If your ready to take your couponing from hobby to proffessional sport- this lesson is for you!
But before we get to the actual lesson let me tell you a little story:
I use to be a "casual" couponer. I would flip through the Sunday newspaper inserts and clip coupons of products that were on that week's grocery list. The rest of the insert would be tossed in the recycling bin. Then
IF I remembered to take the coupons with me to the store and
IF I remembered to hand them to the checker I might look forward to a whopping $3.00 MAX savings on my receipt. Hardly anything to get real excited about; and to be honest, with this amount of savings it was real hard to find the motivation to even take the time to clip coupons.
That all changed late one night in December 2007. It was around 2:30am, I was up nursing Cohen, so decided to flip through the channels. Not much on at 2:30am so I settled for a show called "100 ways to save money" or something like that. After watching several tips I was just about to flip the channel when a lady came on talking about using coupons. She took the cameras to the grocery store and had them film her shopping experience. As she stood at the register and pulled out a stack of coupons, I couldn't help but think "Man, I wouldn't want to be in line behind that lady." But all negativity toward the coupon stack left when I watched her bill total fall on the register screen after she first handed the checker her club card and then again after she handed over her mountain of coupons. I sat there with my mouth hanging open, when I saw that her total went from $140 something (a typical amount I spent weekly at the time) to less then FORTY DOLLARS- I had to learn more! Well it turned out that professional shopper was none other then Teri Gault, the author and inventor of "
The Grocery Game."
I remember the first day I signed up for the Grocery Game's $1 trial month- I spent absolutely all Sunday afternoon trying to figure out "the game." It was a new language. Who knew coupon inserts had names! It was that afternoon that I was first introduced to the concept of coupon matching.... and I've never looked back!!!
Coupon Matching v. The practice of matching coupons with sale items to purchase products at rock bottom price.
I learned that the secret to winning the grocery game, was not just in using coupons but in knowing WHEN to use the coupons. The Grocery Game taught me that most grocery stores rotate sale items and that the best time to cash in a coupon was when the product was a part of the store sale. This would enable the deal to go from good, to GREAT, or even better
FREEEEE (something I didn't even know was possible!)
The Grocery Game works by providing gamers with a weekly list of ALL sale items for the participating stores. (Supposedly "The List" includes not only advertised sales but also unadvertised deals as well). THE LIST then locates all available coupons that match the sale items and references them by newspaper insert and date, so gamers can quickly locate and clip desired coupons rather then sorting through endless stacks of coupons.
Not only does THE LIST provide all newspaper insert match-ups it also color coordinates the deals to help you know if now is the best time to use your coupon.
If the sale item is BLUE then it is at rock bottom price and would be the ideal time to use your coupons to stockpile on the item. GREEN means the item is FREE after coupons! And BLACK means the product is on sale BUT it is NOT at rockbottom price, therefore unless you need the item now- WAIT until it goes blue or green.At first I was a little leery of THE LIST. Teri strongly encouraged us players to only use our coupons when THE LIST referenced them. I can remember being real nervous about an approaching expiration date on a coupon for one of my favorite high fiber tortillas. Would Teri remember the tortillas? What if the tortillas never made it to color code Blue or Green before the expiration date? WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO? Well, I bought those tortillas with my $0.55 off 1 coupon without the consent of THE LIST- and do you know what happened? Those tortillas went on sale the very next week!!! Lesson learned- Always trust THE LIST.
For those of you who are new to couponing I think
The Grocery Game is a great place to start. You can try the game for a month for $1. After your 1 month trial you will be charged $10 every 8 weeks for 1 list or $15 every 8 weeks for 2 lists. (In our area there is a list available for Kroger and Walgreens)
It does kind of stink having to pay for savings but I have always felt it was well worth the investment PLUS if you have friends that sign up and mark you as their referral you can earn FREE months. And believe me, when you get addicted to The Grocery Game you can't help but tell your friends!
If you just can't stand the idea of paying for THE LIST I have also found good coupon match-ups at the following:
hotcouponworld- Great Site! But very overwhelming. In fact one of my 2009 New Year's Resolutions was to figure out this site! Good luck!
couponmom- Much easier to navigate than Hot Coupon World and good list.
15 months later, my couponing extends far beyond the grocery game. I rely on a network of couponing sites that coupon match with not only coupons from the newspaper inserts but also printables available all over the Internet. I also have been known to figure a deal or 2 out on my own! And of course when I learn of a GREAT deal I always pass it on to YOU!
Bottomline: Learn to coupon match to know
WHEN to use your coupons.
I hope you have found this marathon post helpful! Please feel free to use the comment section or today's Mr. Linky for any comments or questions.
