Getting Started - how I stay under $250

Before you ever clip your first coupon, you need to know what you're spending now. Prior to couponing, my shopping typically looked like this:

Go to store - spend about an hour and around $100
Get home and realize that I forgot 2 or 3 things I needed and ended up buying 2 or 3 things that we already had.
Go back to store later in the week for things forgotten previously and end up purchasing 5 or 6 additional items - the quick trip in would end up costing an additional $10-$30
Reach the end of the week and end up throwing out produce/leftovers/etc - because of not realizing what we already had, when things would expire, or remembering that I had purchased certain things.

Wash, rinse, repeat week after week.

Many people choose not to coupon because they "don't have the time." However, I think it's fair to say that most people shop just like I used to. That represents a huge chunk of time. Yes, couponing takes more time on the front end. However, my actual time in the store is minimal. I'm a woman on a mission. I have my list, my coupons, and a plan.

We arrived at our $250 a month total out of necessity. That's just what I have to spend. You may not need to go to the extremes that I do. So, if you're just getting started, start paying attention to what you spend now. After about a month you should have a rough idea of your average budget. Then decide how much you want to lower that amount.

Here's how I get to $250 in a nutshell - I'll elaborate more on most of these points in future posts.

1. Use coupons in multiples and combine them with sales to get the absolute lowest price. For example: Angel Soft 4-pks are .99 this week at Kroger (Dillons in some parts of the country). Last week's newspaper coupon inserts had .50/1 4 pk or larger Angel Soft coupons. My local Kroger doubles .50 coupons. That means that for me that .50 coupon is worth $1 - or free toilet paper, in this case. My local Kroger will let me double three "like" coupons in one transaction. That means I can buy 3 packs of Angel Soft and use 3 .50/1 coupons (doubled) and receive 3 free packs of toilet paper. I had 6 of these coupons, so I bought 3 packs in one trip last week and bought 3 more yesterday. 6 packs of toilet paper paid for with coupons and leaving me with $6 still in my budget.

2. Know what things cost - know your "buy" price and your "stock-up" price. That seems obvious, doesn't it? The average consumer knows the cost of roughly 10 items - things like a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, etc. Wal Mart knows this and you'll find that they will have lower prices on those items. But what are they charging you for 8 oz of cheese, a lb of apples, a lb of chicken? Usually a higher cost, because you don't know what that same item will cost you somewhere else.

In my area, a decent price for 8 oz of cheese is $1.50 - that's my buy price, if we need cheese. My stock-up price is $1.25/8 oz or less. This week, Kroger has 16 oz blocks of cheese for $2.50 (or $1.25 per 8 oz) - so, I bought 2 blocks of cheddar and 2 bags of shredded (at the same price). The shredded freezes nicely - so I now have cheese for the month for $10.

I'd prefer to buy organic cheese, but this is one area where my budget won't let me compromise much. For organic cheese, my buy price and stock-up price are a dollar more than what I pay for regular cheese. And if I happen to find organic cheese at my regular cheese buy or stock-up price, I buy as much as my budget will allow and freeze it.

3. Know your limits. I do not buy products that contain MSG. I avoid HFCS and partially hydrogenated oils. I use the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen to determine my produce purchases. If it's on the Dirty Dozen list, I only buy organic. If it's on the Clean Fifteen list, like broccoli and peas, and I can get it free or cheap - I'll buy conventional.

4. Use what you have. This is a work in progress for us. I don't plan meals for the week. I think if I worked outside of the home, it would be a necessity, though. Derek and I split the cooking responsibilities, and we're both fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants cooks. We loosely plan our meals for every 2 days or so. What's in the fridge? Are there leftovers? Is there produce we need to go ahead and eat?

The beauty of a stockpile is knowing that we have the basic building blocks for lots of good, healthy meals. I have rice, pasta, canned organic tomatoes (diced and whole, roasted or not, with chilis, with basil & garlic, etc.), frozen veggies, frozen meat, frozen cheese and so on. So, using what needs to be used is usually not a problem.

I think that's enough for now. Once the kids go down for their naps later, I'll post my receipts from this weekend's shopping. Please let me know if you have any questions!