About two years ago, Weston and I were living in our first apartment and it was the first time we were "on our own" without our parents. We both had good jobs, bills were always paid, and we never ran into money issues or having to "budget". Because we didn't need to worry about money I never took a second glance at how much I was actually spending a month on groceries and other necessities we were constantly buying like toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies. My first step to "saving money" was starting to buy certain items in bulk. Now, a little backstory....I grew up in a family that bought EVERYTHING in bulk from Sam's Club. Groceries, paper products, cleaning supplies, even clothes (don't knock it till you try it! Sam's has great sales on basics like shirts and shorts). Back to two years ago, we headed to Sam's and signed up for a membership. It was a little off-putting that we had to pay $45 before we even starting shopping but I blew it off because I just KNEW it would pay for itself in savings. Long story short, it did.
I started by comparing prices at HEB (My #1 grocery store) to Sam's. I did this down to the $/oz , $/roll , $/lb. Yes, yes, I know....that's a little much BUT I wanted to make sure I was actually getting the best possible deal! When it came down to it, Sam's blew HEB out of the water on certain items.
When I go to Sam's I always buy
- Idahoan Instant Potatoes (this is a life saver after a long day)
- Minute Rice
- Chicken Breast - These are honestly SO big I have to half them into 2 fillets, then food save them in packs of 3 smaller fillets. They are also better cuts than HEBs frozen chicken breast with less "weird" fascia pieces
- Ground Beef - $5/1lb or $10-$12/4lbs? You do the math
- Toilet Paper - I buy the Member's Mark brand, Sam's house brand. 45 rolls for $17.86 (.40/roll) compared to HEBs 30 rolls for $14.27 (.48/roll). I know this seems petty but trust me....the pennies add up. Also, this price is even WITH a coupon and it's still cheaper to buy at Sam's.
- Paper Towels - I buy the POM brand, it comes in a HUGE box containing 30 rolls at $26.52 (.88/roll) compared to HEB 12 rolls at $15.47 ($1.29/roll). Sure you could buy the SUPER cheap brand but you're sacrificing quality and you'll be using double...there's really not much of a savings left.
Another way I constantly save money when I do shop at HEB is COUPONS! Duh!
My Sunday afternoon ritual is to sit at the kitchen table and go through the Weekly Ad online and choose my dinners from what's available. If hot dogs and shredded cheese are on sale, we're eating hotdogs! If pasta or pasta sauce is on sale, we're eating pasta! You get the idea. This is a great way to cut overspending because you have something to work off of. This doesn't mean I only buy things on sale because that's not realistic, but it helps my bottom line a ton. I also registered to use HEB Digital Coupons which are different than the yellow printed coupons you can find around the store. These are similar to a loyalty card and are taken directly at the register whenever you input your number on the screen. It's hassle free because you can do this online or on the app and they stay on there until they expire or you use them. HEB even tracks how much you have saved total on digital coupons every time, pretty neat! I also use paper coupons when I see them around the store or I print them directly from HEB.com since they are automatically linked to Coupons.com. I don't use these as often however because they are usually for name brand items and I prefer HEB brand.....which is still cheaper even if I use coupons on name brand items.
Lastly, I have FINALLY started using Ibotta! I don't know why I had never heard of these before but I'm so glad I started using it. Ibotta is basically a rebate app that gives you money for buying certain items. This week they had rebates for ANY brand milk, cheese, eggs, juice, sodas, pasta, and pasta sauce. All of these things were also ON SALE at HEB so I DOUBLED my savings once the rebates were verified. Awesome! So far this week I saved $6 at the store, plus and extra $3 using rebates.
I have a referral code you can use for an extra FREE $5 when you sign up using it and verify your first rebate. Verifying is as easy as scanning the barcode using their app and taking a picture of your receipt for proof. It's FREE MONEY Y'ALL!
Referral Code:
fxvtdul
I also use a coupon tracker I downloaded through MS Excel that tracks how much my retail costs are, my discounts, coupons, rebates, and my ultimate savings total. It's a fun tool that serves as a nice reminder!
This is my 2016 tracker so it's still empty because I've only gone shopping once.
Now, why did I start couponing in the first place? When we bought our home I was field-basing, which is similar to student teaching. I would be in the classroom all day (taking two whole days away from working) and I also had to take a night class (I work nights so now I'm out 3 days of the week). I also reserve Sunday's for time to spend with Weston, our families, and to catch up on school work, house work, and running errands. That left me with a whopping 3 days I could work a week. Add into that lessson planning, homework, and everything else....it just wasn't possible for me to work nights any longer and the daytime shifts at my work were already taken up by other servers. So I started subbing on those 3 days and still bartending on Saturdays...but it still wasn't paying much. I found myself in a pickle, I had all these bills to pay but no way of being able to work more to pay them. Weston and I came to a personal agreement and now I pay our bills, groceries, and take care of housework which is a reasonable amount. I figured more serious couponing would be more beneficial than only buying things in bulk and I was hooked. Weston ALWAYS makes fun of me in the stores because I am that girl with the coupons.
In the end, couponing has seriously changed so much for me this last year. It's nice to not worry about money and I'm so blessed that I set my mind to something and it paid off, literally. If you ever think couponing could be for you, do it. It's always worth it.
Happy couponing!
