Okay, so I did it. I went yesterday, coupons and list in hand and grocery shopped. The couponmom.com system helped... but its very time consuming, and I'm still a little confused.
I waited about 4 weeks to collect coupons from the Sunday's paper. There are 2-3 coupon booklets that come out in the Sunday paper, Red Plum, Smart Source, and P&G. Couponmom.com suggests that you simply collect these booklets, write the date that they are published on the front of each and simply store until you are ready to shop.
When you are ready to shop, you have to go to their "Grocery Deals by State" menu and select your state and your grocery store. I chose HEB and Randalls and looked at both lists. When you look at the list it is set up into multiple columns. I put a screen shot below. Basically it tells you the description of the coupon, the % you save and the final price with the coupon, as well as (if applicable) the coupon booklet that the coupon is in.
I've ammended the way in which couponmom.com suggests you store these coupons. I basically spent about 30 minutes cutting out the coupons that I KNOW that I would be using. i.e. I won't be using Huggies diapers anytime soon.
Then I put each date's coupons in a different envelope labeled with the date, and just go back to that and the individual coupons when I need them, not the enitre booklet (very cumbersome and annoying). A little more time on the front end, but easier in the long run when you need to go shopping.
So then you go to the database, shown below. You scroll down and check the box next to the deals that you want to use at this grocery trip and then click the button at the bottom to only show those selected deals. This basically becomes your "coupon grocery list". I had several other items that I needed so that was added too.
On the list of deals, the first set, as seen in the screen shot have a N/A under the column for the coupon code and date. This means that there isn't a coupon, its just a special that the grocery store is having. At first I thought this was pointless, but then when I was at the grocery, I realized I would never have known about these "deals" without this database, and bought these items because they were on special and less than they would be before. Obviously I didn't buy all of them b/c many were not applicable to our needs. But some were!
So after some prep time, I was off! It took a little more time to shop than normal because I was constantly looking at my compilation list of "deals" that I had selected and going back and forth. But the grocery store was emty because the city was freaked out about ice/snow.
SIDE NOTE: We hadn't been to the grocery in about 4 weeks so we needed a lot of stuff, more than a usual 1-2 week visit.
When it was time to check out, I was very excited. I gave the cashier the coupons and was looking at the toal... before coupons ~$315, after coupons and Randalls card ~$240.
After this total, I wasn't too excited anymore... I looked at the receipt and the coupons only saved me $13... the Randalls rewards card saved me $65. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that the Randalls card HELPS the coupon... and that is what was showing. As well as the fact that I did a lot of coupon N/A deals that were only the Randalls rewards card working.
All in all, I think that next time will be better. I'll have done it before, learning curve started. And, now I can use the coupons to stock up on things if needed... I think if the coupon thing doesn't go well after the mere $13 saved, then I'll at least have the grocery "deals" to use to save on grocery specials.
Happy Saturday!
