I’ve shopped at at least five different grocery stores in the last two years of being at Cal Poly. I’m always ready to shift to a different store if I think I can get a better deal. But I had never really considered couponing as an option to saving money.
We’ve all seen those ladies on TLC who have a literal garage of food and only spent like 20 dollars on thanks to couponing. However, I was not ready, nor did I have the time, for that level of coupon commitment. I was willing to see if even with a little couponing I could save enough money to make the extra effort worth it.
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I currently do most of my grocery shopping at Food 4 Less. While collecting coupons for that store, I realized that they were the same company as Ralph’s, meaning the coupons worked for either store. It felt like the day I realized my A&W and Sunkist were the same bottle design because they were the same company: Mind = Blown.
I found myself saving coupons for things that I really didn’t need. I also felt extremely overwhelmed by the amount of coupons available. I shut my laptop and decided to back-track. I made a list of staple foods that I ate, and a list of other products for around the house that I could use. I felt much more confident tackling the coupons after having a game plan.
I clipped $12 worth of coupons on the Food-4-Less website, which I had to sign up for an account with them to do. However, I still felt like I hadn’t fully reached my coupon potential. I moved on to Target’s coupon site because I will always have a deep soul-reaching relationship with that store. I noticed that a lot of the brands that I had clipped from Food 4 Less were having the exact coupon offers at Target. It makes sense once you think about it, but I found this to be mind-boggling. After adding $15 worth of coupons into my account, I was ready to face the crowds.
I printed the coupons because I wasn’t sure how to use online coupons and I was worried of looking like a dork at the checkout counter. I was a tiny bit nervous when I approached the cashier and before he even scanned my food, I practically yelled that I had coupons. After looking at me like “Why are you yelling at me?” he accepted my coupons and just scanned them with their proper item. It wasn’t as life-changing as I had made it out to be in my head.
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I ended up saving $30 after all my coupons. It felt good to save money, but I definitely wouldn’t have bought that quantity of food if the coupon hadn’t had the rule. I usually don’t buy three boxes of Hamburger Helper but I really wanted the 50 cents off. After completing the first obstacle of couponing, I think it will be much easier from now on. I have all the necessary accounts and I understand how the cashing out works. It’s definitely something I could make a regular action for me.