Everyday Savings: Have a Plan

The most important way we save money each week is through planning before hitting the grocery store. Without this I would simply wander through the store, pick a few things that look like we would use them for dinner, spend way more than I need to and then go back again several more times during the week because of all the things I forgot It'd be crazy! And expensive.

Instead I follow this careful planning process.

On Sunday afternoon I go through our local paper for coupons, cutting out the ones that I think I may possibly use. Even if it's something I might buy but don't normally buy, I keep it ... if I find the item on a really good sale I WILL buy it and make it work in a upcoming meal.

Next I look over the sales list on commissaries.com. Since we are military we shop at the commissary. Instead of having weekly ads, they run two-week sales and post all sales items, the price and percentage off on that Web site. Largely based on that list and any coupons I have that match up to make things even cheaper, I decide what we will eat the upcoming week. For example, this week Zatarains rice is on sale as is Hillshire smoked sausage. Since I had a coupon for both I found a recipe for jambalaya.

I don't plan lunches (Luke takes a sandwich to work and I eat some fruit, hummus and wheat thins and maybe cheese each day) or breakfast (I eat yogurt every day and Luke sometimes eats cereal which I stock up on when it's on sale) so I only have to worry about dinner.

If what Im cooking with isn't based on that list it is based off coupons or what is in my pantry or freezer. Another example: blocks of cheese were on sale a few weeks ago, plus I had some great coupons. I bought about 10 or 12 blocks and put them in the freezer so we are well set in that area. I also had a coupon for hormel pepperonis ... and thus we are eating homemade calzones! Delicious. Last week I had $32 in coupons. That's $32 more I would've spent whether that day or another day on this we need for our home and meals.

Now bring on the list. I could be far more organized about this step, putting things into narrow categories. Instead I break it down into "dry," "meat," "dairy," and "veggies." The problem with this method is that it lumps an incredibly large number of things in "dry" in no particular order so they are easy to overlook. But let's not dwell on that, OK?

My list consists of things we need for the week (including cleaning supplies and hygiene products) and things that are on a great sale but we will use in a future week. I've learned recently the dangers of stocking up TOO much, but there are some things I know we use regularly enough to buy multiples of when on discount. Examples: cereal, black beans and cheese.

In the store itself I start at the one end and go to the other, using a pen to cross things off my list (so I don't forget anything).

Towards the end, before I hit the checkout, I go through my coupons to make sure I have the ones I plan to use separated out and ready to give to the checker.

The art of the coupon is a story for another post, but let me just say here as far as in the store is concerned -- Know Thy Checker. I don't care if it's the next one available -- let someone else deal with the Crazy Mean Coupon Checkers. Pick one that looks nice, young and like they don't care and regardless always hand them the coupons first. This will save you the trouble of dealing with someone who insists on going back through your groceries to find the 6 yogurts required for the $1 off 6 coupon. It is absolutely beyond me why some of these checkers care SO MUCH about your coupons. The coupon means the manufacturer is giving money back to the store for giving me a discount ... meaning there's no skin off the store's nose for giving me money off. And I KNOW they saw a bunch of yogurts go by because they JUST SCANNED THEM ... what gives?!

But like I said -- a discussions for later. And believe me, I will discuss it. You can count on it.

Frugal Fail: the dinner version

In the land of envelope living where there's a set budget each week for eating out, we try to stretch our little dollars in every way possible. We LOVE eating out and so it's really important to make sure we get to do it as much as possible.

To do this we frequent Restaurant.com and their monthly 80 percent off sales. We are able to buy $25 off coupons for local restaurants for $2. Every now and then I buy 10 or 12 of these for different places (and always via ebates.com for money back) -- some we've tried and some we've not -- and put them in the car. When we're out and feel like going to dinner, we have them on hand.

Today was one of those days.

We decided to try a new restaurant in Tacoma for which we bought a certificate several months ago -- El Guadalajara. Sounded nice enough and with a minimum purchase requirement of $35 (which I doubted we would exceed) and a $25 certificate we would have ourselves a cheap and delicious meal.

We wandered around in the car for a while burning gas -- but no worries! We were in for a cheap meal. We finally found the place, parked, got a (very excited and hungry) Dave out of the car and walked up ....

And it was closed. Not just closed but empty and completely and totally gone.

Sigh.

So we put a (very unhappy and hungry) Dave back in the car and drove to another certificate location -- Joseppis. It was delicious, but it was more expensive (it has a $50 minimum instead of $35).

And so here is some frugal math for you to determine whether or not we broke even:

Buying certificate for cheap meal: +1

Driving around looking for the place: -1

Finding place closed and wasting money on certificate: -1

Eating delicious italian food instead: +1

Spending more money than planned: -1

Total: -1 = frugal fail.

Meh.

(meanwhile I'm trying to contact the web site and get my money back)

Magically Growing Groceries

Once again I managed to spend $10 more than what I had hoped at the commissary. HOW does this happen?

I'll tell you!

(Isn't it so handy that instead of making you answer my questions, I answer them for you?)

It's the little things that I realize we need or are low on as I walk out the door on my way to the store. For example, this week I realized that Dave, purveyor of 3.5 teeth (if you'll recall), is low on infant pain meds. And that's something we DEFINITELY do not want to run out of.

But that stuff is expensive! And so even though I used a $3 off 2 coupon, I still spent almost $6 that I hadn't taken into account.

(It occurs to me now, many hours later, that I probably should've waited and gone to Target for the store brand -- no doubt cheaper than the name brands even WITH my coupon. Fail.)

This week was also time to restock our laundry detergent supply. I was fortunately armed with several high value (considering laundry coupons are usually really LOW value) coupons for the task received in the mail over the last several weeks (remember how I said "always register for snail mail samples and coupons?" This is why) ... but that stuff adds up. Almost $13 ($8.75ish after coupons) was spent on detergent, stain removal booster and fabric softener.

This brings me to something that dawned (Dawn ... haha ... soap pun. sorry) on me on the way home: while stain removal will be needed once in a while, softener is really a complete luxery item and, sometimes, waste of money. It makes clothes wear out faster. In fact, the towels we just bought from costco (to replace the ones we've worn out since the wedding ... or rather I ruined somehow with renegade bleach use) specifically instruct you to AVOID softeners.

My mother, in fact, NEVER used softener. It was too expensive. I think that I'm going to cut back and put it only in select loads, like our bed sheets (because who doesn't love suuuuuper soft bed sheets? I mean really, some things are worth the splurge).

I do feel I should be congratulated, by the way, for resisting the $2 for one Super Delicious Looking chocolate dipped biscotti by the register. I would note that I had not been paying for my groceries with cash I probably would've caved.