Making Life a Little Less Expensive Every Week

Making Life a Little Less Expensive Every Week

Here in Orange County California we benefit from fierce competition in the grocery industry. Not only do they compete with each other (Albertsons, Ralphs, Stater Brothers, and Vons) they compete with various small market chains (Henry's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, and a host of independent markets. In addition both Target and Walmart carry a limited, but well priced, selection of grocery staples. With so many choices it is easy to simply pick a store and hope you don't burn through your budget halfway through shopping. But, with a little effort and a little more driving, you can dramatically trim your grocery expenses. You can put the savings towards the ridiculous cost of housing.


Coupons

Making a Coupon Stockpile

The quickest source of coupons is the sunday paper. Each week there are anywhere from one to three coupon circulars (P&G Brandsaver, Red Plum, and Smart Source). The Sunday paper(Register or Times) costs $1.50.But they both also issue a weekend edition of their paper, which is remarkably similar, for 75 cents. I buy one of each (Register and Times) for a total cost of $1.50. This give two sets of coupons, which some weeks works out fantastically and some weeks not so good. But each paper has a diferent selection of ads (these vary from paper to paper and even from week to week).

Be sure to physically check the paper for coupon circulars since store-bought papers do not always get the same coupons as a home-delivered paper. The delivered paper may have three circulars this week but the one in the store could have one, two, three, or even zero coupons. So just be sure to check before you buy.

Alternately you can order subscriptions online. Though the Times wants $2.50 a week to deliver the Sunday paper. But a quick google search will often turn up deals or promo codes for a dollar a week. Recently in LA the Times was offering a year of Sundays for 19 cents a week.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Diapers and Coke

CVS has a couple of deals you might take advantage of if you have baby and drink coke. Pampers Baby Dry diapers are on sale for $21.99. You get a $10 reward coupon on your receipt. Coke 12 packs are on sale for $2.66. When I got to the store I scanned my CVS card (at the in store price scanner) twice and got two coupons. The second was for .79 off of a Dove candy bar (on sale for .50 this week)

1st Purchase

Pampers Diapers  $21.99 (Size 4 82 ct. or .27 each or .29 w/tax. A better price is .26 w/tax or even .24 w/tax but watch the reward dollars)

Subtotal                 21.99
Tax                          1.92
Total Cash Outlay   23.91
Rewards Dollars    $10.00

2nd Purchase

Coke 12 pk x4         $10.64
Dove Chocolate Bar       .50 (sale reg .89)
Cp. Dove Ch Bar         -.79 (CVS doesn't limit coupon values so this is -.29 towards the total purchase)
Subtotal                     $10.35
CRV                             2.40
Tax                                 .90
Subtotal                       13.65
Reward Dollars          -10.00
Total Cash Outlay         3.65

Total Cost                  $27.56 (Diapers (82 ct.),  Coke (48 cans), and a free chocolate bar.)

This isn't the best deal on diapers ( .22 each is a good deal) or the best price on Coke ( $2.25 is a good deal). The candy bar was free and cut the total cost (That can't be beat. Even if you don't like chocolate scan your card (somebody will eat it). This coupon will knock .29 off the total purchase. Remember every penny over a year adds up.)

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