First Time Out... Feeling Tired but Good

[OldDog]

Total Value: $105.36. Spent: $71.70, Saved$33.66 Total percentage saved 32%

I was really happy. I have always used my preferred card at Jewel, but I never paid attention necessarily to what was on sale, if I wanted something and it happened to be on sale, I was happy. My average savings back then (yeah so long ago, like last time I shopped, lol) was about $3 or $4 on any given trip.

This time, I scoured the sale paper I got in the sunday paper and saw what was on sale and made my list accordingly. Then, even though I started all this on one of the few weekends when the papers have NO coupons, lol, I did manage to find a couple online on the Jewel website itself. My preferred card savings amounted to $24.01, and my coupon savings came out to $9.65 for a total savings of 32%. I was thrilled.

I can't wait until I have saved up some coupons and can really get good values. It does kind of suck that the "Jewel coupons" on their site are MFs so I can't stack clipped coupons with them though. I'm going to check out Food4Less and see if their coupons are actual store coupons, or if they're manufacturer coupons too, although I don't know if their in store/card savings are as good as Jewel's are.

Anyway, I am really happy with my new start, and looking forward to more. None of the things I bought on this trip were "extra" or stock items either, they were simply things I want to use for the week. I am not ready to start stockpiling. I'm just trying to get my regular grocery bill down a little for a few weeks, then I'll see what I can afford to buy above and beyond what I need for the week.

[$Saving!]

BRAVO!

You did very well without having a stockpile of coupons to match up!!! Once you have established a good coupon selection, your savings should hit 50% pretty quick and up from there

That's money you kept in YOUR wallet, doesn't that feel great?! And you still got what you needed!

Now, when the coupons come out in Sunday's paper, do yourself a favor and look at each coupon and ask yourself this one question: If the price was right, would I try this product? And if the answer is yes, then clip and file that coupon.

You will be amazed how many products you'll try on the cheap or free when a good sale/match up happens and discover that you like it. What that does is allow you to find more items on sale every week that you'll be able to purchase and use!

And remember, new products come out with higher value coupons to get customers to try them - so many times they're free or near free, if you like it, stock up

I'm so happy for your first shot at really working the sales angle!!!! You did great!

[$Saving!]

Now, as you get "hooked" on the savings, and you will , you'll be looking for more coupons than you get in your paper and can print off online.

Here are a couple suggestions for you:

1. Family/friends/neighbors. Anyone who gets the paper and even if they use coupons, ask them to toss their extras (uncut) your way. You'd be amazed how many extra coupons you can clip even from those who do use coupons some and how many they don't clip! I do this with my SIL, we clip and exchange our inserts.

2. Start a coupon swap group with family, friends - meet once a month and bring clipped coupons you won't be using and everyone goes through the coupons and takes what they think they will use. Amazing how many you accumulate in a month that you won't use but others might and so forth.

3. You can always buy coupons on here from those with auctions - very reasonably priced and if you need a lot of coupons for a particular product, this is the place to get them!

4. You can always trade with other members here too, although without a good supply on your end, that's a bit tougher at first.

I'm just so happy for you! You're on your way to regularly saving a large amount of money on a portion of your budget you DO have control over

[OldDog]

BRAVO!

You did very well without having a stockpile of coupons to match up!!! Once you have established a good coupon selection, your savings should hit 50% pretty quick and up from there

Thank you very much! I am stoked! I wrote my hubby a quick email to tell him since we've been talking about this for the last few days, and I even said to him, I was so surprised, and happy, and once I start actually being able to collect coupons, if I can get that to 50 or 60% I'll be ecstatic lol.

That's money you kept in YOUR wallet, doesn't that feel great?! And you still got what you needed!

yes indeed, lol

Now, when the coupons come out in Sunday's paper, do yourself a favor and look at each coupon and ask yourself this one question: If the price was right, would I try this product? And if the answer is yes, then clip and file that coupon.

Thanks for the tip. I plan on doing that. There were things in the sale ads today that I didn't buy, but would have liked to if I'd had a coupon to add to the savings. Obviously I bought things that were on sale that I didn't have coupons for, but that was because I needed them anyway. On those items I might have bought a different brand, or type in my "non-coupon" mindset, but now I am trying to think---if there's something you need find a sale version of it, and if you can coupon on top of it, yippeee! However, I knew as I was looking at those other items in the paper that if I'd had a coupon they'd be something to try, or I'd like to have them in addition to my other stuff, I just didn't want them bad enough to only pay a sale price on them.

You will be amazed how many products you'll try on the cheap or free when a good sale/match up happens and discover that you like it. What that does is allow you to find more items on sale every week that you'll be able to purchase and use!

I can't wait! Over the last four or five days as I got interested in doing this, I've been studying, and part of me was getting a little flustered, and wondering if I was going to be able to do any of it. Now I am rejuvenated with my modest success considering some of the roadblocks I've encountered (no coupon Sunday, my printer went wonky when I was trying to print out my first batch of online coupons and I lost out on them because I didn't realize what was happening until after I'd selected them twice, and that was the limit). Now I really believe I can get even better savings if I pay attention to what I'm shopping for, and save coupons regularly.

And remember, new products come out with higher value coupons to get customers to try them - so many times they're free or near free, if you like it, stock up

That's a really good idea. If I can get something at a deep discount, yeah, then I'll definitely buy those things for my forthcoming stockpile.

I'm so happy for your first shot at really working the sales angle!!!! You did great!

Thank you again. It's really nice to have someplace to share the excitement and learn these great tips from.

[OldDog]

Thanks again for the extra tips!!! I am still learning. I had started to go through the trading rules here, and I have to finish that so I can go in and see where I can get some deals on coupon like you mentioned.

I have seen the trading a little bit, but yeah, I'll have to develop a bit of a stock to do that. It looks great though!

[434Teresa]

Shopping with coupons/sales/lists/kids/and ect is not easy so thats is why u were tried when you got done...lol we have all been there..its alot going on all at one time.

Just ask around if you know so and so gets the sunday paper but dont coupons shop ask them for the coupons. You may have to ask a few weeks in a roll until they remember that you want them but soon they will start bring them over to you or start couponing themself if they see how much you are saving..

You can trade or buy them on here and you can even buy them on ebay. Sometimes I just type in coupons and look around just to find out what coupons are out there to be used for all states gets different ones from different places other then the paper.

[Weinergirl]

Nice job!!! :)