My savings Brag

I have to brag about my awesome savings skills!
Around the 18th I looked at our local stores sales ad, planned a menu, and used my coupons. Went to the store and saved $90.49! It was a B1G1 sales ad and I always do well on those. But never that good.
Then I used the same technique for some of the local stores we shop at. I made a plan for what we needed, used their sales ad and a few coupons and ended up saving $44.87 at Walgreens!
I was so excited. I haven't saved that much before.
Yesterday I used the sales ad again and planned a menu and selected my coupons. Went to the store last night. There were normal sales ads, no B1G1. I didn't figure I'd save as much as I did the last time. I was wrong! I totally rocked the sales ad and coupons. I walked out saving $140.70. I couldn't believe it.

Heres my process:
I get the sales ad for the week for the local grocery store on Wednesday. I make a list of what we have in the cabinets/ freezer/ frig already. Then pull out my coupons and have them handy. Then I start looking through the ad and making a list of everything we will use. I circle the items as I go. Then I start placing the items in categories, such as breakfast, lunch, snack & dinner. After I've done that compare the coupons to what's on sale. I try to use as many coupons for whats on sale as I can. I mark a few things at that point. Then I start planning the meals and snacks based on what I've written down and coupons available. Then I make my grocery list.

This process takes a few hours most of the time. Theres a lot of comparing, writing down, and planning. (We are on a tight budget) But this works. And with our family ever bit helps.

I also use this when shopping at other store around town. I have actually made a plan that will save on gas and impulse buying too.

I have made a list of things we need, such as toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, toothpaste, etc and where we like to buy them where we can get the most for our money.
(I use to have the habit of just picking up a needed item I could pay a lot less for somewhere else just because I was already at one store and didn't want to waste the gas or time running all over town.)
Then I broke down the list to when we need these items. Now I have a monthly list, with stores, bi-monthly, every 3 months, and every6 months.
And I've attached these lists to my calendar to corresponding months.
For example:

Once a month we can go to Walgreens and get toilet paper, my acid pills, and the ink for the printer. Sometimes I'll add trashbags and zip lock bags if they're on sale.
I also go to Dollar General once a month for napkins, towels, cat food, trash bags and ziplock bags (if they aren't on sale at Walgreens) Both these store a very close to my house. And I like the prices their stores for specific items.
Then every other month I go to dollar tree for bandaids, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste. Sometimes I hit up their school section too.
Then I plan on going to Walmart every 3 months. (I always spend more when I go in there) But I get my acid pills there, if I'm there, my hubby's razors for shaving, and our vitamins.

This might seem like a weird system and time consuming, but it works. And after the first time, once you figure out the stores you like to shop and what you like to get there just keep a main list of all these. Then you don't have to redo lists every month or try and remember what you get at each store. This is what I did when I shopped at Walgreens on the 18th and saved nearly $45! Its worth it.


But I just had to share. I love saving money!