This is Hard...How do you...??

[NewBieGirlfriend]

How would I stay in a reasonable budget when I get paid every two weeks? By the time my check comes again Im back to shelling out $200 for groceries and others? Its only two people in my Household But Im the only one working right now...how does this work?

[Gnorga]

$200 a month for 2 people?
I thinks that will be plenty once you learn how to do it!

Luckily, you are in the right place

[$Saving!]

I would suggest you buy small amounts of items rather than doing one large trip.

This allows you to pick off the best sale items and match them up with coupons.

Yes, you will spend more time at first by shopping more frequently and at more stores, but it saves you the most money.

Over time you will establish a small 'stockpile' of items you got on sale with coupons that you will use, it allows you to wait until another good sale with coupons to back fill that item with.

It should take you about 3-4 months to establish your small stockpile, which will result in a huge savings over time.

The trick to saving with coupons is to buy only those items that are on sale that match up with coupons you have. In the beginning, you may find you need to pick up other items not on sale, but by spreading out the purchasing by trying to ONLY buy sale items/coupons, you save a tremendous amount of money over time and watch your stockpile of common items grow.

Everything you need has a sales cycle. Pasta, sauces, meats, canned goods, peanut butter, dairy etc can all easily be purchased by watching for sales and adding your coupons to the savings available when that item is on sale.

So, to start, I suggest looking at each grocery store ad you have available near you and finding those "loss leaders" and begin to buy items you will use, even if they are not an immediate need.

Shop weekly, not twice a month. You'll be spending less (providing you stick to your written list and ONLY buy that which is on sale -or- is an absolute need item at that time)

The goal is to have a coupon for almost everything you need to buy and to only buy those items when they are on a good sale. You'll find you'll never wish to buy anything that is not on sale When you reach that point you'll know you've tapped into serious couponing!

I hope this helps!

[MizMoneyPenny]

Also, shop seasonally. Buy fresh fruit and vegetable in season, and buy meat and chicken in Aug/September to stock up. And I agree with buying smaller amounts once a week. You might see something next week at a much better price, but you already bought it last week.

[Green is Gold]

How would I stay in a reasonable budget when I get paid every two weeks? By the time my check comes again Im back to shelling out $200 for groceries and others? Its only two people in my Household But Im the only one working right now...how does this work?

Maradee and many others on this site are much smarter than I am. And I don't know how to link ( at least not untill DD comes home from school) But... The best thing I have ever read, that really made me GET it was an article by Queenofthehivemomof5 from last May. Go to articles choose stockpiling and it's called something like "Couponing on a budget" Read it!!!

The way I read it, you're spending $400 a month on 2 people? That's what I spend on 5 (7 when DD is home, her SO eats here alot) and I'm trying to stockpile. That includes all HBA and cleaning stuff. And I'm new most of these guys and girls are WAAAAAY smarter than me! HTH

If someone knows how to link this that would be awesome.

[Gnorga]

Maradee and many others on this site are much smarter than I am. And I don't know how to link ( at least not untill DD comes home from school) But... The best thing I have ever read, that really made me GET it was an article by Queenofthehivemomof5 from last May. Go to articles choose stockpiling and it's called something like "Couponing on a budget" Read it!!!

The way I read it, you're spending $400 a month on 2 people? That's what I spend on 5 (7 when DD is home, her SO eats here alot) and I'm trying to stockpile. That includes all HBA and cleaning stuff. And I'm new most of these guys and girls are WAAAAAY smarter than me! HTH

If someone knows how to link this that would be awesome.

Are you talking about a blog entry or did you see it here on HCW?
I'm trying to find it

[Green is Gold]

Are you talking about a blog entry or did you see it here on HCW?
I'm trying to find it

Maradee: Go to articles at the top of this page, under articles by catagory, click on stockpiling, May 3rd Couponing on a budget.

[Gnorga]

Here is the link to the article

[434Teresa]

It takes time to learn to shop and save major with coupons. We did not get up one morning and say hey I think I am going shopping and going to save half off what i buy with coupons. Sorry it dont work like that at all.

You have to learn your stores coupon policy, if you have a store or stores that double/triple coupons..Some people are able to save more for they have stores that do that.

It is hard at first but all you have to do is take a deep breath step back and know its not going to happen over night. Start off by useing a few coupons on every shopping trip. Make you list of the normal items you buy every two weeks and hunt those coupons down so you have them to use on your next shopping trip..

If you are saving $20 with coupons buy a little extra shampoo,soap ect that you have coupons for and that is on sale that way you will be stocked up on that item for awhile. You repeat this each week and soon you will not have to spend the money you save with coupons for you will be stocked up..Soon that $200 each week will be $100 to $150 and you will have a stockpile..if your stores double/triple you very well can do better than that.

[thickbluebug]

I agree - excellent article. All I was coming to say was to go slow and set a stockpile budget.
QOTH said it much better.

I can tell you that I went way too fast and stocked up on marginal deals back in 2007. Bought way too many crackers and cereal because they were free and .50 a box
I ended up with over 100 boxes of cereal and was begging in laws to take the stuff before it expired.


Now I know that cookies/crackers and cereal are cheap enough to stockpile several times a year - so no need to buy that many at one time - Anyway crackers go bad in a few months.
Now mustard is something we do use 50 medium bottles a year of so I could use 100 small bottles of mustard.

So by going slow you can learn how much your family uses of something.
Free sounds good and someone can get caught up into wanting to be a pig and buy all you can buy. I did.

If you had to throw it out - you wasted your time.
- Plus the free stuff still had gas costs for buying it
and coupon costs to get it free
and your time to hunt it down - which is not replaceable.