Wisk product.  Wisk was on sale for 6.99, but I used a $2.00 off coupon (can't remember which insert this was from, sorry!!) and that made the laundry soup 4.99.  (Also, to make the deal even sweeter there was a $2.00 off coupon attached to the bottle for the NEXT trip, so it was like getting my coupons back!!).

All in all it was a great shopping trip, ending me with 2 free boxes of snuggle, 2 free toothbrushes, 1 free can of rotel, and one free box of cereal!!

Let me know if you scored any great deals!!

Here we go again...

So, after my first failed attempt at writing a blog...here I am again.
This time the blog will be mostly focused on couponing.

A lot of friends and family have requested me to teach them about couponing and while I am NO expert I do know a little bit.  My goal is to use this blog as a way to share my knowlege and hopefully encourage everyone to save some money!

I will try to blog daily, but I know my self and the reality is that it probably won't happen that frequently-more like once a week...but I promise I will try.  I will post information on couponing, any good deals, and other general info. related to couponing. 

I HOPE to at some point be able to do coupon match-ups for the Marshfield Area included match-ups for Summer Fresh, Price Cutter, Harter House and Walgreens. 

I hope this blog is helpful to everyone reading it, please leave any feedback or tips!!