There have been many articles and reports
written explaining supposed ways to cut your
grocery bills. Sure, you can eat only bargain
noodles and generic beans. That will save a
little money. Wash out those plastic bags and
reuse them. That will save a few cents.
But there is one sure
way to cut your grocery bills in half (or more!)
that is easy and you can still buy brand name
items. By intelligently using the system
detailed in this report, you will see savings
from the first day. First, save coupons. Too
many people think coupons are a waste of time,
or that they only raise the prices that are
charged on items. This is false!
Buy a box of envelopes,
and label your envelopes with the categories of
food and products you buy regularly. You can be
as broad ("vegetables") or exact (an envelope
for each brand of canned vegetables you
regularly buy) as you want. Clip every coupon
you come across and file them in the proper
envelope. Sunday newspapers are the best source
for coupons. If you find a lot of coupons you
can use on a particular Sunday, it may be worth
your while to buy a second copy of the paper, to
get another set of coupons. If your paper costs
$1.00, you can make that back with two 50-cent
coupons. The rest will be profit!
Next, watch the sale
flyers. When you see items on sale that you have
coupons for, that’s the time to buy. Here’s
something a lot of people don’t realize. Say you
have three 50-cent coupons for "Bill’s Beans."
You can only use one coupon per purchase. But,
if you buy three cans at once, that’s three
purchases, and you have every right to use all
three coupons. Also, watch for stores that offer
"double coupons." That means that they will
double the value of the coupon, usually up to
50-cent value coupons. Buy the sale items with
doubled coupons, and your saving increase!
For best results, you
should try to have a coupon for at least
one-half to two-thirds of the items you buy on
your shopping trip. Make a shopping list before
you go and stick to it. This prevents impulse
buys. Also, funny as it may sound, don’t go
grocery shopping on an empty stomach. If you do,
you’ll no doubt buy extra things that sound good
to you at the time, but you may not end up
eating. That’s the first half of the system.
Using coupons to their fullest extent is a major
part of grocery bill cutting.
Next comes rebates.
When you use any
canned, boxed or bagged goods, save the package.
Labels can be soaked from cans with warm water,
and the outside layer of a box (the part with
the printing on it) can usually be carefully
peeled off. Use a few grocery boxes to organize
these. Alphabetically is the best way. These can
be stored in an unused closet or the garage.
Also, keep your
receipts. You’ll need them for rebates. Then,
when you see a rebate for an item you regularly
buy, you can get the required proof of purchase
easily and quickly from the packaging.
Here’s how these fit
together: For example, you have three 15-cent
coupons for a 79-cent canned vegetable. The
vegetables go on sale for 69-cents at a store
that doubles coupons. You can now buy three cans
of the vegetables for 39-cents each (69-cents
minus 30-cents per coupon).
Then, a few weeks
later, the manufacturer has a $1.50 rebate that
requires three proofs of purchase. By sending in
the rebate, you have now made a profit of
33-cents ($1.50 minus $1.17). Many manufacturers
will reimburse you for the cost of postage to
send the rebate and proofs in, so you get the
full 33-cents.
Think about it. If you
are able to do this with at least half of your
grocery purchases (and you should, if you try),
you can cut your grocery bill at least in half,
if not more! All this for not a whole lot of
work. It may seem a bit much at the start, but
once you get a good, organized system in place,
it will be quite easy.
