I’ve always been frugal. Or cheap. Or thrifty. Call it what you want. Some people get a high off of spending money. I get a high off of saving money, especially while grocery shopping. I am that person who walks through the grocery store with a three-ring binder full of coupons. Sometimes I use a lot. Sometimes I only use one or two. But I have saved up to 50% at the grocery store — sometimes more — so for me, it’s worth it to spend a bit of time figuring out how to maximize my savings.
For the sake of time, and our location, the two stores I do most of my grocery shopping at are Publix and Kroger. There are plenty more, of course, but I choose to stay with what I’m familiar with. Every store has their own coupon policy. Of these two, Publix has the best — allowing you to combine a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon, and doubling coupons up to $.50 (in most states) — but Kroger’s prices tend to be a bit cheaper, especially their produce. Kroger no longer doubles coupons, but they have lowered their prices on a lot of the items in their store. (I was skeptical, but it’s true. They definitely have the cheapest prices on a lot of items). Reagan and I have a weekly Saturday grocery-shopping date, so I usually scan ads from both stores first, and decide where to shop based on which store has more of what we need on sale.
I also sign up for emails from several stores, including Walmart. Last year, we got a $10 coupon to try out their new pick-up groceries offer, where you order online and pick up at the store. It was $10 off $50, so we stocked up on things we knew would be cheap at Walmart that we would use anyway, like flour, sugar, salt, etc. Although I loathe shopping at Walmart, because we are now in their system, we sometimes get a coupon in the mail for another $10 off $50, with no fee, so it’s like getting 20% off your groceries — and the pick-up option means we (read: my husband), can stay in the car. (Note: if you order your groceries online, log in through Ebates, and you can get a percentage of your grocery bill in cash back). We also frequently get coupons in the mail from both our stores, often with coupons for a few free items.
I get my coupons in the Sunday paper, but you can find them online as well. Try coupons.com, redplum.com and smartsource.com. Also, download the app to your store on your phone, where sometimes they will offer an item for free on the app.
We purchase most of our produce — which we buy a lot of because my kids LOVE fruit — at Dollar General Market or Aldi. Both have typically much cheaper prices than the grocery store, although they certainly don’t have the variety some of the bigger stores have. But I just bought five red and yellow bell peppers for $.50 each at Dollar General Market, where you can also sometimes score a 10-lb. bag of potatoes for as little as $3.00.
I just recently started using the AMAZING app, Ibotta. I downloaded it a few years ago, used it a few times, and forgot about it, which I am now majorly kicking myself for. In a nutshell, you download the app on your phone, and then browse their rebates. ‘Unlock’ the rebates for items you want to buy (which they will list separately on the app, making shopping super easy), and when you get home, you scan your receipt (the app is incredibly user-friendly, and it walks you through each step, even the scanning), and it puts the amount of the rebate into your account. Or, you can also link your loyalty card to the app, and then you don’t even need to scan your receipt. You get your rebate money transferred via Paypal or Venmo, or in a gift card to retailers you already use, like Target, Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks, Olive Garden, Applebees, etc. (Bonus: you get $10 free for joining if you click on my link above and use my referral code a3jxw). They often have rebates for several dollars — I recently saw one for Cover Girl make-up for $6, and they list everything from produce to medicine to meat, and plenty of pantry items.
You can also use Ibotta at other retailers, like certain clothing stores, restaurants and other unique retailers. And, the best part is, you can use Ibotta with coupons. So, for example, they recently had a $1.50 off Earth Balance peanut butter, and I also happen to have a $1.00 off Earth Balance peanut butter. I’ve seen it for Buy One, Get One Free at Kroger (and you can just buy one and get half off), which means I could get $2.50 off one jar of peanut butter, making it practically free.
Checkout 51 also offers similar rebates to Ibotta, and the beauty is, you can use BOTH. As in, you can submit your receipt to both Ibotta and Checkout 51, and earn money back from both sites. Ibotta has a bit more in selection, and it’s probably the one I use more, but it’s definitely worth it to load both of them on to your phones. And with Checkout 51, although some of their offers are store-specific, you don’t need to do anything but scan your receipt, and they will automatically add the amount of any offers to your account. (Note: they only have a certain number of offers per item, so make sure you upload your receipt right away). And, they send you a check whenever you request it, once your account reaches $20. So, if Checkout 51 has items you already need — like currently they are offering rebates for Sargento cheese, Community coffee and Stonyfield yogurt, which we use in our house — you could make several dollars each time you shop.
Saving Star is another app I also like. With Saving Star, you claim the offers you want — from $.25 off a grapefruit to $4.00 off $15.00 worth of Butterball, and then you either link your loyalty card or scan your receipt (each store has a different requirement, but it will tell you on the app, depending on the store). The savings will then be deposited into your account, and you can request a payout, linked to either your bank account or Paypal, once you reach $5. And, again, you can use all of the apps, and coupons, making your savings exponentially more significant, for the time it takes you to scan your receipt a few times
We also don’t buy paper goods or cleaning supplies at the grocery store. They are much cheaper at Dollar General or Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree sells everything from paper plates to dish washing liquid to toothpaste. Their selection varies, and we’ve learned what not to buy at Dollar Tree — their generic dish-washing liquid or laundry stain removal, for example — but we often find brand names, like Dawn or Colgate. Otherwise, we buy all of that at Dollar General, including toilet paper and other household items. (Exception: sometimes Kroger has great markdowns on things like laundry soap. They recently had a sale that brought Sun laundry detergent down to $1.00 each if you bought six — and I also had a coupon for a few of them, which means a couple of the bottles only cost $.50).
Last thing: we also buy what is on sale that we will need, even if we don’t need it right away. I recently bought nine boxes of cereal, because with the savings and my coupons, each box came to about $.50. While nowhere near those crazy coupon people on TV, who devote entire rooms to their stash, we just keep a shelf in our garage for extras that we don’t need now, but will need eventually.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are so many more ways to save money — more sites for coupons, more apps — but I don’t want to spend my entire day chasing down money, so these are the ones I find the most useful. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them! Perhaps I can do a follow-up post sharing how other people save money as well.
Happy shopping!