Coupons

Most of you know that I am bargain hunter and I rarely buy anything unless it is on sale and/or I have a coupon. Well, I've take my bargain hunting to a whole new level. Thanks to http://www.grocerygame.com/ and http://www.couponmom.com/, I'm saving a ton at the grocery store. I've heard of grocery game for years but was always a little skeptical since it costs to join. When Mike's hours got cut, I decided it was finally time to join since I really need to cut expenses wherever I can. The first 4 weeks only cost $1 and then it is $10 per list every 8 weeks. The site says sales usually re-cycle every 12 weeks so I'm giving it 12 weeks of trial, but so far I'm sold. I've been using it for 9 weeks now. During the trial, you have access to all lists in the area. For Springfield, that is Dillions, CVS, and Walgreens. I found it stressed me out to try to hit all 3 every week so I switched to just Dillions once the trial was over. If I see the ad for either CVS or Walgreens looks good, I go to coupon mom because they have lists that are free. I don't like the layout as well and the list is national rather than regional, but it still helps me save money. Let me give you a few examples from both sites of money I have saved.

Last week I used the grocery game list for Dillions and saved a ton. My savings aren't usually this high, but every bit helps. I bought $160 worth of groceries and it only cost me $90. You read right - I saved $70! My house is now very well stocked and I don't need very many groceries for the next few weeks.

Yesterday I used the coupon mom list to visit CVS. I didn't need much, but I had extracare bucks that were about to expire. These are used like cash and you get them from buying their sale items. I bought just under $20 worth of items and it only cost me $9.29, plus I received $5.50 worth of extracare bucks.

Also using coupon mom, I discovered that Walgreens had a bunch of cleaning supplies buy one, get one free and there were coupons in the paper. I bought name brand suppplies for 50 and 75 cents each (ask your family and friends for extra coupons so you can use one for each item).

I will warn you that it takes awhile the first few times but it does get quicker. My coupons are now organized how both systems work (by date they were in the paper & company name, ex. Smart Source). I'm much more familiar with Dillions now so I don't roam the isles looking for things. And now that my stockpile is getting more full, I don't need to buy near as much each week. In fact, I'm challenging myself to only buy milk and fruit next week and just eat from our stockpile. Of course, if an item or two is on sale super cheap, I will probably buy it but I'm keeping my purchases small. I went over budget last week to get those good sales so I will make up for it next week.

Now that I've overwhelmed you with my cheapness, I suggest you check out the sites and see for yourself. If you decide to sign up for grocerygame, please use this email address as a referral - light52b @ yahoo.com (take out the spaces, I'm just trying to keep spammers away). If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Oh yeah - for those of you outside of Springfield, couponmom might have your grocery store listed. They do not have any for Springfield though.