We pay a premium at our house for things like delivered organic produce, specialty groceries, and pre-fab dinners from Supper Central. Those things are important to us – but because we are NOT rich, I feel some responsibility to help balance that spending. I am no crazy coupon lady (in fact, I used to have a personal ‘no coupons’ policy because I thought it was lame), but I’m becoming more and more interested in finding ways to save money on essentials. Without looking – or actually BEING – crazy, of course.
And so, I spend an hour or so online every month ordering + printing coupons. I check Simply Frugal once or twice a week to find sales. I make grocery lists off store flyers that I look up online. We buy certain things at Costco, when it saves money to buy in bulk. And I generally pre-plan our weekly menu. (I seriously have no idea how people survived pre-internet.)
This week, we did a bigger shop than usual because Geoff will be working a lot and it’s sometimes hard for me to get out of the house alone with Briony – plus we needed some higher-value items like Night Time Pull-Ups, a couple of clothing items for Briony at Superstore, and some make-up for me. And my modest little coupon collection – combined with smart shopping off the flyer – saved us more than 25%: $225ish down to $160ish.
I still feel a little bit stupid for pulling out my little stack of coupons, but HOLY COW did I ever get over that quickly when I saw our bill shrink like that.
This week’s most awesome deals included:
- Van Houtte coffee – regularly $7, but I paid less than $2 (and it came with a $3 off coupon for my next purchase on the can… so if I were a savvier couponer, I probably could have gotten it free)
- Two bottles of Tylenol Arthritis – regularly $15 each, but after a sale + a coupon, I paid around $5 each (plus I got 25 bonus Air Miles on them)
- Organic 3% milk for Briony – regularly $7, but on sale for $1 off *plus* it had a $1 off coupon attached AND I had one for $0.75 off (this is nerdy-exciting because organic milk basically NEVER goes on sale)
WOW. That just sounded really lame. And borderline crazy.
But it’s something, right? I will never buy things just because they are on sale, but when I can save money on the things I wanted my family to eat anyway, that makes me feel happy. It also makes me feel like a 1950s housewife. But a HAPPY 1950s housewife (hehe).
How do you keep your grocery bills under control? (Or are they out of control?)
My grocery bill is complicated by my location in the *sticks* – because I sometimes have to decide if I pay the extra to buy local, or save up and do a big shop in the city. I want to be able to buy milk in town, so I sometimes have to buy milk in town. And I’m smart enough to know that I cannot drive to Winnipeg to save the extra $2 on milk BUT a really good Costco trip can more than pay the gas. But if I go to Costco I have to take my girls in with me. If I go to town I can leave them in the car.
And you thought to coupon or not to coupon was complicated!
I love it! I’ve been known to coupon.
I shop the flyer for our local Co-op and Extra Foods. I live it when Extra Foods has family days and you get $115 worth of groceries for $100 
I also UNASHAMEDLY walk through the grocery store with a calculator. Sometimes it means a choice between items when I’m at the end of my budget for the week but at least it keeps us on track.
I buy store brand diapers and store bramd pull ups when they are on sale.
Also buying meat, like beef from a farmer is much cheaper then from the store. It’s more money up front but saves in the long run. We’ve also been eating our own moose meat that John Rambo bagged this fall and it was a fraction of the cost have it processed by an awesome butcher. It’s lean, cooks like ground beef and doesn’t taste gamey.
(and I grew up on pork and hate wild meat. If I can eat it anyone can)