Recently, my sister-in-law has gotten into the coupon-clipping game. Not only coupon-clipping, but finding coupons online, shopping around for the best deals, and planning budget menus. It's definitely been an inspiration! Watching the coming arrival of our daughter creep closer and closer, I feel more and more pressure to be budget-minded and frugal. The idea of how much diapers cost almost gave me apoplexy in the story the other day! So, today, I've been schlepping through the websites, finding coupon site after coupon site, plenty of blogs about cheap and easy meals... and I'm feeling both inspired and overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed, perhaps, because I'm new to this. And I'm finding I'm coming to the craze a few years late, as the blogs are full of updates and their "philosophy" and "get-started" pages are no longer found, out-of-date, or vague. I wish someone had a manual! Something that's step-by-step, here's how you start, this is the first thing you do... As our family prepares to expand and the bills to go along with the expansion start coming, I find myself more and more determined to be prepared and to know where every dollar is going. And I really want to learn how to be as savvy as the women writing these blogs and yet feel like I'm miles behind.
Tomorrow (I hope) with the new sales ads out, I hope will mark my first foray into serious bargain grocery shopping. I've often kept an eye on the sales, looked through coupons, but this will be my first time trying to plan my menu around what I can get cheap and see how it works. I'll try to keep you posted.
My simple answer to saving on grocery shopping is to take a best average approach. By far, the least expensive groceries on average are at Aldi. Sometimes coupons and special offers make individual items less expensive elsewhere or bring better quality brands to near the same price range, so look for coupons of products that you can't or don't want to purchase at Aldi. That way you can quickly skim the coupon and ads. Get everything else at Aldi. You won't have to spend hours looking for the best deals and you will save as much or more money than the person who obsesses over ads and coupons.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing that works well is to sign up on specific brand websites. If you get on the mailing list for many baby product brands, you will regularly receive excellent coupons directly without having to hunt for them.
Lastly, make it a personal challenge, a game to find the best deals, and you will enjoy the process.
Have fun!