How I learned to shop and save

When I first learned that I was pregnant with my third child at the ripe age of 41, I knew I would have to go back to my roots of my childhood and become the bargain shopper my mother was. I started slowly as I knew there was no way I was going to accomplish my goals quickly and painlessly (and let me tell you) it was rather painful at first.

While I was still working for a local grocery store company I started to learn the art of couping and shopping the deals. It wasn't easy by any means. Anyone who lives in the North-most part of Ohio would tell you it is not easy to get those great bargains of TV lore. There was sacrifice in the beginning as I did have to spend money to establish a working stock pile of items. I watched other customers stock up on the great sales and using many coupons (Yes, this was before they limited your coupon usage).

So I started by keeping an organized binder, studied ad/coupon cycles and where the best real deals were. You wouldn't think it would take that much time, but it took me at least a year; all while creating a stock-pile that was worth having for my family. These persons who great these great deals and purchase things they have no need for are not really on a necessary budget as I am. My example of this is when I got a fantastic deal once on Miracle Whip and stock up with about 8 jars. While I got this great price on something my family does like, it doesn't have a long enough shelf life to warrant purchasing 8 jars; thus creating waste, which I detest! So I started keeping track of items my family uses by dating items, writing down when it was used by and calculate how many we would need per year of each thing. This way I can stock up on about a year supply of any item, as long as I can get a good deal and not waste it.

My next learning curve was when I realized I can not spend my budget on getting all the deals and adding to the stock pile all the time. I couldn't make a dinner on all deals; so I had to pass on some "deals"; I had to buy sensibly to get my meats, dairy, produce etc. This meant I had to learn to make monthly (dinner) menu plans and this seemed so daunting of a task.  So I made a list of our favorite recipes and ones I wanted to try, most of which I got off
www.allrecipes.com. I made individual monthly Shopping List(s) with recipes I wanted to make for each month which broke down a list of shopping needs to make each recipe, which I could edit from what I already have in stock.

While taking note of our wish list of recipes that we would want for a given month I needed to come up with an inventory of my items I had in my freezer. Not only for rotation but so I knew how much of what I would need for a monthly menu. Here is what I made via Excel

I searched for a site that gave me info on how long items were good for in my freezer and I came across StillTasty.com. Though there are a few items I found conflicting in their data base, all and all they are a very useful tool to cut down on waste. Now I rarely have any waste out of my freezer. I found a great, free tool to create my monthly (dinner) menu as well from Vertex42.com 

I can add favorites on a drop down tab for each day, change the month and save as needed on this program. There is even area's I can add side dishes which I am not proficient in as of yet, but side dishes to me are more flexible; I still have much in the freezer from last years garden.

Last tool I came across was with the wonderful gift my husband gave me for Christmas. My Ipad! I got a great AP for my Ipad called CouponKeeper2. This AP allows me to keep an inventory at hand for every coupon in my binder, which I can scan in simply and adjust if needed.

I can mark my favorites for items we use, Items I know will go on sale and more! I especially love this because I can track which coupons will get me the most value in stores such as Giant Eagle which doubles coupons up to .99 cents. Knowing which products they typically put on sale and which I will get the most value on, I will star them as excellent. Right now I have a coupon count of 620 coupons (ones I know we would use) at a savings value of $694.84. I have redeemed 85 coupons since uploading this AP and have saved $97.74 in manufacture coupons. Not reflecting Saving Star, www.ibotta.com, Eoffers or www.gianteagle.com doubling program.

I have now gotten my budget down to around $400 a month or less of all grocery items for a family of 2 teens, 1 husband, 1 toddler in diapers, 3 dogs and myself and am still tracking less with each passing month!