Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

I have started trying to save as much money while grocery shopping as humanly possible. With gas prices up (again!) and limited financial resources, saving pennies is a good habit to get into. It also goes back to the concept of "enough." How little can I live on regardless of what my salary is?

That being the case, I have been turned on to a wonderful website: www.southernsavers.com. This is an AWESOME site, even more so if you live in a city with multiple grocery store chains (Publix, Kroger, Bi-Lo, etc.). Even just having Publix, the site is a huge blessing. They have the full Publix ad uploaded fresh each Wednesday and they list the penny item on Sundays. The site also has links to manufacturer's coupons that might or might not have been in the previous Sunday's paper. I spent 15 minutes at the end of the workday today looking at the site, printed a few coupons for stuff I needed and ended up saving $2.50 on items I would have purchased anyway. Since Publix doubles some coupons, I had another manufacturer's coupon and they matched a competitor's coupon I had, I saved $11.00 on my bill. Add in Publix's buy one/get one savings and I saved $16.26 on a total bill of $36.72. That got my pantry restocked on the essentials and saved money to boot.

Just a note: Publix is a GREAT chain when it comes to savings and coupons. They will stack coupons (buy one/get one and a manufacturer's coupon and competitor coupon), offer one of a buy one/get one at half-off, and honor competitor's coupons. It is worth finding their ads each week and utilizing the savings.

The funny thing about this whole concept is that some of my friends are doing this too and it's become a game: see how much you can save by clipping coupons and watching for specials. It changes the way you shop and plan because you end up eating what's on sale and what you have coupons for but it works. I'm not quite to where some of my friends are (one bought $151 worth of groceries for $65!) but I figure every little bit helps. I thought it might be a drag but when you make it a game and see the savings, it's worth the little bit of extra time.