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Hope I'm not stepping on toes, here... but I didn't think to post this until I saw the "Creative Grocery Shopping" thread. So, here goes:
My aunt turned me on to this website: [HYPERLINK@www.grocerygame.com] . OMG... You will not believe how much money you can save on groceries. I was a skeptic... but I thought for a buck, I'd give it a try. Before I signed up, I started paying attention to the bottom of my receipt where it says "You saved x% today" just by shopping regularly and using my King Soopers/Kroger Sooper Card. Generally, I fall between 10 and 20%... 25 on a good day.
Then, I started "playing" the grocery game. You pay $10 each 2 months for membership. Each Sunday, I snip my coupons, and go to the website and print my "list". I chose to get the King Soopers/Kroger list, but you can choose from whatever store you like in your area. I'm sure there are some small obscure rural areas where you might not have a list available, but I think they're pretty widespread. Anyway, I print my Kroger list. The list shows each item that is on sale that week. It outlines the regular price, Sooper card discount, any coupons I have to match it with, and tells the final price, and the percent off of normal price.
The way it works is as follows:
This woman figured out that each item in the grocery store is on a (roughly) 12-week pricing cycle. Meaning, every 12 weeks, product x reaches the "rock bottom" price the grocery store will sell it for. She keeps a database that tracks the 12 week cycle of all the products, and also tracks the coupons from the Sunday paper. The database spits out the information in such a way that the "rock bottom" price matches up with the coupon at exactly the right time to maximize savings. The basic premise is stockpiling your groceries. If you buy 5 loaves of bread at the "rock bottom" price, you can freeze them and make it through the twelve week cycle to next "rock bottom" time.
Sometimes I get stuff for free. Even if it's not stuff I will use, I take it to the shelter... sheesh, it was FREE! Often I get brand name stuff cheaper than generic, and there have been many items I'd have bought anyway, I just saved a lot of money on them.
I'm pretty relaxed about it, if I want something, and it's not on the list that week... I usually pick it up anyway. I usually cannot pass up anything on the list that's 75% or more off... My biggest problem since starting the game is that I have this compulsion to go get the bargains every week, but I don't need groceries! We have SOO much food now! LOL I need a bigger kitchen! :) It's hard to pass up the bargains, but we are simply stocked up! :)
I was apprehensive about paying for it in the beginning, but now that I'm saving so much money, I'm glad I tried it. You can try it for $1 for the first month. I got the Denver post weekends only for $10 for a year... so, all told, it's a real bargain. Even if I were paying a dollar a week for the paper, I'd be saving WAY more money than it costs. They give everyone the Walgreen's list for free... but you have to do all Walgreen's rebates and junk, and I'm just not into that... y'know?
It takes me about 30 minutes each week to clip and organize my coupons. I keep them in a cancelled check file, I have each flap devoted to a week, and each week divided into categories so it's not so hard to find the coupon I need while I'm at the store. I think some people gather their coupons at home before they go to the store, but I can't stick to my list that well... I inevitably want something only after I arrive at the store, and I want to be sure I have my coupons with me so I can change my mind :) Also, if I get to the store and something from the list is already gone, I don't want to have to refile the coupon... so I just pull the coupons as I go, and then I know I have them all and none that are not applicable to my order.
My receipts consistently read 40-60% saved now, and I'm disappointed if I come in under 50% LOL, I'm hardly spoiled at all :) If we save 50%, I consider that "winning" the grocery game ;)... Stella always asks me now at the checkout "Did we win, Mommy!?" LOL :)
If you decide to sign up, you can give me the referral, and I'll get a free week :) Dmail me for my real email addy... it has my last name in it and I don't want to post it out here in front of the whole world :). You can sign up now, and give me the referral later, there's a link on there to do it that way, if you're like me and simply can't wait ;).
Oh, and the lists are always valid Sun-Tue, so those are the shopping days... those are the days there are "phantom" and "hidden" sales... they're true... sometimes, something's on sale and there's no tag on the shelf saying so... I promise, it's real LOL :) I don't know how this woman knows this... she's the Grocery Goddess ;)
Hope someone finds this useful! :)
Sarah
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