Cheaper Grocery Bills

One of my daughters calls me “coupon mama.” That’s because whenever I shop, I usually have a coupon or two with me, and I love getting a good deal.

I am by no means a coupon expert, however. I often don’t have the time to clip or search for coupons, and if I have a coupon for something, I sometimes forget to use it, or worse, misplace it. I should be reading the circulars weekly to check for the best prices, but I have to admit, whatever store is on the way or closest to me is often the place I’ll shop.

So, it’s with interest that I follow the advice of Stephanie Nelson, founder of website CouponMom. I read her website, and follower her “tweets” on Twitter. These are some of the tips I found from her on how to slash bills at the grocery store:

Compare prices across departments: Buy cheese at the deli section, and you are likely to pay more. Go to the dairy aisle, and you’ll likely found cheese of the same quality for less. Plus, pre-sliced cheese in the deli department is surprisingly often more expensive than the freshly sliced cheese you can get at the deli counter.

Don’t buy more than you have to: Don’t fall for “10 for $10” or other similar deals. A sale price of “10 for $10” means that each item is priced at $1, not that you must buy 10 of the item to get the discounted price. 

Don’t forget to use instant coupons: This is where I go wrong. I often buy a product because it has an instant peel-off coupon on it and then forget all about it when checking out. About 60% of these types of coupons are never redeemed.

Check out per unit prices: Lots of us will purchase the biggest box of cereal or bag of chips thinking we’re getting a deal by buying the larger bag or box. But the smaller packages often offer the better price per ounce or per unit – just check the price sticker on the grocery shelf.