We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
It’s fun to show examples of how I was able to get $130 worth of food for only $13, but this isn’t really a typical shopping trip for me. Do you want to see what one of my typical shopping trips looks like?
Once you have been couponing for awhile you will have a nice stockpile of items, so you will find you need to run to the store less and less. You will have to head to the store for necessities that you can’t always stock up on (milk, eggs and fruit come to mind). When I make these “necessity” trips I try my best to add in some really great “deal” shopping with them, so it reduces the amount of times I need to head to the store during the week.
Here is my most recent trip to Fred Meyer, and it is a good example of what a typical shopping trip would look like for me. This trip includes the following:
Things we are out of: I had to make this trip specifically because we were out of eggs, milk and some fruit and veggies.
Special Deals: I knew I wanted to pick up the Jamba Juice Smoothies for $ .67 and the FREE Corazonas Oatmeal Squares so I added them to my list.
When there are great store deals that pop up, I don’t usually make a special trip for them. I will add them to a store shopping list and a specific store envelope along with the coupons. When I head to a specific store, I will take the envelope along with me, and I will already know what special deals I need to pick up while I am there.
Raincheck items: My trips often include an item that I have a raincheck for. Rainchecks are a great way to ensure you will get to pick up the sale item at a later date if the store is out of stock when you check the first time. I was happy to find the Wisk back in stock at Fred Meyer, so I was able to pick it up for $ .99 each with my Raincheck and coupons.
Just Because items: The Santa Cruz Mango Lemonade was purchased because my family loves it and my daughter noticed that it was on sale 4/$5. My kids are normal kids, and they often ask for things at the store. More times than not, they hear “No, we can’t get that right now, it’s not on sale” or “We can get that cheaper at a different store”. Occasionally it’s nice to buy something “just because”. It’s even nicer when the “just because” items are on sale. The Mango Lemonade was a “just because” item.
More Expensive Items: It seems weird that somebody that claims to be frugal would pay more for items they can get cheaper somewhere else, doesn’t it? I bought these nectarines at Fred Meyer, which were $1.99 a lb. even though I knew that nectarines were on sale for $1 lb at QFC this week. In the interest of saving time, I chose to purchase the nectarines at Fred Meyer even though they were more expensive than they would have been at QFC. Remember, time IS money!
Seasonal Items: Right now the seasonal items on my list are school supplies. I keep my kids school supply list in my purse and when I see a great deal on an item on the list I buy it. I don’t go to the store and buy all the supplies at one time, I just buy a few here and there when I see on sale.
Another example of a seasonal item would be sunblock, it’s not something that we need year round, I only need it certain times of the year, and it is not something I generally stock up on. In fact, here in Washington we have barely needed it this summer! I do buy some extra school supplies for later though when they are on a great sale.
I paid $24.95 for this Fred Meyer trip, which really isn’t anything to write home about. It is however, a sensible way for me to save my family some money! Not all of your shopping trips have to be AMAZING! I am pretty sure that most of us couponers have more of these typical shopping trips than we do the amazing ones.
Thanks for this post. Sometimes I get so caught up in my deals that I forget to buy the things I’m out of, or I refuse to pay $X for something because it’s cheaper at another store and then I end up paying even more for it at another store because I’m completely out and the store it’s cheaper at is closed so I buy it at the nearest store.
Thank you for the realistic side of couponing, makes me feel better to know my trips for fruits and veggies are normal and not a failure as a couponer.
AGAIN you amaze me to NO END!!!!
Great post. I find that I can beat myself up mentally when I leave the store spending more than I think I should couponing. It’s nice to know that even the “pros” don’t get all their groceries for a penny despite what the popular tv show would have you think.
I love the smart ones on the left and those cute little bags of peppridge farm cookies tucked in the middle. My kind of shopping! That looks like a trip recently that I had stacked with bags of Jamba Juice and 3 boxes of Magnum Ice cream bars.~ Yum I’m headed to the freezer now!
Best post. Seriously. I really appreciated a real look at a necessity trip. Most of my trips are like this one…produce, milk, and a couple great deals that fit in. Another great example why I LOVE your blog!
Thanks for posting this, it does make me feel better about all the trips I take to the grocery store that look similar to this, where I feel like I’m doing a bad job, because I don’t really find any coupons to use.
Food must be much cheaper in Washington than in Miami. Here those Smart Ones would be about $2.25 on sale and with the $4 off 10 coupon,
that alone would be $18. I’m lucky if I save $65 on a $130 bill!
Indeed a very refreshing post! I think an important part of couponing is to not expect to score big every time you step into the store. Unfortunately, too many blogs and certain tv shows (!) portray it so unrealistically. Thanks for sharing the other side of grocery shopping. I run to the store at least once a week for produce, milk, eggs and fresh bread. Very often, the most expensive item on my receipt are russet potatoes or other fruit. I love coupons that let you save on fresh fruit (if you buy certain cereal, etc).