Another goal I have this year is to try to par down the amount of money that is being spent at the grocery story. I almost hate to admit it, but we usually spend $150 a week for a family of 5. Before my life got c-r-a-z-y I used to coupon and refund A LOT. At the time we would spend about $75 a week and I thought that was too much. However, once the economy tanked and everything, I mean everything, increased in price and we added another member to our family (teen boy none-the-less) that grocery bill just skyrocketed. Last year I was so busy working and building my business that I just went to the grocery store daily. Bad, bad, bad idea! The first step was to create a weekly menu. I talked about that a bit here.

My next step is to start using coupons and matching those coupons to sale items. This will include stockpiling what I can. I did a bit of stockpiling back in November and bought around 40-4 packs of White Cloud toilet paper for $1 each. There are 10 packages left so I’ll be looking for new deals soon.

Often times you can print coupons right from the internet to use at the store. To conserve money set your printer options to black and white. Here are some of the sites I’m starting to use on a regular basis:

www. coupons.com (I’ve applied to have a coupon.com side bar so you could just come visit me and also print coupons–yea!!!)
www.smartsource.com
www.redplum.com

It also doesn’t hurt to go to your favorite food manufacturers and enroll in their newsletter. They often send customers coupons via email.

My favorite is Betty Crocker. Usually lots of useable coupons.

Sometimes even your store has coupons. I know I can print coupons at Meijer.com and those can be matched with manufacturer coupons to double my savings.

There are also some fantastic blogs out there that focus just on saving money. The ones I like include:

www.sarahsdeals.blogspot.com–I really like Sarah’s site. She lives about 2 hours South of me and blogs about stores in my area.

www.centsible-sawyer.com–lots of good info. Denise includes stores that are popular in the Southern states including Bi-Lo, Safeway, and EarthFare. She also has a great feature right now “Organic on a Budget” –a must read for anyone interested in organic foods.

www.macombmoneysavers.com–I’m new to reading this particular blog, but so far I like it.

If you are new to couponing all this information can seem overwhelming. Just take it slow…one step at a time and before you know it you’ll be saving some serious $$$ at the grocery store.

How do you save money at the grocery store?