Shopping 101
I love grocery shopping, it is such fun!!! And I especially love shopping at Tartet!! I am amazed at how many women dread the thought of going to the store but I can understand that it would be daunting to see your shopping bill rise each week. It doesn’t have to be a chore, you can have fun and save money too. All grocery stores have weekly specials, deals and markdowns and I use coupons, coupons, coupons. I’ve often stood at the checkout and been told by the person behind me in line “I should do that” or “they never have coupons for the things I buy/like”. You can find coupons in the Sunday paper, sometimes Thursday’s too and online. Target has online coupons that you can use along with a manufacturer’s coupon and you can even print them out at the store if you forgot to bring your own.
Don’t be afraid to try a different brand if it’s on special or you have a coupon – if you decide you really don’t like it, you don’t have to buy it next time but at least you have saved money on this one. Grocery shopping can be an adventure, don’t let it rob you of your joy!!!
I love clothes but I refuse to pay full price or even 50% – I wait til it’s 66% or 75% off – or 50% off with an additional percentage off. If you don’t like fighting the crowds at the mall, you can buy online and they also have terrific deals and often offer free shipping. When I shop for clothes at Target, I only look at the 75% off racks – I don’t look at the 30 or 50% racks because soon enough they’ll be marked down to 75% off. At stores like Dillards, Macy’s, JC Penney, I’m only interested in the big markdowns – if we go to the mall, I may wander in and look around, but only to see what the signs on the sale racks say. Unless it’s 66% at the least, I won’t even look. This may sound drastic but saving money requires drastic measures – tell yourself no (what a concept!!), don’t fall into the “I must have it” trap.
There are many sites online dedicated to helping you save money – they give you up to the minute deals, savings and coupons; here are a few of my favorites:
Here is a list of sites where you can download and print coupons:
Before you go to the store, always make sure that you’ve looked thru their ad (that probably came with your Sunday newspaper) and always, always have your coupons with you. Every Sunday, I look thru the ads to see what is on sale, what special deals they are doing, such as gift cards given away with purcheses - you can also see many stores’ ads online. We are into eating healthy so shop at Sun Harvest and Greenfields too – you can also view their ads online and use coupons there; Greenfields has great markdowns too.
Once I’ve looked thru the ads, I cut up my coupons and check to see if they can be paired with Target coupons which are online at Target.com/coupons or Walgreens (I rarely go to HEB and if I do, it’s for a particular item that they’ve advertised). I attempt to get items as cheaply as possible and also free!! When I go to the store, I always have a shopping list with me but I keep my eye out for specials on fruit/veggies, meat and fish. Many times I’ve found packs of salmon, tilapia, mahi mahi etc. marked down from $7.99 to $1.99 because the sale by date is the next day; the same goes for chicken, family packs of Gold n Plump which is hormone and antibiotic free, being reduced from $6.99 to $1.99 and I’ve always got a $1 coupon to use.
Travel sizes – You can often use a coupon on a travel size PROVIDED it doesn’t say on the coupon “excludes travel size”; this will usually make them totally free. Now I know some of you are saying “why on earth would I use a travel size, I want a full size, but if it’s free what does it matter (why pay so much more) and not only that, you can try out some different brands without wasting anything!!
Totallytarget.com is a wonderful site for finding everything there is to know about Target, specials, coupons, deals and policies. Be sure to check it out.
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