Planning a shopping trip and staying on budget can sometimes become overwhelming. Juggling all the deals, coupons and store policies can add an extra layer of complexity too; it sometimes just makes my head spin! So what do you do to make your shopping trip just a bit easier? Here are a few of my "musts" that I never do without.
- Never Leave Home Without Your Coupons - I don't know how many times I've ended up out with friends or family and they wanted to go to eat or do a quick shopping trip (lets face it, shopping for us women is recreation, whether we buy or not). Now, I wasn't planning a trip, but here I am at "Such and Such" looking at a great deal that I know I have a coupon for, but it's at... home!?!
To keep me out of the "no coupon woes" I keep a 3 part filing system for them that makes it easy for me to keep my favorite coupons at hand, without lugging around large binders that I would need to stow in my car aiding in my gas bill. The short rundown: I use a small coupon expanding folder that fits in my purse, a receipe box and a large expanding folder. I'll explain this system in full detail in a later post, so I can get you all the information you need to get a system going too.
- Have a Plan - I don't do shopping lists. That sounds kind of crazy, doesn't it? But what I've found having a list is just one more thing I have to juggle at the store (and boy, these two arms can only handle so much!). Instead of lists, I use my coupons as my guide.
Before going to a store, I'll sit down at home and organize my coupons that I already know I will use by putting them in order. I order them by aisle and shelf or how I'll see them in the store. Now, every store is different, but if you're like me, you probably have that one store you love. You're loyal, and you know exactly where to find what. Organizing your shopping trip by asile should be a snap!
I don't often buy without coupons, so the few other things that I need to pick up are usually easy to remember. If not, they often fit on a scrap of paper that I can easily put at the back of my coupon stack.
- Help Keep Yourself On Budget - I've seen the calculators, but I've always found that keeping a running total in my head is just fine. If I know what I'm up to, then I know when to stop, when to put back, etc. And accounting for tax is generally easy. Use your elementary arithmetic and round up. $.01 - $.49 = $.50, $.50 - $.99 = $1.00 and so on. Freebies are free, but you still have to pay tax. The rounding up method usually covers these taxes.
- Buy Small and in Quantity - I know it sounds funny. Before I couponed, the idea was to only go to the store once every two weeks, maybe longer, so we bought in bulk. Plus, bulk is better, right? Actually with couponing, buying small and often is where you get the most bang for your buck. It's the complete opposite of everything I learned growing up, but it makes total sense.
If I want to buy some dial handsoap and the small is marked $1.00, but the large (which is 3x that size) is $2, buying the large would be a great deal. Now, let's coupon: if I have three $1/1 coupons I can get the three small soaps free, but the large will still cost me $1.00. In the long haul, buying small while using coupons pays. You'll also notice that you can't get a great deal on everything every week. So you'll have to go often, at least once a week (or twice if you max out the doubling limit - most stores only let you double up to 3).
Now, who really needs that many soaps in one week?
- Learn to Stockpile - Since you can't get a great deal on soap or cereal or, whatever that prize item is in your home, when you can get it free or cheap, you'll want to stockpile. Stockpiling has come to be the couponers' lifestyle. Though I don't really need eight hand soaps in any given week (a purchase from a few weeks ago), they were free and needed in my stockpile. Stocking up keeps you from spending full price in a pinch and keeps you away from that "no coupon" lurch.
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