Reducing Your Grocery Bill

We are so grateful to Sister Herring for her time and her patience and, frankly, for sharing her amazing ability with all of us.

Sister Herring saves quite a bit of money through the use of coupons. I know what many might be thinking, because I have been one of them. I have kept coupons and saved a bit here and there but really nothing to herald. I also am guilty of collecting my store coupons (the ones that come out with your receipt) and forgetting to look at them again, thus letting some really good ones expire.

If you are like me in that respect, you will appreciate the first thing I noted from Sister Herring. She takes her coupon box with her EVERYWHERE she goes. That way, she always has her coupons with her if she spots a good deal. I mean, I generally keep a book in the car. How difficult would it be to keep coupons there instead of in a nice place in the house that I never remember to look?

The following is from the handout Sister Herring gave us, "buy the newspaper. It is really worth it even if you just subscribe to the Sunday only paper. That is where you will find the coupons, except before a major holiday." I haven't taken the paper in some time due to the fact that I don't read it and therefore don't want to be bothered with the expense. The Sunday only option is a very good point though.

In addition to the newspaper, you can swap coupons with friends taking those they don't use and passing on those you don't use but they might. Furthermore, Sister Herring goes to the recycling center from time to time to get extra coupons. Hooray for recycling. There is a recycling center on McIntire just off of the 250, and there is one in Fluvanna County.

For the Charlottesville area stores, not all ads come out on Sunday. Some come out on Wednesday. The good news here, is that several stores have their ads available online. Kroger and Food Lion both do. I am not sure about Giant. In fact, many stores have additional coupons available on their website to print out. For example (thanks again Lisa) Food Lion offers a program called shoppers companion, and they will send you a weekly e-mail that you can print coupons to use. You already have a value card so why not right?

About those store coupons. Obviously you can't use a Food Lion coupon at Giant and vice versa. However, you can use a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on the same item.

You can also use coupons on sale items. We are all familiar with the buy one get one free and the 10 for $10 that happens at the store. The items ring up separately, and if you don't not want two items that are buy one get one free, the single item rings up for 50% off. The 10 for $10 items ring up for $1 each. You can use coupons on EACH item as long as you have that many coupons. Therefore, if you are buying ice cream that is buy one get one free, and it's original cost is $5.00, it rings up for $2.50 for each ice cream you buy. If you have a 50 cent off coupon, you are down to $2.00, and with doubling, you are down to $1.50. Note: If you want the free item, you can use coupons for both items if you have more than one coupon. Because they ring up separately, you will still save money on the free item and thus your overall bill.

What was that about doubling? Here in the Charlottesville area (check your local area to find out what the policies are there) some stores will double your manufacturer's coupons every day with your store value care. You are most likely already shopping with a values card to get the specials anyhow.

Kroger will double a coupon up to 50 cents everyday

Giant will also double a coupon up to 50 cents everyday

Harris Teeter will double up to 99 cents everyday. Furthermore, Harris Teeter triples coupons up to 99 cents about 4 times a year. This is another good reason to look at those ads. That means a 50 cent off coupon becomes $1.50 off and so forth. These are times that Sister Herring has bought $60 worth of items for $5. Once, she only paid the sales tax.

A special note about Harris Teeter: They will limit you to 20 coupons. However, they will also gladly split your order.

A special note about Super Walmart. They do price matching. If you have your other store ad with you, and can show that that store is offering an item for less, Super Walmart will match that ad price at the register. The only downside is that Super Walmart will not double your coupons. In fact, I am not sure they will even take them. You might need to check.

There are also good sources for online coupons. Two are smart source and coupon cabin. Of course, you can google coupons and probably find many more.

Finally, a couple of tips for using coupons in the store. Count your coupons, and pay attention as they ring up. You went to the effort of collecting, organizing and using these coupons. You want the benefit for it. Also, if you buy an item in the store that has a coupon on it. Take it off yourself and give it to the cashier. More often than not, they don't stop to notice there is a use now coupon on the item as they ring it up. (This has happened to me many times). Also, look at those coupons in the aisles in the stores. They may end up being just what you need.

I hope this helps inspire you to collect those coupons, get them organized and take them with you. You are going to be the next person they gawk at at the store because of your awesome saving prowess. Look at those ads and comparison shop to make the deals even better. Good luck. Let us hear about your successes!