Skip to content

Coupon Curiousity- week 32

It seems this has been a busy month! I know I’ve caught myself saying, there’s not enough time in the day, all too often lately. However, I have made a vow to only focus on those things that are important right now like prayer, church, my husband, my kids, my family and couponing! Laugh at the fact that I mentioned couponing, but after purchasing one week’s worth of groceries without strategy and a plan to coupon was a $25.00 setback and a hit to the budget I’m trying to stick to. Nonetheless, I was glad that I could rely on my stockpile which was a huge relief or I would have spent much more. This was a wake up call and truly got me to thinking about couponing in it’s entirety and where I had failed myself in doing so.

Don’t get me wrong, cashing in on savings isn’t going to come before baseball games for this Ava Bear baseball mom or sneaking time in for my son who has an afterschool job or participating in a 5k with my son and daughter or missing the opportunity to take my step-daughter’s prom photos. Those moments are a blessing not to be missed and money isn’t the focus, rather a life with less debt. I should have just stuck to my routine when it came to shopping.

Here are a few tips to help create such routine:

First, one must change the way they shop. Late afternoon runs to the grocery store must be eliminated. Don’t make long grocery lists planned out regardless of price. Don’t do any menu planning without glancing at local sale ads first. Instead meal plan according to what’s on sale. Visit a couple of differenct stores to save. Shop with coupons while a product is on sale and stock up while it’s cheap.

Know what type of coupons are out there – Sunday paper coupons, printable coupons from coupons.com, mobile coupons that can be received through your mobile phone, eCoupons, which are loaded onto your store loyalty card via your phone or computer.

Remember to always match coupons with sales and promotions. A big mistake that most make is using a coupon just because they have it.

Stack coupons when possible. Stacking coupons simply means using one manufacturer coupon and one store coupon together on the same item. Walgreens will issue store coupons and allow them to be stacked with a manufacturer coupon. Look in this week’s paper for Walgreen insert with coupons. Also remember that you can never use two manufacturer coupons on one time.

Couponing becomes easier once you pick a store and know their store coupon policy. Always keep the policy on hand for reference. To find a store’s policy, go to it’s official website and enter “coupon policy” in the search bar. If a store doesn’t have a website, set up a time to talk to store management.

Hope this becomes useful knowledge to those who are interested and before I say That’s A Wrap for this week, here are a few items on sale at Town & Country Supermarket this week that have coupons circulating: Johnsonville breakfast sausage, General Mills cereal, Betty Crocker fruit snacks, Bugles or Chex Mix snacks and Westpac frozen vegetables.

If you have any questions, you can always contact me at mindy@douglascountyherald.com. I am more than willing to help you get started. If you have something to add to this column, great! We would love to hear from you as well!

Now to make things interesting, the Douglas County Herald will be starting a coupon exchange since we all know that everyone doesn’t use the same products. We will have a box up front with coupons in it. Feel free to look through and take any coupons that interest you and that you will use. All we ask is that you help give back by bringing in the coupons you don’t use. This week we have a few coupons on the items mentioned on sale at Town & Country.

Until next time, keep calm and coupon on!