…Shopping Day Game Plan

Happy Thursday!  Even though the spring cleaning continues I wanted to give you all an idea of what I do when the time comes to go shopping.  I’m TOTALLY obsessive-compulsive when it comes to organization and preparedness, so your methods may not be the same as mine…you’ll figure out what works best for you as you go along.

Before I head out I always make sure that I  have my binder, and that I have copied the stores’ COUPON AGREEMENTS just in case I run into a problem with a cashier who is unfamiliar with their store’s policy.  I check my fave couponing websites for deals (as well as the store’s weekly ad), and I make a list of what I want to buy that day at that particular store.  As I’m making my list I pull the coupons from my binder and set them aside.

I also check behind my “store coupons” divider (in the back of my binder) to make sure that I have all of the coupons cut that I need for a particular trip.  I print them off from the store’s website, punch holes in them with a three-hole punch, and add them to the section without clipping them…I can always clip what I need later and it saves space.  IMPORTANT TIP OF THE DAY: Remember that you can use a manufacturer’s coupon AND a store coupon on the same item…BIG savings!  You can use these on as many items as you’d like…for example: if you purchase 3 boxes of Kleenex tissues, you can use three manufacturer’s coupons AND three store coupons.  Get it?

When the list is complete, I stick it and the coupons that I’ll be using into a legal-sized envelope labeled with the store name (as shown below).  I usually always have my binder in my bag for quick referencing in case I find a deal that wasn’t advertised, but sometimes I just take the envelope instead if I’m making a quick trip out.  Either way all of the coupons I’m going to be using are in one place, and if I need to add more I can.

So here’s your simplified shopping day strategy:

• Know when the sales start and end for each store;
• Have your coupons and shopping lists ready to go;
• Take your store cards with you (most sales only apply if you have a store card.  You can also upload store coupons onto your store cards using Cellfire.com)
• SHOP EARLY;
• If the sale products you want are sold out, ask the cashier for a RAIN CHECK.  These last up to 30 days, and you can still get the sale price and store rewards for those items as well.

That’s it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope this helps you as you get ready to head out and save some money! :)  I’ll see you back here in the next day or two with another card.  Until then…