And now a post about saving money—because the more we cut from our grocery bill, the more we can spend on paint and home projects. Since I recently shared my 2011 goal to get better at couponing, here’s an update for anyone else who wants to turn paper clippings into real savings.
I saved $53 at the grocery store! Coupons really do work.
Excuse the excitement—this was a big win for me. I’m no coupon expert (I only started learning a few weeks ago), so I kept my approach simple. If you’re new to couponing too, here are the main lessons I learned in plain language.
Tip 1: You save the most when your store matches coupons and when you can stack a manufacturer’s coupon with store coupons or store sales. We shop at Kroger, which matches manufacturers’ coupons up to 50 cents. For example, if Kroger marks organic milk down $1 and you have a 50-cent manufacturer’s coupon that Kroger matches, a $3 gallon can drop to $1 after both discounts. That stacking effect is where the big savings happen.
This adds up fast when you do a larger shopping trip every two to three weeks like we do. It also helps avoid frequent impulse purchases that can increase your overall spend.
Tip 2: Only use coupons for items you actually eat or will use. Buying something just because it’s cheap wastes money, time, and storage space. My rule is to clip or print coupons only for things our family already eats or wants to try. We focus on organic produce and dairy plus basics like pasta, bread, cereal, and granola. Some coupons are harder to find for organic items, but they do show up. Between clipped coupons, printable coupons, and Kroger’s savings card discounts, we managed a big reduction on our last trip—$53 saved on about $160 of groceries for three people.
Beyond picking up the Sunday paper for printed coupons and the Kroger weekly flier, I visit a few online resources to find printable coupons or to load digital coupons onto my Kroger card. I narrowed my go-to list down after trying several sites, which made the process much more manageable.
- Check a reliable coupon blog for store-specific deals and weekly highlights.
- Look for a site or section dedicated to e-coupons for your store so you can load discounts directly onto your loyalty card.
- Use printable coupon aggregators for manufacturer coupons you can take to the store.
- Follow a few coupon-savvy blogs for deal roundups; they often flag the best offers quickly.
Don’t let the number of coupon sites overwhelm you. I get most of my coupons from about four main sources, so you don’t need to bookmark everything. Test a few and keep what works for you.
For our last trip I clipped and printed coupons over two weeks for items we actually use, wrote a careful shopping list noting quantities needed to maximize savings, and loaded several e-coupons onto our Kroger card ahead of time. We spent around $160 for about 77 items (enough for 2–3 weeks for John, Clara, and me) and saved $53. Our purchases included organic baby yogurt, organic milk, eggs, produce like bananas and avocados, whole wheat bread, pasta, granola bars, cereal, and a few treats like dark chocolate and ice cream.
Here are a few specific examples of how coupons and sales combined to create the best savings:
- YoBaby Organic Yogurt 4-packs: Each pack was $2.69. Kroger had $0.60 off each, bringing the price to $2.09, and a manufacturer “buy one, get one free” coupon made both packs cost just $2.09 total.
- Gorton’s Grilled Shrimp (8 oz): Regularly $5.99, Kroger had a $3-off promo so the price was $2.99, and a $1 manufacturer coupon brought it down to $1.99.
- Fiber One Granola Bars: Regularly $2.49; Kroger had $1.50 off making them $0.99, plus a $0.50 e-coupon reduced the price to $0.49.
Not every item will be a massive deal, and that’s okay—savings of $0.20 or $0.50 add up over time as long as you’re buying things you actually use.
More couponing basics I learned:
- Promotions like “10 for $10” don’t mean you must buy ten items; these labels encourage bulk buying, so buy only what you need.
- Don’t assume the biggest size is always the best value. Sometimes a coupon yields a better percentage saving on the smaller size. Check the per-ounce price if you plan to buy a larger item.
- Sales often cycle every six weeks. If something you use is on sale, buy enough to last until the sale likely returns rather than hoarding an enormous stockpile.
Here’s how I stay organized: I keep a clear plastic sleeve for coupons and add clipped or printed coupons to it over the 2–3 weeks between major shopping trips. Before we go, I remove coupons I won’t use so the sleeve only contains coupons I plan to spend and slip my shopping list inside so I know quantities and sizes without hunting through coupons. At checkout I hand over the Kroger loyalty card for e-coupons and then my paper coupons. That system has worked well so far.
That’s my couponing update—happy clipping. If you’re a seasoned couponer, feel free to share tips—I’m still learning and eager to improve!
Psst—Not all kids’ toys are created equal. Check out what Clara got that we love so much we don’t want to hide it away (unlike most of her other toys).