After reading my blog an old friend asked me a very good question on my Facebook page: “Are you buying things that you need, or just because they are cheap.”

Here’s what I told her:

It definitely is a fine line between buying stuff that you need vs. b/c it’s cheap. Personally, we only stock up on stuff we use on a regular basis. Just because prunes are on sale it doesn’t mean we are going to stock up on them – as we NEVER eat them. However, we go through at least a box of cereal a week – meaning 10 boxes of cereal is less than 3 months worth. So, when I can get 50-70 percent off that cereal – I am going to stock up.

The point of strategic shopping it to buy things when they are at their lowest price – not necessarily when you need them.

Obviously this doesn’t work for certain perishable items, like fruits, veggies, deli meats, etc. It also depends on your storage space. We have a great pantry in our basement – so we can stock up on dry goods. However, we only have a regular-sized refrigerator/freezer – so we have to be more careful about buying too many frozen or refrigerated foods, etc.

I really suggest reading the e-books on couponmom.com – she really makes it make sense. Good luck!

Okay…I can now admit it. I am a shopaholic. It is something my husband has known for years, but now I can see it too. But here’s the best part – since starting strategic shopping – I can still get my shopping fix without feeling guilty. In fact, I get an even bigger high by saving LOTS of money.

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better – I have learned in the last two weeks that you can save lots at CVS too (or any other drug store for that matter).  If you are like me, I could never walk into a CVS, Walgreens, etc. without dropping at least $60 on like three items. So my last two trips were absolutely thrilling.

The premise is the same – buy when prices are at the lowest and use coupons (which can be found easily by using the coupon database on couponmom.com) The one additional thing, and potential saving tool, that can come into play is extra care bucks (for CVS).

On March 25th – spent a total of $67.26 – and saved $33.52 – which is about a savings of 33%. Not bad – but I strayed from my list, and bought things I didn’t have coupons for. I knew I could do better.

A week later, I did much better. I made more of an effort to plan out my shopping trip and I stuck to the list. I didn’t let myself buy anything that wasn’t on it (behavior that’s always gotten me in trouble in the past.) I actually ended up saving more than I spent. My total bill was $51.04. I saved a total of $53.08 – that’s a 51% savings!!!

Here are some of the good finds I found March 25th.

We have a three-year-old and we go through lots of batteries. CVS had a sale on 10 packs of AA batteries – buy one get one free – so of course I bought two – saving $6.49 or 50%.

Skippy peanut butter was also buy one get one free, which in itself was a good deal worth $3.29. But when I threw in a $1 off coupon – I got two jars of peanut butter for $2.29 – a total savings of $4.29 – that’s more than 70% off!!

I also needed some makeup. I bought Physicians Formula mineral powder and mineral concealer. Normally this would have cost me $20.48. But CVS had a sale – buy one, get one 50% off. That shaved $4 off my bill. I also had two $1 off coupons. So my total for the make up was $14.48 – I basically got the concealer for $2!

I also earned $2 in extra bucks for my next visit by buying eye cream.

The week of March 31st had even better savings.

A 3-pack of Irish Spring soap is normally $3. I bought 3 of them – which would have been $9. CVS had the soap on sale this week 3 for $5. I also had a coupon for $1 – bringing my total cost to $4 – a savings of $5 or 55%. That’s like paying full-price for one and getting the other two for $.50 each.

With pets in the house, I like to have lots of air freshener on hand – and it can get expensive. So, I jumped at the chance when I saw Lysol Neutra Air on sale. Normally it sells for $3.29 each. CVS had them on sale for 2 for $5. I also had a coupon for buy one get one free. So instead of spending $6.58 for two – I spent $2.50 for two – a savings of $4.08 or 63%.

A 500 ml bottle of Listerine normaly sells for $4.30 at CVS. But this week – they were on sale for 50%. I bought two. I also had two coupons for $1 off each. So – instead of spending $8.60 on two bottles of Listerine – I got them for $2.30 – or $1.15 each. That’s a savings of $6.30 – or almost 75%.

Secret deorderant normally sells for $3.29. It was on sale for $2.49. I had a coupon for $1 off. So I saved $1.80 or about 58%.

I bought Rimmel mascara and mousse blush. Normally – both products would have cost me a total of $14.28. CVS has a sale this week – buy one, get one free. I also had two $1 off coupons. So – I ended up spending $5.29 for both – a savings of  $8.99 or 63%.

I could go on – but you get the point. I still need to go grocery shopping this week – so more deals are coming!! Feel free to leave comments on how you save money or questions if you have any.

Since I’ve started my blog, lots of people I know have been asking me questions about how it all works.

Couponmom.com is free. If you want to use the coupon database and grocery deal database – you do have to register – but there is no cost.

The site also has three e-books for free download. They walk you through the program step by step. You don’t need to register to download the books. They are very short – about 11 pages each.

I also welcome anyone who reads this blog to share any tips they may have on saving money. Feel free to ask questions as well.

The way I see it – we’re all in this together.

Well, now I know this strategic shopping thing is not a fluke. We spent a total of $172.52 on groceries this week – and saved a whopping $139  – $129.16 on our main bill and another $9.87 on a separate milk purchase - that’s a total savings of 45% off our entire purchase!

I will tell you how we did it in a minute, but first I want to mention something that couponmom suggests and that became really apparent during our shopping trip this weekend – watch as the cashier rings up your order.  It’s the only way you can be sure you are getting the savings and deals that are available.

For instance – we were taking advantage of a special – 3 gallons of milk for FREE with the purchase of 7 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal. I was watching as the order was being rung up – and the milk price did not come off the bill. Turns out the 3 gallons were going to be coupons that we got at the end of the order for another time. Because of this – we rang up the rest of our order sans milk, got the coupons, then rang the milk separately. When possible, I like getting the savings immediately. Otherwise I risk losing the coupon or forgetting about it!

Another potential lost savings: With the purchase of two pounds of Haddock – we were going to get a 2 liter bottle of Coke for FREE. When the price of the Coke did not come off the bill – I asked the cashier. It turned out I needed a coupon, which the staff at Shaw’s were kind enough to find for me, and we got our free soda. If I wasn’t paying attention, we would have ended up paying for the soda we thought we were getting for free.

Now – on to the savings!!

Going back to the cereal. At full price – 7 boxes would have been $29.23. Shaws had a special on Kellogg’s of $2 a box – so we got those same 7 boxes for $14 – a savings of $15.43. But the savings don’t end there. We also had two $1 off coupons we found on coupons.com - bringing our cost down to $12 for 7 boxes – a savings of $17.43.  That’s not counting the $9.87 worth of free milk we got. So in total – we spent $12 for 7 boxes of cereal and 3 gallons of milk. That’s a savings of $27.30

I know it’s a lot of milk and cereal – but we have a 3 year old at home who loves her milk and cereal will keep!!

Speaking of our daughter – she loves mac & cheese – what 3-year-old doesn’t. Normally – Shaw’s sells Kraft Mac & Cheese for about $1.50 a box. This week they had it on sale for 50-cents per box. We bought 10 boxes. So, what normally would have been about $15 – we spent $5 – a savings of $10.

We also stocked up on those 100-calorie Nabisco snacks. Normally a box is $3.19. Shaws has Nabisco products on sale for 4 for $10. We bought 8 boxes of the 100-cal snacks. So – what normally would have been $25.52 – was brought down to $20. However, Shaw’s also had a coupon in its circular for $3 off when you buy 4 Nabisco products. We clipped two of those coupons bringing the total price down another $6. So when all was said and done – we got 8 boxes for $14 – a total savings of $11.52.

And get this – because we bought so many Kraft products (the snacks and the mac & cheese) we got a $10 coupon to use next week!!

As we’ve pledged to cook at home more and eat out less – we are also looking to cook more healthy meals. So, when we saw Haddock was on sale – we put it on the list. Normally – the fish sells for $8.99/lb. We bought two pounds. Normally – it would have been $17.98. However, Shaws had it on sale for $6.99/lb.  – a savings of $4. There was also an online coupon for $1 off/lb – I clipped two – for another $2 in savings. We also had a coupon for buy 2lbs of Haddock – get a 2 liter of Coke free – another $1.34 in savings. In all – the fish and the soda would have cost $19.32 – but we got it for $10.92 a savings of $8.40.

It took my husband and I less than 45 minutes to put our list together and gather the necessary coupons. I would say saving $139 was more than worth that time spent. We’ve also noticed that right now, our grocery bill hasn’t really gone down yet – however we are getting way more food for the same money. We are still in the process of tracking prices – to determine when things are at their lowest so that we can stock up. We figure overtime – the savings will just continue to increase and our grocery bill will continue to shrink even further.

To begin our transformation to becoming strategic shoppers, my husband and I went on the website couponmom.com which lays out the whole plan for you in three separate e-books. They are all free on the site.

The basic premise is buying items you use when they are at their lowest price, then combining the use of your supermarket’s weekly sales circular with store and manufacturer coupons. So, not only do you get the sale price, you get even more money off by using the coupons.

The site suggests you start tracking prices so you know when something is at its lowest point. We are still in the process of doing that – but we were able to put the other principles into practice right away.

The site makes it so easy for you. It has a database that outlines what’s in the store circular, and lists where you can find related coupons.

It took my husband and I about 30-45 minutes to make up our list of things we needed to buy and then check the database.

We lost out on some potential savings because we only had a few weeks worth of Red Plum coupon circulars, which come in the mail, and we didn’t have any SmartSource, which come in the Sunday paper. (As we’ve learned – if you are going to do this, you’ll need to subscribe and you’ll want to save all of the coupons for several weeks.)

But here’s the best part about this system -  you only clip out the coupons you need for that week.  Over time you’ll have a collection of coupons, then when something goes on sale, the database will tell you which week to find a related coupon. It even tells you how much you will save.

This is welcome news to you if you are anything like me. My past coupon clipping attempts have been efforts in futility. I would clip a bunch of coupons, and either forget I clipped them due to lack of organization; or end up spending more on a product I only bought because I had a coupon.

So – after putting together our list, and gathering up our coupons we headed to the supermarket.

Here are some of the savings we found:

Bacon was on sale buy one get one free. We also found a store coupon on Shaw’s website – for $1 off/2 packages. We printed two of those coupons and bought 4 pounds of bacon. Two of them were free, then we got $2 off the remaining price. Since bacon freezes, it was a good buy.

Same for Ken’s salad dressing.

It was also two for one – combined with two store coupons worth $1 each – we bought 4 bottles of dressing for what we’d normally pay for one bottle.

Our real steal was with cereal.

Shaw’s had a had a deal of buy 10 boxes of cereal for $25. With most boxes of cereal running $4 to $5 bucks -that’s normally a great deal in its own right.

But get this – the store also had a coupon in the circular – buy $25 worth of cereal and get $10 off. We combined that with another $2 in coupons and basically got $50 worth of Kellogg’s cereal  for $13!

When all was said and done – we saved $122 off our grocery bill and earned a $7 coupon for a future shopping trip and a coupon for up to 3 gallons milk for free – and we’re still rookies!

My first strategic shopping receipt - $122 saved!!

I never left the grocery store with such a smile on my face. I can’t wait to do it again – to see how much we save then.

I’ll keep you all posted!

I just saved $122 dollars on my weekly grocery store bill!

Now that I have your attention, let me tell you how I did it.

Like many of you, I have found our weekly food bill keeps growing and growing. I always knew I should be shopping the sales and clipping coupons; but as a working mom – who has the time?

For months my husband has been saying we needed to do something called “strategic shopping.” I always agreed, but we never did it – that is until this past weekend. Now I hope my journey to becoming a “strategic shopper” will help others save as well.

My first strategic shopping receipt - $122 saved!!