A little about me and grocery smarts...Part III

PART III - HOW GROCERY SMARTS HAS IMPACTED ME AND MY FAMILY

Coupons, coupons, more coupons...

My hate of coupons had quickly been erased and I started saving my coupons whole, writing the dates on them and putting them in sheet protectors. I didn't feel like hunting down a binder so I saved them in an empty extra drawer in my kitchen. After about a month later I finally dug out a binder : ) I loved coupons and the deals I was getting. I started reading every blog I could about grocery smarts and collecting as many coupons as I could.

The Savings...

Three weeks into using grocery smarts I did another post on my family blog here called 3 weeks, $500 saved, pantry and freezer are full. After just three weeks I was amazed at how much I had been able to buy using my normal budget. I spent the same but I got seriously at least double what I normally would. I LOVED just staring into my pantry and freezer because they were so full! I also quickly realised that I could cut my budget back after a month and now our family budget is $350 for all food and household products (this includes cleaning supplies, pull ups, toiletries, preschool snacks, pet supplies etc.) Some months I have spent even less and since beginning using grocery smarts I have thousands (yes thousands! I think right now its around $3-4000 saved in 2009!)

Grocery Smarts and my cute husband Justin...

My husband is so cute and funny about grocery smarts. At first he wasn't sure about it because of the HUGE mess I made when I printed out every coupon I could on the internet. But he supported me in it. He was really impressed with how I stuck to my budget and was able to buy so much. He loved coming home and finally feeling like he could find something to eat that didn't require huge amounts of effort on his part : ) He was also funny because he started setting rules on tooth paste for me. At first I could buy it if it was $.50 or less, than $.25 or less, finally I could only buy it if it was free and if I promised it would have a new home somewhere else quickly! He also has totally gotten into his own type of coupons (coupons for tools and computer parts) He understands the concept of waiting for an item to go on sale and then using coupons to help your savings go farther. One more cute story about him: We needed milk one day and said he'd stop by Smith's on the way home. I gave him a small list of a few other 4 and 5 star items on sale that week that did not require coupons that we needed. After he had his list he called me at the store right before checking out and asked, "are you sure this is ok? I don't have any coupons!"

How I started teaching...

I am a teacher by nature. Its how I made money in high school, by tutoring and teaching music lessons, its what I went to college for, I think since the time I was 12 I have only had 3-5 years that I have not had some kind of job teaching. I love it, and grocery smarts is something that I felt everyone should have a chance to learn. I contacted Colette Bomsta, the grocery smarts supervisor for the Las Vegas area and she got me rolling. And here I am today teaching classes, blogging and trying to help others learn how to save money and use grocery smarts. I'd love to come teach a class for you too! I have new welcome hostess packages and by hosting a class you can earn $20 in free groceries. Contact me to book a class.

THERE IS NO END TO SAVING : )

A little about me and grocery smarts...Part II

PART II- LEARNING GROCERY SMARTS

The luckiest paper boy ever...

After reading Becky's post I used the grocery smarts link on her blog to go to the site and read more about it. As I was reading about how to get the Sunday paper and the site matches the coupons with store sales a paper boy knocked on my door. I'm not kidding. It was as I was reading about grocery smarts. Wow, he really was at the right place at the right time!! He was selling the weekender and I bought a copy. My thought was I'd get one paper try it and see how it went.

My first shopping trip...

I was very excited but since I hadn't been to a class I was still quite clueless! I kept getting my coupons in the mail and dissecting them, cutting them apart. (I guess I had missed the part about not having to cut them on the website) I waited a couple weeks for my paper to start and then got a tip from Becky about this awesome sale at Albertsons where you buy $30 of P&G product and get a voucher for $15. My thinking "YES!!" Becky also told me that I could print coupons off the site. So still somewhat clueless I just started printing EVERYTHING. I didn't realise how to use the lists quite right or that I could print it. I ran to the store with no list, a HUGE pile of coupons and just started shopping. Somehow I got really lucky and my trip went really well. (Mainly because I was a "thrifty" spender before so I could tell when I looked at a price if it was good or not.) I ran home and set up my first display and did a huge post on my family blog. If you'd like to see it go here. I ended up that night spending $106 and saving $111. Plus I came home with free stake, $.20 off every gallon of Albertsons gas and $40 of vouchers to use at Albertsons.

More information from Becky...

Of course I had to call Becky and tell her how it went and I had about 100 questions for her. Thanks for putting up with me and all my excitement and questions that first week Becky! Becky walked me through how to use a list what different things meant, like the star rating system, why promotion items had two prices listed, DON'T CUT your coupons save the inserts whole, etc., etc. Essentially Becky gave me a whole class over the phone. (good practice because shortly after this she became a certified instructor!) I was also sold at that point on the value of having multiple Sunday papers. I could see how my savings could be multiplied by 4 if I had the correct amount of papers.

My First Class...

I just HAD to go to a class. I thought I had a pretty good handle on everything but I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything. The first class I went to was taught by Mandi York. I was able to pick up a few things I didn't know before (like the date that I should write on my inserts is written in tiny print on the side of the insert). Thank YOU so much MANDI!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Question to my readers:

Who was your "Becky" that really helped you get into grocery smarts?

Do you need a class to refresh or catch some points you may have forgotten? I am teaching a class in my home September 29 @ 7. This is open to anyone, no matter if you have already been to a class before or not.

A little about me and grocery smarts...Part I

Ok I woke up this morning and while laying in bed just started thinking about how much grocery smarts has changed me and my families life and thought I'd share...

PART I- THE BEGINNING

How I was introduced to grocery smarts:
Almost a year ago a close friend told me about this coupon class she was going to and how excited she was to see how to save money. I heard coupon and cringed (yes me, that's right, I cringed!) A few days before that my husband had mentioned seeing a blurp on the news about how all these ladies where walking out of the grocery stores with tons of stuff for pennies and said I should figure out how. My question to him was, "That's cool. Am I not doing fine with our budget and shopping now?!?" He dropped it : ) and that was pretty much my response to my friend then (just without the emotion my husband got). Sorry Katrina! We were only spending between $400-$450 a month on grocery and household items and I thought I was thrifty. How could coupons really help, when I was already doing good?

Why I cringed:
Hard to believe now, I know, but this is why: In my mind then couponing was this time monster. I heard about ladies who would spend their Sunday's clipping away and wow that was NOT for me! I was too stressed between substituting at the local middle school, teaching piano lessons and preschool in my home, and just being a wife and mom. No way was I adding another job on! (or so my thinking went) I got the coupons in the mail and tried clipping them occasionally and using them but I'd either forget them at home or take them with me to the store and then forget all about them in my purse when I checked out OR the best and must frustrating: clip them try to use them and have them be EXPIRED. What was the POINT!

What finally changed my mind:
Another friend, Becky, did a post on her family blog about a trip to the store using grocery smarts. Becky simply explained grocery smarts in her post and had a picture that was full of stuff my family regularly used and eats and the clincher and what finally caught my attention and MADE ME WAKE UP was that the trip averaged out to $.66 an item! (to me back then and still a little now my world revolves around the $1 mark. If I can get it for a dollar or less I'm a happy duck! : P ) I decided it was time for me to try grocery smarts for myself...

TO BE CONTINUED

So my questions to my readers out there:
1) Did or Is anything holding you back from trying grocery smarts?
2) If you are using grocery smarts what made you "Wake Up"?
I'd love to hear your answers : )