Hi All,
I just thought I would give you a heads up on the stores that I have save the most money at during the month of January. (Using my trusty coupon of course)
I live in Northwestern Indiana in a very small community so in that case there are no Walmarts or targets close to me unless I travel to Merrillville and I only do that when I work. (Hooours cut, not much of that going on...lol) Anyhoo..I have learned that shopping at Strack and Vantil has saved me the most in groceries. DH and I went in one night and we shopped the sales with coupons in hand, spent 35.00 and saved $40.00. Cashier looked at me and said "You saved more than what you spent" I said" Good, that was my goal!" So Strack and VanTil is a great one to shop at. Here is the link if your interested or have one nearby.
http://www.strackandvantil.com/
Another good place is CVS. I have mentioned this before but I feel its worth mentioning again. You save alot of money on health and beauty products, get 'bucks' on certain items to use again and use the Catalina machine to get more coupons..win, win there!
Another favorite for couponers is Wags (Walgreens)...once again health and beauty but sometimes a few groceries here and there as well. They give register rewards to use on another purchase so that is great!
For those of you that live close to Walmart and Target, I guess there are good deals to be had to but honestly I'm not a Walmart fan so I don't go there unless I am gonna get a freebie or 2 or 3...you get the point.;) But if you are a Walmart fan, they do take coupons and will price match other store ads..just bring them with you....
Target usually will have there own coupons and you can match up manufactured coupons with their sales and walk away with some great savings but again, I'm not close to a Target so I have to figure gas in for all of this and for me, unless a WHOOPING deal, or I'm that way already, I don't usually go.
The important thing to remember is the price of gas to take you to the store. If there is a store and you think you can save $10.00 but it takes $10.00 to get there, your not really saving now are you? Those are things I like to figure into my savings before I go on my shopping trips. If I can save over $100.00 or more to travel to Walmart then you bet your boots I'll do it but for me I take little trips here and there or stop by somewhere when I'm already out running errands, then to me its not so bad. I try to match up my ads on Sunday, plan my meals and then on Monday I do all my shopping and grab all the deals I can and in the meantime, I'm saving my gas as well.
I started couponing at the beginning of the year and today I added up all my spending and savings. I spent approximatly $250.00 and saved $220.00! Not bad for 1 month of couponing and it was on all things that we use and need. I don't have much a of a stockpile going yet, but I do have 3 bottles of mouthwash, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 6 things of deodorant and my husband is good on body wash and I have 2 small 45 fl oz. of laundry soap that I got at CVS for less than $1.00, and I have enough Chumky soup to feed an Army! The things I am most proud of is the box of 50 Coffeemate creamers that I got from Staples for free! My goal is to get a stockpile of things going then donate them to a food bank or homeless shelter.
Couponing may take a bit of time in the beginning because you have to get the papers, get your coupons, organize them in a binder and check the sales, but it really is worth all the time and effort you put into it. Get you DH and children involved too. I have a 17 year old who is just so excited when she finds a coupon for something that she likes. I told her and DH nothing will be bought without a coupon and they have both been really good at helping me with that. Its a bit of a lifestyle change but it really is worth it..besides we work hard for our money to just throw it away, save some bit of it and see how much you can save!
I will be posting pics of my binder and instructions if anybody is interested. Well until next time, happy couponing and keep saving your money!
Sincerely,
Coupon mom in training
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