The Checkout Chicks

A recent survey shows that one in five consumers are self conscious about using coupons when they checkout.  However, 57% of survey respondents said that they are now willing to overcome their personal qualms and take advantage of the financial benefit of coupons.

What does this mean to use as a couponer? The smart companies will take advantage of this upswing in coupon usage and start issuing coupons more frequently, with better discounts and expand on the products for which they offer coupons.  That’s what we can hope.

“In a down economy even the most stubborn consumers are receptive to money saving offers,” said Mark Hertenstein, ICOM vice president of sales, in a statement. “This is a perfect time for brands to engage desirable consumer segments with offers that appeal to their frugal mindset.”
[Source: Supermarket News]

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With the downturn in the economy, it’s never made more sense than now to enhance your stockpile. To some people, this seems counter-intuitive - why should I spend *more* money?

If you or your spouse - or even if both you - lost your job, how would you pay for the products you use on a daily basis? We all need things like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, deoderant, hand soap, etc. What if you already had a supply to last you for several months? How much money would that free up for you?

Let me give you some examples.  I have no purchased toothpaste, shampoo, tampons, hand soap, bathroom cleaners, ground beef, muffin mix, pasta, cream of chicken soup, toothbrushes, body soap or mouth wash in nine to twelve months.  Why? Because when these items were free or on extreme discount, I purchased enough to add to my stockpile. I do not have a warehouse to store all these items - just my tiny little house with zero closet space.

So how do you get started?

We all use toilet paper, right? Find a grocery store that doubles coupons and has Cottonelle 4-packs for $.99. If you print out the Cottonelle coupons from their website, you will never pay for toilet paper again.  Here’s the math: Regular price $.99 minus the $.50 coupon that is doubled (so the value is $1) and your TP is free.  So buy as many as you can every month. Find a closet with a shelf way up high that you don’t really use and store the TP up there.  Don’t forget to cut out the Box Tops For Education emblems and save them for your local school!

Look for good prices on freezable and shelf stable items!

• I purchased NINE tubes of ground beef and put them in my freezer. They were normally $12.99 but I got them on manager special for $3.85 each (not per pound!).  I bought every single one they had. I’ve not had to purchase ground beef for a very long time!
• Only purchase boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are $1.99/lb or less. Then buy a few extra to keep in the freezer. I always have a one-month supply of chicken in my deep freeze.  There are often times when chicken goes on sale but I do not purchase any because I still have enough stockpiled.
• I recently purchased about 30 cans of Rotel tomatoes. I use them for my chili and they were about $.10/can.

You don’t have to go hog wild and buy 40 packages of shredded cheese (yes, I did that when they were $.75/bag), but buy a few extras and store them in the freezer.  Buy an extra pack of TP, an extra tube of toothpaste. Don’t break your budget!

There are tons of blogs out there to help you find the freebies each week when you combine sale prices and coupons. CVS is a great resource for free household items. Do some searches and start slow.

Because of stockpiling, I know that I always have at least one month’s worth of food on hand. For an entire month, I could feed my family from my freezer and pantry - and only go to the store for perishables like milk, fresh veggies/fruits and incidentals.

That’s the value of stockpiling.  When you don’t know if you’ll have money coming in, having food on hand is a great comfort.

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The checkoutchicks are back!!  I’m Aryn. . .your otherwise unknown checkoutchick. . .and I’m ready to enlighten you with my tips, tricks, and tools of the trade.  Most of our veteran savvy savers will already be utilizing the same tricks, but I’d like to gear my post toward that soon-to-be savvy saver!  I’d like to share my insider secrets with the newbies!

My journey to Thrift Town started several years ago when I was a stay-at-home mommy to my precious little one, Punkinhead.  I felt it was my job to try to stretch the household dollars as far as they would go, and I’ll admit now: I took it as a little bit of a challenge.  Afterall, when Punkinhead was wee little, I only had myself for entertainment! I played a little game with myself to see if I could get more this week for less than I had spent last week.  Does that make sense? 

Anywhoo. . on to my tips:

1. www.grocerygame.com - this is the site that started it all for me.  There is a cost of $10/2 months of service.  For me, this equated to $5/month that I was totally willing to spend for a huge amount of savings.  Now, many of my friends (who are also avid spendthrifts) do not utilize this service because they feel they can find the deals on their own.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS FOR SOMEONE JUST STARTING OUT!!!  I think it is very beneficial for a newbie to allow someone else to take those reigns at first.  The more you see the lists that the pros put together, the more comfortable you become with where to look for good deals, what actually classifies as a good deal, and what time of year you can expect to see certain items.  I have been a member of Grocery Game for 3 years and because I work full-time, go to school part-time, AND I’m a Mommy. . I don’t have the time to find the deals on my own like my friends do!  I’ll pay the $5/month because it’s well worth it.

www.afullcup.com - some of my spendthrift friends use this site to track their weekly grocery shopping deals.  I do not use it for that purpose because I find the whole site to be a bit overwhelming.  However, I do like to track deals at other stores (Target, The Childrens Place, Old Navy, etc) through this site.  Rest assured, if there is a sale going on anywhere, one of the thousands of members of this site knows about it and has already posted it! For newbies, I would suggest just logging on and sticking to one forum at a time until you get more comfortable.  It is a site that has a tremendous amount of content so you may not be able to navigate around very easily at first.  Hang in there, it will come!!  Before long, you’ll see why the site has so many thousands of members. . because it’s an awesome resource!

 

You might be shocked to learn that those are the only 2 tips that I have for right now.  If you’re a newbie, I don’t want to overwhelm you!  Just a little bit at a time! Stay tuned for future posts in which I release other juicy tidbits related to coupon organization, what constitues a “stock up price” for me, and all my tips for stockpiling. 

Super saving. . .

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