We’re desperate to get our food budget under control, and if you look at our spending you can see why:
April
Grocery: $424
Meals Out: $203
TOTAL: $627
March:
Grocery: $643
Meals Out: $695
TOTAL: $1338
February:
Grocery: $677
Meals Out: $518
TOTAL: $1195
We did okay in April, but those other months — yikes. So, one tiny part of our cost-cutting strategy is clipping coupons. I was inspired to start clipping coupons by the Coupon Mom, who appeared on the Today Show recently. But I’ve discovered a number of problems. Most coupons are only for packaged foods which we don’t buy anyway, as Breaking Even pointed out. And the coupon websites (like CouponMom, Coupons.com, Wow-coupons.com) don’t have any coupons for stores near me. They do have deals for big stores like Stop ‘n Shop and Shaws, but in NYC all we’ve got are small niche stores (which are mostly extremely expensive) and Whole Foods. So, I have a four-pronged strategy:
- I went to MamboSprouts.com, and signed up to receive a coupon booklet every few months. Those coupons focus on organic, healthy foods that I can buy at Whole Foods.
- I picked up the MamboSprouts coupons which are available when you walk into Whole Foods. Most of them are still for packaged foods I don’t buy, but I did find one for $1 off a 28-oz can of tomatoes (which we use for our delicious pasta sauce).
- I will go to Duane Reade’s website regularly to check for deals. This is the pharmacy we go to most often, and we also have a discount card that gives us a $5 coupon for every $100 we spend. I recently saved $10 there by stocking up on the shampoo I like, which was on sale. This isn’t exactly coupon-clipping, but it counts.
- For brands I like — e.g., Aquafresh toothpaste — I’ll check the website for coupons before I buy. I found a $1 coupon for Aquafresh.
My goal is to save $25 a month with these strategies. How likely is it that I’ll succeed? Hard to say. I’ve already saved $10 and have a few more dollars in coupons good for things I actually need. But we’re not going to find very many coupons for Whole Foods, which is where we do all our shopping. It’s going to be tough to save $25 a month on toothpaste and toilet paper.
3 Comments
August 3, 2008 at 3:18 pm
У нас Вы сможете приобрести новинки товара по ценам ниже рыночнных! Приглашаем для просмотра и заказа товара из нашего ассортимента. Нет интересующего Вас товара? Не беда, отправьте нам сообщение с маркой и моделью, и мы выставим его в нашем магазине!
September 16, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I agree with the previous commenter. Personally, I think coupons are a waste of time, and I think there is some research that shows that. (?). But your April budget for two pretty much looks like my April budget for one, so don’t feel too bad…
January 2, 2009 at 7:02 pm
You can totally save $25 a month on food and toiletries, easily. Even with a penchant for organic/healthy foods, really! Have you checked out http://www.hotcouponworld.com? It’s a free website comprised of fellow couponers, and they have forums for even some regional stores. There are several couponers on there that only buy organic, and you can pick up some tips on that from them. There will be lots of “healthy” coupons starting in January, b/c of the New Year’s resolutions to diet, so it’s a great month to get into some serious couponing. Another thing to get into is finding winetags. These are located on wine bottles in your grocery store/liquor store, and are coupons for normal things like meat, cheese, breads/crackers, and fruits and veggies. In the summer, Kraft puts out a lot of coupons for produce (any kind), so watch for those, too. Also, pay attention to coupons that offer discounts on something you WILL buy, even if you have to buy something you WON’T use. Sometimes you can use a coupon on the item you have to buy to get the discount and get that item you won’t use almost free, and get a couple dollars off of something you will use like produce or meat. Then, if you can’t use it, find someone who can! Food pantries will accept most items from the grocery store, as will soup kitchens, homeless shelters, churches, and your friends and family. Sometimes it truly is cheaper to buy X to get $ off Y, rather than just buying Y without any coupons at all.