Posts filed under 'Groceries'
I found a great site about grocery deals in Portland, and it just so happens that the women who run the site are hosting a free coupon workshop and trading event this Saturday.
The site is called Frugal Living, and here are more details about the event:
Couponing Workshop
Date: Saturday, December 6, 2008
Time: 9:00 am–10:30 am
Place: Damascus Community Church, in the Library
RSVP via email: frugallivingonline @ gmail.com (remove the spaces)
Details: The gals from Frugal Living welcome all who would like to trade coupons and learn more about saving money at grocery and drug stores. They will also be collecting donations of food and household items for the Camp Withycombe (National Guard base in Clackamas) food closet, which is currently empty.
For more information, visit Frugal Living.
(By the way, I’m looking for coupon trading opportunities in the SW Portland/Tigard/Beaverton area. Anyone know of one? Please write a comment or email atsblog @ gmail.com.)
December 4th, 2008
I just looked through this week’s Albertsons ad and was pleased to see that Quaker products are on sale. Even though the sun is out right now, I know that sweater weather is coming. And for those eight or so months, I know I’ll want to eat a lot of hot oatmeal.
Through Tuesday, September 16, several kinds of Quaker products are on sale for $1.50 per item when you buy 10. In addition to the different kinds of oatmeal that Quaker markets, the sale includes Granola Bites, Breakfast Cookies, Bars and more. You can check out the ad at the Albertsons website.
The price is okay, but I wanted to see if I could save even more. Here’s what I found:
- The Quaker Simple Harvest website offers a printable coupon for $1 off any Simple Harvest product, including Simple Harvest oatmeal. The website allows you to print two coupons.
- The Quaker oatmeal website offers a printable coupon for $1 off any one box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal. Again, you can print two coupons.
These coupons bring the cost of 10 items down to $11 or $1.10 per item. Better. But…
As you may or may not know, Albertsons honors competitors’ coupons. This means you can use coupons published by Safeway, Thriftway and other grocery stores.
- Thriftway’s weekly ad has the “Thriftway Double Coupon,” which offers an additional savings of $0.50 per manufacturer’s coupon, up to four. So by combining the four internet coupons with the Thriftway coupon, I save $6 total.
Now I’m down to $9 for 10 boxes of oatmeal or $0.90 per box. Great. But I’m also one of those people who saves coupon inserts from each Sunday newspaper and…
- In last week’s paper, there were several Quaker oatmeal coupons in the Red Plum insert: Quaker Old Fashioned or Quick Oats ($0.50), Quaker Instant Oatmeal ($0.50), and Quaker High Fiber Instant Oatmeal ($1).
With this additional $2 savings, I’ll be paying $0.70 per item. Yum.
As I mentioned, there are other Quaker products, besides oatmeal, on sale. If these products interest you, and you’re a pack rat for Sunday coupon inserts, you can save even more:
- In today’s paper (September 14), there’s a coupon for $1 off three Quaker Chewy Granola Bars or Granola Bites. The coupon is in the SmartSource coupon insert.
- In last week’s paper, there was also a $0.55 coupon for Quaker Oatmeal To Go.
- In the August 10 paper, there was a coupon for $0.75 off two Quaker Chewy Granola Bars or Granola Bites.
I found out about the existence of these coupons from the CouponMom website. The site has a tool called the Virtual Coupon Organizer, which is a database of coupons published in Sunday newspapers. If you’re ever wondering whether there’s a coupon for a specific product, you can do a search for that product and see if anything pops up. To use the database, you need to create a user account, but it is worth it.
If you’ve got all of the coupons I’ve mentioned, you can do all kinds of combinations. And if you can get your hands on multiple Sunday papers (maybe from relatives or neighbors), you’re in great shape. But remember, the sale ends on Tuesday.
(Note: I’m writing this pretty late at night. If you see any flaws in my logic, let me know! … Besides the fact that I’m buying 10 boxes of oatmeal, which seems like a lot. Trust me, I’ll eat through them all, and probably wish I had bought more.)
September 15th, 2008
I never thought I’d buy coupons. Pay money to save money; it didn’t seem intuitive. But my first experience with a coupon clipping service convinced me that, in the right circumstances, buying coupons is worth it.
Last week, grocery chain Albertsons advertised a special that caught my eye:
6 bottles of All Small & Mighty liquid laundry detergent for $15
Or $2.50 per bottle
Not a bad deal in and of itself, but I knew that there was a $1 coupon from the Sunday paper a few weeks ago.
Problem was, I had just one coupon. Even though Portland-area Albertsons stores add an additional $0.50 savings for each coupon used*, one coupon hardly made a difference:
6 All detergents: $15 – $1 coupon savings – $0.50 additional savings = $13.50
Or $2.25 per bottle
But if I could get a coupon for each item purchased, I could reduce my cost substantially:
6 All detergents: $15 – $6 coupon savings – $3 additional savings = $6
Or $1 per bottle
Now this price got my blood pumping.
I decided to visit The Coupon Clippers, a site I had heard about in online coupon forums. Managed by Rachael Woodard, The Coupon Clippers is a coupon clipping service that provides manufacturer’s coupons and rebate forms for a small handling fee.
I ordered 14 coupons for All Small & Mighty, as well as 22 other coupons to use on other sales. The total cost for these coupons was $3.89. If I could do the All deal twice, the cost would be:
12 All detergents: $30 – $12 coupon savings – $6 additional savings = $12
Total cost: $12 + $3.89 (cost of coupons) = $15.89
Or $1.32 per bottle
This wasn’t as good as $1 per bottle, but it was an acceptable price for me. And if I could use the other coupons I had purchased, the cost per item purchased would go down even further.
I ordered the coupons on Tuesday night, and they were shipped on Wednesday. The coupons arrived on Saturday, enough time for me to use them on the sales.
I would definitely use The Coupon Clippers again. The process was problem-free, and the turnaround was as promised. If you don’t have the right coupons on hand and don’t have the ability or motivation to get them in a more economical way, I would recommend giving The Coupon Clippers a try.
Tips for using a coupon clipping service:
- Read the fine print. Make sure you understand the ins and outs of the service, such as fees, location (this will give you an indication of shipping time), turnaround time for orders, minimum orders and limits, and customer service. For The Coupon Clippers, I recommend reading the FAQ section of the website before purchasing.
- Check turnaround time. Will the coupons arrive in time for you to use them before a sale ends or before the coupons’ expiration date?
- Do the math. Calculate the cost of the coupons into your total cost for the items. Is the total cost still acceptable to you?
* Portland-area Albertsons stores allow you to use the Thriftway and Safeway “doubles” coupons from the Oregonian Foodday issue.
For more information on coupons, check out these articles:
“And Your Total Is $0″
“You’re Not Alone”
“My Grocery Game (Part 1)”
“My Grocery Game (Part 2)”
May 16th, 2007
We grocery shop about once a week, typically bringing home several bags of groceries. This can lead to a mountain of bags in no time. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to bring my own bags, and I was happy to see the Oregonian run an article today about just that:
You can read the full article here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/116777671276830.xml?oregonian?pddlg&coll=7
Bringing in your own sack is not only environmentally friendly, but grocery stores also provide small incentives such as a chance to win a gift card, 5 cents off your bill for each bag, or a donation to a local charity. To learn about the policies of several local stores, click on “Saving sacks” in the Factbox located in the upper right corner of the article.
There’s one correction to the article: I recalled that Fred Meyer also deducted 5 cents from your bill for bringing in your own paper bag. So I called the Tigard and Beaverton stores, which confirmed that all Portland area Fred Meyers should be following this policy.
I am going to keep a cloth bag in my car to help me with my resolution.
Creative uses for plastic and paper grocery bags: There are many ways to use bags you already have. The Frugal Duchess has compiled great suggestions here and here.
You can also knit a bag from strips of plastic grocery bags, like this one (pictured above):
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_needle_arts/article/0,2025,DIY_13768_3059465,00.html
Recycling bags: In the Portland area, paper bags can go into curbside recycling, while grocers like Fred Meyer and Albertsons have recycling bins for plastic bags. Wherever you live, you can find out about recycling services in your area by typing in your zip code at Earth 911.
(Photo from diynetwork.com)
January 12th, 2007
Since becoming a semi-vegetarian in 2002 (to clarify, I eat seafood … and the occasional escargot when the opportunity arises, but no other meat), I haven’t had turkey. Last year, I tried Tofurky for the first time and … it was surprisingly tasty. In case you don’t know what Tofurky is, you can read about it here.
So this year, I’ll be eating Tofurky again. We purchased a Tofurky Roast at Trader Joe’s for $8.49 over the weekend. My husband thought this was a really good deal compared to what we paid last year at Fred Meyer. Not remembering what we paid last year, I called 2 Fred Meyers and unfortunately they were not selling the Tofurky Roast (though they were selling the Tofurky Feast, which contains much more than the little non-bird). Wanting to do a closer comparison, I decided to also call a random assortment of grocers that I was confident would be selling said Roast. Asking for the price of the roast, not the feast, here’s what I found:
- Wild Oats (Capitol Highway): $8.99
- Daily Grind (SE Hawthorne): $10.49
- Food Fight (SE Division): $10.50
- Whole Foods (NW Couch): $9.99
- New Seasons (SE Tacoma): $9.99 on sale, $11.99 regularly (note that New Seasons was the only place that specified whether or not the item was on sale, and I didn’t clarify with the rest of the stores)
Trader Joe’s is indeed on the low side. It’s also interesting to see that the small local stores, Daily Grind and Food Fight, are not far off from the chains.
With that, I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving and find many things to be thankful for. Cheers!
(Photo from Tofurky website.)
November 21st, 2006
A little fun for the weekend: a video from YouTube on a new way to shop in China. Do you think it encourages or discourages impulse buys?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlFMv6tSDns
November 18th, 2006
In my last post, I talked about coupons. Now, what to do with all those coupons?
Alright, here’s my confession: I’ve been a big slacker lately when it comes to saving money on groceries.
I hope that this blog will help inspire me to do better. Again, it’s a time and desire issue. I just haven’t had the desire to spend time looking through weekly sale ads and matching coupons.
So…I’ve decided to extend my subscription to The Grocery Game. I did the $1 trial. Now the subscription price for 3 months goes up to $10 for 1 store, and $5 for additional stores. I’ve signed up for Albertsons. (Update: After 3 months, I decided to stop using The Grocery Game.)
Before I get to my routine, there are 2 things to keep in mind when looking for deals:
- Try new brands. Especially when the item is free. You may find that you like another brand just as much as your old favorite.
- Think ahead, stock up. Don’t pass up a free or very cheap item just because you have enough for now. Especially if it’s non-perishable, grab it while the grabbing’s good.
With that, here’s a rundown of my weekly deal-hunting routine:
Looking for Deals
At a minimum, I aim to do the following each week:
Go to Pinching Your Pennies Screaming Deals Around Town Forum. Store sales change each week, starting on Sunday; sometimes people know about the sales and post earlier than Sunday. I usually check toward the end of each week to see if there’s information for the following week or I check on Sunday.
Look for the Rite Aid and Walgreens threads for that week.
Check for free after rebate (FAR) or cheap items I’d like to pursue. I like Rite Aid’s rebate program better than Walgreens’ because it’s all online. But I do both, depending on the free items offered.
See whether anyone has been kind enough to post coupons for the FAR or cheap items that I want. If so, you may see a notation like “SS-10/1″ or “V-10/1.” SS stands for SmartSource and V stands for Valassis. The date is publication date. If I find a deal I want to pursue, and the coupon notation says SS-10/1, I go to the October folder in my filing cabinet and find the SmartSource insert that I dated 10/1.
If there are no coupons listed, check Coupon Mom’s Virtual Coupon Organizer for Oregon to see if there are SS or V coupons for the products I want. I may go one step further and see if coupon websites or manufacturers’ websites have printable coupons.
Similar to Pinching Pennies are Bargainshare’s Grocery Coupons and Deals Forum or the Rite Aid and Walgreens boards on deals.families.com. If I have time, I may check out 2 of the sites to see if there are any differences; usually the information on sales is the same, but the information on combining specific sales to specific coupons or rebates may differ. If you’re not familiar with these sites, you may want to check all 3 over a couple of weeks, and see which you like the best.
Both Rite Aid and Walgreens are a 10-minute drive from my office, so I typically go during a lunch break sometime during the week. Sometimes I’ll go on Sunday if I have time and if the item is something really good, which may mean it could sell out quickly.
On Sunday, I also check The Grocery Game. If I find any deals I want, I track down the coupons in my files. I also get the Safeway and Thriftway doubles coupons from the Oregonian FOODday insert (delivered on Tuesdays/Wednesdays). These coupons add 50 cents to any manufacturer’s coupon. Albertsons allows you to use 8 (4 from Safeway, 4 from Thriftway) per shopping trip. Albertsons accepts all coupons from any grocery store in the Portland area. If I need extra FOODday newspapers, I grab a couple for free from the FOODday box at a nearby apartment complex. Does anyone have a list of the apartment complexes that have FOODday boxes? 
I shop Albertsons only for good deals. When things are not on sale, the prices are very high. When I need something immediately, I typically go to Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer or the local farmer’s market.
October 27th, 2006
As promised in my previous posts about using coupons and rebates for grocery-type shopping, here’s my routine.
Before I get to it, let me say that I don’t consider my routine to be the “best” routine or the secret sauce that will save you the most money.
The fact is, I don’t save the most money—there are many people who spend much, much less than I do. I do what makes sense for my life…and that changes constantly depending on my financial situation, my needs, my time, and my desire to devote energy to this part of my life vs. others. I am always aspiring to save more time and save more money. Is that possible? If you have the answer, let me know!
I’m going to start with coupon management. Part 2 will be about finding deals.
Managing Coupons
Each Sunday, I get the Oregonian newspaper delivered to my home. I find the glossy coupon inserts from SmartSource and Valassis. Sometimes P&G will also have a coupon insert, I grab that too. I quickly skim each insert for coupons that I want to use that week (usually, I’ve already thought about buying something and, lo and behold, there is a coupon for it) and I clip those out. The rest of the insert I leave intact. I write the date on the front of each insert.
I have a filing cabinet with 12 folders, one for each month. I store the inserts in the appropriate month’s folder. In other words, I keep a year’s worth of inserts in my filing cabinet. The current month is at the front of the drawer. On the first Sunday of a new month, I go to the back of the drawer to find that month’s folder, recycle last year’s inserts, file the new inserts, and move the folder to the front of the drawer.
If you want to start a system like this and you have the resources, my advice is to acquire and label all 12 folders at once—instead of having to think about, find and label a new folder each month. Once you have all 12 folders, you shouldn’t need to get any more. You’ll just cycle through the same folders each year. Instead of a filing cabinet, you can store your folders in one of those handy plastic bins that are so in vogue right now, a cardboard box, or whatever your imagination might conjure. The goal is to be able to find a specific insert for a specific date. And you can always upgrade your system later. 
No matter what my schedule or other commitments, I make it a priority to collect, date, and store these inserts. This may mean saving old papers until I can find time to go through them. If I don’t collect the inserts, I regret it—my luck is that I’ll end up needing that one week’s inserts that I didn’t collect.
The downside of this system is that I don’t have the coupons with me at all times. If I were to find a great deal while shopping at a store, I couldn’t just find and use a coupon on the spot like I could if I used a different system (such as clipping all coupons and organizing them in a binder/coupon organizer by brand name or type of product). The upside is that I don’t need to clip all coupons, organize them and carry them around with me. I prefer to travel light, even if it costs me.
Typically, I don’t buy extra newspapers to get more inserts. I usually have just one set of inserts per week, and try to find more coupons online as needed. I’m torn at the moment about whether I should be more active about getting extra inserts.
Next time, I’ll talk about my routine for finding deals…and show you why I store coupons by date.
October 23rd, 2006
In my last post, I talked about redeeming rebates and matching coupons effectively.
Now I want to share some resources that provide more information and can help you locate deals more easily. Time is money, right?
The beauty of the Internet is the free exchange of information from many voices. And there are a lot of voices. Check out these message boards for grocery deal discussion and money-saving advice (and share some of your own ):
There are also many “experts” out there, people who make money teaching others how to save money on groceries and more. 3 expert sites that I know of are:
- The Coupon Mom: You may recognize her from her appearances on Good Morning America. Lots of resources on this site. What I love most is the Virtual Coupon Organizer, which I’ll talk about later. Too bad she doesn’t post deals for Oregon though … hopefully soon!
- The Grocery Game: I have tried the Grocery Game’s trial subscription for $1, and am contemplating whether to continue at the full price. During the trial, GG helped me find Quaker Instant Oatmeal for 50 cents a box, free Eggo waffles, All Small & Mighty Free and Clear Detergent for $2 per bottle, and a few other things. Not bad. It does save time, but is it worth the cost for me? Jury’s still out. Site also has advice, coupons, a message board.
- Refund Cents: I suggest signing up for the free “RC Hot Deals” email newsletter, which focuses mainly on Amazon.com deals and drug store deals (Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreens, etc.).
Later, I’ll share my routine.
October 19th, 2006
This article focuses on ways to cut spending at grocery/drug stores by taking advantage of free item offers, coupons and rebates.
Bottom line: Take advantage of the deals that manufacturers and stores offer whenever possible and stock up when you can get items for free or very cheap. You’ll never forget how great it feels the first time you walk out of a store with a bag of items and a receipt that reads $0. It’s a shopper’s high that never ends in buyer’s remorse.
Look for Free Item Coupons
It pays to look through the coupon inserts in your Sunday paper.
- Look for “free item coupons” which allow you to get a product completely free. But beware the fine print: Some coupons specify a maximum value. If your store sells the product for more than the maximum value, you will need to pay the difference or find another store with a lower price.
- Keep your eyes open for “buy one, get one free” coupons or “buy a product, get a different product free” coupons. Although you will need to spend money on the first item to get the other for free, it may be worth it if the first item is a product you were already planning to purchase.
Think Small to Save Big
With the popularity of warehouse stores like Costco, shoppers are being taught that bigger means cheaper. However, you can get items for free at your local grocery store when you match coupons to the lowest-priced item, which may be the smallest.
- When using coupons, buying items in smaller quantities can be a better deal than a larger item with a lower unit price. For example, say your store sells one-pound packages of pasta for $1. It also sells two-pound packages for $1.75. Without coupons, the two-pound package is cheaper per pound. However, you have a $1 off coupon, which can be used on either size. Now the one-pound package is cheaper than the two-pound package; it’s free. And if you have multiple coupons, simply grab as many one-pound bags of pasta as you have coupons. Grand total = $0.
- Likewise, if you have a coupon for money off an item that can be bought at the meat counter, deli or produce section, consider buying the item in the amount that equals the value of the coupon. For example, say your store’s seafood counter has cocktail shrimp on sale for $4 a pound, and you want two pounds. You have four coupons for $2 off shrimp. Asking the counter for two pounds of shrimp will get you one package of shrimp costing $8, which you can use only one coupon on. Instead, ask for four packages of one-half pound each. Each package will cost $2, and you can use a coupon for each. In the first scenario, your total cost will be $6. In the second, it will be $0.
- Use coupons with the wording “on any size” on trial or snack sizes. For example, say you have a coupon for $1 off Colgate toothpaste, any size. Your local drugstore sells trial size tubes for 99 cents. Use the coupon and get the toothpaste for free. Some stores’ checkout systems may not honor a coupon of which the value is higher than the price of the item. When you step up to the register, it may help to tell your cashier that you have a coupon for more than the price and ask how the store handles that situation. If the register rejects the coupon or the cashier tells you that they can’t give you cash back (the extra penny), ask politely whether they can deduct the price of the item manually, bringing the cost to $0.
Redeem Rebates
Rebates reimburse you for the cost of an item or set of items, in part or in full, after purchase. Rebates can be the easiest way to get higher-priced items for free, but you need to be able to pay for the item upfront and wait a few weeks to be reimbursed.
- Look for stores that offer “free after rebate” or FAR promotions. Some drugstores, such as Rite Aid and Walgreens, have monthly rebate programs that offer several FAR items per month. Since the programs typically reimburse you the retail price of the item, use a coupon when you buy the item to make a little money. For example, say Skintimate shaving gel is an FAR item priced at $2.99. You use a $1 off coupon, bringing your total to $1.99. The store will reimburse the retail price of $2.99, and you will have just made $1.
- Keep an eye out for “try me free” rebate forms in the newspaper, on store shelves and on products. Like store rebates, these manufacturer rebates will reimburse you the price of the item before coupons. So always try to use a coupon when you buy the item. This will offset the postage you pay to mail in the rebate form.
- Cash in on rebates that offer a specific dollar amount when you buy X number of products by purchasing the products on sale and with coupons to lower your out-of-pocket expense as much as possible. Recently, Colgate-Palmolive offered a $10 refund when you bought two Colgate Total Toothpastes and any two other products listed on the rebate form. The form specified that trial sizes were excluded. Target had full-size Colgate Total Toothpaste on sale for $1.74. Two other items on the list, Ajax detergent and Palmolive detergent, cost $1.87 and $1.29, respectively. Total for the four products was $6.64. I used coupons for the items, bringing the price down to $4.24. By redeeming the rebate, Colgate paid me $5.76 to buy their products. Even if I didn’t have coupons, I still would have made $3.36.
Coupon Connection
Clueless about where to find coupons? Try these sources:
- Sunday newspaper. Look for glossy inserts from SmartSource and Valassis. Also look for coupons in store ads.
- In the store. Next time you visit the grocery store, look around you. Coupons abound.
- In aisles, look for coupon-dispensing machines, as well as tear pads affixed to shelves and product displays.
- On products, watch for peel-off coupons and hanging coupons. Also look for “wine tags,” coupons hanging from wine bottles or located on shelves in the wine section. Wine tags are valuable because they often offer money off a category of items, such as produce or seafood, instead of a specific product.
- At the customer service desk, ask whether the store publishes a monthly or weekly coupon book.
- At checkout, see whether there is a machine that dispenses coupons with your receipt.
October 14th, 2006
