Organizing Your Grocery Lists

[poorolrich]

I have a grocery list. We shop once a month, except for exceptional sales, and 90% plus is done at Walmart. My list follows the store layout. On my list are the things we need to buy. I also list everything that we have a coupon for if we use that product or might want too. Coupons are shown the expiration dates only since sometimes I might have 4/5 different ones for the same product, not brand, and it gets out of hand. If a coupon is expiring and we don't use it I either leave it on the shelf or, preferably, give it to someone who has the product in their basket. Since we don't live in the U S we do not physically get the ads but we the stores are on our route to Walmart. Unless Albertson's has a sale that can only be purchased there, which we do, then we will stop and have breakfast and do our price matching and list it by the item on our list. Not too bad of a deal since we both have the day off whn we make our trip. Oh, by the way, we have 3 ice chests for the col/frozen stuff since we always make Sam's our last stop. It will take us 30-40 minutes to get home and in this 100 degree weather we need them. Also, we might get stopped at the border for inspection--15 min. more--or worse yet, we might get stopped by the Army or Feds. and that will be a half an hour more. Why do we do it? Except for fresh fruits and fresh vegetables, food is much much cheaper in the 'good ol' USof A. Its usually a 6-8 hour day but we do save a ton of money with coupons/price matching.

[stacyloucks]

I'm a complete neat/organizing freak and have tried for over a year to come up with a system for keeping track of what was on sale where, did the CAT include the chewy bars, when does it expire, do I have a coupon for it, did I order a coupon...

I also found that I was making little notes here and there to organize later and that didn't work for me. I tried the electronic shopping lists, but sometimes what I needed to remember about Smith's was a limitation or issue rather than an item.

I finally found somthing that works very well for me. It doesn't look all perfect and lined up and in order, but I know immediately what I need from any store, how to structure it, etc.

I am going to do my best to attach the file. It's an Excel spread sheet. There is a tab on the bottom for each store, one for Catalinas, and I add and delete others when I need them. If you look at the Albertson's tab, you'll see that I had Excel figure true costs after the CAT. Sometimes I'll add a entire sheet for one deal if there are a lot of items.

I wander on and off this board during the day and also refer to emails, ads, mailers, etc. When I want to remember something, I just copy and paste it onto the sheet it belongs on. When a CAT expires or a new ad comes out, I just delete the infomation.

As for taking the list to the store, I send it my BlackBerry so that I always have it, but most of the time I print it to go to the store.

As far taking my coupons to the store, I carry my big 'ole binder with everything in it. I love finding a clearance item that I have a coupon for. For deals like the Mega Deal that we just had here, most of the time I am buying only 10 or so products, just lots of them. For a deal like that, I would put the coupons in an envelope and still bring my binder.

While shopping (for a normal, simple trip), I have 2 envelopes in my binder. One is in the very back of my binder and it is for the blinkies, tearpads, etc. that I find while shopping. The other one is for the coupons that I pull as I put the items in the cart. If it's one of the crazy buy 10 items, get a CAT or spend $30, get a CAT, then I use a separate envelope for each transaction and write on the front of it which items go with that envelope. Go to the check out stand, 10 items, envelope (on the belt), transaction divider bar, repeat.

Hope this makes sense. I am going to attach the excel sheet.

[mommas2moody]

I use old envelopes (think bills, trades, letters, etc) and write the name of each store I will be shopping at on the envie. On the back, I write my shopping list, including sale price and amount of coupon, and the amount the item will be after coupon. The coupons go inside. It works for me. :)

That's just about exactly what I do!!!!!

I do make out a "normal" grocery list for the week first, then I start my envelope system. I have gotten to where I will write it in a notebook as I go through the forums. Right now my coupon pile is small enough that it's in my lap as I read/write, so they get pulled and stuffed right then.

[acbarr72]

I circle the items I want in the sale circular and take that to the store. I paper clip my coupons to an index card. I have a large expanding file with the different stores listed and I file the sales add and the index card with coupons in the specific store file. Then off I go. I am new at this and am finding new organizational tips daily. Right now, this works for me but I am sure I will get it down to an exact science.

[TamayraS]

I'm a complete neat/organizing freak and have tried for over a year to come up with a system for keeping track of what was on sale where, did the CAT include the chewy bars, when does it expire, do I have a coupon for it, did I order a coupon...

I also found that I was making little notes here and there to organize later and that didn't work for me. I tried the electronic shopping lists, but sometimes what I needed to remember about Smith's was a limitation or issue rather than an item.

I finally found somthing that works very well for me. It doesn't look all perfect and lined up and in order, but I know immediately what I need from any store, how to structure it, etc.

I am going to do my best to attach the file. It's an Excel spread sheet. There is a tab on the bottom for each store, one for Catalinas, and I add and delete others when I need them. If you look at the Albertson's tab, you'll see that I had Excel figure true costs after the CAT. Sometimes I'll add a entire sheet for one deal if there are a lot of items.

I wander on and off this board during the day and also refer to emails, ads, mailers, etc. When I want to remember something, I just copy and paste it onto the sheet it belongs on. When a CAT expires or a new ad comes out, I just delete the infomation.

As for taking the list to the store, I send it my BlackBerry so that I always have it, but most of the time I print it to go to the store.

As far taking my coupons to the store, I carry my big 'ole binder with everything in it. I love finding a clearance item that I have a coupon for. For deals like the Mega Deal that we just had here, most of the time I am buying only 10 or so products, just lots of them. For a deal like that, I would put the coupons in an envelope and still bring my binder.

While shopping (for a normal, simple trip), I have 2 envelopes in my binder. One is in the very back of my binder and it is for the blinkies, tearpads, etc. that I find while shopping. The other one is for the coupons that I pull as I put the items in the cart. If it's one of the crazy buy 10 items, get a CAT or spend $30, get a CAT, then I use a separate envelope for each transaction and write on the front of it which items go with that envelope. Go to the check out stand, 10 items, envelope (on the belt), transaction divider bar, repeat.

Hope this makes sense. I am going to attach the excel sheet.

For some reason i couldn't open the spreadsheet. Any idea why, (i am not very computer literate) but would like to check it out.

[mommy22girls]

I found a website called grocerysmarts that has the ads for my stores. And they rank the sale price and to whether or not it's worht stocking up. They also put in there coupons available. I can edit the list and add to it. I print that out and put in in a page protector. The coupons I plan on using go inside the protector too. As I purchase items I move coupons from the protector to a pocket in my purse. Works great.

[MoneySavinDiva]

I use an envelope system of sorts. I save all the envelopes that mail comes in (just the long ones). Then, when I see a deal at a store that I want to do, I put the coupon(s) needed in the envelope, and then write what the deal is on the outside of the envelope. It seems to work out the best, and then I have all the coupons at my fingertips and there isn't any digging through my binder in the middle of the aisles either.

[pasharain]

Like many die hard couponers, I have my coupons organized in a binder full of baseball card holders. But, I also have currency inserts for each store. A currency insert has three pockets and are designed to hold cash in a binder.

Each store I frequent has its own currency insert. The bottom pocket is reserved for all Register Rewards, ECBs, $4 off $20 type coupons that I may or may not use in a shopping trip


The middle pocket is for coupons that I pull while looking through the sales ad.

• I have a brightly colored highlighter handy while going through the sales ads and pulling coupons. I circle the item I want to buy so I can quickly find it in the ad while in the store. I fold the all the ads I plan to use and put them in my binder. Then, I use the ads like a shopping lists.

The top pocket gets filled in the store with the coupons I will actually use. I pull the coupons from the middle pocket when that item reaches my shopping cart. At the end of shopping, but prior to getting in line, I evaluate my purchases and determine if I have purchased enought items to use additional coupons from the bottom pocket.

For example, if I determine that I am going to actually buy $20 worth of stuff at CV,S I check for any $4 off of $20 coupons in the bottom pocket. I also have a calculator handy and subtract my manufacturer's coupons from my total to see just how many ECBs I can use.

[sherri4751]

Hi, i am a newbie, i would like to start using coupons, but i dont even know where to start or how to do it. can someone help me? this is all new to me. thanks sherri

[kawakii]

This is an example of how I do my lists, this one in particular is Walgreens:

Walgreens

Transactions # 1

(2)Tylenol Cough, Cold, Allergy (page 13) 5.99
Mfr. Coupon: 3.00/2
IVC: 1.00/1 Coupon

**Earn a 5.00 Register Reward **

(1)Airwick Freshmatic Ultra I-Motion Starter Kit 6.99
Mfr. Coupon: 6.00

(3) Trident Layers Gum Single Packs
Mfr. Coupon: 1.00/3 (Trident, Trident White, Trident Xtra
Care, Trident Splash)
** Earn 1.00 Register Reward**

Total Register Reward Earned in Transaction :$6.00


Transaction # 2

(2)Sudafed OM Nasal Spray .5oz 5.99 each
Mfr. Coupon (2) 2.00/1

** Earn 5.00 Register Rewards**

(1) Airwick Freshmatic Ultra I-Motion Starter Kit 6.99
Mfr. Coupon: 6.00

(3) Trident Layers Gum Single Packs
Mfr. Coupon: 1.00/3 (Trident, Trident White, Trident Xtra
Care, Trident Splash)

** Earn 1.00 Register Rewards **

Total 6.00 Register Rewards Earned


I do my grocery lists similar after reading the ad flyer, doing my match-ups, etc ....I type out my list because it's easy for me to follow and I can make sure no coupons get forgotten or I don't get all my Catalina ONYO or Register Rewards in this case :)