Monday, January 23, 2012

Stockpiling and Coupons

There has been a lot of buzz on cable television about coupons and the extremes people go to using and redeeming them. Putting the hype aside, coupons are a great way to build up your stocks of  supplies in the event of a long or short term emergency. 

I have clipped coupons on and off again for a few years. The problem was the cost of obtaining coupons was never greater than the savings. That was because I was not using them correctly i later found out. So after reading and researching (there are plenty of good websites out there with coupon information), I jumped back in with both feet and have seen some real coupon success. As of right now, because of judicious coupon usage, I have managed to stockpile a year or better of toothpaste, clothes detergent, deodorant, dish soap, and other household items. 

Here's how I did it. 

First, watch the sales at your local market. I generally shop at Kroger as it is close enough to walk to (you have to take into account distance, time and gasoline for total savings) and has good prices compared to the Albertsons in my neighborhood. The sale flyer comes out at the beginning of the week and outlines what products are one sale and specials being run. Reading the flyer only helps if you understand the pricing before hand. For instance, in this week's flyer, Kroger claimed that Chef-Boy-R-Dee canned goods were on sale at $1 each. I know from experience, that is the same price they sell it for most weeks so there was no real savings. 

Hamburger Helper (good grocery item to stockpile) was on sale for $1 though. Now with that information, I check my coupons and found that I had a coupon for .40 off each box of HH if I purchased four or more. My Kroger also doubles coupons up to .50, so my total spend on a box, which normally retails for $1.59 per box was .20 per box. Not bad. So I was able to buy ten boxes and store them away in the pantry. 

Next up, deodorant. Normally 2.99 each, marked down during a Proctor and Gamble promotion to .99 if you bought four. I had a coupon for $1 off if purchasing two which the store doubled an additional .50 so the 2.99 product which ended up only costing me a little more than .60 each. 

Toothpaste is one of the most coupon friendly purchases available. Watch the toothpaste aisle for special price reductions (the store does this frequently) and save your toothpaste coupons. I normally never pay more than .39 - .59 for a large container of toothpaste and sometimes get name brands, like Colgate and Crest, free or nearly so.

Kroger, and other stores, also do a thing called "e-coupons" which can be downloaded to your frequent shopper card and can add up to savings as well. Normally, the coupons are only .40 or .50 each and by policy, cannot be doubled. But do add up quickly for products sale priced at $1 or less. 

Some people sign up for manufacturers coupons online, but I find that most of these are duplicates of my store's specials or already found in the news paper. Between my own copy of the paper and two of my neighbors (who don't do coupons), I have plenty for each shopping trip I make. 

Frequent shopper cards are a must for using coupons as they allow shoppers to get extra savings not normally available. The complaint from some people is that these cards track your purchases thereby allowing some insidious future force the ability to know what you bought, how much and when. The secret to dealing with this is to simply not put your accurate home address on your frequent shopper card. They don't check and the only problem is you may miss out on some mail outs with special deals. 

My only complaint about couponing is I have not figured out a way to save on things like fresh produce or meat as my store never has coupons for these things. If anyone has the secret there, I love to hear it.  

I spend no more than one hour a week going through coupons, visiting the store website, and making my grocery list for the week. This is a small time commitment for the amount of money I save grocery shopping. I am going to shop, so I might as well save some money doing it and build up my supplies at the same time. 

3 comments:

Kearnygirl said...

Hi just came across your blog. I see that you stockpile things that really won't go dodgy but what about all those women on the tv show that buy food items that have sell by dates on them? They can't possibly use up that stuff before the date runs out? I don't get it. Do you think they use it anyway after the date? Just curious. I was wondering what your thoughts were on that.

JD said...

Kearnygirl,

Thank you for your comments. I think people who do that are nuts. There are many couponing websites and some people stockpile so much stuff, they have to donate it before it goes bad or simply because they have no more room.
At some point, a habit can become an obsession and then it becomes unhealthy.
As for me, I try to never buy stuff I won't use/eat, can't use/eat and shouldn't use/eat just to save a few bucks. If you are buying 10 pounds of rancid meat just to get it for 90% off, then you've got a big problem.

Thank you for posting reading my blog.

Anonymous said...

Albertsons usually will have a buy one get one free on meat, however, check the price per pound. I have seen the price almost double what it normally is per pound. Therefore, are you really getting a good deal?

Tag and Bookmark

Disclaimer - This blog from time to time reviews products on this blog. Some, but not all, of the products reviewed are affiliate market products and do provide compensation to the blog operator. This blog does receive revenue from advertising on this blog and from the sale of products highlighted on the outside columns and frame of this blog.
This blog is for informational and entertainment purposes only. For legal, medical, financial or any other professional advice, consult with a licensed professional.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

Copyright - all content property of survivalism.blogspot.com 2005 -2011 all rights reserved. Content scrapers and copyright violators will be prosecuted.
storable food, dehydrated food, fod, dry food, food storage, food insurance, freeze dried food, survival food, food sale prices, food sale, bulk food, collapse food, food shortage, survival seeds, non hybrid, non-hybrid, emergency food, dehydrated vegetables, dehydrated mixes, dried produce, spices, whole food, mountain house food, mountain house freeze dried food, alpine aire, alpine aire freeze dried food, alpine air, mountainhouse, richmoor, survival food storage, bird flu, emergency survival, emergency preparation, dehydrated storable food, emergency preparedness, long term food storage, long term water storage, long term storable food, camping food, emergency food storage, food reserves, long term food reserves, storage, long term, long-term, dehydrated, gourmet reserves, long shelf life, no cooking required, food storage systems, non perishable food, non-perishable, no cooking food, non cook food, non-cook food, no cook food, basic needs, basic food storage, dry, dry storable, storage, preparedness, personal preparedness, food supply, supplies, seeds, sprouts, food supplier, survival review, collapse food storage, world food shortage, american food shortage

x

Tripbase Travel Reviews